Red Phoenix

lift.
    ‘Gold,’ John said loudly without turning away from the approaching demons.
    Gold stopped. ‘My Lord?’
    ‘Arrange for the seals to be reset on the school. And have the Master who set the original seals come to my office first thing tomorrow morning.’
    ‘My Lord,’ Gold said.
    ‘Sixth floor,’ John said, still watching the demons. They went into the lift lobby.
    I tried to control my voice. ‘They called me Dark Lady, John.’
    ‘That is perfectly natural and nothing to be concerned about.’
    ‘That’s easy for you to say.’
    ‘Don’t worry about it, Emma. Kwan Yin will look at you in Paris. Until then, don’t be concerned. It is of minor importance. You are a perfectly normal human being, just very talented. Now let’s have a look at your new pets.’
    The demons stopped about two metres away and fell to their knees. ‘All hail the Dark Lord. All hail the Dark Lady.’
    Damn. I shrugged it off. He was right. ‘You think it’s a trick?’
    ‘Could be. Rise.’ The demons didn’t move. ‘Good; first hurdle overcome. If they are truly tamed then at this stage they will obey only you. Tell them, Emma.’
    ‘Rise,’ I said, and they both pulled themselves to their feet.
    ‘Take True Form,’ John said. Once again they didn’t move. ‘Good. Tell them, Emma.’ ‘Take True Form.’
    They were small humanoids in True Form. Nearly two metres tall, red, with smooth skin instead of scales. They had bulging horns and huge bulbous eyes. The one that had appeared as a boy had small tusks.
    ‘Yuck.’
    ‘Not too bad, could have been worse.’
    ‘Yeah, I suppose,’ I said. ‘Could have been worms.’
    ‘You know worms don’t take human form.’ He straightened and spoke briskly, suddenly the teacher. ‘What level are these?’
    ‘Three, very low level. I could bind them easily.’
    ‘Yes. Good. I wonder why they were sent.’
    ‘Me too.’ He was right. These low-level demons weren’t a danger to any of us. ‘Go back to human form.’
    They complied immediately. This time they appeared as a Chinese couple in their mid-thirties.
    ‘Final test,’ John said quietly. ‘If they can do this then they are truly tamed. If they can’t, they will attack immediately.’ He held his hand out and the demons eyed it suspiciously. ‘Tell them to come and take my hand. One at a time.’
    ‘What are your names?’ I said.
    They didn’t reply, they just watched me.
    ‘These low-level ones don’t have any names, they never do,’ John said. ‘You can name them later if you like. I ran out of names a long time ago.’
    ‘Is that why you just give them numbers?’ ‘Yes. Much easier anyway.’
    ‘You.’ I pointed at the woman. ‘Come and take the Dark Lord’s hand.’
    She hesitated, watching John’s hand as if it was something highly toxic.
    ‘Be ready, Emma,’ John said quietly without moving.
    The woman sidled towards John. This was obviously very difficult for her. I had seen what Simone could do when she touched a low-level demon; something much worse would probably happen to this one if it touched John.
    ‘You won’t kill it?’ I whispered.
    ‘I could quite easily kill it,’ John said, loudly enough for the demon to hear, ‘but it must take my hand anyway.’
    The demon inched to John, reached out gingerly and touched his hand, its face completely expressionless. The other demon flinched.
    Nothing happened to the demon and its face filled with wonder. It moved forward with more confidence and clasped John’s hand. It dissolved into True Form and stood holding John’s hand with awe.
    ‘Well done, Emma,’ John said with quiet satisfaction. ‘You have tamed your first demon. Now you need to work out what you will do with it. Order it back, let’s do the other one.’
    ‘Let go and move back,’ I said. It nodded and complied. ‘Oh, for God’s sake, take human form.’
    It changed into a Chinese woman again. She smiled and bowed slightly. ‘My Lady.’
    ‘You.’ I pointed at the other one. ‘Come and do the same thing. Take the Dark Lord’s hand.’
    The other demon moved towards John, its face rigid with terror. John waited calmly with his hand out.
    Just as the demon was within touching distance it went for him, swinging its arm around in a vicious slice at John’s neck.
    John blocked the attack with his left hand and caught the demon’s hand in his own. The demon dissolved into True Form and its mouth fell open.
    ‘Duck, Emma,’ John said. The demon