I'm on a good mood today!^_^ Although tomorrow is Monday and I'll be forced to go to the school again... aww, one more week of suffering... Fortunately I'm not trying medicine, or else I'd study on Saturdays too! (Gaahhh! What a nightmare! @_@)
Thank you for all those who reviewed! You really encourage me to continue posting and writing!^^
Warning: Sorry for the OOC, but this chapter required that...
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Chapter 17: The Slaves
"So, Jack... did you know that our parents were enemies in the past?", Julia asked.
"No.", the boy answered dryly.
"Yeah, I bet your parents never told anything about the Dark Hand. Typical behavior of a happy family...", she remarked bitterly.
"Look, it's not my fault if you don't like your father. You should have thought twice before being born.", Jack said sarcastically crossing his arms and Julia frowned.
"Actually, I was exactly planning something to solve all my problems. With my father, with my mother, with the Chans, with the demons... and with you.", she said, this getting Jack's interest.
"What problems with me? I never did anything to you.", he defended.
"Oh, but one thing you did. You exist, don't you?", she said relaxing a bit and Jack raised a brow, not understanding what she meant. "But don't worry. Right now I just want to make a quite simple question.", she continued.
"Uh... What is it?"
"Have you already been in Hong Kong?"
"Of course, plenty of times."
"Do you know a library called 'Zhou Wen'?"
"I know where it is, but I never saw what is inside."
Julia rolled her eyes.
"Books."
"But it's not only that!", Jack snapped.
"I know, there are magic books and some secrets maps and artifacts. Only chi-wizards can enter that library, that's why you have never been able to go there."
"And why do you need me?", he asked losing his patience.
"I want you to show me where that library is."
"Why do you want to go to that library?"
Now it was Julia's turn to get angry.
"IT DOESN'T MATTER! YOU WILL SHOW ME WHERE THAT LIBRARY IS OR I'LL HAVE TO USE LESS HEALTHY METHODS TO FORCE YOU TO SPEAK!!!", she shouted hitting the table with her fist. When she drew a deep breath and calmed down, glanced around herself and saw that all the restaurant was staring at her. Julia blushed a little and Jack chuckled.
"The library is in Hong Kong, not in Japan.", he reminded and Julia stood up.
"But Hong Kong is near Japan. We just need help from someone else...", she said gesturing at him to follow her and they two left the restaurant going back to one of the rooms.
Jade came in Hsi Wu's room to look for some clothes in the closet. She had already sought in about three rooms, but she didn't get to find any clothes for women. All of them were for children or men. But then she found a normal T-shirt that was kind of large for her, but it would have to do.
When she was wearing the T-shirt, she noted something from the corner of her eye. Her Super-Moose Camera. Jade slowly approached of it and took it. She lied on her stomach in the bed and began to watch the records that had been done, surprised as she saw that some of them hadn't been made by her, but by Hsi Wu and Xiao Fung.
Just for curiosity, she began to watch only those recordings. They were all showing the Netherworld or their siblings, though they didn't know they were being filmed.
Jade sighed and turned off the camera. She wished that there was a way to at least tell her uncles where she was. She was especially worried about Uncle, and hoped that he was feeling better. After all, as well as Shendu, he had wasted a lot of energy. She then seemed to have remembered something and drew a deep breath.
"I got it!", she said pleased and went downstairs where Tchang Zu was. Hsi Wu, who had been making sure that she wouldn't escape so far, followed her. She reached the telephone and Hsi Wu grabbed her arm.
"I already said clearly that you are not allowed to use the telephone.", he hissed angry and Tchang just watched them.
"I'm not going to phone Jackie, I want to speak to Shendu.", she said and the sky demon raised a brow.
"Shendu? What do you want with him?"
"I have to know something very important.", she replied and after some hesitation, Hsi let her go, and Jade quickly dialed Julia's videophone number.
"Hello?", Julia answered.
"Julia, is Shendu there with you?", Jade asked eagerly and Julia was silent for a while.
"Uh... Kind of... actually, I was entering his room right now. But why?", she asked in confusion.
"Let me speak to him.", Jade asked.
Julia gave an interrogative glance to Jack, who just shrugged. Shendu and Tso Lan noticed the two children coming in the room.
"What is it?", Tso Lan asked.
"Uh... It's for you...", Julia said handing over the videophone to Shendu.
"What?"
"Shendu, are you alright?", Jade asked and the two demons were equally confused.
"Uh?"
"How are you feeling?", Jade asked again and Shendu was thoughtful for a moment. What kind of joke was that?
"Yes, I am fine... But why do you ask me that?"
"How good to know that! Bye-bye!", Jade cheerfully said hanging up and the group in the room glanced at each other in confusion until Julia decided to break the silence.
"Shendu... can you help me with something very important?", she asked smirking.
Jade hung up and grinned. If Shendu was alright, then surely Uncle was too. That meant that she could get help from him and escape. She turned to go to her room and came face to face with Hsi Wu glaring at her and clenching his fists. Jade's smile died and she stepped back.
"How long have you worried so much about Shendu's well-being?", he asked angry and Jade smirked.
"Jealous, Hsi Wu?", she asked sarcastically and his eyes glowed red.
"Answer me!", he demanded and she snorted.
"Nothing I do is of your business!", she snapped and went back to her room. Hsi was about to go after her and snap something very angry, but he remembered Tchang Zu and stopped. He tried to look completely calm and slowly went upstairs.
As soon as the sun began to rise in Spain, Valmont woke up. He pressed his fingers on his temples due to a slight headache. He lifted himself to sit on the bed and when his sight cleared and he looked at his right side, was surprised as he saw Bai Tsa sleeping right beside him.
Valmont quickly jumped out the bed. He did not get to remember very well what had happened last night, but he went to sleep still wearing his usual suit and even shoes, and it seemed that the water demon also should be so drunk that she could not avoid sleeping, even more considering that she ended up sleeping beside a human on the same bed.
Whatever had happened, he was quite sure that he couldn't miss this opportunity. He just knew he had to run away now, after that he would think of what to do next.
Without wasting more time, he ran to the door. It was locked and if Valmont tried to force it, he could wake the demon up. Then he left through the window and leaped to the next room's balcony. Fortunately he was in the second floor and there was a stall right below the balcony. He jumped on it, which softened his fall, and he finally reached the ground. He glanced around himself and didn't see absolutely anybody in the streets. Probably because it was still very early and everybody was having a hangover from the party.
Valmont smiled in victory. Now he had just to run away as far away as he could until finding another city where at least he could find a telephone. When he was almost leaving the villa, he found some ruins of a kind of abandoned castle or big house. Strangely, the place looked familiar, and he had the feeling that he should not go any closer. He backed away some steps and when turned around, he yelped in surprise as he saw the water demon in her true form.
"B-Bai Tsa...? How... how did you...?"
"I said that you would not escape." Bai Tsa slit her eyes and approached of Valmont. "You insolent mortal!", she shouted slapping him and he fell some meters from there. He leaned on his elbows and made sure that his mouth was not bleeding. The water demon approached again and grabbed him with one of her tentacles, lifting him until the height of her eyes. Bai Tsa was about to snap something, but noted that one of Valmont's suit pocket was glowing green.
"What's that?", she asked and even Valmont didn't knew what to answer. He carefully took the glowing object from his pocket and they two saw that it was the Pan Ku box piece with the earth trigram.
"You... found the portal?", she asked smiling at the irony of his situation. The piece of the box rose in the air and hit the symbol that had appeared in the lock of the door. Bai Tsa let Valmont go and began to concentrate and chanting some magic words. When finish doing that, she lost her balance and closed her eyes trying to clear her sight and her head.
A portal was opened in front of them and Dai Gui stepped out. Some seconds later, the portal closed again and Dai looked at his left side where there were some flowers.
"Dai Gui dislikes flowers.", he said and Valmont rolled his eyes. The earth demon looked at his sister, who now was getting up.
"Welcome, brother Dai Gui.", she greeted.
"It's good to be free again, sister Bai Tsa. But Dai is still confused with your sudden disappearance."
"We explain it later. Now we have to return to San Francisco.", she said and Dai nodded, and then noted something.
"What's that hung on your neck?", he wanted to know.
"Oh, this? It's nothing important, I just found it beautiful. It goes with my human form.", she said playing with the necklace.
"What about that human?", he asked looking at Valmont.
"He's my slave.", she answered.
"What?!" His eyes widened. "No, I'm not!", he protested frowning.
"Silence, slave!", she shouted pushing him violently, making him fall to the ground. "Shall we go?", Bai Tsa said and Dai Gui nodded, while Valmont got up glaring at her and she just smirked pleased.
"You want me to go with you to Hong Kong?", Shendu confirmed and Julia nodded.
"Yes, please. I explain the details later.", she added and Shendu crossed his arms in deep thought. "Aww, please, Shendu! I released you from that statue form, you owe on me!", she said shaking his arm like a child asking her father to buy a toy. Shendu sighed and looked at Tso Lan, waiting for the moon demon to decide.
"Go with them, Shendu. But-"
"Yay!", Julia commemorated and Tso raised a brow. "Sorry.", she said smiling nervously.
"But Xiao Fung is going with you.", Tso completed.
"Why him?", Shendu asked angry.
"Because he is your older brother and someone has to take care of you. And because I say so.", Tso replied sharply and Shendu snorted.
"You keep treating me like a child. Besides, Xiao cannot take care even of himself..."
"Then you take care of each other. Maybe you can learn something with who has brains.", the moon demon said glancing at Julia and Shendu hissed angry, but didn't say anything. "You go do that important thing in Hong Kong while sister Po Kong and I return to San Francisco and prepare the ambush.", Tso Lan said turning to face Julia and she nodded.
In the jet that Bai Tsa and Valmont had used to go to Spain, everybody was in silence. They were already almost arriving in San Francisco and the two demons had taken their human forms so that they could fit comfortably inside the jet.
Dai Gui had sat alone. He was the type that didn't like company. Bai Tsa decided to sit alone too, in the seat behind her brother, but in the same line as Valmont's seat. Thus she could keep an eye on her slave and make sure that he would be quiet and wouldn't try to communicate with anyone who could help him to escape.
At first, they had captured Valmont just to have his money, and Bai Tsa didn't have any interest in him, even to make him her slave or to have fun. But if Shendu and Hsi Wu, the two youngest and weakest ones, had a slave, she had to have one too. Perhaps that didn't make sense to the rest of her siblings, but Bai Tsa thought it was very important to show how she was higher than the younger ones.
Then again, she was still curious. For some reason, Valmont looked so familiar, but she didn't know to say why. It seemed that she had seen him a long time ago, before he was even born. Well, he was from Europe. She lived good part of her life in Europe too, maybe he was descendent of someone important that she had known back there.
Valmont was looking at the window, his arms crossed. He was notably angry. Of course, after all traveling in the company of two demons wasn't a very pleasant thing, even more when one of them has decided to be his owner and appealed to violence when Valmont tried to protest. And the other demon was not very intelligent, but he also enjoyed tormenting humans. And why on Earth Bai Tsa didn't stop staring at him? That was getting on his nerves!
The jet landed in an open area near their hideout, and Valmont reluctantly stood up. They didn't take too long to get the mansion. Tchang Zu and Hsi Wu greeted their two siblings while Jade just watched them.
"Hey!", Valmont suddenly exclaimed everybody turned to face him.
"What is it, human?", Tchang Zu asked in despise and Valmont looked at the ground, as if he were still thinking of exactly what to say.
"You kidnapped me to take my money to travel to the portals. Well then, now all the demons are free and you can set your pathetic ambush. Fine! But you don't need me anymore, and I want to go away!", he demanded and Tchang Zu looked at Bai Tsa.
"Is he your slave?", he asked and Bai Tsa slit her eyes. Hsi Wu discreetly approached of Jade and pulled her away from Valmont.
"Yes, he is.", the water demon answered and walked to the man. "...But I think he still didn't get it very well."
"Then make him understand with the old methods...", the thunder demon said rather amused and Bai Tsa glared at Valmont.
"Listen to me, now you are *my* slave and will be until the end of your days! And no matter what happens, you will NOT leave here alone!", she snapped.
"But why? I don't intend to help the Chans or anything like that! I can also give you all the money you want, but why do you want to keep me here?"
"The money is not important!", Tchang Zu said interfering in the argue and Valmont clenched his fists angrily.
"Then I really don't understand why you want to keep me here. Everybody knows that the Chans will end up defeating you even without my help. They always do. They already defeated and humiliated you several times and it wouldn't be difficult to do that again. I-" He couldn't finish when Bai Tsa grabbed him again with one of her tentacles and squeezed him so much that he barely managed to breathe.
"Watch your mouth, mortal... If you really want to continue alive, you should think twice before rebelling against your master...", she said while Valmont hardly paid her attention, trying to break free to get at least some oxygen.
"And don't forget... that if you try anything stupid, you daughter's life will be in serious dangerous too...", she said coldly and smirking, squeezing Valmont even more. Jade flinched and even felt like helping him, though they were enemies. But this wasn't the right moment for that.
Bai Tsa finally let him go and turned to face Tchang Zu.
"I think he got it now.", she said and her oldest brother nodded in approval.
"Very well, now we-" He stopped when heard the sound of another jet approaching.
"Our siblings are back.", Bai announced.
"Let's greet them.", Tchang said leaving the mansion and Bai Tsa and Dai Gui followed him. Jade rushed to Valmont and knelt down to see how he was.
"Valmont, are you all right?", she asked and he raised his glance a bit.
"No, I am not all right! Why can't those cursed demons leave me alone?! Damn!!", he shouted hitting a fist against the ground and yelped.
"Ah, what's the matter?", Jade asked uneasy and Valmont pressed his hand against his left side, close to the stomach.
"Oh, great... that's all I needed... ow... I think she broke me a rib...", he said in a low voice.
"Oh, no! We gotta take you to a doctor! Hsi Wu, please! Let me take him to a hospital!", Jade pleaded turning to face the sky demon, who flinched and looked unsure.
"Uh... I... can't... My siblings...", Hsi stuttered and Jade approached of him.
"Please!", she asked again and he looked away, lowering his head. "Please, Hsi!" she tried again, unconsciously holding his hand. Hsi Wu stared at her and tried to resist, but failed.
"Well... I... think I can...", he said quietly and Jade's expression brightened, when Valmont interrupted.
"No, I don't want to go!", he affirmed and Jade and Hsi looked at him in confusion.
"What do you mean? You have to!", Jade said and Valmont tried to get up.
"No, I'd never forgive myself if something happened to Julia. Mainly if it were my fault.", he said leaning on a sofa to remain standing.
"But... you..."
"No, I'm fine. This is nothing, I already went through worse things...