Between Two Blades

Outcast

-Zhou Guozhi-



“My brother is getting married?” he roared. “As if someone could endure such a bastard for a lifetime without wanting to kill himself.” The tower guards listened curiously to us. “It seems that Lord Wenyan has found a future bride after all,” said my most loyal servant. We stood right in front of the site, a fence in front of our faces, and a thousand monsters raged around. “There are more of them every day,” I thought.

“My prince” began the servant, “you also received an invitation although it was addressed to someone else.” He was holding a black letter in his hand, already opened and a handwritten note peeked out. “Give me that thing!” Without hesitation, he handed the letter to me and I read it aloud. “The prince hereby invites you to his wedding with Xiaodan. It is celebrated in the rose garden at the blood moon hour.” What kind of theater is playing here? Is he marrying a man? That was not according to the rules of the vampires. Vampires only marry out of necessity in order to gain more power, as in my case. “We’ll both get dressed up for this evening, understand?” The rather short man next to me was astonished at me. “Understood sir.” He trudged into the building with hasty steps.

It’s almost embarrassing and hideous to see this bastard again after so many years. But maybe there is a way to drag the monsters from here to his coveted wedding. But before I took action, I took my sword, jumped over the fence, and slaughtered a few monsters.

-Zhou Wenyan-

His voice, when he let my name leave his lips, so dazed by the poison of the banshee, so broken, and delicately, made me angry. If I had only sent a guard with him beforehand instead of letting him do his thing alone, then none of this would have happened. It took a lot of luck to kill such a strong banshee. I noticed that black magic was involved after I saw Xiaodan’s open flesh wound. Anyone who created such a creature has more than just magic in their black veins. When I finally carried him into my room, I got the best witcher who started to heal his wounds little by little. Since the poison still had its side effects in spite of everything, he has to stay here for a few nights. To protect the other villagers, I placed several guards on the streets. After all, it would only hurt my reputation if more people and creatures lost their lives. Also, I made this choice only for Xiaodan. I respect his willpower and the courage to want to conquer such a strong creature, even if he doesn’t even know how much power there is in his thin body.

The tattoo on my pale skin began to glow brightly through my white jacket. The witcher called me to him after he had finished his healing potions. “His body must not be stressed. He should take at least one sip of the potion, then he will feel better in no time.”, Said the witcher and stroked his beard, visibly satisfied with the result. “W-Wenyan?” My eyes fell on the red bed on which Xiaodan was lying. I went to his side and sat on the edge of the bed. “How are you, darling?” I asked calmly to hide my real worries behind my facade. He grinned tiredly. “I’m wonderful. So great that I think I could take on hundreds of dwarfs at once.” His voice slowly broke off and he coughed several times, as blood came out of his mouth. “Ah.” The devilishly delicate smell of his blood drew me closer to him and now we were millimeters apart. His forked tongue snaked around his mouth and licked the blood from his lips with relish. I just stared at him for a brief moment until our lips melted into one another. The metallic taste of his blood carried over into my own, and I got hungry. In order not to weaken it further, I preferred to feed on my servants. We broke the kiss before I jumped on his neck and sucked out his blood. “I’ll go back and follow up on yesterday’s incident.”

I got up cautiously but was stopped by a weak hand on my arm. “Please wait.” He dropped his hand and pulled something out from under the covers. He pulled out a chain with a blue ball on it. “There’s a direi-snake in there. If you break the ball, it will get bigger and obey you, defending you with its life. Please carry it with you.” I carefully took the chain and hung it around my neck, but hid the ball under my jacket. The ball was warm on my skin and Xiaodan’s hand touched mine again. When he did so, the sphere glowed a bright purple. “Thank you, darling.” I kissed his weak hand and put it back on the bed so he wouldn’t strain himself unnecessarily. As I walked out of the room, I closed the door, which cracked under my touch. As I put on my long, dark coat, the high collar of which hid half my face, and the great gate was held open by two servants, I was greeted by heavy rain. I’ve always had a weakness for storms and rain. The sound when the rain hits the window or when the wind scurries through the trees. The smell of rain, the wet grass, and the small rivers that form at the edge of a path and you never know where they will end.