Chapter 4: Gypsies Tramps and Thieves

The ride back to the village was uneventful, thank god. I rode in the wagon, while Kim walk along with the ox. The bumps and dips in the road didn't feel to good, but I arrived in better condition than I started out in. I went back to the place I had stored my stuff. I retrieved my clothes and got out of the patch-work clothing Kim made me. I took a shower, a hot shower. I was able to walk now, painfully, but still I was walking.

After I got myself ready to head back to the city the apprentice lived in, I wondered if I should go see him. Maybe it was better for him to think I was dead. Maybe that would ease his mind. If he wanted to find me he knew who I was. I hope whatever ill will he holds toward me, he finally finds his peace with it.

I got ready and started making some calls. I needed to know more about this magic world. I mean I knew how to defend against magic. I even had some knowledge about the types of monsters I would be facing. I just didn't know how to use this knowledge.

*"I see that you are finally done."

*"Kim, I didn't really expect to find you here. You could have waited in the room. It's nothing you haven't seen before."

*"I know I had to think on the answer. Could you really get my family out and have them taken care of. I would like to get my sister a better opportunity to make something of herself than she has now."

*"If that is what you wish, then I will do it. Will you come with me?"

*"After my family has left and they are taken care of, I will go with you."

Hot Damn. Score one for the home team. I think I have found an ally. Not that I really trust her yet. Especially after my dream, but I would take her with me. I just needed to know if she was telling the truth. I am sure during her walk, she found out some information on me.

I got in touch with someone and had a car sent to the village to take me to the airport. I had originally thought to go to England and visit Stonehenge and see if I could find any druids. They do exist you know. They are one of the ones not really good or evil. More like selfish. They do what they do for themselves. Others that can help them help themselves, will get help. Others won't even get a chance.

Instead I decided to go to Romania. I know what you're thinking, vampires, Transylvania, gypsies. Well you got one part right. Gypsies. From the legends they are pretty good fortune tellers. Maybe I could see where this path is leading me. Maybe I could see how to get Kimoko back. Maybe I wouldn't get anything at all. I didn't know, but there is only one way to find out.

After I had finished gathering all my belongings together, I still had time before the car showed up. I called to see if another suit was ready with all my changes, but no such luck. It would still be a while to recreate some of the stuff and manufacture it. I did have them send me another GPS, good watch and another set of katanas.

I also had a check started on miss Kim Lee and had the paperwork started on moving what was left of her family. I figured she might accompany me to Romania, since it would be closer than going back to the United States. I did have them check and see if she had a passport. That wouldn't take too much time since the government would have a record of all individuals and we already had her name.

*"So Kim, how would you like to travel a little bit?"

*"I told you I am not going with you until you can get my family. It might take a bit to convince my mother, but since I agree and I am sure my sister will, she will come around eventually."

*"Well, I am not going back home yet. I think I will do a little traveling around Europe and Asia for a little bit. My next stop is Romania. That is relatively close compared to where we will be going and it will still be on the same land mass."

She looked hesitant for a bit.

*"I will have to think on it for a bit. I still do not yet know you and I am not sure I really believe in this stuff yet. For all I know, my mind could have caused those visions to disassociate from the real events going on around me. The vampire could have been the boss and the skeletons could have been his flunkies. When I saw her being eaten, I could have been witnessing her being raped and killed and my mind thought this was a better way of looking at it so that I could deal with it."

I had to look at her for a moment on that point. Who knows. Maybe she had a point. Maybe I did the same thing. Maybe Kimoko left since I was acting weird. Maybe it was all gang related. I didn't think so, but it was worth investigating.

"Well make up your mind soon. My car should be here soon and I am going straight to the airport when it does. If you want to you can some here and use this as a trial. See if you'll like it. If not I will bring you back and you'll never hear from me again."

My satellite phone started ringing and I pick up. It turns out miss Lee did have a valid pass port and my car was waiting outside.

"Well, yes or no. My car is outside and I am leaving. I could use your help. I am not quite up to one hundred percent."

*"I'll see. I'll go with you, but we have to stop back in Beijing so that I may bet my pass port. I can also not be gone any longer than three days, with out missing classes. I do still feel I am in your debt. I think you would have survived without me. Maybe not by now, but the injuries while deep weren't life threatening."

*"Great let's not keep my car waiting."

Of course they sent a limo for me. What else did I expect, that is probably what took them so long getting here. I didn't really care at this point. The driver got out took my belongings and we got inside the limo.

During the ride to Beijing we talked about some stuff. Nothing too important, but a little background information. Like how she took first aid and that is how she knew to bandage me. A little of her family life. I told her some more about me, little stuff about how I grew up and stuff.

The ride was long from where we were at. We did have to stop a few times for fuel and had to spend the night in a hotel in one of the cities, Lanzhou, along the way. China is close to the size of the United States. And from where we were at to where we were going would have been about fifteen hundred miles. This would probably take a couple of days to reach Beijing like this. So I made a few calls.

The next day, I told her that we were going to stay here until a package arrived for me. Sometime afternoon it came. I had her pass port. My plane also arrived in the city earlier. We checked a few of the sites around town until then. Kim had never been here, and neither had I for that matter. The owner of the hotel we were staying at gave us a few pointers on what we should see. We ended up going the Five Spring Park there. I was really beautiful. I could tell we both were enjoying this.

I must admit. As I spent more time with Kim, I really started to miss Kimoko. Maybe it was the name. Maybe sometimes when she turned around I almost thought it was her. I don't know. I was starting to have feelings for this girl I had barely known a couple of days.

As we were walking slowly in the park, my Satellite phone rang and told me my package had arrived. We made our way back to the limo and headed back to the hotel.

I gave her the box and told her to open it since it was hers anyway. She opened it warily and saw it was her pass port. I told her we, the collective we meaning whoever I happened to be paying at the time, got it from her roommate and told her you would be out of town for a couple of days and not to worry. You would be back in three days. Kim looked at me with a little trepidation, but I didn't let that deter me. I told her we were going to leave from here to go to Sibiu, Romania. It was the in between city of three medieval cities and actually had an airport. I could probably find something there that I needed. Or at least in one of the cities.

We hopped on board the plane and set off for the next part of my quest.

As we arrived in Romania, you could tell the difference in the air. Even though Romania used to be communist and China still was there wasn't anything noticeably visible to compare them. We departed my plane and I got a car. I had everything set up so that I could drive by the time I got there. There was an Audi waiting for me. Oh well, I guess I could slum it for a bit.

In the plane I had tracking devices placed on all of my belongings that were valuable. I wanted to make myself look like a target. From what I had read, and I have no real background on this, they are nomadic and would steal from you if given an opportunity and a chance. Since I had my katanas again, I stored one in a big coat I was going to wear. I also had my medallion on me just in case I would happen to encounter some supernatural creatures.

I also had some of Kim's clothes packed up too, so she could change and get dressed up while we were here. I also had some make-up brought too, a lot of different kinds since I didn't know if she wore any or what kind she did. I did make sure to included Kimoko's favorites though.

While she was getting ready, I asked the manager of the hotel we were staying at if any of the places around here had belly dancers. I told him I really wanted to see a show if there were any. He told me of a place where there was, but it wasn't a place that I should go. It was kind of dangerous and he wouldn't want anything to happen to me. I assured him I would be ok. I also had a Glock 9mm with me for those human predators that would come at me. If I was at full strength I might not have worried, but I wasn't at full strength. I was at about sixty percent if that.

Kim came down stairs and looked stunning. She had on a traditional western blouse and pants, but her hair was done up in a traditional eastern bun. Damn she was hot. I knew now it might not be love I was falling in but lust. When she saw my reaction to her outfit, she blushed. I told her where we were going and we headed out.

I followed the direction given to me by the manager. As I kept going and making turn I did see the area start to get seedier as I went along. I finally stopped at what could have passed as a bar here and found someplace to park.

I headed in and was greeted by the sounds of a thumping drum. I suspected I was at the right place. Though when I walked in, every head turned towards me. I walked in the bar and asked the bartender in English if he spoke English. He shook his head no. I tried French. No again. I tried Italian. He did understand some Italian. It seemed the language the patrons were speaking was some sort of Indian hybrid language. I don't know how to speak Indian, but I have had enough doctors to recognize it being spoke.

I ordered a drink for everyone and put down more than enough to buy a couple of rounds for everyone. Then I tried to find a seat for Kim and I to sit down.

At the moment there really wasn't a show going on. There were some drummers beating a drum but everyone seemed to be having a conversation with each other. The barkeeper and his one helper were passing out drinks to everyone. As they went around I was getting a raised glass in my direction. When the bartender had finished passing out all of the drinks, the drummers hit a rapid sections of beats and came to a stop. Then some curtains opened and this blonde walked out.

The blonde looked to be about five foot six. She had a little tummy on her and her breasts were average in size probably a big b or a little c. She looked nice and soft. I saw she had a little tattoo on her back side but couldn't recognize what it was. Then she started moving.

I was entranced. She was able to make that small stomach of hers roll up and down. She could shake her hips better than Shakira. At first she scanned around the room seeing probably that they were mostly regulars. Then she spotted us. She started dancing her way towards us. At first I thought cool we were getting the show for tonight. But she changed and started moving around the crowd.

She danced a couple of dances each one lasting about five minutes or so. The drummers said something that I didn't understand, the crowd cheered and this dark haired, darker skinned woman came out. She was thin. Small but athletic looking breasts and toned all around. She was wearing an outfit similar, but not quite revealing as the blonde. She could move as well, but I liked looking at the blonde better.

They danced a bit together, broke off into the crown collected tips. I gave the dark haired woman about twenty American dollars, she looked down at it and gave me a close range dance. Very nice, slowly erotic and even though I was attracted to the blonde I noticed I was getting hard at watching her. She moved with the grace and agility of someone that looked that she could screw your brains out.

The blond must have known that I put a little something extra in the pot for the dark haired dancer. When she came over to dance I put a hundred in. Maybe a bit over the top, but if a twenty got me the kind of showing to get me a woody from the one I didn't like, then I wondered what a hundred would get me from the one I did like.

I did notice that the crowd didn't like the special attention I was getting from the dancers. I told the barkeeper to give everyone two more rounds and tell them about it. He chuckled and announced it to the crowd. The hostility pretty much went away and I was feeling good will from them again. They raised their glasses to salute me and I raised my glass back at them.

After I had finished making my contribution to the drunkenness of all the patrons of this bar, the blonde came up and put on a show for me. I could tell she was doing what she could to give it a go, but it didn't seem that her heart was in it. It still didn't stop me from getting really hard though. I already had four drinks in me by this time and was starting to feel a little light headed.

She stopped her dancing for me and went back out to the crowd and danced some more. Kim I think had about five drinks. I don't really know how her tolerance to alcohol was. I knew most Asians didn't really hold theirs too well. They could drink a lot but it always went to their head. She didn't act drunk though so I didn't worry about her. The blonde seemed to take a liking to her though. She was dancing in the audience but seemed to be dancing for Kim. I think Kim was getting a little flustered at that, but she kept on watching her.

The blonde was seriously dancing some erotic stuff now. I wasn't the only guy shifting in his seat and the moment. There was probably enough wood in the bar at this moment to build a log cabin. She turned away and danced, looking at other people at times, but kept on coming back to Kim to dance.