Book 2 - Daemons Are Forever (13 page)

“Don’t you have any clothes you want to hang up? Women always have clothes. And shoes…and things.”

She shrugged easily. “Whenever I get bored, I just magic up a new outfit. I only have to see something I like, and I can duplicate it with a thought. I never paid for a new outfit in my life, and they always fit perfectly. I’ve been recycling the same material for years.”

I hope you take time out to wash it now and again
, I thought, but had enough sense not to say out loud.

I stepped back and looked at my possessions scattered around the room. They looked…sort of lost. They were present-day, transitory things, in a room that had been here before I was born and would still be here after I was gone. There weren’t any of my parents’ old possessions still here. They would have been thrown out or redistributed long ago, when the next occupant moved in. The family has never encouraged sentiment. We aren’t supposed to care about possessions, because only the family is important. Look forward, never back. And never get too attached to anything or anyone, because the enemy will use that against you.

They don’t tell you the enemy sometimes includes the family.

“Don’t you want to bring anything here from your old place?” I said to Molly.

She shrugged lazily. “I have my magical iPod, full of my favourite music. Endless capacity, no batteries to run down, and it can pick up any tune from any period. It can even sing harmonies with me on karaoke nights. But that’s it, really. I’ve never cared much about
things…
You can always get more things… With my magic I’ve raised beg, borrow, and steal to an art form.”

“So,” I said. “What do you think of the infamous Drood family home, now you’ve been here for a while? Is it everything you thought it would be?”

“All that and more,” said Molly. “It’s certainly…impressive.”

“You don’t like it,” I said, and was surprised at how disappointed I sounded.

“Don’t be upset, sweetie,” said Molly. She came over and slipped an arm around my waist. “It just isn’t me, that’s all. I feel…shut in, oppressed, all the time I’m inside. I’m the spirit of the wild woods, remember? I need…nature, and open space, and room to breathe! Not all this dead wood and cold stone…”

“You don’t mind hotels…”

“Only because I know I can walk out of them whenever I feel like it. I’m stuck here, with you. Not that I don’t want to be with you, I do, I do, but…”

“We do have extensive grounds,” I said. “You could walk in them all day and all night, and still not see everything there is to see. And you know I wouldn’t want to keep you here if you were unhappy.”

“Of course I know that, Eddie!” She kissed me quickly. “This is coming out all wrong … I want to be with you, and you have to be here. I know that.”

“We won’t always have to be here. As soon as the new Council’s ready to take over running things, I will demote myself to field agent and be out of here so fast that anyone watching will end up with whiplash.”

“But how long will that take, Eddie?”

“I don’t know. It’ll take … as long as it takes. Molly…”

“Hush. It’s all right. We’ll work something out.”

“Yes,” I said. “We will.”

And all the time I was holding her, I was thinking,
If she couldn’t stay here…If she left, would I go with her
?
And leave my family to tear itself apart
?
Risk the whole future of humanity, because I left my job unfinished
?
Would I damn the world, to be with her
?
Would I do that
?
Could I do that
?

In the end, she let go first and went to check the state of her makeup in the bedside hand mirror.

“So,” she said brightly. “What’s the story with the Time Train?”

“I was hoping you’d forgotten about that,” I said.

“Is it really a time machine?”

“Oh yes. Well, sort of. It started out as someone’s pet project. Sooner or later every Armourer gets a bee in his bonnet about something…some favourite theory, some great idea they’re convinced will make their name immortal within the family. If they can just convince their Matriarch to fund it. One guy was convinced he could build a bomb powerful enough to blow up the whole world.”

“What happened?” said Molly, fascinated.

“When the Matriarch couldn’t make him see what a really bad idea that was, she had him put in suspended animation.”

“Why not just kill him?”

“Because someday we might need a bomb powerful enough to destroy the whole world.”

Molly shuddered. “Your family can be downright scary sometimes, Eddie. So the Time Train is one of these obsessions, is it?”

“Pretty much. I don’t think we’ve used the thing a dozen times in the two centuries since it was constructed.”

“Why not?” said Molly. “I mean, I can think of a dozen really good uses for a time machine, any one of which could make us impossibly rich…”

“Thought you didn’t care about things?”

“It’s the principle of the thing.”

“It’s not that simple,” I said. “The possibilities for really appalling cock-ups, disasters, tragedies, and paradoxes are enough to give anyone nightmares. Don’t even ask me how the Time Train works, or I’ll start to whimper. Time travel, theory and practice, makes my head hurt. Do me a favour, Molly, and change the subject again.”

“All right…Let’s talk about the people we suggested bringing in as tutors. And don’t pull a face like that, Eddie Drood. The wind might change and then you’d be stuck that way. You know we have to discuss this.”

“Only because my choices were sane and practical, and you chose two monsters!”

“They are not monsters! Or at least, not all the time…And really, Eddie, sane and practical? Yeah, right…Janissary Jane has a good reputation as a fighter, especially when she’s got a few drinks in her, but let’s be real about this; she is way past her prime.”

“She’s a veteran demon fighter,” I said. “Do you have any idea how rare that is? She’s been killing demons for longer than most demon fighters live. There’s a lot she could teach us, if we can persuade her to come here.”

“All right, what about the Blue Fairy?” Molly pulled a sour face. “He’s weak, Eddie, and always will be. And he’s a risk. He’s half elf, and you can never trust an elf. They always have a hidden agenda. Trust me, I know.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Are you about to tell me of another old boyfriend?”

“An elf? Please!” Molly shuddered theatrically. “I’d sew it up first.”

“Pushing that unexpected mental image firmly to one side,” I said, “my choices are defendable. Yours are completely unacceptable. I mean, come on … a psycho killer and a luck vampire?”

“They’ve been good friends to me,” Molly said firmly. “And they can tell your family about a world they know nothing of. Weren’t you the one who said that there was more to this world than just good guys and bad guys? Subway Sue and Mr. Stab can open your family’s eyes to a whole new way of looking at things…That is what you wanted, isn’t it? To break wide open the Droods’ narrow worldview, and teach them new ways of thinking? Like I did with you?”

“Well, yes, but…”

“No buts. They’ll make excellent tutors. As long as they’re watched carefully. And maybe even excellent warriors in our upcoming war against the demons.”

“If Mr. Stab even looks at a girl in a way I don’t like, I will kill him,” I said.

“You can try,” said Molly. “And trust me, I’ll kill that Roger bloody Morningstar first chance I get. You should never have allowed him inside your home. I don’t care what he says, or who vouches for him; his first allegiance will always be to Hell.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “He won’t be here long. The family doesn’t allow outsiders to move into the Hall.”

“I’m an outsider,” said Molly.

“But you’re with me. We’re a couple, sharing a room. Such things are…accepted, if officially frowned upon. Provided you’re senior enough to get away with it.”

“The more I learn about your family, the less I like it,” said Molly.

“You see?” I said. “We have so much in common. Come on, let’s get out of the Hall for a while, and away from the bloody family and its demands.”

“Right,” said Molly. “Let’s go pick up the tutors. They’re all going to take some persuading to come here, and who can be more persuasive than us?”

“Exactly,” I said. “I just need to look in on Harry first, before we leave. I want to make it very clear what will happen to him if he tries to stir up trouble for me with the family while I’m away.”

“You really think a few harsh words are going to stop him?” said Molly.

“No, but hopefully it will make him think twice, and by then we should be back again. Especially if I remind him that I have a torc, and he doesn’t.”

Molly considered me thoughtfully. “Are you planning on giving him one of the new torcs?”

“Of course,” I said. “He’s James’s son, and an excellent field agent in his own right. The family needs experienced men like him. But I don’t think I’ll tell him that, just yet.”

“And what if, after he gets his torc, he challenges you to a duel for the leadership of the family? What if he doesn’t even bother with a challenge, and just ambushes you?”

“Oh, I don’t think he’d do that.”

“Why not? He hangs around with a hellspawn!”

“Yes, but he’s a Drood. The family would never accept a backstabber as leader, and he knows it.”

Molly sighed. “You have such faith in your family, Eddie. Even after all the things they’ve done to you.”

“The Droods are good people, at heart. We’re all trained from childhood to fight the good fight. We just…lost our way, that’s all. And Harry does have an excellent reputation. If he can do a better job than me as leader, let him. I’d be quite happy to stand down and go back to my old job as field agent, with no responsibilities to anyone save myself.”

“You really think he’d let you go?”

I grinned. “He will if he knows what’s good for him.”

Molly laughed and hugged me hard. “That’s my Eddie! You could be the most powerful man in the world running the most powerful organisation in the world, and you really would give it all up, wouldn’t you?”

“First chance I got,” I said. “I never wanted any of this. I’ve always had issues with authority figures. I certainly never wanted to be one. All I want is you, and a life for us together.”

She kissed me, and then pushed me away. “Go and talk to Harry. I’ll go for a wander round the grounds. Where shall we meet up?”

“At the Armoury, in an hour,” I said. “If we’re going after Janissary Jane, the Blue Fairy, Subway Sue, and Mr. Stab … I want to be really well armed.”

I checked with the Sarjeant-at-Arms, just to make sure Harry had ended up where he was supposed to be, in Uncle James’s old room. The Sarjeant always knows where everyone is. That’s part of his job. The Sarjeant allowed that the new arrival was indeed in the Gray Fox’s old room. He seemed to find that appropriate, but I could tell something was bothering him.

“Something’s bothering you, Sarjeant,” I said. “Don’t you approve of Harry returning home at last?”

“He seems a pleasant enough gentleman,” the Sarjeant said slowly. “But his … companion; that’s something else. Never thought I’d live to see the day when we allowed a hellspawn under our roof.”

“Harry vouches for him,” I said. “As is his right. But feel free to keep a very watchful eye on anything Roger Morningstar gets up to while he’s here.”

The Sarjeant nodded. “Like I needed you to tell me that, boy.”

“Don’t push your luck, Cyril. What can you tell me about Harry?”

“Nothing you don’t already know.”

“My Uncle James never spoke about him to you?”

“No. He never did. The Gray Fox never discussed his relationships outside the family.”

“Did you ever know James’s wife, Melanie Blaze?”

The Sarjeant’s mouth twitched briefly in something that might almost have been a smile. “I had the honour of meeting that lady on a few occasions. A most remarkable personage.”

I waited, but that was all he had to say. I nodded to the Sarjeant, and he turned and walked briskly away. I shrugged and made my way through the winding corridors of the west wing to what used to be Uncle James’s room. I spent a lot of time there when I was younger, enjoying his company when he was resting at home, in between assignments. In many ways, he was the father I never had. I was like a son to him, so why did he never talk to me about his real son, Harry?

I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I didn’t think to knock, just opened the door and barged right in, like I used to when it was Uncle James’s room. And then I crashed to a halt as I saw Harry Drood and Roger Morningstar. They were together, in each other’s arms. They were kissing. They broke apart immediately and stared coldly at me, standing shoulder to shoulder. I turned unhurriedly and closed the door carefully behind me.

“You really should learn to lock your door around here,” I said.

“You saw,” said Harry.

“Yes,” I said. “I saw.”

“Are you going to tell everyone?”

“Why should I?” I said. “It’s no one’s business but your own.”

“If you were to inform the Matriarch,” Harry said slowly, “and the family…You know they’d never accept me as their leader. The family is still very old-fashioned about some things.”

“That’s their problem,” I said. “I don’t give a damn. Is this…why you never came home?”

Harry and Roger looked at each other, and relaxed slightly. Harry took Roger’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

“This … is why my father never spoke to you about me,” said Harry. “Though he often spoke to me about you. He had great faith in you, Eddie. Said you had it in you to be as great a field agent as him. He never said that about me, even though I tried so hard to impress him. He was everything I ever wanted to be … But he could never come to terms with the fact that his only legitimate son was gay. It meant so much to him, you see, to continue his line within the family. And for that he needed a legitimate child…The Droods have always been very big on bloodlines. The Matriarch gave him hell for marrying my mother; you can image what she would have said if she’d ever found out about me…