Chapter Text
Xie Lian got up from the bed with a trembling gait. He couldn’t take more than a few steps before he fell on the ground with a moan of pain. The noise woke up his lover who commented, chuckling:“It seems like I have drank too much blood from you. Let me help you”. And he picked Xie Lian up in his arms, carrying him into the kitchen, where he placed him on a chair. Can you please prevent yourself from drinking from me! Xie Lian wanted to scream, but he was too scared of the consequences; he was a frail human, weakened from excessive blood drinking, and Jun Wu, his boyfriend, was a strong vampire. Xie Lian was going to be defeated if he had tried to put up a fight.
Jun Wu was at the counter preparing the breakfast and, after some time, he placed scrambled eggs in a plate, giving it to Xie Lian. “Eat your breakfast, I need you to recover your blood before I go to work” Jun Wu said and Xie Lian took the fork in his hands, hesitating for a brief second. “Can you please not feed me for breakfast? In the last two days you requested only my blood and my anemia is getting worse. We have animal blood in the refrigerator” he said and his boyfriend gazed at him, sighing:“I already told you that my body can’t absorb that awful blood. If I drink it too much, I’ll die. Do you want me to die because you are so selfish that you don’t want to nurture me? You remember what I said to you?”. “Yes… You are the only person in this world that loves me. If you die, I’ll be alone and my existence will be useless” Xie Lian recounted. He had listened to those words so often that he started to think that they were true; after all, even his best friends from school had left him after that scandal. “Exactly. I’m the only one who can love and appreciate someone like you. You know what to do now, right?” Jun Wu asked. Xie lian nodded resigned, uncovering his neck from his hair and, in the next second, his whole body was pierced by the familiar pain of the fangs that broke his soft skin.
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Hua Cheng sat at a table of a bar, observing his suspect. The man was really young, probably around his age, and he wore really shabby clothes, but what aroused suspicion was the scarf around his neck:“That’s the man I was talking about. In the last month he had come to the hospital often. These are his medical records”. Yun Yu handed him a folder where there were a lot of papers. Yun Yu was an affiliate of the Association and he worked in a hospital as a nurse. Hua Cheng browsed quickly through them and said:“He has really serious anemia, but this doesn’t imply that he knows a vampire”. The other sighed:“Okay, I’ll tell you the whole story. Every time I do a transfusion to him I see bruises on his body that weren’t there the day before. I’m worried for him. Try to talk with him” he said. Hua Cheng, rolling the eyes, followed his suggestion.
"May I sit here?” he asked with a smile, pointing at the chair in front of the man. Xie Lian gasped when he saw the patch over his right eye, but he tried to hide his surprise:“Sure”. Xie Lian continued to write his reports, but his focus broke when Hua Cheng spoke:“I frequent this bar and a lot of time I see you writing something on your computer. Are you a writer?”. Xie Lian nodded and replied:“Yes. Some time ago I was a screenwriter, but after… some personal problems, I decided to write books”, “That’s amazing, I always wanted to meet a writer one day! How can you create a story from nothing?” Hua Cheng asked. Xie Lian fidgeted on the chair. “It’s not as amazing as you think... Every story starts from something that happened in real life. For example…” and he started to speak, but the other didn’t listen to him, more interested in studying the person in front of him. Xie Lian was more good-looking than he thought at first: the shabby clothes, made of a pastel color, and the gentle expression made him look really innocent, the type of innocence that Hua Cheng found charming. It didn’t take much for Hua Cheng to understand that he was attracted to Xie Lian. At some point, Xie Lian’s phone rang and Hua Cheng noticed how pale he was after he read the name on the screen. “I-I’m sorry, I have to go. Let’s talk another time” he stuttered as he collected his things and, as soon as he hastily got up, he fainted. Luckily Hua Cheng interrupted his fall, catching Xie Lian in his arms. “Yun Yu, let’s get him to the hospital!” he called.
“Check his body before his boyfriend comes here” Yun Yu told him at the hospital as they placed Xie Lian on a bed. Hua Cheng untied the scarf around his neck and helped the nurse to undress him. He noticed that where the scarf was covering, there were numerous signs of a vampire’s bite and his chest was the same. He gently grazed the bruises, feeling his heart throbbing for compassion. He knew how it was living with someone who abused you. “You were right, he is probably in an abusive relationship with the vampire” Hua Cheng confirmed.
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Xie Lian woke up after some minutes and he saw the man who met at the bar. “I’m relieved you are awake now. You really scared me when you collapsed. Do you feel better now?” Hua Cheng asked, truly worried. Xie Lian felt a pang of guilt for worrying a person just met:“I’m used to fainting, so there’s no need to be worried. I’m sorry for making you worried and… oh God! I hope I didn’t make you miss something important! How long have I been unconscious?”. “You have been unconscious for a few minutes and I don’t have work today” Hua Cheng answered. Xie Lian felt a bit better knowing that he didn’t put such a kind and gentle person in a difficult position. “May I ask your name?” he wondered shyly and the other smiled:“I’m San Lang, but most people call me Hua Cheng”. Xie Lian tried to repeat his name in his mind a few times. It sounded really sweet. “I’m Xie Lian” he introduced himself.
“Xie Lian, I came here as soon as I could. How are you?” suddenly, Xie Lian heard Jun Wu’s voice and in the next second the vampire was in front of him. He was really good at acting like a caring boyfriend when he was the one who caused the fainting in the first place! He noticed with bitterness. “Who are you?” Jun Wu asked Hua Cheng with the usual cold voice he reserved to whomever was close to Xie Lian. His pathological jealousy. Xie Lian shivered thinking about what was going to happen to him once they were alone at Jun Wu’s home. “He’s no one important. He saw me collapsing and he accompanied me to the hospital, that’s all” he hurried to explain and Hua Cheng agreed on his version. “If you are fine we can go home” Jun Wu said, but Yun Yu—in a nurse's outfit—stopped him:“That’s not possible. Since he fainted for the fifth time in two months, we are going to keep here a couple of days for further exams. Now I ask both of you to leave this room, since the patient needs to rest”. And both Hua Cheng and Jun Wu were thrown out.
Left alone, Xie Lian noticed that there was a sheet of paper in the pocket of his trousers. There was written: I know what your boyfriend is and your relationship. I’m worried about you. Visit me at this address. And there was also Hua Cheng’s number and firm. What did that message mean? Did San Lang know that his boyfriend was a vampire? How?
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Hua Cheng arrived at home yelling at Yun Yu through the phone. “I already told you that keeping Xie Lian here is the only thing I can do!” Yun Yu tried to defend himself, but Hua Cheng didn’t listen to him:“Bullshit! Have you reported Jun Wu to the police?”. “Yes, I did it many times, but he’s a lawyer and accused the hospital for defamation” the nurse said.
The call went on for a couple of minutes, then Hua Cheng hung up annoyed. Yun Yu's question still sounded in his mind: why have you taken his situation so seriously? The answer was really easy: he cared for that naive man. The vampire hunter knew what it was like being in a toxic relationship without any escape, he felt it on his own skin. For the first time, as he talked with Xie Lian he felt a sense of communion with another human. He sensed he could have said everything to the man in front of him. His worries, his anxiety and the traumas that he didn’t fully overcome. All of this came to the surface during that conversation and he wanted to help Xie Lian. His cat, E-Ming scampered towards him, nudging its head against Hua Cheng’s legs, demanding his dinner. “You little greedy cat, your dinner will be served later. My day has not ended yet” he rejected that cat and the pet left the room, probably offended by the lack of attention. Hua Cheng’s mind went once again to Xie Lian. During their conversation, Xie Lian didn’t speak much about his relationship, but the scars, the bruises on his body and the way he behaved with Jun Wu made Hua Cheng understand a lot of things. His health was really bad and Hua Cheng was worried for Xie Lian’s life. I hope he will call me soon, he thought.