Chapter 5: Ebony Creator

Jingyu did not lie.

Cenisa kept track of the days and it was going on two days with rain. The thunder had stopped but a few hours ago there was a rumble in the clouds.

He did not put his clothes back on. "Oh my God! How much longer!"

"Probably two more days… it's just a light drizzle. Ight pick back up."

"How do you know so much?"

"I went to Janluut!" he smiled. "Wonderful over there, some don't like the black Chinese but the food and music." he kissed the air. "Perfect. They first made homes out of mud and stone because they get the right material. They invented their own rain dance and village grew some it's mixed. Believe it or not an Oni helped with some of the building, not Samseong. He would have eaten all the food with his stupid ass."

"Whose Samseong?"

"Big nasty, like, a giant pig!"

"Oh… what he do?"

"His tribe camped in the village and we had a famine because he had to feed them. There was never enough food for us but the Oni ate everything."

"Did people die?"

"At least 23." he said. "Well that's not--"

"Out of a 100…"

So that means, 23 minus a hundred equals seventy seven. "How many people are their now?"

"Last I counted 1,233. I stopped counting. In the restaurant, I could make out 33 people usually. Now I see new faces. Just know it grew." he laid on the grass with her arms behind him. "How long you been here?" she asked.

"Since I was sixteen," he assumed. "I found out I'm Kong's illegitimate son. Kong is a Xiyi, the family is big and… apparently got that way because they made change establishing order. My mother got ate when she moved."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"We keep the graves near the hill. I go up there to say hi…"

"What was your mom's name?"

"Songsan Paishou…" he smiled to himself. "I wanted my mom's last name. I don't wanna be a Xiyi."

"Why you hate your dad…?"

"Cause he did it…" he growled. "Did what?"

"Sold my mom to the Oni so people didn't find out he cheated on the beautiful Gaozhishi. She got pregnant when I was like two. Arranged marriages." he gazed at her. "You think about getting married?"

"Well…" Charlie… "No."

"I married myself."

"Why?"

"Janluut teaches self love. It's a thing like taking time for yourself, you don't have to commit to anything. Though, Nahae is the love of my life."

"Nahae?"

"The Sheep God, some actually call it the devil but it's not. I should have stayed gone."

A village with mostly black people like her sounded refreshing. "I wanna go."

"Again, I can. You can't."

"I didn't do anything!"

"I know! They kiss the Xiyi's ass. I don't," he turned his back to her. "Fuck my father."

"How old are you?"

"66." he mumbled. "You don't look 66."

"Because of the rain!" he exclaimed. "Tell me about Janluut."

"Well, there's this man. Real tall, real dark, he's like… Xerxes." he sat up. "What's he like?"

"I call him dad. His name is Hei-Wenye, a blend of an African language and Chinese. Last I heard, pop had his first daughter, Kidiga-Shu."

"That's wonderful." she grinned widely. She wanted so badly to be with her own people. She wouldn't be in this state. "Like I said, it's miles away from this poor ass town."

"You hate it here?"

"I hate all of them."

"Damn."

"My mother was assassinated by the bitch and he put the damn village in debt even though he did it."

"Really?"

"My father is the devil himself! The man is more crooked then my toe!"

"Your toe?"

"I broke my toe along time ago…" she looked at his feet, they were brown and the middle toe curl above the others. "Damn!" she grimaced. "Yep, I basically don't have a foot and the doctor said it would be best to cut it off. But I'm alive, so it don't matter."

It finally hit her that Jingyu was still naked. She sitting across from him this long, it matter if she gave a reaction over not. "Why don't you go back. You go through the rope."

"I could, the main reason for you is the fact they put talisman on the trees." his eyes got big. "I could take them off…"

"Can you?"

"We rob people…"

"no…"

"I did it before," he furrowed. "In Janluut you get paid for thievery!"

"Like a hired thief?"

"Yeah like, uh, repossession!"

"I can be a repoman… in Janluut?"

"Yeah!"

"That's Ghetto…"

.

.

.

The villagers had gathered together in the night. It was about 40 people together sharping weapons. Within the group was Bolin. He stood behind a podium and read from the scroll.

"When the trees look the brushes and storms stay but after the forth day, the storm will sleep. A man with a curled lip sits high, he doesn't carry money but family of family will a woman of night and cousin to the alike, walk from the woods and be out of mind."

"I'll be the first to say. I don't know what that means! All I know, is that bitch is in the woods and we just fed her." exclaimed a man with shaggy hair. "Jingguo and his sister are missing. Weian doesn't know where is daughter is, Xinchou is dead--"

"I couldn't care less." said a man nonchalant. "The point is, she's in, she's near and we need to kill it."

"She took some of our people. I wish I had been nicer…" said Bolin. "Fuck all that, I don't wanna die!"

"I agree with Wencheng. It's not about who got disrespected, we need to protect family here."

"Its in the prophecy!" Bolin jabbed the paper. "You what, let's grab Li-Liu. She's dark as hell."

"She isn't apart of this…" Boli jittered. "It's just the one woman."

"Bolin," a woman with short hair and chubby cheeks spoke up. "Listen to father, all Li-Liu does is stay in the house. She could be summoning evil."

"She's not summoning anything!" he shouted, "Hualing, make sense."

"Your talking about a vampire in the village. Where did she come from?" the girl heaved. "We've already had Oni through the village and I can't stand when they come!"

"They haven't even been around in two years!" he yelled. "That's the perfect reason to be gone so often. Jingyu was right, we can't rely on the Xiyi anymore."

"How do you kill a Jiangshi?"

"You set them on fire…" said an older man. "I've heard legends."

"We should cut off Li Liu's legs. And the other woman's. That'll keep them in their graves!" Bolin knew this boy, this was Ma Yingtai. He loved shooting the birds out the air. He made a totem pole of dead birds he claimed. A man with hair all over his chest stood up, "My boy is right. Ma, go home and get the torches. We'll split up and get them both."

"Listen! Li-Liu isn't doing anything!"

"Bolin hush!" Hualing grabbed his arm and pulled him to the door. "Wha--Get off me. You all are making mistake!"

"Kill the vampire! Kill the vampire!"