The Bride Wore Black Leather

were all standing in a surprisingly comfortable-looking office. Benway gave us another of her quick smiles, sat down behind the desk, and waved for Julien and me to sit down on the visitors’ chairs.
    “Teleport bracelet,” she said briskly. “Fell off the back of a Timeslip, from some future or other. It’s the only way I can be everywhere I need to be, in this place. Won’t work anywhere near Ward 12A because of the bracelet’s built-in protections. Sit! Sit!”
    We sat. Her chair looked to be a lot more comfortable than ours. I made a point of looking round her office rather than waiting to be talked at. Let her wait for a bit. The office was all very neat, very business-like. All the usual comforts and luxuries. But not a single framed photo anywhere, of family or friends or loved ones. Not even a framed diploma on the wall behind the desk.
    Benway caught my gaze or read my mind. “No memories of the past here, Mr. Taylor. Some of us can’t afford to look back. I don’t do nostalgia.”
    “Is that why you aren’t ever pleased to see an old friend like me?” said Julien.
    “I see you all the time, at Hospice committee meetings.”
    “And you always choose a chair at the other end of the table, and you never say a word to me that you don’t have to.”
    “You know very well why I stay away from you,” Benway said sharply. “Because I got old; and you didn’t. Look at me. I’m an old woman. Should have retired by now. Would have, if I could find anyone half-way decent to replace me. And you . . . you don’t look a day older than the day I first met you, back in 1967. How do you think that makes me feel?”
    “Emily . . .”
    “No, Julien. Dr. Benway; as far as you’re concerned. Now and always.” She paused, looking at him thoughtfully. “I saw Juliet, the other day.”
    “Did you?” said Julien. “Did she ask after me?”
    “No.”
    Benway gave me her full attention, studying me with a cold, professional gaze. “I know you by reputation, Mr. Taylor. I’ve read many accounts of your various . . . adventures. I have to say I’m surprised we haven’t seen you in here before now.”
    “Well, keep it to yourself,” I said. “But I have some diluted werewolf blood in me. Not nearly enough to trigger the change, but more than enough to give me a seriously souped-up healing factor.”
    Julien sat up straight in his chair and looked at me accusingly. “You never told me that! Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “Because I didn’t want to see it turning up in the
Night Times
,” I said. “The best advantages are the ones your enemies don’t know exist.”
    “You could have trusted me,” said Julien, a little put-out.
    “Two men can keep a secret,” I said. “If one of them is dead. Unless he’s Dead Boy, of course, then you’re screwed.”
    “But . . . when did this happen?” said Julien.
    “Hell of a party,” I said solemnly. “You should have been there.”
    “Why are you both here?” said Dr. Benway, loudly and forcefully. “Did you know something was going to happen in Ward 12A?”
    “No,” said Julien. “Good thing we were here, though. Wasn’t it?”
    “All right, I get it, hold the moral blackmail,” said Benway. “I owe you. But why did you need to talk to me so urgently?”
    “It’s the Sun King,” said Julien. “He’s back. Here, in the Nightside.”
    Dr. Benway sat very still in her chair. She looked like she’d been hit. All the colour dropped out of her face. She wasn’t even looking at Julien and me any more, her eyes far-away, remembering yesterday.
    “Would you like a glass of water?” said Julien.
    “No,” said Benway. “I’d like a glass of gin.”
    She leaned over, breathing heavily, and rummaged around in a desk drawer before coming up with a bottle of Gordon’s Dry Gin and one glass. She poured herself a healthy measure, knocked it back in several quick sips, and immediately poured herself another. She didn’t offer any to us. Colour blazed in her cheeks, and her hands were very steady. She put the bottle and glass to one side though still in easy reach if she decided she wanted some more; and then she glared at Julien, ignoring me.
    “You knew he was back; and you didn’t even warn me?”
    “I’ve only known for a few hours,” Julien said steadily. “And John and I have only just met him, in the Garden of Green Henge. We came straight here.”
    Benway considered this. “How . . . What was he like?”
    “He