Demon Child (10 page)

‘We were busy.’

‘That’s obvious,’ I said, leaning back and glaring at him. ‘But for two hours? Where
were
you?’

‘We were in the Peak apartment, checking it over and making sure the seals were still secure.’

‘You were busy in John’s and my bed?’ I said with horror.

‘No, of course not,’ he said, indignant. He grew sheepish. ‘My old bed.’

‘Even so,’ I said, waving one hand over the desk. ‘Two hours? Really?’

‘We really did check the seals and the fittings. We left our phones in the bedroom and didn’t hear them.’

‘Why? We hardly use the Peak apartment any more. Was this nostalgia or something?’

‘We want to move in there.’

That stunned me to silence.

He saw my reaction and explained. ‘I’m spending most of my time with Chang and the orphanages — I might as well move full-time to the Earthly. Martin can keep an eye on the Earthly situation there as well. As soon as John returns, we’ll ask his permission.’

‘He won’t give it,’ I said. ‘Martin’s needed in the Northern Heavens. He’s John’s goddamn Number One, Leo. We need him here when we’re attacked.’

‘Yue Gui’s just as good and she’s his Number One too.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous! She’s a genius, but a peacetime administrator. Martin’s a fighter and strategist close to John in ability. We’re at war, and when it comes to defending the Northern Heavens Martin is second only to John himself. This is a stupid made-up reason if ever I heard one. Why do you really want to live on the Earthly? What’s happened?’

‘Really, to help out down there with the orphanages. It’ll just save us a lot of time moving around.’

‘John won’t give permission, so you may as well not ask him.’

‘We’ll move down there temporarily then.’

‘You’ll do it anyway?’

‘We’re needed on the Earthly. We’ll free up Persimmon Tree Pavilion, and your family can use it when they’re visiting.’

‘Leo,’ I bent to speak intensely to him over the surface of the desk, ‘tell me what’s really going on. You can trust me. Is one of you in trouble? Has something happened? Maybe we can help you fix it.’

‘Nothing to fix. We’d just like to live down there. That’s all.’

‘We can’t let you do this.’

He leaned back in his chair. ‘Do you have any idea how much you sound like him? Doesn’t it bother you?’

I slapped the desk. ‘No.’

He rose. ‘As soon as he’s back, I’ll ask him. I hope you’ll help me out here, Emma. A good word from you could make all the difference.’

I glowered at him. ‘You won’t be getting it. Both of you are needed here.’

‘A lot like him,’ he said, an edge of concern in his voice.

Simone appeared in the doorway. ‘Emma, there’s something —’ She saw Leo. ‘Oh, hi, Leo. Sorry.’ She turned to go out again.

‘No, it’s fine, I’m leaving anyway,’ Leo said. He gestured towards me. ‘Come in and ask Emma whatever it was.’

‘You are in so much trouble, Leo. Daddy’s going to cut your head off,’ she said, coming in.

He grinned. ‘Wouldn’t be the first time.’ He waved to me. ‘A good word, Emma, that’s all I ask.’ He went out.

‘A good word for what?’ Simone said.

‘He wants to go down to the Earthly and live on the Peak with Martin,’ I said.

‘What on earth for?’

‘He’s given me a list of stupid reasons that make no sense. If you could find out what’s really going on, I’d appreciate it.’

‘I’ll talk to them,’ she said. She leaned her hip on the desk, crossed her arms and tilted her head. ‘Um.’

‘What?’

‘Uh …’ She furrowed her brow. ‘Today, in Hell … um.’ She straightened and flipped her hair over her shoulder. ‘Actually, never mind. I’ll go talk to Leo and find out what’s happening. It’s nothing.’

She shrugged and went out without another word.

‘It’s not nothing!’ I shouted after her. ‘Come back and tell me what the problem is.’

‘It’s really nothing,’ she said from outside my office. ‘Just a stupid small silly thing. You have more important stuff to worry about.’

My outer office door closed.

‘Secrets, secrets everywhere,’ the stone said.

‘Was Leo lying about wanting to live on the Earthly?’ I said.

‘No,’ the stone said. ‘But you were right: he was lying about his reasons for doing it.’

‘Why won’t he trust me? He’s always trusted me.’

‘This must be extremely big.’

‘I hope Simone can find out for us.’

‘You should ask him to find out what’s going on with her as well,’ the stone said.

‘Good idea. Is the Dark Lord back?’

‘No, he’s still in Hell organising the defensive legions. I think he’ll be a while.’

‘Thanks,’ I said, and returned to the spreadsheets.

John came into my office a couple of hours later. He sat on the other side of my desk looking old and haggard, but at least his feet were whole.

‘All that good work to make you rest in the cage is gone already,’ I said.

He rubbed one hand over his face. ‘We’re outnumbered and outgunned. They’ll try for Hell again and we’re thinning our defences elsewhere protecting it. If they attempt the Celestial at the same time they try for Hell, we will be sorely tested.’

‘We can do this,’ I said fiercely. ‘We have to.’

‘We will.’ He leaned back and composed himself, turning back from mid-sixties to his usual late-forties self with visible effort. ‘Did Leo and Ming come in here after I spoke to them?’

‘No. I’d already shouted at Leo before he spoke to you. Do either of them have some trouble on the Celestial Plane that they’re trying to avoid?’

‘I have Zara checking.’

‘Ming can’t live on the Earthly, John. He’s your Number One and we need him in the Northern Heavens.’

‘That’s exactly what I said. He insisted. He said that Yue can handle it since I made her Number One as well.’

‘That’s a stupid reason, but from what Leo said we don’t have much choice.’

‘I know. If I deny them permission, they’ll move down there anyway and say it’s only temporary. I might as well allow them. It’ll free up Persimmon Tree Pavilion and we can give it to your family when they come visit.’

‘What about BJ? She lives in Persimmon Tree too.’

‘We will need to speak to her as well.’

‘I’d still like to know their real reason for moving down there. Do you want me to talk to Leo? Maybe I can get more out of him if I speak to him as a friend instead of as Lord.’

‘Stop it.’

‘Stop what?’ I realised what he meant. ‘We’re just in tune. That’s all. It’s nothing.’

‘You just said
exactly
what I was thinking. Even to being his Lord.’

I waved it away. ‘Form of words. Don’t worry about it.’

He concentrated, checking that his Serpent was still imprisoned, and his edges grew fuzzy. I could see the chair through him; he was going transparent.

I shot to my feet. ‘Stay with us, John. Stay here!’ I ran around the desk and crouched to put my arms around him to hold him with me. ‘Don’t leave me. Don’t leave us. We need you!’

He took a deep breath in my embrace, grabbed me and buried his face in my shoulder. ‘Sorry. Sorry. I had to check. You sounded so much like me …’

‘Next time, don’t check. Don’t touch it. Don’t look for it. We will find it and we will release it and you will be whole, but not just yet.’

‘Hurts,’ he said into my shoulder, so softly I could barely hear it.

‘I know,’ I said, my voice hoarse. ‘I can see.’

He patted my back to show he was okay. I pulled away, then moved back in and kissed him hard. He put his hand around the back of my head and returned the kiss just as hard until I released him and wiped my eyes.

‘That was so close. And all you did was check on it.’

‘I’m in so much pain,’ he said. ‘All it wants to do is die and it’s denied that release. I should sleep in the jade cage. I hear its cries in my dreams and I may go to it.’

I leaned on the desk behind me and dropped my head with misery. Now that he’d returned, sleeping beside him was one of life’s greatest pleasures. Sleeping alone again would be very hard.

‘Do you want me to arrange a roster of senior people to mind you at night while you sleep in the cage?’ I said.

‘Not yet.’

‘Don’t risk it, okay?’

His eyes were dark with sorrow. ‘I know.’

I jerked upright, banging my head on the ceiling. I was in the cage again. I looked around; nobody was nearby. I felt the needle in my back and tried to reach around to remove it, but it was too close to the back of my head. I dropped my head and flicked my tongue, tasting the decay of Hell and the traces of demons that had come and gone. None had been near in a very long time. The IV bag on the outside of the cage was empty. I tried moving as far from the stand as possible, hoping to pull out the needle, but the intravenous line was long enough to reach from one end of the cage to the other.

I gave up and flopped on the floor. I was roasting hot and it wasn’t pleasant heat. My scales felt raw and painful, and I was dizzy with thirst. My tail throbbed with pain in time with my heartbeat, making me wish for the release of unconsciousness again. I didn’t have enough energy left to control the suffering, and the IV had cured the infection so that it wasn’t killing me any more.

I had to find a way to die. Everything I’d tried had failed. Banging my head repeatedly on the inside of the cage was ineffectual. I was immune to my own venom. As long as I stayed in the cage, there was a chance that the Turtle would merge with me and be trapped as well, which would be a disaster for everybody. I rested my head on the floor of the cage, dreaming of being whole again, and showing Emma what I was really capable of.

I shot upright with a huge gasp and cast around, confused. I was in our bed in the Residence and John was lying next to me, watching me. I’d woken him.

‘Bad dream?’ he said.

I dropped back to cuddle into him. ‘Yes.’

He nuzzled my hair. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’

‘No. It’s just the stress from all we’re doing. I worry about our family.’

He kissed the top of my head and pulled me closer. ‘I do too.’

I closed my eyes, hoping that I wouldn’t see the interior of the cage again, and again vowed not to worry him about it. He was stressed enough already.

The dream wasn’t real anyway; the Serpent didn’t have any IVs stuck in it. It was just my imagination.

Smally stood in the doorway of my office, hesitant.

‘It’s fine, come in,’ I said, still looking at the screen.

She sidled in, holding a large Ninja Turtle figurine in front of her.

I leapt to my feet. ‘Oh my
god
, you found it! Where was it?’

She was frozen for a moment, then said, ‘It was on the top shelf of your closet here on the Mountain, right at the very back.’

‘You are totally wonderful,’ I said, and she lit up. I went around the desk and gestured for her to follow me. ‘Come with me, this will be priceless.’

I stopped in front of Yi Hao. ‘Tell Zara to be ready to take a photo of the Dark Lord’s face when we show him this?’

Yi Hao unfocused and came back. ‘Done, ma’am. What is it?’ Smally raised the Ninja Turtle so she could see it and her eyes widened. ‘The little demon found it!’ Her expression grew sly. ‘Are you taking it to him now? Can I see his face as well?’

I nodded.

Yi Hao dropped her pen and came around her desk. She patted Smally on the back. ‘You have done us all a great favour, Smally. This will be very good.’

We went across the courtyard and into John’s anteroom. His office door was closed; he had his music on and the heavy bass thrummed through the floor. Zara was waiting for us, and pulled her earphones out of her ears when we entered.

She saw the figure. ‘That’s it?’

‘I don’t understand all the fuss,’ Smally said, bewildered.

I tapped on John’s office door. Nothing happened; he hadn’t heard me. I looked at Zara. She concentrated, and the music stopped. I opened the door and ushered everybody in.

John stared at us. ‘This looks serious.’

‘Oh, it is,’ I said. I gestured to Smally, who was cowering behind Zara. ‘Put it on his desk.’

She crept around Zara, inched to the desk and placed the Ninja Turtle in front of him.

He leapt to his feet with joy. ‘Yes! You found it! Where was it?’ He looked around at us. ‘I have been looking for this
everywhere
! Who found it? I want to thank them.’

I indicated Smally, who was again trying to hide behind an uncooperative Zara. ‘It was right at the back of my closet and she found it when she was cleaning it out.’

He pointed at her and she cringed. ‘Bringing you in to be Emma’s personal maid is the best decision I have made in my entire life,’ he said sternly. ‘I hereby promote you to Chief Turtle Finder. Your uniform is to have green and blue cuffs added to honour you.’

Smally stood straighter. ‘Really?’

I patted her back. ‘The least you deserve.’

‘Considering what you have to put up with,’ Zara said with good humour. ‘Her closet is worse than his desk.’

I opened my mouth to protest, but John and Yi Hao were both nodding agreement.

John grabbed a pile of papers and dropped them on the floor behind him. Zara made a small sound of pain and he ignored her. He shuffled the rest of the papers on his desk to make some space, picked up the Ninja Turtle and placed it carefully next to the monitor.

‘Now,’ he said with satisfaction, ‘I have officially returned.’ He sat at the desk and pulled his chair in. ‘Me and Leonardo here have things to do. You lot disappear.’

He turned the music back on and the thump of the intensely loud German industrial metal made the Ninja Turtle quiver on his desk. Smally cowered and put her hands over her ears. I put my arms around Yi Hao’s and Smally’s waists and guided them out, and Zara closed the door behind us. I couldn’t wait until Simone discovered that the turtle had been found.

There was a message on my voicemail when I returned to my desk: David. I called him back.

‘David, it’s Emma.’

‘Emma. What. The. Hell? Two thousand kilos of steel? Why?’

‘You don’t want to know. Believe me.’

‘Police Superintendent Cheung wants to talk to you. Says it’s urgent.’

‘It’s always urgent.’

‘This is more urgent than usual. He’s called me twice already today asking to be put in touch with you. He says the Brigadier has disappeared and there’s nobody he can contact. Please talk to him, Emma. I can’t get anything done while he’s harassing me like this and it sounds important.’

‘Okay.’

‘Promise?’

‘Yeah, I will. So … iron, steel. Can you do it?’

He sighed with exasperation. ‘Of course I can’t. Melt down a car.’

‘Too much aluminium.’

‘Really?’

‘And plastic. Our forge can’t handle the impurities. We’re stuck in the Tang Dynasty.’

‘Your forge? Wait — you’re making two thousand kilos of
weapons
?’

‘Like I said, you don’t want to know.’

‘Tell me.’

I thought about it for a moment. ‘No.’

‘Then you’ll have to look elsewhere for your steel, and you promised to talk to Cheung. I’ll hold you to that: I know how you people are about keeping your word. Bye, Emma.’

You people? I brushed it aside. As his voice faded, I said, ‘If I told you why I needed it would you be able to swing it for me?’

His voice returned. ‘Maybe.’

‘You won’t thank me, David.’

‘I need to know everything if I’m to make valid decisions. Don’t withhold information from me.’

‘This is more than just information. Trust me, you really do not want to know. It will change everything you see in the world around you and make your life ten times more stressful.’

‘It can’t be that bad! Tell me.’

I took a deep breath, heavy with dread. ‘The Celestial and the forces of Hell are at war.’

‘What? But …’ He was silent for a long moment. ‘Okay, I believe you. Why hasn’t it affected us? It’s still business as usual on the Earthly.’

‘You said Cheung wanted to speak to me urgently?’

He hesitated, then, ‘I see.’

‘We won the first battle. We lost a few legions, but we won. This isn’t settled, though, and we need to prepare for the next conflict.’

‘Can I protect my family from this?’

‘Things are about to become very bad around here. Move them to anywhere but Europe or Asia. America or Australia would be a good idea. The gods in Europe are all gone, and Africa’s too close to Europe. I recommend Australia; there’s a powerful spirit there who’s on our side. The spirits of the other regions have gone completely silent. We think the ones in Africa and America are waiting to see how this turns out.’

‘The European Shen are gone? Our whole extended family’s back in the UK!’

‘Move everybody you can to Australia.’

‘What about here in Hong Kong?’

I dropped my forehead into one hand, still holding the phone with the other. ‘I’m not surprised Cheung wants to speak to me. Our part of the world is about to have some very nasty things happen. It won’t be anything obviously supernatural, but it will happen.’

‘What sort of “not obviously supernatural”?’

‘Riots. Insurrection. Coups d’état. Crime. Kidnappings. Violence.’

‘Emma, that sounds like business as usual in much of Asia.’

‘Yes. It’s been brewing for a while.’

‘And it’ll get worse?’

‘Count on it.’

‘How much steel did you need again? Wait, I can see your email. Two thousand kilos. That’s an awfully small lot; it’s a tiny fraction of a forty-tonne cradle. Let me see what I can do.’ I heard him typing. ‘I can’t get you guns, so don’t even ask.’

‘Guns don’t work on them.’

‘Well, that’s just completely wonderful. I’m glad they don’t have any to use on you.’

‘They do. They threw a
tank
at us during the last skirmish.’

‘Holy shit. This is getting better and better. Australia, you say?’ He typed again. ‘Emma, what if … what if you lose? What if the demons take over?’

‘There was a time at the dawn of recorded history when any attempt by mankind to build a civilisation was promptly and ruthlessly crushed by an invading barbarian horde. Humans were kept weak and their technological advances were destroyed. It made them ideal fodder for enslavement and exploitation in a feudal system where demon lords ruled them with absolute control.’ I wiped my hand over my forehead and turned away from the monitor to study the scroll with the character
si
— thought and remembrance — behind my desk. ‘We would prefer not to see that situation arise again.’

I realised I had said ‘we’ and ‘them’. Okay, maybe he had a point with the ‘you people’ comment.

He was still typing. ‘This is strange. Why has the price of raw iron skyrocketed in the last six months? That’s completely against the trend for a primary resource.’ He inhaled sharply as
he understood. ‘Oh shit. They’re ahead of you and buying it up. Damn, how many of them are there?’

I hesitated, then said, ‘Move your family to Australia.’

‘Sounds like a good idea. I’ll get back to you on the steel, but understand,’ he brushed his hand over the telephone receiver, probably wiping his eyes, ‘I may not be able to swing such a small amount of raw materials. It’s completely outside our usual realm of operations. I might have to ask my business contacts.’

‘I appreciate your help.’

‘I really wish you hadn’t told me this,’ he said, his voice weak. ‘You were right.’

‘I know. Keep safe.’

‘Call Cheung, okay? Even if you can’t help him, you can reassure him.’

‘I will. Bye, David.’

He hung up without another word. I really hadn’t done him a favour.

‘Cheung.’

‘Superintendent.’ I deliberately made my voice upbeat. ‘I hope all’s well with you.’

‘Miss Donahoe.’ He sounded desperate. ‘You have to stop doing this to me. It’s making me look extremely bad.’

‘Doing what?’

‘You know what. I’m in serious trouble, you have to stop.’

‘Whatever this is, it isn’t me,’ I said. ‘We’re in the middle of a big offshore operation, really top-level stuff, and we don’t have the time or resources to mess with you. What’s happening?’

‘It’s not you?’ he said, sounding genuinely shocked.

‘Tell me what’s happening, Wyland.’

‘All my triad arrests disappear from the cell block. Nobody knows how it’s happening. The ICAC is investigating me for corruption. You have to talk to them! They think I’m releasing Little Brothers because I’m being paid off.’

‘Oh,’ I said, my voice small. Cheung thought I was Chinese Secret Service, and I had to give him a reason for the disappearance of the demon gangsters that was within the realms of possibility. ‘I have no idea what’s going on. Let me investigate and get back to you.’

‘If it’s not you, then who is it?’

‘Demons, has to be,’ I said with forced cheerfulness. ‘Appear in the cell block, steal the prisoner, disappear again.’

‘I’m more than half-way inclined to believe you,’ he said, playing along with the joke. ‘These cells are secure and they seem to be walking out through the walls.’

‘Let me talk to some Shen I know and we’ll see what we can do about destroying the demons,’ I said.

‘I knew I could count on you to provide the ideal solution. Get Guan Gong, we have an altar to him in the office, and he’d be perfect,’ he said with grim humour. ‘Please call me when you know something. At least give me your direct number so I don’t have to bother the Gweilo.’