The Black Banshee - Part Seven
Serial Fiction
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.
Part Four - Our protagonists meet the Black Banshee and its uncanny creator.
Part Five - A dinner party and preparations for the last ride of the Black Banshee.
Part Six - Blackburn’s evil plan is finally in play!
Part Seven - A confrontation with Blackburn.
“This isn’t right, Blackburn!” Maximus screamed through gritted teeth. Kate could tell that he wanted to strike out but knew that the other man could not miss this close range.
“I really hoped that you would see the genius of our situation,” Blackburn replied. “With this technology and these people out of our way, we can fully control all aspects of travel in the United States.” Blackburn raised both hands into the air, a gesture that was meant to show the seriousness of his argument.
“Just think…”
It was all that Maximus Gold needed. He hit the other man with a full tackle maneuver, and they both fell to the floor.
Kate moved quickly to the chanting medium and pulled the black shroud from her face. Lafayetta’s body looked like a deflated bag. Her cheeks were sunken, and her eyes were rolled up in her head, showing nothing but the bright white of the sclera. Kate turned toward the strapped-in guests and saw that they too looked like husks of flesh drained of all life. Their heads were bent back, and their eyes were pure white as well.
The two men traded blows on the floor, and Maximus seemed to be about to get the upper hand when the train lurched forward and started to pick up speed dramatically throwing the two men apart.
As the train evened out at the higher velocity, Blackburn came up holding the pistol. Maximus, with a swift arm block, knocked it from his hand once more, and they were back into a deadly embrace.
Kate moved to the wall behind the crimson chair and searched until she found the lever that Lafayetta had used earlier. She switched it quickly and looked back to the bodies of the guests strapped into the black chairs.
Nothing happened. The braces were still in place, the bodies were still devoid of life. She switched back and forth to no avail, then searched around it for any other controls. She cursed to herself when she found none.
Kate moved back to where the medium sat in her dark trance. She pulled hard on the apparatus that was drawing the ectoplasm from Lafayetta’s stomach, but it proved too difficult to move. She quickly reared back her right hand and slapped the conjurer across the face. Kate hit her again and again to no avail.
Blackburn broke free from Maximus and delivered a hard punch to his stomach.
Maximus struck back, hitting the other man with a strong right fist across the face.
They stood there, both wobbling back and forth with the motion of the train, both sizing each other up.
“I really believed that I might have an ally in you, Gold!”
“Connections made by a deranged mind,” Maximus retorted. “I would harness the astral self to save lives. Your train might as well run on blood! Our ideas, our methods are day and night, science and blasphemy!”
“You are weak and small-minded, Mr. Gold!” Blackburn was pushing himself for another offensive. “Your blood will run in the veins of the Black Banshee tonight!”
With that, Blackburn started a push toward where the gun had fallen. Gold, fully expecting him to move that way, jumped forward to meet the man head-on. But, Blackburn was not there. He had feinted to the left in hopes that Maximus would move. Before Maximus knew what was happening, Blackburn moved around him and grabbed Kate from behind.
“Ahh!” Kate screamed as she felt the large hands grip her around the waist and pull her off the lap of the comatose medium.
Blackburn turned with his arms around the neck of his prize.
Maximus had picked up the gun and pointed it past his wife at the man who held her life in his mad hands.
“Let her go, Blackburn!” Maximus cried out in anguished confusion.
“Drop the…” Blackburn began, but he was interrupted by the screeching howl of the Black Banshee’s cry. The scream was shaped anew by the addition of the ectoplasm to the engines of the beast. Now, it sounded like souls crying out in torment and pain. As if hell itself had thrown a cry into the dark world above.
The sound of Kate’s gun was overpowered by the great screech of the locomotive’s horn. Blackburn died without even knowing what had killed him. As the horn sounded, she pulled her pistol from the small holster on her leg, placed the barrel to her captor’s chin, and pulled the trigger twice. Both bullets went into Blackburn’s skull and bounced around there, not powerful enough to punch back through to the outside world.
He fell as the scream of the train faltered.
Thanks for reading and taking this adventure with me! Join us back here next week for Part Seven. Let me know what you think below.
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.