Tell slept like the dead. And he woke to Dochi curled at the end of his bed, snoring loud as thunder. He nudged the imp, but Dochi didn’t so much as twitch. Tell sat up, then rubbed his hand over his face. The pain in his ribs was down to a few twinges. Sleep was what he’d needed to heal.
Not that he’d admit to Sylvie that she was right about it.
He rose and threw the blankets over Dochi’s head. It was tempting to roll up the ugly little creature, wrap a few chains around the bundle and find a river to toss the creep in. That would probably prompt a visit from his father and he didn’t need that. Not today.
He studied himself in the mirror, pleased that the black circles beneath his eyes were almost nonexistent. The man the ladies in the saloon loved to look at was almost back to normal. A scruff of beard roughened his face. It matched the way his hair stood on end. The resident nut was in-house and ready for another day of keeping the madness of Berner away from the humans.
Dochi continued snoring while Tell shaved and washed his face. He wiped water from his chin and dropped the hand towel on the floor. As he turned, he caught a flicker from the corner of his eye. He spun to look behind him, but nothing was there. Not in sight, anyhow.
He reached for the knife on his belt and faced the mirror again. The image staring at him wasn’t his normal reflection.
Tell staggered back, stunned when it imitated his movements. The snarling face was a twisted version of his features. Jagged teeth protruded from the thin-lipped mouth. His eyes were completely red with only a thin black sliver of pupil shining through. A hunched back made him seem bigger. A row of horny bumps rose above his hairless brow. But beneath all that, he recognized the shape of his face.
Tell threw his hand out and struck the mirror. It shattered into a silvery rain. His knees failed and he sagged against the wooden bathtub. His heart pounded. Blood sprang up from cuts on his knuckles.
Dochi scrambled off the bed and knelt at Tell’s knee. “O honorable young master, have you injured yourself?”
“It’s nothing.” His voice sounded haggard. “Just an accident.”
“I will clean it up for you.” Dochi waved his paw and the shards spun into the air where they glittered like oversized diamonds. He nodded his pointy head and the glass flew back into place. The mirror looked brand new.
“Impressive.” It rubbed him wrong to give the imp any kind of praise, but that was a neat trick.
Tell forced himself to his feet. The thing in the mirror wasn’t real and therefore was incapable of hurting him. He’d slept hard, but it was probably the remains of a nightmare. Nothing more than a figment of his tired mind.
He dabbed at his knuckles with the towel he’d dropped before. “You hungry?”
“Fish?” Dochi asked hopefully.
Knowing demons, Dochi likely wanted it raw too. “Not for breakfast. Hell, it is morning, isn’t it?”
“Quite early, O magnificent—”
“Stop. Enough with the fawning. It’s disgusting and irritating. I can’t have both after what I just saw. One or the other, but not both.” He left the bathing area and wrinkled his nose at the molding heel of bread on the table. “Bachelor living.”
Dochi licked his lips. “Bread is good.”
Tell shook his head. “When it isn’t left over from last week. You’re not eating it. You’ll get a stomachache and I’m not cleaning up after you.”
“But Dochi is hungry.” The imp attempted to widen his eyes and perked up his ears. He rubbed his protruding stomach with one paw and wagged his tail.
The world’s ugliest puppy, right here in Tell’s kitchen. Some days it didn’t pay to be a demon slayer. It would be easier to let Hell swallow him. “Stop it. That’s not cute. It’s terrifying. If you don’t quit, I swear to God I’m taking you back to the Gray Lands, Father’s orders be damned.”
Dochi’s ears drooped.
“Don’t look at me like that.” Tell tossed the bread at him. “Fine, you want it, have it.”
“Dochi wins.” The imp laughed.
Tell grimaced. The sound was the combination of nails on a chalkboard and a dying rabbit. “Christ, do me a favor and don’t ever laugh again. In fact, aren’t you supposed to be invisible and silent?”
Dochi buried his snout in the bread, but his ears perked at Tell’s voice. He paused and tilted his head. “Someone is coming, Master.”
He vanished with a quiet pop. The bread hung in midair and crumbs fell from it as Dochi continued nibbling.
“Put that down,” Tell hissed. He moved across the floor, dodging the creaky floorboards then pressed himself against the wall.
He’d expected the knock, but tightened his hold on his knife when it came. “Tell?”
Wystan.
Or something that sounded like Wystan. He drew the knife then threw open the door. Poised to strike, he balanced on the balls of his feet.
Wystan cocked an eyebrow.
Tell lowered the knife. He nodded at Eban over Wystan’s shoulder. “Come on in.”
He stepped aside as his brothers passed through the entryway. And right in the middle of the floor, mold-flecked bread disappeared bite by bite for his visitors to see.
I give up. He walked around Dochi and the falling crumbs. He needed coffee. Gallons of it. Made with holy water, which would effectively end his misery.
“Before you ask, I’m fine. Never felt better. I talked to Father. He has minions looking into it. The crumb-dropper there is one of his. And I haven’t set fire to anything today.”
“That’s good news. How’s Father?” Wystan closed the gap between the front door and the kitchen. It only took a small room to realize how much space his brothers occupied.
He gestured at the crumb-dropping demon. “Annoyed with me. Meet Dochi. I’m pretty sure he’s punishment for pissing off Father’s prize minions.”
He put off further conversation by grinding coffee beans, a noise as loud and grating as Dochi’s laughter. Wys and Eban watched him. They probably wished they had another half-demon sibling with his talents, one who could look inside his head to make sure he wasn’t about to explode with demonic madness.
He poured the grounds into his percolator and faced them. “A demon wouldn’t be interested in coffee. The part of me that’s human, that’s what needs coffee. Before long, I’m gonna be thinking about food too. I’m not talking blood of virgins either.”
“Master Tell promised fish.” Dochi laid the bread crust aside. “Because I helped him.”
“That so?” Eban knelt next to the invisible creature. “What did you help Master Tell with?”
Tell snapped his fingers. “Not another word, Dochi.”
The little demon slowly came into focus. He looked miserable, clearly torn between listening to Tell and obeying his beloved baron’s other son.
“It was nothing. I broke the mirror and turns out our friend here can put it back together.”
Wystan put his hands on his hips. “How’d you break the mirror?”
“It was an accident. Everyone drops things.” His shoulders tightened at the memory of the grinning creature that had stared openly at him. “I was shaving, the damn thing slipped. No harm done.”
“Sylvie’s worried about you.” Eban patted Dochi’s head, then rose. “We’re all worried, Tell.”
“Father’s not. So let’s all go about our business as usual.” He was certain he could speed up the coffee making process if he added a little of his own fire to the stove, but he doubted his brothers would appreciate the effort.
“Tell.” Wystan took a few steps farther into the kitchen. “We need to talk.”
Every hair on his body rose and he narrowed his eyes at Wystan. “You asshole.”
“Wait a minute, I didn’t say anything.” Wys thumbed the tie holding his bowie knife over the hilt.
“But you were about to.” He wasn’t afraid of Wystan or his bowie knife stained with the blood of uncountable demon kills. “I know exactly what you were thinking. I’m not going into a circle. I’m the best circle caster in New Mexico Territory, probably in the entire United States. Neither of you is strong enough to cast one I couldn’t get out of. Besides, you’re not strong enough to get me into one either.”
“It’s for your own good. We wouldn’t ask if we didn’t think it was for the best.” Eban pulled furiously at the cuticles on his pointer finger. “We’re not asking you to spend the rest of your life inside the circle. Just a few days, until Father—”
“Nah, just until you figure out how to exorcise me. Nobody exorcised Sandra, and I don’t want to be either.” He drew his little silver knife. “It comes down to everything I do seems evil and I’m bent on destruction, you kill me. Until then, leave me alone.”
Wystan’s face twisted into a grimace. He’d killed their sister when she was possessed by a parasite imp. Tell barely remembered the incident because it was so long ago, but Wystan had never gotten over it.
“Master Tell wishes for peace and quiet.” Dochi bared his teeth. “You must go.”
“Bald rats don’t tell me where to go or what to do.” Wystan took a step toward Dochi.
Dochi squalled and Wystan flew backward into the door. His knife appeared in Dochi’s paw. “Master Tell wants you to leave.”
Wystan rubbed the back of his head. His eyes flashed red for a moment. “Little son of a bitch.”
“Wys.” Eban offered his hand. “We’re not solving any problems here.”
Things were getting out of hand. “Dochi, heel. Wystan, Eban, thanks for the visit, but I’d like to be alone now.”
“But you’ll come to us if anything else happens? We don’t want to hurt you and we don’t want you hurting anyone.” Eban’s voice was low, soothing.
Tell managed a half smile. He’d thought he was the only who could manage the mind voodoo. “I’ll do that. I don’t want to hurt anyone either. So let’s call a truce for today, boys.”
Wystan pointed at him. “One toe out of line, Tell.”
“I understand.” Becoming a father hadn’t softened Wystan toward demons in the least. “Thanks for…for caring. I mean that.”
Eban and Wystan exchanged a look.
Tell gritted his teeth. They were still thinking about shoving him in a circle. He shook his head. “I wouldn’t. I’d put the pair of you on the floor faster than a cat shimmies up a tree. Nobody jumps Tell Heckmaster.”
They left without another word. He almost regretted rebuffing their concern. They were his brothers, his only family except for Seneca. But it wasn’t fair of them to assume he’d turned evil overnight.
Dochi came to his side. “They are not nice like the pretty lady.”
Tell laughed. “Not much to look at either.”
“She will come back?” Dochi cocked his head. “Dochi likes her.”
Tell liked her too. More than liked her. He pulled a cup off the shelf then poured coffee. “I don’t know. Maybe she’s afraid of me the way they are.”
And maybe everyone had a good reason to fear him.
“Dochi, you know how to find things, right?”
The imp bounced up and down. “I do.”
A willing helper would save him time. “What about texts? Old books that have spells and magic in them.”
“Dochi can do that. What do you need, Master?” His eyes gleamed with eagerness.
“Anything you can find about name curses.” Hell, they needed Dochi more than they’d ever needed Seere. At least the imp didn’t want anything but fish for lunch.
“You must promise not to become evil while Dochi is gone.” Dochi gave him a stern look.
“On my honor. Whatever that’s worth. I’d swear on a bible, but you’d probably melt.”
“Dochi isn’t afraid of bibles. Back soon, Master.” He popped out of the kitchen.
“Huh. Look at that. All alone at last.”
He turned toward the bathing area, where the mirror Dochi had repaired hung. Uneasiness crawled over him. Suddenly, being alone didn’t really appeal.
Chapter Five
Another knock came from outside. Tell groaned. Facing the demon in the mirror didn’t seem like such a bad option now.
He strode to the door, knife in hand, then threw it open. “What?”
Jeffrey Spinner’s eyes widened and his jaw went slack.
“Oh hell. What do you want?” Tell tucked the knife back into its sheath. He didn’t need to be able to read Jeffrey’s mind to know what the man was doing here. “Come to blame me for ruining your relationship with Sylvie?”
Jeffrey squared his shoulders. “Yes. It’s your fault. If you didn’t give in to her every whim and quibble, she’d be perfectly happy with me. I know you’re the one who talked her out of seeing me. Now I want you to convince her that I’m the man she’s supposed to marry.”
“Just why would I do that, Spinner?” Tell leaned against the doorframe. “It ever cross your mind that I think you’re a prissy little man who pushes people around because your head’s too big for the rest of your body?”
Jeffrey’s face reddened. The tips of his ears turned purple. “You’re a fine one to talk. You walk around here carrying weapons as though you’re a savage redskin. Do you know how foolish you look? Sylvie thinks it’s wonderful, but I’ll bet she’s never seen you fire that crossbow. I’ll bet you’ve never killed anything with it.”
Tell gritted his teeth. “I think you’d be surprised by I’ve brought down with it.”
“I don’t care about that! The important thing is, you have to tell Sylvie to come back to me. She deserves better than this backward little town with these odd people who inhabit it.” Jeffrey inched closer until he was right under Tell’s nose. “I demand you fix things between me and her. Or else.”
Tell ran his tongue across his teeth. “Or what? You man enough to make good on a threat, Spinner?”
Some ugly thoughts cluttered Jeffrey’s spirit, darker than anything Tell had noticed about him before.
“I’ll tell everyone about your inappropriate relationship with her. How long have you loved her, Heckmaster? Since she was a child who couldn’t begin to understand a man’s desires? I know that Rhia left her alone with you for extended periods of time. Oh, the stories I can conjure about a man who’s known to cavort with whores on a regular basis.” Jeffrey sneered. “Sylvie will be ruined and you’ll stop being one of the town’s favorite sons. Why, you’ll be run out of here for defiling an innocent child. If you’re not outright hanged.”
Hotter than before, the heat filled Tell from toes to crown. “Don’t you dare open your fucking mouth, Spinner. I’ve never so much as kissed Sylvie Duke. You want to talk about defiling girls, maybe you ought to explain why your last lady friend won’t have anything to do with you.”
“That isn’t your concern. Sylvie is. She always was. Whenever you turned a smile on her, she jumped to do your bidding. No more. You send her back to me, or I’ll do it. Everyone will know what you did to her.” Jeffrey poked Tell hard in the chest.
Tell snorted. “There will be snow in Berner before I give in to your demands. Get the hell off my porch.”
Jeffrey grabbed Tell’s upper arm. His palm burned through Tell’s shirt and the skin beneath.
Tell hissed and jerked, but couldn’t break Jeffrey’s hold.
“I know what you are. The three of you are an abomination. This town is an abomination and it will burn. I compel you, Tell Heckmaster, to do as I say or I will destroy everyone you love.” Jeffrey drew his hand back and held it palm up. On his middle finger, he wore a silver ring emblazoned with the crest of Solomon. “She is an innocent young woman who shouldn’t mix with the likes of you.”
Tell laughed. He grab
bed Jeffrey by the collar and jerked him off his feet. He pulled the other man into the house. As he let Jeffrey go, the fire poured from his fingers. It crawled up his arms and covered him.
“You might have guessed what we are, but you ain’t seen nothin’ yet, pal.” He lashed out and grabbed Jeffrey’s hand. He yanked the ring off the man’s finger. The silver seared his palm. With a burst of fire, the silver melted until it dripped down his hand and puddled on the floor at his feet. “I don’t think you know who you’re messing with, Spinner. If I were you, I’d get out of town.”
Jeffrey’s face paled. “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners—”
“Now and at the hour of death. Amen.” Tell laughed again. “I can recite plenty of scripture if you want to play. It won’t do a thing to me except eat up valuable time I could use to corrupt innocent ladies. It’s not your time yet, but if you don’t leave my family—including Sylvie—alone, I’m sure I can come up with something real creative to do to you before your final hour. And the next time you try to compel a demon, make sure you have the right name. Now get out.”
Jeffrey raced for the door. It slammed behind him, rattling the windows.
The fire died and Tell slumped against the wall. His anger ebbed, replaced by the oh-shit feeling he got when the odds weren’t in his favor. His hand stung where the silver had burned him. Blisters formed and the skin around them blackened.
Droplets of silver shone on the wood between his boots. Maybe Dochi knew how to get silver off a wood floor. Or maybe he’d have to replace the boards. He examined his sleeve, the hole created by his burning flesh and the black mark left behind. He hadn’t really thought through melting the ring. The fire he produced had no effect on him. If he’d tried to burn Jeffrey…
He didn’t want to think about that. He’d only defended himself. Jeffrey was the bad guy here.
Wystan and Eban were going to kill him. He’d revealed their secret, shown a human that something less than ordinary lurked on Berner’s streets. He sighed. He’d kicked his brothers out of his house and of course, now he had to find them. Today got better and better.
Tell Page 5
