Nope, I don't anything. I am getting tired of writing this here every time. Geez...
"If there was even one more of us the Chan's shop would burst." Xiao Fung stated eyeing their group in amuse. There were six of them, seven if they counted Tso Lan who was already at the Chan's, and two slaves. It was already crowded at the shop and now the situation would get rather impossible.
"That would be fun." Shendu said. He didn't like that he had to live under the same roof with mortals, but at least Dai Gui's palace was so big that he wouldn't see them if he didn't want to.
They arrived at the shop, but Jackie, Viper and Tohru were there to greet them and didn't let them step inside.
"Uncle and Tso Lan are opening a portal in Dai Gui's palace and may not be disturbed." Jackie said and looked at Origami and Finn in surprise. "What are they doing here?"
"They are our slaves, Chan." Shendu replied. Jackie frowned.
"That is not right." he said. "You have to free them."
Shendu snorted.
"Both are criminals and you would like to get them arrested and in prison. So why does it matter that we have enslaved them?" he asked.
"They deserve to be put in a human prison. No one is evil enough to be a slave to a cruel demon." Jackie mouthed his opinion.
"Unfortunately we need these mortals to save your niece. And if we don't force them they won't help." Po Kong pointed out.
Jackie looked uncertain. Slavery was something he could never accept, but if that was the only way to save Jade... He looked at the criminals. Neither looked very happy with the situation, but at least they looked like they hadn't been mistreated.
"You may not hurt them and once this is over they have to be freed." he decided.
Shendu glanced at Bai Tsa, who returned the gaze. Was Chan really that naive that he though they'd do everything he told them to?
"We have more important things to do than to talk about this." Po Kong stated. "When will you uncle and my brother get the portal open?"
Jackie shrugged.
"Soon I guess." he replied. Then he noticed that Viper was frowning in thought. "What is it?"
"I don't know... I feel strange." the woman replied.
"Strange?" Jackie repeated in worry.
"Yes, but it might not be anything." Viper assured. Jackie looked like he wanted to ask something else, but then Uncle stepped out of his shop.
Jackie didn't look pleased.
"Is this really the only way to get Jade back?" he asked.
"No, but this is the only way to get her back alive." Shendu said. Jackie glared at the demon and stepped in with the rest of them.
There was now a grey portal in front of the counter, and there was nothing but dark on the other side of it.
"Doesn't look very inviting." Viper pointed out.
"There is no light on the other side yet. Dai Gui doesn't need any." Tso Lan explained. He stood next to the portal and unlike Uncle, he didn't look tired at all.
"I still don't like this." Tohru muttered.
"Dai Gui goes ahead." the earth demon announced and stepped through the portal in his human form.
"I am next! Me!" Xiao Fung exclaimed and followed his brother. The others did nothing in a while, but finally they all stepped through. Tso Lan was the last.
When he arrived to the other side Origami didn't see anything at first because, just as Tso Lan had said, Dai Gui hadn't lit the place at all. But the earth demon had prepared for visitors so all he needed to do was to say few simple words and the whole palace was lit by dim magical flames that didn't hurt Dai Gui's sensitive eyes.
And Origami hoped that he wouldn't have been able to see anything.
When he had stepped through the portal Dai Gui had taken his true from and the demon, who looked pretty much like a crossbreed between a dragon and a dog, was even uglier than what the thief had thought. He could have been from one of those stories that he had been told when he was young. He had to flinch, even though he wasn't a child anymore.
It didn't take long before everyone had stepped through the portal, but Tso Lan let it remain open.
"Anyone can return to San Francisco through this." he said. It was one of the promises the moon demon had made and Uncle looked pleased. Jackie and the others did too, because living with the demons seemed much easier when they could leave any time they wanted.
"Where can we put Uncle's books?" Uncle asked. Origami glanced at the old man from the corner of his eye and watched as the moon demon showed the old man the way to the library. He had seen only a glimpse of Chan's uncle five years ago, but he had known that he would never get along with him.
"Come on." Shendu snapped at him and when he saw the demon's bitter expression Origami knew that the dragon hated Chan just as much -- if not more -- than he did. Despite that the thief despised the demon he was glad to notice that they had something in common.
He slit his eyes. Being enslaved by a demon and forced to look at Chan's face without being able to slit his throat... why was he punished?
Dai Gui's palace was very different than what Viper had thought. Even though she had known that the demons were Chinese she had supposed that they lived in some kind of Dark Age castles. Now that she looked around herself in the high corridor and eyed the flames in fascination she had to admit that she had been wrong.
"They are beautiful." she said to Jackie, who looked worried and glanced around himself. Viper frowned. "Something wrong?"
Jackie stared at her.
"How can you even ask that? Jade is in danger and we have an alliance with the demons! Of course something is wrong!" he snapped.
"I don't like this either, but as you said, we have to do this. And the demons have been very co-operative." Viper said.
"Yes, Tso Lan has been. I don't know about Shendu and the rest." Jackie said lowering his voice. He didn't want Dai Gui to hear. The earth demon was showing them the way to the parts of the palace that they could use.
"Well, that is true." Viper muttered.
"Yes, you don't seem to get along with Bai Tsa..." Jackie stated. He had already noticed that Viper's behaviour changed a bit when they started to talk about the water demon.
Viper snorted.
"You want to talk about it?" Jackie asked carefully. Viper glanced at him and seemed to really consider it. Then she shrugged.
"It is nothing. At least it feels like nothing. I might explain it when we have time. Now we have to concentrate in other things." she said.
"Like saving Jade."
"And Xu Lin too. I can't understand what could have happened to her."
"Yes, Xu Lin. I am going to go and look for her once everything is organised here." Jackie said.
They arrived to their destination after walking some time. Dai Gui had to bend down because the ceiling was low and walls were closer to each other too.
"Most of the rooms here have been designed for demons. Only the servants' quarters are fitting for mortals." the earth demon said. He didn't mind, but enjoyed when he could show the mortals the place that he saw fitting for them. "Dai Gui is sorry." he added sounding amused.
"I'm sure about that." Jackie stated and helped Tohru to carry some of their items in. They would have to return to the shop a few times to get everything that they needed.
The servants' quarters -- as Dai Gui had called them -- were built of many separate rooms and corridors between them. Space had been spared when they had been built and the rooms weren't very spacious or comfortable.
"I expected something like this." Jackie muttered. Uncle shot an angry glance at him.
"We only need to sleep here!" he snapped.
"Then why did we come? We could have slept at home." Jackie pointed out.
"Uncle doesn't want to get killed when asleep!"
"Huh?" was the reaction of Jackie, Viper and Tohru.
"What do you mean, sensei?" the Japanese man asked.
"Yes. Isn't the danger of getting killed much greater here with the demons?" Viper added. Uncle looked at them all and corrected the position of his glasses. He always did that when he had something to say and it made the others shut up.
"The creature that took Jade is a servant of a demon called Heing Meh. We don't know why he wants Jade, but it has to have something to do with the legend." the old man said.
"The legend?" Jackie asked.
"The legend of Heing Meh. According to it he is the demon of Nothing who will take over the world by destroying everything magical." Uncle continued.
"But that means..." Tohru said and started to realise what was going on.
Uncle nodded.
"That means that we are in danger too. Everything that has something to do with magic is on Heing Meh's way. The demons are his strongest opponents so if we help them to destroy him we make sure that we survive too." he explained.
Jackie looked thoughtful.
"I never thought we would have a same goal with the demons..." he muttered. He didn't like the situation, but if the demons' help was the only way to get Jade back and save Uncle and Tohru... Maybe he could do it after all.
"Me neither, but we have to learn to accept it. Tso Lan promised to tell Uncle about his plan. Come." Uncle said and left. The others followed after him.
Hsi Wu wasn't on a good mood. He was worried about Jade and had believed that by teaming up with mortals he would be able to save her in no time. But all this confusion had caused that no one seemed to even remember that she was in danger.
He clenched his fists. Why were they wasting time?
Shendu snorted and glanced at his brother.
"This was your plan, you fool. Make sure it works." the dragon said.
"It will work, brother dearest. Neither we nor Chan will give up." the sky demon replied. He had to admit that he was slightly nervous and very impatient, but he would never let Shendu see that.
"Why did we actually have to come here?" Bai Tsa asked next to them. She was on a pretty bad mood because she had noticed that the palace was far away from any sea. And Dai Gui hadn't even built a pool for her!
"I thought you would build your own palace!" the earth demon had defended himself. "And this place offers nothing to most of us anyway."
"You and Po Kong have fun." had been Xiao Fung's comment. He wasn't very sorry, strong winds blew over the Caucasus Mountains and he could always talk with them.
"Well, this is an underground palace..."
Shendu glanced at his sister. Every demon had taken his or her true form now that they had enough room and everyone enjoyed to be able to stretch their muscles. Walking in a human form was so tiring and uncomfortable.
"Tso Lan wants everyone here so that we can make plans of how to save that dirty Chan girl." the fire demon said. His voice was poisonous and it was clear what he thought of the idea.
"That is actually the Chan point of view. We are just going there to kill Shin." Po Kong pointed out. She was easily the largest and highest of the demons. Her head almost scratched the ceiling.
"Sounds fun." Xiao Fung said.
Hsi Wu was the first one to notice the mortals arriving. It was no surprise since he was the smallest of them and used to paying attention to other things.
"Hey, they are here!" he informed his siblings.
"They are?" Xiao Fung asked in amuse, though he could see them well. "Oh, I didn't notice them."
"Haha. How funny." Jackie said dryly and stared up at the demons. They didn't look very pretty.
"Uncle has no time for fooling around. We must make plans." Uncle snapped.
"Same here." Viper stated.
"I think they said something. I just can't hear them very well." Xiao Fung said.
"Stop acting like a child. We have no time for this." Tso Lan scolded.
"But they do speak quietly." Dai Gui stated.
"I think you had no difficulties with hearing them when you first met them."
"Well, yes..."
Tso Lan sighed.
"Whatever, but at least I will be more civil." he said and floated to Uncle and the rest. "We have much to do and we have to share the duties."
"True. Finding Shin and Jade is important now." Uncle said.
"It should be taken care of with a simple locator spell. You, I and your apprentice can take care of that, but I have work for your warrior too." the moon demon said.
"Warrior?" Jackie asked.
"Yes, you." Tso Lan replied.
"Wah! I am not a warrior!" Jackie exclaimed, but Uncle slapped him.
"Doesn't matter! Listen!" the old man snapped.
"I think it would be a good idea of Ni Tang was brought here. Shendu and Hsi Wu can assist you." Tso Lan said.
"Ni Tang?" Uncle, Jackie, Tohru and Viper asked.
"But isn't Valmont very... human... nowadays?" Jackie asked in confusion.
"He was, but not anymore. Something has happened and made him become a demon again." Tso Lan said.
"And we have nothing to do with it." Po Kong's voice said when the mountain demon stepped closer. She had turned back into her human form after realising that she would be no use for anyone as long as she was in her true form.
Uncle looked thoughtful.
"Uncle knew the spell would break..." he muttered. "Jackie, go and get Ni Tang with Shendu and Hsi Wu. This is interesting."
"But what about Jade? And Xu Lin?"
"We will prepare a spell that can lead us to our enemy. We can prepare one for Xu Lin too if she doesn't appear in the shop soon." Uncle replied.
"Fine." Jackie said and nodded. It was no use to argue, they were on the demon's side after all.
But he knew better than well that it wouldn't be that way forever.
And that was exactly what they did. Jackie, Hsi Wu and Shendu went to look for Ni Tang and the others stayed to prepare the spell or just waste their time. Uncle and Tso Lan seemed to be the only ones who didn't feel uncomfortable and the rest of them could just wonder that.
"Your brother has no feelings. He can only be cold and calculating." Tohru stated sharply at Po Kong.
"What makes you think so?" the mountain demon asked while pouring chi ingredients in a jar. They needed something that belonged to Jade, but they had to finish the rest of the spell first.
"He has accepted this situation as if it didn't mean anything. That is not normal."
"Would you prefer if he raged around swearing to kill you all? You would just hate him more." Po Kong said.
Tohru didn't reply. The mountain demon frowned.
"I didn't remember that you are this bitter. I used to like you more."
"Better this way then."
Po Kong sighed in frustration.
"I don't understand you. I know why you don't like my siblings, but why do you have to hate me more than them? Am I really the worst of us?" she asked.
"None of your siblings betrayed me."
Po Kong blinked. Then she snorted, maybe in slight amuse.
"Oh, now I see. So like mortals..."
"Why is it always me who has to do the dirty work?" Shendu asked angrily as he marched on the street in his human form. Jackie and Hsi Wu both suppressed their desire to snap something at the fire demon, because they didn't want to make him angrier.
Shendu deserves a good slap, Hsi Wu thought aloud. All he does is complain. Someone should teach him manners.
Jackie's thoughts were very similar, but he actually wanted to banish Shendu so that he wouldn't have to listen to him anymore.
"Where are we going to start looking for Ni Tang?" he asked in slight uncertainty. This was the first time he worked together with these demons and he didn't know how to act around them.
"We should search in the Dark Hand HQ. It is possible that he has returned there." Hsi Wu said.
"You know where it is?" Jackie asked in surprise.
"I and Valmont kept in touch after the incident." the sky demon replied.
"Yes, you are the shame of our family." Shendu commented. Hsi Wu slit his eyes angrily.
"Grr..." he replied.
Jackie watched in confusion as the two demons bickered. He had never thought that the demons would bother to argue with each other, but then again, he had never thought much about them.
"At least I tried to keep our family traditions alive!"
"The traditions of failing?"
Jackie had to admit that he was on Hsi Wu's side on this. In his opinion the sky demon was just as horrible as the rest, but at least he knew how to behave.
He felt uncomfortable now that none of his friends was with him. He had expected Viper to come with him, but the woman hadn't done that. It was a shame, he could have used the company of someone he dared to trust.
"We are here." Hsi Wu said suddenly. Jackie and Shendu stopped and eyed the high building in front of them.
"It's here? I didn't know Valmont is this powerful again." Jackie said.
"He has had five years. What kind of fool do you think he is?" Hsi Wu asked and went to cross the street. Shendu and Jackie hurried after him and it didn't take too long before the trio was inside the Dark Hand HQ.
Valmont sighed and eyed Xu Lin in thought.
"You have to go back to the Chans. I can't keep you here." he said. Xu Lin kept her head lowered and looked at the floor.
"I thought you were a demon." she muttered accusingly.
"Hm... Never mind that. It is not important." Valmont replied.
Xu Lin frowned. She had been taught to respect the opinions of those who were older than her, but the words of that white man made no sense.
"You promised to help me find Shendu. I don't care in what state you made that promise. It is your responsibility to help." she said. Maybe she didn't have the right to rebel against a man who was clearly older than her, but at least she could demand him to keep his promise.
Valmont sighed again, this time he was even more frustrated. He glanced at his Enforcers.
"Hak Foo, get the girl in the car. We will take her back and then we'll clear this mess." he said.
"Um, is it really such a good idea to attract the Chans' attention now that we haven't dealt with them in a while?" Chow asked carefully.
Valmont shrugged.
"Fine, throw her in the streets then. I don't care what you do as long as we get rid of her." he said.
"You can't do that!" Xu Lin protested.
"And why not?" Valmont asked. Xu Lin didn't have the time to reply, because the door was suddenly opened with a loud bang. Valmont, Xu Lin, Chow, Ratso and Hak Foo stared.
"Jackie!" Xu Lin was the first one to say something and she looked at the uncle of her friend in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
Jackie blinked. Xu Lin was here?
"What is the meaning of this? Jiong?" Valmont asked and stared at Hsi Wu.
The sky demon snorted.
"We came to look for you. And you may call me Hsi Wu from now on."
"But what are you doing with Chan? And what about -- "
"Jiong is Hsi Wu? Why didn't anyone tell us that?"
"Jackie, are you disappointed with me?"
"How did you ever manage to find your way here?"
"Silence! My head can't take this!"
Everyone shut up as they heard Shendu's angry exclaim. The fire demon stared at them and no one wanted to say anything.
"The situation is this: I am Shendu, this is Hsi Wu and he is Chan, if someone is stupid enough not to remember. We have been forced to work together and we came here to find Ni Tang because Tso Lan is interested in him." the fire demon explained fast.
"Valmont says that Ni Tang is not important." Xu Lin pointed out. Shendu glared at her and slit his eyes.
"And we seem to have found Chan's lost girl too. Now he can stop complaining." he stated.
"If someone complains here..." Jackie muttered to himself.
"Hey, hey, hey! I don't understand anything! You can't just waltz in my office and force me into something!" Valmont threw in.
"Oh really?" was Shendu's reply.
Valmont pressed his fingers on his temples. He felt like he was about to faint. In one short moment he had met Shendu again, become a victim of Chan and he would also be included with the demon mess again.
"I don't understand anything... This makes no sense!" he exclaimed and sat on his desk.
"It doesn't have to as long as you do what you are told to." Shendu said. Then he turned to look at Chow. "You will come with us too."
"What? Me? No way!" Chow protested. Boy, he had guessed this...
Shendu closed his eyes for a while. Jackie and Hsi Wu backed away from the demon and that was a wise thing to do, because he started to grow and took his true form in front of them.
"I can't listen to the whining of you puny mortals anymore! Do as I say if you want to keep your heads!" Shendu hissed poisonously.
Xu Lin backed against the wall. She was out of breath and couldn't really feel all of her body parts. Shendu was horrible! Many times more terrible than in her dreams and just thinking about that almost made her cry.
And yet she couldn't tear her eyes from the demon's glowing red eyes, shining scales or cruel face. She wanted, but couldn't.
"Shendu..." she whispered without noticing it and flinched as the demon turned to glare at her.
"Yes? You want to say something, you pathetic mortal girl?"
Xu Lin shook her head. She tried to say something, anything, but couldn't force herself into it.
If dragons had been able to smile Shendu would have grinned in amuse.
"Good girl." he said and turned to face the others again. "Move it! The faster you obey me the less I have to shed blood and the faster we can continue being on different sides!"
Hsi Wu shrugged.
"Better to agree, Valmont. You know that when Shendu is on that mood nothing can control him." he said.
Valmont sighed settling with his miserable fate.
"Probably yes."
Bloody hell, couldn't he ever have a normal life?
"Prepare yourself. The moment is approaching." Shin said.
"What are we waiting for?" Necrosis dared to ask. He thought they could have done... that... any time.
What was Shin really waiting for?
Shin snorted.
"The demon, of course." he said.
Hoyle didn't like the direction where this was going. He stood alone in the dim corridor and watched as Shin and Necrosis talked. The man could see that his master didn't like those conversations and that was one of the reasons to why he was so bothered by them.
Another one was that he had no idea of what was going on. It was clear that Necrosis knew much more and that didn't please him. He wanted to know his enemy.
"What did he tell you?" he asked walking over to Necrosis when Shin had left.
"The usual. He told us to prepare the altar." Necrosis replied.
"He has said that many times already. What is really going on?"
"You really want to know?"
Hoyle didn't even have to think about it, he immediately nodded. Whatever it was, it was better if he knew about it.
"Fine then. Shin is going to sacrifice the Chan girl and make a demon cry." Necrosis replied.
"Huh?"
The older man shrugged and for the first time during the time he had known him, Hoyle saw him avoiding his gaze.
"I don't know much about it either, but I believe he wants to revive a demon that died a long time ago."
"Why?"
Necrosis shot a glare at Hoyle.
"That is something I don't know."
"How did you end up in Valmont's?" Jackie asked Xu Lin when they were on their way to the shop and the portal.
The girl looked down.
"It is not a very important story." she said.
"You should still tell it."
"Fine... I thought I would just endanger you because of my dreams and their meaning, so I decided to leave. I didn't know where, simply somewhere safe. I met Ni Tang and he promised to help me find Shendu. We spent the night in an empty apartment and he had turned into a human in the morning."
"Oh..." Jackie said. There were so many things that he didn't understand. "Why didn't you tell us about the possible meaning of your dreams? Uncle could have helped."
"I was ashamed..."
"What? Why?"
Xu Lin glanced ahead of herself where Shendu was arguing with Hsi Wu and Valmont. She doubted the fire demon was listening to her.
"My dream continued. And Shendu... He and I..." Xu Lin raised her eyes and looked at Jackie with sad, almost pleading expression on her face. "I think my destiny is to be his lover."
To be continued...