Why do I have the feeling that nobody – with few exceptions – is reviewing because you are all just waiting to see the demons pairings? C'mon, people... some of them you can already guess, right? And some others can be only known if you read Portuguese version... and still some of them you can only know if you read my mind! XD

Whatever. I'm in a very good mood today, so I decided to translate some more. Besides, this is a boring chapter.

Oh, message to VampireNaomi: Remember what we talked about Valmont? Well, if you could read chapter 17 in Portuguese, you would see that... well, things were kinda hard to him... He was victim of my violent mood...^^" (if you didn't understand what I meant, don't worry. You'll know soon.) hehe, Julia is planning something on chapter 17... but I won't tell what, since I already know that you don't like spoilers.^^

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Chapter 11: A new hideout

Julia took a suitcase and put away some objects. They were not important thing, like clothes. That was because she was indeed running away, but to another house of her father. It was very big and roomy, and Valmont only went there when the whole Dark Hand was 'off' or escaping from Section 13. There was a great hideout, it even had some secret passages.

She carefully left and in the elevator, she met Finn, Ratso and Chow. She didn't mind about them, though.

"Where are you going? Running away again?", Finn asked and Julia turned to face him, smiling.

"Quite so, but this time I won't return."

"You always say that. By the way, shouldn't you wait until night?"

"No, because I cannot stand this place anymore."

The elevator stopped in the ground floor, and Julia ran leaving the building while the three men observed her. They really thought she was going to return. Chow and Ratso nodded at each other and looked at Finn.

"Hey, Finn. You owe us 50 dollars.", Chow said.

"What? No, I won the bet! She ran away, didn't she?"

"But you betted that she was going to do it tonight. And it's afternoon yet."

"Damn...", Finn muttered taking his wallet and looking for the money.

~/~/~

Jade was walking for the city. Something was bothering her, but she couldn't say what. Suddenly, she heard somebody calling her. He turned to see that it was Julia.

"Julia... How good to see you, I wanted to talk with you. Sorry I didn't help you when Hak Foo took you away.", Jade said looking away and Julia smiled, waving her hand.

"Ah, never mind that. Now I solved all my problems with my father."

"Really?"

"Yes! He hates me, I hate him... I am running away from home and never again we will see each other. End of story."

Jade blinked.

"Uhn... Julia, I don't think your father hates you... You see, he went all the way to the South Pole just to save you and-"

"No, let's not talk about that. Let's talk about good things. I- Oh!", Julia stopped when she noticed something on the other side of the street.

"What? What happened?", Jade asked curiously.

"Look, I have to go now! See you later!", Julia said quickly running to a snack bar, and Jade raised a brow. Why was she in such a hurry just because of a snack bar?

~/~/~

Xiao Fung glanced at the newspaper, and then looked at his siblings. Hsi Wu and Bai Tsa were leaning on the table, waiting for something to happen. Tso Lan was reading one of the books that had been stolen of Uncle's shop. Shendu was reading the newspaper, looking for a house or an apartment where they could stay.

"I think we should go to a hotel.", Bai commented.

"But, Bai. It was you who said that hotels are very small, that you preferred a house...", Xiao replied.

"Well, there's nothing here. We have to go to a hotel, anyway.", Shendu said closing the newspaper and placing it on the table.

"Shendu!", Julia yelled as soon as she came in the snack bar and the demons flinched. She approached of them happily.

"Shh, don't say my name so aloud! Mainly in this city!", Shendu hissed angry. Julia glanced at the newspaper and guessed what they were doing.

"You were looking for a hideout?", she asked and Tso Lan noticed something from the corner of his eye. He looked at outside and saw Jade slowly approaching of the snack bar.

"Shendu, that girl of the Chan clan is coming. Get rid of the talismans.", he ordered.

They all stood up. Julia watched how the group went through a door that leaded to the terrace. She glanced around herself and decided to follow them. When she got there, just kept observing the demons, hidden behind the door.

"That girl must have found us because of the talismans.", Bai snapped.

"I think not. Or else Chan or that chi-wizard would be here as well.", Tso said calmly.

"Anyway, Shendu, I want you to get rid of the talismans now!", Bai ordered.

"What do you expect me to do? Throw them away?"

"Hey, weren't you looking for a hideout?", Julia asked again, surprising the demons.

"Why is that little girl following us...?", Xiao murmured and Shendu approached of her.

"Here, take it.", he said giving her a little bag.

"Uh... Thank you...", Julia said a bit confused.

"Now get away.", he said dryly, turning around and the group went away leaping in the buildings. Jade quickly arrived at the terrace and could just see Julia standing up there, apparently staring at nothing.

"Julia, what are you doing?", she asked.

"Jade! Uh... I have to go now...", Julia said nervously, hiding the bag from Jade's view and going away.

~/~/~

"I think this house is empty...", Bai said walking around the room of a huge house. It was very luxurious and roomy. It was close to the beach and also had a pool.

"It's perfect!", she continued in victory.

"It's horrible! There's water everywhere!", Shendu complained.

"Let's stay here. If it's real owner appears, we can simply kill him.", Tso said watching the place. Hsi Wo moved away from his siblings to take a look at the whole house. It seemed to be very good, it was big, and that meant that he could be alone sometimes. It was very frustrating to have to be with his siblings everyday, all the day.

Hsi Wu opened one of the doors in a corridor. He saw that it was a sleeping room, and it was perfect for him. Hsi quickly found a place to hide the camera. He had unintentionally brought it from the Netherworld and it was being a great reason of suspicion from his siblings.

He went back to the living room. The four demons were discussing about how they were going to free the rest of their siblings. Suddenly, they heard a movement outside.

"Phew... Finally...", Julia murmured and yelped in surprise when she saw five people in the house. After she recovered of the fright, she noticed that the five people were the demons.

"You again?!", Bai shouted angry and Shendu placed a hand on his face. That Julia pursued him!

"How good that you came to my house!", Julia said smiling and the demons looked at her.

"Your house?", they asked together.

"Ahhh! Why give the talismans to somebody who is always coming after us?", Xiao remarked. Shendu sighed and approached of the girl.

"You can stay here only if you get rid of the talismans.", he said.

"What talismans?", Julia asked blinking.

"The talismans that are inside the bag I gave you!"

"Oh... All right! I'll give them away!", she said quickly leaving the house. Hsi Wu also began to leave.

"Hey, Hsi Wu! Where are you going?", Bai wanted to know.

"I'm just going to take a look at the city. I want to know what changed since the last time I has been here."

~/~/~

Valmont was in his office. After asking all the enforcers of the Dark Hand, he had found out that Julia had run away. He took the telephone and dialed a number.

"Hello?", a voice answered on the other side. It was a man who might have been about fifty years old.

"Hello! Doctor! A terrible thing has just happened!", Valmont said with an urgency tone, but the other man's voice continued calm.

"Let me guess. You did a bad business and lost money?"

"No, it's much worse. It's Julia..."

"You two faced another shoot-out or something like that?"

"No, she liked that demon that possessed me about seven years ago and went with him to the South Pole to free his siblings. Then we argued and she ran away! Again!", Valmont explained quickly and the man was in silence for a long while.

"Valmont... I think you are watching too much TV...", the voice commented and Valmont looked at the window.

"No, there were really demons and- Oh, my God! There's one of them flying near here!", Valmont said widening his eyes when seeing Hsi Wu flying close to the Dark Hand HQ.

"Medical orders: drink something to calm down and take one week off to rest. Relieve your employees and go to a calmer place. With no TV!", the voice said seriously.

"But... Doctor...", Valmont tried to talk as he watched how Hsi Wu moved away from the building.

"Ah, I have to hang up! My lunch is burning!", the voice said in worry and hung up. Valmont sat in his chair and sighed.

"Perhaps I should go to that empty house here in San Francisco..."

~/~/~

Hsi Wu landed in the Uncle's shop roof and watched Jade. She was heading to the shop, her head lowered. She looked thoughtful. Hsi Wu sighed. She never changed her personality. Always alone...

When she came in the shop, he left the place when he was and went to another window. He carefully glanced at it and saw Uncle sleeping. He looked very tired. Hsi then remembered that he should be weak because of the waste of energy when they were in the South Pole, and that's why he could not search for the demons yet. Hsi went to the other side of the shop, trying to find a window to see Jade.

"Hi, Jade. Where have you been all the day?", Jack asked while Jade kept her things in a suitcase.

"Around the city, walking.", she answered with no enthusiasm at all.

"Why are you packing those? Are you leaving?"

"Viper and Tohru are back! There's no room for me anymore! Duh!"

"And where are you going now?"

"To Section 13. Captain Black called me today. He said that he had a surprise for me.", Jade said. Jack observed her curiously.

"Whatever. If it doesn't involve me...", he remarked and they turned to the door when they heard the sound of the bell in the front door of the shop, indicating that someone had came in.

"It must be Jackie.", Jade said leaving the room and Jack followed her. Hsi Wu snapped. There wasn't any window to that part of the shop, then he would have to come in. he took his human form – little Seymour – and went through the window. He was upstairs, so it was easier to hide.

"Julia!", Jade said in surprise when seeing her friend entering carefully.

"Jade, what's she doing here?", Jack asked seriously and Julia glared at him.

"Shut up, Jack!", Jade ordered.

"I want to give you something.", Julia started in a low voice.

"What is it?", Jade asked curiously and Julia gave her a bag. Jade opened it and saw the talismans inside it.

"Julia, how did you get this?", she wanted to know.

"It doesn't matter. I cannot stay with them, so they're yours. Do whatever you want with them.", Julia said and left the shop. Jade didn't understand anything. She even tested some talismans to see if they were not false, but they actually worked normally. She turned to face Jack.

"Where's everyone?", she asked.

"My parents went to Section 13, Tohru went to the mall, and Uncle hasn't woken up yet.", jack answered and Jade sighed.

"Tell to Uncle and Tohru that I moved to Section 13 and that I have the talismans.", she said taking her suitcase and leaving the shop.

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Great, another short chapter...¬¬