Chapter XXII

To Have Faith

"I hope we have a girl," Min-jae said. "But now that I've said so, I've probably jinxed it, and we'll have a boy."

Jeremiah smiled to himself at Min-jae's musing on behalf of what they were in store for. The realization of pregnancy was still settling in, but he was surprised at how well Min-jae was taking the news. He'd started talking about it like the idea of building a family was the number one thing on his list of lifetime accomplishments.

Min-jae spoke a lot about their future like they'd never leave this village after the baby was born. With thoughts of getting back on track with how things had been here in Saengsacho before wrong turns were taken, Min-jae talked about his plans to help prepare for springtime even though Winter wasn't even here yet .

As Min-jae elaborated on his plans to reach out to the older folks about the approaching winter, Jeremiah lounged on the living room sofa with his arms folded behind his head. He was glad there were no discomforts arising from Min-jae, and he was glad Min-jae didn't view the idea of an unexpected child coming into their lives as something disruptive and a jam in his once idyllic and formulated life. It was as though he saw things returning to how they'd been, only now, Jeremiah and the tiny rhythm huddled inside of him were additions that'd fit perfectly beside him.

Jeremiah, on the other hand, knew there was a lot more he'd have to remedy before he could say he felt entirely the same. First things first, he'd run away with Min-jae without telling another soul of his whereabouts. Right about now, there was no doubt in his mind Demiesius, Hamilton, and his brothers were stressing over the fact that he was gone.

What were they thinking right now?

Jeremiah hoped they weren't angry at Min-jae for disappearing with him. The hours of no contact, of silence, was surely enough to tell them all he didn't want to be found. Or were they considering the idea Min-jae had vanished with him even as he'd slept? Either way, Jeremiah didn't want any tempers to flare in Min-jae's direction based on his own decision.

It wasn't that he would never go back home, or never talk to his family again. There was something in Jeremiah that'd been so desperate to get away from the noise, the aches, the tension, the dismay. Even the reminders of distress, and it was hard to say a lot of those things lay in the eyes of his parents. They had every right to be worried for him, to speak their truths, want to protect and nurture him in ways they thought necessary .

However, Jeremiah had enough authority over himself now to step away. He was positive Demiesius made whatever attempts he could to reach out to him in a way they'd always been able to. Their mental link had been obliterated. They weren't connected anymore, and Jeremiah's heart throbbed at the mere idea of being so much more detached from his father than he'd ever been.

Even in their years from when he was young, when they would argue, when tensions shamelessly flared, when Jeremiah would lock himself in his bedroom as an adolescent to separate himself from Demiesius, those past outbursts had one major thing in common. The love was still felt, still present under the disputes. Now, if Jeremiah wanted to reach out and apologize, if Demiesius wanted to send encouragement his way, neither of the two could do so if they wanted.

And Jeremiah knew that was the first thing his father would've done. Whatever lyrical array would've reached his ear if it could, Jeremiah was sure he'd have been in store for promises of understanding, given an apology even if Demiesius didn't owe him one. There would be talks of Hamilton's desperation, and although the thought of what his abrupt departure must be doing to his dad's heart pinched his own, Jeremiah still clung to the want to stay where he was.

For the time being, at least.

"You must be hungry," Min-jae's voice caught Jeremiah's attention then. He was kneeling beside him and in his hand was a single blood pack of Type A. "I searched the house for the blood my parents must've hidden. They stored it in a small fridge under their sink."

"Oh, thank you," Jeremiah took the pack, feeling the inner liquid slosh back and forth in his palms. "Now that I think about it, I've never had to worry about where I'm going to get my next fill of blood. My father hasn't fed from the source in so long, my brothers never have, and methods were put in in order to make it so source feeding wasn't something vampires had to rely on to quench their hunger. If I stay here with no ties to a coven or my parents, I won't have anywhere to receive it from."

"You couldn't feed off me?" Min-jae inquired. "I'll give you everything you need."

"As good of an idea that is, our blood is nowhere near as nutritious as a human's. If I want to stay fed, I'll have to rely on offerings."

Able to see as Jeremiah disappeared again into his thoughts, something Min-jae had noticed he did from time to time as the day carried on, he looked toward the blood pack and pondered.

There was still so much he didn't understand about what it meant to be what he was. Since unearthing Dae-jung from the depths of the distant unit, there hadn't been much time anyone put toward him and his perception of vampirism. Not that he'd allowed for much time to be allotted to him either.

During what little time he'd spent away from Jeremiah and with his parents, Yeo and Dae-jung had debated staying away from Saengsacho from now on. The reasons were that living in such close proximity to humans would bring questions toward their family sooner or later. With Dae-jung having been raised as an immortal in his early forties, and Yeo turning forty-seven this year, they'd also had their talks about raising her into the night soon. Given that, surely everyone surrounding them would question why they didn't appear to be aging.

As Jeremiah sat up beside him, Min-jae took a seat and watched as he summoned his top fangs and punctured the crimson pack. The savory red slithered down Jeremiah's throat, and Min-jae dragged a soft finger behind his ear, pushing the light half of his tresses aside to get a better look at his profile.

Saengsacho was something he didn't want to give up no matter his situation. This was and had always been his home, and at the thought of his parents making a decision to leave…he wanted to defy. Despite the darkness that'd existed under his nose, it was gone now, and things were supposed to go back to normal — get better. Moreover, things were supposed to get so much better with the unexpected spark readying to enter his life.

What Min-jae wanted, if he could have it, was to stay here in this quaint part of the world where no threats could reach them anymore. He wanted Jeremiah to remain at his side. He wanted to raise this new and extraordinary family he was now in store for somewhere that had endless beauty, remarkable history, and a certain peace he couldn't imagine existed anywhere but here in Saengsacho.

But…

His father was correct.

Eventually, these human beings of the village would take notice, they would question, and an end would be brought to that wanted peace Min-jae hoped to settle his family into. He didn't want him and Jeremiah to have to resort to relying on a coven, or taking up in a city, but it seemed holding onto certain aspects of the immortal world was necessary.

"What's wrong?" Jeremiah asked then, the blood pack now sitting empty in his hands. "You're starting to stress over our current situation, aren't you? If I'd taken into account what I'd inherited from my dad, you wouldn't be stuck in this situation."

"What?" Min-jae blinked in bewilderment, taking note of Jeremiah's presumption that he was beginning to have second thoughts about their circumstance. "No, don't say that. That's not what I'm thinking about, at all."

Setting the empty blood pack on the low table before him, Jeremiah turned to Min-jae on the sofa when a hand met his face, the brush of the other dhampir's thumb meeting his cheek. He was trying not to stress himself out either, but so much was beginning to catch up with him, and the last thing Jeremiah wanted was to put his body through more stress.

While the heart pounding in his womb sounded steady and strong, he was afraid to think of what trauma might have stuck to it after the ordeals he'd put himself through.

Being a dhampir might make his body more resilient than a human, but being stabbed and falling unconscious while pregnant couldn't be good for any pregnant person. On top of that, while the look in Min-jae's eyes assured him, Jeremiah couldn't drop the fret over not being something Min-jae had ever dreamt of.

"I'm thinking of how much good I want for us," Min-jae said, and in an instant, those words resurfaced the sting in Jeremiah's throat. "I'm thinking of how much I want to do for our family, Jeremiah. I want us to find our place in the world. I want you to be happy and comfortable as you carry our child. There are fears I have, but none of them pertain to wanting you to be any different than who you are right now. If there are any regrets I have, it's how unprepared I am as someone who's half-vampire and didn't know it until recently. I feel unprepared to bring a child like ours into the world, but I'm not afraid to have them if it's with you."

"Dammit," Jeremiah's voice broke, and he covered his eyes. Hearing that stitched his worries shut, and the gratefulness he held onto for Min-jae amplified, but this sweetness changed nothing about his predicament. "What are we going to do? I can't be without blood for long."

"What if I talk to my parents or Ms. Choi?" Min-jae said. "I won't explain the entire situation, but surely they wouldn't want either of us to go hungry."

It wasn't that Jeremiah didn't trust Min-jae's parents or Ha-yoon, but having to turn to them for anything would more than likely reach another ear. Jeremiah was certain. But he needed the blood, and he'd need more soon. He would have to set aside his discomfort if he wanted this pregnancy to run as smoothly as it could, and if that meant yet another lecture was coming his way, so be it.

"Can I stay here?" Jeremiah asked.

"I would prefer it if you did," Min-jae admitted. No matter if it was daytime over here in Korea, knowing Demiesius was a being unphased by sunlight made him consider the possibility of running into him. If either he or Jeremiah were going to have a run-in with the elder, he'd rather it be himself than Jeremiah right away.

With it settled that Min-jae would travel on his own, the two parted with a promising kiss, and the Korean dhampir soon found himself standing in the apartment he'd initially been given as part of Ha-yoon's coven. He was immediately welcomed by the push of every vampiric aura taking up the entire building. Most of them were quiet given their sleep, and the familiarity of his parents could be determined on the next floor.

Before going for the door, Min-jae looked toward the sofa, and the mere surface of the cushions occupied his mind with the renowned moment he and Jeremiah experienced together in this place. Although every touch and taste that'd met him in those minutes were still awfully vivid and always would be, Min-jae couldn't help but reminisce on each glorious detail.

Everything recently had happened so suddenly, but that instance where he held someone in his arms had been a first, and how direly Jeremiah fused his company to Min-jae's life made him all the more determined to nurture what they had and could have if the time were given to them.

As the flurries of what substantial passion had mingled between them in this very room flourished through Min-jae's memory, an odd fragility came to his knees, and he felt the need to take a seat. Upon the same sofa in which he and Jeremiah passed all of themselves into each other, the serious understanding of what he was in store for blanketed him.

Twenty-seven years old and having once had his entire life planned out, Min-jae was at a loss for words when this current reality caught up with him. He was going to be a father. There would soon be a living, breathing being in this world whose blood was part his and another's. This prospect was usually frightening, wasn't it?

Oddly enough, fear was the furthest thing from him. Min-jae's heart and thoughts were instead taken up by what inspiration he was bound to experience when laying eyes on this new life. Seeing them, feeling them, hearing them for the first time was going to be an encounter like no other.

Every part of him could hardly wait.

Dragging his hands into the top of his hair, Min-jae breathed deeply and looked to the ceiling. It was opening up. The world was opening up. The skies under light and dark would never be the same .

If there was anything he wanted to believe he was in store for, it was the beauty of it all. He couldn't imagine what their child would look like, but the idea of standing beside Jeremiah and laying eyes on something — someone whose existence couldn't have been possible without them…

Oh, how fulfilling a dream.

Gathering his thoughts, Min-jae carried on with his reason for being here and ascended to the apartment his parent's occupied. Over the days and nights during Jeremiah's slumber, they'd known he would travel a great distance and only return to share a few words before heading off again, but more than just his parents were there to greet him when the door was opened by his mother.

Standing in the entryway was Demiesius in all his towering and alarming stature. As Min-jae hadn't been able to sense the reach of the elder's aura a moment ago, it spread clearly around him now that Demiesius unleashed it. The second he laid eyes on Min-jae, and before Yeo could say a word, the elder reached for Min-jae and slammed his back up against the wall of the entryway. There was no anger in Demiesius' stare, and he hadn't meant to be so rough, but he couldn't let Min-jae slip away again.

"Where is he?" the elder demanded in Korean. A hard plea sat in his tone, bringing light to this father's desperation to know where his son was. "You must tell me, Min-jae."

"I can't do that," Min-jae said plainly, clasping a hand around the elder's wrist. The fist was balled into his shirt and a refusal resisted his means to tear Demiesius' hand away. "Just know he is safe."

Having already been well informed on the dilemma, Yeo and Dae-jung felt they had no choice but to stand back as Demiesius made his demands. As a sort of subject beneath the rule of an elder, Dae-jung made no moves to get in Demiesius' way. The elder wasn't fuming with true anger for Min-jae anyways, so his own son's well-being wasn't on the line.

When another refusal to give up Jeremiah's location was spoken, Dae-jung breathed a sigh and neared the struggling pair. He was fuller than he'd been after being rescued from Saengsacho's depths, skin far less deathly pale, and the strengths that'd followed him through the few centuries he'd known the world were present beneath his trousers and button shirt.

Coming up behind Demiesius, Dae-jung touched the elder's shoulder and offered an understanding nod.

Demiesius unhanded Min-jae then, and before the idea of returning to Jeremiah touched Min-jae's thoughts, a command kept him still when Dae-jung said, "You will follow his order. Tell him where his son is."

What…? Min-jae thought, unable to stop himself when he answered with: "Jeremiah is at home in Saengsacho." He hadn't meant to confess, but the words spilled from his mouth as if Dae-jung ripped them from his tongue. He'd never been given such strict commands before, and it bothered him to realize his father had that kind of control over him.

"Why there?" Demiesius struggled to understand. He knew the place was without disturbance like before. Kyung-hwan was gone and there would be no outside influence creeping into the village again, but Demiesius couldn't fathom why Min-jae would take him there. "Is my son awake?" he asked, voice now empty of frustrations. "Or did you take him on your own accord?"

Looking from Demiesius to his parents, Min-jae turned his gaze to the floor after receiving a nod of order to go on from Dae-jung. "Jeremiah is awake," he reassured. "But he wanted me to take him away. He's not angry with anyone, he's not hurt anymore, but he wanted me to take him away, and I promised to do that for him. He wants to be in Saengsacho, and I don't think you should force him to leave if that's not what he wants."

"He is my son, Min-jae," Demiesius said. "You don't understand what's been done to him. He needs to be with his family right now more than ever; where I can watch over him."

"I need to watch over him, too," Min-jae pressed, and everyone whose ear his voice reached determined his urgency. "Jeremiah… He is pregnant with my child, and I won't be separated from them. Not by you and not by his enemies. I can keep him safe; I can make him happy, and I understand if you want to see him, but I ask that you respect his wishes if returning to your home is not what he wants."

Catching the puzzlement on Yeo and Dae-jung's face, Min-jae looked from them to the astonishment shown in the elder's eyes.

"Jeremiah is anxious enough as it is," Min-jae went on. "He's waiting for me as I only came here to ask for help providing proper portions of blood we will need to get by. I don't know how to be what I am. I've never known what I am until recently, and I can't say if I'll ever be any good at it, but that doesn't mean I can't be the man Jeremiah needs me to be, right now more than ever. Please, don't take him from me," Min-jae implored deeply. "I can't lose him when he's barely been mine."

Demiesius' shoulders appeared to drop with the release of a staggered breath, and he took a step back. Min-jae thought the elder almost looked disturbed by the idea of Jeremiah carrying another man's baby, but in knowing how Jeremiah's own birth came about, Min-jae didn't take that as being the reason behind Demiesius' internalized and rather rough debate.

"You are certain of this?" Demiesius questioned, brow wrinkled upon remembering how Jeremiah's most recent wound had been ruthlessly administered to his abdomen. "He is no longer wounded to any extent?"

"He may as well be covered in scars," Min-jae said, "but he's fully recovered from them all, including this last one." He was suddenly terrified of what more damage could have been done if Jeremiah's wounds were more serious. Would that heartbeat not exist if the assault had been far harsher?

Min-jae swallowed his aggravation at the idea.

To save his sanity and his temper from flaring, he shoved the thought from his head. From his understanding of the work Demiesius had put in and was continuing the implementation of while Jeremiah had slept, those who'd made it their mission to experiment on and do away with Jeremiah were no more; the larger company of enemies now being dismantled as well.

"And, yes," Min-jae added. "We were able to confirm his pregnancy ourselves. I'm sure we're both afraid in our own way, but we're content and know what we're getting ourselves into. I won't let him go through this alone."

Alone.

It was such a loaded word.

And if there was one thing Demiesius wanted for Jeremiah, for any of his sons, it was for them to never know what it was to be alone in this world. In the beginning, so long ago Demiesius had cursed himself for allowing loneliness to cloak Jeremiah in his youth. He carried that shame with him even now, and no amount of years between now and then would erase what distance had sat between him and his first born for decades .

"You wish to be with my son," Demiesius said, an air of acceptance in his voice. "If you can abide by this declaration you've made, there is something I must show you. It is what I strive to keep my children from ever becoming, and Jeremiah is now the closest of them all to such a state if he loses himself. Given that I can no longer reach him, protect him, or protect him from himself, you must know what he may become if ever I cannot subdue my son."

Demiesius' choice of words surfaced a concern Min-jae wasn't sure if he was prepared to understand. To subdue was to conquer over, to suppress, and the imagery that reached into Min-jae painted scenes of blood and death, or rage and terror guided by Jeremiah's hand.

Able to recall the details of Jeremiah's scuffle with apparent vampire slayers that'd been escorted to Saengsacho under Kyung-hwan's direction, it was the only time he'd ever witnessed Jeremiah in a state of destruction. But it was an unavoidable encounter, and Jeremiah's fight was completely justified in those minutes.

Min-jae's discomfort piqued at the idea that Demiesius was speaking of a possibility that Jeremiah would ever senselessly ravage an innocence.

"Come," Demiesius said, an outstretched hand willing Min-jae to take it. "I will support your union with Jeremiah from afar if that is what he wants. I will supply your blood, will assure your lives will go undisturbed by the very people who placed a target on my son's back, but you must allow me to show you."

"Okay," Min-jae nodded.

After receiving a nod of approval from Dae-jung and a request from his mother that he return soon, for what Min-jae assumed was more clarification on his relationship with Jeremiah and this apparent child heading their way, Min-jae's wrist was taken and in no time he was standing before a doorway that led into a low-lit crypt.

It had the feel of a resting area and the blue glow emitting from the light fixtures led down a spiraling stone stairwell.

Upon reaching the lowest level of this buried chamber, Min-jae's throat dried when he and Demiesius emerged from the stairwell and an eerie water fountain came into view. As the soaring statue was of a woman pouring a continuous flow of water into a wide pool, beyond the sculpture was who Min-jae immediately assumed was another vampire elder. Due to her aura matching that of Demiesius' wide-spread influence, she couldn't be ordinary.

"What's this?" Bethania asked, stepping away from an open stone lid. Adorning a fitted burgundy dress, on her arm rest a wicker basket with fragile, wilted gardenia flowers piled into it, and when Min-jae and Demiesius drew nearer, a reddish tint passed over her hazel eyes upon sensing Min-jae's subdued aura. It was like he hadn't the capabilities of letting it thrive.

When near enough to the open stone lid, Min-jae took in the sight of what… who lay within. Corpse-like, yet holding onto the vision of his youth, Florin Liviu lay in this unbroken slumber with fresh flowers arranged around him. As Demiesius introduced the sleeping dhampir, Min-jae listened to the wretched events that'd led him to this unfortunate state.

For Florin to have lost himself in grief and rage, Min-jae imagined how a being must have been borderline unstoppable as he slaughtered a multitude of people, both aggressors and innocent, all before the likes of Demiesius and his fellow elders interfered to bring a stop to the carnage .

The blood in Min-jae's veins coursed faster at the understanding of Florin's death having been the first option, and how his own mother's plea to offer him a chance was the only thing to save him. But to now lay here in this state of repose, although still very much alive and breathing, this was no life in realizing how many centuries had passed.

Florin may as well be in a completely different world than the one he'd left, and if he did someday awaken, Min-jae doubted his perception of it all wouldn't implore more terror.

"Now that Jeremiah is no longer linked to me as his brothers are," Demiesius said, staying with Min-jae's eyes when they drifted from Florin, "I have come to see that accursed serum has disrupted his temperament as well. If ever disturbed beyond his control, Jeremiah could lose himself in a manner I cannot steer him from. Enable to save him from regrets, to hide him from the world, I would have no other choice than to place him under a similar spell or kill him if this method proves impossible."

"What are the chances he wakes up if you had to resort to this?" Min-jae asked. He didn't want to imagine a time when a collision would occur, but he needed to know every avenue available, if there were any. "You say it's been over four hundred years since you laid this person to rest; what are the chances he wakes up? I can't lose Jeremiah in any way. Ever. Even if we weren't expecting this child, this world would have no meaning without him."

It warmed Demiesius' heart to know Min-jae could say such things about Jeremiah, but as he'd come to see, one's own unending adoration for another couldn't always save them from misfortune.

"Florin has yet to show signs that he will ever grace us again," Bethania said. She was the only person in this building, in this world, who carried an on-going course of belief for Florin. "But to unhand faith in the ones we love is equivalent to giving up on them. He deserves faith. And while I would never wish this state upon Jeremiah, I would have faith in him to grace us again if ever this misfortune touched him."

As this teetering reality remained atop Min-jae, Demiesius touched the dhampir's shoulder, giving it a light jostle to regain his attention. "I am afraid for him," the elder said. "But if Jeremiah is protected, if he is cared for, if this peace he is stepping into with you goes unbothered, this need not be his fate."

"I understand."

"You must," Demiesius insisted. "Never have I placed the well-being of my son in another's hands like this. From here on, you must do right by him. For Jeremiah's sake and for your child's."