The Pearl of Paradise

by Jean Brashear

  Apparently, Chang’s sources were good. She saw no sign of a security system. The mass of shrubbery which probably made for gorgeous landscaping in the daylight, also provided wonderful cover for her when the man patrolling the grounds had passed nearby.

  Unbelievable. Kwan must have a huge staff to patrol the grounds when he was in residence, to be so lax in precautions other than human.

  Unease stirred within her. Maybe she’d guessed wrong. Maybe the Dragon was not here.

  No maybes about it, Damon would have a stroke if he knew she’d come, with so little planning. No floor plan, no time to case the place.

  Only the SigSauer Chang had purchased for her years ago, which she could handle well on targets, but had never fired at a human being.

  But what choice did she have? Time was on Kwan’s side, not theirs, and she’d do anything to keep Damon from chancing either a confrontation with Kwan—or the death foretold by the curse. And she had to make sure Gregory was safe—she couldn’t bear thinking he wouldn’t be.

  Enough thinking. She could see well enough now to move around. Scanning the area, she saw a door leading from the kitchen to a dining room off to the left, and one headed toward what looked to be a utility room on the right. Based on what she recalled of the back of the house, the utility room would be a dead-end. Removing her shoes and keeping on her socks, she moved toward the doorway on the left.

  Once inside, Lily hugged the shadows near the wall, glancing across the room to the moonlight glowing through the windows. She stood very still, listening. Was the man outside the lieutenant? The house felt empty, but nonetheless, she wouldn’t turn on the flashlight in her hand.

  Through the doorway leading out of this room, she thought she saw bookshelves. Kwan’s library? Her heart speeded up as she approached, then moved silently into the room, stepping to her right, deep in shadows once more. Only one small window up high brought a faint glow into the room, but when she scanned the room, her gaze fell where the beam of moonlight pointed.

  Leaning forward, ready to move to see what was on the shelves tucked securely behind the desk, Lily stopped suddenly, her heart pounding.

  A noise? Had she heard a creak?

  Almost afraid to swallow for fear it would be audible, Lily held her breath until she felt slightly faint, listening hard for a repeat. When her lungs screamed for air, she sucked air as carefully as she could into her nose, then exhaled softly. No sound.

  Trying to still the surging beat of her heart, Lily wrestled with terror. She’d been successful, up to now, at ignoring just how dangerous this could be. Unable to sit and wait any longer, doing nothing when her child was in danger, she now felt the back of her neck prickling with imagined threat.

  Get the Dragon and get out.

  Moving softly across the room, her blood rushing in her ears, Lily strained to see the statue sitting on the shelf behind the desk. Her heart pounded, and she bit her lower lip, hoping she’d just had a stroke of luck. Given the size of the Pearl, the shape she couldn’t quite make out looked to be about the right size to be the Dragon.

  Another creak, and Lily froze. Closing her eyes, she sought deep within for the strength to calm her racing pulse. She shook her head; she was in this far—she couldn’t run away now.

  No more sounds, and Lily closed the gap to the shelves, holding her breath in hope that she’d found the Dragon and could get out of here.

  It was not the Dragon. Her shoulders sagged.

  Where was it? She had to face the fact that it might not be here at all, or it might be hidden away, somewhere she’d never find it.

  But a man who flaunted his invincibility as Kwan seemed to do would not lock away something so precious, she would bet. He would want to see it, to savor the fact of his possession.

  He’d killed Fan Lee to get its mate, so it had to be important to him.

  A predator. Kwan was a predator. She thought about his vicious nature, and the image of an animal triggered the answer.

  He would keep it in his lair. In his bedroom.

  Somehow she knew it was the right answer. If the Dragon was here, that’s where she’d find it.

  If she could find his bedroom. Lily swallowed heavily. This was a two-story house. The thought of climbing stairs, of being swallowed deeper into his cave, chilled her blood.

  Think of Gregory. Think of Damon. You’re not a coward, Lily.

  Straightening her shoulders, Lily moved toward the only other way out of the library. She emerged into a large hallway, with what appeared to be a sitting room ahead, to the left.

  Just beyond the staircase.

  Keeping carefully to the edges, since in old houses, the flooring usually creaked more toward the center of any pathway, she edged along the wall, carefully skirting the huge hall tree just ahead. Dark wooden floors gleamed ahead of her, and at the end, the massive double front door.

  When she reached the bottom step, she glanced above, swallowing deeply before she took her first step. At least there was carpet, so perhaps the creaking would be kept to a minimum. She ascended slowly and carefully, pausing frequently to listen for sounds from below or above.

  Please let there be just the one man outside.

  At the top of the stairs, she paused and glanced around. Two of the doors were closed, the ones toward the front of the house. Opening doors which might squeak would not be her first choice; besides, acting on her theory of Kwan as predator, she’d bet he’d bury his lair on the back side, in the farthest reaches of his cave.

  Oh, Damon, I wish you were here with me.

  Then she took her next step and prayed it would not be for nothing.

  Too busy scanning the hallway ahead, she stumbled over something on the floor and stifled a gasp. Her heart flip-flopped, and she glanced down, sighing with relief. A brass doorstop, shaped like a dragon. How she wished it were the one she sought, and she could get out of here right away.

  Ahead was only one room, with its door open. Lily moved closer, then stopped in her tracks, seeing a faint glow coming from the corner.

  Heart pounding so loudly she couldn’t hear her panicked thoughts, Lily stood there, unsure if she should run or continue.

  Gregory whimpering in her dreams. The lines of strain on Damon’s face.

  She might have the power to cure both if she would only dare to continue. Unless someone was in that room, she had to go on.

  Lily stood very still, her hearing attuned, her concentration so focused she ceased to think of anything beyond this moment, this place. With the animal sense that humans only rarely recognized, she reached out to feel for the presence of another person in the room ahead. Stilling her mind and spreading her consciousness outward, Lily sought to know what lay ahead.

  Nothing emerged, so Lily took a few more careful steps, angling herself to the side of the doorway to see if she could make out what kind of light lay ahead.

  It wasn’t moonlight; the windows she could see were all covered with heavy draperies. The glow was not silvery and cold, as moonlight is; it was somehow warmer, almost like candlelight, but perhaps not quite the same.

  Lily edged into the room, stopping just inside the doorway and peering around the corner she could not see from outside.

  Her breath stilled in her throat.

  The Dragon, just as she’d seen it in her meditation. Inside a display case, lit by a golden glow. The jade dragon had an unearthly cast to its strong beauty, every scale delineated, every limb smooth and clear. His head stood proud and noble, daring all to harm his treasure.

  Having felt the sense of protection, lying between those formidable paws, Lily almost felt sorry for the Dragon, knowing that he and the Pearl had never been meant to be separated.

  Such grandeur, such pride… Lily had thought herself far too Americanized to believe in Dragon-Kings, but she felt Ao Kuang’s majesty in the piece he had commissioned to immortalize his love.

  Mesmerized by the sight of a legend right before her eyes, Lily moved closer, eag
er to touch, to soothe the beast who must feel as she had felt all those years without Damon.

  Incomplete. Half a heart. She knew how that felt, all too well. She reached out, as if to comfort—

  Light exploded into her vision, blinding her. She whirled to run for the door.

  “Welcome, Miss Shen. So nice to see the Dragon’s woman in the flesh.”

  Chapter Ten

  Sunlight warmed Damon’s face, and he stirred, wondering why his bed felt so small.

  The sofa. Lily. She was not beside him, but his lips curved in a smile, lost in warm remembrance of her sweetness.

  Opening his eyes, he looked around. “Lily?” He sat up, rubbing his face, then running fingers through his hair and shaking his head to clear out the cobwebs. Stretching his arms over his head, he yawned. He didn’t remember the last time he’d slept so soundly.

  No dreams to taunt him—he wrinkled his forehead. Except an odd one—something with Fan Lee and—Gregory? Damon shook his head. Wishful thinking. How Fan Lee would have loved knowing Damon and Lily’s child.

  How he eagerly anticipated his own first meeting with his son.

  Gregory. The smile disappeared as Damon contemplated the sweet mischievous face in those photographs, left at the mercy of Kwan. Unease riddled his bones, and Damon stood up, anxious to get back to piecing together the clues about the Dragon’s Pearl.

  And waiting. So damn hard to do. It seemed like he’d spent the last five years waiting, though he hadn’t let himself realize it had been Lily for whom he’d waited.

  Where was she? “Chang!” he called out, heading for the library door. “Callie, is Chang here?”

  Callie poked her head out of the office door down the hall, her face ashen. “I—I’m not sure.”

  “What is it? Is Shirley worse?”

  “No—no, Shirley’s fine. She’s doing much better.”

  “Then what’s wrong?”

  “Damon.” A deeper voice.

  Somehow he knew, even before Chang continued. Dreading to turn, to hear what was coming, still Damon had no choice but to find out.

  When he met Chang’s grim expression, his heart sank like a stone. Still, he didn’t ask. Couldn’t.

  “It’s Lily, Damon. Kwan has her, too.”

  It should have been easy to rage, should have been simple to yell at the absent Lily for taking chances, for somehow, he knew without asking that she hadn’t been taken from here. With the spark of courage that he’d admired so, she must have decided to beard the lion in his den.

  Goddamn her for breaking his heart. Damn her for making him want to fall to his knees and crumble.

  This could not have a good end, he’d already known that. But he’d hoped to keep the damage to only himself.

  Clenching his jaw, he met Chang’s gaze. “Tell me.”

  “It’s my fault, Damon. I should have realized why she was asking me those questions, but I don’t understand what she thought she could accomplish.”

  “What’s his message?”

  “‘If you want your own Pearl back, bring me the Dragon’s.’”

  “When?”

  “There will be someone here to guide you at nine o’clock tonight.”

  Damon turned away, headed outside.

  “Damon—”

  “Not now, Chang.” He kept walking.

  To his surprise, Chang grabbed his arm and swung him around. “She’s my sister, Damon. Don’t hold back on me. Why did she go there?”

  “Where?”

  “To Kwan’s house.”

  Damon closed his eyes briefly. “To get the Dragon.”

  “What does that mean?”

  He swallowed heavily and began to explain. “Lily and I found some references to a jade statue called the Dragon’s Pearl, dating back to the tenth century. It was held in safekeeping by the Righteous Fist until it was separated into two parts, hidden by two different sects of the Fist. One held the Pearl of Paradise, and the other held the Dragon.”

  “How would Kwan get hold of the Dragon?”

  “A renegade monk killed one of his fellow monks, and he was driven out of the brotherhood. For his revenge, he took the Dragon and gathered about him other evil men into a tong called the Red Spear.”

  Chang sucked in a breath. “Kwan’s tong.”

  Damon nodded. “It has been their sworn goal for two centuries to find the Pearl and reunite it with the Dragon to claim the powers accorded to it by legend.”

  “What powers?”

  “What the hell does it matter, Chang? Lily’s in Kwan’s hands, for God’s sake! He could do anything to her.” Damon turned away and resumed walking, trying to outrun his demons.

  Chang followed. “It matters because the powers in the legend are what he’s after.” He slowed, thinking. “They’re only good if the statue is whole?”

  Damon nodded, slowing down and placing his hands on his hips, coming to a stop. He looked away toward the pond. “The legend says that in the hands of a virtuous man, the Dragon’s Pearl will strengthen his virtue and make him a powerful force for good. It will provide him protection.

  “But in the hands of an evil man, darkness will reign until the Dragon and his Pearl are one again.”

  “What does that mean? If it’s already together?”

  “I’m not sure. It was said to be commissioned by Ao Kuang, the Dragon-King of the East, to immortalize his love for a sacred concubine known as the Pearl of Paradise.” He glanced back at Chang. “Fan Lee made a point of telling both Lily and me before he died the part about the Dragon and his Pearl being one. For a while last night, I almost thought he might be referring to Lily and me.”

  “Little Pearl.”

  Damon nodded. “He called her that, from the first.”

  “And you, of course, Fan Lee made the Dragon.”

  Damon shook his head, rubbing his eyes. “If Kwan hurts her, Chang—”

  The younger man laid a hand on his arm. “I know.”

  “If you didn’t know the story, how did Lily get the idea that it was at Kwan’s house?”

  “She seemed very taken by hearing that Kwan had packed up and left to move to a safe house but had left one of his lieutenants behind to guard the house.”

  Grinning a smile he didn’t feel, Damon shook his head. “Sometimes I wish Lily wasn’t so damn smart. Or so courageous.”

  “She didn’t want you to face Kwan—”

  “I can take care of myself.”

  “But the curse—”

  Damon swung around on the younger man. “Damn the curse! I knew my odds weren’t good that Kwan would let me walk away, but if I could have gotten Gregory out—”

  “Lily didn’t want to lose you again. She probably thought she could trade the Dragon for Gregory.”

  Damon sighed. “She probably did. And she probably also knew I’d never let her try such a damn fool stunt, if she’d asked.” He stared at Chang. “But now Kwan has two aces, and I have only one. It’s not likely he’s going to just hand over Lily and Gregory and take the Pearl.”

  “Would you really take it to him?”

  “What choice do I have? He’ll kill them both, Chang—if they’re lucky. If not… their lives mean nothing to him. You told me yourself his plans for Gregory; do you think he’d be any kinder to the woman I love?”

  “Do you love her, Damon?”

  Damon raised his gaze to Chang’s. “I never stopped.”

  Chang studied him silently. “If the curse is right, you’re risking your life to take the Pearl from this place.”

  “If I can’t save them, I don’t care what happens to me.” Damon turned away and started walking, trying to outpace his nightmares.

  Sitting by the pond, on the bench where Lily had first told him of his son, Damon cried out silently. Why, Lily? Why couldn’t you not be so damn brave for once? Torn between heartache and rage, Damon longed for a chance to take action.

  The hours between now and then stretched out forever, hours in which anyth
ing could be happening to—

  Stop. He had to stop, had to shut those terrors away and think instead of how he would defeat Kwan, for once and for all. He rose and took a stone path to a small clearing, stopping before Fan Lee’s stone marker and settling on the ground before it.

  Drawing a deep breath, he began to enter the mind-state that Fan Lee had taught him, to delve below the tumult of his senses and feel the pulse of the truth that traveled a dark river beneath the conscious mind.

  “It is only within serenity that you will find the seeds of victory,” Fan Lee’s voice echoed inside his head. “Do not let transitory emotions guide you into defeat.”

  Damon passed through his fear for Lily and their child, closing off the world behind a steel curtain, creating a blanket of indifference and non-involvement to shield him on his journey into the pulsing heart of his mind’s eye.

  He would never face an enemy more deadly than his own emotions. Of all the skills he’d learned as a warrior, none had been more critical than this, the ability to pierce the veil of earthly attachments and go beyond, to the truths that only revealed themselves when one let go.

  To survive as a warrior, he’d had to learn to be willing to die, to go beyond fear and pain to embrace his enemy’s heart, to become one with him in a dance more intimate than that of lovers.

  “If you become a prisoner, you must calm your body and allow your mind to spiral down until you can see your way out of the cage. If no way out presents itself, you must fight to the end. But remember, before you are already in the place where death must come, that there are some battles you should never enter. Some enemies will be closer to you than a lover, and you must know that to kill them may damage you forever.”

  Damon struggled against the remembered advice. Only allowing Kwan to live would damage him forever.

  Then he drew in another deep breath, knowing Fan Lee was with him, guiding him gently past his struggles, helping him on the journey to unlock the power of his chi, the sacred breath, the holy energy that would steady and strengthen him to enter the battle that had been awaiting him for more than half his life.