Demon Child Read online

  ‘Archie. Archie.’ I shook my head. ‘Nope. No idea.’

  ‘He’s the Archivist,’ she said with exasperation. ‘Apparently everybody’s used to seeing him as a pompous twelve-year-old boy and now he’s a pompous thirty-year-old,’ she glared at him and said the last word with emphasis, ‘ass.’

  ‘Margie?’ I said, studying her. ‘Oh my god. Margaret Anathain.’ I went around the desk and held my hand out for her to shake. ‘I owe you so much. Thank you. Thank you!’

  She stood as well, took my hand and turned it into a hug. ‘I wanted to thank you, actually. And John.’ She pulled back, smiling broadly. ‘He introduced me to Archie.’

  I looked from her to the Archivist. He grinned.

  ‘Don’t you have an actual name, Archivist?’ I said.

  He shrugged. ‘I don’t remember, it was so long ago. I’ve just been the Archivist for nearly a thousand years, so that’s me.’

  ‘Love the look, much more appropriate,’ I said as I returned to my seat.

  He promptly changed back to his twelve-year-old boy form.

  Margaret put her forehead in her hand. ‘I really wish you wouldn’t do that. What are you saying about me?’

  ‘That you’re a disgusting old pedo,’ he said with glee.

  Her face went rigid and she walked to the door.

  ‘Wait! Wait!’ He leapt to his feet, changed his form back and took three huge strides to her. ‘I’m sorry.’ He took her hand. ‘I apologise. Please, come and talk to Emma. I’m sure you and she have a lot in common.’ He raised her hand to his face and kissed it. ‘Please?’

  She turned him around and pushed him back towards the desk, and winked at me behind his back. I was hard-pressed to control my amusement.

  ‘We both wanted to thank you,’ he said, flopping into the chair again. ‘You and the Dark Lord brought us together.’ He glanced at her and some of the adoration leaked through his expression. ‘You changed our lives.’

  She nodded, her face controlled but her eyes full of joy.

  ‘So where’s the Dark Lord?’ he said.

  ‘That’s really what he’s called?’ she said with disbelief. ‘His name isn’t —’

  ‘Nah, he’s not nearly cool enough to be called Voldemort,’ I said, and we laughed together.

  ‘See? Told you you’d have a lot in common,’ the Archivist said.

  ‘Yi Hao!’ I yelled at the door. ‘Where’s the Dark Lord?’

  She was silent for a moment, then when she spoke it was full of urgency. ‘Oh, ma’am! He’s in the infirmary, Edwin has already —’

  The outside door burst open. ‘We need Lady Emma in the infirmary right now,’ a male voice said in Yi Hao’s office. ‘It’s happened again.’

  I ran out to Yi Hao’s office. ‘How bad is he?’

  ‘He’s unconscious.’

  ‘Battle stations, Yi Hao,’ I said, and stormed back into my office. I picked up my phone and texted Gold.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Margaret said.

  ‘Emma?’ the Archivist said.

  ‘Give me a minute,’ I said, pacing up and down in front of my desk. ‘Why aren’t those damn bells ringing? Yi Hao!’ The bells started to ring outside. ‘Never mind.’

  Gold came in and stood in front of me. ‘Ma’am?’

  ‘He’s unconscious. Send the message through the network. Confirm by text when you’re sure that the Masters, Ma, Er Lang and the Winds are informed.’

  Gold froze, his eyes wide, and stopped breathing.

  ‘Good,’ I said. I quickly bowed to both the Archivist and Margaret. ‘My apologies. I have to go.’

  I hefted my phone and rushed to the door.

  ‘Wait, were we attacked?’ the Archivist said. ‘What’s going on, Emma? He’s unconscious?’

  ‘I suggest you head back to the Archives and lock it down. We’re about to be attacked,’ I said on my way through the door.

  ‘The Archives are safe. I need to know what’s happening,’ he said behind me, and chased me out the door with Margaret trailing him.

  I stopped and turned to speak to him. ‘Back off, Archivist. You’re not cleared for this information —’

  ‘I’m cleared for all information; information is what I do!’ he shouted. ‘I have top-level clearance and I might be able to help you.’

  ‘You can’t. I’ll talk to you later.’ I nodded to Margaret and headed for the infirmary.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Margaret said behind me.

  ‘You Europeans are all the same,’ the Archivist said to my back as he followed me. ‘Always so damn superior.’

  ‘You’re going to lose me if you don’t drop this incredibly racist attitude all the bloody time,’ Margaret growled. ‘Fighting racism with more racism isn’t the way to improve anything, and she wasn’t being superior anyway.’

  ‘You try putting up with it for a few hundred years … but you’re right,’ he said, still following me. ‘So why’s the Dark Lord in the infirmary?’

  I raised my hand. ‘Keep it quiet, and if you must come don’t say anything. Need-to-know.’

  ‘Understood.’

  The students scurried around us, pulling on armour and carrying weapons as they took their positions for battle stations. Margaret made sounds of astonishment as she followed us.

  ‘It may be ugly,’ I said, dropping my voice but still walking as fast as I could. ‘His injuries could be severe.’

  ‘Margie, you can stay outside … Never mind,’ the Archivist said.

  ‘Now we’re getting somewhere,’ Margaret said with amusement.

  We arrived at the infirmary. A couple of students who were standing guard outside let us through. I gave up trying to hold back to a walk and ran into the treatment room.

  John was attended by Edwin alone. He was unconscious and his face was ashen.

  ‘What did they do to him?’ I asked Edwin. My phone dinged and I raised my hand. ‘Wait.’

  It was a text from Gold. All informed.

  An order came through from the Jade Emperor to prepare for attack.

  ‘Good, everybody’s aware and ready,’ I said, and sat next to John.

  ‘Good Lord, I felt that,’ Margaret said. ‘Prepare for attack?’

  ‘You’re safe here,’ the Archivist said. ‘What happened to the Dark Lord?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Edwin said. ‘Just when we have his feet back, this happens. He’s unconscious, his blood pressure is dangerously low, his blood oxygen similar, his temperature has dropped to nearly freezing —’

  ‘That’s normal for him when he’s stressed,’ I said.

  Edwin shrugged. ‘I have no idea what they did to him. We can only hope that if he dies, the Serpent dies as well.’

  ‘Do you mind if I have a look?’ Margaret said. ‘I’m a doctor too.’

  I listened to them with half an ear as I watched my phone. I texted Gold: Updte plz.

  No attack so far, he replied.

  ‘Uh … I appreciate your offer,’ Edwin said, ‘but he’s not really human and this situation is unlike anything you’ll have ever encountered before.’

  ‘Explain for me then,’ Margaret said, taking John’s pulse, then dropping his wrist when she felt how cold it was. ‘Damn.’

  The Archivist concentrated on her and she nodded a few times, then stepped back. ‘There’s no way I could be of any use to you. This is completely out of my league.’

  ‘Stone,’ I said.

  ‘Still no movement,’ the stone said. ‘The Tiger’s most senior sons are manning the Hell barricades. The Earthly is quiet, and no incursion on the Celestial.’

  ‘I haven’t met you before. Are you a resident of the Celestial?’ Edwin asked Margaret.

  ‘Maybe, sometime in the future,’ she said.

  ‘Would you like to learn to deal with this sort of thing when you are?’ Edwin said. ‘I’m run off my feet and another trained physician would be a tremendous boon. I’m overworked and stressed to the point that I’m not providing th
e best of care.’ He gestured towards me. ‘She’s watching to see if we’re attacked. The last time we were, there were hundreds of casualties and we could really use any medical help we can find.’

  ‘Absolutely!’ Margaret said. ‘If I could learn things like this, I’d move here right now.’

  ‘Stone?’ I said.

  ‘I’ll let you know if anything happens, I’m connected to the remaining network,’ the stone said. ‘So far, nothing. No movement whatsoever. The Generals are considering downgrading the alert.’

  ‘They may be holding off and waiting for us to do that,’ I said.

  ‘That’s why they haven’t.’

  ‘You’d move here?’ the Archivist asked Margaret. ‘I thought you were planning to return to Britain.’

  She pushed him out of the way without looking at him and moved next to John’s head. ‘I just said that to scare you. This sort of variety, with strange and powerful people …’ She put her hand on John’s forehead, then lifted it off again. ‘This would be … wonderful.’ She smiled at the Archivist. ‘Truly.’ She looked back down at John. ‘Dear John, I came all this way to thank you for changing my life and you may not make it through the night.’

  That drew my attention back to them. ‘He has to. He can’t die now.’ I turned to Edwin. ‘How out of it is he? Can we wake him up and talk to him?’

  ‘He seems to be in an induced coma,’ Edwin said. ‘I tried to rouse him but he’s insensible. I’m waiting for a stone to come do a brain scan to see how much activity there is …’

  ‘Gold will be here as soon as he’s done relaying,’ the stone said. ‘The Generals have decided to stay on high alert for another hour. They request that we keep them updated as to the Dark Lord’s state. If he comes around we can assume they won’t attack.’

  ‘Why does everything depend on how awake he is?’ Margaret said.

  ‘I’ll explain later,’ the Archivist said.

  ‘No, you won’t,’ I said. ‘Need-to-know.’ I rested my hand on the cold cloud above the blankets and spoke to Edwin. ‘If he’s brain dead will he rejoin?’

  ‘No. The body has to die. Even if the brain’s no longer functioning, while the body lives the spirit cannot be free.’

  ‘Good,’ I said, and he stared at me with shock. ‘Keep him alive. Whatever it takes. Do not let him die.’ I sat next to him and ran my fingers through his wild tangle of hair. ‘All we can do now is wait.’

  ‘Is there anything we can do?’ Margaret said.

  ‘I think I’ll head back to the Archives just to make sure,’ the Archivist said. ‘You should stay here. It’s safer.’

  ‘No. I’m staying with you,’ she said fiercely.

  They had a quick, silent argument composed entirely of meaningful looks, and she won. They turned to me.

  ‘Lovely to meet you, Margaret,’ I said. ‘Keep in touch, Archivist. Contact me if you need help protecting the Archives; the knowledge you have stored there is one of the Celestial’s most valuable assets. The Jade Emperor will warn us again if they do attack, but the first target will be Hell.’

  I didn’t hear them leave. Five minutes later, Gold and his daughter, BJ, came in.

  ‘No movement, ma’am,’ Gold said, answering my question before I asked it, and I sagged with relief.

  ‘We need to know if there’s any —’ I began.

  ‘Brain activity. I know,’ Gold said. He gestured with his head towards BJ. ‘Do you mind if I show my child how to do this?’

  ‘Go right ahead.’

  ‘Okay, BJ, hook up and let’s see what we can find,’ Gold said.

  He took his stone form and BJ followed shortly after. The two stones rested side by side on John’s forehead. They extended long feelers and touched, and remained silent for a while.

  ‘There’s activity,’ Gold said, and I breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Would you like me to make an attempt to wake him?’

  ‘If you could,’ I said.

  ‘It will hurt,’ Gold said.

  ‘Don’t hurt yourself …’

  ‘Not us. Him.’

  I wiped my eyes. ‘The Celestial needs him. Do it.’

  John’s eyes snapped open and he made a sharp noise of pain. Both stones flew into the air above his head.

  ‘That worked,’ Gold said.

  John cast around unseeing, his eyes completely black.

  ‘It’s okay, John — the Turtle’s in the infirmary on the Mountain,’ I said.

  ‘Emma?’

  ‘I’m here.’ His hand was still too cold to touch.

  He dropped his voice to a near-whisper. ‘I have to get out of here.’

  Edwin was checking the monitors. He turned and saw John’s eyes. ‘Serpent?’ he said.

  John turned his sightless black eyes towards Edwin. ‘You are the physician, correct?’

  ‘I am,’ Edwin said. ‘Do you know what they did to you?’

  ‘They inserted an IV into me to cure the infection, but the bag’s been empty for a while. Today they came in and put something into the line. I have no idea what it was. I tried to neutralise it, but it knocked me out too quickly.’

  Fortunately no one saw my reaction when the Serpent mentioned the IV. It hadn’t been my imagination.

  ‘Can you reach the IV to pull it out?’ Edwin said.

  ‘I’ve been trying,’ John said. ‘It’s too close to the back of my head. Emma?’ He turned his head and obviously had difficulty focusing on me.

  ‘I’m here, John,’ I said. ‘Do you know if they’re readying to attack?’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ the Serpent said. ‘They knocked me out and put some sort of metal grid under me, like a barbecue grill. I think they’re planning to turn up the heat.’

  ‘Holy shit,’ Edwin said softly.

  ‘Gold, pass the message on,’ I said, trying to control the emotion in my voice as the horrible images filled my head.

  Gold nodded, and he and BJ went out together.

  The Serpent turned its black eyes to Edwin. ‘How much of me needs to be burnt and to what depth to guarantee I won’t survive it?’

  Edwin was silent for a moment. ‘If you were human …’ He stopped. ‘I don’t believe I’m having this conversation. If you were human, then the skin would need to be burnt off to the muscle beneath for at least fifty per cent of you. Snake … I have no idea, but I can ask a vet.’

  ‘No need, I’ll lose contact soon anyway. Emma.’

  ‘John?’

  ‘The Turtle is concerned that I’m absorbing you.’

  ‘Leave us, Edwin,’ I said.

  ‘She sounds more and more like you every day, my Lord,’ Edwin said. ‘Are you absorbing her?’

  John closed his eyes and his eyebrows creased. ‘I just want to be out of here and complete, Turtle and Serpent together again …’

  ‘She’s a snake, not a turtle. You shouldn’t be absorbing her if you want to rejoin with your turtle,’ Edwin said.

  John’s eyes snapped open and he glared at Edwin. ‘You know nothing of my true nature.’

  Edwin was obviously taken aback. He glanced at me.

  ‘I asked you to go out, Edwin,’ I said.

  ‘Leave. Us,’ John said with the force of an imperative.

  Edwin, moving like an automaton, left the room.

  ‘I’m not doing it deliberately,’ John said.

  ‘Of course you aren’t.’

  ‘Why did I have to love someone who’s so damn similar to me?’ he said. ‘Down to our demonic origins. We should have known this would happen when we first laid eyes on you.’

  ‘Too late now,’ I said with forced cheerfulness.

  ‘You need to stop spending so much time with the Turtle. I love you …’ His eyes changed back to normal. ‘Emma? Are you still here?’

  ‘I’m here.’

  ‘Good,’ he said, turned his head away and went limp.

  ‘Edwin?’ I called. ‘Quickly!’

  Edwin came in and checked the monitors. ‘He seems
to be in a normal sleep now. His blood pressure is back up.’ He put his hand on John’s forehead, then jerked it away again. ‘Let him rest.’ He leaned on the monitor. ‘He is absorbing you?’

  ‘No.’

  He silently watched me for a long moment.

  ‘Leave us,’ I said.

  ‘Enough of the “leave us” business. Don’t ask me to leave you again — you can trust me. He has good colour, his blood pressure and oxygen are up, and it’s a normal sleep. You don’t need to be here. Go home and rest. I’ll let you know if his condition changes.’

  He was right, but I needed to go back to my office just in case the demons still attacked.

  ‘Call Zara, have her sit with him,’ I said.

  ‘Will do.’ He took my elbow and helped me to stand. ‘Go home or you’ll end up in here as well, and if I’m any judge, the weaker you are the easier it is for him to take you over.’ He looked from John to me. ‘You two should split up; your whole existence is at stake here.’

  ‘He vowed to Raise and marry me. It won’t happen.’

  ‘I sincerely hope you’re right.’

  I dropped my voice. ‘Don’t tell anyone he’s absorbing me.’

  ‘If I consult with some other physicians —’

  ‘No. Don’t tell anyone.’ I shook his hand free from my arm. ‘The Celestial comes first.’

  He stood silently for a moment, then shook his hands in front of his face. ‘Ma’am.’

  ‘Thank you.’ I headed back to my office.

  16

  Yi Hao came in and stood in front of the desk glaring at me, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

  I ignored her.

  She made some huffy noises and recrossed her arms.

  I scooted behind the monitor so I couldn’t see her.

  She slowly and with deliberate care pushed the tray containing my lunch — some vegetarian won ton ho fan soup noodles — closer to me so that I couldn’t ignore it.

  ‘I can’t eat while he’s in a coma,’ I said.

  ‘That’s exactly why you should eat.’

  I sighed, scooted my chair back again, picked up the chopsticks and ceramic spoon and waved them at her. ‘Happy?’

  ‘I want to see that bowl empty when I come back,’ she said, turning to go out.