Cenisa entered the cave. The moment she let darkness blanket her eyes, her life flashed in her head. She went to her niece's birthday. The child was a bit handicap but her brother didn't want to say she was special needs. Her niece put her entire face in the cake and ate hole in it. She screamed at the guest and destroyed the cake wiping it on her face before jumping on it.
Why she thought about that? Because just like now, nothing was right nor made sense. She went a little bit further and saw straw on the ground next to a bucket. She went over to it knowing that Jingyu slept here. She shook the tree over it as if she was blessing it and white ghost showed up in the bed.
"Jing…?" the ghost faded. She clenched the branch and went through the cave. She passed an empty space that had another bucket. She didn't have to go near it, it was already reaching her nose. Luckily she still had the white lights which made it easier to see.
He had situationed the cave like a home. She walked passed the chisels. She looked at the dead ends of the cave and saw from a distance, there was a path going down.
Traveling northeast, she moved down the narrow spiral path, she heard whips and drops of water. She stopped and caught her breath before going on.
On the second level, it was much bigger and she wondered if Jingyu had made it like this with his tools. The man said he was 66 and Ren said she was a thousand but this wasn't the time to start thinking about friendship.
She believed that Jingyu wasn't dead. She didn't have to do it! She just wanted to and she didn't wanna be lost either.
Charlie…
If she had a chance to… then she would take it.
Stalactites grew from the ceiling she heard a clatter of noise coming from somewhere. She took a deep breath and squeezed the branch. "God be with me." In front of her she could see two large rocks with talisman and beside her was a huge stone that had been chipped away. As she look forward, a man with his arms out came slowly from behind the stone.
Cenisa saw a path around the stone and got out of dodge. She looked at the white lights and gestured with the tree. "Follow." One of the white lights followed behind the Jiangshi. It grew big behind him, turned red and consumed him. "I didn't say do all that!"
The ball of light became white again, floatinf over the shoes left behind. "What the fuck!" the light came back to her and shined in her eyes.
This man lived in the village with a child and husband. She saw the oni with the man in it's clutches. He had squeezed him to death.
She looked at the ball of light. "I have to relieve them?"
"He didn't want to live… his husband is dead."
She sulked, "That's sad…" her eyes expanded. She would ask about it later. "Where is the…"
The balls of light made a line in the direction of the group and went back to her. "Thank God…" Maybe she had this in the bag, she was a Jiangshi so that meant she understood. She could speak their language… wait.
She went across the cave and saw a path. She went to the space ahead and met a wooden crooked door. Inside she heard muffled groans and looking closer there was blood outside the door, slightly wiping the bottom.
"He doesn't move…"
"He isn't one of us…"
"But the bloodline…?"
"We have to tell the yamen."
"Yamen…?" she whispered. The room gasped, "Qi…"
"Huh?" the door shook, she used the tree as a hold to keep it from opening. She pushed and they pushed. Maybe they would starve to death.
Impossible.
"Help me!" she begged and the lights braced against the door. "QI!"
Cenisa put her back against the door, her feet slid. She didn't know what to do.
That last one…
"MOVE!" she ran from the door and jiangshi tripped rushing out. She from afar and readied the branch. "Qi! A jiangshi in rags pointed at her. "Steal her life!"
"no you won't!" her white hair lifted off her back. The balls of light got bigger. Her nails and teeth grew. One jiangshi jumped for her, she snarled and swung the branch, hitting him into the wall. His mouth opened wide as his body steamed. "Come on!" she taunted. "I'll knock the soul out of you!"
The balls of light flew at the rest of jiangshi, bursting into flames.
"DUCK!" yelled Xinchou. Cenisa felt her spirit grow hot. She readied herself to jump but disappeared and swung Xinchou across the head from behind instead. A jiangshi swiped it's claws across cenisa's back, she winced while the balls of light surrounded him, keeping him still.
She swung the tree across his face, it melted as his body stuck into a motion corpse. The jiangshi in rags used the wall to bounce off of and spread it's jaws as it leaped at Cenisa. She used the branch to catch it's teeth, he tree ignited. The lights plucked off the jiangshi in the background.
She came to her senses, looking at the steaming corpse, she beat it with the tree. "stay dead!"
She hurried into the room, her jaw dropped at Jingyu. "Jing?" she moved to him. His mouth was left ajar and neck black with the rest of his body. "I can put the soul back in…"
"You forgot one…"
She turned around and soon she was lost for words, but only for a moment. Cenisa looked at the arrow that hit her chest. "Who is that?"
The light hovered above Hualing and Ma Yingtai. Ma stepped on Bolin, Hualing smiled with a knife in her hands. "What the fuck!"
"You are a Jiangshi…" said Ma. "Give me the tree." he lent out his hand. "Nigga fuck you!" she scoffed. "I know you can't hurt shit with tailismans on it." his mouth stretched. "You were in that prophecy that Bolin used to speak about so often, Right Hualing?"
"Yes…" she twirled the knife. "We needto take her heart like the rest if the town."
"Who killed them?" she heaved. "It's easy to kill people."
"It's small… who cares who goes missing." he smiled with his eyes closed. "Also… you missed a step."
"What step?"
"You didn't get the hearts, so you just killed people." giggled Hualing. "what's with the fat bitch?"
"I'm not fat!" Hualing scorned. "You sound like my dad! And you know what! I killed him too!"
"Congratulations little bread, you want a trophy?" Cenisa squeezed her tree. "You aren't funny, I can't even eat bread!"
Lord…
"Then, how you get so round?" she teased.
"Ma doesn't care! Ma said he likes round belly girls!"
"IS that your whole game? You do what a nigga tells you?" she grimaced, "You a hoe. Love yourself."
"Bitch!"
"Forget her Hualing, let's just kill her. She fucked up anyway…" they both ran at her with knives. Cenisa lifted the branch up and brought it down on Ma's head then swiped up across his face. He was knocked down, Hualing managed to cut her arm and dug into the wound. The lights set her clothes on fire, she screamed, "I'm not a vampire!" she smother the flames with her hands but left herself open.
The tree caught fire as Cenisa beat Hualing over the head. When she was 11, Cenisa held the baton. She threw the tree up, caught it, and bashed her across her head with it. Her hair was on fire, she tumbled across the room. Ma stuck her legs with his blade, cutting across her thigh.
Cenisa hit Ma's shoulder and came from the left to smack the tree across his ear. "Bitch!" Ma lifted his leg up and kicked across Cenisa's stomach. She held her belly and her eyes changed.
The lights glowed in Ma's eyes, blinding him. The tree caught fire as well as the lights. Cenisa roared as she swung the branch releasing fireballs that set Ma on fire.
She came to her senses and looked at their backs. She took the sutras off and ran out the cave.
"I fucked up…"