Jekyll & Hyde Inc.

He paused, to wipe the secretary’s blood off his mouth with the back of his hand. “Oh, don’t look at me like that . . . It’s not like you knew her. Or are you going to tell me you give a damn?”

“Just enough to make killing you that much easier,” said Daniel. “We know about your plan to take control of the criminal underworld.”

Edward sat back in his chair, and nodded happily. “I was wondering how long it would take you to work that out. And come on . . . Is it really such a surprise? I am the original Mr. Hyde! All the evil in a man, let loose on the world by Jekyll’s marvelous Elixir.”

“No,” said Daniel. “I don’t believe that’s what the Elixir does. Tina and I took it, and we’re not evil.”

“A bit extreme, sometimes,” said Tina. “But I like to think of that as just achieving my potential.”

“The Elixir brings out what’s inside someone,” said Daniel. “And all you had in you was evil.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” said Edward. “But see how far it’s brought me.”

“You weren’t sure whether we’d be coming back from the werewolves, were you?” said Tina.

“Either you’d kill them or they’d kill you,” said Edward. “Whatever the result, I would come out ahead. Oh, don’t look so outraged . . . I created you, o my children. I meddled in your lives to shape you, to make you what you are, just so I could turn you loose on my enemies. And look at what you’ve achieved! But now I’m wondering whether I really need you anymore.”

He rose to his feet, and came out from behind the desk. Squat and powerful, broad shouldered and barrel chested, a living engine of destruction. Driven by hate, powered by evil. He smiled at them, like the devil looking on his works and finding them fair.

“You’ve both come so much farther than I ever thought possible. I feel a sort of paternal pride in you . . . And I suppose it is always possible that I might need your assistance in the future, as I use the criminal underworld to prey on Humanity and bring every last one of them under my control. So, I’ll give you one last chance to rise above human weakness, and be real Hydes. Work for me, be my second-in-commands, and we will trample the whole world under our feet.”

“I became a Hyde to kill monsters,” said Daniel. “To make sure they couldn’t hurt people anymore.”

“And I got into this because I could feel free from addiction again, and have fun,” said Tina. “Well guess what, Edward? You’re no fun anymore.”

Edward looked at her with mock sorrowful eyes. “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is, to have raised an ungrateful child.”

“I was never your child,” said Tina. “Just something you could use. Without properly asking.”

Edward smiled. “There’s a difference?”

“You never did anything for us,” said Daniel. “It was always all about making us into your soldiers, to fight your war for you. Because you didn’t have the guts to go out and finish off the monster Clans yourself.”

Edward’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “I’ve killed any number of monsters.”

“Only the ones who came to you,” said Tina. “You hid yourself away in your own little fortress, behind layers of protection, and waited for the Clan’s assassins to come to you. On your home ground, where you’d have the advantage . . . so you could have fun killing them, just like the tiger.”

“I had so many enemies I couldn’t risk taking them on openly,” said Edward. “All the monster Clans wanted me dead! I had a war to fight, and generals don’t put themselves in the front ranks.”

“Everyone in Jekyll & Hyde Inc. was just cannon fodder,” said Daniel. “More warm bodies to be thrust into the meat grinder, to give you a moment’s advantage.”

“That’s what war is,” said Edward.

“You even killed off your best soldiers,” said Tina. “All the other Hydes. Because you were scared they might turn on you.”

“Just like you turned on us,” said Daniel. “You didn’t really expect us to come back from the alpha wolves, did you? Not after everything you’d done to stack the odds in their favor.”

“Lying about the situation, giving us misleading information about the alpha wolves—and carefully not providing enough silver bullets,” said Tina.

“But just in case we made it back, you arranged a nice little welcome for us in the lobby,” said Daniel. “You armed the night crew and put them in our way, so you could retrieve the Elixir from our corpses.”

“You were supposed to die, but you couldn’t even get that right,” said Edward. “Why couldn’t you just die for me, after everything I did for you?”

“We were always the patsies in the deal,” said Daniel. “We don’t owe you anything, because you never gave us anything that wasn’t meant to serve you.”

“The monster Clans are dead and broken,” said Edward. “And you have your revenge. Haven’t I delivered everything I promised?”

“All that time you spent training me,” said Tina. “You made me think I was special, that I mattered. Did you ever feel anything for me?”

Edward looked at her for a long moment. “Did you want me to?”

“Tell me the truth,” said Tina. “For once in your life.”