Red Phoenix (15 page)

A
fter we’d changed into the swimwear the Tiger provided for us, John led me out of the room and into the long outdoor hallway. He took me down carved wooden stairs to the ground floor, and along the breezeway through the gardens. The demon gardeners looked up and smiled as we went past.

‘How much time did you spend here before?’ I said. ‘Were you here often?’

‘I honestly miss it.’ He stopped and looked around. ‘When I wasn’t on the Mountain, or in the Northern Heavens, I spent quite a lot of time here. The Tiger and I shared some good times.’ ‘He misses you.’

‘Yes, he does.’ He took my hand. ‘Come on, let’s go for a swim.’

We continued through the gardens. ‘I have not seen a single one of these notorious women that you both carry on about,’ I said. ‘I’m beginning to think it was just pure bravado on his part, and a careful scheme by you to keep me out of his paws.’

‘You have found me out. I just didn’t want him to have a chance with you.’ He smiled sideways at me. ‘Not even I am permitted into the women’s quarters. He’s probably
hunted them away from the pool as well. He’s very protective of his females.’ He nodded. ‘Here we are.’

It was more like a country club than a swimming pool. Palm trees and red rocks surrounded the freeform lagoon; a couple of demon servants waited attentively next to the deck chairs that flanked the pool bar.

‘Geez, this is the life.’ I looked around. ‘This is like a five-star resort.’

‘He’s a tiger. He likes his swimming.’

‘With his women, as well. Shades of the Playboy mansion.’

John laughed softly. ‘You are very perceptive sometimes.’

‘You can’t swim though, John, it’s chlorinated.’

‘It’s not. It’s kept pure by some sort of Celestial thing. I can go in.’

‘Some sort of Celestial thing? Is that a scientific term?’

He stopped, his face completely blank. Then he spun, grabbed me and tossed me over his shoulder. He ran to the pool and threw me in, towel and all, then jumped in after me.

I lay back on the deck chair with the crossword on my knees. I sipped the rich, ice-cold fruit drink, then returned the glass to the table and the demon waiter refilled it for me. John was at the bottom of the pool; he’d been there for some time. The occasional bubble rising from his dark shape was the only sign he was alive.

‘Damn if he hasn’t gone and fallen asleep at the bottom of the pool again.’ The Tiger strolled over to me and sat down next to the deck chair. ‘He does that every single goddamn time.’

‘Is that what he’s doing? I was wondering. How come he can stay so long under the water? He’s in human form, doesn’t he need to breathe?’

‘He’s in his element. Even drained and in human form, it’s his element. Even when I’m drained I can still do things with metal.’

‘That’s right, your element is metal. What can you do?’

‘Just about anything.’ He looked around. The spoon lifted out of my drink and floated to him. He sat up, held it in front of his face and closed his eyes.

The spoon changed to gold.

‘Take it,’ he said.

I plucked the spoon out of the air. ‘Really gold?’

‘Yep. Not worth anything here on the Plane, but on Earth it’s quite handy. I have to be careful not to do it too much, don’t want to upset the world economy. Let it go, I have it.’

The spoon lifted from my fingers and I released it. It floated in front of his whiskers again. ‘Note, my Lady Emma, nothing up my sleeve.’ The spoon changed to copper. He concentrated, and the spoon folded up into a ball slightly smaller than a golf ball. He changed the copper ball to gold, then to silver, then it changed shape again until it was a little silver tiger.

‘Stop.’ I took the tiger out of the air. ‘This is really sweet.’

‘You like it? It’s platinum.’ He concentrated, and the little tiger floated off my hand. A tiny loop grew out of its back. Another spoon floated off the table next to me, went shiny, and turned into a matching chain. The chain threaded itself through the loop, and the platinum tiger drifted back down to settle on my hand.

‘It’s delightful,’ I said. ‘I’ll give it to Simone. She’ll love it.’

He was speechless for a moment, his tawny eyes glowing. ‘I’ll make one for you as well if you like. It would flatter your pale skin.’

‘No need. One for Simone is enough. I don’t need anything.’ I glanced at the bubbles rising from John’s
dark form. ‘I have everything I could possibly want in the whole world.’ I had an inspiration. ‘Is Louise here?’

‘Nope. You just missed her. About twenty of them went shopping in Paris this morning. Not to worry, you’ll see her there. Look around Rue du Faubourg St Honoré. They always go crazy in there, costs me a fortune.’

‘You should buy shares in the fashion houses, if the others are anything like her. She won’t buy anything for months, then go berserk and spend a fortune on clothes and shoes.’

‘I already did. Bought a couple of hotels for them to stay in, as well. Wherever they are, they stay with me.’

‘You said they never want to leave. You lied to our faces.’

He looked blank for a moment, then understood; his mouth opened to reveal his gleaming fangs. ‘No, my Lady, I said they never
want
to leave.’

‘Why would Rhonda leave if she didn’t want to?’

‘Because she is quite remarkable.’ He glanced at the pool. ‘He’d better get his shell into gear, I have a big dinner planned for you two. And I want you both looking halfway neat.’

‘Oh no, Tiger, please, you know that neither of us does neat.’

‘Not a single hole in any of the clothes that you wear. And try to keep your hair tidy for at least the first five minutes.’

‘Yeah, why is his hair always coming out? It’s like it has a life of its own. And he hates wearing shoes, he’ll always go barefoot if he has the choice.’

‘Ask him. It’s a long story.’ He pulled himself up and stretched, his tail shivering. He yawned widely, making his whiskers stand out from his face. ‘Time for the Turtle to move his shell.’

He loped to the pool, jumped in and disappeared under the water.

The water swirled, exploding into a huge whirlpool with the Tiger at its centre. The water expanded and rose like a water spout with the Tiger on top, a look of horror on his tiger face.

The column of water carried the Tiger to the edge and unceremoniously tipped him off. He landed gracefully on his feet at the edge of the pool.

‘You
bastard
!’ he yelled. ‘This is the thanks I get for looking after your Lady while you sleep your ass off in
my
pool! You are a lazy piece of shit and should get your fucking shell
moving
!’

‘I think you are in big trouble, Tiger.’ I rose from the deck chair, still holding my drink. I leapt, somersaulted, and landed lightly on the roof of the pool bar about twenty metres away. I knew what was coming.

‘Would you like me to freshen your drink for you while you’re up there, ma’am?’ the demon servant said from the bar below.

‘No, thank you,’ I called down. ‘I think we’ll be leaving soon.’

The entire contents of the swimming pool lifted like a huge watery brick. It rose in a single glistening transparent lump and hovered over the Tiger. John stood on the bottom of the empty pool and grinned.

‘Holy fucking
shit
!’ the Tiger roared, but it was too late.

John dropped the entire pool of water on the Tiger. The Tiger crouched like a cowed house cat as the water poured over him. The noise was incredible; it seemed to go on forever. Finally the deluge stopped, and there was complete silence except for the thin noise of the water trickling back into the pool.

Suddenly the water on the paving rushed together and cascaded back into the pool where it formed
watery steps. John casually walked up the stairs and stepped out. He saw me on the roof. ‘Told you that move needed work. That was much more like it. Did you spill your drink?’

That was it. I fell off the roof laughing.

We walked back in the glowing late afternoon sun. ‘I like that swimsuit. You should keep it,’ John said.

‘I won’t keep it because you like it. I dress for me, not for you.’

‘I can tell. Most of the time you dress like a street sleeper.’

‘Oh, that’s
very good
coming from you,’ I shot back. ‘You didn’t even know I threw those awful old pants away.’

‘I found them in the trash and took them back. I like them. They’re comfortable.’

‘I found where you’d hidden them and threw them away again. Face it. You will never see those awful old pants again.’

He stopped with his hand on the doorknob. ‘I may put a hole in one of the new pairs that Leo bought me, just to annoy you.’

Two smiling demon servants waited for us inside with a portable rack of clothing. We immediately sent them out.

‘Most of this is designer gear,’ I said as we flipped through the rack. I handed him a plain black cotton shirt, and he swapped it for a black
cheongsam
embroidered with silver good-luck bats. ‘He hates us.’

‘He loves us.’ He took the plain black slacks from me and pulled his swim shorts off. ‘Thanks.’ He reached around the rack, grabbed me and pulled me in for a lingering kiss. ‘Let’s do it Japanese-style.’

‘I hope you mean have a bath Japanese-style.’ I released myself and pulled my swimsuit off. We went
into the bathroom together. ‘Can you fill the bath quickly?’

‘Right now I can only work with water once it’s there. When I’m not drained I can make it rain in a focused area, but it’s too hard right now.’ He threw our swimsuits into the linen basket and they disappeared. ‘We’ll have to fill the bath normally.’

‘Damn. That bath’s enormous. It’ll take a while to fill up. Having it Japanese-style is a good idea.’

‘Not washing here.’ He started the water into the bath. ‘This bathroom isn’t set up for it. Have a shower first.’

He pulled me into the shower. ‘I should have shown you this in the pool, but I fell asleep. Hold your head under the water and breathe it.’

I tried it. He was right. I could breathe the water. It was a most remarkable feeling.

Then he washed me and that was an even better feeling. He took his time, soaping me all over. He pressed himself against me as he did it, then pushed me forward out of the water to wash my hair.

I rinsed my hair, then turned, put my hands behind his neck and pulled his face down to mine. We stayed under the water together for a while. I breathed the water as I kissed him; the water was sweet in our mouths and flowed deliciously between us.

I pulled away. ‘Let me wash you. Turn around.’

His long hair took a great deal of shampoo. When wet it went down to the tops of his thighs. I lingered, enjoying the sensation of his silken hair running through my fingers. I pushed him to sit in the shower and massaged his scalp. He leaned back into me and closed his eyes.

I bent to speak into his ear. ‘Remind me to give you a massage later. All over.’

‘You are absolutely on,’ he said, his voice a low rumble.

I squeezed the water out of his hair and pulled him up. ‘The desert’s making your hair very dry. It needs a treatment.’

‘It’s because I’m so drained. After Paris it will be okay again.’

I brushed the grey at his temples. ‘I like this though. It makes you look distinguished.’

He smiled over his shoulder at me, then his head shot up and his face went blank. He quickly jumped out of the shower.

The bath had overflowed.

He turned the water off, then moved the excess from the bath to the shower in a floating shiny blob. He dried the floor at the same time, then reached into the shower and gently guided me into the bath.

We stepped in together. We watched each other as we sank into the steaming, crystal-clear water. It was Japanese-style, breathtakingly hot.

His face remained expressionless as he dropped his head into the water and his long hair floated around him. He reached to me and took my hand, then tugged it gently.

I dipped my head under the water as well. I took a deep breath, trusting him completely. I could still breathe the water. He pulled me into him so we touched all over, breathing the water together.

Our mouths met and we floated together. The water was sweet and pure and hot.

We stayed under for a very long time.

He sat with his arms draped over the side of the bath and I lay on top of him with my arms folded across his chest. The water was beginning to cool but neither of us was eager to move.

‘Your eyes haven’t gone black since,’ I said with a touch of disappointment.

His chest moved under me as he laughed softly. ‘You are so different.’ ‘Different?’

He didn’t say anything, he just smiled down at me. I heard what he’d said and pulled myself up so that my eyes were level with his.

‘What did Michelle do the first time? I hope she wasn’t too frightened.’

He still smiled, but I could see he was hesitant about what to say.

‘It’s okay, I understand,’ I said. ‘I’m just interested. It must have been terrifying for her.’

‘It was.’ He unfocused, remembering. ‘She didn’t take it nearly as well as you have. In fact she nearly left me on the spot.’ His eyes wrinkled up. ‘I can’t believe we’re talking about this.’

‘I like to think that there’s nothing we can’t talk about.’ I dropped my chin onto my arms where they lay on his chest. ‘What did she do?’

‘She said if I ever did it again, she’d kill me. So I let her.’

I went completely still. His smile didn’t shift.

‘I gave her a little revolver, and showed her how to use it. She put it beside the bed. If my eyes went black, she’d shoot me. Right between the eyes. One minute I’m seeing the rich brown eyes of my love, the next minute it’s the ugly face of the Judge.’

‘Judge?’

He shook his head, still smiling. ‘Your eyes are a very bright shade of blue, you know that? The first time I saw blue eyes I thought the European was blind.’

‘They’re more grey than blue.’ I pulled him back to the point. ‘She’d
shoot
you?’

‘I took the human form with me so there wouldn’t be a mess. I’d be gone for at least a day, sometimes more. I think she enjoyed it.’