Demon Huntress

Her tail whipped like a playful cat's around her feet, and before Hellboy could answer, she sauntered away, her species one that had always reminded Shu lan of s.e.xy cartoon devils perched on people's shoulders.

"She was . . . interesting."

"New nurse."

They hurried along dimly lit hallways made darker by the black floors and populated only by the occasional nurse or maintenance worker, all of whom eyed her warily. Shu lan took note of the rooms, some clearly for patients, some very lablike in appearance, and she was more than a little surprised to see a workout area complete with weight benches, treadmills, and punching bags. The hospital was larger than she would have expected.

Finally, as they entered an area of the hospital that went from sterile and weird to sterile and weirder, he slowed, drawing a set of car keys from his pocket.

"Where are we?" She trailed her fingers over the paw of a gargoylelike statue guarding the arched entrance.

"Administrative offices. The parking lot exit is ahead."

The sound of her b.a.r.e feet slapping the floor echoed as they walked past the small rooms and cubicles that resembled any other corporate offices she'd seen on TV. She almost expected to see men in suits behind the desks.

"Which one is yours?"

"Ahead on the right. We're going to duck inside."

They slipped through the doorway, and the door clicked shut behind them. Moving quickly, he closed the blinds on the only window, which faced out into the hall. With a few taps on his computer keyboard, he brought up a video feed of an underground parking lot.

"No one there." He turned off the monitor. "We can go."

"Wait a second," she said, turning away from him.

Employee parking lot. In a demon hospital.

None of this made sense or connected in her head. She felt as if she'd read a book from cover to cover, but couldn't remember anything but the first and last chapters. The last eight years of her life had been spent learning about demons, how to hunt them, fight them, kill them.

No Berus lesson had ever prepared her for Life in the Everyday World of Demon Doctors. Demons were supposed to live in sewers and fiery netherworlds. They didn't hold jobs. They didn't save lives. They tormented, r.a.p.ed, and killed.

There were exceptions, what The Berus called corporate hellspawn, fiends who masqueraded as humans, living among them to gain power and control over her race, but they were supposedly few and far between. And beneath their human skins, they were ugly beasts, with fangs and claws like any other.

"hunter?" His voice was close, so close that his breath stirred her hair. How had he moved so silently?

Maybe he hadn't. Things had been happening to her lately . . . loss of strength, hearing, sometimes, even, her sense of taste.

Worse, her libido seemed to have careened out of control, was even now firing up in his close proximity. She stepped away, but his hand came down on her shoulder and spun her around.

"What is your deal?" she snapped.

"Why are you stalling?" Suspicious dark eyes drilled into her. "My brother said your being here could be a trap. Was he right?"

"You're paranoid."

He pushed her against the wall, held her there with the weight of his body so she could barely wiggle.

"I'm cautious, and not all that patient, so answer the question."

"I'm not stalling. I'm freaked out. Happy?" She glared up at him. "And do you get off on manhandling women?"

"I get off on handling them. But you don't get off, do you?"

"Shut up."

"Do you have a problem with men? What about women?"

At her sudden intake of air, he grinned, the devastating one that made her shiver in pure, feminine appreciation despite what he was. "You've been with women?"

She shook her head, but her denial lacked conviction. She'd never gone all the way, but her frustration at being ino.r.g.a.s.mic with men had driven her to see if her inability to come while being touched by someone else extended to the other s.e.x. A few humiliating minutes with a bis.e.x.u.a.l Hunter had proved without a doubt that women just didn't do it for her.

"Why the interest in my s.e.x life?"

He dipped his head to her throat and inhaled deeply. "Your scent is dark, drugging."

Oh, God. She wriggled to escape his seductive presence, but he tightened his grip. "You didn't answer me," she said with as much force as she could muster. "Why the interest in my s.e.x life?"

Hot breath feathered over the skin of her neck as he spoke, his voice dripping with e.r.o.t.i.c promise.

"Because you are possibly the only female in history who hasn't achieved o.r.g.a.s.m with a balberith demon."