"Oh, they’re not delusions," said Matthew. "Not anymore. We have followers, weapons, and far-reaching plans. It is our time, our destiny. Tomorrow belongs to us."

"The family’s spent far too long at war with the supernatural," Alexandra said briskly. "Spending our lives in their countless secret wars just to maintain their precious status quo. The time has come to put an end to all the wars, by winning once and for all. We will wipe out everything that isn’t human, isn’t natural. No more magics, only dependable, rational science. We’ll make the world a cleaner, simpler place. A human world, where human destiny is controlled only by humans."

"No more magic?" said Molly. "No more miracles, no more winged unicorns, no more dancing on moonbeams or laughter in the wild woods?"

"Oh, we’ll probably keep a few of you around," said Matthew. "As pets."

"With the Drood family in charge," said Molly.

"Of course," said Alexandra. "No more hiding our light in the shadows, doing good from a distance. We’ve earned our time in the spotlight. We’ve been planning this for so long…Only you came so terribly close to derailing everything, Eddie."

"I did?" I said. "How very like me."

"We were the ones who found and reprogrammed the Karma Catechist," said Matthew. "We planned to use his accumulated knowledge in the coming war. Only the process went wrong…He’d been through so many hands, you see, down the years. So many different groups with their different views and aims. I have to tell you, Eddie, the inside of his head was a real mess. So we slipped the poor fellow into Saint Baphomet’s very secretly to be repaired. By certain medical experts sympathetic to the cause of Manifest Destiny."

"And then you came along," said Alexandra. "What were you doing in his room anyway, Eddie? It wasn’t part of your mission. You weren’t even supposed to be on his floor! But you never could be trusted to just do the job…We couldn’t risk what he might have told you about us and our plans. He knew our names, knew everything. And we just knew you wouldn’t go along with what we’d all worked so hard to bring about…So we whispered in the Matriarch’s ear, told her you deliberately murdered the Karma Catechist because you were a part of Manifest Destiny. It really wasn’t that difficult to convince her. You always were the black sheep of the family. A rogue in all but name. We persuaded her that you were a clear and present danger to the family, and Eddie…she signed your death warrant without even hesitating. Terrible old woman."

Matthew grinned broadly. "We always knew the way to power was through her. So we…cultivated her. Fed her paranoia. We might not have been council members, but we were her favourites for years, and she kept nothing from us."

"He never told me anything," I said harshly. "The Karma Catechist. He killed himself first. This…everything that’s happened…it was all completely unnecessary. All for nothing."

Alexandra shrugged. "We gave him the poison tooth and programmed him to use it if he felt at all compromised. Perhaps we shouldn’t have given him such a hair trigger on the thing. But it doesn’t make any difference. You’ve actually been very useful to us, Eddie. You made such a wonderfully visible scapegoat, holding the family’s attention while we quietly put our plans into operation."

"We would have had to destabilise and weaken the family first anyway before we could take control," said Matthew. "But now you’ve done that for us! You’ve demoralised the family, taken out most of their heavy hitters, and destroyed the Matriarch by destroying her beloved Alistair. James is dead, Jack is dead—"

"You killed him? You killed the Armourer?" I said to Alexandra, shocked, and she winced at what she heard in my voice.

"He was in the way," she said. "He should have retired long ago."

"I’ll see you burn in Hell for that," I said, and my voice was cold enough to throw both of them for a moment.

"You always were a sentimental soul," said Alexandra.

"Right now there’s a power vacuum at the heart of the family," said Matthew. "And who better to step into the breach than the Matriarch’s acknowledged favourites? Especially when we have such a large and determined popular following within the family?"

"The council won’t know what’s hit it," said Alexandra. "Until it’s far, far too late."

"Do you know about the Heart?" I said. "The bargain that was made and the price we’re still paying for our armour and our power?"

"Oh, that," said Matthew. "The Matriarch told us all about it long ago. She didn’t believe in keeping secrets from her beloved favourites. It was a bit of an eye-opener, I’ll admit, but as Lexxy said, there’s no room for sentimentality in a family that’s going places. We have a world to put to rights. What are a few lives in the face of that? It’s just…the way things are."

"You can’t take the moral high ground with innocent blood on your hands," I said.

"Watch us," said Alexandra.

"Or not, as you please," said Matthew. "It’s really up to you, Eddie. Surrender to us and serve Manifest Destiny (after a suitable amount of brainwashing and reprogramming, of course), or die right here and now."

I laughed in his face. "The Armourer opened the Armageddon Codex for me. I have Oath Breaker."

Alexandra and Matthew looked at each other sharply, their confidence shaken for the first time. This hadn’t been part of their plan. But they still didn’t believe they could fail after coming this far, and they stared at me haughtily.

"That wooden stick is the mighty and legendary Oath Breaker?" said Matthew. "I don’t think so."

"You wouldn’t have the balls to use Oath Breaker," said Alexandra.

"It’s too big, too powerful, for a little man like you."

"We have weapons," said Matthew. "Real weapons. Terrible weapons! And the will to use them."

Alexandra held up her right hand, and suddenly there was a long scalpel in it, shining supernaturally bright. "This is Dissector, the ultimate scalpel created by the ultimate surgeon, Baron Von Frankenstein. It can cut through anything, neat as you like. It can cut you open and reduce you to your component parts with just a thought. You even touch that nasty old staff, Eddie, and I’ll take your hand off at the wrist. Or maybe I’ll just cut your little witch’s throat."

"You’re really starting to get on my tits," said Molly.

"You always were a vindictive soul, Alex," I said.

"And I have Dominator," said Matthew, more than a little grandly. He snapped his fingers imperiously, and a laurel wreath fashioned from pure silver appeared on his head. "With this, my thoughts become your thoughts, my wishes become your wishes. I’ll enjoy seeing you kneel to me, Eddie."

"Really?" I said. "I always heard your tastes went the other way."

"Surrender or die," Alexandra said sharply. "No more talking. Your precious uncle Jack isn’t here to save you with his Safe Words this time."

Matthew chuckled nastily. A halo of psychic energies was already forming around his head.

I concentrated on Alexandra, trying to reach her with the sincerity in my voice. "Don’t do this, Alex. For old times’ sake…for what we used to be to each other…You mustn’t do this. It’s not worthy of you or the family."

"What do you know about the family?" she said flatly. "You haven’t been a part of it in ten years. I don’t know that you ever were, really. Always had to go your own way, live your own life, leaving the rest of us to struggle on under the yoke…until we found our own way out. And how can you talk about the family being worthy, when you know the secret of the Heart? The deal with the Devil our ancestors made so long ago? We’re not what we thought we were, Eddie. Never were. It was all a lie. Manifest Destiny is the only truth."

"You can’t use forbidden weapons, forbidden methods, to save the world," I said. "You’ll destroy it, trying to make it over into what you want it to be."