Hold Me Like You Held Onto Life
Chapter 1; The Blood On Our Hands Is The Wine We Offer In Sacrifice

The large patch of blue on the other side of the city was far more alarming however. The Lin Kuei had seemingly increased their efforts for more ground. If Hanzo didn't act soon, they could overpower the Shirai Ryu.

They had to have a plan before the next full moon, the pack was stronger then, and with a well thought out operation the werewolves could easily push back their enemies. He thought back to a possible alliance with the Black Dragon. Kano was oafish, as half-dragon's tended to be, but the clans backup would definitely be useful against their enemies. Especially when the Lin Kuei was mostly comprised of humans, with a few supernatural entities here and there.

He turned to his second in command. "It looks to me like we may have to create an alliance with the Black Dragon."

"I was considering that too, Boss. But..." Junpei shook his head and pointed towards the large red block of the city. "That could also work against us, if the Lin Kuei decide to ally with the Red Dragon."

Hanzo scoffed, "the Lin Kuei won't do that. You know as well as I do that Oniro is too stubborn." It really was their biggest weakness. Oniro was an old fool, far too set in his ways. It made everything so very predictable, and that made things a lot easier for Hanzo. "Besides, I am sure Kano wouldn't say no to a few extra claws against the Red Dragon."

"We should focus on pushing back the Lin Kuei first," Junpei reminded him. "The next full moon is only a month away, our plan needs to be flawless."

"It will be," Hanzo stated confidently, smirking as he lent against his hands. "The Lin Kuei have been too cocky lately, we need to remind them of their place in the food chain."

Before Junpei could further add his opinion, the door slammed open, Katashi stumbling through with a panicked look on his face. Hanzo usually preferred his pack to knock, but given how jittery Katashi was, it looked like this was important.

"Katashi, you know I do not like interruptions." He crossed his arms and watched as the other man scrambled to shut the door behind him. "What is the meaning of this?"

"It's the Lin Kuei, Boss," Katashi said between his pants. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. "Oniro's dead."

Hanzo paused at that, a strange horror sweeping over him. All that security in Oniro's predictable actions was gone in an instant. He took a deep breath. No, the Lin Kuei will still be predictable. Oniro had a son, Sektor, and it was set in stone that he would be the next leader. Sektor had the same weak spots as his father, it would be fine.

"I take it Sektor will be taking over then," Junpei voiced Hanzo's own thoughts. He pushed himself away from the map and rolled his eyes. "Maybe pushing them back will be even easier than we thought. Sektor is a brat and certainly isn't cut out for the job."

"True, we will have to account this into our plans," Hanzo claimed, until he saw Katashi raising a hand.

"Uh. Boss. I don't know how to tell you this but..." Katashi paused, looked down at the paper in his hand. "Sektor hasn't succeeded his father."

"What?" Hanzo asked in disbelief, reaching to rip the paper from Katashi's hands. It obviously had the answer. "Then who has?"

He opened the paper, and skimmed it, and suddenly any certainty of victory was pulled from beneath his feet.

The paper read "It is by my decree that Song Bi-Han will take my place."

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Bi-Han was a high ranking Lin Kuei, and he was there for a reason. He was one of the few humans who could keep up with the supernatural with ease. He was feared by many, and known to be an impossible to predict renegade. Someone so vicious and bloodthirsty at the healm of the Lin Kuei spelled trouble.

Not least because Bi-Han had a very personal grudge again Hanzo. He'd never really figured out why. Something about a family member of Bi-Han's being hurt by some Shirai Ryu, and Bi-Han had taken it as an attack against himself. Whatever Bi-Han thought the Shirai Ryu had done however, it seemed he wasn't going to stop with his attacks against them until so called vengeance was his.

Bi-Han being in charge of an entire gang posed a monumental problem, not just for Hanzo and the Shirai Ryu, but the entire city.

"Oh fuck," he heard Junpei grunt from beside him, looking over Hanzo's shoulder at the paper. "If this is true, then we need to get ahead and up our defences."

Hanzo nodded, folding the paper and placing it in his top pocket. "Katashi, gather as many people as you can, have them patrol our territory, kill any Lin Kuei on sight."

"On it Boss," Katashi claimed, doing a quick salute before he was out of the door.

"Junpei, contact Kano," he ordered, turning back to the map again. "I think that alliance just became vital."

"As you wish, Boss."

Junpei hurried out of the room, while Hanzo was left to stare at the map in front of him. All they had to do was hold out for another month. Then, when the full moon came, they could fight back and hold the Lin Kuei away.

At least, that's how he hoped things would go down.

"So, you accept my deal?"

Bi-Han looked across at Quan Chi, the other man holding out a glowing green hand. He knew once he shook, there was no going back, Quan Chi's magic would bind them together. But this was a small price to pay, wasn't it? To make the Lin Kuei stronger.

And a small price to bring Kuai Liang back to him.

"I accept," Bi-Han stated, reaching out to take Quan Chi's hand.

As his fingers clasped the other mans hand, that green magic began to swirl around them. He watched in fascination before he felt burning on the back of his hand. Bi-Han didn't pull away though, he knew this was part of the process. The magic dispersed and the burning stopped, but Bi-Han didn't let go until Quan Chi himself pulled his hand away. After it was over, Bi-Han looked down at the back of his hand, branded into his skin was a marking he was very familiar with. The mark of the Brotherhood of Shadows.

He sighed, it is done, he was forever bound to the Brotherhood. And now Quan Chi had to start holding up his end of the bargain.

"Now that is done," he started, watching as Quan Chi wandered back to his alter as if nothing had just happened. "Bring Kuai Liang back to me."

Quan Chi chuckled, "demanding, aren't you? I can see why Oniro chose you to be his successor." He straightened himself and held out his arm. "I will need his corpse."

Bi-Han nodded, turning behind him and giving a call. Cyrax and Sektor came in carrying a body bag, and Quan Chi gestured for it to be placed on the alter. As they did, Bi-Han stalked over to join them. He could see the positively sour look on Sektor's face, still bitter he was snubbed position as leader and hating every second he had to follow Bi-Han’s command. Cyrax looked like he was trying to remain impassive, but given how stiffly he was holding himself, he was clearly uncomfortable with what was happening. He had been close to Kuai, so Bi-Han could at least understand why this didn’t sit right with him.

Once the body bag was on the alter, Sektor and Cyrax stepped back. Quan Chi reached for the zip, undoing the bag and slowly revealing what was within.

And there lay Kuai Liang, lifeless and pale but perfectly preserved since the day he died.

Quan Chi made an impressed sounding hum as he traced the features of Kuai Liang's face, "I have to admit, I'm impressed with how well his body has held up." He looked at Bi-Han with an eyebrow raised, "I thought he had been dead for 5 years, his body should be far more decomposed by now."

"I've... been keeping him in my freezer," Bi-Han awkwardly admitted, trying to ignore the look of disbelief and horror Cyrax shot him. He didn't need someone judging his actions right now. He had done what he had to do in order to be reunited with his brother.

"That, my friend, is the most fucked up thing I've ever heard," Quan Chi said with a dark laugh. Bi-Han just grumbled under his breath. "Still, I am glad you did, it will make turning him so much easier, as I have to do fewer... repairs."

"Could you get on with it then?" Bi-Han hissed, the longer he had to look at his brother's dead body, the more he yearned for him.

"Very well." Quan Chi placed a hand on Kuai's face, where there was a large gash that had been left across his right eye. "First I will need to heal his wounds."

The wound started to seal over, red and raw new skin scarring over where the wound was. He then placed his hand on Kuai's chest, the same happening to the stab wounds. He suspected it was healing the internal injuries Kuai had sustained as well. Quan Chi admired his work for a second, and hummed.

"Does he have any other injuries that I am not seeing?" Quan Chi asked, looking over the body with interest.

"No, those are all of them," Bi-Han explained, biting his lip.

"Good." Quan Chi held one hand over the centre Kuai's chest while the other grasped his forehead. "Now I will need to restart his heart and brain."

Before Bi-Han could ask what that meant, Quan Chi was chanting something, both of his hands glowing red. After a few seconds, Kuai Liang suddenly gasped for breath, his eyes shooting open and possessing an eerie red glow. Kuai's breath was coming out in a short sharp wheeze. Bi-Han wasn't sure he was aware enough to know what was happening. Quan Chi's chanting stopped, his hands still glowing.

"Lastly, I need to make sure this sticks," he growled, running his tongue under his teeth. He looked over at Bi-Han. "This is your last chance to back out, if I do this, he will not be able to be turned back, and will forever be one with the night."

"I want my brother back," Bi-Han snarled, getting tired of these games. Especially when he could see his brother breathing for the first time in 5 years. When he was so close to having him back. If he stopped now, all of this would be for nothing.

"Very well."

Quan Chi opened his mouth, before he lent down biting into Kuai's neck. Kuai made a pained and confused sound, but didn't fight what was happening. The glow of Quan Chi's hands slowly stopped, he removed them and as he did, Kuai's eyes stopped glowing. He didn't stop breathing though, just continued to lay still, eyes darting around like he was trying to figure out where he was. He saw Quan Chi unhinge his jaw, licking around the wound he had made before finally standing up straight.

"It is done," Quan Chi announced, reaching down to stroke Kuai's hair. When Bi-Han saw him flinch, it finally dawned on him that this was real.

Kuai Liang was alive again.

He rushed forward, taking Kuai's face in his hand. Kuai's eyes were unfocused, but he could see him frown like he was trying to figure out what he was looking at.

"Kuai Liang?" Bi-Han asked, feeling his heart well with emotion when Kuai's eyes widened in recognition. "Can you hear me? Are you okay?"

"B-Bi-Han?" Kuai stuttered out, blinking to clear his eyes. "I- W-what happened? I- I feel c-cold."

"That is normal," Quan Chi interrupted, as if he was anticipating Bi-Han to bite his head off about this. "He will get used to it."

"It's okay, Dìdì," he said as softly as he could. "You're safe now. I brought you back to me, and I am never going to let anything happen to you again."

He helped Kuai sit up, before wrapping his arms around his torso. He could feel him shivering against him. He felt Kuai lift his arms, slowly returning the hug, clinging to Bi-Han limply. It didn't matter, his strength would return to him with time, and he would be the same Kuai Liang he was before. Well, aside from the new challenges that came with vampirism, but they would deal with that together.

He had his brother back. Nothing else in the world mattered.

Kuai shivered, pulling the blanket around him slightly tighter, and pushed himself close to the radiator. No matter what he did, he just couldn't get warm. Quan Chi had claimed this was normal, at least for a vampire, and he would grow used to it but Kuai wasn't sure he'd ever get used to feeling this cold.

For a vampire.

Shit, that was what he was now, wasn't it? A vampire. A creature of the night. How the hell was he supposed to feel about that? Grateful? His brother had seemingly gone to extreme lengths to bring him back to life. Horrified? He was supposed to be dead, he had died 5 years ago. He shouldn't be here.

A particularly nasty chill sent shockwaves down his spine, and he audibly whimpered at it. Bi-Han's head snapped over to him, interrupting whatever he and Quan Chi were now talking about. Quan Chi looked extremely annoyed when Bi-Han walked back over to Kuai.

"Are you still cold? Do you need me to turn up the heat some more?" Bi-Han asked, placing his hand on Kuai's head to take his temperature.

"I've already told you," Quan Chi huffed, hands on his hips, "this is normal. He is undead, his body will no longer retain heat. He will get used to it."

"H-How l-long will it t-take?" Kuai asked, looking over to the man.

Quan Chi gave a frustrated sigh before he walked over himself, "I suppose, seeing as I am your sire, it is my place to teach you about how your body works now." Quan Chi bent down, placing a finger against Kuai's temple. "Your body should readjust in a few weeks, or a month if you are unlucky."

"What do you mean about being his sire?" Bi-Han questioned, his eyes narrowing. Kuai was starting to think that despite how long this had been planned out, his big brother hadn't done much research into what the aftermath would entail.

"It simply means that I was the one who turned him," Quan Chi said with a roll of his eyes. "It means we have certain obligations to each other."

"W-what-" before he could ask, Quan Chi had moved his finger over Kuai's lips.

"We don't need to go into that now," he stated in a hushed tone. "You are still in shock, you will need time to adjust before we can really go over the details." Kuai's eyes flicked over to Bi-Han who was staring at Quan Chi with a murderous look. Even when not looking at him, it seemed Quan Chi knew how Bi-Han was reacting as he said "you can stop looking at me like that Bi-Han, I warned you many times before we got this far that there would be certain links between myself and your little brother."

"You never mentioned anything like this," Bi-Han hissed.

"I did, you just didn't listen," Quan Chi snapped back, before a dark smirk crossed his face, "besides, I thought you said that any conditions would be worth having your precious Kuai Liang back?"

Bi-Han's face was going red, and his fists balling up. Kuai instinctively went to put a hand between them. Kuai knew this face, had seen it a million times. It was the face he generally made right before punching someone. While Kuai was certain Quan Chi deserved it, something about his general demeanour set off alarm bells in Kuai's head, he also knew there was a magical deal involved. He didn't know if attacking Quan Chi would cancel that deal, but he didn't really want to risk it.

Bi-Han opened his mouth and was about to say something, when Kuai felt himself go lightheaded. He closed his eyes and reopened them, suddenly feeling fuzzy, like he hadn't eaten in a while and his body was telling him to eat before he passed out. As usual, his brother immediately noticed something was amiss and cupped his chin.

"What's wrong?" Bi-Han glanced over to Quan Chi. "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing," Quan Chi muttered, almost sounding fascinating. "That was faster than usual."

"What was?" Bi-Han hissed through clenched teeth, "what is wrong with him?"

"Oh would you stop your barking, you are worse than a chihuahua." Quan Chi stood up with a dismissive wave. Kuai could practically feel the anger rising from Bi-Han. "He needs to feed, that is all."

"F-feed?" Kuai asked, realising his earlier thoughts were actually quite accurate. However, given his new circumstances, he had a feeling that a sandwich wasn't going to fix this.

"You need to drink blood to survive," Quan Chi explained in a casual tone. "Usually it takes a few weeks for the newly turned to require their first feed, but..." Quan Chi put a hand under his chin and stared Kuai up and down, "I suppose being dead for so long has increased your need for blood."

"H-how oft-often will this happen?" He questioned, bracing himself against the couch feeling like he was unable to hold his own weight.

"Once a month usually does it," Quan Chi said with a shrug. "I should probably teach you how to hunt." Quan Chi held his hand out to Kuai, and he felt a strange dread come over him. "Let us go and find some prey."

Kuai wanted to protest, in part because referring to people as prey felt wrong. The other part was a sudden and weird desire to never be alone with this man. He couldn't explain it, but he had a feeling something bad would occur if it ever happened.

"That will not be necessary," Bi-Han cut in, and Kuai tried to not let his relief be visible. "I realised this would come up eventually and have already made arrangements."

"Well, aren't you resourceful," Quan Chi muttered in a bitter tone. Kuai felt that cold creep down his spine again, this time it was definitely not from the cold. Quan Chi looked downright livid he wasn't getting to do god knows what with Kuai in tow.

Yeah. Kuai decided there and then he was never going to be alone with his "sire".

Bi-Han picked up the phone in his office and pushed a button, ordering whoever was on the other end to come to them. Kuai sat in uneasy silence, unsure which felt worse, the idea of drinking from a stranger or someone he knew. As there was a knock on the door, before it opened to reveal Tomas, Kuai quickly came to the conclusion the latter was worse.

"What do you need, Boss?" Tomas asked, but his eyes kept flicking over to Kuai. It was the first time Kuai had seen him since he'd come back to life, and Kuai wondered if this situation felt as weird to Tomas as it did to him.

"Remember when I asked you to take on a very special role when Kuai Liang came back?" Bi-Han questioned, and Tomas' face lit up in recognition.

"Oh. You need me to do that already?" He sounded so casual about it.

How long ago had Bi-Han asked for this? Actually, how long had Bi-Han planned any of this? If he'd managed to get Kuai's body into a freezer before decay set it, it must have been soon after his death.

Kuai had zoned out, and before he knew it, Tomas was knelt in front of him and uncovering his neck. Kuai stared, feeling a weird urge to bite into his flesh. And then he looked at Tomas' face, and memories of them sat together playing video games, eating Chinese take out and giggling the whole night through came to mind. Oh god, he couldn't do this to his best friend.

"I- I can't," he whispered, turning away, "I'm- I'm sorry it's t-too weird."

"Kuai, it's alright," Tomas softly said, putting his hand on Kuai's thigh. "You need this, and I'm okay with it."

Kuai shut his eyes and shook his head. And then he heard Quan Chi chuckle.

"My offer still stands, if you would prefer it."

Kuai realised he was between a rock and a hard place. He knew damn well he didn't want to go with Quan Chi, especially when his body was still recovering from the trauma of being revived. The idea of drinking from Tomas really didn't sit well with him but he tried to think about this logically. Clearly, it seemed Bi-Han and Tomas had talked about this before. It was clear Tomas had agreed, but had it been under pressure? Kuai didn't know, he would just have to trust his best friend knew what he'd signed up for.

"W-won't f-feeding from s-someone turn them?" He questioned. It was bad enough him being forced to live like this, the idea of forcing anyone else to do that same was eating at him.

"No, that is a common misconception," Quan Chi explained, sounding annoyed again, clearly realising that Kuai was deciding to go with his friend rather than his sire. "Only those that are already dead can be turned. Your friend here will be quite safe, so long as you don't completely drain him."

Kuai had a feeling that was a strange jab to try and manipulate him. Why did Quan Chi want to go hunting with him so badly? Yes, there was now a strange connection between the two of them, but that almost felt like an excuse. What did Quan Chi want from him? What did he want from Bi-Han? There was something going on here, and Kuai wasn't sure what it was or why it was happening.

"T-Tomas, a-are you sure?" He questioned, ignoring the snort from Quan Chi as he did.

"Of course," Tomas replied, once more baring his neck to Kuai. That same hunger coursed through Kuai, licking his lips as he stared at the delicate veins. "I'm just glad to have you back, snowflake."

Kuai lent forward, brushing his teeth against Tomas' neck. Every instinct was telling him to bite, but not telling him where. He heard an annoyed grunt, foot steps walking over to him, and a hand grasping his hair.

"Here, this is where you bite if you want to do the least damage," Quan Chi instructed, pulling Kuai's hair to position him slightly more to the side. "I'm sure you can figure out the rest."

Kuai didn't really need to be told. He slowly bit down, feeling his now sharp fangs break Tomas' skin. His friend gave a heavy exhale, before reaching to cradle Kuai's head and encourage him. The taste of copper washed into his mouth, and Kuai was surprised by just how good it tasted. He began to suck, finding more blood pooling in his mouth, swallowing it. He felt lightheaded, but in a good way, almost like a drunken stupor.

So good, he was mostly able to ignore the way Quan Chi was looking at him. As Tomas whispered insurances for Kuai to keep going, he slowly became more aware that Quan Chi's gaze was just not leaving him. He looked over to him. While his balled up fists revealed he was still bitter about Kuai's choice, the dark smirk on his face seemed to suggest that he was undeterred, just scheming a new way of getting what he wanted.

Quan Chi clearly had plans for him, and Kuai Liang was determined to not be part of them.

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