Page 14 of Two Thousand Blades

A cold chill wrapped Xiang’s heart. What would he do if he was the only one left now? It was bad enough losing so many of the others that night and then the steady trickle over the following centuries, but Xiao Dan, Chen, Junjie, Ming Yu, Yichen, and even sweet Meimei?5 had been with him for two millennia. To lose even one of them would be devastating.

To lose them all…

Xiang forced the thought aside. “That’s why you’re escaping with me when we spot the right opportunity.”

“I’m not helping you escape,” Kai chimed in, his tone weary but not harsh.

“That’s because you’re scared. You’ve not been out there in a long time.” Xiang left the wok on the burner and returned to Kai’s side to find the vegetables symmetrically sliced and placed into neat individual piles. “When we get free, you’re going to stay with my clan. We’ll take care of you, I promise.”

He scooped up a handful of vegetables and stopped at Kai’s stare, one eyebrow raised in mocking question. “Not because you want a live-in source of blood?”

“Pfft. No. Who wants that?” He returned to the wok and tossed the food in. “That’s like eating tofu for every meal. Blech. Who wants that?”

There was a sound behind him. Like a muffled laugh. Xiang spun around to look at Kai, but the man’s expression was as grim and unsmiling as it always was. Not even a hint of amusement on his lips. But his ears were not lying to him. Kai had laughed. He knew it.

And he was going to make the enigmatic man do it again.

1 Shifu – master of a clan or sect

2 Jianghu – refers to the martial arts world

3 Shidi – junior disciple/brother

4 Shimei – martial arts/sect little sister, opposite of shijie

5 Meimei – younger sister

Chapter 4

Kai

His attempts to put more distance between himself and Xiang proved to be a complete and utter failure.

He should never have stayed for that meal.

It wasn’t even all that good. After two thousand years, Xiang wasn’t showing much promise in the culinary arts.

But what Xiang lacked in cooking skill, he made up for by being able to tell interesting stories. Most of them involved Xiang annoying his clan mates or finding trouble that he only narrowly escaped. As the night passed, it became harder and harder to hold on to his blank expression as little bubbles of mirth rose within his chest.

Yet what stuck with him the most was the turning of his clan. Even as Xiang tried to hide it, there was no missing the pain that filled his dark eyes or the tremble that coursed throughout his frame with his words. Time might have passed, but those old wounds were far from healed. It left him wanting to find this vampire who’d descended on the Zhang clan and rip his head off.

Yes, that would be nice.

Of course, he couldn’t remember quite where he’d been two thousand years ago. Hibernating under Mount Kunlun? Or had he been slumbering deep in Taihu Lake?

Not that any of it mattered. It wasn’t as if he could go back in time and protect the Zhang clan. He might be powerful, but manipulating time was beyond him.

So, instead, he returned several times a day and lingered longer each time. And just maybe, he secretly moved a few pieces of furniture to his reserve hoard chamber. Not because he wanted to give the vampire more room, but it needed to be protected from Xiang’s recklessness. With those items out of the way, they rearranged the rest of the furniture to make some practice space for the vampire. If he had a place to practice his martial arts, he was less likely to get into trouble.

At least, that was the lie Kai told himself while they moved a heavy sofa with rich yellow brocade together.

It was the same reason he’d allowed Xiang to talk him into taking sword fighting lessons with him. Kai knew how to use a sword. He’d studied it centuries ago. But if Xiang was teaching him, the vampire wasn’t causing mischief. Usually.

They had proceeded like this for more than a week. Sword training. Meals. Coercing Xiang into helping with the dusting. Random conversations punctuated by outbreaks of boredom on Xiang’s part.

However, they were on borrowed time. Kai knew it. With each passing minute, he clenched his teeth and growled at nothing. Any day now, Queen Belladonna was going to summon him to her side using his sword, and she was going to order him to kill the vampire. What the hell was he supposed to do? There was no fighting that magic.

He’d tried once when she’d first gotten her hands on his sword, and the attempt had almost killed him. Now he bided his time. Once he could uncover a way to retrieve the sword, he would decimate all the fae who thought to control and command him. When he was done, the humans would have nothing to fear from the fae. They would be reduced to half-forgotten folklore and misty nightmares.

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