The Queen Is Dead (The Immortal Empire) (12 page)

Her admission should have frightened me, but it didn’t. I’d rather know Val was in the hands of Dr Frankenstein than not know at all. “Well, at least I’m aware of what I’m dealing with now. Tell me everything you can remember that might be useful.”

“All right. I told you they’ll need a large building. There were easily another dozen half-bloods where I was. The cells were in a separate area from where they did their tests. There was an infirmary area, a room where they tested our physical capabilities. There was an operating theatre, rooms where they conducted the sexual experiments, and a nursery.”

I have to admit my stomach clenched at that. I’d heard about some of the sexual experiments from Dede–there was a halvie in one of the subterranean rooms here at Bedlam who had been raped repeatedly by a goblin in some facility. I’d never thought that there might have been children from such an atrocity. Not ones that lived.

How had they got a goblin? Did they abduct them as well? I could imagine a goblin doing terrible things to a human, even to a halvie if the mood struck, but not because they were told to. If a gob was hungry enough, or vicious enough, it would do whatever it wanted.

It was something for me to ask the prince about the next time I saw him. As much as I would rather not be a goblin, I kept coming back to it. I felt responsible for them, even though they’d done just fine without a champion for more than a century.

“So they need a structure with electricity, hot water, temperature control. Probably one situated where there’s no nosy neighbours.”

My sister nodded. “I don’t remember he Kt r one aring any noises other than ones from inside the building. No traffic, no outside voices. They had the windows boarded up.”

Which led to my next question. “Fee, were they… all aristos?”

“The ones running the place were, but most of the staff were human.” She swallowed. “There were even a few half-bloods.”

That really got up my arse. I could see humans wanting to poke at halvies; I could understand aristos too if they thought it might benefit them in some way. But halvies? What in the name of ruddy hell could inspire half-bloods to torture their own kind? How cruel did you have to be?

“They need equipment for what they do,” Ophelia went on. “We monitor most pharmaceutical and medical supply companies in and around the city in our own efforts to find these labs. We’ve been trying to find one up north recently, but they’ve become better at eluding us. Mum would probably give you access to our information.”

Why the hell hadn’t she told me this to begin with?

“It’s not that simple,” she added, obviously seeing the tightening of my jaw. “This stuff is routed through other companies and holdings, both legitimate and bogus. These people know what they’re doing and how to cover their tracks. The moment we expose one weak link, they change tactics. It’s the reason we haven’t been able to shut more of them down. The one I was in burned down, but not before they emptied it and took the remaining prisoners with them. They set up a new
lab with the same amount of trouble it takes you or me to tie a corset.”

“Well, that certainly makes me feel better, thanks.” Sarcasm dripped from my tongue. How was I going to find Val?

“At least you know where to start looking,” she said. “You know they’re going missing from Freak Show, and usually from the private rooms. You hang out there long enough, something’s bound to happen.”

She had a point. I wouldn’t have to worry about Penny so much either if I was there to watch out for her myself. Not like I had anything else to do. I was currently unemployed.

I fished the transmitter out of my pocket and held it out to her. “Do you think you could see if there’s any useful information on here?”

Ophelia didn’t take it. She just stared at it, her eyes strangely wet. “No.”

“Why not?” I demanded. “You’ve done it before, surely.”

“Raj was in charge of that.” She met my gaze. “We haven’t found anyone else who can do it.”

If there was a scale measuring totally wankerness, I would be a solid ten at that moment. Raj had been her human lover. He’d also been a spy for Churchill, but Fee didn’t know that. I would never tell her–it would serve no purpose other than to hurt her. Church had killed Raj when he was done with him.

“Right. Sorry.” I put the device back in my pocket. Maybe the gobs would be able to analyse it for me. I should have gone there to begin with, but Ophelia had given me enough information to start with, and I could tell talking about it had brought up some unpleasant memories for her. As much as I
wanted to find Val, I was loath to cause Ophelia more discomfort. Really, me stumbling into her life had brought her nothing but pain.

We went to Dede’s room and Fee helped me pack up the things I wanted to keep. I think she was surprised when I told her to take what she wanted.

“Dede loved you,“Dede ˀ you,” I told her, throat tightening. “She felt like she was home here, which is more than I was able to give her.”

“She idolised you.” Ophelia took a pair of black and purple striped stockings from the pile of clothing and set them aside. “She was always telling us–me and Mum–about things you’d done for her, or how you were always the best at what you decided to do. I envied her for having you.”

If she’d made a noose out of those tights and hanged herself with it I wouldn’t have been more stunned and horrified than I was right then. I was not the best at whatever I decided to do, except maybe when it came to violence and being an arsehole. “Then you met me and that envy turned to pity.”

She shot me a droll look as she plucked a hairclip out of the pile as well. “You broke into a place that terrified you because you thought she needed to be rescued. I have three brothers, Xandra, but not one of them would have done that for me.”

And I’d already told her that I would. “Turns out this place wasn’t so scary after all–except for you, of course.”

She smiled–not much, but it was a smile regardless. “Of course.”

I don’t know just what happened exactly, or what changed, but at that moment I felt like we were actually sisters–and in a good way.

Of course that was when my rotary decided to start shrieking at me. I took it out of my pocket and checked the flip-slots for the incoming number. I pressed the button to connect.

“Hey, Penny. What’s going on?”

“Xandra, you have to get over here right freaking now.” Her voice was a shrill, shaking whisper that made my heart try to jump out of my chest.

“What is it?”

“The betties that took Val,” she said. “They’re back.”

I broke practically every traffic law on the way to Covent Garden, some of them more than once. Ophelia clung to me like a scab to a wound as the Butler screamed through the streets so fast the resulting wind stung my cheeks. Thank God I had my goggles, or I’d have been practically blinded by watering eyes.

A big red double-decker omnibus chugged along ahead of me, carrying the usual crowd of tourists–most from America–who flocked to London and the rest of the UK to see our ancient remains and our aristocracy. When I was Royal Guard I’d get stopped occasionally for a photo.

I was going to give them something to show the folks across the pond. I accelerated the motorrad and slipped around the bus, barely fitting between it and a motor carriage in the other lane. Flash bulbs went off above my head for a split second before I whipped in front of the cumbersome vehicle. Horns blared and I continued this pattern until there was no one left in front of me, blocking my path. Then I opened the Butler up, bent low over the steering bars.

Through all of this Ophelia never made a sound. She moved when I did, instinctively holding her body so that we were one with the machine. My opinion of her rose a notch or several.

We screamed to a halt outside Freak Show and jumped off before the engine had fully quieted.

“You can’t park there,” the halvie at the door told us.

I offered him a fifty-pound note. “Watch it for me.”

Kp wie at
There wasn’t much of a queue, but the few people there were very interested in what was going on. I could hear their excited voices as at least two of them recognised me.

“Where are we going?” Ophelia asked as we turned the corner of the building.

“Back exit,” I explained as we moved through the dark alley. I could really use my gun right about now, but all I had was my knife. Ophelia hadn’t brought her firearm either–not smart to run around with an illegal handgun when you were a traitor to the Crown.

The alley widened at the back of the club, breaking into a small cobblestoned courtyard dimly lit by a light above the door. I could have driven the Butler round here, but that would have announced our presence, and we’d be spotted soon enough without roaring in like Waterloo.

There was a small, nondescript white lorry parked there with the engine idling. Its windscreen and windows were tinted, and even with my superior night vision I was only just able to make out the fuzzy outline of the driver.

Call me suspicious, but I didn’t like that. Tinted glass meant two things in my world–that you were an aristo trying to escape the sunlight, or a human simply trying to escape.

The club door opened. A man backed out. I caught a whiff of him almost immediately. Some scents I could ignore, but there was no ignoring the scent of decaying human flesh. The Black Death had a bouquet all its own. In aristos, halvies and goblins it was a vaguely sweet smell, like vanilla or caramel. In humans it was something altogether nastier–a biscuit wrapped in rotting meat. Death.

He had a friend with him, who smelled almost as bad. This one had something over his shoulder. He turned as he stepped into the light, and I caught a glimpse of familiar five-inch heels.

Penny. How the fuck had they managed to grab her in a crowded club? She could have hidden from them, but knowing Penny, she’d tried to follow them. It didn’t matter how they’d nabbed her. What mattered was that there was no way I was letting them take her.

I bolted for them, heedless of whether or not they had weapons. Behind me Ophelia swore, but I felt her at my heels.

The blare of a horn rent the air, obliterating the thump of music from the club.

The betties looked surprised to see us, but thanks to their friend’s warning, they had a split second to react. I took a fist to the jaw. It was all I needed to bring the goblin to the surface–blood was a fabulous stimulant, especially my own. I reckon it was self-preservation.

Fangs tore free of my gums as the bones in my face ground into a new configuration. It hurt, but it was a good pain–like rubbing a bruise. I’d never looked in a mirror when this happened, so I had no real idea of what I looked like. Judging from the betty’s reaction, I’d say I looked fairly terrifying.

“Put her down,” I growled.

My betty pulled a shocker from his coat–a hand-held device that could incapacitate a half-blood for minutes at a time. He pressed a button and the prongs embedded themselves in my flesh. I felt the surge of electricity hit my body…

I was not a halvie. I was not human. According to many, I wasn’t even an aristocrat. And apparently, the amount needed to bring down a goblin was pretty freaking high. I felt the surge from the top of my head to the tip of my toes.

And it pissed me off.

Knt the tMy head swam, and my nerves jumped, but I did not go down. I came at the betty with a roar, taking him to the stones, mindless of how hard my knees hit the ground.

Behind me, Ophelia dealt with the other one. I trusted her to hold her own until I’d dealt with this one. I trusted her with Penny.

“Where’s my brother?” I demanded, shaking the betty like a dog with a new chew toy. “What did you do to him?”

I drew back my fist and jobbed the betty twice in the face. Something split beneath my knuckles, filling the night with the smell of diseased pus.

I gagged, my attention disrupted for that split second of stomach-rolling disgust. It was all the betty needed. Blackened fluid might be leaking from his flesh, but he was strong–very strong. He arched up, smashed me in the forehead with his own. I was more overpowered by the stench than by his strength, and so I wavered but I didn’t release him.

Pain raced up my arm. Shaking my head to clear my double vision, I looked down and saw that the betty’s teeth–both sets–were completely buried in my forearm.