What Lily Lass Lifted...

"Some big house in the uptown area. Once I found the escape hatch, I got in easy enough, but the thugs on the other side of the fire place had no sense of humor. Wouldn't have thought the owner woulda missed anything; seriously, if it was expensive it was there, no matter how tacky." She winces at a memory. "A gem rainbow fire place set into gold and mirror wall panels... the guy needs a decorator."

I snort " or not to decorate while high" then I snap my head to look her in the face "wait you were burgling uptown. were you the one who was high? or just had a death wish. most of those things are guarded by far far more then just locks" I stop my self from making a statement about when i was dead. she doesn't need to know yet

"Jeez; it was just for kicks and a bit of spending money..." She glares at Liam. "Not that its your business what I do in my free time. 'Sides, I've been staking the place for months... like clockwork, a group of a least thirty hoods every two days went through my way in... Figured it was safe enough."

I choke slightly on my tea. "Thirty! And you still saw this as a good idea?! You're mad, arrogant, or very brave. One of the three. Or all." I set my tea down. "But who would need so many guards on their home?"

"Oh nos, the people in the hoods weren't guards; best I could figure, they were meetin'... The entrance weren't even guarded save for a little summoning hex I undid before goin' in."

I stare at Lily for a long moment. "People in...hoods..." Slowly, I turn to Djhuety as he enters the room. "Men in hoods. Meeting. I can't believe it. All the work we did, and this girl just happened to accidentally find your enemies. There's something intrinsically unfair about this."

Groaning, I take a seat on the sofa and rest my cup on my knee. "You don't say. Sylus couldn't even find his way back after we left due to their little friend." Turning to Lily, "You staked the house? Any idea who lives there?"

She shakes her head and tilts her chin. "Didn't much care... though I did meet the creep. The owner dressed like the house and was fondling my hair and skin till one of the hoods told him to stand aside." She winks. "He bout pissed himself an' didn't even notice me slip his ring 'fore the other one started talkin' and tellin' me how I'd be workin' to pay them back for their 'hospitality.'' She sighs and flops next to me on the couch. "Damned the man, wouldn't even touch me, I'd ave gotten im good."

"Could I see the ring?" I ask. Lily shrugs, digs around in her pocket, and pulls out a heavy, exquisitely ugly gold ring. The crest is some sort of great cat, wrapped around a large letter D. I study it. "I've seen this over club doors all over town....hm." I look up at Djhuety, then at Liam. ""Anybody recognize this?" I turn it over in my fingers. The inside is etched with an inscription:
Marty Devor
He who Has The Gold Makes The Rules.
"Marty Devor." I read aloud. Lily chokes on her drink. Liam's eyes widen.

"Marty Devor? He's the reason half my haunts ave dried up! Price gouges and the girl can't even make her expenses because her takes to small and her client can't ford to come back." A dark look crosses behind her eyes. "Should'a torched the twit's house and guests." She spits.

Is he dangerous?" I ask

I begin to laugh " hey ignacy a girl after your own heart. any problem can be solved with enough fire" " I suggest we get rid of that ring at some point soon girlie, never know if he has some sort of tracker on it"

"Only to himself and everyone he owns, which is a good portion of the Nightside." She crosses her arms and legs, and hunches her shoulders, looking almost vulnerable under the circumstances.

"I'll take it from that that he is dangerous." I say, looking from Lily's pained expression to Liam's half-shocked grin.

"He has never been as bad as the griffin for power" I start slowly " but he makes up for it in stupid egotistical crap" I shake my head "sounds like you were treated well from what i have heard. most of his employee's end up in binding contracts so that they are little more then slaves and usually a lot less" I look closely at lilly "Breath girl i may not be able to scent it but you are scared we have faced down far far worse them him. after all most of us live with Liv here. i would take him over her angry any day" I smile and wink at liv to show i am trying to cheer up the girl

"Never actually worked in one of his houses, though I know girls that do," Lily whispers, barely audible... "I always worked free agent with the smaller ones before he bought them up."

I snort. "I've seen enough little lordlings in my travels. They threaten and maim and kill because it's the only thing they can do. Terror is not one with respect, and men like that never realize that their ways may get the one, but never the other." I shrug distastefully. "He may count as a big man here in the Nightside, but he'll regret it if he crosses us." Then I turn to Lily. "And if you are with us, you as well. We protect our own. We protect one another."

She nods mutely and curls in further on herself, tucking her feet under and against me and resting her head on the arm of the couch. Uncomfortably, I shift in my seat.

I study the girl for a moment, before turning to Djhuety. "So, we know at least one of their faces. I wonder how many links he has to the rest...perhaps, if we could get into his home, we could discover more. Who and where the enemy is. Be nice to stop chasing shadows." From the looks on the faces around me, I can see this wasn't a great suggestion; the only person who looks interested is Ignacy. That has to be a bad sign.
"Oh don't look so askance," I say, crossing my arms, "We've seen worse. Things have tried to kill us before. They're not here anymore, and we are."

"Yeah, but before we weren't taking on one of the hearts of the Nightside," I grimace, "Its a little different when the worm has other heads to bit you with while you focus on one."

I snort. "It's like wiping out eel nests. Kill them one at a time, but watch your back always. We can still do that. And hunting ghosts is getting us nowhere. We need information."

"I was thinking more along the lines of a hydra; the more we cut at this thing, the worse its going to get. Just think of the trouble eliminating this man will cause in the brothels, the men he was endepted to. Friends and allies, if he has any such thing, will multiply as we deal with them one at a time." Leaning back, I lace my fingers behind my head and close my eyes, trying to think.

"We don't have to kill him, Djhuety." I say, "All we need is to sneak in and have a look around. It shouldn't be that hard, really."

"We say that every time," I sigh, hands still clasped. Lily peers at me from where her head rests. "It always blows up."

I shrug. "Sure it does. But we always get out in the last moment." He looks up at me dubiously and I smile a little wickedly.

''Your the boss." Lily uncurls a bit and moves to sit up, worry sketched on her face.