A/N: So, what do you think? I promised battle scenes, so here they are. I just wish this chapter was not so bad. I am so ashamed of it... Maybe you won't agree with me, and maybe I just feel this way because my English seems exceptionally bad here, after weeks without translating anything.
Despite that, you reviewers always make me feel so much better! Thank you very much to all of you!
VampireNaomi – My, I'm so honoured. The Valmont/Bai Tsa parts are my favourite ones to write, it's just the best OTP ever-goes fangirl- I'm sorry for taking so long to update this chapter. If it makes you feel better, the next chapter will probably be up much sooner.
Dragolover1 – Thanks, and the answer is yes. I think everyone has figured that out by now.
Hellblaze – Oh, don't worry, you'll get some of that in the future.
Story Weaver1 – Even though my English is way far from perfect, I really don't think that English is the hardest to learn (funny, you're not the first person who tells me that). And if you think that Spanish is difficult, you should see what a nightmare Portuguese, French and some Eastern European languages can be. Gee, I suck at Spanish too, although it's so similar to my mother language...
MasterBrattan – Maybe, but I don't think that would be enough to convince him. ;)
JC – Okay, here you go. Hope you like it.
Big Pimpin Mack Mamma and Lindsay – Thanks!
–CHAPTER 25–
A New Enemy
"Jade, did you really think I would let you alone for too long? I told you I would come back," Hsi Wu said while forcing her to dance with him.
"Tch. Yeah, the great sky demon sneaked in a party for children just to dance with me, really?" she questioned sarcastically.
"Don't change the subject," he hissed, angry. "Don't think you have got rid of me. I will always keep an eye on you."
Jade frowned a bit, slightly confused. "What do you mean?"
"Don't play the innocent, you know what I mean."
"No, I don't!"
Following the rhythm of the music, Hsi Wu abruptly puller her closer, causing her to hit her chest against his. She raised her head to face him in annoyance.
"Hey, what's your problem!"
The sky demon smiled and shortened the distance between their faces so that he could whisper in her ear.
"Listen, there is a reason for me to have come here. My brother Tso knows how to turn us back to normal, but for that, he needs the right ingredients."
Jade widened her eyes. "Are you serious?"
"I want you to take me to your uncle's shop and let me get the ingredients. Do not worry, you will turn back to an adult as well."
After a brief hesitation, the Chinese girl nodded. It was not really such a good idea to take a demon to Uncle's shop, but she could not stand being a child anymore. Besides, she could trust Hsi Wu, right?
"All right... But your siblings can't come with us," she said.
"Not even Tso Lan? Only he knows which ingredients are necessary."
"Oh, okay. Only Tso Lan."
She sighed and he smiled, pleased.
"Come, let's call him." He held her hand and dragged her out of the dance floor, taking her to the other side of the school.
This music, these flickering lights, these people dancing... During the time in the Netherworld, Bai Tsa had even thought she would never again have any fun besides tormenting Hsi Wu and Shendu, and had to admit that a party in the modern world could be quite enjoyable.
This rhythm reminded her of the celebrations in Rome. Some had been a tribute to her, but she had sometimes disguised herself as a human to enjoy the other parties with the mortals. Of course they were much better than a party for children, but it was still great to be back in this world.
And now, after so long, she was dancing. She still remembered who she had danced with the last time before being banished. It had been a man from South America who she had met when paying a visit to Xiao Fung. He had tanned skin, straight, black hair, which reached his shoulders, and deep black eyes. She remembered quite well that after that party, she had had another sort of fun with him, and then killed him. She could not remember why she had done that or his name, though; she usually did not pay attention to those superfluous details. It was such an ordinary thing...
"Ow!" A yelp interrupted her memories and she faced her partner, who was holding his right foot while jumping on his left one.
"What now?" she asked, impatient.
"You stepped on my foot!" Valmont complained.
"Well, what did you expect? I am not used to legs. Besides, the songs from the ancient times were easier to dance," she snapped, crossing her arms.
"But it hurt! Even that small, you are just as violent as before!" he threw back, crossing his arms as well.
"Violent? Me? You don't know what is being violent! Unlike my actually violent siblings, I always try to make my slaves last as long as possible! Is that how you thank me for having taken care of you when you were injured?"
"That was your fault, you moron!" He shoved her, not able to contain his anger anymore, and the water demon lost her balance, taking two steps backward before falling onto the floor. In the meantime, some children stopped dancing to stare at them in surprise.
The mermaid was initially surprised by the human's attitude, and then really angry.
"You... You... How dare you?" she asked, trembling in rage.
Valmont then seemed to have realised what he had just done. He gulped and took a step back while she stood up furiously, her eyes glowing red. He swiftly turned around and ran to the nearest door – through which he would leave the school.
"I'll kill you!" she yelled, running right after him.
"Dude, run!" a boy in the crowd shouted, encouraging.
"Did you hear that?" the blond boy asked and Julia shook her head, smiling.
"Let it be, it mustn't be anything important," she replied.
He was reluctantly dancing with her on the dance floor. He had tried to escape sometimes, but the girl was just too strong, and seemed not to notice how uncomfortable he was.
Cursed, cursed jewel, he mentally swore for the thousandth time.
How had that happened to him? How could a mere human child have made the almighty fire demon humiliate himself like this? Just thinking about it made Shendu want to pulverise her. However, for some estrange reason, he could not move away from her. Of course, the powers of the jewel were growing stronger and probably getting out of control – and perhaps that was also affecting the girl's already dubious sanity –, but even when she had let go of him for a few seconds and he had had the opportunity to escape, he had not done that. It felt like there was a major external force making him stay. It was horrible.
He frowned. He had already felt like that in the past, and it had not been a nice experience at all. And that event had a straight connection to his most recent fears.
He did not want her to return. Not now, not at such an important moment. He could not let her ruin his life again, especially when he did not have his talismans. Right now, he was weaker than her. If she returned, he would most certainly have some serious problems.
"You dance quite well," Julia commented, making Shendu startle. He stared her and blinked, not very sure if he had heard it right. He actually felt like he had just woken up from a trance.
"Uh... Oh, yes, my sister sometimes wanted to practice and I was the only one remaining to be her partner," he answered, slightly stunned, and then his face darkened as he remembered those days with more details. "She always stepped on my foot..." he added under his breath bitterly.
"I was never too fond of dancing either, but my father thought it would be important to my social life or something," she remarked, looking bored again. Shendu wondered why he was talking about that with her, but felt a bit dizzy for a brief moment and had to concentrate in order to stay awaken.
"You really hate your father, don't you?" The words automatically came out of his mouth, and he noticed it only when the sentence was finished. What the hell was happening to him?
"Oh, well, I don't know, it's just that he's so stupid sometimes. He just cares about money. I once asked for a DNA test, to know if I'm really his daughter, but he refused, saying that was too expensive and useless," she went on, flinching for a second. Seemingly, Julia was a bit dizzy as well.
Shendu relaxed and closed his eyes. "All humans only care about money. That makes them so easy to manipulate." He opened his eyes, staring at nothing, and smirked. "And that is what shall take them to their self-destruction," he stated, pleased.
"You're right, and I hope it doesn't take too long," Julia agreed and Shendu realised something. The girl was different; it was not only her appearance, but she was talking in an odd way, her gaze was slightly unfocused, her voice had something that was remotely similar to a demoniac echo, and her own essence seemed to be slowly disappearing.
"What's wrong with you?" he enquired seriously.
"What do you mean?" she asked, confused. However, before he could say anything, he sensed a familiar chi and quickly turned towards the direction where it was coming from.
"That chi..." he muttered so quietly that she could not even hear him. With no more words, he ran away. Julia stood there for a while, staring at him going away, and then decided to follow him.
Xiao Fung came from the corridor with his companion and saw the duo leaving. He blinked twice and turned to look at the girl.
"I'd better go now."
"Aww, so early?" she whined, disappointed.
"You are a fun human. I hope we meet again someday," he said, smiling pleased, and went after Shendu and his mortal.
Finn stood up from the sofa in Valmont's flat and walked towards the window. The place was all dark and had a heavy atmosphere, and after a whole day, that was beginning to make him nervous. He quietly opened the window and smiled feebly. The night in San Francisco was beautiful, why not enjoy it a little?
"Amazing view, isn't it?" a voice hissed in his right ear and he yelped, backing away to the left. The woman in front of him smirked and he gulped, forcing himself to smile back.
"So, how're you doing, uhn... Big... M?" he said nervously. She raised a brow, facing him coldly.
"We are leaving now. I hope you have understood what you must do from now on."
Finn glanced at the floor and when looked at the woman again, she was observing the city through the window with a calculating expression. She was a really weird woman; she had appeared all of a sudden and when she had looked at him in the eyes, he had felt very odd. His heart had beaten fast, though he had been relaxed. Suddenly, everything around him had seemed to disappear and only her figure had remained in his mind.
If he told that to someone, they would guess he was in love, but he knew it was not that. She must have used some sort of spell on him. Chow and Ratso had mentioned that they had felt the same way, but then the effect had just faded. Now he just got nervous around her.
Well, he was sure about one thing; she was a demon. He did not know what kind of demon she was or her element, but he knew what sort of creature they were dealing with when she spoke with a hissed voice, typical of demons, and her eyes glowed. They were not as red as Shendu's, but a bit lighter.
Her temper was not any different. She was like the female version of the fire demon, always insulting them, threatening them, and apparently on a perpetual bad mood.
And she also had a plan that really reminded him of Shendu.
It was good thing that the streets were deserted at this time in the night. Tso Lan refused to stay in his human form and if someone saw him, that could cause a scandal. Hsi Wu thought he therefore had the right to take his true form as well, which was not really a bad thing, since they would arrive at the shop much faster that way. Now he was silently flying over the streets in Chinatown and carrying Jade in his arms.
"It's here!" Jade announced pointing at the shop, although the two demons already knew very well where it was located. They landed in front of the door and Hsi Wu put Jade down.
"Now ask us to come in already!" he ordered.
"Hey, take it easy, little Mr Cranky. You can't go in yet, everyone is there. I have to make them leave the shop first," she calmly said.
"And how are you going to do that?" Tso Lan wanted to know. Jade smiled self-confidently and took her cell phone out of her pocket.
"Relax, everything is under control." She dialled a phone number and they all could hear the sound of a telephone ringing inside the shop. It did not take long until someone answered it, exactly when Jade began to speak. "Jackie, I know where the demons are! You guys gotta come here! I'm at my old school!"
There was a pause. Hsi Wu and Tso Lan glanced at each other, but made no comments.
"Yeah, I have no idea why they are here either, but you better hurry!" she continued, and then hung up, turning back to the demons. "C'mon, go hide!" she said, pushing them to the corner at right. Her uncles and Tohru hurriedly left the shop, carrying some ingredients.
She waited until they were at a safe distance and entered the shop to invite the two demons.
"Come on, take whatever is necessary and let's get this over with!"
Tso Lan calmly began to seek in the whole shop. Hsi Wu sighed and stamped his foot on the floor impatiently. He would not be very useful at the moment, now he could just hope that his older brother would find what they needed as soon as possible.
He looked back when he heard a groan and the sound of something breaking. His eyes widened as he saw Jade lying on the pieces of a Chinese vase that she had just knocked over by accident.
"Jade!" He ran to her side and comforted her on his arms. "What happened? Are you not feeling well again?"
"I-It's nothing... It'll pass soon," she murmured with difficulty, trying to smile but failing.
He narrowed his eyes and stood up, lifting her and taking her to the nearest chair. He glanced around looking for something softer, but the desk was the best option in the hall. He then helped her lie down on it, trying to make her feel as comfortable as possible.
"Are you in pain?" he wanted to know and the girl still tried to pretend she was not, but he noted how she was firmly holding her stomach. "Is it here where it hurts?" he asked, placing his hand on her arm to reach her abdomen.
"It doesn't actually hurt... it's weird... I'm... kind of sick."
Hsi Wu took a deep breath and glanced around again. He was not very good at taking care of people; he had absolutely no experience and had never really cared about it. Now, however, he wished more than ever he could know what to do.
He searched in his memories for something that some of his siblings had once done. He remembered Bai Tsa, Po Kong and Tso Lan. Those three had already been in similar situations, and the water demon used to say that the best thing to any living being was water.
With no second thought, he rushed to the kitchen to get some water. However, before taking a glass, he immediately stopped as he had an odd feeling. Someone was approaching, someone very familiar.
"No... No, it cannot be," he muttered.
"Hsi Wu. I have got some ingredients. We have to go," Tso Lan said from the door.
"But my slave is-"
"Now!" Tso demanded and his oldest brother flinched.
"A-All right..." Tso Lan had probably sensed it as well.
"Come back here, you! You cannot escape from me!" Bai Tsa shouted while still running after little Valmont. Running with human legs – and in a child form – was beginning to exhaust her, and just to make things worse, he was in good shape and could run really fast.
She stopped to catch her breath and decided it was time to take her true form, in which she was much faster. She also formed a water ball with her palm and threw it at the boy, who yelped and fell to the ground, not managing to get up on time to escape. She jumped on him and grabbed his collar.
"Did you really think you could escape that easily? Prepare to-" She stopped when she saw shadows moving on the ground towards the duo.
The mermaid let go of him and stood up, watching in awe as the shadows turned into ninjas with bluish skin and glowing red eyes.
Valmont got up just as perplexed and realised they were surrounded by the ninjas.
"They... are Shadowkhan?" he asked, but Bai Tsa did not respond. Instead, she just clenched her fists and approached him. "Are they with you?" Valmont tried again and she still did not reply, but was on guard.
"You can fight, can't you?" she confirmed, narrowing her eyes.
"I think so. Why? Are they really not with you?"
Before any other word, the ninjas charged at them. Bai Tsa defended herself with bursts of water, while Valmont noticed how difficult it was to fight in a child form.
On the way to the school, Uncle suddenly stopped, his eyes widened and showing confusion.
"What's the matter, sensei?" Tohru asked.
"Uncle has the willies! We must go back immediately!" the old man stated.
"But, Uncle, what about the demons?" Jackie reminded him.
"We take care of them later, now we have more important things to worry about!"
The group turned around and hurried back to the shop, leaded by Uncle. After a while, they went around a corner and bumped into a tall, pale and gloomy being.
"Aiyah! It's Tso Lan, the moon demon!" Uncle shouted, and Jackie and Tohru prepared to fight. They however noted that the sky demon was few steps behind his brother, holding Jade. Jackie drew a deep breath when he saw her almost unconscious, writhing in pain.
"What have you done to my niece!" he asked, fuming.
"She will be fine," Tso Lan assured coldly, raising a hand. "We have other concerns at the moment."
"Brother Tso, we must hurry! Or else it will be too late!" Hsi Wu said anxiously, and then Jackie, Uncle and Tohru realised that there were strange shadows furtively approaching the group. They took one or two steps back, and so did the demons, when they glanced around and noticed they were surrounded.
The shadows rose from the ground and took humanoid forms, which they all still remembered very well.
"Shadowkhan? That's impossible!" Jackie exclaimed, both surprised and confused. Uncle looked thoughtful while Tso Lan and Hsi Wu wore suspicious expressions.
"It is indeed impossible," Hsi Wu muttered, watching carefully each one of the ninjas.
"Of course it is! We defeated Tarakudo years ago! They cannot be Shadowkhan!" Jackie stated, indicating the ninjas around him.
"It is possible," the moon demon affirmed, making the others curious.
"Who is she?" Tohru suddenly asked, pointing at a woman wearing a light pink Chinese dress, with brown eyes and hair. Everyone turned to look at her, and Hsi Wu's eyes widened.
"You!"
"Well, well, well, look what we have here. Shendu's idiotic brothers," she said, smirking. Jade woke up, seeming to be feeling much better all of a sudden, and was also surprised to see this new woman, who was now floating some centimetres above the ground. She jumped from Hsi Wu's arms and faced her.
"Wow... Who is she?"
The woman smiled. "I am Mei Liang, the demon of the dreams," she answered proudly.
"Demon of the dreams? What does it mean?" Jade asked.
"It means that I can manipulate dreams and create illusions. In the ancient times, I needed time, concentration and proximity, but Shendu has made me so much stronger that now I can control them by just looking at them in the eyes."
"Control who?" Jade enquired, frowning a bit, and only then noticed that everyone else seemed to be hypnotised, as they were staring at nothing with unfocused gazes. "Hey, what're you doing? Hel-lo! Jackie? Hsi Wu?" She waved her hand in front of them, expecting some reaction. They did not move at all, though. "Why am I the only one who wasn't affected?" she wondered.
"Oh, that's right, there is that little detail. I can control only males. You, female human, shall have a quite different fate."
"What?" Jade clenched her fists and narrowed her eyes.
"Let's see how you make it against my Shadowkhan, two demons and your own family."
Everyone turned to the girl, who flinched and took a fighting pose, although she still felt rather weak. It was really unpleasant to be threatened by her relatives and friends, plus Shadowkhan that miraculously appeared even after Tarakudo's defeat. She was really in trouble now, weak and surrounded by demons, ninjas and her own family.
"Hsi Wu... Jackie... Uncle... Tohru... Please, don't do that..." she murmured, feeling tears of despair filling her eyes and trying to suppress them.
"Mei Liang!" a new voice shouted and Jade saw Julia coming, along with two boys who she had never seen before.
"Julia, no! Beware!" Jade warned, but was ignored. Julia stared at the scene both surprised and curious, while the two boys faced the demons of the dreams seriously.
"I knew you would come back. And it's all the cursed Chan clan's fault!" hissed one of the boys, a blond one, and Jade and Julia stared at him in astonishment.
"Huh?" they said in unison.
"Shendu?" Jade raised an eyebrow and the blond boy began to grow. His skin and his clothes were replaced for dirty yellow scales, his green eyes turned glowing red, and in few seconds everyone was before the fire demon is his true form. Xiao Fung transformed as well, although he was passive and clearly did not intend to get involved any time soon.
"Shendu? Was it you all this time!" Julia asked in disbelief and the dragon barely turned his head towards her, trying not to stop looking at the woman.
"You didn't know that?"
"No, how was I supposed to know that you could turn into a child on your own! Oh, and we even danced together... I can't believe it, how embarrassing!" she said, covering her face and blushing slightly. Jade did not even want to guess what had happened between them, right now she was just worried about the others who were under Mei Liang's spell.
The demon of the dreams laughed. "Shendu, Shendu, how decadent. Have you already sunk so low that now you have fun by just dancing with little girls?"
"Curse you! You will pay for what you have done!" Shendu roared, his voice filled with hatred, and Mei frowned.
"For what I have done? You didn't do any better. You sealed me in that despising, dark realm with no mercy, you coward. Now it is time for us to finish what we started a long time ago." She began to grow as well, her eyes turned red, her clothes were replaced for pale, slightly pink scales, and to the two girls' surprise, Mei Liang revealed to be a dragon.
"Wha? Oh, c'mon, give me a break!" Jade said, suppressing a laugh, and Julia shook her head.
"That's really weird. Ridiculous, I'd say," she agreed and Mei's eyes glowed furiously.
"Silence!" She breathed fire towards the two girls, and it was Xiao Fung who saved them by blowing the flames away. In the meantime, Shendu charged at her, and the two dragons started a violent battle of claws and flames.
"What the hell is going on! I'm not getting anything anymore!" Jade complained, irritated.
"Yeah, who is she, anyway?" Julia asked Xiao, who sighed in frustration.
"Perhaps I should explain that some other time," he replied, nodding at the dozens of Shadowkhan around them, plus Jackie, Uncle, Tohru, Tso Lan and Hsi Wu. Jade and Julia swallowed hard and prepared to fight.
"Hey," Jade said to Julia. "What if that Mei Liang hypnotises Mr Big Toad over here, too?" she asked, pointing at Xiao Fung.
"Nah, she won't do that right now, she's too busy fighting Shendu," the wind demon assured in a not so trustworthy tone.
The Shadowkhan finally took the chance to attack. Jade defended herself from all of them and was also surprised to see that Julia was not doing badly. Seemingly, the British girl did not know how to fight very well, but she was very agile and managed to dodge most of the blows. She rolled under the legs of one of them and ran to an alley near there, soon coming back with a long pipe. When the ninjas tried to attack her, she used it to counterattack.
"Wow, I didn't know you could do that!" Jade commented.
"Me neither. I've just tried my luck by imitating you and my parents," Julia answered.
Xiao Fung, on the other hand, could not do any better than blowing away his brothers and the Chan clan, and that was beginning not to work anymore.
"Blast it. If only Bai Tsa was here!" he snapped.
"Talking about me?" his sister's voice asked behind him and the wind demon turned to face her, smiling pleased.
"My sister, right on time," he said. The water demon looked a bit tired and was dragging her slave with her. Unlike her, Valmont was quite exhausted and breathless.
"I knew it. Mei Liang is back. Hopefully, those two will end up killing each other," Bai Tsa growled, watching the two dragons' fierce battle.
"Forget about them, wake up our brothers!" Xiao Fung shouted, pointing at Tso Lan and Hsi Wu.
"All right, all right, I'm coming," she sighed and began to hit with water everyone that was coming towards her. Some Shadowkhan backed away and the ones who were hypnotised slowly went back to normal. They looked around, blinking in confusion and trying to understand what was going on. As soon as they noticed Shendu and Mei Liang fighting each other, and once the ninjas were all defeated, everybody was concentrated on just watching them.
"Um... Is it just me or is she using heat-beam eyes now?" Jade asked carefully and frowning. Mei Liang then started to move much faster.
"She's using the power of the talismans! But how?" Jackie asked in disbelief and Xiao shook his head.
"It's a long story. But we are at a disadvantage. You have to bring the talismans right away."
Jackie and Tohru turned to look at Uncle, clearly not sure if they should obey a demon just like that and expecting the chi-wizard to make a decision. The old man nodded gloomily and glanced at his apprentice.
"Uncle will have to research. Tohru, you help me," he said.
"Uh, yes, sensei," Tohru answered, a bit confused.
"I'll get the talismans, then," Jackie said and they three left the scene.
"Really, I do hope they kill each other. If the Chans get killed with them, it will be even better. I don't have anything to do with it, so I am just out of here now," Bai Tsa stated coldly, turning around to go away and dragging Valmont with her, though he was quite reluctant.
"Wait, what about Julia?" he asked.
"Forget about her! You are coming with me!" the water demon snapped, pulling him by his wrist with more strength.
"Hsi Wu, let's go back to our hideout and revert the spell! And we must also tell the others there about this!" Tso Lan said in an urgent tone. Hsi Wu hardly opened his mouth to protest; he immediately held Jade again and, along with the moon demon, flew back to their hideout.
"Are they just going to leave Shendu alone here!" Julia asked, annoyed.
"Oh, don't worry about that. He will be fine," Xiao said coolly.
Shendu punched Mei Liang in the stomach, but she apparently felt nothing. Unlike the fire demon, she was not tired at all and had just a few scratches and cuts. She smiled and flew up, taking advantage of the fact that he did not have the talismans with him and could not do the same. After being hit by the powers of almost all the talismans, he was already getting tired, which indicated that their fight was near its end.
"You are quite tough, but let's just see how you react to my special technique," she said, wrapping her right fist with her left hand and putting it against her hip. Shendu backed away some steps. An orange-coloured energy was formed around her hands, indicating that it was ready to be thrown. Shendu knew that she had only one chance to hit him with it, but it was still too risky. He had to concentrate.
"This technique, Shendu, killed your first son, remember?" she provoked and attacked. The dragon managed to dodge it right on time and charged at her again. However, she looked at him deep in the eyes, affecting the fire demon with her powers, which caused him to hesitate and slowly decrease his speed. When he was almost reaching her, she backed away and made a movement with her hand to attract her energy attack back to him again.
Xiao Fung's eyes widened in surprise. "Hey, she could never do that!"
"Die!" she yelled and Shendu came around just on time to see a bright blast of energy quickly approaching. It hit him and destroyed some buildings that were on its way. He was knocked into a warehouse, which had its front side completely destroyed. Julia's eyes widened and for some seconds she looked frightened, while Xiao Fung was shocked.
"Oh, no. I hadn't expected that... It is worse than I thought," he muttered. Mei Liang laughed evilly and landed at a relatively short distance from the wind demon, which made him flinch and get on guard. He had to admit that he was not feeling very brave to fight, he had never been good at it, but he also had his demonic pride and would not give up so easily.
Mei paid him no attention, though. She just looked at Julia, and Xiao even thought that she would want to get rid of Shendu's alleged mortal.
"Let's go, those simpletons must have got what I want by now," she told Julia, who surprised Xiao Fung even more by smirking maliciously at the woman's words.
"Sure," the girl replied and slowly walked to her, ignoring Xiao completely. On her way, she shot a hesitant glance at where Shendu was, but recovered as soon as she was close to Mei Liang and then the duo disappeared with a puff of smoke.
The wind demon stared at where they had just been for a considerable while and shook his head hopelessly.
"I knew we couldn't trust her."
To be continued...