Frankenstein Theory (27 page)

“
Come about, you. You cannot slink about in the shadows. If you don’t vacate the alleyway, I’ll have no choice but to take you in.”

Igor whispered to me. “What do we do?”

Without explanation, I stood and slowly walked toward the constable. “We mean no harm, sir.”

“
What, are you drunk?” the constable asked.

“
No, sir.”

“
Then why do you sound as if you’ve only just stumbled from the Lionshead?”

I continued my march forward.

“
Stop right there and hold your hands above your head.”

There was no time for games, no time for compliance. This was the moment for action. I withdrew the pistol and pulled the trigger twice. There was no way of telling where the bullets hit, but the damage was clearly done. The constable dropped as the echo of the blast faded to silence. Mere seconds ticked by before the bustling sounds of curiosity rose. Everyone in the area would have heard the blast. My only hope was that I could make it to Elizabeth before either her curiosity or her horror got the best of her. Before logic could dictate a course of action, I raced to the constable, grabbed him by the boots, and dragged him into the heart of the alley.

“
What are you doing, Victor?” Igor hissed.

“
Help me hide this body,” I insisted.

Igor grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop. “We have to go. If you and I are found anywhere near the scene of this crime, with you in your current state, they’ll stuff us both in the paddy wagon and tuck us so far behind bars we’ll never see daylight again.”

I yanked my arm from the man’s grip. “Cower if you like, Mr. Fishka. I am following through with the plan. Now that I’ve pulled the trigger for the first time, I’m certain the second time will not be a problem.”

“
Doctor, you’ve gone mad.”

I pressed the cold barrel into Igor’s right temple. “Be that as it may, my dear man, I will not rest until Johann is as cold and dead as the constable. If you’ve grown weary of continuing this course of action, I give you leave.”

Surprisingly, Igor shook his head. “No, Doctor. My loyalty to you remains.” Carefully, Igor wrapped his fingers around the gun and pushed it aside. “Even so, we cannot remain in this alley. We will be caught.”

“
Fine.” I nodded. “Follow me.”

I ran from the alley and around the building to a rear entrance. I grabbed the knob on the door and gave it a turn. “Locked.”

Igor slipped below my arm and knelt before the door. “That isn’t a problem, Doctor.”

From under his cloak, Igor retrieved a small pouch. “Trade secrets, Doctor. I’ll have this door open in…three…two…one.”

A muffled ‘click’ announced the lock had been bested. Igor slowly opened the door and gestured for me to step inside.

Within the building, the darkness was all-consuming. The light from the streetlamps didn’t stand a chance to cut into and through the gloom of the shared entryway of the apartments. Had it not been for the errant glow from under each doorway, it would have been impossible to navigate the hall.

“
Do you know which apartment she’s in, Doctor?”

I shook my head. Technically speaking, I hadn’t the slightest clue which number their apartment was. I did, however, have a relative idea in which domicile my wife was committing an unforgivable sin. I made my way to the end of the hall and stood before a door marked with a large metal ‘1’.

“
This is it,” I said, and pointed to the entryway.

“
Are you certain?” Igor asked.

I nodded.

Igor stepped up to the door, placed a cautious hand on the knob, and turned. The muffled ‘thump’ made it clear Igor would have to go to work a second time. He dropped to his knees and plunged his tools into the lock. Three soft ‘ticks’ and the door eased open to cut a swath of light across Igor’s face. He stared up at me, clearly waiting for instructions. I gestured for him to stand and back away.

I carefully opened the door. The sound of a piano was the first to greet me. I took my initial step into the apartment, only to be stopped by Elizabeth’s laughter. The delicate rise and fall of her angelic voice, intermingled with Johann’s perfect phrasing and style, was a dichotomy that rendered my heart cold and still.

Another step, and the fingers of my left hand snaked around the grip of the pistol. Cautiously, I crept down a narrow hall that emptied into a small room to the right. On the left side wall, just before the room’s entryway, a mirror hung. I peered into the glass to see the reflection of Johann’s back at the piano. Elizabeth was nowhere to be found in the glass. Her voice, however, continued to taunt me…lure me onward, into the heart of a damnable darkness.

“
Johann,” Elizabeth spoke sweetly…in a voice she’d previously only ever reserved for me. “You are truly an artist.”

The gentle ebb and flow of notes and rhythms continued under Johann’s voice. “Art is defined as creation inspired by the heart, mind, and soul.”

“
That’s beautiful. Who said that?” Elizabeth asked.

“
I did. Just now.” Johann answered.

They shared a laugh…a laugh that sent me into a dark spiral. I took the turn into the room and raised the weapon, sights set on Johann. Elizabeth unleashed a maddening shriek and froze in her seat.

Johann spun around on the piano bench to see what had scared his mistress. The second our eyes met, he knew his fate and slowly rose, arms in the air.

“
Victor,” Johann said calmly. “What is happening?”

“
Don’t patronize me, monstrosity!” I screamed.

“
Doctor Frankenstein, I have no idea what you are…”

“
Don’t you?” I drew nearer Johann.

“
I do not. I can only assume you are upset that Elizabeth has sought temporary solace in my home.”

“
Solace?” I jammed the barrel of the pistol into Johann’s forehead. “You test my resolve, Grimm. I can smell the lies spilling from your lips. Or is that the scent of my wife’s sex?”

Elizabeth gasped. Johann glanced her way, which gave me all the opportunity I needed. Swiftly, I grabbed his right hand, slammed it down on the top of the piano, pointed the cold steel of the weapon at the base of his first two fingers, and pulled the trigger. Flesh, blood, and bone exploded in all directions as Johann yanked his arm from my grip and stared, in shock, as his ruined hand.

“
Victor!” Elizabeth screamed. “What have you done?”

Johann wailed in agony, tears flooding his cheeks. “Why would you be so cruel, Frankenstein?”

I jammed the pistol against Johann’s chest. “I
gave
you this life; therefore it is mine to take away.”

“
Doctor,” Igor’s voice interrupted the moment. “Alarms. We should be going.”

“
I am not finished, wretched man!” I shouted.

My attention immediately returned to Johann. Before I pulled the trigger to send another bullet through the meat of his good hand, he shoved me hard enough that I stumbled backward. I righted myself and took aim.

Fate decided it’d had enough of me in that moment. Elizabeth dove before Johann as I pulled the trigger. The bullet pierced her left temple, scrambled her brain, and exploded from the opposite side. She was dead before her body landed with a hollow thud.

How I didn’t drop to my knees and weep at the profound loss, I could not possibly know. From deep within my core, I felt a bitter cold radiating outward. From my throat, a cry of anguish crashed against the mechanisms of speech until emotion dissipated, leaving me hollow.

“
You’ve ruined my life, creature. I imbued you with my soul. You were an extension of my art, and you drained me of humanity. Elizabeth was the only thing saving me from absolute loss, and you’ve taken her from me.”

All thought and emotion disconnected. I felt nothing. When I pulled the trigger and wiped out Johann’s face, my heart and mind were awash with absolute nothingness.

I turned the gun on myself and raised it to my right eye. My hand shook with a frightening violence. My finger eased pressure onto the trigger. Before the hammer was released, Igor’s cold hand wrapped around mine and pulled the weapon away from my face.

“
Not now, Doctor,” Igor said softly. “There’s still much work to be done.”

“
I don’t understand.” My voice was a distant and tremulous monotone, barely intelligible. “The work is over. My theory failed.”

“
No, Victor. You have failed at nothing. Now…it’s time for the most important work of all.”

I wanted tears to fall from my eyes, but they never came.

“
Take up Elizabeth, Victor. We’ll get her back to the castle and you can reanimate her. She’ll be yours for all time.”

The cogs and springs of the exoskeleton whirred once again, to remind me of my own personal truth.

The monster was me. I had become a creation of my very own madness.

I scooped Elizabeth up from the floor. A dollop of blood spilled from the wound and splashed down between my feet. I looked down at her precious face, once bright but now bereft of color. Tears ran free down my cheeks to bring a modicum of relief to my system. I was still capable of emotion. That had to mean something.

“
Doctor,” Igor tugged at my sleeve. “We need to take our leave of this place…posthaste, else we face the constabulary.”

“
A brain,” I shouted. “I’ll need a brain, Igor.”

“
Go, Doctor. I’ll procure the last piece of the puzzle and return to the laboratory immediately.”

I hurried forward, carrying the motionless body of Elizabeth, fully aware of the clang of an alarm bell calling for the constabulary to arrive
en masse
. I crossed the threshold of the exit, ducked, and ran out the rear entrance of the building. The precious cargo in my arms held fast.

T W E N T Y - E I G H T

The driver opened the door to the carriage, asked no questions, and escorted me to the entrance to the castle, where he opened the door.

“
Shall I wait here, sir?”

“
You may go,” I said curtly, and vanished in the darkened foyer. With no consideration for Mother, I hurried to my study, through the passageway, and down the stairs into the laboratory.

“
Here you go, my dear.” I tenderly placed Elizabeth on the bed in which Johann had spent his first night after reanimation, and turned my attention on the surgical table.

With a grand motion, I swept the be-armed torso unceremoniously to the floor. It landed with a hollow ‘thud’.

“
Come, my dear.” I slipped my arms under Elizabeth’s neck and legs and lifted her carefully from the makeshift bed. Once she was positioned, I opened a sheet over her and gathered the tools I’d need for the task at hand.

The first thing to do was to remove the gorgeous black curls she wore with such pride. A pair of shears did the job nicely. With a razor and shaving soap, I managed to remove the remaining hair to completely free up the head. After a quick measurement, I drew a dotted line around the skull at the occipital ridge. My sharpest scalpel connected the dotted lines to free a fleshy cap. Ever so slowly, I peeled the skin away and removed the piece without a single tear.

I reached for my bone saw, only to realize my right hand was useless with the exoskeleton.

“
Goddamn you, Victor,” I whispered to myself, and switched the tool to my left hand. Teeth met bone. The rasping sound of the saw made me weep for my ruined love. I drew the blade back and forth as I looked into the once-beautiful face of my wife.

As if I were nothing more than a first-year medical student, I’d forgotten about the damage to the temporal area. When the saw made the turn toward the fractured section of skull, the bone collapsed beyond the cheek.

I fell across Elizabeth’s dead body, fully aware of what I’d done and that there was little hope I could give her new life.

The sound of my weeping overpowered the entrance of Igor. It wasn’t until he stood on the other side of the surgical table, struggling woman in hand, that I realized he had returned.

“
It’s too late.” I said, defeated.

“
What do you mean it’s too late? It’s never too late. You’re Victor Frankenstein…a god.”

I slammed my injured hand down on the table. “Do not deign to insult the gods by making such a ridiculous comparison.”

“
What are you saying, Doctor?”

“
I’m saying…get that despicable tart out of my sight.”

“
But Doctor, she might be your only chance.”

“
Look, Igor.” I made a sharp gesture toward Elizabeth’s skull. “She’s ruined. There’s nothing I can do about such damage. My wife, my love, my soul…gone forever.”