The Rose Queen has been kept all this time in a sacred private crypt by an ancient Roman priest, who surely knew what was best for us all.  And it was he who warned all humans never to reveal the secret of the dark queen's existence.

*****

That night Xiao Hua returned on his way from the museum to his apartment. The air was quite cold but strangely he felt a little hot. He raised the temperature of the air conditioning in the car and loosened his tie and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt. The breeze from the air conditioner froze his bare white hands. His shoulders were slightly hunched forward, looking anxious with his small mouth pouting. At first glance he looks evil, and at first glance he is cute. Those obsidian black eyes stared blankly.

Xiao Hua walked along a fairly empty street at night. He felt nothing but the vibration of the tires beneath him, and the heavy silence in his car. Even though the busyness of the day diverted many bad thoughts in him, but at night, when he was alone, he was again reminded of the damn dream that was bothering him, the dream he kept having, more often and more torturously lately, right before he  opened his eyes.

All he wanted was for everything to be like before. But it seems a little difficult. Hei Yanjing's presence and strange attitude made him almost go crazy with questions.

Xiao Hua took a deep breath, glanced briefly at the fuel dial, deciding that he needed to fill the gas tank. As far as he knew, there was a gas station about a hundred meters ahead, and he could see a glowing neon sign. He swung the wheel, turning the car to enter the station.  There was only one other vehicle there. Xiao Hua quickly took her turn. He lowered the steering window and asked for a full charge.  The officer nearby was a young man in his mid-twenties who looked still in good spirits at night.

Xiao Hua glanced at the officer's exposed neck. White and young.

The blood sure is delicious, yum, so delicious ...

A frightening thought echoed in his head. Giving birth to many vile ideas about how he should lure the young man out of the gas station.

No! No! Stop Xiao Hua!

He shouted to himself.

Then he imagined his fingers touching its neck, thrusting its sharp, deadly fangs into it.  Then fresh blood gushed out.

No! No more!

"Sir. Go ahead, it's done."

Another voice slipped in and overpowered the wild whispers in his head.  Xiao Hua gasped, turning quickly to the officer who was looking at him in astonishment.

"Are you okay?" he asked, seeing the young man in the car curled up over the steering wheel with his hands clutching the sides of his head.

Xiao Hua didn't answer. Heat rose from a spot in his stomach. Urging, spinning wildly, torturing him. Then there was a strange, urgent thirst. It felt scary, but familiar. Xiao Hua wanted to say that he was fine and would leave soon. But what came out of his mouth was a deep and terrifying growl.

At first he didn't believe it! Then he saw it was true, the eyes of the young man behind the wheel were sparkling strangely, his pupils seemed dilated and scary.

Good grief! He's like a monster!

Flashes of incident after incident that he had heard about, and which still gripped the city with unspeakable cruel terror, immediately invaded the memory of the pom officer. Corpse after corpse was found in a shriveled and dried condition, not only here, but in other cities. The perpetrator may be on the loose and there maybe more than one. Maybe the young man behind the wheel is one of them.

The officer staggered, then turned around and almost ran towards his motorbike. He forgot the transaction and bit his lip so hard he could taste his own blood.

He turned his head briefly, and saw the scary young man staring at him.  Oh God, he felt like he wanted to cry because he was afraid. He will start screaming. But then he heard something. The engine of the car the young man was driving was roaring loudly, it seemed like the driver was too excited, or maybe angry.

"No!" he hissed to himself, nervously climbing onto the motorbike and revving the engine.

The motorbike struggled under him and he almost lost his balance because he was nervous. But then he managed to roar from that place.  What he had been worried about had come true.  After a few seconds, the car chased him brutally.

Faster! Faster! A cursed creature is chasing me!

The officer shouted at his old vehicle.  Having lost his way, he turned onto a smaller street, trying to make it difficult for the driver of the car chasing behind him.

He couldn't believe his luck, and he didn't care what happened, he went in there.  But unfortunately, because he was too panicked, his motorbike went out of control and fell onto the shoulder of the road, grazing the narrow sidewalk.

"Arrggh!"

His screams echoed loudly over the roar of the engines. The motorbike swerved and dragged him for several meters until it finally stopped.

Ah, damn! This is the end of his life.

The poor man groaned, feeling the pain and heat gnawing at his entire leg as it rubbed against the road surface. With his remaining strength, he pushed the motorbike, then crawled and struggled to get up. This place is quite dark with big trees and houses. Everything looks haunted.

He did not hear the engines of other vehicles. Maybe the pursuer has already left. Too afraid to discover the ugly truth, he closed his eyes before finally turning his head in one direction where he saw the silhouette of a tall figure heading towards him.

Yes, someone's there. It was actually a pale creature that was staring at him like a wild animal. He walked a few more steps, crunching very loudly in the dead leaves. There was no light but something was moving there, and he knew it was coming. And as he stood there, heart pounding, scared, and too panicked to run. Instead, he stared at the young man with a look of extreme horror.

Xiao Hua continued to walk closer to the prey. Still struggling to gather the remains of self-awareness before his pure soul is drowned by the control of the dark entity that dominates him.  He opened his mouth, growling again.

"No, don't!"  groaned the potential prey.

One more step. Yes, the angel of death can be a beautiful young man who transforms into a monster for a moment.

The officer's body was shaking violently. Without power, it hurts too much to run. But he still fought for his life, and walked away stumbling.

Suddenly other sounds disturbed the tense moment.

Xiao Hua suddenly noticed that there were strange rustling sounds behind him. He spun around, looking around, feeling the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Was there anyone else around?

As if to answer his silent question, at that very moment, five people, dressed in black from head to toe, appeared from another street. They walked dramatically straight towards Xiao Hua. Five men. It's hard to say how old they are, probably late thirties. They all have well-built bodies. And their gazes were very cold. They stopped a certain distance away, then one of them stepped forward.

The pom officer had been away and hiding since the involvement of another party had saved him from an imminent danger. Frantically, he called the police emergency services, whispering in a stuttering voice.

"Hello, police? Help, there's chaos here. Cashmere road, not far from the gas station. Someone's trying to kill me."

Back on the dark street, Xiao Hua took a step back, feeling uneasy. A new feeling enveloped him, a feeling of fear but on the other hand there was anger. He didn't understand how, but he could feel the energy of these people. And that's really, really bad.

"So," said the approaching man, in a dark, cynical voice.
"This is the young man who was possessed by the Rose Queen."

"Who are you?" Xiao Hua was surprised to hear his own voice. It wasn't hers, it was like the voice of a witch in an annoying fantasy movie.

"My friends and I have come to save you from a terrible crime."

Xiao Hua's legs were stiff. He didn't have much room left to go. He was almost thrown against the wall. He didn't want to go anyway. He really wanted to beat these people up.

They all slowly approached him, each taking a step forward. Very dramatic.

A terrible crime?

He thought as hard as he could. He remembers roaming the streets, dark alleys, through the rain. Look for.  Who knows. A man on the street. He had looked at him. There was fear in his eyes. And then … there was another man, and another.

"You have to go back to your coffin," he said, "You have to take responsibility for all these crimes."

They took one step closer.

Just at that moment, police sirens echoed in the distance, and soon uniformed police rushed out of the car with their guns drawn.  There were three of them, watching vigilantly.  Then they saw those figures, and Xiao Hua who appeared lonely and pressed in front of five other men, quickly gave rise to misunderstandings.

"They are trying to attack the young man!" said an officer.

"Stop, you bastards!" another policeman shouted.

The five men turned and  stared at the police.

The police then walked towards them, completely unafraid.

"Don't shoot! We're not the criminals at all."  The one at the front, Lao Wei, shouted at the police.

He kept walking, and the cop was ready to shoot. But he was careful enough to just fire a warning shot into the air. The sound of the explosion was deafening.

"Stop there where you are!"

But amazingly, Lao Wei didn't even stop. He smiled wider, just stretched out his hand, and caught the policeman's hand who was still stunned by the aura radiating from him. They are shocked to see him stopping it so easily.  The police stared back in shock, mouths agape.

"How dare you attack the police!"  its form in Lao Wei.

Lao Wei grinned wider, reached out and grabbed the police rifle. He pulled it off of him, wound it and hit the policeman in the face. The policeman staggered backwards, then fell to the ground.

"This is not the business of ordinary humans like you," hissed Lao Wei, sarcastically.

Ordinary people? What did this rancid man mean, thought the policeman. He got up quickly and gave instructions to the others.  "Cripple them!"

Three policemen now attacked with punches and kicks. Lao Wei signaled with his hand to the other members for them to block the police.  Meanwhile he returned to Xiao Hua who was still standing where she was. Observe everything that happens before his eyes.

"This time you were caught red-handed!" he growled at Xiao Hua.

"Hi!"

In an instant, Lao Wei's growl turned into a scream of surprise when the figure of the young man they were surrounding suddenly moved as fast as a flash of light and charged towards him.

Lao Wei's body flew out and hit the people who were fighting with the police. And then those who were struck screamed in surprise. Lao Wei rolled on the ground, jerked his feet and shot towards Xiao Hua. His fast movements stunned the police and for a while they stopped the fight because they felt that something bigger was happening here.

"Step back!" one of the police shouted to his colleagues who were starting to get battered.

In front of them there was an amazing fight. Xiao Hua's figure was almost hard to see because it was flashing here and there trying to hurt his attackers. Two members of the team had been knocked hard to the ground with their shoulders injured by deep scratches and emitting thin blackish red smoke.

"Shoot him at once!"  shouted Lao Wei as he somersaulted backwards and let his legs drag several meters, kicking up the fine dust of the road.

Xiao Hua stood in the middle, ready to launch an attack. His eyeballs are now reddish. Something exploded inside him, heat searing through his stomach, back and chest. He growled loudly, causing a gust of wind and dry leaves to fly through the air.

For a brief split second, the hunters took out their pistols and aimed at Xiao Hua's figure. With his fast movements, the possibility that the shot will miss is quite large. Xiao Hua felt like his heart was going to explode and he was ready to jump, racing at the speed of the bullets shot by the hunters.

"Don't shoot!!"

A deep, firm voice boomed through the air. This was followed by an object being thrown at Xiao Hua which exploded and released a cloud of thick, gray smoke which rose around him. Then a black figure jumped up and down, as if floating, and ended up standing on the top of the roof of the house. Standing with his back to the reddish full moon in the Phoenix sky, the person's robes fluttered in the wind. His face was downcast looking down at the entire chaotic scene.

"Master!" Lao Wei exclaimed enthusiastically.

Xiao Hua groaned. The smoke blocked his breath, blurring his vision. This is definitely not ordinary smoke because the effect is quite painful. His legs wobbled and he fell to the ground with his knees first, before finally collapsing.

The black figure up there amazed him. He saw a flash of vision that disappeared quickly, obscured by bloodstains. He could lose control of himself, as well as lose his memory.  But feelings cannot be erased. Before he fell to the bottom of the darkness, Xiao Hua managed to recall something familiar about the black figure there.

"Hei Ye ..."

Then he fell unconscious.

[TBC]

***Mauritian Moonrise***
By Shenshen_88