Two Thousand Promises (Kings of Chaos #5)

15. Zhang Xiao Dan

Chapter 15

Zhang Xiao Dan

1453 CE

Luoyang, near Zhang manor

X iao Dan hung back to the deepest shadows of the plum orchard, one hand clutching his sword sheath while the other itched to wrap his fingers on the grip and pull it free. Instead, he rubbed the sweaty palm of his hand on his pants as he scanned the area. The moon was nothing more than a thin crescent, offering little light against the murky summer night.

He hesitated, straining to hear the approach of anyone, but there were just the usual nocturnal insects singing their songs.

What was he doing?

This was crazy.

For the past few months, he’d gotten this strange feeling that he was being watched and followed every time he had to make a trip into town. Not that he went all that often. And when he made most of his trips, he moved through the shadows and used bits of his glamour to change his appearance.

But no matter what he did or where he went, it felt as if there were always a set of eyes watching him.

And then tonight, he woke to a scrawled note in his room telling him to come to the orchard.

His first thought was that Huli had returned from his latest cultivation trip. He’d come back briefly about forty years ago to show off his sixth tail, but he’d made no mention of shifting into a human. Xiao Dan thought it best not to bring up the sore topic and enjoyed the brief time they had together.

Technically, Huli shouldn’t be in town so soon. Normally, a full century or more passed between their meetings.

Yet, who else would be so crazy as to sneak onto the Zhang clan estate and invade his chambers to leave a message? There were no other vampires in Luoyang. The last one who’d been so bold as to come into their territory left the same night and never returned. Not only had he been outnumbered, but the fool was barely past his first century and so full of himself. Xiang and Mei Lian had taken far too much pleasure in showing him the error of his ego.

This had to be Huli asking him to come to their special place.

So why the sword? He’d never taken a sword to meet with Huli. The huli jing was playful and mischievous, but he’d never threatened Xiao Dan or made him feel unsafe.

He’d brought the sword because he couldn’t forget those eyes following him. If it had been Huli watching him in town, he wouldn’t have waited months to make his presence known. During all his other visits, Huli had come to find him as soon as he returned to town, regardless of the time of day or how many of his clan mates he had to outfox to get to Xiao Dan.

Tonight’s meeting had him feeling unsettled.

To make matters worse, Chen had been watching him far too closely all evening. His shidi knew something was up, but he was too irrational about Huli. Xiao Dan refused to tell him when the fox was back, not wishing to hear him complaining about the untrustworthiness of the huli jing.

Yes, Huli had his quirky little ways, and he could be a selfish creature at times, but he was also fun and lived for the moment. He embraced all the joys he could find in life, even if it was just lying under the stars with his head in Xiao Dan’s lap, listening to his Xiao Dan tell him boring stories about what had happened since they’d last met. He wasn’t blind to who Huli was. In fact, he loved all those strange things that made Huli the wonderful creature he was.

Sneaking away from the estate might have taken him a couple of tries, but he felt confident that he’d gotten away before anyone noticed he was missing. He lingered under the oak, listening for any sign that someone was approaching from the house.

Confident there was only the wind and the crickets, he pushed off the tree trunk and wandered into the plum orchard. The limbs of the trees hung low with their bounty. He’d come out twice to fill a basket so Ming Yu could make her special plum sauce, but they wouldn’t do a full harvest for another few weeks. The sticky sweet scent of the fruit filled the air, reminding him of the plum wine Chen and Xiang had been dutifully making each and every year. They might not get drunk off the liquor like they used to, but they were making a healthy profit from it at the market because they could make so much and allow it to ferment for so long without the temptation of breaking into the bottles.

He paused in a larger break of the leaves to stare up at the sliver of moon watching over him. It felt so lonely up there. Clouds were covering big swaths of the black sky, blocking out the stars.

Something moved in the brush, rattling branches and crunching old leaves. Xiao Dan drew his sword with a soft swish of noise and turned toward the intruder, muscles tensed for the coming attack.

“Has your Huli been away so many years that you’ve forgotten about me?” Huli’s voice trickled out of the dark woods that edged the orchard and Xiao Dan’s heart skipped in his chest.

“Huli!” Xiao Dan returned his sword to its sheath and rushed to the deepest shadows, searching for that familiar flash of orange and white.

But it wasn’t his fox who greeted him.

A young man with long, soft brown hair and enormous amber-brown eyes stepped out from behind a tree. He was breathtakingly beautiful in his navy robes as they hugged his slender frame. Full, pouty lips turned down in a frown as Xiao Dan stopped and even rocked back half a step. His hand tightened on his sword, but he didn’t reach to draw it…yet.

“Who…”

“I knew it. You have forgotten your Huli.”

“What?” he gasped, his brain rebelling against the information that was coming in. The young man spoke in Huli’s voice, but he was no fox. He retreated two more steps, but could go no farther. His shoulders slammed into the trunk of a plum tree. The leaves rattled overhead, and two soft thuds hit the ground around him as he knocked plums loose.

Was this really the huli jing in human form?

It couldn’t be. This had to be a trick.

“Huli? But…I…”

“Do you not like this form, Zhang-ge?” The young man took another step closer, and Xiao Dan tensed as if he wanted to run. This was too much. Too confusing.

When Xiao Dan didn’t answer, he sighed and hung his head. “I worked so hard.”

Before Xiao Dan could untangle his tongue and say anything, the young man disappeared in a flash of white light and was replaced with a very familiar fox with seven glorious tails. His fox.

“Huli,” Xiao Dan released a deep breath of relief and sagged against the tree. His knees trembled and even his head felt light.

“So you prefer me as a fox.” Huli pouted. He flopped on the ground, his ears flat, and his tails were limp on the ground.

Xiao Dan hurried over to his poor huli jing and kneeled next to him. “I’m so sorry, Huli. I do like your human form. It’s just that I was so surprised. Even after I recognized your voice, I had trouble believing it was you.” He reached out and rubbed his fingers through his warm fur on the top of his head, pausing to scratch behind one ear. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see those lovely tails starting to twitch and move as if the fox couldn’t hold in his happiness.

“I was also a little nervous,” Xiao Dan admitted as Huli continued to pout.

The fox lifted his head at last, his ears perking up. “Nervous? About what?”

Xiao Dan offered a crooked smile and a small shrug of his shoulders. “I’ve had this feeling of being watched during my trips to town. If you’re going to stay for a while, please be extra careful. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

That got the fox’s attention. He popped up on his feet, all of his tails waving and flicking behind him. “I don’t have to be careful. The person watching you was me!”

For a second, Xiao Dan couldn’t speak at all. Of all the things he’d expected to fly out of Huli’s mouth, that was not one of them. “What? For the past three months? Why?”

Huli sat with his head held high. “I learned how to change into a human years ago, but it was only when I got my latest tail that I figured out how to hold the shift for long periods of time. For months, even! I could also make tweaks to my human appearance. Then I could come back to see my Gege.”

“Okay, but I don’t understand why you’ve been following me. Why didn’t you come see me as soon as you returned to town like you always do? We could have spent these months together.”

The fox’s ears and tails drooped a bit. “I know. It was so hard to stay away. Huli wanted to run to his Zhang-ge so many times, but this was important. When I followed you, I could see the people that Zhang-ge liked, the people you’re attracted to.”

A giant boulder sank into the pit of Xiao Dan’s stomach, and he very much wanted to run from the orchard. The idea of a huli jing tailoring one of his looks just to be attractive to him was a daunting and terrifying idea. It was flattering, in a way, but also frightening. What if he really fell in love with the human creation? What did that say about him?

It also drove home what Huli had been saying for years now—he wanted a real relationship with Xiao Dan. The kind of relationship that two humans enjoyed. It was as they were on the cusp of the moment that Xiao Dan realized how deeply he’d been in denial about the possibility. He was an idiot.

He should have seen this coming. Should have been prepared. There was no one in the world more determined. Huli had stated he wanted nine tails, and he already had seven. It wouldn’t be much longer now until he had the last two.

He’d said he wanted to shift into a human so he could win Xiao Dan. So not only had he learned how to shift, but he’d studied the appearances of people that Xiao Dan reacted to. Was it an immense shock that Huli had figured out that he was attracted to men? Of course, he knew. Nothing got by the fox.

“Am I going too fast for Gege?”

Xiao Dan narrowed his eyes on the huli jing with the seven tails. “Are you teasing me?”

“A little. It’s not often I can make you so nervous. It’s fun.”

“Behave, Huli.”

The fox let out a strange noise that wasn’t quite a bark but a high-pitched panting noise that he’d always taken for laughter. His stern expression melted away at the sight of his happy fox and his many tails flicking and dancing around behind him.

“Silly fox,” he muttered.

“Gege, if I shift again, will it scare you?”

Xiao Dan drew in a deep breath. He couldn’t deny Huli this. He’d worked too hard for this moment. It was only a matter of a minor adjustment. Regardless of what he saw on the outside, this was still the fox that he knew and had cared for over the past several centuries.

“It won’t scare me. I think I’m ready now.” He wanted to tell him to do it slowly, but he had a feeling things like this had one magical speed. Blink of an eye.

The bright light flashed and sitting across from him in the field was the young man with the long brown hair and amber eyes. He focused on those eyes first. The pupils were round like his own rather than a fox’s vertical slits, but other than that, those were the same eyes he’d stared into for centuries. Huli’s eyes.

With that one familiar point, he moved on to the cute nose and high cheekbones. The full lips were pulled wide into a smile that felt like a Huli smile. Even though he’d only ever seen a fox’s face, Huli had this way of laughing with his mouth held wide open and he could imagine the fox’s smile looking like this if he were human.

His hair was thick and lush. Some shorter strands were full of body, as if they wanted to curl.

“So?”

Xiao Dan swallowed hard as he pulled his gaze up to Huli’s face. “You…it…I don’t know what to say. This is amazing.”

“Do you like it?”

Again, he was tongue-tied. He cleared his throat twice before attempting to speak, and Huli still beat him to it.

“Because if you don’t like it, I can change it. I have other ideas. Or if you have someone in mind that you want me to?—”

Xiao Dan placed his hand over Huli’s running mouth to stop his words, but there was laughter shining in the eyes just above his hand.

“Huli, I appreciate your ability to change your appearance. It is an astounding bit of magic, and I am so proud of how hard you’ve worked to do this.”

The fox in human form grabbed his hand and forced it off his mouth. “But…?”

Xiao Dan pulled his hand free of Huli’s grip and pressed the tip of one finger to the center of the man’s chest. “But the Huli that I love is the soul inside this form. Honestly, yes, this face is beautiful, and I find this man attractive. However, I think part of the reason I find this body attractive is that he has your eyes. He also has a smile that I always thought you’d have if you were human. The important thing to me is whether you’re happy, especially if you plan to spend many hours walking around as a human. Have you seen your own reflection? Do you like this body?”

“I do!” he said enthusiastically and then sank on his heels. “Except…”

“Huli, I will love you no matter how you look. Be happy with yourself first.”

There was a tiny flare of white light over Huli’s face, but when it disappeared, he appeared the same. Maybe.

Xiao Dan squinted at the young man, trying to figure out what he changed, but he still couldn’t spot it. “What did you do?”

Huli pointed at his chin. “I made it a little rounder. I thought the other one was too pointy. It reminded me of Chen’s.”

A loud bark of laughter escaped Xiao Dan, and he rocked back. He began to shake his head, but stopped as soon as he noticed something else new. “You gave yourself a dimple, too!”

“I did. I thought it made me cuter.”

Xiao Dan succumbed to more laughter. After his initial fear of seeing Huli in human form, he was coming to realize that his fox was the same no matter what he looked like. His soul felt lighter being in his presence again.

“Gege, can I hug you?”

He hesitated for a heartbeat, but nodded, giving in to the notion that it was something he’d been wanting for a long time, too.

Huli threw himself at Xiao Dan. A surprised “ Oof! ” erupted from Xiao Dan as Huli hit his chest, nearly knocking him on his back. Slender arms wrapped behind his neck and a warm face nuzzled his throat the same way Huli the fox always did. With a tremble in his hands, Xiao Dan closed his arms on Huli’s slight but muscular frame, pulling him in tight. His heart skipped. There was a sudden tightness in his throat, but he ignored it as he closed his eyes and let his brain revel in the feeling that he was finally hugging his sweet fox. His closest friend for more than five hundred years.

“I’ve missed you, Huli,” he whispered into his hair.

Huli sniffled and squeezed him tighter, as if he were trying to merge himself with Xiao Dan. “I miss you every time I must leave. Your Huli hates it. So much. Never want to leave my vampire.”

Xiao Dan swallowed hard, angry at himself for letting those words slip out. He shouldn’t have said that and possibly thrown the fox off his chosen path. “I know, but getting your tails is so important to you. Just two more, right?”

Huli loosened his hold enough to gaze at Xiao Dan’s face. He wiped away a tear and then glared at it on the back of his hand before turning his attention to him. “Only two more. You’ll be so proud of me for being a jiuweihu.”

He tapped the tip of Huli’s nose. “I am proud of you now with seven tails. I was proud of you when you had two tails.”

The smile on Huli’s human face turned a little sly, and Xiao Dan’s heart tumbled in his chest, trying to break free. It wasn’t fair that he’d loved this fox for years because of his adorable nature, but now all that cuteness was stuffed in an attractive human package. How was he supposed to keep his distance?

“Are you proud enough to give me a kiss?”

He hated to admit it, but part of him had been looking forward to and dreading this moment for hundreds of years. Ever since Huli had first admitted that he’d wanted to shift into a human, so Xiao Dan would fall in love with him. He’d not wanted to face it, even as he’d fantasized about it.

“Huli,” he started, even though he had no idea what he was going to say.

“Please! I promise not to ask for another until I gain my last two tails. Just one tiny kiss as a reward.”

The fox could give all his sweet white lies, but Xiao Dan saw through them, and he didn’t care. He wanted this kiss, too. Even if it was the only one they’d ever share.

Xiao Dan shifted Huli in his lap so that he could cup one cheek with his left hand, his fingers sliding into that soft silky hair. Huli tipped his head to the side, settling more of the weight of his head into his hand while his eyes fell shut.

Leaning forward, Xiao Dan brushed his lips across Huli’s in the barest caress while he dragged in a deep breath, pulling Huli’s scent into his lungs to stay. Huli gave a tiny flinch and then tipped his head up, wordlessly begging for more. Xiao Dan kissed those soft lips again and again, adding more pressure with each pass, learning the gentle contours of his mouth, memorizing the hitch in Huli’s breathing as the tip of his tongue traced Huli’s full bottom lip.

Minutes passed, and the kiss continued in an endless barrage of exploring and learning all the little things. He wanted to take these memories out when they were parted and polish each one so that it shone brighter than the moon.

He only pulled away as his own lips grew sore and swollen. He opened his eyes to see that Huli’s face was flushed while his thick dark eyelashes lay like two exquisite fans on his cheeks. Those lips still begged for more kisses, but he needed to stop before he gave in to other desires.

Huli’s eyelids slowly lifted, and his eyes regained their focus. The soft smile turned into a hard glare. The handsome man pinched Xiao Dan’s chin and held him so that he couldn’t look away from that fierce stare.

“I will get my last two tails and become a jiuweihu. And when I am, you will be my mate. We will be together forever.”

And Xiao Dan was sure he’d never wanted anything more in all his life.