Live and Let Drood

before her and the sheer scale of so much destruction seemed to overwhelm even her for a moment.
    “What the hell happened here, Eddie? What could have done this?”
    “I don’t know,” I said. My voice sounded distant and far away. “The Chinese tried to nuke us once, back in the sixties, and that got nowhere. No one’s struck directly at the Hall for ages. I would have said there was nothing and no one in the world that could get past all our defences and protections. This is all my fault, you know.”
    “What?” said Molly, turning immediately to look at me with her large dark eyes.
    “I should have been here,” I said steadily. “I wasn’t with my family when the enemy came. If I had been here, maybe I could have done…something. Saving the day against impossible odds is what I do. Isn’t it?”
    “Stop that,” Molly said firmly. “Stop that right now, Eddie. What could you have done that your whole family couldn’t? If you had been here, odds are you’d be lying here dead, too.”
    “I can do something now,” I said. “I can avenge my family. I can be the Last Drood. I can bring down my enemies in horror and suffering, and make my family name a byword in this world for revenge and retribution.”
    “Okay,” said Molly. “Someone needs a whole load of stiff drinks, and possibly a nice lie-down in a cool dark room. You’re in shock, Eddie. Let’s get out of here.”
    “Not yet,” I said. “I’m not finished here yet.”
    “And what if the enemy isn’t finished? What if they come back?”
    “Let them,” I said. “Let them all come.” And there was something in my voice that actually made Molly shudder briefly and look away. Anywhen else, that might have bothered me. I looked steadily at what was left of my home. My thoughts kept going round in circles, and returning to the same impossible situation.
    “How could anyone have got past all of Drood Hall’s centuries of layered shields and protections? It’s just not possible!”
    “Well, we did,” said Molly.
    I looked at her. “What?”
    “We got in. That time you came back to overthrow the Matriarch and take control of your family.”
    “Well, yes,” I said. “But we only managed that through my insider knowledge and because we had the Confusulum. Whatever or whoever that annoying alien thing was. And since the Blue Fairy isn’t around anymore, I don’t see how anyone could acquire another one. But I see what you mean. This was no sneak attack. This was a carefully planned open assault. Which raises even more questions. Look around you, Molly. Look at the grounds. None of the robot gun positions have been activated; they’re still sitting in their hidden bunkers under the lawns. And I can’t See any trace of the force shields and magical screens that should have slammed into place automatically the moment the Hall came under threat. It’s as though the enemy caught my family with all their defences down. Which should have been impossible…”
    “Could someone have…lowered the shields, from inside?” Molly said carefully. “Sabotage, in advance of the attack? We never did identify the traitor inside your family, the one who’s been working against your interests for so long.”
    She stopped talking as I shook my head firmly. I wasn’t ready to think about that, not just yet. “Concentrate on our enemies,” I said. “Who is there left, who could have done this to us? We stamped out Manifest Destiny, stopped the invasion of the Loathly Ones and theHungry Gods, wiped out the Immortals and crushed the Great Satanic Conspiracy. I mean, who’s left?”
    “Clearly, someone you missed,” said Molly. “There’s always someone.…”
    I thought about it. “The Droods are supposed to have made pacts with Heaven and Hell, back in the day, for power and influence and protection,” I said. “Could this have been the day when all our debts came due?”
    “No,” Molly said immediately. “I’d know.”
    I managed something like a smile. “You worry me sometimes when you say things like that.”
    She managed a small smile of her own. “Can I help it if I’m a girl who likes to get around?”
    I took her hand in mine and squeezed it firmly. “Sometimes I forget that I’m not alone anymore. That I don’t have to do everything myself.”
    “You always were too ready to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, Eddie. Whatever you decide to do, I’ve got your back.”
    “Good to know,” I said.