Gallows at Twilight (26 page)

‘But I don’t understand,’ Simon said. ‘You could have ambushed me at any time. Why put me on my guard with a letter?’

‘I had to make sure where you’d be at a time that suited my associates. They cannot come out during the day, sunlight disagrees with them. The only risk I ran was that you might not be alone.’

‘It’s always handy to have back-up,’ Simon said.

‘You call
that
back-up? A pathetic half-breed and a stinking troll!’

‘You’re making me angry.’ Simon squared his shoulders. ‘You won’t like me when I’m angry.’

The Claviger laughed. ‘You’ve read too many comic books, boy: you’re not a hero, you’re a monster. In any case, I don’t think you’ll be turning all beast boy on me. Not tonight.’

The Claviger thrust out her hand. Moonlight glinted off the surface of a small perfume bottle. She sprayed and Simon choked.

‘Hormone inhibitors,’ she said. ‘A little trick the Demon Father stole from the laboratories of Hobarron Tower. They’ll suppress your inner beast until we deliver you into your father’s hands.’

‘It was all a trick.’ Simon gagged. ‘You know nothing about my mother. You just wanted to take me back to
him
.’

‘Ah, now that’s what’s so deliciously ironic. I know
everything
about you, Simon Lydgate. What you were, what you are, what you could be.’

She stepped out of the shadows, a feminine figure dressed in a grey T-shirt, black trousers, and a long leather coat. Her flawless skin was as white and as perfect as a Michelangelo statue. As she came closer, Simon saw that her features were actually more metallic than stone-like: a hard, inscrutable face dominated by a pair of electric-red eyes.

‘I am the Claviger,’ she said, her voice taking on a mechanical hum. ‘The Keeper of the Keys that unlock all secrets.’

Simon nodded. ‘That’s all I needed to hear. Pandora!’

Beyond the door, Pandora made her move. One hand slipped its bonds with quicksilver dexterity. She reached into the hidden fold at the back of her dress and retrieved the blades of her ancestors. Before the guards could react, she sliced through the rope that bound her and was on her feet. Meanwhile, the apparently unconscious Brag Badderson opened his eyes and threw himself into the air. Landing on the far side of the garden, the troll retrieved his club from its hiding place in a privet hedge.

The guards pounced, but Pandora was already on the attack. Wheeling her knives, she transformed into a lethal, silver blur. Inhuman screams rang out. Arms, legs and heads tumbled and hit the ground. The three guards closest to Pandora had been scythed down like stalks of ripened wheat.

Brag Badderson was not to be outdone. He lifted his club, and Simon saw that the head of the weapon had been dipped in liquid silver. Four snarling guards rushed the troll, only to be greeted by the combined might of silver and stone. Like a troll-powered bowling ball, the club knocked them aside as if they were skittles.

‘Strike!’ Brag bellowed.

His joy was short-lived.

There was only one guard left: a pale-faced creature who had been standing at the fringes of the battle. Now he surveyed the crushed and butchered bodies of his comrades and his lips drew back over a set of vicious teeth. The monster hissed with rage and threw itself at the troll.

‘Brag!’ Pandora warned. ‘Watch out!’

Brag turned to face his attacker. He pulled back his club, but it was too late. The creature flipped in the air and landed feet first, smashing his heels into Brag’s gut. The troll’s eyes bulged. He dropped his club, teetered backwards and crashed down onto the hard earth. Brag’s face turned from pink to red to purple as he struggled to breathe. Meanwhile, the creature straddled Brag’s chest like a wolf hovering over its prey.

Simon rushed forward, desperate to help his friend. He was halfway down the corridor when the iron arm of the Claviger blocked his way. Her hand gripped his throat and pinned him against the wall.

‘Now, now,’ she said, ‘let the boys play nicely.’

She smiled victoriously, but the smirk was soon wiped from her lips. Something whispered through the air and the Claviger screamed in agony. She looked down at the silver-tipped arrow that had punctured her arm. A thread of fizzing smoke rose up from the wound. Cursing, she released Simon, who fell to his knees. Another arrow thumped into the Claviger’s shoulder and sent her sprawling down the corridor.

Clutching his bruised throat, Simon got to his feet. He reached the lawn just in time to see the monster lock its jaws around Brag’s neck. Although it had an arrow protruding out of its back, the thing was so enraged it did not seem to notice. Its teeth tried to pierce the troll’s tough flesh but succeeded only in scraping the skin. Despite Brag’s best efforts to wrestle with it, the creature managed to dodge every blow.

The archer who had saved Simon stood in the lane. She had another arrow notched in her bow but couldn’t get a clear shot at Brag’s attacker. Pandora had managed to slice at the monster’s back but, again, his rage had made him insensible to pain. And now his frenzied attack seemed to be paying off . He had struck blood.

Simon saw the green goo ooze out of Brag’s throat. It was all the motivation he needed. He ran back into the house, making for the huddled form of the Claviger. A fresh gasp escaped her lips as Simon wrenched the silver-tipped arrow from her arm. Her curses and shrieks accompanied him down the hall and onto the lawn. Pandora saw him coming and stepped back. With the arrow clenched in his mouth, Simon threw himself at the monster.

He fixed his knees around its waist and locked his right arm around its throat. A pair of red eyes turned and blazed into Simon’s. He saw the green blood on its lips and his anger surged. Snatching the arrow from his mouth, Simon thrust the head into the monster’s left eye. The tip punctured the soft jelly and slid back into the skull. Smoke rose up out of the eyeless socket. With a long howl of agony, the thing tumbled off Brag and lay twitching on the ground.

Simon rolled away from the slow-dying monster.

‘Bl-bloody vam-vampires,’ Brag croaked, lumbering upright.

Pandora slapped his lower back. ‘Let’s count ourselves lucky he didn’t make you drink
his
blood.’ She shuddered. ‘Imagine it—a vampire-troll!’

Simon looked from the archer to Pandora. His face flushed an angry red.

‘I told you not to—’

‘Like I wasn’t going to tell her,’ Pandora cut in. ‘I’m sorry, honey, but she had a right to know what was going on.’

Rachel slipped the bow onto her back. She walked towards Simon, her eyes hard, her mouth set.

‘Rachel,’ Simon gulped, ‘I’m sorry about the way I left. I just—’

She grabbed his collar and pulled him into a long, deep kiss. Pandora raised her eyebrows while Brag coughed and looked at his feet. Still unsmiling, Rachel stepped back and pointed her forefinger against the bridge of Simon’s nose.

‘
You
have some explaining to do.’

Cross-eyed, Simon nodded dumbly. Then Rachel turned and strode into the cottage. Pandora laughed and they followed Rachel into the gloom of the corridor. They found her standing over the Claviger.

‘What is she?’ Simon asked.

‘Part vampire, part who-the-hell-knows?’ Pandora said. ‘That was Adam’s description, by the way. All we know is that she’s very, very old, and that she has always been a close friend of demonkind. Bearing in mind the things she can do, it was a risk for the Demon Father to send her here. Still, she is one of his most powerful allies.’

‘Your speculation is idle,’ the Claviger said. ‘You could never fathom the mind of so sublime a creature as the Demon Father. Do what you must and let this be over.’

‘As you wish. Simon, you see the purse she carries on her belt? Take out the first key you find.’

The small leather purse jangled at Simon’s touch. He reached inside and felt the rusty teeth of an old key. Bringing it into the light, he saw that there were words inscribed on the bronze shaft:

The Secret History of Simon Lydgate

‘OK,’ Pandora said. ‘The next part is rather disgusting. Brag, hold her down.’

Brag secured the strange creature in the grip of his powerful hands.

‘She ain’t going nowhere.’

‘Right, Simon, you’ll find a keyhole in the back of her head—’

‘What?’

‘Here, I’ll show you.’

Pandora combed a parting in the Claviger’s hair. The black strands drew back to reveal a large weeping keyhole carved right into the creature’s skull. Beyond the hole, Simon could make out the soft red shimmer of the Claviger’s brain. He turned away, and even Brag Badderson gave a queasy grunt.

‘Babies,’ Pandora snorted. ‘Here, give me the key.’

Simon gave it up willingly. He watched through wincing eyes as Pandora inserted the big key into the back of the Claviger’s head. It slotted home with a wet slurp and Pandora gave it a sharp twist to the right. The Claviger’s face went blank and her skin seemed to grow harder and ever more metallic in the moonlight.

‘
This is the Secret History of Simon Lydgate
,’ she said, her voice halting and robotic. ‘
Listen well, boy: you are
not
half-demon
.’

Simon felt Rachel’s hand slip into his.

‘
The Demon Father has claimed that you are his son. This is not, and never has been, true. Although he is connected to you, he is not your father
.’

‘Then … my mother.’

‘
Your mother was a witch. The most cunning, brilliant and black-souled witch I have ever known. Your father was a wastrel, a nobody, a piece of human garbage, much like yourself. He came begging at your mother’s door and she took him in. Once she was sure she was with child, she murdered him and disposed of the body. No one came looking for him. No one cared
.’

‘But why did she want a child?’ Simon asked, his voice shaking.

‘
It was a favour to her beloved demon. A favour to HIM
.’

‘You mean the Demon Father?’

‘
Even the Father of Demons has served as a familiar in his time
.’

‘But why did he want a human child?’ Pandora asked.

‘
The Demon Father has played the long game. For years he has plotted what might happen after the Door is opened and his children have flooded into this world. They would need servants to carry out their will. A slave race to build their new dominion. Normal humans would not suffice. They are feeble-bodied, weak-willed, and they die so very easily. But if the human race could be strengthened, improved … All they needed was a little demon blood in their veins
.’

‘My mother.’

‘
The greatest alchemist and potion-maker of her age. She made a tincture of the Demon Father’s blood and injected it into her baby son. For years, she continued the procedure, hoping that one day the demon’s essence would bond with you. She even tried to influence your subconscious, telling you that you were evil. Monstrous. And finally, it worked. The blood bonded, regressing you back to a more powerful, animalistic stage of human evolution. But you were never demonic, Simon. That monstrous side of you comes from the link that humanity once had with its near cousins—the Cynocephali
.’

‘The dog-headed people,’ Rachel said, thinking back to the doorman of the Grimoire Club. ‘Razor told us that humans and Cynocephali were once related.’

‘
A human with the strength of a Cynocephalus
.’ The Claviger nodded. ‘
The perfect demon slave. Strong, violent, remorseless
.’

‘A born killer,’ Simon said. ‘And she was my first victim.’

‘
Who do you mean
?’ the Claviger asked.

‘My mother.’

The creature laughed. ‘
But your mother isn’t dead
…
Oh, I see it now—you really have no idea, do you?
Who
your mother really is
. What
she is
… ’

‘Don’t toy with him,’ Rachel snapped. ‘Just tell us.’

The Claviger’s red eyes burned with excitement. Simon felt his soul tremble.

‘
Prepare yourself, Mr Lydgate
,’ she grinned. ‘
You are in for a big, BIG surprise
… ’

Chapter 23

The Gallows Hour

Adam Harker gripped the telephone receiver with a shaking hand. He listened carefully to Pandora’s report, interrupting only to clarify certain points.

‘I see,’ he said at last, ‘and how is Simon?’

‘Pretty shook up, as you can imagine,’ Pandora said breathlessly. ‘I still can’t believe it. Did you ever suspect?’

‘No,’ Adam sighed. ‘I believed whole-heartedly that he
was
half-demon. Bearing in mind the stories I’d heard, and what we saw when he transformed, it seemed the most logical explanation. I never dreamed that he’d been experimented on; that demon blood had been used to regress him back to a Cynocephalus hybrid. The Demon Father is farsighted indeed, to have tried to create a slave race. I just pray that Simon was his
only
experiment … Tell me, is Simon remaining calm? There’re no signs of him transforming?’

‘No. Rachel’s with him. They’re going through the exercises you gave him, just to be sure. And Brag’s got his club handy in case Simon gets a case of the hairy.’

‘And the Claviger?’

‘Just sitting there. Disgusting vamp keeps saying she’s thirsty. I told her to keep her eyes off our necks or I’d cut out her liver and feed it to her whole.’

‘Set her loose.’

‘What?’

‘With the Institute destroyed, we’re in no position to hold her prisoner, Pandora.’

‘But she’ll go straight back to the Demon Father and tell him everything.’

‘That can’t be helped.’

‘It can if I stake her. Say the word and the bloodsucker’s dust.’

‘Pandora.’ Adam’s voice hardened. ‘You’re better than that.’

‘Fine,’ she muttered like a small child deprived of a treat. ‘So, what do we do about Simon?’

‘He must come back to the Grimoire Club.’

‘He won’t. He says that, even though he’s not half-demon, he still poses a threat to us.’