by Kylie Chan
‘Deep-dish pizza was invented in Chicago,’ Elise said.
‘Uh, okay,’ Simone said.
‘Can I have some too, please, Aunty Simone?’ Buffy said, her eyes wide with anticipation.
‘This is yours,’ Simone said, passing the plate to her. ‘The vegetarian ones are for everybody else.’
‘Yum,’ Buffy said, and tucked into the fluffy bread crust.
‘What do you say?’ Leo said sternly.
‘Thank you, Aunty Simone,’ Buffy said in a sing-song voice through the pizza.
Simone used her knife to cut another square section off. ‘Would you like some?’ she asked Elise.
‘I suppose I can try it,’ Elise said. ‘It doesn’t have anything … strange in it, does it?’
‘You are embarrassing me more and more every minute, Elise,’ Leo said, his voice a low rumble.
‘You have embarrassed me all my life,’ she snapped back, then stopped. ‘Sorry.’ She nodded thanks to Simone as she put a piece onto a plate and handed it to her. ‘Now tell me what you’re doing with yourself. I knew you were alive, I had a feeling.’ She patted his shoulder. ‘Last I heard you were a bodyguard for that opera singer, then I heard she died, then they told us you were dead too! What happened?’
‘That opera singer was Simone’s mother,’ Leo said.
‘It’s okay, Leo,’ Simone said gently.
‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ Elise said. ‘I didn’t mean it that way. I’m just confused. What happened?’
‘I wanted to be left alone,’ Leo said into his untouched pizza.
‘We’re your family,’ she said, then gazed out the window. ‘How can he ride around like that?’
I looked out as well. A gas delivery man was riding a sturdily built heavy Chinese bicycle along the narrow street with two full gas bottles in the basket in front of him.
‘That’s a common sight in the narrower streets that aren’t easy for trucks,’ I said. I dropped my voice; he’d stopped outside the restaurant and obviously seen us. ‘Heads up.’
The delivery man pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, checked it, then climbed back onto his bicycle and rode clumsily away.
‘We really are paranoid,’ Simone said. ‘Buy some groceries and find a helper, Ge Ge. This is ridiculous.’
‘We’ll go shopping tomorrow,’ Martin said. ‘We’re just having trouble finding the right domestic help.’
‘I can give you one of my … staff,’ I said.
‘Your staff?’ Elise said. ‘How many staff do you have?’
I thought frantically for a moment, trying to place the demons in a situation where they’d fit on the Earthly. I’d been spending far too much time on the Celestial.
Martin came to my rescue. ‘One of Chenco’s subsidiaries is an employment agency. Emma helps us manage the company. It’s a huge enterprise.’
‘Oh, I understand.’ She looked from Martin to me. ‘How big is this company anyway?’
‘Big enough,’ Leo said. ‘Your pizza’s getting cold.’
Elise cut a piece of the thick pizza off with her knife and took a bite. Her eyebrows shot up and she nodded enthusiastically, making pleasurable sounds in her throat.
‘That’s why we came here,’ Simone said. She nodded towards Buffy, who had nearly finished her square of pizza. ‘She likes it more than anything.’
We walked back along the narrow street; its surface was shining from the rain that had just passed over and slick with oil. Steam rose from the warm asphalt, and the coloured signboards above the street and along the Mid-Levels escalator route reflected in the water. The streets ran parallel to the hillside and the lanes between them that carried the escalators were steep and slippery.
‘This time it’s definitely the real thing,’ Simone said, looking around.
‘Yes,’ Martin said. ‘Hurry.’
Leo took Buffy from Elise and hoisted her onto his hip to carry her.
‘We need to hurry, it will rain like anything in a minute,’ Simone said. She raised her phone. ‘Thunderstorm warning.’
‘A little rain won’t hurt us,’ Elise said.
‘Hong Kong doesn’t do little rain,’ Simone said, and stopped.
Four Mothers in human form stood in front of us. Elise backed up and turned to run, and another appeared behind her. She trembled with fear. Mothers could drive humans wild with terror just by looking at them and Elise was close.
‘Elise, take Buffy and stay calm,’ Leo said. He handed the little girl to Elise, who clutched her. ‘Look after her for us, okay?’
Elise nodded over Buffy’s head, braver now she had the child to protect.
I stepped forward with Martin at my right. ‘Whatever you want, you aren’t getting it. The King’s guaranteed my and Simone’s safety through this, and if you’re acting outside his orders, you are in serious trouble and your best bet would be to go home right now.’
‘I guaranteed your safety during the coming conflict,’ the King said from behind them, his voice mild. They parted and he stepped between them. ‘And the best way to ensure it is to have you in custody.’
He raised one hand and pointed at Leo. A shot rang out and Leo fell.
‘Leo!’ Simone shouted and knelt next to him. ‘Leo?’
Martin grabbed me and covered as much of me with his body as he could.
‘Not me!’ I shouted. ‘Protect Elise and Buffy. He needs me alive.’
Martin moved in front of them and I summoned the Murasame.
‘I know what my sword will do to you,’ I said.
‘I told her to aim for his knees,’ the King said, still mild. ‘But at this distance her aim isn’t very good.’
‘He’s hit in the head,’ Simone said, and summoned a pad to stop the bleeding. ‘Leo. Leo?’ She rose and turned to the King, summoning yin around her hands. ‘You will pay for this.’
The King raised his hands. ‘Before you do anything rash, Princess, remember there’s a sniper above us with her gun trained on the black woman.’
Simone disappeared.
‘Oh, bad idea,’ the King said, and pointed at Elise.
Another shot rang out and the bullet hit the ground next to Elise’s feet. She shrieked and jumped.
‘Her aim really is very poor,’ the King said with interest. ‘I told her to shoot above the black woman’s head.’
Simone reappeared. ‘Why can’t I find it?’
‘Because she’s one of my special creations,’ the King said. ‘Stay here, Simone, or the black woman will have both her legs shot off. Or as close as my terrible sniper can manage.’
Elise made soft gibbering sounds of terror, still clutching Buffy.
The King sighed with feeling. ‘Calm down, I’m not here to kill you. Do what I ask and nobody will be hurt. Nobody else that is.’
‘What do you want?’ I said.
‘You know what I want, Emma. Give it to me, or I’ll pick your family off one by one. The Immortals will come to play with me in Hell. The mortals …’ He smiled kindly at Elise and Buffy. ‘Well.’
I dropped my head and dismissed the Murasame.
‘Good girl,’ the King said.
I looked into Simone’s eyes. Her own were full of desperation. I wished I could speak telepathically to her.
I have a relay, the stone said.
Tell her I’ll go with him, change to snake, and run to the Serpent. If she can find me, she can meet me there.
‘That really is extremely bad manners, and if you don’t stop right now someone will find a bullet in them,’ the King said.
Deal, Simone said.
I raised my hands. ‘Don’t hurt them. I’ll come with you.’
He smiled with satisfaction, took my upper arms, kissed me quickly, and the world around us disappeared.
We arrived inside what appeared to be a small single-storey villa, with timber interior walls and large windows that overlooked a pleasant garden. The living room had a mix of modern leather furniture and extremely ancient
Chinese rosewood. I was in Hell again, trapped again, and a roaring filled my ears as everything faded to white.
When I came around, I sat up. A really big demon in male human form was sitting on a couch across from me and there was nobody else around. I changed to my smallest snake form, slid off the couch onto the floor and hid under the couch.
‘The villa is snake-proof, Emma,’ the demon said, perfectly calm. ‘The King has ordered me to take you to see Prince Francis, so please change back and we’ll go.’
I hesitated, thinking about my son. Then I searched for the Serpent. I sent out my awareness, searching for it, and couldn’t find it. I poked my head out from under the couch and the demon didn’t move, watching me with amusement from where he sat. I emerged from under the couch and scouted around the room, looking for the Serpent and not finding it anywhere.
‘Don’t you want to see your son, Emma?’ His expression became concerned. ‘You are sentient like that, aren’t you?’
I ignored him and concentrated on the room where they were holding the Serpent. I focused my internal eye on the shape of the cage and willed myself to be next to it. The room shimmered around me, then it was like hitting a wall — the shock vibrated through me and sent me hurtling backwards. I landed upside down on the floor of the villa with a massive headache.
‘Did you just try to teleport? I didn’t know you could do that,’ the demon said with wonder. ‘Emma, the villa’s sealed. All of Hell is sealed. You can’t go anywhere, except with me to see your son. Don’t you want to see your only child? We haven’t told him you’re coming; it will be a wonderful surprise for him.’
I changed back to human form, pulled myself to my feet, then flopped to sit on the couch and put my throbbing head in my hands.
‘Emma,’ the demon said kindly, and I looked up. He was holding a box of painkillers towards me, and I took them. He gestured over his shoulder. ‘The water in the kitchen is perfectly good to drink.’ He smiled slightly. ‘I know what that feels like — sometimes we forget and hit the wall ourselves. The seals have only been there a few days. Dad secured all of Hell when he won.’
I staggered to my feet, went to the villa’s compact kitchen, found a drinking glass and filled it, then gulped down the painkillers. I filled the glass a few more times and drank it down; the pizza had been very salty. I leaned on the bench as I remembered the pizza, the family … that had been less than an hour ago. At least they were safe …
‘Are my family safe?’ I said.
‘Ah! She does speak,’ the demon said. ‘Yes, we left them after we took you. The King only wanted you. He needs you if his plan is to succeed, and he knew you wouldn’t cooperate if they were hurt.’
‘Leo was shot in the head.’
‘Her aim was terrible, and she apologises. She was supposed to hit him in the leg. He’s not dead, he’s in hospital in a coma, so he won’t be coming down here for us to play with.’ His tone changed to regret. ‘Such a shame.’ He brightened. ‘But if you behave, I’m sure we can arrange for him to be spared if he does make it down here.’
I studied him and the shock of recognition went through me. He’d aged himself about ten years and now looked mid-forties, but it was my friend April’s husband. April, who had borne a child she’d been made to forget, and who had ended up in pieces in a dumpster in Kowloon City.
‘Andy Ho,’ I said.
He nodded acknowledgement.
‘Were you the father of that Simone copy April gave birth to all that time ago?’
‘Yes. I have a similar heritage to you — I’m quarter European. So was April, by the way. We are all descended from the Island of Holy Serpents, and the King was hoping to breed from the three of us. He was extremely cross when we lost you; he had us set up to be a grand little threesome. You and April were to be my two wives, and I was on the way to creating a lovely little nest of my own with a few really exceptional Mothers as well. When we lost you, the King blamed me for not treating you well enough and punished me severely. He killed my entire harem and April as well — her job was done anyway, the copy was created. I survived, but it’s taken me a long time to redeem myself.’
‘The reason I left had nothing to do with the way you treated me, Andy, and everything to do with the fact that you and Kitty totally creeped me out.’
He shrugged.
‘How many did you have to kill to reach Number One?’ I said.
‘Three hundred-odd.’
‘No, since the last Number One died.’
He smiled.
‘Damn. You took a serious piece out of the horde.’
‘Not really. Three hundred out of three hundred thousand …’ He shrugged.
‘But they were the biggest.’
‘Plenty more to replace them. There are always more small demons wanting advancement than there are places for them.’ He rubbed his hands together and rose. ‘Now, how about we go see your little boy, eh? He’s a lovely kid. Shame I’m not the father, but you can’t have everything, I suppose.’
He guided me out of the villa and through a garden of lawn and carefully tended flower beds to another identical villa. Both villas stood behind a large double-storey courtyard house with an upward-sweeping roof, red walls and black pillars.
‘Is that the King’s own palace?’ I said.
‘That it is. These villas are the residences for the human wives; he doesn’t have any at the moment.’ He glanced sideways at me. ‘He’s always hoped that you might be living in one eventually. He’ll be thrilled to bits to see you in there.’
‘I’ll kill myself before I let him do anything to me,’ I said.
‘You can’t kill yourself; you promised Simone you wouldn’t.’
‘How do you know this?’
‘We have control over the Celestial side of Hell, Emma, and we decide who goes to the Pits. Nobody in there can remain silent forever.’
‘Damn.’
He stopped in front of the door into the other villa. ‘The villas are very comfortable. I lived in one of them for many years myself. But before we go in, there’s a few ground rules I have to go over.’
‘I’m sure there are.’
‘If you tell him you’re his mother, we’ll break his other arm.’
‘His other … What? You broke his arm?’
‘Dad and Uncle Francis are tag-teaming the brainwashing. Dad’s the good, loving and indulgent parent. Francis is the cruel one.’
‘And what did he do to deserve having his arm broken?’
‘We’re brainwashing him, Emma, he didn’t do anything. But he’s frantically trying to work out where he failed so it doesn’t happen again. Remember: don’t tell him you’re his mother. Don’t tell him anything about topside. No stories of the family. You can be with him as much as you like and teach him the ways of the world, but don’t make any attempt to turn him from us or he will suffer, and suffer horribly, for it.’
‘I see.’
‘Dad and Francis will be back in a couple of hours and they’ll be very happy to discuss his future, and your role in it. Until then, I’m sure you want to spend time with your child.’
He opened the door and we went in. My son was sitting on the floor in the middle of the living room with a demon in older female human form, a nanny. Frankie looked six months older already, and had black rings under his eyes, which were red from crying. He was surrounded by toy cars, his left arm in a bright pink cast from his hand to above his elbow.
I ran to him, then slowed when I saw his panicked expression. I approached him more slowly with my hands in view.
‘Do you remember me?’ I said gently.
He shook his head.
I knelt to speak to him. ‘My name’s Emma.’ I glanced back at Number One, then returned to Frankie. ‘I’m here to teach you things.’
He flinched, put his arm in front of his face and started to sniffle. He was too terrified to run away from me and waited for the blow to come.
‘No, not bad things, nic
e things,’ I said. ‘I’m here to teach you interesting stuff, and I’ll never hurt you.’
He dropped his arm to see me, and my heart twisted. He resembled me; and he had some of John’s features as well — his strong jaw, softened by youth, and his dark eyes. His hair was a fine dark brown, the same colour as mine, and his skin was as fair as my own. He really was our child.
I didn’t try to hug him; that would come later. Maybe one day he would even call me Mummy.
‘Number One,’ I said loudly, ‘I need Lego. Lots of Lego, a few basic sets, and a computer with internet access. I don’t care how much your father complains — limit outgoing, I don’t care. This child needs to see more nature than this garden, and I’ll need to research which books I want to order for him. A television and DVD player — I’ll give you a list of DVDs later. I want a complete list of everything you’re feeding him; he looks like he’s not getting enough vitamins. He needs sunshine, dammit, he’s whiter than me! The King will need to arrange something. Drawing materials, a lot of paper, crayons, paints, Play-Doh.’
I turned to see Number One leaning on the wall next to the front door and smiling with satisfaction. ‘Are you writing this down?’ I said.
‘I don’t need to, Emma. And you can call me Andy, if you like. I’d really prefer it.’
‘I’ll think of more things later, Number One.’ I swept my hand over the rug covered in miniature cars. ‘Is this all he has?’
‘The King buys him toys but he’s usually too young to play with them, ma’am,’ the house demon said. She dropped her voice. ‘And they’re taken away as well.’
I checked Frankie. He was sitting on the rug, petrified with fear, his face blank and withdrawn.
‘Move me in here with him,’ I said.
‘Ask Dad about that,’ Number One said. He sat on the couch. ‘He’ll be here soon. Why don’t you get to know the child before he comes?’
‘What time is it?’
‘Only nine, still early.’
‘He should be getting ready for bed.’
‘He can go to bed after his mother and father have been in to say goodnight,’ Number One said.
I made a soft sound of frustration in my throat, sat on the carpet across from Frankie and picked up one of the cars.