The Vorrh

and looked around admiringly.
    ‘Yes, it is one of the older properties,’ she answered, without much interest. ‘The basement is even older, it still has the old well.’
    ‘Hence its name,’ he said.
    ‘Yes, hence its name.’
    There was a pause of silence, while she fingered her delicate pearl necklace and he stared into his diminished glass. She poured him another and sat back.
    ‘What may I do for you, Dr. Hoffman?’
    Her directness pleased him: he could have this matter cleared up in time for dinner.
    ‘Firstly, my dear, I wanted to apologise for that distasteful business at the slave house. I am afraid my colleagues are not the brightest of men.’ He paused for a moment to truly engage her eyes. ‘And your description of your curious friend was a little, shall we say, vague?’
    She showed no expression and sipped from her glass. He drained his in a single gulp and set it noisily on the glass top of a small side table.
    ‘Anyway, it’s all taken care of now, and we can begin again to look for… Ishmael, was it?’
    ‘Thank you, doctor, but that’s not necessary. Miss Lohr and I no longer wish to engage your services.’
    Hoffman bristled. How dare she speak to him like a common tradesperson? He was just about to comment when she continued.
    ‘We no longer feel it necessary to go searching for him; he will surely make his way out of the Vorrh in his own time.’ The doctor was speechless and she decided to use his silence to press the point. ‘We were curious though, doctor: how did you manage to get such a monster out in the first place?’
    ‘We went to a lot of trouble for you, some more specialist lengths,’ he said, his neck beginning to flush.
    ‘Using the Orm, Dr. Hoffman?’ she asked. ‘What is that, exactly?’
    This was all going extremely wrong. It was meant to be he who had the upper hand. ‘Well, Mistress Tulp, why don’t you tell me? You seem to know all about it,’ he said, in a churlish tone.
    ‘I know that you and the keeper have some power over the Limboia and that you sell it as a service to anyone who can pay; I know that Cyrena paid you a great deal of money to be confronted by that creature.’
    ‘Wait a minute,’ he said, ‘we did our best to help you. It was you who came to us.’
    ‘Best?’ she asked, her lip curling sceptically.
    There was a silence, as if the air itself had been chopped short, a segment of it removed from the room. After a shallow, gasping time the doctor sidestepped and said, ‘How is Cyrena?’
    Hearing her friend’s name spoken in such casual terms inflamed Ghertrude even more. ‘Miss Lohr is still recovering from the humiliation that you and that brute put her through.’
    Hoffman had had enough, and snapped back. ‘I did not come here to be insulted by you, young woman!’
    ‘Then why did you come here?’ she said, quick as a flash. He was caught off-guard again and searched fruitlessly for the right words.
    ‘I…came here…to…’
    ‘Yes?’ she quizzed insolently.
    ‘I came here to encourage your silence about our business together.’ It was Ghertrude’s turn to be disarmed.
    ‘I came to advise you that our assistance was given as a favour, out of respect for you and your families, and that it would greatly benefit you if the whole business were immediately forgotten.’ She took in his thinly veiled threat and countered with her own.
    ‘I think our families would be very interested to know about your favours, don’t you, doctor?’
    He had been flushing near to scarlet, but a livid whiteness began to creep through his broken veins. He took a step towards her, his voice raising. ‘YOU DARE? You dare to threaten me?! If you utter one word to implicate me or my associate in this matter, I will not hesitate to spread the truth about your secret friend; about him fucking you and that Lohr slut, and about everything else! The house, everything!’
    ‘Good! Do it. Say whatever you please; you know nothing about this house, and our indiscretions are nothing to your crimes.’
    He was astonished; this should not have been happening. He had never met a woman as impertinent and disrespectful as this. ‘I warn you…’ he growled fiercely.
    ‘With what?!’ she laughed, challenging the last reserves of his restraint.
    ‘With your life!’ he snarled, grabbing her throat and tilting her face painfully up towards his. ‘You open your mouth and I will shut it permanently; I will have the Orm hollow out your soul and