Red Phoenix

sword katas right now!’ I shouted. ‘My parents are in my room, shell-shocked, and we are going to talk to them and sort this out! And then we are going to find out exactly what happened, and go and kick some serious demon ass!’
    He put his hands up in defeat. ‘All right, all right,’ he said wryly as he flopped back into his chair. ‘Don’t get your scaly tail in a knot.’
    Both Leo and the Tiger laughed gently at that.
    ‘I don’t have—’ I started to shoot back, and then I stopped.
    ‘Damn,’ I said quietly and flopped down into a chair. ‘I am not having a good day.’
    ‘I will be watching you,’ Kwan Yin said. ‘I will return to help you with your mother.’ She disappeared.
    ‘Am I a Shen?’ I said to the Tiger before he disappeared as well.
    ‘I don’t think so,’ the Tiger said. ‘Like we said, none of us has seen anything like you before.’
    ‘Am I already Immortal?’ I said more softly.
    ‘Most definitely not,’ the Tiger said, amused. ‘Don’t try anything stupid. Right now, you are just an ordinary human female.’
    ‘See?’ the stone in my ring said.
    ‘Shut the hell up!’ John and I both snapped at the same time.
    ‘Stay and help, if you can, my friend,’ John said to the Tiger.
    ‘I am being summoned,’ the Tiger said. ‘I think I’m about to be debriefed. With extreme prejudice. A great deal of brown sticky stuff is about to hit some swiftly rotating blades. I think you should count yourself lucky that you can’t travel very far right now, and that certain Celestials don’t like slumming it on the Earthly. I’ll be back as soon as I’m finished trying to cover for your worthless shell. Okay?’
    ‘Go,’ John said wearily, waving him away with one hand. ‘Thanks,’ he added sincerely.
    ‘My Lord, my Lady. Dark Turtle, Dark Serpent,’ Bai Hu added, rubbing it in with relish. ‘By your leave.’
    ‘Piss off, Tiger,’ I said, just as wearily. ‘Dark Serpent indeed.’
    The Tiger grinned at me and winked. He disappeared. John eyed me appraisingly. ‘You think you can do it at will?’
    ‘I did it because Simone said you were going and I was just so mad I wanted to explode,’ I said. ‘I really don’t think I have any control over it at all.’
    ‘Well,’ he said, ‘with your temper I don’t think we’ll be waiting too long to see it again.’
    Later I sat on the couch in the living room with only a table lamp for illumination. The apartment was dark and quiet; everybody else was asleep. Kwan Yin had shown me to my mother, and my mother had accepted me, but it had been hard for her. Kwan Yin had done something to both of my parents and they’d fallen asleep without trouble.
    I heard a soft sound. Simone stood in the hallway in her nightdress, leaning on the doorframe. I held out one arm and she crept onto the couch next to me. She put her head on my shoulder and I wrapped my arm around her.
    ‘Are you okay, Emma?’ she said softly.
    ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I just can’t sleep. What about you, sweetheart? You weren’t too scared?’
    ‘I’m okay,’ she whispered. ‘I know it’s you. But why were you a snake?’
    I sighed with feeling. ‘I wish I knew.’
    ‘You wouldn’t hurt us anyway. It’s still you.’
    ‘I know,’ I whispered.
    John appeared in the doorway in his black pyjama pants, his long hair falling over his shoulder. He hesitated, then came to us.
    Simone shifted so that he could sit on the other side of her, and he pulled her into his lap. ‘Turn around,’ I whispered, and he swivelled so that I could braid his hair for him. I braided it tight, enjoying the silken feeling. I threw my arms over his shoulders and held him from behind, then pulled away. He turned so that I could cuddle into him and he wrapped his arm around me. I pulled my feet up and leaned on him.
    Simone put her head on his chest, her huge golden eyes turned towards me. ‘Your hair smells like the sea, Daddy,’ she whispered. ‘Why?’
    ‘Because I am what I am,’ he said, his voice rumbling through his chest.
    Simone didn’t move or reply.
    ‘Are you two okay?’ he said softly. ‘You should be sleeping.’
    Simone turned her face away from me, still leaning on his chest.
    ‘You know that Emma loves you,’ John said.
    Simone turned her face back to me and smiled. She reached out and touched my cheek. ‘I know. I think she loves me more than she loves you, Daddy.’
    ‘She would never hurt you,’ he said.
    ‘I know that,’ she