Chapter 19

Marie awoke with a pounding headache, a nasty taste on her tongue, and a fuzzy feeling in her brain. She tried to lift an arm to rub the sleep out of her eyes, but found she couldn't move it. She looked over and found it tied to a bed post. As her mind quickly cleared up, she looked around and realized she was tied spread eagled to the posts of a large bed. The room she was in was large, and very fancily decorated.

"Where am I?" She asked to no one in particular. "How did I get here? Chase? Tom? Jack? Is anyone there?" When no one answered, she started to get panicky.

"C-Come on guys! This isn't funny! Someone untie me. Right now!" Marie started pulling hard on the ropes, trying to get free.

"They aren't here girl." said a voice from the shadows. Marie struggled harder. She knew that voice. That soft, slithery, deadly voice that sounded so much like his sons. Feng Young.

"You stay away from me!" she snarled, tugging at her bonds. Feng sighed and sat down on the bed, next to Marie.

"Little one, I don't want to hurt you. Calm down." he said. Marie caught his eyes. They had that same terribly sad look.

"You always say that...so why are you doing this? You don't think that raping me will hurt?" she asked.

"I have no intentions of raping you." That made Marie go completely still.

"And yet I'm tied up, spread eagled, and you drugged me. Yeah, that just screams "bringing her home for coffee."

"If I let you loose, will you believe me?"

"Maybe."

"I want your word that you will not try to escape."

"And I should do this why?"

"I told you before that you would someday understand why I'm doing this. It's about time I told you." Marie was silent. Fengs' voice was sincere, but that wasn't a good enough reason to trust him.

"I swear Marie." said Feng, shocking Marie with the use of her name. "I merely wish to talk. No tricks, no lies."

"Fine. I'll listen." Feng smiled once before untying the ropes that bound her. Marie sat up quickly, rubbing her wrists. She was pleased to notice that her outfit was unharmed. It had cost Jack a small fortune to get it. Quickly scooting to the end of the bed closest to the head board, she pulled her knees up to her chest and looked at Feng. Feng sat on the opposite side of the bed, cross legged. He snapped his fingers and a teapot with two cups appeared on a small stand.

"Drink." he commanded quietly. "It will get the taste of Chloroform out of your mouth. It's a cinnamon blend. One of your favorites I believe."

"How did you know?" asked Marie, pouring herself a cup.

"I've been keeping careful tabs on you and my son. But that is unimportant right now. The story I'm about to tell you is very long, so pay attention." Feng cleared his throat and took a breath.

"I have wandered this earth for hundreds of years. Three thousand seven hundred and six to be exact. I was born to a simple farming family in southern China. I was the seventh son and though it was considered good luck to have so many sons, I was the one son they could not afford. You see, they were a very poor family, barely able to feed five, let alone nine. So, three hours after my birth, my father took me out into the wilderness at the base of a mountain. This mountain was said to be home to a Clan of fierce dragons.

"The leader of the dragons flew down to the spot where I lay. I was a strong healthy baby, and the leader saw it as a waste to leave one so strong to die, so they took me in. I was raised amongst the dragons hatchlings which is where I met a young dragon by the name of Huilang."

"Dojo's Grandmother!" interrupted Marie. "He told me about her, but he never said you knew her."

"He didn't know until She told him, the day you got hurt in that showdown. Huilang was already far older than me when her clan took me in. nearly eight hundred years old. By a dragons reckoning that's just a child, but from the time I was old enough to understand what a friend was, she was my first and best friend.

"Huilang would often take a human form around me. She would appear the same age as I was, but mentally she was centuries older. We were inseparable. We played together, ate together, even slept in the same corner of the cave. This continued through my childhood until I was nearly fourteen. The dragons decided that I needed to further my knowledge of the outside world, for I knew only of the dragons valley. I wandered for weeks, taking in all I could. In my wanderings I came across a Kung Fu master. He offered to teach me his skills, and I accepted. Within a year and a half, I had mastered all forms of Kung fu, which in those days was still just a budding art. My master also taught me to read and write. I was fascinated by books and scrolls, finding them portals to the past, present and future, or even other lands. I traveled the country for a further two years, learning more than I ever thought possible. I learned other martial arts, I fought in wars, I became known across the country as both a hero and villain. You see, my upbringing with the dragons gave me a slightly skewed sense of right and wrong. For example, I came across a man who was being lashed for stealing a sack of rice to feed his family. I saw this as a perfectly good reason to steal, so I cut him loose and told him to run. I also believed that harsher punishments were meant for men who committed crimes such as rape, and spousal abuse. Many of these men got off scot free, while the women were punished. I found this to be a great injustice, so I would often hunt these men down, force them to apologize to their women and slay them.

"In my seventeenth year, I began training in magic. Growing up with dragons, it was really only natural that I would want to do similar things as my family. I was a fast learner and within the span of six months, I had mastered most forms of magic. The only ones I didn't master were the darkest of arts, necromancy and mind control.

"I returned to my Dragon family at age eighteen. I was a changed man, older, wiser, and incredibly skilled. Huilang was the first to welcome me home, in her human form. In the four years I had been gone, she had grown into an unequaled beauty. Her silver hair shined like spun moonbeams and her eyes were two golden orbs. I found myself wishing to have her as a mate. One night, as we walked together in the light of the full moon, I expressed my feelings to her.

"It was the biggest mistake I ever made in my life.

"Huilang told me I couldn't love her, that I only thought I loved her. We were centuries apart in age, and she would live for thousands of years, while I would be lucky to survive a century. She spoke nothing but the truth, and I hated her for it.

"I went into a rather unflattering display of begging. I told her I could use a spell to remain young forever, that I could make myself immortal. She shot me down again and again, each time stating a perfectly logical reason why it wouldn't work out. I begged her until I had no words left and still she refused. By the end she turned her back on me and told me that she couldn't have chosen me for a mate anyway, as she was already wedded to Li Shan, a dragon whose parents had adopted me as a son. In other words, my older brother.

"I was infuriated! Li Shan had known for years that I cared for Huilang. And for him to steal her from right under my nose? It felt like the lowest form of betrayal from the one I viewed as my brother. I returned to my family's nest, only to find Li Shan there, speaking with my parents. He greeted me as though nothing had changed. I felt a hatred for my foster brother like nothing I had ever felt before. He had stolen the girl I loved, and here he was acting like he had done nothing wrong!

"I stayed home for a single week before I left again. Now that she had married my brother, Huilang had moved in with our family. Seeing her with my brother, watching them fly together, seeing him bring her fresh kills as gifts of love....it made me sick and angry. I took off in the dark of the night. I didn't know where I was going, but anywhere was better than where I had left. I collapsed somewhere near the Great Wall, near Mongol territory. I was exhausted. I had crossed the country in little over two days. I lay were I had fallen, finally letting the pain of my loss overwhelm me. I don't know how long I was there, all I know is that when I returned to my senses, I was lost, alone, and depressed.

"That's when He found me."

"He? Who is He?" asked Marie.

"He is...He is the embodiment of pure evil. The Elder Dragons used him as a scare tactic for unruly hatchlings. They called him the Dark Dragon. Humans call him the Devil. And you might know him by his real name; Hannibal Bean." Marie gasped, nearly dropping her teacup.

"The same one who offered Chase the immortality soup!" she thought.

"He seemed sympathetic then. He said he knew how I felt. To have the one I loved stolen by my

backstabbing brother." Feng continued. "He seemed to understand everything! All my fears, doubts and worries, he knew what I had gone through. But you and my son of all people should know, that's just one of his tricks.

"He told me there was a way to become immortal, and get Huilang as my own. However the price was very steep. He said I might not be able to do what was required. I assured him I would do anything to get Huilang. I was young, and despite my years of learning I was still very stupid. He told me he would grant me immortality, but I would have to bring him the head of a dragon."

"Hang on, how did he give you immortality? Chase had to be given the Lao Mang Lone soup."

"The Dark dragon enjoys toying with darker magics. He can use any means to make a man immortal. He could have used the same method with Chase as he had with me, but he seems to have taken a shine to taking peoples souls the last thousand years or so.

"I agreed to his terms, saying I would bring him a dragons head. He enacted the spell that gave me eternal life, and I felt more powerful than I ever had before. I tried to leave, to return to my home, but the Dark One held me back. He was I was indeed strong from my journeying, but I was nowhere near strong enough to be able to kill a dragon. I would have to wait, and train.

"It took me nearly a full thousand years, but eventually I was strong enough. I returned home, intent on repaying my debt to Hannibal. Unfortunately, word of my deal with him had reached the ears of my former clan. I was considered a traitor. My foster parents were devastated. My father had killed himself out of shame and my mother mourned as though I were dead. Huilang and my brother however, stood at the front of their cave without fear.

"What happened that day....I only remember bits and flashes. I slew all the elders, my mother, and my brother...I was going to take Huilang's head a s Hannibal's payment.....but I stopped myself just before I cut the major veins and arteries in her throat. Was I not doing all of this to gain her? What sense would it make to kill the one I was trying to obtain? I started to heal the wounds I had on her neck, but I was only halfway done when I was knocked away by another dragon. When I turned to fight him, I thought my brother had risen from death. But it was not Li. No, this was the son of my brother and my former beloved. He was fully grown, and a handsome young specimen of a dragon.

"He was brave. He was agile. He was strong.

"He was a fool. I took his head in one slash of my blade. I decided that the head of my nephew would be Hannibal's payment. However, when I turned to claim my prize, I realized what I had done. By destroying my clan, and killing her mate and son, I had insured that Huilang would never be mine. I fled, consumed by my grief and madness. I had gained immortality, but now, I had no one to share it with. No family, no friends. I was resolved to wander the world alone, forever.

"I tried to take my own life at least four times before the Dark dragon appeared before me. I begged him to remove the spell from me. He laughed in my face and told me that there were no "take backsies" in his deals.

" 'If ya'll want to be pushin' up daisies, ya gotta git someone else to kill ya. And not just anyone either. They gotta be of yer own blood' he told me. But, being alive for over a thousand years, my real family was long since dead and buried. I only had one other option."

"Father a child and get them to kill you." Marie answered for him, putting the pieces together.

"Precisely." Feng agreed with a nod.

"So, that's why you've been attacking Chase? And why you've tried to attack me? You want him to kill you?"

"Yes."

"Why not just ask him then? Why go through all the trouble and hurt so many people just to die?"

"I tried that once before. In the 2206 years since I began trying to die, I have fathered hundreds of sons and daughters. The first son I had, I ordered him to kill me when he reached manhood. He could not.

"Well who could? I don't think anyone could ever willingly kill their father."

"It was not a matter of ethics. Hannibal's spell made it so that my death had to be an act of murder. If one of my children tried to kill me of their own will, the spell would take hold of their mind, and force then to kill themselves."

"So that's why you killed Mei Feng...To get Chase mad at you."

"Yes. I tried that with several of my other children, but only Chase showed the initiative to want to kill me. The others just spent their lives hating me in silence." Marie sat quietly.

"That's why I'm here isn't it? You want to make Chase so angry, he won't think twice about killing you." Feng nodded.

"Now you understand." He said, his voice hollow.

"That's why your eyes were always so sad whenever I looked you straight on...you don't want to live anymore." Marie said softly

"The eyes truly are the windows to the soul." Replied Feng. His voice was rough from sorrow and talking so much. Marie poured him another cup of tea.

"Can't you just tell Chase why you did what you did?" she asked.

"And then what? I've committed too many sins to be forgiven. Besides, I've made my peace." Feng said calmly, sipping the tea. "It is nice of you though, to try to redeem me."

"Everyone was born with good and evil in them. Sometimes the evil in us takes over, sometimes the good does. But even the most evil people still have a shred of good left in them, and as long as it's still there, they can be redeemed."

"A noble sentiment child, but an outdated one. One better suited to the Xiaolin monks."

"They might be assholes, but they do tend to spout sense once in a while." Marie said with a shrug.

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Hi guys! Sorry for the abrupt ending, but I just couldn't think of a good way to end this one. And i'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, but life has been busy, what with packing for moving, realizing I didn't have to move, unpacking, getting engaged, and my pedo-Grandfathers death two days ago, things have been busy. See y'all soon!