The Gravity Engine (3 page)

The rest of the squad drew their swords, and Michael pulled out his own and held it. Rohan moved to the back of the group to guard the rear, and Michael made them all invisible and led them to the end of the tunnel.

The tunnel opened into one of the largest nest chambers he had ever seen, short of the chamber containing the highest level Mothers in the centre of Hell. The cavern stretched higher and further than he could see, and the air was full of the dank odour of the demon inhabitants. Dry slithering indicated that the Mothers were on the move – they hadn’t settled for the night yet – and Michael led the squad along the left wall, masking their sound and scent.

On my word, take them out one by one, pull them to the side and finish them
, he said.
Backs to the wall and defensive formation when we’re discovered. Try to quietly remove as many as you can before they raise the alarm.

He led the group to the edge of the populated area of the
nest, where floor hollows three metres across sat at five-metre intervals. Each hollow was claimed by a Mother for her eggs. One of the Mothers was reclining in her hollow nearby and Michael led the group towards her, still keeping them silent.

The air exploded
with loud bangs and the  head of the soldier next to Michael burst in a gush of blood and brains and shattered bone that hit him with piercing splinters. Michael ducked and moved to the side; a group of Mothers armed with automatic firearms had been hiding behind their sisters and now raised their human front ends on their snake back halves to let loose on the squad. The soldiers fell, their bodies shredded by the force of the bullets that crashed into them. As the only other Immortal there, Rohan was fast enough to block bullets with his blade; but he was overwhelmed, half his head blew out, and his body disappeared.

Michael sent a blast of energy into the middle of the
Mothers and the two centre ones were destroyed. He needed to find cover and there wasn’t any. He snapped chi armour around himself, but it wouldn’t hold for long. He sent another blast of energy into the Mothers but these resisted it: too big. He changed to shen energy, the flaming energy of his half-god soul, and destroyed them.

The chi armour faded.
The Mothers moved faster than he could see and surrounded him. He needed to open his Inner Eye to destroy them but he was struck on the back of the head.

Someone held his arms and was dragging him, on his behind, through the dirt. His head was splitting and he wanted badly to throw up. The nausea overcame him and he gagged, then spat some bile out to one side. He looked up to see what was pulling him, and only saw a confused jumble of brown and black. He collapsed and retched again.

They stopped dragging him and he peered up at them.
Two really big Mothers in human form towered over him, holding one arm each. They were exceptionally tall, slim, gorgeous women – supermodel gorgeous. One appeared Indian and the other looked Thai. Michael’s gut heaved again but he managed to avoid vomiting.

The Mothers released his arms and he fell to the floor on his back. He
stared at the ceiling; it was the arched room with the Buddhist frescoes. One of the Mothers kicked him in the side and he grunted.

‘Cut that out, Dad wants him alive and in one piece.’

Someone crouched over him, blocking the view of the ceiling. It was another big demon, a Duke in female human form. She lifted his eyelids and shone a light into his eyes. He winced at the pain that seared through his head.

‘He’ll live,’ she said. ‘Well done.’

They pulled at his left arm and he tried to jerk it away but failed. Something stung the inside of his elbow – a needle. They were drugging him, and he was too weakened and disoriented to fight it.

‘Take him through,’ the Duke said
. They grabbed his arms and dragged him as it all faded away.

His head was bumping painfully against something. He was sprawled, half-sitting, across a seat and bouncing – he was in a car. He pulled himself upright and nearly threw up again. His head pounded and he was deliriously thirsty. He wondered how much time had passed.

‘Take it easy,’ a male voice said. ‘They hit you way too hard. Can you see?’

Michael opened his eyes and peered at the demon speaking to him. He was in a van, facing the back, and it lurched again; the nausea roiled up and he looked around for something to throw up into.

‘Sick,’ he gasped out.

‘Oh,’ the demon said, and quickly passed him a plastic shopping bag.

These things usually had holes in them but Michael couldn’t stop the gush of bile and stomach acid. He retched a few more times
, then bent over his knees, trying to settle his stomach and overcome the pounding in his head. His hands automatically tied a knot in the top of the bag and he dropped it onto the floor of the van.

‘Combination of a heroin overdose and concussion – unfortunately you’ll survive, Prince Michael, even if it feels like you won’t,’ the demon said.

‘Don’t want to,’ Michael mumbled. ‘Please, kill me now.’

‘What, and miss the opportunity my father’s about to give you? He’s going to take you into the European Heavens,’ the demon said with amusement.

Michael’s head shot up to study the demon, and he realised with a shock that it was the Demon King’s Number One Son himself. He was in male human form with slicked-back blond hair and wearing a grey silk suit. Michael glanced out the window; they were travelling through the desert at highway speed, with no other vehicles around for any distance. He winced at the light and looked away.

‘Why would he take me to the European Heavens?’ Michael said.
The Asian Shen had been trying for years to contact their European counterparts. If he could enter the European Heavens, he could discover why the European Shen were absolutely quiet and didn’t respond to any of the Asian Shen’s overtures. The fact that the Asian Demon King could travel there was seriously disturbing and this was a brilliant opportunity to find out exactly what was going on.

‘You’re the biggest son of the White Tiger,’ the demon said. ‘But better than that,
you’re half-European and they may talk to you. Your mother was descended from the European Serpent people. Do you know about them?’

‘There were Serpent people in Europe?’

‘It’s a long story.’ Number One smiled and covered it by rubbing his mouth. ‘Suffice to say your mother was just as much demon as she was human. Considering what your father is, you should be glad you were Raised to Immortality the old-fashioned way and didn’t attempt to take the Elixir – it would probably do the same thing to you that it did to your dear old mum.’

Michael inha
led sharply. ‘You know why my mother exploded?’

‘I just told you, didn’t I? She was a human-demon mix. So are you.
’ The demon studied him carefully. ‘You and me together could probably take my father down, you know. I could rule in Hell, and you could go home to your girlfriend.’

‘You think I’d work with you after what you did to her?
She’s a blind paraplegic with serious PTSD after what you demons did to her. She’s a broken husk of what she used to be.’ His voice thickened. ‘She thought I’d be her knight in shining armour and ride in to rescue her, and I never did because they told me she was dead.’

‘It was Dad that did it
to her, not me. Even more reason for you to kill him, eh? I want him gone as well – he’s negotiating with the European demons. Those bastards will end up controlling the Asian demons, the same way they colonised and controlled Asia during the Opium Wars. I won’t let that happen, and you can help me stop him. We can work together.’

Michael hesitated. The demon was right. Michael also knew in personal and excruciating detail exactly how much success he could expect if he made a pact with demons.

‘I’ll just go check out the European Heavens, thanks. Sounds like fun.’

‘Don’t let them take any genetic material,’ the demon said. ‘If they give you a sample jar, whatever you do
, don’t fill it. They want to make copies of you.’

Michael winced.
More copies. This Demon King made copies of humans, demons and Celestials and using them as spies, and only the Dark Lord himself could distinguish some of them. A copy of Michael could be inserted into his father’s palace undetected, and provide the demons with limitless information on the Celestial plans. Once he had enough intelligence, Michael needed to blow his brains out as quickly as he could and go home to Asia.

The demon
nodded. ‘If it comes to a choice of killing yourself or giving them a genetic sample, choose death.’

‘Why are you helping me?’

Number One leaned back in his seat and smiled. ‘You’re really asking me that?’

‘I won’t help you take down your father.’

‘Just by talking to me, Prince Michael, you already are.’ The demon glanced out the window. ‘From here you’ll go on a private jet. Dad and Francis are in Europe waiting for you.’

‘Who’s Francis?’

‘King of the European Demons,’ Number One said with venom. ‘He has seduced our King with tales of power and is planning to rule us all.’ The van stopped and he slid the door open. ‘We have similar goals, Prince Michael. Both of us want to see the Asian King taken down. I can’t come to the European Heavens, they’re too far from my Centre. Only Dad and half-European demons can do it, with Francis’s help. I’m counting on you to help me stop the Europeans from enslaving us all.’ He took Michael’s arm. ‘Pretend to still be drugged and dazed, so they won’t wonder why you haven’t escaped. Come around on the plane – by then it will be too late for you to escape.’

Michael half-closed his eyes and leaned on Number One as he was led from the van to the small waiting business jet.

He didn’t have time to see where he was before he was dragged up the stairs into the private jet and the door closed behind him. He kept his eyes half-closed as a demon Duke in female human form pushed him into a large comfortable seat.

Her presence remained in front of him for a long moment, then she spoke. ‘You’re pretending to be unconscious. Can you speak, Prince Michael?’

His limbs were still like lead and he didn’t need to fake the struggle to sit upright and be fully conscious. ‘Huh?’

‘Let me know when you’re able to talk.’

‘I can talk,’ he said, his words slurred.

She turned and sat
in the chair across from him, and waved towards the back of the plane. ‘Can I get you anything? There’s food and drinks back there. Dad says you’re to be treated like the royalty you are.’

Michael
pulled himself out of the chair and staggered to the back of the plane.

‘Let me,’ she said, trying to help him, but he pushed her away.

He pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge, then went back to his seat, fell into it and had a long drink. He tasted the bitterness and spat the water back into the bottle, but had already consumed most of it.

‘You didn’t need to do that,’ he said. ‘I want to see the European Heavens. I won’t try to escape.’ He looked inside
himself, studying the way the opium was slowing his nervous system, and tried to reverse the effect, but he had been drugged and bashed too many times to retain the concentration he needed. His eyes closed by themselves. ‘Stop … drugging …’

His head was still pounding when the loud roar of the jets woke him a long time later. He remained completely still and attempted to contact his father. Nothing.

Rohan. Nothing. William. Nothing. What the hell?

‘Are you awake there, Highness?’ the demon said.

Michael pulled his sluggish body upright. ‘Do you have anything to drink that isn’t drugged?’

The demon passed him a bottle of energy drink; probably a good idea to have some sugar after all he’d been through. He popped the top and took a sip; it tasted clean so he drank it quickly, nearly giving himself a brain freeze from the cold. He took a few gasping breaths, drank some more, and rested his head in his hands. ‘You wouldn’t have any Panadol as well, would you?’

‘Sorry, things
like that don’t work on us,’ the demon said. ‘Just to warn you; touch the wall of the plane.’

Michael ran his hand over the surface o
f the wall and then snapped it back; the wall of the plan was so full of anguish and suffering that it hurt. He’d heard about this, but never experienced it in person. The wall had been painted with the ground remains of stone Shen. Intelligent, sentient creatures had died in terror and pain, then been powdered and painted on the walls. The surface echoed with their screams, and fear emanated from it. No wonder there was no communication through that.

‘Can’t teleport either,’ the demon said. ‘Nifty, eh?
The pilot’s human; if you break out of the plane to escape you’ll kill him.’

‘I won’t escape. I want to see the European Heavens,’ Michael said.

‘Oh,’ the demon said. ‘Information gathering?’

‘Of course.
’ Michael studied the wall of the plane. ‘How many stones died to make this?’

‘On this plane alone, thirty-three stone Shen
,’ the demon said. ‘We’re running out of them.’