Blue Dragon

the Folly?’ I said.
    ‘I’d rather just hang around here and make sure everything’s all right,’ Gold said. He fell to his knees before us and saluted without looking up, still holding the baby. He left his hands in front of his face, beseeching. ‘Let me stay.’
    John and I reached agreement without saying a word to each other.
    ‘Go and rest in the student room, Gold,’ I said. ‘Come out when you’re feeling better. You’re probably exhausted.’
    Gold grinned up at me. ‘You have no idea.’ He saluted John and then me again, pulled himself clumsily to his feet, and shoved his child into his chest. He turned and went down the hall towards the student rooms.
    ‘Why couldn’t you touch the baby?’ I said.
    John didn’t say anything, he just rose to go into the dining room.
    ‘Xuan Tian Shang Di, you stop and tell me why you couldn’t touch that baby,’ I said fiercely. I rose with difficulty to follow him.
    ‘He’s too yin, Emma,’ the stone in my ring said.
    I understood with a shock. ‘That’s why there are no plants and no pets. No goldfish, no hamsters, nothing. Simone asked for a hamster and you wouldn’t let her have one.’ John had stopped halfway to the dining room, but didn’t turn back to me. ‘You’re so yin you kill them. You probably don’t even need to touch them. You just kill them.’
    ‘Simone had a hamster for her fourth birthday,’ John said, opening the door to the dining room and gesturing for me to enter. ‘The Tiger ate it. She refused to speak to him for a week. Not a good idea for us to keep small furry creatures in the house; the Tiger can’t control himself. Adult creatures are safe, it is just babies that I must be careful with right now. Of course not my own, only other people’s. When I have the Serpent back, it will not be a problem.’
    I shook my head as I went into the dining room. ‘I really am consorting with monsters. My parents were right.’
    ‘Of course they were,’ John said.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
    T he victory meeting was a cheerless and gloomy affair. The Dragon, the Phoenix, the Tiger and Kwan Yin were already seated at the table when we went in.
    ‘You’re limping,’ the Phoenix said. ‘What happened?’
    ‘A metal hybrid stabbed her, tried to sedate her to take her,’ John said as he pulled a chair out for me.
    The Phoenix rose and gracefully helped me into my chair. When I was seated she didn’t release my hand; she held it and concentrated, looking at the injury.
    ‘Sit with me after the meeting and I’ll heal it for you,’ she said. ‘But you shouldn’t do anything too strenuous for the next few days.’
    She released my hand and sat in the chair next to me. I nodded my appreciation and she smiled.
    ‘What’s the plan?’ the Dragon said.
    ‘The Lady and I will spend a week linked,’ John said. ‘While we are performing the feed, Emma will find the location of One Two Two’s headquarters. We require assistance; preferably an Immortal who is powerful enough to see through walls.’
    ‘I’ll come along, Ah Wu,’ the Tiger said. ‘My Number One is handling things right now. I have a score to settle with this little piece of shit.’
    ‘Mind your mouth,’ John said.
    ‘Sorry, all,’ the Tiger said without a hint of remorse. ‘I’ve heard the Dark Lady say worse anyway. It has four law offices, correct?’
    The Dragon snorted with disdain. ‘Of course the thing is a lawyer.’
    ‘It’s the leader of all the underworld activity in Hong Kong,’ I said. ‘It needs the expertise with the law. Of course it is.’
    ‘Not all lawyers are underhand. I have met some as honourable as any,’ the Phoenix said. ‘How is the Golden Boy? I heard that he had been sundered.’
    ‘If you mean he had a baby, yes, he did,’ I said. ‘He’s resting right now. Later he’ll go into hiding with Jade and her clutch.’
    ‘Jade has a clutch?’ the Phoenix said, then glanced quickly at the Dragon. ‘I did not know this.’
    The Dragon ignored her completely and she turned back to me. ‘What will you do when you find the demon’s location?’
    ‘Myself and the Tiger will find it and hunt it down,’ John said. ‘We will destroy it, and everything it has created.’
    ‘I am looking forward to doing battle alongside my Lord the Xuan Wu in True Form,’ the Tiger said, his voice a low menacing growl. ‘It’s been a hell of a long time.’
    ‘I feel the same way, old friend,’ John said.
    There was a soft