Nightside 06 - Sharper Than a Serpents Tooth

measuring it, you see. There are no days, the night never ends, and watches don't work even though there's nothing wrong with them. Perhaps you and Lilith broke Time, during the War…" She cocked her head to one side, like a bird, still fixing me with her direct, unblinking gaze. "How did you know where to find us?"
    "My gift," I said. "And a little help from an angel."
    Her mouth twitched briefly. "You always did move in exalted circles, John."
    "Heaven and Hell have abandoned us," Annie Abattoir said harshly. "Nothing left to fight over, any more. Do you know who we are? Why we stay together? Why we still struggle to survive, in this worst of all possible worlds?"
    "Yes," I said. My mouth was suddenly dry. "You're my Enemies. You've been trying to kill me ever since I was born, striking back through Time, to kill me before I do… whatever it is I do that brings about the destruction of the Nightside."
    "And the world," Larry said flatly. "Don't think this is just London. There's nothing else."
    "We had to do it," said Jessica. "It was…"
    "Oh please!" I said. "Don't you dare say It was nothing personal! You and your Harrowing have hounded me all my life! I've never been able to feel safe, feel secure, because I could never know when your bloody assassins would appear suddenly out of nowhere, killing everyone in their path for a chance to get at me! You made my life a living Hell!"
    "You made the world a living Hell," said Count Video. "Everything we've done is justified by what you did."
    "I haven't done anything yet!"
    "But you will, John," said Jessica. "You will."
    I made myself control my temper. I was here for their help. And there was still one question I hadn't asked. Something I had to know.
    "Where's Suzie?" I said. "Where's my Shotgun Suzie?"
    Larry looked a little surprised. "You expected her to be here?"
    "She tried to kill me," I said. The words hurt, but I forced them out. "She told me she was one of you. That's why I came here, through Time, for information. The future isn't set in stone. This doesn't have to happen. Tell me what you know. The things only you know."
    "She volunteered, to be made into one of our assassins," said Larry. "You do know she volunteered, to be made over into… what we made her?"
    "Yes," I said. "She told me. We never did believe in keeping secrets from each other."
    Jessica hugged her teddy bear tightly, resting her chin on its battered head. "She never came back. We assumed you killed her, like all our other agents. What did happen to her, John?"
    "Merlin ripped off her arm," I said steadily. "The one with the Speaking Gun attached to it. Then she disappeared. She was still alive, the last time I saw her. I had hoped… she'd made it back here."
    "No," said Annie. "We haven't seen her. We have to assume she's lost to us. Another death on your conscience, Lilith's son."
    "He has no conscience," said Count Video. "He's not human. Not really. Why should he have human feelings?"
    "I was human enough to get past your defences," I said.
    "Then we'll have to tighten them up," said Larry.
    I looked at Jessica. "I see you still have your teddy."
    "Yes," she said. "You found him for me. I remember. He brought me back to life, and sanity."
    "I'm glad I could help," I said.
    She shook her head slowly. "I'm not. This world would be so much easier to bear if I was still crazy. Still safely mad."
    "Ah well," I said. "No good deed goes unpunished."
    "Especially in the Nightside," she said.
    And we both managed a small smile, just between the two of us.
    "So," I said, looking around me, "this is the end of the world, and it's all my fault. Now tell me why. Tell me what happened."
    "You started it" said Larry Oblivion. "When you came back to the Nightside after five years away. That wasn't supposed to happen. We went to a lot of trouble to orchestrate the events that drove you out—working behind the scenes, always through agents who never knew whom they were serving. It took a lot of our strength and power, but since we'd had so little success in trying to kill you… we were ready to try anything else. You were supposed to be so traumatised by events that you would flee to London, and the normal world, and never return. We were so sure we'd succeeded, at last. But nothing changed here, and when Annie investigated why, she got a vision of you returning anyway. So we used the creature that pretended to be a house on Blaiston Street, and set a trap for you. If you were going to come