Zhu Irzh and the badger fell out of the air, from some height, and hit a grimy stretch of ground in a parking lot. Winded, it took some time for the badger to say, "Are we back?" He smelled the air. "Yes, I see that we are."
Zhu Irzh clambered to his feet, dusting off his coat. "That was quite a drop. I should have asked if we could have been put down gently. Are you all right? Nothing broken?"
"I am intact," the badger admitted. He was surprised at how relieved he was to be home: all his animal senses had come alive again at this reversion to his own territory. He had not realized just how firmly he had become attached to this bit of the human realm, but that was the element of earth for you: it claimed and clung. "And you?"
"Also fine, I think. Badger, before we're sucked into yet another maelstrom, I just wanted to say that it has been—well, okay, not a pleasure, but I have valued your presence recently. You are a resourceful creature."
"Thank you," the badger said. It would have been wrong to say that he was touched, but as they left the parking lot, he was aware that the demon had become slightly more incorporated into the list of those he was obliged to protect: not of the same status as Mistress or Husband, obviously, but still. At the thought of seeing Mistress once more, he was filled with a distinct satisfaction. He and Zhu Irzh had survived and things were returning to the way they should be.
"I need to find a phone," the demon said. "I lost my cell somewhere along the way—I think one of those bitches took it. I'll have to reverse the charges. I haven't got any money, either. I wonder where we are?" He squinted into the smog. It felt like early morning, and the sea was not far away.
"I recognize this place," the badger said. "Look, there is Men Ling Street. Lord Krishna has returned us almost to the point at which we left."
"You're right," Zhu Irzh said. His footsteps quickened. "Hey, the crime scene people are there. I can see Lao and Ma."
Exorcist Lao's jaw dropped when he saw Zhu Irzh and the badger coming toward him. Ma, on the other hand, greeted the demon like a long-lost brother. Zhu Irzh appeared faintly surprised.
"Ma? What's happening?"
"We've been investigating a series of murders," Ma explained. "Chen and I found bodies here, lots of them, under that house we sent you to. Where did you go?"
"Bodies," the demon echoed, without answering Ma's question. "What sort of bodies?"
"Human ones. It looked like a sort of meat locker. And where have you been?"
"Did it, now?"
"What happened, Seneschal?" That was Lao, rather more demanding.
"We got snatched into a dimension of Indian Hell and hunted by tigress demons."
Lao appeared impressed. "Seriously?"
"Well, yeah. What do you think I've been doing? Taking the badger on a bar crawl? What's the date?"
"The twenty-third. You've been missing for three days."
Ma snorted. "Been an interesting three days."
"Where's Chen?"
"At home, I presume. Hasn't come on shift yet. I got a message from him last night to say that he and Inari were visiting the temple—you know, the one belonging to the Celestial Emperor." Ma spoke as casually as someone referring to a bar owned by a friend. "I'd better call him, let him know you're back. He'll be so relieved."
Lao was looking narrowly into the middle distance. "Tigress demons, eh?"
"Several of them. And a demigod prince. It's a whole other world down there, Lao—they've got a lodge, hunting grounds, everything. It's like a fucking safari park. Only the other way round."
"What's the prey? You?"
"Yes, and the badger. But it's a whole setup—they had guests. I don't imagine the party was laid on just for us. I got the impression it was a regular thing."
"I'm wondering about this," Lao said, gesturing to the crime scene behind him. His long, gray face twitched.
"What, you think the bodies are connected?"
"Did you go directly to this hunting ground?"
"More or less. As far as I could tell, anyway. There was a bit of a journey."
"But you didn't stop off anywhere?"
"No. You said: meat locker."
"I wonder how long this hunting ground has been in operation?" Lao mused. "Whether they started off on human spirits, the kind of people who wouldn't be missed?"
"But why here?" Zhu Irzh said, although given Krishna's theorizing, the badger thought he already knew. "This isn't a Chinese Hell. There's plenty in India who wouldn't be missed."
But the badger was watching Ma. The big sergeant was staring into his phone as though it had just bitten him, and when his attention turned back to his companions, it was not Lao or Zhu Irzh to whom he said, "Oh god. I'm so sorry."
"Don't worry," the demon kept saying, all the way through the city. "Don't worry. We'll get her back, we'll find a way. This is a temporary thing."
Why did humans—or their cousins—always feel the need to talk so incessantly, when something terrible had happened? Why did they babble on? Pain was to be endured, not discussed. The badger ignored Zhu Irzh's attempts at reassurance and stared out of the window of Ma's police car, watching the morning world pass by. Useless to wish that they were once more waking up on the houseboat, with Husband about to go to work, the badger, teakettled, humming on the stove, Mistress padding about, alive.
Mistress, alive. Alive. Not anymore. And in that case, Where was she?
Ma said, over his shoulder, "You know, I heard what you were saying to Lao. There have been reports coming in all night about tigers on the loose."
"Oh, shit," Zhu Irzh said.
"One has to assume that it's connected."
"You'd think so, wouldn't you? There can't be two lots. Has anyone been hurt?"
"Rather a large number of people."
"Great. You can run, but you can't hide. They probably followed us up—or maybe they didn't bother, just decided to extend the hunting grounds. Kri—someone we met suggested that might be the case."
The demon continued to discuss the situation with Ma, but the badger had stopped listening. It was as though the last few days had been nothing more than an unpleasant dream; to be vaguely recalled, but no importance attached to it. Now, his focus had narrowed down, condensing all of reality into a single sharp fact. Mistress, gone.
It was a relief to reach the temple and see Husband standing on the steps, talking into his phone. When he saw Zhu Irzh and the badger getting out of the car, he ran down the steps to the vehicle. He clapped Zhu Irzh briefly on the shoulder. "Glad you're back, Seneschal."
"Glad to be back," the demon said. "You can't imagine how much."
The badger spoke for the first time. "Where is she?"
"We think she's in between." Husband spoke calmly, but the badger could sense how greatly this had affected him: a crimson jangling around the man's spirit, and the badger felt a great affinity with him. Husband was the only person who knew how the badger felt and this was an unexpected comfort.
"Where is that?"
"It's a kind of—land of gaps, neither Heaven nor Hell, where things go if they are neither one thing nor the other."
"But Mistress is Hellkind."
"The person who killed her is not, however. Half-Celestial and half-demon, born on Earth." Husband sat down on the little step of the temple, to address the badger more directly. "I've called Inari's brother, in Hell. The one who works in the Blood Emporium. I didn't tell him why I was phoning—let him think we've had a row or something. Anyway, she might feasibly be down in Hell but she didn't go straight home."
"That is a blessing," the badger said.
"Yes, it is. I don't fancy trying to get further information from Inari's family."
"Could the brother have been lying?" Zhu Irzh asked.
"He could, but on this occasion, I don't think so. He's got no particular reason to lie unless the rest of the family are leaning on him, and—would probably take some delight in going behind their backs, given the indignities that he's undergone over the years. Anyway, I also checked with the Night Harbor and she didn't pass through there. She won't be in Heaven—they don't let demons in, at least, not under those circumstances. That leaves the possibility that her spirit is wandering around Earth somewhere, but why should she leave the temple, in that case?"
"People can get very confused when they die," the demon pointed out.
"True, but I don't think Inari is one of them. She's a demon, after all, not a human new to the Wheel. I think, from what Mhara and I have put together, that she has gone to between. It's Seijin's—the assassin's—home."
Zhu Irzh said, "The Lord Lady killed her?" He looked astounded.
"You know about this person?"
"When I was a little boy, I was obsessed with warriors. Like most kids, I suppose. I did a lot of reading about them and sometimes my tutors indulged me. One of them told me about Seijin, where he/she comes from. Impressive individual. Eats people's souls. When I grew up a bit I discovered that becoming a warrior meant discipline, austerity, not drinking, that kind of thing. So I joined the vice squad instead."
Husband did not seem too interested in Zhu Irzh's career choices. "Do you know anything about Seijin? Any weak points?"
"Hasn't got any. At least, unless one counts the whole package. Can't be too stable, being male and female, mixed-species like that."
"There are those," Husband remarked, "who would say that this provided an ideal balance."
"Seijin kills people for fun. How balanced does that sound to you?"
Husband sighed. "You may have a point. Seijin's after Mhara. Inari got in the Lord Lady's way."
"I want to see her," the badger said. Husband looked at him.
"All right."
She did not look dead, but then, the death of demonkind was not like the death of things that had truly lived. The badger said as much.
"I know," Husband murmured. "And she's under a spell, remember. It'll preserve her until we can get her back."
To the badger, the matter was simple. "Then we will go to between, you and I, and we will bring her home."