Jekyll & Hyde Inc.

The Jekyll & Hyde Inc. armory turned out to be a massive warehouse that took up half of the first floor. There were no guards on duty, and no obvious surveillance cameras; nothing that Daniel could see to stop anyone just wandering in when they felt like it. The only sign on the unlocked door said simply: Please don’t drop anything. Given the armory’s casual attitude to delivering its bombs, by just dumping them at the front door, Daniel supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. He pushed the door open cautiously, and when nothing immediately bad happened, he allowed to Tina to go in first—so he could use her as a human shield if necessary. She strode confidently through a maze of open shelving and display cases, packed with all kinds of weird weapons and intriguing devices, some of them old enough to qualify as steampunk. And while there was a definite sense of a place for everything and everything in its place, nothing on the shelves was labeled or identified, so that most of the time Daniel was reduced to guessing wildly as to what he was looking at. He stuck close behind Tina as she marched down one narrow passageway after another, under lights that seemed designed to hide things in shadows. They finally found the person in charge sitting comfortably in something that was not so much an office, more like a converted cupboard.

“This is Miss Montague,” Tina said cheerfully. “She knows everything there is to know, when it comes to ruining a monster’s day.”

“Oh hush, child,” said Miss Montague. “I just have a gift for death and destruction.”

Miss Montague was a gray-haired little old lady, in a nice cardigan with puppies on it. She had a pleasant face and an easy manner, and the kind of bright eyes you just knew didn’t miss a thing. Daniel had to keep fighting down an urge to tell her that the dog had eaten his homework. He was pretty sure Hydes didn’t do that. Miss Montague sat behind a desk—on which all the paperwork had been ruthlessly sorted into In and Out trays—knitting something long and shapeless. The needles clacked loudly, never pausing, all the time she talked to Daniel and Tina.

“Back again so soon, dear?” she said cheerfully to Tina. “You can’t have used up everything I gave you last time, or most of London wouldn’t still be here.”

“We are finally ready to take down the Vampire Clan,” said Tina, just as cheerfully. “What strange and appalling weapons would you recommend for us?”

“I recommend that you stick to the basics, dear,” Miss Montague said firmly. “I always say, you can’t go wrong if you stick to the basics. And always carry extra ammunition.”

“Can I have this?” said Daniel. “I really like the look of this.”

The compressed-air machine pistol that fired miniature wooden stakes had all but jumped off the shelf into his hand. It looked like something he could do some serious damage with, and he really liked the idea of being able to stake vampires from a safe distance.

“Oh, you don’t want that, dear,” said Miss Montague. “The gears are always jamming, and it has an unfortunate tendency to blow back and perforate the user.”

Daniel reluctantly put the machine pistol back where he found it. Tina picked up a flashlight with a really large battery pack.

“What does this do?”

“Theoretically, it generates special wavelengths of light designed to undo the effects of a full moon, and force a werewolf back into its human form,” said Miss Montague.

“And does it?” said Daniel.

“Not noticeably,” said Miss Montague. “It just makes bits of their fur fall out. The only reason our last tester wasn’t killed was because the wolf pack couldn’t chase him for laughing.”

Tina put the lamp back, while Daniel picked up a pair of scissors that smelled strongly of spices.

“And these?”

“Specially treated to cut the bandages off a living mummy,” Miss Montague said patiently. “Providing you can get close enough.”

Daniel put the scissors down again, and gave Miss Montague his very best hard look.

“Does anything here work?”

“Of course, dear! It wouldn’t be much of an armory if we couldn’t supply you with something absolutely guaranteed to rain on a monster’s picnic. But it’s not like there’s a manual when it comes to developing new ways of disposing of vampires, werewolves, and mummies. We are constantly trying out new methods and tactics, but in the end it all comes down to trial and error.” She shook her gray-haired head sadly. “We get through more field agents that way . . . which is why I always say, stick to the basics. You always know where you are, with the basics.”

“At least tell me you have another bomb for us,” said Daniel. “Preferably something even more powerful than the one we just used to destroy the Frankensteins.”