Sell you a Bridge chapter 256

June 4th 2016 The Nightside 11:30 AM EDT

The  building we slipped into to talk to Suzie wasn't a public space that  people could just enter. This didn't seem to matter one bit to Suzie,  who jammed a screwdriver she had pulled from a pocket into the door and  then slammed her fist into it, snapping the lock right off as she shoved  the door open, strolling inside with nary a sign of discomfort. Most of  the rest of us didn't care much either, to be fair, though Wally  grimaced a bit at the display. His girlfriend looked like she was a  hockey fan who'd just watched Wayne Gretzky make a slapshot, and I made a  mental note to tease her unbearably about this obvious case of hero  worship, even if the bounty hunter WAS pretty awesome.

The  building we were in was an empty office, and we all dropped into a  bunch of chairs around a wide conference table. Suzie slammed her boots  down on the table, slipped out a bottle of beer from...somewhere, and  popped the cap with her teeth before downing the whole thing. She  finished the beer with a refreshed sigh before letting out a huge window  rattling burp. Taylor rolled his eyes at the obvious theatrics, but  there was a slight smile on his face, and Artemis looked like she was  about to squeal the word 'cool' at the top of her lungs, at least until  she noticed her fangirling and smoothed her face into a bored  expression.

Suzie then turned to us. "So. Demonspawn and a  couple of weird succubi elves huh? That's a lot of shittiness in one  group. But John isn't an idiot. If he vouches for you I'll hear you  out." Her blue eyes flashed menacingly. "BUT. If I decide you're taking  advantage of him I'll forget the 'alive' part of that bounty and put you  in the dirt myself." She glanced at Zee sharply. "John can  be...sentimental. You'll find I'm not quite so easy to sway. I never  liked Sindy all that much anyway. She had all the boys following her  around and eating out of her hand. Little priss."

Zee came  to her feet, eyes flashing with purple electricity. "Shut up! My mom  was a wonderful person. She was kind and caring and beautiful and a  hundred times better than...YOU. If you think you can talk bad about her  in front of me and get away with it, you're almost as stupid as you are  trashy." I blinked in literal shock. Zee...didn't say things like that.  I knew her mom was a sore spot, but I'd never heard her shit talk  anyone in our whole time together aside from telling off her dad once.  She was one of the most even tempered people I knew.

Suzie  raised an eyebrow, and her feet slid from the table as she stood,  placing both hands on the surface of the wood and leaning forward  towards Zee. My girlfriend didn't flinch or even give ground, she stared  the blonde bounty hunter down even as the tension in the room ratcheted  up. I noticed hero worship or not Artemis was getting ready to put a  lightning bolt in Suzie's ass to protect Zee, and I was glad to see it.  Taylor looked upset, and more than that, he looked torn, clearly not at  all happy with Suzie's comments either.

Suzie's voice was  flat and cold as she stared right back. "I never liked Sindy." Her lips  quirked up. "But I don't like most people. I did respect her though. She  had spine for a delicate little princess." Her eyes softened slightly  around the edges, though it was barely noticeable. "Seems like you got  that from her. Now. I know for a fact that Sindy married that shitbag  italian guy, Gio. I was invited to the wedding, though I didn't go  obviously. Last I checked Gio was a human, not an elf. So how the hell  did you end up..." She waved her hand at Zee's body. "This?"

That  was a surprise, and I took a minute to stare. Suzie had implied  ignorance of Zee's heritage in front of Belle, making it seem like she  thought my girlfriend was born an elf. It seemed now like she was trying  to keep focus on my own shift to half devil, probably to keep Zee safe  from whoever wanted me. I had the sneaking suspicion that Suzie might  have liked Sindella a bit more than she was willing to admit.

Zee  narrowed her eyes as if she was trying to decide if she was being lied  to, and eventually sighed and dropped back into her seat. "Long story.  Not really my place to tell it. Suffice to say that Artemis and I are  unique. There aren't any elves like us anywhere, and there never will be  again." She paused and looked over at me with a blush. "Or at  least...not unless one or both of us have kids." I felt my own face heat  up. We were WAY too young for that conversation. Luckily she didn't  seem eager to have it, just acknowledging the possibility. That  was...fine. Acknowledging I could deal with.

The blonde  bounty hunter snorted. "If I had a quid for every time I heard that. But  fine. If it's a transformation I can deal. You certainly remind me  Sindy, right down to the annoying way pretty boy over there is looking  like he's going to lunge over the table at me if I so much as look at  you wrong." She smirked at me. "People were always very protective of  Sindy. Even John tended to hover." She raised an eyebrow at Taylor, who  shrugged a bit with a sad smile. "Not that he was the worst about it.  Remember Billy?"

Taylor grimaced. "He was going to try to  follow her when she left. I had to threaten to do something distressing  to his insides if he didn't let her leave and stay away from her. Glad  he listened. I really would have done it. Billy wasn't safe to be  around, and he wouldn't have been good for the outside world. Little  bastard was mean as a rattlesnake and twice as vindictive. I tell you he  erased himself from existence?"

Suzie shrugged. "Good  riddance to bad rubbish I say. Anyhow, since I know that italian twat  was human, I guess there's something to this species changing nonsense.  I'm even willing to give the demonspawn the benefit of the doubt since  he let me have first crack at that bitch Belle. That said, I'm not  planning to just fuck off to leave you alone with them John. I'll watch  your back in case things get out of control." She raised an eyebrow at  Taylor, clearly daring him to challenge her on the issue.

Despite  her tone though, Taylor gave her a soft smile. I knew why too. Suzie  was lying. Partly to herself, but partly to us. She WAS worried about  Taylor, but she also liked us and wanted to help, even if she didn't  want to be seen as a big softie because of it. She flopped back into her  chair, legs going back up to the table. I cleared my throat. "Since you  know they were lying and we aren't evil psychos, maybe you can tell us  who's after us? Whoever it is must be the ones looking for Kit, so if we  find them we might get a lead on my cousin."

I was  excited to finally have some kind of trail to follow, but unfortunately  that seemed like a no go. Suzie shook her head with a snort. "Like hell.  I don't appreciate being lied to, and they'll get theirs, don't you  worry, but I don't narc on clients. Word gets around you're sharing the  identity of people who hire you, even if they do something you don't  like, and all the contracts dry up. It sucks for you I'm sure, but the  identity of my client is off the table. Be glad I'm tagging along to  help you with this at all."

Taylor, for his part, had  obviously expected that. I was disappointed, but I'd had enough  interactions with prideful professionals not to take it too personally.  Frustrating as it may be I could understand her stance, and pissing her  off by pushing wouldn't accomplish anything other than getting me shot.  I'd known Suzie for all of ten minutes and even I could tell she didn't  cave to pressure.

It wasn't like we didn't have a lead  already anyway. I sighed. "That just leaves us with the Londinium club.  Hopefully someone knows where the hell we can find Neron." I turned to  Taylor. "Not that you guys haven't been great, but honestly this trip  has been rushing from one fire to the next, and I could do without the  urgency. I just want to find my cousin and get the hell out of this  deathtrap, no offense to you folks who live here."

Taylor's  answering snort was full of sympathy. "Please. I more than understand. I  left this dumpster fire for years. I love the old place, but I hate it  just as much. Only an idiot would willingly stay here. Or a lunatic. We  certainly have more than our share of both around town. We'll head to  the Londinium club straight away. Someone there should be able to tell  us something, and even if they can't, chances are Walker might be there.  I won't claim nothing happens in the Nightside he doesn't know about,  but if someone as powerful as Neron is here, he should at least be able  to give us a clue."

For the first time since I'd met her, I  saw Suzie look actively aghast. She turned to Taylor with a dumbfounded  look on her face. "Wait, you're going to ask WALKER for help? Walker  wouldn't piss in you if you were on fire. Hell, walked might take a piss  IN FRONT of you if you were on fire, just to revel in your desperation  as you burned to death. Why in God's name would he possibly tell you  anything at all?" I couldn't tell if she was horrified by the idea or  excited to see how it would play out.

Judging  by Taylor's eye roll he couldn't tell either, and wasn't worried about  finding out. "Walker does what he needs to do to keep the Nightside in  order. I know Neron can't interfere in the Nightside too much, just like  none of the heavenly host can interfere here, but we can make a huge  mess looking for him. Walker doesn't want to make more work for himself.  If he leads us to Neron chances are good he'll just kill all of us if  we aren't careful, if not we might manage to chase him out of here,  either way is a win for Walker."

When  he saw most of us looking confused he hurried to clarified. "Walker is  The Man here. The Authorities run the Nightside, and Walker is their  instrument, their man friday. He's a cold bastard, and most of his job  is pitting us all against each other so he doesn't have to dirty his  expensive suit unless someone gets REALLY out of line, not that he can't  do some scary things when he needs to. In any case, he spends most of  his time at the Londinium Club when he isn't working." He clapped his  hands. "Right, well. Since this is all taken care of we should be on our  way. Shall we?"

He  popped to his feet without waiting and strolled off towards the door,  not bothering to hear out anyone who wanted to do anything else. I saw  Suzie roll her eyes and get up to follow him, and Artemis trailed after  her, clearly with plenty of questions for the older woman. I groaned  internally, hopeful that she didn't decide to actually become a bounty  hunter after this. I could just imagine the trouble she and Wally could  get into tracking renegade criminals. I shook off the idea and stepped  up next to Zee, putting an arm around her shoulder. There would be time  to deal with that later, for now we just needed to get back on the  trail. Kit was still out there somewhere.