122 Hes your hope, isnt? (1/2)

\”Let me leave.\” Xiao Chun Dan glares at Kai. \”I need to meet my host.\”

\”Brother Aiken sent a command that nobody can leave the castle until he comes back.\” Kai pinches the tube and a few drops of a transparent liquid falls on the slide. As soon as the liquid mixes with the blood, it turns black and emits a pungent smell. \”Brother Aiken will bring her back.\”

\”She lost her control.\” The boy walks to the man in a leather suit. He wonders why this guy never takes it off. \”You are not going to erase her existence, are you?\”

\”We can't do that.\” Kai scrutinizes the blood solidifying on the slide. \”She belongs to the king. If she succumbs to the darkness completely, we will put her to sleep for eternity. Only the king can put someone in eternal slumber.\”

Xiao Chun Dan pales. \”You can't do that.\”

\”Usually, we kill the converts who are lost to the darkness.\” Kai glances at Xiao Chun Dan. \”Did you see the vampire-zombies? A lost converted vampire is worse than that.\”

Kai hasn't forgotten that look and smile on Huang Qiuyan's face when she was drinking Jin's blood. The darkness inside a convert is born from the ghosts of their human life. Because emotions are amplified after they change, the human darkness is also amplified by many folds. It takes time and right guidance for a convert gain control. In these dire times, Huang Qiuyan didn't get the time and right guidance. Then, there's something different about her.

\”Her blood…\” He sniffs the blackened slide. He's not surprised that the magic can't be replicated. No cure can be developed from the blood taken from Huang Qiuyan.

\”What's wrong?\” Xiao Chun Dan scans the slide. He blinks his eyes when the analyzation results appear before his eyes.

\”Same as the blood of a corpse,\” Kai mumbles. \”Is her body rotting?\”

\”It wasn't rotting when I was inside her --\” Xiao Chun Dan realizes that his host's stats are frozen. There's no change in the numbers. Did someone hack into him?

***

Exhausted, Huang Qiuyan drags her body away from the shore. She must find Fu Sheng. Only he can release her from this torment. Her body feels like it's being drained of life, leaving nothing but an unquenchable thirst for blood. Each step weighs a ton. It's already dark.

She drops to her knees when scalding hot metal chains coil around her body like a python. Her pained screams echo through the forest. The chains turn cold in the next instant. But the burning marks on her skin aren't disappearing.

\”What do we have here?\”

\”Who…\” She tries to open her eyes and look at the person. Her senses are fuzzy. She can't see properly. In her misty vision, she sees people. She clings on to the last thread of sanity and inhales the air. It's the scent of humans.

\”Stay away from me.\” She shoves his chest. The human scent is pushing her toward the frightening darkness. She has a feeling that she will lose herself if she gives in. She has to see Fu Sheng. She promised him that she would wait for him. She wants to be here before he comes back.

\”Avoiding me?\” Ian smirks at her. \”But I have missed you, Huang Qiuyan.\”

\”Let me go now.\” She hisses out the words. \”Ian, why are you doing this?\”

\”Your mate rejected our offer.\” Ian's eyes turn cold. \”Then, he went ahead and made a deal with the council's president. We still don't know how to kill these monsters.  I kept some men on the watch around the castle. I wanted to get another opportunity to get Fu Mian, but we got you instead. They saw you running away.\”