A Clockwork Victim

by Quinn Langston

  “I had this made to my specifications just for you. Something special to fit you perfectly. Yes, the finest clockwork shop in London.” He held the clockmaker’s creation in front of her. It was a frightening sight to behold, blank alien eye sockets staring back at her. “Just for you—and the cost, so very dear. The maker is a genius, simply genius. And By Royal Appointment.” Tubes and wires dangled and twisted about the headgear, metal blinders to restrict sight, padded flaps to restrict hearing. Tubes to breathe. Or restrict breathing. The corset was already restricting how deeply she could breathe and she was starting to feel light-headed. If she fainted now, she would surely die.

  Josephine tried to gulp in as much air as she could as he lifted the mask above her head. This can’t happen. This time he will truly hold my life in his hands. No one can save me, not even Marcus.

  He slipped the leather and copper mask over her head and settled it on her shoulders. Josephine could feel two tubes on each side dangle down her breasts. “You see it was designed so that when you breathe in, these tubes…” Dashwood stood in front of her fondling each tube one at a time, pressing the cold metal against her breasts and kneading them together. “It will allow you to breathe from the source that it is connected to. It fits snuggly so that I will be able to close off your senses to any of the outside world. The leather flaps overlap each other from behind and then they are tightly secured with buckles.” Dashwood gave a firm yank to press the front of the mask fully to her face and fastened the harness. “There. Yes, you see? Now we can concentrate. No outside distraction.”

  Josephine’s stifled cries turned into full blown sobs and she began to feel as if she was literally drowning in her own tears. “You can hear or see or smell only what I allow.” He flipped one of the metal plates open at one blinder and poked the murky glass. “Peek a boo! Do you see how thoughtful I have been in this gift for you?” The mask muffled her cries.

  “What’s that?” He leaned in and put his ear to her mouthpiece. “I can’t hear you. You do look like a wild horse about to be broken.” He put a finger to his lips and mused. “Oh, make that a wild whore. Oh, Dashwood, so clever, so clever.” He chuckled to himself and grabbed both breathing tubes. Her gaze pleaded with him. “I want to see how long it takes you to know that I am in control of your life.” Dashwood put his pudgy thumbs over the ends of each tube. Josephine could feel the air diminish. She thrashed her head about and let loose a muted scream that echoed inside the mask. “Complete control.” Within seconds her eyelids fluttered and she almost swooned.

  He released his thumbs. “My! Wasn’t that fun? Let’s try that again.” Again he cut her breathing off. She kicked at the bedpost and continued to try to gain any purchase she could on the bedframe to release herself and free herself in time to breathe. She was losing any strength she had and the lack of oxygen pulled her under to a complete faint in a matter of seconds. She went limp and sagged by her thumbs. There was a muted crack as a small thumb bone broke.

  Dashwood released the tubes and kicked her to see if she was still alive. Josephine moaned slightly and struggled weakly to balance herself again on her feet. She gulped in what air she could as he planned his next move. “This does exhilarate a man’s senses. Let’s try something else.” She could see him pick up the still smoldering cigar and take a long pull on the phallus. With one thumb again covering one tube opening, he put the other tube in his mouth and blew smoke into the headgear. Josephine coughed, sputtered and choked on the smoke; her body sagged. Darkness closed in on her vision, to a tiny circle before her eyes, and all went to black. Is this the end? Let it be the end. Death, yes, release.

  From far away she heard Dashwood’s pocket watch chime. “Oh bother.” He released the tubes and they fell down to her chest. Josephine began to gasp weakly, coming to again, but much slower this time. I must pretend to be out for as long as possible. Josephine knew a naughty couple, engaged in a perverse sexual act, moved on his watch’s face as it chimed, and he couldn’t resist taking a look. “Never enough time for play. Always interrupted.” She heard the heavy door slam and his voice receding. “Payne! See to that. I must be away.”

  Josephine awoke with a start. I will kill him. Make him beg for mercy. Show him what real terror is. And I will save him for last.

  Chapter Six

  “It’s just across the road in the high street shops.” Sebastian gestured with his cane toward the door of Theo’s shop and stepped across the cobblestone road, leading the way.

  “What an absolute miasma, this air.” Every day the city atmosphere seemed thicker and heavy with smut-filled fog. It made it difficult, even with his exceptional sight, for Marcus to read the sign above the door: Machine Emporium, Phileas Ambrose—Engineer of Gadgets, Scientific Instruments and Artisan Horologist Extraordinaire in once-bright gilt letters. The next line of words carved into the sign read: Tempus Rerum Imperator: Time is the Commander of All Things.

  “Interesting sentiment,” Marcus commented. “Wouldn’t we be the commander of all things since time means nothing to us as vampires?”

  “I must confess, until I met Miss Ambrose I did not appreciate the value of the time we now possess.” Sebastian gave another quick glance down the street for any oncoming carriages. “Now that I have begun to collaborate with her on many of my previous designs my mind is awhirl with the possibilities of creation. Theo has many magnificent machines and clockworks that have inspired me, as well as contributing to my very livelihood with her partnership in construction.

  “One of her first constructions for me was my Surgical Eyesight Optimization Apparatus. It truly took her delicate touch to make such a precise and elegant contrivance.” Sebastian pushed out his chest a bit, obviously proud of his friendship with Theo.

  “Miss Ambrose does seem to be quite the modern woman,” Marcus commented.

  “You must also know that I have promised her I will never allow her to come to harm by my hand or any other of my kind.” Sebastian gave Marcus a grave look. “This means, my old friend, no matter our history, I will kill you if you attempt to harm her in any way. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Perfectly.” Marcus cleared his throat and changed the subject. “What was the contraption she was astride at your manor house? It seemed to hiss and whistle. The pops alone could damage one’s ears even without supernatural hearing.” Marcus unconsciously touched his ear.

  “That is her latest invention.” Sebastian’s tone brightened again. “She has not truly perfected it yet. She calls it a velocipede, but intends to give it somewhat of a more grand appellation. She seems to be drawn to large constructions that relate to travel.

  “Theo was granted the Supreme Award of First Prize by Queen Victoria herself at the Great Exhibition for her Lifesaving Aeronautical Verspertilio. It was a contraption that allowed travel by way of flight! Albeit, it was a winged harness that would actually save you from another flight device, the dirigibles, in case of an unfortunate situation in which you were in need of abandoning the promenade deck urgently or before said dirigible landed.”

  “Remarkable,” Marcus noted, genuinely impressed by the achievements of the woman. “In her line of work, has she made many of the exo breathing apparatus masks?”

  “She has talent in many devices. Recently, she has not constructed anything other than the Lifesaving Aeronautical Verspertilios, and most recently the velocipede since her father’s death this previous October. He left her his shop. She has left the shop in his name in his honor. Hence: Phileas Ambrose—Engineer of Gadgets still over the door.”

  Two more quick steps and they were both at the front door of the Machine Emporium.

  “So this is it? She hasn’t drawn the shades.” Marcus cupped his hand and put it to the dirty glass pane. “This is not good. Sebastian!” He spoke in an urgent whisper he knew Sebastian could hear. “Look.”

  Just between the workbench and what looked like a door to
another room, lay a disheveled mound. A bloody, shredded body.

  “Quickly. Come in.” Sebastian scanned up and back down the street. No one was in sight. He forced the lock open and stepped in, Marcus close behind him. He drew the shop window curtains shut and stepped closer to the body. Sebastian kneeled next to what was left the slight body of a girl. Her torso lacked the bulk and maturity of an older woman. Her face was covered, but from her narrow waist and fine hands, it was apparent she was hardly into the very early years of her adult life.. “It has to be Hannah, Theo’s assistant.” Sebastian put his forefinger and thumb to the bridge of his nose. “It has to be. Quick. Where is Theo?” Sebastian leapt to his feet and dashed into the back workroom. He called, “Theo! Theo!”

  “Wait! Sebastian, I hear something.” Marcus froze and listened for half a second. He stepped back out into the street. Theo was approaching on her velocipede. It huffed and steamed and put out even more of the shrill squealing noises than Marcus had heard at Blackmoor Manor. He knew the sound from time spent on steam vessels. The sound was a prelude to commencement of an eminent explosion.

  “It’s about to blow!” With lightning speed he rushed over the cobblestones and sprinted toward Theo. He grabbed her and snatched her off the conveyance. The machine rolled about four more yards into a crosswalk.

  Kaboom!

  The velocipede exploded, sending shrapnel throughout the street. A billow of flames quickly ignited the oiled gears and wooden body. The mechanisms began to melt on the spot. The blast blew Marcus and Theo backward together in a tangle into the open shop door. Theo landed face up on top of Marcus. Glass, dirt and loose velocipede parts rained down on her. A shard of glass window pane spun to slash her face and lodged itself deep into her cheek.

  “Oh, oh! Thank you, Mr. Dwyer.” The blast had knocked her breathless. “I have faced down supernatural creatures and been less shaken. I have very nearly escaped death this time.” She scrambled off him and to her feet. She put out a hand to help him up.

  “Are you all right, Miss Ambrose? Your face! You are bleeding. And, please call me Marcus.” Marcus grasped her hand and pulled himself up. Theo blinked hard, and spun in place looking around her shop. “Here—stand still. You seem to have cut yourself. Let me help you. I am a surgeon.” He reached toward the glass in her face. Theo flinched for a moment but her wince seemed more from pain. She allowed him to remove the debris. Marcus gently pulled the glass from her face and saw the blood.

  “I’m sorry if this hurts.” He handed her his handkerchief to stop the bleeding and steeled his emotions from the scent of fresh blood that was not just Theo’s but all around him.

  Sebastian stood at the door. “Quickly, both of you. Outside.”

  Marcus and Theo moved rapidly to the walkway blocking the shop entrance. Theo brushed at her clothing and shook more splinters from her hair. Two policemen rounded the corner at a trot to survey the wreckage. One bobby began to pull his notebook from his pocket. Sebastian stepped toward them. “No worries, gentlemen. It’s just a little accident with a new invention. No injuries but a few cuts.”

  The bobbies craned their necks and poked at the steaming boiler bits with their night sticks. “Bloody hell! Quite the mess. And no one hurt, you say? We was sure someone would be at least dead from the noise.”

  Theo moved closer. “ No, no, gentlemen. Just this little cut. A bit of blood, that’s all.

  “Really. A mechanical malfunction. It is a risk of our shop. We’ll get it right off the street. Thank you so much for coming to our aid.”

  The tallest policeman tipped his hat to Theo. “Yes, Miss, we know your shop. If there is no problem, then we’ll be away.” He replaced his notebook into his pocket and began to walk up the street without further investigation. The second bobby lingered a bit, taking in the mangled metal and broken gears with a curious expression, then hurried to catch up with his partner.

  Sebastian and Marcus hesitated as long as it took for the policemen to round the corner, then hurried Theo into the shop. They slammed the door. Marcus held Theo by the shoulders, steadying her as she saw the blood splashed room.

  “I just ran out for some supplies. I locked the door. What’s going on? Where is Hannah?” Theo seemed to quickly forget the pain of her injury as she took in the blood-splattered walls and frenzied state of her shop. “Oh no!” She pressed her hands to her mouth. “Oh no!”

  “Theo! Thank the heavens you are all right!” Sebastian stepped back into the front workroom. “Theo, Hannah has been killed.” Marcus stepped aside from blocking Theo’s sight of the body on the floor. Hannah’s body was almost unrecognizable save for her work apron. It, too, was in shreds and mingled with the blood and entrails spilling out onto the workshop floor. It had been another fierce evisceration.

  “Hannah.” Theo dropped to her knees and peeled an exo mask from Hannah’s face to reveal what was left beneath. She sucked in a harsh gasp and folded over at the waist, arms crossed in horror. Hannah was only a young girl. The killer had attached the mask after slicing her face off.

  “Sebastian, she died for me, didn’t she? This mask. Was it a message to me? I did something wrong here. But what?” Her gaze held his. She appeared to be pleading for understanding. Theo was visibly shaking. She fidgeted with the latch on one of the riveted leather bracers around her wrists. This was so very close.

  “Marcus and I both agree that this was meant for you.” Sebastian spoke in a gentle tone. “I should have never let you come back here alone. We knew the fiend was killing clockmakers and that you were in danger.” Sebastian touched her shoulder in a gesture of comfort. “Now it’s only a matter of time until the killer realizes the wrong person was killed…if he doesn’t know already.”

  “Hurry, Sebastian, we have no time for mourning. The police have already been here to investigate the explosion. Good thing really, they weren’t very interested but you never know if something will give them a thought. We must dispose of this…evidence,” Marcus said. “We must keep the police from linking Theo to anything to do with these murders so that we can continue to hunt this killer ourselves.”

  “Agreed. I will deal with the onlookers outside.” Sebastian took charge and delegated. “Pull those curtains. Theo and I can clean up the shop later. Marcus, you take care of Hannah. Quickly.” Sebastian turned the shop sign to Closed and stepped out to the street, shutting the door firmly. Outside, he swung the shutters closed and latched them with all speed. No curious eye would glance in to see the carnage.

  Sebastian stood by the mangled velocipede to deal with the arrival of curious onlookers and the police. He had a presence that lent him authority, and was tall and dressed as a gentleman. Soon the onlookers were drifting away. Without a mangled corpse, their interest was soon lost. The flames had died out quickly. Earlier, the police had a cursory look, a few words, and left, seemingly relieved this was not another sensational killing.

  “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 s
o 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.

  She had finished with the floor but from the ceilings to the walls, her assistant’s innocent blood had splattered the close working quarters. Blood seemed to have rained down on everything. Hannah had been ripped apart and lay in a pool of gore when they first found her. But, why was her body piled high with the exo masks that normally help people?