Heaven to Wudang (37 page)

‘He says it would break me too much,' Andrew said, miserable.

John nodded, his face full of similar misery.

‘So what do we do?' Jennifer said.

John glanced up at her. ‘Seek counselling for them. I can arrange it for you, if you like.'

‘We'll be fine, Mum,' Andrew said with forced brightness.

‘I think everybody should leave now so we can pack,' Jennifer said. ‘I'll see you all later.' She walked out of the room without looking back.

‘You'll all still join us for lunch?' I said.

‘We will, don't worry,' Greg said. ‘We'll see you at the pool later.'

 

The Tiger cleared the pool area for us to have lunch together there before my family left. Louise's two children, Simone, and all the parents, including the Tiger himself, came along too.

The Australian kids taught Simone and Louise's kids to play Marco Polo in the pool; and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves until Lucas, Louise's son and the youngest there, ran to us to complain.

‘Simone's cheating,' he said. ‘She can breathe underwater and she won't come up.'

‘Don't play with her then,' my mother said.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, then ran back to the pool.

‘He is such a chronic tattle-tale,' Louise said with amusement. She leaned to grin down at the Tiger, who was stretched on the pavers in True Form. ‘He gets it from you.'

The Tiger rolled onto his back with his paws in the air. ‘Never told a tale in my life; you can ask my boss.' He flicked one paw at John. ‘You, Louise, on the other hand … I seem to recall you running to me when you suspected that one of the harem guards was playing up.'

‘Was he?' Amanda said with interest.

‘Nope,' the Tiger said, then rolled onto his belly and stretched, scraping his claws on the concrete. ‘They know better.'

‘I remember,' John said, leaning his chin in his hand over his half-empty plate of barbecued vegetables. ‘I remember once, about five hundred years ago, a little tiger thought that one of his neighbours in the Celestial realm had encroached on his boundary. He scurried to the Jade Emperor himself, requesting an audience, and loudly squealed —'

‘I don't squeal!' the Tiger said.

John glanced down at him with amusement. ‘I didn't say it was you.'

‘I know what you're talking about, I remember it too,' the Tiger said.

‘He reported to the mighty Jade Emperor that his neighbour's army was massing on his borders.'

‘Well, they were,' the Tiger said. ‘Black banners and all.'

‘The Jade Emperor told the Tiger to return to his Palace, and this time to read the scroll in the red box before sending it back.'

‘How was I to know that the damn box had an Edict in it?' the Tiger said.

‘Why were you massing on his borders anyway?' Louise asked John, fascinated.

‘It was joint exercises,' John said. ‘His own army was involved, but they hadn't arrived at the training ground yet.'

‘And he never knew?' Louise said, full of mischief.

‘Oh, thank you very much,' the Tiger said, and pulled himself lazily to his feet and strolled towards the pool.

‘Nope,' John said. ‘Completely unaware of what his own army was doing. All the paperwork was sitting on his desk unread.'

The Tiger jumped into the pool and chased the children around, growling at them, his claws carefully sheathed.

John studied them as they splashed. ‘They don't seem terribly scared of the Tiger. I wonder what they'd think of a Turtle in there as well?'

‘A sea turtle?' I said.

He nodded.

‘Can you swim with one flipper missing?'

‘I can get around.'

Louise grinned at him. ‘Can you give them rides?'

He seemed surprised at that, then smiled gently. ‘I suppose I can.'

‘Then what's stopping you? They'd love that.'

John didn't reply; he just stood and strode to the pool, changed to a Turtle and slid in. The smaller children squealed when they saw him, then began to argue about climbing onto his back.

‘Seemed to be a completely new idea to him,' my father said, bemused.

‘Probably is,' I said. ‘You know how big he is. Louise is probably the first person who's ever had the nerve to ask him.'

‘If he'd been the combined creature, they would have been out of the pool in two seconds flat,' Greg said.

‘Have you seen it?' Jennifer said.

Greg nodded. ‘About thirty or forty years ago, when he returned from Europe. Ask Gold to tell you that story — a very funny thing happened. But the combined creature, the whole Xuan Wu, that is not something a child would ever want to ride.'

There was a rush of air and an explosion near the gates. Michael, in Celestial Form, charged towards us, his golden face a mask of fury. He was two and a half metres tall, his skin was a deep rich gold and his hair shone blinding white in a short ponytail. He was wearing the robe that had materialised on him in Court Ten.

He stopped at the edge of the pool and pointed at John. ‘You said she was dead!'

‘Get the kids out of the way,' I said, rising to talk to him.

John and the Tiger took human form and floated out of the pool. John stood in front of Michael, his expression full of remorse. ‘I did.'

My parents and sisters pulled the kids out of the pool and rushed them out the gates. The Tiger followed them, guarding the rear.

‘I'm not going to hurt little kids,' Michael said. ‘Who do you think I am?'

‘Of course you won't hurt them,' Simone said, climbing out of the pool, still in her pink candy-stripe bikini. ‘But we think you'll say some things that they shouldn't hear.'

‘Damn straight I will,' Michael said through clenched teeth. He stared directly into John's eyes. ‘You told me she was dead. You're the goddamn fucking God of War, you used to be a demon yourself, and you were wrong.'

‘I was wrong,' John said. He fell to one knee and bowed his head. ‘I most sincerely apologise for my misjudgement, sir, and seek to compensate you.'

‘Your head would be a good start,' Michael said. ‘She won't even talk to me. She blames me for all of this — she can't even hold a pen! She's living in constant pain and her life is ruined. She'll never work again — hell, she may lose her sight.'

John rose and saluted Michael. ‘What can I do to make this up to you?'

I moved to stand next to John. ‘Michael, why are you blaming John for this? He didn't do this to her.'

Michael glanced quickly at me. ‘I would have gone in for her —'

‘And been killed. Multiple times,' I said.

‘At least she would know that I tried!'

‘Conceded,' I said. ‘But the ones to go after are the Death Mother and Kitty Kwok. They're the ones that did this.'

‘They're next,' he said.

John spread his hands. ‘If you want my head, it is yours.'

‘Please don't kill him, Michael, I only just got him back,' Simone said softly.

Michael appeared to see Simone for the first time, and his expression changed when he saw what she was wearing. He pulled himself together. ‘It wouldn't achieve anything.'

‘That's a good start,' I said.

‘And a finish. I'm done with you,' Michael said. He turned and went to the Tiger, who was guarding the gates the families had gone through. He fell to one knee
in front of his father. ‘I accept the post of Number One. Please use my skills as you see fit.'

The Tiger hesitated for a moment, then said, ‘Present yourself to the Quartermaster and the Master at Arms. They have been informed and are expecting you.'

‘Can I talk to Clarissa for you?' I called to Michael.

He turned and glared at me. ‘Sure. Go ahead and make it worse. Oh, never mind, you
can't
.' He disappeared.

Simone went to her father and put her arm around his waist. ‘Well, that ruined that.'

The Tiger came to us. ‘Your family have started organising the demons to pack for them. Go to their residences and say goodbye. Michael ruined it for everybody.'

 

Greg and Jennifer had already finished, and were helping my mother and father direct the demons who were putting everything in boxes for them.

‘Oh,' my father said, and pulled out a large photo album. ‘This is for you, Emma. Where we're going we're not Donahoes any more, so you might as well take this and do what you like with it.'

I opened the book on the kitchen table. It was the family-tree research that my father had done.

He pointed to a copy of an old document. ‘The first Donahoes came over to Australia from Cardiff as free settlers. Oddly enough, they chose Queensland rather than Sydney, where most of the settlers headed.' He turned the page. ‘They were originally from Holyhead —'

‘There's that place you were talking about,' Simone said with wonder.

‘That's right. They were originally from Holy Island, but they seemed to have roots going even further back than that — in Ireland. Anyway, even though they were put on the boat to Australia as free settlers, there was
some sort of trial in Holyhead that resulted in them being shipped to Cardiff and then Australia.'

‘That doesn't make sense,' I said.

‘It gets even stranger,' my father said. ‘I finally received the parish records after weeks of waiting for them. There's notice of a trial in the parish register, but the charge isn't listed. Only that the young couple — Iain Donahoe and his wife, Brede — were found guilty of “unnatural acts”. The ruling — by Judge Sean MacLaren — says that if they ever returned to Holy Island they'd be hanged.'

‘Brede's maiden name was O'Breen,' my mother said. ‘We were related to the O'Breens after all.'

I closed the album. ‘I'll look further into this. Thanks, guys.'

My mother's voice broke. ‘I'll miss you so much, Emma.'

I threw myself into her arms. ‘I'll miss you too, Mum. Keep in touch, please. Email if it's safe.' I turned to hug my father. ‘Dad. Thanks for putting up with me.'

‘I'd put up with anything for my little girl,' he said gruffly into my shoulder. ‘Look after her, John, she's very special.'

‘I will,' John said. ‘I know.'

‘I'm going to miss you too,' Simone said, tears running down her cheeks. ‘You're the only grandparents I have.' She hugged my mother. ‘I love you, Nanna.'

‘I love you too, little Simone,' my mother said. ‘Be good for your daddy and Emma, okay?'

‘Okay,' Simone said, but it came out a gasp.

The Tiger and a few of his sons turned up to take them all down to the Earthly. We had another round of hugs and they were gone.

‘Let's go check on Ben and Tom,' I said.

John studied me carefully. ‘Are you sure? I would understand if you needed to take some time.'

‘They're not dead. I may see them again; things change. They'll be safe. Besides.' I took a deep breath. ‘I think I need to keep busy.'

‘I do too, I have homework,' Simone said. ‘I'm heading home, okay?'

‘We'll see you back home later,' John said.

Simone hugged us and was gone as well.

‘I'm sure you'll see them again,' John said.

‘Funnily enough, I am too,' I said.

T
he Tiger drove us to his research facility on the Western Plain. John clutched the side of the jeep with his good hand and eventually spoke up.

‘You drive like a maniac, Ah Bai.'

‘That's because I am one.'

‘May I remind you again,' I said from the back seat, ‘that I'm a lowly mortal, and if you roll this thing I'm dead.'

He slowed to about a hundred kilometres an hour. ‘Keep forgetting. Sorry.' He grinned over his shoulder at me. ‘Roll bar will keep you safe, don't worry. I built it myself.'

‘Now we have even more reason to worry,' John said.

The Tiger skidded to a halt at the front of the facility and we hopped out.

‘Do you have an ultrasound facility here?' I said as we went inside and down to the genetics lab where his son was working on my blood.

‘In the hospital, yes,' the Tiger said. He looked sideways at me, then broke into a huge grin and grabbed John's hand to shake it. ‘Congratulations! It's about fucking time, you two.'

‘I'm not pregnant,' I said. ‘Kitty took one of my ovaries for experimenting, and I want to make sure the other one's still there.'

He dropped John's hand and turned away. ‘Look after it.'

‘After I'm sure it's there,' I said.

‘We'll check after we've said hello to your people,' he said. ‘One Twenty-Eight can't wait to talk to you. He has a whole lot of shit to tell you that I don't understand. You'll probably get it first time though.'

‘Of course she will. She didn't have half her intelligence removed with her right gonad,' John said.

I turned to look at him; he kept his expression carefully neutral.

The Tiger didn't look back. ‘I resent the implication that I have intelligence,' he said, opening the door and leading us into the lab.

One Twenty-Eight stood at a laboratory bench surrounded by biological testing pipettes. He turned and grinned his father's grin when he saw us, then fell to one knee and saluted. ‘Dark Lord, Dark Lady.'

‘Hey, One Two Eight,' I said. ‘Where's Ben and Tom?'

‘Resting. I put them through some stress tests.' He jumped to his feet, excited. ‘Do I have some fascinating findings for you.'

He waved us to the end of the lab where he had a small glassed-in office. He sat behind the desk and spun the monitor so we all could see it.

‘Okay. Now, Tom is fairly typical for a high-level demon, but he should be a Number One. He has blood, internal organs — everything.'

‘A Number One? There can't be more than one Number One, that's the way it works,' John said, fascinated.

‘Not if the other Regions work the same way ours does,' One Twenty-Eight said. ‘Each of them could have their own King and Number One.'

‘What if another Region didn't have someone as powerful as John to chase the demons underground?' I said.

‘Then they're living on the surface and feeding off humans, same as they used to do here,' John said.

‘Doesn't seem to be that way in any of the places we've been,' I said.

‘That's because we've stayed away from centres of conflict,' John said. ‘Where there are demons, there's bloodshed.'

‘Oh.'

John leaned on the office wall and crossed his arms over his chest, wincing as he put pressure on the stump. ‘Humans aren't killers by nature. You've noticed that.'

‘I have,' I said. ‘They have to be trained to take life. Murderers are usually mentally unstable.'

‘They're happy to get into a scrap, but a lethal blow is usually an accident,' John said. ‘As soon as demons interfere, you get killers. Many of them.'

‘You make us sound like a bunch of puppies,' I said.

He leaned his head slightly to one side, amused. ‘I guess I see humans that way sometimes.'

‘Very apt description,' the Tiger said. ‘Cute, adorable partners that are as dumb as shit and will bite your hand off as soon as lick it.'

‘I'll tell Louise you said that,' I said.

‘Pah. I've already told her that one a few times. She just rolls over and asks me to scratch her tummy.'

John raised his hand and stump in defeat. ‘How about we let the scientist finish?'

‘Oh no, don't mind me, this is fascinating,' One Twenty-Eight said with genuine enthusiasm. ‘Insight into the way the deities see us.'

‘As dinner, if you don't get a move on,' the Tiger said.

‘Anyway,' One Twenty-Eight said, ‘Tom, the demon: easily big eighties, but he scans as human on every test we've put him through. The only way of detecting a demon like him is the black reptile over here.'

John bowed slightly in acknowledgement.

‘What about Ben?' I said.

‘Ben. Now it gets good,' One Twenty-Eight said. ‘Tom is a demon: he's tougher than a normal human, can take a hell of a pounding before having to slow down; he's slightly stronger than a human of his size, and of about average intelligence. Ben, on the other hand, is completely human — the Dark Lord confirms this. But he's on the ninety-ninth percentile for intelligence, the one hundred and twentieth percentile for strength —'

‘He's inhumanly strong?'

‘Exactly. Same for speed: he's about twice as fast as a normal human. I have him generating chi after the third try, and the man's nearly fifty.'

‘That's unheard of,' John said, levering himself upright and staring at the graphs on the screen.

‘I took blood,' One Twenty-Eight said. ‘Tom's DNA seems to be stock-standard human normal — well, what I've unravelled of it anyway. I'm not doing the whole decoding — it would take me years, even using Lord Gold's stone technology. Ben's DNA didn't seem anything different either, until I matched it with Emma's —'

‘Oh my,' I said.

‘— and found some common strands in their X chromosomes. You need to be female — double-X — for the full coding to come out.'

‘And that coding is?' I said.

‘Snake. Of course, it's not scientifically possible for your DNA to make you change into a snake, but here we are, able to turn into animals, and we've all given up trying to work out why. You go as far as you can with science, and when the laws start breaking you stop and say, “Okay, not working any more. Celestial bullshit from here on.”'

‘So my mother or sisters could be snakes too?'

‘It seems to have been activated by something to do with him,' One Twenty-Eight said, nodding to John. ‘Something about his dark energy has made this particular DNA strand start doing stuff that it never did before. It's not just the DNA; it's the nature of the energy combining with it. Having the strand on both X chromosomes is a prerequisite as well. It's recessive, so you could be the only one in the family with the gene.'

‘The demons were right,' I said with wonder. ‘Strong inherent snake nature, activated by close personal contact with the biggest snake on the Plane.'

‘Why is everybody constantly referring to me as the snake on the Plane?' John said, frustrated. ‘It's becoming extremely annoying.'

‘What?' the Tiger said, his voice rough with amusement. ‘You're sick of being called a motherfucking snake —'

‘Oh, shut up, that was old before he even came back,' I said. ‘I'll explain later, John. What else do you have for us, One Twenty-Eight?'

He shrugged. ‘That's it: a week's work with five assistants summed up in ten minutes.'

‘What do we do with Ben and Tom now?'

‘Take them to Holy Island,' he said. ‘And bring me along as well. I seriously want to have a look at what's living there. No way is that place anything resembling normal. If it's not a gateway to the Western Plane, I'll eat my whiskers.'

‘Did Ben know he's close on superhuman?' I said.

‘Did you?'

That stopped me. ‘No.'

‘Never had any reason to test it out,' he said.

‘But I sucked at PE.'

John was confused. ‘PE?'

‘Sport at school,' One Twenty-Eight said. ‘I doubt it showed before adulthood. In fact, as a child the non-
standard DNA probably made you weaker than your peers.'

‘Yeah, like I said, I sucked at PE.'

‘What about schoolwork?'

I snorted with derision. ‘I learned damn fast in Montford not to do too well academically. It was an open invitation for a schoolyard thrashing.'

‘Your parents would be horrified to hear you say that,' John said with wonder. ‘Didn't the school encourage you? Wouldn't they do something about you being bullied for achieving good results?'

‘This was during the eighties,' I said. ‘Bullying wasn't even a concept, and if it was, everyone pretended that it didn't happen. The teachers didn't give a damn; provided I wasn't getting those schoolyard thrashings, they were out of trouble too. I think they deliberately lowered my grades to help me out.'

‘That is unbelievable,' the Tiger said.

‘The West is a very strange place sometimes,' One Twenty-Eight said.

‘That it is,' John said. ‘If we're done here, we should go to the hospital and arrange an ultrasound. I would also like to speak to Clarissa; order her to take Michael back.'

‘And you say the West is strange,' I said. ‘You don't order someone to take their fiancé back. It's a decision she has to make on her own.'

‘A hundred years ago, I could have ordered her to marry him on the spot and she would have had no recourse,' he said. ‘It would be considered normal.'

‘A hundred years ago, you would not be hoping that your son and his male partner would do something similar.'

‘Conceded,' he said. ‘The Jade Emperor still won't permit same-sex marriage, and it's about time someone challenged it.' His expression went wistful. ‘Maybe we
can use the concept of flagrantly defying the Jade Emperor's own rule to tempt Leo to remain alive.' His expression changed to mischief. ‘Or I could be female when you and I get married.'

‘Oh, I am behind that one hundred per cent,' the Tiger growled.

‘Your ongoing slavering over my female human form is bordering on perversity,' John said.

‘That's me, a furry old pervert,' the Tiger said, unfazed.

‘He only has the hots for you 'cause he can't have you; same as with me,' I said.

‘The thought of both of you together in female form keeps me warm at night,' the Tiger said.

John sighed. ‘I really don't feel like executing you right now, Ah Bai, so give it up. You're over the line and you know it.'

‘Lady Emma executed me forty-three times while you were gone,' Bai Hu said. ‘Talk about perversion.'

‘That was the main reason for your executions,' I said.

‘Let's head to the hospital and do these tests,' John said. ‘Then we'll see about lopping the head off this damn cat. Maybe Emma can make it forty-four.'

‘Woo-hoo,' the Tiger said without enthusiasm, and led us out.

 

The ultrasound confirmed it: I still had one ovary left.

The relief turned to grief when we went to visit Clarissa. She was sitting next to the window in a wheelchair in her solitary ward. She ignored us when we came in, and we pulled up chairs to sit with her. She was bald and painfully thin, her eyes were sunken and her collarbones jutted from beneath the hospital robe. Her pale skin was traced with a network of blue veins and her hands were curled up like claws.

‘Do you know what they did to us?' she said without looking away from the window.

‘The boys won't tell us the details,' John said. ‘I know Kitty was feeding off all of you.'

‘Kitty and the other one made bets every feeding session on whether or not this would be the one that killed me,' Clarissa said mildly.

I touched her hand. ‘You're safe now.'

‘I don't feel safe.' She turned and studied my face as if seeing it for the first time. ‘When they brought the boys in and put them in the next cage, I was so happy because I had someone to talk to. We shared stories about living on the Celestial Plane.' She smiled slightly. ‘Not all it's cracked up to be, actually.' Her face went expressionless. ‘She fed off them too. That meant she took less of me, and I would live longer. For some stupid reason, I was glad that I'd live longer.' Her voice gained a desperate edge. ‘I was sure Michael would come to get me.'

‘I told Michael you were dead,' John said. ‘It is my fault he did not come searching for you.'

‘I understand that,' she said. She was silent for a long moment, then she said, ‘They raped the boys.' Her voice cracked. ‘They never touched me, but those bitches raped the boys. They cried and begged them to stop, and the women laughed and kept asking them if they were enjoying it.'

‘We didn't know,' I said.

‘I need to tell their families,' John said.

‘They raped them so systematically and so often — collecting semen — that the boys bled when they did it, but they did it anyway.'

‘Genetic material,' John said.

‘They made me watch,' Clarissa said, her voice still mild.

‘Would you like to talk to them?' I said.

She raised her hands. ‘I got out, you know. They tried to make me contribute to one of their little … sessions, and the minute I was out of the cage I took off. I made a run for it, and they caught me and did this to me.' She stretched her fingers slightly, but they remained bent. ‘That's as far as they go. They hit me with some sort of black stuff, then they electrocuted me, then they beat me, and then they threw me back in the cage.'

‘If it's any consolation, we will find them and stop them,' I said.

She shrugged, making the gown hang off her even more. ‘Nope.'

‘Would you like to go home to your parents?' John said.