HEING MEH

Chapter 14

"The darkness is rising. I can feel it."

Po Kong and Dai Gui didn't say anything, just looked at Tso Lan. The dark figure of the moon demon seemed to drown in the night sky and though demons could see well in dark neither of the two was able to say in which position their brother actually stood. Maybe the night gave him an opportunity to hide himself, night was the time of the moon after all, and that made it the time of Tso Lan.

"So can we, but not as clearly." Po Kong said after a while. Tso Lan was the oldest male demon in the family and he had always been sensitive to different changes. When the Immortals had created a spell to banish them Tso Lan had got sick and warned the others.

But now when it was the rise of evil he didn't feel it so strongly. Many thought that evil was the only thing demons could be and it was pretty much true too. Only the little imps, rascals and other unholy creatures that lived in lower planes of existence were crueller than demons. And unlike people thought, even demons could feel.

"When will our enemy attack next?" Dai Gui asked.

"I don't know, but the next victim will be Xiao Fung, Shendu or Hsi Wu. He has already failed in killing two older brothers, he will try someone younger next." the moon demon replied softly. He stood eyes closed and let the winds that whipped the Carpathian Mountains caress his hair.

They were still in Europe near the palace of Dai Gui. Despite the damage Shin had caused it was still the best possible hideout the demons could imagine. There was enough room for them all to be in their true forms and Po Kong had protected it with new spells to keep everything dangerous outside.

Almost everything. Shin was clearly something that could resist her spells. Po Kong was about to concentrate in finding spells for him too.

"The goal of Heing Meh is clear. In order to totally reign over the world he must destroy everything even slightly magical. Without us there will be only few mortal chi wizards." Tso Lan said.

"So the demon of Nothing will attack the old Chan too. Dai Gui should be grateful, but he is not." the earth demon pointed out.

"Me neither. I'd see the destruction of Chan more than gladly, but if it means the victory of Heing Meh I'll rather let him live." Po Kong added.

None of the three demons said anything, they rested in the darkness of the mountains and gazed at the stars. Everything was peaceful and very few mortals could have believed that demons could look so calm. Especially when they all were very ugly in the human eye.

"We must find our siblings. They won't survive Heing Meh and his servant without our aid." Tso Lan decided.

Po Kong agreed.

"We will find them in America."

"Come on Åke, pick the phone." Jade muttered to herself and pursed her lips. She had tried to call her friends the whole day, but they simply hadn't answered. It could be a coincidence, but they could also be avoiding her.

She had to admit that she had been pretty rude. She had just gone with Shin and left her friends without being in contact with them ever since. She had had so much to think about; Xu Lin had arrived and this demon mess. She just didn't have any time for playing.

Jade sighed and put her cell phone away. She'd try again later.

"Maybe he didn't hear the phone ring." Xu Lin suggested helpfully. She felt bad, if she hadn't arrived Jade would have had more time for her friends.

Jade shrugged.

"Maybe, but it doesn't really matter. We have important things to do and if they don't understand it it's their problem." she said though she didn't really mean it. She didn't want to lose any of her friends, but if this continued it would eventually happen.

Nothing special had happened in a while. Uncle and Tohru hadn't found anything despite that they had done research every night and day, they still didn't understand the meaning of Viper's artefact and demons hadn't done anything.

How boring...

All right, something had happened but Jade thought she was the only one who had noticed it. It was Xu Lin.

She had always been quiet and thoughtful, but now there was something new and sad about her. The girl didn't complain or say anything, but Jade could sense that something was wrong. Maybe she had had another dream.

"Hey Xu." Jade said, "Is something wrong?"

"What do you mean?" Xu Lin asked lifting her gaze from her hands and looking at Jade with a confused expression in her dark eyes.

"You seem so far away and sad. Has something happened that you want to tell me?" Jade asked.

Xu Lin shook her head.

"No." she said quietly. Of course it wasn't true, but she definitely didn't want to tell anyone about her new dream. It was too confusing and scary.

Xu Lin knew many stories of young women who had to sacrifice themselves to demons and monsters to save their village and family. Would she be one of them? Would she have to give herself to Shendu to save the others? Was that her destiny?

She was afraid. Shendu was so big and the dragon's red eyes promised pain and suffering to everyone who stepped in his way. Xu Lin didn't ever want to be near Shendu, but if her dreams were the truth she might not have any options.

And what about the Chans then? What would they say when they found out? Would they hate her? Xu Lin knew it wouldn't happen and that the Chans would protect her from Shendu 'till the end, but that was exactly what made her feel so horrible. It could be that Shendu would kill Jade's family because of her.

"You sure? You don't look very good." Jade pointed out in worry. Xu Lin forced herself to smile.

"Everything is fine." she assured and decided that she had to come up with something.

"All we know is that the answer to all this is in Sha Fuju." Uncle said in thought and looked at the Chinese artefact in his hands. It didn't tell him or anyone else, not even Viper, anything.

He sighed.

"I am sure the demons know more than we do. They have all the ancient knowledge and experiences. I - " he said gesturing at his library, "have only my books."

"But they are good books. They have helped us many times." Viper pointed out.

"Hm. Uncle needs more books. Better and older." the old man said. His library was very good and he was proud of it, but at moments like these he hoped he owned much more ancient writings.

"I could call Black and ask if he can get more somehow. He'll help if he can." Jackie stated. It was true, Black considered the demon problems to be his problems as long as they took place in San Francisco and the battle where they had killed Tchang Zu had made him believe in himself and his men.

Uncle always told Black that magic had to be defeated by magic, but that didn't worry the man. At times magic worked better and he was always ready to give in if it caused no trouble. He knew that Uncle was very proud of his spells and didn't like it when modern technology worked. "Technology and science will destroy us all one day." the old man liked to say.

"Do that. Maybe he'll find something valuable." Uncle said.

"I just wonder where this all is leading. Shendu wants something from Sha Fuju, but what? And how is he hoping to get it?" Jackie asked. Those were questions that they had asked from each other for days now, but no one had an answer. They knew that if they just could understand an old artefact everything would be so much more obvious.

"Dude, this sucks." Finn muttered to himself and looked around. The hotel room was fine, but the atmosphere was broken very well by the unconscious sky demon, the fact that he had to sleep on bare floor, that his body ached and that he was imprisoned by demons.

"Tell me about it." Origami said from his own side of the room. He kept his distance to everyone else on purpose, because he wanted to get away from everyone else and come up with an escape plan. At first it had seemed easy. He had thought all he had to do was to fly away as a paper bird while everyone else was asleep, but that had turned out to be very difficult.

It was the night that Origami had waited for and everyone had gone to sleep. He thanked his luck for that the demons seemed to trust him this much and had done nothing to prevent his escape. And even if they had they would have needed something special to stop Origami.

He glanced around himself. The bat creature was still blacked out and the Irish man asleep. Demons slept in other rooms so he didn't have to worry about them.

It was dark in the room, but it didn't bother him. He had already learned where each piece of furniture was and it was easy to creep to the glass doors, open them and step at the balcony. There he took another glance around - as a thief he knew he could never be too careful - and nodded to himself.

"A nice night, isn't it?"

He flinched and turned towards the voice. It had come from the balcony of the next room and now that he slit his eyes he believed he saw someone's figure in the dark. Origami didn't say anything, just clenched his fists in anger.

Shendu stepped closer and leaned on his own balcony. The dim light of the half moon hit his skin now and made it glow almost as beautifully as it would have if he had been covered by his scales.

"I thought you to be wiser, slave." he stated.

"My name is Origami." the Japanese thief replied sharply. He couldn't believe it that he hadn't seen that creature. Had he really lost that much in prison?

Shendu snorted.

"As long as you are with me you have no name. I am not like my brother Hsi Wu, I don't give any freedom to my slaves." he said. "And I am not like Xiao Fung who makes his slaves do all kinds of unmentioned things."

"I demand to be freed. I am no use for you." Origami said. They had told him nothing, this demon - who on top of it all was Chinese - had simply took him with no explanations.

"No, you are no use at the moment. But wait." Shendu said, turned around and seemed to be returning in. "By the way, escaping is useless. I am keeping an eye on you and believe me, you don't want to anger a fire demon."

After that Shendu returned to his room and left Origami alone. He peered down from the balcony, took one last glance at the other one and decided he wouldn't try anything. Yet.

And so here he was again. Stuck with four demons - fortunately one was unconscious - and an annoying Irish man. What could be worse?

"I am no use for you. You can as well let me go. Come on, I and Shendu are old buddies." Finn said to Bai Tsa, who with Hsi Wu was the only demon in the room. Shendu had gone to do investigations and Xiao Fung was getting them food.

"So like my brother to make friends with fools." Bai Tsa stated. She was worried about Hsi Wu, the sky demon hadn't woken up yet. What was wrong with him and why wasn't that mortal suffering from it? The water demon licked her lips.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Huh?" was Finn's answer.

"You heard me! Why did we find you and Hsi Wu on the street? What happened before that?" Bai Tsa asked in frustration. How slow could that mortal be?

Finn looked like the demon's words hadn't insulted him at all, either he was used to being shouted at or simply didn't care. Probably a bit of both.

"A strange dude attacked him and I went to help him. At that point I still thought he was a human and had no idea of how stupid the whole mess would get." he said. "In fact I am the one who saved him so you can probably let me go as reward, right?" he added and coloured the truth a bit.

Bai Tsa snorted.

"Just dream." she said.

"Oh, I will."

"Huh?"

"You heard me."

Bai Tsa shot Finn an angry glare. What an arrogant mortal!

"Don't play with me. No mortal man has survived that." she warned. Finn believed that. In her human form Bai Tsa was pretty, actually astounding. If she wasn't a demon I would certainly - Finn thought to himself before giving himself a mental slap and killing the thoughts.

Bai Tsa was a demon and the men who had "played" with her must have tasted her demonic side too. He wondered what she really looked like. If she was even a bit like Po Kong Finn didn't want to know anything about it. Better this way.

Suddenly everyone in the room flinched as Hsi Wu moved and a moan escaped from his mouth.

"Hsi Wu!" Bai Tsa exclaimed and grabbed his shoulder. It made the sky demon hiss angrily and he opened his red eyes a bit.

"Do not... touch me!" he spat and Bai Tsa let go quickly. Hsi Wu didn't recognise her or didn't want to have anything to do with her, but whatever it was it was better to obey now. Even in that condition Hsi Wu could do damage with his claws.

The water demon didn't say anything, but watched as the sky demon closed his eyes again and drifted into sleep. She wasn't worried anymore, her brother would be all right. In fact she was starting to feel ridiculous for fearing that much. Hsi Wu was merely a younger brother, there was no need to worry about him so much.

Finn sighed and shook his head. He wanted back to Chow and Ratso to tell them everything about this. This had to have something to do with what had happened to Valmont, but now he wasn't so sure if he wanted to hear the truth. After all, his life had been so much better before he had learned that demons did exist.

Despite that the situation wasn't comfortable he noticed that he wasn't actually afraid. At least not much. He was more like careful and nervous, but something made Shendu less frightening than before. Maybe it was because the dragon hadn't shown them his real form yet and didn't possess a human body. It made him look much less dangerous.

And he was hopeful too. The demons had to be up to something bad so it would only be the matter of time before Chan appeared. And when that happened he would use the situation and get lost.

Shendu wasn't sure of what he'd do next. Usually he didn't have these problems - he always destroyed everything he didn't like - but this time he had to consider carefully before doing anything.

Firstly, he had the first Guardian, but the Chans had to have the other one. He knew where to find the Chosen of Dreams, but that was no good until he got Viper. He sighed. Five years ago he would have just attacked the Chans and though the thought was tempting he couldn't do it.

Tchang Zu had tried and now he was dead. Shendu didn't want to die or - even worse - get banished back in the Netherworld. If that happened he would have to suffer there alone for eternity because he was sure none of his siblings would bother to free him.

"Those ungrateful fools..." the dragon muttered. Po Kong, Tso Lan and others said they supported the family and that they were true demons, but they were all wrong. The older siblings just tried to look good while breaking all traditions.

He wasn't like that. He knew that the destiny of him and his family was to rule the world and humans and he wouldn't settle with anything less. He would never give up no matter what happened. Or then again, maybe he would if he found something even better, but what could that possibly be?

Well, anyway, the next step seemed to be clear now. He had to fetch the Chosen of Dreams and catch him before the Chans found out who he was. Shendu would never forgive himself if he lost the Chosen too.

The streets of San Francisco were familiar to him and though he hadn't been in the city for five years he knew where to go. Shendu had always been good in finding his way everywhere and he never got lost. He didn't know where his prey was at the moment, but he believed fate would lead him.

Or so he thought until he felt slight tickling on his neck. Something magical was near and it wasn't just a common creature of wizard. No, he could almost smell magic in the air and he could already imagine what it would smell like. A familiar scent, very familiar.

"Po Kong." he said even before the mountain demon appeared in front of him. He had noticed that all demons had the habit of appearing out of nowhere when the situation was the worst possible.

"Shendu. We haven't met in a long time." Po Kong said.

"No, we haven't."

Shendu noticed that his sister wasn't alone. Side by side with her stood two men, but it was clear neither was a real human. He nodded at them.

"Tso Lan, Dai Gui."

"Strange to meet you here. We believed you to be anywhere else." Tso Lan stated.

"Then why aren't you somewhere else?" Shendu asked.

"Our locator spell brought us here. It seems like all demons are in San Francisco." Po Kong said. Shendu didn't say or do anything that would have revealed the truth. He didn't actually think his siblings were his enemies, but since they weren't on his side either he didn't want to tell them anything.

He needed Po Kong's help, the mountain demon was probably the only living creature who could do the ritual of Sha Fuju. And yet Shendu was suspicious. Po Kong was much older and could try to take his position as the leader of his operation.

"What do you want?" he asked. There had to be a reason to why the three gathered here and why Tso Lan had left his palace after five years of loneliness.

"This isn't the place to talk about that. Take us somewhere where we can be in peace. This is very serious." Tso Lan said. He wanted somewhere where he could give up is human form and stop walking. Being tied to ground was really getting on his nerves.

Shendu slit his eyes in suspicion.

"You want in my hideout?" he asked.

"Shendu, I am disappointed in you. You really assume we would attack you and take whatever you have managed to gain during these years?" Po Kong asked sharply.

"No, but I can never be too careful." the fire demon stated and a small smile played on his lips. It was half fake - he still didn't trust the others - but a small part of him was happy for that the older siblings had come back.

"Dai Gui wants to see Bai Tsa. Is she here?" the earth demon asked a bit later when they were on their way to Shendu's hotel.

"We shall see." the dragon stated. His plan of capturing the Chosen was no good now, but he promised himself he would do it immediately after this was over with. He hoped the matter of the older demons didn't touch him too much, he really didn't have time for anything else.

The group of four demons was very strange, but no one gave them funny glances at the hotel. It was partly because of their story of the group of performances, partly because of Bai Tsa's charms and that they had got rid of pretty much everyone else who had lived in the hotel.

Po Kong looked around herself and nodded.

"Nice." she admitted.

"Better than what Ni Tang got us." Tso Lan added.

"Don't get too attached to it, you can't stay here." Shendu said, and the others just glanced at each other. The dragon was starting to feel that they wouldn't give him an option. It reminded him of the time when Tchang Zu had ruled over everyone else in the family.

"We'll see."

They arrived in the uppermost floor and Shendu shrugged.

"Here it is. I have much here." he said with pride. In the ancient times it would have been nothing, but now he owned more than the other demons together.

No one listened to him though, they had noticed an open door and stepped in.

"Bai Tsa!" Dai Gui exclaimed happily and the water demon lifted her gaze in surprise.

"Dai Gui? What are you doing here?" she asked blinking and standing up. It was long since she had last seen the earth demon and it was hard to believe that her brother was truly there.

"He came with us." a soft voice said and Bai Tsa thought the situation couldn't have been any more shocking.

"Tso Lan..." she whispered.

"What are you all doing here?" Xiao Fung asked. He had returned just a moment ago.

"We have things to discuss. And it's not a game." Po Kong said. She turned to look at Hsi Wu and raised a brow. "What is wrong with him?"

Bai Tsa shrugged.

"I don't know." she had to admit. "Something attacked him and he has not really woken since that."

"He has lost all of his energy and is tired. He will feel weak and sore when he wakes up." Tso Lan said. He hadn't let his eyes leave the sky demon's figure since he had first seen him on the floor. He couldn't, the moon demon still remembered their last meeting too well.

He had told Hsi Wu the truth. And Hsi Wu had left his family. Tso Lan knew that he should have never let himself grow attached to his brother, but it couldn't be helped anymore. And he didn't really even care. The lonely years in the moon had made him even colder than usually.

"How do you know that?" Shendu asked. He didn't like it that his siblings came to order everyone around like they owned everything.

Dai Gui gave his younger brother an icy glance.

"Because the same thing attacked me too. His name is Shin." he said.

"Shin..." Hsi Wu muttered quietly and everyone concentrated in him.

"Let him sleep." Po Kong said as Bai Tsa tried to grab her brother's shoulder and the water demon obeyed with hesitation. She glanced at her brother once more and then her eyes hardened. Now that she was sure of that Hsi Wu would be all right there was no use to worry.

"There is no room here. Let's go and talk somewhere else." she said.

"Why do you have so much people here anyway?" Po Kong asked. All seven demons and two mortals filled the room nicely.

Shendu pointed at Origami.

"He is an important part of my plan and he has a part in it too." he said gesturing at Finn then. The Irish man flinched slightly and looked like he felt very uncomfortable, but didn't say anything.

"Your plan? Are you still trying to take over the world?" Dai Gui asked.

"It's not your business. You didn't want to help me." Shendu hissed. "We, - I, Xiao Fung and Bai Tsa - have done everything and proved that age doesn't matter."

"We don't have time for that rubbish now. Something much more is going on and it matters more than your pathetic plans." Tso Lan stated. Shendu slit his eyes in rage, but didn't argue. He had already made his mind, he wouldn't agree with his siblings if it wasn't anything interesting.

"One of us has to stay and guard my slaves. The first one is no trouble, but the other has already tried to escape. I can't afford losing him." he said. "Xiao Fung, you stay."

"Why always me?" the wind demon asked. Now that Po Kong and others were back he felt much more self-confident, stronger and braver.

"Because I say so."

"I'll stay. Someone has to be here if Hsi Wu wakes up and males can't do it." Bai Tsa announced suddenly. Everyone thought it was a bit strange, the water demon liked to be present when news was told. She had always been curious.

"Whatever. Let's just get this over with so that I can show you the door." Shendu said and gave Bai Tsa a warning glance. He doubted she'd let any of the prisoners go, but he hadn't quite forgotten the incident in New York.

"What do you want this time? I am busy." Shendu said immediately after they'd got out of the room. "Without you I'd be closer to my dream of world domination.

Tso Lan shook his head.

"Neither we nor you can afford those games now. You will have to give up your plan." the moon demon said. Shendu stared at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Didn't you understand? We can't let you continue now when situation is what it is." Dai Gui said.

"You can't be serious! First you give up what Tchang Zu gave his life for and now you want to force me to do it too? What kind of demons are you?"

Po Kong snorted.

"We all know that Tchang Zu's memory has nothing to do with this. You are just greedy." she said.

"Maybe, but I have the right to do whatever I want." Shendu said stubbornly. He was like a small child who wasn't allowed to have a cookie.

"Would you do it even if you died?" Tso Lan asked. Shendu looked at him in suspicion.

"What are you trying to say?" he asked suspecting that the older demons were about to trick him into believing them and giving up his plans. Then Po Kong and others would take over and reign over the world using his plans and what he had done.

"I am quite interested in it too." Xiao Fung said.

"I will explain everything. Something is going on and it is more important than anything else." Tso Lan said. "Heing Meh is coming."

"What? That can't be!" Shendu hissed him shock. All demons knew the legend of Heing Meh, it was taught to them before they learned to walk properly.

"How can you be so sure?" the wind demon asked.

"And why now? Why now when my life is so perfect?" Shendu asked angrily. This couldn't be true! He had everything ready, the world was finally almost his and then that stupid legend started to come true. It just couldn't happen!

"We don't know why the moment is now. All we know that a warrior from another plane of existence has attacked our family three times in order to kill us all. Heing Meh isn't strong enough to do it himself, so he has summoned a servant." Tso Lan said.

Shendu clenched his fists and glared at everyone.

"You are making this up. You just want to stop me from becoming stronger!" he blamed.

"Don't be ridiculous. We wouldn't have to do it this way." Po Kong said.

"Hah! Why should I believe you? You are just - " the fire demon started, but stopped when the mountain demon slapped him hard. The dragon was slammed against the wall and he pressed his hand on his face while hissing as poisonously as it was possible with a human mouth.

"We are your older siblings and your responsibility is to do as we say. And we want you to end this stupid game and help us. We won't survive Heing Meh if we don't work together." Po Kong said.

Shendu relaxed a bit, but eyed the others in suspicion anyway.

"What can we do?" he asked.

"We don't know. At the moment nothing but be together." Tso Lan said.

"I am trying to find a spell or another way of killing Heing Meh before he becomes too strong." Po Kong suggested.

Shendu snorted in amuse.

"I've got a much better idea." he said. "But I will tell it only if you cast a spell that will bind my Asian slave into me so that I'll always know where he is. Neither I nor you can afford losing him now."

Po Kong didn't know what the sly fire demon had in his mind, but she nodded anyway.

"Why didn't you go with them, demon chick? I bet you are interested in what mountain and the rest have to say." Finn stated as Shendu and the others were gone.

"I want to keep an eye on my brother." Bai Tsa said sharply. Finn chuckled.

"Hah. So you try to say that you actually care about him?" he asked.

Bai Tsa didn't reply.

"Told you. Demons don't care about anyone and they have no feelings." Finn continued.

"What are you trying to prove? That sounds like something Chan might say."

"I'm not proving anything. I don't have to, I already know the truth."

Bai Tsa glanced at the Irish man and tilted her head. Her honey eyes flashed in the light.

"And what do you think you know about demons? You little, pathetic mortal?" she asked.

"Enough. Shendu taught me much."

"I see. My brother has taught the Chans too and none of them ever questioned those facts." Bai Tsa said. "Not that there is much to correct. Shendu has given the right image of us." she added quickly.

"Pity. Just sitting here is boring and an argument would have brought a change." Finn said.

Bai Tsa snorted.

"I have another way of amusing mortal men." she said.

"Does it include blood, pain, claws and killing?"

"That too, but first there's something else. Death will follow, but it's always worth it." the water demon stated.

Finn shifted uncomfortably.

"Eh... is it?" he asked. He knew what game the water demon was playing and he wasn't sure if he wanted to join her. Of course she was very attractive in that form, but the Irish man had no idea of what she really looked like and besides -

Besides, Bai Tsa was a demon! What the heck was he thinking?

"You want to try?"

Finn didn't reply, but Origami coughed.

"I'm still here, remember?" he pointed out. God, if those two were about to try anything he'd arrange himself as far away as possible!

Bai Tsa flashed him a sly smile.

"Thanks for reminding me. It has been a while since I had threesome."

A woman screamed. Her dark hair was wet with her own blood and her voice was hoarse from screaming. Her before so happy eyes were now jaded and she couldn't even remember why she was screaming, she just continued.

Her blood ran on the stone altar and her screaming and twisting figure calmed down slowly. Warmth escaped her dead body and shadows covered her.

Shin stepped closer and nodded. He placed the bloodied dagger next to her and gestured his two servants to step closer.

"What is the meaning of his horrible... show?" Necrosis asked with a weak tone. He had seen all kinds of things that he wanted to forget, but how Shin had first tortured that woman and then let her bleed to death was something he didn't think he could stand.

Hoyle hadn't and Necrosis didn't blame him for it.

"It was a practise." Shin replied.

"A practise? For what?"

"My lord can only return through innocent blood and tears of a demon. We have neither at the moment, but this woman was innocent enough to be a practise. Now my lord is stronger again."

Necrosis frowned and glanced at the woman's tortured figure once more. He had to turn his head away almost instantly. He swallowed.

"But why do you need us?" he asked.

Shin snorted.

"You already know that." he said.

The Nameless raised his head and screamed in victory.

And at the same time Ni Tang opened his eyes.

To be continued...