Nightside 06 - Sharper Than a Serpents Tooth

hole healing behind it, until it popped out my forehead and dropped to the ground. The bone healed with only the faintest of cracking sounds, and that was that.
    I smiled at Sandra. "Ouch," I said, just to be sporting.
    She stamped her foot. "Don't you ever play by the rules?"
    "Not if I can help it," I said.
    We stood and looked at each other for a long moment. Sandra lowered her gun but didn't put it away. I knew she was considering the possibilities of a bullet to a soft target, like an eye or my groin.
    "We don't have to do this," I said. "All this kill or be killed bullshit. I don't want to kill you, Sandra. There's been enough death in the Nightside."
    "I have to kill you, John," said Sandra, almost tiredly. "You murdered the only thing I ever loved."
    "The Lamentation isn't actually dead," I said. "I only returned it to its original human components."
    "They weren't the Lamentation," said Sandra. "They weren't what I loved. So I killed them. And now I have to kill you."
    "I never understood what you saw in it," I said carefully. "Even allowing for your well-known death fetish, and your preference for… cold meat. You must know the Lamentation didn't love you. It couldn't, by its nature."
    "I knew that! Of course I knew that! It was enough… that I loved it. The only creature something like me could ever love. It made me happy. I'd never been happy before. I'll kill you for taking that away from me."
    "I won't kill you, Sandra," I said. "And you can't kill me. Forget this shit. We've got a War to fight."
    "I don't care," she said. "Let it all burn. Let them all die. That's the world I live in anyway. I'll find you, and I'll kill you, John. There's always a way. Wherever you go, I'll be there in the shadows, hunting you. And one day I'll step out of a door or an alleyway and kill you dead, when you're least expecting it. I'll watch you choke on your own blood and laugh in your face as you die."
    "No you won't," said Suzie Shooter.
    We both spun round, startled, and the roar of the shotgun was like thunder. Sandra Chance took both barrels in the chest, at close range. The blast tore half her upper torso away, and she was dead long before she hit the ground. Suzie nodded calmly, lowered the double-barrelled shotgun, and reloaded it from her bandoliers, and only then looked at me.
    "Blessed and cursed ammo. If one barrel doesn't get you, the other will. Hello, John."
    "Thank you, Suzie," I said. There was nothing else I could say. She wouldn't have understood. "How did you know to find me here?"
    Suzie nodded at Sandra's sprawled body. "She was dumb enough to approach me when she was putting her little army together. She thought the sheer size of the bounty would sway me. I won't say I wasn't tempted, but I like to think I've moved beyond that, where you're concerned. So I came here. I thought you might need some backup."
    "I had the situation under control," I said. "You didn't have to kill her."
    "Yes I did," said Suzie. "You heard her. She'd never give up. That's why you'll always need me around, John. To do the necessary things you're too soft to do."
    "That's not why I keep you around," I said.
    "I know," said Suzie Shooter. "My love."
    She extended a leather-gloved hand to me, and I held it lightly in mine, for a moment.
    "Excuse me for butting in on such a tender scene," said Tommy Oblivion, "But I do happen to by dying here. I would appreciate a helping hand."
    He was lying on his side on the ground, both hands at his stomach, as though trying to hold it together. Suzie knelt beside him, pushed his hands aside, and checked the extent of the damage with experienced eyes.
    "Gut shot. Nasty. If the bullets don't kill him, infection will. We need to get him out of here, John."
    "I can't use my gift," said Tommy. His voice was clear enough, but his eyes were vague. "Can't concentrate through the pain. But I absolutely refuse to die in such a drab and depressing location as this."
    "Don't worry," I said. "I'll take us back to Strangefellows through my Membership Card, and Alex will fix you up. You can put it on my tab."
    "Oh good," said Tommy. "For a minute there, I was almost worried."
    I took out my Membership Card, activated it, then almost dropped the bloody thing as Lilith's face looked out of the Card at me.
    "Hello, John," she said. "My sweet boy. My own dear flesh and blood. I haven't forgotten you. I'll come for you soon, then you'll be mine, body and soul, forever and ever and ever."
    I shut down the