Avalon Revisited (21 page)

I used the mallet, attached by a cord along with a wooden cross, to drive the stake into her heart further, ensuring it wouldn’t shake loose when I moved the woman. She didn’t even flinch.

The paralysis held.

I couldn’t carry her through the streets in that position. It would be too conspicuous, even with the speed I could move, and I couldn’t properly restrain her here. What to do?

Momentarily, I considered taking the stake out and trying to reason with her. After all, her husband seemed reasonable enough at first. She lay on her back with her arms outstretched, as she was reaching for me when I staked her. Taking hold of her arm, I tried to put it down, and it worked! In fact, she was completely pliant, which brought to mind all sorts of devious thoughts, but there was no time for that, and, I found to my complete surprise, that I really wasn’t that interested.

Avalon swam into my mind’s view.

Her sweet face. Piercing eyes.

I really was in love, especially if carnal delights with other women, or in Lady Haldenby’s case female vampire-like creatures, no longer interested me.

I moved her limbs so that I could pick her up and it would appear I was carrying a woman in need. Perhaps one who had fainted or been attacked. She still wore what I assumed were her burial clothes, but they were very dirty and torn, which might just help in the illusion of a woman in need.

Turning onto the main street adjacent to the alley, I was careful not to be seen by the few people about. I moved quickly. Unless someone was looking directly at me, they would but see a blur in their peripheral vision. We were but a few miles from my home, but things got quite busy in Kensington, even this late on a Tuesday night. I kept mostly to the shadows, moving quickly when there weren’t many about, until I found a building in North Chelsea that was low enough to jump upon, even with Lady Haldenby in my arms. From there, I could get to the next level, and then the next, traveling the rest of the way on the tops of buildings until I reached my own. I put Lady Haldenby down on the roof and jumped down into the alley behind my home. Using the back entrance, I rather startled Cecil who was making a cup of tea for himself in the kitchen.

“Avalon here?” I asked, thankful he was at least here tonight and not off cavorting with his sweetheart.

“No. She was with you.”

“Thomas?”

“Not yet, m’lord. Again, he was with you,” he said with the audacity of being annoyed.

“Yes. Well we got separated, didn’t we?” I really had to speak with him about this growing impudence. It would most certainly not do.

“Would you fancy a cup of tea, m’lord?” he asked, sipping his own.

“No. I’ve got something on the roof, and it needs to be brought down to the cellar. I’ll need your help.”

“Of course, m’lord. However I can be of service.” He put it tea down and folded his hands in front, ready for instructions.

“Follow me,” I said, and I briefly explained the situation. We went up to the third floor, where my bedchamber was, and took the ladder hidden behind a false wall up to the roof. There Lady Haldenby still lay. Paralyzed. Interesting, these creatures.

“Oh dear,” Cecil said. “Is she all right?”

“Does she look all right, Cecil?” I said with more than a little annoyance myself. Something was amiss with Cecil as well. His behavior of late. Everything was not as it should be. “Just hold the trap open for me until I get on the ladder,” I instructed, “Then you’ll have to descend. I’ll lower her down to you.”

“Very good, m’lord.”

After straightening her limbs, I lifted her into my arms and stepped on the top rung of the ladder, holding the trap open with my leg, and waited for Cecil to get to the bottom. Once there, I lowered her down into his arms.

“Just put her in the hallway,” I yelled down to him. “Then go get the restraints in the cellar ready. I’ll have her down there in a few minutes.”

“Very good, m’lord,” he called up the chute.

I climbed down the ladder to see that Cecil did as I asked. I threw Lady Haldenby over my shoulder and headed downstairs. When I reached the main floor, Thomas came in and locked the door behind him.

“Avalon?” I asked hopefully.

“She made it home, m’lord.”

“Thank you, Thomas,” I said, relieved she was all right.

“She was quite distraught, m’lord. If I may ask, m’lord, what happened out there?”

“As you can see, Thomas,” I said to him, indicating the woman thrown over my shoulder,

“I’m still in the middle of it. I’ll fill you in later. Thank you for your continued excellent service, Thomas. I couldn’t have done this without you tonight. That will be all for now, but stay close.

I’ll be visiting Avalon later if possible.”

“Yes, m’lord.” There was a hint of pride on his face, and I realized I had never praised him before. I had to do so more often. Indeed. He was a good man.

I continued through the back hallway and into the kitchen. On the left was a large pantry, and descending from the pantry was a ladder that led down into the cellar. It was a large, food storage cellar, but this household obviously didn’t need very much food, so half of it was converted into a chamber for my more dubious diversions. My own chamber of horrors.

“Cecil?” I called down.

“Here, m’lord,” he said, appearing at the bottom of the ladder.

“Good man, here she comes.” I lowered her down, just as before. “Clamp her in tight, and I’ll be there shortly.”

I still had the hatchet tucked into my belt, but I went back into the kitchen to get a few knives as well. Didn’t know how easily she would talk, but it would be fun to find out.

I jumped down into the cellar, and a dust cloud of dirt formed around my feet as I landed.

Cecil had done as I asked again, which shouldn’t come as a surprise, but it did. His behavior had indeed been strange of late.

The woman-creature in question was securely in place. Her arms and legs were both clasped in iron shackles upon a heavy wooden table. She lay there, still as stone.

“Will that be all, m’lord?” Cecil said. He seemed rather nervous and anxious to leave.

Perhaps he was getting skittish in his middle-age.

“No stomach for it anymore, ol’ boy,” I chided.

“Not tonight, m’lord. If that will be all.”

“Yes. Fine. But stay close. I might need you after all.”

“Of course, m’lord.”

Cecil scrambled up the ladder and left me alone in the dimly lit cellar with my prey.

Now to get some answers.

Grabbing the stake firmly, I gave it a good tug and pulled it out of her chest. She immediately animated, lunging for me, but the shackles kept her in place. As she was struggling, I noticed the chest wound close. Mere seconds. She healed even faster than I do.

“Interesting,” I said.

Recognition sparked in her eyes, and she said, “You!”

“Yes, my dear. It is I. How was your weekend?” At this her struggling increased, frantic she was and determined to reach me.

“You! You monster! You killed me!” she screeched, her copper locks bouncing against the table as she struggled to get free.

“That I did, but I guess I didn’t do all that good a job, seeing as how you’re moving about again. Tell me, my dear, why didn’t you stay dead?” She stopped wrestling against her restraints and finally lay still.

“I had my heart set on revenge. Taking you down, I had hoped.” she snarled.

“Here I am. Take me down,” I teased.

She struggled against the iron anew, but the bondage didn’t budge. Given enough time with her supernatural strength, she might wriggle free, so I need make this quick.

“Who brought you back?” I asked.

She didn’t speak but rather pursed her lips tightly together and stared up at the ceiling.

I showed her one of the larger knives from the kitchen, twisting it between my fingers. Her eyes went from the knife to the hatchet stuck in my belt. She tensed against the restraints and tried to break free again.

“Who brought you back?” I repeated. I think it was clear what I would do if she didn’t answer. She already knew I was capable of that and so much more.

“Freddie,” she hissed, relaxing against the table again, “And he won’t be happy about your interference. Oh no. He won’t be happy at all!”

“Freddie?” My brain worked, putting the puzzle pieces together. “Would this be Frederick Lacy by chance?” I asked.

“That’s
Doctor
Lacy to you,” she spat at me.

“So he’s a doctor? What kind of ‘doctor’ is he?”

She growled at me, and her face began to protrude in the same manner as her husband’s did.

The beautiful redhead I enjoyed so recently was far from beautiful now. Her brow furrowed and bulged into a harsh ridge above her now sunken yellow eyes. Her eyebrow growing into a huge bushy line across her forehead.

“A genius,” she snarled, eyes crazy and feral all at once. “A genius that will rule the world!”

Quite clear, that. She’s insane.
She was growling and snapping her considerable jaws at me, her snout much larger than her husband’s had extended. I must’ve cut him off in mid-morph. She truly was a beast unlike which I have ever seen.

This doctor was obviously insane as well.

“See this here?” I said, showing the stake to her, shouting over her snarls. “I will stick this right back into your heart unless you give me the information I require. Understand?”

She didn’t. She just kept snarling and struggling against the restraints until I heard the table splinter. Her hand was at my throat in a flash, causing me to drop the stake. She began squeezing, but I had no breath for her to cut off. Even against my marble flesh, I could feel that her strength matched if not surpassed mine, and she would likely decapitate me with her grip if I let it go on much longer. I grabbed the hatchet from my belt and swung, taking the arm off at the elbow. She shrieked, and so did I. Her hand was still grasped around my throat and still squeezing! I managed to get it off with some difficulty, but by the time my attention turned back to Lady Haldenby, her other hand was free. I flung one of the knives I had brought from the kitchen at her, and it landed square in her eye, distracting her for a moment, long enough for me to pick up the dropped stake. Hurling another knife allowed me the distraction to access her heart, and I drove the stake in once again. Paralyzed anew. A mad dog in heat, frozen. Without further hesitation, I took her head off, killing her for the second time. The pile of dust on my table told me she’d stay dead.

It had been a busy week.

After a quick change into something not covered in blood, I decided to visit the brothel again, hoping they hadn’t yet removed the bodies. This had all gone too far. Whoever this Lacy fellow was, I would ensure that he did not succeed in this insanity. As far as we knew, all those things are now dead, but I had to make sure about the two girls murdered tonight. Make sure they wouldn’t rise again.

Moving quickly through town, I ran across the rooftops or kept to the shadows down on street level, for it was late enough now that there were scarcely any people left out and about.

Any strange sight by a random bystander would be explained by excessive alcohol at this late hour. I arrived back in Gray’s Inn in but a few minutes’ time. The scene was much as I had left it hours ago, but with fewer police. I no longer had my disguise, so I had to use glamour, preferably to just slip by them unnoticed. I wrapped my face up in a scarf and pulled my hat down low, just in case.

Do not see me.
I repeated over and over in my mind, transmitting my will upon them as I approached. It worked, as I walked right through them and into the brothel without so much as a sideways glance. Coppers were easy, especially when they were already distracted. Slipping past the inspector, who was taking notes and talking to one of the constables, I moved into the back, where the first girl was. She was still there beneath the bloody sheet. I pulled the sheet back and looked at the body, lying supine. Amazing that she’d ever come back with so much damage. Her throat was virtually nonexistent. Most of the meat was gone; I could see straight back to the spine. Still, I would have to stop this madness first, and then I could tend to my beloved. Out of curiosity, I looked further down the body, barely a woman. She was but a girl. Perhaps there was a kindness in her dying, not like this, of course, but she couldn’t have chosen this life. There were egregious rumors about Madame Jeffries after all. So many young girls had been enslaved by that vile woman. Yes, this indeed was a better fate than to be used so. Even with the horrific way she died. The girl’s torso was a mass of dried blood and ribbons of shredded skin. Whoever did this, likely Lady Haldenby or that other whore, must’ve been quite angry.

Or hungry.

There was no way this girl would rise again. It would be agony for her with these wounds, even with quick healing, too much was gone. Then again, I didn’t know much about these monsters, so I had better take the safe road.

“This way,” I heard a man say as a door closed down the hallway. I had to be quick. I snatched the hatchet from my belt and in one stoke did the deed. After covering her back up, I flattened myself against the dingy wall by the door and began repeating my mantra:
Do not see
me.

“The first one is here. You know what to do. Cause of death is obvious, but I’ll still do full examination back at my laboratory,” the same voice said as three men walked in. The leader carried a black leather medical bag; he was presumably the medical examiner. They went straight over to the girl. I slipped out behind them and into where the next girl lay, two doors down. As I entered her room, I heard the doctor exclaim, “Dear God! Who would do such a thing?”

Another voice ordered, “Quick, check the other body.”

I had to work quickly.. Without taking care, I tore the sheet off and beheaded her. She wasn’t as ripped up as the other, so reanimation seemed much more possible. I turned to leave just as the men entered the room.

They saw me standing there with my hatchet, and they rushed toward me shouting, but before they reached me I was gone, out the back door, and halfway down Gray’s Inn Road. To them, it would have looked as though I just disappeared before their eyes. Let them try to explain that to their superiors. But now, unfortunately, they have a suspect. At least height and build, as they couldn’t see my face. Sometimes paranoia pays off.