The Infernal Aether (First Draft)

Chapter 9 - A Cornered Beast

We ran through half-lit streets, the gas lamps being sporadic at best in that part of town. Our pursuit took us away from the sanctuary of the night market we had heard and glimpsed earlier. The streets were unusually quiet, as though the locals had been forewarned that a creature from the pits of Hades would be storming past their houses.

"I'm dead," panted the girl from next to me.

I started, not having realised that she had joined our chase. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"Jason will kill me when he catches up with me," she said. Then added: "My pimp. The guy your mate battered back there. He's going to assume I'm on your side. He'll kill me."

"Why have you come with us then?" I asked.

"I...don't know. It felt like the right thing to do. Is that thing really the Devil?"

"I'm not sure. But I know it's dangerous. It killed someone."

"Are you Old Bill?" she asked, looking at me with a look of alarm.

"No," I said. "In fact the police and I are not best of friends at the moment."

"Then why are you chasing it?"

"I..." I was not so fit that I could recount my entire tale -- or indeed more than a few sentences at a time -- while running at that pace, and so limited myself to: "It's a long story."

N'yotsu and Maxwell had charged ahead of us and it was only when they stopped in front of an abandoned warehouse that we were able to catch up with them.

"One question," said the girl as we came to -- in my case -- a rather breathless halt. "If that thing's so dangerous, why's it running away from us?"

N'yotsu blinked and looked at her. "Hello," he said. "What are you doing here?"

"I was curious," she said. "And anyway, I think I may be less at risk of being killed here than I would be if I stayed with my pimp."

"Your faith in us is touching, if somewhat misplaced, given that I believe we have managed to corner a rather homicidal demon in that building. By the way, my name is N'yotsu and my companions here are Maxwell and Augustus."

"Kate," she said, eying N'yotsu's outstretched hand suspiciously. She shook it quickly, pulling her hand away with a jerk as though she expected him to seize her. "So if it really is all that dangerous, why's it running away from us?"

"Good question," said N'yotsu. "Maybe Maxwell's machine is giving off some form of vibrations or emissions which cause it pain."

"Or maybe it saw the short work you made of Jason back there," said Kate. Seeing their blank looks she explained: "My pimp." She then turned back to N'yotsu. "What are you -- some sort of champion boxer?"

N'yotsu shrugged and muttered something about being just an ordinary person. He turned back to the building. "No point in wasting any more time," he said. "We should go and finish the job. Everyone ready?" He strode into the building without waiting for a response.

I took a deep breath and followed him, Maxwell peering over his dials at my side. Kate fell into step with us. "What job is this then?" she asked. "We going to kill it?"

"No," I said. "We need to capture it. I need to clear my name and the only way I can do that is by showing the police that that creature is the one which has been committing the Whitechapel murders, not me."

"You?" Kate laughed. "No offence, but look at you! I can't think of a less likely looking murderer!"

"I'll have you know I can be extremely dangerous when the mood takes me," I said, huffily.