“How long do you think it will be before the Loathly Ones are ready to summon the Invaders?” said Molly, just to show she wasn’t being left out of the discussions.
“Three, four days,” said Strange. “I can feel the strain the completed towers are putting on the natural dimensional barriers. I can feel the Hungry Gods, gathering around this little universe and making their terrible plans.”
“I’m beginning to wish I’d never asked you,” I said. I looked at Giles. “How about it, Warrior Prime? Can you put together an army in three, four days?”
“Normally, no,” said Giles. “But this clearly isn’t a normal family, or a normal world. I like it. It’s so … extreme. If the rest of your family are anything like you, I might just manage something interesting in a few days.”
“Actually, you don’t even have that long,” said Sebastian.
We all looked round. Sebastian was no longer cringing in his corner. He stood alone, smiling at us, and there was something in his smile and in his eyes that closed a cold hand around my heart. He didn’t look like Sebastian anymore.
“Seb?” said Freddie, still in his corner. “What are you doing, darling? This is no time to stand up and be noticed. This really isn’t like you, Seb.”
“You don’t know me,” said Sebastian. “None of you really know me. But then, Sebastian was such an easy part to play. Unfortunately, now his time is up. And so is yours.”
“My God,” said Harry. “He’s infected. He’s a Loathly One. How did we miss that? He’s the traitor in the family!”
“Not the only one,” said Sebastian, still smiling his inhuman smile. “I’m afraid you’ve all been very naïve. Now it’s time for you all to die.”
He shook and shuddered, his whole body convulsing and twisting in sudden spurts of growth. He rose up to be eight feet tall, broad at the shoulders and barrel-chested, his torso packed with thick cables of muscle, his angry red skin stretched almost to bursting point. Two more arms burst out of his sides, and all four hands now boasted heavy curving claws. His face was broad and monstrous, with no trace of humanity left in it.
“The Hungry Gods condemn you to death, Edwin Drood,” he said in a horribly normal voice.
“Hit him,” I said.
Harry and the Sarjeant-at-Arms and I all armoured up and threw ourselves at what used to be Sebastian. We hit him with our golden fists, and he just stood there and took it. Harry and I extruded long blades from our golden hands and hacked at him, but the cuts closed up as fast as we made them. The thing that used to be Sebastian laughed at us and struck out with his four heavy fists, and even with all the speed our armour gave us, we were hard put to avoid them. It was the torc, you see. Sebastian still had his torc. He couldn’t wear the armour over this monstrous form, but it still protected him. Why hadn’t it protected him from infection by the Loathly Ones? Why had it hidden the infection from the rest of us?
“Don’t kill him!” I yelled to the others. “We need him alive, to answer questions!”
“Don’t kill him?” said Harry. “I can’t even hurt the bastard!”
Giles stepped forward out of nowhere, swinging his sword. The long blade came sweeping round in a long arc and slammed into Sebastian’s thick, muscular neck. The steel blade rebounded helplessly, leaving the neck undamaged, and the vibrations almost jarred the sword out of Giles’s hands. He shrugged, sheathed the sword, drew his energy gun, and shot Sebastian in the head at point-blank range. There was a bright flare of discharging energies, and when we could see again, half of Sebastian’s head had been blown away. Sebastian lurched sideways, and almost fell. Bits of charred brains fell out of his head. The Sarjeant and Harry and I grabbed him and wrestled him to the ground, using all our armoured strength to restrain him and pin him to the floor. He still bucked and heaved under us, even with half his head gone. Molly and Roger stepped forward, bathing him in soothing spells and stupefying enchantments. Sebastian relaxed with a great sigh and lay still.
And only I saw what happened next.
Molly got in too close, concentrating on her magics, and one clawed hand swept out, just touching Molly’s side in passing. It didn’t cut her, or damage her, but through my golden mask I saw something pass between them. Something came out of Sebastian and entered into Molly, all done in just a moment. Molly cried out, in shock more than pain, and fell back clutching her side. I cried out something too, because I knew what had just happened, even though I didn’t want to admit it. I leant over and punched Sebastian right in his exposed brain. Blood and charred materials flew out of his head, and he howled miserably in pain. I drew back my spiked golden fist to hit him again, and the Sarjeant grabbed my arm with his armoured hand.
“Easy, boy,” he said. “I understand, but you wanted him alive, remember?”
I nodded briefly, not trusting my voice. Sebastian was quiet now, and the Sarjeant and Harry held him easily to the floor. He’d shrunk back down to human size and form, and his damaged head was already slowly healing. Giles stood by, gun in hand, ready to fire again if necessary. I yelled at Strange to summon some security people, and then I went to see Molly. She was standing a little apart, hugging herself tightly with both arms, as though trying to hold something in, or hold herself together. I spoke to her, but she didn’t seem to hear me.
Sebastian laughed, and I turned to look at him. He wasn’t struggling, but he’d raised his damaged face to look at me.
“My torc is real, Eddie,” he said in a high, taunting voice. “It couldn’t protect Sebastian, and yours won’t protect you, or your people. I passed unnoticed among you, and no one hid anything from me. Oh, the secrets I know! The secrets I’ve told! The Droods who went to their deaths, because of me!” Harry punched him in the face, breaking his nose with a flat crack. Sebastian paused to spit out blood, but he was still grinning at me. “The Hungry Gods are coming, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us!”
“Get him out of here,” I said. “Put him in a cage, somewhere secure, and get the truth out of him. Take him apart if you have to, right down to the genetic level if need be, but find out what makes him tick. I want to know everything there is to know about him.”
“You’re authorising extreme measures?” said the Sarjeant. “Not that I’m arguing, but…this isn’t like you, Eddie.”
“Just do it,” I said.
Sebastian had infected Molly. Something alien and awful was growing within her, gestating in her mind and soul to make her into a Loathly One too. I knew it, but I couldn’t tell anyone else. I daren’t. They’d want to put her in a cage, and take her apart, and I couldn’t allow that. Not Molly. So I didn’t tell anyone. Interestingly, neither did Sebastian. Perhaps he thought no one had noticed.
The extra security men came rushing in, already armoured, and the Sarjeant and Harry handed Sebastian over to them. He didn’t fight them, but even as they dragged him away he shouted back at us, his voice full of a terrible laughter.
“When we come in all our glory, you will love us! We will make you love us! And worship us, and work for us, even as we consume you and all your world! You’ll love us and adore us, and walk willingly into the slaughterhouse! Everything that lives will become us!”
“Who infected you?” said the Sarjeant-at-Arms. “You know we’ll get it out of you eventually. Was it someone in the family?”
But Sebastian just laughed and laughed until the doors slammed behind him.