Jekyll & Hyde Inc.

They turned their backs on the shocked Frankensteins and their motionless creatures, and sprinted for the door. The Frankensteins suddenly started screaming orders again, and the dead men tore the table apart and stamped forward through the wreckage. Daniel and Tina barely had time to haul open the door and throw themselves through it before the creatures were almost upon them. The Hydes slammed the door in their cold, empty faces, and then Daniel held it closed with all his strength while Tina locked it quickly with her skeleton key. She broke the key in two, leaving half inside the lock, and then she and Daniel backed quickly away from the door. It was already shaking and shuddering in its frame, as cold fists pounded and hammered on the other side. The two Hydes didn’t wait to see the heavy wood crack and splinter; they were already running down the corridor. Daniel heard the door start to fall apart behind him, but kept his gaze fixed firmly on the way ahead.

“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.