Requiem (The Penny Dreadfuls Book 1) (16 page)

“Price! Grab on to me!”

He slowed and looked back. “Miss MacLeod, what are you doing?”

“Saving our lives. I hope.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Price said.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and Chastity fired the spike. It shot through the air with a sound like a brass zipper being undone and sank solidly into the bricks. Just as the spoke bit home, Chastity felt the ground give way beneath their feet and groaned as her arm took their combined weight. She grabbed the cable with both hands and let the bracelet pull them both to the top. By the time they reached the wall, the bracelet was bent into a trapezoid, but it held. They climbed to the top of the barricade and collapsed, panting and exhausted. Below, the tunnel had completely caved in and Chastity could hear voices approaching as the locals came to investigate now the noise had subsided.

Chastity sat up and pulled the now useless bracelet off.  It had done its job, but she doubted even Herbert and Nikola would be able to make it work again. The spike was bent, the cable was fraying and the bracelet was so misshapen she could hardly get it off. It was also uncomfortably warm to the touch.

“Thank you, lads,” she muttered. She then tossed the broken device into the still-subsiding sinkhole.

Price sat up. “That was most impressive. Do all your cases end this way?”

Chastity climbed to her feet. “It isn’t over, Inspector. We haven’t found whoever is behind this, those were just lackeys doing his bidding. Whatever it is we’re hunting is far worse than a few Mariketh and zombies.”

She helped Price up and hissed at the pain in her arm.

“What’s wrong?” Price asked.

Chastity flexed her arm and shook out her fingers, which were going numb. “I must have strained it on the escape. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

Price dropped down onto the street and then helped her down beside him. When they were both safely down he turned to the crowd. “Alright, ladies and gentlemen, alright. Inspector Price, Scotland Yard. There has been an accident, but no one has been hurt. Please return to your homes, the Metropolitan will deal with the issue in due time.”

“Hang on,” a nearby Bobby said. “You’re a Yank!”

“I’ve heard of ‘im,” another one said. “E’s alright. Come on, everyone, back to your business, nothing to see here.”

The crowd began to disperse and Chastity led the way through the throngs toward a better section of town where they were more likely to find a cab to take them to the Sanctuary. There had to be something she’d missed. Perhaps Malachi had found something about Dippel that would explain his presence in Cross Bones or where he’d gone.

They were just at the corner of the next street when pain shot through her arm and she felt sick. She could feel sweat standing out on her forehead in spite of the chill. A moment later the ground came up to meet her as her knees gave way. Price caught her and lowered her to the cobbles.

“Miss MacLeod?”

She looked up at him and her vision swam, her eyes sliding away unable to focus on anything for more than a moment. She struggled with her jacket and dropped it to the ground beside her. Her arm beneath was blistered and shot through with black, as if her very blood was darkening. The Mariketh’s blood had eaten through her jacket and done it’s vile work.

“The Sanctuary,” she murmured as her vision darkened. “Christchurch, Newgate, ask for Father Will…”

She trailed off as her consciousness fled.

THE FIRST THING
to return was taste. The part of Chastity that was awake wondered why this was so and wondered why, seeing she was not dead, the taste that came back was bitter turmeric and what she thought must be dandelions. Why couldn’t it have been savory chocolate or a French pastry from the shop on Market Street?

Sound and movement followed and Chastity could hear Price arguing with Father William. It was a battle she’d just as soon not witness, but it sounded as if they were arguing about her. Price was against them letting her go back into the field and Father William sounded as if he was being persuaded, at least for the moment.

She tried to say, “I’m fine.”

What came out was more a sort of “wtsfgl” followed by a raspberry.

“Stay out of it,” Malachi murmured in her ear. “You need to rest and I’m with your Inspector on this.”

Chastity tried again. Her voice was a hoarse croak but she managed, “I’m fine,” before running out of breath.

She heard Price’s American boots coming closer. “You are not fine, Miss MacLeod. I carried you to a carriage and all the way back to this Sanctuary of yours.”

“You’ve been unconscious for hours,” Malachi added.

She felt Father William’s calloused hand on hers. “Were it not for Nikola and Richard’s experiments into toxins, you would be dining with St. Raphael himself. You’ve done an excellent job. Let Crane take it from here.”

The hell I will
, Chastity thought.

“I said I’m fine.” Her voice was weak, but stronger than it had been a moment ago. “I will see the case through.”

She sat up and held her head, which ached like someone was beating on it with a mallet. She was in her room and had been placed on the lounge wrong way up, presumably to keep blood flowing to her head.

“What’s been happening, please?”

Price sat on the lounge beside her.“You were dying, as I said. Your skin had gone all black and by the time we arrived you’d stopped breathing. A skinny man with a mustache—”

“—Nikola.”

“Got you breathing again,” Price finished.

“Once you were breathing we administered an antivenom we’d been working on,” Herbert said from somewhere behind the door.

Malachi stepped aside to reveal Herbert’s worried little face. “We didn’t know if it would work on Mariketh poison or not. I’m glad it did.”

Chastity smiled, though it felt as if her face would crack. “Me, too. Thank you, Herbert. And everyone. If you will excuse me, I would like to get changed and go about my duties—”

“You will do no such thing!” Malachi said. “Chas, you almost died today. Let someone else do this!”

Chastity shook her head. “This is my case, mine and Christian’s and I will see it through.”

William looked troubled, but a moment later he nodded. “As you wish, if you insist on seeing it through, the case is yours. What of you, Inspector Price?”

Chastity looked at him. He offered her a lazy smile and looked up at William.

“Miss MacLeod saved my life and has given me her trust. She has mine and I will see this through with her. Your secret is safe with me.”

“Thank you, Inspector. Your assistance is most welcome.”

Father William offered Price his hand. “I’m entrusting her to you, Inspector. See she comes to no additional harm. We will discuss your future involvement once the case has been resolved.”

Price shook William’s hand and the men filed out one at a time, with Price indicating he would wait outside. Malachi lingered until the others had gone, then sat beside Chastity.

“Are you certain of this?” he asked. “You did almost die today.”

Chastity squeezed his hand. “Almost doesn’t count, brother, and I am more certain of this than anything. That tunnel was full of undead, creatures we’ve only seen in books and nightmares. Something is going on and it is up to me and the Inspector to put an end to it. I can trust no, not even Crane.”

“Then you should know you are right,” Malachi said. “Father William has had me looking into the name Dippel for the last several days. Have you ever heard of Mary Shelley?”

Chastity leaned back, wishing the devils would stop pounding on her head. “She was the wife of an agent, as I recall. Percy or something. Her diaries are all over the library.”

“Percy Shelley, yes. But he was not the agent, she was. She used the cover of his trip with Lord Byron to investigate strange happenings in Romanie. While traveling, she uncovered a villainous man named Johan Dippel. It was thought she had dealt with him, but after recent happenings, Father William has had other thoughts. I found evidence that a Hans Dippel has lodgings at the Langham. I had planned to send Crane to investigate until you mentioned the name this morning.”

“It can’t possibly be the same man,” Chastity said. “The man I saw was no more than thirty-five.”

“It must be the same man. Or someone with a very poor choice of aliases,” Malachi said.

Chastity rubbed her temples and looked at him. “Why is that? Did someone kill off the entire bloodline or something?”

“Something like that. Dippel’s wife and child were in an accident that killed them both, leaving him the last of his line. So you see, if he isn’t the same man, he is still the man you are trying to locate.”

“Is there anything else you can tell me?” Chastity asked.

Malachi stood. “Yes. If is the same man that Mary encountered so many years ago, he is dangerous and quite insane. It was Mary’s last mission, she left the Order shortly after her return to England.”

“The Inspector and I will look into it forthwith, then,” Chastity said. “But first I need to get out of these dirty clothes and into something more appropriate. Will you ask someone to tend to Price while I clean up? He could use some silver ammunition and basic gear if he is to accompany me.”

Malachi still looked worried, but he nodded his agreement. “I will ask Herbert to outfit him as a proper gentleman.”

Chastity hugged him and let him depart. She still had much to do, including a paper of salicin to help with the crashing pain in her head. She locked the door behind Malachi and set about getting ready. She had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

THE BELLS OF
the church were chiming the dinner hour when Chastity entered the library to find Inspector Price. She’d dressed in a version of her night armor that left her face and head bare and would be likely to cause less comment than her full gear. Inspector Price had been provided a clean and pressed version of his own suit complete with a new hat styled for the American west. On the table in front of him was a stack of silver cartridges for his Colt along with some items Chastity didn’t recognized, but that Chastity suspected were very American. He looked up when she entered then stood and tipped his hat.

“Miss MacLeod, it is good to see you with some color to your face again. How are you feeling?”

Chastity gave him a smile she hoped was prettier than she felt. “I am well enough, Inspector. It looks as if Herbert has kitted you out with an appropriate amount of ammunition. Is there anything else you require?”

“I don’t think so. To be honest, I’m a little overwhelmed. Even the Rangers don’t outfit as well as you do here. Who pays for all of this?”

Chastity shrugged. “We’ve been in operation for quite a long time, Inspector. We have the funding of the Church as well as a variety of sources of our own. It doesn’t pay to keep all your eggs in one basket. Shall we? We have a date at the Langham.”

“Do we? That sounds like fun, I’ve never held a date with a mysterious vigilante.”

“I suppose Moody’s room above the cobbler’s doesn’t count?”

Chastity winked and turned away before he could answer.

Outside, the sky had clouded over, obscuring what little moon there was. Were it not for the street lamps that flickered behind their globes, the night would have been black as pitch. Miracle-worker that he was, Asok had arranged for a cab and Price helped Chastity in before following.

The pair rode in silence, mixing their thoughts with the soft clop clop clop of hooves on cobbles. Thunder rolled in the distance and lightning flickered, momentarily turning night into a strange stygian day. The lightning was repeated again and then again, and the thunder rolled so close that the carriage shook and the horses whinnied in dismay. Chastity looked out, but could see nothing but townspeople hurrying for cover from the oncoming storm and the lights of the city.

Minutes later they arrived at their destination. The Hansom cab made a slow turn and stopped. Chastity looked out at the hotel and couldn’t help but be impressed once again at its enormity and beauty. She’d been there once before, of course, the Sanctuary was but a thirty minute ride away, however she’d never been inside. The inn was six stories tall, made of brick and wood that were uniquely English in color and cut. Smoke drooled from dozens of chimneys and lights flickered in every window, giving the inn a warm and inviting appearance.

Price helped Chastity down and they approached the inn, their boots crunching on gravel and straw placed to keep out the worst of the mud. Two men clad in blue and gold uniforms opened the wide wood and iron doors as they approached. Though the men were both smiling, Chastity got an odd feeling from them. She could see nothing to cause her unease and proceeded through the doors with Price.

The lobby could only be described as luxurious. Heavy tapestries decorated with images from London’s past covered the walls, both for beauty and warmth. A huge fireplace crackled with merry flame and half a dozen visitors sat in chairs enjoying warm drinks and reading by the gas lamps that were placed around the room.

On the far side was a wide reception desk that could have accom-
modated a dozen people at once. A single middle-aged man with a shock of white hair and silver rimmed spectacles stood behind the long stretch of oak. He looked up as they entered and gave them a wide smile.

“Good evening, sir and madam. Welcome.”

Price leaned against the desk and tipped his hat. “Good evening. Inspector Price, Scotland Yard. My associate and I are looking for Mr. Dippel, is he in?”

The man adjusted his spectacles and looked at the registration book in front of him. “Yes…are you on the guest list? I don’t see an Inspector Price.”

Chastity placed a short stack of coins on the counter, letting them clink into place one at a time. “He isn’t expecting us. It is a sort of special surprise and we wouldn’t want to spoil it. Where can we find him?”

The clerk looked around as if concerned a manager would jump out at any moment, then reached for the coins. “Yes, of course. He has the Grand Ballroom reserved for the evening. I will get a man to escort you.”

Chastity smiled her thanks and turned around to survey the lobby behind them. Though beautiful, something about it was making her skin crawl. Nothing seemed out of place, just well-to-do travelers relaxing with a variety of drinks, books and tobacco, but she trusted her instincts and right now they were screaming at her. After a moment, she realized what it was. There was no idle chatter, no slurp of beverages, no plumes of smoke and no one had turned a page since she started watching. They were just sitting there like corpses waiting for their photographs.

She turned away as the bellman arrived and offered to escort them to the Grand Ballroom. Price took her arm and she leaned close, so only he could hear.

“Christian, something is very wrong. Do not look, but I believe everyone in the lobby is dead, or wishes they were.”

She could tell Price wanted to look, but his will was like iron. He nodded and kept walking. They followed the bellman up the wide, sweeping staircase to the second floor and further onto the narrower spiral that led to the higher floors. At the sixth, the bellman led the way down a corridor that overlooked the lobby to a pair of white gilded doors. As they approached, Chastity began to feel even more uneasy. The glass roof above was supported by columns, all of which would serve as cover for anyone wishing to remain hidden from people in the corridor. It fell as if dozens of eyes were watching, and she had a feeling they were.

“Inspector, perhaps we should come another time, yes? It is rather rude of us to crash his party,” she said.

Price looked at her and must have seen the concern in her eyes. “Indeed, you’re right, Miss MacLeod. Young man, could you take us back to the lobby?”

It was too late. The bellman turned and looked at them with eyes that were nothing but soulless black pits.

“We can’t let you do that, Miss MacLeod. Not when you’re the guest of honor,” the bellman said.

Price’s revolver cleared leather in a motion so fast Chastity almost missed it. He placed the barrel over the bellman’s nose and thumbed back the hammer.

“Step back, son, or your brains will be seeing daylight. We’re leaving.”

The bellman shook his head and clicked his teeth. “I don’t think so, Inspector. We are many.”

Dozens of men and women, their eyes as black and dead as the bellman’s stepped out from behind the pillars, weapons ready. Chastity placed a hand on Price’s arm.

“We cannot win, Inspector. There are alternatives to fighting.”

“You’re a smart woman, Miss MacLeod,” the bellman said with a sneer.

Chastity smiled. “You’ve no idea.”

She’d used Price’s distraction to palm one of Nikola’s toys. With the bellman’s eyes on her, she dropped the small vial she had been holding and pulled on Price’s arm. The world exploded in a burst of white light that blinded the bellman and his cohorts, giving Price and Chastity a head start. They pounded back down the corridor and ducked into one of the side hallways just as shots rang out behind them and punched holes on the plaster inches from their heads.

“You are full of surprises, Miss MacLeod,” Price said when they slowed.

“It’s part of the job,” Chastity replied. “When everything you fight is bigger and stronger, you learn the element of surprise is your greatest ally.”

The hallway ended in a balcony that overlooked the square below. The cold, hard square paved with straw, rocks and English mud, which wasn’t much softer than the rocks.

“Now what?” Price asked. “Do you have another bracelet?”

“Yes, but not like that one.”

Beside them was the door to one of the inn’s one-thousand rooms. Chastity knelt in front of it and sprinkled a pinch of powder over the lock. It opened at her whispered magik and she stepped through into a large foyer. A water closet sat to the left, a seating area ahead and to the far left was the sleeping area complete with a pair of deep feather beds each big enough for a family of four, but obviously intended for a single individual. Price followed and closed the door behind them.

“It won’t take them long to figure out what happened to us.”

Chastity was already at the far side of the room where a privacy screen had been placed. “A few minutes is all we need.”

Behind the screen was a locked door to the adjoining room. Like many of the city’s inns and hotels, the rooms were designed to expand into family-sized suites to accommodate larger parties. Chastity bypassed the lock and stepped through to the next room which was a virtual mirror image of the first save that it contained one of the hotel’s many fireplaces. It was a massive thing, made of brick faced with carved oak and polished brass.

“Fine, but what are we doing?” Price asked.

Chastity moved to the fireplace and looked inside. It was as she remembered from her nighttime forays during construction and would do nicely.

“When they built this hotel, they connected many of the fireplaces to assist in heating the building. A person willing to get lightly scorched can travel up or down inside the shafts that connect them without being seen,” she said. “I can climb to the roof and ascend into the ballroom without being seen by our friends.”

She pulled her mask from one of the pouches at her belt and wrapped it around her nose and mouth. Beside her, Price was looking into the shaft.

“I’ll never fit,” he said.

Chastity looked at him. “Probably not.”

“But you’re still going.”

“Yes. This is what I do, Christian.”

Price nodded. “I understand. I’ll just wait here, then.”

Chastity didn’t believe for one moment that Price would simply wait for her to come back or the creatures to find him.

“Whatever you do, don’t get yourself killed,” she said. “I’ve grown rather fond of you.”

“You either, Miss MacLeod,” Price said.

Chastity nodded and crawled into the fireplace. The heat from below was intense, she could feel it through her gloves and breeches, but it was tolerable. She moved sideways to the main chimney and looked up. Though she knew it was almost close enough to touch, smoke and soot obscured the sky. She took a deep breath and started climbing, using her strong legs to brace herself on the walls between pulls with her arms. It was slow going, made more difficult by a mask choked with soot. She dare not remove the mask, however. The smoke would be far worse than the soot.

After twenty minutes, she reached the iron grating that kept birds and other wildlife out of the chimney. It gave way to her insistent hammering and she pulled herself onto the roof where she lay just long enough to remove her mask and catch her breath.

The night was still dark, shot through with crackling lightning and the dull rumble of thunder, but it now had an underlying current of menace and anticipation that hadn’t been there before. Chastity rolled over, rose to her knees, and looked across the roof to the glass dome over the lobby and ballroom. With each flash of lightning green electricity crackled along copper pylons that had been installed in the shingles that covered the roof and arced over the glass to disappear somewhere inside the hotel. Whatever Dippel was planning, it was happening soon.

Chastity stood and started moving across the roof. The shingles were slick with a thin layer of ice and the going was even slower than the climb had been, but eventually she reached the edge of the glass dome and peered inside. The bellman and a dozen men were standing outside the door, armed with a mixture of pistols and swords. There was no sign of Price and Chastity hoped he was hiding, but she knew he would be up to something. He wasn’t the sort of man who would sit things out.

As she watched, several men approached carrying a struggling figure between them. At first Chastity thought that it was Price and her heart skipped a beat, but it was someone she didn’t recognize. The bellman, who seemed to be the leader, opened the door and let the two men enter with their prize.