After The Storm Passed

3rd Person

"No....."

An ear-piercing scream left Yan's lips as the blinding light that sprung from Lan's body faded away.

"Lan, you can't do this. You were not supposed to break the compel and sacrifice your soul for that worthless piece of shit."

Yan screamed again. That was when Kris understood what had happened, his Lan had sacrificed his soul for him. Tears streamed down Kris's eyes as he watched the chest of Lan's soulless body rise and fall. Kris felt a strange kind of energy surge through him and the vervain in his bloodstream gradually disappearing.

"Lan"

Kris whispered repeatedly as he gradually tried to stand up. Yan was beyond rage.

"Kill that son of a bitch."

She ordered to Li Min, who obliged to her without asking for any reason. Li Min leapt to Kris and started to punch him in every possible death point. Death points were the spots that caused vampires to immobilize when they were hit at that certain spot. But those punches could not stop the advancing Kris.

"Lan"

Kris continued to whisper as he slowly staggered towards his Lan, who was lying on the cold ground motionlessly. Finally, Kris was beside Lan. Kris slowly sank to his knees and reached out a hand to caress Lan's face. Lan's cheeks still felt warm and Kris's heart sank knowing that he will never be able to feel the same warmth against his hands again.

"My Lan"

Finally, a sob broke out of Kris, he grabbed Lan's motionless body and hugged it tightly, his tears running down his cheeks. Kris slowly lifted Lan's head and landed his lips on Lan's lips. As their lips touched, a violet light shot out of Kris's mate symbol and entered into Lan's mate symbol. The light that emitted from Kris was gradually sucked by Lan, as time passed, Lan's heart started to beat faster as Kris's heart began to gradually slow down. What had happened was, Kris had sacrificed his immortality for the ritual in exchange for Lan's soul. After a few minutes, Lan's fingers started to twitch, by that time Kris had started to sweat profoundly and turn pale. As Lan's eyes started to flutter, the violet light started to retreat back into an extremely pale Kris. Seeing Lan's soul return to his body Yan ran to them and pushed Kris to the ground, taking Lan into her arms.

Kris, who has pushed away to the ground fell down like a leaf that swayed in the autumn breeze. He was finally drained, emotionally, and physically. Blood was oozing out from the cuts that he received when Li Min's punches landed on him. He had turned pale and sweat covered his forehead and upper body. The usual glimmer in his jet-black eyes had turned dull and his lips looked dry, he practically looked like a walking corpse with a big belly. Kris slowly rubbed his belly and he felt two faints beats, beating in sync. Tears pooled in his eyes as he watched Yan carry away Lan, but they were not tears of sadness, they were tears of happiness. Kris was happy that he was able to save both his mate and his babies. It did not matter to him whether Lan forgot him tomorrow or not, because as long as all four of them were alive, there was still hope.

It did not matter to Kris that he had lost his immortality. He had a feeling that his mortal life will be enough to unite with Lan again and watch his babies grow up. He wanted to stand up and leave as he saw Yan leaving with a Li Min who was carrying the still unconscious Lan in his hands. Kris supported his body with his hands and tried to push his body up, away from the ground. As he tried to stand, he felt a warm arm wrapping around his waist while another warm arm went around his shoulder and supported him to stand up. Kris raised his head to see the person who helped him in this situation in this place. Kris was shocked as he saw the face of the owner to the arms around him, it was the shaman who helped Yan to break their bond. Kris wanted to push the old man away, but the old man had an iron grip on Kris. The shaman slowly directed Kris to a nearby curb and signalled him to take a seat. As Kris sat down on the curb, the shaman sat beside him. The shaman smiled kindly at Kris and spoke,

"I am sorry about what happened. They manipulated my mind into thinking that my family was killed by you, so that they can make me do the ritual willingly, to make the killer of my family suffer. But as you exchanged your immortality with your mate's soul, my mind became clear."

Kris could finally understand why the old man had acted like a totally different person before. He could not believe that Yan would go to such lengths to get revenge. 'There must be another reason', Kris thought to himself. He broke out of his thoughts when he heard the shaman's voice again.

"Looks like you have taken use of the medicine I gave you last time."

As these words left the shaman's lips, Kris turned into a deeper shade of crimson red while he unconsciously touched his belly.

"They are fine for now, but you have a long way to go with them alone until your mate comes back to you."

Kris's face brightened up and the dullness in his eyes disappeared as he heard these words from the shaman.

"But you must be careful of that woman. Your babies hold ultimate power and I'm afraid that she will one day come back for your babies. Take them away for some time until he returns back to you, believes in his love Kris, he will return."

Kris turned his head to the side to ask the shaman how he knew what will happen in the future, but when he turned his head, no one was there. It was only him, sitting on the cold curb. He let out a heavy sigh and stood up. He still felt a bit dizzy as he stood up, but he shook his head and tried to focus his power to teleport himself back to his house. But how many times he tried, he could not muster up enough strength.

"Well babies, it looks like we will have to take a late-night stroll to home."

Kris spoke while caressing his belly. He slowly started walking towards the direction of his house. The beautiful suit Kris was wearing was now dirtied with the mud from the ground and his own blood. His wounds were still bleeding and he clearly knew the reason why they did not heal. Pureblood vampires could only heal themselves as long as their mate was alive. When their mate is dead and their bond is broken, their wounds will stop self-healing as the alive mate is destined to die sooner or later. Even though Kris's mate was still alive, his mate's bond was broken. So his body acted as if his mate was dead, not self-healing the wounds on him. Kris slowly walked down the road staring at the same moon which he had stared at two nights ago, with Lan's warm arms wrapping around him protectively.

When he reached home, Kris slowly put his hand into his pant pockets and tried to find his house key, and the first thing he felt as his hand entered his pocket made his heart sank. He took out the soft red velvet ring box from his pant pocket with shaking fingers. He slowly opened it while a painful smile spread across his lips, the two blue pacifies with the angel curving on them lied peacefully inside the box. He slowly rubbed his belly as tears streamed down his face. Kris felt lonely, he wanted to feel the warmth of his mate. He did not just want it, he craved it. The babies inside him demanded their father's warmth and Kris did not have the strength to provide them with that warmth at the moment. He opened the door with great difficulty and finally got inside.

Kris just couldn't bear to look at his own house. Memories of them together flashed in his mind as Kris gripped hard onto the ring box in his hand. His Lan lived here, his essence was filled in this place. Kris took a deep breath and Lan's mint chocolate scent filled his nostrils as tears continued to stream out of his eyes. Kris took a deep breath and wiped his tears away. He was going to wait for his Lan, he believed in his Lan's love and he knew that Lan will remember him someday. He went to their room and opened the drawer in the bedside table. Inside their laid a pair of platinum rings which had the engraving, 'L & K'. Lan had made them a pair of couple rings, Kris put his ring on his ring finger and put Lan's ring as a necklace around his neck. He gave a kiss to his necklace and smiled. This smile was not a painful one or a sad one, it was a smile filled with hope. He had gathered enough memories with Lan in the past two weeks and Kris remembered all of them. Every word his Lan said, every expression on his Lan's face, every kiss, every hug, every lovemaking, Kris clearly remembered all of them. And it was enough for him to live in until his Lan came back to him.