11. Zhang Junjie

Chapter 11

Zhang Junjie

T he wind cried out as Junjie sliced the air with his blade. He spun, the sword cutting another arc through the empty space around him as he methodically ran through the training exercises Shixiong had arranged for him. After so many years, it was amazing that Xiao Dan could still think of new techniques and arrangements to keep them from growing bored and complacent.

But tonight, boredom wasn’t his primary concern. It was fear and worry that distracted Junjie, forcing him to go through the sequence of moves again and again until they were perfect.

He was stuck on the team who remained at the manor while most of the clan was in the woods searching for Trin’s stronghold. He had a feeling his injury during the last trip had earned him a spot on the bench, even though both Xiao Dan and Chen denied it.

It was hard not to feel a bit like a loser, but at least he wasn’t worried about Erik. The little boy was inside napping, Ming Yu watching him. Just a few steps away.

Last he’d seen, Moon had crashed on a couch and was snoring loudly. The fledgling vampire had made the mistake of arguing with his mate and master about accompanying him on their next excursion into the woods. In response, Chen had set his lover on a brutal training regimen that had left Moon practically crawling into the house.

He saw Chen’s point. Moon was a new disciple within the Sword of the Heavenly Garden sect. Two thousand years ago, when new disciples were joining, they went through years of training prior to joining dangerous missions or fighting alongside their older students. Moon didn’t have the experience to jump into the fray.

One of the key differences, though, was that Moon was twice the age—if not older—of those new disciples. He was an independent young man, accustomed to making responsible decisions for himself and using magic as protection.

Another key difference was that Moon was Chen’s mate, and Junjie would bet a million yuan that Chen was letting his fear of something happening to Moon cloud his judgment. This was all going to come to a head soon. Moon would not be content to sit on the sidelines for much longer in the name of needing more training.

As clear as this was to him and pretty much everyone else in the clan, he was keeping his mouth shut. Sticking his nose into Chen’s private life was a good way to get his nose broken. This was something for Chen and Moon to figure out.

Junjie’s heart went out to Chen, though. As much as his er-ge tried to maintain an aloof and untouchable exterior for the world to see, there was no missing that Chen was soft and very fragile on the inside. Shifu’s death had cut a deep wound within him that had never healed. Losing Moon—particularly to Jiang Chong—could very well shatter him.

Not that he was sure he’d be any better if he were lucky enough to gain a mate within his lifetime.

With a grunt, Junjie brought his sword down in front of him and held the position, only to frown at his weapon. His stance felt overextended. That shouldn’t be. Not after so many years.

No, he was distracted.

Not by the clan being in the woods with the fae or even the Moon and Chen dilemma. It was Leo who kept sneaking into his thoughts. He hadn’t seen the damn cat in two days. It wasn’t the longest he’d gone without seeing Leo, but when they’d last parted ways, it felt like something had shifted between them. Some tiny bond had strengthened. He thought he’d see Leo again much sooner.

And what about the fae? Had they found him? Was he hurt or in danger? He had no idea. Leo hadn’t bothered to give him a way to reach him. Of course, Junjie hadn’t been smart enough to ask for one, either.

Junjie relaxed his stance, lowered his sword to his side, and sighed. Leo was turning him into an idiot. He couldn’t get the cat and his infectious smile out of his head. There were more important things to worry about than whether Leo was going to visit him and Erik.

A cool wind stirred the trees, growing in intensity as if a storm was rolling in. Limbs swayed overhead and birds took flight in search of more sturdy protection from the wind and rain. Would this storm force the clan mates out in the woods to return home early?

A new thought crept into his head as he gazed up at the black clouds rolling across the night sky, blotting out the stars. Was this a natural storm, or had the dragon who controlled rivers and rains called up this storm in reaction to a fight they’d found?

He reached for his phone in his back pocket. A quick check of the weather app would reveal if this storm had been part of the forecast. However, a strange warning itch crawled up the nape of his neck. Goose bumps broke out across his skin. Something was wrong.

Lunging forward, he planted his left foot and spun, lifting his sword up to where his neck had been only a second earlier. Metal clanged against metal, and Junjie’s blood froze in his veins as Jiang Chong stepped out of a rip in the darkness, his sword centimeters away from where Junjie had been standing.

Fear and hatred seized Junjie by the throat and tried to choke him as he stared at the vampire who’d made him and his clan into near-immortal blood-sucking monsters. The heartless creature who’d slaughtered almost all the Zhang clan and the members of the sect he’d deemed unfit to serve him and the emperor. The demon who’d tormented him for years before he’d snapped.

“Hello, my would-be murderer,” Jiang Chong growled. With vicious determination, Jiang Chong swung his sword again, nearly taking Junjie’s head off as he woke from his shocked paralysis.

Junjie dodged the first swing and blocked the next. A cold sweat broke out across his flesh, chilling him to the bone. How was he supposed to defeat Jiang Chong? The last time they’d succeeded in “killing” him, it had taken the entire clan. This time he was alone, and he was afraid Jiang Chong knew it.

Somewhere behind him, a door opened and Moon’s panicked voice rang out. “Something has broken through the protective spells!”

“I noticed,” Junjie grunted between clenched teeth.

“Holy shit! That’s Jiang Chong!”

Junjie didn’t dare take his eyes off Jiang Chong to look at Moon. It was on the tip of his tongue to order Moon to grab Erik and Ming Yu to escape on foot, and call Chen for help, but that could be part of Jiang Chong’s plan to pick them off one by one. Possibly even the fae’s attempt to kidnap some of his clan. No. It was safest in the house.

“Go back inside! Lock yourself in the armory with Erik and Ming Yu. Call Chen!” Junjie ordered.

“But I can help you!”

“No! You are my shidi! You will obey my commands. Protect Erik and Ming Yu!” A clang of his sword crashing into Jiang Chong’s punctuated every sentence.

“Yes, Jun-Jun.” The door slammed shut, and Junjie took a small breath of relief. The three members of his clan in the house were as safe as they could be. All of his attention was now on the evil monster in front of him.

“All alone. No one to save you this time,” Jiang Chong crooned. His long black hair fanned out behind him as he slipped out of reach of Junjie’s sword. “If you weren’t such a coward, though, you could have used your gift and seen my arrival long before it occurred. The rest of your clan could have been here to help you fight me.”

The demented monster’s words had a way of cutting deeper than any sword blade. Pain slashed across his heart, and Junjie retreated when he should have pressed on.

“Whether I use my gift or not, we both know what I see cannot be changed.” Junjie’s jaw ached as he clenched his teeth. “If I am meant to destroy you today, that is what shall happen.”

Jiang Chong’s answering cackle was like ice picks piercing his ears. “Destroy me? You’ve never beaten me on your own. Always the weak student relying on his brother to carry him. I should have culled you with the others that first night.”

“Culled?” he repeated as the heat of rage burned away the icy bite of fear that had nearly incapacitated him at the appearance of his creator. “Don’t you mean murdered? You think you should have murdered me the same way you killed Cao Zimo? Or how you murdered Ming Tao? And Ruo Xuan? And Hongyi?”

“There’s no point in listing their names. I never bothered to learn any of them. A single glance was all it took to see they were worthless.”

“I don’t say their names for your benefit,” Junjie snarled. He tightened his grip on his sword and his knuckles throbbed, cracking softly. “I say them because they deserve to be remembered by someone. The same way they deserved to live a long life.”

Jiang Chong glided away from the sharp slice of Junjie’s blade, laughing as he moved behind a tree. That horrific sound echoed through the garden and wove between the trees, tainting everything it touched like an insidious poison.

“Sadly, a nobody is the only one who remembers them.”

“I’m not a nobody. I’m the son of Zhang Yuxi, grandson of Zhang Jiawei—one of the great masters of the Sword of the Heavenly Garden sect.”

“You’re a bastard at best, and the Zhang clan has just the word of that whore to go by,” Jiang Chong mocked. “Only the gods know who your true father was.”

Junjie roared, slashing at his old master as the monster preyed on his darkest fears. He didn’t ask how the man had come by his secrets. He’d once been the head of the emperor’s intelligence department. It made sense that the vampire knew things he shouldn’t.

Jiang Chong continued to dodge and block his slashes. The one good thing was that his laughing had stopped as he focused on deflecting and evading.

Blocking out all other worries and thoughts, Junjie turned his full attention on all the skills he’d honed for two thousand years. His silver blade became a blur as it moved through the air, catching and reflecting the moonlight for a heartbeat before slipping into the swirling blackness.

Jiang Chong struggled to keep up. He clenched his teeth into a feral snarl. Sweat dampened his hair at the temples and slid down the sides of his face.

“Bastard,” he growled, but the word meant nothing to Junjie as he pursued his maker through the garden.

Just as Junjie got inside his guard and was going to land a crippling blow, Jiang Chong opened a doorway to the dead realm and slipped away.

“No!” he howled while jumping out of reach so he couldn’t be pulled into the dead realm. “Coward! Don’t run! Face me!”

The doorway remained open and Jiang Chong’s taunting voice drifted out to haunt him.

“If you wish to kill me, you’ll have to come after me.”

“I’m no fool.” There was no escape from the dead realm. In those first years after Jiang Chong had taken over the clan, he’d watched too many of his clan mates disappear into the dead realm, never to return.

“But you’ll come in to stop me from killing your brothers and sisters one by one. Shall I start with Xiao Dan and Chen Bo Cheng? They were the doting gege who always shielded and coddled you. How about that useless fledgling Chen has made? So eager to help you. So eager…to die.”

Junjie gritted his teeth and held back a scream of rage. He couldn’t go in, no matter what Jiang Chong said. It was suicide. He’d never be able to protect his family by falling for Jiang Chong’s tricks.

His creator must have figured that out as well, because the doorway closed and true fear gripped Junjie’s heart, almost stopping it dead. Now he had no way of tracking where Jiang Chong went. The bastard could move soundlessly around him, invisible until the doorway opened, and he struck.

With his fist tightening on his sword, Junjie spun in place, eyes narrowed as he peered into the darkness. The welcoming glow of the light pouring out the windows squeezed his heart tighter. How easy would it be right now for Jiang Chong to slip past Junjie and enter through one of the many doors? Moon and Ming Yu were no match for that monster. It would be nothing for him to kill Moon, Ming Yu, and little Erik before Junjie even knew he was inside the house.

No, it was best if he kept Jiang Chong outside and occupied with tormenting him. If he was lucky, Moon had reached Chen. The rest of his clan was on its way to help him. Better yet, Kai was in the air at this moment, racing to devour Jiang Chong.

Junjie swallowed against the knot forming in his throat. A bead of sweat trickled along his neck and he tried to reach for the elusive feeling that had warned him the first time of Jiang Chong’s presence. He didn’t know if he was sensitive to a ripple of magic in the air, a shift in the wind. Something told him that the monster was close, and he had to find that warning signal one more time.

No cricket chirped or frog croaked. Even the wind was still, waiting for Jiang Chong to strike.

Junjie’s entire body vibrated with tension as he slowly pivoted to face the house. Was he too late? Had the vampire sneaked around him and entered the manor? Should he chase after him?

Something in the air shifted on his right and Junjie moved to escape Jiang Chong, but this time he was a half breath too slow. Pain ripped through his right arm as the monster’s blade sliced deep. Muscles and tendons were cut, and his sword fell from limp fingers. As Junjie spun away, he caught the tumbling blade with his left hand and raised it, blocking Jiang Chong’s next blow.

“Too slow, old man,” Junjie taunted. “I can kill you with my right hand or my left hand. It makes no difference to me.”

Jiang Chong shouted his frustration and hammered wildly at Junjie with his sword. Junjie backpedaled under the onslaught, but he held his own, deflecting every slash.

A great roar rent the heavens, and Junjie’s smile returned with a wicked bend. Jiang Chong’s pale face turned almost gray and his eyes widened in their sockets. Yes, the dragon had returned home.

“What’s wrong, Jiang Chong? Afraid to face a dragon god?” Junjie mocked as lightning flashed across the night sky only to be immediately followed by a crash of thunder. The bright light glinted off white scales as the dragon raced to Zhang manor.

“No!” escaped Jiang Chong in a harsh whisper, and a black doorway opened behind him yet again.

“He’s going to devour you whole.”

The ground shook, and another roar shattered the night as Kai landed in the garden, uprooting trees and even knocking some tiles off the roof. It didn’t matter. His golden eyes locked on the dark slit in the air that Jiang Chong had disappeared into. Kai rushed for the opening, but Jiang Chong closed it before the massive dragon could reach it. Kai clawed at the air and roared, causing Junjie to flinch.

“Thank you,” Junjie called out when Kai stopped his frustrated roars and growls.

The dragon huffed and turned its giant head toward him. No matter how many times he saw Kai in his true form, Junjie knew he would never stop being in awe of the creature. It was hard to believe that this magnificent creature could adore Xiang so thoroughly, but he’d seen it with his own eyes.

You’re hurt! Kai’s voice slipped into Junjie’s thoughts as if it were his own.

“I’m healing. It’s nothing serious.”

Sorry I was slow. We encountered many fae, and I was afraid to leave my mate.

“I understand. Can you stay and guard the outside for a while? I need to check on Moon and the others.”

Of course. Xiang and the rest of the clan are returning now.

That was a relief, but a question did pop into his brain. “Why didn’t all of you return with your magic?”

Kai shifted into his human form and grunted as he glared at the mess he’d made. “I wanted to, but Xiang wanted to remain and kill the fae rather than allow them to escape. He also believed seeing my dragon flying would scare some of the fae away if they dared to approach our home. I thought it would be fine, since I was only a couple of minutes away.” His gaze slipped to Junjie’s bleeding arm and his frown deepened. “But I was too slow.”

“You weren’t too slow. It gave me a chance to fight Jiang Chong. If I were a little faster, I might have killed him.”

Kai hummed and waved one hand at the gardens, using his magic to replant and mend the trees he’d uprooted. Displaced tiles flew from the ground and returned to their home on the roof. “It seems we both must be faster next time.”

His sword still gripped in his left hand, Junjie raced to the back door and through the house. Erik’s terrified cries echoed through the halls, crushing Junjie’s heart. He followed them to the armory. A smile squeezed his heart. Moon had followed his instructions to the letter. The armory was located centrally, with only one entrance and exit. It was the easiest room to defend if Jiang Chong reached them.

“It’s me. I’m alone,” Junjie called out before he unlocked the door and pulled it open.

Even with the warning, he was still greeted with the point of a sword in his face. Moon stood in front of the door, his face pale but his expression stern. Ming Yu was at the rear of the room, a short sword in one hand and Erik resting in her other arm, tears streaking his bright-red face.

Junjie slipped in through the narrow crack in the doors and closed them behind him. “Kai scared Jiang Chong off.”

“Are you sure?” Ming Yu demanded, still not lowering her sword.

“No. He’s keeping watch in the garden, trying to detect where he’s gone. The rest of the clan is returning.” Junjie turned his gaze to Moon. “Can you call Winter Varik? Ask him to come over. He’s the only one who can check the manor ground within the dead realm to make sure Jiang Chong has truly left.”

Moon nodded. “That Jiang Chong. He can’t get through solid objects like doors and walls, right?”

“Correct. We should be safe for now.”

Moon put aside his sword and pulled out his phone. “I’ll get Winter here. Otherwise, no one is going to be able to sleep when the sun rises. I’ll also see if I can get my old coven here to improve the spells on the walls.”

Junjie placed his sword on the display table in the center of the room with some other weapons and reached out his left hand to Erik. “Here, let me hold him.”

“Jun-Jun, you’re injured,” Ming Yu argued, also lowering her weapon.

“It’s nothing. Nearly healed. Let me hold him. He’s terrified.”

Ming Yu looked as if she were going to argue with him further, but Erik was already leaning toward Junjie, arms outstretched. He so easily slipped into Junjie’s good left side, wrapping his arms and legs around him like a koala. Fresh tears slipped down his flushed cheeks, and he sniffled loudly.

Junjie lowered his voice and pressed kisses to the side of Erik’s head and cheek. “It’s okay. That was Kai being noisy. What do we tell that noisy dragon? We tell him ‘Bad dragon. Don’t be so scary!’ That’s what we say, don’t we?”

“Bad dragon,” Erik mumbled against Junjie’s throat. He turned his head and sniffled again. “Gege ow.”

Junjie lifted his head to see where Erik was staring. He’d been wearing a long-sleeved white shirt, but the right arm was now torn and soaked in blood. Not the prettiest thing for a child to see. Ming Yu moved to his right side to inspect his wound, tsking and making disapproving noises as she worked.

“It still has quite a ways to heal. You’re losing a lot of blood,” she chastised.

“I’ve survived worse. Once the rest of the clan gets here, I’ll clean up.” He smiled at Erik, whose tears had stopped. “The only thing that matters is that you’re all safe.”

The pain in his arm had faded to nothing, falling to the back of his mind as he watched Erik finally take in his surroundings. His wide eyes marveled at all the weapons they’d collected over the years. And this was a small portion of what they possessed. Most remained in their home in China. One day, Erik would be old enough to begin his training. He would learn the name and history of each of the weapons, be taught how to use them. Erik would carry on the proud history of the Zhang clan and the Sword of the Heavenly Garden sect.

But only if they killed Jiang Chong.

Tonight, he’d proved it was easy for him to slip onto their grounds. Moon’s spells had provided a warning, but just that their walls had been breached. They had no way of knowing where he went once he stepped onto the property.

Winter and Moon’s witch friends could provide them with a sense of security for a short period, but to be free and safe, he needed to kill Jiang Chong at last.