Teena: A House of Ill Repute (14 page)

'Perhaps we should just kill them,' Indira suggested, and I knew she was being deadly serious.

I shook my head. 'Murder is murder,' I said, 'no matter how justified it might seem. Besides, we'd only be descending to their level then, wouldn't we? No, I don't mind playing them at their own game if no one gets hurt, but we don't want to do anything that might end up with us getting an appointment with the hangman.

'Besides,' I continued, 'I don't think Meg's ultimate punishment is destined to be a quick death.' I thought back to the story we had heard about the mad woman roaming the hills and humping a chunk of rock in the dead of night. 'No, I think fate has something else planned for our dear Miss Crowthorne.' I looked into Indira's eyes again and decided it was time I said something I had been avoiding during the four days since my latest return. 'Indy,' I began, 'do you remember everything that's happened since we escaped that night?'

She lowered her eyelids. 'You mean the man I killed?'

'No, not that, though that
could
become a problem. Megan saw you, so it's quite possible they've told the authorities, though I've got a funny feeling they may have changed their minds on that. They won't want the law too closely involved in their doings, so they'll be using other means of trying to find us. No, I mean all the things that have happened since? Do you remember them all?'

'Mostly,' she replied. Her small hand began slowly stroking my stomach. 'Yes, I remember, mostly, though some of it
has
been like watching the world through the smoke of a cooking fire.'

'A bit like you weren't really there at all, you mean?'

'Yes, like a dream, like I was doing things and saying things, but that at the same time it was not I who was in control.' The hand reached my smooth mound and I drew in a deep breath.

'And what about me?' I asked. 'Do I seem to have changed at all?'

There was a silence of several seconds before Indira spoke again. 'I think you have,' she replied, 'but then so have we all, and those evil people did much to you that was very bad, so that would change you as it would change anyone.' She fell silent again.

I did not speak, for I could sense she was trying to find the right way to say something more.

'But there is something else, too,' she continued at last, 'something I cannot explain, as if there is a spirit with you now, perhaps a spirit from the past. I feel that, too, as if my ancestors are watching over me.'

'Or as if one of them has perhaps come back to help you?' I suggested. 'Would that be so hard to explain? Or perhaps you are one of your ancestors reborn? You believe that in your religion, don't you?' I thought perhaps this was a better way of trying to deal with things than simply diving straight in and telling this probably uneducated girl that I had actually dropped back from the next century, and that a friend of mine was doing the same thing and taking over her body for days, and even weeks at a time. But the suggestion was based on two false premises and her reaction to it took me completely by surprise.

'My religion?' she snapped, suddenly sitting up. Her brown eyes were now alight with a mixture of anger and suspicion. '
My
religion is the same as yours!' she said. 'And your parents were my godparents and they were there when I was baptised a Christian as my parents were baptised and their parents before them!' She pushed herself along the bed until she was perched against the footboard, as far from me as she could be without getting down on the floor. 'Now,' she continued, looking me straight in the eyes, 'there are many things that one might forget, but I think that would not be one of them, and I believe in reincarnation about as much as you would believe in fairy folk.'

'I... well... err...' I simply couldn't think of anything to say. In assuming Indira was a Hindu, I was guilty of a crass assumption, and in thinking of her as uneducated I was guilty of an even worse mistake.

'I want to know who you really are,' she said quietly, but fervently. 'I mean, who you
really
are and why it is you act so strangely at times, and how you seem able to make me think and act strangely, too. Perhaps you are a demon, is that it?' Her expression was hard, but then it suddenly softened again. 'No, you are no demon, angel mistress, but I think you know something far more than you are telling me. I feel there is some power at work here, but I think it is not of the devil.'

'I don't think it is, either,' I said, pulling myself up into a sitting position. 'Though for all I know it could be, because for the life of me I can't explain it.'

'Then explain what you can,' Indira suggested. 'Tell me what it is you know and maybe I can shed a little light.'

And so I sat there and told her everything, everything about Teena Thyme and the twentieth century and about my several times over great aunt who left me the cottage, money and trunks of what I assumed were her clothes, and about the pendant I found and how I initially believed it was responsible for my time hopping, but that I had not seen it here in eighteen thirty-nine since my first trip back.

'I still have it back in my own time,' I said, 'but it's locked safely away. What happened to it here after Meg took it from me I have no idea, though.'

'
I
have it,' Indira announced. 'I found it in the house when we were looking for clothing and money. Look, I will show you, and you should have it back, for it is yours after all.' She jumped down from the bed and padded across to where her clothing was piled on one of the bedroom chairs. After a few moments of rummaging in the folds, she turned and came back to me holding out her hand, which she opened to reveal the pendant.

I took it from her as if I was handling the most delicate and precious object in the world.

'The portraits are of your parents,' she explained, sitting alongside me. 'Or should I say that they were the
real
Angelina's parents, but then I think maybe you had guessed that yourself?'

I nodded. 'I thought they had to be,' I agreed. 'Funny, even though Angelina has managed to make me aware of what's been happening here at the house, I still have no memories of her mother and father.'

'Perhaps that is because she knows you do not need to have any,' Indira suggested sagely. 'I do not pretend to understand any of this any more than you do, but there are some things that should always remain precious to the individual.'

'Then you do believe everything I've told you?' I asked.

She nodded. 'It would be too ridiculous a story to make up, and the Angelina I know, sweet as she is, well, let's just say her imaginative talents lay in other directions.' She grinned at me, and suddenly I just wanted to hug her. She must have sensed something, for she reached out a hand and traced a soft line around my left nipple. 'My talents lie in similar directions,' she whispered.

'Yes,' I smiled, 'I
had
noticed. But now that you know, do you—?'

'My Angelina is still a part of you,' she replied, 'as you are now a part of her. For whatever reason you have been brought back here, and whatever the outcome of all this, in the meantime there is no reason for other things to change.'

Quite why Andrea was not making a reappearance this time I could only surmise, not that I was in particular need of her support, but I had to tread a little diplomatically where the real Indira was concerned, now it was time to start schooling our little troupe of girls in the different ways I envisaged we would need to employ in order to make our establishment unique. All the time Erik was sating himself with the girls and attending to their more base needs, Indira was quite content that this left the two of us free to enjoy one another, but I knew I would need to take a hand in their education, and how my brown-skinned lover would react to that, I had no idea.

As gently as I could, I broached the subject the following evening, and was most surprised when Indira showed not the slightest sign of jealousy; rather, she seemed very interested in what I was proposing and even eager to help me.

'What must be done must be done,' she said simply, 'and the faster and the better it is done, then the better our chances of succeeding, for I am worried they might find us before we are ready.'

'There is always that chance,' I agreed, 'but I am almost certain that I'll in some way have warning if we are in that sort of danger. We are well out of the way here, and the few people who might be able to identify us are earning too much from our project to talk to strangers. The story I've been using is that I fled from a violent French husband, and memories of the war with France are still fresh enough for all good Englishmen and women to mistrust the French, not to say hate them.'

In truth, I had used this cover story with the innkeeper, the dressmaker and the shoemaker. Our builder lived well outside town and would not have been the obvious person for any would-be spy to question, and besides, when I saw he had taken a shine to Molly, I took the precaution of asking her to allow him the enjoyment of her charms every few days. The lascivious minx, not particularly given to being selective in the past, and now quite happy to find herself with clients who were not likely to slap her about in a drunken rage, not only serviced Jonas White, but also took care of his two assistants rather than recruiting her two fellow whores to the cause.

'We must still not waste any time,' Indira stated firmly. 'I do not know exactly what it is you are planning, but if your intention is to attract the likes of Gregory Hacklebury, then I can well imagine. However, with that type of person we must be very careful.'

'Yes, I know,' I agreed, 'though the likes of Hacklebury as such are thankfully rare. Those men I have seen so far are not even pale imitations. They are simply looking to act out fantasies, and just so long as we provide the right theatricals for them, they will be happy enough to pay up and return to their wives and families.'

'So, this is to be a theatre?' Indira nodded thoughtfully, pursing her lips. 'And we shall all become good actresses. Yes, I think I shall make a good actress and so shall you.'

'
You?
' I said incredulously.

She looked at me, wide-eyed. 'And why not?'

'But you don't
like
men.'

'Not the sort of evil scum Hacklebury handed me over to, no, but then they are the only men I have known in that way, so I cannot make a fair judgement, can I? It would be like someone who has never seen a potato saying they don't like potatoes, wouldn't it? Besides, there will be many roles and many characters and I need not have to suffer a man inside me, not unless we find a particularly pretty man, that is.'

I immediately realised there was probably a whole lot more to Indira than I had originally suspected, and that the real Angelina had almost certainly not known her lover as well as she thought. In her company, the Indian girl would have likely acted the demure role expected of her in this age, whereas with me, who had spent much of the past twenty-four hours telling her about the world from which I had come, she was starting to express a different side of her personality.

'Right then,' I said, standing up and straightening my dress. 'Time we got to work. Mr White has not yet quite finished in the cellar, but we can use the large bedroom at the back of the first floor for our rehearsals. I have placed some of the props we will need in the small room next to it, so let's go and see what we'll need.'

'And we shall start with Molly, perhaps?' she suggested.

I turned to her and nodded. 'Yes,' I said, 'we'll start with Molly, and then use her to demonstrate to the other two girls.'

'Good.' She smiled radiantly. 'And I should like to be the one who introduces her to the feel of a cane across her backside. The girl has far too much to say for herself and is most disrespectful to me when you are not within earshot.'

'She'll not have so much to say once we get a gag in her mouth,' I declared. 'Our friend the shoemaker's talents extend far beyond footwear, and his flair has improved upon a couple of basic designs I gave him. Which reminds me, we shall have to add him to our client list, though on a preferential basis.'

Molly eyed the black leather corset suspiciously, but then that was hardly surprising, for not only did the hide and its colour lend it a sinister air, the sheer narrowness of the waist made it obvious it was designed without the slightest concern for the comfort of the wearer, and even more so than the standard foundation garments of the day.

'You'll never get me into that thing!' she gasped.

I eyed her naked body and shook my head, but not in agreement with her, for she had a slender build that belied her ample breasts. 'It will fit you,' I assured her, 'with a little persuasion. Why, I've worn much more rigorous things. Now, come over here you silly wench, and let's get it on you. Remember, you will end up as quite a wealthy young woman when this adventure is finally finished, unless you've changed your mind, in which case you can get dressed and leave in the morning.'

The promise of the money and the threat of losing it was more than enough to persuade our reluctant heroine, although I could see she was very nervous as I began hooking the garment about her.

'Relax,' I said, stroking her neck when the final fastening had been closed. 'It's not so bad. Perhaps a glass of brandy will help you?' I nodded to Indira, who turned to the bottle and glasses we had earlier placed in readiness on the long table running across one end of the room.