The town was descending into chaos.
The outbreak of violence beginning with Sally Reacher and Virgil Watson saw no signs of abating as the day continued. A cancer was spreading throughout the town, and Chris Larabee had no idea how to stop it. People were turning on each other, allowing the smallest slights to ignite a powder keg of resentment that flared into brutality. It wasn’t as if violence was an uncommon thing in Four Corners. In the last two years, Chris had seen the town afflicted with everything from outlaws looking to leave their mark, big city criminals and cattleman making shameless grabs for land.
Four Corners had weathered those storms by sticking together. What was happening to his town right now was snapping the links of its hard-worn sense of community, and Chris didn’t like it.
When Chris arrived two years ago, it was a rough frontier town, rife with lawlessness and violence. Jesus, even the sheriff, rode off with someone’s horse to avoid dealing with a bunch of drunk Texans. Chris had considered riding out of town himself. What reason was there to stay when bullets were assaulting good whiskey bottles? It was his own sense of justice that forced him to stay. A feeling he shared with the former buffalo hunter across the street, doing a piss-poor job of sweeping out the front walk of a hardware store.
Without knowing it, he and Vin Tanner set the first links of the bond holding Four Corners together when they chose to save Nathan Jackson.
Though it would take all the wild horses in the world to drag it out of him, there was a secret part of Chris who was rather proud of the role he and the Seven played in how far Four Corners had come. Oh, chances were good in twenty or thirty years it would probably be swallowed up by the desert, like much of the towns in the Territory, but Chris liked to think it might prevail since he’d grown rather fond of the place. Not just Four Corners, but its people, beyond the immediate sphere of the friends who were his family.
Seeing them being torn apart like this, creatures of a power he couldn’t hope to understand, stabbed at Chris on a visceral level, sending him into a rage needing unleashing on those responsible. However, it was fury without destination, especially when the violence was nowhere done. Even as the undertaker collected Elden and Sally Reacher’s bodies to begin the business of burial, and Alex was treating Janet O’Leary at her clinic, new incidents were springing up across Four Corners.
At Rosken’s Hardware, Stu Briggs, Rosken’s bookish store clerk, attempted to set one aisle of stock on fire, after being chided for returning from lunch late. Fortunately, Josiah, who had been on his way to see Nathan, whose infirmary sat above Rosken’s store, was able to stop the man from lighting the match that would have sent the entire building up in flames. Stu worked for Rosken for almost three years. He never so much as raised his voice to his employer, or anyone else for that matter. Chris remembered him as a quiet sort, who was often squirrelled away somewhere, his nose buried in a book.
While Stu was responding to Mr Rosken’s rebuke, across town at the Pemberton Emporium, Mrs Jillian Cassidy, mother of eight children and local seamstress, was showing her disapproval of the stocks of ready-made merchandise putting a suitable dent in her business. No longer were women of Four Corners content to wait for weeks to have garments made when the Emporium provided a selection of ready to wear items. In retaliation, Mrs Cassidy had gone to the Emporium, armed with a formidable pair of sewing scissors, and began making ‘alterations’ of her own to the merchandise on the shelves.
When Alison one of the Emporium’s employees attempted to intervene, the result was a burst of anger that ended up with the girl needing stitches and Ezra who had gone to deal with the situation when Julia called, a new jacket. It required both Ezra and Vin to subdue Mrs Cassidy, who proved she could be just as adept as an Apache warrior at wielding a blade, long enough to get her to the jailhouse.
At Yosemite’s livery, the titular owner had taken exception to the treatment of a horse stabled at his premises. When Yosemite discovered fresh wounds on the dapple grey, he was affronted by the cruelty shown to the animal, already bearing too many scars for his liking. The old man didn’t own a livery because it was a good living, he did it because he loved horses. This latest injury snapped his restraint. Enough so when its owner, one Bud Connor, came to collect the horse, Yosemite went after him and sent Bud to Alex’s doorstep with whip marks as brutal as the one he’d inflicted upon the mare called Camellia.
Meanwhile, Sid Crawley, a local drunk and letch found a new way to get the attention of Four Corners' female population. A quartet of local matrons was horrified when Sid opted to drop his pants in front of them during their daily errands, exposing himself to the decent Christian women. Only JD’s timely intervention prevented the outraged male family members of Sid’s victims from exacting a more cutting punishment by locking him up.
As evening approached, Buck remained in his deep sleep with Alex believing he was physically exhausted, though she could think of no reason why this was so. Aside from his long repose, she could find no other signs of injury upon him. Worse yet, the lady doctor found she was alone in her treatment of the sudden influx of patients since Nathan was nowhere to be found.
Josiah had gone to seek out the healer following his outburst in the saloon, but the man was not at his Infirmary, and more disturbingly, it appeared he packed hastily and left since his books and instruments were missing. Unfortunately, the rest of the seven were unable to ride out in search of their friend, not when the town seemed to be deteriorating as the night descended. Instead, Chris sent Vin out, deciding if anyone could be spared, it was the one person most able to find their lost brother.
In the meantime, the violence continued with no signs of pause. Overhead, the moon took its place in the night sky, watching with an indifferent eye, the descent into madness.
***********
"Jesus Christ!" Vin exclaimed, his normally unflappable facade lowered utterly when he returned to town and took note of just how many people were behind bars. "It looks like the whole town's got a taste of locoweed."
The ordinarily empty cells were now filled to capacity since Chris could think of no other way to kerb their aggressive tendencies. Allowed to run loose, he had no doubt they would harm others or themselves. Both men and women occupied separate cages since this bizarre condition did not discriminate who would be touched. Yet despite their incarceration, Chris worried about how many others were out there, festering with wounds that would sooner or later erupt and spread their poison.
With Nathan vanished and Buck out of commission, Chris was beginning to worry whether or not they would be able to hold back the tide if the situation grew worse.
"It appears Anna's warning was not a hoax after all," Ezra spoke from a chair near the desk, appearing to idle away the time with his favourite deck of cards. Outwardly, Ezra presented the image of a man at ease with the situation even though everyone who knew him could tell by how quickly his fingers were moving, how upset he was by all this.
"Apparently not," Josiah nodded in agreement also hiding how disturbed he was by what was happening in Four Corners. The problem before them could not be solved with fists or bullets and struck too close to the bone for all of them who considered Four Corners their home. Worse still, their number had been affected, and though it remained unspoken among them, their strength came from being seven. Lacking Buck and Nathan felt as if the power of them was somehow broken.
"The trouble is," Josiah continued, "neither she nor Salome was lying. We know they're responsible, we just don't know how."
"Vin, any sign of Nathan?"
The tracker shook his head slowly. When Josiah went to Nathan's Infirmary only to find the man and his belongings gone, Vin set out hoping to intercept the healer before he got too far away. However, as Vin travelled further and further out of Four Corners, there appeared to be no sign of Nathan or the direction he was headed. Short of going to the circus and seeking the healer there, a course Vin was reluctant to take until he talked to the others, Vin looked everywhere he could think of, with no luck.
"I cannot believe he would simply leave us," Ezra frowned, more worried about Nathan's state of mind than his abrupt departure.
"I don't," Josiah growled, refusing to believe Nathan had left town because he wanted to. The delirium overtaking Four Corners had also affected the healer. While the rest of the town was surrendering to their baser instincts, unearthing impulses generally held in check by morality and the rule of law, in Nathan's case, it was his insecurities that had been forced to surface. Somehow, Polidori had forced Nathan to confront his fears about being usurped by Alexandra Styles and losing his standing in Four Corners as its healer, not that it was ever in danger.
Chris's jaw tensed because Buck and Nathan were his friends and he'd supported the decision to send them to the circus to conduct the search for Anna. Even with the rest of the seven present at the showground in case of trouble, Chris never expected an attack to manifest in such a form.
"Polidori got into his head, twisted him up all inside." The gunslinger hissed.
"Nathan's probably had doubts like this inside him," Josiah added, glancing at the people locked up in the cells, "but something Polidori is doing to him, to everyone, is bringing it up in the worst way possible."
"Well," Vin sighed. "If Polidori is the one doing this to him, then chances are that's where Nathan’s going.”
Chris tended to agree. All this started at that damn circus. If Polidori had offered Nathan a job, then it was a good bet Nathan would be there. If he was, Chris tended to drag him back here kicking and screaming if necessary, long enough for them to knock some sense into his head and convince him they needed him, and because he was their friend.
"Maybe it's hypnosis?" JD suggested, remembering a show his ma took him to once when he was a kid still living in New York. "I mean, I saw it being done once. This magician used a watch and then made some poor guy bounce around the stage like a chicken. Maybe this is what's happening to the town. I mean people are behaving plain crazy! I still can't blame what Yosemite did to Bud, I mean I know he had it coming for sure, but still. You should have seen what Yosemite did to him!"
As it was, they had only Bud Connor's description of the attack, since Yosemite was nowhere to be found when JD and Chris went to the livery after Bud's report of the incident.
"I'm pretty sure Elden Reacher thought the same," Chris said dryly and immediately regretted it because he saw Vin and JD both flinch. Both men had taken it hard they weren't able to save Sally. Neither had suspected Sally was in a suicidal state after taking her husband's life.
"Would something like that even work with so many people?" Vin had to ask. Like JD, he'd seen performers who claimed to be able to make you do things you usually wouldn't.
"I have no idea," Chris shrugged. "I don't think we should be worrying about how they're doing this. We know they can mess with people's minds, I want to know what is their plan. They can't be doing all this for no reason. This is a lot of trouble to go if its just to take our money. Besides, how come we haven't heard about them before this, if they've been travelling through the Territory? There's more to this than just everyone going crazy, we need to find out the real truth."
"Perhaps Mr Larabee," Ezra stared at the gunslinger. "We ought to simply ask them?"
"You mean to go up to them and just ask them why they're turning everyone crazy?" JD blurted out, putting the suggestion into context and then revealing his scepticism at such an action working to their favour. "They won't answer that, will they?" He looked to his older comrades, in case inexperience didn't give him the insight they possessed.
"They may well do," Ezra answered with a shrug. "Whatever malaise has encompassed our little community here, there is no longer any ambiguity to its presence. It has the town in its clutches, and if this was orchestrated by our friends at the Polidori Circus, then they have us exactly in the position they wish, to make demands."
Chris did not answer. Instead, his gaze was fixed on the cells and its occupants. He'd expected to see the folk inside kicking up a stink at their incarceration. Instead, most of them were sitting quietly, wearing similar looks of disinterest that was more unsettling to him than the acts of violence they committed to be locked up in the first place. If he didn't know better, he would have sworn they wore the look of people who had played their parts and are now waiting for instruction.
"I don't think we're even close to being where they want us to be," Chris said quietly, "and before we get there, I think we need to figure out what's going on."
"What's your plan, Chris?" Vin saw Chris's expression and knew the gunslinger had been as patient as he was going to be about all this.
"I say we ride down there and tell them they've overstayed their welcome in Four Corners," Chris stood up from behind the desk, his hand resting on the butt of his Peacemaker as if he needed to feel the smooth ivory handle to make his point. "It's time they moved on."
"You expect them to leave?" Ezra stared at the Man in Black with incredulity.
"No," Chris shook his head, his eyes gleaming with menace. "I don't."
***********
He felt terrible.
Buck Wilmington opened his eyes and found himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. For a second, he tried to remember how he came to be here and searched his mind for his last memory. He remembered being in the saloon, the smell of Inez’s cooking leaving an indelible impression, along with the smell of stale liquor and too much cigar smoke. The familiar scents of a saloon, his mind told him. There were images also, blurry and indistinct. He saw the faces of his friends and the murky glare of sunlight through the batwing doors.
There had been fighting...
Something moved past him and as always, it was the slight shimmer of dark hair that caught his attention when everything else was hazy. He smelled perfume, rosewater, and the soft rustle of fabric against the furniture. As always, the scent of a lady was too much for Buck to ignore, no matter what his condition. As soon as he pushed his back off the surprisingly comfortable bed, he heard footsteps fussing about him pause suddenly.
“Buck, what do you think you’re doing?”
Buck blinked and realised through his haze that he was looking at Alexandra Styles, who was wearing a worried expression on her face by his attempt to get up. Taking notice of his surroundings, Buck realised he was in her clinic. How the hell did he get here? The last thing Buck remembered was the saloon.
“What am I doing here?”
Alex poured some water into a cup and was bringing it to him. “You don’t remember?”
Buck stared at her until he took the cup, downing all the liquid because his throat felt uncommonly parched. Through the window he could see, the sky beyond was dark and the light flooding in the room was from the lamps. The last time Buck remembered anything, it was daylight. How long had he been here and more importantly, why? Alex was waiting for him to answer her and as Buck handed her the cup, he tried to piece together the fragments of his memory
Reaching back into his mind, he tried to recall the events before he’d wound up in the saloon. It was easier said than done because searching those memories felt like he was wading through a bog, and the thick sludge was trying to trap him in it for good. Memories swirled around him, with only pieces surfacing through the darkness. He remembered the ride to the circus, the smell of pollen in the air and the happy faces of children enjoying the place he got there.
Those things were as clear and vibrant as Alex standing in front of him now.
It was when the sun bled out of the day that things became uncertain. He remembered seeing the people disappear into the big top to watch the show, recall catching a glimpse of Chris before the gunslinger stepped inside with Mary and Billy. There was also the exchange with Nathan, with whom he’d ridden to the circus with. They’d split up shortly after arriving, but when it was time to begin their search, they signalled their intent to start with a slight nod before beginning at opposite ends of the showgrounds.
Anna, they’d been after the girl Anna.
Buck didn’t find her, but he found something else. He found the trio of tightrope walkers, Titania, Lysander and Hermia after failing to find Anna. Buck had believed they might talk to him since they were so friendly when he met them during their debut in town. Buck had always been able to talk women into anything, and he figured he might as well put that silver-tongued charm to good use. Yet he knew nothing had gone the way he’d intended. They’d swirled around him like mists, with their glorious smiles and their bare skin. He’ll he still remembered their breaths in his ear and their touch...
The terror that lanced through him was visceral and blinding in its intensity.
Buck’s chest tightened, suddenly gripped by the fear of being swallowed up by something so black his mind could barely process it. Clamping his eyes shut, Buck didn’t know if he was trying to remember what happened or block it out from his mind. All he knew, was this sense of invasion, of gasping for air as something slid down his throat. Buck didn’t realise he was gripping the sheets of the bed he was lying on so hard, his knuckles were turning white. A whirlwind seemed to be rushing into the room, the roar so loud, it was only when Alex’s hands were on his back, trying to coax him into calm, did Buck realise it wasn’t the wind, it was his hoarse panting.
“Buck, calm down! It’s okay! You’re okay!”
Seeing him like this shocked Alex to no end. She was used to Buck being vital and alive, always wearing the smile of the happy rogue who went through life, believing the best of people. She didn’t know Buck Wilmington as well as Vin, Ezra or Nathan but Buck was an open book anyway. His big heart was worn on his sleeve, and Alex liked that about him. Of the Seven, Buck was the one most likely to welcome you with open arms, tossing aside what you’ve been before because he wasn’t a man capable of holding a grudge.
“Something happened to me last night,” he whispered. “I can’t remember, but it scares the hell out of me.”
The admission followed a look of pure anxiety, and Alex left to get him another cup of water, considering briefly if something stronger was needed. She hardly kept liquor in the house and wished right now it was otherwise, Buck certainly needed it. If the water didn’t help, she was going to have to give him something to calm down because of the way he was breathing, he was going to work himself into a panic attack.
“It’s alright,” she stroked his back again, “you don’t have to remember. You passed out in the saloon Buck. You’ve been here all day. I can’t find anything wrong with you, except that you look exhausted. Now I know how energetic you are with the ladies, but this is more than one night of sin. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’ve lost weight since yesterday. It feels as if the life was drained out of you.”
Buck's eyes widened at that statement.
“No,” he shook his head, “not life, my soul.”
They left a trail of mud from Four Corners all the way to the Holland homestead.
As the five horses galloped through the night towards their destination, the distant rumble of thunder heard as they left the town limits, became a downpour midway in the journey. The heavy storm clouds burst like a ripe fruit, unleashing an almost heaven-sent flood of water across the dry landscape. Within minutes, the hard-baked ground loosened, and when the riders from Four Corners rode across it, they turned the dusty earth into moist splatter.
Lightening spiked across the sky, like someone trying to slash the dark open, hoping to allow in the sun as the thunder continued to rumble cheering on the atmospheric forces presently in battle. With the wind trying to sneak past the struggle, blowing a gale as it swept across the landscape, it turned the air cold, adding a bite to the night air. Tonight, the world became the cauldron of a witches brew, with Chris Larabee feeling as if Four Corners was the main ingredient, being stripped down for the stew.
The pelting rain and the clip-clop of hooves made conversation difficult as the five men rode towards the Polidori circus. As it was, apprehension was running through them because they were incomplete, giving rise to a feeling they might not be able to win the day without the rest of their number. It felt like foolishness because they were, each of them practical men, not prone to fancy metaphysical thinking, yet their strength together could not be denied.
They were at their best when they were seven.
Chris had no plan riding up to the Polidori Circus, and in truth, he did not expect them to leave even at the threat of a gun. This journey had only one purpose, to put an end to the speculation and see what these people actually wanted. In the ride from town, Chris had given the question a great deal of thought, trying to determine the enemy’s motivations. Anna was right, there was danger.
Except the danger felt like a mousetrap.
The spectacle of their arrival in town had been the bait. It was designed to attract the crowds to the circus once it was open. Of course, everyone went. In the Territory, particularly in small towns like Four Corners, there was little to do in the way of entertainment. A circus, with its fantastic performers, colourful lights and carnival atmosphere, was irresistible. Once there, something was unleashed on his town, almost as penetrating as the rain soaking his hat. What took place today, was a result of that and yet Chris was convinced it was merely a display of power, to show everyone else what they were capable of.
The question was, why?
The gleam of light from the showground was muted by the teeming rain, but there was enough of it to tell Chris the weather was doing nothing to keep audiences away. While there were not so many people in the place, Chris could see a few bodies beneath the awnings of the carnival stands and people were still heading into the big top. Once again, Chris was struck by the idea of a mousetrap. Polidori and his ilk had done a convincing job of attracting custom, no matter what the circumstances. It further infuriated the gunslinger, the man was able to do the same to Nathan Jackson.
Nathan’s words, no doubt originating from insecurities the man usually knew better than to entertain, still stung and left Chris furious at the mechanism bringing it to the surface in the first place. What about Buck? What had been done to Buck? They were almost to the homestead, nearing the end of the trail before it emptied into the property when another collection of lights became visible before they reached it.
“Chris!”
Vin was gesturing to the quartet standing in the road before them, almost as if their arrival was expected. Carrying oil lanterns whose glass and metal casings kept the rain from extinguishing the flame within, the figures stood like guards, barring them from going any further. With faces illuminated by the glow of the lamps, Chris recognised August Darvellin the lead. Beside him was the tall behemoth who played the part of Goliath, the world’s strongest man, according to the banners flying throughout the carnival. The remaining two faces belonged to the performers in the trapeze act. Both men were lean and strong, their build, not that different from Ezra’s or Vin.
None of them was armed, yet as Chris studied them on approach, he had the oddest feeling it was the lawmen who were at a disadvantage.
Slowing down as they approached the men barring their way from going any further, Chris’s mount Sundance snorted unhappily, starting to hesitate even before he pulled the reins to come to a stop. As he felt the gelding’s uneasiness beneath the saddle, Chris noted JD’s horse Billy rearing up, with the young man having trouble settling Billy down, even while they were standing in place. Peso also seemed restless, which Chris found surprising because the animal was very much like its owner, unflappable.
“Terrible night to be out for a ride Mr Larabee,” August Darvell shouted through the rain, unconcerned he was getting soaked to the bone standing out in the open. Even though he wore a smile on his face, there was something colder than the night air reflecting in his eyes.
“Terrible night for you to be standing out in the rain,” Chris countered. “Seems like you ought to be indoors instead of what it is you’re doing out here.”
“My friends and I have too much experience with towns suffering local difficulties to know such calamities usually result in blame being assigned to outsiders unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity.”
“You must admit Sir,” Ezra spoke, matching Darvell for eloquence. “You do appear to be the catalyst for the strange behaviour in our local populace. Our own associate, Mr Jackson, seems to have developed some very odd ideas following his encounter with your Mr Polidori.”
“By offering the man a job?” Darvell returned, wearing a grin. “I would imagine, servicing the medical needs of our travelling community would suit him better, now that he appears to be discarded.”
“He ain’t discarded!” JD snapped, “he’s our friend, and we need him here!”
JD was furious at himself for falling prey to Madame Esmerelda’s words and letting her poison any future he had with Casey with her awful prophecy. Worse yet, what price would Polidori have exacted if JD had succumbed to his fears and gone to the man for help to save Casey? After seeing what gripped the town all day, he didn’t want to imagine how much against his nature he would have behaved.
“Ah, but is he needed?” Darvell asked, glancing at Vin. “Your lovely Doctor Styles, she is more than capable of attending to the needs of Four Corners. Such a beautiful, well-travelled lady, full of languages and a medical degree, binding herself to this dusty town. She will need much to occupy her attention, and Mr Jackson will surely infringe on her meagre practice, will he not?”
Something about the way Darvell spoke about Alex irked Vin Tanner to no end, especially after the man's comment. Yes, Alex was all those things, but she was happy with it. Alex loved him, and Vin knew it without any doubt in his mind. Alex often said she travelled across the world, never knowing what home was until now. It was one of the reasons they understood each other so well. They were both drifters who had found their place in the world and with each other.
Vin knew she loved her afternoon teas with Mary and Inez, their rides exploring the countryside and the time they spent with Chanu’s village, stepping outside the confines of Christian society into something more relaxed and in keeping with their unconventional upbringing. He thought of how they’d simply sit someplace pretty, while she read him pages from books of faraway places, while he recited poetry to her and she told him it was never needed to be written down because her heart remembered the words.
Whether or not Darvell intended to, Chris could tell immediately, his words struck at Vin’s core.
“You don’t know nothing about Alex,” Vin returned pointedly, with just enough of an edge to his voice for Chris to know he was a little rattled by the comment. “She loves Nathan, she’d never want him to leave.”
“Then perhaps she might make the sacrifice,” Darvell smiled. “Leave for his sake. One can never tell what women will do....”
“Enough,” Chris said sharply before the man affected Vin any more than he already had. “This isn’t about Alex.”
“Actually it is,” Darvell replied. “You see, your town has had a bad day, but certainly not it’s worst. One can’t imagine what might happen if this malaise gripping your community continues to fester. We’ve seen entire towns reduced to ashes, with everyone dead in the wreckage, if such a condition is allowed to continue.”
“And I suppose you have nothing to do with it?” Josiah asked, recognising the threat, like they all did, at what fate would fall upon Four Corners if this continued. “Nothing to do with what happened to Sally Reacher or our friend Buck Wilmington?”
“Well it appears to me, Mr Reacher had his fate coming,” Darvell showed no signs of being bothered by the accusation. “And Mr Wilmington seems to have overtaxed himself in the arms of our ladies.”
“Yet you claim no responsibility,” Josiah stared at him, not believing it for a second.
“Not a single one but where we have left in a timely fashion, the townsfolk returned to their senses soon enough no worse for wear.”
“So perhaps we can convince you to leave,” Ezra replied, suspecting nothing would be so easy, but like Chris, he wanted to see where this was going. Besides, by the way, Vin was silently stewing, Darvell had best get to his point quickly before the tracker adopted a more persuasive method of interrogation, involving his knife.
“We are happy to leave, provided we have what we want.”
“What do you want?” Ezra asked, knowing whatever it was, it was going to be high.
“We like to leave with a piece of the town in our hearts. What better way to do that than by adopting a few members of the community. A select few, no more than a dozen, to join us. You won’t even have to persuade them, they’ll come with us willingly, happily even. When we offer them the world, who would refuse such an offer?
If it was the same kind of influence these people wielded over Sally Reacher and Virgil Watson, Chris doubted there would be any free will involved at all.
“And if we say no,” Ezra answered, with Chris’s silent permission, knowing that when it was time for haggling, no one was better at it than him. Besides, Chris was studying everything already.
“If you say no,” his expression hardened like stone, “we will take what we want anyway and your town will become a black spot that no one will remember.”
For the first time since their arrival, Chris spoke. “Where is Polidori?”
While Darvell talked a good game, Chris knew the way any strategist did, Darvell was just the frontman, not the orchestrator of all this.
The question caught Darvell by surprise because he thought he was negotiating with Ezra. The sudden demand by the gunslinger who did not offer himself to be a formidable intellect, sliced through Darvell’s reality to determine who was the real man to watch. Turning to Chris, Darvell’s confident mask dropped again.
“Mr Polidori has other matters to attend,” Darvell replied. “This matter does not require his presence, I am the one who conducts negotiations.”
“There ain’t gonna be any negotiation,” Chris said coolly. “You have till morning to pack up stakes and get out of town. If you’re still here in the morning, we’ll make you leave.”
“Really,” Darvell almost smirked, and beside him, the three men silent throughout the discussion, tensed in readiness to attack. “And what of your town? Will you allow them to turn rabid? That is how it will go, you know.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Chris said shortly, tugging at the reins and gesturing for the others to do the same because they were heading back to Four Corners.
“Until we meet again, Mr Larabee,” Darvell called out as they began to ride away
Chris said nothing, aware these folk would still be here come morning. Whatever they were up to, it was worse than he imagined and Chris suddenly had an awful feeling about where Sebastian Polidori was at this moment.
For Vin’s sake, he hoped he was wrong.
***********
“Here drink this,” Alex placed the steaming cup in front of Buck, who was still in his bed in the clinic.
The ladies man was a little more composed after his panic attack earlier, deepening Alex’s concern for him because Buck was one of the most welladjusted people she knew. He seemed to be capable of taking things in stride, so it was rare to seem him so wholly shaken. It was not a side of him she liked to see, because he was always there with a smile, a welcome or sympathy when anyone needed it. She cared about him, even though she was not in the least bit attracted to Buck. Alex’s supposed her affection for him came about because that charm of his could always bring a smile to her face, and when he was around Inez, they were as entertaining as fireworks.
After his bout of anxiety, Alex had found the best remedy was not pressing him about what happened to him the night before. Whatever it was, it must have been traumatic for a man like Buck, self-assured and formidable in character to be so rattled. Right now, all she wanted to do was make him feel better and short of getting into bed with him, which Alex suspected was Buck’s cure for everything, a little nursemaiding would have to do.
Buck lifted his head from the pillow to take the fancy cup and saucer, the thing only a woman would try to inflict on a man and stared into the beverage before looking at her. “This ain’t coffee.”
“No,” she shook her head. “It’s tea. Chamomile.”
“Little old ladies drink tea,” he protested about to hand the cup back to her.
“And sick lawmen,” Alex said sweetly. “Drink it. It’s good for you.”
“Whiskey would be better,” Buck returned, realising Alex was staring at him with the impatience of a schoolmarm dealing with a surly kid.
“For starters,” Alex pulled up a chair and sat down, telling Buck in no uncertain terms, he was drinking the stuff and she was going to watch him do it. “Whiskey is not good for you, and secondly, I don’t have any liquor in the house anyway.”
Buck took a sip, never being capable of disappointing a lady and decided after the heat had dissipated off his tongue and the taste had seeped in, warming his chest on the way down, it did feel kind of nice. “No liquor,” he said, lowering the cup. “At all? What about Vin?”
Alex raised a brow. “What about Vin?”
“Unless that wasn’t him drunk off his ass with the rest of us on the floor of the saloon last week, I’m pretty sure the man still likes a drink.”
Alex laughed at that, recalling the day after that incident when Vin fronted up to the clinic begging for the cough mixture that did wonders for relieving pain as well as soothing irritable throats.
“He does, but not while he’s here.”
A blush ran across her cheeks when she thought why and to her annoyance, Buck spotted it even as he sipped more tea. Judging by the smile on the tracker’s face of late, it was no mystery what the couple was up to when Vin was here.
“I guess not,” Buck replied, glad to see the depth of feeling between the tracker and his lady was not a one-sided affair. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so happy.”
Hell, this stuff didn’t taste so bad for something brewed for old ladies in their parlour.
Alex met his gaze, “he makes me happy. I think I might have been waiting for him forever, of course, I didn’t see it until it was almost too late.”
“The big loves are like that,” Buck smiled. “It just comes out of nowhere...”
Before Alex could react to the comment, the sound of knocking captured both their attention. Alex glanced at the clock on the wall, noting the time and deciding a call to her clinic at this time of night meant a possible emergency. Anyone who knocked on her door at this time of night, couldn’t wait till office hours.
“You expecting company?” Buck asked all traces of the sick patient vanished as he set aside the teacup and sat up straighter. Even though he was in no condition to offer any resistance, Buck would sure as hell not sit by and let anything happen to the woman if someone meaner than a patient was on the other side of that door. Vin would never forgive him.
“No,” Alex replied, getting to her feet and crossing the floor of the room so she could go outside and greet her unexpected caller. “But if someone’s here at this time of night, it could be an emergency.”
“Or it could be trouble,” Buck muttered, having lived in Four Corners long enough to know things never unfolded as they should. The lawman searched for his clothes as Alex flounced by the privacy partition separating the room from the rest of her clinic.
Despite Buck’s suspicions, Alex didn’t think there was any danger. Even though she was mindful of intruders to her home, like Randall Mason, she remembered coldly, Randall had broken in through the back door. Whomever her late caller was, he was standing along the main street, in full view of Four Corners and its residents. No one who intended harm would be stupid enough to make such a visible entry if menace was on his mind.
The knocking stopped by the time she reached the door, and though she could not see the person on the other side was, she saw the shadows moving against the floor through the crack. When she opened to door, she found to her surprise, it was Sebastian Polidori.
“Mr Polidori,” Alex said, trying not to sound a little anxious considering the suspicions the seven had about the man. “What a surprise! Is something wrong? Has there been an accident at the circus? Is someone hurt? “
“Not at all Doctor Styles,” Sebastian smiled at her. “I wished to discuss with you a proposal I think you’ll find fascinating.”
Minutes passed, and Buck Wilmington started to get nervous.
Alexandra Styles was taking an awfully long time to answer the door. At first, the stretch of seconds into minutes did not bother Buck, since Alex was the town doctor and probably had to endure interruptions all the time. Even sharing the responsibility of Four Corners' health with Nathan did not alleviate the demands on her time, and Buck recalled Vin commenting now and again, how he and Alex had to cancel plans due to some kind of emergency. Not that the tracker minded, he called Alex a medicine woman and was damn proud of it, except when he was the one needing tending. Then, not even true love could keep the man from high tailing it out of Dodge.
Yet at the gut of him, he knew something was wrong.
Perhaps the previous night's activities, whatever they were, had heightened his sensitivity to trouble. Noticing his gunbelt hanging from the far corner of the bedpost, Buck shifted out of bed and went to investigate. He had to admit, it was difficult leaving the soft mattress, especially when he still felt so drained, but he had to see what was taking Alex so long. Once he took his irons, Buck grabbed his pants draped across the chair and pulled them over his long johns.
He didn't put on his boots, opting for the advantage the silence afforded him by bare feet as he crept towards the hallway to get an idea of the situation. The quiet disturbed him. Buck heard Alex's greeting and a male voice responding to her opening statement, but after that brief exchange, no further words were spoken. There had been a muffled sound he couldn't identify, and something in that abrupt silence felt chilling.
Drawing his gun after fastening the belt around his waist, Buck rounded the doorway to get a glimpse of the hallway in preceding the front door. What he saw, made hand holding the gun go slack with horror. Like a tidal wave crashing down on him, Buck was bombarded with images of just what happened to him last night, because it was happening to Alex, right now.
The thing standing before Alex wore the same clothes as Sebastian Polidori, the owner of the Polidori Circus, and that was the only way Buck was able to identify the man. His face, if it could be called that, was little more than a mask of tentacles, hanging beneath two bulbous eyes that might have belonged to a bullfrog. The tentacles were attached to Alex's face, while Polidori's clawed hands clutched her by the temples to ensure she could not look away, even if she wished it.
The lady's expressive brown eyes were white, and her mouth was hanging open as something, thick, and slithering was forced down her throat. Yet the proboscis did not appear to be drawing blood, but something more precious, if the glow of white pulsing through its length was any indication. Buck almost doubled over in revulsion, the whole scene was not only horrifying but obscene. This was what those women had done to him last night! Yet as he forced himself to look at what Polidori was doing to Alex, Buck suspected he had been let off lightly.
Courage marshalled up inside of him in a swell of indignation at any lady being treated this way. Buck recovered his senses and ignored what he saw, only paying heed to the fact Vin Tanner's love was being violated in some unspeakable way. Without thinking further, he took aim and pulled the trigger.
The explosion of gunfire and the quick second it took for his Remington to deliver its justice, gave Polidori little time to react. The bullet tore through his shoulder, and an unholy shriek filled the world, as he relinquished his grip of Alex and retracted that vile appendage from inside her mouth. The release was made with a sickening suction of sound, and once again, Buck was grateful for the tea Alex made him drink. If it had been food, he would surely be puking up his guts about now.
Alex collapsed against the floor as Polidori whirled at him, the tentacles on his face writhing in fury, like tiny fists waving their knuckles at him. Buck wasn't about to put up with that and fired once more. This time Polidori was ready for it, sidestepping the bullet with surprising speed and took a step towards Buck prepared to do battle. Buck fired again, this time not at the man, but at the light fixture Polidori had to past to reach him.
It exploded spectacularly, sending a spray of glass and oil in all directions, but mostly on Polidori. The sharp fragments tore into the man's side, eliciting another shriek of pain, the tentacles on his face spasming in reaction, once again the sight of it made Buck's blood curdle with disgust. The oil ignited as it sprayed across Polidori's arm and the flame found a feast in his expensive jacket. Polidori's face shifted, and the mask of the man reappeared, full of rage and hatred as he glared at Buck.
"I should have let the girls drain you completely, but that is an error in judgment I can correct easily enough!"
As he patted his arm to extinguish the flames, closing the distance to Buck, the most beautiful sound Buck ever heard filled his ears. The thunder of hoofbeats riding hard into town.
Without even needing to look out the window, because there was just something inside him that knew instinctively those horses belonged to the rest of the Seven, Buck faced Polidori who halted in his advance. As he stared at the man's face, now fully human again, Buck could see Polidori knew it too. His eyes narrowed in calculation, most likely weighing his options upon realising he was about to be outnumbered, to say nothing of the wrath of one Vin Tanner when the tracker found Alex.
"This is not over," Polidori started to retreat, and the hoofbeats came to an abrupt halt, overshadowed by voices and horses neighing in response to the sudden stop. "I will have this town and," and he glanced at Alex, 'this woman."
"Like hell you will," Buck hissed as Polidori turned to leave. "We know what you are now, we'll stop you."
"Stop me?" Polidori paused long enough to laugh, still conscious of the voices moving on mass towards the front door. "Your town is already half mine. I have crushed Mongols under my feet, watched Roman legions turn to dust and holy crusaders with their banners of piet, beg to die, you and your friends are nothing."
With that ominous statement, he swept out of the room, making no sound as he ran along the hall, not until he smashed through a window to make his escape.
Buck was panting, feeling the fear tightening inside his chest, but forced himself to move because Alex was still lying on her side against the floor, unmoving. Exhaustion sapping at him, Buck sidestepped the broken glass across the rug as he entered the hallway, getting there just as the door burst open. Predictably, Vin was in the lead, and his eyes widened at the side of his girl unconscious.
"Alex!" Vin skidded to the floor before Buck could reach her.
"What the hell happened?" Chris Larabee announced himself as he strode through the door left open when Vin barged in a few steps ahead. Behind Chris, Buck saw the others following and felt a surge of gratitude at the sight of them. After what he had just seen, he was counting on the safety of numbers.
Leaning against the door, Buck felt as if he were a thousand years old, not his youthful 30 something self.
"Polidori," Buck said, trying to hide how shaken he was by what he just encountered. Polidori's face.....God his face. "Polidori was here, and he tried to take Alex."
"Take Alexandra?" Ezra burst out, brushing past Chris to pause when he saw Vin on the floor, cradling the doctor. No matter what had passed between them, Ezra still cared a great deal about the young woman and did not like the idea of any harm coming to her. "Is she alright?"
Vin didn't answer as he swept Alex up in his arms and carried her to one of her own examination beds. She did not stir in his grip, which only heightened Vin's fears for her well being. Suddenly, he was reminded of how Alex had almost died at Randall Mason's hand when the son of a bitch shot her in the back. While he saw no signs of injury, he could see she was pale, able to recognise the pallor of the unwell even through her golden skin.
"Buck?" Chris demanded again, seeing the fragment of glass and patches of burnt rug where the oil had landed. To say nothing of the fact Buck still had his gun in his hand and looked like he just stepped out of a fight he barely won.
Buck didn't know how to explain as he saw Vin leaning over Alex once he got her to the empty examination table.
"Alex Darlin,'" Vin brushed the hair out of her face and felt his heart stop when she did not react to his efforts to revive her. "Come on, Doc, don't scare me."
Chris had only to hear Vin's voice to know how terrified he was for Alex. He would be the same if it were Mary and understood despite the newness of the relationship, the tracker was very much in love with his doctor and would be devastated by her loss. It was a pain Chris would spare him.
"We need to find Nathan," Chris looked over his shoulder at Josiah and JD. "We need him here."
"Damn straight," Buck nodded, meeting Chris's eyes with deadly insistence. "Because we sure don't want him going anywhere near Polidori after what I just saw."
"What did you see?" Josiah inquired, noticing just how rattled Buck was. Buck was many things, excitable, short-tempered on occasion, and highly reactive. What he wasn't, however, was easily scared and right now Josiah saw such fear in the man's eyes, whatever caused it was something they all better be worried about.
"Nothing we've ever seen before," Buck closed his eyes and tried to dismiss the image of writhing tentacles because it only made him sick to his stomach again. "Nothing we ever want to see, but I can tell you for sure, it's got our town."
***********
No one said a word as Buck told his story.
What could be said about a tale so horrifying, not to mention preposterous, it beggared belief. To say Chris's first reaction to Buck's tale was scepticism was an understatement. He thought Buck had lost his mind and conjured up a story that came straight from the bottom of a bad bottle of rotgut. Tentacled monsters, in a man's clothing? It was ridiculous, it had to be until Chris remembered what had been going on in Four Corners since Polidori and his carnival arrived in town.
God-fearing, Christian folk who never put a foot wrong in their lives, were now behaving like vandals, thieves and murderers. In Elden Reacher's case, the man was dead and his wife along with him. Meanwhile Nathan Jackson, the most reliable of their number, after Vin, was leaving even though Chris knew Nathan loved Four Corners and the people in it. When he was its sole healer, he considered everyone his responsibility, and not once did he ever think himself less in the eyes of his friends. The change had taken place overnight, and none of them had an explanation for it.
Was it because Polidori had got to Nathan the way, he had tried to attack Alex? And what would be the effect on the lady when she awoke? Chris kept this thought silent for the moment because the possibility would only heighten Vin's panic, and the tracker was damn dangerous, not to mention unpredictable when his emotions came into play. Even their deep connection prevented Chris from guessing Vin's thoughts when it came to Alexandra Styles.
"Mr Wilmington, are you sure...." Ezra started to say and saw Buck's expression darken immediately.
"You think I'd make up a story like this!"
"Easy Buck," Josiah spoke up, "Ezra didn't say you made it up but considering what we just heard, it's only natural that we ask."
They were all seated around Alex's kitchen table having withdrawn to the room after Vin took the lady to her upstairs, unwilling to leave her unattended in the clinic below. As of yet, she showed no signs of waking up and seemed trapped in the same state of unconsciousness that gripped Buck earlier in the day. Still, if Buck appeared somewhat recovered now, there was no reason to believe Alex would not do the same when sufficient time had passed. Again, Chris would feel better about the situation if Nathan were here, especially after what Buck revealed about Polidori.
Josiah's words seemed to mollify Buck a little, although the troubled expression on the face of his old friend told the gunslinger, Buck was just as incredulous about what he had seen, as they were about accepting it as truth. Furthermore, it wasn't often Chris saw Buck like this. The man looked genuinely rattled and very little affected Buck so profoundly he wasn't able to shake it off with his larger than life personality. Yet his story seemed impossible mostly because the idea it could be true was utterly monstrous.
"I know it sounds crazy!" Buck burst out. "You think I don't know it sounds like I got into the locoweed?"
Buck was pacing the floor now, all signs of his earlier lethargy vanished. Then again, Buck was pretty fired up as he grappled with what he had seen, a situation exacerbated by the assumed scepticism of his friends.
"Mr Wilmington," Ezra spoke up, wishing Buck to know he was not casting aspersions on Buck's reporting of the facts, just the possibility Polidori could be some supernatural character. "I didn't mean to imply you were lying, merely trying to understand how Polidori could have made you believe what you saw. In my time, I have seen many artists who performed such feats of illusion, it appeared utterly authentic."
"Ezra, this wasn't any magic show," Buck shot him a look. "I know what I saw. His face...."
Buck's throat went dry, and he snatched up the tin cup of coffee, poured from a pot Chris made fresh when they came up here. He gulped down the still-hot liquid, hoping the burn would chase away the revulsion in his gut. Raising his eyes to the others, Buck spoke in a calmer voice. "He wasn't human, and he said something about being around when Mongols and Romans were roaming around the place. He wasn't afraid of us Ezra, and he knows he's got the town."
Ezra stiffened at that, remembering Anna's warning and understood now why she was so afraid. If Buck was right and they were beset by some kind of demon, they had good reason to fear. Even as the thought crossed his mind, his logical mind rejected it, and he was shaking his head.
"I cannot accept this, it must be some kind of a trick." Ezra looked away from Buck unable to endure the man's harsh stare because the gambler simply could not make the leap it required to accept Buck's story.
"Why does it have to be a trick?" Josiah inquired, "I've travelled this world, and I've seen things that defy description. We believe in a God we've never seen. How is this any different?"
"Josiah's right," JD agreed, more than familiar with Buck's tall tales to know the difference between what was a yarn to entertain them and truth, no matter how unlikely it appeared. "Look where I came from, there are people from all over the world. They all got their stories about monsters and demons. Maybe not all of them are a lie."
"See?" Buck stated, grateful he had supporters and tossed JD a look of gratitude for speaking up in his defence. "I shot at it Ezra, it was the only way it was going to let Alex go, and I'm still not sure we've saved her."
Vin who had remained silent until this point, stiffened, his jaw clenching just enough for those present to see how furious this had happened to the woman he loved. "It don't matter what it is, we just need to be able to kill it."
"It ain't just them," Chris added, going over in his mind everything that had transpired since the carnival came to town and what Buck had said to him. He remembered the word Anna had mentioned to Ezra when she waylaid the gambler to offer her warning in the shadows, or Salome's ominous words to Josiah and finally, Darvell's own demands.
Don't believe them. Whatever they say, don't believe them. This is a trap.
Let us do what we must and then allow us to move on.
We will take what we want anyway.
"It's all of them."
The five men looked at their leader.
"It's not just Polidori, it's the whole carnival. Polidori said it himself, he could have let those three girls drain Buck," Chris reminded, capturing their undivided attention. The gunslinger stared into his own cup of coffee, the darkness of the beverage resembling an oracle providing revelation in its black depths. "They come to town, and they take people they want. They use them somehow, use them until they're drained, like Buck almost was. Then they move on to the next town. The carnival does something to people who went to see the show, not many, just enough to turn some of them rabid to scare the hell out of the rest."
"So the town gives up the number the carnival wants without a fuss," Josiah commented, joining Chris on this rather grim theory. "Towns that refuse get destroyed somehow."
Chris nodded in confirmation. "That's why we haven't heard of this carnival before. If you gave up the folk in your own community to save your skin, would you talk about it?"
"And if you fought back, you wouldn't be around to tell anyone anyway." Vin met Chris's eyes, reaching the same conclusion.
"Draining," Ezra tried to wrap his mind around all this. "Are you claiming these carnival people are vampires? Like the creatures in that Byron poem?" It was too much for him to accept.
"What's a vampire?" Vin had to ask, having never heard of such a thing before.
"A creature that preys on the blood of its victims," Ezra explained hastily before addressing Chris again. "Not that I wish to be a doubting Thomas, but that is fiction, Mr Larabee."
"I didn't say I had it figured out Ezra," Chris frowned, aware of how crazy this talk sounded but at the moment, this was the only picture forming from the pieces they had.
"Well it's not draining blood," Josiah commented, having read some of the literature that existed about vampires. As elements of fiction, there was no doubt the creatures were fascinating, but like Ezra, Josiah didn't think they were the culprits in their present crisis. "And we've seen these creatures in daylight."
Buck listened to his friends argue about the vampires and knew despite the similarities, what the seven was presently debating so hotly was not what Polidori was. Closing his eyes, he banished their voices to a distant place, until they became the noise of rain on the roof, easily ignored and capable of helping you focus. As much as he wished otherwise, he forced himself to revisit the image of Polidori when Buck first saw what he was doing to Alex.
Once again, his stomach heaved as he recalled the slithery appendage it had forced down her throat. It took all his control not to gag when he remembered the white glow being drained from Alex. Polidori was taking something from her, that much Buck was certain. He supposed if there were any consolation to be had by this horrific situation, she probably wouldn't remember it.
Whatever he was draining from her, glowed as it was passed along, and Buck thought of the way sunlight radiated through your fingers when you held up your hand to shield your eyes from the glaring sun.
It was like it was taking her light...
"Jesus Chris," Buck whispered as the answer hit him. "It's not draining her blood, it's taking her soul."
"Damn," Josiah stared at him sharply, grasping the full scope of Buck's statement. The ladies man was voicing an idea, while Josiah knew of the legends. Everything fit now that Buck made the connection and Josiah couldn't believe he hadn't seen it before this.
"They're soul eaters."
Nathan Jackson left Four Corners with every intention of never returning.
Despite Josiah’s sobering words reminding him the rest of the Seven were his friends, Nathan found it difficult to ignore the compulsion to take up Polidori’s offer. His mind was filled with images of faraway places he would never see if he remained in Four Corners, living a life in a land that would always see him as less than a man, but more than animal. If he were anywhere else, being a real doctor wouldn’t have been an impossible dream.
Riding into the night, with the most treasured belongings he owned, including a few of his medical books, Nathan knew he had to leave, but the reasons why became more hollow the further and further he drew away from the town. When the rain started battering the earth, soaking him to the bone, he began to think about the friends left behind.
Ezra, who appeared at first to be just another Southern bigot, until he rose above his prejudice, to show Nathan he could be a better man. Hell, Nathan suspected Ezra might even appreciate his criticism when Ezra’s moral compass went astray. Chris, Buck and Vin treated him like a brother, and when Nathan remembered the words spoken to Chris at the saloon this morning, a wave of shame washed over him as thoroughly as the rain soaking into his skin.
Where had that come from? Where did any of it come from?
Chris and Vin had saved him from a noose, and you just had to look at Buck to know the rogue didn’t see colour, not in the women he ran after, nor the men he considered his friends. Meanwhile, JD Dunne looked up to him as someone to be respected, whose advice he sought frequently.
What Nathan owed Josiah could not be put into words.
Josiah saved him, kept him from dying at the hands of his former master, a man whose name Nathan still could not bring himself to speak for the rage it would provoke. Josiah found him, half-dead from a whipping, burning with fever and exhaustion after Nathan had run away. In his delirium, Nathan was unaware Josiah took him from Kentucky to Illinois. When Nathan woke up, he discovered he was not about to suffer some horror at an overseer’s hand, he was free.
Josiah didn’t just give Nathan his freedom, he taught Nathan how to write his name.
And then there was Alex.
He didn’t love her, not the way Vin Tanner did but the emotion was almost as strong. He tried to explain it to Rain once, and was unable. How could he tell anyone the reason when it cut to the bone like a knife, even now? Polidori had reached inside of him and drawn out those memories, not like poison from a wound, but like a submerged corpse drowned in a swamp. It brought with it the stink of anguish, allowing the pain to escape where it could not be ignored.
Polidori promised to make the pain go away, so he wouldn’t have to live with the memories of her blood on his hands, the image of her broken face in his mind, the one that still chased Nathan in his dreams.
When he met Alex the first time, opening his eyes after getting shot, seeing her face, he thought he was still dreaming. It wasn’t that Alex looked exactly like Becky, but it was in her smile and her spirit. The more they talked, the more Nathan was reminded of the sister he grew up with, and for the first time, the memory of Becky didn’t feel so terrible. Alex felt it too, except the void he filled was left behind by William Styles. Nathan knew even now, she blamed herself for her father’s death because she inadvertently caught the eye of Randall Mason.
Glancing at the slick saddlebags where his books were kept, he thought of the battered copy of the book Alex gave him, the one she didn’t tell him belonged to her father until he flipped through the pages hours later. Not only was it William Styles’s copy, but it had the man’s notes and scribblings on the pages. It wasn’t just a book she had given him, but also a piece of the father she loved.
Nathan sat up straighter in the saddle, thinking back to all the things he had in his life. The same things Polidori said he lacked. What had the man said? Nathan tried to think of the words, only knowing he’d come away from the encounter muddled. Even now, the compulsion to go to the circus tugged at him, the way you were thirsty for that drink you really didn’t need. Yet as Nathan thought about his friends and Rain, he realised his desire to stay was stronger.
What the hell was he doing?
Pulling his hat off his head, he allowed the water to run over his face, letting it cleanse his mind of his doubts because he knew with the cold air against his cheek, he didn’t want to leave. Blinking away the rain which could be tears, Nathan tugged at the reins and decided he was going home.
To Four Corners and the Seven.
***********
They were still trying to decide what they were going to do when Alex woke up.
One minute the lawmen were discussing or rather arguing the insane idea Polidori and his circus were monsters capable of draining the soul from a person, the next they fell silent when the usually proper doctor appeared at the doorway from the hall. She was dressed in nothing but her underthings. Her chemise and petticoat were all that kept her from being naked as she stood against the door frame, her feet bare and her hair wild and tousled.
Vin gaped at her in shock while the rest of the seven averted their eyes so Vin could cover her up, since it was rather improper for them to be seeing the doctor this way.
Alex paid no attention to her state of undress or his shock. In fact, Vin thought with rising alarm, she didn’t look all that different from Sally Reacher before the woman threw herself out the window. Though the men were trying not to look, it was difficult when only a few hours ago, Alex was included in their deliberations about Sebastian Polidori, lending her intelligence to determine what was happening in Four Corners.
“Darlin’?” Vin started moving towards her. The sound of his voice seemed to snap her out of her dazed state.
“Vin,” she managed a smile, seeing only him and no one else. She crossed the space between them, intercepting Vin. Wrapping her arms around his neck before he could utter another word, Alex pressed her mouth to his and began plying his face with kisses that felt almost frantic, as if it had been years since they’d seen each other, not hours.
Vin had no idea what was going on. While her kisses were by no means unpleasant, it took a second for his stunned mind to remember this was not her usual behaviour. Grabbing her by the wrists, VIn tried to pull her away, but Alex would not be deterred. She was pressing up against him, acting most indecently, and while she was a bit of a wild cat when they were alone in bed, Alex was too much a lady for this public display.
“A little help here!” Vin snapped at his comrades who were hoping he handle this situation himself, but if Vin had to apply more force to disengage Alex, he might hurt her. Pulling away from Alex’s lips, he held her at bay despite her struggles to recapture his mouth. “Darlin’, you ain’t’ well. Let’s get you to bed.”
“Yes,” she smiled, her eyes gleaming with desire. “Let’s do that. I just want you, Vin, nobody else, not ever.” Her words were almost a chant. “Be with me Vin, be with me forever.”
With that, she snatched her wrists out of his grip and pulled him to her again. This time her kisses were urgent, and the strength she was using to keep him from parting from her took Vin by surprise. By now the others could see, as awkward as the situation might appear, there was something definitely wrong with the doctor, something as dangerous as what was infecting the town.
“What did that son of a bitch do to her?” Buck cursed, aware this behaviour from Alex could only have come about because of Polidori’s attack.
“Ezra, help him,” Chris told the gambler before turning to JD, who was staring at the whole scene in bewilderment. “JD, go get Mary.”
“Yeah,” JD nodded, still trying to equate this woman with the no-nonsense doctor who would not tolerate any of their arguments when they were under her care. The young sheriff shook his head, dismissing the image of Vin who was trying to unwrap Alex’s arms from around his neck without harming her, before leaving the room.
“Alex honey please,” Vin spoke through her insistent if somewhat disturbing kisses. “You ain’t well. This isn’t you.”
“Yes, it is me, Vin,” she pulled away long enough to say, her voice breathless. “I want you, I want you forever. If you come with me, we can be together always. He said so. He said we didn’t have to settle for one lifetime, we could have as long as we want. It would be the two of us together, travelling all over the world. When everyone is dead and gone, we’ll still be young and beautiful. We never have to grow old, never have to die. Think of it Vin,” Alex tried to kiss him again. “It’s what we’re made for! We could be together forever. Don’t you want that? Don’t you want me?”
If the intensity of her words weren’t so chilling, Vin would have found this all rather embarrassing, but there was a mania in her eyes that made him fear for her. Grabbing her wrists again, Vin pulled her arms from around his neck.
“Darlin’, listen to me, this ain’t you. I don’t know what that bastard did to you, but this isn’t you.”
Alex’s response was to push her lips against Vin again. This time, Ezra, who had closed in behind her, was there to help.
“Come now Alexandra,” Ezra enclosed his fingers around her arm to wrestle her away from Vin. “This is hardly lady-like...”
At his touch, Alex whirled around sharply and lashed out violently. Ezra felt the contact of nails digging into his skin, followed by pain flaring across his cheek.
“Get away from me!” Alex’s voice lost all its seduction and devolved into the low snarl of an animal preparing to attack. Her teeth were almost bared when she hissed at him, eyes filled with madness and rage. “You’re not the one I want! You were never the one I wanted! If you try to take me away from Vin, I’ll cut your heart out!”
Before she could lunge at Ezra Chris stepped in, because Vin was too overcome with disbelief to react. Grabbing Alex by the wrist and shoulder, Chris spun her around and slammed her down onto the table. Before she could do anything else, Chris pinned her against the wood. Not that it did anything to slow her down because no sooner than Chris completed the action, Alex was fighting hard to break free. To his astonishment, the gunslinger realised it was taking all his strength to keep her restrained.
“VIN!” Chris barked at the tracker, who finally snapped out of his shock and hurried forward, coming alongside Alex and feeling his gut clench because he had to hold her down. At the sight of him, she stopped struggling once again, and her eyes met his.
“Vin please let me go! I just want to be with you. I love you so much! I always loved you, you know that! Just like you loved me from the moment you saw me! I want us to be together! He spoke to me in my head Vin, he said if we went with him, we could live forever, we will always be together! Don’t you want that?”
Of course, he did. What man wouldn’t, but it was insane. Vin would love nothing more than to live out all the ages of the world with her, but he knew the price for this particular piece of immortality. It would cost them their souls and what remained of their bodies, would not be the people they were, but monsters like Polidori.
“You okay Ezra?” Buck turned to the gambler who was pressing one of his silk linens against his cheek, soaking the blood caused by the wound. The rogue would have liked to have helped Chris and Vin, but he was barely able to remain on his feet himself. Watching Vin and Chris holding down Alex, Buck’s jaw ticked, remembering not long ago, they were sitting across each other sipping tea. It was a far cry from the crazed harridan now hurling insults and pleas at the gunslinger and tracker respectively.
“Yes,” Ezra nodded, his shock dissipating but Alex’s words sunk into his mind.
“YOU LET ME GO!” She screamed like a banshee as she continued to struggle, trying to break free. “VIN’S MINE! WE’RE GOING TO BE TOGETHER! HE PROMISED! HE PROMISED!”
Suddenly, they heard the loud footsteps of Josiah whom they’d lost track of when this all began. The preacher was running up the stairs from Alex’s clinic. Following the sound of his heavy footsteps, Ezra and Buck saw Josiah reaching the top of the steps, clutching what appeared to be a folded handkerchief in his hand.
“Hold her steady!” Josiah ordered as he approached Chris and Vin at the table with the struggling woman. Like everyone else, Josiah was horrified to see Alex caught in the same trap as the rest of Four Corners.
“Easier said than done!” Chris grunted, trying to avoid her legs as she kicked out, trying to break free. She was thrashing hard, and each demand to be released were like lashes against Vin. At moments like this, it was easy to see just how young Vin was because his emotions were naked on his face.
“What are you doing, Josiah?” Vin demanded as he saw the preacher shoved the handkerchief against Alex’s face. Alex shook her head, refusing to let the cloth touch her, but Chris reached out and held her head still, so she had no choice but to breathe in the sickly sweet odour of the soaked linen.
“She’s got ether in her clinic,” Josiah explained as Alex continued to fight, trying to turn her head so she wouldn’t breathe in the fumes wafting from his handkerchief. “I’ve seen Nathan used it to put patients under. Figured it might be useful right now.”
“No kidding,” Chris agreed as he and Vin maintained their grip on the doctor, ensuring she would have no choice but to eventually take a breath. The moment came a few seconds later when her chest heaved and she inhaled deeply. By the time she reached her third breath, her efforts to break free became less insistent, until finally, Alex went limp against the table and moved no more.
“Jesus Christ,” Vin whispered when Alex lapsed into unconsciousness. “What the hell?”
“Well think of it this way,” Chris stepped back, exhaling loudly. “At least, you’re in better shape than Elden Reacher.”
***********
Nathan’s route back to Four Corners took him past the Potter place.
The home where Gloria Potter resided with her four children sat on the outskirts of town. Starting its life as a log cabin, the prosperity of the Potter's Mercantile Store saw sections added with lumber extensions when the family grew.
Surrounded by a short wooden fence, the harsh climate of the area did not allow for much of a garden. However, before the death of her husband, Gloria made an effort nonetheless. Choosing plants that did not require a great deal of water, the garden was interspersed with shrubs of Russian sage and juniper, along with a couple of cacti and yucca plants. When the season was right, the garden bloomed with colour in the much needed drab landscape of the area.
The rain withdrew to a light shower when Nathan rode past the home. Through the mild fog settled over the land, he saw the amber light of an oil lamp peering at him through the window. Taking a quick glance at the pocket watch in his coat, he saw that it was past ten o'clock, much too late for the family to be awake, but shrugged it off because how Gloria chose to spend her nighttime hours were none of his beeswax.
Nathan continued riding by, seeing no need to rush, especially now he was almost within town limits. His horse, Hippy had been ridden hard out of Four Corners and now after Nathan did his abrupt about-face to return, saw no reason to push the animal on such a miserable night. He was almost to the edge of the Potter fence line when he heard the scream. It was the scream of fright all adults, whether they were parents or not, recognised as the cry of a terrified child.
Nathan reacted instantly, pulling back on the reins and bringing Hippy to an immediate halt, its hooves digging into the soft dirt at the sudden pause. Dismounting, Nathan hit the ground running, especially when the cry was followed by another, even more urgent if such a thing was possible. As he ran to the front gate, the front door burst open and bolting through it of the Potter house, was Gloria's oldest, Jaime. In his arms, he was carrying the youngest child, a little girl named Bess, whom Nathan recalled treating for measles not all that long ago.
"Jamie!" Nathan called out to the boy, and as the kid raced down the dirt walk to the gate, Nathan saw his face light up in relief at the sight of an adult.
"Mr Jackson!" Jamie cried, glancing his shoulder hastily as if to see if the demon chasing him was still there.
"Boy, what's happened?" Nathan demanded. By now, little Bess was crying, and as Nathan dropped down to talk to Jamie, Nathan noticed the deep cut along his bicep. The cut was not very deep, but it was enough to soak Jamie's sleeve with blood. "Who did this to you?"
"It's momma! She's gone crazy!"
Gloria Potter? Nathan looked up instinctively at the front door, before facing Jaime again. Gloria Potter harming her children? It was impossible. People admired Gloria for how well she tended to her children, especially after Lucas James murdered her husband and left her to fend for them and her business. While the community provided what support it could, Gloria never displayed any signs she wasn't handling things on her own. The idea she could hurt her family was laughable, except this boy had taken his sister and ran out into the night, bleeding.
"She did this?" Nathan still couldn't believe it.
"She's trying to kill us!" Jaime stuttered as if he had to force the words out because it was so impossible to say. "I snuck out after supper to go catch bullfrogs with Bobby Conklin at the creek, but when I got back, I..I... saw momma running a bath for Robbie and the others. She had a knife Mr Jackson, and when I wouldn't get in, she came at me with it. I couldn't get to Robbie and Jimmy, because she was in the way, but Bess was in her bed so I took her and ran. She chased me with the knife. Mr Jackson Robbie and Jimmy, they're still in there!"
"Okay," Nathan thought quickly, "I want you to take Bess and go to Miss Pemberton's house," Julia's new home was the nearest house to the Potter place. While he did not know the woman that much, he knew she would be able to provide sanctuary to her neighbours until he could figure something out. "Tell her I sent you, and stay put."
Jamie nodded, grateful to have the direction of one of the Seven as Nathan stood up hastily and went towards the front door, hoping he did not find something worse than Jamie's cut arm when he went inside.
Stepping through the door, Nathan scanned the main parlour where the Potter family sat around a wood-burning stove on cold nights or took their meals at the dining table. Even though it was not lavish by any means, there was warmth in the room that came from more than just the stove. Twin needles protruding from a ball of yarn, small, framed portraits adorning the walls and even the embroidered pillows on the chairs. It spoke to warmth produced only by a woman wishing to make this place a home.
Nathan sighted the knife against the floor, stained with blood and felt his blood run cold. As he heard sounds coming from the back room, a chill ran through him at what he might find there. The healer proceeded forward cautiously, ignoring the urge to reach for his gun because he did not relish shooting Gloria if she came at him with something deadlier than another blade.
When he entered the room, he was confronted with something almost as cutting.
Gloria Potter was kneeling on the floor, her arms wrapped around both her children. Both boys were swathed in towels, their faces buried in each crook of their mother's neck. Gloria was shuddering as she held them, her body heaving as she wept anguished and sorrowed tears.
"I'm so sorry," she sobbed, holding them tight. "I'm sorry, I'd never hurt any of you. I swear I’ll never hurt any of you again. I just wanted to go with him so bad. I'm so sorry."
Nathan released a sigh of relief and realised then, he wasn't the only one hearing Polidori in his head.
The call reached across Four Corners.
Like the first cold breeze of winter warning, it moved through the streets, swept through doors and windows, crawled into the creases between the wooden walls, and down the sooty shaft of chimneys. Its voice was soundless, but by no means silent. All across Four Corners, the liberated heard its command booming loudly in their heads, like the bursting of cannon fire. No matter who they were, no matter what activity they were currently engaged, all who heard listened and mind the rally to arms, helpless against it.
Bernadette Freeman sat up in her bed abruptly. She heard the siren song in her mind, beckoning her to leave her bed. Bernadette stared at her husband Jimmy, exhausted from the day's toil like he was some strange creature she did not recognise before turning away. She paid him no mind as she climbed out of bed still wearing her nightclothes before padding over to the door. Leaving her bedroom, she saw through the open window and the billowing curtains, the sight of others moving through the streets in the darkness, answering the call.
***********
Virgil Watson, who was left at home instead of locked up in the jailhouse because the cells were becoming too crowded with townspeople who had throughout the day committed worse acts of violence, walked along the boardwalk. Virgil heard the call, heard it whispering to him that if he were to do as he was told, he would be reunited with his dear Cora. It made no sense to him how this could happen, for she had gone to God almost four years ago, but the desire to believe it could be true compelled him forward.
Lost among the long shadows stretching across the boardwalk, he saw others on the street. Sam Conklin, Will Jefferson and Ellis Wakefield, they were moving up the road, headed towards the clinic, and like rolling stones down a hill, they were gathering the others who emerged into the night. Virgil wanted to join them, but the call had told him where he needed to be. It had given him instructions, told him his part was essential and would secure his reunion with his Cora. In his mind's eye, he saw Cora smiling at him, as pretty as a picture, the day he married her some thirty-one years earlier.
I'm here Gil, she smiled. All you have to do for us to be together is one little thing.
One little thing, Virgil decided. He could do that as he reached his destination and opened the door to the jailhouse.
***********
Inside Alexandra Styles's bedroom, a place until now only Vin Tanner had seen, Chris and Mary stood over Vin as the tracker secured the unconscious doctor to her bed. Although Vin hated to do it, Chris insisted Alex be tied up, in case she regained consciousness and decided to run off to the carnival as she tried to convince Vin to do a short time ago. The tracker secured her wrists to the bedposts, feeling like nine kinds of hell for doing this to the woman he loved, but after what she had almost done to Ezra, admitted begrudgingly the extreme action was necessary.
"Mary, can you stay with her?" Chris regarded the blond editor of the Clarion News. "Josiah gave Alex a strong dose of the ether, but with what's happening to her, I'm not sure how long that's going to last."
"Of course," Mary nodded. "Chris, what is happening?" She looked at him with a troubled expression on her face. "It's like the entire town is going mad!"
"It ain't the town," Vin straightened up after he planted a soft kiss on Alex's forehead. "It's him. It's that Polidori bastard, he's put some kind of hex on them."
Mary was about to balk at the notion until she saw how serious both Chris and Vin were. "How?"
"We're not sure," Chris replied, not about to relate to her what Buck had seen, because he didn't know how she could handle hearing about supernatural monsters on top of everything else. "I think it's affected most of the people who went to the carnival."
"Chris," Mary's eyes widened. "That was most of the town."
"I know but I don't think just going to the place is enough, they've got to have some contact with the circus folk, and that needs to be done in private."
Especially after what Polidori had turned into , Chris thought silently.
"What are you going to do?" She wondered how on Earth they would combat such a thing.
"Maybe there's something in Alex's pa's books."
Both Mary and Chris looked at Vin who had straightened up to join them.
"Books?"
"Yeah," Vin nodded. "Alex said her Pa collected all kinds of books about strange illnesses when they were travelling all over the world. Maybe there's something in them that might fix all this."
Considering how rabidly Alex behaved, Vin was willing to try anything to get the doctor back to her right mind. While it was somewhat flattering that Polidori had used her love for him to addled her brain, the violence at which she had gone after Ezra still shocked him. Alex would never consciously hurt anyone. She made a promise as a doctor she often said, to do no harm.
"Alex did mention she was going through her father's papers," Mary remarked. "I can go through them while I'm here."
"Good," Chris was grateful for the help because he wasn't ashamed to admit this was entirely out of his understanding. Short of lopping off Polidori's head, because that seemed the most decisive way of ending the son of a bitch, Chris had no idea how else to stop the man from what he was doing to Four Corners. "We're going back to the carnival and end this now. Buck's still pretty weak, so he'll be staying here with you."
"Alright," Mary agreed and then said in a softer voice. "Be careful."
"Never," Chris reached for her cheek and brushed it gently with his palm. "But I'll try not to get shot."
"At least not by us," Vin quipped, wanting to make the widow feel better and thank her for looking after Alex in his absence.
Mary rolled her eyes. "I feel comforted already."
***********
Nathan Jackson had been in the process of dealing with Gloria Potter, who almost murdered her four children when he heard the call in his mind. Polidori was speaking to him again. This time he was using a voice that didn't feel subtle or distant, but so loud it felt like the peals of a bell inside Nathan's skull. Nathan winced as he heard it repeat over and over again, trying to bend him to his will. Nathan refused to be swayed, not again. In light of what Gloria just tried to do to her children, it was the dose of clarity Nathan needed to know Polidori was a false prophet who served his own ends.
Kill them for me.
The words repeated themselves in his mind, trying to beat down the walls of his resistance with relentless determination. Immediately, Nathan knew who the 'them' in this scenario was. Even if the Call did not name them specifically, Nathan could sense where the malice was intended to take him. To this brothers. This false prophet wanted him to murder his friends. The compulsion to surrender to Polidori's words were strong, and as he watched Gloria suddenly up and leave her children, walking past them as if they were nothing, he realised she probably wasn't alone.
Nathan was fighting it, resisting because he shielded himself with memories and words with far more power over him than the message of hatred trying to seep into his mind like a poison. As a slave, it was necessary to build walls inside one's mind. There was no way to survive otherwise. If you didn't learn how to force back dark emotions, to fight the rising bile of fury and frustration that wanted to lash out each time a Master cuffed you, or dragged one of the women off to be violated, or whipped one of your friends raw, you would be punished. Nathan had lived with that control for seventeen years, and old habits could be unearthed when needed.
When he heard Polidori's words, he combatted it with something even more formidable, something no one would ever be able to silence.
We gotta live, Nathan. We gotta survive this cause I know it ain't forever.
The words had kept him running from Georgia to Kentucky, driving him forward when his back was shredded to ribbons, his body burning with fever and exhaustion. Her words drove him on, even when he was senseless with pain and when he heard the artillery shells exploding around his ears during his first battle as a Union soldier. She was there with him the first time he found a wounded soldier buried in the bodies of others, covered in blood and shit, needing to force away his revulsion to help, to heal.
Rebecca was always there when he needed it, and she was here now, keeping Polidori away.
The bastard was going after his friends, and Nathan wouldn't allow it.
Letting Gloria go, because it was safer for her children if she were nowhere near them, Nathan told Robbie and Jimmy Potter to head to Julia's house to meet up with their siblings. Once he was sure of their safety, Nathan mounted Hippy and headed to town because he needed to warn the others.
It didn't take him long to reach the main street and when he did, saw the extent of the danger. Others who heard Polidori's call were on foot. He saw them walking out of their homes, stumbling out of the saloon, jumping off balconies and climbing out of windows, to join the growing crowd on the street. They too had heard Polidori's demand and were hunting the streets for the Seven lawmen who protected the town. Nathan's stomach clenched, thinking they looked more like an angry mob than his friends and neighbours.
He saw Virgil Watson emerging from the jailhouse, leading another group of townspeople and Nathan felt a cold stab of fear at which one of the seven might have been there. Waiting until they passed, Nathan took refuge in a side street, suspecting it would not be wise if he were seen and used the shadows to slip through the door left open by Virgil and his departing flock. The lamps lit provided illumination for Nathan to get a good view of things, and he was relieved to see no signs of violence as he stepped through the door.
The cells were wide open and Nathan glanced instinctively over his shoulder as if he could see through the walls at the group following Virgil. Had the hardware store owner released them? What were they arrested for? Making a quick inspection of the small jailhouse, Nathan was relieved to see none of his friends were present to prevent this jailbreak.
If they weren't here, where would they be? The saloon?
No, Nathan discounted it immediately. He'd seen folk coming out of the saloons. If any of the seven were frequenting the establishments, those answering Polidori’s rally would have indicated it. A memory sparked then, rising out of the fog that was his mind earlier this morning when he was filled with nothing but unfocused anger. Something about Buck being sick. Could they have taken him to Miss Alex's?
Nathan left Hippy were he was and made his way to the clinic, deciding he would be able to get there without being seen if he were on foot. As much as he loathed it, Nathan took his guns and knives because he had a feeling he might need them.
***********
"Chris!"
Chris and Vin were descending the stairs from Alex's upstairs apartment when Josiah's urgent voice had both gunslinger and tracker running down the remaining steps to reach their comrades. Even before they stepped onto the floor, Chris could hear the distinct sound of voices penetrating the walls of the clinic. Not just voices, he realised after a moment, angry voices and there were a lot of them.
By the time Chris and Vin arrived at the foot of the steps, the gunslinger saw the preacher peering out the window, his expression grave. JD was looking over Josiah's shoulder, barely able to see over Josiah's bulk, but managing just enough to appear just as worried. Ezra was standing by the door frame, having cracked the door wide enough to survey the scene outside. Like Josiah, there was no poker face to hide what he thought of the unfolding scene. Whatever was coming at them, had the gambler worried.
"What the hell is going on?"
The angry voices were growing louder, and though Chris could not make out the words, one thing was clear, they were getting closer.
"Trouble," Josiah stated, his eyes fixed on the scene outside. Salome had warned him to be vigilant, to guard his flock, but until this moment, he had not understood the extent of it. Now it might be too late.
"It appears Mr Larabee," Ezra decided to offer a little more detail when he stepped aside so Chris and Vin could see for themselves, "Mr Darvell had not been exaggerating when he lay claim to the town being theirs already."
Leaning forward, the two men stared through the gap and spied the mob coming down the street, closing in on the front door of the clinic. As the procession moved forward, more and more followers appeared out of the shadows. Even as they chanted their words of anger, there was something mechanical about all of it, and once again Chris was reminded of the vacant expressions worn by everyone who went loco today. In any case, it was clear the seven were the focus of the mob’s assembly.
"Jesus Christ," Vin whispered, stunned by how many of them there were. "Did Polidori get 'em all?"
"Not just Polidori," Chris reminded. "It's all of them at the carnival. They got their hooks into just about everyone they could when we went to the circus."
"What do we do?" JD was suddenly grateful Nettie and Casey lived out of town, away from trouble.
"We can't shoot them," Josiah stated, "they're not responsible for what's happening to them."
Chris thought quickly, they needed to get to Polidori and the carnival, but if they went out there right now, those people would ambush them, and with the numbers gathered, the Seven would need their guns to fight their way out. That meant shooting innocent people who had no idea what they were doing because they were trapped by the power of a supernatural monster. Even as Chris thought that a part of him couldn't shake off how insane any of this was.
It didn't matter, the danger was coming, and they better get off their asses if any of them wished to live through the night.
"Shut the windows!" Chris barked, pulling back and slamming the door shut. "Close all the shutters before those people get here! We can't make a run for the horses yet, not while they're so many of them out there."
"I'll get the backdoor!" JD volunteered before darting down the hallway towards the rear entrance of the building. It emptied into a side street that might be an alternate route of entry for anyone trying to breach the place.
"I'll get the one upstairs," Vin retreated up the staircase, heading towards the door he used to visit Alex in her upstairs apartment. It led down to the street and was shrouded in the shadows cast by the building next door.
As Chris shut the door, Ezra went to help Josiah to quickly secure the shutters of every window in the clinic, securing latches and locks in place before the mob outside reached them. Luckily, Alex didn't spare any expense refurbishing the building after she bought the place to become the site of her new clinic and home. Weathered and cracked wood was replaced with fresh lumber, and the rickety shutters were done away with, traded in for panels of solid oak. Once shut, not even the howling wind of a dust storm or a mob addled by supernatural forces would storm into the building.
A rock flew through one of the windows before they could it entirely shut. Glass shattered as the projectile sailed through the air and landed against the floor, leaving a slight groove in the hardwood. It coincided with someone pounding against the front door, their fists smashing hard against the wood along with the howling of obscenities with no real purpose except to express unfounded fury.
"Get that window shut!" Chris snapped again and put his weight against the door and felt it shudder against its hinges. The door, like the shutter, was oak, but that didn't mean they would hold against a mob's relentless assault. As he put his shoulder into it, he saw Vin coming down the staircase, with Mary following close. Her blue-grey eyes were filled with disbelief and Chris couldn't blame her. The people outside braying for their blood were friends and neighbours. They were apart of her community, now fractured because Polidori had done something to their minds.
"Vin help me!"
Leaving the door for a moment, Chris was conscious of its shuddering the longer he remained away. Mary jumped a little with each new assault, and he wished he could assuage her fears, but there was no time for that right now. Even if it was an oak door, Chris wasn't about to risk it giving way under constant bombardment. Searching the immediate area, he sighted the tall, entryway bench resting against the wall. Used to hang up coats and hats, Chris remembered seeing it brought into the place when Alex was setting up. It took two men to move the thing.
"I got it," Vin replied after the gunslinger motioned him towards the tall, piece of furniture. Grabbing one side of the frame, Vin looked across the mirror to see Chris had done the same. With a slight nod, both men lifted at the same time, putting their backs into it before Chris guided them both to the front door.
"This can't be happening," Mary whispered as she stood frozen at the foot of the stairs, her eyes staring at the door as if she could see the crowd outside, bewildered by how any of this was possible. "I know these people."
Her statement was punctuated by another loud bang against the door. Mary jumped again, startled by the inarticulate reply to her comment.
"Believe it," Chris grunted as he and Vin reached the door and set the bench down. Bracing the heavy piece of furniture against the oak, its formidable construction ensured the barbarians at the gate would not be breaching their defences anytime soon.
"That ought to hold them for a bit," Vin told Chris, with emphasis on the 'bit'.
Chris nodded in agreement and turned to Mary. "Get upstairs. You need to stay with Alex, make sure she doesn't wake up with all this ruckus. Last thing we need is for her to try and join them."
Vin's eyes widened at the possibility until he realised Chris was absolutely correct. After how she behaved earlier, Polidori's poison might have sneaked into her head that way too. Once again, the tracker cursed under his breath at the mess Polidori was making of his girl's mind.
"Alright," Mary nodded, casting another look at the door before her gaze fell on Chris, her anxiety showing. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm not sure yet," Chris replied honestly. "Polidori is the cause of all this, and until we figure out how to stop it, we're staying put for the moment."
"Is that wise?" She asked, uncertain whether or not they should be running for their lives.
"Mary, we can get through," Chris responded. "But to do that, we'd have to use our guns."
Mary shuddered at the thought.
"These folks are just as messed up as Alex," Vin added, "I don't much like shooting them when what's happening ain't their fault.
Chris's eyes became icicles of cold fury. "Polidori knows that, its why he's set em loose on us."
No sooner than Chris uttered those words, they finally made out what the mob was chanting over the sound of violence.
KILL THEM FOR HIM.
KILL THEM FOR HIM.
KILL THEM FOR HIM.
Nathan Jackson heard the chanting and knew immediately, he was right about Chris and the others being at the clinic.
As he approached cautiously through the narrow streets between the strip of buildings where the clinic stood, he was stunned to see the mob calling out for blood, were people he considered friends and neighbours. Virgil Watson, Will Jefferies and Bernadette Freeman were among the faces he recognised, yet nothing about them was familiar. In their eyes, he saw the mania of insanity as if they were hollowed out, their decency replaced by Polidori’s poison.
Even now, he could hear the man’s voice in his head, telling him to join the others, but the angel on his shoulder, the one who spoke with Rebecca’s voice, told him he was made of sterner stuff. Rebecca told him to bury Polidori’s voice as he had buried so many things in his life.
Nathan stayed in the shadows, managing to keep out of sight as he unknowingly took the same route Vin Tanner used when he snuck out of Alex’s apartment in the small hours of the morning. As he climbed up the stairs, he could see the townsfolk of Four Corners pounding against the windows and walls of the building, so driven by false rage they weren’t even thinking clearly enough to find a different way into the clinic. All they seemed to care about was the barrier between themselves and their prey, not the knowledge to get through.
Which was just as well, because if they succeeded, Nathan couldn’t imagine the others being able to keep from shooting. Even with his blades strapped across his back in their usual leather pack, Nathan’s stomach clenched at the idea of using them on these people. What was happening to them was not their fault, but if it came down to it, the lawmen would have to fight. It was most likely why the seven were barricaded inside the building at this moment.
Reaching the top of the stairs, he got to the door and twisted the doorknob, unsurprised when he found it locked. Securing all entryways into the building would have been Chris’s first order to the others, once they realised what was outside. Luckily, the ruckus being caused by the mob meant he could pound on the door without attracting attention. He only hoped someone heard him so they would let him in.
“Miss Alex!” Nathan called out, assuming she would be holed upstairs if he knew Vin Tanner at all. The tracker would want her above ground, where it was safer than the lower floor of the clinic. “Miss Alex,” Nathan rapped hard against the door, hoping he would be heard over the sound of the mob. “It’s me, Nathan! Let me in!”
He banged his fist against the wood, conscious of his noises being overheard by the folk below, even though he told himself it was unlikely. However, Nathan took nothing on chance, it was why he was always prepared for everything. The lack of response seemed to prove this theory. He was in the middle of considering whether he could reach the window when the door suddenly swung open and standing there was Josiah Sanchez, with Mary Travis standing behind him, a look of apprehension on her face.
“Nathan!” Josiah exclaimed both grateful to see him, but also cautious. His oldest friend clutched his gun in the palm of his hand, and it took Nathan a second to understand why the man was not letting him inside the building yet.
Of course, he had been just as touched as the other folk on the ground, there was no reason to assume he was in his right mind and every reason for Josiah to be cautious. “Josiah, I’m fine. I ain’t out of my head like those folk. Let me in before they figure out the door’s open up here.”
Josiah hesitated, wanting to let him in but also aware that Nathan turning on them inside their barricade would be an added complication they did not need.
“Why?” Mary, ever the journalist, had to ask, “why aren’t you affected?”
Nathan met Josiah’s gaze and said quietly, “cause I got an angel in my heart whose voice has a lot more power over me than Polidori. I can hear him in my head, but she won’t let me believe anything he says.”
“She?” Mary asked puzzled.
“Alright,” Josiah nodded, understanding completely. There was no need of any further explanations. He remembered the name uttered by the ravaged teenager he found in the fields of Kentucky, burning with fever. The name he kept weeping his delirium told Josiah exactly who Nathan was referring to. “It’s good to have you back, brother. Come on in, as you can see, we gotta situation on our hands.”
“I know,” Nathan stepped inside while Josiah stuck his head out the window to get the lay of the land.
The mob had not come out this way yet, and as Josiah surveyed the darkened street, still removed from the scene of violence centred at the front of the buildings, he considered it might be possible for them to make a run for it to get to Polidori. However, if they were discovered out in the open, the crowd could overwhelm them in numbers, and the only equaliser in that confrontation would be their guns. It was not a scenario Josiah relished at all. Besides getting to Polidori wasn’t enough, they had to know what they were dealing with because killing the man without freeing the townsfolk from his spell, was no victory.
“Nathan, are you alright?” Mary asked as Josiah secured the door. “We were worried.”
Nathan glanced at Josiah briefly before regarding Mary again and nodded. “I’m fine. He gets into your head, promises you things, impossible things, and there’s just enough power to him that makes you believe you can have it, you can have anything. That’s what he’s done to all those people out there Josiah, he’s promised them what they want the most, no matter how out of reach it is. I wanted him to take away my pain until I realised if I lost it, I wouldn’t feel anything, not the person I was mourning, not the people who are my real friends.”
“I’m so glad,” Mary smiled, believing the sincerity of his words and hugged him even though it was inappropriate to do so. “Well we need your help, he’s done something to Alex.”
Nathan’s eyes widened and then grew cold. “What’s he done to Miss Alex?”
***********
This was what it felt like to be caught in the eye of the storm.
Vin Tanner thought as the pounding against the walls continued, along with the shouts and screams of hatred, and the demands for blood. Taking watch near one of the shuttered windows facing Alex’s treatment room, Vin cursed inwardly at the intensity of the supernatural power Polidori wielded over them. So far, the lawmen’s attempt to barricade themselves within the clinic was keeping the mob at bay, but when their fortress was breached, it was anyone’s guess what would happen next.
As the words cross his mind, his fingers brushed against the butt of the mare’s leg, sitting in its makeshift holster. Once again, Vin cringed at the thought of having to open fire on the people outside. In the past two years, they had all become familiar to him, some were even friends. Shooting them would not sit well with Vin at all, not even in self-defence. He prayed it would not come to that.
Ezra’s noises, while he rummaged through Alex’s medicine cabinet, made Vin look up at the gambler who was attempting to treat the scratches inflicted by Alex on his face. Despite the necessity of it, Vin couldn’t help feeling a little affronted watching Ezra going through Alex’s things to find what he needed. She would be none too happy seeing Ezra violating the sanctity of her treatment area, just as Vin would be if someone were touching his guns without permission.
Another loud bang that sounded like a rock being hurled against the wood drove the thought out of Vin’s head when one of the picture frames hanging on the wall shook loose and fell. It hit the floor with a crash, breaking the glass on impact. Vin stood up immediately and went to pick it up. Shaking away the splintered and broken bits of wood and glass, he brushed off the paper held by the frame until a moment ago.
It resembled old parchment, and Vin recognised it as one of Alex’s doctoring certificates, with its fancy writing and wax seal. Staring at her name for a few seconds, Vin felt a surge of longing and glanced up at the ceiling as if he could see through it to where he had left her, tied to the bedpost like an animal. While it was flattering to know Polidori used Alex’s love for him to get into her head, Vin was furious at her mind being tampered with like that. He was inordinately proud she was a doctor, and her fierce determination to heal was one of the things he liked most about her.
If what Polidori had done to her was permanent, Vin was going to kill him.
Ezra finally straightened up from the cabinet and turned around, a folded swab doused with iodine pressed against his cheek. The gambler winced in pain at the sting of the antiseptic against his skin. Still, it was a necessary evil to prevent infection. One thing Ezra learned from both Nathan and then Alex, was the importance of hygiene when it came to the care of open wounds. This was a fact that eluded most of the physicians Ezra encountered in the past. While Nathan boiled every instrument he owned before use on a patient, Alex was absolutely adamant about wearing gloves. Ezra suspected this was a product of her European education, while to Nathan, it was just plain common sense.
“How’s the cheek?” Vin asked.
“I will survive,” Ezra continued to grimace, continuing to hold the swab against his cheek, the burning easing the more he became accustomed to it.
Glass broke on the other side of the wall but was blunted by the barrier. Instinctively both men shifted their eyes to the shutters and were satisfied a second later their barricade was still holding. Fortunately, the oak panels were designed to keep out windstorms and remained intact for now. For the moment at least, they were still safe in their sanctuary.
“I cannot believe it has taken such a short space of time to turn our community into this,” Ezra shook his head at the violence taking place on the boardwalk. “The carnival has been in town for less than two days.”
Vin could not disagree with Ezra on that point. “Whatever curse he puts on them, it works fast.”
“Vin,” Ezra spoke, needing no clairvoyance to know where Vin’s mind was at by his subtle glance at the ceiling. “We will return Alexandra to her right mind.”
Caught out, Vin dropped his gaze to the floor, trying not to feel embarrassed at being so easily read. Then again, when it came to Alex, Vin was never able to maintain his stoic manner, and despite his best efforts, his feelings always seemed to seep through the cracks of his unflappable facade.
“I know,” Vin continued to stare at the floor, as if meeting Ezra’s eyes would reveal more than he was willing to show about his worries for Alex, “I’m just mad because I should have seen it coming. I should have guessed he’d come for her.”
“How could you possibly know that?” Ezra stared at Vin with genuine puzzlement, thinking the younger man was much too hard on himself.
“When he spoke to us,” Vin explained how Polidori seemed utterly charmed by Alex, drinking her in almost. It put Vin on guard immediately, not merely because the man reminded him all too much of Randall Mason, but also because Polidori was cultured and educated, an intellectual equal for Alex’s intelligence, which Vin certainly was not. In the end, he dismissed his suspicion because Alex had proved just how much she loved him, by the desperate ride to save him from bounty hunters, to say nothing about her display earlier. “He looked at her the same as Randall Mason.”
Even Ezra felt his spine stiffen at the comparison. Considering the lengths the man went to acquire Alexandra, Ezra could understand Vin’s paranoia if Polidori exuded the same kind of menace. Randall murdered her father, orchestrated the kidnapping of Julia and Inez, fed Vin to bounty hunters, and almost slaughtered the people of the Seminole village. If not for his untimely death, it was likely Randall would never have stopped coming after Alexandra.
“That is a disconcerting thought.”
“Yeah,” Vin could not disagree with him there, having seen Randall’s madness up close, “but I can’t be calling out everyone who looks at Alex wrong. So I pushed the feeling away when I should have put a bullet in the bastard.”
“I suppose you can take comfort in the fact Polidori used her affection for you to possess her mind, not supplant it,” Ezra said sympathetically.
Vin nodded, making no response to Ezra’s comment. With the pause in conversation where the chaos outside was the only sound in the world, Ezra found his thoughts lingering on that point because it surfaced what had been on his mind since the moment he saw Vin and Alex together. Until now, Ezra had been holding back speaking to Vin about it but feared continued silence would only allow his thoughts on the matter to fester into something worse.
“Mr Tanner, regarding you and Alexandra, there is something I feel compelled to ask, and this seems like a good a time as any.”
Vin immediately met Ezra’s eyes, suspecting what the man was going to ask him. He supposed it was inevitable they finally had this conversation, especially after how vehemently Alex reacted to Ezra’s earlier intervention and her sharp words to him.
“Go ahead,” Vin braced himself.
Ezra nodded, hating to be so invasive, but his need to know overrode his usual discretion. “Was there something taking place between you and Alexandra, before your debut at the Anniversary Ball?”
Vin took a moment to answer, thinking back to how he’d taken her hand at Nettie’s place, and that single action changed everything between them. It was the first time Alex saw him as someone who could win her heart, instead of a verbal sparring partner. Ever since then, they’d been drifting towards each other, and even though final apogee did not take place until after Ezra took up with Julia, there was no denying what existed between them.
Nor did it help that it was painfully evident to everyone, just how different Vin’s relationship to Alex was in comparison to the one she shared with Ezra. When Alex was with him, she was the girl travelling across the world with her father, spirited and free. With Ezra, she was the restrained Doctor Styles, who needed to project the ladylike persona demanded by conventions of the day. It wasn’t difficult to see which persona she preferred.
“I felt for Alex the minute she stepped off that coach Ezra,” Vin admitted after a long pause. “I just looked at her, and I knew she was the one, that the last thing in my head before I die, would be her.”
Ezra’s eyes widened in surprise. “Why on Earth did you not say something?”
While Ezra was attracted to Alex, he couldn’t say he fell head over heels in love to the extent Vin obviously did. If he for one moment thought Vin felt so profoundly for the lady, he would have withdrawn immediately. Vin didn’t fall in love easily, Ezra only had to see how hard he fell for Charlotte Richmond to know that. While the tryst was disastrous, there was no denying how painful the break had been for Vin. If he could feel the same towards another woman after that, Ezra would have gladly stepped aside.
“Because it wasn’t right,” Vin admitted without hesitation. “You got there first.”
“Mr Tanner,” Ezra sighed with a hint of frustration at Vin’s sense of honour. Sometimes, he wished Vin wasn’t quite so noble. “If I had known the extent of your feelings, I would have stepped aside. I did care for Alex greatly, but in those first few days, if she chose someone else, I would not have been left bereft.”
“Maybe,” Vin shrugged, “but I didn’t feel it was right.”
Ezra sighed, realising he could no more go back in time to change things, then Vin could be anything other than what he was. “Did she feel the same?”
“Not at first,” Vin admitted reluctantly, but could not bring himself to lie to Ezra now they were having this talk. “We had a moment when we were at Agnes Doherty’s place, but the truth was Ezra, we both knew it wasn’t right. Alex didn’t want to hurt you, and I didn’t want to mess up our friendship.”
Once again, Ezra wished Vin wasn’t so noble because hearing this made him feel even worse. “So you were going to keep silent, while Alexandra remained with me out of obligation?”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Vin countered, not wanting Ezra to think Alex was taking pity on him. “Alex cared about you, but she didn’t feel right about taking up with someone else.”
Ezra frowned because he had been in the same position, but he had not prevailed against his feelings for Julia as Alex had. Instead, he let his passion run away with him and succeeded in making a complete mess of things when in light of this new information, was completely unnecessary.
In the end, Ezra supposed it didn’t matter. Ezra loved Julia, and Vin had won the hand of his doctor and they appeared deliriously happy together. In hindsight, Ezra was able to see how much better suited the tracker and the doctor was for each other. Like Vin, Alex was an idealist who cared about people, with just enough intelligence to not be gullible. Furthermore, she cared little for the convention, which made her perfect for Vin, who had no patience for such things. They did what was right from the gut, and it was a trait, Ezra admired in both.
“Thank you for telling me Vin,” Ezra said after a moment. “I appreciate it.”
“Are we okay, Ezra?” Vin had to ask.
“Of course we are,” Ezra gave him a little smile. “I am glad you and Alexandra found your way to each other.”
“Me too,” Vin admitted. “She’s in my heart, and I can’t do without her.”
Ezra thought of Julia and all her eccentricities. He adored his titian haired goddess who could keep him on his toes by surprising him with her schemes and manipulations. “I know the feeling.”
***********
Bring her to me.
The voice whispered in his ear with the sound of his sweet mother, who used to croon songs to him when he was a little boy. Before she slipped out of his room to attend to the night’s business with the rest of the girls, she’d tuck him in his bed, her voice managing to lull him into a comforting sleep even with the sounds of carousing penetrating the walls.
Deep within my heart lies a melody,
A song of old San Antone.
Where in dreams I live with a memory,
Beneath the stars all alone.
It was there I found beside the Alamo,
Enchantment strange as the blue up above.
A moonlit pass only she would know,
Still hears my broken song of love.
He loved that song, and he loved it most when she sang it. Now he could hear her voice speaking to him again, and the emotion of hearing her chased him out of his dreams into the waking world with a loud shudder and a sob. He woke up to the chaos beyond the walls and voices speaking in the hall. Standing up, he felt like he was a thousand years old, with limbs aching as he made his way to the door and peered outside. Further along the corridor, Nathan, Josiah and Mary were speaking, their faces urgent with worry.
Nathan had come back.
Traitor!
It was uttered with such contempt, he was startled by its biting tone in his head. Nevertheless, he knew what he had to do. Slipping out of the room, Buck Wilmington made his way to the room occupied by Alex Styles with three words repeating in his head.
Let her go.
From the journal of William Styles - 6th November 1856.
Under the request of the Sultan of Sokoto, or Rufai when I knew him in my previous travels across Africa, I was asked to consult in the case of his brother's illness. The young man embarked on a traditional hunting trip to Kachina with some of his friends, and somehow became separated from the group. He returned a day later but appeared to be suffering all the symptoms of African trypanosomiasis or 'African sleeping sickness' as it is known. Transmitted by the Tsetse fly, the disease inflicted by this dreaded pestilence has no known cure and is responsible for leaving much of West Africa abandoned after it ravaged the animal and human population there.
Thanks to correspondence with my old friend Charles Laveran in Paris, I was aware he conducted some research using aminophenyl arsonic in laboratory animals with excellent results. Although I was loathed to try it on a human subject, Rufai was most insistent something be done, since the competing theory of what was ailing Batowa appeared to be the work of the Mai!ci, a traditional Hausa boogeyman, which translates into our tongue as a 'soul eater'. Naturally, this was preposterous since the medicine men believed the only way to save Batowa, was to find the retreat of the creature as such and kill it in its nest. Only then, would the pieces of Batowa's soul return to his body.
Fortunately, I chose to use Charles's treatment instead and administered the atoxyl mixture, which counteracted the infection and Batowa recovered. Still, due to the arsenic compound in the treatment, the dosages had to be applied sparingly, or Batowa might fall prey to arsenic poisoning. Furthermore, if the virus was not eradicated entirely, there is a good chance of a relapse, so this treatment at best is a stay of execution of no more than two years. Fortunately, Rufai considered this a cure, and I soon resumed my travels with Lex.
During my journey through Nigeria, I was able to speak to the Hausa medicine men and learned more fully the legend of the Mai!ci. Many cases of African trypanosomiasis was attributed to this monster whose powers of illusion and gifts of persuasion, decimated whole tribes. Almost invulnerable, they will feed on the souls of their victims and have been known to maintain their prey like livestock for later consumption. In the account I am recording here, the medicine men spoke of a hunting party which followed the Mai!ci back to its lair and was only able to kill it there. The hunters claimed the den, which exists in the nexus between limbo, reality and time allowed the Mai!ci the ability to preserve its victims over an extended period.
The hunting party freed the victims in its lair and at the village by removing the 'Maita' stones kept in its stomach. Only after the stones were removed, could the victims be restored...
***********
JD Dunne read a little more and then closed the notebook, burning with the anticipation of having discovered something important. Outside, the pounding intensified. Everything hanging on walls was either rattling dangerously or shaken loose. Picture frames, glass fixtures and belongings on shelves smashed against the floor periodically, a constant reminder of the siege they were now under. JD knew they were nearing the point where Chris would give the order to abandon the place, and what happened then was anyone's guess.
At present, the gunslinger was covering the front door, leaving JD to keep a vigil on the rear. It was while he was doing this, he discovered the journal that had fallen from the shelf where it was tucked away neatly with others in a row. Its pages were bound together by lengths of ribbon attached to the covers. The books looked old, and as JD picked it up, he saw from the faded writing, these were Alex's pa's journals. JD hadn't wanted to snoop, but his curiosity got the better of him and JD was a voracious reader.
Skimming through the pages, JD realised Alex wasn't exaggerating about her travels across the globe with her father. They had travelled extensively, and as he continued to read the deceased physician's writings, he came across the case of Batowa’s affliction. Didn't Josiah say Polidori was a soul eater and hadn't Buck display the same sickness of the mind? Maybe Botowa wasn't visited by a soul eater, but Styles's subsequent account of the Mai!ci bore a striking resemblance to what they were going through right now.
What had Styles called it? Gifts of persuasion?
After what Buck described to them, the young man's stomach heaved at the idea he might have considered bringing Casey to Polidori. No doubt, the immortality Madame Esmerald promised Casey, involved Polidori putting his demon hands on her the way he had done to Alex. Is that why he wanted a handful of people to be sacrificed? So Polidori could spirit them away to some terrible nexus, to be used up until death? Still, it was not this thought that prompted JD to leave his post, clutching the journal in his hand as he went to find Chris Larabee.
It had to be killed in its nest.
If you killed it in his nest, you save everybody effected. JD's eyes looked up instinctively at the ceiling, where Alexandra Styles and Buck Wilmington were, then to the walls of the clinic where the folk of Four Corners were currently braying for their blood. Everybody.
"Chris!" JD called out as he reached the front of the clinic, determined to let the gunslinger know what he'd discovered. For all he knew, the contents of William Styles's journal could be a whole bunch of hooey as Buck would say, but his gut instinct told JD this was the answer they were searching for.
By the time he caught sight of Chris, the gunslinger along with Ezra and Vin had converged in the same spot, waiting for him as if they expected JD to bring news of trouble.
"What is it?" Chris asked first.
"I think I got it!" JD announced waving the journal in his hand. "I mean, I think I figured it out!"
"Figured what out?" Vin stared at him and then noticed the book he was holding. Vin recognised the journal from the ones Alex had unpacked not long ago and put on display. He'd remembered Jimmy Freeman building her shelves so that she could. Is that one of Alex's pa's books?"
"Yeah," JD nodded hastily. "It fell off the shelf, and I took a look through it after I picked it up."
JD paused a moment, opening the book and thumbing through the pages until he found the section he wanted and handed it to Chris. "Read the part about Doctor Styles treating the Sultan's brother."
As Chris did so, Ezra leaned over his shoulder to see for himself.
"What did you find?" Vin asked impatiently, not bothering to even try to read what all the cursive writing was about. While his literacy problem was nowhere as bad as it used to be when he first arrived in Four Corners, he still felt self-conscious about attempting to read something as complex as William Styles's journal.
"It's about this monster called the Mai!chi," JD explained, oblivious to Vin's reasons for asking instead of reading for himself. "It comes from Africa."
"Polidori don't look African," Vin pointed out.
"I know that," JD gave the tracker a look, "but that don't mean Polidori can't be one of these things. I mean we know he eats souls and wants some of the townsfolk to go with him when the carnival leaves. Maybe it's because he's one of these monsters."
"According to Doctor Styles," Ezra remarked continuing to read over Chris's shoulder, "these creatures like to keep a healthy supply of victims to be consumed later. If we do in fact believe Polidori is some supernatural entity, then this would fit. To say nothing about the creature's powers of persuasion. We are certainly seeing the power of it now."
Ezra glanced at the walls and the attempts to breach their barricade.
"He's been going around like the devil," Vin wasn't so sceptical after some of the things they had seen in the past, "making promises to people, to give them things they want. That's how he gets into their heads like he did to Nathan and Buck. Probably did the same to Sally Reacher and all the folk in town."
"Not just him," Ezra added, "all the residents of his carnival. Anna said not to believe any of them, and she was right because they are Polidori's procurers. The carnival is nothing more than an elaborate trap to lure in potential victims."
"Is there anything about how we kill him?" The tracker asked, more interested in this point than anything else.
Now that they hurdled the disbelief that Polidori was a monster, and had some idea of the kind of creature he was, Vin wanted to end the threat of him. Like the rest of the seven, he knew what was happening outside would not subside until the townsfolk broke in. So far, they had not displayed anything but mindless anger in their attempts to breach the clinic. Once they put some thought into it, the seven would have no choice but to face them down.
"Yeah," Chris nodded, lowering the journal, having taken everything he could from Doctor Style's account of the soul eater. Even in death, Doctor Styles managed to save lives, and Chris felt a brief surge of sadness at the loss of the man Randall Mason had seen fit to murder. "We got to figure out where his nest is and kill him while he's in it. Otherwise, he won't die."
"There's only one place that would be," Ezra declared. "The carnival."
"Where else?" Chris thought about those brightly coloured caravans and knew without a doubt, one of those belonged to Polidori. "One of those wagons at the carnival is his."
"So we track him there and put a bullet in the hellish creature. Seems a somewhat simple method for ending a demon."
"It is," Chris returned and saw JD suck in his breath because the youngest of them had read the journal first and he knew precisely how Polidori was to be ended. "We can't use a bullet, we've got to gut him."
"Gut him?" Ezra shot Chris a look of horror. "You don't mean...."
"We have to split him open and get whatever these stones are in his belly," Chris explained, feeling ridiculous even making that statement as he closed the journal in his hands. "According to these legends, we can't free anyone unless we do that."
The impromptu meeting of wood against steel startled everyone. All eyes turned to Vin who had driven the point of his long-bladed knife into the wall he was standing next to, his cobalt coloured eyes almost black as he stared at them.
"Ain't gonna be a problem."
***********
"Miss Alex?"
Nathan Jackson didn't bother to wait after he was told Alex was infected by Polidori's powers, and how violently she behaved because of it. Considering it was Rebecca's voice that snapped him out of his delirium, the idea Polidori had designs on the doctor who treated him like a brother, filled the healer with rage. Striding down the hallway, he left Mary and Josiah behind, hoping to God he could help Alex before she disappeared further into Polidori's mental snare.
From the very first moment of their meeting, Nathan and Alex had seen in each other, the restoration of loved ones lost. Alex's manner and her smile, reminded him so much of Becky she filled the void left behind by his adored sister. They often sat at her back porch, where she'd serve him tea, and they'd watch the sunset, talking about the world beyond Four Corners. It reminded him so much of those talks he used to have with Becky when they were on the plantation, lying among the cornstalks staring at the sky overhead.
They were not just healers together, but spiritual siblings.
When Nathan stepped into the room, he froze at the doorway and knew Polidori had gotten his way. Alex was gone.
The pretty print curtains framing the windows were billowing inward, revealing the open window that allowed the dust from the outside to blow in. They swayed back and forth as if waving revelation with each gust of wind. The bedpost and the windowsill were connected with a line of knotted sheets. The ropes intended to keep Alex restrained to her bed were hacked away. The hessian fibres lay across the rugged floor in an unruly tangle. Nathan could only stare, aware however Alex had managed to escape, she was no doubt making her way to Polidori's clutches by now.
Mary, who came up behind Nathan and saw the scene, was not so restrained. "Oh no!" The blond widow gasped in shock and dismay. "How?"
There was no sign the window was broken, and Nathan knew there was no way Vin Tanner would have allowed the window to be anything but locked if Alex needed restraining. No, someone had opened the window, and they had done it from the inside. They entered this room, cut away the ropes holding her in place and fashioned this escape, not just for Alex but for themselves as well.
It took Nathan but a second to guess who, because the night Nathan had become affected by Polidori's poison at the carnival, he had not been alone.
"Where's Buck?"
Nathan turned around in time to see Josiah's eyes widen in realisation, before the preacher's gaze shifted down the hallway. Before Nathan could say another word, Josiah was already heading towards the room where Buck was meant to be resting. Brushing past Mary, Nathan followed Josiah, already aware of what they would find when they reached the spare room.
Josiah entered and saw it was empty, as was the bed they'd left Buck. The preacher let out a soft curse under his breath, and Nathan could see Josiah rebuking himself for not guessing Buck could be just as susceptible to Polidori's sway as the rest of Four Corners.
"Damn it," Josiah swore. "I was supposed to guard my flock..."
Like the rest of the seven, Josiah believed Buck's earlier defence of Alex, might have made him immune to Polidori's power. But the assumption was wrong and now Alex and Buck were out there, heading towards Polidori, and God only knew what terrible fate.
Nathan placed his hand on the man's shoulder, "you couldn't have known. The son of a bitch's power is strong. It took everything I had to fight it. If it was for...." his words faltered, but he didn't need to explain.
Josiah met his eyes and nodded in understanding.
"Oh God," Mary exclaimed from the doorway, seeing it empty before she disappeared down the hallway to raise the alarm. "I better go tell Chris," she started to say when she realised what that would entail. "And Vin."
Both men stiffened, grateful Mary was volunteering to do it as she walked down the hallway. Neither man wanted to be the one to tell Vin Alex was gone.
"Hey," Nathan suddenly realised something. In their discovery of Buck and Alex's absence, both men had not noticed the sudden change in the environment. "It's quiet."
Indeed, as Nathan went to investigate at the nearest window, the pounding and banging against the walls had suddenly stopped. As both men peered out the window, they could see the mob that was so determined to get into the building, giving up their efforts and dispersing from the front of the building. They scattered in all directions, some looking slightly puzzled by what they had been doing, others heading home as if the mania that gripped them was a dream they'd just awakened from. However, a large group was walking dazed, down the main street. They moved like wraiths across the dusty road, oblivious to everything except the unspoken destination in their minds.
"They're going to him," Nathan said with absolute certainty.
"Yeah," Josiah nodded in agreement. Suddenly, Josiah knew if they didn't get to Buck and Alex soon, they were never going to find them again. "He's getting ready to leave and bringing his herd in."
"ALEX!"
The stomping of feet running up the staircase told both men that Vin Tanner had just been told Alex was gone. As they went to the door of the room, they saw Vin reaching the top of the stairs, and though he registered Nathan's presence, Vin's mind was too filled with Alex to do anything else. The tracker ran past them both as he headed towards Alex's bedroom as if he needed to see for himself, she was gone.
Chris followed closely, and like Vin, Chris's eyes widened at the sight of him. Nathan wasn't sure if the expression on Chris's face was one of relief or caution. Not that the healer could blame Chris for his ambivalence, Nathan hadn't exactly been himself the last two days and right now, Nathan could tell Chris was trying to understand how he remained free of Polidori's influence.
"Nathan?"
"I'm fine, Chris," Nathan assured him quickly. "I'm in my own mind. I got demons in my head a lot worse than anything Polidori can use against me. I know what he is and who my friends are."
"Good," Chris patted him on the shoulder, grateful to see the return of his friend. "Glad to have you back."
"Glad to be back," Nathan said quickly. "But we ain't got a lot of time. We've got to get to the carnival now, or we're never going to see Miss Alex or Buck again. I think he's getting ready to pull up stakes and leave. He's drawing all the folk he wants to take with him to the carnival, including Buck and Alex. If we don't get to him fast, they're going to leave and we'll never find them."
Chris did not disagree, especially after what JD had discovered in William Style's journal. "I think you're right. We found something in Alex's father's journal. You're right Josiah, it is some kind of soul eater. I don't know for sure if it is exactly what Polidori is, but a lot of what's been described in the journal fits. The only thing is, he can't be killed. Hurt maybe, but not killed and as long as he's alive, everyone he's got snared is going to stay that way."
Chris's explanation was interrupted when all three men saw Vin emerging from Alex's room. By the way Vin was brandishing his knife, Chris knew right away the tracker had every intention of getting on Peso and riding after Alex and Buck, with or without the rest of the seven. When it came to Alex, Vin lost all good sense, and this was no exception.
"Vin take it easy," Chris tried to calm him down but could see by the way the storm in the tracker's eyes, nothing was going to stop him from leaving.
"Like hell I will," Vin bit back sharply. "You know what he plans to do to her and the others once he gets his hands on them. I ain't letting him use Alex that way until there's nothing left of her!"
Vin was cursing himself for not guarding her himself. He should have known Polidori would have figured some way to get his hands on Alex. The fact the son of a bitch had come to the clinic himself told Vin how determined the man was to have her. Like goddamn Randall Mason, he thought furiously.
"Vin," Chris said again, clamping a hand on Vin's shoulder, halting the younger man before he went any further. "We're not going to let him have anyone, but if we rush in blind, we'll never reach her. You know what we're up against, what kind of monster Polidori is. If Styles's journal is right, we can't kill him until we find out which caravan is his, and if he's got people under his sway like the folks outside, they'll die before they let you get anywhere near him."
"Then what do we do?" Vin demanded. "How are we going to find out which one is his?"
A thought suddenly occured to Josiah as the question hung in the air.
"I think I know how."
Mud splattered in all directions as the six riders galloped across the unused trail, overgrown with weeds and shrubs. The meeting of rain and heat choked the air with a layer of fog as if the world had cracked open like an egg, allowing the dark things existing in the limbo between the realities to seep out. Perhaps it was always open, and they just never noticed until now. The more Chris Larabee thought about it, the more he believed this was the case. If Sebastian Polidori was a soul-eater, then there were things just beneath the surface of what they knew, lurking in the dark, stealing people away like foxes stealing from a henhouse.
After this, Chris could never take comfort in thinking he was alone in the dark again.
Their plan, such as it was, relied on a most uncertain foundation, but Chris knew they had until daylight to make it work. Although he was convinced the night was Polidori's time of power, Chris knew to beat him, they had to fight him on his own terms. Chris knew they would never get close to him in daylight and furthermore as Nathan suspected, now Polidori had Alex and the people he needed, Polidori would be leaving.
Something told Chris, if Polidori and his carnival left, they would never see Buck or Alex again.
Beside him, Chris glanced at Vin and saw the fear in his best friend's face, understanding the man's anxieties all too well. Chris remembered tearing Vin off Randall Mason when the son of a bitch put a bullet in Alex's back. Until that moment, Chris had never seen the full torrent of Vin Tanner's rage unleashed. The gunslinger had no doubt if he hadn't pulled Vin off Randall, the tracker would have killed the man with his bare hands.
Vin went through life, stoically accepting everything that happened with a serene calm Chris admired. The gunslinger suspected this was the product of a hard existence, beaten into Vin after his mother's death, where he was forced to walk through the years, virtually alone. Few things provoked an incendiary response, and when it did, it was almost always because of how much he guarded his heart.
When he became involved with Charlotte Richmond, his inability to see reason told Chris exactly how hard Vin fell for the lady. Chris never discussed the opposite sex with Vin, not even around the campfire, when they were all jawing about the women they'd had. Vin always remained oddly silent, and it occurred to Chris after the business with Charlotte, it was because when Vin loved, it was never a dalliance. When he loved, it was all or nothing as it had been with Charlotte.
If Chris and Vin shared that kind of relationship, he would have advised the tracker great loves didn't come with doubt. If you possessed them and ignored them for fear of tarnishing the feeling, then it probably wasn't a good one, to begin with. Chris supposed it was why with Alex, Vin had taken his time, even though once Chris became aware of Vin's feelings, he saw just how deeply the younger man was smitten.
Now, as he looked at Vin going after Polidori, Chris knew he had to keep a rein on the tracker because Christ only knew how Vin would react if Alex was harmed.
Reaching the patch of forest they knew to be the extreme edge of the Holland property where the carnival was situated, Chris tugged at the reins of his horse and brought Pony to a standstill. The animal came to a halt beneath him with the others in the stable doing the same. The rain was still teeming around their ears when they dismounted, aware they would have to make the rest of the journey on foot if they intended on sneaking into the showground.
Vin surveyed the area, his night vision allowing him to see better than the others if anyone was about, spying on their arrival. Upon giving Chris a slight nod to indicate their presence remained unnoticed for now, Chris gestured the rest of the seven forward. The six men, conscious of their missing number, leaned into a huddle, ignoring the urgency pressing against their spines, awaiting orders of what was to be done. The rain was coming down on them, dribbling off the brims of their hats and soaking into their coats.
"Alright!" Chris spoke over the hiss of rain, "You all know what to do. If the townspeople are still there, the only way we can help them is by putting Polidori down for good. We can't do that until we find out where he bunks down."
"We are really proceeding on the notion, Mr Polidori is some kind of supernatural creature?" Ezra's words were not so much a question but rather a statement of incredulity at their circumstances.
"He is," Nathan assured them, knowing all too well what took place in his head since his encounter with the man. Even now, he shuddered a little at the way his mind had been so twisted out of shape. "Trust me."
"Don't matter whether he is or not," Vin growled abruptly, tiring of the unnecessary chatter when they ought to be going after Alex and Buck. "What he does, what he's probably been doing for God only knows how long, has gotta be stopped."
"Yeah," JD agreed, thinking about how he almost condemned Casey and possibly himself to a terrible fate because he allowed Polidori and his people to get into his head and exploit his fears.
"Remember," Josiah added, "if we run into him, we don't touch him. It wouldn't do any good, and we'll probably get ourselves killed. When we put him down, we have to do it right, or it will be for nothing."
***********
It wasn't until Buck Wilmington faced Polidori again, the fugue ensnaring his mind, leading him to steal Alex away from her bed, began to lift. Perhaps it was the sight of the man, even in his human guise, that made the lawman from Four Corners remember himself. Or maybe, the tiny voice in the back of his head, the one clawing the insides of his skull, trying to make itself heard, was finally loud enough to register.
Buck stood amongst the others under the big top, hearing the oddly comforting sound of rain pelting against the canvas. Blinking once or twice as if he needed to focus his eyes after being shrouded in darkness for too long, he saw familiar faces. Virgil Watson, Gloria Potter, Bernadette Freeman, just to name a few. They were staring at Polidori in rapt attention, with sawdust beneath their feet and the rest of the carnival surrounding them like they were livestock, about to be set upon by wolves.
No longer resembling the colourful, beautiful folk they had been when the carnival first rolled into town, their true selves were finally exposed. Their eyes vanished into their skulls, with the reflection of black oil staring back instead. Their skins were almost grey and grainy, reminding Buck of petrified wood, and their mouths agape because all of them were hungry, revealing sharp needle-like teeth. The hunger reeked off them like the fetid stench of entrails and blood left to rot in a mountain lion's den.
He could still feel the thoughts in his mind cushioned by cotton wool, robbing him of clarity, even though he possessed enough sense to know this was an awful situation he now found himself.
Real focus came to him when he saw Alex in the arms of the circus strong man, Goliath. She was unconscious, still drugged from the effects of the chloroform and as if cold water was flung in his face, Buck remembered the part he played in bringing her here. The horror of it rose up from the pit of his stomach, rushed into his mouth and choked him like invisible talons across his throat. Doubling over, he almost puked except there was nothing to regurgitate except his self-loathing. How could he have done that? How could he bring her to this bastard? Closing his eyes, he knew why. Polidori used the one person in Buck's life he could not deny, his sainted mother.
Buck had to get Alex out of here, he had to save her before Polidori violated her again. She'd tried to help him, to heal him and he repaid her kindness by delivering her into the arms of this monster. For her sake and Vin's, he had to reach Alex somehow.
"My friends, we once again come to another night of Hebnefer with these new offerings!"
Polidori gestured to the townsfolk with arms spread as if he were a preacher on the pulpit preparing to offer communion to his congregation. Buck reached for his gun and realised he had never taken it when he snuck out of the clinic with Alex. Had Polidori told him to leave it behind, knowing when he was in his right mind again, Buck would be powerless to stop his grisly fate?
Buck had no idea what Hebnefer was, but judging by the look of the carnival folk, gnashing their teeth, making animal noises that would follow him to the grave, Buck knew he did not wish to find out. He could see the drool rolling down the corners of their mouths and wondered how they could be hungry. Hadn't they been feeding on the townsfolk for days? Feeding on him? His stomach hollowed at the thought. Then it occurred to him that was just the taste.
As Polidori stated, this was the feast.
The place they now occupied, surrounded by the carnival folk, was nothing less than the killing floor of an abattoir, and the slaughter was about to begin. Somehow, he had to wake them up! They still thought Polidori could keep his promises, that the magic beans they traded for their souls, were going to yield them their dreams in the sky. If only they knew what he looked like. What he really was. The monstrous face, full of tentacles that slithered. The sight of him could have driven lesser men insane.
"Virgil," Buck hissed, aware he could never get to Alex, not before the carnival folk pounced. His only hope was waking up the others. "Virgil, snap out of it!"
Virgil said nothing, barely registering his words. He was captivated by whatever he saw inside his mind, and Buck suspected it was whatever Polidori promised to gain his fealty.
"I'm afraid that won't help, Mr Wilmington," Polidori's voice suddenly spoke up, addressing him across the sawdust.
Buck froze and looked up at Polidori who was staring directly at him. When their eyes made contact, he turned briefly to the strongman and nodded. The hulk returned the gesture and started moving towards the open flap of the tent. Buck tried to go after her but was halted when the carnies around him snarled louder, their ferocity aimed squarely in his direction as a warning to stay where he was or face the terrible consequences.
"What did you do to him?" Buck hissed, meeting Polidori's eyes.
"Exactly what he promised," Darvell stepped forward as Polidori nodded, giving him leave to speak the way a man commanded the dog at his feet.
"You're selling them lies!" Buck bit back, "messing up people's minds, so they turn against their own."
"Not at all," Darvell grinned. "Sebastian never gives you anything you don't want. You, yourself came here because of a song your dear sainted mother sang. How many times after you've finished with some beautiful woman whose given you her heart and soul, wondering why she couldn't make you feel the way your mother did, with the safety and the love only she could provide. Sebastian gave you that, gave you a piece of her, just for a little while."
Buck closed his eyes and knew some of Darvell's words were true. His mother was the first woman who loved him, and his life was spent chasing the feeling he got when she would look at him and tell Buck without saying a word, he was her universe. To this day, he'd never seen that, although sometimes he thought he recognised embers of it, penetrating the walls guarding Inez's true feelings for him.
"Maybe I want her back but not enough to sell out my friends, not enough to sell out Alex! You made me do that!"
"And are you so sure you sold out Alex? Right now, that lovely doctor is in a beautiful place, where she is travelling the world, experiencing adventures you can't even imagine with her tracker. She'll have that for the rest of her life, even longer when she takes her place with us. Even if he isn't with her, she'll never be without him. Can't you see that's a kindness?"
"As offerings Buck," Polidori took up the explanation. "Everyone here is getting everything they ever wanted. Virgil is with his wife, Cora. Gloria over there," he gestured to Gloria, who was still wearing the same blank expression as the hardware store owner, "she's running her store, with her children and her husband. She's happy. They all are."
"And me?" Buck glared at him. "How come you ain't done the same thing to me?
"Because," Polidori's eyes narrowed and though the human mask remained in place, Buck could see the fury of the creature he had thwarted when it first tried to take Alex. "I want you to die screaming."
As he said those words, he heard the gnashing of teeth grow louder, the snarling sounds of feeding about to take place and Buck knew, he was no longer in any position to help the townspeople, he had to get out of here, get out and tell Chris and the others everything before it was too late. However, as the creatures, he wouldn't call them people anymore, tightened the ring of teeth around the offerings as Polidori put it, he knew that was going to be a slim hope.
Refusing to give up, not when he had his mind back to fight, Buck braced himself to face them...
An explosion ripped through the air.
The force of it was loud enough to startle everyone, even the townsfolk gripped in their trances, back to reality. The explosion penetrated the teeming rain as if lightning had struck the ground within the campsite itself. Just as the shock began to sink in, another explosion was heard. This time, it followed the sound of wood being obliterated. The force of the blast could be felt through the ground and as he saw the spell cast over the townsfolk fracturing, realised he might be able to reach them now.
"EVERYONE! GET OUT OF HERE!" Buck shouted at the top of his lungs.
Unknowingly providing more incentive, the third blast blew in the side of the big top, shredding the canvas and snapping the main support beam holding up the tent. As the tall piece of lumber began to topple over, panic spread across the group and everyone scattered.
"Find out what's happening!" He heard Polidori shout and Buck took the opportunity to run, heading in the direction of where Goliath had gone with Alex.
***********
When they reached the carnival, everything was quiet.
Breaking the line of trees surrounding the cleared space of the Holland property, the temporary showground was oddly devoid of its folk. The stands were empty, there were no lights in any of the wagons, no cheerful calliope music playing in the background. The entire campsite glistening under the teeming rain looked grey and ominous. Only the big top, which stood above all the wagons and smaller tents like some dark temple commanding worship, had any signs of life, Light poured out of the partially open flap, the glow not at all welcoming.
If anything, it made the lawmen think of an open mouth, waiting to swallow them whole.
Yet all was not silent because they could hear the sounds of enraptured voices even through the hiss of rain. There were other sounds as well, one that made Vin Tanner, shudder with discomfort. Hearing those noises, after so many years spent in the wilderness, made him want to rush out and find Alex, unable to bear the idea she might be in the middle of that obscene chorus. There were terrible things afoot tonight and knowing Alex might be lost to them was more than he could stomach.
Next to him, Chris Larabee was well aware of Vin's deteriorating mental state, aware that it wouldn't take much for the tracker to rush out impulsively to save his doctor. However, Chris also knew if he did that, the only thing his best friend would succeed in doing, was getting his fool self killed. Not that Chris could blame him for his impatience. If it were Mary. Chris would be no different. Still, he chose to maintain his calm for Vin's sake because someone had to think clearly for the tracker's benefit.
Emerging from their hiding place, they were able to conduct a search of the area, aware whatever was taking place in the large tent, occupied the singular attention of all the circus folk. All life that wasn't their own was coming from the big top with voices so excited it sounded like a gospel revival. But it did not last long because when the silence descended again, they noticed what Vin had heard before all of them, the sound of animal-like snarling from all too human throats. That was enough for Chris. He didn't need to know what was happening within the big top to understand they were out of time.
Before they left Four Corners, Chris had come up with a plan. The only plan he could come up with under the circumstances. While he had no idea whether or not William Styles was right, he did understand Polidori's machinations since arriving in Four Corners. The carnival was a trap, an elaborate trap with only one purpose, to snare the prey for his feeding. In knowing this, Chris knew he would never allow his minions to be stronger than him. And their purpose was to be the expendable chaff to protect himself if he were in danger. So while he might be invulnerable outside his lair, Chris was sure his circus people were not.
"Josiah, are you sure about this?" Chris asked the former preacher as they prepared to break up and move into their assigned position. Josiah had volunteered to undertake the task of finding how they could discover Polidori's lair, and while it was the best chance they had, Chris also thought it was a hell of a gamble.
"Yeah," Josiah nodded his expression like carved stone, although inwardly he hoped his faith was not misplaced. "I think so." The preacher was aware he was about to enter the realm of the unholy, but he believed in God, even if he was not always equal to the Almighty's grace. "If it's all possible, I'll reach her."
"Alright," Chris nodded, still uncertain Josiah was right about this. "Me and Vin will keep an eye out for Polidori, see where he's taken Alex."
At the mention of her name, Vin's jaw tensed, as if the word itself felt like lashes against the skin until he retrieved her from the clutches of the monster Polidori was.
"The rest of you," Chris regarded JD, Ezra and Nathan. "Find Buck once the smoke clears."
"We shall locate him," Ezra stated firmly staring at the big top, the gambler's eyes hard like pieces of turquoise. Somewhere in this place, was the young girl who tried to warn them of this horror, and was probably dead because of it. He wanted to avenge her since he was unable to save her. "Once we throw our rocks into their anthill, I am certain we will create enough chaos to surface Mr Wilmington."
"Let's get to it," Vin said impatiently, heading towards an unmanned food stall, producing the stick of dynamite from beneath his buckskin coat. The rest of the seven did the same, except for Chris who stuck with the tracker less Vin did anything stupid, which in his state of mind was entirely possible. Beneath Chris's duster, he too was carrying the explosives. They'd raided Virgil Watson's store of every stick of it they could find before they left town. The circus had been the trap that ensnared half of Four Corners, it was the mechanism by which Polidori had blighted God only knew how many communities.
Chris intended on obliterating it off the face of the world.
As the rest of the seven scattered, Chris reached Vin was lighting the fuse on the dynamite he was holding, sheltered from the rain by the stand's awning. It didn't take long for the fuse sparked to life, coiling into ash as it made its way rapidly to the gelignite interior. Vin flung it into the middle of the stand, not caring when it disappeared under a bench.
"Come on!" Chris urged, and both men started running as the thin fuse curled as it burned, needing only seconds before it reached its final purpose.
The blast and the ensuing shockwave was powerful enough to make the ground beneath them shudder, with both men almost slipping across the slick ground. Fragments of wood and mud pelted their backs as they ran for cover, with neither needing to look behind them to know the stand was utterly obliterated. As debris rained down over their heads, Chris and Vin took cover behind another stall, this one hosting a ring toss game when it was operating. When they looked to see their handiwork, all that remained was a ruin of jagged woods, the flames from the explosion rapidly being snuffed out by the teeming rain.
"Well if that don't rattle them loose, nothing will," Chris told Vin.
Vin didn't have a chance to respond because another thunderous explosion was heard, this time, it was one of the wagons bearing the brunt of the dynamite assault. Once again, the ground quaked as covered the wooden home was blown apart. From what remained of the wreckage, Chris recognised the smoking fragments and the one remaining wheel, not entirely charred black, belonging to Madame Esmerelda and knew this destruction was delivered courtesy of one JD Dunne.
Similar explosions were erupting across the campsite, and as Chris and Vin neared the big top where Vin was convinced Alex was at this time, both men sighted Josiah Sanchez tossing a stick of dynamite against the side of the tent. It hit the canvas and slid to the ground, the fuse remaining lit despite the rain. Disappearing into the straw covering the ground next to it, the flames made an attempt to ignite the wet hay without success and then focussed instead of burning to its conclusion.
The blast did not bring down the tent entirely, but it was close. As the canvas was torn apart and a support beam snapped in half, the firm shape of the big top began to sag. People started to run outside as the panic Chris hoped to create by this violence, was finally achieved. Even more so, the gunslinger had hoped this thunderous assault might be enough to snap the townspeople of their delirium. As they started running through the flap, frightened out of their wits and desperate to escape the destruction, Josiah realised self-preservation was powerful enough to snap anyone's senses back to normal from whatever stupor Polidori used to command them.
Josiah saw familiar faces staggering out of the big top, their expression dazed as if they had awakened from a dream with no idea where they were. As the rain-battered across their faces, further washing away the oily slick of Polidori's power, Josiah saw them returning to themselves, blinking and rubbing their eyes, like sleepers who finally awakened. As the rest of his comrades continued the explosive assault on the carnival, what emerged on the heels of the fleeing townsfolk made Josiah's blood run cold.
Creatures that might have been people once emerged. Like insane parodies of human beings, they appeared with their sunken dark eyes and their needle-sharp teeth, gnashing their fang-like animals about to hunt their prey. Refusing to be denied their feast, they ran after the townsfolk of Four Corners, preparing to tear them apart.
As he saw one face in particular, his stomach clenched at the realisation the monstrosity who also caught sight of him, in his astonishment and horror, was the same person he'd taken a walk with, who warned him to protect his flock. The same woman whose help he'd hope to enlist to find Polidori's lair.
Salome.
"Mother of God," Josiah whispered when she closed in on him, horrified by her monstrous transformation.
"Didn't I tell you," Salome's voice sounding like the last gurgle of a draining sink, "to protect your flock?"
If there was one advantage in pursuing a seven-foot-tall behemoth, through the rainy night across a carnival infested with monsters, it was he tended to stick out.
Convinced the chaos outside was caused by the detonation of dynamite, Buck took advantage of the situation and slipped past Polidori's monsters to go after Alex.
It was bad enough he was used by Polidori to abduct the doctor for whatever dark purpose the man intended, Buck was determined to rescue the lady from her unfortunate circumstances. As more and more explosions erupted around him, decimating the caravans in the showground, Buck was reminded of the Powder Man's assault on the wagon train the seven escorted almost a year ago.
Of course this time, Buck was certain the Powder Man might have been Chris Larabee and the rest of the seven.
With the explosions making his ears ring from the deafening bursts to the smoke meandering through the ruined stalls and still standing tents, it became harder and harder to see. It seemed as if brushstrokes of grey were being painted across the canvas of the night. Even the rain seemed incapable of snuffing out the smoke, and as the downpour washed all over Buck, the cold water against his skin banished the last traces of stupor from his mind. He didn't quite feel invigorated by the wet and the cold, but he did feel ready to fight to the death to save Alex, for Vin's sake.
Goliath stood a head over everyone was he navigated through the bodies scattering in all directions. Some were the townsfolk running for their lives, desperate to escape the blasts booming around them, while the others were fleeing the creatures who served Polidori. As Buck saw the strong man carrying Alex who remained in her unconscious state, he was painfully aware he was unarmed. If any of those creatures tried to stop him, he'd only have his fists to get past them.
It didn't matter, Buck told himself. He was going to help Alex. He was the one who brought her here, and if it meant fighting bare-knuckled, then that was what he was going to do. As Buck continued forward, the slick ground threatened to make him lose his footing. He could still see Goliath, moving swiftly past the tents and wagons. Where was he going?. If Buck didn't know better, he would swear the man was heading away from the carnival.
Suddenly, something leapt out of the darkness and the smoke, moving so fast Buck could have been forgiven for thinking it was an animal springing out of its den. He wasn't far wrong. Landing on his back, her perfume now smelling like the dried, rotten flowers on a forgotten grave, was Titania. She was no longer the dark-haired beauty that lured him into her clutches with a kiss, but was snarling and hissing like a hellcat ready to take a bite out of him.
And she did.
Buck uttered a grunt of pain when he felt those needle-like teeth sink into his bicep. The pain was sharp and blinding, and for a moment, agony covered his eyes in a red veil. As her teeth sunk in, he reacted instinctively, flipping her over his shoulder with all the strength he possessed. She uttered a scream of indignation as she was wrenched free of his flesh, landing hard against the ground and splattering mud in all directions.
"I'm going to rip out your throat!" She screeched, flipping onto her hands and knees before she launched herself at him again, teeth bare and her nails ready to rip him apart as if they were attached to claws, not fingers.
"You can try," Buck grunted, his arm stinging in pain. Nevertheless, Buck was ready for her this time. While he had been clutching his bleeding shoulder, searching for a weapon to fight her off with, he'd caught sight of something that would do in a pinch. Bracing himself, he saw her leap at him and thought she sprang like a mountain lion if a mountain lion was a crazed supernatural bitch.
Without thinking twice, he grabbed her before she reached him, his hands clutching both her arms and flipped her on her back. She uttered another howl of fury and indignation, with that grotesque slithery tongue slipping out of her mouth trying to reach him. Buck almost recoiled, but he knew he had once chance at this, and getting squeamish right now was only going to get him dead. Before she had any chance to fight him, Buck slammed her against the ground.
And unto the broken tent peg sticking out from the mud.
The force of her landing, coupled with his strength, ensured the jagged piece of wood, strong enough and thick enough to hold a tent down even in the worst gale, tore through her body. The sharp point penetrated skin, muscle and bone before emerging through her chest. Her eyes widened in shock as death came upon her so quickly, she had no time to prepare as her heart was cleaved in two. She spasmed for a second before her body went limp and her head lolled back in final repose. With a loud rasp, her last breath left her, and that obscene tongue flopped lifelessly along the side of her grey cheek.
"NO!!!!"
The scream came from Hermia, who was staring at her sister's dead body in horror and dismay. Like Titania, all traces of the seductive woman she had been was gone. What remained was the monstrous creature that tried to drain his soul from him that night in their caravan. Her face revealed her anguish at her sister's demise, but that emotion dissipated quickly when she lifted her chin and turned to him. Sorrow became bald anger, and she spoke with a voice not quite human, but not quite animal either.
"You're going to wish you were dead by the time I'm done with you," she stalked him with menace, and Buck knew if he attempted to bolt, she would lunge as Titania had done. "I won't kill you quickly like you did my sister. You're going to beg me to kill you!" She hissed at him, bearing those sharp teeth, no they were fangs, he thought, dripping with saliva. Through her parted red lips, he saw the same vile tongue snaking out of her mouth. Buck felt his stomach clench and knew he had better think about running because she was about to pounce.
Her eyes narrowed in calculation, aware he was about to flee. Her red lips curled into a smile at the anticipation of a chase. Until a gunshot startled them both by its sudden boom in their ears. For Hermia, it was the last sound she would ever hear because the centre of her forehead exploded outwards. Buck took a step backwards as blood and bone splattered in all directions. Chunks of it stained his shirt before he realised with horror, her blood was all wrong. It was thick and not red, but almost black and congealed like sludge.
"Jesus," Buck stepped back, aghast, trying to wipe the stuff off him when suddenly he heard the sweetest sound imaginable.
"BUCK!"
JD Dunne appeared in front of him, clutching the gun that ended Hermia's existence for good. Even though he looked clearly relieved to see Buck, there was a hint of caution in his manner as he approached. Behind him was Ezra and Nathan, who also looked at him with the same hesitation. It took a second for Buck to realise why. Why shouldn't they be worried? Hadn't he run out of them and stolen Alex in the process?
"I'm fine," Buck quickly assured them. "Whatever that son of a bitch did to me, is done. He ain't in my head no more."
"Are you sure?" JD asked straddling worry and hope.
"I'm fine JD," Buck approached him and dropped a hand on the kid's shoulder. "Thanks for saving my ass."
"You're hurt," Nathan's concern for Buck's state of mind was immediately forgotten at the sight of the teeth marks in his shoulder. "Did one of those things take a bite out of you?"
"Yeah," Buck winced, glancing at Titania's dead form.
"Well," Ezra surveyed the scene and knew they could not linger. "It seems that animal magnetism of yours is still doing wonders with the ladies."
***********
It felt as if they had stepped out of time and were removed from everything transpiring around them. As Josiah stood rooted to the spot, watching the creatures that were the carnival folk descending on the fleeing locals, while the seven were stepping in to protect their friends and neighbours, he only saw Salome. A part of him had difficulty imagining this creature with the grey skin, the sunken eyes and needle-sharp teeth as the woman who tried to warn him of the danger posed by the carnival.
She resembled nothing of the exotic creature who coiled a python named Mortimer around her neck, and danced to the tune of the pungi, the flute played by Sanjay during her performance. Instead, she looked like a creature straight out of hell, and Josiah wondered what on Earth would have possessed her to surrender her soul so completely when it was clear she was not one who wished harm. Not if she cared enough to warn him of danger.
"Are you going to kill me now Salome? Perhaps take my head like your namesake took the Baptist’s?"
"I told you," she managed to say, and her voice was no longer soft and cultured as it had been when they spoke beneath the canvas that was the Cavern of a Thousand Mysteries, "I told you to let us do what we had to, and we'd go! No one would get hurt!"
Josiah stared at her incredulously.
"No one? Look at yourself, look at what you have become! No one would get hurt? Tell that to Sally and Elden Reacher. They're dead! Friends and neighbours are attacking each other, attacking us! Polidori sent them after us to kill us! I don't think you're naive enough to believe that was ever possible. What about you? Aren't you harmed, what's been done to you is harm, Salome."
"It's too late for me!" She hissed but in her angry voice, there was also anguish. "You don't know what it was like Josiah, what he rescued me from, what he rescued us all from. We were desperate, without hope. He gave us a family! He made us a family."
"Except none of you can't leave," Josiah pointed out. "Isn't that right?"
Her chin dropping gave him his answer.
When she faced him again, there were tears in her eyes, and it ran down her grey cheeks in dark rivulets of oil. "There's no redemption for me Josiah."
"THere's always redemption Salome," he insisted, wishing to reason with this demon he still saw as a woman. "You can leave Polidori! You can stay here with us. Whatever this thing is he's done to you, we can free you! Not just you," he regarded the others currently fighting with his comrades, "all of you!"
"Free me?" She stared at him. "You don't even know what he is!"
"He's a soul eater," Josiah stated without hesitation. "He’s using you like one would store meat in the cellar for winter. You're not family to him, your supply. But we can help free you, we know how to now. Out here, he can't be killed, but he can if we find out where he bunks down, we can kill him. If you showed me where his lair, I could free you, not just you, but all the others. We know how."
"You're lying!" She bit back, certain this was a ruse. "He's been alive for thousands of years Josiah! Thousands! He's managed to stay alive because he knows how to defeat those who come after him. I don't care if he kills me for helping you, but I do care if he kills you. You were kind to me Josiah, the walk we took and the talk, it's been so long since someone tried to get to know me. I don't want to see you hurt."
"Then help me now Salome because he won't let us live, not with what we know about him. He won't take the risk." Josiah didn't know whether Polidori was aware they knew how to end him, but was confident it was knowledge the soul eater would not abide anyone possessing. A thought occurred to him as her last words sunk into his mind.
"Is Salome even your name?"
She stared at him for a moment at the question and for a second, puzzlement crossed her face as if it was so long since someone asked the question, she no longer remembered. Concentrating hard on the answer, Josiah doubted she noticed when her form shifted back into the woman he first met, the beautiful exotic creature with the charming smile and the elegant voice.
"My name is Cassandra," she whispered and her face twisted into an expression of bittersweet regret. "That's what my papa called me, Cassandra."
"Cassandra," Josiah smiled, "that's pretty. Like Cassandra of Troy. Your namesake tried to warn everyone of danger, but no one listened. I'm listening now Cassandra. We know what kind of creature he is, we know how to kill him, and we know how to free everyone's he's captured. But to do that, we need to know where his lair is. Speak your truth one last time Cassandra, you'll be heard."
"Are you sure, Josiah?" She looked at him, torn between her fear of Polidori, and her affection for him. "Are you sure you can kill him? So many have tried and failed. He'll destroy your town if you fail, you know that right?"
"Yes," Josiah said with a nod. "I know that, but I think he'll destroy Four Corners anyway unless we put a stop to it. If there's even a chance we can do that, then we have to try."
Salome, or rather Cassandra, said nothing for a moment, contemplating his words. Josiah studied her, wondering who she had been before the carnival. What terrible circumstances had driven her to make a devil's bargain for escape? Josiah honestly believed she sold her soul for immortality only to learn it was still damnation, served on Earth instead of hell. When she raised her eyes to him, he saw fresh tears, it spilled down her cheeks and Josiah could well believe she was Cassandra of Euripides Trojan Women.
Almost quietly, she told Josiah what he needed to know.
"Thank you, Cassandra," Josiah said kindly. "Thank you."
She nodded, and it was the acknowledgement of someone who accepted she was doomed.
"Save us, Josiah," she said as he started to turn and seek out Chris and the others. "Save us and set us free."
***********
"Watch out!" Vin shoved Chris aside as another one of the carnies rushed at them. The gunslinger had already put down one of the creatures who was attempting to tear the town naysayer Mr Conklin apart when Chris intervened. Conklin, like so many others trying to flee the killing pen they willingly stepped into, was no longer in his state of delirium. He offered Chris a look of gratitude, which would last about as long as the next town crisis, where he would no doubt be back to decrying the seven as dangerous outlaws.
Chris was yanked back as another of the carnies lunged at him, with their razor-sharp teeth and claws bared. The near-miss ended with the deafening blast of a sawn-off rifle catching the creature at point-blank range. The carnie, which Vin recognised as one of the acrobats, uttered an animalistic howl before being flung back into the mud. Another rushed at him from the side, but Vin reacted swiftly, flipping the gun in his hand and slammed its stock into his attacker's face. He was certain the crunch heard was the breaking of teeth as it staggered backwards. Before he had a chance to take aim, Chris, who was at his side recovered enough to get there first, emptying his remaining rounds in the creature's body.
"Reload!" He issued Vin the warning as he fumbled for the shells in his duster pocket, prompting Vin to prime his mare's leg to fend off any attackers while the gunslinger was temporarily engaged.
"I gotcha, pard," Vin replied smoothly, even though his eyes were scanning the place for any sign of Alex or for that matter, Polidori. The son of a bitch remained elusive, content to allow his minions to deal with the lawmen and to hunt down the fleeing locals of Four Corners. Vin caught sight of Bernadette Freeman being downed by one of the creatures, or the sword swallower he and Alex had seen the day of the carnival's arrival. The woman was lying on her back, crawling across her belly in the mud, screaming terrified as the man pinned her down with one knee, widening his jaws like some kind of damn snake about to take a bite.
Vin didn't let him get that far. A well-aimed shot sent a bullet ripping through the man's neck. The force of the projectile tore through flesh bone and muscle without stopping. Vin had no idea where the round eventually ended up, but it went through Mrs Freeman's attacker to get there. Blood spurted out of his mouth, dark, vile stuff that splattered all over the woman's back before he collapsed across her legs, quite dead. The woman screamed, kicking her legs frantically to get out from under the corpse.
"Come on!"
Gloria Potter offered Bernadette her hand, raising her eyes to Vin long enough to provide the tracker with a look of gratitude for more than just the return of her senses but the dark place her soul almost wound up. Vin tipped his hat at her slightly, before he surveyed the area once more, trying to see where the others were. He couldn't see the seven, but he could see folk who had been trapped in their malaise suddenly recovering their senses, realising perhaps in these last few second how close they had come to a fate worse than death.
He saw Virgil Watson, waving what appeared to be a crowbar at one of the creatures, striking him hard enough across the face to send it stumbling backwards. Vin recognised Virgil's attacker as the man under the tent with Salome, Josiah's lady friend whom the preacher believed would help them. The man who had skin like Alex's was now no different than the rest of the monsters that were causing havoc throughout the showground. Not about to be put down by a hardware store owner armed with a rod, the man leapt to his feet about to attack when the long blade of a knife struck him in the centre of the back. He uttered a cry of pain and tried to turn around to see from where the attack had come.
"Get moving Virgil!" Nathan Jackson ordered, emerging from the darkness to deliver Virgil his timely rescue. "Get anyone you can and get the hell out of here!"
"You ain't gotta tell me twice," Virgil nodded and hurried away to do just that.
"Nathan," Vin called out across the gunfire and shrieks from the carnival folk who were no doubt fighting the rest of the seven across the showground.
Nathan was about to answer when he saw Polidori. The soul eater was making his way across the showground, perfectly content to let his minions deal with the townsfolk and the lawmen. Nathan was about to turn to Chris and Vin when Nathan realised with dismay, Vin had already seen him and was sprinting across the muddy ground, heading straight for the owner of the Great Polidori circus.
"VIN!" Nathan shouted, but it was too late, Vin was beyond hearing him, beyond anything except the desire to reach Alex at all costs.
***********
Whether or not Polidori knew he was coming, Vin didn't care.
As he bolted through the bodies, shoving the creatures out of his path, using the butt of his gun or shooting down any varmint stupid enough to get in his way, he only saw Polidori. Somewhere in this place, Polidori had Alex, and their search so far had not produced the doctor. Everyone else in the town had escaped and were running for their lives. Why wasn't Alex? The realisation she was still nowhere to be seen sent a surge of fear through him at what might have happened to her.
Another carnie tried to get in his way, the magician Vin briefly registered before he raised his gun and fired once, putting a bullet through the man's grey skull. He went down hard, that awful mask still in place, not to mention that grotesque tongue half hanging down his chin, made Vin's stomach heave in disgust So far, Polidori had yet to see him, but Vin wasn't going to let him get any further than that.
"POLIDORI! WHERE IS SHE, YOU SON OF A BITCH?"
Polidori halted in his steps at Vin's furious cry. He paused without any trace of concern and turned to Vin, with a smile of supreme confidence as if he had nothing to fear.
"Where she belongs of course," Polidori answered over the sound of the teeming rain. "With me."
***********
Chris had just finished reloading his Peacemaker when the owner of the Polidori Circus came into view. The man, if he could be called that was using the carnage to make his way across the showground, no doubt retreating to his lair where he could sit out the fighting until the creatures under his command killed the trespassers or were killed themselves. Fodder, that's all they were to him, Chris thought as he saw Polidori leaving, oblivious to the bodies piling across the ground, caring little for the fact that most of them were his own people.
"VIN!"
Chris turned sharply at Nathan's voice, just in time to see the tracker sprinting across the wet ground, putting down any carnie stupid enough to get in his way with ruthless expediency. Whether or not Polidori saw him yet, didn't matter. If William Styles was right, Vin wouldn't be able to kill the bastard because he wasn't in his lair. In fact, the only thing the tracker was going to do was probably get himself killed.
Cursing under his breath, Chris waved at Nathan to follow, hoping they would reach Polidori and Vin before it was too late.
Somewhere along the way, they lost Nathan.
One minute the healer was at their side, the next Nathan spotted someone in trouble and had veered off the path they were taking through the carnival, incapable of ignoring anyone who needed help. They could no more stop him; than they could ask him to stop breathing. It was conditioning Nathan could not ignore, and he wouldn't be the man they respected and cared for if he did. It didn't matter, JD and Ezra were still at his side as Buck continued running through the rain and mist, in the direction he last saw Goliath headed with Alex.
JD had loaned him one of the twin guns the young man carried and Buck was grateful for it, even if the shoulder Nathan quickly patched up still ached. If anything, the pain gave him clarity, slicing through the lingering fog left by Polidori's spell on his mind. As they raced through the showground, leaving behind the wagons and caravans, the carnival stands and the tents, now flared with breaths of fire from the dynamite attack, Buck had to wonder where the hell Goliath was going. It was clear the giant was heading off the campsite.
"Mr Wilmington!" Ezra called out as they reached the edge of the carnival grounds and were faced with a wall of trees surrounding the Holland property. "Are you sure we are going in the correct direction?"
For a second, Buck hesitated, seeing nothing but a forest of darkness before them and knew if they went through it and he was wrong, they'd be leaving Chris and the others without their support, worse yet; they might never find Alex at all. Buck's guilt at the part he played in the lady's unfortunate circumstances stabbed at the core of him. His eyes dropped to the wet ground, about to answer when he sighted indentations in the mud that told him immediately, they were going in the right direction.
Footprints!
Buck was nowhere the tracker Vin Tanner was, but he did know fresh ones when he saw them. Goliath was heavy enough on his own, but carrying Alex in his arms made sure he left some impressions in the ground, and fortunately for them, a trail to follow. It appeared Goliath was taking Alex out into the woods, although the reason for that was puzzling.
"This way!" Buck answered Ezra's question by breaking into a run, his eyes scanning the tracks in the soil filling up with rainwater as he left the carnival behind.
"Why would his lair be out here?" JD asked the obvious question as they approached the tree line. "I thought for sure it would be one of the caravans or wagons!"
"You are attempting to apply logic to this?" Ezra gave him a look. "Consider our situation. We are in pursuit of a damsel about to be sacrificed to a creature that is most likely hundreds of years old, capable of twisting minds and sucking the souls out of our bodies, whilst travelling across the countryside with a troop of performers in a carnival."
JD supposed when placed into perspective like that, Polidori's lair kept separate from the rest of the carnival did not seem like the most outlandish thing after all.
Surrounded by trees, Buck worried they might have lost the trail when he sighted something in the darkness that caught his attention immediately. For a second, he thought it was someone holding a lamp, but as he approached it, the glow of the light seemed odd. It wasn't like the radiance of a campfire, where the flames created an orb of light around itself, drawing men to it like moths to a fire. This looked more like the sunlight pouring in through the crack of a door in a dark room. Buck reached it first, breaking through the trees to a small clearing only to stop short.
What was in front of him as a crimson line of light, like a half-lidded eye staring at him.
It ran through the air for almost six feet and without knowing how he knew, but believing it more intensely than he felt anything in his life, Buck knew this was a door. They had all assumed Polidori's lair was something earthly, the truth was more fantastic than that. It was a rip through the world. Once Buck Wilmington had the chance to meet a descendant from the future, who told him reality was not as immutable as they all believed. If you had the know-how, you could move through it. This was why Polidori managed to survive for so long. Even if you knew how to kill him, this was the mistake the others who tried to fight him probably made.
"We're going in," Buck said without hesitation.
"In?" Ezra exclaimed, his perfectly held composure nowhere in sight for once. "Where?"
"Through there," Buck replied, taking a step towards it and feeling unclean when the reddish glow fell across his face. "That's where Alex is, I'm sure of it."
"Mr Wilmington, we have no idea what that is...."
JD looked over his shoulder and asked pointedly, "does it matter?"
Ezra was about to answer and then remembered Alexandra. He had done much to earn her anger, and yet she forgave him. She'd been willing to ignore her deep abiding love for Vin to spare Ezra hurt. Even when she was furious with him, she still patched his wounds and eventually called him a friend again. While he would never feel for Alexandra what he felt for Julia, Ezra knew he could not leave her to that monster. He'd fail to protect Anna, he was damn well not going to fail Alexandra.
"No," Ezra said firmly. "Not one damn bit."
Buck offered Ezra a nod of gratitude and then stepped through.
***********
As he had done with Randall Mason, Vin did not waste any time launching himself at Polidori on the cusp of the man's smug, arrogant words.
Blind rage overtook him, Vin's anger was borne out of more than just this creature's belief Alex was better off without him, but how far Polidori took her from herself. Alex was a healer, it was ingrained in every part of her being. Like Nathan, she'd risk life and limb to get to someone hurt. This monster would strip away that boundless compassion. Vin didn't realise how much he loved that about Alex until he stood there in her clinic, listening to her talk of discarding everyone they cared for, to accept Polidori's offer of eternal life. When there was no doubt in his mind, the immortality she spoke of was a real-life Purgatory in the making.
The price of eternal life was painfully revealed by the creatures he killed tonight. This was what she would become if she were allowed to be whisked away.
"Where is she?" He threw a fist at the man's face as soon as they hit the ground, but instead of striking bone, what he struck was soft and pliant, like rubber. Vin blinked and realised he was not staring into a face, but the slithering mass of tentacles Buck described to them with such horror. Vin shrunk back, feeling the bile rise up his throat as he saw those large, yellow eyes staring back at him. Fumbling for his gun as he pushed away, Polidori recovered far more swiftly than Vin, grabbing Vin's head in his hands and pulled the tracker forward with superhuman strength.
All Vin could see was that slithery tongue...mouth...Christ! What was it(?), snaking towards his mouth. For the first time in his life, pure unadulterated terror ran through Vin as he felt the cold, slimy appendage against his chin. What Buck described came back to haunt him and knew if he didn't get away from this creature, it was going to stick that thing down his throat the way it had done to Alex and drain his soul from his body, the way one drained a mug of beer.
"Don't worry," Polidori spoke in an almost soothing voice. "She'll never be without you, even when you're dead."
Driven by outrage and panic, Vin found the blade of his knife and plunged it into Polidori's body in the act of utter desperation. Polidori uttered a scream of pain, that sounded like the screech of some wounded animal, and pulled back, tentacles flailing wildly as he retreated. Vin had driven the blade into his body, all the way to the hilt, between Polidori's ribs.
He lashed out at Vin with a backhanded blow so strong, it lifted the tracker off the ground and sent him splattering hard against the mud. Vin felt his head swim, certain the bastard had knocked some teeth loose. Rolling on his back, Vin saw Polidori who was curled up in pain, straighten up abruptly, his face returning to its human visage as he pulled the knife from his flesh. Although it was clear he registered the pain, the stabbing did little else. Staring at the blade coated in black blood, Polidori uttered a curse before flinging the weapon away.
"I am not going to waste my time even draining you," Polidori strode towards him. "I'm going to kill you and take your woman before your body is cold! By the time I'm done with her, she'll never even remember who you were."
The mention of Alex reminded Vin what was at stake, that for him dying would be a merciful end, what her fate would be, was nothing less than hell. Scrambling for his mare's leg, he saw Polidori close in on him when suddenly out of nowhere, a low voice sounding like grated glass and hell given shape, spoke with a cold, deliberate greeting.
"I don't think we've met."
Polidori turned just in time to see the barrel of Chris Larabee's Peacemaker a second before it fired.
The bullet struck the circus owner through his eye, causing dark blood to explode out the back of his skull. Polidori uttered an unearthly scream as his face shifted again and the human features vanished once more, replaced by the tentacles as if the agony was too much for him to maintain the facade. He staggered backwards, clutching the bulbous eye, oozing with dark blood after the bullet tore it to pieces. The shot should have killed him, but as Alex's Pa had written, Polidori couldn't be killed here. Still, it didn't mean he was immune from pain as he retreated from the gunslinger, in obvious agony.
"MY CHILDREN!" He bellowed in a voice of a man speaking from the bottom of a well. "HELP ME!"
Everything went dead silent.
The noises of the night's violence, the chase of the townsfolk, the crackling of fires surviving the rain, even the roar of gunfire, came to an abrupt stop. All that remained was the sound of rain, hissing lightly in the background. The mist surrounded them like a pen, as Polidori's words promised nothing but sinister harm.
"Vin, you alright?" Nathan came up alongside him and offered Vin a hand.
"Yeah," Vin nodded, taking the healer's hand and getting to his feet shakily.
Meanwhile, Chris stared at Polidori, containing his horror at the man's face, and wondered from what depths of hell this creature was birthed. It didn't matter, Chris told himself. The bullet he just put in Polidori's eye proved one thing; he might not be able to die out here, but there was no end of pain he could suffer. For an unkillable beast, that amounted to quite a lot.
"Give us back Alex and get out of here," Chris warned coldly. "That's the only way you're leaving this town alive."
Polidori, who was still clutching his face glared at Chris with his remaining good eye. "That time is past," he spoke in a voice that was a low snarl. "I would offer you the same terms, but I don't intend for any of you to leave here alive."
As the words left his lips, there was movement around them, and Chris saw the appearance of the remaining carnival folk. The creatures stalked the three lawmen like a pack of wolves, ready to tear them apart to defend their master. Once again, Chris thought to himself, they were nothing to Polidori but fodder. They'd put themselves in front of a wall of bullets so he could escape.
"This was your last and only warning Polidori," Chris ignored the looming threat and returned his attention to the soul-eater once more. "You won't get another."
Polidori turned sharply to his minions and barked. "KILL THEM!"
With an animalistic roar, the carnies launched themselves at the lawmen. Chris, Nathan and Vin had more or less expected this when Polidori screamed, wasting no time going for their guns. The gunslinger tried to put another bullet into the circus owner when Darvell came out of nowhere and launched himself at Chris. Like the rest of the carnival folk, he was a grotesque parody of himself, with teeth bared and fingers bent into claws. Gone was all trace of the snake oil salesman they faced off earlier that night.
Chris opened fire without hesitation and had no trouble putting down a moving target. If he could shoot a tin cup in midair and then a human body offered less challenge than that. Two bullets struck Darvell in the chest, forcing a cry of pain from the man's lips as he continued in Chris's direction. The gunslinger side stepped Darvell's falling body and saw the ringmaster land on the mud, head first. Despite the soft ground, the angle of his descent snapped the man's neck on impact. A sickly squelch of bone penetrated through the air as he went limp.
Whirling away from him, he saw Vin and Nathan similarly engaged, fighting off the creatures intending to kill them. The loud boom of a rifle was followed by the shriek of another creature being put down, Chris hesitated to call them people any more, the body slamming against the ground hard as Vin primed the mare's leg to fire again. Meanwhile, Nathan was alternating between his gun and his knives, although Chris didn't know how many blades he still had left. Fleetingly, he wondered where the hell Ezra and JD was in all this. Were they seeking Buck?"
"CHRIS!" Vin shouted.
Chris turned to see a carnie leap at him, but this time he didn't have time to draw. The weight of the creature's body toppled both of them, and Chris hit the ground while fighting off its flailing hands, attempting to scratch his eyes out while going for his throat. Chris slammed an elbow into its mouth, feeling pain flare across his skin, convinced he broke teeth, disorientating the thing just enough for him to roll them both over. As the creature prepared to throw him off, Chris dropped a knee onto the sternum of the man who he recognised as the one who sold Billy ice cream, before firing a bullet into his skull.
Climbing off his body, Chris heard the crash of glass and a loud woosh that immediately made him turn sharply. Someone had thrown a lamp into the middle of the space, clear of himself, Vin and Nathan. The oil splattered across the ground and ignited, sending up a small wall of flames into the air, temporarily driving the carnies back. Another lamp followed, exploding across the dirt in a spray of glass and fire.
"You just going to stand there?" Josiah's voice boomed as he came into view, next to him was the woman Chris knew to be Salome. "Come on!"
"Where's Polidori?" Vin hollered, searching the area for the master of the circus.
"Retreating!" Chris answered as he hurried towards Josiah. "Josiah, do you know where he's headed?"
"Yeah," Josiah nodded, glancing at Cassandra, as they started running, with Chris, Vin and Nathan quickly catching up, so they weren't stationary for long. Leaving the scene at Cassandra's direction, Josiah was aware there would be pursuit as soon as the creatures recovered their shock. "We don't have a lot of time.."
***********
Buck stepped through the crack and found himself in an entirely different place.
Of course, he should have suspected it, since he guessed this was a door of some kind. One minute they were out in the open, with rain and darkness surrounding them, the next they were inside an enormous room, constructed with sandstone blocks. Doric columns spaced a few feet apart on either side of the room, held up the high ceiling, and the domed skylight revealed a sky not filled with stars, but swirls of colour like God was painting it into existence.
"What in the world?" Ezra gasped behind him as they stepped into the room. The furnishing resembled something from ancient Rome or Egypt, with two thousand years of history emblazoned against the walls in the artwork. Whether it was paintings, sculptures, frescoes depicting the great pyramids, there was no denying this was more than just Polidori's lair. It was his home.
"I think..." Buck said staring at the Neververse beyond the dome. "I think this is where he's really from."
Perhaps it was the connection created when Polidori's minions had used him for their feast, but Buck knew this was the truth. Whatever this place was they just stepped into, it was where Polidori originated. Somehow, he'd slipped through the realms to infest their world and perhaps it was also why he was unable to die there, why returning home would make him mortal again.
"Buck watch out!" JD shouted, suddenly shoving him out of the way and both men tumbled to the floor, as what appeared to be a heavy wing chair crashed where Buck was standing, completely demolished.
Looking up at the same time, they saw Goliath charging at them. Resembling the rest of his transformed brethren outside, the size of him made him even more terrifying if it was possible. Ezra's reaction was swift, and he managed to squeeze off one round, which impacted on the man's shoulder. Goliath flinched at the pain but did not falter in his steps, ploughing into the gambler before slamming him against a column, with enough force for Ezra to utter a groan of pain on impact. His gun fell out of his hand, hitting the floor with a loud thud and discharging a single bullet into a wall.
"Ezra!" Buck scrambled to his feet along with JD, going to Ezra's aid.
The gambler was still dazed from the whack to his head and had yet to recover. Unfortunately, it was time he did not have. Goliath grabbed his skull between his meaty fingers and began to squeeze. Buck wasted no time jumping onto Goliath's back, locking his arm around the man's throat, trying to pull him free of Ezra with little success. Goliath's talent at the carnival was his strength, and a man capable of lifting two women on his shoulders was more than a match for them.
Meanwhile, JD snuck up on the circus strongman, preparing to put a bullet through him, if necessary for him to relinquish his hold of Ezra. Before JD could even raise his gun to fire, Goliath's tree trunk arm lashed out with far greater speed than the young sheriff expected. JD was struck against the bridge of the nose, sending him sprawling backwards, his face a smear of red when he hit the ground.
"JD!" Buck shouted glancing at the kid when he went down, still clinging to Goliath's back, pressing his arm harder against the man's throat. Goliath took advantage of the distraction and released Ezra then, allowing the gambler to slump to the floor while he dealt with his unwanted passenger. Retreating on his backfoot, he slammed Buck into the column behind him repeatedly. Buck hung on for dear life, feeling pain flare through his body in his determination to bring this big bastard down.
Ezra shook his head, banishing the pain from his aching skull someplace he could deal with it later, preferably with a bottle of good cognac. Blinking away the disorientation from Goliath's assault, Ezra saw Buck hanging on tight, even though the pounding he was taking was more than he could tolerate. Searching the floor, Ezra could not see where his gun had gotten to and scrambled to his feet.
Ezra closed in on Goliath just after he slammed Buck into the wall again and judging by the grimace on their Lothario's face, Buck could not endure this punishment much longer. As Goliath snapped his head back to hit Buck's face with the back of his skull, Ezra saw the exposed vulnerability of throat and decided he was going to take a chance and hope Lady Luck smiled favourably upon her wayward son.
The derringer slipped into his palm from beneath his sleeve, and though there was one bullet left, it was enough. The barrel was barely an inch away from the underside of Goliath’s neck when Ezra pulled the trigger. Though small and compact, the bullet made a loud boom as it was fired, penetrating the soft skin of Goliath's throat, continuing through the equally pliant palate of his mouth and then through his brain. It didn't quite make it out the top of his skull, but by then it didn't matter.
As blood poured out of his mouth, flooded his eyes sockets until he was weeping tears of red, Goliath stopped struggling. His body went limp as he sunk to his knees, allowing Buck to finally let go and stumble away. By the time Buck staggered away from him, Goliath was very much dead. He fell forward after his eyes rolled up, and collapsing face-first against the tiled stone floor.
"The bigger they are...." Buck started to say.
"The more likely you are to die," a voice that belonged to none of them replied, and when Ezra, Buck and JD, who was getting to his feet, saw what stepped into the room with them, Buck had a stray, absurd thought that made no sense whatever, but seemed strangely apt.
They were going to need a bigger boat.
The son of a bitch was running scared, Chris Larabee thought.
Predictably, the soul eater fled as soon as his minions arrived, reinforcing Chris's belief Polidori was a coward. Leaving behind the wall of flames temporarily created by Josiah during his timely intervention on their behalf, the remaining members of the seven followed the woman Josiah was now calling Cassandra, through the chaos and ruin of the Polidori Circus. With the glow of small fires still finding sustenance to burn despite the teeming rain behind them, their course it seemed were the thick woods surrounding the Holland place.
Even as they moved through the obliterated remains of caravans, sideshow stands and tents, Chris found himself searching the area for any sign of Buck, Ezra and JD with no luck. According to Nathan, the healer along with Ezra and JD spotted Buck earlier, and his oldest friend appeared to be in his right mind again. Buck was on Alex's trail, determined to rescue her after being responsible for his part in her present situation. This did not surprise Chris in the least, Buck found no act more deplorable than bringing harm to a lady and since he was personally responsible for Alex being here, could imagine how hell-bent Buck would be in finding her.
Chris had hoped they'd run into each other on the way to face Polidori, feeling comforted when their number was complete, but it appeared this was not going to be. There was no time to stop and search for the others, not when Polidori was on the move. Approaching the edge of the showground, Chris felt no remorse at the destruction they’d caused with their dynamite assault, except for the animals still trapped in their cages. Howls and roars of panic filled the air, their fear driven by the sight of fire, the universal enemy of all creatures.
Once this was finished, Chris promised himself to do something for them, but at present, they were safer where they were. The lawmen had made it a point to ensure none of their wagons was damaged. The beasts were not responsible for the actions of their masters, and Chris knew for a fact, no matter how much Vin's thoughts were preoccupied with Alex, there was no way the tracker would sit still for any creature being harmed unnecessarily.
Fleetingly, Chris wondered what they were going to do with all the wildlife when this was done. A question for later, if they survived the night.
"Where are we going?" Chris demanded as they saw the treeline surrounding the Holland place appearing ahead. "I thought we're heading towards Polidori's lair!"
"Polidori's lair isn't a wagon," Josiah hollered back as he kept pace with Cassandra who moved with surprising speed, making the preacher wonder if that was attributed to the devil's bargain she made with Polidori. When she told Josiah the truth, the former preacher was unsurprised because it made perfect sense. Why should the place that held such significance to a supernatural creature be housed in a simple construct of wood and nails? Upon reflection, Josiah realised, Polidori would select a more formidable sanctuary, hidden in a place no one would ever suspect, let alone find.
"Then what?" Nathan asked, glancing over his shoulders and seeing shadows moving through the campsite, given life by the fires and knew the remainder of Polidori's children were now in pursuit. Even as the thought crossed his mind, he could hear their indignant howls and screeches shredding the night.
"Best see for yourself," Josiah returned, uncertain how to explain it and thinking it was too much waste of time to try.
"Then we better get there fast!" Nathan shouted back, hearing the intensity of the savage call to arms behind them increase. "Because we're going to have company."
Vin didn't think about what was behind him, only aware if Polidori got away, Alex would be lost to him forever. Compelled by the terrible fate awaiting her if he failed, Vin placed his faith in Josiah because there was no other choice. Still, he wasn't just driven by blind faith. Even in the darkness, he could see other tracks in the mud, footprints of at least three people following one another, and knew immediately to whom they belonged.
"Chris, I think Ezra and the others came this way.”
"Are you sure?"
"There're three sets of tracks," Vin explained, "following a fourth, someone either really fat or big, if I'm any judge of how deep some of these prints are."
"Goliath," Nathan stated. "Buck said he was carrying Alex!"
Anything Chris was about to answer in turn was forgotten when they entered the tree line and caught sight of something in the nearby distance, glowing with an angry crimson light. For a second, Chris was reminded of the mechanical monster sent from the future to kill him and wondered if the strange turns his life took would ever stop. It took no more than a few more seconds of moving through the shrubs and trees, to reach the small clearing where the unearthly light originated.
"Here," Cassandra spoke for the first time.
She was standing next to a line of red, suspended in midair. It looked to Chris like someone had slashed at the fabric of the world, allowing crimson light to pour out of it the way blood would spill from an open wound. It was long enough for a man to slip through and finally, Chris understood what Josiah meant. This had to be seen to be believed.
"What?" Vin stared at her.
"This is the entry to his lair," Cassandra announced when they came to a stop and stared at the aperture. "This is where he comes from. He goes back through this portal."
"Then we're going," Vin said without hesitation, shoving his anxiety at what he was seeing deep inside himself because he had no time to indulge it now. Alex needed him.
"Vin! Chris grabbed his shoulder, stopping him before the tracker rushed in blindly. The man lost all good sense when it came to Alex. "Just hold on a goddamn minute." Turning to Cassandra, he asked pointedly. "Do you know what's in there?"
"I haven't been there before," Cassandra admitted readily enough, meeting Josiah's gaze, so he knew she was telling the truth. She was aware the gunslinger asking the question had no reason to trust her, but Cassandra needed them to kill Polidori as much for her sake, as the friends they were trying to save. "I only know that's where he goes."
"Chris...." Vin stared at him, giving his friend a look that this was as long as he was prepared to wait.
"Hell," Chris cursed, realising there was no way to prepare for what lay beyond except to go through and see what awaited them, and hoped to Christ they could fight it. "Let's do it!"
Before Vin could say anything otherwise, Chris went through first...
***********
....and stepped into madness.
The passage across was like walking into another room. One with high ceilings and lots of columns, reminding Chris of a museum he had gone to in his youth in Chicago, but before he had a chance to take further stock of the place, he heard Buck's voice shouting urgently.
"JD WATCH OUT!"
That was enough to send Chris running. He spared a moment to look over his shoulder and saw Vin stepping through the portal, glowing blue on this side, instead of crimson. It was all the time he spent before the urgency of Buck’s voice propelled him forward. He ran past one of the many stone pillars to see what was happening in the middle of the room. What he saw made him stop short, gripped with a mixture of horror and astonishment.
What stood in the centre of the room was almost fifteen feet tall, a grotesque parody of man and squid, with tentacles flailing about in all directions. One of the thick appendages was flung in JD's direction, and the young sheriff barely managed to get clear before it struck the column behind him. The pillar shuddered from the impact, and fine trails of dust shook itself free from the ceiling above in protest. As JD got clear, gunshots exploded in Chris's ears as Buck appeared to be repeatedly firing at the creature's body.
"Jesus!" Vin's reaction upon seeing the thing mirrored Chris's own thoughts perfectly.
Buck unleashed a barrage of gunfire at Polidori, allowing JD to get clear. Still, it was evident bullets weren't going to be enough and Buck's six-shooter, didn't have nearly enough shells to stop the creature/Polidori permanently. If anything, the bullets seemed to enrage Polidori, and the bellow of fury that escaped the mouth full of serrated teeth, visible through the mass of tentacles making up his face revealed his intent to tear the ladies man apart.
"Surround that goddamn thing!" Chris shouted to Vin and the others as he started firing at the creature's back, distracting it from Buck whose gun was empty if the look of panic Chris saw on his face was any indication. He didn't have to give the order twice as he saw Vin, Nathan and Josiah fanning out. Chris squeezed off several rounds, trying to find someplace vital to hit, though where it could be on this obscene body was anyone's guess.
Polidori swung around, forgetting Buck for the moment upon hearing Chris issuing order and as it regarded the gunslinger, Chris saw that one of its eyes was still bloody and ruined. Seeing Chris, made it grow madder and it moved across the stone slab with legs that looked like it belonged to a swamp gator. What the hell was it? Chris wondered but had no time to ponder the question when those massive tentacles reached for him. Chris ducked behind a column to avoid being grabbed. He barely avoided the creature's grip and saw at the corner of his eyes, Vin raising his mare's leg to fire.
The rifle made a loud boom inside the close quarters of the room, striking Polidori on the side. Still, with the thick tentacles protecting his elongated body, it was difficult to know whether anything vital had been hit. Upon seeing Vin, Polidori hesitated and Chris watched the creature suddenly become aware it was surrounded by seven lawmen. Polidori probably had not anticipated Cassandra’s betrayal leading them to his lair when he retreated. Now he was here, he realised he was in real danger of dying.
Suddenly Chris knew precisely what Polidori was going to do.
"He's gonna run!" Chris warned.
Sure enough, Polidori was moving towards the opening they had just used to enter this strange place, and Chris knew there was no way in hell he was going to let the soul eater escape. Running out of his hiding place, Chris started shooting, noticing Vin doing the same on the opposite side of Polidori's massive flank, providing the continuous fire needed to drive the creature back. Meanwhile, Buck had reloaded and was doing the same from the rear. Even though it looked as if Polidori was reacting to the gunfire like an elephant warding off flies, they saw multiple wounds appear across his slimy skin.
Dark blood spurted across the stone floor and across the walls as Polidori's efforts to escape grew more violent. He swatted aside Vin, despite the deadly shots the tracker fired in his direction. Vin slammed into a column, the mare's leg falling from his grip at the hard collision. Polidori wasted no time coiling a slithery appendage around his ankle and hoisting him off the ground while the tracker was dazed.
Meanwhile, Nathan, who had been circling the room, trying to find a good spot to create the ring of gunfire Chris demanded, sighted something in the corner making him forget all about Polidori. Keeping his head down to avoid the stray fire crisscrossing the room, Nathan was poised to jump in and help Vin, when something caught his attention and made him turn. Safely tucked away on a divan far enough away from the violence taking place around her, was Alexandra Styles.
Nathan hurried to her and saw that she was still clad in her underthings and unconscious. The healer couldn't imagine it was from the chloroform Josiah had clumsily administered to her and wondered if Polidori had done this to her. Why was he keeping her unconscious like this? It took a second for Nathan to understand why. From what Mary had told him, Alex had only one thing when she was under Polidori's spell. Vin. With Polidori needed to deal with the Seven, keeping her subdued like this was the only way to stop Alex from seeking out Vin.
Whatever the reason, it didn't matter. Nathan had to get her out of here.
Holstering his gun, he slid his arms beneath Alex's body and lifted her up, thinking once again how much like Becky she was. Becky had saved him this night by reminding him a person's pain helped define them, help them overcome obstacles to be more. If not for Becky's loss, he would never have possessed the rage to leave the plantation, or keep running even when his feet were bleeding and raw. Her dreams made him want to live for her, and tonight, she reminded him that without his anguish at her loss, he would still be Polidori's creature.
Pressing his lips gently against Alex's forehead, he made her a brother's promise. The same one he would have done for Becky if she were here.
"I'm taking you home Miss Alex, I'm taking you home."
***********
When Chris Larabee saw Polidori go after Vin, he came to the conclusion this had gone far enough.
Polidori's use of the people they cared about had protected him, but in this place, he had no power over them. Chris wasn't sure whether or not Polidori's minions would come through the portal, but he didn't care. Polidori wasn't going to be around long enough to hurt anyone else. Searching the room after he'd exhausted the bullets in the chamber of his gun, Chris retreated behind one of the pillars to reload, when he conducted a quick survey of the room and spotted something that gave him the idea for a plan.
Meanwhile, Ezra skidded to the floor where Vin's rifle had fallen, sweeping it up in his hands with his gambler's reflexes before rolling onto his knees. Raising the barrel of the gun, he fired every round he could, into the soft meat of the tentacle waving Vin about like a rag doll. Fresh wounds appeared across the slick skin, splattering the floor and pillars with black blood. Polidori uttered another outraged below of pain and dropped Vin roughly to the ground.
The tracker hit the stone slab but recovered enough to scramble away. Vin looked up to see Polidori going after Ezra and cursed because he could do nothing to stop it since he'd lost his blade and gun. Fortunately, Josiah and JD were there to give him cover as he got clear. Taking refuge behind one of the columns, Vin searched the room and saw Chris collecting bottles of liquor resting on one of the tables against the wall. Keeping his head down, he hurried to the gunslinger who looked like he had a plan.
As Vin made his escape, Ezra dove behind a heavy wooden bench to avoid another large appendage flung in his direction. Still maintaining his grip of Vin's mare's leg, he scrambled behind the heavy oak seat, fumbling with his reserve bullets to reload his own gun. The mare's leg was now empty and he had no shells for it. However, Polidori was not about to let him escape. Even with Josiah and JD shooting, the soul eater lifted the bench off the ground as if it were as light as a feather, and hurled it at him.
"EZRA!" Buck came out of nowhere and dragged the gambler to his feet, getting clear of the bench which would have killed him if Polidori's throw had reached its target. Both men ran out of the way, hiding behind another pillar, which was only a temporary refuge to their immediate problem.
"Thank you, Mr Wilmington," Ezra said breathlessly. "That was almost unfortunate."
"I think it's still unfortunate. Damn that son of a bitch is hard to put down!" Buck complained. "You got any more bullets left?"
Ezra checked his cache and shook his head even as he heard JD shouting he was out. Buck's eyes widened in anxiety, concern for the kid crossing his face but was just as helpless. "I have another dozen shells," Ezra answered as he continued to reload. "After that, we may have to resort to my rapier wit to cut him to the quick."
"Jesus Christ," Buck groaned. "We're going to die."
***********
"This really time for a drink?" Vin Tanner asked when he ran to Chris Larabee who was trying to shoot while collecting bottles from a liquor cabinet.
Polidori's sanctuary came complete with all the creature comforts for his sojourn here, including the bottles of alcohol stacked across the top of the piece of furniture that looked as if it were fashioned from oak. Chris snatched as many of them as he could carry, intending to use them to end this fight once and for all. However, he still had to keep shooting because the bastard was fighting hard to kill every last one of them.
"Very funny," he threw Vin a dark look and then demanded. "Where the hell is Nathan?" Chris had seen no sign of the healer since they stepped into this place.
"I don't know," Vin nodded, looking around the room and felt equally alarmed because he couldn't see Alex either. "I didn't see him, and I can't find Alex!"
"We can't search for either of them until we kill this thing," he looked at Polidori who was now fending off gunfire from Ezra and Josiah, as JD scrambled for cover to reload. Buck was on the other side of the floor, scanning the walls for a weapon. Polidori's treasure trove included ancient axes and maces, which would probably do minimal damage against the soul eater's true form.
"What you got in mind?" Vin asked, although seeing the bottles gave Vin a good idea of what Chris intended.
"How's your throwing arm?"
"I can throw well enough," the tracker looked at him.
"Good," Chris handed him a bottle of what appeared to be single-malt whiskey aged smooth and fine. Cursing under his breath for the sacrilege he was about to commit, he nodded at Vin who understood immediately what was required of him. "On the count of three. You know what to do after I shoot."
Vin nodded, grabbing the torch hanging off the pillar with his free hand before both men stepped out of their hiding place. The sound of gunfire was deafening as Josiah, JD and Ezra continued to shoot, and though they were wounding Polidori, they were nowhere close to killing him. Not if the way they were ducking and weaving to avoid those writhing tentacles, each one capable of snapping them in half if they were to fall within its clutches.
With the same unspoken language used the first time they'd met, Chris, nodded at Vin, and the tracker's mouth silently began the countdown as Chris prepared to shoot.
"One, two...THREE!"
Vin hurled the bottle through the air as Polidori turned sharply, aware that something else was happening. The glass bottle hurtled through the air, with Chris displaying the fast draw that made him one of the best gunslingers in the Territory. The bottle exploded in midair, spraying Polidori with spirit and glass. As Polidori recoiled in pain, Chris shouted. "NOW!"
Vin threw the torch at Polidori. The flames barely touched Polidori's enormous bulk before it ignited the liquid he had been covered with. A piercing cry left the soul eater's lips as the alcohol continued to burn and without giving him any time to douse the flames, Chris hurled another bottle. This one impacting against the side of Polidori's grotesque skull. The flames finding fresh fuel to burn immediately spread across the creature's flesh. Polidori continued to shriek, his arms flailing in desperation as another bottle struck him, and then another.
The creature Polidori was, screamed like a banshee. No longer attempting to lash out at the enemy invading his private fortress, tentacles flailed about like a drowning man trying to find something to cling to before he went under completely. The walls seemed to shake with his bellows, and as the flames continued to spread across his monstrous form, Chris watched the fire consume him wondering how many had died in the centuries this creature had been alive. How many people had Polidori tricked into trading their souls for hell? As the fire continued to burn, the shadowy reflections of the flame against the stone walls looked like the dance of demons worshipping their dark god.
And perhaps that's precisely what he was.
It didn’t sit well at all with Chris killing Polidori meant burning him alive, but when the soul eater continued to scream and flail in agony as the fire consumed him, the horror and guilt of what they had done could not be denied. This creature deserved no sympathy from them, but that didn’t matter, he ought to be put out of his misery, and oddly enough, it was Buck Wilmington who stepped up to perform the task.
With an axe that probably belonged to a Viking, Buck did not look at the others as he went to the writhing behemoth, avoiding the tentacles snapping wildly in all directions. He raised the weapon in his hands, not looking at Polidori’s face and brought it down on what passed for the soul eater’s neck. The single eye stared at him, perhaps understanding in the last second as it viewed him through a red veil of pain, this was not murder, but mercy.
The blade cut through the mass of tentacles on Polidori’s face, making them all go limp in an instant, before clanging hard against the stone floor. As his misshapen head tumbled away from his massive body, rolling away like tumbleweeds, black blood oozed across the stone floor, in a widening pool of sludge. A rancid odour filled the air, making Buck’s stomach heave and as the beast went still, Buck released the handle of the axe and let the weapon clattered to the ground as he stumbled away.
"You okay Buck?" JD came up to him, heaving in disgust at the sight of Polidori's dead body but not enough for him to ignore the ashen look on Buck's face, who had spare them the horror of having to end Polidori.
"I think I'm going to be sick," Buck turned away, his insides churning like the rapids of the Rio Grande and knew he might just puke. He wiped his mouth with the back of his forearm as if doing so would take away the awful taste of bile creeping up his throat.
"Come on," JD led him away from Polidori, convinced Buck had been put through enough tonight. In the last day, Buck had been feasted on by the soul eater's minions, made to act against his will and now committing the brutal act to end Polidori's reign of terror.
"This ain't done," Josiah reminded them.
"No, it ain't," Chris agreed, thinking about what William Styles said in his journal. So far, the late doctor had been correct in the myths of the mai!ci creature. They had followed it to its lair and killed the beast, the way those ancient warriors had done to save their village. Now to restore the souls of his victims, there would be on last act of butchery to perform.
Before he could finish the sentence, Vin was already closing in on Polidori's corpse, still burning in place. The spread of blood had yet to reach the lower half of his body, for which Vin was grateful. Scouring the area the same way Buck had done, Vin found a dagger with an ornate hilt, encrusted with jewels he was sure were diamonds and rubies. Vin cared little for that, only paying attention to the length of the blade, which matched his own knife, still lying in the dirt somewhere in the Holland place. Making an approximate guess where Polidori's stomach was, Vin dropped to his knees and sucked in his breath, trying not to pay too close attention to the creature he was about to disembowel.
"Ezra, find Alex!" Chris spoke up since Vin was attending to the grisly task of dealing with Polidori's body.
"Gladly," Ezra said readily, in no mood to watch this butchery. He started to turn away when he heard Josiah rumble behind him.
"I'll help you, Nathan's somewhere in here too," he reminded. The room was large enough for them to miss seeing any other ways in or out, so it was conceivable their friends might be another room.
Vin gave Chris a look of gratitude when he realised the gunslinger was going nowhere. As always, Chris Larabee had his back, even now. Taking a deep breath, Vin braced himself, prepared to do this to free Alex and all the others, possibly even Nathan and Buck who might carry some essence of Polidori in their mind his violation. He thought of poor Sally Reacher who had thrown herself out of a window in front of him and knew he wanted no trace of the soul eater left in anyone of his friends.
Just like buffalo, he told himself, ignoring the stench of burning meat, or the sickly white pallor of the limbs not consumed by fire. Vin plunged the blade into Polidori's gut. The creature's flesh, much like its limbs were soft and slick, allowing the blade to penetrate all the way to the hilt. As Vin pulled back and began to cut deeper into the corpse, the fetid odour of stomach gases rose out of the open wound, choking the tracker with disgust.
"Jesus," he hissed, trying not to gag as he continued to cut, slicing through entrails until suddenly, he hit something hard. Something that didn't feel like bone. He raised his eyes to Chris and then released his grip of the knife, quickly removing his buckskins and handing it to the gunslinger.
"You found it?" Chris asked, not needing to clarify what.
"I think so," Vin nodded and rolled up his sleeve before he sucked in his breath and slid his fingers through the wound, oozing with dark blood, until his wrist disappeared from sight. A grimace crossed his face, and it contained all the revulsion he felt at this act as he searched through the slick of warm flesh. After a few seconds, he grasped something hard and smooth, something that didn't feel right in any living thing's body.
Withdrawing his hand covered in fluids, Vin held his breath and tried not to puke, as he turned his palm over to reveal, covered in black blood, a gemstone the size of small rock, gleaming with amber light.
Chris didn't speak, but both men knew this was what they needed to find. Handing the stone to Chris, who took it without hesitation, Vin gritted his teeth before diving in again to get the rest.
***********
Even though he didn't feel good about doing it, Nathan knew Vin would want him to get Alex away from Polidori as quickly as possible. As the others fought the soul eater who in his sanctuary was forced to reveal his true form, Nathan carried Alex towards the portal away from this surreal place that was akin to the Purgatory described in the Bible. As it was, he tried to wrap his mind around Sebastian Polidori's monstrous visage, beneath the facade he'd used to snare so many lives in servitude. Nathan was not about to let Alex suffer the same fate. If he could get her back into the world they knew, and leave her someplace safe, Nathan could come back and help the others.
Nearing the fissure that still didn't seem real even though it was hanging in mid-air, large as life in front of him, Nathan prayed it would take him back to the secluded clearing in the woods, well away from the circus.
The woman Salome, or rather Cassandra, as Josiah now called her, was awaiting their return. She hadn't wanted to follow them and admitted readily, Polidori seldom invited them into his inner sanctum. Nathan guessed the only reason Goliath was allowed was because the son of a bitch wanted Alex somewhere Vin could never reach her. Nevertheless, Cassandra had no desire to venture into her master's domain. Having some insight into the power Polidori wielded over the minds of those whose souls he'd taken, Nathan suspected Cassandra did not trust herself to fall under his sway should she get close to him again.
Her emotional connection to Josiah was too strong to allow her to take such a risk.
Nathan stepped through the portal and just like that, he was back in the world. Above him, the night sky was shrouded by thick grey clouds continuing to battle the ground with the pitter-patter of rain. The wind whistled through the trees, creating an odd symphony with the orchestral accompaniment of rustling leaves. Unfortunately, the surge of relief he felt at leaving the strange realm Polidori occupied was short-lived.
Cassandra was on her hands and knees, her fingers digging into the mud while her harem pants were smeared with it. Clutching her by the hair was one of the carnies, the magician who called himself the Great Bandini. He looked nothing like the dapper illusionist as he stood over Cassandra, his dark eyes oozing black oil across his pale cheeks, while his teeth were bared in menace. Surrounding them in the clearing, were what remained of the Polidori Circus. While Darvell was absent, there were still enough of these ghouls to ensure Nathan was escaping nowhere with Alex.
At the sight of him, Cassandra raised her eyes to his in apology. "I'm sorry, I couldn't warn you!"
"Shut up you traitorous bitch!" Madame Esmerelda stalked over to her and struck Cassandra's head in fury. The woman like the rest of the carnival folk looked nothing like the exotic Romany woman who told your future by reading your palm and studying tea leaves. Like the rest of the carnies, she wore her monstrous mask, glaring at Cassandra with disdain.
"We ought to kill you now, but the master will want to deal with you himself!"
Nathan slowly lowered Alex to the ground, aware that the unconscious doctor was safe at least. Polidori wanted Alex alive, and so he doubted they would hurt her. Their inability to strike while Alex was in his reach, allowed Nathan to reach for his gun.
"You best let us through," Nathan eyed Esmerelda directly since she appeared to be the leader of this band. "Your master ain't long for this world and if you harm us, neither will you."
His words had the effect of igniting a powderkeg. The group immediately broke into snarls and curses of outrage, barely straddling the divide between savagery and their dwindling humanity. Glaring at him with hatred, a few of them sprang into action, and Nathan wasted no time firing. The crack of a single gunshot froze the others in their steps. A worker who helped with the rigging tumbled to the ground. Blood was oozing from the bullet wound to his forehead, ending the threat of him once and for all.
"I ain't going to repeat it," Nathan warned, cocking the gun a second time to fire.
"Or what?" Esmerelda stepped forward once more, not about to be cowed. "You are just one, and we are many. You may kill some of us, but not enough to keep us from ripping you apart and taking her," Esmerelda glanced at Alex, "to our master for his amusement."
She was right, and Nathan knew it. If these demons decided to rush him, there was little he could do to keep them from killing him, Cassandra and spiriting Alex away for good.
***********
"I think there's one more left."
So far Chris held three stones in his hand. The gems were no bigger than a pebble, glowing with amber light as they sat in his palm covered with black blood and other slimy things he would never get off his skin, even if he scrubbed for a year. Maita stones, Chris thought, that's what William Styles said they were in his journal, Maita stones. All of them had to be removed from Polidori if his victims were to be freed.
The corpse which looked so fearsome before, looked no less gruesome in death, especially with the crown of dark blood spreading across the place where its skull had been. Polidori's head had come to a roll a few feet away, unable to travel further because the lifeless tangle of appendages that made up its face, kept it from doing so. Chris tried not to look at it because even now, he still couldn't believe how something like Polidori could exist, or how this place could be real.
"What kind of stones are those?" Buck asked as he approached Chris and Vin, with JD at his side.
"Christ knows," Chris shook his head as he saw Ezra and Josiah stepping into view, having conducted their search of the places and judging by their expressions, found neither, Nathan nor Alex.
"Maita stones," JD pointed out. "That's what they are, aren't they? Maita stones. Doctor Styles's pa said we have to get them all to free everyone."
"I hope it's soon," Buck looked distastefully at what Vin was doing, "I want to get out of here."
Vin was so green with revulsion as he continued to feel around through Polidori's innards, his eyes were closed to avoid looking at the corpse as he further violated it in search of the stones. To free everyone caught in the soul eater's thrall, including Alex, Vin had to retrieve each one. At this moment, his mind was so sick with disgust, he didn't even register Josiah and Ezra returning without any luck finding her.
"No sign of them," Josiah replied as he and Chris returned to the scene of Polidori's dead body. "This place is just this room. There aren't even doors or windows."
"Is it possible Nathan might have located Alexandra and chose to remove her?" Ezra suggested. He knew the healer would never abandon them unless there was a compelling reason. The only time Nathan left them was when there was someone hurt or in need.
"If he found her," Buck nodded, "hell yeah."
"This is it!" Vin gasped, obviously holding his breath to avoid smelling the rank odour from this grisly task. "I think its the last one!"
Vin grasped it and as he pulled it out of Polidori's flesh, noted some resistance. Putting his strength into it, it appeared the final piece refused to yield easily, like a child clinging to its mother before they were torn away for good. Vin knew that feeling. Jaw tensing, he yanked out the stone with such force, he felt back on his rear at the effort.
The instant he did, a loud groan was heard as if the universe itself was heaving a sigh of relief.
"What the hell...?" Buck started to say as Vin scrambled back from the dead body, still unaware of what was happening around him. Dropping the stone on the floor next to him, he tugged at the scarf at his neck, wanting to clean the blood of his hands.
Suddenly, the world around them began to dissolve. One minute the lawmen were standing in the ancient room of treasures and the next thing they knew, the walls had become translucent.
Chris looked up to see that expanse of stars beyond the skylight vanish before it too faded into nothingness. In its place, were grey clouds, pregnant with rain. Brisk cold air invigorated his lungs after the reek of Polidori's corpse, and when Chris looked down, saw the soul eater disappear as well. Only the stones remained, but their light was dimming fast, taking the world with them as they turned dark.
The walls of the room thinned, becoming translucent and surrounding them once more was the clearing where they found the crimson portal and entered Polidori's strange realm. Except now, the clearing wasn't secluded or empty, Nathan was there, along with Alex and Cassandra. The healer appeared to be facing off the circus folk surrounding him. It was a sight enough to snap the rest of the seven out of their shock into full alertness at one of their number being threatened.
"What...?" Nathan stared at them in astonishment before he faced front again and saw the carnies similarly anxious by the appearance of the lawmen out of thin air.
Suddenly Alex sat up with a gasp, appearing as if she had just woken up from a nightmare. Panting hard, she looked disorientated and scared.
"What's happening?" She managed to croak as she took stock of her surroundings.
Her voice had Vin scrambling across the ground towards her in a second. "Alex!"
"Vin," Alex blinked as she saw him coming towards her. "What's happening? How did I get here?"
Vin didn't answer, so grateful to have her back in her right mind it seemed, he embraced her hard. Despite her confusion, Alex returned the embrace, thankful that whatever dark dream she had been having was fading from her mind.
Chris glanced at the stones in his hand and saw their light almost wholly fading away, understanding in those few seconds, their power could not survive the removal from Polidori's body. Now that it was waning, it was taking everything Polidori had created with it. The portal he had created to enter his realm, the effect he had on Alex and as Chris turned his attention to the carnival folk, realised the fallout would not be limited to the situation Polidori had created, but to the creatures he spawned.
Josiah saw Cassandra on her knees and immediately took steps towards her when the lady herself stood up from the ground. The others no longer made any attempt to restrain her. Cassandra had lifted her hands to her face, seeing the skin starting to flake off like she was a column of ash about to be blown away from the wind. It wasn't just her, Josiah realised, it was all of them. Whatever immortality granted to them by Polidori, could not survive his death and as Josiah’s eyes shifted to Cassandra, he realised at that instant, she known this was the outcome of her assistance to him. That in ridding the world of the soul eater, she would be ending her long existence as well.
"Cassandra..." He started to say.
She touched his cheek even as her hands started to turn to dust, drifting away in flecks of ash with the wind and the rain. There was no fear in her eyes, just the acceptance and sadness at it all coming to an end. Josiah reached for her hand and noticed her skin felt like old paper crumbling apart, his heart aching because he had so wanted to save her, to have her remain in his life. Now he knew, it was never going to be. In seconds, it would be gone. Her fate was sealed the moment she made her bargain with Polidori.
"It's alright, Josiah," she managed to smile as her lovely face lost its lustre and began to disintegrate in front of him. Still, even as she started to fade, Josiah saw the affection in her eyes. "I'm free now, free to see what comes next. I'm just sorry I couldn't save Anna, but I'm glad I could help you put an end to this. Thank you for helping me remember who I was Josiah, and thank you for being my friend."
"I will always be your friend Cassandra," Josiah returned, his voice full of sadness and hidden anguish. "Go to God now, he's waiting for you."
She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came, and she blew away with the wind, vanishing in a swirl of dust as if she had never been.
The others did not go as quietly. Once they realised what was happening, some attempted to flee, but there was no real place for them to run really. A few made it as far as the trees before they disintegrated into nothingness. As the sun began to peek over the horizon dispelling the rain clouds, their last sunrise came upon them without notice. One or two fo the carnies, like Esmerelda intended their final act to be one of murder and JD stood back as he saw the fortune-teller rushing at him, hoping to tear him apart before the inevitable.
"JD...!" Buck called out, but there was no need.
Esmerelda disappeared before she ever reached JD.
"Dear God," Ezra exclaimed, his gaze moved slowly across the clearing, watching the carnival folk crumble into nothingness, one by one.
Dawn's approach broke the back of the foreboding night, dispelling the fading remnants of Polidori's minions and the dark events gripping Four Corners since the sun had set yesterday. It almost felt symbolic. As the torrential downpour became a light rain, no one could speak for a few seconds, as what took place in the last few minutes settled over their consciousness.
"Chris," Vin called out. "Give me my coat, will you, Pard?"
Chris strode immediately to Vin, who was kneeling down in front of Alex on the wet ground. She was shivering from the cold since her undergarments were soaked after her ordeal as Polidori's prize. She was understandably confused and still a little dazed. The gunslinger didn't relish telling her what had transpired when she was in the right mind to ask the question.
"Here," Chris handed Vin the buckskin coat he had been hanging onto because Vin didn't want it stained when he cut the stones out of Polidori's corpse.
"Thanks," Vin said appreciatively and turned back to Alex. "Come on Darlin," he draped the heavy coat over her shoulders. "Let's get you home."
Alex met his eyes and nodded, still bewildered by how she had come to be in her present circumstances but decided it could wait until she was home and dry.
Chris saw Josiah, still staring at the spot where Cassandra had been and saw the sadness in his eyes. The gunslinger wished he had the words to make Josiah's grief less, but he was never good at comfort. In their group, it was Josiah who played that part for them. Fortunately, it appeared Nathan was more than capable in his place.
"Josiah, I'm sorry," Nathan touched the preacher's shoulder in comfort. "If it wasn't for her, we would never have been able to kill Polidori or get Miss Alex back."
"Thanks," Josiah tossed a grateful look at Nathan for his efforts, even if it did little to take away his pain. "I think she'll be in a better place. She redeemed herself at the end, got back the pieces of her soul Polidori took from her."
"I hope so," Nathan nodded, aware they'd never really know.
It didn't matter to Josiah if it remained a mystery. In those last seconds, he'd seen the peace in her eyes and knew it was enough.
“Mr Sanchez!”
The familiar voice calling out to Josiah as he made his way to the Standish Tavern for breakfast, halted the former preacher in his tracks. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Bernadette Freeman waving at him further along the boardwalk, and immediately broke into a little smile of greeting. Retreating a few steps the way he’d gone, he was soon standing at the doorway to her bakery, taking in the aroma of freshly baked bread and pie that was as pleasing a scent as any could be. It immediately evoked memories of family breakfasts around the table when his mother was still alive, and life with the Reverend was not so rigid.
“How are you this morning Bernie,” he tipped his hat at her.
“Quite fine,” she beamed, a picture of sunshine and warmth. “I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be sending Jimmy over the jailhouse with some pies for supper this evening. Enough for all you boys.”
“That’s really not necessary,” Josiah pointed out, aware her efforts to feed them all week was due to her guilt over her behaviour due to Polidori’s influence over her and the rest of the town the week before.
Except for Alex, who remembered nothing after she opened the door to Polidori, the rest of the town was projecting a remarkable amount of goodwill towards the Seven after their efforts to break into the clinic at the soul eater’s command. It was not lost upon them the Seven could have very easily drawn their guns and put down the unrest during that bit of mania, but chose instead to avoid the confrontation to prevent anyone from getting hurt. To say nothing of the lawmen’s timely arrival when Polidori revealed his ultimate fate for the flock of Four Corners, gathered under the big top.
“It is until I say so,” Bernie said firmly, refusing to accept any refusal on his part. “You and your friends saved us, Mr Sanchez. No one is forgetting that.”
“I wouldn’t argue with her” Jimmy Freeman grinned, stepping out from behind his wife. While Jimmy had not been affected by Polidori’s powers, the man was still grateful to get his wife back in one piece. He had come by two days ago to spend a whole day at the church fixing up some of the old pews with a more expert touch. “I’ve given up trying.”
“Get back to work you,” Bernie nudged her husband in the stomach playfully. “Jimmy will be by this evening.”
Josiah sighed and decided to yield to the superior force that was a woman’s determined mind.
Continuing on his way after he bade the couple goodbye for now, Josiah continued to the Standish saloon. He was glad to see the pulse of the town was beating normally after the strange events of the past week. Everyone seemed aware of their unusual behaviour and were somewhat contrite about it, but no one really wanted to speak to its cause. Considering how personally some of them were affected, Josiah couldn’t blame them. Polidori had tapped into their deepest fears and desires, using it to exploit them and turn them into his creatures. While no one wanted to speak about the monstrous beings the carnies had become, they were all grateful that did not become their fate.
As he glanced across the street, he saw Mrs O’Leary looking somewhat surprised by the bouquet of flowers being handed to her by Virgil Watson. The woman stared at the collection of wildflowers with some suspicion. While Josiah wasn’t sure what was said, he guessed by the expression on Virgil’s face, he was making an impassioned apology to the woman for taking to her with a broom handle. Mrs O’Leary’s response was to storm off in a huff, the flowers still in her hand with Virgil breaking into a grin at the understanding that things were status quo between them, being the pause on the battlefield before the bombardment of cannon fire.
“Hey, Josiah!” JD Dunne called out as he trotted past on his horse, with Casey Wells on her own mount beside him. The two looked like they were preparing to ride out for the day and on the back of her saddle, Josiah sighted a basket attached, no doubt with a nice lunch packed, courtesy of one Inez Recillos.
“Hey JD,” Josiah drifted to the edge of the boardwalk as JD brought his mount to a stop. “Big day planned?”
“Yeah,” Casey answered with a radiant smile, “we’re going for a ride and then a picnic by the creek.”
Glancing at the sky, the sun showed its approval of this plan by the glorious day it promised. There were no signs of the heavy storms that had come and gone a week before and the few clouds there were in the sky, only made the blue canvas behind it more vibrant. It was the perfect day to be enjoyed by two young people very much in love.
“Good day for it,” Josiah nodded, squinting the sun out of his eyes.
“Josiah, let Buck know I’ll be back later today will ya?” JD asked. “I ain’t seen him since last night.”
“Well he was feeling better,” Josiah reminded, and both men rolled their eyes, perfectly aware of what that meant.
Nathan kept Buck in bed convalescing after his encounter with Polidori and his ilk, which annoyed the ladies man to no end. Bed was nowhere to spend time alone, he’d complained and the instant he’d been let out of Nathan’s care, Buck had gone in search for female company. Last seen, he was making eyes with one of the new saloon girls, and it was anyone’s guess when he’d come up for air.
“Anyway,” Josiah decided not to delay the couple any further, “you two have a good time.”
“We will Josiah,” JD replied and then added, almost as an afterthought. “As much of it as we can get.”
Both men exchanged a glance and Josiah knew even though Madame Esmerelda and her poisonous words were dust in the wind, their effect on JD had not diminished. Although he was no longer as troubled by it as he was previously. Immortality had a price, and he would rather have all the time he could get with Casey, no matter what the future held. It didn’t matter whether or not someday, tragedy awaited for them like a tiger in the dark, JD intended to cherish every second before that moment.
“Amen to that,” Josiah said as their horses got moving again, taking the beaten track out of town.
He was still watching them when he heard Mary Travis’s distinct voice behind. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the lady herself emerging from the doors of the Clarion News, with Chris Larabee and Ezra Standish a step back.
“And they all got off safely?”
“Better than my wardrobe,” Ezra who as dusting off his burgundy coat of some offending bit of dirt, remarked dryly. “I still say we should have sold them to the dubiously named Mr Yankee Robinson. At least, we could have come out of this entire affair with some decent coin.”
“How could you say such a thing!” Mary gasped, her horror at that suggestion evident and Josiah tried not to snigger seeing the hand that flew immediately to Chris’s face, rubbing the bridge of his nose indicating a headache was on its way. “These are wild animals who have been forced to perform tricks and cages all their lives. While I admit, we cannot release them into the wild, we ought to give some consideration to their quality of life! That is certainly not being condemned to jump through hoops for paying audiences.”
Chris wisely opted not to mention they were part of the ‘paying audience’ when they took Billy to the circus when it opened.
“Mea Culpa!” Ezra threw up his hands in surrender, not about to incur the wrath of the Clarion’s Editor in Chief when she embarked on one of her self-righteous crusades. “I retract the statement. The New York Zoo is definitely the best place for them to be.”
Catching sight of Josiah, Ezra took the opportunity to change the subject before this went on any further. “Oh hello, Josiah.”
“Ezra, Chris, Mary” Josiah greeted in quick succession. “The animals got off safely at Eagle Bend?”
“Yeah,” Chris nodded. “Put them on the train last night.”
With Polidori and the carnival folk gone for good, the circus left behind was up to the Seven to deal with. Mary suggested the empty caravans be used as temporary housing when they needed it, and the wagons and belongings sold with the proceeds donated to the town coffers. The animals left behind, of course were another matter. While they were able to free some of the creatures into the wild, the larger beasts, particularly the big cats and elephants needed better settlement. After making some inquiries using Steven Travis’s old contacts, Mary was able to secure a permanent home for the animals in one of the zoos in New York.
“That’s it then,” Josiah sighed. “It’s over.”
“Nothing is ever over Josiah,” Chris ran his steely gaze across the town and considering themselves lucky because they had the tools to stop Polidori before his dark intentions for Four Corners ruined them all.
He thought about how long that creature had been wandering across the Earth, how many other towns without the benefit of William Styles’s journal had burned. At the time, he hadn’t felt right about defeating Polidori with fire. Still, upon reading the diaries and journals left behind by the circus folk, this was precisely what Polidori had done to the communities who hadn’t cooperated, how many had burned. If there was one thing Chris hated more than any other it was a fire.
No, Chris’s guilt was showing diminishing returns with each passing day.
Once again, Josiah thought about Cassandra and hoped Chris was right, that for her, it wasn’t over and she existed somewhere in the afterlife, experiencing the only worthwhile immortality one ought to have, instead of the one she damned herself to gain.
“No,” he agreed, “nothing is.”
***********
During Randall Mason’s machinations in Four Corners, part of his plan to spirit Alexandra Styles from her friends and the man she loved, involved handing Vin Tanner over to bounty hunters who would take him to Tascosa to hang. The plot took place mere hours after Alex realised just how much she loved Vin, so much so the idea of him being dead was unimaginable. Without thinking twice, having discarded every ounce of rational thought she possessed, Alex stole a horse and went riding after him, determined to save Vin from such a terrible fate.
She rode half the night to find him and only blind luck allowed her to rescue the tracker without getting herself killed or worse.
Three months later, with the benefit of hindsight and time, the entire affair was a source of much amusement to her friends and the rest of the Seven. Until that point, Alex cultivated the reputation of being a reasonably sensible sort, who would never resort to such emotional displays. Realising she was just as susceptible of landing herself in trouble the same as Mary and Inez, the men, in particular, enjoyed themselves much at her expense and Alex had to put up with a lot of good-natured teasing for weeks after. While she did not regret anything she did, her emotions being exposed to all, left her somewhat embarrassed and when the ribbing ceased, Alex was grateful.
Until now.
Alex glared at Vin through narrowed eyes as they walked through the winding path of the Indian village, fighting the urge to wipe that stupid smirk off his face.
“I thought I’d better bring you with me today,” Vin said with a perfectly straight face, even though his eyes said differently. “Can’t tell what you might do when you’re crazy out of your head missing me. I mean, you were willing to sell your soul so we can be together, I don’t know what you might do if I was gone for too long.”
“I don’t remember any of that,” she bristled, swatting him on the arm. “And that...was whatever Polidori used on me, talking. Don’t flatter yourself.”
“You mean you don’t remember standing half-naked in your kitchen, trying to do me in front of everybody? I don’t think anyone is gonna forget that anytime soon.”
“Oh God,” Alex groaned, her cheeks burning red through her dark colouring. “You are just loving this, aren’t you?”
Vin laughed, “just a little. I didn’t know I had Buck’s animal magnetism.”
Alex rolled her eyes, smouldering with annoyance, especially when Buck Wilmington’s name was brought up. “You know what that idiot said to me yesterday morning?”
Vin did, but it felt too good to hear her say it nonetheless. “What?”
“Nice to see you dressed today, Alex!” Alex burst out, drawing the gazes of the villagers who looked over their shoulders at her outburst as they reached the heart of the community.
Vin laughed out loud, unable to hold it and received an elbow in the stomach for his trouble. “You better be nice to me, since you can’t live without me and all.”
Alex was about to tell Vin what he could go do with himself when she saw the affection in his eyes and remembered why they were here today. Having read her father’s journal and understanding what it was the Seven had fought to save her and the lives of everyone in town, she supposed a little embarrassment was worth it for him to know just how much she loved him. Tugging at his coat, she drew Vin to her and pressed her lips to his, in a deep searching kiss.
“I love you, Cowboy,” she said quietly, “even if you are an idiot.”
“I’m your idiot,” he pointed out and kissed her back.
“That’s true,” Alex smiled at him and was about to say something more when she saw Nathan stepping out of one of the mud huts.
“Vin! Miss Alex!” Nathan exclaimed, surprised to see them both here. The healer was checking on these folks as usual since not all the men in the village were eager to have a woman examine them for any illnesses they might be suffering. Just as Alex offered her medical services to the women of the village, Nathan did the same for the men, and between the two of them, they ensured the health of the community was maintained.
“What are you two doing here?” He asked as he stepped out of the hut he was using as a temporary infirmary during his time in the village.
“Well I came to see the Chief,” Vin gestured to the top of the hill. “Got some things to talk about.”
Nathan nodded, having been present when the Seven discussed the matter the night before.
“What about you, Miss Alex?”
“Actually Nathan, I came to see you,” Alex replied, having insisted Vin bringing her when she learned Nathan was here today. She’d wanted to catch up with him since this whole business with Polidori began and today seemed like a good a chance as any. Meeting Vin’s gaze, the tracker nodded, aware she wished to have this talk with Nathan privately and stepped away from them both.
“I’ll come find you later,” Vin said gesturing to the hill where Kojay could be found. “Try not to wilt away without me.”
“Will you just go!” Alex groaned exasperated and saw Vin exchanging a look of schoolboy mischief with Nathan as he drew away
Shaking her head, she drifted away to the little creek where the village got its water and waited for Nathan to join her.
“What is it...?”
Before he could finish the sentence, Alex hugged him tightly. Nathan’s reaction was one of surprise, but he hugged her back nevertheless, and they stood there for a second, holding each other before she pulled away and stared at him.
“You know I love you, don’t you?”
“I know,” Nathan dropped his gaze to his feet, emotion filling him at that admission.
Their bond had gone from strength to strength ever since she put him back together after an old enemy of Chris Larabee almost killed him. While the affection between was different from hot, burning passion Alex felt for Vin or the yearning Nathan had for Rain, it was still deep, and in each other, they filled a void left unoccupied for too long. To Nathan, knowing Alex made him feel like he still had a small part of Becky in his life. While Alex had often said he reminded her so much of William Styles, he felt like family.
“Good,” Alex said, putting her arm on his shoulder and making him look up at her. “Because I never ever want you to think you’re not needed here. For starters, that’s rubbish. To this town, you’re their doctor, not me. To say nothing about what you mean to Chris, Vin, Buck, Josiah, Ezra and JD. You’re apart of them, and lastly, because I need you. I will never feel differently. When I thought I was alone in the world, you were my family Nathan, I’ll never forget that.”
Nathan didn’t know what to say, so he did the only thing he could. He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. The healer tried to hide how affected he was by her words, but simply couldn’t. Just like Becky, Alex could draw it out of him whether he liked it or not. In the end, all Nathan could do was take her hand and answer just as sincerely.
“I won’t, Miss Alex,” he said with a little smile. “I promise.”
Because it was the truth, they were family.
***********
Vin cast a glance over his shoulder and saw Nathan and Alex giving each other a hug and was glad to see the affection between them. Next to him, Vin knew Nathan was the person Alex cared most about. Even though it was Polidori who made Nathan turn on them for a time, Vin knew what Nathan had said to them about not being needed preying heavily on her mind. He was pleased to see the two healers were able to talk it out and set a few things straight between them, in case there was any confusion.
Leaving them to it, Vin made his way up the hill where Kojay liked to sit and take in the day. The sunshine and blue skies promised a good day, and Vin could understand why the old Chief wanted to sit up here. It gave him an unobstructed view of the terrain around the village, and it was awful pretty too.
“*Marʉ́awe, Kojay,” Vin greeted as he joined the man, taking a seat on the rock near the Chief’s favourite perch.
“Marʉ́awe, Tanner,” the Chief offered him a quick glance before facing front again. “What brings you here today?”
“Got a favour to ask of you,” Vin replied, thinking Kojay looked like he had grown out of the rocks, like the rest of the boulders and stones on the hill. His expression always showed little of what was happening behind his eyes, which Vin suspected was a lot more than most people knew.
“A favour?” Kojay raised a brow, liking this young man who stood between two worlds and felt apart of neither. Fortunately, he had found a tribe of his own, comprised of men who were just as disaffected as he. “I have nothing you could want,” Kojay spoke with the barest hint of a smile.
Vin laughed before his expression sobered and remembered the business at hand was important.
“We ran into something that wasn’t of this world,” he replied and went on to explain taken place in Four Corners when the Polidori Circus came to town. Vin presented Kojay with an unvarnished truth of what Polidori was and knew the Chief understood these things, for he was a spiritual sort who looked past the surface into the many layers making up the world.
“There are legends,” Kojay explained when Vin was done, showing no disbelief after Vin’s dark tale. “That the whole of creation is layers upon layers of many worlds upon each other and sometimes, in between these spaces are dark realms where the unholy reside and find soft places to escape and plague us. Perhaps you have met one such creature.”
“Could be,” Vin agreed. “But we ain’t sure, and in case, he might have some power over folk in town, we figured it was best we kept these as far away from Four Corners as we can.” Vin reached into his coat and retrieved a small leather pouch, before handing it to Kojay.
The old man took the pouch, loosening the drawstring holding it close to look inside. He raised a brow at the stones and regarded Vin. “You wish me to keep these?”
“Yeah,” Vin nodded. “They ought never to be with people who don’t know what they are. My people will try to forget, yours won’t.”
Kojay could not argue with that. The White Man’s God made him believe everything else was false, and so he did not fear what he should.
“We will keep them safe and hidden for you,” Kojay said after a moment.
“Thank you,” Vin said gratefully, before staring at the landscape in the distance.
It was going to be a beautiful day.