The Demon and the City - By Liz Williams Page 0,46

underwear off and he let her take him inside her. She rode him hard, held tightly within her, sitting back occasionally to stroke his flat belly as he stirred his hips against her, and at last he could not hold back any longer and let go, gasping with release. Before she had time to be disappointed he sat up and rolled over, pinning her underneath him and stroking her hard until she came.

And with it, changed.

Jhai, human once more and putting her underwear back on, gave him a rather shamefaced smile.

"I couldn't wait, sorry about that."

"Neither could I. Are you apologizing for fucking me?" He rested his head on his arm and smiled at her. Whatever tension had been released by that, it was back now. She gave him a nervy grin. A thought occurred to him.

"Jhai? Have you taken anything?"

"No more than usual."

"Ah."

"It's just—I'm a bit wound up today."

"Will you stay?" he said diffidently.

"No, I ought to get back." She evidently didn't want to hang around, and she dressed quickly. Zhu Irzh saw her onto the wharf, and even he, night-sighted and animal-wary, did not see the thing that watched her go.

Next day, Jhai's car arrived early. Zhu Irzh made his way across the pontoons to find it waiting on the wharf; a black Mercedes like a block of night in the afternoon sunshine. As he ambled up the wharf, the door opened and Jhai stepped out into the sunlight. She wore a dark vest and combat pants; her hair fell in a tight braid down her back. Ready for business, thought Zhu Irzh, but what kind?

"Hi," Jhai said. "No back-up?"

"I thought I could handle you alone."

The look she gave him made the demon grin.

"Get in the car, Zhu Irzh." She followed him through the door.

"So," he said, once the chauffeur had taken them out into the lunchtime traffic. "You've something to show me?"

Jhai nodded. "You might not trust me enough to let me, though."

"Oh?" She seemed nervous, he thought. Tension sang in her like a wire drawn tight. For the hundredth time, he wondered what bargains she had made, and how they impacted upon the dead. Detective Inspector Chen would have handled this very differently, the demon knew. A cautious, thorough investigation of suspects: methodical, meticulous, and conducted in the full knowledge that the investigator was on the side of justice. But am I? Zhu Irzh asked himself rhetorically. He had been posted to Earth for political reasons, and it was certainly proving entertaining now that he had left that period of ennui behind. But no one, least of all Zhu Irzh, was under any illusions. The only master the demon served was himself. Captain Sung might have kept him on a tight rein, keeping him out of major investigations until Chen's absence, and the station's limited manpower, made it necessary for him to be attached to a real case, but if he was offered a promising alternative, then he'd take it. And Jhai was certainly promising. As high as Heaven. A tantalizing remark, but what had she meant by it?

They had left the city behind now, and were traveling through the suburbs. Soon, even these were gone and the countryside became scattered with smallholdings: leafy gardens planted in the yellow earth of the river delta, goats and dogs and ducks.

"Your mother has a place out here?" Zhu Irzh asked curiously.

"In the hills. Another twenty minutes and we'll be there."

Zhu Irzh watched the gentle land roll by and then they were climbing into the barren earth of the hills. Across the hillside ran a fence, triple barred with razor wire. The car slowed. Zhu Irzh heard the hum of an electronic gate and then they were through. The car pulled up at a long, low building. The demon had been imagining a mansion, but this looked more like some kind of dormitory.

"The main complex is underground," Jhai explained, stepping from the car.

"So what do you do up here?" Zhu Irzh asked, not expecting a real answer, but Jhai said, "Lab work. Anything experimental, that needs more space than the city."

"For your mining contracts? Or the pharmaceutical side?"

She smiled briefly. "Both." She touched her palm to a pad on the side of a door. Zhu Irzh saw the blue glow of a retinal scan, and they were through into a kind of airlock.

"High security?"

"It's sometimes necessary." This time, she did not smile.

They passed through into a second airlock, and then into a long, narrow room, clearly a laboratory of