Chapter Eight





That night, Ryu, Fei-Long, and Wagner went to the Paris strip club Wagner found earlier that afternoon. Wagner and Fei-Long were having fun while Ryu stood there in disbelief. He couldn't believe that any women could do something like that to themselves.

What the three of them don't know is that one stripper took an interest in them. Her name is Destiny. She wanted to approach them, but her agent has told her not to go too close to any men. While she was dancing, Destiny overheard them talking about their next trip to the Ukraine.

When her shift was over, Destiny went into the back room and dials a number on her cell phone. The person on the other line picks up.

"I would like to book the next flight to Sylvania, Ukraine."

***

Sylvania, Ukraine:

"Here we are, Sylvania, Ukraine," said Ken as they stepped outside the airport. "Were do we start?"

"Let's find a tour guide and take the tour of the town," said Veronica.

"Now where would we find a tour guide?" asked Guile.

Veronica looked back inside the airport and finds a display full of brochures. "This might help," she said. She runs inside and looks through them. The others waited outside. Then, Veronica returns with a few brochures. The seven friends sit on the bleachers outside the airport and look through the brochures.

"Hotels, restaurants, museums, so much to do," said Wagner.

"Look at this place," said Ken pointing at the brochure he was looking at. Everyone looked at what Ken is pointing at. "This hotel holds seven bedrooms, a kitchen, and a den. It's twenty thousand dollars a night."

"Expensive," said Fei-Long. "But let's go for it."

They catch a bus, which took them to the hotel they want to stay at. They check in and go to their rooms on the top floor.

"Holy smokes!" cried Jasmine when they entered in. "This place is like a palace, better than the hotel we stayed at last night." She jogs to the middle of the room. "Shotgun for biggest bedroom here!" She starts to look around.

"I get the one with the balcony!" cried Fei-Long. Everyone scrambled around to get the best room. Every room is the same, but Fei-Long has the balcony so he was the one with the best room.

Ken dials a number on the hotel's phone and asks for a tour guide. Everyone else was unpacking their things. Then, they all met up in the den and sat down.

"How long do we plan to be here?" asked Wagner.

"A week or two," replied Ken. "It should be enough to discover any new moves lurking around here."

The phone suddenly rings. Ken picks it up. "Hello?..... Already?.. ...all right, thank you." He hangs up. "That was our tour guide, he'll be up in a few moments."

Someone knocks on the door. "I'll get it!" cried Ryu. He jumps up from his chair and runs to the main door. He opens it. On the other side of the door he finds a young boy around Wagner's age, but he was different.

Way different.

The boy was pale and skinny, his dark hair all shaggy. He looked stressed out and tired.

"Hello," the young boy said. "My name is Rovno, I'm your tour guide."

Ken comes up from behind Ryu. "Hi, Rovno. Come on in."

Rovno slowly walks into the hotel room. He looks around for a little bit. He looks at Ken. "Are you sure you want to tour this town?"

"Of course," said Wagner. "You guys have a lot of stuff in these." He shows him the brochures.

Rovno points at them. "Those are in the city. This hotel is the only rich place around here. Everything else.....well, you'll see."

Everyone became a bit eerie. As Rovno walks out the door, everyone looks at each other in strange ways.

"Well, let's go," said Guile. They walk out the door.

Standing on the balcony was Destiny herself. She had followed the seven friends all the way to the hotel. She wore very dark cloak covering every part of her, even her face.

As soon as she heard the door close, she steps into a bedroom. She tightly shuts the curtains making the room completely dark. She removes the hood of the cloak revealing her long curly black hair and perfect complexion.

She looks around the room and smirks. "Tonight, they will become my love slaves." She smiles showing off her fangs.

***

The seven friends thought that they would tour a beautiful town, but all they were seeing was nearly nothing. They saw a few broken buildings and a couple of restaurants, but that was about it.

"Ken," whispered Fei-Long. "What kind of town is this?"

"Hey," Ken replied. "Don't look at me, it was Jasmine's idea to come here."

Jasmine heard this and looks at Ken and Fei-Long. "Hey, we didn't have to come to this town, we could've gone to a city or something."

That's when an old man suddenly came up to them so fast they didn't see him coming. "Get out of here!" the old man cried. Everyone except Rovno looked at him in horror.

"And exactly why?" asked Guile.

"Get out of here!" the old man repeated. "This town is crazy!"

He walks closer to the group. Some of the fighters could smell his foul body odor.

"I think it's you who's crazy," said Wagner covering his nose.

"This town is filled with creatures of the night!" said the old man. "You all must leave now!" He reaches over to Jasmine and grabs her arm.

Jasmine growled. "Get off me you loon!!" she cried. Before she threw a punch, someone else punches the old man hard in the face. Jasmine turns around seeing Ryu's fist in the air. The old man falls to the ground. All he did was hold the part of his face where he was hit.

Veronica bit the bottom of her lip expecting Jasmine to start cursing out like crazy. She knew that her little sister only wants to deal with things by herself and doesn't want anyone's help.

But all Jasmine did was stare at Ryu in shock. Ryu put his fist down, looks at her and smiles. "Umm, I figured that I could save you one punch for one day, just incase we get into a real street fight later on."

"Sure," said Wagner.

Jasmine only nodded.

"Shall we continue the tour," said Rovno.

Ryu looks at the young tour guide. "Yes, we shall."

***

The sky is dark outside their hotel. All seven fighters were fast asleep.

In Fei-Long's room, he was sleeping away. The closet door opens. Destiny creeps out of the closet.

She whispers out loud, "So, what a coincidence that I would end up in one of their rooms." She quietly closes the closet door. She tip toes towards Fei-Long's bed so quietly that even if Fei-Long was awake, he would've never heard it.

She bends down to him smiling staring at his face. Then, she looks at his neck. "All I have to do is put the love potion, which is in my fangs, right into your veins." She bends closer and opens her mouth. She gets ready to cover his mouth knowing that he would wake up from the bite.

Veronica, who was next door, snaps open her eyes. She sits up clutching onto her sheets. She scans the room with her eyes.

She raises one eyebrow. "(I could've sworn I heard a muffle)" she thought to herself. She looks at the wall, which separated her room from Fei- Long's. She listens again, wondering if the muffle sound would come back.

After a while, Veronica shrugs. "Must be my imagination," she said out loud. She lies back down and falls back asleep.