From Hell with love sh-4

by Simon R. Green

  "There was an angel war in the Nightside, not so long ago," said Methuselah, when all was quiet again. "Agents of light and darkness, angels from Above and Below, raged against each other in that place where the night never ends… and against the morally dubious powers that live there. Some angels fell, struck down, and had their heads impaled on spikes. Dangerous place, the Nightside. Dangerous people… I was there, going about my private business, when I found one of the destroyed angels. I cut off its hand, and took it away with me. And eventually I made a Hand of Glory out of it. Because I just knew it would come in handy some day. Do I hear the word blasphemy? Abomination? An outrage against Heaven and Hell? What better way to overpower and transform the Apocalypse Door, and make it over into what I want it to be?"

  He looked around, clearly anticipating applause and acclamation from his audience. Instead, they sat there silently, looking at each other. There was a general sense of unease, and even blank disbelief. No one thought any part of this was a good idea. Finally, someone roughly halfway through the circles stood up, urged on by many around him.

  "Yes?" Methuselah said sweetly, with only a hint of danger. "You have a question, perhaps?"

  "Not everyone here believes in this," the younger Immortal said bluntly. "And even among those who do, not everyone here wants to do this. You want to pass through this Door in search of Heaven? Fine. Off you go. We'll all stand here and wave you good-bye. Most of us have a good life, and no intention of giving it up."

  "You don't have to," Methuselah said patiently. "Once I've turned the Door, and reversed its nature, I shall open it. And then those who wish can follow me through, and enjoy all the pleasures that can be found in Paradise. None of you will be forced through. Heaven is not for the timid. I offer you all a gift, a chance, for those who've earned it through long service to the family."

  He looked about him, more impatiently now; he could tell he hadn't convinced them. They either didn't understand him, or halfway understood and wanted no part of it. Only a few of the Elders, in those circles nearest the dais, were nodding slowly. Methuselah sighed loudly.

  "Very well! One more time, for the hard of thinking! I have been searching for the Apocalypse Door for centuries. I first read about it in an illuminated manuscript, a piece of apocrypha recorded by the Venerable Bede. Then again, in a sixteenth-century manuscript that turned up during Henry VIII's dissolving of the monasteries. I almost got my hands on the Door during the Great Fire of London, but it disappeared in the general confusion. Imagine my surprise when it finally reappeared in the Really Old Curiosity Shoppe's auction catalogue, in LA. Of course, I couldn't risk being outbid, so I sent in a few of my more deniable people to pick it up.

  "All would have been well, if Doctor Delirium hadn't turned up with his people, and not one but two Drood field agents. Some days things wouldn't go right if you twisted their arm. Ever since dear Eddie reorganised the Droods, it's been very difficult to get reliable information out of Drood Hall."

  "Why don't we just kill Edwin?" It was the same younger Immortal, on his feet again. There was a loud murmur of agreement.

  "We're working on it," said Methuselah. He gave the other Immortal a hard look, until he sank back into his seat again. Methuselah continued. "We will take care of Eddie, the moment a decent opportunity presents itself. For the moment, he and his family are preoccupied with digging out all the doppelgangers we placed inside Drood Hall. We knew this was inevitable, the moment Eddie started reorganising things, that's why I ordered the Matriarch murdered, and tried out the Acceleration Drug's addition on them. Always such fun, spreading chaos among one's enemies. The witch's death… was unfortunate. It's made Eddie more dangerous than ever. But, assaulting the Hall with Doctor Delirium's Accelerated Men distracted them all nicely, and killed a satisfying number of Droods along the way. And that is the most we can hope for, for now. Strike directly against Eddie, or those closest to him, and they will strike back. That can be your problem, for the future. Once I, and whoever chooses to join me, have passed through the Door… you can choose a new Leader, and a new direction, if you wish. The family will be yours to run and shape."

  The young Immortal was back on his feet again, waving a hand angrily to be acknowledged. It was clear Methuselah was growing angry with this open challenge to his authority, but he still kept his calm, and finally gestured for the Immortal to speak.

  "What if Doctor Delirium opens the Door before you get there, and all Hell is set loose on the world? Why are you waiting?"

  "This is Area 52 we're talking about," Methuselah said flatly.

  "The most secure, and most heavily guarded, military base on the planet. All of its security measures and protections are still very much in place, along with Doctor Delirium's personally designed anti-Immortal measures. If we even try to break in through brute force, you can bet Doctor Delirium will open the Door, if only to spite us. We have to wait to be invited in, by our man on the inside.

  "Once Tiger Tim has assassinated Doctor Delirium, he will shut down all the defences, and we can just stroll right in and take what we want. Starting with our dear rogue Drood's head. Never trust a traitor, even when he's your own. Perhaps we'll send his head back to Drood Hall; I understand they can be terribly sentimental about such things. Of course, once I've turned the Door, and passed through it, all of you who choose to remain behind can help yourselves to whatever goodies lie hidden away in Area 52's forbidden armouries." He smiled briefly. "You see how good I am to you? New toys to play with! Won't that be nice?"

  "But how soon are you planning to go?" the younger Immortal said stubbornly.

  "Eight hours, maximum," said Methuselah. "So you'd all better prepare yourselves, hadn't you?"

  Eight hours… it seemed I had an even tighter deadline than I'd thought.

  "Any more questions?" said Methuselah, just a bit pointedly. "Any other little thing I can do, to put your Immortal minds at ease? I swear, it's like working with a bunch of whiny little children. I should have kicked you all out of the nest long ago, and let you learn to fly the hard way. You've got soft, all of you. Soft and complacent, and stupidly arrogant! The world is yours; get out there and trample all over it! I can't hold your hands forever! I swear, it's youngsters like you, with no real ambition, that will make me glad to leave all this behind…"

  Someone else in the audience stood up, an Immortal from a circle closer to the stage. "You haven't been a real leader in years, and you know it. You've let our plans for world domination lapse, excused yourself from all the strategy meetings, just so you could concentrate on your damned Door, and your dreams of Paradise. You're abandoning us, to chase your own fantasies!"

  "So?" said Methuselah. "Choose a new leader, make new plans. It'll be your world, once I'm gone. Make of it what you will. Use it up, eat it up, spit it out. It's all yours to play with. While some of us go on to better things."

  And that was when the door behind me burst open, and the Immortal I'd knocked out and replaced staggered in. He was unsteady on his feet and his eyes were still somewhat dazed, but sheer rage kept him moving. It was strange to see his face, after I'd been using it for so long. He clung to the door and yelled almost hysterically at the faces turning to look at him.

  "We've been infiltrated! Someone's got into the Castle!" He saw me then, looking back at him with his own face, and he almost went into meltdown with sheer outrage. He pointed at me with a shaking finger. "There! That's him! He's made himself look like me, but he's not one of us! He's a Drood! A Drood!"

  That's what you get for being merciful. Ungrateful little scrote. I jumped up, punched him out, leapt over his falling body, and raced out of the lecture hall while the general cry of outrage from within was still building. I ran down the hallway, and already doors were opening everywhere, with angry Immortals spilling out. I could hear more of them fighting each other to get out of the lecture hall and get after me. They sounded like they wanted my blood, and weren't too fussy how they got it. I pounded dow
n a side corridor, and Immortals appeared from everywhere, in front and behind me. So I squeezed the ring on my finger, and made a duplicate of myself. And then both of me squeezed my rings, and there were four of me.

  The sudden rush of extra sensory input would have been overwhelming, but all I had to concentrate on was running. And every time I came to a corner, or a turning point, all of me chose different directions. I couldn't keep track of who was who, or which had been the original me, so I just kept on running. It seemed like every Immortal in the Castle was after me now, numbers beyond counting, so every time I came to a corner or a change in direction, I made more of me. Soon there was a crowd of me, running and running full pelt, back and forth, up and down the Castle. It was all just a blur of stone walls, narrow corridors, and screaming angry faces wherever I looked. I ran and ran, lost in the crowd of me, losing all track of where and who I was. Dozens of me, running endlessly, running blindly, swamped by too many details, maddened by my own chattering thoughts and impulses, driving me in a hundred different directions at once.

  I ran on, lost in myself, everywhere at once, unable to concentrate on anything. Immortals jumped me, hit me, dragged me down, over and over, and I fought back, lashing out at everyone who wasn't me. I couldn't think, couldn't plan, lost in the horror of endlessly branching possibilities, lost in the crowd, lost… I panicked, and called all of me back into myself.

  Suddenly there was just me, alone in my head, and it felt good, so good. I stumbled to a halt, as I struggled to assimilate a whole host of conflicting memories. I leaned against a cold stone wall, breathing harshly, sweat running down my face, trembling from exhaustion, and other things. A terribly personal nightmare, to be drowning in a sea of you, your very identity diluted by duplication… I shuddered, and forced the memories back until I was just me again. I looked around, and found I was back down in the dungeons under the Castle, outside the computer rooms.

  Presumably because it was the one place I thought I knew best. I shook my head. I'd been so confused I hadn't even thought to armour up, and protect myself from the various attacks my various selves had experienced. Though I had to wonder… each of me must have had a torc, but what would have happened if I'd tried to call up so much strange matter at once, enough for dozens of suits of armour? This was all getting really complicated… and quite definitely a problem for another day. I had eight hours to stop Methuselah from getting to Area 52, then get there myself and stop anyone from opening the Apocalypse Door.

  I checked myself for damage, but I didn't seem to have taken any, even though I could clearly remember being hit and attacked any number of times… I could only assume the sheer number of me I'd made had diluted the effects, when they all slammed back into me. Could have been worse; I could have ended up with all the damage that all of me had taken, expressed in the one body. Nasty.

  I smiled slightly as I took in the state of the computer room, with its torn steel shutters and kicked-out door. I really had made a mess of the place, the last time I was here. The guard I'd taken out was still slumped unconscious in his chair. But, I couldn't hide out here for long. I had a lot to do… The mission was escalating wildly out of control, so many players… Doctor Delirium, Tiger Tim, Methuselah, all with their own different plans for the Apocalypse Door… All I could be sure of was that I had to get to Area 52 in a hurry, before somebody did something we'd all regret.

  I heard footsteps approaching. So I slipped into the security booth, and knelt down beside the unconscious security guard, hidden in the shadows. The footsteps kept coming, just the one person, calm and unhurried. Not someone chasing me. But once they saw the state of the trashed computer room, they'd know I'd been here. I'd have to wait for the right moment, then jump out and strike them down before they could cry out. I raised my head cautiously, and looked down the corridor.

  And there, coming towards me, was Molly Metcalf.

  I stayed very still, crouched in the shadows, and watched silently as Molly came to a halt before the computer room. She looked at the damage, and her mouth twitched briefly, in a smile I knew all too well. Undamaged, unhurt, utterly perfect, my Molly. My heart hammered in my chest, and I couldn't move, paralysed by surging emotions. Wanting to believe, not daring to hope. My chest was hitching silently, and tears burned in my eyes. It could be her, she could be… I wanted to run out and run up to her, and hold her in my arms and never ever let her go, but I didn't. I couldn't. Because in this rotten and corrupt Castle, not everything was always as it seemed, and not everyone was who they seemed to be. You couldn't trust a face. Not here. This could be an Immortal, pretending to be my poor dead Molly, to bring me out into the open. After all, how could Molly, my Molly, have survived such terrible wounds? I saw the blades slam into her, again and again, saw her blood spill… My hands were clenched so hard they hurt, and I could hardly get my breath, but I couldn't look away.

  I stayed where I was, and watched her silently as she stepped casually over the torn steel shutters, entered the computer room and looked around her. Even though I ached to go to her, I held myself still, because I had a duty to my family. I couldn't afford to get caught, not with the safety of all Humanity riding on me, and yet… I had to be sure. I needed to be sure. Molly pulled up a chair and sat down before the computers, still open and running from where I'd left in a hurry. It occurred to me that I was still wearing the face and body of a teenage Immortal… So I stood up abruptly, and strode into the computer room. Molly glared at me, without getting up.

  "What do you want?" she said. It was her voice, it was…

  "Shouldn't that be my line?" I said. "What are you doing here?"

  She gave me a hard withering stare that would have worked on anyone else. "Stay out of this, and don't get in my way. I have work to do. And I'm just in the mood to kick the crap out of any Immortal who gets in my way."

  I took a chance. "You're not one of us," I said. "You're not an Immortal."

  "Damn right I'm not," said Molly Metcalf, and my heart leapt in my chest. She looked me over, and sniffed loudly. "I wouldn't be a teenager again for all the chocolate in the world. I'm here on my own business, and if you're wise you won't interfere. I'm looking for records of the deal I made with you people, all those years ago, when I was making all kinds of unwise agreements, in return for power. I'm here to destroy all the files with my name on them; my little way of saying I wash my hands of the whole pack of you. I'm a good girl now, and I can't have any evidence to the contrary left in unfriendly hands."

  "You were never one of us?" I said. "Never worked for us? You knew nothing about the infiltration of the Droods?"

  "Of course not! I wouldn't work for scum like you; hell, I haven't exchanged two words with any of you since we made our deal. I do have standards. And all the promises I had to make, in return for power, were all used up years ago. I don't owe you scumbags anything, especially after you nearly killed me in the Hall. Oh yes, I know that was you. I should kill you all, for what you've done. But I don't have the time, right now. So run away, little Immortal, before I turn you into something distressing."

  "If it's all over," I said, "what do you care about your files? You're not here to destroy them; you're here to destroy all the computer records, to strike back at the Immortals."

  "Oh hell," said Molly. "A bright one. What were the odds? Too bad for you…"

  She got up to face me, and she'd never looked more beautiful, or more dangerous.

  "The Drood was here before you," I said. "Edwin. Too stupid to get what he needed from our computers."

  "Don't you talk about him," she said. "Don't you talk about my Eddie! He's a better man than all of you put together!"

  "I know," I said. "But it's good to hear you say it." I used the Chameleon Codex to change my shape, and took on my own face and body again. I smiled at Molly. "Hi, sweetie. Miss me?"

  "You bastard," she said, and her gaze and her voice had never been colder. "You bloody bastard Immortal. How dare you take on my Eddie's face
? I'll kill you for that!"

  "Wait a minute, wait a minute," I said, retreating rapidly as she advanced on me. "It's me, Molly, it's really me!"

  Something in my face and voice stopped her. She looked at me for a long moment, with a cold, unwavering and quite deadly gaze.

  "Prove it."

  "You're convinced your left tit is smaller than your right one, even though I keep telling you they're the same."

  "It is you! Eddie!" She stepped forward and slapped me hard across the face. "That's for pretending to be someone else, to test me! Oh Eddie, my Eddie…"

  I took her in my arms and we hugged each other tightly, clinging together like we'd never let each other go, like the whole world couldn't pull us apart, now we'd found each other again. She buried her face in my shoulder, and I hid my face in her hair. We were both breathing hard, as though we'd run a long way to get here, to this moment. Our bodies pressed tight together, as though we wanted to touch every part of each other at once.

  "I thought I'd lost you," I said finally. "Oh God, Molly, I wanted to die. I didn't want to go on living, without you."

  "I'm sorry," said Molly. She pulled back a little, so she could look me in the eye. "I'm so sorry, but I couldn't let you know I was still alive. I had to keep you in the dark, for your own protection."

  We let go of each other, but still stood close together, face-to-face. I could feel her breath on my mouth, and her gaze was like a caress.

  "How?" I said finally. "How did you survive, Molly? I saw the blades… and the blood…"

  She put her fingertips on my mouth to stop me talking. "I did tell you once, but you clearly weren't paying attention. I'm a witch, Eddie. We all keep our hearts separate from our bodies, safely stored and hidden in a protected place. As long as they don't actually cut my head off, I can survive anything. I always come back. Isabella got me out of the Hall, and then watched over me while I slowly healed myself."