Dark Serpent

  ‘You’re never too old for Pokemon,’ Simone said. ‘I’ve heard that even Emma plays an old version of it on her mobile phone.’

  I stopped fiddling with my phone and put it into my pocket. ‘No idea what you’re talking about.’

  ‘Which one is it?’ Tom said.

  Simone raised the box for the game cartridge.

  ‘If I’d known I would have brought mine,’ Tom said. ‘We could have swapped Pokemon on the plane.’

  Leo reached into his leather attaché case and pulled out another console. ‘Here, borrow mine until we get there.’

  ‘You are definitely too old to be playing that,’ John said with amusement.

  Leo shrugged. ‘What Simone said. Never too old.’

  ‘Come on, Daddy,’ Simone said. ‘Even if it’s just you and me, let’s go to the lounge so I can charge it up.’

  ‘You’ll have a power outlet on the plane,’ John said.

  ‘We won’t be in the air for another couple of hours.’

  ‘Go, do it, we’ll be fine,’ I said.

  John sighed with resignation. ‘We’ll all go, and if we’re attacked and have to fight in there, Simone will pay any damages out of her allowance.’

  ‘Deal,’ Simone said, triumphant. She hopped up and threw her backpack over her shoulder. ‘Let’s go.’

  ‘What’s your favourite?’ Tom asked Simone as we walked to the lounge.

  ‘Charmander, of course, he’s so cute!’ Simone said. She stopped and her face went strange for a moment, then she shook her head.

  ‘What?’ he said.

  ‘Just someone talking to me,’ Simone said. ‘And I am ignoring them,’ she added with emphasis.

  ‘That must be a damn nuisance,’ Tom said.

  ‘Tell me about it,’ she said, glaring at John.

  Zhenwu

  John shifted uncomfortably on the aircraft seat. He’d refused the attendant’s offer to lay it flat so he could sleep; he needed to stay awake. He could deal with the nagging pain from most of the small cuts and burns, but there were a couple at the base of the Serpent’s tail and he was forced to sit on them. He either had to use energy to block the pain or put up with the grinding discomfort that made him exhausted and irritable. In the end, he used energy to stop the pain, fully aware that this would slow the healing process. He couldn’t control the urge to feel for his other half. A slight echo, a tremor of misery, and that was all. The gulf between them was like a hole right through him.

  Simone slept, her face youthful and angelic.

  Please, Simone, gain Immortality soon. I live in dread of losing you. Every day you look more like your mother; I wonder where the Wheel took her.

  Emma was curled up with her head in his lap. He shifted under her, making himself more comfortable so that she didn’t lean on the wounds. She nuzzled into him slightly in her sleep and he brushed one hand over her brown hair. There were strands of grey through it now, much as he had. He studied her face, as complex and intelligent in sleep as when she was awake.

  I must Raise you and marry you and enthrone you by my side. The Elixir must be ready for us when we return. I can’t continue like this, unable to call upon your intelligence and human compassion when running my realm.

  He smiled slightly. Fifty years ago the idea of a lowly human woman contributing to his rule would have been ridiculous, and now he was lost without her advice.

  Leo was asleep across the aisle; he was obviously missing Martin and doing his best to be cheerful through the heartsickness. Martin and Yue Gui were doing a fine job of managing the Northern Heavens, and John pondered the option of making Yue Gui Number One as well. It was traditional for the Number One to be male, but Yue Gui was more intelligent than Martin and as good a leader, even if she wasn’t as strong in war strategy and tactics. It would be a shocking breach of tradition for him to have not only a female Number One but two joint Number Ones. John smiled slightly as he imagined the reaction. He’d do it when they returned.

  He extended his senses around the plane. To be this high, moving this fast, was exhilarating: the intense cold of the thin air and the plane’s movement through it affecting the traces of moisture. He couldn’t hold a speed like this for long periods, and he took a moment to admire the advances that humans had made with science.

  He could see the stars above them and wondered if there was other life — Shen and human — out there. He wondered how the Shen had come to be. Perhaps they would find some answers if they ever found the Shen of the West.

  He relaxed, cleared his mind and looked forward. A dark time ahead. Loss and pain — the echoes of the emotions rippled back to the now. They would be visited by more suffering before things improved. It could not be avoided. Then a premonition hit him like a physical force: bringing Emma was the wrong thing to do. The wrongness of it, and the inevitable consequences, rang through him like a deep bell. She wouldn’t be safe there.

  He couldn’t take her home now; they were following the Jade Emperor’s orders and had to complete the mission. He would just have to try to minimise the damage.

  He resisted the urge to contact the Jade Emperor to seek counsel. The Emperor knew exactly what he was doing in sending them at this time and John simply had to trust him. He called the Lady and received no response, which either meant she was in retreat after her close call in Hell, or she knew all about it and was withholding her counsel until it was really needed. Either option was disturbing.

  He couldn’t pinpoint the details of what was coming, he could only see the emotional repercussions. He would have to be extra vigilant.

  Exhaustion from the pain of the Serpent’s wounds overcame his will to stay awake and he dozed, his dreams full of demons, heat and suffering.

  Emma

  ‘Which one’s ours?’ John said as we walked out of the customs and immigration at Heathrow Airport.

  ‘There he is — Paul!’ Simone shouted, and ran to him.

  Twenty-five-year-old Paul was short and round, with pale brown hair and terrible acne on his kind face. He wore a well-worn pair of baggy jeans and a faded pink polo shirt.

  He hugged Simone and pulled back to grin at her. ‘You’re taller than me!’

  She pushed him, ribbing. ‘That’s not difficult.’ She stepped away from him, more serious. ‘Here’s Daddy.’

  John stopped in front of Paul and studied him, his fierce dark gaze making Paul immediately nervous.

  Paul pulled himself upright and stood to attention. ‘Uh …’ He took a deep breath. ‘Welcome to London, sir. I’m honoured to serve you.’

  ‘Should have been “my Lord”,’ Leo said softly from behind John.

  John relaxed and slapped Paul on the shoulder. ‘Never mind that. Emma and Simone have told me how well you’ve looked after them. Where’s the car?’

  Paul let out a huge breath of relief and gestured outside. ‘In the car park, sir.’ He glanced around at everybody. ‘I thought there were five passengers for the van? It’s only a six-seater.’

  ‘Leo will make his own way,’ John said. He nodded to Leo, who strode away to find somewhere private to travel from. ‘This is Ben and Tom O’Breen, the gentlemen who’ll be staying with us while we’re here.’

  ‘Welcome,’ Paul said, nodding to Ben and Tom. ‘Please follow me — I’ll take you to the car.’

  ‘How is your grandfather?’ John asked Paul as we walked through the car park.

  ‘He’s …’ Paul hesitated. ‘He’s really not well, sir. The cancer’s taken hold and they’ve given him six months at the most.’

  Simone moaned quietly with sympathy.

  ‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ John said. ‘How is James holding up?’

  ‘You may not see much of him. He’s been spending quite a lot of time with my grandfather,’ Paul said.

  We climbed into the van while he put the bags into the back then went around to the driver’s side.

  ‘How’s Peta?’ Simone said as Paul eased the van out of the car park.


  ‘She’s waiting for you back at the house. She’s frantically going through the paperwork for His Lordship, convinced that she’s missed something,’ Paul said with humour. ‘If she lets my scones burn there’ll be serious trouble.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Ben said, interrupting. ‘Are Paul and Peta staff? Are they Shen?’

  ‘Normal humans, sir,’ Paul said, looking at Ben in the rear-view mirror. ‘My grandfather was very close with His Lordship’s previous butler, James, and when James grew too old to do the job he asked my wife and me if we would be interested. We jumped at the chance — I mean, it’s not every day you get to work for a god, is it? My wife, Peta, is His Lordship’s previous housekeeper’s grand-niece. We met one another at a family function, but I think James arranged to throw us together.’

  ‘Wouldn’t put it past him,’ Simone said.

  ‘So how long have you been working for Lord Xuan?’ Ben said.

  Paul was silent for a moment, concentrating on the traffic, then he grinned at the rear-view mirror. ‘Four years now. But this is actually the first time I’ve met His Lordship. Welcome back to your Earthly realm, sir.’

  ‘Thank you,’ John said.

  Paul’s phone rang and he put it on speaker. ‘Yes?’

  ‘Paul, it’s Franklin.’

  ‘Hello, Franklin!’ Simone yelled from the back of the van.

  ‘Is that Simone?’ Franklin said, to a backdrop of loud banging. ‘They’re here already?’

  ‘Yes,’ Paul said. ‘They’re —’

  Franklin cut in, his voice becoming frantic. ‘My Lord, help me — I think it’s vampire hunters, but I’m not sure. All of this recent business on the television has made my —’

  There was a huge crash, then the phone went dead.

  Simone pulled herself halfway out of her seat. ‘Franklin?’

  ‘Something happening at the cemetery,’ John said, distracted. ‘Paul, you know where it is?’

  ‘I do, sir.’

  ‘Go. Now,’ John said. He hesitated a moment. ‘Keep me updated. Let me know the situation the minute you’re there.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ Paul said.

  ‘He’s talking to Leo,’ I said.

  ‘Faster, Paul,’ John said.

  ‘How much faster, sir? Do you want to risk being pulled over?’

  ‘As fast as is safe. Don’t worry about being pulled over, and don’t stop for red lights. I’ll change them; nobody will see you. Move!’ John said.

  Paul floored it. ‘Working for you was the best idea I’ve ever had,’ he said with grim delight.

  ‘You may not say that when we reach Franklin’s place,’ John said.

  ‘Who’s Franklin?’ Tom said.

  ‘My pet vampire,’ John said. ‘Last one in existence.’

  ‘You’re kidding,’ Ben said.

  ‘Meet you there,’ Simone said, and disappeared.

  ‘She’ll get lost,’ John said.

  ‘No, she won’t,’ I said. ‘She visits Charlie’s grave at that cemetery every time we come to London. She knows exactly where it is.’

  When we arrived at the cemetery gate, John pulled open the van door. ‘Stay here,’ he said, stepped out and ran through the gate.

  I closed the door and kept a lookout through the van’s windows. A group of five young men came striding menacingly down the street towards us. A couple of them were carrying fence pickets like weapons.

  ‘A riot here?’ Ben said with disbelief.

  ‘Paul, drive in through the cemetery gate and go right,’ I said.

  Inside, we saw another group of young men vandalising the old tombstones, knocking them over so that they broke on the ground.

  ‘Bastards,’ Paul said. ‘We should stop and —’

  ‘Keep moving, don’t stop,’ I said. ‘Hurry!’

  ‘I thought the riots were all finished,’ Ben said.

  ‘They’re demons,’ I said. ‘I can’t be sure what type. Give me a moment.’

  I opened my Inner Eye onto the men and they grew and glowed with dark energy. I drew a sharp breath as they became clear: they were more than two metres tall, grey-skinned, and shaped like skinny humans with large oval heads, oversized eyes and minute noses. There was a variety of them; some had bat-like wings and others had mouths that were a mass of misshapen teeth.

  ‘What?’ Ben said.

  ‘Western demons,’ I said. ‘First time I’ve ever seen them up close. Meredith never mentioned that some of them looked like aliens from B-grade movies.’

  As one the demons turned and faced us; they’d felt my Inner Eye on them.

  ‘I shouldn’t have done that,’ I said, ‘they’ve seen us. Paul — drive!’

  Paul floored the accelerator and we shot across the gravel towards Franklin’s house. About fifty demons in male human form were gathered around it, and they’d set up some sort of technical apparatus facing the house. John, Simone and Leo were standing side by side in front of Franklin’s door, ready to fight if need be. Franklin stood behind them, cowering and tiny in the doorway of his little house.

  ‘Drive through the demons — don’t worry about hitting them — and stop next to the house,’ I said. ‘Then stay in the car.’

  Paul didn’t hesitate. He barrelled the van through the crowd, knocking over the equipment, and hit the side of the house in his haste.

  The demons attacked. Leo and Simone had no difficulty dealing with them: Leo used his sword, Simone used shen energy, and they destroyed the demons almost on touch. John had more trouble; his energy didn’t seem to affect the demons the same way it did back home in China. He threw shen energy at them but it passed through them.

  Behind me, Tom made a soft growling sound that grew louder and more rasping. Ben tried to hold him back but Tom threw him off and rushed out of the van. Once free of the confinement, he threw his head back, stretched out his arms and changed to a Snake Mother-type demon: four metres long, with the front end of a skinless man and a serpent’s tail. He was no longer recognisable as the Tom we knew. He threw himself at the demons and destroyed them with his bare hands. As the demons became aware of his presence, they panicked and ran from him, crashing into the walls of the house in their terror. He cut through them, picking them up in both hands and tearing them apart or ripping their heads off. He greedily shoved their dismembered limbs and heads into his mouth, stretching his jaw impossibly wide to fit them in.

  ‘Oh no,’ Ben moaned. ‘Will he ever come back?’

  A demon fleeing from Tom ran straight into Simone, knocking her into the wall. Franklin changed into something huge, black and ugly, with a skinny body and bat wings like the Western demons, but bulging eyes and tusks like a Chinese demon. He pushed away the demon that had hit Simone and bent to protect her, covering her with one wing.

  Tom threw himself at the demon that had hit Simone, crushing its throat with one hand and throwing it aside.

  John stopped fighting and knelt to check Simone. Leo’s face hardened and he hefted his sword, moving in front of them to protect them.

  The demons moved closer, sensing their distraction.

  ‘To hell with this, they need help,’ I said.

  I summoned the Murasame and jumped out of the van. The demons all had their backs to me, concentrating on John, Simone and Leo and trying to keep clear of Tom’s demon form, which was rampaging through them. I readied myself and grinned, feeling the rush as the sword came to me. I ran the sword straight into a demon’s back and it dissipated the same way a Chinese demon would. The others didn’t notice, so I chased them down and destroyed them as they ran from Tom’s clutches and Leo’s shen energy.

  Leo saw me. ‘Watch where you’re going — I might hit you with energy!’

  ‘I’ll stay put,’ I called.

  ‘Get back in the van!’ John yelled. ‘Lion.’

  Leo fought his way towards me.

  I jumped over the head of a demon that was running in my direction, landed on the shoulder of one behind it and
thrust my sword down the back of its neck. I jumped free as it dissipated, turned in the air and landed between two other demons. They both reached down to grab me and clashed heads. I took advantage of the confusion to cut them both off at the knees. I ducked as a ball of shen energy whizzed right over my head, hitting a demon that had been coming up behind me.

  I turned back to Leo and grinned. ‘Thanks.’

  ‘Just watch what you’re doing,’ he said. ‘Back to back.’

  We stood back to back and a circle of demons surrounded us. There was a commotion among them to my left, and Tom grabbed three in his skinless arms and ripped them to pieces.

  ‘Now,’ Leo said.

  We took advantage of the demons’ distraction and attacked. Tom had reached for another, so I only had four to deal with. The first stood its ground and reached towards me; the second and third held back, obviously intimidated. The one on the right was glancing between Tom and Leo, distracted. I ducked under the first demon’s arms, rolled and came up in front of the distracted one on the right. I jumped into the air, sliced down through its head as I passed over the top of it, landed, rolled and faced the remaining three demons. The two middle ones seemed to be frozen with fear. The one that had been on my left was now on my right; it hesitated for a moment, confused, which was its undoing. Tom grabbed it with both hands and ripped its head off.

  I generated a large ball of chi, split it into two and directed one each at the hesitating demons. They exploded with a satisfying rush and I staggered backward as their chi returned to me. I fell to sit on the grass, gasping.

  Leo destroyed the final two and crouched in front of me. ‘What happened?’

  I was unable to speak as I sucked in air; I raised my hand to ask him to wait.

  ‘Do you need anything?’ he said, taking my wrist. ‘You seem okay. Whoa, more than okay — what the hell is this?’

  Where we touched, the chi energy had flared to life in my skin. I drew it back in and returned it to my dan tian. I took a few deep breaths and nodded.

  ‘The energy those demons shot into me was like extra-strong alcohol when all you’ve ever drunk is beer. It was super powerful. Help me up?’