Welcome to the Steampunk adventures of Gold Detection. Over nine weeks, we will travel to the very edge of madness and death with our esteemed heroes! Check back every Monday or Subscribe to receive my writing in your Inbox.
If you would like to start from the beginning:
Part One - Wherein we meet our heroes and listen to a strange and eerie invitation.
Part Two - Our heroes attend a night out with a veiled lady and watch a concert by the ghost of Chopin.
Part Three - A small interlude as the Golds prepare for the party.
The week was quickly engulfed by a case that involved a missing girl. The Golds spent hours tracking what they believed to be a monster through subterranean tunnels under the city, only to find that it was the girl’s own father. He had been lost in the War of the States and horribly scarred, both physically and mentally, by an airship explosion.
Kate looked forward to Saturday with a giddiness for gowns, dinners, and good company that people who only knew her public persona would never guess. She chose a new dress, black with a trim of red for the occasion. She stepped into the dress and backed up to her automated dressing station humming the eerie tune of Chopin’s lost song.
After getting dressed, Kate moved to her husband’s closet and picked out a suitable dress suit to match her gown. It was not that he was incapable. His mind was just elsewhere. She hoped it was at least still in his head.
She waited for as long as she felt possible for him to come up from his basement laboratory and then took the steam-lift down to procure him from his studies.
Sure enough, he sat cross-legged on the floor in silent meditation. Kate had to stifle a gasp as she walked closer and spied the figure of the killer automaton looming above her husband. She knew that the organic brain that had run the creature was now removed, replaced by a synthetic organ of Maximus’ own design. Yet, she still remembered the thing’s huge hands on her throat and shuddered at the knowledge that she had come so close to death at its hands.
Her husband raised his head at her approach and started to rise.
“We’re going to be late, Dear,” She called as she crossed the room.
“Darling Goddess,” He replied, taking in the sight of her. “You are beauty personified in all of your forms.”
Kate smiled as she did a little twirl.
He took her in another moment before looking at the huge clock face that took up one wall of the laboratory. “I am so sorry.” He shifted his gaze to the iron man with a look of grim determination. “I felt myself moving through the inner workings, but I just can’t seem to lock my mind into the machine.”
“Perhaps,” replied Kate. “Blackburn or his medium could posit some theories as to the nature of your venture.”
“One can hope,” He said as he embraced her. “Yet, I know that you are looking forward to the relaxation of this party more than the chance to hear me discuss science.”
“Science,” Kate laughed. “My dear Husband, you are attempting something more akin to wizardry than science.”
“Ah,” He smiled back at her. “Are you the inquisition then? Ready to throw another witch upon the fire?”
He kissed her then, slow and deliberate, sliding his hands slowly over her lithe form.
“I feel the shape of my present under your dress, my dear,” Maximus spoke into her ear. “I am peaked by your assumption that tonight will include danger.”
“Danger follows us around, Dear.” She replied as she moved in to engulf his mouth once more.
Their renewed kiss was long, and Kate was tempted to let the man take her right there on the dirty floor.
Yet, she remembered her new dress and the party that was ahead. She pulled away, missing the heat of him instantly.
“You must get dressed,” she chided jokingly. “There will be time for the lust of the flesh later.”
“Ah,” He said as she took his arm to move toward the lift, “The wait only makes the time more sweet.”
Thanks for reading and taking this adventure with me! Move one to the next part.
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The Black Banshee was first published in a slightly different form in the anthology - Machina Mortis: Steampunk'd Tales of Terror. Pick up the book for some other great stories.