13 The Coming of Nightfall

-Yunlan-

The remaining hours of the day seems to last forever for Zhao, as he was eager to get all preparations for their trip to the mountains done as soon as possible. The reason? He wanted to see his Professor and ask him to go with them. The Ghost Slayer had given his approval, but he still needed to convince him to go with him. Shen Wei was proving to be too shy and he was sure he will try to avoid him at all cost, but unfortunately for him, he wasn't going to let him run away without a fight.

So, Zhao Yunlan keep himself busy, making reservations for them to stay in the best hotel in River Village, as well as to take care of their transportation, making countless highly strong wards for the villagers, to replace the old ones and so on. However, as he took care of the accommodations in the hotel, which wasn't all that big, just a rural one, he make sure he was to share his room with Shen Wei and him alone.

He had found himself enjoying teasing the Professor, but more than that, he was sure that somehow his dark prince has steal his heart in one go. He never truly believed in love at first sight, but after meeting Shen Wei so unexpectedly, he had never stopped taking him out of his mind. He even felt that he knew him for a very long time, although he was certain he had never seen him before the case in his dorm.

Nonetheless, he was without a doubt love sick for someone he just met and who wasn't even human. He didn't care about him being a powerful ghost, nor that he may be keeping some secrets from him. The last time they talked, he failed to explain a few thing he had asked, but that was okay. He could wait for him to come along, as it was too soon for him to fully open to him or fully trusted him.

By the time he finish with the most important parts of the preparations for their trip, it was almost nightfall. As soon as he got inside Shen's car, he wasted no time in drive back to Dragon City University. At that hour, so close to nightfall, the streets were almost empty. Most citizens were at home before nightfall, because the nights belonged to the ghost and it was the time when people were killed, mostly in very horrible ways.

Those few who dared to go out into the cold darkness, were drunks, idiots that didn't care about their lives, monks or priests who served the Order and patrolled the street occasionally, specially trained policemen and Guardians. Wang and Sang were most active at that time, since they could sense other ghost crossing the border, although only the small fries, because they would never sense the presence of the Ghost Slayer for example, stronger ghost or a high level demon.

Usually, those were the ones they needed to fully investigate, because those they deal when on patrol, were easy to handle. The Guardian Order was huge, the city itself could not be protected by only a handful of people, even if they were special. So the Order have quite a few subdivisions, that worker under him and his selected team, however only them could take the more dangerous cases involving the strongest, crossing from the underworld or even hell, which unfortunately, was beginning to become more usual, in the last few months.

They had wonder about the reason of the increasing of stronger ghost attacking humans and have done their best trying to find the cause, but now that they know what was really going on, he could not help but pray they could restore the barrier before it was too late. And so his thoughts go back to Shen Wei, the one he was so eager to see again like a teen in love for the first time.

Soon, he parked Wei's car and go out in good spirit. The walk toward the teacher's dorm wasn't long, so he found himself asking for his Professor's room number at the reception, because he had sent home his team earlier than usual, to give them the proper time for packing their things and had forgot to ask Lin for the number.

As he walked in excitement toward the Professor's room, he took out a lollipop from his pocket and put it on his mouth. It was a sweet one, like he like them and he hoped that having his mouth full would stop him from attempting kissing the Professor again, because he really had acted out of impulse last time and he didn't want for Shen Wei to be scare off by his rash action.

When reaching the correct door, Zhao closed his eyes and try to hide his excitement. He was supposed to be there to invite him to join their group, not to flirt with him for no reason. Nonetheless, his heart was already working the extra mile, just by wanting to see him again, which wasn't a good indication he would behave once inside.

"Come on Yunlan, don't mess this up…" He advised himself and knock on the door once. No respond, a second one… no much luck, then a third one and still nothing and just when he was going to knock a fourth time, the door open and he cursed to hell. He had just told himself not to mess things up, but as he saw Shen Wei's handsome face, giving him a welcoming smile, what was a man like him to do?

"Guardian Zhao…" Shen greet him first.

"Plain Zhao or Yunlan is fine and to be honest more intimate…" Shen sighed. No, that wasn't a good sign. Come on Zhao, just behave for at least a few minutes, damn it!

"Please come in, it will be night soon, although this place is quite safe, thanks to you." Shen said, moving aside so Zhao could enter.

-Shen Wei-

He knew Zhao was coming, so he tried his best to prepare himself for the challenge ahead of him. He had thought in bring Guo with him, but that will give Zhao a lot of questions he didn't want to answer and it will make Guo, Zhao's target for a while. Thus he discarded the idea almost immediately. Chu, despite him sending a message to him, had yet to return from the underworld. He had message him back, telling that there was something he would like to investigate before coming back, which he approved.

Now, having Yunlan face to face, he hoped to survive the ordeal. When he open the door, he prepare himself for an instant hit, because he was sure Zhao was going to come with something shameless at first sight, but to his surprise, he had come with a lollipop on his mouth, giving him an air of a mischievous, sexy bad boy looking for redemption and he love it. He stepped aside to let him in and offer him a sit.

"Xiao Wei… I will guess, you have been told of the pillar of nature location, right?" Zhao asked as soon as he sat. He didn't want to give Wei, a chance to complain about his kiss. He wanted to avoid that topic, for now.

"Yes, I know is somewhere around the River Village mountains. You are going with your team, I presume." He said, walking away from him to his small kitchen. He was going to prepare some tea for them, it was a good way of keep himself out of Zhao's reach and distract himself from his presence.

"Of course, and well… I will love for you to join us. We both have the same goal after all." He said right ahead. He was aware that Shen was already trying to avoid him by making tea.

"Yes, but I can search for the artifact of my own. I don't even need to take the long trip…" Shen begin, chancing a glance his way.

"But I already make arrangements for you. I spend most of the afternoon making reservations one after the other, so you will have the best seat in a car and best room in the village hotel and all…" Zhao sadly said, giving Shen such a puppy dog eyes look, that was a killer for his troubled heart. Zhao Yunlan, you will definitely be the death of me. Shen thought, sighing yet again.

"Seriously you… why go to such length? You barely know me." Shen asked curiously, pouring the hot water on a tea pot and adding the bags. He was reaching a porcelain cup, when…

"Because I like you too much already?" He outrageously said, making Shen's face flush deep red in seconds and a wave of pain run all over his body. Instinctively Shen dropped the cup in his hand to the floor, which shatter in pieces flying everywhere.

"Shen Wei!" Zhao yelled hurriedly coming to see if the Professor was alright or he was cut somewhere.

"Don't come, Yunlan… you may cut yourself with a shard…" Shen warn him, but Zhao wasn't concerned about himself, but for Shen. He pretty much ignored all shard and took Wei's arm, gently pulling him out the dangerous mess and help him sit on his couch.

"You okay? Were you hurt? Just tell me where?" Zhao asked, having a better look at him. Seen Yunlan with such concern about his wellbeing, Shen couldn't help but to love the man even more. Unfortunately, love meant pain and with Zhao already checking him out for any sign of blood, it was impossible for him to hide his pain from Yunlans sharp gaze.

"You are in pain again… Shen, where…" As Zhao was kneeled in front of him, Shen could clearly see a hint of panic in his eyes.

"Don't worry, I'm not hurt. I'm fine…" He try to fake a smile.

"No, you are not." Zhao insisted, taking the liberty to remove a lock of hair from his pained, yet beautiful face. The gesture was a very caring one. Right at that moment Zhao was treating him so kindly and with such delicacy, as he were something very precious to him, that Shen Wei couldn't help himself but lose it. He gently removed Zhao's lollipop from his mouth and throw it away, pulling a more or less surprised Yunlan closer to him.

As he moved his head down to kiss Zhao, ignoring whatever torture may come after, Shen closed his eyes and let gravity do its works, but just as he could feel Zhao's warm breath inches away from his face, a sudden dark energy appeared in the middle of the room, interrupting their almost kiss in the act. Shen moved away from Zhao, when sensing Chu's portal, however, the other man already guessed what almost happen.

"Shuzhi…" Shen Wei whisper, but was interrupted abruptly.

"They are coming soon. More demons from Hell. We need to stop them now, before they had the chance to cross the barrier." Chu warned and instantly, Shen Wei's expression changed, the pain forgotten. He was now in the Ghost Slayer mode, even if he didn't wear the cloak.

"Lead the way…" Shen said and gave Zhao an apologetic gaze. Then he open a portal and enter it, but before the portal was completely closed, Zhao impulsively moved and hold Shen's arm. The next thing Zhao knew was that was no longer in Xiao Wei's room or even in the human realm for that matter. Surrounded by darkness and demons, he could only be in one place. The underworld.

AN: Here you go, hope you like it. Love you all and thanks for taking the time to read this. Take care, until next time. ^_^