Demon Child (3 page)

‘Continue,’ he said, moving out of the way.

He watched, expressionless, as I completed the set and put my chi back.

He moved forward and held one hand out for me to take. He placed my hand, palm up, on top of his.

‘Chi, about twenty centimetres across,’ he said.

I generated the energy and his face lit up from its glow.

‘Can you make it white?’

‘I can try,’ I said, and took a deep breath. I reached down inside me, twisted the energy, and it turned white.

‘Good. Now black.’

I hesitated. He’d never asked for black before.

‘Take your hand off me before I do,’ I said.

He removed his hand from mine. I reached inside myself again, concentrated on the darkness within me, and turned the energy black.

‘Can you hold it?’ he said.

‘No problem at all. Still feels like ordinary chi.’

‘And your Western serpent knew many ways to use it?’

‘Yes. There must have been nearly twenty things I could do with it, and I don’t remember a single one.’

‘Interesting.’

He held his hand over the energy, and before I could do anything it effortlessly slid up into his hand, turning his skin black as it moved inside him. The loss of the energy weakened me and my knees buckled. He caught me before I fell, hoisted me in his arms and carried me to sit on the mats piled on one side of the room.

‘If this was ten years ago, you would be dead,’ he said. He put his hand on my forehead and I shivered at his cool touch. ‘Hold your hands out again.’

I held them out and he stood in front of me. He concentrated with his hand palm down over mine and a ball of black energy appeared under it.

‘I can do it too,’ he said with interest. ‘I suppress my dark nature too much, I’ve never even considered creating such a thing.’

The energy drifted down towards my hands, which flashed black as it entered me. I shivered again, suddenly cold all over, and for a moment I was completely merged with him, seeing through his eyes and feeling his dark cool emotions. Both of us took a deep breath in unison and his eyes widened. He took a step back, alarmed, and the same feeling of alarm rocked through me. Both of us worked to control it and together we stifled the panic. The experience diminished with time, and we stared into each other’s eyes as the link between us faded.

John’s final thought before the link disappeared was to move as far from me as he could. I clumsily rose to stop him and toppled again. He caught me.

‘Don’t run from it,’ I said.

‘I’m not running. I’m concerned about the proximity.’

‘Same thing.’

He fell to sit next to me, making the air whoosh out of the mats, and put his head in his hands. ‘Your nature is too similar.’

‘You say that like it’s a bad thing.’

He turned to me, unamused. ‘I thought we’d fixed that desire to be one with me.’

I threw myself back to lean on the wall. ‘Absolutely. No damn way am I letting you do that to me. I value my individuality, thank you very much.’

‘Good.’ He put his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands. ‘How long is it now?’

‘Ten weeks. No, twelve. Three months.’

He shook his head, his long hair shimmering around him. ‘Even with our help, you’re not a fraction of what you were.’

He stiffened and we shared a look. Both of us had been summoned by the Jade Emperor.

‘And this is the reason,’ he said. ‘If he keeps summoning us like this, you’ll never be strong enough to be Raised.’

‘My report’s finished. This has to be the last time,’ I said.

He took my hand and helped me to stand. ‘It’d damn well better be. And stop visiting the orphanages.’

‘I’m the only one besides you and Jade who can sign the bank documents, John. Our accountant’s flat out doing something much more important.’

‘Give Chang access. He’s trustworthy.’

‘I’m in the process of doing it. You know how banks are with bureaucracy.’

‘Hurry, love, we need you strong before this storm hits.’

I leaned into him, holding his hand. ‘You know I want to be.’

Both John and I wore full Mountain uniforms, robes and armour, to answer the Jade Emperor’s summons. He met us in the small audience chamber without a throne; just three long rosewood couches with tea tables between them, and a screen behind him depicting longevity cranes flying over mountains composed of semi-precious stones.

As senior Retainers, we both fell to one knee, heads bowed, then joined him on the couches. He waved for one of the palace fairies to serve us tea.

‘I won’t waste your time,’ he said. ‘I know how busy you are.’

‘Anything you can tell us about the demons’ plans?’ I said.

‘No,’ he said, and left it at that. ‘First, I want to talk to you about the appointment of your daughter as your Number One.’

‘This is not negotiable,’ John said. ‘It is my choice to have two of them, and they are joint and equal.’

‘What I was going to ask you, Ah Wu,’ the Emperor said, glaring at John from under his white brows, ‘was if you’d like to use one of the audience halls here for her investiture.’

John and I both sat straighter. Holding the investiture at the Celestial Palace would give Yue Gui’s appointment an obvious and public endorsement by the Jade Emperor himself.

‘You really don’t have any problem with him having two?’ I said.

‘Of course not,’ the Jade Emperor said. ‘It’s appropriate. With him being two creatures himself, the combined essence of yang and yin, two Number Ones, one of each gender, is harmonious.’

John saluted the Emperor. ‘I am honoured by your most generous offer and humbly accept.’

‘Good,’ the Emperor said. He spoke to the fairy standing behind him. ‘Liaise with the Dark Lord on the allocation of the Northern Xuan Wu Hall for Princess Yue’s investiture.’ The fairy nodded, and the Emperor turned back to us. ‘Second. I hear rumours that you two are planning a quiet private wedding without the Celestial rigmarole.’

John and I shared a look.

‘Thought so. Well, forget it. We need the ceremony, we need the celebration, and it will be a huge morale boost for everybody to see you two finally wed. Ah Wu, you vowed to Raise her first, and you will not risk Celestial Harmony by marrying before this has happened. Am I completely understood?’

We both saluted him with resignation.

‘Emma, after you are Raised, you will have one of the grandest and most lavish weddings the Celestial has ever seen, and your opinion on the matter is irrelevant.’

Both of us sagged slightly. We’d hoped to have an extremely small, private wedding during the Chinese New Year break, and hadn’t even told our families. We’d planned to spring it on them, have a quick ceremony, take a few days off while everything stopped for New Year, and get it out of the way. So much for that little escapade.

‘Third,’ the Emperor said, ‘I understand that the House of the North is funding a number of orphanages on the Earthly Plane for young humans?’

John made an almost undetectable nod towards me.

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘The House is funding them in conjunction with the staff of the Twelve Villages.’

‘Evacuate the villages,’ the Emperor said. He lifted one hand over his shoulder and spoke to the fairy without turning towards her. ‘Accommodate them here.’

She nodded.

‘When?’ John said.

‘Now.’

‘What about the orphanages?’ I said. ‘A motherless child can’t enter the Celestial Plane.’

‘Station guards. I expect to see the villagers residing here within the next two weeks.’

‘Two weeks?’ I said, horrified.

‘Two weeks. Last item.’ The Jade Emperor shifted slightly. ‘This is vital.’

John and I shared a surreptitious look.

The Emperor hesitated for a moment, then said intensely, ‘You are completely forbidden from adopting a child from one of the orphanages as your own.’ He glanced from me to John. ‘Both of you are forbidden. Your duties are clear; you will not need the distraction of caring for a child. After what happened with Simone, I’m sure you agree with me. Maybe when this matter is settled I may release this prohibition; but for now it stays.’

John and I stared at him, speechless; then I said, ‘I wasn’t even considering it.’

‘Good. Don’t.’

‘Why this limitation? What will happen to her?’ John said, his voice raw.

‘That entirely depends upon the choices you make; and one of these choices absolutely must be
not to adopt a child
. Is this understood?’

‘Celestial Majesty,’ we said mechanically in unison.

He raised his teacup. ‘Dismissed.’

We saluted him and went out, unable to even begin discussing the implications of such an order.

‘Mummy.’

I slithered through the tunnels, listening for the baby’s call. A light ahead made me lift my serpent snout.

‘Muu … my.’

I went through an archway into a Nest chamber. A huge demon egg, four metres across, sat in the middle of the nest hollow, glowing gently. The child inside had the bright, hard eyes of a tiny foetus, and undeveloped hands waved in front of its huge, misshapen head. Its fish-like gills opened and closed, and its heart was visible beating in its ridged chest.

‘Mummy.’

‘You don’t exist,’ I said. ‘The biggest you could have been was three months, and that’s not big enough to survive.’ I dropped my serpent head. ‘You didn’t make it.’

‘I made it!’ the child said. ‘I’m in an egg and growing.’ Its voice changed to pain. ‘Why did you leave me?’

‘Because you died. You’re not alive, and this is a dream. I have this dream all the time because I want you to be alive.’

‘I want to be with you, Mummy,’ the child said, its eyes unblinking. It put its hands against the inside of the shell, pushing it towards me. The egg rolled and the baby shifted inside so that it stayed upright.

I turned to move away and heard it behind me. I looked back and it was descending on me. It would crush me.

‘You’re not real!’ I shouted at it, slithering for the door as fast as my body would take me. The egg wouldn’t fit through the doorway, it was too massive. If I could make it through, it couldn’t follow me. ‘You died!’

I felt its cold touch on my tail and jerked upright with a huge gasp.

I was sitting in our bed on the Mountain, the fire in the fireplace burned down to softly glowing coals. John was next to me, his face peaceful in sleep.

I fell back onto the pillow. Even though I was aware of the dream when I was in it, it was still terrifying. I’d checked and double-checked with the medical staff as well as the demon masters. Everybody was sure that it was impossible for a three-month-old foetus to live, but there was always that tiny niggling doubt, and as long as it existed the dream would trouble me.

I pulled the silk quilt back over me. John and I had fallen asleep naked, skin to skin, after a warm evening of gentle lovemaking. I snuggled next to him, glad he hadn’t woken, and stretched my feet under the quilt.

I felt something cold and slippery with my feet and stopped, filled with dread. Carefully, so I didn’t wake John, I pulled the quilt off my feet; they were covered in blood. Trying to control the nausea, I lifted the quilt from John’s legs. They’d cut the ends of his feet off. Blood covered everything and the sight sent me over the edge.

I rushed to the end of the bed, leaned over it and threw up on the floor. Horrified at myself and even more horrified at John’s feet, I tapped the stone.

‘What?’ it said, its voice sluggish.

I retched a few times as I held the stone over John’s feet. I wiped my mouth on a clean corner of the quilt.

‘By all the Buddhas,’ the stone said, its voice soft with dismay. ‘Give me a moment.’

I went back up the bed to John’s face and put my hand on his forehead. He was unconscious, breathing gently, but his eyes were moving rapidly under his eyelids. They’d knocked him out but he was obviously feeling it.

‘Edwin’s on his way. Put something on,’ the stone said.

My side of the bed was against the wall, so I was forced to climb over John to get out. I clambered carefully over him, unwilling to do any energetic moves that might disturb him, found his black silk robe and pulled it around me, the fresh scent of the ocean rising from it. I attempted to roll up the sleeves but they wouldn’t go so I gave up. The bottom of the robe brushed the floor.

Edwin tapped on the door and came in, then stopped when he saw John. ‘Can you carry him?’

‘I’m strong enough to lift him but he’s too big for me to carry,’ I said. ‘He drags on the floor. Bring a stretcher.’

Edwin moved to go out again but the stone stopped him.

‘I have it,’ the stone said. ‘A couple of demons are coming to carry him to the infirmary.’

John made a soft sound in his throat and his face twisted.

‘He’s coming around, tell them to hurry,’ I said.

‘They’re downstairs,’ the stone said.

John’s eyes snapped open and he bellowed with pain, arching his back. He clawed at the sheets then covered the entire bed with ice. The demons entered, and hesitated when they saw he was naked.

‘John,’ I said, moving closer. ‘John, it’s me, Emma. Edwin’s here. Let us take you to the infirmary.’

The ice exploded outwards. I threw my arms in front of my face and some of the shards sliced my forearms with shallow cuts. John yelled again, then lay rigid, panting with effort.

‘I’m … here,’ John said.

‘You okay, Edwin?’ I said.

‘Not hit. You?’

‘Nothing major.’ I pulled the bloodied quilt over John to cover his nakedness. ‘Bring the stretcher.’

The demons crept closer as John flopped back.

‘Holy shit, this hurts!’ he said. ‘What the hell did they do to me?’

I lifted him to slide him onto the stretcher. ‘They cut half your feet off, love.’

His eyes widened as I settled him onto the stretcher. ‘I won’t be able to balance to fight.’

‘That’s the least of your problems,’ Edwin said. He nodded to the demons. ‘Bring him.’

I adjusted the robe around me and followed them.

‘Can he take True Form and fix this?’ Edwin said as we placed John onto the hospital bed. The quilt slipped off and I threw it to one side and replaced it with a clean sheet.

‘No, he might rejoin.’ I put my hand on his forehead. ‘Do you need pain relief?’

‘That would be good,’ John said, his expression strained. I put my hands on either side of his head and he grabbed my wrists. ‘Not you.’

I looked up at one of the demons. ‘Tell Master Meredith what’s happened.’

Edwin put on a surgical mask and gloves, then filled a syringe. ‘This will help.’ He injected it into the bottom of John’s feet and pulled a trolley closer. He mopped at the blood. ‘They cut right through the middle of your feet; all your toes are gone.’

‘They cut the end of my tail off,’ John said. ‘It will take months to grow it back if I can’t take True Form.’

Edwin glanced up from his cleaning effort. ‘I didn’t know you could grow back body parts.’

‘Normally I’m in Court Ten before the process begins,’ John said. He took a deep breath. ‘That’s working. Maybe don’t wake Meredith up.’

‘Too late,’ Meredith said as she and her husband, Liu, came into the infirmary, both wearing old-fashioned flannel pyjamas with tartan dressing gowns over the top. She stopped when she saw his feet. ‘Bloody hell.’

‘How the hell are you supposed to practise the Arts like this?’ Liu said, studying his feet. ‘Your balance will be completely ruined. You may even need sticks to walk, like a woman with bound feet.’

‘I know,’ John said, sounding desperate. ‘I need to see how bad it is.’

‘The Demon King used to be a human girl. She had her feet bound,’ I said.

‘They’ve done the same thing to him,’ Meredith said, understanding.

‘No, they cut the end of my tail off,’ John said. ‘Hurry up, Edwin, just roughly clean it up. I want to see if my Celestial Form is injured as well.’

‘No. This will take at least an hour. I want to make sure it’s a tidy amputation and there’s no infection,’ Edwin said.

‘There won’t be any infection. I’m a god and we’re on the fucking Celestial Plane,’ John growled. ‘Just slap some hot tar on them and leave it. I need to see if my Celestial Form is damaged!’

Pain and shock making him irritable
, Meredith said, and I nodded.

John raised himself on one elbow and glared up at her. ‘Nobody speaks silently in my presence.’

‘Shut up, I’m working on tying off the blood vessels,’ Edwin said, unfazed. ‘Give me any grief and I’ll put you under.’

‘Try me,’ John said, then flopped back and closed his eyes.

‘Send someone to wake my assistant, I need him to run suction,’ Edwin said.

‘I’ll get him,’ Liu said, and went out.

A shout went up outside. Every Disciple on the Mountain had gathered at the Great Court in front of True Way to perform the morning energy-work set.

John’s eyebrows bunched together over his closed eyes. ‘I need to be out there.’

‘Audrey has it,’ Meredith said.

‘They need to see me. They need reassuring.’

‘They will. Tomorrow,’ Edwin said. ‘Keep still, dammit!’

An hour later, the Lius had left for the morning meeting and Edwin tied off the last suture.

He leaned back. ‘How’s the pain?’

‘Nonexistent,’ John said.

Edwin glanced at me and I shrugged. We were both accustomed to him lying about things like this.

‘All right, up you get,’ Edwin said. ‘Expect some dizziness from the blood loss. And take it slowly.’

John sat up and levered himself over the edge of the bed to stand leaning on it. I handed him some clothes. He pulled the black cotton pants on without underwear, then stopped when the waistband was at his hips. He’d have to stand free of the bed to pull the pants on all the way.

He spoke to Edwin over his shoulder. ‘Leave me.’

‘No,’ Edwin said. ‘I want to see how much physical therapy you’ll need.’

John sighed gently and rubbed one hand over his face. I held my forearm out to support him, and he stared at it for a full minute before relenting and taking it with one hand. He leaned on me while he stood, his expression intense as he worked out how affected his balance was. He released my arm and pulled his pants all the way up, tying the waist string.

He nodded to me and I moved back. He dropped his head and concentrated, and his form shimmered. His expression grew more intense, his eyes closed, and his edges blurred then solidified. He stood straighter; his feet were okay. I breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Excellent … What?’ Edwin said.

John shimmered again and went solid; his feet had reverted. He gave up and sagged. The damage was to his True Form and, like the other injuries the Demon King had inflicted on his Serpent, was too significant for him to heal in his human form for more than a couple of minutes.

John swayed from side to side, then forward to back. He took a hesitant step, and his face filled with triumph as he took a couple more. He was obviously having difficulty with his balance but he could move. He gingerly performed the first few moves of a hand-to-hand set, then stopped and nodded.

He glanced at Edwin. ‘Nice job.’

‘Take Celestial Form,’ Edwin said. ‘Do it without shoes so we’ll be able to tell immediately.’

‘Back, Emma,’ John said, and I gave him room.

He took full dark ugly Celestial Form, still in just a plain pair of black pants. His hair came out and writhed around his head, and he had to stoop to fit under the ceiling of the infirmary.

‘Shit,’ he said softly. The ends of his feet were still gone.

‘Go down to the Grotto for a couple of hours and take True Form,’ I said.

‘The Serpent is in too much pain. I wouldn’t be able to resist its call,’ he said, shifting back to his usual human form.

Edwin came around to check that the stitches were still in his feet, then moved back, satisfied. ‘Back on the table and I’ll wrap them up,’ he said.

John levered himself back up to sit while Edwin bandaged his feet.

‘Can you fly everywhere instead of walking?’ Edwin said.

‘No,’ John said, and didn’t elaborate.

‘Don’t walk too much, you’ll open up the stitches,’ Edwin said. ‘I’d like to put them in plaster casts but I know you won’t let me. Just understand this.’ He looked John in the eye. ‘It will take a few weeks for them to heal to the stage where the stitches won’t be blown open by vigorous activity; and if you open them up too many times, I’ll have to trim your feet back even further to have a clean seal.’

I sighed softly. It would be nearly impossible to stop John from practising.

‘Most of what I’m doing right now is administration and planning,’ John said, his voice low. ‘Not a problem.’

Edwin and I shared a shocked look, and I shrugged again.

Edwin pinned the last of the bandages to John’s feet. ‘Put some slippers over them so the bandages don’t wear. Leo’s should be big enough.’ He leaned back and studied his work. ‘You can walk gently back to the Residence, but try to stay off them otherwise.’

John levered himself off the table and pulled on the Mountain uniform shirt. ‘Come on, Emma, you’re still covered in blood. Let’s clean you up and find something to eat.’

He shuffled towards the door, putting a hand on Edwin’s shoulder as he passed him. ‘Thank you.’

‘My Lord,’ Edwin said, rolling up bandages.

John and I both stopped once we’d cleared the infirmary door.

‘Tell me where you want me,’ I said.

He linked his arm in mine. ‘Does this look normal?’

‘Depends whether the students know or not,’ I said.

He was silent for a moment, checking, then sagged slightly. ‘The household staff had to clean up the mess in our bedroom. They asked the demons who carried me down what happened.’

‘So everybody knows?’

‘Hn.’ He shifted his weight, leaning on my shoulder with one hand instead. ‘I’m not too heavy?’

‘You’re fine. Let’s go to the Residence and you can eat something, then practise getting your balance back.’

‘Not too fast,’ he said, his weight heavy on me as I guided him back to our house.

While John, still weak from blood loss, had a nap, I went to my office. I was looking at the armoury stocks when Yi Hao spoke silently to me.
A son of the White Tiger is here to see you, ma’am
.

‘Michael?’ I called.

Marcus, husband of our ex-housekeeper, Monica, came in with Yi Hao behind him. ‘No, it’s me, ma’am.’

‘Oh! Come on in, Marcus, I haven’t seen you in ages.’ I nodded to Yi Hao. ‘Make sure I’m not disturbed while we’re talking, and bring us a pot of Western tea or something, will you?’

‘Ma’am,’ Yi Hao said, and went out.

‘Sit, Marcus, sit,’ I said. ‘Why didn’t Monica come as well? We haven’t seen her in a while either.’ I raised the telephone handset. ‘Did you bring her? I can round up Simone and Leo and we can have a family get-together. I’m sorry, we’re always so busy we never seem to have time to talk to you, and we all really miss you both.’