This is a story strictly for fun and much of the source ideas are from all over the place. Have fun and enjoy.
Thinker, Cutpurse, Demon... Vamp
October 1890:
My father had told me from a young age, he had said...
"Son, if you are going to survive and prosper on the streets of this great city, you are going to have to be smarter than the cops, quicker than your rivals and for goodness sake never steal from someone you know that business always ends badly."
So taking his advice I worked hard on all the things a great thief has to know and be able to perform them as if it was second nature. I taught myself how to climb nearly any surface in any weather or situation, I ran every day to keep up my stamina and my dear old dad taught me the ways around all manner of locking mechanism that had ever been thought up and for good measure I had a friend of the family teach me the fine art of pick pocketing. All of these things I drilled until they were like walking and breathing for the horror stories of prison were enough to keep me razor sharp for every endeavor I contemplated. By the age of ten, I was able to cry on command and look lost and acquire from those doting women who came close enough for my practiced fingers to relieve them of either jewelry or cash depending on what was available of course and then disappear as quickly as I had lured them in. At the age of twelve my father gave me for my birthday a captain's spyglass so that I might more easily watch potential houses in desperate need of burgling.
But it was in the winter of my eighteenth year that I noticed some rather unusual activity at the home of one Doctor Griffin. It was the luring of a neighbor's cat that first drew my attention to his abode thinking he was either going to kill it for being a nuisance or eat it because of a string of bad luck but neither was the case. The good doctor took it to his second story laboratory and there subjected the animal to some sort of injection treatment. The effect wasn't immediate but was shocking nonetheless, after approximately one quarter of an hour after receiving the injection the cat simply faded from view and disappeared in its cage. As I watched through the spyglass the doctor did a little dance and scribbled hastily in his journal about the effects of his serum. I decided at that moment that I would have that very compound for my very own. What better thing to have as a thief than the power of invisibility. I could stroll into a bank as it was closing and observe the manager locking the safe and memorize the combination and stand around until all was clear and steal at my leisure. Oh but this was wondrous! The good doctor reached into the cage and handled the ethereal animal and for all I could observe from his facial expressions all was well with the cat. So delighted was he that the doctor took up coat and hat and headed for the door no doubt to celebrate his success. As I watched he left his home locking up behind him and headed north to the pub not two blocks from his home.
I wasted no time and made my way from my place of concealment to the back door of the doctor's home. With practiced ease the lock yielded to me and soon I was inside and heading for his laboratory. I could hear the cat from the bottom of the stairs as it meowed and scratched at the bars of its cage. Halfway up the stairs I could smell the distinct odor of chemicals filling the air. The stench became almost overpowering by the time I topped the flight and entered the well lit room that served the purpose of his experiments. There were beakers and tubes and piping and burners and papers all over the place. Tables were arranged in an H pattern to facilitate easy migration from one phase of the chemical process to the next. But even to my untrained eye there was more than one experiment going on and god help me I spent the time to look through his notes as quickly as I could. The main body of his work was upon the invisibility formula but his side project of which he was actually being paid was for a 'health tonic' for a foreign customer named Von Helsing, German or Dutch by the sound of it. The notes seemed to indicate that the project was complete and a sample and letter containing the formula were ready for tomorrow's post, how convenient! Two birds with one stone mother would have said, god rest her soul. So after acquiring two syringes and samples of both treatments, and the recipe for the health tonic, I was long gone by the time the good doctor returned home.
Travelling to a safe place to inoculate myself I settled down in a quiet room with a warm cozy fire and decided to try the health tonic first. I read the recommended dosage on the letter to this Professor Von Helsing and added a bit for good measure and injected a nice robust vein in my left arm. If I had been a more analytical fellow I would have written down my experiences and dropped the letter in the doctor's mail slot but I was not and so did not. But as I waited for the treatment to take effect I fancied what I might have put down in the letter.
Patient X injected with treatment at nine o'clock sharp. Patient noted a sense of euphoria at half past the hour. At the top of the next hour patient feels a surge of energy driving away all sense of fatigue from the long day's events. Patient notes a definite shift in perception and clarity of thought as if for the lack of better words 'getting smarter'. Patient walks around the room a bit restless and looks out the window facing out over the alley and in a rush of wonder notices the darkness has nothing to hide from his gaze. Patient X says that the sense of energy has changed to that of a feeling of great strength as if he could perform any physical act with ease. At ten thirty he notices a heightening of other senses now, his hearing and sense of smell more acute like some great hound. He can smell the cheap perfume of the whore next door as she gets ready to go out on the town for 'work'. The patient opens the window to let in a breeze to drive away the cloying scent as it fills his nostrils. Oh but the cool air on his skin is like the caress of some courtesan from some far off land, so exotic and arousing.
Now the patient decides to take the second injection and complete his transformation to a more complete human being. The second syringe finds it mark in an equally robust vein in the right arm and he waits for the miracle of invisibility to be conveyed upon him. Patient X strips down to the skin and sits before the crackling fire with his back to the flames observing his shadow to see if it will disappear as he fades from sight. It is not long before the distinct tingling sensation is felt in the right arm and then travels all over the body. Within a short time the patient notices a minute distortion of his shadow; like a stone dropped in a pool his shadow begins to ripple, then fade and finally disappear altogether.
The deed was done! I was invisible and an entirely new life was waiting for me. I lifted my hand to my face and knew it was there but could see nothing. I stood up and looked down and it was a little disconcerting that there was nothing for my eyes to lock onto. I walked around and stumbled at first but realized I was over thinking this simplest of things and just walked doing so without further impairment. London was in for a most unpleasant shock as was my father when I came home and told him what I had done. I gathered up my clothes and got dressed pulling up the collar of my coat as high as it could get and making sure my hat and scarf covered as much of my head and face as was possible. I put the remaining health tonic and the letter to the professor in my jacket pocket and headed home. Walking as I always did with head down and shoulders stooped I drew little attention to myself on the hour long jaunt back to the run down flat in the less desirable part of this ancient place. Eternal London with its great palace and meandering river where the lords and ladies ruled over those of thinner blood but that changed tonight, tonight saw the birth of an invisible rogue who like the fictional Robin Hood would make things better for the less fortunate. Gods! I was rambling in my own mind and letting this entire situation take me over. I was born a thief and I will die a thief; life was just that simple. I had just changed my odds is all? But the fantasy was thrilling there was no denying that. It was well after midnight when I arrived home bursting with need to share my story with my father but alas I found him sleeping and by the pungent odor reeking from his prone form he was deep in his drink. I shrugged and went to find my own bed and sleep until morning or until he was sober and conscious enough to hear my tale. But sleep did not come as the hold of the healing tonic was still hot in my veins so I decided to do what came natural I practiced the thieving arts until the break of dawn and still I was no more tired than when I first began hours earlier. I went into the kitchen and fixed a pot of tea and a spot of breakfast until the old man awakened and my patience was rewarded as he stumbled into the kitchen not a half hour later. Perhaps it was the scent of tea that dredged him from his alcoholic stupor not that it really mattered he was awake and I could at last share my story. It was almost comical to see him flinch seeing me all covered up in jacket, hat and scarf like some intruder but he quickly recognized my clothing and visibly relaxed.
"Geez son you gave me quite a fright! What's with the whole cover up thing have you caught a nasty cold or something?"
"Or something," I said standing and searching for the right words to explain to him what had transpired. "I think you need to sit down and have a cup of tea before I launch into what happened last night."
"Did someone hurt you? Give you a good scar? Is that why you are all covered up? Ooh I'll have their heart if someone laid hands on my boy..."
"Dad relax I'm okay sit and calm down this is good news."
"Oi! You could've warned me and not scared your old dad like this!"
"Well consider yourself warned, now sit down and have a bloody cup of tea you old worry wart! You are as bad as that widow lady down the block."
I served him his tea and a bite of eggs and toast as I let the words form in my head.
"Dad you know that doctor fellow, Griffin who lives down from the Wolf's Head Pub?"
"That I do."
"Well I have been eyeing his place for about a week now and decided to help myself to some of his nicer things."
"That's a good lad; rich folks always have too many things to worry them sick."
"Well I was using the spyglass last night when I saw the most amazing thing."
