Gayo continues to laugh, "Will you believe me if I told you that I didn't do anything?"

"What was it that you drank just now?" Xian demands, and Gayo suddenly stops smiling, his brows knit together. He holds his throat and a second later, starts gasping for breath, 'What is happening?' He panics. He feels like his windpipe closing up. He falls to his knees and closes his eyes, "XiChen! Help me. Protect me!" he speaks with difficulty. But Xian is not looking at him at all; his eyes glued to Wangji, who has stopped coughing. He looks pale, but otherwise fine.

"YiJun... " XiChen ignores Gayo and looks Wangji, who looks at the older man, "What was in the vial?"

Wangji looks at Xian. He knows that if Xian discovers what he had planned, it will hurt him, so he decides to give a vague reply, "It's something that will stop Gayo."

"How?" Xian asks, but before Wangji can answer, Gayo leaps at Xian once more with his fangs out, aiming for Xian's throat. Wangji gasps and pushes Xian out of harm's way, shielding him with his body. He closes his eyes, expecting the worse, but nothing happens.

Wangji and Xian sit up to see Gayo's decapitated head rolling on the floor. They see blood splattered on the cellar wall, and their eyes fall on XiChen, who is standing with a gleaming sword in his hands. The sword's blade is dripping with blood. XiChen's wrist is exposed, a triskelion mark visible under it.

There is a satisfied smile on the older Jade's face, "I have ended the curse, I have fulfilled the promise: Jade's Promise."

With that, XiChen falls to the ground and closes his eyes. There is a satisfied smile on his face.

"Nooooooooooo... Brother, please. Please wake up." Xian calls desperately, shaking his brother's shoulder.

Wangji holds XiChen's wrist in his hands. His eyes fill with tears. He doesn't realize as a tear makes its way down his cheek and falls on XiChen's wrist. It's not red. It's not blood.

Xian looks at Wangji, "Your tears are not red anymore. How?"

Wangji shakes his head, "I think there is more to XiChen...I think it was him."

"What are you talking...."

Before Xian can voice his doubts, from the corner of the room, he hears Zhau call him, "Xian... "

Xian goes to Zhau and helps him up.

"What happened here!?" Shen exclaims, entering the cellar. His eyes fall on Zhau, and he runs to him and takes him in his arms.

Xian returns to XiChen's side. Meanwhile,

Zhau cribs, "No need for physical display of affection. I am perfectly fine."

Shen growls, "You are not fine. You are bleeding, you dumb fuck!"

Zhau grins sheepishly before looking around. His eyes fall on Gayo and then on Xian holding XiChen. "Xian, wasn't he with Gayo?"

Xian nods, "Gege, he is my brother." Before Xian can say more, Wangji squeezes Xian's shoulder and gestures him to look at XiChen.

XiChen opens his eyes slowly, "What happened? How am I not dead?" He enquires;

Xian's face erupts into a big smile, "Brother, are you ok? How are you feeling?" Xian asks, taking his elder brother's hand in his.

"Fine, actually, more than fine. All these years, I felt like my every breath was owed to him." XiChen confesses, looking at Gayo's headless body. "Now, it feels like I am finally free." He looks around the room, "I owe you all an apology. I deceived you all." He adds; everyone looks at him questioningly.

XiChen looks at the door and addresses Shen, "Are all night creatures gone?"

Shen nods, "And all mutated werewolves are gone too."

XiChen smiles, "Then the curse has truly ended."

There are combined 'Mns' from around the cellar.

XiChen takes a deep breath, "Gayo was the first night-creature. The oldest, most perfect one. He was truly immortal. The only way for him to stop existing is if the prophecy were to come true. I was the only one who knew that it existed, as it turns out, even I didn't know the whole of it." XiChen looks at Wangji next, "You are no more a night creature. The part that craved blood is gone. You are just a wolf now."

"How am I not dead like the others?" Wangji asks.

"Those that died were without a soul. You, on the other hand, have a soul. And now that the curse has ended, the part that had broken away from you has healed."

Then XiChen tells them all about how Gayo was created; he tells them about how the Xiao, Zhu, and Bai lines are connected; how he had made a promise to himself that he would protect the bloodlines and survive to see Meng Yao's end.

Shen is the first one to speak, "You were the one who helped me save our village people the night YiJun turned!"

XiChen nods.

"You were the one who took the baby from the village infected with night flu." Wangji states.

XiChen nods. "I kept an eye on you and Xian every chance I could. Every time I thought that I had found Xian, I made sure that you saw each other. For only you would know for sure if it was him."

Wangji's eyes widen, "So it was you all along?"

XiChen nods, "Yes, for the most part, it was me. I was late a couple of times, though."

XiChen's eyes fill with tears, "I couldn't help Xiaohui, and I couldn't protect that little girl from that monster."

"The one I met at the hospital!?" Wangji asks, recalling the disgusting deed done by the night creature.

XiChen nods. "Mr. Lan, I am sorry that I stabbed you that night, nineteen years ago," He takes a deep breath, "Shin had somehow escaped. She had been unconscious for centuries, and no one expected her to wake up and venture out on her own. Even in her mutated state, Shin was powerful. I don't know how she ended up at Bai house. But it was not her that I had followed; it was you, Mr. Lan. I have always been able to follow you." The man says, looking at Wangji. He looks and feels guilty.

"I know I should have let you kill Shin, but I couldn't. I am sorry. I knew it was going to be dawn soon, and I knew you would survive. Shin, however, would not have survived. Maybe, it would have been better to let her go then."

Zhau gasps, "You are the man who took me from Boshan orphanage!"

XiChen nods, "And the one who burnt down your home. I am sorry, I couldn't let any evidence of Xiao and Bai blood remain."

"My father...." Zhau asks, but XiChen shakes his head, "He had already passed away before I could help him."

Xian had been quietly processing all the things up until this point. He didn't know anything that these people were talking about. He only remembers his present and past with YiJun, but at the mention of Bai blood, he remembers something, "Brother, the prophecy said that I would be raised the fourth time in my mother's home, but I grew in Jiang home and before that, in Wei home."

There are tears in XiChen's eyes and a proud smile on his face, "Jiang Yanli is our mother. She was the crown princess of the YungGong kingdom. I don't know how, but as soon as I saw her, I knew she was our mother. Think hard, Xian, think of how she used to play with us in Jade Palace." XiChen lifts his hand and places it on Xian's forehead. Xian gasps; images of his first birth flash across his mind's eye.

XiChen continues, "As soon as I saw her, my last doubts about you not being the Xian that I was looking for, washed away."

"Wait, so does that mean she is my mother too?" Zhau asks, eyes full of hope.

"Unfortunately, no," XiChen answers with a solemn expression on his face.

"Oh, ok. I just thought... " Zhau trails off and looks at the door. "I think we should leave now. I need to come back here and clean up all the mess. I need to explain the killings, gather evidence, and make it all look natural." Zhau admits in a put upon tone; everyone agrees.

XiChen smiles, "I think I can help you with that."

"Police work? How?" Zhau asks.

Xian answers instead of XiChen, "First, let's evacuate this building. All the supernatural creatures are gone; brother can erase the humans' memories. They don't need to remember what they saw. I am sure my brother knows how to do that."

XiChen nods, "Then I will make it look like Gayo fled the country. We can't connect him to any supernatural crimes, but there are plenty of underhanded deals that he was involved in, and I have all the documents with me. Zhau can say that he got an anonymous tip from someone, who informed him of Gayo's connection to the killings, and when he came to investigate, Gayo's men attacked him, and he lost consciousness."

Zhau interrupts, "And when I finally regained my conciseness, Gayo was gone. I called for back up. And when they search the club, they will find the proof of his illegal activities." Zhau adds, proudly looking around the room.

Everyone is about to leave when XiChen stops Wangji, "There are some matters I need to discuss with Mr. Lan, in private." He takes Wangji a little away from others. They return after a few minutes. XiChen nods and smiles at Wangji. Then the older man mutters a spell under his breath, and a hole opens up. He walks through it with Gayo's body and head in his hand. Wangji follows, and the opening closes behind them.

"What the fuck!?" Xian and Zhau mutter simultaneously and stand gaping at where the men had disappeared.

Shen chuckles as if he knows something the other two don't; both men roll their eyes at the wolf.

Within a few minutes, the hole reappears; Wangji and XiChen walk out without Gayo's body.

"What.. " Xian starts to ask, but XiChen cuts him off, "Later."

Xian nods.

Shen gives a small hug to Zhau, "Come back soon. I will be waiting."

Everyone except Zhau leaves.

On their way out, XiChen destroys all video cameras and wipes the day's memories from the human minds.

Once outside, XiChen asks the gang to follow him. He takes them to the garage at the back of the club. He hands the shell locket to Wangji and chants a spell; a big hole appears, "Mr. Lan and Mr. Shen, this will take you to your home." He says, pointing at the whole.

Wangji gives a quick hug to Xian, no words are spoken, 'I will be waiting for you, Xian. Come to me once you are done.'

'My Jun, I will come to you at dusk.' Xian replies in his mind; Wangji nods and steps into the hole; it closes.

As soon as they are gone, Xian looks at XiChen and requests, "Brother, come home with me. Please."

XiChen sighs, "For now, yes. I will come home; I want to meet mother."

"She doesn't remember us." Xian's heart hurts to say words out loud.

"I don't understand; she should have remembered us. At least you, if not me." XiChen shakes his head.

Then something occurs to Xian, "In my first life, queen mother did not look like my mother, Xi Xi. Yet, Shijie, looks like queen mother."

"Yes, it puzzles me too. I couldn't even smell Bai blood in her, but I know that she is our mother reborn." XiChen wonders, subconsciously making the hole appear from thin air once again. The brothers step through it, and the next moment, they are in Xian's home.

Xian calls Yanli, "Shijie, come home." He requests over the call.

"A Xian... " Yanli whispers from the other side. Xian can feel it in his heart that Yanli is in pain.

"Shijie... Shijie!" Xian yells into the phone, but no one responds for a few seconds. Then suddenly, he hears Jiang Cheng's voice, "A Jie! A Jie! What happened? A Jie! Please wake up... "

{Note:- Word count 2034

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