All Hallows Eve - Chapter 2/2
Title: All Hallows Eve
Author: Athena
Fandom: Warehouse 13
Pairing: HG Wells & Myka Bering
Rating: PG
Spoiler: season 2
Disclaimer: I don’t own these lovely ladies. Not writing for profit, just for entertainment.
Summary: It's October 30th, the night before Halloween. HG Wells has offered to tell the team the real story about Jack the Ripper. The stage has been set, the props are lined up, let the story begin!
Due to gremlins in the system and the evil entity called Verizon, I've been without internet connection for a few days, so unfortunately this was not posted in time for Halloween. Still, Jack the Ripper's tale can be told on any dark night of the year, and still give you chills.
The idea of this story came after watching a recent documentary about Jack the Ripper, based on modern day forensics. My knowledge of the exact details about the Whitechapel murders is sketchy, so please forgive any inaccuracy. Some creative freedom has been taken with HG Wells and her connection to the case. Also, séances and speaking with the dead was common parlor tricks in Victorian days. People organized séance parties for entertainment. I assume that HG Wells would have participated, and perhaps even staged a few herself, or at least she would've been familiar with the trickery of these events. Well, I've said enough, on to the story...
Part 2: The Tale of Jack the Ripper
Act 1 - the Staging
HG smiled, extremely pleased with herself. She chuckled to herself as she quickly checked all her props one last time. This was going to be fun. She kneeled to put another log on the fire when she heard voices behind her.
“I swear Pete, I’ll hurt you,” Myka said annoyed.
“Oh Mykes, I’m so scared,” he taunted her. HG smirked and counted silently to ten; one, two, three… “Ouch! Dude, that hurt,” Pete exclaimed. HG chuckled and gracefully rose from her kneeling position.
“You’re such a girl Pete,” Myka muttered around the Twizzler in her mouth.
He glared at her. “You’re just mean.”
She grinned. “You had five,” she said without any hint of remorse. “Five cookies Pete. These last two are mine.”
HG walked by her and took a cookie from her plate. She gave Myka a devilish grin and winked at her.
“Hey!” Myka said surprised, but then laughed. “You could’ve asked.”
HG tilted her head and smiled at her. “Why? It was for me, wasn’t it?”
Myka smiled a bit shyly and nodded. “Yeah,” she said softly
HG bowed her head. “My point entirely,” she said smugly and nibbled on the cookie. “Oh, this is quite delicious,” she said surprised.
“Good,” Pete said surly. “I would’ve hated for it to go to waste.”
She smiled at him and gently patted his stomach. “We’re just watching out for you. Can’t have you turn into…” she thought for a moment. “What’s that charming little fellow’s name? The little white one with the hat.”
“The Pillsbury doughboy!” Claudia exclaimed from over by the door, and bent over laughing. “HG you’re killing me.
Pete made a face at her. “Good, because then I don’t have to,” he muttered.
Claudia peered up at him and burst out laughing again. “HG, you’re wicked funny.”
Pete quickly crossed the room and grabbed her. For once Claudia wasn’t fast enough. He held her up high and she shrieked. “Pete! Let me down you big ape.”
Pete grinned. “That kind of language will get you nowhere nerd.”
“Nerd!?!” she squealed. She started to kick and he put her down but held her in a head lock. He started to rub his fist on her head. She shrieked again. “No! Not a noogie!”
“Take it back,” he growled.
“Never!” she said firmly and stomped on his foot as she leaned forward trying to get away from his hand messing with her hair. He howled, but didn’t let go of her. “Hey, Pete,” she said and chuckled. “Your fly is open. I can see your Spidy uns.”
He let go of her and covered his privates as she scampered across the room and hid behind HG. He turned his back at them and looked down. His pants were fine and his zipper closed. “You sneaky little…” he said and turned around.
Claudia bit her lip, trying not to laugh. She grabbed HG’s arm as he advanced on her. “HG, help,” she pleaded.
HG laughed and shook her head. “You got yourself into this one all on your own. How would you ever learn if I bail you out of every tricky situation?”
“How about just this once? You know you kind of set me up,” Claudia said quickly.
HG smiled at her and then turned to the advancing Pete. She folded her arms and looked at him. Her smile changed into an almost feral grin and her eyes closed slightly. He stopped and stared at her. “HG?” he said a little hesitant.
“Yes?” Her voice was deeper than usual. He swallowed.
“Don’t do anything you would regret,” he said and laughed a little nervously.
She opened and closed her hands a couple of time and then flexed her arms. “Now why would I do that?” she drawled. “You have deserved everything that I’ve ever done to you,” she growled and took a step closer to him.
He stopped and looked at her. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said and smiled.
She laughed out loud. “Hurt me? I don’t think you could, even if you tried to, dear boy” she said smugly.
His eyebrows shot up and he smirked at her. “Now, that’s a dare,” he said and pointed at her.
She was so fast he didn’t know what hit him until it was too late. She grabbed his hand and twisted his arm behind his back. “Haven’t anyone ever told you that it is very bad taste to point finger at a lady?” she growled.
He chuckled. “Lady? I don’t see no lady… ow, ow,” his smirk disappeared as she twisted his arm.
“You were saying?”
“Come on HG. I wasn’t going to hurt her. You know that.”
HG let go of him and patted his shoulder. “Good man, Pete,” she said and then screamed when he grabbed her. He had her arms in a tight grip behind her and he held her in a way that her feet barely touched the floor. “Let. Me. Down,” she growled.
“You’re a lightweight HG. I think I could hold you with just one arm,” he teased.
“Neanderthal,” she muttered.
Myka burst out laughing. “Come on you guys. It’s been fun watching the show, but I really want to hear Helena tell the story,” she said and shook her head at them. “You two can play this little game later. Or even better, save it for tomorrow night.”
Pete let go of HG and took a couple of steps away from her just in case. It appeared to have been a wise decision based on the glare she shot him.
*** *** ***
Leena joined them and they all took their seats; Pete and Claudia on the couch with Myka in the middle; and Leena on their left in her favorite chair. HG smiled at them as she lit the candles before turning off the main lights. She stood in front of the fireplace facing them. Hands clasped behind her back she rocked back and forth on her heels for a moment before clearing her throat. “I want to tell you the tale about the gruesome deeds that happened in the Whitechapel district of London in the fall of 1888. I was 22 years old and thought that the world was mine to play in. I believed that I had everything, and lived in this bubble of perfect bliss. Little did I know that heartbreak, sorrow and fear was lingering right around the corner. Waiting, preying, and ready to strike its next innocent victim.”
She slowly moved around the room as she spun her tale. In the beginning they tried to follow her with their eyes, but as she weaved in and out of darkness they soon realized that it was fruitless. Instead they focused on her spellbinding voice as she pulled them deeper and deeper into the void.
Act 2 -Evil Roams the Streets of Whitechapel
“Poor Catherine screamed as the blade descended on her,” HG whispered. She saw Claudia jump at the sound of a knife slashing through flesh. Claudia looked around searching for the source of the sound, but saw nothing. “Ten, twenty, thirty times did the knife cut into her body. She was long dead by the time the final blow landed,” she said into Pete’s ear. He jumped. She chuckled and moved over to the fireplace. Holding onto the mantle she looked into the dancing flames for a moment. “He left her there, bleeding on the dirty, slimy cobblestones. A rat sniffed her cooling body, but scampered off as someone approached. There was screaming and people came running. Poor Catherine didn’t see them. One glassy eye staring into nothingness, the other one cut through the eye lid.”
She turned and looked at them. Four faces stared at her in the faint light, spellbound by her horrific story. “People were hovering around her, eager to get a glimpse of the gruesome scene. Everyone but for one lone figure, who silently followed the retreating dark menace; always staying hidden in the shadows, knowing that if the murderer knew he was followed, it could mean instant death.”
Claudia leaned forward, gripping the pillow in her lap. “What about the lantern?” she asked impatiently.
“I’m getting to that darling,” HG said and smiled at her. She walked by her and gently caressed her cheek. “The last victim, Mary Jane Kelly was about your age, you know,” she growled from behind her as her hand closed around Claudia’s neck.
Claudia shrieked and jumped. HG let go of her. She saw Claudia move closer to Myka, grabbing her hand. “The killer disappeared into a nondescript dark building. Realizing that the chase had come to an end, the follower stopped. Recognizing where they were and what it meant, the dark figure once again disappeared into the night.”
In the cover of darkness HG slowly removed her boots without a sound. On silent feet she moved behind them until she was standing in front of them, but still hidden in complete darkness. She reached for a candle and held it in front of her so it illuminated her face and nothing else. They jumped when they saw her.
“God Helena,” Myka exclaimed.
“How did you do that?” Pete asked fascinated.
She grinned at them. She knew that she had succeeded when she saw their shocked faces. It was an expression that she had perfected many years ago. The face of evil. She laughed. It was a sinister cold sound that sounded strange even to her ears. She touched the trap with her foot and an object fell from the ceiling landing in the middle of the floor. Claudia shrieked. Myka pulled up her feet and stared in horror at the object. In the middle of the floor was a bloody knife.
“They never found him, but after Mary Jane Kelly, the murders stopped,” HG continued. “They searched high and low for the murder weapon, but it was never retrieved. Some think it ended up in the Thames, others believe that it still exists, just waiting for the right person to pick it up, continuing his legacy,” she whispered and blew out the candle, again disappearing into darkness. She moved around so she was behind them. She reached out and gently touched Myka’s neck. She screamed and jumped.
“Such a lovely neck,” she murmured.
“Helena?” Myka said, her voice shaking. She reached out in the dark, but no one was there. Then suddenly HG was standing over the knife in the middle of the room. “So easy,” she mumbled as if talking to herself. “All I have to do is wrap my fingers around its handle and I would feel its power, its need for blood, course through my veins,” she whispered and kneeled down. She reached out to take the knife.
“No!” they all cried out. She looked up and smiled at them.
“Perhaps not,” she said and bowed her head. She moved over to the chair by the door and sat down. Even without shoes she looked as regal as ever with her legs crossed and her arm nonchalantly slung over the armrest. “Some believe that he never died. That he is still out there, moving silently through the darkness of the night; striking innocent victims,” she continued. She pushed a button on the device in her pocket and a flame flared up in the fireplace, startling them. As their eyes were facing the fire she pulled a hidden string and triggered the other trap she had set. The table started to rattle and they stared at it. The small box on the table fell down on the floor and opened. Myka screamed as a finger fell out. A woman’s finger.
HG just smiled. “Of course, that is only a story to scare misbehaving children with,” she said lightly. She looked into the fire, a faraway look on her face. “Still few people wander the deserted streets in Whitechapel after dark. There’s a presence there. A dark, sinister feeling of evil surrounds visitors even to this day.” She reached out and turned on the lamp on the side table. She smiled at their white faces.
Act 3 - The Ripper’s Fate
“So what happened to him?” Claudia asked. “And who was the person following him?”
HG just smiled at her and raised an eyebrow.
Claudia gaped. “You? You followed Jack the Ripper?”
Myka laughed a little nervously. “Helena, you’re joking right?” she looked at the objects on the floor and realized that the finger might actually be real. She stared at HG in shock. “Right?” she said louder.
HG sighed. “No Myka. I did follow him. I just wish that I had been faster. Perhaps poor Mary would have survived, had I been able to stop him in time,” she said sadly.
“Wow!” Pete said impressed.
“Helena, tell us,” Myka demanded.
HG looked her in the eyes. “Are you sure you really want to know?” she asked seriously. “Are you sure that you want to forever live with the knowledge of this evil?”
“Yes damn it!” Myka said angrily.
HG sighed. “It was just an unfortunate series of events that led me to stumble upon him,” she admitted sadly. “You see Mary Jane Kelly was a dear friend,” she whispered. She heard them gasp and closed her eyes for a brief moment. She was thankful that they did not say anything.
“I first met her in the winter of1887. She was introduced to me at an event at an acquaintance’s house. Mary was charming, a beautiful girl with blond hair and blue eyes,” she said and smiled at the fond memory. “We were close for a little while, but lost touch over the following months. I next saw her in the early autumn of 1888. I was concerned about how she was living and tried to talk her into coming to stay with me. She refused,” she said and sighed. She closed her eyes for a moment. “It was because of fear for Mary’s life that I volunteered for that mission, arguing that I was best suited for it since I’m a woman,” she finally admitted.
“Oh god, Helena,” Myka said softly and started to get up. HG held up a hand stopping her advance. “We were fairly certain that an artifact was involved.”
“The lantern,” Claudia whispered. Then she realized that HG had not known that. “You could’ve been killed HG,” she gasped.
HG smiled at her. “It appears that it was not my fate to die on a cold, hard cobblestone street in Whitechapel,” she said emotionless.
Claudia shivered. “Still, I’m getting chills just thinking about how close you came to looking into the lantern.”
HG sighed. “It’s all right darling. No need to worry. I’m right here and have no plans on dying anytime soon.”
Claudia smiled a little shaky smile at her.
“Come on HG, then what happened?” Pete asked impatiently.
“I followed him to the Whitechapel mortuary,” she continued. As I now knew where his lair was, I decided to pursue him in open daylight.”
Myka nodded relieved. “Sounds like a good plan,” she mumbled.
HG nodded. “I found out who he was. Unfortunately other events prevented me from stopping Mary’s murder. I was so close, but not close enough. I knew she was dead the moment I saw her body on the street. There was nothing I could do for her anymore, except catching her killer. This time I followed him inside the mortuary. He attacked me in blind rage when he realized that I was a woman. That however was his mistake. Where he fought in bind rage, I planned every move, every strike. Soon he was on the floor, broken, but alive.”
Claudia shivered. HG had the same look on her face as when she had described torturing the men who killed Christina. “Did you kill him?” she whispered.
HG hung her head. “I did,” she finally whispered.
Myka and Pete gaped.
She looked up, her eyes black with anger. “I made one mistake. I thought he could feel pain.”
Myka frowned. “I don’t understand.”
HG sighed. “As I leaned over his broken body telling him that he would never hurt another woman, I never saw the knife. I thought he wouldn’t be able to reach it, much less wrap his broken fingers around it.” She stood up and pulled up her shirt. Even in the faint light they could see the scar.
“He stabbed me,” she said with gritted teeth. She let go of the shirt and moved over to the fireplace again. She needed to feel the heat to balance the chill that had its grip around her heart.
“I sank my knife into his dark heart and heard him gurgle as life left his body.” She closed her eyes trying to purge the vision from her mind. “I put him in a casket meant for someone else and cleaned up as much as I could. It didn’t matter anyway. It was a mortuary after all. Blood and gore was common place. Not until I was about to leave did I notice the lantern. I reached to pick it up when I felt the tingle. That’s when I figured it out. I wrapped it, just like I had done with the knife, in the special artifact cloth we used back then and hid it under my cape before disappearing into the darkness of the night, taking the last traces of Jack the Ripper with me.”
The room was silent. Myka was the first to move. She slowly approached HG and wrapped her arms around her from behind. “I wish I’d known,” she said softly. “We would never have played that joke on you the other day if I’d known.”
HG nodded. “I try not to think about it, but it all happened around this time of year. So much evil,” she whispered.
Myka turned her around and wrapped her arms around her again, hugging her close. She jumped when she felt another pair of arms around HG.
“I love you HG,” Claudia said. “I can’t believe that you got stabbed by Jack the Ripper’s knife and lived, but I’m really glad you did. Live I mean,” she whispered.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Pete said and made a face before wrapping his arms around all of them. “I don’t care if it makes me a girl, but I love you guys,” he muttered. He gently caressed HG’s hair and saw her look up at him. “I’m sorry I went all Ripper on you yesterday HG,” he said honestly. She smiled at him and nodded.
Leena took in the scene in front of her, basking in the strong emotions. The love in the room made her feel like she was floating on a cloud. She had not been scared during the events of the evening. She knew it was cheating a bit, but it’s not like you can turn off seeing auras and feeling emotions if you’re an empath.
HG’s aura had been calm and excited, but not evil or sinister. She could tell that she was enjoying the experience, but not the crime itself. Her aura had remained the same up until the last part of the story when it had changed to something slightly darker. Now it was back to normal, maybe even a bit warmer and brighter than usual. She smiled when she felt HG’s eyes on her. HG smirked and raised an eyebrow knowingly. She realized in that moment that HG Wells had truly become part of the family.
THE END
Chapter 1