But why in hell weren’t they out looking for this Asmodeus character? If Lilith’s future was to pop forth tiny demons, wouldn’t getting rid of the prophesied father take care of the problem?

Men, I thought with disgust. Typical that they’d go after the woman.

I was about to turn to the front of the book, to read about the demon Asmodeus, when I heard the front door open, and I knew he’d returned.

He walked past the open library door, heading up the stairs without a word to me. I shot out of the room, catching up with him halfway up the stairs. “I don’t like being locked in.”

He paused, then turned back to look down on me. Mistake, I thought. If I accosted him on the stairs, I should somehow make it to a higher step. He already had a tendency to loom over me; giving him the added advantage of the stairs made it worse.

“It’s not safe for you outside,” he said.

“And you’re concerned about my safety? Since when?”

He considered it. “Point taken. It won’t be locked again. Go wherever you wish.”

I looked up into his pale, set face. “Good,” I said.

A moment later I was gone, into the night, into the Dark City, without a glance behind me.

CHAPTER NINE

A ZAZEL HEARD THE DOOR SLAM, and he cursed, slowly and savagely. He needed to let her go. If she ran afoul of the Truth Breakers or the Nightmen, then so be it. He didn’t want to be looking out for her. It was bad enough that she still lived, though he had no one to blame but himself for that one. He wasn’t going out into the night, chasing after her, protecting her from all the midnight horrors of the Dark City.

And there were many. The rules were strict in this shadowed place, and the demi-souls who lived here couldn’t stray far without earning punishment.

He couldn’t decide whether she really was as innocent as a newborn lamb or simply stupid. She had no idea just how lethal Beloch was, or she would keep her distance. She had no idea that the man she thought of as her worst enemy was, in fact, her only hope of putting off the inevitable. If it were up to him, he would see that she didn’t suffer, though he wasn’t sure why. She’d made countless souls suffer over the endless years she’d lived. She deserved some rough justice. He just didn’t want to be around to witness it, and he was beginning to realize that there would be no escape from the Dark City. Not for her.

He would have believed her last night, that she was a far cry from a sexual icon, if she hadn’t kissed him back. If the feel of her hadn’t sunk into his very bones, shaking him to the core. He wanted her and he despised himself for it. Beloch was right. He might be a sadist, overseeing the Dark City with the same cruel implacability with which the archangel Uriel oversaw the whole of creation, but he was indisputably wise. As long as Azazel ignored her siren call, he would never be certain that the prophecy was a lie, that he was invulnerable to her mythic allure. Resisting the seduction of a simple kiss wasn’t proof enough.

Maybe the Nightmen would take care of her. Those savage creatures, who scoured the streets of the Dark City and wiped them clean with the blood of those who displeased them, would show no mercy. Even Beloch’s demands might have no influence.

Or the Truth Breakers might find her and bring her before Beloch. He hated to think of her reaction when she discovered the scholarly old man was a torturer par excellence. He had no intention of being around when that happened.

He had no idea how far they’d go in extracting the truth from her. For all her fierce, hidden spirit, her body would break quite easily—they would barely have to hurt her to get what they needed. But he realized now that they wouldn’t be likely to let her go once they were done with her.

He paused at the top of the stairs. He ought to go back down and lock the door. There were things crawling in the alleys of the Dark City that he didn’t want entering the house, but a simple lock was enough to keep them out. He started back down, walking through a faint drift of scent, her skin, her hair, and he cursed again. He moved faster, racing down the stairs, and a moment later he was out into the night, going after her.

Could she see the sickness and decay beneath the gray-brown of everything? Or would she take things at face value? Wouldn’t she wonder why she still had a healthy color?

The Nightmen were lurking by the sluggish black river that flowed through the center of the city. He could sense them, hear them, and he knew that she couldn’t have made it that far. He heard a faint scream of agony, but it came from a man’s throat and he dismissed it. At least she was safe from them—by her scent, he could tell she’d headed in the opposite direction. She was smart enough to avoid danger. The problem was, danger came at you from every angle here in the Dark City.

He turned his back on the screams and sobs of the dying man and followed her. He’d find her. And when he did, he’d drag her back to the house and handcuff her to the bedpost until Beloch was ready to send for her.

IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A nice night for a walk. The air was warm with just the faint hint of crispness that presaged autumn, and a soft breeze brushed against my skin. If only the shadows didn’t lie so heavily on everything, leaching the color from the buildings I passed, from the trees overhead, the cars, and, most of all, the people. They were sepia ghosts of another time, and no one met my eyes or responded to my tentative greetings. It was almost as if they were afraid of me, but that was impossible. I was harmless. Wasn’t I?

Because if I held any latent power, if I were the monstrous demon that Azazel declared me to be and the mythology books described, then surely I would have wreaked vengeance on everyone and everything in my path, including Azazel. I would have ripped him apart if I’d had the ability.

But the people I passed scuttled by me in their gray ghostliness, heads down, and finally I caught a young woman by the arm, forcing her to look at me. “Excuse me, but do you know where there’s a public park?” I had the sudden longing to kick off my shoes and feel grass beneath my feet, even if the grass was gray.

She’d frozen at my touch, her eyes wide with fear, and I wondered if she’d been struck dumb. If I hadn’t been holding her gently, I think she might have run.

“We don’t have parks,” she said finally, her voice low and totally without inflection. Almost like a computer-generated voice.

“Then is there a place outside where I could sit for a while?” I persisted.

“It wouldn’t be a good idea.” There was just a trace more life in her voice, something that sounded like concern. “We don’t … you shouldn’t …” She stopped, clearly frustrated. “You should go home. You should leave here. You don’t belong here.”

Curiosity had always been my besetting sin—after all, I’d been a reporter in Brisbane and, I suspected, elsewhere as well. “Who does belong here? Who are you?”

She looked startled, and even more wary. “We earned our places here. It is our reward.”

“Doesn’t look like much of a reward,” I said with my usual lack of tact.

“You should go away. I mustn’t be seen talking to you.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re a stranger. The only reasons strangers come here are bad.” She tugged at her arm, and I released her.

“But—”

“I can’t help you,” she said. “I shouldn’t even warn you.”

“Warn me?”

“Leave the Dark City if you can. If you cannot, stay in your house and don’t wander the streets at night. Whatever you do, keep away from the Nightmen.”

“Who are the Nightmen?” I was trying to hold on to her with questions, but she was edging away.

“The police. Keep away from the river.”