Playing With Fire (23 page)

"Don't think anything sentimental about it, Hannah," Langley said, bursting my happy bubble. "He was a danger to others. When he was a baby, he couldn't control the fire. He was much too young. It wasn't until he came to live with me later that I realized he could now that he'd grown."

"Well, that in itself is reason to think you're a kind man, Mr. Langley. No matter how cantankerous you pretend to be, I no longer believe it."

"Don't jump to conclusions too soon," Jack muttered.

Behind me, I could swear Bollard made a noise that could have been either a laugh or a grunt or just a clearing of his throat.

"This isn't a joke," Langley said. "Now, if you don't mind, I have work to do."

"Just one more thing," Jack said, rising. "The compound that Tate injected into himself to give him the fire, did it come from me?"

Langley nodded.

I gasped. "You let him do that to a baby?"

"I didn't
let
him do anything, Hannah. He just did it. Rest assured, Jack wasn't harmed. A few pricks here and there to test his blood, then a needle in the arm. He probably screamed for a few seconds until it was out. I don't know. Reuben only conducted his experiments when I wasn't there. He knew my thoughts on the matter didn't align with his."

"It sounds awful," I muttered.

"
Now
will you two leave me in peace?"

We left, and as I passed Bollard, I noticed him watching Jack with a strange expression. It wasn't blank, as usual, but it was difficult to decipher nevertheless. Curiosity perhaps.

"What do you think of that?" I asked Jack as we walked along the corridor.

"I think he still hasn't told us everything."

"No, but it's a start."

"I wish I knew who my real parents were."

"Do you think he'll ever tell you?"

"No." He glanced over his shoulder back the way we'd come. "But that doesn't mean I can't find out some other way."

"How?"

"Don't worry about it," he said.

I stopped. "You're going to break into his rooms? Jack!"

"Shhh. Hannah, I have to find out. I hate not knowing." He held up his hands and wiggled his fingers. "This must have come from one of them."

"And what if you find out something about them you don't like? He already said your father didn't want to be known to you. Perhaps there's a good reason for that and not knowing is better."

"I don't care. There may not be any records of my parents anyway, but I have to try to find out." He strode off. I sighed and watched him go.

"Remember how I said your stubbornness doesn't trouble me?" I called after him, hands on hips. "I take it back."

He turned around and grinned as he walked back. "Dearest Hannah, you wound me."

"If I could touch you, I'd thump you right now."

"And if I could touch you, I'd…" He sighed. "Never mind. Those thoughts are best left unsaid otherwise I'll need to go for a swim."

I fanned my heating face with my hand. "I'm beginning to think I need to learn how to swim too."

***

Dinner was indeed an interesting affair. Fortunately the cook had prepared a day's worth of food for us, but Sylvia still needed to warm it up in the oven. She enlisted Jack's help but wouldn't let Tommy or me into the kitchen. We both needed to rest, apparently. I sat in Tommy's room with Samuel until Jack fetched us when dinner was ready.

"What are you both doing?" he said with a frown at us. "Gladstone, you're not helping. They should both be resting."

"You sound like Sylvia," I said.

That only deepened his frown. "It's not a joke, Hannah."

"No amount of rest is going to cure me."

His face twisted. His eyes darkened. He spun round and stalked off down the corridor. I raced after him.

"Slow down," I called. He opened the door leading to the main part of the house, but didn't go through, nor did he turn around.

"Jack, I…" I didn't know what to say. I wasn't sorry for attempting to take everybody's mind off the facts. "I need you all to be as normal as possible."

"Normal," he bit off. "How can I pretend as if nothing's wrong?" He leaned his forehead against the door. "I'm losing you, Hannah. You're slipping away from me and I can't…I can't be without you. I just can't."

His words shocked me to the core. I knew he cared for me, but this…it was more than I'd ever hoped for. He was handsome and strong, caring and capable. I was just a freckly redhead who'd spent most of her life in an attic and set things on fire without meaning to. Yet
this
man harbored deep feelings for me.

"I can't even hold you," he murmured so quietly I almost missed it.

I moved up behind him, but it took all my strength not to wrap my arms around his waist and press my cheek to his back.

"One day you will," I said. "Langley will find a cure."

He raked both hands through his hair, down his face, and lowered his head. His shoulders shook. If only I could flatten my palms to them and lend him some of the certainty I felt in Langley's abilities. I hovered very close, but soon even that became too much, too hot. I stepped back.

It was a long time before he spoke again. "We'd better go down to dinner."

"Yes. Sylvia won't be happy if she's gone to all that trouble, and we don't eat."

He turned around, a weak smile on his lips that wasn't reflected at all in his miserable eyes. He indicated I should walk ahead of him, and I passed through the door. The heat inside me roared to life, and I gasped as a spark shot from my fingers. I stamped it out where it landed.

"You really shouldn't speak to me with such tenderness," I teased. "It's rather dangerous."

"I know," he said, tugging his collar. "I'm burning up inside."

We met Sylvia and Samuel in the dining room and discussed how to hunt the demon. Nobody would allow Jack to go on his own and that meant Samuel had to go with him. They settled on an early morning start.

"What about Bollard?" I asked. "He could join you. Three is better than two."

"I'll ask August later if he can spare him," Jack said.

"Tell me what Mrs. Dodd was like," Sylvia said, ladling soup into Jack's bowl. She'd taken it upon herself to serve everyone the first course, and I admit to being surprised that she hadn't complained once.

"She was lovely." I stared down at my soup. "It was nice to know that she'd cared for us as babies. She worried about Tate and Langley too. She seemed fond of them both and quite sad that Tate has turned out the way he has."

"I did find her observation about Tate a little…odd," Samuel said.

"What observation?" Sylvia asked. She set down the soup tureen on the sideboard and joined us at the table.

Samuel, Jack and I exchanged glances.

"Out with it," she prompted. "I refuse to be kept in the dark."

Both men suddenly filled their mouths with soup, so it was left to me. "She implied that he liked male company."

"That's not terribly surprising. A lot of men do. Look at the proliferation of gentlemen-only clubs."

"She wasn't referring to their friendship," I said, my face heating. It was, after all, not the sort of conversation one should have at the dinner table, or indeed anywhere.

Sylvia dropped her spoon, splashing pea and ham soup onto the tablecloth. "Good lord! You mean he's…
fond
of men. Isn't that illegal?"

"Is it?" I asked.

Jack nodded. "Tate's lucky she never gave his secret away."

Good lord. I had no idea.

"Well." Sylvia picked up her spoon. "That puts a different light on things. Obviously he was already warped before he injected himself with the fire."

"There's no evidence to suggest that," Samuel said. "Whether he was born that way or came to it later in life, the science isn't clear."

"Perhaps it's not something that can be scientifically explained," I said. "Love generally isn't."

"Love!" Sylvia scoffed. "Who's speaking of love?"

I concentrated on my soup in order to hide my pink cheeks. I admit that intimacy of that nature was an unfamiliar topic to me. I thought love and passion went together. After all, I felt both for Jack. But perhaps in others that wasn't how it worked. I felt completely inadequate to talk about it and wished the topic would change altogether.

Samuel cleared his throat. "I think you and I should watch over Hannah tonight, Langley."

I gave him a nod of thanks and he smiled back.

"Agreed," Jack said. He pointed his spoon at Sylvia. "Not a word from you about it being improper to be in her room."

"I didn't say a thing! I actually think it's a good idea. Perhaps we shouldn't tell Uncle though. And another thing."

"What is it?" Jack asked.

"May I come in too?"

I grinned. "Of course. Perhaps Tommy—"

"No. I draw the line at having him with us. Besides, Tate knows you won't be sleeping in the servants' wing. He won't send Ham in there. Tommy'll be quite safe where he is."

"Perhaps I should sleep in the servants' wing too then," I said.

"Good idea," Jack said. "Well done, Syl."

She beamed. "Thank you. I'd wager you didn't expect me to come up with a good idea."

"Yet again, you're right. Oh look, pigs are flying past the window."

She gave him a withering glare. "Very amusing."

After dinner we made up the beds in one of the servants' rooms. Since two of the maids slept together, it had a large bed, but the room itself was quite small. The men decided they only needed one extra mattress as one of them would always be awake to keep watch.

It was only early, but I felt so tired that I retired for the night. Jack remained with me, reading by lamplight in the corner, while Sylvia and Samuel sat with Tommy in his room down the hall in the men's quarters. If Jack shouted, they would hear him.

I slept soundly, but something woke me while it was still dark. A noise in the distance. A thump or crash perhaps. I listened. Sylvia's soft breathing filled the silence. I lit the lamp and held it up to brighten the room. Neither Jack nor Samuel was present.

I strained to hear. Nothing. For several long minutes there were no sounds except that of Sylvia sleeping. She rolled over and stretched an arm across my lap. I lifted it off gently so as not to wake her, just as Jack came in. He saw me and let out a breath.

"What is it?" I whispered. "Was Tate here?"

"Ham."

"Oh God."

Samuel walked in, his fist closed around something. "He ran off."

Sylvia sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What's happened?"

"They frightened Ham away," I said.

She pulled the bed covers up to her chin. Her wide eyes stared at the doorway. "When will it stop?"

"How did you scare it?" I asked the men.

Samuel opened his hand. The amulet lay on his palm. "I showed him this and began to recite the chant Culvert gave us. Ham turned and ran right out the door."

"But I thought the amulet was used to summon the other demon."

"Perhaps it was used for both."

Jack sat on the bed near my feet. "Try to go back to sleep, Hannah. It's the middle of the night."

I lay down, but I didn't think I'd be able to sleep. For one thing, the house creaked and groaned, and for another, Sylvia had effectively wrapped herself around me for reassurance.

I did fall asleep eventually, however. It was light when I awoke again. Jack lay on the mattress on the floor, but I suspected he was awake. I peered down at him and he looked up at me and smiled.

"Good morning," he said.

I yawned. "Good morning. Sleep well?"

"As well as can be expected." If his tired eyes were any indication, he hadn't slept at all. My heart leapt into my throat and I felt so lucky to have him watching over me.

"Thank you. You're my guardian angel."

"And I am your maid," Samuel said, breezing into the room. He set the tray he carried on the table beside the lamp and passed a plate of toast to me and another to Jack. "Eat up, Langley. You'll need your energy."

For demon hunting. I swallowed my first bite of toast and set the rest down. I no longer felt hungry.

***

Sylvia and I watched Samuel, Jack and Bollard leave. Jack had threaded a silver chain through the amulet's hole and wore it around his neck. Both he and Samuel knew the words to the chant by heart. I wasn't sure what use Bollard would be since he couldn't speak, but I suppose an extra pair of hands may be needed to keep the demon at bay while one of the others chanted the incantation.

Staying put in the house was one of the hardest things I'd ever had to do, but of course it was necessary. I didn't feel well enough to be of any real help.

Tommy joined us in the parlor, but we three moved to the scullery to wash dishes. I washed and Sylvia dried. Tommy picked up another towel, but Sylvia ordered him to put it down.

"I have to do something," he said. "Ma'am," he added as an afterthought.

"No, you don't," she snapped. "You're injured."

"It's kind of you to care for me, Miss Langley."

"It's not a kindness. I don't want the plates smashed. You can't do anything useful with only one good arm."

I bit back my laugh. Tommy scowled and sat on a stool. The only thing Sylvia would let him do was tell her where to put the dried dishes.

The small scullery's windows were too high up to look through, unfortunately. I needed to keep watch for Jack and the others or I'd go mad. When the dishes were finally finished, I announced I was going upstairs to one of the bedrooms where the view was better. I was almost at the door when the sound of breaking glass stopped me dead.

"What was that?" Sylvia whispered, coming up behind me.

"Stay here," Tommy ordered.

"No," I said, keeping my voice low.

Sylvia caught his good arm. "You're not going out there."

"I have to see—"

"Tommy." The tremble in her voice made me turn round. She looked up at the footman, terror in her eyes. "Please stay."

He nodded, albeit reluctantly. "Come away from the door." He grabbed a knife out of a drawer. I thought it a good idea so I took one too. "Hide in the pantry," he ordered both of us.