"So, you and Suzie gal are here to meet the new Authorities, eh? Auditioning, are you?"
"Possibly," I said. "What do you make of them, Augusta?"
She snorted loudly, polished off the last of her single malt in one good gulp, and shrugged good-naturedly. "Someone"s got to be in charge, I suppose, so why not some of our own, for a change? Doubt they"ll last, though. Far too full of good intentions, and we all know where they lead. And you"ve got to be a little crazy to think you can run a madhouse like this. Eh? What?"
All of a sudden, a new figure appeared out of nowhere, right in front of us, and everyone in the bar fell silent to look at him. He was short and stout, dressed in black from head to toe, with ten alien power rings on his fingers, and I knew him immediately. Bulldog Hammond-burglar, thief, and quite possibly the most useless criminal in the Nightside. He lucked into those powerful alien rings and immediately became convinced he could use them to make himself a criminal mastermind. Unfortunately, the rings didn"t come with an instruction manual, and he was still trying to figure out how to use them properly.
His eyes bulged in his silly face as he looked around and realised he wasn"t where he"d meant to be. He fiddled desperately with his teleport ring but couldn"t make it work again. He bestowed a strained smile on the barful of heroes and adventurers glaring at him, while giving every indication of a man who desperately needed a toilet.
"Ah. Yes. h.e.l.lo, all! Sorry about this, got the coordinates wrong again. You know how it is I meant to burgle Pagan"s Place next door and this explanation isn"t going at all well is it?"
I had to smile. "You really did pick the wrong club to break into, Bulldog."
"Oh s.h.i.t it"s John Taylor. Hi! Yes! Is Suzie with you by any chance oh h.e.l.l she"s right behind me isn"t she? I really don"t feel very well."
Augusta Moon glared furiously at him. "I know you, Hammond! Nasty little sneak thief! You stole the Golden Frogs of Samarkand from my little sister Agatha, didn"t you?"
"Who me? What makes you think that was me? They weren"t real gold anyway and I really think I"ll be getting along now."
"Agatha cried on my shoulder for a week over those b.l.o.o.d.y frogs!" said Augusta. "Can"t stand her most of the time, but family is family. Come here, you worm, so I can bestow beatings."
She raised her walking-stick, and Bulldog Hammond whimpered pitifully and grabbed at one of his rings. A force shield sprang up around him, enclosing him inside a cube of shimmering energies. Augusta gave it a good prod with the point of her stick, grunted once, then lifted her stick and whacked the h.e.l.l out of the energy cube. The shield held, while Bulldog cowered inside and made high-pitched noises of distress. Augusta belaboured the force shield with all her considerable strength, and strange energies discharged on the air as the magic of her stick met the science of the shield. Everyone else watched, entranced. Many were laying bets. Suzie stepped lazily forward, her shotgun in her hands.
"No, Suzie," I said quickly. "The key word here is ricochets. There"s all kind of delicate and expensive-looking s.h.i.t in here, and I just know they"d make me pay for any breakages."
"Getting soft, John," said Suzie. But she did lower the shotgun.
Bulldog was still trying one ring after another, as the force shield shook and trembled under Augusta"s unceasing a.s.sault. And then a series of brightly coloured rays shot out from one ring, piercing the force shield and flying across the room. Everyone threw themselves out of the way, but the rays did no obvious damage to anyone they touched. Instead, they worked their alien magic on all the trophies scattered around the bar. The muscles on Grendel"s severed arm swelled and bulged, and the huge fist hammered against the wall. A suit of armour drew its sword, a tall potted plant lashed about with its sting, a small statue of a demon started playing with itself. Some artefacts exploded, some melted, some disappeared; and some launched open attacks on the Club Members.
A great painting of a strange alien jungle suddenly came alive and formed a window into that world. Terrible shrieks and cries came clearly to us, along with a gusting wind that stank of carrion. And through this newly opened gateway to another world, a whole cloud of ugly flying things burst into the bar; dark, hairy shapes with flapping batwings, glaring eyes, and huge, snapping teeth. They shot back and forth in the confined s.p.a.ce, biting fiercely at everything in reach. There was chaos in the bar as everyone defended themselves as best they could.
Suzie Shooter opened fire with casual skill, her shotgun blasting the nasty flappy things out of mid air one after the other, never missing once; but still more and more came flooding through the open doorway. The Club Members fought the flying horrors with all kinds of weapons, and even their bare hands, but the growing numbers came close to overwhelming them. Augusta struck about her with her walking-stick, while loudly singing a psalm, and blood and bat brains flew on the air as she connected again and again. Bulldog cringed inside his force shield crying, "Sorry! Sorry!" I took a pair of chaos dice from my coat pocket and rolled them back and forth in my hand, and just like that the flying horrors couldn"t seem to find me. I glared around. I don"t carry weapons, as such. I don"t usually need them. But I had to do something to stop this, before people started getting hurt. Even the greatest of heroes and adventurers can be brought down by sheer force of numbers.
Janissary Jane and Chandra Singh came rushing in. Jane had an energy gun in each hand, and shot the flying horrors out of the air with deadly speed and skill. Chandra had a long, curved sword, and danced amongst the swarming creatures, cutting them out of mid air with swift graceful strokes that were a work of art. Blood flew on the air as he worked his way into the very centre of the mayhem, grinning broadly all the while.
A batwinged nightmare bigger than all the rest came sweeping in out of nowhere and snapped its jaws shut on Suzie"s shoulder. She didn"t even flinch, but kept on firing. The teeth worked fiercely, gnawing into the black leather. I grabbed the thing with both hands and tore it away from her shoulder. The leather was torn, but I didn"t see any blood. The thing struggled in my hands, its wings flapping fiercely, struggling to turn itself round so it could get at my fingers. I crushed it, my fingers sinking deep into its hairy body. It exploded in blood and bits, and died still trying to bite me.
I threw the b.l.o.o.d.y mess aside, and only then realised I"d dropped my chaos dice to help Suzie. I wasn"t protected any more. Except by my gift. I sheltered behind Suzie as I concentrated on opening my inner eye. It was the work of a moment to find the energies holding the gateway open. Bulldog had accidentally cancelled them out. Then it was the easiest thing in the world to find the right combination to slam the gateway shut. The opening was immediately only a picture again, and no more creatures came flying through.
The Club Members made short shrift of the remaining flapping things, and the suit of armour and the potted plant, and all the other problems . . . then everything was quiet in the bar again, apart from the m.u.f.fled curses of heroes and adventurers checking their wounds and trying to get their breath back. The floor was a mess of dead flappy things, with blood and hair and organs pulped into the rich carpet. One by one, we all turned to look at Bulldog Hammond.
He gulped hard and turned off his force shield. He then raised both hands high above his head and turned to me.
"Mr. Taylor, sir! I really would like to surrender now please. Oh yes and very definitely. Haul me off to jail I"ll go quietly please don"t let them kill me."
"People could have died here," I said.
"I know and I"m really very very sorry! It"s all their fault for having so many nice and desirable things and for tempting such a weak-spirited soul as me and why is that large woman glaring at me like that?"
"I"ve got bat blood on my best suit!" snapped Augusta, brandishing her walking-stick. Blood and brains dripped off the end. "I know dry-cleaning isn"t going to get it out! Come here and take your medicine, you appalling little man."
"I don"t think I will if that"s all right with everyone," said Bulldog.
"The rings, Bulldog," I said firmly. "Hand them over. You can"t be trusted with them."
"But without them I won"t be a master criminal any more!"
"You insist on hanging on to them, and you"ll end up as one more b.l.o.o.d.y mess on the carpet."
"I see your point," said Bulldog. And he quickly stripped the rings from his fingers and dropped them on to my waiting open palm. I hefted them thoughtfully, then slipped them into my coat pocket.
"Very good," I said. "Now go and sit quietly in that corner, and wait here till Walker comes to collect you."
"You really think we"re going to let that little snot get away with this?" said Augusta.
Several other Club Members made noises of agreement. I looked around me, taking my time. "He"s just a small man who made a big mistake. It"s over. Let it go."
"Why should we?" said Sebastian Stargrave in his quiet, deadly way.
"Because he"s under my protection," I said. "Anyone here have a problem with that?"
No-one said anything. And then, one by one, they turned away and set about clearing up the mess. Because while they were all quite definitely heroes and adventurers...I was John Taylor; and you never knew. Bulldog went off to sit in the corner, Suzie put her shotgun away, and I retrieved my chaos dice from the blood-soaked carpet. Augusta Moon and Sebastian Stargrave ostentatiously turned their backs on me and drifted off together. Janissary Jane stood before the jungle painting, studying it thoughtfully. And Chandra Singh came forward, cleaning his long blade with a length of silk.
He nodded easily to me, extremely white teeth flashing in his great black beard. "Good to meet you at last, Mr. Taylor. I know you by reputation, of course, and I am pleased to discover it is not exaggerated." He turned his smile on Suzie and actually beamed broadly at her. "Miss Suzie, a pleasure to make your acquaintance again."
And to my surprise, Suzie actually smiled briefly at him. "Chandra. Killed any good monsters recently?"
He laughed, a rich and carefree sound. "I have been to many places in the world, and seen many monstrous things. Some I had no choice but to kill; some I captured to protect innocent lives; and some I photographed and let go. Not every creature is a monster, if you catch my meaning."
"You two know each other?" I said, trying to keep it casual.
"I watched his back, on a few hunts," said Suzie. "I was his native guide in the Nightside."
"Miss Suzie is a most excellent shot," said Chandra. "We worked well together. And I am hoping that you and I will also be able to work together, Mr. Taylor. You have been summoned here to hunt the Walking Man, am I not correct?"
"Could be," I said. "How would that concern you? I thought you only hunted monsters."
Chandra Singh nodded soberly. "Such has been my calling for many years, yes. I am a Sikh, Mr. Taylor, from the Punjab. I am what my people call a khalsa, or holy warrior. I stand against the forces of darkness, in all their forms. Does that perhaps remind you of anyone?"
"The Walking Man," I said. "Both of you serve your G.o.d in violent ways."
"Exactly, Mr. Taylor. I feel a great need to meet this Walking Man, and talk with him, and discover if he is indeed what they say he is."
"And if he is?" I said.
Chandra smiled his great smile again. "Then perhaps I shall sit at his feet and learn wisdom. But I think that unlikely. If he has done even some of the things they say he has, he would seem to be as much a servant of the dark as the light. And I will oppose him to my last breath. So, I ask your permission to accompany you and Miss Suzie as you track him down."
"What do you think, Suzie?" I said.
"He kills monsters," said Suzie. "Better to have him where we can see him, than maybe sneaking up on us. And I am kind of curious to see what will happen when two holy warriors go head to head."
"All right," I said to Chandra. "You"re in. We split the fee three ways, and you"re responsible for your own expenses. Agreed?"
"Most certainly, Mr. Taylor. I shall be very interested to see how you work, close up."
"If the Walking Man truly is a servant of the Christian G.o.d, where does that leave you?" I said, honestly curious.
"G.o.d is G.o.d," said Chandra. "Creator of us all. I do not think the Supreme Being cares what name we give him, as long as we talk to him. And listen."
Walker finally came down to fetch me and Suzie, looked around at the general blood and mess, and gave me a stern look.
"Can"t take you two anywhere."
"Entirely not my fault," I said. "See Bulldog Hammond over there, sitting very quietly in the corner?"
"Ah," said Walker. "I suppose none of this is Suzie"s fault either?"
"Of course not," I said. "Or there"d be dead bodies piled up all over the place."
"Good point," said Walker. "Come with me. The Authorities are waiting."
"What took you so long?" I said. "I was under the impression they were expecting us."
"We had things to discuss first," said Walker. "Like whether the situation really was bad enough to justify hiring you and Shotgun Suzie."
"Good point," said Suzie.
Walker nodded respectfully to Chandra Singh. "Always good to see you again, Chandra. Keeping busy?"
"Of course, Mr. Walker. There is never any shortage of monsters in the Nightside."
They bowed to each other briefly, then Walker led the way upstairs.
"I didn"t know you knew Chandra," I said to Walker.
"Of course," he said. "I went to Eton with his father. Splendid chap. First-cla.s.s geneticist these days, by all accounts."
The Nightside is full of unexpected connections. Heroes and villains, G.o.ds and monsters, we all know each other. Sometimes as friends, sometimes as enemies, sometimes as lovers. Sometimes all three. It"s that kind of place.
I let Walker lead the way up the back stairs, just in case. Only a fool turns his back on Walker. Suzie brought up the rear. And in a small private room at the top of the Club, surrounded by the very best security measures the Adventurers Club had to offer, I finally came face-to-face with my new would-be lords and masters. They sat around a long, polished table, trying to look like people in charge. My breath caught in my throat as I saw their faces, and I thought my heart would stop. I knew them. I had seen them all together before, and not in a good way.
Julien Advent, the legendary Victorian Adventurer, now editor of the Night Times Night Times. Jessica Sorrow, the Unbeliever. Annie Abattoir, spy, a.s.sa.s.sin, and high-cla.s.s courtesan. Count Video, lord of the binary magics. King of Skin, in all his sleazy glory. And Larry Oblivion, the dead detective. I had seen these people gathered together in one place before, in a future time-line where they had been the last survivors of Humanity, and my Enemies. They sent terrible agents back through Time to try to kill me, before I could bring about the awful devastated future in which they lived. I had gone to great pains to avert that particular time-line, to save their souls and mine, but here they were, gathered together again for the first time.
It had to mean something.
I strolled into the room and gave them all my best unimpressed look, on general principles. Never let them see you"re hurting. And never let them think they"ve got the upper hand, or they"ll walk all over you. Suzie didn"t look impressed either, but then, she never does. Count Video spotted the shotgun holstered on Suzie"s back and stirred uncomfortably.
"Hold everything. I thought we agreed-no weapons at meetings!"
"You want to try to take it away from her, be my guest," said Annie, amused.
Of course then everyone at the table had to make their views known, and I took the opportunity to gather my shattered thoughts. It didn"t matter whether this particular grouping had any future significance; I had to deal with them here and now. So . . . Julien Advent I knew of old. We"d worked together, on various cases. Julien was a good, honest, and highly moral man, which meant he tended not to approve of me. Or at least, some of my methods. He"s far too good a man for the Nightside. I think he only stays because he"s never been known to back down from a fight. As always, he was dressed in the height of Victorian finery, all stark black-and-white, with the only touch of colour the apricot cravat at his throat, held in place by an ornate silver pin supposedly presented to him by Queen Victoria herself. He looked to be a handsome man of about thirty, and had appeared so for several decades.
Jessica Sorrow"s appearance was altogether more disturbing. Called the Unbeliever because for many years she didn"t believe anything was real except herself, and she believed that so fiercely that if any particular thing or person caught her attention . . . she disbelieved in them until they stopped existing. A very scary and dangerous personage, until I helped defuse her. She still had a powerful presence, a kind of anti-charisma that fascinated and appalled at the same time. Barely five feet tall, she sat curled up in her chair like a feral child, horribly emaciated and corpse pale. Her eyes were very big in her face, her colourless mouth little more than a slit. She wore a battered brown leather jacket and leggings, the jacket hanging open to reveal her bare, sunken chest, to which she tightly hugged the teddy bear I"d found for her. Her old childhood friend, perhaps her only friend, it helped her ground herself in reality. Given the fierce, unsettlingly blank look in her dark eyes, I wouldn"t have put money on her stability, but just the fact that she was there, interacting with other people, was a good sign. She c.o.c.ked her head suddenly to one side, and looked at me, and knew me. For a moment, her expression was almost human. She smiled briefly. Her eyes didn"t blink nearly often enough.
Annie Abattoir was altogether easier on the eye. A ripe, voluptuous woman in her midforties, Annie was an accomplished seductress and heart-breaker, and many other things beside, most of which could not be discussed in polite company. Six-foot-two, broad-shouldered and imposing, with a sharp sensual face, she wore a ruby red evening gown, cut daringly low at front and back, that went well with her great mane of copper red hair. She was beautiful and s.e.xy and effortlessly charming, and she knew it. She wore long white evening gloves; presumably to disguise how much blood she had on her hands.
Count Video was a Major Player, when he could get his act together, and an old adversary of mine. And a real pain in the a.r.s.e. Tall and stiff, he wore a stylish suit with little grace and less poise. I could still see the staples and st.i.tches on his neck and face from where he"d had his skin ripped off during the Angel War, then reattached afterwards. The skin also puckered around the odd silicon node, or patch of implanted sorcerous circuitry, which powered his impressive binary magics. Plasma lights sputtered on and off around him, as some drifting thought or impulse rewrote reality on some basic level. He was good-looking enough, in a sulky sort of way, and would probably be dangerous if he ever got around to growing a pair.
King of Skin was more than a man but less than a G.o.d. Or possibly the other way round. It was hard to tell. Wrapped in his usual sleazy glamour, people only saw of him what he wanted them to see. He could charm or enchant you with a word or a look, or show you what you feared most. He could make nightmares real and send them chasing through the street after you, or grant you something very like your heart"s desire, though it might look very different in the morning. Except mostly . . . he couldn"t be bothered. A nasty man with nasty tastes and worse habits, King of Skin was also a Major Player, when he chose to be. For today"s meeting, he had chosen to appear as the young Elvis, in Ann-Margret drag.
And, finally, there was Larry Oblivion. The dead detective, the post-mortem private eye. He looked in pretty good shape, for a zombie. Word was he"d been betrayed and murdered by the only woman he ever loved. She brought him back as a zombie, and he killed her for it. Just another love story, in the Nightside. Tall and well built, he wore the very best suit Armani had to offer. He had a colourless, stubborn face under lank, straw-coloured hair, and his icy blue eyes burned with something much worse than life. Up close, I knew he would smell faintly of formaldehyde. He had a good reputation as a private eye. Almost as good as mine.
His brother was missing, presumed dead. Because of me.
And these were the new Authorities-my old Enemies. Did that mean something? Had I escaped one awful destiny, only to see the start of another? Or had I really escaped anything at all? Julien Advent excused himself from the increasingly bad-tempered discussions and came over to join me. Walker made a point of moving politely away, while Suzie made a point of standing firmly at my side, glaring at everyone impartially.
"Good to see you again, John," Julien said easily. "I know we"re going to achieve great things together."
Suzie sniffed loudly. We both ignored her.
"You always were the optimist," I said. "I thought you didn"t approve of me?"
"Mostly I don"t," said Julien, with his usual frankness. "But on the whole you do more good than harm, in your own disconcerting and quite appalling way."
"That"s right," I said. "Smooth-talk me."
Julien regarded me seriously. "We need you, John. No-one else can do what needs doing."
He broke off as Jessica Sorrow drifted over to join us, still hugging her teddy bear to her. Even the great Julien Advent got nervous around the Unbeliever. I sensed as much as saw Suzie reaching for her shotgun and shook my head urgently. Jessica stopped right in front of me and fixed me with her dark, bottomless gaze. She was so skinny there was hardly anything of her; in fact, her leather jacket probably weighed more than she did. She smiled briefly, almost shyly, and when she finally spoke, her voice was like a whisper from another room.
"You helped me, John. Or at least, the bear did. I"m so much more together, these days."
"I"m glad to hear that," I said.
She looked me over slowly, consideringly. "Something bad happened. Something so bad I had to make myself forget everything, just to be rid of it. I don"t even know if my name really is Jessica. I"m better now. More . . . focussed. Being here, being a part of this, helps."
"We"re all very pleased to have you here with us, Jessica," said Julien. And being him, he probably meant it. I had to wonder how the others felt, having the Unbeliever in their midst. Must be like sitting down with an unexploded bomb and wondering if you could hear ticking. I left Julien and Jessica talking and moved over to the long table. They"d run out of things to argue about, for the moment, and were scowling coldly at each other. Until I arrived, then they all switched immediately to glaring at me. I gave them my best cheerful smile.
"Hi, guys. Where"s the buffet?"
"We should never have invited you here," said Larry Oblivion, his voice remarkably normal for a dead man. He scowled past me at Jessica Sorrow. "We should never have invited her, either. I don"t trust her."
"h.e.l.l, darling, I don"t trust anybody here," said Annie Abattoir. If a cat could purr with a mouthful of cream while s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g another cat, it would sound like Annie. "But if I can put aside my prejudices, and my quite-justified paranoia where some of you are concerned, to try and make this work, so can you. Oh hush, dead man. We"ve heard it all before. Don"t make me come over there and sit on you."
"We all bring something to the table," Julien Advent said firmly, as he and Jessica seated themselves again. "I bring respectability, and the power of the press. Jessica is here to frighten our enemies. Annie has practised her appalling profession for every side there is, and a few she made up specially, and so has important contacts everywhere. Count Video and King of Skin are both Major Players, and command respect. And Larry has built quite a reputation for public service, since his death."