LITMIR.BIZ

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      ‘Hear, hear,’ LK said. ‘Now that everybody’s established how scary we all are, let’s have a look at you, Tom.’

      Tom’s eyes widened and he sat back in his chair.

      ‘Nobody’s going to hurt you; we’ll just look at you,’ I said. ‘No need to be concerned.’

      I sat at the table and gestured around it. LK and Ronnie Wong could have been brothers: both appeared to be mid-thirties and were wearing plain white dress shirts and slacks and ugly plastic-rimmed glasses. ‘LK Pak is the Wudang Mountain Demon Master; he’s made an extensive study of the nature of demons. Ronnie Wong here is a Prince of Demonkind and exiled from Hell. He turned from the hosts of Hell and has aligned himself with the Celestial, but because of his nature and the strength of the seals he is still unable to enter Wudang uninvited.’

      ‘I wouldn’t go in anyway. One of your students might think I’m a threat,’ Ronnie said with good humour.

      ‘It is important at this point that you do not change to your demon form,’ LK said to Tom. ‘You would be destroyed.’

      ‘I won’t anyway,’ Tom said. ‘It tries to control me, and it thirsts for blood.’

      I had a sudden horrible idea. ‘Do either of you know a woman called Kitty Kwok?’

      They both started and shared a look.

      ‘I remember you mentioned a Kitty before, but it didn’t click until you said it again,’ Ben said. ‘Not Kitty Kwok; she said her name was Kitty Ho, same as my wife’s name. She came to visit us in Wales, said she was my wife’s sister, and my wife welcomed her.’ He grimaced. ‘But the way they behaved wasn’t like sisters at all. It was more like …’ He hesitated.

      Tom said it for him. ‘Lovers.’

      Ben nodded, his face full of misery.

      ‘Did she ever experiment on you, Tom?’ I said.

      ‘Not that I know of,’ Tom said.

      ‘Did you have needle tracks?’

      They shared another look.

      ‘I accused him of taking drugs and he denied it,’ Ben said. ‘We had some huge arguments over it. He said he had no idea how the marks had got there.’

      ‘Emma,’ LK said, ‘I hate to suggest this, but —’

      ‘No,’ I said.

      ‘You wanted to find out what you are, ma’am,’ he said.

      ‘Don’t even think about it,’ I said. I rose and walked to the other side of the room. ‘We are not going there.’

      ‘What is it?’ Ben said.

      ‘Emma was filled with demon essence by Kitty Kwok and it turned her into a lamia, same as you, Tom. But she isn’t half-demon like you; she is supposed to be all human —’

      I spun to shout at him. ‘I am all human! My mother has never cheated on my dad!’ I turned away again. ‘Don’t even think it.’

      They were silent. I turned back and saw LK’s face.

      ‘Oh, no, you don’t,’ I said. ‘If you’re talking to the Tiger about my blood samples you can stop right now. I was born in Australia. I’m not half-Chinese so I can’t be half-demon. I resemble both my parents; it’s obvious.’

      ‘I wonder if they ever tried to hook you up with a demon?’ Ronnie said.

      Suddenly April’s husband, Andy, was standing in front of me. I backed up until I was against the wall, breathing hard with loathing as he grinned at me, an expensive bunch of flowers in one hand and a set of car keys dangling from the other.

      ‘Emma, it’s okay, you’re on the Mountain,’ LK said.

      I shook my head and snapped back. I was in the demon interview room on the periphery of the Mountain. I rubbed my hands over my face and returned to the table.

      ‘What happened?’ LK said.

      ‘I had a flashback,’ I said. ‘Most severe one I’ve ever had.’

      ‘PTSD?’ Ronnie said.

      I nodded, miserable.

      ‘What’s PTSD?’ Vincent said.

      ‘Post-traumatic stress disorder,’ LK said. ‘Used to be called shell shock. You have enough extremely bad things happen to you and your mind never completely recovers. I didn’t know you suffered from this, Emma.’

      ‘That’s the first time it’s happened in front of anyone else,’ I said. ‘Don’t spread it around that I have this, please. I don’t want anyone else to know about it.’

      ‘Wouldn’t dream of it,’ Ronnie said. ‘I have flashbacks myself. You go through enough, your brain keeps bringing it out and tormenting you with it because it can’t make it go away.’

      ‘You should both see someone,’ LK said.

      ‘I am,’ I said.

      ‘I’ve been studying human clinical psychology journals,’ Ronnie said. ‘I’ve even thought of studying psychiatry to add to my knowledge, but that would mean studying medicine and my physiology would come under scrutiny. Not a good idea.’

      ‘That was a pretty severe flashback,’ LK said.

      ‘I remembered,’ I said. ‘I just saw Andy Ho …’ I stopped. ‘I just saw Andy Ho, my friend April’s husband. It was before he married her — I was back at the kindergarten, still working for Kitty Kwok. He was trying to date me, promising me all sorts of stupid stuff, claiming he was so rich and could give me a life better than anything I’d ever experienced. He was trying to give me a car.’

      ‘But he was a demon,’ LK said.

      ‘He fathered a demon copy of Simone on April, and they generated a Mother copy of April as well,’ I said. ‘He was in league with Kitty.’

      ‘Same name as my wife’s family,’ Ben said. ‘Her name was Ho.’

      ‘But you never mentioned him trying to date you before, Emma,’ LK said.

      ‘I didn’t remember,’ I said. ‘I have no idea what the circumstances were around that flashback; I have no memory of him trying to date me. All I can remember is the terror and revulsion I felt towards him.’ I shivered and hugged myself. ‘Ugh, the idea of him even touching me freaks me out.’

      ‘Some of the damage Kitty did to you may be permanent,’ LK said. ‘It’s likely lost memories will continue to surface for the rest of your life.’ He pulled a notepad and a pen towards him and flipped the pad open.

      ‘They were filling me with demon essence in preparation for having a child with him,’ I said. ‘A child like Tom.’ I turned to Ben. ‘You and I have something in common; something that makes us different, and something these demons know about. I can’t wait to find Kitty Kwok Ho Man Yee and have a very serious talk with her.’

      ‘You need to track down whether you have any common ancestry or heritage and go find what it is,’ LK said, scribbling notes on the pad.

      ‘Where in Wales are you from?’ I asked Ben.

      ‘Cardiff, but my family originally came from the town of Holyhead. It’s spelt “Holy” but pronounced “Holly”. It’s on an island off the west coast of Wales called Holy Island.’

      ‘If that isn’t the perfect name for the home of Shen then I can’t think of one,’ Ronnie said.

      ‘I wonder where my ancestors came from,’ I said.

      ‘If they didn’t come from the same place I will be very surprised indeed,’ Ronnie said. ‘I’d love to come along if you go. I’ve never been

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