Blue Dragon
without turning.
The scene changed. Amy was a roaring dragon on the floor; Brad was in the process of dissipating.
John moved to stand next to what was left of Brad’s exploding form.
I inhaled sharply when I saw it, then had to turn away, my stomach churning. Meredith quickly moved to catch me, and set me gently to sit on the floor. ‘Breathe, Emma,’ she said urgently. She saw my face and pushed my head down over my knees. ‘Don’t look.’
‘I shouldn’t be this squeamish,’ I whispered through the gasps. ‘I’m a Master of the sword.’
‘You’ve never harmed a human, or seen a human like this,’ John whispered next to me. He put his arm around my shoulders and I flinched away, but he held me. ‘It’s okay, we’re not really here.’
I threw myself at him and buried my face into his chest. He held me. ‘Of course seeing that has upset you. You have never harmed a human being, and you never will.’
‘But I was okay after we saw what happened to Helen’s mother,’ I said into his chest. ‘The domestic helper had her head cut off and that didn’t worry me at all.’
He pulled away to smile at me. ‘You were ready for battle then. You weren’t ready for this. I think the snake part of you is a long way away right now. It’s just all you .’
‘Is she all right?’ the stone said with concern from above us. ‘Here.’ It had produced a mug of Ceylon tea for me.
‘Thanks,’ I said, and took a sip. It was more than just tea. As the liquid went down my throat I felt calm and strong and in control.
I glanced up at the stone. ‘Thanks. I needed that.’
The stone smiled, its pale blue eyes twinkling under its shock of grey hair. ‘My pleasure.’
I passed the cup back and pulled myself to my feet, assisted by John. ‘Okay. Let’s see what we have here.’
‘You don’t have to look if you don’t want to,’ John said, still holding me around the shoulders.
‘Once you’re gone I’ll need to be able to handle anything,’ I said. ‘Better get used to it, I think.’
John held my hand as we went back to the demon.
‘Is this one of the half human demons that the stone was talking about?’ I said.
‘Something similar to that,’ the stone said, studying the demon. ‘But in many ways, different.’
‘Rewind until it is whole again,’ John said. ‘Try to do it frame by frame, like a movie.’
The appalling mixture of red and black and white pulled itself back together.
‘This is like something out of a very poor horror movie,’ Meredith said softly.
‘I don’t like horror movies, I don’t watch them,’ I said.
‘Me either,’ John said, watching Brad carefully. ‘I do not find the depiction of humans being harmed entertaining. Forward and back slowly, stone, run through it a few times. This is extremely interesting.’
Every time it happened it was newly horrifying.
‘Was Brad human?’ I said.
‘No,’ JC said. ‘Definitely a demon.’ He sighed. ‘A human–demon hybrid, but still one hundred per cent demon. Do not be concerned that you may have harmed a human, my Lady. This thing was demon right through.’
‘But inside,’ I said, gesturing, ‘it’s physically very human.’
‘You okay?’ John said softly.
I nodded. ‘Thanks, stone,’ I said without turning.
‘My Lady,’ the stone said behind me.
‘It has a skeleton and everything,’ I said. ‘You can see its brain.’ I stopped. ‘I’ll probably have nightmares when the stone’s tea wears off.’
‘If you do, call me,’ Meredith said.
John reached over and squeezed my hand.
‘How long did it take to completely dissipate?’ John said.
‘Less than half a second,’ the stone said.
‘Run it at full speed,’ John said.
The chi hit Brad and he exploded.
All of the Masters shared a look, except for Gold, who was studying Amy’s dragon form with longing. The stone watched Gold, its eyes sparkling with amusement.
‘Well?’ I said.
‘Take us out,’ John said.
Everybody else except for the stone disappeared. The room was empty except for me, John and the stone. The stone didn’t say anything; it gestured and a chair appeared. It turned the chair away from us and sat.
John pulled me in and held me close. I looked up at him and he lowered his face to mine. His arms tightened around me and our lips met.
Nothing around us moved. Time stood still.
Suddenly John went rigid. The stone threw itself up from the chair and we were back in the conference room.
I
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