Necropolis

stabbed her through the heart.
    The other had decapitated her. Scarlett forced herself to examine the rest of the body. She saw something thick and green coming out of the jacket where Mrs. Cheng's neck should have been. It had been severed halfway up. But it didn't belong to a human body. It looked like part of a snake.
    And the head, lying on the path, wasn't human either. It was the head of an oversize lizard, with yellow-and-black diamond eyes, scales, a lolling forked tongue. Scarlett glanced back at the body. Mrs. Cheng had thrown out one of her arms as she fell. It was also covered in scales.
    A shape-changer.
    That was what they had said. And in the shock of the moment, all Scarlett could think was — Was this the creature she had been living with since she had come to Hong Kong? Audrey Cheng had cooked for her. She had been sleeping in the same apartment. And all the time…
    She thought she was going to be sick. She couldn't get the hideous images out of her head. But then she heard the sound of an approaching engine, coming down the path toward her. Had they been discovered?
    The woman and the two men weren't moving. They didn't look alarmed. Scarlett relaxed. Whoever was coming was part of the plan.

    A motorbike appeared, speeding round the corner. It was a silver Honda, being ridden by a figure in black leather, gloves, and boots. Scarlett guessed that it was a man, but it was hard to be sure as his head was concealed by a helmet with a strip of mirrored plastic across his face. He stopped right in front of them, the wheels tilting underneath him, one leg stretching out to keep the bike upright.
    The woman grabbed hold of Scarlett once again. "We need to get you out of here fast," she said. "We don't have time to explain."
    "Where are you taking me?"
    "Somewhere safe."
    They produced a second helmet. Scarlett hesitated, but only for a few seconds. Audrey Cheng's dead body told her everything she needed to know. She had been living in a nightmare, and these people, whoever they were, were rescuing her from it. She grabbed the helmet and put it on, then climbed onto the bike, putting her arms around the driver. At once they were away. She felt the engine roar underneath her as they shot down the path. She tightened her grip, afraid that she would be blown over backward by the rush of wind.
    They shot past a man walking a dog and then a family of local people who had been posing for a photograph but who scattered to get out of the way. They turned another corner. If they went much farther, they would surely arrive back at the tram station where Scarlett had begun. On one side there was a small park, on the other, a driveway leading up to a house, for there were a few private homes scattered along the upper reaches of The Peak. But that wasn't where they were heading. Scarlett saw a parked car with two more men waiting. They skidded to a halt.
    She got off, quickly removing her helmet. The two men were young, in their twenties, both wearing jeans and sweatshirts. One was Chinese, but the other was a foreigner, maybe from Japan or Korea.
    They both hurried over to her, their faces filled with a mixture of determination and fear.
    'You have to come with us," the first one said. He had a thin face, and his nose and cheekbones were so sharp-edged that they could almost have been folded out of paper. "We must leave at once."
    "Where are we going?"
    "Somewhere safe." That was exactly what the woman had said. "Not far. Maybe twenty minutes."
    "Wait—"
    "No time." He spoke in fractured English, spitting out the words. 'You want to die, you stay here. You ask your questions. You want to live, get in the car. Now! They will be coming very soon."

    "Who will be coming?"
    "Shape-changers. Or worse."
    The other man had gone over to the car. But he hadn't opened the door. He had opened the trunk.
    "You don't expect me to get in there!" Scarlett said.
    "It must be this way," the thin-faced man insisted. 'You can't be seen. But you'll be all right. We make airholes…"
    "No…" It was too much to ask. Scarlett didn't care how many shape-changers there might be, making their way up The Peak. She wasn't going to be locked in the trunk of a car by two people she had never met before and driven off to God knows where. 'You can forget it —" she began.
    The man had whipped something out of his pocket, and he grabbed her before she knew what he was doing. She felt a handkerchief being pressed against her face. She kicked out,