The girls were drinking and eating, teasing each other, at Zi Mei\'s house when there was a knock on the front door. Sheena had jumped up and ran to the front door to check if it was the bodyguard. It turned out to be Darren so she opened the door and invited him in.

"Look who\'s here!" she gushed as she linked her arm through Darren\'s and dragged him inside.

Zi Mei choked and spewed out the tuak she had just taken a sip of. What is Darren doing here? Jazzmine patted her back.

"Hey, careful," Jazzmine was saying.

"Don\'t overreact, you already know about us Mei," Sheena said.

Zi Mei was thinking about other scarier things than Sheena\'s relationship with Darren. Her eyes immediately went to Darren\'s index finger, the one that had elongated like a long rubbery snake. It looked normal now.

Noticing Darren looking at her with a weird expression, she quickly looked away and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"It went down wrong, I wasn\'t overreacting," Zi Mei told Sheena, putting on a casual smile.

"So, you guys huh? I would have never guessed," she added. Jazzmine, suddenly realising that Sheena is holding on to Darren intimately, gaped at them.

"Two of you are dating?" Jazzmine asked, shocked.

"Well, we have been, ah…how do you put it delicately, yes, fucking each other on and off for a few months now," Sheena said, grinning.

Darren blushed next to her at her choice of words. He rubbed the nape of his neck.

"Sheena…" he muttered, appearing embarrassed.

Zi Mei studied Darren\'s expression and body language. He looked and behaved like good old regular Darren. The Darren whom she grew up with. Her best friend from childhood. Did she imagine the whole finger incident?

She must have imagined it and the handsome Thorin Loong had probably played along. Or maybe he was mocking her? Ugh. She has to stop thinking about Thorin Loong!

Darren pulled himself free from Sheena and took a seat next to Zi Mei.

"I hope you don\'t mind me not telling you earlier, Mei," he said to her, sounding genuinely apologetic.

Zi Mei shook her head to indicate that she doesn\'t mind at all.

"No, it\'s fine, I just can\'t imagine you…and Sheena…" she replied. She gestured to Sheena. "Look at her, she\'s wild and you, you are not," she said.

"Hey! Why are you insulting me?" Sheena protested. Sheena picked up a piece of chicken and threw it at Zi Mei. Darren suddenly reached out and caught it easily.

All three of the women gaped at him in surprise.

"How….?" all three of them said in unison, their eyes wide.

Darren shrugged. "Super reflexes I suppose," he said.

Then just as suddenly, he jumped up and grabbed a bunch of Zi Mei\'s hair on the back of her head and dragged him close to her.

"Tell me, where is Thorin Loong?" he snarled, his expression twisting into an ugly sneer, his eyes glowing red. A heavy putrid stench emitted from his mouth.

Zi Mei gasped and stared at him, frozen in fear. Both Sheena and Jazzmine suddenly dropped to the floor unconscious.

"I asked you, where is Thorin Loong?" Darren hissed at her again. Now, he no longer sounded like Darren. His voice is a raspy scratchy sound.

"I….don\'t….know," Zi Mei stammered and she galvanised into action, struggling against him. But this thing that looked like Darren is strong. His other hand came up and went around her neck, closing tightly around her neck.

"If you want to live, you better tell me now," he rasped.

"I told you! I don\'t know!" Zi Mei exclaimed as his hand tightened around her neck. She began to choke as he compressed on her windpipe. Then he flung her against the wall when she felt her head hit against it and she fell to the floor, winded.

Strangely, Zi Mei had another flash of deja vu. As if she had experienced this before. She tried to move but pain shoot through her whole body and she curled up for a moment, taking in shallow breaths to mitigate the pain.

"Very well, I will kill your friend before your eyes, maybe then, you will tell me," the thing said. It picked up Jazzmine by her throat and then it was squeezing Jazzmine\'s throat, holding her high up in the air.

"No! Let her go!" Zi Mei cried. She crawled towards the thing, tears sliding down her cheeks. She must save Jazzmine!

"Tell me where to find Thorin Loong now," the thing repeated. It continued to squeeze Jazzmine\'s neck and her friend is wheezing now.

"Okay, okay I  will tell you, release her now!" Zi Mei said in a last desperate attempt to save Jazzmine. She doesn\'t know where to find Thorin Loong but she needed to buy time.

The thing dropped Jazzmine on the floor and she crumpled in a pile, unconscious. Zi Mei crawled over to her and checked on her. She still has a pulse and is still breathing. Relieved, Zi Mei slowly clambered up to glare at the thing that looked like Darren.

"Well?" the thing asked, its eyes glowing read and its face swirling and twisting, as if there was something underneath the skin surface. Zi Mei shivered in fear and repulsion.

"He…his office is along Red Hibiscus Road," she blurted out. She remembered her googling Thorin Loong\'s information and found his company address.

"Are you toying with me human!???" Darren was not pleased with her answer. This time, its fingers - all of it on both hands - elongated and picked up both Sheena and Jazzmine, one in each hand.

"I will kill both of them now if you don\'t immediately tell me where Thorin Loong is," he said. He started squeezing both their necks.

"NOOOOOOO!!!" Zi Mei screamed and launched herself against him. Taken aback, he dropped her friends and jumped back but not before Zi Mei managed to kick his shin and land a few blows and scratches on its face.

"That\'s enough, why are you terrorising mortals you stupid demon?" a deep voice behind her suddenly said.

The thing flung Zi Mei away from him and stood to face the owner of that voice. Zi Mei, who fell a few metres away from the thing, pushed herself up amidst a ringing ache in her head to see who it was. It was the handsome CEO Thorin Loong.

"Good. I knew I will hit the mother lode if I attack this mortal," the thing said, snorting.

Thorin Loong was leaning against the wall casually, looking like he is not in the least perturbed to find a Darren lookalike thing attacking Zi Mei with two unconscious women on the floor.

"Ugh. You made it sound so wrong, whatever load you are thinking of, ugh, thanks but no thanks," Thorin Loong made a disgusted expression. His eyes caught Zi Mei\'s for a split second and in that split second, she knew that she and her two friends are safe.

"Why you arrogant dragon!" the thing, whom Thorin Loong had called a demon, launched into a vicious attack, his fingers elongating into long tendrils of fiery black smoke to curl around Thorin Loong.

"No! Thorin!" Zi Mei gasped and that was the last thing she saw before she slid into darkness, falling unconscious.