“Deana left, didn’t she?” Granny seemed sad, but not surprised.
“Yes, she did. Why was that, I wonder?”
“I came back. I came back to tell you all what had happened. I wanted to warn you, and try to make things right. There was much I had to tell you.” She stopped. I’d never seen a ghost look so uncomfortable. When no one said anything, she continued, although I could tell she would have rather have changed the subject, or lopped off her head, or anything other than this. “I wanted to make sure John Henry was free. My death should have set him on his way to the light—”
“It didn’t,” Doc said. He’d taken up leaning against the wall of the stillroom, against one of our cabinets, to be exact.
“I am sorry, John Henry. Truly, I am. I thought my death would set you free.”
“It did not. Nor could I leave your quarters.”
“That was me,” she confessed. “I didn’t want you surprising the girls, or guests. How did you get out?”
“Little Desi was able to extend the spell to the house,” Doc said without any inflection.
I noted that when he was really angry, his voice remained calm, but his accent got stronger.
“She always was a smart girl,” Granny said. “I’m so sorry that Ashlar got her.”
“We read in your diaries that you were trying to spare her,” Daniella said.
“Oh, I was. From the demon, and from—” She stopped.
“Yes?” I prompted.
“It doesn’t matter. I wanted and intended a lot of things,” Granny said briskly. “And I failed. So let us concentrate on the matter at hand. What do you need from me?”
“Help defeating Ashlar. He won’t stop.”
“We have the angel sword,” said Dee, who’d been quiet until now.
“It’s extraordinary how all three of you look so much like Deana,” Granny said wistfully. “I am so sorry she’s not with us anymore.”
“What do you know about it?” I asked. This trip down memory lane wasn’t entirely honest. I could feel it.
“What do you mean?” Granny looked coy, innocent.
Like she was lying by omission.
“I mean, what do you know about Deana leaving?”
“She was pissed,” Daniella said. Her face had the same expression as Granny’s.
I glanced back and forth between them. It was extraordinary, but since we hadn’t seen Granny since we were girls, it made sense that we wouldn’t know. I knew Daniella well enough to know that her calm expression held back a potential anger, and it made me wonder, again, what Granny was hiding.
Granny sighed. “She was angry. I came back, as I said, and I tried to tell her— Well, it doesn’t matter—”
“I think it does,” Deirdre interrupted.
“No, it really doesn’t. But I was trying to see if I could get in contact, and talk with Desi, and I met Deana instead. She was upset with me—”
“But why?” I asked. Something wasn’t adding up.
“It doesn’t matter now. It seemed important at the time, but it wasn’t.”
“How can that be?” Doc asked. “It was important enough for you to come back, that means it was important.”
Granny gave Doc a look that could have cut him off at the knees had either of them been living. “Fine. I wanted to talk to Desi—your mother.” She looked at me. “About some of my family.”
“Yeah, that would be nice information to have,” Daniella said, her expression still neutral.
“Well, I would agree,” Granny sighed. “But that is neither here nor there. What is it I can help you girls with right now?”
“What do we need to know about the demon? What haven’t you shared?” I asked. I was done with this dancing around the subject. “And why the hell didn’t you tell us? Is that what you told Deana?” I asked, remembering how DeAnna and I had talked about Deana leaving abruptly. “Is that what pissed her off? Did you tell her about Ashlar?”
Granny nodded, although a look of relief crossed her face, and I made a note of it.
“What was her reaction?”
“Well, she was angry. She wanted to know why I’d doomed your mother. And how dare I do that to her? She called me selfish, and short-sighted.”
“She was right,” Deirdre said.
Granny inhaled. I could see it because her nostrils flared slightly, and the atmosphere in the room got warm. She was getting pissed at all the asides. Tough shit. It was time she dealt with what she’d done, what she’d left others to clean up.
“Well, hindsight is a wonderful thing to have. I did what I needed to do,” Granny said, lips tight. “It might not have been the best thing, with that lovely hindsight, but it was the best I could do at the time.”
“Why did you think we needed to be immortal?” I asked, thinking about some of the things Granny had said about the deal she’d made with Ashlar.
“Because if you’re going to be a witch—and since it was part of my family, I figured any descendants of mine would be—you might come up against less than nice creatures. I wanted you all, even before I knew there was a ‘you all’, to be safe.”
“It’s probably a good thing we like Deadwood,” Daniella said.
“I know it’s not ideal. But—” Granny began.
“No buts,” I said. “We need to figure out what else could happen. Is there anything else you can tell us, Granny? Anything else about Ashlar we need to know?”
She shook her head, the pale edges of her form blurring as she moved. “He’s not as smart as he thinks he is, and he’s motivated by pride above all else. He loves to gloat, so if he thinks he’s won something, that’s better for you. His anger also drives him.” She shrugged. “I didn’t have that many interactions with him. Had he not been a very poor winner, I would have seen him only twice.”
“Okay. That’s good to know.” I nodded. “Anyone else have questions for Granny?”
“I’d like to speak with you for a bit,” Doc said, drifting closer.
Granny watched him, her face unreadable. “Very well.”
“After you, my dear.” Doc stepped aside and gave her a half-bow, a mocking smile on his face.
He and Granny faded into the wall.
“Hey! We weren’t done, were we?” Deana looked around.
“Get a room! And not one of ours!” Deirdre yelled loudly.
“I’m not sure that gave us much,” Dee said.
“Oh my God, tell us about Gareth.” Daniella turned to Dee and Deana. “I was worried you weren’t going to be able to pry it out of him.”
“He didn’t know what it was. He knew it was magical, but he didn’t know how much,” Zane said, a slight smile curving up the corner of his lips.
Why did I always feel so much better when he was around? It bothered me. I couldn’t think about anyone, much less him. And certainly not right now. For goddess’ sake.
“He was a loathsome little creep,” Deana said.
Unexpectedly, Dee laughed. “He took a shine to Deana. She had to sit next to him, and coax him to humor her weird old mom.”
“You owe me.” Deana rubbed her arms, looking disgusted. “Seriously. Big time. He say way too close.”
“I know. But if we can get rid of the demon, and make it easier for us to live in peace, is that enough?”
“No. There needs to be more,” Deana said, still grumpy. “That guy was the grossest person I’ve met in ages.”
“Was he dirty or something?” Daniella asked.
“No, he was actually meticulous, and neat, considering his affinity for grave dirt.”
“The thing he liked more than Deana,” Zane said.
Deana made a face, and all of us laughed.
“Well, all right, then. We’re ready for this demon?” DeAnna asked.
“We didn’t need to use any of your spells,” Dee said. “I was ready, but nothing happened that we felt necessitated them.”
“I don’t know that those will work on him,” Deirdre said.
“But they might slow him down. Hang onto them.”
“So now we just wait? Can’t we call him out, or something?” Deana asked.
Silence greeted her question.
Chapter Seventeen
“Are you insane? We want to stay away from the demon!” DeAnna was horrified. “Don’t we?”
“Well, yes,” I said slowly. Deana’s idea wasn’t the worst ever.
“It would get it all over,” Deirdre said.
“And then we’d have some kind of resolution, either way,” Daniella added.
“This is why Mom left,” DeAnna said. “I spent some time thinking about what you asked, for me to remember the things she did say...” This was directed at me. “And what she always said was that she didn’t want to spend her entire life—even though she didn’t tell us about living forever—running headlong into danger at all times.”
I met my sisters’ gaze. “It’s a fair criticism.”
“But she didn’t used to be that way,” Daniella said. “She loved it as much as we did. She was the fastest one with zombies out of all of us.” She glanced around, grinning. “She could chop off a head in a few seconds.”
“She never told us any of that, that’s for damn sure,” Deana said.
“Well, she probably didn’t want any of us running off to join the crazy aunts in Deadwood,” Dee said easily.
“We’re not—” Deirdre began, and then she looked at Daniella and me.
We all burst into laughter.
“Yes, we are,” I said, trying to calm myself. “We totally are.” Which made all three of us, as well as the Deanas and Zane, laugh.
This, more than anything else, made me hopeful. We were here, with family, and the wounds of the past seemed like they had a chance of healing. With a few bumps in the road. This was the kind of strength, the kind of bond, that would come together to bring down a demon.
I hoped. But I had to hope. I didn’t want to die, and I didn’t want me, my sisters, or the Deanas harassed to literal death.
“So we’re going to pick a fight?” Deirdre said.
“I think we should. Deana is right. We don’t want to sit around here, twiddling our thumbs and picking fights with each other—” I said.
“We tend to fight,” Daniella interrupted.
“When we could be expending our energy on kicking his ass,” I finished.
“Are we sure we’re going to kick it?” DeAnna asked. Her arms were crossed, and she was frowning.
“No.” Deirdre turned to her. “We’re never sure we’re going to kick anyone’s ass. We’re never sure we’re going to win. But we go in and do our best, because we owe that to the people here. We agreed to protect them. And now, we’re protecting ourselves—us, and the three of you. Probably you, too,” she added, including Zane in her statement. “You help us, and you’ll be considered aligned with us.”
“I’m good with that,” he said. “I know the risks.”
Something in the way he said that caught my—attention? Danger radar? But before I could ask him, Deirdre continued, focusing her attention on the Deanas.
“You don’t have to fight. You can sit this one out. I won’t think any less of you. I don’t really want to take on the greasy asshole, and I’ve been doing this my entire life. You haven’t. It’s up to you. We don’t force anyone to do anything they don’t want to. But this is going to happen, and we do have to deal with it. Like it or not, you’re a Nightingale, and you get your share of the shit like everyone else.”
Well, that went south fast. Everyone else seemed to think so as well, because no one replied.
“I appreciate your honesty,” DeAnna said to Deirdre. “I don’t much like it, but I appreciate it. I need to think about it. My life may seem short compared to yours, but I’m afraid, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.”
“Mom,” Dee said, just as Deana said, “Gran!”
DeAnna held up a hand. “It’s my right, because we’re talking about my life, about all your lives,” she said to her daughter and granddaughter.
“Exactly, Gran,” Deana said. “Which is why you need to get off your ass and take a stand. You’ve always been cautious, probably because Grammy was. But this isn’t that time. If you’re not willing to do it for our aunts, which is kind of bullshit in my opinion, but whatever, then you need to do it for yourself. At the very least. I’m kind of ashamed of your thought process here. I was raised better than this.”
“Yes, you were!” DeAnna might be cautious, but she wasn’t taking this lying down.
I kept my mouth shut. This wasn’t my fight.
“There’s fighting for something right, and suicide! This is suicide! How are we, a bunch of human women, going to defeat a demon? I can’t even think about it without peeing my pants a little!”
“TMI, Mom,” Dee said.
“He is scary, but when you see him, the first thing you think is that he’s just disgusting,” Daniella said.
“Well, not me,” I said. “He scares the piss out of me, too. I don’t want to go back,” I let everyone see, hopefully, how scared I was. “I’ve never been scared of much but Hell scares the shit out of me.”
DeAnna sighed. “I need to think about it. I’m not happy about this, and I’m struggling because Mom was so firm on not wanting to be involved with anything happening here. I can’t help but think she was right.” She held up a hand as Deana opened her mouth, probably to protest. “I know your thoughts, and I hear them. But I need to think. Now if you will excuse me, I’m going up to the room.” She got up and walked up the stairs.
We could hear her in the kitchen and then heading up to the bedrooms.
“I’m with you,” Dee said.
“Me too,” Deana added.
“Your mom is entitled to however she feels,” Daniella said, her tone and expression calm. “I respect it. This isn’t the life for everyone. It’s all we’ve known.” She shrugged. “So it’s not that big of a deal to us. I mean, it is, but this comes along with being a witch, and protecting Deadwood. You run into some shit.”
“Why don’t we all go get something to eat, and then get some sleep?” Zane stepped into the conversation with a much-needed detour.
He’d been so quiet I’d almost forgotten he was there.
“If Ashlar shows up, can you ward the houses for an alarm?” Zane continued. “Something to give us a few moments?”
I looked at Daniella. She nodded.
“We can,” Deirdre said. “It will be stronger if you two help us. You’re Nightingales.”
“Okay,” Dee said. “Just tell us what we need to do.”
“Let’s go eat. I also need to check on Beeval. I haven’t seen him much today.”
With that, we trooped up the stairs to the kitchen. Without words, Deirdre, Daniella and I started to assemble dinner. Steak, potatoes, and salad. We kept a lot of it on hand, since it was a favorite and easy to prepare.
As soon as the potatoes started to boil, Beeval wandered in.
“Where have you been all day?” I asked.
He was missing his Evil hat.
“Seeking,” he said.
“What for?” I asked. I noted that no one else seemed to be as comfortable as I was. That made sense. I couldn’t be anything other than comfortable with the guy who’d saved me.
“Ashlar,” he said.
“What? He’s here?” I nearly dropped the knife I was holding.
The entire kitchen full of people had gone still, all focused on the little demon.
Beeval shook his head. “No. Fuzzy things that way”—He pointed toward Mrs. Kittrick’s—“say smells bad, but the bad smeller not come back. They saw him,” he added. “When he come here. They remember, hide but still scared.”
“You’re talking to the cats?” I asked. Why was everyone else talking to the cats? I didn’t know if I was jealous, or jealous that I hadn’t thought of it first.
Beeval nodded. “I go say hello. Good to know what else lives here.” He looked u
p at me, and gave a wide-toothed approximation of a grin.
“Meeting the neighbors is always a good idea,” Zane said with a straight face.
“Can you cast magic? Or spells?” Deirdre asked Beeval.
“My magic little. Small. But some,” he answered her.
I wondered what counted for small in demon terms.
“Like what? What do you do?” Daniella leaned down, peering at him.
“Blast,” Beeval said, flinging his hands out in front of him. “Stop moving. Bind,” he glanced up at me again, and his eyes were sad. “I bind you. So I let you go.”
I knelt down, reaching out for him instinctively. “I know you did. I’m alive because of you.” He stepped closer to me, leaning against my shoulder.
One of his long arms came up to pat me clumsily on the shoulder.
“I never thought I’d see the day when we were all sniffly over a demon,” Deirdre said.
I shot her a glare. Really? This was not the time.
“But I’m glad I’m seeing it,” she finished. “Thank you, Beeval. We’re all glad you‘re here.”
Beeval gazed around at everyone in the kitchen. They were all nodding. He smiled. “Beeval help. I help,” he repeated.
“Against Ashlar?” Daniella asked.
He nodded. “Yes. I help. If he gets me, I am dead.” The finality, the certainty in his voice left no room for doubt.
“Well, it seems that we’re all in the same boat,” Deana said. “How old are you, Beeval?”
Beeval shrugged. “Many years.”
“You hungry?” I asked him.
“Bacon?” he asked hopefully.
“Always,” Deirdre said. She went to the fridge and pulled out a package. We’d bought a lot of bacon this week to keep up with Beeval.
At least if he was friends with Evil and the cats next door, I didn’t have to worry about him eating them.
Dinner was a quiet affair. DeAnna didn’t come back downstairs, and Dee made her a plate without any comment. Deana and Dee cleaned up, and then everyone went to their rooms. I had barely made it into my room when there was a knock.
“Come in.”
Deirdre and Daniella filed in. “We need to call this douchebag, and get this over, one way or another,” Deirdre said.
Hellborn Page 14
