Since Kris would be indisposed as long as Baekhyun was, so the rest of the clan took matters in their own hands.

Which meant that Mei was smuggled back to her university under the cover of bright sunlight, when the Council spies would be useless. For her sake, Luhan even made sure to take the highway, which left no cover for hiding and was quite long-winded, so on the off chance they did have a tail, they’d lose it.

For his own safety, he’d loaded up on sunscreen and then put on a shimmering yellow open face bodysuit (‘it looks like sunlight’, he’d reasoned, ‘makes it harder to look at for vampires.’ Lay, with his eyes tearing, had nodded vehemently in agreement), along with wide sunglasses and a face mask to protect himself.

Which Mei completely understood – his well-being came first. But she had banked on him staying inside the car after dropping her at the campus, which he blatantly refused.

‘I cannot abandon you at the doorsteps!’ he exclaimed, offended. ‘My mother raised me better than this. I’ll you to your building.’

‘Please, there’s no need.’ Mei muttered, hoping he’d take a hint.

‘Nonsense!’ Luhan smiled at her charmingly, offering her his arm. ‘I’ve already treated you quite poorly, although it was for a good cause. Let me at least do this much.’

Mei took a deep, bracing breath, before taking his hand. ‘Of course,’ she forced through a fake smile. ‘Lead the way.’

She couldn’t wait to get to her room.

……………………………  

His day-vision , Baekhyun admitted to himself after flying headfirst into a pillar the third time in as many minutes.

His vow to stay away from Mei was harder to uphold than he’d anticipated, and he was weak, he’d admit, because there was no shame in admitting a weakness for love.

‘You just want to ogle her,’ Sehun muttered under his breath but Baekhyun’s super-hearing ensured he heard it loud and clear. He refused to admit he’d blushed – ‘twas the lighting.

‘I thought you were depressed?’ Suho asked, sounding nervous. Baekhyun didn’t blame him because he was known to have a volatile temperament, especially in the matters of heart. He took after his mother in this regard.

‘A temporary bout,’ he assured his butler. ‘I’m fine as day.’

He raised a skeptical brow, pointedly staring at his reddened eyes. Baekhyun rubbed at them nonchalantly. ‘It’s all the garlic in this place; the fumes are affecting my vision.’

Suho hmphed but nodded. ‘You should talk to D.O. He’s been keeping lookout.’

Baekhyun waved a hand dismissively. ‘I’ll do as I see fit.’

‘And what will that be?’ D.O’s voice, curt as ever, spoke up behind him.

Baekhyun yelped in surprise, whirling around so quickly, his own vision blurred. The rest of his clan was awed, as always, at the display of his prowess. D.O, as always, merely blinked. ‘What are you planning?’ he ask- nay, demanded.

Baekhyun would have everyone know that he would not abide by that tone.

D.O only raised his brow. ‘Sir.’ he emphasized. Baekhyun deflated. ‘I want to…’ he mumbled the rest of the sentence, so it was a garbled mess.

‘You will do no such thing,’ D.O, bless his dark soul, somehow understood him clearly. ‘Not with the council on your tail. Sir.’

‘I’m not afraid of those ostentatious fools,’ Baekhyun snarled. ‘Let them attack and suffer my wrath!’

While it was a great improvement over his previous reiterations that he couldn’t care less if he lived or died, D.O had to disagree. ‘They won’t do any such thing, sir. Instead, they’ll follow you to Mei’s abode and…’

He didn’t need to say anything more. Baekhyun understood full well the consequences if the council got their claws on Mei, his sweetest bride. They would do to her what they’d done to his mother and Baekhyun would rather die that allow it.

‘Fine. But you will inform me the moment they leave,’ he ordered, locking eyes with his butler. D.O nodded.

So, the moment sun had broken over the horizon, bringing tidings of the council spies going underground, Baekhyun had shifted to his bat form and flown off into the sunrise.

Well, not literally because he’d burn to death even in his relatively tenacious alternative form because there was only so much his vampire genes could take. But the weaker sunrays of early morning afforded him a comfortable journey from his hideout to Kris’ mansion. He’d barely landed on a tree when Mei had emerged from the confines of the place, followed by a weird yellow blob that Baekhyun couldn’t look at directly. Not that he wanted to waste his vision on yellow blobs when he had Mei to look at.

Although ‘looking’ was all he could do since he definitely couldn’t see . All he could pinpoint was the silhouette that was familiar in its beauty. He was sure he could recognize her anywhere. She’d gotten into a car and the blob had gotten in inside with her. When the car started, Baekhyun realized Mei was probably leaving Kris’ mansion for her dormitory and call him petty but he was so, so glad.

Before they could drive off, Baekhyun flew down and snuck to the underside of the car. He’d be safe from the sunrays here and would be able to follow Mei when they arrived.

He was right about one thing – the sun’s rays didn’t reach him. That didn’t save him from the jerks and bumps on the road, which hit his head because he was clinging upside down. It was bad enough as it was but then the car stopped, and he emerged, eyes immediately tearing at the bright sunlight.

Disoriented, he flew about and hit into a wall, sliding down. He barely avoided being trodden on as people bustled and he shot back up, trying to stay as close to the ceiling as possible while keeping an eye on Mei.

He glanced around to see where she was, identifying the yellow blob that was accompanying her and heading in that direction, only to be intercepted by some wires lying about. His wings got tangled and he nearly crashed into a fan before managing to free himself and landing next to a giant clock which chose that exact second to announce the time, ringing shrilly in his ears.

Screaming – or rather, squeaking since he was a bat at the moment – he flew off, straight into a wall and slowly slid down, coming to a rest in the ground. It was wet and felt quite soothing against his rapidly inflaming skin. With determination, he pushed himself off and flew once again, determined to follow Mei and at least see her to her room.

He couldn’t find the yellow blob anywhere, so he flew about for a bit before lowering to get a clearer view. With so many students milling around, it was difficult to make sense of anything, but he thought he saw a silhouette that looked familiar, so he started following her.

It wasn’t until the person he’d been following spoke up that he realized he’d been following a guy with long hair. Annoyed, sunburnt and heartbroken, Baekhyun shifted to human form, hissing when the sun burnt him even more.

‘You!’ he yelled, squinting because the sunlight was too bright for his vampire eyes. ‘How dare you?’

The guy whirled around, surprise morphing into alarm as Baekhyun fell to his knees, skin reddening alarmingly. ‘Shoot, man, I think he’s sick!’ he yelled to someone but Baekhyun was too out of it to care. He jabbed a finger at the guy, hopefully getting his chest. ‘How dare you look like her?‘ he wailed.

‘Man, f**k you!’ The guy pushed him away, offended. ‘I do not look like a girl!’

‘Dude, I think he’s dying.’ Baekhyun opened his mouth to refute that but groa