The Revenge of the Mummy with Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, Chapters Twelve, Thirteen and Fourteen

The Revenge of the Mummy
by John Pirillo
Chapter Twelve

Mrs. Hudson lay with her head across Watson's chest when the Doctor peeked in to see how Watson was doing. He was careful to not wake her as he checked Watson's pulse. He frowned a moment, then turned to leave.

Watson's face had lost all its color and his breathing was shallow. To all intents and purposes a man might think he was dying by his look, but the Doctor knew better. He came back with Proefessor Langdon who looked at Watson carefully several moments, touching his forehead, then examining his eyes by pulling up his eyelid. He then felt is pulse, and pressed a hand to his heart . That motion woke up Mrs. Hudson, whose face was a wreck from her crying.

She looked up at him and he smiled.

Chapter Thirteen

Caroline was a Midnight Angel. One of the top paid ones and had been at it since she was sixteen. She was a high class whore, but a very intelligent one. She had been saving her wages for years and was close to having enough to pay for a small piece of property and a butler and maid. The only reason she had not done it yet, was that she wanted to also buy a peerage. Baroness would remove much of the taint that her lifestyle had brought upon her, she thought with a smile.

She was hurrying home from a late night assignation with the local Mayor Bramford, a stand in for the old one, who had died recently. He was unlikely to remain Mayor, but he was working hard to accumulate as many perks from his temporary office as possible, and she was one of them. A costly perk, but one he could not otherwise have afforded.

So as she scurried along the white walkways that led from his upper flat in the Hamptons to the cheaper area near the new Tesla plant that had been constructed on the wharves near the Thames, she was filled with flutters of fancy and happiness. He had tipped her quite well. She smiled, because he wouldn't know how well until the next morning and then he wouldn't dare say a thing for fear of it ruining his reputation. She wasn't worried about him going after her, because she knew she had him hook, line and sinker. He wanted her back the next night no matter what he had told her. She smiled again. And she knew he would be angry at her, but more than willing to forgive as she plied her talents upon his willing self.

The huge glowing bulk of the Tesla Corporation Plant edged into view finally. She was growing a bit cold. Her clients didn't like her wearing much, either on her, or with her, so she usually had to go with the bare minimum, which on a night like this meant freezing her poor fanny off.

"There!" She exclaimed happily as the flats she lived in came into view. They were above a bed and breakfast pub that served hot chips and cold cider. No booze. The management were quite strict about that sort of thing, which made her smile again, since they knew how she made her living. Some people were quite forgiving of a young girl's mistakes. And they were more so than most.

She was almost to the front door, when she spotted something scurrying across the street. It was carrying something much larger than itself. But the way it moved was very strange. Almost as if it were flowing or floating across the snow.

Curious,  not one to be frightened of anything, though she would have been had she any idea of what she was chasing, she followed it, detouring from her front door and its safety.

The person or whatever it was stayed in the shadows of the dock buildings, then flung its weight upwards as easily as if it were a feather. She heard it strike on the rooftop of the nearest building with a loud thump, which made her realize it must have been quite heavy indeed.

"Bloody Mary! What kind of a man are you?" She asked to herself as she closed in on the shadowy figure. Well, if he was strong, maybe she could get in another client before the night closed for her. A little extra to put in her pot.

Strong men tended to spend their money more loosely than the weaker ones, she had learned, except for politicians. She frowned. They just didn't have any scruples. She crossed herself. Except Her Majesty, Queen Mary of Scots, of course.

She slowed down as the person stopped looking up and slowly turned towards her. She fluffed her hair. A bit messy from her playing earlier and lowered her blouse to reveal more of her natural talents. Expecting at the very least a whistle of appreciation, she was surprised when she heard instead something quite horrifying.

Every hair on her head stood up. Literally as her body was surrounded by some kind of invisible force that lifted her off the ground.

Slowly, her breath squeezed in her lungs so tightly she was close to blacking out, she drifted towards the person. Her horror grew as it became more visible to her.

Inside herself she thought. "God have mercy on my soul!"

And then darkness descended. Forever.
Chapter Fourteen

Count Tesla yawned so hard he could feel his whiskered jaw crack. Ouch, he thought to himself.

He laughed at himself for being so childish, then got up and stretched his sore and aching muscles. He looked at the diagram on the slanted table before him. To anyone casually glancing at it, they might perceive it as a series of conduits and pipes, but it was far from that. It was to be his greatest invention yet.

"You've done it, haven't you?" Edison asked over his shoulder.

Tesla turned around and smiled at his Midnight partner, Thomas Alva Edison. The man stood about a foot taller than him and was clean shaven, as was the wont of the new styles of the Americans these days. His only concession to London styles was his hat, which was properly round and capped in black. He wore a thick overcoat and a large dusting of snow covered his shoulders, which was quickly melting in the warmth of Tesla's office.

"Not without some good help." Tesla replied humbly.

Edison clamped a hand on his shoulder. "We make a good team."

"No. A great one." Tesla said with a tired smile.

"Can you imagine a world where we might be anything other than friends?" Edison ventured, his eyes bright with amusement.

"Not one I'd like to live in." Tesla grunted, not liking to go there with that thought at all. He had an idea based on his discussions with Harry that perhaps there were many, many more worlds out there and not all of them so happily populated by the friends they all were.

"No matter." Edison replied as positively as always. "We are friends now and always shall be, just like Jules and Wells."

Tesla barked with laughter. "No one could ever be as close as those two. The way they act, you'd think they were husband and wife, instead of best friends."

"I don't think their wives would like to  hear that." Edison quipped.

Tesla smiled, then yawned again. "So what do you think?"

"I think that with the energy this device could release we could open a doorway to Mars with no effort whatsoever!"

"I agree. But we're still missing a few elements to make this device work properly."

Edison shrugged. "It's hardly past Christmas. Maybe in the New Year we can worry over that."

"Right as always, my good friend."

Tesla put on his own hat, overcoat and cape, and then joined his friend as he exited the tiny office. They paused a moment to look down into the vast manufacturing interior of the plant. A number of electric Tesla cars were on the manufacturing line, waiting for their Tesla engines to be installed.

"Amazing how much progress we've made in a few short years."

"Yes. Truly. Now, I think you and I should stop off at Barclay's Pub for a little Midnight warmth, hey?"

Tesla smiled at his friend and they descended the stairs to his office and went to the back entrance where they kept their cars.

They went outside and stopped near their snow covered cars a moment, which were just outside the entrance. As they did so several globs of slime fell onto Tesla's car's rooftop.

"That's strange." Tesla said, looking up at the skies. "Never heard of snow doing that before."

"Look, Old Man, it's London. We have monsters in the night. Anything's game here."

"Maybe I'll just head home after all, Thomas. I'm really whickered."

"In that case I'll make sure my visit to the pub makes it more than worthwhile to the proprietor for the both of us."

They both laughed heartily,  gave each other a hug and pat on the back, then climbed into their cars. The Tesla cars let out a loud whine at first, then settled into a low hum and both drove off, heading for the drive that led to the main road outside the plant.

As they drove off, neither of them  had seen how close they had come to an evil ending. For above them, two stories, something dark and menacing in the shadows followed their departure with awful reddish eyes.