Black Jade (22 page)

The human soldiers charged through our people and stopped on the other side under the gates. Half of them stayed in position there, and the other half moved out to take over the Northern Heavens. The refugees screamed and ran from the invaders.

The human soldiers on the field formed a ring around our remaining troops, taking them down while our soldiers were still forced to obey the order not to attack.

Cease fire!
John roared above the sound of the carnage.
We surrender.

The human soldiers stopped shooting at us and stood absolutely still and unmoving. The screams of the refugees inside the Northern Heavens echoed off the walls as they continued to run.

You surrender?
the Demon King said.

We concede,
John said.

Do. It. Right,
the Demon King said with vicious satisfaction.

Lay down your weapons,
John said, and the remaining Celestial soldiers placed their weapons on the ground in front of them. Some of them collapsed onto their knees, sobbing.

The human mercenaries stood around them, their faces blank.

John unhitched Dark Heavens from his back and drew the sword, holding the scabbard in his left hand with the black and silver leather harness hanging from it.

He turned and looked into my eyes.
Goodbye, my love. Care for our children and tell them that I loved them.

You vowed to marry me, and that can only happen when we win back the Heavens,
I said.
It will happen.

It may take an eternity
, he said.
Do not wait for me. You have waited enough.

‘Never,' I said as he strode through the tattered remains of the Celestial army, not appearing to see any of them as they parted to allow him through.

He picked his way through the bodies of our soldiers. My heart broke; one of them was Kenny. He'd returned from helping the orphans to die on the battlefield.

The Demon King took his largest warrior form on the other side of the field: smaller than John, with a wild mane of blood-coloured hair that stood straight up and went down his back. His scaled armour was red and gold.

Kenny's body lit up and John turned.

‘Yes,' I whispered.

Kenny became blindingly white and floated above the field, his expression beatific. John knelt and lowered his head as Kenny lifted into the air, then exploded into a cloud of golden particles. He'd been Raised.

Then the awful realisation hit me: Kenny would spend the rest of his Immortal existence in the Pits, as a plaything for our new demon masters.

John stood and walked across the grass, which withered and died in a trail behind him. He stopped at the marquee, towering over it, and it blackened and collapsed.

The Demon King was slower than him and arrived at the remains of the marquee a moment later. They stood facing each other, and the King's pale, beautiful face lit up into a smile that only just touched his lips.

John remained expressionless as he held Seven Stars out in front of him horizontally, then slid it into its scabbard. He knelt and placed the sword on the ground.

The Demon King picked up John's sword. John moved to stand, but the King stopped him with his hand on top of John's head and pushed him back down onto his knees. He stood with his hand on John's head, then bent and spoke into John's ear.

‘Suck my dick,' he whispered, and I heard it through my link with John. ‘Right here, right now. Do it willingly and I'll pack up my toys and go home.'

The King straightened, his expression full of triumph.

John knelt silent and unmoving with the King's hand on his head for a long time.

‘No,' I whispered.

John nodded without looking up.

‘Oh god no,' I moaned, but couldn't turn away.

The King obviously decided the Heavens were worth more than completely humiliating Xuan Wu. He pulled Seven Stars from its scabbard, swung one-handed and took John's head off with his own sword. John's body fell sideways.

‘Open the gates of the Celestial Palace,' the King said, and we could all hear it. ‘You can't hurt my soldiers, so let's do this the easy way. Show no resistance and you will be spared.'

He wiped Seven Stars on John's back, put it away, and stalked back to his army.

I glanced over the remaining Celestial army and couldn't find a single Immortal still alive. The Four Winds, the Thirty-Six and Er Lang were all dead.

I turned and looked up at the camera.
Greg, come and get me. I need to be in Persimmon Tree right now to protect the family!

Simone appeared next to me, took my hand, and the world disappeared.

We reappeared in the living room of Persimmon Tree, and my family clustered around us.

‘I don't have time to mess around,' Simone said. ‘I found three seats on a plane to the UK.' She raised her head and concentrated and Freddo appeared at one side of the room. ‘There are soldiers coming. You need to be quick.'

Greg raced into the bedroom and came back holding Matthew, with Andrew and Mark — the boys who'd been held and tortured by demons in the past — following. Colin held back, but Amanda's youngest, David, followed. Greg gently put Matthew onto Freddo's back, then lifted David to sit behind him.

‘That's too many,' Simone said. ‘They're too young to go without their mothers. I can only take two boys and one mother.'

Jennifer and Amanda shared a look.

‘You go with Matthew,' Amanda said. ‘He's the youngest.'

‘I can't leave Colin and Andrew,' Jennifer said. ‘I won't leave my boys!'

‘Take Andrew too,' Colin said. ‘I'll be fine, Mum. I'm nearly eighteen, and I've been trained. I can handle myself.'

‘No, I'm staying with Mark,' Andrew said, putting his hand on his cousin's shoulder. ‘I'm not leaving him after all we went through together.' He gestured towards Amanda. ‘Take both our
mums and Matthew. He's the littlest.'

‘I don't want to go anywhere! I want to stay here with Mummy and Daddy!' Matthew howled.

‘Hurry up and make a decision,' Simone said. ‘We don't have much time!'

Greg made the decision for them. ‘If their mothers aren't here, the boys can't be taken from the Heavens.' He pulled Andrew off Freddo's back, grabbed Jen and Amanda and pushed them next to the horse. ‘Go, Simone.'

‘No!' Jennifer yelled, but it was too late. Simone and Freddo disappeared, together with my sisters and Matthew.

Andrew and Mark took each other's hand and collapsed onto the couch. My parents held them as they wept. David broke down, and sat on the floor with his back to the wall. Colin went to him.

I stood in the middle of the room next to Greg, hovering with indecision about who to comfort first.

Three European soldiers kicked open the door and charged into the room, their weapons held ready but not pointed at us. We all shot to our feet and raised our hands.

One of the soldiers looked around, then focused on Greg. ‘Are you the head of the household?'

Greg nodded. ‘We surrender. We have weapons but they're only decorative and we'll happily hand them over.'

‘Do you speak English?' the soldier said.

‘Emma? I don't know what language I'm speaking,' Greg said. ‘I could be speaking Chinese. The language charm may be failing.'

‘We will be happy to surrender any training weapons we have,' I said. ‘This is a martial arts academy, but we have no desire to fight with you.'

The soldier said something in another language.

‘What?' I said. ‘I'm speaking English!'

‘Don't have enough Arabic,' the soldier said. ‘Jerry?'

Another soldier spoke to me in Arabic. I just looked blankly at him, horrified that the charm was fading. When he switched to another language, I shook my head. This should not be happening. Greg and I were Immortals and able to communicate in any language.

‘I don't know what language these people speak, but it isn't anything common around here,' the soldier said. ‘Maybe some dialect? The captain said we were in a remote area. Kurdish or something?'

‘I speak English,' I said, forming the words clearly in my head.

‘Look at you all, covered in veils even inside in this heat,' one of the soldiers said. ‘You don't need to be frightened any more. You're free.' He looked back at the other two. ‘We need one of the girls to search these women. They could be male terrorists under all those sheets.'

‘I'll find Tiff,' one of them said, and went out.

‘They're not seeing or hearing reality,' my father said with dismay.

‘Don't worry, Grandfather, everything will be fine,' one of the soldiers said to my father. ‘Now I'll just search you . . .' He slung his gun over his shoulder and moved towards my father with his hands out. ‘Don't move.'

‘Stay away from my grandfather!' Colin shouted. My mother grabbed his arm to stop him from running to my father. ‘Don't touch him!' he shouted, freeing himself from my mother and jumping between the soldier and my father.

The soldier swung his gun around and pointed it at Colin. ‘Back off, sister.'

‘Colin!' I shouted, but everybody else was shouting as well.

‘Back off, Colin!' Greg yelled.

‘Move and let him do it, Colin,' my father said.

‘Move!' the soldier shouted at Colin, waving the weapon threateningly in his face.

‘Colin!' Andrew wailed.

‘Everybody shut up!' Colin roared.

He changed into a three-metre-long black snake, and my mother screamed. Colin charged the soldier and knocked him to the other side of the room. The second soldier fired at him and everybody ducked. A short blast of bullets went through Colin's serpent body and into the ceiling behind me.

Colin fell, limp. His neck was shredded. He writhed a few times and went still. Red blood pooled around him.

Andrew and Mark were both screaming now, and my mother
held Andrew back from running to his brother. My father stood in front of them to protect them, and Greg stood next to him. The youngest, David, huddled in the corner, hugging himself.

The soldiers stared at Colin's snake body with disbelief, ignoring my family's reaction.

‘Jesus fucking Christ, did you see that?' one of them said. ‘Where did it come from? What a
monster
!'

‘That was my
brother
!' Andrew roared, still struggling.

‘Yeah, I'd be hysterical too if I found that in my living room,' another soldier said with humour.

‘Andrew,' Greg said into his ear. ‘Son, take control. If you don't calm down, they'll shoot the rest of us.'

‘I don't care!' Andrew screamed. ‘They killed my brother!'

‘We have to move this thing outside and take a photo of it for Facebook,' the soldier said. ‘Shit, I didn't know they even grew that big.'

‘That's my brother, not a fucking
trophy
!' Andrew shouted.

I moved in front of my family as they held a still struggling Andrew, and raised my hands. ‘Please, leave us. Go away. You've done enough.'

The soldiers ignored us, discussing who'd carry the head and who'd carry the tail outside. One of them pulled out a phone and took some quick photos of Colin, grinning broadly.

‘Might even make some extra cash out of this,' he said. ‘Never seen anything like it.'

Your soldiers just murdered one of my nephews,
I said to the Demon King, hoping my telepathy worked.

Andrew fell to sit on the couch and my mother held him. Andrew looked catatonic. Mark and David had collapsed in the corner and my father was talking to them.

WHAT?
the Demon King said.

Colin changed and they killed him.

He changed to snake?

Yes. He's dead.
I rubbed it in.
They want to take him outside and photograph him for Facebook.

FUCK FUCK FUCK . . .
His voice disappeared.

My mother was sobbing as she tried to rouse Andrew. The soldiers didn't seem to notice my family's grief; they were prising
Colin's mouth open with the ends of their rifles and discussing how they'd remove his fangs and skin to sell.

‘Greg!' Andrew looked up at his stepfather, his face twisted with grief. ‘Go down there and find him. You can go. You're one of them. Go and bring him out!'

‘It doesn't work like that,' Greg said gently.

‘Emma, he's your nephew. Go!' my mother said.

‘Greg's right, Mum, it doesn't work like that.'

‘Why not?' Andrew demanded. ‘You're famous for breaking the rules. Do it!'

The Demon King stormed in, accompanied by a couple of big black-armoured demons. He stopped when he saw the soldiers examining Colin.

Mark made a high-pitched sound of terror, and my mother rose to stand in front of him and Andrew.

‘You
fuckers
!' the King roared, and waved one hand at the soldiers.

The armoured demons grabbed them and lifted them by their throats, their legs dangling as they choked. The demons pulled their guns off them, one of them yanking so hard that the soldier's arm audibly cracked and he screamed.

Greg stood in front of my family, and I faced the King.

‘What were you thinking, working with humans?' I said. ‘What a stupid thing to do! You know how much this is stressing my family — it was inevitable!'

‘I never ordered this,' he said. He looked around. ‘Are the other boys okay?'

‘They'll be fine as long as you
leave them alone.
Don't go near them. They remember what you did to them,' I said as I waved one hand at my hysterical family.

‘All right. Leave this with me. These human shits will
suffer
,' the King said, and moved to leave.

‘Bring him back!' Andrew yelled, and the King turned to look at him. Andrew was standing, rigid with fury, and glaring at the King. ‘Go to that place — Hell. Go to Hell and bring him
back
. I know you can do it.' He swiped one hand through the air. ‘Trade me for him. Anything. I'll do anything for you. Just bring. Him. Back!'

‘If you change as well, I might think about it,' the King said. He nodded to the demons. ‘Bring them.'

Andrew gave a wordless scream of anguish and lunged at the door. Greg held him and Andrew punched him. He only stopped struggling when three more armoured demons entered. One took Colin's body out, and the other two stationed themselves on either side of the door.

‘Don't let them take him,' Andrew said, forlorn. ‘That's my brother. Don't let them take him!'

‘We don't have a choice,' Greg said, and pulled him down onto the couch next to him.

Send the guards outside and let us mourn our dead
, I said to the King.
The sight of them standing there might make one of the other boys change.

There was no reply.

I sighed and moved to sit on the couch across from my family and put my head in my hands. I heard movement behind me, and turned to see the two guards leaving.

‘They're stationed outside the door,' Greg said.

‘What do we do?' my mother moaned. ‘What do we do, what do we do?'

‘We survive,' my father said into her hair as he held her. ‘And we care for the family we have left.' He raised his head. ‘Andrew?'

‘Andrew needs some time,' Greg said. He put his arm around Andrew, who was unresponsive again. ‘Come on, son, I'll take you to your room.'

Simone appeared next to me.

‘I'll take you two at a time,' she said, and looked around. ‘Where's Colin?'

‘Run, Simone. The Demon King was just here, and he'll be looking for you,' my mother said.

‘Go. Take Emma,' Greg said. ‘I'll change to Emma's form and stay with them.'

‘I'll take the rest of you,' Simone said. ‘I can hide you somewhere.'

‘You can't take the boys without their mothers, so we're all staying here,' my mother said. ‘We talked about this, Simone, so do what we planned. You're our last hope.'

‘Go,' my father said.

‘Are you sure, Poppy? I can take —'

‘Just go!' my mother said.

Simone grabbed my shoulder and everything disappeared. We reappeared in front of the Peak apartment block.

‘Take me back, my family need me,' I said. ‘Colin —'

‘Leo and Buffy are under attack,' Simone said. ‘We'll go up the stairs and ambush them.' She saw me hesitate. ‘Leo's down and they'll take Buffy. Come
on
!'

I summoned Dark Heavens and we went up the stairs, dodging the buckets of household rubbish. We charged out of the stairwell on the top floor into the backs of half-a-dozen big humanoids. Leo was down, slumped in the doorway, but still fending them off with his blade. The humanoids were clustered around him, attempting to break through into the apartment.

Simone threw shen into three of them, I took the head off one, and she finished the final two with her blades. Leo dropped his sword and panted, his face ashen.

‘Simone,' I said, but she ignored me. She knelt next to Leo and put her hand on his face, then her eyes widened.

‘How long have you been fighting them?' she said.

‘Seems like a day,' he said, still panting, ‘but probably less than half an hour.' He looked up at her. ‘What happened? Did we win?'

‘Simone, take me back,' I said.

‘Emma, help me,' she said, taking one of Leo's arms.

I shook my head, then took his other arm and we helped him onto the couch in the apartment.

‘Don't put me here. I'll bleed on the upholstery,' he said.

‘Wouldn't be the first time,' Simone said. ‘Is it mortal?'

‘No. I've lost a lot of blood, but I'll be fine. It's mostly exhaustion and lacerations from their blades.' He gazed up at her, desperate. ‘Where's Ming? Did we win?'

‘The Heavens have fallen,' I said, and Leo slumped on the sofa and wiped his hand over his face. ‘We need to get out of here, more will be coming. Simone, take me back.'

‘Don't worry about your family, the soldiers won't hurt them.'

‘They already killed Colin!' I said.

Her expression went blank. ‘What?'

‘He changed into a big snake and they killed him. Colin's dead.'

She put her hand over her mouth and turned away. Her shoulders shuddered as she fought the emotion.

‘So what happens now?' Leo said.