Dark Serpent (23 page)

‘Thanks for warning us, Lindsay, we can handle it,’ John said. ‘You don’t need to worry, we can fix everything up. Liaise with my butler, Peta, and call me any time.’

‘Thanks, John,’ she said, her voice full of tears, and hung up.

‘Stone,’ John said. He glanced in the rear-view mirror and his voice sharpened. ‘Jade Building Block.’

The stone jerked awake from where he had been drowsing in the back seat. ‘My Lord.’

‘They think Emma tried to kill Leonard. Contact Gold immediately. Have him arrange for records to show that Emma returned to Hong Kong the night before Leonard was attacked. Also have him arrange an Emma double in Hong Kong ready to be questioned if necessary.’

‘My Lord,’ the stone said, and his eyes unfocused. ‘Oh, to hell
with this, it’s way too hard,’ he added, and changed to True Form: a small green stone sitting on the bus seat.

‘It’s too hard to hold human form while you talk to him?’ Simone said, concerned.

‘Well, holding a shape as profoundly charismatic as that does take some energy.’

‘Charismatic,’ Leo said from behind his newspaper. ‘Sure. Let’s see you run for Chief Executive.’

‘Charisma has nothing to do with winning an election in Hong Kong, you know that.’

‘People’s Congress, then.’

‘As I said,’ the stone said with dignity, ‘I am not a people. Now be quiet, I’m talking to Gold.’

As we neared Holyhead, the mountain came into view. The shape of it went through me like a flash and I remembered the dream. I was climbing that mountain in snake form and there was blood on top. I needed that blood, my whole body sang for it. Suddenly I could smell the blood of everybody around me — and I craved it. John was deep and powerful, like a vintage red wine, meaty with hints of spice and fruit. Leo was tainted by the large amount of coffee he drank, but strong and rich. The scent of Simone drove me mad — she was light and fresh, full of clean air and green grass, with an icy powerful fizz that bubbled within her. She was too good just to smell and I nearly couldn’t control the need to taste the blood singing within her. I closed my eyes, put my head in my hands and slammed my forehead onto my knees, trying to clear the craving. The mountain’s shape throbbed inside me and I took deep breaths. That didn’t help because I inhaled even more of their scents.

Someone grabbed me, undid my seatbelt and bundled me out of the van. I leaned against its side and filled my lungs with tasteless air.

‘Talk to me,’ John said.

‘I can smell your blood. It smells so good,’ I said between gasps. ‘Move well away from me.’ I banged the back of my head against the side of the van, trying to distract myself. ‘Back off!’

‘Touch the earth. Touch the sky. Touch your Buddha nature and what makes you who you are,’ John said. ‘Feel for your yang and take snake form if you need to. I will hide you.’

I reached down within myself and found Kwan Yin’s essence, the purity of compassion that would never harm another living thing, and the need for their blood subsided. A passing car slowed, but then roared away. They’d probably seen John’s wild hair and lurid T-shirt and decided not to stop.

I bent over my knees and ran my hand over my forehead. ‘Holy shit, I’m a freaking vampire.’

‘Nope,’ Simone said, ‘no fangs, and no sparkle.’

‘Don’t joke about it,’ I said. ‘My snake form has very nice fangs.’

‘Yep, hottest thing about it,’ John said. ‘Feeling better?’

‘I can’t go back in the van with all of you.’

‘Try doing it as snake,’ John said.

‘I can’t change to snake right now.’

‘Yes, you can. Just concentrate; nobody can see you.’

‘No, John, I can’t risk it.’

‘I’ll help you. Do you want me to hold you so you don’t run to find my Serpent?’ He reached out to me and I quickly backed away. ‘It’s all right; your snake may not be similarly affected.’ I continued to back away from him and he stopped, confused. ‘It’s all right, Emma, your snake may be able to control it. Just bring it out and have a try. I’ll help you.’

I was backed up against a tree and I raised my hands. ‘Stop, John.’

He kept moving towards me. ‘It’s all right, I’m here. I’ll help you change.’

‘John, stop. I can’t change when I might be pregnant!’

He stopped and stared at me.

‘The test you bought the other night was positive?’ Leo said. He rushed to me and pulled me into a huge hug, dragging me off my feet. ‘Damn girl, that’s great news!’ He put me down gently and backed off, concerned. ‘I didn’t squeeze you too tight, did I?’

‘No, I’m fine. The test was negative, but it might be too early to tell. I have to be careful until I’m sure one way or the other …’

‘And a human baby can’t live in your snake body,’ John said, understanding. His face went slack. ‘A human baby? Another one?’
Realisation dawned on him and it was wonderful to see. ‘We’re going to have a baby?’

He came to me and lifted me the same way Leo had. ‘This is wonderful!’ He spun me around, then gently lowered me, gazing into my eyes. He brushed one hand over my hair. ‘You have to be careful you don’t change to snake. And no energy work.’

‘Like I said, John, the test was negative, but it might be too early to tell.’

‘Can you look inside and see?’ Simone said.

‘At this stage there isn’t anything to see,’ he said. ‘As Emma said, we’ll just have to be careful until we’re sure one way or the other.’

Simone hugged me more gently than the men had and spoke with her voice full of tears. ‘I hope you are, Emma.’

‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘Just don’t get your hopes up too much. I’ve only been on the fertility treatment for a couple of months and the doctor said it might take a while for it to work.’

‘Let’s go on to Holyhead,’ Leo said.

‘I can’t go back in the van with all of you. As long as I can see that damn mountain, the bloodlust is too strong.’

‘So what do we do?’ Simone said.

I had an idea. ‘I’ll be okay as long as I can’t see the mountain. Hide the top of it.’

‘Hide it? What, put a really big tablecloth over it?’ Simone said.

‘Weather. Fog. Clouds. We have a weather god here, don’t we?’

‘Brilliant,’ Leo said.

‘I can, but I’ll need to take Celestial Form,’ John said.

‘Will it fit inside the van?’ Simone said.

John looked around. ‘Pull the bags out and I should just fit.’

I sat on the grass at the side of the road with my back to the damn mountain, but still intensely aware of its dark presence, while all four of them pulled the bags out and stacked them on the roadside. John climbed into the van and sat on the floor, cross-legged. Leo sat on the grass next to me, and Simone and the stone stood beside us to watch.

John changed to Celestial Form. His head was too tall for the roof of the kombi so he placed one hand on the ceiling, and pushed a dent into it with a horrible shriek of distressed metal.

‘You’re paying for that,’ Leo said.

‘I can afford it.’

John settled with his head in the dent and put his hands into his lap and closed his eyes. His hair rose around his head, a nimbus of shen energy surrounded him and the air around us grew cold.

‘Asian god in a kombi. That is the hippiest thing I have ever seen in my entire life,’ Simone said softly.

Quiet, I’m concentrating,
he said.

Something in the cold air shifted; it became denser and more humid. Clouds formed around us, then the humidity was gone and the air returned to normal. John dropped back to his normal human shape, ran his hand over the top of his head and smiled at us.

‘You’re not too drained?’ Simone said.

‘I’m fine.’ He climbed out of the kombi and studied the mountain. ‘You won’t be seeing that for a while.’ He turned to me. ‘How’s the blood fury?’

I checked the mountain; the clouds completely covered it. ‘Still there, but as long as I don’t see the mountain I should be okay.’

‘Let us know if it starts to come back.’

Leo indicated the roof of the van. ‘You hold it from inside, I’ll push it from the outside.’

‘No need.’

John lightly jumped onto the roof of the van, held one palm against the dent he’d made, hesitated for a second then leaned into it. The dent snapped back into place. He vaulted down off the roof and we put the bags back and headed towards Holyhead.

The motorway ended at a train station and Holyhead’s Irish ferry terminal. We stopped at the traffic lights in front of the terminal, and John turned left into the village with its narrow cobblestoned streets. Rows of two-storey houses with small windows were built up the steep hillside heading away from the harbour. The base of the mountain was visible behind the town, but the top was covered by John’s clouds. I kept myself distracted by concentrating on the scenery around us.

‘Jade Building Block,’ John said. ‘Guide us to the inn, if you will.’

The stone jerked awake again. ‘Accessing … go straight through the lights and around past the old church.’

‘That church is extremely ancient and on the site of an old Roman fort,’ I said. ‘The walls are Roman.’

‘Romans. Ugly bastards, very fond of killing,’ John said. ‘I ran into a few of them when they were expanding; they came as far as China to trade. Considered themselves vastly superior to every other race on the planet.’

‘Um … didn’t the Chinese feel that way at the same time?’ I said.

‘We still do,’ the stone said with humour. ‘But then again, everybody always does. Turn left here and head up the hill.’

We threaded our way three hundred metres up the hill until we came to a three-storey guesthouse overlooking the bay. A ferry as big as a cruise ship was heading out of the harbour beyond the breakwater. The sky above the sea was a pale watery blue.

John turned to speak to us. ‘We probably only have a couple of days at the most before they work out who we are. Let’s find out what’s happening before they do. When we’re inside, assume we’re being listened to at all times and stay in character.’

‘Report from Gold,’ the stone said. ‘The alibi’s all set up; and the squad will be here day after tomorrow to take Emma home.’

‘Good.’ John studied the house across the road from us. ‘All clear. Let’s go.’

The front door opened to a narrow hall with stairs leading up. A door on the right led to the breakfast room, comfortably furnished with three wooden tables. The owner of the inn came out of the back room and welcomed us warmly. She was a motherly Welsh woman in her late fifties named Mabel Defaoite. She glowed in my heightened senses; something about her was rich and cool and much sweeter than the average human.

‘We have three rooms,’ she said. ‘Since there are six of you, you have the whole house.’

‘Only five now,’ John said. ‘One of us couldn’t make it.’

‘Do you still want all three rooms?’

‘Absolutely.’

‘Then come on up and choose who sleeps where. It’s all completely up to you.’

‘Thanks,’ I said, immediately liking her.

‘Is your hair natural?’ she asked me as she led us up the stairs.

It took me a moment to realise she was referring to my redhead camouflage. ‘Yes. I get constant grief about it.’

‘I can understand why people would be jealous,’ she said, smiling. ‘These are the blue and yellow rooms, sleep two each.’

We all hesitated for a moment.

Simone, top floor by herself,
John said.
Me and Emma in the room at the end of the hall. Leo, take the other room this floor.

‘What about Jay?’ I said, indicating the stone.

Mabel looked from me to John, bewildered.

‘I’ll share with Gerry,’ he said, slapping Leo on the shoulder.
I’ll go back to the ring at night and help guard.

‘Okay.’ I followed John into the double room at the end of the hall.

‘Well, you seem to be organised,’ Mabel said.

Simone raced up the stairs and shouted down, ‘This room is huge!’
Leo, want to share this one? The view is great from up here.

Leo stays one floor below to guard
, John said.

You are so boring,
Simone said.
We could have a slumber party
.

Ugh. Me big tough man, no want slumber parties,
Leo said.

‘Since you have the whole house, breakfast is whenever you want it,’ Mabel said.

‘Vegetarian for all of us,’ John said. ‘We are all seeking the truth of eternal enlightenment and harmony, and consuming the flesh of animals dulls our spiritual purity.’

Her smile froze. ‘Yes, well … I’ll see what I can do. Settle in, and if you need anything, just give me a shout.’

‘We may need you to help us with the locations we’re looking for,’ John said. He pulled one of his vintage psychedelic posters out of his back pocket and waved it around, enthusiastic. ‘This place is perfect for the spiritual gathering we’re planning, but we need to check with a druid or local shaman.’

‘A spiritual gathering?’ she said, eyes wide.

‘He means a folk music festival, don’t mind him,’ Simone said from the landing above us. ‘Ignore all the crystal and druid stuff, that’s just his way.’

‘Do you know something about druids?’ John asked Mabel, sounding even more excited.

‘No, there’s nothing like that around here. Holyhead’s a very boring place,’ she said. She patted him on the arm. ‘Good luck with your festival. It would do the town — and the island — a lot of good to have something like that to rejuvenate the economy.’

‘Peace and light,’ he said expansively.

The stone leaned on the wall next to her and crossed his arms. ‘That’s an interesting surname, Defaoite. Is it French?’

‘Irish. It sounds fancy but it just means white.’

‘So you’re Irish?’ he said.

‘No, no, my people came over from Ireland a long time ago. I’m Welsh from way back; the surname is sort of a legacy.’

‘Fascinating,’ the stone said. He put on his most charming smile and moved slightly closer to her. ‘Do you run this place by yourself?’

‘No, my partner helps me,’ she said, brushing her hand through her hair.

‘What sort of partner?’ he said. ‘Strictly business?’

‘He wouldn’t say that.’

‘I see,’ the stone said, and moved back. ‘Shame.’

‘You’re telling me,’ she said under her breath as she headed back down the stairs.

After we’d sorted out our stuff, we went down to the main street to meet with the stone’s contact. To get there, we walked through narrow streets fronted by houses jammed close together with no front gardens. The cobbled main street was divided off with bollards to make a pedestrian mall, but the place was deserted and many of the shops were vacant.

‘That one,’ the stone said, indicating a café.

We went inside. It had a scarred wooden floor and was furnished with wooden picnic tables and benches down either side. A young waitress stood behind the counter, listlessly flicking through a magazine. The place was completely empty.

We sat at one of the picnic tables and Simone pulled the menu out of its stand. She quickly perused it, then searched the stand. When she didn’t find anything else, she turned back to the menu. ‘This can’t be right; they just have breakfast, baked potatoes, sandwiches and nachos.’ She flipped the menu over, then peered at the blackboard over the counter. ‘They don’t even have a proper coffee machine. And what the hell is a breakfast bap?’

‘Welcome to the boonies,’ Leo said, reaching for a menu from another table.

The waitress came up to us; she had short blonde hair and a pierced nose. She scowled around at us and pulled out a notepad. ‘What can I get you?’

‘Salad sandwich,’ John said cheerfully. ‘Vegetarian if you could.’

‘Same here,’ Simone said. ‘And a Coke.’

‘Grilled ham and cheese,’ Leo said with relish. ‘And a black coffee.’

‘I’ll have a salad sandwich, same as the other guys,’ I said. ‘What sort of tea do you have?’

The waitress looked up from her pad, seemed to see me for the first time and froze. She shook herself out of it. ‘Uh … black or white.’

‘White then. Jay?’

‘Just water for me, if you could,’ the stone said, putting on his best Charming British Gentleman.

‘Uh. Ok.’ The waitress looked completely flustered. ‘Um. I’ll be right back with that.’

She nearly ran out the back door.

‘Heads up,’ Leo said, indicating me with a nod.

‘I know,’ John said.

‘Yeah. WTF,’ Simone said softly.

‘It’s here,’ the stone said, rising and turning towards the door.

A small, round middle-aged woman with short red hair hurried into the café, smiling broadly. ‘About time you people got here, I’ve been waiting to hear from you.’ She hugged and kissed everybody as if they were long-lost relatives, pulling back to smile at Simone. ‘You’ve grown so much!’ She squeezed the stone around the shoulders. ‘And you, you old ingrate, you don’t look a day older.’

‘Neither do you, Ruby, you look terrific,’ the stone said. ‘Everybody shuffle over, make room.’

Ruby sat on the bench and spoke through her huge smile. ‘There’s no one eavesdropping, but we may be watched, so you can speak freely but mind the special stuff.’ She glanced around. ‘Where’s that little blonde thing that runs the place when her dad’s on the piss?’

‘She had one look at Emma and took off,’ the stone said. ‘She obviously saw through her disguise.’

‘That’s not good,’ Ruby said. ‘Nice disguise, who did it?’

‘Me,’ John said.

She studied John carefully. ‘Damn, your stone friend here wasn’t kidding. May I?’

She held her hand out. John put his hand out across the table and she took it, concentrating. Her expression filled with awe and she pulled her hand back.

‘Bloody hell,’ she said, then bobbed her head in Simone’s direction. ‘Sorry, love.’ She pointed from John to Simone. ‘This your daughter?’

‘I’m half-human,’ Simone said.

‘Nearly as big as he is, too.’ She studied Leo. ‘And you’re another one. I never thought I’d see your kind again.’

‘Do you know what happened to them here?’ John said.

She shook her head. ‘No idea. I’m old enough to remember when they were drifting around causing trouble, and then one day, poof! They were gone as if they’d never existed. We stones spent some time looking for them, and in the end we gave up.’ She leaned on the table and put her chin in her hand. ‘It would be a hell of a relief to have them back, helping us out when the demons run out of control. Look at that stuff in London back in 2011.’

‘That was demons?’ Simone said.

‘Mostly, yes.’

‘Damn,’ I said.

‘And you,’ Ruby said, turning to me. ‘Something’s not quite right about you, but I don’t know what it is. It’s times like this I really wish we had them back.’ She studied me and I felt more than her eyes on me. ‘What’s your surname?’

‘Stevenson.’

‘I see. For a moment … Never mind.’

‘What do you know about the stone circles disappearing?’ I said.

She dropped her hand and leaned across the table. ‘One of them was my
parent
,’ she said with venom. ‘When we find out who is doing this …’

She stopped as the waitress returned with her father. He came to the table and stared around at us, then nodded to the stone. ‘Ruby.’

‘Jamie,’ she said with distaste.

He reeked of alcohol, and was wearing a pair of tattered jeans and a stained grey sweater, ripped around the neckband. He glared at me. ‘I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but it would be best if you cleared out right now.’

‘I’m researching my family tree,’ I said. ‘It led me here.’

‘What family tree?’ he said, swaying slightly. He peered at me. ‘What’s your surname?’

Don’t tell him
, John said.

‘Stevenson,’ I said.

‘Liar.’ His face twisted with anger. ‘You’re a fucking O’Breen.’

‘I’m not an O’Breen,’ I said.

He jabbed his finger at me. ‘You’re one of those O’Breens who went to Australia.’

‘My last name is Stevenson.’

‘What’s your mother’s maiden name then?’ he said.

I took a gamble. ‘Donahoe.’

Dammit, Emma
, John said.

‘Oh shit,’ Ruby said.

The breath went out of Jamie in an audible gasp and he took a step back, his eyes wide. ‘You get yourself out of town right now. Leave. All of you.’ He focused on Ruby. ‘I don’t know what you’re doing consorting with these people, Ruby, but you know damn well what this one is, and she’s going to bring trouble to us all if she doesn’t leave now.’

‘What am I?’ I said.

His watery eyes screwed up and he scowled. ‘Abomination. Get out of my caff.’ He raised his voice and pointed at the door. ‘All of you! Out! Now! Before I call the police on you. And
you
!’ He rounded on Ruby. ‘I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing, but it’s only a matter of time before everybody knows. We thought we could trust you, Ruby.’ He glared around at us again. ‘Get out of town before someone gets hurt.’

‘Can you explain why you want us to leave?’ John said, attempting to placate him. ‘We have no idea what you’re talking about. What’s the problem with my girlfriend?’

‘No!’ he roared. ‘If you don’t know, I ain’t telling you. Get out of town. Now!’

He spun and headed out the back door, the waitress cowering as he passed her.

Ruby stared at me. ‘You’re related to a Donahoe?’

I raised my hands. ‘It’s my last name.’

‘Jesus. You’re not Australian, are you?’

‘I am.’

‘Holy shit. We have to get you out of here before he comes back with a gun or something. Do you have transport?’

‘We have a kombi outside the B&B at the top of the street,’ the stone said.

‘We need to talk,’ she said. She glanced around. ‘Somewhere else. Let’s go for a drive.’

We wound around the base of the mist-covered mountain and arrived at the quarry, now abandoned, where the stone had come from to build the breakwater. It was overgrown with spiny gorse and yellow heather, and fenced to hold the wild ponies that had been released to graze on it. Ruby led us to a park bench near some duck ponds. John gave up on the European look and settled back into his Chinese form with relief, and Leo took his usual African-American shape.

‘First of all, I’m only two thousand years old so I don’t know most of what happened firsthand,’ Ruby said, pacing up and down in front of us. ‘Most of the older stones have retired into stone circles, and they’re the ones that have been disappearing.’