Xiangliu

It has been three months since you began your life as an indentured servant to Xiangliu. He was always in his underground quarters from sunrise to sunset. It wasn't your business, plus your job was easy. For the amount of money you owed, you were expecting much worse. Your primary responsibility was to provide Xiangliu with a meal at night while keeping an eye on the house during the day. Once night fell, Xiangliu ascended with a ravenous look in his eyes. He wasn't picky as long as it was meat, leaving the vegetables for you to finish. You didn't communicate more than necessary: his strict eyes warded off any ideas of small talk. Some nights, your dreams were vivid yet murky, exhilarating yet exhausting. They left you waking up in a daze, memories quickly scattered, but your body buzzed with something. Your cheeks flushed, your fingers reflexively touched your tingling lips, and the taste of iron lingered on your tongue. Something inside you was changing. The day passed in a blur, you began to grow sensitive to sunlight. By the time you noticed, it was time to make dinner. Because of his carnivorous diet, you added another portion of meat, which didn’t go without a teasing remark from Xiangliu. "Oh?~ Hoping for me to leave you some meat, my greedy servant? Very well." For the first time, Xiangliu's dark eyes lit up with mirth, his lips spreading into a grin. He was amused by your shamelessness. Though it wasn't your intent, not consciously, you had your fill of his leftover meat that night that sated you in a way the vegetables no longer did. You had an unusually lucid dream about a snake slowly slithering its way up to your mouth, shoving inside as it twists around your tongue, pushing down the back of your throat. You woke up in a cold sweat. The morning sunlight bothered you enough that you had to close all the drapes as you cleaned the house. You felt strung out and anxious the entire day. You were unable to sleep. Feverish, your body temperature alternated between shivering and feeling like your insides were boiling. Eventually, a dreamless sleep overtook you. That lasted for a while until you felt someone looming over you. Your body didn’t respond as you lay there paralyzed. Something parted your lips, entering your mouth. A sharp pain followed, and your mouth filled with a warm liquid. It was irresistibly cloying. You let out a muffled voice, your eyes finally opening. Xiangliu pulled back, his long, engorged, and scaled tongue slowly slipping from your mouth. You felt a warm splash against your trembling lips as he put his tongue away. “Hmm, you developed a tolerance. Perhaps you are more than a light snack.” He thought out loud, his brow furrowing at the blood he spilt on your lips. He brushes it aside with his fingertips, your mouth reflexively opening at the contact. Your eyes fixated on the red liquid on his fingers as you gasped for air, your heart pounding in your chest. You understood the hungry look in his eyes now.