Lan Zhan was shocked.

Firstly, he hadn't heard her come up to their door, and he thought that was a terrible lapse in his protection of Wei Ying and their family. Secondly, wasn't she supposed to be dead?

"What should we do?" Wei Ying asked him, looking as lost as Lan Zhan felt.

"What do you want to do? We don't have to let her in, if you don't want to talk to her. This is your home." Lan Zhan tells him.

"Our home." Wei Ying corrects him.

Lan Zhan goes over to where Wei Ying is standing by the door and takes a look for himself.

Sure enough, it's Mrs Lan. Beyond recognising her, the dim hall lighting doesn't let him see much else, and she looks very much like she did on Friday night.

"Why is she here? I mean, the last time we saw her," Wei Ying makes the speech mark sign around the last two words, "she was being carried out in a body bag, on a gurney. And the cops said it was her, right?"

Lan Zhan nods, but he can smell something. He sniffs again, and then he takes a big whiff of himself, nosing at his own shoulder.

"She's a vampire!" He says, suddenly.

It's as if all the pieces of a puzzle have come together in a spectacular and unexpected way.

"How do you know?" Wei Ying asked him, also sniffing at his shoulder. "You still smell the same, like sandalwood incense. It's nice." He smiled.

"I have an underlying scent. Call it what you will, but it's the way one predator recognises another. And," he adds firmly, "I know."

"Okay, okay...sure." Wei Ying now feels a little nervous.

He looks back through the peephole; she's still standing there patiently.

Waiting.

"Oh my God!" Wei Ying suddenly exclaims, and pulls Lan Zhan away from the door. "I bet she heard everything we said!" He looks horrified.

"Mn. It is entirely possible." Lan Zhan doesn't look fazed at all. "We are merely stating facts," he agrees without a trace of guilt.

"What if she's hungry?" Wei Ying asks, wringing his hands.

That catches Lan Zhan's attention, and he growls.

"I don't want to!" Wei Ying quickly clarifies. "I promise you, I'm not thinking of feeding her." He makes a face.

It doesn't make Lan Zhan feel any differently; his frown only deepens.

"If you want to talk to her, we can let her in. I will protect Wei Ying." Lan Zhan promised.

"Well, maybe we should. What if any of the neighbours see her?" He turns back to the door intending to open it, but Lan Zhan gets there before him.

"Wait over there." He points to the kitchen. "We do not know what we're dealing with."

Wei Ying nodded and moved away. Then, another idea occurs to him, and he goes and fetches a rolling pin out of the cutlery drawer. He saw Lan Zhan smirk, before he opened the door. Even then, he stood in the gap created, preventing Mrs Lan from entering straight away.

They talk in low voices and Wei Ying is desperate to know what they're saying; he shifts from foot to foot, restless and anxious, waiting for something to go awry.

"Alright, you may come in. But, keep your distance." Lan Zhan warns her, the threat crystal clear in his voice.

He stands aside to let her pass, and once that door is closed, he's suddenly standing right in front of Wei Ying, facing her with his back towards his beloved.

Just in case.

Wei Ying lets his curiosity get the better of him, and he's standing on tiptoes to get a better look at her.

Mrs Lan is wearing an old dress, it's faded and looks well-worn. Her hair is held back by a plain hairpin, and she looks a little confused.

One thing that's definitely changed about her is that she no longer looks timid. In fact, if Wei Ying had to attribute any emotion towards her, it would be determination. She looks ready to throw hands.

His grip on the rolling pin tightens.

She goes straight to the solitary armchair and sits down expectantly. Her mouth is set in a straight line, however there is amusement in her brown eyes.

"You can come closer, I won't bite." She says, turning her head so she can look at them properly. She sounds as if she's finding this whole interaction funny.

Lan Zhan leads Wei Ying to the couch, but whereas before he had sat behind Wei Ying, this time, he's obviously shielding Wei Ying by sitting in front of him, his whole body turned towards her.

He's fully alert and tense, and Wei Ying has no doubts whatsoever about this meeting. One wrong move from Mrs Lan, and Lan Zhan is going to be the lone survivor of the impending blood bath.

Wei Ying tucks the rolling pin next to himself, within reach.

"I must say, I didn't think I would be able to come back." She says, quietly.

"You and me both, sister." Wei Ying mutters under his breath.

Both of his arms are wrapped tightly around Lan Zhan's waist, his chin resting on Lan Zhan's shoulder. He's beyond stressed wondering what she wants, and more importantly, how she's here.

"Start at the beginning." Lan Zhan commands her. "What happened to you after you left here on Friday night?"

Immediately, her eyes glaze over from being a clear brown to a foggy muddy shade. She begins to speak.

"I went back to our apartment. My husband was absent, so I tidied our home. My husband gets angry often." Her voice was toneless and without emotion. "He did not return until Sunday morning. He was already angry with me. He wanted breakfast, and I burned the pancakes by accident. He picked up a knife and ..."

Wei Ying tuned her out, already guessing what she was going to say. But he was more concerned with the change in her outward appearance and how she was responding to Lan Zhan's demand.

He quickly whipped out his phone and asked Google his theory, and when it was proved correct, he let out a low whistle.

"Mn?" Lan Zhan said, keeping his eyes trained on Mrs Lan, but turning his head ever so slightly in order to see Wei Ying better.

"Google says vampires can Compel. It means you just made her tell you everything you want to know." Wei Ying showed him his phone. "I didn't know you had that ability."

Neither did Lan Zhan. He quickly skim-read the article and he was shocked.

Had he really done that? Just by wanting something and letting it bleed through to his voice? How was that even possible?

"Think about the possibilities?!!" Wei Ying was excited.

Something about it made Lan Zhan immediately uncomfortable though.

He turned to Mrs Lan.

"You may stop." He said first, thinking about how to make her go back to normal. Was it really as simple as wanting something badly enough? No harm in trying, right? "Go back to normal. Be self cognitive." He commands her again.

Mrs Lan blinks three times and each time she does, her eyes become clearer and clearer, until they are back to their original warm brown shade.

"What happened?" She rubs circles at her temple, hunching in on herself.

"I must apologise, madam. I'm afraid I accidentally forced you to relive the past few days." Lan Zhan actually stood up and bowed.

"Ah...I see." Mrs Lan said, as her confusion dissipated.

Lan Zhan sat down again, though he didn't stop watching her.

Wei Ying didn't seem too bothered by this latest revelation. He assumed his earlier pose and stared back at Mrs Lan, his apparent interest all over his face.

"He can't have just stabbed you, right? He must have bitten you for this to happen." He gestured towards her body. "Sorry, I was distracted," he added sheepishly.

She pointed to her neck where the main jugular artery was.

"It was quite sudden. Even now, I'm getting used to it. But I can't shake the feeling that something is wrong." She spoke candidly.

"What do you mean?" Wei Ying asked her, his silver eyes alight with interest.

"I cannot explain it. Parts of me inside, it feels as if they are dying, and this is just a slow death. Don't feel bad," she said quickly, seeing the look on his face. "I've accepted my fate. Whatever time I have left, I wish to rectify my mistakes."

"Clarify. Please." Lan Zhan tried to tone down his sharpness. He didn't want to Compel her, even accidentally.

But he had to know what she meant. There was a fear in the back of his mind that whatever she was going through could come for him, and getting a better picture of her condition meant having some semblance of control.

"When I breathe in and out, I can taste the unwholesomeness within. Even now, I'm not functioning normally. I guess a part of my coming here was to get my own answers. I know you are fully turned; I can sense it. And just now, you showed your superiority." Her fingers toyed with the hem of her sleeve.

"Is it not because you have just been bitten? Could it be that your body is still adjusting to the change?" Lan Zhan asked her, thinking back to what it was like for himself at the beginning.

"Did you ever smell anything funny like that?" Wei Ying whispered close to his ear.

"No. That is why I am puzzled." Lan Zhan admitted. Turning to Mrs Lan, he asked her, "do you have any ideas on that? Why is it that even though we've both been bitten, our progress is different?"

"Actually, yes. Those first forty-eight hours, I had nothing but time to think." She laughs bitterly.

"Forty-eight hours?" Wei Ying asks sharply, his head snapping up. "Are you sure?"

She nods in response.

"But Lan Zhan...?" Wei Ying does a quick calculation in his head, and using his fingers. "You were only out of it for thirty-three hours."

"And after that, I couldn't move." Lan Zhan murmurs.

Has it only been a few weeks? And yet, so much has happened to them?

"See, I never experienced paralysis. But I think the freezer had something to do with that. My mind was perfectly okay when I woke up. I pushed myself out of the cooler and luckily the morgue was empty at the time. I picked up a lab coat and made my way over here. The door to our apartment wasn't locked and there were no policemen outside." She shrugged. "So I went in, had a shower, got dressed and came here."

"What about the cops outside?" Wei Ying asked her.

"There's a fire exit in the basement, next to the utility room. The cops are dumb." She laughs again, and this time it just sounds sad.

"The thing is," Wei Ying begins slowly, thinking as he speaks. "I've not heard anything in the news about your case. And ever since it happened, I've been checking online and social media, but there's zilch, nada. I'm just wondering if that's on purpose, or an oversight."

"We can keep an eye on that." Lan Zhan turns his face to tell him, before turning back to Mrs Lan. "You were saying you want to rectify your mistakes?" It was more of a prompt now.

Lan Zhan made a mental note to make sure he kept an eye on what words he chose to speak from now on, just to make sure he didn't accidentally make someone do something against their will.

"While I was alive, I tried my best to protect my baby." She's utterly serious now. "I wanted to thank you for looking after him." Her eyes are red-rimmed, and her voice sounds wet, even if she's not openly crying. The effort it takes to retain her composure is obvious.

"That's okay, you know. I have a soft spot for that little troublemaker." Wei Ying wipes at his own eyes. He's always hated how easily he can cry, how his own emotions are always so close to the surface. Anyone can tell what he's feeling at any time...look at Lan Zhan, he thinks. That man can smell how he's feeling now.

And just like magic, a white handkerchief appears out of nowhere.

Of course, Wei Ying makes good use out of it.

"I actually wanted to see JingYi. One last time." She tosses that out casually.

Lan Zhan's gaze sharpens.

"Your son is asleep right now." His tone is extremely curt.

"Oh, I didn't mean now. Maybe tomorrow?" She asks, with a little laugh.

"Why do you say 'one last time'?" Wei Ying asked her.

"There's a countdown going on inside me," she explained. "I have no idea of when or how, but it's an expiry date. Before that happens, I want to see JingYi one last time, while I look relatively normal for now."

"What do you think is going to happen to you? Physically?" Lan Zhan asked her.

"I don't know. It's not like there's a manual, or anything. Who knows? I could turn into a zombie, with limbs dropping off haphazardly." She's smiling at that. "That's why I came back here, to see JingYi of course, but also to ask you to fill in the blanks about what we are now."

"I don't get how you can be so...so...okay with this." Wei Ying says, exasperated with her attitude.

"I've already died once. It's not so bad. When that knife first went in, I thought, that's it. I'm done for. There's no coming back from that. But as it turns out, I did come back. So I'm going to do the thing I couldn't do while I was alive. I'm going to protect my son from my husband."

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

"How did you know Lan Zhan is a vampire?" Wei Ying asks, at last.

They've all been lost in their thoughts, and the peaceful quiet has allowed him to go back over everything they've learned from her.

"We can sense each other, as he said," she replied, confirming Wei Ying's suspicion that she could hear everything they said while standing on the other side of his front door.

"You also said you had a theory about our differences in the change. Please tell us." Lan Zhan made sure his tone was careful, and requesting, not commanding.

"I think the difference lies in who becomes our host. I don't know who yours was, but they had to be quite powerful. It would explain lots of things. Your ability to control me, for example, the lesser time needed to acclimatise to this." She glanced at his body. "But me? I was bitten by the weakest man to ever walk the earth."

"Why did you marry him? What made you want to?" Wei Ying whispers this, sure now that she will be able to hear him, no matter what volume he chooses.

"I was young and impressionable. And, I believed all his lies. That's the worst thing. Then we...no, I had JingYi and like a fool, I believed that things would be better between us. But they only got worse. He started drinking, couldn't hold down a job, and we were pretty much existing on my savings. Then a few weeks ago, he came home with thousands of dollars in cash. And bags of food and wine, insisting we should celebrate his good fortune. He kept showing me these little bottles of blue pills."

"Do you remember what they were? A name?" Wei Ying excitedly interrupted her.

"No. It began with an 'S', but I didn't get a good enough look at it. Then of course, he disappeared until Sunday. The rest you know." She shrugs helplessly.

"How do you plan on protecting your son?" Lan Zhan asked her.

"I saw my husband hanging around the zoo. Don't even ask me how I ended up there. But that's where I saw you. And your wonderful family. If there's anything good to come out of this situation, it's the fact that JingYi is safe now. Or he will be." She stood up to leave.

"Wait, are you saying Mr Lan was at the zoo? Is that why ... was he anywhere near us?" Wei Ying said, urgently.

Mrs Lan nodded. "Don't worry, I didn't let him get anywhere near you or the boys. Every time he tried, I threw stones at him. By the end, he was bleeding too much and attracting unwanted attention. He left, and I made my way back here. You may rest peacefully tonight, I will keep a watch for him."

Mrs Lan paused by the door.

"May I return tomorrow morning? I just want to see JingYi. That's all." She sniffed, looking at them.

Wei Ying was already nodding back.

"You can stay here, if you want to." He offered.

"We'll see."

The door opened and she was gone.

Lan Zhan went and fastened all the deadbolts and locked the door, activating the security system. He came back and sat next to Wei Ying, but it wasn't enough for either of them.

Wei Ying climbed into Lan Zhan's lap, melting against him.

"What a lot to think about." He yawned.

"I owe Wei Ying an apology." Lan Zhan said, suddenly.

Wei Ying sat up reluctantly. "What for?" He asked suspiciously.

Lan Zhan couldn't meet his eyes.

"Last night. I think I Compelled Wei Ying to sleep. I told you to, and then suddenly, you passed out." Lan Zhan looked miserable.

"Oh, you silly Fuddy Duddy!" Wei Ying kissed his cheek. "Not gonna lie, if you made me do, you know, certain things," he waggled his eyebrows, "then I'm not at all opposed. Besides, you didn't know when you did it, right?"

"That's not the point!" Lan Zhan protested, defending him.

"It IS the point." Wei Ying put a finger under his chin and made Lan Zhan look into his eyes. "Listen to me, Sweetheart. You didn't know, and actually, that was the best night's sleep I ever had. So it's a win-win situation. Now, let's not think about that any more." His fingers floated over the buttons of his shirt.

Lan Zhan stared back at him.

How was he so lucky?

Wei Ying was such a kind, generous man, so big-hearted that it humbled him.

"My love." Wei Ying shot him a naughty grin. "Do I have to take this off myself? Or will you help?"

Lan Zhan growled.

He grabbed the two tails of Wei Ying's shirt and pulled them apart. The buttons went flying, just before Lan Zhan pounced.