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“Rei?” Xiao Dan called out.
At the sound of Shixiong’s voice, Yichen jumped to his feet and took a step back, putting some space between him and Rei while also jerking his hand free.
Shixiong walked to the large sofa, his brow slightly furrowed with worry. “Do you have a guess as to why the fae were attacking Moon’s house? What business would they have with him?”
“None, most likely.” Rei shrugged his slim shoulders as he sat up and turned to face him. “They were probably hoping to use Moon to get to me. The former blood witch has had two encounters with my father and the fae. They also know he is associated with Yichen. They know his magic, and they’d be able to track it, at least to some small degree. Vampires, on the other hand, are a black hole to us.”
“A black hole? Seriously?” Yichen interjected before he could stop himself.
Rei shifted on the sofa and smiled up at Yichen over his shoulder. A piece of his hair caught next to his cheek, and it was all Yichen could do to keep from reaching out to move the hair out of his way. “Your magic is the direct opposite of ours. When we use our magic, we see a landscape dotted with heavy emptiness. All exactly the same. If I tried to find you with magic, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between you and any other vampire.”
“But Moon is different? Or rather, his magic was…”
With a nod, Rei returned his gaze to Xiao Dan after tossing a wink to Yichen. “Yes. And considering that Moon lived here for some time, his magic has saturated the grounds. It’s a natural target for them.”
“Two generations of blood witches,” Moon corrected as he clomped down the stairs with a couple of books under his arms. Chen followed silently behind him, a large cardboard box in his arms that seemed to be filled with books as well. “My mother was a blood witch. She and my father bought this place just ahead of my birth and spent some years fixing it up. She had a lot more time to do magic here than me.”
“And your mother is…” Rei prodded.
“Gone. She and my father died in a car accident about five, six years ago.”
Rei bowed his head as he murmured, “My condolences.”
Moon flashed him a crooked grin. “Thanks. Trust me, if she was still alive, she would have been the first person I called about your blood bond issue. She would have loved to study that puzzle.”
“Is that everything?” Xiang inquired as he peeked into the box Chen was holding.
“Not quite. Since we have two cars here, I thought I’d pack up a few more things before we head out. If you don’t mind, of course.”
Chen shoved the box he was holding into Xiang’s arms. “Take this out to the car, please, while I grab his suitcase.” While Xiang sneered at Chen, the vampire had already turned his attention to Meimei. “Can you call Ming Yu and tell her we’re fine and we’ll be returning within the hour?”
“Got it!” she replied, playing around on her phone.
“Moon, if you don’t mind, I’m going to stroll your grounds,” Rei announced, pushing to his feet. “Just make sure we don’t have any stragglers or spies lurking about.”
“Good plan,” Xiao Dan agreed. “Yichen, please accompany him. Make sure he doesn’t need help.”
Yichen smirked. That had been his plan all along. He and Rei still had one last thing to discuss. They strolled to the back of the house to exit out a door off the kitchen. Rei seemed steadier on his feet as he wandered across the grass with Yichen a few steps behind him.
The wind kicked up, pushing aside some of the stifling warm summer air and rattling the trees. Crickets and frogs had resumed their evening song now that the battle was over and the dead were buried in the ground. Moon had a nice plot of ground here, but it was much too far away from where the rest of the clan was living.
A fledgling vampire had no business living on his own. At least not for the first century or two. There was too much to learn, and they needed the protection of their maker from stronger, more deadly creatures.
Not to mention, Yichen was starting to believe that it was physically impossible for Chen and Moon to go more than five minutes without being in the same room together.
When they were a comfortable distance away from the house and cars, Yichen dove straight into it. “Who was the elf you were talking to?”
Rei tipped his face up to the stars and there was a hint of laughter in his tone. “You mean the one trying to remove my head?”
“That’s the one.” Yichen picked up his pace so that they were walking side by side, their shoulders brushing. “You didn’t bother talking to any of the others.”
The devil widened his eyes and issued a sharp gasp. “Were you watching while they tried to kill me? You didn’t even try to help?”
“I was trying to get to you,” Yichen snarled, bumping into Rei. “Who was he?”
With a smirk, the elf threaded his arm through Yichen’s, pulling him closer as they walked. “Why didn’t you ask this in front of your family?”
“Because they’re still trying to decide whether to trust you. I already know how much I can trust you.”
