by Gary Jonas
“That was for takin’ Lily, you son of a bitch!” The third and fourth shots found his belly. “And those were for makin’ Gemma and Orela do your butcherin’ for you!”
Jack stepped over the wolf. His cheek was already knitting itself back together. “Please, just stop that, Nancy. You’re wasting good bullets.”
Tears rolled down Nancy’s cheeks as she stepped back. “Goddamn it. I noticed it riding behind you. You were nothin’ but cold, no heat comin’ offa you at all. Thought that was unnatural. No breath to be seen in the air either, ‘less you were talkin’. The Prioress always warned us of things darker than men walking the earth.”
“She’s right, but I’m not one of them.” Jack stopped and put his hand out. “Nancy. I didn’t kill that man, I didn’t take Lily, and I didn’t make Orela and Gemma act like that, I swear. There’s something else out here that did.”
“You’re lyin’, you son of a bitch demon!” Nancy reached into her collar and pulled out a crucifix on a silver chain. She clutched it in her right hand while she fired the rifle with her left. The bullet lodged in Jack’s forehead. He reached up and plucked it out.
“Goddamn it! Where do I hafta hit you to send you back to hell?”
“You can’t. Now look. If I were the one who killed the trapper and took Lily, doesn’t it stand to reason that I would have killed all of you by now?”
“Maybe you’re savin’ us for later, like cattle.”
“Then why would I come out here and feed on a wolf? Trust me, it’s not my favorite meal.” Jack put both his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “I’m trying to protect you, not eat you. If I wanted to do that, you’d already be dead. You’re right; I am something darker than a man. But I was human once too, and I’m trying to remember that, trying to stay in the light.” Jack smiled. “You said your Prioress forgives all of you for who you were and what you’ve done in the past. You’re washed clean in her eyes. Do that for me, Nancy. Let me be clean in your eyes. Let me help you.”
Nancy stood breathing hard in the snow. She kept a firm grip on her crucifix, even as she lowered the rifle. “I will let you help me on one condition. Bullets don’t work, so tell me how I can kill you.”
“You already know one way. You saw it when were riding to the cabin.”
Nancy thought for a moment. “Sunlight.”
“That’s right. That’s why I couldn’t see, why my skin was burned. I cannot abide the light of day.”
“You said that’s one way to kill you. What else?”
“Well, that’s the surest way. There’s no coming back from that. Also, if you drive a wooden stake through my heart and leave it there, I’m as good as dead.”
“If I take it out?”
“Then I come right back.”
Nancy graced him with her narrowed eyes. “What deal did you make with the devil to become this thing?”
Jack’s smile faded. She brought her to the room, then stood in the corner and watched me. “I wasn’t the one who made the deal. That was done for me by someone I loved.”
Nancy looked down at the snow, then tilted her head back up at the stars. Finally, she sighed and turned. “Let’s get back to the cabin.” She took a few steps and noticed Jack wasn’t following her. She looked over her shoulder. “You comin’?”
Jack smiled sheepishly. “I’ve...got a wolf here to finish.”
“Well, don’t take offence if I don’t keep you company. I don’t care much for your table manners.”
***
Jack spent much of the night outside. The wolf took the edge off his hunger, but he still wanted the women in the cabin. He looked again for signs of the miners, but without much hope. Even the wolves’ trails gave out under the trees. The truth was, if Nancy revealed what she’d learned about him, he was reluctant to face Gemma, Jade and Orela again. Especially Orela.
The sky was beginning to lighten before he shouted, “Hello the house!” and opened the cabin door. Nancy sat beside the door with her rifle, her face stern and wary. At the same time, Orela smiled up at him from beside the fire where she stirred a pot. Either she paid no mind to blood-sucking fiends, or Nancy had kept mum. Gemma was up, and by her expression of equal parts hurt and outraged stupidity, Jack figured she was running low on laudanum. Jade Silk Doll was nowhere to be seen. The ribs she’d sharpened were laid out near the fire. Jack noticed she’d made a hole in each one near their unsharpened ends.
“She’s out back caring for the horses,” Orela said, noticing Jack’s concern.
“Least she better be,” Nancy murmured, eyes boring into Jack’s.
“I’m certain she’s fine,” Jack answered, staring back. “I’ve been out patrolling all night and there’s no sign of our friends, or anything else that might hurt her.”
“Any sign of Lily, Marshal?” Gemma asked from the bed. There was just enough amusement in her voice to bring Nancy to her feet. Jack had to marvel at the grace displayed by the big woman. He imagined she had been quite a dancer in her time.
“You’re lucky she aint back. It’s given your lazy ass another day to lounge in bed. Though I think today, you’re gonna get out of it and pack our gear. We’re leavin’ soon.”
Orela turned to Nancy and spoke over Gemma’s protests. “Today or tonight?”
Nancy looked at Jack, then back at Orela. “I...aint made up my mind ‘bout that yet.”
“Jack’s been up all night. He’s not gonna be any good in the saddle if we head out today.” Orela said.
“That’s why I aint made up my mind yet!” Nancy sat back down and Orela quickly looked back at the pot she was stirring. “I might just be keepin’ my options open,” she added, fixing Jack with her narrow-eyed stare. “I suggest you get on to bed, Marshal, either way. Sun’s almost up.”
Orela offered Jack a bowl of rolled oats, which turned out to be the contents of the pot. He politely refused, saying he’d eaten from his pack outside. Nancy smirked at him. Jack rolled himself up tight in his bedroll but it was a while before he drifted off, still hungry.
***
He woke again just after dusk. Someone had actually talked Gemma into keeping watch. She sat by the window with the curtain open. Jack noticed a row of icicles hanging from the eaves. He also saw that everyone’s belongings, including quite a few of the trapper’s, were packed up and ready for the horses. Orela’s customary smile looked strained.
“Well, if it aint Sleepin’ Beauty,” Gemma said. “Lies around all day while we do the work. Surprised we didn’t disturb your highness. You sleep like the dead.”
“Doesn’t he just?” The corner of Nancy’s mouth turned up in a hook of a smile while she polished her Colt. “Jack, let’s us check on the horses before we load ‘em up.” Nancy holstered her gun and put on her coat while Jack did the same. Orela went to the window and looked out.
“Are you sure it’s safe?” she asked.
“We’ll be all right, Ore.” Nancy looked at Jack. “Jade ‘n Orela had themselves another pretty good scare today.”
“Jade went out and found a root cellar. I come to help her bring in some food, and we...we also found the trapper, Jack. Oh, it’s terrible.”
“I thought we best get a move on after that,” Nancy said. “Travel at night like we was doin’ before. Easier to stay hidden that way.”
“I agree,” Jack said, as he opened the cabin door for Nancy.
Once they got to the lean-to, Nancy whirled on him.
“Y’all are a thing of darkness and evil,” she said, her voice a low, even growl.
“Quite a few faro players have told me that, too.”
“I should destroy you where you stand.”
“Heard that before as well.”
“You aint takin me seriously.”
“I’d be an idiot not to take you seriously. I just know you won’t do it.”
“How do you know that?”
“You had your chance already.” Jack pointed at the new icicles lining the house. “The su
n was out strong today. You could have opened the curtains and let it burn me, but you didn’t.”
Nancy looked back and forth between Jack and the icicles. “Don’t think I didn’t consider it.” She grabbed the pitchfork and stabbed it into the hay.
“Why didn’t you kill me?” Jack asked softly.
Nancy stood the pitchfork up in the hay and sighed. “You may be a thing of darkness and I may be damning myself for letting you live. But they need you. I...need you. I have seen both damnation and miracles, Jack. But it aint my job to kill or convert you. My job’s to get these whores home. And I need you to help me do that.” Nancy reached out her hand to Jack. “So just for now, I offer you my protection in return for yours. I got your back, you got mine. Deal?”
“Deal.” Jack shook Nancy’s hand.
“What’s out there, Jack? What’s been followin’ us?”
Could he tell her and still hang on to the modicum of trust he’d just gained? Jack sighed. Only one way to find out.
“There’s this man...” he began. He told her about the deal the Preacher offered him, about how he tried to avoid the whole business and then walked right into it. “I don’t fully know myself what he is. But he’s dark, darker than me, and he has no mercy,” Jack finished. He waited for Nancy’s reaction. Throughout his story, her face had stayed blank enough to make him think twice about playing poker at her table.
“You know, Jack, I really wish you’d ‘fessed up earlier. We coulda been outta here a lot sooner, zig-zaggin’ like a jackrabbit to throw him off the trail.”
“Do you really think you could?”
“It’s what my sisters and me do best, outta necessity. We all been followed, one time or another. Now I know who’s been at it, I can tell the others.”
“Why does he want you all so bad?”
“That would be tellin’.”
“That Place...it’s more than just a bunch of whores turning over a new leaf, isn’t it?” Jack asked.
Nancy nodded. “It’s a whole lot more, Marshal. The Prioress gives us a list of names, a place, and out we go to rescue some gals, bring ‘em back, train ‘em to defend the mission. We’re soldiers on the prairie, and you’ll never find us, ‘less we want you to.”
“I can’t see you turning these gals into soldiers.”
“Naw. They’ll get it, once they see it. What we got at St. Magdalene’s is far too precious to expose to danger.”
“And I reckon you’re not going to tell me what that is.”
“Nope.” Nancy crossed her arms; end of that conversation. “I been thinkin’ about them miners comin’ after us, and about what Gemma and Orela done, and even about how them poor wolves just couldn’t run away to save themselves. It’s all the same thing, aint it? This Preacher’s makin’ ‘em do his bidding.”
“I’ve been thinking about that, too, and I’ve reached a similar conclusion.”
“Then that means I shed the blood of innocents. Swore I’d never do that again.” Nancy sighed. “But it didn’t feel wrong.”
“Of course it didn’t feel wrong. They were shooting at us first, if you’ll recollect.”
“That aint what I mean.” Nancy’s eyes brightened and Jack could almost see why a man might ask her to dance. Her voice took on the same calm, deep quality it had when she spoke about St. Magdalene’s. “See, when I got my gun out, and I’m aimin’ for someone, well, when it’s right...there’s a song in my heart. If you could see that song, Jack, it would look like a pure, white light. The worser the man, the brighter it is.” She frowned, and any residual beauty was gone from her face. “But when it aint right, that song aint there.”
Jack grinned. “How about when you shot me?”
“Well, I gotta say. That’s the real reason you aint a strip’a jerky on the cabin floor right now. That song weren’t there.” Nancy returned Jack’s grin. “Though I also gotta say, once I was over having the daylights scared outta me, shootin’ you had its own kind of satisfaction.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Best you do. We’re ‘bout ready to head out,” Nancy said. “Figured I’d have you ‘scout’ one more time. Thought you might find yourself something more to your appetite out there than what we got in the soup pot. Heard them wolves earlier.”
“They’ll do me fine.”
“Hurry up though. The gals are spooked and Gemma’s fit to be tied now the juice’s runnin’ out.”
“What do you make of Jade Silk Doll and her bones? It looks like she’s making herself a set of stakes. You didn’t tell her about my condition, did you?”
‘Naw, I kept mum ‘bout you. Didn’t wanna go scarin’ ‘em more. As for Jade, Lord knows? Them still waters run deep, but she aint crazy.” Nancy paused and looked up at the sky. “Lily...Lily’ll just have to follow us.” Nancy looked at Jack, her eyes wide and round, something almost childlike in them. “She’ll understand, won’t she, why we left her behind?”
“I’m sure she will, Nancy. She knows.”
Nancy looked away, nodding. “That’s what I keep tellin’ myself. She knows we waited for her. Least we could do. The very least, turns out.” Nancy swiped her arm across her face and headed back toward the cabin door. “Hurry back now,” she called over her shoulder. “And good huntin’.”
Jack waited for her to go inside. He listened for the wolves but didn’t hear anything. He wouldn’t be surprised at all to see they’d moved on. Maybe he could pick up their trail, follow them if they hadn’t gone too far. He headed out across the valley, gun ready at his side. The night was still, the kind of stillness that puts you on guard. Jack got to the horse carcass and looked for fresh prints. He followed the tracks from the previous night until the cabin was out of view. They had melted and softened in shape from the day’s sun. Jack lost hope of catching up to the wolves. He still had the canteen back in the cabin, though he was loathe to drink the blood of an innocent man, blood that, even without his knowledge, had been shed on his behalf. Still, it would keep the gals safe from his appetite at least long enough to get the hell out of here and back to better prospects.
When Jack returned to the cabin, he saw something in the snow for Nancy. Beside the desiccated wolves was a delicate hand, skinned and drained of blood, neatly sawed off at the wrist. Jack didn’t have to speculate who it belonged to or why it was there. A cold wind picked up the snow around him in a swirling dance.
“When I offered her to them, the good men of Lightning Touch passed pretty Lily around like a bottle of whiskey while I prayed for their souls. They did not have the same moral fortitude you showed with the canteen.”
The voice was right behind Jack. He spun, pulling the Colt as he did. The Preacher would be dead before the gals ever heard the shot. Jack pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for my Lord art with me.” The Preacher laughed. “Now let’s discuss our deal.”
“I never made a deal with you.”
“That doesn’t matter a whit because I’m big enough to make a deal for both of us. You have tried my patience, Marshal, and that is saying a lot. Long time I’ve been waiting for this opportunity, a very long time. This particular enterprise was supposed to end days ago, you know. Back in the woods, those miners weren’t aiming at you; they were aiming at that whore. Make her bleed, give you a little incentive. Might have finished this business up quick and tidy if I’d had better marksmen in my employ. Instead you go and make friends with your intended vittles.”
Jack pulled the trigger again, and the Colt refused a second time.
“Don’t even try to shoot me, Marshal. Waste of good bullets, I believe you once said.”
“These aren’t good bullets. These are a couple of dead primers.”
The Preacher clucked his tongue. “I see your faith has not grown. The seed I have attempted to sew did not find fertile ground.”
“I’m betting you’re go
ing to try to fertilize it with some bullshit.”
The Preacher just smiled. His arm shot out like a striking rattlesnake, his palm hit Jack in the forehead and sent him backwards into the snow.
Cold snow.
Jack inhaled from the shock of it, and his heart felt like it was about to burst. With the first breath he drew, he felt it bang in his chest, then settle into a comfortable rhythm. Jack was breathing, his heart was pumping, the snow around him was cold to the touch, and he could smell woodsmoke and pine and traces of the women on his clothes.
The hunger was gone. Jack arched his back and moaned out of sheer relief. He was human again.
“Doubt me now, brother?”
“No.” The word came out ragged. Jack realized he was fighting back tears.
“Belief is such a beautiful thing.” The Preacher knelt down in the snow and gripped Jack’s arm. He leaned forward until his mouth was beside Jack’s ear. His breath smelled of cloves masking something bitter and deep. “I am the way. The truth. The life...for you. This is your last chance. Do what I asked. Turn the whore. You can do whatever you want with the others. Drain them now, or wait and fuck them as a living man after I give you back this gift I’m so generously letting you taste. After you bring me Nancy.”
Jack struggled to rise, but found he could barely move. The Preacher’s will overpowered his.
“I know why you’re doing this,” Jack said.
“That so, Marshal?”
“You think that if I turn Nancy I can force her to take you to St. Magdalene’s.” Jack smiled up at the Preacher. “It hurts me to disappoint you, but it doesn’t work that way.”
“Well now I am impressed, truly I am. Like her name, Lily turned out to be a delicate flower, too easily crushed. Nancy is a whole lot tougher and uglier and meaner, but she is still a clay vessel – she can still break under too much pressure. I don’t need you to persuade her. I need you to be a kiln. Once she has your particular gifts of regeneration, I can do whatever I want with her, for however long I desire.”