Sunset drew closer, and with it Westicher’s fog thickened over the horizon. Dinner gathered everyone into the lounge area. The hours rolled over, and soon the lounge emptied, leaving Catherine and her group as the only occupants. Klaus and Elizabeth joined the others around the table. Conversation shifted between politics, the destruction of the Beaumont’s manor, hunting Bactes, and the limits of magic. Except for Dennis and Elizabeth who sat secluded on the other side of the table. They spoke in whispers. Laughter. Giggles hidden behind cupped palms. Dennis was quick to refill their glasses of wine.
“Have you been back to Germany since you started your apprenticeship with Doctor Wicker?” Leah asked Klaus casually.
“Nein.”
“Don’t you miss your family?”
“Nein.” Klaus picked up his wine glass and tentatively took a sip. Leah’s voice sounded distant as he strained to catch the conversation between Elizabeth and Dennis. He cleared his throat to get rid of a tickle.
“I’ve never been to Germany before. What is it like?” Benjamin asked.
Klaus barely glanced over at him. “It’s quiet.”
“I’ve heard there’s a bit of unrest there.”
“Oh, yes there was news about the movement of the rebels,” Leah added.
“Has your family been affected? I had assumed that’s why you travelled to London to work.”
“Nein.”
“I had a friend travel to Turkey to cover the crisis over there. Terrible circumstances for the locals, but a great job opportunity for a journalist.”
Their voices sounded muffled. Unable to resist, Klaus shifted his attention back to Elizabeth. Something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t pinpoint what. His earlier confrontation with Dennis played in the back of his mind. Can’t be playing doctor forever, no, you need to get your hands dirty. An unfamiliar unease tightened his stomach. Being a Time Collector meant many things. Danger. Temptation. Destruction. A life of being chased and used. He lived at the calling of others’ desires, often forgetting about his own. Elizabeth glanced up, as if she felt Klaus’ eyes on her face. You carry far more value in just your presence than I do in the entirely of my being.
“I don’t know about you, but this wine isn’t sitting right with me.” Catherine’s voice broke through Klaus’ concentration. He abruptly turned his attention away from Elizabeth.
Hudson leaned over the counter to address the whole table. “We will be arriving at Westicher within the hour. The reservation I booked is at the Und Hänsel Gretel hotel a street away from the Palace. Will be a good stake-out.”
“Security is going to be tight. We won’t be able to bring in our equipment,” Catherine pointed out.
Dennis leaned back on his chair. “I know what we can do. We should summon the stone protector.” A moment of silence filled the room.
“Don’t be absurd!” Catherine said, quickly dismissing the notion.
“A little overdramatic, don’t you think?” Hudson added.
“Many thought it was only a fable.” Leah said.
“And Collectors are only fables too, Leah?” Dennis countered. “We have the capabilities of summoning it, and this is Nikolas Vorx, a Collector who has haunted us through generations of Guardian protection. If we have a chance to stop him, then we shouldn’t take it lightly.”
Hudson shook his head. “So your solution is to release a lion and hope it goes back into its den?”
“Lions can be controlled.”
“By larger men with whips, not mortals.”
“Who’s the stone protector?” Elizabeth asked.
“Mortalem.” Dennis answered, “The gargoyle.”
Mortalem. Hearing the name made Klaus rise from his chair in a sudden rage. “Are you insane?”
“What’s the problem?” Dennis laughed, pleased by Klaus’ outburst. “She’s no threat to us.”
“Who’s Mortalem?” Elizabeth asked.
“Mortalem is a gargoyle, an ultimate weapon against all those of supernatural blood. It was concealed within the spirit world by the greater supernatural gods,” Catherine explained quickly. “There are stories of people summoning it in great peril. A creature so powerful its skin can burn Bactes to the bone.”
Klaus’ voice lifted with uncharacteristic panic. “That is no lion but a dragon you tamper with.”
“Dragons to some, a knight to others,” Dennis said.
“This argument is pointless,” Benjamin said. “Mortalem is in the spirit world now, a place we cannot fetch it. For that, you’ll need someone with magic. A powerful witch, probably. Not that you’ll be able to find one willing to help.”
Dennis crossed his arms smugly. “We don’t need a witch when we have a Time Collector.” Klaus froze. His mask, that mask of calm control, suddenly fell.
“You can’t be talking about Nikolas,” Benjamin scoffed.
Dennis looked toward Klaus, as if making a final confirmation. “No, as a matter of fact, I’m not. How does the wine suit you, Collector?”
Klaus’ eyes trailed down, linking the bubble of unease in his stomach to his clouded drink. Poisoned, but with what?
“Dennis, are you out of your mind?” Catherine scolded. “Klaus is a friend of my uncle’s!”
“Not a friend. A fraud.” From beneath the table, Dennis revealed the bone shiv and a pistol. Seeing it, Elizabeth stood up, but Klaus didn’t move. He instead prepared himself by straightening his posture, knowing where this conversation was going. His identity as a Time Collector has been found out before, and usually it cost the other person their life. Temptation was too sweet, too great, to allow a creature such as him to walk away. They were often greedy. Short-sighted, they were not aware of the true costs behind their conversation. But this time, it seemed his life was under threat.
“Collector, I wish you would finish your wine!”
His skeleton feeling as heavy as concrete, he picked up his drink unwillingly. His control and dignity felt ripped out of his grasp. Stunned, the group watched as he finished the wine. A fever spiked across his forehead.
“Enough! Klaus, don’t play along with his games.” Elizabeth said, trying to discredit Dennis, but the look on the others’ faces proved it wasn’t working. Leah’s eyes darted back and forth. Benjamin’s fists tensed, as if to challenge Klaus. Catherine and Hudson shared quick glances, but they too knew enough about the situation to stay quiet. The secret was out. Klaus’ identity was confirmed the moment the last droplet hit his tongue.
Dennis lifted the pistol, but Catherine stepped forward. “Dennis, don’t,” she said softly, trying to calm the intensity of the room. “He’s willing to help us.”
“You knew?” Benjamin gasped. “You knew, and you still brought him here? You let him stay with us?”
“He’s not going to hurt you!” Elizabeth said.
“No he won’t.” Dennis stood and aimed the gun. “I won’t give him the chance.”
Klaus stared down the barrel of the pistol, feeling the poison twist at his insides. He felt weak and gripped the table for balance. The poison swirled his vision, blurring the details of the room. Tingles climbed up his neck, deadening his senses. Sound faded into murmurs as smells dulled. Even his thoughts disintegrated, darkness pillowing into the corner of his eyes. Unconsciousness would come soon.
Klaus moved the same moment Elizabeth did. He turned for the corridor as she stepped across, using her body as a shield. Dennis fired. The gunshot sounded off across the room, hitting the wall with a crackling echo. Klaus swung around and hit Elizabeth across the chest, throwing her to the side. The bullet skewered his bicep. The wound sharply stung and hotness quickly spread into his shoulder and neck. The pain circled around the puncture point as it travelled with his blood through the rest of his body. The sickness unbalanced him. There was no doubt in his mind that they had filled the bullets with poison. His eyes clouded. The train rocked them sideways, but to him it felt as though the world was about to tip off its axis.
Alarms rang inside his mind, making him charge forward. He cleared the table in one leap and speared Dennis’ neck with his Collector’s blade. The force shoved Dennis over. His back hit the windows beneath him. The glass splintered. Time zapped out of his body. Dennis tried to shoot again, but Klaus smacked the gun from his grip. Instead, Dennis reached for the bone shiv, only to drop it as Klaus grabbed him by the throat. He was fast. Brutal. He squeezed with all intentions of killing him. He wanted to kill him. It was going to be easy.
Benjamin tried to separate them and Klaus spun around with his elbow bent. He struck hard, harder than he intended, his body still hot with rage and panic. He heard bone snap, felt the brunt force of his swing drive into Benjamin’s temple. Klaus felt the warmth pulsed within Benjamin’s chest, circling his head momentarily, and then blinked out. With his eyes still open, Benjamin’s body fell.
Before anyone could register what had happened, Catherine leapt onto Klaus and drove the bone shiv deep into his shoulder. Pain exploded. She had stabbed him with such force the blade snapped inside his muscle. Klaus flung himself through the train window, the momentum catching Catherine and bringing her with him. They dropped down a five-meter slope of trees, tumbling head over heels’. Before Leah could scream, they vanished.
#
Death was never easy to accept. Even in a profession such as hunting, where death was witnessed and killing was practised daily, it still could shake a person to their core. An emergency crew waited at the train station to save Benjamin’s life, but he was gone the moment Klaus’ elbow connected with his head. Leah broke. Her screams howled down the corridors. There was nothing anyone could do. Elizabeth saw herself in Leah’s devastation. Heard herself in her shrill cries, as well as in the silence of her disbelief and agony. The police questioned them about Benjamin’s death, and blamed Klaus for the murder. Crowds formed around the train carriage as Benjamin’s body was carried out.
Elizabeth gripped her arms. She sat quietly on a public bench feeling the suffocation of loneliness creep back. Klaus and Catherine were gone. Dennis didn’t speak. Leah wailed. Hudson perched on top of their suitcases in the middle of the crowded platform. The overhead clocks hit their chimes, signalling midday. Elizabeth fell into a still silence, guilt burrowed deep into her mind. She didn’t know what to say to the others. Not like they would listen to her anyway. Eyes from the crowd glazed over her. Amongst the swirl of the busy platform, a face popped out. Eyes of familiar blue, smooth brown hair braided down the side. The pinch of a smile, pulling on her left cheek, just like Elizabeth’s. Elizabeth bolted upwards. She couldn’t believe her eyes. “Mother?”
Ana Blackmore stood meters away, her attention on the crowd. She turned around, searching the faces before walking away. Impossible. Ana Blackmore was dead. Yet, Elizabeth was certain she saw her mother’s face. Elizabeth fought against the natural current of the crowd, unable to find her voice to shout out. Ana’s head bobbed into the swell of the people.
“Wait…wai—” Elizabeth sprinted as she saw Ana duck behind a pillar. Hope fluttered. Disbelief. Need. Possible scenarios rushed to the front of her mind, trying to explain how Ana could possibly be there. She caught up with the woman and grabbed her shoulder, spinning her around. Under closer inspection, Elizabeth noticed the inconsistencies. Ana’s body walked as though slanted, tipping her slightly right. Her skin was cold, sticky, and her eyes dulled as though they were painted on. Elizabeth retracted her hand. This thing wasn’t Ana. It wasn’t even human.
“Hello, Elizabeth.” A chilled voice ran up her neck. The Ana clone crumpled into shards, dissolving back into shadows and the bendable forms of Nikolas’ gremlins.
Elizabeth stumbled back, feeling her heartbreak all over again. “How dare you!” she choked, nearing tears. Nikolas stepped closer.
“Where is Klaus?”
Elizabeth shook her head, trying desperately to stop the whimper in her voice. “You’re a monster.”
“Fear is good, but there’s no point in fearing monsters, Elizabeth. It’s not going to help you.”
“What do you want?”
“Fear is a powerful motivator. Desperation, even more so. I know he’s capable of it, I just need to play this game carefully. Delicate hands to hit those pressure points.” Nikolas held his fingertips to her forehead, seeping shadows through her skin and into her mind. He caught only fractions, burns of images, sharp colors, shrilling echoes, and disrupted white noise. Among the fray of distorted memories, he witnessed Klaus fling himself through the train window taking with him an unknown woman.
Pain threw Nikolas’ head back and his connection on Elizabeth dropped. She dipped unconsciously into Nikolas’ arms and he carefully laid her down by the pillar. As he crouched, droplets of blood spotted the floor. He dabbed his nose clean, the weight of magic burning dark blotches over his vision. He wobbled, having to grab the floor to stop from toppling over. Can’t keep doing that. The gremlins bickered, biting bruises on his neck, arms, and knees, but Nikolas paid them no attention. Only minor details remained. A bullet wound, cut through Klaus’ bicep. A white dagger, too small to see clearly, snapped in half. A swell of panic. Five different people. No wait, only four. One is dead now. Bruises lined the dead man’s temple, matching the shape of Klaus’ elbow. Nikolas cast a long sideways look. The gunshot on Klaus’ body reminded Nikolas of his own old scars. There’s only one thing capable of conflicting that type of injury and I assume they are here for me.
Careful not to overextend his capabilities, Nikolas sent the gremlins toward the travelling group. At the forefront of his mind, he watched through the gremlin’s foggy eyes as they scurried around their feet, collecting swabs of smells. Wine. Detergent. Perfume. Sweat. Tobacco. Leather. Gold. Gun powder. They climbed the woman first, then the two men. Among them were two unaccounted aromas. One belonged to the dead man, the other to the woman thrown from the train. The gremlins rushed into the docked train, searching the carriages for the spot where the man had died. They caught one of the scents, eliminating the last remaining smell as the woman’s. He concentrated on it, expanded it, and like trained sniffer dogs the gremlins singled out the trail. Follow it. The shadows lurched forward, seeping through the slits of the metal panels and galloped down the tracks. The scent thickened into a smoke trail, honing in on the woman’s location, until it suddenly disappeared. The smell dulled and the gremlins slingshot back to him.
Nikolas grinned. Klaus is still with her, for now. Guess I’m going to have to find him the old-fashioned way. His attention shifted back to the group. Pieces of Elizabeth’s memories blurred together, but it was clear enough the blue-eyed male had the closest connection to the missing woman. Her scent was all over him.
Similar to how he baited Elizabeth, Nikolas conjured the gremlins and spindled them into a distorted copy of Elizabeth’s form. The copy was flawed, awkward, but from far away the shadow could convince him it was really Elizabeth. The creature waved the man over. Nikolas smirked, “Thank god for human error.”