Blue Dragon Part 58

That stopped me. 'Same thing, isn't it?'

The stone didn't say anything.

I took three steps back and jumped over the fence again. I returned to my car.

'What happens to me if I go to h.e.l.l is of no importance whatsoever,' I said. 'If I go, Simone will be safe, and the King will free me when Xuan Wu returns. That's what matters.'

The stone remained silent. I pulled myself into the car to go home. I checked the clock. Dinnertime.

'Does he know I came to get the phone?' I said.

'Yes,' the stone said. 'He's as worried as I am.'

I sighed and turned the key. I pulled away from the kerb and headed home.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE.

Na Zha wanted to see the new demons as well. The Tiger came too, and brought Michael.

Na Zha was obviously intimidated by John's presence. He'd toned down his appearance and appeared as a Chinese of about seventeen, wearing a plain T-s.h.i.+rt and a pair of cargo shorts.

Leo took Simone out to a playground slightly higher on the Peak, and the rest of us sat around the dining table together.

I put the ring on the table and the room expanded and contracted. We were in the living room. Simone and I were playing a board game on the coffee table with Helen.

'Were you awake when Kitty collected Helen from the school?' I said.

The scene s.h.i.+fted and we were on the long outdoor corridor outside the cla.s.srooms at the school.

'This where you go to school?' the Tiger said.

'Yep,' Michael said.

Na Zha made some derisive noises but didn't say anything.

Kitty was there, holding Helen's hand. Michael and I were standing in front of them, studying Helen.

John approached Kitty and touched her hand. 'Human. All the way through. He hasn't done anything at all to her.'

'On the plane she bossed One Two Two around,' I said. 'It sounded like he actually took orders from her.'

'She doesn't know any other way of talking to people except to give orders,' John said, crouching to study little Helen. 'It's probably more like a partners.h.i.+p of equals. I'd say that they detest each other, but stay together because it's a beneficial union for both of them.'

'Wonder if he screws her,' the Tiger said, and I thumped him on the arm. 'What?'

'Is that all you ever think about, Ah Bai?' John said with resignation as he touched Helen's head.

'Good coming from you,' the Tiger said.

'Cut it out, you two,' I said. 'Helen. Well?'

'Human,' John said. 'Slightly larger than a normal human inside, because she is half fox spirit, but that is all. Have a look.'

The others all touched Helen's head then stepped back.

'Would you like to go back to the apartment?' the stone said. It had appeared behind us again in its European human form.

'So that's what you look like,' Michael said.

'No, I'm square and green,' the stone said, and the scene s.h.i.+fted back to Simone, myself and Helen playing Monopoly in the living room.

'Take it forward to the demon and the Snake Mother,' John said, lightly touching Helen's head. 'We've already seen inside Helen. No No! Wait Wait!'

The scene had started to s.h.i.+ft and it snapped back.

'This is not the same little girl,' John said. 'This is a demon copy.'

The other Immortals moved forward to study Helen.

John's eyes burned. 'I had this creature in my house for half a day. It walked right in through my seals. And I was absolutely unaware.'

'You never touched her, or came close to her,' I said.

'We must show this to Simone when she returns, so that she can recognise them as well,' John said.

'This is getting really heavy,' the Tiger said softly.

'Is that why Kitty made such a performance at the school?' I said. 'To make us have Helen over so they could check if we could sense that she was a copy?'

'Obviously,' John said. 'The stone turtle was probably a diversion, to make us think that it was the point of the exercise.'

'We signed a death sentence for her mother when we paid her a visit,' I said. 'I wonder where Helen is now.'

'It's obvious where she is now,' John said. 'I am appalled by this demon's behaviour towards children. I have never seen its like before. It must be destroyed. I've half a mind to call the King and talk to him about it, negotiate something.'

'The King offered to swap me for Wong,' I said softly. 'How about I use the phone and call him? With Wong out of the picture you won't have to worry about Simone.'

John gazed at me, his face expressionless. 'You said that you would only use the phone if I went down, or if Simone was in real danger.'

'Yes, I did. But we were under attack when I said it.'

His face didn't s.h.i.+ft. 'I hold you to your word, as a woman of honour, Emma Donahoe.'

'You could release me from my word,' I said.

He was silent.

'Okay,' I said, turning away. 'April.'

The scene s.h.i.+fted again. We were inside the training room. I was facing the Mother.

'Backtrack to when she was April,' I said.

I was facing April. 'Let me see.' I touched her head. 'As far as I can see, this is my human friend.'

John came next to me and touched April's head. He concentrated. 'Fascinating. Ah Bai, Michael, Ah Na Zha, come and look at this.'

The other three came, and John moved so that they could touch April. All of them concentrated intensely.

'I see her as human,' Michael said.

'So do I,' the Tiger said.

'Nothing demonic about her,' Na Zha said, sounding bewildered. 'And she changed into a Mother Mother?'

'Show us,' John said.

Wong appeared, kissed her; April went rigid, then changed.

'Holy s.h.i.+t,' I said softly. 'The taste of the blood makes her change.' I suddenly found it extremely difficult to breathe and I grabbed John's arm. 'Oh my G.o.d.'

John wrapped his arm around me and gave me a squeeze.

'But you said it's not April, stone,' I said.

'I have seen your friend before and this is not her,' the stone said. 'This is not the same person that you stopped on the street in Causeway Bay.'

'The stone is quite correct, Emma,' John said. 'Two entirely different creatures.' He gave me another squeeze.

'Let's see the one on the street then,' I said. 'Wait, let me look at this one first.'

'We should all look at this interesting creature,' John said, and moved forward to touch the April Mother. Everybody crowded around and studied it. Then they shared a look and backed away.

'I thought they could only come in one at a time,' I said.

'That is correct,' John said.

'Well?'

'It appears human. As far as the seals were concerned, only one demon came in. This is extremely disturbing.' John nodded without turning.

The scene s.h.i.+fted. We were with April on the street. There was such a crowd of people on the pavement that we had trouble finding places to stand.

The Immortals and Michael moved to touch April. I did too. We crowded around her.

'This is a normal human being,' Na Zha said. 'This is all mixed up. Copies, and demons, and humans, it's all a big mess. s.h.i.+t.'

'Take us out,' John said.

We sat around the table and studied each other in silence.

'So. He has access to a half fox child, Helen, and he's made a demon copy of her that is almost undetectable,' I said, recapping to get the facts straight in my head. 'He hasn't done anything to Kitty Kwok. My friend April: he has her baby. And he's made a copy of her that turns into a Mother when it tastes blood.' I took a deep breath. 'The same way I turn into a snake when I I taste blood.' taste blood.'

'You're gonna be ordered in, Xuan Tian,' Na Zha said with grim certainty. 'If the Demon King's not doing anything about it, the Celestial's gonna want somebody to make a move, and you've got the army to take the b.a.s.t.a.r.d down. It's obvious where this is headed, and we can't let it go for much longer. Look at these things. Demons and humans mixed together. It's just not right.'

'No,' John said with finality. 'I will not leave Simone.'

'He won't send his Elite Guard in after what happened on the Mountain,' Na Zha said. 'That was the Demon King's army we faced on the Mountain, and the Guard were cut to pieces. It'll be you and the Thirty-Six.'

'What'll you do if he orders you in, Ah Wu?' the Tiger said softly.

John didn't say anything. He studied his hands. His eyes blazed.

'Disobeying an order like that will will get you thrown,' the Tiger said. get you thrown,' the Tiger said.

'If the Celestial can provide someone who can guard Simone and Emma I will consider it,' John said. 'I will not leave them undefended.'

'You know exactly what he'll say, Ah Wu,' the Tiger said.

'The soft and weak overcomes the hard and strong,' John said. 'That's all very well to say, but this is my daughter and my Lady that we're talking about here.'

'Whoa,' Na Zha said.

'Holy s.h.i.+t,' the Tiger said. 'Have you you been spending altogether too much G.o.dd.a.m.n time human. I cannot believe you just said that.' been spending altogether too much G.o.dd.a.m.n time human. I cannot believe you just said that.'

'I will not leave them undefended,' John said. 'Dismissed. Ah Bai, report. Ah Na Zha, I'd appreciate your cooperation in not travelling too far.'

I shot to my feet. 'No! Wait.'

Everybody hesitated. I pushed my chair back and moved away from the table. 'Na Zha, Tiger, please come here.'

Neither of them moved.

'Please come and look at me.'

They remained unmoving.

'Tell them, John.'

'Do it,' John said wearily. 'She won't rest until she's sure that she's not the same thing.'

'I've seen inside you before, Emma, and you are not the same thing,' the Tiger said gently. 'You are something completely different.'