Anno Dracula - Kim Newman [168]
Fury twisted the Prince Consort’s brow, but then contempt and mirth turned his face into a wide-mouthed mask of obscene enjoyment.
Beauregard held Dr Seward’s silver scalpel. He had taken it from Genevieve that night. As evidence, she thought.
‘You think you can defy me with that tiny needle, Englishman?’
‘It is a gift,’ Beauregard replied. ‘But not for you.’
Genevieve was edging away, uncertain. The Carpathians had detached themselves from their amusements, and were forming a half circle around Beauregard. There was no one between Beauregard and the throne, but, if he made a move towards the Prince Consort, a wall of solid vampireflesh and bone would form.
‘For my Queen,’ Beauregard said, tossing the knife.
Genevieve saw the silver reflect in Vlad Tepes’s eyes, as anger exploded dark in the pupils. Then Victoria snatched the tumbling scalpel from the air...
It had all been for this moment, all to get Beauregard into the Royal Presence, all to serve this one duty. Genevieve, the taste of him in her mouth, understood.
Victoria slipped the blade under her breast, stapling her shift to her ribs, puncturing her heart. For her, it was over quickly.
With a look of triumph and joy, she fell from her dais, blood gouting from her fatal wound, and rolled down the steps, chain clanking with her.
Vlad Tepes – Prince Consort no more – was on his feet, cloak rippling around him like a thundercloud. Tusklike teeth exploded from his face, and his hands became spear-tipped clusters. Beauregard, Genevieve realised, was dead. But the monster’s power was dealt a blow from which it could never recover. The Empire Vlad Tepes had usurped would rise against him. He had grown too arrogant.
The Carpathians were on Beauregard already, talons and mouths red and digging.
Genevieve thought she was to die too. Beauregard had tried to keep her from harm by not involving her in his designs. But she had been too stubborn, had insisted on being here, on seeing Vlad Tepes in the lair he had made for himself.
He came down from his throne for her, foul steam pouring from his mouth and nostrils.
But she was older than him. Less blinded by the ignorance of his selfish fantasies. For centuries, he had thought himself special, as a higher being apart from humanity, while she knew she was just a tick in the hide of the warm.
She ducked under his hands, and was not there when he overbalanced, falling to the floor like a felled tree, marble cracking under his face. He was slow in his age, in his bloated state. Too much indulgence. Too much isolation. Veins in his neck burst, spurting blood, and knitted together again.
While Vlad Tepes was scrambling to right himself, the rest of his court were in confusion. Some returned to their bloody pleasure, some fell insensate.
She could do nothing for Beauregard.§
Ruthven was uncertain. With the Queen truly dead, things were going to change. He could have barred her way from the palace, but he hesitated – ever the politician – then stood aside.
Merrick had the doors open for her, and she escaped from the infernal heat and stench of the throne-room. He then slammed the doors shut, and put his back to them. He had been part of Beauregard’s conspiracy, also willing to give his life for his sovereign. He nodded to the main doors, and made a long howl that might have meant ‘go’.
She saluted the man, and ran from the Palace. Outside, in the night, fires were burning high. The news would soon be spreading.
A spark had touched the gunpowder keg.
* This is one tiny change made between ‘Red Reign’ and Anno Dracula. In the novella, Genevieve (who – like her extracontinual cousin in the Jack Yeovil books – didn’t have an accent) has met Dracula before, and always knew about his ambitions as a conqueror. In the novel, Geneviève and Dracula only know each other by reputation. The main reason for this alteration is that I needed to drop the roll-call of vampire hangers-on, since they all got their mentions elsewhere in the book.
§ Yes, in my first draft, Beauregard