Trouble in Little China

The shop Dean and Cass went to was in China town. Which was probably par for course since every movie ever send you to Chinatown to get exotic herbs and remedies of the homeopathic variety. It was classic movie and since this was my dream – it was perfect. And having trouble in China town was all that more funny since there was a movie called “Big Trouble in Little China”. It was an old flick, but one my dad had watched with me as a kid. Kurt Russel was young then. I still preferred him as Snake Pliskin in the Escape movies. Or in Over Board – that was a cute movie. I need to make Nox watch several of my favorites. We were just finishing Star Wars up. We had a billion and one more to go – between Dev and me Nox was going to get a pop culture education in a short time span.

Dean was regaling us the tale of his epic fight with a thing he said. It wasn’t a monster, it wasn’t a person. But it wasn’t human either. The man in the show had challenged Dean to a duel. But he hadn’t said with what. Very archaic. But Dean won with a little bit of salt and a whole lot of blood. Not his own thankfully. Dean only had a split lip which he hadn’t even gotten in the duel. Cass was very animated when he told us all about Dean falling flat on his face. Funny thing though, Cass wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t trying to keep a straight face. While Alec and I were trying our best not to laugh at the story. Dean glared at us the whole time, but he didn’t silence Cass anymore than Magnus tried to make us behave ourselves. It was comical watching Cass telling a funny story with that dead pan straight face and never once even slightly cracking a smile.

But Dean had come out a head. He had earned the rest of the ingredients. And we all got a good laugh out of it. Magnus took the bag from Dean while Cass was telling his side of the story. Alec and I tried to listen, but we were more interested in what Magnus was doing. Dean was also watching the warlock with his black painted nails and blue tipped hair tossing ingredients into his boiling pot. Nox would be so pissed that someone was using his good stock pot for magical purposes. It was a good thing this really was a dream. I’d be reamed for letting it happen. Or worse he’d make me clean it with a toothbrush or something. He was very creative with his punishments for the boys.

The last time Drake trashed his kitchen with flour Nox made him do just that clean the whole kitchen floor with a toothbrush. His toothbrush. Nox threatened to make him use it that night, but he had replaced it already with a new one. But in Drake’s defense it had been Dee’s fault there was flour all over the kitchen. She’d baked last, left it out and Drake only wanted to make pancakes for Nox.

But after the floor was cleaned. I think Nox used a little bit of magic to help Drake finish. But I couldn’t swear to it. All I know is the little dragon was done with in the hour and Nox had stood vigilantly over the boy doing the work to make sure he hadn’t used any magic. Drake’s magic lessons were suspended for three weeks. But Nox helped Drake make pancakes after he took a bath to clean himself of the floury mess.

Nox was a push over when it came to the boys. But he was a strict man. Not because he wanted to be but because for his own health he needed to be. I still got annoyed when I’d put something down and he’d pick it up and put it where it belonged. Or worse yet he’d move it a few inches away. He never said anything to me about it. Or to the boys, except when it was like shoes or clothes or things that were clearly theirs and in the wrong room all together.

I rearranged the living room on a regular basis just to see what Nox would do. He really would try to stick it out, but he had to put it back. It was a fun game at first, but then it really did become annoying. It was my house I should be able to rearrange things. But I knew that if I told Nox I needed to move something and gave him a reason he’d leave it be. He’d adapt. He hated change. But he adapted to it. You just had to deal with that process in the mean time. Chairs and things moving were big deals. Moving the figurines around those were little nuisances that Nox fixed without thinking about it.

We watched as Magnus finished the concoction. He looked up at me. “So how do we deliver this?”

I pulled out my phone and read the instructions. “Put it in a bowl. Chant some words I can’t pronounce. Oh, there’s some symbol on the ground.” I started to summarize, “Drawn in blood.” I shuddered. “It says ‘for best effect the chanter should use their own blood.”

Alec moved behind me and was peering over my shoulder. I could feel his warm breath on my neck and I had to close my eyes and control my raging hormones. There was way too much hottness in this room.

Alec moved away and the loss of heat from his body made me shiver. “I think we can manage this. We just need to find Azazel.”

Dean said, “Or lure him here.”