Notes: WARNING! Slashy yaoi homosexual content stuffs here! That and demon
+ woman things. If it offends you, go away. It's not my fault if you read
it and get grossed out. That and strong language. This has words only for
the people who are not offended by mere sounds.
Constructive criticism in reviews is welcomed and noted: stupid flames are not. Please don't expect any Shakespeare, Nivin or Wells here; this is a fanfiction site and all the stories are amateur. So I'm sorry if I'm not a best-seller novelist. Just don't flame me.
I'm not making money off of Cheez Wiz's name, so you don't sue. I don't own it-- I don't even own some.
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Shendu purred at the small warmth next to him. A great, clawed hand draped over her shoulder.
The woman got up and kissed his scaly head. She laughed at him. "You're a failure, you know."
Shendu stared with puzzlement at the words.
"Failure. In everything you've ever tried."
The demon glared with great distaste. "Leave before I roast you for dinner."
"Imprisoned by a warrior in a statuesque form for so many years! Murdered by a mere child! Grunt slave for your siblings!"
"Silence! Leave me at once!"
"Time after time beaten by one man. You blame it on those around you, but you and I know the truth, don't we?"
Shendu snarled and said nothing.
"We both know. You're the failure."
"You bother me, gnat-woman. For the last time, 'leave.'"
Of course, she didn't. "I hope you enjoy your failure, Shendu. You have enough of it to last you to the end of time."
Flames licked at his throat. "You are still in my presence. Take yourself away."
Raven-haired woman went quite.
Shendu took another look at her. She stood perfectly still. Her eyes seemed to pierce even his scales, holding the threat of injury to his insides over his head. He froze, fearful of her actions. So still….. not a muscle moved. Was she even breathing? Her eyes though….. very much alive. Those eyes…..
Terror and anger boiled up in his weasely, sniveling heart. A challenge to his status? Certainly eyes that pierce are not as great as his claws….. were they? He couldn't be sure. But he couldn't take that look any longer. Every instinct in his body told him to lash out at the assailant, told him to reach in deep and remove the threatening eyes from their sockets.
With a purely mad roar, he leapt into the air at the female, tossing his claws forward to do just that. He dug into the soft, white spheres, making them tear like grapes. All sorts of red and clear-white fluids drained from them onto the vicious talons. The mound of meat and blood beneath him did not protest, did not scream in pain as its flesh was mangled. Instead, it laughed.
A low, horrible laugh.
Shendu was thrown back at the sudden, violent pain. He landed hard and curled up into the fetal position, clutching at his rough belly as he could feel his insides being torn apart. His heart pounded faster and faster until he thought it might have leapt right out of his chest.
Through the cloud of pain, he thought he saw her standing next to him. A voice occurred in his head, but he wasn't sure if it had really existed at all. "It's eating you away, ripping you apart. Failure, Shendu, mightiest of demon sorcerers! Do you enjoy it? Do you enjoy your failure?"
He screamed with the torture of words and flesh and lashed out once again, adrenaline fueling his veins for one last powerful strike at his torturer. She merely kicked him aside and laughed again. That horrid laugh….. that heart stopping laugh….. He looked up at the bloody, sightless face laughing at him.
"NO!" he cried out, like an order, a desperate attempt to keep his power. The hysterical, insane laugh continued. "NO!" He said again, now just a begging victim "NO!!"
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A mighty roar of pain and fright escaped him as his massive head swung into the air. "NO!" A sweat would have drenched him, had he been able to sweat, but instead he felt the cold of the aired room about. The pain was gone….. the laugh…. gone…..
Tossing his head around, Shendu found himself in the real world. 'A dream!' He cursed to himself. 'Vicious nightmare of sorts.' His reptilian red eyes landed on a thin figure across the room. She sat upright, hugging a decorative pillow to her breast and staring wild-eyed at him. He blinked to try and gather his fuzzed senses.
"A dream….. I must have fallen back asleep." He said to himself. What a foolish time of day for a nap. The sun shined through the window at just the right angle for it to have been three in the afternoon and he assumed as much.
Suddenly, pain ripped at him, like it had moments before in his dream. He yelped in pain and doubled over. "Valmont!" He said, "I need to return to Valmont….."
Two minutes later, an angered roar filled the whole building as Shendu found his white-haired prisoner gone.
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Jade felt slow in school and had trouble focusing on anything. Enough so that she only tried to show off once, and half-heartedly at that. Having Jackie for an uncle had really put a lot of stress on her lately. She didn't have to check the time to know Uncle Jackie had already gone and met his fate. It was uneasy not knowing what that fate was. Why did he do that so often these days? She cursed herself for not just skipping school and following him.
She would have been sad if she had allowed herself to, but she really didn't know what had happened or if there was a reason to be sad at all. To be safe, she just didn't let herself. On the other hand, she did do a lot of worrying.
Jade looked up at the teacher. She had no idea what the lecture was on. She didn't care. She just wanted the bell to ring. Ringing bell meant being able to leave school and find out about Jackie. Hopefully, see him. If he wasn't dead. She winced and told herself to think happy thoughts.
Jade made up her mind: Next time, she'd just skip.
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Finn looked around, brow furrowed. A phone was pressed to his ear. "You haven't seen him, Ratso?" Ratso shook his head, even though he knew Finn couldn't see, "No, sorry." The redhead sighed. "Yeah, thanks anyway." He mumbled before hanging up.
Finn was sitting in a white Nissan in front of Chow's favorite bar. It had been the last in a list of places he'd searched for the gaunt enforcer in, and was just as devoid of him as those before it. Calls to Chow's cell' were not answered. Ratso, who was at the hide out, would have seen the man if he were there. Perhaps he had gone back to his apartment. Perhaps. He took the car out of park and took off in that direction.
Halfway there, he stopped at a red light and a woman stood outside his window. She was a prostitute and wasn't doing a very good job concealing it. Her 34-D breasts were practically falling out of her undersized top and her tight skirt was barely long enough to cover anything at all. She wore high boots and fishnet stockings ran up her legs. A lock of long black hair was being twisted around her finger. She had the look and stink of cheap hooker on her; something Finn wasn't proud of knowing. Skuzzy and over makeuped, he'd seen, and paid for, whores a lot more attractive. He regretted having the window rolled down.
She plucked a cigarette out of the side of her red lips and smiled. "Hey, Hon'. Y'look like the kinda guy who could use a stress reliever." Finn stared at her boobs for a second before shaking his head. "Sorry, not today, Babe." The light turned green, giving him an easy get away. He left her looking rather POed on the corner. As he drove away, he couldn't help but think how he missed boobs.
Chow hadn't returned to his apartment. Finn had no idea where to look anymore. He was about to just give up when his phone rang. Ratso. Shendu wanted the three enforcers to get their butts back over to the cannery. Finn debated going, but decided skipping out wasn't worth the demon wrath.
Finn arrived at the dilapidated hideout, and went in in search of a co- worker or employer. Walking into an old lounge, Finn was surprised to find Chow sitting there, sulking none the less. Both fell uneasily quiet and looked at eachother from across the room. It was Finn who finally broke the silence. "Chow….." that was as far as he got. He didn't know where to go from there, what comforting words to say. So, he decided to ask a question, "Did you mean it?"
Chow shifted his weight and didn't answer.
Finn frowned. "Don't say it unless you mean it." When silence was his only answer, he left.
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Tohru unlocked and held the door open for Uncle, who was holding a bag of the day's purchases. Tohru held three. Uncle reminded him to be careful not to drop one. "Tohru! Be veeery careful! That jelly fish jelly cost Uncle too much to drop it on paaaavemeeeent!" Tohru was careful. One bag held Cheez Wiz.
Half the groceried items went to the kitchen and half went to the back room were Uncle kept his Chi ingredients. Tohru was searching for tea in the big brown bag when Jackie showed up, looking very suspicious with the big grin on his face. "Oh, hello Tohru!" Uncle returned from the other room. "Ah! Hello Uncle!" Jackie said. Uncle looked at the particularly odd acting man.
"Jackie! You are back? What happened? Where is Viper?" "Ahh, Viper? She's….. still with Shendu." Uncle's eyes went big, "Whaaat?! You are a LOUSY rescuer!!!" "I TRIED to get her out, but she refused to come with me!"
A large thump came from upstairs.
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"Valmont! That cursed fool! Only HE would have the audacity!" Shendu complained to himself, eyes burning with fury. He swung himself in Viper's direction, "He probably was the one who snuck Chan out." Then another wave of pain buckled him over. It felt asthough he was being torn away from his body. He WAS being torn away from his body. He wished passingly that he had timed himself since he last possessed the man. He had no idea how long he had. If he didn't return to Valmont's body soon his sibling's spell would propel his astroform out of this new body. The forcible expulsion would destroy it, leaving him once again trapped inside the crime lord until the last of the demons was released.
Shendu growled under his breath as the pangs of mental and physical pain passed. He would rip down every building in San Francisco if he had to.
But, perhaps he would not have to. If Valmont had indeed left with Chan, there was only one place they could be.
The enforcers, who he had called upon ten minutes prior, entered the room, cautious of the demon. He tossed a toothy grin at them, "Valmont has taken a quick vacation. It's time we brought him home."
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"What was that?" Tohru said. Jackie went pale. He knew just what THAT was. "Ayiah!!!!" Uncle said, "Thief in my shop!!" "N-Now Uncle! It was probably just something falling over!" Jackie said, trying to calm him down. It might have worked too, if the word "Ow!" hadn't come from upstairs just then.
"Jackie! Quick! Get thief or Uncle will be very unhappy!" Uncle pushed Jackie to the stairs and up the first couple of steps. "But, ah, Uncle! Ack- ow!" Jackie's protest was stopped with a swift whack across the forehead with two fingers. "You want Uncle ruined? No? So you go upstairs and kung fu thief!" With one more insistent shove from Uncle, Jackie went up the stairs and peeked into the room at the top.
Valmont was sitting on the floor amidst some of the clothes from the closet. The door was opened, leading Jackie to believe he had leaned on the door and fallen out. "Sorry." Valmont said quickly, before standing up to brush himself off. 'He's wearing clothes now.' Jackie noticed, 'Thank god!'
At that moment, Uncle, wondering what kind of thief says 'sorry,' decided he would come take a look for himself. At which point a surprised gasp. "You!"
Jackie gritted his teeth, "Ah, Uncle. Did I forget to tell you? I brought Valmont back from Shendu." Uncle stared wide-eyed and looked back and forth between the two men. "You rescued WRONG PERSOOOON!" Valmont crossed his arms and looked dejected, "Nice to feel loved," he said under his breath. Tohru, wondering about the brew-ha-ha had come up the stairs and now stood at the door, eyes shooting needles at his old employer.
Jackie searched to convince Uncle Valmont's rescue was a good thing, "Ah, but, Uncle! If Valmont is HERE then we can exorcise our old friend, Shendu. Maybe send him back to demon realm? Hmm?" Uncle glared acidly as he thought about this. "He can stay." He finally said, "But only until I cast exorcism spell!" Uncle turned and pointed a finger at his nephew, "One more thing. You are responsible for HIM. I'll have nothing to do with it. I will go do research." With that, he went back downstairs, muttering something about how he was too old for this. Tohru followed.
Jackie breathed a sigh of relief. Valmont stood ambiguously in the middle of the room. "Well, guess I couldn't keep you hidden forever." Valmont raised an eyebrow, "I can see why you tried. I'm obviously not well liked here abouts." Jackie smirked. "You earned it. 'Spose I'll make you up a bed. Looks like you're here for a while."
Jackie turned to acquire clean linens but was stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder. "Jackie." Valmont said, "Like you said, you can't keep me hidden forever. They'll have to find out about us eventually. I don't suppose your family would be too thrilled to hear of our 'extracurricular relationship?'" Jackie frowned. "I don't suppose they will, huh? They'll have to get over that."
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"Whoa, Shendude, what's goin' on back there!? It's kinda hard driving a car with a dragon salsa dancing in the back seat." A snarl came from the back of the car and two red eyes flared. "Bite your tongue or I will rip it out! This infernal, cumbersome 'back seat' is too small!" Shendu said, adjusting himself, trying to get comfortable. He was indeed too big for the vehicle. He didn't have to duck, as he was hidden behind the black tinted windows, but he still had minimal room. "All right, all right." Finn said, annoyed, and returned to his driving responsibility.
A thought occurred to Ratso (as they do sometimes) "Hey, Shendu. What if we get there and he don't got the talisman?" Shendu hissed, thoroughly disgusted with his current position in life AND in the car, "Then I will rip Valmont apart limb by limb! And THEN I will precede to do the same with anyone else in the room until I'm satisfied with the amount of blood on the walls." Ratso went blank. He didn't really like that answer.
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Uncle researched and prepared his chi spell for the expulsion of Shendu into the demon realm, all the while thinking bitterly of the white haired crime lord upstairs. He hated having such a shady character anywhere near him, his shop or his family. It fueled him all the more to prepare the spell quick and get rid of the ill moraled man.
A door rang. 'Must be Jade home from school.' Uncle thought, and dismissed it. Then, the sound of broken merchandise. Uncle, just finishing his spell, dropped a quart of frog mucus on the floor. "AYIAH!" He rushed into the other room.
Could it be….. was that….. SHENDU????
Jackie came barreling out of the room and looked over the banister. Four enforcers in the room, one standing over a broken statue, and one pissed, bronze demon squeezing through the door. Chow pointed up at him, "Chan!" He announced to the others. Valmont, who was watching from the doorframe, backed back into the room. Shendu would want him. And the talisman. He reached into his pocket and fingered the stone. 'Bloody hell.'
One redhead enforcer wondered over to an ancient vase and poked it, "Oops!" Jackie leapt from the banister to the first floor and swung under the vase to keep it from crashing to the ground. Finn grinned. That was TOO easy. He pushed a second and third over and his co-workers added their own to the procession of falling antiquities as Uncle gasped in horror from the side of the room. Jackie ducked and rolled to catch those too.
He was distracted for too long. Shendu grabbed him up by the back of his neck, leaving three vases shattered on the floor. Jackie clawed at the talons around his neck, constricting his breathing and leaving bloody pinpricks. He struggled for air. "Where is Valmont?" Shendu said, slowly and clearly. A trickle of blood ran down Jackie's neck to stain his blue sweater's collar.
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Notes: As always, R&R.
Ratso CAN'T be the name his parents gave him. His real name's probably Percy or Raoul.
Now FINN is a GREAT name and authentically Irish in origin, as all of us Irish dudes know. *Coughs* Me? Why, I'm Italian. It doesn't show. I hold NO resemblance to Mario OR Luigi. Anyone for spaghetti?
Is Chow Chinese? I suppose so, apparently he SPEAKS Chinese. (When he reads from the Pan Ku box). And, if he wasn't, then what would he be? If he was Korean or Japanese then his name would have to be spelled Cho'o (wo) or Chau. What does that leave? Malaysian? Who knows? Maybe his mother was a drunk American who couldn't spell Asian names. These are things I think about when I don't have caffeine.
I watched Yu-Gi-Oh today and Pegasus (or Mighty Max as I call him) was eating humongous amounts of Gorgonzola cheese, drinking red wine (as always) and reading a comic book about a rabbit that made him laugh hysterically. It was one of the best things I have ever seen. I want to be just like that.
Constructive criticism in reviews is welcomed and noted: stupid flames are not. Please don't expect any Shakespeare, Nivin or Wells here; this is a fanfiction site and all the stories are amateur. So I'm sorry if I'm not a best-seller novelist. Just don't flame me.
I'm not making money off of Cheez Wiz's name, so you don't sue. I don't own it-- I don't even own some.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shendu purred at the small warmth next to him. A great, clawed hand draped over her shoulder.
The woman got up and kissed his scaly head. She laughed at him. "You're a failure, you know."
Shendu stared with puzzlement at the words.
"Failure. In everything you've ever tried."
The demon glared with great distaste. "Leave before I roast you for dinner."
"Imprisoned by a warrior in a statuesque form for so many years! Murdered by a mere child! Grunt slave for your siblings!"
"Silence! Leave me at once!"
"Time after time beaten by one man. You blame it on those around you, but you and I know the truth, don't we?"
Shendu snarled and said nothing.
"We both know. You're the failure."
"You bother me, gnat-woman. For the last time, 'leave.'"
Of course, she didn't. "I hope you enjoy your failure, Shendu. You have enough of it to last you to the end of time."
Flames licked at his throat. "You are still in my presence. Take yourself away."
Raven-haired woman went quite.
Shendu took another look at her. She stood perfectly still. Her eyes seemed to pierce even his scales, holding the threat of injury to his insides over his head. He froze, fearful of her actions. So still….. not a muscle moved. Was she even breathing? Her eyes though….. very much alive. Those eyes…..
Terror and anger boiled up in his weasely, sniveling heart. A challenge to his status? Certainly eyes that pierce are not as great as his claws….. were they? He couldn't be sure. But he couldn't take that look any longer. Every instinct in his body told him to lash out at the assailant, told him to reach in deep and remove the threatening eyes from their sockets.
With a purely mad roar, he leapt into the air at the female, tossing his claws forward to do just that. He dug into the soft, white spheres, making them tear like grapes. All sorts of red and clear-white fluids drained from them onto the vicious talons. The mound of meat and blood beneath him did not protest, did not scream in pain as its flesh was mangled. Instead, it laughed.
A low, horrible laugh.
Shendu was thrown back at the sudden, violent pain. He landed hard and curled up into the fetal position, clutching at his rough belly as he could feel his insides being torn apart. His heart pounded faster and faster until he thought it might have leapt right out of his chest.
Through the cloud of pain, he thought he saw her standing next to him. A voice occurred in his head, but he wasn't sure if it had really existed at all. "It's eating you away, ripping you apart. Failure, Shendu, mightiest of demon sorcerers! Do you enjoy it? Do you enjoy your failure?"
He screamed with the torture of words and flesh and lashed out once again, adrenaline fueling his veins for one last powerful strike at his torturer. She merely kicked him aside and laughed again. That horrid laugh….. that heart stopping laugh….. He looked up at the bloody, sightless face laughing at him.
"NO!" he cried out, like an order, a desperate attempt to keep his power. The hysterical, insane laugh continued. "NO!" He said again, now just a begging victim "NO!!"
***********************************************************************
A mighty roar of pain and fright escaped him as his massive head swung into the air. "NO!" A sweat would have drenched him, had he been able to sweat, but instead he felt the cold of the aired room about. The pain was gone….. the laugh…. gone…..
Tossing his head around, Shendu found himself in the real world. 'A dream!' He cursed to himself. 'Vicious nightmare of sorts.' His reptilian red eyes landed on a thin figure across the room. She sat upright, hugging a decorative pillow to her breast and staring wild-eyed at him. He blinked to try and gather his fuzzed senses.
"A dream….. I must have fallen back asleep." He said to himself. What a foolish time of day for a nap. The sun shined through the window at just the right angle for it to have been three in the afternoon and he assumed as much.
Suddenly, pain ripped at him, like it had moments before in his dream. He yelped in pain and doubled over. "Valmont!" He said, "I need to return to Valmont….."
Two minutes later, an angered roar filled the whole building as Shendu found his white-haired prisoner gone.
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Jade felt slow in school and had trouble focusing on anything. Enough so that she only tried to show off once, and half-heartedly at that. Having Jackie for an uncle had really put a lot of stress on her lately. She didn't have to check the time to know Uncle Jackie had already gone and met his fate. It was uneasy not knowing what that fate was. Why did he do that so often these days? She cursed herself for not just skipping school and following him.
She would have been sad if she had allowed herself to, but she really didn't know what had happened or if there was a reason to be sad at all. To be safe, she just didn't let herself. On the other hand, she did do a lot of worrying.
Jade looked up at the teacher. She had no idea what the lecture was on. She didn't care. She just wanted the bell to ring. Ringing bell meant being able to leave school and find out about Jackie. Hopefully, see him. If he wasn't dead. She winced and told herself to think happy thoughts.
Jade made up her mind: Next time, she'd just skip.
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Finn looked around, brow furrowed. A phone was pressed to his ear. "You haven't seen him, Ratso?" Ratso shook his head, even though he knew Finn couldn't see, "No, sorry." The redhead sighed. "Yeah, thanks anyway." He mumbled before hanging up.
Finn was sitting in a white Nissan in front of Chow's favorite bar. It had been the last in a list of places he'd searched for the gaunt enforcer in, and was just as devoid of him as those before it. Calls to Chow's cell' were not answered. Ratso, who was at the hide out, would have seen the man if he were there. Perhaps he had gone back to his apartment. Perhaps. He took the car out of park and took off in that direction.
Halfway there, he stopped at a red light and a woman stood outside his window. She was a prostitute and wasn't doing a very good job concealing it. Her 34-D breasts were practically falling out of her undersized top and her tight skirt was barely long enough to cover anything at all. She wore high boots and fishnet stockings ran up her legs. A lock of long black hair was being twisted around her finger. She had the look and stink of cheap hooker on her; something Finn wasn't proud of knowing. Skuzzy and over makeuped, he'd seen, and paid for, whores a lot more attractive. He regretted having the window rolled down.
She plucked a cigarette out of the side of her red lips and smiled. "Hey, Hon'. Y'look like the kinda guy who could use a stress reliever." Finn stared at her boobs for a second before shaking his head. "Sorry, not today, Babe." The light turned green, giving him an easy get away. He left her looking rather POed on the corner. As he drove away, he couldn't help but think how he missed boobs.
Chow hadn't returned to his apartment. Finn had no idea where to look anymore. He was about to just give up when his phone rang. Ratso. Shendu wanted the three enforcers to get their butts back over to the cannery. Finn debated going, but decided skipping out wasn't worth the demon wrath.
Finn arrived at the dilapidated hideout, and went in in search of a co- worker or employer. Walking into an old lounge, Finn was surprised to find Chow sitting there, sulking none the less. Both fell uneasily quiet and looked at eachother from across the room. It was Finn who finally broke the silence. "Chow….." that was as far as he got. He didn't know where to go from there, what comforting words to say. So, he decided to ask a question, "Did you mean it?"
Chow shifted his weight and didn't answer.
Finn frowned. "Don't say it unless you mean it." When silence was his only answer, he left.
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Tohru unlocked and held the door open for Uncle, who was holding a bag of the day's purchases. Tohru held three. Uncle reminded him to be careful not to drop one. "Tohru! Be veeery careful! That jelly fish jelly cost Uncle too much to drop it on paaaavemeeeent!" Tohru was careful. One bag held Cheez Wiz.
Half the groceried items went to the kitchen and half went to the back room were Uncle kept his Chi ingredients. Tohru was searching for tea in the big brown bag when Jackie showed up, looking very suspicious with the big grin on his face. "Oh, hello Tohru!" Uncle returned from the other room. "Ah! Hello Uncle!" Jackie said. Uncle looked at the particularly odd acting man.
"Jackie! You are back? What happened? Where is Viper?" "Ahh, Viper? She's….. still with Shendu." Uncle's eyes went big, "Whaaat?! You are a LOUSY rescuer!!!" "I TRIED to get her out, but she refused to come with me!"
A large thump came from upstairs.
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"Valmont! That cursed fool! Only HE would have the audacity!" Shendu complained to himself, eyes burning with fury. He swung himself in Viper's direction, "He probably was the one who snuck Chan out." Then another wave of pain buckled him over. It felt asthough he was being torn away from his body. He WAS being torn away from his body. He wished passingly that he had timed himself since he last possessed the man. He had no idea how long he had. If he didn't return to Valmont's body soon his sibling's spell would propel his astroform out of this new body. The forcible expulsion would destroy it, leaving him once again trapped inside the crime lord until the last of the demons was released.
Shendu growled under his breath as the pangs of mental and physical pain passed. He would rip down every building in San Francisco if he had to.
But, perhaps he would not have to. If Valmont had indeed left with Chan, there was only one place they could be.
The enforcers, who he had called upon ten minutes prior, entered the room, cautious of the demon. He tossed a toothy grin at them, "Valmont has taken a quick vacation. It's time we brought him home."
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"What was that?" Tohru said. Jackie went pale. He knew just what THAT was. "Ayiah!!!!" Uncle said, "Thief in my shop!!" "N-Now Uncle! It was probably just something falling over!" Jackie said, trying to calm him down. It might have worked too, if the word "Ow!" hadn't come from upstairs just then.
"Jackie! Quick! Get thief or Uncle will be very unhappy!" Uncle pushed Jackie to the stairs and up the first couple of steps. "But, ah, Uncle! Ack- ow!" Jackie's protest was stopped with a swift whack across the forehead with two fingers. "You want Uncle ruined? No? So you go upstairs and kung fu thief!" With one more insistent shove from Uncle, Jackie went up the stairs and peeked into the room at the top.
Valmont was sitting on the floor amidst some of the clothes from the closet. The door was opened, leading Jackie to believe he had leaned on the door and fallen out. "Sorry." Valmont said quickly, before standing up to brush himself off. 'He's wearing clothes now.' Jackie noticed, 'Thank god!'
At that moment, Uncle, wondering what kind of thief says 'sorry,' decided he would come take a look for himself. At which point a surprised gasp. "You!"
Jackie gritted his teeth, "Ah, Uncle. Did I forget to tell you? I brought Valmont back from Shendu." Uncle stared wide-eyed and looked back and forth between the two men. "You rescued WRONG PERSOOOON!" Valmont crossed his arms and looked dejected, "Nice to feel loved," he said under his breath. Tohru, wondering about the brew-ha-ha had come up the stairs and now stood at the door, eyes shooting needles at his old employer.
Jackie searched to convince Uncle Valmont's rescue was a good thing, "Ah, but, Uncle! If Valmont is HERE then we can exorcise our old friend, Shendu. Maybe send him back to demon realm? Hmm?" Uncle glared acidly as he thought about this. "He can stay." He finally said, "But only until I cast exorcism spell!" Uncle turned and pointed a finger at his nephew, "One more thing. You are responsible for HIM. I'll have nothing to do with it. I will go do research." With that, he went back downstairs, muttering something about how he was too old for this. Tohru followed.
Jackie breathed a sigh of relief. Valmont stood ambiguously in the middle of the room. "Well, guess I couldn't keep you hidden forever." Valmont raised an eyebrow, "I can see why you tried. I'm obviously not well liked here abouts." Jackie smirked. "You earned it. 'Spose I'll make you up a bed. Looks like you're here for a while."
Jackie turned to acquire clean linens but was stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder. "Jackie." Valmont said, "Like you said, you can't keep me hidden forever. They'll have to find out about us eventually. I don't suppose your family would be too thrilled to hear of our 'extracurricular relationship?'" Jackie frowned. "I don't suppose they will, huh? They'll have to get over that."
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"Whoa, Shendude, what's goin' on back there!? It's kinda hard driving a car with a dragon salsa dancing in the back seat." A snarl came from the back of the car and two red eyes flared. "Bite your tongue or I will rip it out! This infernal, cumbersome 'back seat' is too small!" Shendu said, adjusting himself, trying to get comfortable. He was indeed too big for the vehicle. He didn't have to duck, as he was hidden behind the black tinted windows, but he still had minimal room. "All right, all right." Finn said, annoyed, and returned to his driving responsibility.
A thought occurred to Ratso (as they do sometimes) "Hey, Shendu. What if we get there and he don't got the talisman?" Shendu hissed, thoroughly disgusted with his current position in life AND in the car, "Then I will rip Valmont apart limb by limb! And THEN I will precede to do the same with anyone else in the room until I'm satisfied with the amount of blood on the walls." Ratso went blank. He didn't really like that answer.
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Uncle researched and prepared his chi spell for the expulsion of Shendu into the demon realm, all the while thinking bitterly of the white haired crime lord upstairs. He hated having such a shady character anywhere near him, his shop or his family. It fueled him all the more to prepare the spell quick and get rid of the ill moraled man.
A door rang. 'Must be Jade home from school.' Uncle thought, and dismissed it. Then, the sound of broken merchandise. Uncle, just finishing his spell, dropped a quart of frog mucus on the floor. "AYIAH!" He rushed into the other room.
Could it be….. was that….. SHENDU????
Jackie came barreling out of the room and looked over the banister. Four enforcers in the room, one standing over a broken statue, and one pissed, bronze demon squeezing through the door. Chow pointed up at him, "Chan!" He announced to the others. Valmont, who was watching from the doorframe, backed back into the room. Shendu would want him. And the talisman. He reached into his pocket and fingered the stone. 'Bloody hell.'
One redhead enforcer wondered over to an ancient vase and poked it, "Oops!" Jackie leapt from the banister to the first floor and swung under the vase to keep it from crashing to the ground. Finn grinned. That was TOO easy. He pushed a second and third over and his co-workers added their own to the procession of falling antiquities as Uncle gasped in horror from the side of the room. Jackie ducked and rolled to catch those too.
He was distracted for too long. Shendu grabbed him up by the back of his neck, leaving three vases shattered on the floor. Jackie clawed at the talons around his neck, constricting his breathing and leaving bloody pinpricks. He struggled for air. "Where is Valmont?" Shendu said, slowly and clearly. A trickle of blood ran down Jackie's neck to stain his blue sweater's collar.
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Notes: As always, R&R.
Ratso CAN'T be the name his parents gave him. His real name's probably Percy or Raoul.
Now FINN is a GREAT name and authentically Irish in origin, as all of us Irish dudes know. *Coughs* Me? Why, I'm Italian. It doesn't show. I hold NO resemblance to Mario OR Luigi. Anyone for spaghetti?
Is Chow Chinese? I suppose so, apparently he SPEAKS Chinese. (When he reads from the Pan Ku box). And, if he wasn't, then what would he be? If he was Korean or Japanese then his name would have to be spelled Cho'o (wo) or Chau. What does that leave? Malaysian? Who knows? Maybe his mother was a drunk American who couldn't spell Asian names. These are things I think about when I don't have caffeine.
I watched Yu-Gi-Oh today and Pegasus (or Mighty Max as I call him) was eating humongous amounts of Gorgonzola cheese, drinking red wine (as always) and reading a comic book about a rabbit that made him laugh hysterically. It was one of the best things I have ever seen. I want to be just like that.