The Demon and the City

waves crashing on the shore? The earth moving? Curtains fluttering in the—" He caught her striking hand and laughed. "Anyway," he added, sobering up. "You can have your cake and eat it, now."
    "Meaning?"
    "Well, you can dispense with the drug, for a start. Tell your mum it's obviously all been a huge misunderstanding and what generates the instability between your two states is simply that you haven't got satisfactorily laid. Then, when the change starts regenerating itself, all you have to do is—"
    "Oh, for God's sake!" Jhai rolled off the bed and reached for her underwear. "That's so typical of a man. So all I need to sort me out is a good fuck, is that it?"
    "I couldn't have put it better. Obviously, you'll need someone to supply that particular aspect of your cure, and I will nobly volunteer my services."
    "If you think I'm sleeping with you again after that remark, you've got another thing coming."
    The demon studied her for a moment, then appeared to come to a decision. He rose sinuously from the bed, snatching up a silk robe in passing. Knotting it about his waist, he said seriously, "I would like that. You had as great an effect on me as I have had on you, though perhaps a bit more predictable. It's not just about sex, Jhai, or even love. It's about meeting your match."
    "Bullshit." She frowned. "Are you proposing?"
    Zhu Irzh laughed. "Not yet. But who knows?" He took her by the shoulders and kissed her, gently and lingeringly. "Perhaps when we're no longer enemies."
    Jhai took a reluctant step back. "Is that what we are?"
    "Two bodies, Jhai. Not ours. Two people ripped apart by something with teeth and claws." He raised an eyebrow, still smiling. "A human wouldn't dare to ask you that, after last night. But I will."
    There was a long, arctic silence.
    "Are you accusing me of murder, Seneschal Zhu?"
    "Maybe. You say this is your first real transformation. Flattering, but is it true, I ask myself?"
    Slowly, Jhai sat back down on the bed.
    "Yes, it's true. I've never just . . .changed."
    "You're sure?"
    "I'm absolutely sure." That was the truth, anyway, she thought. She knew exactly who, or what, had killed Deveth and the feng shui man, and it wasn't herself. The murderer was even now roaming the city, released by the compassion and incompetence of Robin Yuan.
    The demon sat down beside her and took Jhai's chin in his hand, turning her face to meet his own.
    "You didn't kill them. Then who did?"
    "Suppose I knew. Suppose I told you. What would you do? Go to your masters in the police department, Hellkind that you are?"
    "Perhaps. Perhaps not."
    "Liar," she said softly.
    "No, I am not lying. I don't know if you can trust me, Jhai. It depends how high the stakes might be."
    "Pretty damn high." She met his gaze, as golden as her own could be. "As high as Heaven."
    "I've been to Heaven," the demon said, with seeming irrelevance. "A pretty place, if you like that sort of thing. Bit insipid."
    "Perhaps not for much longer," Jhai said, taking a risk.
    "And why would that be?"
    "Zhu Irzh, there's something I'd like to show you. Not here. At the Farm."
    "The Farm?"
    "It's a nickname, for my mother's country estate. It's not far from the city. I could send a car to pick you up."
    The golden gaze narrowed. He didn't trust her, Jhai thought with reluctant approval. She could hardly blame him.
    "Let your colleagues know where you're going. You can even bring that large sergeant of yours, if you want."
    "When?"
    "Tomorrow afternoon? I have things to arrange before then. One o'clock?"
    "All right." Zhu Irzh stepped forward, and kissed her mockingly on the cheek. "I'll see you then. Send a car to the wharf. I'll be waiting."

Twenty-Three
    Robin and Mhara had come to the end of the side canal some time ago and were now traveling as unobtrusively as possible along the main Jhenrai. Day was coming quickly, the light spilling out of the eastern sky and turning the flat water of the canal into pale gold. Robin was trying to find her bearings. Everything seemed truncated and squashed at this angle. She could see the unpopular angled roof of the Eregeng Trade House from here, and the First Bank of China rising up through the throng of buildings along Shaopeng. There, suddenly glimpsed, rose the dome of the Opera House, in shadow. Then the chugging boat took them around the next long bend. Beyond the storage piers and warehouses was the bulk of the ruined temple of Shai. As they rounded the turn Robin realized that the great