Devlin's Curse

by Brenda, Lady

  “The mine is not for sale, Diamond, and even if she were, you would be the last person on earth and in hell that I would sell her to.”

  Big Jim’s face flushed red. He slammed his hand down on the table. “Remember Winter, I made you a fair offer for that mine. I want that mine, and I will get it.”

  Devlin said nothing.

  Big Jim spluttered.

  “Do you have any idea who I am? That mine and what’s in it belongs to me and there is no one that will stand in my way leastways a tinhorn gambler.”

  Devlin sneered. “Do you know what lies at the bottom of that mine? Or are you just an ignorant pawn in this Devil’s game? I wonder. If you dare to make good on your threats I am sure you know where to find me..”

  Big Jim rose ponderously from his chair and pointed his cigar at Devlin.

  “You will regret those words, Winter,” he said. Devlin watched Big Jim back away into the crowd. He had wanted to confront the man; to look into his soul and see if a demon crouched in there. Big Jim had confirmed his suspicions.

  The beast had chosen well, he thought, because it looked as if Diamond was a willing vessel in which evil water sought it’s own level.

  Later that night in the back room of the Delta Saloon, Big Jim Diamond sat at a front row table and waited for the match to begin. He nearly choked on his fury at being dismissed like a coolee. He felt like smashing everything in sight but most of all, the gambler. He guzzled champagne and oysters while trying to dampen his rage at Devlin Winter. Sore as a bear with a thorn in his paw his thick fingers pinched and prodded a buxom floozy who sat on his lap. At his table the sheriff of Virginia City and a mining superintendent, Robert Wells, of the Belcher Mine, sat down to join him.

  “Howdy sheriff,” he said. “Do you have any information on that gambler I told you about? Devlin Winter?”

  Sheriff Ahern shrugged. “Can’t say that I do. Nothing heinous if that’s what your aski’n.”

  Big Jim squinted. “What do you have on him? A man like that must have a past.”

  The sheriff shook his head. “Ain’t nothing specific. Some kind of ruckus in Red Bluff, California, but nobody is talkin’.”

  “This is Virginia City Ahern, and may I remind you there’s elections coming up, I want you to find something on him, something that will make him disappear.”

  The sheriff nodded, unfazed by Big Jim’s bluster and then got up from the table and left. Big Jim turned to the mining superintendent. “Well’s, your shaft runs parallel to the Gilded Bird, I want to tunnel into her but I’ll need to come through your mine to do it.” The superintendent looked uncomfortable. “I can make it worth your while.”

  His answer was drowned out by the sound of hooting and hollering as the terrier and the bobcat were brought out. Men crowded around the pen. The terrier came out growling and snapping at the caged bobcat. Then the cage was sprung and the wild bobcat streaked out in a spinning ball of fur. In a flash the bobcat jumped out of the pen and into the crowd. It bounced off tables and walls before it was finally cornered on the top of the piano.

  The next day Big Jim caught up with Laredo at his favorite watering hole, The Bucket of Blood. He went up to the bar and clamped a beefy hand on Laredo’s shoulder.

  Laredo, in mid-gulp swallowed hard. “Boss?”

  “Let’s get a table so we can talk in private.”

  Laredo followed Big Jim to a corner table. They ordered whiskey, and when the girl had served their drinks, Big Jim lit a cigar and glared hard at Laredo.

  “What in the hell am I paying you for? That gambler Winter is struttin’ all over town as free as you please. I want something done about him. I want him dead.”

  At that moment, Devlin and Walking Ghost crept cautiously through the main tunnel of the Gilded Bird mine. The light from their lanterns cast flickering shadows in darkness so dense they could almost feel it clinging to them like a sticky spider web. The silence that enveloped them was absolute with only the sound made by the soft shuffle of their feet on the dirt floor.

  A place ripe for fantasies and tricks of the mind, Devlin thought. He came to a sudden stop.

  A cool mist originating from the floor enveloped him a fragrant cloud.

  They are the same as the ones that blanket the dark forests of my homeland.

  He blinked, shook his head, and the mist cleared. Then he found himself in a medieval forest surrounded on all sides by the tall trees. He began to run. Fast. He had the bounding, leaping stride of a predator Not the two legged stride of a man but that of a wolf. Every one of his senses felt vibrant and alive. In this creature form he could smell the scent of man miles away and galloped towards it hungrily. When at last he burst through the trees he saw an ancient stone church. Still in wolf form Devlin leapt up the steps and then slowed and crept inside.

  At the far end of the church a man and woman stood before the altar. A dark robed priest spoke words to them in Latin. Devlin understood it to be a wedding.

  The man at the woman’s side wore an elaborate black velvet doublet embroidered in gold he held hands with an angelic blond woman. Her eyes, when she looked up at the man were a bright emerald green, fey, like a forest creature. The robed clergyman handed them a chalice. When the man looked inside he saw it was filled with blood. It splashed out of the chalice and spilled across the bride’s snow white dress. Then, from behind the altar, a large winged form began to emerge.

  Devlin shook his head again.

  The beast, the demon, was here. Of that he was certain and he was also certain he was ready to end this thing once and for all. He reached for the leather scabbard, which hung down his back, and pulled out a sword. It was an ancient two handed Scottish Claymore. It was special. A master sword maker had crafted it nearly four hundred years ago. He kept it with him always.

  Walking Ghost followed behind him, tomahawk in hand, softly chanting a native charm. A distant knocking echoed through the tunnel. Devlin felt the short hairs on the back of his neck rise. He halted abruptly nearly colliding with Walking Ghost. Then pebbles began to rain down on them from both the sides and top of the tunnel.

  Devlin grasped Walking Ghost by the arm. “Let’s get the hell out of here!”

  They leapt and scrambled through the narrow passage towards the entrance of the mine.

  Outside the Gilded Bird, Laredo crouched behind an outcropping of rock. Ever since they had crossed paths the gambler, Devlin Winter had become a blistering itch he needed to scratch.

  Now he had his chance.

  He smirked before he plunged the handle down on the wooden blasting box. It sent a charge through the fuse to the bundles of dynamite hidden in the mine.

  “Take that, you son of a whore,” he chuckled.

  The ground shook with the blast.

  The mine caved in upon itself in a huge cloud of yellow dust. Inside the mine, timber and rocks buried Devlin and Walking Ghost alive.

  Chapter Seven

  Maelstrom

  The play inside the Emerald Salon was in full swing. Roulette wheels whirled and the card tables were full and liquor flowed. Upstairs in the back rooms Esmeralda received another patient.

  Kate was a hurdy girl from the Brick Brothel, a buxom blond, and an Irish immigrant. For several days she had lain naked and feverish in a hipbath. She swore that snakes had entered her stomach and she’d tried to cut them out with a knife before another prostitute had taken the knife from her. She had thrashed about in pain and desperation. Finally the madam of the house had tied up her limbs and given her opium but to no avail. She screamed and thrashed as she became increasingly violent. She was convinced that she had been violated by the Devil.

  Eventually five sturdy men carried her bound and gagged to Esmeralda. She lay now with her feet and wrists tied to the four-poster bed. Esmeralda bathed her in salt water then took up a cross, made from two pieces of rowan wood, bound together with red thread. She held it above the girl’s head as she spoke words of magic over her

 
“By the goddess, Diana and this holy cross of Rowan, by fire and water, I purify thee. I, Esmeralda, caste out and forbid all hostile forces and entities that may enter the corporal body of this girl. I forbid you her flesh and blood, her body and soul, I forbid and deny your entrance to her mind, fears and strengths, I caste out all demons and entities in the name of the God and Goddess. That she shall be free and whole, cleansed form all negativity. And shall refrain from all Evil and dark thoughts and actions.”

  While she spoke, a young Chinese man and Esmeralda’s assistant, Kuong Woo placed acupuncture needles in strategic areas. The acrid scent of burning herbs filled the air. Kate writhed and thrashed. Her eyes rolled up in her head. She placed the rowan cross around Kate’s neck.

  “What do you see, Kate?” Esmeralda asked.

  Kate’s eyes focused suddenly. “Them eyes, burning like coals, they are. I kin feel em burnin’ me. The Devil he’s got inside me.” She began to retch violently.

  Esmeralda motioned for a washbasin and it arrived just in time for Kate to vomit a large blood red mass of writhing worms. After a while Kate became still, Her body clothes and sheet sodden with sweat. “Is that it? Is the Devil outta her?” Came a question by one of the women that had accompanied Kate.

  Esmeralda nodded. “She needs sleep. She can stay here overnight and I will send word to you tomorrow morning.”

  After the women left Esmeralda washed and changed. It was not the first time she had heard about the burning devil’s eyes. She had seen them in her dreams lately. They floated in the darkness, watching, just beyond the realm of her consciousness. For that reason she was careful to cleanse herself after each session. She did not wish to bring any of the negative energy into her salon or onto her person. She had studied demonic possessions and observed that the possessed were often weakened in some way, physically, spiritually or emotionally in order for the demonic energy to enter the body. After Red Bluff, and what had transpired there, she never wanted to find herself in the position of being vulnerable again.

  Laredo swaggered into the Bucket of Blood. He sat down at the table where Miguel and Leonard were playing a game of cards.

  “Hey Amigo what has you all swollen up like a rooster? Miguel commented.

  “You two can kiss my arse, that hunner’t dollar reward is in my pocket.”

  Leonard narrowed his eyes. Miguel rocked back in his chair.

  “You took care of him, Amigo?”

  Laredo grinned. “Him an’ that Injun is now buried under a mountain of dirt where they belong.”

  “Don’t be so sure, men have survived cave-ins. I won’t believe it until I see his body.” Leonard said.

  Laredo laughed. “Yer just sour bout it cause he run roughshod over you with that red haired sportin’ gal.”

  Leonard flushed. “Shut the hell up, Laredo!”

  Miguel shrugged. “If they cannot dig him out we may never know and El Diablo may just go back to his Lair.”

  “The amount of dynamite I put in that charge? Ain’t nothing gonna survive that lest they are El Diablo, an he’s just some friggin’ cardsharp what’s good with a gun.”

  Miguel laughed. “Drinks are on you Amigo!”

  “Cave in! Cave in at the Gilded Bird!”

  The cry started on the boardwalk, eventually moved up to B Street and was finally shouted through the doors of the Emerald Salon. Patrons milled around the tables and the bar. They talked and traded stories and speculations regarding mining accidents while drinking fine spirits and puffing on cigars.

  Esmeralda waved Jamie over to her table. She folded the hand she was playing and motioned for another dealer to take over. The noise and talk made by her patrons almost drowned out their voices. “Jamie I want you to get some men together and give them whatever they need to help those men down at the mine. A cave in is tragic business.”

  Jamie nodded. “Yes ma’am, right away”

  “And Jamie, wait a moment, who is the owner of the Gilded Bird mine?”

  Jamie shrugged his shoulders. “It’s that gambler, what’s come to town. Devlin Winter. He won the mine from John Anderson.”

  Esmeralda swayed and caught the back of a chair to steady herself.

  “You alright Ma’am?” Jamie asked.

  She nodded her head. “Yes.” Inside she felt as if the ground had shifted beneath her. Devlin! Could he be hurt from this or even killed? She handed her table to another dealer. “Belle, take over my table. I am going down to help with the cave in.”

  Esmeralda hurried out of the room and up the stairs. She needed to change into some more practical clothes. She removed her gown and replaced it with a plain cotton dress and then filled a carpetbag with medicines, bandages and whiskey. She’d already instructed Jamie to go into the kitchen with a large basket to gather up some food and water.

  Soon, laden with supplies, they walked down to C Street to the livery stable to find a wagon to take them to the Gilded Bird mine.

  When the dust settled, the Gilded Bird was plunged into the pitch black of a sepulchral tomb. Luckily, Devlin and Walking Ghost had nearly reached the entrance before the mine caved in. Heavy timbers used to brace the mineshafts had partially shielded them from being crushed alive. Their lanterns had all been shattered but Walking Ghost had fortunately brought along a couple of tommy sticks – candlesticks mounted on thin pointed spikes. He now fumbled in his pack for a candle stub and matches and lit them. When the feeble light flared, they looked around to see themselves surrounded by dirt, rocks and timber. They were walled in on all sides. The support timbers creaked ominously, pebbles dropped steadily down on them and there was scarcely enough room to turn around.

  Devlin was furious. He peered through the dust and gloom looking for Walking Ghost. When he appeared by his side he could see that his friend was pretty scraped up. Devlin himself was unhurt.

  “Are you alright?” Devlin asked.

  Walking Ghost rubbed the dirt from his eyes and nodded.

  “This has got to be a planned ambush. A situation that is almost funny my friend for what better way for an immortal to die than be buried alive” Devlin continued, “I blame myself for not seeing it beforehand.

  “They think we’re dead but we’re stronger that that. When we get out of here we will have to kill them.” Walking Ghost replied.

  Devlin nodded grimly. “I agree. Luckily, we were almost to the entrance when it caved in on us. We may be able to dig our way out. Big Jim and his hired guns had better pray for death, for death will be their reward when we get through with them.”

  Walking Ghost coughed. “ Death might not be enough if we are to fight against this new enemy, much like before”

  “ If it has a head it may be parted from it’s body, then sent back to Hell”

  Devlin said as he caressed the cold steel of his sword, and coddled it with a promise of fresh blood.

  His need for vengeance expanded like a flame inside of him one that he was sure would burn through the confines of the collapsed mine.

  Esmeralda’s face floated towards him in his minds eye. He could feel her thoughts piercing him like glass. As Walking Ghost might say they were caught between the buffalo and the lance, powerless, waiting for a rescue that may or may not ever come.

  Something he refused to believe.

  Above ground, miners and engineers gathered around the collapsed entrance to the mine. A doctor and an undertaker were among the first to arrive. They parked their wagons side by side. After much deliberation the rescuers began to unblock the entrance. They estimated several days were needed to clear enough rubble to get to the mineshaft. One by one buckets and wheelbarrows of rock and debris were carried away. Esmeralda and Jaime joined the bucket line alongside volunteers from every walk of life. For hours they removed the stones and debris. For hours they worked until their fingers bled. The only breaks they took were when the black garbed suffragettes, walked up from the town and served them hot coffee and sandwiches.

  As she worked Esmer
alda was careful to keep her hair covered by a scarf so that not a wisp was shown; she knew all about the miner’s superstition. It claimed red haired women were bad luck, or worse, their presence heralded death. She prayed it was not true.

  As she worked she wondered if immortal vampires, like Devlin, could be buried alive. With her psychic powers she could feel the press of darkness around him.

  “Hang on, damn you!” she called out in her mind, and willed him to hear.

  In the bowels of the mine the Beast stirred restlessly. The quaking earth had driven it from one bottomless crevice to another. Its sightless eyes sensed the heat of two bodies.

  One was mortal and one was immortal.

  Insulated beneath an armory of scales was a creature that was ravenous for the taste of blood and bone. It flattened its shape and slithered as easily as a vapor through the smallest of holes towards the human scent.

  After a few short hours Devlin and Walking Ghost had used up the last of the candle stubs. They now worked in total darkness feeling for the rubble before them to move it inch by inch by inch. Thirst consumed them. Walking Ghost had drained the last dregs of water from the canteen. Devlin, though, had not had a drop. The smell of sulfur made the air close and stuffy. The cloying darkness created what miners knew as ‘night blindness’ in which the darkness became a blank canvass and provided an environment ripe for nightmarish visions.

  Walking Ghost paused. He dropped a last handful of rubble at his feet. He could see Spider Woman. She stood before him, bent and wizened, smoking her corncob pipe.

  “I ain’t never seen an Injun yet what gave up without a fight.” She harangued him. “You just keep diggin’ I can see the daylight up ahead.”

  He gasped and stepped back. “Spider Woman…”

  “It’s all right. I can see her too my friend,” Devlin rasped.

  They dug on for several minutes.

  As a vampire Devlin’s vision was as sharp in the gloom of the mine as it was in the daylight. Out of the corner of an eye he saw a serpentine slither. He drew his sword and swung it. A piercing shriek filled the humid air. Walking Ghost stumbled forward his hands covered his ears.