Chapter Text
There’s a basement about the size of a single bed room in the far corner of a large mansion in the far corner of a city known for its nightlife. The basement is well-hidden and only accessible from the outside. Only a few people in the building have access to the door, and even fewer had the authority on whether or not it could be opened or not. Regardless, it was only the width of one person, so a rushed entrance or escape would leave too many broken, bruised, or dead. Maybe it could be better described as a pit, then.
The ground or the basement was cold, damp, and covered in dirt and grime; it was hard and grainy like cement, but it was impossible to tell in the room’s lighting. The unidentifiable liquid - a frankenstein of a coagulation of the slime - stuck to the skin and few bits of clothes and fabrics offered to the dank room’s inhabitants. The smell of piss, shit, sweat, blood, and god-knows-what permeated the air and saturated whatever sat in it.
Visibility was low and not meant for one to know who or what was next to them. A singular, flickering lightbulb hung from the center of the ceiling. The only thing people were allowed to discern in the low-light room were the sounds of moaning and groaning of others nearby. If they were able to see anything at all then it simply would not be spoken about out loud. Few had the ability to see in such poor circumstances, but even when asked about what they could make-out there was only a thousand-yard stare and the shaking of heads. Who went looking for that sort of end result, though? Well, it was obvious nobody did, but a select few were curious enough to be the cat. It was the morbid curiosity of it - obviously those people were in some sort of pain by the sounds of it, so was it such a crime to see what similar fate lay in store for them also?
It certainly didn’t help with the accumulating mess that was several layers thick on the ground, that’s for sure.
It was only when the door opened atop of what appeared to be a stairway to heaven did anyone really see what color anything that sliver of light exposed for them was. There were a great many that were already desensitized to the scenery, but the newcomers - terrified and unable to think rationally or control their own body functions - were left to moan and complain about what was going on around them. Those were the few who tried to make a run for the door before they were pushed back down the stairs by a large man guarding the entryway. Whether they lived or died was no concern of theirs.
Fed up with the week of stink and mistreatment, many minds began to break. Two outcomes would come from this: insanity or submission. As fate would have it, there was always one in a group of freshmen. One of the women ran screaming and crying up the stairs, something of body excretion covered her thighs and parts of the rest of her body. She pushed her way past several of the other people who stood and sat there motionless - it wasn’t even a fight, they just let her push in front of them. As she ascended each individually grimy step, no guardrail to assist with the climb, she used the wall for leverage to the thrall posted at the top.
It was hard to see all the way from the bottom of the steps and eyes having a hard time adjusting to the light they were no longer able to have unlimited access to, but everyone who had been there before already knew what would happen.
The woman made it to the top, made it to the thrall, but it was a short-lived moment for her. In slow-motion her ascent was put back into reverse. The thrall's arm was out, the tips of his fingers extended, but there was little to no evidence of strength put into the push. His eyes held no remorse nor contempt, and his face just felt… lifeless.
The woman had tried to put her arm against the wall in an attempt to rebalance herself and find some leverage, but she only made it about halfway down the steps before she remade contact with the graded surface. She landed hard on her back and with no support under her neck, her head bounced back against one of the stairs twice as she quickly slid down the staircase and back onto the floor at the base of the steps.
Everyone’s eyes were glued to the sight before them. Their eyes were glued to the clouded look in the woman’s unfocused gaze. The burn of skin on her arm from where she tried to keep herself balanced as she tumbled backwards to her death. The dried and crusting shit, sweat and blood now highlighted for everyone to see in the light that now immortalized her in everyone’s vision.
The Thrall called out from above in a deadpanned voice. “Anyone else?”
Gazes slowly shifted up the staircase. The contents of the woman now present at the midway point down on the staircase; blood being the freshest of the contents. Several eyes just barely met the gaze of the large man. Feet shifted uncomfortably and heads lowered in fear. Others turned away, not wanting to look any longer. No words were spoken.
Nothing would happen even if they did.
“Those who know the drill lead the herd up,” he said after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence that seemed to have no effect on him specifically.
The group of people in the basement one by one climbed their way up the staircase and into the wide room that was just a bit bigger than the pit itself. The floors were cold, but tiled. It was hard, but it didn’t scratch at the sole of the foot the way the basement’s did. In comparison, it felt like a soft kiss to a harsh bite.
The walls were a sterile white, something that could be easily washed and repainted if it needed to be - which, from the frequency of entering and leaving the basement, was often. It was nothing spectacular, but the blandness of it all made the whole thing feel redundant.
It was like a cycle. The group was brought up from the basement and into a sterile room for basic evaluation and assessment that they were alive and then brought into another room to wash off the filth and stink they accumulated in the few days they were locked away. The Thrall waited for each human to enter the group shower before he locked the door from the outside. The group wasn’t given any form of body oils or soaps or shampoos for general cleanliness, but could only spend a small amount of time washing stuck excretions and residues off of themselves. Some were worse than others, some could care less if they properly cleaned themselves at this point, but the smell would stay no matter what.
Once they entered the final room they were given the minimum of a hand towel to dry off and allowed to dress in a casual concert black style of uniform. Long hair had to be tied up tightly and short hair had to be parted and slicked back. The final article that was a requirement to wear was a leather collar with a two foot long chain attached to the front.
This was the hardest piece for new people to accept. The complete submission to their new roles in life. Literally being treated like a pet. Kept in a cage, beaten if misbehaved, pulled and tossed around if you didn’t do what was asked of you the first time.
The chain had to be kept outside of the clothing at all times for ease of access. If it were seen tucked in or the collar itself removed, then the consequences would be similar to the woman whose death everyone had just witnessed not even thirty minutes earlier.
Usually working in weekly rounds, the group of humans were separated and split into their stations around the finely detailed and decorated mansion. Various blacks, golds, and whites lined the walls and ceilings - it was a maximalist nightmare to those indentured here.
Today was apparently a special day and all staff, human and non, were ordered to to be on unapologetically perfect behavior. From hushed whispers around the halls and workspaces there was an important person who would be staying here at what was called ‘Heaven’s Palace.’ They were apparently somebody with a bad temper and less-than-sunny disposition. Insulting him would mean a fate worse than death. At least, that’s what everyone seemed to be saying.
“Hey! What are you doing! Against the wall! You forget where you all sleep? You’ll ruin dinner for our guests if you stand too close! Shoo, shoo!” A lead staff member, one of the non-humans, waved the group stationed to this position to the wall at the far end of the room.
Working the dining hall was the worst shift to work if you were human. You never knew when a glutton vampire would visit and get greedy with one of the humans nearby. It was incredibly rare for someone of authority in the Palace to step in and stop them from completely killing a person simply because they were extra hungry. In fact, such a thing probably never happened at all here. It wasn’t so bad if you were another fledgling vampire or half-breed of human and whatever else decided to spend a night of embrace with each other. They weren’t harassed as much, but still harassed nonetheless.
The whole room was in a panic over the guest attending the Palace. On top of him being easy to anger if things weren’t perfect, he was of a high status and importance as well. A Master Vampire who was seeking refuge over an unfortunate burning of his own home. What a series of unfortunate events for the high-class official.
About an hour passed before anything really began to happen. The staff had calmed down, but the feeling of anxiety was still thick in the air. The group of humans looked either half-dead or bored and ready for anything to happen to them or in the space around them. Many were rolling back and forth on their feet to find some kind of comfort in their aching joints and lower limbs. Sitting down wasn’t an option asked for or given. If someone fell over from exhaustion or any other reason they would be dragged by the chain and reprimanded in a room adjacent.
The doors to the dining hall finally opened. Five official looking men walked through the doors: the two seats of Heaven’s Palace, Jun Wu and Bai Wuxiang, the Green Lantern Qi Rong, the Scourge of the Sea, Black Water a.k.a. He Xuan, and finally Hua Cheng, the Crimson Rain. All Vampire Lords in their own domains.
Well that was certainly more people than they had heard would be attending.
“One of us is going to die tonight. I just know it…” One of the humans spoke as softly as they could, their voice shaking so bad it was almost impossible to hear what they said clearly.
Another one nearby responded with long-forgotten optimism. “Heh. Or maybe a fantasy will happen and one of us will get whisked away as a lover for the night.”
“I heard that Qi Rong is just as dirty as us humans.”
“I also heard he was a bastard of a succubus and a human man. Killed in the act.”
There was now a small round of whispers going around the humans on the wall. Only two refused to engage in the conversation, but chose to quietly stand and listen to the gossip they shared.
The same staff member that shooed them to the wall earlier had walked over and heard them talking. “Hey, quiet! Don’t forget they can hear you! Their hearing is far superior to ours. And if Green Lantern heard you you certainly would become a pile of goo at his feet.”
“Yes, sir…” the group grumbled together, but not in unison.
It was hard to keep up with everything the Vampire Lords were saying as the night went on. Most of it was casual conversation and what plans they had in store for the future. It was easy to tell when the topic became serious, however, but it never seemed to last for long as Jun Wu would always prefer to move on to something different and more light-hearted.
One of the guests kept glancing over towards the group of humans, his gaze was lingering. The longer the conversation at the table went the more he would look over and stare them down. A couple people had zoned out of the moment while others shrank under the intense gaze. Was he hungry? Who was he looking at? Which Lord was that again? He was wearing deep shades or red so it could only be Crimson Rain.
“Isn’t he the one with the anger issues?” One of the people spoke through gritted teeth to try and make the least amount of noise possible.
“Do you think he’s hungry? Look, he's calling one of the waiters over. Oh, Gods…”
The waiter Hua Cheng had spoken briefly to walk over to the group on the wall and grabbed one of the humans by their chains. He rattled it a bit to snap them out of their daze.
“You. Crimson Rain requested you specifically. Come.”
He was pulled with little remorse in mind. The waiter simply wanted to do his job well and dutifully. Deliver the requested person and fade back into obscurity to wait for his next task. The human in question had no qualms against this, though. His will had already been dulled and dismissed. This was simply part of the life he lived now. Although he had never fed a vampire before. It would be a lie if he said he wasn’t scared.
“Your Lordship.” The waiter handed the chain over the vampire with both hands,
Hua Cheng grabbed the chain gingerly and let his fingers slide along the metal before he reached the end of the attachment. There was a small smile on his face. His uncovered eye wandered the human’s face before it fell and lingered on his neck. At which the smile dropped and a hum of disappointment was made.
The human was looking anywhere but at the vampire lord, trying to calm the uneasiness in his chest. His breathing was manual with each breath being meticulously thought out. His breath hitched from both the temperature and unexpected contact from the cold and pale fingers that touched his chin softly and guided his face to look at the lord seated before him.
Hua Cheng’s voice was deep and gentle. The complete opposite of how he had been received within the last hour of waiting for him and the rest of this entourage to show up.
The human’s mouth opened and closed a couple times like a fish searching for water to breathe. “Uh..” His eyes darted around the table, all eyes were on him all of a sudden. Even the wait staff and associates on the wall were staring at him.
“Xie Lian…” The name sounded foreign on his tongue. It had been so long since he had said it. Since he heard it. It was a distant memory now, but he faintly remembered the last time he had heard his name being called with joy and love from his friends back in the city he grew up in. A strange feeling stirred within his chest.
“Ugh! And what the FUCK does his FUCKING NAME have to do with ANYTHING WE’RE talking about here?! Crimson Rain hurry up and suck that blood sack dry and-”
Hua Cheng’s attention left Xie Lian for only a moment to take Qi Rong by the back of the head and slam it against the table with so much force it made a crescent in the shape of his head where a piece of mahogany table once filled. It sent a shiver down Xie Lian’s spine.
When Hua Cheng brought his attention back to Xie Lian he took the chain back into one of his hands with care and rested his head in his other, elbow supporting the weight. He looked like a bored child, idly fiddling with the string on a hoodie. Only he was holding the collar's chain and rubbing the metal between the pads of his fingers.
He looked up at Xie Lian with an innocent gaze. Xie Lian only stared back with a new fear in his eyes. “This one apologizes for that piece of trash’s insensitive outburst. You should have a seat, you look tired.”
Something inside of Xie Lian’s mind and body reacted when he heard that. He unconsciously flinched and his hands reached for the hand holding his chain about halfway before he stopped himself. Hua Cheng looked at him in confusion.
Xie Lian bowed his head slightly. “I-I’m sorry, my Lord. But I cannot sit down. I will be punished if I do so in your presence.”
Hua Cheng smiled at the confession. “My, my. Obedient, are we? Well, this is a command, then. Sit, or be punished.”
He pushed himself out from under the table and patted his lap, giving Xie Lian the clear invite. Xie Lian hesitantly complied and chose to sit on the edge of the vampire lord’s thigh, but apparently this was the wrong move. Hua Cheng’s smile turned down and he readjusted Xie Lian to be seated more firmly in his lap so that their faces were more aligned with each other’s.
With one arm over the back of his seat, Hua Cheng’s other hand still kept its gentle hold on the chain that hung from Xie Lian’s neck. Xie Lian both looked and felt incredibly nervous. His hands were firmly in his lap and his breathing became more erratic.
“Dinner is much better when there’s a pretty face you can look at.” Hua Cheng’s smile returned.
“I surely smell too vile to be-”
A strawberry was placed at his lips, gently pushed forward for him by the hand that was no longer holding the chain. He hesitantly complied.
“Shh. I didn't notice a damn thing.”
Their faces were so close he could feel the slow and far breaths from Hua Cheng on his chin. Xie Lian noticed how pale and smooth Hua Cheng’s skin was and how his black hair contrasted so much against it. He noticed the eyepatch over his right eye, curious how such a powerful entity suffered such a permanent wound. While Xie Lian’s own face was full of uncertainty and numbed fear, Hua Cheng’s didn’t seem to hold any sort of malicious intent. But that was always the catch with the inhuman. They were cunning and they were masterful liars. This was just a mask before the real horror started.
As the vampires slowly resumed their conversation, Hua Cheng would idly continue to feed Xie Lian various fruits, breads, and cheeses with sips of water from his glass. It seemed as if Hua Cheng could care less about the conversation that was obviously about the vampire lord himself and only about feeding a dirty and smelly human food he could only have dreamed of eating at a dinner table again. Even when Hua Cheng was called by Bai Wuxiang to listen, his gaze never left Xie Lian’s lips or face. He would only hum in response that he was listening… kind of.
Xie Lian would glance over at the group of humans he was with on the wall every so often. All of them were still there and standing on aching feet. His new fear wasn’t that a vampire was going to tear into his throat, but that the vampire wouldn’t tear into his throat. This was such a luxury to have been had for who he was in this Palace. He surely would be mocked, harassed, and beaten up for getting such wonderful treatment. Xie Lian only secretly hoped that this lord had a feeding fetish for his victims, but he was thinking too rationally. He knew that Crimson Rain had no such interest in food the way He Xuan did. And even then it’s rumored the human He Xuan would feed so extravagantly every time he visited the Palace is still alive and even has a place in his decision making.
But that’s only a rumor. No one here but Black Water could confirm that one.
Another piece of fruit was making it's way to Xie Lian’s mouth when he reached up and touched Hua Cheng’s wrist gently to stop him.
“Forgive me, but I’m getting rather full now,” Xie Lian offered a small smile to apologize further.
Hua Cheng ate the strawberry. “Then would you mind escorting me to the bathroom? I’m afraid I’m feeling a need to wash my face. This conversation is so tiring I need a recess.”
“Forgive me, Crimson Rain. But I may be scolded for doing such a thing.”
Hua Cheng frowned again. “But I requested your presence specifically, and that, by the rules of this house, means you are doing your job. Are you not?”
“I…” Part of Xie Lian was ecstatic to be able to move semi-freely around the mansion and eat such fine foods, but it was such a far-removed feeling it was borderline uncomfortable. Right now he felt like he wanted to be far away from this vampire lord because it only felt like he would get in trouble with his influence. And even if he loathed it here, he didn’t feel a need to die right yet.
His smile returned. “Please excuse us, unkind gentleman and piece of shit.” The last bit was spit out specifically at Qi Rong who was still writhing on the floor.
Hua Cheng had guided Xie Lian by the chain until they left the dining hall and were a few paces down the main hall towards the restroom when he let go and walked a bit slower paced behind Xie Lian. His hands were behind his back and he seemed content to just watch the human walk in front of him.
Xie Lian noticed this and figured it was only because this was Crimson Rain’s first time being here at Heaven’s Palace. His gaze was downturned the entire time up to this point, but his steps faltered a bit when he looked back at the much taller humanoid figure. He didn’t realize he had to crane his neck that high to get a look at the vampire’s face.
“How long have you been here?”
Xie Lian picked his head up and turned so his ear had better hearing from behind him. “Huh?”
“How long have you been here? Basic treatment seems to make you uncomfortable, so I’m curious.”
“Uh,” good question. How long has it been since Xie Lian was tricked into coming here for a simple job interview only to get drugged and thrown into a dungeon and humiliated in front of Jun Wu and Bai Wuxiang as an ‘interview.’
Xie Lian stopped walking. Hua Cheng followed suit, staying a few steps behind. He hadn’t even stopped to think about this since… since…
“What… year is it?” The shorter male shyly asked.
Hua Cheng silently got closer to Xie Lian, sensing his new discomfort at the question and not with the vampire himself.
“20xx.”
Xie Lian blinked. “Oh. It’s been three years, then. I hadn’t even realized…” he trailed off.
All of a sudden hallways that felt familiar from the days and hours worked now felt strange. He hated it here - they all did, but being in a place for so long there’s always that strange sense of comfort from the familiarity of being around things for so long.
A gentle touch was placed between his shoulders, urging him to continue forward. Xie Lian looked at the arm touching him. “Oh, sorry. Just a bit further this way.” No more words were exchanged until they made it to the restroom.
As they arrived Xie Lian posted himself outside of the door in the proper fashion he had seen all of the wait staff do when they were tending to a guest personally. When he saw Hua Cheng had stayed standing in front of him and staring at him with a raised eyebrow he panicked. Was he doing it wrong? He was never trained properly in the position. Usually humans weren’t allowed to personally interact with whoever visited unless it was to bleed for them, so they were never properly trained.
As soon as Xie Lian’s eyes met Hua Cheng’s he looked away and nervously looked anywhere else but the vampire invading his immediate field of view.
“A-am I doing something wrong? I apologize but I wasn’t properly trained to guide guests around the Palace like this.”
Hua Cheng only continued to stare at him with an indiscernible look on his face.
Xie Lian quickly moved to open the bathroom door for his guest and waited for him to go inside, but Hua Cheng only continued to stand there and stared at him. His arms were now crossed and his head was tilted.
“Gege, I am very confused right now.”
Xie Lian looked up at Hua Cheng, his panic turning into confusion. Who was Gege? Was he Gege? That couldn’t be right. This vampire had to be centuries old, so how could Xie Lian be Gege?
“Ge…ge?”
Hua Cheng began to pull Xie Lian by his forearm and guided him into the restroom. Xie Lian was so confused by the whole situation. If Hua Cheng’s goal was to bleed him dry in the bathroom then he could have just used his words instead of looking at Xie Lian as if he was doing his job incorrectly.
When he was standing in front of the sink and mirror the door suddenly closed behind him. Xie Lian was expecting a six-foot-something tall immortal to be against the door, but he wasn’t expecting said six-foot-something tall immortal to be pressed against the other side. Xie Lian tried to push the door back open, but Hua Cheng’s weight prevented it from budging for even an inch.
“My Lord, what are you doing?” Xie Lian cried in the room.
“I noticed Gege shift uncomfortably after I fed him all those foods earlier and realized he needed to use the restroom.” Xie Lian couldn’t see Hua Cheng’s face, but he could hear the smile in his voice. He was acting like a child!
Xie Lian was going to respond with something else about how tis was breaking his code as a human in this house, but he peripheral vision caught his sight in the mirror. He froze. He just realized he had been here for three years, but that also meant he hadn’t seen his own reflection in three years, either.
He hardly recognized himself. The skeleton of who he was was there, but everything about it felt wrong. His hair was thin and disheveled, even in the messy bun he had it wound in. No wonder Hua Cheng was so insistent on feeding him. His skin was pale and dirty and his eyes were sunken in with an irrational amount of eye bags underneath. And he was so thin. All of the fat on his body from the last time he saw himself was suddenly gone. All of the muscle from his formative years as a junior martial artist was gone. The light behind his eyes was also that - gone.
He began to cry softly so as to not be heard. He hated it. He hated how he ended up here. His optimism in getting a job offer too good to be true led him here. His own naïveté led him here. He should have listened to Feng Xin and Mu Qing. He should have… He missed them so much.
Xie Lian emerged from the restroom feeling like an empty husk. His eyes were unfocused and his body felt light. He certainly did have to use the restroom, but it wasn’t just the physical feeling of being lighter, but now the mental one. Hua Cheng had waited outside the door for Xie Lian, the opposite of how it should have been. But suddenly he felt his body being swallowed whole.
His face was buried in a bundle of red fabric. The disheveled human was held firmly against Hua Cheng’s body by strong arms. He was shocked; he extended his arms out slightly, but they stayed frozen in the air unsure if he should reciprocate. Without thinking, Xie Lian placed his arms against the vampire’s body between the embrace. The fresh tears that have recently dried began to flow again.
The moment may have only lasted a few seconds in reality, but to Xie Lian it felt like several minutes. A strong combination of aromatic spices filled his nose. It had been so long since he had smelled anything so nice this close and personal. His eyes had fluttered shut and he involuntarily inhaled the scent deeper. He pressed into the shoulder of the larger man.
The separation was slow. Xie Lian found himself reluctant to remove himself from Hua Cheng, but Hua Cheng had kept Xie Lian in arms reach, not quite removing his hands from the human’s shoulders.
Xie Lian kept his gaze averted from Hua Cheng’s. His expression was a bit down, but overall unreadable. He took a few steps back and wiped his damp hands on his pants.
“I'm fine. Please don’t be concerned.” Xie Lian looked up at the vampire before looking away from the direction they came. “We should head back. I’m sure Lord Wuxiang is furious right now.”
Hua Cheng remained silent and followed Xie Lian down the hall, but the entire time his eyes remained on the back of his head.
Jun Wu called out with a bit of a snide. “Welcome back, Crimson Rain. Now that you’ve taken your detour, let’s get back to talking business.”
Xie Lian had opened the door to the dining hall and waited for Hua Cheng to step through the door before gently closing it back shut. He looked over to the table with elite vampires and then back up to Hua Cheng. The calm look of disapproval on Jun Wu’s face said it all. Eyes stayed locked on the two men coming back the same way they did going forth. Xie Lian squirmed a bit under the attention, unsure what to do.
He bowed his head at Hua Cheng and spoke. “If that is all you require of me, my Lord. I will be returning to my post.”
Xie Lian turned to walk away, but stopped when he felt a tug on his neck. He blinked a couple of times before he looked down at the chain that wasn’t hanging freely in front of him. He followed the chain to see Hua Cheng’s hand, decorated by a myriad of rings and other chains and bracelets. He followed the red clothed arm up until he stared doe-eyed and confused at the vampire. Hua Cheng had a frown on his face.
“HA! HOW can you be so OBSESSED with a human? HURRY UP and EAT HIM ALREADY! Thought you would have already done it on your fucking PISS BREAK!”
Qi Rong was back sitting at the table. He had switched seats to accommodate himself from the hole Hua Cheng had made from slamming Qi Rong’s head through. Now he leaned back into his chair and had his feet propped up on the table, crossed at the ankles. This had earned him a look of ire from Bai Wuxiang. How anyone could understand any facial expression underneath that mask he wore was a complete mystery, but his body language was easily readable.
Hua Cheng shot his colleague with a deadly glare. His eye narrowed with murderous intent that could be felt around the room. Qi Rong slunk back into his seat, slowly pulling his feet off the table. The invisible assault from both sides clearly had an effect on him.
Ah, that must have been the irritability everyone spoke so much about. Qi Rong was all talk and no bite, but apparently the talk was still enough to ruin Hua Cheng’s mood. Not even five minutes ago Hua Cheng had been smiling and forcing Xie Lian to use the restroom despite the risk that would pose for him. But even so, just because The Green Lantern didn’t bite didn’t mean Crimson Rain wouldn’t. The whole exchange and contrast in dynamic between the three proved to be mildly entertaining to everybody in the room.
Xie Lian made a straight line with his lips in an attempt at a neutral smile when Hua Cheng stared back at him in earnest. He followed the taller man back to the table and they settled back into their position prior to when they left. This earned Xie Lian a look of daggers from people all around. The first time was enough, but the second was pushing it. Even Jun Wu bore holes into Xie Lian’s skull in the midst of his own confusion at the scene.
The only one who could have cared less about Xie Lian’s presence at the table was He Xuan. His only concern was eating until the bottomless pit of his stomach found itself satisfied. Xie Lian would sneak glances at all the lords seated at the table to see if their demeanors towards him had changed, but their attention was elsewhere. Well, except Hua Cheng, who still had his eye mostly on Xie Lian unless responding to a question.
Xie Lian quickly noticed animosity between the lords of his own house and Hua Cheng. Even through innocent and civil comments and suggestions there were traces of venom and passive aggression. While Jun Wu and Bai Wuxiang silently seethed in rage, Hua Cheng only smiled and hummed. Another strawberry slice pressed against the lips of the human in his lap.
Xie Lian’s only purpose from this point forward was to sit and look pretty, or so he thought. He wasn’t really given any specific instruction besides Hua Cheng wanting him in his presence. Staff from the kitchen in the room adjacent crowded the entryway to see the notorious human fuck-up sitting in the lap of the most temperamental of the Five Lords, unharmed and being treated like royalty. The whispers and fingers being pointed at him didn’t go unnoticed by Xie Lian, but his attention was pulled from them a few moments later.
Xie Lian felt his chin being pulled and he was now face to face with the man dressed in dazzling reds.
“Since I’ll be here for a while waiting for my Paradise Manor to be rebuilt, I would like to have Gege keep me company and show me around.”
Xie Lian blinked a few times to process the words he just heard. People were talking louder now all of a sudden. Jun Wu had straightened his posture at the request, much different to his usual indifferent slouch. He Xuan had stopped mid-bite and stared, but eventually shrugged and continued. Both Qi Rong and Bai Wuxiang made their confusion audible.
Qi Rong, “Who the FUCK is Gege?”
“Were you even listening to what Jun Wu was saying, Crimson?” He Xuan finally spoke as he placed his utensils down on yet another clean plate.
Bai Wuxiang only scoffed and crossed his arms in an unmannerly way.
Jun Wu’s gaze narrowed at not just Hua Cheng, but at the human he had sitting in his lap. Realistically, Xie Lian had nothing to do with the fact that he was being held captive by Hua Cheng, but that didn’t rule out the fact that he was taking all of Hua Cheng’s attention away from important details Jun Wu was trying to explain.
Jun Wu sighed and rubbed his temple. “You, with the horns. Come this way.”
A young man who looked no older than fifteen walked over to the table. He had large protruding horns coming out from his head and his skin was slightly discolored in a non-human shade of blue. Xie Lian looked at him, curious. This must have been one of the ‘others’ Jun Wu enjoyed ‘collecting,’ or so he called it.
“Crimson Rain. I’ll grant you your request. But I’m going to have to split the two of you up for the remainder of this meeting. This young man will escort that human to your room and you can have your way with him after.” The way Xie Lian heard the way Jun Wu spat ‘that human’ made his skin crawl. After all of the awful things Jun Wu would and has done with his human was absolutely-
“How can I trust you won’t harm him along the way.”
There was an arm wrapped tightly around the back of Xie Lian’s waist now. It didn’t feel aggressive or threatening as it should, but it did feel possessive in a way. Xie Lian looked at Hua Cheng with a surprise in his eye. Hua Cheng, however, wasn’t looking back at him. Instead he was staring daggers in Jun Wu’s direction. He was defensive from head to toe, but Xie Lian couldn’t understand any reason as to why. Xie Lian kept his gaze neutral and just… waited for something to happen so he could no longer be caught amidst the tension.
Jun Wu just smiled casually. “How could I possibly do such a dishonest thing such as that? No harm will come of that human. Well, not unless you choose to do so. They are for esteemed guests such as you all.” He chuckled, “I will say though, I’m surprised this one’s still alive. Most get sucked dry in just a few minutes.”
Xie Lian put his hand atop of the hand holding his waist firmly. “Lord Hua Cheng, I would hate to be the cause for such a disturbance in such an important business. I won’t run away, but I fear worse will happen to me if I stay here any longer.”
Hua Cheng was taken slightly aback by the seemingly bold declaration. The grip around Xie Lian’s waist slackened. Hua Cheng’s jaw twitched as he was about to say something when another loud and nasally voice cut through the silence.
“And who’s letting that TRASH MEAT SPEAK!” Qi Rong made a fake barfing noise.
A cold wind whipped around him the moment Hua Cheng glared back at him. It was evident from the newly created atmosphere that nothing good was going to happen once Xie Lian left.
The horned young man walked over to Xie Lian and bowed his head to Hua Cheng. “No harm will come to him, My Lord.” He extended his hand out for the chain that hung from Xie Lian’s neck, and not a moment later the two were off. The entire time Xie Lian could feel someone watching his every move until the door shut from behind him.
“Here you are. Please keep your promise to not run away. I can’t guarantee your safety if you do so.” The young man spoke.
“Ah, yes. I wasn’t going to. Thank you for bringing me here.” Xie Lian smiled at the younger.
The horned individual shifted uncomfortably. “I only wish to not invoke the ire of such an unpredictable and bipolar being. That is all.”
The individual quickly walked away and down the hall from whence they came. Xie Lian opened the door to be greeted with the sight of a very large suite. It was dimly lit, but compared to the depths of the pit he came from it was as bright as day.
He looked around at the expanse of the room. There was a kitchen, a large television, a fireplace and a small couch set on one side of the room. The other side was where a four-poster framed bed with thin deep red curtains hung. The sheets matched the color of the frame’s wood with a black satin. The couch set matched as best as it did. Although it wasn’t Jun Wu’s preferred color palette, it was obvious to a degree how considerate he was of every guest that stayed at the Palace.
Everything looked so soft and well-kept. Even the air in the room smelled like that of a proper home. It was nice to be able to take deep breaths without having to try and block out the rancid smells that he otherwise lived in. There was a part of Xie Lian that really wanted to sit on one of the couches, but the other part of him didn’t want to get reprimanded by the Lord he would be keeping company. Sure Hua Cheng was nicer to him than anybody else that was here in this hell, but that still didn’t change their dynamic while he was under this roof.
He came to an impasse with himself and sighed. He would sit neither on the bed or the couch, but instead on the ground. It had been a while if he could even do it properly, but it was a great pastime of his life before becoming a slave here - he would meditate. Letting all of his thoughts flow freely within his mind. Finding his calm and reserves while he could here, away from everything else.
How long had it been since he had been in a room this nice? Or a room like this at all? Xie Lian thought back to his first day here. It was supposed to be an interview for an archivist position. He had spent so long studying and getting his Master’s in History that he applied to all sorts of positions even if they were just outside of his qualified profession. Here was the first (and only) place that had responded to his application. He was so ecstatic that he opted to start as soon as possible, even if this was a couple hours away from his home. He already figured he would stay in a hotel room for a bit while he saved up enough money to get a proper apartment.
But now…
But now it seemed like that would never happen. He was surprised to even be alive. Especially after what happened in that ‘interview.’ Or whatever Bai Wuxiang wanted to call it. He could remember the room they threw him in. Stark white and not a single decoration to be hung on the walls. All of Xie Lian’s belongings had been taken into possession at the front of the building for ‘security reasons,’ but when Jun Wu simply looked at him told him in that calm, smooth voice to strip… That’s when it clicked in his mind where he was. Bai Wuxiang sat there without his mask for the only time since he had been there, laughing at Xie Lian’s naked body. Saying something about how he “wasn’t worth it as food.”
His mind was breaking concentration at the recollection of bad memories. He tried thinking of times from before he came here, but his life was so repetitive here that it was the only place he could think about. It only made him a mixture of emotions angry and sad, hopeless and defeated. He tried to shake the feeling and push past it, but it was proving futile. He huffed angrily and slammed his fists into his knees. He got up from his sitting position slowly when he was suddenly pinned against a wall.
“Ah!”
Hua Cheng snuck up on the unsuspecting Xie Lian and pinned him to the wall with his full body, a hand pinned one of Xie Lian’s shoulders so he wouldn't try and push him off. Hua Cheng’s other hand tilted the shorter man’s face upward as he pressed their foreheads together.
“Gege should call me something more respectful than ‘Hua Cheng’ or ‘my Lord.’ ” Hua Cheng started. “Gege can call me San Lang.”
Xie Lian only stared back with wide eyes. He was shocked, surprised, scared, and… something else? His body was trembling between the wall and the vampire’s strong body. His breathing became a bit erratic and he couldn’t control his lips quivering. Hua Cheng seemed to take notice of this and backed off of Xie Lian.
“Why was Gege sitting on the floor when there’s both a bed and a couch perfectly sittable?” There was no malice or dark intent from his words or the way he spoke them. In fact they were all very softly spoken and had an unnaturally respectful tone to them for who Xie Lian was.
Regaining his control over his body shaking, he held his hand over his heart to make sure it was still there. “Well, I… I was meditating. It’s been a while since I’ve had the peace to do so, but… they also don’t allow us to wash properly. We get a shower once a week and it’s just running water of whatever temperature they feel like having it on that day.” He finally found where his legs were in relation to his body.
Hua Cheng, who had walked a bit away, turned his head and raised a perfect eyebrow. “Just water?”
Xie Lian nodded his head slowly. “Just water,” he confirmed.
“Gege.” Hua Cheng walked back over the Xie Lian and picked him up bridal style in fell swoop. “Please don’t take offense to this, but wash yourself properly here. I’m getting angrier the more you speak of your treatment here.
“I might just burn this place to the ground. Bastard calls this his Heavenly Palace, but instead of respect he receives its fear. What a front he plays so well.”
Xie Lian was placed onto the bathroom floor and left to his own devices. He could remember how to operate a shower and what needed to be done to wash his body and hair, but what about his clothes? He only had this one pair. He would just re-wear them when he got done.
The feeling was so foreign to him. Having a temperature he could control, smelling fragrant smells that would make him seem more appealing to another person, feeling the developing soap suds in his hands, on his scalp, rubbing at his filthy and grimy body. Although he could say with confidence that he was already one of the cleanest of the humans while living in the pit.
He wouldn't partake in whatever foul and morally compromising acts they would do in some of their free time, but he also didn’t like to just let his excretions out wherever he felt like it. That took a lot of control with the chaos that enveloped the humans hygiene standards. It was disgraceful and, for lack of a better word, dehumanizing. They lived in a literal animal pen.
Xie Lian didn’t notice the door to the bathroom open and close. He was too lost in the feeling of running his hands through his long hair, matted and tangled, but now clean. His skin that always had a slimy residue of sweat and layer of dead skin was now soft and felt lighter. Before he was only given about ten minutes to wipe whatever slime and dirt developed on his body in the large shower room, but now he could take his time and clean places he hadn’t thought of in a long time.
He eventually had to force himself out of the shower. His hands had gone pruny and steam had filled the entire room. Xie Lian grabbed the towel sitting on the counter that he could have swore wasn’t there before. He brushed his teeth and patted his body dry when he realized he wasn’t able to find the clothes he was wearing before. Instead he found a soft bathrobe resting on a hook on the bathroom door. He looked at it with a bit of confusion, but eventually put it on. It’s not like he could go into the presence of a Lord buck naked.
“Hua- San Lang?” He emerged from the steam-filled room. “Have you seen my clothes? I put this robe on, but that’s my only outfit here.”
Hua Cheng walked up to Xie Lian and took the towel from his hands. He began to towel dry the long tangled strands on Xie Lian’s head.
“Hmm, yes. I took them to get a proper cleaning. I can call for someone to get you better fitting clothes tomorrow.”
Xie Lian knitted his brows in a newfound frustration. “Why?”
The toweling stopped. “Hm?”
“Why me? I’m just a human here. Why go through lengths to take such care of me like this? Is this your sick fetish?” His eyes darted around searching for a reasonable answer to all of it. Today was the first day he had met the vampire, there should be no reason he should be treated this way.
Slowly, Hua Cheng resumed drying and detangling Xie Lian’s fine hair. “It is no fetish, rest assured. But you are important to me and the life I have lived.”
Xie Lian was beginning to get confused to the point he was angry at the whole thing. “I was born twenty-something years ago. You’re several hundreds of years old. What could I have possibly done before I was even born. That’s crazy.”
“Please take no offense, but humans can be rather narrow minded when it comes to things such as the paranormal and supernatural. Which is why the ones that reach out to things lurking in the night are seen as the crazy ones to those who refuse to open their minds. There is a very fine line for all of us to coexist in the world right now. Slowly, but not all at once right now.
“However, those interested in witchcraft have about half of the required tools. As much as I would love to tell you reasons why, I fear it would shatter the joy I feel in my heart and push you back into that shit hole Jun Wu thinks is acceptable for any living being to live in. I’ve seen cattle treated much better than this.”
“Then…” Xie Lian sighed. “Why do you want me here?”
“I simply wish to have you by my side. If Gege at any point wishes to return to his original sleeping quarters then I will not stop him.” He gave one more wipe to the top of Xie Lian’s hair and moved away. To light a candle on the coffee table by the couch set. “But I would like to undo the effects those two lunatics have put on you while here. You are an individual with wants and needs.”
The candle’s smell began to fill the room. Originally the burning of the wick was pungent, but was filtered out by the melting wax. Fragrance notes of cedarwood or cardamom filled the air. Xie Lian wasn’t sure, but he knew it was a woody scent.
Hua Cheng slowly walked over towards Xie Lian after extinguishing the match’s flame. Thai was the first time Xie Lian got a proper look at the infamous vampire. He took bits in during the dinner, but never paid much attention by confusion alone. Crimson Rain was tall, too tall, he wore an eyepatch over his right eye that gave him even more of a dangerous aura than he already had. His clothes were also regal to an extent. He dressed rather extravagantly not because he wanted to, but because he could. All of the reds and blacks he wore matched him perfectly. And the jewelry; there were so many earrings, rings, necklaces, and bracelets hung off of his body. His hair was long and wild, bangs covered the eyepatch over his right eye, the corners of his mouth were upturned naturally.
The closer Hua Cheng got to Xie Lian, the more Xie Lian had to tilt his head upward to look at the man directly. But there was no need to do it himself because Hua Cheng already had a finger and thumb on Xie Lian’s delicate chin doing it for him.
His voice had an endless depth to it. He spoke low and definitively. “And I would gladly provide anything you could possibly want or need, if you’d let me.”