Red Phoenix

anything like this.’
    Leo leaned back without speaking.
    ‘You are the greatest human warrior of your generation, Leo. Mr Chen told me that himself. It’s taken you fourteen years to get this good, and you’re almost as good as an Immortal. Look at me. Fourteen months, and I can take you.’
    Leo still didn’t say anything. I could see what he was thinking.
    ‘Simone saw me as a snake.’
    Leo flinched.
    ‘Leo, can I confide in you?’ I said softly. ‘What are you going to tell me? I’m not sure I want to know.’
    ‘I have these dreams. All the time.’ ‘What, Emma?’ he whispered.
    I ran my hands through my hair. ‘I dream…I’m a snake.’
    ‘I don’t know what to say,’ Leo said quietly, looking down at his hands.
    ‘All the damn time. I dream I’m a snake. Killing demons. Fighting. Moving fast. Killing things. I dream I’m a snake.’
    ‘I think you should talk to Mr Chen.’
    ‘You know what he says?’
    Leo didn’t say anything. His face was rigid.
    ‘He says: Good. He says: Don’t worry about it. He says: Some of his best friends are snakes.’
    Leo was silent.
    ‘And now I can take you. I’m inhumanly fast. I’m inhumanly good.’
    I could see what he was thinking.
    ‘You remember Kitty Kwok? The woman I used to work for?’
    ‘Yeah. At the kindergarten. Total bitch.’
    ‘She lured John away from me at that first charity function. Remember? The concert? The first attack by Simon Wong?’
    ‘What’s that got to do with it?’
    ‘She was working for Simon Wong, Leo.’
    Leo inhaled sharply but didn’t say anything.
    ‘She owns the biotech company. The one that’s been making the hybrids for him. Did you see the paper? The Chinese paper?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘The lab. In Dongguan. Where they were making the hybrids. Had aquariums. Full of snakes.’
    ‘Snakes.’ ‘Yes.’
    ‘Damn, Emma,’ Leo said.
    ‘ I’m a snake, Leo. Simone saw me as a snake.’
    Leo shifted uncomfortably but didn’t say anything.
    I looked down at my hands on the desk. I didn’t know what to say either.
    ‘What else?’ Leo said. ‘What else are you going to tell me? That you’re a snake demon? A hybrid? A Mother? What?’
    ‘I don’t know what I am, apart from…’ I sighed. ‘Apart from this snake stuff.’
    Leo studied his hands for a while. Then he glanced up at me and smiled. ‘Okay,’ he said briskly. ‘You’re good at martial arts. You have weird dreams, probably brought on by this stupid goddamn thesis that you’re doing. You ever gonna hurt Simone?’
    ‘No, of course not.’
    ‘Well then, what you worrying about?’
    ‘I’m something dark and monstrous.’
    ‘I don’t disagree with you there,’ he said with a small smile.
    I put my head in my hands. ‘God, Leo.’ ‘You’re turning into an Immortal, Emma.’ ‘I don’t know what I am, Leo.’
    ‘That wasn’t a question, sweetheart,’ Leo said. ‘I was telling you. Now finish your thesis. We’re more fed up with it than you are. I’m sick to death of the sight of you in front of that computer, and I want to spend more time sparring with you. I think with weapons I could probably still take you.’
    ‘I sincerely hope so, Leo.’
    ‘Go and talk to Mr Chen.’
    I put my arms on the desk and rested my head on them. He patted me gently on the head and leaned over to whisper in my ear. ‘This snake stuff is probably justyour overactive imagination, fired up by the stress of your study. And when you finish this goddamn thesis, it’ll all go away.’
    ‘I hope you’re right,’ I said into my arms, my voice muffled. But he was already gone.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
    T hree little russet balls of fluff snuggled together in a nest of warm blankets. I moved quietly towards them, making quite sure that they didn’t wake. I flicked my tongue and tasted them. They were sweet, like babies, but with the slight powdery edge of feathers.
    I slid my head gently over the edge of the nest and held my breath. My nose was within touching distance of a slender, elegant neck.
    I raised my head slightly, my breath still held. Then I struck. I had always loved the feeling of my fangs piercing the skin with a satisfying pop and then pressing through to the soft flesh beneath. The bitter-sweet taste of my venom mixed with the rich salty flavour of the blood. The little bird didn’t struggle much; my venom was a neurotoxin and the victims were paralysed almost immediately. Rather like the five-point push, the wry thought came to