Demon Huntress

"There's something I do know. My brother was right." He propped a hip on his desk, stretched one long leg out in front of him. "The demon DNA is aggressive. It's trying to take over rather than merge with your human DNA. That's why you're having problems. There's a question what, exactly, you'll turn into, but you will turn. Or you'll die."

"Dying is better than the alternative."

He shook his head. "There's another option."

"Yeah, I can eat a bullet before either of the other two happens."

"No. With Chen's help, I think we can integrate your human and demon DNA. Basically, it'll give you the biology and form you should have been born with."

"Which is what? Right. You don't know. So if I do nothing, I either die or turn into a monster?"

The antique clock on the wall ticked away several seconds of silence. "That about sums it up."

"Wow," she said quietly, "my future looks pretty bleak." Worse than bleak. The only thing she had to look forward to was her own death. Then again, she'd never had anything else to look forward to, so this was nothing new. She trailed a finger over the books on the shelves. "So I'm a ticking time bomb. Any idea when I'll go off?"

"I don't know," he said, shoving his fingers through his hair in that way he did when he was frustrated.

"For a doctor, you don't know all that much."

The raised gold lettering on one fat tome made her pause. "Daemonica." She drew it out, frowning. "A demon bible?"

"In essence. It's the other side of the story."

"So, what do the minions of darkness say happened in the beginning?"

"Do you really care?"

"Yeah." She weighed the book in her hands, expecting it to burn her, but it just sat there, a cold weight.

"It's always good to know how the other side thinks."

Except, he was no longer the other side.

Ming jie folded his arms across his c.h.e.s.t and stretched his long legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles. "Basically, demon lore says that after Satan was banished from Heaven, he was allowed to create his own races. But, because humans are born good and can be turned evil, God insisted that the same, but opposite, should apply to creatures born evil. Satan created some species from his own twisted imagination, and others . . . he used animals as foundations for some, humans for the rest."

"Which is why demons can appear human."

He nodded. "Some species are a cross between animals and humans. Shapeshifters, for example. And some species are more inherently evil than others. There are species and individuals who strive to be good."

"Good? So . . . they don't worship Satan? They aren't walking hand in hand with the guy?"

"Some of us even doubt his existence. Just as there are humans who don't believe in God, there are demons who don't believe in the Lord of Darkness."

"So you've never seen him?"

"Have you seen God?"

"That's not how it works."

"Exactly. When humans speak of seeing divine energies, they're talking about angels. We have dresdiin. And for the record, many of us consider your God to be the supreme ruler. Others worship—or, at least, acknowledge—both. The Two Gods."

"That doesn't seem possible."

"That any of us can be less than evil? Do you not see that sometimes, something goes wrong at conception, and some humans are born evil? Or they turn evil?"

"I suppose."

"Imagine that the opposite happens in the demon world. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Yin-yang. You can't have one extreme without the other. So in the demon world, some of the most heinous races sometimes experience an anomaly. I knew a Anzu once who wanted nothing more than to work in the hospital. He was slaughtered by his own family for his behavior. The world isn't as black and white as you think, Shu lan."

"Believe me, I'm starting to figure that out." She rubbed her temples, wondering if her life would ever be normal. Not that she knew what normal was. From the moment she was born on the floor of an abandoned warehouse, prem.a.t.u.r.e and addicted to heroin, everything had been out of whack.

"shu lan, let me get Chen over here, and we'll help you."

She shook her head. "I can't."

"What are you afraid of?"

"Afraid of? Oh, well, maybe I'm afraid of losing myself. Of turning into everything I've ever hated. I'd rather die than turn into something I don't even recognize." He looked as if he understood, and she remembered what he'd said about his upcoming transition. "I don't see you embracing your own change."

"That's different. I know what I'm going to become. You don't. You have a chance at becoming something better."

"Better? How is turning into a demon better?"

"Says the human whose own kind tried to kill her."

Shu lan chomped down hard, her teeth grinding. "Go to hell."

"You don't get it, do you? This is hell."

She snorted. "Yeah, well, you aren't exactly fun and games yourself.