Not Quite Shining
"Left in her place?" Jade asked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"When we parted angrily, my sister went to sleep in a casket, as she usually does," Mei-Ling explained sadly. "I curled up in a book because of our fight...and the antiques where we were all got moved here. However, her casket got switched with another mid-transit. I've been trying to track where hers wound up ever since...but I've had to avoid what arrived in the other casket as I did so, until it was locked inside. But...if anyone unlocks it, we could all be in trouble. It is an extremely dangerous Jiangshi, and one uniquely resistant to most of the forces used to contain them."
"Uniquely resistant?" Hsi Wu asked nervously. "How is that?"
"I...do not know," Mei-Ling admitted. "All I know is that no holy symbol has ever affected it, and most Jiangshi will at least react to them, even if they won't be stopped by them like Western Vampires-"
"WAAAAAAUUUGGGH!"
"What was that?" Mei-Ling gasped out in fear.
"Jackie!" Jade screamed out, rushing for the second floor.
"Jade, wait!" Hsi screamed out as he raced after her, shifting back to human form to fit in the hallways without crashing into things as he ran.
It didn't take long before everyone had gathered in response to Jackie's scream, staring down at Viper as she lay on the floor, her skin slowly turning pale. "What happened to her?" Jackie demanded in fear and worry. "What's wrong with her?"
"Jiangshi," Hsi Wu and Uncle spoke up simultaneously.
"How do you know-" Uncle began as he balked towards a bookcase.
"A spirit told us," Hsi responded urgently. "And it's one that holy power doesn't work on!"
"We talkin' atheist, agnostic, or Fearless variety?" Apple Bloom asked curiously.
The bookcase suddenly erupted as a well-muscled, clawed hand erupted through it, seizing Uncle and turning him around to face the hole. Green light erupted out of Uncle's eyes to flow into the slitted pupils of the Jiangshi. "Heeeere's Yakov!" he declared in an eager gravelly voice as he tossed Uncle aside once he was drained before bursting through the wall into the room.
"RUN!" Jackie screamed as he grabbed Sweetie Belle and tossed her onto Cumulo with Scootaloo.
"Ah, Fearless," Apple Bloom deduced as Tohru scooped her up, making a break for it alongside Sofia.
Hsi Wu reached for Jade and tried to run, but the Jiangshi was right behind them. Jade looked back in fear...and green light flowed out of her eyes and into the vampire.
"No!" Emeraude screamed from Jade's shoulder, leaping to cover Jade's eyes. The connection broke and Jade fell limp in Hsi's arms.
"Jade!" Hsi screamed out before spreading his wings and making a break for it straight up, spinning tornadoes in the halls to hold the beast off as the group fled.
Eventually, the group reconvened in the only room they could make safe, the one where Hsi and Jade had met Mei-Ling. The spirit was waiting for them, and parchment scrolls lined the walls to keep the Jiangshi from breaking in. "What do we do?" Sweetie Belle squeaked out in fear. "What do we do?"
"I don't know!" Jackie declared worriedly. "Normally we'd ask Uncle, and then you! Why don't you know what to do?"
"Because Jiangshi are Chinese Vampires!" Sweetie insisted. "I know how to handle Western and Japanese Vampires!"
"Do we even have a plan?" Tohru asked worriedly. "I don't think holing up here is a good idea."
"It's not," Sofia confirmed. "I don't remember everything from when Ysabelle researched Jiangshi...but I know if we don't get the chi he's absorbed out of that beast by sunrise, it will be too late to save anyone. It will be his permanently."
"Jade?" Hsi Wu whispered worriedly as he stroked Jade's cheek, still cradling her insensate form in his arms. "Please be okay...please..." Tears beaded his demonic eyes.
Jade's eyes flew open. "Okay...not what I expected to happen," she observed...in a voice not her own.
"E-Emeraude?" Hsi gasped in shock.
Emeraude sat up, rubbing Jade's forehead as Jade's normal clothes warped into a plain white robe. "I didn't realize it had gotten enough strength from Viper and Uncle to drain someone else just by making eye contact, without seizing them," she muttered angrily. "Then again, an adult woman's chi has more life-giving energy than most..."
"That, and Viper's got the cat form from Bastet," Scootaloo pointed out.
"...yeah, that'd do it," Emeraude allowed. "I've got...good news and bad news."
"Good news first," Jackie insisted. "We need it."
"Good news, I know the chi spell to force the Jiangshi to return all the stolen chi, reducing it to a wizened husk that can only track people by smelling their breath," Emeraude explained. "Not only that, it has nothing to do with faith, so this thing's resistance to holy power won't matter...and it only requires two ingredients to make work."
"That is excellent news!" Jackie exclaimed with relief. "We might actually get out of this in one piece-"
"One of those ingredients is one of the Jiangshi's socks," Emeraude explained. "Only problem is I'm not sure if it's left or right...and given how it's dealt with its other weaknesses, it might just be going barefoot and not have any socks here."
"It does have socks," Mei-Ling insisted. "It's how the former proprietor of this mansion subdued the creature before so it could be sealed. He made sure to put the sock back on him as well."
"The second bit of bad news is that Uncle and Viper will be rising as his undead servants before too long," Emeraude continued, "and these parchment seals won't keep them out. And they'll be as effective as ever in combat, if not more so."
"That's...not good," Sofia murmured worriedly.
"Not to mention I face the same threat from this beast as Audrey would have," Hsi Wu pointed out. "If he drains all my chi, he'll absorb me completely...and we don't know if he gets powers from the chi he steals."
"And if he drains me again, Jade will die," Emeraude added. "And we don't dare let the fillies face him directly. Their chi is simply too potent. He's at the peak of his physical abilities right now. If he drained any of them, he'd be able to draw on his magic abilities beyond just hovering everywhere he goes."
"So does anyone have any good news?" Jackie asked ruefully. "Something to give us an advantage?"
"I know a spell that can temporarily shut down my eyes," Tohru offered. "If I can't make eye contact, he can't drain my chi, right?"
"And if I spot you, you'd be able to fight him," Hsi observed.
"But that risks-"
"I know," Hsi interrupted Emeraude. "But if that's what it takes to save Jade..."
Emeraude smiled softly. "...you're really smitten with her, aren't you?" Hsi refused to respond.
"Umm..." Mei-Ling began awkwardly, drawing attention. "I can take the form of a parchment seal. My sister is a Jiangshi of the Nightwarrior variant, and...she cannot control her power on her own, which is why we're reliant on each other. Placed against her forehead, I grant her full control of her power as long as we are working together. If I were placed against this Jiangshi's forehead and fighting him...I might be able to limit his powers and interfere with his abilities. I've...never tried to do that before, but..."
"It's not like we have time to do anything but gamble," Scootaloo growled irritably. "So Jackie, Tohru, Sofia, and Hsi try to keep the Jiangshi contained and steal his sock. I remember reading somewhere that they can't cross running water, and this place is surrounded by a moving river. Between that and the storm, pretty sure he can't flee the place. Meanwhile, Emeraude, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and I will hunt down that other ingredient and prepare the spell."
"Stay safe," Emeraude whispered to Hsi Wu as the groups parted.
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I.. have a feeling I know who the sister is
Oh, Darkstalkers reference!!!!! Didn't catch it before, but with this it's obvious!
Man, you almost feel sorry for the Jiangshi, Tohru is going to tie him in knots.
Darkstalkers anyone?
So much for Uncle's confidence that they can blow through any threats...
Pretty sure this is where we tell Uncle "I told you so" about the whole "tempting fate" thing...
8871480 Eeeeyup!
"Ai-yah! Uncle was asking for this!" *whacks himself* "Ow! One more thing - that hurts!"
Well, guesss the group is really going to sock it to that soul sucking Jiangshi. Cross the J Clan and you get hosed.
Chapter One Hundred Eighty
"Aiyah!"
Chapter Count: 0
Total Count: 49
"One More Thing!"
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Total Count: 85
Well this is a whole new ballgame. Quite a game plan, even it was cooked up on the fly.
Chapter One Hundred Eighty
"Bad Day"
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Total Count: 43
"I'm not his/your Mistress!"
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Total Count: 9
Oh, it's a Chinese vampire. What with the "Oy" last chapter I thought it was going to be a Jewish vampire. Maybe spool out into an extended Dracula: Dead and Loving It joke.
Or really, now that I think about it, more likely a Fearless Vampire Killers reference.
Edit: Or I could just read through all the comments last chapter and see that the author pointed that out theirself.
Anyone else notice that they're oddly non-specific about what the second ingredient is?
8871561
*slow claps*
Lets hope undead servant Uncle can't call in favours.
8871748
Alternatively, hope he does know how to call in favors, and that the guy whose favor he calls in realizes what's going on and can help with the situation.
8871779
Would the divine being in question care enough to fix it? Might be more interested in being free of the favour regardless of the reason why they were called
8871630
So I'm not the only one who thought something was missing from this chapter. Because I read 'one' but there was no 'two' coming.
Saving Mei may be worthwhile in the end, but as of right now this trip seems to have been a really terrible idea.
I seriously hope Alucard and the Police Girl show up to soon. Would make things… even more chaotic than it is right now. :)
8871480
Although he is right. They are facing off against a Jiangshi with no prior knowledge and have survived pretty well so far. With Uncle and Viper against them it will make it difficult, but not impossible, to defeat Yakov. And when all is said and done, the Chan Family will know to prepare for a Jiangshi incase they face another one, and Uncle will get EVEN MORE of a discount for the antiquities they take back with them because he almost became a servant to the Chinese Chi Vampire forever. And give the guy he bargained with a good whap across the temple for NOT MENTIONING THE JIANGSHI SEALED IN A COFFIN!
8871784
Depends on the divine being and why they granted the favour - the sort who are likely to enjoy no longer being under an obligation to Uncle are the sort who are unlikely to grant him a favour in the first place; the sort who are likely to give Uncle a favour token are more likely to want to help him rather than take advantage of him - at worst, remaining strictly neutral.
8872438
Yes, it would. But it would also be very funny at the same time.
Good thing it was Emmy inside Jade’s body instead of... let’s say... Abraham Lincoln vampire slayer.
Ooooh, please bring Felicia in~