The Code War by Ciaran Nagle

and the demons liked
it.
    Bezejel nodded her head forward
and they began to amble towards the door of Navaho's.
    'So then,' put in Kodrob.
'Brothels became squawhouses and they started naming them after
different American tribes. OK, I get it.'
    Kodrob began to raise his arms to
be searched but t he doormen drew back in
fear when they saw Bezejel. 'These three are with me,' asserted the
demon princess with a smile. The doormen bowed slightly and stepped
back.
    Bezejel led the way as they
plunged through the first doorway. To the left was a wide spiral staircase leading up and around the
building. The staircase led off to dozens of small passion rooms
where squaws entertained their demon clients. They walked through
the next arch and then the next and the next, each separated by a
staircase leading upwards. As Navaho's grew in popularity, its
owners had simply added extra cones outside the first ones, each
cone taller and wider than its predecessor. Now there were nine
cone shells. Gas lights hung precariously off the hide walls of the
corridor, almost setting the structure alight.
    As they made their way inwards to the vast atrium at the heart of
Navaho's, the noise of the party inside grew intense. Demons and
skimpily-dressed squaws passed them walking in the opposite
direction, arms around each other, heading to one of the
staircases. A doom-doom drum beat reverberated through the rock
beneath them and came up through their feet. Everything shook.
Finally the last of the nine great doorways was behind them and
they emerged into the cavernous space that many felt was the true
centre of Inferno.
    Bezejel led Kodrob through the
noisy throng of compacted, s teaming
demonry to the circular bar at the centre of the atrium. Vixens,
attractive demonesses, carried tankards of hot petroleum and cold
diesel to tables of burping, leering upper caste males around the
room. A forest of claws groped and pawed them as they
walked.
    The walls displa yed crude paintings of male and female demons in every
imaginable sexual throe and position. Braziers suspended from above
burned coal and cast their red glow around.
    Everywhere demons were
drinking cocktails of flammable liquids
while negotiating hourly prices with available squaws. After
agreeing a deal with a customer, the squaw would take them by the
paw and lead them up one of the spiral staircases to a room. Her
tail would flick triumphantly from side to side, flaunting her
conquest.
    As Bezejel approached the bar, a
nervous quietness descended across the room. Demons nudged each
other and pointed her out. She was wearing a short red dress, its
close fit revealing every contour of her figure. She looked about
her and soaked up the effect she was having.
    'What's the matter, boys,' she
bellowed with a bewitching grin, 'seen something you want?' Then
pulling up a stool she placed one foot on it.
    The drumbeat stopped.
    'Now that I have your attention,
I'm looking for someone,' shouted Bezejel. Kodrob and the two
bodyguards stayed several paces behind her. The room was now
quiet.
    'I'm looking for someone who…'
    'You've found him.' All eyes
turned to the speaker, an upper-caste demon wearing steel-framed
glasses who was sitting at a table near the curved wall. A
richly-engraved ceremonial sword hung from his waist. Beneath his
feet was a decorative footrest and he sat back in his chair with
his fingertips together staring ahead of himself
contemplatively.
    Bezejel walked over and stood near
his table. Kodrob and the bodyguards followed at a discreet
distance. It was only at this point that Kodrob realised the
footrest was not an object but a female demon. She was dressed in
traditional Japanese costume but was so still as to be lifeless.
Her face was painted white and her upper body moved ever so
slightly as she breathed.
    If Bezejel had noticed the female, she
did not give any indication of it. She and the bespectacled demon
regarded each other for several frosty moments.
    'Hideki, I see