Nightside 02 - Agents of Light and Darkness

lurched as my kicking feet found nothing beneath them, and I fell into a darkness that seemed to fall away forever. At the last moment I caught the far edge of the crevice with one flailing hand, and fastened on to it with a death grip. My shoulder exploded with pain as my fall was suddenly halted, all my weight hanging from the one arm. I scrambled for the edge with my other hand, but I couldn’t quite reach. The ground was still shaking, and the edge under my hand didn’t feel at all secure. I looked up, and there was Suzie, on the far side of the gap, looking down at me. I should have known she’d make it. She knelt, studying my situation, her face entirely blank.
    “Get out of here,” I said. “They don’t want you. And I think I’d rather fall than let them use me.”
    “I can’t let you fall, Taylor.”
    “You can’t touch me, remember?”
    “Hell with that shit,” said Suzie Shooter.
    She reached down with one hand, and I reached up with my free hand and grabbed it. Suzie’s face set into cold, determined lines, and her grip was as sure as death, sure as life, sure as friendship. She hauled me up out of the crevice, and we both fell sprawling on the far side of the gap. She let go of me the second I was safe, and we both scrambled to our feet on our own.
    “You’d be surprised what I can do, when I have to,” said Suzie.
    “No I wouldn’t,” I said. “I’ve tasted your cooking, remember?”
    Sometimes humour is all we have to say the things that can’t be said.
    Angels came crashing through the warehouse wall as though it was nothing more than heavy mist. As though the angels were more solid, more real than anything in the material world they currently moved in. And perhaps they were, at that. Brilliant light and pitch-darkness invaded the warehouse, consuming everything they touched. Suzie glared at me.
    “Tell me you’ve come up with an idea, Taylor. Any idea. Because I think we’ve run as far as we’re going.”
    “I do have an idea,” I said. “But I’m reluctant to use it.”
    “It’s a wonderful idea,” Suzie said immediately. “Whatever it is, it’s a marvelous idea. I am in love with this idea. What is it?”
    “I have a short cut that can take us straight to Strangefellows. Sometime back, in a weak moment, Alex Morrisey gave me a special club membership card, for use in emergencies. Once activated, the magic in the card will transport us right into the bar. Alex heard about a rather unpleasant experience I had with the Harrowing, outside his club…”
    Suzie was staring at me ominously. “You’ve had it all along, and you haven’t used it?”
    “There’s a catch.”
    “Why am I not surprised?”
    “Magic like this leaves a trail,” I said patiently. “The angels will know immediately where we’ve gone. I was still hoping we might shake them off… but that doesn’t seem to be an option any more.”
    “Use the card,” said Suzie. “Trust me, this is the right time to use it. Morrisey’s always boasted his place had major-league protections. I say it’s well past time we put that to the test.”
    “He won’t be pleased to see us.”
    “Is he ever? Use the card!”
    I already had it in my hand. A simple embossed card, with the name of the club in dark Gothic script, and the words You Are Here in blood red lettering. I pressed my thumb against the crimson words, and the card activated, thrumming with stored energy. It leapt out of my hand and hung in mid-air before me, pulsing with light and bubbling with strange energies. Alex always liked his magics showy. The angels sensed what was happening, and both sides surged forward. The card grew suddenly in size and became a door, which opened before me. Comfortable light and convivial sounds spilled out into the warehouse. Suzie and I ran through the opening into Strangefellows, and the door slammed shut behind us, cutting off the frustrated screams of thwarted angels.
    I suppose I must have made more impressive entrances into Strangefellows, but I can’t think when. Certainly the two of us appearing out of nowhere, crying Run for your lives ! The angels are coming ! made one hell of an impression. The crowd of assorted suspects and dubious types drinking in the club all suddenly remembered they had urgent appointments somewhere else and left the bar in an extreme hurry. Some used the doors, some used the windows. A few vanished in impressive puffs of black smoke, while others opened their own doors to