09.00 am Sunday

Once they were sure that it was daylight outside and the vampires that had been trying to invade the Lan compound were truly and utterly perished, because dead didn't mean quite the same thing regarding them, Uncle Qiren opened the thick metal doors of the panic room.

"Let us organise breakfast and tea first, and then we can either rest or talk, as you wish," he said to XiChen.

"Whatever you feel up to," XiChen replies, seeing for the first time, new wrinkles of worry on his Uncle's face.

As his children, and they were because Uncle Qiren was no less of a parent to himself and Lan WangJi, it was easy to overlook the struggles of their elder, because they were so strong both mentally and physically.

But after a long night such as they had all experienced together, XiChen could wait until their uncle had rested properly.

He and MingJue carried a child each, happy that A-Yuan and A-Yi had slept through the night, minimally disturbed as all children should be.

"I will rest after some tea," Uncle Qiren decides. "They should continue to sleep as much as they can, since they will ask about their parents as soon as they wake." He looked unhappy about that.

To while the hours away, XiChen had to tell him about where his other nephew was, and what had happened to them at the award ceremony. His uncle had looked angry at first, fast replaced by worry.

XiChen was cautious about saying anything more than necessary because they weren't alone, and yet their staff didn't seem surprised, not by what they were talking about, nor the gruesome scenes outside.

Thankfully, Cangse Sanren's wards had succeeded in keeping out unwanted intruders, and all the members of the Lan household were safe and secure.

Breakfast was served informally on the kitchen table, and the staff mysteriously disappeared, though XiChen would guess that since they took their duties seriously, they had gone outside to clean up the mess.

Uncle Qiren looked so much better after a few sips of his steaming cup of jasmine tea.

It was just the three of them now, quietly munching away on warm toast with melted butter, and muffins that Da Tuzi liked to keep on hand for emergencies.

"So, what would you like to know?" Uncle Qiren levels his gaze at his eldest nephew.

XiChen has to think about that.

"How did you find out about vampires, I think that's my first question."

"I guessed at it, first." Uncle Qiren stroked his whiskers, deep in thought. "Whenever I talked with Wei Changze, and Cangse Sanren, I always had the impression that they knew more than they were giving away, and sometimes they said the most cryptic things. And the strangest thing was that Da Tuzi knew what they meant, and I began to watch him. He never aged. That was my first clue."

"Did you ask him about that?" XiChen is incredulous about that.

Da Tuzi was a vampire?? Their butler? Who XiChen had known since he was a baby??

But Uncle Qiren tells him what he knows about that, that Da Tuzi was saved by a vampire, and that's how he had discovered that not all of them were bad.

"Did A-Xian's parents know that you knew?" XiChen asks him.

"They suspected, but it wasn't something we discussed openly. It didn't change how I felt about them, and they must have felt comfortable enough to keep coming back here. I was sorry to hear they passed." Uncle Qiren drains his cup, and stands up. "I must be feeling my age. I shall go and lie down now, and the children won't be scared if I'm there."

XiChen nods, still a little dazed after the overload of information.

Uncle Qiren was full of surprises, it seemed.

**********

Fuck it.

Wei Ying was tired of deliberating, weighing his options and putting off, what he now suspected was, what he was born to do.

Without a single thought about who would be affected by his emotions, he spread out feelings of love as strongly as he could, supplementing them with calmness, despite the chaos all around him. He noticed a few vampires faltering in their attacks, giving him strange looks, but he didn't hang around those thoughts.

He pulled out Chenqing and cleansed his mind to perfectly recall each note he had practised for hours prior to coming here tonight. He wants to concentrate, and so he closes his eyes to play better, channelling all of his thoughts and feelings of soothing tranquillity into each note that flows through his instrument.

Lan Zhan's sharp ears caught the melody and he turned to look at where the source of the music was coming from, and in the instant that everything stopped, he was frozen, staring at Wei Ying.

The HeartStone was glowing, or more specifically, the locket embedded in its centre was a bright red, resembling a real heart. Pulsating waves of energy flowed from its centre, and they became stronger the more Wei Ying played, getting a feel for his music.

Wei Ying only realised that something was different, when he noticed that all was silent around him.

He opened his eyes and looking around, he's shocked that he's the only one able to do that.

Everyone else is still, unable to move.

This is amazing...

And Wei Ying can't quite believe it.

He walks around each person, and when he gets to Lan Zhan, he finds himself poking those lovely squishable cheeks in wonder. And then he jolts, because he can feel irritation and this feeling isn't his.

So, it must be coming from Lan Zhan.

How interesting!

"Sorry, my love. I don't exactly know what I'm doing yet," he apologises with a grin, bolstered by the changed feelings he can understand now.

Lan Zhan is trying to encourage him.

Wei Ying wraps his arms around his body, hugging Lan Zhan tightly and he closes his eyes, wondering how to unfreeze him.

He had no idea what would happen when he began to play the musical score that was the final key to unlocking all of the HeartStone and its capabilities. That it had a blanket reaction on all of those around him, was a shock, but then was it really?

The HeartStone was supposed to be able to control all the dead, and you couldn't get more deader than a vampire, though Wei Ying remembered reading about Fierce Corpses in history books.

So when his locket first connected to the HeartStone, unlocking the first stage of control, it had pinpointed all the vampires closest to him, even the ones they were fighting against now. He'd ignored them because it was like a blob of energy rather than lit up dots, signifying individuals, maybe because there were so many of them that they had shown up like a single entity?

So what would happen if he was to concentrate on any individual? Like Lan Zhan, for example?

He sees the bright light that he's suddenly sure is Lan Zhan in his mind, becoming stronger, and Wei Ying concentrates on freeing him. He's not even sure how it happens, but then Lan Zhan is hugging him back like his life depended upon it.

"My love," Wei Ying breathes out, trying not to cry.

He can't believe it worked.

Those strong arms hold him so tenderly, hugging him as if he's the most precious thing to Lan Zhan.

"I knew Wei Ying could do it." The firm belief in his voice makes the tears flow faster, and Wei Ying isn't even sure why he's so emotional now.

"It is to be expected," Lan Zhan tells him. "You were concentrating on projecting your emotions so strongly, it's sure to have a rebound effect. If you can influence the feelings of everyone here, then it is so hard to believe that you can then feel whatever they're feeling too?"

"I guess you're right." Wei Ying breathes in and out deeply, calming himself. "But the question now is, what do we do with them?"

"You could lock them back in their cages." A voice pipes up from behind them, in the back of the room.

Wei Ying had forgotten about Wen Qing.

In fact, both Song Lan and Wen Zhuliu should be unaffected too.

"You think that'll work?" Wei Ying reluctantly lets go of his beloved, but his fingers tangle with Lan Zhan's, and he smiles when Lan Zhan clasps them together, holding on.

"Yes, of course." She throws him a withering look.

"I mean, won't Wen Rouhan be able to unlock the doors of wherever they were kept before? If we're assuming he did that, in the first place? I was thinking that if Mo XuanYu had access to everything, then that's probably what he was trying to warn us about." The last comment was more for Lan Zhan.

"There's an override button for emergencies. Wen Rouhan would have to physically get his butt there, to undo it," she explains, realising that she was presuming Wei Ying knew about it, when how could he?

It was an easy assumption to make, especially because Wei Ying was so capable anyway. Even if he was attempting to do something for the first time, he made it look so easy and effortless that it wasn't a stretch to believe that he had been controlling vampires all of his life.

"Okay...but I'm not even sure how to go about it." Wei Ying admitted, frowning with uncertainty.

"How about you talk us through it? We might be able to help." Wen Qing sounds friendlier now, kinder.

"Alright, you know when I started playing? I had no idea it would affect everyone. Like, every single person here. So, how do I separate the good people from the bad vampires? Well, I suppose they're not bad exactly, except they want to feed on us and we can't allow that," he hastily adds, glancing at Lan Zhan's face because he looks suddenly worried, as if Wei Ying was going to let them.

"When you see them in your head, what do they look like?" Wen Qing gets up to come closer. "Can you see any difference between them? Would you be able to pinpoint even the smallest of anomalies?"

"I can try," Wei Ying says eagerly, closing his eyes.

Lan Zhan doesn't have to say anything; squeezing their hands together is enough of a supportive gesture.

This time, when Wei Ying sees all the bright lights, he begins to examine each one, looking for distinctive features separating each one, because they can't all be the same, right?

RIGHT?

And the more he stares, he begins to see a difference.

It's in the actual colour of the lights. His grandmother is the brightest star in his mind, alongside Lan Zhan, and Wei Ying focuses on her now. He imagines singling her out and freeing her from the spell cast on all the rest by the HeartStone.

"Oh, thank the Universe!"

When he hears her confident voice out loud, Wei Ying opens his eyes and flings himself into her arms with a cry.

"Grandmother!"

She hugs him back just as fiercely, her arms wrapped all the way around him.

"It's alright to be confident," she tells him, whispering the words in a suspiciously wet voice. "You can do this."

"Mn, Wei Ying is amazing," Lan Zhan backs her up, a little smile on his lips.

"What if you asked the HeartStone for help? It's still red and pulsating, like it's trying to communicate with you," Baoshan Sanren points out.

Wei Ying leans away from her and lifts the HeartStone up so he can see it properly.

Instincts guide him to press his thumb against the now hot metal of the locket.

But no one is prepared for his eyes to roll back into his head as he passes out.

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

A/N

Dear Beautiful Readers,

Hiii?!!!

Did you miss me? I'm cackling like a goose...hang on, I think they honk. But anyway, just to get you guys in the mood, welcome to another cliffhanger! What do you think happened to Wei Ying?

Anyway, Happy Sunday!

I didn't have time to make any notes so this is just on the fly, and hopefully the next chapter will be much better! Hopefully tonight, otherwise definitely tomorrow morning.

Charlie