A Heart Set on Jade - Chapter 4

A wisp of blue flame appeared at Vansere’s fingertip and sank into my wrist, as if probing my body. I felt only a wash of cold.

After a long while, he frowned. “Wait. You’re in terrible condition, and your complexion is awful. Your body can’t withstand my Embrace right now. Strange… You weren’t this badly off when I stopped drinking last night.”

The System gave a dry laugh. [Of course he’s badly off. That silver cross came within a few millimeters of his heart.]

I guiltily looked away.

Vansere’s frown deepened. He yanked open the front of my black robe, exposing the charred, red-rimmed hole over my chest.

Silver had slowed my regeneration drastically. Almost an hour had passed, yet the wound had only just stopped bleeding.

Vansere’s pupils contracted. “What happened?! Who stabbed you with silver? Did vampire hunters get inside?”

Fury and murderous intent blazed in his eyes. “Tell me who did this! I’ll tear them apart!”

“…”

I shrank into myself. “I did it.”

Vansere: “???”

“You bit me and turned me into a vampire, so I wanted to see whether driving the silver cross through my heart would kill me.”

He stared at me in disbelief. “Wait. Even if you were still human, having any sharp object driven through your heart would kill you!”

“And now that you’re a vampire, dying by silver would destroy your soul. You would cease to exist and never reincarnate!”

“I know.”

If the System hadn’t intervened, my Earth Online account would already have been permanently deleted.

I even sounded a little regretful. “There was a minor accident, so I didn’t die.”

Vansere: “…”

The System: […]

After several seconds of silence, Vansere chose his words carefully. “Little human… why does it seem as if you don’t want to live?”

“…”

How was I supposed to answer? I genuinely didn’t.

He watched me for a long time. When no answer came, he sighed and reached into empty space, pulling out a round jar. He twisted off the lid, revealing a fragrant, milky-white ointment.

Vansere scooped out a dab and spread it over my wound.

I froze. The searing pain receded at once. The blackened flesh and inflamed halo vanished, and the wound began healing at a visible speed. Before long, only a small scar remained.

“!”

I pressed it. It barely hurt. Even the internal damage had healed.

Vansere inspected the scar. “Does it still hurt?”

“No.” I couldn’t hide my happiness.

He put his fingers to my wrist and examined me again. “Silver still caused real damage to your body. You need time to recover. Once you’re well, I’ll give you my Embrace. For now, eat something.”

Vansere snapped his fingers. The candles flared, and the chandelier overhead came to life.

A middle-aged man in a tailcoat emerged from the darkness, pushing a serving cart. To my surprise, it held an entire spread of human food: steak, soup, bread, desserts, sliced fruit, and even a bottle of red wine.

The man bowed respectfully to Vansere and called him Master. He arranged the dishes before me, then disappeared as silently as he had arrived.

“Do pureblood vampires drink nothing but blood?” I asked.

Vansere ruffled my hair and explained patiently, “No. You misunderstand us. Blood is essential, but we can draw energy from human food as well.”

“And how did you pull things out of thin air just now?”

“Purebloods practice many forms of magic. That was spatial storage. I brought you here with spatial transference.”

…

I nibbled on a piece of bread while watching him pour wine into a stemmed glass.

The beauty lounged in his chair, long fingers curled around the bowl. He lifted it to his lips. Red wine tipped against his mouth, his throat moving as he swallowed. Silver hair slid back with the motion, revealing the graceful line from jaw to collarbone.

His purple-and-gold eyes remained entirely lucid. Not a trace of drunkenness clouded them.

He lowered the glass, wine staining his upper lip, and glanced sideways at me with a lazy, bewitching smile. Candlelight trembled across a face beautiful enough to stop my heart.

I stared, dazed, and swallowed.

So beautiful…

I wanted to kiss him.

I leaned closer. When he didn’t stop me, I pressed my lips to his.

The warmth of the wine lingered there. I tasted its mellow richness mingled with his own clean snowbell fragrance and almost lost myself in it.

I clumsily rubbed my lips against his, then tentatively slipped my tongue between them, brushing his teeth. His purple-and-gold eyes were inches from mine, half-lidded with amusement and indulgence.

At last, he moved.

One hand closed around the back of my head, deepening our tentative contact. His mouth carried the coolness of wine and the dominance of a pureblood, sweeping across my teeth and palate in a forceful plunder.

My breathing faltered. Silver hair tickled my cheek, and my fingers clenched unconsciously in the front of his shirt.

When Vansere finally released me, he cut the steak into small pieces, covered them in pepper sauce, and pushed the plate my way. “Eat more. That scrap of bread wasn’t enough to fill the gaps between your teeth.”

“…”

Under his watchful feeding, I finished the steak, drank a small bowl of soup, and ate several pieces of fruit.

Then—