15. Chapter 15

Chapter fifteen

J ack didn’t like being separated from Hugh. They didn’t know these people or what they were capable of. What would happen if it was discovered that Hugh was a policeman? Nothing good, of that he was sure.

After he left Hugh at the door of the pub, Jack had donned his mask in a rather useless attempt to hide his identity, before he headed to another pub that was listed as the meeting place on his invitation. He was ushered into a waiting single-person coach that took off into the night. He wished Hugh was still next to him, but with their different roles to play, he had to trust that Hugh would be all right without him for the time being.

The coach traveled for about twenty minutes down London streets, the horse clip-clopping along the cobbles, until it pulled to a stop in front of what appeared to have once been a grand theatre but was now dilapidated and abandoned. Hardly the place for any sort of fantastical festivities, Jack thought, wondering if perhaps he and Hugh had already been made, and he had been taken to this solitary location to be questioned or murdered. They would not have him so easily as that, if that was to be the case.

The door was opened by the coach driver, who doffed his cap at him. “Here you are, sir.”

Jack frowned, sliding out of the carriage. “There appears to be no one here.”

“Inside,” the driver said, pointing a finger as fat as a sausage to the lobby doors. “Go into the auditorium, you’ll be given instructions there.”

Ah, just the sort of thing a secret cult might say. Or perhaps a suspicious assassin. Jack wasn’t sure which it was yet, but standing here in the dark was not going to get him anywhere.

Another carriage suddenly pulled up behind the one he had just exited, and a man in a dark suit with a cape and top hat similar to his own stepped down from the carriage and held out his hand. A woman with red ringlets alighted from the carriage after him, dressed in a beautiful yellow gown. Both of them wore masks in a similar style to Jack’s. The man tipped his hat at Jack. “Evening.”

“Evening,” Jack said, gesturing with his hand but not lifting his own hat.

“First time?” the man asked, and Jack gave him a chuckle.

“Indeed. Special invitation.”

“Well, you are in for a treat,” the man said, and the woman giggled. “Come, we’ll help you find the way.”

“Ah, splendid!” Jack said, offering his elbow to the woman’s free side. The woman blinked behind her mask but then took his arm. The other man chuckled and then led them through the doors that gave a rusty-sounding screech as they were opened.

The lobby was also in disrepair, though it looked as though much of the debris had been cleared away. There were a few candles in globes further inside to cast villainous shadows about the walls and to lead them across the moldering carpet to the doors that led into the main theatre. The walls had been originally painted with fat cherubs and flowing-haired angels in a Renaissance style, though now much of the artwork was faded or had been defaced by vandals. Some of the plush red velvet seats were broken or had been removed, but the first two rows were intact, and Jack could see several people already sitting in them, all with masks on as well. His escort and the woman he assumed was the man’s wife led him down the aisle and gestured for him to take a seat in the second row. Jack did, sliding in next to an older-looking gentleman. He glanced around again, spotting the Duke of Westchester in the front row and a few seats to his right; he wore a mask like the others, but there was no hiding his portly body. Jack swiftly counted the assembled people as several more entered and took seats nearby as well. Eleven, including himself. He knew he could overwhelm several of them if needed, but he did not know how well Hugh was able to fight, or if he would even be willing to do so in the first place.

A man dressed in an elegantly cut gray suit with a gray top hat and wearing a gold mask over his eyes suddenly walked out onto the stage, stopping in the middle of it like an actor about to deliver a soliloquy. “Ladies and gentlemen.” The elegantly dressed man lifted his hands, and the room fell silent. “I welcome you on this most auspicious night to our beautiful Garden of Eden. We have a new member joining us. The rather notorious Spring-Heeled Jack.” The man lifted his hand and gestured straight at Jack. Everyone turned to look at him.

He had not been expecting to be introduced, but Jack rose to his feet and gave a dramatic bow, the way he had when he had first introduced himself to Hugh. “Thank you. My most gracious felicitations for allowing me to join your gathering.”

Several people tittered, but the man on stage did not seem at all perturbed by his theatricality. “We are glad to bring you into our ranks, Spring-Heeled Jack. My name is Adam.” The gray-suited man gave his own little bow, not quite as grand as Jack’s had been.

Jack lifted his hat in acknowledgement; no reason to hide his identity now, he supposed. Gasps and mumbles went through the assembled group as he revealed his horns.

Adam clapped his hands, seeming to be delighted. “Stunning!” he announced. “Perhaps we could have a demonstration of your abilities later, Jack.”

Jack gave them all a dazzling smile. “As you wish.” And then he sat back down in his seat.

“Now,” Adam said, going back to addressing the crowd. “The entertainment is there for your pleasure. Nothing is off-limits, though we ask you not to leave Eden until the Waking has worn off. If there are any concerns, please bring them to me directly. Come.” He turned his palms up and made a ‘rise’ gesture. The assembled, masked group all rose, and Jack followed their movements. Adam moved to stage left and came down the creaking, wooden stairs there before he crossed over to one of the painted wall panels. Jack could see that it was a depiction of Adam and Eve, standing naked in the Garden of Eden on either side of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, a green serpent coiled around its trunk and entwining itself amongst the bright red apples there. Adam suddenly pushed a decorative piece of molding, and the Garden of Eden wall panel swung inward, revealing a lit set of stairs going down.

The rest of the group began to descend the stairwell, the Duke at the front. Jack followed them at the back of the group. Adam waited for him to step inside the hidden passage and head down the stairs before he came in after them and pulled the panel shut. Jack heard something click and realized the panel had locked itself back into place. He wondered if it could be opened from this side or not.

The lights leading down the stairs were not gas, but incandescent bulbs with wires running between them. Jack turned to look at them curiously. Adam stopped behind him. “Amazing, aren’t they? We had this fitted with electricity. It’s the way of the future.”

“Indeed,” Jack said, reaching up his iron clawed-tip fingers to touch one of the bulbs cautiously. It was hot, though it did not bother him. “Extraordinary.”

“Are you really Spring-Heeled Jack?” Adam asked.

Jack turned to him in surprise. “Have you met others with horns like mine?”

Adam laughed brightly. “Can’t say that I have. Are you the Spring-Heeled Jack that was seen at the beginning of the century as well?”

“Ah, no,” Jack said, waving his hand and giving a long-suffering sigh. “That was not I. Though it very possibly could have been another like me; we do tend to pop up in quite mysterious places and times.”

“Fascinating,” Adam said, gesturing for Jack to keep walking, and he did, the gold-masked young man following after him. “My father did say that you were able to scale his manor house with no trouble.”

“Your father?” Jack asked curiously.

Adam looked for a moment like he wasn’t sure if he should respond before he shrugged. “My father is the Duke of Westchester.”

“Ah, I see!” Jack said. “I’m afraid my knowledge of the aristocracy is lacking, so you’ll forgive me that I do not know much about either of you.”

“Quite all right,” Adam said with a smirk. “You do not need to know more to enjoy our hospitality.”

The stairs curved a little and then suddenly came to an end in a cavern that branched off in several directions. The people ahead of them seemed to know where they were going, and Jack followed them, Adam bringing up the rear. The walls were built of stone, and there were arches everywhere leading off into what looked like other hallways. It was a veritable rabbit warren, and even Jack, with his usually excellent sense of direction, found himself quite turned around.

They came out into a large, open cavern that was brightly lit with gas lamps that sent flickering shadows up over the uneven stones. At the center of the room was a circular, wooden table with chairs arranged around it. In front of each place was a gold plate. And resting on each plate was a singular red apple, each one rosy and fresh as if it had just been plucked from its branch.

The other masked guests were already taking seats around the table in front of the plates. Jack turned to Adam, giving him a small smile. “I’m afraid as the newcomer, I do not understand this situation.”

“You are more than welcome to simply observe for your first time,” Adam said, gesturing to an empty chair, and he took the one to the left of it. Jack sat down, glancing curiously at the apple. There was a faint golden sheen on it when the lights flicked over it, but it otherwise looked and smelled like an ordinary apple.

Adam stood at his seat and raised his hands again in a showman’s gesture. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Garden of Eden. Where you may fulfill your wildest dreams and desires and become the gods you are meant to be.”

Everyone was staring at Adam with rapt attention. Adam picked up his own apple from his plate, holding it aloft like a goblet. Everyone else mimicked the motion except for Jack, who watched them all with curious fascination. “‘The day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.’ My friends, eat, and Wake, knowing thy true nature.” He put the apple to his lips and took a bite. Around the table, the others all did the same, the sound of teeth breaking the crisp flesh of each firm apple echoing off the stone walls.

Adam set down his apple with only the one bite taken out of it, but the others continued to eat theirs. Jack turned to Adam with a small smile. “What happens now?”

“The apple will take hold in only a few minutes,” Adam said, sitting back down in his seat.

“And what exactly does it do?”

Adam’s grin beneath his gold mask looked almost feral. “As I said, we shall be as gods.”

“That is quite vague,” Jack said, waving his hand curiously.

“I think you will have to see for yourself,” Adam replied. “Do you know the biblical account of the Tree of Knowledge?”

“I have heard of it,” Jack said.

“Every man wears a mask of duality,” Adam said. “He contains within himself both good and evil. One could argue that the evil side of man is his true nature. The nature he is unable to show the world.”

There was a rustling sound, and Jack looked up to see several of the guests standing and beginning to remove their clothing. Hats and gloves littered the table next to the apple cores on the gold plates. And then off came jackets, shawls, corsets, waistcoats, shoes. Everyone except for Adam and Jack stripped off their clothing to their undergarments and then continued further, until each of them stood as naked as the day they were born in a sea of finery on the stone floor. Jack turned to Adam, opening his mouth to ask another question, when the man sitting closest to him, who was the man who had escorted him earlier into the theatre, suddenly arched his back, his body bowing backward at an angle that looked dreadfully impossible. He let out a sound almost like a howl as his legs began to grow longer and spindlier, claws suddenly sprouting from his toenails as a blackness began to spread over his skin, like a piece of paper absorbing spilled ink.

Another cry rent the air, and Jack looked over at one of the women, who didn’t seem phased that she was standing naked in a room full of men, her shoulders hunching as something suddenly burst from her back like the wings of an archangel, waving around her like a mass of snakes.

And then there was movement everywhere, all of the guests doubling over or falling to the floor, contorting, writhing, their bodies moving in agonistic movements as they began to transform. No two were the same. Jack watched with horrified fascination as the Duke of Westchester suddenly seemed to stretch and then expand, like a rubber hose filling with water, until he was nearly twice as long as he had been and so enormously wide around that he looked like a knobby slug, rolls of skin wrinkling at odd angles like a melted wax figurine. His mouth stretched wide, and a tongue that was larger than his head unfurled from the depths of the gaping maw that was filled with dripping saliva. Jack turned back to Adam, then realized that the man had doubled over, his hand pressed to his eyes over the gold mask he wore, his shoulders tense, making his body tremble.

Adam suddenly looked up at him. Behind his mask, his eyes that had been brown were now suddenly a violent bright purple, with a slitted, red pupil that seemed to be constantly shifting in a way similar to Jack’s own bonfire eyes.

Adam’s lips curled back in a smile that was still human but stretched a little further than a regular smile should, his teeth extended into almost needle-sharp fangs. “What do you think, my dear Jack?”

Jack gazed back at him. “I am not sure what I am supposed to think. You spoke of the duality of human nature.”

“Yes,” Adam said, just a bit of a hiss behind his voice now. “The Waking shows us who we really are. What we most desire. The faces we cannot show on the streets. Here, in Eden, we are the truest forms of ourselves.”

The vile creatures around the table had stopped twitching and morphing now, bodies rent into nearly unrecognizable forms. Many of them were animalistic, though what the significance of each transformation was, Jack was uncertain. Either way, he knew it couldn’t be good. But he gave Adam another cheery smile. “Fascinating! The apple alone does that?”

“Yes,” Adam replied. “In any form, the apple will Wake the desires inside of anyone who consumes it. I would assume even yourself, even if you are not of this world. Would you care to try it?” He gestured to the singular apple that still sat on the plate in front of Jack.

Jack wondered what he might transform into if he consumed the apple. But, he realized, he was not interested in finding out. He was already dangerous enough, with his ability to breathe fire and leap dozens of feet in the air, and he had no idea how much control he would have over himself if he did consume any of the apple at all. “I think I wish to just observe for now. I am curious to see how this transformation affects everyone.”

Adam nodded, waving his hands again, and the creatures seemed to disburse into the various archways, as if they all knew where they were going. “What happens now?” Jack asked, keeping his tone light.

Adam rose to his feet, offering Jack his hand. “I’ll show you. What is your pleasure, sir? What thrills you?”

Jack took the hand, careful of his iron claws, and rose to his feet, taller than Adam even with his top hat. “I’m afraid I don’t really know,” he said thoughtfully. He didn’t know what was happening in the dark archways, but he had to find Hugh to make sure he was safe. “Men?”

“This way then,” Adam said, gesturing to one of the archways. Jack noticed that before he left the table, he took the apple with the singular bite out of it and put it into his jacket pocket. Jack followed after him, unsure what to expect. The hall was lit with the same gas lamps that cast shadows over the wall, even his own shape monstrous in the stretched and undulating flames.

There were smaller archways branching off of the main hall into what appeared to be more private rooms. Jack had good night vision, so he was able to see that each room was a little different in its offering. Some held beds, while others held a variety of what looked like sexual toys and other devices he was unsure about.

There was a large opening at the end of the hallway, and two of the monstrous creatures were coming out of it. Both were pushing people in front of them. Jack realized as they did the people were all men, mostly young, wearing almost nothing except for a single violet drape over their fronts held in place by a thin, gold chain. He quickly scanned their faces, but none of them were Hugh. But he noticed with dismay that all of the violet-clothed men looked hazy-eyed and dreamy, not paying any attention to him and Adam. And he could see that all of them sported erections under their flimsy coverings. Was that the effects of whatever had been in the champagne that Anthony had mentioned?

Adam led him into the large room the two monsters had come from, and Jack found himself faced with about half a dozen men, all dressed in the same purple sash and chain and nothing else. All of them reclined on pillows or sat in chairs, and all of them had the same sort of half-lidded expression that the boys in the hallway had. Jack scanned their faces. Where was Hugh? Had he already been taken? Was he not in this wing? He almost melted with relief when he spotted him. Hugh was also dressed in the violet silk, though it splayed rather obscenely to the side based on the way he was lying on a pile of pillows, giving Jack a look at Hugh’s half-erect cock beneath it. Hugh seemed to be asleep, his eyes closed.

Adam gestured around the room at the assembled young men. “You may have your pick, and you may do as you like with them. As you probably saw, there are rooms off to the side, and there are other rooms too if you wish to move around. If you get too excited and harm them, or go even further, we will take care of it at the end of the night, have no fear.” He said this so calmly that Jack had to look over at him to see if the man was trying to make a joke. But despite the slightly bemused smile on his stretched mouth, Adam looked quite serious.

“Oh, thank you,” Jack said, surveying the room. “Why do they all look so sleepy?”

Adam smiled further. “Ah. Trade secret, but we give them a special concoction that makes them less likely to remember what happens here. It also has the delightful side effect of making them deliciously pliant and wanton. If you wish for more lively prey though, we can also accommodate that, you need only ask.”

Jack smiled, but the words bubbled inside of him like a geyser. Lively prey. “Thank you. Is it all right if I wander about? This whole thing is fascinating, and I wish to see everything I can.”

“Yes, of course,” Adam said. “The employees have the black masks on, they can assist you if you have need of anything.”

Jack nodded, noting one employee dressed in all black with a black mask standing off to the side of the room. If she found any part of this disturbing, she showed no outward sign of it. “Thank you. I think I’d like to peruse the wares, if that is all right.”

“Yes, of course,” Adam said, waving his hand like he had to dismiss the monstrous crowd. “Please, enjoy yourself. If you have need of anything, please do not hesitate to request it.”

Jack nodded, wondering if Adam was going to perhaps stay to observe him, but the man simply nodded his head before turning and walking out of the brightly-lit stone room.

Jack almost ran to Hugh, but he glanced over at the black-clad employee again. He had to assume that they were under the control of Adam and would report anything suspicious to him, so he wandered over to one of the other boys first, a darker-skinned man a little older than Hugh, with short, curly black hair and long lashes. He reached out his hand with its clawed fingertips to grasp the young man’s chin, tipping his face up to look into the glassy eyes. The young man smiled softly, leaning in to nuzzle his nose over the front of Jack’s trousers. Oh dear, that would not do. Even if he had come here alone, Jack knew he would not be all right with this situation. These boys might have been here as their job, if they came from Mr. Galloway’s brothel, but they were drugged and helpless and were not of a mind to consent to anything. He patted the young man’s umber cheek. “Maybe later,” he said. The young man looked disappointed, but Jack was all right with disappointing him if it meant he was not going to take advantage of him.

Instead, he moved over to where Hugh lay, still asleep on the pillows. He knelt by him, shifting a little so his back was to the black-masked employee, spreading his cape out a bit to try to block Hugh as much as possible as he gave his shoulder a light shake. “Wake up,” he whispered. How drugged was Hugh? And how long would it last?

Hugh stirred, blinking, a hand going up to shade his eyes, though his movement was sluggish. “Jack?”

“Shh,” Jack said, placing a fingertip lightly on Hugh’s lips, careful to angle the sharp points of them away from his skin.

Hugh reached for Jack, groping blindly where he seemed to think the man was. His hand connected with Jack’s chest. “Are you all right?” Jack asked, concerned.

“Uh huh.” His voice came out slurred as he leaned up toward Jack’s embrace.

“I thought you didn’t drink the champagne,” Jack whispered.

“N… Din’t,” Hugh said, turning his eyes up, though they looked a little glassy. “But go’sum in my mouth.”

Jack made a soft sound in his throat. “Whatever was in it must have absorbed through the inside of your mouth.”

Hugh frowned. He clutched at Jack’s chest, groping for anything he could grab. “Everything ishso shiny an’ warm.”

Jack couldn’t leave Hugh alone like this. If one of the monsters came back to take him, Hugh was in no state to defend himself. Jack glanced over at the black-masked woman. “Could you please bring some water?”

The woman bobbed her head in agreement before she turned and hurried down another small hallway. This whole place was an absolute maze. Jack had no idea if either of them would be able to find their way out without being spotted, so they might very well be stuck here until the end of the event. But if he could get Hugh coherent again, they could go look around and find out more about this strange, creepy underworld.

Hugh sat up, squinting in the light. Jack was so handsome. The man who traveled across space and time to help him solve these mysterious murders, who was supposed to be his soulmate.

“Jack,” he said, nestling into his arms. Jack was surprisingly warm and soft. “I love you.”

Jack smiled and stroked his hand gently through Hugh’s hair, careful to not catch his curls with his claws. “Do you?”

“Mm-hmm,” Hugh said, looking up at him. Jack’s face was so white in the light, a halo being cast around his horns. “Do you love me?”

Jack laughed and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I do,” he said softly. “I love you.”

Warmth flooded Hugh, and he held tighter to the man. “Kiss me.”

Jack shook his head. “No, darling. You’re not in your right mind.”

“But I want you to,” Hugh replied, sticking out his lower lip in a pout.

“And I want to,” Jack replied, brushing the pad of one finger over Hugh’s lip. “But only when you are in full charge of your faculties.”

“I’ll charge your faculties,” Hugh said with a giggle.

“You already do,” Jack said with a chuckle, just as the woman returned with a tray baring a pitcher of water and two glasses. Jack took them with a gracious nod at her, then poured a glass for himself before he poured one for Hugh like it was an afterthought, offering it to him. Hugh took the glass and sipped at the water. He was not in his right mind, but whatever the drugs in his system were, they had definitely loosened the young man’s tongue, and it was strangely adorable. But Jack wanted to get him some place they could talk privately. So, he scooped Hugh up from the pillows and made for the archway. He glanced at the black-masked woman to see if she would object, but she just stood with the same smile on her face, and Jack made his way out of the large room.

One of the little rooms off the hallway was empty and held a plush bed. Jack set Hugh onto it. He glanced around to see that they were alone before he turned back to Hugh. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” Hugh said, rubbing at his eyes. “I’m sorry.” His movements were still slow but a bit more coordinated as he swiped at his eyes and adjusted the fabric around him. He realized to his chagrin that he was still sporting an erection, and he tucked it down as best he could. Jack was kind enough to pretend he did not notice it.