Red Phoenix (18 page)

‘Why did your partner change his mind?’ I said.

‘I honestly don’t know. I think he panicked at the idea of touching the Dark Lord.’ She stared at John with awe. ‘Why could I touch you, Highness? It felt…’ She hesitated. ‘I don’t know how it felt.’

‘I will explain that later, after you have truly proved your worth,’ John said.

‘You are a legend, my Lord. I have touched you. I serve your Lady. You have no idea what this feels like, for a small thing such as I.’

‘Why did you call me Dark Lady?’ I said.

‘Because your essence is dark,’ she said. ‘Dark, and pure, and beautiful. Same as his.’

‘You have tamed a poet,’ John said with quiet delight. ‘She has described you in a nutshell. Dark, and pure, and beautiful.’

I suddenly felt a million times better.

We stopped at the ninth floor to shower and change into some training gear we kept at the Academy. The demon waited patiently outside for us.

Back on the sixth floor, one of the Celestial Masters was taking an advanced group through hand-to-hand. Leo and Michael practised the moves at the back of the class. Michael had some trouble, the moves were slightly too complicated for him, but he tried valiantly anyway with Leo’s help. Gold and Simone sat to one side and watched. When we
entered everyone stopped, fell to one knee and saluted us, then rose and continued.

Simone ran to her father. He hoisted her to sit on his hip and they watched the class.

I saw my opportunity. I gestured for the demon to stay put, then went to John and cuddled into him, wrapping my arm around his waist. He put his free arm around my shoulders and rubbed me affectionately. The three of us, him holding Simone, watched the students together. It was delightful.

Leo saw us out of the corner of his eye and his face went rigid. He spun and rushed towards us, but stopped halfway. His eyes turned inward as he listened. Then he smiled, nodded, raised his hand in understanding, and returned to Michael.

‘Which one of you told him?’ I said.

‘Me,’ Simone said.

‘I didn’t know you knew, Simone,’ I said. John smiled affectionately down at Simone. ‘I never told her.’

‘You did, Emma,’ Simone said. ‘You said Daddy could never drain me. And that means that while he’s holding me, he can’t hurt you.’

‘You are a very clever little girl, you know that?’ John said, delighted.

We enjoyed the closeness as we watched the students.

‘I think a couple of these are ready to move up, Emma,’ John said. ‘What do you think?’

‘Matthew, definitely. Yong Xin, maybe. I’d give her more time if it was me.’

‘Whatever you say, my Lady. You’re the boss.’

‘Not here. When it comes to the Arts I think you have the tiniest bit of seniority on me. Being God of Martial Arts and all.’

‘Oh, yes, I am too.’ He glanced down at me and
squeezed me around the shoulders. ‘I keep forgetting, the way you boss me around all the time.’

‘You need bossing around, Daddy,’ Simone said. ‘You’re hopeless at everything except martial arts.’

‘You think so, Simone?’ he said.

She nodded, her little face serious.

‘I think I must be the happiest old Turtle in the whole wide world,’ he said with a sigh and a huge grin. ‘But I’m afraid a couple of these students could use my hand, so I’ll have to let both of you wonderful ladies go.’

‘Let me move away first before you put Simone down,’ I said, and he released me.

‘Go and talk to Gold,’ he said. ‘I saw that look on your face.’

‘What look?’

He gently lowered Simone. ‘The look that says you have to find something out
right now
or somebody will be in big trouble. Go and ask him.’

He was right. I told the demon to stay at the back of the class, then went to Gold.

‘How can the stone in my ring be your father, Gold?’

He smiled cheerfully and it made him seem very young. ‘Come with me, out of the room, and I’ll show you.’

John moved through the class to give the students individual attention. Simone sat down cross-legged against the back wall and the demon stood next to her. The demon nodded and smiled, and I nodded back. Looked like she would be a good one.

‘This way, ma’am,’ Gold said, and led me out.

He stopped in the lift lobby and grinned at me. ‘Don’t worry, this doesn’t hurt a bit.’

He held his hand out and flicked his wrist like a magician. Then he plunged his hand straight into his chest. He pulled out a stone about the size of his fist and held it out to me.

I took it gingerly, expecting it to be wet and disgusting, but it was warm and dry. It was a gorgeous piece of clear quartz shot through with shining veins of gold.

‘That’s me,’ he said, his eyes sparkling.

I nearly dropped the stone. ‘You’re a
rock
?’

‘Yes. Gold isn’t my name, it’s what I
am.’

‘Pretentious,’ the stone in my ring said. ‘You are less than twenty per cent pure gold. Your correct name is Quartz.’

‘Give it a rest, Dad,’ Gold said, still smiling. ‘Go back to sleep, old rock.’

‘Humph,’ the stone said, and went silent.

I studied the stone in my hand. ‘You are very beautiful, Gold.’ I turned it over and ran one finger over the veins of gold. It was smooth and warm, quite delightful to touch.

Gold shivered and inhaled sharply. His eyes went wide and dark.

I rubbed my palm over the stone, enjoying the smooth texture.

Gold breathed heavily and became very flushed. ‘Uh, my Lady…’

I stopped and felt my face redden. ‘Sorry,’ I mumbled, embarrassed. ‘I didn’t know.’

He pulled himself together. ‘Not a problem. I should have told you. Better give me back, my Lady, I can’t hold human form well unless I am inside it.’

‘Oh, wonderful,’ the stone in my ring said. ‘You know she rubs me sometimes when she’s thinking. Now she knows, she won’t do it any more.’

Gold’s grin didn’t shift. ‘You are a dirty old man.’

‘And I won’t be rubbing you any more,’ I said.

‘Damn,’ the stone said softly.

‘Your father said you were stuck, Gold.’ I handed the stone back to him. ‘What did he mean?’

‘Not my father, my
parent
.’ Gold shoved the stone back into his chest. ‘Like Jade, I displeased Heaven, and I am stuck in human form, serving, until I have atoned.’

‘What did you do?’

He looked sheepish. ‘I would prefer not to say, my Lady. If you order me, I will tell you. But I would prefer not to.’

I changed the subject to spare his feelings. ‘If the stone in my ring is your parent, I really don’t think it’s appropriate for me to be wearing it around. Do you want to take it?’

‘It is honoured to be an item of jewellery. It is the highest honour a stone can attain, to be treated as something truly precious. And the fact that it symbolises the bond you share with the Dark Lord gives my parent a great deal of distinction.’

‘Oh. I never thought of it that way. You are pretty enough…’ I stopped. ‘I mean your stone is pretty enough…’ I was lost for words. I didn’t know how to say it.

‘I think I understand what you mean, and I am sincerely flattered. When I am freed, I would be honoured to become an item of jewellery for you. I could shrink myself to any suitable size.’ Gold grinned broadly. ‘What a truly gracious lady you are.’

‘Let’s go back to class,’ I said. ‘Sounds like they’re finishing.’

‘Very good, my Lady,’ Gold said cheerfully.

J
ohn drove me and the demon back to the Peak building and the others followed in the second car. When we reached the front door to the apartment, my tame demon stopped.

John went in, turned and gestured. ‘Come in.’

She hesitated.

‘Go in. Trust him,’ I said.

Her face screwed up with fear and she closed her eyes as she walked through the door. When she was on the other side she took a deep breath, opened her eyes and smiled.

Monica came out of the kitchen. ‘The new helper is here, ma’am.’ She hesitated. ‘May I speak to you alone, ma’am?’

‘In the dining room, wait for me there.’

I indicated for my demon to follow me, and took her into my bedroom and pulled out the book of baby names. ‘Choose a name from here, then wait and we’ll decide what we want to do with you.’

The demon took the book and looked at it. She smiled and shook her head.

‘What?’

‘I never thought I’d have anything as wonderful as a name.’

I patted her arm. ‘Just choose one, and wait for me. I’ll be right back.’

Monica was in the dining room, her face full of misery.

I sat next to her. ‘What’s the problem, Monica?’ ‘It’s the new helper, ma’am.’

‘Ah Yat? I thought you’d like her. She’s very good, she’s from the house in Guangzhou.’

Monica dropped her head and spoke softly. ‘She lies, ma’am.’

I leaned back, relieved. ‘She told you about herself.’

‘She says she’s more than a thousand years old, ma’am.’ Monica appeared even more miserable. ‘I know you say she’s good, and Sir trusts her, but she
lies.
I don’t know why she says these things.’

‘It’s the truth, Monica. She’s twelve hundred years old.’

Monica’s head shot up and her eyes went wide. ‘She’s one of
them
?’

‘She’s a tame demon. Same as the woman I just brought in.’

Monica stared silently at me, her eyes wide. Then she grimaced. ‘Can you trust her with Simone?’

‘She’s served Mr Chen faithfully for six hundred years. I think we can trust her.’

Monica appeared to come to a decision and nodded. ‘If you and Sir are okay with it, then I am too.’

I patted her arm. ‘Good. Hurry up and get organised, the Tiger will be here soon to take you to the palace.’

‘Will I be able to say goodbye to Simone before I go?’

‘Of course. She’s on the way home with Leo and Michael in the other car.’

She nodded and we both rose. She hesitated at the door. ‘What?’

She quickly spun and embraced me. ‘I’ll miss everybody.’

I held her close. ‘We’ll miss you too. Hopefully you’ll be able to come with the Tiger when he visits sometimes.’

She pulled back, tearful. ‘I hope so too, ma’am.’ She smiled through the tears. ‘There are still a few things I need to show the demon.’

I squeezed her. ‘Mr Chen says that you are a treasure beyond compare, Monica, and I agree with him.’

She nodded, speechless, and went out.

I sighed and went back to my room. John was already there, holding the demon’s hand and studying her.

‘Well?’ I said.

He didn’t look at me; he continued examining the demon. ‘One Two Two has been doing some interesting things with his demon-breeding. I would be fascinated to see the Mother that produced this one.’

‘My Mother is terrifying,’ the demon said. ‘And she is one of the smallest in the nests.’

John released her hand and snapped back. ‘And now we need to work out what to do with you.’

‘Have you chosen a name yet?’ I said.

‘The Dark Lord says I am the first demon you have tamed, my Lady, so I have chosen Alpha.’

‘Go through the Greek alphabet and name them, easy,’ John said.

‘You sure?’

The demon nodded. ‘Yes, ma’am.’ I shrugged. ‘Okay.’

‘You’ll probably run out of Greek letters before the end of the year,’ John said.

‘Oh no. No
way.
No way do I want a horde of tame demons trailing after me.’

‘I do not think you will have much choice, ma’am,’ Alpha said. ‘I have already told my remaining nest mates about your kind heart.’

‘Oh
no!’

John chuckled. ‘So where will we put you, Alpha?’

Alpha bowed slightly. ‘I am content to serve wherever you put me.’

‘She can help run the house in Guangzhou while Ah Yat’s here,’ I said. ‘Sixty-eight can manage, but he could really use another pair of hands.’

‘Good idea,’ John said. He took Alpha’s hand. ‘Go here, report to this demon. Do this.’

Alpha’s face lit up. ‘This is one of your residences?’

‘Yes. You can help maintain it.’

Alpha glanced from John to me. ‘Thank you!’ she said, breathless with delight. ‘I am profoundly honoured.’ I smiled back. ‘Go.’

She released John’s hand, bowed slightly, and disappeared.

‘What are you doing with a book of baby names in your room?’ John said.

‘April gave it to me to hand on to Louise, now that Louise is married,’ I said. ‘I’m hoping to see her in Paris. The Tiger said she’d be there.’

‘Oh.’ He opened his mouth and closed it again.

‘It’s too early to tell, John. It’s only been a few days.’

He sighed and sat on my couch. ‘We should have taken precautions.’

I laughed softly. ‘We never had a chance. Besides, the timing was wrong. I don’t think we need to worry.’

He looked up at me, his eyes full of pain.

‘Yes, John. I hope it happened as well.’

I stood quietly outside the uniform shop waiting for the kids to come out. Leo was inside with them, they were fine.

I looked down at the football field. There was a demon there.

More appeared. Many more. Dozens of them. They filled the field. They approached the stairs to come up to the uniform shop. I studied them carefully: they were mostly humanoids, but some worms too. Not too much of a problem; mostly low-level stuff, level two or three, biggest about level five.

Damned if they would get near
my
family.

I let my breath out in a long hiss.

I went to the top of the stairs and waited for them to come up. I wasn’t worried at all; in fact I was looking forward to this.

As the first ranks of them reached the top of the stairs, I raised myself on my black coils, opened my mouth and struck.

I woke and shot upright, panting. I looked around. My room. The lights from Central leaked through the curtains covering the large picture window above the bed.

I threw myself down, turned over and tried to go back to sleep.

John poked his head around my bedroom door about mid-morning the next day. ‘What time do we leave tomorrow?’

‘Flight leaves at ten. Early start tomorrow.’

‘I haven’t even packed yet. Can you control all the emergencies for the next hour or so?’

‘No, I’m having lunch with Rhonda, and I’d better move.’ I sighed with exasperation. ‘She wanted to go for yum cha and I can’t.’

He was amused. ‘You can’t eat meat at all any more, can you.’

‘I know I don’t have to be vegetarian any more, but if I eat meat I feel awful afterwards.’

‘I’ll need to arrange some pine nuts and spring water for you in the near future, I think.’

‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’

‘Where’s Leo? He can mind Simone while I pack.’

‘Leo’s in your room packing for you right now.’

He went still and his eyes unfocused as he looked into his room. Then he snapped back and raced to the door. ‘If I let him pack I won’t have a single black shirt to wear the entire time we’re there!’

‘That’s the idea!’ I called to him as he ran out, his long hair flying behind him.

I’d arranged to meet Rhonda MacLaren for lunch at Central. I needed to talk to her about Michael before we took him to Paris with us the following day. My car’s alarm popped and I climbed in. I wound my way out through the car park to the gate. I smiled and waved to the guards as they opened the gate for me, and they waved back.

I went slowly down the drive and stopped at the end. An English guy further up the hill drove his Porsche like a bat out of hell down the hill sometimes, and never checked to see if someone was coming out of our drive. Nobody there. I turned out onto the road and drove down towards the Peak Tower.

There weren’t many tourists on the viewing platform and the fountain in the tower’s forecourt had been turned off again to save money. The clouds descended onto the Peak, and would probably engulf us in the afternoon. John had made such a mistake buying that building, it was so damn damp all the time. And then I understood: up high. On a mountain.

I headed for Magazine Gap Road, and turned on the CD player.

Freddie Mercury attacked me from all sides.

I turned the volume down and changed to the next CD in the box in the back, silently cursing Leo.

Freddie Mercury again.
Best of Queen.

I flipped through all six CDs in the box. All of them were
Best of Queen.

That bastard. He hadn’t just been through my CD collection, he’d been through my goddamn
books
as well and obviously been
reading
them.

I smiled at the deliberate irony.
Best of Queen.
Cute.

I quietly contemplated revenge as I wound my way down the hill. Gold must have helped with this one; Leo wouldn’t have been able to copy the CDs himself. It would take me a while to think up something suitably cruel to get him back with. Maybe Michael could give me a hand. Yes.

I turned left at the bottom into Connaught Road and crawled through the traffic of Central. Lunchtime crowd; but I was adding to it. I went past the Star Ferry terminal on the right. I wasn’t parking there today, although it was the most convenient car park for John’s building in Central. He had a small office in the building to manage the tenants, and I made a mental note to drop in there after lunch and talk to them about occupancy. We needed to keep the building completely leased out, even if it meant dropping the rent.

I continued along Connaught Road, under the huge overpass that carried pedestrians to the Star Ferry. The office workers in their business suits and smart shoes bustled from one side to the other. I still hadn’t bought any suits. Miss Kwok would definitely dock my pay. I smiled. I had come such a long way since she’d asked me to spy on John Chen and I’d resigned on the spot.

Kitty Kwok still called me. She had been a total bitch to me at the first charity function I’d attended with
John, but after that had suddenly warmed up and kept asking me to lunch or to visit her house. It was obvious I made an excuse every time, but she still kept at me. She’d probably worked out what the ring meant, and was trying to keep me onside. She even had April harassing me about visiting as well. April’s baby was due in another month. I made a mental note to give her a call and check on her.

I turned left and meandered up a tiny one-way street. The sidewalks overflowed with people and many of them walked on the road. I sounded my horn to let them know I was coming and they looked at me blankly then moved to let me through. Normal working day in Central.

I turned right and went down the ramp under the shiny new building, The Centre. Spectacular neon lines marked out its floors, making a rainbow of colours that moved slowly up its sides at night.

I grabbed a ticket on the way into the car park and parked at the bottom of the casual area away from the other cars. One of the reasons I’d chosen The Centre: the car park was large and convenient to where I was going, but even better it often had areas that were empty of cars. I stepped out, locked the car, and waited.

Gold appeared next to me and quickly saluted. I nodded back and we went to the elevators together.

We exited at the ground floor. Huge silver-clad pillars supported the building over the open paved area at ground level with small gardens and fountains. A large-screen television to one side displayed the latest stock prices.

Central Market stood on the other side of the road. It was old and blackened from the car exhausts, and reeked of blood and ripe meat from the butcher stalls inside. The pigs were delivered in the morning,
butchered and the meat hung in the heat without refrigeration for the whole day. A public toilet under the market at the end of the street added to the aromatic mix, making the walk past quite unpleasant.

As usual for a summer’s day it started to rain. I pulled out my umbrella and opened it, and Gold huddled underneath it with me. Eventually he gave up, turned towards me and made a large umbrella appear in his hand. He moved away and opened it. The road was awash and we skipped over the puddles to the market.

We stepped onto the escalator outside the market and turned onto the walkway at the bottom of the Mid-levels escalator. We were under cover now; I folded my umbrella and put it away. We stepped onto the long moving ramp, and Gold turned towards me and made his umbrella disappear. Neat trick: I wished I could do that. Sometimes I would accidentally leave the umbrella at home, drying, and be stuck without it in one of Hong Kong’s massive rainstorms.

Gold peered at the water gushing from the sky. ‘May get an amber rainstorm warning.’

‘If it keeps up like this, we’ll get a red or a black warning and all the kids will be sent home from school. Anybody able to carry me and my car back home so I can miss the traffic?’

He grinned. ‘Not that I know of. You’ll have to put up with the traffic.’

‘Damn.’

It was only a short distance to the prestigious apartment blocks of the Mid-levels, but the vertical nature of Hong Kong meant that it was too steep to walk. The government had built a continuous series of escalators that went up the hill, allowing office workers to travel up and down without needing to take the bus. The escalator travelled down until ten in the morning,
then changed direction and went up for the rest of the day. Very convenient.

‘Where’s Ms MacLaren’s store?’ Gold said.

‘Halfway up Hollywood Road. Between one of those tiny shops selling trash and an antiques store that sells the real thing. She specialises in furniture bought on the Mainland and restored in Shenzhen.’