White Tiger

  ‘You want her?’ John said.

  I nodded as I trotted past.

  ‘You’ll have to get off her eventually, Emma.’

  ‘Can the Tiger teach me how to capriole?’

  ‘Certainly, my Lady, that is a very useful skill in battle. You handle the demons to the front and side, the horse can handle those behind. We’ve bred some heavier blood into the Arabs to give them the bone to handle Airs Above, but you will have to be careful not to stress her bones too much.’ He nodded with satisfaction. ‘It’s a good fit. You will make a striking couple riding together at the country club, my Lord. Send me a photo, I’ll put it up above my desk.’

  ‘You’ll never see it then,’ John said. ‘You never do your own paperwork.’

  ‘Then I’ll put it up above my bed.’

  I cantered to the Tiger, stopped behind him and rapped him sharply on the top of his white hair with the butt of my whip. ‘Don’t you dare.’ I galloped away again.

  I didn’t hear what John said, but both of them laughed.

  Then they went quiet. There was a silent rush of sound and a huge vibration through the ground.

  ‘Emma! Come back!’ John shouted, but I was already galloping towards him. I stopped in front of them and threw myself off Black Jade. One of the grooms grabbed her.

  Leo charged out of the house, pulled Simone off her pony and carried her over to us.

  The Tiger and John were both rigid, concentrating.

  ‘This is it,’ John said, eyes unseeing. ‘Take Simone into the house, get the demons to lock it up, and send them down to the city.’ He snapped back. ‘Leo, take Dark Heavens. Emma, use your own sword. Prepare for battle on the top-floor hallway.’ His eyes turned unseeing again. ‘This is a big one.’

  The Tiger vaulted onto Black Jade without bothering to put his feet in the stirrups. ‘You want a horse, Ah Wu?’

  ‘I’ll be better on the ground. But do me a favour, fetch me my sword?’ ‘Seven Stars?’ ‘Yep.’

  The Tiger dropped his head and concentrated, then threw the large sword to John who caught it easily.

  The other grooms mounted the remaining horses and weapons appeared in their hands. The ponies disappeared.

  ‘Go,’ John said. ‘Upstairs hallway.’

  ‘So, is this it?’ I whispered.

  ‘It could be, love.’ He smiled at me. ‘We don’t have time for goodbyes, Emma. Go.’

  ‘We don’t need words anyway.’

  I turned and followed Leo towards the house. Ah Yat waited for us next to the front door, her face ashen.

  Just as we reached the door the Tiger roared with fury. ‘That fucking bastard is mine! He broke into my stables in Ireland, killed all my horses, and raped and mutilated two of my women. Nobody is to touch him but me!’

  ‘Don’t kill him, I want him alive!’ John shouted back. ‘That one threatened my family!’

  ‘First to get him can have him, Ah Wu!’

  ‘You’re on,’ John said, but his voice was icy.

  Leo and I shared a look. Only one demon could stir such emotion.

  We made a stop in the training room to collect the weapons, then raced up the stairs to the hallway, Ah Yat trailing behind.

  ‘You know what’s happening, Simone?’ I said.

  ‘I know, Emma.’ She sounded unsure. ‘There’s an awful lot of them.’

  At the top of the stairs I turned to Ah Yat. ‘Lock up the house, and then all four of you head down to the city.’

  ‘We will stay and help you defend, my Lady.’ ‘Do as you’re told!’ I shouted. ‘That’s an order!’ She bowed and disappeared.

  The upstairs hallway was the perfect place for a defensive stand. It was more like a room than a hall; it had a comfortable couch, a television, and many of Simone’s toys strewn around on the floor. Simone used it as a playroom during the day. Leo and I kicked the toys to the side, clearing a space. The hall had a large picture window overlooking the lawn. We could see the Tiger, John and the grooms standing there, waiting.

  A flurry of bangs and crashes echoed through the house as the demons locked up.

  ‘Only our demons so far, Simone?’ ‘Yes, Emma.’

  Ah Sum came out of one of the upstairs bedrooms and bowed. ‘All secure, my Lady.’ ‘Good. Go.’

  He hesitated, then came to me and quickly embraced me; then Simone, kissing her on the cheek. ‘Defend them, Lion.’

  ‘I will,’ Leo said gruffly.

  Ah Sum disappeared. The other three demons appeared at the bottom of the stairs, bowed to us, and disappeared as well.

  ‘All our demons are gone now, Emma,’ Simone said.

  ‘How far away are the other ones?’

  ‘They’ll be here soon. Daddy shouldn’t be fighting them, he’s too weak.’

  ‘That’s why they’re here, sweetheart,’ Leo said. ‘They want to get him while he’s weak. If he was strong, they wouldn’t have a hope.’

  ‘They don’t have a hope anyway, Simone.’ A rush of cold fury went through me. ‘Your dad is the best there is. He has the Tiger with him. The demons don’t have a hope.’

  Simone nodded, her little face serious.

  ‘Same formation as before, Emma?’ Leo said.

  ‘Yeah, I think so. You’re still much better than me at hand-to-hand.’

  ‘If you’re going to throw energy, for God’s sake let me know and I’ll get out of the way,’ he said with grim humour.

  ‘Me too,’ Simone said. ‘I can do it too. I want to help.’

  ‘I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, Simone.’ Simone hesitated and watched me.

  Let her, John said. Let her help if she wants. Keep her to the rear, she can be a last resort. His voice changed slightly. Lion. If it comes to that, you know what to do.

  ‘My Lord,’ Leo whispered.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I don’t know, Emma,’ Simone said. ‘It’s something with Daddy and Leo.’

  ‘Tell your dad to tell Emma,’ Leo said.

  Sorry, Emma. If it comes to that, if Leo goes down and it looks like Simone is in danger, tell them they can have my head.

  ‘No!’ I shouted.

  Oh. And if you destroy them with chi, be careful. If you kill too many demons with chi, you could overload yourself with their energy and explode. Take care, love.

  ‘Simone, could you pass this on to your dad? Thank you. You will definitely keep for that one.’

  His voice chuckled in my ear. Sorry. I hope you have the chance to tell me off.

  ‘Here they come,’ Simone said.

  There are about twenty-four dogs, twelve worms, ten or so humanoids, and a Demon Prince that I would very much like to see the back of.

  We moved into position, Leo in front of me and Simone behind me. We stood silently and waited.

  ‘I love you, Daddy,’ Simone whispered.

  I love you too. All of you. My family. We can do this.

  Bring it on, the Tiger growled in my ear. I want that bastard.

  Leo made a soft sound, readied himself, and then went still.

  ‘They’re here,’ Simone whispered a few minutes later. I checked through the window. It was a carnival of horrors.

  The dog demons looked like ordinary brown farm dogs, but their faces were split into huge unnatural grins. They shot fire out of their mouths. The warriors on the lawn seemed to be able to deflect the fire, except John. He had to dodge the blasts; he was very weak compared to even the grooms.

  The giant worms were shining black with a coating of slime, which they left in a revolting toxic trail. They were slower than the dogs. I’d faced these before, from the demon jar: I had to cut them into many tiny pieces to kill them. If I left them in large bits, they would continue to come at me, still spitting poison. The best way to deal with them was to blow them up with chi.

  The ten-foot-tall humanoids wore armour and carried weapons. They had two legs and two arms, but their faces were grotesque and twisted, with huge bulging eyes and gaping m
ouths with tusks. Some had hair sticking out from their heads in tufts; others were bald with horns. Some were scaly. Some were slimy. Most were shiny black, but two were blood-red. I’d faced these in training as well. Nasty demons, difficult to destroy. Sometimes they could block chi blasts, and when they did, the chi would backfire and knock its sender over. Better to attack physically.

  Simon Wong brought up the rear. He was carrying the Wudang sword and rode some sort of two-legged purple lizard. He saw me watching through the window, and waved and blew me a kiss.

  The men on the lawn charged to meet the demons. I turned away and concentrated on the stairs. I had an incongruous thought: Simone and I were the only females there. I hefted my sword. Time to show them just what we chicks could do.

  Glass shattered downstairs.

  ‘What’ve we got, Simone?’ Leo said.

  ‘Dogs. A lot of them.’

  The dogs raced out of the dining room into the downstairs hallway in a rippling brown pack. There appeared to be about fifteen of them. They turned together, charged up the stairs and opened their mouths to blow fire at us.

  I made my sword sing and they froze.

  Leo dashed down the stairs and made short work of them, tearing through them with Dark Heavens. He swung the sword so fast it whistled. They shredded where he touched them.

  When they were all gone he turned to come back up the stairs, his face full of grim triumph. I pulled the chi out of my sword and it went silent.

  ‘No, Emma!’ Simone cried, but it was too late.

  A ball of flame hit the back of Leo’s head and knocked him off his feet. He hit the floor at the bottom of the stairs, face down, with a sickening thump. The dog that had hit him ran from under the stairs and turned, scrabbling for purchase on the tiles.

  I hit the demon with a ball of chi and it exploded all over Leo.

  I didn’t move. Neither did Simone. Leo lay scorched, blackened and unmoving at the base of the stairs.

  ‘Any more demons down there?’ I said.

  ‘One more, hiding,’ Simone said. ‘It’s around the corner, under the stairs.’

  ‘Any more apart from that?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Any demons close enough to come into the house in the next two minutes?’

  Simone concentrated, then, ‘No.’

  ‘Okay. This is what we’ll do. I’ll make the sword sing. If the demon is frozen, we’ll go down and you destroy it with chi. Then we can help Leo.’

  ‘Okay,’ she whispered.

  I made the sword sing. Simone nodded: the demon was frozen.

  We carefully eased down the stairs. The dog demon stood unmoving next to the base of the stairs. Simone threw a ball of energy at it and it exploded.

  ‘Any more?’ I whispered.

  Simone didn’t answer. She raced to Leo and fell to her knees next to his head. She turned to me to say something, then her eyes went wide.

  Simon Wong appeared, crouching behind her. He grabbed her around the waist. He grinned at me over the top of her head and winked.

  ‘Don’t move, Simone,’ I said.

  ‘Help, Emma,’ she said softly.

  I made the sword sing. Wong froze. I gingerly eased myself towards him, trying to find the distance I needed to blow him up.

  Simone yelled: he’d squeezed her. He wasn’t frozen at all.

  ‘Don’t come any closer or I’ll squeeze her so hard I’ll break her.’

  I concentrated, gathered myself, and threw a huge ball of chi straight at his head, using the sword as a slingshot.

  He raised one hand and the energy was deflected. It returned to the sword. If I’d lost that much chi, it would have killed me.

  ‘Try anything stupid like that again and I’ll rip one of her arms off,’ he said as if he was passing the time of day.

  I remained still with my sword in front of me. I checked Leo: he looked dead. If the demon was past John and the Tiger, then they were dead too. And if Jade and Gold were any example, it would be a long time before they were back. Maybe more than a lifetime for John.

  If I attacked the demon with anything physical he’d hurt Simone.

  I was out of options.

  He saw me hesitate. ‘Why don’t you come with us and care for her? Wouldn’t you like that, dear one? You can keep an eye on her for me.’

  I lowered my sword. It didn’t matter where Simone went, I would follow her to the depths of Hell if I had to.

  He grinned with triumph. ‘Put your sword down and come a little closer, my darling. Let’s go and have some real fun. And then when your boyfriend turns up, you can help me take his head off.’

  I put my sword back into its scabbard and placed it carefully on the floor. I walked slowly to him with my hands raised.

  He grinned with menace. ‘Let’s go.’

  The room changed around us. We were in some sort of large apartment—a single room with no windows. It had been expensively furnished with low sleek European furniture. A pair of cream couches flanked one wall; a dining table with four chairs sat on the other side of the room. A double bed was set against another wall, about five metres away.

  Wong still held Simone, crouched behind her. He moved his hands over her little body and buried his face in her neck.

  I went to rush towards them and he grinned up at me. I couldn’t move. He’d bound me.

  Simone squealed and tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but he gripped her tighter.

  He slipped his hand under her little dress and she shrieked.

  I tried to yell but I couldn’t make a sound. My body was made of lead; it was like a bad dream. I couldn’t move. I struggled against the heaviness.

  Simone stopped shrieking and sobbed as he ran his hand under her dress. He nuzzled her hair.

  I tried to release my fury and relax. I gathered my chi into my dan tian. I could move my chi; so I concentrated. I didn’t need my hands to throw chi.

  Simone lowered her head and screwed up her face.

  Wong flew backwards with his arms outstretched as if he’d been struck. He pulled himself to his feet, wide-eyed with fear.

  He grimaced. ‘It doesn’t matter. I have you. You can’t get out.’

  He disappeared.

  Simone fell to her knees on the floor and curled up in a little ball.

  I could move. I ran to her, knelt and bundled her into my arms. I held her close and stroked her hair. ‘He can’t hurt you, sweetheart, you’re too strong. He can’t hurt you.’

  ‘He can hurt you, Emma.’ She gasped, a huge breath. ‘He’s a bad one.’

  ‘Call Daddy,’ I whispered.

  She concentrated. ‘Daddy’s not answering.’ She pushed her face into my shoulder. ‘What if he’s dead?’

  ‘He can’t die, he’s a Shen,’ I said. ‘How about Uncle Bai?’

  She shook her head into my shoulder.

  ‘Jade? Gold? Aunty Kwan?’

  She hesitated, then shook her head again.

  ‘Okay.’ I gently pulled her head around to me so that I could see into her tear-stained face. ‘We just have to find a way out of here.’

  She dropped her head onto my shoulder. I looked around. No windows; no doors; no nothing. No way out.

  ‘Do you have any idea where we are, sweetheart?’

  She shook her head again.

  I sat on the floor, still holding her in my arms. We were trapped.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  I checked my watch: 6 p.m. Two hours had passed. Simone lay asleep on the bed, exhausted. I sat on the other side of the bed and put my head in my hands.

  The demon hadn’t returned. I’d checked the room thoroughly; there was no way out. There was a small bathroom in one corner of the room with running water, so at least we wouldn’t die of thirst. But if we were in China the water wasn’t drinkable anyway.

  I glanced at Simone’s peaceful face. Simon Wong was probably holding us to swap for John’s head. It was quite likely that the negotiations were happening right no
w. If John wasn’t dead.

  I shivered. Simone was strong enough to hold him off if he tried anything. I wasn’t.

  I woke and shot upright to sitting. Simon Wong stood over me, grinning.

  Up close, he looked like a perfectly ordinary Chinese. About thirty, good-looking; only his eyes betrayed his true nature.

  He sat on the bed next to me and stroked my arm, smiling into my eyes. ‘Hello.’

  I wrenched my arm away and he bound me again. I couldn’t hold myself upright; I fell back. I lay helpless as he leaned over me.

  He ran his hand down the side of my face and over my throat. I wanted to scream but I couldn’t make a sound.

  His hand traced lower, between my breasts. I desperately struggled to free myself.

  The hand circled my stomach. He lowered his face and kissed me on the side of the throat, then ran his tongue over the edge of my jaw. He licked up the side of my face.

  I relaxed, tried to phase out. I released all of the tension and gathered my chi.

  He slipped his hand under the hem of my shirt, above my riding pants, and I blasted the chi straight out of my dan tian into his hand. He snatched his hand away, tearing my shirt, and leapt back, clutching his arm to his side. I’d burnt him.

  He lunged towards me again. I scrambled to sit upright against the bedhead, generated a ball of chi and held it in front of me.

  He hung back, his face rigid with menace. I raised the chi slightly and floated it between us.

  ‘I’ll be back,’ he growled, and disappeared.

  Simone whimpered and rolled over. She’d slept through the whole thing.

  ‘Emma.’ A soft voice in my ear. ‘Emma.’

  I woke up and cast around. I saw a pair of blood-red eyes and scrambled away, knocking into Simone and waking her.

  I grabbed Simone and leapt off the bed, moving as far away from this strange person as I could. He smiled.

  It wasn’t Wong; it was somebody else. He was Chinese, about twenty-five, with a boyish, cheeky face. He had black hair tied in a short ponytail, but his eyes were the colour of dried blood. He wore a pair of maroon stonewashed jeans and a maroon T-shirt.