Rocky’s voice squeaked with effort. ‘You can’t hurt us.’
‘I’m bigger than you,’ she said, her voice silky. ‘Come to me, my darling.’
Rocky swayed as if mesmerised, then slithered towards the door.
The Mother pulled at the door and grimaced with frustration when it didn’t open. ‘Oh, it’s locked on the inside. Open the door for me, honey.’
There’s nothing you can do for him, Emma, back up! the stone said.
I slithered under the stone ledge as Rocky pulled the latch across and opened the door. I poked my head out and watched with frustration as the Mother reached in and picked him up by the base of his neck. She opened her mouth impossibly wide and shoved his head in, biting it off and sucking the demon essence out of him.
When she was done, she dropped on her coils and leered at me. ‘Your turn.’
She came into the cell and grabbed me with one hand, dragging me out from under the overhang. She held me around the throat hard enough to cut off my air and I thrashed against her, trying to suck in enough to breathe. She raised me to her face and dropped me. The cell walls spun around me in a dizzying spiral and the floor slammed into my head.
When I came around, it was to a jumbled vision of blackness and a shiny silver needle, different in each eye. I lurched up to see what was happening, hitting whatever was standing over me.
‘I told you she was coming round,’ a woman said.
A group of demons were crowded into my cell: a small black-skinned one with a bulbous head and impossibly skinny body and limbs, holding a syringe; and a humanoid guard carrying weapons, with two similar guards behind it.
The small black demon put its hands up. ‘I was just treating you. I’m not here to do any damage.’ It sounded like a middle-aged man.
I hesitated, swaying my head in front of them.
It’s speaking the truth, the stone said. They destroyed the Mother before she could eat you, then they called a doctor. They were worried you were poisoned.
The skinny demon spoke to the guards without looking away from me. ‘I’d say she’ll be fine, but I really have no idea. I’ve never seen anything like her before. Keep an eye on her, and if she complains about anything at all let me know.’
He tossed the syringe into a physician’s bag sitting next to him, then nodded to me. ‘Dark Lady. It has been an honour to meet you. I hope you survive whatever it is that His Loathsome Majesty has in store for you.’
‘I apologise for hitting you,’ I said. ‘A disadvantage of having no eyelids is that when I wake up I see everything right in front of my face.’
‘You aren’t the first,’ he said.
The guards parted and allowed him to walk out of the cell, lugging the big bag with him.
The head guard turned back to me and spoke in a gruff woman’s voice. ‘The King’s put us here to guard you. Apparently the Mothers know about you and they all want to see you.’ She looked down the hallway. ‘Three of us should be able to handle any of them.’ She turned back to me and raised her axe in front of her gleaming, black-scaled face. ‘I hear the Dark Lord is coming for you. I hope he’ll do me the honour of letting me take a swing at him before he destroys me.’
She nodded over her shoulder to the other two humanoids, and the three of them took up position outside my cage.
‘Turn and he won’t destroy you,’ I said. ‘Pledge to me and I’ll make sure you’re treated well.’
She gestured with her chin towards the ceiling. ‘Can’t turn while Grandad’s watching us.’
I moved closer to the bars and looked where she’d indicated. A slime demon, more than a metre across, was stuck to the ceiling. It was made of bright orange and green filaments that writhed over each other, and was completely covered in glassy opaque eyes of all sizes, blinking and moving over its liquid surface. When it saw me looking, it made some sticky hissing noises.
‘Grandad says hi, and sorry about the Mothers,’ the guard demon translated for me. ‘He says, how do you like the security camera? Oh, he wants me to tell you how he made it.’ She grinned, revealing gleaming white tusks. ‘He grabs the eyes out of any demon that has displeased him, and holds them in shape while the rest of the demon explodes. Then he pokes the eyes into that thing so it can keep watch for him.’
‘Charming.’
10
Zhenwu
John stormed into the Gold Spirit Audience Chamber and roughly fell to one knee, glaring at the floor. ‘Ten thousand years.’
‘Ah Wu,’ the Jade Emperor said.
‘Majesty.’
‘I suggest you take a deep breath, reach into the Tao and control your temper before we take this further. Your conduct is unbecoming of a Celestial Immortal.’
John didn’t look up from the floor.
The Jade Emperor’s voice was mildly exasperated. ‘Very well. Rise and sit with me, Number One, and we will see what we can do.’
John stood, flicked his black robe into place, and sat on a chair side-on to the Jade Emperor. One of the fairies poured tea and he nodded to her.
‘I understand that Miss Donahoe travelled to Hell under her own power and without being coerced,’ the Jade Emperor said.
‘Just give me permission to go down and get her out.’
‘Do you have any idea where she is?’
John studied the Jade Emperor. Nobody was really sure exactly how omniscient he was, but the consensus was that he knew everything that happened.
‘I know exactly where she is. I just need your permission to go.’
The Jade Emperor waved one of the fairies over. She placed a scroll on the tea table next to him. Another fairy placed the Great Imperial Seal, a block ten centimetres each side and twenty high, on its own small tray next to the seal. John tried not to fidget with impatience as the Jade Emperor carefully inked the seal and stamped it onto the scroll. The Emperor picked up the scroll, waved it around a few times to dry the ink, then rolled it up.
‘It is the nature of the Tao to act without acting, and to act only when there is no other choice,’ the Jade Emperor said. ‘You have been too impatient to act in this case.’
‘I have no other choice. I must find her; she is in danger. I do not need a lecture in the nature of the Tao.’
‘Your impatience and frustration indicates that you do. Your impudence suggests other actions may be appropriate, Number One.’
John deliberately calmed himself, touching the spinning yin-yang deep inside him. A feeling of serenity filled him.
‘Good,’ the Jade Emperor said. He gave the scroll to the fairy standing next to him. ‘You do not need to ask permission from the Demon King because he has already given it. Proceed to Hell and find your lady. Then please, if you would, Raise and marry her and stop letting this emotional nonsense interfere with your duties as First Heavenly General. You are acting with selfish intention, seeking pleasure in the company of this woman when you should be focused only on protecting our realm. Like it or not, Ah Wu, many people rely on you to keep them safe. You are too necessary to the security of the realm to waste your time pursuing romantic liaisons with human liabilities.’
‘Once she is Raised and we are wed, she will not be a liability,’ John said, ‘she will be an asset.’
‘We shall see.’ The Jade Emperor picked up his cup and sipped the tea. ‘Go and find your lady, Ah Wu. She is safe and waiting for you.’
John rose from his chair and knelt to the Jade Emperor. He stood, accepted the scroll from the fairy and did his best to leave the audience chamber without breaking into a run.
Emma
A few hours later the demon guards were sitting cross-legged on the other side of the bars, telling me stories about their lives.
‘And so when we hatched, we were all big humanoids, so they put us in the army,’ the leader, Three Four One, said. She gestured towards the other two. ‘These two are from a different clutch, same father, different Mother. Our father’s a minor horse-head duke. They’re
slightly smaller than me.’
‘And we’re both male,’ one of the other guards said.
‘Can you take human form?’ I said.
They all shook their heads.
‘Stuck like this,’ Three Four One said.
‘How old are you?’
‘I’m four years old,’ Three Four One said with obvious pride. ‘My little brothers here are about six months old. Same clutch.’
‘I hope you all go on to live long happy lives,’ I said.
‘You’re so caring,’ the smaller demon said with awe.
‘Listen,’ I said, lowering my voice, ‘after you’re done here, and the King can’t see you any more, try to find me. I’ll look after you.’
The air temperature plummeted to nearly freezing and the guards all jumped to their feet.
‘He’s here,’ Three Four One said.
The slime demon on the ceiling made a series of hissing, gargling sounds.
‘No,’ one of the smaller demons said.
‘You heard him,’ Three Four One said. ‘If you can’t do it yourself, kneel down and I’ll do it for you. I promise it’ll be quick.’
‘We did what you told us to!’ the smaller demons wailed at the slime demon’s many eyes. ‘We obeyed your orders! Why?’
‘You know damn well why, stupid,’ Three Four One said. ‘He knows that the minute he can’t see us we’ll all make a run for it, try to find her and turn.’
The slime demon’s gurgles rose in pitch. It sounded like it was drowning. The two smaller guards exploded, dissipating into streamers of black demon essence that sank slowly through the air.
‘I have a favour to ask you,’ Three Four One said.
‘Anything.’
‘Oh, don’t say that,’ she said with humour. ‘Do you know what I’d gain if I gave Grandad your human form?’
‘So what do you want?’ I said.
The temperature was still dropping and terrified screams resounded through the hallways. The ground shook beneath us, then shook again with a low rumble that I felt more than heard.
‘If for some reason the Dark Lord spares me, the King will throw me to the Mothers,’ Three Four One said. ‘I make this request of you: please ensure that I am not spared, and that when he does it, it is quick.’
‘I wish there could be another way, but if that is the only way then I will do my best to make it quick for you.’
She bowed her head slightly. ‘Thank you.’
A flurry of stinging snowflakes blew down the corridor and a low strumming bass sound made the floor reverberate. Screams resounded off the black stone walls. Three Four One took a couple of steps back until she was against the wall, staring grimly in front of her. The slime demon on the ceiling made slurping sounds and dripped globules of ooze with each shock of vibration.
John strode down the corridor in Celestial Form, a dark aura of blue-black energy floating around him. He held Seven Stars, its blade loaded with his glowing chakras. Martin was at his right hand and Leo was on his left, both of them in Celestial Form.
John stopped in front of my cell, ignoring Three Four One completely. ‘Found you,’ he said in his normal voice.
‘She was right about level six,’ Leo said. He raised his sword to destroy Three Four One.
‘Don’t hurt the demon!’ I said. ‘It’s guarding me.’
Leo lowered the sword and stared at her. ‘Still a demon, Emma, and it hasn’t been tamed. It could go for us any time.’
Three Four One raised her axe and saluted Leo. ‘That’s right.’
She swung the axe and he blocked it with his sword.
‘Don’t hurt her!’ I said.
Leo put one massive hand around her throat and lifted her, taking the axe from her and dropping it on the floor with his other hand. ‘You sure? It seems pretty nasty to me.’
‘I’m sure.’
‘Back up, Emma,’ John said.
He raised one hand towards the bars and they froze with an audible crack, then instantly covered with frost. He leaned forward and tapped one and it shattered. He tapped each of the bars in turn, destroying them and sending shards of metal glittering to the floor.
He strode into the cage, ducking to fit under the low ceiling. ‘Touch my hand and I’ll take you home.’
‘Before you do, destroy that slime demon on the ceiling,’ I said.
John didn’t turn away from me. ‘Ming Gui.’
Martin generated a ball of shen energy and blew up the demon.
‘You can turn now, Three Four One,’ I said. ‘Come with us.’
‘If it’s all the same to you,’ the demon said, her voice muffled by Leo’s hold, ‘I’d prefer to go by the Dark Lord’s own hand. My nest mates will honour my number for a long time if I do.’
‘You could come live in Heaven with us and try to attain humanity,’ I said.
‘I have no human form,’ the demon said. ‘I cannot exist in Heaven or the Earthly. I can only live here, and my life here is over. I have no hope, no chance, no future. The King has ordered me dead.’ She tapped Leo’s hand around her throat. ‘I beg this kindness, that it be the Dark Lord himself.’
John turned. ‘Put her down, Leo.’
‘I thank you, Lord,’ Three Four One said with obvious emotion.
John gestured a come-on. ‘Pick up your axe, little one. Let’s see how much you have learned.’
Three Four One grabbed her axe from the floor and with one fluid movement swung it at John. He blocked with Seven Stars, twisted the sword down and sliced her from shoulder to hip. She dissipated with a wide-tusked grin on her face.
‘Very underskilled,’ he said with interest.
‘You could have at least given it a couple of strikes at you,’ Leo said.
‘That would be unfair to it. It would not appreciate me using anything less than my full abilities.’ He turned back to me and held his hand out. ‘Touch your nose to my hand.’
I touched his hand and the cells around me disappeared.
We arrived outside the infirmary next to the Japanese maple tree. The sun was rising through a fine, cold, misting rain that covered the Mountain with grey clouds. I tried to change back but couldn’t find the human form. John watched me, his face full of concern.
‘I can’t find it,’ I said. ‘I’m stuck as snake.’
‘Touch the earth. Touch the sky,’ he said.
I cycled my energy through my serpent form, touched the earth and sky and relaxed into it.
‘Now find where your arms and legs have gone.’
I found them and they returned to me.
‘Good,’ he said, and caught me as I fell into his arms. ‘What did they do to you? Did they hurt you?’
‘They didn’t do anything to her,’ the stone said.
‘Thank the Heavens.’ John lifted me and carried me into the infirmary. ‘Emma, do you know where my Serpent is?’
‘Yes, it’s …’ My voice trailed off. ‘It’s just …’
He gently placed me onto one of the beds and put his index finger on my forehead. ‘Think where it is.’
I tried to capture the memory. ‘Dammit, my serpent knew exactly where it was …’
I tried to change back to snake and felt a moment of dizziness.
‘Don’t try to change,’ the stone said. ‘You’ll head straight back down there looking for it.’
‘What about you, stone?’
‘I don’t know, my Lord. One part of the demonic side of Hell looks much like another.’
‘But my snake knows where it is!’ I said. I struggled to sit up and failed. ‘Let me change and I’ll lead you down there.’
The stone broke in. ‘The Demon King knows about your oath, my Lord. He said that he would wait until you’d found her, then he plans to take and use her.’
‘But he doesn’t know the other parts of the oath,’ I said.
‘I hope —’ John began.
Edwin pushed him out of the way and put a stethoscope on my chest. ‘S
top talking. Cough.’
I coughed for him and he moved the stethoscope. ‘Again.’
‘You can move me out of her back now and return me to my ring,’ the stone said. ‘You’ve found her. One out of three. The rest will happen.’
Edwin shone a light in my eyes, checking my pupils. ‘You seem to be completely uninjured,’ he said. ‘Slightly dehydrated, but otherwise fine.’
‘We have to go get your Serpent out, I know where it is,’ I said to John.
‘When you’ve recovered, we will. We’ll set up a diversion, and at the same time you can lead me down to the Serpent’s cage. For now, rest.’ He turned to Edwin. ‘Can I take her home?’
‘Put her to bed and make her sleep.’
‘Come on, Emma,’ John said, taking my hand and helping me up. ‘Let’s go home.’
‘Sometimes, my Lord, you say the greatest things ever in the history of the world.’
‘I thank you, my Lady.’
‘You two are extremely cute sometimes,’ Edwin said, grinning.
‘I am not cute,’ John said, glowering, and led me out.
I woke to grey light shining through gaps in the window screens. I appeared to have slept most of the day away. John was lying next to me, holding me close and waiting for me to wake up.
‘Welcome back,’ he said.
I sighed. ‘I am so glad to be home.’
‘So am I.’
‘Do you think that was it? You actually found me?’ I said.
‘I travelled down to where you were held and searched until I found you.’
‘But you knew where I was.’
He was silent for a long moment, then said, ‘I know.’
‘Stone, do you think he fulfilled his oath?’
‘I’d very much like to believe so, so I can be freed from this fleshy —’
‘Stone!’ I said, shocked.
‘— prison,’ the stone finished. ‘Fleshy prison! It is very uncomfortable being stuck in here and only seeing things secondhand. I need air on my surface, I am losing my lustre.’
‘I’ll have you removed tomorrow,’ I said.
‘Emma,’ John said, ‘it might be better —’