Half of My Heart

No More shadows.

Yunlan sat with his hands wrapped around his coffee mug in silence. He felt Wei's emotions and wished that he could help him to move past the guilt.

Ava suddenly felt a cold draught move through to the kitchen and glanced at the front door which was swinging open.

"Did you close the door behind you?" She asked as she left the kitchen and looked around the entrance hall.

Yunlan followed because he was sure that he did unless it sprung open itself, and the hair on the back of his neck stood up making him shiver. He'd felt this every time the shadow man was in his bedroom watching him and he ran towards Wei's room.

Tracker was still in the mansion but had been forgotten about because of all the recent activity and knew practically everything that was going on. He was out for his usual fact finding stroll, otherwise known as eavesdropping, and he heard noise coming from Wei's room which made him run and barge straight in. The tall thin shadow man was holding Wei by the throat with one hand, while he told him exactly where he'd come from and thanked him for his existence, as he slowly strangled him. He'd spent weeks watching Zhao Yunlan, waiting for Shen Wei to come into his life. They had to be a couple before he would kill them, but he never knew about Apep who saved Yunlan in the attic, so when his chance came again, he attacked Shen Wei.

The light glinted off the silver blade of the hunting knife as it flew through the air, spinning towards its target with deadly accuracy. Fear ran through the thin man when he saw that same knife, in the hands of the same man, coming towards him and he dropped before he slowly dissolved when it passed through him, leaving only the other device, the twin of the one used to send Wei home, and Track's knife lying on the floor. He bent down and lifted his blade before putting it back where he usually wore it.

"Are you alright, My Lord," he asked as he helped Wei to sit down on the edge of the bed, just as Yunlan appeared and stood at the door in shock.

"Yes, thank you Track, let me see your knife please," and the old tracker took it out and handed it carefully to Wei. He felt the buzz coming from the blade and was curious because he didn't recognise the knife or the energy, and asked about its history.

"When I was a boy and on my own in the woods, I was attacked by a wild animal and an old man rescued me. It was his knife, and he got it the same way when he was a boy, and that's how it travelled. He said that it was made a very long time ago and only killed the ones who deserved to die, which includes animals and people. It's just a story but I've never hurt an animal with it, it brings more help than hurt."

Wei realised that this was the knife that Track had used to remove the bullet from his back, and he thanked him as he carefully gave it back to its owner. The old tracker turned to leave and bowed as he saw Yunlan, who ran over to Wei and looked at the bruising on his neck.

"Ava can give you something for that, he must have walked in the front door, I thought I'd closed it," Yunlan explained but Wei only smiled and shook his head.

"Nothing to worry about. Track killed him, he won't be back. Let's take the stairs to the medical room and Ava can work some magic," Wei said as he held onto Yunlan and walked slowly.

"Are you going to tell me who he was?" Yunlan asked while he guided Wei one step at a time, but he knew that he would keep that a secret until it was necessary to explain, and he called Ava when they reached the bottom of the stairs. She hurried towards them and helped Wei to the med room where she could have a better look at the bruising to his neck.

"So he's back, it's the same pattern of the grip that was on Yunlan's neck."

"This was his last time Ava, Tracker killed him. I watched him from the door. There was a device the same as the other one that brought Wei home. I don't know whether to keep it or destroy it, what do you think?" Yunlan asked.