Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm

The lights inside the RV seemed to flicker as the shadows continued to be pulled into the mass of swirling darkness. I heard the shattering of the lightbulbs and hoped that none of the guys was injured from the flying glass. I could feel the shadows flying towards the kneeling woman that thought she could take Chen Zi Han from me, their presence like a gentle breeze in the RV.

"He is mine! I waited two lifetimes to be with him," she growled as she started to stand up, the shadows growing taller as they continued to surround her. I did understand what she was going through. Because let's face it, she and I weren't that much different at our core. She didn't want to hand over something that she considered to be hers any more than I wanted to.

But I had lived long enough to realize that no one truly cared about the happiness of someone else. No one could give me happiness, I needed to take it and protect it myself. Why should I give up Chen Zi Han simply because she wanted him? I mean, what made her think that I would be willing to give up my happiness for her to be happy?

That was a lot of 'happy' in one sentence.

I could feel the men tensing up as the shadows started to become larger and larger until the entire confines of the RV were covered in darkness. The fact that Chen Zi Han was still holding me in his arms was the only way I even knew that he was still there.

"What is your decision?" I asked, running my cheek against his until my lips were touching his ears. "Flight, fight, or freeze." Deep down I needed him to make the final call so that I knew that, in the end, he picked me. I didn't have to keep arguing with the voice that said he was with me because I gave him no other options.

"Fight," he growled, his voice reverberating in the darkness like a beast prowling through the forest. I nodded my head in understanding.

"Do you know what the difference is between darkness and shadows?" I asked as I heard the laughter of the woman. I might not be able to see her, but I could feel her. I closed my eyes and thought about what one of the voices had said. That everyone has a flame.

Let's put that theory to the test.

"Your golden finger is shadows, right?" I asked, loving the feeling of Chen Zi Han behind me in the darkness. A delicious shiver went up me and it had absolutely nothing to do with fear or the current situation. I could just picture what I wanted him to do to me in this darkness. Where he would put his fingers, his tongue. I held back a moan that was threatening to come out.

I was supposed to be fighting, not thinking about how fun it would be to climb Chen Zi Han like a tree in this darkness.

A chuckle, something that would not be out of place in a funhouse emerged in front of me. "What do you know?" the woman's soft voice came out in an almost whisper. "Do you think I am that easy to beat? Do you know how many people have underestimated me, only to find themselves buried in the ground beneath my feet?"

I paused… confused. Didn't she understand?

"The difference between darkness and a shadow is that a shadow needs light to be able to survive," I spoke slowly to make sure that she understood. "Your ability is to slip through the shadows, but what is inside of this RV? That is pure darkness. And darkness is mine."

I felt her pause, her moment of panic. "Can't run, can you?" I said with a smile as my fingers started to play with Chen Zi Han's hair. "That's because there are no shadows in here after yours shattered the lights. What makes you, nothing."

"Welcome to the darkness, little bird. We're all a little mad here," came Liu Yu Zeng's voice from somewhere in the darkness. I chuckled at his words as Chen Zi Han moved his lips to start caressing my neck. My fingers gripped his hair tighter, not willing to give up this feeling.

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the swirling feelings that Chen Zi Han was invoking when I saw it. A bright pink flame in the darkness. I stared at it in front of me, knowing that it wasn't one of my flames and it would be impossible for her to use the light to create a shadow large enough for her to travel through. Only I could see it.

I guess the voice was right. Everyone had a flame burning inside of them.

Chen Zi Han bit down hard at the spot where my neck and my shoulder intersected and I felt my knees go weak.

"Do you want me to kill her?" I asked, panting. All I wanted was to pull this man into me. To be so close, so joined that we didn't know where one of us started and the other one stopped. But first things first. And this bitch really needed to be dealt with first.

Chen Zi Han removed his mouth from my neck and gently licked up. Putting his chin on my shoulder, my hand still tangled in his hair, he shook his head. I froze for a second, worried that he was choosing her.

After all, why else would he say no to me killing her?

The woman let out a frustrated screech as she tried to call on her powers over and over again, only to realize that there was nothing to call. "Chen Zi Han! I am the one for you! Me and me alone. I can help you. I can make it so you are never scarred, never had your eye ripped out. I can make you stand at the top of the world, not just as the shadow of Liu Yu Zeng but because it was you that brought the zombies to their knees."

I could feel Chen Zi Han shaking behind me, and I lost my grip on his hair.

He stood up, and I could only feel his arm around my waist, the darkness cutting off my sense of sight to know what was going on with him. And that was when I heard it.

It started out low at first and then built up more and more until his arms started to shake and his whole body started to tremble uncontrollably. He tilted his head back and roared with laughter. I would admit that I was more than a little jealous that she could make him laugh like that. I had never heard him sound like that before.

"Is that what you think I want? To stand at the top of the world?" he asked, the laughter never leaving his voice. "You clearly don't know me at all."

The woman gasped in the darkness as if he had physically slapped her.

"I like being in the shadows, I like going unnoticed by everyone. To me, there is nothing more satisfying than being the protector. That is what I need from a relationship. To have my woman understand that I need to cook for her, that I need to take care of her. That I need to stand in her shadow to protect her from the world." My breath caught in my throat at his words.

No one in their right mind would ever think that Chen Zi Han was not an Alpha male to the extreme. He was built like a brick wall and could easily kill a man with a smile on his face. And yet, that was not who he was on the inside. Inside, he was not a killer, not a thug, not a criminal. He was a protector, a caregiver. And I had never been more proud or happy to call him my own.

"You can't mean that!" screeched the woman in the darkness. I still didn't know her name, but now that she was going to die, there wasn't much point in learning it. "You should be at the top, you deserve to be acknowledged by everyone for who you are."

Chen Zi Han just chuckled and pulled me in closer so that I was back against his chest like I never left. "I don't want to be at the top. And I only need four people to acknowledge me." He turned his attention back to my neck and I could not have been happier. He removed the hand from my waist and place it gently around the front of my neck. Not taking his lips off of my skin for a second, he lifted his right hand and held it out into the darkness.

Too lost in the sensations of his lips and hand, I only barely heard the thud of a body falling to the floor in front of me.

Chen Zi Han retracted his arm, only to have it wrap around my front as the thumb rubbed my ribs right under my breast.

A crackle of electricity filled the air with light and this time, I couldn't hold back the moan slipping from my lips.

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