Monster Read online

  “I remember where I saw you before,” I said, but both Frankenstein and Clervil were too caught up in their plans to bother listening to me. “Clervil,” I shouted this time, “I am speaking to you!”

  Clervil turned to give me a forced look of patience that bordered on exasperation, but did not say anything to me.

  “I saw you in Ingolstadt,” I said. “This was when I was still Friedrich Hoffmann.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yes, it is. In fact, it was my last night as Friedrich Hoffmann. I remember your face from the beer hall. At some point you must have stood next to me. Is that when you slipped your poison into my ale?”

  He blinked but otherwise showed no reaction to my accusation. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said. He then turned away from me to help Frankenstein lift the wooden crate onto a table.

  I roared then, and it was something fierce and horrible. Both of them turned around, a mix of surprise and amusement befuddling their faces. In a dizzying rush I was off the cot and moving toward them, and then I had Clervil by his jacket, lifting him so that his face was inches from mine. And now nothing but stark terror reflected in his expression. I roared again, and my face wrinkled into a horrible grin. I threw him against the wall with enough force that he went through the wooden structure and tumbled onto the ground outside. Frankenstein tried shouting something at me, but I ignored him. He would be for later. I followed Clervil through the hole in the wall that his body made, and I picked him up again. His eyes fluttered open and he opened his mouth as if he were trying to scream, but no noise came out.

  “Why did you poison my ale?” I demanded.

  “I-I did not! I swear—”

  I slapped him across the mouth. Not hard enough to kill, or even injure him severely, but hard enough to break several teeth loose from his mouth. I knew the answer to what I was asking him, but I wanted still to hear the words from him.

  “Do not lie to me or I will crush your head like a grape!”

  I grabbed his skull and applied enough pressure to make his eyes bulge.

  “I only did as Victor asked,” he cried.

  “Frankenstein sent you to poison me?”

  “Yes! Yes!”

  “And he sent others to defile and murder Johanna Klemmen? Or did you do this? Or did he?”

  Clervil was sobbing now, and in his tears he stammered out that Frankenstein had hired others to murder Johanna.

  “Stop your crying now or I will slap you again, but this time with enough force so that you will lose all your teeth!”

  He stopped his crying and pathetically begged me for mercy. “Please, I beg of you, I myself have a betrothed—”

  “Shut up! Why did Frankenstein want to murder Johanna Klemmen, and arrange for me to be punished for this crime? Answer me!”

  Clervil squeezed his eyes shut before answering me. “He needed an educated brain for constructing you,” he whimpered weakly. “When he learned of your betrothal to Johanna Klemmen, he wished also to perform this experiment to test the nature of attachment. He needed brain material from two young lovers.”

  He told me only what I had long suspected, but there was no longer any doubt of Frankenstein’s culpability in the murders of Johanna and Friedrich Hoffmann. I threw Clervil then, sending him traveling twenty feet through the air. When he landed, he lay quietly for a moment. Then surprised that I had let go of him, he staggered to his feet, and in his panic to escape me he tripped and fell after only a few steps. His head struck sharply against a rock, and from the way his skull cracked open I knew he was dead. I left him to return back to the cottage.

  The scene within the cottage showed Frankenstein cowering on the floor with his hands and arms covering his face to protect himself as Mariel struck blows at him, all the while screaming her hatred at him. I pulled her off of him.

  “He deserves to die for what he has done,” she forced out, her eyes simmering with her rage, her small white face shining in its violence.

  “You do not need his blood on your hands,” I implored her as I led her back to the cot.

  She nodded. “What he has done to you is far worse,” she said in a harsh whisper. “If anyone deserves vengeance against him, it is you.”

  I left her standing by the cot, but I did not wish her to see what was going to happen next. I found myself trembling greatly as I approached Frankenstein, my rage and hatred boiling within me. He looked at me, more confused than afraid.

  “What happened to Johanna Klemmen’s brain?” he asked. “The bowl is empty. How am I to bring your betrothed back to you if her brain is missing?”

  For a moment Frankenstein disappeared in a haze of red, the rage blistering inside of me too great to allow me to see properly. What happened next was as if it were a dream. I was barely aware of grabbing him by his jacket as I did Clervil, or lifting him into the air so that he could witness the fury burning in my eyes. I must have carried him through the hole in the cottage for the next thing I was aware of I was standing by Clervil’s body, with Frankenstein in my grasp and his feet dangling helplessly in the air. He was talking to me, trying to be patient as he kept saying over and over again for me to let him down, that the spell which he had rendered over me would prevent me from harming him. To prove otherwise I slapped him in the ear hard enough to cause it to immediately begin to swell. This stunned him and caused him to close his mouth. As I stared at him, another plan entered my mind, and I tossed him to the ground. I trembled as I told him to leave the island.

  “But before you leave, I want you to look at your childhood friend, Henry Clervil. See how his brain is leaking from his skull? A pity, otherwise you could scoop it up and use it for your next wicked experiment.”

  He glanced quickly toward his dead friend and he whitened to the color of milk. When he looked back at me his lips trembled as if he were encased in ice.

  “If I leave now you will lose your beloved forever. Do you really want that, Friedrich?”

  My hands closed into fists as I stared at him and fought to keep from ripping him to pieces. I said through clenched teeth, “You are trying my patience. Leave this island immediately or I will tear each of your limbs from your body, but I will do so in a way that will keep you alive for days.”

  Any confusion that had remained in his face was gone, replaced instead by raw panic. He understood full well that he’d better listen to me. I watched as he struggled to stand and then as he ran to the shore, moving with the unsteady gait of a drunken man. He tripped several times in his fear, but eventually he reached the rowboats and pushed one of them into the water. It seemed to take him a great deal of effort before he was able to climb aboard it, but then he was rowing away. Slowly, but still propelling the boat away from the island’s shore. Only then did I open my fist to unveil the button that I had pulled from his jacket. A great sense of weariness came over me and I turned and walked to the area where I had buried the last of Johanna’s remains. I dropped to my knees and told her how sorry I was that I could not allow her to be brought back to me.

  “It was not cowardice on my part, my beloved,” I whispered. “I knew that you would have felt the same warm feelings toward me regardless of what body I resided in. But it would have been a wicked act to allow harm to come to an innocent girl, and I knew that you would have been repelled by me if I had allowed it to happen. I was not deaf to the words that you spoke to me in my dream. We will have to be content with spending eternity together once I leave this earth.”

  I mouthed a silent prayer to her, promising her that I would be joining her soon, and as I struggled to imagine my Johanna, a hand touched my shoulder. I looked up to see Mariel standing beside me, concern wrinkling her brow.

  “Is this where you buried your betrothed’s remains?”

  I nodded, at that moment unable to speak.

  She tried to smile sympathetically at me but her exhaustion from all the evil that she had had to endure over these many months kept her from doing so. She
asked about Frankenstein. “Is that fiend dead?”

  I shook my head. I felt every bit as exhausted as she looked. “Clervil is,” I said. “He died when he fell in his panic to flee me. I will allow others to deal with Frankenstein. Come, we need to leave this place.”

  She wanted to ask me more questions but stopped once she realized that I was too weary to answer her. I first carried Clervil’s body onto the last remaining rowboat, then went back and searched through the cottages until I found where the food and water was kept. I then loaded the rowboat with supplies, guessing that we might be on the water for some time. I also covered Clervil’s body with a sheet, and apologized to Mariel about needing to bring his body with us. She nodded, but did not say anything about it.

  Once I pushed the rowboat from the shore and climbed in, I spotted Frankenstein in his boat and pointed him out to Mariel. Her face paled with hatred as she stared at him.

  “He has not gone very far,” she said.

  “No he hasn’t,” I agreed. “He appears to be struggling with the waves. We might be here for a while.”

  “It is a good thing then that we have water and food.” Her eyes narrowed as she stared in Frankenstein’s direction. “And even better that he has none.”

  “Mariel, it might be best if you try to get some sleep. You have been through a great ordeal.”

  She nodded and positioned herself to try to sleep. Although she was tiny, a slender girl not even five feet tall, the boat was cramped, especially with Clervil’s body on board, but eventually she was able to contort herself so that she did not touch the corpse. Although it was summer, there was little sun and a coolness came off the water, and once she closed her eyes I covered her with a blanket that I had taken from one of the cottages. And then I set about to follow Frankenstein, but also to keep my distance from him so that he would not know I was behind him.

  I was right about it taking a while, for it ended up taking many more hours than I would have guessed. Either due to his panic or the fact that he was dizzy from the blow that I had struck to his ear, Frankenstein appeared to have very little strength and his boat mostly drifted in the currents. At one point he collapsed, and I worried that he might be dead. It was too soon for that. He needed to first be condemned as a murderer by his fellow man, then he could die. I chewed on my lower lip, praying that he would show some life. Mariel awoke then, and squinting toward the other boat, asked whether Frankenstein was dead.

  “I do not know,” I said.

  We both sat watching this other boat while I let ours drift in the same current that carried Frankenstein’s. After a while I took out some food and water for myself and Mariel. We ate quietly, both of us staring intensely at the apparent lifeless form within the other boat. When Frankenstein awoke from his unconsciousness and began rowing again, even though it was done listlessly, I found myself grinning. It would not be fair for him to escape his crimes that easily. I continued to follow him as his boat drifted along, with him only occasionally influencing its travel.

  When night came, Frankenstein had still made little progress, and I worried that he might drift out into the ocean where I would not be able to safely follow, at least not without putting Mariel’s life in jeopardy. We were many miles from the island and as far as I could tell, from Scotland, and still Frankenstein’s boat continued to drift aimlessly.

  “Can you still see him in this darkness?” Mariel asked. Her teeth chattered from the cool night air, and I leaned over so that I could wrap the blanket once more around her.

  “I can still see him,” I told her. “He appears to be having a great deal of difficulty in controlling his boat. I guess he is used to others doing his bidding for him and has little experience performing his own labors.”

  She looked around in the darkness, and worry showed in her eyes. “Do you know where we are?” she asked.

  “I do not, but don’t worry. I will be keeping the promise that I made to you last night after I unchained you. I will see you returned safely to a city before I leave you.”

  She nodded again, but worry lines continued to show around her mouth, which I could not blame her for. After I had found myself free of Frankenstein’s spell, I searched my cape’s inner pockets for jewels and gold that I had originally stolen for Henriette but kept in case I would need them at a future time, and I had given Mariel enough of these jewels to not only guarantee her safe passage back to her home, but also to make her wealthy. It would be small compensation for what she had had to suffer through.

  The night wore on. As I became more afraid that I would have to quit Frankenstein or risk Mariel’s safety, I spotted land and saw that my enemy’s boat was caught within a current that would wash it ashore. Mariel was asleep, and I followed Frankenstein’s boat without waking her. When I saw where the boat had landed, I marked the location in my mind, and then I proceeded to row as quickly as I could so that I could leave Mariel at a coastal village where she would be safe. Within minutes I traveled several miles as I sent the boat skipping along the ocean’s surface and found what I was searching for. After I brought the boat to shore, I helped Mariel off it. From the haziness of the sky it was predawn, still several hours before the sun would rise, and a small fishing village lay only a short distance away.

  I was originally going to leave her there. But as I thought of how she only spoke German and did not have any knowledge of English, I had a change of heart.

  “Wait here,” I said. “I will be back in only a short time. I want to ensure you safe passage back to your home in Erfurt before I leave you for good.”

  She nodded, having been through too much already to argue with me. I left her the food and water, and then raced the rowboat back to where I had seen Frankenstein’s boat wash ashore. I spotted his boat, but Frankenstein must have wandered from it for he was not in sight, nor could I see anyone else in the gray haziness of the night. I carried Clervil’s body from the boat and dropped it in a clearing a few yards from where Frankenstein’s boat had been left. Before leaving Clervil’s body, I placed the button I tore from Frankenstein’s jacket within Clervil’s dead hand and folded this hand into a fist. I had earlier collected the teeth I had knocked from his mouth, and I spread these by his face, then I struck him hard enough in the jaw with an oar from Frankenstein’s boat to leave an imprint, and I let the oar drop not far from Clervil’s body. With that done I raced back to the rowboat I was using so I could return to Mariel, and was relieved when I found her where I had left her.

  “You have done so much for me already,” she told me. “You do not need to do anything more.” But this was said halfheartedly, and I could tell that she was scared. Before Frankenstein’s paid villains had abducted her from her home, she had never left her native Saxony.

  The village was only a half mile from where we stood, and we walked there together and quickly found an inn. I put my hood up, and dropped to my knees, hoping in these early hours that I could confuse the innkeeper about my height, and then I pounded on the door until the innkeeper appeared. From the puffiness of his eyes and from the way he yawned, I had woken him from his sleep, and from the way he scowled at me he was not happy about it. Still, even on my knees I was taller and broader than most men. I placed a dozen gold coins in his palm, and his attitude quickly changed to subservience.

  “I wish for my niece to spend the remaining hours of the night here, and tomorrow you will arrange for her to travel back to her home in Erfurt, a city within Saxony. The gold I have paid you is more than double what the cost should be.”

  “Aye, no worries, sir,” he said. “I will make sure that your niece returns home safely, don’t you worry.”

  “You had better,” I told him. “I will be checking to make sure of it, and if anything happens to her the price you will pay will be very dear. She only speaks German, so arrange for her guide to be fluent in that language. And serve her a hearty breakfast in the morning!”

  He nodded effusively, and I took his hand within mine so that
he could see how massive my own hands were. He winced as he saw how his hand disappeared in the same manner that an infant’s would within an adult’s, and he promised me again that my niece would be well taken care of. I knew from his expression that there would be nothing to worry about. I then turned to Mariel and explained to her in German what I had arranged, and I repeated the promise I made to her the night before—that I would see all of the prisoners within Frankenstein’s dungeon returned home safely, and that I would tell her sister, Alice, that she was safe and would be waiting for her in their home. Mariel flung her arms around me, barely reaching the circumference of my chest, and began crying and thanking me profusely for saving her. I looked away in discomfort and patted her head, and the innkeeper also showed his embarrassment even though he had no idea what she was saying.

  “Don’t worry, sir, believe me when I tell you I will see that she is taken good care of,” he promised, and he took her by the hand and led her into his inn. Once the door closed, I rose to my feet, and after sighing heavily, I made my way back to where I had left the boat.

  Before I left this place, I needed to check on the mischief that I had created, and I stole my way to the nearest village where Frankenstein’s rowboat had washed ashore. This turned out to be Clogherhead, Ireland, and as I expected, Frankenstein was arrested that same morning for the murder of Henry Clervil. I spied all this from a distance, but when I saw him being accused of the murder and later taken to the jail in the city of Drogheda, I was mostly satisfied. While I would have preferred for him to answer for his true crimes, at least this would mark him as a murderer, and he would pay as dearly for Clervil as he would have for Johanna’s and Friedrich Hoffmann’s murders, let alone all of his other ungodly acts.