by Kylie Chan
‘He’s not coming at all?’ I said with relief.
John shook his head. He held out his other arm and smiled.
I raced to him and he wrapped his free arm around me. I buried my face into his chest, still holding my sword in my right hand at his back. He smiled down at me. His free hand came behind my head and held me. He closed his eyes and kissed me.
‘Yuck,’ Simone said loudly.
We laughed into each other’s mouths, and turned our heads together to see her. Simone leaned the side of her head against his shoulder and her eyes sparkled at me. ‘You two are so gross,’ she said happily. ‘Move away, Emma, I want to look at the cars.’
John pulled away. He gently lowered Simone, then gestured for me to follow him onto the landing. As he closed the door behind us, Michael nodded inside the room.
‘We are in big trouble,’ John said. ‘Fire elementals are supposed to belong to the Red Lady. I’d like to know how One Two Two had control of them. I have summoned the Phoenix and she is on her way. There is a fire elemental bound in the backyard. I am surprised I was able to bind it, that is most unusual. Oh,’ he added almost as an afterthought, ‘your sister is having hysterics in the living room, and your brother-in-law is ready to rip our throats out for putting his family in danger.’
‘Is everybody okay otherwise?’ I said.
He nodded, still smiling. ‘Emma,’ he said, and the smile disappeared, ‘I hope you understand what we will have to do eventually. This cannot be permitted to continue. As soon as Simone is ready—’
‘As soon as Simone is ready, we will hunt this little bastard down and you will take True Form and give him exactly what he deserves.’
‘How did you know?’
‘It’s what we have to do,’ I said. ‘I also know that if it comes down to him or us, you’ll do it. You’ll take True Form and rip his nasty little guts out. I only hope we have Simone up to speed before it comes to that.’
‘In True Form I can take him easily,’ John said, ‘and I don’t need to worry about going too far and losing it. Even on the land, I can take him. But you must understand: afterwards I will be gone.’
‘I know.’
His eyes turned inwards. ‘The Red Lady is here. Let’s talk to her first. Jade and Gold are trying to calm your family. It might be a good idea to leave them for a while.’
‘Do you think we should move them to the Western Palace?’ I said as we went down the stairs. I could hear Jennifer raging loudly in the living room and I winced.
‘I will arrange for seals to be set on this house. I will post guards. They will be as safe here as they could be anywhere on the Earthly Plane. It will take a while for the demons to regroup. I do not expect another attack for a while. And it will be directed at us, wherever we are, not at them.’
I nodded. That was enough to keep them safe. The attack had been against us. All of the attacks had been aimed at John, Simone, or me; except when they had taken Charlie as second prize.
‘This must end soon,’ I said desperately. ‘It’s worse every single time.’
‘He’s stronger every single time too, love,’ John said sadly. ‘Our time is limited.’
We went into the yard. The fire elemental was a creature of flames: roughly man-shaped and about normal human size, but its entire form was writhing fire. It didn’t move but the flames danced, making luminous shadows on the grass in the fading afternoon sun. Zhu Que stood in the yard and examined it from about a metre away. When she saw us she waited until we approached and then saluted, bowing to each of us. ‘My Lord. My Lady.’
‘Madam.’ John gestured towards the table. Zhu Que nodded and sat. She put her hand on the table and waited patiently, similar to the way the Demon King had. John sat across from her. I sat next to him.
‘Fire elementals. Birds. Explain,’ he said.
‘Not me. This is not one of mine,’ she said calmly, her beautiful long face expressionless. She gestured dismissively with one hand and the colours on her robe rippled. ‘It is the bastard son of a Snake Mother and something unspeakable.’ She eyed it with contempt. ‘It is a corruption of the pure flames. When I discover who is creating these things, I will ensure that they have a taste of the distilled fire themselves.’
‘One Two Two,’ John said.
The Phoenix stiffened and her face went taut with anger. ‘That one is not clever enough to fashion something as powerful as this.’
‘The King has sworn to stay out of it. Who else could be helping that little piece of shit?’ John said without emotion.
She made a soft sound of amusement. ‘Anyone helping it is as stupid as it is.’ She leaned her arms on the table. ‘We need intelligence, quickly. Do you think the Lady would help us?’
‘Ask the elemental first,’ John said. ‘I do not want the Lady to risk herself for us.’
‘It is not an elemental!’ she spat. ‘It is a vile demon hybrid.’
‘Can you control it?’
She eyed it appraisingly. ‘I don’t know, Ah Wu,’ she said softly. ‘Let’s see. Maybe Lady Emma should move back; it may attack when we unbind it.’
I moved away slightly to watch.
John and the Phoenix moved closer to study it. ‘It has a most interesting structure,’ she said softly. ‘There is a demon in there somewhere, hardly visible to the Inner Eye. Look inside.’
He looked at her pointedly.
She bowed and saluted. ‘I apologise, my Lord.’ She turned back to the elemental. ‘That may be why these have been produced. Can you sense them coming?’
He shook his head without saying anything. His face was rigid with restraint.
‘What?’ I said. Both their faces were expressionless.
John sighed. He gestured with one hand towards the Phoenix. ‘I am North, she is South. I am Water, she is Fire.’
‘And?’
The Phoenix explained. ‘Although Water is not vulnerable to Fire, it is still not his element. There is no water essence in it at all. He is unable to see inside this creature, because it is composed of fire. He cannot sense it coming. It has the advantage on him.’
‘Holy shit,’ I said softly. ‘And you think Wong made this just for you?’
His face closed down even more. He nodded sharply. Then his expression softened. ‘If what the Phoenix says is true, it is a rather unpleasant development. I have never seen anything like this before. Can you see inside it?’
I shrugged. ‘I can try.’
I opened my Inner Eye and studied the fire demon. It wasn’t pure fire. Black demon stuff writhed like ribbons through the flames.
‘I can see the demon stuff,’ I said. ‘I can see that it’s not pure fire. Is a true elemental pure flames?’
Zhu Que nodded. ‘You are quite impressive, my Lady. Here.’ She raised her hand and another elemental appeared next to the demon. It looked identical for a moment, then I saw that it was the real thing and not bound.
‘Will I hurt it if I look inside?’ I said.
‘No,’ she said with a small smile. ‘Go right ahead.’
I looked inside it. ‘It’s really beautiful.’ The flames were pure and bright and shot through with gold and silver. At its heart was a core of clean, blistering heat. I could sense its awareness; it returned my gaze with amusement. It had a rather wicked sense of humour and was quite intelligent.
I examined the other one again. It was sullen, stupid and evil and wanted to destroy everything around it.
‘The difference is very obvious when you look closely at it. Thanks for showing me,’ I said.
‘You are very welcome,’ Zhu Que said with a smile and small bow. ‘I am impressed. Most humans cannot do that.’
The real elemental disappeared.
‘I will unbind it. We’ll see if you can make it talk,’ John said.
‘Don’t count on it,’ she said grimly.
He unbound the fire demon, but it didn’t move. Zhu Que’s face went taut with effort. She stared at it. She raised h
er hand towards it. She walked to it and grabbed it by the throat, completely unharmed by the flames. Her red eyes flashed. Her scarlet hair floated around her head. The demon exploded into feathery red and black streamers. Zhu Que lowered her arm and sagged.
‘Anything?’ John said.
Zhu Que shook her head. ‘Nothing. It had a selfdestruct mechanism.’ Her voice became fierce. ‘What a despicable piece of work. Whenever I find who made this, I will make them suffer.’ She raised her arms. ‘I suggest you contact the Lady. She may be willing to sortie for you. Otherwise…’ She smiled sadly. ‘Otherwise you will just have to take each day as it comes.’
‘How are the eggs?’ John said. ‘Are they close?’
She smiled and her face lit up. ‘They are very close. I should return to them, they will be getting cold. I have fire elementals on them, but they are not warm enough.’
‘Let me know when they hatch,’ he said. ‘I’d love to see the little ones.’
She saluted him. ‘My Lord. By your leave.’
‘Go South, little Sparrow,’ he said gently.
She saluted me. ‘Lady Emma. I believe that I owe you a gold coin.’
‘A look at the babies would be enough, I think,’ I said.
She smiled kindly and disappeared in a flurry of red. I went to John. ‘Would Qing Long be the father?’ ‘Her business is her business. Her eggs are her eggs.’ ‘I’d still like to see the babies.’
‘They are usually adorable,’ he said. He looked at me. He didn’t say anything.
‘Negative,’ I said. ‘Probably for the best anyway. You won’t be around.’
His smile didn’t shift but I saw the disappointment in his eyes. ‘You’re quite correct. Probably for the best.’
I changed the subject. ‘Do you have water elementals?’
He nodded. ‘Right now I cannot summon them. They miss me terribly.’
I dropped my head, then shook myself out of it. ‘Let’s go and talk to Jennifer and Leonard. I would have thought Leonard would be taking this better. He knows who you are.’
‘None of my staff has ever been this close before,’ John said. ‘This is the first time any of them have been in danger. They have been brought up with the assurance that, as long as they serve me, they are safe.’
‘This will be very hard,’ I said as we went through the door. ‘I’d rather face a battalion of demons.’
‘Me too, love.’
The return flight was uneventful. We were all subdued, even Simone. We only had a couple of weeks until school started. The demons would probably have another try at us then.
John and I were in agreement. We refused to let this demon spoil our lives. We could handle him. Simone would go to school like a normal little girl. We would be careful.
But we did lock the security down tighter around ourselves. We tried to avoid feeling that we were under siege.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The interior of the Science Museum was dark and deserted. The airplane exhibit loomed around me. The propellers on the huge engines to one side looked like grinning teeth against the dimly glowing windows.
‘I don’t like you,’ Simone said in the darkness. I moved to follow her voice.
‘I don’t care,’ he said, and my blood went cold. ‘I’m coming,’ I said loudly. ‘Emma?’ Her sweet voice was full of hope. ‘Oh good,’ he said. ‘Now I have you all.’ ‘Touch one hair on her head and I will make you suffer horribly for the rest of your short existence,’ I said loudly.
‘Oh, do come, Miss Emma,’ he said, his voice full of encouragement. ‘I guarantee there’s enough of me for both of you.’
‘What are you doing?’ Simone said. ‘I don’t like that.’ Her voice raised in pitch. ‘Stop it!’
‘You get your filthy hands off her!’ I roared, running towards her voice.
‘Help! Emma!’ she shrieked. ‘Stop it!’
‘Shut up,’ he said grimly. ‘Keep still.’
I couldn’t move fast enough on legs. I changed.
I slithered forward on my black coils. Good. I could see better this way. The ground felt absolutely wonderful beneath my belly. I’d missed that so much. I could see them in the dark. I could taste them. Yuck. I could taste him. He tasted like shit.
There they were. A large group of low-level demons stood between me and them. He stopped when he saw me. She saw me too. She screamed.
I didn’t have time to reassure her. I took out the demons around me. They were easy. I bit some heads off, then took one in my mouth and shook it wildly, using it as a club to destroy the others. Great fun. They were much too slow for me.
No more. I raised myself on my coils and carefully approached One Two Two and Simone. Good; it looked like he hadn’t gone very far with her. If he’d done anything to hurt her I would not make this quick.
Simone stopped shrieking and sobbed.
‘Holy shit,’ he said, staring at me, stunned.
I didn’t give him a chance to say anything more. I opened my mouth and my fangs sprang out with a spray of venom. The venom hit him in the face and he screamed. Good.
I struck him right in the middle of the chest. My fangs went through the skin and into his chest cavity. Damn, it felt good. But he really did taste like shit.
He fell. He convulsed under my head, making weird choking noises. Dead. Easy. I pulled my mouth free of him and checked Simone. I lowered my head to reassure her, but she had fainted. I nudged her with my nose.
I shot up to sit upright in bed. I looked around. I was back in my room in Hong Kong.
I was drenched in sweat. I checked my hands in the glow of the lights from the city coming through the crack in the curtains. Completely normal.
I rose and quietly went through the door into Simone’s room. She was sleeping, her little face angelic. I sat on the bed and touched her face. She grimaced slightly but didn’t wake. She turned over. I stroked her hair.
I went back into my own room and sat on the bed. I put my head in my hands.
I heard them arguing as I approached the training room. They went silent when I entered.
‘Sifu,’ they all said, and saluted.
‘What’s up, guys? Why the big argument?’
Alvin, the local kid from Guangdong Province, and Julie, a young American, shared an exasperated look.
Finally it was Lai who broke the silence. ‘Alvin and Julie are arguing about how Master Leo was injured. We finally gathered enough nerve to ask him in the lesson we just finished, and he wouldn’t talk about it.’
‘I heard a Snake Mother did it,’ Julie said. ‘One of the fifth years told me that.’
‘Not possible,’ Alvin said. ‘Snake Mothers never leave Hell.’
‘Okay, guys, sit.’ I sat on the mats as well. ‘It took you two weeks to ask him? Most of the other students have already been ignored by him. Revision: Snake Mothers. Lai, you’re a Shen, you start.’
Lai grimaced. ‘I’m a very small Shen, you know that, ma’am. And my mother won’t talk about Snake Mothers. It’s really strange. The minute I turned sixteen she’s telling me what to look for in a mate—’
Julie swallowed a huge gulping laugh.
Lai rounded on Julie. ‘It’s all very well for you to laugh, but do you have any idea how embarrassing it is? She’s such an old-fashioned old hen.’ She made her voice thin and wheezy. ‘Make sure he has a fine tail, and a good comb, a good comb is important in a cock—’
Every English speaker in the class collapsed in laughter. Lai appeared bewildered. ‘What did I say?’
‘It’s the language charm,’ I said. ‘Cock. Cock. Two different meanings, depending on the way you say it. You heard the two meanings?’
Lai thought about it, then she collapsed laughing as well.
I spoke again when they’d regained a semblance of control. ‘Why won’t your mother talk about Snake Mothers? Everybody needs to be aware of them; they’re so dangerous.’
Lai dropped her head. ‘I think one broke i
nto my mother’s nest once and ate all the chicks. That’s why she won’t talk about them.’
The class went wide-eyed and silent at that.
‘That’s awful,’ Julie whispered.
‘Snake Mothers,’ I said, bringing them back to the point. ‘Anybody know what level they are?’
‘Anything from fifty up,’ Alvin said. ‘The biggest ones are as big as the King himself.’
‘Good,’ I said. ‘They occupy the nests, and they bear all the demon spawn. The smaller ones mate with…? Anyone?’
‘The smaller ones can produce spawn with any male demon,’ Julie said. ‘But the biggest ones will spawn only with the King—they produce the Demon Princes.’
‘Good,’ I said. ‘Do they leave the nests?’
‘No,’ Alvin said with certainty. ‘They stay in Hell.’
‘No, that’s not right,’ Lai said patiently. ‘Lady Emma herself faced a Mother when the Mountain was attacked.’
‘That’s right, Alvin.’
‘But if they leave the nests…’ Alvin began, his face filling with horror. ‘Then they could come out and attack any of us.’
‘They come shopping here all the time,’ I said. ‘Watch for groups of gorgeous young women, all wearing clothes the colour of dried blood.’
Bunny, a young local girl from Sha Tin, gasped. ‘I don’t believe it, I’ve seen them in Pacific Place!’
‘They won’t go for you if you don’t go for them,’ I said.
‘But what about Leo?’ Alvin said. ‘What happened to him?’
I dropped my head and ran my hands through my hair. ‘They kidnapped him and took him to the nests to play. The King wouldn’t let them kill him because I’m so fond of him.’
‘Dear God,’ Julie said softly. ‘Play?’
I grinned at her without humour. ‘Yep. They like to amuse themselves with a variety of games in the nests. The victims are usually low-level demons, but sometimes the King will give them a human or Shen to play with, and they regard that as a special treat. They try to make the toy last as long as possible.’
They remained silent for a while, digesting this.