Kylie Chan - Earth to Hell

Leo waited until Simone and Michael were out of earshot. ‘Let’s go inside.’

He grasped the wheels of his chair to wheel himself inside, but I moved to the rear of the chair and took the handles. I wheeled him past his two demon guards into his villa.

I sat on the rosewood couch and he sat in his wheelchair facing me, fidgeting in his lap. I waited for him to start, but he didn’t say anything. Eventually I said, ‘I know you’ve been asking to die for eight years, Leo.’

He sighed and tilted his head without looking up. ‘That’s all I want, Emma. An end to it. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.’

‘There’s no way we can convince you to come back with us?’

He just shrugged.

‘Simone and Michael need you.’

He smiled slightly. ‘They’re already grown-up, look at them. What do they need me for?’ He gestured towards his legs. ‘I’m useless.’

‘Immortals can fly; you could probably learn to levitate, or even make use of your legs. Iron Crutch doesn’t have to take the form of a cripple all the time, and probably neither would you, unless you chose to.’

Leo bowed his head. ‘A cripple. ’

I raised my hands. ‘Disabled. Disabled. Geez.’

He rubbed his hand over his face again. ‘No, you’re right, Emma, I’m a cripple. And here you are, wanting to sentence me to an eternity of being like this and pining after him?’ He heaved a deep sigh. ‘No, thanks. Go and wait for him, and when he comes back for you, be happy together. Simone and Michael are grown-up now. None of you need me. Please. Let me go.’

I hesitated, then dealt my trump card. ‘I know what you want more than death, because I want it too.’

He looked away.

‘I want to be his Serpent, Leo. I want to join with him when he comes back, be one with him. I want him to absorb me.’ I reached out and touched his hand. ‘And I know you want him to absorb you too. It’s what you asked him to do when you thought you were going to die.’

He still didn’t look at me.

‘What if you had the chance to be drained by him?’

His head shot up so he could see me.

‘Be one with him forever?’ I went on. ‘I know that’s what I want. I’m sure you want it too. Would you wait for him to come back, to have that chance?’

‘That would be wrong, Emma. He loves you.’

‘He loves you too, Leo, and I’m sure he’d be merciful enough to do this for you.’ I smiled and shrugged. ‘My husband and my best friend in one gorgeous package. How could I lose?’

He chuckled. ‘That sounds so wrong.’

‘Shen only seem to follow human rules when it suits them.’ I held his hand tighter. ‘So what do you say? Come home with us and spend the time with us, your family, until he returns. Simone’s only fourteen and has a lot of growing to do. Michael could really use your advice; he isn’t on speaking terms with his father. They really do need you, and I could use your common sense sometimes. And when he returns, both of us can ask him to do this for you. You know he won’t say no to me. So how about it?’

‘That would be a dream come true, Emma, you know that,’ Leo said softly.

‘I know, my friend, I know,’ I said, and squeezed his hand. ‘I want it too.’

‘He would do it for me?’

‘He already did, but Kwan Yin grabbed you. Remember? He started to drain you. He’d do it again if we asked him, I’m sure.’

‘But I have to drink this stupid Elixir of Immortality. Then he won’t be able to drain me.’

‘He will. I know he will — he was concerned about draining Meredith. Take it, Leo, and come back with us for a little while longer.’

Leo gestured towards the sideboard in his dining room. ‘It’s over there. It’s been there the whole time; I could have used it any time I wanted. Wanna get it for me?’

I couldn’t contain the huge smile. ‘Sure.’

I rose and went to the sideboard, where an elegant silver and glass jug held the Elixir of Immortality. The liquid was the colour of red wine but its sour, unpleasant smell was discernible from quite some distance. I grabbed a glass as well and took both to him, placing them on the coffee table next to him.

‘Smells awful,’ I said.

‘Yeah,’ Leo said. He grinned. ‘Must mean it’s very good for you.’

‘Don’t do it yet — I’ll get the kids,’ I said.

‘Does Michael still object to being called a kid?’ Leo said.

‘Oh, very loudly,’ I said, and went to the door of the villa. Call them for me , I said to the stone.

Done , the stone replied.

Simone and Michael hurried back to the house, Meredith and the official following.

‘He’s really going to do it?’ Simone said, flushed and excited.

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘This will be your first time to see this then,’ Meredith said. ‘Come and watch.’

Simone raced to Leo and hugged him around his shoulders. ‘Drink it, Leo. I want to see what happens.’

I took the jug and poured him a glass of the crimson, foul-smelling liquid. ‘Drink it quickly if it tastes as bad as it smells.’

‘Yeah,’ Leo said, and raised the glass in a toast to all of us, then drank.

‘Wait …’ Meredith said, but it was too late.

Leo dropped the glass, his mouth opened in a silent scream, his eyes wide. He shredded quickly, like a demon, his edges disappearing into black feathery streamers. It happened too fast for me to react; he exploded and was gone.

‘You killed him!’ Michael shouted, rounding on Meredith and the official. ‘You murdered him!’ He sagged against the couch and rubbed his hand over his face. ‘What happened?’

‘This is not possible,’ the official said weakly. ‘This cannot have happened. He was an ordinary human.’ He drifted to the side of the room and fell to sit on a chair against the wall. ‘I am contacting the Master.’

Meredith went to Michael and looked into his eyes. ‘That wasn’t Leo, Michael, believe me. Only demons react like that to the Elixir. Only demons say it smells and tastes bad; to everyone else it tastes very good. That was some sort of demon copy or replacement or something, and the Elixir destroyed it.’

‘So where’s Leo?’ Michael said, glaring at her.

Meredith turned to the official. He snapped back from whoever he had been communicating with, obviously stricken. ‘The Master is on his way. We have no idea how this happened. Mr Alexander must have been replaced some time recently. That copy was undetectable though, which is very disturbing.’

‘ So where is Leo ?’ Michael stormed to his feet.

A middle-aged man in traditional maroon robes appeared. ‘We don’t know,’ he said.

The official bowed and saluted him. ‘Yanluo Wang.’

‘Come with me to my office and we’ll work out what to do,’ Yanluo Wang, King of the Underworld, said. ‘The demons may know something — we will contact the demonic side of Hell. It appears that Leo has been taken.’

He took us back to the main building, where we’d arrived on the roof, and we went inside the ground-floor entrance. The interior was like a modern office. He led us past sleek designer cubicles containing staff in traditional robes working on computers, and to his office at the other end. It overlooked the lake and contained a meeting table, an executive desk and a computer. A whiteboard to one side was covered with indecipherable symbols and scribbled Chinese characters.

He saw me looking at it and grinned. ‘Recent strategic planning session.’

‘This really is Hell,’ I said wryly.

‘Oh, absolutely,’ Yanluo Wang said. ‘Some residents are punished by being forced to sit in on the sessions. If they are to be punished more severely, they are made to take the minutes of the meetings.’ He sat at the large conference table and gestured for us to sit. ‘Let me call in the contacts and see what I can discover. Please, give me a moment.’ His eyes unfocused.