by Kylie Chan
‘We couldn’t torture it any more,’ he said. ‘We had to stop. It screamed a couple of times, but apart from that we gained nothing.’
I wanted to give the stone a hug but it was too small. ‘So what do we do now?’
‘I will contact Nu Wa and the Grandmother. One of them must be able to help us.’
‘But both are so far to travel,’ I said.
He dropped his head and sighed. ‘I know. This may have to wait until I am stronger.’
‘It can wait,’ I said. ‘The demons lost their entire Singapore facility; it will take them a while to rebuild.’
He turned to go out. ‘I hope you’re right. Dinner in thirty.’
I saluted him. ‘Sir.’
CHAPTER 31
Simone was cheerful over breakfast the next morning. ‘I’ve had a major breakthrough with Freddo. I’m going over there after school today, so I won’t be home until later this evening — is that all right?’
‘What breakthrough?’ I said.
She smiled broadly, full of pride. ‘Full control of the Implement of Doom. It no longer disobeys him, and stays put when I give him a cuddle.’
‘That’s good to hear,’ I said.
‘So it’s okay? If I’m a bit late home?’ she said, not as confident.
‘Not a problem at all.’
‘You can bring him here if you like,’ John said. ‘Put him in the stables in the Northern Heavens.’
She leaned her chin in her hand over her congee bowl. ‘Now that we’re further along, that sounds like a good idea.’ She jumped up and grabbed her schoolbag. ‘I have poisons today, and my teacher says that if you see any of those plant demons again, grab a piece. It’s something completely new.’
‘Hopefully we cleaned them out and there’s none left,’ John said.
She kissed each of us and disappeared.
‘The school principal hasn’t pulled me in and laid down the law yet,’ John said, musing.
‘That’s happened before? She’s not your first child to attend CH?’
‘No, she’s the first,’ he said. ‘She’s the first remotely human child I’ve fathered — or mothered, for that matter —’
‘Oh great, now I know about that you’re going to keep rubbing it in, aren’t you?’ I said.
He ignored me. ‘But the Tiger’s pulled into the school all the time about his children. I was expecting it to happen to me too.’
‘She’s completely different to the Tiger’s kids,’ I said. ‘And besides, Lord Hong knows we have a lot to deal with right now. He’ll probably be in touch when the funerals have settled down.’
‘Speaking of today’s funerals,’ he said, leaning back and retying his hair. ‘I request that you do not attend, Miss Donahoe, and stay here to rest. I can handle them alone.’
‘But I want to be with you!’
That seemed to surprise him, and he leaned forward to see me more intently. ‘I want to be with you too, love. But I’m not strong enough to completely clear the virus from you, and if you don’t rest you may develop symptoms. If we don’t take care, it could kill you — even here on the Celestial Plane — simply because you try to do too much.’
I tapped the end of my peanut butter knife on the table. ‘I have symptoms already. Edwin’s handling it.’
‘Even more reason for you to stay home and rest,’ he said. He reached across the table to take my hand and his cold consciousness swept through me. ‘For me? Please?’
‘Please don’t beg me, sir, you’re a Heavenly Emperor. All you have to do is ask.’ I raised his hand and kissed the back of it. ‘I’ll stay home and nap for you.’
He nodded, relieved. ‘Thanks, Emma.’
I was half-asleep and didn’t know what time it was when he crawled into bed beside me. I wrapped myself around him and breathed in the scent of the ocean. ‘Tell me this isn’t a dream.’
‘It’s not a dream.’
‘You’re really here?’
‘For as long as you want me.’
He kissed the top of my head, pulled me closer, and I went back to sleep.
‘I attended four funerals this morning, then I came home and had a nap with you,’ John said over a lunch that was so late it was more like afternoon tea. ‘I have two more later this evening because of the time difference.’
‘I can come for them.’
‘Let me look at you first.’
He took my hand and concentrated. After a minute or so, he hadn’t come back.
‘Is everything all right, John?’
He was still holding my hand but didn’t seem to notice. ‘Phone call. Give me a minute.’
Five to Throne Room immediately, he said on broadcast mode. Priority.
‘What?’ I said, concerned.
‘The Demon King just asked us out on — in his own words — a dinner date,’ John said.
‘We have to go,’ I said. ‘We need to pick his brains. Don’t you dare ask me to stay behind.’
‘I’ll need your intelligence beside me,’ he said. He rose. ‘The Five are here. Good.’
We went into the Throne Room, where the Lius, LK, Martin and Ma were sitting on the couches waiting for us.
‘That was quick,’ I said.
‘We received the same message,’ Ma said.
‘Dropped what we were doing immediately,’ Liu said.
John sat on one of the couches and put his forearms on his knees. ‘I want some of you there with us. This may be a trap.’
‘If he’s behind the Celestial Jade cage business, then it definitely is,’ Ma said.
Er Lang appeared just inside the doorway, and came to join us. There wasn’t a spare seat for him, so he conjured a simple wooden chair and sat. ‘We should go ourselves and leave Ah Wu behind.’
‘He has a point, John,’ I said. ‘You’re a fraction of your full strength, you’re one-handed, and he wants you in a cage of jade.’
‘He’s vowed he doesn’t want me,’ he said. ‘Same for you, Emma. Actually, we’re the most logical choice to go: he’s promised not to hold us.’
‘You still think his word is good?’ I said.
John hesitated for a long moment, then nodded once, sharply. ‘I do. If he wants to ensure our help, then his word must be his bond.’ He leaned back. ‘We’ll meet him as he’s asked, and we’ll see exactly what he has to say about all of this. Ma, Er Lang, Meredith, come to watch our backs. The rest of you, stay on high alert.’
‘Me too,’ Martin said.
‘Guard the Heavens,’ John said.
‘I spent time down there. I know him, the way he thinks. Take me.’
John glowered at Martin. ‘Guard the Heavens. Yue is not a warrior; you are. Defend my realm, Number One.’
Martin hesitated for a moment, then saluted John. He wiped his eyes, his voice thick. ‘My Lord.’
John took my hand. ‘Let’s go.’
We appeared in the car park underneath the Lo Wu train station, and walked up through the crowds to the Lo Wu Shopping Centre. The shopping centre sat across the road from the train station, so Hong Kong commuters could take the train across the border and walk less than two hundred metres to the Mainland shops. The centre had a large illuminated sign on one side warning people against pickpockets and con artists. Most of the stuff sold there was fake designer gear or copy electrical appliances, but there was also a floor of tailors, hairdressers and nail salons.
We walked past racks of fake designer sports shoes and displays of Mainland silk quilts to the five-star hotel — a distinctive building with its top-floor revolving restaurant. The hotel, still less than a few hundred metres from the border, was for Hong Kongers who chose to stay at Lo Wu overnight. Police guarded the walkways across the busy street, but made no attempt to stop the hawkers selling everything from vegetables to fake Canto-pop CDs.
As we walked along the overpass, I felt it. The more people we passed, the more I felt it. Eventually I had to stop, and the others stopped as well.
‘I know you can
feel it too,’ I said. ‘This isn’t normal, is it?’
‘This is a centre for them,’ John said. ‘Much crime takes place here. But no, this isn’t normal.’
We continued along the overpass until we reached the hotel, and took the stairs down. A ragged young beggar woman sat on one side of the stairs, holding a filthy baby. As we passed, she raised the baby and grinned at me. An appetiser, missy? she said into my head.
I hurried past.
It was even worse when we reached street level. They were all demons. As we travelled between the modern high-rise office buildings on one side and the bicycle racks on the other, the people stopped pretending that they weren’t watching us. Everybody stared, smiling, as we passed. We were surrounded by a sea of grinning faces. We moved closer together, with John and me in the centre.
We reached the restaurant the Demon King had specified. It occupied the whole building, three storeys high, with a large lobby and sweeping, curved stairs leading up to the second level. It was decorated with salmon and pink carpet and wallpaper that had elaborate details picked out in gold. A huge chandelier hung from the ceiling.
A young woman, a low-level demon appearing in her mid-twenties, stood at the bottom of the stairs. She wore a long skirt and traditional Chinese jacket of salmon silk that matched the wallpaper. She smiled and bowed as we entered.
Without saying a word, she led us up the stairs to the second level. This floor was a single large room with about a hundred tables of various sizes, full of the noise of raised voices and clattering dishes. A small hallway at the far end of the room led to the private dining rooms.
When we reached the top of the stairs, the entire room fell silent. Every diner was a demon, and every demon watched us as we walked through to the private rooms at the end.
The hostess stopped and bowed to us at the end of the hall, then opened the pink double doors to the private room. It held two twelve-seater tables under another large chandelier, and had a television for karaoke in a niche to one side.
The King rose from his seat as we went in. Three other people stood with him: two Mothers and a horse-headed demon Duke, all in human form. The horse-head was in a smart tailored suit and his dyed blond hair was slicked back with gel, making him look like a rich young entrepreneur.
‘Honoured Celestial Ambassadors,’ the Demon King said, saluting around our group. ‘I offer you my hospitality under the banner of truce, that we may speak freely and without fear.’
John stepped forward and saluted him back. ‘The terms are acceptable.’
The Demon King swept one hand towards the table. ‘Please, everybody take a seat. I’ll have the staff bring some delightful,’ he cocked his head at me, ‘vegetarian dishes.’ He grinned at John. ‘I have some whale if you want it.’
‘I will stay in human form,’ John said.
‘Oh, come on, Ah Wu, chill,’ the King said. ‘We’re all good friends here. There’s XO if you want it, my treat.’ The King waved at the demons on his right. ‘Mother Number Twenty-Six, Edna; Mother Number Thirty-Two, Lucinda. The brainiest ones I have. The Duke is an ambitious young man who owns the restaurant. They’ll be no trouble. I haven’t given them permission to talk.’
The Mothers didn’t acknowledge our existence; they remained ice-cold and aloof. The Duke waved one hand airily at the waitress and she went out.
As we sat, one of the Mothers opened a bottle of XO cognac and poured it into crystal brandy balloons, then placed them in front of us.
‘It’s good to have you back, Ah Wu,’ the King said, leaning on the table and turning his cognac glass in his hands. ‘I know it sounds strange, but I’m counting on you to sort this out for me. I’ve made a major blunder here and, frankly, if things continue the way they are, I’ll lose my throne.’
‘Kitty and the Death Mother,’ I said. ‘But you were helping them.’
‘What makes you think I was helping them?’ he said.
‘We saw what happened to Zara.’
‘Who? What?’ the King said.
‘Six didn’t succeed in completely blanking out Zara’s memory,’ John said. ‘We have an image of him on the lattice.’
‘From when Rhonda was in Hell,’ I said. ‘You held her down there, and Six took her for four hours.’
‘You’re kidding,’ the Demon King said, genuinely shocked.
‘She was taken from her villa while she slept,’ John said.
‘I had no idea that happened,’ the King said. ‘That is scary. I never saw him go in.’
‘The same thing happened to Clarissa, who was replaced.’
‘Who’s Clarissa?’
‘Stop playing this game,’ John said.
‘I swear, Ah Wu, I have no idea who this Clarissa woman is. What’s her significance?’
‘Michael’s fiancée,’ I said.
He leaned back and whistled through his teeth. ‘And she was replaced? Wait, she was holding the same stone?’
‘She was.’
‘Okay.’ The King put his cognac down. ‘Time to put my cards on the table and ask you for help. Freeze.’
The demons with the King stilled, as if time had stopped for them. The noise of the diners outside the room ceased.
‘Are you helping them?’ I said.
‘Of course not. Kitty’s turning into something powerful and nasty, and she’s human — something I can’t touch. I, King of the Demons, have never been involved with them. I never thought she would get this far with what she’s done — Simon was a complete moron and he was holding her back. But now she has help from these others. They’ve gathered together themselves, and it’s too big for me to control.’
‘And you want us to fix it for you,’ John said.
The King leaned forward and gazed into John’s eyes. ‘It is unbelievably arousing when you say things like that.’
John leaned forward and stared back. ‘I should let them destroy you.’
‘You don’t want them on the throne, believe me.’
John placed his remaining hand on the table. ‘You have forfeited your right to rule Hell by this stupidity. They have the power to depose you. Give me one good reason why I should stop them.’
‘I’m cuter?’ the King said.
‘Stop wasting our time!’ I said.
The King leaned back and his expression filled with bliss. ‘I think I’m going to come.’
‘You are disgusting,’ Meredith said.
‘Okay, listen,’ the King said, more businesslike. ‘Their nest is in Singapore, in Kallang. I think they even had the audacity to desecrate a temple on the Earthly. Look for a closed Buddhist temple with the interior destroyed — that’s where the entrance is. Please go in and take them out, or we will all suffer.’
‘We cleaned that nest out two days ago,’ John said.
The King stared at him. ‘What?’
‘They ran. They have another base. It’s a boat on a lake. Where is it?’ I said.
‘They have another one?’ The King said, aghast. He ran one hand over his forehead; he was sweating. ‘Now it’s getting scary. And you have no idea where it is? There weren’t any leads in the Kallang facility?’
‘I was hoping you could tell us,’ I said. ‘You’re in control of all of them; you should know.’
‘I lose control of them if they decide to make a grab for the throne,’ the King said. He smirked at John. ‘You need to bring her up to speed, Ah Wu.’ His expression returned to concerned. ‘So they’re after the throne, and they’re powerful, and they have a base somewhere that none of us knows about.’ He downed the cognac in one gulp. ‘Should I make a will?’
‘Do you still want Kitty in a cage of jade?’ John said. ‘We can imprison her ourselves when we track her down.’
‘The jade cage, definitely,’ the King said. ‘It’s ready and waiting for her in Hell. Nothing else will hold her; some of the stuff she’s done to herself is very scary.’
‘You should have stopped them a long time ago,’ I said.
‘Yeah. Ordinary weak human, shouldn’t be a problem, keep an eye on her and her little boyfriend, he’s so stupid they’ll be easy to stop.’ He shrugged. ‘Major miscalculation. When she got too powerful to ignore, I offered her a place in Hell. She turned me down, then disappeared. She has larger plans.’
‘What about the Death Mother?’ John said. ‘Can you see anything she’s done?’
The King pushed the glass into the tablecloth, leaving a mark in the soft fabric. ‘If you catch that bitch, please give her to me. I want to see her suffer the Thousand Cuts.’
‘Can you think of anything that will lead us to their base?’ John said. ‘There’s a large muddy lake, they have a boat on it. From how Emma described it, it sounds like a standard Chinese teak junk. It’s in South-East Asia somewhere; they keep running towards Thailand, Laos, Vietnam — one of those places. Think!’
The Demon King shook his head. ‘I have nothing. They obviously set this up after they decided to go after my throne. Damn.’ He leaned on the table and studied me carefully, his blood-red eyes boring into me. ‘Try to remember, Emma. Did they say anything that would give a hint about where that boat is? Did they say “boat at somewhere”, anything like that?’
I shook my head. ‘I can’t remember … It was on a lake.’
‘What about your stone? Doesn’t it know?’
‘Her stone was totally incapacitated by them,’ John said.
‘And it hasn’t recovered?’
‘I wish it would,’ I said.
‘Well, that’s that then.’ He poured himself some more cognac, a full glass, and drank it in one gulp again. ‘I’m glad I cleared the essence from Emma, because the price for your help in this would be higher than I’d probably be prepared to pay, and I’d be done for.’ He filled the glass again and leaned on the table, studying the brandy as he turned the glass in his hand. He glanced up at John. ‘I have only a small chance of surviving this, and it all depends on you. I cannot ride out with you.’ He downed the full glass of cognac again. ‘If I lose, remember me well, Ah Wu. You have been a most worthy adversary. Unfreeze.’
The demons in the room with us started breathing again, and the noise outside resumed. The restaurant staff entered with yum cha trolleys holding large dishes of vegetarian food.
