Dark_Serpent

28




Emma

‘Now tell me what you really think,’ Francis said.

I had to answer him, but I managed to hesitate before I did. ‘I’m home.’

‘That’s more like it.’

We were standing on a forest trail, among trees that had trunks three metres across and canopies so high they were almost invisible. The ground was covered in fallen leaves and moss, and sunlight rippled through the trees above, green and comforting. Birds called from a distance and answered closer, and an impossibly huge bright blue butterfly meandered through the tree trunks. The air was fresh with the scent of the trees and the earth and I breathed it in deeply.

Francis started to walk and gestured for me to follow him. I looked around, ready to make a break for it.

‘Don’t try to escape,’ he said.

As I followed him along the trail, I resisted his control by mentally visualising Kitty Kwok filling me with demon essence.

‘Where is this?’ I said. ‘I can’t see the Citadel anywhere.’

‘We had to move. You told him where our main base was, and he was being a pain.’

I felt a little thrill of satisfaction. John was looking for me and must have been close.

Francis linked his hands behind his back as he walked, looking for all the world like an English gentleman in his slacks and hound’s-tooth jacket.

‘You said you feel that this is your home?’

‘I’ve been dreaming about this place forever,’ I said. ‘I belong here.’

He stopped and turned to me, his pale blue eyes full of amusement. ‘We own it now. If you want to live here, you have to talk to me.’

‘What happened to the gods?’

He turned back to the path and raised his head slightly into the sunshine. ‘Wonderful, isn’t it? Why would anyone throw this away?’ He dropped his head again. ‘Sometimes, if you have a good heart and you make too many mistakes, you can’t live with yourself any more.’ He shook his head. ‘Something new came along. They thought it was a better option than themselves, so they moved aside to let it take their place.’ He grunted a short laugh. ‘If only they could have seen where it would lead.’

‘They’re gone completely?’

‘Yes.’

‘He’ll find me, you know.’

‘He already did; he found you in level six of your Hell. As long as we’re one step ahead of him, we can keep you as long as we like.’ He studied me. ‘You’re so tiny. If you’d never met him, you’d be nothing.’

‘No. If I’d never met him I’d still be me, and that’s not nothing.’

‘Compared to us you are. The world will be ours. Kitty has her hand in so many schemes that not even I can keep up with them all. She really is very impressive, but it wouldn’t hurt to have another lady around when she’s off doing her stuff.’

‘You and George …?’ I said.

‘Match made in Heaven.’

‘He’ll betray you.’

‘I’ve never met anyone like him before. Friend, lover, sister, brother — he’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a partner. And you know what else? He feels the same way. We share something very special.’ He turned to walk on. ‘But you and I could have something very special too. If you were to turn and join us, you could have this.’ He raised his hands slightly to indicate the magnificent forest. ‘Pledge allegiance to us and you’ll be free to join the winning side.’

‘Oh, so that’s what this is about,’ I said. ‘You want me to renounce my oath to the Jade Emperor so I can teach your army.’

‘F*ck, yeah,’ he said with quiet amusement.

‘No.’

He shrugged. ‘Worth a try. George is ready to inseminate you; I just wanted to see if I could get you to turn on your own before we do it. He’s right about crossing you with demons — that kid he made in Wales really was exceptional. With a female DDOMA, the demon spawn will be magnificent.’

‘Inseminate me?’ I said weakly.

‘As soon as he’s back, we’ll make some lovely little demon babies. He couldn’t infuse you with demon essence directly while your arm’s so damaged, so he’ll get you pregnant instead. Don’t worry, it’ll be a clinical procedure, and you’ll be under my control and unaware. George isn’t into rape. One of the things I really like about him.’

‘It is rape.’

‘Well, you don’t have to screw him. You’d probably break my control if he tried to f*ck you.’

I filed that away for future reference.

‘One last chance to accept my offer,’ he said. ‘Join us and we won’t do this to you.’

‘No.’

‘Suit yourself. You will lose all original thought —’

‘No, wait —’

‘— and obey me without question when I say “now”. Now.’

I followed the two guards into the new place. It looked like the manor that had belonged to the Marquess of Anglesey; it must have been the Celestial equivalent. It was three storeys tall, with high windows and mock battlements along its faux towers. It overlooked the Heavenly analogue of the strait between the island of Anglesey and the Welsh mainland, but instead of houses and fields there were rolling grasslands and a forest of immensely tall trees.

The guards took me through an elegant entrance lobby decorated with Renaissance-style paintings, through the massive two-storey dining room, then downstairs to the servants’ quarters in the basement. One of them pushed me through the door of a small room, and they both stood in the doorway and grinned at me.

‘Completely controlled,’ one of them said.

‘I wonder,’ the other one said, and moved closer and squeezed my breast.

I grabbed his hand in my left and viciously chopped down with my right on his forearm. On a human this would have been a crippling break, but the demon was wearing bracers and they protected him, but he still howled. I took advantage of his pain to lift his hand from my breast, unlock his elbow with my right hand and smash the back of his hand into his face. Then I yanked his hand back, slipped my foot between his to unbalance him and toppled him face up onto the floor. I loaded the first two fingers of my stronger left hand with energy and rammed them into the front of his exposed neck. He disintegrated without a sound.

The other demon raised his weapon, then changed his mind when he saw my expression. He slammed the door in my face and I heard his footsteps as he ran away.

I sighed and sat on the bed. The room had beige carpet and white walls, and held a simple dresser and a metal-framed double bed. There was an ensuite bathroom, with basic fittings, visible through another door. The windows were high in the walls and barred. This was much more secure and less luxurious than the Citadel; but it was possible I was in a cell rather than a guest room.

I saw movement in the mirror on the wall and went closer. It was the same small woman from the Citadel, against the same background. She put her hand against the glass and I put mine up to it.

I do not need to strengthen your will, she said. You are breaking their control by yourself. When you are free, you must find Semias. He will help you.

She glanced towards the door and I heard it too: they were coming.

She looked back at me, urgent. You are in Heavenly Plas Newydd. You must go West and return to Caer Wydr; they are holding Semias there. You must free him!

The door opened and she disappeared.

It was a couple of demons with rifles. One pointed his gun at my feet while the other went to the mirror and pulled it off the wall.

‘We saw that. What was in there?’

‘My reflection,’ I said. ‘I feel like I’m losing my identity and the person in the mirror isn’t me at all.’

‘Damn, Dad will be pleased when he hears that,’ the demon pointing the gun said.

‘Hell, yeah,’ the other said. ‘Won’t be long before she’s completely his.’

After they’d gone, I searched the room thoroughly, looking for any way out. I could jump up to the window, but it was only fifteen centimetres high and I couldn’t squeeze myself through that, even if I did manage to bend the thick steel bars on the other side. I shimmied down again and checked the bathroom; the window in there was even smaller. My only chance would be to wait until the middle of the night when everything was quiet and make a break for it using the Murasame’s particular gifts.

I flopped onto the bed, exhausted. Whatever they’d been doing to me was wearing me out and I had trouble staying awake. As everything faded away, it occurred to me that my food or drink had been drugged.

I was dimly aware of the movement as they wheeled me into the operating theatre. Kitty was there in her human form, grinning with menace, George was next to her, and Francis was behind them. No, hold on, that was wrong. Weren’t Kitty and George the same person?

I decided I didn’t care. Whatever. I was awake and aware and I was out of there.

I ripped my arms free of the bindings and jumped off the trolley into a long defensive stance.

Everything shattered around me and I was in the room in the manor house, panting with effort. I’d had a dream so vivid that I’d leapt out of bed.

Whatever they’d given me must have worn off because I was feeling mean. I was still wearing the clothes I passed out in; obviously nobody had ordered me to shower and change in the past twenty-four hours. I felt filthy, but I had much more important things to think about. I had to head to Caer Wydr and find Semias.

What the Demon Kings didn’t know was that the Murasame was close to unstoppable by any solid object short of a shield of Celestial Jade. I checked with my Inner Eye: one alert guard on the other side of the locked door. I carefully positioned myself on the other side of the door from the guard, then slid the Murasame straight through the door and into its throat. It collapsed without a sound.

I slipped the sword around the edge of the door and unsealed it. I opened it a crack and checked around. Nobody. I checked further with my Inner Eye: the basement only held captive demons.

I crept out of the cell and went left, remembering the way the demons had brought me in. The hall turned left at the end and stairs led up from the corner. I checked around me again: nobody. I crept up the stairs in the dim light to the entrance hall, where the huge Renaissance paintings showed grim scenes of hunts and death.

Two guard demons stood on the other side of the front door. I shoved the blade of my sword through the door into the one on the left. As he crumpled, the other one crouched to check him and I pulled the Murasame back and shoved it through the door again into his head. Both of them were down.

I opened the door and, hugging the wall, examined the clearing around the house. The Western Celestial sky blazed as brightly with stars as the Eastern one did, and I felt a twinge of loss for the beauty of the Mountain and the man who was one with it. All I needed now was to find him.

I quickly checked the demons for mobile phones; no such luck. I continued along the side of the house and edged around the corner, looking for cover to make a run for the trees. The scent of the sea a hundred metres below the house wafted up the damp lawn, full of the sound of the small waves on the shore.

Something grabbed me around the throat and lifted me so that my feet cleared the floor. An enormous demon jammed his face into mine. I swung the Murasame at his head, but he grabbed both my hands in his free one and held my wrists. I was still holding the sword to one side and helpless.

‘Can’t have any of that now, can we?’ he said, then added with delight, ‘I’ve been trying to get a promotion. I think you just got me one.’

I kicked him in the abdomen, but it was like hitting a rock; he didn’t even seem to notice. He must have been level eighty equivalent; way too big for me to handle even with a weapon. If I ever got away from these demons, I was taking that damn Elixir as soon as I could and gaining the strength to take down anything. I wanted to fight them on equal terms.

‘Breathing okay?’ he said, but didn’t wait for me to reply. ‘Yeah, you are. Let’s show you off.’

I dangled like a doll as he carried me back into the house and up the stairs.

‘Wake the master,’ he said to the demons guarding the upstairs hallway. ‘I found a little wanderer.’

The Demon King, in his Kitty Kwok form, came out of the first door on the left, wearing nothing but a pair of old-fashioned striped cotton pyjama pants. King Francis followed, wearing the matching shirt. Both of them stopped when they saw me.

‘Found her wandering around outside,’ the huge demon said.

‘Emma, drop the sword,’ Francis said.

‘I can’t, the demon’s holding my hand around it,’ I said.

‘Release the sword when he lets go of your hands,’ Francis said.

I realised with a jolt of joy that I was no longer under his control. I was free of them. But when the demon released my hands I dropped the sword anyway. Fighting both of them at that moment would be pointless.

‘Good. You will lose all free will and exist only to obey me when I say “now”. Now.’

It was like being drugged. My consciousness became slower and sluggish, and I was only dimly aware of being carried back to my room and placed onto the bed.

I woke and stared at the ceiling, unable to move. Sleep paralysis — I knew this. My body was asleep, but my mind was awake. There was something I could do to break it … I looked towards my right arm. It was withered and weak from where Kitty had infused me with demon essence. That was not happening again. I jumped out of the bed into a long defensive stance.

Okay, now I was definitely free.

I didn’t have long to plan some way of getting out of there before morning came; the sun was already shining through the window high on the wall.

Someone tapped on the door and I froze.

‘Get dressed and get ready,’ the demon on the other side said. ‘We’ll be back for you in two minutes.’

Francis opened the door while I was still pulling on a clean T-shirt. ‘Hurry up, we’re waiting for you.’ He looked me up and down. ‘We haven’t been running you around enough. You’re getting fat.’

I meekly followed him, hoping for a chance at freedom when we got up to ground level, but he led me further along the basement hallway to a rough brick wall with a metal door in it. He rapped on the door and it swung open.

‘In,’ he said to me. ‘You have your will back.’

A guard demon closed the door and pushed me to stand next to a large steel crusher. I had a moment of panic when I saw the cylinders inside the crusher, full of sharp grinding teeth, then pulled myself together. Even if they did throw me into it, I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of showing them my fear.

The Eastern Demon King, in male human form, stood next to the crusher wearing a black rubber apron and gloves. He put his hands on his hips and glared at me. ‘I told you that if you tried to escape again you’d be punished.’

He gestured with his head towards the guard demon, and it took a wooden fruit box from a shelf and turned back to the King.

‘I have four stone Shen in this box, Emma,’ he said. ‘How many do you want me to kill?’

‘They can’t be stone Shen. They wouldn’t sit quietly like that,’ I said.

The Demon King lifted one of the stones from the box and held it out towards me, then removed a rubber band from around it.

‘What’s your name, stone?’

The stone didn’t reply.

‘Say something and I won’t crush you,’ the King said.

The stone still didn’t say anything.

‘See, not a stone Shen at all,’ I said.

‘Suit yourself,’ the King said, and dropped it into the crusher.

‘You won’t get us all!’ the stone yelled. ‘We will stop you.’

‘Oh my god, it is a stone Shen,’ I said. ‘Don’t do this! Let’s talk about it.’

The King pressed the button and the machine roared into life. The noise was tremendous, vibrating through the floor, and becoming even louder as the stone was carried through its teeth and a fine ribbon of dust fell into the bin at the bottom. The King pressed the button again and the machine ground to a halt.

‘No!’ I said. ‘Tell me what I need to do to stop this!’

He put his hand out and the guard demon picked another stone out of the box and dropped it into his glove. He took the rubber band off it and raised it towards me.

‘Say hello to Ruby.’

‘Ruby?’ I said.

‘Run away,’ the stone said in Ruby’s voice. ‘Get out of here.’ Her voice raised to a shriek. ‘Oh no! No, please!’

The Demon King held her over the crusher, ignoring her screams. ‘We need you to stop running away, Emma.’

He dropped her into the machine and held his gloved hand over the start button.

‘Anything,’ I said. ‘Just tell me what I have to do. Don’t do this to Ruby!’

‘No!’ Ruby screamed.

The King grinned at me and stabbed the button. Ruby fell into the grinding cylinders, her shrieks cut off as she passed through them. I covered my face and turned away.

The King turned the machine off and gestured towards the guard demon. The demon placed another stone in his hand and he dropped it into the machine.

‘I don’t have to crush them, you know,’ he said. ‘These ones are useful whole. But every time you run away, a whole boxful of them is going in here.’

He raised his hand over the button.

‘No!’ I shouted.

His grin grew more malicious and he hit the button. He watched with amusement as the stone was destroyed.

‘Anything!’ I said.

He held his hand out to the demon again. ‘Last one.’

‘Uh, there were only three in that box,’ the demon said.

‘That’s fine, honey, some of the boxes have more, some have less; it’s easy to lose track when we have so many of them,’ the King said. He leaned on the crusher to speak to me. ‘Every time you try to escape, a box of stones will lose their lives. In front of you. So be a good girl and do as you’re told and nobody will get hurt.’ He raised his voice. ‘Francis, love?’

The Western Demon King entered the room. ‘You done here? She killed three of my best.’

‘Oh, she’s paid for it,’ George said. ‘Let me finish up here and then we’ll have some fun with her.’

Francis focused on me. ‘You will lose all individual thought and exist only to obey me when I say “now”. Now.’

His words filled me like a mild sedative and I pretended to go completely dull. It was definitely time to get out of there.

George turned back to the machine, pulled on a transparent eye shield and waved at the demons. ‘Take her back to her room. We’ll get started as soon as I’m done here.’

As I walked out, a tiny stone skidded from behind the door and jumped into my shoe. I nearly hopped with pain as it burrowed around and under my foot, and had to pretend that I’d just lost my balance slightly.

Keep quiet, it’s me, the Jade Building Block said.

I nearly wept with relief as I did my best not to hobble back to the cell.

When they closed the door on me, I did what I’d done every time I was controlled: I sat in the chair next to the wall and didn’t move.

I’m so glad to see you! I said.

Are you okay? the stone said.

Yes. They had control over me but I freed myself. I’m waiting for the right moment to try to make a run for it — again. I hesitated. I am so sorry about those other stones.

Those stones caused a diversion with their dying screams so I could get away, it said. Every stone in existence will hear of their courage.

Nobody should die to get me out, I said. That was wrong!

He’s been killing stones non-stop for days, the stone said. They knew they were going to die anyway, so they died as loudly as possible to give me the chance to join up with you. Now all you have to do is sit tight, because very soon the Grandmother will come to crush these monsters.

I have to get out today! I said. They’re planning to inseminate me.

The stone, horrified, was silent for a long moment. Inseminate you with what?

Probably the Demon King’s semen.

Has he been sexually assaulting you?

No. They’re planning to do it as a lab procedure.

The stone was silent for another long moment. I don’t think there’s any way we can avoid this. It may be a while before the Grandmother comes. You know how slowly she works and she’s only just waking up. Are you sure they don’t plan to hurt you, just get you pregnant?

They won’t hurt me. They want to use me for breeding experiments.

Then I suggest you let them do what they want, and when the Grandmother comes we’ll get you out and fix everything up.

I shook my head with disbelief. All my life I’ve been so careful not to have an unwanted pregnancy because I didn’t want to deal with the trauma. And now I’m facing the possibility that a termination will be forced on me.

Don’t think about it. Just wait for the Grandmother to come and we will fix everything once we’ve pulled you out.

That’s easy for you to say. You won’t have that disgusting black stuff forced inside you and growing. Just describing it made me feel sick.

Black is what you’re used to anyway, the stone said with amusement.

My expression must have shown my shock. How the hell do you know about that?

Word gets around.

John will be horrified; he’s very private about these things. Do you know where he is? They moved me because he was close. He can’t be far away.

I was with him a couple of weeks ago, but we separated when we found the stone-processing laboratory on the Earthly. I lost track of him when they carried me up to Heaven in the box. They seem to be moving their entire operation up here. We’re underground here, and I can’t talk to anybody. We need to get out so I can link in and find out what’s happening.

A couple of weeks? I said, horrified.

You didn’t know?

They’ve been keeping me hypnotised or sedated or something like that. I’ve been unaware of the passage of time. Two weeks? Really?

Yes. But don’t worry, we’ll have you out of this today.

We have to go to Caer Wydr and find Lord Semias. He’ll help us; he’s one of the Shen that was here before. He’s being held captive in the Glass Citadel.

Do you know where that is?

West, apparently. One of the lost Shen was talking to me through the mirrors, but they saw it and took the mirrors away.

Good. They’re helping us. The stone’s voice became brisk. All right, you stay here and I’ll have a look around. I’ll check to see if there’s a distraction I can create to keep them busy and stop them from doing these awful things to you; and I’ll hook into the network and let them know where we are.

Thank you.

I wanted to pace the room, but I had to appear as if I was still controlled so I sat, silent and unmoving. I tried not to think about what they were planning for me, but the idea of that black stuff inside me made me want to run as far and as fast as I could.

After half an hour I heard them coming and made a snap decision. I hadn’t tried changing to snake before because of the possibility that I was pregnant. I hadn’t had a period in a long time, and it was probably because I only had one ovary but there was always the slight chance I was pregnant so I hadn’t risked it. But if they were doing this to me then I couldn’t be pregnant, and I needed to change. My human form couldn’t teleport, but I’d done it a couple of times as a snake, and any chance was better than none.

I stood up and attempted to change to snake. Nothing happened. I put everything I had into the effort, thinking hard about my serpent nature, John’s serpent nature, the yang spinning inside me — nothing.

The door opened and I threw myself at them, summoning the Murasame as I ran. They were ready for me with a net similar to the one they’d used on John, and it was heavy enough to knock me to the ground, face down. As I tried to turn over, tangled in the thick rope of the net, someone grabbed my sword off me and yelled with pain as they tossed it away. The net was gathered around me like a cocoon and I was hefted over the big demon’s shoulder.

‘I’ll give you your freedom, your life, a home on the Mountain, anything, if you stop now and let me go,’ I said.

The demon stopped in the hallway, its voice full of amusement. ‘That’s the best you can do?’

‘Money. A life on the Earthly. Anything.’

The demon hefted me again. ‘Sorry, sweetheart, but you killed two of my brothers. I think it’s about time our King showed you who’s the boss.’

I pulled at the rope, trying to break it, but it was stronger than I was.

‘Stone!’ I shouted.

There was no reply.

I filled my hands with energy and pressed them into the demon’s back, but the armour stopped the energy. I gave up with frustration and thumped his back.

‘You’re like a girl from a sixties show, thrown over my shoulder and hitting my back with your cute little hands,’ the demon said. ‘Have a kick too — I wish we had a video camera. All you need is a spanking and you’d be right where you belong. Always nice to see a woman put in her place.’

‘Gah!’ I shouted. ‘Stone!’

‘What stone?’ the guard accompanying us said.

The demon holding me stopped. ‘Yeah, honey, what stone?’

I thought quickly. ‘Ruby!’ I yelled.

‘You saw Ruby die,’ the demon holding me said, walking on. ‘Don’t you remember that?’

I went still and filled my voice with tears that weren’t completely feigned. ‘No, I don’t remember that. Ruby’s dead?’

‘This just gets better and better,’ the demon said. His tone changed to one of deference. ‘My Lord.’

‘Did she just shout “stone”?’ It was the Demon King, but I couldn’t see him.

‘Yes, my Lord,’ the big demon said.

‘You, bring her into the kitchen,’ the King told the demon carrying me. ‘You, gather everybody who isn’t busy relocating people and search this whole building from top to bottom. Use the stone-detection equipment — there’s a rogue stone loose in here. It’s an ancient piece of jade that’s been around the Eastern Heaven forever. It’s her little friend, and when we find it,’ his voice filled with satisfaction, ‘there are some very fun things I want to do with it. Anyone who finds it will be promoted.’

‘Yes, my Lord!’ the other demon said, his voice full of delight, and ran back down the hallway.

‘All right, let’s get started,’ the Demon King said.

‘This one seriously needs her attitude adjusted,’ the demon holding me said. ‘A good hard f*ck would sort her out nicely.’

‘Why do men think that raping a woman will somehow tame her?’ I shouted.

‘Feisty,’ the demon said. ‘I like a woman with spark. So much fun when you slap it out of her and show her who’s the boss.’

‘I will talk to you later,’ the King said. ‘Don’t worry, Emma, you won’t feel a thing. I don’t have that sort of medieval attitude.’

I closed my eyes and tried to change to snake as the demon lugged me along the hallway.