Blue Dragon

collected the ring and put it back on, silently thanking the stone.
    My pleasure, it said with amusement.
    Realisation hit me like a thunderbolt. Oh my God, it was a voyeur.
    The stone didn’t say anything.
    I smiled to myself. It wouldn’t have anything to watch for a very long time now. And when John did return, it would be left outside the room.
    I would like to remind you that I work very hard for you, my Lady. I serve you well.
    I didn’t know whether to laugh or explode with anger.
    ‘Are you okay, Emma?’ John said. He stood on the other side of the table.
    ‘We need to talk privately later,’ I said.
    John didn’t reply. He quickly turned to the other Masters. ‘Well?’
    Meredith and JC were on their feet as well, their faces grim. ‘Both of us can identify them now,’Meredith said. ‘We’ve already locked down everything, now we’ll go through the students and clean up. We have a busy day ahead of us.’
    ‘What, you think there are more ?’ I said, shooting to my feet as well.
    ‘Three of them turned in the past ten minutes, while we were in the stone,’ JC said. ‘Two students were killed before the demons were contained. They are level forty-five equivalent.’
    ‘But Brad was considerably bigger than that,’ Meredith said, still grim. ‘He was about level fifty-five.’
    JC’s voice was fierce. ‘We have been infiltrated. We are full of them. And I didn’t pick a single one.’
    ‘We do not have time for regrets,’ John said. ‘We need to move, and move now. Each of us will take one-third of the building and show the other Masters how to identify the demons. Do not attempt to work alone; obviously some of them are very large. We will clean here first, then we should have enough Masters trained in spotting to do both Follies at the same time. Gold.’
    ‘My Lord?’
    ‘Find Simone, Michael and Leo. Escort them home immediately.’
    ‘My Lord,’ Gold said, and disappeared.
    Master Liu, the Shaolin Master, appeared behind me.
    ‘Take Emma home directly and guard her,’ John said.
    ‘No!’ I shouted. ‘I’m staying here and helping!’
    ‘Not this time,’ John said, his eyes blazing.
    We materialised in the training room of the Peak apartment. I fell over, but Liu caught me before I hit the mats.
    ‘Take me back!’ I shouted.
    ‘At this stage I do not think that would be a very good idea,’ Liu said calmly. ‘Unless you want to see your students dying.’
    I sagged in his arms. ‘No.’
    ‘The demons know we are on to them. There is a very large number of them. This is very, very bad.’
    ‘No.’ I buried my face into his shoulder and he held me.
    ‘Emma, we may be attacked here. They may take advantage of the fact that the Dark Lord and most of the senior Masters are occupied defending the students.’
    ‘Oh my God, Simone ! Is she okay?’
    He gently pushed me away so that he could study my face. ‘Emma, she is fine. She will be home soon. Then we will lock down and prepare to defend ourselves here.’
    ‘Liu,’ I said fiercely, ‘this apartment is sealed. They can only come in one at a time. Please. Go. Find Simone and defend her; she’s out there with only Leo, Michael and Gold, and none of them can handle anything bigger than about level fifty. I can handle higher than that with energy myself. They need you much more than I do. Send Gold back if you like, he can help me. But please, for God’s sake, find Simone and defend her.’
    Liu hesitated.
    ‘You know I’m right,’ I said. ‘Go.’
    He released me. ‘Where is your sword?’
    ‘In my office in Wan Chai,’ I said. ‘Forget it. Go.’
    ‘Call it. Hold out your hand and call its name. It may come to you.’
    I did as he said. I held my hand out, closed my eyes and called the Silver Serpent to come to me.
    I opened my eyes. I was holding the sword, but I hadn’t felt it appear. It felt like it had been there all the time.
    Liu disappeared without saying a word.
    I pulled the sword from its scabbard and threw the scabbard aside. If Simon Wong didn’t come for me I would be very, very surprised.
    I checked the back pocket of my jeans: the phone was there. I didn’t take any chances any more: I kept itwith me everywhere. Even in the bathroom, next to the basin, when I was taking a shower. But if Simone was okay then I wouldn’t need to use it. The worst that could happen would be that I was killed, and that was infinitely better than either Wong or the King getting their hands on