Chapter Text
There was a distinctive scent of blood in the air. Qiao Chusheng tilted his head up and inhaled deeply, honing in on the source. The warm coppery tang meant it was freshly spilt. And that sweetness of benzhi was unmistakably human.
He tracked the smell to a dark alleyway filled with trash. And there, lying motionless beside a large dumpster, was a body.
Qiao Chusheng growled under his breath. Now that he was close, he could detect the underlying odour of a vampire—a werewolf’s greatest enemy. Feeding on and killing an innocent civilian within the Green Dragon pack’s territory was certainly a bold move. One that the filthy bloodsucker would pay for.
The victim was face down, wearing an expensive-looking Western suit, but the black hair gave away his ethnicity. Qiao Chusheng crouched beside him, scowling. From the multiple haphazard bite marks on the neck and the splatters of blood, he could tell that whoever was responsible was inexperienced. A vampire was bad enough. A power-tripping fledgling was a worst-case scenario. Their ravenous hunger for blood wouldn’t be satiated with one kill, that’s for sure.
With a gentle touch, Qiao Chusheng used a handkerchief and turned the person’s head just enough to see their face. It was a young man. Handsome even, if they weren’t a corpse.
Just as the chief inspector prepared to leave and call it in, a flicker of movement caught his attention. He froze as his gaze met another. Bright red irises glowed eerily, fully encompassing pinprick pupils. Not so dead afterall, then.
Qiao Chusheng pounced, digging his knee into the undead’s spine and snarling furiously as he held their arms down. He took back what he thought before. This was the true worst-case scenario, a once in a blue moon catastrophe. Turning a human into a vampire usually required a rather convoluted ritual, and most of the time it failed. For this person to be turned just from being fed on… such horrible luck.
Anger surged through him. Not only did the bloodsucker murder this man, but it also inadvertently cursed him into becoming the very monster that attacked and drained him of all his benzhi. To a werewolf like Qiao Chusheng, it was a fate worse than death.
The human was innocent. But now, he’d been turned into an undead creature. There was no doubt in Qiao Chusheng’s mind that he should kill him now. End his misery, like a horse with a broken leg. A merciful death.
Qiao Chusheng looked at the victim’s face again. From the harsh angle, a single beady eye glistened wide with fear. And yet, underneath that fear was resigned acceptance. Qiao Chusheng’s breath stuttered.
The man knew. Somehow, he knew exactly what was happening. The label of ‘innocent civilian’ was shattered. No civilian had knowledge of the supernatural. Is that why he’d been targeted? Why an unknown fledgling entered the territory of wolves to murder him? Assassinate him?
Who was this man?
The case couldn’t end here. If the vampires wanted him dead, then that was a good enough reason to keep him alive for now. Well, ‘alive’, relatively.
“Hey. What’s your name?” Qiao Chusheng asked gruffly.
The man blinked, clearly confused as to why the werewolf needed a name before biting his head off. There was a long silence before the stranger finally spoke in a subdued tone.
“Lu Yao.”
“Lu Yao,” Qiao Chusheng echoed, rolling the words around his tongue. “Alright, Lu Yao. Are you feeling bloodthirsty right now?” The question was rather blunt.
“...No. Tired.”
It seemed like he wasn’t lying about that. Lu Yao’s eyelids drooped, the initial fire in his eyes smouldered into a dull orange. It was abnormal. Fledglings were supposed to be wildly energetic when newly turned, eagerly craving for blood.
Cautiously, Qiao Chusheng slid off Lu Yao’s back and moved a hand to Lu Yao’s jaw, pressing his mouth open. Sharp fangs glimmered in the low light, but they were pristine white. No signs of having fed at all. Typically, newly turned fledglings first drink from their progenitor, but without that… Lu Yao should have been frothing mad with starvation by now.
It was like he’d skipped past all that and straight to the last stage of blood deprivation. With no source of life thrumming through his veins, Lu Yao’s body could crumble to dust.
“You need blood right now if you want to survive,” Qiao Chusheng stated firmly. He placed his finger on Lu Yao’s bottom lip. “Here, bite.”
It made him shiver, the idea of feeding a vampire his own blood. But it was either that or let Lu Yao perish.
But the man refused, ignoring the offer and curling into himself meekly. It reminded Qiao Chusheng of a lost child who had given up on finding home, and a pang of sadness knocked against his chest.
“Do you want to live?” Qiao Chusheng asked softly.
Lu Yao hugged himself tighter and avoided eye contact.
“...Not anymore.”
With a sigh, Qiao Chusheng retracted his hand and leaned back, staring blankly at the grimy brick wall.
Perhaps this was for the best. Even though the professional side of him yearned to investigate this case, forcing someone to drink blood after having been assaulted and nonconsensually turned was too cruel, even for him.
He remained kneeling as Lu Yao’s atrophying muscles twitched, as his organs shut down for the final time. The fledgling’s mouth fell open, crying soundlessly as the death throes worsened.
Qiao Chusheng tried to swallow, but his mouth was too dry. What sort of monster was he, watching someone die, right in front of him? He bowed his head and gritted his teeth. For the first time, a murdered victim was alive. Qiao Chusheng had a duty to serve and protect, even if they themselves didn’t want to be saved.
Without further hesitation, the werewolf bit down hard on the soft tissue between his thumb and forefinger. As the crimson liquid poured out, he shoved his palm into the fledgling’s open maw.
The reaction was immediate. Lu Yao’s eyes snapped open, eyes burning deep red as he flailed, fighting to push the intrusion out. But Qiao Chusheng kept an unbreakable grip on his chin, determined to see this choice through.
Lu Yao sobbed in despair even as his throat greedily gulped down the thick blood, dragging him back from the edge of oblivion.
The expression on his face pierced deep into Qiao Chusheng’s soul, but he didn’t regret it.
Even if Lu Yao despised him for eternity.