Live and Let Drood

her sleeve. Patrick looked at me thoughtfully.
    “Eddie…”
    “Yes?”
    “I’ve followed your exploits for years. First as a field agent here in London and then as head of the family, and then…Well, all the other things you’ve done. All the amazing things you’ve achieved. And I always promised myself that if I ever got to meet you, there was a question I wanted to ask. Are you happy, Eddie?”
    I wasn’t quite sure where that had come from, but I did my best to consider the question seriously. “I’m happy…with Molly,” I said finally.
    “Good,” said Patrick. “I’m glad to hear that.”
    “Me too, grandson,” said the Regent.
    “You soft and soppy sentimental thing, you,” said Molly, slipping her arm through mine.

CHAPTER SEVEN

    Some Unpleasantness at the Establishment Club
    E very part of society has its own clubs to retreat to, private places where we can escape from the trials and stresses of the everyday world. We all like to know there’s somewhere we can go when it all gets a bit much; our very own private watering holes. Very private people have very private clubs, and Very Important People have Very Private Clubs. And then…there are the clubs that no one talks about. If they know what’s good for them. Membership strictly by invitation only. For people so important, so significant and so wealthy that no one in the everyday world has ever heard of them. Clubs for people who mix only with their own kind.
    Which is how I came to be strolling down some very well-known streets in the better part of London, following the map the Regent of Shadows had given me. And a simple set of directions that should take me straight to the only kind of club that would accept the likes of Crow Lee as a member: the Establishment Club. Where the underworld can meet the elite, to sneer at everyone else. I kept Molly close beside me, where I could keep an eye on her, because I didn’t entirely trust the larcenous look in her eyes. We got all kinds of looks from the well-dressed people we passed, because neither of us seemed like the kindof people who had any business being in an area like this, but, of course, no one actually said anything. Because we’re British, after all, and we don’t like to make a fuss. There were security cameras everywhere; let the proper authorities do what needed doing. If anything needed doing. Some of the cameras rotated slowly to watch us as we passed. I pointed them out to Molly.
    “They can’t see us,” I said just a bit smugly. “As long as I’m wearing my torc, there isn’t a surveillance system in the world that can see me. Or you, as long as you’re with me. What it means to be a Drood…we walk through the world unseen, so we can do necessary appalling things and get away with it every time.”
    “Don’t get cocky,” said Molly. “I was learning how to dodge security systems while you were still planning how to run away from home. I really don’t like this area, Eddie. It stinks of money and privilege and entitlement…all the things I’ve spent a lifetime fighting. I feel like smashing a whole bunch of things, just on general principles.”
    “Never knew you when you didn’t,” I said.
    And that was when the security cameras all started exploding. The one right in front of us went first, blowing apart in a soft puff of black smoke and a short shower of plastic and glass splinters. Then all the others went up, one after the other, ahead and behind us. The quiet of the late evening was suddenly full of the soft sounds of small fires and frying electrical circuitry. Everyone else on the street jumped and looked about them, startled, and then took to their heels. In a polite and dignified way, of course. Soon enough they were all gone from a street where they didn’t feel safe anymore because no one was watching over them. I stopped and looked sternly at Molly, who shook her head demurely.
    “It’s not me, Eddie…for once. I’m afraid it’s you. I can See swirls of energy coming off you, striking out at the cameras from your torc.…”
    “It’s the rogue armour,” I said, one hand rising automatically to the golden torc at my throat and then falling back without touching it. “It’s overreacting.” I concentrated, imposing my will on the torc with blunt brute force, and the explosions stopped. I felt something stir inside the torc and then grow still again.
    “You assured me you had the rogue armour under complete control,” Molly