Heaven to Wudang

I stepped forward to stand next to the Shen. ‘Stand down,’ I said without looking at him. ‘I’m Emma Donahoe, Regent of the Northern Heavens, First Heavenly General. This is Princess Simone Chen and Lord Leo Alexander. We’ll handle this demon, you don’t need to destroy it.’

The Shen stared at me. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’

‘I’m not a demon!’ the young man shouted, his face fierce with fury. ‘I’m not … I’m not …’

His father put his hand on the young man’s shoulder and spoke soothingly. ‘Don’t lose it, Tom, deep breaths, you can do it. Hold on, lad, you can’t change here. These people know what you are!’

The Shen and I both stepped back as the skin on the young man’s face disappeared.

‘Snake Mother,’ Leo whispered behind us.

‘Can’t be,’ Simone said. ‘The only male Mother-type is the King himself.’

‘What the hell are you people talking about?’ the Shen said, turning to glare at me again.

I raised both hands. ‘Okay. You.’ I pointed at the older man. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Ben O’Breen,’ he said. He pressed his hand harder into Tom’s shoulder and the young man’s face returned to normal. ‘I’m his father, and he won’t hurt anybody.’

I raised one hand towards the Shen. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Vincent Pang,’ the Shen said. ‘Your name is Emma? You know what I am?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then you probably know more about me than I do.’

I turned back to the Europeans. ‘Ben, do you know what your son is?’

‘I know that his mother was something vicious and powerful, and that we had to get away from her before our son turned into something similar,’ Ben said.

‘Was she Chinese or European?’ I said, noticing Tom’s slightly Eurasian features.

‘Chinese,’ Ben said. ‘Do you know what she was? What he is?’ His face filled with hope. ‘Can you help us?’

‘None of them has any idea what they are?’ Simone said, incredulous.

‘Strange as it sounds, I think that’s the case,’ I said. ‘Tom’s half demon. Vincent attacked him because that’s his nature, being what he is.’

‘What am I?’ Vincent said.

‘You’re half Shen, and probably my half-brother,’ Simone said.

He turned to stare at her. ‘You can see what I really am?’ He took a couple of steps back and appeared ready to run.

‘Don’t be ashamed,’ I said quickly. ‘Your father — if you share the same father with her — is the most powerful Shen in the Heavens, second only to the Jade Emperor himself.’

‘All that stuff is real?’ he said.

‘Have you changed to a turtle or snake?’ I said.

He hesitated. Admitting to changing to either was huge; it was understandable that he’d prefer not to share.

‘Do you change, Vincent?’

He nodded once sharply.

‘And you ask me if the Shen are real?’

He sagged against the wall and looked as if he was about to cry. ‘I thought I was an experiment or something. I change into this horrible thing, and I have this urge to kill people like him.’ He bent and put his head in his hands. ‘I’m not a monster at all!’

Simone went to him and pulled him into a fierce hug, and he let go into her shoulder.

I turned back to Ben and Tom. ‘Now, what to do with you two? Tom, when you change, what do you change into?’

‘Can we take this somewhere where we can sit, rather than standing around here talking about it?’ Simone said. She patted Vincent on the back. ‘He’s broken down and he’s heavy.’ She pulled back to look into Vincent’s face. ‘You have a family now, we can help you. Come with us.’

‘Anywhere but the Shang,’ I said.

Leo concentrated. ‘Coffee shop upstairs at the Conrad is empty.’

‘Ask LK Pak to join us, please,’ I said. ‘Let’s go.’

CHAPTER 2

We took the glass lift up to the hotel and all entered the coffee shop. The staff were setting out the central display for the lunchtime buffet, moving quietly and with precision. A couple of foreign businessmen sat at a table next to the window, but apart from that the café was deserted.

After some searching through my bag I found a packet of tissues and handed them to Vincent. He took them with a nod and wiped his eyes, then blew his nose.

The waiter took our orders, and when he was gone I leaned on the table.

‘Vincent, your case is simple,’ I said. ‘You’re a lost reptile Shen and we’ll take you in and give you a home. You have a family now.’

‘I already have a family,’ Vincent said. ‘My parents brought me up in a housing estate in Lam Tin.’

‘Both parents?’ Simone said.

‘Of course. When I was about fifteen, I changed. They were … They threw me out, they said I was evil. My father tried to kill me.’

‘A Shen wouldn’t do that,’ Simone said. ‘They’d be proud, not scared. I wonder why your parents reacted like that? Maybe one of them isn’t your real parent?’

‘We’ll find out later. Whatever you are, you’re safe and you have a home now,’ I said. ‘We will look after you.’

He bobbed his head. ‘You’ve given me reason to live.’

‘I hope that’s not true,’ Simone said.

‘I had given up,’ he said. ‘I finally gave in to this horrible urge to hurt people and followed this poor boy and his father in the hope that the boy would end it for me.’

‘That’s our nature, to destroy demons,’ Simone said. ‘You were all lucky that we found you when we did.’

‘Is that what I am?’ Tom said. ‘A demon?’

‘You are something new and different and frankly more than a little scary,’ I said. ‘What do you change into, Tom?’

‘I’ve done a lot of research into it,’ he said. ‘The closest thing I’ve seen is a thing called a lamia: front end of a woman, back end of a snake. I’m something like that — but they’re always female, and I’m not.’

‘You have the top half of a man and the bottom half of a snake, and the human part has no skin?’ I said.

He nodded, his face full of misery.

‘Simone, have a look at Ben, just to be sure that he’s human,’ I said.

Simone touched Ben’s hand and focused on him. He didn’t appear to be concerned by it.

‘Not hurting him, and I’m touching him with shen energy,’ Simone said. ‘He’s completely human.’

She stood and reached for Tom and I raised my hand. ‘Wait until LK gets here. He’s the expert.’

She nodded and sat again.

‘You said your name’s O’Breen?’ I asked Ben. ‘That’s unusual, it sounds like O’Brien.’

‘It’s an ancient form of O’Brien,’ Ben said, obviously something he’d said many times before. ‘It’s spelt differently —’

‘Because it’s an older form and slightly different,’ I finished for him. ‘I have the same issue. My surname’s Donahoe, and I’m always telling people how to spell it because —’

This time it was Ben who finished for me. ‘Because there’s only one letter different.’

‘Freaky,’ Simone said.

‘My dad’s doing our family tree,’ I said. ‘He reckons our family originally came from Wales, though, not Ireland.’

‘Same here,’ Ben said. ‘I’m not Irish, I’m actually Welsh.’

‘Seriously freaky,’ Simone said.

‘Tell me about Tom’s mother,’ I said. ‘She was Chinese, and cruel? What was she like?’

‘I met her when I was here in Hong Kong on business,’ Ben said. ‘About twenty years ago. She was small and sweet and smiled all the time, and I was completely smitten. We married and I took her back to Wales with me, and the minute Tom was born, she changed. She turned into the opposite of what she’d been here; she was manipulative, angry and — there’s no other word for it — she was straight-up evil. I left her after I came home one day to find that she’d stolen the next-door neighbour’s dog, butchered the poor beast on the dining table and was drinking its blood. Tom was with her, she was holding him, and their faces, their hands, were covered in blood…’ He leaned on the table and put his head in his hands. ‘Tom was only two years old. I grabbed him and ran. We went to London, but she found us and nearly stole him back. I ran further — I lived in Singapore for ten years until she found us again, then Kuala Lumpur, then Sydney, then back here. We’ve been on the run ever since. I just pray to God she never finds him because I know that if she does, she’ll change him into something like her.’

‘What was her name?’ I said.

‘Gloria Ho,’ Ben said, and I sighed with relief.

‘Could have been a name that Kitty used, though, Emma,’ Simone said.

‘I don’t think so. Kitty’s been here in Hong Kong the whole time; she hasn’t had a chance to have a family in the UK,’ I said. ‘Someone else, not Kitty.’

‘I’d be very surprised if she wasn’t in Kitty’s group, though,’ Simone said. ‘I wonder how many other overseas experiments they’ve been doing. And all without the Shen here in Asia lifting a finger to do anything about it. They’ll be sorry when an army of hybrids turns up at the Gates of Heaven with the power of East and West combined.’

‘Suddenly this sounds much bigger than just Tom and me,’ Ben said.

‘How much control does Tom have when he changes?’ I said.

‘I’ve never killed anyone,’ Tom said. ‘I have it under control.’

‘Have you wanted to kill?’ I said.

He looked away.

‘Tom, look at me,’ I said, and he turned back. ‘I used to be something very much like you. But I had control, and I never hurt anyone. If you’re the same, we have a place for you as well, where you’ll be safe from your mother and we can help you to control this nature.’

‘You used to be? You were cured?’ His face filled with hope. ‘I could be cured?’

I was silent at that.

‘Tell him,’ Simone said softly.

I shook my head.

Simone said it for me. ‘Removing the demon essence from Emma involved burning it out of her. The Demon King made us pay a terrible price, and then he engulfed her in flames and burned her alive. He took off the entire top layer of her body, and most of her insides as well. Not just the skin, everything. Burned her eyes and tongue out of her head, destroyed her lungs and throat — there wasn’t anything left. That’s why her skin’s so smooth and strange-looking. If one of Heaven’s greatest healers hadn’t intervened, she would have died.’

Tom’s face crumpled. ‘It would be worth it.’

LK Pak, the Wudang Demon Master, arrived and sat to join us. He nodded around the table, then focused on Tom. ‘I see what you mean.’

I raised one hand to stop LK before he spoke any further.

‘Master Pak is an expert on demons, and hopefully he can help you,’ I said. ‘Before we begin: understand that you have free will, Tom. You must never, under any circumstances, offer to give that up to anybody. If you ask for someone’s protection and offer yourself, you’ll lose your free will and become something much less. It’s like being an object, a possession, and it’s worse than death. Do you understand? Don’t ever ask anybody to protect you, or offer to serve them.’

Tom nodded, his eyes wide.

I turned to LK. ‘Take a look. From what he said, he’s a male Snake Mother, East-West hybrid.’

‘Not possible, no such thing,’ LK said, and took Tom’s hand. His eyes unfocused, then widened. ‘Well, shit. He’s right. Never seen anything like him. What the hell did his Mother look like?’

‘Last seen cutting up a dog and drinking its blood,’ I said. ‘Strong enough to spend a significant amount of time in the West.’

‘What colour dog?’ LK said quickly.

Ben thought about it for a moment, then said, ‘Black.’

‘Well, damn,’ LK said with concern. ‘She really drank the blood of a black dog? Damn.’

‘Is the colour significant?’ Ben said.

‘The blood of a black dog is a demon ward,’ I said. ‘She’s not supposed to be able to even touch it.’

‘I never wanted to get messed up in all of this,’ Ben said weakly. ‘I just want somewhere safe and normal to bring my boy up.’

‘Safe would be enough for me,’ Tom said. ‘I hate seeing Dad in danger. Especially when it’s from me.’

‘We will provide you with safety,’ LK said. ‘Just make sure never to submit to anyone’s will, like Lady Emma said, and you’ll both be safe.’

‘Can you help me too, sir?’ Vincent said.

LK rose, went around the table and held his hand out. Vincent took it; LK nodded and returned to his seat. ‘Third or fourth generation.’

‘But he changes!’ I said.

‘Can still happen, particularly if one of the biggest of us is involved.’

‘So he’s like … my great-great-nephew or something?’ Simone said.

‘Fourth or fifth cousin,’ LK said. He turned back to Vincent. ‘You are descended from a mighty heavenly Shen, and your powers have emerged after several generations, even though they were dormant in those before you.’

Vincent’s expression was a mix of delight and disbelief.

‘The English term for that is throwback,’ I said. ‘But three or four generations? Really? John’s his grandfather, or great-grandfather?’

‘Could be more than that; with the Xuan Wu the powers have laid dormant for up to six generations,’ LK said. ‘Look at Simone: the first-generation human cross and nearly as powerful as the Dark Lord himself.’

‘But he’d never had a human wife before Michelle,’ I said.

‘So it was either his son or daughter that was Vincent’s ancestor,’ LK said. ‘They’re probably still around as well; we should check Vincent’s ancestral tablets.’

Vincent winced. ‘My family won’t let me near them.’

‘Then accept what you are with grace. You have a Heavenly family, and Lady Emma will care for you as if you were her own.’

‘Lady Emma.’ Ben studied me. ‘When we were down in the basement, you said you were a General and a Regent. Forgive my bluntness, but you don’t look like anything much.’

Simone, LK and Leo all flinched.

‘Don’t do that!’ I said, sweeping my hand in front of me. ‘I’m not going to explode and bite people’s heads off just for stating the obvious! I’m middle-aged, short, plain and scruffy. He’s right: I don’t look like anything much.’

‘One of the first lessons you learn at Wudangshan is that nothing is as it appears,’ Simone said to Ben. ‘It’s the plainest, scruffiest and most ordinary-looking people who are the most powerful and deadly. The big, heroic, handsome types usually grow up selfish and conceited and generally never find the Way.’

‘I’m the heroic handsome type,’ Leo said.

Simone nodded to him, serious. ‘I concede your utter gorgeousness and total irresistibility, Lion. You are the most handsome inhabitant of Wudang.’

Leo saw our guests’ faces. ‘We’re just having fun, don’t worry.’

‘I’m not powerful and deadly,’ I said.

Leo blew his breath out loudly and turned away.

ignored him and continued. ‘I’m very small compared to many of the residents of Wudang. Due to a weird set of coincidences, and a god who makes really bad decisions, I’ve been put in charge of a lot of stuff. I can’t wait for him to come back so I can offload all of it back onto him.’

This time Simone made a disgusted noise. ‘Like he’ll let you.’

I ignored her as well. ‘But you’re right: I’m nothing terribly special. I’ve just been given a high-ranking job and I’m doing my best with it.’

‘What level demon can you take down, Lady Emma?’ LK said.

‘Weapon or energy?’ I said.

‘Thank you for making my point for me.’ LK nodded to Tom and Ben. ‘She’s Regent of the Northern Heavens and Acting First Heavenly General. She’s smart, fights like a demon when her family is threatened, and completely loyal to Wudang.’ He leaned back. ‘We are all proud to serve her.’

‘Oh, look, you made her blush,’ Simone said with delight. ‘That’s way more fun than anything I could have done.’ She grinned at LK. ‘Way to go. I won’t forget that. If you really want to freak her out, just compliment her.’

‘I think one of the most popular pastimes on the Mountain is Emma-baiting,’ I said. ‘LK, can Tom go to the Celestial Plane?’

LK nodded. ‘With an escort, he can.’

‘Well then, our morning tea’s here; let’s enjoy it, then head up.’

‘Where to?’ Vincent said.

‘Wudang Mountain in Heaven, home of all Martial Arts,’ Simone said, watching his reaction.

He didn’t disappoint. He grinned broadly and said, ‘I can’t wait.’

We landed on the main training square at the bottom of the stairs that led up to Yuzhengong — True Way — the largest building on the Mountain. It was a hundred metres long and fifty metres wide, a traditional bracket construction made completely without nails, with red pillars holding the gold-tiled, upturned roof five metres above the ground. The seven peaks of Wudangshan stood around us in a rough circle, joined by soaring bridges and walkways over the gorges between them. The three main halls — True Way, Purple Mist and Dragon Tiger — flanked the vast training forecourt of polished dark slate.

Ben, Tom and Vincent turned on the spot, admiring the view. True Way was one of the highest parts of Wudangshan, with only the Golden Temple higher on its own peak behind it. Some small meditation pagodas sat at the same level on other peaks, but they were impossible to reach without flight.

The mountains around us stretched forever, covered in pines. Clouds moved through the gorges below us, the sunlight from above making them shine. The sky was that impossible Celestial blue and the breeze was fresh with alpine scents from the gardens.

Ben took a deep breath and smiled. ‘I feel more at ease than I have ever felt anywhere.’

Vincent was smiling too, his face streaked with tears. ‘I feel like I’ve come home. I always felt there was a place for me somewhere that would be bright and wonderful and where I would be welcome.’ He fell to one knee and saluted me. ‘Thanks to you, I have found that place. If I were to die right now, I would die a happy man.’

I nodded to him as he rose, and wondered if the place that was my home would be possible to find, and if I would have to lose this place to gain it.

‘That’s astonishing. How do they do that?’ Tom said. He was watching the Disciples working on the forecourt.

They were performing a level five staff set, the most advanced staff kata on Wudang. They had placed their staves upright, climbed up them, and were standing on the tips of the vertical staves with one foot, their hands clasped in front of them. They swapped from foot to foot without the staff falling, then switched to one hand, doing a handstand on the end of the staff.

‘Are there holes in the stone for the staves to sit in?’ Ben said.

‘No,’ I said, ‘it’s a matter of balance and energy control.’

‘Could I learn that?’ Vincent said.

‘If we don’t have you doing that within a year I’ll hand in my gold sash,’ I said.

‘I heard that!’ Leo said. ‘It’s a bet!’

I strode to Leo, held my hand out and we slapped palms. I bent to whisper in his ear. ‘You’re supposed to be celibate at the moment, so no sexing him up to ruin his energy manipulation.’

‘I’m with Martin right now so I wouldn’t do it anyway,’ he whispered back.

I straightened and studied him. ‘It’s that serious?’

‘No,’ he said, meeting my gaze. ‘I am.’

My mobile rang in my bag and I pulled it out. It was Ronnie Wong.

‘I hear you just found something very interesting, ma’am. I was wondering if you’d let this worthless small demon examine it? Is it really a male Mother?’

‘East-West hybrid,’ I said. ‘Hold on a minute.’ I turned to Ben and Tom. ‘I have a gentleman who is an expert on demonkind who would like to have a look at you. Do you mind?’

Ben and Tom shared a look, and Tom nodded.

‘We trust you,’ Ben said. ‘Do what you have to.’

I returned to the phone. ‘Are you big enough to come up here unescorted?’

‘That I am, ma’am.’

‘Call me again when you reach the main gate.’

‘Ho ak.’

‘He’s been in Hong Kong too long,’ I said as I snapped the phone shut. ‘Ho ak indeed.’

‘Better than Hell,’ Simone said.

‘Vincent, do you know Ronnie Wong?’ I said.

‘No,’ Vincent said.

‘Ben? Tom? Do you know a gentleman by the name of Ronnie Wong? He runs a really small crappy fung shui shop full of paper effigies and Hell money out in Western District.’

Both of them shook their heads.

I looked down at the phone. ‘Then how the hell did he know that we just found you?’

‘Ask him when he gets here,’ Simone said. ‘Let’s go to the admin area and sort out what we’ll do with this lot.’

We walked along the path from the three main halls on the largest peak, heading east to the support areas. The buildings here were close together, mostly low, brick and single storey, except for the Imperial Residence — a two-storey courtyard house standing alone, flush against the stone side of the mountain — and the Armoury, which was one floor but had an exceptionally tall roof. We crossed a twenty-metre-long marble bridge, a perfect semicircle over the deep chasm between the peaks, to the administrative area: a cluster of small buildings housing offices and meeting rooms around a central larger hall — the War Room.

We went into my office and sat at the small conference table, and Yi Hao ran off to find the allocations for quarters in the residential area.

‘If this is Chinese Heaven, then what about Western Heaven?’ Ben said. ‘Have you been there?’

‘The Eastern Shen — the gods from here — have made intelligence-gathering trips to the West and encountered demons, but haven’t met any Western Shen,’ I said. ‘Xuan Wu — the most powerful guy, the boss of Wudang — actually has a house in Kensington and spent years in London, and never met a single Western Shen.’

‘It’s possible they may have been avoiding him because he has a very dark nature,’ Simone said. ‘Xuan means dark, and he sort of changed sides and joined the Celestial.’

‘But other Shen have been over there too, and tried to visit Western Heaven, and found nothing,’ I said. ‘It’s like it’s only demons over there, no Shen at all.’

‘Not many of the Asian Shen have shown much interest, though,’ Simone said with resignation. ‘There’s still the “Middle Kingdom” mentality. China is the central ninety per cent of the world and nothing else really matters.’

‘Middle Kingdom?’ Ben said.

‘The Chinese characters for China are “Middle Kingdom”, Dad,’ Tom said.

‘Oh.’

My phone rang and I answered it.

‘Emma, this is Gold. We need an advanced energy worker over at the infirmary — Amy’s in labour.’

‘Where’s Meredith?’

‘Here, but we need you too. We have to deliver by caesar; she can’t deliver normally and hold her shape. If she changes to dragon, she’ll kill them.’

I snapped the phone shut, rose and bowed slightly. ‘One of our dragons is about to give birth to human children and I’m needed to make sure that she stays in human form. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be back later.’

‘I’ll take care of this,’ Leo said.

‘Thanks,’ I said, and hurried out.

‘Did she just say what I think she said?’ I heard Ben say with disbelief behind me.

‘I’m going to be an auntie!’ Simone said.

CHAPTER 3

Gold held Amy’s hand and smiled down at her while the staff gave the newborns their first bath. Amy smiled back at him, then around at everybody else.

‘Do you have names for them?’ Meredith said.

‘Richard after Amy’s father, and Jade after mine,’ Gold said.

‘How’s the urge to change?’ Meredith said.

Amy didn’t reply, and Meredith nodded.

‘We’re nearly done here,’ Edwin, the Academy doctor, said. ‘You’ll be able to change to dragon very shortly.’

‘Will the wound still be there when I change back from dragon to human?’ Amy said.

Edwin nodded. ‘This much trauma and blood loss will lower your transformation ability.’

‘You could always stay dragon and bottle-feed them,’ Gold said.

Amy shook her head. ‘I want to give them as much of a boost as I can. My human milk is the best for them. And if I cuddle them as dragon I won’t be nearly as soft.’