HEING MEH

Chapter 26

Shendu had hit Valmont hard in the morning and the pain hadn't faded yet. His face was swollen and he had to keep his other eye closed all the time. Fortunately his nose hadn't broken.

He didn't quite remember why the demon had got so mad. He had called him a pathetic mortal before hitting, but that didn't tell Valmont anything. It was normal for Shendu to say that to people.

"I found you outside covered in snow," Xu Lin had told him after Shendu had calmed down and they had been able to continue their journey towards north. They were in the same bus than on the previous day and he wasn't feeling any more enthusiastic about it.

He leaned behind on his seat and tried to sleep. According to Shendu they would arrive to their destination in the very evening, and while he wasn't too happy about it he hoped it would happen soon. Anything was better than sitting in a tourist bus.

He knew he would have to start thinking about how it all would affect him. No one had bothered to tell him what was going to happen when he regained inner balance, but Valmont had come up with his own theories.

The word balance was a relief to him. He had been afraid of having to lose himself to Ni Tang, but balance meant that he would have to remain as well. And Valmont was going to fight for his human side. Nothing or no one would make him be something he didn't want to.

The landscape was covered in snow and they seemed to be driving through a small village. A couple of hours ago they had stopped in a town called Östersund.

There were children playing near the road. Valmont thought it was somehow amusing that people lived their lives not knowing that a magical group was travelling through their country.

"They wouldn't believe it even if you told them," Xiao Fung had stated when Valmont had mentioned it. "Most of the people in the world have lost their ability to believe in magic. It would be different if we were in Iceland."

"What is so special about Iceland?" Valmont had asked. Xiao Fung had looked amused.

"Icelanders are special people. They live in a modern society, but most of them still believe in goblins and magic. Did you know that a road was built twisted in Reykjavik because it would have gone through the goblins' home had it been straight?" he had said.

Valmont thought Icelanders were crazy, but Xiao Fung told him they still possessed skills many other western people had long forgotten. Whatever it meant, Valmont was happy for not having to travel to the island of the crazy. It would have cost more too, and he didn't want to use his fortune for demons' cause any more than he absolutely had to.

It started snowing again.

"Jackie? Uncle? Anyone there?"

Captain Black sighed in frustration. It was too long since he had last heard of his friends and he was starting to get worried. Jackie often travelled somewhere without telling him about it, but now that Black knew the demons were up to something he was not about to just sit back and see what was going to happen.

Especially after what had happened in Asia.

All Sections had received reports from their Asian colleagues. According to them something had brutally murdered people and destroyed villages in China. No one had seen what had done it, but the bloodied corpses and burnt houses told enough.

"This doesn't look good," Black muttered to himself and wondered whether he should break the door. It would probably be of no real use, but he might get a clue of where everyone had disappeared and why.

He guessed he had no other option.

The door flew in when Black hit it with his shoulder, and he stepped over it. He didn't even have to look around him to see what was wrong.

There was a grey portal in the middle of the floor.

"This can't be good," Black muttered and frowned. He walked around the portal a couple of times but didn't learn anything new. After that he quickly searched the shop looking for clues to what the portal was about. He didn't find anything, not even a message from Jackie.

He would have to find out where the portal led. He had a very strong hunch that his friends were on the other side.

Black went and got a small mug from the kitchen and tied a thin rope to it. Then he threw the mug through the portal and waited for a while. When a couple of minutes had passed he pulled the mug back and was glad to notice that nothing bad had happened to it. It was still a completely fine mug.

"Well, I can't be any surer..." he muttered and stepped right next to the portal. Black drew a deep breath and pushed his hand through.

Nothing special happened, he didn't hurt anywhere and the hand wasn't mysteriously cut off, so he dared to step through the grey thing.

It took a mere blink before he appeared in Dai Gui's palace. Black felt very small in the place built for huge demons and he immediately knew it hadn't been built by humans. There were magical torches on the walls and they spread dim light everywhere.

There was no one in sight and for a moment Black considered going back to San Francisco before anyone noticed him. Then he shook his head mad at himself. If Jackie and the rest were in danger it was his responsibility to do everything to help them.

He ran to the wall and started to walk beside it in a corridor that opened to the left. That way he wouldn't be noticed immediately if someone came along.

Black kept a clear eye on his surroundings and tried to figure out where he was. The place had to be the home of some non-human creatures or he had shrunk when stepping through the portal. The portal itself was the size of a human so he didn't believe in that theory. On the other hand, he didn't have a better idea of what to believe and after a while of walking alone he was starting to hope that something would happen. Either good or bad.

"I sure hope Jackie is somewhere here..." he muttered.

"And what are you looking for?" a cold voice asked after a while, and Black turned around on his heels.

He was facing a tall demon with four hands and an angry expression in his eyes. The demon tasted the air impatiently with his tongue.

"Answer my question, mortal," Tso Lan suggested.

"Fine, I am here looking for my friends. What have you done to them?" Black asked. The worry about Jackie and the rest and the hatred towards demons helped him to forget that he would most likely end up dead within a moment.

"That is not one of your concerns at the moment," the moon demon replied. Black himself had never seen the demon, but it was more than clear which of them was hovering in front of him. Jackie's tales of the demonic family had taught him to recognise each of them.

"I will not go without a fight," he announced in determination. Heck, if that creature thought he would do anything voluntarily -

"Captain Black? What are you doing here?" a very surprised voice asked and Black turned around again being just as confused.

"Tohru?" he asked. Had the man been able to escape? Could the others be still alive too? "Quick, if we work together we might defeat him!"

"I have no reason to fight," Tohru said sounding very uncomfortable. Black stared at the man in shock.

"What? But he is our enemy! What is going on?" He paid attention to that Tso Lan looked rather amused. The expression didn't look good on the moon demon's face.

"We are working together with the demons," Tohru explained.

"What? Are you mad? Where is Jackie?" Black couldn't believe Tohru's words, there had to be something else behind them. There just had to! Either the demons had charmed his friends or they had all gone mad.

"Jackie is in Sweden, but explaining it all will take a while," the Japanese said.

"This man doesn't need to know. He is useless to us," Tso Lan said. "Besides, he is the one who took my brother's life," he added. Black didn't like the demon's tone.

"You can do nothing. If you hurt our friends you will break the agreement," Tohru announced in determination.

"Are you threatening me?"

"Yes."

Tso Lan snorted.

"You underestimate me. Do you really think you can always tell my family what to do? We are stronger than you, and once this is over..."

Black saw how Tohru's expression darkened and he guessed that the demon's words made the man think about something very nasty. He didn't feel surprised.

Tso Lan turned his back on them and floated away. Black felt immediately better when the demon was gone.

"What is going on here?" he asked Tohru. The Japanese looked embarrassed.

"That is a long story. An evil demon called Heing Meh wants to take over the world and kill everyone with magical abilities. That is why both we and the demons are in danger. We decided to fight against Heing Meh together because they had some of the information we needed and the other way around. Much has happened in a short time and all of it is not good..." he said.

"What do you mean?" Black asked. He saw Tohru's expression and suddenly he felt that he didn't want to know.

"Jade is dead."

Black couldn't speak. He realised what Tohru had said, but the words didn't want to take their place in his mind. Jade... dead? It couldn't be! The girl had always been so lively and survived countless dangers. What could have had killed her?

"What happened?" he asked hoarsely.

"Heing Meh's servant killed her."

Black swallowed. Suddenly he felt he hated this Heing Meh more than anything in the world.

"And Jackie? How is he?" he made himself as. God, Jackie had cared so much about Jade... He didn't even want to think how it must have affected him.

"As I said, Jackie is in Sweden. We have split in several groups that all have a goal. I am with Po Kong. We are trying to find a way to revive Jade," Tohru said.

Black blinked. Revive Jade? The thought felt just as strange as the fact that the girl was dead.

"Po Kong? You mean the mountain demon? Isn't she a bit too... stupid for such a mission?" he found himself asking. He had never seen the oldest female demon himself, but Jade had told him enough stories about the horrible ugly demon the size of a mountain who could not think of anything else but eating.

"Po Kong is not stupid! She is the most talented chi sorceress I know and everyone underestimates her because of the way she looks," Tohru said sharply. Then he realised what he had said and blushed. "Sorry."

Black barely noticed this. He was too confused and had to lean on the wall.

"I will never understand all this..." he muttered.

"Sensei can tell much more," Tohru said.

It was a late night when they arrived in the small town of Fjorholm in northern Sweden. It didn't snow anymore and the sky was clear, but the temperature was very low.

"Look at that," Jackie said as they stepped out of the bus. Everyone lifted their eyes. The sky was covered by forever moving green figures. It looked like someone was waving a silk scarf there.

Shendu snorted.

"Mere northern light," he stated.

"I think they are fascinating," Xu Lin replied.

Valmont agreed. He had never seen northern lights himself, even though he had seen many pictures and documents about them. He had never been very interested in them, but now that he saw them he had to admit they were beautiful.

He could have stayed there the whole night looking at the green play if Xiao Fung hadn't given him a push and return in the real world.

"Concentration problems?" the wind demon asked in amusement.

"Not ones you should know about," Valmont replied. He took one last glance at the northern lights before following the others towards the hotel.

Fjorholm wasn't a very big place, but it was a short distance away from the popular ski slopes so there was a hotel too. Shendu had picked it because of its location; the fire demon said he couldn't stand places full of snow loving mortals.

Despite the small size the hotel was clean and in a way different league than that the motel they had stayed in the previous night. Valmont, even though he still preferred a bit better, found nothing drastic to complain about. Except that he had to share a room with Xiao Fung again.

"Since this is my money we are spending couldn't I at least demand my own room?" he muttered to himself.

"Not a good idea. Shendu likes to push others around and he wouldn't be happy if you tried to take control of your own fortune," Xiao Fung stated while testing how soft his bed was.

"I believe that. Shendu must never be happy if he isn't in charge," Valmont replied.

The wind demon snorted.

"You mortals have a funny way of thinking that everyone can change. Do you think Shendu can?" he suggested.

Valmont laughed aloud.

"I hope that was meant as a joke," he said and from the demon's expression he guessed that it was. Not that he had even expected Xiao Fung to say anything serious.

"Of course. I have lived my whole life with Shendu and know that an idiot like him will never change."

Valmont had never heard Xiao Fung announce his opinion about Shendu that straight. The wind demon preferred amusing wise cracks that never let anyone know if he was being serious or not. Mocking Shendu was much more like Bai Tsa.

Xu Lin wasn't tired at all. She knew that she should have been after the long hours spent in the bus, but she just couldn't lie down. In a way she was tired, but the continuous travelling had made her restless.

She felt she needed to find the place homey before being able to relax properly.

"Where are you going?" Jackie asked when he saw the girl was moving towards the door.

"I will get to know the hotel. I'll be back soon," Xu Lin replied. Jackie looked a bit worried but didn't stop her.

It was night so there was almost no one in the corridors. Xu Lin met a young man who was just returning to his room with a bottle of soda. The lamps were dim and it was almost dark in some areas. A machine she didn't recognise - maybe air conditioning or the heat system - was humming quietly.

Xu Lin felt lonely. She didn't want to return back to Jackie because even though she really liked him... It felt so wrong to tag along with him all the time. Especially now after what had happened to Jade.

She didn't know where she was going, she didn't know the place at all, but it didn't really bother her. That way she would learn to know her way around and maybe even be able to sleep after a bit of walking.

After some time she arrived in the lounge. The room was round and tables and walls were made of strong timber and grey stone. The room was full of blue sofas and arm chairs, and the skull of a moose and a stuffed hawk were hung on the wall. Under the skull was a stone fire place with a slowly dying fire.

Xu Lin thought the room was very different because ones like it obviously weren't seen in China. She sat on an arm chair near the fire to try how it felt and enjoyed the warmth on her skin.

That was when she noticed she wasn't alone.

Shendu was sitting in the chair closest to the fire in his human form, eyes closed. The demon's chest rose in a steady rhythm and Xu Lin guessed he was asleep. The dying fire made Shendu's face glow and there was not a single frown or sign of hatred on his face as he slept.

In fact the demon looked almost peaceful. He was like any sleeping mortal.

Xu Lin guessed Shendu had wandered off in order to be alone. And what was a better place than this where he could be somehow in touch with his element?

She sat curled up in the chair for a long time. The fire was nothing but embers now and she wanted to add some wood to it. She couldn't see Shendu in the dim. She didn't dare to move though, Shendu would surely have woken up and turned back into his own angry self.

So Xu Lin settled with hugging her knees and watching the dark silhouette of the demon until she fell asleep too.

Fire blazed all around her and Xu Lin could feel the heat on her skin. She ached everywhere and when she glanced at herself she saw blood on her torn clothes. Her previous perfect skin was covered in bleeding cuts and bruises and only now she realised she was lying in dirt.

There were shouts around her, but she couldn't make out the words of who was shouting. Only that they were fighting somewhere and she had no idea on whose side she was or who was winning.

A dangerous growl could be heard and Xu Lin already knew what she would see. After all, she had had this same dream so many times before.

Two glowing red eyes, the blaze of the flames as they grew around the approaching figure..

The dragon stepped closer and the fire made his scales glow maliciously. His mouth was open and Xu Lin could see the line of sharp teeth that glowed red as well because of the blood on them.

Whose blood...

There was a horrible wound in the demon's flesh and the blood had coloured his left side red. The wound had to be painful and it made the already horrible looking demon look even crueller.

"Shendu," Xu Lin whispered in fright as the dragon's shadow fell on her.

She was afraid and only wanted to get out of there. Away from the pain, fright and screams that echoed around her. She kept her eyes locked on the wounded dragon who stood in front of her like a statue of doom.

Shendu bent down and lifted her gently in his arms. Xu Lin yelped, her injuries hurt, and she leaned against the demon's scaly chest.

"Xu Lin," Shendu said surprisingly softly, "Are you alright?" Xu Lin nodded slowly and looked around her. So much destruction, so much pain.

"Yes," she replied and let Shendu carry her away.

As they passed the battle ground she tried to pay attention to the surroundings. There was white stone lying everywhere, all pieces shattered. It looked like old temple ruins had been forever destroyed by something.

Suddenly they both flinched when a horrible scream was heard. It was different from the previous shouts and exclaims, and Xu Lin pressed herself against Shendu until it ended. The scream was so full of pain and anger that she wanted nothing more than close it from her mind.

Someone had just died.

She could tell that the voice had been familiar to her, but was not able to tell who it belonged to or had the screamer been a demon or a human, male or female.

"The sacrifice has been given," Shendu hissed to her. "Now we can only wait."

It was still dark when Xu Lin woke up. She blinked in confusion and tried to see around her. She was panting heavily and could feel the sweat on her forehead. Yet another dream.

The fire was gone and she was feeling rather cold.

I wonder what the time is? she thought to herself and placed her feet on the floor. She tried to move slowly in order to not wake Shendu who she believed to be still asleep in front of the fire place. It would be the best to return in her room and sleep a bit more.

Right when she had thought things were being smooth again another dream had appeared. This one didn't shock her as much as the previous ones, she was already familiar with the early scenes.

But the scream...

Even now that she was awake she was not able to tell whose dying scream she had heard. It was someone she knew though, she was certain of that. And it made her nervous. She would have to talk with Jackie.

Xu Lin almost got out of the lounge when someone grabbed her neck roughly and pressed her against the wall. She tried to yelp, but a strong hand was pressed on her mouth and she felt a hot breath on her cheeks.

Red eyes glowed right in front of her face.

"Why are you spying on me?" a familiar hissing voice asked.

Shendu.

"I wasn't," Xu Lin said when the demon let her speak.

"Then what? Don't even try to tell me that Chan didn't send you after me. He is exactly naive enough to believe that I wouldn't suspect you," Shendu hissed.

"I was just wandering around. I didn't even notice you before I had arrived... And then I fell asleep myself," Xu Lin explained quickly. It was somehow much more difficult to talk to Shendu when she couldn't see his face. And after her dream...

Shendu said nothing, but slit his eyes.

"Out of my sight!" he finally exclaimed and let go of Xu Lin. The girl took a quick glance at the demon, but didn't want to anger him any more, so she hurried away. Dim lamps greeted her when she got back to the familiar corridor.

Xu Lin didn't feel like sleeping anymore.

Shendu stared after Xu Lin when she hurried away. Even in the dark he could see her clearly and found himself standing there even after she was gone.

A mortal girl had dared to sleep near him.

The thought bothered Shendu a great deal, it was incredibly long since any mortal had trusted him enough to close their eyes in his presence. Some of the ancient Chinese warriors had done it, but Xu Lin was the first young girl.

His female slaves hadn't slept near him either. They had stayed stubbornly awake and stared at him in fright until he had gone. They had had a reason to of course, Shendu had never treated them gently.

He knew Chan must have told Xu Lin many horror stories about demons. And yet she dared to sleep near the Chans' greatest enemy.

Shendu shook his head. He was thinking too much. A pathetic mortal wasn't worth it.

The fire demon went to start a new fire. He wanted to hear the flame's soothing cackle and let it calm him. He would need a lot of patience to survive the trip.

Ni Tang had never felt better. The dark sky and dancing northern lights spread above him and the ground was covered in ice and snow. The temperature was very low and the landscape was open and poor. There were no trees, just dwarf birches and small bushes.

He was at home.

His bare feet didn't feel cold as he ran. The demon wasn't sure of his direction, but he knew he was going towards his destination.

Suddenly a huge shadow appeared on the sky and blocked the northern lights from view. Ni Tang froze and lifted his eyes up high.

The shadow didn't resemble anything the polar demon had ever seen, and yet he could tell it was very familiar. He felt like he could have almost named the being that was causing it.

"My name..." someone whispered and Ni Tang lowered his eyes. There was no one in sight, but a faint scent of blood was in the air.

"My... name..."

Valmont flinched awake and stared at the roof. He rubbed his temples and licked his lips. Ni Tang was getting stronger all the time and demanded attention.

"According to the legend Heing Meh, the demon of Nothing, will take over the world, make it into what he believes right and kills all those who oppose him. He will be the cruellest lord the world has ever known and destroying him is very difficult..." Uncle read from his book to himself.

The old man frowned and put the book away. There was one thing he didn't understand.

If Heing Meh had returned only a moment ago with Shin's aid, why had magic been growing weaker for centuries already? Could Heing Meh be the reason? How had the demon done it?

"Uncle doesn't understand enough..." he muttered and took another book. Maybe it would help him.

"A few do," Tso Lan commented softly behind his own book. The moon demon was holding it in his smaller hands and the fingers of the bigger ones carefully followed the thin lines of writing.

"If we had all the ancient texts we might have destroyed him already," Uncle threw back.

Tso Lan nodded.

"Perhaps, but this will have to do. I have a slight idea of how to open a portal in Sha Fuju and we will understand in time," he said.

"As long as we do it right. It would be a pity to lose Chow because of a wrong spell," Uncle stated.

"We can always find a new Chosen of Dreams. There are more of them, but finding a new one would of course slow us down."

Uncle glanced at the moon demon after his comment. The old man hadn't meant exactly that. He thought it would have been a pity to lose Chow even if anyone was able to step through the portal. Human life was something precious and he didn't want to make anyone else suffer because of wrong spells.

Tso Lan, on the other hand, didn't seem to care about any human or demon, he only counted what use they were for their cause. At first Uncle had admired the demon's intelligence and counting mind, but now he was starting to understand how cold he truly was.

He felt that Tso Lan would be ready to sacrifice anything and anyone if it was the only way to destroy Heing Meh.

Uncle himself wasn't sure how far he was ready to go.

Black rubbed his neck and tried to stomach everything he had heard while eyeing Jade's dead body. Never in his life had he thought he would have to do it.

"So if I got this right, you are working with the demons to save the world from an even crueller demon?" he asked.

Tohru nodded.

"Right. We don't like it, but it's the only way. We can do it only with their help," he said.

"Not a very nice thought. How do you know they won't turn against you?" Black asked.

"We don't. We just have to be careful and believe that we'll be ready when it happens. We can't trust Shendu at all, that much we know," the Japanese stated. Black couldn't have agreed more.

If one of the demons came up with something nasty, it would be Shendu.

"And the rest? What do you think of them?" he asked. Tohru thought about it.

"Tso Lan has done much for us and helps Uncle in his research. But he does it merely because of himself and cares about nothing else. He is incredibly cold. I don't know if I hate his calm nature more than Shendu's rage," he said then. "Hsi Wu is another case. He looses his temper fairly easily, but can be friendly towards humans if he feels like it. He also cares a lot about Jade. That is not necessarily good, but at least he wants to revive her."

"And at the moment he is in England trying to find a way to help Jade?" Black asked. He already knew about Necrosis, the Dark Hand and Origami's connection to this mess and he thought it was ridiculous that almost all criminals Section 13 was hunting were involved. Thankfully Bartholomew Chang had known better than tag along.

"Yes. Bai Tsa and Dai Gui are looking for a magical artefact with the Dark Hand. They should be back soon. These two can also behave among humans if they are on the right mood," Tohru said.

"I didn't think any of them would be able to do that. Especially after we killed their brother," Black stated. Tohru's expression darkened.

"I think you should be careful. One of them might think that it would be very nice if you were in an... accident," he said.

"I am not a fool. I can take care of myself and the demons will get a true battle if they try anything," Black said. "My men already killed one of them, remember?"

Tohru said nothing.

The Nameless slept restlessly.

"My name..." he muttered.

To be continued...