by K. T. Tomb
“Really? Where am I going? What am I doing?”
“I’m not at liberty to tell you. I actually don’t know the details myself. Alfred will brief you.”
“Should I be worried?”
“No. I’m just being overly protective. That’s what we trainers do with our favorite students.”
“I’m your only student,” she laughed.
“You have been a delight to work with.”
“Yes, you said it before: my face, my hair, my bod—”
“It’s more than that,” he said, cutting her off.
“Oh? Do tell.”
He took in some air, held it, and released it slowly. “Now is not the time.”
“Very well,” she said, grinning, and patting him on the cheek after rising. “I’d better not keep Alfred waiting.”
“You’re forgetting your bag.”
“Do I need it?”
“Yes,” he replied. He watched her take up her “ready” bag, something all the agents were required to have in order to be prepared to leave at a moment’s notice. “Stay focused on the mission and come back safe, okay?”
“I will,” she said, sliding past him with her bag. As she did so, she kissed him on the cheek. “That’s for all your help.”
Minutes later, Andrik was sure he could still feel her soft lips on his cheek.
Chapter Nineteen
Alfred had warned her that Limehouse was going to look entirely different to her from her new perspective.
She could only hope! Though she could have chosen any number of ways to reenter Limehouse, she had decided to try out her new transforming skill. She might have chosen to be an owl, but she felt the bird wouldn’t blend in as well as the bat. Of course, Alfred had chided her a bit for not having mastered the best disguise for Limehouse: the rat. And he was right: Limehouse did look different... from a bat’s eye view.
Her assignment was to locate another kind of rat, a man who scurried around Limehouse District: Edwin Burberry. She was to locate him, gather intelligence on him, and make a full report to Alfred. Once that report was made, she was to return to Limehouse, apprehend him, and leave him tied to the same pipe upon which she’d hit her head in the alley.
“I want him to be alive when he’s recovered,” Alfred had said, his voice low and somber. “We’ll bring him in and put a scare in him that will go with him beyond the grave.”
She knew that taking out her revenge upon Burberry for what he’d done to her was to be limited. She also suspected this was a test of sorts. Could she control herself around the very man who had intended to rape her? Additionally, would she be able to find any dirt on the man, too? How far would her intelligence gathering extend? If she were to find any dirt on him, then would Edwin Burberry just be confronted by Alfred and company, or could he possibly be arrested, too.
All of which put a smile on her face. Well, before she transformed into a bat.
Now, as Nora flew above the seedy district that had been her home for so long, where she had turned an unending amount of tricks, where her body had been ravaged for money, she decided that the best place to transform back into her normal state would be that very same alley. With the keen sense of smell that goes along with being a bat, she could smell the mild, sweet aroma of a flower on fire—opium—as she passed over Emma’s. She was surprised that it didn’t entice her at all. Was it because she was a bat and not her semi-human self?
When Alfred had assigned her to return to Limehouse, she’d felt an immediate rush of doubt come over her. The feeling had shocked her, because she’d believed that all of her doubts had been washed away in her transformation. Mostly, she was angered that her newfound sense of peace had been disturbed because of the mission itself. She’d called Alfred on it.
“Are you trying to make me fail?”
“Not at all. What I want you to do is to stay focused, complete the mission as it has been assigned to you, and walk out of Limehouse under your own terms and with your head held high. I haven’t a single doubt that you will succeed.”
When he’d put it that way, she’d welcomed the opportunity. After all, she’d been carried out of Limehouse unconscious, walking or flying out would be far better. Focus on the mission, she told herself. It was a mantra she would repeat, no doubt, a hundred times before she was finished with her first mission.
When she spotted the alley, she turned into it. Under the cover of its darkness, she transformed and stood, fully clothed—which was part of the magic of transmutation—listening to the sounds of the night around her.
“Here we go,” she muttered.
Her first contact was going to be Kate. Though she wasn’t sure how much Kate or Mary knew about Edwin, it was a good starting point. The fact that she wanted to check in on Kate and Mary was part of her motivation, as well.
She followed along the street until she came to the house where she once lived. She took a deep breath, climbed the steps to the door, opened it and passed through. She hurried up the stairway to the second floor flat. Nora paused at the door, gathered herself, and knocked. It felt a little strange knocking on a door she used to open with her own key, but, as a vampire, she could no longer cross the threshold of any abode without having been invited to do so. She rapped again on the door.
“We’ve gone to bed,” Kate’s voice called out. “Come back tomorrow.”
“I need to talk to you,” Nora responded through the door.
“Nora?”
“Please, Kate, keep your voice down.”
She heard Kate unlock the door and then turn the handle. “I can’t believe it’s you and back from the dead,” she said in an excited whisper the moment she saw Nora.
“If you only knew.” Nora hesitated, unable to move into the room.
“Oh, come on, Nora, get in here.”
She decided that it was invitation enough and took a tentative step over the threshold. Nothing bad happened to her, so she decided that the statement had counted toward the requirement of having been invited.
“You look absolutely stunning,” Kate exclaimed.
Nora had been told that she was stunning, but since her transformation, she hadn’t been able to see herself in a mirror; one of the drawbacks to being an MI.
“Thank you,” she responded simply.
“Months ago, your man Alfred Covington sent someone to us with word about you and your recovery. Mary and I were so thrilled that you broke that nasty opium habit too. And now look at you. Please tell me he did not send you to a Magdalene asylum!”
“Not even close,” Nora laughed. “I’m... I’m with a secret agency working for Her Majesty. I can tell you nothing more.”
“Sounds dangerous.” Kate’s eyes grew large and fearful.
Nora shrugged. Though she was happy to see Kate, she was eager to be on with her mission. If I get too comfortable, I might lose focus. “I’ve been assigned to look into a matter concerning Edwin Burberry. Would you happen to know where he could be found?”
“You couldn’t have better luck, Nora,” she responded. “About a week after you left, he came looking for you. Mary scared him away with her pistol, of course, but he swore he’d find you. We’ve seen him along the street out front on many nights and sometimes in the morning, but we don’t know if it’s a daily thing or just something he does once in a while. In any case, you’re probably not safe hanging around here, unless Mary and the pistol are along.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Nora responded.
They exchanged more pleasantries and Kate suggested that they awaken Mary, but Nora told her that it wasn’t necessary. She dismissed herself, left the apartment, went down the stairway and back out into the dark street.
“Easier than I thought,” she muttered. “All I’ve got to do is wait.”
Waiting didn’t come easily, so she strolled down the street until she reached Emma’s. She paused on the street, facing the door she’d entered so many times before. She could smell and taste the opium on t
he air. Two months earlier, siren songs would have been less potent, but as she stood there now, she realized that she hadn’t the slightest bit of craving for the stuff. I really have changed.
She wandered Limehouse District, realizing that she found the place to be abhorrent, until the first glow of orange, which warned of dawn, appeared. She ducked into a dark alley, transformed into a bat and flew back to the street that passed in front of the house where she used to live. There, she found a dark, secluded spot under the eave of a roof gable, which allowed her a view of the street, attached herself upside down, and waited as the sun rose and spread its light everywhere but under the eave.
Nora passed the entire day hanging from the ledge and was beginning to grow restless as dusk approached. She’d seen nothing of Edwin Burberry. Perhaps he’d given up looking for her. I guess I need a new approach. The thought had no sooner entered her mind when she saw his familiar and hated form coming along the street, smoking a cigarette, and looking up at the second story windows of her former home.
Got you.
Chapter Twenty
The tiny, orange glow of Edwin’s habit had made it easy for Nora to keep an eye on him as clients for Kate and Mary came and went throughout the day.
She certainly wasn’t missing that particular part of her life. Although she tended to work the night shift, as opposed to days, thanks, in part, to her need to sleep off the opium. Now, as she watched the steady stream of business come and go, her heart ached for her ex-housemates.
I’ll find a way to get them out of this, she promised herself.
She could think on the idea no longer, because Edwin had decided to give up his vigil and moved on down the street. She dropped from the eave and flew along following him, landing in various places up ahead and waiting for him to catch up before continuing on.
She followed him to a building, which he entered. Though she could not enter the building, the hypersensitive hearing of her bat form kept him within earshot as he moved up the stairway inside and turned into an apartment on the third floor. What she heard next filled her with a combination of anger and pity. Edwin Burberry was married, had four children and, from what she could gather from the overheard conversation, had another on the way. What sort of ingrate… She didn’t finish the question. She didn’t need to. She had, of course, given pleasure to many a-married man in her time.
Who am I to talk? she thought, and secretly hated herself all over again. How many marriages had I ruined?
She didn’t know, and didn’t want to know. She also let that line of inquiry drop. She had done all she could to stay alive, and for that she was happy. After all, her life on the streets had led to her station now. That she was presently transmuted into a bat was a different story, and quite laughable. But unbelievable and awe-inspiring, too. She loved her new life, and she especially loved her new powers.
For two more days and nights, she watched Edwin coming and going from his home and followed him. When she was able to, without attracting attention, she followed along behind him in her natural form, but most of the time, she followed him as a bat. In the darkest hours of the night, she even transformed into an owl, allowing herself to spread her wings and soar over the Thames and other parts of central and eastern London. Everything looked very different through the eyes of an owl, and she found that she savored the peaceful freedom of those midnight flights. They made her heart soar and she began to believe that she had truly discovered her purpose.
The third night after following Edwin home, Nora flew, as the great owl, out to Richmond Upon Thames and to the house of Alfred Covington. The meeting had been prearranged and Alfred was waiting for her. She transmuted quickly into her human form.
“Are you ready for the next part, Nora?” he asked after she’d finished her report.
“Apprehension?” she asked, though she knew the answer.
“Are you in the proper state of mind to do it?”
“I will admit that I am very angry,” she replied. “But I am angry on behalf of his pregnant wife and those small children.”
“Not vengeance then?”
“I’d be lying if I told you that I didn’t want to even the score.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Alfred responded. “And there ought to be some desire to give him a little taste of his own medicine. Have you found any indication of crimes committed?”
“None yet.”
“Very well. Have you considered a way to keep yourself focused on your duty so that you don’t take things too far?”
“I have,” Nora answered.
Alfred spread his hands apart, and raised his eyebrows in an unspoken question.
“For the sake of his wife and children, I’d prefer to see the man become a useful father and husband,” she responded.
“This is your request?”
She took in some air, nodded. “It is.”
“So be it. I will see to him personally.” Alfred paused a moment, looking directly into her eyes and studying her. “I’m going to assume that you’ve determined a way of luring him into the alley?”
“I have.”
“Well, then, Nora, go to it.”
With that statement, she was dismissed. She transmuted into the owl for the flight back across London. If while in her owl form, a smile could register upon her beak, it was certainly there. Not only was she at peace in the sky, but when dawn broke, she would dish out some justice, too.
***
“Nora Kelly.” Edwin Burberry clucked his tongue when he saw her struggling along the street. “Where have you been? You’ve a debt to repay and you’re way behind. I might have to collect a little extra.”
Nora had changed into her old clothes and had given every appearance that she was suffering from another night of opium.
“Leave me be,” she groaned.
“We’re right back where we were before, whore,” he hissed as he took hold of her arm. “Except this time, there won’t be some dandy to come along and rescue you.”
“Just go home to your wife and children,” she responded.
“Oh, I intend to, but I’m gonna take what you owe me first.”
Nora made a half-hearted attempt of swinging her knee at his crotch. He blocked her blow and then grabbed a handful of her hair.
“You just settle down and take what’s coming to you,” he growled close to her ear.
Nora bit her lower lip and reminded herself to stay focused. First, she had to get him into the alley. If she started in on him out in the open street, someone was bound to see her, and she couldn’t draw anyone’s attention. She had a very specific mission, and it began with the alley.
The sudden backhand across her mouth made her see red, but she swallowed her anger. Focus on the mission. “No need for that,” she said. “I... I’ll give you what you want. Just don’t hurt me.”
“Not hurt you? I don’t think you know me very well.”
She put up the appearance of fighting feebly against him, but allowed him to drag her into the alley. Nora fought a brief feeling of helplessness as he did so, but reminded herself that she was helpless no more. He shoved her against a brick wall and delivered another punch to the face that was meant to knock her teeth out.
Except, of course, Nora had caught his arm in mid-swing.
She allowed the fluorescence to appear in her green eyes, which was a neat trick Andrik had taught her only days before. It had the desired effect. Edwin cried out and struggled briefly with her before heaving another fist. She caught that as well. She clamped down onto both of his hands with all her strength. Almost immediately, she felt the bones of both wrists shatter. He cried out, louder than she expected... and a lot higher pitched, too.
For some reason, this caused her to grin. Maybe because the man wasn’t so tough, after all.
The problem was, he was making too much of a ruckus, and so Nora delivered a series of powerful backhands at him, three in total, one after another, first her left, then right, then back to he
r left. They were enough to leave him sprawled against the brick wall, bleeding from his mouth and nose, his hands, broken and limp at his sides.
In a way, Nora felt sorry for him. He truly didn’t stand a chance against her. In fact, no man did. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
No, not true.
She was sure. She liked it.
The blood was... enticing. Her mission had been specific. No feeding from the man. She was only to leave him chained to the very pipe he was slumped next to. Still, the throbbing carotid vein in his neck was there for the taking. It would be a meal that would satiate her in the truest sense of the word…
She remembered his wife and children. For them, a bad man was better than no man at all. With a second chance, perhaps he would turn to caring for them like a proper husband and father. I have to trust Alfred. She raised a broken wrist and bound it to the pipe with leather straps.
Bound it tightly, and, no doubt, painfully.
She grinned ruefully and turned away.
Chapter Twenty-one
“Very good job, Nora,” the Duke praised as Nora, Andrik and Alfred were ushered into the spacious drawing room of White Hall, at his estate. “Alfred informs me that our Mister Burberry was dazed, but otherwise unharmed, unless you count the broken bones in his wrists. I believe that’s acceptable, given the circumstances.”
Alfred watched Nora’s reaction to the Duke’s praise. Her response was humble, but he could see the new confidence in her eyes. He glanced at Andrik and winked.
Andrik nodded and smiled.
Alfred and some special friends of the Duke, former members of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines, had recovered Burberry from the alley, not long after Nora had secured him there. He was stunned and shaken, much of his earlier bravado had already been stripped from him, thanks to Nora. They’d placed a bag over his head and taken him to a secret location, and began what the Duke called his rehabilitation.
Burberry had begged for his life, cried for his wife and children, and swore that he had no idea that Nora was in service to Her Majesty. Alfred had replaced the bag, took him on a slow tour around London, and finally delivered him at the door of his home.
