Darek slowly opened his eyes and positioned himself to sit up. He rubbed his eyes as he looked at his surroundings. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he first noticed that he was sitting on a king-sized bed. "When did I... ?" Darek paused to ask as he noticed that he was in a bedroom. To his right, the windows were bare and the sunlight came down through them, causing Darek to wince at its intensity. The bedroom itself was clean and bare of much furniture except for the black dressing table to the left of the bed, a char that was tucked in, and a table mirror hanging above the desk. When Darek saw the mirror and his reflection, he moved off the bed towards the mirror to get a better look at himself. He no longer had bags under his eyes and his hair was perfectly groomed with no hair put out of place. Darek was no longer in his black sweater and sweatpants he was wearing before. Instead, he was in a black satin nightgown that covered his body down to his knees. "I wasn't wearing this," he muttered. Darek untied the robe and looked down to see himself in matching pajama shorts. "I definitely wasn't wearing this," he said as he retied his robe. Still, he couldn't help the smile growing on his lips as he leaned into the mirror and smoothed back his hair. "But, I ain't complain'."

Besides the bed, there was a pair of house slippers that Darek slipped on his feet before walking out of the bedroom. "This must be Uncle Zuo's place," he said as he scratched his head. Now that he was outside his bedroom, he could see he was upstairs because of the beginning set of stairs descending at the end of the hallway. Here, Darek could hear the sounds of his aunts and uncles conversing amongst each other downstairs. "Sounds like I'm the last one up," he said as he strolled down the right side of the double staircase.

"Is that Darek?" Seymour called out just as Darek reached the bottom step with a heavy thud.

"Come to the dining room," Zuo directed.

Darek strolled through the open entrance underneath the stairs and looked to his left and right down the large corridor. "Tch, like I'm supposed to know wh-"

"This matcha tea is really good, Ms. Midori," a woman complimented. Darek's stopped in his stride and felt his stomach drop.

"That is the finest organic matcha tea imported from Japan," Do replied informatively. "And please, call me Aunt Do."

Darek picked up his pace to track down where the voices came from. There was a dreadful feeling quickly growing on Darek's spirit as he stopped at the end of the corridor at the open entrance of the grand dining room. It was filled with many luxuries like a glass chandelier hanging in the center of the room and gold-accented designs painted on all the room's light gold painted walls. Darek's abrupt appearance caused the adults in the room to turn their heads to regard him as they were all eating their breakfasts.

"Glad you could finally join us, Darek," Xavior announced with his usual smug grin spread across his face. Xavior Feng was a dark tan-skinned man with dark hair styled in an updo and had a double chin. "Your girlfriend Jade is a wonderful guest."

"You should've introduced her to us sooner," Bao said as she took a bite of her dough stick. Bao Tsai had pale skin and black hair tied in a half up half down style. She had on a white nightgown with a blue outline.

Darek's red eyes darted over to meet Jade's brown eyes. The young woman waved at him with a warm smile as she sipped her tea. "Hey, Darek."

Darek remained silent for a few moments before blurting out, "Who the fuck invited you here?" He said this from his confusion and shock and less from anger.

"Watch your mouth," Zuo scolded as he took a bite of his toast. Zuo Lan was to the far left of the dining table wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a red and purple satin robe.

"Now Darek, that's no way to talk to your girlfriend," Seymour said with a snicker. He was sitting to Jade's right eating a muffin.

"You did this!" Darek hissed and stormed over to the table. With Seymour sitting right across from him, Darek wanted so badly to reach across and snatch him up by his collar.

"Seymour told us about your girlfriend and we all reached out and invited her over," Do stated. Midori Kondo, also known to the family as 'Do', was a woman with a bulbous, round build. She had her dark hair tied up in a bun and had a green nightgown on.

"I never thought Darek could get a girlfriend," Chang said, resulting in Dan chuckling two seats away from him. Chang Zhu was an olive-toned man with a buzzcut, a clean-shaven face, and a muscled figure. As for Dan Guo, he had dark skin and a full beard. He was wearing a tank top and shorts as his underwear.

"For fu-" Darek facepalmed to catching himself in his next words. He looked around at his elders one by one with a closed mouth and a hand covering his mouth. He made sure to prolong his stares at Jade and Seymour. The young man did his very best to, in Uncle Zuo's words, "watch his mouth" while getting what he wanted to say across. "Why would you do that?!"

"Because we'd all like to get to know the girlfriend of our nephew," Bao said. "Now sit down and eat your breakfast."

Darek shook his head and crossed his arms. "I'm not eating," he said. He then pointed to Jade with a sharp glare. "And she's not my girlfriend!"

"Yes she is," Seymour quickly quipped.

"She's not!" Darek roared.

"Not anymore," Jade corrected.

"Wait, what? Really?" Seymour asked as he looked between Jade and his nephew with a confused look.

Jade took a sip of her tea and shook her head. "Yep. Darek was the one who ended things."

Darek's eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped in shock with a croak. "I-"

"Why'd you dump your girl, Darek? You two were practically made for each other," Seymour asked with a sly grin.

At this point, Darek was now glaring daggers at his uncle. "When I'm done with you, I'll sell your remains on the black market!" he hissed.

"Why did you end your relationship?" Zuo faced his nephew to ask.

"It's not your business," Darek answered with a growl.

"We're all here, so you might as well spill," Chang said.

"No!"

"Don't hold out on us, nephew," Do said teasingly.

"Yeah, don't be shy," Seymour chuckled out.

"I can explain if you don't want to," Jade innocently offered.

Darek furiously shook his head at her offer. "Nonono!"

"Then tell us, Darek," Dan demanded.

"Yes, tell us," Bao said.

"Tell us. Tell us. Tell us. Tell us," all the adults (even Jade) chanted monotonously. It had started off softly and increased the volume with every chant.

"Argh!" Darek snarled. He shut his eyes and put his hands on his ears. This only worsened the sounds as they became louder. "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Ah!" Darek gasped and his eyes shot wide open. His pupils danced from side to side with a sense of wildness in them as he abruptly sat up in his seat. It took Darek a few seconds to realize that Ice's eyes were locked with his own as the blond was leaning over him with his hands planted on his boss' shoulders. He furrowed his brow in confusion at Ice because he couldn't recognize him at first. "Wha... what happened?" Darek breathed.

"We at SFO. Cobra and DJ are in the back unpackin' yo' bags," Ice said as he stepped down from the car and jerked his head to the trunk. Darek turned his head in that direction also to see Cobra taking his smaller bags from the back and setting them on the ground. Meanwhile, DJ was in the middle of moving one bigger bag out of the trunk and setting it down to get the other bag.

Darek exhaled through his nose and laid back in his seat in his relief. Here, he could feel his heart and his breathing slow down to return to their normal paces. The recent events of the day were now returning to him piece by piece. When the anxiousness from his chest lifted, Darek unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped down from the vehicle. He stretched his arms and limbs, then moved down to smooth his cramped lower back and calve muscles. "How long was I out?" Darek yawned.

"You clocked out from the moment we left th' neighborhood," Ice said with a sly smile as he closed the car door behind Darek. "You looked like you was havin' a deep dream or sum."

"It's nothing," Darek dismissed with a shake of his head. He stared off in the distance towards the skyline, where the sky was now much brighter than it was an hour ago. The sunlight had caught him off-guard, and Darek had to hold up his hand and squint his eyes to blackout the sunlight, to the best of his ability. Should've brought my sunglasses, Darek frowned as he readjusted his hood. "C'mon," he gestured with his hand and began to walk.

The Ice Crew nodded in agreement as they grabbed their boss' luggage to walk after him. The men walked through the chilly parking garage, minding for cars and for other people coming and going from the building. They stopped when they reached the metal doors to an elevator already in motion, to which Darek pressed the elevator button pointing up. The elevator responded with a soft ping! and light up the button. All the men had to do now was wait.

Two minutes later, still, the elevator doors didn't open. "Man!" Ice threw back his head and cross his arms with an irritated sigh. "Elevators at the airport be the slowest!"

Darek tried repeatedly pressing both the up and down buttons, hoping it would react and move faster. He briefly stopped when the down button lit up and made a sound. After some seconds passed, the door didn't budge. "Seriously?" Darek breathed as an annoyed scowl crossed his face.

"We could just take the stairs," Cobra suggested with a small shrug. A little far off from where they were standing, there was a large open entrance for the concrete stairwell that went up and down the parking garage.

Darek turned to look at the stairwell with an annoyed look. Even if he was not carrying his own bags, he felt like taking the stairs would take a lot of energy out of him, energy he was trying to save for Hong Kong. But Darek knew his time was passing, and he didn't have the time to waste on a slow elevator. He let out a defeated sigh and shrugged. "Fine."

The Ice Crew followed after Darek as the men walked over to the stairs. Ice was the first to look up and down the stairwell, then turn to Cobra and DJ holding Darek's things. "D-dude, these stairs ain't for people to carry their bags on."

"Yea, 'specially since there ain't a ramp," Cobra said. From a distance, Cobra had thought the stairs weren't that big, but seeing them up close is what made the man start to have second thoughts about what he said.

Darek rolled his eyes at Cobra. "You were the one who suggested the stairs in the first place," he said and moved past him to go on the first step. "Stop complaining and let's go already!"

"Easy for you when other people are carryin' yo' bags," Cobra mumbled. As he bent down to grab Darek's bags, he heard solid footsteps approaching and stopping in front of him. Hearing the first step caused Cobra to momentarily pause and take a moment to swallow the golf ball-sized lump in his throat. When he finally found the courage to look up, Cobra found himself locking eyes with Darek's.

Darek slightly bent over Cobra with crossed arms and gave him a narrow glare. "You got somethin' you wanna say?" he growled.

"Yo, me? I-I ain't say nothin', D! I was jus' playin'!" Cobra held up his hands defensively and nervously chuckled.

Ice crossed his arms and looked to the ground with a frown. "Cranky ass woke up on th' wrong side of th' bed," the blond muttered out of his boss' earshot.

Seeing Cobra return to complacency helped Darek to take a deep breath and let go of his temper. Whenever his authority was challenged by the Ice Crew, Darek made sure he was quick to remind them who was in charge. "That's what I thought," he said.

Just then, the elevators sounded off and opened its' doors. Darek and the Ice Crew simultaneously looked to it to see a group of two men and a woman walk out into the parking lot with their luggage in tow.

"-els like cardboard," one man groaned while moving his shoulders up and down.

"Told you you should've gotten that neck pillow," the woman said.

"Yeah man, they were, like, an easy ten bucks," the second man added.

From the stairs, Darek and the Ice Crew could see that the elevator was still open, almost as if it was waiting to be boarded. The four men looked to the stairs, then to the elevator again. They exchanged glances for a solid moment, then they all dashed across the parking lot (luggage in hand) towards the elevator. Ice was the first to make it inside and repeatedly jammed his thumb on the door open button that would keep the doors open long enough for DJ and Cobra to catch up. "We made it," Ice smirked as he dapped up his friends.

"We got lucky, yo. Otherwise, we'd be breakin' our backs up 'em steps!" Cobra joked back.

Darek was the last to board the elevator with his large bag in tow and put his back against the wall to catch his breath. "... Damn elevator's... making me... break a sweat," the Asian huffed. He took a moment to count all the bags to make sure no one dropped left one behind.

"It woulda been worse if we took the stairs," Ice smirked as he pressed the second-floor button, then the door close button.

Darek looked at Ice with disdain and let out a grumpy huff. "Yeah, probably."

From there, the elevator ride got quiet. Now there were many times where the four worked together and the areas they were in, big and small, was filled with silence, so the stillness in the elevator was not the issue. It seemed to come down from the fact that the quiet was an awkward, thick quiet. The Ice Crew couldn't help but to stare at their boss, whose eyes were concentrated on the floor. His arms were crossed and his facial expression was stone-like and hard to read. Cobra and DJ looked to Ice, who shrugged in response. This caused DJ to skeptically raise his eyebrow at the blond. He darted his eyes to Darek and gave Ice a nudge in their boss' direction. Ice rubbed his shoulder and shot his friend a look. However, he continued anyway "Sooo... " Ice drew out and lightly cleared his throat.

Darek lifted his gaze to Ice and cocked his brow at him. "Hm?"

"You've been off yo' game this mornin'. You good?"

Darek shook his head. "Don't worry 'bout it," he replied. Darek couldn't lie; Ice coming to check up on him felt nice, though he would never openly admit it. "I just wanna get everything over with."

"I feel ya," Ice answered with an understanding nod.

Just then, the elevator doors stopped on the designated floor. When the doors opened, the men were greeted with the convoluted sounds of the airport terminals. It sounded orderly and chaotic all at once. The air smelled clean with the distant smells of restaurant food hot and ready for customers to eat. When people walked with their luggage, the wheels made occasional squeaks across their ceramic floors. People talked and laughed amongst themselves in their conversations; there were even a few baby and toddler's cries that echoed in the air. The news and announcing given over the intercom could barely be heard over the other sounds on the floor.

Darek let out a tired sigh as he stepped off the elevator. It wasn't the noises and chaos that made him tired, as he had dealt with air travel plenty of times in his past. Knowing he had to navigate through the busyness of the place is what was beginning to drain Darek out already.

"Yo, are those soft pretzels?" Cobra called out in excitement. To the far right of the check-in counter, there was a restaurant selling bakeries, sweets, and many other types of goods. From where Cobra stood, he could see there were soft and fresh pretzels sitting on display. "I've been cravin' fo' that all week, man!"

Ice swatted Cobra's shoulder "Shut up!"

"If you're hungry, go eat," Darek said and waved them off in the restaurant's direction. "I can handle my own."

"You sure?" an unsure Cobra asked.

"Yeah, just don't fuck around," Darek said.

"You the best, Boss!" Ice saluted his boss and walked off with Cobra to the restaurant.

Darek felt a finger tap his shoulder and turned his head to see DJ still standing beside him. "What?" DJ pointed up behind him at a sign that said 'Bathroom', which was up over the door to both the men's and women's bathrooms. DJ was a fairly quiet guy who preferred not to speak if he could help it. Darek respected his "silent oath", as he noticed DJ seemed to listen to him more and paid more attention to his plans. The Asian grabbed his luggage from DJ and gestured his head towards the check-in counter far off in front of him. "I'll be in line."

Dj slightly bowed his head in his gratitude before hustling off towards the bathroom, leaving Darek by himself in line. Even though his men weren't too far away from him, the tranquility of finally being alone felt good. Suddenly, Darek felt the bottom front of his sweater sound off with a buzz. When he reached in to pull out his cell and read the caller ID, the man couldn't help rolling his eyes as he put his phone to his ear. "Yeah?"

"You think it's funny to hang up on me like that, jackass?!" Seymour shouted.

"What, me? S'not my fault, Sey, my wifi was acting funny," Darek said as he hid the amused grin on his face. "But airport wifi is much better, right?"

"You're a real piece of shit," Seymour bit back. He was currently in his Hampton hotel room in Chicago lying in his bed. His flight had an overnight layover and the airline offered Seymour a free hotel room to temporarily rest in until his next flight to the Narita International Airport in Japan at 4:20 pm. Seymour could feel the effects of jet lag begin to creep upon him, but he was able to hold it off for some time to make this call.

"I'm your favorite nephew, unc, don't get mad."

"So you bringing 'er or what?"

Darek's playful attitude shattered instantly as his grin dipped into an uncomfortable scowl. His mind flashed back to his dream and he shuddered. At that moment, Darek felt like he wanted to snap on his uncle over the phone and hang up again. He took in a deep breath to swallow down this feeling, then sighed. I'm gonna have to deal with it sooner or later. Darek's free hand combed through his hair and rested on the back of his neck. "Jade's not coming."

Seymour furrowed his brows at the phone, almost as if he were face-to-face with Darek. Something felt off about his nephew's response, but Seymour couldn't properly place the feeling since he couldn't see him. Have they broken up or something? Seymour rubbed his chin. As tempted as he was to ask, Seymour decided to hold off that thought for another time. At this time, the call was awkwardly silent on both ends, which Seymour ended by clearing his throat. "Er, that's fine. No biggie," he said. "Zuo told me to send you his address."

"So nobody thought to link me to the family group chat to tell me all this?"

"Because your smartass didn't wanna be in the group chat, remember?"

"Yeah, 'cuz you guys kept blowing up my line."

"Your problem, not mine." With that, Seymour copy-and-pasted the address and sent it to Darek's phone through his messages. "I sent it."

Darek took his phone from his ear to look at his phone. Moments later, Seymour's text message popped up in the form of a preview on his phone. When he pressed the preview, there was the address. "361 Kwai Long Street, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon?" Darek repeated.

"Yup. Oh, and another thing... " Seymour said. Over the line, he heard Darek groan again. Seymour bit back a snicker and shrugged. "Like I said; your problem, not mine. Midori said somethin' about everybody needing to bring some kind of gift when we arrive."

"What kind?"

"I dunno, she wasn't specific. Just don't bring flowers, you know Dan hates those. There are tons of holiday-themed candy boxes in Hong Kong anyway. Just grab one before you make it to Zuo's." With that, Seymour ended the call.

Darek stuffed his phone back into his pocket with a heavy sigh and he massaged the bridge of his nose. "I hate everyone."

A/N: This chapter took a little longer than I expected, mostly because of exams and some last-minute assignments I had to turn in. It's also longer (maybe twice as long) as the previous chapters and I'm good with that.

Here, we are briefly introduced to more of the demons through their human versions. I did a basic introduction of the demons in this chapter because I want to save it for their official debut:

Xiao Fung = Xavior Feng

Tchang Zu = Chang Zhu

Dai Gui = Dan Guo

Bai Tza = Bao Tsai

Tootsiekitten: The plot is moving a little slow for now, but eventually I will reach the "demons" and be able to go in depth with my headcanons for them. And I think we can both agree that for Darek's sake, Seymour keeps his nephew's secret a secret.

Guest: Those are all very good questions! For the sake of plot, I can neither confirm nor deny them at the moment. You will just have to wait and see :D

See ya next time!