The Inventor's Son

Chapter 23: In Which Liam Develops an Invisible Shadow

ALOYSIUS HARDWICK APPEARED at the doorway of La Chouette d'Or long before Ethan had, but watched the boy go in without entering the establishment himself. Hardwick knew that the Huntington creature would eventually find La Chouette d'Or. He did not want the Devoid to see him while he appeared invisible to everyone else. Such makes for an awkward scene, to be sure.

He waited for nearly a half hour until the Huntington creature appeared. Hardwick skulked around the corner and listened to the oddly dressed character by the front door. He chastised Huntington, telling him, "You're too late!"

"What the hell d'you mean? I'm here for the boy!" Huntington announced without any preamble.

"And just what sort of business do you think you have with any child within these walls?" the large man with the odd looking mechanical eyes asked with a leer at Huntington.

"I have no time for this. Either bring the boy out here, or I shall go in and retrieve him myself!" Huntington told him.

"I shall speak to the owner!" the bouncer told Huntington.

"What is going on out here?" another man demanded, storming to the great oaken doors. Hardwick noticed how odd this person was immediately, and furthermore, he was certain the Devoid was going to notice it as well... There was no mistaking the scarlet irises, nor the elongated upper canines that delicately protruded from the man's mouth. The pale skin, the appearance of death only just shadowing under the man's eyes, only could be one thing...

Hardwick, being a Septimo, was immune to a vampire's glamour. But of course, so was the Huntington creature, on account of that singularly defective quality of immunity to magic of all kinds. "Are you the proprietor of this establishment?" Huntington demanded of the fellow who had come to the door.

"Monsieur Nicholas, this man is demanding that we turn over the Stanwood boy to him," the bouncer told him.

"What rights do any of you have to him, Vampire?" Huntington asked, drawing out a promising looking weapon that greatly resembled a stake, though it was not made of wood. The bouncer and Nicholas both backed away as Huntington slowly crossed the threshold and stepped into the cabaret.

Hardwick followed Huntington, only making certain that he remained far enough away from the Huntington creature that he would not be seen. There was no way he was going to miss this!

A group of patrons near the door overheard this exchange and grew very rowdy. Huntington sniffed, "Just what sort of establishment is this?"

"La Chouette d'Or is a cabaret. People come here to drink and be entertained and to look at some of these wondrous items a friend of my maker had constructed..." Hardwick watched Huntington peer inside and gaped at the walls of the anteroom, where tall plants stood guard by the door, but the dark paneled walls were covered from chair rail to ceiling in some places with items that could only be described as fantastic. Some of them were colorful, with swirling, glowing gases in them. Others glinted with brass, and each movement of gears made them glisten.

"A friend of your maker?" Huntington asked.

"Indeed! Whose son has come here seeking answers as to where he may have gone. And we are not inclined to allow just anyone to come in here to bother him!"

"I came to Paris with Ethan, and if your maker has some sort of problem with me then he can speak to me himself." Huntington pointed his weapon at Nicholas. Hardwick could hear the vampire whine. "You're a fledgling, aren't you? Hang on! I remember where I've seen you before! I'm sure that bastard Castile would like his dead body back!"

"I do not understand," Nicholas stammered, then made that whine again. Hardwick cared not one whit about the vampire's welfare. It would be understating the matter to say that vampires and witches have an uneasy relationship.