Journey to Wubang 01 - Earth to Hell (22 page)

‘Tell your mother I couldn’t drive one of those things in a million years,’ I said to Eva, ‘and my own car is too slow. I need to be there now. I’ll get a Celestial from the Academy to take me. You go.’

‘Okay,’ Eva said, took the elemental’s fiery hand and disappeared.

‘Stone,’ I said, turning back to the building. ‘Call a Celestial Master to take me.’

The stone was silent for a moment, then said, ‘I’m looking, but there are three attacks happening right now. They are probably timed to coincide with this to separate you from your protection. I’m trying to find someone to guard you or take you, but all the Celestials are tied up.’

‘It could be
John
,’ I said desperately. ‘And that place is full of demons. Find someone!’

‘Edwards says to wait, he’s bringing a car. Gold is on his way in his Boxster but he was in Kowloon. We’re doing our best.’

For some reason my voice sounded deeper and stronger. ‘Get Simone back then, she can carry me.’

‘You’ll fall into demon form if she touches you…’ The stone sounded desperate. ‘Emma, control it!’

Suddenly I was perfectly calm and in control, and more comfortable than I’d been in ages. ‘Never mind, I’ll take myself there.’

‘Emma…’

‘Yes?’

‘You still in there?’

I slithered through the hallway to the lift lobby. ‘Yes, of course I am. I’m fine. Don’t worry. Tell Simone I’ll be right there. Oh, hold on, I might be able to do it myself.’ I concentrated, trying to contact Simone directly. ‘Nope, have to work on that. Tell her for me, will you?’

I stopped at the lift lobby in front of a large fung shui mirror and saw myself. A lot of good a fung shui mirror would do against something as big as me—I had slipped into Mother form, about two metres long from head to black snake tail. I turned to see my back; my spinal column appeared as bony ridges poking through the skinless muscle. Damn.

Thank you so much, Simon Wong and Kitty Kwok. If I ever laid my hands on Kitty Kwok, that bitch would definitely see exactly what she had done to me. There had been rumours of her appearing and disappearing, sometimes in Hell, other times on Earth, but none of them had been definitive.

‘Find a safe spot for me to land, will you?’ I asked the stone.

The stone hesitated for a moment, then a map appeared in front of me, projected into the air. ‘Here should be good. Is that still you, Emma?’

‘Of course it’s me.’

I took off, and landed where the stone indicated—an alley behind some particularly fine-smelling dumpsters. I was at the back of the Sai Kung market: a typical purpose-built two-storey building with tiled walls and floor running with blood and water.

‘Turn left, head to the end of the alley, you’ll come out onto the promenade next to the ocean,’ the stone said.

I cast around with my demon senses: there were a number of humans nearby. Although they would be good sport to play with, right now I was more interested in the contents of the tanks at the seafood restaurants.

I gathered my demon energy, my dark chi, and focused it. I made the twenty or so humans along the waterfront suddenly feel nauseous and convinced them that they’d smelt a gas leak from one of the restaurants. They didn’t bother calling the authorities; they were too panic-stricken and ill. They just fled, some of them not even aware of what they were fleeing from except a general feeling of foreboding. This was a lovely powerful demon ability that could be used both to lure people towards me and to frighten them away; a shame I couldn’t use it in human form. I should really take demon form more often; there was great fun to be had with unsuspecting humans.

I slithered to the end of the alley, feeling the cracked tiles beneath my coils, the water and rubbish sliding away from my snake back end. The Sai Kung waterfront looked much as it usually did: a raised concrete waterside promenade with seafood restaurants lined up opposite the water. Their tanks held a variety of seafood, and tables and chairs were set up on the worn concrete, thin disposable plastic tablecloths their only cover.

Then I saw the tanks, and my tongue flicked out at the banquet spread before me. They weren’t full of the usual prawns, fish and shellfish; they were full of demons in the form of seafood. Tiny ones, only levels two or three, some as small as one. I grinned. Demons this small couldn’t teleport; they were trapped in the
tanks. If their Lord had made them take this form, they couldn’t change to run either, and as seafood they probably wouldn’t be able to leave the water anyway.

A feast.

I slithered to the nearest tank. The demons inside, in the form of mantis prawns, squealed with terror and climbed over each other in an attempt to get out of the tank. The walls were clear Perspex, about twenty centimetres high, and they had no chance of escaping.

I reached out with my skinless hand, grabbed a particularly fat and juicy prawn, and brought it, legs waving pathetically, to my mouth. I bit it in half and savoured the flavour. These small demons didn’t taste like seafood; they tasted like warm roast meat rich with wine and herbs and a dash of something spicy, a robust and satisfying taste. I realised I was starving; it had been such a long time since I’d eaten properly and I needed more, now! I swallowed the remaining half of the demon, unlocked my jaw, and grabbed a handful more out of the tank to make one huge, delicious swallow. They squealed with terror as I held them in front of my skinless face, their fear adding to the pleasure of eating them.

Suddenly I couldn’t move; I was bound. Someone with a will greater than my own was holding me.

Well, to hell with that, these demons tasted good and I was hungry. I fought the binding but whoever had me was immensely powerful. I turned my attention behind me, using my demon sight, to find out who was messing with my dinner.

I saw her with my demon vision: dark and blue and gold. That little cowardly bitch Simone, who didn’t even have the guts to summon elementals. A bird spirit stood behind her, nearly as powerful as she was; essence of pure flame. A fire child cowered behind the fire
spirit, its strength minuscule compared to the two larger entities.

‘You don’t know what you’re doing, Emma,’ Simone said.

‘That’s
Emma
?’ the fire child said.

‘It’s a long story, Eva,’ the bird spirit said. ‘Simone, we have to change her back.’

‘Leave me alone, I’m hungry,’ I said.

‘Emma, you protect demons that request sanctuary; you don’t hurt them,’ Simone said in a maddeningly calm tone. ‘Change back to human, please. We need to work out what to do about this turtle.’

‘Fuck the turtle, I’m eating,’ I said.

Ha! The use of the foul language shocked her and she released me slightly. I resisted her binding, but she brought it up again. Damn.

‘If you can’t hold her I may have to take action, Simone,’ the bird spirit said. ‘She will continue to eat these and we must stop it.’

‘Don’t do anything!’ Simone said. ‘Don’t hurt her!’

Ha, the little girl was protecting me. Stupid.

‘You know, you’re such a coward, Simone.’ I spoke conversationally, adding to the cruelty of my words by being calm and mature. ‘You’re scared of your own father’s Celestial Form, and you’re scared of the Jade Emperor; hell, you’re even too frightened to summon your own elementals. Your father will be
so
ashamed of you when he gets back.’

She hesitated for a moment, then said, her voice small, ‘Please change back, Emma.’

‘Make me, bitch,’ I said with amusement. ‘You don’t have the guts to wield your full power. Look at you, capable of summoning yin and too scared to do it. You could go to the Celestial school and learn to make the most of your powers, but you’re too worried that,’ I changed my voice to a teenage whine, ‘the
other kids will be
scared
of you.’ I chuckled. ‘You are pathetic.’

Simone’s will pressed harder on me. She was trying to make me change back to human. I fought her.

‘Not this time, sweetheart. I like the lifestyle, and the food is great. Let’s go have some fun together, just you and me. You were always my favourite. We could have some real fun playing with some of those humans that you resent so much.’

‘We can’t let this go on much longer, Simone,’ the bird spirit said. ‘Make her turn back, or I’ll have to call in some Red Warriors to contain her. She is much too dangerous to leave like this.’

‘I can’t do it by myself,’ Simone said, her voice strained.

‘I’ll have to step in if you can’t,’ the bird spirit said grimly. ‘Emma, if you don’t change back, I’m going to contain you, and I may severely injure you with my Fire Essence if I do. It’s in your best interest to take your human form now.’

‘You can bind me for a short time, but you can’t contain me,’ I said with pleasure. ‘Try me. You know you don’t have the power.’

The bird spirit’s essence moved through me and I blocked her out. I swallowed my handful of demons whole. Delicious.

‘I wonder if there are any humans nearby,’ I said. ‘Now there’s some
real
fun.’ I cast around with my demon senses—why had I made them run away before? I pressed against their bonds, managed to slither a few metres left, and turned around to see them. ‘You’re tiring, and then I’ll be able to find something interesting to play with. Come on, Simone, let’s find you some friends.’ I leered at the small fire spirit. ‘Hello, little girl, want to play?’

‘I can’t control her, Simone,’ the bird spirit said.
‘I don’t know what I’m going to do—she’s out of control and we need to stop this. A Mother as big as her could cause untold damage.’

‘Don’t even
think
about destroying her, Aunty Zhu, she’s all I have left!’ Simone cried. ‘Help me, Lady of All Mercies!’

‘Oh shit,’ I said, but it was too late.

Kwan Yin appeared in front of me and put her hand on my forehead. I tried to duck away, but she had me. Her serene presence radiated through me.

‘There is a chance that the one you love is in this place,’ Kwan Yin said, her voice gentle and sad. ‘But while you are like this he cannot love you.’

Her words hit me like arrows. The one I loved? Xuan Wu?

‘John,’ I gasped. ‘Where?’

‘There’s a big turtle in a tank here, Emma,’ Simone said. ‘Please, change back, we need to check if it’s him.’

Kwan Yin helped me. I forced my demon essence down and sucked the darkness into me, bringing my yang out to fight it. I concentrated on yang: bright, hard, life-giving and pure. The demon essence spiralled down inside me and compacted into my dan tian. I changed back and leaned on the edge of the seafood tank, gasping.

‘She has it,’ Kwan Yin said, and released me. ‘The way to control this demon is to focus the yang side of yourself, Emma. Your serpent. It will help you; do not be afraid to call upon it when you are in need.’ She disappeared.

‘Have you tried that?’ Simone said. ‘Using the snake?’

‘No,’ I said.

‘Contact some serpent-type Shen and see if they can assist,’ the Phoenix said. ‘The Lady’s suggestion has merit.’

‘Let’s check this turtle.’ I looked down at the demons in the tank. They sat frozen in the water, watching me
with their crustacean eyes. ‘We’ll come back to free you,’ I told them, and shuddered as I remembered exactly how delicious they were. A stab of hunger pierced me. ‘I won’t hurt you now.’

We went to the large tank holding the sea turtle. It was obviously distressed to be in such a small tank, full of polluted water from the harbour and its own waste. It floated in the tank barely moving, its eyes dull.

‘It’s not Daddy,’ Simone said, ‘but it’s not natural either. I’m not really sure what it is.’

A demon in human form, appearing as a very elderly man grinning through his long beard and stooping over a cane, came out from the back of the restaurant. ‘Greetings, Ladies. Please do not harm me, I have information for you.’

None of us replied, and he continued. ‘I have information as to the whereabouts of Mr Alexander.’

Simone made a sudden grasping move towards him, then pulled away. ‘Where is Leo? Do you have him?’

‘I do not have him,’ the demon said, still grinning. ‘But I know where he is, and if you were to go in and kill those who are holding him, I would be very pleased indeed.’

Demon politics
, the stone said.
Wonderful
.

‘Where is Leo, and what do you want in return for this information?’ I said.

‘Golden Arcade, Sham Shui Po, and nothing,’ the demon said.

He speaks the truth
, the stone said.
But that last bit is suspicious. Leo’s whereabouts are certainly worth more than nothing.

‘Golden Arcade is a maze,’ I said. ‘Where in there is he? Any particular store?’

‘Down the far southern side in the deepest part of the mall, where there are many stores selling peripherals, there is a corridor under the stairs, where they keep their
stock in cupboards. There’s a metal roller door there that is always closed. Go inside and there are stairs down into the demon’s nest. That demon is holding Leo.’ He waved one hand over the turtle in the tank. ‘I have taken the liberty of rescuing this one from the cooking pot—it was scheduled to be chopped up and served to the public in a money-making feast this weekend. You would probably like to remove it; it is yours.’ He grinned at us again. ‘Good luck on your sortie, ladies, and I hope you find the Black Lion.’ He disappeared.

Simone went to the tank and put her hand on the turtle’s head. ‘Aunty Phoenix, could you help me? I don’t know whether this is a natural turtle or a demon or what.’

When the Phoenix put her hand into the tank to touch the turtle it was like a hot iron hitting the water; steam exploded everywhere. ‘Whoops,’ she said, and the steam stopped. ‘Nearly had turtle soup.’ She concentrated. ‘I have no idea what it is, but it doesn’t seem to be a natural turtle.’

I bent to see the turtle’s face in the tank. It seemed to have some intelligence in its sad eyes. ‘Can you talk to us?’ I asked it.

The turtle didn’t move.

I sighed and stood up again. ‘We can’t take it back to the Academy, we don’t have a tank or a pond or anything to put it in. I suppose you’d better take it somewhere safe and release it, and we’ll keep an eye on it.’ I bent to speak to the turtle again. ‘If you’re a Shen, that will be suitable for you. If you’re a demon, it will also be okay. If you’re just a natural turtle, then it’s the best option. Do you have anywhere in particular you would like us to drop you?’