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The bar was filled with people Aeri couldn't care much less about. Their annoying laughter. The way their glasses clinked against each other. It was sickening. She hated everyone. She always had. Every person she had ever met was nothing but an obnoxious obstacle. A pawn in her game.
But her...
She was something else.
The soft golden glow of the overhead lights illuminated her face so perfectly that Aeri swore she looked divine. Like a goddess sent down to bless this disgusting world with her beauty.
And she did.
The second Aeri looked at her, every other vile human being in the room disappeared. Flowers practically bloomed where Yizhuo stepped.
She was perfect.
And apparently everyone else in the bar thought so too—Not that Aeri could blame them.
Yizhuo stood in the middle of the dance floor, her delicate frame moving effortlessly with the crowd. Her black dress clung to her beautifully, stopping high on her thighs and showing off her legs every time she stumbled or spun from the alcohol buzzing pleasantly through her system. Her hair was tied half-up, strands falling around her flushed face while she laughed at something one of her friends had said.
She looked unreal. Fragile. Like something meant to be protected. Aeri took it upon herself to do exactly that.
From where she sat tucked away in the corner booth, shadows swallowing most of her figure, Aeri watched Yizhuo carefully.
Every smile. Every laugh. Every person that got too close—and there were a lot of them. Men especially.
Aeri noticed the way they stared at Yizhuo while she danced.
Hungry and Lustful.
Like she was some sort of prize they could win if they flashed a cocky grin and muttered some half-assed pickup line into her ear.
It made Aeri sick.
One man in particular seemed especially confident in his chances of winning over Yizhuo.
Funny.
As soon as he began inching closer to Yizhuo's dancing form from behind, his tall body towering over her while his eyes scanned up and down her body, Aeri wanted to kill him right then and there.
She sat there silently, her piercing eyes peeking out from beneath her dark brown overgrown bangs as she stared at them from afar. She looked...evil. Anyone who had previously looked her way or accidentally made eye contact with her immediately turned the other direction, staying as far away as possible.
I mean, who would want to sit near someone who looked that threatening? That angry?
Yizhuo froze slightly when large hands suddenly wrapped around her waist.
Then she smiled. A fake one. Aeri knew the difference immediately.
"Hey sexy," the man slurred into her ear. He had greasy curls sticking to his sweaty forehead. He reeked of cheap cologne, and alcohol, and cigarettes.
"Hey," Yizhuo replied smoothly.
"You here alone?"
"Yeah...you?"
"Yeah." The man grinned wider. "You wanna get outta here?"
He tugged her closer. Too close.
Aeri practically growled under her breath at the sight, nails scraping harshly against the tabletop. She doesn't know how they hadn’t broke.
"Sure," Yizhuo giggled.
The man led her out of the bar proudly, clearly believing he had hit the jackpot tonight.
Idiot.
Aeri followed seconds later, pulling her hood over her head as she stepped outside into the cool night air. She stayed close behind them, hidden behind shadows, parked cars, fences, anything she could blend into.
Her footsteps were silent compared to the click of Yizhuo's heels and the heavy stomping of the man's boots as he drunkenly stumbled around like an idiot.
Eventually Yizhuo led him down several blocks until her house came into view.
Aeri already knew the place well.
Of course she did. She knew everything.
She knew where the spare key was too.
She stayed hidden near the bushes as the two slipped inside the house. Once the door shut behind them, Aeri moved immediately.
Dressed entirely in black, she blended perfectly into the darkness as she vaulted over the locked side gate with practiced ease and landed silently in the backyard.
She walked beside the pool and lifted the cushion off one of the lounge chairs.
There. The spare key. Exactly where it always was. Aeri grabbed it and made her way toward the back door. The handle was locked, just like she expected. She slid the key in carefully and stepped inside once the lock clicked open.
The house was quiet. Too quiet. Aeri shut the door silently behind her and inhaled slowly, preparing herself before heading toward the staircase.
Step by step, she climbed upward on the wooden stairs.
Then she heard it: Yizhuo laughing. Soft, Pretty, and Perfect. Aeri closed her eyes for a brief second. God, she loved that laugh. It was a laugh she could listen to forever.
But when she finally reached the bedroom door and peeked through the crack, her blood boiled instantly.
Yizhuo was on the bed. But she wasn't laughing anymore. The man was on top of her now, one large hand gripping her wrist while the other pressed a small pocket knife against her throat.
Yizhuo looked small beneath him. Trapped.
The man leaned over her with a disgusting grin stretched across his face.
So that was his plan?
Pretend to be charming.
Get her alone.
Corner her.
Aeri felt something ugly twist inside her chest.
No.
Absolutely fucking not.
She pushed the bedroom door open slowly. The creak made the man's head snap toward her. Immediately, he pressed the knife harder against Yizhuo's throat.
"Don't move," he warned. "I'll kill her."
Aeri didn't even blink.
"No," she said flatly. "You won't."
Confusion crossed the man's face.
But Yizhuo?
Yizhuo was smiling. Really smiling. Her fingers wrapped loosely around the wrist holding the knife to her throat as she looked up at Aeri with complete trust.
The man frowned harder. "What the hell makes you think I wo—"
His sentence never finished.
Aeri's fist collided with his face so hard that something cracked loudly on impact.
Blood exploded from his nose, splattering across Yizhuo's smooth thighs and staining the black fabric of her dress.
The man screamed and stumbled backward, clutching his ruined face while blood poured through his fingers and dripped onto the hardwood floor.
How dare he touch her.
How dare he bleed on her.
The man scrambled desperately for the knife he had dropped. Aeri moved faster. She grabbed him from behind and slammed him face-first into the floor hard enough to make the entire room shake. A loud groan ripped from his throat.
Before he could recover, Aeri's boot came down hard onto his wrist. A sickening crunch echoed through the room. The man screamed again. Aeri crouched slowly, grabbing the knife from beside him.
She smiled. A horrible, wicked smile. The kind that made people realize far too late that they were about to die.
"You touched her," she whispered. Then she slit his throat. No hesitation. No doubt.
Blood spilled instantly. Hot, thick, and violent. The man choked on it, body twitching violently against the floor while his hands weakly clawed at his ruined throat.
Aeri just watched. Watched until the twitching stopped. Watched until his body finally went limp.
Dead.
Silence filled the room.
Aeri stood there breathing slowly, blood smeared across her hands and splattered against her clothes. Pools of red spread across the hardwood beneath her boots.
Then she looked toward the bed.
Yizhuo sat calmly against the headboard, legs crossed neatly like she hadn't just watched someone die in front of her. Aeri thought she looked so gorgeous. Completely unafraid, a soft grin stretched across Yizhuo’s lips.
"Not the worst one you've done," she teased softly.
Aeri melted immediately. Her expression softened so fast it almost looked unnatural.
"Yizhuo..." she whispered. She walked toward the bed slowly, stopping right in front of her wife, warm blood dripping from her fingers.
"That one made you angry, didn't he, baby?" Yizhuo asked softly, tilting her head.
Aeri nodded once, feeling the tingling in her knuckles that she knew would be bruised later. "He touched you."
Yizhuo smiled wider at that. "You get so protective over me." She cooed.
Aeri wanted to kiss her. Touch her face, hold her, Feel her warmth. But she couldn't contaminate her with this filthy blood. So she stopped herself.
She couldn't pull her eyes away from Yizhuo. Her hands twitched desperately at her sides, begging to reach out and touch her anyway.
Yizhuo looked up at her with those soft brown eyes Aeri would kill for. Eyes she'd always protect. Eyes she'd gladly stain her hands red for.
"You should probably clean that up," Yizhuo whispered gently, finally glancing toward the body.
"Wha—" Aeri blinked, snapping out of her trance. Then she looked over at the corpse laying on the floor.
"Oh."
Right.
The body.
"Yeah..." Aeri sighed. "Right."
⸻
Aeri had carefully rid the entire room of any trace of the man. She hand scrubbed the blood from the floor, cleaned her boots thoroughly, hid the body deep in the freezer to properly dispose of later, and double checked every inch of the room for stray DNA in case police somehow came sniffing around.
Not that anyone would really miss a man like that. Still, Aeri always took precautions.
Now, she was carefully drying Yizhuo's inky black hair, her fingers gently working through the knots while the blow dryer hummed softly in the bathroom.
They had both just finished showering together. Yizhuo wore one of Aeri's oversized anime shirts and nothing else underneath. Comfortable.
Aeri wore a matching anime shirt with Yizhuo and sweatpants—not what she'd normally sleep in since sweats always made her way too hot, but blood had ruined her last clean pair of shorts so she didn't really have much of a choice.
Yizhuo watched Aeri through the mirror carefully. Then she smiled. "You did good today," she mumbled softly.
Aeri turned off the blow dryer and placed it onto the countertop. "Hm?" she asked. Yizhuo turned around to face her fully. The warmth radiating from Aeri was comforting. Safe.
Yizhuo smirked softly, already knowing exactly how weak Aeri was for her. "I said you did good today," she repeated quietly. "I love seeing you like that."
Her fingers reached up to gently brush against Aeri's cheek before slowly trailing down her jaw, her neck, then her chest.
Aeri's breath caught slightly.
"You're so pretty when you do those things for me."
Aeri immediately grabbed Yizhuo's hand and pulled it back to press her palm against her cheek, eyes fluttering closed as she melted into the warmth, and the slight coldness from the metal ring on her finger.
Yizhuo's thumb caressed her skin slowly.
"Covered in blood for me," she whispered.
Aeri opened her eyes again. Those cold eyes that terrified everyone else looked impossibly soft while staring down at her wife.
"Getting all protective over me..." Yizhuo continued softly, glancing down at Aeri's lips before meeting her eyes again.
"It's so hot."
Aeri looked completely gone for her, and Completely devoted.
"You'd do anything for me, right baby?"
Aeri nodded without hesitation. Yizhuo laughed softly at the quick response, a soft noise that was music to Aeri’s ears.
"Then kiss me. Show me how much you love me"
Aeri leaned in instantly. Their lips met softly at first, warm and familiar. Yizhuo tasted like cherry chapstick. Sweet. Addicting. Aeri couldn't help but lick gently into her mouth, chasing the taste while her hands slid down to Yizhuo's waist.
Yizhuo wrapped her arms around Aeri's neck immediately, pulling her closer between her legs as she pressed against the sinks counter.
Their lips moved together slowly at first.
Then deeper. Hungrier. Yizhuo tilted her head slightly, letting Aeri kiss her harder. A quiet sound escaped her throat when Aeri's grip tightened against her waist. Aeri swallowed the noise immediately.
Their tongues brushed together messily while warm breaths mixed between them. Neither of them seemed willing to pull away for longer than a second before diving back in again.
Aeri kissed her like she was starved for her.
Like she always would be.
Yizhuo smiled softly against her lips, fingers sliding into Aeri's damp hair as she pulled her impossibly closer.
This was where she belonged.
Not with disgusting people who only wanted her body or to play with her like a toy.
But here.
With Aeri.
A woman who worshipped her.
Protected her.
Watched over her.
Killed for her.