After actually having a nice dream, Yibo woke up in the morning before the alarm clock. He wanted to stretch as always, but instead he lay very still. Because his vampire friend lay with his head on Yibo's shoulder. And Yibo wanted to enjoy this moment a little bit longer.

He told himself that he would only do this to tease Zhan about it later. But if he was honest with himself, he liked the idea of a vampire with superhuman powers, of all things, leaning against his shoulder and sleeping there in blissful peace. That, in Yibo's eyes, was a sign that Zhan trusted him. And he liked that very much.

But since Yibo's throat was dry and felt scratchy, he had to cough and thus woke Zhan up. Smirking, Yibo immediately wanted to ask Zhan if he had slept well, but Zhan was acting kind of strange. He quickly got up and hurriedly started to get dressed. He also told Yibo not to look at him.

"What's wrong?" Yibo wanted to know confused.

"Nothing. I, I have to go down quickly and I'll be right back." Replied Zhan stuttering.

"Hey, turn around and tell me what's going on!"

"No! I don't want you to see me like this."

"See you like what? What's wrong?"

"I'm afraid if you see me like this, you won't like me anymore."

"Why? Have you turned?" Yibo asked. Zhan nodded his head. Yibo, who was curious anyway about what Zhan looks like when he transforms, sat up and crawled over to Zhan.

Yibo touched Zhan's shoulder and calmly asked him to turn around. At first Zhan was reluctant. But when Yibo promised to like him anyway, he slowly turned around to face him.

As anxious as Zhan was, Yibo assumed that Zhan might be terribly deformed in the face. But when Zhan turned his head toward him, he saw only two things that were different. His dark eyes were now red and instead of just his bunny teeth, which Yibo thought were kind of cute, he now had fangs. That's all the changes there were.

To get a closer look at Zhan's eyes, Yibo moved closer to Zhan's face. He put both hands on Zhan's cheeks and looked him directly in the eyes. Close to each other he looked at them. But they did not frighten him. He was rather fascinated by them. He even touched the fangs and tested with a finger if they were really as sharp as they looked.

Meanwhile, Zhan didn't move an inch and just sat there. Although he felt this strong thirst for blood and all his senses were sharpened at that moment because the wild beast inside him was craving for blood, he couldn't help but just sit there and let Yibo do it. And in doing so, his senses told him something that he found strange. "Yibo, why is your heart beating so restlessly?" He asked.

"My heart? You can hear it?" Asked Yibo, looking down at his chest.

"Mhm, loud and clear."

"I don't know why it sounds restless. But I know it's not because I'm afraid. I don't feel fear when I see you like this."

"Haha, no. Fear sounds different."

"Really? Well you must know. But I don't want to keep you any longer now either. Go downstairs and have a drink."

"Mmm, I will. I'll be right back."

"All right. I'll wait here for you and go ahead and change."

"Okay. See you in a bit." Replied Zhan and ran off like lightning.

As Zhan left the room, Yibo touched his own chest and wondered why his heart was so restless? "What's wrong with you?" He asked his heart. And he also wondered why he kept getting that warm feeling in his chest when he looked at Zhan. Even now, thinking only of him, he felt that ever-expanding warm feeling in his chest.

If Yibo had not spent his life hiding his feelings, his emotions from himself in particular, he might have known now what this meant. But so he has no choice but to wonder about himself and this new type of feeling.

After Zhan came back into the room and his blood thirst was quenched, he too got ready for his first real training with Yibo. But before they could finally get started, Yibo also had to eat breakfast. And this time Zhan's parents were also present in the dining room. There were even two of the homunculus sitting at the table and eating breakfast as well. So Yibo would feel more comfortable and not have to eat alone.

"Zhan, I would say from now on you need to drink one to two glasses of blood more a day so that your blood thirst doesn't surprise you again. True, you can control yourself well. But it is still safer." Said Xiao Liang, who had already experienced what happened in the morning after waking up.

"Two more glasses is too much dad. You know that's dangerous." Replied Zhan.

"What happens then?" Yibo wanted to know.

Zhan's mother took a sip of her warmed blood and explained, "If we drink too much blood, we can fall into a blood frenzy. If we drink too little, we can lose control of ourselves."

"I see. I guess it's not easy being a vampire." Said Yibo in response.

"That's right. I'm glad I didn't become a vampire until I was an adult. True, I had to learn to control my thirst for blood then, too. But my wife and son had it much harder." Said Xiao Liang.

"And why did they have it harder?" Yibo wanted to know.

"Because young vampires are still growing and aging, they need more blood. They get practically as much as they want. They're in a constant blood frenzy, which is why they're under constant control. And once they become adults, they have to learn to control the blood thirst. They then get no more than 3 glasses of blood a day, which leads to withdrawal symptoms. Just like drug addicts or alcoholics who no longer get their daily dose of intoxicants or alcohol. They go through terrible agony and this can last up to a year. A year in which they are only allowed to be in a secured room. And once they have finally made it, they have to constantly watch out that they don't fall into a bloodlust again. Because then they become practically uncontrollable. And the same is true if they drink too little blood. If thirst or hunger is not sufficiently quenched, the vampire in us takes control and seeks out its prey." Explained Xiao Liang.

"And once he has his prey, he goes into a blood frenzy, right?" Assumed Yibo.

"Yes. However, Zhan can control his inner vampire well. So even if he gets bloodthirsty, he doesn't lose control of himself right away." Replied Zhan's mother.

"Zhan is special in that aspect. You must know that he had already started to regulate the amount of blood per day at the age of 18. He gradually reduced the amount and had never suffered from the bad withdrawal because of that." Said Zhan's father.

"Very few people have succeeded in doing that. And because Zhan succeeded without help, and he's also incredibly smart, the Great Council is interested in him. They want him to eventually take the place of the top council member. But neither Zhan, nor we want that. He doesn't belong there." Said Zhan's mother.

Zhan, suspecting that this conversation would continue, took the opportunity to go to his animals. Anyway, he had nothing more to say about it. Yibo, however, remained seated at the table and wanted to continue the conversation. "Because Zhan is too weak?" Yibo finally asked.

"Absolutely not, no. Zhan is a playful, cheeky, emotional and loving man. He could never ruthlessly enforce the rules and laws of the Vampire Order. And even if Zhan believes that, he is anything but weak. And that he thinks of himself as being too weak is our fault." Explained Xiao Liang.

"Why?" Yibo wanted to know.

"Vampire children also have to go to school. They are sent to a special academy for that. But at that time when Zhan was sent there, there was a new director who changed everything there. He was not interested in the well-being of the young vampires. He was only interested in how he could exert his power on them. He introduced a new reward system. So he had three residential groups created. A modern luxurious annex. A simple annex and a shabby annex. He ordered that each child must pass an exam before admission, so that the director could decide which child would go in which group. 1 rich, 2 middle or 3 poor. Zhan was very smart even then and got into group 1, along with a few other children. He stayed away from them because they were mean to him because he was smaller than them and very shy. Group 2 also teased Zhan and turned everyone against him. They said he didn't deserve the place in group 1 because he was too small and too weak. Group 3 joined in the bullying. They had to clean in group 1 and took the opportunity to trash Zhan's room, steal from him and threaten him. The principal knew about all this and did not help Zhan. Instead, he supported the other children who harmed him. He said that if Zhan couldn't make it there, he wouldn't make it anywhere, ever. He was too small and too weak and had no place in an elite group. He put Zhan in group 3 despite his good grades. Zhan had to go cleaning in group 1 and 2 from then on, while the other kids made fun of him and attacked him all the time. We didn't know about any of this. But at some point, Zhan's cousin Yanli and his cousin Cheng also transferred to the academy and got to know all this. They told us what was going on there. We took Zhan out of the academy instead of looking for other solutions. And so we indirectly told him that we also think he is too small and too weak. And now it's more like he doesn't dare to fight because he thinks he's too weak." Explained Xiao Liang.

Yibo clenched his fists in anger. "They tortured Zhan? Just because he was small and shy?" He asked, slamming both fists on the table.

"Yes, unfortunately. And I think some of them are still threatening Zhan." Replied Zhan's mother.

If Yibo were a vampire, his eyes would surely have turned red with anger now. He stood up, firmly placed both hands on the table and looked first Zhan's mother and then his father in the eyes. "Let them come! I'll kill them all! I'll kill anyone who dares lay a hand on Zhan!" He said.

Zhan's parents looked at each other thoughtfully and both got up from their seats. They walked around the table to Yibo and wrapped him in his arms. "Thank you for caring so much about Zhan. But please be careful. We don't want anything happening to you."

Yibo who was standing in the middle of them, held in their arms, suddenly had tears in his eyes. He had never experienced such warmth as he did at that moment. And when Zhan came back from his animals and looked at the three of them questioningly, Yibo went to him, took him tightly in his arms and whispered, "No one will ever hurt you again! I promise you that, my ZhanZhan."

He couldn't see Zhan's red cheeks at that moment, but Yibo didn't need to in order to know that Zhan's red cheeks were surely glowing red at that moment. At that moment, the only thing that mattered to Yibo was that no one will ever take his friend Zhan away from him!

Zhan's parents looked at the two with a loving gaze. Xiao Liang whispered to his wife, "I don't think Yibo realizes yet that he loves our son."

"I think Yibo might be Zhan's destined partner. Let's leave the two of them alone now and get some sleep before we go on our journey. This time we don't have to worry about Zhan. Because this time he has a strong friend by his side who won't let anyone harm our son." Replied Zhan's mother in a whisper.

Yibo took Zhan's hand and told him that it was now time for training. He walked hand in hand with Zhan to the training room, vowing to train Zhan to be a good fighter. No matter how long it takes! He will not give up until Zhan realizes his strength and learns to use his strength.