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“Are you sure about this?” asked Xie Lian, tilting his head as he looked at Shi Qingxuan. She glimpsed his venom-tipped fangs as he spoke.
“Yes, I’m sure,” she said, without a moment’s hesitation. Shi Qingxuan sat on the edge of the mattress, her legs dangling off the side of Hua Cheng and Xie Lian's enormous bed. She wore a silk nightgown, the fabric so thin that she was already shivering. Outside, the night sky was dark, the streets lit up only by streetlights lining the sidewalks. It was the perfect time and setting for the thing Shi Qingxuan wanted to happen.
All three of her lovers happened to be in the same room tonight. So all of them could watch it happen, too.
“Madness,” said He Xuan, standing a few feet away with her arms crossed over her chest. “Willingly letting yourself get turned— it’s completely crazy.”
Of course He Xuan would say that.
Shi Qingxuan’s girlfriend never talked about her past, but Shi Qingxuan had seen the old photos He Xuan kept in her bedroom. They were black-and-white photos, taken decades ago. Parents, a younger sister, a fiance. He Xuan was smiling in those old photos. Shi Qingxuan had looked at an old newspaper from He Xuan’s hometown and learned the story: a very powerful vampire had targeted them, turning He Xuan and feeding on her family. He Xuan's history as a vampire was one of grief and anger.
“You know, it isn't easy.” Xie Lian added.
Shi Qingxuan nodded. “I know.”
How could she not know? Sometimes when Xie Lian came to sleep in her bed, he suffered nightmares that made him wake up sweating and trembling. Whoever had turned Xie Lian had made it a very bad experience for him, something that broke him to his core.
When she'd first met her neighbor, Shi Qingxuan would never have thought Xie Lian with his soft, kind smiles and white turtlenecks paired with khaki pants, was a vampire. But all was revealed when she realized what Xie Lian’s husband was. Hua Cheng didn’t blend in with humans. In fact, he played up the stereotypical vampiric look, letting his fangs show with every smirk and wearing a blood-red jacket and growing his nails out long so they looked like talons long nails that could sink into a victim’s flesh. Xie Lian’s neck was always covered in marks given by his husband. Only another vampire could endure those bites.
“Your brother is going to disown you,” He Xuan pointed out.
Shi Qingxuan pouted. “Being a vampire is much more fun than being a vampire hunter.”
She came from a family of hunters, planning her whole life to hunt alongside her brother. But alas, she was weak for mysterious goth girls and got herself kicked out of the guild for giving He Xuan her phone number rather than killing her on sight. She had ended up staying with He Xuan, slowly becoming her best friend and then something more.
“Fun? You think it’s fun?” He Xuan’s voice was cold, the frown on her face growing deeper.
Shi Qingxuan realized too late that she had said the wrong thing.
“What I mean is, I want to be like the rest of you. I want to live forever, with all of you."
He Xuan looked skeptical, like she always did when faced with Shi Qingxuan's relentless optimism, but she said nothing more.
“You’ll be in incredible pain. Can you endure it?” Hua Cheng’s single black eye glinted.
Shi Qingxuan knew Hua Cheng’s turning had been a self-sacrifice, offering himself up to be fed upon by Xie Lian, who was in the throes of his first bloodthirst, recently turned and suffering. (She only knew this because of an incident with a truth serum, where Xie Lian had admitted the guilt that ate away at him even after all this time.)
“I can,” insisted Shi Qingxuan, lifting her chin as she looked him in the eye.
Xie Lian reached for Shi Qingxuan’s hand and squeezed. “You don’t have to do this.”
“But I want to.” Her breath hitched, the pace of her heart quickening. “A-Lian...bite me.”
She turned her neck towards Xie Lian, pointing towards her jugular vein.
“Alright.” Xie Lian held her by the waist, his undead hands cold through the thin satin of Shi Qingxuan’s nightgown. “If you’re sure.”
Xie Lian licked his lips. He leaned forward, burying his face in the crook of his lover’s neck.
Shi Qingxuan held her breath.
A prick.
Xie Lian’s sharp fangs sinking into Shi Qingxuan’s jugular. Softly, like a kiss. Tender lips pressing against her skin.
He pulled away, blood trickling out the corner of his mouth.
“Whoa,” Shi Qingxuan muttered at the electric feeling permeating her body as the venom spread into her veins.
She fell back onto the bed, her eyes rolling upwards. Her body seized up and went rigid. Her body’s instinct would be to scream but her mouth would not open. She thrashed on the bed, overwhelmed by the pain.
Then she felt hands on her, stroking her hair, talking to her comfortingly.
Shi Qingxuan eventually stilled, lying on the bed as her vision blurred and went gray...
She woke up from her trance, looking around her. Somehow, she had ended up with her head in Xie Lian’s lap. He Xuan was standing above her, with a warm compress pressed to her head.
“What— what happened?”
“You blacked out,” Hua Cheng said, long black hair brushing against Shi Qingxuan’s arm.
“How do you feel?” asked Xie Lian
“Um...” Shi Qingxuan squirmed. “Strange.” Her head felt like it was full of fog. When she moved her limbs, her body felt sluggish and low, like the connection between her brain and body had been reduced.
“What do you mean, strange?”
“Like this body doesn’t belong to me.”
“Oh?”
“I think I just need...to be touched.” Shi Qingxuan looked up at her lovers, making a pleading expression.
He Xuan was the first one to give in to her request. She leaned in towards Shi Qingxuan, combing her hands through her wavy brown hair, then leaning in for a kiss. They kissed for longer than they ever had; Shi Qingxuan no longer needed to break away in order to breathe.
Hua Cheng’s lips pressed against her shoulder, while Xie Lian’s hand glided up from her bare knee to her thigh. Shi Qingxuan soon was surrounded on all sides by her three favorite people as they showered kisses and caresses on her, sneaking along her shoulders and dipping underneath her nightgown. Their scents covered her, each vampire having a unique smell that she could now sense with her own vampiric abilities. Her body was cold and dead now but she felt a warmth blossoming inside her chest, being surrounded by her lovers.
An old-fashioned alarm clock rang from on top of the nightstand. Xie Lian reached over and turned it off.
“It’s time,” said Hua Cheng. He rose from the bed, stretching his eternally-young muscles.
“Ooh, the witching hour!” Shi Qingxuan exclaimed, bolting straight up and out of bed.
She stared herself in the full-length mirror as she pulled on her outer layers. With her pastel-blue overcoat and matching hat, Shi Qingxuan did not look like a vampire. But when she ran her tongue along her teeth, she could feel the sharpness of her newly-formed fangs. She examined herself a bit more. Xie Lian’s bite marks were visible on her neck. He Xuan’s dark lipstick left dark smudges on her lips while Hua Cheng’s habit for sucking on skin left hickeys along her neck and collarbone.
She smiled.
Then glanced around at her lovers expectantly.
Hua Cheng gave Shi Qingxuan an intense stare, “Are you ready, to join the feast of blood?”
Shi Qingxuan was almost overflowing with excitement, her undead body tingling with excitement. “I am.”