The Heartless City (32 page)

Philomena, however, had no such qualms. “The bloody cure.” She let out a breath and shook her head. “I don’t know that I ever truly believed one would be found.”

They rode along in silence, absorbing the thought and the palpable, measureless hope it accompanied.

“Do you think the Lord Mayor knows?” Elliot murmured after a moment. “You said all he did after kidnapping you was take your blood.”

Iris knit her brow in thought. “I don’t think so. If he thought I was the cure, he would have killed me straight away.”

“Then why do you think he wanted your blood?” Andrew asked.

“I have no idea.”

“I wonder where he is now,” Elliot pondered, biting his fingernail. “What ‘important matters’ he had to leave us to attend to.”

“He’s probably meeting my father,” Philomena said with a scowl. “Cambrian is the one my parents wanted me to marry.” She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I adore Cambrian―he’s loads of fun and a fabulous dancer―but I’ll lock myself up in that bloody dungeon before I’ll marry anyone, especially a man who doesn’t like women to begin with. Sorry―no offense, Andrew.”

All three of them turned to stare at her, and Elliot’s lungs nearly collapsed beneath the weight of their shock.

“What?” Philomena asked. “I’m not a bloody idiot. They’ve been gazing at each other as if shot between the eyes by Cupid himself for the last few weeks.” In response to their continued silence, she sighed and shook her head. “When will you people grasp the fact that I know everything?”

Iris’s lips quirked into a grin. “Did you know Elliot’s an empath? He feels the feelings of those around him as if they were his own.”

Philomena looked at him, her eyes widening with the surprise that stilled her heart. “Well,” she said quickly, glancing away as if bored. “Bully for you.”

A few minutes later, the cab reached the Waterloo Bridge and crossed the Thames. They descended into the lower marsh, and just before they reached the old Southwestern Railway Station, Albert appeared, riding a horse in the opposite direction. Philomena stuck her head out the window and called for the driver to stop, and once he did, she waved her arms and hollered for Albert’s attention. He saw her and immediately pulled up beside the carriage.

“Alby,” Philomena said. “Did you go to the address?”

“Yes, Miss Blackwell. She wasn’t there, and the woman who lives there was quite alarmed by my presence and my questions.”

“Iris is actually here with me,” Philomena explained. “We’re on our way back to the flat right now. Will you come with us?”

“Of course.”

The driver took off down the road again, and Albert followed behind them. Finally, they reached a tenement building beside the old station. Elliot wrapped his coat around Iris before they stepped out of the carriage, hoping it would hide most of her bloodstained gown from the crowd. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much Andrew could do to conceal his clothing, so Albert and Philomena walked close beside him to shield it from view. They climbed the steps to the second floor, and Iris raised her arm and knocked on a door, her anxiety peaking.

Elliot felt the fear behind the door before it opened, and when Virginia stepped into view, the force of it became blinding. He blinked for a moment, but once he saw her, he couldn’t believe how familiar she looked for someone he’d only met a handful of times as a very young child. But then, perhaps the familiarity also stemmed from how much she and Iris resembled each other. Instead of gold, her eyes were dark grey, but her delicate face and thick, charcoal curls were exactly the same. The moment she saw Iris and her bloodstained gown, however, those eyes expanded with panic and terror that ruptured her pounding heart.

“Mama, I’m not hurt,” Iris began, but before she could finish, Virginia threw her arms around her and pulled her against her chest.

“Iris,” she cried. “I didn’t know if you were dead or alive!” She stepped back and looked at her dress. “What in God’s name happened to you?”

“I’ll explain everything,” Iris said. “But we need to go inside.”

Only then did Virginia lift her head to see the others, and when she saw Elliot, her face grew pale. “Is that…” she murmured, terror closing around her throat.

“Please, Mama, inside.”

Virginia looked at Philomena and her shotgun, Albert in his footman’s attire, and Andrew in his torn and bloodstained eveningwear.

“My God…”

“Mama,
please
,” Iris begged.

“A-all right,” she stammered. “Come inside.”

Virginia refused to ask or answer any questions until her daughter was no longer covered in blood, so the rest of them waited while she cleaned Iris up and helped her to change out of her gown behind a screen. When the two of them emerged, Iris was wearing a plain brown dress, and her mother’s fear and anxiety had softened the slightest bit. She handed Andrew the basin and cloth she’d used to clean Iris’s blood, and he thanked her, sat on the floor, and wiped the stains from his hands and neck. Iris sat down on a mattress, and Virginia slid into a chair, so Elliot, Philomena, and Albert seated themselves on the floor.

“Mama,” Iris began after pausing to clear her throat. “These are friends of mine: Andrew Heron, Philomena Blackwell, Albert… oh, I don’t actually know―”

“Cummings,” Philomena provided.

“Thank you. Albert Cummings. And this is Elliot―”

“Morrissey,” Virginia interjected, both her eyes and her voice like ice. “What is he doing here?”

“Mama, I know what you’re thinking, but all of these people―they’re on our side.”

“
Our side
?” she demanded, her eyes growing wide. “What have you told them, Iris?”

She shifted against the mattress. “They know everything I know.”

The veins in Virginia’s neck nearly burst with her panic and rage. “Have you lost your mind?” she cried. “First, you disappear after work, then you send me a letter saying you’re living inside
the palace
, then you show up covered in blood with the son of Dr. Morrissey―”

“I know, I know,” Iris said, raising her hands. “And I’m sorry for that. But Mama, just listen and let me explain. I have something wonderful, something even possibly
miraculous
to tell you.”

Virginia set her jaw and sat back in her chair, and Iris went on.

“Last night, the Lord Mayor kidnapped Andrew and forced him to take the drug.”

Elliot jumped as Virginia’s fear spiked, and she stood and stumbled against her chair.

“Mama, wait!” Iris cried, rising as well. “Just hear me out. This morning he changed and attacked me, and during the struggle, our open wounds came in contact with each other. The moment my blood met his blood, he immediately changed back. It was instantaneous―like nothing any of us had seen―and he said he feels different now, that there was a burning inside him that’s gone. Mama…” She took a step closer, holding her breath. “I think he’s cured.”

For a moment, Virginia’s shock was so strong she almost felt nothing at all. Then, slowly, her frozen lips formed a single word. “Cured?”

“Yes,” Iris exhaled, reaching out and clutching her hand. “I don’t know how or why, but Mama… I think my blood is the cure.”

The room swelled with silence so thick it coated the air like smoke. Virginia sat back down as if unconscious of the movement, staring straight ahead and seeing something far away. Iris’s pulse quickened with concern, and she knelt before her.

“Mama… did you hear what I just said?”

“I―I should have known,” she murmured, almost inaudibly. “I never thought… I didn’t want to think… I should have known.”

Suddenly, a well of pain and shame sprang up inside her, clogging her soul and spreading through her body like poisonous bile. Elliot bit his lip and closed his eyes, his muscles tensing. The feeling was almost identical to Cam’s agony in the basement―wretchedness and degradation so fierce it devoured the self.

“Mama, what is it?” Iris asked. “What do you mean you should have known?”

Virginia turned away, shaking her head against the pain, and Elliot rose and rushed to Iris’s side.

“Give her a moment.”

“Why?” she asked. “What’s wrong? What is she feeling?”

Elliot let out a breath and closed his eyes, taking her hand. He shared the feelings, and Iris shuddered, her eyes filling with tears.

“My God,” she murmured, releasing Elliot’s hand and taking her mother’s. “Mama,” she said softly. “Mama, please. Will you look at me?”

Slowly, Virginia turned her head, and when she looked at Iris, tears swam into her eyes as well.

“Mama,” Iris said. “Mama, I love you more than life. I’m here for you, and there’s nothing you can say or do to change that.”

Virginia closed her eyes, and the tears slipped down her cheeks.

“I know what you’re feeling,” Iris continued, her voice growing raw. “I don’t know why you feel this pain, but I’m here to help you through it. Just like you’ve been there to help me through everything all my life.” She sucked back a sob, squeezing her hand. “I’m strong because of you, because you taught me how to be. Trust me now, and let me be strong for you. Talk to me.”

Silence swelled in the room again, but then Virginia opened her eyes and released a trembling breath. “I should have known,” she said, “because of how you were conceived.”

Iris’s heart ground to a halt, as did everyone else’s, but no one spoke, and after another breath, Virginia went on.

“I was working late in the lab one night, here in London, when I was a student. And he, my teacher…” She bit her lip. The struggle to say the name was dragging her stomach up into her throat, so Elliot swallowed and said it for her.

“You mean Dr. Jekyll?”

Virginia’s nausea swelled, but she nodded and continued. “He came in unexpectedly. I asked him if he needed something and he said no, he was fine, but then he just sat there, watching me as I continued my work. I grew nervous and asked again if there was something I could do, and then he said, ‘Well, yes, Miss Carroll. I do have something in mind.’ He told me he’d created a new serum a few days ago, and that since then he’d been testing it out, but always by himself. I stopped my work and watched as he revealed a vile and syringe. Then, without another word, he removed his coat, rolled up his sleeve, and injected himself with the serum. I was so stunned I couldn’t speak or move from where I stood, and when he was done, he looked at me and said―” She broke off, gritting her teeth as her throat began to close. “He said, ‘I think I’m going to enjoy this experiment.’”

Elliot shuddered and glanced at Iris. Her face was pale as death.

“Then he transformed,” Virginia continued. “His eyes went black, and his skin turned white, and he became the kind of Hyde that none of you would remember―the kind that didn’t eat hearts but committed… other violent acts.” She closed her eyes as guilt rose up and joined the shame in her throat. “I was the first to witness the monstrous thing he had created, but I didn’t tell a soul what I’d seen… or what he’d done to me. I booked passage for America and left the very next day. I was already back in Kansas when I discovered…” She opened her eyes and looked at Iris. “That I would have you.”

Iris stared at her, not breathing. “My father was… Henry Jekyll?”

Virginia nodded. “And you were conceived while he was an active Hyde.” She took a breath and wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. “I thought I could forget what happened, pretend that you were simply a magical gift that came from nowhere, but now I see that in doing so, I blinded myself to the truth.”

“Mama, it only makes sense that you would want―”

“No, listen to me.” She leaned down and cupped Iris’s face in the palm of her hand. “I’ve never considered you anything but a blessing from God, Iris, but I didn’t want to acknowledge the terrible act that brought you here. I knew it was the reason you could do all the things you could do, that the powers of the drug had been transferred into your body, but admitting that meant admitting what had really happened to me, so I told myself―as well as you―that it was a mystery.”

She dropped her hand and sat back in her chair, steeling herself to say the words she couldn’t manage before. “Dr. Jekyll,” she finally said, “wanted to separate good and evil, and now I realize that I’ve been doing the same thing all these years. But you were right, Iris; potions and formulas aren’t always the answer. Evil doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s part of every day life, and darkness can’t be fought until you face it for what it is.” She clenched her jaw as regret sank into her heart like heavy claws. “If I had faced the evil that had a part in creating you, I would’ve made the connection between your blood and a cure years ago. It isn’t a stretch to imagine that the blood of a person conceived of the drug would have some kind of effect.”

She lowered her gaze to her lap and the room fell silent again. Then, surprisingly, Andrew spoke.

“Miss Carroll,” he said. “Is it possible that there are others like Iris? People conceived in such a way before the drug was a tablet?”

Virginia raised her head and knit her brow. “I suppose there might be. If any of those isolated, early attacks by Jekyll and his friends resulted in pregnancies, and if those women survived long enough to bring the children to term, and if the children survived, then yes―it’s entirely possible.”

“But if Iris
is
the only one,” Philomena supposed, “could she really cure every Hyde? A person’s only got so much blood to go around, you know?”

“Andrew only needed to touch my blood with his wound to be cured,” Iris said. “So it wouldn’t take very much. Besides, I can replenish my blood supply whenever I need. I did it yesterday after the Lord Mayor took that pint.”

Virginia’s face paled. “The Lord Mayor took a pint of your blood?”

“Yes,” she replied. “And he’s the real problem; a cure means nothing as long as he’s still the one who’s running the city. We have to try and think of a plan.”

A creak and then a blast tore through the air as the door burst open. Albert, who was in front of it, flew face down onto floor, and Elliot looked up to see a group of palace guards in the doorway. They rushed inside and tackled Albert, Andrew, and even Philomena, who―in those few seconds―had somehow managed to reach and raise her shotgun. Screaming, Iris and Elliot leapt to their feet in front of Virginia, but more guards surged in. Soon, all six of them were on their knees. Metal clinked as their wrists were bound behind him in iron cuffs, and when Elliot glanced at the doorway, he gasped.