Chapter 50
The room’s lighting was dim. Fu Xia stared at Xie Yan’s face and saw a look of contemplation pass over it.
Xie Yan lowered his head, and Fu Xia could feel him shift some of his weight onto her hand. Their proximity increased. Fu Xia could clearly see his eyes gradually turn blood-red in the darkness.
“I can agree to your request,” Xie Yan said. “But you must swear to me that you will not bring me any greater trouble.”
Fu Xia smoothly lowered her hand and gave Xie Yan a brilliant smile. “If my sanity remains intact, I will.”
Xie Yan frowned, once again considering whether Fu Xia could maintain her composure.
“My initial goal in all of this was just to protect myself,” Fu Xia said slowly. “And, as the one giving the Embrace, shouldn’t you have ample control over me?”
She raised her hands and cupped Xie Yan’s face, cutting off his excessive thinking.
“It’s settled then,” Fu Xia said. “When are you free? Tonight? Right now?”
Xie Yan looked at her, at how she couldn’t wait to be turned.
“We need to establish a link first,” he said, taking her hands from his face and intertwining their fingers. “The earliest we can do the turning is tomorrow night.”
In that moment, his shy, socially anxious state completely vanished, replaced by the hardness and coldness of a Vampire Prince.
“The turning requires a great deal of physical energy,” Xie Yan said, pressing her hand to the side of her face. His eyelashes trembled, and his breathing was a little ragged. “From now on, maintain your best possible condition.”
If they were lucky, they could continue their doubles matches in the playoffs the night after tomorrow.
After about a minute, Xie Yan let her go. The man got to his feet with startling speed. His suit was now heavily wrinkled. He quickly straightened his clothes, the dim light hiding his slightly flushed face.
Fu Xia touched her own face. “I don’t feel anything.”
“…You should go and rest,” Xie Yan said.
Fu Xia was in a state of excitement, so of course, she didn’t feel anything. But Xie Yan was different. He could feel her emotions at that moment.
Her objective achieved, Fu Xia left the room without a hint of reluctance. Xie Yan’s gaze followed her until she disappeared from sight before he lowered his head and pressed the back of his hand to his own cheek.
…
Fu Xia walked through the long corridor, where light and shadow intertwined.
Her steps were light, her shadow dancing on the floor. If the timing hadn’t been so inappropriate, she would have struck a triumphant pose and declared, “Life is a piece of cake.”
The time was set for tomorrow night.
Fu Xia had no fear of death. On the contrary, she was extremely confident about her transformation.
…She had already secured the safest Prince for the job. If this didn’t work, then she was truly out of options.
Fu Xia pushed open the door to her temporary room. Moonlight streamed in through the large, arched European-style window. She looked out.
A nearly full moon hung in the sky. A figure was sitting in a tree, its shadow stretched long and thin.
Fu Xia opened the window.
The young man in the tree, with his emerald-green eyes, tilted his head.
“So you can climb trees too,” she said.
Pei Wang tilted his head again. “It’s simple.”
Fu Xia smiled. “After tomorrow night, I’ll be one of you.”
He watched her quietly for a moment, his gaze unwavering. “After you’re turned, I will help you.”
Pei Wang could teach her the strongest fighting techniques. He knew that a human turned mid-way, wanting to become the next Progenitor, would face many obstacles. Before that, he would clear all of them for her.
Fu Xia propped her elbows on the windowsill, her chin in her hands. “Thank you.”
She didn’t know if Yan Zhu and the others had instilled a sense of crisis in this arrogant Prince, or if it was for some other reason, but after the incident at the theater, Pei Wang had become almost like a puppy.
Vampires do have a bit of a conscience, Fu Xia thought. At least since I helped him once, he’s no longer obsessed with getting my heart.
“Pei Wang,” Fu Xia asked, “if I need your heart’s blood, can you give it to me?”
Pei Wang stared at her, then pushed himself up. “…Enjoy your last day of sunshine tomorrow.”
From her understanding of him, that meant yes.
She leaned out, waving at the vampire who had landed lightly on the ground. “Good night!
…
As agreed, Fu Xia arrived at the designated location at nine o’clock.
Yan Zhu was with her. Pei Wang was outside, clearing out any vampires who tried to interfere with the transformation.
Fu Xia pushed the door open and saw a heavy coffin lying silently in the center of the room. Moving closer, she could see it was lined with soft padding. She stood to the side and asked curiously, “Won’t the blood get everywhere?”
Yan Zhu squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. “It’s okay. You basically won’t feel anything special.”
On the other side of the coffin stood Xie Yan, dressed in a silk shirt. His physique was excellent, the prominent muscles making it hard to look away.
The man cleared his throat. “No. I will drink it.”
Yan Zhu bent down, bringing his eyes level with hers—he wasn’t wearing a mask today, and his heterochromatic eyes showed a hint of concern.
“…If something goes wrong, I’ll come and save you.”
Fu Xia nodded and ruffled his hair.
And so, the young vampire dizzily went outside to wait.
Fu Xia and Xie Yan looked at each other. She nimbly hopped into the coffin, spread her hands, tilted her head to the side, and said, “Let’s do this!”
Xie Yan: “…”
Why is she so excited?
Xie Yan spent half a minute mentally preparing himself before stepping into the coffin.
The power of Empathy had already begun to work. Xie Yan could feel Fu Xia’s nervousness; her heart was pounding, sending healthy blood to every part of her body.
…But soon, her heart would stop beating.
Xie Yan placed his hands on her shoulders.
He precisely located the artery in her neck. The vampire opened his mouth, and his poised fangs pierced her skin as easily as cutting through butter. Venom was injected, spreading through her body with her blood.
The person beneath him made an instinctive move to flee. His hunting instinct made Xie Yan tighten his grip, pinning her firmly in his arms.
Sweet blood flooded his mouth.
Xie Yan’s eyes instantly turned blood-red. If Fu Xia could have seen him then, she would have seen a danger in his eyes that had never been there before.
But she couldn’t.
She felt a burning sensation, just like when Xie Rin had bitten her. The heat was almost igniting her. Fu Xia instinctively sought out something cool and clung tightly to the other occupant of the coffin.
Xie Yan took several deep breaths.
Xie Yan could feel her emotions fluctuating from the toxin, and Fu Xia could feel his heart pounding with excitement from her blood. The two similar emotions intertwined, and soon, amidst the dizziness, Fu Xia felt a powerful thirst.
She needed to touch.
Her blood was draining away, yet the heat in her body was intensifying. She felt a hand much larger than her own on her body, gently exploring in circles, as if to draw out all the heat from within her.
“I feel so hot,” Fu Xia said dizzily.
Xie Yan’s voice was a little hoarse. “Mhm, it’ll be over soon.”
He pressed his index and middle fingers together, slowly relieving some of her pressure. Because of his ability, Xie Yan knew exactly where Fu Xia liked it. His own cheeks were flushed with pleasure.
But the blood loss was making Fu Xia’s mind drift. She felt light, as if her soul had left her body. She saw the dark-haired man covering her completely. In the narrow coffin, their breaths and movements were in sync.
Just as Fu Xia’s consciousness was about to fade completely with the loss of blood, she felt a cool touch on her lips.
Xie Yan had cut his own neck. He held the back of her head, pressing her against the wound, feeding the blood of a Vampire Prince into her mouth.
His hand trembled as he did this. Pleasure, pain, excitement… all the sensations converged in his mind, leaving him in a state of chaos. His inner desires urged him to bite through Fu Xia’s throat, to drain her completely. The overly sweet scent filled the small space.
But Xie Yan knew he couldn’t.
His ability told him that if he took one more sip, they would both fall into an eternal sleep in this coffin… Ah, that doesn’t sound so bad, does it?
Xie Yan quickly banished the terrifying thought. The Vampire Prince who loathed physical contact now only wanted to hold her tightly, to share the same body temperature.
All the sounds of the outside world faded away. Hot and cold alternated within her body.
Fu Xia greedily drank the blood of another vampire, only stopping when her brain screamed a warning.
She dazedly lifted her hand.
Her skin… seemed to have turned paler.
Her senses had also changed. Fu Xia found she could even hear the anxious footsteps pacing back and forth outside the door.
Xie Yan took a breath. He awkwardly propped himself up on his elbows. He had lost a lot of blood to her, and his lips were now pale. He looked away, hiding his wet fingers behind his back. “…It’s done.”
Fu Xia stared at the side of his neck, a strange itchiness in her gums where her fangs were. She swallowed several times.
The next second, Fu Xia grabbed him, pushed him back down, and her leg brushed against something. Xie Yan let out a gasp.
This Empathy was… sheer torture.
He now needed to take care of his physical problem, but as he lifted his hips and looked down at the behemoth, he realized he was very likely to lose control. Under the doubled effect of their shared sensations, either he would devour Fu Xia, or Fu Xia would devour him.
“Not yet,” he said, holding her face, fighting his own urges. “Hold back, Fu Xia.”
Fu Xia closed her eyes.
To stop the “food” from tempting her further, she quickly climbed out of the coffin—the beast’s instincts were warring in her mind, but she remembered what she needed to obtain.
In the cool moonlight streaming into the room, Fu Xia saw her own reflection in a mirror: blood-red eyes and sharp fangs.
…So hungry.
Xie Yan’s blood hadn’t been enough to satisfy her. Hunger burned in her stomach. She desperately needed to drink warm blood to satisfy her appetite, to warm her body.
“I need to feed,” Fu Xia said.
Xie Yan pushed the door open. “You will.”
As the door swung open, Fu Xia heard Yan Zhu’s excited hiss, felt Pei Wang’s gaze on her, and saw the faces of the vampires under the moonlight.
Xie Yan’s hand rested lightly on her shoulder.
“…Now, go and begin your first hunt.”