Page 100 of The Girl with a Thousand Faces
At least the bathwater is helpful, and very soothing. It’s good to be submerged again. The darkness is nice, too.
“There you are. Feeling yourself, yet?”
Sit up slowly. Water sluices off languidly.
Kit Ling is perched on the edge of the bath, a smug grin plastered on her pretty face. That expression offsets any beauty she would otherwise have.
Where are we now, Miss Tsang?
“In a property I own and lease, within the Walled City. People come here to gamble, hire girls, and take drugs.” The casualness with which she says this, as if immune to the stench of her own corruption. It is staggering that this woman is a city official.
I am… free? To kill, to hunt, to roam?
“Yes. Cause all the damage you like.” She stands up. “I must go, now that you are awake. It won’t do for me to be seen in this place. Have fun, Thousand-Faced Girl.”
You sidle out of the bath, standing between her and the door.
The councilwoman frowns. “What are you doing?”
You call yourself a city leader? Disgusting, “Miss” Tsang.Your first blow slams her head against the bathroom door. She squeals pitifully, tries to start chanting an exorcism ritual; you snatch the bottle gourd from her hand and smash it.
“No! We had an agreement,” she gasps, and then immediately wets herself when you pick her up by the throat.
I know that you plan to betray me, as humans always will. Our agreement was therefore void, the moment you made it.
She begins wailing, scratching feebly at your wrists. Her face is a mess of bruised cheeks and busted lips.
This idiot, you think dismally, would not have lasted an hour under Japanese occupation. She is all cocky privilege and corrupt self-satisfaction, with no character or strength. The world will not miss her a jot.
“Please, please, please!” she sobs, shameless and pathetic in her begging. “I’m so sorry, so sorry, please forgive me, I didn’t mean it!”
Be sorry in your next life. This one is over.
Drag her into the bath and force her head beneath the tepid water until she stops fucking struggling. It’s done in less than two minutes. With so much blood on your hands, another pointless death is not remarkable.
Afterward, it seems only fitting to take her body as your own. She is a well-connected, financially secure woman, and that is really quite perfect for your needs. Should have thought of that before hitting her so hard, but never mind.
You step into her skin, and stretch languorously. Next, you reach down and scoop out some of the water, splashing it on the floor before mopping it up with a towel. The rest you allow to drain away.
Water ghosts make water ghosts, especially if the victim is a woman. You got lucky with those Japanese soldiers the first time; they were men, which greatly reduced the likelihood. It’s trickier with women victims.
But her spirit can’t return to dryness, and thus her death is final if you displace or clean up all the water she died in. That’s a trick you worked out during the war, and it is as handy now as it was against soldiers. The water-ghost curse didn’t account for intelligent manipulation.
It’s a trick you’ll use later, to keep Red Bird’s ghost under control: a small spirit trapped in a small basin, virtually powerless. There is a certain creativity to your malice.
Later, as you stand in front of that mirror dabbing blood from your (her) split lips, applying ice to your (her) black eyes, a smile steals across your face.
“Thank you, Miss Tsang,” you say, into the mirror. “You don’t know what you’ve done for me.”
Not only has this idiot politician freed you, she’s given you the keys to the city. Her money and her life are yours, to use as you see fit. Everyone thinks you’re dead and captured, and no one will know to look for you.
The quest for vengeance—against Mei Chi, against Mami, against Hong Kong which betrayed you—can finally,finallyresume.
This fucking city will never know what hit it.
31BRAVE NEW WORLD
One year ago…
