A Clockwork Victim Read online

  Sebastian smiled. “She is always so, as far as I have observed.” He rose and went to the window to watch Theo trot into the stable. “It’s quite refreshing, really.”

  “Your ‘breakfast’. Not half-bad, old man. Perhaps I will get used to this indeed.” Marcus drained his cup of pig’s blood. “Indeed.”

  Chapter Ten

  The stable was built of stone and swept clean. Sparrows chirped high above in the black oak beams. The sun came in from high windows, both warming and lighting the long alleyway. The horses were stabled at a distance, away from her work area. The sound of their munching and an occasional hoof fall was soothing. There was a clean smell of hay, leather and horses. The black carriage was parked at the far end, ready for use.

  In the stable, Theo looked with sadness at her beautiful, steam-powered bike. The velocipede was in every size, shape and state of fragment, quite frankly, a wreck. She sighed. So much work, blasted into smithereens. Her freedom, up in a puff of steam and smoke.

  The parts were laid on a bench made of clean, new planks laid on barrels. There were several barrels that would do as seats. She picked up a reticulated copper hose and examined it to ascertain if it was reusable. It would take time, but could be done.

  “What an explosion.” Theo gave a start at Marcus’s voice and spun around to face him. He had approached without a sound. That was a rather unnerving habit of his.

  “Yes.” She stammered a little and tried to regain her composure. “I didn’t realize there would be anything left.”

  He crossed over to the workshop table and picked up a piece of the shrapnel. Taking a seat on a barrel, he turned the metal part over in his fingers with a thoughtful look.

  “Yes. I really do owe you gratitude for saving my life.” Theo tried to keep any sign of nervousness out of her voice. “You were quick to recognize the danger.” She was still apprehensive to be alone with him. Where is Sebastian? She craned her neck to see out the stable door to the manor house. “I was most fortunate that you were there in that moment. My sincere thanks, Marcus.”

  “Please, no thanks necessary.” He looked down at the metal fragment cradled in his palm. “Theo, there is something I must confess to you.” Marcus hesitated in his speech. He laid the metal part down and wiped his palms together.

  “More than that you are a vampire?” Theo tried to make light of his being alone with her. “I assure you, sir, that does not alarm me.”

  “Yes.” He looked remorseful. “First, I am most sorry for the death of your assistant.”

  “Please. I would like to put that behind me. Her death makes me most melancholy. She was an orphan so there is no family to mourn her. I had hoped to help her along in life, keeping her from the workhouse—or worse. But I caused her death instead.” She looked at the pieces on the table to hide her expression. “It seems often what we intend is not what occurs.” Theo was uncomfortable with this line of conversation and did not want to dwell on it. She was not about to let her guard down and share her pain with this man…this person.

  “Please allow me to finish. This is most difficult for me to say, but I must. I fear that your assistant was not killed by a random accident.”

  “Pray continue.” Theo’s body stiffened. Her curiosity overrode her apprehension. He had her complete attention. She moved to the far side of the workbench and casually picked up a wrench that could do as a weapon. Always be ready, she thought.

  “The killer that murdered your friend, was a lady of the evening—you understand what I mean, I presume. She worked at Madame Payne’s House of Pleasure. Her name is Josephine.” Marcus apparently knew more, much more, than Theo had realized.

  “You know her? Is she still there? How do we find her?” Theo’s mind was starting to race. She gripped the spanner tighter, her knuckles whitening from the tension.

  “There is more to this story than just that, Theo. I am ashamed to admit I started to frequent this lady and then befriended her. Soon, I did fall in love with her. She would tell me of the suffering she had to endure at the hands of other clients. She called one in particular a clockwork sadist.

  “Her first victims were the particularly cruel patrons she had to endure. You may have noted, they were gentlemen. Then the madam of the house. And now I believe Josephine is killing all the clockmakers because of the devices they had made for her clients. With their appliances, those degenerate beasts made her a clockwork victim with their torture implements.” Theo thought she saw tears in Marcus’s eyes. Can a vampire cry?

  He covered his eyes for a moment, pinching his hand over his nose and continued. “I could no longer stand the torture she was enduring. So, to take her away from that life, and for my own selfish reasons…I made her a vampire. I wished to free her. As you say, what we intend does not always have the intended results.”

  “What? This is your fault? She has killed my friend—and these other people—because of your actions?” She felt her cheeks burn with anger for this man’s recklessness. Theo had only ever seen Sebastian be kind, compassionate. She had yet to witness any unnatural proclivities that Marcus might have for being a killer. Her heart began to race, but she didn’t wish to show her emotion. She must keep her wits about her. This was a shocking confession.

  “Josephine was on the edge of madness before. After her transformation, I fear she became totally out of control with her ability to avenge the wrongs done to her.” Marcus looked at Theo as if waiting for a comment.

  She realized that all vampires were not as chivalrous or benevolent as these two men had only ever exhibited. She had trusted in their actions as she would have trusted mortal men. Had she been a complete fool to give her confidence trust so easily? She should have considered Julian. Julian the thoroughly insanely evil brother. Though it wasn’t rational, Theo did not expect Sebastian or Marcus to be a murderer, therefore she didn’t expect Josephine to be one either. Clearly she had misjudged the killer, but she did understand her reasons for her actions. Theo paced about the workshop to compose herself, then stood at the worktable between them, and waited for a satisfactory reply to his confession.

  “Frankly, Marcus, I do not know what to say.” While she listened to Marcus earlier, she absently arranged the items on the bench into order. If the pieces were in the right place, perhaps the revelations that Marcus was sharing would come to order as well.

  “Please, do hear me out. I beg of you. It was a terrible, terrible mistake. I realize it now more than ever. I wanted to free her and…and I wanted a companion, someone who truly loved me. Someone I could share this life with. I was so dreadfully lonely. But now I realize I was selfish and wrong. I have brought horror on the whole of London, but worse on you and Sebastian.

  “To expose our kind is sheer suicide. I loved her. I love her still, yet because I made her, I also must be the one to kill her. It is my responsibility.” Marcus covered his face and held his head in his hands. Despair was written in every line of his posture.

  “Yes, loneliness I can understand. I can see the torment you have gone through, Marcus. But this is a lot for me to take in.” Theo softened somewhat and spoke with guarded compassion in her voice. “I am sorry for your pain.” Theo tried to comfort him with her words. “Does Sebastian know these details? He must be told immediately.” Sebastian would know how to proceed.

  “Yes. If I have a soul left, I did bare it completely to Sebastian. I did plead with him to allow me to tell you myself about these details so that you might see my sincerity in what must be done.” He looked up and squarely into Theo’s face. “And the commitment I have to see it followed through.”

  “I can promise you that Sebastian and I will do all we can to help you with your goal.” Theo wanted to be convinced of his pledge. By all her instincts, Marcus seemed sincere. His actions would prove from here on what she would take as truth.

  The stable door darkened with a shadow and Sebastian s
tepped in. “Will you be able to salvage some of the parts and recreate your velocipede?”

  “This is all so kind of you to do for me, Sebastian. However, I fear we have more pressing issues at hand.” She laid the wrench down, in the precise row of tools she had arranged as Marcus was talking. Theo glanced at Marcus. “We have just been discussing who the killer is.”

  “Ah. So, you realize now more to the rhyme and reason of the killings and why we must stop Josephine immediately.” Sebastian pressed his lips together and furrowed his brow. He took a position at the table, fingers steepled on the surface.

  “Yes. I do. Have you discussed a plan of action at this point?” Theo perused the worktable, as if deeply interested in the items there. Other than her line of tools, the table was covered in every sort of broken part, piled in no particular order. The fragments were as disarrayed as her thoughts at the moment.

  Some parts she hoped would be salvageable when she started to rebuild. Others were going to have to be melted down and recast to start completely again. She picked up a spanner as if to examine it, but her mind was on the incredible confession from Marcus.

  “We have to some degree. First we did concur, you must be taught how to defend yourself against any vampire attack. We must teach you our strengths and our weaknesses.”

  “I was wondering when we would get around to those instructions,” Theo commented. “I have been eager to know this for a while. Beyond my own observations.” She tapped the spanner gently on the workbench. “Do I need a notebook?”

  “I don’t think you will need to put anything to paper.” Sebastian tried a smile, but his demeanor was too serious for it to go far. He walked slowly down the length of the workbench and back again, obviously ordering his thoughts.

  “Yes, well, the time is here.” Sebastian rubbed his hands together and started to explain. Marcus leaned back into the shadows and settled into his seat on the barrel. He crossed his arms and looked up at the sparrows in the rafters as Sebastian began to expound.

  “First, let me dispel any old wives’ tales. We have no concerns regarding mirrors or sunlight. We do not need as much rest or sleep as humans. I have found that I can go for days with little or no rest at all. This has been a true boon to my work as an inventor,” Sebastian commented.

  “Fire, as you saw with Julian, can and will harm us, however given enough time to recover in solitude, our bodies can and will regenerate. This is when we need our deepest rest. The same goes for anything made of the metal silver. You probably noticed, the cutlery in the manor is made of steel, bone or ebony.

  “Silver is quite painful immediately as it touches our skin. From a scientific aspect, it is like acid. It reacts to the chemistry of our bodies. Recovery from a silver burn is also feasible.

  “Furthermore, I have discovered in my recent experiments that liquid silver, mercury, has the same effect and qualities of any silver object. If you use mercury, you must be very careful as it is highly toxic to humans as well.

  “Marcus, what have you to add?”

  The other man spoke from the shadows. “Holy places or objects, and specifically hallowed ground, are not abhorrent to us. In fact they are sanctuary. A vampire does possess the speed of a flash of lightning.” Marcus appeared at her shoulder seemingly from thin air. Theo jumped and spun around to face him.

  “Such a start you give me.” Theo pressed her hand to her heart. “Please do continue.” She smoothed her hair and attempted to regain her composure.

  “You can never outrun one of the undead. If you are to escape a vampire, you must outwit them or elude them completely. Or use a weapon.” In another split second, Marcus was leisurely perched back on the barrel across the workshop.

  “Put on your new Expositus Vampiricus Glassicals, Theo,” Sebastian instructed. “Watch while Marcus and I move.”

  Theo pulled the lilac-colored glass device from her forehead, settled it on her face and regarded the two men. “Look at us standing still.” Marcus moved to stand beside Sebastian. “What do you see?”

  “Marcus appears to be a deep bluish purple. Sebastian, you are more violet. Definitely different in tones.” Theo described the men. In a wink of an eye the two men darted off in opposite directions, leaving only the trail of colors like shooting stars. Theo could only tell which was which by the difference in the smudges of hue, like phosphorescent trails from fireflies. Another blink and they both stood before her again. Theo’s eyes were wide at the sight of their speed. “Amazing.”

  “Sometimes we can move even faster. It may make it almost impossible to see us even with the glassicals,” Marcus affirmed.

  “I do not know to what extent Josephine knows her own abilities. Nor do I know how proficient she has become at using them. I did instruct her somewhat, but always assumed I would be with her and that we would learn more together.” Again, Marcus looked ashamed. “She is young and inexperienced. Young vampires are very dangerous because they are impulsive.”

  “Yes, and old vampires are dangerous because they are crafty. Since all vampires possess immense strength, if you are caught by a vampire you must do your utmost to keep away from their mouth and not look into their eyes. We can entrance you and cause you to relinquish your will.” Sebastian added, “The entrancement can be very powerful.”

  Theo pushed her glassicals up. She was excited and curious. “I feel we must practice a bit. I want to feel your strength. Can you demonstrate?” Theo looked at Marcus. “Grab me. Restrain me.”

  Sebastian cleared his throat, but nodded, approving her request. In an instant Marcus had Theo pinned to the ground. She felt as if she were hit by a wall of steel. “Remember, don’t look into my eyes!” His body flattened her as he sat on her hips. Theo drew her feet under her bottom and lifted her hips up in one fast, smooth move, pitching Marcus off her and onto his nose.

  “You may be stronger than me but I do have some abilities.” She sat up in the dust of the stable. After all, she had grown up in the somewhat rougher part of the city, not in a manor house. She had learned some self-defense skills along the way. “If you don’t have strength, you must have brains, Theo,” she could hear her father. “Think, Theo, think.”

  Marcus jumped to his feet and shook his head, looking a bit dazed. “That was a good move.” He seemed impressed and a little sheepish. “You know I wasn’t really holding you at full strength?”

  “I do. Want to try again?” Theo got to her feet. She dusted off the seat of her pants and straightened her shirt.

  “Not unless you do. That hurt a little.” Marcus rubbed the bridge of his nose.

  “All right. Enough of that.” Sebastian seemed a little nervous about this line of demonstration. He made an impatient wave of the hand. “The most important thing to keep in mind is that you must cut off a vampire’s head if you mean to kill it. To my knowledge, once this is done the vampire is destroyed. Once and for all. It does not matter how you do it or what weapon you use as long as the parts are severed completely,” Sebastian continued. “The head must be totally destroyed.”

  “Do you truly believe that I could survive a vampire attack?” Theo needed an honest answer. She wasn’t afraid, but she did need the truth. “If by chance I am bitten…” She worried her mixed emotions showed on her face. It was a dauntingly real possibility. “Will I survive? Can I survive?” She hesitated with the next query. Sebastian seemed to understand the question she was posing. “How is someone turned into a vampire?”

  “Let me explain,” Marcus jumped in. “You can survive and recover from a bite. A bite alone will not cause you to transform. To transform, you must drink the blood of another vampire. There may be other rules to this life. So far, this is all I know.”

  “What can I do to make sure Josephine can’t get into my shop, my home again?” Theo asked. “What of the garlic, the crucifixes? Salt, holy water?”

  Sebastian cleared his t
hroat in an irritated tone. “That is all bunk. Just old tittle-tattle. You could hang up a garland of fish and sprinkle cold tea, for all the good that does.” He dismissed the comment with a wave of his hand.

  “About your shop…you are not going back there until Josephine is destroyed,” Sebastian stated emphatically. “I have to insist upon this.”

  “I beg your pardon?” Theo had not recalled him ever being so demanding in his tone or ordering her about in such a way. This was something that she was not sure she liked. “I’m not a child.” She tried to defend herself. “And I have to fill my orders. The vespertilio wings are popular. I need a new assistant now. Hannah, God rest her, was the way I had time to work on your inventions. And I am not wealthy. I must work, remember. I thought my stay only temporary.”

  “It’s not your choice. Yet, I hope you will hear me out and stay willingly within the watchful eyes of Marcus and myself. Surely you could render no better protection against a vampire than another vampire. While you are here at the manor, we will arm you with as many weapons as we can to aid in your protection.

  “I will provide you with a new assistant, as I said at breakfast. We will send for the rest of your tools and supplies today. Your other things, your clothes and such, can all be easily brought. Sneed and his daughter can go this morning and collect everything. I promise you will not fail to continue your work.

  “This is a very serious situation.” Sebastian took her hands. “You could very well end up like Hannah. I think you know I would not want that.”

  Marcus spoke. “I know this may be a delicate question, Theo, but I must ask.”

  “No time for delicacy, Marcus. Speak your mind,” Theo responded. She dropped Sebastian’s hands and stepped back.

  “Have you recently made a commission of any device for a client and if so, who might that client be?” Marcus cut to the center of the problem. “And when you make some device, do you stamp it with your signature? The name of the shop, perhaps.”