The Demon and the City

on the damp slats, and watched the walls of the canal slide by, and the watchful face above her, gazing ahead.
    By degrees, they came to the lock that joined the tributary of the canal to the main branch of the Jhenrai. Mhara left Robin in the boat and went to investigate the lock. Robin watched as the demon, moving economically, wound down the lock and then rejoined the little boat as it sailed down to meet the canal. To the east, the sky had taken on a watery tinge with the coming day. The lock opened and the boat slid out into the main channel. Mhara steered to the left, and when Robin looked up she met the yellow eyes of the creature that had been pursuing her, pacing along the wharf.
    "You are very persistent," Mhara said, reprovingly.
    "I have all the time in the world," it replied, and yawned, displaying jagged, tartar-stained teeth. It chuckled at the demon and trotted off toward the waking city.

Twenty-Two
    "So," Zhu Irzh said, smiling at Jhai. "How was it for you?"
    She twisted round in his arms. "How did you know I was awake?" The first of the dawn's thin light was coming through the little window.
    "I could tell." The demon, though horizontal, managed to effect a shrug. The memory of the previous evening, hazed by sleep, returned to Jhai in a rush and she sat up. The tail was gone, and so were the teeth. Zhu Irzh nuzzled her neck. There was a now familiar twinge at the base of her spine, eclipsed by rising desire. Zhu Irzh's pale fingers were almost skeletal against the sudden dark barring of her stripes.
    "A deva," the demon murmured. "I've never met a deva before."
    "You know what they are?"
    "I have read the Kama Sutra, darling," Zhu Irzh said reproachfully, adding, "several times. Now, hush. I have things to do."
    An hour later, restored to a semblance of human, Jhai lay in his arms.
    "Zhu Irzh?"
    "Mmm?"
    "Did you know what I was? Before I changed?"
    He squinted round at her. "No. I thought you were using pheromones."
    Jhai exhaled a long, pent-up breath. "Good."
    "So why do you hide it?" the demon asked, then answered his own question. "Because you'd be put on the next boat to Hell, I suppose. But plenty of businesspeople have demonic associates."
    "Associates, yes. They're not actually running corporations, as far as I know. I don't want to spend my life in Hell, Zhu Irzh. No offense, but Earth is my home. Besides, I'll end up there soon enough."
    "It's not so bad. Anyway, you'd be very popular. An exotic, in a Chinese Hell—I'm presuming that's where you'd end up? Maybe not." He frowned in momentary theological speculation. "You'd rise straight through the ranks, with your looks." He smiled reflectively. "And skills."
    "That's what worries me. I don't want to end up as some kind of tart, Zhu Irzh."
    "And what's wrong with that?"
    "You were with the vice squad in Hell, weren't you?"
    "That's right."
    "I see." She wriggled over so that she could look down at him. The golden eyes were dreamily glazed.
    "What do you take?" he murmured. "To keep your true form at bay?"
    "Both are my true forms, my mother told me. But certain—circumstances—bring out the devic characteristics. There's a compound of various drugs that inhibit neuroreceptors. I've been taking it since I was a child."
    "That transformation must have taken a few lovers by surprise, though. If what I remember about devic biology is right, then no drug can withstand the powers of arousal."
    Jhai was silent.
    "What did they do, hide under the bed?"
    "It was never an issue," Jhai told him, and could not believe she'd said it.
    "What do you mean, not an issue? You're not a virgin."
    "No."
    "So that means—what? Don't tell me you've never become sufficiently aroused."
    Jhai felt her face flaming. "No, never. Because I was so uptight about it, I suppose. I thought it was the drug, holding it back. But now it seems that it might not have been that at all. Also, you're a demon."
    "But that's terrible!" Zhu Irzh said with honest indignation. "You must have felt so frustrated." He caught sight of the look on her face and fell silent.
    "I don't want pity," Jhai snapped. A brief war seemed to cross the demon's countenance, and tact apparently lost.
    "So it was that good, was it?" If there had been more than a trace of smugness in Zhu Irzh's voice, Jhai would have hit him then and there. A fleeting memory of the previous night, and morning, made her betray herself.
    "Yes, if you must know, it was, actually," she said through gritted teeth.
    "What,