Chapter 112

THE SERVANT OF THE LORD WHO GAPES

Hallam Buck threw himself on the ground when the winged man swept down and attacked the New Ripper. He covered his head as if he were expecting a bomb. His face was buried in the bones on the ground, and they pricked his skin. But pain was nothing to him now. Not after Jack had made him a eunuch and promised him a place at his court. A place of honor.

He peeked through his fingers. He could hear the New Ripper shriek and wings flapping violently.

He was wondering what to do. Stay still or get up and run?

He was no closer to making a decision when he saw her.

Jasmine Hanbury ran down the corridor towards him.

His heart pounded. His excitement grew. Jack had known she was here. He could tell. He’d sensed her. And if Hallam could catch her and bring her to Jack, there would be more praise.

The girl obviously hadn’t seen him lying in the bones. It was gloomy, and he could have been just a shape or a shadow to her. She kept coming. And when she was five yards away, Hallam sprang to his feet.

She skidded to a halt, gawping with horror at the sight of him.

Hallam was uglier than ever. He was deathly pale, with big, dark rings around his eyes. It was a wonder he wasn’t dead. But he knew Jack was keeping him alive—keeping him alive to serve in the court of the lord who gapes.

He pounced on Jasmine. She screamed. Above him, the winged man was throwing the New Ripper around as if he were a rag doll.

Jasmine screamed, “Charlie, help me!”

Charlie? thought Hallam and looked up. “Oh God,” he said as Charlie Faultless surged through the air on a pair of huge, black wings. Hallam had the girl by the hair and raced down the passageway with her towards the safety of Mary Kelly’s lodging house.

As he went he shouted, “I’ve got her.”

The child cried out, screaming for Faultless.

Faultless the winged demon.

Faultless the angel of death.

How had that happened?

The girl called out again.

Hallam bashed her across the face and knocked her out.

As he ran, getting closer to the door with every step, the flapping of wings grew louder, and a dark shape moved above him.