Chapter 14

Jacob was drumming his fingers on the side of his pint glass, lost in thought. His eyes were locked onto the window of the pub, he could see raining pounding against it. Letting out a sigh, he took a swig of the drink. Feeling the cool liquid trickle down his throat. He'd been waiting for Robert for a long time now, in fact he had lost track of how long he'd been waiting but it had to be at least an hour. He could not understand what was taking Robert so long, surely disposing of a body did not take this long. He took another swig of his drink, his eyes flicked every so often to the door. More time past and the rain got heavier against the windows. Finally, after what seemed to be hours the doors to the pub swung open and Robert stepped in.

"Finally," Jacob said, "I was beginning to think you'd gotten lost."

Robert walked over to the bar, "I never get lost. Want another?"

Jacob downed the rest of his drink before nodding at Robert. He missed the smirk that stretched across Robert's face. Calling the bartender over he ordered two pints. While he waited for the man to prepare the drinks Robert glanced over his shoulder. Jacob was not looking at him, he had resumed his staring contest with the window. Meaning he would have no idea about what Robert was doing. There was a clunk behind him the two pint glasses where placed on the bar. Passing some money across to the barkeep, Robert waiting until the barkeep had moved away to serve someone else before pulling the small bottle from his jacket pocket. He removed the stopper and pour a couple of drops of the colourless liquid into the beer. Once again, he smirked as he brought over the two pints. Jacob nodded in thanks to Robert but taking a large swig from the glass without a second thought.

"So, where did you leave Curtis?"

"In some church graveyard, I have no idea which." Robert lied, taking a sip of his glass.

"Shall we toast to him?" Jacob asked, a slight grin pulling at the side of his mouth.

There was a slight pause as Robert and Jacob exchanged a look before they before started chuckling.

"Let's toast to an old enemy who finally got what was coming to him." Robert said eventually, although he was still chuckling slightly.

The pair banged their glasses together before drinking, they eyed each other as they drank. Although neither of them said it they both knew they were playing a drinking game, which was who could down their pint first. As it turned out it was Jacob who could finish first, he slammed his glass down to proclaim his victory.

"Rematch!" Robert declared, slamming his glass down.

Before Jacob could say another word, Robert had marched back to the bar to order more drinks.

The pile of glasses got bigger as the pair entered in to an intense drinking game. Jacob was trying to prove his great skill when it came drinking. But Robert, on the other hand, was taking this opportunity to get as much of the colourless liquid into his once friend as was possible. The more of it Jacob drank the easier it would be to get him to do his bidding. The pair were encouraged by the other pub goers who seemed to really enjoy watching the pair of them battle it out. It was only when Jacob slammed down a sixth glass that the game came to a sudden stop. The door to the pub had banged open once again but this time two people entered. Well, one person entered but he was carrying another.

Jacob jumped to his feet at the sight. Standing at the door, dripping wet, was Henry who had Evie in his arms. Evie's face was covered in a mixture of mud and blood and she appeared to be unconscious. Henry's robes were also stained with red blood which was undoubtedly Evie's.

"Evie?" Jacob called, as he staggered over to them, "Henry, what's happened?"

"I don't know, I found her staggering in the streets. She was looking for you Jacob."

"We need to get her to the train." Jacob said, all colour had left his face.

Without another word, he left the pub with Henry on his heels. Robert, who had been watching the scene from the table, could not help but sneer. The Blighters had got to work quicker than he expected. Getting to his feet he left the pub, intend on following Jacob and the other man to wherever they were going. He spotted them not to far down the street, as he hurried to catch up with them he had to admit that Jacob could certainly hold his drink as from this distance it was near impossible to tell that Jacob had had a few drinks apart from the occasional stumble. Robert wasn't surprised that Jacob had chosen to care about his sister more than anything else. All these years later and he would still his sister over anything. He followed the group from a short distance, Jacob had still not noticed him. Eventually they came to a train station where Jacob and the other man stopped. They seemed to be looking for something or perhaps someone.

After a few minutes they seemed to have found whatever they were looking for. Robert watched as they moved towards a train which was pulling into the station. He could not help but wonder as to why they were both heading towards that train. When Robert hurried over and entered the train only to stop in his tracks. Inside the carriage there was shelves with a great number of books on them and a wall with various pictures on which all had a red cross through them. What was this place? A secret base? Robert's attention was soon drawn to a sound. The sound was a choked cough. Henry had lowered Evie down her to the floor when she'd suddenly began coughing violently. Jacob immediately put an arm around her to keep her upright as she began coughing up blood. Not having anything to hand Jacob caught the blood in his bare hand. Behind him Agnus had stood up looking in horror at the scene.

"Jacob? What happened?" She asked.

"I don't know, but please grab me a towel or anything to soak up the blood. And something to sober me up."

Angus nodded slowly, still staring at Evie, before hurrying out of the carriage. Jacob did not take his eyes off his twin. She was still coughing but less blood was appearing. Jacob guessed that, judging by the blood running from her nose, when she'd collapsed blood had run down the back of her throat which caused her to choke. He could only be thankfully that it was roused her from the unconscious state she'd been in, sometimes people didn't wake and choked to death. Evie's eyes fluttered but didn't quite open, she was barely conscious. Jacob pulled her gently into an embrace and looked up at Henry. His robes were stained with Evie's blood but he did not seem to be worried about that, he was sat on the sofa watching Evie.

"What happened Henry?" Jacob asked.

Henry shrugged, "I'm not sure, I found her stumbled around near my shop. I don't know what has happened to her."

Jacob looked down at his sister. He could see blood oozing from the existing wound to her head from the explosion. There was also blood still coming from her nose, the blood on her face was mixing with the mud that was clinging to her face. She must have fallen somewhere but why? Who had done this? The only other injuries Jacob could see was a wound on her left side and her right lower leg. What the hell had happened? Jacob looked up hoping to see Angus coming back with what he'd asked but instead saw Robert, who'd been watching the scene quietly.

"Oh god, Robert." Jacob said, "I'm sorry I forgot about you."

"Not the first time." Robert folded his arms.

At Jacob's expression Robert decided to hold off his onslaught of words.

"Sorry that was a bit harsh. I'll go and help... Agnus, was it?"

At Jacob's nod he turned and left the carriage. He stepped across to the next one where he found a bar with a few members of Jacob's gang enjoying a pint. As he looked behind the bar for coffee Angus came hurrying back into the room. She was carrying various cloths in her hands, she ran past the bar before running back again.

"I forgot about the coffee." She said, in a panic, "But I can't carry it all."

She didn't seem to be speaking to anyone in particular, just voicing her thoughts. But seeing an opportunity to continue his plan.

"I'll make coffee, you continue what you're doing." He said, a fake smile on his face.

Angus thanked him perhaps six times before hurrying out of the carriage. The Rooks in the carriage gave Angus curious looks as she passed them, they knew something was going on. Robert turned his attention to preparing coffee. He poured the hot liquid into a mug before subtly taking a small bottle from his pocket. Pouring a couple of drops into the steaming liquid he smirked. The Blighters were playing their part, now it was time for him to play his. He had to keep giving Jacob the liquid or his plan would fail. It would take perhaps a few days for the liquid to really start taking affect but when it did then his plan would be in motion. Moving back through the carriages Robert found that the twins were no longer in the next carriage. Only the man who'd carried Evie, whose name he still did not know, and Agnus were there. The man was watching him as Robert passed through the carriage to the next where he was assuming Jacob was. Sure enough in the next carriage he found the twins. Jacob was sat on the edge of the bed holding a damp cloth against the side of his twin's head. Evie seemed to be slowly regaining consciousness due to the fluttering of her eyes and how she twitched every now and again. Robert placed the coffee on a nearby table before exiting the room, whilst trying to conceal his smirk. Everything was going according to plan.

Jacob had seen through the corner of his eye Robert enter and place a cup of coffee on the nearby time. But he'd been so wrapped up in his sister's care that he'd failed to thank Robert for that. He'd have to thank him later but his main concern at present was his sister. He'd cleaned the mud and blood from her face but the bleeding had not stopped yet. He was holding pressure on the wound to the right side of her head but could do nothing about her bleeding nose or lip. He could see that her nose wasn't broken but someone had punched her very hard in the face to cause it to bleed this much. The blood flowed slowly from her nose where it joined the blood coming from her upper lip. Evie herself was still not completely conscious. Her eyes kept fluttering as well as her fingers kept twitching which suggested that she was trying to regain consciousness but had not yet been successful. As soon as she came round he'd patch her up and then he could find out what had happened to her. He couldn't help but ask himself, was this just a one-off attack or was this part of a wider plot? Well, that was something he'd have to find out.