Black Jade (3 page)

‘You weren't last night.'

I hissed with laughter.

‘See? We complement each other,' he said. ‘If I tried to explain to Pao how well we work together, he wouldn't understand. For him there is only “superior” and “inferior”, and our mutual enhancement does not exist.'

‘Say “synergy” and I'll divorce you,' I said.

‘Sy. . .ner. . .gy,' he said, his voice a low rumble that echoed in the air. ‘You'll divorce me before we're married?'

A Palace fairy appeared in front of us and we stopped so that John could speak to it.

‘We wish to refresh ourselves before presenting to the Celestial,' he said. ‘Is he in his quarters or his hearing room?'

The fairy silently told us to go to Er Lang.

‘Doesn't the Jade Emperor want to discuss what happened at the Gates?' I said, incredulous.

The fairy quivered and rang like a bell.

‘Okay, okay,' I said. ‘Do we have to walk all the way over to Er Lang's?'

By the time I finished speaking, the Palace had already transferred us directly to outside Er Lang's office in the Elite residential quarters. A school class was audible nearby, with the children chanting a memory rhyme. All but five of the Elites were dead, and young families were occupying their rooms.

We went into Er Lang's office to find him sitting behind his desk, studying his computer monitor and looking grim. We sat across from him.

‘Do they have the Gates?' John said.

‘From all accounts the answer is yes. Everyone present was killed, and nobody can approach the area without being killed as well.'

‘Guan Yu?' I said. ‘He should know the details —'

‘I will fucking
murder
that motherfucker, rip out his fucking entrails and fucking shove them up his —' Guan Yu roared as he entered, stopping dead when he saw us. He fell to one knee before me. ‘My profoundest apologies, my Lady Emma. I did not realise you were present, and I sincerely regret burdening your ears with my filthy outburst.'

John's eyes were full of amusement. He shot a look at me, then leaned his chin in his hand and waited for it.

‘Get the fuck off the floor,' I said to Guan Yu. ‘We have much more important things to worry about than my delicate shell-like ears. For fuck's sake, man, we're all soldiers here and we need to know the status of the Gates.'

Guan Yu looked from John to me, then smiled with grim satisfaction as he rose and conjured a chair for himself. ‘Very well. The King left about twenty of those stone fuckers in front of the Gates, with another twenty humanoid snipers on top, and anyone who tries to take them down is destroyed immediately. What the hell were you two . . . three reptiles doing that my people can't? You took them apart easily.'

‘Eating them,' I said. ‘But they made me sick after a while. Lord Xuan could eat more of them.'

‘They tasted awful,' John said. ‘What about the rest of the stone demons?'

‘Yeah, they were sinking into the ground. What happened?' I said.

‘They did sink into the ground,' Er Lang said. ‘We couldn't follow their passage through the earth, but it's obvious they were travelling to reinforce the Southern and Western Bastions.'

‘Shit,' John said.

‘Can your children do what we did?' I asked John.

‘They might.'

‘I should round them up then. We can take them down together.'

Er Lang's expression filled with shock as he looked from me to John. Guan Yu's face was rigid with control.

‘I know exactly what you are thinking and it is thoroughly beneath both of you,' I said. ‘Look at me. I'm pure European. I know my genealogy back for two hundred years, and there isn't a single drop of Chinese blood there. Go further back than that and we run into the common-sense decree about ten generations.'

‘Then why can you do it too?' Er Lang said.

‘Because she used to be a demon snake, just like me,' John said.

Er Lang opened his mouth, but I said it first. ‘I still am.'

‘Conceded,' John said.

‘So let me bring your children in,' I said. ‘They might be able to do it.'

John rubbed his chin. ‘Are you sure that's a good idea? Most of them live as humans. They've never met me and have no reason to put themselves in danger for us.'

‘It's worth a try. They're family.'

‘But they're
reptiles
.'

‘So are we!'

‘We need to take back the Gates, my Lord,' Er Lang said, and John winced at the use of the honorific. ‘As long as Hell holds the Gates, travel in and out of Heaven is severely restricted. The two of you destroyed them easily; a group of ten reptiles with some ranged attackers should be able to retake the Gates.'

‘I want to confirm that it will work first,' John said. ‘I will send Ming Gui in to try, and if it works Emma can round up the other children. Anything else?'

Er Lang and Guan Yu didn't reply.

‘Very well. I will summon Ming Gui, and we will meet close to the Gates in an hour to see if my reptile children can retake them for us.'

‘You forgot your latest dalliance,' I said.

‘Her too,' John said.

John, Martin and I approached carefully, but the minute we were within range of the Gates, there came a volley of sharp explosions from the building. John generated a circle of yin to absorb the bullets. Smoke rose from where the demons had fired at us.

‘They're too far away for me to disable the weapons,' John said. ‘Ming?'

Martin nodded and raised his right hand. A magnificent carbon-fibre-compound bow, a complex series of pulleys and balancing weights, appeared in it. He conjured an arrow, nocked it, and raised the bow. ‘Simone will win another ten dollars,' he said as he loaded the arrowhead with shen energy, and let the arrow fly.

We were rewarded with another volley of bullets, which John absorbed again.

Martin summoned another arrow. He took aim, filled the arrow with energy, and fired.

‘Incoming,' John said, and the ground trembled.

Martin passed the bow to John and took True Form: a sea turtle, four metres long, that floated slightly above the ground.

‘Three,' John said.

I changed to True Form as well.

John conjured an arrow and shot at the Gates, using the left-handed bow with his usual flawless skill.

‘Nice,' he said. ‘You can hold the draw forever with this. These modern materials are so light for so much power.'

‘Great for sniping, but too slow for battle,' Martin said, his flippers swaying.

The three stone demons approached us and Martin swam through the air to meet them, with John walking next to him as an escort. Martin raised his front end, bit the head off one of the demons, and vacuumed the demon essence into himself. He dismantled the rest of the demon and spat the stones away.

I joined him, dismantling the second demon while he started work on the third.

There was another volley of bullets and John dealt with them.

‘How many more can you do?' John said, aiming another arrow at the top of the Gates.

‘I think about three or four at the most,' Martin said. ‘They taste
awful
.'

‘All right,' John said, and lowered the bow. ‘Let's go.'

He took a couple of steps forward, put his hand on the back of my head, and the Gates disappeared.

* * *

We sat together at the head of the U-shaped table in the war room on the Mountain. I checked my phone: three missed calls with no caller ID and no messages, which was supposedly impossible on one of Gold's specials. It was already five minutes past the time that John had asked his children to attend. I shot a wry glance at him and he shrugged.

A woman in her mid-sixties entered, round and tiny in black slacks and a dark blue silk jacket. She looked very much like the female human form the Turtle used when it wanted to avoid attention. She stood just inside the door and stared at us for a moment.

‘It's all right, Grace,' I said gently. ‘Come on in.'

She jumped as if she'd been stung and fell to one knee. ‘Xuan Tian Shang Di.'

John, that was unnecessary. She's your daughter!

I didn't do anything; she remembered herself.

‘You don't need to kneel,' I said, still gentle. ‘He's your father. Come in and sit.'

Mother, actually,
John said, and I glared at him. He shrugged again.

‘You summoned me, Highness?' Grace said without rising, her head still bowed.

John stood so he could see her. ‘Rise. Come and sit. This is not formal.'

She stood gracefully — she moved like someone much younger than she appeared — and sat, without looking at us, in a chair as far away as possible from John.

John sat. I rose, and the woman flinched. I went around the table and leaned on it next to her.

‘How are you, Grace?' I said. ‘You were under that stone's influence for a long time — is everything back to normal yet? Do you need anything?'

‘My family were so glad to see me back,' she said.

A thirty-year-old woman came in. She was small but muscular and obviously trained in the Arts. She came to me and put her arm around my shoulders, saying with warmth, ‘Emma. It's good to see you.'

Grace hissed under her breath and gestured with her head towards John.

The other woman squeaked and quickly fell to one knee. ‘Xuan Tian Shang Di.'

John stood to acknowledge her. ‘Rise.'

Both of them shot to their feet.

A young man walked in, saw John, and backed out again.

‘All right, enough of this,' I said. I turned to John, who was still standing and looking bemused. ‘You,' I jabbed my finger at him, ‘disappear until I have everybody rounded up, and then come back in as something small and
not at all scary
.'

‘Define “not at all scary”.'

‘Piss. Off!'

He raised his hands. ‘Okay, okay.' He disappeared.

‘I cannot believe you just did that,' Grace said with wonder, looking at where John had been standing.

‘He does it deliberately, I swear,' I said, and stormed out to find the young man.

Fifteen people were standing in the courtyard and talking softly together. The air was full of the sharp scent of their anxiety.

‘Hi, everyone,' I said loudly, and they turned and fell quiet. ‘Thanks for coming. Lord Xuan's left the room. Please come inside and I'll tell you what's involved.'

They all hesitated, some moving from foot to foot with discomfort.

‘Seriously,' I said, ‘I threw him out. So come in and meet your brothers and sisters, and I'll explain why he asked you to come.'

They looked at each other, then a couple of young women went into the room, and the rest followed.

I went in last and stood at the head of the table. ‘The reason we've asked you here is because you're the only ones who can retake the Gates of Heaven,' I began, and they listened silently.

About halfway through my talk, John appeared at the back of the room in his normal male middle-aged human form. He leaned on the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. Fortunately I had them so engrossed they weren't aware of his arrival.

‘Any questions?' I said when I was finished.

Nobody spoke.

‘Somebody ask me a question, please. I'm sure there are details I haven't covered.'

They still didn't say anything.

‘Okay, I'll ask one myself. Miss Donahoe, who designs your clothes?' I sat on the table and crossed my legs. ‘I'm glad you asked — I've been wanting to share my fashion and beauty tips for a while now. When I'm not in my sexy Mountain uniform, my eclectic fashion sense comes from Kmart. My complex daily beauty regime mostly consists of soap and water —' One of the women made a soft sound of frustration and I nodded to acknowledge her. ‘Or Mena could ask me a worthwhile question.'

‘You said they'd be shooting at us, but Lord Xuan would shield us,' Mena said. ‘How much danger will we be in? I'm married to a stone, we have two human children together, and my husband's disappeared. How dangerous is this?'

‘I won't pretend that you will be completely safe,' John said, and they all turned towards him. He strode around the table and
stood next to me. ‘I will be there to protect you, but if something unforeseen emerges — such as Western hybrid demons — there still may be risk.'

‘These children need me,' Mena said. ‘I'm all they have.'

‘Then don't go,' he said. ‘Up to five of you could leave right now and the mission would not be compromised. We had a test run and nobody was injured. The snipers can't hit you, and you will be destroying the stone hybrids, which don't fight back.'

She sat silently watching him, her mouth in a determined line.

‘I must also warn you that if you have strong water alignment, you won't be able to see them,' John said. ‘I can't. So if you're very strongly aligned — if both your parents are turtles, for example — then it might be best if you sit this one out.'

‘Not being able to see them shouldn't be a major issue for a good practitioner,' one of the men said.

‘Very true; and I can guide you,' John said. ‘So this is your choice: stay or go. If you don't want to come, leave the room now. You will suffer no penalty, and I thank you for your attendance today.'

Mena, the single mother, still sat with her mouth in a grim line, but didn't say anything. Another woman fidgeted, but went still when John turned his attention to her.

‘If you're not comfortable with this, then just say the word and you can go,' I said to Mena.

She shifted again, and looked away.

‘Okay,' I said, and raised my hand behind me without looking away from Mena. ‘You. Out.'

‘Oh, come
on
, Emma,' John said with exasperation. ‘This is
my
war room!'

I waved at him again, still focused on Mena. ‘Out.'

‘Humph,' he said, and there was a change in the air when he disappeared.

Grace giggled.

I looked around at everybody. ‘Who wants out?'

Nobody moved.

‘Mena, you don't want to do this,' I said. ‘You can go.'

She didn't shift.

I sighed with exasperation. ‘All right.' I looked down at the list in front of me and read out ten names. ‘Everybody else can go.'

A couple of people rose and went out, obviously relieved.

‘Mena, you weren't on the list,' I said.

‘I want to fight them,' Mena said.

‘What about your kids?'

‘He was their
father
,' she said, distraught. ‘I loved him. So many stones are gone. I know the demons took him, and they tortured him and experimented on him . . .' She wiped her eyes with a trembling hand. ‘He's probably dead. And I want to make them
pay
! I want to grab those bastards in my mouth and I want to
eat
them. I want to take them apart and I want to destroy them.' The anguish was gone from her voice, replaced with cold fury. ‘I'm coming with you.'

‘No,' I said. ‘Let someone else take vengeance for you. As you said, your children need you.'

‘I'll bring a dead demon rock back for you,' Grace said. ‘I promise.'

Mena looked from Grace to me, then nodded. ‘Thank you. I will throw it into the deepest ocean in the farthest seas.'

‘Last chance. Anybody who doesn't want to come, you don't have to,' I said. ‘You can leave now.'

One of the middle-aged turtle Shen rose, nodded to me, and left.

‘Twelve remaining,' I said. ‘Good. We won't have to eat so many of these bastards that it makes us sick. Does anybody want to say anything before I let Lord Xuan back in?'

‘
Let
him in?' someone said with amusement.

‘Let's do this,' Grace said with menace.

You can come back, we're ready to go. Twelve of them.

Thank you, my dear lady, for giving me permission to re-enter my own damn conference room.

Weapons of choice when we're back from the Gates.

About time,
he said with satisfaction, and reappeared with a smug smile on his face.

* * *

We arrived at the lawn behind the Gates of Heaven building, and stopped just out of range of the snipers. All of us were in reptile
form: eight turtles and four snakes, not including both of John's reptiles and myself. A squad of Meredith's finest energy archers were with us.

This is the first time I have seen so many of my reptilian children together,
John said.
Thank you for bringing me this opportunity.

I was thinking of holding a reunion for all of you
— I began.

And then you discovered that with the nature of our loose family bonds, nobody would show and it would be a waste of time, he said.

Yeah. Can you remember their names? I can't recognise anybody in this form.

Not even in human form.

Damn.

‘Hold formation here,' John said. He rose above the ground and drifted towards the Gates, the Serpent's head writhing above the Turtle's shell.

The grass was greener and more lush closer to the Gates building; fertilised by the blood that had flowed there a scarce few weeks ago.

There was a flurry of gunshots from the top of the wall, and everybody hit the ground.

I have them,
John said, and we all carefully stood again.

John's True Form reappeared next to me. His two reptiles separated, and the Turtle grew to five metres across.

‘Archers on my shell,' he said.

The archers climbed up onto his shell, their faces a mix of bewilderment and concern. When they were all sitting, he gently rose into the air, with Meredith flying next to him on one side and the Serpent on the other.

‘The rest of you wait here,' he said, and floated towards the Gates.

There was another volley of gunshots, but the bullets never reached us. We were too far back to see the archers fire, but the glowing arrowheads were clearly visible as they arched from John's shell towards the Gates. There was a reduced round of gunfire — obviously some of the snipers had been taken out — and an answering volley of arrows.

A single shot rang out.

‘Incoming!' John shouted, and his Turtle plummeted towards the ground and landed next to us. ‘Everybody off,' he ordered. ‘Continue to fire at the snipers — they're on their way, protected by the stone demons. They're —'

The fake stone elementals stepped off the top of the Gates building, fragmented into piles of rocks on the ground, then collected themselves and headed towards us, faceless and menacing.

The archers fired arrows at the snipers hiding behind the walking demons, but there were still bullets for John to catch.

When the stone demons were ten metres away, I led the charge towards them. John hovered above us and took out the snipers with energy, aided by the archers who continued to pick them off with arrows.