So I wouldn’t have to kill her myself, when she turned. Could I do that? I thought so. It was what she wanted, what she’d asked me to do. And besides, I’d done worse, in my time, for the family.
As I watched, Harry Drood and Roger Morningstar wandered along the bank of the lake to join her. Harry was smiling cheerfully, as though he was just out for a stroll, and had just happened to bump into Molly. Roger smiled meaninglessly, his eyes dark and watchful as always. The grass scorched and blackened where he put his feet, and the swans headed hurriedly away. A bird flying overhead fell suddenly dead out of the air and landed at his feet. Roger picked it up and bit into it thoughtfully, as though it was just another snack. Blood ran down his chin. Harry looked at him reproachfully, and Roger immediately threw the dead bird aside. Molly had to know they were there, but she ignored them until they were almost upon her. And then she stopped them both in their tracks with a single hard look.
Their voices came clearly to me, from far away.
It was clear to me, from the way she was looking at them, that she was wondering if they knew about her. After all, Roger had more than human senses, and Harry had years of experience as a field agent. But she quickly decided they didn’t and nodded briefly to Harry, ignoring Roger.
“Molly,” said Harry, smiling easily. “You’re looking good.”
“What do you want, Harry?”
“What I always want,” said Harry, still smiling, absently adjusting his wire-framed glasses. “I want what’s best for the family. Which these days means my being in charge of things, and not Eddie. The family needs my calm, considered decisions, not Eddie’s mad impulsiveness. He’ll screw it all up, get us all killed. You must know that, Molly; you know him better than any of us. Can you really trust him to do the right thing, under pressure? And if we go down… who’s going to be left to save the world?”
“What do you want, Harry?” said Molly.
“You are our only means of getting to Eddie,” said Roger. “If we could win you over to our cause, that is, Harry’s reclaiming of the family leadership; we feel there’s a very good chance Eddie would just fall apart without you.”
Molly smiled suddenly. “You really don’t know Eddie at all. He’s always been stronger than people think. He’s had to be. He doesn’t rely on me. He doesn’t need me. And he’ll carry on just fine when I’m gone.”
Harry and Roger glanced quickly at each other. “Are you… planning on leaving us, Molly?” said Harry.
“Don’t say you’ve finally had enough of Eddie’s goody-goody ways,” said Roger. “Well, it’s about time. You and I were close once, but I never did understand what you saw in him.”
“You and I were never that close,” said Molly.
“How can you say that?” said Roger, pouting playfully. “I took it ever so badly when you walked out on me. Took me weeks to get over you.”
“I walked out on you because you tried to sacrifice my soul to Hell!”
“Details, details. We all have our little family obligations.”
Molly sniffed. “So, you’re with Harry now. Bit of a surprise; you were always such a major tit man. Am I to take it you’re gay now?”
Roger shrugged. “I’m half demon. I don’t accept any human limitations, least of all in my sexuality. I want to try it all… and mostly I do.”
Molly looked at Harry. “And you’re not in the least jealous of what Roger and I used to have?”
“All you ever had in common was a bed,” said Harry. “Roger and I are in love.”
“Love?” Molly said incredulously. “He’s a hellspawn! A thing of the Pit, dedicated to dragging all humanity down into eternal damnation!”
“Criticism?” said Roger. “From the infamous Molly Metcalf? The woman who once lay down with demons in the Courts of Hell, to buy power she couldn’t acquire any other way? Does Eddie know about that? Have you told him all the things you used to do, oh wild and wicked witch of the woods? Do you really think he’d feel the same way about you if he did know?”
Molly met his gaze squarely, chin slightly lifted. “I was a different person, then. I had sworn vendetta against the Droods for the murder of my parents. I needed all the power I could get, to take them on. But… that was then, and this is now, time changes all things… pick whichever cliché you prefer. I’m not at all the person I used to be.”
“You think Eddie will care about that?” said Roger. “I think you’ll find he’s still very traditional, very old-fashioned, about certain things.”
“He doesn’t have to know what we know about you,” said Harry. “We don’t have to tell him. Not if you could find it in your heart to help us out, just a little.”
“In return for your guaranteed silence?” said Molly.
“Exactly,” said Roger. “All we ask is that you speak on our behalf. Support our position. Help persuade Eddie that it is in everyone’s best interests for him to step down and allow Harry to replace him as family leader. No big speeches, no big deal. Just a word in his ear, at the right moments.”
And then he broke off, because Molly was smiling at him, and it really wasn’t a very nice smile. Molly took a step forward, and Roger fell back a pace. Harry moved quickly to put himself between the two of them.
“Once,” said Molly, “it might have mattered to me, what you might say to Eddie. But things have changed. Tell him anything. I don’t care, and I don’t believe he will, either. Neither of us are concerned with the past anymore, only the future. But even so, Harry, Roger, I’d be very careful about doing anything that Eddie might perceive as a threat to me. He’s become very protective of me, the sweetie. And you really don’t want him to kick your arse in front of everyone again, do you, Harry?”
“We’re going to war!” said Harry. “The family needs me as leader!”
“No,” said Molly. “You had your chance, and you blew it. You let things get this bad. If I were Eddie, I’d kill you for what you’ve done to the family. And you know what? I might just kill you both anyway. On general principles. I could use something to cheer me up.”
She smiled brightly at Harry and Roger, and then turned and walked away. They watched her go.
“Women,” said Roger, and Harry nodded.
I closed down the lakeside scene, but I wasn’t finished with the Merlin Glass just yet. Part of me wanted to go and find Molly, and hold her to me, and tell her… nothing mattered. Nothing mattered to me, except her. But I still had responsibilities to the family, and there were things I needed to know. So I told the Glass to show me where Mr. Stab was, and what he was doing, right now. I should have remembered that not only do eavesdroppers rarely hear good of themselves, they also rarely hear anything good about anyone else.
To my surprise, the Merlin Glass showed me Mr. Stab sitting at his ease among the towering book stacks of the old library, while the under-librarian Rafe served him tea. Mr. Stab had changed out of the casual suit he’d been wearing the last time I saw him. Presumably because it was still soaked with Penny’s blood. Instead, he was back in the formal dress of his original Victorian times. He sat quietly and calmly as Rafe added milk but no sugar, and then handed him the delicate china cup. Mr. Stab blew gingerly on the tea to cool it, but his eyes never left Rafe’s face as the young librarian sat down opposite him.
“You’re not drinking your tea, Rafe,” said Mr. Stab.
“I’ll let it cool a bit first. You go right ahead.”
Mr. Stab looked at Rafe almost sadly, and then took a long drink from his cup. He made a slight moue of civilised distaste and put the cup down on a bookshelf beside him.