Jekyll & Hyde Inc.

“What is worrying you so much, about the playroom?” said Daniel, having exhausted all his small talk.

“Depends what he’s got in there,” said Tina. “He’s always having new things brought in, to play with.”

“Why is that worth so much scowling?”

Tina finally turned to meet his gaze, and for the first time Daniel realized that Tina was seriously troubled.

“I don’t know anyone who’s ever been invited to join Edward in his playroom. He’s changing his ways—and that’s never a good thing.”

They traveled to the seventh floor in silence. It worried Daniel that Tina was so worried. He had to wonder what someone like Edward would have in his secret playroom; whether it involved a brothel, a fight club, or a drug den. Or some seriously unnatural combination of all three. The man was capable of anything.

They finally ended up before the playroom door and Tina knocked loudly, not allowing herself to hesitate. A cheerful voice summoned them in. Daniel tried to go first, but Tina shouldered him out of the way. Once they were inside they both stopped dead in their tracks—because the middle of the room was occupied by a huge steel cage with a full-grown tiger in it.

The animal raged back and forth, snarling at Edward as he taunted and tormented it with a long stick. The tiger slammed its great shoulder against the side of the cage, and its weight alone was enough to shift the cage a few inches across the bare wooden floor. The great cat lashed out through the bars with vicious claws, but though its movements were blindingly fast Edward was always faster, and the tiger never even came close. Edward laughed mockingly, and thrust the sharp stick between the tiger’s ribs, deep enough to draw blood. The tiger roared but it didn’t flinch, just kept on fighting the bars of its cage in its eagerness to get to Edward.

As Daniel stood there, waiting to be acknowledged, he tried to figure out how Edward had got the tiger and its cage all the way up to the seventh floor. The cage must have been brought up in pieces, he decided, and then assembled inside the playroom. The tiger could have been drugged and carried up, and then allowed to awaken inside the cage. But what was it doing here? Was Edward planning to feed him and Tina to the tiger? Daniel smiled coldly, and stood a little straighter. Let him try . . . 

Edward finally looked round, and beckoned them forward. Daniel and Tina kept a watchful eye on the tiger as they approached, but it ignored them. All of the animal’s attention was fixed on Edward, as though his very existence offended it. The tiger lashed out suddenly, stretching as far as it could through the bars, straining to reach its hated enemy, but the claws slammed to a halt a few inches short. Edward didn’t flinch.

“What is going on here?” said Daniel. He didn’t even try to be polite, because he knew it would be wasted on Edward.

“I have contacts at London Zoo,” Edward said easily. “People who see to it that I always get the most dangerous animals to play with. They do it partly for the money and partly in the hope that, one day, one of the beasts they supply will kill me.”

Daniel looked at Tina, but she was keeping all expression out of her face and saying nothing. He turned reluctantly back to Edward.

“How do you mean, ‘play’?”

Edward just grinned at him, taking Daniel’s obvious disapproval as a compliment. He walked right up to the cage, and the tiger stood very still. It could sense what was coming. Edward unlocked the cage door, holding the tiger’s gaze with his own.

“Stay close, my children, and enjoy the show,” he said, smiling easily. “But whatever happens, don’t interfere. This is all mine.”

He threw the door open and the tiger erupted out of its cage, just a blur of muscles and stripes, as it went for Edward’s throat. But Edward wasn’t there anymore. He’d moved even as the tiger started its leap, and the tiger only flew through the space where he had been. It spun round quickly to face Edward, and he bared his teeth at it. On anyone else such a thing would have looked ridiculous—but this was Edward Hyde. The tiger actually paused for a moment, acknowledging the very real threat in Edward’s snarl.

Daniel moved to put his body between Tina and the tiger, but she immediately pushed him aside so she could get a clear view. Daniel checked how far it was to the main door, just in case he had to drag her out. She could be mad at him afterward, when they were both safe. Even though a part of him did wonder whether Tina could take the tiger.

The huge beast circled Edward slowly, its tail thrashing, head held low, lips pulled back to reveal heavy predator’s teeth. It was growling constantly now, like a low roll of thunder. Edward turned slowly, steadily, so that he was always facing the tiger . . . grinning so broadly his face reminded Daniel of gargoyles on cathedral roofs. And then Edward threw aside his stick and beckoned to the tiger; and it went for his throat again.