Red Phoenix Read online

  ‘Your own little demon was too small to do that, Emma,’ John said. ‘Her only hope was to join one of us.’

  ‘You are taming demons already?’ Franklin said with disbelief. ‘Has she attained the Way already, my Lord? She does not appear to have.’

  ‘No,’ John said. ‘She is just a human being, but a most remarkable one.’

  ‘You owe me a gold coin,’ I said.

  ‘A gold coin?’ Franklin said.

  ‘Every time someone says she is extraordinary, they have to give her a gold coin,’ John said. ‘It started with Kwan Yin. Now everybody has to do it. How many do you have now, Emma?’

  ‘Six,’ I said.

  ‘Dear me, but she is enough to make even the most well-behaved vampire fall off the wagon,’ Franklin said with awe.

  ‘Try me,’ I growled. ‘I could probably take your head off with my bare hands.’

  ‘Delicious,’ Franklin said, looking me in the eye and grinning evilly. He held out a plate. ‘Biscuit?’

  I wrapped my black silken coils around the eggs. I stroked them with my hands. They were so beautiful. My eggs.

  I used my hands to polish them gently. I could see them through the shells. There, the first one: tawny brown hair. Fine pale skin. Exquisite. The second: a blonde mop, golden skin. So beautiful. I sighed with bliss. And there, the most perfect of all, the third one: golden light brown hair and skin like porcelain, clearly visible through the shell.

  I stretched my fingers over them and rolled them gently. The nestlings inside shifted as I moved them, bright eyes unseeing. They were all so perfect.

  I pulled my black coils around them more tightly, so that I could lean on myself. I carefully groomed my scales, making sure that the gaps between them were spotlessly clean. It felt good.

  I looked up. The ceiling was invisible in the darkness of the chamber. I didn’t care; I was safe there, miles below the surface, with my gleaming, transparent eggs. I could see another Mother on the other side of the chamber, around her eggs as well.

  Stay away, bitch. These are mine.

  I curled over my beautiful cool coils and sighed. I dangled my arms. I was bored. I wished the King would bring me a toy to play with. I smiled to myself. I thought about what sort of toy I would like to play with. And exactly what sort of game I would like to play.

  I shot upright with horror. I threw the covers off my legs to make sure.

  Then I ran down the hall to the upstairs bathroom and was violently sick.

  Ms Kwan appeared almost immediately as I held my hand on the pearl and concentrated. She knew that there wasn’t a problem with John; she could probably sense it. She saw my face and came to sit next to me at the Kensington house’s dining table.

  ‘I had a dream,’ I whispered. ‘I dreamed I was a Snake Mother. And in the eggs…’ I choked. ‘Were Simone. And Michael. And someone else, I don’t know.’

  She didn’t seem at all concerned. ‘Did the eggs hatch in the dream?’

  ‘No.’ I could barely breathe.

  ‘It was just a dream, Emma,’ she said softly.

  ‘Ms Kwan, when a demon attains perfection, and they can live a human life, what happens to them? Are they born as a human child?’

  ‘I cannot answer that question, I am sorry, Emma. It is not our place to tell you what lies beyond. You all must find that for yourselves. You wonder if it is possible that you are a Snake Mother that has attained perfection. My answer is: I cannot tell you. You must discover this for yourself. But even if you are, it is irrelevant for what you are now.’

  I folded my arms on the table and dropped my head onto them. I looked up at her miserably. ‘Would a demon remember being a demon?’

  She just shook her head sadly.

  ‘Am I a snake demon?’ I whispered.

  Ms Kwan held her hand out and concentrated. A live white mouse appeared on her palm. ‘Take it,’ she said gently.

  I took the mouse. It had adorable white whiskers. Its little nose wiggled as it smelled my hand. Its tiny feet were cold. I ran my other finger over the top of its head, bending its translucent pink ears. I’d forgotten how much fun mice were. I’d always felt guilty about feeding them to my pet snake.

  ‘Eat it.’

  I glanced sharply at her, then collapsed over the table laughing, carefully holding the mouse so that I wouldn’t hurt it. I laughed so much that tears sprang from my eyes.

  I gently passed the mouse back to her. She concentrated again and it disappeared. ‘Sorry,’ I whispered into my arms. ‘Not a problem.’ I looked up. She was gone.

  I shot upright in the middle of the night. If it had been nothing more than a dream, then why had she asked me if the eggs had hatched?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  I had been hoping that if I didn’t bring it up, he wouldn’t remember. No such luck. The morning before we left London, John gathered the three of us—him, Leo, myself—into the dining room to discuss the logistics of a visit to my sister.

  ‘You will need a guard,’ John said. ‘Who would you prefer? Who would cause the least difficulty with your family?’

  ‘We should both…’ Leo said and then stopped. He’d heard himself again. He did sound profoundly deaf. The vowels were flat and the consonants were mushy. His voice was a slurred hiss. It would take some getting used to. My heart went out to him.

  ‘Yes?’ John said impatiently.

  Leo just shook his head, his mouth clamped shut.

  John sighed. ‘Wear your scars as symbols of valour, Leo. You have been injured defending your family. There is no higher honour.’

  ‘Leo.’ I took his hand over the table. ‘We can’t hear it. We just hear you. I don’t hear any impediment; I just hear an incredibly annoying guy who’s always playing nasty tricks on me.’

  ‘I think I’ll learn sign language,’ Leo said under his breath. ‘At least then I won’t sound like a moron.’

  ‘Go right ahead,’ I said. ‘Then I’ll have no trouble hearing you over a crowd.’

  ‘You’re on.’ He turned to John. ‘We should stay together, my Lord. Both Lady Emma and Simone are targets. They should be guarded by both of us.’

  I nodded. ‘He has a point.’

  John sighed his acquiescence and tied back his hair. ‘We’ll need to have our stories straight.’

  ‘Actually, you’re quite right, and this is great,’ I said. ‘The kids can use my sister as a dry run for school. Simone can try to be normal and not give anything away. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before.’

  ‘What a good idea,’ John said. ‘We’ll all pay your sister a visit as a normal family.’

  ‘Even if you weren’t a reptile, an Immortal and the North Wind, my Lord,’ Leo said, ‘we still wouldn’t be a normal family.’

  ‘Heaven forbid,’ John said placidly.

  I had a horrible thought. ‘John,’ I said urgently, ‘forget it. She’s my family. She’s a target. They all are.’

  ‘No, they aren’t,’ John said. ‘No demon would dream of going after those who are not involved. Much too dishonourable.’

  ‘What about Michelle’s family?’ I said. ‘And Charlie?’

  Both of them went very still.

  ‘There’s one demon who has no honour whatsoever,’ Leo said.

  ‘Damn,’ John said, perfectly calm. His voice gained a very slight fierce edge. ‘This will not happen again. Your family are not a target, Leo, don’t be concerned. You are still a Retainer. But Emma is now my Lady, and she is quite correct.’ He sighed. ‘You’re the smart one, Emma, what are we going to do?’

  I nearly laughed at the ‘smart one’ comment, but this was too serious. I had the sudden urge to call all my family and make sure they were okay.

  ‘I might be the smart one, John, but you’re the expert on demon behaviour,’ I said. ‘He hasn’t rounded up my family yet and used them as hostages. Why not?’

  ‘I think he wants to be sure to have a good hold on me, and not waste his time trying t
o control me through a third party. I think your family are safe. Besides,’ he said, leaning back, ‘both your sister here in the UK and your family in Australia are a very long way from his power centre. He would much prefer to attack on his home turf.’

  ‘You’d better be right,’ I said.

  ‘This can be a test both ways then,’ he said. ‘We’ll see if he makes a move for your sister after he finds out where she is.’

  ‘Does he know where my family in Australia are?’

  ‘Probably.’

  I ran my hands through my hair. ‘I don’t want my family to know about this. It would freak them out. I don’t think my mum would be able to handle it. We must keep them safe and in the dark.’

  ‘We may only be able to achieve one out of two, love,’ John said.

  We sat silently. Leo looked particularly morose. He was worried about his family. They didn’t know about his mouth yet. He wouldn’t want to tell them. But he’d have to call them soon, and it would all come out about his injury. Damn.

  ‘How will we know if he makes a move against Jennifer?’ I said. ‘After we’re gone?’

  ‘I’ll put Gold in their house somewhere and he can stand watch for a few days,’ John said. ‘He’ll enjoy the opportunity of taking True Form for a while.’

  ‘And you say I’m the smart one,’ I said. ‘Can you find any more sentient rocks and post them around the place to guard our families?’

  ‘You are the smart one,’ he said with wonder. ‘I never thought of doing that before.’ He put his hands on the table and his voice became businesslike. ‘I’ll see what I can round up. Gold can help me.’

  ‘If it pleases you, my Lord,’ the stone in my ring said, ‘I request permission to assist you. Some of my children may be able to aid you. It would be the least I can do.’

  ‘Permission granted,’ John said. ‘You have some making up to do.’

  ‘I only spoke the truth, my Lord,’ the stone said, ‘but I apologise for my arrogance.’

  ‘Provide us with the services of four or five of your children to assist us, and I may consider recommending that the Lady Emma not throw you down the toilet after all.’

  The stone’s voice was full of remorse. ‘My Lord.’

  Leo made a soft sound of amusement.

  ‘Where’s your sister, Emma?’ John said.

  ‘South-east. Just out of London; she said it’s about a forty-five-minute drive. She married a solicitor, and apparently they have a huge house just out of town there. I’ve never seen it.’

  ‘Leo.’ John didn’t look away from me. ‘While Emma calls her sister, go and find Simone and Michael. We’ll give them some final coaching before we go down.’

  Leo didn’t say anything; he just nodded, rose and went out.

  ‘That was an unusual show of disrespect, coming from Leo,’ John said, glancing at the door. ‘Normally he would address me before he went out. He didn’t say a word. Most odd. He didn’t seem upset about anything, why would he do that?’

  ‘Get used to it, John,’ I said. He really didn’t understand people very well sometimes. ‘He’ll only talk when he absolutely has to, from now on. And if he learns sign language and others can understand him, I think he’ll prefer to use that. He hates sounding like an idiot.’

  ‘Even to the point of disrespect?’ John was astonished. ‘Even to me?’ ‘Even to you.’

  I called Jennifer to warn her. ‘Hi, Jennifer, it’s Emma.’

  ‘Emma!’ Her voice was bright on the other end of the line. ‘So good to hear from you! Where are you? Are you still in Hong Kong?’

  ‘I’m in London right now, Jen, and I was wondering if I could come and pay you a visit.’

  ‘Sure, go right ahead, it’s not far.’ The smile in her voice was clearly audible. ‘Plenty of room. Bring the boss.’

  Good God, Mum and Dad had told her. I shook myself. Oh well, I was planning to ask her if it would be okay to bring them anyway. This was just my toe in the door for what I wanted.

  ‘I’d love to bring my boss, Jen,’ I said, trying to be as cheerful as possible. ‘Can I bring his daughter as well?’

  ‘Sure, the more the merrier.’

  ‘Well, how about his nephew and the driver too?’ I said, pushing it. ‘The driver will drive us down, and Mr Chen’s nephew is staying with us, so he’ll have to come too.’

  There was a short silence. ‘He has a driver?’ ‘He’s really nice, he’s American.’

  ‘Oh well, no trouble fitting five extra here, we have loads of room, our house is huge. How long will you stay for?’

  ‘Just for the day. We’re flying out tomorrow, so we need to be back here to pack.’

  ‘You can stay over if you like. We can take all of you. We have buckets of room.’

  ‘No thanks,’ I said firmly. ‘No need.’

  ‘Oh, okay then. When do you think you’ll be here?’

  ‘After lunch. Two-ish. We’ll stay a couple of hours, and then head back up here.’

  ‘Sounds good,’ she said, the smile still in her voice. ‘See you then. The kids can’t wait to meet you.’

  ‘I can’t wait to see them either.’

  I nodded to John. His eyes sparkled at me. He was enjoying this far too much.

  There was a tap on the door. Leo came in with Simone and Michael. He guided them and they sat at the table. Family meetings with all of us together weren’t common and they were both very serious. Dear, but they were adorable. From the look on John’s face he was thinking the same thing. We shared a smile. He gestured slightly to me and I nodded. I would take over.

  ‘Do you need me?’ he said quietly.

  ‘I think you’d better stay, we need to work on our story,’ I said. ‘You can help.’

  He shrugged. ‘Good idea.’

  Leo sat next to Simone and Michael without saying a word.

  ‘Simone, Michael, I have a sister here in England and we’re all going, as a family, to visit her today. After what happened a couple of days ago, we don’t think it’s a good idea for us to split up right now. So we’ll all go together.’ I turned to Simone. ‘This is also a good chance for you, Simone,’ her eyes went wide, ‘to try out being…’ I searched for the right word. I didn’t want to use it, but it was the only one that would do the job, ‘…a normal person.’

  ‘I am a normal person, Emma,’ Simone protested, eyes still wide.

  ‘I’m sorry, sweetheart, but your dad is a Shen, and a Wind, and…’ I stopped there. I didn’t want to say it.

  ‘Say it,’ John said quietly.

  ‘No,’ I responded, just as quietly. Not in front of Michael. ‘Let it go.’ He didn’t move.

  ‘You’re half Shen, Simone,’ I said sadly. ‘What is perfectly ordinary for you is really weird for other kids. You already know that…’ I hesitated. ‘But now you’re going to look it right in the face, ‘cause you’re going to meet some ordinary kids.’

  ‘Can I make friends with them?’ Simone said softly.

  My heart ached for her.

  ‘If you don’t do anything really weird and freak them out,’ I said as gently as I could, ‘I’m sure they’ll be glad to be your friends.’

  ‘I’d like that,’ she said in a tiny voice.

  Michael glanced at her sharply. Then he looked down at the table and some of the emotion leaked out.

  Yes, that’s right, Michael, I thought at him. She doesn’t have a single friend her own age in the whole wide world.

  ‘We’re going to visit my big sister. Her name is Jennifer. You call her Mrs Black. Okay?’ Both of them nodded.

  John smiled. I wondered what was so funny, then I understood. My sister’s name was Mrs Black. I shrugged. ‘Hopefully one day there’ll be two Mrs Blacks in the same family.’

  John and Leo didn’t move but it was obvious what they were thinking.

  ‘Okay. Simone, she has two little boys. One of them is the same age as you, six, the other is smaller, four. I honestly don’t know what they’re
like, but the little one is Andrew and the big one is Colin. Okay?’ Simone nodded.

  ‘This is the hard bit, Simone, listen carefully.’ She nodded again. ‘You want to hear something really weird? They’ve probably never heard of martial arts.’

  Leo moved to say something and I raised my hand to stop him. ‘It’s quite possible, Leo, children that young may not have had any exposure to it. Think about it. They’ve only seen children’s television, and that’s all.’

  Leo subsided. He thought about it. He nodded without speaking.

  Simone’s eyes were wide. ‘Never heard of the Arts at all?’ she said, breathless. ‘Not even tai chi?’

  I shook my head. ‘And if you show them anything, you’ll probably completely freak them out. So as far as we are concerned, as long as you’re with them, you can’t do anything. Nothing physical, and definitely no energy work. If you do any sort of energy work at all, it will scare them to death and they won’t want to be your friends. Okay?’

  Simone was obviously overwhelmed. She nodded, eyes wide.

  ‘It will be the same at school, sweetheart. None of the kids there will know much about it either. Next thing…’ I saw Michael’s face. ‘Bear with me, Michael, okay? You’re next, and we all need to have our stories straight.’

  Michael nodded.

  ‘They won’t know what a Shen is, and even if they did we wouldn’t tell them that your dad is one.’

  Simone glanced at her father. He smiled encouragement.

  ‘Don’t tell them he can change his form, don’t tell them he can do things with the weather, don’t tell them he can do things with water. In fact, it might be best if you don’t mention your dad at all.’

  You make me sound like an embarrassment, Emma, John said silently.

  I rounded on him. A great many inappropriate comments jumped onto my tongue and I swallowed them all. Not in front of the kids. His face lit up with a broad grin and he leaned back to smile sideways at me.

  ‘Your dad works for a company in Beijing, and we live in Hong Kong. That’s all you need to tell them. Okay?’ I turned to Michael. ‘You’re her cousin and your dad works in the same company. Your parents are divorced and we look after you while your mother’s travelling for business, and you came with us to see London and Paris. Okay?’