Work Text:
"I will give you immunity from my one-word spell."
"How long will it last?"
"Forever."
"What should I do? Do we need to perform some kind of special ritual?"
Zhuo Yichen tried to say it in a businesslike tone, but his throat let out the words abruptly, with tension. The words crashed into the gray, frozen air and fell powerlessly onto snow-covered tiles.
The demon was right. If things went according to the worst-case scenario, he would really need the immunity. And yet, this whole situation felt terribly wrong. How much simpler it would be if Zhao Yuanzhou were the bloodthirsty monster that Zhuo Yichen had imagined him to be... "Live well. Don't die before me," Zhao Yuanzhou said with sincere sympathy in his voice. But this sympathy scraped at Zhuo Yichen's soul worse than an evil mockery.
"What do we need for the ritual? First, find a more secluded place."
Zhao Yuanzhou glanced sideways at Ying Lei, who was sitting on the steps. Ying Lei made a frightened grimace.
"I'm leaving, I'm leaving. I know these rituals that require a secluded place. I once saw one in a book from the forbidden section of my grandfather's library - I was terribly curious in my early two hundredths . I stared at the picture a great while trying to figure out what kind of demon it was. Until I realized that these were two demons, only in very...bizarre positions..."
Ying Lei tried to depict the bizarreness of the positions with his fingers.
Zhuo Yichen flared up: "This is not that kind of ritual!"
And then cast an anxious glance at Zhao Yuanzhou. Who knows what the insidious creature will come up with? Lately, Zhao Yuanzhou had been unusually quiet and obedient, suspiciously obedient.
Zhao Yuanzhou cleared his throat, as if something was stuck in it, but said firmly:
"No, this is not that kind of ritual. It's just that it requires some concentration, and the frivolous comments of young demons will disturb me."
"We can go to my room," Zhuo Yichen said sharply and walked away, hoping that the loud crunch of snow under his feet would protect his ears from Ying Lei's other possible ideas.
It was dim and quiet in Zhuo Yichen's room - he could hear the snow falling outside the window. In this silence, being alone with the demon was especially awkward. Zhuo Yichen felt that his breathing was too loud, and it was somehow embarrassing. And the demon hesitated. Zhuo Yichen looked at him, and was surprised to notice something akin to anxiety in the great demon's eyes.
"What's the matter? Is this ritual dangerous?"
Zhao Yuanzhou took a few sips from his treasured bottle and smiled:
"Zhuo-daren has nothing to worry about. But you'll have to come closer."
Zhuo Yichen stopped about a step away from the demon, hoping that this would be enough. But Zhao Yuanzhou took a step towards him - now they were standing very close, but only their long shadows on the stone floor touched each other.
Zhao Yuanzhou spread his arms out to the sides - and a ruby glow flared up behind him, like a cloak. Zhuo Yichen shuddered and instinctively grabbed his sword. But Zhao Yuanzhou, as if he did not even notice this gesture, put his hands behind Yichen's back - covering them both with a ruby cloak.
Zhuo Yichen felt goosebumps running all over his body. A magical vortex was swirling around them, separating them from the rest of the room like a shining wall, and Zhuo Yichen felt like they were spinning, and the ground was shaking under his feet.
He looked up at Zhao Yuanzhou, expecting to see the usual playful grin on the demon's face - and was stunned by the dramatic change in him. At such a close distance, the demon's eyes looked huge, dark, with flashes of ruby flame dancing in them, and something else - hungry and sad. Something for which Zhuo Yichen had no words, but felt a new danger in it, unlike all the other dangers he had experienced in his life as a demon hunter.
Zhuo Yichen quickly lowered his gaze.
It didn't help much. Zhao Yuanzhou, that shameless demon, had come to meet him practically in his sleeping clothes. The demon's undershirt, already translucent, was held together by just one brooch at the throat. So now the young man's gaze was presented with a view of the demon's almost naked chest.
Zhuo Yichen inhaled air through his nose and gripped his sword tighter - as a source of support.
"Close your eyes," Zhao Yuanzhou said in a strange, hoarse voice.
Zhuo Yichen thought that the demon was laughing at his embarrassment and blushed even more, but he listened to the advice.
And then he felt a distinct touch - the demon pressed his forehead against Zhuo Yichen's. Zhuo Yichen gripped the sword even tighter, feeling the magical field wash over him from head to toe, leaving a slight tingling sensation on his skin, wave after wave.
Minutes passed. Zhuo Yichen stood motionless, barely breathing. He tried not to think. Not to think about the fact that there, beyond the fragile physical boundary between them, was someone else's soul. A soul that he had sworn to destroy. For some reason, this simple touch made everything more real. As if Zhao Yuanzhou had only been a dream before, and now he had come to life.
Here he is - his warmth almost burns Zhuo Yichen's skin, sparks run across his body. The demon's rapid breathing is weightless, but mercilessly real, touching his lips...
And suddenly everything stopped.
Zhuo Yichen felt as if he was pulled out of warm water onto the shore. He opened his eyes, looking around in confusion.
The demon stood two steps away from him, and again sipped from his bottle.
"What, is it all already?"
"Is Zhuo-daren disappointed?" - the demon smiled a broken smile.
"If Zhuo-daren liked our little contact so much, he only needs to ask, and without any ritual..."
"Shut...", - Zhuo Yichen began, but immediately stopped himself. The demon grinned, but somehow sadly, even painfully.
"Does this ritual draw out a lot of power?"
"In a way, yes," the demon smiled, soft and tired. "But don't worry about me, tomorrow I'll be a cheerful threat to all living things again."
Zhao Yuanzhou turned to leave, but for some reason Zhuo Yichen didn't want the demon to leave like that.
"Wait! I..." he took a minute to come up with an excuse, "We haven't confirmed that the immunity is working yet!"
"You don't trust me?"
"No, I just..."
Zhuo Yichen didn't have time to finish his sentence when a small ruby cloud flew from Zhao Yuanzhou's fingers to him:
"Dream!"
The cloud hit him in the chest weightlessly - and dissipated without any effect.
"There, everything is working. Good night, Zhuo-daren. Tomorrow will be a busy day."
"Good night," Zhuo Yichen said to the demon's back as he left.
The footsteps in the corridor had long since died down, but Zhuo Yichen was still sitting on the bed, sleepless. They had prepared for everything. All should go well. And yet, the feeling of something irreversible was spreading inside like an unknown disease. As if he had already crossed an invisible line, without understanding when or where.
"I should have asked the cunning demon about side effects."
The snow had stopped falling. The moon was peering in through the window, inviting a whole ensemble of dancing shadows into the simply furnished dwelling. But today, Zhuo Yichen was not afraid of the night guests. He almost wanted this night to never end.