Blue Dragon

CHAPTER FORTY

I woke up and cast around, then remembered. I threw myself out of the enormous bed and wandered into the bathroom.

I yawned in the mirror. Then I just about broke my jaw shrieking. I leapt back.

The face in the mirror had no skin.

I took a deep breath, then carefully slithered forward for another look.

I realised that I’d slithered. I collapsed and curled up on the floor. I pulled my black coils in and gasped. I tried not to look at my hands but I couldn’t help it.

No skin. No skin. I watched with silent horror as the blood moved over my skinless arms.

Okay. Deep breaths. I was still me, wasn’t I?

I pictured Simone in my mind, and imagined being ordered to hurt her.

I collapsed again. The thought of that wonderful little girl, and how much I missed her, tore my heart out.

Okay. Deep breaths, again. I was still me.

Holy shit. I had a True Form. I looked inside myself. The black stuff had moved through me during the previous two days; it wasn’t just in my dan tian now, it was everywhere. Thank you so damn much, Simon Wong. I quietly pondered exactly what I wanted to do to that bastard when I didn’t have to worry about Simone’s safety any more.

Right. Looking inside: where’s Emma? I studied myself. I didn’t look like a hybrid, which was interesting. I didn’t look like a Mother on the inside either. I looked like something extremely old and powerful.

Something floated to the surface of my memory. The creator of the human race, in deep mythological history, had been half serpent, half human. The Great Mother. The Dark Woman, Nu Wa. I was something like that. Very interesting. Damn, I wished I still had the stone with me. It would have known what Nu Wa looked like, and would have been able to tell me if I was something like her.

I grinned to myself, still curled up on the floor. Look at the Snake Mother being cold-blooded.

Okay. I pulled myself upright. I wouldn’t look in the mirror again, thank you very much. I slithered back to the bedroom.

I went to the window and looked out, trying to calm myself. There was a quiet knock on the door.

‘Who is it?’ I said, my voice hissing.

‘It’s me, ma’am,’ the demon servant said. ‘Your breakfast is ready.’

I suddenly became extremely aware of exactly what Mothers ate. Well, well. You learned a new thing every day.

‘Later,’ I said. ‘Leave me.’

I saw her move away with my Inner Eye, then froze.

My Inner Eye was working in this form. I checked my chi; but it wasn’t the chi that was running the Eye. It was the black stuff.

I took another deep breath. Okay, ignoring for a moment the source of this power, I used it to have a look around. Holy shit. I wasn’t on top of Ocean Terminal at all. The windows were an illusion. I was underneath Kowloon City.

What I really needed to do, though, was find my own form, my human form. My real True Form.

I ordered my body to take human shape and was knocked flat.

When I came around I quickly checked my hands. Back to normal. Back to me.

I raced into the bathroom and breathed a sigh of relief. Okay. I’d even managed to conjure the same clothes I’d been wearing.

While I washed and readied myself I thought about what I would do. I should try to take this Mother form at will, it could prove useful. Particularly if I could work with the black stuff. Then I decided against it. It was just too damn ugly. And weird.

I opened the door and went to find breakfast. I tried not to think of John’s reaction if he were to see me.

I tried not to think of Simone at all.

I sat at the dining table and ordered the maids in from the kitchen.

They appeared to be tiny round Chinese women in their mid-forties, less than one and a half metres tall, wearing traditional servants’ black and white. They crept in and smiled nervously.

‘Sit,’ I said, gesturing to the chairs across the table from me.

They shared a look and didn’t move.

‘Sit,’ I said. ‘That’s an order.’

They looked uncomfortable but sat.

‘Ceylon tea, brown toast, peanut butter,’ I said.

They nodded and rose, and I raised my hand to stop them. ‘Not yet. I want to talk to you first. Do either of you have names?’

They both shook their heads.

‘Can you speak?’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ they whispered, bobbing their heads.

‘When were you hatched?’

They both opened their mouths at the same time, then the one on the left continued, the one on the right stayed silent.

‘I was hatched about three months ago,’ the left one said.

‘Six weeks,’ the one on the right said.

‘Geez,’ I said. ‘You’re only babies.’

They remained silent, watching the table.

‘I suppose he didn’t have any thralls left after they all turned to us,’ I said. ‘You’re new ones, replacements. Okay.’ I smiled and made my voice more brisk. I gestured to the one on the left. ‘You’re One.’ The one on the right. ‘You’re Two. I’ll name you in Putonghua, I learned some with Simone’s teacher.’ I gestured towards One. ‘Yi Hao.’ Number Two. ‘Er Hao.’

They both bobbed their heads. ‘Ma’am.’

‘I’m completely vegetarian. Chinese vegetarian food. Ceylon tea, or sow mei or tikuanyin Chinese tea. No soda. Mineral water only.’

‘Ma’am.’

‘How do you go out?’ I said.

They shared a look.

‘Not allowed to tell me?’

They shook their heads.

‘It’s okay, I can’t get out.’

I had a sudden inspiration. After what had been done it me it was possible that I could get out. I should have a try at teleportation. Waste of time though; I’d vowed to stay.

‘What have you been told about me?’ I said.

They shared another look. Yi Hao, the older one, decided to answer for both of them. ‘You are a famed destroyer of demons,’ she whispered. ‘You hate all demons with a vengeance. If we survive more than a day in this house we are lucky. You wield the Blade of Destruction; we have seen it. If we anger you…’ She pulled herself together. ‘You will destroy us without a second thought.’

‘All of that is quite correct,’ I said with a smile, and watched them squirm.

Hold on, that wasn’t like me at all, tormenting helpless creatures for amusement. What was wrong with me?

Wonderful. I really was half demon. Okay; let’s try to control this demon nature and make sure that Emma stays in control.

‘I won’t harm you, little ones,’ I said gently. ‘I have tamed demons, and I have had demon servants for years. I have never harmed a single one of them. You are quite safe with me.’

Neither of them relaxed. They didn’t believe me. Not surprising, after working for Wong for any length of time.

‘Go and get me my tea and toast,’ I said. ‘And a copy of the South China Morning Post. And don’t eat all the peanut butter,’ I added with a grin. ‘I know you demons love it.’

Neither of them moved.

‘Dismissed,’ I said gently.

Both of them rose, carefully pushed their chairs in, bowed slightly and disappeared into the kitchen.

I furiously beat myself up inside. I had just tortured these two poor infants for my own amusement. I would watch my behaviour carefully and keep this dark stuff under very strict control. I was staying one hundred per cent goddamn pure me.

Er Hao brought my toast and the paper. I flipped it open. I’d been out of the loop for a few days but nothing much had happened. The government, as usual, was in trouble about something; people were complaining about poor service and shoddy craftsmanship in the letters to the editor; and sports was mainly English soccer.

The body of a Chinese woman in her early thirties had been found hacked to pieces in a dumpster in Kowloon City, the second murder in six months.

I knew it was April. I just knew. Now that they had me, and April’s child had served her purpose, they didn’t need April any more.

The days blurred past. I practised with the Murasame; it had some interesting abilities. I tried different things with the demon stuff; I had some interesting abilities as well. I wrote my story. I read the classics. Wong never came.

I was absolutely miserable. I missed my family so much it ripped my heart out. The loneliness was soul-destroying. I lost weight. I just wasn’t hungry most of the time, despite the fact that the two demons were excellent cooks.

I dealt with it. I stayed busy. I watched the top of the car park, hoping to catch a glimpse of a black Mercedes with a little girl in it. Even though it was an illusion, the image was real.

I spent many long, sleepless nights watching the lights of the Peak apartment. Only Simone’s bedroom light was ever turned on. I knew when she went to sleep; it was very late for her sometimes as well.

I even missed the stupid arrogant stone.

About a week later I was doing a set with the Murasame when a young woman appeared on the other side of the training room. I recognised her immediately: a Mother, about level seventy or eighty. A big one.

I lowered my sword. ‘Can I help you?’

‘You are the Dark Lady?’ she said without introduction.

‘Yes.’

She took True Form and poised on her coils.

I readied myself.

She raced towards me and I bound her by taking half her chi out. She froze.

‘Yield and I will let you go,’ I said. ‘Give me your word and you can go.’

She didn’t speak, she just hissed at me, trying to free herself from my binding.

‘I’ve been wanting to practise some techniques on a demon,’ I said. ‘If you don’t yield now, I will practise on you.’

‘Try me,’ she said, but she sounded like a yowling cat.

I’d wanted to try this for a while. I concentrated, and drained about half of the black demon essence out of her. I didn’t put it into my dan tian; I didn’t want to absorb any more of the stuff. I loaded the Murasame with it instead. It was easier than draining chi. Her face went blank with astonishment.

I launched the demon stuff back at her.

She folded up, growing smaller and smaller, then eventually turned into a shining black bead that fell onto the floor, rolling slightly on the mats.

‘So that’s how he did it,’ I said softly. I went to the demon and picked her up; she had definitely turned into the bead.

‘Yi Hao!’ I yelled, and the demon servant appeared in the doorway. She froze when she saw the bead in my hand. ‘Yi Hao, I want you to get me an airtight jar about thirty centimetres tall, half that across, with a good metal seal on the top. Hurry.’

She bobbed quickly and disappeared.

It took her about five minutes. When she returned I put the demon in the jar and sealed it. ‘Thanks.’

‘What was that, my Lady?’ the demon said.

‘That was a level seventy Mother that came for me,’ I said.

She inhaled sharply. ‘You did that to her?’

‘Yep,’ I said. ‘She’s dormant. I can bring her out any time.’

Yi Hao stared at me with awe.

I put the jar in the corner. Looked like I’d started a collection. I wondered how many more would come after me.

‘Don’t touch the jar, sweetheart,’ I said. ‘You could let the Mother out and it could hurt you.’

Yi Hao stared incredulously at me.

‘What?’ I said.

She shook her head and smiled. ‘You called me sweetheart. As if I was your child.’

I went to her and patted her shoulder. ‘You are a child. And you are mine.’ I put my arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. ‘Go and make me some sow mei tea. I’ll have it in the living room. And tell Er Hao not to touch the jar—I don’t want either of you getting hurt.’

Yi Hao’s eyes were full of tears. ‘Yes, ma’am,’ she said with a huge grin, and hurried out.

That was much more like me. It felt good.

I drank the tea in the living room and opened Dream of the Red Chamber. This was the hardest of all the classics to read; the story meandered without much purpose and there were far too many characters to keep track of without writing notes. But the main storyline soon became frighteningly obvious.

The family of a young wastrel, Pao-yu, arranged for two beautiful girls to come and live with them as potential brides for him. One was Precious Virtue, the other was Black Jade, and the two girls loved each other like sisters.

Black Jade was sickly with consumption, so the family decided not to let him marry them both. They arranged for him to marry Precious Virtue alone. But they told the young man that he was marrying Black Jade, the one he truly loved.

In the Chinese tradition, the bride’s face is covered with a veil until she enters the wedding bedchamber. When Pao-yu pulled aside the veil and saw he had married the wrong girl, he left the family forever, only appearing years later in passing as a monk.

Black Jade died of her illness and grief.

No wonder everybody had been so concerned about the amount of black jade I was presented with. I felt the earring in my ear. I still had one black jade coin left.

One afternoon a few days later I heard voices in the living room. I went out.

Wong and Kitty were there with a few demons, standing around talking, holding large glasses of red wine. At least I hoped it was red wine. Demon cocktail party.

‘And here she is,’ Wong said loudly, gesturing towards me. ‘My house guest. May I present the Dark Lady herself, Lady Emma Donahoe, chosen of the Emperor of the Northern Heavens.’ He grinned and lowered his voice. ‘Have a look inside, guys. You have to see this.’

They all bowed and smiled slightly. Then they studied me. Kitty watched them impatiently.

‘Wah,’ one of them said. She looked like a slim, elegant, middle-aged Chinese woman wearing a grey silk pantsuit. ‘You did that?’

‘Yep,’ Wong said with satisfaction. ‘Unfortunately the King made me promise not to hurt her, so I can’t complete the process.’

‘Can we talk in front of her?’ a rotund young Chinese man said.

‘Not a good idea, I think,’ Wong said. ‘She can’t get out to tell anybody, but we can’t make her suffer at all. It’ll destroy me.’

The others watched him impassively.

‘I know exactly what every single one of you is thinking,’ Wong said, completely unfazed. ‘And remember, without me, you get nowhere.’

They turned as one and studied me again.

‘Why?’ the woman said.

‘Oath in blood,’ Wong said.

The round male demon turned to him quickly. ‘Blood?’

Wong spread his hands. ‘Hey. I’m Number One now.’

‘Can you destroy the blood oath on the scroll once you’ve taken over?’ the woman said.

Wong turned and grinned right into my eyes. ‘Yes. I. Can.’

My blood ran cold. I spun and went down the hall into the training room.

When I had calmed down I kicked myself. They were holding a meeting out there, sharing their plans, and I was in the training room, totally unable to hear them.

I went back out and down the long hallway. They were no longer in the living room. I had no idea where they were.

I wandered around, and heard them in the dining room. I pressed my ear to the door. I couldn’t understand a word they were saying.

I tried to open my Internal Eye to have a look inside but it wasn’t working.

Shit. And I had decided that I wasn’t going to do this.

I went back to my bedroom and locked the door. I moved to the centre of the room, lowered my head and concentrated. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I knew what I wanted to achieve.

I gave up. I couldn’t do it. I slithered towards the door. I stopped.

Okay.

I opened the Inner Eye and watched them. They didn’t seem to notice my regard.

Wong was meeting with the four other senior demons. All of them were at least level sixty; lords and ladies. There were two female and two male. The slim middle-aged female and the rotund young male were there. There was also a female appearing in her mid-teens wearing a micro-mini, a bikini top and huge boots; and a male that looked in his mid-twenties with a ponytail.

‘I just don’t like it,’ the young female said.

‘It will work,’ the round male said.

‘What if he has something up his sleeve?’ the young female said.

‘He can’t have,’ the middle-aged female said. ‘We hold all the cards.’

‘I want a demonstration,’ the young female said.

Wong rose and smiled grimly.

‘No!’ Kitty snapped. ‘Not until the time is ready!’

‘Let me show them,’ Wong said.

‘No!’ Kitty said again, loudly. ‘Don’t be a fool, Simon. Don’t let any of it be seen until we are one hundred per cent ready!’

‘Are you sure you can take him out?’ the young round male said.

Wong sat back down, but the smile didn’t shift. ‘Dead positive. One, two more weeks, I’ll be the most powerful thing that Hell has ever seen.’

‘You’d better be right,’ the male with the ponytail said.

‘I’m right,’ Wong said. ‘And you know I’m right. Otherwise you wouldn’t be along for the ride.’

I had to tell the King. I smiled grimly. The sky was falling, and I had to tell the King.

It appeared to be an upmarket café in Hong Kong, but the street outside was eerily quiet. Instead of the constant bustle of traffic and pedestrians, the street was deserted. The café itself was empty except for us. It was creepy.

The King had taken his usual human form. He perused the menu. ‘Cheesecake’s good.’

‘Coffee,’ I said. ‘Black.’

‘That’s the way Leo likes it,’ the King said, smiling at me over the menu.

I didn’t rise to it. It could wait. There were more important things right now.

‘One Two Two is planning to make a try for you in the next one or two weeks,’ I said.

‘So soon?’ the King said, unsurprised. ‘I didn’t know he was ready yet. Thanks.’

An elegant deco coffee plunger and mug appeared in front of me and I poured for myself. The King had a glass of red wine.

‘Is that really wine?’ I said.

The King glanced at the glass. ‘This time, it is. Australian, in honour of the present company. I buy up the best vintages.’

‘You’ve forced the price of good wine through the roof.’

‘Cornered the market,’ the King said. ‘Very lucrative.’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘Right now? Nothing,’ the King said with a small smile. ‘I can handle it.’

‘He says he’ll be the most powerful thing in Hell,’ I said.

The King lowered his wine glass and leaned intensely over the table. ‘You can call me George, if you like.’

‘He says he’ll be the most powerful thing in Hell.’

The King leaned back. ‘I can handle him.’

‘You may not be able to. Look what he did to me. He’s made me immensely powerful. If he’d been able to get control of me, I hate to think what I could have done.’

‘Don’t worry, Emma, I have it all under control,’ the King said.

‘A level seventy Mother came after me a couple of days ago.’

He smiled slightly. ‘Not a threat for you.’

‘Did you send her?’

The smile didn’t shift. ‘Of course not. Mothers have something approaching free will, and they often wager with each other. Looks like that one lost a bet. Call me if one turns up that’s too big to handle, but frankly I think you’d be able to take any of them.’

‘I’d better return soon. He’ll know I’m missing,’ I said.

‘No, he won’t,’ the King said. ‘There’s a shapeshifter in there while you’re here with me. And don’t you want to hear about them?’

I sighed and dropped my head. ‘Of course I do. But first: if he takes you, can he destroy the scroll?’

‘Of course,’ the King said. ‘But it will not come to that.’ I heard a rustle and looked up. He’d pulled out a piece of paper. ‘Status report: Xuan Wu. Disappeared entirely. Out there somewhere, but we don’t know where.’

‘Good,’ I said. ‘Simone?’

‘Simone is undergoing therapy, and won’t start school for another week or so,’ the King said, reading the paper. ‘It will be a while before she is able to return to a normal life. But she’s resilient, she’ll be fine. Rhonda is at the Peak helping out.’

‘She’ll never forgive me,’ I whispered. ‘I don’t know how many times I told her I’d never leave her.’

‘She doesn’t believe the stone, Emma. She is in a very deep state of denial. She is quite sure that I am holding you against your will.’

‘Damn,’ I said softly. I straightened and controlled my voice. ‘Leo?’

‘That will take a while,’ the King said, folding the paper and leaning sideways to put it back into the pocket of his maroon jeans. He sipped the wine. ‘The Judges are not amused; they have never seen anything like this before. A Worthy who refuses. First in history. Frankly, I don’t think they quite know what to do with him.’

‘Let him go,’ I said.

‘You do know that the Courts are not under my jurisdiction?’ the King said. ‘I only handle the retribution side. The judgement side of things is handled by the Celestial.’

I dropped my head. ‘Yeah. I know.’ I looked back at him. ‘Can’t you do something?’

The King smiled gently. ‘Sorry, Emma. But you now know: they are all alive, to a degree. They are all waiting for you. And the Dark Lord has promised that he will return for you.’

‘I don’t want him to see me like this,’ I whispered.

The King leaned over the table and spoke softly and intensely. ‘Nothing at all wrong with the way you are right now, dear. You are the most attractive thing I have laid eyes on in centuries. Have you taken any other forms besides the Serpent? I’d love to see you in a Mother form. It’s a possibility, you know, considering what he’s done to you. Ever thought about it?’

I tried to control my face but he saw through me.

‘Do it for me and I’ll give you the matching wakizashi,’ he said.

‘I’ll do it for you if you let me speak to Simone,’ I said.

The King leaned back. ‘Ah, it seems that today is a day that neither of us gets what we want.’

‘Good.’ I lowered my coffee mug and spoke more softly. ‘Can I be changed back?’

The King smiled. ‘To what?’

I considered it. I had changed immensely in the previous two and a half years. When I had joined John to work for him full-time I was a perfectly ordinary human female. When I had graduated from my MBA at the end of the previous year I was a Master of the Arts who turned into a big black snake when my family was threatened. And now I was a Master of the Arts, a snake, and a half demon Snake Mother who could destroy just about any demon I faced. I dropped my head into my hands. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know what I am.’

He reached across the table and squeezed my arm. ‘Yes, you can be changed back. It is possible. Of course, the Serpent would still be there, because that is your nature, but the demon essence could be removed without killing you.’

That stopped me dead. ‘The Serpent isn’t part of the demon nature?’

‘No, of course not,’ he said. ‘The Serpent is all you.’

‘No, that can’t be right,’ I said, desperate. ‘The Serpent came out because of what Kitty Kwok did to me.’

‘Nope. One hundred per cent you, dear. If you were to have the demon essence removed, this exquisite Serpent would still be part of you.’

I had been so positive that the Serpent was a result of Kitty’s manipulation of me. I shook myself. It didn’t matter. As long as the demon essence was removed, I could return to John. I glanced up, full of hope. ‘Can you do it?’

His blood-coloured eyes sparkled with amusement. ‘Do you want me to?’

I grabbed his hand. ‘Yes. If you can.’

He held my hand and studied me closely. ‘What would you give me in return?’

I pulled my hand away. ‘What do you want?’

‘Please. Call me George.’ He smiled, relaxed. ‘Be mine. Until he returns.’ He ran his fingertips over my arm and I shivered. ‘I will not force you to break your oath to him. I know that what you have with him is true. I would be content to have you only until then.’ He dropped his voice. ‘More than just staying with me; being with me, as Queen and Consort. And all that it involves. Promise me that, and I will change you back when he returns and you can go to him whole.’

I studied my hands and remembered my promise. ‘Let me think about it,’ I whispered.

‘Take your time, dearest,’ he said softly, and I was back in the study of my gold-plated prison cell.