18. Li Xiang

Rage pumped through Xiang’s veins. He wanted to find more fae to kill, but right now, Winter and Fox needed him. Kneeling beside Winter, who pressed trembling hands to Fox’s neck, Xiang attempted to assess how bad the injury was. Blood gushed between Winter’s fingers. Fox’s eyes had glazed over, and his breathing was reduced to choked, gurgling gasps. Time was slipping away from them.

“Winter, you need to change him now!” Xiang bellowed.

The vampire’s panicked gaze snapped to Xiang’s face and the constantly grim man now looked lost. “I-I-I don’t know…he-he wanted more time…”

“He’s not going to have any time if you don’t act! He’s dying now!” Xiang shouted.

“Change him!” Moon screamed as he ran over to them.

Winter’s wild eyes scoured the hill and Xiang suspected he was searching for his brother, but Bel was still lost to the fight, protecting his wolves. Swallowing hard, Winter shifted his attention to Fox and whispered, “Forgive me.” He moved his hand from Fox’s throat and drank a couple of swallows of blood from the wound the elf had opened. As soon as he lifted his mouth, Winter placed his hand to Fox’s throat to slow the bleeding.

Raising his own wrist to his mouth, Winter tore a hideous gash in his flesh and pressed the wound to Fox’s parted lips, pouring his own blood into his mate. Fox’s eyes closed, but there was no movement. No breathing. Winter massaged his throat, trying to force Fox to swallow the blood.

“Is it working? Why doesn’t it seem to be working?” Moon demanded, his voice growing more panicked. The former witch admitted he remembered next to nothing of his own turning months ago—but then, he hadn’t been in better shape when Chen was forced to make him a vampire.

Xiang swore softly. “He’s losing blood faster than we can put it into his body.”

“I can help!” Moon lifted his hands and Xiang’s heart jumped to his throat. The fledgling was going to use his blood magic—something he’d been forbidden to do. They were going to lose two people tonight if Moon continued.

“No! Get Chen!” Xiang pointed a finger just past Moon’s shoulder in the direction he’d last seen his martial brother.

“I can do it!”

“No! You’ll kill yourself before you can save Fox. Chen can help. Get him!”

Moon spun on the balls of his feet and darted off. As much as it hurt to admit, there wasn’t much Moon could do at the moment. Any attempt to use his old magic would destroy him, and as a vampire, he was still coming into power and strength. He needed decades of growth. For now, he could only assist from the background.

Part of Xiang sympathized with Chen, not that he’d admit it to Chen’s face. He didn’t envy his task of explaining to Moon that decades of slow training and meditation were going to be a blink of the eye in the grand scheme of his lifespan. The ex-blood witch was accustomed to being in the middle of the fray and being a powerful figure. Now he had to accept that his elders would protect and coddle him until he was ready. It was critical that they dealt with the fae so they could return home to Luoyang. Then Moon would be safe.

The rain had slowed as they worked, but that only made it easier to see the blood still pouring out between Winter’s fingers. Any heat in Fox’s skin had disappeared, and his lips were now blue under the smears of blood.

“It’s not working,” Winter said. The words were like shards of glass tumbling from his lips. “I’ve never turned someone. Not alone. I don’t know how to make this work.”

“We need more help. It’s coming. I swear. We’ll save Fox,” Xiang replied through a growing thickness in his own throat. He didn’t know how Winter was holding it together this well. If this was his mate dying in front of him…

The thought had barely crossed his mind when his brain flashed an image of a bloody and unconscious Kai from the time he’d found him in the cave. He shoved it away and turned his attention to Fox. Kai was fine. He was safe. The roars and thunderous boom of his tail hitting the ground could still be heard. The dragon was having the time of his life crushing the fae. And the longer Kai fought, the less they had to worry about the fae drawing close to threaten them.

“What can I do?” Chen demanded as he appeared opposite Fox. Xiang almost laughed and cried in relief. Chen was the calming, in-control person who just knew how to fix things.

“He’s losing blood faster than we can replace it,” Xiang answered.

“Mn,” Chen grunted. He reached out and placed one hand to the center of Fox’s chest and Xiang could feel a chill sweep through Fox. Chen was using his power to lower Fox’s body temperature, slowing his heart and the flow of blood out of his body. “Baobei, find Xiao Dan. We need him.” Chen spoke low and calm, without an ounce of urgency.

Moon nodded once and scrambled off, half crawling across the muddy ground before finding his feet.

“Chen?” Xiang prodded.

“Da-ge will be able to help,” Chen answered, his eyes falling closed as if he were turning all his attention toward maintaining the right temperature to keep Fox alive a bit longer.

Xiao Dan joined them, his dark eyes sweeping over the situation as he kneeled beside Chen.

“That’s enough, Winter,” Xiao Dan announced, covering Winter’s shaking hand with his own.

“No! He’s not awake yet. He’s not even healing,” Winter argued. The vampire tried to pull free of Xiao Dan while keeping his wrist pressed to Fox’s parted lips, but Xiao Dan had him by two full millennia. He would not be put off so easily.

Still holding Winter’s hand, Xiao Dan turned it so that his wrist was facing upward. Xiao Dan dipped his head and licked across the wound that had begun to heal, closing it. “And you’ve given more blood than you can spare. You’ll kill yourself and still not be able to save him. May I help you?”

Winter pulled his hand from Xiao Dan, his eyes darting to Fox. Indecision twisted up his features. Turning a human to a vampire was a very personal experience. This person would become the vampire’s fledgling. The vampire would hold a power over the person for the rest of their existence. And if Xiao Dan helped to turn Fox, he’d be tied to the Zhang clan for the rest of time.

“I…” Winter started, but the words broke off in his throat.

“I relinquish all hold on Fox Varik from this day forth. He will not be beholden to me or my clan. He will always be your mate first,” Xiao Dan interjected, not giving Winter a chance to second-guess him further.

Winter squeezed his eyes shut, sending tears streaming down his blood-splattered cheeks. “Save him. Whatever you want, I’ll do it. I swear. Just save him.”

“Agreed.” Xiao Dan gathered Fox’s slender frame up in his arms, forcing Xiang and Chen to release him. They sat watching as Xiao Dan took a small sip of Fox’s blood for the exchange and then bit his own wrist, pouring his ancient blood into the man’s throat.

Xiang placed a hand on Winter’s tense shoulder and squeezed. “Shixiong knows what he’s doing. That’s two-thousand-year-old vampire blood flowing into Fox. If we have to, the entire clan will donate to save his life.”

Winter dragged in a shuddering breath. “It’s too soon. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He wanted a few more years as a witch. He likes being a witch. The plan was to change him in a few years.”

While Moon had access to his powers thanks to him being a blood witch, the price was too high for him to access them. Fox, on the other hand, was an earth witch. The prevailing belief was that Fox would lose all of his magical powers when he became a vampire. Unfortunately, too few witches had been turned into vampires throughout history. They had no proof. Only speculation. It was the whole reason Fox had postponed making the switch for so long.

“He loves you more,” Moon argued. “I’d choose Chen over being a witch any day of the week.” The former witch’s lips twisted, and he huffed out a choked, awkward laugh. “I just need help from my clan to remember that from time to time.”

“Definitely,” Chen growled. He turned sad eyes on Xiang and bowed his head. “Thank you for saving my mate from his own impulsiveness.”

“Winter! Winter!” Bel rushed over to his younger brother’s side and wrapped his arms around him. Behind him was a naked Wyatt, and River in his fox form.

Winter clutched Bel’s arm hard enough that his knuckles turned white even through the coating of Fox’s blood. “I wasn’t protecting him. I think I’m too late. Fox…I’m going to lose my Fox.”

Bel wrapped his arms even tighter around his brother, and Xiang struggled to swallow past the lump in his throat. He wanted to tell Winter that Shixiong would save Fox, but he was afraid to put that kind of pressure on Xiao Dan. Sometimes, no matter how hard they tried, a person couldn’t be saved.

Minutes ticked by, and the rest of the Zhang clan gathered on the hill. Junjie and Meimei reported that the attacking fae were destroyed, though some had still escaped. The wolves had run for safety and were no longer in the immediate area. The humans who lived in the neighborhood had also escaped.

Kai soon appeared, standing behind Xiang’s shoulder. He was in his human form, but there wasn’t a drop of rain or blood on his clothes. In fact, while the rain continued to fall in a fine drizzle, there was now a clear bubble hanging over their group, shielding them from the rain.

Xiang tipped his head up toward the dragon. “Is there anything you can do?”

The dragon squinted at Fox in Xiao Dan’s arms, and his frown deepened. “My powers aren’t much good for healing humans, and this one is beyond my reach. The vampire blood is changing him as we speak. If I were to interfere, it would do more harm than good.”

He looked at Fox as Xiao Dan closed the wound on his arm. The ugly slash across Fox’s throat had closed, which showed that the vampire blood was working, but was it enough for Fox to change?

“Shixiong, can I offer my blood?” Junjie asked.

The eldest vampire shook his head. “He doesn’t need more blood.” Xiao Dan shifted Fox in his arms, holding him out to Winter. “Talk to him. Call him from the darkness and remind him what he has to live for.”

Winter nodded, gathering Fox close as tears continued to stream down his face and clog his voice. “Please, Fox. Come back to me. I need you. There is so much more we need to do together. We promised to spend the next several hundred years together. You…you still have to let me stick cheese doodles on your new fangs. It’s only fair,” he choked out with a forced laugh.

Bel reached past his brother and threaded his fingers through Fox’s soaked hair. “Fight, Fox. You’re a Varik now, and we’re fighters. You can’t leave us.”

Winter leaned in and pressed a feather-light kiss to Fox’s blood-stained lips. “I love you, Fox, with everything that I am. Come back to me.”

The words still hung in the air when Winter’s head jerked up. Xiang leaned in closer to see that Fox’s eyelids fluttered and his lips moved.

“What?” Winter choked out.

“Leave…my fangs…alone,” Fox whispered a little bit louder.

A shout of relief went up, and a sob broke from Winter as he hugged his new vampire boyfriend tight. He was alive…for a vampire.

“Celebrate later!” Xiao Dan snapped. “Chen, carry Fox to the cars. Junjie, help Winter. He’s lost too much blood. We will take you to the Varik manor and sort things out there the moment we are safe.”

Xiang helped Winter climb to his feet and stepped away, inspecting the dragon at his side. There was something large and black cradled in his arms.

“What are you holding?”

Kai glanced at the creature, the lines on his face easing. “I found this one on my way to you. He was hurt and dying, but he was still very desperate to get to someone.”

The sleek black bundle shifted, and a head popped up. A long, hooked beak opened, letting out a rather pathetic cry. Bel swung around and rushed to their sides.

“Ozzie!” he cried, his face crumbling into tears. “I’m so sorry. I lost you in the chaos.” With a trembling hand, he reached out and stroked the slick, black feathers on his head. “My sweet friend.”

“His wing was broken, but I mended it. He will need a couple of days of rest before he can fly,” Kai explained as he handed the raven over to Bel.

The vampire nodded as he settled the bird in his arms, cuddling him as close as possible. His knees buckled, but Wyatt was there to wrap an arm across Bel’s back, holding him up. He pressed a kiss to Bel’s temple and lifted his gaze to Kai. “Thank you for saving him. Ozzie is part of our family. He means a lot to Bel.”

The wolf on the other side of Bel shifted into his human form and Xiang blinked at River, who was now snuggled against Bel’s other side and cooing at the raven like it was their baby.

Their family complete, they walked to where they left the vehicles. Kai might have waved his hand in Wyatt’s and River’s direction, wrapping them in clean jeans and T-shirts. Xiang shot him a questioning look. The dragon wrinkled his nose and turned his face away from Xiang as he said, “You’re not allowed to look at other naked men.”

It didn’t matter that River and Wyatt were mated to another vampire or that they were hopelessly in love with each other. A bubble of laughter rose from Xiang’s lips, but it died off when Bel and the wolves paused to stare at the burned-out shell of a house near the end of the block.

“Our home,” Bel whispered.

Wyatt tightened his arm on Bel’s waist, pulling him in close, while River rested his head on Bel’s slumped shoulder.

“The only thing that matters is that we’re still together. It’s just a house,” Wyatt reassured him.

“We’ll rebuild. We’ll rebuild a hundred times if we have to. No one is taking our home from us,” River added, brushing a kiss to Bel’s cheek. “Winter and Fox will rebuild next to us, too.”

Xiang’s heart sank when they gazed at the house next Bel’s that was almost as burned as theirs. The Variks had suffered some serious blows today, but they were all still alive.

“The Zhang clan would be honored to assist you in any way that we can,” Xiang offered.

Bel, River, and Wyatt smiled at him and Kai. “Thank you,” Bel replied in a rough voice. “It’s nice to have friends we can rely on.”

Wyatt ushered them over to the waiting cars, and they headed to the Varik manor. Even though they were all safe and Fox seemed to be healing from his transformation, Xiang couldn’t bring himself to release his hold on Kai’s arm.

Was there a chance he could lose his dragon the way Winter nearly lost his Fox?