finished up his bacon and cheese omelette and sipped the last few drops of jus d’orange , was he cursed to put up with the moroseness of a personality like Marduk’s? Tell the truth, reluctant though he was to admit it, he wouldn’t mind having breakfast instead with a spry young thing like that ingenue Garet James. She was on the wrong side of the battle, of course, but she had a twinkle in her eye and a bulge in her bodice that made Marduk look like the ghoul he was in comparison. (Even if Dee had in fact helped make him that.)
Eventually, Dee could ignore Marduk’s truculent silences no longer. He grasped the fellow’s wrist in exasperation, moved it not so subtly into a shaft of sunlight bisecting the table—to which Marduk evinced no response—and exclaimed, “My dear man. Have you no emotions? No sense of triumph, or even greed? We stand on the precipice of an enormous victory. And you personally, thanks entirely to me, have the freedom to move about twenty-four hours per day, more than doubling your life in these long summer days. Do you not exult?”
Marduk took his hand away and put it back in shadow, slowly. “What puts a damper on this for me is the need to masquerade as that puny offal, Will Hughes. Because I have fed on the young Will Hughes I haven’t gained the knowledge and experience of his older self. At least Kepler’s form came with some interesting facts about the stars. All I’ve gotten with this shape is an obsession with the watchtower and a propensity to think in metrical verse.” He grimaced, showing more teeth than was wise in a public venue. Dee hurried to reassure him.
“It’s unfortunate indeed that you could not feed directly on the older Hughes, but unavoidable. How were we to know he’d stay in 1602 and send his younger self to the present? But do not worry, I have made an exhaustive study of the world’s financial markets. We should have no problem as long as you do exactly as I say.”
“Is that so?”
Marduk took Dee’s wrist and moved it into the sunlight also, but squeezing so hard that Dee began to gasp. The man’s—creature’s—strength was abominable.
“I follow no man’s orders. I will try a fling at black pool stock trading tonight. It only takes place at night, right?”
Dee nodded, gasping, trying unsuccessfully to remove his wrist from the creature’s grasp. He didn’t want to beg or plead.
“Y-y-y-yes,” he finally stammered. “I can get you an address. And a little money to work with.” Anything to mollify the beast.
Marduk nodded. “Then I’ll decide whose identity I use for the plot. But don’t let anything untoward happen to Kepler in the meantime. Understand?”
Dee nodded that he did, and wouldn’t. Marduk let go of his wrist with a triumphant grin. And Paris no longer seemed quite as electric with benign energy to Dee, as it had just a moment or two before. He rubbed his aching wrist, averting his eyes from Marduk’s belittling gaze.
14
It Was Red
The apartment building on Rue E. Lumeau was the last place in Paris, or maybe in the world, that anyone would have suspected to house an activity as portentous as black pool stock trading. Dilapidated. That was the word that ran through Marduk’s mind as he beheld, from across the street, the six-story grime-encrusted façade of the building, in one of the seedier sections of northern Paris. But when he carefully checked the address on the slip of paper Dee had given him against that on the torn awning protruding over a set of crumbling stone front steps, they matched. And as he continued to stand there, dumbfounded, a sleek black limo pulled up in front of the entrance and two young men in expensive-looking suits got out. They went up the steps, each carrying thin valises that could have been briefcases or computers, Marduk couldn’t tell.
Curiosity overcoming him, he crossed the street after the men had entered the building, and he mounted the steps as well. The front door
Eventually, Dee could ignore Marduk’s truculent silences no longer. He grasped the fellow’s wrist in exasperation, moved it not so subtly into a shaft of sunlight bisecting the table—to which Marduk evinced no response—and exclaimed, “My dear man. Have you no emotions? No sense of triumph, or even greed? We stand on the precipice of an enormous victory. And you personally, thanks entirely to me, have the freedom to move about twenty-four hours per day, more than doubling your life in these long summer days. Do you not exult?”
Marduk took his hand away and put it back in shadow, slowly. “What puts a damper on this for me is the need to masquerade as that puny offal, Will Hughes. Because I have fed on the young Will Hughes I haven’t gained the knowledge and experience of his older self. At least Kepler’s form came with some interesting facts about the stars. All I’ve gotten with this shape is an obsession with the watchtower and a propensity to think in metrical verse.” He grimaced, showing more teeth than was wise in a public venue. Dee hurried to reassure him.
“It’s unfortunate indeed that you could not feed directly on the older Hughes, but unavoidable. How were we to know he’d stay in 1602 and send his younger self to the present? But do not worry, I have made an exhaustive study of the world’s financial markets. We should have no problem as long as you do exactly as I say.”
“Is that so?”
Marduk took Dee’s wrist and moved it into the sunlight also, but squeezing so hard that Dee began to gasp. The man’s—creature’s—strength was abominable.
“I follow no man’s orders. I will try a fling at black pool stock trading tonight. It only takes place at night, right?”
Dee nodded, gasping, trying unsuccessfully to remove his wrist from the creature’s grasp. He didn’t want to beg or plead.
“Y-y-y-yes,” he finally stammered. “I can get you an address. And a little money to work with.” Anything to mollify the beast.
Marduk nodded. “Then I’ll decide whose identity I use for the plot. But don’t let anything untoward happen to Kepler in the meantime. Understand?”
Dee nodded that he did, and wouldn’t. Marduk let go of his wrist with a triumphant grin. And Paris no longer seemed quite as electric with benign energy to Dee, as it had just a moment or two before. He rubbed his aching wrist, averting his eyes from Marduk’s belittling gaze.
14
It Was Red
The apartment building on Rue E. Lumeau was the last place in Paris, or maybe in the world, that anyone would have suspected to house an activity as portentous as black pool stock trading. Dilapidated. That was the word that ran through Marduk’s mind as he beheld, from across the street, the six-story grime-encrusted façade of the building, in one of the seedier sections of northern Paris. But when he carefully checked the address on the slip of paper Dee had given him against that on the torn awning protruding over a set of crumbling stone front steps, they matched. And as he continued to stand there, dumbfounded, a sleek black limo pulled up in front of the entrance and two young men in expensive-looking suits got out. They went up the steps, each carrying thin valises that could have been briefcases or computers, Marduk couldn’t tell.
Curiosity overcoming him, he crossed the street after the men had entered the building, and he mounted the steps as well. The front door
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