Nightside 02 - Agents of Light and Darkness

said. “Please don’t shoot at the angels, Suzie. If you do, and they notice, they’ll get even more annoyed with us.”
    “What do you mean us, white man?” Suzie flashed me a brief smile. “These bastards really do want you, don’t they, Taylor?”
    “They want my gift, my ability to find things. Whichever side controls that is pretty much guaranteed to get to the Unholy Grail first.”
    “Well,” said Suzie, “given that we are outclassed, outnumbered, and almost certainly out-gunned, might this be a good time to strike some kind of deal?”
    “No,” I said immediately. “I don’t work for free. And I don’t trust extremes, of whatever kind.”
    “I really don’t think they’re in the mood to take no for an answer.”
    “And there is the very real possibility that either side would be willing to destroy me, rather than lose my gift to the enemy.” I looked at Suzie. “They only want me. You could…”
    “No I couldn’t,” said Suzie. “I’m not leaving you. That much I can do for you.”
    The light swept slowly down the street, while the darkness advanced from behind. It would have been a close bet which was the most disturbing to look at. Such pure manifestations didn’t belong in the material world. And I really didn’t want to be still standing here when the two forces met. I looked about me while Suzie hefted her shotgun unhappily.
    “All this, just for you, Taylor? Haven’t these creeps ever heard of overkill?”
    “They’re angels, Suzie. I think they invented the concept. Remember Sodom and Gomorrah? And we’re facing agents from Above and Below… The light and the dark, and us caught right in the middle.”
    “Story of my life,” Suzie said briskly. “Come on, Taylor, I’m waiting. What are we going to do? What can we do?”
    “I’m thinking!”
    She sniffed. “You always did freeze in the clinch, Taylor.”
    Suzie turned her shotgun on a recessed door in the wall beside us and let fly with one blast after another, as fast as she could work the pump. The door collapsed and blew inwards in a cloud of smoke and splinters, blown right off its hinges. Suzie dived through the jagged gap into the gloom beyond, with me crowding her heels all the way.
    Once inside, we moved to either side of the open doorway and pressed our backs against the wall, while we waited for our eyes to adjust to the dim light. The wall felt comfortably thick and solid, even though I knew it wouldn’t even slow the angels down. I felt as much as saw a huge, echoing space before and around me. A little light came through slit windows set high up on the walls, and I began to make out a series of narrow aisles between towering stacks of piled-up merchandise. Outside in the street, inhuman voices rose in rage and frustration. The sound was pure and primal and painfully loud. The two forces swept down the street and slammed together with a sound like mountains crashing. The floor shook underfoot, and the walls of the warehouse trembled. Flashes of bounding light flared through the slit windows, illuminating the warehouse like lightning going to war. And above it all, the sound of giant wings beating furiously. The air was heavy with significance, with the feeling of vital matters being decided by forces far above Humanity. I snorted, and shook my head. Like I was going to let that happen. This is the Nightside, you bastards. We do things differently here …
    “Any idea where the hell we are?” said Suzie. “All I can see is crates, and all I can smell is sawdust and cat’s pee.”
    “If we’re where I think we are, they manufacture lucky charms here. Let’s hope some of it will rub off. This way, I think.”
    I pushed myself away from the wall and strode off into the gloom, Suzie padding along beside me. We threaded our way through the piles of stacked crates, heading for the far end of the warehouse. We hadn’t made twenty feet before what was left of the doorway was blown inwards by a blast of concentrated light. The gloom was banished in a moment, every part and content of the warehouse thrown into sharp relief. I ran like hell, and Suzie was right there beside me. The floor shook under our feet like an earthquake as angels punched through the warehouse wall like it was made of paper. I put my head down and kept running.
    The floor broke open right in front of me, a jagged crack that widened in an instant into a gaping crevice. I tried to jump it, but didn’t even come close. My stomach