Soft lips pressed against hers as Zhi Yan fell back onto the bed with a grunt. Die-er bit her bottom lip lightly eliciting a satiated groan. As she pulled herself back further onto the bed she felt something small and hard underneath her back. But before Zhi Yan could move her hand to feel what it was, Tao Yu sucked her neck right underneath her ears and her eyes rolled back with a moan. The woman lets out a tinkling giggle and pressed a kiss in the same spot. "Young Master likes that a lot, no?" She whispers, her hot breath melting away everything in the room. 

Lying on the bed was like lying on a cloud as gentle hands and kisses caressed her body. The room itself smelled of soft incense that swirled to match the perfumes wafting off of the two women. Zhi Yan's lashes fluttered letting out a pleased hum as Die-er nipped a specific area on her chin. All she wanted to do was lie here forever in this comfortable bed, with no promises, no suspicious travel companions, nothing.

"Die-er. Die-er." 

"What?" Tao Yu had moved to the side of the bed and was straightening her clothes. She pointed at the man on the bed.

"Young Master?" Die-er stopped her movements and looked down only to find the man underneath her, head turned to the side, eyes shut, and his chest rising up and down evenly. Pretty red lips opened and closed with noise coming out, appalled and offended at the notion that Zhi Yan had fallen asleep. "How dare he-"

"Die-er did you see the amount of alcohol he drank? Don't take it personally." Tao Yu walked to the door. "I'm going back."

Die-er pouted still offended at the situation. After Tao Yu left, she got up a couple of times only to walk back to the bed and sit back down, There was just something about the man, something she could not describe. Maybe it was the way, he spoke to her or the way he awkwardly tried to help her that she liked. A lot. If he was a regular... Die-er shook her head, those were thoughts that she knew better than to entertain.

"What am I, a little girl who believes in fairytales?" She murmured, reminding herself as she gently traced Zhi Yan's face from the corner of her eyes down her nose and to her lips. 

Nevertheless, she found herself settling back into the sheets and scooting closer to the man, a gentle slumber taking over her.

******

When Zhi Yan woke up, she found a pair of arms wrapped around her waist. As her gaze slowly trailed over the woman's sleeping form she began to grow conscious of a slow dizzying heat that was spreading from her shoulder. Fuck, the talisman.

The heat only grew worse as her mind fought through the intoxicated haze to move her hand. Her hand bumped into something cool. “Oh, Young Master, running away?” Die-er had woken up and Zhi Yan froze with her hand over the woman's. The small cool hand moved to grab Zhi Yan’s chin and she subconsciously leaned in. "I'm not that scary, am I?" She whispered looking up at her through thick dark lashes.

"No." She coughed stiffly. "Certainly not. Miss Die."

"Then why are you leaving?" 

"...Duties."

"And what duties beg your attention in the middle of the night, Young Master?"

Zhi Yan paused, her hand moving to where the talisman was again. "Miss Tao is missing. It isn't safe for women to wander out so late."

"She returned to her room after you fell asleep."

"Oh." The heat was making it hard to hold a conversation as all she could think of was the smothering burning sensation, hyperaware of the beads of sweat running down her back. 

"You know, I can hear your heart pounding, yet you say you're not scared." Her voice was barely above a whisper. "You're hiding something."

"Perhaps, you are mistaken." Zhi Ya breathed.

"And here I thought I liked you." The implication hung in the air as long nails dug into Zhi Yan's face. "But I do not like liars. Never have, never will."

A lump formed in Zhi Yan's throat and in a sobering moment, she realized that the pretty delicate Die-er had grown a set of ears and was looking at her with blood-red eyes. "So what is that in your hand?" A demon, huh.

"My robe?" She showed her her empty hand.

"No, you're hiding something." The woman pulled back, glaring at her. It didn't seem like Die-er had noticed any of her physical changes. "I demand you to take it off."

"Miss Die, I can assure you that I am not hiding anything from you."

Suddenly, Die-er gasped and began frantically searching for something as Zhi Yan climbed off the bead and slowly back towards the door. Then, she felt the top of her head and looked up at Zhi Yan. "YOU!"

Zhi Yan didn't wait for her to finish her sentence as she sprinted out the door and down the hall. Immediately, her hand grabbed the flap of paper on her shoulder and pulled. To no effect. The piece of paper stuck to her clothes as if sewn on. Where was that bastard's room?

She ran with desperate abandon through the twisting hallways until she turned another corner and threw herself into the next room, shutting it close. Moments later, a flash of red light past the door before the sound of footsteps faded. Finally, she let out a breath and slid to the ground. As her eyes adjusted, she raised an eyebrow. In the short seconds that she had seen the room illuminated by the hallway lanterns, it had seemed just like the room she had awoken in. But now with only the moonlight peeking in through the window, she saw something a little different. The room looked a little less glamorous with the cracks in the floor and the seemingly fading wallpaper. The world seemed to swim pain prickling at the back of her head when she leaned forward to get a better look at what the wallpaper was fading into. As her hands fumbled with her robes, they brushed hard on the floor against the wall and she paused. Slowly Zhi Yan moved her hand again and traced her fingers along a rough woody structure that was a little along the wall before melding into the floor. She smelled her fingers, a ghostly earthy fragrant gracing them and something clicked in her mind. He really has too much free time. Her hands resumed their quest to peel the talisman off and like it was never stuck on the clothes, the piece of paper merely phased onto her inner robes. Zhi Yan took a deep breath through her nose to quell the rising anger. She would find that man. 

Quietly, she slid open the door and peeked her head out. Once she determined the hallway to be empty, she stumbled into the hallway and glanced back at the room. Opulent paintings and extravagant furniture stared back at her unassumingly. Zhi Yan shook her head and shut the door. Nothing but trouble, a sentiment that she tucked away for later as she returned to her current predicament. She had no idea where she was but if she were to guess she was probably deeper in the building than her original room was. The talisman on her back hummed and she stopped. Turning her body, Zhi Yan felt a subtle tug to her right. Deciding she had no better idea, she hurried down the hallway. The pulling on the paper brought her deeper and deeper into the tea house until she was on the second to the top floor facing a large set of sliding doors. Hushed voices could be heard on the other side and it wasn't until she heard a distinctive laugh from the other side that she yanked the door open.