Red Phoenix

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Gold appeared next to me and handed me my sword. He transformed into his stone self: a human shape all of stone.

Another red humanoid demon came up the stairs and raced towards us. I blew it up.

‘I can only handle a couple more before I run out of chi space,’ I said. ‘Then I’ll have to go physical.’

‘I’m with you, Lady Emma,’ Gold said. ‘We can take them.’

‘What’s it like downstairs?’ I said. ‘Bad.’

Two more red demons came up the stairs. ‘Let me,’ Gold said. He went out to meet them. His hands grew into giant hammers and he squashed the demons flat with a sickening wet crunch.

Gold moved back to stand beside me. He held his hands out and made them vibrate quickly, shaking off the black stuff. It dissipated into feathery streamers as it flew into the air off his hands.

‘Is my sister okay?’ I said softly.

‘I defended them until the Dark Lord arrived. They are fine.’ Gold froze and his eyes turned inwards. ‘Shit.’ He disappeared.

‘If you know what’s happening I’d appreciate an update,’ I said softly. ‘It’s okay, kids, I’m not talking to you,’ I added more loudly. I spoke quietly again. ‘If you can just tell me without letting them know, I’d really appreciate it.’

‘Birds. Fire elementals.’ The stone in the ring hesitated. Its voice went very soft in my ear. ‘A Demon Prince.’

‘Shit,’ I said, so quietly that the children couldn’t hear. ‘Have they stopped coming up here?’

‘The way from downstairs is blocked by Gold,’ the stone said. ‘Both physical and direct. They cannot come to you any more. All of you here are safe, unless the Dark Lord is defeated, which is highly unlikely.’ Its voice became fierce. ‘Get those children away from the window! Birds!’

‘Get away from the window!’ I yelled to the children, pushing myself between them and the window frame. Michael spun to face the window and put Simone and Andrew behind him. A crow flew in, and Michael plucked it out of the air and snapped off its head with a flick of his wrist. It made a small explosion of black stuff onto his hands.

Two more crows came in; I took them out with the sword. They dissipated.

‘Close the window,’ I said to Michael.

‘No, don’t!’ the stone said loudly. ‘They will just come through the glass and you will be cut. Better to leave the window open and take them as they come in.’ Its voice calmed. ‘Make the sword sing as they come.’

‘How are they doing downstairs?’ I said.

‘They are holding their positions and waiting for One Two Two,’ the stone said. ‘At this stage nobody has been injured.’ Its voice softened. ‘Jade is checking on us for the Dark Lord as I check on them for you.’

I breathed a sigh of relief. ‘This attack is awfully close on the heels of the last one, stone. That was only two days ago. The attacks are closer together all the time.’

‘That was the King. This is the Prince. You will not see the King again unless you decide to call him. If you defeat the Prince this time, he will probably stay quiet for a while,’ the stone said. Then, ‘The Tiger is downstairs.’

‘He has a personal score to settle with Wong,’ I said. ‘He made us promise to invite him along to our next little party.’

‘Birds!’ the stone said.

I spun to face the window and made the sword sing. Five birds exploded before they reached the house. ‘How many more birds?’ I said.

‘Ten. Eight. Jade is chasing them down in the air. Six. Three. At the window!’ the stone hissed. I made the sword sing. The three birds exploded.

Jade appeared at the window. She didn’t say a word; she nodded, turned, and snaked down through the air.

‘She is making it rain to take out the last few fire elementals,’ the stone said. ‘Gold was required to handle them; humans cannot physically face them, they are too hot.’

There was complete silence, only the sound of the rain pattering gently on the roof. The rain stopped. ‘Stone?’ I said softly.

‘Nothing,’ the stone said. ‘They are waiting. The Prince has not yet arrived.’

I waited. There was still complete silence.

‘We’re okay, Emma,’ Simone said.

‘Good,’ I said without turning away from the window.

I heard someone coming up the stairs.

‘Who is coming?’ I said.

‘The Dark Lord. Alone,’ the stone said.

‘Really him?’

‘Yes.’

John appeared at the doorway. Simone raced to him and he picked her up. He smelled strongly of smoke.

‘He changed his mind, Emma, when we took out his thralls. We were obviously too strong for him, and he did his usual cowardly thing. It’s finished.’

‘He’s not coming at all?’ I said with relief.

John shook his head. He held out his other arm and smiled.

I raced to him and he wrapped his free arm around me. I buried my face into his chest, still holding my sword in my right hand at his back. He smiled down at me. His free hand came behind my head and held me. He closed his eyes and kissed me.

‘Yuck,’ Simone said loudly.

We laughed into each other’s mouths, and turned our heads together to see her. Simone leaned the side of her head against his shoulder and her eyes sparkled at me. ‘You two are so gross,’ she said happily. ‘Move away, Emma, I want to look at the cars.’

John pulled away. He gently lowered Simone, then gestured for me to follow him onto the landing. As he closed the door behind us, Michael nodded inside the room.

‘We are in big trouble,’ John said. ‘Fire elementals are supposed to belong to the Red Lady. I’d like to know how One Two Two had control of them. I have summoned the Phoenix and she is on her way. There is a fire elemental bound in the backyard. I am surprised I was able to bind it, that is most unusual. Oh,’ he added almost as an afterthought, ‘your sister is having hysterics in the living room, and your brother-in-law is ready to rip our throats out for putting his family in danger.’

‘Is everybody okay otherwise?’ I said.

He nodded, still smiling. ‘Emma,’ he said, and the smile disappeared, ‘I hope you understand what we will have to do eventually. This cannot be permitted to continue. As soon as Simone is ready—’

‘As soon as Simone is ready, we will hunt this little bastard down and you will take True Form and give him exactly what he deserves.’

‘How did you know?’

‘It’s what we have to do,’ I said. ‘I also know that if it comes down to him or us, you’ll do it. You’ll take True Form and rip his nasty little guts out. I only hope we have Simone up to speed before it comes to that.’

‘In True Form I can take him easily,’ John said, ‘and I don’t need to worry about going too far and losing it. Even on the land, I can take him. But you must understand: afterwards I will be gone.’

‘I know.’

His eyes turned inwards. ‘The Red Lady is here. Let’s talk to her first. Jade and Gold are trying to calm your family. It might be a good idea to leave them for a while.’

‘Do you think we should move them to the Western Palace?’ I said as we went down the stairs. I could hear Jennifer raging loudly in the living room and I winced.

‘I will arrange for seals to be set on this house. I will post guards. They will be as safe here as they could be anywhere on the Earthly Plane. It will take a while for the demons to regroup. I do not expect another attack for a while. And it will be directed at us, wherever we are, not at them.’

I nodded. That was enough to keep them safe. The attack had been against us. All of the attacks had been aimed at John, Simone, or me; except when they had taken Charlie as second prize.

‘This must end soon,’ I said desperately. ‘It’s worse every single time.’

‘He’s stronger every single time too, love,’ John said sadly. ‘Our time is limited.’

We went into the yard. The fire elemental was a creature of flames: roughly man-shaped and about normal human size, but its entire form was writhing fire. It didn’t move but the flames danced, making luminous shadows on the grass in the fading afternoon sun. Zhu Que stood in the yard and examined it from about a metre away. When she saw us she waited until we approached and then saluted, bowing to each of us. ‘My Lord. My Lady.’

‘Madam.’ John gestured towards the table. Zhu Que nodded and sat. She put her hand on the table and waited patiently, similar to the way the Demon King had. John sat across from her. I sat next to him.

‘Fire elementals. Birds. Explain,’ he said.

‘Not me. This is not one of mine,’ she said calmly, her beautiful long face expressionless. She gestured dismissively with one hand and the colours on her robe rippled. ‘It is the bastard son of a Snake Mother and something unspeakable.’ She eyed it with contempt. ‘It is a corruption of the pure flames. When I discover who is creating these things, I will ensure that they have a taste of the distilled fire themselves.’

‘One Two Two,’ John said.

The Phoenix stiffened and her face went taut with anger. ‘That one is not clever enough to fashion something as powerful as this.’

‘The King has sworn to stay out of it. Who else could be helping that little piece of shit?’ John said without emotion.

She made a soft sound of amusement. ‘Anyone helping it is as stupid as it is.’ She leaned her arms on the table. ‘We need intelligence, quickly. Do you think the Lady would help us?’

‘Ask the elemental first,’ John said. ‘I do not want the Lady to risk herself for us.’

‘It is not an elemental!’ she spat. ‘It is a vile demon hybrid.’

‘Can you control it?’

She eyed it appraisingly. ‘I don’t know, Ah Wu,’ she said softly. ‘Let’s see. Maybe Lady Emma should move back; it may attack when we unbind it.’

I moved away slightly to watch.

John and the Phoenix moved closer to study it. ‘It has a most interesting structure,’ she said softly. ‘There is a demon in there somewhere, hardly visible to the Inner Eye. Look inside.’

He looked at her pointedly.

She bowed and saluted. ‘I apologise, my Lord.’ She turned back to the elemental. ‘That may be why these have been produced. Can you sense them coming?’

He shook his head without saying anything. His face was rigid with restraint.

‘What?’ I said. Both their faces were expressionless.

John sighed. He gestured with one hand towards the Phoenix. ‘I am North, she is South. I am Water, she is Fire.’

‘And?’

The Phoenix explained. ‘Although Water is not vulnerable to Fire, it is still not his element. There is no water essence in it at all. He is unable to see inside this creature, because it is composed of fire. He cannot sense it coming. It has the advantage on him.’

‘Holy shit,’ I said softly. ‘And you think Wong made this just for you?’

His face closed down even more. He nodded sharply. Then his expression softened. ‘If what the Phoenix says is true, it is a rather unpleasant development. I have never seen anything like this before. Can you see inside it?’

I shrugged. ‘I can try.’

I opened my Inner Eye and studied the fire demon. It wasn’t pure fire. Black demon stuff writhed like ribbons through the flames.

‘I can see the demon stuff,’ I said. ‘I can see that it’s not pure fire. Is a true elemental pure flames?’

Zhu Que nodded. ‘You are quite impressive, my Lady. Here.’ She raised her hand and another elemental appeared next to the demon. It looked identical for a moment, then I saw that it was the real thing and not bound.

‘Will I hurt it if I look inside?’ I said.

‘No,’ she said with a small smile. ‘Go right ahead.’

I looked inside it. ‘It’s really beautiful.’ The flames were pure and bright and shot through with gold and silver. At its heart was a core of clean, blistering heat. I could sense its awareness; it returned my gaze with amusement. It had a rather wicked sense of humour and was quite intelligent.

I examined the other one again. It was sullen, stupid and evil and wanted to destroy everything around it.

‘The difference is very obvious when you look closely at it. Thanks for showing me,’ I said.

‘You are very welcome,’ Zhu Que said with a smile and small bow. ‘I am impressed. Most humans cannot do that.’

The real elemental disappeared.

‘I will unbind it. We’ll see if you can make it talk,’ John said.

‘Don’t count on it,’ she said grimly.

He unbound the fire demon, but it didn’t move. Zhu Que’s face went taut with effort. She stared at it. She raised her hand towards it. She walked to it and grabbed it by the throat, completely unharmed by the flames. Her red eyes flashed. Her scarlet hair floated around her head. The demon exploded into feathery red and black streamers. Zhu Que lowered her arm and sagged.

‘Anything?’ John said.

Zhu Que shook her head. ‘Nothing. It had a selfdestruct mechanism.’ Her voice became fierce. ‘What a despicable piece of work. Whenever I find who made this, I will make them suffer.’ She raised her arms. ‘I suggest you contact the Lady. She may be willing to sortie for you. Otherwise…’ She smiled sadly. ‘Otherwise you will just have to take each day as it comes.’

‘How are the eggs?’ John said. ‘Are they close?’

She smiled and her face lit up. ‘They are very close. I should return to them, they will be getting cold. I have fire elementals on them, but they are not warm enough.’

‘Let me know when they hatch,’ he said. ‘I’d love to see the little ones.’

She saluted him. ‘My Lord. By your leave.’

‘Go South, little Sparrow,’ he said gently.

She saluted me. ‘Lady Emma. I believe that I owe you a gold coin.’

‘A look at the babies would be enough, I think,’ I said.

She smiled kindly and disappeared in a flurry of red. I went to John. ‘Would Qing Long be the father?’

‘Her business is her business. Her eggs are her eggs.’

‘I’d still like to see the babies.’

‘They are usually adorable,’ he said. He looked at me. He didn’t say anything.

‘Negative,’ I said. ‘Probably for the best anyway. You won’t be around.’

His smile didn’t shift but I saw the disappointment in his eyes. ‘You’re quite correct. Probably for the best.’

I changed the subject. ‘Do you have water elementals?’

He nodded. ‘Right now I cannot summon them. They miss me terribly.’

I dropped my head, then shook myself out of it. ‘Let’s go and talk to Jennifer and Leonard. I would have thought Leonard would be taking this better. He knows who you are.’

‘None of my staff has ever been this close before,’ John said. ‘This is the first time any of them have been in danger. They have been brought up with the assurance that, as long as they serve me, they are safe.’

‘This will be very hard,’ I said as we went through the door. ‘I’d rather face a battalion of demons.’

‘Me too, love.’

The return flight was uneventful. We were all subdued, even Simone. We only had a couple of weeks until school started. The demons would probably have another try at us then.

John and I were in agreement. We refused to let this demon spoil our lives. We could handle him. Simone would go to school like a normal little girl. We would be careful.

But we did lock the security down tighter around ourselves. We tried to avoid feeling that we were under siege.