Authors Note: This chapter and remaining ones contain material toeing the line of M material for descriptive violence.

Chapter 26

Puffs of breath instantly froze in the air before me. The shadows cast by the lantern light once more made it difficult for even my eyes to see the faint guide marks in the great room I was working on inside the Holt mansion. My chisel bit away slowly, making scant progress in the freezing vault. How it drew me back to another place … another time.

You remember … another angel, equally as savage.

I cursed aloud in Persian in reply to the vile whisper, knowing I was alone within the work site. The more sensible men had gone home to their warm hearths.

"Angel of doom, angel of music … was there really any difference?" Frost clung to the icy voice no longer restricted to inside my head. I knew if I glanced to the side I would see him sitting on the work bench.

If I ignored him, he would go away! If I did not acknowledge him, he would cease to exist!

A cold hand pressed upon my shoulder. Instinctively I swung the mallet only to see Grimaudo leap back. "Monsieur Erik! Please, I did not mean to frighten you! I had forgotten to secure my tools and returned to find a lantern lit. I had't realized it was you still at work."

I leaned against the wall still catching my breath, watching it materialize before the wintry breeze stole it away.

"Brr!" The foreman hugged himself. "Cold as a tomb in here! Not likely to get warmer the rest of this November, Sir. If you will forgive me for saying, I think the season has ended."

Grimly, I rubbed a hand over the stonework. The edges I had just worked already were encased in ice crystals. "I … I will call the men back when the weather breaks in the spring."

Picking up the chisel I had dropped, I slipped my tools back into their bag. Grimaudo patted his own tool bag as he strode for the door. "Wishing you a warm winter, Monsieur! I imagine that you have a fine celebration around the holidays at that beautiful mansion of yours."

Picking up the lantern, I shrugged. "Not typically. The majority of my time is spent at Carnegie Hall performing over the holiday season. Which is how I prefer it. See you in the spring."

Side by side we walked in silence through the main door of the mansion. I threw my pack over Faust's shoulders before leading him to the gate. The chill of the metal chain and lock that secured the work site in our absence, bit into my fingers. At long last, I mounted my horse and guided him south through the falling snow.

Everything was oddly muffled in the winter. A strange absence of sound filled the deserted streets under the lamplight. Dismally, I watched the snowflakes fluttering down to land on my cashmere cloak. Was there a point in returning home tonight?

Christine had taken Charles to a concert, they would be returning soon, cheerily discussing the musical scores. I knew Nadir had a rare gathering with some acquaintances. I was not in the mood for any sort of revelry. Having been forced to still my chisel for the remainder of the year left far too much work unfinished.

"Poor poor, Erik. All alone once more in the world. How does it feel to be abandoned? Rather like before when the world scorned you?"

Urging Faust forward, I refused to reply to the taunting voice.

"Just wait." Under the lamplight, a shadowed figure stood, gleaming eyes in the darkness. "Just wait … the angel's time is coming."

I huffed a breath, the indignant puff lingering in the air as Faust carried me through it. "The angel of doom was buried long ago on a road by the Caspian sea. Shows what you know."

A strange weight tapped against me, reaching into my jacket pocket I pulled out the silver necklace. The snake's eye winked at me menacingly in the dim light.

Did he really? You and I both know different!

Ramming it back into my pocket, I did not deign to reply to the spectral figure of my mind. I now knew what I would spend the winter achieving — finding a way to rid myself of this pest!

Faust's head bolted up as his hooves stomped to a halt in the frozen mire of the street. I listened, craning my ears. We had both heard something! Another sharp crack broke through the muffled corridors of the city. By the reverberation, it sounded in the vicinity of my mansion.

Hastily, I pushed Faust's fleet hooves toward home, slipping as we rounded the corner by Central Park. A swift shadow vanished south onto 7th avenue. I would have pursued him save for the sight in front of my mansion. A man lay in the rutted street beside a Morgan gelding. Not just any Morgan, that was MerhzAd.

"Nadir!" I barely waited for Faust to decelerate before dismounting. I found the Persian crouched, grasping his arm rather than lying down. That had been an illusion of the deepening snow. Beside him lay his broken walking stick. "What happened? Are you alright?

Panting, he looked up at me, his eyes wide with shock. "I was coming home … this shadow came out of the darkness. He … he was armed. Tried to take me. Put a gun to my head."

Reaching forward, I was about to tear open his sleeve when he shook his head. "I wasn't shot. We wrestled and the gun went off as I fell off MerhzAd and hit my arm. The injury wasn't enough to stop me from breaking my stick over his right arm. He missed on his next shot. I heard your hoof beats soon after and he mounted his horse and fled."

Reaching down I helped him to his feet. He looked steady enough. "Are you able to ride?"

Flexing his hand, he nodded. "I think so … Erik, what are you thinking of doing? We should go to the police."

Sliding back up onto Faust, I was already observing the fresh hoof prints in the snow. "Get on MerhzAd, I will need you to identify your assailant."

He hesitated, only long enough to follow my gaze. "Dear Allah! No you won't, Erik! You promised me!"

"Get on your horse and follow, or I do this alone." Without further remark, I turned Faust down 7th, his hooves pounding the frozen ground in pursuit! The winter storm had broken late, not long after the sun had set. Very few horses had traveled the roads, making the trail very easy to follow. South … down into the Five Points neighborhood. I had a sinking feeling as the trail came to an abrupt end at an address I knew in the nearly abandoned block of buildings. Herr Frederich Reiniger!

"You are a damned fool."

Reiniger spun around to find me standing behind him. He dropped the ice pack he had been holding against right arm onto the floor. Shocked beyond belief he glanced back at the open doorway where I knew Nadir stood. "The door! I locked it behind me!"

I flashed a thin piece of metal before his eyes. "No simple door can restrain me. Now, would you explain to me why you tried to assault my friend?"

Desperately he fumbled for the gun in his pocket. Foolishly, he had used his right hand. The fingers were too limp to grasp the weapon, casting it to the floor.

My foot kicked it away, back towards Nadir. I heard him pick up the gun and unload it as I addressed the unfortunate man. "Reiniger. It does appear as though your injury will limit your ability to play. Poor, poor fellow." I reached out and grasped his sleeve, twisting his arm painfully as I bared the black and blue injury. "My, well, that does not appear to be broken … yet." I glared. "Answer my question!"

"Ahh! Don't twist it like that!" He shrieked. "I was supposed to take him! Alright? I was supposed to apprehend him and take him as a hostage!"

"Why?" I inquired.

"You'll never find out now!" He hissed as he tried to pry my fingers off his wrist. "You won't find the others either."

"Others?" Nadir took a step into the room. "What others?"

Reiniger gave a pained laugh, narrowing his eyes as he pointed up at me. "You'll never find them! Not in time."

My heart stopped for a moment. Could it be?

Who else … who else, Erik? What time was the concert supposed to be over? What time were Charles and Christine supposed to be home? I suppose you can take your time and just coax it out of him over tea … but is there time enough to take the soft approach?

My grip tightened, causing him to writhe. "Where are my wife and son?"

He buried his face in his arm. "I'll never tell! They would kill me if I told you!"

I wrenched his arm, hearing him scream out. "They who?"

"Never!"

Releasing his arm, I bent down and flicked open his violin case. The old inferior violin lay inside. "These strings are capable of music. So many notes … not all produced by a bow."

Oh look, catgut strings. We know what those are good for, do we not?

The sound of Nadir swallowing filled the room. My intentions must have been written in my body language. "Erik … no more than you must." With that, he turned and shut the door.

Lifting the instrument high into the air, I bashed it against the wall, freeing the body from the neck. Reiniger leapt back at the sound, staring at the broken instrument in shock. "My … my violin!"

Pulling out the thick string, I smiled grimly. "Do not worry, you shall never play it again anyway." Shoving him into a chair I wrenched both his wrists together behind him, wrapping the catgut tightly around both in a secure binding. He struggled, rivulets of blood dribbling down his fingers.

Time is ticking away … loosening his tongue may prove too lengthy a task.

Plucking another string from the violin's carcass I held it up before him with a slow smile. "You will tell me what I want to know, Reiniger. Where are my wife and son or this will get uncomfortable."

"They'll be dead before you learn, dead before you reach them!" He twisted in the bonds. "The great scheme is working!" He laughed, the sound of a man who knows his fate is sealed. "My only task now was to keep you occupied."

You cannot let them win, come on, you know I am still inside of you! Let me out … let me interrogate him! The answers will pour forth! You know what manner of strength twisted catgut has. Use it!

Without a word, I moved behind Reiniger. Sliding the strand around his left pinky finger, I observed his confused struggle as he tried to look over his shoulder. "Wait … what are you doing with that?"

A calmness washed over me. A familiar numbness of a by-gone era that created a barrier between me and the rest of the human race. I could have been stringing a violin instead of about to … well, he was going to find out. Holding the string in place I leaned forward. "You have one last chance to answer my question before I render the potential of you ever playing a full chord again entirely impossible."

"How wou — Ahh!" The word was cut short as I gave the thin string a savage series of twists. As he had not answered my question, I kept turning. Again and again and again. The string could only go so far before — pop! Reiniger's bloodcurdling scream rent the air, but it did not stop my progression. I brought to mind every time he had pestered me in rehearsals, every challenging sneer he had concealed from Damrosch, every instance he had made it seem like I was a paranoid wreck in public. His vile deception distilled into every turn of the string as it slowly severed the flesh of the dislocated digit. The remaining tendons ground and snapped as the string produced a different kind of music. At last the bloody digit fell free to the floor, the string remaining as a tourniquet on the hand itself.

Holding the finger before his eyes, I knew the feeling of that maniacal smile upon my face. I knew he would see it beneath the cut of the mask as I held up the prize before his stunned gaze. Sweat dripped into his eyes but he dared not blink. Oh how easily the strong could be broken. I spoke calmly in measured phrases. "Now that I have given you something to think about, I will ask again for an answer. The longer you delay, the less of you there will be to bury." I tossed the digit into the burning fire of the hearth.

He shivered as he watched me removed the next string from the instrument. "Oh God! No! Please no!"

"This will only get worse, Reiniger." I remarked, kneeling down to wrap the string around his ring finger. "Once more … you start to speak, it will stay my hand. Refuse … " I started twisting the string as he writhed trying to escape and only slicing into his wrists for his efforts. "If you think this will stop with the next string, well, have you forgotten the replacement strings in your case? You will tell me everything, of that I have no doubt. You will determine when this stops."

He threw his head back in a wail of pain … Snow still fluttered outside the window, the beast inside flexed his claws, waiting.

You will never doubt me again!