5. Li Xiang

Xiang didn’t know where he was.

America. And that was based on the language and the few accents he’d heard since hitting the street.

But he had no idea if the dragon had dropped him in Connecticut, let alone near Hartford. With his luck, the dragon had probably flown him out to the West Coast, putting as much distance as he could between him and his clan. Nothing looked familiar. In Xiang’s defense, though, he had explored little of the region surrounding their temporary clan home.

For now, he was grateful to glance up and see the moon and twinkling stars above his head. The day’s lingering damp heat clung to his flesh, carrying with it the familiar scents of cooked food, diesel fumes, and humans.

So many wonderful, tasty humans.

He wasn’t that hungry. The fight with the fae a couple of weeks ago had left him with a few minor wounds that had healed. He could have gone another few weeks before the bloodlust was in danger of kicking in.

However, this outing presented him with the opportunity to attempt an escape. At the very least, he had a shot at contacting his clan. They needed to know he was alive and trying to find a way back to them.

But first, dinner.

Now that he was out with the pulse of human life surrounding him, a bite was sounding good. Just enough to replenish his strength. That was all.

Particularly after his ride to wherever the fuck he was.

Two days had passed since Kai said he’d talk to the dragon about getting the chance to hunt. There had been zero word. Suddenly, the metal door to the cavern slammed open with a deafening bong as it hit the rock wall. Wind rushed in, all lights went out, and a giant hand closed around his waist with the hint of claws pricking through his clothes.

Before his brain could even comprehend what was happening, there were two more rushes. One of water and another of wind. As soon as he had enough time to pull his scattered and panicked thoughts together, he was being set on soft, warm grass.

One hour.

The dragon growled those two words into his brain, and then he was alone, blinking and shaking. He patted down his body to find that his clothes were dry despite his distinct memory of diving deep into cold water.

He didn’t know how the dragon had managed it, other than magic. Lots and lots of magic.

He was not looking forward to the return trip, but if he were lucky, there would be no return trip.

With his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans, Xiang turned in place, taking in his surroundings. The dragon had put him in the center of a park in a city. Beyond the trees, he could see the skyscrapers glowing against the night sky. Black lampposts dotted sidewalks with yellow bulbs at the top. In one direction, there was a great white building with a golden dome. That appeared to be some kind of government building, and he was not going near any human law enforcement people. Nope. He wasn’t trying to get that kind of help.

In another direction, a fountain rose with the pleasant splash of water and lit statues. On the very top was a stag. The fae hadn’t conquered this area yet, had they?

No. Humans like animal statues, too. Besides, the entire region smelled of humans. Not the fae.

The fountain was more enticing than the domed structure. With a mental nod, Xiang started crossing the open grass field, moving toward the fountain surrounded by park benches. Two different couples sat at well-spaced intervals, chatting quietly. He could handle two people, but he didn’t want to ruin what were two separate dates.

Instead, he continued past the benches, strolling along the meandering sidewalk. He needed the perfect victim, which shouldn’t be too hard to find. The perfect victim was someone who was healthy and playing on their smartphone as they walked. Since that was most of the people he passed, that was the easy part.

The hard part was getting them while they were close to the trees and away from any lamps, so he would be less likely to be spotted when he grabbed them. They also couldn’t be too close to the park entrances. He’d spotted some security surveillance cameras attached to those lamp poles.

Argh. Why did the current era have to be so nosy and suspicious? It meant he had to work that much harder at hunting. Some nights he enjoyed the challenge, but not tonight with the time crunch and a dragon possibly watching him.

Maybe he should have stressed that the dragon had to permit Kai to come hunting with him. As a “chaperone” of sorts. That would have made it so much easier to escape with Kai, rather than needing to return for him later.

Dammit! That would have been so much smarter!

Xiang snarled at his own stupidity and kicked a rock, sending it skidding off through the grass. As much as he hated to admit it, Chen would have been a much better captive. He would have worked out how to escape and take Kai with him. Yichen too. He’d already done the escaping thing with someone.

No, that settled it. He wasn’t trying to escape tonight. It would be enough to contact his clan and reassure them he was okay. He wouldn’t try to escape the dragon’s clutches until he knew how to do it with Kai. The guy had been stuck with the dragon for far too many years, with no hope of being free. There was no way Xiang was leaving him behind.

With a sigh falling from his parted lips, Xiang stopped walking. Removing the chance of escape from the equation made him focus more, while some of the tightness in his shoulders fell away. This was better.

As if fate were pleased with his decision, it handed him the perfect prey. He’d stopped near a thick cluster of trees heavy with leaves, which did a fabulous job of blocking the glow of the lamps. Some poor soul came up behind him, their voice low as they talked on their phone, and they bumped him.

“Oh! Sorry about that!” the young man said as he brushed past him.

Xiang opened his mouth to say that it wasn’t a big deal, except the words became trapped in his throat when he felt the telltale scrape of fingers across the pocket of his jeans. The little shit had tried to pickpocket him!

That made this a straightforward choice. Not only was the asshole asking for some payback, but he was using his phone. If Xiang could catch it before it went dark, he could use it to contact his brothers.

His hand shot out in a flash and grabbed the man firmly by the throat, stopping any screams. With his other hand, he snatched the phone from the person, preparing to end the call, but the screen was black. Double asshole! He’d been pretending to be on the phone.

“This better work,” Xiang snarled as he pressed the phone against his prey’s nose. The man was silent, his eyes wide and lips open in a soundless scream as Xiang forced him into the shadows away from the sidewalk. His prey’s fingers twisted in his shirt while he attempted to drag his feet. Xiang lifted him, not letting the man slow them down.

The moment he was sure they were away from the few potential prying eyes in the park, Xiang held up the phone. “Put in the password and I won’t kill you.”

The would-be pickpocket released Xiang and snatched the phone from him. It took three tries, but he got the tiny computer to read his fingerprint. Once Xiang was sure which finger and which hand he needed, he took the phone away and dropped it on the grass for later.

A surprised gasp escaped the man as his eyes followed the phone to the ground. Xiang smirked. Poor thing thought he was just being robbed for his phone. Nope, Xiang planned to take his blood too.

With a light flick of his finger to the man’s temple, he was unconscious, his eyes rolling back into his head. Xiang winced. That had been a soft tap, right? Damn. He was out of practice. Time to stop teasing Moon about his techniques when he needed to practice as well.

He slipped one hand into the man’s short brown hair so he could cock his head at the right angle. Thankfully, his prey was the same height, giving him the perfect access to that throbbing vein right in his neck. Fangs sank deep and Xiang’s entire body relaxed as the first swallow of blood hit his system. Maybe he was hungrier than he’d realized. With the blood came heat from his victim, warming all of his organs like a bowl of Shijie’s?1 soup, chasing an old chill that lived within his bones.

Vampirism gave him near immortality, strength, and speed, but he’d never feel human again. Even if he could walk under the sun and pretend to be human, there was a coldness that lived in his soul that never left him.

But when he fed, the cold faded and the bliss that permeated his entire body at least helped him to forget that wretched otherness for a while.

Annoying his brothers was the other thing that helped him forget.

Xiang might have treated himself to a few extra swallows since the man had attempted to steal his wallet. He swiped his tongue over the holes, urging the wounds to close while removing the last traces of blood. It was tempting to drop his unconscious form on the ground, but he sort of placed the man so he was sitting with his back against the tree.

There. He looked like he was taking a snooze. Nothing suspicious to see here.

Smiling, Xiang picked up the phone and the man’s right hand. It took another few tries with the proper finger, but he managed at last to get into the device. He winced at the image of the nearly naked woman that served as the phone wallpaper. Any lingering regrets that might have been forming over his meal evaporated. The poor woman was supposed to be seductive, but the pose struck him as painful, and she was probably cold. Someone needed to give her a sandwich and a blanket.

Whatever. He tapped the icon for the phone and stared at the numbers. Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

What the hell was anyone’s phone number?

It wasn’t that often that he had to call any of them and when he did, the number was programmed into his phone. All he had to do was tap their name, and the call connected.

Of course, his own phone never turned on again after being dragged through the river with him and the dragon. He’d tried placing it in rice and even baked it in the oven. The only thing the device did was melt and spark a bit. Nope, the poor thing was dead and now he had to rely on his two-thousand-year-old memory.

He punched in some numbers. Stopped. Erased them. Tried a second time.

Finally, a low groan tumbled from his lips as a phone number rose crystal clear in his mind. Naturally, it was his number. Why couldn’t it have been anyone else’s?

He dialed it and waited. The phone rang three times and just as he was preparing to hang up before the voice mail picked it up, the call was answered. Chen removed all doubt that Xiang had gotten the right number when gruff Mandarin filled his ear, followed by Moon’s familiar snickers.

“Asshole,” Xiang muttered.

“Xiang?” Chen gasped.

“Yep, it’s me. Still alive.”

“Jun-Jun said you were. Where the hell are you?” Chen demanded.

“Told Junjie the dragon spit you out after trying to eat you!” Moon shouted in the background.

Xiang stifled a laugh and smiled at the ground. It was good to hear their voices. Even Chen’s. He missed them all more than he cared to admit. Each of them had gone traveling here and there during their long existence, needing to get away from the clan and explore. To find themselves in this new world. And maybe make peace with all they’d lost. But Xiang hadn’t been apart from his brothers for this long in centuries.

“I’m not sure where I am. The dragon dropped me in this park in the middle of a city, but I don’t know if I’m still in Hartford or if the big lizard flew me somewhere else.”

Something muffled their voices for a second as Chen repeated what he said to Moon. The fledgling vampire’s voice came through louder when he spoke, as if he’d either grabbed the phone from Chen or the call has been put on speaker.

“What’s in the park? Any statues or buildings?”

“A fountain with a deer on the very top,” he replied.

“That’s Corning Fountain in Bushnell Park! You’re right in the center of Hartford!” Moon crowed loud enough to threaten Xiang’s hearing in his right ear.

Relief swelled in Xiang’s chest. The trip to the park hadn’t seemed long. Wherever the dragon was keeping his hoard, it was at least somewhat close to his clan. That increased his chances of making it to them safely. He needed to figure out the tricky details of how.

“Can you find a place to hide from the dragon?” Chen demanded. “We’re leaving right now, but it will take us at least thirty minutes to get downtown.” Just under his voice were the sounds of keys jangling and footsteps hitting the wooden floor hard in their haste. Other, more distant voices rose in the background as Moon spread the word that they were coming for him.

“No. Wait?—”

But he never got the chance to finish.

Someone ripped the phone from his fingers with astounding force. He followed the phone with his eyes, watching fingers crush in an instant, reducing it to nothing more than broken glass, twisted plastic, and computer chip fragments. His head snapped up to see Kai standing beside him, face flushed and eyes glowing gold in the darkness.

“You lied to me!” Kai roared. “You said you needed to feed, but this was all a plot to escape.”

“No, it’s not!”

Kai shoved the fist holding the broken phone in his face and shook it before tossing the remains onto the grass. “Lies. I caught you planning to meet with your clan to rescue you. This wasn’t about hunting.”

Xiang stepped aside and waved his hands at the still unconscious man lying on the tree. “Yes, it was. Look! I fed from him.”

“Only to get his phone!”

“I called Chen so they would know I was alive and wouldn’t worry about me. I wasn’t trying to escape.” He reached for Kai’s arm, trying to get the irate man to calm down.

“I don’t believe you.” Kai threw off his arm and took a step away. His upper lip curled with disgust as he glared at Xiang. “This trip to hunt was a lie. You wanted to escape. Just like all your promises to take me with you when you leave the dragon. You didn’t mean any of it. You wanted to use me.”

His words were a sword plunged straight into Xiang’s chest. It took an extra second to even suck in a breath so he could argue, but he wasn’t giving up. “Yes, I want to escape. And yes, I will use every chance I can to escape, but only if it means I can take you with me. You’ve been trapped for too long, and you’ve given up! You’ve forgotten what it means to be free.”

Kai retreated a couple of steps, heading deeper into the trees. He shook his head once. “I don’t believe you. You will leave me behind.”

Xiang swore and took a step to chase after Kai, but the earth trembled under his feet, sending an echo all the way up to his heart. He blinked, and Kai was gone. But before he could even search for the man, he felt himself falling into darkness.

No, water.

It was like he’d been dropped into the ocean and was sinking into an endless black trench. No matter how he clawed at the water to slow his descent, he could not reach the surface.

Just as he was about to let the darkness take him, Xiang sat up on a harsh gasp that rang in his ears. His eyes shot open, and the darkness was gone, replaced by a warm yellow glow softened by pale rose-colored gauze and embroidered curtains. He was lying in the center of the canopy bed in the dragon’s hoard.

Xiang rolled out of the bed and stumbled to his feet, but his first few steps were on his hands and knees as he tried to get his body working. Nothing hurt, but it was like his brain was still trying to come out of its fog. He hurried through the treasure room, searching every nook and cranny, but there was no sign of Kai. The damn man didn’t even answer his shouts.

But there was one change to the hoard that made his heart pound painfully.

The single metal door that had barred his escape was gone.

In its place stood an unbroken stone wall.

The dragon had taken away his only means of escape.

1 ?Shijie – older clan sister, opposite of shimei