Demon Child

  ‘You’re my real mother?’

  I lowered my voice. ‘I really am.’

  ‘It’s scary here sometimes, when Mummy isn’t around.’ He turned and the room lit up. It was filled with Snake Mothers, advancing menacingly towards us. He shouted at them. ‘You’re not allowed to hurt me!’

  ‘Your mother’s not here to defend you,’ one of the Mothers said.

  ‘Yes, I am!’ I shouted, and slithered to Frankie to protect him.

  I woke before I made it. John wasn’t in the bed next to me; I was alone. It was 1 am; he’d probably been held back in a late meeting. I checked my phone on the bedside table. There was a message from him.

  Not happy with the disposition of the Hell forces, and liaising with the West on defensive barriers. May be a while. Don’t wait up.

  I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep; maybe Frankie would contact me again. It took me a long time.

  I woke the next day to find John sitting in the armchair next to the fire in his Mountain uniform, reading a tablet computer on his lap. I checked the bedside clock: 10 am. I sat up.

  ‘Don’t rush. You’re not needed for anything,’ he said.

  ‘We reject the treaty tomorrow and I’ve only equipped about a hundred of the senior students,’ I said. ‘What the hell are we going to do?’

  ‘Only use the ones that are equipped, and only if we absolutely have to. Don’t panic, Emma. The regular Disciples are fully equipped, and we have the Thirty-Six, the Elites and all the armies of the Four Winds on call. The students are just backup, and there’s a good chance we won’t need them.’

  I bent my knees and rested my arms on them to run my hands over my tousled hair. ‘You said yourself we’re outgunned.’

  ‘We don’t use guns so it’s irrelevant.’

  ‘I still haven’t received the full information about the military smuggling and the weapons that have gone missing on the Earthly,’ I said. ‘We need that intelligence.’

  ‘We’re ready for them.’

  ‘We aren’t!’

  ‘Emma.’ He leaned his elbow on his crossed knees and studied me. ‘I’m the God of War. Trust me.’

  I was silent for a moment. ‘Okay. Point taken.’

  ‘Good.’ He raised the tablet. ‘Thank you. This is excellent.’

  ‘About time you finally sat down and read it. It’s only details on the modern weapons that aren’t classified anyway. I’m sure there’s stuff out there that I couldn’t find information on.’

  ‘Don’t worry. My nature is to be aware of all weapons; this just shows me who has what and how likely we are to face them. These small drone things are way more expensive and difficult to control than I expected. Dragons or flyers are much faster and more efficient.’ He shrugged. ‘A vast majority of weapons that work on humans won’t damage demons anyway. Drop a nuclear weapon on a demon and it’ll ignore the shockwave, shake off the heat, and walk through the fallout unharmed.’

  ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘The Tiger’s done it. He thought a nuclear blast would be similar to pure yang, but it’s much weaker — nearly ineffectual.’

  I moaned softly. ‘They could have nuclear weapons and our armies are humans.’

  ‘Only on the Mountain. The armies of the Winds are mostly Shen. The Thirty-Six are mostly demons.’ He put the tablet aside and came to sit on the bed next to me. ‘Come and have breakfast. Today will be a busy day.’

  ‘I’m surprised you’re still here. Aren’t people yelling at you to be all over the place?’

  ‘Of course they are. And there are still many tasks that need to be done. But we face battle tomorrow and some things are more important.’

  ‘Any word on our son? Has he tried to contact us?’

  He shook his head.

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘Okay if I bring Bridget in to say hello?’ Simone shouted from the entrance to my office.

  ‘Sure. Hi, Bridget,’ I said, rising and moving to the other side of the desk.

  Bridget came in, accompanied by her two sons.

  ‘Everything acceptable?’ I asked her.

  She shrugged. ‘It’s lovely. We’ll miss being able to go anywhere we please …’

  Her younger son snorted with contempt.

  ‘… and the boys will just put up with it,’ she finished.

  ‘Let me show you around,’ I said.

  ‘Don’t worry, I can handle this,’ Simone said. ‘You can go back to work.’

  ‘What is BJ doing?’

  ‘She’s taken a shelf in the linen cupboard —’

  ‘There isn’t enough room in there for a mouse!’ Bridget protested. ‘She doesn’t even have an air mattress. Where’s the poor girl going to sleep?’

  ‘She’s a rock,’ I said. ‘She’ll sleep on the shelf, she probably has a shoebox set up already. Don’t worry about her.’

  ‘She’s a rock?’ Phillip said.

  ‘And she’ll change to boy while you’re staying there.’ I spread my hands. ‘Welcome to Wudang Mountain, where weird happens every day of the week.’

  ‘How long will we be here, Emma?’ Phillip asked me. ‘I have a soccer match on Saturday.’

  ‘We go into battle tomorrow, and when we win you can go home,’ I said.

  ‘A real — like war — battle?’ his brother said with delight. ‘With soldiers and guns and everything?’ He looked from his mother to me. ‘Is there any way we can watch?’

  ‘Sure,’ I said.

  ‘Cool!’ the boy said.

  ‘I don’t think so, Emma,’ Bridget said.

  ‘No, Bridget, it’s fine. But if you want to watch, you have to come with me to the Mountain’s mortuary first.’

  That stopped him. ‘The mortuary? Why?’

  ‘To view some corpses.’

  His excitement disappeared. ‘I have to look at dead people?’

  ‘Yes. A few of our soldiers are still there from the last battle. You have to view at least three bodies — one was torn into two pieces, one had half her face blown off, and another was burnt to death — before you can watch the battle tomorrow, because similar things will happen.’

  ‘It’s horrible,’ Simone said softly.

  The younger boy had gone completely white. ‘Real bodies? Real people?’ He hesitated. ‘I never thought of it like that.’

  ‘Good. Now you have.’ I patted Bridget on the shoulder. ‘Anything you need, you call me on my mobile. I’m here for you, okay?’

  ‘Thanks, Emma,’ Bridget said. ‘Let’s leave you to it. I don’t envy you your job — what you just described are things I never want to see.’

  ‘That’s the whole reason I’m here,’ I said.

  She appeared confused for a moment.

  ‘So that you never have to see them.’ I went back around the desk. ‘Come and have dinner with us in the Imperial Residence later.’ I raised my hand. ‘Never mind. You don’t want to hear what we’re saying on the eve of battle. Just enjoy the scenery and try not to be too bored.’

  ‘Can I call David?’

  ‘There’s a phone in the house.’

  ‘Simone?’ I said after Bridget and the boys had gone out.

  She turned back. ‘Hmm?’

  ‘My parents don’t want to come up. Could you go and talk to them for me?’

  She stared at me. ‘Seriously?’

  I shrugged. ‘They think they’ll be okay with Greg there.’

  ‘They are completely insane.’

  ‘Please, after you’ve settled Bridget’s family, go and talk to them? Explain that this is serious and they’re much safer here.’

  She nodded. ‘Okay.’

  I sighed with relief. ‘Thanks, Simone.’

  ‘Hey, they’re my Nanna and Pop, and my aunties and stuff. I want to see them safe too. They’re my family as well.’

  ‘You’re absolutely right.’

  ‘Uh …’ She hesitated. ‘What if he’d wanted to see the corpses?’

  ‘I know, I t
ook a risk telling him that. Some people find death and dismemberment cool rather than scary.’

  ‘So what would you have done?’

  ‘Waited three years, then recruited him.’

  John contacted me a couple of hours later. Help, Emma! He sounded desperate, and my head shot up. I need your help … Come to the training room in the Residence … I don’t know what to do …

  I couldn’t ask him what the problem was so I ran. I didn’t normally stretch myself out to full speed, and the ground blurred beneath me as I raced to the Residence.

  I arrived to find John and Simone wearing their Mountain uniforms and glaring at each other across the floor of the training room. He was holding Dark Heavens and she had her twin blades, Bo and Bei, loaded with her chakra energy and held menacingly in front of her.

  I raised my hands. ‘Whatever this is about, it can’t be serious enough to need weapons.’

  ‘You agreed,’ Simone said.

  ‘Please don’t do this,’ John said.

  Simone didn’t look away from him. ‘Has he told you, Emma?’

  ‘No?’ I glanced from one to the other.

  ‘Good.’ She turned and saluted me with the blades crossed in front of her face. ‘Defend yourself.’

  ‘What?’ I said, and jumped back as she swiped her right blade straight where my neck would have been. ‘Simone —’

  She attempted an upwards thrust through my abdomen and I dodged it.

  ‘Summon your blade, Emma.’

  ‘I won’t fight you, Simone,’ I said, backing up with my hands raised.

  ‘Tell her, Dad,’ Simone said, swinging at me again with the blades. I didn’t move out of the way quickly enough and she stopped with the blade a centimetre from my waist. ‘You agreed.’

  John dismissed Dark Heavens and moved to the side. ‘I can’t tell you why, Emma, but you have to defeat her.’

  ‘No Shen abilities,’ I said. ‘No Celestial Form.’

  ‘Deal,’ she said, crossed the blades in front of her face again and stepped back.

  ‘Is she good enough to do this armed without killing me?’ I said without looking away from her. I put my hand out and summoned the Murasame.

  ‘I am thoroughly insulted,’ Simone said.

  ‘You’d better be good enough,’ John growled.

  Simone again tried to plunge her right-hand weapon into my abdomen and I blocked it. Her left came towards my head, so I pushed her right down and out of the way and stepped back to block her left. Her right came at me, again at waist height, and I twisted my blade around hers, pushed it down and smashed the blades into each other with a visible spark of her chakra energy.

  ‘Good,’ John said.

  I didn’t wait for her to recover; I spun with the movement and took a swing at her neck, but her crossed blades were already there to block me and she swung my sword down. She released one of her blades as mine was forced down and again attempted to take my head off. I dropped the Murasame beneath her push and somersaulted sideways to avoid her strike, feeling the blade whistle past me as I went underneath it. Close.

  John must have been thinking the same thing. ‘That was too close. Stop this now.’

  As I righted myself I put my left hand out and the Murasame’s scabbard flew into it.

  ‘No!’ Simone shouted.

  She stepped forward and tried to put the point of Bo under my chin before I could ready myself to attack again. I used the Murasame’s scabbard to block the blade coming for my throat while I used the sword in my right to block the other one coming towards my head.

  Simone used brute force to push my blocks away and kicked me square in the abdomen, sending me sliding three metres across the floor. She was in front of me before I’d stopped moving and had a chance to recover. She held the tips of both viciously curved blades at my throat.

  ‘I win,’ she said with satisfaction.

  She was at least three times stronger and faster than me and there was no way I could defeat her. I stepped back, turned the Murasame horizontally between us and formally slid it into its scabbard. ‘I concede.’

  She straightened, her expression full of triumph.

  ‘Dammit, Emma,’ John said with dismay.

  I turned to him. ‘I thought you’d be pleased. She’s improved so much since you returned it’s miraculous.’

  ‘You. Will. Get. Yourself. Killed!’ John shouted at Simone.

  ‘You’ll go back on our agreement?’ she said, glaring at him. She pointed at me. ‘I beat her. I can go tomorrow.’

  ‘Oh, no way.’ I dropped the sword and staggered as my knees buckled. ‘No way. Simone, don’t do this. Please, for us. You’re mortal!’

  ‘So are all the Disciples, the Elites, the Winds’ armies …’ She looked from her father to me. ‘I’m not special!’

  ‘You’re my daughter,’ he said with anguish.

  ‘Even more reason for me to go.’ She gestured towards me. ‘Five years of solid training with you and I just bested her. Easily. The Heavens need me.’ She summoned yin and it spiralled around her. ‘I could be the difference between victory and defeat.’

  ‘You’ll get yourself killed,’ he said, his voice weak with misery. He put his hand over his eyes and went out.

  Simone pulled the yin in, dismissed her swords and came to me. She put her hands on my arms. ‘I have to do this, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I have to help. All the Celestial, all the Earthly, all of it is at risk, and I would sacrifice myself without hesitation to protect it.’ She gazed into my eyes. ‘Didn’t you just do the same thing a couple of days ago?’

  ‘You’re just a child,’ I said.

  ‘Like the Tiger said: he’s had wives younger than me, and it’s about time I grew up,’ she said with grim humour. Then her expression softened. ‘But you weren’t thinking of going down and helping fight tomorrow, were you?’

  ‘I have more sense,’ I said, my voice thick.

  ‘Good.’ She raised her head and concentrated. ‘He’s coming back to give me as much training as he can before tomorrow.’ She sighed. ‘I hope he forgives me for this.’

  ‘Just don’t get yourself killed tomorrow, Simone. I don’t know what I’d do.’

  She embraced me. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. Nothing will happen to me.’ She pulled back to see me. ‘I’ll be fine.’

  John came back in, his expression frozen into a grim mask. Give her the Tiger’s claw before she goes tomorrow.

  ‘I will,’ I said.

  You won’t be able to explain what it’s for.

  ‘I know.’

  ‘What? That’s so rude!’ Simone said.

  ‘Contingency plans,’ I said. ‘I’ll tell you later.’ I picked the Murasame up from where it was floating ten centimetres above the floor. It quivered and felt heavy in my hand; it really hated it when I surrendered. ‘If your father isn’t sure you’re good enough, please don’t go.’

  ‘He already agreed.’ Her face softened. ‘But I’ll listen to his advice.’

  ‘Start with the level three double-handed set,’ John said. ‘From the beginning.’

  She moved into position in the middle of the room and brought her swords back out.

  I headed back to my office, my heart heavy with dread.

  21

  Later that afternoon, I was checking the weapons in the forge with Moaner when the bells rang once and then stopped. I waited for them to pick up a code I knew, but nothing happened.

  ‘Once?’ I said to Moaner, and he shrugged.

  Then it hit me so hard I staggered. I stared blindly at Moaner for a long moment, paralysed with shock.

  ‘The Jade Emperor is here?’ Moaner said, incredulous.

  ‘What the hell?’ I said, and ran to the great square in front of the Hall of the True Way.

  ‘You’re not dressed for him!’ Moaner shouted behind me.

  ‘He’ll just have to put up with me,’ I said as I arrived in the square and stopped next to John,
who was standing in Celestial Form at the edge of the square to greet the Jade Emperor and his entourage. A crowd of students was gathering at the side of the square, jostling to see, with a few of the Academy dragons in the air above them.

  Attention, John said, and the students settled, the taller ones moving back so the shorter ones could have a better view.

  ‘Before you ask, I have no idea,’ John said to me, and straightened.

  The Jade Emperor appeared, floating slightly above the grey stone pavers in glowing Celestial Form, more than two metres tall. He wore his robes of Imperial gold, embroidered with six-toed dragons, and his flat square hat with beads hanging in front of his eyes. A pair of Celestial Palace fairies, in robes of pink and red, stood behind and to either side of him.

  Er Lang and Venus flanked him, also in Celestial Form. Er Lang was in his human mid-thirties warrior form, wearing green-scaled armour and with his dog at his foot. Venus appeared as a Tang gentleman in robes of pale pink and violet with his long hair bound into a topknot and covered with a five-centimetre-wide filigree crown.

  Everybody in the square, including John and me, fell to one knee on the pavers as the group approached, the Jade Emperor still floating slightly above the ground.

  ‘Celestial Majesty,’ John said, his head bowed. ‘This humble Shen welcomes you and your —’

  ‘No need, Ah Wu,’ the Jade Emperor said. ‘Up you come, this won’t take long. War room, please.’

  He settled onto the pavers and we stood to one side, heads still bowed, as he strode past us to the war room.

  ‘We need a contingency plan if Hell should fall tomorrow,’ the Jade Emperor said without any preamble as soon as we were sitting.

  ‘Hell will fall?’ I said with dismay.

  ‘I keep forgetting you are young and mortal,’ the Jade Emperor said with amusement. ‘Ah Wu will explain later.’

  He can’t share his knowledge of the future because our actions will change in response, John said. That could affect the outcome — and possibly not in our favour. We must trust him to guide us.