I don’t trust myself to stand, so I crawl forward, dragging Lord Aengus’s vase with me.
‘Over there,’ Lord Aengus says, gesturing with his chin.
Tony, Ah Lang and Gigi are huddled together by the broken remnants of the bar. When I reach them, Ah Lang takes Lord Aengus from me. Tony pulls me into his arms, his breath hitching as he holds me tight. I bury my face in his chest. He’s bleeding but I can tell it’s not a serious wound. Though the scent is tantalising and my fangs snick out, for once I’m not the least bit tempted because I’m so grateful he’s alive.
‘What was that?’ Ah Lang asks.
No one has any answers.
‘Keep your wits about you,’ Lord Aengus whispers. ‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
As if on cue, mist pours into the carriage. Light refracts through it, making the air shine. The faint rose and camphorscent intensifies as a dozen black-clad intruders materialise before us. Yaoguai in human form.
Ah Lang jumps to his feet, Gigi right beside him.
‘LEAVE US,’ she commands in Celestial voice. Her words slither with echoing whispers, every one carrying the power of Tian, demanding submission.
A shiver runs through the intruders, but they are unaffected by the compulsion. Tony on the other hand shakes violently from the effects of Celestial command. I murmur in his ear to help dispel the terror. Tugging Gigi, I shift positions with her. She meets my eye as she stands next to Tony and nods in understanding.
‘What do you want?’ Ah Lang glowers at them.
The men and women observe us, unmoved.
‘You know your sword forms?’ I whisper to Ah Lang.
‘Of course,’ he says.
That’s all I need to hear.
Ah Lang and I launch ourselves at the yaoguai. My first punch connects, throwing a bald man off his feet. I lose sight of him as a blond woman takes his place. Her blue eyes widen as her nose crunches under my fist. Two others replace her.
Ah Lang and I are more than their match in strength – but it’s like fighting a swarm of bees. Every time I knock one away, more replace it.
The blond is back, I grab her hair, about to punch her again, but notice her smashed nose rebuilding itself as I watch.
‘They self-heal!’ I shout. ‘We have to kill them!’
Twisting around the woman so I can headlock her and snap her neck, she suddenly disappears and I’m left holding air.
The intruders multiply and we are overrun. Five attack me at once, two grabbing each arm, the fifth holding me in a headlock.I’m forced to my knees, head pushed down while my hands are bound at my back with heavy chains.
Gigi’s yellow dress is to my right, Ah Lang’s tan robe to my left.
‘Tony and Lord Aengus are here too,’ Gigi whispers.
That rose camphor scent spikes as more mist surges into the carriage.
Three more strangers materialise from the shimmer. An older woman – smooth, glassy skin, silver hair pulled into a chignon – stands between a man with dark hair, eyes the colour of rain clouds, and a woman who stares at me with brilliant emerald chip eyes.
Though they all seem to smell the same, my gut tells me emerald eyes and the dark-haired man were the ones I first noticed.
The way the silver-haired woman holds herself – back straight as the majestic pines of Mount Kunlun – her severe and commanding beauty, and the way she wears her presence like a crown, sends a shiver of recognition down my spine. Though she wears a black wool dress with a white lace collar – not enough skin and definitely not enough ta-tas on show for my grandmother’s taste – like Niang Niang, she reeks of power.
The man offers the silver-haired woman his arm. She pats him affectionally and the huge rubies and diamonds adorning her fingers wink in the light. She turns her attention to us and the edges of her lips curl into something just short of a smile. An acknowledgement, perhaps.
The old woman speaks in a smoky melodious voice but I don’t understand any of it, apart from the wordParis.
It doesn’t matter though, because emerald eyes says in slow, carefully enunciated Mandarin, ‘Welcome to Paris. You are now in the care of House Durand.’
