Deal with the Devil

by Kevin Lee Swaim

  He got in his Suburban, and we followed him through the nearly deserted streets of Chicago until we pulled up next to Lottie’s warehouse. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  Henry got out of his Suburban, opened the rear hatch, and withdrew his silver sword. The blade was at least three feet long, and it gleamed like quicksilver in the dawning light. He stopped next to my truck and waited for me to get out.

  “Stay here,” I told Callie.

  I hadn’t even finished speaking when she got out, went to the back of the truck, and grabbed her Remington shotgun. I sighed and followed her, grabbing the Ingram and a new magazine of silver bullets from the toolbox in the bed of the truck.

  Callie frowned at me. “I’m not staying here, Sam.”

  “I really wish you would.”

  “You can’t protect me.”

  “I was crazy to think that I could. Maybe you’re safer with me, but it doesn’t matter, does it? You’re going to do whatever you think best.”

  She smiled, and for a moment, my heart lifted. “You finally understand me.”

  Henry approached us, carrying his sword. “Are you two done?”

  “Let’s do this thing,” I said.

  As we climbed the steps to the door, Henry gave it a kick that sheared the door off its hinges and sent it rocketing inward, slamming into the wall beyond with a crash.

  “Not very subtle,” I said.

  Henry snorted. “Lottie knows we’re here. She may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she’s smart enough to know that there’s only one way this ends.”

  “You’ve got the silver sword. You lead the way.”

  “Stay behind me.”

  “We were planning on it,” Callie whispered.

  We followed Henry inside. The warehouse was dark and empty. We made our way through the hallways to Lottie’s throne room and were almost there when I sensed a rush of air behind us. By the time I turned, Minerva Higby was upon us.

  She wore the same black leather outfit as she had at the planetarium, but it was now smeared with mud. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth was drawn back in a snarl that exposed her gleaming fangs. She looked more like a vicious animal than a human.

  She lunged at Callie with inhuman speed, but Callie spun the shotgun around and pulled the trigger, sending a blast of silver shot through Minerva’s stomach.

  The vampire crashed to the floor. Flames licked from her stomach, but she managed to rise to her knees, making guttural noises that never amounted to words. Then Henry stepped forward and swung his sword so fast that the tip broke the speed of sound with a sharp crack.

  Minerva’s head sailed from her body in a spray of blood, and by the time it hit the hard concrete floor, it was burning from within, her dark skin waxy and melting. As her eyes turned to flaming goo, her torso quickly became greasy ash.

  As the vampire essence entered my body, I took a deep breath and staggered against the rough brick wall. “Damn.”

  “Are you okay?” Callie asked.

  Henry pointed his sword at me. “He’ll be fine. We only have the queen now.”

  I gasped for air. “Give me a second.” The sensation wasn’t anywhere as intense as the slimy darkness of the Ancients, but it still hurt as it wormed its way into my guts. “Okay. Let’s go.”

  Henry nodded, and we entered Lottie’s throne room, where Lottie stood waiting for us. Desmond lay in front of her, and he didn’t move as we entered the room.

  “So,” Lottie said. “You come to kill me.”

  “You worked with Spurlock,” Henry said. “You worked with Chima.”

  “You’re one of them,” Lottie said. “It wasn’t my plan. Why didn’t you do something ’bout your friends?”

  “I didn’t know what they had planned,” Henry said. “No matter what we are now, we used to be people, Lottie. Killing all those men? Bargaining with the Devil? And for what?” He glanced down at Desmond. “For him?”

  “I love him,” Lottie said.

  “You don’t love him,” Callie said.

  Lottie glared at Callie. “What do you know about it, holy woman? You have never been with a man. You don’t know what it’s like—”

  “You may desire him,” Callie said, “and you may want to rule the city with him, but that’s not a partnership. That’s a childish need.”

  Lottie took a step toward us. “I’m…”

  Henry raised the sword in front of him, and it made him seem at least a foot taller. “There’s only one way this will end, Lottie.”

  “I never asked for this,” Lottie said. Her voice sounded like that of a small girl. “Your friend made me this way when he gave me the gift. I didn’t do nothing wrong.”

  Henry sighed. “I’m sorry, Lottie. I really am. This life is terrible. I don’t know what comes next, but I hope you find peace there.”

  Lottie blinked. “That’s it? You just gonna—”

  Henry moved so fast I barely had time to register the silver arc of the descending sword as it split Lottie Graham from her head through her torso.

  I turned my head, but not before I saw the two halves of Lottie fall to the sides, her innards spilling out, and then the flames burst forth from the remains of her body in a burst of fire that quickly turned all that was left of the Queen of Chicago into a pile of ash.

  “Not again,” I muttered, and then I collapsed to the floor as the darkness from Lottie rushed into me. My heart hammered in my chest, and everything went black as her vampire essence joined the rest.

  When I could finally open my eyes, Callie was kneeling over me. “It’s okay, Sam. You’ll be fine.”

  Henry stood behind her, steadying a swaying Desmond. He looked like he wanted to say something, then he shrugged and said, “He’s absorbed a lot, Sister.”

  “What … happened?” I managed.

  “You were out for a few minutes,” Callie said.

  I looked into her green eyes, like sparkling emeralds, and relief washed over me. “It’s over?”

  Desmond smiled. “It’s over, man.”

  “How are you?”

  Desmond shrugged. “Lottie was … I don’t … I thought I knew her, but I guess we don’t really know anybody.”

  I sat up, feeling a bit of dizziness that quickly passed, and asked, “What now?”

  Henry turned to Desmond. “You’re the King of Chicago.”

  Desmond grunted. “No way. I’ve had enough of that. I’m going to focus on being a club owner.”

  “That girl, Jordan,” I said. “She’s a good friend.”

  “She’s an employee.”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe she could make a good partner?”

  Desmond’s eyes widened. “That’s funny, man, because I think I could use a new partner. One that won’t go crazy on me.” He rubbed his head. “You know, I may be a vampire, but it still hurts when someone busts your skull.”

  Henry grabbed my hand and hauled me to my feet. “We’ve got one thing left to do, and then I think it’s time for breakfast.”

  “What else could we possibly have to do?”

  Callie put her hand on her shotgun, but Henry just shook his head. “It’s not that kind of thing.”

  * * *

  The sun was up when we stopped in front of Davis Johnson’s house. “Do you want to stay here for this?” I asked Callie.

  “I’ll go with you.”

  As we sat there, waiting for Henry to get out of his Suburban, I said, “This might be harder than fighting a vampire.”

  She stared at the front of the house and said, “You aren’t wrong about that.”

  Henry got out of his Suburban and gave the neighborhood an appraising look, then nodded at us. We got out and followed him up the sidewalk to the front door. Henry knocked, and Davis Johnson opened the door a few minutes later.

  The old man smiled at us, but when we didn’t speak, his face fell. “You got bad news, don’t you
?”

  “Can we come in, Mr. Johnson?”

  The old man motioned for us to follow him inside. By the time we were seated at his kitchen table, tears were streaming down the old man’s heavily wrinkled face. “Andre … he’s gone, isn’t he?”

  Henry gave me a curt nod.

  “I’m afraid he is,” I said.

  “How—how did it happen?”

  “We don’t know,” I lied. “We just know he’s … dead.”

  “That poor boy,” the old man said. “He deserved more than this life ever gave him.”

  “Mr. Johnson?” Callie said softly. “I know this is hard to hear, but Andre is in a better place.”

  “A ‘better place’? I used to believe in things like that, but I just … don’t have any faith left in me.” The old man bent forward and put his face in his hands. “Not anymore.”

  Henry sadly shook his head.

  “Mr. Johnson?” I said. “I lost my daughter.”

  The old man looked up at me. “I’m … sorry to hear that, sir.”

  “She was only seven,” I said. “It was a terrible thing. I wasn’t particularly religious, but I’ve come to believe God exists and that He cares about us.”

  “If He cares about us, then why did He take my grandson? Why did He take your daughter?”

  I looked into his eyes that were so dark and full of grief, a mirror image of my own since that night Silas had upended my life in Arcanum. “I spent a long time hating God, but now I think maybe it’s that things happen the way things are supposed to happen. Maybe it’s balance. For all the good things in life, maybe there has to be some bad. For every beginning, an ending. I don’t think God takes pleasure in it. I think He feels it with us.”

  The old man wiped at his eyes. “You believe that?”

  For the first time in a long time, Callie watched me without pity. Instead, she nodded her approval, encouraging me to finish.

  I reached across the table and took the old man’s hands in mine. “I really do.”

  The old man squeezed my hands. “Maybe … maybe I do, too.”

  * * *

  We followed Henry back to his mansion. While Callie and Henry headed for the formal dining room, I stopped in the bathroom down the hallway. The toilet was an old-fashioned type, with a tank on top and a pull chain. I relieved myself, then went to the sink to wash my hands.

  There was a mirror above the sink, and the man looking back at me looked like he’d been in a street brawl. The bridge of his nose was a little crooked and covered in black and purple bruises. There were cuts all over my face and neck, and I raised the shirt Jordan had given me to see bruises on almost every inch of flesh.

  Garski had kicked me in the ribs, and the spot was excruciatingly tender. I probably had a cracked rib, maybe even two, and I used athletic tape from the emergency medical pack I had brought from the truck to wrap the ribs.

  Every time I tried to reach around my body, the sharp pain in my ribs reminded me that I had just been through the grinder. By the time I was done, I was panting heavily. The bullet wound in my back had finally stopped itching, and I knew the nose and ribs would heal within a week.

  My hands were still trembling, but I washed them, dried them, then concentrated until my nerves finally settled and they quit shaking.

  It’s okay. I survived. Callie survived.

  The pain and exhaustion I was feeling lessened, and I joined Callie and Henry in the dining room, where Xavier was serving an enormous breakfast on an elegant oak table. We took our seats around the table, and I dug in. Within seconds, my plate was loaded with a heaping helping of scrambled eggs, thick-cut bacon, and fresh rolls with blackberry jam. “I think I’ve died and gone to Heaven.”

  Callie poured a fresh cup of coffee from a large carafe and handed it to me, then prepared an enormous plate of biscuits covered in sausage and gravy for herself.

  “Isn’t that a little heavy for you?” I asked.

  Callie smiled. “Xavier told me he ground the sausage himself and added fresh sage. How in the world could I pass that up? Plus, he made fresh-squeezed orange juice.”

  “Help yourself,” Henry said with a smile. “You’ve earned it.”

  I attacked my plate. The eggs were light and fluffy, and the bacon had just the right amount of smoky crispness. “Yep,” I managed through a mouthful. “This is Heaven.”

  Callie laughed, and it sounded pleasant, almost as if she hadn’t been used to summon the Devil to earth.

  Xavier brought another plate, which contained a giant omelet and placed it in front of me. I took a bite and found it stuffed with thick cubes of ham, mushrooms, and cheese. My eyes rolled back in my head, and then I turned and gave Henry a nasty look. “You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?”

  Henry’s smile faded. “We need to talk.”

  I shook my head. “No way. I’m not ruining this moment. Besides, you don’t want to hear what I have to say.”

  “I wanted to tell you the truth,” Henry said. “Chima ordered me not to.”

  I pushed the omelet aside. “That’s your excuse?”

  “It’s … not an excuse,” Henry said. “I didn’t know what they were planning until after I dragged you to Chicago.”

  “Why bring us into it?” Callie said. “Let me guess—Chima’s orders.”

  Henry sat back in his chair. “I should have known. Even after all these years, I should have known. He said that you might help with the missing men. Enid and Erlik said if word got out about vampires—”

  “You’re right,” I said. “You should have known better.”

  “This world, Sam. It’s not like the one I’m used to. Everything is so connected. People are so … connected.”

  “You didn’t know,” Callie said. “But you suspected something was wrong.”

  Henry licked his lips. “Maybe I didn’t know because I didn’t want to know. I’m not like them anymore. That’s why I introduced you to Peter. I knew when he saw what was going on—”

  “You thought he would finally take a side,” I said. “You took a big damned risk with our lives.”

  “Yes,” Henry said softly. “I did.”

  “They were your friends,” Callie said.

  Henry didn’t speak.

  “What happened?” Callie asked. “Why did you become Henry Hastings? Why pretend to be the sheriff?”

  “I am the sheriff,” Henry said. He sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Chima and I had traveled the world together for thousands of years, but Henry Hastings was a good man. He didn’t want the gift, and for the first time, I … saw Chima for what he was, saw what … we had become. After I put a stake in Henry Hasting, Chima ordered me to take his place as a punishment. Then he created the Vampire Sheriff, the one vampire that would do the Ancients’ bidding.”

  “What about the rest of the Ancients?” I asked.

  “The Judge ruled in Chima’s favor,” Henry said. “No one spoke up for me. I was banished from my home. I spent the next thousand years roaming the earth. The longer I was apart from them, the more I came to despise them.”

  “You still did their work,” I said.

  “That work usually involved protecting humanity,” Henry said. “I kept vampires from gaining the age, or power, to threaten them, but I also kept them from slaughtering humans by the droves. It was the best I could do.”

  “But something changed,” I said.

  Henry looked away. “You know it did.”

  “Your wife,” Callie said. “Alma.”

  “It was almost forty years ago,” Henry said so softly I could barely hear him. “I was nearly at my end. I thought of ways to end this … wretched existence. The easiest way seemed to be to set myself on fire. A painful way to go…”

  “She changed your mind,” I said.

  “The vampire I was chasing had taken a girl in Thermopolis. She wasn’t more than a week over eighteen. I tracked the vampire down t
o an old motel on the edge of town and killed it. The girl was … radiant. Her name was Alma, and for the first time I felt this life might not be the end.”

  “Yuck,” I said. “How old are you?”

  Henry laughed and turned back to me. “I couldn’t be with her. Not yet. She wanted to stay in Thermopolis. That … wasn’t going to work out. Bad enough that I appear to be almost fifty. In a small town like that? It would have been a scandal. I left for almost five years. We … wrote letters to each other. I told her who I was and what I had done. She told me it didn’t matter.”

  “She gave you faith,” Callie said.

  “As a child, I worshiped many gods,” Henry said. “But over the years, I had learned there was just one true God. How could a being such as Him have any love for a monster like me? But Alma wouldn’t give up. By the time she came to visit me here in Chicago, she was almost twenty-five, and I was passing for thirty. I moved back to Thermopolis and joined the local police. A few years later, I ran for sheriff of Hot Springs County. I’ve gradually changed my walk and my speech. People back there think I’m a seventy-year-old man blessed with good genes.”

  “How much longer can you keep that up?”

  Henry frowned. “People are already talking. I won’t be able to hide it more than another year or two. A little playacting can only go so far. We’re going to have to leave.” His frown deepened.

  “What?” I asked.

  “What we did last night? The other Ancients won’t let it stand. They’re going to come looking for them.”

  The warmth in my belly from the food suddenly didn’t feel so warm anymore. “What will they do?”

  “They’ll demand answers,” Henry said.

  “How many of them will come?” Callie asked.

  Henry put his hands together in front as if he were praying. “All of them, most likely.”

  “Eight more,” I said. “There are eight more Ancients coming.”

  Henry nodded.

  “How long?” Callie asked.

  “Three or four weeks,” Henry said. “Maybe five, if we’re lucky.”

  “Oh,” I said. “What do you think will happen?”

  “What do you think?”

  “They won’t take it well.”

  Henry grunted. “You’re not wrong.”