Falling in Deep Collection Box Set

by Pauline Creeden

  “He wants to see us now? I can’t go now. I’ve got to get proof to my employer. And I’m covered in Cyclops blood.” Melusine threw the full pack over her shoulder and strode towards the door.

  Levi followed, touching his fingers to her elbow before she set foot on the porch. His fingertips were warm against her skin. “It’s not as if he’s going to ask your hand in marriage. He knows the line of work you’re in. Doesn’t matter if you’ve had time to freshen up.”

  She sighed and let out a soft laugh. No, Edwin was not going to ask her to marry him. He already had and she’d already turned him down. He was a man who always got what he wanted and did not take well to hearing the word “No.” Her refusal of marriage had angered and hurt Edwin, and so it had been nearly a month since they’d spoken. She wondered why he had broken the silence.

  “I’ll need to hail a carriage,” she said.

  “I’ve got a horse.” Levi pointed around the corner. “You can ride with me.”

  “Let me guess – it’s one of those ridiculous clockwork steeds that sweat steam but get nowhere fast.”

  “Just come with me.” He still held her elbow, and now he dragged his hand down and slid his fingers into her own. The moment their fingers entwined, she jerked her hand away.

  She followed him down the street, past dilapidated houses and a newly built factory. Around the corner, a flesh and blood chestnut colored stallion was tethered to a hitching rack. The animal snuffed out a greeting as they came near.

  “He’s lovely,” said Melusine. “I know you didn’t get him from Sir Aldridge because he only owns copper and steel.”

  “I have other friends, believe it or not, Miss Doré.”

  Melusine didn’t doubt it. Between his father’s airship business and his own monster hunting, Levi probably had contacts in every city in the country.

  She mounted the horse, swinging her leg over gracefully. Levi pursed his lips, another smile hovering behind the gesture. “Most ladies prefer side saddle,” he said. “Unaccustomed as they are to having something between their thighs.”

  Melusine began to slide off. “I believe I’d rather walk than listen to your—”

  But he stopped her midway. “Forgive me. I take far too much pleasure in goading you. I’ll shut my sauce box. I promise.”

  Levi settled in directly behind her. She felt the heat of his chest against her back and the steel of his thighs around her hips. The thick, dark curtain of her hair didn’t block out the warmth of his breath just above her right ear as he leaned forward and clicked his tongue, sending the stallion on its way.

  She shifted forward, hoping to create a cushion of space between their bodies. But with every step the horse took, she found herself sliding back into the solid wall of Levi’s chest.

  They stopped at her employer’s, where she handed over the pack (and was thanked profusely for the dripping mess) and got a heavy purse of coins for her effort. With it, she’d be able to pay the month’s rent and even afford a hot bath every other day. A shiver of anticipation ran through her. She’d also be able to afford a new vial of those fancy bath oils on display at the druggist’s.

  She and Levi then rode past Lake Park to Aldridge Manor on Michigan Boulevard. The Italianate tan brick mansion was grossly out of proportion to the other stately homes on the street. Sir Edwin Aldridge was one to never be outdone, and his dwelling place was the obvious indicator of this.

  Most of Sir Aldridge’s staff was mechanical—metal machines made up of gears and catches and pistons put together to look vaguely human. An automaton wearing a top hat and a copper smile answered the door and led them to the private receiving room. Under the light of the gas lamps, Levi seemed fresh and put together – the shimmering satin of his black cravat, the twinkling silver embroidery on his deep purple waistcoat a distraction from any possible lingering dirt or dust. His disheveled hair was the only indicator that he’d just come from a kill and not a good grooming. And here was Melusine, covered in Cyclops innards and cobwebs.

  Levi smirked at her and opened his mouth to speak.

  She held up both hands. “Do. Not. Speak.”

  He turned to poke at the logs in the fireplace.

  The massive door to the room swung open, and Sir Edwin Aldridge stepped inside. He removed his silk hat with his left hand—the mechanical hand—the copper cogs that made up his knuckles shining in the firelight. He held out his flesh and bone right hand to Levi, who pumped it up and down with his own.

  Edwin strode towards Melusine, blanched at her appearance, and gave her a dry kiss on the cheek, his long nose cool against her skin. “You’ve been busy, I see.”

  His blond hair lay expertly coiffed upon his head, his rim beard combed into a sleek mane skimming his chin and sideburns. Every inch of him from his cravat to his walking stick to the metal tips on his shoes was crisp and shiny. Melusine raked her teeth over her bottom lip and sighed. Edwin’s preoccupation with perfection was one of the factors that had forced her to refuse his request to marry, no matter how much he had to offer. Rationally, she knew she should have said, “Yes.” It would have been nearly failsafe as there was little chance she could actually fall in love with the man. He seemed more automaton than human at times, as if his mechanical arm was in fact the window to his heart. There was little space for anyone in that clockwork organ.

  She fingered the line of ribbons around her wrists. Better to swear off men altogether. It was safer for everyone concerned.

  “Miss Doré.” Edwin lowered his voice so only she could hear. “I’ll give you one more chance. Marry me.”

  “I’m sorry.” Melusine turned to leave, but Edwin’s metal fingers flicked out, creating a cold cage around her wrist.

  “Then we have other business. Stay.”

  The clang of the iron fire poker against the marble fireplace made them both jump. Levi slid the tool back into place next to the grate. “So, shall we get the party started?”

  Melusine threw her bloody self into one of the Louis XIV armchairs, taking a twisted sense of joy from the anguished look that crossed Edwin’s face as she did so. “I’m sure I can find a clean dress for you in the house, Miss Doré,” he said. Melusine imagined he was already making plans to scrub the upholstery.

  She held out a hand in front of her, as if to inspect the blood caked under her fingernails. “Thank you, but no; I’m dressed in my element.”

  Levi laughed out loud, covering it with a cough. Edwin glared at him but motioned for him to take a seat. “I have a business proposal for the two of you,” Edwin started.

  “Let me stop you right there. You know he and I don’t work together,” Melusine said to Edwin then narrowed her eyes at Levi. “I do have standards. I may be a monster hunter but I’m in it to eliminate evil, bit by bit. I don’t do it for sport, like some. I’m not in it to put another notch on my belt.”

  Levi’s eyebrows went up and he gestured to the lines of white satin circling her forearms. “No, just another ribbon on your wrist.”

  She froze for a moment, taken off guard, a familiar feeling of terror chilling her veins. Memories scratched at her brain, trying to claw their way out, but Melusine shut them away so that all that came to the forefront was a sense of uncertainty. “It’s not what you think.”

  Levi winked and tugged at his pant waist. “And I wear no belt.”

  Edwin threw up his hands. “I beg of you! I’m no schoolmaster. Stop acting like children.” Melusine and Levi shifted in their chairs and sighed, but allowed Edwin to speak.

  “Now,” Edwin continued. “I am not asking the two of you to work together. Instead, I’d like to offer you a…challenge, if you will. A competition. I need a creature killed and quickly. I’m willing to pay an astronomical amount for that to happen. Whichever of you succeeds gets the reward.”

  “How much is astronomical?” Levi asked.

  Edwin wrote a figure on a piece of paper and held it up. Levi whistled. Melusine swallowed. The numbers made her dizzy;
it was enough to set her up for five years. She needed that money. Badly.

  “You know I need more than money as motivation,” said Levi.

  “Oh?” Edwin stroked his thin line of beard with a copper finger. “Word has it that your father has grown tired of your ‘futile attempt at vengeance’ and has closed his purse to you until you’ve washed your hands of this monster hunting business. If so, you’ll soon see that money is a very good motivator, Mr. Cannon.”

  Levi’s jaw twitched. Other than that, there was no sign that Edwin’s words held any weight with him. Melusine wondered if the Great Levi Cannon really needed cash.

  “But, believe me, there are other reasons you’ll be vying for this job.” Edwin stood and paced in front of the immense fireplace. “I lost one of my schooners, most of its crew, and an entire shipment of iron ore on a day when Lake Michigan was calm and slick as glass. Another one of my ships went down a similar way. I may be wealthy, but my bank account is not infinite. I cannot withstand losses like this forever. And, though we’ve made many modern advances, I’ve yet to find a ship that can sail itself. In addition to my lost ships, my business is losing money daily because my men’s fear has taken over their common sense.”

  “Fear of what?” asked Melusine.

  Edwin took a moment before he answered. He reached for a box on the low table between the chairs and took out a cigar, rolling it between his fingers. He offered one to Levi and, when Melusine pouted, he offered her one as well. It was only when the three of them were puffing pungent clouds of smoke out into the parlor that he spoke. “One of the surviving crew rambled on about a sea creature taking them down.”

  Dread crept quietly across Melusine’s stomach. She shifted in her chair and focused on the cigar, trying to calm her beating heart.

  “Mermaids! Sirens!” Levi smacked his hands on the armrests of his chair.

  “Mermaids couldn’t take down a whole ship,” Melusine said, her voice calm in spite of how she trembled inside.

  “Oh, you’d be surprised.” He turned to Edwin, excitement in his voice. “This is why you called me!”

  Edwin’s slate colored eyes rested on Melusine, and she looked away, afraid he’d read her sudden panic.

  “So…what kind of sea creature is it?” she asked. “Is it really a siren?”

  Edwin shrugged. “It is the stuff of legends, Miss Doré. A beast of giant proportion and force. A kill like this could make your reputation shine for years.”

  She and Levi shared a look, one that said, “That monster is mine.”

  “Yes, but what is it exactly?”

  “That,” Edwin said, “is for the both of you to find out.”

  Chapter Two

  The eyes on Sir Aldridge’s automaton driver shone like lamps. When the carriage stopped in front of the boarding house where Melusine lived, the automaton turned its head, illuminating the shabby state of things in all its detail. The city had been creating new, higher streets over plumbing pipes to keep Chicago from sinking further into the mud, asking property owners to raise their buildings to be in line with the new streets. The boarding house owners didn’t want to spend the money. Instead, a new stoop had been laid—a rickety wooden thing that set Melusine’s teeth on edge—and the second floor was now the first. The first floor would now be well below the raised street level and so essentially a basement. Her landlady, Mrs. Steed, had moved her rooms so she could be next to the new entrance. She sat with her door wide open in order to keep her stern eagle eye on everything and everyone who passed.

  Melusine closed the front door behind her and turned to Mrs. Steed, handing her a coin. “Tub free?”

  Mrs. Steed wrapped her greedy fingers around the money and narrowed her eyes at Melusine. “All that blood is as bad as body parts. What I don’t have to endure with you, Miss Mel. Careful not to ruin the carpet.”

  Melusine eyed the stained, threadbare runner beneath her feet and raised her eyebrows. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  “Don’t go using the reservoir of hot water all for yourself, now, either. We’ve got other girls here, too, who need a cleaning up.”

  It was true—with all the whores and the pickpockets and maid-servants residing in this building, many were often in need of a bath. The building owners had invested in a gas burner attached to the tub and had been clever to do so, as they charged extra for the privilege to use it. It was an immense luxury in a house of otherwise meager comfort.

  While Mrs. Steed started the process of heating the water, Melusine went up to her room to gather a robe, a small pistol (impossible to go anywhere without it) and a tiny vial of rosemary oil. Then back downstairs again and to the basement. One side of the space was used as coal storage; here again, each girl paid out extra for the privilege to keep her room warm. Foodstuffs were also kept down here—potatoes and apples and the like. Melusine contemplated taking an apple from the top of a bushel, but from its wrinkled appearance it wasn’t worth the pennies she’d have to pay.

  A rat scuttled across the floor and wiggled into a large crack in the foundation. Melusine peeled her clothes off, grimacing at how stiff they were. There was a lot of gore she’d have to scrub out. Despite the early summer heat, it was cool down here and she shivered, chill settling on her skin. She put one foot into the steaming water, then the other, sinking down until her shoulders were covered. Of all the residents in the house, Melusine used the tub the most. She was at odds with herself each time she bathed—part of her remembering that one fateful night, and part of her drawn to the water, to the feel of it caressing her limbs and holding her in its embrace.

  A thick knot formed in her chest. Mother. It was impossible to take a bath and not think of her. Impossible to forget her. Which then, of course, made it impossible to forget him. Her father.

  Melusine took a rough cloth and began to scrub it over her skin.

  She closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of rosemary, remembering baths in another place, another time. On bathing day, Mother took items from hidden drawers and pouches and set them along the vanity—from animal bones to human hair to odd teeth and scales from beings of nightmares. She lit candles and set them in a circle around the tub, the wax pillars oozing a strong scent of decay, their flames spitting and fizzing rather than burning brightly. Mother filled the tin tub with water heated over coals, then lowered herself into it, directing Melusine and her younger sisters to bring her items from atop the vanity. She chanted words that made no sense, hummed melodies that had no tune. She smiled at her daughters, her eyes swirling with the blue of the sea. Melusine, Ori and Tina rubbed a musty-smelling soap over Mother’s legs and arms and stomach and neck, then they held hands in dread and awe as the water in the tub bubbled and frothed, tendrils of steam rising like vines from its surface. Mother glowed, her beauty growing tenfold, her dark hair curling like silken corkscrews about her head, her lips softening and plumping like pillows, her skin tightening and shining, once again fresh and young like dew on rose petals. Even the girls did not know what their mother really looked like; Mother recast the same metamorphosis spell each week, never allowing its power to lose anything but subtle effect. And yet the girls were fully aware that Mother’s bath was miraculous. It was not voodoo. It was not black magic. It was both, and much more.

  Witchcraft.

  Her hands trembling, Melusine pushed the ancient memories from her mind. It did no good to relive those days and widen the empty hole in her chest.

  Instead, she forced herself to think about Edwin’s challenge. Aside from the massive difficulty of having to face Levi Cannon, something else bothered her about the situation. She could understand why Edwin would hire them both. Why he’d pit her and Levi against each other. It was the fastest way to get rid of a monster.

  But why hadn’t he told her about it sooner? Had she really wounded his pride so fully by refusing his hand? Or did he know something more? An underwater beast. Quite coincidental that he chose to contact her to kill this type of creature.


  Did he know?

  No. She shook her head, sending water droplets flying. No. She could not remember ever letting her secret slip. She could not remember ever confiding the truth to him. Edwin was not the sort of man to whom one showed one’s vulnerability.

  The water was cooling down, and along with the rosemary oil, Cyclops scum floated on the surface. Melusine glanced at the basement stairs and wondered if she could sneak in a clean soak before Mrs. Steed got suspicious. She decided to not to take a chance at another bath, but just rinse instead. She pulled the plug to drain the tub, not getting out of the copper coffin. When there was no water left, she turned the spigot again. Rusty brown liquid spurted out, then gave way to clearer water. She put her limbs under the weak trickle.

  She stopped, only for a second, when she dragged the cloth over her thighs. Several triangular shaped welts spotted her skin there, a line of raised scar tissue along the edge of each mark. She swallowed a raw lump in her throat and continued to rinse off, refusing to look any further at that part of her body.

  Mother had got what she wanted: Melusine was alone.

  She dried off and wrapped herself in her velour robe (a rather inappropriate gift from Edwin). She took the two flights of stairs to her room and stopped short when she saw there was a man sitting in the spindle-legged chair next to her dresser. His face was hidden behind the open pages of the Chicago Tribune.

  Melusine pulled the derringer from her pocket and pointed it, ready to shoot.

  “You can put the weapon down, Miss Doré. I’ve no intent to harm you.” It was that taffy voice again. Levi Cannon flicked a wrist and the paper folded down, revealing the drawing of him that Melusine had defaced only hours earlier.

  Levi coughed lightly and one side of his mouth hitched up, his amber eyes dancing in the soft light. “I didn’t realize you had such artistic talent.”

  Melusine ignored the comment. She lowered her gun, but did not set it down. “What do you want, Mr. Cannon? And how did you get past Mrs. Steed?”