13.

Falling. Fire in my chest. Right-hand gun slammed back in holster, hand blurring.

I meant to reach for my sword, demon-quick reflexes just might save me yet-but the thing snarled and twisted on itself, bleeding momentum, and we crashed into the side of the hovertrain trough, all the breath driven out of my lungs. The tall banks on either side of the train-trough were hard clay dirt instead of stone, thank the gods, I coughed up blood as I slid downward. Cool night air touched my face, steam rising from my skin. I spat, clearing my throat, reflex forcing me clumsily up to my feet, almost overbalancing, hilt of my sword socking into my palm, blade singing free of the sheath as the imp snarled and chattered.I almost understood the words.

It was definitely one of the Low Flight, incapable of anything other than demon speech. If it was trapped inside a Magi's conjuring circle I might have been able to force it to my will, but it was loose in the world, obviously told to come and make life difficult for me. Had I been a Magi I probably would have known something to do to trap it so I could question it, but I was a Necromance.

Demons weren't my trade, for all that I'd been screwing one for a long time now and trying to decode documents about others.

It smacked down inside the hover trough and howled, leaping up as if stung. Blood trickled down my chest, hot and black and thick, too much blood. Why wasn't it healing the wounds?

The imp clung to the clay wall and yowled at me again, a sound like rusty nails driven through screeching nerves. I held my sword in second guard, scabbard reversed in my left hand-had I holstered my left-hand gun? I must have. Either that or dropped it, didn't matter. I'm standing in a hovertrain trough with an imp yowling at me, I thought, not without a certain macabre humor. My life certainly gets interesting sometimes.

I took a deep breath flavored with night air and the dry chemical reek of reactive, pain flaring through me as the thing's clawswipes burned deeper, whittling like hot blades. Did it have poisoned claws? That would just cap the whole goddamn night, wouldn't it. "Come on," I whispered, my sword dipping slightly as it shifted position. Here on open ground with my sword, I felt a little more sanguine. A little? No, a lot. There's just something about a bright length of steel that makes a girl feel capable of kicking ass.

"Come get me, if you want me."

It howled at me, its baby's face distorted and reddened. But it didn't leap.

Great, I can stay here until another hovertrain comes along and pastes me, or I can try to climb up a fifteen-foot clay wall while trying to fend off this thing. What a marvelous choice.

Well, no time like the present. "Come on!" I screamed, stamping my foot. "Come and get me!"

It leapt, a marvel of uncoordinated fluidity, and muscle memory took over. I heard Jado's voice, as I often did in a fight-Move!

No think, move!

The sword, given to me by my sensei to replace the blade I'd killed a demon with, carved the thing's head from its shoulders. Half- turn, the hilt of the blade floating up to protect me, the tip whipping faster than the eye could follow, a solid arc twisting like a Mobius strip. The imp's stomach cavity opened, noisome fluid gushing out. Another strike, lightning-quick as the last, and the thing's right arm fell too.

Panting. A few passes of true combat take more energy than any amount of sparring. I shuffled, ready to strike again if the shattered, sliced body should twitch. My feet slipped in the thick bouncy greasiness of reactive paint, a layer of rubbery stuff at least six inches deep giving resiliently under me.

The thing collapsed, twitching. Smoke rose up from its corpse. I watched as its skin and tissues interacted with the reactive, not looking away. Partly because if I looked away, I wasn't sure I would see it if it twitched again-and partly because of Jado. Watch the death of your enemy if you can, for you have caused it. When you have killed, watch the consequences of your actions.

It was a good thing I'd killed it, too. I didn't think I could take another pass or two of combat. I was savagely tired, the mark on my shoulder pulsing, another soft, warm wave of Power sliding down from it. That was beginning to get downright distracting. Was he looking for me?

I will always come for you.

How long did it take to turn an A'nankhimel back into a demon, back in Hell? What would happen to me if he found me, assuming he was even back in my world again? Could the genetic reshaping he'd done to me be undone? Last time it had taken a mixture of genetic shaping and tantric magick, a remaking from the center of my bones outward. I still wasn't sure of the extent of what it had done to my psyche, but as long as I was still a Necromance it didn't matter. Maybe. But still, I wondered just how human I was anymore.

I waited until the imp was just a bubbling streak on the reactive before the point of my sword dropped slightly. I hadn't known reactive would do that. I wondered what it would do for other demons. It was cheap and easy to obtain, and maybe I could think of something to do with it that would make my life easier.

Like maybe plasgunning Hell? The thought made me chuckle grimly, pain from the clawmarks in my chest suddenly slamming back into my awareness as the one-pointed concentration of combat eased. The laugh turned into a half-gasp. I sheathed my sword, blew out a long, soft breath between my teeth. Hopefully the hovertrain would make it to the next stop; hopefully nobody would do anything stupid like fall out the hole in the back; hopefully nobody would even notice a huge gaping hole in the back of the train.

Yeah, right. And Ludders will suddenly start riding slicboards.

The sides of the trough began to vibrate, another train was on the way. I took a few running steps and leapt, my claws digging into clay. My chest tore open, I screamed, bit back the scream halfway. Forced myself up the bank, boots scrabbling, claws frantically grabbing at the hard-packed material. Something else ripped free in my chest and I whimpered. Why weren't the wounds healing?

Another hot flush of Power from the mark on my shoulder gave me strength to haul myself up over the edge of the wall. I collapsed and lay panting along the top, closing my eyes and blessing the gods. "Thank you," I whispered. "Thank you. Thank you."

The rumbling whistle of a hovertrain-antigrav and screaming air pushed too fast-began to mount. Another train coming; would it have another imp on it? I rolled away from the hovertrain track and half-fell down a gently sloping embankment, landing with a splash in something cold and wet.

Oh, great. I lay and listened to the rumblewhine.

My arms and legs were weighted with lead. The mark pulsed again, this time all the way down my left arm and out my fingertips. I coughed, turned my head to the side, and vomited an incredible mass of ice-hot writhing poison; it jetted out of my nose and mouth and I almost choked on a lunatic giggle thinking that it might blow out my ears too. It seemed to take forever, but when it was done, I immediately felt much better. Scrabbled myself over onto my other side, hooked my claws in the solidity under the wet slimy stuff I'd landed in-please don't let it be slag, I prayed-and began to struggle away from whatever I'd thrown up. My chest no longer burned.

I reached the top of another shallow slope and the scent of pines closed around me. I rolled, and ended up against something soft-tree branches drooping down to the ground.

They made a lovely little tent. I wriggled my way underneath, getting a confused impression of mountains and trees. It was as far away from the track and possibly being seen as I could get. I wanted to hide further away, but I couldn't manage the energy to move. I curled up into a ball and fell into a deathly doze.

14.

Four days later I made it into Freetown New Prague.

I wouldn't have chosen a Freetown. I was a Hegemony citizen, and even the Putchkin Alliance was safer than a Freetown. I would have been able to plug into the bounty net in a Putchkin or Hegemony town. In a Freetown, I'd have to depend on luck and wits, both severely strained by recent events. I'd come a lot further on the hovertrain than I'd thought, and striking out across open country seemed more dangerous than just following the hovertrain trough and finding a station where I could get a transport or buy a slicboard. I'd found a station all right. The only trouble was, I'd somehow gotten on a nonstop train that ended up in New Prague.

I came into the city tired and grainy-eyed, the mark pulsing softly on my shoulder, and found a room in the red-light district. I don't speak Czechi, but Merican is the trade-lingua in most Freetowns, so after a bit of pidgin-laced negotiation and the exchange of a handful of New Credit notes I found myself in possession of a few square feet among the bordellos and hash dens for a few days.

Strictly speaking, the bordellos and hash dens were my type of places; I've hunted many a bounty down in whorehouses and bars.

More importantly, the psychic turmoil of sex, synth hash, and-since it was a Freetown-real hash, Clormen-13 and other drugs, desperation, and violence would keep some of what I was hidden. Not for long-I'd have to live with being hunted for a while- but the longer I could stay alive, the more I could find out about the demons Lucifer wanted tracked down. Since I had nothing left to do and was already being attacked, hunting down four demons was where I was going to start. Better to face death on my feet doing what I could, I couldn't assume Japh would find me in time.

I warded the room well and dropped down on the narrow bed, sinking into another type of deathly doze, sleeping just deeply enough to let the mind rest a little; not the deep velvet unconsciousness Japhrimel could lull me into.

Stop thinking about him. He'll find me. He said he would.

Yeah, but when? And what else might he have said to Lucifer when he was sure you couldn't understand? Answer me that.

I tossed and turned, fretfully.

Stop it. This doesn't do you any good. Rest.

I lay and tossed, tried not to think about it, failed miserably. The room was small-a pink-flowered rug on the floor, a retrofitted plas-powered radiator giving out heat I didn't need, a bed, a dresser I didn't need either, and a bathroom. It was a far cry from a villa in the Toscano hills.

I didn't need to use the toilet, but I did fill the bathtub and scrub the dirt off my skin. Then I soaked in the warm water, and then spent some Power on cleaning off my clothes. I had landed in slag after killing the imp, and if I was still human my skin might be burning with slagfever by now as my body struggled to cope with the aftermath of a cocktail of chemical sludge. It took a long time to get my clothes free of the stink.

Finally, clean enough to pass for human, I scanned the wards again. Nobody had noticed me, but I was still cautious. I didn't catch a whisper of anyone even looking at the thin, subtle glow of warding meant to keep away notice and guard my door.

I had one other thing to do. The only thing I had was a knife, and it took a long time of hacking at my hair before I managed to get most of it off. The resultant shaggy mass around my face was short enough that I wouldn't lose out on visibility, and nobody should recognize me right away unless they knew my tat. Only other psions were likely to be capable of distinguishing the fine differences between one psion's accreditation tat and the next, so it would make me a little less likely to be caught.

Or so I hoped. Then again, I looked like a holovid model and spread out through the psychic ether with the unmistakable flame of demon. But the people who knew my face might just know my human face, and a demon would probably simply be able to smell me. In any case, I'd have to risk it; it was the best I could do. I toyed with the idea of trying a glamour to change my appearance, or even buying some skinspray to alter my complexion; but a glamour would just attract the notice of more psions and demons.

Besides, I didn't know how my dermis would react to skinspray. The last thing I needed was to break out in hives.

Though that might have been a good disguise strategy, too.

I slipped out through the third-story window and down the rickety iron fire escape, leaving the door locked-I had another day paid for-and I didn't leave anything behind.

The alley below was filthy, but I was relatively comfortable in my own bubble of demon scent. I found a mound of garbage and threw down the heavy mass of curling black hair, then used a very small bit of Power to spark the strands. They smoked and smelled awful, but they burned. I finally stamped the fire out and kicked garbage over it to hide the stench and the crisped ash. I tried not to feel victorious, but I didn't try very hard. I'd survived for five days-not bad when you're matched against demons.

I stepped out into the wilds of Freetown New Prague on a chilly afternoon just as the sky was beginning to cloud over. I decided to look around the bars a bit and see if I could get lucky. After all, everyone went to the bars to hook up, and I might be able to find a mercenary or bounty hunter I knew, either personally or by reputation. It was more than likely that someone I had met once or twice would be hanging around-New Prague was that kind of town. Once I found someone I knew, things would get a whole lot easier. I could hire someone to help me hide, or maybe find a Magi I could "persuade" to give me a crash course in what to do when demons were looking to kill you.

Six bars and one short, vicious fight in an alley later, I stepped into a dingy pivnice, a watering hole tucked under a bridge. I brushed at my sleeve-one of the group of normals who'd thought I'd be easy prey had bled on me. I hadn't killed any of them, but I'd been tempted. Human flotsam tends to collect in Freetowns. Sometimes their greed overpowers their good sense and they decide to find out if a psion carrying steel is combat-trained.

I can never understand why any accredited psion-someone legally allowed to carry anything short of an assault rifle on the streets-would not undergo combat training and stay in shape. Even non-accredited psions are allowed to carry steel and one projectile weapon, though non-accrediteds usually didn't go in for bounty hunting or anything else that would make a weapon necessary. Still . . . it doesn't make sense to me not to both carry steel and know how to use it. Life is just too dangerous, especially for a psion. Normals hate and fear us enough that the less law-abiding are often tempted to think of us as targets.

The silence that fell in the pivnice when I entered was enough to make me think I'd done the wrong thing. It was a low, smoky room, three steps down from the sidewalk outside, a first floor that might have been at street level a hundred years ago but was now halfway to being a basement.

I scanned the place once. Normals, no shielding on the walls, and an atmosphere suddenly charged with fear and loathing. A deadhead bar. I would have backed out, but a familiar pair of almost-yellow eyes met mine.

Well, isn't this par for the course. Shock and unfamiliar fear slammed into my stomach. A queasy sense of unease boiled under my breastbone. Of all the people I expected to see here, he was the last.

But I'd been looking for someone I knew, and this was better than I'd hoped for. If I could convince him not to try to kill me.

I paced away from the door, through the haze of synth-hash smoke and the effluvia of unwashed human. This was a rough place- for once I didn't look out of the ordinary with my weapons. Freetowns don't have the type of legislation covering who could carry what the Hegemony or Putchkin have; it's largely up to the ruling cartel of each town to make the rules and enforce them. So I saw projectile guns and shortswords, a few machetes, assorted other odds and ends. No plasguns.

That was a mark in my favor. I had a bounty hunter's license, and here in the Freetown I could carry whatever I wanted if I kept my nose clean and didn't interfere with Mob Family wars or cartel turf disputes.

Lucas Villalobos sat in a heavily shadowed back booth, a bottle on the table in front of him. I picked my way between tables, giving the bartender in his stained apron one glance when he opened his mouth. My tat shifted on my cheek, burning, my emerald spat a single green spark. I saw a few normals around me flinch.

Don't say anything. I really don't want to kill anyone today.

The bartender, a stolid heavy Freetowner with a long, drooping black moustache, closed his mouth and wiped his hands on his apron. I felt no gratitude or relief.

Lucas had his back to the wall. There was nothing I could do-I slid into the other side of the booth, my back prickling at the thought of the door behind me. It was an implicit gesture of trust. Lucas wouldn't get many clients if he let them get shot in the bars he frequented. He was known for taking difficult, complex jobs most generally involving assassination; if you had enough cash to hire him, he would kill whoever you asked. He only had one rule-no kids. He wouldn't kill anyone under eighteen.

At least, not unless they got in the way during a job. I'd heard unavoidable casualties didn't bother him too much.

His eyes met mine. A river of scarring ran down the left side of his narrow face. I shivered. Word was-now, this is only pure rumor, I don't know for sure-that he'd once been a Necromance, and committed some act so awful Death had denied him.

I couldn't imagine. To be a Necromance, to be protected by Death, and to have that protection snatched away; to be able to see other psions but unable to touch, unable to perform in that space where a Necromance is most fiercely alive . . . that would be torture. I could have pitied him, if he wasn't so dangerous.

He examined me, blinking slowly like a lizard. His almost-yellow eyes brightened a little, and his lipless mouth curled up slightly.

"Well," he said, lifting one finger and tapping his ruined cheek. "You come up in the world, chica." He used the same whispery tone most professional Necromances adopt after a while. Or maybe it could have just been something wrong with his throat.

Sometimes a whisper's more effective than a shout for scaring the blue lights out of people.

I felt a prickle between my shoulderblades. Did not look back over my shoulder, did not dare even shift my weight. "I wasn't sure you'd recognize me."

"I'd know that tat anywhere. You still move the same, too." His hair lay lank against his skull. He smelled, as usual, of a dry stasis- cabinet, and I realized it wasn't a human smell. Whatever he'd once been, he wasn't strictly human now. "You owe me."

I'd bargained with him in Nuevo Rio, while hunting Santino. "You turned down payment that time," I reminded him. Shivered at the thought of paying him what he usually asked of a psion. There was a reason most of his clients were corporations and Mob Families. I heard he even did secret work for the Hegemony sometimes. "You thought I was dead."

His face didn't alter in the least, his expression was blank uninterested boredom. "Ain't you? I don't see much of what you once was in your face, Valentine."

A hot plasburst of relief exploded in my stomach. So he did know who I was, he wasn't just bluffing. Or if he was bluffing, he'd bluffed right. "Every day is a death," I quoted, tapped my fingers on the table. "I've got a question and an offer for you, Lucas."

He looked at me for a long time. There was a time when I would have raised my sword between me and his gaze, a time when the demon Japhrimel had been melded to my shadow while I faced down Lucas and I'd been damn glad of the backup. Now I held his eyes, hoping he wouldn't see how desperate I was. I kept my thumb on my katana's guard and my right hand near the hilt, just in case. I might be almost-demon, but Lucas was truly dangerous. They don't call him the Deathless for nothing.

He finally scooped up the bottle, lifted it to his lips, took a swig. Set it down with a precise little click. "What you want, chica?"

Relief, sharp and acrid. I didn't let it show. He wasn't averse to bargaining, or being hired. Maybe I could pull this off. "Are you afraid of demons?"

That won a small whistling wheeze from him, Villalobos's version of a laugh. I watched his face crinkle, scarred flesh pleating.

"They die just like everythin' else," he finally whispered.

I'm not even going to ask you how you know that. "All right. How would you like to work for the Devil, Lucas Villalobos? The Prince of Hell?"

He measured me for a long moment. "You're fucking serious?"

I held his eyes for longer than I would have thought possible. "I'm fucking serious. Pay's negotiable; the boss is a bitch, but you get to kill things the like of which you've never seen before." At least I hope you've never seen them before. Or maybe I hope you have, and you know what to do to keep me alive.

He thought about it. I hoped he was tempted, too.

Dante Valentine, alive despite demons for maybe a little while longer, tempting a man who couldn't die. I thought temptation was a demon trick.

Maybe I'd learned it from the best.

"Pay's negotiable?"

I set my jaw, stared into his eyes, and nodded. "Negotiable, Lucas. What do you want?" The faint twitch at the corner of his eye warned me. I slapped his hand aside, locking his wrist, the knife buried itself into the table. I found myself sitting across from him, my slim golden fingers locked in a vise around his hand on the knife.

Lucas Villalobos smiled, the river of scarring down one side of his face wrinkling. He hadn't meant to attack me, just see if I was on my toes. His other hand was loosely clasped around the bottle.

I've never seen anyone human move that fast. If I squeezed, I could probably break a bone or two in his hand, and my fingers would sink into plasteel if I extended my claws.

His pupils dilated, turning his almost-yellow eyes a darker shade. "What's the job?" he whispered. His skin was dry and surprisingly fine, but I could feel the tense humming strength in his arm. No, he wasn't human anymore.

If he ever was. It's only rumor when it comes to him, Danny. Be careful.

I took a deep breath. "Keep me alive long enough to kill four Greater Flight demons, and be my eyes and ears." I quelled the urge to look behind me. The mark on my shoulder was soft heat now, wrapping around me, each pulse of Power sliding through my veins and bones. Distracting-but I could use the Power. Was Japhrimel tracking me even now?

Oh, gods, I hope so.

Lucas made that whistling, wheezing sound again, as if he was being slowly strangled. "You're never boring," he said in a low, choked voice. "Let's go out the back door."

Relief made me feel a little weak, but I didn't look away. "What do you want in return, Lucas?"