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The words had tumbled from Xiao Dan’s lips, and the stranger twisted his hand. A sickening crack of bone echoed through the silence. Zimo’s body fell limp as a doll’s with instantaneous death.
“Waste. If this is what your sect has to offer, you will be of no use to the emperor,” the stranger muttered, tossing Zimo’s corpse aside like a piece of trash.
“No!” Yichen roared. “How could you? Bastard!” Yichen took a step forward to charge the murderer, but Chen grabbed him and held him, not allowing him to get any closer.
Xiao Dan jumped in front of both of them as the man’s eyes snapped to Yichen, blocking his view. “Please no, Master. He’s young and doesn’t understand what is happening. Please allow us to guide him. Wu Yichen will be of great use to the emperor.”
“Be silent and bow your head,” Chen ordered directly into Yichen’s ear. “Do it.”
Everything inside of him wanted to rage and argue, but the fear and tension rolling off Xiao Dan and Chen could not be missed. They were genuinely terrified for his life.
“Please,” Chen added in a barely-there whisper. His arms squeezed Yichen a little tighter, as if in a hug.
“Forgive me,” Yichen mumbled as he lowered his head. But he stopped when his gaze caught on the curl of Chen’s upper lip, revealing a sharp tooth that appeared to be a fang. He glanced up to find that Chen’s dark-brown eyes had paled, his expression a mix of pain and rage.
“Fine. Whatever. Call all the clan together. We’re weeding out the useless tonight.” The stranger marched toward the central building of the clan. Shixiong sent a last pleading look over his shoulder at Chen and Yichen and then followed the man.
Yichen waited until the killer was climbing the stairs a good distance away before he opened his mouth to demand answers, but Chen was faster, placing his hand over Yichen’s lips. He flinched at his cold skin and narrowed his eyes at his trusted brother.
“That is Jiang Chong, the head of Emperor Wu’s secret intelligence and…our new master.”
Grasping Chen’s wrist, he ripped it away from his mouth as he cried out, “What? What is going—”
Chen didn’t let him finish, covering his mouth again. “Silence. We had no choice. This is the only way to protect those in the clan and sect. They will destroy everything Shifu has built.”
“But—”
“Do you trust me? Do you trust Da-ge?”5
That wasn’t a fair question. Of course, he trusted them.
A tremulous smile flashed on Chen’s lips. “Good. Follow our lead. Keep your head down. Don’t speak or do anything unless commanded. I swear, we will find our way to freedom.”
This sounded like a terrible idea, but Zimo’s cooling body meters away from them was excellent proof that they didn’t have many options right now. He did trust Chen and Xiao Dan with his life. With the lives of all the clan. He had no choice but to obey.
The next several hours were the longest of his life. Jiang Chong hadn’t just wanted the sect members, but everyone living within the confines of the clan property. He wanted wives, brothers, sisters, and children of clan members. Even the servants stumbled from their beds. Everyone kneeled to Jiang Chong.
He murdered a full third of the people gathered, as he declared them to be too weak, old, or useless to serve the emperor. More died because they spoke out against his decision.
Li Xiang almost joined the dead when he argued, refusing to calm even under Xiao Dan’s coaxing. It was only thanks to Chen’s fast talking that Xiang escaped with nothing more than a broken leg.
After the living cleared the room of corpses, Jiang Chong announced the true, shocking revelation of the night.
“Rejoice and bow before the imperial edict I have brought.” Seemingly without thought, they dropped to their knees at his words, their heads bowed. “In Emperor Wu’s boundless wisdom and heavenly light, he has decided that the strongest and most honorable of the Sword of the Heavenly Garden Sect shall be reborn into vampires. From this night forward, you shall serve Emperor Wu and protect him from those who would work to steal the Dragon Throne as his most elite bodyguards.”
Yichen flinched and touched his forehead to the cold floor, now sticky with the blood of his brethren.
To stay alive, I must serve a madman…
Chapter 1
Wu Yichen
June 27, 2023
Connecticut
“You’re making that face again.”
