Hellborn

by Lisa Manifold

  “I better. I like feather bird,” he added. One of his long arms reached up and patted Evil on the neck.

  Evil clucked, and leaned into Beeval’s hand, which was his way of showing approval for what was going on.

  “And you were worried he’d eat him?” I gave Daniella the eye.

  “I was, I admit it. I was wrong,” Daniella conceded.

  “I thought it was going to be a showdown,” Deirdre said.

  “Evil has to be the luckiest chicken I’ve ever seen,” Doc said.

  “So now that you know there’s no fire, and no one is trying to kill us, how about you find some pants?” Deirdre asked. “Because if any of these things happen, you’ll feel better if you have them.”

  “All right. Who’s cooking?” I tossed over my shoulder as I went back upstairs. “Because I’m starving!” As I went upstairs, I checked the wards we’d placed around the house once I’d gotten back. They were still holding, as no one had attempted to cross them.

  I hoped that Beeval was right, and that I had been a fun thing rather than a work thing for Ashlar, and thus not deserving of constant notice. Either that, or Ashlar had a ball busting boss. I didn’t care—whatever kept him from knowing I was gone.

  We had to find an angel sword. I didn’t even know where to look, much less what I was looking for. I hoped like hell that Zane had found out something in his library. Which, once all this was over, if we all made it, I would need to check out.

  Since he wasn’t trying to raise zombies, or kill us, I supposed having a necromancer as a neighbor wasn’t a bad thing. But I wasn’t sure, so we’d need to wait and see.

  And if we all made it out alive. That wasn’t a sure thing. I got dressed, and went back downstairs. “Have you sorted dinner yet?” I asked Daniella.

  “Deirdre called to the Saloon, and ordered all of our favorites. She’ll be back shortly.”

  “Why do we fight again?” I asked with a smile as I got glasses out and poured tea.

  “I don’t know. We should enjoy this tonight. Tomorrow is the funeral,” Daniella said.

  “And the family descends,” I added wryly.

  “Oh, goddess. I almost forgot. What are we going to say to them? I’ve never even met them.” Daniella looked worried.

  I laughed. “With all that’s going on, we’re worried about how to talk to long-lost family.”

  “Have you met our family? We’re all dangerous and mad as hatters. And they’ve obviously been fed a diet of the crazy Deadwood side.”

  “There is that,” I agreed. “We’ll need to talk to them, after we get through tomorrow. What did you plan?” I asked. “I’m sorry I couldn’t—”

  “No, you couldn’t. You had to heal,” Daniella said firmly. “There was no other choice.”

  “No other choice to what?” Deirdre came in, her arms full of bags. And good smells.

  I just knew there was a crab and hollandaise burger for me in there. Hopefully the fries were still hot. “Gimme,” I said. “That smells delicious.”

  Beeval came in, drawn by the smell. “Is time for eat?” he asked hopefully. Evil sat contentedly on his head.

  “I brought extra, you know, just in case,” Deirdre said.

  A knock at the door stopped us all for a moment.

  “Right on time,” Daniella said. She went to the door and opened it.

  Zane stood on the porch. “Am I interrupting?” he asked.

  “No, we are having dinner, and you’re invited,” Deirdre said. “I’ve even gotten you a burger. Come in.” She wheeled around and gave me a look.

  “What?” I mouthed.

  She widened her eyes as she walked back to the island where she’d left all the food.

  Zane stopped. “Apparently, there was nothing to worry about.”

  I turned. He was watching Beeval and Evil. “No, somehow they worked it all out without any of us having to get involved.”

  “I don’t even pretend to understand,” Zane said, shaking his head. “But I’m glad. I’m already fond of Beeval.”

  “Well, it’s you and me, then,” I said with a smile.

  “Hey, it’s more than that,” Daniella said. “He’s growing on me.”

  Deirdre laughed. “You’re all claiming love, but who brought the burgers? Beeval, I got you one, too.”

  I smiled gratefully at Deirdre. I knew it was madness to keep a demon in the house, but I couldn’t abandon him. I knew that in my bones. It also seemed that losing Meema had quieted something within us—we hadn’t fought at all since I’d crawled out of Hell. I hadn’t even felt the urge, and normally, I wanted to kill one or both of them on a regular basis. It was gone, as though it had never been there.

  Why? It was another one of those things we’d need to manage … later.

  Together, we sat around the island, eating the deliciousness from the Saloon No. 10 and talking and laughing, almost like a normal family. Three witches, a necromancer, a demon and his live chicken hat, and a ghost.

  It could be worse.

  Chapter Ten

  I woke the next morning before sunrise. It wasn’t much before, because I could see the streaks of light in the eastern sky from the windows in the hall.

  Today was the day we buried Meema. Her coffin—which unfortunately did not contain her, but which Deirdre and Daniella had spelled at the funeral home—would lie next to Granny’s.

  Who was in her coffin, I supposed.

  I showered, and dressed in a long black dress, pulling my hair back into a bun. Even though it was summer, and warm, I’d chosen a dress with a high neck and long sleeves. There was no need to sport my Hell marks—or as the town would see it, my new tats—at Meema’s funeral. They didn’t need any more to gawk at.

  I went downstairs, the first one up. That meant I started the coffee. After I got the pot going, Doc appeared.

  “I wish I could go with you,” he said.

  “She’s not in there, Doc,” I protested. “You know that.”

  He put his hands in his pockets. “I feel like I need to pay my respects.”

  “You’re doing that right now.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “By taking care of us,” I said quietly, pulling food out of the fridge, not wanting to meet his eyes.

  Silence, then, “Oh. Well, I do what I can.”

  I looked up. “I’m glad.”

  “So am I, darlin’,” he said.

  There was a knock on the door. “Well, here comes the rest of the family. You want to meet them?”

  “I never fight unless I have to. I’ll stand back and watch,” he said with a smile.

  “Coward,” I replied as I walked to the door. Opening it, there were three women dressed all in black.

  “Hello. I’m Desdemona,” I said. “Are you the Deanas?”

  The eldest one laughed. “Is that what you’re calling us?”

  “Isn’t that what you all are named?” I asked. “And come in.” I stood back from the door.

  “This is Granny’s house?” The woman who appeared to be in the middle in age looked around.

  “It is,” I said. “We had it moved off of Main Street a while back, and then redid it.”

  “I like the ceilings,” said the youngest.

  “Okay, so how do we refer to each of you?” I asked.

  “I am DeAnna,” said the eldest. “I changed my name after I had Dee,” she touched her daughter’s arm. “There’s only one Deana.”

  “Well, that makes it easier.”

  “No, there’s more than one,” the youngest said. “I’m the only one who goes by Deana. Don’t listen to them. They’re not sure if they need to be bitter. They loved Auntie Desi.”

  “Shut up, Deana,” said Dee.

  “This is going to be a super reunion,” I said. “Come in and have coffee, and we can continue the hostilities there.” I turned my back on them.

  There was whispering behind me, but I ignored it. It seemed the Deanas had the same sorts of problems w
e did. I grinned.

  “The coffee’s almost done, and we have all the fixings,” I said as I got cups out. “Deirdre and Daniella will be down in a while.”

  “So where is he?” Deana, the youngest, asked.

  “Who?” I turned around.

  “Come on, don’t ‘who’ me. Great-great-whatever-grandad. Doc Holliday. Gran told us all about him. Said he was a grumpy bastard.”

  “I am, when given reason.,” Doc materialized. “The rest of the family?” he asked me.

  I nodded. “DeAnna, your great-granddaughter. Dee, your great-great-granddaughter. And the one calling you a grumpy bastard is Deana. The great-great-great,” I finished.

  Doc had reappeared wearing a hat. He tipped it at the three of them. “Ladies, I am delighted to meet you.”

  None of them, even Deana, looked like they knew what to say.

  “You’re a lot more pleasant than Mom told us,” DeAnna said.

  “Well, I’ve undergone an attitude adjustment,” Doc said. “It is possible, after a hundred years or so.”

  “What’s the plan for today?” Dee asked.

  “We’re having the service, and then the burial. It’s not planned, but people will come to the shop.”

  “So most of the day, then?” Deana asked.

  I nodded. “Yes. How long are you staying for?”

  DeAnna started to speak but Dee stopped her. “We’re not sure,” Dee said.

  That was interesting. I poured four cups of coffee. There was silence as everyone fixed their drinks.

  “What time is the funeral?” Deana asked.

  I sighed. “Soon. As a matter of fact, I need to go upstairs and make sure everyone’s up. Oh, if you see a chicken, he’s a house chicken. If he’s sitting on a short, weird guy…uh…well, that guy belongs here, too. I’ll be right back.” I ran lightly up the stairs.

  “Did she say chicken?” one of them asked.

  “Yes, indeed,” Doc said. “We got all kinds here. The house chicken is Evil. The short, weird guy is a demon that followed Desdemona from Hell, and his name is Beeval. They are the best of friends.” Doc’s voice followed me up the stairs.

  I knocked on Deirdre’s door.

  “I’m almost ready,” she called.

  “Excellent. Company’s here,” I said. I kept going to Daniella’s room.

  She came out the door as I reached her room. “They here?” she asked, tucking her hair up into a bun.

  Seemed we had the same idea. “Yes.”

  “And?”

  “It’s interesting.”

  “What are they doing?”

  “I left them with Doc,” I admitted.

  “Oh, that’s going to be great. Jeez, Desi!” She hurried in front of me, banging on Deirdre’s door. “Quit stalling, chicken! Come on!” Daniella hurried down the stairs, slowing as she reached the bottom.

  “Coming, coming.” Deirdre’s voice was tired as she came out of her room. “Hey,” she said to me. “How are they?”

  “Annoyed. Don’t really understand.”

  “Well, we have to make them understand, even if they don’t want to be part of Deadwood,” Deirdre said briefly. “This is stupid, and I’m annoyed that Deana didn’t ever try to make things better.”

  “I think she did make things okay with Meema,” I said, as we walked down the stairs together.

  “Doesn’t help us now,” Deirdre muttered. She put a smile on her face. “I’m so glad you could come,” she said to the three women who watched us. “I wish we’d met under better circumstances.”

  “We loved Meema,” DeAnna said.

  “So did we,” Daniella said.

  “How much time before we have to leave?” Deana asked. “Because there’s more than you told us about how she died.”

  “How do you know?” I asked with an overly casual shrug.

  “Because you don’t die,” Dee said. “We know. Just because we aren’t here doesn’t mean we don’t know.”

  “Yeah, well, since you’re not here,” I snapped, “you really don’t know.”

  “So tell us,” Deana said.

  She seemed the least angry. But the anger wasn’t helping anything. I should know, having lived with it for a hundred years or so.

  “Why are you so angry with us?” Deirdre said. “I don’t understand that. We’ve never done anything to you. Nothing. We wished Deana well, even though we missed her always.” She looked at the three Deanas, her face earnest.

  DeAnna glanced at Dee. Dee shrugged. Deana threw up her hands. “For God’s sakes. This is so stupid.” She glared at her mom and grandmom. “Why are you guys carrying on Gram’s whatever? This isn’t your baggage. Dump that shit. This is family that’s still here.”

  “What did your mom say?” I asked DeAnne. “I mean, seriously. We argued when she left, but we all got it— get it. None of us resented her, or stayed pissed. So what crawled up her butt?”

  “A big stick.” Deana glared at her elders. “Don’t give me that look. Gram was mad she had to leave, but she didn’t, did she?” She turned to me, and my sisters.

  “No. She could have stayed here.”

  “And never died,” DeAnna said.

  Deirdre said, “You don’t know that. We don’t really know the deal with Granny’s longevity. She did die, after all.”

  “And according to Meema, she chose that,” I added.

  “How do you choose it?” Deana asked.

  “She just gave up and let her soul go,” Doc said quietly.

  “Yeah, look what her deal for immortality gave her,” Deirdre grumped. She pointed at the Deanas. “That doesn’t give you the right to say anything! We’re the ones dealing with the fallout!”

  “What fallout?” Dee asked.

  “Well, you’re about to deal with it, so save it if you want to bitch, because your turn is coming,” Daniella added.

  “Stop!” Deana yelled, holding up her hands. “There are too many people talking, and I can’t keep all of you straight. It would great to have names that start with something other than ‘D’, but we don’t, so I’m going to start with the basics. What deal did my three-times-great make that was such crap? What is she? Your …?” She looked around with raised brows.

  Deirdre looked at me. “Why don’t you do the honors? You’ve sure as hell earned it.”

  Daniella nodded. “Go ahead, Desi.”

  I sighed. “Okay, this is what we know. Granny, Meema’s mother, lived here in 1876. She fell in love with this guy.” I jerked my thumb at Doc. ”And in desperation, she went to a demon for help. Apparently her—our—family has some witch background, but we don’t know how much. Granny didn’t write much in her diaries about her family before she moved here. So anyway.” I took a breath. “She makes a deal with a demon. Sells her and our mom’s soul for power, immortality, and Doc.”

  “I was not aware of any of this,” Doc said.

  I held up a hand. “He rolled out, and Granny took his ghost after he died. He’s been around ever since. Not always happily, which is understandable. During that time, Granny had to hand over two souls, and she talked two women with consumption into taking her and Meema’s place. I know, right?” I could see the looks on the Deanas’ faces. “Not cool. But she took all their kids, and gave them a home and money. Apparently, the souls hung on with the fake story until recently. And then the demon, named Ashlar, showed up here. He was pissed at being tricked. So he dragged me and Meema to Hell.”

  “Literal Hell?” DeAnna asked.

  “Yes. I have the scars.” I lowered my high collar, and pulled up my left sleeve.

  Dee gasped.

  “Ashlar put Meema in the River of Hell. I don’t think there’s any way to get her out of there.” My voice caught, and I closed my eyes for a moment, thinking of poor Meema in that disgusting goo. “I barely got out myself. If it wasn’t for Beeval, I’d probably still be there,” I admitted.

  “So we found Granny’s diaries, and found out all this stuff. She screwed a
lot of stuff up, which explains why she told us to be a force for good here in our little corner of the world,” Deirdre said.

  “And the demon Ashlar hasn’t noticed that not only is Desi gone, but one of his little minions seems to have disappeared as well. We’re on the lookout for that, just so you know,” Daniella said.

  “The minion?” Dee asked, her forehead creased.

  “No, Ashlar, the pissed demon. He is going to come back. And he told us that he was coming for all of us. All the Nightingale women, was how he phrased it. You’re part of this. I’m sorry.”

  No one spoke. It was a lot to take in. I knew it. I continued, “We have to kill the demon. There’s no other way.”

  “Can’t you just give him what he wants?” Deana asked.

  “Well, he has Meema,” Daniella said. “But Granny is gone, and he’s never going to get her soul. It’s not possible. So no, we can’t.”

  “Granny screwed us all,” DeAnna said. “Did my mom know that?”

  I shook my head. “No. None of us knew until a couple of days ago.”

  “What do you need?” Dee asked.

  Her mom whipped her head to glare at her, or reprimand her, but Dee ignored it.

  “We can’t leave Deadwood. Well, we can, but we begin to age, and at this point, I don’t know what will happen. Like, will we look like the Cryptkeeper? I’ve driven west close to the border, but that wasn’t very far. I think we need to go further.”

  “For what?” Deana asked.

  Daniella answered her. “The only thing that we’re sure can kill a demon. An angel sword.”

  Chapter Eleven

  No one spoke after that. Then Deirdre looked at her watch. “Shit! We have to get going! The service starts in thirty minutes. We should already be there!”

  A warning to Doc to keep an eye on things, and use the ghost gossip network if he needed to, and we piled into two cars, and went down to the church. St. John’s Episcopal was where Meema had gone every Sunday, and Granny before her. Granny had also bought a section of ten plots for all of us in Mt. Moriah, thinking ahead that we’d all have to “die” from time to time. She’d even had an iron gate made for our section.

  How could she be such a good planner in this, but such a shit planner in the bigger things, like making a deal with a crazy demon? Not that there were many who were sane. Although Beeval was. Or seemed to be.