The Demon and the City - By Liz Williams Page 0,95

Wildly, the prey ducked and the demon's claws grazed his cheek. The prey threw himself on the floor and rolled toward the divan. Zhu Irzh hissed and turned on him, but the prey was already drawn up under the couch. The demon straightened up and walked toward the door. He watched the prey from the corner of his eye. The creature had found something underneath the divan: a bundle of material. Zhu Irzh smelled the pungent odor of blood.

The prey pulled the soggy bundle of material free and padded it together. Then, flicking it across the room, he dived for the door, grabbing at the round handle and wrenching it open. Or would have done, if it hadn't been locked. The demon's hands were around the waist of the prey, plucking him from the door and then he was tossed into a corner of the room. He landed sprawling against the edge of the couch. The demon bent down and the prey threw his arm across his eyes.

Zhu Irzh blinked. His vision hazed, but his mind was suddenly quite clear. He looked down at Chen.

"What are you rolling around on the floor for?"

Chen sat up, then rose from the floor and shot backward out of reach. "Because you attacked me, that's why." His voice was shaking.

"What?"

"Zhu Irzh, if you're going to be prone to these episodes, I think when all this is over, we'd better take you down to the cells for your own protection." Chen passed a quivering hand over his face and sat down heavily.

"I attacked you?" Zhu Irzh, appalled, realized that he had absolutely no recollection of the last five minutes. There was another knock at the door.

"What is it?" Zhu Irzh shouted irascibly.

"Is everything all right?" a honeyed voice murmured.

"Go away!"

Silence.

"We can't stay here," Chen said. "But the door's locked."

"What, from the outside?"

Discreetly, they rattled the handle, but the door was tight.

"Chen," Zhu Irzh whispered. "What is behind the drapes?"

Cautiously, they investigated, but there was just paneling, nothing more. The mirror was bolted to the wall.

"Very well," Zhu Irzh said. He strode to the door, paused, then kicked it neatly and sharply so that the lock splintered. Chen followed him down the hallway. The demon could hear a distant disturbance: the sound of voices. After a moment, a young woman in an ochre wrap appeared. She had a geisha's artificial smile upon a painted rosebud mouth. Above the smile, her eyes were shiny and black. Her hands were buried in the wide sleeves of the wrap. Zhu Irzh gave her what he hoped was an impassive stare.

"You wish to go? May I show you out?" she asked. She had a little, breathy voice.

"Thank you."

She stood aside and let them go through a narrow doorway. Zhu Irzh brushed against the hem of her wrap as he went through the door, and winced. She seemed extremely hot. As they came out into an atrium she took a lantern down from the wall; a pretty thing decorated with peonies. Demurely, with eyes downcast, she led them through.

"Is this the door to Shaopeng?" Chen asked her.

What's left of it, Zhu Irzh thought.

"It is."

"You go first," Chen said. The demon felt a light, hot hand fall on his shoulder.

"Okay," he said. "I'm going, Chen. No need to push."

"I didn't."

Zhu Irzh looked back; the geisha stood, still smiling prettily, several feet distant. He took a deep breath and stepped through the door. Outside, Shaopeng Street seemed unchanged, but the day had worn on. When they had gone into the lounge, it had been morning. Now, the strip of visible sky was an evening rose and gold, filmed by dust, and the lights were coming on. The street was full of people, some wandering apparently bereft, but the majority was dressed in their best for the celebrations. The demon took a deep breath of humid air. Passers-by looked at him askance and steered around him. Above him swung the neon sign of the demon lounge. Well, thought Zhu Irzh, and then his heart contracted as if he'd been punched. Chen was not with him.

Zhu Irzh went straight back through the door, and collided with Chen, coming out. Beyond the detective's shoulder, he had a brief confused glimpse of somewhere entirely different: a vast plain, with a bright strip of river crossing it and a sky on fire.

Zhu Irzh grabbed Chen's arm and dragged him down the street, pulling him through the door of the nearest bar. It was packed to the gills, but