Page 42 of Two Thousand Promises

“Gege?”

“Hmm?”

“I think I have changed my mind. Can we keep all the pretty things that you’ve ordered for me?”

Xiao Dan threw his head back and laughed, his arms squeezing Huli so tightly. Huli took this answer to mean yes.

Chapter 15

Zhang Xiao Dan

1453 CE

Luoyang, near Zhang manor

Xiao Dan hung back to the deepest shadows of the plum orchard, one hand clutching his sword sheath while the other itched to wrap his fingers on the grip and pull it free. Instead, he rubbed the sweaty palm of his hand on his pants as he scanned the area. The moon was nothing more than a thin crescent, offering little light against the murky summer night.

He hesitated, straining to hear the approach of anyone, but there were just the usual nocturnal insects singing their songs.

What was he doing?

This was crazy.

For the past few months, he’d gotten this strange feeling that he was being watched and followed every time he had to make a trip into town. Not that he went all that often. And when he made most of his trips, he moved through the shadows and used bits of his glamour to change his appearance.

But no matter what he did or where he went, it felt as if there were always a set of eyes watching him.

And then tonight, he woke to a scrawled note in his room telling him to come to the orchard.

His first thought was that Huli had returned from his latest cultivation trip. He’d come back briefly about forty years ago to show off his sixth tail, but he’d made no mention of shifting into a human. Xiao Dan thought it best not to bring up the sore topic and enjoyed the brief time they had together.

Technically, Huli shouldn’t be in town so soon. Normally, a full century or more passed between their meetings.

Yet, who else would be so crazy as to sneak onto the Zhang clan estate and invade his chambers to leave a message? There were no other vampires in Luoyang. The last one who’d been so bold as to come into their territory left the same night and never returned. Not only had he been outnumbered, but the fool was barely past his first century and so full of himself. Xiang and Mei Lian had taken far too much pleasure in showing him the error of his ego.

This had to be Huli asking him to come to their special place.

So why the sword? He’d never taken a sword to meet with Huli. The huli jing was playful and mischievous, but he’d never threatened Xiao Dan or made him feel unsafe.

He’d brought the sword because he couldn’t forget those eyes following him. If it had been Huli watching him in town, he wouldn’t have waited months to make his presence known. During all his other visits, Huli had come to find him as soon as he returned to town, regardless of the time of day or how many of his clan mates he had to outfox to get to Xiao Dan.

Tonight’s meeting had him feeling unsettled.

To make matters worse, Chen had been watching him far too closely all evening. His shidi knew something was up, but he was too irrational about Huli. Xiao Dan refused to tell him when thefox was back, not wishing to hear him complaining about the untrustworthiness of the huli jing.

Yes, Huli had his quirky little ways, and he could be a selfish creature at times, but he was also fun and lived for the moment. He embraced all the joys he could find in life, even if it was just lying under the stars with his head in Xiao Dan’s lap, listening to his Xiao Dan tell him boring stories about what had happened since they’d last met. He wasn’t blind to who Huli was. In fact, he loved all those strange things that made Huli the wonderful creature he was.

Sneaking away from the estate might have taken him a couple of tries, but he felt confident that he’d gotten away before anyone noticed he was missing. He lingered under the oak, listening for any sign that someone was approaching from the house.

Confident there was only the wind and the crickets, he pushed off the tree trunk and wandered into the plum orchard. The limbs of the trees hung low with their bounty. He’d come out twice to fill a basket so Ming Yu could make her special plum sauce, but they wouldn’t do a full harvest for another few weeks. The sticky sweet scent of the fruit filled the air, reminding him of the plum wine Chen and Xiang had been dutifully making each and every year. They might not get drunk off the liquor like they used to, but they were making a healthy profit from it at the market because they could make so much and allow it to ferment for so long without the temptation of breaking into the bottles.

He paused in a larger break of the leaves to stare up at the sliver of moon watching over him. It felt so lonely up there. Clouds were covering big swaths of the black sky, blocking out the stars.

Something moved in the brush, rattling branches and crunching old leaves. Xiao Dan drew his sword with a soft swishof noise and turned toward the intruder, muscles tensed for the coming attack.

“Has your Huli been away so many years that you’ve forgotten about me?” Huli’s voice trickled out of the dark woods that edged the orchard and Xiao Dan’s heart skipped in his chest.

“Huli!” Xiao Dan returned his sword to its sheath and rushed to the deepest shadows, searching for that familiar flash of orange and white.

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