Restless
Several weeks had passed since Valerie had returned to her friends, and all of them she had spent staying at the shop. Captain Black had come by as soon as he'd heard the news of her return with several doctors. Whilst the doctors had looked her over, Black had told her how he'd made a cover story to explain to her university about her absence and her landlord about her trashed apartment, and that Section 13 was paying for it to be rebuilt and find her a safer place to live. Valerie had initially objected to Black doing so much for her, but he had insisted, claiming that such harm wouldn't have befallen her if she were not involved in these paranormal activities, and Black felt partially responsible for not keeping a better eye on her. Realising that this was more for his sake as well as her own, Valerie relented and listened to the doctors as they finished their diagnostics.
She'd never fully grasped the damage that had been done to her: the doctors' reported that she had several healed ribs that had obviously been broken, several deep lacerations on her arms face and neck, bruising that was only now fading, her jaw had almost been destroyed along with her cheek and eye socket, and she'd almost had a collapsed lung. All of these injuries were now almost completely healed, though it should have taken her months to recover from such devastation. They were baffled at how quickly she had healed, and could offer her nothing more than painkillers. Silently, Valerie couldn't help but marvel at everything Shendu had actually done for her… He'd practically saved her from the brink of death… and that only added to her confused feelings for the demon at that moment.
Black and his doctors had left with a promise to return to ask her some questions about her ordeal once she was fully recovered. Uncle had grumbled and complained the entire time they were at the shop.
Valerie would never in her life had guessed that Uncle would be the mother-hen type.
At first, Valerie had questioned if Uncle had finally gone senile. Since she'd returned, he'd immediately offered for her to stay at the shop sleeping on his couch and under his care. He'd quickly looked at her healing wounds and automatically deduced that she had been healed through the use of magic. First he'd whipped up a potion to banish any dark magic from her body, in the case that Shendu had secretly put in some mind control potion or something. Then, he'd recreated the healing brew and had Valerie drink it twice a day, and then almost had to force feed her heavily garlic flavoured food as well as any other nasty and horrible and unorthodox foods he could find. Eventually, Valerie had found it sweet, the way Uncle and Tohru would move around her make-shift bed in order to make sure she was comfortable and healing well. Uncle had then started to go a little over the top in his over-protective measures. He seemed to constantly think that a demon of some sort would come to the shop to attack them, and started putting up defensive spells around the shop to make them demon-proof. He'd then started to research until late into the night, until he'd even suggested for Valerie to move into his room to sleep whilst he slept on the sofa with a his research.
Everyone began to get very confused at this odd behaviour.
The fiasco at the moon hadn't helped either. Valerie hadn't been able to go or be a part of the mission in any way, but she had watched on television and kept in phone contact with Captain Black for updates. It was rather frightening to think that there had been a demon of the Moon! Tso Lan had been able to control gravity itself, and perhaps it was only because Valerie was such a book-worm that she seemed to realise straight away the catastrophic power that could be. But with the demon banished by Jackie, they had all returned from Florida unharmed and happy, though Uncle seemed a little more on edge. Because he hadn't been able to go to the moon and Tohru had to instead, Uncle seemed constantly on the verge of going mad as he wanted everything prepared for the absolute worst. Valerie, Jackie and Jade could only watch his deterioration in silent worry.
The breaking point came when he started to stop sleeping altogether. Jackie had left to find some kind of armour that Uncle had found whilst researching late at night, but after Jackie left, Uncle didn't sleep… at all.
One night, Valerie was awoken from sleep by the sound of raised voices. Her now constant dreams of red eyes and a hissing voice faded from her memory as she came round to a waking state. She groaned as the agitated sounds roused her from her peaceful slumber, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't go back to sleep. Moaning to herself she sat up in bed, eyes drooped and stretching her arms. By this time, her bruises and pains were practically gone, only a couple of slight blotches remained, though she felt no pain at all thanks to Uncle's continuous use of the healing broth. She got herself out of bed, and shuffled out of Uncle's room and along the hallway, seeing Jade exit the room she was sharing with Tohru whilst she was babysat by Uncle as Jackie was away. The pair looked at each other sleepily, before shuffling to the stairs and down to the bottom floor of the shop, where they could hear Uncle and Jackie arguing.
"You dishonour your uncle!" Uncle exclaimed in horror loudly, stalking away in anger.
"Hey Jackie…" Jade murmured with droopy eyes. Valerie said hello as well, though the sound was distorted as she yawned.
"Jade, Valerie, what are you two doing up?" Jackie asked with a concerned yet guilty look on his face.
"Old yeller is keeping us all up," Jade grumbled as she came forwards towards her uncle. "He hasn't slept in days."
"It's getting very worrying…" Valerie mumbled as she watched Uncle pottering around, muttering to himself like a madman.
"Tohru!" Uncle suddenly called out loudly, causing Valerie to flinch as she felt a headache coming on. "Where is my tea?!"
Tohru was asleep in an armchair, snoring loudly, a tray of tea cups in one hand and a tea pot in the other. At the sound of Uncle's barks, the sumo startled awake, before quickly falling back to sleep in the same instance, though spilling tea from the spout of the teapot onto the floor. Uncle didn't seem at all pleased.
"AIYA!" He yelled angrily.
"Uncle, please…" Valerie moaned as she winced again. "Indoor voices…"
"Why won't you sleep?" Jackie asked worriedly.
"Because…" Uncle said in a dreaded and horrified whisper. "I have demons on the brain… I lay down, and all I hear is Chi-spell-chi-spell-CHI-SPELL!" He screeched as he clamped his hands over his ears as if he could actually hear the sounds.
"But Uncle, we don't need a chi-spell yet…" Valerie tried to say, but the old man spun to face her.
"You don't know that!" He snapped. "We needed one for you! We could have protected you if –"
"Uncle, you couldn't have –" She tried to say guiltily, but Uncle cut her off.
"So I need to stay ready! They could come for us at any minute!" He shuddered fearfully.
"But you need to rest…" Valerie pleaded.
"Have you tried counting sheep?" Jackie asked.
"Demons always eat them…" Uncle murmured almost sadly.
"Err…" Jackie said awkwardly. "Thank you for watching Jade…" He trailed off as he went to steer Jade back up the stairs to bed.
"Where are you going?" Uncle called after them. "We must study the immortal's armour and discover what magic it holds!"
It was only then that Valerie noticed the huge blue and gold armour lying discarded on the floor.
"Now?!" Jackie balked. "It is 3am Uncle – you should really try to sleep."
"No! Valerie! Tohru! We must research!" Uncle argued as he called out loudly.
"Forget it, Uncle." Valerie replied grouchily. "I'm going back to bed."
"Fine!" The old man snapped. "I will research myself!"
"No!" Valerie ground her teeth in frustration. "You need to go to bed too!"
"Not now!"
"Yes Uncle! You –"
Valerie was interrupted when a loud and shrill ring tone cut through the air. Everyone paused for a moment, and then Jackie reached into his pocket.
"How can I sleep with all this noise?!" Uncle wailed. Valerie slapped a hand over her face, growling in frustration. Jackie smiled apologetically and reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone, flipping it open as he answered the call.
"Yes?" He said. Valerie couldn't hear the other end of the call, but could only recognise Captain Black's deep voice droning into the phone. "I'm on my way!" Jackie said suddenly. There was another pause before he whispered into the receiver: "I don't care… anywhere but here!" He added with a side-long glance at Uncle. Jackie nodded several times as he listened further, then hung up.
"Well?" Valerie mumbled as he turned back to them.
"Uncle! I'm off to Spain!" Jackie announced cheerily. "I will call you for the Chi-Spell once I find out which demon we are dealing with."
"Wait! You're not going already?!" Valerie asked desperately as she grabbed hold of his arm.
"Have to. Sorry – uh, you don't mind watching Jade for me, do you?"
"Hey…." Jade groaned sleepily.
"No problem." Valerie growled out between her teeth as she let go of Jackie's arm.
"Thanks – Oh! And Captain Black wants you to come to Section 13 tomorrow, he needs to ask you some questions." Jackie told her softly.
"Ugh…" Valerie slapped her hand over her face again.
"Ah… Finn would have loved this trip!" Ratso said in wonder as he looked around at all of the colourful and bright sights of Pamplona in Spain, where Shendu had the great misfortune of being dragged to for the latest portal. The portal that would unleash Dai Gui, the Earth Demon.
"Why would he?" Hak Foo grumbled his question, now fully recovered from his injuries after the several weeks he had had to heal with the help of magic. Shendu was trying his best to ignore the chattering of his annoying henchmen as he tried to also ignore the way his black robes were absorbing the heat ridiculously. Normally, Shendu would have loved the heat, he was a fire-demon after all, but the human body he inhabited was not suited for it and kept sweating and making him very uncomfortable. Another reason why demons were superior to humans in every way.
"He says it's because of the Señoritas…" Ratso explained before spotting a gaggle of women standing in the shade of a doorway, their smiles all too easily making the man-child blush. "Hola…" Ratso said awkwardly as he waved at the group of women.
Shendu hissed under his breath and ignored the women that giggled as they passed. He was honestly in no mood for such things now, he just wanted to find the portal and be done with this business. His temper was growing ever fouler the longer they wasted a single moment. But then, to be honest, his mood had not really improved since he had given up Valerie several weeks ago. He was still angry over her constant rejection of him, and even more angry at having to give her up, and that he hadn't seen her since. He'd had his Shadowkhan make sure she hadn't left the city, though they reported that she still remained at the shop, though the old chi-wizard had placed protective spells to make sure no dark magic could enter.
"Ah, cheer up Shendu!" Ratso exclaimed happily, not seeming to comprehend that he was making the dragon angrier with his cheerful voice. "We're in Spain! Time for a little vacation!"
"We have no time for that!" Shendu snarled.
"Are you still upset about Miss Payne?" Ratso asked innocently, but Shendu still turned on him with a beastly hiss. Ratso ducked out of his way, but as soon as Shendu's back was turned he was back, and continuing his annoying chatter. "Maybe you need to go on the rebound."
"Rebound?" Hak Foo was the one to ask.
"Yeah," Ratso nodded. "Finn always said that to get over girl, you gotta get laid."
Shendu thought about it for a moment, the idea seeming to have some appeal to him. Perhaps maybe that was all he needed: to just vent his frustrations on an unsuspecting mortal-female. He had no problem with it, he had done it often enough in the past, after a rather taxing day or a particularly gruesome fight, he might return to his palace and spend his night with a concubine to release whatever energy he had left. It was a rather good stress relief. So why not try it now?
Surprised that he was actually considering listening to his idiotic enforcer, Shendu looked around himself at the busy street filled with people. Perhaps Dai Gui could wait an hour or two longer, just while Shendu relieved himself… He looked at all the women gathered in the street amongst the crowd, some behind carts of merchandise and sales stalls, some sitting at tables of bars and drinking and laughing loudly, others simply standing about with their friends or family as they chattered. Most of them were rather beautiful, he could definitely see the appeal that Ratso had mentioned. The women all had wonderfully tanned skin, glossy hair, sparkling eyes that beckoned and tantalised. All the women had different heights and body shapes: some tall and slim, others a little muscular, some rather scandalous as they flashed a view of their thighs beneath their skirts. Shendu even noticed that one or two women were watching him, their eyes straying over him and his enforcers. The sparkle in their eyes was hungry, an instinct inside of them recognising the power in him and were drawn to it, wanted it, craved it. They saw him looking and flashed him inviting smiles with a hint of teeth to show the predator inside of them as well. Shendu flashed them a dangerous smile in return, half tempted to take them up on the silent offer their eyes promised.
But strangely, he found each woman to be… lacking in something… He couldn't quite describe how suddenly unusual he felt. At a glance he would see the body of a woman of beauty and sexual appeal to satisfy him, but then he would take a second look and find something wrong. Either her nose was too wide, or another's frame was too thin, or the physique was not delicate enough, the eyes were rather boring, the voice was annoying, the hair was the wrong colour or length, the smile not genuine, the hands not holding the book the right way…
Shendu realised what it was he was doing. He was comparing all of these women to her. He growled to himself. Couldn't she let him have a moment's peace? Did she have to torment him even when he was trying to find something other than her in another woman? In the long run he wanted Valerie, of course, but for this moment he just wanted to lose himself in meaningless fornication. And yet… he couldn't bring himself to find these women worthy enough because for some reason they couldn't compare. And it baffled Shendu. Valerie was not the most beautiful of women nor the most erotic, and yet there was something about her that was beautiful in its own way, a wild beauty that was untamed by the laws of society. She was beautiful in the way that she didn't flaunt it, didn't even seem to realise it, so that when she smiled or her eyes sparkled, it was like a piece of the stars had glittered through her. She was arousing in the way that she was so innocent and untouched and pure, that she was all the more inviting in order to be plundered.
His Valerie was more then what these silly creatures could ever hope to be because she was all of this, and she was his. None of these women could hope to hold his attention, so long as Valerie belonged to him – which would be for the rest of eternity.
Or at least he hoped, his conversation with Tso Lan a week or two ago, had made Shendu rather… nervous. He remembered that after having just freed his eldest brother, Tso Lan had told them of his plans to pull the moon from its orbit in order to use its gravitational pull to cause untold devastation to the Earth's landscape. Although Shendu had quickly calmed his men that they were lucky to be up in space away from the damage, his thoughts had wandered to Valerie, and that she was very much in danger on the Earth's surface. He had contemplated using his power to its full extent to use his Shadowkhan even from all the way in space to move her to a safer place. However, his thoughts had been interrupted by Tso Lan, who had noticed his pondering expression, and spoken:
"You are concerned by my plans, Shendu?" Tso Lan asked with a raised brow in a form of challenge. Tso Lan was the only brother that Shendu respected, though that still didn't mean he liked him, and the daring look in his eyes raised the dragon's metaphorical scales.
"Of course not, dear brother," Shendu replied with a false smile and sarcastic sweetness. "I am more than happy to –"
"Do not attempt to deceive me, Shendu." Tso Lan interrupted sourly, his regal and eloquent voice making the words all the sharper in his menacing tone. "I know of your little secret."
Shendu blinked, half stunned that his mind tried to wonder at what Tso Lan could mean, though he kept his tongue still from saying a word.
"I know of Her." Tso Lan murmured.
"How?" Shendu asked, not bothering to waste his breath on lies that his brother obviously wouldn't believe.
"After Xiao Fung returned ever bitter and resentful for his second banishment, he couldn't keep his gigantic lips sealed long enough to breathe before he told us all of your Other." Tso Lan informed him.
"And what did you all think of this news?" Shendu asked tightly, a strange and possessive anger starting to burn in his veins.
"As you can probably well guess…" Tso Lan told him in a voice as dark as his long midnight black hair. "You have something they do not. Something that can give you power. They don't like the thought of you having something to use against them. They want her dead, Shendu. Bai Tsa, I must say, is the most vocal in her complete loathing for the mortal woman."
"And what of your intentions?" Shendu all but growled out.
"I have no interest in seeing her extinction. Unlike the others, I have faith in my own capabilities should you decide you would like to try to become sole heir of our father's brood." Tso Lan's warning was veiled but clear, and Shendu was reminded of why he hated Tso Lan the least. "I am in truth rather curious about her. The Other of a demon, in a mortal vessel… how rather fascinating."
"Yet you will continue your plans?"
"I said I did not plan her death, not that I would go out of my way to avoid it." Tso Lan waved two of his four arms dismissively. "Accidents will happen if you are not careful with your toys, Shendu."
It had been after that that Jackie Chan had appeared and banished Tso Lan whilst also trapping Shendu and his goons in a trash container. In all truth, Shendu hadn't fought as hard as he should have or normally would have. It was also why he was a little bit cautious about releasing Dai Gui and the remaining other two demons – Hsi Wu and Bai Tsa – from their prison if they were a threat to Valerie. He decided he would have to keep a very close eye on these events from now on.
"I'm telling ya," Ratso was saying to Hak Foo as Shendu brought his attention back to the conversation that the two henchmen had carried on in his distracted silence. "Pamplona's famous for something."
"It must be the paella," Hak murmured, sounding only half interested.
"Oh!" Ratso exclaimed excitedly. "The thing they whack with the sticks till candy comes out?"
"That would be a Piñata, Ratso," Valmont corrected whilst Shendu was brooding at the back of the mortal's mind. He hadn't even noticed that Valmont had taken control whilst he had been thinking. "This is Spain… not Mexico."
"But I know this place is famous for something!" Ratso argued.
"Soon it will be famous for the return of Dai Gui, the Earth Demon." Shendu spoke with his usual smirk, though this time it was simply for appearance sake, for he had his mind on other matters.
As the group continued onward, they had no idea that they were being watched.
Valerie sat behind a plain steel desk, the metal chair she sat in cold and uncomfortable. Her leg twitched a little nervously, and she couldn't help but clutch her own fingers as if she had no control over them. Across the table from her, Captain Black and another agent sat comfortably with a recording device on the side. Valerie knew it was silly of her to be so nervous, but it felt too much like she was being investigated for a crime, the way her father always described to her. She'd promised to never disappoint him by being on the wrong side of this table. Of course, Captain Black wasn't questioning her because she'd done something wrong, he was just asking her a few questions in order to piece together her "ordeal" and hopefully get some clues that might stop the Dark Hand for good.
Didn't make her feel any better though.
"Okay Valerie," Captain Black said as he flicked on the recording device, the agent at his side furiously scribbling down notes. "I just want you to answer a few questions. No pressure, just want to know the truth. Just tell us what you know so that we can hopefully use this to catch these crooks. Okay?"
"Okay…" She said slowly, trying to swallow past the large lump in her throat.
"Right, let's start at the beginning then." Captain Black smiled encouragingly as he leaned forward, crossing his arms as he did so. "At nine o'clock on the Thursday night in question, Jade left your apartment where you were babysitting her, correct?"
"Yeah," Valerie murmured softly with a nod.
"Jackie picked her up, and you went back into your apartment. What happened next?" Black asked as his expression became serious as he knew very well what happened next in this little "story".
"Around half an hour later, I heard a knock at my door." Valerie said, looking down at her hands, trying to still the slight shake in them as she remembered that awful night. "I though Jade had forgotten something and come back. I opened the door, but Hak Foo was the one there."
"And Hak Foo broke into your apartment and attacked you, correct?"
"Yes…" Valerie murmured, unable to stop a smile tugging at the edges of her lips. She didn't smile because of the question, but because she knew that if her dad had been there he would have rolled his eyes and said: 'Never lead the suspect. Always ask ambiguous questions.'
"How long was he in your apartment for?"
"I don't know… a-after he threw me onto the coffee table I lost consciousness briefly. I don't know how long he stayed in there, but when I came round briefly he was gone." She mumbled as she focused back on the conversation. At the mention of being thrown onto the coffee table, Valerie thought she felt a phantom pain drift up her back, and she shivered.
"Jackie says you called him." Black said.
"Yes, I tried to pull myself out of the rubble to the phone. I didn't say much – I lost consciousness again."
"And what happened then?"
"I don't know." She shrugged. "One moment I was in my apartment, the next I woke up in a strange room."
"And then… Valmont showed himself?" Black paused before saying 'Valmont' and Valerie caught the way his eyes flickered over to the voice recorder before looking back at her pointedly. It took her a moment to realise that this recording couldn't have any of the "M-word" in it, perhaps Black needed to show to his supervisors.
"Yes… Valmont apparently cleaned my wounds and treated my worst injuries." She said quickly, going along with the little adjustment to the name.
"To your knowledge, did he perform any kind of inappropriate act whilst you were unconscious?" Black asked. His tone was a little uncomfortable to be asking such a delicate question, but his eyes were suddenly deadly serious as if it was of the utmost importance. Either way, Valerie felt her ears burn with shame, her breath catching with embarrassment at the question, but for some reason she felt angry that he dared to ask that as suddenly glared at Captain Black.
"No." She shot out a little sharply.
"You're sure?" He pressed.
"Yes, Captain Black, I'm sure." She muttered through slightly clenched teeth.
"Okay then. So Valmont was keeping you in some room, you would assume it was his hideout?"
"Yes."
"Do you know why he took you there? What purpose did he have for you?"
"I…" Valerie faltered, her anger leaving her to be replaced with uncertainty. She couldn't really say the reason why – she didn't even really know herself – but could she lie? They wouldn't believe her, and so she forced herself past the lump in her throat as she forced the deception right from the pit of her stomach. "I don't know. He just kept me in that room, fed me, treated me, he helped my injuries."
"There must be some reason he took you?"
"Maybe…" She quickly said, trying to think up something else to say. She could have sworn she felt sweat dripping down the back of her neck. "Maybe he wanted information from me, he would always be asking me questions about Section 13." Another lie, her stomach twisted again.
"Then why would he send Hak Foo to attack you?"
"He didn't." She said quickly, defensively. When Captain Black looked at her oddly, she took a quick breath before slowly adding: "He claims that Hak Foo went against his orders to do that… Hak's punishment was… severe."
"The Chan's reported that you appeared on their doorstep in the middle of the night, unconscious. Do you know how you got there?" Black asked as he thankfully directed the conversation somewhere else.
"No," She answered truthfully. "I fell asleep in my room like normal, and when I woke up, I was back at Uncle's shop."
"Do you have any idea why Valmont gave you up?" He asked.
"I have no idea…" She murmured, her eyes staring into space as she too wondered that. Was it because she had rejected him? She felt her ears burn once more, her stomach quivering for some unknown reason as she remembered his hungry kiss. At night when she went to sleep, she could still taste him on her lips…
"You said you were in this room for your entire imprisonment?" Black's voice distracted her from her thoughts.
"That's right," She murmured as she cleared her throat.
"So you wouldn't happen to have any idea about where you were being held?"
"No…" She shrugged, before quickly explaining: "Well… I always heard seagulls, and the place smelled of fish, though it was only an after scent, like it clung to the place. The room I was in was like an office, but I always slept on the sofa in the room. It had small windows, but I could only see the sea, I couldn't be able to tell you what part of the docks I was on. I'm sorry."
"Don't be." Black smiled reassuringly. "You've given us more than enough."
"So… are we done?" She asked hopefully.
"Yeah, we're done." Black said as he switched off the voice recorder. "Thanks for doing this Valerie, we appreciate everything you've done, and know that we're now taking extra care to make sure this doesn't happen to you again."
"Thank you," She smiled.
"Hey, it's what friends do." Black held out his hand like a gentleman as he helped her stand out of her chair. "I'll have a driver take you back to the shop."
Valerie was silent on the car journey back to the shop, enjoying the silence and peace which she knew she wasn't going to get so long as Uncle was still the way he was. During the journey, she contemplated over why she had felt the need to lie… why she hadn't given Captain Black more information to work with. Why did it seem like something only she should know? Ever since she had returned back to the shop, she'd wondered to herself why Shendu had given her back. He had been so adamant to keep her, it almost confused her as to how he gave her up in the middle of the night. Was it because she had rejected him? She had received no letters from him since returning, so it pointed to that conclusion. Her stomach twisted in slight guilt at the thought that she'd hurt him… which made her blink in shock as to why she should feel sorry for the demon! She sighed, her brain hurt just thinking about it.
When she arrived back at the shop, she was immediately assaulted by the deafening cacophony of a gong ringing loudly throughout the store, causing Valerie to cover her ears as she rushed to the back room where the noise was coming from. She ran into the room to find Jade and Tohru by Uncle's chair, Jade banging on the gong right beside Uncle's ear.
"WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" Jade shouted as loud as she could as she banged on the gong.
"What on earth is going on here?!" Valerie shouted in order to be heard above the noise. Jade and Tohru both looked at her, blinking in shock as if they didn't expect to see her.
"Okay Val – It's NOT my fault!" Jade said quickly as she held her hands up in the air.
"That usually means it is your fault!" Valerie retorted as she came into the room. "What are you trying to do, deafen him?"
"Well, err…" Jade fumbled, biting her lip. "You see, Uncle was going crazy – and driving ME crazy! So I gave him a sleeping potion and he's asleep! But then Jackie called from Spain, says he needs Uncle with a chi spell for an Earth Demon. I tried to go into Uncle's with the sheep talisman to get the spell. But he STILL won't wake up!"
"What were you–! What–?! Ah–! Fine!" Valerie gave up as she threw her hands in the air. Her mind too panicked and set into over-drive as she tried to quickly figure out what to do. "Did you get the Chi-spell from Uncle?"
"Yes! A flower, research on other things and my hair." Jade said quickly.
"Your hair?!" Valerie gaped.
"That's what Uncle said!"
"Okay – fine!" Valerie put her hands up in surrender. "Right, grab Uncle's chi-spell books! We'll take him to Spain and see if he wakes up by the time we reach Jackie."
"What books are those?" Jade asked desperately.
"Third shelf, left side, books five to twenty seven!" Valerie recited, having known the answer from when she had catalogued and stored all of Uncle's books properly herself.
"You will be coming with us, Valerie?" Tohru asked in surprise.
"Doesn't look like I have much of a choice," Valerie shrugged. "Do you know all of the other ingredients we'll need for the Chi-spell?" she asked.
"Leave it to me." Tohru smiled.
Shendu, Ratso and Hak Foo had followed the map from the Pan'ku Box to the rural countryside outside of Pamplona, the heavy musk of nature and the buzz of insects surrounding them. A much different atmosphere from the city life Shendu would admit that he'd gotten used to as of late. They stood in front of an abandoned house, the greenery having overgrown and partially eaten at the building decades ago. Ratso held the glowing Pan'ku box as it suddenly shot forward and anchored itself to the building, opening in order to release a stream of light, from which appeared a glowing red door. Out of the door stepped a massive demon, brown as the soil beneath their feet, two large curving horns above his head and a bear like face twisted into a snarl. Shendu smirked as Dai Gui stepped through. Another demon free.
"So good to see you out and about, Dai Gui," Shendu said, his red eyes glowing as they looked into those of his brother. Dai Gui looked about him, sneering when he saw a patch of wildflowers not ten feet away from him.
"Too many flowers." The Earth Demon spoke in a deep and grating voice. "Dai Gui does not like pretty."
Shendu had to restrain his sneer at his brother's abysmal command of language. Compared to the other demons, who all spoke angrily at times but eloquently and fluently, Dai Gui's speech made him appear as stupid and dense as he truly was. Being one of the youngest of the litter, Dai Gui was also considered the slowest of the bunch. It made Shendu want to curl his lip in distaste.
"My kingdom must be submerged into the depths of the earth," Dai Gui said as he took a step forward. Shendu just looked at him expectantly. "Don't just stand there!" Dai Gui shouted angrily. "Start digging!"
"D-d-digging?" Ratso stammered as he and Shendu looked at their hands, then at each other in confusion. Ratso gulped, clearly cowed into submission, and Shendu knew his clever tongue would have to save them from such labour.
"We would be most happy to assist, burliest of brothers," Shendu said cleverly, an idea forming in his mind as he looked to Hak Foo, who had retrieved the Pan'ku box by this time. "But we have other portals to seek, family to release…"
"Very well then," Dai Gui grumbled, Shendu hiding his smirk at how easy his brother was to mentally manipulate. As a joke, Hsi Wu – this mischievous cretin that he was – had once convinced Dai Gui that if he dug too deep into the earth, he would tunnel to the other end and fall out of the sky. Dai Gui had believed it and not ventured further then three miles beneath the surface for three years. Once he'd found out that it had been a practical joke… he'd not been best pleased to say the least. "The dirty work shall be mine alone!" And with that, Dai Gui used his huge hands dig his way into the earth.
In a matter of seconds, the huge demon had completely submerged himself into the ground, until only his horns stuck out like the dorsal fin of a shark in the waves. There was a rumbling in the earth, and then, Dai Gui's horns began to move, cutting a path through the soil like a bulldozer. The enforcers screamed and ran, and Shendu only just managed to get himself out of the way in time as he leapt clear. He watched his brother speed off down along the road, and for some reason, Shendu felt his scales rub the wrong way…
Valerie sat in the front seat of the taxi beside the driver, Uncle, Jade and Tohru squashed into the back. Valerie held the bag containing the Chi-spell ingredients, her finger tapping against the window with impatience. She looked down at her phone, as if by looking at it would magically make it light up and ring. But nothing. She sighed; they'd been trying to get through to Jackie for ever since they landed two hours ago, but nothing. Either he was out of signal or the call rang through. It did nothing but play on Valerie's already fraying nerves. Thankfully Captain Black had told them Jackie's last position, which had been in the countryside outside of Pamplona, which was where they were headed to now.
She looked back worriedly at Uncle, who was between Tohru and Jade, snoring loudly with his mouth hanging open. Jade smiled nervously at her, but they both shared the same uneasiness. It had been over twelve hours since Uncle had received the sleeping potion, and still looked as if he wasn't waking up. Valerie felt her stomach knotting with fear. They needed Uncle awake – now.
"We got all the Chi ingrediants," Jade said as if to reassure the tense atmosphere in the cab. "We're golden."
"Good…" Tohru mumbled out. "Because it doesn't seem the sleep spell will wear off any time soon."
"I swear, Jade, you are banned from Uncle's books!" Valerie shot back over her shoulder.
"Hey! I didn't mean for this to happen!" Jade argued.
"Like you didn't mean for the duplicator spell to go wrong? Or the Shadowkhan? Or even Lo Pei?" Valerie counted off on her fingers.
"You helped me with the tattoo, remember?" Jade pointed out with a glare.
"And wish I never had! We almost lost you," Valerie's anger broke into a look of concern.
"It's alright, Valerie," Tohru broke in with a soothing voice. "So long as we perform the Chi-Spell, Jade's mistake will be redeemed."
"You're right," Valerie sighed. "Though I'd feel better if Uncle were awake to do it…"
"Then let us hope he awakens just in time…" Tohru said, but his voice made it obvious that he doubted such a thing.
"Let's just hope Jackie doesn't flip a table," Valerie muttered.
"About that little screw-up…" Jade piped up. "Maybe Jackie doesn't need to know about sleeping beauty here?"
"But how can Jackie not notice?" Tohru asked, dumbfounded.
Valerie was about to come out with a quick remark, when the cab suddenly screeched to a halt. They all looked out of the front window, and their mouths dropped open at the sight.
Climbing out of the car as the driver gibbered frantically in Spanish, Valerie gaped at how the entire road had been caved in half. Looking left and right, she saw how the furrow wasn't just on the road, but travelled line a trail across the landscape, as if something had tunnelled through it. Valerie gulped.
"I think it's safe to say the Earth Demon has been released…" she squeaked as Jade and Tohru climbed out of the car, dragging Uncle with them.
"It could have been an earthquake…" Tohru supplied.
"Nope. I'm going with Earth Demon." Jade said as she pointed to a road higher up the hill, a small bridge, where Valerie was terrified to see a gigantic brown creature with huge horns on its head standing tall and casting the earth in its shadow. Before she could call them back or even think, Jade and Tohru were already running away from her towards the Demon. Groaning, Valerie ran after them.
They came to the bridge, and saw Jackie – dressed in a weird blue and gold skin-tight suit – was wrestling the brown demon to the ground with amazing strength. As they came to a stop, Valerie's jaw hung open at such a super-human display. If she hadn't known any better, she would have said that it was superman before her!
"Jackie!" Jade called, and it took Valerie a moment to blink and realise that it was Jackie, and not some super-hero. Jackie looked over at them, a relieved smile on his face. As he looked over, Tohru subtly moved his hand behind Uncle's back, keeping the old man upright and waving his arm as if he were awake at the same time. Valerie bit her lip nervously at how inappropriate a time this was for such a rouse.
"Uncle!" Jackie called, but the Earth Demon roared as it got back up and tried to smash Jackie, though he effortlessly leapt out of the way. "Uncle, you look rested!" He said cheerfully as he landed beside them.
"Stop talking about his sleep – AND WORRY ABOUT THE DEMON!" Valerie shouted worriedly as she watched the Earth Demon lumber closer towards them.
"Oh-yes!" Jackie said as if he'd only just been reminded as he turned to Uncle. "Did you bring the Chi-spell?"
Tohru made Uncle's head nod whilst Jade made a very Uncle-like sound behind his back. Valerie slapped a hand over her face.
"Where is it –ow!" Jackie yelped when it was Valerie who cuffed him round the back of the head.
"Let us worry about the spell – you worry about the – DEMON!" She called out a warning as the shadow enveloped them. Jackie sprang away from the hand that tried to grab him and quickly leapt back at the Demon to grapple him away from the others.
"I will keep Dai Gui busy!" Jackie called to them as he continued to try and keep the Demon's attention.
Valerie and Tohru sat Uncle down by the wall whilst Jade went through the pouch containing the Chi-Spell ingredients. They looked around when they heard an almighty roar and saw Jackie fly through the air from where Dai Gui had thrown him, causing him to bounce and roll along the ground painfully.
"I shall shell you of that armour!" Dai Gui growled as he reached out a hand to grab Jackie as them man slowly got to his feet. Valerie felt her heart leap into her throat as she gasped.
"Jackie!" She screamed as she immediately abandoned Uncle and Tohru and ran for Jackie. She managed to push him out of the way just in time, launching herself and Jackie clear of the hand that would have squashed them had they stayed a second longer. They landed hard, and Valerie felt the wind be knocked from her lungs as she rolled away from Jackie. She struggled to regain her breath as she stared up in horror as Dai Gui loomed over her, his red eyes narrowing on her coldly as he peered at her.
"So you are Shendu's little play-thing…" Dai Gui spoke in a deep and growling voice, sounding almost like two rocks grating against each other painfully. Valerie felt a shiver run down her spine as the Earth Demon leaned over her, his lip curling at her in distaste. She felt bound to the floor and unable to move, whimpering as Dai Gui scented the air, making her hair flutter around her head. "You are the one that demon-kind hates… Make my brothers and sisters happy with your death,"
Valerie screamed as Dai Gui thrust his fist down towards her, faster than either she or Jackie could have moved to stop him as he meant to crush her to dust. But before he could hit, there was suddenly a blur in front of her as something dark moved between her and the Demon. With a swirl of black robes, Shendu was suddenly standing in front of her, casting her in his shadow as he held up his hand as if to stop his brother. Valerie thought he would be pulverised with her, but at the moment Dai Gui's fist connected with Shendu's hand, a ring of fire suddenly exploded between them. Dai Gui was knocked back with a loud cry of shock, landing heavily with earth shaking force. Shendu's hand trembled as the magic receded, as if from effort, so slight only Valerie noticed it, but he stood firm. Valerie saw his shoulders were tense and his body rigid as he faced his brother, who was now climbing back up to his feet with an enraged expression on his face as he bared his enormous fangs.
"You would dare?!" Dai Gui thundered.
"The girl is mine, Dai Gui, I will not see you harm her…" Shendu growled out, Valerie smiled despite herself.
Dai Gui roared and charged, but at the same time, Jackie launched himself at the Earth Demon, and with his super-strength managed to knock the demon flying. They came shooting towards Valerie and Shendu and with impressive speed, Shendu turned, knelt and scooped Valerie into his arms. He knelt as he held her, and she instinctively held onto him as they felt the air rush over them as Dai Gui and Jackie flew past them. Valerie held on to Shendu, her arms wrapped around his neck as she pressed her face into his shoulder. Her stomach was summersaulting as she heard his familiar hiss in her ear, she felt strangely safe as he held her cradled protectively against his body, his breath tickling over her neck. She clung to him desperately as the seconds ticked by and they heard the sounds of battle around them. For a moment, Valerie was guilty to think that she didn't want to leave that place as she felt as if nothing could harm her there.
But Shendu soon stood, still holding her as he leapt away from the fight to safety. Valerie swallowed a yelp as her stomach flipped with the motion, her hair streaming behind her. Shendu landed with the nimbleness of a cat, and quickly set her down. A little shaken, Valerie allowed one hand to cling to his robes as she tried to steady herself. She looked up into his glowing red eyes with confusion written on her face.
"Shendu… you… you…" She struggled to find the words. Shendu just raised a brow at her expectantly. Feeling a blush of embarrassment, Valerie tried to force words out of her mouth, but completely surprised herself and Shendu with what she said: "Why did you give me up?"
Realising what she just said, Valerie clamped a hand over her mouth. It took her a long moment of wishing to redo that moment before she finally forced her hand into a fist and away from herself as she looked at the demon before her defiantly.
"If it wasn't obvious, I had portals to open, other business to carry out. I couldn't leave you unattended completely." He muttered at her a little stiffly.
"But I thought…" Valerie fumbled as she blinked in surprise. "After… W-well, you know… after…"
"You thought that after your rejection, I had dumped you back to the Chans to save my wounded pride?" He sneered. "Or better yet, that I had finally given up on you? I would be insulted if I didn't know that that is exactly what you would think."
"No need to be all cynical about it." She muttered bitterly. Shendu then snatched her chin in his fingers, causing her to gasp as he tilted her head upwards to his, only a few mere inches separating them. Valerie's eyes came remarkably close to Shendu's, and she found herself unable to look anywhere but at his face.
"You seem to forget, my dear, that I have inevitability on my side…" Shendu leered at her. He paused a moment, closing his eyes as he took in her scent. Valerie repressed a shiver. "Hmmm… I have missed you, Valerie…" Shendu opened his eyes with a predatory grin. Valerie felt afraid for a moment that he would kiss her, and her stomach trembled at the thought. But then, just as quickly as he had snatched her attention, Shendu released her and began to walk away.
"Wait – you're leaving?" Valerie blinked in surprise, and the words had flown out of her mouth before she could stop them. For some reason it seemed odd to her that Shendu left of his own accord without having to be forced to go.
"It would appear that I am of no further use to Dai Gui, and I have other matters to attend to…" At his words, Valerie glanced to where the battle was taking place not ten feet away, and she spotted how Uncle had suddenly awoken and seemed to be fumbling for the Chi-Spell.
"Shendu!" Valerie quickly called out to him when she turned back to see him still walking away from her. Shendu stopped and turned to look at her out of the corner of his eye. "I-I, err… thank you…" Valerie stuttered embarrassingly over the right words she meant to say. "F-for saving me, I mean."
"Inevitability…" He told her in a sing-song voice with a triumphant smirk.
"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Came a sudden deep throated cry, causing Valerie to turn and stare just as Dai Gui was sent shooting away as he was banished once more.
Valerie spotted the others still on the bridge, and she could hear Uncle yelling even from where she was. She smiled – it was good to have the old goat back. She turned back to Shendu… but he was gone…
The demon stretched its jaws, tongue rolling over its sharp teeth as it saw the helpless victim wandering around the streets. The tourist wandered through the bright lights of Times Square, even though it was of the hour when most other people were asleep – even in the city that supposedly never sleeps. The demon couldn't stand to get too close to the bright lights, and so followed the prey from the shadows, always keeping it in sight. The demon was so focused on its own prey, it did not even register that it too was being followed…
Half an hour later, the prey wandered down a dark alley – the perfect place to strike! Materialising from the shadows, the demon's pale skin glistened a sickly milky white in the light of the moon. Its red, wide, deranged eyes caught the attention of the prey, who turned and gasped at the sight of the creature next to it. The scent of fear was intoxicating as the demon let loose its wide jaws, jagged fangs gleaming and long tongue writhing as it snarled. The prey screamed and tried to run, but the demon caught it by its jacket and threw it back into the depths of the alley. The prey's head hit against the brick wall, so hard it rendered it unconscious instantly. The demon grinned wickedly as it knelt down and prepared to feast.
And that was when the real hunter closed its trap.
"Move away from him, foul creature." Came a voice from the mouth of the alley, causing the demon to turn with a growl.
It couldn't make out any features of the human as the light was right behind it, all the demon could tell was that it was human, hood up to keep its face in shadow, leather jacket open, leather pants loose and flexible, and combat boots grinding into the ground. However, the demon could see the gleam of weapons strapped to the mysterious figure in various places… the implications of the situation suddenly dawned on the demon, and its face went pale. The figure noticed how nervous the demon had suddenly become, and from the pocket of its jacket, withdrew a chain. The chain jingled as a dozen symbols clinked together as the figure held the chain out towards the demon.
Sudden the demon hissed, flinching away from its meal and the hunter, feeling its skin itch and burn under the gaze of the chain. The hunter watched the demon writhe impassively, waiting a moment as the demon tried to reach the safety of the shadows, before slowly walking forward.
"Keep back, I say!" The Hunter commanded in a harsh voice. The demon screeched as it tried to duck away but was soon cornered against the side of the alley. "You will not harm this man, nor any other innocents, from this day forth! I cast you out of this realm! Back to the shadows with you – from whence you came!"
And then the chain was gone as the hunter quickly pulled out a pouch and spilled out its powdery contents. The demon screeched as it felt the power of good magic burn into its skin. The demon launched itself at the hunter desperately with a snarl of fury. The hunter didn't even blink as it quickly turned and knelt to the ground, allowing the demon to miss its target. With hands quicker then lightning, the hunter pulled two daggers from the sides of the combat boots flung them upwards into the stomach of the demon as it sailed overhead. The demon screamed as it contorted in mid-air, crashing to the ground as it tried to claw the offending weapons out of its belly. The daggers hissed like a spitting frying pan as they clattered to the ground.
"Blessssssssssed dagerssssssss!" The demon hissed with furious red eyes. The hunter smirked beneath the hood.
"Just to spice things up." The hunter said.
The demon launched itself at the hunter, who quickly flipped backwards to avoid the demon's claws. The Hunter landed back on the ground, fists raised and quickly blocking another slash with a forearm. The demon tried to swipe at the hunter's middle, but the hunter performed a high kick to the demon's jaw, sending it staggering backwards. Both enemies glared at each other from opposite sides of the alleyway, knowing that they couldn't let the other leave the alley alive.
At the exact same time, both opponents charged towards each other; the demon roaring as it flexed its claws, and the hunter gripping the handle of a katana blade that had been concealed beneath the leather jacket. Just before the two combatants could collide, the hunter quickly stepped to the side. However, the demon managed to get its claws on the hood of the leather jacket, wrenching the fabric back, and allowing a tumble of red hair to spill out into the moonlight. The demon only had a moment to register the ponytail of red locks, before the hunter spun on her heel, unleashing the Katana blade and slicing the demon's head from its shoulders in one clean move.
There was a moment of tense silence, and the body fell to the pavement a second before the head did. The hunter slowly sheathed the katana blade, before looking down impassively at the headless body on the floor. The hunters eyes narrowed in disgust as she watched the demon's body begin to disintegrate to ash and float away into nothingness.
"May Hell keep you. For you're not welcome here." She muttered hatefully. She then picked up her discarded daggers, and cleaning up whatever was left of the fight, before returning her attention back to the victim. A quick check of the pulse confirmed he was still alive, and turning his head revealed that he had not been bitten or marked by the demon. Good. The hunter then quickly put an anonymous call to the nearest hospital to send an ambulance, before quickly leaving the scene.
The rest of the patrol for the hunter was uneventful, and she was grateful when she finally returned to her apartment just before dawn. As was routine, she first opened and turned on her laptop, before putting away her jacket and weapons reverently whilst she waited for it to boot up. When she came back to the computer, she quickly went to her favourite websites to tell her of sightings of "interesting occurrences". She was only slightly surprised when she saw a new note-worthy notification.
The blog said that something had happened in Pamplona, Spain, though the photos were edgy and not much evidence to go on. However, one photo did catch her interest: a photo of a man, perhaps in his mid-thirties, Asian, with dark hair and wearing a blue sweater and beige pants. The hunter narrowed her eyes suspiciously, before going back to previous posts of the same nature, though from different points around the world, and brought up pictures: the man was featured in at least one picture at every single sighting.
Coincidence? Highly unlikely. The hunter narrowed her green eyes on the man a lock of red hair falling in front of her eyes as she studied his features. Things were definitely getting out of hand, and if the situation didn't change soon, then the hunter mentally conceded that it may be time for her to move locations to do a little clean up…
Author's Note: A big shout to InsanityisReality for being my beta - you rock!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter and please don't forget to review!