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All powerful governments are alike; each government has secrets to keep.
Everything is smooth-sailing at Yujing Terrace. The General Secretary carefully compiles the minutes of the Liyue Qixing’s weekly meeting, and hands a copy to the Yuheng, who is on her way to the Tianquan’s abode in the sky. Keqing mutters a distracted “thanks” under her breath, and stuffs the notes into the thick folder tucked under her arm as she briskly walks towards the plaustrite elevator.
“Excuse me,” she says, “Do you sell the moon here?”
Buyun bows and steps aside; Keqing rides the elevator up and takes the time to admire Liyue Harbour from the skies. She can understand why Ningguang insists on retreating to this floating palace when the affairs of Teyvat have her stumped. Something about the height — being able to see as far as Sumeru and Fontaine — puts all of life into perspective.
Keqing walks into the Jade Chamber, her nose twitching at the faint scent of blood.
Fair. She could use a private abode like this herself, too. Most of the Qixing do. After all, the ritual of induction into the Liyue Qixing includes a sacrifice: their humanity.
Keqing finds Ningguang lounging in her office, tobacco pipe in hand. An empty vial lies in the bin. The Tianquan dismisses her secretaries — thralls — with a flick of her pipe, and they mindlessly scurry away. Intrigue — cold and wine-red — shifts to meet Keqing’s gaze.
Different people respond differently to the ritual. Some, like Uncle Tian, instantly age thirty years before the transformation is complete, for the role of the Tianshu requires him to drink a half-vampire’s blood. Others, like Keqing, retain their youthful looks after consuming a regular vampire’s blood. Only a select few survive the succession ritual of the Tianquan’s position— the agonising transformation of a mere human into a pureblood vampire, the strongest of them all.
Those three days of torment left Ningguang’s hair an ethereal shade of silvery-white, tips dusted with burnished gold.
They never speak of the three days, though they all share the same memory. Seven of them, each in a locked room, having accepted their duty and taken the blood of their predecessor. The screams that echo through the night when the unholy transformation begins in body and in mind. The morning of the fourth day when the doors are unlocked, and seven vampires step out, gifted with immortality and powers beyond their wildest dreams.
It is a gift that has served Keqing well in her role as Yuheng. As finely as the alacrity and intensity of a pureblood vampire has served Ningguang.
“I presume you are here with the proposal for Yilong Wharf?” Ningguang asks between lazy puffs of smoke.
“Yes.” Keqing approaches the table, placing the thick folder on the desk, and pauses. Strange. This close, she can see the unusual twitching of Ningguang’s fingers as she holds the pipe. The Tianquan seems… restless. Distracted, somehow. Keqing knows this well: these are the first signs of unsatiated hunger in a vampire.
But the vial…?
“Is there anything else?” Ningguang’s voice is curt, and Keqing knows better than to step on the foot of an agitated pureblood.
“No. But I expect the approval in three days,” Keqing replies sharply, “Or I’ll be up here again— and you don’t want that, Ningguang.”
Ningguang lets out a breathy laugh, waving her hand in acknowledgement. The Yuheng leaves the Jade Chamber, and goes on with her day.
*
Captain Beidou is a truthful woman in her relations with her crew. They know why she spends the last day of every week in her quarters with the Alcor’s surgeon, Yinxing. They also know exactly what they are carrying when they deliver unmarked crates to the Jade Chamber under the cover of night, whenever they first dock at Liyue Harbour.
Those on the Alcor are sworn to keep her secret, and they do so faithfully.
Once in a while, however, a drunken sailor or two might accidentally let slip that the Captain of the Alcor often has cargo kept in her quarters. And occasionally, the wrong people would overhear this claim.
When that happens, port officials will board the Alcor before it is due to leave, demanding to inspect the cargo it carries. And Beidou will sit with her second-in-command on the deck of the ship, tapping her feet impatiently while these government figureheads do their job.
“Who is it this time?” Beidou grumbles, “We already have to make a detour since there’s a storm brewing. We’re going to be a week late at this rate!”
Beside her, Juza sighs. “I’ll find that out, Capt’n. Once we sail.”
Two pale officials from Port Ormos clamber up the stairs, approaching her with documents in hand. It takes all of Beidou’s willpower not to roll her eye. “Captain.”
“All clear?” Beidou demands.
“I only have one question.” The official reads through his documents thoughtfully. “Why do you have… four crates of vials in your quarters? These are not marked as cargo, and they contain red liquid.”
“Because they ain’t cargo. I put my blood in there.”
The official’s brow shoots up. “You acquired four crates of vials for your… personal… enjoyment?”
Beidou barks out a laugh. “Can’t a Captain have her secrets? You don’t wanna know what I do with my blood, yeah?”
“And no one else’s?”
“Are you saying I’m a murderer?”
“It is a possibility. That’s… a lot of blood you’re storing.”
Juza slams his fist on the table. “Captain Beidou is not a murderer!” he snaps, “She just has her preferences. As her second-in-command, I can guarantee she coerces no one into doing this.”
The officials stand there, silent and motionless, until Beidou pushes her chair back and rises to her feet. The hunk of a Captain towers over the two puny men and cracks her knuckles lazily. “Look, if there are no concerns… I’m already delayed. The Liyue Qixing will not be pleased if their shipment arrives late, y’know? You don’t want your bosses to hear from the Tianquan herself, do you?”
“F–fair,” the first official concedes, and quickly signs his documents with a flourish. “You are cleared to leave, Captain.”
“Great!” Beidou claps her hands together. “Let’s get moving then!”
“Aye-aye, Capt’n!”
*
Lady Ningguang, in a nightgown, and her silvery hair fastened up with hairpins on the nape of her neck, stands among a litter of all sorts of things scattered all over the room, before an open bureau. This cannot be, she thinks as she rummages through her own belongings. A comb, hairpins, soap, perfume— none of these are the vials she so desperately seeks.
She has always carefully calculated the number of vials Beidou brings back with each voyage. It has always been enough, just enough, to tide her over till the Captain returns.
How, then, did she end up having nothing to go on for an entire month? And now the Alcor is delayed. A week, Beidou wrote in her latest letter, because of two nosy officials at Port Ormos. Yet by Ningguang’s calculations, this news should not have been devastating. She should not be starving, as she’s had for the entire month.
Not for the first time, Ningguang curses the exquisiteness of Beidou’s blood, and the Tianquan’s history as a pureblood vampire. Purebloods cannot sustain themselves on just the blood of anyone. Purebloods can only draw strength from other purebloods— such as a human whose bloodline has not been tainted by any vampire. These humans are rare and far between, with numerous lineages having had at least one vampiric ancestor. It is so rare that her predecessor had kept a book of pureblood human families, who have served as the Tianquan’s thralls for countless generations, to be fed on and disposed of at their whim.
Beidou, however, is unique. When Ningguang first smelled her, she had smelled… different. Exquisite. Like the finest of Liyue’s cuisine, better than even her pureblood human secretaries. Her lineage is unknown; her ancestors unrecorded. But Ningguang knew from the very beginning that Beidou was entirely human. Untainted. A feast.
She thanks her lucky stars every day that she did not have to enthrall the famous Captain of Liyue. No, soon after their first meeting, Beidou bent her knee to Ningguang of her own free will.
Ningguang had not thought that possible, not in her entire lifetime. With Beidou’s blood, she was able to refrain from killing her secretaries prematurely. The first ten years of a pureblood vampire is difficult, she’d learned, with ravenous hunger and insatiable desires. It gets better after the first decade. Ningguang is barely halfway through—
Her thoughts are interrupted when her vision turns red. She falls to her knees with a groan, clutching her pounding head. Not… yet. She can’t lose control, not now. She has to hold on for another week, even though she can hear the blood roaring in her ears. Her world is tinged with crimson, and her senses heightened. She can hear her secretaries’ breathing as they clean their offices above; she can smell the scent of their delectable blood. If she concentrates, she can even hear the footsteps of the humans visiting Yiyan Temple, far below the Jade Chamber.
Noise. Too much noise.
“Ugh…” It feels like her skull is being split open by a hammer. Need—
It smells so good. She’s so hungry. She could eat five cows and still have room for a horse. Her secretaries are moving, and each step they take on the wooden floor reverberates in her skull, as though a microphone is attached to their feet. One of them is getting louder and louder, closer and closer. Their scent fills her nose. I need—
A knock on the door. “Lady Ningguang?” The door opens.
Ningguang sees red and pounces.
*
When Beidou opens the door to the Jade Chamber, the stench of fresh blood immediately smothers her senses. She gags for a moment before the realisation hits. “Oh shi—”
The Captain hurtles down the stairs and into the open door to Ningguang’s bedroom, hearing the squelching noises before she sees Ningguang. The pureblood vampire kneels amidst a mess of objects with an open bureau, clutching a bloodied body in her hands, her silvery hair and white nightdress stained with blood. Glowing red eyes tinged with a feral, ravenous hunger shift to meet Beidou’s gaze.
Ningguang bares her bloody fangs with a hiss, tossing Baishi’s body aside.
“Ning—” Beidou begins, swiftly dodging Ningguang’s pounce. “Oh, baobei…”
The Tianquan snarls; Beidou grabs her thin wrists, lifting them over Ningguang’s head and pinning them to the wall. Ningguang growls, writhing under Beidou’s grasp. In normal circumstances, Beidou would never be able to do this— but the pureblood vampire is weakened by hunger, and the Captain knows it.
“You must’ve been so hungry,” she whispers, pulling off her cape and presenting her bare neck to the growling woman. “Here…”
She winces when Ningguang’s impossibly-sharp fangs sink into the crown of her neck. Beidou releases Ningguang and wraps her arms around her while she suckles and mewls into her skin. The sensation is always strange, no matter how many times Beidou does it. It feels like two extremely sharp needles in her skin, sucking up her blood like a straw. It stings, and she closes her eye with a groan.
“Take it slow, baobei,” the Captain coos softly, stroking her hair. “I’m here…” She focuses on Ningguang, on the smoothness of her skin and the warmth of her body. She runs her fingers through Ningguang’s bloodied hair and lets her hands roam over the other woman. Her fine butt; her smooth legs. After a feeding session, Beidou gets her turn to nourish herself with the vampire she loves, and this time is no different.
After several heartbeats, Beidou feels Ningguang’s fangs slip out of her skin. The Tianquan pulls back, gazing at Beidou with clarity in her eyes. “Bei… Beidou,” she mumbles, “I…”
“Shh.” Beidou wipes the blood from Ningguang’s lips. “Are you full now?”
Ningguang nods shakily, her gaze flicking briefly towards Baishi’s corpse. “Oh no…”
“We’ll clean up tomorrow, okay?” Beidou murmurs, “I’m sorry I’m so late this time.”
“No… I should have had enough to last,” Ningguang replies, distracted. “I’m not sure why I didn’t.”
“We can figure that out tomorrow.” Beidou’s breathing is heavy. Something about Ningguang’s fangs in her skin always makes her feel this way. This… desperate desire, this need, a fire in her belly. She clutches Ningguang tightly, fingernails digging into her back. “You… you drank quite a bit, and I…”
I need—
Ningguang’s eyes soften in understanding. “Oh, Beidou…”
“Yeah?” Beidou breathes, unable to stop her hands from slipping under Ningguang’s nightdress. Archons, she always feels this soft and pliable. Her lovely butt, those finely-shaped breasts, she—
Ningguang guides her carefully through the clutter, pushing her onto the bed. Beidou watches, breathless, as the woman slowly unbuttons her nightdress, letting it fall to the floor. She sucks in a breath, drinking in the sight of the Tianquan bathed in the light of the moon, her curves accentuated by soft, silver light.
Ningguang crawls onto the bed, and Beidou cups her full breasts, one in each hand. “My turn,” Beidou whispers, a different sort of hunger in her eye.
The Tianquan leans in to kiss her roughly, teeth gnashing against teeth. “Yes,” Ningguang breathes, running her fingers through Beidou’s hair. “Your turn. Take me as you please, Captain.”
Beidou grabs her by the waist, flipping over and pressing Ningguang against the bed. Her mind races with the thoughts of all that she’ll do tonight to her. First, she’ll caress every part of Ningguang; commit every curve and gasp to memory. Then, she’ll take Ningguang’s left breast into her mouth and toy with each nipple until she writhes. Then, and only then, when Ningguang’s eyes are glazed with desire and her breaths come in heavy pants, will Beidou consider fulfilling her own needs.
They will start slow, as always. Ningguang gazes at her with bare love, unafraid. So Beidou leans in, nibbling at her neck. “Oh, Ning. You bet I will.”
And with the night as their only witness, they make love.
*
When morning arrives, Ningguang remembers her current predicament. That is, Baishi’s cold corpse on the floor of her bedroom, and blood staining numerous vanity items. She rises with a sigh and gazes at the Captain, still fast asleep in bed. She has never met a human with such stamina when it comes to pleasure. Sometimes, it’s hard to believe Beidou is human through and through. She has the strength of a half-vampire, at least.
Ningguang changes into fresh garments and tiptoes across the room, opening the door. Her remaining two thralls arrive at her quiet call. “Clean this up quietly,” Ningguang orders, gesturing to the mess in her bedroom, “And do inform Baishi’s… family.”
“Of course, Lady Ningguang.”
The family will send someone else, and Ningguang will have to turn her into a thrall again. But the process is always easier with these official channels, for their people come willingly. She crosses the room back to bed, closing the sliding door behind her for privacy.
Beidou cracks one eye open, beckoning her to come closer. “It’s a Saturday, isn’t it? Come back here, Ning.”
The Tianquan rolls her eyes, sliding under the covers and snuggling up to Beidou. She can hear the other woman’s heartbeat, steady and firm, and if she presses her ear to Beidou’s chest, she can even hear her blood flowing through her veins.
Beidou hums, stroking her hair.
“I hope you’ve been filling those vials,” Ningguang mumbles into her.
“Got ‘em all filled. My men will bring ‘em up as part of the usual shipments.” She carelessly waves an arm, and Ningguang glimpses the numerous wounds on them— needle punctures, all of them, some half-healed and some fresh.
Yelan had once asked why Ningguang didn’t enthrall Beidou. It didn’t make sense to let the Captain sail off for half a year or more, when Ningguang craved her blood so often. It was impractical even for Beidou, who had to spend every night extracting blood from her arm in a syringe, filling three vials at each time. Yet Beidou remained faithful, and Ningguang… trusted her.
“Say,” Beidou murmurs, “You wanna go to Wanmin Restaurant today? For lunch?”
Ningguang lifts her head.
“Xiangling’s made some new dishes, and I promised her I’d try. But since you’re so clingy—”
“Am not,” Ningguang interrupts sharply.
“Hah!” Beidou scoffs. “Thought I’d bring you along, Ning. Blood’s one thing but you still need to eat. Keep up with the trending food, yeah?”
“I suppose.”
“Great! But before that…” Beidou inserts a finger into her garment, tugging at it. “Where did this come from?”
“I had to get my secretaries to clean up. I can’t face them naked, can I?”
“Why not?” Beidou tugs harder. “I’m not done yet, baobei.”
“S–seriously?”
“Uh huh.” The Captain sits up, unbuttoning Ningguang’s shirt. The Tianquan huffs as Beidou peels the layers away again, exposing her small breasts. “Aww. Perky already,” she murmurs, running a thumb over her nipple.
Ningguang shivers in pleasure.
“Round two?”
She scoffs in disbelief. Why would anyone ever want to enthrall Beidou?
“Is that a yes, love? Not sore, are you?”
“I’m a vampire,” Ningguang snaps, “It’d take more than just a few rounds for me to be sore, Beidou.”
“Oh yeah?” The pirate’s grin widens, and Ningguang immediately regrets her declaration. Beidou grabs her by the waist, lifting her up. “Then let’s get started, eh?”
“You’re unbelievable— ah!”
Ningguang’s head falls back as Beidou sheathes herself inside her again, an insufferable smirk on her lips. The Tianquan groans, clutching on to the Captain’s back for dear life as she starts up a steady rhythm. In and out, in and out. Release, hold, again.
And when they’re both spent, Ningguang rests her head on Beidou’s chest and inhales the sweetness of Beidou’s scent. In these moments, Ningguang remembers her answer. There’s no need to enthrall Beidou—
For the Captain has already enthralled her.