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## **Chapter Seven: The Girl, the Garden, and the Vampire with Terrible Timing**
> *Location: The Veiled Garden – Ward 9, Xintai City's forgotten sanctuary*
> *Time: Dawn—though no light dares enter here.*
Rin stared at the moss-covered gates.
It was just like he remembered—arched iron, roses with thorns the size of fingernails, ivy curling like lazy snakes. He ran a hand through his hair and adjusted his ridiculous cherry-patterned hoodie.
"She might hate me," he muttered.
"She might hug you," Bai Lu replied, arms crossed.
"She might stab me."
"I'd stab you, and I barely know your middle name."
"I don't have one."
She blinked. "You strike me as someone with at least two. Probably stupid ones."
"Touché."
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### **The Keeper of the Garden**
The gates creaked open without touch.
From the shadows stepped a girl—no longer quite a child, not yet fully grown. She wore a patchwork cloak, feet bare, a scythe slung lazily over her shoulder like an accessory. Her hair was silver-white, her eyes pale gold.
She tilted her head.
"…Rin?"
He smiled. "Hey, kiddo."
Silence.
Then she lunged.
He braced for a punch.
Instead, she *tackled* him.
Right into a rose bush.
"Ow—thorns—ow—internal bleeding—Hi! I missed you too—ow—yes, ribs!"
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### **Her Name Was Lian**
They sat on a bench surrounded by enchanted trees. Lian held her scythe like a comfort blanket, and Rin kept plucking thorns from his hoodie.
"You look exactly the same," she said.
"I moisturize. And I'm undead."
"You left."
"I did."
"You promised to come back."
He looked at her. For once, no jokes.
"I had to make sure they wouldn't follow. The Crimson Court doesn't forget loose ends."
"You *were* the loose end."
"And I'd rather die than let you be one."
She paused. "You're still an idiot."
He grinned. "A dashing, noble idiot."
"You look like you lost a bet with a thrift store."
Bai Lu, watching from a distance, almost smiled.
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### **The Tea Party of Awkward Truths**
Lian brewed tea from flowers that hummed in their sleep. She poured it into chipped porcelain cups with kittens on them. Rin sipped his slowly.
"This is actually good," he said.
"It's bloodroot blossom. Calms instincts."
"I'd inject this into my soul if I could."
"You already did. That's what you call humor."
He gasped. "You've become savage! Who taught you that?!"
"You did."
"...Fair."
They sipped in silence for a moment.
Then Lian asked the question.
"Why *me*, Rin? Why did you take me from them?"
He looked down at his cup.
"Because they were going to kill you to empower a blood rite."
"I know that. That's not what I meant."
He swallowed.
"When I looked at you, I saw a kid. Not a 'specimen,' or a 'halfling hybrid.' Just… a scared, brilliant, slightly snarky kid."
She raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't snarky."
"You threw a chair at a Highborn when you were nine."
"His nose deserved it."
"That's my girl."
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### **An Unexpected Reunion**
The hellhound-cat, now named "Grapefruit," snuck out of Bai Lu's coat and crawled onto Lian's lap. She blinked.
"Is that…?"
"He imprinted on me," Rin said. "I think he thinks I'm his mother."
"You're definitely the dumb parent."
"I *object*—I am cool, composed, and—ow! HEY! Grapefruit just bit my finger!"
"Proof."
They all laughed. Even Bai Lu.
For a moment, it was peace.
But peace, in Xintai, has the lifespan of a soap bubble.
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### **Enter: The Crimson Whisperer**
The flowers stiffened.
Wind stopped.
Lian stood. Rin followed suit. Bai Lu already had her hand near her blade.
From the trees stepped a man wrapped in red. No eyes. No mouth. His skin was stitched, and he walked with the sway of something wearing a corpse.
"Crimson Court envoy," Bai Lu said, cold.
The thing turned to Lian.
"You belong to the Court."
"I belong to *me*," she snapped.
"You were made. Stolen. The balance must be repaid."
"She's not a debt," Rin growled.
"She is property."
Lian raised her scythe. "Come take me."
The envoy lunged.
Rin moved faster than he had in years.
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### **The Fight for a Soul**
Steel met shadow. The trees groaned. Bai Lu cast a glyph that burned through half the garden. Lian spun like a storm, her scythe singing.
But the envoy kept coming. It didn't bleed. It didn't scream.
It simply *obeyed*.
Then Rin whispered something.
A name.
Not in English. Not in Vampiric.
In something older.
The envoy *stopped* mid-swing.
"Where did you learn that?" it rasped.
Rin stepped forward, holding a crystal that pulsed faintly.
"I know the name of your first death," he said. "I know what you were before the Court bound you."
The envoy trembled.
And shattered.
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### **Aftermath and Apples**
The garden slowly resumed its breath.
Rin collapsed into the grass. Lian tossed him an apple.
"Showoff."
"You're welcome."
"Still a showoff."
"I saved your *soul*! With words! That's high-level magic!"
"Still a showoff."
Bai Lu knelt beside him. "You alright?"
"I'm amazing. I'm also bleeding. Again."
She offered a hand. He took it.
Lian smiled faintly. "You're not leaving this time."
He sat up. "Nope."
"You promise?"
"Cross my undead heart."
She leaned against him. "Then stay. Help me protect this place."
He looked at Bai Lu.
"Boss?"
She nodded. "She's safer with us."
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> *Rin ran from his past—but not from the people he saved.*
> *Now that past knows his name again. And next time, it won't send envoys.*
> *It'll send war.*
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