Demon Hunt (26 page)

Blackthorne stared at the interloper as Pam forced her way through the crowd to join the group. A muscle twitched in his cheek and he ground Rhi’s fingers in his grip.

“
What do you want?” Rhi demanded once she found her breath. “Since I am sure your master is responsible for this shindig in the first place, I think it’s wildly inappropriate for you to be here, don’t you?”

Troy’s lips stretched hideously over his teeth, which were suddenly as sharp and as vicious as a rodent’s. “My master? Oh no, sweetie. I think you need to talk to
your
master about the responsibility here. After all,
he’s
the one who talked me into digging up the grave. I drank enough vodka to kill Stalin that night and I needed cash, bad. So why not dig up an old grave and steal the dead guy’s jewels, your buddy here suggested. He told us where to find just the right one. After all, it’s not like the body will sit up in the coffin and ask what you’re doing.” Horror flashed across the man’s face before the rodent took over again. “I lost the best lay I ever had that night. After all, Cassie was yummy. And I lost my soul. Your boyfriend let a monster loose, not me.”

His voice lowered to a hiss as Rhi’s head begin to pound.
No, no, no, no….

“
I’ve seen things and done things that’ll damn me forever, but
who
told me not to take out the stake in Manius’ heart, knowing that is the first thing a punk like me would do? Who let
him
out -
who
killed Marie? I went to school with her, you know. A few years ago, I could have cried over her. Now I wonder why all of her meat was wasted to make a public statement - the master’s pets would have enjoyed chewing that piece of ass, literally.”

Rhi whirled on Blackthorne as Pam, yanked Troy out of his seat and threw him on the floor. She placed a booted foot on his neck.

“
You wouldn’t tell stories, would you, Troy? God, I didn’t even recognize you in the Elk the other night,” Pam snarled. “It must be all the Dippity Doo in your hair.” Ignoring the crowd, she kicked Troy in the stomach. The crunch of her boot connecting with his ribs was audible, telling observers that she’d probably cracked a few ribs as well as damaged his digestive system. Troy curled up into a ball, moaning and then began a weak effort to crawl away. Watching his face, Pam ground one heel into his calf muscle for a moment before allowing him to slip into the crowd.

Pearl, martini in hand, and Houston joined the crowd, who chattered among themselves, waiting for the next part of the entertainment.

Rhi found her voice. “You let him out.”

Blackthorne’s face was cold. “Yes.”

“
And people are dead because you let him out.”

“
Yes.”

She pushed herself up from her barstool. “I’m trying to think of a nice way to tell you to go to Hell, Blackthorne, but I have nothing. So go to Hell, Blackthorne.”

“
I guess you aren’t calling me ‘Jack’ anymore, huh?”

“
No.” For the first time in a long time, Rhi called up the dreadful, plastic expression she had worn so often during her marriage. Her nails bit into her palm.

Without another word, Blackthorne turned to thread his way through the crowd. The bar crowd returned to socializing amongst themselves, the weird subject matter of the fight forgotten thanks to Pearl, who performed a mysterious pass with her hand and muttered a few words. None of the general public would remember the argument, Rhi was sure.

Pearl leaned on the worn edge of the bar, drained her glass and nibbled on the olive. “Turning your back on him, Rhi?”

Houston stood nearby, his weathered features running through a variety of emotions.

Rhi slid back into her seat and grabbed the bartender by the hand. “A shot of tequila.”

She gulped down the shot the bartender sat in front of her before speaking. She didn’t meet Pearl’s gaze.

“
Did you know?”

The beautiful face of the woman didn’t twitch. “No. I was aware that Manius was loose. And these days there are so many monsters loose. I try to focus on the ones nearest to me. There’s too much of a past with me and Manius. Those bastards wouldn’t let me kill him until they were ready.”

“
He let him out,” Rhi repeated hoarsely. “
They
let him out. That’s why Blackthorne was running all over the world cleaning up his brother’s messes. He let him out. After what he did to her … to me …”

“
I wonder how many women he’s killed since he got loose, Pearl. Do you care?” Pam towered above Pearl. “Or are all of those years piling up making you numb to the man who killed your sisters?”

Houston edged closer, his hand in his jacket.

Pam’s harsh question lit a low flame in the other woman’s face.

“
Of course I want him dead,” snapped Pearl. “I want him to suffer and then burn in Hell. But I didn’t know they let him out on purpose. I’m sure there was some kind of bullshit reason why it was done, Rhi. Nothing’s black and white or even lavender in this battle. And you’re naïve if you believe otherwise.”

“
I believe standing idle while a vicious bastard like Manius Black runs loose for a few years until time for the Brotherhood to put him to good use – that’s a dark thing, Pearl. I guess I
am
a naïve little girl. And you’re one of
them.”
Rhi hefted the shot glass in her hand to test its weight and eyed Pearl speculatively. Houston hovered behind the madam.
Like I could do anything to the witch, Houston.

“
I’m a woman first,” replied Pearl, one eye on the glass. “I’ll always be a woman first. That’s why they didn’t tell me.”

The glow of happiness from the night before had faded from Rhi’s face faster than a retiree could drop twenty dollars in a dollar slot. Pale and choking back the tide of tears threatening to break free, she grimaced.

“
At least the sex was good.” She tossed a couple of bills on the bar. “I’m going to go to work. And then I’m going home and packing. I’m dropping out of your game. Make it one big crapshoot. Key West is nice this time of the year.”

Pam nodded. “I’ve always believed working on one’s tan is a high priority. We can escort you down the pass in the morning. Hightail it outta here from out on the prairie … you’ll already be halfway to Kansas. Nothing’s going to happen without you here to make it happen.”

“
You can’t run from fate, ladies. It will come back on you hard if you run. If you face things head on, at least you can prepare” Pearl still sounded annoyingly calm. But her delicate eyebrows were knitted together and a fine line appeared between her brows.

“
You’ve got a wrinkle between your eyes, Pearl. You ought to get that thing Botoxed.” Rhi moved to stand nose to nose with the vampire woman, blatantly invading her space. “Be careful or you might start looking your age.”

Houston pushed between the two women and spoke into the hostile silence. “You can’t be serious about going to work tonight, Rhi. Let’s get you out of here.”

“
I don’t want to drive down Ute Pass in the dark and I don’t want to vary from my routine, Houston. I’d also like to say goodbye to Katie. We’ll go in the morning and the town will be safe.” Rhi rose from her stool. “Manius can wait another hundred years for all I care.”

Pearl grabbed her arm. “You don’t get it, do you? Your doom
will
find you. You’re the one who’ll be the first to finally destroy one of the gates but it must be on a certain date and a certain time. The ten thousand-year anniversary of the gate’s existence. The day after tomorrow, the opening day of Winterfest. The gate can’t be destroyed every day. When the final battle comes, one less doorway for the bad guys to come through is a thing worth dying for.”

“
You volunteered, Pearl. The people in this town who have died didn’t,” Rhi replied. Her tears were dangerously near to the surface.

“
All of this would have happened whether the Brotherhood let him out or not, Rhi. They just wanted more control over the
when,
I’m sure.”

Rhi shook off the gloved hand and headed for the door, her friends in tow except for Pearl, who took Rhi’s seat at the bar to nurse the fresh martini the bartender automatically handed to her.

“
You, Blackthorne and all of your buddies stay the hell away from me, Pearl,” Rhi stated, turning back for one more salvo. “I might decide to see if staking one of you works as well at holding you in place as it did Manius.”

“
You know where to find me when that doom of yours comes down to bite you in the ass,” replied Pearl, not glancing away from the reality television show playing on a nearby screen. “But expect your knight, lady. I’d hazard a guess he might not come running when you call.”

“
That’s just peachy.”

Houston nodded apologetically at the madam one last time before passing through the arched entrance behind Rhi and Pam.

Outside, Houston escorted Rhi and Pam to the truck. “I’ll come into town to drive home behind you, Rhi. We’ll head down to Pam’s mom’s place at first light. The faster you’re out of town, if that’s what you want, the better.”

“
Am I doing the right thing, Houston?” Rhi asked as Pam dug through her purse for her gun.

He tipped his hat back on his head and squinted at the darkening sky. “Yes. Since we don’t know who’s on what side or what is whose agenda - I’ll feel a lot better with you a long way from the gate, sweetheart. But look on the bright side.”

Pam, who had curled her long legs into the passenger side of the vehicle, grimaced. “There’s a bright side to this?”

“
At least Rhi doesn’t already have the skull. That might complicate matters,” Houston stated as he turned to trudge through the churned snow towards his own vehicle.

“
I agree there,” Pam told him fervently.

Silent, Rhi climbed behind the steering column and closed and locked the doors.

“
You might have someone come after you now but if you have the skull …” Pam’s words trailed off when she noticed the expression on her friend’s face. “Crap.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“
Of course I’ve got the skull. The other me seems to have stored it in a nice safe place for myself several decades ago and the thing slithered back just the other day. I’ve had it since you came to breakfast and somebody is in here,” Rhi rapped her knuckles on her forehead, “telling me how to set the thing loose.”

“
Let me get this straight. You’re giving yourself instructions from the 1800’s?” The other wiped a speck of non-existent dust from the barrel of her gun.

“
Are you sure you don’t want to stay as far away from me as you can?” Rhi’s heart and head ached. She was losing everyone in one fell swoop. Blackthorne, found, was lost to her and she would have to leave her new home and friends, including Ellie Mae. She could live with Pam or Bobby Wayne. It would break both of their hearts but Rhi can’t be on the run with a 110-pound bloodhound. The big dog might be a bit conspicuous.

“
Tomorrow you’ll be gone, Rhi. I can stay the course until I see this truck headed across Kansas tomorrow.” The sadness in Pam’s face showed for a moment before she sat up to stare out the windshield. “Well, I think I would be two sandwiches short of a picnic at this point if I were in your shoes. Is it somewhere safe?”

“
Safest place I could think of,” Rhi replied, weakly grinning at the memory of her hiding place. She slid the vehicle out of the icy parking lot, almost flattening an aspen tree on the way out onto the road.

“
I’ll miss your cooking. But I’ll not miss your greenhorn driving skills, girlfriend,” quipped Pam as she was slung around the truck.

Further down the road, Rhi’s already frayed nerves broke a few more strands when she spotted pale figures in the twilight darting through the trees with the speed of small sleek predators. They easily kept up with the speeding SUV. Trust her to dump her protector and then get eaten by the competition immediately afterwards. “It seems like we’ve got admirers this evening, Pam.”

Pam tried to swipe green eye shadow across her lids with the help of the passenger side mirror. She looked over at the darting forms. “Do you think Manius will make any kind of move on you unless he
knows
you have the skull? He’s going to sit up there in his castle, eat pate’ and sip on something or someone expensive. He’s waiting for you to pull the thing out of wherever you stuck it a hundred years ago. Can’t you just forget about it?”

“
I don’t think so. The skull has been calling and I think if I don’t answer - it might start calling someone else. And someone else might not be as nice as me. I’m screwed.” Another figure slid through the snow off to the left. Rhi’s fear and heartbreak jelled into fury. She squelched the compulsion to go four wheeling through the snow and squish the lot of them underneath her snow tires. No engineer in the Chevy factory planned for the damage demon blood would do to the truck’s paint.