Nightside 02 - Agents of Light and Darkness

unpleasantly. “Separated from your annoying and intrusive bodies, of course. And thus we avenge ourselves on your many slights, while winning respect from all. A plan with no drawbacks.”
    “Hold everything,” said Mr. Blood urgently. “Can I have a word with you? Have you lost your mind? This is John Taylor and Shotgun Suzie we’re talking about!”
    “So?”
    “So I like having my internal organs where they are, and not splattered all over the surroundings! It’s rather difficult to enjoy the subtler pleasures when your passionate parts have been ripped off and stuffed where the sun don’t shine! These are dangerous people!”
    “ We outnumber them !”
    “ So ?”
    “Sweet Lucifer, you’re a wimp!” said Mr. Bones. “Don’t know how you got to be a demon in the first place. Kill the mortals! Rend their bodies and eat their flesh, but make sure the heads are intact!”
    “Oh shut the hell up,” said Suzie Shooter.
    She lifted her shotgun and shot Mr. Bones point-blank. The blessed and sanctified bullets tore his crimson face right off, revealing a dirty yellow skull. He fell backwards, screaming piteously. Mr. Blood got up off his desk in a hurry and glared at his partner, writhing in agony on the floor.
    “ See !”
    “He’ll repair himself in a minute or two,” I said quietly to Suzie, as she pumped fresh ammunition into place. The Demonz were circling us slowly now, nerving themselves up to attack. “No earthly weapon can defeat a demon.”
    “In which case,” said Suzie, tracking the nearest Demonz with her gun, “this would be a really good time for the cavalry to make an appearance. Or failing that, for you to produce one of your last-minute miracle saves.”
    I considered the matter thoughtfully. The Demonz were closing in. Mr. Bones sat up, holding his tattered face together with his hands, as the crimson features slowly knit themselves back together. Even Mr. Blood came out from behind his desk.
    “Taylor!” said Suzie. “Anytime now would be good!”
    I held up a hand and smiled. Everyone stopped moving.
    “In the Beginning,” I said, “God said Let there be light , and there was. If a man could summon up that light, from the very first moments of creation, and look into it without burning out his eyes or his reason, then that man would have at his command a light that could burn away all the darkness in the world.”
    For a long moment, nobody said anything. Mr. Bones stood up, glaring out of his ravaged face.
    “You don’t have that kind of power!”
    “Don’t I?” I said.
    The Demonz looked at each other, remembering things I’d done and other things I was supposed to have done. I smiled at them easily.
    “Just… get out of here,” said Mr. Bones. “Get out, and leave us alone. We don’t have your bloody Grail.”
    “Then point me at someone who might.”
    “Try the Fourth Reich,” Mr. Blood said quietly. “They’ve been throwing around some serious money for information on the dark chalice. If nothing else, they’ll have better information than we do.”
    “See how easy it can be, when everyone acts reasonable?” I said. “There’s a lesson for us all in that, I feel. Time we were leaving. Don’t bother to show us out.”

    We left The Pit behind us and strolled off into the night. If anything, the streets were even emptier. I knew where the Fourth Reich had their quarters. Everyone did. They publicized it hard enough, with everything from leaflets handed out in the street to prime-time advertising. The New Nazi Crusade, or the panzerpoofters, as everyone else called them, weren’t short of money. Just followers. They met regularly in an old assembly room right on the edge of uptown. Monied or not, no-one wanted them any closer than that. Last I heard, they were down to a hundred members or so, and they’d given up holding uniformed parades after a dozen golems turned up at the last one to kick their nasty asses up one side of the street and down the other. But they did still have serious financial backers. They might not have the Unholy Grail themselves, but they might well have been able to buy information on who did.
    Suzie looked at me suddenly. “Could you really have summoned up the light of Creation?”
    I smiled. “What do you think?”
    “I never know when you’re bluffing.”
    “Neither does anyone else. That’s the point.”
    “I notice you’re not answering the question.”
    “Ah, Suzie, don’t you want a little mystery in