Summary:  Joe is found in a ravine with mysterious injuries.  He has a dark journey into his own memory to discover how he got there and why his brother is in danger.

Rated:  T  WC 7800

Ladykiller

Chapter 1:

“Oh, my God.” Adam skidded to a halt halfway down the long ravine. Bright moonlight had shown Joe’s body, but now it showed that the shadow around his leg wasn’t a shadow at all. “Hoss? HOSS?? Bring a rope. I’ll need to climb down and I don’t want to fall on him.”

Forever passed in the moments it took for Hoss to clamber down the steep slope with a coil of rope in his hand. “It’s bad?” he peered around Adam, who took the rope with a very serious expression.

Adam paused. “Well, you can see for yourself. And it looks like there’s another body down at the bottom. I’ll get him next. Haven’t heard anything from either one, though.”

Hoss glared down again. He couldn’t see the second body, but Adam had good night vision so he let it go. “Right then, I’ll hold you steady.”

Adam slipped down the slope as best he could without starting a slide of pebbles onto Joe. The whole mess so far was a mystery. Where had Joe been these past two days? Why had Cochise stayed with Joe instead of coming home? All so odd. And why was Joe hurt?

It didn’t take long to check Joe out. Hatless, coatless, his shirt torn, his face beat up, and that nasty leg wound all added up to a very careful shoulder lift and the gentlest exit possible from the ravine. Hoss waited, then helped take Joe’s dead weight on his shoulders. “Still breathin’. That’s good.”

“The bleeding has already stopped, looks like a knife wound. The main artery was missed by just a hair. Let’s get him ready to get home.” Adam was quick to double check the leg wound. “What a mess.”

“I’ll get him up on Cochise,” Hoss said grimly and tilted his head back down the steep drop. “Tie the rope tight, brother. I don’t wanna have to haul you out of there.”

“Got it,” Adam said concisely, rope already in his hands. He skidded down a ways to the next scrubby tree, tested it, then tied the rope around it. It wasn’t going to be long enough, but it was better than nothing.

One brother went up, one down, each with too much worry in their heads about the now to think about the recent past.

Hoss kept Joe as steady as he could as he ascended the slope. As he dug in each foot, he kept up a conversation with Joe. “All right now, we’ll get you home and get the Doc out to see you. Hop Sing will get that leg wound all tidied up, don’t you worry ‘bout that. And I’ve seen yer face beat way worse and the gals still lined up to dance. Don’t you worry, Joe. Me ‘n Adam will see to things. You just hang in there.”

Adam climbed up the slope a short while later, his cheeks flushed and puffing from the effort. “Dead. I’m going to leave him there so we can get Joe home, and one of us get the doc. If we split up, it’ll go a lot faster. And we can let Roy know.”

“You ride for the Doc. I’ll get Joe home. What the heck happened these past two days? We hear nothing, then you get this damn fool notion to head out here after supper. You know something I don’t, Adam?” Hoss was busy double checking that Joe was not tied too tightly, and that the makeshift bandage of an old shirt on his leg held.

“A feeling. And we hadn’t searched out this way. Joe said something about fixing something. And he mentioned coming out this way a bit before. Two and two.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hoss grumbled. “Now, Joe,” he said companionably, “you hang in there, little brother. We’ll get this all figured out.

 

Chapter 2:

Adam found his trip into town more aggravating than he’d imagined. Another murder, another woman missing, and another house fire all seemed to interrupt his mission. Doc Martin was in the middle of cataloging the most recent cadaver, and had to take several long moments to leave off his task and get ready to leave for the Ponderosa. Once he’d accomplished seeing Doc Martin underway, Roy Coffee was Adam’s next stop.

“I tell ya, Adam, I’m run around in circles right now. I’ll come see that body tomorrow if I can, but it’ll probably be the next day. We’ve had a run of lunacy in town this past month, if you hadn’t heard.”

“Oh, I heard. Read, actually,” Adam said scathingly. “A monster. A werewolf.” He rolled his eyes. “Or just a bunch of drunk, vicious men turning on each other and anyone in their way.”

“Well, it’s odd all way ‘round.” Roy shrugged. “Sounds like Joe took care of whoever was trying to get him, and he won. Defending himself, I might add, so no murder charges. No papers on the body?”

Adam shook his head. “No, none I could find. Well, Roy, if you can’t make it, send word and we’ll pull the body out ourselves and give him a decent burial.”

“Cut to the chase, Adam. Save me a trip. So many vagrants these days that by the time I get out there, there won’t be much to identify. Just save the clothes in case.”

Adam nodded. “We know what to do,” he re-settled his hat. “I’ll see you later, Roy. Hope things calm down for you.”

Roy laughed without humor as Adam let himself out the door.

++++++

Ben over saw Hop Sing’s examination of Joe, especially concerned about the leg wound. “A knife? No,” he worried. “Too jagged. Good lord, what happened out there?”

“Missa Joe lucky to live. Whoever cut him meant to get big vein. Just missed. Think shoulder dislocated, too. This bad, very bad. Look like rope on wrists, too. Just one wrist. Very odd.”

“Joe?” Ben went down on one knee beside the bed, gently touching just above the purplish-red thick line on Joe’s wrist. “Joe? Son? Can you hear me?”

Nothing. Joe’s shallow, slightly gasping breath remained unchanged. Ben’s hopeful half smile fell and gave way to a grim determination. “Son, I’m here. I’ll wait.”

Chapter 3

Ben kept an eye on the clock while he waited by Joe’s bed. Who knew how long Joe had lain in that ravine? Ben raged inside. Why can’t we do more for you, son?

Adam had come home and checked in on Joe, but Ben stood his ground. First shift, he called it. Hoss already had dibs on the second.

“It’s the one wrist tied up that gets me, Pa, every bit as much as the jagged cut. And there was no signs of the struggle right near where we found him. The dead body didn’t reveal much, either. I hope he wakes up soon to clear this up. Who did this? Why?” Adam remained standing by Ben, who was firmly ensconced in the chair.

“I want you to head back there in the morning and have a look around. I want whoever did this caught, and if the culprit in the dead man, then I want to know why. Take a couple of hands with you, though. Too many killings lately.” Ben looked up at his eldest. “Watch your back.”

“I always do, Pa.”

Then they fell silent, looking at Joe. He was tucked in and they’d done all they could. Now it was up to the young man with the bruised face, purpling bruises on his bare chest and, out of sight, horrific leg wound, to pull through.

+++++

“Hey , yer a pretty one, almost like a girl! Look at this, Jake! Real purdy. Ooooh, now he’s mad.”

“Now, now, Fred, don’t go making that one mad. He may be little, but he’s got some mighty big brothers.”

“Hey, boy, are your brothers pretty like you?”

He’d put his drink down. He remembered that. He’d been so mad he wanted to draw, but he’d just put his drink down. “Yeah, prettier,” he said and sneered, all while his blood boiled. But something about the two men made his skin crawl, something about the way he felt sized up by the devil made him turn so he could keep an eye on them.

“Hey, blondie! C’mere! We’re lonely…” the one named Fred had called out to Sadie, a new girl, very pretty and on the young side for the saloon girls.

+++++

Joe moaned. Ben leaned forward. “Joe? Joe? I’m here!” He took care to touch Joe’s arm to reinforce that he was home, safe, with his family.

“No, stay away,” Joe managed to say through bruised, swollen lips. Ben went to speak to reassure his still unconscious son, but Joe continued. “It’s not right. They’re not right. Stay away from them,” his voice rose in a bit of panic, and Joe twisted. He arched from the pain in his shoulder and let out a keening moan from the back of his throat.

Ben tried again to rouse Joe, but Joe was completely unconscious again, his breathing a little faster, and his face tense with something, something Ben would call fear.

Chapter 4

Adam stood tall over the body. Early afternoon sun showed that Joe, well, most likely Joe, had given better than he’d gotten. And a similar wound to Joe’s leg was right above the heart on the corpse. He knelt down again to look at the face. A plainer, less describable face would be hard to find. Even the clothes were completely common. A second methodical search of pockets and such hadn’t revealed a single thing that hinted at identity, which, now that he had enough light, had led Adam to look around more.

Rocky ground hid a lot, but it was clear he wasn’t the only man to come down the steep slope. Someone had been there before him, probably even before his first examination of the body. Adam set out to follow the trail but it disappeared in the bigger rocks where a springtime creek tended to roar. It was just a trickle now, but the rocks refused to yield any clues.

Not on my land, he fumed and threw a flat rock at a larger rock, watching it explode with sharp eyes. No one attacks my brother on Cartwright land and gets away with it.

 

+++++

“Pa?”

“It’s just Hoss,” said the biggest of the Cartwright clan. “Hey Pa! Joe’s comin’ round!” he hollered over his shoulder.

“Aw, that hurt,” Joe complained and raised his unmarked hand up to his forehead and winced. “Hey, what? My OWW!”

“Lay back and don’t move. Yer shoulder’s been set back in and you’ve got a heck of gash on your leg,” Hoss said gently.

“What?” Joe gasped, then groaned. “Good lord! I hurt everywhere. Ow, my mouth. What happened? Did I mess with a herd of buffalo? Augh,” Joe’s eyes fluttered closed. “Where don’t I hurt?” he muttered softly.

“Do you remember anything? Anything at all?” Hoss said with a hint of urgency that didn’t escape Joe despite the pain.

“Kinda. No,” Joe whispered. “Kinda.”

“Joe!” Ben burst into the room, slowing to take the chair Hoss vacated for him. “Tell me what happened? How are you?”

“Hurt like a herd of horses stomped me,” Joe tried to smile but it failed. His lips were too swollen. Still, his eyes sparkled despite the bruising. “How’d I get here? Where was I?”

“Adam and Hoss found you by Fastrock Ravine, halfway down. There was a dead man there, too, at the bottom. Looks like the two of you had a fight…” Ben paused and hoped Joe’s eyes would light with recollection.

“Fight…” Joe muttered and closed his eyes. “I fought. I know I did. Why? Why can’t I remember? Oh, Pa, it’s all jumbled.”

“Take it easy, Joe, it’ll come back. Just give it time. Adam’s out there—“

Joe’s eyes flew open in a panic. “No! Not Adam!! Get him back here!”

“Joe?” Ben said, his voice low and full of worry. He put his hand on Joe’s uninjured shoulder. “Joe? Why does Adam need to get back here?”

Joe looked away, trying to lick his puffy lips. “I don’t know. I just know it’s not safe for him. Get him back, Pa, please.”

“He’s not alone, Joe,” Ben said soothingly. “Take it easy.”

Joe’s eyes closed. He saw things without actually seeing them and it was driving him mad how he could react to what he couldn’t recall. But he knew Adam was in danger. “Just make him stay home, Pa. Please.”

Chapter 5

Eyes watched from behind bushes. The man in the black hat was much bigger than he’d thought. With these sore ribs from the kid’s well placed boots, there was no way he could even think about tackling that big one.

Let him go, get him later…

The figure lay in the shadows and waited until nightfall before limping back to town. The full moon wasn’t much help with the ribs. It hadn’t been much help last night, either. That kid wasn’t so much a kid as a whip-strong, canny young man who could keep his head surprisingly, and distressingly well.

Chapter 6

“Joe!! Joe! Wake up!!”

Ben was by Joe’s side in a flash. He put his hand to his youngest’s forehead. Hot. “Joe, son! You’re home! It’s all right.”

“Pa!” Joe’s eyes flashed open. He panted like he’d been running for his life. “Pa,” he moaned. “I hurt. I hurt so much. And I can’t think. My head….” Joe licked his swollen lips and tried to catch his breath. “It’s all so wrong. I see things but I can’t remember them, and I remember them, but I don’t see them.”

“I’m here, son,” Ben murmured. He put his hand back on Joe’s forehead. “Rest. Can you drink?”

Joe’s eye flew open again. “Whiskey. No. NO! Get Adam home. Don’t let him drink…” Joe’s eyes went unfocused. “I tried to help her, I told her to go get Adam. But she didn’t. Why didn’t she? Oh, Pa, I tried to help her….”

“Shhhh. Rest.” Ben face was haggard. This wasn’t like Joe. Something other than fever and pain was eating at him, and so far Joe had resisted the laudanum sitting in a dark bottle on his bedside table.

“No, Pa. I can’t. But I tried. I really did,” Joe’s voice dropped off. His eyes drifted shut despite his fight to keep them open, and then he heaved a keening sigh as he slipped back into unconsciousness.

Chapter 7

 

“Roy,” Doc Martin said with worry as he held up a shaking hand, “this is going crazy. First, it was just a few more murders. Now it’s making my hands shake, and with mine accidents, you know what I’ve seen.”

 

“I’m the one dragging the bodies to you,” Roy complained and added some whiskey to his coffee. His own hands were pretty shaky. “Last few days, it gone right south.”

 

“I’ll say. Pass me that bottle. Did you know that Joe Cartwright was attacked, on the Ponderosa no less? The edge, mind you, but still. Don’t know what could have caused that wound on his leg, but I’d say someone was trying to land a good enough cut into his artery in his thigh to end it all pretty quick for him.”

+++++

Adam scowled as he said the appropriate words over the grave. It had been easy enough to dig one in this soft, slippery grit. He’s never liked this part of their land much. It had little life and here was little they could do with it to make it better, but whoever held it held substantial water rights, so they made sure they held it.

A pile of rocks and a makeshift cross of whittled sticks marked the grave of the unknown man. His grubby, non-descript clothes sullied Adam’s saddlebags, making Sport nervous.

+++++

“Pa!!” Joe tried to leap up and wound up falling back to his bed in a scream of pain. He’d used his hurt shoulder to push up instead of rolling and had just paid for it.

“I’m still here, son,” Ben said urgently. He rose and looked down at the sweating, pale lad looking small and vulnerable in the big bed with white linen sheets that, horribly, matched the tone of Joe’s skin where it wasn’t bruised. The pillow had packed down as Joe tossed and turned and Ben tried to slip it out from his shoulders. “Let me make you more comfortable. Ah, Joe, my boy, my boy.”

“Pa, I let you down. I only got one. But I got him good,” Joe tried to wipe away sweat. “I kinda, kinda, see it all, but then it goes away. I just know that getting just one wasn’t enough. I think I made it worse. I think I brought them here!” Joe groaned and fought Ben’s grip to try to get up. He yelped at the pain in his shoulder and fell back to the bed. “They’ll come here. One. One left…Pa,” he panted, his breath too hot, reflecting the fever starting to rage at the infection in his leg. “Stop them!”

“Here, you need some laudanum, Joe,” Ben murmured and reached for the little bottle.

“NO!” Joe screamed hoarsely and smacked the bottle away, the dark contents leaving a stain up the plaster like a spray of blood. “Gotta stay clear! Gotta.” His chest heaved as he tried to steady himself. He met his father’s eyes and forced himself to focus despite the pain in his leg that hurt as much now as it did when, when…

It all faded away.

Hoss came into the room at speed. “Joe was yelling. Hey, what happened there?” he looked at the stained wall with huge eyes.

“Joe wouldn’t take his medicine. He’d rather be in pain and alert. Whether he’s right or not, there’s something going on here and it’s got Joe scared out of his wits, and ready for a fight. Put the hands on alert. Better be safe. Is Adam in yet?”

“No, sir,” Hoss said quietly. The look on his father’s face said he was ready for war. That alone was enough to unsettle him. But Joe’s outcry had put chills up his spine.

Chapter 8

 

Late in the night, Joe opened his eyes and knew, deep down, he’d beat the infection. He’d beaten the …man…who’d slashed him. He recalled that clear enough. Fight to the death. Laughter. Manic laughter. Then something, something so deeply wrong his mind still shied away from it. But that damn…knife? So wrong in his hand…But he’d won. He knew that. He remembered using the …knife? To cut the leather thong that had tied him to that…man. Then he’d torn the thong off his wrist and meant to go after the next man. Man? Either way, he’d meant to go after him. But he’d faded away.

The pain in his leg burned like brimstone. Joe set his jaw.

I’ll fight this. I’ll win this, too. I beat one, I’ll beat the other. Some men are …monsters. Why God lets men like that walk the earth I don’t know. But I’ll fix that. Got one. I’ll get the other. Maybe Roy will get him. Maybe they’ll all figure it out. Adam’s smart, he’ll—

“Adam!” Joe cried hoarsely. “Pa, where’s Adam?”

But it was still Hoss by his bedside. “Joe! Joe! Pa’s just getting some sleep. Adam came home about an hour ago. He’s fine.”

“I need to see him, need to,” Joe panted. “Water?”

“You bet, Joe.”

Joe drank slowly, marveling at how it tasted better than the finest whiskey he’d ever had, so cold and smooth and soothing. “Now, Hoss? Could ya get Adam? I need to, to see…” Joe waved for more water. Hoss tipped the glass. “See that he’s all right. Maybe seeing him will give me some answers.”

“We could all do with some answers, that fer sure,” Hoss agreed strongly.

Chapter 9

Another night, and this time it wasn’t just one missing person, it was three. All women, all pretty, all ladies of negotiable virtue.

Which wasn’t helping Roy get any sleep.

“At least we haven’t found the bodies yet,” Doc Martin grumbled. “And I’d best ride out and see Joe. Funny I haven’t heard from them. Usually I’ve had a second call by now, especially on Joe. That boy develops secondary infections like few I’ve seen. But he gets through, by and by.”

Roy raised a bushy eyebrow. “He’s the odd man out here. Since these girls have started disappearing and turning up in few and fewer bits, it’s like a damper got put on all the other violence, other than the shootin’ over that daft Brit trying to cheat at cards. He’s lucky he was just winged.”

The “Daft Brit” A young, sweetly boyish man locked up in one of the cells in the front of the office. He waved sheepishly.

+++++

Joe had refused to let Adam out of the room. He threatened to get up, to tear off his bandage, to throw things, and to scream the roof down at Adam’s wedding, if ever such a thing should happen. Adam’s appearance had both unsettled and eased Joe, but nothing more had come to mind about just why it was so important that Adam stay in sight.

“This is a pickle,” Adam leaned the chair back, almost tipping it over but not quite. He lifted an eyebrow at Joe. “I’ve got things to do.”

“All I know is that you’re not leaving my sight until I’ve got my head screwed on straight again,” Joe muttered.

Adam snorted. “I’m doomed for life, then, if we have to wait that long.”

Joe blew a raspberry at his sardonic older sibling. “So there, smartass.”

“Well debated, Joe, as usual.” Adam chuckled and let the chair tip forward so he could look at Joe again. “There has to be some way to unlock that pile of grey muck you call a brain.”

“I’d punch you right now if I could get up,” Joe retorted, but he was fighting a smile. “I think I’m getting better, y’know. Must be all this brotherly love you exude.”

“You’ve been reading the dictionary again. Trying to impress that new schoolteacher?” Adam winked and snickered as Joe’s jaw dropped.

“I do NOT have any interest in dictionaries or teachers, well, at least not that one. She’s mighty snippy.”

“So she turned you down?” Adam laughed.

“Yeah,” Joe sighed, and shrugged just his good shoulder. Even that made him wince. “Schoolteachers are your thing. I think she likes you.”

“ME? And why does everyone think I want to court the schoolmarm? Maybe I’d like a sweet little piece of fluff, you know, all in blonde ringlets and that just says ‘yes Adam’,” he teased back at Joe as he tilted the chair back again, and managed to get one long arm hooked so that he could include the night table in his lean. “Makes me apple pies and sweet potatoes just the way I like,” he went on.

“That’ll be the day,” Joe muttered. “Show me one like that and I’ll grab her first.”

“If she cooks like I want, Hoss will beat both our heads in to get her,” Adam commented easily.

Joe laughed, then winced. “Ow. Don’t make me laugh. It hurts.”

“Joe, did you hear the one about the lawyer, the cowboy and the senator…”

“Shut up, Adam.” Joe was already starting to snicker at his latest favorite joke. He put good hand up to hold his sore ribs and paused. “Wait. Wait! That’s right!! Adam!! The guy down the ravine!! He’s one of the ones…he and his partner got a pretty gal…I know her name, but…one of the new gals at the Delta, sweet little thing, and she went with them, but I followed. They kept calling me pretty…and I made them trade places, let her go! They said sure, and next thing I knew, I’m tied, no, sorta lashed to this one guy, and the knives weren’t knives, they were these stones!”

Joe started to sit up in his excitement, but wisely lay back down. Adam was beside him, listening with an intent expression that spoke of a man hard set on keeping his ears wide open as his mind raced. “Stones,” he prompted Joe gently.

“Long, sharp stones. They said I had to fight one; the other had a gun! And on our land, up by –“

“Where we found you, and the dead man,” Adam filled in the pause.

“Yeah. I won. Dammit, Adam, I won. I was sure the other one was going to get me, but he slunk off. I pushed the guy down the hill, right after stabbing him. It was him or me. Evil. Pure evil. But neither was anything to look at, to fix in your mind, just their eyes. And that was it, Adam. They hate. Really, really hate.”

Joe was starting to sweat again. Adam pulled up the sheet as he waited for Joe to continue, but Joe was lost in thoughts full of horror, if the look on his face was anything to go by.

“Hate what, Joe?” Adam said hopefully.

“Us. We’re pretty, they said. They hate pretty. Anything pretty.”

Adam scowled at that remark. “Men?” He tilted his head and looked at Joe, who snapped his eyes open and glared back with enough force to set his older brother aback.

“They said,” Joe’s voice trembled, “it was time to upgrade. They said,” his shudder shook the bed, “we think we’re too good. They’ve got the women scared, but they’re just women. Killing us, somehow, they think that’ll do something for them. Something that I can’t even get my mind to get to, it makes me just stop thinkin’, it scares me so much. They’re madmen”

Adam fell very serious. His own mind clearly drifted and even Joe, in his agitated state, saw his brother go pale and oddly still.

“Adam, there’s still one out there. And he means to get us.”

Chapter 10

 

Moonlight was supposed to give them powers, the old shaman had said. But it hadn’t. Not against that little fool, that pampered, trumped up center of affection for half the girls in town.Maybe he has his own power. The shaman had said people themselves could have power. Not very many, just some. They were usually shamans. They’d killed the old man to get his stones, his powers. It had worked right up until Joe Cartwright.It had been like an angel of destiny had appeared to them when Joe had ridden up and demanded they let the girl go. There he sat, so tall and sure on his horse, not knowing who or what he faced. It was as if the most perfect specimen had come to them, thanks to all their effort to call more and more power, as if he was entrapped and didn’t know it.

But the ritual, it hadn’t worked. The girls, well, they didn’t deserve the ritual. They just were little vessels to empty.

But Joe, he was a prize. And now the prize would be all HIS. Destiny made more sense now. No more sharing the power, the prizes.

And if Joe was that much of a prize, then his oldest brother, heir apparent, face of a fallen angel compared to Joe’s face of a risen angel, was equally as necessary. Getting them both would surely give him all the power he’d ever, ever need.

He looked up to the sky and chanted the words the old man had taught them. One dark, one light, he thought with glee. Gifts brought by all the little powers from those stupid silly, screaming girls…

 

Chapter 11

 

Adam stretched out. He’d done as Joe asked, and was now settled into his own bed, his gun handy under the pillow, along with a knife. His rifle was at hand, although the butt was cold against his leg. If this is what it took to get Joe to stay still and in bed, he’d do it. Something about Joe’s fear had migrated of Joe and was affecting the rest of the house.Hoss was sleeping in a chair beside the gun cabinet. He wasn’t taking any chances. His guts told him something weird was afoot, and the way the hands were talking about the gruesome finds just up that ravine where Joe had been found was making his skin crawl. Roy had ordered them all out and back to the house while he, Doc Martin, and a few men in plain suits, up from San Francisco about similar finds there, all worked at what Hoss suspected was something he didn’t want to see. Or even imagine.Ben sat on the opposite side of the room, cleaning his favorite Henry rifle. He was lost in thought, but his face was set in lines that spoke of fury and strength.

+++++

They found it, dammit.

They’re stealing my power!

Too many, too, too, many. Can’t fight them. But I still feel strong. Must act now, before they bless the bodies and ruin the power!

 

Chapter 12

A low, cold cloud rolled in, bumping up against the taller peaks before rolling down like freshly picked cotton. It was the kind of cloud that was more like sticky fog; it swirled around and followed footsteps like a puppy desperate for attention. The later is got, the thicker the fog. But it stayed soft and white, as if heaven were trying to cover the Comstock to hide the angel’s eyes from the sad pile of limbs and bloodsoaked dresses that turned gown men ill and made them weep for the lives lost there.

“I can’t even count,” Doc Martin said bleakly. “I guess the ones found around town were when they couldn’t make it here. I’m guessing it’s a they, and not just one. But I might be wrong.”

“This is just down from where Adam reported finding a dead male. Apparently he’d attacked Joe. Funny, that’s the only guy…” Roy shuddered.

“So far. Weren’t not to the bottom yet. How many reports you got of a missing girl, Roy?” doc Martin turned around and tried to take a breath of fresh wind to get the taste of carrion out of his mouth.

“A good thirty in the last month. And there’s all sorts who could vanish and no one would know,” Roy put down his burden. “About twenty more than usual, I’d say. If I’d had any idea, any at all…but these girls come and go all the time. Oh, Paul, I feel sick. Sick to my stomach. We’ve got a monster on the loose. I gotta get back to town. Clem will warn people, but right now I want to stop him, or them, before they strike again. If I don’t, I’m turning in my badge.”

One of the new men, wearing a grey suit that clearly was not top of the line, came forward. “Sir?” he said in a very cockney accent, “if I may, I’d ask that you not quit. When lawmen start to see that there are these kinds of monsters out there, and ask the right questions sooner, it makes them easier to catch.”

“I see your point,” Roy heaved a sigh. “So, you boys say you saw some of this back in Frisco?”

“Some,” the man admitted. “Two men, from what we gather. I was a copper in Edinburough and we’d get some of this, but this is by far the worst I’ve seen. It’s escalated beyond anything I thought possible.”

+++++

Joe woke up and knew that miserable fever had come back. The room was too hot, his blankets were unbearable and his leg throbbed even more than his shoulder. Although, he had to admit, the shoulder was improving better than the last time he’d had to have it put back in.

He lay there, after kicking the sheet off, and wondered at the thoughts that kept lurking just under a layer of fear. He knew more, but didn’t know what the more was. That alone was bugging him. Heck, I’m thinking about thinking, wonder if this is what it’s like for Adam all the time.

A vision of Adam, in the desert, dragging a corpse. Joe had wondered about that, and why he kept seeing it since regaining consciousness. Oh, there had been the rational explanation about the dragging, but no matter what, it wasn’t rational to near kill yourself dragging a dead body, especially if the man had tried to kill you.

Joe had listened to Adam’s dead monotone when he’d finally talked about those lost weeks under the thumb of Peter Kane. I thought older brother had no weaknesses, until I heard him talk about that madman. That was when I knew Adam had a flaw as big or bigger than any of mine; pride in being himself. Heck, I’d have fought it out, gotten away or been dead. Either way, I’d not be any man’s slave just to show that I’m incapable of being anything less than rational. And there’s no way I’d have dragged his sorry rotting ass along and jeopardized myself in the process.

And why am I thinking of that? Why…

Oh, GOD no.

Things came rushing back so hard that Joe felt ill, like being hit in the belly by a fist that went in and twisted his insides. He knew, then, what his mind had been hiding and he wished it was hidden again even though a part of him grew stronger at knowing the whole of it. Fear, cloying, childish fear twisted and solidified into a man’s fear, a fear that gave him certainty and power.

No DAMN way are you touching my family. No DAMN way are you touching another woman. And NO DAMN WAY are you getting away from me!

Joe knew that his gun was downstairs, but he had knives in his room. A good one stayed in his bedside table drawer. It was sheer painful hell to shift over and open the drawer, but he did it. As he settled back with the sheathed hunting knife in his good hand, he fell as silent as possible.

Some nights, you are the hunted. Some nights, you’re the hunter.

Joe knew which he was tonight.

Chapter 13

It took half the night, but he heard it. He’d steeled himself, thinking over and over again that the house was safe. No one was getting through that door downstairs. But part of him knew that the door wasn’t where the problem would slip in.

His voicebox seemed to freeze. “Pa?” he tried to yell, but no sound came out, just a barely audible rasp. “Adam?”

Nothing at all.

He lay there in agony at the near silent footsteps in the hall, but he still knew he wasn’t the hunted. Not tonight. Come to me, that’s right, come to me, I’m waiting…Joe thought it all as hard as he could, turning it into an odd prayer as he repeated it.

Joe lay there and felt the darkness as much as heard it. He swore he could feel a chill in the air as it, for no man could bring this kind of feeling, it moved through the upper hall. His good hand had the knife ready, and he turned his head and pretended to sleep.

The chill stopped. Joe felt his heart race the hardest it ever had. It was a bigger fight to lay still and not get up and try to face it head on. But he knew he might have to. It wasn’t coming any closer.

Joe lay there, stalemated. Expend all his last strands of energy getting up and warning the thing, or lay there and wait? He felt cold sweat trickle down from his temples, itching through his hair. And still he felt it just standing there, waiting, not yet at his door.

Then the pressure lifted from his soul, as though he were free. Joe took a deep, clear breath and shook. Had he really felt that? Was it fever? Surely Pa and Hoss would have secured all the upstairs shutters!

Joe opened his eyes and berated himself for being a fever-ridden fool. His mind was addled from the fall and infection, that was all. He’d fought a man, just a man, albeit a crazy, delusional one, and had won. Nothing evil walked the halls, and he was safe.

“Safe,” Joe went to say aloud, but not a sound came out.

“Adam?” he tried again. Nothing.

But, despite his closed door, he heard a slight thump from down the hall. Adam was not the type to flail in his sleep.

“Adam?” Joe tried again. Still not a peep. He sat up as carefully as he could, his shoulder screaming at him despite the nice, tight bandage securing his arm down to prevent any movement until it mended.

Joe felt his hackles start to rise. His leg took on new shades of purple agony as he stood, knife in his good hand, and went to the door. It wasn’t easy to open it, the knife between his teeth and his eyes wide open, but he did it. His steps were uneven and staggering and, worst of all; slow, as he went down the hall to Adam’s room.

Adam’s room with the closed door.

Joe leaned against the wall and steadied his courage. What if I’m crazy? What if Adam is in there, asleep, and he shoots me because I told him to put his gun under his pillow? Pa will be pretty upset if that happens. So will I, come to think of it.

What if my brother is in there, dying, and I don’t take the chance?

Joe heaved himself off the wall and put the knife in his teeth again. He stood aside as he ever so slowly turned the knob.

Chapter 14

 

Fear. Fear swept over him, freezing him. Moonlight seemed to be made of darkness and didn’t reveal so much as conceal. Joe knew how to look through the darkness now. He stood his ground and closed his mind to the blinding fear, his fever making it all too easy. Now he could see through the dark that had been put in his head. Two men, at each other’s throats. But one was weakening, dark running down his chest. Long fingers clenched in a death grip on the uninjured man’s neck.

Joe could not move closer without falling, his leg was already collapsing…

Huge hands tossed him aside without being rough. Those same huge hands glowed white in the unnatural dark, and blue eyes blazed with inhuman strength right at that moment. The intruder was lifted up like a doll as Adam fell back, his hands going to his own throat to try to stem the blood. Bones crunched as Hoss twisted the intruder’s neck so hard there was nothing left to hold his head up with, so it fell at the most unnatural angle Joe had ever seen.

“Hoss!” he cried out, and heard his own voice at long last. Moonlight turned white again and the sounds of the living took over.

“What the Sam Hell?” Ben bounded into the room, a gun in each hand. “We heard you get up, but—“ Ben saw Adam and went to him instantly. “Son?”

Adam said nothing, but Joe spoke up. “I think this thing tried to cut Adam’s throat. Do something, Pa!”

Ben was already tearing the pillowcase into a bandage. Adam took it and pressed it in tight. “I woke up at the last minute,” he whispered. “Done worse shaving.”

“I’ll not take any chances. Hoss,” Ben looked up.

Hoss was looking down at the face of the man he’d killed with his bare hands. He felt a tickle in his mind but pushed it away. “What would drive a man to do such things? It don’t make any sense. I’ll put him outside and send one of the hands for the sheriff and Doc Martin. Frankly, I don’t want to leave this place, who knows what else could happen.”

Joe looked up at Hoss’ blue eyes and thought them the most beautiful sight he’d seen in a long time. “Thanks, Hoss.”

Adam glared at his father, who was fussing over what Adam clearly thought not a serious cut despite evidence to the contrary. “From me, too,” he said carefully. “How’d he get in here?”

“I dunno,” Hoss said as he picked up the corpse. “Double-checked everything myself before nightfall.”

+++++

Hoss sent the messages off with two men, believing that tonight, of all nights, in safety in numbers. He put the body behind the barn for the sheriff to look at later, and went where he belonged. Back inside with his brothers and father.

Beauty is as beauty does…

+++++

“Too close for comfort,” Ben murmured, now helping Joe up. Adam was simply looking vexed in addition to being too pale for his own good. Hop Sing was muttering and making odd hand gestures as he stripped the bloodied sheets off Adam’s bed. Joe felt his head swirl around, and while he felt sick to stomach form the pain in his leg and shoulder, it was a normal sick to his stomach.

“Adam?” Joe said quietly as he balanced on his good leg. “Didn’t you put a gun under your pillow?”

“Yeah,” Adam said in a rough voice. “It jammed.”

“But you keep your gun in perfect shape,” Joe whispered.

“I know,” Adam said angrily. “Caught like that, in my own room. I must be getting old. Thanks Joe, for the warning.”

Ben hefted Joe up a little better. “Warning? What’s going on here?”

“Just a feeling, Pa,” Joe said lightly, then winced as he tried to put some weight on his bad leg. He didn’t want to worry his father. As Hoss had said, dead was dead. The feeling had left. Adam, while cut, was only suffering a flesh wound. He’d been through mush worse. Joe saw no point worrying his father needlessly right now. “I need to go lay down.”

“Sure thing, son,” Ben half smiled. “Maybe some sleep is what we all need.”

+++++

The morning sun found Adam with several stitches, his throat covered by linen bandages and under order to not move around much. Despite that, he was at the table for breakfast and making it clear he wanted his fair share.

Joe had insisted on being hauled downstairs to join his family and double check on Adam, then promptly hugged his eldest brother and almost wept. He steadied himself when he saw Roy and his Pa come in looking very grave.

“You think this is even possible?”

“Saw it with my own eyes,” Roy shuddered. ‘I’ll be having nightmares for the rest of my life. The deputies; they couldn’t take it any longer, and Isaac, well, he’s also a preacher, so he said quite the prayer, then we just buried them last night. Most of ‘em were matched to descriptions and didn’t have no one. Sorry to use your land like that.”

Adam, his hand to his bandage, said softly, “Let them have their place. We don’t use that land. We’ll put up markers. It’s theirs now.”

“You know what we’re talking about?” Roy said with some surprise.

“Yeah,” Adam said quietly, his face still pale as paper. “The guy who tried to murder me said something about how women scream, but I wouldn’t because I would have a throat to scream with. The way he said it, afterward, I thought I wasn’t the first one he went after….”

Joe shuddered and eased his aching body down into the red leather chair. “Evil. Pure, black evil. That’s what they were. And I don’t mean men turned evil. They were evil.”

Ben went to his youngest. “Men can be more evil than we ever expect. That’s fever talking, Joe. And they’re dead now.”

“Somehow, Pa, I know it’s not fever. It’s not men gone mad. It was more.” He met Adam’s eyes and felt an understanding there, but Adam said nothing.

“Well, dead is dead,” Hoss muttered. “Roy, you gonna take that body back with you? It gives me the creeps the way the head isn’t quite attached anymore.”

“Yup. Brought a wagon. His papers say he’s John Smith, no address, no kin from the looks of it. Some fellas from elsewhere were lookin’ for him and his buddy. They’re gonna dig up the other fella and take him, too. And I found two stone sorta knives on the guy, plus a passle of odds and ends the defy understanding. Either way, I’m glad they’re dead. I can sleep a little easier at night.”

+++++

Adam avoided Joe until nightfall, when he offered to help him up to bed and made a joke about the half-bled-to-death leading the lame. Hoss had already triple checked everything, but tension still ran high.

As Joe settled under his blankets, he looked Adam square in the eye. “You know it was more.”

Adam looked away. “Joe…”

“You know it!” Joe said evenly. “I know it. No one will ever believe us.”

Adam put his hand up to his throat. His fingers shook just a bit. “I don’t know. But any man who wants to skin off my face and yours isn’t human in the usual way.”

“He said that to you?” Joe gasped. “Went on about ‘pretty’?”

“About dark and light, and power, and taking it by taking our faces. As if skin is who we are,” Adam muttered. “You tangled with these guys to save a girl? That was brave. And stupid. But I’d have done the same thing.”

“I know.” Joe winked. “And who’d want your ugly mug?”

Adam chuckled just a bit. “Always told you your looks would get you in trouble.”

+++++

In the cell back in the jail, the lone occupant in the front portion, facing Roy Coffee’s unoccupied desk, shifted and felt oddly warm and comforted. He felt purpose come to him and fill him.

“Beauty,” he murmured and gazed out at the night sky, “is only skin deep. Ha. Who believes that old clap?” Jack sighed once and mulled over the idea of heading back home to London. It all made so much sense, all of a sudden.

Finis