Free Going Under by Justina Robson

frog's tongue, the tendril snapped home again and lodged in her chest. Satisfaction spun there, slowly.
    I didn't say you could eat them, she objected, but her words rang hollow because she felt the same glow of victory and there was a grin on her face, even if it was a grim one.
    Iftneverpay to 6e a souls/iort if great/ comes callin y, Tath said. fve Jeft
most of tnem alone but We all gave rCe6ts topay anr[t~iin ys to consid r.'You are not
my master.
    The imp, who was still ignorant of Tath's presence, said, "Hey, did you see that?"
    "See what?" she said after a second's hesitation. She didn't know what made her angrier, her revulsion at Tath, her hypocrisy, or the imp's perfectly timed annoying and dangerous inquisitiveness. What are you doing with it? She snapped at the elf.
    Morin y it, came the reply. later f wilt take one for you, just in case we
neerCto travel to ianato.Pia anar6ac.€again. U/ aJJI6e so .Ginrias to insure your pet
aswetl?His tone left her in no doubt that he felt he had been more than
generous so far in withholding his activities when she was fighting,
but she couldn't help raging.
    These are my fights, you can kill your own damned ...
    paEle fyou
bare me, Tath retorted. 6ot6',Tnozvyou need'me fully ca
are yoin y to yo / arias y 6ac.€to Otoia on some crusaie a yainst t iefed/ creatures. ~f
you nad'any brainsyou zvoutiatreaiy nave had mewreserve the spirits ofattyour
vanyuis~red so We liu[eneryy enouynf anito spare. Yam situp yperforminy tie
most basic aniJeast cruet of tie 7rts. -fey Were atreadjj deadr--zve are only
dWayin y t/eir journey a Wrifee.Ma
ria~s you can t~iin of ot~ier sources of t ie
r at~i6ounifor me to collect ? ,y6e We can yo anritoiter outsiie a /os
.pitat for a
luc4y opportunity ?
    They're people, she said stubbornly.

    fniw/ at fc1, is w'ron y, he murmured. l€nou. 1lict ~ieariit affiefore.
out you villsin y another son y zw/en `can be of use to you.
    It's not ... she was going to say it wasn't like that.
    ~t is. c9rt isjust not to your fiinj. Or mine.
    It was. Once upon a time she had been a saving grace, carrier of a soul; a good girl. Now they were part of a team. She felt like the agreement had been foisted on her, and maybe it had, because she could have made him leave. She chose not to. And here he was, her own private death collector.
    I don't know how you live with yourself But she could have said it to herself.
    "Hey!" Thingamajig dragged on her ear as she took a zagging, randomised path downward, watching all the time for a chance at the demon below. "I said, Did You See ..."
    "Shut up, I'm trying to think," she said. The glow in her chest was black, laughing. You idiot, you're supposed to stay secret.
    "... cause I was under the distink impression you had no aetheric capabilities at all. Nada. Zilch. Even the French Bird didn't say otherwise and you know that she can tell. So if you ain't possessed by no demons and you don't have any powers, then ..."
    "I said shut up," Lila repeated, quietly, coldly, sidling through the cloud as beneath her the bits of dead demon began raining down on the cargo boats in steaming chunks.
    Now that their first attack had failed, the other two demons were in retreat. She was within her rights to pursue and exterminate-no duellist had a right to leave the grounds alive if their opponent livedbut they were heading in opposite directions. It was not possible to tell if they would regroup or flee. The MV would be of no use now unless she were to foolishly stand directly between the two of them. Her first impulse was simply to leave them.
    "No, no, no, you can't be serious," the imp jumped up and down, his claws snagging and pulling threads out of her vest shoulder. "Do you want to be hunted down like a dog by the devils from all the ages? Not to mention the demons from right now ... KILL something!"

    "But ..." but she pitied them.
    "Because ..." the imp shook her ear violently, insisting that she finish. "You pity them because ..."
    Lila