“How about we go Dutch?”
“No one’s going to ask us to pay,” said Tina.
Daniel glanced at the headwaiter, but he had nothing to say, so Daniel looked back at Tina.
“Not ever?”
“Of course not. We’re Hydes.”
Tina glanced quickly through the menu, tossed it aside, and fixed the headwaiter with a stern look.
“I want the biggest pizza you’ve got, with every kind of topping piled high, and a stuffed crust.”
“I’ll have what she’s having,” said Daniel.
The headwaiter nodded quickly and headed straight for the kitchen, so he could hand in the order personally and get the hell away from the Hydes. Daniel sat back in his seat and looked thoughtfully at Tina.
“Well . . . So much for the Frankenstein Clan.”
“Take a deep breath,” said Tina. “See? The world smells better without them in it.”
“Who’s next on the list?”
She shrugged. “That’s up to Edward. He’s been planning this operation against the Clans for a really long time.”
“Why did he choose now to start his war?”
Tina fixed Daniel with a hard look. “He said he’d been waiting for someone like you. Which I took as a bit of an insult. I’ve been his good left hand for ages, striking down the ungodly from ambush and disrupting Clan business from the sidelines.”
“So why didn’t he trust you to plant the bomb on your own?”
She shrugged in a way that suggested there was a lot she could say, but chose not to for the moment.
“Edward doesn’t answer questions.”
The headwaiter came back with a huge pizza expertly balanced on each hand. He set them down before Daniel and Tina with a flourish, and then quickly retreated several steps, just in case.
“That was quick,” said Daniel.
“They just want us out of here as fast as possible,” said Tina. “This is probably someone else’s order. Isn’t that right, Maurice?”
The headwaiter smiled, wished them “Bon appétit,” and then hurried back into the kitchen to hide. Daniel studied the massive pizza before him. He took a deep breath and an amazing smell filled his head. He grabbed hold of the pizza with both hands, and stuffed his mouth with the biggest bite he could manage.
Daniel wolfed all of it down with ferocious appetite, and Tina did the same. They didn’t bother with the cutlery provided, just tore the pizzas apart with their bare hands and crammed the pieces into their mouths. The two Hydes devoured their meals at incredible speed, and then sat back in their chairs and grinned at each other. Daniel didn’t feel stuffed, or even satiated, just pleasantly full.
“So,” Tina said brightly. “Dessert?”
And then the main door slammed open and every conversation in the place broke off as Edward Hyde came swaggering down the main aisle.
He was wearing a really expensive suit, complete with a gold watch chain stretched across his waistcoat, but he still looked like someone had dressed up a demon. His arrogant rolling gait only emphasized his squat and muscular frame, and he lurched down the aisle like he’d come to avenge a deadly insult with extreme malice. He was grinning broadly, as though just by being there he was playing some vicious practical joke on the world. Customers he passed flinched back in their chairs, to put as much distance as possible between them. They didn’t just looked scared, they seemed actually sickened by Edward Hyde’s sociopathic presence, as though he suffered from some form of moral leprosy and they were afraid it might prove contagious.
The staff looked like they wanted to just drop everything and run, but Edward ignored them, heading straight for Daniel and Tina. But even though he kept his gaze fixed on them, it was obvious he knew the effect he was having on everyone else—and that he was enjoying it.
He dropped down into a chair opposite Daniel and Tina, without waiting to be asked or even greeted. A lot of the customers were leaving, abandoning their unfinished meals so they could make their escape before the trouble started. The staff clustered even more tightly together, looking as though they were wondering which of their many sins they were being punished for. One waiter had put his arm around a waitress, who was sobbing quietly.
Daniel wondered what all the fuss was about. He remembered how badly he’d been affected the first time he saw Edward, but now the man’s presence hardly bothered him at all. Maybe he was getting used to being around monsters—or perhaps being a Hyde changed how he saw the world. Edward beamed happily around the private booth, and Tina glared right back at him.
“What the hell are you doing here? Checking up on us?”
“I am celebrating the destruction of the Frankenstein Clan,” said Edward.
“But you never leave your building! You always said you had too many enemies, out in the world.”
He shrugged his massive shoulders. “It’s not often I have reason to celebrate.”
“Would you like to order some pizza?” said Daniel.
“I’ve already eaten,” said Edward.
Tina smiled sweetly. “Anyone we know?”
“I’ve talked with our contacts inside the hotel,” said Edward. “They confirm that no one survived the destruction of the top floor. They’ll be digging bodies out of the wreckage for weeks to come. There are bound to be a few Frankensteins who weren’t at the gathering, but I can always have our people hunt them down later. Out in the open and on their own, they’ll make easy targets.”
Daniel thought about Peter Frankenstein, but didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to attract Edward’s attention to a young man who’d tried to do the right thing. He just hoped Peter got a good head start. He realized Edward was giving him a knowing look.
“How does it feel, now you’ve had your first taste of revenge?”
“Better,” said Daniel.
“You mustn’t be disappointed that it wasn’t more hands-on and personal,” said Edward. “In the end, all that matters is that your enemy is dead.”
“Are the other Clans as bad as the Frankensteins?” said Daniel.
“Worse, if anything,” Edward said cheerfully. “Come and see me the day after tomorrow, and I’ll see you’re provided with everything you need to take down the Vampire Clan.”
Daniel frowned. “Two gatherings, set so close together?”
“It’s that time of the year,” said Edward.
“And the vampires will be gathering here in London as well?”
“The monster Clans are great ones for tradition,” said Edward. “Fortunately for us.”
Daniel started to ask why Edward had waited for him in particular to show up before lighting the blue touch paper on his war, but Edward had already risen to his feet and was heading back to the main door. The few remaining customers watched him pass with horrified fascination. A young waitress emerged unsuspecting from a side door and Edward Hyde crashed right into her. He could have avoided her, but he chose not to. His sheer bulk sent the waitress sprawling to the floor in front of him and he walked right over her, trampling her underfoot. The sound of bones breaking carried clearly on the quiet, before being drowned out by the waitress’s screams. No one moved to help her because it was already too late—and because nobody dared. Edward strode out into the night and didn’t look back once.
The remaining customers gave him time to get some distance away, and then bolted for the door, fighting each other in their eagerness to be somewhere else and start forgetting everything they’d seen. The staff gathered up the sobbing waitress and carried her off, disappearing through the kitchen door. And just like that, Daniel and Tina were the only ones left in the place.
“You said we’re not supposed to hurt innocent bystanders,” said Daniel.
“We aren’t,” said Tina. “But that’s Edward Hyde. He doesn’t give a damn about rules. Even the ones he makes himself.”