Wild Country

CHAPTER 32

Firesday, Messis 31

Dina drove beyond the town’s new boundaries to a street that wasn’t marked for salvage. Zeke had a feeling they needed to stay inside the town for a while, ignoring the fact that a lot of those houses had already been picked over by new residents or squatters who pocketed any cash they could find, and that included raiding the piggy banks in children’s rooms. Not that she blamed them, exactly, but she’d gotten in the habit of supplementing her pay by stuffing a few large bills in the back pocket of her jeans when she was going through a house.

Was that why Zeke had been so mean, so insulting, this morning? Because he was pissed that she took a tiny cut off the top? As if they didn’t all do that!

“What the fuck are you doing, Dina?” Zeke had said. “You got your man, lured him away from his wife.”

“Didn’t take much luring.” She’d taken a deep breath so that her quite impressive breasts became even more impressive. Not that it had any effect on Zeke. He’d taken her on as part of his crew because she had a knack for finding secret stashes as well as the gold jewelry, and at first she’d thought of him as more than a job opportunity, but his initial interest had faded, all because she’d flirted one evening with Fagen just to test the waters.

“You were there to help Kelley make the decision, weren’t you? But now you’re looking to do a lap dance with Larry when you couldn’t be bothered with him before? Why? Because he asked Sarah Gott to go to the movies with him this weekend? The moment he’s interested in someone else you’re hot to have him?”

“That’s crude, Zeke.”

“You’re damn right it is. Did you play the ‘how married is he?’ game where you were from? Well, you don’t play that game if you want to work for me. We don’t need any trouble here, and I don’t want to work with someone who wants to see if she can get past the zipper of every married man in town. And don’t think I’m not aware of how much you’ve been taking out of the houses on the sly.”

She’d given him her “I’m not a vanilla-sex kind of girl” smile. “But you haven’t told anyone.”

He’d looked angry and sad and, so much worse, disappointed. “Yeah, Dina, I have. I gave Tolya Sanguinati a list of the houses you’ve worked in case the attorneys reviewing the inventories of valuables report something missing that we should have turned in.”

Fucking bastard. It was tempting to start a rumor that the only reason Zeke and Fagen weren’t interested in sleeping with her was because they were banging each other, but Fagen was interested in Lila Gold and not keeping it a secret, and there were too many other Intuits in town who would contradict her and accuse her of trying to start trouble.

But if she had to turn in everything on the official jobs, she needed to boost her income at the houses Zeke wasn’t touching.

She turned into a driveway, got out of the car, and surveyed the house.

She liked Kelley. She did. He was a nice guy. It wasn’t her fault that he thought adding a little chocolate sauce to vanilla sex was totally adventurous while she liked a little rough and just a touch of mean. Since she wasn’t going to get that from Kelley, why couldn’t she scratch that itch with someone else? It was only sex, after all. And hadn’t he strayed with her, so what was the difference?

Taking two banker’s boxes out of the backseat, Dina studied the house again. Then she looked at the house across the street and two doors down—and knew that’s where she’d find what she was looking for.

Hearing a car pull into a driveway nearby, Judd went to the front window and eased the curtain aside. Recognizing the logo painted on the front doors, he swore quietly. Salvagers. He’d chosen this location because he’d had a strong feeling that the salvagers wouldn’t stray this far after finding Charlie Webb’s body, but it looked like he’d been wrong this time.

He watched the woman—one woman—get out of the car. Watched her retrieve boxes from the backseat. Watched her look at the house he’d chosen—and head his way.

No other cars. No other people. Dumb thing to do, coming out here on her own.

But even dumb people knew things. Besides, too many eyes could spot him during the day, and there were a lot of hours before nightfall.

He could think of a few ways she could entertain him. Afterward, he’d take the car and choose another house a couple of streets away. The car, with its logo, would provide him with camouflage and help him slip into town unseen when Parlan challenged the vampire for leadership of Bennett.

This fight for dominance was a risk, sure, but Judd had worked with Parlan long enough to know the man had considered the odds, had calculated the best approach that would give them the winning hand.

Besides, they were stacking the deck with every outlaw gang they knew who could reach Bennett in time for the showdown.

As he heard the woman working on the front door’s lock, Judd looked around the room to make sure he’d been careful. Nothing out of order, nothing to disturb the dust and alert anyone that someone was staying there.

He moved silently, returning to the kitchen and taking out the supplies he’d need from the drawer where he’d stashed them. Plenty of rope. A gag he’d made by threading a thin collar through a small ball that must have been a dog’s toy. A corkscrew. A knife. A lighter and a fork. He put them on the kitchen table, then took up position in the exact spot that would keep her blind to his presence until it was too late.

The front door opened and closed. Stealthy movements, which meant she wasn’t supposed to be here. Wasn’t that perfect? If she wasn’t supposed to be here, no one would think to look for her here.

When she came within range, he moved, striking fast and just hard enough to stun her, just hard enough to keep her confused while he dragged her into the kitchen and secured her to the kitchen table’s legs. The moment she tried to scream, he shoved the ball gag into her mouth and secured it behind her head.

Grabbing her hair, he turned her head so that she could see him over her shoulder. “Are you clean?”

She stared at him, terrified.

“I’m going to play with you for a while. There are plenty of things I can use besides my cock if you have any diseases. So I’ll ask you once more. Are . . . you . . . clean?”

She nodded.

“Good.” Judd ran a gentle hand from her shoulder to her hip. “It’s been a long while since I’ve had a chance to indulge like this. A long while.”

Dina didn’t know how much time had passed. A few minutes? Hours? He’d done . . . things . . . to her. Terrible things. She had a feeling that places inside her were broken now, maybe forever.

She heard him return to the kitchen. She wanted to wail, wanted to scream out the fear. But she knew better than to make a sound, knew what he’d do. What he’d done.

She heard him move to the sink. Heard water running.

His hand came in sight, and in his hand . . .

“Want it?” he asked.

Water. A dog’s bowl filled with water.

He let her lap some water before setting the bowl on the floor, just out of reach. Another kind of torment.

“Time for us to talk.”

She said nothing.

He laughed softly. “Good girl. I’ll ask questions. You have permission to answer. You raise your voice . . . Well, you won’t be as valuable to me without your tongue, will you? You understand?”

Dina nodded.

“Say ‘Yes, sir.’”

“Yes, sir.” Her voice cracked.

She barely held on to the questions long enough to give him answers. Couldn’t remember what she’d said a moment later. But she told him everything she knew about the Sanguinati and the Wolfgard and that female deputy.

“Anything you want to say?” he asked. “This is your chance.”

Odd how she hadn’t remembered the rose quartz and turquoise pendant until that moment, hadn’t noticed the chain, which now felt like it was slicing into her neck.

“Abby was right,” she whispered.

He leaned toward her. “Say it again.”

“Abby was right. She said this pendant would draw dark things to me.”

He sighed, a sound so filled with satisfaction she hoped—oh, how she hoped—that he was done with her, that he would let her go so that she could find help because there were things inside her that were broken.

“Tell me everything you know about Abigail,” he said. “Everything.”

As his hands performed tiny tortures, she told him everything she knew about Abigail Burch. When she couldn’t think of anything else, he gagged her. Just before he left the kitchen, she felt a sharp pinch on the inside of her thigh. She heard the shower as she watched a red puddle slowly form under her.

He came back and crouched beside her, careful to avoid the puddle. “Still here?” He sounded . . . cheerful. “You know, I have a feeling that, except for the last cut, if this had been your idea instead of mine, you would have enjoyed it.”

A door opened and closed. A car started.

The light faded.

“I wondered when I would hear from you,” Parlan said, struggling to strip any hint of impatience or anger from his voice. No one scolded Judd McCall.

“Had things to do today,” Judd replied. “Found a reliable source that confirmed the law consists of two Wolves and a female deputy. One of the Wolves was injured in a fight not too long ago and is still gimpy. And most of the human residents think the female deputy is a joke, but my source didn’t like the deputy, so that opinion might be skewed.”

“So we have the three cops of sorts and six Sanguinati.” That tallied with what he’d observed.

“There’s also a Panther and a feral boy who might join the fight. And a Wolf runs the bookstore.”

And there was that creature running the saloon. “You think the Panther and bookworm Wolf will be a problem?”

“I think they’ll need to be eliminated to make sure you stay in power,” Judd replied. “Most of the people living here have never handled a gun, let alone know how to use one. If they didn’t object to a bloodsucker running the town, they won’t rebel against you.”

“Well, I know you’ll keep everyone in line, Sheriff McCall.”

“That I will. When do we go?”

“Tomorrow. Lawry is here with my boy, staying out of sight in one of the abandoned houses. And the Bonney boys are here and looking to inflict some hurt on anything that gets in their way.”

“Who else came in?”

“Sleight-of-Hand Slim and Durango Jones have taken rooms at the hotel. William and Wallace Parker are also here. Jones brought some of his men. They’re gathered north of town. The Parkers were supposed to meet up with their men, but the men never showed.”

“Parkers’ men may not have shown up, but there are plenty of others who have, and they’ll join us. Settling down for a while is looking better and better for most of these boys. So the numbers are in our favor.”

The numbers were in their favor. So why did he feel like someone else was dealing the cards? Nothing he could do except play the hand he was dealt.

“We’re going to treat this like a human election with a lot of chest beating and bluster, only nobody gets to vote. The Others wave their weapons; we show ours; they back down because they’ve learned what guns can do—and we take the pot.”

Judd snorted. “They aren’t going to yield.”

“Probably not. But we’ll be seen as issuing a fair challenge and giving the Others a chance to leave town. Whatever happens after that is their fault, not ours.”

“Well then. Sounds like we’ll be sleeping in our own town tomorrow night.”

“Yes, we will.”

Abigail left the office building with the rest of the cleaning crew. After seeing her father at the hotel, she’d heeded Jana’s advice to stay away from the town square, but she didn’t like cleaning the houses, and there weren’t that many open businesses that weren’t on the square or on the streets just off the square. Since she didn’t want everyone knowing she was Parlan Blackstone’s daughter, she couldn’t explain why she couldn’t work in the buildings she’d specifically asked for when she’d joined the cleaning company. The woman who ran the company was an Intuit and had started giving her funny looks, as if the sweet Abigail persona was starting to unravel.

She’d spent the past few days cleansing and renewing her protection stones and prosperity stones until they were strong again. Until she felt shielded again from all dissonance.

Today she’d reported for work and gave vague answers about what she’d been doing, implying that the injury Barb Debany had received when she’d been accosted by that man had been more serious than she’d let on, and she’d needed a great deal more help than anyone had realized. Being her friend, Abigail had, of course, stepped in to help.

That might have satisfied Abigail’s boss for a day or two longer if Barb hadn’t been seen riding Rowan around the town square yesterday. So Abigail was back to work with the usual crew, holding her breath every time a door opened.

At quitting time, she walked out of the office building with the rest of the men and women—and almost walked right into her father as he dodged two women who were too busy gossiping to get out of the way.

He looked her right in the eyes, touched two fingers to the brim of his black hat, said, “Ma’am,” and kept going.

Abigail stood rooted to the sidewalk until someone jostled her while trying to reach the bus that would take the first wave of workers home. Her legs shook as she climbed the stairs and almost gave out before she found a seat.

He hadn’t recognized her. She’d known him the moment she saw him, but he hadn’t recognized her. Had she changed that much in three years?

Abigail let out a huge sigh of relief. He wouldn’t stay long in a town like Bennett, and once he left, she’d really be safe.

Parlan kept walking up the street for his meeting with Tolya Sanguinati. He tipped his hat to the Simple Life women who were waiting for the bus; smiled at the blond girl who sat in a rocker outside the saloon, fanning herself; and wondered who owned the ponies grazing in the square—ponies that didn’t look like any breed he’d seen before.

No movement, no look, no gesture, betrayed his rage. But as he walked and smiled, a single thought filled him: Found you, bitch.

“The Eagles and Hawks have told me that two packs of humans are hiding in the houses just beyond the town borders,” Virgil said. “One to the north and one to the south. Big packs.” He looked at Tolya, who was leaning against the mayor’s desk, then at Air. “I think they are being squeezed between us and the Elders, just like the bad dogs were squeezed and then hunted.”

“You think those humans are going to attack the town?” Tolya asked.

“Not the town. Us. They’re going to attack us, and we can’t survive packs of humans with guns. Once we’re gone, the town will be their territory.”

“It won’t be theirs,” Air said. “Never theirs. The Elders and Elementals won’t allow it.”

“But we’ll still be dead,” Virgil growled.

Tolya thought about the book Jana had loaned him, the book now sitting in his desk drawer. The good guys hadn’t won—and most hadn’t survived—because the villains had been sneaky, had made promises that were nothing more than lies.

Was Parlan Blackstone part of this, or were his arrival and the arrival of these human packs so soon afterward two separate things? He would know soon enough.

“Do the Elders know about these packs of humans?” Tolya aimed the question at Virgil but looked at Air.

Virgil shrugged, but Air said, “They know.”

And have done nothing. After seeing some of the Elders who lived in the hills, he wasn’t sure he wanted them to do anything, but he also didn’t want to see Virgil, Kane, and John dying the way Joe Wolfgard had died.

“Those humans haven’t crossed into our territory,” Virgil said. “Not yet.”

“But they’ve sent scouts.” Tolya held up the list of hotel guests that Anya had provided. Two of them claimed to be in the cattle business and were in Bennett looking to buy some stock. One was a gambler who didn’t sneer at the betting limits that had been set for play in the Bird Cage Saloon, and for some reason, that made Freddie Kaye very uneasy. Another who had spent time in the saloon didn’t seem to have a profession, but Yuri believed the human was a predator waiting for his chosen prey. “And then there is Parlan Blackstone, who seems to be here without the rest of his pack.”

“They’ll be coming if they’re not already here and hiding,” Virgil said.

Tolya nodded. “Blackstone asked for a meeting and should be here at any moment.” He looked at Air. “Could you stay, quietly?”

“And then tell the Elders what is said?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“You don’t need me here,” Virgil said. It wasn’t a question.

“No,” Tolya agreed. “But depending on what Blackstone says, you should prepare for a fight.”

Virgil gave him an odd look. “I’ll prepare for a fight no matter what he says. But I’ll tell you now, if the humans start a fight, I’ll keep killing them until they take my last breath.”

Parlan had thought about how to approach Tolya, how to play this hand. Should he go in as the tough leader who had the force behind him to take control or the man who would have preferred a quiet life but felt he had to stand up for his people?

He couldn’t read the damn Sanguinati, but remembering the last time he’d met Tolya in this office, he decided to go in soft.

“Appreciate you seeing me,” Parlan said as he settled in the visitors’ chair.

“Have you decided which saloon you would like to run?” Tolya pulled a yellow legal pad to the center of his desk and picked up a pen.

“Ah. Well. That might not be happening for some time.”

“Oh?” Tolya set the pen on the pad.

“You’ve got a problem, Mr. Sanguinati. The town has a problem. Nothing that can’t be sorted out, but some changes need to be made.”

“Oh?”

He wished he could get a sense of what this vampire was thinking. “People—humans—need a place to live.”

“Which is why we have allowed some humans to return to Bennett,” Tolya replied.

“And humans need to be governed by other humans,” Parlan said, watching the vampire. “We can get a little crazy when we start feeling like cattle in a pen.”

“But you are cattle in a pen, Mr. Blackstone,” Tolya said pleasantly. “Bennett may be a large pen without any visible fences, but it is still a pen that provides some shelter from the wild country. That is true of all towns in Thaisia. It’s even true of the cities. It has always been true. Humans who think otherwise are foolish or delusional.”

“We can’t view ourselves as prey animals,” Parlan replied sharply. “We aren’t prey animals to be slaughtered on a whim.”

Silence except for a clock ticking somewhere nearby.

“What did you come to tell me?” Tolya asked.

“Humans have been pushed out of so many places in the Midwest, there’s nowhere else for them to go. So they’re coming here. But they need to live in a human town governed by humans.” Parlan took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. “I’ve talked to some of these men, listened to the citizens who are setting up homes and businesses. Something has to change, or things will get ugly. That’s why, Mr. Sanguinati, I and some like-minded men are going to challenge you and the other town leaders to a fight for dominance.”

Tolya blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“My former business associates must have been talking after they left Bennett about how humans could take control from the Sanguinati.” Parlan doubted the blowhards had remembered the comment, let alone said anything, but they were long gone, so he could claim they’d said whatever he wanted them to say. “And, somehow, men who have been coming into town lately are thinking that I’m going to be the next mayor, that humans will uphold human law in Bennett.”

“So the packs of men who have gathered in houses just beyond the town boundaries are here because they believe you can participate in a fight for dominance and win?” Tolya sat back in his chair. “That is . . . unfortunate. Quite regrettable.”

“What do you mean?” Parlan’s hands were cold. “You said . . .”

Tolya sat forward, his folded hands resting on the pen and legal pad. “My dear Mr. Blackstone, those men misunderstood.”

Cold, cold, cold. So cold his fingers almost couldn’t bend. “It sounded clear enough to me.”

“When I said a fight for dominance was the only way leadership would change, I meant between one group of terra indigene and another. Humans can’t challenge us for dominance.”

“Why not?”

Tolya gave him a sympathetic smile. “It can’t happen because the Elders allowed humans to return to Bennett and resettle the town on the condition that the town was under the control of leaders who were terra indigene. The day that is no longer true, the town will cease to exist. The train station will close because trains will not be allowed to reach the town. Nothing will come in—and nothing will go out. Nothing. Anyone living here will not be allowed to travel through the wild country. That is the Elders’ territory, and to them, you really are nothing but prey.”

So cold. So fucking cold. How had his luck changed so much and so fast?

A thought occurred to him—and rage warmed him just enough to consider how to get out of this mess.

He wouldn’t be able to save all the men who had gathered on the outskirts, but he might still save the clan.

“There’s no stopping it,” Parlan said regretfully. “There’s going to be a fight. But we can keep it to a display of strength, at which point I and my people will concede and withdraw our challenge.”

“In exchange for what?”

“For me and my family being allowed to remain and open our saloon and become citizens of Bennett.” Parlan leaned forward. “Look, I didn’t ask to represent this group of people, but I have enough of a reputation that I have some influence over them. If I and my delegation meet you and yours, and we are seen to concede after acknowledging that you’re the stronger leaders, the other men will have to agree or leave. And, frankly, it will prevent a slaughter on both sides.”

Tolya hesitated.

Gotcha.

“So this challenge will be made without you using human weapons? This will be done without a single shot being fired?” Tolya stared at him. “You do understand what will happen if I agree to this and a single terra indigene is injured or killed? One shot, Mr. Blackstone, and you all die.”

“I understand.” If he had to sell out the rest of the men who had come here in order to keep his family alive, so be it.

“I must take advice and will get back to you this evening with a decision.”

“Take advice? You’re the leader.”

Tolya studied him. “I am amazed by the human ability to be willfully blind. How can you come to a place like this and not understand what’s out there?” He stood. “I’ll have a decision this evening about your faux challenge. In the meantime, perhaps you should encourage the men you can influence to get as far away from here as possible before nightfall.”

Parlan smiled grimly. “Leave so they don’t die?”

“Oh, they’re still going to die. But they won’t be here to fire the shot that will kill you and your family.”