Journey to Wubang 01 - Earth to Hell (14 page)

I didn’t reply; I was engrossed in the demon’s agony. It was fascinating.

Simone turned to see me. ‘Emma?’

‘Emma’s enjoying the show,’ the King said. ‘Look at her face.’

‘Emma!’ Simone shouted.

Something inside me clicked and I realised what was happening. ‘Stop hurting it! There’s no need for this, just get the information.’ I ran my hands through my hair. ‘God.’

The demon’s screams turned into gasping sobs.

The King turned his attention back to it and spoke into its ear. ‘The look on your face is something that will keep me going for a long time, dear Emma.’
He glanced at me, his eyes full of sly amusement. ‘We could have so much fun together, you and I.’

‘Geez, Emma,’ Simone said softly.

‘What the hell?’ Michael said.

‘Does it know where Leo is?’ I said.

The King concentrated. ‘Nope.’

He released the demon and it fell off his lap to lie unconscious on the floor. Simone, Michael and myself all jumped up and ran to it.

‘Let me,’ Meredith said, and we moved away to give her room. She touched the demon, then glared up at the Demon King. ‘That was totally unnecessary.’

‘I know,’ he said, his voice mild. ‘But it was so much fun!’ He gestured towards me. ‘Don’t you agree, Emma?’

I didn’t reply.

‘What now?’ Simone said. ‘Someone’s taken Leo, and we have no idea where he is.’

‘Let’s go have a look in his cell, see if they left anything when they took him,’ Martin said.

‘Good idea,’ I said. ‘Meredith, put the demon to one side and let it recover.’ I glared at the King. ‘That demon is mine. Do not touch it.’

Meredith picked up the demon like a child and put it on the floor at the side of the room. Demons were generally tougher than humans, and could take much more physical abuse because of their almost liquid insides. An hour or so on the floor and this one would be fine again.

We all went back to the villas. Someone was sitting on the porch of the first one—an elderly woman, her face serene as she watched the lake. She smiled slightly at me as we went past.

We went into Leo’s villa. Downstairs were a small living room with a television, a kitchen and a dining room. Upstairs were two small bedrooms and a bathroom. Leo’s clothes were in the closet in the
bedroom; it was disturbing to see exact replicas of his clothes in his room back at the Peak hanging here.

Simone went to the drawers in the closet and pulled one out. ‘Look, Emma.’ There were a few pairs of pink boxers at the bottom of the drawer. I shook my head.

‘I know what happened to them—I heard you talking about it when we were in Australia,’ Simone went on.

‘What happened?’ Michael said.

Simone turned to him and lowered her voice. ‘When we were in Australia, Emma and Leo were playing jokes on each other non-stop, and Emma got into the laundry room and dyed all his undershirts and boxers pink.’

‘He did stuff like that to me too sometimes.’ Michael turned away. ‘Damn but I miss him.’

‘I can’t believe he kept them,’ I said, glancing back down at the underwear. ‘He kept a pebble from the beach too, from the looks of it.’

Simone looked into the drawer. ‘That’s not a pebble, that’s something strange.’ She pulled out a small golden stone about a centimetre across. ‘This is some sort of demon.’

‘George?’ I called to the doorway. The Demon King, Yanluo Wang, Meredith and Martin entered.

‘What is it, Emma?’ the King said.

Simone held the stone out to him. ‘What do you make of this?’

The Demon King took the stone and stared at it, then grimaced and made a gesture of frustration. ‘Six!’

‘You destroyed that one,’ Yanluo Wang said.

‘I thought I did,’ the Demon King said grimly. ‘It was part of a posse of four demons helping—’

‘Helping One Two Two,’ I broke in. ‘They had meetings when I was held in his apartment in Hell. There were four of them. I remember.’

‘I thought I’d tracked them down and destroyed them all,’ the King said. ‘Looks like I missed this one.’

‘Do you know where it is?’ Simone said. ‘It has Leo!’

‘I have a pretty good idea where he is,’ the King said. ‘These demons were messing with stones before. Even if they’re not still in the same place, you’ll be able to pick up an idea of where they’ve relocated if you go there. But I’m quite sure they’ll still be in the same nest.’

‘Where?’ Simone said eagerly.

‘I will agree to tell you on one condition,’ the King said.

‘Oh God, George, is there always a catch?’ I said.

‘Yes, of course there is,’ the King said. ‘Michael’s mother, Rhonda, must spend a week down here in Hell, here on the tenth level, so I can attempt to talk her out of marrying the Tiger.’

‘We can’t wait that long. What if they hurt him or kill him while they have him? We need to go find him
now
,’ Simone said.

‘They won’t hurt him, Simone,’ the King said. ‘He’ll be fine.’

‘Of course they’ll hurt him!’ Simone said, frustrated.

The King waved a hand at Meredith and turned away. ‘Tell them, Gweipoh.’

Simone and Michael waited, staring at Meredith.

Meredith and Yanluo Wang shared a look, then Meredith sighed and her shoulders sagged. ‘You’re here now, you might as well know. Leo is a Celestial Worthy; all he needs is to take the Elixir. He’s between life and death right now, so they can’t hurt him or kill him. He doesn’t feel pain, and any wounds they inflict will heal immediately. They can hold him, and that’s about it.’

‘What do you think they want?’ I said.

Meredith turned to the King. ‘Tell us about Six.’

‘Six,’ the King said, and smiled slightly. ‘Six was
involved with little One Two Two when Simon was in charge of the Triad activity here. He may have taken over. I hear that your students have fun practising on Triad operations, safe in the knowledge that any supernatural means they use to break up the criminal activities won’t be reported?’

Meredith and I shared a look, then Meredith spoke. ‘We let the students practise their Arts on any criminals they find, yes. Apparently they’ve put a huge dent in the income from organised crime in Hong Kong.’

‘I wouldn’t be surprised if Six has taken over One Two Two’s empire, ladies,’ the King said. ‘He’d probably like you to back off. As I said, give me Rhonda for a week and the information is yours to do with as you please. You will know where they are, and you can go in and sort them out.’

‘Maybe
they’re
giving
you
a chance to have Rhonda for a week,’ I said.

‘Oh, very good, my Lady,’ the Demon King said. ‘Most worthy of you, but I can assure you, I swear, that I myself have nothing to do with them. They have done this on their own and I am merely taking advantage of the opportunity. I’ve wanted to have a chat with Ms MacLaren for quite some time now. All she has to do is come down and spend a week here, something of a small holiday. That’s all.’

‘Demonic or Celestial side?’ Meredith said.

‘Demonic.’

Meredith leaned back and looked at the King appraisingly, then at Michael.

‘You want to steal the Tiger’s fiancée?’ I said incredulously.

‘I want to steal his Queen,’ the Demon King said.

‘It’s up to Mom,’ Michael said.

‘If you ask her to do this she will, Michael, you know that,’ the King said. ‘If she truly loves the Tiger
then a week here will not be such a trial. And if I can talk her out of marrying him, it’s a bonus for you.’

‘No tricks,’ Michael said grimly.

The Demon King spread his hands. ‘I vow I shall not use any mind control at all. Just the power of persuasion. Hopefully you and I together can make her see exactly what she would be getting into if she were to marry this asshole.’

‘Do you want her for yourself?’ I said.

‘Of course I do, that’s why I’m doing this,’ the King said. ‘But more than that, I don’t want to see this remarkable woman with beauty and courage become the plaything of a man who will only treasure her until he has her in his possession. Once they are wed he will ignore her like all the others and go off in search of a new prize.’

Michael sighed and ran one hand over his face.

‘See? He knows,’ the King said with a grin.

‘Vow that you won’t hurt my mom and I’ll go talk to her,’ Michael said.

‘She will be accommodated as the princess she is. She will experience nothing but beauty and pleasure while she is in my care. That I vow.’

Michael studied the King appraisingly, then nodded once. ‘Deal. Let me see what I can do. How do I contact you?’

The King focused on Michael and Michael nodded. ‘Okay, got it. Take us back up and I’ll talk to her.’

‘
Y
ou sure about this, Michael?’ I said, as we appeared back in the kitchen at home.

Monica was frantically mopping the floor, which was awash with water, at least five centimetres deep. It flowed into the hallway, leaving a dark stain on the carpet. Gold’s child was hovering next to her but she didn’t seem to notice it. ‘Oh no!’ Simone said, and skipped through the water to the kitchen doorway.

‘I’m glad you’re back, Aunty Emma. It was awful and it hurt Uncle Marcus,’ the stone child said.

‘Did it hurt you, Monica?’ Simone said.

‘No, ma’am, just Marcus, but Master Gold says he’ll be okay.’ Monica mopped more briskly but her shoulders were shaking.

I went to her and put my arm around her. ‘Stop, Monica, go rest. Is Marcus in your room?’

She nodded through silent tears.

‘Gold is with Marcus in their room, checking him over,’ the stone in my ring said.

‘Go to him,’ I said. ‘We can fix this.’

I gently prised the mop out of her hand and led her to her room, which ran off the back of the kitchen.
I tapped on the door and opened it a crack for her. ‘Go inside, Marcus is there. Everything will be fine.’

‘Daddy said to stay out here, Aunty Emma,’ Gold’s child said, sounding concerned. ‘It was pretty bad.’

‘You stay out here with us, we’ll look after you,’ I said to the child. ‘Do you need anything?’

The child dropped to rest on the kitchen bench. ‘No, I’m okay.’ It hesitated, then, ‘It was really scary.’

I held my hand out and the stone flashed over to snuggle into my palm. ‘Thanks, Aunty Emma,’ it said softly.

‘What the hell happened here?’ Michael said, looking at the water in bewilderment.

‘Simone, it would be a good idea to send it down the drain before it completely destroys the carpet,’ I said.

Simone’s face went rigid, then she relented and raised her hand. The water on the floor coalesced into a large glistening sphere that formed a funnel and gushed into the kitchen sink and down the drain. ‘Elemental,’ Simone said. She concentrated again and the remaining water lifted out of the carpet into a brownish lump, leaving the wool completely dry. ‘Wow, our carpet’s dirty. We should have it cleaned, Emma.’

‘Water elemental?’ Michael said.

‘Yes,’ I said, carefully holding the stone child in my hand so that I wouldn’t wake it; it had fallen asleep almost immediately. ‘They’re annoyed that Simone won’t summon them. She doesn’t have any control over what they do. This one probably sensed she was in Hell and came here to find out what happened.’

Gold came out of Marcus and Monica’s room. ‘They’ll be fine, ma’am. Marcus nearly drowned though.’ He turned to Simone. ‘Princess, you really need to train with us. Learn how to summon and control these elementals.’

Simone turned away and headed towards her room.

‘Talk to her, Lady Emma, please,’ Gold said. ‘This can’t go on. Marcus was nearly killed. It’s only the fact that he’s half-Shen that saved him; any ordinary man would have drowned.’

He saw the stone in my hand and his face softened. ‘My baby was very scared by the whole thing.’ He reached out and I passed the stone to him.

‘Hold me, Daddy,’ the baby said sleepily.

‘I won’t let you go, bebe,’ Gold said. He looked up. ‘Everything’s under control now, ma’am, it should be fine. But please talk to Simone.’

‘She could control water elementals and she doesn’t want to,’ Michael said grimly. ‘Typical. ‘Bout time she grew up.’ He fell to one knee and quickly saluted me. ‘By your leave, Lady Emma, I’ll go talk to my mom.’

‘Say hello to her for me,’ I said, and he disappeared. ‘Take the baby home, Gold. I’ll talk to Simone.’

‘Can I talk to you in your office, after you talk to her?’ Gold said.

‘Sure, wait for me there.’

I went to Simone’s room. She sat at her desk, working on her homework. I entered and sat on the bed.

‘Simone, if Marcus wasn’t half-Shen, that elemental would have killed him. Both he and Monica are lucky to be alive.’

‘Why can’t those elementals just go away and leave me alone?’ Simone said without looking up from her homework. ‘I hate them.’

‘That’s part of the problem, sweetheart, and you know it.’

She turned and glared at me. ‘I don’t want any of this, Emma. I just want to be a normal kid. These elementals are freaking everybody out.’

‘Learn to control them then.’

‘Yeah, sure.’ She turned back to her homework. ‘I’ll learn to control them and be even more powerful. I’ll walk through the Academy and people will be
more
scared of me.’

‘Nobody’s scared of you, Simone.’

She threw her pen onto the exercise book. ‘Don’t lie to me, Emma, I can sense it. Some of the students are terrified of me. Like I’m some sort of monster or something. And after what happened in Heaven, it’ll be twice as bad. The ones that know about your serpent are terrified of you too.’

‘The serpent is the least of it. I’m terrified of myself.’

She dropped her head and her voice became small. ‘Me too,’ she said. ‘Do you have any idea how much damage I could do with even a small amount of yin? And my control of it isn’t that great either.’ She shook her head. ‘When I bring it out, it wants me to destroy everything.’

‘You need to learn to handle the elementals, Simone. Next time we may not be so lucky. Go down to the Academy and have the Masters teach you.’

‘I
hate
the Academy. I hate the way everybody bows to me, and is scared of me, and some of them freaking want to be my friend just because of who my father is. I hate it.’