All the grace and Finesse of a charging Rhinoceros

I take back the pages and shuffle through them again. "I don't like it, but their clever too." I pause as some of the document catches my eye; I flip to the back pages and check the signatures. "They have a new protegee."

I shake my head. "No. You don't know. Look. Look at the page on payments. Look at what they are doing to pay their allies."
He bends his head over the page. I don't need to read it again. I can remember all too well. Adolescent virgins paid to the Dub na Hasa. Bottled human suffering paid to the demons, along with rites that made me sick to think of. Female humans paid to Zog of the Pixies. I know what he does with them too. It's what he was exiled from the Kindred Courts for. And babies for the Smoke Ghost. Babies. Killed in a very specific way. They were all bad. But those were the worst.
I watch Djhuety's face harden.

"why do i get the impression i should be glad i can't read that little slip of paper?" I tilt my head "Liv. Breath. if you pass out we are all toast" the more then mild concern eeking into my voice, "if you have what we need lets go"

I reach out, and snatch up the paper, stuffing it in my satchel. "I'm not going to faint. I'm going to tear someone down. With extreme prejudice." I turn on my heel. "Come on. They are going to pay."

"Liv, leave the paper." I take her by the shoulder. "Don't you think they'll notice it's missing?"

I hiss. "I don't give a damn. They'll notice a lot more than that in a very short time."

"Don't overplay our hand," I growl, looking to Liam for support. "We were lucky enough to get in here. Leave it at that and we'll pick it up when we need it."

I smile, and my smile is cold and hard, sharp as my blade. "They said no copying. They said nothing about taking things. That was not in the agreement. I know words. The fault is theirs if they did not attend to their words. I want this proof. I want the whole Nightside to know, and to drag these people down."

"And I'd rather not be flayed by every one that cuts on our rat faced friend to find out who he sold them out to."

Lily interjects, "You lot didn't hide your faces, either."

I growl...and yet he is right. But I can't bear the thought of letting this proof go, letting them escape. I sigh. "Fine. Then what do you suggest?"

I smile. "Simple. Things like this will come when I call for them; in fact, I have it in here somewhere." I pat down the pockets of my coat and extract the sheaf of papers from somewhere within the fold of my coat. "And as extra assurance, this contract cannot be destroyed or altered."

I smile slowly as realization sinks in, and the grin has an edge to it.
"Well and good. Then let's be off. We have work to do."

We exit the lair, and one of the guards peers down his nose at us. "Best have left it as found... Boss 'ould catch 'ell if he knewed you been back there." I smile, wincing slightly at the abuse of English.

"Not to worry, my friend; all is as it should be." I pat him on the elbow and turn back to face the others. "Should we go or should we stay... Who knows what first editions or other rarities we might chance upon. I quite like the idea of being DeVore's seller when he comes upon a need to part with a bit of his collection."

I shake my head. "Stay in an eel nest and you're bound to get bitten eventually. Let's get out of this place."

"As me lady wishes," I bow and blush slightly as Lily giggles and I see Liam smirk out of the corner of of my eye.

We're escorted by our friendly thugs, Ignacy chatting them up with his new found posh as they role their eyes. The ratty DeVore meets us at the entry, his hands nervously running over the head of one of the Pompeii casts; He clasps them over his chest as we enter. "I trust you found what you were looking for," he mummers, acid in his voice, "And that you have taken no evidence of what you may have discovered while skulking through my files. And now I trust that our agreement is at an end."

I look him in the eye. "Yes. We're done here." DeVor frowns, but I turn away before he has the chance to speak.
I take a deep breath as we step off the front porch. It feels good to be back under the moon, out of the enemy's home. Compared to the subtle menace in there, even the Nightside's sky seems innocent.