The Lantern's Ember

by Colleen Houck

  Dev’s lips tightened, and his fingers clenched into fists.

  “Stubborn silence does not endear you to me, vampire,” Rune warned. “Those who won’t cooperate should prepare themselves for entombment. I believe the doctor has a very nice imported casket made from the wood of a maple tree stored in a closet somewhere. I think that one would suit you quite nicely.”

  “Why are you here?” Jack asked. “How did you find us?”

  “Now, now, Jack. Let’s remember who is the more powerful among us. You’re already in enough trouble as it is.” He glanced down at Ember. “She is a pretty one, though. A bit plump for my tastes, but that power coming off her in waves quite makes up for it, doesn’t it? I can see why the two of you are fighting over her.”

  “It’s the three of us,” Finney said, standing as tall as his wiry frame allowed and pushing his glasses up his nose. “You’ll have to go through all of us to get to Ember.”

  Rune leaned closer and flicked the lens of Finney’s glasses. “As diverting as that may be, who says I want the girl?”

  “Isn’t that why you’re here?” Jack said. “To deliver Ember to the capital or kill her?”

  “Let’s just say my duty is to ascertain what the good doctor is up to. The fact that you all are here is a stroke of good fortune, a recompense for the headache you’ve given me, making me chase you across the Otherworld and back. Now, vampire, I’ll ask you one more time: Who hired you to hunt down this witch?”

  Rune turned to Dev and narrowed his eyes when he maintained his silence. “Fine. If you won’t cooperate, I’ll make you cooperate.” The light of his earring fell on Dev and turned from yellow to red. The vampire screamed as his skin began to steam and ripple.

  Jack watched in horror as Dev’s flesh burned. His shirt caught fire, and the black ashes of it stuck to his charcoaled skin. Never in Jack’s entire life as a lantern had he seen the full power of their light. That he, too, could render so much suffering made him feel ill. He knew he could make vampires very uncomfortable, and had done so, but the waves of power Rune was sending forth were beyond his experience.

  Dev collapsed to his knees. His lustrous hair fell out in clumps, and the bald spots erupted in boils. Jack could see the vampire’s body trying to heal itself, but as fast as it did, Rune’s destroying light did its work again.

  After several agonizing minutes, Rune stopped. Studying his fingernails as if he was bored with the proceedings, he asked again, “Tell me who you work for, vampire. I can do this for weeks without tiring, but I don’t think your blood will keep you alive that long. Just tell me and you can be on your merry way. I do have the authority to exculpate you, you know.”

  Dev writhed in agony but drew himself up on his hands and knees, though his limbs trembled with pain and exhaustion. Only burned rags hung on his body, and as much as Jack distrusted and even sometimes hated the vampire, he felt only sympathy for the man now.

  Jack stepped between them just as Rune was about to rain down agony on the vampire again. “He can barely move, let alone speak,” Jack said. “Give me a chance to work with him.”

  Smirking, Rune said, “You mean you’ll work him over as you were doing before?”

  “Yes. If it comes to that. It will be my way of making it up to you. I shouldn’t have abandoned my post. I know that now. I was just trying to fix everything.”

  Rune sighed. “And doing an appalling job of it too.”

  Ember moaned, and Finney crouched down next to her. “What…what happened?” she asked, blinking her eyes open. She saw Jack and smiled drunkenly at him, then patted Finney’s cheek. Next, she looked past him to Rune and her eyes widened. “Help me up, Finney.”

  He did, and as she straightened, she caught sight of Dev and cried out, burying her face in her hands. His body was slowly healing, but he still looked monstrous. Like something that had just crawled out of a grave. “Dev?” she said hesitantly, taking a step forward. “Who did this to him?”

  “Apparently, you did, my dear,” Rune said.

  “I?” She swallowed. “I did this to him?”

  “No, you didn’t,” Jack said softly, and turned to Rune. “Let me handle this.”

  Rune blinked, then sighed. “Very well. But keep in mind I’m only trusting you because we’ve known each other so long. I encourage you not to abuse my faith in you again.”

  Jack inclined his head stiffly and watched Rune turn to leave, saying softly, “The same to you.”

  “Then I have other matters to attend to.” Whistling, Rune clutched his hands behind his back and turned to fog, disappearing through the doors into the party.

  * * *

  * * *

  Rune slipped through the ballroom and found the doctor and his invisible henchman pouring drinks. He floated around their feet, listening.

  “Now, after they’re contained, you’re to load them onto the ship. You know what to do.”

  “Yes, Doctor.”

  That sounds ominous. It had become very clear to Rune that there was much more going on here than simply harboring a runaway witch. After the battle with the other ship and hearing no word back from the Lord of the Otherworld, Rune began to search the waters. Without the ghost storm, his firefly light could see quite a distance. To his great surprise, when he came across the doctor’s island, he found not only the light of a very familiar lantern, but also a very powerful witch.

  He had sped across the water and was shocked to find the Lord of the Otherworld’s runaway metallurgist as well. Drifting beneath doors and hiding in closets, Rune quickly learned a great deal. Jack, the vampire, and the mortal were all in love with the witch. She held no appeal for him personally—at least, not until she stepped away from Jack. Waves of her power shot out in a wide arc. He’d never felt anything like it before. No wonder the Lord of the Otherworld wanted her.

  Well, that wasn’t going to happen. A witch such as that one would secure the Lord of the Otherworld’s reign for a long time to come. But if Rune could keep her for himself…He materialized on the roof of the home after making sure there weren’t any cats up there to give him away. Stroking his beard, he considered his options. He harbored no illusions that the young witch would be swayed in matters of romance. It was obvious from the telltale ring around her heart that she loved Jack.

  But Rune could work with that.

  Carefully, he had watched and waited for his moment. He sent his firefly so Jack would know he was there. He didn’t want to surprise the lantern, but he didn’t engage with him yet either. While Jack chased Rune’s light, he followed Ember outside in fog form.

  At first, he was going to intervene when the vampire bit Ember, but then the human boy sought them out. Rune had been half hoping the vampire would kill the mortal so he wouldn’t have to, but for some reason, the vampire held back. Finally, it was time to show his hand. Rune not only came to Jack’s defense and displayed the extent of his own power, but he also showed mercy.

  Now all he had to do was figure out what the doctor was up to, take out the Lord of the Otherworld with the help of Jack and the witch, and act the part of a team player. Rune sighed. An ambitious man’s work was never done.

  * * *

  * * *

  “That’s your boss?” Finney asked as Rune ghosted away. “He’s a lantern too?”

  Jack nodded and took hold of Ember’s shoulders. “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “Don’t worry about me,” Ember said. “Help Dev, please.”

  Jack threw the abandoned coat around the vampire’s shoulders and drew him to his feet. Finney picked up the cane and the pocket watch and handed Jack his greatcoat.

  “Give me the cane,” Dev said, his voice as rough and raspy as sandpaper.

  They sat him on the stone bench and he flipped open the top of his cane, extending the gemstone to its full length. Ember hadn’t even known it could do that. Then he cupped the stone in his
palms. The stone glowed blue, and as it did, his face relaxed. They watched in amazement as the skin on his hands and face healed quickly. Recovered somewhat, Dev buttoned his waistcoat over his bare chest, then his jacket, and ran a hand over his bald scalp, wincing. Regrowing his hair would take more time, at least a few hours.

  He glanced down at Ember’s hand on his arm and then up at the lantern who stood protectively beside her. What had happened to him was nothing more than what he deserved. He found he couldn’t meet Ember’s eyes. Not after what he’d done in his jealousy and pettiness. He’d been the very worst type of villain—one who preyed on the innocent and tenderhearted.

  “I never lied to Ember. It was the high witch who hired me,” he said softly. “She wanted me to find Ember and arrange a meeting. Make of it what you will.”

  Jack frowned. “But why would she do that if not to give Ember over to her husband?”

  Dev pursed his lips. “I don’t think that was her plan. My impression is that there is no love lost between the Lord of the Otherworld and his witch. If it had been his idea, he would have asked for me. Instead, she approached me secretly, on her own. Perhaps she trusted me. Perhaps she thought I could get close, since I’d done it before.”

  “Your witch,” Ember said. “She healed you just now. How? I thought you were dying.”

  “My blood helped, but her power still sustains me. It has for decades.”

  “So you were lying about needing my blood,” Ember said.

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “You were jealous,” Finney said.

  “Aren’t you?” Dev retorted.

  Finney tugged at his collar uncomfortably. “We’re tossing all our messy business out into the open now for everyone to see, then?”

  “Finney?” Ember looked at him, surprised.

  “Fine. I’ve loved Ember since we were children. There. Are you happy?”

  “Oh, Finney,” Ember said. “You never said anything.”

  “I knew how you felt about the young men following you around. I didn’t want to be dismissed like them. Admittedly, coming here was my attempt at convincing you to accept me as a suitor, but, honestly, Ember, no matter what, I’ll always be your friend.” He clutched her small hands in his and squeezed them.

  “There you all are!” The doctor’s voice rang out, startling the group. He stopped when he saw the state of them. “Oh dear. I believe you took the suggestion to come in costume a bit too seriously. You all look like you’ve been run over by an old stagecoach drawn by wild horses.” His round face glistened with sweat, making Ember wonder what he’d been doing. “Come, come,” he said. “It’s time for the party to begin.”

  The group followed him into the ballroom. Ember retrieved her hat but had left her feathered mask outside on the wall. Her hair hung limply around her shoulders. Reaching up, she pulled out a copper clip. What on earth had happened to her? she wondered. She remembered Dev asking for her blood and then his lips on her elbow. The next thing she knew, she was waking up to see everyone in tatters.

  Graydon came up to them immediately. “What happened?” he asked.

  “Long story,” Jack replied, looking around for Rune and noticing that both he—and his pumpkin—were absent. Strange. Stretching out his senses, he couldn’t even locate his pumpkin, which was so alarming he could only stand there with his mouth open. Why had Rune come? Was he going to turn them over to the Lord of the Otherworld? Jack had to find him and explain.

  He was about to ask Graydon and Frank to help Dev upstairs when Dr. Farragut tapped his knife against a crystal goblet. The dancing and music immediately ceased, and the partygoers moved to the edge of the dance floor en masse, leaving their group standing conspicuously in the center of the slick ballroom floor.

  Raising his glass, the doctor said, “A toast to my very special guests. Gentlemen, would you be so kind as to pass around the drinks?”

  Servants bustled about making sure everyone in the room had a glass.

  “Settle down, settle down,” he said, holding a hand in the air. “I’ve waited a long time to finish my most astonishing invention—over a century, in fact. Its beginnings can be traced back a thousand years, give or take. And now it is complete. Please help me celebrate by joining me in toasting the success of my project, one that will change the course of our future!”

  The guests cheered mechanically and raised their glasses. The doctor drank, his thick neck exposed as his throat moved, draining his glass. Some of the liquid spilled onto his white waistcoat.

  Graydon stared into his drink, then downed it quickly and slammed his empty glass on the servant’s tray. Finney, Dev, and Jack were eager to leave, and tossed their drinks back out of compunction. Jack took Ember’s elbow, and just before she followed them, she raised her glass to the doctor, who smiled down on her from the dais where he stood. Putting her lips to the rim, she sipped the bubbly drink gingerly. It tasted of peaches and something else, something…herbal.

  Her thoughts became tangled as the group moved on, pulling her forward, but then she felt dizzy and her mouth went numb. The floor tilted and the other partygoers closed in on her. Lanky limbs took hold of her, jostling her body. She thought she was going to pass out for the second time in an hour, which was two times too many, in her opinion.

  She tried to shove the arms away. Voices became indiscernible, and her words sounded slurred to her own ears. Finney was lying on the ground, unmoving. Ember glanced at the doctor, who was watching them with a satisfied smile. Jack and Dev had fallen too, and even Graydon was staggering. His cheeks bristled with fur, but then his face went slack and he fell. Ember tried to draw upon her witch power to clear both her thoughts and whatever drug the doctor had given them from her body, but it didn’t work.

  Only Frank remained standing, but he was staring blankly ahead, his Herculean body immobile. She raised a hand to him, but then her arm became too heavy and it fell to her chest. The last thought she had before she closed her eyes was that Frank’s clothes looked very weather-beaten; the cuffs of his pants and his boots were dark brown with mud.

  * * *

  * * *

  A tiny pinprick roused her from sleep. Then she felt a cold swipe of something on her elbow. There was a plink of liquid hitting a flask, and she groaned and tried to open her eyes.

  “Welcome back to the land of the living, as it were,” the doctor called cheerfully. He was clad in his lab coat, a pair of goggles on top of his head, and he was bent over a contraption, carefully filling a dozen containers with the sloshing red contents of a beaker.

  Ember looked down at her body. She was strapped to a bed that was inclined to almost a standing position. There was a needle in her arm, attached to a long tube. Her blood was draining into a beaker, drop by slow drop. Looking around, she saw Finney, Graydon, Jack, and Dev also lashed down. They were all beginning to come around as well, except Finney. He was still snoring slightly. The pumpkin floated near him, a worried expression on its face.

  “What have you done?” Ember asked.

  “Don’t you mean what am I doing?” the doctor corrected her cheerfully. “I haven’t done anything as yet.”

  Ember watched his ink-stained fingers as they ran down a formula on paper and reached for a new bottle.

  “Why do you need our blood?” she asked. “Is it a spell?”

  The doctor chuckled. “A spell? What I’ve done is so much larger in scale than one of your silly spells.”

  A needle rose into the air via an invisible hand and sank into Finney’s arm.

  “Yegor?” Ember asked.

  “Yes, he’s here,” the doctor answered for his assistant, then added, “Don’t hurt the boy. I meant it when I said I wanted him for an apprentice.”

  “Yes, Doctor,” the invisible man replied.

  “Dev? Jack?” Ember cried. The two men looked ov
er at her dully. Dev’s hair was nearly grown out to its usual length, and his body looked healthy and hale once again.

  “They’ll be quite unable to help you, my dear,” the doctor said. “Even they can’t burn through my tranquilizer so quickly, especially one I’ve adapted just for them.”

  “I don’t understand,” Ember said. “What do you want from us?”

  “Yegor, pull the lever, if you will.”

  A nearby handle slammed down and a burst of steam erupted from a pipe overhead. Ember heard a grinding noise and the wall she thought was solid behind the doctor drew back, panel by panel, revealing two large cylinders.

  “What are those?” she asked.

  He pulled down his goggles once more, picked up a tool that shot blue fire, and welded a piece of metal over the section he’d just filled. “I believe the Lord of the Otherworld called them doomsday devices. His intent was to detonate it at a certain place, resulting in the severing of the Otherworld from the human world.”

  “Why would he want to do that?” Ember asked.

  The doctor looked up. “I can’t pretend to know. It would cut off the very resources he needs to run the Otherworld. I couldn’t have that.” He paused, his eyes looking dreamily at something she couldn’t see. “I do so love my little uncharted island in the mortal world,” he said. “So I stole them.”

  “Using me,” Graydon said, turning his platinum eyes on the doctor. Fur bristled on his hands, his nails elongating momentarily and almost instantly receding.

  “Yes. You and Delia. Don’t bother trying to change,” the doctor warned. “The drug I’m giving you now prevents it.” He wandered over to the large weapon and patted it almost fondly. “Now that I have it, I’ve modified the weapon to suit my own purposes.”