A Heart Set on Jade - Chapter 3

I stopped short and stared at his face, unable to keep myself from taking several steps closer in wonder.

He was so beautiful!

I waved awkwardly. “Hi, w-wifey?”

Vansere arched a brow, intrigued. “Wifey? What does that mean?”

“It means partner,” I explained earnestly.

“…Pureblood vampires do not take partners lightly.”

So I was only a portable blood bag and a bedmate to him?

Disappointment pinched at me. Then again, a blood bag was fine. A bedmate was fine too. Why would someone like me deserve a partner?

The instant Vansere saw the light fade from my eyes, he amended, “But exceptions can be made.”

My eyes lit right back up.

He opened his arms with a smile. “Come here, little human.”

I flung myself into his embrace and wrapped both arms around his waist, greedily breathing in his snowbell scent.

He was tall. I stood six foot one myself, yet the top of my head seemed to reach only his nose.

He ruffled my hair. “Little human, why aren’t you afraid of me? I’m a pureblood vampire—one of the monsters humans fear.”

I didn’t understand the question. What was so frightening about a vampire? At worst, they drank a little blood.

Vansere seemed eager to see me panic, so he continued ominously, “I might drain every drop of blood from your body and leave you a shriveled corpse.”

I looked up at him with complete sincerity. “Wifey, didn’t you get enough last night?”

I tugged down my collar, rose onto my toes, and offered my neck to his lips. “If you didn’t, you can have some more.”

The System screamed inside my head. [You can’t, Host! Your body heals quickly, but he drank an enormous amount of your blood last night, and you just stabbed yourself with silver. You’ve already suffered severe damage!]

[My scan says you’re extremely weak. If he drinks any more, you really will die!]

I ignored it and stared fixedly at Vansere.

My blood clearly held an irresistible attraction for him. His smile slowly vanished as he gazed at my exposed throat. His breathing grew heavier, bloodred light seeping into his purple-and-gold eyes while two small fangs emerged beneath his upper lip.

I smiled, pressed my neck closer until it almost touched his mouth, and closed my eyes to await the pain of fangs breaking flesh and the cold dizziness of blood loss.

Instead, warm, soft lips touched the side of my neck in what felt like a kiss. Then he pulled my collar back into place and swept me into his arms.

“Strange,” Vansere murmured as he carried me away. “I heard human bodies were fragile—that even broken skin took days to heal. The wounds I left on your neck weren’t shallow, yet they stopped bleeding and scabbed almost immediately.”

He brushed my neck with his fingers. “Now there isn’t even a scar.”

I opened my eyes. “My constitution is unusual. I heal far faster than an ordinary human.”

Then I couldn’t help asking, “Aren’t you going to drink?”

Several strands of silver hair drifted across my cheek. The red had left his eyes, and his fangs were gone. “If I drink any more, little human, you’ll die.”

I said nothing. Peeking out from his arms, I hooked one of his long locks around my forefinger. It was silver as moonlight, smooth and soft, so perfect that the loss of even one strand would feel tragic.

Then I grabbed a handful of my own black hair, which I hadn’t touched since getting out of bed and which now resembled dry, tangled straw.

Overcome with inferiority, I wilted.

Vansere noticed immediately and held me closer. “What’s wrong, little human? Are you hungry?”

I touched my stomach. I did feel hungry, so I nodded.

Vansere drew one finger through empty space. A ring of white light as tall as a person appeared before us. He carried me through it, and after a flash of white, we stood in an enormous hall.

“?!”

Holy crap. Was that magic?

A long dining table stood in the center, set with cutlery and candles beneath an exquisite crystal chandelier. Vansere pulled out a chair, set me down, and took the seat beside mine.

“Have I really become a vampire?” I asked.

Vansere showed not the slightest guilt about turning a human. “Yes. Anyone bitten by a pureblood becomes the lowest kind of incomplete vampire.”

“Without my Embrace, sunlight will burn you until your skin festers. You’ll develop an uncontrollable craving for blood—especially human blood—and gradually become violent, cruel, and irrational. Silver and holy objects will be deadly to you. In the end, vampire hunters and purebloods alike will hunt you down…”

It was almost exactly what the System had told me.

I still didn’t understand why I had transformed so easily. Back in the modern world, I had been Subject 004 of a vast human experimentation organization. After more than a decade of brutal experiments—electric shocks, vivisection, genetic modification, viral infection, sensory deprivation, brain development—my body not only regenerated quickly but resisted every poison, drug, and virus known to that world.

Then again, my old world had no vampires. It made equal sense for my body to withstand a foreign pureblood’s venom or fail against it. It was pure luck.

“Little hu—no, little vampire now.”

He lifted my chin and stroked it teasingly, mischief in his purple-and-gold eyes. “Pretty, adorable little vampire. Are you frightened? Do you want my Embrace?”

“Give it to me if you want,” I said. “Don’t if you don’t.”

Vansere stared. “?”

As long as he let me remain beside him, I could reluctantly keep living. Whether I was a vampire hardly mattered.

Vansere released me, the corner of his mouth twitching. “I’ve never met a human like you. What’s your name?”

“Huo Xiangjin. Xiang as in direction, Jin as in precious jade.”

A smile entered Vansere’s eyes. “Huo Xiangjin? A lovely Eastern name.”