by Marie Hall
She frowned, unsure if she’d done something to displease him. Confused, and not a little stung by his obvious dismissal, she sat down on the edge of Arianna’s bed and unlaced her boots. She threw them down a little harder than she needed to, and then looked back at him.
He hadn’t moved. She started to lie down on Ari’s bed.
“Come here,” he growled, still not looking at her. “I promised,” he said softer.
There was a feeling, in the pit of her stomach that if she got up and went to him—if they continued to do this—they’d get to a point where it would be impossible to undo this.
She got up and walked to her bed.
He rustled around, pushing down the quilt, and then scooted against the far edge of the wall.
Sable’s heart stuttered as she slipped in beside him, curling into the warmth of his big arms. He crushed her to him and it would be a lie to say it was anything other than perfect. His chest moved against her back as he inhaled and exhaled, the rhythm was soft and lulling.
She wiggled deeper into him, feeling borderline desperate to touch every inch of him. He threw one of his legs over hers and she could swear electricity jolted from his skin into her body when their bare feet brushed.
She was never going to fall asleep like this. She was simply too aware of him. His fingers were curled around her ribcage and it was crazy uncomfortable, but it didn’t matter because he was holding her and it was nice.
So she lay there, his leg getting heavier and heavier, making hers go numb. Her side tingled because she couldn’t move or roll over to relieve the pressure. In her head she heard the tick tock of the invisible wall clock counting down each passing minute.
Sometime later, Arianna entered the room on tiptoes. Alone. Silent. She heard her lay down in a rustle of skirts and knew she hadn’t undone her gown.
Sable had no idea how much time had passed. Slayde was asleep, softly snoring beside her. She nestled her face against the crook of his elbow. His hard bicep made a rotten pillow. She smiled.
After a few minutes Arianna started snoring, she was surprised. Having slept in the same room with Ari before, she knew she was usually a quiet sleeper. She wondered what, if anything, the healer had found out. But there would be no questions tonight.
Slayde shifted, finally pulling his leg off her, blood rushed back in tingling relief. He moved his arm, but held tight to her hand.
She needed to talk to Hunter. She chewed on her bottom lip and releasing Slayde’s hand, rolled over, sighing loudly as sensation flooded the numb side of her body. He frowned, but didn’t move.
She studied his sleeping profile. His strong jaw and long nose. Full lips, that if she were braver, she’d lean over and kiss right now.
A side of her wanted to shake him awake, talk to him and tell him what she’d learned, but another side of her, the biggest side was afraid to tell him anything. Truth was, she wasn’t sure she trusted him not to get himself killed trying to protect her.
She needed a level head, a level mind. So it was with bitter regret she got up and tip toed as quiet as possible to the door. She was almost there when a floorboard squeaked. Clenching her teeth, she turned, but neither occupant moved.
She turned the knob and shot out, closing the door as quiet as possible behind her. It must have been really late, because all around her she heard a sea of snores. The candles were all blown out and she was actually a little shocked, she’d expected to see people up until twilight. But it was calm and she was grateful.
As quick as she could, she walked down the staircase listening for signs of life. There wasn’t even a bartender behind the bar. She walked outside and inhaled the delicious salt tinged air as she headed toward the back alley, nearly tripping over the still form of Bob. He was curled in on himself and it was hard to tell if he was passed out cold, or dead.
She waited and held her breath. If he was dead, what should she do? Would the people realize who’d killed him? Had Ari killed him? He wasn’t moving. She stayed so still she started to feel dizzy, all sorts of what ifs running sprints through her mind. Worry gnawed at her intestines.
And then he farted and she fought the hysterical laughter that threatened to fall from her lips. Sable pinched her nose and jogged the last bit to a deep cover of shadow. Nice to know the healer hadn’t done anything stupid.
Her heart finally started to beat a steady rhythm again when she whispered Hunter’s name. A moment later a blue rift appeared and he stepped out. But instinct had her taking a step back. He was large; double his normal size and breathing heavy. There were scratches all over his face and the fangs she’d sworn she’d seen before were back and there was no doubt about their length.
“What?” His voice was guttural. Sable sensed that he was desperately trying to control whatever beast held him thrall.
She frowned and ignoring her instinct, reached out to touch the side of his jaw. “What happened to you?”
He jerked his head back. “Don’t touch me. I’ll be fine.” But his eyes were glowing an eerie shade of poured metal and his words rumbled with barely checked fury and she knew he lied. “I’ll be fine,” he said again.
Was he trying to convince himself, or her?
“I found out about a man named The Bandit.”
Hunter’s nostrils flared, he sniffed the wind like a dog and then he shoved her behind him.
She peered out from around his rigid frame. “What?” she whispered, panic threaded the word.
He didn’t say anything for a while, and she thought maybe he hadn’t heard her. After another minute or so, she finally felt the tense muscles of his back relax and he shook his head.
“I saw something.” He turned around.
“Do you think it saw us?” she whispered, but knowing deep down it was too late for stealth.
He looked at her. “Yes.”
One word, but the sound of it was a death knell to her heart.
Chapter 6: Suspicions and Red Herrings
Sheets of sunlight poured through the open window, bathing Sable in a wash of golden heat. She stretched cat like, arms high above her head. Spine arced, toes pointed and wiggling. She patted Slayde. Or at least the side of the bed where Slayde had been.
She opened her eyes, blinking against the bright lights of morning.
“He’s gone,” Arianna said. She was sitting on the bed. Legs hanging over the side. She was wearing the same dress as the night before. It was a wrinkled mess, Ari’s hair curled a wild frame around a pale face. Dull looking eyes stared back at her.
“You look like crap,” Sable said before she could check her thought. “I...I mean,” she stuttered, but snapped her mouth shut when Arianna held up her hand.
“I know how I look. Did you learn anything yesterday?” But it was forced interest. Her voice was flat and monotone.
After her talk with Hunter she’d learned they basically had no idea what they were looking for. Aside from the Bandit, who may or may not be the Lord, they had no leads. One night mingling with the people had led Sable to one irrevocable conclusion, the faster they could learn what they needed, the faster they could leave.
The Wild West was totally not all it was cracked up to be, for one, there was no such thing as indoor plumbing. Using the bathroom last night had been fun. Not. She’d squatted and prayed no snakes would sink their fangs into her exposed rear. Most of the people stunk and hygiene was a laughable notion. On top of that, everyone seemed horribly normal and she was beginning to doubt after her talk with Hunter that the Bandit was the Lord because killing and stealing didn’t sound all that scary.
A concern in the back of her mind was the longer they stayed in one place; the easier it would be for Dragden to lock onto their position and kill them. She had to ask Hunter.
“Nothing. What time did you come to bed last night?”
Ari shrugged a slim shoulder. “No clocks. It was late. They made me come up.”
The last thing they needed was to have Arianna get fired.
Like who gets fired from a whorehouse? Really? But judging by the nasty looks Milly threw her way every once in a while, she could only imagine how much more angry she’d be at Ari who didn’t even pretend to sleep with someone.
“What did you do to that guy yesterday?”
Arianna squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her forehead in a slow back and forth grinding motion. “I flirted.”
Sable wasn’t stupid. It might have appeared that way to someone else, but Arianna was doing something other than flirting. Men didn’t pass out cold from being touched.
The healer winced and then laid back down, curling into a ball with her arms thrown over her face.
“What is wrong with you, Ari? Do you have a headache?”
She groaned. “Too much whiskey.”
“I thought that was beer. You were knocking back a lot of that stuff, isn’t that supposed to be bad for you?”
Ari peeked at her between her fingers for a second before her lashes fluttered shut again. She didn’t answer.
“What are you doing to yourself, Ari? Are you trying to get yourself killed? I thought you said your father told you to protect life. I don’t think he meant drinking yourself into a disgusting stupor.”
She wanted to shake the healer, rattle some sense into her brain. Okay, so fine, she was grieving, she got it. Not like Sable hadn’t seen her fair share of crap in life, but this wasn’t healthy. Clearly.
“You know...” But she never got a chance to finish her thought. Arianna sprang to her feet and ran towards the open window with a hand over her mouth. The second her head dangled out she threw up.
The breeze lifted at that moment, rolling the rotten stench of day old alcohol and who knew what else, through the room. It was enough to make Sable gag and curl her nose. Pinching her nostrils shut, she sighed. Nagging Arianna wasn’t going to help fix this. She gathered the healer’s hair in her hands and patted Ari’s back until she stopped hurling.
“Madre de Dios,” Ari moaned a second later and wiped the back of her mouth with her wrist. Tears dripped from the corners of her eyes and her nose was swollen.
“Jeez, Ari, what are we going to do with you? You’re a mess.” She gripped Arianna’s elbow and led her back to the bed. She sat down with a heavy sigh.
“I feel better,” she said after a moment.
“You need food.”
The mention of it had Ari turning several shades of green. She shook her head hard. “No.”
“You need something.” Sable had no experience with this sort of thing. What do you give someone with a massive hangover? Alkaseltzer, but she doubted they had any of that in 1849 San Fran. So what? “Wait here, I’ll be back.”
She grabbed her robe off the hook and walked out, heading downstairs. Like last night, there was very little sign of life. She got to the bar and tapped her fingers when no one appeared.
“Hello?”
Nothing.
She twisted her lips and glancing both ways, hopped onto the bar, laying across it and peered behind. Wondering if maybe One Eye was back and ignoring her. But he wasn’t there. She frowned.
“Oy, what are ye doin’ there, love?”
Sable hopped off and grabbed her chest, one of the twins headed her way. She was dressed in a black gauzy thing, wild mane of hair crackling around her head like it’d been static charged. She yawned big. “Well?” she asked again.
“I was um...” she jerked her thumb over her shoulder, “where’s One Eye?”
“’Ow should I know. Comes and goes as he pleases,” she said with a confused grin and shrugged a plump shoulder.
It was hard to pinpoint the accent, and because the only enjoyable thing she’d been able to do in the loony bin was watch one movie after another she’d developed an ear for speech based off classics. This sounded a lot like the street urchins in Oliver Twist. But whatever it was, it was difficult to understand.
“Well, I um...need help. Ari is—”
The twin giggled. “Red in the face? Aye I saw. We all did, but she was a right smash with the menfolk. The missus was pleased by her purse come night’s end.”
“What?” Had she understood that correctly? “Ari gave Long Nose money?”
“Oh, aye. Fat purse full of gold. Methinks the lady might want ta be chargin’ more for her services.” She wiggled bushy brows and grinned. She stopped next to Sable and the strong musk off her body was unpleasant. Like she’d not washed in days. She wanted to pinch her nose shut, but forced herself to stay put and be polite.
Where had Arianna gotten the money from?
“I’d imagine the wee one is in a fine good fettle, aye?” She mimed drinking.
Sable had zero idea what that meant, but based off her gesture she nodded, hoping she was right and that the twin meant Ari was hung over.
The twin grinned, two of her back molars were missing and she nodded. “Aye, happens to the best of us. Well come then, I’ve got a sure remedy Sarah swears by.”
Which meant this must be Liza.
Liza reached over the bar, grabbed two tin cups and headed out the parlor. Sable followed, and it was totally nuts but she felt naked the way men glanced at her with eyes agog when she walked out in her robe. She belted it as tight as possible. Liza seemed oblivious.
Still snoring where he’d been dropped the night before, was Bob.
“It’s a right fine, mornin’.” Liza stopped next to him for a second to sniff the air and then growled. “Bob’s pissed em’self again.” She kicked the still form. He snorted and blinked open heavy lidded eyes.
She shooed him. “Off you go, ye smelly bag of shite.”
He grumbled, gingerly made his way to his feet and stumbled off, leaving a large wet spot behind him. Sable curled her nose.
Liza grinned. “They aren’t tall bad as at.” And with a small shake of her head, she headed down the sidewalk a few paces, to a corralled section of fence. Inside were two small goats. One was brown with white speckles on its hindquarters and the other fully black.
Stooping, Liza recovered a wooden bucket and then thrust the metal cups at Sable. Sable frowned and stared at the cups. What exactly were they getting ready to do?
Liza cocked her head. “If ye’d rather, ye can do the milkin’.”
She shook her head quickly. “Umm, no thanks.”
She snorted. “I rather thought so, yer hands are lily white and fair. I reckon ye’ve never done a day of milkin’ in yer life. Aye?” She grabbed a short stool and then reached out for the black goat with the largest teats. “Come ere, ye little bastard,” she crooned, wrangling the bucking goat between her strong thighs and rubbed its back until it started to settle down. “Right then.” She nodded to herself a moment later and sat.
She placed the bucket underneath the obscenely large dangling udders and started squeezing. Sable stood spell bound, both disgusted and fascinated at the same time. Milk blasted out in large sprays, filling the bucket quickly.
The rhythmic swish swish of the milking entranced her. “Saw ye wit Alice last night,” Liza said it so quietly it jerked Sable out of her hypnotic trance.
“What?”
She never stopped her work, but glanced at her. “Saw ye with Alice.”
She nodded and smiled. “Yes, she really helped me.” She would have said more, but Liza glowered at her.
“Ye stay far from that one. She’s trouble. I feel it in me bones.” Her hands finally stopped moving and with a smack against the goat’s rump, she shooed it off. It bleated angrily at her before sauntering off on petite hooves.
Sable’s brows dipped. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
Liza stood and jerked her chin toward the cups Sable had plastered against her body. She held them out as Liza tipped the bucket and divided the still steaming milk into both. She dropped the container and wiping her hands on her robe, took one of the cups out of Sable’s lax fingers.
She glanced down at the thick creamy white fluid with floating bits of hair and crud dancin
g on top. Her stomach rolled. She started to pick them out. Liza stilled her.
“Those be the good bits.” She sipped hers and then nodded. “Aye, keep yer distance from that one. One sister to another, she’s naught but trouble. And take that milk before it grows cold to the little one, it’ll soothe what ails her.”
The shift in conversation was jarring. “Now I’m off to me, man. Likes him a wee tup in the morn before he heads back to the streams.” Liza waved and was gone.
It all happened so fast Sable never got a chance to formulate more questions. She wanted to kick herself all sorts of stupid for freezing up. Grumbling to herself, she headed back to her room. She was halfway up the stairs when she heard a low murmur of conversation. She leaned over the railing and noticed One Eye and Milly tucked away in shadow, they must have entered through the back door. She was gesturing with her fist and One Eye nodded, neither seemed to notice her.
“Yes, my lady,” One Eye said quietly, and though he towered over her, it was clear by his subservient manner who was the one in charge. “As you say.”
She narrowed her eyes. “See that you do, Jack. I’ll not warn you again.” Milly started to turn, heading in Sable’s direction.
Trying to be as quiet as possible, Sable tiptoed up the stairs, wondering what Milly had been so mad about.
Chapter 7: I’ll do whatever I want...(Slayde)
Later that night found Slayde sitting at a corner table in the Parlor playing a winning hand of cards. Hunter was across from him, covered in more scratches than he’d ever seen. He wondered what the boy scout had been up to. But their vaunted leader wasn’t talking, he wasn’t even really playing, just throwing cards down every once in a while. Mostly he was studying the thick crowd of men and women. He avoided looking at the healer who was sitting at the far end of the bar chugging one drink after another.
Two other guys had joined their game about ten minutes ago. One was eyeing his cards like a snake eyeing prey. He almost vibrated with excitement, shifting in his seat and clearing his throat. Obvious tell.