| “ | FRESH! | „ |
| ~ Audrey Cheng viewing a still-alive fish split in half. |
Audrey Cheng is the major secondary antagonist in the Power of Five novel, Necropolis.
Origins
Audrey Cheng is actually one of the Old Ones in human form. She is a shape-changer, the name given to Old Ones who can take human form and use it to bully, frighten, or kill people.
Audrey Cheng fought in the First War against humanity, she lost along with the Old Ones. But, she was not killed - only imprisoned in Hell along with the other demons. She was waiting for chance to be freed. Soon the chance came in May 26, 2006, when the man Diego Salamanda cracked open the inter-dimensional gate in the Nazca Desert and freed the Old Ones along with Audrey Cheng. Their master, Chaos broke free and fought Matt, knockng him unconscious, but Matt did not die. The Old Ones turned into two suns and teleported themselves to Antarctica, where they made a castle named Oblivion. Then various Old Ones were stationed all across the world - waiting for the Apocalypse signal to be given. Audrey Cheng was stationed in Hong Kong, China, and pretended to be working for the Nightrise Corporation. Given its Chairman knew of the Old Ones and all of their powers, it has probably given that he knew about Audrey being one of the Old Ones - if so he would have been honored and delighted to meet his masters.
Biography
Audrey Cheng first met Scarlett Adams, the fifth of the Five, in Hong Kong airport. She and her henchman Karl were there to greet the Gatekeeper. Audrey made Scarlett dislike her on sight. She was very masculine for a woman with broad shoulders, a lumpy physique, and unattractive clothes. Her skin was like leather. It was as if Audrey didn't care about her appearence.
The official who had greeted Scarlett, Justin, was doubting that Audrey and Karl should take Scarlett because her stepfather, Paul Adams, was meant to be there to meet her. Justin threatened to take Scarlett back but Karl managed to brainwash him into making him believe Nightrise were meant to meet Scarlett.
Audrey Cheng was given by the chairman to introduce Scarlett to Hong Kong and take her round as a visitor. Audrey had the keys to Paul's flat and she dangled them in front of Scarlett like she had a right to be in there. Scarlett saw a note from her stepfather, saying he had to see her later, and Audrey later took Scarlett round the city.
Scarlett noticed odd things about Audrey Cheng from the start like she never ate, never showed any signs of pleasure or comfort, and only seemed interested in the evil side of humanity. In a temple, she said about the god of war in China and how Scarlett should pray to him because "you never know when another war will begin".
Scarlett saw the Triads trying to contact her to free her from the Old Ones, by displaying a message on a skyscraper across from her. She was told to turn to page 50 in her guidebook where she would be asked to meet a fortune teller at a temple. She had to hide the note from Audrey, who had also seen the signal and was specifically suspicious.
Later, Audrey made the skyscraper burn to the ground and killed everyone who had been involved in the signal.
In the market, Audrey was attracted to a gruesome sliced in half, yet alive, fish. She expressed hunger for the only time.
Audrey Cheng also lied twice about the apartment being empty, saying flats were being redecorated and everyone was busy, and also when she said the increasingly worse pollution - which was green and acidic, unlike normal pollution - was nothing to worry about.
Audrey Cheng saw the fortune teller with Scarlett and became opprobrious and scornful at having the fortune being told but Scarlett hid the true message the fortune teller had given her which was to come to the Peak mountain at noon tomorrow. The Triads would be waiting.
Audrey Cheng's true monstrous form
Audrey reluctantly accompanied her to the Peak. Every morning she always said "And what do you want to do today Scarlett?" as if she was given a script to read. Audrey wasn't dressed for hiking, in city wear, but she went nonetheless.
Scarlett was anticipating to be approached, she didn't know who the contacter was, and was nervous. But Audrey was increasingly bored. Audrey Cheng wanted to leave and soon when the Triads did show up, they identified her as one of the Old Ones and whisked out hidden swords, slicing her head off and freeing Scarlett from her dark aura.
Upon Audrey Cheng's death, she screamed hideously, inhumanly, alerting the Old Ones on the Peak to her death. Thousands of shape changers were ascending the mountain and the Triads apologized for killing Audrey but said she was a demon, showing Scarlett Audrey's true form - a half-human snake.