Upon their arrival in Italy, the first thing Lan Zhan and Youn did was to find a room in an inn near Vatican City. They were shocked at how much a tiny room cost that didn't even have a real bed and had a wooden floor that was completely invisible from the dust and dirt.

During his last visit to Italy, Lan Zhan had stayed in several inns. Small and large inns. New and old inns. But never had he stayed in an inn that was so run down and yet costing almost a fortune. Had it not been the only inn near the Vatican, they would have moved to another inn.

Since it was already after 6 PM when they moved into their room at the inn, it was too late to go to the Vatican City and look at the files. They had no choice but to wait another night. Youn took a bath and then lay on the and read a book. Lan Zhan went outside and looked at the surroundings.

As darkness settled over the place like a veil, Yibo wanted to go back to the inn. But when he turned around and wanted to go back, he felt something that touched him deep inside. He stopped and turned around himself once. However, he could not see anyone. Yet he sensed that there was someone there. "Is it you? Wei WuXian?"

After two or three seconds, he heard a soft giggle. "I'm calling myself Wei Ying today. I dropped my other name a few years ago." Replied Wei Ying and stepped out from the shadows of an apartment building.

Lan Zhan grabbed him and pushed him against a wall of the house. He pushed him against it and asked him angrily, "Where have you been all these years? Why have you come to me so late?"

"I was here. I had to leave the country and hide here. Because if he finds me, he will want to force me to stay with him at his side."

"Who, a lover?"

"Lover? Oh God no. My beloved Lan Zhan, let's not talk about him now."

"Beloved? Since when have I been your beloved? You made me wait eight years for you!"

"I'm sorry."

"Okay, that's all I wanted to hear." Said Lan Zhan. He pressed his body against Wei Ying's and kissed him passionately. Wei Ying wrapped his arms around him and immediately returned the kiss. Lan Zhan felt an animalistic passion awaken within him. His body responded to Wei Ying in a way he had never experienced before.

Even though he had never felt any fleshly desires and been intimate with anyone, he still knew exactly what his body was now demanding of him. And Wei Ying knew it too. "Not here where everyone can see us." Wei Ying murmured between kisses.

"See us? Can a human even see you?"

"Of course."

"Then why didn't Youn see or hear you then?"

"Because I can hide in the shadows."

"Now it's night. Everything is in the shadows of darkness."

"But here is the street and at any time a city guard might come by."

"Then let's go."

"And go where?"

"Anywhere."

"Well then." Replied Wei Ying. The next moment he pulled Lan Zhan with him into a very narrow alley and opened his coat. He put the coat around himself and Lan Zhan like a blanket. "Close your eyes Lan Zhan." And Lan Zhan closed his eyes.

When Lan Zhan opened his eyes again just a few seconds later, he couldn't believe what he saw. "My God where are we?" He asked, looking around with growing disbelief. "Are we inside a temple here? How did we get here?"

"Questions upon questions."

"Wei Ying, I'm serious. How did we get here? Can you teleport? And are we in a temple here?"

"What do you think?"

"We're in a temple, aren't we?"

"Yes."

"Where is this temple?"

"Guess."

"You want me to guess? Well, I see some frescoes that remind me a lot of the frescoes of the Egyptians."

"Okay, so what?"

"It could be a painting of a god. But I don't know which one."

"The ancient Egyptian god Apophis, also known as Apep(i), is the embodiment of dissolution, darkness and chaos (Isfet), as well as the great opponent of Maat, the daughter of the sun god Re. He is depicted as a giant snake or turtle. As you can see there, he was depicted as a giant snake. Apophis was believed to have lived in the Sea of Primordial Chaos since the beginning of time, existing before creation. His existence consists of an eternal cycle of attack and destruction."

"Wow, you are well informed. What else do you know about this god?"

"According to legend, the sun barque of Re was attacked every night during the journey through the underworld (Egyptian Duat) by the snake goddess. This had to be defeated every morning so that Re could continue his journey and thus the sun could rise. So Apophis is supposed to have hindered the journey of the barque with the coils of his gigantic snake body (sandbank of Apophis). Also, the snake god is said to have had the ability to hypnotize with its gaze the god Re and his entourage with the exception of the god Seth. Seth, however, who was standing in the bow of the barque and was able to resist the gaze of the snake, repulsed Apophis with his spear, thus enabling the sun to rise. In contradiction to this myth, however, Seth, the god of chaos and violence, among others, was identified in various texts with other evil-minded gods. Among them also with the snake god Apophis. This, however, occurred only in the late period, when, in contrast to the monstrosity of Apophis, the reputation of the god Seth as a member of the Egyptian family of gods had fallen widely."

*Source: Wikipedia

"And how do you know that Wei Ying? Did you do your own research or?"

"Or?"

"Or did you live at that time when the Egyptians still believed in this god?"

"Well this is a story for another day. Wouldn't it be boring if you already knew everything about me?"

"Well, not knowing definitely makes you more interesting. Even more mysterious."

"You know, the people who built this temple back then thought the emperor who lived here was the god of the night. They worshipped and feared him in equal measure. There were many rumors about him and his siblings who lived here with him. Mainly because, like his siblings, he never left the temple in the sunlight. For many years, people served the emperor and his siblings."

"Okay. Surely there's a but there, isn't it?"

"Mhm. Even though there were these rumors about the emperor and his siblings, people lived in peace with him. Even when a pharaoh had his temple built nearby one day, there were never any problems. Pharaoh's high priests even worshiped the emperor and his siblings. They called them gods and worshipped them as such. But then one day Pharaoh died and his son became Pharaoh. However, his son was insane and fell into his madness after a few years. He heard voices and believed the emperor and his siblings wanted to kill him. He forbade his high priests to continue worshipping the emperor and his siblings and appointed himself a god. He wanted his high priests to worship only him. One day when Pharaoh had just turned 37, in a fit of rage he killed his mother, claiming that he had seen the emperor and his siblings kill his mother. A few days later, when the deceased Pharaoh's second wife and her two sons were also found murdered, Pharaoh again claimed that it was the gods. He finally had a reason to attack the emperor and his siblings. He gathered his soldiers and sent them to destroy the temple of the supposed gods. The soldiers destroyed most of the temple when the sun was highest in the sky. They knew that the gods did not come out during the day and slept. And because the gods were asleep, they did not notice the insidious attack. Three of the gods died when large blocks of stone crushed their bodies. The emperor freed his youngest brother, who was locked in his bedchamber, and took him to another temple where he locked him up. Then he went off again and took revenge on Pharaoh and his people."

"I have heard the shortened version of this story before. Back when I was in Nubia. Do you also know what happened to the emperor and his youngest brother?"

"Well, that's a story for another time."

"Too bad. Just as it was getting so interesting."

"Well, unfortunately, we have to go back already. Time passes differently here in this temple. In Italy, the sun will rise at any moment."

"What really?"

"Mhm. So come on. Let's put off the storytelling and what we were going to do until next time."

"Alright." Replied Lan Zhan. After all, he had no choice anyway. And besides, his visit to the Vatican was coming up.

The same way and just as quickly as they had gotten to that temple, they had gotten back to Italy, to that small tight alley. And as Wei Ying had said, the sun was just about to rise. Lan Zhan stepped out of the alley, turned to Wei Ying, but he had disappeared. "Why am I not surprised now?" He muttered softly, then made his way to the inn.

When he got to the inn, Youn was already awake and sitting in the guest room eating breakfast. "Had a good night?" He asked Lan Zhan as he sat down at the table.

"Good? Yes, something like that. First of all, it was very short."

"Judging by the look on your face, something good must have happened."

"That's right. I met him again. I met Wei WuXian. Whereas now he calls himself Wei Ying."

"So, are you going to see him again?"

"I'm sure I will."

"What did you do last night?"

"You mean besides kissing each other?"

"What, you kissed?"

"Not for the first time."

"Okay. And what else?"

"He teleported us to a temple in Egypt within seconds."

"Huh?"

"I don't know how that worked. But from one moment to the next, we were there. And he told me about an emperor and his siblings who were worshipped as gods."

"Ah yes I remember. You told me about that once too."

"Mhm. Except that he knew a few more details."

"How?"

"He wouldn't tell me. Not yet. He thinks he'd get too boring for me too fast if I knew everything about him already."

"Might even be true. You get bored quickly once you've got a thing figured out."

"But it would be different with him. He's different."

"I get it. You're in love with him."

"You think so?"

"Sure I do. It's funny, you're practically ancient, but you don't know anything about love."

"That's not my fault. I just never felt that way about anyone."

"Uncle Rouhan has a theory that vampires have a certain mate that is predestined for them. But finding that mate is not easy."

"He has many theories and not even half turned out to be true."

"And yet you saw this Wei WuXian just once and immediately fell in love with him."

"Wei Ying!"

"Yes well, Wei Ying it is. But you fell in love with him."

"I guess you're right. But now we should stop chatting and have breakfast. Afterwards, we'll go to the Vatican."

"Alright Lan Zhan." Youn replied with a grin. Youn slid a flask across the table to Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan opened it and took a sip of the blood that was in it. And by the time Youn had finished his unappetizing looking breakfast, the contents of the flask had been drunk empty as well.

Before the two of them left for the Vatican, Lan Zhan went upstairs to the room once more. He washed his face and hands and pocketed two pencils and a notebook. Just in case he found any important clues in the records he wanted to make a note of. Besides, as a supposed historian, he should look like one.

As Lan Zhan and Youn stepped out of the inn, they witnessed two city guards just dragging a black man across the street with them. The man yelled in Nubian that he was innocent. "I didn't kill that girl! Her own father did when he found out his daughter loved me!" He shouted.

"Wait!" Shouted Lan Zhan to the city guards. They paused and Lan Zhan asked them what he was accused of. The city guards explained that the prisoner was a slave and was accused of raping and killing the daughter of an English businessman. Lan Zhan wanted to question the black-skinned man, but the city guards would not allow it. However, they gave him a chance to come to them later and talk to the prisoner.

Lan Zhan said he would definitely come and then continued on his way to the Vatican with Youn.