Lupi 06 - Blood Magic

advise us to confer among ourselves. He thinks we can stir up enough answers to get started that way." Lily frowned at her almost empty cup. "Do you know where Grandmother is? What she's up to?"
    "I do not. Sam said she is hidden."
    "That doesn't mean she isn't up to something." Lily took a final sip of tea and put down her cup. "Maybe we could start the conferring by you telling us the rest of the story about Grandmother and the Chimei. You said that Sam - Sun Mzao - hoped she would stop the demon somehow. How?"
    " The Chimei had taken as lover a young sorcerer, who had in turn taken control of the city. While Li Lei was in the mountains, studying with Sam, this sorcerer caused the deaths of her entire family."
    "Bloody - " Rule stopped himself from finishing the oath. "Excuse me. But... she was only seventeen, you said."
    "Seventeen when she went to Sam. Nineteen when her family was slain."
    "She killed the sorcerer?" Rule asked.
    Li Qin nodded. "Though I do not know the details, I know Li Lei returned to Luan with that intention, and she succeeded." She put her own cup down. "I have heard pieces of this story over many years. The questions I now wish to ask were not what seemed most important in earlier days. Li Lei never spoke easily of that time, so I did not press her."
    Lily's fingers tapped once on the table. "She didn't explain when she asked you to take refuge with Sam?"
    "She said she was unable to. She was clearly frustrated by this."
    "This treaty Sam talked about stopped her from talking about it now, but it didn't stop her before."
    "So I assume. I do not know."
    Rule said, "Sam spoke of intent as a factor."
    Lily's gaze flicked to him. "He did, didn't he?"
    "I cannot claim to know another's full intent," Li Qin said placidly. "However, I do not think she told me anything so I would be able to act against the Chimei, should the need arise. I would say her motives were quite personal."
    "Hmm." Lily's fingers drummed on the table again. "But Grandmother did kill the sorcerer who killed her family. You're sure of that."
    "Li Lei is certain of it."
    "The thing is, it looks like the Chimei... Does she have a name?"
    Li Qin turned her palms up. "I do not know it. Could any being not possess a name?"
    "I don't know. Dammit, I left my notebook in the car. Never mind," she said to Rule when he started to rise. "I'll take notes later. What I mean to say, Li Qin, is that it looks like our Chimei has hooked up with a sorcerer again. That's not definite, but it's a strong possibility."
    "Ah. No, I do not believe this could be the same sorcerer. However, many folktales speak of men who unknowingly take a demon or spirit as wife or concubine. This is a common theme. I mentioned this to Li Lei recently, thinking it was funny to assume a spirit would wish for a human wife. She said she didn't know about spirits, but for a demon, mating with a human was the only way to be in flesh."
    "In flesh?"
    Li Qin tilted her head, considering that. "No, I believe 'in body' would be closer. Her words were zai shen ti. It's an odd phrase, which is why it stayed with me. At the time, I thought she made a naughty play on words - to be in a body, to be in a woman. Now I wonder if she meant this physicality Sam spoke of."
    Lily glanced at Rule. "Shen ti is like body or health. Zai sort of means in, but not exactly. You'd use it to say you were in a location, or in the middle of doing something. Or if you use it a different way, it just means to be, to exist. So that fits. It works."
    He nodded. "You think the Chimei's bond with her lover is necessary for her to... How did Sam put it? To reconstitute her physical portion."
    "Sure sounds possible. Sex magic is an old tradition, and if she always picks a sorcerer for a mate, it may be she needs him to do a ritual or something. We can ask Cullen what he thinks later." She looked at Li Qin again. "Do you know if, when Grandmother killed the... Shit." Her phone had chimed. "I'm surprised I've got reception out here."
    Li Qin smiled. "Oh, Sam arranged for me to have bars here. He did not want me to feel isolated. I think, too, he is curious about technology and wished to see if he could do this."
    Lily flung her a startled glance, but whatever number she saw on the phone's display had her answering crisply, "Lily Yu."
    "Sam is able to boost coverage for a cell phone?" Rule asked Li Qin. He didn't precisely listen to Lily's conversation while he spoke to Li Qin, but he didn't precisely not