Epilogue

Five Years Later

I f it were thought the world would become a scarier place after vampires emerged from the shadows, that couldn't be further from the truth now that some time had passed. Night had become much livelier since then, the party scene was electric, and if immortals with business ventures thought their fellow vampires were great business, curious humans who wanted to experience proximity to them bolstered profits exponentially.

But none of that was of any interest to Jeremiah.

In the five years since his darkest moment, shutting out the loudness of the more hectic parts of the world had become his goal, and while he didn't mind visiting them from time to time, there was no other place he'd rather be than where he was right now.

"Appa!" A tiny voice shouted then, and Jeremiah flinched from its pitch, nearly dropping the package treat in his hand. Regardless of avoiding the hecticness of the bigger cities, there was plenty of energy to go around when an active five-year-old was full of it.

With the attention of his dad, little Song Tae-min raised a banana flavored beverage over his head and beamed brightly. "Can I have this?!"

"Yes, yes," Jeremiah motioned for the boy to keep it down, receiving an amused look from the shop owner a few feet away. A bakery had been opened next door to the convenience store recently, and it wasn't a morning well-spent until Tae-min received his banana milk. He often preferred it over blood.

"Can I have three?"

"Two."

"Three."

Having made it a habit not to entertain arguing with the little boy, Jeremiah picked out everyone's favorite sweets and plucked two of the three bottles of banana milk from Tae-min's hands. "Just two. Take it or leave it."

"Two!" Tae-min happily tucked the extra milk where it belonged and followed Jeremiah to the pay counter. He struggled and reached to hand them over himself, and after insisting that he be able to hold the paper bag, he carted it along with them into the cold, early December morning. "Appa," Tae-min said when the door chimed behind them.

"Yes?" Jeremiah answered, unable to help his smile as Tae-min lugged the paper bag that was wider than his chest; he could hardly see over it, let alone through the curtain of his dark bangs, but with his usual refusal to let anyone give him a trim, he shook his hair away every few steps.

"Can we go to the Big House soon?"

The Big House, aka The Castle. It wasn't as if they hadn't been there in very long, but when a couple days went by, Tae-min would grow anxious to see those who lived the furthest, and since they'd already gone to see Dae-jung and Yeo the other night in Seoul, Tae-min wanted to travel a bit further to see two additional faces. Out of all of his grandparents, it was obvious Tae-min had a favorite, and Jeremiah was sure his urges to go were directed by his desire to see them. He just never admitted to it outright.

"How about we take everything home and then we can go?"

Anxious to hurry, Tae-min lugged the paper bag a bit faster. They received many smiles from other residents, some snickering here and there as Tae-min excitedly announced they were going to see his distant grandparents.

Upon making it home, Jeremiah opened the door for them, and Tae-min promptly quieted down. There was a hushed mellowness housed in the hanok, and the boy made sure not to make so much noise as he and Jeremiah put their purchases away for the time being.

With the quiet taking up the hanok, Jeremiah didn't want to leave without saying anything and was followed to where he could sense Min-jae was.

In front of his dad, Tae-min quietly slid open the door to his parent's bedroom.

Lounged above the covers was Min-jae dressed in a pair of dark joggers, and his hair was down to his shoulders, the dark sweep of his tresses looking so silky in the gleam of the sun peeking through the open window above him.

As Min-jae smiled toward his young son and Jeremiah, he kept his hands upon the back of their two-month-old daughter Hyun-jae. Much like Tae-min, she'd taken after her father, and she looked comfortable stealing the warmth provided by Min-jae's gentle hold.

"You're spoiling her," Jeremiah said, nearing his baby girl and kissing the back of her head. She moved at the sound of his voice and cooed when Min-jae stood out of bed, whining now as if to tell of how she wanted to be handed over.

Receiving Hyun-jae with a smile, Jeremiah carefully turned her in his hands, touching her nose to his before bringing her close. She was still so new to them, so quiet and as cutely round in the face as Tae-min had been when he'd been an infant, but unlike her brother, there was a small patch of blond above her right eye, and it curled much like Jeremiah's when he'd been young.

" Your son wants to go to the castle," Jeremiah said, smoothing his thumb over Hyun-jae's soft cheek.

Min-jae entertained his little boy with a rustle of his hair. "When don't you want to go there?" he jested, but there was never a denial to do so when traveling was what Tae-min wanted.

It didn't take long to pack a bag, and the moment their shadows faded, Tae-min scurried from his parents with all the energy he was ready to let loose.

"Grandpa!" Tae-min shouted and raced up the first stairwell, but before he could run any further, he was met by a pair of arms ready to lift and embrace him just as excitedly.

Wearing a comfortable and simple black dress, Hamilton clutched the bubbly little boy in his arms and turned about the floor. "Look who's come to see me!" he said. "I've missed you!"

"I missed you, too!" Tae-min shouted, and when he was placed on the floor again, he turned his attention to the other man drawing nearer.

Demiesius' stride was cool as he approached, and as he had the past few times since overhearing someone refer to his grandfather as a sort of King to their people, Tae-min brought his arms to his sides and lowered his head in a low bow.

"Son," Min-jae laughed in embarrassment. "Stop doing that."

"But Grandfather is a King!"

"Yeah," Jeremiah huffed, "And he's also your grandfather. You don't have to do that."

"If Grandfather is King," Tae-min went on, stroking his chin in thought, "Does that make Appa a prince? That means I can be a prince, too, right?!"

Always getting a kick out of Tae-min's liveliness, Demiesius worked up a charmed smile he couldn't fight.

With the castle empty of the younger Titus boys for the time being, it was nice to have an unannounced visit from those they'd always be happy to welcome.

They stepped into a room with windows open to the night, a room Jeremiah remembered once belonged to all of his toys when he'd been small, and upon one of the sofas sat something he hadn't held in many years. It was a brown teddy bear with a patch of yellow and black sewn into each ear and button heterochromia eyes to mimic his own. It looked as though it'd seen better days.

Passing Hyun-jae off to Hamilton who was over the moon to see her, Jeremiah neared the stuffed animal he considered an old friend and looked it over .

"I was going through the toys from your childhood," Hamilton said. From all the pictures of Jeremiah when he was a kid, the bear was something that caught his eye as it seemed to travel through time alongside him. With it having been a gift from Demiesius when their boy was small, Hamilton thought it a good idea to see if it could be as meaningful to someone else.

Apparently thinking the same, Jeremiah looked the bear over before turning his eyes onto his son.

"Appa," Tae-min said, inspecting the toy with an air of curiosity. "Is that yours?"

"It was," Jeremiah nodded, glancing at Min-jae who could feel their son's rising anticipation. "And he was made just for me when I was little. At some point, I got older, and…I think he's grown a bit lonely."

"Oh…" Tae-min let out.

"Would you like to keep him company for me?"

A glimmer excited in Tae-min's dark eyes, and he nodded eagerly, gratefully receiving the bear, and he squeezed it with as much thrill as Jeremiah recalled doing when he was the same size.

"What do you say, son?" Min-jae reminded, placing a loving hand at Jeremiah's lower back.

"Thank you, Appa!" Tae-min beamed. "I'll be good to him forever!"

Jeremiah rustled his son's hair as he was watched by the fond eyes of his parents "I'm sure you will."

The hours went by gradually and joyfully as the bonds forming between them all grew deeper, and Jeremiah's heart never ceased to grow due to such continuous delight.

As his eyes passed over his parents and Min-jae, Tae-min, and his newest addition Hyun-jae, Jeremiah admired the beauty that was his rather perfect family. The times now were so different in comparison to how things had once been, and although Jeremiah spent little of his days and nights consumed by the past, he knew all of what he'd lived through up till now held some sort of significance.

The big things. The little things.

Everything mattered.

Jeremiah had been lost at one point and so much lingered in the dark of times before, but all of him had been unearthed over the decades he'd wandered, and as of now, it was safe to say he was exactly where he was meant to be.

With Min-jae, his little boy, and his beautiful baby girl; wherever they were, Jeremiah would be beside them through each and every year to come. Never would he know the chords of loneliness ever again.

All those who loved him just as equally would be sure of it.