that ever since I was a small child. I hurt, but my head was still clear. All I had to do was wait for my chance.
You tell yourself things like that when you re broken and bleeding and all out of options. That s part of the training, too.
The soldiers stopped before the front door of the manor house, and Molly raised her head to look at me. I wouldn t let myself look away, and I tried to keep out of my expression just how bad she looked.
All my fault, she said indistinctly. I should have waited for my magics to return naturally, not relied on the Twilight Teardrop. But there just wasn t time.
I know, I said. It s all right.
I waited, but she didn t have anything more to say. She let her head droop forward again, and blood resumed dripping off her chin.
I made myself look away and study the exterior of Crow Lee s house. Looking for any information or insight I could use for ammunition when we met. The place seemed quiet and even peaceful, though the drawn curtains at all the windows gave it a slightly sinister aspect. There was even a welcome mat set out before the front door. I laughed briefly at that, and got a slap round the head for my trouble. The door swung silently open before us, and I felt a whole new level of tension rise among the soldiers. Crow Lee was waiting. Major Michaels yelled at his men, and they hauled Molly and me inside. The door swung silently shut behind us.
Inside the place stank. I grimaced as the stench washed over me, of blood and shit, musk and misery. Even Major Michaels was affected by the smell, though he did his best to hide it. One of the soldiers supporting Molly gagged loudly and whipped his head from side to side, as though searching for fresher air. The major snarled at him and led us all down the long hallway.
Both walls were covered with mirrors, long rows of framed glass. And as I passed them by I saw faces imprisoned behind each mirror, half-starved, scarred and ruined, silently screaming and pleading. There was nothing I could do. Except hope I d get the chance to do something for them later. The ceiling was covered with old overlapping bloodstains. Mostly arterial spray, by the look of it.
Take a look at the rugs on the floor, Major Michaels said cheerfully. Every one of them made from the pelts of endangered animals. If you look carefully at the ones where the heads are still attached, you ll notice the eyes are still alive and full of suffering. He doesn t miss a trick, that Crow Lee.
He pushed on ahead of us, heading for the closed door at the end of the hall. The whole place stank of death and suffering, like a spiritual abattoir. A row of severed heads had been stuck on spikes: men and women, young and old. They were still alive and suffering, too. Their eyes rolled and their mouths moved, though no sound came out of them.
Crow Lee had their vocal cords cut out, Major Michaels said casually. You can listen to only so much screaming before it gets old. And it s not as if any of them had anything to say that he wanted to hear.
I remembered threatening to put the Immortal s head on a spike, and I felt ashamed.
We finally reached the door at the end of the hall. The soldiers were looking at each other unhappily, every movement full of tension and fear. Major Michaels gave me some time to look over the door. The heavy wood had been carved with every name and symbol for evil you could think of, including some from civilisations that don t even exist anymore. The door knocker was an inverted crucifix, with what I took at first to be some kind of shaved monkey nailed to it. It wasn t until Major Michaels encouraged me to take a closer look that I realised Crow Lee had nailed a foetus to the cross.
The major laughed at the expression on my face. Ripped untimely from his mother s womb, and nailed up in place while he was still breathing. You ve got to laugh, haven t you? So, what do you think of the great man s dwelling?
Reflects his personality, I said. He really is the Most Evil Man in the World.
Was there ever any doubt? said Major Michaels.
How can you stand to be in a place like this? I said. How can you stand to work for a piece of shit like Crow Lee?
The major smacked me round the head again, just hard enough to make his point. My eyes watered and my knees buckled. The soldiers held me up till I could get my feet back under me.
You never learn, do you? said Major Michaels.
Molly lashed out suddenly with one foot, and the major turned aside at the last moment to take the kick on his thigh instead of in the groin. He backhanded her across the face. I kicked him hard in the back of the leg, and he went down on one knee. I struggled with the soldiers holding me but couldn t break free. Major Michaels got to his feet again and went to slap me across the face. I waited till just the right moment, and then snapped my head forward and sank my teeth into his hand. He howled with shock and pain, and I ground my teeth in deep, his blood spurting into my mouth. The major punched me hard in the head with his other hand, and I lost track of things for a moment. The soldiers forced my jaws open, and Major Michaels fell back, clutching his damaged hand to his chest.
You animal! You vicious little shit!
I laughed at him, spraying his blood and mine from my mouth.
Least I could do.
The major went to hit me again, and I laughed again and spat more blood at him. Careful, Major. Can t damage me too much. Crow Lee s waiting in there to talk to me, remember? You knock me out or render me speechless with a concussion just when he s in the mood to ask me some very specific questions, and he s going to be really upset with you. Isn t he?
Major Michaels held his injured hand tightly with the other.
Afterwards, he said tightly, he ll give you to me. And I ll show you what pain really is. You re going to be mine, Drood.
You re not my type, I said.
The major knocked loudly on the door, though I noticed he handled the crucifix rather gingerly, for all his fine words. A happy voice beyond the door called for us to enter. The major pushed open the door, and the soldiers bustled Molly and me through and into Crow Lee s lair.
They threw us on the floor before him. On our knees before the master of the house. I forced my head up and looked round the room, deliberately ignoring Crow Lee. By comparison to the hallway, the room seemed calm and cosy, comfortable, even civilised. A country gentleman s study, with old-fashioned furniture, bookshelves, objets d art and colourful prints on the walls. Crow Lee sat at his ease before us in an oversized armchair big enough to handle his huge frame. The burns Molly had given him in the club library were already gone from his face. Beside him stood his bodyguard, Mr. Stab. He looked down at Molly and me, at our bloodied and broken state, and I thought for a moment he might say something, but he didn t. He just stood there where he d been told to stand, and nothing moved in his face. Crow Lee looked at Molly and me and chuckled happily.
My, my. We have been in the wars, haven t we? But it s a good look for you, Drood. You can go now, Major, and take your men with you. Our words are not for your ears. Clean up my gardens and make sure they re secure, but don t go too far. Just in case I have need of you again. For executions and the like.
Major Michaels nodded stiffly, started to leave and then stopped and came back to hand over the Twilight Teardrop to Crow Lee. He then strode out of the room, not looking back, and his soldiers hurried out after him. The door shut itself behind them. Crow Lee held the ruby pendant in the palm of his hand, and it looked so much smaller and less potent in his huge paw. Crow Lee smiled briefly and then closed his great hand around the Twilight Teardrop and crushed it. I expected bright lights to shine out from between his fingers or strange bloodred energies to manifest and fly about the room, but the ruby just cracked and splintered in his grasp, and when he opened his hand, brilliant red fragments fluttered sadly to the floor.
I ve never allowed myself to become dependent on such toys, he said. So why leave it lying around for someone else to make use of it? He smiled happily down at Molly, slumped in place before him, dripping blood on his expensive carpet. Welcome to my pleasure dome, my country retreat, my private world. Everything here is exactly how I want it. Right down to the books on my shelves, bound in the flayed skin of ruined enemies, and the antique furniture, spoils of war from my feuds with well, I won t call them my peers. My now-deceased competitors. And did you see my door knocker? Of course you did. Ah, the old blasphemies are the best. Don t you agree? It s actually a bit of a strain sometimes, keeping up with what s required of me as the Most you know. He would have been my son, you see, the door knocker. If his stupid sow of a mother hadn t tried to blackmail me. It s not that I begrudged her the money, you understand. It s just that I can t stand ingratitude.
