Sell you a Bridge chapter 243

June 2nd 2016 The Hawk's Wind Bar and Grill, The Nightside 11:00 PM EDT

The  man who strode up to sit down at our table was...impressive. He was  tall and imposing. His hair and eyes were both pitch black, and his  features were handsome in a serious and resolute way. He was wearing a  waistcoat and a vest, a blue silk cravat the only splash of color in a  sea of dark fabric, and there was an old fashioned opera cloak slung  across his shoulders casually. On anyone else it would have looked  silly, but much like Jim, Julian was a product of his era. His clothes  fit him, and to hell what the rest of the world was wearing.

I  turned to look at my mentor, and saw that his glamour had reasserted  itself. I could see the face he must have worn when he was human, with  its goatee and mustache, and a monocle over one eye. He stared up at the  taller man who was standing over us for a moment before rolling his  eye. "Well? Sit down you absolute lout, it's frightfully rude to just  loom over us all like a big shadowy goon. You'd think you buried your  manners next to my corpse after I died." I was somewhat appalled at the  joke, given how serious a subject it was, but it seemed to be exactly  the right way to break the tension.

Julian tipped back his  head and barked out a laugh before pulling out a chair and slipping  into it urbanely. "My manners? I haven't heard so much as a whisper from  you in nigh on a half century. I expected a letter upon my return,  instead I hear tales of you gallivanting around the world like a common  cutpurse, taking up with every villainess under the sun." He grinned and  held out a hand and the two of them shook boisterously. Once he  released Jim's hand Julian leaned back with a wide smile. "It's good to  see you James. How have you been?"

Jim shrugged. "Some  days are better than others. I have a pair of lovely ladies I've become  quite smitten with. I suspect my carousing days may be behind me. My  Paula is quite a hellion, though Claire keeps us both in line with a  kind word and a patient smile. I'd introduce you to them, but I'm never  bringing either of them within a thousand kilometers of this nuclear  dumpster fire of a city." Artemis looked..surprised, when he said that. I  don't think she knew how serious Jim and her mom were getting.

Julian  laughed again, a low baritone chuckle that spoke of friendliness and  camaraderie. "James Craddock settling down. I never thought I'd see the  day. I might be willing to brave the modern world for a chance to meet  the women who subdued London's most infamous gentleman dandy. I don't  know what our childhoods would have looked like without your womanizing.  Though I suspect whatever it was it would have been a shade more  peaceful than either of us would have been satisfied with. I always said  it would get you into trouble, though I suppose you fulfilled that  prophecy and then some when we were lads."

My mentor  narrowed his eyes at his old friend. "I'll have you know that I regret  none of my time as a young man. Every dalliance I had was a shade of  brilliant color in an otherwise humdrum existence." He paused. "Except  Rebecca. And Candace. Martha may have been a mistake. Louise too. But  none of the others. Well..maybe Marjorie. " Julian was trying not to  snicker at his friend's verbal fumbling, and Jim clearly didn't want to  give him the satisfaction, so he cut himself off. "Regardless." He said  sternly. "I'm past all that now. I like to think I'm older and wiser."

I  elected not to mention that I was pretty sure he'd tried to bang the  daughter of the head of the League of Shadows a few years ago, mostly  because I didn't want to interrupt his reunion. Julian it seemed, was  more than willing to be the one to end the good times. "Despite my glee  at seeing your face my friend, I doubt you've come here in search of  fond stories. Loathe as I am to say it, Mr. Taylor's presence is rarely  the bearer of good tidings." He gave Taylor an apologetic smile. "What  brings yourself and your young friends to this establishment old boy?  You more than most have reason to give the Nightside a wide berth."

Jim's  smile faded into a stoic expression. "Quite right. Though I suppose it  would behoove me to introduce my wards." He pointed to me and Artemis.  "My apprentices, Artemis and Morgan, and their lovers, Wallace, Dreamer,  and Zatanna." I saw Wally wince at the use of his full name, but he  didn't mention it out loud. Jim continued without seeming to notice  however. "We've come in search of Morgan's cousin. A young woman named  Kitrina, who recently sent Morgan a letter expressing her need for aid.  Her location was not forthcoming, our only information is that she is in  the Nightside."

Taylor cut in. "Aside from being the life  of the party and a man people can trust, you also run the only  reasonably functional news organization in town. We figured if anyone  could tell us where to start it would be you Julian. The young lady is  nineteen or twenty years old and accompanied by her boyfriend. Both of  them are of the more...infernal persuasion, at least physically. Red  skin, horns, you know the sort. Granted they may have purchased glamours  for themselves, lord knows there are enough for sale, but still might  you have heard anything?"

Julian reached down to pick up a  cup of tea that I hadn't seen anyone bring him, and I wondered if he  could just conjure them like Jim seemed to be able to to. He took a long  pensive sip. "Nothing springs to mind, but I have certain sources I  might tap. I'd be willing to ask around for an old friend. It may take  some time for me to contact my sources however, and while the  everpresent moon may dull the awareness of it, the hour in the outside  world grows late. I can offer you lodging at my manor, if you have no  alternative for the evening's repose?"

I  hadn't actually considered that.We probably did need to sleep at some  point, but most of this shit hole was too awful to even consider it.  Plus I was half ghost half devil, I was substantially more resilient  than most creatures with my two hundred fifty vitality. But while Zee  and Artemis were elves now, they didn't have anywhere near me vitality,  and Dreamer was a goddess but Wally was still human and needed sleep. I  looked at Jim, who was looking at me questioningly and nodded.

He  informed Julian we would be accepting his off and the adventurer  clapped his hands together once in delight. "Splendid! Let order our  meals and we can retire for the evening." I could already tell that I  was going to get seriously thrown off my sleep schedule by this place,  but he was right. Our drinks had just come, and I accepted my Devil  Shake from the waitress, popped the top, and then took a sip. It  was...weird. Kind of a like a yoohoo but not exactly. It wasn't bad,  though I wouldn't say it was good either. I probably should have just  gotten a milkshake.

Once  we got our drinks we all consulted the oversized menu and decided what  to get for dinner. I hadn't been alive during the sixties, so I  recognized like...half of the things on there. But I did recognize them,  so I ordered something pretty safe, and got the Swedish Meatballs.  Julian ordered Beef Bourguignon, which Jim seconded, Zee and Artemis got  a Shrimp Cocktail, Wally got Chicken ala King, Dreamer got Fondue, and  John got Ambrosia Salad. Taylor ordered nothing, preferring to sip his  coke, and the rest of us settled in to wait.

Julian  in the meantime, wrote a series of notes on a pad and pen in his pocket  and passed them to a passing waitress with day glo pink hair and gogo  boots along with a tip so generous she almost teared up before running  off to make several calls. Turning back to us to sip his tea again he  gave a polite smile. "I've reached out to a few of my best sources to  ask about Kitrina and her boyfriend, though I'm curious John, why not  use your gift to find them?" It took me a second to realize he was  talking to Taylor and not our John, but then I turned  to the older PI  as well, curious what he meant.

Taylor  sipped his coke with a shrug. "These days my gift is more of an  announcement than a useful tool. Too many people keeping an eye out for  it. I'd rather not get the kids jumped by my enemies, thanks very much.  No, this particular case I'll do the old fashioned way. I still know how  to find people without my gift, as useful as the damn thing may be most  of the time." He took another long pull of his coke, closing his eyes  in bliss at the taste. I wondered if coke from the 60's actually tasted  better. I'd heard they changed the formula, I was almost sad I hadn't  gotten it myself, until I remembered I was a pepsi fan.

John  noticed our confusion about the whole gift thing and decided to  elaborate. "The boss has an ability to find things, regardless of where  they've gone and where they came from. However, it's fairly loud  psychically speaking, not to mention he needs a starting place and we  don't have one. Once we have a lead or find somewhere they've been he  might change his mind, he usually puts off using it, but don't worry, if  we hit a dead end he'll do it anyway. His professional pride won't let  him do any less."

I  neglected to point out that Taylor wasn't getting paid so this wasn't  exactly a professional matter, but we were clients if only because he'd  known Zee's mom. Or because of John. I wasn't sure why he hadn't brought  up payment, but I'd probably mention it myself once this was over. It  wasn't like I was low on funds or anything. Once the food arrived we  spent about twenty minutes eating. The meatballs were amazing, though  Drea had to chase me away from trying them dipped in her fondue because  she didn't want the sauce mixing with the cheese.

Once  we finished we headed outside and called another carriage. John came  with us, as did Taylor, who insisted the chance to stay in a manor  instead of sleeping in his cramped office on a cot would be a welcome  change of pace. Though he did want to stop in and check on his secretary  after we woke up. He didn't like to leave her alone for long periods of  time because he was worried what she might do to the property values. I  noticed John looked a little uncomfortable at the mention of her, and  wondered what that was about, but didn't ask because it wasn't my  business.

So  we all piled into the carriage and rode back to Julian's full and in a  pretty good mood. Granted the Nightside was nuts and awful in some  places, but it wasn't ONLY nuts and awful. The Hawk's Wind showed us  there were some pretty cool parts of this whole mishmash of crazy too,  and I was cautiously optimistic we might see some more fun stuff mixed  in with all the existential horror and abominations. Still, I was  worried. This was going a bit too smoothly so far. This place was known  for its crazy, and I had a feeling the worst was yet to come.