Leanne handed Lo Si a cup of tea. "I've added the peach leaves to the oolong." She told him as she took her seat. She put the remaining leaves into a small paper bag and tucked it into the bedside table drawer for safe keeping. She didn't know if the properties of the leaves were different from ordinary peach tree leaves and didn't want to give him too much. She would have to play it by ear.
"Thank you." Lo Si said. "It is a shame we did not bring the xiangqi board. It is after all, Wednesday." He was bored. He had work to do and he was certain that no one else was doing as he asked. It was frustrating.
"I could retrieve it for you." Wukong offered.
"No. I do not want you out in this storm. No matter how powerful you may be, my friend." He was worried about his new friend. Being a powerful, immortal being did not make him invulnerable.
"He's right." Leanne said. "I can see if there is a deck of cards to be found."
"It would pass the time." Lo Si said. He wasn't one for television. Especially as the only thing on was coverage of the storm.
Leanne slipped out of the room and out into the corridor.
"Is he doing alright?" the nurse behind the nurses station asked. The Ancient, as he said he was called, waffled back and forth between sweet, flirty, and cranky. Not an uncommon thing with their elderly patients.
"He's better than he was. He's feeling well enough to be bored." She answered. "I don't suppose there is a deck of cards about?"
"Not up here." The nurse said "There might be something down in the cafeteria. They sometimes have things like that at the register. The gift shop shut down early this morning."
"I'll take a look. I could use something to eat anyway." It would give Lo Si and Wukong time to talk.
"Take the stairs down. The lights have been flickering. You don't want to be stuck in the elevator if the power goes out."
"You're right about that." Leanne said, "thanks." She said and headed toward the stairs. With someone to sit with Lo Si she felt comfortable taking a little time to clear her head. There were too many thoughts of her grandfather and the part he had played in destroying Peter's childhood. That is if Laura Navarro was to be believed. She had her doubts. Well… she doubted the woman was completely honest, but she didn't have much trouble believing that her grandfather was a monster. That unfortunately was confirmed by multiple sources.
She took the stairs at a quick pace. She made it two floors down when the lights began to flicker. She paused at the landing, waiting until the lights stopped flickering to continue on. She slowed her pace, making it half way to the next landing before the lights once again flickered and then went out. She continued down cautiously, until she came to the next landing. She leaned against the wall, waiting for the lights to come back on.
She took her cell phone out of her purse and turned on the flashlight. Then she screamed. Yulong Yeoh stood before her on the landing. "Grandfather." She said, pressing one hand to her chest as she sought to catch her breath. "You startled me." Startled wasn't entirely accurate. He had scared the hell out of her, and that wasn't passing as quickly as she'd like.
"You have vexed me greatly." He said advancing toward her. "You have refused to give my servant the book."
"I should accept the word of just anyone who drops your name?" She asked, taking steps back away from him. She pressed the speed dial number for Peter, holding the phone close to her chest. "You taught me better than that." Her heart pounded in her chest, and her blood rushed in her ears, making it hard to think, hard to hear what her grandfather was saying. Or that Peter answered the phone.
"Hmm…" he said, studying her carefully. "There is something to that I suppose. Since when are you afraid of me, Child?" He asked. Even the term of endearment sounded sharp edged.
"Since you've changed…" She said honestly, although it was more that her perception of him had changed.
"I haven't changed. You're just not a little girl anymore, Li Na. You're a disobedient, promiscuous woman that I should have killed the night your brother died. Now where is my damned book." He had loved her then, and had foolishly, to his thinking, trusted her to do as he demanded. She should have found the original Kwai Chang Caine and married him. He could have controlled that man. He was young and lonely and not a mystic. Each generation became stronger and more attuned to the mystic arts. Peter was following his father down that route. Everything he had put in place with that boy, his granddaughter was undoing. He wanted to wring her neck.
"Safe." She said. "And it will stay that way." She trembled. "Unless you harm me, because then it will be destroyed and what ever it is you want will be gone forever." She knew he would do it if given half a chance. She'd seen that look in his eyes before, just not directed at her.
"Perhaps I should kill your lover instead."
"Then the bloodline is lost. He's the last and I'm not pregnant." It was strange that her voice trembled yet managed to be firm at the same time. It sounded alien to her ears. She silently thanked who ever was listening that she'd placed protections on Peter months before.
"There are worse things than death. I want you to remember that. Because when this storm has run it's course you are going to get that book and give it to Hu Li. If you do this I will consider leaving the two of you alone. Do not vex me again." He backed away from her, and when the lights came back on he was gone.
Leanne sank to the floor, and cried. She could hear Peter calling her name through the cell phone. She put it to her ear with a trembling hand. "I'm alright." She said.
"The hell you are." Peter said. "Where are you?"
"I was taking the stairs down to the cafeteria. Wukong is with The Ancient."
"I'm heading that way." Peter said.
"No, stay where you are. It's not safe to be out in this. He's gone now. We can't…"
"I know." Peter said. "And we won't. We'll destroy it once we can get to it again. " Better to destroy it and face Yeoh's wrath than to give in and let him have that book. Heaven only knew what he was actually looking for. "We have to move fast. He's forcing our hand."
"I know." She said, and wiped the tears from her eyes. She would do what ever she had to do to keep Peter safe from her grandfather. No matter the cost. "If we run he'll take it out on everyone we have ever cared about."
"I don't run anymore." Peter said. The only time he had even tried to run was from Pine Ridge and he had felt guilty about it from the moment he fled to the moment he was brought back. He wondered if that was because his previous incarnation had run for so long and his soul wanted no more of it.
"Sometimes I wish you would." She said softly.
"No you don't." He said. "I love you. We'll get through this."
"I love you, too."
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When the lights went out , Lo Si frowned. "We need to find Leanne." He swung his legs over the side of the bed.
"You need to stay in bed" Wukong said moving toward the bed, to help him get back under the covers. "I do not think she is afraid of the dark."
"There is an evil present in this darkness." Lo Si said. "Go and find the girl if you will not permit me to do so."
Wukong shook his head. "I will not leave you."
"Then you leave me no choice." Lo Si said once more swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. He slid slowly down until his feet touched the floor
"You are in no condition to battle evil today." Wukong said.
"Then you need to find her." He said, and grasped his IV pole for support. He started walking toward the door.
"She is not ill. You are. You should go back to your bed." Wukong said. "I will not leave you alone if you sense evil."
"Ill is not the same as helpless." Lo Si argued.
"No. It is not—" Wukong said, and would have continued but The Ancient began to slump. He instead stepped in close and slid his arm around Lo Si and helped him back to his bed.
"Wukong. Please…" Lo Si began and the lights flickered back on. He felt the evil presence leave.
Wukong handed him the tea Leanne had made of the peach leaves. "You must finish this. The Queen of the West would not have sent the leaves if they were not going to help."
Lo Si grumbled. "You are as bad as Caine." Nevertheless, he drank the tea.
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Peter paced the confines of the small apartment, occasionally pausing to glare out the window at the weather.
"She said she was alright." Caine said gently.
"Her grandfather just threatened to kill her and me. There is no way she is alright. Yeah she knows he's an evil son of a bitch but she still loved him. He clearly doesn't love her back."
"You wish to go to her."
"Definitely." Peter said "But she's right, it's too dangerous out there. I'd never make it to the hospital. I hate that by the way. I'm supposed to be able to protect her."
"He will not harm her today." Caine said. "He wants his book. The danger begins when the storm has settled."
"Then that's about how long we have to find a way to stop him." Peter said. "According to Leanne, when her brother died he decided that your grandfather was his heir and the one to continue the Yeoh line. He'd follow through on his threat to kill her without blinking. She said he doesn't need her, he needs me."
" More so because you are the reincarnation of my grandfather. " Caine said worriedly. He did not like the idea of Yulong Yeoh having designs on his son for any reason.
"Well that complicates things." Peter grumbled. "I don't understand why it has to be someone from our line. He could have adopted any number of male children to carry on the line. He's immortal it's not like he's going to need someone to light incense for him."
Caine frowned. "Unless it is something he needs from the line of Kwai Chang."
Peter closed his eyes and sighed. "Shamballa." He said. "The blasted Shamballa prophesy. If he controls the bloodline he can circumvent the prophesy."He shook his head. "You know I'm getting tired of being the focal point of prophesy."
Caine laughed quietly. "You would do these things whether anyone foresaw it or not. It is in your nature." He said. "I believe you are correct about it involving Shamballa."
"It would explain why he attacked you earlier ." Peter said. "It's supposed to be father and son after all."
Caine nodded. "Yes. I believe that he is trying to prevent us from fulfilling the prophesy, and Master Yuan, the librarian in Shamballa is trying to prevent another generation being born and joining with you to fulfill the prophesy."
Peter frowned deeply. "How so?"
"He tries to convince others that she is a willing accomplice to her grandfather's schemes" He said.
Peter blanched. "Lo Si was trying to find a way to undo their immortality… so they can be killed." He felt sick inside. "She trusts him…"
"He was trying to find a way to reverse Yulong Yeoh's immortality. He was not trying to harm Leanne. He is trying to save her."
"There is no need to remove her immortality then. There are no souls trapped within her. You saw that yourself."
"That is something that Leanne should decide for herself."
Peter nodded. "She didn't have a choice about whether or not to become immortal." He said. "Perhaps you're right… she should have the choice now. Have you had the chance to look at the bottle she gave you?"
"The final ingredient to his elixir. I have examined it. I do not know what it is." He said. "I must focus on how to save Lo Si."
"Okay so how do we go about doing that when it's a plant that doesn't even come from this realm?"
"The same way we would find it here. Trial and error. I believe that his proximity to the flowers while they were still alive has drained his qi dangerously. It may not be that his immortality has been taken from him. More likely that he still lives because of his immortality. His time in the hospital may give him time to replenish his qi. Leanne knows how to help replenish his reserves."
"She's smart." Peter said with a smile. "And feisty." His favorite kind of woman.
"The two of you are well matched." Caine said, smiling as well.
"I don't think we would have been if I'd stayed a cop. We both have one foot in the modern world and the other in the mystical world."
"Are they not the same world?" Caine asked.
"Depends on who you talk to." Peter said. "According to Jordan I lost track of reality after taking the brands."
"Is that why the two of you broke up?"
Peter nodded. "Yeah. We were both ready for it to be over. It ended well but we haven't stayed in touch. I'm glad it ended when it did. I had time to move on before I met Leanne." He said smiling.
Caine nodded. "This was the time for the two of you."
"That's what he said." Peter said. "That they didn't marry because she was meant to be with this incarnation. It's insane how that all worked out. Not that I'm complaining. So how are things with you and Mary Margaret?"
Caine raised an eyebrow.
"Oh come on, Dad. It's not an out of bounds question."
Caine shrugged. "We are getting to know one another again. It is too soon to know."
"I don't know about that. I mean she isn't a traffic cop. She wasn't out there today because there was pile up. She was there because I told her you were there in the middle of it all. She could have sent in uniforms. She also hasn't been seeing anyone else since you left town either. There's plenty to know."
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Javier Navarro was furious. He was handcuffed to a chair! His demands to speak to his lawyer was falling on deaf ears. Or perhaps just stupid ones. Yes he was certain the detective in the green sun glasses was an idiot.
"No one is going to go out in this storm because you don't like your accommodations." Kermit said. "Just relax. This is better than being ankle deep in water down in your cell."
"Get him on the phone." Javier demanded.
"Phone lines are reserved for emergencies. You're not having an emergency." Jody Powell told him. Spoiled, entitled, arrogant prick, she thought. She'd be glad when he was extradited back to France and was no longer their problem. With any luck his wife would go with him and give Peter one less thing to worry about.
She walked over to Skalany's desk and sat on the corner. "Do you think Simms would let me shoot him on principle?"
"Not right now. House keeping is too busy trying to keep up with all the water to come and clean up the blood. It would get everything sticky and by morning it would reek."
"Spoil sport." Jody said.
"Trust me, I would rather be able to shoot him too and I don't even have to deal with him." Skalany said.
"Okay, so level with me." Jody said. "You know this girl that Peter's engaged to, do you think it's going to happen this time?"
"Yeah, I do." She said.
They became engrossed in their conversation about all things Caine and didn't notice the middle aged Chinese man that had come into the precinct house. No one saw him. No one, that is, except for Javier Navarro.
He locked gazes with the immortal and nodded.
Yeoh looked at the ceiling above and once more, Navarro nodded and bent over in his chair.
"I'm going to be sick." He said and covered his head with his hands. He closed his eyes tight in anticipation.
Kermit moved over to Navarro, rolling his eyes. If Javier Navarro was sick, Kermit was the Queen of England. Nevertheless he had to check it out. Just in case he was wrong.
It started with a cracking sound coming from the ceiling. Quiet at first then it grew louder with each wave of energy that Yulong Yeoh threw at it until the metal supports for the 'tiled' ceiling warped and gave way, dropping tile and duct work down onto those below. Kermit was knocked to the floor as the metal ventilation duct hit him on the back of the head.
Yulong Yeoh glided through the ensuing chaos as though it was a manicured garden. He moved in a straight line toward Navarro.
Mary Margaret was the only one that saw and even then she wasn't certain that he wasn't a figment of her imagination as he blinked in and out of her field of vision. She shook her head quickly not sure what was going on with what she was seeing. She turned away to help Jody out from under the debris.
Yeoh tapped Navarro's handcuffs twice and they fell to the floor. Navarro stood up. He took pleasure in stepping on an unconscious Kermit as he walked out of the precinct, unseen by anyone there but Yeoh.
"I'll get my family and-"
"No." Yeoh said sharply. "I have need of you in Kunlun Shan."