Chapter 21 – Comings and Goings

Hyde loitered outside the bedroom that Victor and Beth shared. He tried carefully to not look like a person loitering, but there was really no avoiding it while occupied by nothing except standing in the middle of an empty passageway. He had no choice but to duck into an open doorway across the hall and wait.

He found himself in the bedroom that had belonged to Dr. Jekyll before he had lost the noble part of himself. Hyde had made a point not to enter it again since the night he awoke in that bed. It looked just as he'd left it, although the only sign that anyone had once inhabited the room was the rumpled bedcovers. There were none of the usual signs of Jekyll's presence. No books lined neatly on polished shelves. No tastefully arranged overstuffed armchairs. No neat tray of steaming tea. In short, he hadn't brought along any of the comforts of home. How could he? Hyde had brought him here against his will.

"Against our will," Hyde corrected his thoughts aloud, startling himself with the sudden noise. He hadn't meant to talk to himself. He glanced quickly into the hall to make sure he hadn't been overheard, and tried to refocus on his important vigil. But it was no good. He kept staring at the unmade bed, the only sign that someone had been here before. His thoughts kept drifting back to the man he was when he had a conscience.

Jekyll would not be lurking around corners like this. No, he would never hide away in a dark room like some criminal. Jekyll had always been an upfront and forthright person, innocently pursuing the finer comforts in life, though he carefully avoided those passions which would lead him to inconvenience others.

Then again, not all of his pursuits had been innocent. He had given birth to Hyde after all. He smiled at the recollection of those early days. He could do whatever he wanted, when and however he wanted to do it. No guilt, no remorse, no fear of consequences. When had it all changed? For Hyde, everything was still as fresh has it had been that first night… But his other self - that part that was dominated by the pesky superego - he did have regrets.

That was back when Jekyll still remembered him.

He frowned. What was that he was feeling? He told himself it was anger. He was always angry at himself – no - angry at Jekyll for repressing all thoughts of him. Everything had changed when Jekyll started to deny this basic part of himself – the part which felt and yearned and wanted things. He was a fool, and Hyde hated him because he hated being a part of him.

No, Jekyll would never have accepted this job from Vinny. He never would have come to this castle if Hyde hadn't forced his hand. The thought was enough to steel his resolve, and Hyde turned resolutely back to watch the door to Victor's room.

It opened. Beth glided out of the room. She must have been fixing her hair or trying to contrive a way of removing the wrinkles from her worn evening gown. Despite the stubble which had appeared on her husband's chin, the dark shadows under William's eyes, and the copious amount of grey which had spread through Dracula's hair, Beth still looked flawless. The wrinkled, shortened dress only seemed to flatter her figure more.

Hyde couldn't resist a smile. Jekyll might not remember him, but he could remember everything, especially the sight of Beth through that first night. Her presence in the castle had been a mystery even then. She was a puzzle, and he was delighted to be the one to solve her.

"Beth!" he called out, careful not to raise his voice too loud. "Wait a moment!"

Beth halted just before the staircase leading to the first floor. She returned the smile Hyde offered her, but she was clearly confused.

"Mr. Hyde, is there something I can help you with?"

He didn't bother to correct her about his name. Vinny was right, these people would never see him as anything other than Edward Hyde. And maybe that was fine. Maybe he didn't want to be Dr. Jekyll.

No, he steadfastly corrected himself. He was Jekyll. He was the original. His wants and feelings went deeper than Jekyll's trumped-up sense of moral righteousness.

This was what they both wanted. He and Jekyll, united by this common need. Feeling secure in his mission, Hyde gave Beth this most trustworthy smile. It was not easy for him to accomplish.

"I just wanted to talk to you for a bit. It's so rare to see you alone."

To his surprise, she seemed to be falling for it. Or at least she wasn't running away from him in terror, as women usually did upon meeting him. Strange that. He didn't think he was necessarily unattractive. Perhaps it had something to do with the cold leer that he considered his best smile.

"I'm sorry we haven't had more time to chat, but assisting Victor with his research is my priority at the moment," Beth explained to him patiently. There wasn't a shred of ill-will in her voice, and Hyde could detect even the smallest trace of insincerity. Beth wasn't trying to be rude, but she spoke her words like rehearsed lines.

"Let Victor manage his own research for a while. Didn't he teach you everything you know? He's always making you do the dirty work, let him take care of himself for a change."

"I like assisting Victor. It's what I was made to do."

"Do you really believe that?" He dared to reach out and grip one of Beth's hands. She didn't pull away from his touch, but she did look down at their clasped hands curiously, unsure of what the gesture meant.

Hyde shivered. She was cold to the touch.

He ignored the feeling, tried to focus on his mission. He looked up into Beth's blue eyes and tried to tell himself he had never been more pleased to accept one of Vinny's jobs.

"It seems to me that all you do is answer Victor's beck and call. But he doesn't appreciate you Beth. Takes you for granted, sure, but he never thinks of you until something in his life goes wrong. Then you come pick up the pieces."

"Yes," Beth said plainly. Her tone seemed to mock him, as if she couldn't understand why anything he had said would be an insult to her or Victor.

"And you're satisfied with that life, Beth? Even when I can offer you so much more?"

"You?" Beth asked with incredulity. She tried to pull away from him now, but they stood too close to the staircase. Her foot slipped against the edge of the top step. Hyde used their still-clasped hands to pull her closer to him, saving her from the fall while managing to draw her against his chest.

Beth seemed oblivious to the situation. She was still determinately yet fruitlessly trying to distance herself from Hyde. "What could you possibly have to offer me?" she asked, as if their conversation had never been interrupted, and she wasn't currently pressed against him in a compromising situation.

"Everything," Hyde whispered against her soft, clean hair. She and Victor must have shower attached to their room. They'd been holding out on the others. He was sure William hadn't bathed in days.

Why exactly was he thinking about smelly werewolves at a time like this?

"I can give you everything you've ever wanted," he whispered, trying to sound seductive but coming off desperate, as he was wont to do in times of desperation. "I don't care what I have to do to get it, so long as I can have you."

"The only thing I have ever wanted is Victor," Beth said firmly. She pushed Hyde away from her with no small amount of force. He stepped back, but he still kept one of her hands gripped tightly in his.

"How can you say that when he treats you like dirt?"

"He loves me. And he needs me."

"Yes he needs you. He needs you because he isn't man enough to operate on that damn mummy himself. But what then, Beth? What's going to happen after this is all said and done, and he doesn't need you for this job anymore?"

"We were married a lot longer than either of us has been trapped in this castle, Mr. Hyde."

"Damnit, Beth! What has he done to deserve such loyalty from a woman like you?"

"He made me this way."

Something inside Hyde snapped. He made her? Did he make her as Jekyll had made him? Was she nothing more than something to embrace in the beginning while life was still an adventure, only to discard with embarrassment and shame when things got rough?

OK. Maybe he was projecting his own frustrations onto her, but it seemed to him that Victor really didn't pay Beth any attention unless he needed her for some practical purpose. Would she eventually see herself outlive that purpose for him?

There was an unpleasant feeling twisting around in his stomach that reminded him of Jekyll. He blamed Beth for it, though he didn't know why. He could feel his upper lip twisting into a sneer when he spoke to her. "He made you to be as weak and pathetic as he is. You suit one another. Entirely codependent."

Beth's hand, resting so docilely in his own, suddenly gripped him with unexpected strength. He thought the delicate bones would break. With a cry of pain, he yanked his hand from her and glared at her in surprised outrage.

"Do not insult Victor in front of me," Beth warned.

She started to turn away from him. As far as she was concerned, this conversation had reached an end. But Hyde couldn't let her go like this. He couldn't fail the mission.

His next words arrested her movement, causing her to pause on the stair one step down from him. "You can't help him fix that mummy, Mrs. Frankenstein."

She turned to him very slightly, peeping at him over her shoulder. "And why is that, Mr. Hyde?"

"Because it's not right. Don't you see that? The man is dead. It's not going to do any good to bring him back. Victor made that mistake once himself, already. If you really cared for him that much, couldn't you see how this is torturing him? It has to stop!"

Beth considered his words very seriously. It never seemed to occur to her to point out that Hyde had no right to question what was in Victor's best interest when he himself had just been hitting on his wife.

"Victor does not want to do this," Beth said with confidence, "That's why he needs my support. But he has told me that this is the path we must take for the greater good, and if it is what he has commanded, of course I will obey him."

Hyde couldn't believe his ears. He didn't know if her blind loyalty was admirable, or downright disgusting.

"Is that your final answer?"

"Yes. It is."

This was a lost battle. He hadn't had a chance of convincing Beth to abandon Y's plan from the very beginning. He knew that now, but hindsight is never helpful. A stray thought passed through his head. What would Jekyll do?

Well, for starters, he never would have had the courage to talk to Beth like this. And even if he did, he would just go along with whatever she said, probably feeling touched by her fidelity and faith in her husband, while secretly longing for something like that himself. Pathetic.

Beth had given him her answer, and now the conversation was finally over. She turned away from him again, prepared to leave him there at the top of the stairs. She would be too good to say anything to Victor about what Hyde had done, he was sure of that. But it didn't matter. Vinny did say to do whatever it took to stop Beth from assisting Victor. He didn't even think about what he did next.

"Have it your way then," he said, and in the next moment, he lifted both of his hands and pushed Beth down the stairs.

She didn't even scream. Perhaps she was too overcome with the shock of finding herself suddenly careening through the air, then slamming first onto one hard stair, then another and another, tumbling in gut-wrenching somersaults until she hit the bottom landing and lay there, perfectly still.

Hyde stared down at her from the top staircase, his head cocked at an angle. He observed her broken body with a detached curiosity. She lay there with her neck frightfully bent to one side. One of her arms was twisted underneath her body at an unnatural angle. There was no blood, but she wasn't moving. Hyde drew closer to her, descending the stairs step by careful step. When he reached the bottom, he knelt on the floor beside her. Strangely, he didn't see any cuts or bruises which should have resulted from the fall. He expected so see some other signs of injury after a tumble like that. But Beth was dead. Of that he was certain.

He hadn't heard anyone approach. He wasn't aware of the boy's presence until he heard William say his name.

He turned to look at him, on the verge of correcting the boy on the proper way in which he should be addressed, though this was hardly the time. He never got a word in, for in the next second William gasped and began shouting, "Oh my god! Victor! Victor, come quick!"

Victor arrived almost instantly, drawn by the sounds of his horrified cries. There was a look of petrified terror on his face which suggested that he already suspected the worst. Vlad trailed after him at a slower pace, looking as if he too sensed trouble, but had resigned himself to it. He dragged Dorian along with him, who looked even less interested than Vlad. Perhaps he was attributing this outcry to fresh interference from Y.

As soon as Victor was near enough to see Beth on the ground, he gave a sort of strangled cry and ran to her side, shoving Hyde away from her prone body with a force that left Hyde sprawled on the floor. "No," he whispered fearfully, "No… no…"

He reached out for her, hands placed lovingly on either side of Beth's face. He tried to turn her toward him. As he did, the damage Hyde had expected to see was revealed in the torn flesh of Beth's neck. The gash was there, dark and deep. Victor recoiled from her in the next instant as bright sparks crackled from the wound. Hyde, William, Vlad, and even Dorian all stared in mute wonder at this strange spectacle, but Victor didn't seem to find it the least bit unusual. His gaze landed on Hyde with a look of pure hatred.

"You did this."

"No, I didn't."

"You killed her!"

"She fell!"

It was true. She did fall. But Hyde certainly wasn't going to admit to pushing her. Victor wasn't convinced. Something about Hyde always made the people around him blame him for everything that went wrong. They were usually right, but it still annoyed him to be always the one having a finger pointed at him.

"You murdered her!" Victor screamed, diving toward Hyde with his own murderous intent, but William grabbed onto him and held him back. He had to sink to his knees to be on level with the now truly mad doctor, who was still kneeling over the body of his slain wife.

Victor struggled against him, but William would win a match in strength against Victor any day, and right now he was overcome with grief. After a few futile attempts to break free, Victor hung his head and was consumed by great, wracking sobs.

William stared in mute terror at the body of Beth. The wound on her neck was now totally exposed. The flesh had been torn and was curling slightly around the edges, but there was no blood. Instead, where tendons and muscle should have been, there was only electric wiring and metal rods. Some of these cords had been frayed or severed by the impact of her fall, and it was from these wires that the occasional spark emitted.

In many ways, seeing her insides exposed like that was more grotesque than if she had been flesh and blood.

"She's… a robot," William said faintly.

"Called it." Vlad said, unimpressed.

"Shut up, you did not," Dorian muttered under his breath.

William continued as if he hadn't heard them, "I don't understand. How can Beth be a robot?"

Victor, the only man who could answer that question, was still sobbing uncontrollably. William still gripped his arms tight behind his back, but it was clear Victor would make no further attempt to attack Hyde.

Still, Hyde felt it would be better to give the doctor a moment of privacy. He tried scooting himself away, inch by inch, toward the nearby entrance to the study. Vlad was on him in an instant.

"Just where do you think you're going?"

"Erm," said Hyde.

Vlad reached down and pulled Hyde up by the collar of his shirt. He could hear tiny tears forming in the fabric from the strain as Vlad held him to his own eye level, allowing Hyde's feet to dangle off of the ground. Sometimes he hated being short.

"You're going to confess what really happened."

"I already told you!" Hyde squeaked. Vlad's fist was pressed against his windpipe, "She fell down the stairs! I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Liar!" Vlad said, throwing him to the floor in disgust. He slid across the hard floor, his body almost touching that of Beth. He squirmed away from it, though more out of fear of getting shocked than from a guilty conscience.

"What does it matter?" Hyde demanded. "She was never really alive anyway!"

"Did you know?" asked Dorian, "I mean did you know that she was a robot before you pushed her?"

"Well, no… But I hardly see how that's…"

"You admit it!" Victor moaned, his tears ceasing and his hatred seething from him freely again, "You admit that you pushed her!"

"Get a grip over yourself, Frankenstein," Vlad said, his distaste of expressions of human emotion evident.

Victor burst into tears again as if to spite him.

William climbed to his feet on unsteady legs, leaving Victor collapsed on the floor. He stared down at Beth's body in stunned disbelief, even as Victor, still sobbing, reached toward Beth again. Fear of being shocked by the live wires kept him from touching her, but he dragged himself toward her body. Watching him, William looked as if he too might start crying at any moment.

"Why?" he asked. "Why did you do it?"

Hyde didn't say anything. He wasn't sure what to tell him. He looked up at Vlad again, hoping for a little bit of sympathy.

He chose the wrong target.

"Tell us why you killed her," the vampire demanded. He wasn't overcome by emotion like the others. He suspected sabotage.

Hyde ran a tongue over his dry lips and still said nothing. Vlad bore down on him again. He stood directly in front of Hyde, starting down at him from his prodigious height. "Why did you kill her, Hyde?"

He knew that now was not the right time to argue about his name, but what could he say? He couldn't tell them that Vinny told him to do it… Could he?

"Vinny…" he started to say, but Vlad cut him off.

"Vinny has been missing these past few nights. Are you trying to say that he pushed Beth down the stairs?"

It hadn't occurred to him that he could frame Vinny for his crime. He answered "no" on reflex, and instantly regretted it.

"Then what are you trying to say?"

"I don't know. I didn't mean to."

"You didn't mean to push this woman down the stairs?"

Hyde looked at the prone body again, still shooting sparks from the wires in its neck. "She's not a woman."

"Is that why you pushed her? You knew she wasn't human?"

"I… it was an accident."

"Fuck you!" Victor moaned between sobs. "You're a murderer. You killed her!"

"No, I didn't! I didn't!"

Vlad reached down and lifted him by the collar of his shirt again. He struggled against him but his grip was like a vice. He could not break it.

"You did," Vlad hissed in his face, "And you've ruined our chances of resurrecting the mummy. And you will pay for it."

He panicked. Vlad was choking him and his vision was growing blurry. He was going to be killed, and the others were going to let Vlad do it. To them, Beth had always been more human than Hyde ever was. It wasn't fair. He'd done nothing wrong… Or he hadn't meant to… Or he didn't know what he'd meant to do.

He couldn't breathe. He was confused. He was… scared, yes. He was scared.

"Help me…" he said, exhaling the last of his breath.

Vlad nearly dropped him to the floor. His body started to convulse in the vampire's hands. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and a thin stream of white froth trailed out the side of his gaping mouth. When his flesh literally began to crawl beneath his fingers, Vlad did drop him.

Hyde lay there, twitching spasmodically, head thrashing from side to side.

"Is he having a seizure?" Dorian asked conversationally, taking only very slight interest in the goings on of his forced roommates.

"NO!" Victor screamed, realizing what was happening before the others, he tried to scramble toward Hyde but slipped and fell hard back onto his knees, "No, you bastard! You're not getting away with this!"

But it was too late. Hyde had gone. In his place, sweating and gasping for air, was Dr. Jekyll, returned at last.