Demon Huntress

No, she was born this way. She's got a demon parent. Look." Ming jie showed his brother the genetic proof, the organs that had formed from a human-demon union, something that occurred more frequently than most knew, but that human doctors diagnosed as certain "syndromes." "Her physical abnormalities could be a birth defect. Or maybe these two species aren't compatible genetically. She was probably born with some unusual traits, ones she's been hiding or that haven't been blatantly noticeable. Like better-than-average eyesight. Or telepathy. But I'll bet my stethoscope this is causing problems now."

"Like what?"

"Could be anything. Maybe she's losing her hearing or pissing herself in public." Excited, because this kind of thing made his corner of hell interesting, he glanced up at Chen, who palmed her forehead and closed his eyes.

"I can feel it," he said, his voice rough with the effort he expended to go deep into her body at the cellular level. "Some of her DNA feels fragmented. We can fuse it. We could—"

yuan let out a disgusted snort. "Don't even think about it. If you fix her, you could turn her into some sort of uber assassin. That's all we need hunting us."

"He's right," Chen agreed, the glossy black of his eyes going flat. "Depending on the species, it's possible that we could turn her damn near immortal."

Sedating and medicating could also prove difficult, given the unidentified demon DNA. Something as seemingly innocent as aspirin could kill her.

Ming jie studied her for a moment, thinking. "We'll take care of her immediate injuries, and deal with the rest later. She should have the choice about whether or not she wants the demon half to be integrated."

"Choice?" yaun scoffed. "You think she gives her victims a choice? You think hong had a choice?"

Though Ming jie often thought about their fallen brother, hearing his name out loud was a punch to the gut. "Do you give your victims a choice?" he asked softly.

"I have to feed."

"You need to drink blood. You don't need to kill."

Yuan pushed away from the wall. "You're an asshole." Lashing out with one arm, he sent a tray full of surgical instruments flying and swept out of the room.

chen crouched to help Li Li pick up the mess. "You shouldn't provoke him."

"You're the one who brought up the junkie."

"He knows I was yanking his chain. He's been clean for months."

Ming jie wished he could share Chen's certainty. yuan liked to escape his life now and then, but since their species was immune to drug and alcohol highs unless the substances had been processed through human blood, eating a human druggie was yuan's only path to blotto.

"I'm tired of coddling him," Ming jie said, pulling another tray of instruments to him. "Let alone constantly yanking his a.s.s out of trouble."

"He needs time."

"Ninety-eight years isn't enough time? chen, in two years he's going to go through his transition. He's not ready. He'll get us all killed."

Chen said nothing, probably because there was nothing to say. Their brother was out of control, and as the only balberith demon in history to have been conceived by a vampire female, he was alone and had no idea how to handle his urges and instincts. As a male who had been tortured in the most heinous ways imaginable by the vampires who'd raised him, he had no idea how to live life at all.

Not that Ming jie had room to judge. He'd spent the last half-century concentrating on nothing but medicine, but unless he found a mate, in a few months his focus would shift and narrow until he became a mindless beast that functioned on instinct alone.

Maybe he should let the Buffy kill him now and get it over with.

He looked down at her, at the deceptively innocent face, and wondered just how easily and remorselessly she'd take him down.

Before she could do that, though, he'd have to fix her.

"Li Li, scalpel."

Awareness came slowly, in a haze of black blotches punctuated by points of light. Warm, elastic darkness tugged at Shu lan, luring her toward slumber, but pain prodded her into consciousness. Every inch of her body ached, and her head felt heavy, too large for her neck to support. Groaning, she opened her eyes.

Fuzzy, shadowy images swirled and pulsed in front of her. Gradually, her vision came into focus, and whoa . . . she must be in another realm, because the dark-haired man staring down at her was a god. His lips, glistening sensuously as if he'd just licked them, were moving, but the buzz in her ears drowned out his words.

She narrowed her eyes and concentrated on his mouth. Name. He wanted her name. She had to think about it for a second before she remembered. Great. She must have hit her head. Which, duh, explained the headache.

"shu," she croaked, and wondered why her throat hurt so much. "shu lan. I think. Does that sound right to you?"

He smiled, and if she weren't dying on some type of table, she'd have appreciated the s.e.xy curve of his mouth and the flash of very white teeth. The guy must have a fab dentist.

"Shu lan? Can you hear me?"

She could, but the buzzing lingered. "Uh-huh."

"Good." He put a hand on her forehead, allowing her a glimpse of one muscular arm adorned by intricate, swirling tribal tattoos. "You're at a hospital. Is there anything I need to know? Allergies?