16.30 pm Sunday
There was only cold, cruel laughter.
No answer to Wei Ying's question.
And just as suddenly as before, the showers began again, this time hot water soaked their clothes and they watched rivulets of water gushing down the drains, pink with blood.
Water, a deluge of it, bursting upon them like an unwanted waterfall, and it was everywhere, dripping from their hair into their eyes, and making their feet soggy.
The sprinklers stayed on, until the water ran clean. At least it was a bearable warmth, and Wei Ying felt so much better than being cold and wet, for however long this lasted.
"No offence, but I don't want a mess in here." Wen Zhong says, with a hearty chuckle, maybe in way of an explanation.
"How did you even get that much blood out of Wen Zhuliu? How is he still standing?" Wei Ying tries again, wanting answers.
Wen Zhong might be picky about which of their questions he would answer, but in the end, he was hoping persistence would win through.
Up until now, they had thought that Wen Chao had been the one to turn Lan Zhan into a vampire. True, their proof lay in believing the evidence of the buttons they had found in that dark alley, and finding Wen Chao's waistcoat open meant that he had at least been there at the time.
But then Baoshan Sanren and F4keSt0ries both had said that Lan Zhan was displaying curious traits, skilled powers only obtained from being sired by a powerful vampire, and let's be honest, he thinks, no one in their right mind would call Wen Chao powerful.
And his recovery time of only thirty three hours spent in a transition period supported this theory, because Mrs Lan had taken forty-eight, and she'd said as much when she had visited Wei Ying's apartment for the last time.
So all of these tiny little clues were like pebbles falling down a mountainside, signalling an imminent avalanche, because Wen Zhong was implying something that shouldn't make sense...but it did, when Wei Ying really thought about it.
That's why his first instinct was to hold onto his Lan Zhan.
If his own turmoil was this bad, what then must Lan Zhan be going through himself?
There was no point in giving away what Wei Ying was thinking, not when it was giving Wen Zhong advantage after advantage. Right now, he had sharp eyes and ears on them, while they were still at his mercy.
The faster they got out of this enclosed trap, the better.
Though what good it would do them remained to be seen, especially if all of these vampires were only as good as humans now, a shadow of their true potential.
"Do not worry. Our exposure to Wen Zhuliu's blood is only temporary. My own recovery time was a few hours after waking up. They drugged me." Lan Zhan says, softer at the end because Wei Ying looks appalled and then very quickly, anger replaces that feeling.
The fingers of his free hand ghost over Chenqing hidden in his pocket after Wen Qing had handed it back to him before. That was going to be their trump card now, but Wei Ying needed to bide his time, and wait for the most opportune moment before revealing their secret weapon.
He was beginning to understand more about the HeartStone, the more he played, and it didn't matter whether Wei Ying used Chenqing or not, even whistling the conduit notes would work; however Chenqing provided a deeper connection, an ability to control the amount of power Wei Ying had at his fingertips, literally.
His Grandfather had been a genius, someone with such a vast foresight, and the skills and ability to make his thoughts and ideas a reality. It was such a tragedy for both vampires and humans that his gifts had been nipped in the bud, that his Grandfather had been killed at the peak of his prime.
There was no telling what other great discoveries would have been found, improved upon and put into play, had he survived his murder.
This was their chance to rid the world of a blemish that had only grown uglier, more potent like an unchecked cancer, feeding on its host and threatening its own survival.
Wen Zhong needed to die.
As if remembering him summoned the vampire in question, his voice rang out, mocking and harsh, endorsing their vulnerability.
"True, we sedated you first, and only when it looked like you might be waking up, we administered the weakening blood. But even then, it was two hours. Two very short hours...and I have a surprise for you, my friends!"
A feeling of animosity and uncertainty grows in Lan Zhan's mind.
He has many questions now, of their captor, a need to know the grim truth voiced out loud so he will know with certainty, what Wen Zhong was implying a few minutes ago. He needs to have it spelled out, said so clearly that no doubts remain. Only then will he be able to exact revenge on the vampire that changed his life forever.
There's a loud click in the silence that falls after the last of the water has gurgled away, and then the thick, reinforced steel door across from them opens. The silent slide of well-oiled machinery reveals a sliver of yellowish light.
Perhaps they should have been more cautious before rushing out of this tiled prison, because they have only ended up in a larger cage.
That was the only way to describe it, since it was chicken wire but for humans. The structure stretched up high enough to comfortably take one vampire standing on another's shoulders, and width-wise had enough room so that even if all thirty something of them stood side by side, they would still have some room to spare.
Scattered sand decorated the floor, and for some reason, this place reminded Lan Zhan of a theatre.
Maybe because of the black walls surrounding them, and he felt much like an artist on stage would probably feel like, when spotlights upon the performers rendered the audience invisible to them.
"Welcome!" The jovial greeting belies a threat.
They all look up to see a platform high above them, where two chairs that looked suspiciously like thrones, are occupied.
"A-Ning!" Wen Qing cannot help herself, her clear voice ringing out with panic and fear.
He's sitting next to Wen Zhong, his powerful presence subduing the younger man. He's not moving, or acknowledging them in any way. Not even a glance in their direction, or a change of his expression, which makes Wei Ying think he's been drugged.
"What have you done to him?" His sister snarls, evidently reaching the same conclusion as Wei Ying.
Lan Zhan recognised Wen Zhong from when they had met in the early hours of this day.
He watches as a sneering grin plays upon those cold lips, as Wen Zhong stares for a moment at them, and then switches his focus to the still man sitting next to him. His gnarled face twists into a calculating expression.
"My nephew has been very good so far." Wen Zhong replies, not answering Wen Qing's question, either. "But I can see you all struggling," he waves a hand around them, "to explain all this. And it cannot be denied, there's a particular kind of satisfaction to be gained from knowing why certain things happened. Seeing as you do not have much time left, I shall do my best to answer your questions." He looks bored, though. "Tell me, what would you like to know the most?" His icy gaze lands on Lan Zhan. "Son," he adds with a curl of his lips.
"I am NOT your son!" Lan Zhan growls, the words rising up and spewing out of him like lava from a dormant volcano.
"You are, sort of. I turned you. It was my venom that has made you into the creature you are now." Wen Zhong oozes smug pride.
Lan Zhan looks disgusted.
"How can we believe you?" Wei Ying yells out, incredibly incensed on Lan Zhan's behalf.
How dare this monster lay claim to his precious boyfriend like that?
The connections between the two of them couldn't be more off the tracks!
Wen Zhong was a murdering philanderer, an unscrupulous beast who had no qualms about hurting innocent parties if they got in his way, and Lan Zhan...Lan Zhan was the most sensitive, caring soul, the bravest, most decent person there was, and a complete opposite of that monster!
A huff of amusement from Lan Zhan pulls Wei Ying out of his thoughts.
"What?" He says, little angry noises leaving his chest in rebellion. What could possibly be funny right now?
"Did Wei Ying just stamp his foot?" Lan Zhan was smiling affectionately.
To anyone else, they probably couldn't tell, but Wei Ying was melting. His Lan Zhan was so gentle, and just so beautiful!
How dare that ugly, vile brute try and compare himself to this...this heavenly being?
"Just what exactly do you remember about that night?" Wen Zhong continues, ignoring their conversation.
Lan Zhan tells him. "But it happened fast."
"Actually, you were an accident," Wen Zhong says, leaning back. "My other nephew was planning to get rid of you, a little bit later, and the chance presented itself to us unexpectedly. I was out with him, Wen Chao. But you fought back, tore his waistcoat, and he needed help. So I had to intervene. How do you like being one of us?"
Lan Zhan doesn't dignify that with a response. He wanted a clarification, and he got it.
"Then who cleaned up the blood? And why use moon glyphs?" Wei Ying piped up, his curiosity winning over his annoyance at this horrible person.
"I sent Wen Chao back for that," he replies, grimacing. "The incompetent fool accidentally nicked a large vein on some glass and you began to bleed out. There was a lot of blood. There was an emergency situation here, otherwise we would have brought you back here. An oversight on our part, for sure. If that silly boy had only listened to me, we wouldn't be here now." His words are regretful. "I decided to not let any of it go to waste."
Lan Zhan feels like every word he utters is making his skin crawl. He wants to have another shower, preferably in Wei Ying's apartment. That's the place that feels most like a home to him now.
There are murmurs of disapproval from behind them; it seems as if no one supports his justification for turning Lan Zhan.
"And moon glyphs have always been the way we have communicated." Wen Zhong shrugs.
"But why do you look like that?" Someone else shouts, aiming that at Wen Zhong, whose features were terribly distressing for anyone, himself as well.
"This?" Wen Zhong grimaces at some forgotten memory, "a lab mishap, nothing serious."
Titters ring out among the good vampires.
"It's a good thing he can't see his reflection," someone commented.
"Yeah, otherwise all the mirrors in his vicinity would have cracked by now."
"Health hazard."
"Nothing serious, he says," Song Lan mutters with blatant disbelief under his breath.
"I wouldn't want to wake up, knowing I looked like THAT. Well past his sell-by-date." Someone else says, with a snicker.
That one made Wei Ying laugh.
"ENOUGH!" Wen Zhong shouts, silencing everyone suddenly. "Obviously, the situation you are in is not dangerous to you. Yet."
With a lecherous laugh, he reaches for a button and suddenly the walls of black fall away. It seems as if they weren't solid to begin with, curtains of black cloth falling away to reveal more cages, but these were filled with hungry looking vampires.
"You didn't think I would leave myself without any defence, did you?" High up above them from his seat, Wen Zhong's black eyes gleamed with joy. "Without your vampirical powers, you will have to rely on your fighting skills alone. This last battle should be quite the show."
The grinding whirring noise of wire cables pulling up the cages was heard and suddenly as the metal structures were hoisted into the air, there were no barriers left between Baoshan Sanren and her team, and the savage, bloodthirsty vampires advancing upon them now.