Nightside 02 - Agents of Light and Darkness

?”
    “Right,” said the one on the right. “We don’t do lost causes.”
    And with that, they disappeared back to where they’d come from. Tate tried all the other charms on his bracelet, in increasing desperation, but none of them would budge. I just stood there, looking calm and relaxed and not at all bothered, while my heart slowly returned to its usual rate. Those reptiloids really had been worryingly large … Sometimes it helps to have a reputation as a dangerous and extremely ruthless bastard. Tate finally gave up on the bracelet and looked, very reluctantly, back at me. I smiled at him, and he seemed very, very upset.
    In the end, he gave me every piece of cash, all his credit cards, all his jewelry, including the charm bracelet, and basically everything else he had on his person. And I let him walk out of the bar alive. He was lucky I let him keep his clothes. I settled down to chat with Alex, and everyone else went back to what they were doing before, vaguely disappointed because there hadn’t been any blood.
    Alex poured me a large brandy. “So, John, where are you living these days?”
    “In the real world,” I said, deliberately vague. “I commute into the Nightside to work. It’s safer.”
    “You’re not still sleeping in your office, are you?”
    “No, now I’m getting regular work here, I can afford a decent place again.” I checked the money I’d taken off Tate. “In fact, it may be time for an upgrade.”
    “Stick to the real world,” said Alex. “Now you’re back on the scene again, there are a lot of people out there looking for you with bad intent in their hearts. Some of them have looked in here. You’d be surprised how much certain people are willing to pay for hard information on where you rest your head. I take their money and give them all different lies.”
    “I sleep more soundly in the real world,” I admitted. The Harrowing are always out there, somewhere. It was why I’d stayed away from the Nightside for so long.
    “Glad to be back?” said Alex.
    “I don’t know yet. It’s good to be working again. I do my best work here. It might even be where I belong. But…”
    “Yeah,” said Alex. “But. This is the Nightside, the dark side of everyone’s dreams.” It was hard to tell past the sunglasses, but there was an expression on his face that in anyone else I would have said was concern. “Word is, a lot of people want you dead, John. Lot of people. You know … you’re always welcome to crash here, for a while. If you need a place. Somewhere you could feel safe.”
    “Thanks,” I said. I was touched, but knew better than to show it. It would only embarrass him. “I’ll bear it in mind. So, what’s new?”
    Alex considered. “Surprisingly, not a lot. Jessica Sorrow, of course, but you know about that. Don’t know if it’s connected, but a lot of the usual players have dropped out of sight just recently. Keeping their heads down and hoping not to be noticed. Or it could be connected with the latest hot rumor, which is that angels have come to the Nightside.”
    I had to raise an eyebrow at that. “Angels? Really?”
    “From Above and Below, apparently. No-one’s reported any actual sightings as yet. Probably because no-one’s too sure what to look for. It’s been a long time since any angel manifested in the material worlds. Demons, yes, but they’re not in the same league as the Fallen…”
    “I encountered … something, at St. Jude’s,” I said thoughtfully. “Something very nearly as upsetting as the Unbeliever herself… Angels in the Nightside … That’s got to be a Sign. Of something.
    “They’d better watch their step around here,” Alex said briskly. “Some of the scumbags in this locale will steal anything that isn’t actually nailed down, electrified, or cursed. Wouldn’t surprise me if I looked out of here one morning and found St. Michael himself propped up on bricks with his wings missing.”
    I looked at him thoughtfully. “You don’t know much about angels, do you, Alex?”
    “I do my best to steer clear of moral absolutes,” said Alex. “They tend not to approve of establishments like this. And they leave lousy tips.”
    He didn’t mention his own ancestry. He didn’t have to. Alex is famously descended from Arthur Pendragon on one side, and Merlin Satanspawn on the other. Merlin himself was buried somewhere under the wine cellar. He still manifested on occasion, to lay down the law and scare the crap