"Don’t be a fool, Alistair!" snapped the Matriarch, some of her
old authority returning. "You’re not a field agent! I protected you from all
that!"
"I never asked you to protect me, Martha."
"He’ll kill you!"
"You never did have any faith in me," said Alistair. "But this
is where I prove you all wrong. You thought you could stop him with your
authority, thought you could intimidate him into just giving up. I never
believed that. He was never intimidated by authority in his life. But look at
him now. Look at him! Afraid to move a muscle because of me!"
He took his eyes off me to glare at her, and that was all I
needed. In the moment when he was distracted, I whipped Oath Breaker out from
under my belt, and brought it around in a swift arc. He started to turn back,
raising the Salem Special, but the long ironwood staff undid the binding seals
on the ancient pistol, and it exploded, all its stored hellfire bursting out at
once. Supernaturally bright flames consumed Alistair’s hand and arm, burning the
meat down to the bone in seconds. The stench of brimstone and burnt flesh filled
the air. Alistair fell back, howling and shrieking. He flapped his arm wildly,
as though he could shake off the flames. What remained of his right hand fell
away as the hellfire consumed the small connecting bones in his wrist. It fell
to the floor, still wrapped around what was left of the Salem Special.
Alistair screamed horribly as the flames leapt up to take hold
of his right shoulder. Martha beat at the flames with her bare hands, crying out
at the pain but still trying to help. I armoured up and moved quickly forward to
smother the flames with my golden hands, but even though the flames couldn’t
burn me, I couldn’t beat them out. In the end Molly stepped forward and reeled
off some Latin, and all the flames disappeared in a moment. Alistair’s cries
fell away to shocked moans, and he sat down suddenly on the floor, looking dully
at what little was left of his right arm. Martha sat there with him, holding him
in her arms, trying to comfort him. I armoured down and looked at Molly.
"Those were hellfires…How did you—"
"Please," she said. "Remember who you’re talking to."
Alistair’s moans stopped as he finally, mercifully, passed out.
Less than half of his upper right arm remained, charred down to the blackened
bone. It would have to be removed; it would never heal. Martha rocked him back
and forth, crooning to him like a sleeping child. She was crying. I’d never seen
her cry before. I tried to feel sorry for Alistair, but this was what he would
have done to my Molly if I hadn’t stopped him.
"Martha…" I said.
"Don’t. Don’t pretend you care, you unnatural child."
"So many tears," I said. "For Uncle James, for Alistair. But how
many tears would you have shed over my death, Grandmother, if I had died on that
motorway? Or if Uncle James had killed me like you ordered? Did you cry over my
twin brother when he was sacrificed to the Heart? He was your grandson too. How
did you choose between us? Flip a coin, perhaps? Or did you just leave it up to
the Heart so you wouldn’t have to feel accountable?"
But she wasn’t listening. All she cared about was her Alistair
and what I’d done to him. Molly gently pulled me away.
"We have to go, Eddie. Others will be coming. You know that."
I let her lead the way to the far end of the room. I always
thought that in the end the traitor within the family would turn out to be
Alistair. Because he never was one of us, really. I wanted it to be him. But in
the end…he fought well and valiantly to protect the woman he loved from my
anger. I admired him. The poor damned fool. I didn’t need to smash through the
far wall. Just opened the door and stepped through into the next room, leaving
Martha and Alistair behind.
The next room was huge, all gleaming white tiles on the walls
and hygienically clean surfaces packed full of assorted computers and other
advanced technology in an hermetically controlled environment. A whole room full
of machines just to monitor and regulate conditions inside the Sanctity. They
protected the Heart from all outside influences and protected those who lived in
the Hall from the various disruptive energies and dangerous forces that emanated
from the Heart. Normally there’d be half a hundred technicians scattered across
the massive room, carefully tending the equipment and making constant small but
necessary changes and adjustments to the Sanctity’s delicate balance…but the
place was deserted. Presumably they’d been evacuated once it was clear I was
coming here. I threaded my way through the bulky machinery, heading for the door
at the other end of the room. Beyond that door lay the Sanctity, and the Heart,
and my revenge.
Molly and I were almost there when the door suddenly opened and
Matthew and Alexandra stepped through. I stopped abruptly, and Molly moved in
close beside me again. Matthew looked sharp and smooth as always, the family’s
blue-eyed boy in his immaculate Armani suit. He smiled dazzlingly at me.
Alexandra’s smile was cold, and so were her eyes. I nodded briefly to them both,
doing my best to look entirely unimpressed.
"Matthew," I said. "I should have known you’d turn up. You never
could bear to miss out on anything important. But I honestly can’t say I was
expecting to see you again, Alex."
"You of all people should know I don’t give up that easily."
Alexandra’s voice was sharp and pointed. "And you really should have expected to
see Matty and me here together, at the last. But then you never were very quick
at figuring out what was really going on, were you?"
I frowned first at her, then at Matthew. There was something
about their smiles, their easy confidence, their air of I know something you
don’t know. I’d missed something. And I couldn’t afford to make mistakes, not
when I was this close to the Heart and its destruction…What could I have missed?
Neither Matthew nor Alexandra was wearing the armour, even though they both had
good reason to see me as a threat. Something significant was happening here. I
could feel it. They had to be planning something…I risked a quick glance with my
Sight. Both Matthew and Alexandra were carrying concealed weapons radiating
enormous amounts of power, but so were Molly and I. I checked the room around
us. No booby traps, no hidden assassins. Just Matthew and Alexandra, with their
cold calculating smiles. I looked straight at Alexandra.
"What did you do to the Armourer, Alex?"
She shrugged easily. "You didn’t really think you could take me
out that easily, did you? I maintain a constantly updated protection against all
forms of poison. Basic security measure. And he really should have known better
than to turn his back on me…But he’d got old and soft, like so many of the
family today. We’re going to change all that."
And with that we, the penny finally dropped. "You, and
Matthew…you’re part of the Zero Tolerance faction! The hard-core family fanatics
who want to change everything! Kill all the bad guys, and to hell with the
consequences!"
"Yes," said Matthew. "That’s us. Only we prefer to call
ourselves Manifest Destiny."
I must have made a shocked sound. Their smiles widened, and
Molly grabbed on to my good arm and hung on tightly. Perhaps she thought I’d
attack them. I was too stunned. Matthew and Alexandra laughed at the expressions
on our faces.
"Truman only thinks he runs things," Alexandra said lightly.
"But he’s just our front, our public face, so the rest of the world won’t
realise that the Droods are actually bankrolling and running Manifest Destiny
for our own reasons. Won’t realise until it’s far too late."
"But…you fought their troops," I said to Matthew. "I saw you, in
London…"
He shrugged. "A necessary deception. And occasionally the troops
have to be put in their place. It keeps Truman from getting too uppity if we
slap him down hard now and again."
"Working behind the scenes has always been the Drood way," said
Alexandra. "Kingmakers rather than kings. Zero Tolerance is the only way forward
for the Droods, Eddie. The family’s got very old-fashioned, very set in its
ways, and far too complacent. Too content with the way things are in the
world…Most of the younger generations follow us now, impatient to change the
world for the better instead of risking their lives just to maintain the status
quo. And after all, why should they? Look around you. The status quo sucks. It’s
time we take the lead, stamp out all the bad guys once and for all, and make a
better world for everyone."
"But who gets to decide what’s better?" I said. "The Droods?
Manifest Destiny? You?"
"The family will decide," said Matthew. "And who better? We’re
the only ones who know what’s really going on in the world."
"I thought you of all people would understand, Eddie," said
Alexandra. "You were always the great rebel…the renowned freethinker of the
family. You opened my eyes. Showed me there was more to life than just duty and
responsibility. After you left, I waited and waited for you to do…something. But
you settled for being just another field agent. Such a disappointment."
"Funny, Alex," I said. "That’s just what I was thinking about
you. I thought you were smarter than this. Matthew; he’s always been out for
himself, but you…You’ve become the very thing this family has always stood
against. Just another would-be dictator with delusions of grandeur."
"Oh, they’re not delusions," said Matthew. "Not anymore. We have
followers, weapons, and far-reaching plans. It is our time, our destiny.
Tomorrow belongs to us."
"The family’s spent far too long at war with the supernatural,"
Alexandra said briskly. "Spending our lives in their countless secret wars just
to maintain their precious status quo. The time has come to put an end to all
the wars, by winning once and for all. We will wipe out everything that isn’t
human, isn’t natural. No more magics, only dependable, rational science. We’ll
make the world a cleaner, simpler place. A human world, where human destiny is
controlled only by humans."
"No more magic?" said Molly. "No more miracles, no more winged
unicorns, no more dancing on moonbeams or laughter in the wild woods?"
"Oh, we’ll probably keep a few of you around," said Matthew. "As
pets."
"With the Drood family in charge," said Molly.
"Of course," said Alexandra. "No more hiding our light in the
shadows, doing good from a distance. We’ve earned our time in the spotlight.
We’ve been planning this for so long…Only you came so terribly close to
derailing everything, Eddie."
"I did?" I said. "How very like me."
"We were the ones who found and reprogrammed the Karma
Catechist," said Matthew. "We planned to use his accumulated knowledge in the
coming war. Only the process went wrong…He’d been through so many hands, you
see, down the years. So many different groups with their different views and
aims. I have to tell you, Eddie, the inside of his head was a real mess. So we
slipped the poor fellow into Saint Baphomet’s very secretly to be repaired. By
certain medical experts sympathetic to the cause of Manifest Destiny."
"And then you came along," said Alexandra. "What were you doing
in his room anyway, Eddie? It wasn’t part of your mission. You weren’t even
supposed to be on his floor! But you never could be trusted to just do the
job…We couldn’t risk what he might have told you about us and our plans. He knew
our names, knew everything. And we just knew you wouldn’t go along with what
we’d all worked so hard to bring about…So we whispered in the Matriarch’s ear,
told her you deliberately murdered the Karma Catechist because you were a part
of Manifest Destiny. It really wasn’t that difficult to convince her. You always
were the black sheep of the family. A rogue in all but name. We persuaded her
that you were a clear and present danger to the family, and Eddie…she signed
your death warrant without even hesitating. Terrible old woman."
Matthew grinned broadly. "We always knew the way to power was
through her. So we…cultivated her. Fed her paranoia. We might not have been
council members, but we were her favourites for years, and she kept nothing from
us."
"He never told me anything," I said harshly. "The Karma
Catechist. He killed himself first. This…everything that’s happened…it was all
completely unnecessary. All for nothing."
Alexandra shrugged. "We gave him the poison tooth and programmed
him to use it if he felt at all compromised. Perhaps we shouldn’t have given him
such a hair trigger on the thing. But it doesn’t make any difference. You’ve
actually been very useful to us, Eddie. You made such a wonderfully visible
scapegoat, holding the family’s attention while we quietly put our plans into
operation."
"We would have had to destabilise and weaken the family first
anyway before we could take control," said Matthew. "But now you’ve done that
for us! You’ve demoralised the family, taken out most of their heavy hitters,
and destroyed the Matriarch by destroying her beloved Alistair. James is dead,
Jack is dead—"
"You killed him? You killed the Armourer?" I said to Alexandra,
shocked, and she winced at what she heard in my voice.
"He was in the way," she said. "He should have retired long
ago."
"I’ll see you burn in Hell for that," I said, and my voice was
cold enough to throw both of them for a moment.
"You always were a sentimental soul," said Alexandra.
"Right now there’s a power vacuum at the heart of the family,"
said Matthew. "And who better to step into the breach than the Matriarch’s
acknowledged favourites? Especially when we have such a large and determined
popular following within the family?"
"The council won’t know what’s hit it," said Alexandra. "Until
it’s far, far too late."
"Do you know about the Heart?" I said. "The bargain that was
made and the price we’re still paying for our armour and our power?"