The Queen Is Dead (The Immortal Empire) (25 page)

A door closed behind Ainsley as he entered what I assumed was the theatre part of the cellar. That was where the voices were the loudest. From the sound of it there had to be at least twenty people in there. All waiting to watch the two prisoners die.

Well, not if I could bloody help it. I snuck into the smaller room. It smelled of old blood. Excrement. Piss. And very, very scared human.

There were two cages–one on either side of the room. Each cell was about five by five. My heart kicked hard against my ribs when I saw the faces of the two men staring at me with a mix of surprise and horror. One was David–rat boy.

The other was Detective Inspector Maine.

“Come to finish us off yourself, have you?” Maine demanded. He had a rather nasty-looking gash above his left eye, and that side of his face glistened with blood.

Warm, delicious blood. Would he be terribly offended if I licked him?

I glared at him instead. “Yes, because nibbling on your miserable hide is so worth putting myself in danger.” Then, because I was curious, “How did you end up in a cage, anyway?”

For a moment I thought he wasn’t going to tell me. He just
stood there, grinding his teeth. “I was looking for CI Vardan. I jacked his rotary records and found the number thathe ght he w gave details on this place. Guv told me to give it a look. They nabbed me out back.”

I wondered how much Chillingham enjoyed being called “guv”. More importantly, I realised that if Maine could crack the code for this event, I wasn’t nearly as clever as I thought I was. Also, I realised that Val meant a lot to more people than just me.

“What are you doing here, Your Majesty?”

I didn’t like his tone. “I’m here for the appetisers. Toss off, Maine. I’m here because I called the same number you did and thought it might lead me to Val.”

He weaved slightly on his feet. He was most likely concussed. “Are you going to let us out or stand about jabbering all night?”

“I ought to leave your sorry arse for them to chew on, but Ainsley was right–I’m the first person the Yard would pounce on for it.”

“Doesn’t matter anyway.” He sneered. “Special Branch know where I was going and had strict instructions as to what to do if I didn’t check in on time. Backup will be here any moment now.”

I froze. The Yard would shut this place down. Important people would be arrested. Once the human world got wind of this, there would be a cry for blood–aristo blood. That war that everyone said was coming would ignite much sooner than they expected.

War was another one of those things I wasn’t ready for. Human numbers were so much greater, and now they had specialised weapons to use against us.

And damn it, Vex was out there in that room of twisted sickos. If he was arrested–at a horror show–he wouldn’t have to be challenged by his second. He’d be ousted. And if someone bent on war took his place, a bloodbath would ensue. My goblins would get swept up in it. That pup wouldn’t stand a chance. Avery and Val–if he was still alive–would be expected to fight. Expected to lay down their lives for the aristos. Humans outnumbered aristos. They outnumbered halvies. I wouldn’t have any choice but to unleash the goblins on them…

Whoa. I was getting too far ahead of myself, but it was a future easily predicted. Maybe war was coming. Maybe I couldn’t stop it, but I could stop the man I loved from getting hurt.

The man I loved. Fang me. That was a shock. And it almost completely overtook the fact that Val wasn’t here. Vex would have sent me a digigram by now if he was out in the viewing area. And he wasn’t in the cages. I couldn’t detect any trace of him–and I’d be able to smell him if he’d been here.

What the hell was I going to do? I pulled my rotary from my pocket and typed out a message to Vex. It was short and sweet:
GET OUT
.

I went to David’s cage first. The poor kid was dirty and beaten and he had bite marks on his neck–someone had sampled the merchandise–but he looked otherwise unharmed. “You okay, kid?” I asked.

He nodded, but he was shaking. “I think so. Did you get my message?”

“I did. Lucky for you I was coming here anyway.”

“Why are you here, Your
Majesty
?” asked Maine.

I glanced over my shoulder at him. He stood against the
bars, knuckles white where he was gripping them. “Same reason you are, Maine. I’m looking for my brother.” That was the only reason he could be here. Unless…

His mouth thinned as he looked away. “I told Cooke we should keep a better eye on you.”

here. th="27">
Maybe he wasn’t here because he was looking for Val. Maybe he was here because he’d outlived his usefulness. If he’d been set on me by Ainsley–who I now realised was the vampire who’d bullied David into murdering a rat–then he couldn’t be allowed to live once he’d found out too much.

I turned back to the kid. “I’m going to get you out of here. Stand back.”

I didn’t have to tell him twice. Once he was clear, I lifted my foot and kicked the door of the cell. The impact shivered up my leg. The door didn’t budge. I kicked again. This time the door groaned and I felt the jolt into my lower back. Fucking piece of shit iron door.

I was just angry enough that my monster raised its head. That was all the encouragement I needed to let the bloody beast out. Fangs burst free of my gums, the bones in my face shifted.
I
shifted. Claws sprouted from my fingers. My muscles tightened, felt heavier around my bones. It hurt, but it was such a delicious pain I didn’t care. David whimpered. I kicked at the door again, pulling back just in time so that it didn’t fly off its hinges–that sort of noise was bound to be heard.

I didn’t bother to see if the kid came out. I was at Maine’s cell, repeating the same process to free him as well.

The peeler stepped out with a fearful, cautious expression. He stared at me like I was something he’d never seen before. I reckoned that was exactly what I was. “What now?” he said.

“Got a flint?” I asked. He smelled like clove cigarettes, so I figured he had to carry something to light them.

He nodded and reached into his trouser pocket. He offered the small brass tool to me. I opened it and flicked my thumb along the wheel. Flame sprang to life. Excellent.

“Get the kid out of here,” I told him. “When the Yard show up, tell them you rescued him. Till then, cover the entrance. They’re going to pour out like rats from a sinking ship in a few minutes. The vampire who brought you both here is Lord Ainsley. More than likely he’ll slither out of any charges you bring against him, but I’ll make certain he doesn’t come after either of you again.”

“Why would you do that?” Maine demanded. “I know you don’t like me any more than I like you.”

I looked him in the eye. “I like Ainsley even less.”

“Fair enough. For what it’s worth, he’s the one who told me to look into you for Churchill’s murder. Told me I’d find blood in the tunnel below Buckingham Palace–Churchill’s blood. Said the old man had followed you.”

That was what everyone had called Church–the old man. Hearing it made my chest hurt. “Did you find his blood?” I asked, hoping my voice didn’t sound as quivery to him as it did to me.

“No.”

My shoulders threatened to sag under the relief, but I held them fast. “You still think I killed him?”

“I don’t fucking care,” he replied. “As far as I’m concerned the case is closed. Fucking mental vampires.” He offered me his hand and I took it. I wasn’t going to argue.

I led them to the concealed door and shoved them into the stairwell. “Go. It leads to the attic; you can escape from there.”
It wasn’t that far to the ground, and these old buildings had lots of ornamental details that made climbing easier.

As soon as they were gone, I quickly gathered up all the rags, paperse r had lot and pieces of flammable debris that I could find. I made a nice little pile and doused it with lamp oil. These old buildings always seemed to have lamp oil. I doused the walls and floor as well. The cellar might be dirt and the walls stone, but the support beams were wood–old, dry wood. I flicked my thumb over the flint wheel again, and when it ignited, I tossed it on to the pile near my feet.

Flames roared up in front of me, so hot my face felt burned. I stepped back and watched, making sure the fire took before pulling my rotary from my pocket. There was a message from Vex:
ON MY WAY TO THE CARRIAGE
. I didn’t know what he’d had to tell
them in order to get out, and I didn’t care. I shoved the phone into my pocket once more and ran for the exit just as the door to the theatre room opened. As I hit the stairs, I heard someone yell, “Fire!” I ran all the way to the attic, practically diving out of the window, and from there I pitched myself across the alley to the next roof.

Sirens and lights lit up the immediate surroundings. Scotland Yard had arrived as promised. Maine was good for something after all. Too bad he couldn’t find Val.

Val. My thoughts were on him as I ran across the roof, heading for the carriage park. I saw Vex waiting for me on the other side of the cement wall.

I was no closer to finding my brother, but at least now I knew someone who might be able to give me information. Someone I wouldn’t mind beating said information out of.

Ainsley.

Vex and I stayed in the carriage park for a little while–it wouldn’t look good for him to make too quick an escape. He was in enough trouble because of me–I wasn’t about to bring any more to his door.

We stuck to the shadows, where we wouldn’t be seen, a level above where all the aristo carriages had been stowed. A couple of men claimed their vehicles not far from us, but they didn’t even glance in our direction, they were so hell-bent on getting out of there.

“I wonder if they arrested Ainsley,” I murmured when we were alone again. I had already filled him in on what I’d seen and who I’d found in the cellar. “Or any of them.”

“I’d be surprised if Maine didn’t grab him,” Vex replied, staring down into the street. There were still several police carriages in front of the building, as well as the fire brigade. The fire hadn’t spread very far, and I’d seen there’d been no injuries from it–not that I’d be inclined to feel badly if there
were. People who murdered for sport could use a little trial by fire in my opinion.

I liked to think of myself as non-judgemental, but who was I fooling? Judging was a hobby of mine.

“They won’t hold him for long. His barrister will have him home before dawn.”

“But he will have called attention to himself.” Vex moved away from the wall and the lights below. “And you know how much Her Nibs despises scandal.”

I pinched up my face and raised my voice to an obnoxious pitch. “We will not tolerate scandal or any behaviour that reflects poorly upon this great country.” That was what she’d said when asked about allegations that Churchill was a traitor.

Vex laughe r h upon thed. He had the most brilliant laugh–big and almost sinister in its glee. I loved it.

I would not think about the fact that I also loved him. I would just enjoy it, and keep that secret to myself for the time being.

“How am I going to tell Penny I didn’t find out anything about Val?” I asked when we were in the Panther heading back to Leicester Square.

“She didn’t even know about tonight. There’s nothing to tell. The fact that he hasn’t turned up is good, you know. It means he’s alive.”

“Yeah, but what the ruddy hell are they doing to him?” I stared out of the window. There were decidedly fewer humans out and about than there had been earlier. It was late for them.

My brother was out there. Somewhere. Probably wondering what was taking me so bloody long to find him. If the situation was reversed, he would probably have found and rescued me by now. Knowing that the Yard had no more leads
than I did made me feel marginally better at least. I wasn’t a total failure.

When we pulled in behind my house, I frowned. “The light’s out.” I left the back light on to discourage anyone from snooping around, and so that I wouldn’t come home to any surprises.

“Looks like it’s busted,” Vex said, peering through the wind-screen as the carriage’s motor rumbled to a halt.

I saw movement between the building and the privacy fence that gave me something of a yard. “Turn off the lamps.”