Blue Dragon

most of the time, despite the fact that the two demons were excellent cooks.
    I dealt with it. I stayed busy. I watched the top of the car park, hoping to catch a glimpse of a black Mercedes with a little girl in it. Even though it was an illusion, the image was real.
    I spent many long, sleepless nights watching the lights of the Peak apartment. Only Simone’s bedroom light was ever turned on. I knew when she went to sleep; it was very late for her sometimes as well.
    I even missed the stupid arrogant stone.
    About a week later I was doing a set with the Murasame when a young woman appeared on the other side of the training room. I recognised her immediately: a Mother, about level seventy or eighty. A big one.
    I lowered my sword. ‘Can I help you?’
    ‘You are the Dark Lady?’ she said without introduction.
    ‘Yes.’
    She took True Form and poised on her coils.
    I readied myself.
    She raced towards me and I bound her by taking half her chi out. She froze.
    ‘Yield and I will let you go,’ I said. ‘Give me your word and you can go.’
    She didn’t speak, she just hissed at me, trying to free herself from my binding.
    ‘I’ve been wanting to practise some techniques on a demon,’ I said. ‘If you don’t yield now, I will practise on you.’
    ‘Try me,’ she said, but she sounded like a yowling cat.
    I’d wanted to try this for a while. I concentrated, and drained about half of the black demon essence out of her. I didn’t put it into my dan tian; I didn’t want to absorb any more of the stuff. I loaded the Murasame with it instead. It was easier than draining chi. Her face went blank with astonishment.
    I launched the demon stuff back at her.
    She folded up, growing smaller and smaller, then eventually turned into a shining black bead that fell onto the floor, rolling slightly on the mats.
    ‘So that’s how he did it,’ I said softly. I went to the demon and picked her up; she had definitely turned into the bead.
    ‘Yi Hao!’ I yelled, and the demon servant appeared in the doorway. She froze when she saw the bead in my hand. ‘Yi Hao, I want you to get me an airtight jar about thirty centimetres tall, half that across, with a good metal seal on the top. Hurry.’
    She bobbed quickly and disappeared.
    It took her about five minutes. When she returned I put the demon in the jar and sealed it. ‘Thanks.’
    ‘What was that, my Lady?’ the demon said.
    ‘That was a level seventy Mother that came for me,’ I said.
    She inhaled sharply. ‘You did that to her?’
    ‘Yep,’ I said. ‘She’s dormant. I can bring her out any time.’
    Yi Hao stared at me with awe.
    I put the jar in the corner. Looked like I’d started a collection. I wondered how many more would come after me.
    ‘Don’t touch the jar, sweetheart,’ I said. ‘You could let the Mother out and it could hurt you.’
    Yi Hao stared incredulously at me.
    ‘What?’ I said.
    She shook her head and smiled. ‘You called me sweetheart. As if I was your child.’
    I went to her and patted her shoulder. ‘You are a child. And you are mine.’ I put my arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. ‘Go and make me some sow mei tea. I’ll have it in the living room. And tell Er Hao not to touch the jar—I don’t want either of you getting hurt.’
    Yi Hao’s eyes were full of tears. ‘Yes, ma’am,’ she said with a huge grin, and hurried out.
    That was much more like me. It felt good.
    I drank the tea in the living room and opened Dream of the Red Chamber . This was the hardest of all the classics to read; the story meandered without much purpose and there were far too many characters to keep track of without writing notes. But the main storyline soon became frighteningly obvious.
    The family of a young wastrel, Pao-yu, arranged for two beautiful girls to come and live with them aspotential brides for him. One was Precious Virtue, the other was Black Jade, and the two girls loved each other like sisters.
    Black Jade was sickly with consumption, so the family decided not to let him marry them both. They arranged for him to marry Precious Virtue alone. But they told the young man that he was marrying Black Jade, the one he truly loved.
    In the Chinese tradition, the bride’s face is covered with a veil until she enters the wedding bedchamber. When Pao-yu pulled aside the veil and saw he had married the wrong girl, he left the family forever, only appearing years later in passing as a monk.
    Black Jade died of her