The rain had soaked through his clothes by the time he stepped off the curb. Not that he cared.

Li Peien had been running late to meet his agent, his jaw tight with irritation at the delay. Then he saw her.

Across the street. Waiting for the light.

She smiled at him.

Not the polite, practiced smile he'd grown used to from strangers recognizing his face. Something raw. Real. Like she'd seen straight through the carefully constructed public persona to the man beneath.

A primal thrill had shot through him - unexpected, unwanted, visceral.

He'd crossed the street without looking, his gaze locked on hers.

And that's when it happened.

A van ran the red light.

Metal screeched. Glass shattered. His body folded around the impact like it was made of wet paper.

He was dead before his head hit the rain-slick pavement.

But death didn't take.

Not when she was watching.

Somewhere in that liminal space between life and nothingness, something ancient had stirred. Not with curiosity, but with hunger. Her smile had called to it - that brief moment of genuine connection that had made Li Peien's pulse race.

So it claimed his body.

Not as a vessel. As a hunter claims its territory.

Li Peien's eyes opened again.

The van was still there. The crowd still screamed. Blood still stained the pavement.

But something fundamental had changed.

He rose slowly, bones realigning with wet, sticky sounds that should have been impossible. The driver stared, mouth hanging open in horror as Li Peien brushed碎 glass from his sleeve like it was nothing more than lint.

His gaze found hers through the crowd.

And he smiled.

Not her gentle smile. Not Li Peien's polite smile.

A predator's smile.

Two weeks later, he found her again.

The old hotel smelled of candle wax and expensive perfume. Marble floors, carved angel ceilings, a string quartet playing something slow and mournful.

Perfect.

He watched her from the shadows for twenty minutes, noting the way her throat moved when she swallowed, how her fingers tapped silently against her thigh in time with the music, the exact shade of red on her lips.

Mine.

The thought came unbidden and entirely correct.

He moved through the crowd with inhuman grace, bodies parting before him like water. She didn't see him coming until he was already beside her, his hand closing around her upper arm - not gently.

Her breath hitched.

Good.

"You shouldn't have smiled at me," he murmured, his mouth brushing her ear. His voice was Li Peien's, but there was something else underneath - something darker, older, hungrier.

She tried to pull away. His grip tightened, fingers digging into her flesh through the fabric of her dress.

"Don't," he warned, the word a low growl. "I've spent two weeks imagining what that mouth tastes like. What you sound like when you beg. Don't make me prove how patient I've been."

Her eyes met his in the candlelight, wide with fear and something else - something that made his blood heat.

"You remember me," he said, not a question. "You've thought about that day too, haven't you? Wondered what happened to the man you smiled at before he stepped into traffic?"

He leaned closer, his free hand sliding around to cup the back of her neck, forcing her to maintain eye contact.

"I died," he whispered. "But you... you brought me back. And now I'm going to show you exactly what kind of monster you created."

The music swelled around them, a beautiful backdrop to the violence of his words.

"Tell me," he said, his thumb brushing her lower lip in a deliberate, possessive gesture. "Are you afraid... or are you wet for me already?"