by Brenda, Lady
He is charming, she thought.
She smiled as she saw him dressed in his fancy suit and boiled collar. She still saw him as a boy of eighteen. It was nice for a change to be the recipient of simple youthful adoration. Most of the men that attended her salons reeked of one sort of avarice or another.
Mr. Leonard White was one of them. She had observed him on the stage ride to Virginia City. He had not gambled tonight but nursed his whiskey and watched Esmeralda from the bar. At a quarter to midnight she glanced up when she heard him nearly choke on his drink. She looked towards the entrance where Leonard White stared.
She saw the gambler Devlin Winter walk into her salon. Her hands faltered with the cards. What was left of her heart missed a beat. What the hell had brought him here? To Virginia City? To her Salon? She felt betrayed by fate because, he, Devlin, had not changed at all. He was still as handsome as sin. His eyes the same color of smoky topaz with his raven hair that he wore long and that framed his chiseled austere features. His tall form was accentuated by a long black frock coat with a blood red satin vest and ruffled white shirt. A large ruby stickpin, winked from its snowy folds. She could hear the sighs from the other female dealers as he entered the room.
She continued her play. She didn’t want him to see how rattled she was. She expected him any moment to take the next available seat at the Monte table but then noticed that he hung back. She could not concentrate and rapidly lost two of her plays. Flustered she gathered up the cards.
“That’s all for tonight gentlemen. Have a drink on me,” she said.
The two remaining players gathered up their winnings tipped their hats and left.
Devlin watched her from across the room. In a few strides he reached her table before she could flee. He reached out and grasped her hand. “Do not run from me, Bianca, or is it Esmeralda now?”
She tried to pull her hand away. “Let me go Devlin, you have no right…”
Devlin smiled. “I have every right.”
He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. Esmeralda felt weak and helpless like a fly caught in a spider’s web.
“Let us go to your private rooms, my dear. There is much I would like to say to you.”
Esmeralda started to protest but reminded of her customers said nothing. She saw Devlin glance around the room as if daring anyone to intercede so she gave in and linked her arm with his and led him upstairs.
At the bar, Mr. Leonard White, his eyes bleary with drink watched the object of his fantasies leave on the arm of Devlin Winter. He pounded down another shot of whiskey. A red mist formed over his vision and his head felt like it would explode. His sweaty hand fingered the hideout gun in his vest.
Once they were upstairs, in her boudoir, Esmeralda pulled away from Devlin. Head held high she whirled to face him. “Why are you here in Virginia City? This is my house and my life and you are not privy to it. Haven’t you done enough? I want you to leave.”
Devlin shrugged then took a seat in a large overstuffed chair. His dark eyes assessed her, took in her beauty, which she had wrapped, in a new alluring package.
“Esmeralda. Hmmm, somehow the name suits you now. I am not sure though that I might prefer you as you were before when you were so much more, should I say, pliant.”
Esmeralda reached into her bodice and withdrew a playing card. The Queen of Hearts, rumpled and worn. “Your parting gift. I am returning it to you now. Please leave.”
Devlin rose and took the card from her. He leaned close to her and inhaled her intoxicating fragrance. Esmeralda backed away she could feel the air between them thrum with energy. He moved quickly, reached out, and pulled her close. His lips captured hers and he kissed her deeply. For a brief moment she allowed herself to be swept away and consumed by the heat of his passion, she kissed him back.
Yet he was the one to pull away. “It is not over between us, my sweet, but for now I will let you make the choice.”
Esmeralda laughed. “Choice? Between the half- light and total darkness? I thank you, but no, I have survived so far. You need not worry on that score.”
Devlin’s nostrils flared and he leaned closer to her again. “Demotic Blood? I can smell it on you beneath the scent of night blooming ceruse. Very clever trick but one day it will not be enough. I can’t make you a promise to stay away.”
Esmeralda inched backwards from him, her hand reached for her reticule. She pulled out a small deadly looking pepperbox pistol. “Stand back Devlin, our association is ended.”
Devlin stared her down his gaze that of a predator with Esmeralda as his prey. He walked forward until the gun rested in the center of his chest. She shook her head.
“Do you think I am a fool? Are you certain these bullets are ordinary lead?”
“Never a fool, my dear, naïve perhaps, but not a fool.” He pushed the gun away. “Let’s have a truce. I have some questions for you.”
“You would do well to save your breath. I have nothing to tell you.”
Devlin’s brows drew together. “No, not even to tell me why you are here in Virginia City? Are you not curious why I am here? Why both of us are here? I wonder what the old witch would think? Not being able to shield you with her roots and potions. I’m sure she would flay me alive.”
Esmeralda sighed. “Wherever you go Devlin, death follows. This city has more than enough to offer. I am here for the gold. I don’t want anything to do with your business here. Red Bluff was enough for a lifetime.”
Devlin reached out and touched a lock of her titian colored hair. “Make no mistake, my dear. That flame inside of you burns only for me. You long for my touch and my taste.” He tucked the card back into her bodice, turned away and left without a backwards glance.
Esmeralda sat down heavily on the bed. She needed a moment to compose herself. He had taken her by surprise and she was furious at the emotions he’d evoked. At one time she had seen a glimpse of a soul in Devlin but his past actions had proven otherwise. She was no longer a scared, desperate farm girl in need of a hero.
A discreet knocking sounded at her door. “Miss Jones, ma’am, there’s someone here to see you, someone who says she needs your help”.
Esmeralda got up and opened the door. Jamie stood there and next to him was the small, cloaked, figure of a woman. It was her first client. She motioned the woman in and closed the door.
Devlin absent mindedly shuffled a deck of cards. He and Walking Ghost now back at his railcar sat together in the red velvet parlor next to a cozy, warm stove. It was still spring in the northern Nevada territory and there was a chill in the mountain air.
“I am intrigued that Big Jim Diamond hasn’t contacted me. After that encounter with two of his dogs, Laredo and that carpetbagger Leonard White I would’ve expected for him to at the very least sent one of his hired guns after me by now.”
Walking Ghost chuckled. “Your reputation has sent them hiding like scared women.”
Devlin laughed.
“I hardly think so. That mine holds something beyond the silver and gold that Diamond wants. It’s something ‘he must not’ possess. You and I are going down there tomorrow and find out what it is.”
Walking Ghost shook his head. “This feels like very bad medicine. I would wish for Spider Woman to be here.”
“It is possible that even she would be terrified by what that that lies at the bottom of that shaft,” Devlin said. “Anderson hung on as long as he could. Maybe his guilt put iron in his spine but even that didn’t last. It’s up to us to find the source then we can let the dynamite do the rest.”
Jamie silently closed the door to Esmeralda’s private quarters.
The petite woman threw back the hood of her cape. Cobalt blue eyes stared out at Esmeralda. There were dark circles under them. They stood out like bruises on her pasty white face. Beads of perspiration dotted her brow.
“What is your name?” Esmeralda inquired.
“Dahlia,” she said.
Her voice sounds high like
a child’s, with a piquant face that spells pure mischief, Esmeralda surmised.
“I need your help ma’am, I ain’t got nowhere else to turn.”
Esmeralda looked her over. She took in the skimpy dress, but most of all, the red ribbon tied around her neck.
It will be interesting to hear the girl’s story, the smoke, and the mirrors, she thought.
“And in what way may I assist you, Dahlia.”
Dahlia bent her head down and then looked up at Esmeralda through her lashes. “Why ma’am, I’m a sporting girl, on that I ain’t gonna lie, but I want to leave that behind me an’ turn over a new leaf. “
Esmeralda looked intently at her and read her aura. Images flitted through her mind. “Why come here? I want the truth this time.”
Dahlia pouted. “Well you might a noticed that I’m in a bad way I’ve got a terrible ague, my last genelmn’ clientele, they was pure evil, cursed, what they would say in New Orleans, Vam Peer Ay. They was like to drain me dry. I ran away, there was word on the Coast that you had special powers, healing powers for them that have been cast in the shadows.”
Esmeralda nodded. “Dahlia I can offer you a tincture, one that will not take the place of blood, but will stave off the hunger and the need for it.”
She got up and walked over to a large Oriental chest. Lifting the lid she took out a small purple bottle. “Tell me Dahlia, are there many like you in Virginia City? And if so, there must be many of them, the Vampires?”
A dark cloud passed briefly across Dahlia’s eyes and she hesitated before answering. “I can’t say as I know how many they are but enough to keep us donors busy.”
Esmeralda handed her the bottle.
“Take this, Dahlia. If you need more let me know. I’ll have no sporting girls here but I do have the need of a Faro dealer.”
Dahlia smiled. The diamond tooth in her mouth sparkled in the lamplight.
“Thank ya, ma’am. You won’t be sorry.”
Afterwards, in the early hours before dawn, Esmeralda undressed down to her corset and stockings then lay down on her bed. She was bone tired after her first day yet she could feel sparks of energy flitting through her blood. She tried to close her eyes to relax but to no avail. She lay awake staring at the shadowy ceiling. The sounds of the town irritated her; it was as if a megaphone amplified them. Her skin tingled, alternating between hot and cold. She had no idea how long she lay there before she heard a light rap on the balcony window. She sat up and slid from the bed. She could see a shadowy form silhouetted through the lace curtains. She picked up her gun from a marble topped side table before she grasped the handle and pulled the door open.
Devlin stood there just outside of the door. His face was cast in the shadows except for the glowing tip of his thin cigar. He flicked the cigar into the night. He reached for Esmeralda to pull her close. She started to speak but he shook his head. “No words Angel…you have opened the door to me, that is enough, and this time I will not be denied”
Esmeralda looked up into his dark eyes she let her pepperbox slip from her hand and drop harmlessly to the floor. “Yes, God help me, I have.”
Once inside her room they embraced each other hungrily. Devlin divested himself of his hat and boots. Esmeralda pushed his coat off his shoulders. Devlin kissed her lips and the tops of her breasts. His hands smoothed up the curves of her corset then down over her firm buttocks.
Esmeralda was on fire. She squirmed under his touch; she ached to be free of her whalebone prison and guided his hands towards the lacings. Devlin pulled her up and forward. He then reached behind her and snapped her corset free. He tossed her fine silk and bone contraption across the room and shrugged out of his shirt. He unbuckled his gun belt and hung it on her bedpost then made short work of his pants and boots. Naked, they sat on the bed in the darkened room.
“Say you want this Angel, If you don’t I will leave now”
Esmeralda traced the muscles of his chest and his firm abdomen her face was solemn. “Don’t talk Devlin. There will be time enough for me to hate you tomorrow.”
Devlin pulled her close, skin to skin. He lay her down on the bed and held her hands over her head. His lips and teeth grazed the ivory column of her throat. He covered her breasts, neck and lips with dark, velvety kisses. He pushed her legs open with his knee and she gasped as his marble, hard cock entered her sweet core deeply, strongly.
Esmeralda looked up and searched Devlin’s face. She tried to read into the depths of his dark eyes but he hid them from her.
His deep rhythmic strokes built a fiery tension inside her that climbed higher and higher as it reached towards a blinding climax. He urged her on. “Come with me Angel, give yourself to me.”
Her head thrashed back and forth on the pillow she arched her back a thin high scream left her lips as she surrendered.
Outside, across the street under the shadow of a crabapple tree the feral eyes of Leonard White observed Devlin enter Esmeralda’s room. His lurid, hopeful, fantasies were crushed and the fine whiskey in his stomach turned to hillbilly rotgut.
Chapter Six
The Lair
The Delta Saloon was one of the finest drinking establishments in Virginia City.
Captain James Orndorff, a very discriminating southern gentleman, was the owner of the saloon. He was a handsome man with smooth brown hair and an impressive handlebar mustache. His saloon carried the finest liquor and the best sport in town. Every week, in the back rooms special, betting events were held. Events such as cockfights, dogfights, dog and even bear baiting.
On this particular night a pen had been set up and the fight was to be held between a bull terrier and a forty-pound bobcat.
In the main room of the saloon excitement buzzed through the crowd. The gaming tables were full but most of the excited crowd had gathered around a Faro table in the corner where a lone gambler played against the dealer. A large pile of gold and silver was growing steadily at his side. The cards fell one by one in his favor inciting hoots and hollers from the crowd. The dealer’s brow poured with sweat and murmurs of ‘the Suicide table’ rippled through the smoke filled air. The name was in reference to an infamous faro table where more than one gambler had won big, lost it all then taken a gun to his head.
The saloon owner pushed his way through the throng. At his approach the gambler looked up from his play.
“Why, as I live and breathe, is that you Devlin Winter?”
Devlin smiled. “Orndorff, It’s a pleasure”
Orrndorff glanced at the dealer. “Are you aware sir of the notorious reputation of this table?”
Devlin puffed on his cheroot. “So far, this table has brought me nothing but luck, fifty thousand dollars of it.”
“You are on one of your cursed winning streaks and trying to bankrupt me, I see.”
Devlin laughed as Orrndorff grimaced and left.
He won one more round, then scooped his winnings into a black leather satchel and pushed a stack of silver over to the dealer, before he rose from the table.
The crowd around him grumbled and gasped. Words like ‘he ain’t quittin’ and ‘his luck’s run out’, were tossed about.
Devlin walked over to the saloon owner and clamped him on the shoulder. “The way I see it, you owe me a drink,” he said.
Orndorff smiled and led them to a private table in the corner of the saloon and ordered drinks. Devlin looked around.
“Very fine place you have here with all the chandeliers and that gilt mirror over the bar. This is sure a far cry from that riverboat, The Lady Luck out of Natchez in ’48. You’ve done well for yourself, Jim.”
Orndorff smiled. “She was a sight to behold, full of some of the most disreputable scoundrels and ner-do wells ever to congregate in one place at the same time.”
A waiter brought brandy and the men made a toast to each other. Then Orndorff leaned towards Devlin his tone serious. “I would not presume to know your business, Winter, but the word on the streets of this fair city
have linked you with The Gilded Bird mine…”
“That is correct. What precisely have you heard?” Devlin asked.
“Just that you are the new owner and that you won her in a card game with Anderson just before he put a gun to his head.” Orndorff moved closer. “Are you aware of the rumors about that mine? That many a smart man has stayed clear of her?”
Devlin gave him a half smile.
“Well, I just happen to be going down into that mine tomorrow, and yes I’ve heard it all, the curse the cave ins - don’t tell me you are superstitious?”
Before the saloon owner could answer the barkeep came over and whispered in his ear. Orndorff looked annoyed. “My apologies…” He stopped as the crowd parted to reveal the corpulent figure of Big Jim Diamond. He was headed straight for their table.
“Evening Orndorff,” Big Jim said. His voice boomed across the noise of the saloon. His small eyes darted towards Devlin.
“Evening to you, Sir. Have you come for the match tonight?”
Big Jim nodded. He continued to stare at Devlin. “That and to meet the gambler everyone’s talking about, the one who just won big at the ‘Suicide Table’.”
Orndorff glanced at Devlin. “Why you’re in luck Sir, meet Devlin Winter. Winter, this is Big Jim Diamond.”
Devlin now leaned back in his chair as if to take measure of the man that stood before him. A current of energy pulsed between himself and Big Jim.
“Evening,” he said.
“I want to speak to you in private, Winter,” Big Jim said.
Ordorff shifted in his seat. He took out his gold watch and looked at it. “I will leave you gentlemen to your business I have to check on things in the back room.”
After Ordorff left Big Jim sat down opposite Devlin. He puffed on his fat cigar.
Devlin smiled. “Well, don’t keep me in suspense Diamond, I know why you are here.”
Big Jim leaned forward. “I am prepared to offer you a handsome sum for the Gilded Bird. Name your price.”