Gilded Hearts (The Shadow Guild Series)

by Christine d'Abo

  Dennison growled and took another shot, even as Piper’s shouts filled the room. It was easy to sidestep the clumsy swing. Samuel grabbed him by the wrist and with a practiced twist spun Dennison around and pinned his hand high up along his back. Samuel leaned up and in until the stress on the other man’s arm was at the brink of breaking it.

  “See, the thing is, Emmet, I might have once been one of you, but no longer. They wanted to use me for something. Not just being an Archivist, either. I don’t know what that was, but I was smart enough to get out when I could. Being out on the streets taught me how to survive. Being a sergeant taught me to how protect myself. So don’t fuck with me.”

  “Sam, let him go.”

  Dennison’s struggles had stopped, but Samuel knew there was still fight left in him. If he were to drop his arm now, he’d be dealing with another attack.

  “Sam–”

  “Back off, Pip. This is between us.”

  “Don’t you dare talk to her like that,” Dennison ground out as Samuel leaned into his arm more. “Let me go!”

  “Not until you calm down. We need to work together, or else we are all in danger. Understand?” Dennison’s struggles started to slow. “I said, understand?”

  Piper stepped in front of them and pressed a hand to Dennison’s chest. “Please, Emmet.”

  Dennison tensed beneath Samuel’s grasp before finally relaxing. “I don’t trust you, Hawkins.”

  “I’d be disappointed if you did.”

  “Once we solve this, don’t think for a moment I will stop the Guild Masters from doing what they need to. That includes getting that filthy whore out of your head, Piper.”

  Samuel was about to release Dennison’s arm when Piper stepped close. She might have been a good half foot shorter than he, but there was no weakness or delicacy to her.

  “Let me make something perfectly clear. While Annie might have been a prostitute, she was still a human being. Her life was worth every bit as much as yours or mine. When it comes time to put her to rest, it will be done with respect. Do you understand?”

  “Piper—”

  Samuel wrenched on his arm once more. “The lady asked you a question.”

  “Yes, yes, dammit, let me go.”

  Piper stepped away, and only then did Samuel release him. He had to admit there was something satisfying in wiping that smug look off Dennison’s face.

  “I believe Piper asked about a plan.” Samuel pushed down his doubt and grabbed the satchel Dennison had brought with him. Two pairs of radiation goggles, rations, a credit chip for the airships, and a few odds and sods of clothing. “We have leads on Doctor Constantine and the cult. Can Jones handle this?”

  “With no difficulty.” There was no hesitation from Dennison, but Samuel still found himself looking to Piper for confirmation.

  “He’s grown a lot over the years. I trust him.”

  “Fine. Dennison, you meet up with Jones and follow up on Constantine. Piper and I will take the knowledge we have and retrace Annie’s steps. With luck, we’ll gain some insight into this cult and if Jack is somehow involved.”

  Dennison’s frown could have meant so many things, but whatever thoughts drove the reaction, he didn’t voice them. Instead he snatched the goggles from the table where Samuel had dropped them. “You’ll need to keep to the rougher quarters of the city. While the Administrators aren’t scared to go there, it won’t be their first place to look for you.”

  “Nor our killer.” He didn’t like it, but Samuel knew it was the best place to start. “I’ll get Timmons working on leads from within the King’s Sentry. If anyone can get the gutter folks to talk, it’s him.”

  “Fine, but you damn well better keep her safe, Hawkins. I’ll kill you if anything happens to Miss Smith.”

  “I am not incapable of looking after myself.” Piper punched Dennison’s shoulder. “Samuel and I will be in touch with you in twenty-four hours. That will give us time to determine our options.”

  “That’s it? He beats me, now you expect me to simply leave you with him and trust everything will be fine?”

  Piper opened her mouth to speak, but instantly snapped it closed as she screwed her eyes shut, doubling over. Samuel felt her pain as strongly as if it were happening to him directly.

  “Pip!” Samuel raced to her side, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her tight. “What’s wrong?”

  “Miss Smith?”

  The two men glanced at each other. Dammit, why couldn’t things go their way for once? Piper’s body shook beneath him, but she didn’t make a sound.

  “Is it Annie?” Samuel kept his voice soft, not wanting to cause her more pain. “Pip?”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  “What is she saying, Miss Smith?” Piper shook her head, but Dennison pressed. “We need to know.”

  “She… she’s telling me there are others.”

  “Other what?” He gave her a gentle squeeze. “He’s right Pip, we need to know.”

  “Women.” She groaned again, this time pressing her fists to her eyes. “She doesn’t want me telling you anything else.”

  “We need to get that wench out of your head, Miss Smith. Lady of the evening or whore, neither will matter if she drives you mad.”

  “Can you help her?” The last thing Samuel wanted to do was send Piper with Dennison, but if her life was in danger, then nothing else mattered.

  “I’d have to take her back to the Archives to wipe her memories. It’s not something I can do without the machine. Not without destroying her mind, her personality, entirely.”

  Piper groaned again as someone screamed outside.

  “Shit. What the hell was that?”

  Leaving Piper in Dennison’s care, Samuel strode to the window. Long shadows were cast across the cobblestones, concealing anything important from view. Another scream, shrill enough to turn Samuel’s blood to ice.

  “Stay here with her. I’ll be back.” Samuel crossed the room, casting a quick glance at Piper before continuing on.

  “Where are you going? You can’t leave her like this?” Regardless of what he thought about Dennison, at least Samuel knew Piper had a protector in his absence.

  “Five minutes. I’ll check the alley to make sure we’re alone. Probably nothing more than a cat fight.”

  Bolting from the room, he did his best to ignore the burst of anger from Dennison and panic from Piper. He had to make sure Jack wasn’t out there. Samuel stepped out into the street and headed directly for the alley. There was little point in hiding his approach. If they were in fact being watched, then the man already knew of Samuel’s intent.

  The air was thick with the stench of rotten garbage and urine. The street cleaners rarely came to the rougher districts of New London. The automatons would be captured and stripped of their components by urchins and beggars, who’d rush to the markets to sell the scraps for coin and to curry favor with the clockwerkers and Hudson’s Bay engineers. Only those areas of the city heavily patrolled by the police and King’s Sentry were cleaned regularly.

  Stepping over a puddle beneath a dripping steam vent, Samuel leveled his gun across his wrist and peered into the dark. A burst of laughter bounced along the side of the buildings from somewhere far in the night. Momentarily distracted, Samuel almost didn’t see the homeless man until he nearly stepped on him.

  “Wa’chit.”

  Samuel neatly sidestepped him. “Did you see a man here? He might have been watching the building over there.”

  The man grumbled and turned toward the building, an empty wine bottle dropping to the cobblestones with a hollow thunk. Wonderful. Samuel continued down the alley, making sure to check each doorway and crevice. It was possible the man fled rather than risk exposing himself to Samuel.

  There was nothing. He felt nothing, like a void around him.

  Wait, that wasn’t right.

  He could still feel the brush of Piper and Dennison’s emotions against this mind. But he was missing
something. Someone.

  The homeless man. He couldn’t feel him.

  The thought was lost as he was shoved face-first into the biting wall. The chipped and pitted stone dug into his cheek as a muscled forearm forced his jaw open and cut against the side of his throat. Gasping for air, Samuel struggled against his attacker, only to find his arm twisted behind his back, much as he’d incapacitated Dennison.

  The stench of rancid breath turned his stomach when the man leaned in to press his mouth to Samuel’s ear. But it was the sound of a voice he hadn’t heard in forever that made him sick.

  “Hello, Sammy-boy. It’s been a while.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Piper squeezed her hands against her ears but it did nothing to drown out Annie’s screaming. Don’t you dare let them kill me. I know things them two can’t know. I’m an important person and them bastards just want to push me aside into the gutter. But I won’t go. You can’t make me!

  “Shut up.” Piper dropped to her knees, curling over onto herself. “Shut up, shut up.”

  Don’t you tell me to shut up. You’re nothing but a zombie walkin’ about like you know how to live.

  “Please stop, Annie.”

  No. Lalalalalalalalalalalalala.

  A heavy hand landed on her shoulder, squeezing hard. “Miss Smith? Piper?”

  Dennison. Emmet Dennison. Her superior in the field by eight months, childhood friend, man who in normal circumstances would be a potential suitor for her. But these were not normal circumstances, and there was nothing she wanted from him beyond guidance and helping her figure out what the hell was going on with the Archives.

  Liar. You want him to push you to the floor, spread yer legs and give you a right fucking. I can tell by the way you look at him. I could show you, tell you. If you play yer cards right I bet both them blokes would take you together. That would be an eye opener. Hahahahahaha!

  “Stop it!” She beat her fists against her skull, relishing the pain. She did it again, and Annie’s laugh diminished into a low chuckle.

  “Piper, you need to stop. You’re going to hurt yourself.”

  It was a hard thing not to cry, to give in to the overwhelming emotions and let Dennison comfort her. Looking up into his concerned gaze, she knew that Annie was right. He would give her anything she wanted with little provocation. She could kiss him right now and once he’d gotten over his surprise, Dennison would take her and make her his. Given his influence and money she had no doubt he could set her up as a mistress, never wanting for anything. He wouldn’t even care about the white rings around her irises.

  He wouldn’t pull back like Sam had.

  That’s it. Take what you want from him and throw him aside. You’re an independent woman. You don’t need no men to tell you who to fuck. Who to want or what to do.

  Dennison frowned. “Piper?” His hand was warm on her cheek. His thumb rubbed soft trails across her skin, sending electric tremors through her. “Are you well?”

  “Yes. She’s stopped.” Piper ignored Annie’s snort. Her throat was sore and her head ached. It was similar to the time she’d had influenza as a child; the virus nearly killed her. “Where’s Sam?”

  “There was screaming outside. He went to check, wanted to make sure someone hadn’t found us.”

  “Who would know we were here?” No, that couldn’t be right. They’d been careful in their journey and she was confident Dennison wouldn’t have led anyone here, even by mistake. “This is wrong.”

  “I’m sure it’s nothing more than a vagrant. Or a robbery.”

  Piper struggled to her feet. “We have to go.”

  “Miss Smith—”

  “Let me go. We have to find Sam.”

  “He’s fine. You’re not.”

  Piper slammed the heel of her boot down on his toes at the same time that she shoved him. Dennison cried out as he stumbled back, giving her enough time to break free for the door. At the last second she snatched up her knife from the table as she went.

  “Piper!”

  Her lungs burned as she raced down the stairs two at a time. She stumbled as her boot caught on the hem of her skirts, sending her fumbling for the railing.

  “Come back here!”

  The hairs on the back on her neck weren’t just standing up, they felt as if they were pulling electricity to them, miniature lightning rods embedded in her skin. She didn’t know how she knew, but Sam was in trouble.

  The night air reeked, and the light from the sulfur lamps barely cast enough of a glow to illuminate the street. Without knowing where to go, she raced to the center of the street, stopping to spin around slowly, looking for any sign.

  “Where are you?” Her whispers sounded desperate to her ears.

  The echoes of Dennison’s approaching footfall reached her. She only had a few seconds at best before he’d blunder his way to her and try to haul her back inside. Squinting, she peered into the shadows trying to see if there was something, anything to give her a clue. On the street she saw a discarded in a pile of clothing, dirty and torn. She stepped forward to investigate, and it was almost by chance that she noticed the swish of fabric, the hem of a cap flicking up from around the corner.

  Like the man who’d run into Samuel on the street.

  He had a coat like that. That man who killed me. And a hat.

  “No.” Her hand shook as she held the knife out in front of her. With each step she took toward the alley, her stomach twisted further into knots. The low murmur of someone talking was swallowed up by the pounding of Dennison’s feet against the cobblestone.

  “Dammit, stop!”

  She held up her hand, half turning around and silently begging Dennison to keep the noise down. Nodding in the direction of the alley, she was relieved when he pulled out his pistol and took up a flanking position.

  Together they crept toward where she’d seen the movement. The voices grew louder with each step. One she didn’t recognize, the gravelly rasp accented in such a way she couldn’t be sure from where the owner heralded. But it was the mocking bite of the words she couldn’t decipher that fueled her panic. There was something wrong with the man, something unsettling about the way his whispered words snaked through the night air to her ears.

  Pausing, she listened a moment longer, trying to catch a hint of Sam and what was happening to him. Not that it mattered any longer. Whoever was being subjected to the cruel sting of that voice, Piper wouldn’t stand by and do nothing to assist.

  “Poor Sammy, all alone and scared. Ran off into the night and forgot all about me.”

  Dennison frowned at her, but all Piper could answer was with a shrug.

  “John?” Disbelief and fear, clear in Samuel’s voice. But it was the threat of hope that confused her. “Is that you?”

  “How could you forget about me, Sammy? You left me alone in the dark.”

  “I didn’t know—”

  “Liar! I called to you, but you didn’t answer. You did nothing.”

  Sickened, Piper rounded the corner despite Dennison’s protestations, her knife held at the ready. “Let him go.”

  The man in black had Samuel on his knees, pinned to the stone wall, his arm pulled high against his back. The glint of the knife’s blade to Samuel’s throat drew her gaze, causing her to freeze.

  She couldn’t see the man’s face. What his wide-brimmed hat didn’t conceal, the black scarf covering his nose and mouth did. But she could see his eyes, the pale irises strangely visible in the low light.

  “Who are you? Are you Jack the Ripper?” She tried to reach out to Annie, but all she could feel were waves of fear. Piper flexed her fingers around the hilt of the knife, firming her grip despite her moist palm. “Let him go.”

  Samuel wasn’t saying anything. His face was turned away from her, but she could tell his gaze was locked on the man standing above him. Piper swallowed hard, thankful for Dennison’s presence at her side.

  “Let him go.” Her voice was far steadier than she felt. “He�
�s a sergeant in the King’s Sentry. They’ll hunt down anyone who hurts one of their own.”

  “Ah, the King’s Sentry. You gave them everything you couldn’t give the others, eh, Sammy?” The man leaned in, wrapped a hand around Samuel’s throat, and jerked him to his feet. The move was smooth and happened so quickly that neither she nor Dennison had time to react. With Samuel’s body acting as a shield, the man peeked out from around the side of Samuel’s head. “So you ran, ran away from home to become a copper. How quaint.”

  Piper stepped up. She had to do something, distract this man to give Samuel a chance to get free. “You killed them, didn’t you? Mary and Annie?

  Samuel’s eyes were wide and his gaze seemed unable to fix on any one point. Piper wanted to call to him again, force him to speak, to let her know that he was unhurt, but the words wouldn’t come. All she could see was the edge of the blade cutting into the pale stretch of his throat, the light from the sulfur lamp casting flashing of light against the gray stone walls.

  Letting out a huff, Piper forced her gaze up. “Sam called you John. Is that your name?”

  “Not anymore. John is dead. Dead and filled with a hole so big, his insides leaked out. I’m Jack now. Only Jack.”

  “Was that you who sent the letters?”

  “Could be, pretty Pip.” Leaning forward, Jack placed a kiss to Samuel’s ear. “She really is lovely. I understand the fascination. Though she’s a bit of a cold fish. There are so many other whores out there willing to spread their legs for you, Sammy. Like our girl Annie. Of course she’s quite cold, now.”

  Filthy bastard!

  “Why are you doing this?” She couldn’t let him win, couldn’t let the weight of his words and Annie’s anger overwhelm her. “Why are you killing these people?”

  “Work to do, Sammy.” Jack tightened his grip. “Always work to do. Day and night and night and day. Over and over until the words don’t mean anything.”

  “Enough of this.” Dennison pulled the hammer back on his pistol and leveled the muzzle at the masked assailant. “I believe the lady asked you to let him go.”