Red Phoenix

for them. His face was a grim mask of fury as he destroyed them hand-to-hand. He didn’t shift from his position next to me and in front of Simone.
    ‘How’s it going back there, John?’ I shouted over my shoulder.
    ‘Haven’t had this much fun in a long time,’ John called back without losing his rhythm. He destroyed the demons with effortless ease; his ponytail didn’t even move. He raised his voice so that everybody could hear him. ‘Be aware, people, there are more on the way, and they are bigger than these. Clear these out quickly so that we have room to work; they are just to soften us up.’
    ‘Any Princes on their way, John?’ I said. ‘At this stage I couldn’t say. But I can take him anyway.’
    The two Masters Liu had finished the demons around them and returned to me.
    Michael used the second-last demon as a weapon and smashed it into the last one, making both explode.
    Jade, Gold and John finished off the last few stragglers. We returned to position around Simone.
    ‘Jade,’ John said.
    ‘My Lord.’
    A cloud appeared above us and drenched us in a brief, intense shower of warm water, washing the black demon stuff off us.
    ‘My jacket will run,’ the Shaolin Master said cheerfully.
    ‘Just take it off if you don’t like it, sweetheart,’ Meredith said.
    ‘Oh, please don’t,’ Jade said with distress. ‘Anyone want to dry off?’
    We nodded. The cloud disappeared. A small whirlwind of warm air gave us a quick blow-dry.
    ‘Here they come,’ John said. ‘Nice and big. Stay very still, Simone. Michael, don’t try to take on these ones.’
    ‘What do we have here, people?’ I said.
    ‘Bugs,’ John said cheerfully.
    I ran my hands through my damp hair and retied my ponytail. ‘Oh no, I hate bugs.’
    ‘What, the way they spray disgusting brown sludge everywhere when you smash their shells?’ John said with relish.
    ‘I think I’m going to be sick,’ I said quietly.
    ‘You can stand behind us if you like, dear,’ Meredith said. ‘You don’t have to face them if you don’t want to. It would probably be a good idea if you don’t take on these ones. We don’t want to put you at risk.’
    ‘Good practice for me,’ I said.
    ‘You’re quite right,’ John said. He stiffened. ‘Here they come. Weapons.’ ‘Coming,’ Gold said.
    The demons materialised at the entrance to the alley, about fifty metres away. There were about twenty giant insects altogether. Ten were spiders that had poisonous fangs. Another five or so were cockroaches that would bite at anything within reach, releasing their venomous saliva. Another five were beetles that sprayed toxic green slime out of their back ends. Their jointed legs clicked on the concrete. Each must have been nearly three metres long and two high. They were huge.
    ‘God, I hate these things,’ I said.
    ‘You go berserk if there’s a tiny cockroach in your shower, and I have to kill it for you every time,’ John said, teasing. ‘You won’t even kill a little cockroach with a minuscule bolt of chi.’
    ‘I’ll kill bug demons with a big bolt though,’ I said. ‘But you know physical is the way to go with these things.’
    ‘Weapons, now ,’ John said sharply. ‘My Lord,’ Jade said.
    My sword appeared in front of me. I nodded to Jade and picked it out of the air. Michael took the White Tiger. The Shaolin Master summoned his staff. Meredith also had a sword, a long straight tai chi-style weapon. John raised his Celestial Seven Stars sword; it was enormous, nearly six feet long, and he carried it without difficulty. Jade and Gold didn’t need weapons. Jade’s claws were razor-sharp and deadly. Gold’s whole body was a lethal hammer of stone.
    ‘Make your sword sing, Emma,’ John said. ‘We’ll see if we can’t blow them up before they’re too close.’
    The demons were about ten metres away. I pushed some chi into the sword and made it sing.
    ‘Oh no, Lord Xuan, you didn’t give her that sword, did you?’ Meredith said over the noise. ‘I was hoping it didn’t survive the Attack.’
    The demons kept coming. The pinging ring of the sword covered the sound of their feet clicking on the concrete.
    They kept coming. They were nearly five metres away.
    ‘Give up, Emma, it won’t work,’ John said over the noise.
    I stopped the sound and my ears rang in the sudden silence. The insects stopped.
    ‘Me on point,’ John said. ‘Liu, Meredith, beside. Jade, Gold, Emma. Michael, Simone, behind. Now.’
    We