A/N: Merry Christmas ! Happy Hauneka ! Happy Holidays ! Well, with those celebrations out the way...

Jixiao lived on the bottom floor of a pagoda. The whole building was circular. When Saras opened the door the first thing that came to vision was a long chain of winding staircases that took off and lead one to all the many, many floors. Jixiao led the fox behind the staircase, a door was built into the wall there. Jixiao pushed it open and allowed the fox to walk inside. The house was a mess. It wasn't big. In fact it wasn't even a house. It was one room.

There was a large couch in the center of the room, with a large table placed in front of it. A bed was pushed into one corner. While the other held a stove and fireplace. Several kitchen knives were scattered across the table, along with a huge pile of scrolls and heaps of quills, scattered around a large fat jar of ink.

"Welcome to the House of Jixiao". The rat said grandly. "Make yourself at home".

Saras entered, the door shutting behind him automatically. He shivered despite himself. Jixiao noticed from the corner of his eyes.

"Are you cold ? Grab a blanket from the bed, I'll fix us some tea. Then we can get along with writing you a letter".

Saras gratefully did so, wrapped around in a blanket, and plopping down happily on the couch. However he couldn't help feeling a bit suspicious. Why was Jixiao, a complete stranger, being so friendly.

Jixiao was indeed being overly kind, but a cup of tea letter, and a hand-written beautiful letter, before being tucked into bed- well the couch, and drifting off to dreams that were for once not full of dead bodies, and Saras' suspicions vanished.

Jixiao sighed. The fox was naive for trusting him so quickly. The rat felt a strange nostalgia creep over him whenever he looked at the kit. He was still a kid, but somehow so much older than he should be. Although he had tried and failed to hide them, Jixiao could see the scars. Two horrible ugly round cuts of dark red, on his belly. Something horrible has happened to that poor child. Jixiao sighed, the fox brought back a lot of memories, some pleasant, some sweet, all from a century ago. He sighed again and tucked himself into bed. It was not his job to question people on their hidden parts, he knew how painful that was. He knew that their was a reason it was kept hidden.


The crisp autumn air that flapped through the woods and made the trees shiver in their nakedness. Xiao Xue strolled casually through the forest, under his billowing black cloack his blades clinked as they bounced together. He whistled a quiet tune, making the darkening forest seem all the more eerie. He already had a good idea where to start his search. He had seen Saras in action and the fox was oh so very predictable. He would find him and bring him back, but Aang had never said in how many pieces. He was going to pay him back in kind for what had happened in Korea. A grin spread across his narrow, white muzzle. Revenge was sweet.


While Xueye visited the shops to do his master's bidding, the hemomancer was having a little bit of fun. The wolf was already dead, but his blood was hot as it rushed past the hemomancer's lips and down his throat. The hemomancer shook from the ecstasy, the lupine's memories flooded his mind. He didn't care about them and continued licking up the blood as it poured out to greet him. He hadn't always been so darn vampiric, that had been Chang Shuimian's experiments, but it was kind of worth it. He couldn't have normal food and had to live off of others like some moldy mushroom, but it was incredibly entertaining, the power, the pleasure that came from feeding. All of it was so wonderful.

Of course Xueye had been luckier. He had been given a more studied version of the potion, one that gave him all the same strengths as the hemomancer, but without the bloody side effect. His apprentice was loyal to him and they were as close as family, but he knew Xueye was disgusted by him. The Hemomancer grinned. That was another bonus. He remembered all the times he had tortured the young fox, back when he had been only a kit. He had made Xueye watch him feed. If he had had a yuan for all the times he had thrown up he would be the richest wolf alive.

A memory came from the wolf.

One that made the hemomancer stop.

A kit bumped into a wolf.

"Sorry", he said, but was suddenly twisted around, to get a nice look at the lupine's sharp yellow teeth.

"Watch where you're going, prick"!

The kit narrowed his eyes. His arm moved quickly and slapped the paw holding him by the collar. The wolf pulled it back sharply, shaking it to remove the stinging feeling. "Watch who you're calling 'prick'". Satisfied the kit turned and walked away, dragging the Erhu and it's bow in one paw.

The wolf coughed violently and walked off in the opposite direction.

The Hemomancer gasped as realization struck him right across the face. "He's in the city"!


Jiao'ao sighed as he looked out the window, removing his unneeded robes.

He understood the need for pomp and showing off. But he would never understand why pomp or pimp had to weigh so much. He was exhausted. It had been a long day. He had had private lessons on ruling and politics and diplomacy before and after breakfast. He had then been allowed to visit the library, where he claimed he spent the day reading, while secretly practicing Kung Fu with his family's great sword. Whenever someone walked in he would stumble for a few seconds before coming up with some sort of weird excuse as to why he was reading while standing up. He had been doing this since the age of ten, and consequently everyone in the Forbidden City worried about his mental health. Then he had had lunch with some other Lords of the Province and his father, who he let do all the talking whilst he ate as quickly as he could, whilst still looking regal. Then in the afternoon he had had more lessons before and after dinner, on the nature and history of treaties and sanctions and other boring stuff like that. He had then been allowed to retire to his chambers for the night.

He flopped onto his bed and sighed again. He couldn't wait for Lady Mei Ling to arrive. What with her wedding on the way, his father would understand him missing lessons to spend time with her. 'Practicing'.

They had been best friends since as long as he could remember. Indeed they would probably have ended up married if their species were inter-mate-able. But he was a bird and she was a mammal. Things didn't work like that. Although he had seen a few odd couples... then again it would probably be possible for them to do it, but children wouldn't come from it would they ? He sighed. He had had a crush on her since he was ten, and even though he knew things couldn't work out like that, his mind had of course decided to keep some embarrassing thoughts, for blackmail purposes of course.


One Week Later...


Hong Ze spied the Imperial City from the very top of the walls. He had snuck in of course, just to make sure he wasn't out of practice, and make sure that Huangse Kongju had no idea what was going to hit him. Now for the hard part. How was he supposed to find the lion in this city that was so full of people. He sighed and decided to get to work. Which brought in another question. How was he supposed to get down ?


Xiao Xue had no luck finding the fox. The Imperial City was bigger than he had remembered, then again it had been a long time. And things had changed. Streets were built where he didn't know them and houses seemed to have dissipated into the dregs of his memory. He sighed. He had scoured every inn, tavern, hotel, restaurant, you name it, from top to bottom and had found no trace of the shapeshifter or any of his forms. He was hanging upside down from an overhanging sign when he caught sight of something that made his grin come back. A fox, dressed in a crimson cloack, that was the spitting image of his target. He pulled out a miniature crossbow from his robes. Showtime.


Saras watched the water bubble inside the pot. He hated having to be patient, even though he understood it's importance. He had already been waiting ten minutes for the water to come to a boil, like how long did it take for water to boil.

But that wasn't why he was angry.

Saras stared at the pot. He had already been waiting a week for Aang to show up, or for some sort of reply to arrive. Like, how long did post delivery take ? Unless he doesn't care about you. Came the nagging voice that lived in the back of his head. "Shut up", he said aloud, before face-palming. Impatience was driving him insane. He sighed. But he had to consider all the angles, right ? What if noone was coming for him ? What if he maybe, just maybe wasn't ever going to see his brother again. His stomach twisted violently, he rubbed at his scars soothingly. That was too much to bare. His whole life had been dedicated to the Bat Cave, surely they wouldn't abandon him all of a sudden.

Knock. Knock.

He spun around, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. Then the entire door flew off it's hinges and cart-wheeled into the wall next to him, exploding into a thousand wooden fragments. Saras gulped audibly as the Hemomancer strolled in, followed by a wolf he vaguely recognized.

"Hello, shapeshifter. It's been far too long since the last time I saw you. I do hope you let me catch up". Saras scanned the room for any possible escape routes. The door. A window that was several feet higher up than him. And that was it. The door was a no-no, since the Hemomancer was positioned directly in front of it. The window was higher up.

He would have teleported outside the building entirely, but for him to teleport he had to focus on something he could see. And right now, he couldn't see outside. The wolf edged slowly towards him, the hemomancer stayed where he was. "I think you have already met our lupine friend. Shall we call him 'Prick'?"

The wolf pounced, but Saras was ready. He grabbed the pot and threw it's boiling contents right at the wolf's face.

To no avail whatsoever. The wolf landed on top of him, pinning him to the ground as it searched eagerly for his throat. Luckily Saras had caught the wolf's muzzle in the pot, which prevented him from an early death. He teleported next to the wolf and slammed a foot into his neck, his Talon Claws tightened around the lupine's neck, blood oozed from the wound but the wolf seemed like he couldn't care less, as he pushed away the pot and twisted his head in an impossible angle, to grab the fox's foot firmly in his jaws, before clamping hard.

It wasn't hard enough to snap bone. But it was torture. Saras lashed out with two clawed paws, which caught the wolf on the sides of his head. The lupine didn't let go, but pushed forwards instead, pushing the shapeshifter onto his back.

"As you can see, our dear Prick can't feel anything. All he wants is your blood." The Hemomancer reported casually from the other side of the room.

The wolf pinned Saras with one paw, before letting go of the shapeshifter's leg, which dropped painfully onto the ground, and surrounded itself in a small pool of blood. The lupine received two long bloody gashes along the paw that pinned Saras, but didn't make any other kind of action or movement. It took a step forwards, winding the fox from all the weight that lay on his chest. It's jaws opened wide, and then suddenly he froze.

The hemomancer casually walked over and lifted up the blood that lay around Saras' wounded foot, and let it lie in a small, metal phial. "I'll just leave you with our friend for a few seconds. Have fun", he cooed, before exiting. The wolf snapped it's jaws shut.


The fox made his final, fatal mistake when he turned the alleyway. Xiao Xue followed, as silent as the grave, before releasing a bolt. It struck through the cloack and blood poured from the wound. The fox staggered from the sudden pain, and fell onto one knee. Another bolt flew into his back as Xiao Xue looked on smugly.

"Saras, Kanbujian, Kanbu, Shifty. Alas he did not make it out alive. He was wounded when I found him. Bleeding all over. And then the bandits came. I fought them off, but they were too many and I never saw that bolt coming." The albino practiced. "I hope you can hear me. It's Xiao Xue, by the way. And this is for Korea."

Then to his amazement the fox stood up. The cloack fell off, and became a pool of crimson fabric. The vulpine turned around. And straight away Xiao Xue could see that he had made a mistake. The fox wore no shirt. On the top of his head he wore a thin helm, with a single red droplet of blood painted on top of it. His pants were plain, and matched the colour of his fur. Which was the same shade of crimson as blood. The crimson fox pulled out the bolts, and threw them aside, before drawing a bar of metal, connected with a wooden handle.

"My name's Xueye. And you're going to be in a lot of pain."


Saras was in agony, his paw was stuck inside the wolf's maw, the lupine biting down hard upon it. A small trickle of blood poured out of the wolf's mouth and down Saras' bleeding arm. Saras gulped. And licked it. It was time to change tactics.

His eyes bulged slightly, his hackles raised and his throat erupted into a feral snarl. He bit down hard onto the wolf's nose, before shaking his whole head from side to side. The part came off, and the vulpine spat it out. The wolf stopped biting Saras' arm after that, blood flowing from his lost nose. For the shapeshifter, instinct took over. He pounced, the wolf was too slow to react, and soon found the furious little mammal pulling at his ear. The wolf turned around and bit Saras across the back, but the fox lashed out with a slash that went straight down the puppet's eye. Both let go of each other and retreated a few steps back. A few seconds of panting later and they charged once again. Saras slipped on the blood ridden floor, and collapsed hard on his back. The wolf also slipped, but didn't miss, his jaws closing around the shapeshifter's soft belly. Saras howled in pain, before slamming his own jaws shut around the wolf's windpipe. It came off easily, only because the wolf had already been dead for a week. The second it's throat flopped out, pressure left it's jaws and it lay down on it's side, as dead as dead could be.

Saras returned to his normal state. Where pain made him get on his feet. He was bleeding heavily, and the wolf had somehow reopened both scars. He panted and caught himself against the wall. He had to leave,before the hemomancer returned. Staggering out the door he felt more pain than ever in his entire life.


Xiao Xue ducked as the bar of metal slammed into the wall, scattering dust into the air. He was unable to avoid the ball of blood that knocked him backwards, into the opposite wall. He landed heavily, but got to his feet quickly. He reloaded the crossbow quickly. The fox threw another ball of blood, which he ducked under. Xiao Xue then rolled towards him, and shot him point blank in the throat.

This only served to piss him off further as the fox slashed the side of his face clean open, creating a vivid effect against the white of his fur. Xiao Xue headbutted him in the chest. That seemed to serve a purpose. He next slammed the entire crossbow into the fox's face. The vulpine staggered briefly, before turning around with a powerful swing of his metal bar thing. Xiao Xue stepped back and sucked in his belly, allowing the weapon to sail past him harmlessly. Xueye lost his balance and slipped a little. That was all Xiao Xue needed. He barreled into the fox's side, sending him sprawling onto the ground. Xueye countered with a ball of blood, one that wrapped itself around Xiao Xue.

It was drowning. But so much worse. He was drowning in blood, and couldn't move. He thrashed about in the air, he was floating. He was a being trapped inside a floating ball of blood. That was a first. Xueye swung with his bat, this time he didn't miss. Xiao Xue slammed into the wall with enough force to knock him down. If he had been younger he would have laughed, and continued fighting. Now his old bones rattled as he coughed crimson water from his mouth. He was going to die, of that he was certain.

Xueye was certain of it as well, he let his blood well up on his paw, forming his final ball of it. He was about to launch it when someone dressed in black caught his paw. "No. Let me speak to him first", the figure hissed.

Xueye let the blood flow back into his body, and dropped his arm. The figure approached malevolently.


Hong Ze turned a corner and gasped. He blinked rapidly. Of all the things you could find. A kit was sitting in a corner, a paw placed on his belly, as his yellow jumper turned the colour of blood and the crimson liquid oozed out from under it.

The elk shrieked and ran forwards. His instincts came into play. He had to stop the bleeding.

The last thing Saras saw was an elk racing towards him, then he lost consciousness.


The sky was dark when Jixiao returned home. He expected to find his guest lying asleep on the couch, and would have tickled him awake to watch the stars, when he realized, after stepping in through the thresh-hold, that his door was gone, and a copious amount of wood was lying around the room. Signs of struggle were evident everywhere. A pool of blood, a pot lying unattended across the floor. The air was cold, which meant the fire had been out for some time. Then he lay eyes on the dead wolf lying on it's side and he retched.

Something really, really bad happened. Was the only thing his mind could process.


Footnote: And the action continues.

Xueye means blood. You may remember him from a few cameos. He had one in the end of Mongol Wars and one in VoreLover360's Shapeshifter Battle Royale. But for a kind of major OC he has been somewhat in the shadows up until now.

Anyways again, Merry Christmas. Happy Birthday Jesus ! Update soon.