Dark_Serpent

18

‘How definite is it?’ I said, sitting on the bed as John paced the room.

‘Absolutely,’ he said. ‘You’ve had them too, you know what it’s like. Bringing you here was a horrible mistake.’

‘I should go back.’

‘Not alone. I can’t come with you; the mission’s started, I’m committed.’

‘Leo can guard me.’

He made a soft noise of dismissal and began pacing again.

‘He’s the finest human warrior of his generation, you said it yourself.’

‘He’s just one man, Immortal or not. I’ll arrange for a squad to come over here and escort you home.’ He stopped and unfocused. ‘We’re already too far. This cannot be avoided. I will ask them to come anyway; we can’t give in to this.’

He smoothed his hair into a ponytail, felt for the hair tie, then realised it was gone. ‘Stupid hair.’ He plonked to sit on the bed next to me. ‘If I didn’t have my oath laid out before us, I don’t know what I’d do. As it is, something very bad is coming for us and things will be worse before they’re better.’

‘That’s the story of our lives,’ I said. I leaned into him and he put his arm around my shoulders. ‘I’ll stay close to you and we’ll see what we can do about minimising the danger. Is that an option? Are there choices — some better than others?’

He unfocused again, then shook his head. ‘You are too close for me to see. All I can see is the huge mistake I’ve made bringing you here.’

‘Gods don’t make mistakes.’

He fell backwards to lie on the bed, staring at the ceiling. ‘This one makes more than most.’

I fell backwards and lay next to him. ‘That’s what I love about you. You’re so strange and elemental and so human and fallible — all at the same time.’

‘I think you’re more attracted to the strange and elemental,’ he said. ‘The human and fallible I can do without.’

I pulled myself on top of him and straddled him. ‘Take me swimming when we get to Wales.’

‘The place where we’re staying doesn’t have a pool and it’s too cold …’

‘No, swimming.’

‘Oh.’ He smiled slightly. ‘I didn’t think of that. The sea will be cold and clean and full of life.’ He breathed deeply and his chest moved underneath me. ‘New waters to explore — what a wonderful idea.’ He patted my back. ‘Thank you. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m tired and a good night’s sleep would do both of us good.’

I slipped my hands under his T-shirt and his smile disappeared as he watched me. I ran my hands over his chest, then down to trace his ribs and abs, hard under my fingertips. He barely moved at all, hardly breathing. I pushed his shirt up over his chest, bent over him and touched my mouth to him, tasting the freshness of the salt of the sea. I pulled back to see how dark his eyes had gone.

‘Don’t stop,’ he breathed, slipping his hands inside my shirt and onto my waist.

I pulled the T-shirt over his head and he flopped back, his long black hair spreading around him. I straightened on top of him, enjoying his reaction as I ran my fingertips over his golden skin.

I bent over him and put my elbows on either side of his head, my face close to his. ‘So many years,’ I said. ‘So many years I dreamed of doing this. I cannot get enough of you.’

He didn’t reply, just lifted my shirt over my head and tossed it aside. His expression became intense as he slipped my bra off and cupped my breasts, running his fingers over my nipples the same way I’d done to him when he was female. I arched my back in response and he went rigid beneath me.

He gently levered me off him and slid me down so we were side by side, and ran his hands across my back as he kissed me. I lost myself in the feeling of his mouth on mine, moving over me. He ran his hand down my back and into my jeans, then grimaced at their tightness. He reached around to undo them, working at the zip, and I pressed myself into him, skin to skin. He pulled back and shook his head, frustrated, as he realised he couldn’t pull my jeans off with me lying on them. His jeans were looser than mine and I slipped my hand inside. He shivered and took a quick breath, then stopped moving again, studying my face. He gave up on my zip and put his hands on my behind, pulling me into him. I undid his pants and felt for him. His eyes went wide and his body went rigid.

‘This … is … not … fair,’ he said through gritted teeth. He pulled at the side of my jeans, trying to work them down and not succeeding. ‘Modern fabrics.’ He made a soft sound of frustration, then gasped again when I slid my hand over him. ‘Unfair!’

He gently thrust into my hand, his eyes unfocused and his hands pulling me into him, running up and down my back. He moved his mouth next to my ear and whispered, ‘How much do you like these jeans?’

‘Don’t you dare, these are my favourites.’

‘If you don’t have them off in two minutes they’ll be your destroyed favourites,’ he growled.

I got off the bed and quickly slipped my jeans off while he watched me with appreciation. I took his hand and pulled him towards me, then led him into the bathroom. He kicked his pants off as he followed me.

As we went through the bathroom door, I stopped and turned to admire him. He walked past me and tossed his hair back over his shoulder, knowing what it did for me. I closed the door and started the taps to run a hot bath for us.

‘Allow me,’ he said.

The muscles rippled over his back as he raised one hand and the bath filled with warm clear water, steam lifting from it into the chilly evening. The water rose in a cube above the edge of the bath and nearly to the ceiling.

He put his hands around my waist, and I held his shoulders to steady myself as he lifted me into the water so I was suspended inside the cube. He released me, but continued to hold my hand as he floated into the water next to me. He pulled me close and buried his face into the side of my throat as I wrapped my legs around him, and his hair floated around us. Millions of tiny bubbles filled the water, brushing over us as we spun slowly in the water, moving together and lost in the blissful sensation of being one.

The next morning when I woke, the sun was already shining through the curtains and John was gone from the bed beside me. A note was on the pillow in his flowing Chinese script. I smiled slightly and tossed it back onto the pillow — he’d forgotten that on the Earthly I couldn’t read most of it. I’d picked out ‘I walk’ and ‘kung fu’ in Chinese, then ‘Simone’ in English among the other characters, so I’d worked out the gist of it.

I went to the dining room, but it was deserted. I headed down into the kitchen and found Leo and Paul sharing a pot of coffee at the four-seater table. I put some bread in the toaster, grabbed a mug out of the cupboard and sat with them.

‘Simone and John are out having a run and a training session on the common,’ Leo said. ‘Little miss is in the middle of the park showing off her martial arts.’

‘Good,’ I said. ‘Anything that makes her practise more.’

‘What’s the plan for today?’ he said.

‘I’m going with John to Leonard’s office to have the documents signed and witnessed.’

‘Good luck with that; sounds fascinating.’

I smiled smugly. ‘And you’re escorting Simone for the morning.’

‘No way. She’s nearly eighteen years old —’

‘Hi Leo, we’re back,’ Simone said from the doorway. ‘I’ll have a shower and get cleaned up, and we can go to the Science Museum. Morning, Emma.’

‘You want to go there again?’ Leo said, incredulous.

‘It’s just been renovated and reopened,’ she said. ‘I have to see what they’ve done. It’s a shame none of the little ones can come along, they’d love it.’

‘How about we fly across the Channel to France and have a wander around there?’ Leo said.

She thought about it for a moment, then brightened. ‘After the Science Museum, if we still have time.’ She turned and ran up the stairs to her room.

‘Want to swap?’ Leo said. ‘Suddenly a morning in Leonard’s office sounds deeply interesting.’

I leaned back with satisfaction. ‘Nope, John wants to keep me close.’

‘What was that about yesterday? Can you tell me?’

I shrugged and tried to brush it off. ‘He just had a bit of a premonition — god stuff. He thinks it’s a bad idea for me to be here, and he’s bringing a squad over to take me home.’

Leo concentrated for a moment, then let his breath out as if he’d been hit. ‘Damn, it was a seriously bad idea bringing you here.’ He bent forward and his face screwed up with pain. ‘Shee–it, that hurts. Goddamn! Ow.’ He rubbed his forehead with one hand. ‘Every single damn time.’

‘Does it hurt the others as much as that?’ I said, concerned.

‘Martin says the bigger you are the less painful it is.’ He massaged his temples. ‘Remind me not to do that again. How long before the squad gets here? Something really terrible is going to happen.’

‘They couldn’t get a flight for a couple of days. They’ll meet us in Wales.’ I hesitated. ‘How terrible?’

‘Dunno, just … bad.’ He frowned. ‘Sorry.’

‘I’ll stick close to you or John and keep alert until they take me home.’

‘What if this thing we’re seeing is because you’re going home?’

‘Yeah, we can second-guess ourselves for hours if we like,’ I said. ‘All of that is beside the point, because he will Raise and marry me. The rest is detail.’

‘You’re absolutely right.’ He smiled, but was obviously still concerned.

Simone appeared in the doorway and he rose to put his coffee mug in the sink. ‘Anything you want from France if we ever get there?’

‘Trust me, my friend,’ I said, seeing Simone’s excited face, ‘you won’t.’

John and I arrived at Leonard’s office and went in to speak to the receptionist sitting behind her big mahogany reception desk.

‘John Chen for Leonard,’ John said.

The receptionist called it through, then put the phone down. ‘Mr Black isn’t in yet. Would you like to speak to one of the other partners?’

‘Just a sec,’ John said.

He pulled his mobile phone out and called Leonard. Leonard didn’t answer.

‘No reason to panic at this early stage,’ I said. ‘He could just be stuck in traffic.’

John concentrated, contacting Leonard telepathically, then turned back to the receptionist. ‘Which other partners are here?’

‘Mr Black’s sister, Mrs Gration, is in,’ the receptionist said.

‘Could I see her?’

‘Certainly, sir. Just take a seat and I’ll call —’

Leonard’s sister, Lindsay, appeared in a doorway and waved us inside. She was much shorter than Leonard, with darker skin and dyed blonde hair. ‘I heard you, Mr Chen, come on through.’

‘That’s extremely rude!’ I said to John as he followed Lindsay into her office.

‘I don’t mind at all, it’s all part of the magic,’ Lindsay said. ‘Leonard seems to have dropped off the face of the planet, but he may just be hungover.’ She closed the office door, gestured for us to sit and said softly, ‘Since the divorce he’s been hungover more and more.’

‘That’s sad to hear,’ I said.

‘I am concerned about him,’ John said. ‘Could you call him again?’

‘Certainly,’ she said, and picked up the phone. She put it to her ear and looked confused for a moment, then her expression cleared. ‘Incoming call,’ she said to us. ‘Yes, of course I’ll take it. Hello, this is Lindsay Gration. Yes, I’m Leonard Black’s sister.’

She went blank for a long minute, then dropped the receiver on the desk and put both hands over her mouth, wide-eyed and silent.

John jumped up, reached over the desk and picked up the receiver. ‘Hello?’ he said. ‘You said that Mr Black was in an accident?’ He listened. ‘Which hospital is he in?’ He scribbled the address on a piece of paper. ‘We’re on our way.’

Lindsay broke down into heaving sobs. She went to the window and leaned her forehead on the pane, away from us.

‘Single vehicle accident. Ran into a tree,’ John said. He was twice the blood alcohol limit.

‘He only had one beer last night, this is not possible,’ I said, numb with shock.

‘He may have stopped somewhere on the way home,’ John said.

Lindsay tapped her forehead on the window in time with her words. ‘Stupid, stupid man,’ she said through the sobs. ‘Stupid man.’

‘Is he dead?’ I mouthed.

John shook his head. Coma. Looks bad.

Lindsay’s husband met us at the hospital. John and I weren’t permitted to join them in the intensive care ward — it was close family only.

‘Did they tell you where the accident occurred?’ I asked John as we headed back to the car.

‘I was about to ask you if you were willing to come with me to the scene,’ he said.

‘Let’s go.’

The accident site was on a quiet stretch of road between two steep banks. There was an oil slick covered in sawdust, a long pair of skid marks, torn-up grass in two long tracks, and a splintered tree. We pulled over next to the tree and got out. John walked up and down the road, carefully avoiding the passing traffic. He touched the oil slick, then brought his fingers to his face and rubbed them together. His expression went grim.

‘As I suspected,’ he said, holding up his black-stained fingers.

‘Demons tried to kill him?’

John wiped his hand on his pants and nodded. ‘They destroyed a couple of demons on the road and the essence worked like an oil slick. He didn’t have a chance, even if he was doing the speed limit.’

I took his arm. ‘You have to tell Greg right now. The rest of the family might be in danger.’

He shook his head. ‘I told Greg back at Leonard’s office. That was the first thing I did.’

My breath came out of me in a long gasp. ‘Oh, dear Lord, poor Andrew — after all he’s been through, now his father’s in a coma. He and Colin have to be told.’

‘They’ve already been told,’ John said. He dropped his head and walked back to the car. ‘They don’t know that demons did it.’

‘Don’t tell them,’ I said.

‘Don’t worry, I won’t.’

A cargo net of thick rope fell over John, the heavy weights at its edges rattling as they hit the road. He was too strong to be stunned by the impact, but he fell sideways onto the grass beneath it. A small group of extremely high-level demons in human form, all young, strong, short-haired British men, landed on grass around us — six of them, each about level eighty. One of them grew to its True Form and grabbed me from behind, holding one clawed hand over my mouth, the tips of its claws piercing the skin of my cheek.

Don’t fight them, I have this, John said.

He struggled ineffectually with the net and the demons crouched around him, working as a team to pull on a rope that closed its edges.

‘You cannot hold me, you stupid creatures,’ he said, still pushing at the rope net. ‘Let me go!’

Ruse. Don’t move.

The demons closed in on him as he obviously tried to work his way out of the net and failed. When they were close enough to touch him, he stopped moving for a second. A blast of freezing gas burst from him, a sphere of ice-blue cloud two metres across. The demons closest to him were covered in ice and exploded into a cloud of grey dust; only two were out of range.

The demon holding me tightened its grip, pushing its claws deeper into my face. ‘I suggest you stop now, or your lady here will be sliced.’

John stood and the net disintegrated into grey powder. The two demons near him hung back, hesitating. He glowered at the demon holding me.

Energy into it on the count of three, he said. One, two … three.

He sent a blast of cold air at the demon holding me, and I injected chi directly into its abdomen where it pressed against my back. The combination of the cold and the energy split the demon in half at waist-height and the two pieces fell onto the grass. I put my hand to my cheek and it came away covered in blood.

John straightened and took full, huge Celestial Form in his robes and armour, with his hair writhing around his head. He summoned Seven Stars and loaded the blade with his chakra energy, taking his time to make each indentation glow separately with its own coloured light as the demons watched with horrified awe. He backed away so both demons were in front of him, raised the sword slightly out to the side and nodded formally to them.

‘Good morning, demonkind. You may have heard of me. I am the Dark Emperor of the Northern Heavens, Celestial Master of the Nine Mysteries.’

‘Oh shit,’ one of the demons said.

‘Ah, you have heard of me,’ John said. ‘Tell me who sent you and why, and I will spare you.’

‘Deal,’ one of the demons said. ‘Lord Semias is our master.’

‘No way,’ I said softly. They ignored me.

‘Why was Leonard attacked?’

‘To bring you here so we could capture you and take you to our master. Our master believes you aren’t as dangerous as his associate says.’

John smiled slightly and conjured his dark blue-purple aura. Waves of almost invisible colour passed from his head to his feet, making a soft bass thrum each time they touched the ground. The grass died in a perfect circle around him, withering and blowing away to leave bare dirt.

‘Am I?’ he said.

‘Shit, yeah,’ the demon said. ‘What is that stuff? It’s like … the end of the world.’

‘That’s because it is,’ John said. ‘I could lose my temper and destroy everything.’ He lowered the sword. ‘I gave you my word you would be spared. Go back to your master and tell him to call me.’ He told the demon the number. ‘Tell him we have much to speak about.’

‘You got it,’ the demon said, and both of them disappeared.

John dismissed the sword and strode to me. ‘Are you all right? Let me heal that.’

‘Put the energy away first,’ I said, quickly backing away.

He stopped and his face went grim as he dismissed the energy. ‘I haven’t done that in a very long time.’ He took my hand in his and put his other hand on my damaged cheek. ‘I am so sorry.’

‘Just a flesh wound,’ I said, and gasped as his cold healing power ran through the nerves in my cheeks, making them sting. ‘That really hurts!’

‘Sorry, I’ll stop. The healing is more powerful in Celestial Form.’ He changed back to human form. ‘I’ll take it slower. Ready?’

‘Give me a moment,’ I said, and lit up the pressure points. ‘Okay, go.’

He closed his eyes slightly and his expression went serene. The healing energy was cooler and fresher this time, more of a tingling than the painful cold.

He snapped out of it and examined my cheek. ‘There’s still a mark there, but nothing that won’t disappear in a week or so. Nothing else hurt? That demon was a big one.’

‘No, it was just holding me. I think they wanted to use me as a hostage and take you.’

‘There’s obviously some conflict at Demon Headquarters. Who is Lord Semias? You recognised the name.’

‘Druid master of a Celestial city. Definitely not someone I expected to be working with demons.’

‘You can tell me more about it when we get home. It appears we have the advantage: he didn’t know how powerful I am. He’s in for an unpleasant lesson if he ever comes to face me himself.’

‘You shouldn’t have intimidated them like that. It might have been better to pretend to be weak and let them take you,’ I said.

‘I was going to, but they hurt you. And when that happens … what’s that English expression? All the bets are cancelled?’

‘All bets are off?’

‘That’s the one.’ He concentrated for a moment. ‘Simone and Leo are fine; the demons targeted you and me. Interesting.’

He pulled me in for a fierce hug, then released me and ran one hand down the side of my face. ‘If I did not have the Jade Emperor’s Edict hanging over me, I would take you home right now.’

I wrapped my arms around him and put my head on his chest. ‘You’re the Darkness That Swallows All, the Celestial Master of the Eight Mysteries. I’m safe while I’m with you.’

‘Nine Mysteries.’

‘Eight. You haven’t mastered Simone,’ I said as we went back to the car.

‘She still confuses the living hell out of me,’ he said.

‘She’s your daughter, that’s her job.’

Simone and Leo came running down the stairs when we walked into the entrance hall.

‘Is Leonard really dead?’ Simone said, distraught.

‘No, he’s alive,’ John said. ‘But the demons here are after us.’

He swayed slightly and put his hand on my shoulder to lean on me.

‘Are you okay, Daddy?’ Simone said. ‘You’re as pale as anything.’

‘I’m fine,’ he said, and toppled, nearly pulling me down with him.

Leo caught him before he hit the floor. He held him prone and turned him face up. I put my hand on John’s forehead, then quickly pulled it away. It was freezing cold.

‘Can you take him upstairs without getting burnt?’ I asked Leo.

‘Burnt?’ Simone said.

‘He’s as cold as dry ice,’ Leo said. ‘If I move fast I’ll be okay.’

‘Go.’

Leo glanced at me. ‘Oh, well done, giving an Immortal an order. Now I can’t do it.’

‘Leo, take him upstairs,’ Simone said.

‘Good enough,’ Leo said, and he and John disappeared.

I slapped my forehead with my palm. ‘I keep forgetting.’

‘I never realised how much we relied on you to organise stuff,’ Simone said with humour. ‘I’ll have a serious talk with the Jade Emperor when we’re home. We need you to boss us around.’

‘You manage,’ I said as we went up the stairs to check on John.

Leo was pulling the covers over him when we arrived in the room. John was unconscious, and his skin was so cold that a mist of condensation rose off him.

‘Out cold,’ Leo said, standing back and studying him. ‘In more ways than one. Martin wants to know what happened to get him like this?’ He looked sideways at me. ‘Or do we want to know?’

‘Ew, Leo,’ Simone said.

‘We were attacked by a group of level eighties and he showed off,’ I said. I sat next to him and put my hand on his arm; I could still feel the cold through the blankets. ‘He’s never been this bad before, I hope he’ll be all right.’

‘Martin …’ Leo said, and trailed off, obviously listening. He nodded a few times. ‘Martin says he should be fine, just leave him. This is what exhaustion looks like.’

‘Why is he exhausted?’ Simone said, touching his face. She ran her hand down his cheek, obviously not bothered by the cold. ‘He hasn’t been overdoing it.’

‘In his current state,’ I said, ‘I think he has.’

‘What current state?’ Leo said sharply. ‘Those wounds are healing nicely.’

‘His Serpent’s half-dead.’

‘And this half is feeling it too?’

‘Don’t let it get around,’ I said. ‘Nobody needs to know how weak he is.’

‘Marvellous,’ Leo said. ‘Is he as weak now as he was back then?’

‘No, not nearly,’ Simone said. ‘Being able to take True Form makes a huge difference for him.’

‘Then why doesn’t he do it more often?’

‘Because when he does,’ I said, moving my hand away from the cold cloud over his blankets, ‘he feels exactly what the Serpent’s experiencing and has a powerful urge to go to it.’

‘That bad?’

‘I’ve seen it,’ I said. ‘It’s in terrible pain, burning hot and suffering horribly.’

Simone made a small choking sound and went out.

The street market in Wan Chai was blacked out, all of the electric lights that usually made the stalls daytime-bright gone, and people were using torches and Mid-Autumn Festival lanterns to make their wares visible. The ground was slippery with a wash of blood, and the discarded leaves of vegetables and other rubbish added to the smell of putrefaction. I would need to rinse my scales off after slithering through this filth.

The stallholders were all demons; a collection of misshapen faces with bulging eyes followed my progress through the market. A butcher, his apron covered in blood, merrily used his gigantic cleaver to roughly chop a human arm into bite-sized segments. He scooped the meat into a plastic bag, handed it to a Snake Mother, then scraped his wooden chopping block clean with the chopper, adding to the already large depression in the blood-saturated wood.

I wandered through the stalls, looking for John and Simone and the baby. A mobile phone stall was brilliantly lit, its green and blue flashing lights reflecting eerily off the plastic rain-walls around it. I couldn’t use a mobile phone as a snake; I didn’t have any hands. But I needed to find them, and I needed to find the baby.

I felt the coldness in the air behind me: something really big was approaching. I turned and stopped. A massive dark form, roughly human-shaped, towered over me, at least as tall as the second-storey windows above with their rusting metal signs hanging over the road. I couldn’t move backwards as snake, so I turned and ran, but the dark coldness pursued me, passing through the overhanging signs as if they weren’t there. I rushed through the slippery streets, the dark cold following me.

I gasped in a huge gulp of air and saw the dark shape hovering over the couch I was lying on. I leaped and landed across the room from it in a defensive stance.

‘I’m sorry, I woke you,’ John said.

I relaxed and bent to breathe deeply, resting my hands on my knees. ‘You scared the living daylights out of me.’

He sat on the arm of the couch and fingered the blankets tossed on the cushions. ‘I woke up and you weren’t there. Why are you sleeping in here? Is something wrong?’

I crawled onto the couch and sat cross-legged next to him. ‘You overdid it with those Western demons and passed out. Your skin was so cold that it burned.’

He raised his hand in front of his face and studied it. ‘Really?’

‘Yes. I’m surprised the bed isn’t saturated from condensation.’

‘So that’s what that was. I woke and suddenly I was back to the time when Simone used to creep in with us and wet the bed.’

‘Us? She never crept in with …’ I understood what he was saying. ‘Michelle.’

‘Yes. Michelle was horrified and wanted to take her to a doctor. I tried to convince her that Simone would grow out of it, but she didn’t believe me. She never saw me proved right.’ He put his hand on my shoulder, a light touch. ‘The bed’s dry and warm now and I’m not cold any more.’ He brushed his hand down my arm. ‘Will you come back?’

I snuggled into him and he wrapped his arm around me. ‘Of course. It’s very comforting waking up next to you when I have bad dreams like that.’

He went still. ‘Bad dreams like what?’

I made my tone light and careless. ‘Oh, the usual thing. Being pursued by demons, being chased.’

‘I didn’t know. I’m making you do too much.’

‘Those sorts of stress dreams are perfectly normal; even people who aren’t snakes dealing with demons have them. At least I don’t have to put up with “naked in public” dreams; in most of them I’m in snake form and it doesn’t matter.’

‘Human brains are very strange.’

‘Hey,’ I said, jabbing him with my finger, ‘I’m not the one who soaked the bedclothes. And Simone would kill you if she knew you told me that.’

He squeezed me. ‘Only if you tell her. Come back to bed. We have a long trip tomorrow.’

‘With pleasure.’