Prelude

Oh, dear god! What have I done? Robert backed away, his eyes fixed on Sackler. The rain was running into his collar and its dripping sound filled the air. In the distance Big Ben struck nine pm. The night was hovering over London and clouds made it hard to see the stars.

The whole atmosphere seemed to want to fit with the situation Robert was in now. He kept staring at Sackler. It was impossible to turn away. The blonde agent laid on his side. He was breathing heavily, almost panting. His clothes were partly re thorn and covered in blood. The face was covered in bruises, one eye swollen. His left hand was weirdly twisted and bloody.

Robert felt fear and shock cling to him. Hyde never had such a violent and cruel outburst. In his mind he relieved the fight over and over again. It could not even be called a fight. A fight gave an opponent the ability to fight back. But Hyde had not allowed Sackler to fight back. Instead he had lashed out, kicked and slapped. Whenever the young blonde tried to crawl away, Hyde had grabbed him by his collar and thrown him back, punched him in the face. He had crushed Sackler's fingers under his foot.

What have I done? All his fears were back. Hyde was a monster. This had just shown it. Blood on his hands. Robert had feared that his other side would kill Sackler. He was glad he had only beaten him unconscious. But who said he would not do it? What would stop him from doing it when he faced Sackler again? Or anyone for that matter?

Robert's gaze fell on Sackler's pistol. It was laying a few feet away from his bleeding hand, its shaft darkly gloaming in the night. Without realizing really that he was doing it, Robert leaned forwards and picked the pistol up.

He turned around and hurried away. It was better that he did not get caught. The alley suggested him as a murder. And Robert had nothing to say in his defense. Because who would believe the truth? No one. Since no one believed in monsters.

The door closed behind him. Robert hung his head and sighted. "Robert", a familiar, foreign tongue called him. He looked up. Ravi was sitting in the armchair. He seemed to have been waiting for him. His brown eyes widened and his brows wandered upwards when he saw his face.

"Robert." Ravi jumped from the armchair and approached his brother. Taking him by his hands, he asked: "Are you alright?" "No, Ravi", muttered Robert and ran through his own hair with his hand, "I am not alright at all." He staggered through the room and dropped himself into the armchair, burring his face in his hands.

Ravi followed quietly and stopped before him. "What happened?", he asked. Robert slowly dropped his hands. "Something terrible", he breathed. Sweat ran into his eyebrows and his eyes were wide, glassy in fear. "Hyde...completely lost it", he stammered, trying to put what he had witnessed into words, "He...he attacked Sackler and almost killed him. It was horrible."

Tears ran down his cheek and Robert buried his face in his hands. Ravi gulped. He tried to hug his brother, but the Doctor stirred. "Don't touch me", he panted and backed away from him, "What if I change back into Hyde? What if I harm you too, Ravi?"

Ravi's brows wandered upwards. "But you would never do that", he said. "As Jekyll, yes", responded Robert and stood up, "But as Hyde...I cannot guarantee anything. He, he is unpredictable. Stay away, Ravi. For your own good." He reached into his pocket and pulled out Sackler's pistol.

Despite Ravi refusing, Robert placed the cold iron in his hand. "Please, I want you to have this", he said and patted Ravi's hand, "In case I wake up tomorrow and do not know your name anymore." "Robert...", stammered Ravi. The Doctor walked past him. "Not now, Ravi. I'd like to be left alone."

And Ravi stood there and stared at the pistol in his hand. Until he placed it away with the vow to never ever use it against his brother or anyone for that matter.

~Jekyll & Hyde~

Captain Dance was sitting at his table. They had sent out the cockatrice, which had done its job. Giving Robert Jekyll some trouble and making Olalla leave her position as a guardian. Now Keres could enter the Jeziquel house and take the Family Book. The death spirit had explained that she preferred taking the book to avoid any mistake.

It was a sharp stab in Dance's pride. Keres had not forgiven him for his mistake. He had turned a very important task into quite a disaster and this might be the only chance known to them they had left to reawaken Lord Trash. They could not allow any mistake.

At least Keres had given Dance the permission to find her the instructions in the book to open the portal. The undead Captain leaned backwards in his chair and closed his eyes with a sigh, waiting. Keres had not returned yet. Dance could be patient, but right now he felt a weary impatience as if he sat on glowing coal. They had to get this done. The sooner, the better.

The door opened and Dance leaned back forwards. Fedora who had sat by his side stood up. Slowly with her cold grace and precision Keres entered the room. She was an Asian woman of Dance's seize, had pearl like skin and black, silky hair. Her silver dress shimmered. The face a mask of cold arrogance. Mathematician. Tactician. Dance too was one, but he also was a manipulator and trickster. Keres however did not understand the life and therefore dealt with everything in cold, hard facts.

She stopped a few feet before Dance and opened her hand bag. Slowly pulling out the ancient looking, brown leather book, Keres presented it to him with the words: "The Jeziquel Family Book." Dance's eyes widened briefly and he had to avoid trembling. The answer to their problems. It finally was within reach! Lord Trash would be free and they should become the gods they deserved to be.

Very slowly the undead man took the ancient book. It felt heavy in his arms. "Where there any complications?", he asked. Keres explained: "There is one. Open it." Dance flipped the book open. The pages were paled from the years and the ink faded away. There were images of monsters and beasts of various shape and seizes.

"Those are not the introductions we are looking for", whispered Dance. Keres nodded. "There must be a second book hidden in this book." "How is that possible?", asked Fedora in confusion. The death spirit shrugged. "That is none of my concern. What is your concern is that you must find a way to decode the book so we can get the instructions."

The undead Captain mused: "Do not worry, Keres. This can't be too hard. We will be done in no time." He smiled at her. Keres' face remained unblinking and blank. "Do not make a promise you cannot keep", she stated, "I give you till tomorrow evening. Then you better have some sort of result."

Waving her arm, Keres literally made a cut into space. Purple smoke fumed out of it. Being a death spirit meant that she could cross the border between the living and the dead. Keres preferred this as a traveling method. She slowly stepped into the gap which closed behind her as if it had never been there.

Dance rested his hands on the book. He furrowed his brows. Don't worry, Keres. I will present you an result! The undead man slowly flipped through the pages. He was determined. Behind her cold words Keres had clearly stated that she was losing her patience with him. He had caused a major blow for Tenebrae and now he would have to make up for it.

Dance scanned the pages, looked for any hint. Any hidden switch. Maybe parts of the papers were pressed together and hide the information he required between them. But they were smooth and thine. It was frustrating. Dance read over the words. They were in English, plain, old English; only some of them were in Latin. Bad Latin!

Come on! What is your secret? Dance crunched his teeth together and formed his hands into loose fists. Keres was asking the impossible. Decoding this book in basically a day! And he had no idea where to start. Fedora leaned against the table, watching his efforts. "Is it too clever for you, my love?"

Dance's head shot up and he glowered at the Eryins. Any other person who had made that comment would have been dead in an instance. However Fedora was a different case. "Nobody is too clever for me, Fedora", the undead man responded, "Besides there is more then one way to skin a cat."

Fedora smiled. Her eyes sparkled in admiration. "You already have a plan?", she asked him. Captain Dance slowly walked around the table. "You know me", he said softly, "Always have a Plan B ready in case Plan A backfires on you." He had stopped before her. Fedora smiled. "Always making plans with that brilliant mind of yours", she mused and her slender finger softly ran over the emblem at the edge of his uniform. "I do not know if I love your plans or your body more." She leaned forwards, her breath mixing with his.

Dance smiled and softly took her by the shoulders. "Not now, Fedora", he responded and softly pushed her a few feet away, "We have a plan to complete and I'd like to entrust you with a very crucial step." She lifted a dark, elegant brow. "What is that?"

Dance slowly took his most precious possession right now: a golden gun that could fire darts as thick as two fingers. While he stored it in the box, the undead man explained: "I intend to use somebody we both know to decode the book for us. It will save us a lot of time." Dance took three green monocane darts. Weighting them in his hand, he placed them into the box besides the gun. "I entrust you with bringing her to me."

Dance handed Fedora the box. She put it away as he opened his arms shortly. The Eryins took a step forwards. Their lips enclosed in a brief, toxic kiss. But before they did so, Dance whispered: "Once she is here, you will leave the rest to me."