Demon Child (5 page)

I gestured towards the wall next to the wardrobe doors. ‘Walk through there.’

She hesitated, unsure, and I took her by the hand and led her through the wall. John’s battledress and my black enamel armour sat on wooden dummies in the small room behind.

Smally turned back to where we’d come through the wall. ‘I would never have known that was there.’

‘That’s the idea,’ I said, lifting the armour off its stand. ‘Help me get this damn thing done up, will you? He won’t want to be late.’

‘He looks unwell, ma’am, is he all right? We rely on him,’ she said as she helped me into the armour.

‘Nobody is to know that he requires the walking stick,’ I said. ‘If you tell anyone he will be extremely upset.
Nobody must know
.’

‘I understand, ma’am, you can trust me.’

We would see. John was obviously testing her ability to stay quiet, but it would be a major concern if word went out about his feet.

‘Did you order him the tea and fruit?’ I said, and her eyes widened. I patted her on the arm. ‘Just tell Thirty-Eight and she’ll do it. Ask her to bring him some pain-killing medicine as well.’

She nodded, obviously communicating, then snapped back and studied my armour, her voice thick. ‘I’ve only been working for you for an hour and I’ve already ruined my chances of staying.’

‘No, you haven’t. You’ve been very useful already, and I’ll keep you around at least for the next week or so. Talk to Thirty-Eight about having quarters allocated here in the Residence.’

She lit up, her smile wide with joy that made me feel good as well.

‘I thought your armour appeared out of nowhere,’ she said, glancing back at John’s battledress.

‘I can’t do that. He can, but right now it’s easier for him to have some physical armour standing by so he can pull it to him.’

‘I never knew he could become weak like this,’ she said, her voice soft. ‘It’s very scary.’

‘I know.’

‘He thinks I’m cute?’ she said as she helped me with the buckles. She stopped for a moment. ‘If I was to work here, would part of my duties … I mean, it’s an honour, ma’am, I understand that it’s often part of the duties …’ She flushed and busied herself with the buckles. ‘I don’t mind, really, it’s an honour.’

It was a valid question to ask any traditional Empress; it was the Empress’s job to provide the Emperor with as many sexual partners as he required. Expressing any anger at what she’d suffered in Hell would probably make her shut down in self-defence so I deliberately kept my voice very even when I answered.

‘I understand what you’re asking, Smally, and no, that won’t happen here. Has it happened to you before?’

She shuddered, making herself busy to cover it. ‘I was a small demon in Hell, and I was noticed by one of the Princes.’ She nodded to herself, choosing her words carefully. ‘He singled me out for special attention and told me that I was honoured. I did feel honoured; I never thought I’d be pretty enough to gain anyone’s attention. But what he did …’ She took a deep breath. ‘I took a chance and escaped with my nest mates to join the Dark Lord. I never thought I’d make it, and here I am.’

‘Was this about ten or twelve years ago?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘I remember that.’ I smiled as she tightened the buckles. ‘A whole bunch of you turned up on our doorstep. We didn’t know what to do with you all.’

‘We worked hard to rebuild the beautiful Mountain,’ she said with pride. ‘The Dark Lord treated us with care, and we did our best to repay his kindness. When the rebuilding was complete, they even asked where we would like to be assigned! It was so different …’ Her voice trailed off.

‘Nothing that happened in Hell will ever happen here, Smally. We will protect all of you and treat you with respect.’

She visibly relaxed and let out a tiny sigh of relief. ‘Sometimes, ma’am, I stop and think: today, nobody will hurt me, nobody will do anything bad to me. I don’t have to be afraid.’ She wiped her
eyes. ‘Sometimes I just stop and … relish the feeling of being happy. It’s something I thought I would never have.’

‘Since the Dark Lord came back, I feel the same way.’

‘You’ve been hurt too, ma’am?’ she said, wide-eyed.

‘Nothing compared to what you’ve suffered, but it’s wonderful to have the Dark Lord back after so many years alone.’ I raised my arms and swung them, and the armour didn’t pinch anywhere. ‘Good job. Can you put my hair up in the ebony spike for me?’

‘I can do your make-up, ma’am,’ she said, pleased, ‘and put ornaments in your hair.’

‘No make-up, no ornaments, just the spike.’

‘What, like a man?’ she said. ‘You should have a prettier hairstyle than that. Something more decorative. I would be delighted to put your hair into a feminine style, I have practised.’ She studied my hair. ‘Some gold ornaments and a comb would be much more suitable for someone of your rank.’

I tapped the breastplate. ‘I’m a warrior.’

‘But with no make-up, you’ll look like a man. They let you dress as a man?’ she said. ‘I didn’t realise — I mean, I know you wear armour and you’re a warrior, but dressed like this you look like a man.’

‘I’m not dressed as a man,’ I said. ‘I’m dressed as me. I’m not here to be decorative, I’m here to do a job. Come on.’ I walked back through the wall and sat at the dressing table. ‘Put it up and put the spike through it.’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ she said. She shook her head as she pulled my hair up. ‘You are turning everything upside down. You make the world look so different. I feel like I don’t know anything any more.’

‘Then you’re probably ready to begin learning,’ I said.

I pulled my Doc Martens on, and Smally laced one while I laced the other. When we were done we went back out to the courtyard, where John was waiting for us with a sliced nashi pear and some grapes in front of him. We shared a nod and I went to him.

He stood with effort, leaning on the stick, and glanced over my shoulder at Smally. ‘Return to your duties.’

Smally’s voice was soft with disappointment. ‘At the laundry?’

‘No,’ John said.

I turned to her. ‘Smally, you were planning to clean out my closet. We’ll be a while so take your time.’

Smally lit up and bowed low with a huge grin. ‘My Lady.’ She spun and nearly skipped back into the house.

I turned back to John. ‘All set?’

‘Just arranging a private place to land.’ I waited for a moment, and then he nodded. ‘Fixed.’

He held his hand out to me and I took it. We stood, hands clasped, gazing into each other’s eyes, then the world spun and I blacked out.

I came around on a simple coconut-fibre mattress laid on the floor in a bare room. John was sitting cross-legged next to me, and nobody else was present. I sat up, then lowered my head as a moment of dizziness took me. I breathed deeply, aware of his concerned attention, then sat back up and shook out my shoulders.

‘How long was I out?’

‘Half an hour.’ He took his hair out, leaned forward, tied it into a topknot then tossed it back. ‘I was out for fifteen minutes.’

‘Are you okay?’

He nodded, his dark eyes full of restrained emotion. ‘You aren’t.’

‘I’ll get there.’

I leaned on the wall to pull myself upright, my insides protesting, then bent as another wave of dizziness made the room spin. I carefully levered myself to vertical, then waited for John. He did exactly the same thing, also stopping before he could be completely upright. He concentrated and grew to his mid-forties form wearing his black robe and armour, same as me.

Yanluo Wang, Lord of the Underworld, opened the door and poked his head around. ‘My Lord.’

‘We’re ready,’ John said.

Wang looked from John to me, his expression carefully controlled, then opened the door wider. ‘This way.’

When we arrived in his office, Wang leaned on the back of his big leather executive chair and put one hand out towards John.
‘Surely you can take True Form or come through the Courts? This must be driving you crazy.’

‘The damage is to the Serpent, and it’s infected,’ John said, grimacing with pain as he sat. ‘Even if the Turtle goes through the Courts the damage will still be there. We have to make a hard decision: give me antibiotics in the hope that they’ll transfer to the Serpent, or let me suffer and hope that I die of it.’ He corrected himself. ‘The Serpent dies of it.’

‘I understand your nature. What are the demons doing about it? Are they treating it?’

John leaned on the table and rubbed his eyes. ‘They hadn’t been in the holding pen in months. I was totally unprepared when they came in and chopped my tail off, and I haven’t seen them since. I sincerely wish my Serpent was a small enough Shen to die of starvation.’

Wang quickly went to the door of his office and poked his head out to talk to someone, then sat behind the desk. ‘Can you use donor energy to rebuild yourself?’

‘I would drain any donor,’ John said. ‘They would be gone.’

‘I used to wonder why the Ancients talked about the Jade Emperor’s multiple souls,’ I said.

‘The Celestial hasn’t done it in a very long time,’ Wang said. ‘It is very much a last resort, because it takes him a century of solitude and meditation to extricate the life force and release it again.’ He tapped the table. ‘Find a willing donor. Pay the price later.’

‘I don’t know how to extricate them,’ John said. ‘If I take them, they’re gone.’

‘This just gets better and better,’ Wang said grimly. ‘How many souls have you consumed in the past, Ah Wu? Surely the Jade Emperor taught you the technique when you did it?’

‘I have never done it,’ John said with fierce dignity.

‘Never? What about before you turned to the Celestial? I’ve heard the stories.’

John’s face was rigid with restraint. ‘That was not me. Here and now I am the Celestial Xuan Wu, and I have never drained anyone’s life force.’

‘But a couple of years ago you absorbed the Heavenly Star …’ Wang said, glancing at me.

‘The Star gave me his energy and reverted to a mindless nature spirit. I did not absorb him completely,’ John said.

‘I see.’ Wang rubbed his chin. ‘The reason I’ve called you in here is a very high-security matter, but I’m sure you won’t be too surprised when you hear what it is.’

One of his assistants, wearing a Qing-style robe in black with a red border, brought a massive book into the office and put it in front of Wang. Another assistant placed a jug of water and some glasses on the table. Both of them bowed to us and went out.

‘Holy shit, is that the book?’ I said.

It was thirty centimetres to a side and twenty thick, with a heavy dark brown leather cover and pages stained by age to a similar colour.

‘You’re not supposed to see it,’ Wang said with amusement.

John poured himself a glass of water and drank it quickly. ‘Show her where Sun Wu Kong defaced it.’

I stared at John. ‘He really did that?’

‘Damn monkey,’ Wang growled. He opened the book on the table, then held his hand over it and the pages flipped backwards and forwards by themselves. They settled onto a page with a red ink-brush stain and splotches across it. ‘He was Immortal already, he’d learned to dance the stars and ride the wind, and he came down here and defaced the book anyway. Asshole.’

‘So he crossed his name out?’ I said.

‘In vermilion ink, insulting the Jade Emperor at the same time,’ Wang said.

‘Stupid bastard crossed out the wrong name too,’ John said. ‘That’s not him.’

‘Yeah, this is a kid born on Hainan Island who had the same name,’ Wang said. ‘Gained Immortality through a clerical error.’

‘So what’s the problem now?’ John said, raising his glass of water at Wang. ‘I assume the demons haven’t tried the defences yet. What’s going on?’

Wang held his hand over the book and the pages flipped again. It stopped and he read down the characters. ‘It’s very reassuring to have some of the Thirty-Six here, but I’m beginning to wonder if their first assault will be Celestial Hell after all.’

‘It will be. If they can control all of Hell, every one of us who dies will be trapped here. It has to be their first strategic target.’

‘There don’t seem to be any of them left on the demonic side at all,’ Wang said. ‘They’ve stopped releasing people from the Pits.’

‘What?’ John said, his voice flat.

Wang tapped the book. ‘Here’s one. Went in mid-Qing Dynasty. Sentenced by every single court; he was a nasty piece of work. Bribed and murdered his way to provincial governor: he killed people and took over their positions, then raped and murdered their wives and children. Raped three babies to death. Embezzled fifteen million yuan from his citizens. Allowed health care and infrastructure to fall into ruin while he lived a lavish lifestyle of cruelty and excess. I watched with a great deal of satisfaction as he was released from each level only to be sentenced by the Courts to suffer in the next.’ He looked up at John. ‘Was due to be released last week after two hundred and fifty years of torture. Never came out. Nobody’s been released from the demonic side in two months.’

‘How many haven’t been released?’ John said.

‘Four.’

‘How many are still in there?’

‘One thousand, three hundred and …’ Wang checked the book. ‘Seventeen.’ He looked up at John. ‘We need to get them out. Their sentences are complete. You could go undercover and find your Serpent at the same time.’

‘The JE won’t let him,’ I said. ‘If both of him are trapped, we’ll lose for sure.’

‘So what do we do?’ Wang said.

‘Try a diplomatic solution first; we’re the good guys here,’ I said. ‘Give the King a chance to do the right thing. Call him or a senior lieutenant for a meeting on neutral ground halfway across the first causeway, and try to talk them into releasing the people who are due.’

‘My Lord?’

‘Emma speaks for me; she always knows what I’m thinking and right now she has twice the brains I do. If I am silent I agree with her and you do not need to confirm with me.’

Wang looked from John to me. ‘You share your thoughts?’

‘No,’ John and I said at the same time, and both of us winced.

‘Maybe the Serpent —’ Wang began.

‘No!’ John and I snapped in unison and shifted uncomfortably, then went still when we realised what we were doing.