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“It’s fine,” Yichen said. At least he tried, but the pain increased, and his knees buckled. Xiao Dan jumped to his side, grabbing one arm to support him while Rei gave up on holding the stone to take his other arm.
They ushered him over to a long sofa to sit while Yichen held the stone to his chest with both hands.
“I’ve started a timer on my phone,” Moon announced. “Zelda said to give it one hour.”
“I have some leftover soup that will help you feel better. I’ll go warm it up,” Ming Yu volunteered, hurrying off to the kitchen.
While the idea of Ming Yu’s soup sounded lovely and warm, what he was craving was blood. Hot, full-bodied, rich blood sliding down his throat. After millennia as a vampire, his body demanded blood every time he was in pain. Blood always took the pain away and returned his strength. It made everything better.
But he had to wait.
He raised his eyes to find a pale Junjie staring at the woven cloth in front of him, his trembling fingers inching toward it.
“Stop,” he snapped, his eyes narrowed at Jun-Jun. “This hurts like hell, but I won’t die.”
Junjie’s lips parted, but no sound came out as he gazed at Yichen.
“Chen, can you put that back in his room? We know Xiang is alive and dealing with a dragon in the human realm. We don’t need Jun-Jun to use his power anymore tonight.”
“No! I’ve got it!” Junjie snatched up the cloth, but Chen pulled it from his fingers.
“I can handle it,” Chen reassured him. “You stay with Yichen.” The second Chen had the cloth, he disappeared down the hall, leaving Jun-Jun glaring at him.
“Bossy Prince Yichen,” Junjie snarled, which only made Yichen smirk at him despite the pain. Junjie hadn’t called him that in centuries.
“That’s right!” Rei gasped. “You’ve told me a few stories of when you were young, but most were when you were older and already a vampire.” The damn elf snuggled against him and tipped his face to Xiao Dan. “Was he a spoiled bossy prince when he first arrived at your clan?”
Xiao Dan cleared his throat, his eyes darting away. It was Junjie who answered.
“Yes! So freaking bossy. He couldn’t understand why he didn’t have his own room and his own servants to see to his needs.”
“Or why he had to eat the same food as everyone else,” Chen added as he returned to the room.
“But he was more concerned with why he had to wear the same robes as the other new disciples and not his own family colors,” Xiao Dan commented. “It…it was an adjustment for everyone.”
“Assholes. You’re all assholes,” Yichen muttered, but there was zero heat to his comment. He could see straight through Rei. The elf might genuinely be interested in his past, but the point was to take everyone’s mind off the stone sucking the fae magic from his body.
“Sometimes, I think you were picking fights out of boredom,” Chen said as he sat across from Yichen. Moon cuddled close, wrapping his arms around Chen’s waist while resting his head on his shoulder. The former witch appeared both exhausted and happy to be right where he was.
“Now you’re confusing me with Xiang.” Yichen shook his head as he changed hands holding the stone to his chest. Some of the pain had dulled, making it easier to concentrate on what they were saying. “He’s the one who wanted to fight everyone.”
“True, but he didn’t do that out of boredom,” Xiao Dan corrected him. “He did it because he thought it was amusing.”
Yichen huffed a weak laugh. “Sounds right. Remind me to kick him when we get him back from the dragon.”
Xiao Dan launched into a story of a time when all the disciples had hurried to the plum orchard to help with the harvest, and it had developed into a competition into who could climb highest into the trees. Chen added another story of Yichen, Xiang, and some of the other disciples getting caught sneaking food out of the kitchen during the middle of the night.
From there, the stories tumbled out from nearly all the vampires. The only one who couldn’t add to their tales was Mei Lian, since she hadn’t joined their clan until Jiang Chong had descended on them and turned those survivors into vampires. But she laughed with the rest of them and demanded more stories.
The screech of Moon’s alarm filled the space, causing them all to jump. Moon fumbled with his phone, almost sending it flying across the room before he turned off the alarm.
“Remove the stone,” Xiao Dan ordered.
Happily. Yichen lifted it from his chest and pulled it out from under his T-shirt. The dark-green color had faded to a green jade while the red flecks seemed to have increased in size. He handed it off to Rei, who hummed and pressed it to his cheek.
“It worked,” he declared. He closed his eyes and continued to nuzzle the stone. “I can feel the energy from my home in it. It’s like a little pick-me-up. Even better, because it also smells like you.”
“Wu Yichen.”
