Dark_Serpent

4




The doctor in the medical centre at the Tiger’s Western Palace opened the door to his office. ‘Emma?’ he said without looking up from the card he was holding, then he saw me in the waiting room. ‘Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t realise it was you.’ He held the door open for me. ‘Please, come on in.’

I raised one hand before I entered. ‘Do you know about the restrictions on me?’

He nodded. ‘I do.’

I went in and sat in the patient’s chair next to his desk. ‘Thank you. Just call me Emma; that’s all you’ll be able to use.’

He tried to say ‘ma’am’ and choked on the word. ‘I see.’ He turned and flipped open a new medical file for me. ‘What can I do for you, Miss Donahoe?’ He relaxed when he realised he could call me that. ‘What brings you to the West when your own medical facilities in the North are some of the finest on the Plane?’

‘Fertility,’ I said. ‘Your fertility clinic is the best. I only have one ovary and I want to make sure that I’m capable of having children with the Dark Lord.’

He looked down and shook his head. ‘Damn. That’s a big assignment: assisting the Dark Emperor.’

‘We don’t need to test him; he’s already fathered Simone on a human woman so we know it can be done. We’ve been trying for a year now and I’m not getting any younger. We need to isolate any problems now.’

‘Date of birth, Miss?’

‘October twenty-third, nineteen seventy-three.’

‘So you’re already past forty.’

‘Exactly. My biological clock is ticking.’

He wrote my birth date on the folder. ‘Not really. On the Celestial Plane your child-bearing ability will extend for at least another ten years even without attaining Immortality. If you attain Immortality, you’ll never have to worry about it.’

‘Even if I attain Immortality after menopause?’

‘Even so. An Immortal chooses their form and physiology. If you take a younger form for a year or so, you can still bear children. Even though it is slightly draining, many Immortals have done it without risk.’

I leaned back and sighed with relief. ‘Thank you. I didn’t know that.’

‘Most Immortals are past the point of caring about having families.’

‘Except your father.’

He chuckled. ‘Even my father. Having us is just a side effect for him.’

‘I see.’

He turned back to me and raised his pen. ‘Last menstrual period?’

I looked up, trying to work it out. ‘About six weeks ago?’

He checked his calendar and wrote the date. ‘Are they normally six weeks apart?’

‘They’re as irregular as anything. Can be anything from three to ten weeks apart.’

‘That may be from having only one ovary and insufficient hormones,’ he said, writing notes. ‘Nothing to be terribly concerned about. I’ll start with some basic tests, just to make sure that everything is working. Blood tests, maybe move on to some X-rays, then if we don’t establish anything we can try a laparoscopy.’

‘You don’t have anyone who can look directly inside me?’ I said. ‘I know you have routine ultrasounds, but I thought you’d have someone on staff who could do it without any invasive devices.’

‘Only as a last resort. It’s considered degrading to use someone with enhanced vision as a scanner. We don’t generally ask unless it’s absolutely necessary.’

‘I see.’

‘We have excellent fertility therapy here, and if the worst comes to the worst we can always use IVF. You have multiple options.’

‘Thank you.’

He pulled an empty vial out of a drawer and placed it on the desk. ‘I still need a semen sample from the Dark Lord. He’s in very different shape now to when he fathered the Princess. We have to eliminate the possibility that he’s the cause of the problem. It would be silly to do multiple invasive tests on you only to find that the issue is with him.’

‘I’ll arrange it.’ I smiled slightly. ‘You’re in for a surprise there.’

He glanced at me and raised one eyebrow.

‘Black,’ I said.

‘No way. Really?’

‘And cold. Just like him.’

He leaned forward. ‘How cold?’ He leaned back and waved one hand. ‘Sorry, my curiosity got the better of me.’

‘Not cold enough to hurt, if that’s what you’re asking. Just … cold.’

‘Fascinating. We’ll start these tests straight away. Oh, and one other thing.’ He closed the folder. ‘It’s about young Clarissa Huang.’

‘How is she progressing? The psychiatrist won’t let me see her.’

‘Not well. Her kidneys have failed; she is on regular dialysis. Her organs can’t recover from what she went through when she was held by the demons because her kidneys aren’t cleansing her system correctly. If we don’t find her a donor kidney soon, we may lose her to complete organ failure.’ He shook his head. ‘She is deteriorating rapidly.’

I held my arm out. ‘You just need a blood sample to see if I’m compatible, don’t you?’

He rifled through his equipment trolley for a syringe. ‘Are you offering to donate a kidney if you’re compatible?’

‘Absolutely.’

He nodded as he fitted the needle to the syringe. ‘Let me see if you’re compatible first, then you can decide. This is not a decision to be made lightly. Immortals or Shen can’t donate organs; their organs will kill an ordinary human patient. The donor organ must be from an ordinary human and they’re in a limited supply on the Celestial Plane.’

He tightened the tourniquet around my upper arm and took a blood sample.

‘Is there anything else I can do for Clarissa?’ I said.

‘She is withdrawn. The psychiatrist counsels her, but she’s not very responsive. She won’t talk to her family.’

‘What about Michael?’

‘She refuses to see him. It is a tragic situation.’

‘Can I talk to her?’

‘The psychiatrist won’t let anyone except family or Michael in; she said that outside visitors would probably do Clarissa more harm than good. Right now the poor girl needs to be completely sheltered from the world, and to be reintroduced to it very slowly when she’s strong enough.’

‘If we don’t find her a new kidney she may never be strong enough.’

‘True. I hope we can find a compatible donor in time.’ He transferred my blood into the vial. ‘You didn’t ask me whether you being European and her being Chinese made a difference to the possible organ compatibility.’

‘That’s because I know, medical wise, there isn’t a difference.’

He nodded. ‘As far as we doctors are concerned, there’s no medical way to identify race. Racial differentiation doesn’t exist; we’re just all human beings.’

‘I wish that was true for people who aren’t doctors.’

He smiled at me. ‘Snakes, however, are something completely different.’

‘Will I still be compatible even though I can change to snake?’

‘Let me test your blood and we’ll see. Since your human form is so mundane, I think it may be possible.’ He labelled the vial. ‘Wait until we establish whether you’re compatible or not and we’ll take it from there. You can’t donate a kidney if we’re working to get you pregnant anyway.’

‘Clarissa’s life comes first.’

‘Nevertheless, we can still start work on making a little snake baby for the Dark Lord. Goodness, that is a scary thought.’

I wound my way through the red stone archways of the Western Palace. Even though summer was nearly finished, the morning heat was radiating off the bricks and most of the residents were indoors in the shade. I passed through a small garden with a fountain in the middle spraying water that shone with a rainbow. I took the stairs down the steep hillside from the palace to the riding flats spread below. Blue-green mountains rose from the other side of the plain, and stretched so far and high that they became invisible, their snowy tops merging into the sky. The riding area was green in some places with irrigated grass; in other places, its natural sandy soil was used as a base for the training arenas.

Simone was having a lesson on Freddo in one of the sandy areas. They performed a near-perfect half-pass diagonally across the arena, Freddo lifting his feet and placing them carefully to cross as he trotted. The arch of his neck and the collection over his back was impressive to see, although the strain was obvious: he regularly twitched his tail with the effort of holding the shape.

‘All right,’ the instructor said. ‘Now go around and try it again, and this time don’t start until Simone actually gives the aid.’

I recognised the instructor: it was Lisel, one of the Tiger’s more senior wives, an Olympic dressage medal winner.

Simone and Freddo straightened up, powered down the long side of the arena and turned to do the move again.

‘Stop, stop, stop!’ the instructor yelled. She pointed at the ground. ‘Come here.’

Both Freddo and Simone looked sheepish as they walked towards her.

I leaned on the fence and watched them. Freddo looked particularly magnificent; he hadn’t started his shaggy winter coat yet and his smooth golden summer coat was glossy with bronze highlights in the morning sunshine.

‘I said wait for the aid,’ Lisel said, obviously exasperated.

‘But I don’t need it,’ Simone said. ‘I just tell him.’

‘And she didn’t even need to tell me, because I know what to do,’ Freddo said.

‘What if you’re in battle and there’s fifty demons screaming all around you. What then?’ Lisel said.

Simone shrugged. ‘I talk to him telepathically.’

Freddo shook his ears, agreeing with her. ‘I give up my will and let my Simone control me directly.’

‘No, no, no!’ Lisel stomped in a circle. ‘So that’s what you two have been thinking. No wonder you’re not progressing.’ She put her hands out towards them. ‘How stupid are the two of you? Freddo, would you give your life for Simone?’

‘In a second,’ Freddo said, turning his head to look at Simone. ‘She’s my whole life.’

‘Do you want to be the best you can for her?’

‘I want to obey her. I want to give her my will and let her control me completely.’

Lisel sagged with defeat. ‘You need to work intelligently as a team member, not be a puppet.’

‘She’s right, Freddo,’ Simone said. ‘I need you to make your own decisions. Sometimes we may be overwhelmed and we’ll have to work as a team. You’ll need to watch my back. And if you surrender your free will and let me control you, that’s an extra complication that I really don’t need.’

‘Simone understands!’ Lisel yelled, raising her arms in triumph.

‘This is too hard. I just want to do what Simmony tells me,’ Freddo said.

Simone dropped her face into his mane and wrapped her arms around his neck. ‘Oh, Freddo.’

‘You are worse than useless if you just sit around waiting for orders,’ Lisel yelled, really losing her temper with Freddo. ‘You will get Simone killed with your laziness.’ She turned her back on them and stormed off. ‘Go clean up, and come back when you are ready to protect your owner, horse. Until then I want nothing to do with you. You are useless.’

Freddo dropped his head with shame but Simone didn’t let go of her clasp around his neck. Eventually he turned, head still bowed, and shuffled towards the stables.

‘Tell Simone I’ll be up in the coffee house waiting for her?’ I said.

The stone didn’t reply.

With its new position in my back, I couldn’t tap it to wake it up, so I pulled out my mobile and texted Simone to let her know where I’d be.

I turned and walked back up the stairs to the Turkish-style coffee house. It was full of bright blue and purple woven mats and dark wood benches piled with glittering cushions against the red stone walls. A few of the Tiger’s wives lazed around on the cushions, chatting, reading books and working with laptops. I sat on the veranda overlooking the riding plain and waved at the barista behind the bar.

He brought me a frappé in a condensation-covered glass. ‘I’ve been watching the Princess and her demon horse,’ he said. ‘They’re magnificent; you should be proud.’

‘I am.’

‘You were coming out of the clinic before, Emma. Is everything all right?’

‘Perfectly fine.’

‘You don’t have any issues at the moment?’

I grinned into my frappé. ‘No, Adrian, I’m in outstanding health.’

‘I see.’

I didn’t give him any more and he wandered away, obviously still curious.

We scheduled an estate management meeting that afternoon in the Peak apartment. I could participate in family decision-making provided neither the Mountain nor the Northern Heavens were involved.

It was sad to enter the empty Peak apartment. We used it as a base in Hong Kong whenever we needed to overnight there, and some of the furniture was still there, but everything else had been moved up to the Mountain. The memories of our happy times in the apartment were strong, but every time I returned to the Mountain the sheer joy of being in such a wondrous location on the Celestial Plane made those memories fade into contented history.

The dining table was still the main meeting area, and Simone, John, Gold and I sat around it to discuss our plans.

‘You’ve had more than enough time to look into my options for the Earthly,’ John said. ‘Fill me in.’

Gold opened the folder in front of him. ‘This is an unusual situation, my Lord. Your severed head was recovered and you were definitely declared dead. This means that you can’t return to being John Chen Wu; you’ll have to take a new identity. You won’t be Simone’s father or Emma’s fiancé on the Earthly, and you can’t assume ownership of the properties.’

‘You mean I’m stuck with them?’ Simone said with dismay.

‘Emma can manage them for you,’ John said.

‘Oh, thank you very much,’ I said, then saw Simone’s pleading face. ‘Don’t worry, Simone, I’ll manage everything for you.’

‘Thanks, Emma, but I don’t want them,’ Simone said. ‘They make me really rich, and I want to go to university down here. I want to be an ordinary student, not a target for gold-diggers.’

‘I can arrange alternative identities for both of you,’ Gold said. ‘Lord Xuan, I can give you a set of identity documents from the Mainland.’

‘Is my previous human identity, John Chen’s father, still active?’ John said. ‘It’s about eighty-something years old, isn’t it?’

‘I’ll check. If that’s still valid we can re-use it,’ Gold said. ‘Princess, I can make you anyone you like.’

‘What about getting into uni with the false identity?’ Simone said.

‘That might be slightly harder. It depends where you want to go.’

‘HKU, Cambridge or Tokyo,’ Simone said. ‘HKU because I already have a home here; and Cambridge is where Daddy did his doctorate.’

‘I used that old identity to do that doctorate,’ John said. ‘All my colleagues are probably gone.’

‘Then Todai in Tokyo maybe,’ Simone said.

‘Why Tokyo?’ I said.

‘Whales.’

‘What about Wales?’ I said.

‘No, the animals, silly,’ she said. ‘I want to do something to stop the meaningless slaughter of them. Education is the best way.’

‘I’m impressed. You have my full support,’ John said.

‘Thanks, Daddy. This is something that impacts on you as well — whales are a major source of protein for you guys —’

‘I’m a biological specimen,’ John said with humour.

‘The ones the whaling fleets take are just used for novelty food or frozen and stockpiled. It’s a waste when sea life like you needs that protein.’

‘It’s been years,’ John said.

‘Cambridge would be extremely difficult,’ Gold said. ‘We’d have to fabricate an identity and a set of academic records from here that would match what you’ve done at CH, and even then you may not gain entrance. Todai you could walk into tomorrow.’

‘What about identity documents if I wanted to study in Tokyo?’ Simone said.

‘The House of the East runs Todai University,’ John said. ‘It’s as Gold said: you could walk into any undergrad program immediately. A good proportion of the tech students are the Dragon’s children.’

‘I’m not so sure about going there now,’ Simone said.

‘So the decisions are made,’ John said. ‘Gold to either reactivate my old identity or find me a new one from the Mainland. Emma to continue handling the properties in Simone’s name, and Simone to talk to the Dragon about entering Todai.’

‘What?’ Simone said, horrified.

‘As I said, the Dragon runs it.’

‘That’s your job as my father.’

‘I’m too busy,’ he said.

Simone rounded on me. ‘Emma, you have to help me here.’

The doorbell rang and John’s expression darkened. ‘Gold, escort Simone and Emma to the Northern Heavens —’

‘I need to be involved in this, don’t lock me out,’ Simone said. ‘Gold, stay and guard Emma.’ She rose. ‘I’ll answer it. It’s the Number One Son of the King of the Demons, Emma.’

‘Not your place,’ John said. ‘We will remain here with Emma. Gold will answer the door.’

Simone and I stood at John’s shoulders as Gold escorted the visitors in. The Number One son of the Demon King was in his mid-twenties gangster form, slim and good-looking, with blond slicked-back hair and a pale grey silk suit.

‘What the hell,’ I said when I saw that Number One was accompanied by our half-demon fung shui master, Ronnie Wong.

Ronnie was in his normal human form, but he followed Number One like an automaton.

‘Are you okay, Ronnie?’ I said. ‘What’s going on?’

‘He took my wife.’ Ronnie seemed to struggle for a moment, then spoke with effort. ‘I must obey Number One.’

‘No,’ Simone said softly.

Number One raised his hands. ‘Not a good way to start the negotiations, I know, but I needed to get in here and this one has access.’

‘Where’s his wife?’ John said.

Number One pulled a gold chain with a Buddhist medallion over his head and showed it to us. ‘I used her as bait, but she’s not harmed. I won’t harm either of them; I’m just here to talk.’

‘Please help us, it’s taken Ronnie’s free will,’ the medallion said in a woman’s voice.

John rose and leaned his fists on the table. ‘Ronnie Wong was a good friend and a treasured consultant for the House of the North, and you have as good as killed him. I should destroy you where you stand.’

‘I have important news for you,’ Number One said. ‘After I’ve told you, you can do what you like to me.’

John stood straight and waved one hand at Ronnie. ‘You’ve taken his will.’

‘I’m bigger than him and he obeyed me. It just happened.’

John thumped the table with one fist. ‘He’s half-human!’

‘It was necessary.’

John became icy calm and spoke to the medallion. ‘What is your name, stone?’

‘Silica, my Lord.’

‘Go out of this room, turn right, and straight ahead there will be another room. Wait there for me,’ John said.

‘I won’t leave Ronnie,’ she said.

‘Order him to go with her,’ John said to Number One.

Number One handed the medallion to Ronnie. ‘Do as he says.’

Ronnie took the necklace and went out.

John waved for Number One to sit, and sat himself. ‘That was unnecessary. I would have given you audience if you had petitioned me.’

‘I had to make it look good,’ Number One said. ‘Next time I’ll request that your people capture me or something; Dad mustn’t know what’s going on. This time it has to look like I’m blackmailing someone close to you.’

‘Gold, take True Form and position yourself on the roof to hide us from anyone who could be listening.’

Gold changed to his stone form and disappeared.

I wanted to contribute, but this was too big and I was restricted.

‘Here’s the deal,’ Number One said. ‘Dad is working very closely with the demons of the West. He’s made a pact with them, one that many of us don’t want to see come to fruition.’

‘Why?’ John said. ‘If they are successful, you will rule the world.’

‘Pah. Gweilohs will rule us again,’ he said, and the meaning of ‘gweiloh’ really was ‘foreign devil’. ‘The Westerners will take control and our own King will be a puppet for them, just as happened in the past. This is a stupid idea.’

‘Your father obviously doesn’t think so.’

‘He’s power-mad. He’s been successful in trapping you, and he thinks he can do anything.’ He shook his head. ‘He wears military uniforms. Crazy.’ He glanced up at John. ‘Let me give you the details of his plans, anything that will help you stop him. I don’t care if my head ends up on a platter in one of the Mothers’ caverns. I can’t let him give us to the West. Again.’

‘You want me to stop him and give you kingship?’ John said. ‘Give you access to everything he built — all of Six’s stone science, the Death Mother’s copies, the elementals? You’d have them all as weapons against us.’

Number One sliced one hand through the air. ‘He nurtured them while they built his toys, and when they were done he killed them. None of them are left, and he keeps their technology so secure that if he was destroyed nobody else would have it.’ He smiled slightly. ‘Believe me, I would like to get my hands on it, particularly the copies the Death Mother was making. But Dad’s locked everything up extra tight and told everybody that if he’s destroyed, it’s all gone, and with it goes our chance to walk the Earth again. It’s with him or not at all.’

John leaned back and rubbed his chin. ‘So what’s he planning?’

‘He has a pact with the demons of the West. There are no Shen there —’

‘What, none at all?’ John said.

Number One shook his head. ‘Something happened a long time ago. Maybe the demons won, I don’t know. Anyway, there’s nothing to stop the demons there helping Dad to bring you all down. They’re building a very special hybrid army there — he won’t go into details. Something about snakes, about Miss Donahoe —’

‘What about me?’ I said, able to ask something directly related to myself.

‘I don’t know. Something about snakes, about Miss Donahoe, about stones in Wales. He’s been dropping hints that he’s building an army of invulnerable demons, together with a host of fake elementals and artificial stones. It sounds enough to take you all down.’

‘Invulnerable demons? How invulnerable?’ John said.

‘To quote my father, “Shoot them, hit them, pierce them — everything will bounce right off. My babies will be indestructible.” After he said that, I decided to come here and warn you. What he’s doing is wrong.’

‘Where is his base?’ John said.

‘Wales.’

‘We know that. Where specifically?’

‘A big house somewhere in the northwest.’

‘That’s not much to go on,’ John said.

I raised one hand. I couldn’t advise or contribute, but the stone helped.

‘Emma has spent some time making virtual visits to the region, my Lord, and I have been assisting her. It’s quite a remote and sparsely populated part of Britain, and I believe the number of really big houses there could be counted on the fingers of one hand.’

I nodded my thanks to the stone.

‘She can’t follow it up now and find the exact house,’ Number One said. ‘We all know about the Jade Emperor’s little tantrum.’

‘With good reason,’ I said.

He focused on me. ‘You are one of them.’ He pointed at me and spoke to John. ‘You would make a foreigner Empress of the Northern Heavens, ruling when you are not present. Once again, they are taking over, and you are letting them. Helping them.’

‘My daughter will also assist in future and she is half-European,’ John said without emotion. He raised his hands to indicate Simone and myself. ‘Behold, demon, two women at my side, neither of them full-blood Chinese.’

Number One glared at him. ‘After the Boxers, one would think you’d know better.’

‘I do. Race or gender makes no difference; it is intelligence and loyalty that count before anything. And in your case, I think you are correct. The demons of the West will be loyal to their own, and the King is foolish in making a pact with them.’ He rose and put one hand on the table. ‘Do you need assistance in returning to Hell?’

‘I petition that you break both of my legs and leave me unconscious in an alley in Dongguan. They will find me there.’

‘No. Either I destroy you or I free you. I do not torture demons for pleasure.’

‘Then release me and I’ll pretend that I’ve escaped.’

John glowered at him. ‘That would be seen through immediately. There is no escape from me.’

‘Very well, destroy me. I will not turn,’ the demon said. ‘It is enough that you will stop the foreigners from taking over our Hell.’

John strode to Number One, who jumped to his feet. John took him by the throat and forced him onto his knees. ‘Confirm you were telling the truth just then.’

‘I was,’ Number One said without a trace of fear. ‘Just do it.’

‘Very well.’ John released him and stepped back. ‘How much do you want to live?’

‘I knew I was dead the minute I walked in your door,’ the demon said, still on his knees. ‘I’m dead already.’

‘If I had a way of returning you to Hell unharmed and with a cast-iron alibi, would you do it?’

The demon stared up at John, expressionless. ‘If they found out, my death would be very, very slow. Even more so because of what I am — I don’t have a shell to break, I have blood and bones. They could play with me for a long time.’

‘I’m aware of that. Do you have the courage to take that risk anyway, to stay alive and help us stop the Westerners from taking over Hell?’

The demon thought for a moment. ‘It depends how cast-iron we’re talking about here.’

John placed his index finger on the middle of Number One’s forehead. ‘Go to this place and stay for as long as you see fit. The staff there will be waiting for you.’

Number One stared at him, then grinned with disbelief. ‘I know that place. I’m a regular. That’s yours?’

‘Even better if you are known to them,’ John said.

‘Can we meet there in future?’ Number One said.

‘There are better seals on this apartment, nobody can see what we are doing. I will give you leave to move directly between there and here. You will not need to hijack any more of my associates in future. Just go there and the staff will show you the way directly here.’

‘You’re on,’ Number One said, and disappeared.

John dropped his hands to his sides. ‘Now for the fun part.’

Silica and Ronnie were standing clutching each other in the training room, rocking gently back and forth. Ronnie was silent, but Silica was quietly moaning ‘No’ over and over.

Ronnie heard us come in and pulled back to speak to Silica. ‘I need to know that you’ll be safe. As long as they can command me, you’re not safe — and I can’t live with the idea that I’ll ever hurt you.’

‘I’d rather be dead than have you do this,’ she said. She moved closer to him, but he pushed her away. ‘Don’t do it!’

‘I love you,’ he said, his voice thick. ‘You’re the best thing that ever happened to me.’ He brushed one hand down the side of her face. ‘Goodbye.’

He spun towards us; his eyes were as red as hers. He fell to his knees. ‘Lord Xuan, protect me, I am yours,’ he said.

Silica fell to her knees next to him and buried her face in his shoulder.

‘Make him take it back,’ Simone said.

‘It’s done, sweetheart,’ John said. ‘Once the words are said, they can’t be unsaid. He’s tamed.’ He went to Ronnie. ‘Stand up and hold out your hand.’

Ronnie didn’t hesitate. He stood, holding out his hand. Silica rose with him, sobbing quietly into his shoulder. John took his hand and fed the Fire Essence Pill into him, ensuring total obedience.

Simone choked a huge gasping breath and disappeared.

‘First me, then Freddo, now Ronnie,’ I said. ‘This has to stop.’

John put his hand on Silica’s shoulder. ‘He was pursuing the Way, Silica. He is not completely demon, and he may eventually regain free will.’

‘I will stay with him for as long as it takes,’ she said. She touched his face. ‘My Ronnie is still in there somewhere, I know it.’

Ronnie ignored her, concentrating completely on John as he waited for his next order. She turned away and wiped her eyes.

‘Present yourself to L K Pak, the demon master of Wudang Mountain,’ John said. ‘Tell him what has happened, and to start immediately on finding a way to speed the recovery of your freedom.’

‘I do not wish to recover, I wish to serve you,’ Ronnie said, and disappeared, Silica with him.

We went back to the Mountain, and John landed us among the small cypress trees outside the Imperial Residence.

‘Where did you send Number One?’ I said.

‘Number Eighty-Eight Spring Garden Lane. I had Gold take Number One’s form, head straight to a bank and deposit a large amount of gold. Anyone watching will think that someone borrowed Number One’s form to blackmail us while Number One was in the brothel.’ His expression changed to horror and he stepped back. ‘Oh, shit.’

‘What?’

‘Nothing, nothing. So what do you have planned for the rest of this afternoon?’

‘Ha!’ I said. ‘You thought I didn’t know about Number Eighty-Eight. I’ve been running things for ten years, John, of course I know about it.’

‘You’re not mad?’

‘Of course not. The staff there are lovely. What —’

‘What do you mean, the staff are lovely?’ he said sharply. ‘You’ve been down there?’

‘Of course I have. I go down regularly to make sure everybody’s happy. Cerise passed her Diploma of Administration two years ago and she’s running the back of house. Niktor’s been studying makeup and wants to break into movies.’

‘You should not be seen to be associating with them, that is not fitting,’ he said. ‘Wait, who’s Niktor?’

‘New guy. Couldn’t find a job doing anything else because he’s so screamingly obvious, but the movie business may be an opportunity for him. I rescued him off a street corner. Leo’s been trying, unsuccessfully, to get him to be more true to himself, but Niktor seems too scared to do anything but act out the stereotype.’

We started walking towards the administration area. ‘I haven’t had time yet to find out how the old staff are and meet the new ones,’ John said. ‘So much to catch up on.’

‘What I would like to know’, I said, ‘is how you came to own the flagship of demonkind’s underworld operations in Hong Kong a hundred years before Simon Wong emerged as a local power.’

‘That’s a very long story,’ he said with humour.

‘Stone,’ I said, tapping my engagement ring before I remembered it wasn’t there. ‘John, give the stone in my back a tap, will you?’

‘Jade Building Block,’ John said.

The stone didn’t reply and I felt a shot of concern. ‘Stone?’

John put his hand on my back between my shoulderblades. ‘It’s definitely there. Just a sec …’ A flash of cold pierced my back and I yelped.

‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Stone?’

The stone still didn’t reply.

‘Don’t do that again,’ I said. ‘It hurt! Let’s find Gold and ask him to talk to it.’

‘When was the last time it spoke to you?’ John said, still with his hand on my back.

‘A few days ago, at BJ’s mineral-taking.’ My stomach fell. ‘It’s been slowly fading, hasn’t it?’

‘Or it had too much to drink last night at the mineral-taking party and wants to be left alone,’ the stone said, its voice sharp with sarcasm.

‘Better check the wine cellar, John, you know about the stone’s taste,’ I said.

‘I have better taste than most and I’m not afraid to admit it,’ the stone said. ‘And if you’re nice to me, I may even be persuaded to advise you on the contents of the Mountain’s cellar.’

‘Stone, John’s going to tell me the story of how he came to own Eighty-Eight. Can you record it for me, please?’ I said.

‘I even get a please,’ the stone said, its voice softening. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not gone yet.’

‘I’m glad,’ I said.

‘Let’s go to my office and I’ll tell you the tale of the Stone Turtle and the Brothel at Number Eighty-Eight Spring Garden Lane,’ John said.

‘Excellent,’ the stone said. ‘I’ve never heard that one before.’