Nightside 06 - Sharper Than a Serpents Tooth

on her back. She half sat, half collapsed onto the bar stool beside me, and Alex put a bottle of gin in front of her. I was too tired to do more than smile at her, to show how glad I was to see her still alive, and she nodded in return.
    "You should have seen the shape she was in, when she came back without you," said Alex. "Took three of my best repair spells to put her back together again. I put them on your tab, Taylor. Though given the way things are going, maybe you should settle up now, while there's still time."
    "I broke my shotgun," said Suzie, ignoring Alex with the ease of long practice. "Had to use it as a club when I ran out of ammo. And I left my best stiletto in some bastard's eye. All my weapons are gone. I feel naked."
    "How did you make it back here, through all those mobs?" I asked.
    "A variety of blunt instruments and a whole lot of bad temper," said Suzie.
    "Have you seen any of the others?"
    "No," said Suzie, staring at her bottle of gin without touching it. "But Dead Boy was dead to begin with, and Razor Eddie's a god. I wouldn't be surprised to see either of them stroll back in here, eventually."
    "But not Tommy Oblivion," I said.
    "No. His brother Larry went out to look for him, as soon as he heard what happened. No-one's heard anything from him since."
    "Julien Advent is out and about," said Alex. "Supposedly pulling Walker's remaining people together into an army, for one last desperate assault on Lilith's forces."
    "No!" I said. I pushed myself away from the bar, and stalked over to confront Walker. He deliberately ignored me, continuing his talk with the Collector, so I grabbed him by the shoulder and hauled him around. I don't know which of us was more surprised. It had been a long time since anyone had dared treat Walker like that. "You can't fight Lilith's army with an army of your own," I said, as forcefully as I could. "You'll destroy the Nightside, fighting over it. Nobody wins. I've seen it."
    "You're sure of this?" said Walker.
    "Oh yes. I've talked to people in the future, people who lived through it. They were the only ones left. You'd know some of the names if I said them, but trust me on this, Walker, you really don't want to know. Believe me, you can't win this with an army."
    "Then what do you suggest?" said Walker, and I swear his voice was just as calm and courteous and civilised as ever, even though I'd just kicked away his last hope. "What else can we do, except fight?"
    "You have to do something," said Merlin, his voice just a harsh rasp. "And you'd better do it soon. My defences are under constant attack. I don't know how much longer I can maintain them."
    I looked round. I'd actually overlooked the ancient sorcerer, sitting slumped and alone at a table in the corner. He looked very old and very tired, even for a fifteen-hundred-year-old corpse. His grey face was slack, the crimson flames barely stirring in his empty eye-sockets.
    "Keeping Lilith out, holding her off, is taking everything I've got," Merlin said, not even looking at me. "It's draining me dry, Taylor. I need my heart. There's still time. Find my stolen heart for me, bring it here, and put it back in my chest, and I could be a Power again. I could bring myself back to life, wrap myself in glory, and go out to face Lilith head to head."
    "I don't think so," I said. "You are Satan's only begotten son, born to be the Antichrist. I won't risk loosing that on the Nightside."
    "That's right, blame me for my family background! You of all people should know that we aren't always our parent's children. Do you want me to beg, Taylor? Then I'll beg! Not for me, but for the Nightside. For all of us."
    "I can't do it," I said. "I know where your heart is. And there's no way I can get it for you."
    "Then we're all dead," said Merlin. "Dead and damned."
    "Look, if he can't protect me, then I'm getting the hell out of here," said the Collector. "Come on, Henry, I only agreed to come here because you assured me this bar was safer than any of my bolt-holes. I only agreed to rescue Taylor because you said he was vital to our survival."
    "Shut the hell up," I said, feeling the anger build within me. "You don't get to complain, Collector. Not when all of this is your fault anyway! You made possible the Babalon Working that brought Lilith back out of Limbo! You put my father together with my mother and made me possible!"
    The Collector wouldn't meet my eyes. "I was misled," he said finally. "I thought I was doing the right