“Can’t you just leave?” said Daniel.
“The moon would follow me wherever I went.”
“What happened to you, after the chop shop?”
“The werewolves were sent in to clean up, before the bookshop was torched,” said Nigel. “The Frankenstein doctors had already taken Oscar’s head for a souvenir. Paul’s broken body had been sent to the Vampire Clan so it could be turned and made to answer questions. The werewolves took me just so they wouldn’t be left out. I was more dead than alive when they dragged me from the ruins—but the werewolf bite brought me back. And at first . . . I enjoyed it. I had come so close to dying that a second chance felt like more than I deserved. To be strong and free, running wild in the moonlight . . . I thought I’d hit the jackpot. Until I realized what had been taken from me.
“I come from a long-established family. Raised to enjoy and appreciate the very best of everything. I was a gentleman, with the most refined of tastes. But the beast in me drove all that out. I don’t care about the arts anymore, about style or elegance. Fine foods and wines mean nothing to me. All I have is the thrill of the hunt, the delight in a fresh kill, and rutting in the night. No matter what shape I hold, I’m someone else now.”
“There’s a lot of that going around,” said Daniel. “The Frankensteins used Oscar’s head to complete one of their creations. I put a stop to that.”
“Good for you,” said Nigel. “That makes two of us you’ve killed.”
“Paul asked me to destroy him,” Daniel said steadily. “To drive a stake through his heart and set him free. Is that why you came to see me, Nigel? Do you need my help to put you out of your misery?”
“No,” said Nigel. “I’m here because there’s something you need to know.”
“I think I’m pretty much up to speed on the secrets of the monster Clans,” said Daniel.
“You only think you are,” said Nigel. “Edward has secrets of his own.”
“Secrets?” said Daniel.
Nigel’s smile widened mockingly. “You have no idea . . . ”
“If you’re not here for old times’ sake, then just tell me what I need to know,” said Daniel.
Nigel’s gaze was sharp and cold, and his smile grew wolfish, as though delighting in the bad news he brought.
“Edward only got rid of the Clans so he could take control of the criminal underworld. To be king of it all, with no one left to challenge him. I’m telling you this in the hope you still care enough about right and wrong to do something about that.”
Hearing the truth at last should have come as a shock to Daniel—but it didn’t. He just nodded slowly.
“It does sound like something Edward would do,” said Tina.
“And it would explain why he’s been so keen for his organization to take over the vampire nightclubs and the mummies’ drug business,” said Daniel.
“Tip of the iceberg,” said Nigel. “You have no idea what some of the Clans were into.”
Tina fixed him with her best hard stare. “How do you know about Edward’s plans?”
“Because you weren’t his first choice to take down the Clans,” said Nigel. “Before he settled on you he wanted to use the werewolf clan to attack the other monsters. This was when he was planning for open war instead of assassins. The alpha wolves held a special secret meeting just to hear his proposal. It had to be secret, because if the other Clans had found out there would have been serious reprisals. But the wolves saw a chance to be free at last, and that’s why they were prepared to listen to the one monster all the others hated and despised.
“There’s no doubt the wolves were tempted when Edward offered them a chance for revenge on the Clans who’d held them down for so long. But in the end they said no. Because they didn’t trust Edward; because they didn’t think his plans would work; and because open war would have meant too many dead wolves. But I think mostly . . . because he’s the only one who wants to be a monster. The wolves are just what the world made them, but Edward Hyde is a self-made abomination.”
Daniel gestured for Nigel to stop, so he could have a moment to think. He stared at the ground for a long moment, and then turned to Tina.
“Every time I think I’m getting my head around what’s really going on, someone comes along and kicks my feet out from under me.”
“What he’s saying would explain a lot,” said Tina.
“It would mean that we’ve been used,” said Daniel.
“I’m used to it,” said Tina. “What do you think we should do?”
“Listen some more,” said Daniel. He turned back to Nigel, who met his gaze steadily.
“The wolves don’t want to run the criminal underground,” said Nigel. “They just want to be free to run wild, like they did in the old days. To leave civilization, get back to the untamed places of the earth, and be left to themselves.”
“Are there any places like that left?” said Daniel.
“You’d be surprised,” said Nigel.
“What is it you want us to do?” said Tina.
Nigel kept his gaze fixed on Daniel. “Stop Edward—because the wolves can’t. He’s too well defended. But you can get close to him.”
“And kill him?” said Daniel.
“Don’t you want to?” said Nigel. “Everyone else does, who’s met him.”
“I’m not sure we could take Edward Hyde,” said Tina. “He might actually be stronger than both of us together. He’s been a Hyde for so long . . . ” And then she stopped, and grinned suddenly. “Be fun to try, though.”
“What about the other Hydes?” said Daniel. “Could we get them to side with us, against Edward? If we told them the truth?”
“Who’s to say they don’t already know?” said Tina. “We were set up to do Edward’s dirty work for him, and then be discarded afterward. The moment he didn’t need us, he could just throw us to the other Hydes . . . ”
“Would they kill their own kind?” said Daniel.
“They’re Hydes,” said Tina.
Daniel nodded reluctantly. “You know them better than me.”
Tina frowned. “Not really. I was never a part of Jekyll & Hyde Inc. Until Edward put us together, I’d never met another Hyde.”
“There’s a reason for that,” said Nigel.
Daniel and Tina looked at him sharply, and he smiled slowly.
“And so we come at last to the great secret at the heart of Jekyll & Hyde Inc. There are no other Hydes. There used to be . . . but Edward killed them all, one by one. You two are the only Hydes left, apart from him.”
Daniel and Tina looked at each other, and for a long moment they were both too shocked to say anything.
“But . . . I used to go drinking and fighting with them!” said Tina.
“Hope you have good memories of that,” said Nigel.
“Why would Edward kill all the other Hydes?” said Daniel.
“Because he felt threatened by them. He wanted to replace them with new and weaker Hydes, created by a diluted version of the Elixir. But he couldn’t make any more. I don’t know why. Perhaps some important ingredient isn’t available any more. The only way he could get more Elixir was to kill the existing Hydes and harvest what remained of the potion from their corpses. Apparently a lot of it gets lost during the extraction process.” Nigel smiled coldly at Daniel. “You drank the very last dose in existence.”
“Of course!” said Daniel. He turned to Tina. “That’s why he made such a point of showing us that lab this morning. It was all misdirection, to make us believe he still had control of the Elixir.”
“It would explain why the attacks on the Clans were left to us,” said Tina. “He didn’t have anyone else. We were his last chance.”