Chapter 7- Destination China

"You have lost your mind. Yep, there's absolutely no doubt about it", I muttered. Arsenio rolled his eyes. But he looked preoccupied by the plans to go to Beijing. That was, presuming he could leave the house, unnoticed. He was a prince, after all. Arsenio's brows furrowed as he snapped his fingers, apparently deciding something.

"Let's go", he whispered urgently rushing past me. I stared at him incredulously.

"Excuse me? 'Let's'?", I glared at him. He groaned impatiently.

"We don't have time for this. Just hurry up and pack!", he grabbed my arm and yanked me into my room. He turned to go, in an obvious hurry.

"Hey, I don't even know why I'm packing", I yelled. Arsenio shushed me, placing his finger on my lips.

"Don't want anyone to hear you. Well, pack for a week, I think" he whispered. I grabbed his arm.

"I think you misunderstood, I have no idea why I am packing", I snapped.

"We're going to Beijing", he was confused.

"Oh no, 'we're' not going to Beijing. 'WE'RE' not going anywhere", I smirked obstinately.

"Oh do you really wanna do this now?", Arsenio sighed in frustration. I could see his 'plan' didn't include me fussing and throwing tantrums. Then he threw to me, a line, he knew I couldn't refuse.

"Do you want to see your parents, or not?", Arsenio asked, looking into my eyes earnestly. I scowled, accepting that Arsenio already knew my answer.

"Okay, remind me, again why we're sneaking out of the back door. I mean, you practically own the city", I muttered, as Arsenio and I ducked out of the back palace entrance, through the hedges onto the street where there was a cab with our name on it. Not literally.

"I don't want Alice, Mary or Alex to find out what we're doing. They'd only worry", he murmured.

"And be justified", I rolled my eyes.

I shivered, the cold rainy weather feeling a little uncomfortable in a white button down shirt and pink cardigan over blue jeans and flats. All my stuff was packed in one single bag, so was Arsenio's. He convinced me that we'd go clothes shopping at Beijing. Soon, we were speeding off on our way to the international terminal.

After all the customs checking, a thought occurred to me; "How'd you get the tickets, when we decided to leave an hour ago?", I asked Arsenio.

"I've got connections, babe", Arsenio straightened his collar. "Please tell me you've got your cell phone with you", he said. I flashed my Blackberry at him and saw that he'd got his phone as well. He nodded in approval at me. We soon boarded the plane and found our seats; mine at the window and his next to mine. We settled down and buckled in for take off. The plane taxied to the end of the runway and took off smoothly. My stomach did nervous little flip flops, not just because of the take off but also because I had no idea, whatsoever what this adventure would have in store for us. And that was a little scary.

"Ok, we're all set. Just sit back, relax and act like we're on vacation, darling", Arsenio said to me, seeing my panic-stricken face.

"Darling?", I scoffed though my sarcasm was marred by my breathlessness.

"Yeah, sweetie. What else would I call you? We are after all, on our honeymoon", Arsenio chuckled. As my eyes bugged out of my sockets, he flashed our plane tickets. I studied our names on it; Mr. and Mrs. Rivera.

In fact, it was Mr. Marion and Mrs. Marissa Rivera. Great, we were pretending to be Arsenio's parents, on our way to Beijing, not even fully packed with no idea why exactly we were going there!

My eye caught something on the ticket, Place of destination: Shanghai!

"Wait, why are we going to Shanghai?", I asked, taking the tickets from his hand.

"Well, I am pretty sure Alice would tell our parents where we were going and I just wanted it to be somewhere misleading, only slightly. While not too inconvenient for us", Arsenio smiled proud, that he thought of this.

"So Alice knows?", I asked.

"She might. I mean, I think she does", Arsenio answered.

"You think she does? What the hell?", I made a face.

So let me rephrase; great, we were pretending to be Arsenio's parents, on our way to Shanghai, not even fully packed, with possible vampire siblings tracking our every move and having no idea what we'd face when we got there!

I scowled and shut my eyes, deciding not to talk to him. I hadn't even realized that I had fallen asleep until I was jarred awake by a nightmare that hadn't succeeded in scaring me completely. But it was enough for me not to be able to go back to sleep again. I breathed heavily as Arsenio sat up beside me.

"You okay, Desiree?", he said, holding my hand in concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Go back to sleep", I assured him but he gently pulled me to lay on his shoulder.

"Sleep", he told me soothingly. And I did, peacefully, loving the softness of his black sweater.

Arsenio's point of view-

"Is she okay?" the woman sitting across from us asked me. She was a human. In her mid thirties, well dressed and busy looking. I smiled, supposing that she was bored and wanted to make small talk. So I decided to entertain her.

"She's fine, just tired", I said smoothly. I could practically hear the woman's heart rate speed up when she saw my smile. This was the reaction that I anticipated from most women, supernatural or otherwise. Even from Desiree. I often heard her heart rate spike up when she saw me. Well, that's how I was designed; to be alluring to humans. They were our prey, though now we didn't feed from humans as much and depended on blood banks.

I had thought over the plan again and again. Alight at Shanghai and take the train to Beijing. Then, get to the hotel and freshen up. Go to the vampire colony in Beijing and talk to Mr. Miyagi, their leader. Check if our parents were still in Beijing. Find out the problem and fix it. I wasn't too sure of how we'd 'fix' it but I was certain that we could manage. Okay, almost certain. Maybe. Hopefully.

I knew how it would sound if I told Desiree about the 'plan'. So I decided that she didn't have to know. Not until she began to disobey and refused to co-operate, anyway. Well, that's settled.

I shut my eyes and fell asleep, my head resting on Desiree's on my shoulder. When I woke up, I realized that we had both slept for 6 hours. I woke Desiree when the stewardess got us our dinner.

"Ew, I hate aero plane food", Desiree made a face but still dug into the food. I nodded in agreement. But it was all we'd have on the plane.

"Okay, so Alice knows we're headed to Shanghai, your parents are sure to find out, we don't have enough supplies for our stay here, we're flying under assumed identities, we have to get to Beijing, and we have no idea if our parents are there, correct?", Desiree asked gravely. I nodded.

"Okay, so what's our plan?".

"Plan?", I tried to buy myself some time so I could actually formulate a better plan.

"Yes, plan. You know, what are we going to do? You must have thought of something when we hopped on a plane and flew half way around the world!", she raised her voice in annoyance.

"Would you please keep it down?! I am trying to think here", I said.

"Oh this is just great!", she grumbled. And I slowly repeated the plan to her. I tried not to wince under her death glare when I finished. She turned her face and refused to say another word.

"Des?", I started when we got off and walked through the airport.

"No, Arsenio. You don't get to 'Des' me. Not after all this" and she began to walk away. I ran after her.

"Hey where are you going?".

"I'm catching the next train to Beijing and finding my parents", she retorted, walking faster, though I could keep up easily.

"Oh great! That's what I'm doing. Hey, maybe we can do it together?", I suggested, as we waited to cross the busy street of the lively city.

"No, Arsenio! I'm finding my parents alone. I don't need your help at all", still glaring at me, Desiree began to cross the street without noticing that the signal was still green. A car came speeding towards her, hooting wildly, unable to stop.

"No, Desiree!", I shouted and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of harm's way.

"What, let go of me", she freed herself from my grasp. Desiree turned around and saw the car standing on the same spot she had. It would have run over her if she hadn't moved. Desiree looked at me apologetically and smiled.

"Sorry and thank you", she said curtly. But she didn't stop walking away from me. I followed reluctantly. I mean, we were going to the same place, after all. The Shanghai Hongqiao Station to catch our 5 'o' clock train to Beijing South Station. Desiree hurried across the bustling platform at Hongqiao to the tickets counter. I kept up easily, without even trying. She kept forgetting that it was o use to outrun me, I was a vampire and I could run 10,000 times faster than she could. I grabbed her coat, "Des, wait up. I'm coming with you", but she shook me off and stormed up to the counter.

"One, to Beijing, please", she informed the man as she ruffled through her coat pockets looking for her brown wallet. Which was now gripped in my hand.

"Looking for something?", I held it up and saw Desiree's eyes light up in annoyance when she saw it.

"Give me that", and she made a grab for it. "You're sneaky".

"Here you go", she handed the money to the man behind the counter but he refused and muttered something unintelligible. He spoke up, seeing Desiree's confusion but his language was just too incoherent.

"Let me handle this", I said and smoothly pushed past Desiree up to man. I looked deep into his eyes, easily compelling him to give us tow tickets for the high speed train to Beijing. Compulsion is a vampire ability, where you can make the other do what ever without really remembering anything. The man mechanically passed me the tickets and I thanked him and handed him the fare. Desiree snatched her ticket from me angrily and stormed to the platform where our train would arrive, which was in about 5 minutes. We rushed into the train and sat down for it was a high speed bullet train and the journey was for 4 hours. I sighed, seeing Desiree's scowl. This was going to be a long trip. I tried to look out of the window at the fast moving scenery and busy populous landscape. Then, I felt Desiree's hand grab my shoulder. I turned to look at her and saw her looking at her shoes, her face pale and anxious.

"What's wrong?", I asked, looking down as well.

"That man, at my 8'o' clock, he smiled at me, and he flashed his fangs!", Desiree said, sounding terrified.

"Calm down, Des. He's probably just fooling with you. I mean, he knows you know about vampires because you're with me. And besides, he can sense that you're half blood. I wonder what his special ability is", I mused aloud.

"What's your ability? I know Alex's and Alice's. What about yours and Mary's?", Desiree asked, forgetting the man who smiled at her.

"Mary's ability is to sense feelings of people. I am not sure about mine. It hasn't developed to the fullest extent. That's my excuse to come see Mr. Miyagi in Beijing. He's a wonder with diagnosing why it hasn't shown itself yet and what it can possibly be", I explained.

"Mr. Miyagi's clan is okay with you just showing up there like that?", Desiree asked, a critical tone entering her voice.

"They are. This isn't the first time either. I just LOVE China. I've just shown up at Mr. Miyagi's shrine way too often for anything to change now. I use his shrine as a chance to get away from everything. This is the second time I'm coming here since I've been turned", I smiled at the fond memories of my childhood with Mr. Miyagi. He felt like family.

"I see. So where do we go once we alight at Beijing?", she asked.

"I think we'll arrive there at about 10 in the night. We should get to the hotel and get some rest. Mr. Miyagi lives outside Beijing and we can go, first thing tomorrow", I told her, happy that she was onboard with the whole thing.

"Okay. But why are we going to see Miyagi? Do you think he'll know where your parents are? Or mine?", Desiree asked, puzzled.

"I am sure he'll know. He's the kind of man you'd expect to know everything. And we really have no other option", I said, hoping it didn't sound as 'wild goose chase' as it was. But Desiree just nodded.

The train pulled in at Beijing West Station and we hurried out. It was cold, windy and drizzly, a welcome change to traveling in the train.

We walked to the entrance of the station, stopping before we stepped out into the city. I took a deep breath, not a necessity, just readying myself for the adventure ahead, no matter how dangerous or disappointing. I strode confidently forward and smiled encouragingly at Desiree, who seemed reluctant about it. I stretched out my hand for her to take, to take the leap of faith. I knew she understood what I meant; we never needed to talk to communicate.

Desiree clasped her hand into mine and took the step forward.

"This isn't a leap of faith; it's a bound", Desiree said darkly. I was surprised she knew exactly what I had been thinking.

"Not a bound", I corrected her, "It's a plunge".

A\N: Hey guys! Thanks for following the story! Don't forget to review! That's what fuels my creativity, you know…. Okay, I've put up a list of the casting for this story on my profile. Go check it out!