Live and Let Drood

of shaved monkey nailed to it. It wasn’t until Major Michaels encouraged me to take a closer look that I realised Crow Lee had nailed a foetus to the cross.
    The major laughed at the expression on my face. “Ripped untimely from his mother’s womb, and nailed up in place while he was still breathing. You’ve got to laugh, haven’t you? So, what do you think of the great man’s dwelling?”
    “Reflects his personality,” I said. “He really is the Most Evil Man in the World.”
    “Was there ever any doubt?” said Major Michaels.
    “How can you stand to be in a place like this?” I said. “How can you stand to work for a piece of shit like Crow Lee?”
    The major smacked me round the head again, just hard enough to make his point. My eyes watered and my knees buckled. The soldiers held me up till I could get my feet back under me.
    “You never learn, do you?” said Major Michaels.
    Molly lashed out suddenly with one foot, and the major turned aside at the last moment to take the kick on his thigh instead of in the groin. He backhanded her across the face. I kicked him hard in the back of the leg, and he went down on one knee. I struggled with the soldiers holding me but couldn’t break free. Major Michaels got to his feet again and went to slap me across the face. I waited till just the right moment, and then snapped my head forward and sank my teeth into his hand.He howled with shock and pain, and I ground my teeth in deep, his blood spurting into my mouth. The major punched me hard in the head with his other hand, and I lost track of things for a moment. The soldiers forced my jaws open, and Major Michaels fell back, clutching his damaged hand to his chest.
    “You animal! You vicious little shit!”
    I laughed at him, spraying his blood and mine from my mouth. “Least I could do.”
    The major went to hit me again, and I laughed again and spat more blood at him. “Careful, Major. Can’t damage me too much. Crow Lee’s waiting in there to talk to me, remember? You knock me out or render me speechless with a concussion just when he’s in the mood to ask me some very specific questions, and he’s going to be really upset with you. Isn’t he?”
    Major Michaels held his injured hand tightly with the other. “Afterwards,” he said tightly, “he’ll give you to me. And I’ll show you what pain really is. You’re going to be mine, Drood.”
    “You’re not my type,” I said.
    The major knocked loudly on the door, though I noticed he handled the crucifix rather gingerly, for all his fine words. A happy voice beyond the door called for us to enter. The major pushed open the door, and the soldiers bustled Molly and me through and into Crow Lee’s lair.
    They threw us on the floor before him. On our knees before the master of the house. I forced my head up and looked round the room, deliberately ignoring Crow Lee. By comparison to the hallway, the room seemed calm and cosy, comfortable, even civilised. A country gentleman’s study, with old-fashioned furniture, bookshelves, objets d’art and colourful prints on the walls. Crow Lee sat at his ease before us in an oversized armchair big enough to handle his huge frame. The burns Molly had given him in the club library were already gone from his face. Beside him stood his bodyguard, Mr. Stab. He looked down at Molly and me, at our bloodied and broken state, and I thought for a moment he might say something, but he didn’t. He just stood therewhere he’d been told to stand, and nothing moved in his face. Crow Lee looked at Molly and me and chuckled happily.
    “My, my. We have been in the wars, haven’t we? But it’s a good look for you, Drood. You can go now, Major, and take your men with you. Our words are not for your ears. Clean up my gardens and make sure they’re secure, but don’t go too far. Just in case I have need of you again. For executions and the like.”
    Major Michaels nodded stiffly, started to leave and then stopped and came back to hand over the Twilight Teardrop to Crow Lee. He then strode out of the room, not looking back, and his soldiers hurried out after him. The door shut itself behind them. Crow Lee held the ruby pendant in the palm of his hand, and it looked so much smaller and less potent in his huge paw. Crow Lee smiled briefly and then closed his great hand around the Twilight Teardrop and crushed it. I expected bright lights to shine out from between his fingers or strange bloodred energies to manifest and