Kylie Chan - Earth to Hell

‘I know,’ he said, his voice mild. ‘But it was so much fun!’ He gestured towards me. ‘Don’t you agree, Emma?’

I didn’t reply.

‘What now?’ Simone said. ‘Someone’s taken Leo, and we have no idea where he is.’

‘Let’s go have a look in his cell, see if they left anything when they took him,’ Martin said.

‘Good idea,’ I said. ‘Meredith, put the demon to one side and let it recover.’ I glared at the King. ‘That demon is mine. Do not touch it.’

Meredith picked up the demon like a child and put it on the floor at the side of the room. Demons were generally tougher than humans, and could take much more physical abuse because of their almost liquid insides. An hour or so on the floor and this one would be fine again.

We all went back to the villas. Someone was sitting on the porch of the first one — an elderly woman, her face serene as she watched the lake. She smiled slightly at me as we went past.

We went into Leo’s villa. Downstairs were a small living room with a television, a kitchen and a dining room. Upstairs were two small bedrooms and a bathroom. Leo’s clothes were in the closet in the bedroom; it was disturbing to see exact replicas of his clothes in his room back at the Peak hanging here.

Simone went to the drawers in the closet and pulled one out. ‘Look, Emma.’ There were a few pairs of pink boxers at the bottom of the drawer. I shook my head.

‘I know what happened to them — I heard you talking about it when we were in Australia,’ Simone went on.

‘What happened?’ Michael said.

Simone turned to him and lowered her voice. ‘When we were in Australia, Emma and Leo were playing jokes on each other non-stop, and Emma got into the laundry room and dyed all his undershirts and boxers pink.’

‘He did stuff like that to me too sometimes.’ Michael turned away. ‘Damn but I miss him.’

‘I can’t believe he kept them,’ I said, glancing back down at the underwear. ‘He kept a pebble from the beach too, from the looks of it.’

Simone looked into the drawer. ‘That’s not a pebble, that’s something strange.’ She pulled out a small golden stone about a centimetre across. ‘This is some sort of demon.’

‘George?’ I called to the doorway. The Demon King, Yanluo Wang, Meredith and Martin entered.

‘What is it, Emma?’ the King said.

Simone held the stone out to him. ‘What do you make of this?’

The Demon King took the stone and stared at it, then grimaced and made a gesture of frustration. ‘Six!’

‘You destroyed that one,’ Yanluo Wang said.

‘I thought I did,’ the Demon King said grimly. ‘It was part of a posse of four demons helping —’

‘Helping One Two Two,’ I broke in. ‘They had meetings when I was held in his apartment in Hell. There were four of them. I remember.’

‘I thought I’d tracked them down and destroyed them all,’ the King said. ‘Looks like I missed this one.’

‘Do you know where it is?’ Simone said. ‘It has Leo!’

‘I have a pretty good idea where he is,’ the King said. ‘These demons were messing with stones before. Even if they’re not still in the same place, you’ll be able to pick up an idea of where they’ve relocated if you go there. But I’m quite sure they’ll still be in the same nest.’

‘Where?’ Simone said eagerly.

‘I will agree to tell you on one condition,’ the King said.

‘Oh God, George, is there always a catch?’ I said.

‘Yes, of course there is,’ the King said. ‘Michael’s mother, Rhonda, must spend a week down here in Hell, here on the tenth level, so I can attempt to talk her out of marrying the Tiger.’

‘We can’t wait that long. What if they hurt him or kill him while they have him? We need to go find him now ,’ Simone said.

‘They won’t hurt him, Simone,’ the King said. ‘He’ll be fine.’

‘Of course they’ll hurt him!’ Simone said, frustrated.

The King waved a hand at Meredith and turned away. ‘Tell them, Gweipoh.’

Simone and Michael waited, staring at Meredith.

Meredith and Yanluo Wang shared a look, then Meredith sighed and her shoulders sagged. ‘You’re here now, you might as well know. Leo is a Celestial Worthy; all he needs is to take the Elixir. He’s between life and death right now, so they can’t hurt him or kill him. He doesn’t feel pain, and any wounds they inflict will heal immediately. They can hold him, and that’s about it.’

‘What do you think they want?’ I said.

Meredith turned to the King. ‘Tell us about Six.’

‘Six,’ the King said, and smiled slightly. ‘Six was involved with little One Two Two when Simon was in charge of the Triad activity here. He may have taken over. I hear that your students have fun practising on Triad operations, safe in the knowledge that any supernatural means they use to break up the criminal activities won’t be reported?’

Meredith and I shared a look, then Meredith spoke. ‘We let the students practise their Arts on any criminals they find, yes. Apparently they’ve put a huge dent in the income from organised crime in Hong Kong.’

‘I wouldn’t be surprised if Six has taken over One Two Two’s empire, ladies,’ the King said. ‘He’d probably like you to back off. As I said, give me Rhonda for a week and the information is yours to do with as you please. You will know where they are, and you can go in and sort them out.’

‘Maybe they’re giving you a chance to have Rhonda for a week,’ I said.

‘Oh, very good, my Lady,’ the Demon King said. ‘Most worthy of you, but I can assure you, I swear, that I myself have nothing to do with them. They have done this on their own and I am merely taking advantage of the opportunity. I’ve wanted to have a chat with Ms MacLaren for quite some time now. All she has to do is come down and spend a week here, something of a small holiday. That’s all.’

‘Demonic or Celestial side?’ Meredith said.

‘Demonic.’

Meredith leaned back and looked at the King appraisingly, then at Michael.

‘You want to steal the Tiger’s fiancée?’ I said incredulously.

‘I want to steal his Queen,’ the Demon King said.

‘It’s up to Mom,’ Michael said.

‘If you ask her to do this she will, Michael, you know that,’ the King said. ‘If she truly loves the Tiger then a week here will not be such a trial. And if I can talk her out of marrying him, it’s a bonus for you.’

‘No tricks,’ Michael said grimly.

The Demon King spread his hands. ‘I vow I shall not use any mind control at all. Just the power of persuasion. Hopefully you and I together can make her see exactly what she would be getting into if she were to marry this asshole.’

‘Do you want her for yourself?’ I said.

‘Of course I do, that’s why I’m doing this,’ the King said. ‘But more than that, I don’t want to see this remarkable woman with beauty and courage become the plaything of a man who will only treasure her until he has her in his possession. Once they are wed he will ignore her like all the others and go off in search of a new prize.’

Michael sighed and ran one hand over his face.

‘See? He knows,’ the King said with a grin.

‘Vow that you won’t hurt my mom and I’ll go talk to her,’ Michael said.

‘She will be accommodated as the princess she is. She will experience nothing but beauty and pleasure while she is in my care. That I vow.’

Michael studied the King appraisingly, then nodded once. ‘Deal. Let me see what I can do. How do I contact you?’

The King focused on Michael and Michael nodded. ‘Okay, got it. Take us back up and I’ll talk to her.’