A Clockwork Victim by Quinn Langston

Author:Quinn Langston
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: horror;steampunk;vampire;Victorian England
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2014-12-01T16:00:00+00:00

“I will take care of her properly. I promise.” Marcus tried to give Theo some comfort in that he would be humane in her disposal. “I’m so sorry for your friend.”

“Yes.” A teardrop fell on Hannah’s forehead as Theo stroked her hair. “I’m so sorry, Hannah. Please forgive us all. I promise we will find who did this to you.”

Marcus stooped, lifted Hannah’s limp body and cradled her in his arms. Hannah’s diminutive form was dwarfed even more so in Marcus’s large arms. Her long hair hung over the crook of his elbow in matted hanks of bloody twists. Theo handed him a blanket and together they wrapped the body into a tidy bundle. He secreted her under his cloak as best he could lest there be anyone to notice. “This way. Out the back.” Theo pointed the way. She held the rear door open.

The smell of fresh blood on the body pulled at Marcus’s senses. He persevered to rein in his impulses and restrain his instinct to lick her body clean. That would only distress Theo more and most likely enrage Sebastian that he could be so indelicate. In fact his head was beginning to swim with the scent of blood everywhere. Marcus was grateful to leave as quickly as possible.

“Cross the back alleys. Bear east. Make your way toward St. Mary’s Church. It is very near. The graveyard flanks the back wall of the church. You should find a suitable place there for Hannah,” Theo instructed. “It usually is deserted.” Marcus darted out and made his way into the dim alleyway.

Theo stood in a sticky pool of blood that could have easily been her own. Still reeling from the shock of escaping death by her own miscalculations, she bent and began to slowly pick up the exo masks, harnesses and scattered tools from her workbench that had been flung about the room. She looked into the blood and saw her reflection. “I’m so sorry, Hannah. This was meant for me,” she whispered.

Theo finished mopping the last of the puddles of gore from the workroom floor. She had brought a basket of rags and scrub brushes from the storeroom, and wiped and sopped the excess body fluids up. It was like cleaning a butcher shop. Her hands were shaking but she kept working. Theo tossed the last of the bloody cleaning rags into the workshop stove, shucked out of her apron and threw it in behind. She watched the fabric curl and transform into ash, willing the flames to eat away the horror in her mind.

“Please forgive me, my sweet friend. I pray you are in a better place and no longer in harm’s way,” Theo whispered to the flames, saying her goodbyes. Still stunned by the explosion and the death of her friend, she moved in a bit of a daze. Even though she had such a near brush with death, she was grateful that the explosion of her velocipede had kept the coppers busy and away from her door, giving her time to clean up what felt like a river of never-ending blood.

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