I don't own JCA, the characters, items etc. etc. There is no use claiming my original characters either since they wouldn't survive outside this fandom. No money is made. That's why I am poor.
"Amadeus! Look!"
A young girl with brown hair that flowed in the wind waved with her both hands to draw the attention of a young boy some distance away.
The boy was silent and turned to look at his sister. He had dark eyes and hair that shared its colour with sand. He had inherited them both from his father; their mother was very dark and had blue eyes.
He walked to his sister.
"What is it?" he asked.
The girl pointed at the ground in excitement.
"Look! I found a baby rabbit!" she said.
And the boy looked.
"It's dead," he stated. The small rabbit looked terrible, its fur was dirty and the slit eyes were full of some kind of matter. It had probably died because of some illness.
"Yes, I know. But it doesn't have to be. You can help it, right? Father has taught you, I know," the girl said. She bent down to pick up the rabbit, but her brother stopped her.
"Don't touch it, it's dirty," he said. "And I don't think father would be pleased if I revived a rabbit."
The girl looked at him with her blue eyes.
"What do you mean? Amadeus, you are mean."
"Amanda, you are still young and stupid. Don't be so interested in things you don't understand."
"We thought you would arrive sooner, Amadeus," Amanda said and rubbed the arm of her chair.
Necrosis said nothing.
Amadeus. No one had called him that in decades. He hated his name and had never even considered using it after his escape. It had been much better to come up with a new name.
"Well, why don't you say anything? Surely you haven't lost the skill of talking during your travels, brother?" Amanda asked sounding just slightly amused.
"I have nothing to say to you," Necrosis muttered.
They had appeared in a luxurious office with baroque furniture. There was a happy fire in the huge fireplace, and Necrosis suspected it was the only really living thing in the mansion.
Amanda slit her eyes.
"Don't try to be arrogant. You are not in such a position that you could afford it," she said.
"Maybe I am. You must want something from me since we are here."
The old woman said nothing and Necrosis knew he had been right. He didn't know what he should have thought of it.
"Do you know where we are?" Amanda asked suddenly. Necrosis nodded.
"In father's office."
He didn't think he would ever forget his father and the man's office. He had stood in front of that dark desk countless times listening as his father spoke. His father had always liked talking.
"True, and do you know how you were able to get in here without anyone noticing?"
Necrosis didn't say anything to that. It was better to let Amanda speak and reveal as much as possible.
"We are burying father tonight."
"What?"
"You don't think we would let him go without a proper ceremony?" Amanda asked.
"I didn't mean that. When did he die?"
Amanda shifted in her chair.
"Nine days ago," she announced. "He was quite stubborn and didn't want to go. But you know him."
Necrosis didn't know what to think. He had often wondered how deep in necromancy his family was, but...
"A wonder he finally managed to die. Aren't you going to do something about it?" he asked.
If he had arrived a few days sooner he would have seen his father alive. The thought was quite disturbing, he didn't want to think what the already horrible man must have looked like. And he would certainly have had something to say to his son.
A good thing he hadn't arrived until now.
Amanda snorted.
"You seem to have got a sense of humour while you were gone. Not necessarily good," she said. "You were lucky to come tonight. All servants and family members are busy organizing the ceremony. Otherwise you wouldn't have made it."
"Then how did you know to come to the library when we were there?" Necrosis asked. He had no idea what to do. What could he do? Now that he was alone with Amanda it was much more difficult to escape.
And the rest? What had happened to them? If Amanda had grown to be anything like their father it was unlikely for them to be even alive. Or maybe they were still living, but there was a chance that it was a far worse of an option.
"Bob Westlake told me that a strange group had arrived. He tells me all kinds of things in change for our services," Amanda said.
"Ah, old Westlake's grandson. I thought there was something suspicious in him. I shouldn't have trusted him."
Amanda's dry lips curved into a smile.
"Actually, it was the old Westlake himself."
For the second time during the conversation Necrosis found himself completely surprised. He licked his lips and glanced around. He really didn't like the constant surprises.
"How is that possible? Necromancy isn't supposed to make anyone younger, only to bring them back from death," he said. His voice sounded pathetic and confused in his ears.
"Let's say that we tried some interesting tricks. The old Westlake was dying and bitter. It was easy to convince him to try our new... ceremony. Father was very proud of what he did," Amanda said.
"If you can make people younger, then why do you look like that?" Necrosis asked. He was starting to think that too many things were going on in Wholefield.
"The ceremony is not simple and it has nasty side effects. The effect doesn't last long and the body soon starts to fall apart on its own. We noticed that only after Westlake was starting to loose limbs." Amanda snorted as if the memory was funny. Necrosis thought it was quite disturbing considering that the woman must have been a mere child when all that had happened.
"Fine, I don't want to know more about Westlake or how you keep him alive. Tell me why I am here," he suggested.
Amanda shrugged.
"Shouldn't you tell me that? You came here," she said.
"You know what I mean. What do you want?"
"You. Understanding that can't be so difficult. Now that father is gone we don't have a living male in the family. Alexander and Amasthos made quite a spectacle and managed to kill each other, and after me mother gave birth to daughters only. I have three daughters, but none of them is married. You are the only living male," Amanda said.
The fact didn't please Necrosis.
"You want me to come back?" he dared to ask.
Amanda nodded and Necrosis thought his nightmare had become true.
"I can't stand necromancy and I don't know enough about it to return. You should make one of your daughters marry a relative in France," he said angrily and stood up. "I am leaving now. I need to return to my companions."
"Are you sure they are still alive? Wouldn't you prefer my company? I can offer you more than them," Amanda said.
"What have you done to them?" Necrosis asked. Hoyle was the only one he cared about. In fact, Hsi Wu's death would make him feel much better. With good luck everyone would think that he had died too and he wouldn't have to return to the demons.
"Nothing, but I don't know if they will make it in the tunnels. You know, the incident in the library was noticed by some of father's pets," Amanda said. "We should get rid of those things one day."
It couldn't be true!
Hsi Wu didn't want to believe it.
They had been caught.
"Find a way out no matter what! We will find each other later!" he shouted as loud as he could and hoped that Viper and Origami, who had run off a while ago, would hear it.
He also hoped they would find a way to stay alive. The sky demon didn't even want to think what Tso Lan would say if the Guardians died.
Or what the world would do if they didn't find a way to destroy Heing Meh...
Hsi Wu slit his eyes. He would not give up like that. With a low growl he gave up his human form and transformed into his real self. His wings knocked several books down the shelves as he spread them in the dark library.
"You there, come with me," he said sharply to Hoyle who had turned towards the glow of his eyes.
"What about Necrosis?" the man asked.
Hsi Wu would have liked to know that.
"I don't know where he is, but he'll find a way out if it's possible. We are going to be in trouble if we go to look for him," he said.
"You are going to leave him here?" Hoyle asked and Hsi Wu knew the man didn't like the idea at all. He himself wasn't very happy with it either. "And the Chan girl? What will happen to her if Necrosis doesn't come back?"
"There are other necromancers in the world," the sky demon stated. "We are getting out of here now!"
His sight was excellent in dark and he grabbed Hoyle's wrist. The man was helpless without light, just like most mortals were. He yelped in surprise and didn't fight back when the demon dragged him to the door and out of the library.
It was dim in the corridor and Hsi Wu let go of Hoyle. The demon had to draw up his wings to stop them scratching against the ceiling, and for a moment he considered taking his human form again. It was weaker, but it would be easier to escape without the wings than with them.
"What were those shadow creatures?" Hoyle asked and the question helped Hsi Wu to decide that he was going to keep his real form. Escaping was probably a bit more difficult, but it wasn't useful to fight unless he had his claws.
"I don't know," he had to admit. "But they didn't come after us. Probably because we didn't try to run. But Viper and Origami... They can find the circumstances a bit too difficult."
"Fortunately for us," Hoyle stated.
"Not necessarily. Without them Tso Lan and the old Chan can't open a portal in Sha Fuju."
"Should we go and look for them?" Hoyle asked. Hsi Wu slit his eyes.
"That is entirely my decision!" he snapped. He realised he was on a very bad mood. No wonder. The mere thought of Jade having to be dead for a while longer made him really mad. He desperately wanted to hurt or kill someone.
Hoyle waited in silence. He looked like the demon's opinion made no difference to him.
Hsi Wu drew a deep breath.
"We will go after them. Tso Lan will kill us if we come back without them," he decided. He didn't look forward to going back to the library, but it was the best way to find the two thieves. They had disappeared in the tunnel where Necrosis' sister had come from, and with good luck they had turned back at some point. "Follow me," the demon said and led Hoyle back in the library.
"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," Viper stated.
"What do you mean? Would you have preferred staying there and waiting for something to happen?" Origami asked.
"Well, not necessarily, but at least we would be still together with the others. I'm sure Hsi Wu knows what to do."
"We don't need a demon to give us instructions. At least I don't. I can take care of myself quite too well."
Viper frowned. She understood what Origami meant, but she thought he was still wrong. It would have been much safer to be together with the rest.
"That is really stupid. You know nothing of this place and have no idea where to go," she said.
"And you have?"
"No! That's my point, we should have stayed with the rest."
"Then why didn't you?"
Viper had to think about that. At the moment when the shadow creatures -- whatever they were -- had appeared she had automatically done the thing that had felt the best, ran. It made her feel a bit ashamed, but she knew she would have never done it if one of her friends had been there.
"I think we should go back," she said leaving the man's question unanswered. "This is no game and if we are not with Hsi Wu -- " she started, but stopped as she saw Origami's face. Viper realised that the man wasn't interested in returning, whether it was to Hsi Wu or the other demons.
"You were planning this from the beginning, weren't you? You came here just to escape. Aren't you still bound to Shendu? Do you think you can run from him the rest of your life?" she asked angrily.
Origami replied to the woman's gaze.
"What else do you think I can do? No one forced you into this and you are here because you have something to fight for. I don't want to help the demons, at least as long as I am treated like a slave," he said.
"Well, how about fighting for yourself? Heing Meh will destroy everything magical if he is not stopped," Viper snapped.
They had stopped in the middle of the corridor which looked more like a secret passage than a real corridor. There were real torches on the walls and everything was built of grey stone. It seemed that the whole underground part of the mansion was very old and no one had bothered to modernize it at all.
Origami said nothing and Viper suspected that he had been thinking about the very same thing. She was about to open her mouth to announce that she would go back alone if the man didn't want to come, but then she noticed that they weren't alone anymore.
"They came after us," she said and Origami turned to look too.
The shadows that had had no shape in the library were now surrealistic creatures that crawled on the floor towards them.
Origami snatched a torch and pointed it at the creatures.
"Shoo, go away!" he ordered. The shadows stopped for a moment, but continued then.
"Somehow I think that is not going to work," Viper stated.
"Then what do you want to do?"
Viper looked at the creatures. They weren't very fast and they would be able to run from them quite easily. Where they would chase them was an entire different thing.
"Maybe we should find another way back to Hsi Wu..." she suggested.
Origami put the torch back and the thieves took off. Just in time too, a moment later the shadows had reached the spot where they had been standing.
It would have felt stupid to escape from creatures that could never reach them, so they ended up going slower than they probably should have. And yet Viper had to glance behind her back every now and then to make sure the creatures truly were slow.
To be honest, she found their slow crawling far scarier than if they had attacked them. She couldn't tell what they were, and she had never seen anything like them or heard about something similar.
"At least they are not shadowkhan," she stated.
"What?" Origami asked.
"Ninjas made of shadows that Shendu could control. Not very important at the moment," the woman stated.
The tunnel they had chosen was very long for a secret passage and branched off in many directions. It seemed like there was a whole inner section in the underground parts. Viper couldn't understand why it was needed. After all, Necrosis had said that the members of his family trusted each other.
"We should go in that direction," Origami said suddenly. Viper realised it was a good idea because if she remembered correctly, going there would take them closer to the ruins of the old church.
Unfortunately they didn't manage to go there before a new group of shadows greeted them from that direction.
"They don't need to be fast," Viper realised. "They will get us if there are many of them and they all come from different directions."
"We are running out of places to go," Origami stated.
And it was true, they couldn't go back and choose another direction anymore because the original shadows had almost reached them already.
"Seems so," Viper said.
"What are those shadow creatures? And what will they do to Viper and Origami if they catch them?" Hoyle asked. He kept glancing around and regretted ever getting involved in the mess.
"How should I know? I don't know all creatures that exist. I don't sense strong magic in them though, they are more like animals," Hsi Wu stated. The demon had had to take his human form, this particular tunnel wasn't big enough for his wings.
"Animals? I have never heard of such animals. Shouldn't living beings have veins and other organs? They seem to be made of pure shadow," Hoyle replied.
They were walking on a good speed, they both knew how little time they had. The longer they spent time near the mansion, the greater was the chance that they would never leave.
It was strange that no one had come to capture them yet. Hoyle had no idea why the old woman hadn't ordered anyone to come for them.
Thinking about her made his thoughts turn towards Necrosis. He hoped that the old man was fine and would return to them. Hoyle was not going to stand the demons without him, he would leave immediately.
It also felt difficult to imagine a life without Necrosis. Of course several criminal organisations would be glad to take him, but the prospect wasn't as appealing as one might have thought. He had always been with Necrosis and it felt strange to think that it wouldn't always be so.
"They might have turned to left here," Hsi Wu said suddenly and pointed at a crossroad.
"But you aren't sure, right?" Hoyle asked. The demon glared at him.
"How could I? We need to take a guess," he said.
"Well, don't you have some demonic senses that could tell us where they went?"
Hsi Wu said nothing and Hoyle regretted asking.
They turned in the direction Hsi Wu had pointed at. They hadn't seen any sign of the missing thieves, but the corridor was becoming higher and wider with every step. Hoyle also thought the ground was rising, but he wasn't completely sure.
But he knew it was unlikely they were going towards anything better.
Origami handed the book he had been carrying to Viper. The woman took it and looked at the man a brow lifted.
"What are you going to do?" she asked and took a look at the shadows that were starting to get a bit too close.
"There may be a room on the other side of this wall. I thought I'd make a door," the Japanese stated.
At first Viper didn't understand what the man meant, but then she could have slapped herself. How could she have forgotten how Origami had got his name?
She watched as the man cut the wall like butter, and she had to wonder how he was able to do it. The paper he had got his powers from was definitely stronger than any average paper pulp.
Origami kicked the part he had cut and a piece of stone fell with a bang. It raised a cloud of dust when hitting the floor, but it didn't stop the thieves from rushing through the hole.
They arrived in a room that was not very big, but a door let out of it. They took it at the same moment when the shadows came through the door they had made.
"I don't think we are in the secret passage anymore," Viper stated as she looked around. Everything was similar to the corridor that had led to the library in the beginning. Now their chances of achieving something were much better.
"No," Origami agreed.
When glancing at the man Viper noticed that for the first time during the whole mess he didn't look like he was on a bad mood. At first she found it strange, but then she realised this small adventure was probably the most interesting thing that had happened to Origami in a while.
And besides, Viper too had to admit that this was very exciting.
They didn't repeat the mistake of being too slow anymore. The shadows were behind them all the time, but had no chance of reaching them. Viper had to wonder what their meaning was. They clearly weren't the best possible creatures to keep intruders away.
She suspected their strength was in their number, not their speed. And they probably could do many things since Necrosis and his sister had been swallowed by one. Maybe they were some kind of moving magic tunnels?
"Let's go there," she suggested when they found yet another tunnel.
They continued in the direction they supposed was the right one.
"So this wasn't the right direction after all, right?"
His Wu knew the man was right, but he was not going to admit it to a mortal.
"Depends on where we are going," he said.
They probably had followed Viper and Origami for a while, but at some point they had chosen a wrong direction. It annoyed Hsi Wu beyond belief.
"Well, at least no one has attacked us yet," Hoyle offered a positive comment, but just managed to anger the demon more.
"Fortunately for you," he muttered.
Hsi Wu was not only on a bad mood, he was also very worried. The operation that he had wanted to be a success seemed to have failed completely, and he had no idea what to do. He didn't even know if anyone else was alive!
The corridor ended in stairs and a wooden trapdoor. Hsi Wu stopped under the latter for a moment, but saw nothing special in it. He gestured Hoyle to step back when he opened it though, just to be careful.
The trapdoor opened silently and with no trouble. But it led them into a place they hadn't been expecting.
"We are in the mansion now," Hsi Wu said as he looked around in the room they had arrived to. The floor was made of dark wood and was mostly covered by a red carpet, and the walls looked like they had been painted with cream. Everything looked like it had been ripped from a history book the demon had read to learn more about the changes of the world.
"This is not necessarily good," Hoyle replied to that.
A loud crash startled them both and they turned around.
A young maid stood in front of them with a scared expression on her face.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" she asked and didn't seem to even notice that she had dropped a large bowl on the floor.
"Curse it. Now we need to leave," Hsi Wu muttered and looked around. There were huge windows in the room. No problem, then.
It took mere seconds for the demon to take his true form, and that just terrified the maid more. There was a thump and the sky demon suspected she had fainted, but he didn't bother to look.
Shreds of glass flew everywhere when Hsi Wu jumped through the window, but the demon didn't mind the small wounds he got. He spread his wings pleased to be finally able to do it.
He would have flown straight away if Hoyle hadn't grabbed his legs.
"You can't leave me here," the man growled in determination making Hsi Wu slit his eyes. A useless mortal... He would have to let him be. He knew Hoyle would be of no use to him, but it was better to take him with him.
If he left the man behind Necrosis' family would get a hold of him, and they would torture the truth about the demons out of him. That was a risk Hsi Wu wasn't willing to take.
The sky demon hit the air with his wings and flew towards the ruins. He felt that if someone else had survived too they would arrive there sooner or later.
Necrosis snorted.
"My partners are not idiots. Father's creatures will be no match for them," he assured.
"Pity. We haven't had an interesting show since the cook's apprentice found the tunnels by accident," Amanda said with a shrug.
Necrosis had had enough. He could feel only contempt towards his sister and didn't want to look at her face any longer than he already had.
"Goodbye," he stated coldly. He turned around and walked to the door in determination. Only there he realised that Amanda hadn't done anything to stop him. He glanced behind his back in suspicion.
The woman was still sitting in her chair.
"What is it, brother? You don't want to go after all?" she asked.
"If you really wanted me here you wouldn't let me go."
"You can't know that. Unlike father, I have never liked forcing. I have told you what the situation is, and I believe you will understand what is the best for you. Sooner or later," Amanda said.
She stretched to take a book from the shelf next to her.
"This could be useful for you," she said.
"What are you up to?"
"What do you mean? I just want to help, I know you came here to look for books on necromancy. It doesn't matter why you return to out art, the result will still be the same. It won't take long before your heart desires back here," Amanda said.
"I don't think I am going to live long enough," Necrosis pointed out.
"Ah, but we can take care of that, can't we?"
Necrosis said nothing, just frowned. He took one glance at the book his sister offered, walked to her and snatched it from her hand. He couldn't be sure of what the others had managed to get. And he didn't want to make another trip to the library.
He left without saying anything else.
The trip hadn't taken long by running, and Viper and Origami were relieved to notice that they had chosen the right direction.
"I wonder if anyone else managed to escape," Viper said as they opened the trapdoor on the church floor.
"Makes no difference to me," Origami replied. The only thing he was interested in was his own survival and he couldn't understand why Viper was so worried about a demon and a couple of men she had just met.
Well, it was probably some good guy thing.
Cold night air greeted them as they climbed out and the both dared to sigh. At least they had made it.
"Welcome back," a negligent voice welcomed and they saw Hoyle sitting on a pile of rocks. He was playing with a small stone and looked bored, but Origami was sure that he was worried in his own way.
Probably because of the old man. At least he was nowhere in sight.
"Do you know anything about Necrosis?" Hsi Wu asked walking to them. The demon was in his true form, probably to make a quick exit if needed.
"We didn't hear or see him," Viper replied. "What are we going to do if he doesn't come back?"
"I don't know," Hsi Wu said sounding tired. The demon lifted his eyes to the sky for a moment. "We will wait for another while and leave. It is not safe to remain here."
"I will not go without Necrosis," Hoyle mouthed his opinion.
"Are you going to rebel against me?" Hsi Wu asked in annoyance.
"You don't need me, so my intentions shouldn't concern you. I will stay here as long as needed," the man stated.
"You -- " Hsi Wu started, but Viper interrupted him.
"There is no need to fight, and Hoyle is right. We can't go back without Necrosis and -- " she said, but Hsi Wu shut her up with a sharp slap. The demon's claws scratched her cheek and she flew against a pile of rocks.
"Mortals don't tell me what to do!" Hsi Wu hissed angrily and in the almost complete darkness he looked very threatening. The three humans were immediately on guard.
Viper slit her eyes.
"You are only mad because you don't know what to do," she muttered and wiped blood from the corners of her mouth.
"Say that again and Origami needs to carry you out of here," the demon growled.
Viper might have done just that, everyone could see the anger in her eyes, but thankfully the situation never got that far.
"No need to," Necrosis said.
"So, when will you tell us all the delicious details?" Ratso asked Finn who was leaning against the wall.
"About what?" the Irishman asked.
"Well, you know," his friend said. Finn looked at him and didn't feel like trying to understand. When he glanced at Hak Foo he saw how the man tried to look like he wasn't interested at all, but he had always been a horrible actor.
"No, I don't. If you want to know what happened down there you must be pretty pathetic," he muttered. Dude, why would anyone be interested in a long swimming experience?
Maybe he was just too tired to realise the situation...
"That's right! That's what we want to know! So, what was she like?" Ratso asked.
Finn blinked.
"Ratso! We didn't do anything like that!"
"What? You didn't?" Ratso looked disappointed. "Damn, we were already so sure. We said it to Dai Gui too."
"He wasn't happy," Hak Foo pointed out.
"Great..." Finn muttered. He really hoped the earth demon wouldn't decide to become an over-protective brother.
"But I'm sure he will be on a better mood once we get out of here," Ratso said. "We are probably leaving soon. Hmm, I wonder how long we have been down here."
"About a day," Hak Foo guessed. Ratso looked surprised.
"No more? This has felt like three days to me," he said.
"What makes you think so?" Finn asked.
"Well, I don't know. Somehow I just feel that everyone else has had these huge adventures while we've just... been here."
"You think too much."
To be continued...