04.45am Sunday

Lan Zhan can barely see, and he tries not to give himself away by looking up from under the hood of the dark robes he'swearing. He must rely solely on whom he is controlling now. He recalls Baoshan Sanren telling himself and Wei Ying that Wen Zhuliu was protected by Wen Rouhan, that they had elevated his status to adopted son, a source of contention between the other two Wen Siblings, Wen Chao and Wen Xu.

If that was the case, and he sincerely hoped it was, then he had to gamble on Wen Zhuliu having enough authority to walk him out of there, without any trouble.

But the proof was in the pudding, as Da Tuzi liked to tell him, every time they baked something together.

Would he ever get to see the old man again? Lan Zhan hoped so, because it was only now he was able to get past the resentment he'd felt earlier, when he thought Da Tuzi was hiding his true self from them.

But now, if faced with the choice between never getting to see him again, or forgiving him for the oath he'd made to his Benefactor, in keeping their arrangement a secret, then Lan Zhan would so pick the second option.

It wasn't fair that this, a literal life or death situation, would force him to realise the important things, and be able to let go of those that were not so.

And more than anything, he wished he had told Wei Ying one more time that he loved him.

It seemed like the only regret he had left.

"Take the rope so it looks like you're holding me prisoner. When we get outside, you are to tell the guards that you have orders to take me to the treasury. The HeartStone is there, correct?"

"Yes." Wen Zhuliu answers with that same glazed look in his dull chocolate eyes.

Lan Zhan can only hope this is enough, and if there are any cameras, then no one is looking.

"I'm ready, let's go. Take me to the HeartStone."

Wen Zhuliu takes the rope between his hands, hiding the loose ends, and opens the door.

Two guards in uniform, wearing caps and wielding guns stand to abrupt attention.

"Our orders are not to let anyone pass, Sir!" One of them says, saluting.

"Correct. But I have revised orders as follows: Senior Wen has ordered the prisoner to be escorted personally to the treasury."

Before the guard can say anything else, like ask for proof, an earth shattering crash explodes outside, making the ground shake under their feet. The guards look at one another in confusion, and the noise hides Lan Zhan's whisper to Wen Zhuliu.

"Well? Aren't you going to see what that was?" He barks, as per Lan Zhan's instructions.

That's all the encouragement they need because they salute and run towards the chaos outside.

"Hurry!" Lan Zhan tells Wen Zhuliu instantly.

This might be their only chance.

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

Outside, it doesn't take much to subdue the handful of security guards at the checkpoint by the Great Wall surrounding the Wen Laboratories. Four against a few hundred was the most unfair odds Wei Ying had ever seen, but he wasn't complaining.

He'd never seen people move so fast, spread out in an orderly chaos that could only be described as magical perfection.

A hand on his arm had him hanging back, looking at the vampires surging ahead, and now that they had broken in, the vampires let out the most bone-chilling screams and screeches, making his blood run cold.

They whooped and swooped, easily overpowering the remaining guards at the glass doors of the main building, and then the alarms went off.

Sirens blasted into the stillness of the night, the peace of the early morning shattering like fragile glass.

Immediately, as floodlights burst into life making the whole place light up as if it was the middle of the day, Wei Ying saw the vampires tackling the tall structures and disabling the lights, splitting up into separate teams of action.

One group set off flares and fireworks, dancing around the ever taller flames like witches of ancient times performing curse rituals, while others swarmed the main building.

That's when he realised that the two hundred odd vampires he'd seen on the outside of the compound, were only the tip of the iceberg. With the coloured lights from the fireworks throwing technicoloured shadows against the concrete walls, Wei Ying was able to see the vampires crawling up the outside of the main building, like swarming cockroaches with purpose and intent.

There were hundreds of them.

Endless bodies engulfing the lit windows in that tall building until they drowned out the light.

It was the last thing he saw before the greatest explosion of all rocked the ground they were standing on, and Wei Ying had to hold onto his grandmother just to remain upright.

"Grandmother!" He yells above the ear-splitting bangs, as she pulls him towards the underground parking building. "Won't the cops be alerted?"

She only answers him when they get under the shelter of the concrete structure.

"Here's where Wen Rouhan's own actions come back to bite him on his ass," she says, confidently. "All those police staff under his payroll? Experts at keeping everything hush hush? Not a soul will interfere. And that's great, because it leaves us free to do this."

And with that, she lands a flying kick to the door that previously, Wen Ning had opened for Wei Ying and Lan Zhan with a key card before.

The door blasts away from its hinges with a ricocheting crash as it bangs into the opposite wall with a booming crash and explodes into tiny fragments.

They are in.

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

Lan Zhan and Wen Zhuliu race down the corridor towards the treasury.

Armed guards speed past them on their way to face whatever is going on outside, and Lan Zhan is extremely grateful to whoever it is, by providing this well opportune distraction.

If that explosion hadn't happened then, they might have had to fight past not only those two guards, but all of these armed forces running past them now.

They turned left and ran straight down the long corridor, until they reached a tall painting.

Lan Zhan would have run past it, because he never would have thought it was hiding the door to where they needed to go.

It wasn't even locked. Not conventionally.

He watched Wen Zhuliu prick his thumb on a sharp needle next to a concealed fingerprint scanner, and then he pressed his bloody thumb against the screen. Once the painting (of some long dead ancestor) swung open, Wen Zhuliu grabbed a sanitary wipe and cleaned the screen before entering.

Lan Zhan followed him in, anxious and alert.

He didn't even know what they were supposed to be looking for, no idea what the HeartStone looked like.

Lucky for him, Wen Zhuliu did.

***********

A/N

Dear Beautiful Readers,

I know this is a shorter than normal update, but there's a really good reason. As you might have guessed, I was terrified of writing these next updates, but note the past tense of 'was', because I forced myself to confront my fears, and guess what? I came up with the best solution.

I'm no longer scared, and I know (mostly) what's got to happen, but that also means that the next update has to be longer, and therefore it will take longer to write. I'm devoting every spare moment to this, so I really hope you don't mind waiting a little bit more.

I figured that might be better than to throw cliffhangers at you!

Do you agree?

(Remember, this can change!)

I'm listening nonstop to Day6 right now, and I highly recommend for anyone wanting to write action scenes. Especially my favourite song, Day and Night.

Lots of chocolate 🍫 😋 😍 😜 and thanks for your patience!

Charlie.