Blue Dragon

‘Martin.’
    ‘My Lord,’ Martin said.
    ‘I will consider your offer, One. Go. I will contact you if I decide to give you my head. If I do not contact you, do not approach, because I may take your head instead. Martin, remain.’
    ‘Okay, whatever you say,’ the demon said, and disappeared.
    Martin remained on the couch. He smiled wryly again.
    ‘I should give you to the Dragon,’ John said mildly.
    ‘Please, go right ahead,’ Martin said, the wry smile not shifting. ‘I know it’ll take me a long time to work this one off.’
    ‘Did he tell you the deal before you brought him?’ I said.
    ‘Yep.’
    ‘Then why did you bother to bring him? That deal wasn’t anything we’d take him up on, unless we were desperate,’ I said.
    ‘You really are extremely stupid sometimes, Martin,’ John said. ‘It’s almost as if you want to stay out of my good favours.’
    ‘I did what I had to do,’ Martin said, still smiling.
    ‘Oh geez, you haven’t fallen for that bastard, haveyou?’ I said. ‘I can’t believe a Celestial like yourself would have anything to do with a high-ranking demon.’
    ‘It’s happened before, Emma,’ John said. ‘But I also find it difficult to believe, considering who Martin is, and whose son he is.’
    Martin didn’t say anything.
    ‘Does he return it?’ I said.
    Martin’s face didn’t shift.
    ‘Holy shit, but you are an extremely stupid little turtle,’ I said. ‘It’s hard to believe that you’re his son.’
    ‘I should disown you completely and send you to Hell for eternity,’ John said, his voice a low rumble.
    ‘There is a place for me there,’ Martin said, so softly I could hardly hear him. He straightened and spoke more loudly. ‘I’ll go. It’ll take me at least two years to return. You’ll be gone before I come back. You won’t see me again for a long time. Satisfactory?’
    I couldn’t believe this. ‘Geez.’
    ‘Report to the Jade Emperor first,’ John said without emotion. ‘Tell him what Number One just told us. Wait to see if he wants to talk to me about this. If he doesn’t, then go. I look forward to not seeing your face for quite some time.’
    Martin rose and smiled at each of us. He moved forward and knelt on the plush rug next to the coffee table. ‘My Lord,’ he said, saluting John carefully. ‘My Lady,’ saluting me. He rose and disappeared.
    John bowed his head and sat silently. I didn’t move either. Neither of us spoke.
    ‘I cannot believe he did that,’ Leo said as we sat beside the pool watching Simone. ‘He used me, he used Simone, he used all of us. He brought that waste-of-time huge demon straight through our front door to make an offer he knew we wouldn’t take. He broke every single seal on our apartment.’ His voice became more vehement. ‘He used me!’ He dropped his head. ‘I thought he was different. I thought he was…’ He didn’t finish.
    ‘Well, he’s in Hell now,’ I said. ‘He said it’ll take him a couple of years to come back out.’
    ‘Lucky for him,’ Leo said, raising his head so that he could watch Simone again. ‘’Cause if he comes out when I’m around, I’ll damn well send him straight back down there.’
    ‘I hope you get your chance,’ I said softly.
    ‘Not going to happen, Emma.’
    ‘I’ll send him back down there for you then.’
    ‘My Lady.’
    ‘God, the lifeguards here are useless,’ I said. ‘Simone’s been swimming around under the water for more than five minutes without coming up for air and none of them have noticed.’
    ‘They probably see that she’s still moving and don’t try to rescue her,’ Leo said.
    ‘Oh yeah. God, Martin was amazingly stupid.’
    ‘You got some useful information out of that demon anyway,’ Leo said. ‘It’s all happening at once, isn’t it. Xuan Wu out of action. This little demon bastard using all the new technology stuff. New hybrids. Contacting the different regions. Shooting for Number One.’
    ‘Shooting higher than that,’ I said, and he stiffened. ‘Interesting times. You know that isn’t a Chinese curse at all?’
    ‘What?’
    ‘You know, the curse: “May you live in interesting times.”
    I’ve asked people. Nobody’s ever heard of it.’
    ‘Neither have I,’ Leo said.
    ‘Ah,’ I said. ‘So you haven’t read all my books yet.’
    ‘No idea what you’re talking about.’
    Bastard , I signed.
    I saw that , he signed back.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
    I woke with a start. John stood next to my bed,