Eyes

by D4rK Sid3

It all began with Jade, on a trip to another archeology investigation to Romania with Jackie, but where one path ended, another begins. Returning from the trip she brings back a medallion with the seed of evil planted, burrowing in her mind...hungering for children hearts. One-Shot

A/N: Welcome! This one shot was inspired by the Halloween spirit. I literally listened to scary music as I wrote this to keep inspiring me. I've been watching scary movies all day; from Sleepy Hollow to Nightmare before Christmas to keep the scary feeling going and here we are. The story is actually based on a real myth from Romania and I took my time to research the setting and different European mythology to assemble the story, all the way to certain Romanian words. Without more to say, on with it!

Summary: It all began with Jade, on a trip to another archeology investigation to Romania with Jackie, but where one path ended, another begins. Returning from the trip she brings back a medallion with the seed of evil planted, burrowing in her mind...hungering for children hearts. One-Shot

Disclaimer: -Disclaimer: Jackie Chan Adventures belongs to Warner Channel and John Rogers. And I gain no profit writing this.

Eyes

A Terrifying One Shot

The story begins in Brasov, Romania.

In a dark night such as the one tonight, two blackened figures walked through the stone roads of another era, dragging a darkened object each, breathing and puffing the cold and hissing air in the dead of the night. The town was barely illuminated by the dim lamps that flickered. A fog assaulted the town, but the figures did not stop, the shortest one that was half the stature of the tallest one scrunched and stopped, turning around to check the deserted streets and continued on ahead of the tallest figure, quickly extending a hand to signal the other one to stop. The shortest of them walked to the entrance guarded by two gargoyles with lamps in their mouths, their eyes seemed to glow in the darkness, but with the fog and the cold air, the statues seemed to hiss through their open maws, puffing an inky vapor.

The double doors were quickly opened bringing some light at the beginning of the steps. Finally, the tall figure caught up with the smallest one.

"Jade! I told you to stop!"

The shortest figure finally lowered the hood, revealing a tanned girl with raven spiked black hair and as she turned, her golden-brown eyes drew into a scowl.

"I am freezing my ass off Jackie! It's cold as hell in Romania" The girl complained quickly entering the hotel reception, shaking off the speckles of snow from her black jacket, throwing her suitcase at the side.

The man referred as Jackie sighed but did not bother to correct Jade that hell wasn't supposed to be cold, but then again, it was surely a hellish and cold place to be in the dead of the night. They walked in silence through the dim light up reception. The hotel, called The Hunter Prince was decorated with furniture from a simple life and a time so far away given the blackened medieval armor, the paintings were faded with time, characters doing mundane things depicted and solidified in time with the painting, but what clearly defined the name of the hotel was the faded painting of a black armored young man holding a spear connected to a massive Kodiak bear, slain by the prince.

Jade quickly went closer to the fire in the far end of the rock and wooden walls of the hotel, quickly sighing in pleasure, the firelight colored the walls with a soft yellow and red glow as it flickered. Jackie quickly went along with his nice, quickly removing his gloves to warm at the fire, emulating Jade with a smile spreading through his face.

"When you invited me for an archeological trip to Romania, I didn't know it was gonna turn into a human Popsicle" Jade complained, rubbing her hands together.

The black aired ABC quickly laughed. "I didn't invite you! You insisted in coming Jade, you aren't a good listener, are you? Just because you're on vacations doesn't means I don't have to work" The man closed his eyes in humor missing the deadly scowl from his niece. The flames flickered over his brown eyes, with the sound of a door opening; both snapped their heads at the origin of the sound almost jumping out of their skins.

A man with a dark red robe and short collar was quick to get behind the counter.

"Hello" His voice echoed in the room, bringing Jackie and Jade back to the world of the living. "Welcome to The Hunter Prince. Would you like a room for the night?" His dark eyes barely registered the light that came from the fire, from his carefully trimmed hair to the black leather pants it seemed that the town of Brasov hadn't gone a transformation beyond its Medieval times but it was perhaps his small smile that made Jackie to take a step closer to Jade, the small grin was short of terrifying and unsettling.

Jackie gave a short and nervous laugh. "Yes…we have a reservation from the San Francisco-"

"—Archeological Wing" The man finished with another unsettling grin. "I never forget a customer, I have the keys to your room, right here in my hand" Slowly, he took the keys out of his pocket and extended them to Jackie, jiggling them with another smile. The archeologist did not react for a few seconds until Jade pulled on his sleeve, giving him a tug towards the man.

Jackie shook his head and rolled his eyes, as if to say, this is ridiculous before walking to the reception desk and taking the keys from the receptionist, but before the keys were snatched the receptionist pulled them towards him with another look and this time, the fire pit glint reflected fully on his eyes.

"I think that you will…enjoy your stay here, everyone does"

"Right…" Jackie said trying to pull the keys from the man's steel like grip until he let go of it with Jackie taking a step back. "Come…Jade, Jade?" The girl was nowhere to be seen. "Jade?"

There was the screech of terror that chilled the living hell out of Jackie with a boar's head appeared through the darkness with the howl from the dead. Jackie and the receptionist screamed in unison as the boar's head came closer and closer, snapping its jaws and sharp teeth to the terrified couple. The receptionist was quick on his feet, kicking Jackie on the back.

"Here! Take him!"

A chilling screech quickly turned into laughter and then cackles. The boar head fell to the side revealing a grinning Jade with an expression happy enough to win the lottery.

"Ha…Jackie, you are so easy" She gave the receptionist a look of pure disdain and hilarity. "I suppose the scary act works for a lot of customers" She closed her eyes and giggled, but to her surprise the man seemed…contempt?

"Child, that was quite a performance. I could hire you to scare the hell out my customer's every time! Name's Cristu Bulat at your service…and please, welcome to The Hunter Prince. Enjoy your time and give us a good review on Yelp"

Jackie sighed taking the boar head and placing it on its rightful place.

"Continental breakfast is served at 7 in the morning, sharp, Wi-Fi password is on the back of the keychain" The receptionist continued not catching Jackie's aggravation. "We serve twenty-four hours as well" The man thick accent but clean spoken English came as a surprise to Jackie, but to Jade it did not, her smirk widened.

"Wadim here will take care of your luggage" Cristu quickly pressed the bell. Within moments, a young man with brown hair, colonial faded gray buttoned jacket and a fur hat quickly made its way to the room, slowly but surely, his somber and quiet steps faded as he realized that the act was broken already.

With a chuckle, he bowed. "Wadim at your service hereh"

"You are in good hands. Wadim, room 147"

"Da șef mea" He was quick to walk towards a wall, placing his hand on a wall lamp, the lamp was pressed to the side. The wall gave a hiss, a section caving in from within.

Jade smirked. "Sweet…this is like the best tourist trap we have ever been…in like…EVER!" She threw her hand excitedly, but the wave passed too low to Jackie. The young girl was quick to roll her eyes. "When are you going to have fun Jackie? When was the last time you saw something exciting and just wanted to laugh and have some…well…fun?"

"Now that you mention it, I remember when I discovered a phosphorous mine transformed into a city by-"

Jade cringed. "Please save it grumpy"

"…grumpy?" The archeologist fumbled in his brain for a few seconds before an angry response could be shaped, he was quickly pulled to the elevator by a giggling Jade.

"Like I said" She smirked. "Grumpy"

Jackie let a sigh of exasperation as the doors of the elevator closed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The hotel room was certainly up to the standard of what Jade could call, a freakish nightmarish experience, which did not deter her from enter the room with a grin. The walls were made of a crisp but ancient looking petrified wood with four beans at the corners. The ceiling had a conical shape that went ten feet off the ground, and from it, a massive iron chandelier with six bulbs illuminated the room. Several deer heads mounted the walls along with the spread fur from a bear over a fire pit that was currently off. Several silver table chandeliers held red candles that burned dimly. There was a single window next to a petrified wood bed with beans that seemed to extend at each side like depraved claws of Death itself but the bed looked quite comfy.

A fact that Jade initially held in high regard as she jumped on the bed with a giggle, lying on it with a hum of content.

Jackie put their luggage against the wall, not wanting to open the closet. He told himself that he did not wanted to open it due the other scary surprise that the owner had for them, but shook his head at the terrifying wood carvings on the closet door about a battle and corpses being impaled for everyone to see and he certainly did not want to open it.

"I have to give it to you Jackie…you know how to pick an hotel"

Jackie yawned, scratching his lower back. "I did not pick it up; the Museum Wing picked it for me. We might be in an historical town, but I still have a job to do"

The girl shrugged. "What do you have to find here anyway?"

"Really Jade?" Jackie pinched the bridge of his nose. "I told you many times"

"Now you can do it again" She shrugged with her signature grin.

"I need to go to the Brasov History Museum to inquire the discovery of an ancient tablet and see what I can discover about it"

For the first time in the day, Jade seemed to be truthfully interested in what he had to say and in a rare display of emotion, she looked at the ground with shame, but then quickly brightened and pulled on his sleeve. Jackie could not contain his smile, quickly pulling her against his chest with a half hug.

"So…tell me" She eagerly said smiling from ear to ear.

"Well…" With his anger forgotten, he quickly wet his lips. "The tablet was discovered in an ancient temple, from a long time ago, ancient as the Norse Vikings, it speaks about…a figure that preys on the innocence and the sleep of children, called Muma Padurii, or the mother of the woods, only for her children to sleep forever because of they were to wake up, they would be detestable. Her skin is said to be like bark but sometimes, she takes the shape of a beautiful woman with untold beauty, the legends speak about her being a shape shifter. But her…objective is far more sinister…Jade, you are already 15 years old, so I will complete the story because I trust that you are of old age"

Jade gasped. "Jackie Chan is recognizing…that I am growing up and opening the mysteries of adulthood? Oh, please Lord and Master…. enlighten me with your wisdom"

The archeologist could not help the frown that drew instantaneously on his face but so could be said about the girl, a giggle escaping from her throat.

"Like I was saying. She protects the forest from her home, a hollow tree, nurturing them. She also seeks to scare people to death and often leaves her duties of taking care of the trees to…enslave children and make sure that they give their sleep to her own. When she is not doing that she goes to mothers who give birth outside of marriage killing their babies and then eating them"

At that part, Jade could not help but to cringe with a disgusted expression on her face.

"It was…another time Jade, Medieval Europe it's a place of old legends and folklore, born out of fear from the unknown"

Jade sighed and snuggled closer to her Uncle. "I know…it is still quite nasty. I hope you are happy Jackie, I might have nightmares"

"Jade…I trusted you"

A small smirk pulled her lips upwards. "Gotcha. Mama Papu…something won't get me. She will have to go through me…and my Kung Fu wielding uncle"

Now it was the time for him to chuckle at her antics. "Let's get some sleep, we still have a long day ahead of us."

Jade nodded, turning off the lamps and with a nod towards her uncle, she snuggled on the bed with a sigh, closing her eyes.

The glistening pale moon was the last thing she was before she was out of the world of the living.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the mid night hours, Jade woke up rubbing her eyes. The pale moonlight illuminated the corner of the room and at the foot of their bed, yet the light did nothing but disturb her. She brushed the curtain of their dim colored window and with pure astonishment she discovered that the whole town had disappeared in a stream of fog and heavy snow that decorated the streets. The lights of the town were barely noticeable and the sounds of the town had gone to sleep, if only she could do as they do and go back to fall asleep, but no matter how much she turned and scrunched in her warm bed, sleep refused to take over. With a sigh, she swung her legs on the floor, putting on her jacket.

They did serve food twenty-four seven as they said, perhaps they had tea downstairs. She stole a glimpse at Jackie before she silently closed the door behind her. Thankfully she found the stair close to her door, making her way to the first floor. The reception was currently deserted with nobody in sight but candles burning brightly in the corner. The library was next to the reception with a small hallway that separated the two zones, this one had all sorts of warm drinks in metal casts and bread, kept warm by a machine hooked to the wall, yet nobody was there to attend them, perhaps they also needed to sleep thought the girl glancing at her watch indicating that it was past 3am.

She got herself a warm cup of tea and some biscuits, walking calmly to a red couch and sitting on it. There were only a few hotel guests that presumably were here for the same reason that Jade was. A man caught her interest. He was in his sixties, wearing a fur hat and a red coat. His white beard was decorated by a black ornamented smoking pipe, a simple exhale of warm smoke coming from his thin lips. His dark eyes centered on Jade's and for a moment, his piercing gaze studied her before returning to the glowing fire, exhaling once more a stream of smoke.

"What is yer name child?"

His voice was a notch colder than Captain's Black but she could heard the wisdom behind his words, yet they came so unexpectedly that Jade did not answered until almost a full minute later, finding her voice once more.

"Jade, Jade Chan" She answered surprisingly well for a rough and strange looking man that she just saw

The man exhaled once more. "An unusual name" He laid it simply. "Yet easily recognizable as from the East, Hong Kong"

Jade did a double take and blinked to ease a coherent thought from her brain but all he got was a shrug that tied her tongue in her mouth. "Uh..and…what is your name Mister…?"

"Minciuna Adevarul, but everyone just calls me, Old Ursul, O'l bear" He took a handful of smoke through his pipe and exhaled to the open air. Jade stood there for the first time not knowing what to do. Seemingly noticing that he was making her quite uncomfortable, the man chuckled, taking his hand placing it at the mouth of the pipe, blowing air through the lip extinguishing the pipe, he flicked the remains on a bronze tray and slowly put it inside his coat pocket.

His dark eyes pierced her again. "If I might inquire…why such a young child as yourself is awake in this coldish hell of a night? One of the coldest I've seen in Brasov in sixty winters" His tone got warmer and even with the flickers of the flames illuminated his face she could see that his eyes shown a tint of faded green. For some reason, she felt that she could trust this man and even at the dead of night, she felt understood.

"I couldn't sleep"

The man placed his two pale hands together. "Of course, children usually don't sleep very well in Brasov…"

For some strange reason, she got a flashback to the story that Jackie had mentioned earlier.

"Because of uh…Muma….Pa…"

"Muma Padurii. Ah yes…it seems that you were already introduced to one of our oldest characters from the Romanian Mythology" The man chuckled toying with his smoking pipe between his fingers. "But usually, a good story helps to steel the nerves and seek sleep. Would you like to hear a story child?"

Her gaze was lost for a few seconds, but then again. What was she supposed to do in the dead of the night? With a sigh, she nodded her head, taking a sip of her tea.

"Very well" The man closed his eyes and opened again, a strange glint on his eye. "In this town, we call home. A long time ago, far beyond from what it seems in a place that perhaps you have seen in your nightmares for the story that you are about to be told took place in the days of old" He exhaled mystifyingly. "Riding with the pale moonlight and enjoying the night breeze, gazing up at the stars, a child no more than twelve summers walked in the dead of night, at the brim of the bridge. The mothers have warned children to never wander away from the village that used to be the city that grace us with her presence tonight, but like many, she made no sense of her mother words and keenly judge them as nonsense. A whisper fell from her lips, transforming into a whistling tune that the child had heard through her young years, unaware that a presence was near and observing her every move"

A silence fell before he continued again.

"Do you want to know why the guardian of the forests steal the sleep of children Jade?"

The Asian girl stayed rooted to the spot, drinking a sip from her tea from the cup that trembled on her hands, slowly shaking her head.

"You see Jade…there's a reason why Muma Padurii steals the sleep of children, so her own can sleep forever because if there to wake up…untold horrors would happen, a fact that the little girl ignored. With the defying girl lack of sleep a child of Muma woke, her name was Fata Padurii. For many years after children started to venture away from their parents protection, Fata woke up to bring her mark upon the world. The cursed being stole her mother's spell of shape shifting and from her father, Paduroiul, the ability to trap her victims into vines. She lured tender lumping's, children that must be informed of the world deep into the forest to devour their hearts as trophies. Her reign of terror had just begun"

By then, the cup in Jade's hands was shaking so violently that she had to let go of the cup, placing it on the table, burying her hands into her thick coat, the story was doing a toll on her, but she refused to back down and her pride would not allow her to be defeated by a mere story. She had been in the Underworld surrounded by the Sorcerer demons, transformed into darkness and shadows by a tattoo and lived enough surrounded by murderous dark beings. With new found courage, she growled and crossed her legs together on the couch.

Only when he noticed that she was comfortable, he continued. "By then, the children were warned, but for dear Mirela, the night of terror had just began. The brush revealed a young woman peeking over the child, asking what was she doing so late away from her village. The child unaware of the woman intentions revealed that she was outside playing in the forest, then the features of the woman changed. Her warm smile turned into a sinister scowl that chilled the child with dread, she tried to run but by then, vines exploded from the frozen ground trapping Mirela to the mercy of Fata. As a last resort, the child pulled an ankh amulet, the symbol of life, strong enough to made the demon to screech covering her eyes but the vines kept coming and eventually poor Mirela perished and with her death, the destiny of her ignorance was fulfilled. Yet when the demon consumed her heart, something happened…her body ashen, fire and brimstone disintegrated her body and no matter what shape it took, her destruction would not stop until alas, her ashes were immersed by the medallion, trapping her and ending the nightmare forever"

Jade swallowed a breath she didn't knew she was holding, but she ventured forward enough to lift her eyes to the old story teller.

"Poor Mirela…but…what happened to the medallion?"

The man smiled with crooked teeth. "Jade, do you believe in fate?"

She was taken off-guard by the question but nevertheless nodded positively.

His pale hand slipped into the right sleeve of his red coat, fumbling until the sound of a clinging metal made Jade peel her eyes and to recoil slightly in her seat. Slowly, the man dragged an object from his sleeve, extending his closed fist and slowly, his fingers opened exposing a faded gold medallion. The medallion itself was the very ankh amulet that he spoke about, a cross with a handle surrounded by a glassy and cracked texture, a dusty liquid was floating inside, glowing brightly than the firepit.

When her terrified eyes made contact with his, the darkened eyes light up close to a glow.

"I know that…you will keep her safe" His voice dropped to a degree more terrifying that a demonic voice and for a moment, Jade swore that she saw how the hands of the old man seemed to crack and darken to an ashen wood. When she blinked and shook her head, the medallion was offered to her, her hallucinations quickly clearing. "Tis no small trinket and it is a big responsibility…but I know you dear Jade, I can see through you, the noble soul of a warrior. I know that you will keep her safe; I can see it in your very soul, a fire that could burn the world deep within it, with a heart pure as gold yet…with a hint of a frozen darkness that roams in the distance, peeking in the abyss bellow." There was a warm tinkle in his eyes and for once, Jade did as she was told and took the medallion from his pale and wrinkled hands.

A smile was tugged at his lips but it was neither sinister nor terrifying, it almost seemed like a proud smile that Jackie would give her. The medallion felt alien and strange in her hands and cold to touch, immediately she felt the toll that to be paid to the piper, her drowsiness returned with a vengeance as she shook her hand, passing a hand through her tired face and with a sigh she directed her gaze back to the old man quickly finding that he was nowhere to be found.

With a silent gasp she looked around the room but strangely the only thing she found in replacement for the spot that the Old Bear had occupied were just dead leaves and his smoking pipe. Startled she took a look at the medallion that was still in her hands.

Her head went light, her gut filled with ice and for a moment her heart forgot how to beat…and then, it started again. The second felt like a century old, enough for Jade to realize that this made no sense.

Oh dear…in what predicament I got into now? The terrified girl thought quickly going upstairs and scouting back into the second floor. By then, the hallway seemed darker which propel her to run towards her room in a desperate phase. There was no mistake, what happened was real, with the whispers of the story still fresh on her mind, Jade against all odds could calmly lay on bed next to an immobile Jackie and slept soundly through the cold night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day…

Lonely shadows disappeared for the day dimly diminished by the rays of the sun. The morning had begun and with it, the city became alive. Jade slowly opened her eyes with a groan, sitting upright on the bed rubbing her eyes. Her gaze fell on the parted curtains, realizing that Jackie was already awake, her suspicions were confirmed when she found a note next to the nightstand.

Jade, you slept like a log and I could not wake up. I am off to the museum but I am sure that you can explore the hotel on your own. The museum is actually not far from here, just three blocks down the hotel. Ask in the information booth about me and I will see you later.

-Love, Jackie.

P.S: Breakfast downstairs.

Extra P.S: Shower, brush your teeth and…

Groaning, Jade crumbled the note. She could not keep reading his gobbledygook.

"Gobbledygook? Stupid word" She groaned again, passing a tired hand through her face. Stepping from the bed actually took a titanic effort and by the time that she was ready, her stomach rumbled with a vengeance. She put on her black coat, putting her hands in the pockets and everything came crashing down as right hand felt the medallion.

In this town, we call home. A long time ago, far beyond from what it seems in a place that perhaps you have seen in your nightmares for the story that you are about to be told took place in the days of old…

Minciuna Adevarul, but everyone just calls me, Old Ursul, O'l bear...

I know that you will keep her safe; I can see it in your very soul, a fire that could burn the world deep within it, with a heart pure as gold yet…with a hint of a frozen darkness that roam in the distance…peeking in the abyss bellow.

The teen shock her head again to clear the thoughts clenching the ankh between her fingers. With her resolve made, she got downstairs. Breakfast got swiftly and before she knew it her feet were taking her to the museum, all the way, she could feel the whispers of yesterday's encounter, fresh in her mind along with something else like a pressure in her skull that she was unaware of before and the feeling accompanied her down the street. Her eyes became sulky and for the first time in a lifetime, Jade felt a deep sense of…horror.

Demons were one thing, mystical animals or seers from another dimension. But diabolical beings that haunted and ate people in their actual world were another thing…unusually she felt a little safer and with a clear head everytime she clutched at the medallion at her pocket, unconsciously tracing her fingers at it, not remembering when she put it around her neck. The cold air bit at her face, forcing her to take refuge deeply into her green jacket. The place felt more alive than ever, with people pouring in every street, cars were an oddity and mostly people walked or went down the streets in bicycles and at last she saw it. It was an impressive sight; the museum was a two-story building with a clock tower on its center. The walls were painted with a soft cream color and a light red for the ceiling, displaying many windows and a balcony on its side. Currently the historical center of the town was inhabited by tourist and town folk doing their own business. Several carts from salesman littered the sides of the museum varying from flowers to trinkets of all sorts. It would have been beautiful if only the cold stopped trying to kill her.

The information booth was found and within a few minutes of asking for her uncle, she was escorted to the private and investigation area where Jackie was currently engaged in a conversation with another investigator in a language she did not understood. The table was littered by several tablets and old scrolls with notebooks, computers and desk lights that she could deduce were notes of the research.

Jackie dismissed the man as soon as he noticed her, smiling. She weakly smiled back and she hugged her uncle deeply.

"Well, finally someone decided to wake up" Her uncle chided and it took all her will power to not give him the mother of all eye rolls.

"I couldn't sleep last night very well" Jade informed him lightly tapping her feet on the wood floor.

Her uncle pursed his lips like if in thought and for a moment, her heart wanted to leap out of her chest as the thoughts from the day before once more ram through her mind.

"How's your investigation going?" Her voice felt strained as she asked, but Jackie, always oblivious to the occasion did not notice.

Jackie smiled, certainly pleased at her interest. "It is going rather well, almost done deciphering the whole tablet. It is written in ancient Cyrillic language. We found out about the daughters of Muma and her husband. But we don't know how they are linked, the legend only speaks about she steals the sleep of children so her own daughter, a far worse and powerful demon continues her eternal sleep or it would unleash untold horror in the world, a demon so malevolent that she would consume the hearts of children that venture in the forest for power…it also makes mention to a medallion but we have not gone beyond this point or what the medallion has to do anything with this demon"

The Asian girl did not felt inclined in partaking in completing the legend for him from the…source and she certainly did not want to know about it, so with a sigh, she sat down on a chair and feigned uninterest.

"Well…I hope it doesn't take long, I am not liking this place very much. It is really, really cold" She hoped that he took the hint but the only thing he did was to give her a shrug and a smile, already used to her antics.

"There's some warm beverages on the table" He told her before going back to work.

It would be more days of anxiety in Romania before they were going back to San Francisco. The plane walls felt clamped and her mind was in turmoil at the disbelief, by then the medallion was clasped on her neck, giving her a sense of peace in the ten hours of flight time. By then Jackie had noticed her behavior and had asked about it, but always, she was good at hiding how she really felt, just replying how tired she was and before she knew it, the cold air of Europe disappeared slowly clearing her mind. The plane landed in San Francisco International Airport ten hours later and with familiar ground, Jade felt at ease and for once did not felt the pressure of her anxiety, slowly returning to her old self.

Smiling in relief, she gripped the medallion now resting at her neck and found herself back in the city, consumed by the celebrations of Halloween. The festivities brought a grin to Jade who loved more than anything else in the world, but by far, less terrifying that the episode in Romania, unconsciously gripping the medallion yet again. Her home in Little China felt as joyful as ever, delighted to have the company of her tiny brother Tohru and her older Uncle, both, young and old brought her a happiness that overwhelmed her anxiety and welcomed back to a familiar path, her own.

With the episode forgotten and a certain reminder of the incident with Paco and the Oni mask, Jade felt the need to disguise herself as the witch Shock from Nightmare Before Christmas. Even at 15 years old there was nothing better than the candy induced coma and the pranks that came with the night. Her hair was dyed in a dark green, with gel shaping the hair like straw with sharp ends straps, the purple fabric dress reaching her lower legs, the footwear were a pair of black and shiny curled toes with sharp insoles ramified a few inches upwards, white and black striped socks decorated her legs. She painstakingly concentrated on the makeup, bleaching her skin a pasty white with a purple lipstick at her lips. Her eyes were shadowed and with a little improvisation to Captain Black, he convinced him to let her borrow Kepler, the technology researcher and designer to make her a wooden pale mask from the witch of the movie with integrated glowing eyes…it was more than perfect after he made her a tall purple witch hat that curved at the end.

Offside of her disguise, she thought that the ankh gave her a nice look so she never removed the medallion, the last element was to use an enamel solution to dye her teeth in a curved pattern making her teeth look sharp.

Jackie by now gave her a curfew but a wilder side of her took a harsher approach, with an unsharpened knife at her side and a black leather bag for candy and off she went. The candy raid went better than she expected with more candy now that the Chinese were joining more in the celebration rather than that fearfully swatting kids aside terrified that they could be demons. True to their word, more candy was available for all kids, the masks did gave quite a few scares to neighbors but eventually she got bored with no friends to share the celebrations and at less than twenty minutes past midnight she was returning home.

However the night in San Francisco got colder by the passing minute, not as strong as the cold hell of Romania, but cold enough to make Jade uncomfortable, she was in a simple dress after all. With the advancing weather came a thin fog around the streets that caused the majority of the children to disperse and the streets to become damp and desolated. The lights were dim as she walked through the streets, without a soul to see, Jade was soon ready to return with her load of candy, it wasn't as fun if she was doing this alone, and in such bad weather, fun could die soon.

A sudden sharp pain rippled in her head with a growl she lumped on a close by wall. The pain came as quick as it left, leaving her disoriented enough to drop her bag of candy to the side. Immediately she felt it again this time, hissing as her head literally felt like it was being ripped open.

Jade…

She gripped at the medallion but the pain immediately felt stronger, her fingers shaking around the medallion. The sweat poured freely from her forehead staining her skin with the dirty make up.

"What….the….grrrrrrr" She growled inhumanly in a voice she did not recognize taking a hold of her pained head yet again. The world flipped in all directions as she felt that pressure on the back of her head exploding inwards, an animalistic hiss leaving her throat, her nails racked at the walls leaving deep scratches, falling to her left side nearby a puddle. By then her makeup had disappeared, sweated all over the dress, her mind, her thoughts felt scrambled, banging at the sides of her head. She felt another wave of pain hit her from the top and then to the side like if an animal was roaming her mind, her knuckles had turned white from the pressure on the ankh.

Jade….wake up.

"No…what…..grrrr, AGGGGH!" Her head split open again, plagued by cold sweat drenching her dress. She felt a presence within her own mind, an horror that she thought she would never feel again, returned with a vengeance.

"…what…what do you want?"

A pair of red eyes stared back at her from the reflection of the puddle, a shadow of a smirk in the puddle.

"Why are you so scared? It's just me…Jade"

The voice felt so real, curling around her ears. She clutched at the medallion again in her pasty white fingers and at that, the reflection chuckled darkly, savoring a dark thought. Just then a small boy dressed as a bunny appeared around the corner carrying a plastic jack o lantern filled with candy. His innocence felt like a ripple of hunger through her, completely terrifying her and compelling her to stand on her shaking feet.

His heart would be quite delicious wouldn't it…?

The world changed into frozen tundra of terror paralyzing her body and rendering every thought in her mind to break. Her stomach churned and twisted like if she hadn't eaten in over an entire millennia. A hiss came from her throat as her eyes centered in the child that by then was looking oddly at her and pointing to her candy bag.

"Hello…I could not get good candy…Can I have some?"

His small voice felt like a sweet aroma hitting her nostrils flaring at full force bringing her to an odd state of anxiety as she gave a first step towards him against her will. The mask felt at her side and her mouth opened revealing sharp teeth that contracted with the enamel. Her eyes glowed softly smiling with a grin that felt unknown as her hands extended towards the child who had innocently mistaken her aspect with a disguise. The child roamed her disguise, and with it she felt apprehensive and exposed, possessively hiding the medallion deep within her clothes.

"Yes…Come with us and you will see, I can get you some…sweet candy" Her tongue rolled against her sharpened morals with a silent chuckle, her skin shook as her muscles tried to repel whatever had gotten a hold of her body, with a monstrous giggle, she gave a second step towards the child who had taken the liberty to open his plastic jack o lantern smiling sweetly and nothing felt worse than being a prisoner in your own body, another step and another growl left her throat, a bit of drool staining her chin, rolling down her neck. By now the child had become quite nervous as his bag faltered in his grip.

"Are you…alright?"

The resistance from her straining muscles stiffened and then softened, her body fell sideways, feeling as if the control of her actions was finally out of her grasp and slowly, felt like she had become a part of a new persona. Dim by slowly, her resolve shifted and twisted all the while her mouth widening in a sadistic grin, her golden eyes flashed.

With another step she was in snatching range. "I am quite alright child" Her cold voice sent shivers through the small child spine. "But there is something that taste better than candy…do you want know what it is? Oh yes…he want to now, oh yes…" Her voice purred the last licking her chops, extending her fingers towards the boy. Her body trembled from her to toe with a new resistance born in her body, pushing a foot behind the bag of candy; her hands trembled with her locks already wet from perspiration fell at her shoulders.

"Howard? Howard where are you?" An older woman voice stopped her dead in her tracks. There was a deep growl in her mind and suddenly the world went light, finally being able to control herself. With a sigh and a trembled gasp, she looked at the child.

"Here mom" His small voice broke a response as an older woman appeared behind the corner. She took a look at Jade and then at the bag of candy with a smile.

"Thanks for sharing your candy" The woman said in appreciation, thinking that she had shared her candy with her son. The child and woman disappeared around the corner and her mouth tasted like disappointment, a gargling paste in her throat.

Jade…

"GAH! NO!" The girl growled picking her bag and running down the stairs on the street as fast as she could. Her palms rammed against her eyes to calm down the whispers of violence within her mind to the rabid hunger that spread through her from the continuous rumbles of her stomach. Her feet faltered by every step that she took away from the boy and even then, her mouth growled again and again giving her the impression that she was a running demon on the streets. Her throat rumbled with a hiss passing kids as she went tearing her eyes off and looking at the darkened sky feeling like running under the Romanian tundra through a forest. She pushed the door of Uncle Rare Finds quite harshly ramming the bell loudly against the wall making Tohru and Jackie at the cash register to jump startled.

Jade did not look at them, couldn't bear to as she climbed the snail stairs dropping her candy everywhere from a forgotten bag at her side and before Jackie or her little brother could reach her, she slammed the word shut to hide in her room.

Tender lumping's everywhere…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Her entire night had been wrapped around in heavy comforters, never hearing the pounding of her door for hours. Tohru and Jackie had tried everything to get her attention and with a little help from Uncle, they had tried to open the door with the key, finding out that the door knob wouldn't budge. Regardless of how they felt, they preferred to swallow their worry and wait for the morning.

When the teen did wake up, the mother of all headaches assaulted her skull. Her eyes opened with an inhuman growl, sharp irises like a cat cracking on her eyes before returning back to normal. Her icy fingers gripped at the medallion unceremoniously and as thrilling as it was, her pain disappeared and so did the coldness that seemed to assault her body. She took a breath that cut like glass and let it out with a drenched and pained sniffle. She wished she had never gone to that stupid trip to Romania with Jackie and taken that medallion from a stranger. He tricked her…but she dared not to make a guess of the true identity of such man, finding the discovery would be too much to bear, in a strange and twisted reality that this was REALLY happening.

A knock on her door brought her out of her reverie and with furious intent; she kicked the comforters away and looked around her room. It looked if a freight train had derailed in it.

"Jadeee…are you alright?" She heard her old Uncle, Uncle through the door, swallowing a lump she did not know that she was holding she swung her legs on her floor and off she went to the object of her annoyance walking on unsteady legs and open it.

The old man screamed terrified out of his mind running away and leaping down the stairs startling Jade falling on her keister with a grunt. Just then, Jackie, who had been standing next to her door walked by and saw her niece rubbing her posterior shaking whatever pain she felt, grumbling.

"Woah!" She also felt his fear and for odd reason, she relented in it but her curiosity was more than enough to make her stand on her feet and stab him with a look of pure murder.

"What?!" She screamed irritably at Jackie and immediately, he felt at a loss of words, instead pointing at the mirror that was on her wall. She went for it immediately and quickly discovered the source of their fear. Her makeup had run amok yesterday everywhere, from her dress to her face, her hat that still was a top of her head without realizing was crushed…but the enamel from her tip still made them look like they were sharp as knives and then she felt them with an horrifying look, discovered that they were indeed still very sharp. It did not help that two red eyes seemed to reflect back at her and her reflection and it was…. smirking when in fact she was currently having a panic attack.

Concerned, Jackie went into her room at the edge of her bed. "What happened yesterday my dear niece? You had us all very worried and we could not even open your door to check on you" His words made Jade snap half of her head to him and what he saw in her mid-expression worried him greatly.

She didn't know herself, she grunted passing her hand through her spiked hair half crunched with hard gel, feeling it frizzy.

"I'm going to take a shower Jackie" She didn't bother to wait for him, using his surprise to push him out of her room and slamming the door shut. Jackie stood there not believing what just happened and moments later he heard her shower running. He deeply sighed not knowing what to do in this situation. Defeated, he went down the stairs joining Tohru holding Uncle in his powerful arms.

"Demon has taken possession of Jade! Let Uncle go!" No matter how many times he shook his legs, Tohru would not budge.

Jackie sat down on the kitchen chair. "She is not possessed Uncle, she just had…a rough day" He distinctly crawled his face on his hands. The action stopped Uncle who stared at his nephew and feeling the same, Tohru finally let him go both joining him at the table.

"Worse than that. I feel that she has not been the same even since we returned from our trip from Romania. It's like she is…scared of what I am currently investigating" He slipped his fingers together, deep in thought.

"I will make some tea" Tohru said standing up, knowing the heavy situation that had befallen in their household. As he did that, Uncle got a hunch that whatever Jackie had to say would worry him even more.

The old man smacked Jackie on the head who grunted. "Owww! What was that for?"

"On with it! Uncle has no spared time to lose Jaaaackiee!" Beneath the anger, there was a thin layer of fear.

And as Tohru brought biscuits and tea, Jackie began his story. The more the story progressed, the tighter Uncle and Tohru clenched their cups, clanking on the china plates. Tohru had a distant look on his eye staring at the ceiling, or more importantly where Jade room was. Jackie did not spare anything, nor was a single gory detail left unsaid. Uncle could imagine it, being loose on the streets. Something was Asian demons, but this was something else, something far more ancient and evil than he ever had the displeasure of knowing. Many people said that legends were based on reality, it was a fact that this family and that the whole world had experienced. Legends can become real with just the flick of the switch…but there was something amiss to the story.

"Why medallion is not important in legend?"

The question did ring home with Jackie who smacked his lips in deep thought. "We could not go beyond our discoveries. The tablet is in a very ancient type of Slavic and Cyrillic language, it made a mention about a medallion that signifies life and prosperity and of course, what Fata Padurii did to get her powers and how she woke up to eat children hearts but…then nothing. We have not been able to decipher the entire thing or what the medallion has to do anything in the legend" Frustrated at the lack of discoveries he lashed painfully against the cup, sagging forward on the table.

Tohru and Uncle exchanged looks. The tallest of them sipped some tea and fully faced Jackie. "Why would this discovery would be this important Jackie? I know it's your job…but why does it has to involve Jade?" The mountain of a man made a chorus of alarm that stirred Jackie's concentration to break and concentrate on Uncle and then back to Tohru.

"Because!" He exploded in an unusually-Jackie manner. "I feel responsible! I shouldn't have exposed her or even let her come with me, but she was so insistent in coming!" He clawed at his eyes, snapping his eyelids close.

Uncle went to him about to smack him on the head, but he was stopped by Tohru's large hands. Regardless if he was stopped, Uncle had more than one thing to say.

"You shouldn't have Jackie! Who knows what catastrophes you have brought back from Europe? It wouldn't be the first time!"

Jackie stood up, not really in the mood to be blamed for this. "It is my job Uncle, it is what I do and what pays the bills. I am an archeologist and right now…I need to get back to work. Please, do keep an eye on Jade, school begins tomorrow after all" Without waiting for an answer he left, Tohru and Uncle watching him go.

Upstairs…

"Oh no, no, no, no, nooooo" She couldn't remove it.

She could not remove the medallion.

Her hair frizzed, her muscles clenched but regardless, the medallion just refused to go away from her neck. She hissed ramming her back against her door, using her legs as leverage on the sink and pulled with all her might, it did not budge. A startled gasp fell from her lips, looking herself at the mirror. It was like looking at another person. A tall woman stood behind her reflection with cat like eyes watching her; tenderly she passed a hand through the mirror and backed up horrified; an arm made of bark with sharp claws waved at her.

Dark shapes approached the glass, dancing on her reflection muddy and small hands caressing at the glass.

Children, they were children.

The shadowed faces of children seemed to press against the glass, their little arms cringing and moving at awkward angles, pressing their chubby fingers at their chest where a dark blotch of blood ran freely, they were faceless, their agony felt as the black shapes twisted up and down. Jade's expression was one of pure horror but while her face crushed into an expression of pure fright, the woman reflected grinned sadistically, caressing the heads of the little figures with her massive claws, almost tenderly.

"Jade?"

She screeched horrified, backpedaling to the door all the while trying her hardest to remove the medallion.

"Y-yes?" She called from the door in a small voice, smashing her eyes shut.

"Are you ok Jade?" It was Tohru, her little brother.

She swallowed her tremors, avoiding the mirror all completely.

"Taking a shower!" Her answer seemed to do the job as his massive footsteps disappeared down the hallway. She choked on a sob, slipping into the shower, transforming her mess clinging to her into something else. The green tint disappeared shifting into onyx hair, looking down as the green and white tint mixed with water Jade scrunched her eyes together, for a second imaging blood flowing down the drain, the drizzling sounds of the water was mixed with the faint otherworldly sound of children screaming. Jade weakly again trying to remove the medallion again with a faltering touch, to not veil.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The sterile room and the silence reigned in the National Museum of San Francisco. Jackie worked with some of his colleagues, the tablet observed at any angle, trying to decipher their secrets but they refused to reveal them to him and the other investigators.

Such an ancient legend without barely any answers but the faint knowledge of acknowledging from the citizens of Romania, but never a concrete awareness of what went behind Muma Padurii true meaning and her terrifying offspring, untold horrors surrounded it. The hours seemed to pass faster than the blink of an eye. Pictures analyzed without a clue of where to proceed, reports from the museum in Romania read over and over again, interviews with the locals and even a trip to a single memento shop that specializes in maintaining cultural and folklore legends from around the country. There were all met without answers, without any clues or the next step to follow.

They got nothing but these pictures that were already burnt on Jackie's retinas from staring at them longer than he would have like, along with a tablet that refused to speak about its grim secrets.

It was already night time when Jackie drank his final cup of coffee sighing and letting the magnifier glass to drop, aimlessly waving goodbye at the other investigators leaving the museum. The archeologist quickly went down to the break room to pour another cup of coffee while looking at the photographs in his hands, stifling a yawn, he sighed closing eyes going down to retrieve the cup of coffee. His palm made contact with the cup and in his distorted state het let out a gasp not being fast enough, the pictures falling from his fingers into the mass of black on the ground.

"Oh no…" He went to pick them up before stopping. The pictures had fallen on the coffee spill in a way that made Jackie stop and take a look at the array that pictures had fallen. The words seemed to mend on the four different pictures, giving him an insight of what have been eluding him all day long, but on the bottom, seven of the words that he had dismissed came back to him, wrapped in coffee stains, for the first time linking their meaning.

Blood

Seed

Evil

Trapped

Essence

Children

Life

Breath

Key

Blood

HUNGER

The medallion.

But…where? Where was it? The more he stared at the pictures, the more he realized that it was not a symbolic imprisoning. There was an actual medallion; the words seemed to point out to the Ankh, the Egyptian symbol of eternal life. But what was a Middle East symbol doing in a Southern Europe folklore legend? It seemed completely out of the question and he was about to discard the idea when he re-read the words Key and Essence. Something was definitely up and he did not like it. It was so odd that a mystery seemed to crush his good mood and cool into something that was not, for the first time, Jackie felt fear at the unknown. Curiously the word blood was repeated twice, a tingle went over his spine, shaking his head at the hunch that drew in his brain, he was about to scrap the idea before his brain insistence told him to do it strangely his niece voice coming in his head about being too uptight, so he did. Grabbing his UV flashlight, he went back to the investigation room, shining the blue light on the accursed tabled; it did not reveal nothing until he flipped the tablet on its back almost dropping the light in shock.

Blood and dried up flesh.

The blemishes and splashes of the gory liquid were everywhere, as if something or someone had smashed the tablet on someone's head to kill countless victims, the liquid almost came alive on its own, streaking, splashing, splattering on his hands, yet the hidden words between the spots were unmistakable. There was an inscription written in the gore along with a raw drawing of the medallion and then a person wearing it, shifting into Fata Padurii herself eating the head of a child.

Immediately he went back to the research lab, sitting on the computer hurriedly and looking at all the data compiled about Fata Padurii, reading and reading until it felt like it finally clicked, understanding the meaning of the gore markings.

She was trapped in the medallion…a medallion that someone would have to wear in order to control a vessel and gain her freedom to keep her reign of terror.

A cold streak of horror went into his gut, backing away from the computer, his eyes looking at the tablet as if was a cursed item, wondering where in the hell he would even find such a cursed item.

Sighing, he knew he had enough for the night and he wished that his dreams would stay clean for tonight…or so he hoped.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The day after Jade was not in her right set of minds. The world seemed to blur to her, her eyes reflected into the rainy day of the road, jaded memories of running through the forest switched on and off between the call of the wild and the streets offside the school bus until a piece of paper slammed in the back of her head snapping her back to reality. Very slowly, her golden-brown eyes turned to the culprit being none other than Drew Elias. The buffoon had not let on his wave of insulting and annoying her, not even after the fiasco with the Lord of the Shadows almost taking over the world, if only, it had increased to malicious ways, shared with the same pathetic buffoons that were always there, his band of lackeys in the Football team, along with two girls of her class that had become cheerleaders. The boy had received a grown spurt and now he was the Captain of their Football team, a fact that he used to abuse his position now that they were in sophomore.

"Nice slam dunk dude." A bald-headed boy high fived, exchanging a mockery against her but for once, she didn't care in the slightest.

Drew, who had been observing her reaction felt extremely disappointment that his intensions were not reciprocated. Expecting that the Ninja girl would stand from her seat to threaten to whoop their asses, he was eager to make her look like a dumbass in front of the whole bus and make her cry…but it never came. The girl turned around as if nothing had happened, her hands had disappeared inside of her usual orange hoody without an ounce of care and that…didn't sit well with him.

Scowling, he looked at the driver, knowing he was not supposed to walk around while it was in movement so he waited until they hit a red light before making his move, sitting next to the empty seat that she was occupying, throwing her a superior grin as her eyes met his for a fleeing second.

"What do you want Elias?" Jade hissed, already in a bad mood but that only seemed to amuse the jock.

"Just wondering how my favorite groupie it's doing in this morning?" He said nonchalantly, crossing his arms behind his back, a laugh building in the back of his throat.

A little old…but he might do…he has a very healthy heart.

Jade grunted as the thought went through her mind, clenching her teeth audibly to the boy who looked somewhat confused at her attitude, yet it disappeared replaced by mockery.

"Awwww, Miss Ninja it's feeling run down?" He snarled putting his hand around her shoulder and that finally made her act, in a second snatching his hand in a grip that made him grunt in pain and pushing him off the seat he took minutes ago with an ease that surprised the people observing the spectacle. For a moment, the teenager didn't know what to do, standing up on the hallway about to show her a world of pain.

"Hey you! Sit your ass down boy!" The driver shouted all the way from his seat. Growling at himself for the missed opportunity, he started to walk down where he was sitting originally, looking at Jade in the eye who didn't even flinch.

"This ain't over Chink Chan." He smirked at her darkening expression due his racist comment, her hands shaking violently inside of her hoody, wanting nothing more than to snatch a pencil and shove it into his eye socket and through his brain and for a moment, she agreed with the voice that yearned for his blood before growling and shaking her head, barely able to control her emotions.

The first period of the day was Chemistry, literally the last subject she needed to start the day, especially when her head was not in the right place, or should she say, in her right soul. Her fingers immediately went to the medallion, squeezing it both for reassurance and disbelief; she heard a chuckle that disappeared in whispers but not noted that the bald-headed boy who followed Drew was in the class, sneering as soon as he was noticed. With a mocking military salute, the boy was to quickly snatch a picture of her with his cellphone the moment the teacher was distracted, sending it to that annoying ass as her head split once more in an agonizing headache, her stomach grumbling in protest. When was the last time she ate?

Food…

She raised her hand, interjecting the teacher in mid-speech. Annoyed, he crossed her arms, tapping his leather shoes at being interrupted.

"Yes Miss Chan?"

"Might I be excused…I don't feel so good." She looked pale and sick, droplets of sweat had started to fall down her face, shaking slightly.

The teacher, growing concerned nodded, handing her a pass.

"Go to the infirmary."

She didn't wait no time in taking her backpack, opening the classroom door, catching the fleeing sneers of other students at her and a low cackle was heard before she closed the door, walking wobblingly to the nearest restroom, opening the door in a rush. The girl moaned, taking hold of her head, feeling hot all of the sudden, even through the chilly San Francisco temperature, she felt so hot that she thought she would pass out, taking off her hoody and throwing it on the corner of the restroom, opening the faucet and throwing water all over her face, the medallion clicking against the ceramic.

The door opening caught her attention, lifting her eyes briefly at whoever entered the restroom, groaning in annoyance. There were three girls from her grade, the ones that were nothing more than trouble makers, enjoying nothing more than to bully others. Alleh, the shortest one was the leader of the other two, a girl with dirty blonde hair named Karla and the one a pudgy Latina named Carol. They usually stayed away from each other because they knew that she could kick their asses without blinking an eye and they feared her…for all their abuse towards the others, they knew that she was a forced to be recon with, a fact that Drew seemed to ignore.

Yet as soon as they saw her, pale and trembling, they smelled her weakness and moved in for the kill, advancing slowly with their arms crossed. Their leader quickly tore her gaze from her to look at her own appearance before withdrawing a cigarette from her sleeve and a lighter in the other, putting the cigarette in her mouth before looking at Jade and snapped her fingers. Before Jade could react in her state, the girls snatched her by the arms, ramming her against the wall, meeting it with a grunt. The girls laughed sadistically, ramming their body weight on her and no matter how much she struggled, she felt too weakened to fight back.

Alleh lighted up the cigarette, taking a long drag before exhaling it all over her face making Jade cough, choking on the vile smoke, hissing in anger, knowing that she was outdone.

"You've been a pain in our ass since a long time girlie, ya think we just gonna forget? Defending the pathetic little turds from their lunch money and the nerds that have it coming."

Yet strangely, there wasn't an ounce of fear in the Hong Kong girl and that enraged the girl, snatching her face in an iron grip, squeezing her cheeks painfully making the girl to grunt in discomfort. The sound made the girl to smirk, cackling before taking another drag from her cigarette, exhaling it from her lips in an arc against the bathroom sink.

The moment she turned around, something awoke in Jade, a nauseating hunger that seemed to spread from the very tip of her feet to head, her veins bulging in an explosive plethora of feelings, her head lowering to the ground, shaking violently, sweat already dripping to the floor. The girls for now noticed how sickly she was looking and that fact made them laugh in unison, taking joy at her pain.

The bully centered her eyes on the medallion that she was wearing, it looked like a cross with a cross but instead it had an oval loop in place of an upper bar, it looked like it was made of glass and there was sand inside of it. For some reason, something propelled the short girl to go and touch it and her curiosity was burning that she might want it. There was something…something that whispered inside of her mind, turbulent desires that she wouldn't even dare to think, devouring her inhibitions before she was interrupted by the terrifying presence in the back of her mind, tearing her hand away from it like if she had been burned.

"NO! DON'T TOUCH IT!" Jade screamed with an insanity and fury that almost made the two girls holding her to let go of her in shock, feeling her arms bulging. Her head exploded in pain, snarling in an agonizing berserker rage, her eyes dilating uncontrollably shaking. Through her screams the girls saw as her mouth teeth expanded into sharp deadly knives, her skin bulging into a pale shadow of her old skin while they trembled in shock, paralyzed from fear. Her personality was gone, falling into the abysm, gone was the person known as Jade Chan, now only Fata Padurii remained.

A snarl came from the Asian girl and for a fleeing moment, Alleh thought she saw a flash of red before her forearms rammed backwards bringing the girls to smack each other on the face, breaking their noses on impact. But the possessed Jade was not done, throwing a nasty hook that dislocated the jaw of Carol sending her flying against the faucets, breaking it on impact, slamming painfully on the ground, all the while the short girl saw the violent display of carnage without being able to react. Her momentary distraction it's all she needed for the possessed Jade to jump forward, her knee flying smashing against the solar plexus of the girl so fast that the only thing that she could was to double down from the pain, snarling as the Asian girl hand closed around her mouth, pushing the cigarette in her mouth still alight screaming as the hot tip burned her mouth, trashing violently, Jade's sharp nails slashed at her skin, blood pouring violently from her wounds.

Jade's eyes dilated into slits, looking at the blood that dripped from her skin, her hunger coming in an unstoppable wave of ravenous hunger came, taking the girl violently by the hair and ramming her forward towards one of the stalls as she covered her mouth. No matter how she trashed and flailed her limbs the Asian girl refused to let her go, terror setting in, pissing her pants in the spot. The Asian girl took her head in both of her hands and kicked her left leg, forcing the short girl to her knees, screaming in agony into her hands before her face was shoved into the toilet and held her face underwater. The Asian girl couldn't stop grinning, her tongue licking her sharp canines, enjoying her agony, the way her arms were shaking and her legs kicking in was almost too intoxicating to ignore, not being able to control a sadism born out of spite, finally bringing the girl to the surface world, gasping desperately for air, being able to spit the remains of the ruined cigarette aside.

She was flipped violently against the toilet, Jade immediately pressing a knee against her bruised side, her face coming closer to her.

"What…what are…BLARGHHHHAGHHHH!" A scream tore her throat as Jade tore a chunk off her cheek, biting savagely, swallowing the chunk of flesh down her throat with a pleasured hum, her sharpened nails shredding her clothes, tapping her wildly beating heart. The violent sound of footsteps came down the hallway, with a hiss, the Asian girl turned to the noise, blood running down her mouth, holding the trashing and screaming girl. The stall closed, the noise being enough to wake up the girl with the smashed jaw, watching in disbelief as two pair of legs trashed, the water spilling heavily from the toilet quickly changing into a sea of red, gut wrenching snaps of flesh torn apart made her scream even through her broken jaw, waking up her friend with a panicked push of her arms.

A torn leg with a bone sticking out fell off stall, wearing shoes they recognized too well, both girls screamed going to their feet, slipping on the blood that poured from the stall, recuperating and escaping quickly.

Claws tore open the chest cavity of the dying girl, splattering the stall walls with her innards, digging from the treasure the creature controlling the girl knew it would found, smashing her rib cage open with a flattening palm and tearing the still beating heart, lifting it to her face, dripping blood along her smiling face before she chomped down on the beating flesh, her nails savagely ripping the organ in her mouth before swallowing with gusto.

A demonic shriek came from the restroom, its roar making the people who had heard the commotion stop in their tracks. The pair of bloodied girls ran like if the Devil himself was chasing them, smashing against the Principal of the school, hugging him and screaming at the top of her lungs.

Laughter.

A deep laughter of another era echoed through the entire hallways of the school, the bulbs exploding, leaving the school in darkness, the students scared started to spill down the hallways. Drew in particular sneered, thinking that this was just a senior prank, stood behind the crowd of teachers, yet he was more than shocked at the display of carnage that was looking coming from the water tinted with red that was pouring from the girl's restroom, a sense of terror setting in the pit of his stomach.

Panicking, the principal ran towards the restrooms, leaving the terrified and shaking girls in the hands of another teacher.

The laughter stopped and with a snarl, the creature rammed her body weight on the stall blowing it off its hinges before she kicked off the ground sending ceramic flying in all direction through the open window, smashing glass through the air and getting lost in the city below.

As quick as they could, the principal and the crowd smashed the door open, stopping in their tracks.

There on the floor was the heavily tore body of the girl, her chest was completely open with her guts spilled all over the bathroom, the smell of death permeated the air.

The sight was vomit inducing and many lost their stomach contents, putting as much space as they could between the restroom and them. Fighting through the hellish shock, someone quickly dialed 911.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jackie awoke with a dull headache, grunting in annoyance, his long legs swung to the floor, yawning deeply, smacking his tongue on the roof of his mouth. He sat down, palms loosely against the bed, just waiting for the world to feel awake yet his cellphone ringing made him grunt, a sense of being awake falling into his senses. He groaned as he flipped his cellphone and pressing the ANSWER button.

"Is this Mr. Chan?"

He groaned against his stretched hand, knowing exactly where this was going.

"He's speaking…may I inquire who's calling?"

"This is Miss Lehna from the Franciscan Middle School….Mr. Chan, there was a terrible accident in school, your niece…Jade Chan it's missing."

Alertness fell immediately into him, cold dreaded terror going through his spine.

"I am on my way." He flipped his cellphone close, dressing quickly, jumping to the first floor below, scaring Uncle who screamed, throwing his cup of tea, smashing against the ground. The old man screamed about to give his nephew a piece of his mind but the terrified expression on his face told him that something had gone terribly wrong and that immediately made him to take his hand in his.

"Nephew? What's the problem?"

"It's Jade Uncle…she's…. she's gone."

"Ayyyyyyyyiiii. What do you mean gone?!" The old man threw his hands to the air.

"Uncle I don't know! We need to go now."

Tohru who had been listening from the kitchen stood up rapidly, pulling out his cellphone.

"I'll contact Black." He marched off before the two of them could react.

Minutes later, the screech of tires was heard outside.

The van side door opened, Black stood there with his thumb pointed inside.

"Get in!"

The J-Crew did so with the van taking off with a low drag of the tires before they got on their way, the engine reeving to high RPM's, swirling through the streets as everyone caught on to something but this time the seriousness didn't even let Uncle to start protesting and that specially worried Tohru. The ride was tense with dread about whatever they might encounter, fear drenching their spirits and the moment the van stopped in the front steps, Jackie in particular was more terrified than whatever he had faced in his lifetime. Police presence was too heavy to ignore, ambulances at the ready with their lights gyrating. There was a crowd outside the entrance, a mix of curious bystanders and enraged parents, the police barely being able to keep the crowd back.

As soon as the incomplete J-Crew got too close to comfort, two officers held out their palms.

"Don't you see the restricted area sign? Get back where you came from."

The Captain calmly slipped his hand into the inner pockets of his trench coat pulling out a badge.

"FBI…we need to get inside."

Jackie was not even surprised. As secret as Section 13 was, his friend had used other types of credentials, knowing that his authority would overcome anything. The officers looked surprised, looking at each other but eventually one of them call it in, getting short answer in his radio, nodding at his partner.

"Go right in, crime scene it's in the second floor, restroom close to the main stairs…if not…just follow the blood."

The crew looked at each other in shock before they overcame it and went inside, going under the police tape covering the entrance to the school.

True to their word, the gruesome scene that followed was something out of an horror movie. Uncle in particular looked sick to the stomach and had to sit down in a bench, away from the stench of gore from the restroom while Tohru made a face but eventually went with him to safeguard his sanity. Only Jackie and Black were able to get close enough, peeking inside and Jackie sure wished he didn't.

He turned around and lost his lunch into the nearest trash can as the officers around the crime scene looked at him with understanding. Captain Black stood his ground, took a deep breath and looked inside.

"I am Captain Matthews…I wasn't expecting the Bureau here so fast…Agent…?"

"Agent Black, pleasured to make your acquaintance. Now…Captain, could you show me around?"

Captain Black had seen military action, enough to say that it wasn't pretty and he had seen and done horrible things in the name of justice and the interest of his nation but what he saw in there was if an animal had dug into the girl's corpse to look for something. Disgusting but intrigued, he took a closer look beyond the bathroom stall, purposely not looking at the torn teenager face because he knew he would meet her in his nightmares if that happened, instead looking at the extensive damage, cringing slightly at the missing leg, lying just feet away from the body that was surrounded by splashed of blood and pink mist.

"Surprising isn't it?" The man crossed his arms like a seasoned veteran of the force could do. "It looks like if someone carved into her like turkey…but they only took the heart."

Blinking, Black looked at the man.

"…the heart?"

The man scrunched his eyebrows.

"That's the thing…like some sort of predator went in, bite her cheek off, tore her leg off and…either claws or some sort of cutting object was used, someone or something of great strength ripped the heart out from the victim's chest cavity. Looking at the angle of the chunks of ceramic and footsteps, small in size, bored into the ground and perhaps jumped off the window, due the glass window broken…it's just a theory but it's all I got." The man finished, sighing. "At least it's I got…God knows shit has gotten crazy since…well, ya know? That day with the ninjas and all of that. Kinda makes you think if there was a demonic fool play"

Captain Black nodded. Nobody could've forgotten the day that they averted Tarakudo and his ninjas Generals from almost taking over the world…it was the day that finally where nothing in their physical power had been able to avoid the revelation to humanity itself and it placed the question that they were not alone…the world wide panic was intense and deservingly so, with many wondered what else could be real pushing their own government for answers with many protests having to be suppressed world wide; Section 13 dealt with the fallout whatever they could, suppressing bits of information that leaking out about the true origins of the invasion…but now everyone knew that demons were true and so did the victims that fell to Tarakudo's ninjas.

Extremely concerned by the information, he crossed his arms taking a deep breath.

"Any…witnesses?"

The police Captain looked at him grimly and he knew that this wouldn't be so easy to face.

"There's two…they're downstairs, in the auditorium. Nobody has been able to calm them, they're in shock so treat lightly Agent Black."

"I intent to. I believe to, thank you for the report."

"Take care now Agent…I'll wrap this up. This school is going to hell already."

Captain Black nodded in confirmation and faced Jackie who had been plopped against the opposite wall, trying his best to stay calm but as soon as they saw him they exchanged a look of apprehension.

"What…what did you find out? Is there any sign of Jade?" Jackie asked nervously.

Captain Black took a bottle of water off his coat and drank greedily.

"Something or someone murdered that teenager and tore her apart…the heart of the victim…it's missing…nothing about Jade for now, there's two possible witnesses."

Jackie paled, his mouth bobbing a few times, palms going to his head. Concerned, Black put a hand against Jackie's shoulder and squeezed.

"I believe that something isn't adding up, how about we sit down and you tell me everything?"

Slowly, the Archeologist nodded. Both men walked through the hallway in the direction of the deserted cafeteria, Captain Black shaking his head at Tohru who understood that whatever happened in there, it was best to keep Uncle away.

Encountering two police officers, Captain Black showed them his badge before Jackie and him sat down, sipping coffee, Black waiting patiently for his friend to start talking, lifting an eyebrow at how broken he looked knowing that what was in store would put another perspective on this case.

"Jade and I went to a small town in Romania called Basov…for an investigation about an ancient stone tablet related to a folk related legend about an abomination of a figure called Muma Padurii, or Mother of the Woods. Supposedly, a shape shifter apparition that preys in the child's innocence and their sleep, it is said that all the calamities in the world are her offspring's incarnate, so the sleep she steals is so they can continue to sleep…she also protects her forest and scares everyone that enters her forest away and it also speaks about enslaving children as well as eating babies off wedlock." Jackie licked his chapped lips, his cup trembling in his hands as he armed himself of valor to go on. "It also speaks about one of her children who woke up… Fata Padurii. Evil incarnate who stole her mother abilities to shape shift and the power of the forest from her father, hungering for human flesh and the hearts of children."

Captain Black looked disturbed at the information, sipping his own coffee.

"How is this related to the matter at of finding Jade my good friend?"

Jackie sighed, scrunching his eyes.

"In the table there was a mention of a medallion in which Fata Padurii had been trapped by her own mother after a fierce battle between them…an Ankh medallion…the symbol of life."

Black processed this information through his analytical experience, humming as he tapped his fingers on the table.

"Have you thought that perhaps Jade was possessed by this demon?"

The archeologist man brain stopped for a second, scooping the idea firmly and thoughtfully, by the way his hands had started to shake, it seemed that he had reached a massive revelation but rather than to loss his cool, he breathed nice and slow just as he displayed when he was about to commence an explosive training session.

"We need to talk to them." Jackie sighed plastering his already sweating forehead, the need to know about Jade eating at him. The two men exited the cafeteria towards the lower section of the school, close to the playground area there was a concrete building erected. It was a separate area that had been constructed a few years back opening many opportunities for the school to do things they couldn't do before with their lower budget and it had been thanks to the US Government as a thank you to Captain Black himself to give the school a bigger budget when he felt that Jade's education had been lacking, a hero of the world should have the best available for them…however the request of cameras that he had wanted to install to keep the building in check had not been accepted, feeling that it would be too much, a fact that he regretted immensely because camera footage would've been valuable and the camera's eyes never lied or had psychological trauma after such violent events…but they had to work with was available.

Four policemen stood guard on its entrance, making way as soon as Captain Black showed his badge, lifting an eyebrow at Jackie but not voicing their concerns. The large auditorium was empty with the lights centered on the first row of chairs where several officers were taking notes, four more were talking to the two figures huddled together sitting on the edge of the main stage. The two young girls were trembling badly, their tears slipping freely from their cheeks; immediately the eyes of Jackie softened at the sorry sight, not knowing their true identity, throwing a concerned look at Captain Black who was too distracted by his analytical eye to seek into himself to feel anything; it had been something that had always troubled Jackie, even though he was completely focused on the task, his humanity seemed to slip away. Approaching the front of the stage six more officers were huddled around two shapes not being able to be seen through the small crowd of policemen but as soon as they cut the distance they did.

They were two teenage girls covered in blood. The smaller of them was shaking, her palms extending against the policeman with a notepad, clearly stating that she didn't want to be interviewed, her friend hands were around her lower back, squeezing as if her life depended on her, with her eyes staring off at the wall, trembling and chewing on her bottom lip who had started to fatten with drops of blood down her chin and the cast around her jaw which two first responder were currently applying. Both their noses were broken and Jackie's heart went with them, even if he recognized Jade's bullies on the spot.

His niece had talked about finding an inner peace in dealing with the predicament at hand, knowing how far she had gone to control her temperament over the years, which had turned more…explosive, knowing and possessing enough knowledge to beat whoever she wanted into submission, including winning against him in several of their spars, Jade had become quite the fighter but also she had become more wise and understanding that her actions caused consequences that she could perhaps not take back, so against her better judgement she had come for his advice, mentioning Alleh, Karla and Carol. It had taken some coaching from his part, quickly to mention that Jade was already to the brim in warnings and she was on thin ice to be expelled from the school; it seemed to do the trick and she backed up…though it hadn't been the first time where she shad come home with scrapes on her skin.

Quickly reminiscent of the bullies, however the leader of the bullies was not with them.

Groaning internally, Black directed him to the group of policemen showing his credentials before being directed to the witnesses, presenting his credentials to the officers, Jackie ignored whatever was exchanged concentrated hard on the girls in question. Whatever they saw in there would answer the whereabouts of his niece, mentally preparing himself for what was coming, ice lodged into his stomach as soon as his friend motioned for him to go forward.

Both men sat at the opposite sides from the girls in question; the only one that could talk was an exasperated Karla who nursed the pain that flared as soon as she moved her face to scowl back at Captain Black.

"For the last time! Leave us alone, I…don't even know what happened."

"We know that you're going through difficult times but we just want to ask you a couple of questions." Black laid it directly, unfaced by the angry hiss of the girl.

She motioned to her friend. "Listen bud, I don't care…I just want to go home. My friend has a broken jaw, we got busted noses and even if I wanted to, I wouldn't even know where to begin explaining…nobody is believing a word I've said anyway."

"Please…reconsider…" Jackie started, his eyes shining with worriedness for his dear niece. "My niece Jade it's missing…please, retell your story to me…I am not like others and I will listen what you have to say."

Both girls eyes widened, trembling in unaltered fear the moment Jade was mentioned. Both men looked at each, thinking the same thing.

The mouth of Karla trembled, her eyes leaking, crying anew.

"She killed our friend." She looked away, burying her face into her hands. "She turned into a goddamn demon and killed her!"

Jackie's eyes widened, mouth opening and closing in disbelief.

The eyes of the officers were to quickly roll their eyes at the statement, even though the invasion two years ago by Tarakudo was not forgotten, the statement still brought ridicule but Jackie knew better.

"Describe what happened…don't let any detail slip from your lips."

It took Carol and Karla minutes to recover, hugging each other and whispering to each other words of encouragement all while both men presented them with the respect and courtesy, they deserved but ultimately, they faced the music, Karla nodding towards Jackie as Black pulled out his recorder.

"Ok…me and my friends saw the Chi-" She cleared her throat. "Jade enter the restroom…she didn't look too good, pale as hell, so we thought it would be a good idea to beat her from the times she did to us because she didn't let us rule the school like the Queens we are." She made a pause but both men ignored their terrible ethics, concentrating in the story. "We both had her pinned by the arms and we were about to whoop her ass…but…suddenly…" She took a deep breath. "She stayed very still, looking paler and in the fight, a weird pendant hung from her neck."

Jackie's eyes widened, repelling every motion of his mind to shake the girl into submission.

"It is very important that you describe it to me…"

The girl closed her eyes and concentrated, going through her painful memories.

"It was like a cross…with a rounded head." She closed her eyes, hugging herself. "The moment Alleh touched it, something happened…Jade…she got this strength, this inhuman strength and she fucking growled like a goddamn demon from hell! She grew freaking fangs like a vampire!" Her hands shook in terror remembering every detail. "She knocked us to the side like nothing and broke Carol's jaw with a single punch…I…never seen someone so strong in my life but Alleh…Oh my God." She whimpered, lips trembling through her agony. "SHE TORE HER APART LIKE A GODDAMN ANIMAL!"

The screams brought the attention of everyone to the girl and Jackie in particular was more than a gasp, even more when the mortified girl snatched him by his shirt, bringing him closer to her.

"YOUR FUCKING NIECE ATE MY FRIEND! HER EYES WERE GLOWING LIKE A DEMON AND SHE ATE HER! SHE STARTED BY HER LEGS AND WE HEARD HOW SHE DEVOURED HER AND WE RAN!"

"That's enough!" Captain Black stood up more than ready to snatch the girl from her but something made her stop, trembling from head to toe looking up, backing up in disbelief at the set of red eyes that watched her from the top row of the auditorium, sharp molars glistening in the darkness. The girl stood up in shaky legs, mouth bowing in disbelief and screamed pointing at something in the distance. When the officers, Captain Black and Jackie turned around but saw a flickering of red fading away through the darkness like two beacons of light flickering off as if they were just a trick of the lights against their eyes, yet the girl screamed bloody murdered and promptly passed out.

At the sorry display, Black quickly passed his fingers against his neck as a sign to Jackie that it was just best to retreat and review their information. With a sigh, he directed his gaze at the passed-out girl aching for more answers yet his pity won, throwing an apologetic look at the girl with the broken jaw as they were both swarmed by EMT's and curious police officers.

In truth, the encounter had made both men disturbed, the Archeologist was more than disconcerted about the revelation that now his niece had become possessed by a flesh-eating demon and he was more than far to tread into this type of world…it was time to drop the beans to his Uncle…who would not take this news very kindly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A loud snap resounded through the Chan household kitchen, Jackie groaning and rubbing the offending spot rapidly as the shaking hand of Uncle trembled from the sheer rage and horror that he was feeling.

"JACKIIIEEEEEEEE!"

Tohru looked from the spot in his kitchen, finally turning his massive size to face the Archeologist, an hostile expression went through his face before the anger went away instead replacing by concern, stopping Uncle's hand in mid air as he was prepared to whoop his ass once more.

"Please Sensei…stop. This is not Jackie's fault…he was merely doing his job but as always…fate conspire against us. It seems that this type of world will seek us and try to separate us…it is almost a recurring theme but now we cannot measure against ourselves and must come together to save Jade from this foul demon before she hurt others or worse…herself."

The giant of a man words seemed to do the trick into calming the simmering rage of the older Chan, finally relating with an angry 'BAH', turning around and going to his library, his hands trembling under the strain of the toll of his concern for his niece, a sentiment that all the family was experiencing.

With a sigh, the Archeologist stood up.

"I need to run an errant with the museum…the key to save Jade it's on that tablet and I wont rest until I find the answer to her salvation." Without waiting for an answer, he walked out. Nobody stopped him, yet Uncle gave him a fleeing look, his hands trembling once more, terrified of the unknown and the evils that would hurt his niece or worse…others.

The trip to the museum lost its luster to Jackie who could only see the turmoil that he was suffering through; where he could hardly contain his excitement to decipher the mysteries in the world, now he could see that somethings were better off buried underground, never to be found and forgotten…perhaps that's why they had gotten into so much trouble all over the years. The human curiosity was something that he could perceive as the call for something greater and help in the human advancement for stability and quality of life…or to doom thousands in an instant. The bell of the cable car dispersed his turbulent thoughts yet his feet felt as they were filled with lead, refusing to move from the entrance of the museum. Sighing, he forced himself to move, nodding his head at the familiar faces around the exhibits. He cleared his code to enter the facilities that held the most precious items not ready for exhibition and walked to the laboratory section, where the tablet laid securely.

Jackie passed the lab and knocked on the door from the director of archeology that was in charge of this area of the museum.

"Come in." The voice from inside invited him in. Sighing, the archeologist opened the door and was greeted by the smiling face of the director.

Dr. Leland Aristobulus was the very first person who've reviewed his case fresh off the University of San Francisco, impressed with his grades and the willingness for discovery for the wellbeing of mankind, expressing a sacred duty to document the mysteries of the world, naïve for what truly the world hid from regular people, years before the discovery of roaster talisman and the arrival of Jade into his life, so he felt somewhat bad for what he was about to ask, yet pressed on due the seriousness of the situation.

"Ah…Jackie Chan." The older man smiled showing his pearly whites, intertwining his hands. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

Jackie could not avoid smiling briefly. "Good evening Dr. Aristobulus…thank you for receiving me so quickly."

"Nonsense Jackie, call me Leland. I take your investigation in Romania was a success?"

Taking a seat in front of his desk, the Archeologist sighed, earning the concern of the Doctor.

"Is something the matter?"

Jackie nodded.

"Do you remember the Shadow Khan Dr. Aristobulus?"

The man trembled in repulsion, taking his spectacles with a shaking hand, cleaning them thoroughly before putting them back on their right place.

"Ah…well…" He swallowed. "Who couldn't? Are…are they back?"

"Do you remember how I told you about that many of the world's mysteries are in fact quite true? And the episodes that me and my family went through?"

The Doctor took a deep breath, rubbing a hand through his sweat drenched forehead, nodding slowly in affirmation.

"Where are you going with this Jackie?"

The Archeologist drummed his fingers on the table, preferring a direct approach.

"If you've been following our notes and the research in the case…including my most recent ones…Momma's Pahduri hellspawn has my niece in her clutches."

The Doctor's eyes shot out in surprise, his fingers trembling violently, his teeth rattling inside his hard-clenched jaw.

"She has already killed…using my niece's body."

The director immediately jumped to an alcohol cabinet that was behind the bookshelf, pouring himself a drink and sipping it with trembling hands, looking to his many titles and mementos.

"I want to stop Fata Padurii and save my niece…and I need the tablet to do it."

The man growled, massaging his temples with one hand and sipping his alcohol with the other.

"Jackie…ever since you came to me after the invasion of those horrible things, I promised myself that it wouldn't come in the way of my duties, for a job I've loved doing for over forty years of service to the world…but what you're asking is…is." The man dared not to finish by the way that Jackie looked at him; a look of hollowness that he couldn't even continue his train of thought.

"If we do not stop it…it will kill and bring the world into the brink of destruction. You know of the legend…the killing won't stop. First it would be here in San Francisco and if we let her escape, we could only follow its trail from the body parts and the carnage that it would leave behind." Jackie ignored the horrified look of the director. "This cannot happen…we most that hell spawn so I can save my niece from it's clutches." Jackie sighed. "Please sir…let me save my niece and put an end to this…I…I shouldn't never take that trip. It seems that every where I go disaster strikes and now my niece has fallen victim to it."

The Doctor looked away. "I could go to jail and lose my job…you must promise me to keep it safe. It's an invaluable piece of history but…if it's lost and that thing is stopped, then it's a sacrifice I am willing to take. My position here is not more important than the fate of the world." The Doctor took a piece of paper from the confines of his desk, taking his ink pen, filling out the proper paperwork and stamping his signature in it.

"Take this to the depository…it will be released to you Jackie, contact me if anything changes. I'll be waiting for your call…now go, son."

Jackie took the documents smiling briefly at the person who had been a mentor for what he did for a living.

"I will…thank you Leland."

The man said nothing, downing his entire drink in one gulp, ignoring the door closing, concentrating in the glimmering ice of his drink.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A mouth full of red stained, razor-sharp teeth trembled, a tongue extending and licking her bloodied claws with a pleasured howl of hungry pleasure; the demonic apparition saw the entire city of San Francisco stretched before her, her night vision saw the world in a tinted pale blue, observing every detail of the world of today. The brat had served her purpose well and with her full control came the memories of her host, every single detail of the world and every piece of knowledge she possessed was now hers; from her feelings of anguish, her desires, her wants and her hidden darkness hidden inside of her. A darkness that she was not interested in seeking as she was more focused in chasing after what she had been denied for so long…human flesh.

The night was her companion with the pale moon light as a forever witness of her deeds, following her as she stalked and ate children, using their bones to decorate her comfy abode…she needed to start anew now.

Her wicked smile opened wide, savoring the dark thoughts where she should move and make it her home?

After all…home was where the heart lies? A wicked smile drew in its face, licking her blood-stained teeth, thinking of only one who could satisfy her endless appetite for the time being, ironically, one of her vessel tormentors…Drew Elias.

Her bones cracked and she growled in agony as her body curved into itself, jaw unhinging in a savage predatory scream that had all the dogs to start howling in fear, flesh pulling and gnawing into something else. Bones went through its skin of his limbs, feather sprouting like bloodied flowers with its body starting to shrink. Its teeth clenched and its lips turned bony before growing forward into a beak that ended in a wicked sharp end. Her appendages were clenched on its head as the grotesque sounds continued where she was perched. When the transformation was complete, a black bird with glowing red eyes and sharp teeth remained, standing four feet tall. Its dark talons clicked against the ground, red eyes peeking into the city below with a violent screech that seemed to vibrate windows as its wings expanded ten feet at each side, jumping and taking flight into the raining city.

The society of today was a wonder to behold. Gone were the small and miniscule small rock cities she had seen during her medieval times…carries were long gone, with self-moving boxes with wheels through extensive roads that were not made of crushed rocks and primitive cement…communication…technology going beyond her reasoning, yet the same primal hunger remained. By this time, the tender lupins were safely tucked in bed, she was flying in the direction her host memories were taken her, with the sense of smell tugging the reins of her perpetual hunger.

Fata Pahduri grinned and dived into the city below.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A dark-skinned teenager opened the door to a two-story house, sighing as he slammed the keys on the nightstand. His eyes observed the darkened living room, frowning as the memories of today's events slammed into him, shuddering with horror and revulsion, immediately turning on the lights, feeling immediate relief and letting go of a breath that he didn't knew he was currently holding in. Hissing in annoyance with himself, he swallowed whatever memories he held of today and crushed it under the personality that he was trying to maintain. The teenager sighed, opening the fridge, digging a grape soda, brushing the fridge to a close. The can hissed open, taking a deep gulp of the refreshing liquid, gasping in relaxation.

Drew quickly turning his attention to the many pictures that decorated his home, of his many championships and sport prizes over the years, yet his father and mother were perhaps in two out of the fifteen pictures. The wall of memories felt cold and unalive, cold as the rain that peppered the windows of his house

His attention was torn from the broken hall of memories as lighting cracked outside, illuminating the room in an electric blue, hissing in discomfort, going immediately to close the curtains, completely missing a large dark shape flying upwards as soon as the teenager turned away. A wooden groan resounded from the top of the ceiling, but he dismissed it as dry branches sliding off from the roof, sitting with his soda can in front of the tv. It flickered to life, bathing the room in a fluorescent blue, scanning it for something worthwhile that could distract him from the turmoil he experienced today. Sighing he settled on a game between the 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks; Alex Smith had the ball, flying through the sixty-yard unopposed. His interest was peeked at watching the city's name finally kicking some serious ass, squeezing his can in excitement, the player's sweating face snarled at the incoming victory just as the same moment that the teenager stood up, a TOUCH DOWN building at the base of his throat.

A massive crack of lightning resounded like an explosion, throwing the teenager for cover just as the same time the power of the house died.

"Shit." The teen cursed with a growl of annoyance, whirling his gaze around the room, finding the darkness intimidating. A crack of lightning illuminated the room in a bright white, the teen snapping his eyes to the window. Hissing in annoyance, he went to the window and opened the window, eyeing the tinted water obscuring the darkened structures of the cul-de-sac. Nobody ventured outside into the torrential downpour that was happening outside. Shaking his head, he used his limited phone's lightning to find a flashlight that he knew was stored close to the fridge. Glass crashing made him turn around at the noise, peeling his eyes to the noise but not being able to observe anything. The teenager took a cautious step where the noise came from and then another, until he was venturing to the hallway. His tennis shoes crunched on broken glass, crouching to observe where it came from. Slowly, his fingers dipped close to the floor, putting his phone as close as he could.

It was a picture frame, for some odd reason, he discovered as soon as he took the jaded paper from the frame that it was divided in half. Just the picture of his father remained, while the one of his mother was gone. Blinking in confusion, he shook his head. The half of the picture probably fell under the console table. He ignored the thought of how a picture could fracture in two as easy as that and made his way once more to the kitchen.

"Hello son." He jumped in fright, turning so fast that he dropped his phone, catching it at the last second. Sighing in relief, he approached the darkened shape of his mother.

"Mom…I…I didn't hear you come in." He smiled with embarrassment at his outburst. "I thought you were working until late today at the hospital."

His mother approached him slowly, the darkened sheep illuminating her shape. A crack of lightning sounded like a bomb, making the teenager to jump at the noise, missing the jagged shadow of her hands shaped like sharp claws. The woman laughed slowly.

"Are you not old enough to be scared of lightning, child?" She giggled darkly. The noise was disconcerting, but still the teenager approached her. "I came to see you Drew…I missed you."

"You…you did?"

The rain and lightning were forgotten for the words that Drew thought he would never hear. The smile that his mother gave him was off, twitching into a shadow of that expression, but still it did not click in his mind, not even realizing that the woman standing across of him was wearing the very same clothes as of the picture with the broken frame. The teenager approached her, timidly wrapping his arms around her shape, now for the first time realizing that she was freezing cold, yet her clothes were not soaked with water. He separated briefly from her, eyes expecting of an answer to that impossibility but instead, her arms went around him in a loose hug, firmly pressing him against her body that felt like ice.

"M-mom?"

A dry laugh went through her throat, shifting into something monstrous. Her eyes glowed an acidic yellow, teeth growing in sharpened ends. A scream tore from his throat as the limbs that held him punctured his skin with plant like spikes, keeping him in plac before he could even resist, wiggling through the pain as his blood ran down in a forming puddle. The last thing that Drew Elias saw through his agony and disbelief, was the twisted face of his mother slowly descending to his face, opening her maw so he could see her sharpened teeth, opening wide as an anaconda, chomping down on his face, tinting the living room with a splash of gore as his skull disintegrated into itself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The roar of the storm brewing outside briefly illuminated the death alleyway where a lone phone booth stood. The area was inundated with thrash and forgotten bicycles, yet if one was brave enough to venture inside of the lone phone booth and enter a special number, they would be guided inside the belly of Section 13. The eyes and ears of the agency never slept. Agents of all kinds moved at a fast pace, while others spoke to lines to recondite corners of the world. A bald man in particular, dressed with a red turtle neck and a dark brown trench coat observed his maps, his eyes observing the multiple cases around the world, keeping it safe from the shadows. His eyes snapped at the approaching footsteps of Uncle and Jackie.

"Have you found something?" Captain Black asked.

Grimly, Uncle nodded, looking at Jackie sideways who seemed to have found the ground interesting.

Arching an eyebrow, the leader of Section 13 arched an eyebrow.

"Apprentice is currently preparing the solution to find Jade through her chi…it should pinpoint her precise location." The old Chan stammered. "Uncle thinks that even though niece is possessed, her chi will still be trackable."

Calling for his second in command, a grizzled agent who had observed the encounter, Black left him in charge for the moment and he walked with the Chans, to their temporary quarters, in the lower levels of the agency. As soon as Captain Black went into the temporary room where the wizard kept his trade, his nose was assaulted by the bubbled substance that glowed in the center of the room with a fine mist of purple, currently being stirred by the massive ham like hands of Tohru with deep concentration. The former enforcer stole a glimpse at the interruption before he dropped a single black hair into the mixture, the cauldron hissed to a bright green, the concoction always gave the bald leader of Section 13 mixed feelings of wonder and awe but there was no doubt that something was going to happen by the expecting looks of both wizards.

A hiss threw a floating water like bubble into the air, expanding into a basketball size ball floating in the middle of the room, the green aura slowly cleared into a deep white screen and from it, shapes drew themselves inside of the ball. The change was miniscule at first but finally after seconds, the skyline of the city at night appeared just as Uncle tried to concentrate and decipher what he was looking. The view inside of the ball changed, finally in clear picture of whatever they were watching, perched on top of a building. An inhuman screech came from the screen making the occupant of the room to hiss in pain at their sensitive ears and immediately, the picture took flight. Jackie concentrated long and hard, using his experience of archeology, quickly identifying the view of the Flood Building as the image turned briefly towards it.

His eyes widened…that wasn't really far away from their location. Immediately the image swapped to the creature flying ghastly through different buildings, coming down until they could clearly see the streets below, passing the Dragon's Gates.

"It…it is going to China town?" Tohru broke the silence, frowning deeply. "Do you think it is trying to look for us?"

Jackie closed his eyes in concentration.

"The tablet never spoke if a possessed host would keep whatever memories of them…but it is a possibility…that she's going to our home."

"AIIAAAA. NOT MY HOME IF UNCLE HAS SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT IT!" The older Chan screamed, cracking his fingers.

Captain Black hummed, taping his fingers around his forearm. "We can never be too sure…if we're going to act, we need to do it fast." He eyed his friend with some reluctancy. "We need to capture it before it slips away from our fingers."

Jackie's eyes turned briefly at him. He said something that nobody has ever heard him say.

"For the very first time…I truly fear for her."

The crew quickly moved.

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The itch called for Fata Pahduri.

Man was capable of such heinous acts, so why wouldn't she repeat the things that she had seen around in her long life? For as long as she lived and feed upon the men spawn, she had seen how they've killed, waged over territory or religious purposes. Raped, killed and tortured in the name of their justice or their God.

Her itch got under her skin, pulling her face from her meal who was now a half-digested body. The delicious irony of waiting for the loved ones of her host. It is a game that she had often played with the need or carnage an untold cruelty that was part of her. If only she could heard her host thoughts, knowing quite well that they were not all gone…they could watch what she was doing…feeling what she was doing with her new property. It was like a switch had turned into her, from her feeding frenzy to play these games, just like old times. The bright moon light enticed her to painfully change once more into a black bird of death, violating the host mind and lapping at her memories, delightfully enjoying that someone so headstrong was in her control, yet no matter if her host was strong, their minds were always child's play, peeling layer after layer to feed into their memories; their strengths be damned…their bodies were weak and she hissed to the skies, cursing her fate at crawling into hosts like a parasite rather than having her original body.

Yet, her own nature dominated every inch of her will and not it was asking for murder. She was after all, a creature of habit…born out of sorrow at the children, of their spite, their fears solidified it. A spirit born from another, seeking nothing else than to detach from her creators to entail in an infinite circle of carnage.

Her sharpened teeth were in full display the moment her eyes fell into the sign glowing like the last light on the world.

'Uncle's Rare Finds'

The demonic entity licked her chomps, salivating at the thought of murdering of what her host held dear, running down her neck and into the fabric of the bloodied hoody that she was wearing.

The moment her hands slammed the bright red door, she fell a tug in her mind making her blink.

A presence that she had never felt tugged at her mind. Someone was talking, whispering aggressive words and whispers of an ancient anger, as old as she was or even older. Uncertainty attacked her resolve, making the demonic apparition to hesitate, a first for a being of her caliber.

Nobody had ever tried to resist her and less than a half depressed Oriental teenager. Fata Pahduri growled, feeling her mental tendrils extending to squish ay opposition to her will and slowly she felt in control again.

Magic was in the air, yet the wards of protection was useless against a being like her, especially one displaying her host signature and now, as she had done for hundreds of years…she would wait. The ancient home had stood against every against it, looking into her host memories. Months of battling fantastic beasts and jaded criminals, it seemed like a childish tale of innocence, one where a child would ask their mommy to go to sleep. Yet the darkness where she usually took refuge was making itself known. She could feel it inside of her, throbbing, forcing its way out to be acknowledged by the likes of her…that just like she was, it did not like that her things were touched. But she was in control. Fata Pahduri squeezed every inch of dominance, her spirit burning alight by her own fury and love for carnage submitting it to her will, momentarily, she felt again in control.

Once the host was completely broken, Jade Chan would cease to exist.

Her hands curled, her sharpened nails almost going through her skin in the ecstasy of the incoming killing.

Finally, her wishes were answered in the form of an approaching vehicle that stopped with a violent screech of its tires. Several set up footsteps echoed through the main entrance.

It was time.

Fata Paduri blended with the darkness, bidding her time.

Outside it was a different matter entirely.

The Archeologist stopped right on the main door, tapping at the bag he carried on his hip and extending his arm towards his Uncle who stopped at the extended limb, stabbing at his nephew with a look of pure annoyance.

"Jackieeeee! We need to go inside."

Yet the man ignored him, throwing a look at Captain Black who nodded at him.

"It's a trap."

Tohru and Uncle looked at each other, the older Chan expression softening as he crossed his arms.

"Nephew it does not matter. We've faced worse before."

Yet Jackie didn't move.

"Never like this." The Archeologist finally turned fully towards them, a solemn expression of agony on his face. "She's going to wait inside…luring us to our deaths." He hissed completely enraged. "Using Jade's body to make us hesitate in the moment of truth."

Captain Black slowly advanced towards the assembled family.

"Do you really want to go inside without any back up Jackie? We're family and we have each other backs."

His words weighted the hearts of the family, Uncle eyes immediately scrunching in surprise, looking uncertain. Uncle wanted to scoff at him and call him ridiculous for even thinking about such idiocy.

Yet Jackie's resolve was solid.

"This is my fault…and I need to bring Jade's back to us." He motioned to the store. "Seal the front and back door, keep an eye on the rooftop."

"Jackie…no…" Uncle began, looking strangely scared rather than his headstrong personality, extending a trembling hand towards his nephew.

Sighing, Jackie hugged him, feeling strangely at peace for what he was about to face, his father figure clinging to him as if it would be the last thing, he would hold him while he was still alive. This was a battle that he never thought he would fight against, looking at the building now, it didn't feel like the welcoming cradle of joy where he grew up but a cold tomb where there was no escape from the inevitable.

Tohru looked at him, worse to wear yet he knew that Jackie's man was set up on the task at hand, knowing all too well about the seriousness of the situation. He didn't like it one bit, but he nodded nonetheless.

"Well keep an eye on the balcony and the roof…help is just a finger snap away Jackie."

The Archeologist placed a hand against his, nodding at the mountain of a man, facing now the main entrance, pulling his puffer fish as he walked into position.

Jackie's fingers touched the wood, tenderly, holding unto his peace for a little while. Arming himself with valor, he slowly opened the door. The store was drenched in a thick darkness, nothing like the welcoming atmosphere that the store had brought him over the years, even while spending most of adult years traveling abroad, the only place that he felt at home was the store.

Jackie's eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness inside, his palm feeling for the light switch that was currently there; surprisingly, the lights were out. Slowly, he closed the door that closed with a heavy click. The only thing he could hear was his respiration coming off in short but solid breaths, relaxing even at the face of death. Always the boyscout, he pulled a flashlight from his pockets, shining the light on the vast libraries that surrounded the lower floors. His leather shoes made the floor to cringe with each of his footsteps, trying to observe where the demonic being would be hiding.

You have something that doesn't belongs to you. He spoke in Romanian, eyes moving in all directions, keeping his senses sharp against the darkness. I know of you, Fata Pahduri. You must release my niece immediately and go back to your prison…you do not belong in this world.

There was a demonic hiss coming from the ceiling, yet nothing was there as soon as he pulled the flashlight at that spot. Only his quick reflexes saved him from losing his head as he saw the flash of sharp claws coming at his direction from the edge of his vision. A quick block, he re-engaged with a grapple at Jade's clothes, barely able to get a hold before the fabric fell away with a slash from those sharp claws.

A demonic laughter filled the house, bouncing in all directions, his ears cringing at the sound of it, hating that it was directly coming from his niece possessed body, propelling his fury to untold levels of anger, solidifying his stance.

"You're a very talented warrior Mr. Chan." Erratic footsteps echoed on the wood, his ears trying their best to locate where the sound was coming from. "Yet…you lose. This body is mine." The sound stopped so close to him that he thought he could see his niece in front of him, against one of the giant bookstands.

Hardly. Jackie acted more in instinct than reason, feeling a kick against his calf, making him throw the flashlight, putting his guard up just as a kick swooshed where his head was standing half a second ago, then side stepping as a snarl made by something inhuman attacked his flank, tearing a chunk of blue fabric from his sweater. There was nothing about style of how it fought, just mere savagery, concentrating in carnage. He trusted Jade to use the lessons that he had implanted in her since they started their lessons…yet this being refused to act upon any of them as it fought with murder in mind with a fury that Jackie found hard to keep a track against in darkness, rotating against the cone of the flashlight as he caught a punch against his sternum that send him catering painfully a few feet off the ground, falling shakily back on his feet just as the possessed body of his niece jumped to him with a double flying kick, rolling on his knees to avoid it as he fell the heavy speed of the wind overhead.

The crash of Fata Padurii against a bookstand send it crashing heavily on one behind it, slamming against the kitchen, completely burying it in heavy tomes. Uncle was not going to be happy about that one. A screech of agony came just in time as he saw the book cart flying in his direction, rolling in the nick of time to avoid it. He swapped stances, employing his dragon stance against any adversity.

Yet he never expected at the sudden tug of his limbs, propelling on his knees against the demonic eyes of the creature that stood over him. His attention was now pulled to the vines that had come out of nowhere, mentally slapping herself for not remembering that important detail of the legend. Triumphally, the creature opened her maw with sharp teeth, barely revealed from the flashlight on the floor.

"And the strong warrior falls." The demonic being hissed, pulling her hands on his shoulders and squeezing in a mockery of a caring gesture. His eyes hardened but it only made the demon to get more amused, holding him by his arms with a supernatural strength. Looking at her face, he felt sickened to his stomach, knowing too well that he fell into her waiting hands.

Knocks from the main entrance glued their gaze at the ruckus.

"Jackie?! Open thiiiis doooor!" The voice of Uncle blared behind the door covered in wood and heavy books, blocking it from entry. Hissing the creature looked at him with demonic red eyes, licking her sharp teeth.

"Do you feel the irony? Killed by your own flesh and blood…" It laughed savoring the dark thought. "Do you know the best part? She is observing at this very moment…Jackie." She bereted him with mockery, flickering her eyes like an adorable child making his cringe his teeth in fury.

"Leave her alone…take me instead." Jackie hissed against the vines solidifying against his legs.

The creature looked at him and then at her own self before she scoffed.

"This isn't the proper body of someone like me." She licked her teeth. "Yet the irony of it, is too delicious for me to pass this opportunity. Even if I take your body, why would I gain?"

Jackie closed his eyes.

"The location of the tablet."

The demon blinked, easing the hold of his limbs.

"The tablet? The inima sacră a pădurii?" The demon laughed. "You're bluffing…it has been lost for over a millennia." It squeezed his arms with enough strength to feel his arms collapsing into his sockets, biting down a scream, keeping his gaze on the demon.

Laughing the demon regarded him for a minute, dragging his body forward until they were almost nose to nose.

"At what would you gain from this?" It hissed, licking his cheek with a purr.

In disgust, Jackie could turn as far, trying his best to ignore it.

"My niece's safety." He hissed, trembling. "She doesn't deserve this…you would gain the knowledge of your own freedom. It is what you want isn't it?" Jackie felt the being hesitating. "That's why you possessed the very first person who wore the medallion, though I don't know where she got it from."

The demonic being eyes widened in surprise, hissing with enough strength to rattle Jackie's ears.

"That old creature is still playing her games." It said, though the Archeologist did not know of what could it mean. "A fair bargain." It smiled showing dozens of sharp teeth as a hand extended towards his chest. The creature dragged her sharpened nails downwards, the Archeologist biting down the agony as the hand traveled until his lower stomach, breathing heavily as his sweater became drenched heavily with blood.

Fata Padurii smirked, slowly placing her hands on his shoulders.

Jackie felt a tug at his mind, like a second presence trying to get inside. It felt like when Shendu took control of his body, all those years ago. The moment he felt that the vines wrapped around his wrists due her lack of concentration, he made his move. Before the demon could even process what was happening, he took the tablet from the bag, interrupting the ritual of the demon who snarled at the apparition of the tablet in his hands.

"You want the tablet? Come and get it!" He mentally muttered a deep sorry to Jade as he rammed the tablet on the demon's face, breaking the ancient and invaluable tablet, dozens of pieces flying around. The hit was strong enough to propel the demon against a bookshelf, collapsing on its knees, shaking his head. As it came about, it saw the scattered pieces of its salvation, crumbling before its eyes. A roar of anger busted from Fata Padurii, the entire store shaking as it kicked at the book shelf, launching at Jackie with tremendous speed, barely managing to side step on time, feeling the air and the power from that kick swooshing under him.

"YOU FOOL. I'M GOING TO DISEMBOWL YOU AND EAT YOUR BRAIN!" The demon eyes glowed red with murder.

The Archeologist stood his ground, more than ready for the fool demon. Like breaking into a switch, Fata Padurii form started to break apart to the horrified eyes of Jackie. The sickening breakage of bones and tissue was a companion to the sense of horror going through his body, observing with dread as limbs turned into thick vine covered bark, shortening into mere stumps and the legs expanded until they turned into 6 thick lower limbs, the medallion going inside of the folds of wood shifting into something grotesque. The body enlarged into a thick trunk like body, growing almost as tall as the first story, the head breaking into an empty maw ending in sharp wood teeth with no eyes, yet Jackie knew it was looking at him.

A blast of chi impacted the front door, enough to rattle the insides of the house, yet it held. A sickening red aura hissed directly from the wood like body of the monster in front of him, giving a roar of anger, ramming two of its thick legs where he stood a second ago. For its massive size, it was quite fast, using its six legs to move, balancing on its two longer limbs, hollering in the air and swooshing down, intending on crushing him beneath its massive weight. Jackie screamed, jumping backwards with an expert whirl through the air, landing perfectly and avoiding two massive legs that tried to slam him together in their girth. The monster seized him for a moment and it took all of his will power not to break down crying.

Was she lost forever? Now staring at the massive monstrosity roaring without a face, he prayed that he could distract the monster enough for his family to make entry into the battle ground of his home.

The maltreated floor quickly gave in at the massive weight of the creature, trapping two out of his six limbs, its face barely being able to curve at the interference with the impendent of movement. It snarled in fury, shaking its limbs to no veil. Thick vines went through the wood of the floor almost getting Jackie, who jumped to the cash register counter and then to one of the standing massive bookstands. The vines wrapped on the thick limbs of the beast in an effort to free itself, tilting heavily on its side. Gravity did the rest in toppling the creature against the walls of the house, the floor planks going off as missiles in all directions. The poor older Chan had the scare of his life as a plank went through the front door, almost beheading him.

"What the hell is going in there?" Captain Black snarled withdrawing his service pistol and peaking through the thick hole that the plank had made. His blood boiled as a demonic snarl resounded outside but the only thing he could see inside were dark and massive shapes moving.

Jackie avoided another thick coil from a vine, kicking one and redirecting another away from him just as the jumped to the destroyed stairs railing, the monster smashing it to pieces. Jackie hissed at the agony of watching the home where he grew up getting torn to pieces by the monstrosity which was using the body of his niece. The pain was gnawing at his insides, trying to think of a way to get her back without facing his death at the bark like creature that was trying its best to end him. As soon a the stairs fell, it kicked dozen of heavy tomes at the other side of the store towards the studio area, where usually Uncle and Tohru did their magical experiments, mixing dozens of priceless ingredients together. A deep hissing sound came from the studio, cracks like firecrackers at the Chinese New Year celebration exploded, engulfing the book stands on fire, close where he was standing. The archeologist eyes widened in alarm jumping just as a colossal fireball send him to the other side of what remained of the kitchen, landing heavily on the table, breaking it apart. He grunted, rubbing his bruised ribs, feeling blood falling from his lips. The ringing in his ears was completely disorienting him to the screeches of pain that the monster was making as the green like magical fire engulfed one of its limbs, flailing through the air in an effort to extinguish the flames eating away its bark like body.

Screaming, the Archeologist dug though the pile of books, throwing them aside to access the area where he kept the fire extinguisher, quickly releasing the safety and aiming it at the monster. Two legs quickly lifted over his head, quickly launching at a massive speed forcing the archeologist to drop down the fire extinguisher and jumping away from the thick limbs, smashing the abused floor boards with fury, cracking the cylinder, spreading white mist everywhere but the swirl of magic didn't stop there.

A green flash was the last thing he saw before an explosion send him to the second floor, smashing Jade's door down landing on her bed and smashing his head painfully on the wall. For long agonizing seconds, his body was immobile, eyes dancing between the colors of her room, the smells and the fragrance that he associated with her. His hands were trying to hold something, anything to wake him from his lethargic. Finally after what seemed like minutes, his palms propelling his forward, shaking a last minute shakiness from his system.

Of all the moments, why haven't Uncle and Tohru entered the store? It seemed like hours since he was fighting Fata Padurii. His answer was in the deep red glow coming from the window. It seemed to reflect entirely on the street, staining the concrete down below a deep blood red. He could see Captain Black and company trying their best to figure the best possible entry yet…he knew that whatever magic was keeping them out was out of their knowledge. It was as ancient as the world, in a time where the whispers of darkness reached every corner of the world, extinguishing any source of light or hope. A forgotten being now preceded here, trying to bring the darkness that had been long forgotten.

A massive bark like limb smashed against the railing, just as a bone chilling roar resonated through the store, pieces of the ceiling cracking and splintering. The top pagoda tore from the top of the building, scrambling as fast as his massive girth let him, Tohru scooped Black and Uncle around his arms, jumping out of peril. Turning around while breathing hard, they saw in disbelief as a red tendril seemed to come alive, moving in an erratic pattern like a blood snake.

"AiiiiAhhhhh! WHAT'S TEARING UP UNCLE'S HOME?!" The older Chan stood up more angry than shocked, sending a charged puff of magic at the door, which bounced and hit parked park which busted in flames.

Inside, Jackie embraced the possibility that his niece was death inside of that thing as he rolled his body down her limb, jumping over the sharp jaw like wood tips of her maw, yet he couldn't stop fighting the feeling that she was more likely a vessel, watching the destruction before her very eyes without being able to do anything about it. He prayed to whoever was listening to give his niece back to him, back where she belonged and not in this crazy world of ancient darkness and flesh eating demons.

For its part, Fata Padurii was done playing games. Using her massive size, she picked her speed, impeding the gravity that seemed to carry her body weight to disappear. Ten tons of unstoppable power bared at Jackie who couldn't get away in time, sending him flying for the second time in the day yet he never felt the impact. Thick vines were wrapped around his legs and his hips, immobilizing him as he was turned upside down, slowly bringing it closer to the bark body of the demon, slowly but surely bringing it closer to her maw of sharp teeth. It held him right there, savoring the cruel pleasure it felt at the agony and fear that so clearly displayed in his face, perhaps it would be the one that would be immortalized forever when she started chewing on him before she ate his face took.

Fata Padurii would prevail once more, bringing in the thick rivers of blood and viscera accompanied by the life that their hearts would give her.

The Archeologist closed his eyes, feeling the regret that he would never being able to hold his niece that was just like his own daughter. He would never been able to see her grow to flourish into a beautiful woman. Hopefully after he died he could be at peace if they were reunited in the afterlife. The maw opened unusually wide with a snarl, wide enough to swallow someone as large as Tohru and just as Jackie accepted his death, a single tear slipped from his cheeks, falling down the abysm of death.

Inexplicably, the vines that firmly held him started to shake violently, throwing him to the floor, barely being able to get back on his feet turning around as he heard the sounds of gnawing flesh inside of Fata Padurii. The monster was twisting into itself, the thick body twisting in an unnatural way, cracking at the center like if something was trying to force its way out. The maw of the beast opened roaring in white agony, the edges of the pit of death glowing with a sickly blackened purple energy.

A hand of pure light busted from the skin of the monster, melting the bark as if it was made of mud just as the agonizing screech of a dying animal made his ears to almost bleed by the deafening sound. The bright white light pulsed with an aura of power that peeled off more of the bark like body of the creature just as the aura changed colors into the same purplish energy joined by another.

Fata Padurii collapsed under the weight of its body as it trashed and screeched without control, the center of its body finally breaking apart as the two hands expanded upwards. The shape of a being of pure energy flew from the almost death body of the demon of the forest, floating to the center of the destroyed store. With disbelief, Jackie observed as the being started to solidify into a blackened purple color, glowing and pulsing with an energy that felt warm and dangerous at the same time. Tendrils grew at the head just as the body of light started to break into the shape of clothes, extending far beyond the being legs, floating and blowing by the waves of the magic power that seemed to vibrate the entire room.

The faceless being of light grew two red eyes, like fiery pits from the hell itself, a blackened line broke on the lower place of the faceless being, breaking into a savage looking set of sharp teeth. A demonic growl came from the being of light, slowly solidifying into the body of a young girl. The aura slowly started to dissipate, colors creeping into this new being of light, the transparency disappearing just as it extended its hands that broke into sharp nails like claws, hugging itself as the glow evaporated and joined her body, giving her wicked sharp dress its deep purple color with a black that reflected the dark aura that it radiated as the being floated in the middle of the room. The being glow completely disappeared as finally the limbs found their color with a creamy but tanned tone. The tendrils that made its hair grew to her shoulders, ending up on sharp onyx colored spikes, mouth opening up and down in a sharp display of rows of sharp teeth.

A savage snarl tore from its mouth breaking Jackie from his reverie.

It was the Queen of the Shadow Khan…Jade…no…where…what the hell was happening?

Like a blast from the past, the resurrected Queen slowly floated down the room, placing her delicate bare feet on the floor just as it looked at him.

She looked completely different. Gone was the purplish-blue like color of its smooth skin and the deep red eyes. Instead her skin was a little paler than his niece and the demonic red eyes were glowing deeply, yet he could see a shrunk golden pupil inside of her corneas. The Queen looked at him, tilting her head as if analyzing him, regarding him. They were so enthralled by each other's presence that neither noticed as the husk body of Fata Padurii wrapping around The Queen's mid-section as the beast made a satisfying sound from her barely movable body. Yet the possessed Jade did not even panicked, she merely increased the power that he had felt before, burning the multiple vines holding her.

A screech of agony came from the barely alive form of Fata Padurii, as it knew fear for the first time, shaking as The Queen slowly advanced towards the torn body of the ancient demon.

"You took something that belongs to me." The Queen hissed in a voice that disappeared in whispers, growling in a inhuman way just as her fingers made contact with the retreating form of the Romanian apparition. The moment her claws slashed at one of the lower limbs, it broke apart in a colossal crash, a deep screech of pure agony echoing in the house. The Queen seemed to relish in its pain, opening her mouth in a sadistic display of sharp teeth.

The Archeologist should have interfered but his body was still doing times with the disbelief that seemed to crash his brain, just as The Queen started dicing and slashing with the calmness of a psychopath, tearing up the trunk in pieces. Her hands dug into gnawed remains of the trunk, dragging a greenish huddled form of what Jackie could presume was the real form of Fata Padurii. The shaking body of the demon of the forest was bleeding heavily, thick sabia pooling over her form as the possessed Jade lifted her effortlessly, throwing her aside like a pile of garbage.

Jackie woke up from his stupor, blinking furiously as The Queen advanced, clicking her sharp nails like spears together towards the torn body of the beast, lying there with a leg missing, trying to drag its sorry shape away from the advancing and certain doom.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you think doofus?" She-demon turned to him with a sarcastic display of savagery, using the last word as a mockery of the body she was possessing and she knew it too, lifting an eyebrow in satisfaction as his face darkened with that realization.

A weak screech of pain came from Fata Padurii as The Queen of the Shadow Khan rammed her feet on its body, pinning it beneath her weight, immobilizing her, weak limbs lifted in an effort to free herself but salvation would not come. For a murderous being that took delight in eating people, at this sorry stage, Jackie couldn't help but to feel pity. Even if this monstrous being had put Jade at her highest level of peril and almost erasing her from the living, he believed that the fate of this creature should go back where it belonged, to its prison.

"See if she has the medallion." Jackie spoke before he could think. This was pure insanity and he knew it; from one demon to another, who would have guessed that a stage of his dear niece would come back to haunt them once more? Yet she-demon flipped Fata Padurii with a massive kick that tilted the fragile body of the demon to the front of its body, weakly puffing in agony as a deep crack lacerated its blood towards the thickening pile.

The medallion hung loosely from its neck, catching their attention. Slowly, the fingers of his possessed niece extended upwards, the medallion started vibrating and levitated, away from the wretched neck of the demon who make another weak motion of its bark like limbs to catch it, a torn digit holding for dear life, its glowing eyes had lost its luster. Impatient beyond feeling, The Queen took a hold of her arm and squeezed with all her might, tearing up her arm from her dying body. The vibrating hum of agony came with it, just as the body started to break apart at their lingering gaze. The bark textured lines turned into bright splinters, body shaking with no control, curving into itself before the glow disappeared into ash.

As the limb disappeared, the possessed Jade fingers slipped around the ancient chain, slowly bringing the Ankh to her face, grinning savagely, her laughter vibrating slowly from her throat, yet a thought came, her glowing red eyes settling on the widened eyes of the archeologist.

He…woke up into a nightmare, just to fall into another? How much worse could get into one night?

"Jackie." The Queen whispered, crossing her arms across her chest. "You owe me…and I shall soon reap my reward." She snarled inhumanly. "Know this…she is safe because of me."

That seemed to do the trick into calming the anxiety and the fear of danger that had seemed to paralyze Jackie into the same spot, even before the forest demon expired.

"How is this possible?" Jackie spoke more to himself in disbelief that the She-Demon that was staring intently at him. "He vanquished you, back to the kingdom of shadows."

The Queen snarled, floating slowly upwards, crossing her legs under her.

"I never went away…I am part of Jade as Ying and Yang. She is my light and I am her darkness…one day, I will wake up once more and you will help me to pay the debt of saving her from the clutches of the filth that I just killed for this family."

His eyed widened.

"You want me to join you and conquer the world? The only thing we've been fighting since I found the roaster talisman?" He snarled at the ridicule of such statement.

Yet, The Queen amused enough to give him a fanged sneer.

"Everything has been set in motion already, there is no stopping what is coming…something far out of this world is happening and to gain my kingdom and my rightful place, you-will-help-me…and it isn't going to be here" She hissed, the sound curling around his ears with distaste.

The Queen regarded him for a moment, her face slowly clearing of her aggressiveness, softening as she gazed at him.

"Do you understand?"

A certain of him did, yet he was not ready to accept that the Jade he knew and loved would be far gone from his clutches.

"Until that day arrives…yet what tells me that she will be safe? Even from you?"

She-Demon chuckled.

"That is something that she and I must deal with…now…there's someone to eradicate." She said lifting the medallion between her sharp nails, putting pressure on the ankh medallion. Before she could even do the deed, a thick vine went through the floor, coiling around the medallion, taking it away from its clutches as it dug into the floor. A snarl of missed violence resounded once more, The Queen shaking from pure unaltered rage at sealing her rightful vengeance, yet her snarl quickly turned into a growl of agony, holding her head, squeezing her eyes tightly, landing heavily on the floor on all fours.

He quickly advanced more out of instinct than rational thought, because it was still Jade, damn it. Yet her eyes opened, staring at him and rooting him where he stood.

"Remember…Jackie." The whispers finally disappeared from her voices as a dying ember, the red around her eyes lost its luster as the pupils grew in size. The nails retreated back into her hands and her clenched teeth lost its sharpness just as the dark purple evaporated into a deep and bright orange hoody. Her head hit the floor loudly and he was there to hold her against his body, wrecked by the sobs from his very soul, holding her close.

The girl seemed to wake from her stupor, not knowing where she was at first but as she opened her eyes, she gazed into the crying one of her uncle's and she broke apart right in front of him, holding him for dear life, bawling every moment of anguish that she experienced in the blink of an eye. The girl was to quickly escape his clutches, standing on shaky feet before he could even ask her about her actions, she placed her palms on her knees, she retched on the floor, tears mixing with the mucus that slipped from her nose. He didn't care as he held her once more, the girl arms around his body where she could finally find the solace that the nightmare was over.

"I…I ate two people…I…I…Jackie! I KILLED THEM" She broke again against him, curling her body, mind and soul into him. She didn't even react when the front door finally exploded open in two, Captain Black, Tohru and Uncle entering, witnessing the devastation of the house. But Uncle never voiced his fury, his undivided attention was on the forms huddled close on the floor.

As the family reunited, the future that was already written for him lay forgotten, wondering how their lives could move forward with everything that had happened? How could he help her to move forward? He thought as the family closed on her, not needing any explanation, hugging her against them.

The eyes of the archeologist had finally closed on the unknown…now…his gaze laid in the present.

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The darkened San Franciscan harbor was barely illuminated, thick and white fog was the companion of the port, just as the rats that ran around the sewers. A burly man appeared through the fog, dressed in a thick and tan coat. His gloved hands fixed the Romanian papakha hat that had tilted during his gait. His darkened teeth broke into amusement, feeling for something into his coat pocket, the sound of jiggling metal, slowly pulling an Ankh medallion.

The man smirked displaying wooden teeth.

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A/N: And so, concludes this nightmarish one shot. Hopefully you guys enjoyed it as much as I did write it. Before I go, I must say that it isn't related to The March of the Black Queen, yet it seemed that her character was an inclusion that I planned from the very beginning.

Take care

D4rK