Lazarus was gone.
Doctor Satan walked slowly forward, looking down as Lazarus drove his car from the alley.
“Should we pursue him?” Twining asked. The ringmaster’s skull had a huge hole in it and Satan could see right through to the other side.
“No. We got what we came here for. Gray can live for another day.”
Chapter V
A Forced Alliance
The headquarters of Assistance Unlimited was located at 6196 Robeson Avenue. Lazarus Gray had purchased all three of the buildings that lay on this city block, transforming what had once been an unassuming neighborhood into the beating heart of his enterprise. The centerpiece of his holdings was a three-story structure that had once been a hotel. Gray’s three associates used the first floor, while the second had been gutted and converted into one large room that was used for meetings, briefings and research. The third floor was off-limits to everyone but Gray himself and was his private domicile.
Across the street were several storefronts owned by Lazarus, all of which had closed down at the dawn of the Great Depression.
Lazarus found the relative silence of this street to be an oasis of sorts, a place where he could escape the dangers of the outside world. It wasn’t impregnable, of course — in fact, Robeson Avenue had been the scene of a number of armed conflicts and for a time, the undead Egyptian known as Princess Femi had lived in a prison located in the team’s headquarters. Nevertheless, Lazarus felt secure here and his friends shared that feeling.
“We can’t trust him,” Eun said, drawing a sigh from Morgan and a non-judgmental murmur from Samantha.
Lazarus glanced around the meeting room table, at the three people he’d come to consider his family, and he wondered how he had gotten so lucky that they’d willingly follow him into danger again and again. “We don’t have much choice,” he said, which brought a glower from the young Korean. “We’re badly outmanned here — not only are we facing Doctor Satan but the entire Circus, not to mention Abigail. The Darkling is a capable fighter and I think that we can count on him to do what’s right — it’s his methods that vary from ours, not his dedication to justice.”
“He killed Abby.” Eun said, and that brought everyone to silence for a moment.
Lazarus nodded at last, having already thought of that fact on numerous occasions since he’d returned to headquarters and found The Darkling waiting for him. “Yes. But I have no doubt that she was doing everything she could to slay him, as well. I’m more concerned with defeating Doctor Satan right now — then we can focus on helping Abby. If The Darkling can help us do that, I’m willing to set aside our differences for the duration.”
Eun leaned forward, his exasperation causing his voice to rise. “But we don’t have to do that! If we need help, let’s call up Thunder Jim Wade! Or The Peregrine! Or Doc Daye! Hell, we can have an army here within 24 hours! We don’t need that piece of trash, Lazarus!”
Morgan cleared his throat and said, “Look, I’m of two minds on this. I agree with Eun that I don’t like the guy and I can’t stand the idea that he killed our friend. On the other hand, I see where Lazarus is coming from — The Darkling can be useful to us. Maybe we can work with him for now and then when we’re done with him, we stab him in the back.”
“I don’t like that,” Samantha said. “Feels… dishonest.”
“Of course it’s dishonest. That’s the point,” Morgan said with a roguish grin.
Still frowning, Samantha looked back at Lazarus and said, “Just make the decision, Lazarus. Whether we all agree with it or not, we’ll do what you say.”
Lazarus took a deep breath. “Thank you for that. All of you.” He stood up and rapped his knuckles on the tabletop. “I say we work with him for now. When the job is done, then we see where we go from there.”
“We’re going to turn on him?” Morgan asked, seemingly surprised that his suggestion might be accepted.
“No. I agree with Samantha that it would be going down a path I’m not comfortable with. I plan to make it clear to him from the get-go that this is a marriage of convenience.”
“Which gives him plenty of time to think about how to betray us,” Eun said with a glower.
Abby sat at the table in the corner of the room, her eyes barely registering on the scene before her. The Circus had been treated to a celebratory dinner, to congratulate them on helping bring The Devil’s Eyepiece into Doctor Satan’s possession. A bevy of prostitutes and showgirls had been brought up, all bought and paid for by Mr. Scratch.
The horrors that ensued would have once turned Abby’s stomach. Now, she watched with at best dim disinterest, not even caring about the occasional splatter of blood that stained her clothing and face.
Doctor Satan sat down beside her, his eager expression showing just how much he enjoyed watching his pets at play. Despite the screams and crying that filled the room, Doctor Satan’s voice cut through it all, taking up all of Abby’s attention. “You look sad, my pretty bird. Don’t you realize that you should be happy?”
“The gem has no power,” she murmured, turning her head to look at him. “Why go to such lengths to get it? All those legends are just that — stories. It’s so unimportant but you risked everything to fight Lazarus Gray over it.”
“You miss the point,” he said, leaning back in his chair. Under his hood and mask, she could see his grin spread wider. “I enjoy seeing people suffer. And Lazarus Gray… he vexes me. That means it’s all the sweeter seeing him brought low.”
“He’s never gone after you,” she countered. “All that stuff with the Circus and Die Glocke… even Murder Unlimited… none of that brought you to his attention. You’re the one who kept inserting yourself into his path.”
“He could have been a tremendous force of darkness, Abby, but he turned away from it. He’s clinging to some outdated ideal of heroism and he’s inspiring others to do the same. All of his followers were saved from a dark path — Morgan could have remained in the mob, Eun could have continued being a bloodthirsty vigilante and even adorable little Samantha could have been tainted by her father’s blackmail. But now look at them — all prancing around with their hearts on their sleeves!”
“You’re jealous.”
Satan’s smile vanished. His voice became cold and brittle. “Why would I be jealous of him?”
“Because he had the strength to change his life. And because he has people who follow him because they love and believe in him… not because he holds power over them.”
Satan stood up, stepping over the headless corpse of a young woman. He strode to the center of the room, right into the midst of the debauchery, and then he turned back to Abby. When he spoke, everyone in the room stopped whatever they were doing and looked at him.
“Our little witch thinks that I covet all that our enemy possesses! Is there anybody else here who thinks that? Speak up!” Satan looked from one to the next, noting how the Circus members were obviously in awe of his power. Their victims, those that retained enough sanity to even acknowledge what was happening, looked at him like he was the Devil himself. Their eyes alternately begged for release or for vengeance. “Come, come! She can’t be the only one who thinks that I’m weak… that I do these things not for my personal amusement but because I’m secretly sad that Lazarus is so happy!”
“I do think you’re jealous,” someone said. “But I also think you’re doing this because you’re a sick freak.”
Doctor Satan whirled toward the door. There should have been no one else in this entire building — he’d made sure that they were alone for the festivities, having rented the entire Lovecraft Hotel for the rest of the week. But standing there in the doorway was a man dressed in bullet-resistant armor. He wore a mask that was reminiscent of a skull and he had a hood pulled up over his head. In his right hand, he held a high-caliber pistol.