White Tiger

by Kylie Chan

  ‘He could remove my head, but it would not be permanent.’ He shrugged. ‘There is very little chance he is that good.’

  ‘He cuts your head off, takes it to his father and it’s not permanent? Sounds pretty damn permanent to me.’

  ‘I would revert to my True Form.’ He saddened. ‘But then I would be gone for a very long time. You would probably not see me again.’

  ‘Well then, let’s make sure he doesn’t get your head.’

  ‘I’ve grown rather attached to it myself.’ He looked at me intently. ‘Are you sure you’re all right?’

  ‘Of course I’m all right.’ I linked my arm in his and pushed myself into him, ribbing him. ‘I’m with you.’

  During the intermission we stood next to the large windows at the back of the Convention Centre and watched the Harbour.

  We were silent, our arms still linked. ‘Would you like a drink or something?’ he said quietly.

  ‘No,’ I said, just as softly. ‘I’m happy here.’

  ‘Thanks for helping out,’ he said. He looked down at me, his eyes very dark and shining.

  ‘I don’t mind at all,’ I said. I moved closer to him. He didn’t move away. He didn’t move at all.

  The strap of my dress fell off my shoulder again, and before I could move to fix it he swept his arm over my back and slipped it into place. His hand remained on my shoulder, then dropped to wrap around my waist. I leaned into him and he held me. I rested my head on his chest and closed my eyes, relishing the feeling of him holding me. I wanted to stay there forever.

  The bell rang for the end of intermission.

  ‘Let’s just stay here like this,’ I whispered without moving.

  ‘I would love to,’ he said, his voice rumbling through his chest. ‘There is nothing I would like more. But I’m afraid they will expect me inside.’ He gently moved his arm away. ‘Come on, Emma. Things to do.’

  He pulled his hair out of its tie; it had come loose again.

  ‘Let me.’

  Before he could protest I took the tie out of his hand and moved behind him. I smoothed his hair back neatly, resisting the urge to linger as I ran my hands through the long dark strands. It wasn’t coarse as I’d expected; it was smooth and silken. It smelled fresh, like the sea. It came at least to his waist. I carefully retied it for him.

  ‘Why do you have it so long?’ I said over his shoulder. ‘Isn’t it a nuisance in battle? It keeps coming out all the time.’

  ‘It is a part of what I am,’ he said. ‘I have no control over it.’

  ‘If you braided it, it would stay put longer.’

  ‘I tried that for a while. But it comes out so quickly it’s a waste of time. I only do that when I want it to stay neat for slightly longer.’ He smiled down at me. ‘Thank you.’

  I silently chided myself. I would be thinking about how that had felt for a very long time.

  He held his arm out. We linked arms, turned together and went back into the hall.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  We walked back through the car park together after the concert. I was edgy; the place was deserted and our footsteps echoed eerily. Mr Chen didn’t seem bothered. The car park was below the level of the water and the sea hissed loudly as it surged against the outer walls.

  When we reached the car he stopped and took my arm. He moved me to one side, near the wall. ‘Stay there.’ He pulled off his dinner jacket and handed it to me. ‘This won’t take long.’ He loosened his tie and turned away.

  Simon Wong appeared about five metres away. Mr Chen moved forward to meet him, but didn’t take a defensive stance. ‘Don’t worry, Emma,’ he said, ‘this one’s mouth is definitely bigger than its sword.’

  ‘Please stay to one side, dear,’ Wong said. ‘I hear that you’re very good at looking after the little one. You’ll need to come with me when we’re finished and I go to collect her.’

  ‘Get him,’ I said softly.

  Mr Chen moved a couple of steps further away from me, closer to Wong. Then he stopped, relaxed and waited.

  Wong held his hands out and a long curved sword appeared in them. He raised it and it glittered in the harsh neon light of the car park. ‘I don’t think you can do that right now.’

  Mr Chen didn’t move. ‘I don’t need to.’

  Wong made a sweeping swing at Mr Chen’s head.

  I didn’t see Mr Chen move; one minute he was in the path of the sword, the next he was hitting Wong. He struck the demon lightly on the face and moved back, so fast he was a blur.

  ‘Fast,’ Wong said, then grimaced and swung again.

  Mr Chen dodged each blow as Wong swiped the sword at his head. He moved back, leading the demon away from me, easily avoiding each swing of the blade. When they were about three metres further away, he casually threw his hand out and knocked the sword from the demon’s hand. It hit the ground with a sound like breaking glass.

  Wong stopped and concentrated. He held his hand out and the sword flew back into it. He swung fiercely at Mr Chen again, and Mr Chen dodged out of the way. On the third or fourth sweep Mr Chen again knocked the blade out of the demon’s hands.

  Wong raised his arm and the sword flew back into his hand. He poised, ready to strike.

  ‘That is a modified wudang style. Where did you learn it?’ Mr Chen said.

  ‘They do not have you to vet students on the Mountain any more,’ Wong said. ‘Gold will now take anyone.’

  ‘You learned this on the Mountain?’ Mr Chen said with a slight edge of dismay.

  ‘I have spent the past two years on the Mountain,’ the demon said. ‘Gold asked me to instruct.’ He raised the sword and turned it over in his hand. ‘Gold gave me this sword as a parting gift. It is Wudang’s finest.’

  ‘Emma,’ Mr Chen said without looking away from the demon, ‘remind me to have a talk to Jade and Gold later.’

  ‘Sure, Mr Chen,’ I said. ‘Can we hurry this up? These shoes are killing me.’

  ‘Don’t worry, this won’t take long.’

  ‘Gold is extremely good in bed,’ Wong said viciously. ‘But too easy a conquest. Jade…’ He grinned. ‘Surprising how much that one warms up, eh? When you have her going, she doesn’t stop. I never had the chance to hold them together and force them to perform though. That would have been fun.’ He gestured towards me. ‘First Michelle, now this bitch. You like them white. You are becoming predictable.’

  Mr Chen waited quietly, not rising to the bait.

  ‘So Simone is four now? I’ve never had a child before. So small, it must be very good—’

  Mr Chen flew into motion. He attacked before Wong had a chance to move and hit him on the face over and over, snapping his head back with each blow. As he hit the demon, it was forced backwards towards me. I moved to the other side of the car.

  Mr Chen held the demon by the throat against the wall. Wong turned the sword around to stab Mr Chen in the back. Mr Chen’s hand snapped out and again knocked the sword from the demon’s grasp.

  ‘Are you all right, Emma?’ he said.

  ‘Finish this little creep so we can go home.’

  ‘My pleasure.’ He shifted his feet in preparation for the kill.

  The demon grew into something huge with black scales and three eyes. ‘I yield. I am yours.’

  Mr Chen’s face went blank with shock. ‘What?’ ‘Later.’ It disappeared.

  Mr Chen shook his head. ‘It surrendered then ran. What a coward.’

  He hurried back to me. ‘That one is strong. I think we should go home.’ He took his jacket from me and pulled the parking ticket out of the pocket. ‘Damn.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’ve passed the fifteen-minute limit for getting the car out after paying. I need to go back and pay again.’

  He put the parking ticket into the pocket of his trousers and threw the jacket into the back seat of the car. He slammed the door shut and hurried back to the Shroff Office with me trailing.

  ‘You can wait at the car,’
he said over his shoulder.

  ‘If it’s all the same, I’d rather stay with you,’ I said.

  He nodded, paid the ticket and we returned to the car. I pulled myself into the passenger side and he took off before I’d closed my door properly, the wheels of the Mercedes squealing on the concrete.

  ‘Any way to know if they’re all right?’ I said as we dodged through the traffic and merged onto the overpass to take us back up to the Peak.

  ‘Not really,’ Mr Chen said. ‘If he’s attacked, Leo won’t have time to call me.’

  ‘You think the demon will try for Simone?’

  He stared at the road silently for a while. Then, ‘I think it will. It is strong. It’s killed many of its nest mates. It’s studied on my Mountain for two years.’ He thumped the steering wheel with his palm. ‘That demon has been on my Mountain! Every single Master there has a great deal of explaining to do. Some of them are Immortals, and they should have recognised it.’ He froze, his eyes unfocused.

  I could see what had happened from his face. ‘Is she okay?’

  ‘Yes. Leo is down. Gold is injured.’ He floored the accelerator and we raced up to the Peak. When we got to the apartment building, he didn’t wait for the security guards to open the big gates, he just parked the car in the middle of the drive and ran through the pedestrian entrance.

  He stopped in the lift lobby. ‘I’m going directly up. Stay here. I’ll send someone down to get you when it’s safe.’ He lowered his head and disappeared.

  ‘Oh no you won’t,’ I said, and pressed the button for the lift.

  The front door was hanging open when I arrived at the top-floor lift lobby. I raced into the apartment and stopped.

  Mr Chen was kneeling next to Leo’s body in the middle of the living room. Simone stood behind her father, her little face pale and streaked with tears. When she saw me she ran and threw herself at me. I held her.

  ‘It hurt Gold. It hurt my Leo,’ she sobbed, shoving her wet face into my neck.

  I moved forward to see, and stopped dead. Leo lay on his back on the carpet, covered in blood. I fell onto my knees next to Mr Chen and pulled Simone down to sit in my lap. The front of Leo’s shirt was saturated with dark blood and his laboured breathing bubbled. Blood soaked the carpet around him.

  ‘Have you called an ambulance?’ I said.

  ‘It’s too late for that,’ Mr Chen said.

  Gold came out of the kitchen. His left arm was gone; the torn sleeve of his shirt hung limply, but there was no blood. He held a kitchen knife and a cup in his right hand, and some bandages under his arm.

  ‘Dear God, Gold, you need a hospital,’ I said.

  ‘No, I’m okay,’ Gold said, giving the knife and the cup to Mr Chen. Mr Chen took the bandages as well and put them on the carpet next to him.

  Gold fell to kneel on the other side of Leo and took Leo’s hand. ‘Don’t worry about me, it doesn’t even hurt. I’ll be fine.’ He glanced up at Mr Chen.

  ‘This may not work in human form, you know that, my Lord.’

  ‘It’s the only chance he has,’ Mr Chen said. ‘Emma, move back.’ Then he raised his hand to stop me. ‘No, wait, can you help?’

  I nodded. ‘Whatever you need.’

  ‘Good.’ Mr Chen rolled the sleeve of his dress shirt up to above the left elbow. ‘My blood in True Form has miraculous healing powers. It may also work in human form, but I’ve never tried it. When I had the Serpent I never needed it.’

  ‘Your blood?’ I moved Simone out of my lap; she didn’t protest.

  ‘He has to drink it,’ Mr Chen said, passing the cup to me. ‘Hold the cup under the joint, we’ll need a good cupful for this.’ He moved my hand holding the cup under his left elbow. ‘Hold it still.’

  I held the cup very still. He sliced the inside of his elbow with the kitchen knife. Blood oozed out and he pumped his hand. The blood trickled into the cup in a small stream.

  ‘Where’s Monica?’ Mr Chen said.

  ‘In her room, hiding,’ Gold said. He glanced down at Leo. Leo’s face was ashen and his breathing was almost undetectable. ‘We’re losing him.’

  ‘We need more than that,’ Mr Chen said, pumping his hand. He dug the point of the knife into the wound and more blood came out. ‘Good.’

  ‘Save him, Daddy,’ Simone said, her voice very small.

  ‘I’ll do my best, sweetheart.’ The cup was about three-quarters full. ‘That will have to do.’

  He closed the joint of the elbow and reached for the bandages. ‘Emma, give him the blood very slowly. Watch him. If he starts to fight you, then stop. The blood of the Turtle is very powerful, and if you take it past the point of healing you could kill him.’

  I raised Leo’s head slightly and dribbled the blood into his mouth. He swallowed, and some of the blood appeared at the corners of his mouth.

  ‘Slowly,’ Mr Chen said. He wrapped the bandage around his arm.

  ‘Come on, my friend,’ Gold said, clutching Leo’s hand.

  Leo jerked as if he’d been shocked. His whole body went rigid and he gasped into the cup.

  ‘Stop,’ Mr Chen said. I pulled the cup away.

  Leo exhaled, a huge breath, but didn’t move otherwise.

  ‘How much have you used?’ Mr Chen said, kneeling behind me.

  I looked into the cup. ‘About half.’

  ‘Give him half of what’s left.’

  I dribbled the blood into his mouth, then pulled the cup away.

  Leo shuddered again, then took a deep breath and his eyes snapped open. He coughed, gagged, then looked around.

  ‘Hold, Leo,’ Gold said, his voice full of warm affection.

  Leo saw Gold and his eyes widened. ‘Simone!’ he croaked.

  ‘I’m here, Leo,’ Simone said.

  Leo sagged back. ‘Is everybody okay?’

  ‘We’re all fine, Leo,’ Mr Chen said. ‘Move back, Emma, let me see him.’ He took Leo’s hand.

  ‘No!’ Gold’s voice was urgent. ‘I can. Let me.’

  Mr Chen nodded and released Leo’s hand. Gold lowered his head and concentrated. ‘He’s healed.’ He looked up at Mr Chen, full of wonder. ‘It worked.’

  Mr Chen rocked back on his heels and sighed with relief. Simone burst into tears and threw herself into his lap. He buried his face in her hair, then glanced up at Gold. ‘Can you carry him into his room? He’ll be weak for at least twelve hours. He needs to rest.’

  Gold nodded, lowered his head and disappeared. Leo disappeared as well.

  Mr Chen flopped to sit on the floor, holding Simone in his lap. Her sobs petered out to sniffles. I put the cup on the bloodied carpet next to me.

  ‘You were remarkable,’ Mr Chen said.

  I smiled slightly and shrugged. ‘I’m just glad he’s okay.’

  ‘How did the demon get in?’

  ‘Gold let it in,’ Simone said into his chest. ‘Gold knew it.’

  Mr Chen nodded into her hair and pulled her closer. ‘Is Leo really going to be okay?’ Simone said. ‘He’ll be fine,’ Mr Chen said. ‘What about Gold?’

  ‘I’ll just let him take True Form and he can grow his arm again,’ he said. He pulled back to see her. ‘Are you okay?’

  She nodded, then sniffled. ‘Did you have fun at your party?’

  He chuckled and held her close. ‘Yes, Emma and I had a lot of fun.’ He smiled at me. ‘Simone has blood on her. She needs a bath.’ He glanced down at his bloodied sleeve. ‘We all do.’

  ‘Can you take me?’ she said into his chest.

  He gracefully rose, still holding her. His smile turned sad. ‘Goodnight, Emma. If you have trouble sleeping, tell me. I’ll fix something for you.’

  ‘I’m fine,’ I said. Then I inhaled sharply. Gold’s arm lay on the carpet next to the bloodstains. ‘How are we going to clean this up?’

  ‘Gold can fix it; it will be gone in the morning.’ He studied me closely. ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’

  I shrugged. ‘Never a dull moment in the Hou
se of Chen.’

  ‘You were completely calm through all of this. You are very cold-blooded sometimes, Emma.’

  ‘I know, all my friends say that.’ I rose. ‘You can be pretty cold-blooded yourself.’

  He shrugged. ‘I can’t help it; it’s what I am.’

  He took Simone down the hall to his room, then stopped at the door. ‘Let Monica know she can come out now.’

  ‘Okay. ‘Night, Mr Chen. Goodnight, Simone.’

  “Night, Emma. Don’t worry, Leo and Daddy will look after us.’

  ‘I know,’ I said, and went into the kitchen to find Monica.

  After I’d showered and changed I opened the door to Simone’s room to check on her. She wasn’t there.

  I slipped down the hallway to Leo’s room and tapped on the door.

  ‘Come,’ Leo said.

  He was sitting up in bed in maroon silk pyjamas. Gold sat beside the bed, apparently fully healed. Even his clothes were new. He was holding Leo’s hand and gazing into his eyes.

  I suddenly understood. ‘Oh, sorry. I’ll leave you two alone.’

  They shared a look, then laughed softly. Gold raised his hand. ‘No, no. We’re just good friends. Friends. For a long time.’ He nodded towards Leo. ‘I’m just making sure he’s okay.’

  ‘Is he?’ I knelt on the floor next to the bed.

  Leo smiled slightly. ‘Yeah. I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck, but I’ll be fine tomorrow. And boy, is Gold in serious trouble, letting the demon in like that.’

  ‘I gave it a Wudang sword,’ Gold said. ‘The demon came in and asked to use our whetstones to sharpen the sword. When I went into the storeroom to fetch the stone, the demon attacked Leo.’

  ‘Stabbed me in the back, the lousy little coward,’ Leo said.

  ‘I came back in time to stop it, and it took my arm off and ran.’ Gold shook his head, full of remorse. ‘The Dark Lord will probably take my other arm off tomorrow.’

  ‘Your arm’s okay?’ I said.

  He raised his left arm and moved it, demonstrating. ‘Good as new.’

  ‘That’s incredible,’ I said. ‘How do you do it?’

  Gold shrugged. ‘I just grew it back.’ He gestured towards me. ‘Your lovely dress was ruined.’