CHAPTER 18: THE CONTINUING SEARCH

CHAPTER 18: THE CONTINUING SEARCH

Almost a year had passed and at Mystic Falls, a young man stood from the shoreline to watch the massive waterfall hit the rocks. On his neck, he wore an animal-skinned string necklace, and tied at the end, was the platinum Victorian engagement ring. He held it tight in his hand, remembering the first day it happened. All three of them; Cecilia, Tsui Man, and he, Yang Kai Li, fell from the blue sky into this raging river. It almost took his life, but what hurt the most was that it took his love…Cecilia Lin. Unknown if she was still alive or not, her body was never found.

Yang Kai Li’s physical body had changed. He wore a brown and white long robe and on his black belt, was a talisman. His hair had grown and was down to his back. It was tied with ragged strings into a half pony tail, but left some strands in front of his face. His facial complexion was much more defined with his sharp cheekbones; as for his physique, it was more built than before. He kept his body in shape by combinations of exercise, boxing, and other forms of martial arts that he learned from his world. During his stay in Mortal Realm, he taught himself sword skills with what he knew. Although his physical look changed, inside his heart, his love for Cecilia remained the same, and he only anticipated to be reunited with her someday. In his heart, he believed that she was still alive somewhere, looking for him also.

In his other hand, he held some wild flowers that he picked up and knelt down to place it next to the sign. In front of him was a wooden tombstone-like sign that stood from the earth’s ground: My dearest love, Cecilia Lin, wait for me here. I’m searching for you. Yang Kai Li. He carved these words to hope she would discover it and know he was still alive. For almost the past twelve months, he had made the area of Mystic Falls his home and traveled short and long distances to other villages down the Mystic River searching for her. When he traveled far, he would leave a note for her next to the sign to let her know when he would be back. When he came back from a long trip, he would rush to the sign to see if she was there.

Behind him, a young lady, Qiao Mei Mei, stood watching him from a distance. She wore a green robe and on her right wrist, she wore a jade bead bracelet. Her black bangs were thick and covered her forehead completely. She was a cute little lady; porcelain skin, rounded umber eyes, and when she smiled, her deep dimples showed. The only difference between her and Kai was that she was demon; a part of the bird demon group, the sparrows.

When the Black Forest’s seal broke, she was one of many demons escaped. She went into hiding at Mystic Falls and stumbled upon Kai’s unconscious body. It was fortunate that he met a good demon like her, otherwise; he would have been food for the evil demons or wild animals.

It was her that he finally realized Cecilia, Tsui Man, and he had fallen into another dimension. The place looked exactly like his home, EARTH, but it was in an era where different ancient civilizations intertwined with mystical beings. Everyone in the dimension called it the Mortal Realm. She educated him in reading and writing, about the three different realms-Mortal, Celestial, and Demon, and their history, in exchanged of him educating her about his world. They both had something in common-they came from different worlds and had bonded quickly.  

“Are you sure about this?” she asked Kai.

“Yes. I will have to take my chance and travel further to search for her.” His fingers touched the carved words, “I may not come here often as I use to, but I will be back.”

He took out the engagement box from his shirt pocket and opened it. Inside was a small folded letter that he wrote. He stared at it for the last time and then closed it. With his hands, he dug a shallow hole in front of the sign and buried the box halfway to secure it in place. Then he placed rock pebbles around the buried box in a heart shape.

“Please wait for me here…” he said silently.

“Uh…”

By the tone of Mei Mei’s voice, he knew something was wrong. He got up and turned to see that she looked bothered.

“What’s the matter?”

She looked to the side. “I’m afraid that if we leave, I may not able to protect you from demons,” and bit her bottom lip.

He chuckled a bit and grabbed his talisman from his belt to show her. “Silly girl, this will protect me…” then he figured out her real reason. “Oh, I get it…You’re afraid of being caught by demon hunters. That is why you tried to make excuses to stay here, am I right?”

She pursed her lips and was silence.

“Don’t worry. I will protect you from anyone that harms you.”

She stared at him, “Then who will protect you then? You know, I cannot use my powers nor harm any Mortals for one thousand days. It’s one of the rules for becoming Mortal.”

Kai placed his hands on his hips and shook his head, “Fine. I can go by myself and you can stay here then. You can help me watch this place to see if Cici comes.”

She weighed her options. If she stayed, she may encounter bad people or worse, demon hunters. If she left with him, she had a better chance of him protecting her. She had seen him fight and kill many people during their search for Cecilia and never once, she was harmed. She finally made her decision.

She rolled her eyes and exhaled, “Ok, I’ll go.”

Kai patted her head to tease her, “Good Little Mei Mei…”

Upset, she pulled his hand away from her. “I am not your pet ok!” She yelled while he laughed loudly.

She stumped away from him to go back home and shouted, “MY PRECIOUS PATH TO MORTALITY IS IN YOUR HANDS!”

He trailed behind, still laughing.

---

In his room, he gathered a set of clothing and other items for their journey. Mei Mei entered in and on the table, she saw a picture of Cecilia that he drew and walked toward it.

She picked it up, “Aren’t you going to make more copies of this?”

“No,” he replied while tying the cloth bag. Then he continued, “I’ve done it for almost a year and there was no result. Instead, I am going to take it with me and continue to ask around instead.”

Still staring at the drawing, she nodded, “Alright…”

He finished packing, carried his bag and sword, and walked toward her. He quickly snatched the picture from her hands and it startled her.

“Hey!”

He continued to walk passed her and shouted, “It’s time to go.” Mei Mei sneered at him and stomped out to catch up with him.

Both stood outside of their house to look at it for the last time. They won’t know when they would be back again. The house was their home that once was an abandon place. They fixed it up by replacing rotten wood with new ones, rebuilding walls with muddy clays, and decorated the interior with wood furniture made from scratch, hanging pictures, and plants. It had a modern touched to it as well-with coffee table, cabinets, futon, and soft beds.

“I’m going to miss this place.” she sighed.

“Same here.”

Kai was going to miss the hard work that both of them had put into; but most of all, this was the only place that he felt like he was back in his world.

He nudged her on the arm, “Come, let’s get out of here.” Both turned around and left.

---

Kai and Mei Mei walked on the dirt path for hours. She started to complain about her feet hurting and wanted to rest, but Kai insisted for them to keep going. Then another two hours had passed and she couldn’t walk another step anymore. Her feet finally gave up and she collapsed to the ground onto her knees.

“Kai, my feet hurt. I can’t go any further!”

He stopped and turned back to see her on the ground massaging her feet. He shook his head sighing and walked toward her.

He knelt down beside her, “Fine, we’ll rest.”

Her face lit up with excitement, “YAY!”

He interrupted, “Only for thirty minutes.”

She quickly frowned and looked away, upset at him. “If only I could use my powers, I would have transformed back to my sparrow form and flown with ease.” Then she glared at him and raised her voice, “…I would already have shitted many times on your head too!”

His grinned widened, “A sparrow meat must taste like chicken. I should try it then.”

Offended, she raised her fist to hit him. “YOU!” but stopped to remind herself of the rules to mortality, and lowered her fist. Instead she closed her eyes and took a deep breath to cool down.

“You almost made me break my path to mortality. I need to meditate to calm my body down because of you.”

She sat on the ground and crossed her legs to meditate while he got up to look around. In front of him, inside the forest, he saw something white and walked to the end of the side dirt path. He squint his eyes to focus on the object. Slap! A hand was on his shoulders and he quickly turned around with the sword half way out of its sheath. Mei Mei jumped back with a fright to see the blade aimed at her. Seeing that it was only Mei Mei, Kai quickly put back his sword and yelled at her.

“DON’T DO THAT! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!”

“I…I’m sorry…I saw you standing and thought something was wrong with you…”

With a stern look, he pointed at her, “Call my name next time.”

She nodded. Then she shifted her eyes to look behind him and pointed where he was looking at. “What’s over there?”

He turned back to the white object in the forest. “I don’t know. Let’s go find out.”

“But…”

Kai had already walked into the forest. Not wanting to be alone, she quickly ran to catch up with him. They reached to the area and what they saw was horrifying. The white object was a piece of torn shirt that was hung from a branch. Blood and leftover human flesh were everywhere on the ground, plants, and trees. A couple of feet away from them was a decapitated hollow head that was ripped open. Both of their eyes widened in shock of the gruesome sight. From all of the killings that he had seen, this was the worse. He couldn’t look at the sight anymore and shut his eyes.

Mei Mei quickly darted her head behind Kai, too scared to look at the bloody massacre. Her voice trembled, “Demons…”

He slightly turned his head and looked at her from the corner of his eyes, “You’re a demon yourself, why are you scared?”

“You just don’t know…These demons are ruthless. They are called the Blood Demon Wolves that takes part in a human form and feast on mortal flesh. Can we go please?” she pleaded, tugging his arm.

Then he heard fainted horses’ cries from his left and turned. There stood two unharmed horses eating plants. He patted her trembled hand that held his arm and pointed at the horses.

“Look. You don’t have to walk anymore.”

She turned where he was pointing at and saw the horses. Happy, she let go of his arm and clasped her hand together. They brought the horses out of the forest, got on them, and rode off to the nearest village.

---

The sun was setting and they reached to a rundown village. An old worn down signage with the name, Sorrow Village, hung from the upper corner, swinging sideways from a light wind. Then a foul stench from the village brushed against their face to welcome them.

Mei Mei covered her nose with her hands. “This village smells!”

He noticed that there were no talisman hung from the entrance way and wondered if the place was full of demons.

“This village is not protected.  We will have to be cautious of our surroundings.”

She nodded and they walked into the village. There was no wealth in this place; only below poverty. The houses were old; some were abandoned with the word Beware painted on the walls, and the rest were residential places and businesses. Most of the people were in rags and only a few wore common clothing.

“This must have been one of the places demons use to roam,” said Mei Mei.

Kai pulled out the drawing of Cecilia and started to ask the villagers if they have seen her. All the responses that he got back were silent shook of their heads. After a couple more hours, they finally reached an inn. “Let’s rest here for the night,” he said.

She nodded.

They tied their horses onto the old wooden rail and entered inside. They looked around and saw only a couple of bulky and scruffy men eating at a table. One had a scruffy overgrown beard and the other, had a head band wrapped around his forehead. They quickly glanced at Kai and Mei Mei, and then went back to eating their food. Kai noticed the two men’s swords on top of the table and his sense of alert heightened to know that the men might be troublesome during their stay. The owner, a middle-aged man, came out from another room and saw them. Happy to see visitors, he came to greet them.

“Welcome guests! Are you dining or staying?”

“Staying for one night please,” replied Kai.

“Alright…two pieces of silver then.” the owner thought they were a couple and asked, “One room?”

Kai and Mei Mei replied in unison but with different answers. Kai said, “Two,” but Mei Mei said, “One,” and both stared at each other.

The owner became confused and scratched his head. “Is it one or two?”

Since he knew Mei Mei was scared of being alone, he finally answered, “One.”

Happy, the owner led them upstairs to their room. As they walked up the stairs, the two bulky men watched them at the corner of their eyes; however, they did not know Kai kept a close eye on them also. The owner opened the door to their room and they entered in.

“Here’s your room. Come and look for me downstairs if you need anything.”

He was about to leave when Kai stopped him and showed him the drawing, “Have you seen her?”

The owner looked at the drawing and shook his head, “No.”

Kai sighed as he folded the drawing and placed it back in his shirt pocket. Then he asked the owner, “Sir, what happened to this village?”

The owner had a doleful look on his face and sighed sadly. “This village used to be a prosperous place until the demon epidemic. They took many lives and only a few of us escaped. After a couple of months later, a group of demon hunters came and vanquished most demons in sight.” He shook his head and continued, “However, these demon hunters weren’t good people…”

Kai was confused, “What do you mean?”

“Young man, there are some demon hunters that captured and killed demons for the sake of saving mortal lives; but, there are some that only captured to do worse…”

Mei Mei gasped and knew what he meant. “…to absorb their essences…” and covered her mouth with her hands.

The owner nodded, “Right.”

Kai never knew there were evil demon hunters and turned to her. “How come you didn’t tell me about them?”

“Sorry, I…I forgot…” and bit her lower lip.

The owner continued, “I’ve seen it with my own eyes…one day, I decided to sneak back to the village. I saw the evil demon hunters capturing and devouring demons one by one to give them powerful strengths.” He sighed, “…To be frank, I was happy that some demons escaped from all of that.”

“How come you weren’t caught by any of them then?” she asked curiously.

“I have a talisman and hid well, away from their sight.”

“So let me guess, after the evil demon hunters left, the village people began to slowly come back to this place then,” she said.

He nodded. “This is our home. Although it’s in a poor shape, I believe we will make it through this hardship.”

“I’ve noticed that everyone wears a talisman, but the village doesn’t have one. Why not protect the village as well?” Kai asked.

“After the demon took over, the village became nonexistence to the outsiders. No higher authorities would come to this place; therefore, we’re on our own.”

“I admire your village people’s bravery to come back here.”

“Thank you sir.”

Kai’s hands folded in front, “Thank you for explaining to us about this place.”

“You are welcome.”

Kai took out six pieces of silver and placed it in the owner’s hand. “Here’s for the stay.”

The owner looked down at the money and shook his head, “Sir, you must heard me wrong, it’s only two silver pieces to stay for the night…”

“I know. Keep it as a big tip.”

Happy, the owner bowed and thanked him a couple more times, and then he left them alone in their room. Mei Mei quickly dropped her belongings on the ground, ran to the bed, and plopped herself on top. She laid on the bed with her legs crossed and her hands on her back of her head.

“What a long day!”

Kai picked up her belonging and placed their belongings and sword on the wooden table.

“So, tell me about these evil demon hunters.”

Her smile disappeared and she felt a quiver of fear. She sat up and took a deep breath.

“Mortals call them Evil Demon Hunters, but we, as demons, call them the Seekers. They are mortals that followed the evil god Yao Du Yi and have learned a way to absorb Demons’ essences, making them become invincible…”

Kai thought about the name and then it hit him. “Isn’t he the Celestial Prince?”

“Yes. He led many thousands of evil demons, evil mortals, and evil fallen immortals to battle…” She glanced up at him with furrowed brows, “Now you know why I am scared of demon hunters?!”

“I understand now.” He sat down next to her and patted her shoulder, “If any good or evil demon hunters harm you, I will kill them.”

She shook her head, “I’m afraid they are going to kill you first before you get to them. The seekers are different than the demon hunters. Their strengths and internal qi are ten times stronger for anyone to defeat. Even some of the strongest demons tried to kill them but were unsuccessful…”

“Mei Mei, Why have little faith? Don’t worry. Nothing will happen to me.”

She couldn’t accept what he said. Even though he was full of confident and fearless, she worried he would die from their hands. He was only a mortal being that do not know any spells or have powerful internal qi to defeat demons. Knowing that he wouldn’t understand all of this, she could only smile at him.

---

Late that night, the two bulky men quietly opened the door to Kai and Mei Mei’s room. The room lit from the light outside when entered in, and they saw Kai and Mei Mei were nowhere in sight. Both looked at each other puzzled and wondered where they might be. Then they saw shadow movements from behind and turned around. Kai and Mei Mei stood there with their smirks. The bulky men drew out their swords.

Kai pointed them with his sword, “We knew the two of you would come up here. Do you want money? Or do you want to kill us?”

“Both!” shouted the bearded man.

The men charged at them. Kai drew his blade out of its sheath and Mei Mei quickly moved to the side. All three men swung their swords to kill, and their blades made contact to block the moves. The head banded man thrust his sword to stab Mei Mei, but Kai saw him and swung the sword to deflect his. Then Kai kicked him hard and the head banded man flew backwards, crashing onto the wooden table, and then onto the ground. Kai continued to sword fight with the bearded man, and the bearded man swung his sword downward hard. Kai blocked the hit with his sword and struggled as the bearded man’s weight was forced down upon him.

Kai shouted at Mei Mei, “GET OUT!”

She nodded and quickly left the room. The head banded man saw her and got off the ground to chase after her. Kai saw him and with all of his strength, he pushed the bearded man off, making the bearded man staggered backwards. The head banded man ran out of the door and Kai chased after him, trailing behind was the bearded man. She headed down the stairs, and the head banded man was about to go down also when Kai stopped him. Mei Mei and the owner watched from the ground floor as the three swordsmen fought.

Kai kicked the head banded man and he tumbled down the stairs. The bearded man swung his sword and Kai dodged it. His blade hit a pole and was stuck. With quickness, Kai swung his sword across his stomach, slicing into the flesh. The bearded man’s talisman fell on the floor where the pool of blood was forming. Then with his point blade downward, he stabbed the bearded man’s back. It protruded out of his chest and he fell to the ground dead. Kai pulled out his sword and ran down the stairs to the other man. The head banded man was still on the ground moaning in pain. Kai noticed that his leg was sprained from the fall and it was his chance to kill him. Immediately, Kai’s bloody point blade aimed at the man’s throat.

“Please…we didn’t mean it. We only needed money…” the man pleaded.

Kai didn’t care and was going to strike when Mei Mei shouted.

“Stop! He’s already injured.”

Kai looked at her confused. “But they almost killed us!”

“I know, but he’s helpless now…”

Frustrated but remained calm, Kai lowered his sword and let him go. The head banded man let out a huge sigh of relief. Suddenly the entrance doors swung opened widely and strong winds blew in with dirt particles. It blew against everyone’s faces and they used their arms to cover from the debris. Mei Mei knew what it was and shouted at Kai.

“It’s a demon! HIDE!”

Mei Mei and the owner quickly hid behind the counter. Kai was about to leave, but the injured man stopped him.  

“Please! Don’t leave me to die!”

Kai saw his frightening face and quickly grabbed his hand. Kai didn’t have time to lift the head banded man up to his feet, so he dragged him to the closest place; behind the stairwell and both hid in the dark. Mei Mei and the owner peeked from the edge of the counter to see what type of demon it might be. The wind died and the demon entered inside the inn. Mei Mei and the owner’s eyes widened in horror when they saw that the demon was a Night Lurker. It had smelled blood from the dead man upstairs and came to collect his food. Both quietly ducked their heads back behind the counter and covered their mouths tightly with their hands to not scream.

The place was silent and only the Night Lurker’s footsteps were heard. It started to walk up the stairs while Kai and the head banded man sat still. Mei Mei quickly, but quietly, crawled to the other end of the counter to peek and saw the men crouching down underneath the stairwell. The Night Lurker walked passed above them, and continued to go up until it got to the dead body; then it feasted.

Mei Mei waved to Kai to get his attention. He saw her and Mei Mei quickly made some silent gestures to let him know it was a Night Lurker. She made a mouth chomping gesture, but Kai didn’t understand. Then she grabbed the owner and slightly moved his neck to the side. Her mouth wide opened, showing teeth, leaned close to his neck. Kai finally understood and whispered it to the head banded man what the demon was.

The head banded man stunned to know that it was a Night Lurker and didn’t want his dead partner’s corpse to be tortured. He took a step forward to confront the demon, but Kai got a hold of his arm and pulled him back to stay put. Their movements disrupted the Night Lurker’s feast, and its head looked up, trying to figure out where it came from. Its mouth and chin smeared with thick red blood, and its pupils were dark as night. It snarled, showing its sharped bloody teeth as blood trickled down to its neck. Mei Mei and the man quickly duck their heads again, and the Night Lurker turned his head to where the counter was. Nobody was there. A minute passed and there was no more noises, so the Night Lurker went back to feast on the dead corpse.

The head banded man relaxed, so Kai let go of his arm. Just then, he pushed Kai away from him, and Kai fell to the ground. The head banded man got up and limped out of the stairwell.

“What are you doing!” Kai whispered.

The head banded man ignored Kai and grabbed his sword on the ground.

He aimed it at the demon and shouted, “NIGHT LURKER!”

Mei Mei and the owner heard his voice and were in disbelief. They peeked from the edge of the counter and saw the head banded man stood at the bottom of the stairs, his sword pointing at it.  

“Stupid guy. Does he want to die?!” she whispered angrily.

The Night Lurker turned his head and saw the injured man. It hissed at him.

“I am not going to have you do this to my friend!”

It stood up to face him. The head banded man’s heart sank and started to get teary to see his friend’s blood dripped down from the Night Lurker’s chin to the floor.

He shouted at the others, “My new friends, get out of here.”

Mei Mei, the owner, and Kai got out of their hiding places and regrouped. The Night Lurker was surprised to see more of them. They stood a couple of feet behind the head banded man.

“Let’s fight this demon together,” Kai said.

Mei Mei and the owner stared at Kai blankly.

“Are you crazy?!” Mei Mei yelled.

The head banded man slightly turned his head and looked at Kai from the corner of his eyes. “Both of you spared my life and saved me. Now it will be my turn to repay for both of your kindness.”

Kai felt guilty. He came and patted him on the shoulder from the back, “I’m sorry that I’ve killed your friend…”

The head banded man shut his eyes and tears fell down to his cheeks. He exhaled, “You shouldn’t apologize. It was us that caused you to kill.”

“Hero, what is your name?” Kai asked.

Hearing Kai called him a hero lightened his heart and he smiled. “Everyone calls me the Great Snatcher.”

“I’m Yang Kai Li, but you can call me Kai.”

“Kai…” he chuckled a bit, “We will see each other in the next life then.”

Kai tightened his smile. “Take care.”

All three of them ran out of the inn. The Night Lurker narrowed its eyes at them as they disappeared from its sight.

The head banded man shouted, “HEY!” to get its attention.

The Night Lurker looked at him. The head banded man pulled the talisman out of his belt and tossed it away. Then he cut his own palm with his sword. Blood started to ooze out from his palm to show it to the Night Lurker.

“Come and feast demon. I’m ready for you!”

The Night Lurker smelled his blood from where he was and licked his lips in ecstasy. It flew toward him with a loud hissing sound. The head banded man held his sword handle tightly as it came, ready to fight the Night Lurker.

Outside, Kai stopped running. “I can’t let him die like this.”

“WHAT?!” she said upsettingly.

Kai looked at them. “You two go hide. I’m going back in to help him.”

Kai drew out his sword and quickly ran back.

“KAI!” she shouted, but it was too late. He had already gone inside the Inn.

Kai saw the Night Lurker drinking the head banded man’s blood from his neck. He was already too late; the man was dead. Infuriated by his new friend’s death, he charged at the Night Lurker with his sword. It glanced up and saw Kai, and hissed. Then it saw the talisman that he was wearing and flew backwards, trying not to be close to him. While it flew, it swung its arms from the side inward and the wooden tables and chairs on both sides flew toward Kai. He saw the furniture and quickly dodged them before he got smashed. He rolled on the ground and his talisman fell out. The Night Lurker saw that he was vulnerable now and flew at him.  

It swung its clawed fingers but Kai dodged it. He countered it with his sword and stabbed it in the stomach. It didn’t pierce through the Night Lurker and Kai’s face struck in horror. The Night Lurker grinned and moved its body forward quickly to him, breaking his blades into pieces. It got a hold of his neck and lifted him up. Then it threw him toward the stairs and his back body hit the edge of one of the stairs. He tumbled down to the ground and lied in pain from the blow. It came and picked him up from his neck again. This time it was strangling him. Kai couldn’t breathe and started to struggle. It saw Kai’s tiny blood on the corner of his lip and opened its mouth. He saw its bloody sharped teeth and knew it was going to drink his blood.

“HEY! UGLY DEMON!”

Both turned to see Mei Mei standing there. Kai’s face was getting purple.

She started to worry and in a stern tone of voice, she demanded, “Let him go!”

The Night Lurker spoke in demon’s native tongue at her, “Little demon, why are you helping these unfortunate mortals?”

She answered back in demon’s native tongue, “They are my friends.”

In native tongue, “They are food for survival and not to make friends!”

She continued in the native tongue. “There is another way instead of killing mortals!”

It knew what she meant and didn’t like what she had to say. In native tongue, it shouted angrily, “NEVER!”

She scoffed by its stubbornness. This time, she didn’t speak in native tongue. “Don’t make me hurt you!”

The Night Lurker ignored her warning and was about to dig its teeth into Kai’s neck. A sudden burst of green energy came and hit the Night Lurker’s side face. It let go of Kai’s neck and staggered backward in shrilled pain. Kai collapsed to the ground, coughing and gasping for air. Stunned by the blow, the Night Lurker turned to her and saw her green aura mist around her body. Her eyes changed from umber to a flaming gold fire. Still lying on the ground, Kai turned his head and saw her. This was his first time seeing her like this. She was not a scared and weak little girl he once knew. She was courageous and powerful.

The Night Lurker was enraged by what she did and flew toward her. They fought, exchanging punches and kicks; both blocked and dodged every blow. She finally hit him with her index and middle fingers on its stomach. The Night Lurker flew far and hit the ground, spitting out the blood it drank.

“I’m going to make you throw up all what you drank tonight!”

She flew with quickness and picked the Night Lurker up on its feet. She punched him on the stomach many times and it vomited out more blood. Then she ended it with a hard punch in front of its face. The Night Lurker flew out of the inn and landed onto the ground dirt. She placed her hands on her hips and had a big grin on her face. The Night Lurker staggered to get up and was too weak to fight.

In demon’s native tongue, he threatened, “Demon Traitor! You will die like the rest!” Then it flew and disappeared.

She cared less about its threat. She had been called that name too many times that she got used to it. She remembered Kai and turned around to check on his wellbeing. He was sitting, leaning his body on one side, still trying to catch his breath.

“Kai!”

She ran and knelt next to him. “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” then he saw her gold firing eyes. “Your eyes.”

She looked away from him and sadly replied, “This is my demon form.”

Kai felt bad, “I’m sorry…your path to mortality has been broken. It was my fault.”

She shook her head, “Although I am a bit disappointed, I couldn’t let you die also.”

“Thank you for saving me.”

She had a big smile on her face. The owner walked in and saw his inn was totally destroyed-blood was everywhere on the ground and stairs, two dead bodies, and tables and chairs broken. Devastated, he collapsed to the ground onto his knees

“My life is ruin!” he cried, burying his face in his hands.

Suddenly a warm light shined brightly and he looked up to see Mei Mei used her powers to clean everything up. All that were once broken were fixed and blood had disappeared. The dead bodies were cleaned as if there weren’t any wounds on them. The owner’s eyes widened in disbelief and blinked a couple of times by what he was seeing. He never knew that Mei Mei was an extraordinary magical person. After she was done, he was overjoyed, knelt down, and bowed to her. 

“Heavenly fairy, thank you.”

Knowing that she wasn’t a fairy, she giggled. “I’m a demon,” she corrected.

He was shocked by her identity. “Demon? But how could you be close to us when we have talismans?”

She showed him a red beaded bracelet that was made out of jade on her right hand. “This. My grandma master gave it to me to protect me.”

He looked up at her and was happy, “It’s a blessing to see a good demon.”

Kai helped the owner get up. “We apologize for all of the troubles that we’ve caused.”

“No need to apologize sir.”

Then he and the others turned to the head banded man’s dead body. They were saddened to see a hero died in the fate of the demon’s hands.

“He was a brave man,” she said sadly.

Kai turned to the owner, “We will take the bodies and properly buried them so you won’t need to worry about it.”

The owner nodded, “Thank you.”

---

That morning, Kai and Mei Mei were outside of the village and had finished burying the bulky men. They knelt and stared at their wooden names. The head banded man’s name, The Great Snatcher, was written and the bearded man’s was The Great Snatcher’s friend, since his name was unknown to them.

“May the both of you rest in peace,” said Kai.

They got up and walked to their horses. Still feeling bad, Kai asked her, “What are you going to do about the path to Mortality?”

“I will have to start all over again, but it will have to be under the harvest moon. That is when our energy rejuvenates the most.”

“What about your golden eyes?”

She got in front of him, changed her eye color back to umber, and giggled.

“Show off.”

She walked back to his side and nudged him on the arm, “Ey, do you want to know how to defeat demons easily?”

From last night’s incident, he finally knew that he couldn’t defeat demons. They weren’t easy like people, so without the proper skills and trainings, his martial arts and swordskills were useless. Kai became interested. “How?”

“The best people to go learn are from those who were once Celestial Immortals.”

“You mean fallen immortals.”

“Yes. I know one who is still alive.”

Curious, he asked, “Who?”

“My grandma master.”