Devlin's Curse (7 page)

Chapter Nine

The Wheel of Fortune

I
f he were not confident about his back up plan, the fact that Devlin and that savage had survived the cave in, would have had Big Jim fit to be tied.

As it was, a bottle of Orndorff’s best brandy and a hefty bribe served to corrupt the superintendent of an adjoining mine and convince him to let him, Big Jim, dig through to the shaft of the Gilded Bird. 

Outside on the boardwalk in front of the Delta they shook hands. Then Big Jim waddle off towards the Barbary Coast.

The superintendent stared stupidly after him.

The wad of Big Jim’s cash in his vest pocket felt greasy. It weighed heavy on his mind.

What have I agreed to do?
he thought.

As the superintendent of a mine, to allow someone drill through from one mine to another, was akin to claim jumping. But he was broke, busted. Every dime he made was spent on the roulette wheel. That whirling, gilded whore that tortured his waking moments.

He walked unsteadily back through the doors of the Delta saloon. He made his way to the roulette wheel and watched as she flirted with the crowd of gamblers that surrounded her.

Unable to stand another minute away from her, he pushed his way through and plunked five hundred dollars on red twenty one. The wheel spun, clackety, clackety, clack, the bouncing ball hopped back and forth. It landed square in the slot of red twenty one.  He was stunned and placed another bet on the next spin. He won that and the next and the next. Finally, at by two o’clock in the morning, he had quadrupled his money. He left the saloon on top of the world in a state of euphoria puffing on a big fat cigar. Outside in the moonlight he looked up at the stars. His winning streak must be a sign. He would let Big Jim begin digging at first light. The sound of gunshots filled the air a common sound to be heard in Virginia City. 

“Yee Haw,” he shouted to the sky.

At that moment the fickle hand of fate appeared and a random bullet drilled him through his left ear and he fell like a stone onto the boardwalk. 

That same evening Devlin walked through the parlor of the Emerald Salon. His brush with a premature burial made him sharp set for the sight and feel of his Angel. He noticed that despite the events of the day the play in her salon was all in full swing. A quick glance showed him that Esmeralda was not at the Monte table but instead an elegant blond had taken her place.

He walked over to the bar and spied the young lad that he had often seen hanging on Esmeralda’s skirts.

“You there boy, where can I find your mistress?”

Jamie froze. He looked up at Devlin and swallowed hard. “Don’t rightly know mister.”

Devlin smiled, the boy had pluck.  “Tell her I’m here and I would like to speak to her.” He leaned forward. Jamie’s eyes widened. “Don’t worry kid I am not going to bite,” he laughed.

He watched Jamie take off towards the back of the house.

Dahlia had also noticed when Devlin entered the salon. Her hopeful eyes followed him as he made his way to the stairs that led to Esmeralda’s room. Her hands paused in mid-deal. A sudden “Hey girlee!” brought her attention back to the Faro table. She continued her deal but ignored the lustful stares from the man opposite. She snuck a look at him from under her lashes. He was trash. She knew his type all too well. All dressed up in fancy duds but not a lick of class. Her hands fluttered and she palmed an ace, shifting it to the bottom of the deck.

Take that Mr. Leonard White!

Leonard cursed as he lost the play.

He had also seen that bastard Devlin Winter enter the salon and watched the black haired little witch get all dewy when she saw him.

Interesting,
he thought,
might be something here I could use
. 

He pushed himself away from the table. “I’m all done in for tonight, darling,” he sneered. 

“You sure, mister?”

He was sure that her wide blue eyes mocked him. Leonard got up from the table and took himself over to the bar. He ordered a whisky and waited.  Sooner or later Winter would come back down. The gambler never stayed more than an hour most nights and Leonard had watched him every night since his rescue from the mine.

Inside Esmeralda’s boudoir the glow from dozens of candles lit up the room. She reclined against a heap of satin pillows, as she lay naked in Devlin’s arms. Ever since the gunfight on A Street two days ago Devlin had visited her every night.

She told him that she’d wanted to disappear, to leave on the next train out of town when she’d seen how he’d coldly dispatched the cowboy in the white hat. Before, she would never have hesitated to pick up and leave when things got too hot, but on this occasion her heart had its own wretched plan.

“I curse the wicked thread that holds us together,” she sighed, as she held Devlin close. They lay quietly together, each exhausted by their violent lovemaking.

“What are you thinking, Angel?”

She looked up into his dark eyes. “We should just leave this town, now, tonight.”

Devlin shook his head. “No. This thing must end here. Only then can we put the past behind us.”

“Your past you mean. The same past that brought you to Red Bluff. I watched you die. I don’t want to go through that again besides, I have a bad feeling about this.”

Devlin toyed with her long red hair. “I know what you have seen,” he said. “But you are too close you can’t see into it so clearly. What you can’t see is that if this isn’t ended, forever, we can never be free.”

“Surely you cannot call this ‘shadow life’ free?” He did not answer but instead silenced her with a kiss. She met his passion with her own then pulled away. “I want the truth from you, Devlin. What is your history with this evil? If I am to be caught up in this again I want to know why?”

For a moment Devlin was silent. “The less you know the better. Know that you and I have an entwined destiny but in order to keep you safe, and until I have dealt with Big Jim and his hired guns, you must trust me.”

“That is not good enough Devlin, If we have lived a life together before I want to know what happened. Tell me why this is happening again? Will you ever have a chance put your quest behind you?”

Devlin could not answer all her questions. He knew the things he hoped for were on the far side of impossible. To give up was not an option. It had been a long time since he’d experienced fear. So long he hardly recognized its insidious grip. Now, as he held this woman in his arms he felt the fear and with it a fierce protectiveness towards his Angel.

The events of his past which, had set the wheels of his fate in motion, were a gaping wound even after three hundred years. He wanted to tell her but he felt himself a coward. Instead he pulled her closer and kissed her silken breasts. She ran her fingers through his hair then stopped.

“When will you be ready to speak of it?” she asked.

"Not yet," he murmured. His hands caressed her body again and their conversation drifted into the sounds of lovemaking.

Leonard still nursed a whiskey when Devlin came back downstairs. He sat with his back to the salon and glanced up to view the gambler from the mirror behind the bar.  He saw only an empty stairwell. Quickly he swiveled around on his stool. Devlin walked coolly past him looking through him like he was a fly on the wall.  Leonard could hardly believe what he just saw. Devlin Winter had shed no reflection. He knew what that meant. He might have been raised in the slums of New York, but his grand mammy was from Hungaria and Devlin was
Nosferatu
, the undead. Holy shit! He wondered if Big Jim had any idea what he was dealing with? Leonard did, now. His grand mammy had taught him a few things of dealing with them too.

Devlin stepped out of the salon into the fresh night air. He reached into his vest and took out a cheroot and lit it. He did not want to admit it but he felt almost “human”. The scent of Esmeralda lingered on his flesh and because of that he knew with a blinding certainty that he wanted her as his queen. She was the golden ring at the end of his cursed quest and as such he would sacrifice anything to be with her. As of now he had respected her desire to not turn to him fully. He also knew that eventually he must convince her of it if only to save her from the danger that was to come. He whistled. The thunder of hoof beats came closer and closer. The stallion Mephistopheles galloped towards him. He swung up into the saddle and rode down towards E Street and his railroad car.

From her hiding place inside a hedge at the side of the house, Dahlia with her skirts hiked up to her waist, watched him go. She’d left The House of the Rising Moon because of him, Devlin Winter.  The fact that several gold watches from the Rising Moon’s clients had gone missing as well she considered incidental.

To discover him here at the Emerald Salon was a convenient turn of events. She had never in her young life felt the way she’d felt with Devlin Winter. When she had lain with him it was something special. She didn’t have any blinders on neither. She knew he only saw her as a donor to slake his thirst then move on from. Despite everything she would gladly accept any crumbs he tossed her way if it meant being next to him.

The Madame had thought she owned Dahlia,

I wouldn’t be surprised if my hateful snake of a father had sold me to her,
she thought

She had lied to Miss Esmeralda because she was not done with whoring. The Emerald Salon had only put her in contact with a more discriminating clientele. She was on her own now and every dollar she earned was squirreled away towards her dream of owning and operating her own riverboat.

She’d just seen the only thing that had the power to alter her plans. The Dark Lord, Devlin Winter. She longed to be in his arms as his willing donor and slave. What they shared had made her hyper sensitive to him; so much so that she was able to sense the danger and deceit that followed him.

I aim ta watch out for ya,
she vowed.

She saw the carpetbagger, Leonard White poke his weasly head out the door and glance down the street in the direction Devlin had gone. She shrugged her dress down and sashayed out of the bushes towards him.

“Hey mister, you looking for something?”

Leonard started.  “Ain’t you supposed to be in there fleecin’ some saps at the Faro table?”

Dahlia smiled. “I’m on my break, an what I do on it is my business if’n you know what I mean.”

He gave her a sly grin. “I could be lookin’ for something, but not what you have in mind, I’ve got a twenty dollar gold piece that could be yours for a little information.”

Dahlia wound her arm through his and led him back inside towards the bar. “Well mister, you can start by buying me a drink.”

Leonard asked for champagne but Dahlia shook her head and asked for whiskey instead. She downed her shot and asked for another. He frowned but plunked more money down for the bartender.

She smiled.

“Now how’s about that twenty dollar gold piece Mister?”

Chapter Ten

Nosferatu

B
ack at his house on B Street Big Jim gulped his coffee and sullenly scanned the pages of the Virginia City newspaper
The Territorial Enterprise
.

A one-column article caught his eye.
The superintendent of the Belcher mine has been mine found dead on the boardwalk.
His blood pressure rose as he read on.

‘Mysterious wound in the left ear. Foul play suspected
.’

He slapped the paper down on the table sending dishes flying. “Son of a Bitch!”

His Chinese servant Chow came forward to pick up the broken dishes. Big Jim ignored him. He needed a new plan quick, that and some competent cutthroats to do his dirty work. He knew of a suitable character and had previously sent a telegraph to the Arizona Territory requesting him on the next train.  In the meantime he would have to rely on Leonard White and Cruz, and they were about as useful as a fart in a windstorm.

God damn that Devlin Winter!

He felt blocked at every corner. Like a rat in a trap and he did not like it one bit. 

Leonard White had sent a note with ‘
important information’
about the gambler. He had his doubts. So far, all the carpetbagger had been doing was sneaking around the new salon in town swilling liquor and sniffing at the skirts of that red headed Monte Dealer, Esmeralda Jones.

Finally he got up from the table, threw his napkin down, and called for his hat and coat. When it did not come quick enough he exploded. “Goddam, friggin’ Coolee what do I pay you for! There’s a Devil in this town fer sure, and shit if it ain’t in the mine it’s probably in Chinatown!”

His hat jammed on his head, Big Jim walked down B Street to his Washoe Club offices. Once inside he sat in his leather chair lit a cigar and waited for Leonard White to show up.

A few minutes later, he heard a knock at his door and Leonard White poked his head in. “Boss?” he inquired.

Big Jim nodded and motioned for him to sit.  Leonard grinned a sly oily grin. “Well White, what do you have for me? You look fit to burst.”

Leonard smiled.

He eyed the humidor on Big Jim’s desk. Big Jim took the hint, opened it, and offered him a cigar. Leonard drew the roll of tobacco under his nostrils and then stuck it in his vest pocket.

“I’ll have me a smoke later,” he said. “What I’ve got fer you is something that could hamstring Devlin Winter.”

Big Jim sat up straight. “I’m listening, spit it out.”

“You ain’t gonna believe it, but here it is, that gambler Devlin Winter, well he ain’t a mortal man, he’s the undead, a Vampire and he cain’t be killed, not in the normal way.”

Big Jim stared at Leonard like he had sprouted a second head and then slammed his fist down on his desk. “Horseshit! Every man bleeds and if he bleeds he can die. Winter is no exception.”

Leonard was not deterred. “I can prove it to you, I’ve seen it with my own eyes. He don’t cast a reflection and I hear tell he visits a certain house on D Street that is known to cater to his kind, bloodsuckers.”

Something quickened inside Big Jim at Leonard’s words but he pushed it aside. “I’m not paying you to think White, least of all to bring me a load of shit like this. Come back when you have something solid otherwise don’t waste any more of my time.”

Leonard stared open mouthed at Big Jim’s curt dismissal. He got up stiffly and backed out of the door without a word. Now, back out on the boardwalk, he stood for a moment and vented his fury.

“Godammit,” he cursed. “I will show Big Jim! When all Hell breaks loose and he gets a taste of what that gambler really is…why Mr. Almighty Big Jim Diamond will be beggin’ for the information that O’l Leonard has and then I’ll make him pay out the arse for it.”

Devlin lay awake in his bed. The heavy velvet drapes shut out the early morning light and the soothing darkness enveloped him. He could still smell Esmeralda on his skin. She was the lodestone that drew him into this world of the living and he felt that he was mentally and emotionally sinking into the gossamer web of her delights. Sensations, that went beyond the feel and taste of her lush body. They had lain dormant inside of him for nearly a hundred years.

He realized that he was hungry. Not for the blood that sustained him but for the taste of normalcy and the mundane everyday life of a mortal being. Contact with his Angel had wrought some changes within him. They were subtle, elusive wisps that fascinated and compelled him to consider a different path. He closed his eyes but dreams were no longer enough for him and he felt a beat of excitement for what tomorrow might bring.

For once he pushed away the quest at hand.  Virginia City held a strange magic over him although he held no illusions about its dangers. Big Jim had been thwarted and would pull out all the stops to get to him and the mine. He believed it would not be long before he sent another one of his curs against him again.

Devlin took a perverse pleasure in anticipating their demise.

Prophetically, he would not have long to wait. Even now as he lay there in his bed a train was barreling towards the town bearing a motley crew of gun slinging desperados with a human horror as their leader.

Midafternoon was when Esmeralda took some quiet time in the small parlor connected to her boudoir. She sipped cold champagne and went through the paperwork for the salon. She was tempted to pull a tarot card for the day but did not think she could read it objectively. Devlin’s presence in her life was beginning to cloud her thoughts, creeping slowly in to a heart that she had built a fortress around.  She needed to focus on her work. She was quickly finding out that the spiritual undercurrents of this city were not only evil but also dangerous. It would take all her skills, magical or otherwise, to deal with it. She had never encountered a town so full of spirit possessions. Nearly every night some unfortunate victim would arrive at her back door. So much so, that last week, she had taken on one of Grandfather Woo’s sons as an assistant.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts and she opened it to see Jamie. He had a frown on his face.

“Ma’am, it’s that gambler, he’s back again and askin fer ya.”

Esmeralda was surprised. She smiled at Jamie’s protective stance. “It’s alright Jamie, send him up.”

Jamie paused in the doorway his hat in his hand. “Miss Esmeralda…”

“Yes, Jamie, is there something wrong?” Jamie shifted from one foot to the other. She saw his hesitation. “Come in Jamie, close the door and sit down. You look like you have something weighing heavy on your mind.”

Jamie closed the door and sat down. He started to speak but blushed furiously.

"It’s alright, Jamie. You can speak freely here.”

“Well Ma’am, I ain’t one to poke around in a person’s business but livin’ in this here city I’ve seen my share of badmen and that gambler Devlin Winter he’s a bad’un.  I just knows it in my bones, you best take care ain’t nothin’ but death follows a man like that.”

Esmeralda smiled. “Jamie I appreciate your concern but I must ask you to trust me in this. Devlin Winter is not a stranger to me. We have a past.  One in which he did me a great service, saved my life in fact. I am aware that he has enemies in this town and I would hope that he would keep them away from the salon.”

Jamie shook his head. “ And if’n he don’t?”

“Well, then we must be prepared.”

Jamie sat up straight but did not look her in the eye. “Yes Miss Esmeralda,” he said.   

A few minutes later Devlin walked through the door. In the light of day he was even more compellingly handsome. When he removed his dark red sunglasses his smoky eyes glowed.

“Hello, Angel.”

“Devlin, I did not expect you, at least not in the daylight”.

“You are becoming a habit; I could not wait for the night” 

Esmeralda shook her head.

“I am busy, Devlin, can’t you see? Besides, people, the town, will start to talk with you visiting so often so do you think this is wise?”

Devlin smiled. “By now the whole town knows that I have laid claim to you. And they must also know you are under my protection.”

Esmeralda put her champagne glass down. “Protection? I don’t mean to harp back to the past …”

Devlin stepped forward and placed his finger over her lips. “Stop, if I had made that clear last time maybe things would have turned out differently. Come, take a break from the cards tonight and join me at Piper’s for the show. A new chanteuse from Paris will be performing.”

Esmeralda’s eyes widened.

“To be seen in public with you? I am not ready for that.”

“I know you are concerned with the risk we are taking, being seen together”,” he said. “But I must have you near me. I don’t want to be caught unawares.”

Esmeralda poured two glasses of champagne and handed one to him before she replied. This was a rare and bizarre invitation, one that caused an excited flutter under her corset. She sidled up to him. “ Every instinct I possess tells me to refuse, but since Red Bluff I have learned to live in the moment”

Devlin smiled. “Tell me you are not tempted, to arrive on my arm? To share a private booth with me and bask in the envy of Virginia City’s society matrons?”

Esmeralda met his playful gaze, she seductively raised her glass to his and toasted.

“Until tonight then.”

They both drained their glasses and then Devlin pulled her close for a long champagne flavored kiss.

Outside Esmeralda’s bedroom door Dahlia had her ear pressed to the keyhole. She reckoned she’d heard what she needed to hear. She stood up and hurried downstairs to the gaming parlor. It was almost time for her shift and she needed a quick shot of brandy. When she came up to the bar she saw that no good trash Mr. Leonard White nursing a tumbler of whisky.

He scowled. “What are you up to, now, scamp? You liked ta emptied my pockets the other night, I ain’t going down that road again.”

Dahlia smiled. “Wouldn’t ya like ta know you scallywag? But what if I was to tell you that you would be taking me to Piper’s tonight?”

“I ain’t taking ya anywhere’s you’re a confounded succubus, a devil’s imp that will rob me blind.”

“Thought you was interested in a certain gentlemun what’s been seeing Miss Esmeralda? They are gonna be there tonight if ya know what I mean.”

Leonard paused mid-swallow. “Since you think ya know my business, go on, what else?”

“I’ll have me a brandy first, then I’ll tell ya what I know.” She chuckled inwardly as she saw the sour way he ordered her drink. Yes, he was a ripe one, all puffed up with shit for brains. It was gonna be easy pickings, that’s for sure.

Later that afternoon Esmeralda was putting the final touches to her hair, piling it high and securing it with a tortoiseshell comb. She then let two fat ringlets lay against her long white neck. She touched some scent to her collarbone then looked up to see the worried face of Jamie in her vanity mirror.

“Ya ain’t really gonna go, Miss Esmeralda, not with him?” 

Esmeralda pulled on her long green satin gloves. They were a perfect complement to her sleeveless gown of sea-foam green silk trimmed in black lace with a waterfall bustle and embroidered all over with intricate black vines. An original creation made especially for her that had come straight from Paris via San Francisco. 

“Don’t worry Jamie, we’ve been over this, I will be careful, I will be back by midnight,” she said.

Jamie made a face. “He gives me the hebegeebe’s, he does, like he ain’t human or such.”

If only Jamie knew,
she thought.
But maybe it was best he didn’t.

He was protective and she appreciated his friendship in this town that was fairly riddled with dark and greedy elements. There were veins of it that ran through the town and its people like the gold and silver of the mines, Devlin notwithstanding. Right now she did not want to contemplate what the consequences might be. She wanted to enjoy herself this night. The town be damned.

She was also curious as to what Devlin’s business was in Virginia City. So far he had played his cards close to his chest to protect her but she wanted to be prepared. What these few years in the wake of Red Bluff had taught her was to be careful where she placed her trust. Devlin might hold her heart in his hand but he did not hold her head. She was fully conscious of what a continued association with him would bring and she had plans of her own on that score. Plans that he himself would not be able to thwart, even if one day he saw fit to finally open up and reveal the history of his pain.

Her musings were cut short with Devlin’s unannounced arrival. A sullen faced Jamie knocked and then opened the door of her private parlor. Devlin arrived bearing a bouquet of delicate white lilies and dressed in a fine broadcloth suit and beaver hat. He looked like any fine mortal gentleman.  Only the intense aura of energy that surrounded him coupled with an otherworldly masculine beauty would cause a person to take a double take. “

“These lilies remind me of you,” he said.