Deadwood Mystery 11 - Devil Days in Deadwood

by Ann Charles

  “Mon dieu!” Harvey said, only his voice sounded higher than usual and more stilted. “Step aside, Constable, and let me through.”

  Constable?

  Before Cooper or Doc could stop him, Harvey pushed his way past them and crossed the threshold with the mirror in hand.

  I gaped at him as he limped over, one leg dragging slightly. “Harvey, what are you doing? Did you just speak French a moment ago?”

  “Of course I spoke French,” he said with an American Northeastern accent I knew too well. “I was raised speaking French, as well as German, English, and several other languages.”

  “Prudence?” I cocked my head as I stared up at him. “Is that you?”

  “Are your questions always this asinine in the midst of a battle? Now take the mirror, Scharfrichter.” Harvey—I mean Prudence—shoved the mirror at me.

  But it was Harvey standing in front of me, not Prudence or even Zelda, and his eyes were still blue, not rolled back in his head showing only white orbs. “How in the hell are you doing this?”

  “Enough with these frivolous questions. Hold up that looking glass and stare into it, as I showed you this morning.”

  I did as told, glancing at Doc and Cooper over the top of the mirror. They had matching incredulous stares, apparently as bamboozled as I was by the turn of events.

  Harvey bent down in my face, holding my chin, studying my eyes. “Have you started hallucinating yet?” When I just stared at him, I mean her, wondering if maybe she was a hallucination, Prudence walloped me upside the head. “Answer me!”

  “Okay, okay!” I shoved her hand away. “No, I don’t think I’m hallucinating.” I turned to Doc and Cooper. “You two are seeing and hearing this, right?”

  “Uh, yeah,” Cooper said, still not sounding sure.

  Doc just nodded.

  Harvey—or Prudence—lined up behind me in the mirror.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked his reflection.

  “I am finishing what you started.”

  “Why are you helping me?”

  “You do not have the experience to use this mirror without peril, let alone capture a lidérc with it.”

  She was right on both counts. “So, you do want to keep me alive.”

  “Regrettably, yes. You have a Duzarx to slay.”

  Crap, I’d forgotten about that thing. “Oh, yeah.”

  “Furthermore, it will take the two of us to hold back the chaos that is escalating here in the Hills.”

  I smiled, which made my forehead itch. “That’s sweet. You need me.” I scratched my head.

  She reached forward and slapped my hand away. “I need a slayer. As it is you who has answered the call, I will have to settle for what skills you so ineptly offer. Now, I am focused and am ready for what I will need to do, but are you prepared for the removal?”

  Before I could ask exactly what she meant by being prepared, a sharp pain sliced through my right side. I cried out, clutching my side as the pain sank deeper.

  What the hell was that?

  “Violet!” Doc started toward me.

  “No!” Prudence shouted at him. “You cannot cross the ward, Medium! You are not a slayer!”

  Cooper grabbed Doc and hauled him back into the hall, but still in view.

  I slumped in the chair, the stabbing pain in my side spreading up to my shoulder. Sweet fuck! It felt as if the lidérc was clawing its way out of my body. My eyes watered as I stared at Doc, fighting to catch my breath through the pain.

  Doc struggled in Cooper’s hold, trying to slip free. “Damn it, Coop. Let go!”

  Cooper shoved him against the wall. “Stand down! You can’t go in there, Nyce. Let Prudence do this.”

  Harvey—or rather Prudence—grabbed me by the shoulders and set me back upright. “Hold onto it, Violet. The lidérc knows there are two of us here now and will try to escape, but you cannot let it go until I tell you. Do you understand?”

  Her words registered in spite of the multiple stabs of searing agony now tearing through my right side. “Yes,” I cried in between gasps.

  “Hold the mirror upright!” she ordered.

  Tears streaming down my face as the claws dug deeper, twisting toward my spine, I clenched every muscle I had and stared at Harvey’s reflection.

  “Medium,” Prudence said. “Open the channel as I showed you this morning.”

  The ripping sensation shifted higher. It felt as if my skin was being torn away layer by layer from the inside. I convulsed in pain, making the chair creak. I focused on breathing, going back to my baby birthing training, while holding the mirror still. “Hurry!” I whispered.

  “And then what?” Doc asked Prudence. I could hear the anguish in his voice.

  “Hold it open until I tell you to close it.”

  I stared into Harvey’s blue eyes. What if Prudence screwed up and let it latch onto him? “Prudence, maybe this is too risky for Harvey.”

  “He is safe. Now stop wasting your breath and focus!”

  I screamed as something gouged me deep inside. An intense cramp similar to the contractions when I was giving birth tore through me, only higher, near my ribs. “Fuck!” I screamed, bearing down until it eased enough for me to breathe again.

  “Look at me,” she shouted.

  I did. Something was going on with Harvey’s eyes—they were glowing white. As I stared, the light became blinding, making me squint.

  “Now let go of it, Violet,” she said.

  My body started to tremble from holding onto the pain so tightly. The glow radiating from her now filled the whole mirror, reflecting straight at me, lighting me up like a spotlight. I squinted, trying to see her through the light.

  A roaring sound filled my head, making my ears ache. “How?” I hollered over the commotion.

  “You know how,” she yelled, but it sounded far away.

  I did?

  “Focus!”

  Centering my thoughts on the pain, I felt it tighten inside of me until it compacted into a lump in my sternum. Then I felt it rising up through my throat.

  I tried to swallow and couldn’t, coughing instead. In the mirror, I saw a cloud of black smoke puff from my mouth. But in reality, there was no smoke coming from me at all.

  What the … ? My chest tickled again, spurring a round of coughing. In the reflection, more black smoke trickled out through my lips and my nose.

  “Now, Violet!” Prudence yelled. “Your medium can’t hold it open much longer.”

  I drew in a deep breath and then concentrated and coughed hard from deep in my lungs.

  A trail of smoke and shadow swirled out of my throat, spinning in the mirror.

  “Again!”

  I coughed hard again and again and again, until no more smoke and shadow came out.

  In the mirror, the lidérc swirled and shifted, struggling in a small, invisible cage. I saw the swirling silver light again, and then the face of Ottó Sugarloaf, who had brought the parasite over from his homeland more than a century ago. His face shifted, turning into that of a young girl and then a guy with a dark, shaggy beard.

  “Medium, close it now!” Prudence yelled.

  In a blink, the swirl of smoke and shadow disappeared.

  Harvey’s eyes were back to pale blue in the mirror.

  “Where’d it go?” I whispered to his reflection.

  “It is held captive by the mirror,” Prudence’s voice answered. She was still at the helm, apparently.

  “Forever?”

  Harvey shook his head. “The mirror cannot hold it for long. You need to deliver the lidérc to Masterson as soon as possible. His cage is much stronger and built for this purpose.”

  I lowered the mirror and looked toward the doorway. Doc sat on the floor. His head was resting against the doorframe, his eyes closed. My mace lay at his feet. Cooper was missing in action.

  “You okay?” I asked Doc.

  He opened his eyes and turned his head in my direction. He looked wrung out and worn t
hin. “I’m going to need a pacemaker after today, Killer. How about you?”

  I rolled my shoulders, wiggled my fingers, and tipped my head side to side. “As good as new. Where’s Cooper?”

  He pointed his thumb in the other direction. “He went to peek in on the IT guy who came to see why the cameras are all down throughout the building.” At my wrinkled brow, he added, “Coop shut them down as soon as we got here so nobody would know we were here.”

  “We are going to need to get out of here quick then.”

  He nodded and held out his hand. “How about you come and help this old man to his feet?”

  I looked over my shoulder. “Can I cross the ward with the mirror now, Prudence?”

  “How in hell’s bells should I know, girlie?” Harvey said in his usual crusty voice.

  I did a double take. “You’re you again.”

  He tugged on his beard, looking around worriedly. “I don’t feel much like me. The old girl got me again, didn’t she?”

  “If you mean Prudence possessed you, then yes.”

  “I could still see and hear what was going on, just had no control. Sort of like having a back seat driver who shoved me aside and took the steering wheel for a bit. Did she make my eyes go all white?”

  I shook my head, not understanding why not. Maybe this was a different sort of possession. It seemed like Zelda had complete blackouts when Prudence was in control. “How do you feel?”

  “Like I’m one wheel down and dragging axle.”

  I stood and gave him a hug. “Thank you, Prudence,” I said in his ear.

  He leaned back. “That bird flew the coop.”

  “Give her my message the next time she visits you.”

  I made my way over to Doc on shaky legs. Setting the mirror on the floor, I held out my hand to help him up. He accepted my offer, letting me tug him a little. He came to his feet easily for a so-called old man, taking my face in his palms. His eyes searched mine before settling on my lips. “You scared the hell out of me, Violet.”

  A door slammed, followed by footfalls. We both looked over as Cooper rounded the hall.

  He scowled when he saw us standing together. “Save your Gomez and Morticia crap for later. We have to get out of here before that guy gets the cameras back online.”

  “How did you three get in the building, anyhow?” I asked. I figured they probably busted through a window somewhere.

  Cooper pulled a key out of his pocket. “I borrowed it this morning.” His gaze narrowed on his uncle, who joined us in the hall. “Are you Uncle Willis now or still Prudence?”

  “You want me to grab you by the ear and whoop you a couple of times to show you?”

  He smiled. “Good to have you back, Uncle Willis.”

  “I’m still decidin’ if it’s good to be back. That old girl rides rough on a guy. I’m gonna ache in my joints for a day or two.”

  Cooper clapped his uncle on the shoulder. “She reminds me of that red-headed cowgirl you were seeing down at that chicken ranch outside of Winnemucca.”

  “You mean Cherry McDazzle?”

  “That’s her.” He tugged on his uncle’s sleeve. “Come on. Let’s go find some whiskey for those sore joints before Parker lands us in another heap of shit.”

  I frowned after them. Cooper wasn’t going to like hearing that we needed to go up to the Sugarloaf Building yet tonight and drop off a Hungarian devil. I’d wait until we were safely topside to give him the bad news.

  Doc grabbed the mirror and my mace, handing me the latter. He put his arm around me, leaning into me slightly as we followed Cooper to the stairwell door. “I have an idea, Killer.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Let’s never play catch-a-lidérc again.”

  “Deal.” I patted his chest. I was definitely done with catching Hungarian devils.

  However, I had a new idea of my own about the lidérc, but I was going to wait until I had Doc alone to tell him about it—and maybe naked.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The Sugarloaf Building stood aloof and menacing in the shadowy area just outside of the orange streetlights. The roads were dead. Not many souls were out and about on a cold Sunday evening in Lead besides Doc and me in my Honda and Cooper in front of us with Harvey in the unmarked police SUV.

  I watched as Cooper pulled up next to the old brick structure. His brake lights cut out.

  “You ready for this?” Doc asked as he parked behind them.

  I frowned out the window at the lidérc’s brick cage. After the four of us had returned to Calamity Jane Realty to check on Cornelius and Rex, only to find a note from Cornelius that he’d taken my ex to the hospital to “have his head examined,” which made me laugh out loud for a good minute, we locked up the office. On our way out the door, I’d told them about wanting to go to the Sugarloaf Building next. We’d taken a group vote and all agreed it was best to put the lidérc back in its cage ASAP.

  Cooper and Harvey had ridden to Lead together, leaving Doc and me to follow. The mirror was wrapped up and secured by a seatbelt in the back seat next to my mace. I wasn’t risking anything happening to that mirror until we had the lidérc locked away and Aunt Zoe free of Dominick’s slick mitts.

  I’d taken a moment to call Aunt Zoe on the way out of Deadwood, telling her we’d be a little late for supper tonight due to some “unforeseen circumstances.” Doc had scoffed at my choice of words, earning a thigh pinch and a mimed shush. I didn’t want to mention the lidérc right then, because we weren’t quite done with the task at hand.

  That was when I learned that Aunt Zoe had been present when Doc received my earlier text about needing help detaching a Hungarian devil. She proceeded to chew me out for a good portion of the trip to Lead for scaring at least five years off her life. When she finished bending my ear with plenty of impressive swearword mishmashes, I told her that her future freedom from a charming asshole was worth the risk I’d taken to catch the lidérc. Her breath hitched a little when she told me she loved me, which made my eyes water and my throat tighten. After a whispered promise that I’d tell her every detail as soon as we made it home, I hung up and swallowed the lump in my throat.

  I looked over at Doc. He was watching me, his expression unreadable. “Are you ready for this?” I asked him. “You are the one working your magic here. My job is done.”

  “Not quite.” He shut off the engine.

  Harvey and Cooper stepped out of the SUV, pulling their coats tighter in the cold breeze. They waited for us as Doc grabbed the mirror from the back seat. When we joined them, Cooper handed Doc two keys.

  “For the padlock and the door?” Doc asked.

  Cooper nodded. “Is that thing still stuck in the mirror?” He aimed his flashlight directly at my eyes.

  I winced and blocked the bright beam. “Yes, dammit. Lower your light before I jam it so far up your ass that your nostrils light up like a jack-o’-lantern.”

  He chuckled at my threat, clearly not taking me seriously. “I’m just making sure your eyes aren’t creepy black holes again, Parker.”

  “I’m gonna cram my foot in your creepy black hole,” I shot back, and then ruined my menacing glare by grinning.

  Doc laughed. “Let him have it, Tiger.”

  “Careful, Coop.” Harvey patted me on the back. “Sparky might cough up somethin’ worse than that smoky devil and sic it on you.”

  I frowned at Harvey. “You saw me cough that up?”

  “Sure did. I told you, I saw it all, just couldn’t do a dagburn thing about it.”

  I still didn’t understand how Prudence had done that whole head-hopping, body puppet trick.

  Doc led the way toward the iron steps that climbed to the second floor of the building.

  I hurried to catch him. “Did you hear that?”

  “Yeah.” He looked back at Cooper and Harvey. “You two wait down here. I don’t trust this mirror. When I open the channel again to let the lidérc out, things could go crooked.” He started up
the steps, taking them two at a time with his long legs.

  I rushed after him. “Where’s the fire?” I asked, slightly winded when we reached the top.

  “You heard Prudence back there.” He unlocked the padlock and then the door before pocketing the keys. “I don’t want this devil escaping and getting any ideas about latching onto you again.”

  He opened the door, looking down at me with a puckered brow. “How do you feel about waiting out here for me?”

  I scowled at that notion and bumped him aside, stepping into the old building. “Dominick fixed the window, like he said.” I walked over to check out the new pane. Crumbs of broken glass still littered the floor along the wood molding.

  I ran my fingers down over the ward on the wall next to it. I needed some schooling on these wards. Aunt Zoe had several around her house, but these were different. Who came up with them? Was it some kind of witch? Was ward-making a special skill like clock-making?

  Doc cleared his throat.

  I glanced back. He was still standing just this side of the threshold.

  “How about we get the hell out of here before something else gets out?” He shined his flashlight around the room. “Who knows what all Masterson is keeping in this place.”

  I returned to his side. “So, how’s this release business going to go?”

  He tipped his head toward the door. “You get on the other side of that ward, for starters.”

  “I’m not leaving you alone with that bastard, Doc.”

  “I’ll be right there with you.” His frown deepened as he unwrapped the paper from the mirror. “Cross your fingers that when I open the channel, nothing else crawls out.”

  I moved to the doorway, thinking about the other entities in the mirror that Doc had mentioned earlier. “What if something does?’

  He laid the frame flat on the floor, mirror up. “Then we’ll have bigger problems than a rowdy imp.”

  “And the Nachzehrer.” I stepped outside onto the iron landing.

  He followed me out. “Them, too.”

  “And the other bone cruncher.”

  His frown deepened.

  “And don’t forget the caper-sus Mr. Black told me about.”