Billy Kong decided that he'd have a little word with the new prisoner. The female. If indeed she was female. How was he supposed to know for sure what cla.s.s of a creature it was? It looked like a girl, but maybe demon girls weren't the same as human ones. So, Billy Kong thought he might ask it it what exactly what exactly it it was, among other things. If the creature decided not to answer, Kong didn't mind. There were ways to persuade people to talk. Asking them nicely was one way. Giving them candy was another. But Billy Kong preferred torture. was, among other things. If the creature decided not to answer, Kong didn't mind. There were ways to persuade people to talk. Asking them nicely was one way. Giving them candy was another. But Billy Kong preferred torture.

Back in the early eighties, when Billy Kong was still plain old Jonah Lee, he lived in the California beach town of Malibu with his mother, Annie, and big brother, Eric.

Annie worked two jobs to keep her boys in sneakers, so Jonah got left with Eric in the evenings. That should have worked out fine. Eric was sixteen and old enough to look after his kid brother. But like most sixteen-year-olds, he had more on his mind than little brothers. In fact, sitting with Jonah was seriously interfering with his social life.

The problem was, as Eric saw it, that Jonah was an outdoorsy kind of boy. As soon as Eric took off to hang out with his friends, Jonah would ignore his big brother's orders and head out into the California evening. And outdoors in the city was no place for an eight-year-old. So what Eric needed to do was devise a strategy that kept Jonah indoors, and allowed him to roam free.

He came upon the perfect plan quite by accident one night, returning home after a late-night argument with his girlfriend's other boyfriend and brothers.

For once, Jonah had not ventured out and was plonked in front of the TV watching horror shows on hacked cable. Eric, who had always been impulsive and reckless, had taken to sneaking around with the girlfriend of a local gangster. Now word had leaked out and the gang was after him. They had roughed him up a bit already, but he had got away. He was b.l.o.o.d.y and tired, but still kind of enjoying himself.

'Lock the doors,' he called to his little brother, startling him out of his TV stupor.

Jonah jumped to his feet, eyes widening as he noticed Eric's bloodied nose and lip.

'What happened to you?'

Eric grinned. He was that kind of person exhausted, battered but buzzing with adrenaline.

'I got... There was this bunch of...'

And then he stopped, because the spark of an idea was ricocheting around in his head. He must look pretty beat-up. Maybe he could use this to keep little Jonah indoors while Mom was working.

'I can't tell you,' he said, dragging a smear of blood across his face with one sleeve. 'I've sworn an oath. Just bolt the doors and close the shutters.'

Usually, Jonah didn't have time for his brother's theatrics, but tonight there was blood, and horror on the TV, and he could hear footsteps pounding up the driveway.

'Dammit, they've found me,' swore Eric, peeking through a shutter.

Little Jonah grabbed his brother's sleeve.

'Who's found you, Eric? You gotta tell me.'

Eric appeared to consider it.

'OK,' he said finally. 'I belong to a... uh... secret society. We fight a secret enemy.'

'What, like a gang?'

'No,' said Eric. 'We fight demons.'

'Demons?' said little Jonah, half sceptical, half scared out of his wits.

'Yeah. They're all over California. By day, they're normal guys. Accountants and basketball players, stuff like that. But at night they peel off their skin and go hunting kids. Under tens.'

'Under tens? Like me.'

'Like you. Exactly like you. I found these demons chewing on a couple of twin girls. Maybe eight years old. I killed most of 'em, but a few must've followed me home. We gotta stay real quiet and they'll go away.'

Jonah rushed for the phone. 'We should call Mom.'

'No!' said Eric, s.n.a.t.c.hing the phone. 'You want to get Mom killed? Is that what you want?'

The idea of his mother dying started Jonah crying. 'No. Mom can't die.'

'Exactly,' said Eric gently. 'You gotta leave the demon-slaying to me and my boys. When you're fifteen, then you get to be sworn in, but until then, this is our secret. You stay in the house and let me do my duty. Promise?'

Jonah nodded, blubbering too much to say the word.

And so the brothers sat huddled on the sofa while Eric's girlfriend's boyfriend's brothers battered on the windows and called him out.

This is a cruel trick, Eric thought. Maybe I'll just let it run for a couple of months. It'll keep the kid out of trouble until everything dies down Maybe I'll just let it run for a couple of months. It'll keep the kid out of trouble until everything dies down.

The deception worked well. Jonah didn't set foot outside the house after dusk for weeks. He sat on the settee, with his knees drawn to his chin, waiting for Eric to return with elaborate demon-slaying stories. Every night, he feared that his brother would not return, that the demons would kill him.

One night his fears came to pa.s.s. The cops said that Eric had been killed by a notorious gang of brothers who had been gunning for him. Something about a girl. But Jonah knew different. He knew the demons had done it. They had peeled off their faces and killed his brother.

So Jonah Lee, now known as Billy Kong, was going in to see Holly carrying the weight of his childhood memories. For the sake of his sanity, he had managed to convince himself over the decades that there were no demons, and that his beloved brother had lied to him. This betrayal had messed him up for years, preventing him forming lasting relationships, and making it a lot easier for him to hurt people. And now this crazy Minerva girl was paying him to help her hunt down actual demons, and it turns out they are are real. He had seen them with his own eyes. real. He had seen them with his own eyes.

At this stage Billy Kong couldn't tell fact from fiction. A part of him believed that he'd had a bad accident, and that all of this was coma hallucination. All Billy knew for sure was that if there was the slightest chance that these demons were the same ones who killed Eric, then they were going to pay.

Holly was not too happy playing the victim. She had enough of this in the Academy. Every time the curriculum threw up a role-playing game, Holly, as the only girl in that cla.s.s, was picked to be the hostage, or the elf walking home alone, or the teller facing a bank robber. She tried to object that this was stereotyping, but the instructor replied that stereotypes were stereotypes for a reason, so get that blonde wig on. So when Artemis proposed that she allow herself to get caught, Holly took a bit of persuading. Now she was sitting tied to a wooden chair in a dark, damp bas.e.m.e.nt room, waiting for some human to come and torture her. The next time Artemis had a plan involving someone being taken hostage, he could play the part himself. It was ridiculous. She was a captain in her eighties, and Artemis was a fourteen-year-old civilian, and yet he was dishing out the orders and she was taking them.

That's because Artemis is a tactical genius, said her sensible side.

Oh, shut up, responded her irritated side eloquently.

And then Billy Kong came into the room and proceeded to irritate Holly even further. He glided across the floor like a pale, hair-gelled ghost, circling Holly silently several times before speaking.

'Tell me something, demon. Can you peel off your face?'

Holly met his eyes. 'With what? My teeth? Hands tied, moron.'

Billy Kong sighed. Lately everyone under five feet seemed to think it was their prerogative to give him verbal abuse.

'You probably know I'm not supposed to kill you,' said Billy, teasing his hair into spikes. 'But I often do things that I'm not supposed to.'

Holly decided to crack this human's confidence a little.

'I know that, Billy, or should I say, Jonah. You've done a lot of bad things over the years.'

Kong took a step back. 'You know me?'

'We know all about you, Billy. We've been watching you for years.'

This wasn't strictly true, of course. Holly knew no more about Kong than Foaly had told her. Perhaps she wouldn't have baited him if she'd known about his demon demon history. history.

To Billy Kong, this simple statement was confirmation of everything Eric had told him. Suddenly, the building blocks of his beliefs and understandings toppled and smashed beyond repair.

It was all true. Eric had not lied. Demons walked the Earth and his brother had tried to protect him and paid with his life.

'You remember my brother?' he asked, his voice shaking.

Holly presumed that this was a test. Foaly had had mentioned a brother. mentioned a brother.

'Yes. I remember. Derek, wasn't it?'

Kong pulled a stiletto from his breast pocket, gripping it so tightly his knuckles whitened.

'Eric!' he shouted, spittle spraying from his mouth. 'It was Eric! Do you remember what happened to him?'

Holly felt suddenly nervous. This Mud Man was unstable. It would only take her a second to escape from these bonds, but maybe a second was too long. Artemis had requested that she remain bound for as long as possible, but from the look on Billy Kong's face it seemed as if staying bound could be a fatal mistake.

'Do you remember what happened to my brother?' asked Kong again, waving the knife like a conductor's baton.

'I remember,' said Holly. 'He died. Violently.'

Kong was thunderstruck. Reeling internally. For several moments he circled the room muttering to himself, which didn't encourage Holly any.

'It's true. Eric never betrayed me! My brother loved me. He loved me and they they took him!' took him!'

Holly took advantage of this lack of focus to escape from the plastic ties binding her wrists. She did this using an old LEP trick taught to her by Commander Vinyaya back in the Academy. She rubbed her wrists against the rough edge, causing two small grazes. When magical sparks erupted from her fingertips to heal the wounds, she siphoned a few off to melt the plastic enough for her to yank her way out.

When Kong faced Holly again, she was untethered, but concealing the fact.

Kong knelt before her so their eyes were level. He was blinking rapidly and his pulse beat in a temple vein. He spoke slowly, in a voice fraught with barely repressed madness and violence. He had switched to Taiwanese, his family's first language.

'I want you to peel off your face. Right now.'

This, reasoned Kong, would be the final proof. If this demon could peel off her face, then he would stab her in the heart and d.a.m.n the consequences.

'I can't,' said Holly. 'My hands are tied. Why don't you peel it off for me? We have new masks now. Disposable. They come off easily.'

Kong coughed in surprise, rocking back on his hunkers. Then he steadied himself and reached out shaking hands. His hands did not shake from fear, but from anger and sorrow that he had dishonoured his brother's memory by believing the worst of him.

'At the hairline,' said Holly. 'Just grab and pull; don't worry if you tear it.'

Kong looked up, and they made eye contact. This was all Holly needed to employ the magical fairy mesmer mesmer.

'Don't those arms feel heavy?' she asked, her voice layered and irresistible.

Kong's brow suddenly creased, and the creases filled with sweat.

'My arms. What? They're like lead. Like two lead pipes. I can't...'

Holly pushed the mesmer mesmer a little harder. 'Why don't you put them down. Take it easy. Sit on the floor.' a little harder. 'Why don't you put them down. Take it easy. Sit on the floor.'

Kong sat on the concrete. 'I'm just going to sit for a second. We're still doing the face-peeling thing. But in a second. I'm tired.'

'You probably feel like talking.'

'You know what, demon. I feel like talking. What should we talk about?'

'This whole group you're involved with, Billy. The Paradizos. Tell me about them.'

Kong snorted. 'The Paradizos! You're only dealing with one Paradizo here. And that's the girl, Minerva. Her daddy is just a money man. If Minerva wants it, Gaspard pays for it. He's so proud of his little girl the genius that he does whatever she says. Can you believe that she convinced him to keep the whole demon thing quiet until after the n.o.bel Committee get a look at her research?'

This was very good news. 'You mean that no one outside this house knows about the demons?'

'Hardly anybody inside inside the house knows. Minerva is paranoid that some other egghead will get hold of her work. The staff think we're guarding a political prisoner who needs his face redone. Only Juan Soto, the chief of in-house security, and myself were told the truth.' the house knows. Minerva is paranoid that some other egghead will get hold of her work. The staff think we're guarding a political prisoner who needs his face redone. Only Juan Soto, the chief of in-house security, and myself were told the truth.'

'Does Minerva keep records?'

'Records? She writes everything down, and I mean everything. We have records of every demon action, right down to toilet breaks. She's got every twitch on video; the only reason that there's no cameras down here is that we weren't expecting anyone.'

'Where does she keep these notes?'

'A little wall safe in the security office. Minerva thinks I don't know the combination, but I do. Bobo's birthday.'

Holly touched a skin-coloured microphone pad glued to her throat. 'A wall safe in the security office,' she said clearly. 'I hope you're getting that.'

There was no reply. Wearing an earpiece had been too risky, so Holly had to make do with the mike pad on her neck, and iris-cam suckered like a contact lens over her right eye.

Kong still felt like talking. 'You know, I'm going to kill all of you demons. I've got a plan. Real clever too. Miss Minerva thinks that she's going to Stockholm, but that's never going to happen. I'm just waiting for the right moment. I know that silver is the only thing keeping you in this dimension. So, I'm going to send you back and give you a little present to take with you.'

Not if I can help it, thought Holly.

Kong half smiled at her. 'Are we doing the face-peeling thing? Can you really do that?'

'Of course I can,' said Holly. 'Are you sure you want to see it?'

Kong nodded, slack-jawed.

'OK, then. Watch carefully.'

Holly raised her hands to her face, and when she took them away, her head had disappeared. Her body and limbs quickly followed suit.

'Not only can I peel off my face,' said Holly's voice from thin air. 'I can do my entire body.'

'It's true,' croaked Kong. 'It's all true.'

Then a tiny invisible fist swished through the air, knocking him into unconsciousness. Billy Kong lay on the concrete floor dreaming that he was Jonah Lee once more, and his brother stood before him saying: I told you so, bro. I told you there were demons. They murdered me back in Malibu. So what are you going to do about it? I told you so, bro. I told you there were demons. They murdered me back in Malibu. So what are you going to do about it?

And little Jonah answered: I'm working on it, Eric I'm working on it, Eric.

Minerva accepted the phone from the security guard.