Nightside 06 - Sharper Than a Serpents Tooth

staff of power, its wood taken from a tree grown from a sliver of the original Tree of Life itself, brought to Britain long and long ago by Joseph of Arimathea. The Lord of Thorns stood in Lilith's way, and she slapped him aside contemptuously. She took his staff and it shattered into pieces in her grasp. She walked on, leaving him lying helpless in the dirt, and not even the least of her offspring would deign to touch him. The killing continued, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He made himself watch, as a penance. And when it was all over, the Lord of Thorns made his way up from the World Beneath and came to St. Jude's. To hide.
    "You have to understand," he said, as the Vision faded from my mind. "When Lilith appeared, I thought I'd finally discovered my true purpose, my reason for being in the Nightside. That this was my destiny—to stop Lilith when no-one else could. But I was wrong. I was nothing, next to her. After so many years of judging others, I was judged… and found unworthy."
    "But… you're one of the greatest Powers in the Nightside!"
    "Not compared to her. I forgot… in the end I'm just a man, blessed with God's power. And my faith… was nothing compared to her certainty."
    "All right," I said. "We need backup. Can we use St. Jude's to call for Heavenly help? For direct divine intervention?"
    "What do you think I've been doing?" said the Lord of Thorns. "The Nightside was expressly designed from its first conception so that neither Heaven nor Hell could intervene directly. And it was decided long ago in the Courts of the Holy that this Great Experiment would be allowed to continue, to see where it would lead. I was placed here to Oversee the Experiment, to keep it on track. But now that the Nightside's creator has returned, it seems my time and my purpose are at an end. There will be no outside help. The Nightside must save itself. If it can."
    "There is a resistance," I said. "Come with me. You can be a part of it."
    But the Lord of Thorns just sat where he was, shaking his grey head. "No. I am not who I thought I was. So I will stay here and pray for guidance."
    I tried to argue with him, but I don't think he really heard me. Lilith broke him when she broke his staff. So I left what was once the most feared man in the Nightside, sitting mumbling to himself, in the one place he still felt safe.

    I went outside and found myself facing a crowd of hard-faced and heavily armed individuals. Their expressions lit up at the sight of me, and not in a good way. At their head stood Sandra Chance, resplendent in her thick crimson swirls of liquid latex and not much else. Though the old-fashioned pistol holstered on her bare hip was a new addition. She grinned at me, very unpleasantly. I looked at Tommy Oblivion, who was standing very very still, with his back pressed against the wall of the church.
    "Sorry, old sport," he said miserably. "Didn't even hear them coming. Just popped out of nowhere."
    "Have you at least asked them what they want?" I said.
    "Oh, I'm pretty sure they want to speak to you, John. In fact, they were most insistent on it being a surprise."
    "It's all right, Tommy," I said, trying to hide the fact that internally I was hyperventilating. "I know who they are. They're bounty hunters. How did you find me here, Sandra?"
    "I can get answers from the dead, remember?" She was still smiling, not at all pleasantly. "And there are a lot of dead up and about just at the moment. The dead know many things that are hidden from the living. They have… an overview. And I can get them to tell me anything."
    "Yes," I said. "And I know how. It's one thing to love the dead, but you take it far too literally. You coffin chaser, you."
    "Am I understanding this correctly?" said Tommy. "You mean she actually…"
    "Oh yes," I said.
    "Now that's just tacky. I can't believe I shared a picnic with her."
    "Shut up, Tommy," said Sandra, not taking her eyes off me.
    "In case you hadn't noticed, there is a War going on," I said. "This really isn't the time…"
    "There's always a war going on somewhere in the Nightside," said Sandra. "You should know—you've started your fair share of them. My associates and I have decided that we don't care. We want the reward on your head. It's a really big reward; one of the biggest bounties ever posted in the Nightside. The very well connected families of the thirteen Reasonable Men you slaughtered want you dead, John, and they don't care how much it costs them.