Nightfall – Chapter 4.“You’re going to replace her?”
“Yes.” Shu Xian stated calmly as she punched in a number on her hand phone. “The new member will arrive today.”
“Well, who can you replace her with?” Valerie scrunched up her nose. She looked at the ceiling before shifting her gaze to the researcher again. “Some ex-classmate? Or am I going to have to go out and search for amateurs again?”
“You’ll see in about four hours. I’ll send Shu Hui and Larry to greet her.”
Valerie choked on her fruit tea. Coughing violently, she stared at Shu Xian.
“Greet her!? Who is she? The Queen?”
Shu Xian made a face, a rare occurrence. “No, but her wealth is pretty close.”
--
“You did not just say that.”
Evelyn nodded earnestly. “Zhuang Ying’s going to be replaced.”
“By who?” See Min groaned. “I hope it’s not someone we don’t know. I mean, it’s like a stranger trying to be friends, you know?”
“Yeah. I get what you mean. Anyway, Shu Hui’s supposed to go greet her in four hours, along with Larry.”
See Min laughed. She got up from the sofa and headed for the door.
“See ya. I have to tell Shu Hui that.”
--
Su Hui cursed silently as she held on to her seat. Beside her, Valerie was ready to throw up. The half-vampire was hunched over, holding a paper bag and muttering, “I’m not sick. I’m not sick.” Over and over.
Xia Yu, being the race devil he was, was driving again. Happily, he stepped harder on the accelerator and sped the Toyota down an alley.
Valerie hurled.
“For God’s sake, Xia Yu, can’t you drive normally?” Su Hui snapped as she patted Valerie’s back. She checked her watch and sighed.
“Give me a good reason to.”
“Your teammate’s puking.”
Valerie retched. The car came to a screeching halt. Xia Yu turned around and furrowed his brow.
“She pukes that easily?”
Su Hui didn’t reply and just exited the car, helping the half-vampire out. She silently shifted her dark gaze to a dimly lit shop-house down the alley and filled her Glock.
--
“So who exactly is this new member are we waiting for?” Larry asked nervously.
“Supposedly Shu Xian’s rich-as-hell cousin, but I don’t know.” Shu Hui grumbled. “She or he could be some stuck-up ass for all we know.” She crossed her arms irritably.
Shortly after, a slick red Ferrari pulled up at the headquarters’ steps. Shu Hui’s eyes bugged out of her head and she gave a low whistle. The car door opened and a petite raven with a short bob stepped out.
She wore killer boots on her feet and a pair of Givenchy pants. A cropped Chanel jacket covered her top which had “DKNY” proudly emblazoned on it. A pair of Ray-Bans covered half her face and her lips wore a flicker of a smile.
“Think of all the expensive clothing she’s going to ruin if she becomes a hunter,” Larry mumbled.
The raven lowered her shades and inspected the two people in front of her. She grinned.
“Shu Hui and Larry, am I correct?”
“Yeah. How’d you know us?”
“Shu Xian talks about you in our phone calls. I was called here to replace a dead hunter right? My name is Joyce.” The raven smiled wider and offered her hand.
Shu Hui shook it apprehensively, taking in the smell of Joyce’s manicure. Larry just looked on in bewilderment.
“Are you human?”
Joyce flinched. Turning to Larry with an icy stare, she snapped, “Does that question bother you?”
Larry threw back a glare. “Not really, you look vampire to me.”
Joyce’s canines lengthened. Her eyes turned yellow and she snarled.
“Pixie? Is that you?”
The new member froze in her place. Her usually calm face had a look of pure terror written all over it.
“It’s really you!” See Min hurried to the raven and crushed her in a huge hug. “It’s been so long! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
Joyce screamed in protest, “My name is not fucking Pixie! It’s Joyce, get it? J-O-Y-C-E! Joyce!” Her cries were ignored as Shu Xian joined in the group hug.
“So the new member’s name is...” Larry hazarded. “Pixie?”
Shu Hui burst into hysterics.
--
Chun Zi studied the petite raven in front of her with great interest.
“How are you going to fight in those clothes?”
Joyce shrugged. Gesturing to her luggage, she explained, “I brought clothes. Isn’t that enough?”
“Your clothes are going to be ruined if you become a hunter. You really should have brought less expensive clothes. Just ask Evelyn.”
Evelyn sulked in protest as she mourned the loss of her branded clothes.
“I can always buy new ones.”
“It’s not worth it.” Carson drawled. He threw Joyce a black ankle-length cloak and grinned. “It’ll protect your clothes that way. Anyway, you wanna take the test first or get the tattoo first?”
“Test first,” Joyce made a face. “I’d rather the painful part come later.”
--
Team 1 quietly exited the shop-house, taking extra care not to step on any ashes they had left behind. Su Hui replaced her Glock in its holster underneath her shirt while Valerie braced herself for another round of Xia Yu’s violent driving.
A dagger flew towards Xia Yu’s stomach, stabbing the flesh right on target. The vampire howled and doubled over in pain, ash bleeding from the wound.
“God damn you! If I ever find you, I’m going to bloody cut your fucking balls off and-” Valerie slammed a hand over his mouth and rolled her eyes.
Su Hui cracked her knuckles and approached the source of the dagger. She found an amateur vampire who attempted to knock her out. Smirking, she delivered a solid punch to his gut and watched impassively as he fell to the ground. Letting a hidden knife slide out from her coat arm, she ruthlessly stabbed the amateur in the neck, shattering him into ash.
“They get stupider and slower every time.” She grumbled as she dusted her hands off, returning to her teammates.
Her eyes widened.
Xia Yu had stopped complaining about the pain and was moaning incoherently. Valerie stared at his gaping wound in horror. Ash was replacing skin freely and Xia Yu was turning greyer by the second. At this rate, he would shatter into ash and die way before they reached the headquarters.
Su Hui gulped. She had to do this. She hadn’t brought any alcohol at all but she still had to take the risk.
Hurrying to the car, she extracted her medic’s kit and some heroin. She filled a syringe with the drug and wiped the vampire’s arm tentatively. She handed some surgical thread, a needle and antiseptic to Valerie wordlessly. The half-vampire nodded before cleaning the wound as she watched Su Hui empty the syringe’s contents into Xia Yu’s arm.
Xia Yu felt the liquid surge up his arm and tried to protest but his wound stopped hurting. He felt his mouth becoming dry and his skin heating up. The vampire felt extremely relaxed and comfortable, almost too relaxed if he was alert.
The rest of Team 1 could only pray that Xia Yu wouldn’t get addicted.
--
The raven dragged her nails across the other vampire’s hand and hissed. Larry held her arms in a death-grip and clenched them, sharp nails digging into the flesh. Joyce swore as she kicked her opponent’s head, sending him to the ground. He got up and managed to get a few hits on her face before stopping to catch his breath.
Larry cussed in silence as he tried to focus his vision. It didn’t help. His head throbbed and he refrained himself from throwing up ash.
Joyce, on the other hand, wasn’t much better off. Her face housed a few scratches and bruises while her limbs bled ash. She could barely stop herself from fainting out of exhaustion.
Shi Chun hurriedly stopped the test and nodded her approval.
“You’re in.”
--
That exact same moment, an experienced pure vampire placed some ash into a test tube. She poured the ash into a container of a huge resurrection machine and typed some controls. Kiran strolled to the large glass cylinder connected to the machine and waited in patience.
A slender brunette slowly formed in the cylinder. Her blank eyes stared at her captor and her lips parted to protest. A syringe dug into her skin and injected some pure vampiric genes. The brunette’s eyes slowly recognised the vampire before her.
“Why, hello, old friend.” Kiran smirked. “Nice to see you again, Zhuang Ying.”
--End of Chapter 4—I TOLD YOU ALL IT'LL BE VERY SHORT. DON'T COME AFTER ME.