I... I know that VampireNaomi said that I don't need to apologize, but... I must do it! At least for the part where Po Kong is freed! But it couldn't be helped. Even so, I feel kind of... guilty... ;_; You'll soon see why...
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Chapter 16: Attempt of Escape
Tso Lan, Xiao Fung and Shendu stood side by side in front of the Japanese temple. They began to concentrate, and when they chanted the spell, the Pan Ku box piece became blueish. The portal still took some minutes to open. When it was fully open, Tso Lan and Shendu fell to the ground.
Julia was eager to see the mountain demon. Considering the portal's size, she should be a very big, strong and powerful demon. On the other hand, Jack widened his more and more as the enormous demon stepped out.
Po Kong looked at down to see five humans, two of them seeming very tired. Because of that, Xiao Fung decided to take the initiative.
"Welcome, sister Po.", he said grinning.
"Oh, it's you...", she replied as she understood that three of the humans were actually her brothers.
"She is... monstrous...!", Jack said trembling. And Julia smirked in victory when nobody noticed it.
"I don't understand. First, you, Tso Lan, Bai Tsa and Hsi Wu mysteriously disappear, and now my portal is opened for no apparent reason and here I find you three...", Po said.
"It is a long story... Now we have to return to San Francisco.", Xiao said and Po sighed.
"It seems that I have to take a human form, right?", she asked a little frustrated and Xiao nodded.
Immediately, Po shrank to the form of a middle-aged Japanese woman. Her hair was black and tied in a cock, and her eyes were dark brown. She was wearing a blue and yellow Japanese kimono.
"Are you really going to wear those?", Xiao asked.
"What do you mean? Japanese people don't wear kimono nowadays?", she asked in confusion.
"Well, I don't know, but anyway you would attract attention wearing a Japanese kimono in San Francisco."
"All right, I understand. But what do I have to wear, then?"
Xiao glanced around himself. Tso Lan and Shendu were still laying in the ground, apparently unconscious. Too bad, because the dragon knew this age and could suggest something. Xiao Fung himself had seen few women since he was freed and the clothes they were wearing wouldn't look good on his big sister. He then looked at Julia and smiled pleased.
"Wear the same clothes as her.", he said turning to face Po Kong and pointing at the girl. The mountain demon observed Julia and substituted her blue kimono for a white T-shirt and a jeans jumpsuit, and her hair was tied in a ponytail with a blue ribbon.
"What?! Why do we have to wear the exact same clothes?! That's so ridiculous!", Julia complained angry.
"Hey, Po. Turn your hair white and your eyes blue.", Xiao suggested and Po did as he said, thinking that dark hair might not be very common nowadays. Xiao looked at Julia and pointed at his sister.
"Look! It's you in 50 years.", he said laughing and Julia turned pale when she used her imagination and saw herself exactly like that when she's almost 60 years old.
"AHHHHH!!!!!!!"
"Very funny, Xiao...", Po said sarcastically. The wind demon was dying laughing while Julia continued shocked and Jack rolled his eyes. Weren't the demons supposed to be serious?
Everybody in the party ignored Bai Tsa's sudden and aloud laughter. That had already happened the whole night and nobody cared anymore. Some kilometers from downtown, a local holiday was being commemorated. Because Bai Tsa and Valmont had already had enough of searching for the portal and finding nothing, they had decided to stay in the party where people were serving free food and drink. Valmont took the chance to show to the water demon the drinks that didn't exist or weren't very common in the time before she was banished.
After a while, the alcohol began to have an effect, despite she was a demon, and they two began to talk like if they were great friends. And drinking meanwhile! Though he was still more sober than her...
"Ahahahahaha! I knew that Shendu was stupid, but not so much!", Bai said wiping her tears.
"And then he still blamed us.", Valmont added before sipping his drink again and the water demon laughed a bit more.
"You know... when I saw you for the first time... I thought you were a complete idiot... haha, who would say...", Bai managed to say. Valmont looked at her from the corner of his eye. If she has just said that, it was because she should be very drunk. Perhaps he could take advantage of that and escape. He smirked pleased.
"Uh... Would you like more whisky?", he asked.
"Oh, yeah... more whisky!", she said lifting her glass and Valmont stood up.
"Then wait here. I'll bring more."
"Uh-huh...", Bai murmured nodding and Valmont slowly walked away. He was in the middle of an isolated city, he had to find a way to communicate with his jet's pilot who had brought them to Spain.
The place was very crowded and very far away from a big city. He would have to manage in this villa and find a telephone. He walked a lot until finally finding a police station. Certainly there was a telephone there. However, Valmont hesitated a little. After all, he was an internationally wanted criminal, and perhaps go in a police station wasn't the wiser thing to do. But what difference would it make now? He wasn't even very sober, and taking the risk of being arrested looked a better idea than continue being the demons' slave and contribute for the world's destruction. And this time they didn't even bother to offer him a reward.
Valmont stretched his back and tightened his tie. He entered slowly, trying to look completely serious. Some policemen were sleeping, others eating, playing cards, reading...
"Ehr... Excuse me, could I use the telephone?", Valmont asked and the policemen didn't even bother to glance at him.
"Sure, it's in the last room of the corridor.", a police officer who was reading newspaper said pointing at a corridor behind him. Valmont didn't say anything else and went straight to the room. This room had a door that leaded to the party, and on the other side there was an old-modeled telephone. Well, that would do. He dialed a phone number and the pilot quickly answered.
"Hello?"
"We have no time! You must come here right now!", Valmont said in a low voice, although with notable urgency.
"Boss...? What's the matter? Where are you?"
"Look, you cannot come very close, or else that demon will find out! To the south, between here the city where you are, there's a kind of-", he was interrupted when he felt a hand pressing his shoulder. Valmont turned around and was pale when seeing that it was Bai Tsa.
"I was looking for you... did you really think... that you can escape from me?", she said seriously, despite her hiccups and dizziness. "Haha... humans are dumb... instead of trying to run away, you try to hide...", she said tightening his shoulder, which made him flinch. She grabbed his hand and dragged him out the police station. "Anyway... where's the whisky you were going to bring?", she asked and Valmont had another idea.
"All right! I'll bring it this time! I promise!", he said trying to free his hand. Bai Tsa stopped and was thoughtful for a short while.
"No, I have a better idea. Let's free my brother Dai Gui already. We are here fooling around way too much.", she said and Valmont gave up of trying to break free.
"Could you at least... let me rest? What about a hotel?", Valmont suggested as his last attempt of freedom.
"All right... but you will not escape from me.", she repeated pointing at him and dragged Valmont with her back to the party.
After Po Kong had been freed – and learned more about current clothes – everybody decided to go to a hotel in order to give a rest to Tso Lan and Shendu. In the hotel, after some discussion, they decided that the two children would stay at the same room with a demon to make sure that they would not try to escape. It happened to be Xiao Fung the chosen one for that mission, though he was quite irresponsible.
Jack was horrified. He was on the other side of the world, far away from his relatives, in the company of four demons and a criminal little girl. And on this exact moment, he found himself staring at the wind demon who was reading a magazine that was upside down. Jack wanted at least to be with Jade. She would know what to do and come up with a plan to escape. Julia came in the room cheerfully and Jack snorted. That girl was so annoying!
"Hey, Xiao. Can I and Jack go to the hotel's restaurant?", she asked and the wind demon shrugged.
"Sure.", he answered calmly. He trusted her, since the girl had helped them a lot so far, and apparently she was really on their side.
"Jack, we have to talk.", she said to the boy, who just frowned. He sighed and hopelessly left the room, followed by Julia.
"So that's our hideout?", Tchang Zu asked pointing at the mansion.
"Uh... yes.", Hsi Wu answered. Tchang observed the house and what was around it. Although it was a big house, it was well-located and could be a great place to hide.
"Well, it is not as big as a palace, but it will do.", he approved smiling pleased and Hsi rolled his eyes. How could Tchang Zu think about palace in a time like this? Besides, now he would have to be even more careful, since the Chans probably were hunting them for the whole city and Jade could end up running away.
It seemed that Jade had really became his slave. They were always together and nobody has said that she was his slave, but nobody has said hat she wasn't either! In fact, he had already declared that she was his slave. Then, none of his siblings could take her from him or hurt her.
"Hsi Wu, is that human your slave?", Tchang suddenly asked as if he could read his brother's mind and Hsi woke from his thoughts with a startle.
"Uh... Yes... she is.", he answered. Jade frowned and placed her hands on her hips.
"I already said I'm not your slave!", she snapped.
"No, she really is! She's just a little stubborn because I acquired her recently.", Hsi said rather nervously.
"I-", Jade started but Hsi interrupted her with a strange glance.
"Isn't that true, slave?", he hissed and stepped back so that Tchang Zu could not see him. Jade opened her mouth to protest again when she saw Hsi Wu making a gesture to her to agree. Considering his expression, maybe it was better if she agreed by now.
"Uh... yes?", she answered unsure and Tchang turned to face his brother.
"Then tell her to change her clothes, or else I won't take the responsibility.", he warned and went in the house. Hsi Wu sighed in relieve. Because Tchang Zu had been freed in a clothes store, Jade could not buy another shirt, and that was really dangerous. The girl stared at the door before approaching of the sky demon.
"Hsi Wu... what did he mean?", she asked carefully and Hsi looked angry at her.
"Are you crazy?! If you weren't my slave, who knows what he could have done to you!", he said trying to keep a low voice tone so that he wasn't heard by his oldest brother.
"What do you mean?"
"If you're mine, nobody will have the right to touch you. Even so, Tchang Zu is strong and could easily try something.", Hsi said crossing his arms in thought and Jade gulped, seeing his point.
"So... he can...?"
"Perhaps. Tchang Zu is the only one of our family who already did that to some of our slaves, just because he's stronger than us. But they were all insolent slaves anyway, so we didn't care."
"Oh no... not that! What do I do?", Jade said more to herself than to Hsi and he looked at her.
"Just change your clothes and he'll forget about it."
Jade stared at him for a while, surprised. Was the sky demon beginning to worry about her? And why that sudden change of attitude?
Valmont and Bai Tsa were staring at the room. All the rooms of all the hotels in the villa were taken, and this one was the only thing that they got. Bai Tsa clenched her fists trying to contain her annoyance.
"You humans suck...", she murmured and Valmont gave her an angry look.
"Only some, don't try to generalize.", he said.
"Not even cockroaches would be pleased with a room like this!"
"What do you want me to do? I'm not the owner of the hotel, and this was the best we could find."
"Yeah... I think it really can't be helped... We can't even see the sea from here...", she muttered looking through the window and Valmont rolled his eyes. Of course not! They were very far away from the sea! He sighed and glanced around himself.
"So... where am I going to sleep?", Valmont asked guessing that she would want to stay with the only bed in the room.
"In the bed, of course! Silly question...", she replied.
"What about you...?"
"I won't sleep... I'll keep an eye on you...", she answered leaning on the window. Valmont shrugged and lied in the bed. His plan was to try to escape when the demon slept or got distracted. The problem was that he himself was barely getting to stand up, and the water demon was going to keep an eye on him for the whole night. And after all those drinks, he ended up sleeping more than quickly.
Bai Tsa continued watching the party in the city under the full moonlight. This city seemed to be very traditional, and didn't have technology everywhere like in San Francisco. On one side, that was good since Bai haven't got used to the whole technology yet. Then again, that was bad because she still liked new things.
Her eyes started to seem heavy and she blinked several times in order to stay awake. She turned to see Valmont and smiled. The first time she had seen him, he had a very weird appearance for a human being – thanks to Shendu, who was modifying his face with potions – but now he looked even kind of cute. And fortunately, he was no longer possessed by Shendu, the one who Bai Tsa despised the most.
She didn't even know why she was thinking about it – probably it was because she had drunk too much – but when she looked at Valmont, she remembered of someone. For some strange reason, she couldn't remember of who exactly, but it was somebody that she had seen somewhere in Europe, many years ago.
Bai Tsa tried harder to stay awake and sat softly in the bed, beside him. Thousands of years ago, people with his appearance were very rare, found only in some few regions of the planet. And since Bai Tsa enjoyed new things, that appearance of his attracted her. Although she had used to kill that type of men later...
She softly straightened his hair and tried to remember of the person who reminded her of him so much. She had never thought of that even when she saw him for the first time, but now the curiosity was killing her!
She remembered nothing, though. Her dizziness began to get worse and her thoughts were more and more confusing. Suddenly, the bed looked extremely comfortable and the filthy room wasn't bothering her anymore. She knew that she had to keep an eye on Valmont, but she was really very sleepy.