‘Leo’s right, John,’ I said without opening my eyes. ‘You take Simone home. Leo can give me a hand.’
Simone’s little voice, demanding, ‘I want to stay with Emma!’
‘Go home with your dad,’ I said. ‘I’m okay, Leo’s here. He’ll bring me home shortly, and Meredith can fix me up, good as new.’
‘I want to stay here with you, Emma.’
I opened my eyes. Her face was set into a stubborn mask.
‘Could you go home, choose some nice clothes for me to wear, and ask Ah Yat to bring them down to the hospital for me, Simone?’ I said kindly. ‘You’re the only one I trust to do that for me. The guys have no idea what clothes I wear.’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Your dad can show you where my wardrobe is, Simone,’ I said. ‘He knows where everything is. You two go and have a look for me.’
‘I’ll help you,’ John said.
‘Okay.’ Simone hopped down and gently took John’s hand. ‘Come on, Daddy, let’s go and find something nice for Emma to come home in.’
‘Thanks, sweetheart,’ I whispered and closed my eyes. The door closed behind them.
‘Would you like another drink of water?’ Leo said.
‘Please.’
Leo gently lifted my head and put the glass to my lips. The water was still sweet. I took a few sips. It flowed coolly down my throat. I nodded and he gently let me down. I had a sudden shock of concern. ‘What happened to you, stone?’
No reply.
‘If you’re talking about your ring, they took your jewellery and put it in a safe place,’ Leo said. ‘It’s not here.’
‘The demon seemed to have disabled it,’ I said. ‘I banged it on the wall and everything, and it didn’t say a word.’
‘Talk to Mr Chen when you get home,’ Leo said. ‘Rest right now, and I’ll take you home when you feel up to it.’
‘Leo,’ I whispered.
His face moved into view.
‘Sorry, mate, but can you help me up? I want to use the bathroom.’
‘Mate?’ His eyes sparkled with amusement as he lifted me easily. ‘Just call a nurse. You don’t have to get up.’
‘I want to get onto my feet anyway,’ I said as he helped me around so that my legs hung over the edge of the bed. ‘I want to go home.’
I gently lowered myself onto my feet. Leo held my arm. I couldn’t help it, I leaned on him. I was as weak as a kitten. ‘All I did was break my arm. How come I’m so weak?’
‘Wait till you’re in the bathroom, you’ll see why,’ Leo said.
I pushed him away and tried to stand by myself. I couldn’t. He jerked forward to catch me before I went down.
‘This just isn’t good enough,’ I growled under my breath. ‘I have to get out of here.’
‘What’s the big hurry?’ he said, gently amused. ‘My thesis is due next week.’
Leo didn’t say anything. He held me up and guided me towards the bathroom. The IV bag followed on its little wheeled stand.
‘You don’t have to do this,’ I said quickly, realising what he was about to do. ‘If you’re uncomfortable, we’ll just call a nurse.’
‘Oh, come on, Emma, you’re like a sister to me. I’m a Retainer. What about the attack in Guangzhou when you helped me? Besides,’ he said, his grin gaining an evil edge, ‘I want to see your face.’
‘What?’
He guided me through the bathroom door. There was a mirror directly in front of me. I saw my face and his grip tightened as I nearly fell over with shock.
‘Holy shit,’ I said softly as I looked at myself.
My entire face was a swollen purple mass of bruised flesh. My eyes were barely visible. I had stitches on my forehead and across my cheekbones that I hadn’t even been aware of. Now that I knew they were there I could feel them. They weren’t painful, they were more like unpleasant pressure across my face.
‘Have to take a photo of this when we get home,’ Leo said with amusement. ‘What a good job. I think you deserve a special prize.’
‘You put a camera anywhere near me and my chi is out to get you,’ I threatened fiercely. I tried to pull myself free of him. He held me. ‘Let me go. I want to see if I can stand alone.’
He gently complied, ready to catch me if I went down.
A wave of weakness hit me as he let go. I fell into his arms. ‘Damn.’
He didn’t waste any more time. He swept me up and carried me like a child. ‘Let’s get this over with and get you back to bed.’
‘I want to go home,’ I said fiercely the next time I came around. The IV was gone; they must have taken it out while I was asleep. ‘Meredith can fix most of this, but I can’t just walk out of here a hundred per cent. I have to get home first.’
Leo understood. ‘Do you think you could walk if I helped you?’
I nodded and my head exploded with pain. ‘Ouch.’ I turned carefully on the bed and lowered myself. I tried standing. I could do it. ‘Whoopee,’ I said quietly, ‘I’m up and around.’
Leo moved to help me but I waved him away. ‘Let me see if I can walk.’ I gingerly tried a few hesitant steps. ‘Call Ah Yat. Tell her to bring me some clothes. Let’s get me out of here.’ I turned back to the bed and climbed to sit on it.
Leo pulled out his mobile and called home. ‘Tell her to materialise carefully,’ I said, and he nodded.
Ah Yat came bustling out of the bathroom like a mother hen. She shooed Leo out of the room and helped me to dress. She was strong enough to hold me by herself. When I had the clothes on, the three of us called a nurse and told her we were leaving.
The nurse looked stiffly at me then turned and walked out without saying a word. Gone to find a doctor.
The doctor came in. He was in his mid-thirties, overweight, cheerful, and smelled of cigarette smoke. ‘You should stay overnight for observation,’ he said over his small, stylish glasses.
‘I want to get out of here,’ I said firmly. ‘I want to go home.’ I thought quickly and gestured towards Leo. ‘My boyfriend is a registered nurse, he’ll look after me.’
Leo snapped me a quick, astonished glance, then spoke to the doctor. ‘I’ll look after her. She’ll be fine.’
The doctor acquiesced reluctantly. ‘Go downstairs and sign out first,’ he said to Leo. ‘Any signs of altered state, lack of perception, bring her back. You know what to look for.’
Leo nodded. ‘Nausea, dizziness, dilated pupils, visual disturbance, altered state, I know.’
The doctor nodded, satisfied. ‘Take care.’ He watched as I walked out by myself, Leo carefully behind me ready to catch me. Ah Yat wasn’t there. Must have already gone back to the Peak to prepare for me.
Leo gently helped me into the car. ‘How did you know I was a registered nurse, Emma?’
‘What, you are?’ I cried softly with disbelief. ‘I just made that up.’ I stopped and studied him appraisingly. He smiled gently. ‘How have you managed to do everything you’ve done in your life, Leo? You are the most remarkable man I have ever met.’
‘I think the Dark Lord accumulates remarkable people around him,’ Leo said as he closed the car door.
Leo removed the stitches as Meredith healed me. They worked together closely and with care. I didn’t feel a thing. John didn’t want to watch. When they were finished, Meredith went home with the other Master, Liu, helping her. She wasn’t completely drained but needed to rest for a long time. She was the only true very high-level energy worker left in the Academy and we needed her skills.
John came in and sat by me when they’d finished. Leo collected his instruments and went out. He came back with my jewellery in a brown paper envelope.
I sat up on the bed and shook my head: no stars. I was still weak and woozy, but I felt much better. I tipped the contents of the envelope onto the blanket and picked up the ring.
‘What happened to you? You left me just when I needed you.’
‘I didn’t leave you, Emma,’ the stone said as I put th
e ring back on. ‘I was trying to talk to you, but you didn’t hear me.’
‘Oh my God.’ I sagged back against my bedhead. ‘She didn’t disable you, she disabled me.’ ‘Tell me,’ John said.
‘I saw her in the lobby of the office building. No, wait, she was in the lift, and went down with me. I saw her in the lift. I tried to call you, but my mobile was dead. Then I tried the guard’s phone, but it was dead too. Then I tried to talk to the stone, but it didn’t answer.’
‘Emma,’ the stone said patiently, ‘the phones were working just fine. I could hear the dial tone.’
‘She did something to me,’ I said.
John leaned back in his chair next to my bed. ‘Quite possible. One of the disadvantages of being a perfectly ordinary human.’ He smiled briefly. ‘What happened after you saw her? Did she speak to you?’
‘No. She ignored me. She pretended to be waiting for someone. So I lost my temper and shouted at her, and went out of the building. I said something like “I hope you’re more honourable than that bastard Wong and don’t try to stab me in the back”, or something like that.’
Leo made a soft sound of amusement. ‘Then?’ John said.
‘Then she met me in the car park, next to my car.’ I winced. ‘Sorry, Leo, our car.’
‘Your car, my Lady,’ Leo said gently.
‘Oh, cut it out. That’s all I need. Okay, so I met her next to the car. She took me over to the side, no cars there. She went for me. Then Gold…’ I hesitated. That was the way it seemed to have happened. ‘Then Gold was talking to me, I was on the ground, and my arm and head hurt like hell.’
‘It was a level fifty?’ John said.
‘Probably. At least.’ I suddenly remembered. ‘She said that if she took me back in one piece she’d be promoted to Mother.’
Neither of them said anything.
‘I called Gold,’ the stone said. ‘But he was a long way away and it took him a while to get there. By the time he made it to the building, Emma was gone. And then she was underground, so I couldn’t call anybody.’ ‘Why not?’ I said.
‘The stone was buried,’ John said. ‘Underground. Silenced.’
‘I didn’t know that happened,’ I said. ‘Sorry,’ John whispered.
‘Not your fault, my Lord. It’s difficult to remember what the Lady knows and what she doesn’t. I should have been the one to tell her,’ the stone said.
‘The stone is right,’ I said. ‘Not your fault.’
All of them were quiet at that.
‘So Emma can ask the ring to call for help if she needs it?’ Leo said.
‘I spend most of my time asleep, Leo,’ the stone said. ‘Please don’t any of you rely on me. I am very old and starting to fade. I will wake if the Lady hits me, but she may not have the chance. I can only call my children, like Gold. And if she is underground, I am silenced.’
‘Damn,’ John said quietly. Then he shook himself out of it. ‘So you don’t remember what happened?’
‘No,’ I said. ‘She faced me, she hit me, Gold was there. I don’t remember anything in between.’
‘Stone?’ John said.
The stone hesitated. I heard it hesitate.
‘Don’t you dare start this with me again,’ I threatened softly.
‘All right.’ The stone fell silent, and I was about to berate it again when it spoke. ‘You fought valiantly, my Lady, but she was much too strong for you. She struck you in the arm. Then she hit you in the face. Then…’ It went silent again.
‘What?’
If the stone could have sighed, it would have. ‘Then suddenly you were all over her, you were faster than her—’
‘Faster than a level fifty?’ I said with disbelief. ‘Not possible,’ John said.
The stone ignored us. ‘And you took her out easily, then you fell. You were astonishing.’
John studied me. ‘And you don’t remember doing it?’
My throat was thick. ‘No.’
We were all silent for a while.
‘What does this mean, my Lord?’ Leo said.
‘It means that I’m going to pull out a level forty-five and throw it at Emma next time she’s in Wan Chai,’ John said with satisfaction. ‘No, damn, I can’t get anything that big out, I’d start draining everything around me. One of the Masters can do it, and I’ll watch. Should be interesting to see.’
‘You have demons that big in a jar?’ I said.
‘Only one or two,’ John said. ‘May have to make do with a level forty. Don’t often come up against them with the chance to put them into the jar. I don’t have anything bigger than that.’
‘I’m not too sure about this,’ I said.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll have someone on hand just in case,’ John said. ‘But I’d really like to see you take out something that big with your bare hands.’
‘I would too,’ I said. ‘I have no idea how I did it.’
‘Stone?’ John said.
‘No idea either,’ the stone said. ‘I look forward to watching as well. Should be interesting.’
A couple of weeks later I received a clean bill of health from Meredith and we tried it. I stood nervously next to the wall under the mirrors in the training room on the twelfth floor. I really wasn’t sure about this.
Meredith waited next to the demon jar, watching me with quiet amusement. John leaned against the short wall of the room, arms folded over his chest.
‘Just do what you did in Central,’ he said quietly.
‘I have no idea what I did in Central,’ I said.
‘There’s two in here,’ Meredith said. ‘I’ll give you the female one. It’s a big humanoid. Should take human form. Was that what the one in Central was?’
‘I think so,’ I said. ‘Stone? Any idea?’
The stone was silent.
‘It’s spending more and more time sleeping,’ I said. ‘Wake it up, it wanted to see,’ John said. I pulled the chain out from around my neck and tapped the stone. ‘Yes, my Lady?’
‘We’re going to do it. Big female humanoid. Is that the same?’
‘Sounds about right.’
‘Okay.’ I took a deep breath. ‘Go.’
Meredith held her hand above the jar and one of the beads flew up into it. She threw the bead onto the floor at the base of the mirrors. The female demon materialised in human form.
I went into a guard position and nodded without looking away from the demon.
The demon stiffened and straightened to study me. ‘What are you?’
‘Damn. Why do they keep doing that? Okay,’ I said more loudly, ‘what am I?’
The demon glared at me with contempt. ‘If I knew I wouldn’t be asking you.’
‘I’m a Snake Mother,’ I said.
‘Emma…’ John said from the side, but I ignored him.
‘No, you’re not,’ she said. ‘I’m a snake hybrid.’
‘Is that what you are?’ she said, tilting her head. ‘You don’t look like a hybrid.’
‘Emma, don’t worry about it!’ John said. ‘I’m a perfectly normal human being,’ I said.
‘Good,’ she said. ‘Then I should be able to take you easily!’ She went straight for my head with both hands, but I ducked under her and went through her, hitting her in the abdomen with both feet, one after the other, as I went past.
She spun to follow me. ‘Trained by the Dark Lord himself,’ she said. ‘Impressive.’
She came at me, her fists a blur. I managed to block the first three or four strikes, but quickly found myself unable to keep up with her and retreated, losing ground. She saw that I wasn’t nearly as fast as her and her face filled with grim satisfaction as she kept the strikes coming at my head. It was all I could do to stay out of the way.
I fell back, dodging and weaving and making feeble attempts to block her flurry of blows.
She hit me on the side of the head with a cracking thump. The floor crashed into me. I couldn’t see.
‘If she’s sustained brain damage
, my Lord, I will personally tear your arms off,’ Meredith said.
‘You should have seen that coming and bound the bitch quicker,’ John said.
‘That’s right, blame the woman,’ I said, and opened my eyes.
I lay on my back on the floor where I’d fallen. My head felt like it was stuffed with lead-filled cotton wool. Meredith was above me, her intelligent face full of concern.
‘I’m okay,’ I said. ‘My head feels fuzzy but I’ll live.’ ‘Meredith?’ John said.
Meredith took my hand and studied me. ‘She’s right: mild concussion, that’s all.’ She helped me sit up. I wriggled back so that I was leaning against the mirrors. My head was spinning but my vision was clear.
John wiped his hands over his face and tied back his hair. ‘Damn.’ He and Meredith shared a look but didn’t say anything.
‘So what was the difference?’ John said.
Nobody spoke.
‘Stone?’ John said.
‘I honestly don’t know, my Lord,’ the stone said. ‘In Central, the demon hit her and she moved faster. This time, no difference. Similar demon. Similar circumstances. I have no idea.’
‘It will come out in the end,’ John said. ‘We have all the time in the world. Help her up, Meredith, let’s get her home.’
Meredith lifted me with one strong hand under my arm. I was slightly woozy, but I would make it.
‘We don’t have all the time in the world, John,’ I said. ‘Time is the one thing that we’re rapidly running out of.’
‘It will happen for us,’ John said grimly. ‘Live for the present and look to the future.’
‘The future is the only thing keeping me going,’ I whispered.
‘I won’t take you directly home, Emma, it’ll make your head ten times worse,’ Meredith said. ‘Let’s get you down to the car, and Lord Xuan can drive you.’
‘Okay.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
After we returned from the party the following Saturday we kicked off our shoes and I helped Simone drag all of the gear into her bedroom. The treat sack was huge and stuffed full of gifts. There was a tap on the door. ‘Come in, Leo, let me show you,’ Simone said. Leo came in and sat next to Simone and me on the floor.