Demon Huntress

Darkness fell like a guillotine blade, severing Shu lan and her partner from the daylight. Somewhere nearby, a dog barked, and gunfire erupted, probably another gang drive-by, but Shu lan and Ya qin weren't cops, and they didn't care. Hell, even the cops wouldn't give a rat's a.s.s. This part of linzhou City was a third-world country at war, and the cops had long ago turn the blind eye to it and withdrawn from the battle.

Standing next to the sewer access, shu lan fingered her jacket pocket where she kept her stang, an S shaped, dual-ended blade, each end coated with a different metal. The gold side made short work of demons like the Anzu demon they were hunting, and she wanted the weapon at the ready.

"Looks clear," shu lan said, and ya qin lifted the heavy grating.

With a final glance into the night, they hurried down the ladder into tunnels ripe with the acrid stench of decay and waste. There were no lights, but the darkness posed no problem, not for any Berus hunters.

Out of habit—habit in the face of danger—ya qin played with her necklace, a crucifix marked on the back with an etching of the berus shield. shu lan wiggled her pinky ring out of the same habit, but the protective talisman wouldn't help her in this instance; her night vision had always been exceptional even without magic.

She crouched at the base of the ladder, touched her fingers to a dark smear on the tunnel's brick wall.

"Blood," she whispered. "It's here."

The sound of blades clearing their leather wrist housings echoed through the narrow passageway. shu lan held her spiked blade in one hand and her stang in the other as they followed the trail of blood. She ignored the squishing noises beneath her feet, ignored the rats and the sound of moisture dripping down the walls. Her focus narrowed to take in only the sights, sounds, and smells that would lead her to her target. Her eyesight sharpened, her ears tamped down her internal noises and picked up the most delicate sounds, like those of the c.o.c.kroaches skittering behind the walls.

Down here, she was the predator.

shu lan lived for this. Lived for the high, the rush of adrenaline that coursed through her veins during the hunt.

Lived for this because hatred was all that kept her heart beating.

Shadows shifted inside a tunnel ahead, and the hairs on the back of shu lan's neck prickled. In front of her, ya qin sank into a crouch. shu lan flattened herself against the brick and eased next to the opening.

Heart pounding, she wheeled into the tunnel arch.

Three red eyes met hers. Two rows of sharp teeth flashed. The demon's high-pitched screech blasted through her brain, and son of a bitch, the thing wasn't a anzu demon.

"abraxas demon," she shouted back to her partner, who cursed and surged next to her.

"What, you can't find a house to terrorize, you ugly piece of shit?" In one smooth motion, ya qin drew an air claw from her belt pouch and launched it.

The abraxas demon shrieked, clutched the throwing star buried deep in one eye, hatred burning in the remaining two. shu lan worked her stang into a spin that would sever the abraxas's head, but motion in her peripheral vision brought her around. ya qin tumbled awkwardly through the air and landed in a crumpled heap. In the space where she'd stood, the anzu demon growled deep in its skeletal c.h.e.s.t.

"Not. Nice." shu lan hurled her spiked blade backward even as she lunged forward with the stang. She didn't need to look to know the spike had buried itself in the Abraxas's throat.

One down, one to go.

The gold razor edge of her stang found its target and sliced a thin line across the anzu's stomach. The thing stumbled back, one hand covering its belly like it expected its guts to fall out. She spun, struck it in the pelvis with a roundhouse kick.

The creature slammed into an access ladder. Shu lan moved in, stang whirling. The anzu's claws lashed out, catching ya qin in the shoulder.

"Ow! Bastard." ya qin brought her favorite weapon, a hatchet, from beneath her jacket. The demon sidestepped her attack, and the blade landed only a glancing blow to its shin.

"Hey, asshole!" Shu lan charged, but she drew short with a cry. Her right leg tingled, the muscles turned to water. Her hand went numb, and her stang clattered to the ground just before her body landed in the slime.

Not again. Not now!

"Shu lan!" ya qin screamed as the demon's thorny fingers closed around her throat.

Gnashing her teeth, Shu lan dragged herself toward the demon, which was shaking her partner like a terrier with a rat.

"Hey!" Shu lan's fingers closed around a jagged chunk of brick. "You disgusting sonofabitch, look at me."

She hurled the brick with her good arm, and a sharp edge crunched into the back of its head. Black fluid spurted from the wound. Snarling, it released ya qin and turned, its eyes little more than orange balls of rage.

"Whore," it rasped. "Filthy human whore. I'll feast on your organs, suck them out through your c.u.n.t while you scream." It slipped its narrow tongue between its fangs and slurped o.b.s.c.e.n.ely at the air.