Shadow Pavilion (25 page)

54

“
No trace,” Jhai said, putting down the phone. “They've all gone.”

“Are you sure?” The demon was peering out of the window of Jhai's topmost office, as if tigers could somehow be seen from this great height, stalking the city in their black and gold.

“According to the security team and the police. There's no sign of them in the market, but they're not reopening the building just yet. Lao and Ma are down there now. Lao says someone's been doing magic: scorch marks all along the floor, apparently. And a fisherman saw a tiger jumping off the dock after a swimmer. Tall young guy, apparently, looked Indian.”

“Your friend Go,” Zhu Irzh said. “Oh well.”

“I told the stupid bastard not to go near them. Conscience is a terrible thing, Zhu Irzh. I'm
so
glad I don't have one.”

The demon suppressed a smile. He wasn't sure about that, whatever protestations Jhai might make. It just worked in an unconventional way, that was all.

“I want to go down there, take a look for myself,” Jhai said. “Fucking Agni. I might have known he'd be trouble one day.”

The demon shrugged. “Families.”

“It's not even a question of being dysfunctional,” Jhai mused. She slung her bag over her shoulder and made for the door. “It goes beyond that into some other concept.”

“Psychosis?”

“You're probably right. Are you coming?”

“Of course. It's my job.”

In late afternoon, the port area was humid and the rudimentary air-conditioning in the old market building had long since failed. Zhu Irzh straightened up from his examination of two sets of footprints.

“You don't really have to be a detective to see what was going on here,” Jhai remarked.

“My dear Watson!” the demon protested. He'd lately got into old, subtitled Basil Rathbone movies; they were having their effect. “The only curious thing here is—”

“Where are they now?” Jhai looked along the line of footprints to where the dock ended and the harbor began. A man, in sneakers, running. A tiger, large. “And I don't think there's much mystery there, either.”

“Shit,” the demon said. “It's not like I've got a particular attachment to Go. I just don't like to think of
anyone
going through what I did.”

“At least he might be keeping them distracted,” Jhai said. “But I do wonder about the dynamic. Lara's sisters can't stand her. They keep plotting against Agni. It's a very fragile political balance inside the Hunting Lodge. I'm not sure whether that's to our advantage or not.”

“Let's assume not,” the demon said with a sigh. “It just makes matters simpler.”

He turned at a whistle, to see Exorcist Lao beckoning to him. “Hang on a minute,” he said to Jhai, and walked to meet his colleague. “What's happening?”

“I don't know whether they came in this way,” Lao said. “They've probably got a number of exit and entry points throughout the city—the meat locker was almost certainly one of them. But they left through here. Come and see.” He gestured toward the market and Zhu Irzh followed him in. Paugeng's security teams were milling about, as well as the regular police. Zhu Irzh saw with some satisfaction that the forensic unit was already hard at work.

“Take a look at that,” Lao said, and pointed at an empty space between two partially collapsed stalls.

At first, Zhu Irzh thought that there was nothing there. Then, glancing at it from the corners of his eyes, he noticed a faint swirling in the air, as if a congregation of dust motes had gathered.

“Take a deep breath,” Lao instructed. The demon did so. Spice, and a rank green odor that was unpleasantly familiar. Black earth and an undernote of water and rot.

“That's the portal,” Zhu Irzh said.

“Oh yeah.”

“So what are you going to do about it?”

“I've contained it,” Lao said. “At least, I think I've contained it.”

Zhu Irzh looked at him. “You'd better be sure, Lao. Don't want anything bursting out all of a sudden.”

“Well, that's the problem,” Lao said. “Now that we've found it, I somehow doubt that they'll want to use it again. They'll know we're waiting on the other side. If Agni's got any sense—”

“But does he, though? I'd say that Agni's gone out through arrogance and into mad.”

“These bloody demons,” Lao said. “Always getting above themselves. Sorry, Zhu Irzh. You know I don't mean you.”

Zhu Irzh was used to being made an exception. “Cool,” he said. “If you need extra people, I can probably ask Paugeng Security to do it.”

“Good idea,” said Lao, apparently keen to make up for his earlier lapse of tact. “They're a lot more gung ho than the police, anyway. You can tell they're just waiting for something to shoot.”

Zhu Irzh grinned as he walked out of the market. Probably best not to mention that to Jhai
…

She was not where he had left her. Zhu Irzh walked around the side of the building, looking for the Paugeng security team. They were standing in a tight huddle under an awning, one of them speaking into a cellphone.

“Hi,” the demon said. “Jhai not with you?”

“No,” one of the team replied. “We haven't seen her since we got here.”

“I was just talking to her. She probably went into the market.” But already, the prickle of unease was starting to make its presence felt. He went quickly back into the market building. There was no sign of Jhai. She had a phone of her own, of course; Zhu Irzh flipped the speed dial and waited. No reply. Eventually he got the answerphone and left a message. Word was already filtering around the teams in the market: within minutes, Ma had ordered a search. Jhai was taken seriously; she would not simply have wandered off.

Half an hour later, there was still no Jhai.

“He's got her,” Zhu Irzh said to Lao. “Simple as that.”

The exorcist nodded. “I think you're right. Open the portal in the market, create a diversion—he must have been sure that Jhai would come down here when she found out what was happening. And then just—snap.”

“I wish Chen were here,” Zhu Irzh said. “Any word?”

“Not yet. I left Robin looking after the circle,” Lao said, and held out his cellphone. Zhu Irzh looked to see the circle upon it. “Cell cam. If anything happens, Robin will let me know. I ought to get back there, though.”

“I'm going to have to go after her,” Zhu Irzh said.

Lao gave a frustrated sigh. “Yes, I suppose you are, but you're not going through this portal and you're not going alone, either.”

“We're running out of personnel, Lao.”

“No, we're not. What about No Ro Shi? Hunting demons is what he does for a living.”

“The trouble with No Ro Shi,” Zhu Irzh said, “is that I'm never sure whether he'd be happier just hunting
me.”

“It's often a good sign, coming full circle,” the demon-hunter said to Zhu Irzh. They were once more standing in Men Ling Street, not far from the place where Zhu Irzh and the badger had been snatched.

“You think so?” the demon said dubiously. Men Ling Street looked different in daylight: even more depressing, were such a thing possible. The area was, however, quieter: a lot of the drug dealers and pimps had moved out of the surrounding tenements, unnerved by such a massive police presence. At least something had improved, No Ro Shi had remarked, although Zhu Irzh, schooled in the rather different agenda of the Vice Division of Hell, had felt vaguely to blame for the loss in people's business. He did not voice this thought, feeling that No Ro Shi might prove unsympathetic.

“So what's been happening with this situation?” the demon-hunter now said to Ma. The crime scene tape was still present, and a forensic scientist was quietly occupied in the area surrounding the underground meat locker, but apart from a single police vehicle, everyone seemed to have packed up and moved on to pastures new, like crime groupies. Most of the original team had departed for the market, Zhu Irzh knew. He said as much to No Ro Shi.

“They've got pretty much all the evidence they needed from this site,” Ma explained. “It's all down to the lab now. Marrying up body parts to DNA records, that sort of thing. I gather from the lab that they've already accounted for quite a few missing persons.”

“This must have been rich pickings for Agni's crew,” No Ro Shi remarked, glancing around the dingy confines of Men Ling Street. “Derelicts, prostitutes, criminals
…
”

“Having experienced Agni's hospitality, I suspect that's why they wanted to expand,” Zhu Irzh said. “The girls seem to like a proper chase—I don't suppose a few terrified humans proved entertaining for long.”

No Ro Shi's hand wandered to the hilt of his sword. “I confess, I'm looking forward to getting to grips with your girls.”

“I wouldn't be too enthusiastic,” Zhu Irzh said. “You haven't met them yet.”

Ma's brow creased in worry. “Are you sure you'll be all right, just the two of you?”

“No.”

“Certainly!”

“The thing is,” Zhu Irzh said, “even if we went in with a whole team of people, they'd probably just get picked off. It's not just the tigresses down there—it's a whole realm of Hell. And we don't, yet, have a team who are experienced magical warriors. It used to be just Chen and this guy—” he gestured in the direction of No Ro Shi “—and that's only recently changed, as you know.”

“I used to be afraid,” Ma said. “Now I'm just angry.”

“I can relate to that. Anyway, No Ro Shi, if we're going, we'd better get on with it.”

“I agree,” the demon-hunter said. He slapped Ma on the arm. “Look after the portal, Ma. Don't want anything breaking through.”

Zhu Irzh followed him cautiously into the empty chamber. In the thin shaft of daylight coming through the door, it was even more out of place: as though the room should properly only exist at night. It was evident, too, how thick the layer of dust was that lay over everything: the forensic team had disturbed some of it, for the room swam with a maze of flying motes, but even so, the tapestries were still gray. It seemed to Zhu Irzh as though this room belonged to some other building entirely, that the rest of the tenement had been constructed around its dusty core.

Lao's wards still held. Zhu Irzh could see them, snaking around the gap in the air that marked the middle of the room. They were a little frayed now, although Ma had told him that Lao had only renewed them a day or so ago. This suggested magical activity on the other side: a depressing, but probably inevitable, occurrence. Lao must have his work cut out, Zhu Irzh thought: what with tiger demons, supernatural assassins, and Chen's personal woes, it had been quite a week for them all. And was continuing to be so. No Ro Shi motioned to the portal. “You want to go first?”

The demon-hunter was actually being polite, Zhu Irzh realized. Keen as he was to get to the action, No Ro Shi was courteously offering Zhu Irzh the chance to do so before him. “You are most welcome,” Zhu Irzh said.

“Thank you.” The demon-hunter gave him a little bow. Then he drew his sword, whistling down through the motes of dust, cut through Lao's ward as though it was nothing more than cobweb, and stepped through.

Zhu Irzh was close behind. Despite the warmth into which they now came, his skin was icy with apprehension; he had not, he thought, permitted himself to acknowledge just how much the Hunting Lodge had unnerved him. But now, he was in a position to witness the journey through this particular gateway: a journey that he had already made, but being unconscious, had not seen.

It was different to the way that Krishna had shown them. Zhu Irzh and the demon-hunter, unmoving, sped through tunnels as if traveling down through earth. They crossed chasms at speed, looking down to see fires burning and smoldering deep within, occasionally sending up spouts of flame. This was a road of earth and blaze: the walls of caverns illuminated by the flicker of heat. A dryness invaded Zhu Irzh's throat; he heard No Ro Shi give a cough, quickly stifled. They shot through glittering caverns, stalactites of bright gold, encrusted with jewels and crystals. Yet when the demon looked sidelong, all was darkness and shadow. Illusion only, like all riches.

No Ro Shi touched his arm, making him jump. “There's something up ahead.”

Zhu Irzh looked to where the demon-hunter was pointing and saw a dim greenness. “Oh great. We're nearly there.” And in an instant, the jungle was rushing up, swallowing them into its voracious throat. Zhu Irzh saw the demon-hunter turn, the great sword hissing through the air, and something like a creeper crashed down around them, pumping green blood. Zhu Irzh's own borrowed sword was already whirling, on the principle that even if he wasn't aiming at anything, it would deter anyone who might get in his way. He was distantly aware that No Ro Shi had ducked.

“No sign of incoming, no sign of further hostiles.” The demon-hunter spoke urgently, as if into an intercom.

“What was that thing you hit?”

“No idea.”

“Oh. Well, never mind.” Zhu Irzh looked around him, now that they had slowed to a halt. They were standing in a clearing, not unlike the one in which the deva's little temple had stood, but there was no sign of any structures and the place did not seem familiar, although with all the greenery, it was difficult to tell. Best of all, there was not a tiger in sight.

“They're not here.”

“That we can see.” No Ro Shi was not so enthusiastic. He circled the clearing, sword drawn.
“Why
are they not here?”

“Business elsewhere?” Zhu Irzh was inclined to an uncomplicated gratitude.

“Let's hope so,” No Ro Shi said. He turned to the demon. “Can you find the way to the Hunting Lodge from here?”