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The leaves made a thick blanket of red, yellow, and brown in the front yard as Xiao Zhan knelt down to dig his fingers into the soil. It was his last harvest of the season, picking the squash and the pumpkins before the winter frost took the last of the life from the withering vines. He hummed to himself as he worked, smiling a little when he spotted Jian Guo picking her way through the garden, chasing a bug in the air.
“Ahh how are you so cute my darling,” Xiao Zhan said in a pleasant voice, sitting back on his haunches to look at her.
She ignored him, totally engrossed in chasing the bug. Her short legs did her no favours in trying to actually catch the thing, which made Xiao Zhan giggle.
Xiao Zhan brought the pumpkins into the house, grunting a little when he got stiffly to his feet. Jian Guo darted through his feet, almost tripping him up in the entryway, making him stumble and swear colourfully. He made it to the kitchen, putting his spoils on the counter. He was surrounded by the comforting smell of herbs that were hanging to dry from various racks in the kitchen. He spent the next few hours carving up pumpkins, roasting the seeds, and making pies.
He put on some music, dancing around in the kitchen, candles lit. He had no company other than Jian Guo who sat on the counter staring at him in between licking her paw and scrubbing it across her brow.
The phone rang, startling him and making him jump in the air. He grabbed the old-fashioned receiver off the wall, curling the long cord around his fingers. He didn’t have a cell phone or caller ID so it was with interest that he answered, “Hello?”
“Zhan Zhan I hope you’re not going to give me some excuse about why you can’t come out tonight for Halloween,” Xuan Lu said all in a rush. “I won’t accept no for an answer!”
“I don’t have a costume,” Xiao Zhan said with a little breathy laugh.
“I’ll bring one for you. I’ve got it all picked out. Count Dracula. Just wear black, black jeans and a turtleneck ‘cause it’s cold outside okay? And we’ll pick you up in a couple hours. We’re going to drive to Salem and go on a tour, a haunted tour where they’ll show us all the spooky places! It’s gonna be great I love how much you love horror you can’t say no Zhan Zhan you can’t just stay in your house alone all the time. You came to America for a reason you might as well get out and explore a little more, hmm?”
“I came to America to have a nice, quiet gay life,” Xiao Zhan joked, leaning back against the wall. He tangled the cord up, hooking his finger into it then letting it go.
“Well then come out with us and have a nice, quiet gay evening full of horror and laughs!” She put her hand over the receiver, yelling something incomprehensible to her girlfriend probably.
“Okay Zhan Zhan that’s it, we’re picking you up in an hour and a half. Be ready!”
“Fine, fine. Fine!”
After he hung up the phone, Xiao Zhan glared at Jian Guo, pointing his finger at her. “Don’t you say anything.”
She just blinked at him then walked away, swishing her tail.
🖤
“Look at this,” Xuan Lu said with a giggle, knocking their shoulders together. “Hundreds of people were accused of witchcraft, women mostly but some men too. Did you ever hear of a male witch?” she asked with a giggle.
Xiao Zhan laughed, scratching the back of his head nervously. Sure. Me. But being a witch isn’t like everyone thinks. It’s just herbs and cooking mostly. Promoting healing energy. I can’t levitate or breathe fire or anything interesting. “Yeah, strange.”
They walked through the city all night, going from one place to another. It started to drizzle with rain, making the cobblestones slippery and slick.
“Oh, Ziyi, come take a look at this!” Xuan Lu cried out, dragging her girlfriend into one of those novelty stores.
Xiao Zhan lingered outside, tipping his head back to catch some of the raindrops on the skin of his face. It was cold enough that it made him shiver a little, but he liked the feeling of the cool water.
Xiao Zhan walked in circles a little while the girls shopped inside. He kicked his feet against the cobblestones, then at one point he actually slipped and yelped a little as he fell. A hand grabbed him by the elbow, yanking him back to his feet again. Xiao Zhan huffed out a breath, looking up and into the most beautiful pair of uptilted, round eyes he’d ever seen. Xiao Zhan’s heart caught in his chest, beating loudly as he let his gaze flick down to the boy’s lips, shapely, full, and pouting. They were a sinful rose colour, a little clear lip gloss giving them shine.
“Oh,” Xiao Zhan said, fixated on those lips.
The lips curled up into a half-smile. “Like what you see?”
Xiao Zhan glanced back up again, taking in the smooth skin, lush cheeks, and long black hair that was captured in a half-ponytail to keep the strands out of his face. There was something about him, about the way his eyes were such a light colour, almost like the colour of honey with a drop of green - they were too light for an Asian man. But he otherwise looked completely Asian. He had a smear of kohl on his eyelids, making his light eyes look even lighter against that smudge of darkness.
“Ohhh,” Xiao Zhan said less than eloquently, trapped in those eyes.
The stranger’s arm was still around Xiao Zhan’s back. He pulled him a little closer. “You are quite beautiful,” he said, his voice deep and languorous. Sexy.
Xiao Zhan blinked at him, straightening to his feet awkwardly. When he stood up straight he realized he was a couple of inches taller than the other. “Um, who are you?” Xiao Zhan asked, licking his lips and lowering his eyes to take another look at that kissable mouth.
The boy reached out one long-fingered hand and scraped the wet hair back out of Xiao Zhan’s eyes. “I’m a nightmare,” he said with a smirk.
“A-a nightmare?” Xiao Zhan said, confused.
The boy licked his lips, slow-blinking as he nodded. “Do you like nightmares? Danger?” He tilted his head at an odd angle. “Do you want me to show you the best night of your life? To make you feel so good that you dream about this night for the rest of your life?”
Xiao Zhan’s head was spinning. He was trapped, trapped in that gaze. “I-I’m not… I’m just a quiet guy. I have a cat.”
The boy crowded Xiao Zhan up against the wall of a nearby building, sliding his knee between Xiao Zhan’s thighs. “Men with cats don’t enjoy pleasure?” he asked, running his fingers along Xiao Zhan’s neck. He tilted his head to the side, nuzzling his nose into Xiao Zhan’s pulse.
“I-I haven’t - I haven’t been with anyone in a while - I’m not good - in bed -”
“I am,” the boy said, licking over Xiao Zhan’s pulse before kissing his neck. “I’m the best you’ll ever have.”
“Are you a prostitute?” Xiao Zhan blurted out.
The boy released him, taking a step back. Xiao Zhan raked his eyes down his body, taking in the smooth leather pants that encased thin thighs and did nothing to disguise the bulge in his pants. And the sheer white shirt that showed a hint of nipple through the fabric, a scarf wrapped around his neck. The boy gestured up and down his body. “This isn’t for sale,” he said, his mouth pinched into a line. “It’s a gift.”
“But why would you - I mean, you’re gorgeous, why would you - why would you want me?” Xiao Zhan pushed the glasses up higher on his nose, considering taking them off entirely. The raindrops on the glasses obscured his vision a little, making him wonder if he was hallucinating.
“I’m offering you the best fuck of your life,” the boy said, shoving his hands in his pockets and jutting out his hips a little. He tilted his head, licking his lips. “And all I’ll ask in return is one thing.”
“W-what’s that?” Xiao Zhan mumbled.
“Just give me a taste.” The boy smiled wide, showing off fangs that looked frighteningly real. “A little blood. It won’t hurt. In fact, you’ll beg me to bite you before the night is over,” he said with a husky laugh.
Xiao Zhan blinked. “What?”
The boy stepped in close to him again, smoothing his hand down Xiao Zhan’s belly, down the front of his pants. “You can’t tell me you don’t want me,” the boy said, leaning in close enough for Xiao Zhan to smell his perfume. Xiao Zhan closed his eyes, sighing as he tipped his head back onto the brick. “I can smell it,” the boy said in his ear, flicking out his tongue. “I can smell your desire. It’s thick and hard. Blood pounding into the flesh of your dick. Your heart fluttering in your chest, pulse begging me to come closer. Your eyes dilated with anticipation. Look at your fingers, clinging to that brick like a lifeline.”
Xiao Zhan’s eyes flew open, looking down at his fingers white-knuckling the wall.
“Do you want me to suck your pretty cock into my mouth?” the boy asked, his fingers trailing on Xiao Zhan’s cheek. “I promise I won’t bite. I’ll suck. Then after you come I’ll open you up and fuck you so hard you see stars. And just when you think you’re about to come, when you’re begging me not to stop, only then will I bite you. I’ll sink my fangs into your neck and I’ll suck your tasty blood onto my tongue, lapping it up like the precious gift it is. And you’ll beg me not to stop, but I will stop, because I won’t want to kill you. I’ll want to come back for another taste, visiting you in the night like some secret lover that no one will know about because how will you tell anyone about me? No one would believe you.”
Xiao Zhan gasped, his chest arching up as the boy’s hand slid down the front of his pants, cupping his dick that was already leaking.
“Zhan Zhan?”
Xiao Zhan’s eyes flew open and he gasped again, clutching at his chest. He looked around, seeing Xuan Lu waving at him from across the street. Xiao Zhan pulled his coat tight around himself, looking around. Where did he go? The boy was gone.
“Zhan Zhan come on! Let’s go!”
Did I imagine the whole thing? Some kind of sick fever-dream?
Xiao Zhan cleared his throat, jogging over to her. “Sorry sorry. Let’s go.”
🖤
Xiao Zhan waved to Xuan Lu and Ziyi after they dropped him back at home. He watched their car as it wended its way down the road, waving at it until it was all the way gone. Only when he couldn’t see it anymore did he whistle to himself, turning around and then screaming in fright, jumping back.
The boy was there, balanced in a squat on top of the fence. His head was cocked to the side, gaze piercing as he watched Xiao Zhan.
“You never answered my question,” he said.
“How do you know where I live? Did you follow me?” Xiao Zhan demanded, hugging himself.
The boy hopped down off the fence, sauntering over. “Do you want a night to remember?” He asked cockily, mouth smirking.
“You’re playing some kind of practical joke on me, right?” Xiao Zhan asked.
“Tell me to leave and I’ll leave,” the boy said instead. “Invite me in and I’ll fuck you so hard you’ll forget your name.”
“Speaking of names,” Xiao Zhan said, seizing this point, “You never told me yours.”
He seemed to consider this, turning his head to look away. Xiao Zhan got a good look at the boy’s profile, long straight nose, enchanting lips, smooth straight jaw, and a prominent Adam’s apple on an incredibly long neck. He was utterly, utterly beautiful.
“Yibo,” the boy said finally. “My name is Yibo.”
“No last name?” Xiao Zhan asked with a little giggle.
Yibo turned to look at him, glaring a little. “I already showed a lot of trust telling you my first name. Let’s save my last name for a second date, hmm?”
“You’re serious?” Xiao Zhan said, shivering as he hugged himself. “About wanting to hook up?”
Yibo nodded. “You won’t regret it.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Xiao Zhan said with a laugh. He looked Yibo up and down again, but there was something magnetic about him, something he couldn’t seem to turn away from. “You’re not going to kill me, are you? Vampire,” Xiao Zhan said, bouncing his eyebrows at the joke.
Yibo walked up to him, trailing a finger down Xiao Zhan’s sternum. “If I wanted to kill you, beauty, you’d be dead already,” he said, cocking one eyebrow back at him. He licked his lips again, looking at Xiao Zhan’s mouth.
“What if we’re not… compatible?”
“You talk too much,” Yibo complained, yanking Xiao Zhan down by his neck. He pulled him into a kiss, mouth searing a path straight to Xiao Zhan’s soul and severing all his defences in a single touch. Yibo’s hands gripped Xiao Zhan’s hips, dragging them together, and all Xiao Zhan’s thoughts scattered in the onslaught, fingers scrabbling desperately at Yibo’s shoulders as he whimpered.
When Yibo finally released him, eyes dark and mouth swollen, Xiao Zhan found the words dropping from his lips without even realizing it. “Would you like to come in?”
🖤
Xiao Zhan blinked his eyes open, sluggishly staring at the blurry ceiling above his head. He groaned, fingers scratching at the sheets but the bed was cool. The bed was cool, but Xiao Zhan was burning hot. He was sweating, the sweat beading on his forehead, on his chest. He looked around but no one was there - he was alone.
He got a wave of sensory memory, his whole body arching and a deep moan releasing from his chest. He saw a vision of long fingers digging into his skin, a thick dick spearing through him, driving powerfully to the centre of pleasure in his body. He saw flashes, a mouth parted, lips swollen and red - half-hooded eyes piercing through him as powerfully as the flesh inside him - and somehow, in the midst of this intense pleasure, something incredibly lonely in his eyes.
It was that lonely look that drove Xiao Zhan over the edge - he didn’t even have a chance to grab his dick in his hand he was coming just from the sensory memory of the night before. That intense pleasure-pain ripped through him, and he felt it through his whole body, toes curling up, ragged cry drifting through the air. He was left lying there, limbs askew, come all over his chest and belly. So much of it, drying, but Xiao Zhan was too satiated and weak to move.
After a while with the come drying on his skin he recognized the need to move. He fumbled his legs over to the edge of the bed, heaving himself upright with effort. His head spun, dizzy. He raised a hand to his forehead, breathing in slowly. “You can do this Xiao Zhan,” he whispered to himself. “Get to your feet. Come on!”
Xiao Zhan shoved himself to his feet, then wavered, shooting his hand out to grab the wooden bedpost on the old bed. He staggered against it, stumbling a little, but managed to say upright by some minor miracle. He caught his breath, then when he was ready he took small shuffling steps forward, making it slowly to the bathroom. When he got to the bathroom he got out a spare pair of glasses and shoved them on his face, looking at himself.
He was pale, much paler than usual, and trembling, come cooling on his skin. But when he turned his head to look at his neck in the mirror, he didn’t see anything. No marks to indicate that he’d been bitten. He raised shaky fingers to touch his own neck, and it felt tender to the touch, but there was no evidence of what had happened.
“Didn’t he also bite me… between the legs?” Xiao Zhan mumbled. His voice was hoarse like he’d spent the night screaming. He braced one foot on the toilet, leaning over to poke at his inner thighs, but no bite mark there either. Just a tenderness in his asshole, a tingling that spoke of sex. Sex, yes. Vampire? No.
“Was it all a dream?” Xiao Zhan mumbled in confusion. “Was he even here? Was he just in costume for Halloween, playing a prank on me?”
Xiao Zhan got in the shower, rinsing off, but he ended up on his ass on the floor of the shower, hugging himself. In spite of how his body felt so good, if a little weak, it was his heart that hurt. He wanted a hug. He wasn’t the type to fuck and flee the next morning. He wanted to wake up with someone’s arms around him, telling him he was loved. To be left alone like this to recover… It was frankly rude.
“What were you thinking Xiao Zhan?” he asked himself, struggling back to his feet to shampoo his hair.
The phone rang, wrenching him out of his thoughts. He stumbled out of the shower, grabbing his terrycloth bathrobe and wrapping it around his body. He jogged over to the kitchen, grabbing the phone off the hook.
“Hello?”
“Zhan Zhan you’re late for work,” Xuan Lu said, concerned. “You’re never late for work. I know I dropped you off late last night but is everything okay? You didn’t call.”
The bakery. I’m supposed to be at the bakery.
“Oh my God,” Xiao Zhan said, leaning heavily against the wall. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry but are you okay? Are you coming in? Are you sick?”
Xiao Zhan slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor, his naked bum against the wooden floor, back braced on the wall. He started shivering again, hugging himself to keep in the tremors. “I’m not - I’m not sure. Xuan Lu I think I’m going crazy. I feel like… like I hooked up with someone last night. But it’s weird it’s like I can remember but I can’t remember. I don’t know - I don’t know what happened. I’m - I’m pretty sick actually. I might take a few hours to recover.”
“What?” she said, shocked. “You hooked up with someone last night? Who? What was his name? What did he look like? Where did you find him?”
“Last night… did you see someone with me last night?” Xiao Zhan asked, scrubbing his fingers into his forehead.
“What? When?”
Xiao Zhan tried to cast his mind back. “You were… in the store. You and Ziyi were in the store. I was outside, waiting. He was there. He was… Asian. Long dark hair, pulled back in a kind of half ponytail kind of thing. Handsome. Skin white like milk. Lips like rose petals. Smelled like jasmine. Did you see someone like that?”
She was silent for a moment, then she said, “No, Zhan Zhan. When we came out of the store you were alone… you were leaning up against the wall, your head tilted back, like you were dozing off. You looked really tired, remember? That’s why we decided to come back home.”
“Oh, right…. right.” Xiao Zhan shook his head, tilting it back against the wall. “I see. There was no one there.”
“Zhan Zhan are you sure you’re all right? I think you should take the day. Just relax, get some rest. It sounds like you just had a really long dream. Maybe you do need to get laid! This is probably a sign that you need to get laid.”
Xiao Zhan laughed, covering his face with his hand. “Yeah. Right.”
“I’ll call you this afternoon, okay?”
“Okay, Lu Lu. You sure you can handle the bakery on your own?”
“Yeah, no one’s here anyway. There’s a few stragglers coming in most of them hung over from Halloween last night. Take it easy, relax, and I’ll call you later.”
“Okay,” Xiao Zhan said with a nod she couldn’t see. “Thanks.”
Xiao Zhan let her hang up the phone, but he was too tired to stand back up again to hang up the receiver on the wall, so he listened to the angry beeping coming from the handset.
What is wrong with me?
🖤
Xiao Zhan regained his energy pretty quickly once he ate some of the oat cakes he’d baked the week before, infused with healing energy and positivity. Over the next few days, he kept getting sensory flashbacks, he lay awake in bed at night unable to sleep until he touched his own heated flesh. He couldn’t get that face out of his mind, he kept remembering more and more, the look on his face when he came, his head tilted back, prominent Adam’s apple jutting out, his mouth open. He dreamt of him whether he was waking or sleeping. He was like a drug that Xiao Zhan’s body craved, and he didn’t even know if what he was remembering was real.
I’m going insane.
Over the next few weeks he even thought he spotted Yibo. It was always at night, fuelling that fever dream that the boy was a vampire. He spotted him out of the corner of his eye, standing on a rooftop, that easy sensual grace in the way he stood with his hands in his pockets, head tilted to the side. He spotted him in an alleyway once. Sitting on a branch high up in a tree. Whenever he spotted him, he would do a double-take and Yibo would be gone.
I’m going insane.
Two months after Halloween, when the snow was thick and Xiao Zhan was on his way back from Christmas dinner at Xuan Lu and Ziyi's, Xiao Zhan saw him again. Standing in the middle of the road, wearing a light leather bomber jacket and black converse shoes as though the freezing weather didn’t touch him at all.
“Yibo?” he said out loud.
In a flash, the boy was in front of him, caressing his cheek, staring into his eyes. Yibo’s lips were so close, so close-
“Are you here?” Xiao Zhan whispered, looking from Yibo’s lips up to his eyes.
“We can’t ever again,” Yibo whispered back, agonized, his eyes haunted. “I almost killed you. I lost control. I want you too much. You should rescind your invitation to me if you value your life.”
“It was real?” Xiao Zhan asked, eyes drawing together in confusion. “You and me? It wasn’t a dream?”
Yibo’s eyes simultaneously looked so old, like he held the weight of the ages in them, and also so young and vulnerable. Yibo’s lips glistened as he looked up at him, stroking his thumb across Xiao Zhan’s cheek. He swiped that thumb over Xiao Zhan’s lips, sighing wearily. “It was just a dream, handsome,” Yibo said wearily. “It wasn’t real. I’m not real. You should forget me.”
Xiao Zhan felt his mind going fuzzy, drifting. “No, stop. Stop! I don’t want to forget you, don’t - don’t do this.”
Yibo cupped Xiao Zhan’s face lovingly in his hands, tilting his head to the side to seal their lips together in a kiss. Xiao Zhan whimpered, grasping at the edges of Yibo’s jacket -
-but his hands grabbed empty air, and when he opened his eyes Yibo was gone.
Was he even here? Am I going insane?
Even as he tried to hold onto the memory of moments before, he felt it fading. He couldn’t remember Yibo’s face, his lips - all he could remember was this all-encompassing feeling of loneliness.
🖤
Xiao Zhan tried to go back to his normal life. Cooking, puttering around his house, playing with Jian Guo. Brewing up magical teas with healing energies that he sold at the bakery. But it was like a shadow was there on the periphery, dogging him. He’d spin around at night, trying to catch a glimpse of the boy that still haunted his dreams, but he was never there.
Xiao Zhan lost weight from not sleeping well. Xuan Lu even commented on it, forcing him out of the pleasant cocoon of his home to go out to see movies or eat at restaurants. Xiao Zhan went along, plastering a smile on his face as though everything was okay.
He started taking long walks at night, just hoping to catch a look at his ghost. Whether it was snowing or clear, he let his footsteps carry him forward, aimlessly wandering.
“Are you there?” he’d ask the night wind.
But no one responded.
One night Xiao Zhan was walking by the old bridge that led the way back to his house. It was one of those stone bridges that had been built over a hundred years ago and still stood strong and sturdy. Xiao Zhan climbed up on the stone wall, dangling his legs over the edge, looking down at the empty creek bed below. It wasn’t a far drop. Xiao Zhan peered down at the black ice below, catching his own reflection. He wasn’t sure he recognized himself. When had his hair grown so long? Scraping down the back of his neck. Xiao Zhan raised a hand to curl his fingers through the wavy strands.
“Where are you?” Xiao Zhan asked. “Are you even real? I still dream of you every night. I can barely remember your face when I’m awake but when I’m sleeping it’s like I can still touch you. You told me it would be a night to remember and that sure wasn’t a lie. Pathetic, aren’t I? I can’t even look at anyone else. I’ve imprinted on you. Fuck. I hate you.” He hung his head, his fingers white-knuckling the stone. He then turned his head up and screamed to the empty air, “I HATE YOU!”
Then when he looked down again, he saw him. Standing there. In the creek. Staring.
Xiao Zhan blinked, rubbed his eyes, and Yibo was still there. He was wearing black skinny jeans with holes in the knees, a white tank top plastered to his chest, his shoulders exposed to the air. His hair was falling like black ink over his shoulders.
His lips were blue, eyes empty and listless.
“Yibo?” Xiao Zhan whispered.
Yibo blinked, staring at him. Then Xiao Zhan watched, heart in his throat, as Yibo fell over on the ground with a thud. He wasn’t moving.
“Yibo!”
Xiao Zhan shot to his feet, scrambling down off the bridge and running around and scooting down on his ass as he made his way down onto the frozen creek. He sprinted over to Yibo’s body, skidding to a halt as he dropped to his knees beside him.
Xiao Zhan pressed two fingers to his neck. His skin was cold, so cold. He felt no heartbeat.
“Yibo, please. What’s wrong? Aren’t you supposed to survive anything? Immortal?”
Xiao Zhan felt down Yibo’s arms, trying to squeeze some life into his arms. He wasn’t moving, he was so limp, so pale. His skin that had been like milk last time he’d seen him was now like bone china. Lifeless.
Xiao Zhan sucked in a breath, sliding his hands under Yibo’s armpits and lifting him into his lap. He stroked Yibo’s hair. “Yibo please wake up.”
He didn’t stir. Xiao Zhan looked around, cradling Yibo’s head to his chest, looking for something or someone to help. But there was no one.
The only magic Xiao Zhan knew was for humans. How to give healing energy to humans. He didn’t know how to help a vampire. And in spite of all his doubts over the past months, in this moment he didn’t doubt the truth at all.
When he held Yibo in his arms he was struck by how small he was, how thin. He looked thinner even than the night they had spent together. He still only had flashes from that night, but he remembered someone with skin that glowed with effervescence, flush full of life and vitality. This boy was wasting away.
It was surprisingly easy to carry him. Xiao Zhan got to his feet and cradled Yibo in his arms, pressing a kiss to his head as he started walking. His house wasn’t far, and Xiao Zhan was fuelled on by desperation. He managed to scrape his way back up the embankment, back onto the small road. He walked under the canopy of trees overhead down the lane that led to his house. When he saw his cottage sitting there dark, nestled in the woods, he felt immediately the comfort of home.
I can help him.
Xiao Zhan shifted Yibo in his arms, fumbling with the door handle. He wrestled the door open, Jian Guo greeting him at the door with a chirp and then hissing when she saw Yibo.
“Be nice, be nice,” Xiao Zhan cooed at her, kicking the door closed behind him. He brought Yibo into the kitchen, his workspace, the place where he brewed his teas and cooked his healing foods. He laid Yibo’s thin body on the table, then smoothed Yibo’s hair back out of his face. He looked so young up close. Was he even twenty when he died?
“Yibo you need to tell me how I can help you,” Xiao Zhan said, stroking his cheek. “Tell me what to do.”
But Yibo didn’t respond. He was unconscious, unmoving.
Xiao Zhan went to his study and got out his tome, a gift from his grandmother, all the family knowledge built up over centuries and carefully penned by hand. He brought it back with him into the kitchen, putting the heavy volume on the wooden butcher-block counter. He opened the book, tracing the familiar illustrations with his finger. He’d looked at this tome many times over the past few months, reading up on the passages about werewolves, monsters, and vampires. But like the last few times he’d looked, there wasn’t much useful information.
Blood. It is the source of the vampire’s power, the sustenance they live on, and their unholy curse. Earth Magic is useless on a vampire, except to consecrate the ground a vampire has lived on in the past, to cleanse it of lingering evil.
Xiao Zhan looked at Yibo’s face, so gaunt, so still. “You don’t look evil,” he whispered. “Why am I helping you?”
He couldn’t stop staring at Yibo’s face, the way his eyelashes swept over his white cheek. His nose that was almost too big for his face, but still somehow made him look cute. And that mouth, that mouth that had haunted his dreams sleeping and waking.
“I don’t even know you,” Xiao Zhan said to himself, shaking his head. “For all I know you’re a killer.”
But he didn’t kill me. And he said he regretted hurting me.
Xiao Zhan sat down next to him at a chair by the table. He stroked Yibo’s face again, considering one last time if he was going to do this. He leaned over the table, then pressed his lips to Yibo’s, but they were so cold and lifeless, it wasn’t the same.
With a sigh Xiao Zhan got up and went back to the kitchen. He got a kitchen knife, then sharpened it until the edge was honed. He came back and sat next to Yibo again, gazing down at his face. He bit his bottom lip between his teeth, raised the knife to his finger, and ran the blade across his flesh until it opened up and bright red blood flowed. He raised his finger, hovering it under Yibo’s nose at first, but he wasn’t breathing so he wasn’t inhaling the scent.
Xiao Zhan put his finger on Yibo’s mouth, running the tip around his lips until they were smeared with his blood, then he snuck his finger inside and brushed the tip against his tongue.
“Come on, baby,” Xiao Zhan said as he looked down at his face. “Come on.”
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Drop after drop fell on Yibo’s tongue and still he didn’t wake. Xiao Zhan raised his free hand to stroke Yibo’s hair, combing his fingers through the long strands rhythmically. He started to hum a tune, something soothing.
When it happened, it happened quickly. Yibo sucked in a breath, his eyes flying open. They were bright, bright green, the colour of crisp spring leaves, glowing. Magical. A different kind of magic, old and dark, and in spite of himself Xiao Zhan recoiled when he saw it.
Yibo sat up, looking around, scenting at the air. Then he spotted Xiao Zhan next to him and cocked his head. The look in his eyes was feral, animalistic.
Xiao Zhan stood up, backing away. “Yibo it’s me. Do you remember me? You were… you were hurt. I think you’re okay now.”
Yibo pounced. His hand looked claw-like, nails extending out as he grabbed Xiao Zhan’s neck and pinned him against the wall. Yibo sucked in a breath then turned Xiao Zhan’s head to the side and sank his teeth into his neck, growling as Xiao Zhan’s blood spilled into his mouth.
Xiao Zhan felt a wave of intense pleasure, his legs going weak. He moaned, hands scrabbling at Yibo’s shoulders, but instead of pushing him away he wound his arms around his neck, desperate for more. He arched his hips into Yibo’s, rutting against him, his cock instantly hard and leaking when Yibo sucked the blood out of him. It was such a rush, better than sex, better than drugs, the highest high Xiao Zhan had ever felt.
Until Yibo pulled away.
Yibo yanked himself back, his eyes back to their normal pale golden hue punched through with muted green. He backed away until he was leaning against the table again, his chest heaving, blood staining his mouth and dripping daintily down his chin. Yibo raised his hand to his mouth, catching the stray drop of blood, then he looked down at his thumb and after a moment of consideration he sucked that drop of blood off his thumb, moaning as his eyes fell closed.
Xiao Zhan sank down to the ground, his head tipped back against the wall. He contemplated sticking his hand in his pants to ease the ache in his balls.
Yibo looked back up at him. “What did you do?” he said, his tone accusatory.
“I helped you,” Xiao Zhan said weakly. “You were dying.”
Yibo slammed his hand down on the table behind him, cracking the wood. “I could have killed you!”
Xiao Zhan blinked, his mind hazy as he looked up at Yibo. “I don’t think you’re evil.”
“You don’t even know me,” Yibo said, turning around and gripping the table with both hands. “You don’t know a thing about me. I almost killed you last time and then I made you forget. Maybe I should have let you remember, but I was scared - scared that you’d be too lured by the p-pleasure, scared you’d - you’d keep begging me to - to come back. But you - you taste so good. Oh, God,” Yibo groaned, tilting his head back. He turned to look at Xiao Zhan, running his hand over his own chest, fingers lingering on a pebbled nipple through his shirt. “You taste so good. I wanted you the second I smelled you, I stalked you, and I can’t stop. I can’t stop.”
“But you didn’t kill me,” Xiao Zhan pointed out, getting to his feet. He was a bit wobbly, his head still fuzzy, but he staggered his way over to Yibo. “You didn’t hurt me.”
Yibo watched him warily. “I wanted to. I wanted to drain your life into my own.”
Xiao Zhan reached him, raising a hand to stroke Yibo’s cheek. He looked warm now, flushed pink, his cheeks and the tips of his ears rosy. Xiao Zhan giggled. “You’re so cute.”
“Cute?” Yibo demanded, cocking his head. He bared his teeth, showing off his fangs. “You call me cute?”
Xiao Zhan ran his thumb across Yibo’s cheek. “So cute. Won’t you kiss me Yibo? You’ve drained my blood already let’s… let’s make love.” Xiao Zhan ducked his head, embarrassed.
“I don’t make love,” Yibo said petulantly, cradling Xiao Zhan’s neck in his hands. “I fuck.”
“Mmmm,” Xiao Zhan hummed, licking his lips. “Fuck me then.”
Yibo stood up, pushing Xiao Zhan back against the counter as he devoured his mouth in a kiss. Xiao Zhan sighed, a feeling like a key sliding into a lock when they were together. He couldn’t explain it, but he couldn’t stop himself. When Yibo touched him he fell apart, his whole body and soul keening out.
Yibo pulled Xiao Zhan’s sweater up over his head, then his shirt. Xiao Zhan tugged off Yibo’s tank top and then they were chest-to-chest, Yibo’s skin rapidly warming up. Xiao Zhan’s fingers dug into Yibo’s shoulders, yanking him in so he could hug him close as they kissed. Yibo was careful not to nip him as they kissed, but then it was Xiao Zhan himself that grazed his tongue against Yibo’s tooth and he tasted the blood when it leaked into their joined mouths.
Yibo groaned, grabbing Xiao Zhan’s hips and thrusting into him through their clothes. “You taste so good,” Yibo said, voice low and gravelly, before kissing him again.
Xiao Zhan was the one that fumbled at the button on Yibo’s pants, getting them loose enough for him to stick his hands down the back, cupping Yibo’s bum in his hands, clawing into the smooth skin.
Yibo pulled back a little, mouth glistening. “Are you sure you want this?” he asked, eyes searching his.
“Don’t let me forget this time, okay?” Xiao Zhan said, eyes wide and shining. “I want to remember everything.”
Yibo sighed, then nodded. He then lifted Xiao Zhan easily up in the air, setting him on the counter. He tugged Xiao Zhan’s pants open, then slid them off his legs. Yibo inhaled deeply as he pressed kisses all up Xiao Zhan’s inner thighs. He lingered by the beating pulse under his skin, pressing his lips there like a promise to return at some future time. He nuzzled his nose in Xiao Zhan’s groin, tongue flicking out to press into the hard flesh of his cock. Xiao Zhan moaned, scraping his feet up Yibo’s sides as he carded his hands into Yibo’s hair.
Xiao Zhan got a flashback, a sensory memory of doing this before. It faded when Yibo slid his mouth over him and swallowed him all the way to the root, working his mouth up and down.
Oh yeah, vampires don’t need to breathe… so they don’t choke.
“God,” Xiao Zhan said aloud, his thighs creeping up over Yibo’s shoulders, boxing his head in. “God, Yibo!”
Yibo kept bobbing his head up and down, deep-throating Xiao Zhan then swallowing over the tip. Xiao Zhan’s thighs trembled, and he whimpered, wanting more, more, more.
“That feels so so so good,” Xiao Zhan gasped.
Yibo popped off long enough to suck a finger into his mouth, then he slid his hand underneath Xiao Zhan and probed at his entrance. He then sucked Xiao Zhan back into his mouth, and at the same time that finger worked its way inside, curling up and into the spot that drove him wild.
“Oh my God oh my God oh my God,” Xiao Zhan gasped, flinging his head from side to side. “Yibo please, please!”
When Xiao Zhan started to come, Yibo released his dick from his mouth and then sank his fangs into Xiao Zhan’s inner thigh. His hands gripped Xiao Zhan’s thighs painfully tight as he sucked, and that rocked Xiao Zhan into the biggest orgasm he’d ever had in his life. He kept coming, spurting over and over onto his own belly, and finally Yibo released him, tilting his head back, eyes back to that feral green. Xiao Zhan gazed down at his mouth, stained with blood until a pink tongue darted out to catch the lingering essence.
Xiao Zhan then watched as Yibo raised his own finger to his mouth, then pricked it with his tooth. He spread his own blood on the bite mark on Xiao Zhan’s inner thigh and Xiao Zhan watched, amazed, as the flesh pulled together, healing in an instant.
“Wow,” Xiao Zhan said blearily, floating on a cloud. “Wow.”
Yibo stood up, capturing Xiao Zhan’s lips in a lingering kiss. “Good?”
“Best thing I’ve ever felt,” Xiao Zhan said with a soft smile, stroking Yibo’s cheek. “Thank you.”
Yibo pulled back a little, looking stunned by that word of thanks. He then nodded a little, flicking his eyes away. Xiao Zhan watched as that feral green faded from his eyes, though the flush of pink in his cheeks intensified.
Yibo fumbled around Xiao Zhan’s kitchen, then came back a moment later with a cloth. He met Xiao Zhan’s eyes and then cleaned off his belly. Xiao Zhan flopped down on his back on the counter, his legs dangling. He giggled a little, then smoothed a hand over his chest, touching his nipples that were still hard.
“Wow,” Xiao Zhan said again.
He heard the running water as Yibo rinsed out the cloth. He then rummaged through the cupboards. “Lube?” Yibo asked.
Xiao Zhan waved his arm blearily in the air. “I make my own. It’s the one marked Love. I make it with Lyang Lyang,” he said, giggling. “It has Lyang Lyang in it,” he stated the obvious. He craned his head up to look at Yibo’s face as he unstoppered the bottle, sniffing. Yibo smirked, looking over to him.
“This is it.”
Xiao Zhan nodded, smiling and laughing happily. Yibo’s eyes scanned back into the pantry shelf, no doubt taking in all the bottles and herbs he used for his concoctions. “I’m an Earth Witch,” Xiao Zhan said, vaguely gesturing. “I make teas and I bake cakes with healing magics in them. But none of that works on you because you don’t eat.” Xiao Zhan giggled again, feeling giddy. “Whoa.”
Yibo walked back over, sliding his hand up Xiao Zhan’s thigh. “Talented.”
Xiao Zhan sat up with a groan, draping his arms over Yibo’s shoulders. “Not really. I can’t do much.”
Yibo put his arms around him, then with no effort at all he lifted Xiao Zhan up off the counter and into his arms. Yibo’s mouth was so close, Xiao Zhan leaned in to peck their lips together, nuzzling his nose. “You remember where the bedroom is, cutie?” Xiao Zhan asked.
Yibo’s eyes flashed. He stopped in the hallway to pin Xiao Zhan up against the wall and kiss him breathless. “It’s where I fucked your brains out last time,” Yibo ground out.
Xiao Zhan hugged Yibo tight as Yibo carried him into the bedroom. “Good.”
Yibo ran them into the bedroom in a blur, moving so quickly Xiao Zhan couldn’t see anything at all. Xiao Zhan burst out laughing, clinging tight to Yibo’s shoulders. “Yibooo!”
“Cute,” Yibo said with disgust, practically flinging Xiao Zhan on the bed as he crawled up over him.
“Come on come on come on,” Xiao Zhan said, making grabby hands as he scooted back on the bed.
Yibo launched himself on the bed, flipping Xiao Zhan onto his belly in a movement so fast Xiao Zhan gasped. Yibo kissed his way down Xiao Zhan’s back, then prepped him quickly and efficiently with the oil. “Ready?” Yibo asked, leaning his body over Xiao Zhan’s back.
“Do it,” Xiao Zhan said, wiggling his hips into the mattress.
When Yibo slid inside him, the first thing Xiao Zhan felt was pain - Yibo wasn’t a small man and no amount of prep would have made it painless. But pain was part of what made this so good, the way Yibo reached up to grab Xiao Zhan’s hand, squeezing it to give him something else to focus on while his body relaxed by degrees and let Yibo in.
“Okay,” Xiao Zhan said with a nod.
Yibo took a few experimental thrusts, just taking in the expression on Xiao Zhan’s face, but when he saw he was all right he growled low in his chest and let go. The way Yibo moved, he wasn’t just thrusting, he was moving his hips in a circle punctuated by a thrust. It felt so good Xiao Zhan moaned, raising his knee up on the bed to open his legs more and give him room.
Yibo’s large hands encircled Xiao Zhan’s waist, holding him down as he fucked him. Yibo’s skin was so smooth, like silk gliding against him. But then Yibo moved faster and faster, fucking him faster than a human ever could, but still with that subtle circular motion.
Xiao Zhan groaned low in his chest, trying to arch his hips into the bed to get a little friction on his dick. He slid his hand underneath himself, seeking out his hardness and wrapping a hand around it. Yibo’s lips and teeth trailed over Xiao Zhan’s shoulder, teasing but not breaking skin.
Yibo’s thrusts became so hard that the whole bed was slamming into the wall, creaking. “Yibo! Yibo you’ll break the bed!”
Yibo pulled out with a strangled cry, then he gathered Xiao Zhan up in his arms and got to his feet. Xiao Zhan flailed, grabbing onto Yibo’s shoulders, hanging on as Yibo brought him over to the wall. Yibo hooked his arms under Xiao Zhan’s thighs, hiked him up against the wall, then pushed inside him. He fucked him into the wall, Xiao Zhan hanging on for dear life. He grabbed Yibo’s face, demanding another kiss, and Yibo kissed and fucked him all at the same time.
Xiao Zhan flung his head back against the wall, giving his whole body over to Yibo’s strong and yet tender care. Yibo was everywhere at the same time - inside him, his hand around his dick, his mouth nuzzling in Xiao Zhan’s neck. The build was slower but more intense, like a tsunami heading inexorably towards shore.
“Yibo, Yibo!”
“You gonna come?” Yibo asked in his ear, voice low and guttural.
“Yes, yes!”
Yibo hesitated, then after a moment he plunged his fangs into Xiao Zhan’s neck again. He barely sucked at all, but whatever toxin made a vampire’s bite orgasmic still flooded Xiao Zhan’s system and he bucked up against the wall, his fingers scraping into Yibo’s flesh as his whole body contracted, dick jerking.
Yibo held him until they both stopped coming, then he cradled Xiao Zhan’s body in his arms as he walked them over to the bathroom. Yibo sat Xiao Zhan on the sink as he found another cloth to wipe him off, looking in Xiao Zhan’s eyes as he sat there hazy with lingering pleasure.
Xiao Zhan couldn’t seem to make his mouth work. “Are you even human?” he found himself saying.
Yibo looked up, something vulnerable in his eyes. “No, I’m not.”
“Oh, right,” Xiao Zhan said then giggled. “I forgot.”
“How could you forget when I just did this to you,” Yibo mumbled, bringing his thumb up to his mouth to bite it open again. He spread his blood on the wounds on Xiao Zhan’s neck, closing them up like they’d never even been there in the first place. “You should stay away from me, Xiao Zhan.”
Xiao Zhan didn’t know what to say to that, so he just drank in the look of Yibo’s features up close for as long as he could. “You’re so beautiful,” Xiao Zhan whispered.
“I told you when we first met. I’m a nightmare.”
🖤
Xiao Zhan and Yibo lay in bed facing each other. Xiao Zhan had begged him not to leave right away.
“You know I can’t stay,” Yibo said, sliding his fingers through Xiao Zhan’s. “I need to be back at my lair before dawn.”
“Where is your lair?” Xiao Zhan asked, searching Yibo’s eyes.
Yibo just arched an eyebrow, not answering the question.
“How old are you?” Xiao Zhan asked, looking down at Yibo’s lips again.
“I’m nineteen,” Yibo said, his eyes wide and vulnerable again.
“How old are you really?” Xiao Zhan asked, smiling a little as he traced Yibo’s collarbones with his fingers.
“I died when I was nineteen,” Yibo specified.
Xiao Zhan traced his eyes over Yibo’s features, well able to believe it. “That’s sad.”
Yibo shrugged, flopping over onto his back. “It is what it is.”
“When did it happen?”
Yibo didn’t answer, staring up above. “I think we need more than two dates for me to answer any more questions, Zhan-ge,” Yibo said with a half smile.
Xiao Zhan propped himself up on an elbow, looking down into Yibo’s face. “But I hardly know anything about you.”
“You should know enough by now to know to stay away from me,” Yibo said, bouncing his eyebrows.
Xiao Zhan fell onto his stomach, pillowing his cheek on Yibo’s shoulder. “I should but I can’t. I can’t stop thinking about you. I dream about you every night.”
Yibo ran his hand down Xiao Zhan’s back, sighing. “I’m sorry. I should never have approached you in the first place.” He hugged Xiao Zhan to him for a brief moment. “If I knew you were a witch then I would have known I couldn’t erase your memory completely. I must have made it so hard on you.”
“What happened to you tonight? Why did you collapse?”
Xiao Zhan craned his head up to see Yibo clench his jaw. Xiao Zhan raised up his fingers, stroking that muscle that was jumping in Yibo’s jaw.
“I haven’t eaten anything since I saw you last,” Yibo admitted. “I couldn’t forget your taste and I… I tried going away, but I could never go too far. I thought maybe… maybe it was time.”
“Time for what?” Xiao Zhan asked. He pushed up into a sitting position. “Time for what?”
Yibo shrugged one slim shoulder. “Time for it all to be over.”
“You were going to kill yourself,” Xiao Zhan said, eyes wide as he looked down at the beautiful boy in his bed. The enigma, the stranger, the one who had lured him in with one look and wouldn’t let him go. He was so young, and yet there was the weight of ages in his eyes.
“Don’t forget,” Yibo whispered. “I’m already dead.”
“What does death even mean anyway?” Xiao Zhan countered, stroking Yibo’s cheek. “You’re warm. You’re here right now, speaking and feeling and being with me. You’re such a good boy.”
“I don’t know what you think I am but I’m not what I look like,” Yibo said, turning his head away. “I’m just a ghost. I’m a lingering essence of a person that used to be alive a long time ago. I don’t even remember my own last name.”
“Yibo please don’t, don’t do this, don’t leave me so soon after I found you. I came to this place so long ago, not knowing why just knowing… knowing I was supposed to be here. I led a quiet life, waiting. And I think I know now… I think I was waiting for you.” Xiao Zhan tried to keep his voice calm, coaxing. “Can’t you let us be together?”
“I can’t even see you in the daytime,” Yibo said, raising his eyebrows. “What kind of relationship are you envisioning here?”
“I don’t know,” Xiao Zhan said honestly. “I just know you can’t just go. You can’t.”
Yibo yanked Xiao Zhan back down again, shoving Xiao Zhan’s head gently onto his shoulder. “I’ll stay long enough for you to fall asleep. Okay?”
“Are you coming back?” Xiao Zhan asked.
“Sleep, Xiao Zhan,” Yibo said, and Xiao Zhan felt the pull at his mind that meant Yibo was working his own kind of magic on him. “Sleep, bao bao. Sleep, rest.”
In spite of how much he wanted to stay awake, to memorize each freckle on Yibo’s skin, he couldn’t. Sleep dragged him down, weighing down his eyelids.
“Please come back, Yibo. Come back.”
🖤
Xiao Zhan woke up alone. He puttered around the house, more used to the feeling of lethargy this time. He hadn’t lost as much blood, either. He brewed himself a magical tea, taking the essence from the herbs and using it to replenish himself.
He went to work. He came home. He tried not to be impatient, waiting for darkness to fall. Wondering if the beautiful boy with the stunning feral eyes would show up again.
But Yibo never came.