by Kylie Chan
‘It will take her days to come down off this,’ I said.
‘Do I detect a hint of jealousy?’ the stone said.
‘Maybe I should take some time off and let myself heal completely after all,’ I said. ‘I’m sick to death of being this weak. That’s the last time I sit it out and do the strategy-type thing.’
‘I was right,’ the stone said. ‘You two are as bloodthirsty as each other.’
‘Demon essence, not blood.’
‘The violence is the same,’ the stone said.
A male voice spoke behind me. ‘Yes, it is, and delicious.’
I turned to see the Demon King standing on top of the wall in his Celestial Form. He towered over me. The nearby archers froze, suspended in time.
‘Call someone,’ I said.
‘No need,’ the stone said. ‘He’s not there.’
The Demon King shrugged. ‘Just a projection. Thought I’d say hello while they clean up.’
I gripped the stone wall behind me. ‘Hi, George.’
He bowed slightly. ‘Dark Lady.’
I waited silently, but he just stood watching me with a gentle smile on his face.
I caved first. ‘So what do you want?’
‘Just looking, if you don’t mind.’
‘What do you see in me anyway? I’m small and human and nothing special.’
‘He thinks you are.’
‘Even if he lost me, as long as Simone is alive he won’t turn.’
‘Ah, but if he lost her, what would happen?’ His expression filled with bliss. ‘He would turn, and I would love to see it.’
‘Why? You’d be dead. He’d kill you and take your place as King. You’d be destroyed.’
He swept his hand to encompass the Celestial around us. ‘And this would be destroyed with me. I have built a formidable army, Emma, and with him at the head of it, all the Celestial would fall.’ He leaned towards me and his grin grew malicious. ‘All of you would be destroyed.’
‘I thought you wanted me?’
‘Oh, I do, believe me,’ he said.
‘So why this little sortie today? You must have known you had no chance.’
He shrugged again, and his grin didn’t shift. ‘Hello, Emma.’
‘Humph.’
‘That’s all I wanted. To say hello, give you a scare, see how lovely you are when you realise exactly how much the fate of the Planes resides with you. Care for yourself well, madam, and take no risks, because if we break through and grab you, it is all over.’ He disappeared.
‘That’s what he wants. For me to lock myself up and wrap myself in cotton wool, and be much less of a problem for him.’
‘So of course you’re going to rush out and put yourself in harm’s way just to prove a point — and make yourself an easier target,’ the stone said.
I turned and slapped the stone wall. ‘I trust Leo to defend me.’
‘Yeah, he’s done such a great job up until now,’ the stone said. ‘Just ask Michelle’s family.’
‘That was uncalled for!’
‘But it was the truth.’
We gathered in Guan Yu’s meeting room after the battle was done. Somehow the Celestials had managed to clean their armour and they appeared as fresh as if they’d never fought.
‘Thank you all for your assistance,’ Guan Yu said.
‘Not a problem, Lord Guan,’ I said. ‘How many lost altogether?’
‘Five,’ Liu said. ‘Fifteen injured.’
‘That wasn’t it,’ I said.
They shook their heads.
‘That was a thousand, and that wasn’t it.’
‘The massed armies of Hell are twenty times that,’ Guan Yu said. ‘I will step up patrols and ensure lines of communication are open.’
‘Has anyone had anything from the agents planted there?’ the Tiger said.
‘Our agents last less than forty-eight hours before they’re found and destroyed,’ I said. ‘Feel free to develop something that they won’t detect; we’ve given up. I hate doing it to them, even if they volunteer.’
The next morning, Yi Hao tapped on my office door and opened it. ‘It’s Master Liu and Edwin, ma’am.’
‘Show them in.’
Meredith and Edwin entered, their expressions grim.
‘What happened?’ I said.
‘It’s more than six months since you had the demon essence burnt out of you, Emma,’ Meredith said. ‘Healing was only supposed to take three months, and you’re still too weak to engage in battle.’
I shuffled the papers. ‘I know, I know, I need to take some time off and rest and let myself heal.’
Edwin fingered the papers in his lap. ‘Actually, ma’am, that won’t help. This is the result of your latest blood test, taken after the Convention Centre attack.’
I leaned over the desk to see the results, but the numbers were too small to be legible. ‘So what’s the problem? Is there lingering demon essence or something? If there is, we’re off the hook with the Demon King.’
Neither of them replied, their expressions even grimmer.
I began to be concerned. ‘What? What’s wrong with me?’
‘Sometime after the essence was burnt out of you, you became HIV positive,’ Edwin said. He shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, Emma. The virus is active. We’ll have to start you on treatment immediately.’
That knocked the wind out of me. ‘No way. It’s more than ten years since I drank Leo’s blood. I’ve been a goddamn snake for half that time. It just isn’t possible.’
‘Being on the Celestial will slow the progression of the disease, but not forever,’ Meredith said.
‘John will come back and heal me,’ I said with conviction.
‘He’s still in two pieces, ma’am, and the Serpent part of him possesses you,’ Edwin said.
Meredith raised one hand. ‘We thought that if it possessed you again, it would clear the virus. He possessed you the other night, and it didn’t. So we need him back, and we need him whole, if you’re to be cured.’
‘You waited before telling me because you wanted to see if being possessed would fix it?’
Meredith smiled slightly. ‘It was worth a shot.’
‘I wasn’t possessed the other night. That was all me.’
‘What makes you think that?’
‘Because when I’m possessed by John, I black out. When it’s just me, I remember what happened.’
‘Please come with me to the temporary infirmary and I’ll show you the pills you have to take,’ Edwin said.
I pushed myself away from the desk. ‘I thought I was clear!’
‘So did I,’ Edwin said.
‘Go through the infection-control procedures at the same time, Edwin,’ Meredith said. ‘And, Emma, I’m sorry, but no more energy work until this is sorted.’
I stopped halfway up then fell to sit again. ‘What?’
‘Same as when Leo was positive. Even in Heaven. I’ll take your classes. Head up to the infirmary now.’
I didn’t rise from my chair. ‘One more thing before we go.’
‘What?’ Meredith said.
‘Neither of you is to tell Leo. Nobody is to tell Leo. This is to be kept strictly confidential, need-to-know only. For God’s sake, guys, whatever you do, don’t tell Leo.’
I went to the door and opened it, to find Leo sitting in his wheelchair in front of Yi Hao’s desk. ‘Tell me what?’
I stormed past him. ‘That you’re a rainbow fairy queen and I bought you a pink sequinned tutu for your birthday.’
‘I hope it has tulle wings, it’s not complete without the wings. And the wand,’ Leo said. ‘But seriously — what? Tell me.’
I walked out of the office and headed towards the infirmary, and he chased me, the chair moving by itself.
‘You stop right there, Miss Emma keeping-secrets Donahoe, and tell me right now!’ Leo shouted behind me. ‘So much for everything being open and honest, eh? When it suits you, you’re as tight with information as
they are!’
I stopped at that, then took a deep breath, turned on my heel and returned to the office.
‘Don’t, Emma,’ Meredith said.
‘Edwin, I’ll see you at the infirmary. Meredith dismissed,’ I said.
‘Don’t do this to yourselves,’ Meredith said. She turned to Leo. ‘Believe me, Leo, it’s better if you don’t know. Don’t make her tell you. Please.’
Leo stopped in his chair and stared at her. ‘What has she done? What have I done?’
‘Nothing. Nobody’s done anything. There are no serious consequences for now. Leave it.’
‘Emma?’
I took another deep breath. ‘It would be best for everybody if you didn’t know what this is about.’
‘Okay then. I’m here to talk to you about some of the first years,’ he said. ‘The demons don’t want the other students to see when they have their blood tests.’
‘The demons don’t need to be tested. If we can see the Fire Essence Pill they’re definitely not copies,’ I said.
‘That’s even worse, singling them out. It makes it obvious that they’re demons.’
‘I need to go see Edwin. I’ll ask him to mock it up for them.’
Leo nodded. ‘Good idea.’ He grimaced. ‘Whatever this is, it had better be damn good. And you’d better have a damn good reason for not telling me.’
‘It’s inconsequential. And I do.’
‘I guess I have to trust you then.’
I went to him and put my hand on his shoulder. ‘Your trust means a lot to me, Leo. Thank you.’
He pulled me down to sit in his lap and hugged me. I rested my head on his shoulder and sighed deeply.
‘I changed my mind, I prefer blue to pink,’ he said softly into my ear. ‘And really don’t forget the tulle wings.’
‘I’ll sew the sequins on myself.’
CHAPTER 13
‘And it hit the middle of the target,’ Martin said, ‘and Iwon!’
Simone hid her smile behind one hand and held her other hand out to me under the table. I slipped a Hong Kong ten dollar note into it.
‘We’ve heard that story a million times now, Di Di,’ Yue Gui said patiently.
‘Only half a million!’ he said, protesting. ‘And every time I tell it, Simone wins ten dollars.’
Simone nearly spat out her tea.
‘Emma,’ Martin said, more serious, ‘I would like to take you for a tour of the new meditation pavilion.’ He bowed towards Simone and Yue Gui. ‘Do you mind?’
‘We’ll stay here and catch up,’ Yue Gui said.
Martin nodded. He and I rose, then he escorted me out of his residence and towards the far north end of the Celestial Palace complex.
‘Leo has asked me to request that you tell me what it is that he is not to know,’ Martin said. ‘And then for me to decide whether he should be told.’
‘He said he trusted me,’ I said.
We walked over a white marble bridge that hung suspended over a pond of transparent water filled with glowing purple lotus blossoms, each sixty centimetres across with dark blue glowing pollen drifting up from the flowers. Black koi carp, with a lilac glow on the edges of their fins and tails, hovered sleepily under the surface.
‘He does. He isn’t so trusting of your judgement.’
I snorted with laughter. ‘That I believe.’
We arrived at the new pavilion that had replaced Serpent Concubine. The roof was held up with ebony pillars and the walls were open, with screens that could be pulled down from the ceiling in inclement weather. The pavilion was the same size as the old Serpent Concubine Pavilion, but was one large rectangular room.
We sat together on the tatami mats in front of the Buddha statue, and Martin lit a stick of incense and placed it in the brazier.
‘So tell me what it is that has happened,’ he said.
‘The first time you and I met was in Borneo, many years ago,’ I said. ‘We’d flown out there when your father was nearly lost to us.’
‘I remember.’
‘On the way there, we were attacked. The pilot was a demon. He killed the co-pilot and attempted to take us. Simon Wong — One Two Two, the demon after us — appeared on the plane, with Kitty Kwok.’
He glanced sharply at me. ‘I didn’t know that.’
‘Kitty thought she could control me because of what they’d done to me. I went along with it, hoping to have a chance to get to the Demon King’s phone and hand myself over in return for Simone’s safety.’
‘I follow you. What happened? Obviously you somehow defeated them and didn’t need to use the phone.’
‘I changed into a snake. The taste of blood turned me into a snake.’
‘Whose blood?’
‘One Two Two crushed Leo’s throat, then took a big mouthful of his blood and kissed me. It was a test to see if I was controlled, so I drank it.’
‘The taste of Leo’s blood turned you into a snake and then you defended everybody. I see. What does that have to do with this though? Are you craving blood?’
‘No. It was Leo’s blood. A good cupful of it. And at the time, he was HIV positive. He was unconscious; he doesn’t know the details of what happened.’
‘HIV positive? What is that?’
‘The disease, Martin. AIDS. The blood-borne disease that they have no cure for. I was infected.’
‘But that was ten years ago! Surely it would have shown by … Wait.’ His voice went weak. ‘No cure?’
‘There is no cure for AIDS. There is treatment that slows its progression, and the virus can take a long time to become active, but there’s no cure. Burning the demon essence out of me activated the virus, and it’s killing me.’
‘But Celestial healing —’
‘Doesn’t work. It’s like cancer in that regard.’
‘How long do you have?’
‘Probably a couple of years.’
He sat straighter. ‘Father will be well and truly back by then and able to cure you. His Serpent can cure anything.’
‘I know. I’m sure he will be. So there’s no need to tell Leo.’
Martin nodded, and his voice grew firm. ‘He doesn’t know you drank his blood. He doesn’t know you have the virus. He carries enough guilt as it is. He would immediately blame himself if he was to find out, even though it isn’t his fault.’
‘That’s why we don’t want to tell him.’
‘The curiosity is killing him.’
‘I know.’
‘Is this the disease that struck the gay community hard during the 1980s? I seem to recall something about it.’
‘That’s the one. Leo caught it before the establishment provided information on how to stop the spread. It still gets around though.’
‘I remember now. Divine retribution for our deviant lifestyle.’ He dropped his head and shook it. ‘I have had divine retribution enough, thank you. My father is a god and he has punished me for six hundred years.’
‘Not for being gay, Martin.’
‘No, for a real crime. For being a liar, hurting innocents, and abusing my family’s trust.’
I was silent at that, because he was right.
My phone rang and I took it out of my pocket and flipped it open. ‘Emma.’
‘Hi, Emma!’ It was David Hawkes, sounding cheerful. ‘I need a hand down here. Think you could pop down and help us mere mortals?’
‘What happened, David?’
‘Five nights ago, Bridget and I disappeared from the car park of the Convention Centre, leaving a pool of blood. They identified the blood as our type — apparently DNA tests take months, but they worked out the blood types in a few hours. Anyway …’ He took a deep breath. ‘The blood was ours, obviously. And the last person we were seen with was you, and we were gone until lunchtime the next day and reappeared without a cover story.’ His voice changed to sheepish. ‘The police were giving us a hell of a time, Emma, so I just told them the truth. I mean, damn, it’s so much fun, the whole business!
Now they want to take us to the mental ward at the hospital. Any chance of some help?’
I choked the words out. ‘You told them the truth?’
He sounded even more sheepish. ‘All of it.’
‘That is absolutely the worst thing you could have done.’
‘I realise that now.’
‘You’re supposed to be the genius business grand master, David, the saviour who’s going to lead Hong Kong out of the recession, and you told the police the truth? I despair for humanity.’
‘I’m just too honest for my own good, I suppose. I was expecting a different sort of reaction.’
‘How many police are involved?’
‘Just the two.’
I hesitated, weighing up the options, then decided. To hell with the Jade Emperor’s little rules, this was major. ‘Where are you right now?’
‘In my office. They’ve given me five minutes to get my stuff together, then we’re off to hospital to see if we haven’t had a bump on the head.’
‘Is Bridget with you?’
‘Yes. She came to back me up.’
Bridget called out in the background, her voice sounding tinny. ‘Bring a weapon of some sort to use on him, Emma!’
‘Tell her I will. I’ll be there in five minutes. Have your staff expect us and let us straight up.’
He breathed a loud sigh of relief. ‘Thanks, Emma.’
I tapped the stone. ‘Hey, stone, wake up.’
‘I wasn’t asleep, I was playing solitaire on my desktop. What?’
‘Did you hear that phone call while you were cheating?’
‘No. What? Accessing.’ The stone was silent for a moment. ‘He’s supposed to be smart!’
‘I need someone powerful enough to blank out the cops’ minds. Who’s free?’
‘Me,’ Martin said.
‘Are you skilled enough to do it without damaging them?’
‘Yes,’ he said.
‘Can you take me down there?’
‘Yes.’
I held my hand out and he took it. ‘That’s what I like about you, Martin, you’re an extremely agreeable young man.’
‘Yes. But not young.’
We landed outside the old Star Ferry terminal building. The autumn breeze from the harbour was still warm and damp even this late in the evening.
