I stopped and stared; there was a two-metre-wide circular hole in the living room floor. ‘What the hell?’
‘Oh, hi, Emma,’ Simone said from under the hole. ‘What do you think?’
‘I think there’s a huge hole in our living room floor. Were you playing with yin in here? We talked about that!’
There was a clatter and a vertical steel pole appeared in the centre of the hole. Horizontal beams spread from the pole to the hole’s edges.
‘Jade?’ Michael said from under the hole.
There was another clatter and hardwood steps appeared on the beams. They’d created a spiral staircase linking our flat with the one below.
Buffy ran up the stairs wearing a sparkly blue princess tutu and stopped at the top. ‘This is so cool, Aunty Emma!’
‘Move, Buffy!’ Frankie shouted, and ran up behind her. He grinned and waved her wand at me, then ran down again. ‘Spiral stairs — woo!’
Simone, Michael and Jade appeared next to me, while Buffy and Frankie chased each other up and down the stairs.
‘Slow down before someone’s hurt!’ I shouted at them. They ignored me.
‘Emma, just the bride I wanted to see,’ Jade said.
‘Oh god,’ I said, and tried to teleport out. I failed.
‘I saw that,’ she said with amusement. ‘What appointments do you have this afternoon?’
‘Uh . . . Lots. Plenty. Many, many appointments,’ I said. ‘Totally busy. Full-time. So many appointments —’
‘Good. Come with me down to Mr Li’s to try on a few wedding dresses. Do you need a guard?’
‘I’ll guard,’ Michael said.
‘I don’t need a wedding dress, I’m marrying him in my armour,’ I said. ‘We decided this, Jade. Celestial battle forms and armour!’
‘You need a going-away dress, and a dress for the photographs,’ she said.
‘Mountain uniform. Same as the Dark Lord.’
‘Don’t you want something pretty?’
I glared at her. ‘No!’
‘You still need a black and silver robe for under the armour,’ she said, smug.
‘No, I don’t!’
‘Yes, you do, you have to match. And you need to choose a design for the invitations. Mr Li has offered to do them as well.’
I was silenced at that.
Leo walked up the stairs. ‘Nice job, guys. I’ll stay with the kids. Simone, you go with Emma and watch for those stones.’
‘I want to go with Simone!’ Frankie shouted.
‘Hey, Er Hao!’ Simone shouted down the hole.
‘Ma’am?’ Er Hao said from below.
‘Do you have to yell like that?’ I said, wincing.
‘Er Hao, we’re all going for lunch together. You don’t need to cook,’ Simone shouted. ‘Tell Yi Hao.’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Er Hao replied.
Simone counted around. ‘Seven of us — we’ll need both cars. Is Martin coming?’
‘No, he’s stuck in the Northern Heavens,’ Leo said. ‘We really should buy a van to carry everyone.’
‘Good idea,’ Simone said.
‘We don’t have space to park a bus here,’ I said with dismay.
‘So we make space. I’ll drive the small car with Buffy and Jade,’ Leo said. ‘Michael, take the big one with Simone, Emma and Frankie. Come on, Buffy, you need to change if you’re going out as well.’
‘Okay, Daddy.’
‘Sir,’ Michael said to Leo, and opened the front door for us.
‘I can take my own car, I don’t need a driver!’ I said.
‘Oh, yes, you do, ma’am,’ Jade said, linking her arm in mine. ‘Because if we let you drive yourself you’ll end up anywhere but Mr Li’s.’
Michael stopped and his face went strange.
‘Let me order him to back off,’ Simone said.
‘No, I can handle him,’ Michael said.
‘He’s after you to be Number One again?’ I said.
Michael nodded as we waited for the lift.
‘You should go,’ I said. ‘Clarissa will live much longer on the Celestial Plane. It would be good for both of you.’
‘I know,’ he said. ‘It’s her choice, not mine. She wants to live an ordinary life on the Earthly.’
‘Did you tell him that?’ I said as we arrived on the ground floor.
‘I did. He told me to man up and make my woman behave.’
‘Did you hit him?’
‘I killed him.’
‘Good.’
* * *
‘You can take Frankie and Buffy shopping, you don’t need to come to Mr Li’s,’ I said to Simone when we’d finished lunch at the shopping centre’s café.
‘Yes, they do,’ Jade said. ‘We all need to see Mr Li. I want all members of the House of the North to have matching outfits.’
‘I have to be flower girl,’ Simone said. ‘I’ve been saying I’ll do it forever.’
‘Since you were four years old,’ I said.
‘No!’ Buffy shouted as we went up the escalators. ‘I’m flower girl!’
‘Can I be something?’ Frankie said.
‘You can be page boy,’ Simone said, squeezing his hand.
‘Do Chinese weddings even have a flower girl and page boy?’ Leo said.
‘This is Xuan Tian Shang Di’s Celestial wedding,’ Jade said with satisfaction. ‘It will have everything.’
‘Everything?’ Leo said. ‘What, Eastern and Western both?’
‘That will take all day!’ Simone said.
‘Pretty much,’ I said with dismay.
‘And you’re letting them do this to you, Emma?’ Michael said.
‘JE’s orders.’ I shrugged. ‘He’s put Jade in charge and we have to go along with whatever she decides.’ I glared at her. ‘If it was our choice, it would be a small family get-together to formalise something that’s existed since the day we met.’
‘Not happening, Emma,’ Jade said, looking smug. ‘Deal with it. This will be the biggest and grandest wedding the Celestial has ever seen.’ She spread her hands. ‘And I’m in charge!’
I moaned quietly as we entered Mr Li’s shop. ‘I almost hope this Black Jade thing will happen.’
‘God, don’t say that. The BJ curse could spoil everything,’ Simone said.
‘Don’t worry, we’ll keep a close eye on her,’ Michael said.
‘Zara should stay with you, Emma,’ Leo said. ‘She can warn us if a stone approaches.’
‘The only way she can stay with me is as an item of jewellery, and she won’t do it because of her vow.’
‘Aren’t the demons that could control stones gone?’ Michael said as we followed Mr Li to the end of his sunlit workroom where he kept the bolts of silk on display. Half the tables with sewing machines were empty; he’d lost a great many of his demon staff during the war. ‘It isn’t a problem now, is it?’
‘The current Demon King used a stone to hide a conversation we had from the previous King,’ I said. ‘I think he has just as much control over stones as they did.’
‘Enough talk about stones,’ Jade said. ‘Emma, take Celestial Form and let’s choose silk for the robe to go under your armour.’
‘Her armour’s really ratty,’ Simone said. ‘Even in Celestial Form there’s a huge chip in the breastplate and some of the wires are worn through.’
‘The forge is making a new set of dress armour; it will be ready at the end of next week,’ Jade said. ‘It’s black with silver adornment, similar to Lord Xuan’s. All we have to do is decide on the design for the under robes.’ She turned to study the bolts of silk on the shelves. ‘Red is traditional for weddings.’
‘Red will make me look anaemic,’ I said. ‘Black would be better, same as the armour.’
‘You can’t be married in black!’ Jade said. ‘How about silver?’
‘Silver is grey,’ I said. ‘I look dead in grey. Black is the best choice.’
‘And it begins,’ Simone said with amusement.
Mr Li interrupted us. ‘The Emperor of the East has sent us some bolts of fabric. He’s made a few designs in his own silk production facility in Japan that you might find suitable. Mostly black with snakes and turtles, and some with weapons on them. I would prefer “double happiness” or at least flowers and birds, but he insisted.’
‘That sounds perfect!’ I said. ‘Weapons? Let me see.’
‘I’m not wearing a robe with swords all over it. I’ll wear my stars,’ Simone said. ‘Find something else for the kids.’
‘I want to wear swords as well!’ Frankie said. ‘I like swords!’
Jade hissed under her breath. ‘I will kill that enabler.’
* * *
Simone stopped when we stepped out of the cars under the Peak building. ‘What is that demon doing here?’ She walked out the gates. ‘Two demons. Big ones.’
Michael and Leo readied themselves.
‘Come out,’ Simone called down the drive. ‘I can see you.’
The David Hawkes copy came out of the thick scrub at the side of the drive. He raised his hands. ‘Peace. I want to parley.’
‘I can see you as well,’ Simone shouted. ‘The other one.’
One of the black-armoured demons with a tiny face emerged from the other side of the drive, and Buffy shrieked.
It raised its clawed hands. ‘I wish to parley under terms of truce.’
‘It’s okay, honey, you’re safe with us,’ Leo said to Buffy, and she grabbed his leg.
‘Emma, where did Daddy take demons to parley?’ Simone said.
‘Hennessy Road, when we lived here,’ I said. ‘Stone Boulder House on the Mountain.’
‘We don’t have the ownership of Hennessy Road back yet,’ she said. ‘Jade?’
‘There’s nowhere secure enough,’ Jade said.
John appeared next to us. ‘I see.’ He gestured with his head. ‘Next to the swimming pool. Leo, take the children upstairs. Michael, go with them.’
‘I want to stay with Simone!’ Frankie shouted.
‘This time, Frankie, go with Uncle Leo,’ Simone said. ‘Don’t argue, sweetie, this is dangerous.’
‘You too, Simone,’ John said. ‘Go up with them and guard them.’
She hesitated, then nodded. ‘Okay.’
John gestured and the demons walked ahead of us to the block’s swimming pool. The elementals that had been acting as water formed four human-shaped watery bodies and floated in the pool cavity. We stopped, and both demons fell to their knees in front of John.
‘You first,’ John said to the David copy. ‘Do you turn?’
‘Only if I must,’ he said. ‘I would prefer to retain my free will.’
‘Then why are you here?’ John said.
‘When I was first assigned to Bridget and the boys, I was cruel to them. But I’ve learnt better,’ the David copy said. He lowered his head. ‘I love her, my Lord. I’ve grown to love all of them.’ He glanced up at John, full of hope. ‘Allow me to stay with them, I beg you.’
‘How do they feel about this?’ I said.
‘They feel the same way,’ he said.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket. ‘What if I call Bridget and ask her?’
‘She will say the same thing,’ the demon said with confidence.
I called Bridget.
‘Hello?’ she said.
‘Hello, Bridget, it’s Emma. I have the David copy here, and it’s . . .’ I glanced down at the demon. ‘He’s asking to stay with you. We’re in the process of arranging accidents for the copies, because they were torturing the families they were assigned to and corruptly undermining peaceful governance. This one claims that he’s been treating you and your boys well and that you want him to stay with you.’
‘Is he there?’ she said.
‘I’m right here, love,’ he said.
‘Put me on speakerphone,’ she said.
‘I know I was cruel to you at the start, but when I realised I loved you I never touched you again,’ he said. ‘Will you have me back? Tell the Dark Lord that I’ll treat you right, otherwise he’ll destroy me like he did all the others.’
‘Let me tell you about David, Emma,’ she said. ‘The real David.’
‘Yes, Bridget?’
‘He would give the staff two days off on the weekend instead of one. He gave them Saturday and Sunday, even though he was only obliged by law to give them one day.’
‘Well, that was stupid,’ the demon copy said with scorn.
‘And on Saturday and Sunday, he would spend the days with us. One of us would cook, and the other would clean up and wash the dishes. He was a much better cook than I am, and he enjoyed making meals for the family. Often he’d wash the dishes as well, and then we’d spend the evening playing games with the boys.’
‘He did servants’ jobs?’ the copy said with disbelief.
‘Would you do that?’ she said.
‘No, of course not. I don’t serve people, people serve me,’ the demon copy said.
‘If I was to have you back, would you be gentle and caring like he was? He lived to please me. He took me out for dinner cruises on the harbour, just the two of us, and he was so patient and attentive. He was endlessly romantic.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. I’m a man, not a child,’ the demon copy said.
‘You stopped raping me,’ she said.
‘Yes, when I realised that you are far more than you seem. You might not be beautiful, but you have a good heart. So I stopped forcing you.’
‘You stopped raping me. Do you want a medal?’
‘No, I want to be with you,’ he said, completely missing the sarcasm.
‘Emma, is John there?’ she said.
‘Yes, I am,’ John said.
‘John, could you cut that monster’s head off so it never approaches me or my boys ever again? It was cruel to the family. It beat the boys. It raped me. It took bribes in the business. It is . . .’ She took a deep breath. ‘An absolutely disgusting piece of fucking shit and I never want to see it again. Do me a favour and do your demon-killing thing on it. Fast and hard, so it never comes near me or my boys again.’
‘One question,’ John said.
‘You worthless bitch! I was willing to give you a chance and you destroyed everything!’ the demon shouted, and disappeared.
‘Yes?’ Bridget said.
‘Would you like me to change or remove your memories of what happened?’
‘You can do that?’
‘Yes, I can.’
She hesitated, then, ‘Yes,’ she breathed. ‘Yes. Because that worthless piece of scum is an insult to everything that David stood for. My David was a noble gentle man, and this demon was a travesty of everything about him. I’d rather remember David as a good man who died before his time.’
‘I will visit you and the boys as soon as I have tracked down the copy and taken its head,’ John said. ‘It will take me less than an hour.’
‘Can you change the boys’ memories as well?’
‘Yes, I can,’ he said.
‘Thank you.’ She broke down, weeping into the phone. ‘I’ll be waiting for you. All of us will be waiting for you. Thank you so much.’ She hung up.
‘Now you,’ John said to the black-armoured demon. ‘Are you here to turn?’
‘No, my Lord,’ the demon said.
‘Another one,’ I said.
‘So why are you here?’ John said.
‘Look inside me,’ the demon said. ‘I will open myself to you, and you can see what I am.’
John focused on the demon, and his eyes went wide. ‘Holy shit.’
‘What?’ I said.
‘You can look, ma’am, it will not hurt me,’ the demon said.
I opened my Inner Eye on it. The tiny face belonged to a child, hanging suspended inside the demon.
‘Holy shit,’ I said. ‘Is that a human child?’
‘Yes, it is,’ John said. ‘Every time we destroyed one of you, we destroyed a human child?’
‘It screams in my head,’ the demon said with misery.
‘Releasing the child will destroy you,’ John said.
‘I know that, but I am dead anyway,’ the demon said. ‘You will track us all down and kill us. The new King does not want us; we are spawn of the West. So I beg you, Dark Lord, destroy me carefully and extract this poor innocent from inside me.’
‘What about the others like you?’ I said.
‘If you agree to do this, I will tell my brothers before you do it. Some may choose to come to you and not fight it; others may choose to flee. Either way they are dead.’
‘Kneel,’ John said.
The demon fell to its knees. It was so large that its head was level with John’s chest.
‘Tell your brothers I will make it swift and painless,’ John said.
‘I am, my Lord. Many will come.’
‘Now close your eyes and think compassionate thoughts about the child.’
The demon closed its tiny eyes. ‘Thank you, my Lord. Even if you cannot save me, the child will be free.’
John pushed his fingers into the demon’s head around the face and ripped the child out. The child screamed. The demon’s body dissolved into black demon essence that dissipated quickly.
John lowered the child to the ground and she crumpled. She appeared about four years old, with fair skin and blonde hair through the coating of demon essence.
He concentrated with his hands on either side of her face. ‘Not injured, just in shock from the transition.’ He conjured a blanket and wrapped her in it. ‘Let’s take her upstairs and clean her up. How many of these demons did you say there were, Emma?’
‘Close on a hundred.’
‘Have we found Chang yet?’
‘He’s on his way home with the rest of the orphans.’
‘Good, because we have a great deal more work for him to do.’
The little girl opened her eyes, took a deep breath, and screamed again.
John looked her in the eyes. ‘You are free now, little one. You’re not a prisoner any more. You’re safe.’
She buried her face in her arms.
‘The demon was right when it said it was Western,’ I said as John picked her up, still wrapped in the blanket, and carried her to the lift lobby. ‘Blonde and everything.’
When we were on the eleventh floor we went straight into the flat. The rest of the family crowded around us.
‘And she was inside the demon?’ Leo said.
‘Stay back, give her room. Don’t freak her out,’ I said.
Michael stood transfixed, staring at her. ‘Oh my god. Oh my god.’ He repeated the words over and over, his voice thick with emotion. ‘Oh my god.’
‘Michael?’ John said. He carried the child to one of the student rooms. Yi Hao rushed out of the kitchen to help us. ‘Do you know her, Michael?’
‘That’s my mother,’ Michael said. ‘I’ve seen photos of her when she was young, and that’s her.’
‘That’s what the King did with her when she stayed there a week,’ John said. ‘I suppose we should not be surprised.’
‘More clones,’ I said with misery.
The Tiger appeared next to us. ‘I’ll take them. I’ll take all of them.’ He put his hands out to John. ‘Contact me when you free them and I’ll care for them.’
‘No, you won’t,’ Michael said fiercely. ‘You will groom them to be wives when they’re old enough. They’re children.’
‘All of my wives were children at one stage, boy,’ the Tiger said. ‘Give her to me, Ah Wu. I’ll take her and raise her myself.’
‘No,’ John said. ‘Michael’s right. They will go to Chang’s orphanage, and they will not be introduced to you until they are well and truly old enough to make up their own minds.’
‘But —’
‘That is an order, Bai Hu,’ John said. ‘Disappear.’
‘Humph,’ the Tiger said, and disappeared.
John handed the child to Michael. ‘I have a demon . . . several demons to track down. I am delegating care for these children to you. You will need to find accommodation for all of them. How long before Chang arrives, Emma?’
‘He’s flying in tonight,’ I said.
‘Meet with him then and set to work, Michael. You have an unlimited budget to arrange accommodation for them until you find a place to put them all.’
‘My Lord,’ Michael said, taking the child in his arms. She lay there, unmoving and unblinking. ‘We need to clean you up, honey,’ he said. He raised his head. ‘I’ll bring Clarissa in to help.’
‘I’ll go bring her,’ Simone said.
‘No, I will,’ Michael said. He held the child out to me. ‘Can you bathe her? It will be more appropriate and less scary.’
I took the child. ‘Sure.’
‘I must go. That copy will probably go to Bridget and try to terrorise her into letting it live,’ John said. ‘I need to reach it first. Call me if more of these child demons arrive.’
‘We will, Daddy,’ Simone said. ‘Go. We can handle this here.’
John disappeared.