Jekyll & Hyde Inc.

“How have you survived all these years?” he said. “A man so completely different from every other man? Walled up in your own private kingdom because you know people would drag you out into the street and beat you to death with their bare hands, if they found out who and what you really are? How have you endured being so alone, for all these years?”

Edward grinned suddenly. “I’m only alone when I choose to be. You’d be surprised how attractive pure evil can make a man, in some women’s eyes. But if you’re asking what I think you’re asking, then no, there has never been a single soul in my life that I was close to, who mattered to me at all. And I like it that way. I don’t need anybody.”

“There’s always the organization you founded,” said Daniel. “Jekyll & Hyde Inc. Do you see them as your family?”

“Hydes don’t do love, or sentiment,” Edward said calmly. “We don’t have any need, or any use, for friendship or loyalty. We stand alone, because we can. Once you’ve taken the Elixir, you’ll stop asking questions like these. Because the answers won’t matter to you anymore. You won’t give a damn for the state of the world, or the people in it. Because Hydes stand outside all of that—predators, in a world of prey.”

“You’re not exactly selling this new life to me,” said Daniel. “Why would I want to become someone like that?”

Edward leaned forward across his desk, his eyes holding Daniel’s as he went on the attack.

“I’ve read your file, policeman. You have no friends or family, because they all deserted you when your life changed. You keep trying to fathom me, but I have no trouble seeing right through you. Everything you care about has been taken from you, leaving you alone in the world. Nothing left to make your life worth living . . . apart from a raging need to make the monsters pay for what they did to you. I can make you strong enough to take the world by the throat and shake some personal justice out of it. And you do want that, don’t you?”

“To do the right thing? To make a difference? Yes,” said Daniel. It was the only thing he was still sure of.

Edward clasped his huge hands together. “There’s a war going on in the secret parts of London, between the organization I created and the organized crime of the monster Clans. And there’s a place in that war for you . . . if you want it.”

“What use can I be?” Daniel said harshly. “You must know what the Frankensteins did to me.”

“Jekyll & Hyde Inc. is finally getting ready to wipe out all the monster Clans,” said Edward. “It’s taken me a long time to reach this point, and now I need warriors. Not just soldiers who can follow orders, but someone who’s prepared to do whatever it takes to win. Because they hate monsters almost as much as I do.”

He pulled open a drawer in his desk, brought out a glass vial half full of liquid, and placed it on the desk between them. Daniel couldn’t keep from leaning forward, for a better look.

“Dr. Jekyll’s infamous Elixir,” said Edward. “The same potion that produced me from the depths of a lesser man’s mind. Never aging, and growing stronger with every year that passes . . . because I will never again turn back into the small man who first drank this potion.”

“You don’t trust him to approve of what you’re doing?” said Daniel.

“He always was weak,” said Edward. “Never daring to pursue any of the things he really wanted. And there’s always the chance I might turn back into a man who should have died long ago.” He sat back in his chair, and his smile widened. “This is what you’ve been seeking your whole life, Daniel: a chance to be strong enough to do what needs doing. Drink it . . . and release the real you.”

Daniel picked up the vial, and was surprised at how steady his hand was. “What’s in it?”

“Think of it as rocket fuel for the imagination,” said Edward. “Something that can rebuild your body according to your deepest desires.”

“How can a drug do that?”

“What do you care?”

“Will I become . . . like you?”

“It’s different for everyone,” said Edward. “The Elixir gives shape to all your deepest desires, makes them manifest in new flesh and blood and bone. Your hidden fires will produce a furnace to shape the new you.”

“A man with no conscience?” said Daniel.

“What use is a conscience to a man set on revenge? I’m offering you a chance to bring down the monsters who ruined your life. Who destroy the lives of everyone they touch. Why are you even hesitating?”

Daniel frowned. He wasn’t sure.

“Why did Paul send me here?”

“I have contacts inside all the Clans. Paul gave me your file. He knows I’m always looking for a few good men with monsters inside them. Now either drink the potion or get the hell out of my office. I have a war to fight.”