15.30 pm Sunday

For a few seconds, there is only silence as many eyes watch the severed head roll away.

"Are you alright?"

Wei Ying looks up at the urgency in his grandmother's voice.

"What? Yeah...I'm fine, just dandy, but, but what about you, grandmother?" Wei Ying snaps out of his reverie, grabbing her arms and checking out her wounds which had already disappeared.

There wasn't even a shadow left of the cut inflicted by Xue Yang.

"Remnants of your blood," Baoshan Sanren explains, at his astonishment. "Lucky I fed recently enough for me to recover faster. Besides, a cockroach like him couldn't harm me."

"But why were you worried about me?" Wei Ying's thumb traces over her neck one more time before he lets her go.

"Xue Yang tried to compel you...didn't you notice? I mean, he's dead now, so I guess it doesn't matter, but still. I hate the thought of anyone being able to control you like that."

"That's what I thought he was trying to do, so I didn't make eye contact." Wei Ying tells her happily.

"You did! I would swear on it!" Baoshan Sanren exclaimed. "I was wondering why he wasn't successful!"

"Could it be the Primary Exception?" Xiao XingChen says, coming forward after cleaning his sword on Xue Yang's clothes.

"What the hell is Primary Exception?" Wei Ying crosses his arms over his chest.

Lan Zhan wraps an arm around his waist and pulls him closer, finding any distance unbearable right now. He was finding out more and more about his own powers, the more he spent time with different vampires, but even he hadn't heard about this.

It was fascinating for him.

"It's a rare occurrence," his grandmother explains, fixing her intense gaze upon her grandchild. "It only happens when the person being compelled has already been bonded to someone else."

"You think that's happened to me?" Wei Ying taps his nose, thinking hard. "Is that why it didn't work?" And then he grabbed Lan Zhan's arm. "Oh my God!"

"Mn?"

Before Wei Ying can answer, Baoshan Sanren puts in her twopence.

"Usually the bond occurs when the compelled meets the one doing it, for the first time. But since they're almost always the first meal as well, it doesn't last long." Her voice becomes lower and lower and then she ends it, sheepishly. "Sorry," she mouths at them.

"But that's what I was saying!" Wei Ying carries on. "Lan Zhan! You saved me, even without trying."

"Explain." Lan Zhan is looking only at him, the focal point of all his concentration and Wei Ying shivers for another reason altogether.

It is a heady feeling, to have all of Lan Zhan's attention all to himself, like this.

"Remember that night, when you told me to sleep because you thought I needed it? And then you apologised when you realised what had happened, but I think we must have bonded then, you and me! However inadvertently, you were my first." He reaches up to kiss Lan Zhan's cheek, too aware of the many people watching them now and wanting to keep it clean. And then the naughty part of his brain made him add, "in more ways than one."

And in his head, Wei Ying was making a list of how he was going to show his fiance how grateful he was.

Lan Zhan is making cow eyes at him now, full of wonder.

"I would always want to protect Wei Ying. It was my first thought, when Wei Ying's blood started smelling bad - the fear." He explained quickly.

"You can smell how he feels?" Baoshan Sanren was most interested in that, and interrupted what was sure to turn into a full make-out session, if she hadn't intervened.

"Can't you?" Wei Ying asks her, also fascinated.

"Well, only the usual stuff, you know, what type of blood it is, etc, and there might be the odd spike of adrenaline because the donor is scared, but whatever A-Zhan can sense, it seems to be far more detailed and precise than the rest of us." Baoshan Sanren replies, patting them on their backs. "And we should make a move. Only one more floor to go, and we can, as exterminators, declare this property pest free."

Wei Ying looks around suddenly.

"Where's Doctor Afida?"

"Oh...um, so I might have reinstated her." Wen Qing says quickly, jumping in. "If my uncle is dead, along with the only other possible candidates, then we're going to have a reshuffle in the hierarchy. And I'm going to need all the help I can get. I asked her to go into the basement and start categorising the patients. We can begin medicating and treating as soon as Tuesday, if she makes a start now. She's putting together a team as we speak."

"Do you think, in your honest, medical opinion, that something can be done to help all those people?" Wei Ying asks her, his tone subdued and serious now.

He thinks about all those misled souls, tricked into giving up their lives in return for false promises of a better one. It seems too unfair, a tragedy really, that there would be no hope for them unless Wen Qing could make a difference.

"We can try," she says gently, covering his hand with her own.

Wei Ying sniffs, and then suddenly throws his arms around her tiny frame.

"Thank you, JieJie. You're the best."

"No need to thank me," she replies, embarrassed. "It is what I owe them anyway, since I wasn't in a position to help them before."

Wei Ying beams at her, his throat tight with feeling.

As long as Wen Qing was in charge, he had no doubts that she would do her best to look after all the patients that walked through the doors of the Wen Laboratories building.

But she wasn't the sole owner yet.

Wen Zhong.

One more person remained to finish off, before their job was done.

***************

CONTENT WARNING: MENTIONS OF BLOOD + GORE

Standing outside the last remaining door between them and the most dangerous person in the building, it was daunting for everyone.

This was the man, the vampire who held the most power, the oldest one with Baoshan Sanren in age and experience. The one who had killed her husband, or at least had a hand in the foul deed, and definitely planned and executed Wei Ying's parents.

And if they didn't finish him off today, then there was a chance that he was going to go after their children.

That could not be allowed, under any circumstances.

Going past these doors meant reinforcing their determination to see this through, to make sure they ended him and his reign of terror.

They had no idea what to expect either, as the encryption still persisted in engaging all of Mo XuanYu's resources as he faced his own battles trying to overcome it.

"There are enough of us to beat his ass." Baoshan Sanren says, looking around.

There were around twenty vampires from the Network with them, as well as the capable and skilled warriors, Song Lan and Xiao XingChen, A-Qing who had refused to step back from this final battle, and Lan Zhan, who was already growling low, and dangerous.

Wei Ying didn't dare touch him now, not when he was vibrating with rage, and he knew Lan Zhan was thinking about the danger Wen Zhong posed to JingYi and the as yet unknown threat to A-Yuan.

Lan Zhan was out for blood today.

"Do your best," Baoshan Sanren says, "but do not take unnecessary risks," she adds, glaring at Wei Ying.

Not one to back down, he beams at her instead. "The same goes for you, Gramps."

Her glare only intensifies.

The door opens easily, which is a surprise, but the next one does not, and even when Baoshan Sanren tries to kick it open, it doesn't yield.

They stare at this physical barrier wondering how to get past it.

"Isn't it just made out of wood?" Someone scoffs.

"Reinforced steel," Xiao XingChen says glumly.

Song Lan reaches for his hand in consolation.

There is a keypad on it, and just as Baoshan Sanren is contemplating what to do, someone pushes Wen Zhuliu forward.

"Can't he help us?" Another voice says, with no small amount of disdain.

"Do you know how to get inside?" She demands, looking up into his dark eyes.

"Yes."

"Using that? How?" She points at the keypad.

"Like this." He takes her words literally and presses his thumb against the green scanner, which was previously blank.

There's a click and then miraculously, the thick impenetrable door slides open giving them entry.

It's no less strange, this place that they all crowd into, their curiosity getting the better of them.

This room is brilliantly white, with sharp bright LED lights shining in every other tile. Floors, ceiling and walls are covered in shiny white tiles, blinding like sunlight on snow.

And there are drain holes in the centre of the room.

"Why does this remind me of a bathroom sink?" Baoshan Sanren says.

An ominous feeling spreads, disquieting their minds as they take in this bizarrely creepy place.

But just as she's about to stride across to the other door across from them, the room goes absolutely pitch black, and the sprinkler system activates, immediately drenching them in water. The deluge is fast and drowning, overcoming them quickly in the struggle to breathe while being blasted by this powerful force.

Wei Ying is gasping, listening to the sounds of people trying to stay upright, the slipping squelching noises of desperation and he knows he would have joined them if not for Lan Zhan holding him tightly against his strong frame.

"This is not water." Lan Zhan says suddenly.

The lights come back on, and it's a terrible sight.

Blood.

That's what it was, trying to drown them.

Wei Ying wants to be sick.

All of them are covered in it, this terrifying, vibrant colour that has drenched them from head to toe, soaking their clothes and shoes.

Red.

It is everywhere.

Dripping from them onto the red floor, painting the walls and the ground in a splashing vivid, macabre artwork, a gruesome, gory view.

"Ew." Wei Ying mutters under his breath, still trying to breathe properly and trying to get the coppery tang out of his mouth and nose.

Baoshan Sanren agrees, staring pitifully at her own dress, and fast coming to the realisation that she's going to have to chuck it. It is never going to recover from this.

Deep laughter rings out from the hidden speakers.

"Welcome." Wen Zhong says, addressing them.

"Come out and fight! Coward!" Baoshan Sanren snarls. She's had enough now.

"Oh, I intend to," he chuckles, his raspy voice making Lan Zhan's skin crawl.

Wei Ying starts shivering because the blood is getting cold, congealing in a gloopy, sticky mess all over everyone present, but the other vampires don't seem to be affected by the temperature.

"I just wanted you to know your disadvantage beforehand." He laughs once again, as if he's done something extraordinary.

"Open this door and you'll be the one finding out about disadvantages." Xiao XingChen growls, reaching for his sword.

"Oh, really?" The faceless voice turns mocking. "And how does it feel to be reunited with your friend, Xiao XingChen? Is it everything you hoped it would be? Shame it's not going to last for much longer, though."

"Shut up and stop hiding." Baoshan Sanren shouts, rage making her reach for the hidden gun in her sleeve.

"Oh, go ahead and shoot!" Wen Zhong says with barely concealed glee. "The ricochet will take out more people and I'll be thanking you in person, quite soon."

The chill that spreads this time is not because of their wet state. This time, it comes with the sure knowledge that Wen Zhong has been watching them, ever since they entered this space.

Possibly even from outside of the door.

Baoshan Sanren reluctantly returns the gun to its secret holster.

Their enemy is far too clever for them to be able to simply shoot him and end this.

Maybe if she turns the tables...

"There's a good girl," his patronising tone makes her bristle. "People should know when they're conquered."

"I'll fuckin show you who's conquered," she murmurs angrily.

"Such a spitfire." He laughs once more, a condescending noise grating on their nerves. "I always enjoyed experiments, finding the process quite therapeutic. My niece will agree, though her interests lay in the results." He sounds a little disappointed by that.

Wen Qing says nothing. She's looking down, ashamed of what she's been made to do up until now.

"What do you mean?" Baoshan Sanren asks him, suspiciously.

Dread fills her mind as it conjures up every possibility, every reason why they have been exposed to a literal bloodbath.

"I can see the gears working, but I'm afraid this one you'll never be able to work out unless I explain it to you. Perhaps you are not aware of this, but our adopted son is quite special."

All eyes turn towards the stationary Wen Zhuliu, standing in their midst.

"What's so great about him?" Baoshan Sanren mutters, clearly not impressed. She's never been one to take someone's word at face value.

But a cold fear grips Lan Zhan as his quick mind puts the clues together in a way that shouldn't make sense, but unfortunately, does.

"I can see that my son has worked it out. Wen Zhuliu possesses a unique quality in his blood. It renders all vampires back to their original selves, before they had the added advantage of super strength, fighting skills and survival instincts. It basically means that you all have been turned back to useless human beings for now. So of course, I'll come and fight you now." The hateful voice turns mocking.

Wei Ying turns to Lan Zhan and suddenly, nothing is making sense.

Wen Zhong referred to Wen Zhuliu as his adopted son, but just now he didn't use the same words.

"Wait a minute!" Wei Ying calls out, reaching to grip Lan Zhan's hand tightly. "What do you mean, your son? Who are you talking about?"