14. Huli
Chapter 14
Huli
H uli frowned at the big brown truck that rumbled along the driveway and stopped in the main circle near the stairs. It was the middle of the afternoon, and all the vampires except for Xiang were asleep. This was when his mate was the most vulnerable, and intruders on the Zhang property were not welcome.
“It’s a delivery van,” Xiang stated as he stepped around Huli to pull open the front door and step outside. An icy breeze swept into the house, but Huli didn’t move from his spot in the hallway, blocking any unknown people from entering.
The situation went from bad to horrible the second a smaller blue van pulled down the driveway and parked behind the brown van.
Kai stood beside Huli, his hands on his hips and his narrowed eyes locked on Xiang as he accepted a stack of four medium-sized boxes from the driver of the brown truck. “It’s nothing to worry about. The vampires and mates receive packages regularly. These vans appear at least once a week, if not more often.”
“Yes, but Min is still out there, causing trouble. How do we know she won’t use this as a distraction or other way to sneak inside?”
The right corner of Kai’s mouth lifted. “You huli jing might be powerful, but I can still sense the moment you’re close. She hasn’t stepped foot onto the property. I don’t sense her anywhere near us.”
Huli grunted. Apparently the first time Min had entered the property, Kai had mistaken her for Huli because all he’d been able to pick up was that she was a huli jing. He’d more recently reassured Huli that he could tell the difference between them a little better.
If Kai said she wasn’t near, he was a bit comforted, but he wouldn’t relax until both strangers had gotten back into their vans and driven out the gate.
“Why don’t you use your magic to kill her?” Huli inquired. “Then we wouldn’t have to worry about her at all.”
“Xiao Dan has asked me not to.”
For the first time since the gates opened, Huli jerked his gaze away from the vans to stare openmouthed at the dragon beside him. “What? He did?”
Kai made a noise of agreement. “My regular interaction with you has made it easier for me to tell the difference between you and Min. However, Xiao Dan fears an accident. I believe he is hoping to settle this dispute with Min without taking her life. He stressed to me that huli jing are rare in the world and it would be terrible to destroy such a rare creature if it wasn’t necessary.”
Huli kept his huff silent as he returned his attention to Xiang and the delivery people. If Xiao Dan were aware of the number of humans Min had killed for her amusement, he might feel differently about sparing her life. However, he was a big supporter of not using the dragon’s magic if there was even the slightest chance he could accidentally slaughter the wrong fox.
“Hey, Grumpy Tails!” Xiang shouted, capturing Huli’s attention. “If you don’t want people here during the day, tell your boyfriend to stop placing so many orders.” Xiang dropped the four boxes he’d been carrying onto the porch and turned to the driver of the blue van to accept three more boxes and two packages wrapped in large, white plastic bags.
Huli stood frozen for a second, struggling to unpack everything Xiang had just shot at him. He was not a Grumpy Tails, but he loved hearing Xiang refer to Xiao Dan as his boyfriend. And why was Xiao Dan placing so many orders?
A low snicker from Kai broke through his muddled thoughts and got his feet moving. He stepped outside to find that all the packages Xiang had set on the porch were addressed to Xiao Dan. With some difficulty, he picked up the four, while Kai moved to assist Xiang with the other set.
As they returned to the house, both of the delivery trucks trundled down the driveway and disappeared out the gate. Huli hesitated at the door, allowing Kai and Xiang to go in first while he watched the gate completely close. Yes, Min could jump the wall with incredible ease, but the gate gave him a sense of security. He’d waited too long to have his Xiao Dan. Nothing was going to take him from Huli now.
“I don’t get what he’s doing,” Xiang muttered as he placed all the boxes to the side of the foyer, out of the main footpath. “We’re going home soon. What could he have needed? Won’t he just have to ship all of this to China?”
“I will move most of the clan’s belongings with my magic when we return home,” Kai said, brushing a light kiss to Xiang’s temple. “Shixiong was considerate enough to ask me about these orders prior to making them, and I told him it was fine with me. A few extra items won’t make a big difference.”
Xiang grinned at his mate as he grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him in closer for a proper kiss. “You better be careful with your generosity. I saw Junjie and Leo eyeballing a clubhouse for Erik that would fit in the back garden. That kid has a ton of toys, and they are going to keep adding to it if you let them.”
Kai wrinkled his nose and made a clicking noise with his tongue. “I saw the one they’re looking at, and it’s not nearly as big as it needs to be for Erik, his uncles, and his aunties. I promised I would build a proper treehouse for Erik upon our return to China. Something permanent and not plastic.”
“Gods, that kid is so spoiled,” Xiang moaned as he pulled Kai toward the door again.
“ Pfft …you’re jealous you didn’t think of it first.”
“Maybe I want to help design it.” Xiang turned his attention to Huli as they passed him. “Can you take the boxes to Xiao Dan’s room? We’re going to do a patrol of the grounds now that the deliveries have been made.”
If Kai could sense anyone near the property and when they sneaked over the wall, was it necessary for the couple to conduct a patrol?
Or were they slipping off to do some things that Huli didn’t want to contemplate because one half of the couple was Xiang?
Huli shuddered and turned his attention to the boxes stacked in the foyer. That was a safer thought. What had Xiao Dan been ordering recently? Since discovering that bath time was now a new kind of fun time two nights ago, he’d noticed Xiao Dan playing with his phone more often and smiling to himself. He’d thought the vampire had been sending silly messages to his clan mates. Could he order things with that tiny computer?
Still inspecting those thoughts, Huli picked up some of the boxes and ambled down the hallway to Xiao Dan’s room. It was getting near the time of day he usually woke up. The sun was setting much earlier now, and the vampires were enjoying the longer hours they could be active.
He eased the door open enough to stick his head inside and found Xiao Dan sitting on the side of the bed while he pulled on a pair of soft sleep pants. His tousled hair and his sleepy eyes made him look so warm and cuddly. It was one of Huli favorite parts of the day because Xiao Dan’s brain wasn’t fully awake and he was so much easier to cuddle when he hadn’t started thinking about the rest of his clan or the long list of things he needed to do that day.
“Good evening, Gege,” Huli greeted in a low voice.
“There you are, Huli.” Xiao Dan’s voice was still rough from sleep, sending more delicious tingles through Huli’s body. Best voice in the world. “I wasn’t expecting to wake up and find you missing. Were you hungry?”
“No, I heard the gates open, and I went to investigate.” He pushed the door the rest of the way open and walked in with the boxes in his arms. “You received many orders.”
“Oh!” Xiao Dan blinked at the boxes that Huli set on the floor in front of him. “I forgot that stuff was scheduled to arrive today.”
“There’s more.” Huli zoomed out to the foyer and picked up the rest of the bags and boxes. He carried them to Xiao Dan’s room. When he walked in, the vampire had turned on a floor lamp and pulled on a T-shirt, which was disappointing. Huli had been enjoying staring at his bare chest and wide shoulders. At least he was still barefoot. Xiao Dan even had sexy feet.
“What did you order, Zhang-ge?” He set the rest of the delivered items on the floor and waggled his eyebrows at the vampire before wrapping him in a tight hug. “Presents for your Huli?” Not that he was expecting any gift from Xiao Dan. He’d already received the best gift of all—the vampire’s undying love. What else could he possibly ask for?
“Actually, all of this is for you.”
Huli jerked back and gazed up at the vampire, his mouth hanging open. “What?”
Xiao Dan chuckled and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I bought this stuff for you. Open it. I hope you like it.”
For a couple of heartbeats, Huli could only stand there gawking at all the boxes and bags, his brain unable to process what Xiao Dan was saying. The vampire had given him gifts of food and even his precious jade pendant in the past, but never this many things at once. He couldn’t even guess what they were.
A squeal of excitement escaped him as he flopped onto the floor and began tearing into the boxes and through all the protective plastic. Yet, with each box he opened, the more his excitement sank like stones in the pit of his stomach.
Xiao Dan had bought him clothes. Lots of clothes. And undergarments, toiletries, and other personal sundries. It wasn’t hard to tell that all the items were extremely well made and quite expensive. Some were even direct copies of what Xiao Dan owned, but with minor variations that made them different.
After the last box was opened, Huli sat in the middle of the mess, a large lump blocking his throat and his eyes burning with unshed tears. Did Xiao Dan not love him at all any longer? What had he done to deserve this? How had he upset him or insulted him?
“Huli?” Xiao Dan said to break the extended stretch of silence. “Do you not like any of it?”
“No!” he shouted louder than he’d meant to, but the tightness in his throat was making it hard to speak. “I hate it. Send it all back. I don’t want any of this!”
“Oh,” Xiao Dan whispered. “I’m sorry. I thought…” His words broke off and he swallowed hard. “I’ll return it all. Don’t worry.”
Before Huli could ask Xiao Dan why he was pushing him away, the vampire wordlessly rose and hurried out of the room.
Huli clenched his teeth and glared at the stack of clothes and pretty brush he’d received. The urge to shred these things rose in his chest, but he pushed it down. Xiao Dan had spent a lot of his money on these gifts, and Huli would not waste Xiao Dan’s money. The vampire could send these things away, and the stores would refund his money.
“So…you’ve had your first fight.”
The lazy drawl pulled Huli’s gaze to the open doorway. Yichen leaned against the frame with a dark look in his eye. Yichen had always been tolerant of Huli, but he didn’t appear very tolerant right now.
“I don’t know. Maybe. I guess.” Yichen’s eyebrows rose higher and higher up his forehead as Huli spoke until the fox threw up his hands. “I don’t know what I did to make Gege hate me.”
“Hate you?” Yichen repeated. “Didn’t he order these things for you?”
“Yes!”
Yichen shook his head as he pushed off the wall and strolled into the room. He stepped over the flotsam that covered the floor and inspected the different new things that were tossed here and there.
“He got you clothes?” A surprised noise escaped him as he poked into a box. “And some very nice soaps. Those are his favorites.” Yichen straightened and stared at Huli. “I think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding. Why do you believe he hates you?”
“Because this is his way of telling me he doesn’t want me wearing his clothes and using his shampoo. If I have my own things, I won’t have to use his. He doesn’t love me!”
Yichen closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “If I didn’t have to deal with this same logic from Rei, I’d say you were being insane on purpose.”
Huli frowned at the vampire, but a new, niggling feeling was growing in his chest that was decidedly uncomfortable. Had he overreacted? Was this not what Xiao Dan was trying to tell him? It would be very bad if he was wrong.
“I’m not insane…on purpose,” Huli declared in something of a pout. He was confused.
“Xiao Dan is sitting in the dark in the green parlor, looking like his heart has shattered.”
Huli gasped and jumped to his feet, ready to race straight to his poor suffering vampire, regardless of the fact that he was the reason Xiao Dan was suffering.
Yichen moved a step faster and jumped in front of Huli, blocking his path. “Pay attention, Huli. This is an important lesson in relationships.”
“I don’t have time for your lessons. Zhang-ge needs me.”
With a roll of his eyes, Yichen placed a hand on Huli’s shoulder and gave him a shake. “I’m trying to save you from making this situation worse, as well as future misunderstandings.”
Oh . That might actually be a good idea.
“Calmly go into the parlor, sit next to him, and ask him to tell you why he bought all those things. Listen to his answer. And I mean really listen to him . Afterward, tell him how you feel about those gifts. Okay?”
That seemed too easy. Of course, Huli’s first instinct was to charge into the room, leap into Xiao Dan’s arms, and blanket him in apologies, but Yichen’s idea might be good too.
“You…you’ve been doing this relationship thing for a long time with that elf, right?” Huli inquired.
“Decades. I’ve made most of the big mistakes. Let me save you from a few of them.”
That was an excellent idea.
He nodded. “Thank you. I will go talk to Xiao Dan.”
Yichen released his shoulder and stepped out of the way. “Good luck.”
Huli didn’t run, but it was a brisk walk through the house and down the corridors to the right parlor, where he found Xiao Dan as Yichen had described. The room was dark, with only some thin light slipping in through the open doorway. Xiao Dan sat on a cushion before a low table, but there was neither tea nor a book in front of him, which was his preferred way to start the evening.
It took every ounce of Huli’s restraint not to throw himself at Xiao Dan. He walked into the room and sat next to the vampire with the slumped shoulders.
“Gege?”
“Huli?” Xiao Dan raised his head and flashed him a tiny smile. “I’m so sorry?—”
The fox reached out and took one of Xiao Dan’s hands in his, squeezing his long, cold fingers. “Gege, will you please tell me why you ordered those things for me?”
Xiao Dan stared at him for a second and then dropped his gaze to the table. One of those strong shoulders lifted in a halfhearted shrug. “I wanted you to be comfortable. To feel like you belonged here with me.”
Huli risked a small kiss to the top of Xiao Dan’s hand. “I belong wherever you are. And I am a fox. I’ve spent most of my existence sleeping in a burrow in the ground.”
“True.” Xiao Dan drew in a shaky breath and released it slowly. “I think I also liked the idea of opening my bureau and seeing your clothes folded next to mine. I wanted your clothes hanging beside mine in the closet. Your toiletries positioned next to mine on the bathroom counter. The times you were away cultivating and gaining your nine tails, I never knew when you would return. Decades passed between our meetings. Sometimes, I was afraid that you’d never return. That you’d find someone more interesting than me and wouldn’t come back. But if I see your things next to mine, I feel better. I know you’ll return to me.”
Huli’s heart was shattered to hear Xiao Dan’s words. He released his hand and cupped his cheeks, turning his head so that the vampire had to meet his eyes. “Since meeting you, my every waking moment has been about how to be as close to you as possible. How I can be worthy of you. If I could have been happy as a simple huli jing resting at your feet, I would never have left to cultivate. There is no one more interesting. No one is more kind or loving in all this world. I want to spend every day and night at your side. Nothing is going to separate us again. Even if I don’t have a single scrap of clothing, I will still be here with you.”
Xiao Dan huffed out a broken laugh. He blinked and two fat tears rolled down his cheeks. “You must think I am silly.”
“You are my silly vampire, and I wouldn’t change a thing about you.” He swooped in for a kiss that was a little salty from their tears of relief, but sweet from their shared laughter.
Huli pulled away and rested his forehead on Xiao Dan’s. “But will you still love me when you learn how silly your fox is?”
“How silly?”
Huli cleared his throat and sat on his heels so he could see Xiao Dan’s eyes. “I thought you bought those things for me because you didn’t want me wearing your clothes and using your shampoo. I thought…you didn’t love your Huli any longer.” He might have dropped his voice to a whisper for that last part, but Xiao Dan still heard him.
The vampire wrapped his arms around Huli and pulled him into his lap. “I will never stop loving you. If you wish to wear my clothes and use my soaps, I am fine with it. I love seeing you in my pajamas and smelling like me. I just thought you might like some things of your own.”
“We are both very silly,” Huli said as he soaked in the affection. There was no better place in all the world than being in Xiao Dan’s arms.
He had a point, though. It might be nice to be settled in a home and have some things that he didn’t have to conjure up using magic. His only real possession was the yupei, and he had it hidden behind stacks of protective magic, so no one could ever find it.
Plus, Xiao Dan had picked out and paid for all the things that he’d given to Huli. Even if they weren’t Xiao Dan’s clothes, Xiao Dan had chosen them for Huli.
“Gege?”
“ Hmm? ”
“I think I have changed my mind. Can we keep all the pretty things that you’ve ordered for me?”
Xiao Dan threw his head back and laughed, his arms squeezing Huli so tightly. Huli took this answer to mean yes.