by Kylie Chan
Yield, the stone said.
I don’t think he’s hurt me enough to let it go yet, I said. But at least we know now that it’s about my gender and nothing to do with pursuing Simone.
You say that like it means he’s not going to kick your ass, the stone said.
I drew the Murasame and dropped the scabbard. I held the sword above my head in a defensive position, my left hand in front of me with two fingers raised, ready to use chi if necessary. Not that I had much chi left.
‘The Destroyer. The sword that thirsts for the blood of its victims. Fitting,’ Er Lang said, and came for me again. He swiped my sword out of the way and, before I had a chance to do anything, once again smacked me on the side of the head.
I reeled back again, disoriented, and shook my head. ‘Are you trying to damage my brain?’ I said. ‘Because you’re wasting your time. Everybody in the Academy knows I don’t have one.’
He tried to hit the side of my head again, and the Murasame swung around, almost by itself, and blocked the blow. The blade bit slightly into the wood of the halberd’s handle and we were locked together for a moment, both of us fiercely pulling at our weapons to free them.
Er Lang grimaced with anger. ‘The demonic weapon of destruction assists you, woman.’
I ripped the blade free and stepped back. ‘It’s not demonic. It’s just yin. Same as the Dark Lord.’
He swung the halberd at my head again and I ducked underneath it.
‘The Dark Lord overcame his true nature,’ Er Lang snarled. He swung the blade back again and struck me on the side of the abdomen, knocking me two metres sideways so that I slid along the polished wooden floor. ‘But his eyes were still clouded by you, woman.’
Yield! the stone said. This is getting serious!
I used the sword as a lever to help me up. ‘Get over this thing with women already! I’ve been given this job that I don’t want and I’m doing my best to serve the Celestial!’
‘Resign. That would be the best service you could do Heaven,’ Er Lang said. He spun the halberd in his hands and used the end of the pole to knock my feet out from under me before I was even fully upright. He really was at least three times faster than I was, and I was inhumanly fast. He spun the halberd again and held the blade over my throat.
‘I yield,’ I said, looking him right in the eyes.
The blade quivered above my throat. I was surprisingly calm; he was going to kill me quickly and cleanly. I was dead. I waited for the blow to fall. Sorry, John, I really wanted to be here for you, healed and whole.
He wrenched the halberd away from my throat, spun it in his hands, and turned his back on me. He strode away down the tunnel, his dog following.
The officiator scurried after him, waving the scroll that contained the match details.
I pulled myself upright, the beginnings of a massive headache building behind my eyes. I retrieved the Murasame’s scabbard and hesitated about whether the blade would still require feeding. To hell with it. I shoved the blade into its scabbard. If it was mad at me later then it could feed then. Right now I’d had enough.
Simone, Jade and Gold appeared next to me. Gold moved to take my arm and assist me, but I waved him away. ‘I’m fine.’
‘Meredith wants to check to see if you have a concussion,’ Simone said. ‘Come through to your prep room and we’ll have a look.’
I was about to protest but the stone said, ‘Go, Emma, he landed some very square blows there.’
I shrugged. Someone took my arms on either side and I was half-lifted, half-guided back down the tunnel to the prep room.
Half a dozen people were crammed into the room when I returned; I was too disoriented to distinguish them all. Someone pushed me into the chair at the side of the room and hands worked to unbuckle my armour and lift it over my head.
Meredith’s face appeared in front of me, her features concerned. She put her hands on either side of my head and concentrated, gazing into my eyes.
I moved weakly to protest. ‘I’m okay, really, he didn’t hit me that hard.’
Meredith released me, straightened and looked away. ‘No permanent damage, but I’d like her to take a couple of days off and rest. I think she’s going into shock.’
‘I don’t have time to rest, Rhonda comes back day after tomorrow,’ I said, but nobody seemed to hear me.
‘Good idea, Meredith,’ Simone said. Her face was now in front of me, then her hand. ‘How many fingers am I holding up?’
‘Meredith just said I’m fine, Simone,’ I said. ‘If I’m going into shock, isn’t having a zillion people and a lot of noise and excitement here a bad idea?’
‘She’s right. Out,’ Meredith said.
I dropped my head in my hands; the headache wasn’t building any more, it was towering, and my skull throbbed with pain. Thankfully the noise subsided as people left the room.
I glanced up. Only Simone, Meredith and the Tiger in human form remained, and all were silent.
‘You have no idea how much I wish ordinary human painkillers worked on me right now,’ I said.
‘Is it that bad, Emma?’ Simone said, distraught.
‘I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck,’ I said, ‘that ran backwards and forwards over my head.’
‘Let’s get her home and see what we can do there,’ the Tiger said. ‘Is her car nearby?’
Simone concentrated. ‘Denis is at the end of Wo On Lane, double-parked. He’s made the car invisible.’
The Tiger nodded sharply with satisfaction. ‘Good lad. Let’s get her home.’
Meredith and the Tiger took one arm each and lifted me, but I shook them off. ‘I’m fine.’ I took a couple of steps and the floor rolled beneath me. They grabbed my arms again before I toppled over.
‘That was completely unfair and totally unnecessary,’ Simone said, her voice full of quiet anger. ‘He’s way more powerful than she is, and that was just … wrong.’
‘I hope he’s happy now,’ I said as they guided me out the door into the tunnel. The officiator, Mr Zhou, was waiting for us there.
‘Er Lang is satisfied and says that he does not wish to pursue this matter further,’ Mr Zhou said.
‘Well, I do,’ Simone said. ‘Can I challenge him? Beating up ordinary humans just because they’re female is wrong!’
‘Deal with it later, Simone,’ Meredith said. ‘I can feel Emma’s headache from here; this whole thing is catching up with her. Let’s just get her home.’
‘Sounds good to me,’ I said weakly. The world was beginning to fade and I felt vaguely nauseous. I leaned more heavily on Meredith and the Tiger; my legs weren’t strong enough to hold me up.
The Tiger lifted me and carried me like a child, and I didn’t have the strength to protest.
‘Got you where I wanted you, finally,’ he whispered in my ear as he carried me gently down the corridor.
‘Asshole,’ I replied, and relaxed into a half-conscious daze in his arms.
‘It’s definitely an effective way of dealing with this. All you need is more practice,’ Meredith said.
I was in the training room back at the Peak, with Meredith and Simone standing across from me, watching me. My headache was gone and I felt fine. I stared at them, disoriented.
‘Are you okay, Emma?’ Simone said.
I tried to remember what had just happened: one second the Tiger had been carrying me out of the Arena, injured; the next I was here and healed. Realisation jolted through me.
‘Did I just bring out the Serpent again?’ I said. I raised my hands. ‘Never mind, that’s obviously what happened. How long have I been home? What time is it?’
‘We’ve been home about an hour,’ Meredith said. ‘We walked you through the transformation again. You said it was easy.’
‘Now all I need to do is work out how to remember when it happens,’ I said.
‘That will probably come with time and practice,’ Meredith said.
‘And I still have no idea how I did it,’
I said, frustrated.
‘I wouldn’t worry too much about that, Emma,’ Simone said. ‘Even though you were pretty out of it, you just concentrated and brought the Serpent out easily. Meredith didn’t even need to help you much.’
‘And you’re fully healed from that thrashing that Er Lang gave you,’ Meredith said.
‘The Tiger is in Monica’s room checking out that stone thingy,’ Simone said. ‘Want to have a look?’
‘Sure.’
‘I’ll head out,’ Meredith said. ‘I’m needed in the Northern Heavens, it’s my shift.’
‘Spend some time with your husband!’ I said.
‘He’s coming with me,’ Meredith said with a grin. ‘Don’t worry, after three hundred years we don’t need to be together every minute of the day.’
‘That’s a lie and you know it,’ Simone said.
Meredith shrugged and disappeared.
Although Monica and Marcus’s room was enormous by the standards of most domestic helpers in Hong Kong, the three of us with the double bed and the wardrobe made it something of a squeeze.
‘Simone, can you pick up the stone?’ the Tiger said, studying it from the entrance to the bathroom without touching it. ‘So far it’s burnt me, Ronnie and Emma — a Shen, a demon and a human.’
Simone went to the stone and crouched to see it. She hesitatingly held out one hand, then picked it up. She held it in her palm and studied it. ‘Feels really, really weird.’
‘Bring it to the living room,’ I said.
We moved to the living room and sat on the couches. Simone put the stone on the coffee table.
Leo came out from his bedroom and into the living room. He saw all of us sitting on the couches and approached us, curious. ‘What’s going on?’
The stone flew up into the air, hovered about a metre off the ground and disappeared.
Simone and the Tiger both jerked their heads up and their eyes unfocused, then they disappeared as well.
‘They’re tracking it,’ the stone in my ring said.
‘That stone was destroying our seals,’ I told Leo. ‘We think the Demon Prince Six planted it here.’
Leo flopped to sit on the couch and put his head in his hands. ‘And it took off when I moved near it. Wonderful.’
China, Simone said. Just a sec.
Homing, the Tiger said. Dammit!
I’m helping out, Michael said into my head. This thing is fast!
Lost it! the Tiger said.
I’m on it … Simone’s voice trailed off. Heading northeast … still going … I’m nearly past Guangzhou already …
I see you, Michael said.
Got you, the Tiger said.
Still going northeast, Simone said. Gah! This pollution is awful!
Industrial centre, Michael said. I’m having trouble with the pollution.
Me too, Simone said. I’m losing it! Uncle Bai?
Gone, Michael said.
I lost it a while ago, the Tiger said.
It went underground, everybody, the stone in my ring said.
There was silence for a moment.
Somewhere around here, Simone said.
Simone, where was the last place you saw it? Michael said.
Here.
This is my last location, it was moving in this direction … it disappeared somewhere around here, Michael said.
Emma, we have an area of about twenty kilometres to a side, Simone said. We’re going to have a poke around. Tiger, where exactly are we?
That’s Shantou, Eastern Guangdong seaboard, northeast corner of Guangdong Province, the Tiger said. Nothing terribly exciting there, just a lot of noise and pollution. Not even famous for good-looking chicks.
‘Do you think I can be transported in serpent form?’ I asked the stone.
‘I have no idea, but there’s nobody here to take you,’ it said. ‘And it’s a good four hours’ drive from Guangzhou to Shantou.’
I’ll send you a cloud, hang on, the Tiger said.
She can’t ride clouds, she can’t make herself invisible, Simone said. Hang out there, Emma, we’ll be fine.
After a few minutes of nervous waiting I said, ‘Any news, stone?’
The stone didn’t reply, and I glanced down at it. The setting in the ring was empty; the stone was gone. I threw myself up and went to the training room to do a Tai Chi set to remain calm. Intellectually I knew that the three of them were some of the most powerful demon destroyers in this part of the world, but my heart wouldn’t stop reminding me what my head already knew: Simone and Michael might have been powerful but they were still mortal, and if they ran into more than they could handle there was a very real chance they could get themselves killed.
Leo didn’t move from his position on the couch as I headed to the training room.
I had already completed a forty-eight-form yang set and was halfway through a full eighty-eight-form set when the doorbell rang. I took a deep breath, centred what remained of my chi, and went out to answer it.
Leo had already opened the door. A huge demon stood there, nearly as big as any Number One. He was in human form, a man in his mid-sixties with long grey hair held in a topknot, wearing a traditional robe of grey silk. When the demon saw me he raised his hand, pointed at me, and said, ‘Hold her.’
I turned to run but Leo grabbed me and spun me around to face the demon. I should have been able to shake him off, but he was vastly stronger than me and held me easily.
The demon entered; the seals were completely down. He stopped and looked around the living room, then turned back to me and grinned. ‘Lady Emma. Let’s go.’
CHAPTER 21
Leo marched me out of the apartment, holding my arms behind me. A huge Chinese human, at least six five and a wall of muscle, stood in the lift lobby pointing a gun at me.
‘Don’t try anything or Chang here will shoot you,’ the demon said. ‘Come quietly, please, Miss Emma.’
The Leo copy released my arms, and I hesitated. I was inhumanly fast, but I wasn’t fast enough to risk getting shot. I raised my hands.
‘Oh, very good,’ the demon said. ‘We won’t hurt you, we just want to talk. Please, come with us, have a small chat, and we’ll be happy to let you go.’
‘Jade Building Block,’ I said.
The demon’s grin widened. ‘Nice try, ma’am, but you’re with me and I am an expert in dealing with stones. Your little green friend is a long way away and cannot hear you.’ He nodded towards the lift. ‘Let’s go, shall we?’
They took me down to the car park. A bucket of soapy water stood next to the front wheel of my Mercedes and a sponge sat on the hood.
‘Where’s Denis?’ I said.
‘Who?’ the demon said.
‘My driver.’
‘Oh, he was fun,’ the demon said with pleasure. ‘Horsemen are good.’
‘You will pay for that,’ I said.
‘Yes, of course I will,’ the demon said. ‘The car’s out here.’
They guided me outside the building and pressed the button to open the pedestrian gate at the end of the drive. A white Mercedes waited at the side of the road, its engine running. Another demon was standing next to the car, in the form of an elderly Chinese woman in a blood-red cheongsam with gold trimming.
‘Miss Emma in the middle in the back,’ the male demon said. ‘I will sit on one side, Three the other. Leo in the front.’
The man with the gun moved it slightly to indicate that I was to get into the car. The male demon opened the door for me and watched me carefully as I entered. I sat in the middle, and the demons sat on either side of me. Leo sat in the front next to the big Chinese, who passed the gun to him. Leo turned and pointed the gun at me.
‘Let’s go, Chang,’ the male demon said. ‘We have a suite at the Shang, on Pacific Place. Please, ma’am, just come quietly. We won’t hurt you, we just want to talk.’
‘I won’t try anything,’ I said. ‘I want to hear what you have to say.’ I nodded towards the Leo copy
. ‘Did you make him?’
The demon settled more comfortably into his seat. ‘No.’
‘Who did?’
The demon hesitated slightly, then said, ‘Who made you, Leo?’
‘My mother and father,’ Leo said, the gun not moving from my head.
‘Very good answer.’
Leo nodded. ‘Thank you.’
‘Do you know who I am, Leo?’ I said.
‘Emma Donahoe. Promised of the Dark Lord. Known as the Dark Lady, you also turn into a goddamn huge snake and a Snake Mother.’
‘Who is the Dark Lord?’
An expression of bewilderment swept across Leo’s face. ‘What?’
‘Disengage, Leo Four,’ the demon said.
Leo’s face went blank.
‘Nice try, ma’am,’ the demon said. ‘Let’s just wait until we’re at the suite before we talk any more, shall we?’
‘Your choice,’ I said.
We drove in silence down Garden Road, past the office buildings of Admiralty, and up the ramp onto the top of Pacific Place, where three of the Territory’s most luxurious hotels and serviced apartment blocks were located. We travelled past the bottom of Hong Kong Park, with its manicured gardens and fountains, and pulled up at the entrance to the hotel.
‘Please don’t try anything as we take you up, ma’am,’ the demon said. ‘I would have to use force.’
‘You won’t use force on me in plain view of everybody,’ I said.
‘Ah, you see, that’s the thing,’ the demon said, as if he was telling a charming story to a small child. ‘Nobody can see us.’
The female demon opened the car door and guided me out. They took me through the lobby of the hotel, the gun at my head, and nobody seemed to notice. We went up in the lift to the club suites on the highest floors. The suite they took me into had a living room, two separate bedrooms and overlooked the harbour. The winter day was fading and the neon lights on the buildings across the water were beginning to come on in a colourful spectacle.
A couple of bodyguards were waiting for us inside, and the big driver nodded to them as we entered. They stationed themselves on either side of the door.
‘Sit, Miss Donahoe,’ the demon said.
I didn’t say anything, I just sat.