04.30am Sunday
The ride up in the elevator is tense.
"Where's Uncle XingChen?" Wei Ying asks.
"Getting ready."
That doesn't help, because Wei Ying wants to know about someone else, but his Grandmother isn't forthcoming. He will have to ask openly.
Wei Ying sighs internally and wishes he didn't feel so guilty still.
"And ah, what about Jin whats-his-name? You know, down there?" He points down to make it clear, towards the torture floor, because that's what he's calling it in his head.
"Still passed out." She gives him a curious look. "A-Chen told me what happened."
Wei Ying is helpless against the warmth that floods his face.
"I didn't mean to do that."
The doors open and belatedly, Wei Ying realises that they haven't returned to the floor where Mo XuanYu is, hopefully with a report by now of what he's found.
They are on the floor where the armoury is located.
"I know, A-Ying." She's smiling sadly. "I fear that tonight ... Well, today is going to be full of things we don't want to do."
"But Grandmother, he told us that Wen Rouhan has a brother! Did you know?"
Baoshan Sanren gasps, stopping where she is.
"No! We knew there was someone they kept hiding, but I thought it was just an elder of their family, not his blood brother!"
Wei Ying can see her thoughts churning.
"That slimy weasel told us they're going to do something tonight, or today. It's the full moon, and he said whatever they're planning is to do with magic. That's why they use moon glyphs. He also said they want to test Lan Zhan's venom." His tone becomes icy cold.
"Then there's no time to waste." She pulls him into the room with knives and swords hanging off the walls.
She goes to the glass cabinet that is definitely a new addition to this place, and pulls out the tarnished silver armour, the one Wei Ying and Lan Zhan found in the underground room at the Lan Manor, under the fountain.
"Put this on." She pushes it against his chest.
It is so lightweight, and hardly makes a noise, soft despite being made from metal. Impossibly tiny chains of metal are looped together so tightly that nothing could penetrate through the nonexistent gaps.
"But Grandmother-"
"Put it on!" She barks, brooking no argument now. She turns away from him, expecting him to undress and wear it. "That's a command. The only way we're going in there, is if you are protected to the best of my ability. Otherwise, you can forget about coming." She's breathing rapidly, and just from that, Wei Ying can tell how close she is to losing it.
Silently, he peels off his shirt, glad that Lan Zhan had picked something with a little give in it. The armour was like a second skin, snugly fitting around his body and lined with the softest cotton, so it didn't feel cold at all.
It was the closest thing he had left to a hug from his mother.
"Ready." He says it sombrely, because somehow, this getting ready for the battle made it all real.
Baoshan Sanren turns around, purses her lips and quick as a flash, grabs a holster and a belt for him. She adds a thigh holster and gives him additional knives that he can place in the sides of his boots.
"I am not sending you in there unarmed," she frowns at him, daring him to argue.
She might be a foot shorter than him, but Wei Ying is too scared to say no.
Together, they quickly test out the weight of different knives that can hang off the belt they were made for, and Wei Ying picks out the interesting looking ones. There's one in particular that he likes, purely for the aesthetic, because its handle is carved out of blue jade, with delicate characters carved into the unyielding material. The blade looks sharp, too.
While he's admiring it, Baoshan Sanren slips out of the room and is back in moments, carrying a gun.
"You don't have to use it, but carry it for me. The bullets are made from pure silver. All the knives you have, have been blessed by holy water."
She hands him a gun which he places in the holster at his side.
"That reminds me, Da Tuzi gave me some holy water bombs. They're like fortune cookies but you know, lethal to vampires. Which by the way, isn't it the same for you?" Now he's interested.
Baoshan Sanren was also a vampire, so surely she couldn't touch holy water as well?
His Grandmother shoots him a wicked grin and pulls out a chain from around her neck. It's silver with a pendant in the shape of an eye, disturbingly realistic. She shows him the back of it where there is what looks like the characters of a talisman engraved upon it.
"I'll be just fine," she promises.
Then she fixes a strange type of sword carrier on her back, one that can take two swords.
Wei Ying watches as she walks past all the different blades, some decorated with fancy jewels and intricate engraved work, others made from silver and jade, until she gets to an onyx scabbard. She picks it up without hesitation, unsheathing it and examining the sharpness of the blade, before experimentally twirling it like a baton. Her wrist is just as flexible as it must have been before her journey took the Immortal path.
Satisfied that it is perfect for tonight, she places it on her back and picks another sword, this one a little more delicate and fragile looking. This one's handle is made from ivory and silver, with exquisite workmanship. It was clearly made by a master craftsman.
"I bet every weapon here has a story to tell." Wei Ying remarks, as she adds the second sword to her back.
"You would win," she replies, enigmatically.
"So...why those two in particular, then?" He asks, curiously.
"The black sword is called Zhengyi* (*justice), and it belonged to your grandfather. The white one is called Heping* (*peace). He had that one made for me. It seems fitting to bring them to this, the final fight."
Wei Ying doesn't know what to say, and she looks too sad for anything lighthearted to leave his lips.
He takes her hand quietly, both of them remembering the members of their family not able to be here today.
Perhaps, after all this time, they will finally receive both Peace and Justice today.
************
The silence between them as they ride up to the correct floor is better now, if still charged with anticipation.
It is the thrill of a roller coaster just as it reaches the top of the first hill, and the madness engulfs the seated, looking down into the crazy descent.
It is pure adrenaline.
They find Mo XuanYu with Da Tuzi in Baoshan Sanren's office.
"Report." Baoshan Sanren barks with authority.
She's back to being ruthlessly efficient, a wartime general in action.
"Ready," Mo XuanYu tells her. He gives them a run down of everything he's managed to discover about the underground parking building next to the Wen Laboratories in the compound. "It's pretty much like this place, except easier to access. But I suspect the security will be next level, so," he pulls out a flash drive and a mini computer chip. "If you guys can plant these somewhere, I can be your eyes and ears while you're in there."
"Anywhere specific?" Wei Ying asks him, pocketing his items.
"Either a video camera for the computer chip, or just something with your basic communication server, and the flash drive can be in a computer that's even remotely connected to their security, will do. It's an either or thing, you don't have to do both."
Wei Ying nods, thinking about when and where the opportunity will arise. "So where is Lan Zhan now?" He's right next to him, trying to memorise whatever he can see.
Mo XuanYu pulls up the previous tab.
"Right there, oh, dang! He's on the move!"
"What?" Baoshan Sanren comes around, wiping her mouth of a suspiciously red looking liquid.
Wei Ying looks up just in time to see Da Tuzi guiltily closing the cuff on his right hand.
So, his theory was correct.
Baoshan Sanren was his vampire, and Da Tuzi's Benefactor.
Wei Ying catches his eye and winks, a wordless message telling him that their secret was safe with them.
"Send what you can to our phones. Come on, they should be there by now." She smiles dangerously.
"Who?" Wei Ying asks before he can think about it.
"You'll see." She tells him, full of confidence. "Keep in touch," she directs that to Mo XuanYu, who waves back at them with one hand, his quicksilver eyes blinking owlishly.
"Good luck and...break a leg...not yours, obviously," he grins at Wei Ying, when he looks back.
Wei Ying plants three of his fingers at his temple in a salute that promises to try.
In the end, that's all they can do.
****************
Baoshan Sanren owns armoured vans.
Wei Ying wonders if she'll ever stop surprising him, and it doesn't look likely. At least, not for a long time.
They drive to the Wen Laboratories, six vans in all.
Xiao XingChen is driving one, Da Tuzi is driving another one, although he is going to remain outside in the vehicle. Baoshan Sanren is driving the third one and A-Qing has the fourth one. There are other vampires that Wei Ying hasn't met yet, and they are coming with them now. All the vans are full.
But Wei Ying is more concerned that they don't know what is waiting for them when they get there.
Or who will be there, trying to stop them.
And whether their forces will be enough.
He keeps thinking about certain parts of the scripts that he was translating for his grandmother up until now, and more importantly, he's still thinking about the HeartStone.
What exactly is it? How will it help them? And what does Wen Rouhan know about it? How come he knew enough to ask for a key?
There were so many unanswered questions that it seemed to be crazy to think they would make it out alive, if that. But there was no way Wei Ying was going to leave Lan Zhan at the mercy of the Wens, not when he knew what they were like.
He felt like he hadn't taken a whole breath ever since Lan Zhan was taken.
Was he alright?
Wei Ying had been so happy to see the red dot move on Lan Zhan's computer because that meant he was okay enough to walk, but then the unhelpful part of his brain suggested that what if he was being carried?
Those thoughts were shut down before they could grow out of control.
Before he knew it, they were parking two roads over from the Wen Laboratories.
It was still dark outside, which was even better though it was closer to five am than four.
Pools of light lessen the depth of the night, casting shadows all around them. Stars glimmer in the sky up above, a dusting of glittery ambience.
Six vans emptied outside, and when Wei Ying counted, he spotted around two hundred vampires altogether, give or take a few. And even he knows, that's more people than can fit inside six vehicles.
All he has to do is raise a brow at his grandmother and she seems to just know what he's asking.
"These are vampires who are on our side. You know I had to make phone calls? I was asking our friends to join us." She tells him, and then turns to everyone present. "What do you all say to causing a distraction? Once we break in, maybe if half of you go towards the actual labs, they won't understand what's happening until it's too late."
"That's a great idea. What do you want us to do?" A voice rings out in the night, belonging to a tall, dark skinned vampire with dreadlocks.
Wei Ying thinks he looks really cool.
"Whatever you want. Just make sure you're loud, brash and as annoying as you can be." Baoshan Sanren says, with a smirk.
"Then that means no change for you, Tripod!" someone jokes, and laughter breaks out.
"Damage to property?"
"Can we let off flares? Fireworks?"
"Can we torch the place?"
Baoshan Sanren tells them yes to everything.
Wei Ying thinks tonight is going to go down in Vampire history.
"Come on," she tells him, tugging on his sleeve.
"But Grandmother, aren't you going to make a plan? You know, organising troops et cetera?" He asks her, allowing himself to be led away.
Xiao XingChen joins them on one side and A-Qing joins on the other.
"And what, dear boy, did you think that was?" Baoshan Sanren throws back her head and laughs.