Kylie Chan: Blue Dragon

Itapped gently on the door. ‘Mum? Dad?’

‘Come in, sweetheart.’

I opened the door and sidled in. My father was rummaging through his suitcase on the desk. My mother was further inside, folding clothes on the bed.

‘You okay, guys?’ I said.

Both of them smiled weakly at me.

‘You don’t need to worry now,’ I said. ‘That attack’s been coming for a while. I think he threw everything he had at us. It’s finished. It’ll be quiet for a long time.’

My mother came into the little sitting room and gestured for me to sit next to her on the couch. Her bright blue eyes were serious under her short greying brown hair, and her long, kind face seemed more lined than usual. ‘Does that sort of thing happen often?’

‘Small attacks, all the time. Big ones like that, no. That’s only the second or third time we’ve had so many demons thrown at us at once.’ I paused and thought about it. ‘No, actually more than that.’ I smiled an apology. ‘We had about five demons come into the apartment when the Mountain was attacked last January. Then a couple of dozen came at us in China last April. The King of the Demons himself threw about fifty small ones and a dozen big ones at us in London, August of this year, and then straight after that the little bastard who came after us last night had a go at us with a big group at Jennifer’s house.’ I counted them up. ‘Four, not counting last night.’

‘Jennifer’s house? You mean your sister Jennifer?’ my mother said. ‘Oh, that’s right, Leonard works for Mr Chen. Jennifer was attacked? So she knows all about this?’

‘Yes. But Jennifer wasn’t attacked. They attacked us, at her house. Her family weren’t threatened at all, from what I could see.’

‘She never mentioned it,’ my father said.

‘I don’t think she wants to dwell on it,’ I said. ‘It was a very frightening experience for all of them. We’ve posted guards at their house, but no more demons have gone anywhere near them. The demons are after us. Wong wants to take John’s head to the King.’

‘They have a King?’ my father said, coming to sit next to me. Close up, the deep lines around his blue eyes made his tanned, leathery face look older. He studied me with concern.

‘Yeah. Big red-headed bastard. The little creep who came after us last night is his son. The King’s said that anyone who can bring him John’s head will be promoted to Number One son.’

‘They want his head?’ my mother said.

‘John—Xuan Wu—is the mightiest demon killer ever to exist. He ran them all off the face of the Earth a long time ago and they hate him. While he’s weak like this, they’ll keep attacking him. If they get his head, he’ll be gone for a very long time.’

‘What do you mean “gone”?’ my father said. ‘Dead?’

‘No. If they take his head, he’ll revert to True Form. He’ll change into a turtle, combined with a snake, and have to go away for a long time to recover from the exertion of maintaining his human form to stay with Simone and me.’

‘He’d change into a what ?’ my mother said.

I sighed. ‘Yeah, I know it’s weird. Even the other Shen say he’s strange, and they’re all completely unbelievable themselves.’ I explained before she could ask. ‘They’re called Shen . Spirits. Not really gods, but that’s the closest word in English we have for it.’

‘So this guy you’re engaged to isn’t a human being at all,’ my father said. ‘He’s some sort of animal spirit.’

‘Got it in one. He’s the Spirit of the North, Emperor of the Dark Northern Heavens, a combination of a serpent and a turtle.’ They both opened their mouths and I answered before they could ask. ‘Yep. That’s right. He’s two animals. And it gets weirder. The Serpent is missing. Gone. Right now he’s just the Turtle.’ I spoke more softly. ‘It’s killing him to be divided like this. The Serpent is out there somewhere, looking for him, and he misses it terribly.’

‘Christ. Then that Tiger guy…’ my father began.

‘Yep. He’s really a white tiger.’

My mother’s mouth flopped open. ‘We had dinner the other night with a tiger ?’

‘Remember what Leo told you—that he’s about the only normal human member of the household? He’s right,’ I said. ‘John is a turtle. The Tiger, Bai Hu, is a white tiger. Gold is a rock, Jade is a dragon—you saw her. Simone is half Shen; she may take some sort of animal form when she grows up but she’s the first human child John’s ever had so it’ll be interesting to see what she grows into. Michael is half Shen too, half tiger, being the Tiger’s son. He may be able to transform too.’

‘All right. So why were you a snake, love? You’re one of us,’ my father said.

I ran my hands through my hair. ‘I honestly don’t know. The whole thing has me really worried.’

‘The lady last night,’ my father said. ‘What was her name?’

‘Kwan Yin. Goddess of Mercy.’

‘She said that being with him has changed you,’ my father said.

‘Has it?’

‘Frankly?’ my mother said. ‘Yes.’

‘In what way?’

My parents shared a look. My father shrugged. They both smiled slightly at me.

‘You have no idea at all,’ I said.

Neither of them said anything.

‘Would you say that I’m more cold-blooded?’

My mother shifted. ‘I wouldn’t say that you’re cold-blooded , dear—’

‘Yes,’ my father said. ‘You always were a bit of a heartless bitch, but now you seem even more heartless.’

My mother was horrified. ‘Brendan!’

‘Last night, when we were threatened by those things. She was only worried about Simone; she didn’t even seem to notice us. When that black guy, Leo, said he wanted to die for them, what did she say? “Fight well.”’ He turned to me. ‘You were quite happy to let him go in front of you and die, Emma.’

‘So was John.’

‘Yeah. He’s unbelievably cold-blooded too.’

‘You don’t know everything about Leo, Dad. He’s terminally ill, he has AIDS. For him, to die on the battlefield protecting us would be the greatest thing in the world. I sincerely hope he doesn’t die in a hospital bed. He deserves much better.’

‘Oh my God,’ my mother said softly, her eyes wide.

‘Are you worried about catching it?’ I said. ‘I thought I knew you better than that.’

My mother snapped out of it and focused on me. ‘You just said that you hope he doesn’t live as long as he can, that you hope he can die sooner, in a fight. You really are cold-blooded.’

‘She is learning our ways and attaining the Tao,’ the stone in my ring said. ‘She is becoming detached and part of the One .’

My parents cast around, bewildered.

‘Who spoke?’ my father said. ‘Sounded like an Englishman.’

I showed them the ring. ‘The stone talks. And I wish it would shut up sometimes.’