Blue Dragon

son himself.’
    Louise turned back to me, grinning. ‘I didn’t know that; I thought she was a domestic helper. How about that? You could see she’s a demon?’
    ‘Of course I could,’ I said. ‘Why is her name Beanie?’
    ‘No idea,’ Louise said. ‘Beanie?’
    ‘I don’t know, ma’am,’ Beanie said. ‘When I was tamed, they opened a large book, crossed out a dark word and said that was my name.’
    I collapsed forward over my knees laughing.
    ‘What?’ Louise said, bewildered.
    ‘Dictionary,’ I said. ‘They go through the words and use them as demon names.’
    Louise’s face lit up with delight and she laughed as well.
    A waitress passing our room closed the door to keep the noise level down. Matt opened it again slightly so that he could keep an eye on us.
    ‘How old are you, Beanie?’ I said.
    ‘About twenty years, ma’am,’ the demon said.
    ‘What?’ Louise said. ‘Only twenty years old? She looks mid-forties.’
    ‘They hatch as adults and don’t age,’ I said.
    ‘That’s incredible.’ Louise studied Beanie then turned back to me. ‘How come you know all this stuff? No, wait.’ She lifted the notebook and raised her hand. ‘I need a pen, Beanie.’
    ‘I’m sorry, ma’am, I don’t have one,’ the maid said.
    I scrabbled through the mess in my bag and passed Louise a pen.
    ‘Okay,’ Louise said, flipping the notebook open again. ‘You have to answer these questions truthfully, okay?’
    I shrugged. ‘Only if they’re not too personal.’
    Louise grinned broadly. ‘What’s he like in bed?’
    I reached over the table and pushed her. Her grin didn’t shift.
    ‘Okay.’ She looked down at the notebook then back at me. ‘Can you pick demons from a distance?’
    ‘Yes,’ I said.
    ‘How far?’
    ‘About twenty metres.’
    She made a tick in the notebook. ‘Next. How much chi can you generate?’
    ‘A ball of about two metres across, at the moment, but I’m working on it,’ I said.
    ‘Whoa.’ She made another tick and glanced up at me. ‘Can you take out level forty demons with your bare hands?’
    ‘Yes,’ I said, pouring some green tea.
    ‘Wow,’ Louise said; another tick. ‘Can you take down Leo Alexander hand-to-hand?’
    ‘Yep,’ I said, sipping the tea. ‘I can take down both Leo and Michael at hand-to-hand.’
    ‘Whoa, really ?’ Her eyes were wide. ‘That’s Michael, the Tiger’s son? The good one? Really? You can take him down as well?’
    ‘The good one?’ I said, grinning. ‘I can take them down together .’ This was beginning to be fun.
    ‘Crikey, Emma,’ Louise said, and I giggled. ‘Can you generate black chi?’
    ‘How the hell do you know about that?’ I demanded loudly.
    ‘Oh, word gets around,’ she said. ‘Can I see?’
    I held my hand out, generated a small ball of black chi, and reabsorbed it. Louise’s eyes were huge.
    ‘Your hand went black. Do that again.’
    I did it again for her and she put down her tea and scribbled furiously in the notebook. ‘I’m going double or nothing on that one,’ she said. ‘I should have brought a video camera.’ She glanced up at me. ‘Can you tame demons?’
    ‘Yep,’ I said, and she ticked the book.
    ‘Oh, wait,’ I said. ‘I can’t complete the process; Xuan Wu needs to do it for me.’
    ‘Not important,’ she said. ‘Can you use your Inner Eye?’
    ‘Yep.’
    ‘What colour bra am I wearing?’ she said.
    ‘You’re not wearing one,’ I shot back, and we both laughed.
    ‘Can you do telepathy?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Damn,’ she said, and made a cross in the notebook. She picked up her teacup and sighed.
    ‘Can you fly, Emma?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Damn,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘There was a lot riding on that one too. They said you can run and then lift yourself and float, and I believed them.’
    ‘Oh, I can do that ,’ I said. ‘But I can’t fly like superman, that’s what I meant.’
    ‘ Yes ,’ Louise hissed, scribbling in the notebook. ‘Excellent.’ Her face changed and she looked at me more seriously. ‘Do you turn into a snake, Emma?’
    I hesitated.
    ‘Tell me,’ she said softly.
    I ran my hands through my hair and looked down. ‘Yes,’ I whispered.
    ‘Good,’ Louise said loudly, and put another tick in the notebook. ‘Really?’
    ‘Really,’ I said quietly.
    There was a tap on the door and it opened.
    ‘Okay,’ she said. She handed the baby sling to the demon. ‘Beanie, take the baby out for a walk, please.’
    ‘Oh shit,