The demon copies were being held in a cell at the far end of the armoury floor, as far from any sensitive areas as possible. They sat side by side on the bed holding each other, obviously terrified. One of them was Apple, my second-year energy student.
‘Apple’s not a demon; I had a class with her last week,’ I said.
Liu pulled me back out of earshot. ‘Apple killed one of the human IT guys with a blast of black energy. She has no recollection of doing it.’ He dropped his head and shook it. ‘I didn’t want them to know what they are, but if we’re going to have people identifying the demon copies, they have to be instructed on what to look for. That means demonstrating with the demon present. They keep saying that it’s a mistake.’
I turned away. ‘Those poor kids.’
He didn’t let go of my elbow. ‘Those poor kids just murdered three of our staff in cold blood. They’re demons, Emma. The real Apple, Jeremy and Tanaka are dead, and these things probably killed them.’
Ronnie Wong saw us and approached. ‘I’m teaching as many as possible how to identify them. You’d better come take a look, ma’am.’
‘How hard are they to spot?’ I said as we drew nearer.
Apple saw me and jumped up to grab the bars. ‘Oh, thank God. Lady Emma, please tell everybody that I’m not a demon. You know me, I wouldn’t hurt anyone! Please let me out.’
‘Apple, please put your hand through the bars,’ Ronnie said.
Apple dropped her head, grimaced and put her hand through as asked.
‘Don’t hurt her!’ I said quickly.
‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ Ronnie said.
He nodded to Liu, who touched Apple’s hand. It rippled the same way the demons had when Simone touched them in Paris all that time ago.
‘That’s the tell. Touch them with shen energy and they do that,’ Ronnie said.
‘It’s an illusion, ma’am, that’s not me at all,’ Apple said. She moved closer to me, obviously desperate. ‘It’s a trick! I’ve been framed. I’m not a demon, I’m Apple, from Chai Wan. You know me!’ Her voice changed to sobs. ‘Let me out, don’t kill me, I’m not a demon, let me go!’ She reached out to me, her hand waving through the bars, and I stepped back out of her reach. ‘Touch me, Emma, see I’m not a demon! Touch me!’ She waved her hand desperately at me. ‘Touch me!’ She screeched the words, higher and more frantic. ‘Touch me! Touch me!’
‘Back up, Emma, she may be able to shape shift,’ Ronnie said, as Apple’s hand grew longer towards me. ‘I think it would be very bad if she touched you.’
Apple roared with frustration, slammed her hand on the bars, and fell to sit next to the other two. ‘All you have to do is touch me and you’ll see that I’m not a demon,’ she sobbed.
‘Is she telling the truth?’ I said.
Ronnie grimaced. ‘Yes, she’s telling the truth. She thinks she’s human. They all do.’
‘It’s a frame-up. You have to find out who did this to us,’ Apple said, weeping on the floor. ‘You know me, ma’am, you know I wouldn’t do anything like this. We have to find out who really killed Master Gold.’
Ronnie guided me back down the corridor, followed by Liu. The Tiger remained with the demons, studying them carefully.
‘But I had Apple in an energy class last week!’ I said. ‘She generated chi; I saw it. How could demons do that?’
‘It wasn’t chi, it was demon essence,’ Ronnie said. ‘Just like you can generate black chi that looks like demon essence, they can generate gold demon essence that looks like chi. Never seen anything like it; had me completely fooled at first, and stopped me from identifying them for a while.’
‘So even if they generate what looks like chi, they could still be demons,’ I said. ‘That was one of the ways we tested people before.’
‘We’re in lockdown,’ Liu said. ‘We’ve taught five or six of the most senior Masters to check for them, and we’re going through the floors one at a time. They have to be Immortals to wield shen on the Earthly, so the testing is taking some time. So far no other demons have turned up.’
‘These things are very advanced. Almost undetectable,’ Ronnie said. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if whoever made them has only made a few.’ He turned to me. ‘But why reveal them now, and just to damage your computer system? You’ll have it backed up again in a few days. Showing his hand for such a small price seems pointless.’
‘Gold found something that would give us a lead to where the Geek is making the fake elementals,’ I said.
‘Oh,’ he said, eyes wide. ‘And they shut it down and killed Gold. That gave them two weeks’ drop on you.’
Liu froze for a moment. ‘Found another one. Two more. They’re being brought down.’ He inhaled sharply. ‘Emma, your secretary was one of them.’
‘Yi Hao?’ I said, horrified. ‘No! She can’t be a copy, she’s a demon already. They’ve made a mistake!’
‘Where’s the other demon you brought back from One Two Two’s nest?’ Liu said.
‘Uh …’ I hesitated, trying to remember. ‘She’s been through a lot of jobs, trying to find the one that suited her best. She wanted to be close to me. As soon as something opened up, we were going to move her into my office.’
‘A trap was being laid all around you,’ Ronnie said. ‘I’m surprised they didn’t spring it.’
‘Contact Lok, tell him about Er Hao. She’s in the New Folly,’ I said.
Liu grimaced. ‘I have to go over there and make sure everyone’s safe.’ He touched my arm. ‘Don’t go near them!’
I turned away as he disappeared and looked back at the demon copies. ‘They were like a ring closing in on me. A sleeping asset, staying hidden amongst us and waiting for the order to strike. But their masters spent them on Gold instead of me. Whatever Gold had discovered was going to lead us to them. As soon as he’s back, we’ll have them.’
I strode to the Tiger. ‘Contact the Courts for me, tell them the situation. These demon sleepers have been spent to take Gold out, and we need him, Zara and Calcite back now to lead us to the demon that’s making the elementals — and probably through that one to the one that made these copies. They’re working together. Tell them.’
The Tiger nodded and concentrated. ‘They’ll be back tomorrow.’
‘Get me Michael,’ I said.
The stone didn’t reply and I tapped it.
‘What?’
‘Get me Michael, stone.’
‘I’ll get him,’ the Tiger said. ‘Why him?’
I gestured around me. ‘The Masters are busy isolating the demons; Ronnie’s showing everybody how to identify them; you’re going to piss off in about two seconds flat, I know you. Simone shouldn’t have to see what happens next. And I need a guard because I’m going to the computer room.’
Michael appeared next to his father; he was dressed in a grey business suit. ‘Ma’am?’
‘Michael, I need you to guard me. Are you free to do it?’
He grimaced. ‘I was at work. How long do you need me for?’
‘For the rest of the day. Go back, I’ll get someone else,’ I said.
‘No, no, I have nothing on right now.’ He pulled out a mobile phone. ‘Hello, Doris? This is Michael. I’ve been called out of the office by one of my clients, he needs advice on his portfolio. Mr Chen. Probably won’t be more than a couple of hours, but I’ll let you know.’ He snapped the phone shut, concentrated and changed his clothes to the white and gold of the Tiger’s Horsemen. He raised one hand and his sword appeared in it. ‘What do you need me for?’
‘To guard my back. We have a demon infiltration,’ I said. ‘Apple, stand up. That’s an order.’
Apple wiped her nose on her sleeve and rose. ‘I’m not a demon, ma’am.’
‘Load your hand with shen energy and touch hers,’ I said to Michael.
She put her hand through the bars for him and he touched it, then gasped when he saw the way she reacted.
‘That is how the demon copies react when touched with shen energy,’ I said.
‘I’m not a demon copy!’ Apple said, becoming desperate again.
I moved slightly closer to the bars, but still out of reach. ‘Apple, stay here, and stay calm. I won’t let anybody hurt you. I promise. Okay?’
She nodded, and went to sit on the bed and hold the other two demons. ‘I trust you, ma’am.’
‘With me, Michael, we’re going to the computer room,’ I said.
‘I’ll stay here,’ the Tiger said. ‘Do you mind if I bring some of my people through to have a look?’
‘Go right ahead.’
The demons we’d borrowed from the Dragon were working in the server room.
‘Test them first,’ I said. ‘Demons, stay still for a moment.’
Michael touched each of the demons in turn, then shook his head. ‘Clear.’
‘Drop what you’re doing and focus on getting back the data that Gold and the other two stones were working on,’ I said to the demons. ‘We need that data urgently; the demon will move and we’ll lose him otherwise.’
‘Understood, ma’am,’ one of the demons said, and moved to eject the tape they had in the tape drive and find another to use.
‘How long to get that data back up?’ I said.
‘Forty-eight hours if we work straight through,’ the second demon said.
I hesitated for a moment, then: ‘I wouldn’t normally ask you guys for this, but I’m requesting it now. This isn’t an order, you can say no … Oh, hell.’ They couldn’t say no, not even to a request. Either I told them or I didn’t. ‘I need you to work twenty-four hours a day without rest on getting this data back. It’s absolutely vital that we find out where this demon’s nest is.’
‘We were doing that anyway, ma’am,’ one of them said.
‘I will ensure you are rested when we have this data back,’ I said. ‘Lord Gold will return in the morning to assist you.’
‘Very good, ma’am,’ they said in robotic unison, and set to work.
I led Michael back down to the armoury. ‘Thanks for helping out on such short notice.’
‘Not a problem. Sometimes I miss the excitement.’
‘We miss you. I’d love to have you back to guard when Leo’s unavailable; and with him attaining Immortality that’s more and more of the time.’
‘Ma’am. Let me think about it.’
We went out of the lift and to the cells to find three more demons had been added to the three already in there. Two of them were Yi Hao and Er Hao; the third was one of the library staff.
‘These are all of them,’ Liu said.
I nodded to Michael. ‘Thanks, Michael, I appreciate your time. Go back to work.’
Michael hesitated. ‘Do you mind if I hang around here for the rest of the day? Suddenly this seems way more fun than watching the market.’
‘Sure, make yourself at home, you know where everything is,’ I said. ‘Pop up to Celestial Wudang — it’s looking good.’
He saluted me and disappeared.
I crossed my arms over my chest and studied the six demon copies. ‘Now what to do with you?’
‘You promised you wouldn’t hurt me!’ Apple cried, desperate. She fell to her knees next to the bars. ‘I’m not a demon! I’ve been framed!’
‘Just destroy them,’ the Tiger said. ‘They’re too dangerous to leave alive; they could escape and blend into the Celestial community.’
Yi Hao and Er Hao broke down into tears. They rose in unison and went to Apple, then sat with her on the floor and held her, the three of them together.
The Tiger changed to my form. ‘Come and touch me, Apple.’
I quickly backed up. ‘Change back, Tiger, don’t do this to her.’
Apple looked from me to the Tiger, then her face went blank. She strode to the Tiger, held out her hand and touched his. I backed up even further as she exploded in a mass of demon essence that spread like oil across the floor before it disappeared.
‘Anyone else want to touch me?’ the Tiger said, holding his hand out to the other five demons. They all jumped up, ready to do it.
‘Back off, Tiger. Take your own form, that’s an order,’ I said. ‘We need to be able to interrogate them.’ He didn’t change, so I went to him and thumped his shoulder. ‘I promised that poor girl I wouldn’t hurt her. You’ve broken my word and I won’t forget it. Now stand down!’
The Tiger grimaced, changed back and moved away from the cell. The demons looked confused.
Liu appeared between us. ‘What’s going on? Why the faces?’
‘He just took my form, touched Apple and she exploded everywhere,’ I said.
Liu sucked in his breath. ‘They were going to convert you.’
‘He heard me promise the child she wouldn’t be harmed.’
The Tiger spread his hands and grinned his little-boy grin. ‘I confirmed for you that they were trying to convert you. I also confirmed that the Apple chick was definitely demon. I did you a favour.’
Three more demons appeared in the cell; cleaning staff from the Follies.
‘These appear to be the last of them,’ Liu said. ‘Now the Celestial needs to sweep for them as well.’
‘Can they travel to the Celestial Plane or are they limited to here?’ I said.
‘There’s only one way to find out,’ the Tiger said gruffly, and he and one of the demons disappeared.
‘If he doesn’t stop doing this I’ll have him executed,’ I said.
The Tiger and the demon reappeared and the Tiger saluted me. ‘They can travel to the Celestial Plane. You don’t want these putting all your students at risk, ma’am, you need to get rid of them. How about I take them and put them in my demon-research facility, and residents of the Celestial can come and check out how to spot them?’
‘Stone, summon Martin,’ I said.
The Tiger gestured with frustration. ‘The last thing you need right now is that clumsy moron. You give them to him and they’ll escape before they hit the Celestial.’
Martin appeared and fell to one knee before me. ‘This humble Shen greets his Empress.’
‘Regent, not Empress, stupid!’ the Tiger said.
Martin rose and glared at the Tiger with contempt. ‘My Lord Devil Tiger, Emperor of the West,’ he said with audible venom.
‘Share the info, Tiger,’ I said.
The Tiger strode to the other end of the corridor. ‘Share it yourself. No way I’m touching minds with that.’
I gestured towards the demons. ‘Martin, these are extremely advanced demon copies, almost undetectable. They’re also unaware of their nature; they think they’re the original humans. Do we have somewhere in the Northern Heavens where we could hold and study them?’
‘Oh God,’ Tanaka gasped, and bent double with pain. ‘I really am a demon copy, aren’t I?’
‘It doesn’t matter what you are, it matters who you think you are,’ I said. ‘And I promise none of you will be hurt.’
‘Destroy us,’ Jeremy said. ‘We killed Lord Gold and the IT guys. Gold looked after us from the day we arrived and we killed him.’ He rose and strode to the bars. ‘Please, kill me now.’
‘I gave you my word, Jeremy,’ I said. I turned back to Martin. ‘Can we hold them in the North?’
Martin grimaced. ‘The best place would be the Tiger’s facility in the West, ma’am,’ he said with obvious distaste. ‘He has the most advanced demon-research facility in the Heavens, and his army of Horsemen are there all the time. We only have a skeleton staff of guards up in the Northern Heavens with the Thirty-Six constantly being deployed.’ He gestured towards the Tiger. ‘Give them to him.’
The Tiger came back. ‘Well, look at that, the turtle grew a brain.’
‘You can have them only if you promise not to destroy them,’ I said. ‘Don’t hurt them.’
‘I promise. Even better, when all this is over, you can order my execution, no trouble at all.’
‘Done,’ I said. I nodded to him. ‘Take them. Take care of them. Spread the word on the Celestial.’
The Tiger fell to one knee, saluted me, and he and the demons disappeared.
‘By your leave, ma’am,’ Martin said, and I nodded to him. He disappeared too.
I headed up to my office. ‘I need a new secretary. Where the hell am I going to find one? I don’t want to inflict those long hours on a human; a demon would be best.’
‘I’ll see if one of my kids wants the job,’ the stone said. ‘Might be one who lives as a human on the Earthly who wouldn’t mind the prestige of the position.’
‘Prestige? I don’t know about that,’ I said. ‘And thanks.’
I sat down in Yi Hao’s chair to go through the in-tray. Only an hour ago she’d been my trusted right hand and now she was gone. At least I’d made the Tiger promise not to destroy her.
Gold, Zara and Calcite returned early the next morning. I met them in the hub room, and found Gold jumping up and down with the two demons in hysterical delight. He came to me, grinning broadly.
‘Please keep these demons, ma’am,’ he said. ‘I know them from when I was bonded to serving the Dragon all that time ago. They’re hard workers and he treats them very poorly. Please let them stay.’
‘That’s already organised,’ I said, to a chorus of whoops from the two demons.
Gold touched my arm. ‘I appreciate your compassion, my Lady. These demons will work hard for us.’
‘Is the data back up? How close were you to finding the demon we want?’ I said.
‘Another thirty-six hours, ma’am. I’m sorry but the data transfer from tape takes time; it’s not a fast backup method but it is reliable and holds a lot of data,’ one of the demons said. ‘We have to physically run the tape past the reader and we can’t do it too fast.’
‘We can help,’ Gold said, and Zara and Calcite nodded agreement. ‘But it is still a slow process reading the tape, so we won’t be able to start processing the data again until at least lunchtime tomorrow.’
‘How much more time did you need on the original run-through?’
‘A pattern was beginning to emerge,’ Gold said. ‘Not so much showing people all headed to the same place, but they were being channelled through a number of different agencies to some common locations. We were narrowing it down.’
‘The web of companies involved is huge and complex,’ Zara said. ‘But we were definitely getting there.’
‘How much longer?’
‘We have about six more hours of crunching to do once we have the data back up, so by midnight tomorrow we should have something.’
‘Okay.’ I sat at one of the terminals. ‘Can I help?’
‘Yes,’ Gold said. He came to me and leaned on the desk. ‘Get out and give us room to work.’
I stared at him for a moment, then rose. ‘Suit yourself.’
I went up to my office to find the Tiger lying across the doorway.
He rose and stretched. ‘We have to stop meeting like this.’
‘Out of the way,’ I said, grabbing the documents out of Yi Hao’s in-tray and jumping over him to get into my office.
‘Whoa,’ he said as I sailed over his body. ‘That was a good three metres, babe. How far can you jump?’
‘Dunno, haven’t jumped in human form in a long time,’ I said. ‘Don’t have the room here, and on the Celestial I’m a snake and snakes can’t jump.’
‘Seems like they do sometimes, they move so damn fast,’ he said, sauntering into my office and sitting in the middle of the floor. He licked his paw, carefully running his tongue between his toes. ‘Your hard suit is ready.’
I flipped through the documents, then waved one hand at him without looking up. ‘Give me twenty minutes, there’s some important stuff here.’
‘You got it,’ he said, and sauntered out again, his tail twitching.
‘Wait,’ I said, looking up. ‘Where are you going?’
He grinned his tiger grin. ‘Oh, around.’
I glared at him. ‘Stay away from my students, and be back here in twenty. Seduce anyone and your tail is mine.’
His grin broadened, revealing his huge canines. ‘That’s Gold’s domain, not mine. I don’t seduce anyone, I just have them falling all over themselves to marry me.’
‘Not my students,’ I said. I waved him away again. ‘Be back in twenty.’
He bowed over his front legs. ‘Ma’am.’