He doesn't bite!

Soulless

"I'm back," Jiyu mumbled as she entered Hyunjin's room again, making him look at her as she approached him. He almost chuckled at the sight of her post-crying face.

She climbed onto the bed, sitting next to him again, but this time pulling the covers over their legs.

"Tell me more," she sniffled, and he took a tissue from the box that was now on the nightstand, handing it to her.

"What do you want to know?" he asked gently, tilting his head to look at her face as she looked down.

Her glossy gaze finally met his calm one. "Why did you say that Felix is different?"

"Ah..." Hyunjin leaned back again, looking down at his hands. His calm face was still there, but Jiyu could sense hesitation.

"Is it something super secretive I can't know about?" Jiyu asked softly, now the one tilting her head to look at his face.

He shook his head.

"Don't panic," he said calmly, making Jiyu furrow her eyebrows as he closed his eyes. But then her eyes widened as his veins slowly started glowing with a light blue hue through his skin, his nails growing longer and sharper as well. Then he opened his red eyes calmly, still looking at his hands.

"This is what an original vampire truly looks like in their purest form," his gaze finally met hers. "But Felix's form is different—it's golden. Because he's originally a human, and unlike me... he's still mortal."

Jiyu gasped softly. "You mean... how?"

"Felix's heart is still beating," he smiled faintly. "Mine never beats. Felix is breathing. I'm not. Felix dies at the end. I don't." He leaned his head back, slowly returning to his normal form as he closed his eyes, continuing calmly. "For Felix—and any turned vampire, for that matter—his human heart almost stopped. But my blood supported it, turning his bodily system to rely on blood as his source of energy to stay alive, making him stronger than humans and granting him some vampire privileges. But in the end, he's still mortal. Being a vampire is just... keeping him alive."

Hyunjin, still leaning his head back, looked calmly at Jiyu, who still had wide, glossy eyes. "That's why his body is warm, unlike my cold body."

"C... Couldn't you get with an original vampire?"

Hyunjin scoffed.

"I hate those motherfuckers. I don't even know where my parents are right now—they left the moment I was old enough to live alone, saying it's only natural for us to stay alone to grow stronger. All the original vampires get married just to be more powerful and give birth to vampires. And fuck that—even if I don't have a soul, I don't want that meaningless connection."

"You don't have what?" Jiyu's eyes widened even more, but Hyunjin's nonchalant expression remained as he nodded.

"We don't have souls. When we die, it's just... the end. That's why I always slept for centuries whenever I was fed up with Earth."