Meredith and Marshal Ma were waiting for us when we arrived home.
‘I heard what happened,’ Meredith said. ‘But we have other things happening, Emma. I need to give you an update.’
I raised my arms. ‘I’m covered in dirt and ash. Can you make it fast?’
‘When we removed the stones that had been eroding the seals, we reset the seals and fourteen students were destroyed trying to run out.’
‘Fourteen students were copies?’ I said, horrified.
‘Yes, and two of them had been in the Academy for more than a year.’
‘Damn!’ I said. ‘Do you think the originals are dead?’
‘Demons do not normally kill humans without provocation,’ Marshal Ma said.
‘But it’s quite likely that our students provoked them when they tried to take them,’ Meredith said. ‘I don’t think there’s much chance that our students are still alive. We need to find the demon that’s making the copies.’
‘We will,’ I said.
‘Oh, and there’s one other thing. Just FYI, we are having problems with a dragon,’ Meredith said.
‘What?’
‘One of the little prostitutes was a dragon, remember?’
‘I remember,’ I said. ‘Her name was Hien, she’s Vietnamese.’
‘She’s a drug addict,’ Meredith said. ‘Her captors put morphine in their food to keep them placid. We didn’t find out until she changed to a dragon, broke into the infirmary and held Regina hostage. She’s threatening to kill Regina unless we give her something for the pain.’
‘And Regina hasn’t given her something to calm her down?’ I said, then I realised. ‘Nothing will work on her in dragon form.’
‘And she doesn’t know how to change back,’ Meredith said.
‘I need you to handle that while I work on getting Gold’s child back,’ I said. ‘Can you guys put some dragons on it?’
Meredith nodded once, sharply. ‘We’ll manage. Talk to the Demon King about Gold’s baby. This is the most important thing.’
‘I’ll be at the Hyatt in forty-five minutes. Michael is bringing the car around now. I just need to change out of these filthy clothes.’
‘Good,’ Meredith said. She nodded to Marshal Ma. ‘If I’m not at the meeting, it’s because I’ve been delayed.’
‘Don’t worry, Meredith, we’ll help Emma sort this out,’ Ma said. He saluted me. ‘By your leave, ma’am, we’ll secure the conference room for the meeting with the King.’
‘Thanks, Hua Guang. Most appreciated,’ I said, and he and Meredith disappeared.
The doorbell rang while I was pulling on some clean jeans and a shirt.
Ah Yat shrieked, ‘Ma’am!’
‘Emma!’ Gold shouted. ‘Come quickly!’
I raced out to the hallway. Ah Yat had opened the front door, but the gate remained closed. On the other side stood a demon in True Form, human-sized but black with bulging eyes, tusks and long bright red hair.
‘Protect me, ma’am!’ Ah Yat cried, and scurried into the kitchen.
I summoned the Murasame and stood just inside the door. ‘State your business here, demon.’
‘It’s Martin,’ Simone said from where she’d come up behind me.
I lowered the sword. ‘No way.’
The demon nodded its massive ugly head. ‘I am Ming Gui. I have taken this form to avoid detection by the Demon King. Please, let me in, I have important information for you.’
Simone laughed without humour. ‘Like I’ll let you in after all the times you’ve betrayed us.’
The demon glanced from Simone to me. ‘I give you my word, I have information on where Leo is.’ It glanced backwards, as if expecting someone to follow. ‘Let me in! I vow I will not hurt you.’
‘Can you take him down?’ I said.
‘Yes,’ Simone said. She strode to the door and pushed the gate open. ‘You may enter.’
The demon bowed slightly and walked inside, grimacing as it passed through the seals. It changed form to Martin: tall, with long black hair, wearing a dark green polo shirt and tan slacks. He looked like a younger, slimmer version of John and my heart ached to see the resemblance.
Martin strode to one of the couches and sat, leaned his elbows on his knees and clasped his hands together. ‘We must be quick, before the Demon King finds that I have gone. You have to kill me.’
‘Kill you?’ Simone said.
‘It is the only way to free me from my servitude.’ He sat straighter. ‘Once I am dead, I am free from my oath, and I can be Judged and return to assist you.’
‘What oath?’ I said.
‘I cannot tell you. You must work it out yourself.’
‘You made an oath to the Demon King?’ I said.
‘That …’ Martin grimaced. ‘I am bound and cannot answer that question.’
‘Great, a game of twenty questions while someone has Gold’s child,’ I said. ‘Can you tell us anything? And if not, why are you here?’
‘Simone must kill me. Then I will be free.’
‘Why Simone?’
‘She vowed I would taste her blade. I will give her the chance to fulfil her oath and free me from mine.’
‘Okay, you swore some sort of oath. Probably to the Demon King, and that’s why you’ve been following him around. Why?’
Martin grimaced. ‘When Father returned to True Form, he was in two pieces and so weak …’ His voice trailed off and he pulled himself together. ‘Simone was so tiny! The Demon King wants more than anything to be able to return to the world above. If he were to destroy Father, or hold Simone to control Father, he would be able to do this. I had to protect them both. I swore an oath …’ He struggled to continue, then obviously gave up.
‘You made a deal with the King to protect me and Daddy?’ Simone said.
‘I cannot answer that.’
‘So you’re saying that the reason I’m alive today is because you’ve gone off with the King to live in Hell,’ Simone said with scorn.
‘You’ve never been attacked, Mei Mei,’ Martin said. ‘They’ve defended themselves if you attacked them, but no demon has ever come after you.’ He slashed one hand through the air. ‘But all of this is beside the point. You need to kill me now so that I can come back and take you to get Leo out.’
‘I seem to recall you coming here with a certain Number One Demon Prince in a similar situation offering us help,’ I said.
Martin leaned on his knees again. ‘That was before I met Leo.’ He looked up at me, his eyes full of pain. ‘Leo taught me the path of true nobility; he taught me what it is to truly love.’ He glanced at Simone. ‘I would do anything to keep you, my sister, and him safe. We must bring him out of Six’s nest before they use him in any more …’ His voice trailed off again.
‘In any more what?’ I said. ‘Experiments? Duplications? What?’
‘I cannot tell you until I am freed.’
‘And you’ve just decided that I don’t need protecting any more, eh?’ Simone said.
‘We need to find and free Leo and Gold’s child. The stone baby will be destroyed if we do not move quickly. I do not want to risk your safety, Simone, but I could not live with the death of this child on my conscience.’
‘I think you know way too much and this is all a trap,’ Simone said.
Martin raised one hand, palm-up. ‘Ask Gold. I can see him.’
Gold had taken the form of a tiny pebble and hidden in the corner of the room, helping to guard us. ‘He’s telling the truth,’ he said, his voice full of misery. ‘All of it. He sincerely wants to help.’
‘What are they planning for Leo and Gold’s baby?’ I said.
‘Leo was just a way of making you come out to find him. What they were really after was the stone child,’ Martin said.
‘Why?’ Gold said, almost a wail of grief.
‘They are banished from Hell,’ Martin said. ‘As long as they are outside Hell, they are dying. They feed off the energy … I cannot tell you more.’
‘They feed off the energy of stone children?’ I said. ‘That’s why they wanted Gold’s child?’
He hesitated, choosing his words carefully. ‘If you break a stone, the small piece becomes a stone child. If you do this in an artificial situation, you create an artificial child. But artificial is never as good as the real thing.’
I was silent, appalled.
‘I cannot say more. I will be able to tell you more after you kill me and I return. You must do it right now. I will request a quick return to the Earthly to assist you.’
‘We can shelter you here. You don’t need to die, Martin,’ I said.
‘I am bound into servitude, Emma. If I am ordered to kill you, I will obey. The only way for me to break this bond is to die.’ He nodded to Simone. ‘Is there a private place where you can do this?’
Simone ducked her head into her hands, then ran her hands through her hair. ‘Is this really necessary?’
‘Yes.’ Martin quirked a small smile. ‘You vowed I’d taste your blade, sister. Here is your opportunity.’
‘How long will you be gone?’ Simone said, desperate. ‘If you’re gone too long, they’ll kill Gold’s child before you’re back to take us in! You should just show us where it is.’
‘I can’t tell you until I’m released,’ Martin said. ‘I’m bound by a vow of silence. I can only tell you once I’ve died.’
‘Damn!’ Simone said, and turned away.
‘One last thing before we do this,’ I said.
‘We need to hurry,’ Martin said. ‘The meeting is soon. The minute the King leaves Hell, he will know I am here. If he orders me back, I will obey, and then our chance is lost.’
‘Why can you take demon form?’ I said. ‘That wasn’t an illusion, that was you.’
‘It is because of my mixed heritage of Heaven and Hell,’ Martin said. ‘Because of the nature of my father. When I return, I will tell you more. Now.’ He rose. ‘Please, the King will be here soon. Do it, Simone, quickly.’
I gestured. ‘In the training room.’
‘You do it, Emma,’ Simone said, her voice small.
Martin rose and touched Simone’s hand where she sat on the couch. ‘I’d prefer it was you, Mei Mei. Show me what you have learned. Free me from my bonds.’ He touched the top of her head. ‘I know you can do it.’
Simone threw herself up off the couch and summoned Dark Heavens. ‘All right!’ she snapped. ‘Let’s just do it and get it over with, and then slap the living daylights out of the Demon King for letting this happen!’
‘He said he’d killed Six,’ I said as we walked down the hall to the training room.
‘He probably phrased it so that he wasn’t telling a lie,’ Martin said. ‘He can be very clever with words. If you can pin him down and force him to state the truth, he will. Otherwise, he will use words to twist a lie to make it sound like the truth.’
‘I’ll remember that,’ I said.
I opened the door of the training room and let them in. ‘This will completely ruin the mats.’
‘Do it in a bathroom?’ Martin said. ‘I’ll take the body with me, but I can’t guarantee that there won’t be some … spillage.’
‘No way am I showering in a room I killed someone in,’ Simone said. She took the sword from the scabbard, and glanced at me. ‘I don’t think I can do this, Emma.’
Martin strode to her and held her with one hand on either side of her face, staring into her eyes. ‘Please, Mei Mei, be brave. Free me. I will feel nothing. I will return as soon as I can, and we will bring out Leo who we both love so much.’
Simone hesitated for a moment, staring at him, then threw herself at him to hug him, one hand with the sword behind his back.
Martin buried his face in her hair. ‘I love you, Mei Mei. Be strong.’ He stepped back and smiled slightly, then dropped to one knee and bent his head. ‘Free me.’
Simone didn’t say another word, she just raised the sword and, with an effortless, elegant swipe, took his head. She looked away as his head hit the floor and rolled away slightly, then his body crumpled, blood pumping from the arteries in his neck. The body disappeared, leaving a bloodstain on the mats.
Simone bent and walked, devastated, out of the room, the sword dragging behind her.
‘You don’t have to come to the meeting,’ I said to her back.
‘I’ll come,’ she said. ‘Wait for me. I need a tissue.’
‘I’ll meet you downstairs,’ I said.
‘I think Martin must have been passed over when it came to the brainy genes in the family,’ Simone said, looking out the window of the Mercedes as Michael drove us down the hill. ‘He keeps doing really dumb things, with the best intentions in the world.’
‘He kept you safe, Simone,’ Michael said.
‘He let the Demon King boss him around, and he let himself be thrown to the Mothers!’ Simone cried, anguished. ‘What an idiot!’
‘We need to contact the Celestial to arrange for him to be released from Hell as quickly as possible, so we can find Leo and Gold’s baby,’ I said.
Michael took the overpass from Garden Road to Harcourt Road next to the harbour, then went straight up onto another overpass that took us towards the Convention and Exhibition Centre on the water’s edge. It was 8 pm — we’d been running since lunchtime — and the traffic was still very busy through Central and Wan Chai. The laser light show on the top of the buildings around us had started, sending brilliant green laser beams across the harbour and making the buildings shine with a variety of different colours and patterns in a splendid display.
The Hyatt was part of the Convention Centre complex, one of two hotels that flanked the Convention Centre building. John had always booked a room there for meetings with senior Celestials and I’d followed the tradition. We left the car with valet parking — they recognised us after so many meetings held there — and went through the lobby to the meeting rooms on the same floor, next to the exhibition centre at the back of the hotel. There weren’t any other functions taking place; only our people were waiting in the meeting room lobby with its plush tan carpet and elegant deco lights — Celestial Masters Chen, Liu and Wong, and Generals Gao and Ma, all in normal human form wearing business suits.
We shook hands Western-style all around and went into the meeting room. It had beige walls, no windows, and the U-shaped table and chairs around it were covered in cloths that went to the floor.
Michael took up position as guard outside the room, but I waved him inside. ‘You’re part of this. Come sit.’
He hesitated, then shrugged and came in.
Master Chen, the Wudang Weapons Master, was in the form of a mid-sixties woman in a tailored navy business suit. Master Nigel Wong, the Demon Master, was an Immortal who looked like a twenty-something yuppie with slicked-back hair. Shaolin Master Liu also wore a business suit, but it didn’t really suit his bushy eyebrows, long white beard and completely bald head. Meredith wasn’t there yet.
Marshal Gao had done his best not to glow, but seemed distracted — probably from the effort of retaining the form. Marshal Zhou hadn’t changed his appearance very much; he had his usual long, scruffy black beard and dark skin, but he had made the effort of wearing a Chinese black silk robe with cotton trousers underneath instead of his usual armour.
The White Tiger came in, glowered at Marshal Zhou, saluted me, saluted around the Generals, then went to the end of the table and sat. He summoned a jug of wine for himself and poured it without talking to anybody.
One of the hotel staff, a tall man in his early twenties, stuck his head around the doorway. He glanced around, trying to work out who had booked the room, and Master Chen went to him to discuss the meeting arrangements.
Marshal Ma came in, looking middle-aged and serene as usual. He touched the hotel staff member’s jacket as he passed and the young man nodded. Ma smiled around the room, nodded to the salutes of the more junior generals, saluted me, and sat.
The young hotel staffer appeared confused by all the formality and saluting, but Master Chen quickly took his attention with a complicated order for drinks and snacks. He went out, closing the door behind him. Master Chen opened it again and left it open for the Demon King, then came and stood beside me.
‘Meredith’s held up with the dragon, she may not make it,’ she said softly. ‘Guan Yu’s on his way. The Demon King we haven’t heard from yet, but he’s not attacking anybody at the moment so he should be here.’ She turned to face me so she could speak softly into my ear. ‘But this is interesting, Emma, apparently Er Lang is on his way as well.’
I tried not to communicate my frustration through my body language. ‘Wonderful.’
She turned back to the group. ‘Don’t panic.’
Marshal Ma approached us. He stood between me and the rest of the group, blocking their view of me, and spoke casually. ‘I don’t know what’s going on with Er Lang, but we can handle it, Emma. Stay aloof. He’s beneath your attention.’
‘Can I slap him upside the head with my little sword?’ I said, just as quietly.
Ma grinned at me. ‘One day you’re going to give him the beating that he deserves.’
Everybody who had been sitting quickly rose, and everybody present fell to one knee: Guan Yu had arrived. He saluted me, nodded to those saluting him, and approached us.
To hell with protocol. I held my hand out to Guan Yu and we shook. He grinned at me. Guan Yu didn’t often have time to come down from the Celestial because of his role as Guardian of the Gates, but whenever he did he was warmly welcomed by all. He’d taken his usual human form of an exceptionally tall, extremely muscular man with a thin black beard, his black hair in a buzz cut that made it stand straight up. Surprisingly it suited him, even though he appeared in his mid-forties. He turned to the group and waved one hand. ‘Is that everyone?’
‘I believe you’re waiting for me,’ the Demon King said from the doorway.
He wore a black T-shirt and a pair of maroon jeans, his black hair held in a short ponytail. He came into the conference room flanked by a pair of Snake Mothers in the form of tall, slender, gorgeous women, one black and one a redhead. He sat at the table, saluting everybody around it, and the women sat on each side of him, grinning with menace. The Celestials saluted back and I joined them at the table, a few of them rising to sit after I did in formal Chinese protocol.
‘You’ve failed me, Emma,’ the Demon King said with humour. ‘You were supposed to destroy Six, and all you did was run him to ground. Nobody will ever be able to find him now.’
‘We have help now …’ Simone said, then her voice trailed off as she realised she’d said too much.
The Demon King shot a short, appraising glance at her, then smiled broadly again. ‘I’m sure you do have help. You have me as well.’
‘Is Six in the demonic side of Hell?’ I said, and some of the Generals stiffened and leaned back from the table, shocked at this appalling breach of protocol.
‘Always straight to the point, so refreshing, Emma,’ the Demon King said. ‘Yes, he’s in my side. Do you want my permission to go in after him?’
‘Yes,’ I said.
The King shrugged. ‘Sure thing. Is that all you needed?’
‘Provide Simone with directions to Six’s nest,’ I said.
The Demon King’s face froze, emotionless, for a second, and the Snake Mothers hissed quietly. Then he grinned broadly. ‘Oh, this is very good news for you!’ he said with delight. ‘Was it you that killed your brother, Simone?’
All of the Generals glanced sharply at Simone and she blushed at the attention. ‘I may have,’ she said.
The King spread his hands over the table. ‘Well, it’s about time. I never really had a use for him, except to entertain the girls, but when he offered himself in exchange for your safety it was too good an opportunity to refuse. It’s really about time he got the courage to ask someone to kill him and free him from the oath. He always was a shocking coward.’
Simone raised her chin, defiant. ‘I think what he did was very brave.’
‘Of course you do. I’m so glad for you, dear, you have a member of your family back. And soon you’ll have Leo as well! This is marvellous news.’
‘We need to know where Leo is so we can bring him out,’ I said.
The King shrugged. ‘Sorry, Emma. That one has been very quiet under the radar for the last eight years. You have my permission to enter the demonic side of Hell, but I’m afraid it is not within my ability right now to tell you where he is. Martin may be able to help you though.’
‘We just had fourteen demon copies turn up at the Academy,’ I said. ‘They were destroyed when we removed the stones that were eroding our seals, and put the seals back up. Is it the same demon making the copies?’
‘Excellent, you’ve found the problem with your seals,’ the King said. ‘I’d love to have a look at these stones that are causing the problem, must be extremely advanced breeding techniques to produce something like that. As to your question, I don’t think it’s the same demon making the stones and the copies. There may have been more than one of them in league with One Two Two, but I thought I’d destroyed them all.’ He shrugged. ‘Pain in the ass. We’ll have to do something about it, eh?’ He grinned around the table. ‘Sorry I couldn’t be more help, but you have Martin to help you now, and he certainly knows his way around Hell. Is that all?’
I glanced around at the Generals to see if they had anything to add. They all either sat impassively or shook their heads.
‘That’s all,’ I said. ‘If you gain any info on where Six is, we’d appreciate the help.’
‘Anytime, Emma, anything for you, you know that.’ The King rose, came to me, took my hand as if he was going to shake it, then kissed it. I snatched it back with revulsion when I felt his tongue on my skin. He moved closer to speak softly to me. ‘I’d give you anything at all if you came to me for one night in Mother form. Anything in Hell would be yours.’
He nodded around the table and spoke more loudly. ‘See ya, fellas.’
He and the Snake Mothers were about to leave when Er Lang appeared in the doorway, blocking their exit. Er Lang took a step forward into the King’s personal space and the King backed up, glaring up at him.
Er Lang stared down at the Demon King. ‘You are constantly attacking the Celestial. You should be punished.’
‘I live in Hell, and cannot see the light of day without permission,’ the Demon King said. ‘Is that not punishment enough?’
‘Stay in your own part of Hell, demon,’ Er Lang said. ‘Do not meddle in Celestial affairs.’
The Demon King backed up. ‘Whatever.’ He grinned at me. ‘Later, darling Emma.’ He turned back to see Simone. ‘Congratulations on finding your brother, little one. It is good to see you with family.’ He shoved past Er Lang and went out, the Snake Mothers following.
‘What was all that about?’ Marshal Ma said.
I sat at the table. ‘Ming Gui, the Xuan Wu’s son, gave an oath to the King of the Demons and was bound in servitude to him. In return, I think the King agreed not to harm either Simone or Xuan Wu.’
‘That was a monumentally stupid thing to do,’ Guan Yu said, ‘but I can understand him wanting to make this sacrifice to keep his baby sister safe.’
‘She killed Ming Gui before we came to this meeting. He is free from his oath. He says he can help us, but we need to bring him out of the tenth level as soon as possible.’
The Generals turned to study Simone appraisingly.
‘She killed him?’ Marshal Ma said.
‘My brother is free; we just need to bring him out of Hell as quickly as we can,’ Simone said.
We need to get rid of Er Lang and we can discuss a sortie into the demon side of Hell, Marshal Ma said into my head. Close the meeting.
He’s right, Emma, Master Liu said. The Generals can help with this, but not while Er Lang is here.
I rose. ‘Let’s head to Hell immediately. I believe that I still have sanction. We’ll prepare for a full-on nest raid, and meet at the docks in Shum Wan.’
The Masters and Generals saluted me, and rose to go out.
‘One moment, madam,’ Er Lang said as the Generals and Masters walked out.
I nodded to him. ‘My Lord. Will you join us?’
‘I am needed on the Celestial,’ Er Lang said. ‘I believe it would be unwise for the Princess to accompany you. She is too valuable to wander around Hell; it is too dangerous.’
Simone strode to Er Lang, put her hands on her hips and glared up at him. ‘I’m a better demon killer than just about every other Celestial put together. I’m Princess of the Dark Northern Heavens, and Leo Alexander is my Retainer. Gold’s also my Retainer, and his child has been taken. It’s my responsibility as their Lady to make sure that they’re okay. Just because I’m young and female doesn’t mean that I can’t kick some demon ass.’
Er Lang smiled slightly down at her. ‘You’re right, Princess. You are young and female, and it really shouldn’t be necessary for you to endanger yourself by going to some of the most disturbing parts of the Underworld.’ He gestured with one hand to encompass the departing Generals and Masters. ‘Some of these Celestial Worthies have fought demons for hundreds of years. Let them handle this for you. Go home, where you are safe.’
‘Tell you what, Er Lang,’ Simone said. ‘How about you contact Yanluo Wang for us and arrange for my brother to be released from the tenth level quickly?’
‘I really don’t think that’s necessary.’
She cocked her head at him. ‘How about I order you to do it? Do I have precedence over you?’
His face went fierce with anger for a moment, then he made a visible effort to relax. ‘That will not be necessary, Princess. Although you do not have precedence, we will see what we can do about releasing Ming Gui from the Underworld.’
She nodded to him. ‘I thank you, sir. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to prepare for a sortie into Hell to release my Retainer’s child.’
He nodded back to her. ‘Madam.’ He disappeared.
Simone sagged. ‘I thought I would never get rid of him!’ She turned back to me. ‘They’re coming back. I’d like to know what they want to say that he wasn’t supposed to hear.’
The rest of the group reappeared around the conference table.
Marshal Ma gestured to me. ‘Sit, Emma. Let’s work this out.’
‘Why did you need to get rid of Er Lang?’ I said.
The Generals shared a look, then Marshal Ma said, ‘That’s not really important. What is important is finding this stone child and destroying Six. This has gone on for long enough.’
Martin appeared in the doorway. ‘I can help.’
I waved him in. ‘Come and tell us everything.’