Page 73 of Fang Fiction

“What do your books say about it?”

“Not much. Just that Konstantin preferred you and Octavia, that you were his only sires, his favorites. The books make it seem like Felix was trying to protect the vampires on the Isle from you.”

Callum sighed. “The first bit is right—Konstantin did prefer us. To be honest, we never paid Felix much thought. He was always trying to push his agenda on Konstantin: his idea for a vampire hierarchy, sheriffs, order, that whole scheme. Felix said it was a way to expand Konstantin’s power, but Konstantin never wanted that. He liked to keep a lean operation, move in the shadows, do what he pleased.”

“And make you do what he pleased,” Tess pointed out.

“True,” Callum acknowledged. “As long as Octavia and I did what Konstantin wanted, there was no question about the pecking order—it was us first, then Felix far behind. No matter how hard he worked, he wasn’t as powerful as us, and he wasn’t Konstantin’s blood sire, either.”

“That must have driven him crazy.”

“Expect it did, poor lad.” Callum smiled grimly. “But things changed when Vee and I fell out with Konstantin.”

“Wait, did that happen in Korea? In Seoul?” Tess asked.

“Yes.” Callum looked alarmed. “Was that in Blood Feud, or did Felix tell you?”

“No, neither,” Tess assured him. “Octavia mentioned it in one of her notes. But it didn’t seem relevant to getting off the Isle, so I didn’t think anything of it.”

“It was her idea to go to Korea, back in the late nineties,” Callum said. “Nineteen nineties, that is.”

“Thank you for clarifying.” Tess smiled. “You’d never been?”

“It was easier to stay close to Europe, in case Konstantin needed us. Longer flights are hard to navigate with daylight—especially before you could just look up a flight schedule online,” Callum explained. “And our father…”

“He was Korean, right?” Tess asked. “A ship worker?”

Callum nodded. “We knew nothing about him, and the name Yoo was far too common to track. We looked different from every other kid in the orphanages, every worker at the factories, every aristocrat Konstantin introduced us to, and none of them let us forget it. We found the best way to deal with the looks and the comments was just to ignore them, act like we were exactly the same as everyone else, even though of course we weren’t. We felt like our father abandoned us, left us to the care of strangers with nothing but a target on our faces.”

“What a horrible feeling,” Tess murmured. “What changed? What made you want to go to Korea?”

“Do you know about the Hallyu?” he asked. “The Korean wave?”

“Vaguely,” Tess answered. “This one girl I knew in college was super into K-pop.”

“Korean culture was exploding, reaching us in Europe far more than ever before. Vee and I started watching K-dramas, then we met a Korean expat in Paris who introduced us to Korean music—and we loved it. We felt like we had to be a part of it. So we figured out a series of night flights, and we just went.”

“What was it like?” Tess asked.

A hazy pleasure fell over Callum’s face—Tess had never seen him look so relaxed.

“Every place we went, we felt like we belonged. Vee made friends with designers, musicians, artists, like she always did. Eating the food, traveling the country, meeting all these people, even a few vampires—we couldn’t get enough. We started coming back more and more, staying for longer periods of time. And being so far from Konstantin…”

“He didn’t have so much power over you,” Tess said quietly. “The distance gave you freedom.”

“Precisely.” Callum eyed her. “It was the first time we felt like we could be ourselves, make our own choices instead of only ever obeying him. So around ten years after that first visit, he asked us to come to London to do something for him, and we just…didn’t.”

“I bet he loved that,” Tess muttered.

“Yeah, hardly. He turned up in Seoul a few days later, told us he’d never been so disappointed in anyone, to have his own sires turn our backs when he needed us most.”

“Needed you?” Tess was puzzled. “What for?”

Callum sighed. “He said he was working on something big—biggest thing he’d ever planned. Said he couldn’t do it without me, that I owed him for all he’d done for me and Vee. So I agreed to go with him, but only if Vee could stay in Seoul.”

“You protected her.” Tess shook her head with wonder. “Of course you did.”

Callum looked up at Tess—there was an intensity in his gaze she couldn’t quite read, but it made her whole body feel warm.