The Bride Wore Black Leather

their tables, hoping he hadn’t noticed them. Even the band stopped playing though the mike was picking up a low, angry growl from Leo Morn. Julien nodded politely to the assembled company, with his usual impeccable manners, then he turned his head and looked straight at me. I sighed inwardly. I knew what that meant. It meant he was determined to talk to me in private, about a matter of some importance, and that I really wasn’t going to like anything he had to tell me.
    I led him to one of the few empty booths, at the rear of the bar, and we sat down facing each other. Well, I sat down; he took a few moments to remove his cape and fold it carefully before sitting down. He didn’t look at me once while doing this, which meant he wasn’t at all comfortable about what he had to say and was putting it off. We’ve known each other a long time, and we can always read each other’s tells. He eventually sat down, leaned forward, laced his hands together, and leaned them on the table-top before finally fixing me with a calm, resolute gaze.
    Oh hell,
I thought.
This is going to be really bad.
    “I need you to take on a very important, very urgent case. Right now,” said Julien Advent. “And before you ask, yes, it really is that urgent, no it can’t wait until after your wedding tomorrow, and I am not prepared to take No, Absolutely Not, or even Go to Hell as an answer. You’ve had your last case as a private investigator; this will be your first official case as the new Walker. And yes, John, I know all about what happened with King of Skin. I know every detail. I am editor of the
Night Times
as well as a member of the Authorities. I know everything.”
    “You didn’t know that King of Skin was an immortal serial killer,” I said. “Or that he was planning to murder you all, wrap himself in your skins, and rule the Nightside as his own private kingdom.”
    “I’m only human,” said Julien. “I don’t care what the rumours say.” He sighed, separated his hands to make a point, started to say something, then broke off, and finally settled for drumming his fingers on the table before looking me square in the eyes again. “If you will agree to take on this case, immediately, I have been authorised by the remaining Authorities to offer you an . . . inducement. We will cover all the expenses for security at your wedding. We guarantee to keep all your many enemies at bay and ensure that everything goes smoothly and quietly at the ceremony. The fact that I am willing to go along with such a blatant attempt at bribery should give you some indication of how seriously I take this case.”
    I thought about it. Covering the expenses would be a weight off my shoulders. I’d already had to hire Hell’s Neanderthals to set up a defence barrier for half a mile around St. Jude’s; and those cloned barbarians don’t come cheap.
    “What’s so important about this case?” I said resignedly.
    “Someone is determined to put an end to the long night,” said Julien Advent. “To raise the sun at long last and bring the dawn to the Nightside. To bring an end to the longest night this world has ever known and destroy the Nightside forever.”
    I nodded slowly. After all the hints and warnings I’d had this evening, I wasn’t surprised. I never thought I’d hear such a thing for real again in my lifetime. After all the wars I’d been through, defending the Nightside, I thought we’d earned some time off for bad behaviour. And I couldn’t help flashing back to the warning phrase I’d already encountered twice this evening;
Let the sun shine in.
    “Who the hell’s got enough power to do that?” I said.
    And to my surprise Julien looked away, avoiding the question. As though he knew the answer, knew the name, even, but didn’t want to say it. And that wasn’t like Julien Advent at all.
    “You have to take this case, John,” he said finally. “The other members of the Authorities are divided as to whether to keep you on as Walker after this unfortunate business with King of Skin. He died on your watch, right in front of you. Yes, you caught his killer, but you didn’t keep him from being killed. Some of them are worried as to whether you deliberately allowed him to die, so that the Authorities could never become your future Enemies. And yes, of course we knew.”
    “If the Authorities are debating my future as Walker, why aren’t you there defending me?” I said.
    “Because I’ve already cast my vote,