Chapter Text
The abandoned city sprawled out in a heap of crumbling rubble and broken glass. Long grasses sprouted from gaps in the ruins and swayed in the late summer breeze.
A dead horse lay in the middle of the decrepit market square. The trio stood in a semi-circle around it, inspecting the gashes rippling across its ashen grey coat and the flurry of tracks covering the cobble street.
The smell of rot overwhelmed Xie Lian. He brought up the collar of his black tangzhuang to cover the lower half of his face. It muffled his voice when he asked, “How long do you think it’s been here?”
Feng Xin, similarly, covered his mouth with his hand. He mumbled out, “Four days- at least.”
Mu Qing crouched down to survey the intricate pattern of wounds over its body. His thin eyebrows furrowed as he said, “It was attacked by wolves,” while his finger traced the air above a series of punctures in the throat. He connected the marks like they were constellations in the horse’s skin, revealing the outline of a wolf’s mouth.
Xie Lian wasn’t scared of a potential pack of wolves. He was more than confident enough in his abilities to fight with the sword on his back, and he knew Feng Xin was just as lethal with his bow, as was Mu Qing with his saber.
No—what really worried him was the fate of the horse’s riders.
“If it was wolves, then Ayi and Qi Rong could have escaped,” he said. “We should keep looking.”
Mu Qing rose to his feet. “I don’t see any human tracks here,” he replied, crossing his arms over his chest. “They might not have escaped on her horse. We could have tracked the wrong thing.”
If it was true, it would be devastating. They’d been tracking the horse for three days with barely any sleep, and it was their only lead.
Feng Xin bristled. He’d been the one to suggest they follow its tracks, after all. “There was nothing else to follow,” he snapped. “Either they escaped on the horse, or they were captured.”
Sensing a fight rising, Xie Lian clapped his hands together. The tension in the air dissolved as they both looked away from each other.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions so fast,” he interjected with a patient smile. “Ayi’s journal said she was researching a legend in this area. For her horse to run in this direction on its own accord would be too much of a coincidence.”
Mu Qing frowned. “But why would they run this way? Wouldn’t it make more sense to run back to your family’s manor? That was in the opposite direction.”
Xie Lian’s smile fell. What he said was true—it was hard to make sense of his aunt and cousin’s actions.
For generations, his family had served as prominent monster hunters. After noticing a rise in vampire attacks, Xie Lian’s aunt and cousin had left the family manor to research anything that might mitigate their power. However, almost a week ago, the hotel they’d been staying in was attacked.
Xie Lian and his friends had scoured the scene for clues and compiled the scattered remnants of his aunt’s research notes, but they still couldn’t explain what type of monster would have ripped apart their hotel room with the fury of a tempest, or why.
Xie Lian tapped his chin. “There are two options,” he stated. “One: she was close to a discovery so big, they ran this way to continue to pursue it despite the danger they were in. Or two: whatever monster attacked them was so strong they feared bringing it to our doorstep, so they ran toward a legend that might still be able to help them.”
“What monster could be strong enough to be a threat to the Xie Manor?” Mu Qing muttered.
Feng Xin’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked about the sprawling ruins. “And what could possibly be here that would help?”
“I don’t know,” Xie Lian admitted. He swung his pack off of his shoulder and pulled out what remained of his aunt’s journal. The papers were loosely contained in a roll of leather; it was the best they could do after the book’s binding had been ripped apart.
He thumbed through the pages, hoping to find a detail that would make sense to them now that they were in the city the legend talked about. “Three hundred years ago, there was a fight here between the White Vampire King and some hero in red,” he summarized.
It was the clearest scenario they could make out in her notes.
“After the fight, it says that the hero went to sleep,” he continued. “Was she interested in that…?”
Mu Qing shook his head. “If the legend says he went to sleep, then that’s probably a euphemism for death.”
“True,” he sighed. Xie Lian shuffled through a few more pages. “She wrote that the fighting was so intense it destroyed the city,” he recited, “as both parties wielded weapons of tremendous power.” He paused. “She could have been after whatever he fought with—she wrote extensively about his sword. It looks like she was trying to figure out why it was so powerful.”
“What difference does his weapon make? If he died, it must not have helped that much.” Feng Xin sighed. “Those notes are useless. We just need to keep looking for your aunt and Qi Rong. And there’s been a lot of disturbance from the hunt here—their tracks might have been covered up, or it’s possible they were separated from the horse before it was attacked by wolves.”
Xie Lian wanted to argue. The notes were all his aunt had left behind and it hurt to think of them as useless. But they weren’t helping now, so he had to agree. He put them back into his pack. “Alright. We should split up. We can cover more ground that way.”
“Isn’t that begging for trouble?” Mu Qing chimed in. “And how will we tell each other if someone finds their tracks?”
“If it were night, then being alone in this city might be a little dangerous,” Xie Lian replied, “but we still have half a day of sunlight left. Let’s split up and search until the sun is close to the horizon. We’ll all meet back here before the sun goes down completely.”
“That’s still risky. We don’t know anything about this place,” Mu Qing argued.
“What’s your problem?” Feng Xin snapped. “There’s nothing here.”
“I’m saying that we don’t know that.” Mu Qing rolled his eyes. “Are you even listening?”
“Alright-“ Xie Lian tried to interrupt, but they weren’t listening to him anymore.
“Of course I am—and it sounds like you don’t even want to find his family.”
Mu Qing’s expression froze over. “What are you implying?”
“You hate Qi Rong. I guess it makes sense that someone like you wouldn’t risk anything to help him. Why did you even come on this trip?”
“Feng Xin,” Xie Lian hissed.
The damage was done. Mu Qing’s lips parted and he let out a bewildered laugh. “That's what you think of me?” he muttered. The muscles of his jaw twitched. “I’m sorry I don’t kiss the ground he walks on just because his blood is better than mine."
Feng Xin reeled. “That’s not what this is about-“
“That’s enough, both of you.” Xie Lian cut in. “We’re here to find Ayi and Qi Rong, and I don’t want to waste anymore daylight arguing about it. I’m going this way,” he stated, pointing down a street leading north. “You two can follow me, or go the opposite direction, or split up. It doesn’t matter. But they could be injured, and the longer we take finding them, the longer they’re in danger.”
The two silently glared at each other.
Feng Xin broke the silence first. “I’ll go west.”
Mu Qing’s expression was foul and his posture was still closed off and tense, but he replied, “Fine. I’ll go east.”
They had come from the south, so they had every direction covered.
Xie Lian nodded. “We’ll just look for a bit, and then we’ll meet back here before the sun’s set. Alright?”
Feng Xin sighed. “Yeah.”
Mu Qing didn’t reply. He just turned and started walking east.
Xie Lian resisted the urge to follow him. As much as he wanted to talk to him after that outburst, they all needed a chance to cool their heads. It would probably be best to settle any hard feelings tonight after they all had some space.
It wasn’t like it was abnormal for them to argue, anyway. They’d been a bit more venomous this time, but if there was ever a day that passed without his friends saying one harsh comment to each other, he’d die from shock.
Xie Lian waved to Feng Xin and then turned down the street. He heard their footsteps recede until there was nothing but the sound of his scabbard and pack clunking together.
He let out a sigh. The tension he’d been holding relaxed in the silence.
For a long while, the only things he found were the ancient traces of people long gone: a child’s doll left beside a collapsed wall, a faded restaurant sign advertising longevity noodles.
He continued down the chaotic mess of clearly unplanned streets as the sun dipped in the sky.
The north side of the city bordered a verdant green forest that was taking over the ruins. Trees sprouted out of the desecrated husks of houses and the cobblestone was littered with leaves and pine needles.
Xie Lian finally picked up a trail on a wide street. A line of cracked branches and the edges of footprints continued in the direction of the forest. Someone had been here recently, and Xie Lian’s chest filled with hope.
He thought of turning around and waiting until tomorrow to follow the trail with Mu Qing and Feng Xin, but he still had a few hours of light left. How could he turn away when his family might be in danger?
He followed the trail. The trees grew denser as signs of the ruined city fell away, and the shade was cool on his skin as he stepped into the deep shadows of the forest.
A steep incline thrust upwards, and he had no choice but to pant and wrestle his way past the trees and up the slope, following the scalloped marks in the mud where feet had slipped on the incline.
The earth evened out. He stopped to place his hands on his knees and catch his breath, sweat dripping off the point of his nose.
Why had this person chosen such a difficult path? If there was only one set of footprints, could it even be his aunt or cousin? Otherwise, why would they be separated?
Xie Lian wiped his face. He took another step forward as something caught his eye between the trees.
It looked like the forest was thinning out. His steps quickened as he rushed to the edge of the tree line, chasing the brilliant colors that waited just beyond all the green.
His breath stuttered.
A palace cleaved the very sky in two. Each outer wing erupted into towers with roofs like spears, their gilded tips gutting the clouds. It shone in the golden hour just before sunset, more magnificent than anything he’d ever seen.
Xie Lian edged his way out from the line of the forest. He followed the tracks to where a piece of the outer wall had collapsed and clambered through the broken opening. A barrage of floral sights and scents greeted him as he stumbled into a garden.
There were flowers of all shapes and colors. White roses trailed along the rubble and wild grasses decorated a few of the paths, giving an overgrown and abandoned look to most of the garden.
However, as Xie Lian walked on, he discovered sections that were obviously maintained; a peony bush had been cut back recently and orchids bloomed in a greenhouse, their roots trimmed to perfection.
He adventured further—out of the lattice arch interlaced with wisteria and down a gravel path. He lost the trail at this point, but if he had to venture a guess, whoever he was following was in that palace.
It must have been an imposing seat of power when it was in its prime; it would have taken five men to hug the huge red columns and still touch. A grand staircase preceded the massive main gate with two stone lions guarding the base.
Xie Lian ascended the marble stairs. The door on the right had been inched open and it swayed with the wind. He stepped into the stone yard inside. The main building of the palace towered in front of him, the stately tiered roof casting jagged shadows across the stone. He quickened his pace as he neared the large red doors that led inside; like the gate, the right one had been left open.
Inside was a darkened chamber. The ceiling was cloaked in complete shadow and every footstep echoed in the desolate space.
“Hello?” He called out into the silence. “Is anyone there?”
There was no answer. Xie Lian inched further inside, past the rows of ornamental vases, both shattered and whole, and the dilapidated furniture pushed against the walls. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he noticed paths cut from the swaths of dust that lined the white marble floor. One trail led from the door to an enormous staircase; another branched off towards the right and down the east wing of the palace.
The largest path looked the most recent. It cut from the main door to the left, where it disappeared down a set of spiral steps that led below the palace. Xie Lian’s stomach dropped as he assessed the abnormal patterns on the edge: handprints clawed at the edges of the dust. It looked like someone had been dragged.
His steps quickened as he followed the path and started down the stairs, his fingertips tracing the cool stone wall.
The darkness of the staircase was all-consuming, so Xie Lian took a small pearl from his pocket. It glimmered in the dark with a bluish-white aura, illuminating the enclosed space. He liked it better than a flashlight. Its light was unwavering and lasted for years.
Loose stone crunched beneath his feet as he reached the end of the stairs. A short hallway stretched out, surrounded by iron prison cells on both sides. Someone across the room made a small noise of discomfort and then started coughing—it sounded like a woman.
“Ayi?” Xie Lian called out. He rushed to one of the prison cells at the very end and fell to his knees.
“Xie Lian!” His aunt’s voice was hoarse and her face was pale, but she crawled forward to snake her arms through the bars of the cell. She clasped her freezing hands over his own. “How did you find me?”
“We found your horse in the ruined city south of here—Ayi, what happened to you? Are you alright? Where’s Qi Rong?”
His aunt shuddered with another coughing fit. It was too cold in the cells for her. The chill had already pierced Xie Lian’s bones, and he couldn’t imagine being stuck in here.
He wore a thinner white shirt beneath his tangzhuang, so he shook off his pack and scabbard to remove the outer layer and shoved it through the bars.
It landed in his aunt’s lap, but she barely acknowledged it. “You have to go,” she coughed, pushing his hands away from the bars. “I followed a legend to find this place—to save Qi Rong—but there’s no hero here, Xie Lian. You have to go before it finds you. It’s old and strong. You should never have made it this far.”
“What do you mean? I’m not leaving without you.”
The chill intensified.
“I’m old?” The low voice echoed from the base of the stairs as a shadow separated from the dark. “That’s not a very polite thing to say.”
A buzzing sensation filled Xie Lian’s head and he whipped to the side.
A man with a pale and elegant face stood at the end of the hall. His red robes could have easily been from the later Ming dynasty, and the round collar was pinned open to reveal more of the white inner robe beneath. His black hair was loose and cascaded well below his shoulders, giving a wild look to him.
Xie Lian should have noticed him earlier. This deep into what must be his home, he should have noticed the insane amount of power that thrummed beneath the vampire’s skin.
But he didn’t—that meant this vampire had enough skill to control the way his power projected and that—that was practically unheard of, even in the top class of monsters.
The silver jewelry adorning his neck and boots chimed as he walked closer in long strides, his hands folded casually behind his back. His carefree sneer caught Xie Lian off-guard and pinned him to the floor.
Fear had never affected him like this before. His training had hard-wired him to make quick deductions and then act; freezing up got hunters killed. But he’d never met a monster this powerful before.
He thought of the wooden stake in his pack, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of the vampire, and he didn’t dare move.
“Xie Lian,” his aunt hissed, her hands crushing his. He barely registered it.
The vampire seemed to preen at the way Xie Lian stared. His wicked smile widened to reveal the large fangs pressing against his thin lips.
“Where is my cousin?” Xie Lian asked, his voice breathless.
The vampire cocked his head to the side. “I haven’t seen a cousin,” he replied in a humored tone.
Xie Lian was already overcome with terror; it seemed impossible that he could feel any more of it. However, he couldn’t tell if the vampire was lying or not. The reality of how little control he had over the situation hit him like a tidal wave.
This vampire was too strong for him to defeat on his own. His aunt was also a hostage at this point. He needed to tread very, very carefully here.
“Alright,” Xie Lian murmured under his breath. “Why have you imprisoned my aunt, then?”
“She tried to steal something of mine,” the vampire answered. He leaned against a stone column separating the prison cells and played with the inner straps to one of the silver vambraces decorating his arms.
Xie Lian squeezed his eyes closed momentarily. “I apologize,” he whispered.
It was difficult to form the words in front of his aunt. If they escaped this, then there was no doubt he would face punishment for bowing his head to a monster he was supposed to slay.
He could already feel her silent protest in the way her fingers dug painfully into the backs of his hands.
However, his appeasement seemed to catch the vampire’s attention. His expression lit up with interest, and quicker than he could blink, the vampire was crouched in front of him.
Xie Lian’s heart pounded in his chest.
His crimson eye blazed with more intensity than a wildfire. This close, he could see beneath a frock of messy hair that his right eye was covered by a black eyepatch. “I’m not unfair,” the vampire murmured, his voice low and soothing. “I would be willing to trade for her freedom.”
Xie Lian pressed his lips together as he fought to keep his composure. His hands did not feel like they belonged to him as he wrestled them out of his aunt’s iron grip. He picked up his pearl from the floor and offered it, palm up. “This is a night pearl,” he explained. “Its light should not fade for another decade.”
The vampire picked it up like it was a mere pebble. “Expensive,” he commented, sounding bored. “But not enough.” He dropped it between them and it clattered on the stone floor.
Xie Lian swallowed as that steely gaze was turned back to him. He thought of the coral earrings he wore or the sword lying near his feet, but he already knew the answer to those, too.
“Xie Lian!” His aunt pressed her face against the bars, her eyes wide with fear. “Do not offer anything else! Beg forgiveness and ask to leave!”
He clenched his fists against his thighs. Forgive me, he pleaded silently.
“My freedom for hers,” Xie Lian whispered.
The vampire smiled the widest he’d seen yet, his teeth gleaming in the light of the night pearl. “We have a deal.”
The bars of the prison cell disappeared and his aunt fell forward. Xie Lian barely managed to catch her before she was pulled out of his grasp by the vampire. His hand latched around the back of her neck and he yanked her upwards like she was a weightless doll.
“Ayi!” he cried out, his hands reaching for her. A boot kicked him square in the chest and he sprawled backwards into the prison cell. Before he could react, the bars had reappeared.
Xie Lian lunged forward, but the bars were solid. He could only watch as the vampire dragged his aunt up the stairs while she hit him mercilessly. Her string of insults grew fainter until Xie Lian could hear nothing but the echo of his own breath in the empty space.
If the vampire honored his word, then his aunt would be set free. She could make it back to Feng Xin and Mu Qing, or at least back to his family’s manor. Help would come eventually.
But how long would that take? Could Xie Lian survive for that long?
His sword was unreachable from inside the prison cell, but he could reach one of the straps to his pack.
He dragged it close to the bars. Even though it wouldn’t fit through, he didn’t need it to. All he wanted was the wooden stake inside.
When he finished shoving the stake into his sleeve, he put his tangzhuang back on and retreated to the far wall of the cell.
Xie Lian sat with his back against the stone and curled his arms around his knees, waiting in the cold.
💀
A male voice rung out from the direction of the stairs. “It’s this way, Xuan-xiong! I know where I’m going!”
Xie Lian picked his head off of his knees. He hadn’t heard any footsteps.
The prison grew brighter with a bluish-green glow, and then a ghost fire danced into view. He blazed brighter when he came in sight of Xie Lian. “Hello!” he called joyfully.
Xie Lian clutched his trousers and blinked. “Hello,” he answered in a dull voice.
“You poor thing. Isn’t it cold down here?” The ghost fire asked in a sincere tone.
Xie Lian didn’t respond. He craned his neck to see past the side wall of his cell—the ghost fire had sounded like he was talking to someone else.
He didn’t seem to mind his silence. “Xuan-xiong, let him out already! He’ll freeze to death down here, and we have enough ghosts already.”
A man in black robes walked into view. It was another vampire.
Xie Lian’s arms tightened and he pressed back against the wall.
This vampire had mid-length black hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, heavily contrasting against his pale skin. The color of his dangling gold earrings matched his dead eyes, and he looked just as suspicious as Xie Lian.
“That isn’t my problem,” he responded dryly to the ghost fire.
“Xuan-xiong!” The ghost fire flared.
A moment of tense silence passed between them, and then the vampire relented with an exhausted sigh. “You’re dealing with the consequences when he finds out,” he grumbled.
“It’ll be fine,” the ghost fire quipped.
Instead of making the prison bars vanish like earlier, the vampire took a key from his sleeve and unlocked the cell door. He opened it wide and studied Xie Lian’s reaction with a sardonic look on his face.
Xie Lian didn’t move. His eyes darted between the ghost fire and the vampire.
The ghost fire said, “We’re not here to hurt you. I just want to help.”
“You can’t help me. I made a deal with him. If I go back on it-” he stopped himself, trying not to think of the grisly possibilities.
“We’re not freeing you,” the vampire corrected. “This fool thinks a room instead of a cell would somehow make everything better.”
Xie Lian swallowed. “Won’t he be angry if I leave here?”
“It’s not like you’re running away,” the ghost fire reasoned. “And he’ll be able to find you anywhere in the castle. But it’s terrible down here. Why make a bad situation worse?”
Xie Lian weighed his options and found that a lot of them could end in death. The ghost fire’s words made sense; if he was going to die, he’d rather be warm. “Where would you take me?” he asked.
“There are bedrooms in the east wing. You can have your pick of them.”
Xie Lian slowly rose to his feet. “Alright,” he murmured. “I’ll follow you there.”
This delighted the ghost fire. He twirled a circle around Xie Lian as he stepped out of the prison cells and collected his things scattered over the floor.
“Perfect! The rooms are huge! I’m sure you’ll love them!” The ghost fire raced towards the stairs before freezing in place.
He hovered over the first step and said, “I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Shi Qingxuan, and my friend’s name is He Xuan.”
“I’m not your friend,” the vampire snapped.
The ghost fire laughed and zipped up the stairs.
Frightened of being left alone with He Xuan, Xie Lian raced up the stairs to keep up.
He almost ran through the ghost fire when he reached the top of the stairs. He skidded to a halt just before they could touch with a sharp exhale of breath.
“What’s your name?” Shi Qingxuan asked, unfazed by the almost run-in.
“It’s—I’m Xie Lian,” he stuttered out, already having to run forward again as the ghost fire raced in the direction of the east wing.
“It’s nice to meet you!” He exclaimed.
Xie Lian sighed, unable to keep up with him. He wondered if it was rare for people to stumble into the palace.
He glanced behind before he turned the corner. He Xuan stood at the beginning of the stairs, his arms crossed over his chest. He was watching them go with a frosty expression.
Xie Lian’s pace quickened as he ran from his hard stare.
Even if Shi Qingxuan forged far ahead, he still waited for Xie Lian before turning down a different hallway, which made him easy to follow.
They arrived at a long hallway of opulent doors.
Shi Qingxuan hovered in the middle of the hallway. “You can pick any of these!”
Xie Lian began peeking in the rooms one by one; some of the bedrooms had been converted to storage and were cluttered with beautiful statues, covered paintings, and barrels and boxes of all sizes. Another had been ripped apart completely. However, a few stood untouched by time.
They were opulent spaces filled with swaths of silk and gold. The beds were massive and fanciful furniture decorated the corners. Xie Lian chose one with a wood-burning stove against one wall and an empty bookshelf on another. He collapsed on the fourposter bed shoved into the corner and let out a long sigh.
The white silk sheets were smooth and cold beneath his hands, strangely clean. Shi Qingxuan zipped between the gilded accents on the ceiling.
“This one,” Xie Lian said.
“I like it!” Shi Qingxuan commented.
His eyelids fell closed. “What time is it?” he murmured. Exhaustion dogged every muscle in his body.
“Oh,” Shi Qingxuan exclaimed. “It’s the middle of the night. You’re probably tired, aren’t you?”
Xie Lian nodded his head.
“I’ll leave you to get comfortable and sleep, then,” he said. “You should find me tomorrow if you get bored! A lot of us ghost fires like to hang around the main courtyard.”
A sinking feeling enveloped Xie Lian. “How many ghost fires are there?” he asked.
“Who knows?” Shi Qingxuan answered. “A lot. We like meeting new friends, though!” With that, he zipped through the closed door and left Xie Lian in peace.
He wondered how many people had died here.
Xie Lian shrugged off his pack and sword and dropped them at the foot of the bed. Then he placed his night pearl on the table beside the bed and lay back.
The bed felt heavenly after days of brief naps on dirt. However, his thoughts still strayed to his family. His cousin was annoying, but he worried about where he could be. If he hadn’t been with his aunt, then what happened to him? Why did his aunt mention saving him?
He also worried about his friends. If they found out Xie Lian was trapped and came to rescue him, would the vampire trap them, too?
His mind drifted as he thought of what the future could hold, and before he knew it, sleep had claimed him.
💀
Xie Lian woke with a start.
He scrambled up, his messy brown hair obscuring his vision. The top half had come out of his ribbon. His hands shook as he straightened his hair and surveyed the room, a crawling feeling of being watched prickling his skin.
His night pearl cast a small aura of light, the blue glow reflecting off the stove at the other end of the room. Xie Lian followed the dying gradient of light and studied the shadows. Finally, something moved.
The vampire in red shifted from where he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.
Xie Lian jumped, alarm coursing through his body. “Where did you take my aunt?” he asked, trying to hold on to some semblance of sanity before fear wiped his mind clean.
Now that he'd been noticed, the vampire stepped forward, the night pearl illuminating him from the right side. The light glimmered off his silver vambrace, the metal detailed with butterflies. His left eye was cast in shadow, but the red iris burned like the lit end of a cigar. “I took her to the edge of the palace, where the forest begins,” he said. “Our deal still holds.”
Xie Lian recoiled as he drew closer. His back hit the cool stone wall as he scrambled away from him on the bed.
The vampire's expression remained blank, but the corners of his lips twitched as Xie Lian retreated.
“Don’t be afraid,” he murmured, moving closer to Xie Lian. His weight shifted the mattress as he pressed his knee onto the bed.
“What do you want?” Xie Lian whispered, his breath catching as the vampire reached forward. His nails were long, sharp, and painted black. Xie Lian flinched as he cupped the side of his face and traced his cheekbone with his thumb.
“You already know,” the vampire replied, his voice silky and hypnotic. His hand strayed further, collecting his messy hair and pushing it behind his ear to clear his neck.
Xie Lian shut his eyes for a moment, repressing a full-body shudder. He did know.
The vampire paused. His eye had been half-lidded, but now it widened with interest as he rolled Xie Lian’s earring between his fingers. “You didn’t offer this,” he murmured.
“You wouldn’t have taken it,” Xie Lian whispered.
A puff of exhaled air and a crooked smile were the only signs of the vampire’s laughter. “No, I wouldn’t have,” he agreed.
He finished clearing his hair away from his neck and then his hand strayed lower, his nails digging into the top cord of the frog buttons on Xie Lian’s tangzhuang. He popped off the first two and then drew the collar of his shirt to the side.
Xie Lian shivered as cold air settled over his skin. “Are you going to kill me?” he asked in a hollow voice.
His fingers traced the wooden stake tucked into his sleeve.
“No,” the vampire said in a humored tone. “What a waste that would be.”
Xie Lian’s hand tensed; he wanted nothing more than to kill this vampire for daring to touch him. His heart hammered in his chest as he thought of the mechanics of it: what angle he’d need to stab, how fast he’d have to move.
He wasn’t sure if he could do it.
This vampire exuded power like nothing he’d ever seen before, and he hadn’t forgotten how quickly he’d moved down in the cells.
But his low voice echoed in his mind: What a waste that would be.
As much as he loathed the thought of being a blood bag for a monster, Xie Lian had to admit that if the vampire wasn’t planning on killing him, then a half-baked attack would just be foolish at this point.
His hand relaxed. Feng Xin and Mu Qing weren’t here right now. If he could figure out a way to escape, then he didn’t have to tell them about this.
Despite his resolve, shame coiled deep in his gut like it had made a home there.
The vampire leaned in, his hand firmly holding his shoulder in place. His other hand snaked through the hair on the side of Xie Lian’s head and guided him to expose his neck.
He flinched at the feeling of the vampire’s breath on his skin.
“Shh,” he soothed, his thumb rubbing a small crescent on Xie Lian’s shoulder. “Your heart is beating so fast,” he marveled. “I promise it won’t hurt that much.”
Xie Lian closed his eyes and swallowed.
He froze as lips pressed against the side of his throat, soft and dully warm. Two sharp points pressed against his skin.
There was a frozen moment where time fractured. Xie Lian felt as if he stood on the precipice of a great cliff.
The vampire bit into his neck.
Xie Lian’s eyes shot open and he grunted from the sharp bloom of pain. He flinched back, his legs kicking out as he tried to wrestle his way out of the vampire’s grip. He pressed his hands against his chest and pushed, but it was useless. The vampire’s hands were like iron, and his fingertips squeezed bruises into his skin as he drank from Xie Lian’s neck.
After a few moments of fighting, Xie Lian gave up with a whimper. Despite what the vampire said, it hurt. His neck ached from the force of the vampire’s bite and he held him with crushing force.
He could only ball his fists up in the vampire’s robes and try to regulate his breathing to ignore the pain: in through his nose, out through his mouth. He counted the seconds.
Next to his ear, he could hear lewd gulping as the vampire swallowed. At some point his mouth fluttered and he dug deeper, ripping agony into Xie Lian’s throat.
He groaned in pain and slapped his hand over the vampire’s face, trying to push him away again. But he could feel himself growing weaker and the fidgeting only jolted the teeth in his neck. “Stop,” he pleaded, his voice tinged with panic.
A low growl came from the vampire’s throat, savage and inhuman.
Just as Xie Lian’s mind was enveloped by a cottony fog, the vampire relented.
He gasped as his neck was released abruptly, the sharp pain dulling to an uncomfortable ache.
The vampire’s breath was ragged against his skin as he hovered above Xie Lian. His hands shook against his shoulders as he seemed to hesitate, caught in between two desires.
A sinking feeling settled in Xie Lian's gut and he gripped the stake tighter.
Regaining control of himself, the vampire's hands released. Then he jerked back as if touched by fire and fled the room.
Xie Lian stared at the door as it slammed shut behind him. His brain was fuzzy and he felt dizzy; instead of trying to think about the sudden departure, he lay back down on the bed, his hand snaking up to cover the bite wound on his neck. It throbbed with pain, the ache foreign to him.
He breathed shallowly against the sheets as sleep came for him. His thoughts were a muddy swirl of pain; at some point he lost the line of where his memories ended and his nightmares began.