Archive of Our Own ^beta

The night is dark and the moon rests high in the cool autumn night. The path Dan Heng walks on is not one unusually taken by travelers, as many claim it is too isolated, too twisty, and too dangerous to travel on alone, especially at night. There were tales with a mix of wild animals, ghosts, monsters, and curses alike that all haunted this path.

Dan Heng did not believe in those tales like the others had. He never had feared them, not even when he was a child in the orphanage, once sighing at the sight of everyone gathered in a circle to share such tales with each other in an attempt to scare each other. Did curses and all sorts of monsters exist? Yes. But that didn’t mean he had to fear them, not if he knew how to handle them, or fight them.

Dan Heng was not scared then, and he is not scared now – as his spear, well-honed survival instincts, and his thorough knowledge of the path were all more than enough to dissuade any sparks of fear in his heart. Before leaving he was confident in this journey, and he still was fairly confident even now.

However, Dan Heng mentally grumbles to himself as he tries to avoid stepping in a puddle of water, that all did very little against a storm.

He lets out a sigh as he ducks underneath a large tree, hoping the branches will catch some of the rain. There had been no signs of rain earlier and the trip was meant to be three days on foot at most. But with the rain coming down this hard? Dan Heng knew he couldn’t walk through this when the path would be nothing but mud and puddles, and he couldn’t even tell when it would stop.

Shelter would be ideal to find, but as far as Dan Heng knew, from glancing at a map, this area was nothing but woods for a good while. The best he would probably find would be either an abandoned house, or a cave, but really either of those would work well enough for him. The exhaustion within him would help him sleep through anything, although he had never been a picky sleeper in the first place.

A drop of water coldly plops down from his hair and hits his cheek. Dan Heng grimaces before he rubs at his cheek with the sleeve of his jacket. His skin is cold, clammy to the touch and he knows that he can’t stay standing in the storm like this.

His footsteps are brisk, careful to step on the most solid patches of ground on the path he can find so his shoes don’t sink into mud. He glances around, a bit thankful for the few, sparse lanterns put on the path so he could at least see.

He shoves his hood up and keeps walking with his head tilted down to avoid rain. The rain continues to patter against his body and the cold worsens, leaving the tips of his fingers numb and slick – but he knows there’s nowhere else he can really go unless he wants to get lost in the woods. He knew too many stories of travelers leaving the path and wandering far, too far to the point they ended up dead in the woods.

After a treacherous hour of walking, Dan Heng stumbles upon a lone wagon on the path. It’s large, looks relatively new, and is absolutely abandoned. There’s not even any animal to pull it, nor any people he can see from the side of it anyway. He moves quietly, holding onto Cloud Piercer as he quickly walks around the wagon, looking for anyone around it or in it.

Once he’s confirmed there’s no one, he can’t help but to feel a little curious as to where the people went. No maps showed any towns nearby, and yet-

Crack.

Dan Heng’s head snaps to glance upwards toward the noise. It sounded like some type of gunshot, loud and a good distance away from him. His feet are already moving as he begins to rush into the thick bramble of the forest, right towards the noise. He stumbles through the woods, his feet either nearly getting caught on countless roots or slick mud, but finally he reaches a clearing.

There’s a wooden cabin a bit further back in it, a small lake, and a garden to the side. His chest is heaving as he sees three men on the ground a few feet in front of him, blood spilling from their bodies and soaking into their clothes from where gunshot wounds were. He couldn’t tell if they were even breathing from so far away.

Dan Heng hears a laugh to his side and instantly holds his spear up, ready to fight. He sees a man, short but stocky with a gun in his hand. He’s hidden slightly behind a tree and he has a fearsome grin.

“Are you beasts like them too?” the man sneers, holding the gun right in Dan Heng’s direction. “A creature of the night tryin’ to kill me after managing to lure me out?”

Dan Heng swallows, wondering exactly how trigger happy this man is. He knows his chances in disarming would be better if the man wasn’t so far away. “I’m not. I do not even-” he begins.

“Liar!” The man barks out, cutting Dan Heng off, his hand gripping tighter around the gun. “Just like those ones! Coming to my door and saying you all are a bunch of hunters, before trying to stab me in the back! Don’t you dare move closer!”

Dan Heng glances down at the three men in front of him, and the bloody mess they made, before he glances up. “I won’t. I assure you I have nothing to do with-”

“Another lie!” The man snaps out, which is beginning to become very irritating. “You lot always pull tricks like this! Ridiculous,” he scoffs. “You think with a face like that I’d believe you?”

Dan Heng stares at him for a moment, confusion and irritation quickly rising up at the man’s words. Dan Heng would consider himself a man of reason, someone who prefers to talk before he swings, but right now he very much would like to swing.

Instead, Dan Heng clenches his jaw a bit. The rain is soaking into his hair and coat now. “What must I-?”

There’s rustling from the trees and bushes beside them, and a loud crack rings through the air. Dan Heng doesn’t even get so much as a moment to blink before a burning pain stabs him in the side and he’s clutching onto his spear. He lets out a sharp hiss and presses a hand there, his eyes breaking from the scene in front of him to look at the hole in his coat where a gunshot wound would be.

He clenches his jaw and quickly moves into action, forcing himself to rush forward despite the agonizing pain. He watches the man’s face turn to terror as he runs forward, swinging the spear at his knees before the man can aim the gun again. The man shrieks as he falls onto his side and Dan Heng quickly kicks the rifle away from him, despite the stab of pain that erupts from the motion.

“Fuck!” The man shouts. “You filthy-”

Dan Heng turns the spear around to the blunt side and moves to smack him over the head – not hard enough to truly do any permanent damage, just enough to knock the man out for a few seconds – but before he can do that hands are grabbing the blunt end of the spear and pulling him forward. Dan Heng lets out a grunt of pain as his knees and palms hit the ground. Dan Heng hears his own heartbeat in his ears and he wobbles a bit on his knees. His breaths are ragged, a desperate sound to even his own ears, and the dirt underneath his palms is rough.

He grits his teeth and pivots around with the spear in hand, smacking wherever he could on the man. He hears a choked out exhale before he manages to move the spear’s blunt end from his solar plexus to his head.

It doesn’t even take a moment for the man to go limp at the contact, and Dan Heng’s mind is racing with what he should do at the moment. He’s killed others in self-defense before, as anyone who dares to travel as much as he did would have had to on the road, but he’s never enjoyed it. He preferred to talk things out, make his opponent surrender or run away, or to find solutions that at least didn’t result in more blood on his hands.

As he’s mid-thought, there’s another rustling sound and his head snaps to look up at it. There’s a tall figure of a cloaked man that enters the clearing from the woods, and Dan Heng feels the hair on the back of his neck rise a little at the sight of it. His eyes are fully trained on the man in front of him and the sound of the rain pattering against the ground seems drowned out by the sound of his thundering heartbeat.

Which is how Dan Heng doesn’t notice the man waking up beside him until it’s too late. An arm comes up to hit him in the jaw and Dan Heng grunts at the contact. He blinks and sees dots in his vision lingering from how hard the other man had punched him. He tries to blink a few more times to make them go away but nothing works.

His hand tightens on the spear and he turns to finish off this fight once and for all, when he finds himself staring up at the man, who was now panickedly crawling away from him, and the cloaked figure who now stood between Dan Heng and the man. Dan Heng stares up at the scene, hearing faint babbling from the mouth of the man who’s crawling away.

Dan Heng’s head is swimming as the cloaked figure tilts a little his way and more of him becomes a bit more visible. The man is pale and handsome, but there’s something unusual about him. Something that instantly sets off alarm bells in Dan Heng’s head and makes the hair on his neck stand up, letting him know the man in front of him was dangerous. Someone he should run away from at all cost.

His vision is blacking out right when the man turns a little toward him and his head snaps up to look at Dan Heng. Dan Heng’s breath hitches as vivid red eyes lock themselves onto him, unwavering in their gaze.

Monstrous, anyone would have thought.

Beautiful, he adds on — quietly and quick, just for himself.

And then Dan Heng is falling to the side, with all control in him lost as his vision goes black and his mind succumbs to the exhaustion, shock, and pain within him.

–

Dan Heng wakes up with a gasp. He tries to sit up and instantly his side protests, letting out sharp stabs of pain the moment he slightly shifts upwards. A hiss breaks free from between his teeth as he lays back down, feeling something heavenly soft underneath him.

He looks up, his eyes peeling open. The ceiling above him is high, with smooth dark oak and fine carvings engraved in each square inch. The mattress underneath him is soft, almost heavenly, and speaks of riches that Dan Heng has only seen in distant, passing glimpses. The blankets feel just as fine, made of a soft silk that he only could have dreamt of touching as a child.

It feels fluid against his fingertips as Dan Heng manages to twitch and turn his wrist to feel the sheets underneath him.

“You’re awake.”

Dan Heng flinches at the rumble of a deep voice and his head snaps to the side. The same man from before stands there, tall and pale with a dark cloak over his shoulders. His arms are crossed as he leans against the wall, and Dan Heng wonders how long he had been there.

“You brought me here,” Dan Heng murmurs, keeping his voice as neutral as can be.

The man neither smiles nor frowns, he simply raises an eyebrow as he looks up at Dan Heng. “I did. Did you expect otherwise?”

“You didn’t seem like the type,” Dan Heng says. He swallows at the sight of those eyes again and his throat feels awfully dry despite it.

This man had wealth after all and, in Dan Heng’s experience, it was rare that a wealthy man would have brought an injured stranger into his house. Perhaps there had been a servant of some kind, one that Dan Heng did not notice before passing out, that had carried Dan Heng here?

“I’m not, normally,” the man agrees with a nod. He looks at Dan Heng’s face for a while, his eyes roaming along each curve and dip of his skin. “Are you thirsty?” He asks.

Dan Heng hesitates before he nods. The man is quiet as he gets up from the wall and moves closer. Dan Heng turns to watch as the man approaches a nightstand beside him, with a small metal pitcher, a glass, and a book. Dan Heng tries to glance at the title of the book without straining himself too hard, but ends up unable to catch it.

The sound of the water pouring fills the silence in the room with the clink of the metal hitting the table. Dan Heng watches as strong, sturdy hands grab at the glass and the man towers over him. His hands are sharp at the ends, Dan Heng notes softly, like claws.

“From my experience, humans normally aren’t capable of successfully fighting their opponents after being shot in the side,” the man says, looking down at him. His voice is tinged with something that Dan Heng can only vaguely label as amusement, but even that doesn’t feel quite right. It sounds too flat to not be a little sarcastic to the ears. “Especially since such an injury to that area can easily be fatal depending on where it striked. To get up after that sort of injury, disarm your opponent, and survive all of it, you’re rather sturdy, aren’t you?”

“You’re not human,” Dan Heng states with a soft croak, ignoring the rest of the man’s babble.

He manages to shift himself up onto his elbows without wincing at the pain in his side, with the sensation of a thousand pins running down his arms. His eyes shift up to look at the man, and now that he’s closer Dan Heng can see that his teeth are abnormally sharp and his skin is almost translucently pale, unnaturally so. In fact, the more he looks at the man in front of him, the more convinced Dan Heng is that he cannot be human.

The thought of what the man is feels like it should be frustratingly obvious, but Dan Heng’s mind feels too scrambled – fogged up from exhaustion to be able to think clearly.

The man looks Dan Heng over for a second, searching for something on Dan Heng’s face. He lets out a soft hum, an almost dismissive sound that’s enough of a response for Dan Heng to know he was right. “Sit up. I will help you drink.”

Dan Heng eyebrows furrow softly at the words but he sits up anyway. He turns his neck towards the man and feels the cold press of the glass against his lips. He keeps his gaze on the cup in front of him, trying to not look up at the man whose eyes stay on his face as he drinks.

By the time he’s finished drinking, Dan Heng can’t help but to feel far more aware of his surroundings, although exhaustion begins to creep up on him again. Dan Heng can’t help but to wonder if there was a chance of him being drugged to sleep, but for some reason the thought feels a bit ridiculous. So, Dan Heng swallows softly as he pulls away and the man pulls back to set the cup on the nightstand beside the bed with his hand resting on the desk softly.

Dan Heng thinks carefully back to the man with the gun and the bodies on the ground. They had all clearly died and been left behind, and Dan Heng was alive in a room he didn’t know with a man unlike anything he had seen before. A man who had, presumably, taken care of the man with the gun before Dan Heng passed out.

The thought of how exactly, sends a small shiver down Dan Heng’s spine.

This man could have easily killed him, or brought him to a nearby village so the people would take care of Dan Heng instead. It wasn’t like someone with this type of wealth to take in an injured stranger, not to this degree at least. Dan Heng likely wasn’t brought here out of the goodness of this man’s heart.

Yet, when looking at the man, Dan Heng couldn’t help but to feel a familiar, burning itch of curiosity, one he’s felt since he was a child. One that made him seek out libraries and new lands in search of any kinds of knowledge he could catch within his vicinity. An itch that always made him act a little more reckless, impulsive than he normally was – to take chances he normally wouldn’t have taken in pursuit of his instincts.

Dan Heng knows what curiosity looks like, which is why he can’t help it when his mouth opens to speak. “You brought me here for something, what is it?”

The man stares at him for a moment, his face carefully neutral and Dan Heng can’t help but to feel a bit frustrated at the sight of it. “You intrigued me upon first sighting,” he says.

“And that’s it?” Dan Heng asks, his face pinching together in dissatisfaction as he frowns softly, although he can’t help but to feel as though he should have expected this. “You could have put me in the care of a nearby doctor, or… or some villagers nearby.”

“Is that alone not enough?” the man responds, raising an eyebrow at him before he lets out a huff. His eyes turn away from Dan Heng to look across the room at a door. “For now, rest. We can speak more when you’re in a better state of mind. When you wake up again, call upon me and I will come.”

Dan Heng can’t help but to frown as the man leaves, his cloak swishing behind him with every step and the loud click of the door. The silence in the room feels unbearable once the man is gone, so Dan Heng sighs and lets himself fall back onto the sheets once more.

He lays there for a few moments, his eyes feeling heavy and frustration rooted in his chest. A sharp exhale escapes from his lips as Dan Heng pulls the sheets up over his body.

Dan Heng lets himself think about the man and what he could be until his eyelids flutter shut and his exhaustion wins him over.

—

The sunlight enters brightly from the window when Dan Heng wakes up again, and he wonders how long the pain in his side had gone from sharp to a dull ache.

He sits up, conscious of his injury so he does not invoke any sharp stabs of pain suddenly. His senses felt far sharper than before as he woke up, the haze from pain and exhaustion now gone. He couldn’t see the sun from the window, but judging from how he felt he assumed he didn’t sleep for long.

He moves his feet slightly as he shuffles himself to the edge of the bed so he can drink a cup of water. It’s cold and smooth as it goes down his throat, and Dan Heng ignores the way his hip twinges slightly when he puts the cup down and stares at the plate of fruit, bread, and some type of steaming soup. The man must have been here not too long ago if the soup was still warm, at least.

He turns away from the food with a huff and glances around the room once more to see if the man returned. His tongue licks at his chapped lips and he swallows softly before falling back onto the sheets. His eyes stare up blankly at the ceiling in frustration.

He hadn’t been given a name before the man left.

Was it meant to be some type of test or had he simply forgotten to tell Dan Heng his name? Dan Heng tries to think back on their brief conversation and his irritation only grows with the man the more he thinks. It felt a bit ridiculous to get irritated now out of all things, but Dan Heng was.

Dan Heng lays there for a bit before he decides that trying to get up and explore won’t probably end too badly. He sits up carefully and ignores the throb in his side when he turns to put his feet down on the floor.

“You didn’t call for me.”

Dan Heng jerks at the accusing voice. His head whips around and he sees the man from before at the door now, wearing a plain white shirt and long black pants now. He looks oddly comfortable as he blinks at Dan Heng with his sharp, brilliant eyes.

Dan Heng blinks back, the soft irritation from before swiftly coming back. “You didn’t tell me your name,” he points out.

“...” The man looks at Dan Heng for a brief moment before he speaks. “You may call me Ren.”

“Dan Heng,” Dan Heng tells him, not waiting to be asked for his name.

Ren. Dan Heng goes over the name in his head. Short, simple, and yet very fitting for the man in front of him. Dan Heng’s eyes squint softly as he looks over the man in front of him once more, and suddenly Dan Heng can’t help but to think he must have been more out of it than he anticipated when he was awake last.

Tall, pale, sharp upper and lower canines, red eyes, and almost impossibly pale skin. Abnormally quick too, judging by how quickly Ren appeared moments ago. Dan Heng can’t help but to feel a bit amazed at how obvious what creature the man in front of him was.

“You’re a vampire,” Dan Heng says.

While Dan Heng hadn’t ever encountered any vampires themselves, he had experience with hearing all sorts of stories and encounters from others. A majority of them had likely been nothing more than greatly exaggerated myths or wives tales – but a few had been genuine stories about sly, charming creatures with sharp teeth and cravings for blood.

A vampire hunter had even once visited the orphanage Dan Heng grew up in. He faintly remembers the man’s warnings about how the blood sucking creatures were manipulators, heartless beings who enjoy the act of killing and could withstand most attacks on their body. The only ways to kill a vampire were by using silver weapons, driving a stake into their heart, lighting them on fire, or exposing them to sunlight.

Dan Heng still remembers the man passing around small silver daggers for each child to take, the weight of it in his small hands, and how that same dagger remained in his travel bag for every trip he took – even to this day. It was never used, not even once on a normal human, but he still kept it close due to it being one of his oldest possessions that was truly his.

Ren tilts his head, his arms crossed as he looks at Dan Heng. “I am. Is that an issue for you?”

Perhaps, Dan Heng thinks to himself, it should have been. Vampires were known to be on the more aggressive end towards people after all. But Ren brought him here despite Dan Heng being nothing more than an injured stranger he stumbled upon. If Ren meant harm, surely he would have done it by now?

“Unless if you had brought me here to feast upon me? No,” Dan Heng huffs out before frowning at the idea after he thinks over it a little more. He gives Ren a slightly suspicious look. “Were you intending that?”

There’s a small frown on Ren’s lips now and a slight furrow of his brow as he uncrosses his arms. “I didn’t bring you here for that reason.”

“But you refused to tell me the reason before.”

“I did not refuse to tell you.” Ren’s frown deepens a bit as he stands up off of the wall. “I just didn’t want to discuss it when you looked seconds from falling asleep again.”

“I didn’t,” Dan Heng retorts, despite knowing well that was probably not true. “I could have stayed awake since it is important.”

An eyebrow raises at him. “You fell asleep moments after we talked,” Ren adds.

“You left me alone in the room and told me to rest, what else could I do?” Dan Heng scowls, knowing he’s likely being a bit ridiculous but unable to stop himself from saying it.

Then, Ren lets out a snort. It’s a surprising sound from the rather elegant looking man, one that Dan Heng wouldn’t have ever imagined a vampire to make either. Any previous irritation quickly washes at the sound, and he watches as Ren takes a few steps to him.

“You did not look to be in the right state of mind for that sort of reveal,” Ren says as he walks, his footsteps light and his hair swaying a little as he moves. “Other humans I’ve encountered have reacted badly to such information. So I made an assumption based on that. Forgive me?”

His eyes glance up to meet Dan Heng’s own eyes and Dan Heng’s mouth feels a bit dry all of a sudden. He should drink more water, clearly he must be more dehydrated than he previously thought.

Dan Heng coughs lightly into his fist and glances at the bedside, toward the near empty glass of water and fruit. “I suppose I have no other choice but to forgive you.”

“Was the food to your liking?” Ren asks, a lighter tone in his deep voice now, almost like he was amused. If Dan Heng could spare a glance at him, he probably would have seen some type of amusement on his face, but he couldn’t find it in himself to pull his eyes away from the glass. “I could have the servants remake it if not.”

“Servants?”

Ren nods and turns his head toward the open door. A moment passes before it creaks open a little before a small dark figure quickly swoops towards Dan Heng.

Dan Heng jumps, anticipating it to smack him in the face, before it stops near the edge of the bed. He blinks once at it, and then twice.

“A bat?” Dan Heng frowns, squinting at it to make sure he’s looking at it right. “Isn’t that a bit….”

“Cliche?” Ren offers monotone.

Dan Heng shakes his head and turns his eyes towards Ren. “Difficult,” he corrects. “For doing housework, or cooking, or cleaning the manor.”

“They do their jobs well.” Ren takes a step forward and holds his hand out quietly. The bat lands in the palm, with their wings tucked slightly into itself. “They’ve served me since I turned and they had another master before I became Lord of this Manor. Do you have an issue with them?”

He raises an eyebrow at Dan Heng and Dan Heng is shaking his head before he can really think about it. He doesn’t think he could really complain after all, if the work was up to the standard of a vampire lord, then who was he to complain?

“I was just surprised, that’s all,” Dan Heng answers, watching the servant in Ren’s hand with a curiosity that he doesn’t bother trying to hide. “Will they understand me, or is it just you?”

“They won’t listen to some demands you make since I’m technically their master, but they’ll understand you and listen to any of your requests.” Ren nods once at the bat and within a blink the bat is already in the air, soaring out of the room and back into the hall so that Dan Heng and Ren were left alone. Ren’s eyes turn back to him quietly. “They’ll be back with your possessions. How is your pain? Do you need anything to relieve your pain?”

Dan Heng shakes his head, feeling a dull throbbing ache in his side. “I’m fine,” he says, and it doesn’t even feel like a lie. The ache was annoying but it could have been worse, far worse for him especially considering the area.

Ren stares at him for a moment before inclining his head slightly. “If you say so.” His eyes glance away, and Dan Heng looks up to find a large clock on the wall. “For the next few hours I will be busy, but you are free to roam the manor if you wish. There will be dinner served sometime in the evening after sunset, a servant will bring you to the dining room to join me.”

Dan Heng doesn’t even get a chance to speak before Ren glances at him, turns, and leaves the room – the sound of his footsteps are nonexistent, an impressive feat for a man so much larger than Dan Heng. Dan Heng frowns at the suddenness of the departure before he sighs and decides to try getting up from the bed.

He’s careful to not aggravate his wound too badly as he swivels and shuffles himself to the side of the bed. There’s a slight twinge of pain when Dan Heng throws the blankets off of himself to the side, but nothing serious. The feeling of his feet finally touching the ground is enough to distract him from it anyway, and he shivers slightly at the sensation of the cold wood against his skin.

Getting up from the bed isn’t a hard act, Dan Heng finds out, but walking is a bit more complicated. There’s the occasional twinge of pain that shoots from his side anytime he slightly twists his torso in the wrong way but it’s faint, something easy to shove to the side and grow accustomed to the more he walks.

He takes a few laps around the room before he goes to the door, his hand hesitating for a moment before it turns the knob and he peaks outside into the hall. The hall was built in the same style as the room with a red carpet that lined the middle of the floor, elegant wallpaper on the walls, and paintings scattered around. Stepping out into the hall, while he’s dressed down in nothing but a loose shirt and comfortable pants with socks on his feet, makes him feel a bit exposed before he decides to shove the feeling aside.

Wandering around the manor managed to keep Dan Heng completely busy over the next few hours. He doesn’t spot any other person while he walks through the halls and finds all sorts of rooms. Most are, disappointingly, guest rooms that seem completely untouched, but while exploring Dan Heng manages to find four different doors leading to the outside, two libraries filled with a mixture of old and new literature, five different storage rooms, and the Great Hall. He spots a few more servants while walking, watching as the bats pay little attention to him and fly swiftly through the halls with various items in their grasp as they move.

He doesn’t bother trying to make sense of how the bats were strong enough to carry a majority of the things he sees them holding. He knows sometimes it’s better to just accept the unusual nature of anything supernatural rather than to try to understand it.

By the time Dan Heng’s feet begin to tire the sun has long set and the moon made its appearance. He’s wandering on the second floor when he hears a high-pitch chirp and a blur swoops down from above in front of him to land on a stone statue in front of him.

Dan Heng stares at the tiny bat perched on the statue that looks directly at him with beady eyes. “...Is it time for dinner?” He asks the bat.

It’s silent for a moment before the bat suddenly flies off of the statue and down the hall. Dan Heng blinks, watching it do small circles around the corner before he realizes they must be waiting for him. He holds back a sigh and quickly follows the creature, ignoring the jolts of pain in his side from moving so quickly.

A large, elegant wooden door stands in front of him at the end of the walk. The bat that brought him here lingers on top of the frame before making a high-pitched noise and flying off. Dan Heng’s eyes follow as the servant quickly leaves, flying off without even so much as glancing back, before he drags them to look up at the door in front of him. He presses his palm against the wood before pushing it open, and the first thing he sees upon opening is the large table that faces him, full of all sorts of dishes and empty seats.

Dan Heng glances around as he enters, taking in the dark red walls and the various plates on the table. He glances over at the chair at the end opposite to his side and his eyes linger on the goblet filled high with a vibrant, dark red liquid. He takes a few steps closer to the seat, wondering faintly where Ren had even gotten the blood in the goblet from. Were there other humans who stayed here?

“You arrived earlier than I thought you would,” Ren’s voice says from behind him.

Dan Heng jumps and whips around before a sharp bolt of pain explodes in his side from the movement. He grimaces and stumbles, one hand shooting defensively to his wound while the other reaches out to grab at the table ledge. The small burning twinges of pain that follow aren’t as bad but still leave him grimacing.

Large hands rest quickly on his arms, as if they were to steady him, and Dan Heng looks up to meet sharp red eyes filled with slight concern. He feels his face grow warm as embarrassment sweeps over him and his eyes glance down at the gloved fingers wrapping around his forearms.

“I’m fine,” Dan Heng croaks out, before Ren can ask him, as he maneuvers out of Ren’s hold. The touch of his fingers on Dan Heng’s arms lingers oddly despite the fact that he hadn’t even touched Dan Heng skin to skin! “You startled me, that is all.”

“If you say so,” Ren says, not sounding all too convinced that Dan Heng was actually fine. Dan Heng looks up to see a skeptical gleam in Ren’s eyes before the man turns and walks over to his seat.

Dan Heng nearly lets out a sigh of relief at the act. He sits down in the seat on the other end and ignores the lingering ache in his side that was a little stronger than before. He makes a small note to himself to ask for some pain medicine after dinner, since the pain from walking felt a bit stronger than it did earlier.

His eyes glance at the food on the table before they look back up at his dining companion. “I’ve heard from some that vampires are incapable of eating human food, that isn’t true is it?”

Ren looks at him from the other side of the table with the goblet of blood in his hand. “For some it is, for me it is not,” Ren answers. “I don’t need it but I still do it sometimes.”

“For you?” Dan Heng inquires, straightening up a little in his seat as his eyes linger on the sight of Ren’s fangs.

“I was once a human and was turned into a vampire through uncommon means,” Ren replies, his eyes turning to look at the blood in the goblet. “Most turned are bitten by other vampires who have the intention of turning the human into a vampire. However, there is a smaller percentage of far older vampires who have always been vampires, and were never once human.”

“Born?”

“Not likely, as those vampires are infertile.” Ren takes a small sip from his goblet and Dan Heng watches intently as he licks his lips after. “No one, other than those vampires themselves, are aware of how they came to be.” Ren’s eyes suddenly turn to look at him with amusement. “Is there an issue with the food?”

Dan Heng blinks down at his plate before he realizes that it’s completely empty, and has been since he never grabbed anything. “Not at all. I was simply…” Dan Heng trails off for a moment before coughing, “rather distracted by our conversation. I am not too familiar with vampires so it was… fascinating.”

He wonders if being extremely familiar with the ways to kill a vampire makes his statement a lie, as he piles up portions of food onto his plate. Ren seems to take that as a similar sign to fill his plate up too, and the room is filled with the clinking of silverware against the fine plates.

They eat in silence for a bit after that. At first Dan Heng can’t help but to feel a bit uneasy at the quiet between them but as more time passes he finds himself slowly relaxing more as he fills his hunger. He spares a few glances at Ren while he eats, taking care to not get caught so the other doesn’t make eye contact or notice it. Dan Heng has already slightly embarrassed himself enough times around Ren, he didn’t need to embarrass himself even more – although Dan Heng wasn’t quite sure if getting shot and found by Ren counted as slightly embarrassing since he was nearly fatally injured.

It isn’t until Dan Heng has finished three quarters of his plate that he finds himself speaking. “Is there anyone else in the manor other than the servants? Any frequent human guests or permanent residents?”

“No.” Ren looks up at Dan Heng. “All I associate with are either vampires themselves, or are non-human to some degree.”

“Alright then,” Dan Heng sighs out, before putting his spoon down and looking right back at Ren. “Will you tell me your reason for bringing me here then? If I am the first human you have brought in a while, why is it that I’m here? You could have sought out sending me to one of the nearby villages so I wasn’t a burden.”

Ren is quiet for a moment, and a reasonable distance away, but Dan Heng catches the slight pinch between his eyebrows and the downturn curve of the corner of his lips in faint displeasure. “I told you, upon first sighting you intrigued me.”

“Then you said we would talk more the next time I woke up,” Dan Heng reminds. “I’ve woken up and I have a clear state of mind now, so I would like to know.”

“If you are worried about me drinking from you, rest assured I won’t do that unless you give me permission to,” Ren retorts, looking rather unimpressed. “The only blood I consume is from those who are foolish enough to break in and try to kill me.”

Dan Heng finds the words on his tongue stopping as his mind quickly swaps focus. “Hunters are bold enough to break in and try to kill you?”

That didn’t seem very surprising to Dan Heng the more he thinks about it. Vampire hunters were another type of determined and reckless, on average at least. It was rare that they ever actually stopped hunting a vampire after picking a target, meaning that they either completed the job, or would often die trying. Some, less stubborn hunters, would normally stop after one or two failed attempts, but those types were rare.

“There’s a sizable bounty on my head, a decent amount of land under my authority, and a few villages that are under my watch,” Ren tells him, with a rather pinched look on his face. He hesitates for a moment before speaking again. “The previous Lord had… gone away, and left me to inherit everything after he had left without letting me know beforehand. Which resulted in a rather hefty bounty and workload.”

Dan Heng takes careful note of the way Ren’s voice wavers a little at the mention of the previous Lord. He’ll do some research on his own later, as he gets the feeling that whatever happened was on the more personal side and there wouldn’t be a warm welcome to any questions Dan Heng had about that at the moment.

“Regardless,” Ren’s voice snaps Dan Heng out of his thoughts, “all existing vampires are regularly pursued by vampire hunters. Any attempts on my life have failed, and will continue to do so.”

Dan Heng blinks at him. “You’re certain they will always fail?” he furrows his brows.

“Certainly,” Ren replies swiftly before he takes a bite of some food off of his plate and chews for a bit. “But, to answer your question, I cannot fully explain it but I will say, your face is… intriguing.”

“Intriguing?” Dan Heng sputters, his eyes wide as he looks at Ren from across the table. He may know well from the whispers and flirtations directed at him that he was attractive to many, but hearing it like this felt different somehow. “How so?”

Ren lets out a soft hum before he looks over at Dan Heng quietly, his eyes roaming his face. Dan Heng feels some small part of his stomach swoop suddenly at the brilliant eyes on him, the ones he couldn’t help but to feel a little drawn in to since he saw them. He feels a little too aware of the way his face feels a tad bit warmer and a tingling sensation begins to spread from his chest out into his limbs.

“There is an issue I have,” Ren says, and it feels a little like a cold splash of water in the face to Dan Heng’s fluster. “I believe you may be able to help me with it, but I’m not entirely sure. It will take… time,” his voice sounds a bit strained at the last word.

“How much time?” Dan Heng points out. His previous fluster quickly turning into a mild panic and irritation within him. As he stands up from the table, his mind racing a little. “Are you forbidding me from leaving?”

“I’m asking you to not leave,” Ren quickly says, like he’s making things better by correcting Dan Heng’s words to whatever sounds best. “Not until I have things figured out and you’ve healed.”

“How long will that take?” Dan Heng scowls at him. “You don’t tell me exactly why I’m here, you tell me there’s an issue but you don’t elaborate, and you aren’t telling me when I can leave. Are you sure you’re not just trapping me here?”

Ren’s face darkens a little and he opens his mouth to speak before the words die on his tongue. He lets out a frustrated noise and Dan Heng thinks back very quickly to the silver dagger in his bag back in the room, and the instructions on how to kill a vampire. He didn’t like the idea, but if push came to shove Dan Heng knew what he would have to do.

“I can’t… quite tell you why yet,” Ren says from the chair he’s sitting in, frustration heavy on his face. “Not while I’m unsure.”

“Unsure?” Dan Heng glares at him. “You do realize you’re being rather unfair, correct? You barely know me, and I barely know you, and you are determined to keep being cryptic. Is there any actual reason why I should stay here, or are you just messing with me?”

Ren just looks at him quietly, frustration heavy on his face, and it feels like enough of an answer. Dan Heng is already standing up from the chair and leaving before he can really think about it. His feet head towards his room and he doesn’t wait to see if Ren is following him, he already knows that Ren isn’t.

The silver dagger is right where he usually had it in the bag, meaning that Ren likely never even knew it existed. He glances at it for a moment before he takes the entire bag, ignoring the throbbing in his side. He’s careful as he walks out into the hall and down the stairs, right until he’s standing in front of the front door.

Dan Heng hadn’t gone out of the front door once since he woke up. He had glanced outside but he didn’t leave to explore the estate properly, not when he was so unsure of everything. The only time he probably had gone through was when Ren had been carrying his injured and unconscious body through it.

Dan Heng waits a few moments before he feels a presence behind him and he turns away from the door.

“If I left right now, would you stop me?” Dan Heng asks, frustration seeping into his voice. “Be honest.”

“Yes,” Ren answers, his eyes bearing directly into Dan Heng’s soul. “You’re injured.”

“Other than that,” Dan Heng snaps out. “You use that as an excuse.”

“I can’t-!” Ren growls out, his eyes flashing a bit from anger before he takes a shaky breath, the exhale comes out harsh and the sharp red rage calms. “I can’t tell you. Not until I trust you fully.”

“Trust is a two way street,” Dan Heng states. “I cannot trust you until you trust me.”

Ren looks at him for a bit, his face screwed up in frustration before he relaxes. Any of the fight within him drains itself out of him.

“I will,” Ren promises. “I will, I promise.”

Dan Heng stares at him for a few seconds before he feels the fight within him wane too. It wasn’t smart to wander out onto the roads again, not while he was injured and unfamiliar with the area. Not when he wasn’t even fully certain on if he truly wanted to leave already or not.

“Fine,” Dan Heng says, giving in despite his own stubbornness clawing at him to not do so. “I trust you will be doing your best then.”

It may be petty, to not even so much as look at Ren as he walks away to head back to his room, but Dan Heng felt like he deserved that much at least.

—

The next morning, Dan Heng goes to the library and he immediately works on gathering a pile of all books he can find related to vampires – at least, all the ones he sees aren’t any cheesy romances or exaggerated fiction. Information was valuable, important, and he needed all of it that he could.

He heads to a large window to the side of the library with a built in ledge for anyone to sit on. He hesitates for a moment before dragging one of the tables to it and plopping all the books onto it before he settles down. The pain medicine does wonders for ensuring he doesn’t feel as much pain from his injury, but he’s still cautious to not move in ways that could aggravate it.

He spends the entire morning reading on vampires, soaking up every theory and fact he stumbles upon and archiving as much as he can in his brain. Vampires were complicated creatures, ones he barely knew anything about and now he was living with one who kept being terribly secretive.

After a few hours, he hears the flap of wings and a noise. His eyes turn away from the book and he finds a bat on the table now. He stares at it for a moment before he realizes it’s the same bat from yesterday.

“Is it lunchtime? Or is he calling me?” Dan Heng asks as he closes his book with a soft frown. He glances at the pile and feels a bit disappointed to know he’s only gotten through about half of the pile.

The bat doesn’t reply before it takes off again, flying lazy circles around the library. Dan Heng wonders to himself why he even bothered asking them, when he wouldn’t get an answer he could understand.

“Alright,” he sighs, giving in as he puts the book back on the table, “lead the way.”

He follows the bat until they’re in front of a different door. It’s smaller than the door to the dining room and not nearly half as elegant as that had been. He watches as the bat flies down the hall and turns the corner, leaving his sight once more.

He opens the door and finds himself realizing this place was a study of sorts. There are a few bookshelves lining the walls and Dan Heng’s eyes glance over at the desk to where Ren was sitting with his back to the large window behind him. He was looking over a small paper with a troubled frown. A small, petty part of Dan Heng that clung onto his irritation from last night feels joy at seeing the vampire look a bit tired.

“Does the sunlight not burn you?” Dan Heng questions as he walks in as casually as he can look. He moves to sit down at one of the chairs facing Ren, trying to not look curiously at the paper in Ren’s hands.

“Part of my condition makes me immune to sunlight, unlike most vampires,” Ren responds, then he blinks and looks up at Dan Heng with confusion. “Did one of the servants bring you here?”

Dan Heng tilts his head. “The same one who brought me to dinner yesterday.”

Annoyance follows quickly on Ren’s face at Dan Heng’s words. He exhales, muttering under his breath something that Dan Heng can’t make out, before he folds up the paper and opens a drawer to slide it in and away.

“It’s lunchtime then, we should go and eat.” Ren gets up from his chair and Dan Heng stands up with him too. The reminder that Dan Heng was a fair bit shorter than Ren shouldn’t probably make something in his stomach feel something a bit, but it does. He was still awfully irritated at Ren from their argument last night, but he did feel a bit more calm now that he had slept and eaten breakfast.

He shoves that feeling down as he walks alongside Ren down the hall, and continues to shove it down until they’re walking outside for the first time since Dan Heng woke up. The sudden chill and sunlight makes him wince and blink a few times, trying to get used to the sudden change in lighting and temperature drop.

“Alright?” Ren inquires, a hum of amusement in his tone.

“Yes,” Dan Heng huffs, trying to not sound as unusually prickled by Ren’s teasing as he is. “Let’s go.”

He follows Ren down a path and finds himself entering one of the three gardens with him. It’s the smallest one but there’s still a nice collection of flowers that line the path. Dan Heng’s eyes linger on each patch of flowers as he walks, admiring their beauty as he passes.

Eventually they reach a stone gazebo with a table and two chairs inside. Ren waits a moment outside, standing a bit to the side and looking at Dan Heng expectantly as Dan Heng stands there, feeling a bit confused. Then Ren smirks, amused, and motions for Dan Heng to walk in before him. Dan Heng feels a bit tempted to roll his eyes before he walks in front of him and sits down at one of the chairs. He looks at the already filled plate and bowl in front of him.

“The weather is better than last time we were both outside,” Ren muses as he sits down at the opposite chair. “You shouldn’t travel in such stormy weather.”

“Storms aren’t very predictable.” Dan Heng looks at his empty cup and over at the tea pot. He curiously reaches over and pours himself some tea before sniffing it, recognizing it vaguely as some type of green tea. “What kind?”

“Not sure, but it is from one of the villages nearby,” Ren says. “I’m not too fond of this blend, but I wanted to see how you liked it.”

Dan Heng takes an experimental sip and is surprised by how pleasant the taste is. He takes another sip almost instantly. “It’s good,” he tells Ren.

“I’ll have them serve it every meal for you then,” Ren says, a pleased glimmer in his eye. “Let’s eat.”

The lunch is a lot more casual compared to how elegant the dinner was last night. There’s far less options to choose from, the dishes are far simpler in both style and taste, and, instead of a lingering silence, Ren is more talkative this time around. He talks a little about the various flowers and plants in the garden, he asks Dan Heng about how he slept, and he even chuckles one time after Dan Heng starts asking him some ridiculous questions related to his research topic from earlier that morning.

By the time that Dan Heng is standing up from his chair with Ren, his plate had been empty for about a good hour and the previous tension between them last night had thawed a little. The suspicion and curiosity still wrapped itself around Dan Heng’s head, making him want to poke and prod until he figured out why exactly Ren brought him here, but he tries to ignore it for now in favor of melting away any suspicion.

They’re walking back, with Ren having to go back to business while Dan Heng would be keeping himself busy in the library, when Dan Heng’s eyes catch sight of a pond with some lotus on the surface of it. He finds himself already walking off to the pond so he can look closer at the flowers on the water.

“They don’t bloom in this season,” Dan Heng mutters to himself quietly, looking at the pink flowers with furrowed brows. He’s a bit tempted to get closer to the water, to lean out and reach until he is touching one.

“The previous Lord was fond of lotus flowers,” Ren cuts in from behind, startling Dan Heng almost badly enough to make him flinch – thankfully Dan Heng manages to not react. “He had a friend of his cast a spell of sorts so they were frozen in bloom. Most evenings he would go out and watch them while having breakfast. And, even though he couldn’t easily stomach it, he always drank his favorite tea during those times.”

“You left the flowers like this?” Dan Heng asks, turning his head to look up at Ren.

He finds himself stuttering to a stop when he sees the look in Ren’s eyes, gazing forward at the pond. His eyes are soft, warm like a gentle flame and there’s something wistfully reminiscent in it that makes Dan Heng’s heart nearly ache a little at the sight of it.

“You were close with him,” Dan Heng says, feeling a little silly since that felt well beyond obvious at this point.

“When he first departed I was angry for a long time.” Ren’s voice is low and thoughtful, but not quiet as he speaks. “I was… unstable, in a way. I did a lot of things within that time, things which led to me dismissing any human servants in the manor for their own peace. More than anything I spent those days frustrated, and my awareness of my own instability only resulted in that frustration worsening.”

He falls quiet for a moment and there’s a small breeze that hits the two of them. Dan Heng watches as a few strands of Ren’s long black hair sway in the wind as he looks out to the pond.

“I thought about breaking the spell many times during those days. A small way to get back at him for his sins and make him pay even though he was gone,” Ren says before huffing out a noise that sounds like a chuckle. “Then I would walk out here, I would remember the way he looked at the lotuses, and I would always end up leaving without having done anything.”

Dan Heng mulls over the words quietly, looking at Ren for a bit before he turns his eyes back out to the pond. He watches as the wind makes the lotuses bob and sway a bit, moving in tune and causing small ripples to spread out silently. The chill in the air presses against his cheeks, nose, and bare hands, leaving him feeling a bit hyper aware of every small sensation, every sound, smell, touch, and feeling.

“Did you…” Dan Heng begins before he decides to start again. “Do you still get the urge to do that?”

Ren is quiet for a few moments, his face neutral as he looks out in thought at the pond. The cold air feels like it has begun to chap Dan Heng’s hands a little before Ren finally turns to look at him, his vibrant eyes roaming around Dan Heng’s face briefly in silence.

“I have not been able to tell,” Ren answers, breaking that silence. “Not for a long time at least. I’ll feel like it’s gone for a while, but sometimes it will come back. But more than anything, if I were to do that? I know deep down that I will miss the lotuses more than I will ever curse them.”

They stand there for a little bit longer, watching the pond full of lotuses as the chilled autumn air brushes up against them. Eventually something seems to break the freeze in Ren and he’s turning his head away from the pond to look at Dan Heng.

“A friend of mine helps out a bit with my instability,” he informs. “She managed to get it to be something far more reasonable after some attempts, and now there are only occasional outbursts that occur in response to specific triggers. These days it’s extremely rare and short lived, it’s unlikely you’ll run into it happening.”

“I wasn’t thinking that you would hurt me,” Dan Heng tells him with a soft frown.

Ren raises an eyebrow at him before he wordlessly shakes his head with an expression that Dan Heng can’t quite decipher. Ren turns and walks away, likely going back to the manor to go inside and do work, and Dan Heng watches as he walks away, feeling a bit tempted to follow after him but getting the idea that he shouldn’t.

So instead, Dan Heng lingers near the pond for a bit, mulling over the words that Ren told him as he carefully sits on the grass so his wound isn’t aggravated. His numbing fingers spread along the well cared for grass as he looks out at the lotuses on the pond.

The water moves and the lotuses bob up and down in the cold weather, but they remain alive despite it all.

—

They fall into an easy schedule. A majority of the day would be spent alone, with Dan Heng going through the books in the libraries and Ren holing himself up in his study, but lunch and dinner were always spent together without fail. There were even a few moments where Dan Heng would stumble upon Ren in the halls and end up invited back to Ren’s study, with an armful of books to quietly read while Ren did work.

In those times, while Dan Heng would glance at the setting sun from the window and at his red-eyed companion, the manor felt warm and a comforting feeling would rest over him. Dan Heng didn’t truly have a place for himself until the day he moved out of the orphanage, with his bags carefully packed and quiet goodbyes, but even then the homely feeling never really came. It made sense, he was rarely ever there due to traveling so often. The only times he really came back were to sleep, or pick up a text or two he stored on his bookshelves before he went back to the academy, or wherever else he needed to be.

A home, Dan Heng thinks one day as he glances discreetly at Ren, is where the heart is. This manor, although it was empty of people, must have been where Ren’s heart still was.

The eighth day, while Dan Heng was being led to the dining room by the same small bat, he realized that there really wasn’t any need for him to be walked to the dining room by the servant.

“It’s alright, you don’t need to walk me here,” Dan Heng tells the bat, relatively certain at this point that they can understand him, they just can’t talk back to him. “I know the way to the dining room and what time dinner is by now.”

The bat looks at him for a second before making a series of noises that oddly resembles what sounded like human laughter. He blinks at the bat, who begins to let out a series of clicks before flying off and down the hall, leaving Dan Heng at the door of the dining room. He frowns a little as he looks down the direction the bat left, faintly wondering if he was just laughed at.

“I wonder how you always seem to arrive here before I do.”

Dan Heng turns around and sees Ren standing there, a few feet to his left. The frown quickly wipes itself off of Dan Heng’s face at the sight of him.

“Your study is far from the dining room,” Dan Heng points out as he reaches for the door to push it open. “Farther than either my room, the gardens, or the library, at least.”

Ren’s hand makes it there first, impossibly quick, and he pushes it open before Dan Heng can. Dan Heng raises an eyebrow at Ren and Ren gives him a playful smile before they walk in, to the same table filled with various dishes.

“That servant seems to like walking you here too,” Ren muses, moving over to his usual spot with a goblet full of blood already. “Have you made a friend?”

“Do they not do the same to you?” Dan Heng asks as he sits, his eyebrows furrowing together.

Ren’s eyes narrow for a few seconds in thought as he picks up the goblet, not quite taking a sip yet. “They did when I first arrived, as a guest of the manor before I became a more permanent resident. But after…” he trails off slightly, his eyes darkening a bit. “Well, they stopped doing that a long time ago. Normally one of them will just inform me the food is ready and I’ll walk here.”

Everything else continues on as normal from there. A steady conversation about the food, their days, and what they’ve been up to flows on throughout the dinner. It’s something Dan Heng has come to expect these days, something to look forward to doing. He doesn’t mention his new topic of research regarding the previous Lord, which had mostly gone unsuccessful as a result of him being mostly shrouded in myths, but Dan Heng does talk about other things. He always had been the type to keep to himself but around Ren it feels a little easier to open up, just enough that he finds himself seeking out his presence.

There was a difference between being alone and being lonely, Dan Heng always had assumed he was the latter but he realized the former was true too.

Once they’ve finished eating, Dan Heng stands up from his chair. His eyes glance over towards the goblet in Ren’s gloved hands. “How do you get your supply of blood?”

“Like most other vampire Lords,” Ren begins, his eyes landing on the empty goblet. “Some of the villages will donate their blood in exchange for money. But whenever hunters come around normally I get a fresher supply for a few days.”

“You drink from the source?” Dan Heng asks, his eyebrows furrowing softly. “Isn’t that…”

Ren raises an eyebrow. “Murder?”

“I was going to say a bit messy,” Dan Heng corrects. “I’ve gone on the road countless times, and I know well what you are and what they are. I accepted the fact that you’ve likely killed other people the moment I found out what you are.”

Ren blinks at him in surprise. “I didn’t think you’d take that so calmly.”

“I’ve traveled around the continent many times, it would be foolish to act like I haven't seen people kill or be killed,” Dan Heng replies.

After all, Dan Heng had his own fair share of blood on his hands too, despite his best attempts to steer clear of fighting as best as he could. It was downright inevitable to travel the lands as frequently as he did and not end up in risky situations, ones that ended with him doing what he needed to do to survive. He would have been a hypocrite to judge Ren for committing the same act as himself.

Ren looks at him for a bit with a look that Dan Heng hesitates to call curiosity, only because the weight in Ren’s eyes seem to feel a bit heavier than what he’s seen from Ren before. Then his face relaxes into something a bit lighter as he stands up.

“In a few days time, I’ll have some old friends coming by,” Ren tells him, fixing the cuff of his own sleeve. “I’ve told them about your presence already, so no need for alarm. Those three won’t be here for much longer than a day or two.”

“Vampires?” Dan Heng asks.

Ren inclines his head. “Yes, is that an issue?”

“As long as they mean no harm, it isn’t,” Dan Heng huffs out. “Even so, I can protect myself.”

The corner of Ren’s lip turns upward into an amused smile, small enough that anyone else would have missed it. “I do believe you could.”

—

Two nights later, Dan Heng is reading in the gardens, about two hours after dinner, when he hears an unfamiliar series of chirps and clicks. He looks up and sees a different bat sitting on one of the fence posts, staring right at him.

Quietly, Dan Heng closes his book and grabs onto the bag full of books, half-written journals, and pens. He hoists it over his shoulder before waiting for the bat to lead him to wherever he’s meant to go.

This servant moves a good bit quicker than the one Dan Heng normally sees, and he can’t help but to miss the presence of the old bat a little. They enter back into the manor together and Dan Heng follows the bat up the stairs, onto the second floor and down the left hall. He moves quietly until they reach one of the doors and he hears voices from outside.

“I can’t exactly say I was expecting it so soon.” A woman’s voice comes from behind the door, it sounds a bit older, smooth, and pleasant to the ears. “Although, Elio definitely knew it would happen. He did look a bit amused when I told him I received an invitation from you.”

“Speaking of,” another woman’s voice comes out, blunt and a bit higher, “why didn’t you send a letter to him about this? He probably could have-”

“He told me last time I saw him that he was going to be busy for the next few months,” Ren’s voice says, sounding a bit rougher than normal. Dan Heng’s breath catches itself in his throat at the sound of it. “He’s not able to make the trip out here.”

“You could always leave this place to see him too, y’know?” The blunt woman’s voice huffs out. “Seriously, you don’t even really enjoy being here, save for the fact it’s so isolated.”

Dan Heng didn’t even really realize he moved forward a little until the floorboard creaks under his foot. He nearly curses before he decides to try to save himself by knocking on the door like he just arrived.

Everything is quiet for a few seconds until the door is swinging open. Dan Heng looks up and sees Ren standing there, his eyes narrow and a small, confused frown on his face as he looks down at Dan Heng. Dan Heng tries to glance into the room but ends up unable to see past him.

“Did one of the servants bring you here?” Ren asks him, looking a bit confused.

Dan Heng is about to nod when suddenly an arm is pushing Ren to the side. Silver eyes are staring up at him blankly as a small, young looking woman with silver hair comes into view. She looks terrifyingly normal and nothing like a vampire, at least not in the way that Ren looked like one.

“Wow,” she says, and Dan Heng recognizes her as the blunt woman’s voice. “You really weren’t kidding,” she mutters. “It’s like a duplication glitch.”

Dan Heng frowns softly at her and is about to ask what that means before the woman steps back, giving Dan Heng a full view of the room. It’s a basic room in the manor, with a fireplace, two couches facing each other, a table in the middle, and bookshelves lining the walls. Two other women sit on the couches – one with lighter, almost white, hair and a youthful, friendly face, and the other with red-wine colored hair and a maturer face, with a sharper, vampiric vibe to her.

“Hello, Dan Heng,” the older looking woman greets upon seeing him, her voice tinged heavily with amusement. Something about her makes Dan Heng feel a bit uneasy, and he’s certain it’s not because she’s a vampire. “Bladie has told us a lot about you in his letters.”

Dan Heng glances over at Ren after hearing the nickname, expecting some type of reaction, and he’s met with a calm, neutral look. He looks back over at the women, watching as the short, silver-haired woman sits back down on the couch.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” Dan Heng says automatically. He glances over at Ren. “Did you not intend for me to be here?”

“No, we were just catching up,” Ren responds. “I was going to introduce you tomorrow since you’re normally going to sleep around this time.”

“Or not at all, if you could have things your way,” the silver-haired woman snorts. “Did you even tell him about us?”

Dan Heng files that small comment down in his head with a frown. Ren’s friends seemed to know about him, while he didn’t know anything about them. That was already a bit concerning.

“I told him what was important already,” Ren huffs out, stepping a little closer to Dan Heng, enough that their arms were almost pressing together. “It’s not like he needs to stay with us while we catch up.”

“Probably not,” the silver-haired woman shrugs before glancing over. “Vampire talk isn’t really all that interesting, and humans are diurnal after all.”

Dan Heng manages to glance up right at the right time to make eye-contact with the white-haired woman. She gives Dan Heng a small smile and an acknowledging nod, and Dan Heng makes sure to return the act. He watches as the smile widens a little more in response to his own greeting and he finds himself relaxing a little.

The older woman turns to the silver-haired woman, looking amused. “Are you already wanting to resume your gaming?”

“That, and I’m hungry,” the silver-haired woman states with a sigh. “I’ll need to replenish my thirst sometime in the next hour or so.”

“Ask one of the servants to bring you some blood,” Ren tells her. “The people send complaints when you come into town and feed.”

There’s a small touch on Dan Heng’s lower back and he nearly jumps before realizing it’s Ren’s hand. He feels something flutter in his stomach at the touch and he wonders faintly when Ren got so close to him.

“I’ll bring you back to your room while they go eat,” Ren says, his voice low enough that only Dan Heng can hear him. “They’ll likely be asleep soon too anyway. Their trip here is long, even for vampires, so those three will likely nap in their rooms after. You probably will need to take some pain medicine soon to help you sleep, right?” The heat of his palm against Dan Heng, even with the gloves and Dan Heng’s clothes in the way, feels like it’s burning into Dan Heng’s skin.

Dan Heng entertains the thought of moving out of the hand and telling Ren that he’ll stay, before he decides against it. Normally he would have been thinking about getting ready for sleep at this time, and he got the idea that Ren wasn’t lying when he said the ladies would be resting soon. Plus, he could feel the ache of his lingering wound beginning to come back and he knew that the medicine would need to be taken soon if he wanted to rest well tonight.

“I do,” Dan Heng nods, looking up at him and ignoring the warmth in his chest that blooms at the sight of Ren’s eyes on him. “Let’s go then.”

Ren relaxes a little and his hand remains right on the small of Dan Heng’s back. Dan Heng glances away, at the three other women, and he meets three pairs of rather amused gazes. He tries to not flush as they walk out of the room together and down the hall. Ren’s hand moves away once they’re outside and Dan Heng pretends to act like he doesn’t miss it.

“You always look surprised after the servants bring me to you,” Dan Heng observes, walking beside Ren quietly. “Whether it’s now, or for lunch and dinner. I thought you were asking them to get me.”

“I told them the first day you arrived to help guide you at first, but I didn’t think that they would end up committing to it like this,” Ren grumbles softly beside them. “They are… fond of you,” he admits.

“Are they?” Dan Heng blinks, before realizing that Ren seems a bit embarrassed by the idea. “Is that an issue for you?”

Ren shakes his head. “It’s not. It’s just that…” He pauses. “They’ve done this sort of thing before, with me in your position, so I know what they’re doing.”

“And what exactly are they doing?”

“They think that I’m…” Ren’s face screws up a bit, and it was an endlessly amusing sight, “lonely, and they notice that I enjoy your presence. So they’re trying to have us spend time together.”

“Oh,” Dan Heng says, blinking at the red carpet before his eyes turn to look at Ren. “That’s what they’re trying to do.”

He can’t help but to feel a little flustered at Ren’s admission that he enjoyed Dan Heng’s presence. He had assumed so already, especially since Dan Heng was the only human that lived in the manor, but it was an entirely different thing to hear the words spoken out loud from Ren himself.

“I…” Ren begins before he lets out a small cough. “When do you plan on leaving after you’ve healed?”

Dan Heng stops walking from surprise and looks up at him. “Were you not the one who told me to not leave?”

“Yes,” Ren huffs out, “but I can’t stop you if push comes to shove. Even if I want you to stay with me.”

Dan Heng tries to not let his foolish heart take the words the wrong way, although, judging by the way his mouth feels a little dry and his fingers twitch, he’s failing at that already. He thinks for a little bit, on reasons why he should leave or stay.

Dan Heng should leave. He has a life outside of here, one that has led him to distant lands in the pursuit of knowledge. He doesn’t have many people he regularly talks to, but he does have his neighbors, his professors, and the people that fill the Capital streets around him. He has books that are waiting to be read back at home and plenty of clothes that will need to be washed.

But, he wouldn’t have the gardens outside to walk along, or the library that was filled with more books than he could have owned. He wouldn’t have the bats that would fly above him in the halls, chirping to each other and rushing around with all sorts of items in their grasp. He wouldn’t have someone to sit down and eat a pleasant meal with, a person who listened to his words and spoke back.

“Will you tell me why you brought me here?” Dan Heng asks, looking up into Ren’s sharp red eyes with his own, feeling a bit tired. “You haven’t brought another here in a while, have you? The last human who stepped foot in this manor must have been the same day you dismissed the human servants. So don’t act like I’m reaching on this.”

Ren looks at him like he wishes that a hole would miraculously pop out of the floor and swallow Dan Heng whole. Dan Heng waits a few moments, staring silently, until the expression cracks a little on Ren.

“Do you really want to know?” Ren asks him reluctantly.

“It will help me make my choice,” Dan Heng answers him. His palms clench a little at his sides. “You tell me that you want to tell me, but that you can’t trust me. Then you turn around and provide me countless reasons to not trust you, but I want to, despite knowing that I really shouldn’t.”

Ren’s face pinches together, looking almost annoyed if not for the glimmer of something deeper in his eyes.

“My vampirism was more of an unintentional thing,” Ren confesses before his frown deepens a little more, the sight of it makes Dan Heng think for a moment that he’ll leave it at that, before Ren continues on. “Sort of. I never… I never meant to be a vampire, nor did I desire to be. I wanted to stay a human, live a short but meaningful life with the one I loved, even if it meant I would die before him.”

The lanterns on the walls of the hall manage to provide enough light that Dan Heng is able to see the contemplation deep in Ren’s eyes when he falls quiet for a few seconds. His hand reaches out before he knows it and it rests quietly on Ren’s shoulder, his palm cupped in a comforting, gentle touch. He watches as the contemplation breaks off of Ren and is swiftly replaced by surprise, before he relaxes a little.

“The previous Lord turned you into a vampire,” Dan Heng says, the words feeling heavy on his tongue. “Didn’t he?”

Dan Heng would have had to be a fool to not notice the longing gaze Ren gave the pond that day. He couldn’t ignore the way he noticed how Ren seemed to know small details about the previous Lord of the manor, and how Ren remembered them despite the fact that it must have been years since he left. He would have been a fool to not notice who Ren had once loved, and seemingly been betrayed by.

“He did that, and more,” Ren huffs out, looking rather annoyed but not moving Dan Heng’s hand. “I am completely unable to find death.”

“Death?” The realization of what Ren is saying strikes him and Dan Heng can’t help but to feel a little cold in the hallway, despite all the layers on him. “You can’t die? Not even through-”

“Not even through the normal means of killing a human, nor a vampire,” Ren finishes. The warm light that reaches his face somehow only seems to emphasize the sorrow in his face, rather than to soften it. “Many have tried over the years, none have succeeded or gotten close. Even attempting it myself showed it was… impossible.”

Dan Heng feels his heart turn heavy and his stomach churn at the words he hears. He didn’t like the idea of dying, as any normal person, but the idea of living forever felt terrifying as well. Perhaps to an immortal creature, born with the knowledge that they would remain immortal, it wouldn’t have felt horrifying since it would be reality. But to humans, who were born mortal and would eventually accept that they would die one day? The idea of immortality was bitter, at least to Dan Heng.

It was even worse knowing that Ren did not have the choice of mortality or immortality. That choice went to one that Ren once loved, and it resulted in pain.

“I believe you may be able to help me achieve my goal,” Ren says, looking down at him with a serious look. “Since I saw you that night, I knew deep down that if anyone could have helped me, it would be you. Only someone like you could have done what I desired.”

“To..” Dan Heng trails off, swallowing thickly. “To end this curse of yours.”

“Yes.”

Ren takes a small step forward and the act nearly makes Dan Heng want to back up, but he manages to stand still where he is. His head cranes up to look up at Ren, noticing the sweeping curve of his long dark eyelashes, the almost unnatural paleness of his skin, and the sharp angle of his jawline. He’s handsome in a way that feels a bit unnatural, maybe even unnerving to some, and somehow that makes Dan Heng only want him even more.

“I want to see if you are able to free me from this curse of a miserable eternity,” Ren murmurs. His eyes are so close now that Dan Heng can’t help but to feel like they’ll swallow him whole. “But, how could I be certain that you would accept doing that upon first sight? No. I had to wait, to see if I could trust you to do that.”

“And do you?” Dan Heng feels a bit breathless as he speaks, his voice a hush. He should feel horrified at hearing this all, but for some reason his heart only seems to pound faster at it. “Do you trust me?”

“I want to,” Ren replies, a soft rumble in the words as he looks into Dan Heng’s eyes. Dan Heng feels a touch against his back, so light he wonders if it’s actually there. “I want to be able to-”

There’s a series of clicks from somewhere down the hall above them and Dan Heng practically throws himself back from Ren at the noise. His head whips over towards the direction of the sound and he sees a small group of bats that turn the corner, flying over in their direction.

The bats stop at seeing them and land right at Ren’s feet, with a small box being put on the floor gently by two of the bats. They don’t even seem bothered by the way Ren is practically glaring down at them, a sharp contrast from how he was moments ago.

“Are you delivering that to the others right now?” Ren asks, barely restrained annoyance making his voice come out tense.

One of the bats holding the box lets out a chittering noise and Ren’s face drops into a scowl. Another bat lets out a small series of chirps and the scowl on Ren’s face relaxes.

“Fine,” Ren breathes out, closing his eyes in resignation. He opens them again and gives the group a stern look. “But take the other hall next time, it’s quicker than this one.”

Dan Heng watches as the group makes noises, a few eyes glance at him, and then they pick up the box before continuing to fly down the hall. His head turns back to look at Ren, who’s still looking at the servants with a soft sort of irritation.

“You care for them a lot,” Dan Heng blurts out. “And they care for you.”

Ren’s eyes fall back on him and the memory of how close they were moments ago, what Ren was saying comes rushing back. It takes everything in Dan Heng to shove those fluttery feelings in his stomach down and fight back the bubbling warmth that threatens to make its appearance on his face. He tries to think of it all as a result of the wound in his side, but even he’s not that foolish.

“I’m feeling tired.” Dan Heng rushes out to tell him, a weak attempt at escaping the memory and Ren’s eyes on him. He can’t help but to feel hot all over. “And I need to take the medicine soon. Let’s go.”

They don’t say anything during the walk to Dan Heng’s room. Dan Heng definitely didn’t need an escort there, as he knew the manor well enough to probably have traveled through it blind at this point, but he already accepted Ren’s offer to escort him earlier. He couldn’t just tell him that he would be fine, that felt like revealing himself a little too much and Dan Heng wasn’t quite sure if he could handle doing that right now.

“Goodnight, Dan Heng,” Ren says, as they walk up to Dan Heng’s door. “Rest well.”

Dan Heng’s hand is on the knob as he turns back to look at Ren. He watches him for a moment, feeling a swirl of emotions and thoughts as he looks at the vampire in front of him.

“You too, Ren,” Dan Heng responds, his voice soft.

He enters the room after that, closing the door carefully behind him. He waits a few moments from behind it, feeling his heart pounding as his mind thinks back to everything that occurred over this evening, before he moves to get ready for the night as he processes the day. The moment in the hall plays back on repeat the most, almost to an embarrassing point, and he wonders faintly if there’s maybe something wrong with him.

Dan Heng thinks, as he slips underneath the sheets of his bed, that he’s a little bit of a fool.

—

The ladies only stayed for three more days and, as a result of their nocturnal habits, Dan Heng only manages to see them all twice more before they leave. One such meeting being a result of Dan Heng briefly running into the trio as he’s walking to his room, while the second was during a dinner held on their final night in the manor. He learns their names, that they’ve all been friends with Ren for a few centuries, and that they all have the odd habit of staring at him.

Silver Wolf had done so the least and seemed the least interested in whatever was making her stare at him. It was more frequent in their first meeting than anything, however as time moved on she appeared to grow bored of his presence. Meanwhile Firefly only gave him curious glances that occasionally boarded on looking nervous, which Dan Heng could only theorize about. So far his best guess was that his human status made her a bit nervous of him being a secret vampire hunter, that or he reminded her of someone.

The stares he hated the most were from Kafka. Her eyes weren’t filled with curiosity, not like Silver Wolf or Firefly, but rather the opposite. She stared at him like she knew something about him, something that made him burn with curiosity and want to inquire on why she was looking at him like that – why she glanced between him and Ren with a knowing gaze, before ultimately smiling like she knew something that neither of them did. Or maybe why she never bothered hiding her staring from Dan Heng, unlike the other two.

Dan Heng doesn’t breathe a sigh of relief when he wakes up the next morning, but, as he’s reaching to take his pain medicine while his side lightly throbs, he does feel like a small weight has lifted itself off of his shoulders. However, as he’s putting on his clothes for the day, another weight puts itself on Dan Heng’s shoulders.

He had picked up research on different noble lineages nearby, after his research on vampires had begun to run dry, and so far he hadn’t seen much that mentioned the previous vampire Lord. There was so little information regarding him that he felt almost non-existent, which made sense since there wasn’t even any information outside of myths that spoke of Ren’s current existence.

But, Dan Heng did manage to make a small theory over time, one that only felt more solidified by the visit and Ren’s words from three days ago. One that he felt wasn’t right to bring up when there were others at the manor.

The silver dagger is right where he left it in the bag from last time he grabbed the bag. And the path to Ren’s study is familiar to his feet and he delivers a swift knock to the door, opening it without waiting for a response.

Ren sits in the room, staring at Dan Heng as he opens the door. His eyes are the first thing Dan Heng notices, the beautiful shade of them and surprise evident within them. The sight of them is enough to make Dan Heng feel a bit sorry for what he’s about to do.

Dan Heng doesn’t speak as he puts the bag on the table and draws out the dagger. He watches as Ren looks at him, not even flinching when the dagger clanks against the wood. He just raises an eyebrow as he looks up at Dan Heng with slight interest.

“You think I’m connected to the previous Lord, right?” Dan Heng’s voice somehow doesn’t waver as he speaks. “I remind you of him, so you think that I’m the key to breaking your curse.”

Ren is quiet for a few seconds, looking at Dan Heng with a blank expression. The sight of it makes a sharp frustration rise up in Dan Heng and he’s not entirely sure what it’s from. Is it the lack of reaction? Is it the knowledge that deep down, Dan Heng knows that he’s right?

“The others knew, and they knew before they came here,” Dan Heng adds, his mouth feeling like it’s unable to stop. “You showed me the pond and gave me that tea because you knew I connected to him somehow. You brought me here because you thought I was connected to him.”

“Do you want me to confirm things you already seem to know?” Ren asks him, devoid of any emotion.

Dan Heng draws back a bit. “I want you to be honest with me,” he retorts. “Completely honest. I don’t want you to speak about not trusting me, I don’t want you to tell me that you are unsure. I just want you to speak to me.”

Something in his words seems to work on the walls in Ren’s heart, because finally the man’s face softens a bit.

“Your resemblance to him is almost eerie,” Ren begins, his eyes muddled and distant as he turns out of the window. “The first night I saw you, I was absolutely captivated by you, much like the first time I saw him. I suppose that’s when I knew that you were… here, again.”

His eyes turn back onto Dan Heng and Dan Heng’s tongue feels dry. He doesn’t say anything as Ren looks over his face for a moment, but he knows exactly why Ren’s eyes are on him now and it makes the warmth in his chest burn brighter. Dan Heng can’t help but to feel far too close and far all at once when those eyes are on him.

“I would never forget those eyes, not even in a million years,” Ren murmurs, seeming a little enchanted as he looks right into Dan Heng’s eyes, his soul. His fangs are a little more visible, gleaming white things that Dan Heng feels drawn to. “A mere glimpse of them already made me feel like I had gone insane. And I just wanted to…”

He trails off, his gaze unblinking as he stares at him with a gleam in his eyes. Dan Heng wonders right now what he’s thinking, there’s a lot of things that Ren could want to do right now. He wonders if he’s thinking about wanting to do the same things that Dan Heng is thinking about.

“You’ve wanted a lot of things since then, haven’t you?” Dan Heng whispers, leaning over the desk a little. His eyes draw down to Ren’s lips, to his tongue, and his teeth.

The hunger in Ren’s gaze is palpable, so vivid it makes Dan Heng want to shiver and lean in. He wants to let him feed off of him, to satiate that hunger in any way possible. He can’t help but to imagine Ren pinning him down against the desk, to feel the sharpness of teeth on his throat and to feel the satisfaction coming over himself.

“I have.” Ren’s eyes darken a little as he straightens up, drawing forward a bit. “You couldn’t imagine how many things.”

“I could guess,” Dan Heng hums out, his heart beating rapidly in anticipation as he draws nearer and it takes everything in him to come off as casual as he can, “or you could show me some of it.”

Ren’s eyes are a flame, one he wants to draw into himself and let it burn him whole. Which is why, when Ren stands up and the chair clatters to the ground, Dan Heng lets him cup his cheeks and pull him forwards.

The kiss is nothing like the dancing around each other they’ve done since Dan Heng has woken up. It’s a hot press of lips against each other, desperate and willing to take whatever is being offered up. Dan Heng’s hands find themselves curling into the fabric of Ren’s shirt and around the curve of Ren’s neck. He feels a hand on the back of his head, helping tilt him up, and he finds himself pushing his body onto the desk without thinking.

Ren makes a noise at the change of position, a soft keen that lights up even more of a fire in Dan Heng’s veins. Dan Heng presses forward, more and more, offering up to Ren and taking everything he can from him all at once. He distantly feels papers and books being knocked off of the desk, but he really can’t find it in himself to care.

There’s a soft gasp of air when Dan Heng finally pulls away. His cheeks flushed and his hair mused a bit from the hand that was in it. He looks up at Ren, who’s got an unusually lively pink flush to his skin as he looks down at Dan Heng with a sparkle in his eyes. For a being known as undead, he looks awfully alive to Dan Heng.

“You won’t regret this, right?” Dan Heng asks in between breaths. He doesn’t even try to hide the tinge of desperation in his voice.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Ren huffs out, a slight laugh on his lips. “You come in here showing me a silver dagger that you’ve been trying to hide for ages from me, then you kiss me.”

“I never tried to hide it,” Dan Heng retorts, frowning a bit at Ren but not feeling seriously hurt. “You simply never gave me a reason to really show it.”

“And why did you show it now then?” Ren raises an eyebrow at him as his hands move to land on the side of Dan Heng’s hips, just a little bit more and they would be touching. “Did you want to threaten me?”

“I wanted to promise you that I won’t do the same thing.” Dan Heng grabs onto Ren’s hands and he moves them to land on his sides, his fingers feeling the soft fabric of Ren’s gloves and the divots of his knuckles. “I won’t take that choice away from you, not anymore.”

Ren’s hands move to tighten a little on Dan Heng’s waist and the motion makes Dan Heng only more aware of how much larger he is. “Which choice?” He asks, his eyes lidded as he looks down at him.

Dan Heng isn’t sure why Ren is asking this even, when it feels all too obvious what the choice is. “The curse of a miserable eternity,” he says, the words feeling heavy on his tongue. “I won’t let it be miserable, or an eternity if you desire it. I’ll break it if you want to, it’s the least I can do to make up for what was done.”

Dan Heng watches as Ren freezes in place, his hands burning onto Dan Heng’s sides. He sees the wonder in his eyes, the relief that is scared to make an appearance – like Dan Heng’s simple offer is too good to be true. He can’t help but to wonder if Ren will ask him to try it right now, to take the dagger and stab him like others have tried to for centuries. He can’t help but to wonder how long Dan Heng will be stuck grieving for Ren, if Ren were to ask him right now.

But even then, even if he was left to grieve, Dan Heng knew he wouldn’t regret it if Ren asked him to do it. Not when Ren clearly wanted it so badly.

There’s a soft resignation that flickers over Ren for a moment before he pulls away. Dan Heng feels cold at the act before hands are lightly pulling Dan Heng closer, until he’s seated on the edge of the desk while Ren looks at him.

“I cannot let my title be unfulfilled without chaos erupting for the towns,” Ren says quietly, his eyes glancing down at the papers askew on the floor before he looks at Dan Heng. “But I do want you to do it.”

“Now?” Dan Heng asks, a part of him feeling ready to do it, another part of him ready to mourn.

Ren shakes his head softly, almost mournfully. “Soon, but not now.”

There’s a relief that sweeps over Dan Heng that he feels a little guilty for almost moments after feeling it. It was selfish to desire for Ren to keep on living, and yet the part of Dan Heng that always felt a little enamored by the vampire wanted nothing more than that.

“Then, I won’t leave,” Dan Heng says, knowing the words are a little heavy to promise so suddenly but not regretting them one bit. “Not until I’ve fulfilled my promise. I’ll be with you until then, and I’ll be with you during then. Until the moment that I’ve fully fulfilled it.”

He may have had a life before Ren, but it hadn’t truly felt like he had a home. He spent his days wandering from town to town with a hunger inside of him that never seemed to be filled. A restless burning feeling inside of him that drove him to keep moving, despite the monotony and dissatisfaction he found in his life.

There’s a slight upturn on the corner of Ren’s lips as he looks at him, although there was a hint of hesitation in his gaze. Dan Heng moves towards him before he can think, already standing so he could cup his hand on Ren’s cheek as he looks down at him.

“I still can’t help but to doubt you,” Ren confesses, his hands moving to hold Dan Heng’s hips. They’re firm and warm, a perfect fit. “Even if you promise these things.”

“Then choose to trust me,” Dan Heng tells him, finding himself a little caught up at the sight of Ren's eyes. “Despite all your doubts, your anxiety’s, and your mistrust, choose to trust me despite them.”

Unconditional trust felt like a myth to Dan Heng, after all. He spent his entire life full of mistrust towards others and it was what let him stay alive so long despite everything. It was also what led him to live his life in a way that felt a bit dull, lifeless without a true home because of how risky it felt to choose to trust another.

There would have been a lot more to talk about, but Dan Heng couldn’t help but to trust like those would be conversations they could have soon – together.

Ren looks up at him with a soft hum, his eyes directly looking at Dan Heng as his hands pull him in. “Alright.”

Dan Heng leans in towards him, letting their lips press together softly, as he thinks about Ren’s eyes and the promise between them. Another would have likely thought of it as horrifying, but Dan Heng can’t help but to think of it all as beautiful.