“Our house is filling up.” Wei Caihong noted. Nikola was next to him and looking at the ground which was filled with groaning people who all had the same bluish skin.

“You have to play your part. I showed you how to examine them. Go ahead and do it.” The only room in the house which didn’t have sick people in it was their bedroom. And, well, the corridor in front of it. Nikola didn’t want anyone to see the blood drinking going on in this house. The new magistrate had come, ordered Wei Caihong to heal everyone, and went back to his palace to hide. He held a fan to his nose all the while as if that would protect him. Wei Caihong had been livid and prone to stubbornness. Like now.

“I don’t want to touch them. I don’t need to do so to know they are sick.”

Nikola turned around and embraced Wei Caihong. He leaned in and kissed his lips. This was the only way to make the noble cooperate. It was almost as if he didn’t care if all of these people would die. He broke apart from the kiss gasping for breath after a while. Wei Caihong was smirking down at him, hands holding his waist and refusing to let him go.

“I’m still not touching them. But thank you for the kiss.” Wei Caihong watched in satisfaction as Nikola scrunched his nose adorably. What did the Emerald Emperor want of him? He had been asleep for a hundred years but Wei Caihong had lived through three such outbreaks. He knew that the doctors who tried to help died first. Then the gravediggers. Everyone who touched the sick died and Wei Caihong didn’t like his chances even with his newfound immortality.

“What do you want to help, you stubborn mule?” Said Nikola and Wei Caihong leaned in closer, ready to capture his lover’s lips again and not carrying that everyone was looking at him with despair.

“This could mean my death. Instead of wasting time with me why don’t you actually do something yourself? Before someone dies?”

Nikola got himself out of the man’s arms. He had expected to have sex demanded of him and he would have obliged. But it seemed that the vampire was genuinely afraid.

“At least keep making them tea. And they need fresh air and coolness. Lower the temperature in the room and make sure that everyone sees you doing it. They’ll believe you can heal them if you show them a bit of magic.”

Wei Caihong’s smirk deepened and he made a motion with his hands like he wanted Nikola back inside of them. Nikola huffed and pressed himself to his lover, allowing him another kiss.

“I can follow your orders as long as they are not too dangerous in exchange for kisses.” Said Wei Caihong and he let go of Nikola. He begun to chant and a breeze entered the room. A woman gripped Nikola’s foot and he looked down to see it was Mei Ying.

“Is he really healing us?” She asked, eyes searching but unseeing. Nikola made a mental note that the sickness brought blindness. Something to do with him gauging out his own eye, perhaps?

“Much magic hast to be used. It may take days…”

“It feels like he is merely cooling down the room. Everyone says good things about you, Nikola of Troy, but he may be lying.”

This woman was smart. Nikola knelt down next to her and held her hand.

“How long have you been like this?”

He needed to learn all about the symptoms if he had any hope for a counter enchantment.

“A day. Don’t you have the Emerald Emperor’s sickness in Troy?” She sounded like she didn’t believed that even as she said it. Nikola nodded and then realized she couldn’t see him.

“This is the first time I see this sickness. What are the changes. Apart from your skin and your eyesight?”

Mei Ying smiled and gripped his hand harder.

“I feel like all my bones are broken. Being moved here was agony.”

Just like all his bones must have been when he fell. Why were all these people living through his ritualistic sacrifice?

“What else?” He prompted.

“I am bleeding out. From many wounds all over my body. Small droplets but I can still feel it. That is how everyone dies from this sickness. The blood loss gets everyone.” Nikola looked up at Wei Caihong and motioned for him to kneel down with him and Mei Ying.

“They need more blood. You can give them more and you wouldn’t even need to touch them. Can you do this for me?”

Wei Caihong’s fingers hovered over Mei Ying’s body as if he wanted to check her for wounds but then he folded them to his side.

“I can. But when all this is all over you owe me a night of lovemaking.”

Mei Ying coughed and glared, but it was in the wrong direction.

“You horrible man! You pig! We are dying here and yet you refuse to examine us! You refuse to give us comfort! And yet you still can think of this?” Then to Nikola she said. “You deserve better than him.”

Nikola chuckled at the insulted look Wei Caihong was sending Mei Ying and patted her hand.

“Thank you for the kind words. I need to go make some more tea. It will calm your nerves once you drink it. It’s an old Trojan recipe.”

Blood dripped from the woman’s mouth and Nikola gripped Wei Caihong’s hand and placed it on top of the woman’s chest so that he could stabilize her organs. The blood stopped and Mei Ying’s eyes closed. She huffed a sigh of relief and then the man right next to her moaned in pain.

Wei Caihong was watching at his hand in panic but Nikola was already moving him towards the next patient.

“We don’t have time to argue. How long does it take for someone to die from a high fall?”

“An hour, two at most.” Said Wei Caihong as he was trying to tug his hand out.

“That’s how the sickness works. But instead of for an hour it takes longer because in the ritual I didn’t die! But a normal human can’t hold through this much pain. After we stabilize them you are to cool the room, make tea and replenish their blood. And even Azazel won’t be able to help you if you try to weasel out of it!”

They made the rounds around the entire house, Wei Caihong as pale as a ghost starring at his hand all the while.

“You doomed me.” He moaned when they were finally in their bedroom and the door was locked securely.

“Quit whining. Rest for an hour and then go back out there. Now I need to think. I will need to weave healing spells into this new enchantment. Let’s see. Blood replenishing and something for broken bones. And the internal damage! Darn it all I was always bad at internal damage! How tall is the tallest building in this village?”

Wei Caihong regarded him as if he had lost his mind.

“You want to leap down again?” He whispered but Nikola knew he wanted to scream instead. Nikola went and sat on the bed and Wei Caihong was immediately next to him.

“We can’t do it in the village, now can we? No, I will need to leap from a mountain. But the air currents could carry me away from a painted circle!”

Wei Caihong cupped Nikola’s face and forced him to look at him.

“This is madness! You are not doing this!”

“I have to! I must fall and then remain conscious and…oh. I’ll have to gauge out my eye again.” He didn’t remember the pain from the fall but he remembered the pain from his eye. But he would still do it. These people didn’t deserve to suffer for his botched up ritual.

“You did what?” Wei Caihong distanced himself from him and stared at him in horror. Then his fingers brushed over Nikola’s eyes and Nikola giggled brokenly.

“Magic demands sacrifice! You have lived here longer. Do you know of any tall mountains from which I can leap off of?”

“What if you cause another flood? Wake another volcano?” There was urgency in Wei Caihong’s voice and it made Nikola stop in his tracks. Sometimes magic tended to repeat itself even if the ritual circle was different. He sat down, remembering that he had caused two earthquakes one after the other on the Balkan peninsula once by accident by falling on a sword. He won the war with the locals pretty quickly after that. Their towns were destroyed and they feared a third earthquake. But he had meant to return the fertility to a desert with the ritual instead. Had used a different ritual circle, in fact, but to the magic that didn’t matter.

Running his hands over his face he fell backwards on the bed. He could always attempt to heal one of the already wounded but then he would need to expose himself. He could already smell the smoke of the pyre that the villagers would build him. Even Nuo Nuying would be present, for she hated the Emerald Emperor just like everyone else. He closed his eyes to imagined screams of anger and he forced his skin to cool. There were no flames licking at him now. He was safe. Breathing heavily, he felt strong arms wrap around him and a leg hock around his. He opened his eyes to see Wei Caihong staring at him. He was safe indeed.

“Where did you say those bandits were?” He was going to pull a fast one on Azazel and make the portal tonight. In his feverish state he already created the plan for the ritual circle. Written in the angelic tongue, Atlantean and with Nordic runes. He would first throw one of the bandits from somewhere high to heal him and then he was going to slit his throat as he danced to perform the counter ritual. Azazel deserved to remain in the Abyss. For what he did to Bjorn. For the century of sorrow.

“In the mountains. But isn’t it too soon for us to go through with the ritual? You said it will take a year!”

Nikola turned around so that their noses were pressing. He tried to be soothing but his eyes were cold. Wei Caihong distanced himself from him.

“There is not enough time and I will not go around all of China searching for bandits. I will settle here. At least for twenty years. Do you know where their camp is?”

Wei Caihong nodded and Nikola rewarded him by gently brushing his thumb over the man’s earlobe.

“We’ll go tonight. Now go outside and sooth your people.”

Reluctantly Wei Caihong stood up but he hesitated at the door. Once Penemue was back into the picture Nikola would abounded him. He remembered a conversation he had with his lover as they were brewing the invisibly potion.

“Did the angels teach you all these spells? Gave you books you could read? Perhaps you can pass them along so I can study when you are busy with your own things?”

Wei Caihong looked at Nikola as if he expected for the man to produce books out of thin air. Nikola just smiled as he added the moss to the pot.

“No. Why would you think it would be so easy? They thought me about languages and their grammar. About proper pronunciation. That is all a spell is, in the end. You demand something in a language and then if you haven’t botched anything up it is granted to you.”

Wei Caihong considered the words. Then he stared at Nikola expectantly.

“Teach me languages too then.” He demanded and Nikola turned his full attention on him.

“Are you sure? It’s quite boring. I can teach you about the spells themselves. I created one once which can light up the night. Would you like me to teach it to you?”

Wei Caihong knew that Nikola didn’t trust him. If he thought him what he himself had been thought, then Wei Caihong would become independent. Free to create new spells. Perhaps ones who could even bound the Atlantean to himself? Wei Caihong imagined the sacrifice needed for a love spell. Then he winced. It would be something as dramatic as having to tear out his own heart, to be sure.

“I’m sure.” He said and then gave Nikola a fake smile. He could see that Nikola was tense. But they had a deal and even though they were making the invisibility potion right now Nikola had demanded two additional rituals out of him. Nikola owed him.

“Fine then. We can start with Sumerian…”

“No.” Said Wei Caihong calmly as he added the red sliced mushrooms to the pot. He looked at the strange stew they were making. Were they truly making a potion? Or a poison? “We start with the angelic language. I already know a little bit of Atlantean so you have a base to start. What is the third most used language for spells?”

Nikola regarded him with a calculating look. Then a foul stench rouse from the pot and Nikola hastily begun to stir the concoction, adding water all the while.

“Nordic. The language of the Vikings. They worship fallen angels as gods which live in their own plane of Hell that they call Asgard. That is why the spells done with their runes are particularly stable.”

Wei Caihong knew for a fact that Nikola would use these three languages for his portal. And if not, he knew a little bit Sumerian and Greek too. Enough to recognize Penemue’s name among the scribbles and exchange it for Azazel’s.

Wei Caihong slaved away among the sick the whole day. He felt exhausted by the end of it but the people regarded him with more appreciation now. Some of them even fooling themselves that they were getting better. That wouldn’t last long though. Once he wasn’t there to keep the room temperature to freezing, they would start moaning again, he was sure.

Nikola reentered the room, decked in a gray robe, and he pushed Wei Caihong towards the front door. Then instead of going next to him he lowered his head and fell two steps behind him. To anyone else, especially those who couldn’t get a good look at Nikola’s face, it would seem as if this was just a noble going out on a walk with his servant. Wei Caihong wondered why no one was paying him any attention and then he saw his face in a puddle.

He looked old and wrinkled, not like himself at all. He touched his face and noted with relief that his face was still young and hale. An illusion then. So that was what Nikola had been doing the whole day locked in their bedroom. No one paid them any attention and Wei Caihong lead them outside the village. Even then Nikola didn’t drop his charade of being the fateful servant. There were things Wei Caihong wanted to do to his lover as he behaved in this way. Delicious things. He wondered what he would need to give in order for Nikola to call him master. He shuddered at the image. His soul, most likely.

That realization sobered him up pretty quickly and he quickened his pace. He had to remember that the Emerald Emperor was dangerous. And not only because of his immortality and magic. He was a crafty little thing. A survivor not afraid to get his hands dirty. And he was going to trick Nikola tonight. And then he would trick Azazel and have them both swearing to bring him pain. But he had not forgotten who had thought Nikola how to fight and he wanted to be privy to all of the lessons the former emperor had been.

A branch crunched. They were getting closer to the camp and the bandits were trying to let them simply walk in into the camp itself. They were following them and staying quiet. Wei Caihong thought for a second if the bandits wanted to have their fun with the young, pretty servant behind him. His fists clenched at the thought of someone touching what was his and he made the last bold steps into the light of the camp.

He was greeted by the bandit leader. A grizzly man with a scar running from his ear to his mouth. Wei Caihong smirked at him but then he saw realization in the man’s eyes.

“Wei Caihong! What are you doing here, you trash? And who is the flower behind you?”

Wei Caihong sighed and looked back. Nikola was grinning at him.

“I didn’t need motivation to not leave any survivors, my Emerald. Since when did you drop the illusion?”

Nikola winked at him and a warmth spread across Wei Caihong’s face.

“As soon as I sensed that the bandits weren’t following us. It got them to do so pretty fast thou. I’ll be pushing him off the cliff.” Nikola pointed at the bandit leader who snorted and made a rude gesture as if he was fucking someone. Nikola rewarded him with an eye row and snapped his fingers. The bandit fell on the ground and similarly many bandits fell like ripe apples from the surrounding trees, ropes tight around them.

“Now.” Begun Nikola, his attention fully turned to Wei Caihong. “You watch the bandits and make sure none of them get away. Start drawing the portal circle and then dump them in the middle. Here is the sketch that you must follow.” Nikola pulled a piece of paper from his inner robe and handed it to Wei Caihong.

“I’ll have to bleed for this, right?” Said the noble with nose scrunched up.

“You know how to regenerate your blood. Don’t let a little discomfort stop you, my Ebony.”

Wei Caihong knew he was being manipulated. But he still decided to milk it for all it was worth. He grabbed Nikola roughly, as if the former emperor was a servant in truth, and kissed him demandingly. Nikola slapped Wei Caihong’s back but his lip was bit in response. When they broke apart for air Nikola send Wei Caihong a glare.

“Perhaps my acting was a little too good. But try to treat me like a servant one more time…”

“Call me master or I’m not helping you.”

Golden chains appeared around Wei Caihong but he didn’t care. The spell was not going to kill him. Nikola needed him and so he would bend to his will. Nikola opened his mouth then closed it. Then his eyes widened when the chains begun to draw blood and he lowered his head.

“Master.” He whispered and Wei Caihong gripped him tighter.

“Louder. Scream it for me. And don’t forget to say my name.”

“Master Wei Caihong!”

The bandit leader barked a laugh as the scream echoed in the darkness. Like a pack of hyenas, the bandits echoed him. Nikola’s face was twisted as Wei Caihong leaned in as much as he could with the chains digging into him.

“I’ll help you, my Emerald. Mark my words I will make you repeat this in the bedroom.”

“Only in your dreams!” The chains disappeared and Wei Caihong looked down at his robes. He would need to throw them away. And the silk was of such a high quality too. Nikola moved to the still laughing bandit leader and kicked him harshly in the rips.

“I will enjoy gauging out your eye!” He said to the man as the bandit leader paled. The other bandits quieted down too as Wei Caihong slit his wrist and begun to draw the circle on the grass. The bandit rose in the air behind Nikola and the Atlantean walked with a bounce in his step towards the nearby cliff. The bandit tried to beg but Nikola just laughed at him.

When Nikola was finally out of sight Wei Caihong begun to make the small adjustments to the circle. Instead of the Nordic rune for angel he wrote the rune for loyalty. Instead of immortality in Atlantean he wrote bondage and servitude. And finally, even though he was tempted to keep this part of the circle as it was, instead of Penemue he wrote Azazel. His writing was so ugly he could barely make it out himself. Nikola won’t check his work. He was used to Wei Caihong scrawl, which Wei Caihong showed him on purpose, and the desired results that came with it.

Rain begun to fall as he heard a scream in the distance. Then the earth begun to shake. There were no volcanos near the village so there was no danger of that but Wei Caihong feared that a new one might raise from the ocean. It all stopped just like it had begun and Wei Caihong threw the last of the bandits into the circle. Nikola came back with a mangled bandit leader floating behind him. He was grinning and Wei Caihong pointed at his work. The grin dropped as Nikola inspected the drawings.

“Were you writing with your feet?” Asked Nikola as he dumped the mangled corpse in the circle with the terrified bandits.

“You know that all these letters are foreign to me. Didn’t you say we didn’t have time?” Wei Caihong breathed a sigh of relief when Nikola snapped his fingers again and a vase appeared. So he wasn’t going to check the writings.

“What is this?” Wei Caihong eyed the vase. There was nothing out of the ordinary. He had seen it in the shop even.

“Do you remember the Abyss pinpointing spell? Well my hands were so hurt from scrubbing the symbols from the floor that I cut them off. Now the blood and flesh has been fermenting in this vase for more than a month. Perfect for the creation of Penemue’s new vessel.”

Nikola wanted his lover to be made from his own flesh and blood? Wei Caihong hadn’t know that. Would his changes disagree with the ritual? Would there be a tsunami washing away the valley? He gulped nervously but Nikola wasn’t paying him any attention. He placed the vase among the bandits and begun to chant. It was too late to change anything in the circle now. A bright light appeared in the circle and Nikola had to be yelled to be heard over the screaming of the bandits. A lightning struck then, setting the circle on fire and Nikola fell to the ground, exhausted.

“They need to burn to ashes now. And then Penemue will rise from the ashes. Come, Wei Caihong, sit by me.”

Wei Caihong did so and hoped it would be Azazel and not some abomination going out of the circle. He was on thorns the whole night as the bandits burned in front of them. Then the final one became a charred remain and the vase broke. Blood begun to drip into the corpses just as the sun was raising. And a new body begun to form.

A mane of golden hair, then the handsome profile of a man and finally gray eyes staring back at them. Wei Caihong felt himself being lifted and then turned around so that he was now staring into the angry emerald eyes of his lover. He just couldn’t help himself. He smirked.

“You conniving little snake!” Screamed Nikola at him and Wei Caihong gave him a smile full of teeth.

“Didn’t you say that you will forget about the spell after you cast it? You will have to wait nine hundred years for Penemue now. And in this time you will be all mine.”

No chains appeared around Wei Caihong. Nikola made his fingers in the same sign he had used before but Wei Caihong was faster. He bit his lip and screamed the protective spell which clashed with Nikola’s spell. Nikola sighed as the magic sizzled from his hand and he let Wei Caihong down. Azazel choose this time to clap slowly.

“You two are just precious. Wei Caihong, you proved a worthy champion. Now find me some clothes and I’ll be off.”

Wei Caihong turned towards Azazel and pointed his finger at him.

“Sit down, Azazel.”

Azazel complied, although if looks could kill then Wei Caihong would be dead now.

“What did you add to the circle?” Asked Nikola from behind, sounding amused.

“Loyalty. He will be able to die now and he will have to wait to reform from nothing, probably even going back to the Abyss as a result.”

Nikola cackled as Azazel begun to curse in Atlantean. Wei Caihong had not done this to be amusing, however.

“Shut up, Azazel.” He snapped at the angel and the being complied. Although he was turning red with the effort to speak.

“Azazel, you may speak.” Said Nikola and Wei Caihong thought that Nikola would exchange something with him for the angel being able to do so but instead Azazel begun to speak without Wei Caihong giving him leave to.

“You darn whores! I will enjoy bending you both! Now that Penemue is all the way in the Abyss there is no one who can help you and…”

Nikola huffed and brushed a few strands of hair off of his face and he hissed.

“Oh, do shut up, Azazel.”

Wei Caihong was looking at Nikola as if he was seeing him for the first time. How was this possible? Why was Azazel obeying Nikola?

“He is made from my flesh and blood, remember?” Said Nikola as if this explained everything. Wei Caihong embraced Nikola then, who lightly pushed at him.

“You were going to enslave Penemue! You don’t truly love him!” There was so much love and hope in that accusation. And yet Nikola only laughed.

“He needed a new vessel. The effect would have been the same no matter whose blood and flesh I used. Better be mine. I would never order my lover. I would have found a way to break the bond of servitude.”

Azazel made a gurgled noise at that Wei Caihong turned to him.

“Speak, Azazel.” He said and he placed his hand over Nikola’s mouth. Nikola bit down on it hard but no matter how much he shook his head he couldn’t get free.

“Niki here had long since wanted Penemue to see him as his emperor. It’s not enough for him that they are lovers. No, he needs to micromanage everything. But you two better break the bond on me right now or I swear you two will be blood smears on the grass soon!”

The two lovers were unconcerned with the thread. Nikola stopped biting Wei Caihong who waited for Nikola’s eyes to soften too before removing his hand.

“Is that true?” He asked Nikola and the man nodded.

“You don’t know how many times I wished I can order him to stop pushing me around. To order him to stop courting Vasiliki. And having to raise Pallas with him was torture. To call my own grandson son and to pretend I love him as my own. To raise him as a hair to the throne. Don’t I deserve a little revenge?”

“You’d do the same to me, if you could.” Accused Wei Caihong and Nikola stared to the ground. This was all the confirmation Wei Caihong needed. He got away from his lover and then moved to Azazel.

“You must know how his bond to you can be broken. Mine will remain and you will teach me all you know.”

Azazel crossed his hands over his naked chest and pointed at Nikola.

“This was made for Penemue. An eternal cage so he would never stray. Only Niki can break it. But he won’t and you are not strong enough to make him. But you can dispel your bond. I will teach you how to bypass even a decapitation. No, better yet I will give you a piece of my soul just like Penemue gave to Niki and…”

“Shut up, Azazel.” Said Wei Caihong. Every time Nikola spoke of Penemue he sounded almost bewitched. To fall in love so much that the feeling lasts for a thousand years after all the abuse the angel put Nikola through? Nonsense! Azazel wanted to do the same to him. He smirked down on the angel.

“I won’t let you enthrall me. I don’t care if I have to drink blood. I can already walk into the sun thanks to Nikola. But you can protect me. I forbid you from telling anyone who you are and about Atlantis or Nikola. Now go search around camp for some robes. Cotton ones, I will not see a servant dress better than my love.”

And Wei Caihong didn’t know why but even the revelation that Nikola could have gladly enslaved him and Penemue didn’t change the fact that he was in love. He watched as Azazel got up and begun to search around. They needed to think up a new name for him. And a new backstory. He didn’t look Chinese. Maybe they could pass him for a relation of Nikola’s?

Azazel finally pulled out gray robes from a chest and waved them like a flag. Wei Caihong nodded and then he went back to Nikola. He sunk to the ground and placed his hands on Nikola’s shoulders.

“It is time we had our fill of blood, my Emerald.” He said before biting. He found he didn’t care all that much that he was in love with someone who hid behind cruelty. He would bring back Nikola’s tenderness from where the Atlantean had buried it and then he would break it’s porcelain shell. He’ll put it together with love and devotion as if he would do it with gold. As he felt teeth in his neck he smiled. This would work and when the nine hundred years were up Penemue would have no one to come back to.