Page 52 of Two Thousand Promises

“We’ll get to work on finding a suitable location,” Chen murmured.

“And I’ll call the Variks,” Junjie added.

Xiao Dan dragged his gaze from Huli to Junjie. “I don’t think we need to involve the Variks in this. We’ve troubled them enough. We can handle this.”

“Exactly, but we’re going to need a babysitter for Erik. Leo and I don’t want to be left out. Ming Yu has said that she wants to take her meat hammer to Min.” Junjie’s fierce look shifted into a softer smirk. “Besides, King Aiden did offer to babysit at any time. This could help him and Ronan decide if they want to adopt a little one of their own.”

Xiao Dan’s lips twitched as if he were holding back a smile. Huli didn’t bother. He grinned at the idea of Erik turning the Varik house upside-down with his cuteness. He was also a fan of Ming Yu chasing Min around with that metal mallet she kept in the kitchen.

“Very well. Reach out to the Variks to see if they can lend us a hand with Erik. Let’s finalize our plans in the next few nights. It will give Huli the time he needs to heal under my supervision.”

Yes, healing under Xiao Dan’s close and very hands-on supervision. That sounded like an excellent idea to him.

Chapter 19

Huli

1923 CE

Luoyang, near Zhang manor

Huli lingered by a thicket of trees near one of the larger buildings on the Zhang estate. Something was wrong. There was a new tension in the air. A heavy silence had settled over the grounds that was almost suffocating. Normally, he would interject himself, sneaking into one of the buildings to locate Xiao Dan, but this time he held back. Xiang seemed sharper and more impatient.

And then there was the crying.

Low, muffled crying had come from Ming Yu and Mei Lian on more than one occasion during the past several hours.

What was going on? Had another one of Xiao Dan’s clan mates met the sun?

No, that couldn’t be. This core group of vampires had been together for centuries. Longer than he’d been alive, even. Yet…

He ran through the list of them, counting each one he’d seen in the last twenty-four hours, and the only one who came up missing was Wu Yichen.

A door opened and Huli’s ears perked up. Xiao Dan stepped outside at last, but he didn’t look around. He closed the door behind him and hurried in the direction of the plum orchard. Huli’s heart skipped, and the worry that had gnawed on his nerves evaporated. Gege was going to their meeting spot.

Huli darted off in a slightly different direction, running as fast as he could to reach their private place ahead of the vampire. The trees changed and gave way to a large orchard rich with the scent of plums perfuming the night air. He shifted into his human form. Out of habit, he shoved his fingers through his short hair and ran a hand over his shirt and pants. When Xiao Dan saw him, he needed to be perfect.

But as the vampire stepped into the broken moonlight of the orchard, it was easy to see that something was wrong. A hand covered his mouth and his steps were uneven, as if he were carrying a great burden on his shoulders.

“Zhang-ge?” Huli called out as he walked toward him.

“Huli!” His name broke from Xiao Dan’s throat in a sob. Huli rushed the last several meters that separated them, catching his vampire as his legs gave out. He wrapped his arms around Xiao Dan’s body and he eased them both to the damp ground, clasping him as he cried.

What was happening?In all the years he’d known Xiao Dan, he couldn’t recall ever seeing his vampire so broken. Xiao Dan’s fingers twisted in Huli’s shirt and pulled him close even as his cool tears fell on Huli’s skin, sending a chill through him.

Who had hurt his dearest love?They were going to die. Huli was going to hunt down this person and slaughter them for hurting his gege.

“Zhang-ge, what has happened? Tell your Huli, and he will make it better.”

Xiao Dan shook his head as he sucked in a ragged gasp of air. “Took him. Someone…took him.”

That was…shocking. How could anyone be strong enough to steal one of the Zhang clan vampires? They were each two thousand years old. He didn’t know of anyone else who was as old or powerful as these vampires. Huli thought he was pretty impressive, but he was no fool. With Xiao Dan and his clan, he was barely more than a pup, even with all of his nine tails, and that would never change.

“Who?”

“Yichen. Our littlest shidi. Someone has taken him.” Each word was hard, sounding as if Xiao Dan were forcing a shard of glass out of his throat.

Huli frowned. That was the one he hadn’t seen in a while. Out of all the vampires, Yichen and Ming Yu were the most tolerant of his presence. Not going out of their way to chase him from the buildings and orchard. Junjie and Mei Lian pretended he wasn’t there. It was Xiang and Chen he had to avoid. They would chase him with weapons. They had become especially violent when they’d learned he could masquerade as a human.

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