From Hell with love

I made myself turn around and walk back through the rows of the dissected dead. Molly had to hurry to keep up with me.

"We've allowed ourselves to be distracted," I said. "We're here for the Door."

I called up the Merlin Glass, and ordered it to show me where Doctor Delirium, Tiger Tim and Methuselah were, right then. An image formed immediately in the hand mirror, showing all three standing together in the same room; all of them careful to main tain a respectful distance from each other. I opened a door with the Glass, and Molly and I stepped through into the room, to face the three men we'd come so far to stop. And, if need be, kill.

They were arguing heatedly when Molly and I arrived, but they all broke off instantly to stare at us with varying degrees of surprise. Doctor Delirium was so wide-eyed and startled he actually fell back a few steps, so he could stand protectively beside the Apocalypse Door. The Door stood still and upright and absolutely unsupported in one corner of the room. Tiger Tim nodded easily to me, one professional to another, but he did a definite double take as his gaze fell on Molly Metcalf. And Methuselah, the oldest of the Immortals, just folded his arms across his chest and looked at me with typical arrogance and disdain.

I took a moment to look around. We were all standing in a comfortable lounge, with easy furniture and a deep pile carpet, potted plants and relatively tasteful prints on the walls. It could have been anywhere. The only thing out of place was the Apocalypse Door. Even on the far side of the room, tucked away in one corner, I could still feel its presence. It was as though there was another person in the room with us, watching and waiting. The carpet at the base of the Door was blackened and charred, and there was a definite smell on the air, of blood and sour milk and sulphur. The stench of Hell. An unbroken chain of gold links circled the base of the Door, augmented here and there with delicate crystal technology. A teleport ring. No wonder Doctor Delirium was able to move the Door around so easily.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded hotly. "You shouldn't be here! You'll spoil everything! Get out! Get out!"

"What's up, doc?" Molly said easily. "Visiting hours over?"

"Don't tease the good Doctor," said Tiger Tim. "He's just crazy. So, Eddie… how goes it, cousin?"

"Your father sends his regards," I said.

Tiger Tim smiled broadly. "I very much doubt it. But then, he always was a better Armourer than a father."

"Hold everything," said Molly. "Your father is the Armourer? That sweet old man produced a turd like you?"

Tiger Tim looked at her coldly. "Why aren't you dead?"

"I got over it," said Molly.

I gave my full attention to the former Leader of the Immortals, Methuselah. He was looking far too calm and collected for my liking.

"I'm pretty sure I already know the answer," I said, "but how did you get here ahead of us?"

"A teleport circle, back in Castle Frankenstein," said Methuselah. "The moment I realised my home's integrity had been compromised, I went straight to the circle and came here. Nothing can be allowed to interfere with what I have pla

"You ran out on your family?" said Molly.

"The strong will survive," said Methuselah. "The rest don't matter."

"You came here alone?" I said. "You didn't even wait for the rest of the Elders? The ones who believed in you?"

"They know where the teleport circle is. It's up to them to use it."

"So that's what immortality does," said Molly. "It makes you a selfish little prick."

"Let me fill you in on what happened, after you ran away," I said. "I brought my family into your Castle, and the Droods went head to head with the Immortals. Your family is dead and gone."

"All of them?" said Methuselah. "Not one of them got away?"

I shrugged. "Maybe half a dozen. They ran, like you. And I'm sure there are still a few out in the world, somewhere, pretending to be other people. It doesn't matter. We'll hunt them down and kill them."

"Don't," said Molly. "Don't smile like that, Eddie. Don't gloat. It doesn't become you."

"It doesn't matter," said Methuselah, and his voice and his face were as calm as ever. "I'm moving on. I would have left them behind anyway."

"I gave you that teleport ring," said Doctor Delirium. "I created it. I've always been a lot smarter than anyone ever gave me credit for. I put it together originally so I could get into the Magnificat. And then I gave it to Tiger Tim, so he could attack Drood Hall with his new Accelerated Men. It kept him quiet, so I could concentrate on the Door. It's given me so many good ideas…"

"It had to be you," I said, looking at Tiger Tim. "Only you knew the secret codes and passwords that would shut down most of our defences, to make the attack possible. Have you any idea how many good men and women died in that attack, fighting your Accelerated Men?"

"Not enough, clearly," he said. "You're still here."

I looked at Doctor Delirium, and he paled at what he saw in my eyes. "It serves you Droods right," he said defiantly. "For all your interference. Why couldn't you just leave me alone?"

"There will be judgement," I said. "There will be justice."

"You can't touch me!" said the Doctor. But he didn't sound very sure about it.

"You are a lot smarter than we ever thought," I said. "As a scientist. Otherwise, you're really a bit dim, aren't you? Or you'd never have put your trust in a rogue Drood and a selfish Immortal."

"I don't trust anyone," said Doctor Delirium.

"What about the Apocalypse Door?" said Molly. "Do you trust the voices you hear, talking to you from beyond the Door? Do you believe the promises they make, and the lies they tell you?"

"You think I don't know whose voice I'm listening to?" said the Doctor. "Of course I know. The voices tell me everything they think I want to hear; but in the end I'm the only one who can open the Door from this side. I'm the only one who can give them what they want, and I won't, until I can be sure I'm going to get everything I want." He glared at Tiger Tim. "I'm not crazy. I know what I'm doing. You're just jealous because the voices only speak to me."

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury," murmured Tiger Tim. "The defence rests. Now hush, there's a good Doctor. The big boys are talking." He turned his back on the Doctor, so he could smile at me. "I have to say I'm impressed, Eddie. Still here, still hot on my trail, even after all the things I've thrown at you to slow you down. Tell me, how many of our family died at the hands of my glorious Accelerated Men? I want numbers, I want names, I want details. Was my father among the dead, by any chance?"

"You betrayed your family," I said. "You put at risk the one real power that stands between Humanity and the darkness!"

"Why not?" said Tiger Tim. "What have they ever done for me? I thought you of all people would understand, Eddie. They made you a rogue too, just for wanting to be different. Of course, you weaselled your way back in. You probably even think you can save them. But the Droods are really no different from the Immortals, when it matters. All these generations of golden men and women-we should have been ruling the world by now, worshipped and adored! Why settle for being shepherds, when we should have been lords of all we surveyed… I'm tired of hiding my light under a bushel, Eddie. I want the throne that's rightfully mine."

"God, you Droods love the sound of your own voices!" said Molly. "Okay, everyone step away from the Door, before I decided to turn you into something small and squishy."

"But you haven't heard the best bit yet," said Tiger Tim. "Haven't you wondered why we're here, in this particular room?" He snapped his fingers loudly, and one whole wall disappeared, replaced by a virtual view of an outside scene, of the snow and ice surrounding Area 52. The image was flawless; it could have been a window. I could almost feel the cold.