by Eric Vall
“Hey, hey, hey!” A.B. cried. “Are you not going to say hello to your lovable, bumpy companion? I’ve been waiting here for the past two days, and the first thing you do when you come in is to start making out with each other?”
“Ah, sorry, A.B.,” I chuckled. “Hello, how are you? Have you been resting while we’ve been away?”
“I’ve been fine, just fiiiine, Charles,” the brain grumbled. “I’m not like a dog that can just run away, I’m stationary. I can’t wander around on my own, you know! Buuuut if we had a series of water-filled tubes all around the manor… I’m sure I’d be happier.”
“I know, I know,” I grunted. “We’ve been neglecting you, we’ve had so much going on, and we haven’t given you the attention you need.”
“Don’t patronize me!” A.B. chuckled. “I just said I wasn’t a dog, I may be in a tank like a goldfish, but you can’t sprinkle some food into the tank and hope I’ll be fine for a few days, I need stimulation! My brain will get rusty! What if you come back one day, and I’ve reverted back to childhood! I’ll be goo-goo-ing and ga-ga-ing all over the place!”
“Well, so far so good,” I smiled. “You haven’t reverted at all, you seem in high spirits, pretty boisterous if I do say so myself.”
“I’m so sorry you felt left out, A.B.,” Valerie pouted. “We’ll give you as much attention as you want! Plus, we won’t be going anywhere any time soon, we switched out the letters, found an imp, fixed Josephine’s elevator, found out Josephine likes Charles, and now, after all this, hopefully, the Duchess will leave us alone.”
“That’s a lot of information to take in,” the brain whispered. “Where should I start? You found an imp? And… and Josephine likes you? Like as a friend, or a mutual acquaintance, or she like-likes you?”
“Like-like!” Valerie shouted. “Like how Daisy and I like Charles!”
“You love me,” I corrected. “I doubt that Josephine has very serious emotions tied to me, like love.”
“Her diary seemed to indicate love,” Valerie shrugged. “I was the one who read her diary!”
“Josephine is the pretty blonde one, correct?” the brain asked. “I hope it is, the other two women who were here for the auction were atrocious looking.”
“You could see them?” I grunted.
“Oh, yes,” A.B. confirmed. “Through that far window, I could see all of you!”
“Then yes, Josephine is the pretty blonde one,” I smiled. “She’s very nice, probably the nicest aristocrat I’ve ever come into contact with.”
“She’s a harlot!” Valerie cheered. “She doesn’t see Charles as a brute, but as a man with great talents! She even wrote in her diary what she imagined you looked like naked, and if I’m being honest, she got it spot on.”
“A harlot?” A.B. echoed. “A brute sympathizer? In this day and age? Why, I never!”
“It seems so,” I uttered. “Though I’m sure there are others, they certainly don’t go around shouting their views to other aristocrats. They’d be ruined if they did, everything stripped from them, maybe even sent to an insane asylum.”
“Insane asylum?” Valerie echoed. “What is that?”
“They’re technically called psychiatric hospitals,” I explained. “They’re supposed to specialize in the treatment of serious mental disorders, but over time, the matriarchy has used it like a jail for people who don’t agree with them. Most brute sympathizers are sent to insane asylums, and the aristocrats brush it off by saying that the women sent there have sick minds, that they wouldn’t have those thoughts about brutes if they were in their right minds.”
“That’s horrible!” the beautiful woman whimpered. “How can they go around punishing those who don’t think the same as them? Are people not entitled to their own thoughts and feelings about things?”
“It’s just the way it is,” I breathed. “It’s been that way for a very long time. People have tried to change it, but because women are the most powerful beings on the earth… it never has a lasting effect on our leaders. There used to be lots of uprisings, long before I was born, women and men combined, but over time, people accepted that this was the way things would remain. Women would stay in power, and men were destined to be nothing more than their servants.”
“We’re going to change it!” Valerie assured me. “Every time we create a new monster-girl is another woman converted to a new way of living! It’s not just a change of their bodies, but it’s also a change in their minds! Look at Daisy, Delphine is part of her, and she still loves Charles with all of her heart. I think… what Charles is doing will change the world for the better, and slowly, over time, the old ones will die off. Slowly, over time, we will build a new world where women and men are equals, everyone loves Charles, and the matriarchy is destroyed!”
“I’d love for all of that to happen,” I sighed. “But we have to be realistic, it’s not going to happen anytime soon.”
“I know,” Valerie replied glumly. “I just like to think about it a lot, it’s a nice idea, having a world full of sisters who love you. I’m so tired of hearing about how badly men are treated, it’s not fair! They didn’t do anything wrong!”
“Didn’t you say something about an imp?” A.B. asked. “I swear you did, and I honestly thought I heard you wrong. You caught an imp? Isn’t that one of those small, mischievous beasts?”
“Yes,” I grinned. “It had created a nest in the core of Josephine’s elevator! I managed to trap it, and we brought it back here for safekeeping. We’re going to use it in the next experiment.”
“Oooo, are we getting another monster-girl?” the brain giggled. “That’s so exciting! I loved watching Daisy and Valerie come to life and come out of the compartments! When is it happening, Charles? Soon? Oh, please say it’s soon.”
“No, not anytime soon,” I shook my head. “We’re at peace for the moment. We switched out the letter sent from the Browning family, and that’ll get Edony to leave us alone, at least for a small amount of time.”
“Dangit,” A.B. grumbled. “It’s always so exciting when we bring a new monster-girl into the world. It’s the only excitement I get to see down here.”
“Charles?” Valerie asked. “Have you ever thought about using A.B. in an experiment? Not with a woman, of course, but to transfer his consciousness to a body? He must get tired of swimming in that tank all day, especially when we leave to go somewhere.”
“I’ve thought about it.” I chuckled. “Not seriously, but I have.”
“You have?” A.B. shrieked.
“Yes, but it was only once in passing,” I smiled. “But I’d hate to put him out there and then have the same results as all the other experiments. I am curious to know what would happen, but I wouldn’t take a chance with his life.”
“Thank you, Charles,” the brain tutted. “But in all honesty, I’m kind of glad that you didn’t. I’ve been in this state for so long, I’m used to it. What would I do with a body? I haven’t been in one for so long, I’ve forgotten. But not only that, with a body, you have to feed it, water it, clean it, exercise it… it sounds like far too much work than I’d like to put in. At least, in this form, Charles is the one who cleans my jar, and cleanses me in the tank. I only ask for a few tubes filled with water, so I can travel around the house and not be as lonely when you leave. Maybe we could even get a few fish to put in there, I’m sure they’d love to eat the algae off my surface. Come on, Charles, it’s a good idea!”
“I said I’d think about it,” I laughed. “It wouldn’t be too difficult to build, though I’d have to drill a hole through the ceiling so you could go up into the upper levels of the house. Is your spinal cord strong enough to propel you upwards, though?”
“It may be weak now,” A.B. asserted. “But I’m sure if I practiced enough, it would grow stronger over time. When I’m in the larger cleansing tank, I can use it to move from one side to the other.”
“Alright, alright, I’ll think a little harder on it,” I remarked. “B
ut can you imagine how funny it’d be if someone comes to visit, they see all of these water-filled tubes all over the house, and then a brain just casually floats past.”
“It’s not funny!” A.B. protested. “I’d simply be greeting a guest, I’m sure they couldn’t hear my salutations, but it’s the thought that counts.”
I shook my head, chuckled under my breath, and grabbed the spare piece of metal I’d used to create the cells across the room. I motioned Valerie over, grabbed masks for the both of us, slipped the first over her head, placed mine over my face, and switched the welder on. I cut the pieces small enough to create a four-sided cage, smaller in size, but still large enough for the imp to wander around in.
The metal pieces clinked to the floor dully over the sound of the welder, collected the discarded parts, and then used them as the bars for the small cage. Before long, I ushered Valerie closer, pressed myself against her back, and allowed her to take control over the welder. The feline-woman worked diligently under my hand, and before long, the cage began to take shape. Once we had most of the pieces welded together, I snapped the machine off, stood from my position, and slid the machine across the floor.
“What are you doing now, Charles?” Valerie asked, followed after me, and watched intently.
“We need to create the door,” I explained. “It’s going to be a bit more difficult than just welding a few pieces of metal together. It needs hinges, but more importantly, a lock to keep the imp inside.”
“Are you going to show me that now?” the feline-woman asked, but our attention was drawn away from our task at hand by a loud scream.
“Charles!” Daisy shouted.
“Daisy?” I yelled back. “What’s wrong? What is it?”
“Charles…” the brunette gasped. “Someone is coming up the drive!”
“The alarm hasn’t gone off?” I questioned.
“No, not in a carriage!” the bear-girl protested. “On foot! You need to come quickly! I-I… I’m frightened, Charles.”
“Stay here,” I instructed. “I’ll be back down as soon as I can. Don’t come upstairs, do you understand?”
“Yes, Charles,” Valerie bleated, stepped closer to the cabinet she usually hid in, and swung open the door. “Do you have any idea who it could be?”
“No idea, especially if they’re coming up on foot…” I whispered. “Alright, stay down here, okay?”
I turned on my heels, raced up the stairs, rounded the corner of the house, spied Daisy, and then came to stand beside her. The brunette’s eyes were wide with fear, her tiny hands curled into fists, and I wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders.
“Where are they?” I asked.
“There!” Daisy pointed down the hill. “They’ve just passed the gates… who could it be? Why are they on foot? Why… Why are they wearing that hood?”
I looked where the bear-girl pointed and finally spied the person she spoke about. The person was average height, or at least from what I could see from this far away, and they wore a black, hooded cloak that billowed out behind them like wings. They moved jerkily, and every few steps, they’d turn, walk a little way down the hill, mutter something under their breath, and then turn back toward the house.
“Hello?” I shouted. “Who are you? Why are you here?”
The person jerked at the sound of my voice, lifted their head, but I still couldn’t see underneath the black hood. I turned toward Daisy, but the brunette kept her golden eyes aimed toward the person coming up the hill.
“Go inside,” I urged her. “Go inside and lock the door.”
“No, Charles,” Daisy shook her head. “I need to stay out here. I’m strong, I can defend myself.”
“Alright,” I breathed. “At least, go up on the porch, please.”
The bear-girl nodded, shuffled backward, climbed up the stairs, held on tightly to the railing, and glared down at the quickly approaching person.
“You there!” I shouted again. “Who are you and why are you on my property?”
“I finally figured it out,” a voice rasped from underneath the hood. “I finally did it, I figured it out!”
The person clothed in black came to stand in front of me, wavered on their feet, chuckled darkly, lurched forward, pointed a single finger at the middle of my chest with one hand, and then threw off the hood with the other.
“What?” I barked. “What are you doing here?”
“Charles Rayburn,” Ortensia cackled madly. “You’re a murderer! You murdered Delphine Vallantine and the Warden! It was you, and you alone, and you’re going to pay for your crimes against the matriarchy!”
Chapter Sixteen
“W-What?” I asked.
“You heard what I said, Charles,” Ortensia barked, stalked forward, and raised a pointed finger. “You’re a murderer, you killed both Delphine Vallantine, and the Warden.”
“Ortensia, you can’t go around accusing people of such things without any proof.” Daisy snapped. “Charles has done nothing wrong, it was proven by the Duchess herself.”
“And you,” the scarlet-woman whirled on my monster-girl, glared at her with intense jade eyes, and curled her lips against her pointed teeth. “You don’t fool me for a goddamn second! You’re not of the Browning bloodline!”
“What are you even talking about?” the bear-girl griped. “How dare you speak to me in such a way!”
“That’s hilarious,” Ortensia barked. “Speak to you in such a way? The Duchess may have believed that asinine letter sent from ‘the Browning’ family, but I didn’t, not for even a minute. I’ve been suspicious of you from the very beginning, Charles. Why do you think I wanted to buy the manor in the first place? I needed to see what sick experiments you were conducting and discover all your twisted secrets!”
“If you have no proof, then why are you here?” I asked. “You can’t accuse me of such things without having something concrete to back it up. Unless you’re here to arrest me, get off of my property right this instant.”
“Your property?” the Chief Constable chuckled darkly. “Yours? No, no, no, I remembered the person who bought this property was the assumed Daisy Browning, not you… Proof? You want proof? How about the shoeprint we found in the mud at the crime scene?”
“A what?” I exhaled.
The world was pressing down on me from all angles, I was sure we hadn’t left anything at the scene, we’d checked and double-checked, but… here it was, the proof that someone other than just Milton and Delphine had been there that night.
“That’s right,” Ortensia grinned wickedly. “A shoe print. At first, we thought it was one of Milton’s, but it was far too large to be his, and the shoes Delphine wore were heeled, so there was no way they were hers, either. We had no way to match it to someone else’s… until today…”
“What do you mean?” I growled, stepped forward, and bared down on the scarlet-haired woman. “There’s no way it could be mine, I was here with Ms. Browning the entire time.”
“Nice alibi,” the Chief Constable scoffed. “Unless the person who was your alibi was your accomplice.”
“How dare you say such a thing?” Daisy snarled. “I’m a respectable woman from a reputable family, I would never do such a thing.”
“I’ve already told you that I’ve always been suspicious of you,” Ortensia went on without addressing Daisy’s question. “But I couldn’t find a reason why I would feel that way. You’re an insignificant man with little to no meaning in this town, you may have a few connections to powerful aristocrats, but that’s almost meaningless… So, I kept asking myself, why am I so interested in you? Why do I get this skeevy feeling every time I see you and when your name gets brought up in conversation? I couldn’t explain it…. Until today!”
The scarlet-haired woman threw back her head, clutched at her stomach, and roared with laughter. I stared down at her in absolute horror, glanced at Daisy out of the corner of my eye, and then took a hasty step back.
“What do you thin
k you have on us?” Daisy hissed. “If you had some sort of proof, you’d have arrested us by now.”
“Oh, no,” Ortensia chortled. “I’m not going to arrest you, I’m going to take you directly to the Duchess, and have you hanged in the streets for your crimes. You thought all of this time had passed, and everyone had accepted the fact that Milton had murdered Delphine in cold blood… but it was you! You must’ve thought you were so, so clever, didn’t you, Charles?”
“I’m tired of this game, Ortensia,” I roared, stepped forward, and curled my meaty hands into fists. “What proof do you have?”
“You’d think you’d throw away your shoes after you committed a murder in them, Charles,” the Chief Constable sneered. “Especially after all of this rain… the mud creates almost perfect shoe prints in the mud, and that’s exactly what I found outside of the way station. You thought you could trick me by getting me drunk, but even after I woke up and was severely hungover, I still saw them. I immediately went to my carriage, grabbed a plaster kit, and took prints of them. I have them here with me if you’d like to take a look. The one from the crime scene and the other from the way station. They’re perfect matches, there’s no way you can escape me now, not after this. I have you, Charles Rayburn, you may be smart and slimy, but you’re not getting away from me this time.”
“The shoes I wear are mass-made,” I stated. “I bought them from a full shelf in the mercantile. They could be any man’s within a five-hundred-mile radius.”
Ortensia’s laughter died instantly, her mouth snapped shut, and her single jade eye scanned my face for any proof of deceit. At least that quieted her for a moment, but for how much longer? I couldn’t keep doing this, tricking and lying my way out of things. It was just too much anxiety to handle for one man. If I wriggled my way out of this, she’d only come back with more proof, and if I’d left a shoeprint at the crime scene, what else had I unknowingly left? I was running out of options with Ortensia, and I had no other choice.
