Blue Dragon Part 40

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE.

The next day, while John and Simone were at the theme park in China, I saw Louise for lunch. We met at the atrium that connected Sha Tin station with the shopping mall. Having the baby had made her softer and rounder. She held the baby in a sling strapped in front of her, and was accompanied by a demon, who appeared as a middle-aged Filipina domestic helper, carrying an enormous baby accessories bag. A hefty young bodyguard-one of the Tiger's sons-stood behind her watching the crowd carefully.

Louise raced to me and hugged me around the baby, who squirmed at the pressure. Then she stepped back to see me. She studied me carefully, looking me right in the eyes, then smiled broadly.

I cooed at the baby and took her hand. She grasped my finger, her little rosebud mouth nearly forming a sweet smile, and my heart melted.

'What's her name?' I said.

'Four-' Louise said, then stopped. 'Oh, her name name. Kimberley. Kimmy.'

'She's gorgeous,' I said, brus.h.i.+ng my hand over the baby's downy white hair.

Louise grinned with pride, her bright blue eyes sparkling under her spiky blonde hair. 'Come on, let's get some lunch. Let's go to the j.a.panese place the Tiger owns. We won't have to wait, and we can have a private room.'

She turned and we headed past the fountain, the bodyguard hovering and alert, the demon servant trailing after us lugging the huge bag.

'Lady Emma,' the bodyguard said, nodding.

'Hi,' I said. 'What's your name?'

'Two Eight Five.'

'Matt,' Louise said, and the bodyguard nodded again.

'You haven't changed a bit, Louise,' I said as Matt cleared our way through the Monday lunchtime crowd in the centre of the mall.

'Yeah, right,' Louise said with a grin. 'Put a lot of weight on, but the Tiger's dietician and personal trainer are working with me. I'll be back in shape in no time.' She looked me up and down. 'You need to see them too, Emma.'

I sighed. 'Yeah, I know. Need to do more physical stuff. I do too much energy work.'

Louise laughed softly. 'I heard about that. You have to show me.'

'Not in public, but you can come over to the Academy and see,' I said.

'But you look amazingly healthy,' Louise said, glancing sideways at me. 'You actually look younger than you did last year.'

That completely floored me. 'What?'

'You only look about twenty-five.'

I was bewildered. 'I'll be thirty-one in October, in four months,' I said. 'I can't look that young, don't be ridiculous.'

'You do.'

We arrived at the j.a.panese restaurant. There were about twenty people waiting outside, and five more at the reception desk collecting numbers to wait. When we reached the desk, the receptionist scowled at the baby. Louise wasn't fazed. She reached around the baby into her s.h.i.+rt, pulled out a platinum tiger that she wore on a chain around her neck, and dangled it in front of the receptionist.

The receptionist's face immediately went blank, then she smiled warmly and gestured for us to follow her, bobbing her head.

'Oh my G.o.d; that b.a.s.t.a.r.d,' I said softly.

'What?' Louise said as we were led into the private room.

'He tried to trick me into taking one of them.'

'One of what?'

'One of those little platinum tigers,' I said.

Louise grinned, then burst out laughing. She pulled her shoes off and went into the room. The demon servant followed her and sat quietly in the corner on the tatami mats.

'I'll wait outside, ma'am,' the bodyguard said. 'I'll be right outside the door.'

'Okay, Matt,' Louise said. She undid the straps holding the baby and gently lowered her as we sat. 'You want to hold her?'

I nodded and carefully took the baby. She squeaked and waved her little hands. I held her close and tried to control my reaction.

'What?' Louise said. 'What's the matter?'

I couldn't say anything. I just held the baby close and watched her.

'What's the problem, Emma?' Louise said.

'I'll never have one of my own,' I said, my voice thick. 'Never.'

'Why not?' Louise said softly. 'He's promised to come back for you, hasn't he?'

I carefully pa.s.sed the baby back. 'It will take him years to come back, Louise. I'll probably be too old.'

Louise leaned forward over the table, holding the baby in front of her. 'Human Immortals can have children, Emma. The Jade Emperor has dozens.'

I silently shook my head. Then I snapped myself out of it and grabbed a menu. 'I hope there's something vegetarian for me.'

'See?' Louise said. 'Vegetarian, looks young, not worried by anything. Immortal.'

'Oh, cut it out.'

The baby started to squall and Louise handed her to the maid. 'Beanie, I think she needs changing.'

'Ma'am,' the maid said, and took the baby into the corner of the tatami mats. 'I'll feed her as well, ma'am, I think she's due.'

'Beanie?' I said.

'Ma'am?' the maid said, turning back to me.

'Go and change her, Beanie,' Louise said, and the maid turned away again. 'It's great I can put her onto the bottle now-I have a lot more freedom. The Tiger likes all the wives to feed the babies themselves for at least the first four months. That reminds me.' She pulled out a notebook and flipped it open.

'What the h.e.l.l are you doing?' I said. 'We haven't done that in ages.'

'I have a bet with wife number One One Six and wife number One Two Zero,' Louise said. 'I have some questions for you, and you have to answer them truthfully for me.'

The waitress turned up and Louise dropped the notebook and grabbed the menu. 'But let's eat first, I'm starving.'

'Why is the demon called Beanie?' I said after we'd ordered.

'What demon?' Louise said.

I gestured towards the maid who was busy preparing a bottle. 'Demon.'

Louise glanced sharply at her. 'Are you a demon, Beanie?'

The maid bobbed her head. 'Yes, ma'am, tamed by Lord Bai Hu's Number One son himself.'

Louise turned back to me, grinning. 'I didn't know that; I thought she was a domestic helper. How about that? You could see she's a demon?'

'Of course I could,' I said. 'Why is her name Beanie?'

'No idea,' Louise said. 'Beanie?'

'I don't know, ma'am,' Beanie said. 'When I was tamed, they opened a large book, crossed out a dark word and said that was my name.'

I collapsed forward over my knees laughing.

'What?' Louise said, bewildered.

'Dictionary,' I said. 'They go through the words and use them as demon names.'

Louise's face lit up with delight and she laughed as well.

A waitress pa.s.sing our room closed the door to keep the noise level down. Matt opened it again slightly so that he could keep an eye on us.

'How old are you, Beanie?' I said.

'About twenty years, ma'am,' the demon said.

'What?' Louise said. 'Only twenty years old? She looks mid-forties.'

'They hatch as adults and don't age,' I said.

'That's incredible.' Louise studied Beanie then turned back to me. 'How come you know all this stuff? No, wait.' She lifted the notebook and raised her hand. 'I need a pen, Beanie.'

'I'm sorry, ma'am, I don't have one,' the maid said.

I scrabbled through the mess in my bag and pa.s.sed Louise a pen.

'Okay,' Louise said, flipping the notebook open again. 'You have to answer these questions truthfully, okay?'

I shrugged. 'Only if they're not too personal.'

Louise grinned broadly. 'What's he like in bed?'

I reached over the table and pushed her. Her grin didn't s.h.i.+ft.

'Okay.' She looked down at the notebook then back at me. 'Can you pick demons from a distance?'

'Yes,' I said.

'How far?'

'About twenty metres.'

She made a tick in the notebook. 'Next. How much chi can you generate?'

'A ball of about two metres across, at the moment, but I'm working on it,' I said.

'Whoa.' She made another tick and glanced up at me. 'Can you take out level forty demons with your bare hands?'

'Yes,' I said, pouring some green tea.

'Wow,' Louise said; another tick. 'Can you take down Leo Alexander hand-to-hand?'

'Yep,' I said, sipping the tea. 'I can take down both Leo and Michael at hand-to-hand.'

'Whoa, really really?' Her eyes were wide. 'That's Michael, the Tiger's son? The good one? Really? You can take him down as well?'

'The good good one?' I said, grinning. 'I can take them down one?' I said, grinning. 'I can take them down together together.' This was beginning to be fun.

'Crikey, Emma,' Louise said, and I giggled. 'Can you generate black chi?'

'How the h.e.l.l do you know about that?' I demanded loudly.

'Oh, word gets around,' she said. 'Can I see?'

I held my hand out, generated a small ball of black chi, and reabsorbed it. Louise's eyes were huge.

'Your hand went black. Do that again.'

I did it again for her and she put down her tea and scribbled furiously in the notebook. 'I'm going double or nothing on that one,' she said. 'I should have brought a video camera.' She glanced up at me. 'Can you tame demons?'

'Yep,' I said, and she ticked the book.

'Oh, wait,' I said. 'I can't complete the process; Xuan Wu needs to do it for me.'

'Not important,' she said. 'Can you use your Inner Eye?'

'Yep.'