Down These Strange Streets (George R.R. Martin) (Kitty Norville 6.50)

“I kept my place moving so you couldn’t find me,” said Gideon. “I should have known you’d go to the infamous John Taylor, the man who can find anything. What did she tell you, Mister Taylor? When she wasn’t smiling her pretty smile at you?”

“She said you stole her heart,” I said. “And put it in the rosewood box.”

“Oh, Holly,” said Gideon, and he actually laughed briefly. “It’s my heart in the box, Mister Taylor. I put it there after she tried to steal it. Because she couldn’t stand the idea of anyone having a hold over her.”

“So . . . you don’t have any feelings for her?” I said, just to be sure.

“Ah,” said Gideon. “I should have known that would be the heart of the matter, so to speak. Is that why you’re here, Holly?”

“You never loved me!” said Holly. She stood directly before him, just outside the pentacle, both her small hands clenched into fists. “I did everything right, and you still never loved me!”

“You never loved anyone,” Gideon said calmly. “You always loved power more. I was just your mentor.”

Holly turned suddenly to me. “You believe me, don’t you, John? You’ll get the box for me. And then we can make him do anything we want!”

“Sorry,” I said. “But I never believed you, Holly. You hired me to find the rosewood box. Well, there it is.”

“She was the one who let word get out that I had the box,” said Gideon. “So that avaricious men from all over would come looking for it, and she could set them against me. Just in case you didn’t work out, Mister Taylor. How does it feel, being used?”

I shrugged. “Comes with the job.”

Gideon Brooks turned his attention to Sweetman and Gunboy. “It’s really nothing more than a simple storage box, you know. Perhaps a little more famous than most. It may have contained any number of important or significant items, in its time, but the only heart it contains now is mine. Where Holly can’t get at it.”

Sweetman’s brief bark of laughter held even less real humor than usual. “My dear sir, you don’t really expect me to believe that? I have followed the box through unknown cities and blood-soaked streets, and I will have it. Gunboy, point those marvelous hands of yours at Mister Taylor and the little witch. Now, Mister Brooks. Give up the box, or everything my enthusiastic young associate does to these two young people will be your responsibility.”

Holly looked at Gunboy, and then at Gideon. “You wouldn’t really let him hurt me, would you, sweetie? You did say I was the best student you ever had . . .”

“I had students before you,” said Gideon. “And there will be others after you. Though hopefully I’ll choose a little more wisely next time. I am still quite fond of you, Holly, against all my better judgment. But not enough to put my heart at risk.”

“What about me?” I said.

“What about you?” said Gideon.

“Fair enough,” I said.

“Ah well,” Holly said brightly. “Plan B.” She turned her most charming smile on Gunboy and took a deep breath.

Sweetman chuckled. “Trust me, young lady; you have absolutely nothing that dear Gunboy desires.”

“But he has something I want,” said Holly. “I want his heart.”

She made a sudden grasping gesture with one outstretched hand, and Gunboy screamed shrilly as his back arched and his chest exploded. His black leather jacket burst apart and the bare flesh beneath tore open, as his heart ripped itself from its bony setting and flew across the air to nestle into Holly’s waiting hand. Blood ran thickly between her fingers as the heart continued to beat. Holly’s pretty pink mouth moved in a brief moue of distaste, and then she closed her hand with sudden vicious strength, crushing the heart. Gunboy fell to the floor and lay still, eyes still staring in horror, his chest a bloody ruin. Sweetman let out a single cry of absolute pain and loss and knelt down beside Gunboy to cradle the dead body in his huge arms. Blood soaked his white kaftan as he rocked Gunboy back and forth, like a sleeping child. Silent tears ran down Sweetman’s face.

“So,” I said to Holly. “That’s the kind of witch you are.”

She dropped the crushed heart to the floor and flicked blood from her pale fingers. She smiled at me sweetly. “I’m the kind of witch you don’t want to disappoint. I did tell you Gideon dealt in forbidden knowledge, and I was such a good listener. Now be a good boy, and go get the box for me. You can find a way past Gideon’s defenses. It’s what you do.”

“Yes,” I said. “But there’s a limit to what I’ll do.”

She gave me a cold measuring look, and I met her gaze unflinchingly. Never let them see fear in your eyes.

“I bought your services, for a thousand pounds a day,” Holly said finally. “And the day isn’t over yet.”

“I found the box for you,” I said. “Not my fault your heart isn’t in it. Still, after all my investigations, I probably know more about the box than you do. It was originally made to contain all the pain and horror of a man’s broken heart; and it’s still in there. Trapped inside the box for centuries, growing stronger and more frustrated. It’s been alone so long, it must be very hungry for company by now. You may know the box as Heart’s Ease, and perhaps it was, originally; but

it has another name now. The Hungry Heart.”

I raised my gift, found my way past Gideon’s protections, and used my gift and the key to unlock the rosewood box. The lid snapped open, and the Hungry Heart within reached out and grabbed Holly and pulled her inside, all in a moment. It might have taken me too, if Gideon hadn’t immediately forced the lid closed again. We looked at each other, in the suddenly quiet room.