Nothing is mine. Never will be.
Xu Lin waved at her uncle on the airport. Her parents hadn't come here to send her away, but they had said goodbye and wished her luck.
She watched as her uncle turned around, returned to his car and drove off. The girl sighed and glanced around herself. She was on her own now. There were noise and humans everywhere and everyone seemed to be in a hurry. Xu Lin felt a bit lonely and took a better grab of her green shoulder bag where all her luggage was.
Her mother had wanted to make sure that she looked as American as possible. That way she would find a god husband more easily. That's why Xu Lin had been forced to give up her old dress and now she wore a green skirt that reached her knees, a white top and a light jacket - that was green too. Her long hair was open and flowed on her back.
Yi Lin had got the clothes with the help of their neighbour whose brother in law worked in some big city. Everyone in their village had wanted to help somehow and Xu Lin sighed when she thought about it. They had all freaked out for nothing.
On her last day at home she had answered many farewells, most of them came from old women who advised her to choose a good husband and from youngsters who were sorry because she was leaving. Xu Lin had laughed at them and promised to come back - she would most certainly not stay in America forever.
Only long enough to solve the mystery behind her horrible dreams.
She glanced at her ticket. Her flight would leave from port eight in a half an hour and she decided to start looking for it in the case she got lost. The Chan family had seen so much trouble to get her with them that she didn't want to miss her flight.
It took a while from her before she learned how to take her bearings at the airport. She felt really uncertain, she wasn't used to these new clothes and didn't know what she should have done. Xu Lin hoped that she had someone much more self-confident with her.
She sighed in frustration.
"I bet Jade could do this." she muttered. Thinking about her far away friend and her courage - everyone who made friends with a demon had to be brave - made Xu Lin feel a bit better and she lifted her gaze from the floor.
Now she just had to find port eight.
There were announcements all the time and Xu Lin glanced at her watch. She had spent ten minutes of her time for nothing and she would be in a hurry if she wasn't fast now.
"Port eight, port eight..." she repeated to herself while glancing at the sign above her. There was port eleven, so the eighth was probably in that direction. She started to walk there and tried to guess who were going to travel in the same plane with her.
She managed to find the right port pretty fast, the signs were clear and she had no problems with reading them. Xu Lin had to wait some time before passengers were allowed to step in the plane, but during that time she realised that she was going to travel with a very loud group of American tourists to San Francisco where the tourists would take another plane to Atlanta.
One of the boys with the group immediately noticed her and stepped closer in interest.
"Hi. You speak English? Yes?" he asked speaking very slowly and as clearly as he could.
Xu Lin blinked.
"Actually I do. I have gone to school." she said politely and smiled when she saw the boy's bewildered expression. Apparently he had expected to meet a Chinese girl who couldn't speak a word of English, and had decided to make a bit fun of her.
Xu Lin didn't say anything to the others, they were way too busy with their own conversations. But she listened and in a very short time found out that some Richard was clearly cheating on his wife with his secretary who was pregnant with some Tim's child, but was going to tell it was Richard's to get more money from keeping her mouth shut.
The group was mostly of old American women who seemed to think that because they were in China no one understood what they said. One even insulted the service of Chinese restaurants loudly and didn't realise a thing when people gave her glances.
Then they were allowed in the plane and Xu Lin took a free newspaper to have something to do during the long flight. The paper had articles on both Chinese and English and she thought she'd have enough to do if she tried to understand everything that was written in English. She had no problems with speaking and understanding that language, but for some reason she didn't quite understand the western letters.
She thought it was pretty stupid, she could remember so many Chinese characters so why couldn't she learn few funny letters that weren't even complicated? They weren't beautiful either and Xu Lin thought that western letters lacked a soul.
Her seat was A 12, it was right next to the window and Xu Lin sat on her place feeling excited. She had never before been in a plane and it made her stomach tickle. The thought of flying didn't please her very much, she preferred staying safely on the ground.
"This is Captain Johnson. We will depart soon and I wish you all a pleasant flight."
When they were in the air Xu Lin took her newspaper and concentrated in reading it despite the annoyed comments she got from the old man next to him. He said he couldn't see outside.
"Chinese!" the man snapped and started to read a detective story he had taken with him for the flight.
At first flying was new and interesting, but it soon became very boring. Xu Lin hadn't read the paper yet, but the articles were so boring that she didn't think she'd ever do it.
The steady humming of the plane was starting to make her feel tired. She had woke up many hours earlier than usually and now when she wasn't excited anymore she felt very sleepy.
Xu Lin yawned and closed her eyes.
Fire blazed all around her and Xu Lin could feel the heat on her skin. Every part of her body ached and when she glanced at herself she saw blood on her torn clothes. Her before so perfect skin was covered in bleeding bruises and cuts and only now she noticed she was on her knees in dirt.
She heard screams around her, but couldn't hear the words or who was screaming. Only that they were fighting somewhere and she had no idea on whose side she was or who was winning.
Adangerous growl could be heard and Xu Lin already knew what she would see. After all, she had seen this same dream so many times.
Two glowing red eyes, the blaze of flames when they grew higher around the approaching figure.
The dragon stepped closer and the fire made his scales glow maliciously. His mouth was slightly open and Xu Lin could see the sharp teeth that were also red because of the blood that covered them.
Whose blood.
There was a horrible wound in the dragon's side and the blood that had gushed from it had painted his left side with red. The wound was clearly painful and made the already cruel looking demon look even more horrible...
"Shendu." Xu Lin whispered in fear as the dragon's shadow was cast on her.
Xu Lin woke up with a flinch and panted not knowing where she was. She took a scared look around herself when she realised she wasn't at home, but then she remembered everything.
"A dream." she sighed quietly at herself and leaned her head against the back of her seat.
"Merely a dream." she reminded herself closing her eyes. The man next to her glanced at her in confuse, but Xu Lin didn't notice it. She concentrated in that everything was fine and nothing she saw in her dreams was true.
But still...
Never before the dream had been this long and Xu Lin didn't like it. She was afraid that when she next time had a dream she would see her own violent death.
She flinched.
How long had she slept?
A quick glance at her watch told her that for about an hour. So the flight would take many more and Xu Lin took a better position. Now she badly wanted to have a word with Jade.
Hsi Wu was worried. Very worried.
Despite that he had tried he hadn't managed to find out what kind of creature it was that had taken a liking to Jade. It made him nervous, he didn't want to lose his slave.
Maybe he had been wrong after all? Maybe one of his brothers had decided to play with him - they all had a strange and cruel sense of humour - and seduce his slave. Hsi Wu knew there had to be spells that his brothers could use to hide their true nature, even from the sky demon.
But he didn't believe in it. Not really, the thought was merely in his mind because he hoped it was true. Of course he didn't want any of his brothers - especially Shendu - to touch Jade that way, but it was a better option than that some strange creature would do it.
He didn't have to include Xiao Fung in this, the wind demon had never liked women that way, but that still left him Tso Lan, Dai Gui and Shendu. Hsi Wu was certain the moon demon wouldn't sink that low, but he wasn't so certain of his other brothers.
Especially Shendu could come up with something really stupid.
But no, something else had to be going on.
Suddenly he flinched.
Jade!
Hsi Wu stopped on his tracks when he saw the girl on the other side of the street. She had stopped to glance inside a candy shop and was admiring the cute decoration cats.
And she was alone.
The sky demon felt really relieved. Until now he hadn't known what had happened to Jade and he had been afraid the strange creature had hurt her, maybe even killed her. But Jade seemed to be all right and Hsi Wu realised that this was his only chance to warn her.
He would lose his position and reveal who he really was, but that was all he could do. As long as he didn't know who his enemy was he couldn't protect Jade from him and it was for the best if the girl knew to be careful.
Not bothering to glance if cars were coming Hsi Wu walked across the street. He suddenly realised that he hadn't been this close to Jade in five years and he had to stop to admire her for a while.
The girl had changed to much in five years.
Firstly, she wasn't a little girl anymore, but had grown into a beautiful young woman. Her hair was still short and Jade wasn't very tall, but her body was perfect and the mere thought of what was under her clothes pleased the sky demon.
Jade smiled to herself and turned to continue her walk, but stopped when she realised an unfamiliar boy was staring at her.
"Excuse me?" she asked.
"Jade." Hsi Wu said. He simply didn't come up with anything else and cursed himself.
Jade frowned.
"How do you know my name? Who are you?" she asked. She didn't sound scared, but curious and confused. Hsi Wu shook his head and suddenly grabbed her wrist making Jade yelp in surprise. He tried to be gentle, but his grab was still tight.
"There is no time. You have to come with me, you are in huge danger!" the sky demon hissed through his clenched teeth and before Jade realised anything he was dragging her with him. At that moment Jade knew to fight back and struggled free.
"Wait a minute! I am not going with anyone before you explain some things." she snapped. Hsi Wu growled in frustration and drew a deep breath to calm down. There was no reason to get mad, Jade was just being sensible like she should.
"It is me, Hsi Wu." he whispered with a low voice and Jade's eyes widened. The girl took a shocked step back and for a moment the sky demon was afraid she'd turn around and run, but then Jade to his ultimate surprise rushed to embrace him.
"It is you!" she exclaimed and this time it was Hsi Wu's turn to yelp. Jade's arms were around him and he felt the girl's sweet scent in his nose. Before he managed to adjust to this situation Jade had let go and eyed him in curiosity. Maybe she was also a bit worried.
"What is going on?" she asked. Five years ago the sky demon had said he was going away because he didn't know what to with his life. Was he certain now?
Did she even want to know what the demon had been up to during these years?
"I don't know. But you are in danger, come with me Jade. I can protect you." Hsi Wu said. Jade snorted and watched him in suspicion.
"You don't expect me to do that? I don't know what is happening or on whose side you are. After these years it would be nice to talk and straighten things out." she said.
Hsi Wu lifted a brow.
"Talk?" he asked.
"Yeah, like explaining to each other what we have done and then see if we still are friends." Jade said slowly as if explaining something to a small child.
"You still want to be my friend? Even now when you are almost adult and understand what I am?" Hsi Wu asked in surprise. He had never dared to think that Jade could feel something else than hate, disgust or fear towards him.
He had thought he'd have to force Jade to like him and had filled his heart with cold and dark thoughts of how much the girl hated him now.
"As long as it is nothing else. Friends don't kill or torture each other. Or each other's relatives and family." Jade added. The demons were certainly angry at her family because Jackie had been there when Section 13 had killed Tchang Zu.
"Does that mean you won't fight against my family?" Hsi Wu asked.
"You said you don't have a family. That you've left them." Jade reminded. Then she shook her head and laughed. "This is unbelievable. Here I am talking with you on the street as if it was really usual. I am probably still shocked." she added.
"Probably, but you still have to come with me to somewhere safe before anything happens to you." the sky demon said.
Jade slit her eyes.
"That sounds suspicious. I don't trust you." she said.
"Don't friends always trust each other?"
"Not when they have been apart for five years not knowing what the other has done."
"Don't be stupid Jade, you have to come with me!"
"Why?"
Hsi Wu didn't stop to think and he regretted it later.
"Because I say so!"
Now Jade looked hurt and disappointed.
"I see." she said and her voice made Hsi Wu flinch as if she had hit him.
"Is there a problem here?"
Now they both remembered they were standing in the middle of a public pavement and it was a miracle that no one had told them to move. Hsi Wu turned around and found himself staring at almost black eyes and he realised he was face to face with the strange creature that fawned on Jade.
"Don't worry Shin, I just met a friend of mine." Jade hurried to explain. Shin gave Hsi Wu a suspicious glance.
"Are you sure? Your conversation didn't seem very friendly to me." he commented.
"Old arguments, nothing serious."
Shin shrugged.
"All right. It's not actually even my problem. But now that I met you I must ask you to eat with me. Isn't it lunch time?" he said. Jade didn't know what to say, but Hsi Wu decided it for her.
"Jade isn't going anywhere with you." the sky demon growled dangerously and though he was still in his human form there was something demonic in him.
Jade didn't like it all and neither did Shin.
"Who are you to decide that?" he asked arrogantly.
"Jade is mine and not going with you, creature!" Hsi Wu said grabbing Jade's arm and pressing the girl close to him. Jade gave a loud objection and tried to struggle free, but this time the demon didn't let her.
"Let me go!" she demanded.
"If you really are her friend you will let her make her own decisions." Shin said and now his voice was low and threatening too.
"She doesn't understand what is good for her." the sky demon said. A small smile appeared on Shin's face, as if he had realised what the demon meant. He even looked like he might have given up and left, but he most certainly didn't do that.
Shin aimed a fast and sharp punch on Hsi Wu's jaw.
The sky demon yelped in surprise, let go off Jade and flew on his back on the pavement. He was quickly on his feet and looked really angry.
"That was a mistake Shin, or whatever you are." he spat and charged at him. Screw that Shin wasn't a human, he wouldn't have cared even if the boy had transformed into a huge monster. He was way too mad.
"Yes, from your part. You can not force Jade to do anything." Shin said calmly and dodged. It sounded very ironic to Hsi Wu, Shin was after Jade too after all.
"Shut up." he said and tried to hit him again, but Shin moved away again and before he even realised what had happened Hsi Wu found himself on the ground. The spot where Shin had hit him stung harder than it should have and he realised the boy was using magic against him.
Of course not the type of magic you could see, if he had Jade would have turned against him too.
"Don't be stupid Shin, there is no reason to attack him!" the girl tried to stop them clearly afraid of that Hsi Wu would take his true form and tear Shin apart. She feared for nothing, despite his anger the sky demon wasn't stupid enough to do that in the middle of the street.
Shin took Jade's hand gently.
"Come Jade, let him be." he said glancing at Hsi Wu as if he was talking of a lower form of life. Jade looked at the demon in uncertainty, but followed Shin then. Hsi Wu tried to stand up, but... something told him it wouldn't be wise.
Next time I won't be as gentle, demon. I will hurt you and all those who are with you.
Jackie sighed in tiredness. It had been a rough day in the museum, his superiors had told him to solve the mystery of the Chinese artefact and soon. But he still had no idea of where to start!
First he had decided to find the solution by himself and read many books that might have helped him. Then he had asked aid from his colleagues, but they had known nothing.
Then he had decided to keep his job and ask help from Uncle. It irritated him a bit, he wanted to do his job himself, but then again, at least Uncle was familiar and it was fun to work with him. Even when he raged at him.
He placed his bag on the floor and stretched before going to look for Uncle. Better to take care of this as soon as possible.
Why didn't he want to ask Uncle's help?
Jackie sighed quietly and brushed his small package. Maybe it was because he had always thought he could do his job as well as possible. And he could, this case just was too much for him. He didn't know what to do with this artefact so he had to ask Uncle's help, just like the old man had suggested in the beginning.
"Uncle?" he called when he stepped in the library. He was leafing an old book and lifted his gaze when Jackie came in.
"What is it?" Uncle asked. Jackie wasn't supposed to come home in at least two hours.
Jackie gave the old man the package.
"This is the ancient artefact I told you about. Can you help me to find out what it is?" he asked.
"Of course. Old Chinese artefacts are Uncle's speciality!" the old man said waving at his antique shop. He walked to his desk and carefully opened Jackie's package. The younger man bent closer when Uncle brushed his glasses.
"That's all?" Uncle asked.
Jackie shrugged.
"What do you mean? It's a very old Chinese artefact!" he defended. Uncle took the item in his hand and gave it a careful look.
"It is broken." he stated.
"Yes, the other half is in British Museum in London and they promised to send it here for me. It hasn't arrived yet, though." Jackie said. Actually it was very late, it should have arrived a long time ago.
What was taking so long?
Uncle turned the artefact in his hands and frowned when he tried to read the old Chinese characters on its side.
"Do you understand them? None of the books in museum knows them." Jackie said.
"I have seen some of these, but Uncle is not familiar with their meaning." Uncle said in thought and put the artefact down. He tapped at his cheek.
"You say the other half is in London?" he asked.
"As far as I know. We are not properly informed of anything now when Mr. Portrait is on his vacation." Jackie assured. He thought a moment.
"Do you know what this is?" he asked. He had to be a bad archaeologist if Uncle could just like that solve a mystery that had taken weeks of his time.
Uncle shook his head.
"Uncle does not know, but it has something to do with the legend of Sha Fuju." he said.
"Sha Fuju?"
"It is the ancient Land of the Dreams where you can find answers to all possible questions. Some few mortals have the skill to travel there and make questions, but that is all I know. All information on Sha Fuju was lost in the ancient times." Uncle said.
"But it would be good to know who has the other half of this right now." he continued picking up the broken item again.
Viper sighed and pressed her fingers on her temples. Her head ached so... She had been sitting here on Bai Tsa's sofa who knew how long only that disgusting Xiao Fung with her. Bai Tsa and Shendu had left and the woman hadn't seen them after the dragon had brought her here.
She had to get away. The demons were clearly up to something and she had to hurry to San Francisco to tell Jackie.
Right now, preferably even sooner.
"Couldn't you turn the sound down a bit?" she asked from the wind demon, who just glanced at her not doing anything else. Xiao Fung didn't realise what Shendu and Bai Tsa were up to, first the fire demon had been in a hurry and now he was doing nothing.
Oh well, it wasn't his problem. He had much better things to do than to think of that, like watching reality shows from TV. He felt a bit ashamed though, he was a demon after all, but the wind demon had always been good in suppressing his inner voice that told him to do something right.
Viper frowned. What an annoying creature!
To her pleasant surprise she noticed she wasn't properly tied up. Apparently Xiao Fung - who she was starting to think was the stupidest thing she had ever met - had never tied anyone. Knowing demons he had done his prisoners something way different.
Viper rose to sit. Xiao Fung gave her a glance, but even now he didn't really pay her any attention. As long as the wind demon was the only one here she could as well manage to escape.
Then again, Xiao Fung was a demon too and if he got mad he could come up with something nasty.
Viper didn't have time to ponder this more because the door opened and Bai Tsa stepped in. There went her chance of escape, the water demon was too intelligent to let her go.
"Go away." Bai Tsa said to Xiao Fung, who looked at her in annoyance.
"But I want to watch TV." the wind demon protested, but left anyway. Bai Tsa was older than him and though those old rules seemed to have died he didn't feel like disobeying her.
Bai Tsa watched as her brother left and then turned to look at Viper. The woman glared at her poisonously and looked really angry. And it wasn't a miracle.
"You betrayed me." Viper accused shortly. Now that she knew her so called friend was a demon she didn't think it was strange thing to do, she just wondered why Bai Tsa hadn't shown her true colours earlier.
Bai Tsa shook her head.
"You are barking at the wrong tree, I have nothing to do with this. Blame Shendu, everything is always his fault." she said switching off the television and sitting in a chair next to Viper.
The woman could hear the water demon's hate towards the fire demon and she thought she had found her weak spot.
"Yet you don't help me." she stated. Bai Tsa chuckled.
"Despite that I'd rather see Shendu beaten up somewhere he is my brother and family is more important than friendship." she said.
"Friendship? You call friendship that you betrayed me and lied that you cared about me?" Viper asked. The water demon was silent for a while.
"You were never supposed to find out. I liked my life in this city and if Shendu hadn't come to ruin everything all would be just like yesterday." she said.
"I prefer this over your lies."
"So like mortals. Why to live in truth if a lie feels better?" Bai Tsa asked.
Viper didn't say anything, she didn't want to argue with the water demon about that. The demon's question was very painful, because it held a special meaning to her.
Jackie didn't love her.
Viper was intelligent enough to understand that, but accepting it was still difficult. She knew Jackie had always cared about her as a friend, even in the beginning when he had called her a thief and she had hoped the feeling would grow into something deeper and more serious.
But it hadn't. Jackie still thought she was just a friend and after realising that Viper had been broken, then angry. In a long while she hadn't been in touch with him until she had realised how childish she was. Then she had phoned Jackie immediately and the man had sounded very relieved. Apparently he had thought something had happened to her or that she was mad at him.
Hm, he had been right, but Viper didn't let anger and disappointment darken her mind anymore. Now she was just sad.
"Did I hit a sore spot?" Bai Tsa asked playfully waking Viper from her thoughts.
"Shut up demon!" the woman spat. She hoped Bai Tsa would take her own form instead of that image of a woman who had been Viper's good friend for a few years.
For four years of her life she had thought Beatrice was her friend and it had all been broken in one swift moment.
"What is Shendu up to?" she asked suddenly changing the subject. Viper hoped she'd find out something that would prove useful when she escaped. If she ever escaped.
Bai Tsa shrugged.
"You really think I am stupid enough to tell you?" she asked.
"You don't know."
Viper let a smile spread on her face when the water demon frowned in annoyance. So Shendu didn't trust his sister enough to reveal his mighty plan to her. If she played her cards well she could as well manage to use that against her.
"I do." Bai Tsa said.
"Don't lie to me. I have learned to know you well during these years and I know when you are not telling the truth." Viper said.
"You are merely a mortal."
"And you are a demon who has pretended to be one. Don't even try to tell me that it hasn't affected you at all. I know what Shendu thinks of you." Viper said with a sly smirk.
To her pleasure she saw Bai Tsa shifting nervously. Apparently the water demon wasn't as tough as she pretended to be, she had her own problems and they seemed to have something to do with the before so mighty demon family.
"Shendu doesn't like you." the ex-thief added.
Bai Tsa snorted.
"I have known that for very, very long, I knew that before your ancestors were born." she said.
"But you don't seem to get it. Where is Shendu now? Why does he make you guard his prisoner?" Viper wanted to know.
"Shendu said he has something important to take care of. It has something to do with his company." Bai Tsa said and then cursed herself. Because of an old habit she had started to talk with Viper and revealed more than she should have.
Blasted humans!
"So you accept that you have to guard me?" Viper asked.
"No, Shendu made Xiao Fung guard you."
Viper blinked in surprise. She hadn't expected that.
"Then what are you doing here?" she asked. Bai Tsa looked uncertain. She didn't actually know, it had just felt like a good idea a moment ago.
She shrugged.
"Maybe I just wanted to talk with you." she said then.
Viper was silent. She didn't think talking was something demons liked to do. In her opinion demons just killed, tortured and did something else as horrid.
"Well, talk." she said.
"Didn't we already do that?"
Another silence. Then Viper sighed, freed her hands nimbly from the ropes and rubbed her wrists. Bai Tsa jumped on her feet and stared at her in shock.
"What do you think you are doing?" she asked.
"Even though your brother doesn't know how to make knots I don't like being tied up." Viper said. She took a look around herself in Bai Tsa's apartment. She was still agile and strong, she could certainly climb out of the window and escape.
Viper was on the move faster than Bai Tsa had expected and stood next to the window when the water demon was just starting to rush after her. The ex-thief didn't bother to open the window but shattered it with one punch not caring about the pain and shreds of glass.
"And I don't like being imprisoned." she said before jumping down. She fell for a few floors, caught a windowsill and started to climb down like a cat. She knew she'd get down and some distance away before Bai Tsa could run the stairs down in the first floor.
Bai Tsa didn't leave after her.
The water demon stood next to the broken window and watched her escaping former friend and then she sighed.
She had betrayed her family.
Was there anything in the world for her now?
"You know guys, I've been having dreams."
Finn and Ratso lifted their gazes from their cards and Finn stopped his struggle to get a marked ace from his sleeve.
"Dreams?" he repeated on guard.
Chow nodded looking miserable.
Finn sighed. It was five years since they had last had a conversation about dreams and he had hoped they would never have to do it again. Back then Chow had been in ruins, but now when the Dark Hand was powerful again he was his own self. Or so Finn at least thought.
Good that he was. Finn himself was confused, he didn't like that no one had told them what had really happened. Where had Valmont been? Why hadn't he come back sooner? What had the demons done to him? And where were the demons now?
Too many questions, but no answers.
"What kind of dreams?" Ratso asked. He was holding his cards the way anyone could see them. Maybe that was why he always lost, he was a good player but so naive that didn't think his friends would try to cheat.
Chow shrugged.
"I don't know... darkness. Demons." he said.
Finn closed his eyes and sighed.
"Of course." he muttered darkly.
To be continued...