Chapter 21: The Vampire’s Prey (21)
Screak.
The door was pushed open. A chill slipped in, drifting past.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Unhurried footsteps drew closer.
A well-defined hand nonchalantly parted the layers of fine gauze bed curtains.
The movement was light, like pulling the ribbon off a gift box.
The much-anticipated gift was slowly revealed.
A joyful light danced in a pair of deep phoenix eyes, but upon seeing the scene within the bed, it suddenly froze. The excitement and pleasure had not yet faded before they were overlaid with a layer of astonishment.
As if he had received an unexpected gift.
He slowly narrowed his eyes, as if only just noticing the strangeness of the room.
He took in the various suggestive, romantic decorations, the young woman’s jade-like body sprawled on the soft bed, and the lingering, sweet scent of aromatherapy.
Xue Zhu’s expression was peculiar, his eyebrow slightly raised.
“What is that old fool from the Xie family playing at…”
He saw the young woman’s large expanse of smooth, delicate skin.
The red candlelight flickered.
Wisps of ambiguous firelight reflected on her porcelain-like body, like numerous greedy, caressing ghost hands.
The young woman struggled to sit up, as if the effects of the drug had not yet worn off.
Her small face was pale, weak, and tearful. Her slender figure, under the warm orange light, exuded a honey-like sweetness.
She looked over timidly, her voice as soft as a kitten’s.
“Senior? What’s going on?”
Xue Zhu stared at her for a long moment, then suddenly curved his lips into a bewitching smile. “Don’t you understand yet?”
His low, husky voice held an imperceptible, teasing quality.
He leaned in and tipped her chin up.
“Your father, your family… they’ve offered you to me.”
“…What?”
The young woman was stunned for two seconds. In disbelief, tears fell from her translucent eyes, clinging to her pale cheeks like magnolia petals scattered by a storm.
Seeing her like this, Xue Zhu’s long, narrow phoenix eyes curved, the smile within them deepening.
There was a hint of mischief in his expression. He looked less like a villain who preyed on the innocent and more like a pervert who had gotten into character and was enjoying playing the part.
“…”
Something’s not right.
Yu Jiao slowly stopped her tears. Her glistening grey eyes gradually grew cold.
She clicked her tongue.
Shedding her delicate, alluring disguise, she grabbed Xue Zhu’s tie and pulled him closer.
With an almost submissive posture, Xue Zhu bent at the waist, bracing his arms on the bed on either side of her legs.
Although she held the upper hand, he didn’t look flustered at all. Instead, he smiled composedly.
They were extremely close, their gazes colliding, their breaths mingling.
“You knew.”
Yu Jiao’s voice was cold but certain.
As if amused by her change in demeanor, Xue Zhu’s lips curved, and he complained, half-joking, half-serious:
“Ah, is it over so soon?”
He seemed to want more. “I wanted to admire your acting for a little longer.”
As he spoke, his long fingers twirled a strand of her hair.
Yu Jiao swatted his hand away and asked coolly, “How did you find out?”
Xue Zhu’s eyes curved. “You want to know?”
“No.”
Yu Jiao sneered and shoved him away.
Going with her force, Xue Zhu leaned back. His deep phoenix eyes were fixed on her. The hand that had been twirling her hair suddenly slid down and seized her wrist.
Yu Jiao was pulled down with him by the inescapable force.
Like a folding fan, snapping open and shut.
The two of them fell onto the cashmere carpet.
Yu Jiao landed heavily on top of him, using him as a human cushion.
—This seemed to have been his intention.
He lay beneath her, a suave smile still on his face. However, his overly dramatic, rich features gave him a demonic, inhuman quality.
“Now,” he said meaningfully, “do you understand?”
Yu Jiao frowned.
A flash of insight, and she instantly understood what he meant.
—The Holy Medicine she had taken that day was supposed to transfer harm. But when he fell just now, she, as his follower, had felt no pain at all.
“You tampered with the Holy Medicine?”
Xue Zhu smiled, neither confirming nor denying.
Yu Jiao understood. “So, the effect of the Holy Medicine isn’t to transfer your harm to me, but to transfer my harm to you?”
“No,” she immediately dismissed the theory. “I still felt pain the day I was kidnapped by Xie Ning.”
She frowned in thought, forgetting that she was still lying on top of her ‘human cushion.’
Her cool, long hair fell, brushing against his face. The ticklish sensation seemed to spread all the way to his heart.
Looking at her serious expression, Xue Zhu’s lips curved. “You guessed correctly. The Holy Medicine injected into the prey was indeed tampered with by me. All the harm they receive will be transferred to me.”
Yu Jiao looked up in surprise, her mind reeling.
This man is truly insane… she thought. He tortures and kills the specially-admitted students chosen as prey, but he also feeds them a tampered Holy Medicine.
Like a boomerang.
The harm he inflicts ultimately returns to him.
Yu Jiao didn’t understand why he would do this, but trying to apply logic to a madman was clearly a fool’s errand.
So she just listened quietly as he said:
“The ‘Holy Medicine’ that can transfer harm is a diluted, inferior product. What you took, however, was my pure heart’s blood.”
He stared at her, took her hand, and guided it to his lips.
As he spoke, his warm breath washed over her fingertips.
“First stage: you drink my blood, and I can share your pain.”
With that, he enclosed her fingertips in his mouth, his sharp canines grinding and biting down gently.
A tingling numbness spread from her fingertips, but it didn’t hurt.
However, his soft, hot lips and tongue gave her a sense of a sticky, inescapable danger.
A shiver ran down her back.
“Second stage,” he said, his mouth still on her fingertips, his gaze like a damp fog.
Like a frog in slowly boiling water, the hunter was tightening his cage.
Belatedly, Yu Jiao felt a sharp pain in her fingertip—he had bitten through the skin.
The pain shot through her.
“I drink your blood, and you can share my pain.”
He stared at her without blinking.
Slowly, he sucked, licked, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he drank her blood.
“Only then is it complete.”
Yu Jiao impassively pulled her index finger from his wet mouth.
Xue Zhu looked at her, his gaze heavy. He darted out his blood-stained tongue and licked his lips, a bewitching smile slowly blooming on his face.
“This is the oldest secret technique of the Xue family. It’s less a curse and more a contract.”
Yu Jiao couldn’t care less about any secret technique.
All she knew was that this explained it: why she hadn’t exposed any flaws, yet he had still seen through her identity. Because when she was kidnapped by Xie Ning, she was in the first stage, and had shared her pain with him.
However…
Yu Jiao got off of him and sat on his firm, lean abdomen.
—It was a position that could easily lead to sparks flying, but there was no lust between them, just two blocks of ice pressed together.
Yu Jiao lowered her eyelids, looking down at him.
“It sounds like a very romantic contract,” she said coolly.
As she spoke, her face was expressionless, and she wiped her fingers, which he had just licked, clean on his shirt.
His expensive suit shirt was instantly wrinkled, stained with a few damp spots and blood.
“Let’s cooperate,” Yu Jiao said suddenly.
Her expression was cold as she slowly smoothed the few scraps of fabric of her slip dress.
She was assuming a negotiating posture.
Xue Zhu lay leisurely on the carpet. Hearing her words, his eyebrow arched, a look of pleasure in his eyes. “Tell me more.”
Yu Jiao leaned in close.
Her heartless grey eyes stared at him without blinking.
“Since you are the one who initiated this contract of shared pain, then I demand a contract of a social and legal nature.”
Yu Jiao tilted her head. “That’s not too much to ask, is it?”
“Of course not,” Xue Zhu smiled and nodded, a dark red spark dancing in his eyes, ready to ignite a fierce blaze.
And Yu Jiao’s next words were the kindling—
“Let’s get married.”
The quietly burning candle suddenly sputtered, spitting out a few sparks.
The wax at its heart overflowed, sliding down in a sensual, gradually solidifying trail.
The young woman’s expression was impassive.
The way she made her proposal had nothing to do with words like ‘falling in love’ or ‘growing old together.’
Xue Zhu watched her quietly.
The young woman bent her elbows and rested on his chest, their bodies once again pressed tightly together.
She reached out a cunning finger and tapped his left breast, where his heart should have been silent and decaying.
“Since you’re seeking death anyway, you might as well do me a favor—”
“Don’t worry,” she promised sweetly. “On the anniversary of your death every year, I will be sure to burn paper offerings for you. For the rest of my life, I will inherit your vast fortune and supreme power, and I will live on, strong.”
“…”
Xue Zhu burst out laughing, his face radiant.
He narrowed his eyes and said, “But, you know, the thought of being with you for a long, long time… suddenly makes me not want to die so much anymore.”
He reached out a large hand and caught her mischievous one, slowly tightening his grip.
“How could I bear to let you be my widow?” he said with a soft laugh.
“That’s wonderful,” Yu Jiao said.
As if locking a lock, she intertwined her fingers tightly with his.
She gave a sarcastic smile. “Then we can spend the rest of our lives torturing each other.”
The candlelight danced joyfully.
“In that case, this engagement is quite tempting,” Xue Zhu sighed. “So, what are your conditions?”
The young woman’s indifferent grey eyes were like cooled wax.
She said, “I want you to protect the Xie twins.”
The candlelight was dim.
Xue Zhu let out a soft “ah.” “So my fiancée has other men in her heart.”
He said it like a spoiled child, his tone aggrieved.
“I’m so sad.”
As he spoke, the smile remained on his demonic face, his gaze like a deep, frozen sea.
Yu Jiao pushed him away.
She stood up completely.
Xue Zhu propped himself up on his arms and sat lazily on the floor.
He watched her gracefully trim the wick of the nearly extinguished candle. Her figure was elegant, her proportions perfect, as beautiful as a meticulously carved jade tree.
Without turning her head, she said with a light laugh:
“Don’t worry. Even if my heart is full, I will always leave a small corner for my hatred of you.”
A thick shadow fell over her from behind. His aggressive aura enveloped her.
Xue Zhu, impeccably dressed, stood behind her, lifted a strand of her long hair with an almost pious reverence, and pressed a light kiss to it.
He curled his lip. “My honor.”
Pervert.
Yu Jiao clicked her tongue.
…
After arranging a time for him to pick her up the next day, Xue Zhu strolled away.
Yu Jiao let down her guard and threw herself onto the large, soft bed.
Her gaze was distant as she stared at the high canopy.
—Although I expected it… this feeling of being passed around like an object is still very unpleasant.
Yu Jiao snorted.
Sooner or later, I’ll make that old fool Xie pay.
Yu Jiao closed her eyes.
Suddenly, a knock came at the door.
011’s deep voice came through, filled with a restrained concern. “…Miss?”
“Come in.”
With her permission, the door was gently opened and closed. Light, hesitant footsteps approached.
Yu Jiao was lying on the bed with her eyes closed, spread-eagled, as if utterly exhausted.
The slip dress was very thin, leaving a large expanse of skin exposed. She looked like a medium-rare steak on a platter, oozing a rich, enticing juice.
The air seemed to be filled with a sweet, metallic scent.
011’s gaze was as if burned. He immediately looked away, his eyes respectfully fixed on the floor.
Suddenly, a soft rustling sound.
A smooth, pale foot stepped onto the soft wool carpet. It was like a jade carving, the joints even tinged with a faint pink, as exquisite as an expensive candy in a shop window.
A cool, crystalline candy that would taste sweet if one licked it.
011’s breath caught. He lowered his head even further, but the beautiful feet were still unavoidably burning in his vision.
Yu Jiao sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at the inexplicably rigid 011.
She sneered, “Did the old man send you to interview me about my after-experience?”
An indescribable bitterness welled up in 011’s heart. “No…”
Yu Jiao cut him off without mercy. “Please inform him that I am terribly sorry, but I was unable to lure the limitless Young Master Xue into bed.”
011 closed his eyes, unable to bear it. “Miss…”
His tone irritated her. She kicked him. “Enough. Shut up.”
The young woman’s pale, beautiful foot landed on the man’s abdomen.
Though the force was light, a suppressed grunt escaped him.
“Was that really necessary?”
Yu Jiao tilted her head, her gaze sweeping over him suspiciously.
The blank mask hid the man’s expression, but the tips of his exposed ears were a suspicious red.
He stood rigidly, like a melting wax statue.
Suddenly, as if realizing something, the young woman smiled.
As if she had seen something extremely amusing, her eyes and the corners of her mouth were filled with a light, teasing smile.
—She had never considered any man other than the capture targets as a member of the opposite sex.
She never thought…
Yu Jiao tapped her lips and chuckled.
Her bare foot once again moved towards the respectfully bowing, tight-fisted, and rigid 011.
Though it was a humiliating posture, the tall man accepted it completely, without a word of complaint. It was unclear whether it was out of loyalty or if he was enjoying it…
The pale foot landed on the pure black uniform, creating a sensual indentation.
Though the movement was light and soft, it seemed to create an invisible explosion of energy, a powerful, swirling vortex of desire.
Yu Jiao propped her head on her hand and beckoned to him with her finger.
“Come here.”