'And then Charles found out. Somebody told him; I never did discover who. But it meant I had to disappear again, back into the more secret depths of the Nightside, so that no-one would ever guess your true identity, your true nature and purpose. If any of the day's major players had even suspected, they would have been lining up to kill you, for any number of reasons. I knew Charles wouldn't talk. If anyone ever suspected he was responsible for bringing back Lilith, the manner of his death would have been legendary, even in the Nightside. And, of course, he still believed his research would uncover a way to banish me again. He couldn't talk to his old friend Henry, by then so highly placed in the Authorities, and he wouldn't talk to his old friend Mark, who had been the Collector, because Mark had found Fennella Davis in the first place. Charles was alone. He couldn't trust anyone any more. Not even his young son. Poor Charles.
'I never did find out who told him. But whoever it was, they never talked either. Perhaps because they knew what I would do to them, the moment they revealed themselves.
'Now my power is back. The stars have come round again, and all the most dangerous Powers and Forces in the Nightside have been nicely weakened by the angel war. I knew causing the Unholy Grail to be brought to the Nightside would shake things up. The time is right for me to remake and refashion the Nightside into what I always intended it to be. Something much ... purer in concept. A great many people will undoubtedly die in the process, yes, but you can't make an omelette without beating hell out of the eggs.'
She smiled around at all of us, inviting comment. And all I could think of was the awful dead landscape I'd walked through in the Timeslip. Was that her idea of a purer concept? Or did it mean that something was going to go horribly wrong with her plans? That the Powers and the Dominations of the Nightside would go to war with her, to preserve their vision of the Nightside, and everyone would lose?
'No,' I said, and everyone looked at me. Even
Lilith shook her head. 'How sharper than a serpent's tooth...'
'And the fruit never falls far from the tree,' said a familiar voice.
We all looked round, startled, as Walker unhurriedly descended the metal stairs into the bar. He still looked every inch the city gent, calm and unruffled. He stopped at the foot of the stairs, smiled at us all, and raised his bowler hat politely to Lilith.
'Doesn't anybody ever bother to knock any more?' Alex said bitterly. 'That's it; I'm putting in barbed wire and anti-personnel hexes.'
'You didn't really think the Lord of Thorns would fool me for long, did you?' said Walker, looking only at me. 'Not when we have such urgent business to discuss.'
'You're very brave to come in here alone,' I said. 'How does it feel, Henry, to be faced with a whole bunch of people you can't control with your famous Voice?'
Walker just smiled. 'That's why I brought reinforcements, John.'
And that was when a whole army of people came clattering down the metal steps to back up Walker. They fanned out on either side of him, taking up half the bar. I recognised some of the combat magicians, but there were a hell of a lot more of them now, all looking grim and determined and ready for action. These were professional fighters, cold-hearted killers, the kind the Authorities send out when they don't want anything left behind but scorched earth. But it was the last two to enter the bar who really caught my attention.
Bad Penny descended the stairway with her head held high, like a member of the Royal Family visiting an abattoir. She flashed me a brief, vicious smile. And right behind her came Pew, my old enemy Pew, tall and broad-shouldered, a soldier of Christ in his usual battered grey cloak over his vicar's outfit, a mane of long grey hair and a simple grey cloth hiding his blind eyes. Descending confidently and valourously into a world of sin, having already made a deal with the devil called Walker. Pew turned his great blocky head in my direction and nodded slowly, armoured in his cold and brutal faith.
'I apologise for the small turn-out,' murmured Walker, brushing an invisible bit of lint from his immaculate sleeve, 'But most of my people are currently earning their money for a change, by keeping the Lord of Thorns occupied so he won't interfere here and save your worthless souls. I'm afraid this is the end of the road, Taylor. You can't say I haven't given you every chance, since you returned. But now the Authorities want you and everyone else here dead, for the sin of making a bloody nuisance of yourselves.' He paused then, looking at Lilith. 'Fennella ... my oldest sin, come back to haunt me. I shall enjoy seeing you destroyed.'
'Poor Henry,' said Lilith. 'Always putting your money on the wrong dream.'
I ignored them both, looking at Pew. He felt my gaze and stirred uneasily, one hand rising to his white collar. And then he squared his broad shoulders defiantly, his mouth hard and unyielding, and I knew nothing I could say would change his mind. I still had to try.
'Hello, Pew. I thought you didn't set foot in dens of iniquity like this.'
'My business is with sinners, so I must go where the sin is,' Pew said roughly. 'Time to pay the piper, John, and make your peace with God.'
'Are you really here to kill me at last, Pew?'
'Yes. I will save your soul, if I can. For old times' sake.'
'My mother is here,' I said. 'Do you know my mother, Pew?'
'Of course. I've always known. I told you I gave up my eyes for wisdom. I was the one who told your father who and what he was married to. I still had faith you could be saved, then.'
Cold anger pushed aside the shock of what I was hearing.
'You should never have been born, John. Abomination.' His voice was almost kindly now. 'I should have killed you long ago, and now I pay for the weakness of my resolve with the pain I will feel for killing ... such a worthy adversary.'
'You will not touch my son, preacher,' said Lilith.
Pew's head snapped round in her direction, and he stabbed a finger right at her before launching into a long, angry incantation. I recognised some of it, from old parchments and forbidden books. It was an exorcism, and a very old one, in Aramaic and Latin and corrupt Coptic. The old words hammered on the air, full of significance and power, and Lilith laughed at them. Pew broke off, confused.
'I know that song,' said Lilith. 'It's the exorcism the Christ used against the possessors called Legion, who ended up in the Gadarene swine. But I am much older than that, and such bindings have no power over me.'
'You cannot stand against me!' said Pew, almost spitting out the words. 'I speak for God!'
'We never got on,' said Lilith.
She gestured almost negligently with one hand, and Pew was thrown the whole width of the bar, hurtling ungainly through the air to smash into the far stone wall with sickening force. We all heard his bones break. Blood flew from his mouth. He slid down the wall and curled up on the floor, twitching spasmodically. Lilith laughed, a brief, happy sound like water splashing in a fountain. I ran over to Pew, knelt beside him, and cradled him in my arms. There is no-one closer than friends or family, except perhaps an enemy you've known all your life. I cradled his noble head on my chest, and blood spilled out of his mouth to stain my white trench coat. His grey blindfold had come loose, revealing dark empty eye-sockets. His breathing was harsh and uneven, spraying the air with blood from deep in his lungs.
'John?' he said.
'Hush, Pew. I'm here. I'm here.'
'Pride. The sin of pride. I really thought I could take her.'
'Hush.'
'I should have killed you long ago.'
'I know.'
'But you were a child, and I thought you could be saved. And later, I saw you trying so hard to be a good man, and I doubted. When you left the Nightside, I thought perhaps it was a sign. I wanted to believe that. And then you came back. Why did you have to come back, John?'
'Hush, Pew.'
'Always knew you'd be the death of me. I wish ... I could have brought you to see the Light. It really is so ... glorious...'
I glared at Lilith. 'Do something. Save him! He's a good man, and he doesn't deserve to die like this!'
