Demon Huntress

Truthfully, he wasn't sure. And he was rarely unsure about anything. This human was a menace to everything that made him a demon. "Take it as you will."

She muttered something about hating demons and started moving again. The trail ended at a crossroads in the tunnel. Someone must have carried Hui yin to the junction, then left her to the carrion-eaters like the Obhirrat. There were four possible directions from which the person had come, because the fifth wasn't a possibility.

The Demongate.

One of hundreds in linzhou City alone, it shimmered across the width of the north tunnel like a gossamer curtain, visible only to demons. Humans would pass harmlessly through it and continue down the tunnel.

"What is that?" Shu lan asked, staring at the gate.

He scented the air for danger, detected nothing but the usual rancid currents of sewer rot. Shu lan waited, her thick hair falling in soft, feminine waves around her shoulders, at odds with the hard, alert stance she'd taken.

"What do you see?" he asked.

"Outlines. Sort of fuzzy. I've seen them before, but I always thought they were a trick of the light. This one is clearer. What is it?"

Ming jie got an instant, alarming vision of Shu lan, her demon DNA fully integrated, leading berus Hunter through Demongates, and dread shivered over his skin. Only dark-souled or unconscious humans could pass through the gates, but no doubt The berus would find a way around that limitation. Once they learned how to use the gates for travel, there would be nothing to stop them from locating his hospital, traveling anywhere in the world in seconds, and invading the demon realm deep inside the earth. Most demons, especially those that didn't appear human, adhered to strict rules when venturing topside where the humans dwelled, but humans had no such restrictions.

The possibilities were terrifying.

When he didn't answer, Shu lan nodded as if she'd put the last piece in a jigsaw puzzle. "It's a gate, isn't it?

An entrance to hell," she murmured, and he didn't bother to contradict her. The less she knew about his world, the better. "Fine. Ignore me." She noted the blood smears at the crossroads and looked down the passageways. "Someone carried your vamp to this point."

"Looks that way."

"Or they came from that gate thing."

"Those responsible for what happened to Hui yin were not demons."

She rolled her eyes. "Back to how The berus is involved."

"They are involved often enough," he ground out, because even though demons were their own worst enemies, were more than capable of killing each other, Hong's fiery death at the hands of The Berus had left scorch marks on his soul.

The hair on the back of Ming jie's neck prickled a split second before a blinding light flashed from the gate.

Shielding her eyes, Shu lan leaped aside, and he spun between her and the gate. "What happened?"

"The gate activated," he said, pushing her fully behind him, because whatever was going to come through that portal wouldn't be happy with the welcoming party. "The light should have been invisible to you." To all humans, actually, but as he'd discovered, Shu lan wasn't entirely human.

"Yeah, well—"

Four male moontap demons emerged from the gate, their human appearances broken only by their misshapen, clawed feet and hands. And the daggerlike teeth.

Shu lan shifted forward, glaring at him. "Oh, look," she snapped, as she sank into a fighting stance, fists clenched, back leg bearing her weight. "Demons. And me without any weapons."

Pale silver eyes gleamed in the darkness, a good twelve inches above Ming jie's eye level, as the largest's mouth spread into a gluttonous sneer. "We're in luck, brothers. A short hunt tonight."

"balberith demon," another growled, as he took in Ming jie from head to toe. "No markings on face . . . he's still a whelp. We'll get no credit for killing him."

The big one moved closer, bringing his putrid swamp stench with him. "We'll take the human," it said to Ming jie. "Go, and we'll let you live."

Ming jie smiled tightly. "The human is mine. Find your meals elsewhere."

"I have a better idea," Shu lan said. "Why don't I kill you all, and then no one will need supper?"

"As long as 'all' doesn't include me," Ming jie said, "I'm all right with that plan." He thrust the cleaver into Shu lan's hand. No doubt she could handle herself without a weapon, but her injury compromised her more than he liked, and more than she'd probably admit.