Dark_Serpent

19




I was woken by scrabbling sounds in the ceiling. There was a thump and the light fitting above me rattled, sending a tiny trail of dust onto the bed. I rose, wrapped a robe around me, and trotted up the narrow ladder stairs to the attic. Paul was standing at the door watching as John worked his way through the boxes and suitcases stored there.

‘Here are the posters,’ John said with satisfaction. ‘Where are the …? Never mind, found them.’ He flipped a suitcase open and pulled out a pair of jeans. ‘I do believe I’m bigger in this form. These may not fit me.’

‘You cannot be serious!’ Simone said behind me.

John held the jeans up. ‘They’re still good.’

‘They’re like a metre wide at the bottom,’ she said, horrified. ‘What are they, a relic from the sixties or something?’

‘Early seventies,’ he said. He dropped them and rummaged in the case, then held up a purple and green tie-dyed T-shirt with a large peace symbol on the front. ‘How about this?’

‘What, you’re going to Wales in the guise of an ageing hippie?’ she said with scorn.

Paul looked from Simone to John, then leaned on the doorway, crossed his arms and grinned.

Simone glared at him. ‘What?’

‘Yes,’ John said, pulling out some more T-shirts and a brown suede jacket with fringing along the arms. He glanced up at Paul. ‘Where’s the van? You said it would be here.’

‘They promised it would be,’ Paul said. ‘I told them my job’s at stake if they don’t have it here today. I’ll go check on it.’ He went down the stairs.

‘Did I really wear anything this bright?’ John said, studying a T-shirt in shades of blue and green. ‘This looks like something the Dragon would like.’ He glanced down at the case. ‘Not a single black anything in here. Oh, I remember.’ He smiled up at me. ‘Black jeans weren’t invented yet; I had to make do with blue. I tried dyeing them myself but it just wrecked them. I suppose I can wear the black ones I have now with these T-shirts.’

‘Wait,’ Simone said, holding a hand out towards him. ‘Did you say yes?’

‘Yes, I’m going as an ageing hippie. The demons are looking for a Chinese Dark God of War, his black bodyguard, his half-Chinese daughter and his,’ he looked at me, ‘excuse the term, it’s what they see, not me — his plain-looking fiancée. They won’t be looking for a white ageing hippie, his white ex-boxer turned Buddhist friend, his half-Vietnamese teenage daughter and a gorgeous redhead, all of whom are in Wales to find a magical location for their folk music festival.’

He changed so that he was European, and for a moment his large eyes and big, protruding nose were so out of place that he looked deformed. Then my perception adjusted and he was John again, slightly different.

‘Leo will love being a gorgeous redhead,’ I said.

‘Not Leo, you …’ He saw my face. ‘Very funny.’

‘Can Leo change that much?’ Simone said.

‘He’s been practising with Ming’s help. He can hold it for hours at a time.’ John switched back to his Chinese self. ‘Would you like to try male form to add to the camouflage?’

Simone concentrated and changed into a feminine-looking male version of herself with short, full hair.

‘That absolutely will not work,’ I said. ‘You’ll have hordes of screaming teenage girls following us if you wander around looking like that.’

Simone laughed so hard she lost the shape. She leaned on the wall, unable to breathe, her hand over her eyes. ‘It was the first thing I thought of.’

Paul yelled from downstairs. ‘The kombi van is here, sir.’

‘Good,’ John said. ‘I suppose we should have something to eat and then go. We can work on the cover story as we travel.’ He let his long hair out and tied a tie-dyed bandana around his forehead, then held up a couple of the T-shirts. ‘Pink or purple, Emma? Aren’t the flowers great?’

Simone’s eyes widened. ‘A kombi?’

‘Ageing hippie,’ he said, patting her on the shoulder as he carried an armful of psychedelic T-shirts through the door.

John drove us himself. Leo couldn’t hold the Caucasian shape, stay out of the wheelchair and concentrate on driving all at the same time, so he sat in the back, stiff with tension and trying to distract himself with the newspaper. He’d deliberately made his Caucasian face as ugly as possible, flattening his already broken nose and thickening his features. He covered his speech impediment by removing half his front teeth to finish off the look.

‘The cover story is that we’re looking to set up a UK version of the Burning Man festival,’ John said. ‘We need a large field that’s on a ley line, magically positive, good fung shui, all of that. A stone circle would make it even better.’

‘What do you know about any of that?’ Simone said from the other front seat.

‘Fung shui?’ John glanced sideways at her. ‘You’re really asking me that?’

‘No. Ley lines. Stone circles. Burning Man. That’s Western stuff.’

‘When I was here doing my PhD in the seventies,’ he said, ‘I took a year off and studied the hippie lifestyle. I spent a few months in an ashram in Harrow, then moved to a commune in Dorset.’ He smiled slightly. ‘That was some of my best time here. I didn’t have to be something I’m not, and I learned a great deal about Western energy manipulation. It’s very different to the way we work; they only have four elements. I tried casting a Wiccan circle, and the other members of the commune could actually see it. Fortunately, they thought it was because of the funky smoke in the room. Didn’t try that again.’

‘Oh my god, you really are an ageing hippie,’ Simone said with quiet horror.

‘Tuned in, turned on and dropped out,’ he said with satisfaction. He lowered his voice, becoming serious. ‘There is something you should know.’

She heard his tone. ‘What?’

‘They filled you full of heroin in Angkor.’

She dropped her head. ‘It was horrible.’

He didn’t look away from the road. ‘Because of our nature, we can experiment and control our metabolisms. I’m less worried about you than I would be about an ordinary human.’

‘Are you sure you should be saying things like this?’ I said.

‘Yes. While I was living in the commune, people were experimenting with acid. You know what that is, Simone?’

‘LSD. Yes,’ she said.

He shrugged. ‘I’m so powerful, I thought stuff like that shouldn’t have much effect on me. I was wrong.’

‘What happened?’

‘We were working as waiters in the revolving restaurant in the BT tower. One of the other commune members scored a hit of acid on the way there, and shared it with me in the men’s bathroom.’

She glanced sharply at him. ‘You tried acid?’

‘I’ve tried many things, Simone. I’m old and strange and sometimes … bored.’

‘I really don’t think —’ I began.

He interrupted me and continued. ‘When I took it, I saw things. I saw demons. I thought Jory was a demon and so I defended myself. I killed him and blew up half the tower.’

‘What?’ Simone said.

‘And I’ve never tried any mind-altering substances since,’ John said. ‘They’re not worth the risk. I suggest that you stay away from things like that as well, particularly after I return your yin. Your own safety isn’t at risk, but those around you could suffer.’

‘I wouldn’t anyway,’ she said, watching the road. ‘I saw things in Angkor as well, things I never want to see again.’

He took his hand off the gear stick and placed it over hers. She turned her hand over and squeezed his.

‘How many died?’ she said softly.

‘Just Jory, and I didn’t even need to cover it up. The police didn’t want to file a missing person report on a hippie who lived in a commune.’ He smiled slightly and shook his head. ‘The IRA claimed responsibility as soon as they heard about it. Everybody believed them; after all, it was a strategic target.’

‘Why were you working as a waiter in BT Tower?’ Leo said from behind the newspaper.

‘Jory told me a Middle Eastern prince with a bunch of gorgeous wives would be there, and I couldn’t miss the chance.’ John smiled, smug. ‘He had to pull his white furry ass up off his chair, kneel and salute a waiter in front of half a dozen of his most class-conscious wives. Shame I didn’t have the Polaroid with me at the time.’

Leo barked a short laugh, then his tone changed to concern. ‘A stone circle disappeared.’ He turned the newspaper around to show us a large photograph of a circle of holes in the ground. ‘This is the third one gone missing this year.’

I tapped the stone. ‘Did you hear that?’

The stone didn’t reply.

‘I swear next time that stone ignores us, I’ll freeze it and take it into orbit,’ John said. ‘It’s becoming more worthless every day.’

‘Cut it some slack, it’s old,’ I said.

‘So am I. I should give you Zara; she’s much more diligent.’

‘Don’t you dare,’ Simone said fiercely.

‘I rely on this one,’ I said.

‘But after it dies —’

‘Shut up, Daddy! Jory died and now you say this. I do not believe you sometimes!’ Simone turned away and leaned her forehead on the passenger side window.

‘Sorry.’

She stayed with her forehead on the window.

‘Simone?’ he said.

She didn’t reply.

‘I truly am sorry. Help me to be more human.’ He dropped his voice. ‘I need you.’

‘And we need the Jade Building Block,’ she said.

‘Huh?’ the stone said. ‘Did someone say my name?’

‘You’re fading, stone,’ John said.

‘I know,’ the stone said.

‘What if you’re gone and she needs you?’

‘You should replace me, my Lord.’

‘Not on my watch,’ I said. ‘We can find a volunteer to back you up, but I’ll always wear you as my engagement ring.’

‘I’ll start looking for someone to help me now,’ the stone said. ‘We’ll have one ready for you as soon as you get home.’

‘How active is the network here?’ John said. ‘Can you communicate?’

‘It lags slightly, but I can talk to everybody.’

‘Then start making inquiries, because stone circles here have been kidnapped.’

‘What?’

‘Stone circles are disappearing,’ Leo said. He showed the picture to the stone. ‘Find out what you can.’

‘Right,’ the stone said with renewed purpose. ‘Let me link into the stone network here and find out what’s going on. I’ll report back as soon as I have something for you.’

‘Good,’ John said.

‘Oh, and Emma?’ the stone said.

‘Hmm?’

Its voice softened and filled with affection. ‘Thank you.’

‘Heh, I like having you as an engagement ring,’ I said. ‘People ask me if you’re “that” stone.’

‘People used to ask the Yellow Empress the same thing.’

After three and a half hours of travel on the motorway, the traffic had thinned until we were one of the few cars on the road. We passed over a large causeway with flat muddy ocean on either side of us.

‘We’re arriving on the island of Anglesey,’ John said. ‘Only about twenty more minutes and we’ll be on Holy Island.’

‘Good, my bum hurts,’ Simone said. ‘This van is the most uncomfortable thing ever.’

‘One of the large houses we talked about is on the coast near here,’ I said, watching the green hills pass by.

‘We’ll settle into the inn first and reconnoitre,’ John said. ‘Leo?’

‘No problem at all holding the shape.’

‘Good. Stone? Any word?’

‘A moment, my Lord.’ The stone was quiet, then, ‘I have been given a contact on Holy Island. It will meet us in human form in the centre of town for lunch. I suggest I take human form myself to make communication easier.’

‘Good idea. One more person will add to our camouflage, and we have an extra room booked anyway,’ John said.

‘Is that all right, Emma?’ the stone said.

‘Of course.’

The stone took human form: a tall, slim European man in his mid-sixties with a shock of white hair. He was wearing a pair of jeans, a green turtleneck and short black leather boots. He took one of the spare seats at the back and buckled up, then briskly rubbed his hands through his hair, making it all stand on end.

‘Ageing hippie enough for you, Simone?’ he said.

Simone leaned her forehead on the window. ‘I’m surrounded by old people.’

‘I am not a people,’ the stone said with dignity. He leaned his elbow on the windowsill, his chin on his hand. ‘I wonder if there’s a retirement village on the beach here?’

‘What on earth for?’ Simone said.

The stone glanced at her, his eyes full of mischief. ‘Mature British women are completely wild. Absolute powerhouses.’

‘The Tiger said that too,’ John said.

Simone covered her ears. ‘This conversation is stopping now!’

‘Suit yourself,’ the stone said, and grinned into his hand.

We went over another, shorter bridge fifteen minutes later. The road was almost deserted.

‘We’re crossing onto Holy Island now,’ John said.

‘It’s all farms and ponies,’ Simone said with interest. ‘Cute little farmhouses.’

John’s phone rang.

‘Simone, put that on speaker for me,’ he said.

‘A “please” now and then wouldn’t kill you,’ she grumbled as she pressed the button.

‘Gods don’t beg.’ He raised his voice. ‘Hello?’

‘Lord Xuan. It’s Lindsay Gration, Leonard’s sister.’

John dropped his voice and spoke kindly to her. ‘Good morning, Lindsay. How is Leonard?’

‘He’s still in a coma.’ Her voice brightened. ‘The doctors are positive he’ll recover. We just have to wait and see.’

‘That’s good to hear. If there’s anything I can do to help, just call me.’

‘Thanks. There’s something you need to know; it might be important.’

‘What?’

‘The police came around to my house this morning. They’re looking for Emma.’

Simone glanced back at me, her expression unreadable.

‘Do they think I did it?’ I said loudly enough for the phone to catch it.

Lindsay took an audible deep breath. ‘They didn’t say as much, but it’s obvious that they do. They asked me if you held a grudge against Leonard because he was your sister’s ex. They also wanted to know where you’d gone. You all disappeared the day after he …’ Her voice faded, then she rallied. ‘After he was attacked.’

‘Thanks for warning us, Lindsay, we can handle it,’ John said. ‘You don’t need to worry, we can fix everything up. Liaise with my butler, Peta, and call me any time.’

‘Thanks, John,’ she said, her voice full of tears, and hung up.

‘Stone,’ John said. He glanced in the rear-view mirror and his voice sharpened. ‘Jade Building Block.’

The stone jerked awake from where he had been drowsing in the back seat. ‘My Lord.’

‘They think Emma tried to kill Leonard. Contact Gold immediately. Have him arrange for records to show that Emma returned to Hong Kong the night before Leonard was attacked. Also have him arrange an Emma double in Hong Kong ready to be questioned if necessary.’

‘My Lord,’ the stone said, and his eyes unfocused. ‘Oh, to hell with this, it’s way too hard,’ he added, and changed to True Form: a small green stone sitting on the bus seat.

‘It’s too hard to hold human form while you talk to him?’ Simone said, concerned.

‘Well, holding a shape as profoundly charismatic as that does take some energy.’

‘Charismatic,’ Leo said from behind his newspaper. ‘Sure. Let’s see you run for Chief Executive.’

‘Charisma has nothing to do with winning an election in Hong Kong, you know that.’

‘People’s Congress, then.’

‘As I said,’ the stone said with dignity, ‘I am not a people. Now be quiet, I’m talking to Gold.’

As we neared Holyhead, the mountain came into view. The shape of it went through me like a flash and I remembered the dream. I was climbing that mountain in snake form and there was blood on top. I needed that blood, my whole body sang for it. Suddenly I could smell the blood of everybody around me — and I craved it. John was deep and powerful, like a vintage red wine, meaty with hints of spice and fruit. Leo was tainted by the large amount of coffee he drank, but strong and rich. The scent of Simone drove me mad — she was light and fresh, full of clean air and green grass, with an icy powerful fizz that bubbled within her. She was too good just to smell and I nearly couldn’t control the need to taste the blood singing within her. I closed my eyes, put my head in my hands and slammed my forehead onto my knees, trying to clear the craving. The mountain’s shape throbbed inside me and I took deep breaths. That didn’t help because I inhaled even more of their scents.

Someone grabbed me, undid my seatbelt and bundled me out of the van. I leaned against its side and filled my lungs with tasteless air.

‘Talk to me,’ John said.

‘I can smell your blood. It smells so good,’ I said between gasps. ‘Move well away from me.’ I banged the back of my head against the side of the van, trying to distract myself. ‘Back off!’

‘Touch the earth. Touch the sky. Touch your Buddha nature and what makes you who you are,’ John said. ‘Feel for your yang and take snake form if you need to. I will hide you.’

I reached down within myself and found Kwan Yin’s essence, the purity of compassion that would never harm another living thing, and the need for their blood subsided. A passing car slowed, but then roared away. They’d probably seen John’s wild hair and lurid T-shirt and decided not to stop.

I bent over my knees and ran my hand over my forehead. ‘Holy shit, I’m a freaking vampire.’

‘Nope,’ Simone said, ‘no fangs, and no sparkle.’

‘Don’t joke about it,’ I said. ‘My snake form has very nice fangs.’

‘Yep, hottest thing about it,’ John said. ‘Feeling better?’

‘I can’t go back in the van with all of you.’

‘Try doing it as snake,’ John said.

‘I can’t change to snake right now.’

‘Yes, you can. Just concentrate; nobody can see you.’

‘No, John, I can’t risk it.’

‘I’ll help you. Do you want me to hold you so you don’t run to find my Serpent?’ He reached out to me and I quickly backed away. ‘It’s all right; your snake may not be similarly affected.’ I continued to back away from him and he stopped, confused. ‘It’s all right, Emma, your snake may be able to control it. Just bring it out and have a try. I’ll help you.’

I was backed up against a tree and I raised my hands. ‘Stop, John.’

He kept moving towards me. ‘It’s all right, I’m here. I’ll help you change.’

‘John, stop. I can’t change when I might be pregnant!’

He stopped and stared at me.

‘The test you bought the other night was positive?’ Leo said. He rushed to me and pulled me into a huge hug, dragging me off my feet. ‘Damn girl, that’s great news!’ He put me down gently and backed off, concerned. ‘I didn’t squeeze you too tight, did I?’

‘No, I’m fine. The test was negative, but it might be too early to tell. I have to be careful until I’m sure one way or the other …’

‘And a human baby can’t live in your snake body,’ John said, understanding. His face went slack. ‘A human baby? Another one?’ Realisation dawned on him and it was wonderful to see. ‘We’re going to have a baby?’

He came to me and lifted me the same way Leo had. ‘This is wonderful!’ He spun me around, then gently lowered me, gazing into my eyes. He brushed one hand over my hair. ‘You have to be careful you don’t change to snake. And no energy work.’

‘Like I said, John, the test was negative, but it might be too early to tell.’

‘Can you look inside and see?’ Simone said.

‘At this stage there isn’t anything to see,’ he said. ‘As Emma said, we’ll just have to be careful until we’re sure one way or the other.’

Simone hugged me more gently than the men had and spoke with her voice full of tears. ‘I hope you are, Emma.’

‘Thanks,’ I said. ‘Just don’t get your hopes up too much. I’ve only been on the fertility treatment for a couple of months and the doctor said it might take a while for it to work.’

‘Let’s go on to Holyhead,’ Leo said.

‘I can’t go back in the van with all of you. As long as I can see that damn mountain, the bloodlust is too strong.’

‘So what do we do?’ Simone said.

I had an idea. ‘I’ll be okay as long as I can’t see the mountain. Hide the top of it.’

‘Hide it? What, put a really big tablecloth over it?’ Simone said.

‘Weather. Fog. Clouds. We have a weather god here, don’t we?’

‘Brilliant,’ Leo said.

‘I can, but I’ll need to take Celestial Form,’ John said.

‘Will it fit inside the van?’ Simone said.

John looked around. ‘Pull the bags out and I should just fit.’

I sat on the grass at the side of the road with my back to the damn mountain, but still intensely aware of its dark presence, while all four of them pulled the bags out and stacked them on the roadside. John climbed into the van and sat on the floor, cross-legged. Leo sat on the grass next to me, and Simone and the stone stood beside us to watch.

John changed to Celestial Form. His head was too tall for the roof of the kombi so he placed one hand on the ceiling, and pushed a dent into it with a horrible shriek of distressed metal.

‘You’re paying for that,’ Leo said.

‘I can afford it.’

John settled with his head in the dent and put his hands into his lap and closed his eyes. His hair rose around his head, a nimbus of shen energy surrounded him and the air around us grew cold.

‘Asian god in a kombi. That is the hippiest thing I have ever seen in my entire life,’ Simone said softly.

Quiet, I’m concentrating, he said.

Something in the cold air shifted; it became denser and more humid. Clouds formed around us, then the humidity was gone and the air returned to normal. John dropped back to his normal human shape, ran his hand over the top of his head and smiled at us.

‘You’re not too drained?’ Simone said.

‘I’m fine.’ He climbed out of the kombi and studied the mountain. ‘You won’t be seeing that for a while.’ He turned to me. ‘How’s the blood fury?’

I checked the mountain; the clouds completely covered it. ‘Still there, but as long as I don’t see the mountain I should be okay.’

‘Let us know if it starts to come back.’

Leo indicated the roof of the van. ‘You hold it from inside, I’ll push it from the outside.’

‘No need.’

John lightly jumped onto the roof of the van, held one palm against the dent he’d made, hesitated for a second then leaned into it. The dent snapped back into place. He vaulted down off the roof and we put the bags back and headed towards Holyhead.