"What do we need to talk about?" The demon asked.
"W-well..it's less of us talking and more of me talking and you listening.." the man answered.
He sat down in the roller chair that still sat in the center of the room, letting out an exasperated breath before he cleared his throat.
And yet, when the man started to speak, his voice became caught in his throat, the words he wanted to say becoming lost before they could be created.
"Frog in your throat, Alex?" Shendu asked, his eyes glowing as he chuckled.
"You..uh, could say that.." The man answered, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.
'And here I thought this was going to be easy..' Alex thought as he absentmindedly rubbed his shoulder.
"..What is wrong with your shoulder?" The demon asked, their eyes glowing again.
"Oh, i..i got shot about a week ago.." the man answered, letting out a noise of pain as he pulled his hand away in a quick motion.
A low, almost guttural growl erupted from him, which caught the man off guard and made him jump a little in his seat.
'I had no idea he could growl like that..but why did he growl? Was it something I said?'
"..Who did it?" Shendu asked, his voice a little hoarse but Alex could still understand what was said.
"The Yakuza, but it's not important, Shendu." Alex answered.
"And why do you think that?" The demon asked.
"Because I'm fine, that's why." The man answered, crossing his arms though hissing in pain a little as he did.
"That noise of pain you made makes me think otherwise, mortal." Shendu said, letting out what sounded like a cough, though Alex wasn't sure if that's what it could be called.
"Well, think whatever you want, I'm fine." Alex said.
'He's stubborn as a..what did he call it..A donkey? No..it was something else, but it was similar to a donkey..'
"And before you ask, my back is fine, I made sure to take my pain medication when I got up." The man said, arms still crossed.
The demon's eyes glowed for a few moments, as if they were thinking of what to say next, which left Alex to his own thoughts for what felt like the first time in a lifetime.
"May I ask how exactly you injured it?" He asked, his eyes returning to normal after he asked the question.
"I..it was when we went after the Ox talisman, as you remember." Alex answered.
"Of course, though I was only told you had gotten hurt by that child, she didn't say anything else on the subject." The demon said.
"She has a name, Shendu." The man said.
"I know, I just prefer to call her by what I call her." He said.
Alex shook his head, wanting to argue but knew it would get nowhere, so he focused his thoughts back on what he asked before.
"We had found the talisman, though we had no idea as to how we were going to actually get it..and i got tricked.." the man said.
Shendu said nothing, but simply listened so as to not interrupt what he was explaining, even though he could tell it was a rather tough subject for them to speak about, as the man dug his fingers into his palm from his closed fist.
"The guy drugged me and..well he wanted to take my organs and sell them. So, I ran..to take his attention so that girl could escape.." the man said.
"Take your organs..? What use would they have for them?" The demon asked, confusion evident in his voice.
"It's more for the money than anything really else..you can get thousands for a kidney if you know the right buyer..at least, from what i've heard." Alex answered, clearing his throat as he tried to remain calm.
"Anyway..i managed to hide from him and soon enough Jackie found me, but so did he and..i grabbed a shard of glass and stabbed him in the neck..i didn't mean to kill him, i just wanted to get him off me.." the man finished, his voice cracking as the former demon sorcerer saw tears forming in the man's eyes.
Shendu's eyes glowed softly, and if he was capable of facial expressions in his statue prison, they would've softened to a degree as they watched the mortal sitting in front of them, one of the tears in his eyes falling down his face.
'They are crying..'
'Why should you care? Now is the perfect chance to take the rat talisman and become animate again.'
'Because, they came here to talk to us, and clearly it's upsetting them, can't you see that?'
'..Since when did you care about them?'
"..Here, I know that you likely think that getting your talismans has been easy..but that's why i told you these things, to show you that it wasn't.." Alex said, getting up from the chair and walking over to them and setting the rat talisman in the slot next to the sheep, which glowed as the others had.
Shendu gasped, losing his breath as the talisman's magic took effect, bathing the entire room in a flash of light, which made the man cover his eyes to avoid going blind, before he got knocked into the wall from an unseen blast of chi energy.
Rough stone became warm flesh as muscle, sinew and bone grew from within, the curved form of the statue that once contained shendu's spirit grew outwards, curling and twisting as a loud roar filled the room, another blast of unseen energy radiating out and knocking out the cameras that were monitoring the room and whose feed became nothing but snowy static.
As well as the television, whose screen became cracked after being hit with the first blast of energy, fell off the wall due its supports having become weakened, and hit the floor with a crash, making Alex yelp as he curled himself up into a ball to avoid it and whatever was coming next.
However, slowly the room became quiet again, the blinding light slowly fading away as the man slowly uncurled himself, letting out another noise of pain as he did so.
Alex pushed himself up off the floor and into a sitting position, however, the man was not ready at all for what he laid his eyes upon.
Standing, no, kneeling on the floor across the room from him was Shendu, or who he thought could be him, and who seemed to be panting from exertion, hot puffs of breath coming from a large dragon like snout, and whose body was covered in olive green scaled skin, though their stomach and chest seemed to be more bronze in color.
His arms ended in hands not too unlike Alex's own, though they were much bigger and ended in sharp looking claws, while his legs, which were just as muscular as his arms, seemed to bend backwards quite oddly at the knees, before ending in large clawed feet that reminded the man of a tyrannosaurus rex's.
Oddly enough, some kind of loincloth was wrapped around the demon's waist, which went down a good few inches and covered whatever was between their legs.
"Shendu..? Is..is that you?" Alex asked, not entirely able to believe that a single talisman could do all that he was seeing before him.
Which honestly felt ironic since the man had learned he could literally travel between the mortal and spirit realms and had met what he assumed was an angel only days before.
Who also gave him a sword that Alex had no clue as to where it was since he did not appear back in the spirit nor mortal realms with it in his hands.
The demon let out a loud growl as he slowly got up onto his feet, joints popping and muscles stretching a little painfully, though nine hundred years stuck as a statue was bound to make you a little stiff in places.
The man slowly got onto his feet as well, using the wall to keep himself up, and it was then that he noticed that Shendu was around nine foot tall, give or take a few inches, and with them only around 6 feet, he guessed that he only came up to the bottom of the demon's chest.
"How..How do you feel?" Alex asked, letting out a noise of pain due to having hit his back from before.
Shendu's head turned towards him, which made him jump a little in surprise before they walked slowly towards him, akin to someone using crutches or a cane.
"I feel.. much, much better..but..at the same time, i feel an emptiness within me.." They answered, cracking their neck a little.
'I..i did not expect his voice to sound so..smooth' the man thought, which made his cheeks go a very light shade of pink.
"Though i should be asking if..you're ok, given you were crying only minutes ago." Shendu said, curling their fingers into fists absentmindedly.
"Oh. Yea, i-i'm fine..i.." Alex tried to say, though he hesitated.
Before the demon could respond, the door to the vault opened and captain black, along with a few agents came into the room, and like Alex were completely caught off guard by what they saw.
"Woah..did not see that coming.." Captain Black said, the swat members lowering their weapons from what Shendu could sense was fear.
"If you wouldn't mind, we were in the middle of a conversation and would appreciate it if you-." The demon said, their eyes glowing lightly.
"A-actually, would it be alright if I showed Shendu around Section 13? H-he has been trapped in this vault for a while now and-" the man asked but captain black cut him off.
"Yes. Fine, just..make sure he doesn't break anything else." The older man said as he and the agents left the room.
"..As i was saying before, i-i'm ok, i just needed to get that out was all.." Alex said, as they both walked out of the vault.
Shendu simply nodded, knowing it was definitely more than just that, or else the mortal wouldn't have told him those things, but simply put a pin in it for now, as it wasn't the time for such a discussion.
"And this is the gymnasium." The man said as they entered the room, flipping the switch on the wall which turned on all of the lights that hung from the ceiling.
"This is where you mortals train, then?" The demon asked as Alex walked over to a rack that sat against the far wall, upon which laid several basketballs, and the man picked one up.
"Well, us mortals and you, given you have a body again." Alex answered, bouncing the basketball and tossing it, where it went into the far hoop across the room, bouncing on the laminated wood floor a few times before the man ran over and grabbed it again.
"What are you doing?" Shendu asked, watching the man do it again, though he missed and the ball bounced off to the side of the room, which he ran over and grabbed again.
"Shootin' hoops." He answered, tossing it again, and sinking it through the net again.
'Looks fun.'
'Looks absolutely idiotic'
"Wanna join me?" Alex asked, catching the ball in his hands, but instead of tossing it again, he simply held onto it.
The demon seemed to think over the man's offer for a couple of minutes, before silently nodding as an answer.
"How do you play?" They asked, still watching the mortal in front of them, but had moved closer to him so both of them were in the middle of the room.
"Oh, you just toss it and try to get into the goal, or hoop in this case. Like so." The man answered, tossing the ball as he had before, which went into the hoop and through the net, him going to grab it and bring it back.
"Now, you try." Alex said, holding his hands out and letting Shendu grab the ball from him, though the demon seemed to hold it oddly, likely due to his clawed fingers.
The demon tossed it as he had seen Alex do, though due to their strength it bounced off the glass backboard, cracking it and hit one of the metal rafters above them, denting it before it came back down and bounced along the floor, the man going to get it, coming back with it a few moments later.
'Whoops..'
'I guess nine hundred years were enough to make us forget how strong we are..'
'I think even without the Ox Talisman we would end up doing some damage.'
'For once, I agree with you.'
"Well..that happened, but hey, it's a learning experience. At least we know now that you've got super strength, well more than what you probably normally would have." Alex said.
"I suppose so." Shendu said, instead of tossing the ball, simply handed it to him as he didn't want to accidentally hurt them.
Alex smiled softly, setting the ball back onto the rack, after which they both left, and the man made a mental note to talk to Captain Black later about getting the backboard replaced and the dented beam repaired.
•Later that Night•
Shendu walked along the now silent corridors of the underground facility, the only noise that could be heard being that of the air conditioning, which was oddly relaxing to him, though perhaps that was because it wasn't interlaced with the coming and goings of the mortals that worked there.
It reminded him of the evenings he spent in his palace, all those centuries ago, after all of his servants left to go to their homes to sleep and prepare for another day, and the only sounds he could hear, besides his own thoughts, were the chirping of the cicadas and the flickering of the lit torches in the corridors.
'Ah, such good memories, don't you agree?'
'To you maybe.'
'You enjoyed the quiet of the evenings, you cannot deny that..hmm?'
'What's wrong-'
A scent that drifted through the corridor towards the demon had interrupted them, and it only took a moment to recognize exactly what it was.
It was meat. Moreover, it was meat being cooked.
Shendu felt his mouth water a little at the prospect of food, and even though demons did not need sustenance as mortals did, it was still a prospect, an opportunity, he did not wish to waste.
The demon followed the scent through the corridors of the facility, soon finding that it was coming from the cafeteria, another place Alex had shown them on their earlier tour, which, surprisingly, was unlocked, so they let themselves in.
Unsurprisingly, the large open room was empty, with exception of the long tables that were parallel with the room itself as they went across, though Shendu paid them no mind as he walked to the back of the room, a sign above the door reading 'Kitchen', which he could tell was the source of the scent he was following.
Shendu noted the kitchen looked much like one he had seen on one of the many television shows, his favorite was of the mortal named Gordon Ramsey, as it always got a chuckle out of him when the man got angry.
The demon stopped when he heard the sound of what seemed to be something cooking in a skillet, turning his head towards the noise, though what he saw caught him a little off-guard.
Standing at one of the stoves was Alex, an apron tied around and hanging off of him, underneath which he wore a t-shirt and a pair of what looked to be pants, though they weren't the kind that Shendu had seen him wearing before.
It was then that the man noticed the demon's presence nearby, turning his head towards him.
"Oh hey, Shendu. Didn't think I'd see you here, kind of figured you would be asleep by now." Alex said, using a pair of tongs to move a piece of cooked meat to a plate with paper towels placed on it, upon which was already a small pile of the same food they were cooking.
"..I am more surprised to see you. I thought you were living with the Chans?" The demon asked, raising an eyebrow as they continued to watch them.
"I was, but I decided to move down here, given I technically work here now too and all." The man answered, not wanting to say the real reason was because captain black ordered him to so he could keep an eye on Shendu.
The demon gave a soft nod. "What are you cooking?" He asked.
"Bacon!" Alex said, smiling.
"..Bacon?" Shendu asked, raising an eyebrow.
Instead of answering the demon's question, the man simply gave him a piece out of the already cooked bacon, which they took with a little hesitation.
The demon seemed to study the food for a few moments, before putting it into his mouth, again with a little hesitation, before chewing and swallowing it.
Upon doing so, it was as if he became a deer in the headlights, which made Alex chuckle a little as he finished cooking the bacon, pouring the grease into a pyrex measuring cup and putting the pan into one of the nearby sinks, washing it off afterwards.
'That..was absolutely delicious!'
'Eh. It was okay.'
"So, what do you think? Pretty tasty, huh?" The man asked as he walked back over Shendu.
"It was..interesting." Shendu answered, as Alex grabbed the plate of food and went out into the cafeteria, sitting at one of the tables, the demon joining him.
"Glad to hear it. Maybe we can get you to try some more foods here soon, see what you like and don't like." Alex said.
The demon took another piece of bacon, eating it, though the man didn't mind really.
"Do demons need to eat like we do?" The man asked.
"And what brought this up?" The demon answered, his tail gently smacking against the floor.
"Well, given your eating food and all.." Alex said, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.
Shendu's eyes glowed a little before returning to normal, though he inwardly couldn't blame them for being curious.
"Typical demons, well.. they only eat as a wild animal would. Rather sloppily, they also tend to hunt in packs like wild animals as well." They answered.
"But you aren't a typical demon, though." The man said.
"I am much, much more powerful than that. As for me, being a demon sorcerer, we really only eat to regain what energy we lose, say during battle or because of overusing our magic." Shendu explained, eating a few more pieces of bacon.
"So, it's not because you get hungry?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Hunger in mortal terms does not exist for my kind." The demon answered.
"But you still choose to eat? Even though you don't have a need to?" The man said.
"..Even demons are subject to their vices, Alex. And I'll leave it at that." Shendu said simply.
"Oh..sorry.." he said, looking down a little.
The demon gently reached across the table and put his hand under the man's chin, using it to move his head up so that he was looking at him.
"Do not apologize for your curiosity, Alex. It is one of the things about you that I rather like." Shendu said, a light pink blush appearing on both of them, though both acted like it wasn't there.
"O-okay." The man said, rubbing the back of his head again.
After that, the conversation steered back a little bit, though it was clear to anyone, if there was actually anyone in the room besides themselves, that a sort of awkwardness fell over the two men, well, one man and a demon sorcerer, but still.
"..You look tired." The demon said.
The man took a glance at his phone, seeing it was past midnight, making him yawn, which only proved the demon's statement more.
"Yea, i guess i'll head off to sleep..you can have the rest of the bacon if you want it, Shendu. Goodnight.." Alex said, getting up from the table, giving a wave goodbye to them before he left the room.
Shendu gave a glance down at the plate, seeing that a few pieces were still remaining, which he picked up in one hand and tossed it all into his open mouth, chewing it up and swallowing it in one gulp, before he got up from the table and headed back to vault, laying back against the far wall and shutting his eyes, letting himself drift off to sleep..