Dark Valentines

by Mark Onspaugh

  Over dinner, she proved a delightful conversationalist, versed in art and philosophy, though somewhat ignorant on current events and the world at large. Of course, Prendick was not acquainted with many woman in London who discussed such things, and they certainly had more access to information than anyone on the island.

  Twice, when Moreau was addressing Montgomery or M’ling, Prendick found her staring at him. It was unnerving, her amber eyes were so large and all-seeing. He did return the stare the second time, ignoring all sense of propriety, and was gratified to see a her throat and bosom flush a rosy pink color, visible even under that fine coating of fur. Prendick would have continued this game, but by then Moreau was asking that Prendick tell them what news he might have of the Continent, particularly in matters of science and the arts.

  Aurélie, who only had a small salad and a bit of fruit, retired early.

  Moreau watched her go proudly, and Prendick was surprised to find that he felt a pang of jealousy.

  Moreau turned to look at him. “Isn’t she remarkable?” he asked.

  “I’ve never met anyone like her,” Prendick said, trying to be diplomatic.

  Moreau laughed, a sound which startled both Montgomery and M’ling, as neither of them had ever heard the scientist do so.

  “Indeed, my young friend, indeed!” Moreau peered at him again, his eyes as piercing as Aurélie’s had been hypnotic.

  “You think she suffers from some disease, some anomaly that makes her fit only for sideshows and traveling circuses.”

  “Never,” said Prendick, and now it was he who was blushing. “I just… I… Good Lord, Moreau, wherever did you find her?”

  “That,” said Moreau, “is a question I shall gladly answer after breakfast tomorrow.”

  With that, Moreau took his leave, M’ling following him dutifully.

  Prendick looked inquiringly at Montgomery, but Montgomery shook his head.

  “Not my place to speak for the doctor, Edward.”

  Prendick understood. Montgomery might seem in charge when away from the island, but here he was more of a major domo, a man who saw to the details and smooth function of his master’s estate.

  Montgomery bid him goodnight, and then he was alone by the fire.

  As he stared into the coals, Prendick had the feeling he was being watched. He turned suddenly, but there was no one there. Not entirely sure he imagined it, he took extra care to remain alert on the way back to his room, but saw no one.

  That night, he dreamt of running through high grass, trying in vain to either capture something or elude something. He was sure this meant his end when he came upon Aurélie, naked in the shade of some fantastic tree carved out of bone and sinew, its leaves fancifully cut bits of parchment. The two of them made love, and he awoke to find himself drenched with sweat and consumed with desire for the strange creature he had only just met.

  The next day, he found his companions at breakfast consisted solely of Moreau and Montgomery.

  “Aurélie?” he asked, hoping his disappointment did not show.

  “Her diet does not always agree with her,” Moreau explained. “She will no doubt join us for dinner if she is feeling better.”

  “I am sorry to hear she is feeling poorly,” Prendick said, and Moreau waved him off as if it were of no consequence. Inwardly, Prendick bristled at the man’s callousness, but said nothing.

  “Tell me, Mr. Prendick…”

  “Please, doctor, call me ‘Edward’.”

  “Ah, then you may call me ‘Henri’.”

  “Yes, Henri?”

  “I was wondering if you could tell me of the single greatest blight in our world today.”

  Prendick considered war and pestilence, poverty and ignorance. He thought of some of the horrors he had seen on his travels, and others that were far too close to home.

  “Sadly, Henri, I must admit I am at a loss to suggest what the worst thing is that plagues us in this modern world.”

  Moreau nodded, then said, “And I would say the answer is quite simple, Edward. It is humanity.”

  Prendick looked at him as Moreau went on. “I am sure you considered war, poverty and ignorance. I would also cite the fouling of the rivers and the sky in cities like London or Paris, and the treatment of both the poor and elderly… To say nothing of the exploitation of whole nations or peoples.”

  “I agree in theory, Henri, but I would point out that Mankind is capable of great works of art, of love and generosity.”

  “True, my young friend, but such acts are in small proportion to the almost bestial nature of Man in his wish to dominate the very world. Wouldn’t you agree, Montgomery?”

  “I’m a soldier,” Montgomery said simply, “I’ve had little time for philosophy.”

  “Henri,” Prendick said, “though what you say may be true, what can we do but live as an example. Try to follow the teachings of the Christian church as well as…”

  Moreau cut him off. “A drop in the bucket, Edward, and I have seen the Church become bloated and addicted to excess. No, if there is a salvation for Men and the very Earth they call home, then it is in Science.”

  Prendick felt a preternatural chill suffuse him, and a split second of prescience that foretold the destruction of all.

  “Surely, Henri, even a man of science will recognize that science alone cannot be called upon to save all the world’s ills.”

  “Come with me,” Moreau said, standing, “and I will prove my point.”

  Moreau, Prendick and Montgomery went out of the main entrance to the house, followed by M’ling. There, across the courtyard and near the wall was low, squat building without windows. Prendick had assumed it was a maintenance building when he first arrived, but later had been told it was Moreau’s laboratory. As they neared the structure, M’ling began to grow anxious and Prendick could see the strange little man wringing his hands.

  “See to the breakfast dishes, M’ling,” Moreau said without looking at him, and Prendick noticed the look of relief on the servant’s face before he scurried back to the great house.

  The main entrance to the building was stout and fashioned of iron and oak. As Moreau unlocked it, Montgomery took up a position to the side. Moreau went in, beckoning for Prendick to follow.

  “Are you joining us?” Prendick asked Montgomery.

  “I’ve had my fill of the place,” was all Montgomery would say.

  Inside, Moreau had lit several lamps and Prendick saw a large office with several bookcases and tables covered with notes and charts, sketches and anatomical diagrams. Several full skeletons were displayed in museum quality vitrines. One was human, the other some sort of ape, and Prendick thought one must be a great cat, either a lion or a tiger.

  “This is where my work begins,” Moreau said, “for this room is an extension of my mind and heart.”

  Prendick went to the bookcases. Many of the books were on medicine and anatomy, although he saw others on philosophy, theology and poetry, as well.

  Moreau went to a door that was cunningly concealed within a bookcase. The trompe l’oeil painting of books on shelves had fooled Prendick, and he wondered what might lie beyond such trickery.

  “This,” said Moreau, unlocking the door and swinging it wide, “is where those ideas take shape… are made flesh.”

  This word choice sent a chill through Prendick, and he found himself wishing he had never begun the ill-fated journey that had brought him here.

  Still, he was a curious man, and followed Moreau through the door.

  Lamps were already burning, and Prendick saw a place that seemed part chemist’s shop and part surgical theater. He was about to comment to Moreau when he heard a small sound, like a sigh.

  There was a man on the operating table.

  Prendick gasped, and then did so again when he saw that it wasn’t a man at all, but some sort of canid. A wolf, perhaps, or even a hyena.

  But that wasn’t accurate either,
because its limbs and torso had been stretched and realigned into some travesty of a human shape.

  The creature groaned, and Prendick knew it was in a great deal of pain.

  “This is Romulus,” Moreau said, “a little less than a month ago he was a wolf. Now he is more… Much more.”

  Moreau stroked the creature’s brow and it whimpered. That sound cut right through Prendick and he saw the animal was bound to the table with thick leather straps. Though the entire scene seemed like some hellish vision, he ventured closer, and saw the stitching where paws had been replace by human hands and feet.

  Then he saw an enormous tank, where human parts lay in suspension, including a severed head that seemed to stare at him.

  Though Prendick was a strong man, it was more than his mind could bear, and he fainted dead away.

  He came to in his bed in the guest quarters, Montgomery standing over him. Montgomery nodded as he lit his pipe.

  “I told him not to take you in there without some sort of preamble,” he said, puffing on the pipe. “The doctor’s a bit disappointed in you. I was quick to point out that first year medical students often faint or become ill at the site of their first cadaver, but of course, Moreau never did.”

  “That creature…”

  “Beast-Man – that’s what I call them.”

  “Them?”

  “Aye – there’s a whole colony of them out in the jungle. Haven’t you heard them at night? They’re bloody loud, especially when the moon is full.”

  “I thought… I thought it was just normal jungle sounds.”

  Montgomery shook his head. “That’s why you don’t want to wander beyond the walls unaccompanied by Moreau or myself.”

  “Beast-Men… Then Aurélie…”

  “I noticed how you looked at her,” Montgomery said. “You should put any such notions out of your head.”

  “I never!”

  “Uh-huh,” Montgomery grunted, puffing more foul-smelling smoke into the air over Prendick. “Whether you did or not is of no consequence. She’s Moreau’s, bought and paid for, and he isn’t about to share his masterpiece.”

  “That’s barbaric.”

  “I couldn’t agree more – I’m particularly at a loss to understand why he left her face so… bestial. It’s almost as if he making a challenge.”

  Montgomery got up. “M’ling will bring your dinner, and I suspect the good doctor will check in on you.” The big man headed for the door.

  “Montgomery, you said Moreau was issuing a challenge… To whom?”

  “Why, to God, of course.”

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  Prendick did not see Moreau for the rest of that day nor the next. Though Prendick was quite able to leave his rooms, he thought it best to remain where he was. His situation had changed suddenly from being a welcomed guest to interloper. Not only that, he began to wonder if his being marooned here were an accident. No one would be searching for him, he had no family back in London, and he was on sabbatical from his position as a science and math teacher.

  What if Moreau decided to work his mad experiments in reverse? Rather than pushing a beast toward humanity, attempt to strip a man of his humanity, and try to make him one with the beasts.

  Wouldn’t he make the perfect subject for such diabolical investigations?

  His door opened then, and he looked around for something with which to defend himself.

  The visitor was Aurélie.

  She looked at him with those impossible, golden eyes and again he felt lost. The idea of being attracted to such a creature was grotesque, an abomination, and yet he yearned for her.

  She padded in, nearly on tiptoe, the pads of her bare feet making no sound. She was dressed in a silk kimono of blue, gold and black.

  “I heard you were ill,” she said, and part of him delighted in her knowing his state.

  “Something I ate, I suppose,” he said.

  “You were in the secret place.”

  “You’ve never been there?”

  “Not that I remember. M’ling said it is called ‘The House of Pain’ – do you know why that is?”

  He looked at her. How could he tell her what she really was?

  “M’ling,” she said, “M’ling said there are others like me… Like him… Out in the jungle.”

  She sat on the bed, looking up at him, her pupils dark jet in pools of amber.

  Prendick sat next to her. He could feel heat radiating off her, as if she was raging with fever.

  “Do you know what you are?” he asked her.

  “The doctor says I am human. He makes me recite The Law, which is both proof of my humanity and a code to live by.”

  “What is The Law?” he asked, and she responded, a proud child who has memorized a difficult lesson.

  “Not to eat meat, that is The Law. Am I not human? Not to go on all fours, that is The Law. Am I not human? Not to spill blood, that is The Law. Am I not human?”

  He looked at her.

  “Do you want to be human, Aurélie?”

  She looked at him, startled. “No one has ever asked me that.”

  “These laws,” he said, “are a hypocrisy. Men eat meat and spill blood daily, yet they are Men… Human.”

  “The doctor wants us to be better than humans, to be the ideal that humans strive to be, yet fail to achieve.”

  “And I ask you again, Aurélie, what do you wish to be?”

  “Free,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.

  “That is a very human desire,” Prendick said, smiling.

  “May I go with you when you leave, Mr. Prendick?”

  “I am not sure the doctor will let us leave.”

  “Then we must contrive to escape. I have read books on the subject, and I am sure M’ling will help us.”

  He knew it was impossible. Montgomery and his men were armed, with horses. And what chance would the two of them have on the open sea?

  Still, was he content to die in this hellish place, and leave her to the mercies of a madman?

  Her hand rested on his, and that simple touch made him feel he would do anything to protect her. There might be no place for them in the civilized world, but there were many places where two people might lose themselves.

  “Do you think I am beautiful?” she asked.

  “I think you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, Aurélie.”

  “But not human,” she said sadly.

  “Better,” he replied, and then he was kissing her.

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  Moreau had come to a decision while working on the Hyena-Man, and he could not wait to tell his beloved.

  Moreau had decided they were to be married. He knew he loved her, and that she loved him. Here, in this paradise so far from the world, who would judge them, or hold them in contempt? And if Aurélie exhibited an animal’s frailty and short lifespan, he would make her again. His beloved would spring from the ashes anew, a phoenix to accompany him to the end of his days.

  He had gathered flowers from the garden bed near the great house, and felt as giddy as a schoolboy going on his first date.

  He knocked on her door, then entered.

  She was not there. Perhaps the bath? It was down the hall, near that idiot Prendick’s room. Oh, that young man was such a disappointment! What was he to do with him?

  But that was a matter for another day. This was a happy moment, and nothing would spoil it.

  He looked in the bath, but the spacious claw foot tub was empty, and dry.

  Where could she be? Perhaps in the kitchen, chatting with M’ling.

  Moreau left the bath, and then he heard them. He had not been so long away from civilization that he had forgotten what the sounds of a couple engaged in sex sounded like.

  With a roar he burst into Prendick’s room, to find him atop his darling Aurélie. Moreau dropped the flowers and picked up the knife from the tray. With a surgeon’s practiced hand he cut Edward Prendick’s throat.

  Aurélie screamed and t
ried to staunch the bleeding, but it was too grievous a wound, and Prendick died with her name on his lips.

  She snarled at Moreau, and he saw very little of anything human in his Aurélie. She slashed his face with her nails, leaving three deep furrows in his left cheek, and then she was gone.

  Moreau ran after her, just in time to see her bound up a tree with a cat’s agility and then she was over the wall. Bellowing for Montgomery, Moreau saw M’ling open the main gate and run off into the jungle.

  Montgomery had four good men, all trained in tracking, combat and small arms. Moreau joined them and the six hunters rode their horses out into the jungle that covered over half the island.

  Moreau knew that he would have to punish Aurélie, and wondered if future versions of her might benefit from less human brain matter. Independence of thought and deed could only be tolerated so far, especially in one’s wife.

  Two of the men had gone ahead to reconnoiter, and within minutes, their horses rushed past the main party, whinnying and in a panic to return to the safety of the compound. They found the men, one with his abdomen open and the other missing his head. Moreau realized they should have brought sleeping gas, because it was clear the whole lot would probably need punishment and reeducation in The Law.

  They lost the third member of their band when a sizeable rock dropped from a tree overhead and stove in his skull. Moreau couldn’t see in the failing light, but was fairly sure that had been M’ling, who still possessed an ape’s strength and facility with tree climbing.

  Now they were three, and Montgomery said it might be best to cut their losses and return to the compound until dawn. But Moreau was burning with jealousy, vengeance and lust, and would not be stayed.

  It was moot, anyway, for the fourth man’s horse stumbled into a crude pit covered with fronds and both horse and rider were impaled on sharpened stakes.

  The Beast-Men had been busy.

  “Doctor, we must go back,” Montgomery pleaded. “I can have reinforcements on the next supply ship.”

  “I am not going to let these vermin ruin my research!” Moreau cried. “And I refuse to remain a prisoner in my own home for the next five months!”