Earth to Hell. Kylie Chan
at all, I was honestly misled and thought that we’d be going somewhere safe to spend some more time together,’ Martin said. ‘I didn’t know that the demon child wasn’t you — I really did think I’d managed to get you out. That’s why I fought alongside you, Simone.’ He nodded to me. ‘Emma. And my feelings for Leo were genuine.’
‘Then what are you doing here with him?’ I said, gesturing towards the Demon King.
‘I have my reasons,’ Martin said, the smile fading. ‘I have dug my grave and now I must lie in it.’
‘He’s all mine, and a most desirable trophy,’ the Demon King said. ‘The Mothers adore him.’
Martin winced.
‘You give him to the Mothers?’ Simone said.
The King spread his hands and shrugged. ‘When I’m not using him. Have to keep him busy, you know. Come, little Simone, sit. Let’s see what we can do about finding your pet lion.’
The Demon King and Martin moved to the conference table, saluting Yanluo Wang as they sat. Yanluo Wang saluted back. Simone hesitated, then she and Michael sat at the table as well, and I joined them.
‘Okay,’ the Demon King said, leaning on the table. ‘I hear that Leo was replaced. This probably happened while those kids were guarding him and got lured away. Did you destroy them when I sent them to you, Emma?’
I remembered the three demons who had come to the offices a few days before. ‘Two ran, but I tamed one.’
‘Bring it, I’ll have a look inside,’ the King said. ‘It may have some information for us.’
‘Don’t destroy it,’ I said.
‘It will look bad if I don’t destroy a demon that’s been tamed, you know that.’ He smiled slightly. ‘But for you, anything.’
Nigel tapped on the door and poked his head around. ‘The demon, ma’am.’
‘Bring him in, Nigel.’
Nigel opened the door and Four Seven Three, still appearing as a teenager, entered. The demon saw the King and froze. It changed into True Form: a green humanoid of about three metres tall, with scales, tusks and bulging eyes. Red tufts of hair sprouted from its head. It stood frozen in front of the King for a moment, then scurried around the opposite side of the table and crouched behind me.
‘Come here, little one,’ the King said kindly.
The demon made a small keening sound of terror and slowly rose. It moved like a puppet towards the King, still making the keening sound. ‘Protect me, Lady,’ the demon said, its voice pitched high with terror.
‘It’s all right, I won’t let him hurt you,’ I said.
The King swivelled in his chair and raised one hand towards the demon. ‘Take human form and come sit in my lap.’
The demon didn’t stop its quiet wail of fear, but it changed back into a teenager and lurched to the King. It flopped into his lap and he wrapped his arms around its waist and spoke into its ear.
‘Emma told me not to destroy you, child. We need some information. Where is Leo?’
The King tightened his grip and the demon threw its head back and screamed.
‘Where’s Leo?’ the King said, his eyes bright with pleasure as he held the writhing demon. ‘Where did they take him?’
‘I don’t know,’ the demon wailed. ‘Stop. Stop. Make it stop. Lady, please, make it stop.’
‘Emma, you only asked him not to destroy it. He can still hurt it if he likes,’ Simone said urgently.
I didn’t reply; I was engrossed in the demon’s agony. It was fascinating.
Simone turned to see me. ‘Emma?’
‘Emma’s enjoying the show,’ the King said. ‘Look at her face.’
‘Emma!’ Simone shouted.
Something inside me clicked and I realised what was happening. ‘Stop hurting it! There’s no need for this, just get the information.’ I ran my hands through my hair. ‘God.’
The demon’s screams turned into gasping sobs.
The King turned his attention back to it and spoke into its ear. ‘The look on your face is something that will keep me going for a long time, dear Emma.’ He glanced at me, his eyes full of sly amusement. ‘We could have so much fun together, you and I.’
‘Geez, Emma,’ Simone said softly.
‘What the hell?’ Michael said.
‘Does it know where Leo is?’ I said.
The King concentrated. ‘Nope.’
He released the demon and it fell off his lap to lie unconscious on the floor. Simone, Michael and myself all jumped up and ran to it.
‘Let me,’ Meredith said, and we moved away to give her room. She touched the demon, then glared up at the Demon King. ‘That was totally unnecessary.’
‘I know,’ he said, his voice mild. ‘But it was so much fun!’ He gestured towards me. ‘Don’t you agree, Emma?’
I didn’t reply.
‘What now?’ Simone said. ‘Someone’s taken Leo, and we have no idea where he is.’
‘Let’s go have a look in his cell, see if they left anything when they took him,’ Martin said.
‘Good idea,’ I said. ‘Meredith, put the demon to one side and let it recover.’ I glared at the King. ‘That demon is mine. Do not touch it.’
Meredith picked up the demon like a child and put it on the floor at the side of the room. Demons were generally tougher than humans, and could take much more physical abuse because of their almost liquid insides. An hour or so on the floor and this one would be fine again.
We all went back to the villas. Someone was sitting on the porch of the first one — an elderly woman, her face serene as she watched the lake. She smiled slightly at me as we went past.
We went into Leo’s villa. Downstairs were a small living room with a television, a kitchen and a dining room. Upstairs were two small bedrooms and a bathroom. Leo’s clothes were in the closet in the bedroom; it was disturbing to see exact replicas of his clothes in his room back at the Peak hanging here.
Simone went to the drawers in the closet and pulled one out. ‘Look, Emma.’ There were a few pairs of pink boxers at the bottom of the drawer. I shook my head.
‘I know what happened to them — I heard you talking about it when we were in Australia,’ Simone went on.
‘What happened?’ Michael said.
Simone turned to him and lowered her voice. ‘When we were in Australia, Emma and Leo were playing jokes on each other non-stop, and Emma got into the laundry room and dyed all his undershirts and boxers pink.’
‘He did stuff like that to me too sometimes.’ Michael turned away. ‘Damn but I miss him.’
‘I can’t believe he kept them,’ I said, glancing back down at the underwear. ‘He kept a pebble from the beach too, from the looks of it.’
Simone looked into the drawer. ‘That’s not a pebble, that’s something strange.’ She pulled out a small golden stone about a centimetre across. ‘This is some sort of demon.’
‘George?’ I called to the doorway. The Demon King, Yanluo Wang, Meredith and Martin entered.
‘What is it, Emma?’ the King said.
Simone held the stone out to him. ‘What do you make of this?’
The Demon King took the stone and stared at it, then grimaced