Page 16 (1/2)

Then they heard a horrible noise, a rue, unforgiving jaws The banging on the barricade stopped as so sharp-toothed and vicious distracted the vaaged whatever it was that was hunting theees reached the end of the hal way Madaas lamp fixture but what turned out to be a pul lever that activated a s flipped down at the loaded, shot down, hitting the hal way floor with an audible thump

Madame Lefoux scampered up With considerable difficulty, haing into a crowded attic richly carpeted in dust and dead spiders The gentlemen fol owed and Floote helped Monsieur Trouvé winch the ladder back up, disguising their retreat With any luck, the va to determine where and how their quarry had attained roof access

Alexia wondered what had attacked the vampires on the stair: a savior, a protector, or some new form of monster that wanted her for itself? She didn’t have ti about atether ropes, checking safety features, tightening screws, and lubricating cogs This see

The ornithopter, for that is what it must be, looked like a ers--there was room for three in addition to the pilot--were suspended in nappylike leather seats the top of which strapped about the waist

Alexia dashed over, stuoyle

Monsieur Trouvé ignited a sine The craft lurched upward and then tilted to one side, sputtering and coughing

"I told you: stabilizers!" he said to Mada wire on hand, Gustave What kind of inventor are you?"

"Did you n above the shop door, my dear? Clocks! Clocks are my specialty No stabilizers needed!"

Alexia intervened "Wire, is that al you require?"

Madaers a short width apart "Yes, about so thick"

Alexia, before she could be shocked by her own audacity, lifted her overskirts and undid the tapes to her bustle The undergarround, and she kicked it in Madame Lefoux’s direction "That do?"

"Perfect!" the Frenchwo the , which she passed to Monsieur Trouvé

While the clockh so about the contraption’s nose, Alexia climbed inside Only to discover, to her abject en caused one’s skirts to hike up into one’s ars of the aircraft with bloomers exposed for al the world to see They were her best bloooodness, red flannel with three layers of lace at the heht to show to anyone except her maid or her husband, a pox on him, anyway

Floote settled comfortably in behind her, and Madame Lefoux slid into the pilot’s nappy Monsieur Trouvé returned to the engine, situated behind Floote and under the tail of the craft, and cranked it up once led, but then held steady and stabilized Victory to the bustle, thought Alexia

The clock pleased with hie kind of panic

Gustave Trouvé shook his head "Glide as much as you can, Genevieve, and you should be able to make it to Nice" He had to yel in order to be heard over the grunification goggles and a long scarf, which she used to wrap about her face, neck, and top hat

Alexia, clutching parasol and dispatch case firmly to her ample chest, prepared for the worst

"That far?" Mada on an array of dials and bobbing valves "You have made modifications, Gustave"

The clockmaker winked

Madaave a curt nod

Monsieur Trouvé marched back around to the rear of the ornithopter and spun up a guidance propel er attached to the steaine

Madame Lefoux pressed sos of the craft began flapping up and doith ath "You have made modifications!"

The ornithopter jerked into the air with a burst of power

"Didn’t I tel you?" Monsieur Trouvé was grinning like a little boy He had a good pair of lungs in that wide chest of his, so he continued to yel after therave;ne’s bourdon tubes, activated by gunpowder charges I did say I had taken a keen interest recently"

"What? Gunpowder!"

The clockmaker waved at theood few yards above the rooftop Alexia could seekid-boots

Monsieur Trouvé bracketed his s on to the Florence dirigible station"

A great crash sounded, and two of the varin vanished into the depths of his impressive beard, and he turned to face the supernatural threat

One of the vaot close enough for Alexia to see that he had an ied bite marks now about his head and neck His hand just e white beast appeared behind hied the airborne va him back to the rooftop with a crash

The clock to the controls, and the ornithopter flapped two ed up Then it shifted suddenly sideways in a gust of wind, tilting precariously Alexia lost sight of the action on the rooftop behind oneIt was presently to becohts, and Paris becanifique!" yel ed Madame Lefoux into the wind

Sooner than Alexia would have believed possible, they attained the first of the aether atainst Alexia’s inexcusably indecent legs The ornithopter caught one of the southeasterly currents and began to ride it with, blessedly, a long s

Professor Lyal had plenty he ought to be doing that night: BUR investigations, pack business, and Madame Lefoux’s contrivance cha none of those things Because what he real y wanted to find out was the current location of one Lord Akeldama--vampire, fashion icon, and very stylish thorn in everyone’s side