And finally, Annie Abattoir; assassin and seductress, secret agent and confidence trickster, praised and feared and damned in a dozen countries. She wore what was left of a long crimson evening gown, the low-cut back showing off the mystic symbols carved deep into the flesh between her shoulder blades. She’d always been very hard to kill, though many had tried, often with good reason. Though she was six-foot-two and still mostly muscle, her face held little of its old striking charm. She looked… diminished. Beaten down.
I finally announced my presence with a polite cough, and they all spun round, scrambling to their feet, ready to fight. Their eyes widened, and a few jaws dropped as they recognised me, then King of Skin cried out like a hurt child and scurried away to crouch in a corner, terrified and trembling. Count Video’s face convulsed with rage, and new energies crackled around him as his neurotech sparked into life.
“Don’t!” I said quickly. “I’m protected! And I mean seriously protected, by major magics. Anything strong enough to break through my defences would almost certainly attract the attention of the Beasts outside. And I don’t think any of us want that, right?”
Annie Abattoir looked uncertain, a glowing dagger in each hand, but after a tense moment Larry Oblivion stepped forward and put a hand on her arm and Count Video’s, and they both reluctantly nodded and stepped back. Larry Oblivion studied me coldly.
“I don’t see any protections…”
I grinned. “Of course not. That’s how good they are.”
I was bluffing, but they had no way of knowing that. And they didn’t dare risk being discovered.
“John Taylor,” Larry said slowly. “How is it that you are here? Did you bring yourself back from the dead, too?”
“Time travel,” I said briskly. “For me, Lilith has only just happened. The War hasn’t started yet. I’m here looking for answers, and advice.”
“Let me kill him,” said Count Video. “He has to die. For what he did, he has to die!”
“Yes,” said Larry. “But not now. Not here.”
Annie made the Count sit down by the fire again. King of Skin was still shivering in his corner, in a spreading pool of urine, crying childish tears. It hurt me to see him that way. I’d never liked him, but I always respected him. Annie Abattoir and Jessica Sorrow stood before me, on either side of Larry Oblivion. They looked at me like I was a ghost, some horrid spectre at the feast, some ancient evil from their worst nightmares. And maybe I was.
“My brother Tommy fought on your side,” Larry said finally. “In the great War against Lilith. He trusted you, even though he had good reason not to. And when they struck him down you just stood there, and watched him die, and did nothing to help.”
I spread my hands helplessly. “You’re judging me over something I haven’t even done yet. And may never do… That’s why I’m here. I need you to tell me what I have to do to prevent all this happening.” They stared back at me, unconvinced. I took a step forward. When dealing with Enemies, it’s all about confidence, or at least the appearance of it. I gestured at the great haunch of meat burning over the fire. It smelled really bad. “You seem to be preparing dinner. Do you mind if I join you? There’s nothing like struggling to avoid the Apocalypse to give you an appetite. What are we having?”
Larry snorted, amused despite himself. “That… is one of Lilith’s children. Pretty much all there is left to eat, these days. Apart from the bodies. There are still a lot of dead people left over from the War, but we haven’t been reduced to cannibalism. Not yet. Oh yes, they’re still lying around; decades after the War. Nothing decays any more, you see. Except the buildings. All kinds of strange energies were released during the final days of your struggle with your mother. And now all the natural processes are… out of order. Existence follows new rules now. Sometimes we don’t feel the need to eat or drink for days or even weeks at a time. And we don’t sleep. Bad dreams can take on a life of their own, these days.”
“It’s hard to keep track of time any more,” said Jessica, in a voice like a shell-shocked child’s. “There’s no way of measuring it, you see. There are no days, the night never ends, and watches don’t work even though there’s nothing wrong with them. Perhaps you and Lilith broke Time, during the War…” She cocked her head to one side, like a bird, still fixing me with her direct, unblinking gaze. “How did you know where to find us?”
“My gift,” I said. “And a little help from an angel.”
Her mouth twitched briefly. “You always did move in exalted circles, John.”
“Heaven and Hell have abandoned us,” Annie Abattoir said harshly. “Nothing left to fight over, any more. Do you know who we are? Why we stay together? Why we still struggle to survive, in this worst of all possible worlds?”
“Yes,” I said. My mouth was suddenly dry. “You’re my Enemies. You’ve been trying to kill me ever since I was born, striking back through Time, to kill me before I do… whatever it is I do that brings about the destruction of the Nightside.”
“And the world,” Larry said flatly. “Don’t think this is just London. There’s nothing else.”
“We had to do it,” said Jessica. “It was…”
“Oh please!” I said. “Don’t you dare say It was nothing personal! You and your Harrowing have hounded me all my life! I’ve never been able to feel safe, feel secure, because I could never know when your bloody assassins would appear suddenly out of nowhere, killing everyone in their path for a chance to get at me! You made my life a living Hell!”
“You made the world a living Hell,” said Count Video. “Everything we’ve done is justified by what you did.”
“I haven’t done anything yet!”
“But you will, John,” said Jessica. “You will.”
I made myself control my temper. I was here for their help. And there was still one question I hadn’t asked. Something I had to know.
“Where’s Suzie?” I said. “Where’s my Shotgun Suzie?”
Larry looked a little surprised. “You expected her to be here?”
“She tried to kill me,” I said. The words hurt, but I forced them out. “She told me she was one of you. That’s why I came here, through Time, for information. The future isn’t set in stone. This doesn’t have to happen. Tell me what you know. The things only you know.”
“She volunteered, to be made into one of our assassins,” said Larry. “You do know she volunteered, to be made over into… what we made her?”
“Yes,” I said. “She told me. We never did believe in keeping secrets from each other.”
Jessica hugged her teddy bear tightly, resting her chin on its battered head. “She never came back. We assumed you killed her, like all our other agents. What did happen to her, John?”
“Merlin ripped off her arm,” I said steadily. “The one with the Speaking Gun attached to it. Then she disappeared. She was still alive, the last time I saw her. I had hoped… she’d made it back here.”
“No,” said Annie. “We haven’t seen her. We have to assume she’s lost to us. Another death on your conscience, Lilith’s son.”
“He has no conscience,” said Count Video. “He’s not human. Not really. Why should he have human feelings?”
“I was human enough to get past your defences,” I said.
“Then we’ll have to tighten them up,” said Larry.
I looked at Jessica. “I see you still have your teddy.”
“Yes,” she said. “You found him for me. I remember. He brought me back to life, and sanity.”
“I’m glad I could help,” I said.
She shook her head slowly. “I’m not. This world would be so much easier to bear if I was still crazy. Still safely mad.”
“Ah well,” I said. “No good deed goes unpunished.”
“Especially in the Nightside,” she said.
And we both managed a small smile, just between the two of us.
“So,” I said, looking around me, “this is the end of the world, and it’s all my fault. Now tell me why. Tell me what happened.”