Sell you a Bridge chapter 251

June 3rd 2016 Prospero and Michael Scott Memorial Library, The Nightside 4:00 PM EDT

I  was impressed with Sinner. Despite being visually fairly underwhelming  he was as stone cold as you would expect someone who had literally been  to hell and come out unscathed to be. Despite having an obvious iron  nerve, he was a polite and well mannered kind of guy, though his lady  (who looked so much like Zee and Drea I was beginning to wonder if she  was part heavenly punishment elf) didn't seem thrilled to meet us at  all. Still, I smiled at his question. "Yes, actually. You can help us,  we're looking for someone. It's a bit of a long story, mind if we sit  down?"

Pretty Poison scowled at us, but Sinner gave us a  pleasant smile and gestured to the table. "By all means, it's a public  library. I must confess I don't get many visitors here, and this makes  two sets in only a few days. I wasn't aware I'd become so popular." He  said that last like it was a joke, and the humor was so dad-like I  actually smiled a bit, as did the others. We all took a seat at the  table, making sure to leave plenty of room between us and the scowling  succubus as we took our seats across from the man.

Figuring  it was best to jump right into things, I cleared my throat. "Thank you.  We're actually here about the other visitors you had. I'm looking for  my cousin, her name is Kitrina. We heard she came to see you recently  and we wanted to ask about what she wanted to know. Also, why does your  lady friend look so much like my girlfriends? Especially considering one  of them is a member of a pretty much unique species." His face remained  pleasant, not even twitching at the comment, and I winced internally at  the knowledge that he probably wasn't going to just take our word for  it and tell us what we wanted to know, assuming he hadn't had a  confrontation with them.

Wally cut in at that. "What? No  she doesn't. She looks like Artemis. Maybe a little...erm...more well  endowed, but they could be sisters." Artemis looked annoyed at the  comment, but luckily for the redhead her annoyance was clearly tempered  by confusion. His statement gave me a clue to what was going on though,  or at least a direction to guess in, and I was pretty sure I wasn't the  only one.

Sinner smiled. "As your red haired friend has  noticed, you will all see something different when gazing upon my lady  love. As a former denizen of the pit she doesn't exactly have a mortal  form. Her appearance is simply a reflection of your deepest desires. I  must admit, it's a bit inspiring to me that both of you see your  significant others. Not many people's hearts desire is the lover they  already have." He smile at all three girls. "You're very lucky to be  with gentlemen who clearly care for you so much."

I smiled  internally as he directed their attention at the sweet portion of the  comments, saving Wally from getting chewed out about the bustier nature  of his fantasy. I was glad, Artemis looked all starry eyed and sappy,  just like Zee and Drea, which meant her feelings weren't hurt. I was  pretty sure Wally hadn't meant it to be offensive anyway, since he had  no idea what was going on.

The older man continued. "As  for the rest...I normally wouldn't simply trust you. However, you do  know the young lady's name, and you keep exalted company." He turned his  eyes to Taylor. "I've heard many things about you, John Taylor, but  never that you would seek to aid those who would harm a child. No  offense meant, ladies and gentlemen, but nineteen IS a child to me. I  believe Mr. Taylor feels the same way. So, do you vouch for the good  intentions of there people?"

His face was solemn, and I  could tell from the emphasis he put on the question that he was serious.  He clearly wanted to make sure we weren't planning to hurt Kit. Despite  a momentary inconvenience I felt a swell of gratitude to the older  scholar. Kit needed people who would look out for her in this place. I  was glad she'd come to see these people. It seemed like they had really  done right by her.

Taylor nodded. "Yes. I haven't known  them long, but I can tell they're good kids. They keep decent company,  and I haven't lost enough of my edge that I can't tell when I'm being  lied to." I saw his eyes cloud slightly, and I got another flash of  intuition that Taylor had lied just then, though not to himself. It was  only a small lie, but I got a slight image of a pretty older blonde  woman, and a feeling of hurt and grief. Taylor did believe us, but he  had been lied to by the woman, and he hadn't been able to tell.

Still,  that seemed to be good enough for Sinner, who nodded stoicly. "Very  well then. I shall trust that they have her interests at heart, though  mostly because I can't actually tell any of you where she and her  gentleman friend went. I don't see how sharing what they're searching  for could harm them, since you can't possibly be worse than the being  they're already on the hunt for, and he knows they're coming without a  doubt." He turned to his demonic lady love. "Perhaps this next part  would be better explained by you, love. You know him better than I."

She  grimaced, though not in a way that said she was angry so much as  disgusted to have to talk about this subject. She sighed. "Fine. Only  for you Sydney. I already mentioned him to the little devil girl anyway,  he's hardly going to get more upset that I brought him up twice." She  turned to us. "Your cousin and her boyfriend came here because he  apparently made a deal with a devil. It's where his powers came from,  and they were trying to find that devil to get out of the arrangement."

That  sounded less than ideal. Pretty Poison wasn't exactly a weakling from  what I'd seen and heard. Taylor had talked about her like a truly  dangerous person, if she was this afraid of whoever Kit was looking for  it didn't bode well. For my cousin or for my group. "Who is this devil  they're looking for? Can you tell me about him? I came to make sure  she's safe, if she's not I want to help, even if I have to get mixed up  with someone dangerous." I wasn't going to abandon Kit. The things she'd  done in the dungeon had been inspired by fear and hurt, but she'd been  there to help when everyone needed her.

Pretty Poison  sneered. "You say that now. But fine, I'll tell you about him. Your  cousin's boyfriend made a deal for his abilities with a greater demon,  or devil, named Neron. More accurately he's a fallen angel. A  particularly dangerous and cunning member of the demonic nobility. He's  the current ruler of hell, since Lucifer went on walkabout a few  millennia ago, and has a fondness for the souls of fallen heroes. I told  your cousin this as well. If her boyfriend has a deal with Neron,  there's no saving him. But I have a soft spot for hopeless love." She  gave Sinner a sweet smile. "So I told her where to find him, since I  could tell she wasn't giving up."

I felt a queasy  sensation in my stomach. That was bad. This guy sounded like a serious  customer, and Kit had a head start. What I didn't understand was what  had inspired this trip? Had his debt come due? "Do you know why they're  searching for Neron now? Is her boyfriends soul due for collection? It  just seems like strange timing." Granted maybe it was a ten year deal,  but that meant he'd sold his soul at like, nine years old. The fact that  this happened when we finall got back from the Sphere of the Gods was  suspicious to me. It smelled of intention.

Pretty Poison  noticed my suspicion and tapped her nose. "Ah, you got the point. That's  why I mentioned saving him. Neron put the word out that he might be  willing to forgive the debt if they plead their case in person. They  came running at the mention, despite the fact that he didn't actually  contact them or give them a location. In my experience, demons rarely  'put the word out' when they intend on dealing. Not that any deal with  someone like Neron would be in good faith. But this reeks of trap by any  definition of the word. I told the girl that, but she refused to  listen."

I groaned. That was worse than bad. We needed to  figure out where the hell Neron was and get to him before Kit threw her  soul away out of sheer stupidity. More than anyone I understood doing  something unspeakably dumb because you loved someone and wanted them to  be safe. Some of the stuff I'd done for Zee had been pretty questionable  in terms of intelligence, but I didn't regret it. If this guy was the  same boyfriend who helped her rescue the League, and I had no reason to  think otherwise, then I couldn't just stand by and let her go to bat for  him alone.

I exhaled slowly.  "Alright. Do you know where I can find this...Neron?" Confronting  someone like this was pure fucking stupidity, but I could stake out  wherever he was and wait for Kit if she wasn't there yet. I wasn't going  to actually pick a fight unless I had no choice. I was also going to  make damn sure to pick up that life saving ability or item before we  left for wherever this guy was. I wasn't risking any of my friends in a  fight with some uber demon if things devolved into a conflict.

To  my shock though, Pretty Poison just shrugged. "Nope." We all stared at  her. "What? Neron isn't local. It's not like he has a penthouse in the  city. He's the fucking king of hell. I have no clue where he would go,  and I'm sure as hell not asking around about it for you or the kid. I  warned her about the trap, and that was already a flash of  sentimentality that would normally be beyond me. If you want any more  find it your own damn selves. You're traveling with one of the most  celebrated detectives in the city, after all. I'm not attracting  attention from someone like that for anything."

There  wasn't much I could say to that. It was frustrating as hell to hear,  but I couldn't very well make her. The only upside was that since she  didn't give Kit a location either we could find them before they got to  this demon guy. I sighed and stood up. "I see. Thank you. For the help  you did give us. We have a direction at least, which is better than we  had to go on before."

I  nodded at the pair, the older form of Sinner giving me a consoling  smile, and turned to leave. I was afraid of what my cousin had found in  this place, but in the end, knowing their end goal would help us narrow  things down. I had to trust that Kit, powerful as she was, could keep  herself safe until I found her. 

Zee and Drea each took a hand as we made  our way back out of the library, everyone unusually quiet after the  somber news. I turned to look at Taylor. "I'm sure we can look into  various demon worshippers later, but for now, I think we could all use a  break. Do you have a place we could go to think?" I needed somewhere  safe to check my email.