Embrace That Vampire - Chapter 8

The bedside lamp flickered on, and Lu Que saw the appearance of the person pinned beneath him.

His face was deathly pale and his pupils were a bloody crimson; even though they were currently filled with terror, they remained so vividly beautiful they were nearly enchanting.

The lamplight swept across half of his cheek, hiding the other half in the shadows, yet it could not hide the pair of porcelain-white fangs in his mouth.

Lu Que’s grip on his wrists tightened. His expression shifted several times, yet he didn’t show much surprise—it seemed he had long anticipated this.

“Xiao Yun.”

He called his name with a frown.

Perhaps because he hadn’t decided what to say, he fell silent again after calling out.

Pei Yun, however, jerked awake as if from a dream. What little color remained in his face drained away instantly.

With his chest heaving violently, he pushed Lu Que away with all his might, jumped off the bed, and stumbled toward the door.

Just as his hand grasped the handle, his acute hearing captured movement from outside.

It was the sound of Pei Siyue and Wen Xingchuan talking, along with the sound of unhurried footsteps passing through the hallway.

His dad was outside; he couldn’t go out.

Lu Que stood by the bed, watching Pei Yun’s figure freeze stiffly behind the door.

After a long while, Pei Yun’s hands trembled as he released the handle. He crouched down, closed his eyes, and buried his face in his arms. An aura of despair radiated silently from him as the center.

It was over.

He had turned into a vampire and had the audacity to try and bite a professor from the IUPR—and most crucially, he hadn’t even landed the bite.

The room was carpeted, making the footsteps inside even lighter than those outside. They approached from a distance and stopped in front of Pei Yun.

Lu Que blocked the lamplight, leaving Pei Yun shivering in his shadow.

Sensing someone crouching down in front of him, Pei Yun’s breath hitched, and his fear intensified.

He knew his Small Uncle’s temperament only too well.

Calm, clear-headed, and never swayed by subjective emotions; he maintained an absolutely objective and just attitude in the face of clear right and wrong.

In a matter like this, there was almost zero possibility of him being granted any leniency.

Looking at all vampires, there was likely no one as lucky as him—finding his own blood donor the moment he awakened.

Similarly, there was likely no one as unlucky as him—not getting a single “full meal” after awakening before being hauled off to the IUPR, destined never to see tomorrow’s sun.

Wait.

Blood modification was so terrifying that it was highly likely he wouldn’t just miss tomorrow’s sun; he might not see the sun for years to come…

“It’s cold at night. Why didn’t you put on a jacket before coming out?”

Lu Que suddenly spoke, his voice very light, interrupting Pei Yun’s panicky thoughts that were like an ant on a hot griddle.

“You saw the new blood analyzer in the lab this afternoon. What did you think of it?”

“Was it larger than you originally imagined?”

Pei Yun’s currently fragile attention gradually shifted along with the man’s slow, steady tone.

He slowly raised his head to look at Lu Que and heard him ask again: “Do you remember the approximate dimensions of the analyzer? Can you show me?”

The analyzer’s… dimensions?

The image of the analyzer he’d seen during the day involuntarily surfaced in Pei Yun’s mind. After a long moment, he gestured a distance with both hands in a bit of a daze.

Unexpectedly, the moment he opened his arms, he was pulled into a hug by the other person.

Before he could realize he’d been tricked, he saw Lu Que tilt his head slightly, exposing the side of his neck to him.

“Why run? I didn’t say I wouldn’t let you bite.”

Pei Yun blinked mechanically.

He deconstructed Lu Que’s sentence in his mind and reassembled it. When he finally understood the meaning, his eyes widened in disbelief in the darkness, doubting his own ears.

“Small Uncle.”

His Adam’s apple rolled once. Facing the massive temptation, he struggled to maintain his last shred of clarity: “You…”

“Didn’t you say you felt hungry the moment you smelled it?”

Lu Que brought up the words Pei Yun had said in the car that afternoon. “Are you not hungry anymore?”

Hungry. Of course he was hungry.

He was nearly driven mad by hunger.

Pei Yun opened his mouth to say something, but his brain had already made the decision for him.

He forgot what he originally wanted to say. In his vision, there was only this patch of cold, pale skin right in front of him. It looked very… biteable.

As a sharp pain flared, Lu Que’s brows furrowed slightly.

With the boy in his arms clinging to his neck, he could feel the loss of blood, hear the sound of greedy swallowing, and feel the boy’s continued shivering.

He patted Pei Yun’s spine twice with his palm, then closed his eyes and tightened his arms, holding him even closer.

Pei Yun woke up in his own room the next morning.

As his memories of the previous night returned, he sat in bed clutching his quilt, questioning the reality of his existence.

How should he put it?

It was like he’d spent the whole night gnawing on “monk’s meat,” only to wake up in the morning and find his mouth was still as bland as a ghost’s.

He touched the corners of his mouth, seriously contemplating the truth of the events.

Did I really turn into a vampire?

Did I really sneak into my Small Uncle’s room in the middle of the night to steal a bite?

Was I really caught red-handed?

Did my Small Uncle… really let me bite him voluntarily?

Was it real or fake? Why does it feel like a dream?

“Xiao Yun, are you awake?”

Two knocks sounded on the door. Wen Xingchuan was calling him.

“Getting up now,” Pei Yun said, his voice a bit hoarse.

“Then hurry down; breakfast is ready.”

“Oh, okay.”

As the footsteps faded, Pei Yun slapped his head, jumped out of bed, and washed up as fast as possible. Going downstairs, he found everyone already there.

Ms. Pei was editing her first social media post of the morning. His dad was helping her spread jam on her toast. Lu Que sat alone on the other side with a glass of milk in front of him, looking down and messaging someone.

Pei Yun lingered before sitting down, stealing several glances at Lu Que before trying to call out: “Small Uncle?”

“Mhm?” Lu Que lifted his eyelids to look at him.

“Is… is the milk you’re drinking hot or cold?”

Likely a bit speechless, Lu Que withdrew his gaze from the boy’s face without any expression. “Hot.”

Pei Yun gave an “oh,” picked up his own glass, and took a sip. It really was hot.

There seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary; everything was the same as usual. He didn’t see any bite marks on his Small Uncle’s neck, either.

So, everything last night… was it really just a dream?

“Oh right, Xiao Yun, I have something to tell you.”

Pei Siyue finally sent out her meticulously crafted post and looked up at Pei Yun. “When you go to school this week, move into your Small Uncle’s place.”

Pei Yun was stunned. “Why? I’m doing fine living at school.”

“How is it ‘fine’?” Pei Siyue said. “Living at school is convenient, but you don’t know how to take care of yourself. You don’t even eat your meals day after day. I’ll only feel at ease if you move out and have someone watching over you.”

Pei Yun’s eyes widened instantly. “You guys found out?! But… but that fainting spell really was an accident, just once! I promise it won’t happen again!”

He hurriedly finished his explanation, stole a glance at Lu Que, and muttered, “Small Uncle, why did you flip on me? Didn’t we agree not to tell my parents?”

Lu Que: “I didn’t tell them.”

“You even fainted?!” Pei Siyue’s voice suddenly rose. “When was this? Why didn’t anyone tell me or your father?!”

Pei Yun was dumbfounded.

Shit, did I just play myself?

For the next twenty minutes, Pei Yun struggled to explain that the very accidental fainting spell was just ordinary hypoglycemia, and the cause was just a very ordinary lack of appetite.

After finally escaping the scene and returning to his room, Pei Yun immediately sent a message to Lu Que.

Beating Up Little Monsters: 【Small Uncle, I’d better not go to your place and cause trouble. My agreement just now was purely a stall tactic. As long as you don’t tell and I don’t tell, my mom won’t find out if I actually moved or not, right?】

【There will be surprise inspections.】

Beating Up Little Monsters: 【Then I’ll just go to your place when she inspects. Keeping up appearances for a day or two is very simple. It’s better than staying at your place all the time and troubling you, right?】

Beating Up Little Monsters: 【Teary_eyes.jpg】

【No trouble.】

【Your current situation is not suitable for living at school.】

Beating Up Little Monsters: 【Huh?】

【The school has a curfew. The doors are locked at midnight. You wouldn’t be able to get out.】

…But why would he need to go out at midnight?

Pei Yun scratched the back of his head. Just as he was about to type, he saw Lu Que’s status change to “typing,” and soon another message arrived:

【If you get hungry again in the middle of the night, there will be no room of mine for you to sneak into.】

Beating Up Little Monsters: