“How long do we have, before the bomb goes off?”
“I’m not wasting time looking at my watch!” Tina said loudly. “Shut up and run!”
“I am running!”
“Then run faster!”
They reached the swing door at the far end of the corridor, hauled it open, and went racing down the stairs. They hadn’t got far when the stairway seemed to suddenly rise and fall, as though the whole building had shrugged. The walls cracked and fell apart, and great pieces of stone rained down into the stairwell. Daniel and Tina were thrown off their feet, and sent tumbling headlong down the shaking steps. They finally slammed up against a wall, and Daniel threw himself across Tina, covering her body with his own as large pieces of jagged stone rained down. He gritted his teeth, refusing to move, as they crashed into him again and again. And then the lights went out, and choking smoke and dust filled the air.
Eventually, the stairway stopped shaking. Emergency lights flickered on, diffusing dimly through the smoke-filled air. Daniel and Tina slowly dug their way out from under the rubble. Daniel rose painfully to his feet, absently brushing debris from his dust-covered tuxedo. Tina stood up, shook herself briskly, and then glared at Daniel.
“I can look after myself!”
“You’re welcome,” said Daniel.
Tina shook her head. “Let’s get out of here. I hear flames, to go with the smoke.”
Daniel nodded. The air was growing distinctly hotter. He started down the cracked stairs, kicking pieces of rubble aside, and Tina slipped in beside him.
“Burn in Hell, Frankensteins,” Daniel said quietly.
“You see?” said Tina. “You are a Hyde.”
Daniel turned to smile at her, as a thought struck him.
“You know, as first dates go . . . ”
“Don’t push your luck,” said Tina. But she smiled as she said it.
Chapter Five
HYDES AT THEIR PLAY
The hotel evacuation went pretty smoothly, all things considered. By the time Daniel and Tina emerged from the stairwell and into the lobby, all the alarm bells were ringing their heads off, and the hotel staff was guiding people to the nearest exits with calm, reassuring words and the occasional boot up the backside. Daniel and Tina just slipped in with everyone else, and were immediately anonymous in the midst of the crowd.
Once they’d made it outside, the two Hydes stood on the opposite side of the street, and looked up at the top floor of the hotel. Most of it was wreckage now, consumed by flames and wreathed in clouds of thick black smoke. The sound of sirens drew steadily closer, announcing that fire engines, ambulances, and police cars were on their way. Though what the emergency responders were going to do when they arrived, apart from point and shrug a lot, wasn’t clear to Daniel. Tina laughed happily.
“Told you the bomb would do the job. Say good-bye to the Frankenstein Clan.”
Daniel just nodded. He was watching the crowd outside the hotel grow even larger, as people continued to spill out onto the street. He couldn’t see anyone who appeared to be injured, but many of them were shocked and shaking. They clung to one another like people who’d just survived a train crash or a shipwreck. When the bomb had blown the top off the building, a lot of them had no doubt thought they were going to die. They didn’t know they were just collateral damage in someone else’s private war.
Daniel had killed the Frankensteins easily enough, in the end, but he had to wonder if killing was supposed to be that easy. It seemed that as a Hyde, he could get away with anything, but he was still human enough to care about the price other people might pay for his actions. And he had to wonder if what was left of his conscience would be enough to keep him from doing something even worse, in the future. Could he be a killer of monsters, without becoming a monster?
“You’re feeling guilty,” said Tina. “Don’t. Hydes don’t do guilt. Concentrate on the things that really matter.”
“Such as?” said Daniel.
“I’m hungry,” Tina said brightly. “I could eat a horse, and the saddle, and whoever happened to be sitting on it at the time. Aren’t you hungry?”
Daniel discovered he wasn’t just hungry, he was ravenous.
“I could eat,” he said.
“I know a really good pizza place, not far from here,” said Tina.
“Of course you do,” said Daniel.
She bristled a little. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that you always know where everything is,” Daniel said smoothly.
“Damn right,” said Tina.
The pizza parlor wasn’t particularly big or impressive. It had streaky windows and a bunch of brass fittings that clearly hadn’t been polished in years, but it was still pretty full, which at least argued that the food was good. Daniel had lived in London long enough to distrust any fast-food establishment that wasn’t packed with people at this time of the night. A sign in the window said: Buy one, and get another of the same size for exactly the same price! Tina slammed the door open and strode in like royalty visiting the less fortunate. Daniel followed on behind, feeling just a little self-conscious about his dust-covered tuxedo.
But no one had any eyes for Daniel. The staff took one look at Tina and all their faces fell, as they recognized her. Daniel distinctly heard one waiter mutter to a waitress, “Run. Save yourself,” before realizing it was already too late. The staff fell back from the crowded tables, abandoning their customers, and ended up huddled together in the main aisle like sheep in a thunderstorm, wide-eyed and trembling.
Daniel looked at Tina. “They remember you.”
“I know!” Tina said happily. “I do like to leave a little reputation behind me, wherever I go.”
“You’re not going to start a fight here, are you?”
“Not until after we’ve eaten,” said Tina. “Or we’d never get served.”
Some of the customers were studying her covertly from behind raised menus, convinced by her incredible looks and presence that she must be some kind of celebrity. Tina ignored them all with magnificent disdain, which just made them even more certain. She caught the eye of the headwaiter and summoned him over with an imperious gesture. He emerged reluctantly from the protection of his fellow staff, a short and sturdy man who looked like he ate a lot of pizza. He approached Tina like a man walking to the scaffold, but he kept his back straight and his head up, and even managed a professional smile.
“Ms. Hyde . . . back again, so soon? We don’t deserve such an honor.”
“You’re right, you don’t,” Tina said briskly. “We want a private booth, right at the back—but nowhere near the toilets, if you like having your kneecaps where they are.”
“Of course, Ms. Hyde. Please follow me.”
The headwaiter bowed to Tina, and then glanced briefly at Daniel in a way that suggested he was amazed anyone would choose to be with her, before leading them quickly to the rear. He ushered Daniel and Tina into a private booth, saw them both comfortably seated, and then grabbed two oversized menus from a nearby table. The man and wife who’d been perusing them weren’t actually done yet, but one look from Tina was all it took to keep them from protesting. The headwaiter had a sheen of sweat on his face by now, but he still hung on to his composure with both hands. Daniel checked out the prices in the menu, and smiled just a little desperately at Tina.