by Eric Vall
Lucien leaned against the outer brick wall of the tailor’s, crossed his arms over his chest, and gazed out toward the busy street. Aristocrats moved about around him, barely glanced in his direction, but when they passed, they whispered behind their hands in soft whispers. They knew who he was, they’d seen he’d been with the Duchess, and now, the one and only Charles Rayburn, the man who’d spurned Edony, was approaching him on the street. A few of them paused farther down the road, ducked into storefronts, leaned out, and watched curiously.
I cleared my throat, stepped up to him, and then rose to my full height. The blonde man was quite a few inches shorter than me, my shadow overcame him, and he finally was forced to look me in the face. I noticed now that his enormous, slightly tilted eyes were a bright, sickly yellow color, almost the same shade as the wild dandelions in spring. I had to admit, he was a very strange-looking man, all of his features looked as if they were either not fully formed, or barely formed at all, as if his entire face had been mashed together in a laboratory.
“You must be Lucien,” I stated. “You work for the Duchess now, don’t you?”
The blond turned, gave me a once over, scoffed, and then aimed his eyes out toward the road.
“That I do,” the scientist replied. “Not that it’s any of your business, Charles Rayburn.”
“Doctor, actually, so… you do know who I am,” I grunted.
“Of course, I do,” Lucien mocked. “How could I not know the man that betrayed and embarrassed our dear Duchess in front of the whole city? You made a mockery of her, and she hired me to replace you.”
“I’m not here to talk about the Duchess,” I growled. “You made the augmentation stones, didn’t you?”
“I did,” the blond man chuckled. “Why? Are you curious about how they work? Of course, you are, you’re nothing more than a lowly alchemist.”
“Were you there to see them in action?” I snickered. “They failed terribly. I can’t believe the Duchess hired you to replace me, it’s almost comical. Hopefully, you have something better than those that you’re working on because surely if that’s it, you’ll be dead within a few weeks.”
“What are you trying to say?” Lucien snapped. “That she’d kill me if my experiments don’t work? She would never do such a thing to me, we have mutual respect between us, she knows that I would never do what you did to her, and because of that, I have her utmost trust.”
“I’ll tell you this once, and only once,” I breathed. “I don’t care what happens to your life, you can believe in the Duchess’ ‘mission’ if you like. I’m here as a scientist and doctor, out of idle curiosity. If all you bring to the table is silly, little augmentation stones, then I am sad to say that you aren’t an accomplished scientist at all.”
“Excuse me?” the scientist gasped. “Not an accomplished scientist? I’ve done far more than you ever thought possible!”
“Have you now?” I sneered. “Then where’s the proof? All I’ve seen are the augmentation stones, and those were destroyed within seconds of use.”
“I’ll have you know that I studied under Walter Flemming!” Lucien shrieked. “The man who discovered cellular mitosis! I’ve practiced it in the lab for myself! What we have planned next will work, and I know it!”
Cellular mitosis, dividing one cell into two… I had to admit, I was curious about what the two of them were doing. All I had to do was push him just a little bit more, maybe then he would slip up, and accidentally tell me what they were working on.
“Cellular mitosis, you say?” I snarked. “Isn’t that all very elementary for practiced scientists? I taught myself how to divide cells by myself, shouldn’t that say something?”
“But have you ever extracted cells, huh?” Lucien barked. “Taken them out of a living body, produced a second life, and then changed it into what you wanted with serums and potions? Have you done that, Charles Rayburn? I highly doubt it, you’re not intelligent enough to know how! I may not have seen your work or the machine you created, but I’ve heard all about it!”
His voice was nothing but background noise now, his hands whipped through the air with vigor as he spoke, but I mulled over what he’d said. Cells extracted from the body? What could he mean by that? The only type of cells I could think of that could be taken from the body and grown separately were… embryonic cells.
“Are you talking about embryonic cells?” I asked. “Embryos or fetuses grown in an incubator?”
Lucien’s lips snapped shut, his face went deathly white, but he took a single, intimidating step toward me. The blond’s hands balled into fists, he scoffed, glared up at me, and twisted his mouth with a hiss.
“No,” the blond growled. “I’m not, even if I was, I wouldn’t tell a vermin like you what we are doing.”
“Sure, I believe that cell extraction is possible,” I muttered, cupped my chin, and crossed my free arm over my chest. “But I highly doubt that someone as incompetent as you could pull it off. Sure, I bet the Duchess purchased all sorts of expensive, brand-new equipment for you, but it doesn’t matter if the scientist isn’t talented. So, I must ask, if you have all of these things, have you gone through with the experiment yet? Have you tried it for yourself?”
“I’m not telling you,” Lucien sniffed.
“So, you haven’t,” I chuckled. “Not that it matters, I’m sure it won’t work. I’ve heard that you’re famous in the capital, for what, I’m not sure, but this has to be completely out of your scope. Building things for the aristocrats is totally different than creating new life for them.”
“Why doesn’t it matter?” the scientist snarled. “I’ll be a world-renowned scientist after all of this passes! I’ll be a goddamn household name by then!”
“It doesn’t matter because you’ll be dead,” I warned. “You won’t be able to finish what you started, and the Duchess will kill you.”
“The Duchess adores me!” the blond protested. “She truly believes in my work.”
“For now,” I cackled. “You’re so blinded by the money and the fame that comes from being her lapdog that you haven’t even seen your own death on the horizon.”
“That’ll never happen,” the scientist shook his head. “I see what you’re doing, Charles Rayburn…. You’re trying to scare me off, you want your old job back, and if I leave, it’ll open up the position again.”
“What makes you think I would ever want to work for the Duchess again?” I tittered. “The woman would come to my home, threaten me with death if my experiments didn’t work, and when I finally couldn’t take it anymore, she tried to kill me by framing me for a murder I didn’t commit.”
“It doesn’t matter if I believe her or not,” Lucien grumbled. “You’re walking free right now, aren’t you? Shouldn’t that be proof that you didn’t do anything? If there’s one thing you take away from all this… you should be thanking the Duchess.”
Lucien’s lips curled up into a smile, his delicate hands fluttered through the air, and then his arms crossed in front of him. The blond man leaned back against the brick wall, scoffed once at me, rolled his eyes, and then glanced out of the mouth of the alley toward the street. I was absolutely floored by what he’d just said, and for a second, I couldn’t think of words to respond. Me? Thank the Duchess? The woman who had tried her hardest to kill, not only me, but my family, too.
“I’m done trying to convince you,” I stated. “If you want to continue on this fool’s errand, then go on ahead, I won’t stop you. It almost gives me a sick satisfaction to know that you’re the one putting your life on the line, but that’s entirely your choice.”
“If you think your little speech will get me to quit,” Lucien snarked. “Then you’re very wrong.”
“I’m not trying to,” I shrugged. “As I said before, I don’t really care if you lose your life or not. I got the information that I needed, it wasn’t much, but it gave me some sort of insight into what the two of you are planning next. If we want to talk about incompetence
, I think you should analyze your own before you turn to me.”
“You dare?” the blond scientist roared, lifted his fist, and swung out at me.
In one swift movement, I gripped his fist in the palm of my hand, twisted his forearm, and ripped it up behind his back. I slammed his chest against the wall, pulled the arm a little higher, chuckled at the light crack of bone, and listened intently as Lucien squealed in pain.
“That’s your reaction?” I scoffed. “Maybe you should watch your tongue instead of resorting to violence.”
“You… you bastard!” the scientist hissed.
“Enough,” I let go, raised both of my hands up into the air, and stepped away from him. “Go inside with your Mistress, I’d say you should warn her about what just happened, but do you want to admit that you told me some things by accident?”
Lucien scurried away from me, held his injured arm to his chest, twisted his lips as if he wanted to speak, huffed loudly, straightened his white lab coat, and then ran around the corner. I breathed in slowly, dropped my arms to my side, and leaned against the brick wall behind me.
I hadn’t learned much from our conversation, just a few bits and pieces here and there. I already knew that the Duchess wanted super-soldiers, though the reason why was still unclear, and he’d made it seem as if they’d completely abandoned the idea of the soldiers for something else.
How was I going to find out? There was no way that I could get Lucien to speak to me again, or at least willingly, and I already knew that the Duchess would never tell me what her plan was… I had to figure out how I was going to get that information without tipping both of them off or getting myself killed. I doubted that Lucien would tell Edony that he saw or even spoke to me, I knew her pretty well, and if he did, she would surely fly into a rage.
I cleared my throat, shook my head, ran a hand through my messy black hair, and then stepped out of the alleyway. Lucien was gone from sight, though I was sure he’d be loyally back at his Mistress’ side, wherever she was. I couldn’t get the idea of their experiments out of my head, what were they doing? Cellular mitosis? Why had he brought that up, and what did it have to do with their experiments?
Maybe the clues were hidden deep within Ortensia’s diary? I’d have to go through it once we got back to the manor, or else I’d have to figure out a way to find out what they were doing. I didn’t care for Lucien, he was a horrible man who probably deserved to be killed off by the Duchess, but I couldn’t stand to see another man’s life lost to that woman.
I’d killed so many prisoners because of her. Each time another man went into my machine it was almost as if they’d signed their death warrant. The only time my machine worked and created life was with my monster-women, and I was almost certain that it was physically impossible to create the monstrosities the duchess wanted. Every single time I’d tried before, it’d failed miserably, and I couldn’t stand to think that they were continuing the experiments.
I wouldn’t get any answers unless I came up with a plan, but I couldn’t do it right now. I had other things I had to take care of first. I needed to collect Daisy, pay for the things she’d bought, go home, and rifle through Ortensia’s diary. I knew that Valerie had read through it a few times, but I hadn’t asked her about its contents yet, though I would.
I grunted, cleared my throat, turned toward the tailor’s, and then stepped toward it. The front window had five mannequins in the window, all of them dressed in frilly gowns with enormous hats and bows. I glanced at them out of the corner of my eye, gripped the door handle in my palm, turned it, and then stepped inside the cool interior. Daisy was the only aristocrat inside except for the three female workers, and the brunette looked as if she’d done this many times before.
“Yes, that mask will do,” Daisy nodded. “But do you have it in a lighter pink? My cousin said she wanted it in baby pink, not such a fuchsia color.”
“Yes, we have a few more in the stockroom,” the young shopkeeper smiled. “You said light pink, correct?”
“Yes,” the brunette breathed. “And that dress there, do you have it in a darker green with black detailing? I like the cut of it, but the colors aren’t right for my other cousin.”
“We can make it specifically for her, if that’s what you wish,” a woman, who I assumed was the owner of the store replied as she bowed her head. “Do you have her exact measurements?”
“Yes, here, I wrote both of their measurements down,” Daisy snapped, reached into her pocket, retrieved a slip of paper, and handed it over to the owner. “I’ll take my dress home with me today since it’s the exact size, when should I expect the other dresses to be done? We need them by Saturday, if they aren’t finished by then, I’ll be forced to go somewhere else.”
“No, no, no, Madame,” the shop owner tutted in a thick accent. “We will take these measurements, cut the fabric today, sew them throughout the night, and then they’ll be delivered to your manor by tomorrow morning. We have a team of brutes that are exceptionally talented in sewing skills, and they work diligently through the night to get all of our orders finished on time.”
“Ah, yes,” Daisy nodded. “That sounds wonderful. So, they’ll be finished by tomorrow morning? At what time do you expect them to be delivered? I need an exact time because I never know where I’ll be throughout the day.”
“Yes, Madame,” the owner bleated. “I would say they’ll arrive around ten o’clock, but we can schedule them for a later time of the day if you like.”
“No, ten is fine,” the bear-girl smiled. “If I’m not there, then my consort will answer the door and take them for me. My cousins have already arrived, and they are very excited to attend Ms. Josephine’s masquerade.”
“Ah, yes,” the owner gasped. “I’ve heard so much about this party. Even you saw the Duchess herself come to pick up her dress only a few minutes ago. The day she made the announcement, the whole city was abuzz with excitement, it’s been a very long time since we’ve had a party such as this. I do wish I could attend, but alas, I’m a mere shop owner, but designing the dresses does give me a semblance of what the ball will be like.”
“Yes, yes,” Daisy waved. “And how much will all of this be? I’d like to pay for all of this now before you get to work on them. I’ll take all of the masks, accessories, and bows back with me today, so when the costumes arrive tomorrow, we can all try them on. Ah, Charles, there you are, here, carry these for me.”
I smiled softly to the bear-girl, rushed forward, and grabbed the three boxes from her hands. Each of them varied in size with the smallest on top and the largest on the bottom, about the same size as my hand, but when I lifted them from Daisy’s grasp, they sagged in my arms from the weight.
“Those are the masks,” the brunette informed me. “Everything else we need to take home will be in bags, correct?”
“Yes, Madame,” the shop owner smiled. “We will pack everything up for you, and when the dresses arrive tomorrow, they will come in their own separate boxes.”
“Wonderful,” the bear-girl sighed. “And Charles, you said you already have a suit? Are you sure? Josephine invited you for a reason, and I don’t want you to embarrass my cousins or me while there.”
“Yes.” I nodded. “I can show it to you once we arrive back at the manor, and you can approve it. If not, I can always come back tomorrow and purchase another one.”
“He can do that,” the older woman agreed. “But we prefer if you bring your Mistress in with you, so that we know that you have her approval for anything that you purchase and wear to Josephine’s. We wouldn’t want our fine establishment being blamed for a clothing mishap.”
“Scratch that, then,” Daisy scoffed. “You’ll wear whatever you have at home, and if it’s awful, you’re not coming with us, do you understand?”
“Yes, Mistress.” I nodded, smiled, bowed a little, and then took the bags from the shop owner as Daisy stepped up to the counter.
I hung back as the brunette paid for all of the
dresses, and it was almost funny to me that she was the one paying even though I was the one who gave her the money earlier in the day. None of these women knew that the money being used was money that I earned myself doing honest work, they only assumed it was from the Browning family fortune back in the capital.
“Alright, Charles,” Daisy breathed. “Let’s go back to the manor, my feet hurt, and I believe I need to be serviced once we get there.”
“Yes, Mistress,” I snickered, raced forward, held the door open for her, and then bowed to the women in the shop.
The two of us stepped out into the street, glanced around, and then headed straight for our wagon. Daisy held her head high, kept her expression completely emotionless, and maneuvered through the crowd like a pro. Once we made it back to the wagon, I carefully placed the boxes and the three bags into the back, helped Daisy into the driver’s seat, and then slid in beside her. The brunette gripped the reins, pulled away from the sidewalk, and aimed our horses back toward home. Then the bear-girl heaved a heavy sigh, slumped her shoulders, reached over, and stroked my thigh with her thumb.
“Sometimes I lose myself when I have to act like that,” Daisy murmured. “I’m sorry that I had to treat you that way, Charles, you know that I don’t mean it, right?”
“I know, my love,” I chuckled. “But you’re so believable! If I didn’t know you, I would wholeheartedly believe that you were a natural-born aristocrat, the way you treated those shop-girls! Absolutely terrifying.”
“It comes so naturally to me,” the brunette giggled. “I know that it’s all thanks to Delphine, but sometimes, I just slip into that persona so easily as if it were a glove. It almost scares me, I don’t know who I am when I have to act like that… I never want to treat you like that, never ever.”
“I know you very well, my dear,” I breathed. “You could never treat me… or anyone else that way, I just know it. When I look at you, I can tell it’s all an act, you’re playing a part that you’re supposed to play in town, but as soon as we’re back home, you’re the sweet and loving Daisy that I know.”
