Blue Dragon Part 36

'What's the problem?' I said. 'Where will we put her?'

'I don't know,' John said. His face was as full of awe as the demon's was. 'I've never seen anybody do anything like that before.'

I was thoroughly confused. 'Like what? I just tamed her, that's all.'

'Emma, you changed her into a human human. She's not a demon any more, she's a perfectly normal human female.'

The demon fell over her knees and sobbed more loudly.

'Holy s.h.i.t,' I said softly, studying her. I was speechless. I dropped to crouch so I could face the demon...the girl. 'Are you okay?'

She glanced up at me and wiped her eyes, still gasping. Then she threw herself into my arms and held me tight. 'Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.' She pulled away and tried to say something more, but the words wouldn't come.

I moved back to sit on the floor and John did too.

'n.o.body's ever done that before?' I said.

'Nope,' John said, beginning to smile. He glanced at me, about to say something, then turned back to the girl. 'You have your freedom now, little one. What will you do with it?'

The girl looked helplessly at both of us. 'I don't know.' She shook her head. 'This is all so sudden. I have no idea. It will take me a while to become accustomed to having a mind and a will of my own.'

'You can stay with us until you've worked out what you want to do,' I said, my heart going out to the poor thing. 'We'll look after you.'

She threw herself into my arms again and clutched me. 'I think I would like to serve you, if you will let me.'

'You can't,' I said, holding her. 'You're free. You're not tamed. You're your own woman.'

'Would you like a job with us?' John said.

The girl fell back from me and smiled through the tears. 'A job job? Earning money, like a human?' The smile broadened. 'It's true. It's all true. You are are the most generous creature on the Plane.' She shook her head, her face still alight with the beautiful smile. 'Yes, I'd love a job, thank you, Dark Lord.' the most generous creature on the Plane.' She shook her head, her face still alight with the beautiful smile. 'Yes, I'd love a job, thank you, Dark Lord.'

John pulled himself to his feet and held his hand out to the girl, who took it, still smiling.

'I can't believe this is happening,' she said softly.

'You'll need to find yourself a name, pet,' I said.

'Set her up in the other student room,' John said. 'Then I think you'd better take her shopping-she was extremely lucky she was able to conjure the clothes the way she did. I'll put the jar away, I've seen enough. If that happens again, I'll have to take back the unit downstairs.'

'Come on, sweetheart,' I said, taking the girl's hand. 'I think you need some very speedy lessons on being human.' I turned back to John without letting go of her. 'Call Ah Yat, tell her to come into the room and help us. I think she'll understand.'

The girl clutched my arm as I took her out, obviously wobbly on her legs. Whether it was from the shock or the change in form it was hard to tell.

I was sitting cross-legged on the couch watching a DVD in my room when there was a tap on the door. 'Ma'am, it's me.'

'Come on in, Ah Yat. What do you want?'

Ah Yat opened the door and smiled at me.

'Is the human girl okay?' I said.

'She is fine, ma'am,' Ah Yat said. 'She's learning quickly. She has chosen the human name of Sonia, but she is trying to work out a family name. I had to explain to her that Donahoe wasn't appropriate.' She hesitated, obviously uncomfortable about whatever was coming next.

'You want me to teach her the facts of life?' I said.

'She knows about that already, ma'am,' Ah Yat said. She looked down, still uncomfortable.

'Okay, ask me, Ah Yat. What do you want to know?'

'She says that you did it to her.'

I sighed. 'Yes, I did.'

Ah Yat fell to her knees in front of me. 'Please do it for me, ma'am. Can you? I will stay with you, I swear, I will not leave your service. But I would give anything,' she took a huge gasping breath, 'anything to be human.' to be human.'

'You're nearly there anyway, Ah Yat, the Dark Lord said so himself.'

'You could do it now now, my Lady.'

I turned off the television with the remote and turned to face her, leaning over my knees. 'Get up, Ah Yat, I can't talk to you like that.'

She pulled herself up from the floor and stood twisting her hands together.

'She doesn't know the rest of what happened before I changed her,' I said.

Ah Yat was silent.

'We were testing out an unusual type of energy that apparently only I can generate. It destroyed about half the demons I used it on. Others, it changed. It turned a humanoid into black goo, but it was still alive.'

Ah Yat winced.

'It turned a bug into a tiny Mother. And then it changed Sonia into a human. About one in ten, I think.'

'The others were destroyed or changed?' Ah Yat whispered.

'Yes. Except for one, which was undamaged.'

'Can I see the energy?'

'It's black, Ah Yat.'

'Can I see, ma'am?'

I held my hand out and generated a ball of black chi about the size of a tennis ball.

Ah Yat inhaled sharply. 'I have seen that before.'

I reabsorbed the chi and shot to my feet. 'Where? Who?'

'It was during the Trouble Times, ma'am, just over a thousand years ago. The King had been destroyed by his Number One son. The son could produce that.' She pointed at my hands.

'But that would be the current King,' I said.

She bowed slightly. 'That is correct, ma'am.'

'Did his black chi produce similar results? Just random effectiveness?'

'No, ma'am, it just destroyed things. It destroyed everything. It was very scary.'

'And you want me to use it on you? I don't think so.'

'I have one chance in ten?'

'I think so. Maybe more, maybe less. I'm not trying it out on anything else, the results are too unpredictable.'

She fell to her knees and touched her head to the floor. 'Please, ma'am. Ngoh kow nei Ngoh kow nei. I beg you.'

'If you continue to serve us as you have, how long before you attain perfection?'

'Not more than twenty years, ma'am.'

'You would give that up for a one in ten chance?'

'I could be human now now, ma'am.'

I went to her and held out my hand. 'Up you get, Ah Yat.'

She took my hand and rose, then bowed slightly.

'Ah Yat,' I said, patting her shoulder, 'as far as all of us are concerned, you're already human. Would you like a salary? We could pay you. You could have a job, exactly like Sonia. The difference at the moment is purely academic. To us, you're human.'

'If you give me an order I am forced to obey, ma'am,' she said softly, head bowed. 'If I were human I would have free will.'

'Ah Yat, I want you to consider something. Say you were human and were still working for us. If the Dark Lord gave you an order, would you obey him?'

'Of course, ma'am,' she replied.

'Well then,' I said, patting her hand, 'there you go. No difference whatsoever. I won't do this to you, Ah Yat, the risks are too high. Stay and attain perfection, and be glad for Sonia. Will it be the same for you when you get there?'

'No, ma'am, it will be completely different for me, but I can't tell you how. It is one of those things that cannot be shared with mortals, even n.o.bility such as yourself.'

I laughed. 'n.o.bility? I think I'm about the furthest you can get from n.o.bility and still be human.'

'If you say so, ma'am,' Ah Yat said diplomatically.

I laughed again and patted her back. 'If you ever want an evening off to go and do human things, like shopping, let me know. In fact, I just had an idea. You show Sonia-take her shopping, show her how to buy and how to budget, how to dress.'

'Yes, ma'am,' she said, and turned to leave.

'Ah Yat,' I said, and she turned back. 'You don't have to do it if you don't want to. It's your choice. You're free to decide whether or not you want to do this.'

'No, I'm not, ma'am,' Ah Yat said, and went out.

John was in the television room, watching a tape of an appalling Cantonese period drama with martial arts so laboured that you could actually see the actors counting as they performed the moves. Yat, yee Yat, yee. Yat, yee Yat, yee.

'I don't know how you can watch that trash,' I said, leaning on the arm of the couch. 'I need to talk to you.'

He switched off the television and paused the video. 'What?' He moved to the end of the couch so that I could sit and turned to face me.

'Ah Yat asked me to change her into a human.'

'I'm not surprised,' he said, pulling his feet up to sit cross-legged.

'She asked to see the black chi, and when I showed it to her, she said she'd seen it before.'

He straightened, suddenly much more interested. 'Who? Where?'

'Apparently when the current King of the Demons took over, he used this black chi.'

He rubbed his hand on his chin and studied me appraisingly. 'I've never seen him use it. Interesting.'

'Are you sure I'm not a demon?' I said fiercely. 'Is there any doubt at all in your mind?'

He shifted, making himself more comfortable, flexing his bare feet. 'I am sure. No doubt whatsoever.'

'Then what am I?'

'Stay still,' he said, and leaned to tap the stone.

'Hm? Yes?'

'She's worried she's a demon again. Apparently the King has used black chi similar to what she produced.'

'Really? Interesting,' the stone said. 'Not surprising, though.'

'Why?' I said.

'Because, young Emma, you are becoming more yin all the time. The more time you spend with this yin creature, the more yin you become yourself. When you first arrived in his household, you were extremely yang. Now, his influence is affecting you, in more ways than one.'

'Is it because he is such a powerful creature, even though he's drained?' I said. 'He's inundating me with himself because he's so big and I'm so little?'

'You have it precisely, Emma,' the stone said. 'I think you knew that all along.'

'But he can't generate black chi.'

'Never tried,' John said, bemused. 'But if I wanted to, I probably could. Must try it when I return.'

'I'm losing my personality into yours,' I said.