SUMMARY: \u00a0Joseph Cartwright is a haunted man. He can’t forget the woman he met in Martinville. Little does he know, she remembers him as well and has made a pact with the Devil to make certain he will be hers for eternity. A WHN for the Bonanza episode Twilight Town.\u00a0 The characters of Nicholas, Janette, and Lucien LaCroix were originally created by Barney Cohan and James D. Parrott for the TV series Forever Knight.<\/p>\n
Word count: 38,844<\/p>\n
Rated: PG-13<\/p>\n
Louise<\/strong><\/p>\n Prologue<\/p>\n Little Joe Cartwright sat bolt upright in bed; his well-muscled form wrapped in a tangle of sweat-soaked sheets.\u00a0 He remained still for a moment, and then ran a hand through his sodden curls before casting his covers off and rising.\u00a0 Standing was almost too much.\u00a0 Joe stumbled as his feet hit the floor; a trembling hand shot out to catch hold of the bedside table.\u00a0 He waited \u2013 breathing, gathering strength \u2013 and then pressed off, passing his fingers over the bedside tray that held his untouched supper and the sterling silver cutlery that lay beside it.\u00a0 Slowly, like one still caught in a dream, the young man padded on bare feet across the floor until he came to the window where he halted.\u00a0 It was late October.\u00a0 The sky was black but the moon was full and high.\u00a0 Its argent light reached through the glass panes like an amorous lover, caressing his glistening skin; urging him to turn the latch and throw open the window.\u00a0 He had a thought to resist.\u00a0 It was far back and deep within him.\u00a0 Contained within that thought was all that he was and all that he hoped to be.\u00a0 It contained everything he had ever been taught – each and every piece of wisdom and good advice imparted to him over twenty-two years by his beloved Pa and brothers.<\/p>\n It meant nothing.<\/p>\n There was nothing.<\/p>\n Nothing but her.<\/p>\n She stood in the yard, her arms outstretched; her pallid beauty as powerful a drug as he had ever known.\u00a0 She called to him without words, willing him to step through the window and onto the roof \u2013 and then off <\/em>of the roof.<\/p>\n She wanted him to die.<\/p>\n As he hesitated, Joe shoved a handful of curls off his forehead and then ran his hand along the back of his neck.\u00a0 He prided himself on being a strong man with a sense, not only of himself, but of an easy confidence in who and what he was.\u00a0 He might not be as smart as Adam or as even-tempered as Hoss. He knew he could never be the man his father was.\u00a0 But he was <\/em>Joe Cartwright.\u00a0 Or he had been<\/em> Joe Cartwright.<\/p>\n Now he was\u2026what?<\/p>\n Joe’s eyes, emerald-green in the moonlight, returned to the woman who waited.<\/p>\n Hers.<\/p>\n That’s all he was.<\/p>\n Just\u2026hers.<\/p>\n A sudden gust of wind and the soft, subtle touch of silk curtains against his fevered skin alerted Joe to the fact that he’d opened the window.\u00a0 He looked down in surprise to find his fingers clenched and white as the sash they clutched.\u00a0 Beads of sweat dropped from his spiraling curls, wetting his bare skin as they traveled the length of his chest to the rolled waistband of his night-trousers, chilling him.<\/p>\n Before he was aware of it, he was halfway out the window.<\/p>\n Then, like Mr. Poe’s insistent raven that older brother was so fond of, there came a rapping, a regular and constant tapping at his chamber door.\u00a0 It was tentative at first and then grew in both intensity and volume, as if the one who knocked had grown desperate.\u00a0 There was a flash of a man’s face in his mind \u2013 a baby face with blue eyes that were pale as the moonlight maiden who called him.\u00a0 A man who cared about him.<\/p>\n A man he cared about.<\/p>\n But not enough.<\/p>\n As Joe’s other foot found a precarious purchase on the shingles there was a sound \u2013 one such as he had never heard. \u00a0He turned to look and found that his three-inch-thick door had been torn from its hinges.\u00a0 Splintered wood and twisted metal lay scattered across the floor of his bedroom.\u00a0 Someone stood in the midst of the chaos. \u00a0It was the blond man; the one with the cherubic face.\u00a0 But something was wrong.\u00a0 His eyes were no longer blue.<\/p>\n They were the sickly yellow of the wolf.<\/p>\n “Joseph, no!” the man cried as he flew across the room.<\/p>\n Joe flew too.<\/p>\n Right off of that roof and straight into Louise’s arms.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Chapter One – Before<\/p>\n A strong tug on the back of his brown leather belt told Little Joe Cartwright he’d been found out even before his older brother spoke.<\/p>\n “Where do you think you’re off to, little brother?” Hoss demanded.\u00a0 “Pa ain’t gonna take kindly to you disappearin’ with the autumn drive comin’ on right quick.”<\/p>\n He’d been halfway in the saddle.\u00a0 Now he was halfway to the ground and hanging just about two feet above it.<\/p>\n “Let me go, you big ox!” Joe shouted as he twisted and turned in an attempt to gain his freedom.<\/p>\n His giant of a brother was unimpressed.<\/p>\n “Now, Jo-seph<\/em>, don\u2019t you know it ain’t polite to call a feller names?” Hoss made a face \u2013 kind of like he’d sucked rhubarb.\u00a0 “How’d you like it if’n I called you a skinny little runt?”<\/p>\n “You do <\/em>call me a skinny little runt!”<\/p>\n With his free hand, Hoss scratched his head. \u00a0“I guess I do at that.\u00a0 Sorry, little brother.”<\/p>\n A second later Joe got what he wanted \u2013 released.\u00a0 Or what thought<\/em> he’d wanted before he ended up eating dirt.<\/p>\n Momentarily a big beefy paw appeared before his nose, palm open.<\/p>\n “No hard feelin’s?”<\/p>\n Joe eyed the hand with a sigh.\u00a0 Then he gripped Hoss\u2019 wrist with both hands and thrust his smaller frame between his bigger brother’s legs, using the momentum to flip Hoss over and onto his back.\u00a0 Rising to his feet, Joe planted his hands on his hips and stood there, nostrils flaring, breathing fire, as Hoss climbed slowly to his feet.<\/p>\n “Okay, little brother, bring it on!” the big man said with a smile.<\/p>\n It was only a matter of seconds before the two of them were kicking up a dust storm worthy of a dry Sunday in Arizona.\u00a0 It had been a long time since he and Hoss had fought a mock battle and in the mood he was in, Joe was more than ready for it. \u00a0He dove in headfirst.\u00a0 In no time at all both he and Hoss looked like they’d been washed in sand and dressed in dirt.<\/p>\n It took the drawn-out long-suffering sound of a throat being cleared and a stentorian baritone bellowing ‘BOYS!’ to bring them back to their senses.<\/p>\n Which was probably a good thing since Hoss was holding him high over his head and that ground that he’d hit earlier was looking even harder<\/em> now.<\/p>\n “Hey, Pa,” Joe said with a wiggle of his fingers.<\/p>\n Pa’s arms were crossed and his toe was tapping, which was never a good sign.<\/p>\n “And just what do you two think you are doing?”<\/p>\n Hoss looked up just as he looked down.\u00a0 Joe wrinkled his nose and thought furiously.<\/p>\n “Well, you see, Pa, Hoss here was tellin’ me how he wanted to win that contest at the harvest dance – you know, the strong man one?”\u00a0 He was nodding like an idiot.\u00a0 “Ain’t that right, Hoss?”<\/p>\n His brother was staring at him.\u00a0 Hoss looked puzzled \u2013 like he was trying to figure out how he’d<\/em> ended up in trouble.<\/p>\n “Yeah, sure\u2026.”<\/p>\n “I told Hoss that I weighed more than the barbell they’d be using and if he could lift me a couple of dozen times over his head without panting, then I was sure he\u2026could\u2026.”<\/p>\n Pa was pinching his nose and shaking his head.<\/p>\n Which was even worse.<\/p>\n Joe winced and waited.\u00a0 He’d expected the comment about how it was no wonder that Pa’s hair had gone white and it was all because of him, but that wasn’t what he got.\u00a0 Pa drew a deep breath.\u00a0 He looked up toward Heaven and then down, and then said, his tone as measured as a man’s steps toward a grave.<\/p>\n “Hop Sing sent me to tell you that supper will be ready in a half-hour. I would advise the pair<\/em> of you to go inside and clean up before he mistakes you<\/em> for the main course!”<\/p>\n Now, brother Hoss, he had a way of missin’ when Pa was ready to explode like a jostled bottle of nitro.\u00a0 Middle brother’s beefy face lit up bright as a struck match as he exclaimed, “Does that mean we’re havin’ roast pig?”<\/p>\n Pa was not amused.<\/p>\n “There are times,” Pa said, “and they are many, I can tell you, when I wish the pair of you were still small enough to turn over my knee!”<\/p>\n “Pa, you know I ain’t never been small enough to turn over your knee,” Hoss replied matter-of-factly.\u00a0 “Now, Shortshanks here, on the other hand\u2026.”<\/p>\n Joe drew a breath to shout \u2013 and just in time because all the air in him was driven out as his brother swung him in a wide arc and deposited him bottom-first on the ground.<\/p>\n “\u2026dang, if he ain’t still little enough to fit!”<\/p>\n His fingers formed fists of their own volition.\u00a0 “I’ll show you who’s ‘little’!” he declared as he scrambled to his feet.<\/p>\n “JOSEPH!”<\/p>\n Joe’s nose twitched.\u00a0 He hated it when it did that, but he didn\u2019t have any more control over it than he did his temper.\u00a0 Unclenching his fists, he thrust his hands into his pockets \u2013 where they’d keep out of trouble.<\/p>\n “Sorry, Pa.”<\/p>\n His father was staring at him.\u00a0 Well, ‘glaring<\/em>‘ really.\u00a0 Then he said the words he dreaded.<\/p>\n “Hoss, why don’t you go on inside and clean up?\u00a0 I’d like to talk to your brother.”<\/p>\n “Don’t you think I need to\u2026clean up too?” Joe asked, hopeful.<\/p>\n “This will only take a minute.\u00a0 You’ll have plenty of time.”<\/p>\n His father started toward him as he spoke but stopped a few feet short, which puzzled him.\u00a0 If there was one thing Pa was, it was a toucher.\u00a0 For a moment Joe thought he was in real<\/em> trouble, but then he realized that his pa had already dressed for supper. \u00a0He watched as the older man considered \u2013 for just a moment \u2013 what embracing him in his disheveled state would cost.\u00a0 Then, apparently, Pa decided he had time to change too as he came to his side, wrapped an arm around his filthy shoulders, and drew him in close.<\/p>\n “Joseph, I want you to tell me what’s wrong.”<\/p>\n Pa felt him tense.<\/p>\n There was more than one purpose to that tightly wrapped arm.<\/p>\n “W-wrong?” he stuttered.\u00a0 “Nothing’s wrong, Pa.\u00a0 Really.\u00a0 I mean, what would make you think something is wrong?”<\/p>\n “Other than what you just said?” \u00a0The older man indicated his saddled horse with a nod.\u00a0 “And just where were you planning on going, young man?”<\/p>\n Joe swallowed over the big lump of the lie he was telling.\u00a0 “Just out\u2026for a ride.”<\/p>\n “With several days provision?”<\/p>\n His father tightened his grip and turned him so he was looking at Cochise.\u00a0 His horse’s back end was laden with fat saddlebags, a bed roll, a slicker, and a half-dozen other things needed to set up camp.<\/p>\n “A\u2026long<\/em>\u2026ride?”<\/p>\n His father’s anger faded to concern.\u00a0 “Joseph.\u00a0 Tell me the truth.\u00a0 Does this have to do with that young woman?”<\/p>\n Joe dropped his head, which was the wrong thing to do since Pa knew what that meant.<\/p>\n “What\u2026’young woman’?” he muttered.<\/p>\n He loved it and hated it; his father’s fingers on his chin, lifting his head so he had to meet his gaze.<\/p>\n “Joe, it’s been over a month,” Pa said.\u00a0 “You have to let it go.\u00a0 You have to let\u2026Louise\u2026go.”<\/p>\n How?<\/p>\n How did Pa always<\/em> know what he was thinking?<\/p>\n “Pa, I\u2026can’t.\u00a0 Don’t you understand?\u00a0 I have to go back.\u00a0 I have to\u2026see for myself.”<\/p>\n His father shook his head as he released him.\u00a0 “After we found you in the desert, half out of your head, your brothers and I went<\/em> back to Martinville with you, son.\u00a0 There was nothing there.\u00a0 You did ‘see’.\u00a0 What else can you possible hope to find?”<\/p>\n “I don’t know.\u00a0 Something.\u00a0 Some proof that\u2026.”\u00a0 Joe sucked in air.\u00a0 This was it.\u00a0 “Some proof that I’m not crazy.”<\/p>\n “Joseph\u2026\u00a0 Son. You were bushwhacked and struck viciously on the head.\u00a0 You spent days wandering in the desert in the late summer heat with no water.\u00a0 It’s a wonder that you’re alive.”\u00a0 Pa’s voice choked as he reached out with his hand to brush the curls from his forehead.\u00a0 “Any man who went through such an ordeal would be expected to see things that weren\u2019t there.”<\/p>\n “But she was <\/em>there!” he shouted like a stupid little kid.\u00a0 “Louise\u2026was there.”\u00a0 Joe hesitated.\u00a0 He knew how ridiculous it sounded, like he was a schoolboy with a crush. “Pa, there was something\u2026.\u00a0 Something special\u2026about her.\u00a0 I can’t forget her.\u00a0 I need to\u2026.”\u00a0 He wet his lips.\u00a0 This sounded even more<\/em> ludicrous.\u00a0 “I have<\/em> to find her.”<\/p>\n His father was staring at him, not dismissing what he said \u2013 which scared him a little.\u00a0 After a moment, the older man said, “Joseph, I understand that this is important to you.\u00a0 Do you believe me when I say that?”<\/p>\n He hesitated only a second before he nodded.<\/p>\n “Then you have to believe me when I say that I promise I will help you get to the bottom of this \u2013 but not now.\u00a0 Now<\/em> is not the time.\u00a0 I need every man with his wits about him to help with the upcoming drive.”\u00a0 The older man paused.\u00a0 “No, not I \u2013 ‘we<\/em>‘ need.\u00a0 This drive is as important to you and your brothers as it is to me.\u00a0 Last season’s drought hurt us.\u00a0 Between the destructive fires, the livestock that died of thirst, and the families that pulled up stakes, it’s cost us.\u00a0 Joseph, it’s going to be a long, hard winter and an even harder spring.\u00a0 The money from the drive is what will see us through.”<\/p>\n It was true.\u00a0 Though rain had returned to the Nevada Territory \u2013 even without a real rainmaker \u2013 the drought had devastated Virginia City and its surrounds.\u00a0 The resources on the Ponderosa had preserved enough of their beeves to meet the contract brother Adam had negotiated, but others hadn’t fared as well. \u00a0People had gone back East.\u00a0 They’d lost a lot of ranch hands.<\/p>\n He didn’t know what he’d been thinking.<\/p>\n “I’m sorry, Pa.\u00a0 I was being selfish.\u00a0 I\u2026.”<\/p>\n “No more need be said,” Pa replied with a smile.\u00a0 “How about you and I go back to Martinville when we get back from the drive and see what we can find?\u00a0 Weather permitting, of course.”<\/p>\n Joe gave his father a limp smile.\u00a0 He wasn’t so sure he wanted his Pa along when he went to find Louise, but he knew better than to argue.<\/p>\n “Sounds, great, Pa.\u00a0 Now, I guess I better get inside and get cleaned up.\u00a0 Otherwise, knowing Hop Sing, dust is all<\/em> I’ll get to for supper tonight!” Joe said as he started to move.<\/p>\n His father caught him by the arm and stopped him.\u00a0 Cupping his face in his hand, he forced him to meet his gaze.\u00a0 “You know I believe you, son. \u00a0Don’t you?”<\/p>\n Joe opened his mouth to reply, but the sound of footsteps stopped him.\u00a0 It was an unusual sound since most everyone who visited the Ponderosa rode into the yard. \u00a0Pivoting on his heel, the curly-haired man turned around to look.\u00a0 The sun had set while they talked, but enough light remained to illuminate the slender figure that approached them.\u00a0 It was a man; neither young or old. \u00a0From the look of him, he was probably around Adam’s age, or in his thirties.\u00a0 Joe noticed immediately that he and the man were close in height and build, though the stranger topped him by maybe an inch and was slightly more solid.\u00a0 It was hard to see the man\u2019s face since what was left of the sun was behind him, but there was no mistaking the color of his curls \u2013 they glistened like gold in the dying light.<\/p>\n Joe noted how his father instinctively stepped between him and the stranger.<\/p>\n “Howdy,” Pa said.\u00a0 “Can I help you?”<\/p>\n “Perhaps,” the man replied.\u00a0 “I’m looking for Benjamin Cartwright.\u00a0 Would you happen to know where I could find him?”<\/p>\n Joe knew his pa.\u00a0 The older man was sizing the stranger up.\u00a0 He didn’t look much like a ranch hand, though the newcomer was dressed like one in a pair of tight-fitting jeans stuffed into well-worn brown boots, and a pale blue shirt over which he wore a calfskin vest.\u00a0 Joe’s gaze instinctively went to the man’s hands.\u00a0 They didn’t appear to be callused.<\/p>\n Another indication that there might be something more to the stranger than met the eye.<\/p>\n “What do you want with Mister Cartwright?” Joe asked as his father’s gaze flicked to him before returning to the blond man.\u00a0 They’d played this game before, pretending they weren’t the owners of the ranch. \u00a0“Are you looking for work?”<\/p>\n The stranger smiled.\u00a0 It was what the preacher would have called a ‘beatific’ smile; the kind that assured you that its owner was among the saints.<\/p>\n “I am.\u00a0 I was told that Mister Cartwright was in need of hands to help with the autumn drive.”<\/p>\n His pa looked as skeptical as he felt.\u00a0 “You’ve\u2026worked drives before?”<\/p>\n The stranger’s smile broadened.\u00a0 “Friend, I can honestly<\/em> say that I have done just about everything and anything<\/em> you can name, including driving beeves.\u00a0 My last employment was on a ranch in Argentina.”<\/p>\n Pa looked surprised.\u00a0 “May I ask what brings you to Nevada then?”<\/p>\n For a second there was something.\u00a0 It entered the man’s eyes but fled almost as quickly, as if he had willed it to disappear.\u00a0 Joe sought to name it.\u00a0 It wasn’t fear, though there was something of fear it in. \u00a0Nor was it dread. \u00a0It contained determination and a bit of rage as well.<\/p>\n “Wanderlust,” he replied at last.<\/p>\n “So you’re not one to stay put in any place for long?” Pa asked.<\/p>\n “Long enough to get the job done,” the stranger answered.\u00a0 With that smile plastered firmly in place, he added, “Well, Mister Cartwright, do I have the job?”<\/p>\n Pa sputtered a moment and then laughed.\u00a0 “You found me out.\u00a0 How?”<\/p>\n The reply was instant.<\/p>\n “Keen perception and amazing deductive skills.”\u00a0 The stranger chuckled at their startled expressions.\u00a0 \u00a0“Plus I asked around before I came here and was given a rather\u2026er\u2026detailed description of you by a charming mature Englishwoman who goes by the name of\u2026Clementine?\u00a0 She was quite smitten with you, sir.\u00a0 I believe she waxed the most poetic about your ‘velvet brown’ eyes.”<\/p>\n Pa didn’t cuss very often, but he did now.\u00a0 “Good Lord!”\u00a0 When he had sufficiently recovered, his father held his hand out.\u00a0 “You guessed right.\u00a0 I am<\/em> Ben Cartwright.\u00a0 And you are?”<\/p>\n The man hesitated only a second before taking the offered hand.\u00a0 “Nicholas. Nicholas Knight. But you can call me Nick.”<\/p>\n “Nick it is, then,” Pa replied.\u00a0 “You’ve actually come at a fortuitous time, Nick.\u00a0 We’re short-handed and can use any good man we can get.”<\/p>\n It was out of his mouth before he could stop it.<\/p>\n “Are you?”\u00a0 Joe heard himself ask. \u00a0“Are<\/em> you a good man?”<\/p>\n Unlike Pa, who was staring at him as if he’d just walked a two-dollar hussy into church, Nick Knight appeared unruffled by his question.\u00a0 The blond man turned toward him.\u00a0 Nick held his hand out and waited until he had taken it before he replied.<\/p>\n “Good or bad, Joseph Cartwright,” their new hand said as he met and held his gaze, “I’m the man you need.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Adam Cartwright, you old dog!\u00a0 Where’ve you been keeping yourself?”<\/p>\n He knew that voice.\u00a0 It was one he hadn’t heard in a while and it took him by surprise.\u00a0 Adam placed his beer on the counter and turned to look into the large open room that was the common area of the Bucket of Blood.<\/p>\n “Viney?” he asked.<\/p>\n “In the flesh,” the older woman replied as she sidled up to him.<\/p>\n Viney was as much of an institution in Virginia City as the Bucket itself, or had been until she’d skipped town a few months back.\u00a0 Adam had to smile as she brushed his hand with her fingertips.\u00a0 Viney was the ‘scandalous’ woman of his past.\u00a0 Not that he’d had a relationship with her, though they were friends, but she was that ‘woman of the evening’ the church ladies had warned him in his youth, telling him he’d better walk on the other side of the street lest he be caught in her snares and ruined.<\/p>\n So, of course, he’d made it his business to make her acquaintance as soon as he could.<\/p>\n He didn’t know her real name.\u00a0 Everyone just called her ‘Viney’.\u00a0 She was somewhere around forty, though she appeared a good bit older.\u00a0 Life had used her hard, burning twenty years into her features for every ten she had lived.\u00a0 He didn’t know her entire history, though she’d shared bits and pieces of it with him over the years, handing out meager morsels as if they were prizes that had to be earned by trust.\u00a0 Ironically, she’d been born in Boston and had left the East for the West at a young age just like him.\u00a0 Her story was the usual one.\u00a0 Once out West she fell on hard times and fell into prostitution as the only way to survive.\u00a0 At the time of the church ladies’ warning he’d been fifteen and she’d been a stunner in her early twenties with full breasts, long legs, and a mane of luscious ebony-black hair.\u00a0 Viney’s eyes were ice-blue and set in a face pale enough to rival the Parian flesh of any of Michelangelo’s marble maidens. \u00a0Adam pursed his lips as his eyes narrowed and took her in.\u00a0 A vein of silver had crept into that black mane since last he’d seen her.\u00a0 More than one in fact.\u00a0 The widest started just above her left eye, which was narrowed from a hard slap one of her customers had given her years before.\u00a0 The man\u2019s ring caught the edge.\u00a0 It healed wrong.<\/p>\n The resulting scar and the sultry dropped lid it engendered had raised her price.<\/p>\n “How about a beer?” he asked her.<\/p>\n “I’ll take a whiskey,” Viney replied as she fingered his collar.\u00a0 “And some company.\u00a0 Meet me at my table?”<\/p>\n Her usual table was the one in the back \u2013 or it had been up until the time she left.<\/p>\n “I take it you’re back\u2026permanently?” he asked.<\/p>\n Viney’s silver-streaked ebony-black hair was wound up and pinned in place with an ivory comb.\u00a0 As she tilted her head, a fan of it broke loose to mask her gaze.<\/p>\n “As permanent as it gets, sugar.\u00a0 See you at the table.”<\/p>\n Adam sipped his beer as she moved away.\u00a0 Viney had a way of walking that made a man pay attention.\u00a0 He watched her until she took a seat and then turned to take the whiskey from Sam.<\/p>\n Who held onto it and said, “Watch yourself with that one, Adam.”<\/p>\n That <\/em>made him blink.\u00a0 “Viney?\u00a0 What for?\u00a0 I’ve know her as long as I’ve known Little Joe.\u00a0 If she was going to try something, she would have done it before now.”<\/p>\n “She ain’t\u2026the same.”\u00a0 The big burly man released the glass with a shudder.\u00a0 “I’m not saying she’s dangerous.\u00a0 Just\u2026different.”<\/p>\n Sam was a man as anchored to the Earth as they came.\u00a0 The bartender had seen just about everything in the time he’d lived and worked in Virginia City’s various establishments.\u00a0 Nothing shook him.<\/p>\n Until now it seemed.<\/p>\n When he turned back, drinks in hand, Adam noticed Viney wasn’t alone.\u00a0 A slender dark-haired saloon girl dripping crimson cloth and black lace stood next to her.\u00a0 She had one hand on the chair-back and the other on Viney’s shoulder.<\/p>\n To say that she was striking was a lollapalooza of an understatement.<\/p>\n Looking over his shoulder at Sam, he asked, “Who’s the new girl?”<\/p>\n “Friend of Viney’s.\u00a0 She vouched for her.”<\/p>\n There was an undercurrent of disapproval to the bar-keep’s tone.<\/p>\n “You don’t like her.”<\/p>\n Sam snorted as he reached for a glass to wipe it out.\u00a0 “She’s a bit high-handed for my taste, but that’s not it.”<\/p>\n “Oh?”\u00a0 Adam looked again.\u00a0 The young woman had turned and was looking toward the bat-wing doors as if expecting someone.\u00a0 A pale beam of moonlight struck her where she stood, painting her white skin a cool blue, and her deep brown hair the shade of midnight.\u00a0 Her eyes were large with painted brows above; her nose straight and slightly patrician.\u00a0 Her lips were full, sensual \u2013 and an open invitation for kissing. She had a long slender neck reminiscent of an ancient Greek statue and bore herself with the confidence and surety of a woman who knew who and what she was.<\/p>\n And exactly<\/em> what she wanted.<\/p>\n A second later she turned and caught him watching.\u00a0 Their eyes locked for a moment and she smiled. Then she bent down and said something to Viney who laughed before beckoning him over.<\/p>\n Women.\u00a0 They were a whole<\/em> different world.<\/p>\n As he sat the whiskey down on the table top, the older woman smiled and said, “Always the gentleman.”<\/p>\n Adam smiled too as he sat down.\u00a0 Then he nodded toward the younger woman.\u00a0 “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?”<\/p>\n Viney brushed the black veil from her eyes before looking at her companion.\u00a0 “Is that what we are?\u00a0 Friends?”<\/p>\n “That is un<\/em> name for it,” her companion chuckled.<\/p>\n “You’re French,” Adam remarked, noting her accent.<\/p>\n Those full lips twitched with mischief.\u00a0 “That is un<\/em> name for what I am.”<\/p>\n For a second \u2013 just a second<\/em> \u2013 she reminded him of Marie. \u00a0His stepmother had often had imps in her eyes and loved to tease him. \u00a0Marie’s eyes would light up, her lips would twist at the end, and then she would say something calculated to crack his self-imposed and carefully constructed shell of disaffection.\u00a0 This woman was a tease, like Marie, but she was\u2026something more.<\/p>\n With a glance at Viney, who was watching their interchange closely, Adam extended his hand and said, “Adam Cartwright.”<\/p>\n “Of the Ponderosa?” the young woman asked.<\/p>\n “Yes.”<\/p>\n “Oh, messier! <\/em>I have heard much of you and your most charming brothers and father from the local inhabitants. \u00a0I was hoping to meet you.”\u00a0 Her smile, when it came full-on, was intoxicating.\u00a0 “I am Janette,” the woman breathed.\u00a0 “Janette DuCharme.”<\/p>\n At that moment Adam became aware of a sound.\u00a0 It was the beating of a heart \u2013 slow, low, and loud.\u00a0\u00a0 His<\/em> heart.\u00a0 Pounding in his ears.<\/p>\n His blood pulsing through his veins.<\/p>\n The woman’s fingers trailed along his jaw-line to his throat where they stopped, poised just over his jugular.\u00a0 “You are a handsome one, mon cher.<\/em>\u00a0 So strong. So vital.”\u00a0 \u00a0She smiled at him as she leaned in for a kiss.\u00a0 “So\u2026alive.”<\/p>\n “Leave him alone!”<\/p>\n It took Adam a moment to come to himself and realize it was Viney who had shouted.\u00a0 Janette shrugged and moved to the other side of the table.<\/p>\n “Not to fear,” she laughed.\u00a0 “This one is not to my\u2026taste.\u00a0 He is too old!<\/em>”<\/p>\n Adam swallowed hard.\u00a0 He didn’t know whether to be insulted or relieved.<\/p>\n A second later the thought came into his head that he had better keep Little Joe out of town.<\/p>\n As Janette crossed to another table and began to work her wiles, Adam turned his attention back to Viney.\u00a0 She looked unsettled and, if he had to put a name to it, somewhat unwell.\u00a0 Reaching out, he placed his hand over hers and was as startled when she jumped.<\/p>\n “Janette,” he said.\u00a0 “Who is she?\u00a0 Why is she here?”<\/p>\n “She needed a job.\u00a0 I got her one.” \u00a0Viney pulled her hand clear and rose to her feet.\u00a0 There was little emotion, and even less<\/em> affection behind her words as she went on. \u00a0“Janette is in the area looking for a friend.\u00a0 All I can say is that I hope she finds him and leaves quickly.”\u00a0 The older woman paused by his chair to place a hand on his shoulder.\u00a0 “Adam,” she said, her words low, “take care on your way home and once you get there, stay put!”<\/p>\n A heartbeat later she was gone.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When Joe exited the barn after his evening chores were completed, he noticed a lone figure leaning on the fence beside the bunkhouse, staring off into the distance.\u00a0 He noticed him because the man’s compact form was silhouetted against the risen moon.\u00a0 Joe considered his choices and then strolled over to join the stranger he had been introduced to only that evening as Nicholas Knight.<\/p>\n “Not comfortable in the bunkhouse?” he asked.<\/p>\n Nick didn’t start.\u00a0 In fact, he acted as if he had known he was there all along even though his back had been to him.\u00a0 “I have to admit I am a bit of a loner,” the newcomer said as he turned.\u00a0 “Crowds make me nervous.”<\/p>\n “You better rethink working for us then,” Joe said as he too leaned on the fence.\u00a0 In the distance he could hear the cattle bawling. \u00a0“A thousand beeves is quite a crowd.”<\/p>\n “Maybe I should have said crowds of hu\u2026people.”<\/p>\n Joe looked at the blond man.\u00a0 He seemed a decent enough sort, even if he was a bit odd.\u00a0 They’d hired plenty of loners and most of them had worked out all right.\u00a0 Still, a man had to fit in to function on a ranch.\u00a0 There were too many times when they had to cover each other’s backs.<\/p>\n Turning so his <\/em>back was resting on the fence, Joe said, “You sound like my brother Adam.\u00a0 Seems to me sometimes that he likes books better than people.”<\/p>\n “Books are trustworthy.”<\/p>\n “And people aren’t?”<\/p>\n Nick looked right at him.\u00a0 His pale eyes shone in the moonlight like a wolf’s.\u00a0 “People are like shadows. There’s what you see, and there is what lurks underneath.”<\/p>\n “You mean you think everyone is hiding something?”<\/p>\n “Not necessarily.\u00a0 Sometimes it is, rather, that something is hiding within them<\/em>.\u00a0 A longing.\u00a0 A desire.\u00a0 Perhaps a need; a need that, one day, may well prove their undoing.”\u00a0 The blond man stared at him for several heartbeats before pushing off the fence and coming to stand before him.\u00a0 “I sense in you such a need.”<\/p>\n “Me?” Joe snorted and blew him off.\u00a0 “The only \u2018need\u2019 I have is for a good night\u2019s sleep.\u00a0 Pa’s got plans for the morning and they start before the cock crows.”\u00a0 Shifting off the fence, he started to move away. “I’d suggest you turn in as \u2013 ”<\/p>\n “Joseph, look at me.”<\/p>\n The words were spoken softly.\u00a0 They were just as compelling as if they had been a command issued from his father’s lips.<\/p>\n Something in Joe fought against their power.<\/p>\n It lost.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n TWO<\/p>\n Nicholas Knight held the gaze of the young man before him.\u00a0 He was a handsome specimen, lean and muscular with a quick smile and charisma that oozed from every pore.\u00a0 Joseph Cartwright was a child of wealth as his clothing and bearing attested, but \u2013 from the little he had learned so far \u2013 like his father and older brothers, was not one to count it as his right, but rather as a blessing.\u00a0 The thick crown of curly brown hair that adorned his head set off his large eyes, which were several shades of green, depending on the light.\u00a0 His face was angelic.\u00a0 There was a sense about him, not of na\u00efvet\u00e9 \u2013 or even innocence \u2013 but of an inner beauty.\u00a0 This was a good man,<\/p>\n This was a man in peril.<\/p>\n But then, all <\/em>of the Cartwrights were in peril.<\/p>\n It had been his hope that LaCroix would not remember, but he knew it to be a vain hope at best.\u00a0 The nearly two-thousand-year old vampire never forgot an insult or a grudge.\u00a0 They had been in San Francisco with the intention of boarding a ship bound for France, when LaCroix announced he was leaving them to travel east to pay a visit to an ‘old friend’.\u00a0\u00a0 He mentioned it casually over dinner.\u00a0 Even though they had their own\u2026means of survival, money was<\/em> required for everyday expenses, and it was not unheard of for LaCroix to go off alone to attend to business.\u00a0 One simply couldn’t move into the grandest hotel in the Golden City and expect to be treated like royalty unless you flashed abundantly large sums of cash at regular intervals.\u00a0 For LaCroix, nothing would do but the best.\u00a0 When asked where his money came from, the older man assured those asking that he had come by it quite legitimately. \u00a0As he gestured with his hand, La Croix\u2019s teeth would flash in his face with nearly the same glint as the silver adorning his fingers and wrists.\u00a0 Here, such a man was called a ‘silver baron’, otherwise known as the nobility of the New World.<\/p>\n Amusing.\u00a0 LaCroix.<\/p>\n Noble.<\/p>\n With a sigh, Nicholas returned his attention to the young man who stood mesmerized before him.\u00a0 Joseph hadn’t moved or made a sound and he wouldn’t until he released him.\u00a0 So far he had met only two of the four Cartwrights. \u00a0He couldn’t know which was the most vulnerable.\u00a0 It could be any of them.\u00a0 Still, he sensed something in Ben’s youngest.\u00a0 Joseph was not untouched by the night.\u00a0 There was a stain on his soul.<\/p>\n He needed to know who had left it there.<\/p>\n A he reached out to touch the young man, the sound of pounding hoof beats altered his intention.\u00a0 Nicholas frowned as he looked in their direction.\u00a0 His sight was keen and his ears sharp.\u00a0 It was a man; a strong man of presence who sat his rust-colored thoroughbred like a prince.<\/p>\n A slight smile curled the blond man’s lips as his eyes returned to the young man before him.\u00a0 Another prince.<\/p>\n Another Cartwright.<\/p>\n “Joseph,” he said softly.\u00a0 “It is time to wake.”<\/p>\n For a moment Little Joe Cartwright remained as he was. \u00a0Then he shuddered.<\/p>\n And then, he fell.<\/p>\n Nicholas caught him just before he hit the ground.\u00a0 Less than five seconds later the strong presence was at their side, reaching out.<\/p>\n “What happened to him?” the man demanded.\u00a0 “And who are you?”<\/p>\n Ah, yes.\u00a0 A prince indeed.<\/p>\n “Your brother and I were talking.\u00a0 He seemed to suddenly grow faint.”<\/p>\n “Little Joe.\u00a0 Joe?\u00a0 It’s Adam.\u00a0 Can you hear me?”<\/p>\n There was a gentleness in his touch.\u00a0 Adam.\u00a0 The older brother.\u00a0 The protector and defender.<\/p>\n A man to take account of.<\/p>\n Joseph moaned.\u00a0 “Adam, I don’t\u2026feel so good.”<\/p>\n Adam had his arm around his brother’s shoulders.\u00a0 With his free hand he felt Joseph’s forehead, seeking for a sign of illness.\u00a0 His strong form relaxed when he found none.<\/p>\n A moment later Adam’s gaze returned to him and he demanded again, “Who are you?”<\/p>\n “Nick Knight,\u201d he answered easily.\u00a0 \u201cYour father hired me tonight to help with the drive.”<\/p>\n “A drifter then?” the elder prince asked with suspicion.<\/p>\n He couldn’t help it.\u00a0 He smiled.\u00a0 “‘I am that merry wanderer of the night.\u00a0 I jest to Oberon and make him smile’.”<\/p>\n All proper princes were, of course, acquainted of Shakespeare and A Midsummer’s Night Dream<\/em>.<\/p>\n Adam’s guard did not go down, but he abandoned his soldier stance and stood at ease.\u00a0 “Over hill, over dale, thorough bush, thorough brier, over park,” he quoted Puck, “over pale, through flood, thorough fire, I do wander everywhere, swifter than the moon’s sphere\u2026.’<\/p>\n Nicholas laughed.\u00a0 “Yes, ‘And I serve the fairy queen’.”<\/p>\n Another moan brought their attention back to Adam’s young brother.<\/p>\n “Would you two speak English?” Joseph groaned.<\/p>\n Adam chuckled.\u00a0 “I am afraid my little brother’s idea of culture is the stage show at the Palace.”\u00a0 A second later, he turned serious.\u00a0 “Joe, can you tell me what’s wrong?\u00a0 Are you ill?”<\/p>\n The young man shook his head.\u00a0 “Just\u2026got dizzy. \u00a0Don’t know why.”\u00a0 He blinked and for the first time Joseph’s attention returned to him.\u00a0 “Nick?”<\/p>\n “We were talking.\u00a0 You suddenly felt unwell.\u00a0 I \u2013”<\/p>\n “Hey!\u00a0 Adam?\u00a0 What’s the matter with Little Joe?”<\/p>\n \u2018Ah, the last of the princes\u2019<\/em>, Nicholas thought as he turned.\u00a0 Then he had another thought.\u00a0 \u2018And <\/em>what a prince!\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>This one was of the stature of King Edward the Fourth; tall and broad as a mountain.<\/p>\n “You all need to\u2026stop fussing,” Joseph groused.\u00a0 “Help me up.\u00a0 If Pa\u2026gets wind of this, he’s gonna call Doc Martin\u2026.”<\/p>\n The mountain of a man pursed his lips and lifted his brows. “I hate to tell you this, little brother, but Pa was right behind me. \u00a0He was throwing a fit that you wasn’t in the house yet and \u2013 ”<\/p>\n “Joseph?”<\/p>\n All three brothers winced.\u00a0 Adam was the first to speak.\u00a0 “It\u2019s okay, Pa.\u00a0 Joe just felt a little dizzy.”<\/p>\n “Did you fall or hit your head?” the older man asked as he descended on the trio.<\/p>\n “No, Pa, I \u2013”<\/p>\n “Then, why in the world would you feel dizzy?”\u00a0 The older man’s hand found the young one’s head.\u00a0 “You don’t have a fever.\u00a0 How do you feel?”<\/p>\n “Fine, Pa.\u00a0 I\u2019m fine.\u00a0 Adam\u2026help me up.”<\/p>\n Sadly, for Joseph, he wobbled a bit as he found his feet.<\/p>\n “Hoss, go get Paul,” Ben Cartwright ordered.\u00a0 “I’d like him to check your brother out.”<\/p>\n “Pa!\u00a0 I said I was fine!” Joe protested, and not too<\/em> meekly.<\/p>\n “And I say you are not!” the older man shot back.\u00a0 “Or perhaps you’ve some medical knowledge I am unaware of?\u00a0 Would you care to explain to me why a perfectly healthy young man would suddenly feel dizzy enough to lose his footing?”<\/p>\n Nicholas felt Joseph’s gaze fall on him.\u00a0 There was a smidgen of suspicion in those green eyes.\u00a0 Then, just as quickly, it disappeared.<\/p>\n After all, what could he<\/em> have done?<\/p>\n “Just let me sleep on it, Pa,” the young man pleaded.\u00a0 “If I feel dizzy or sick in the morning, you can send for Paul.\u00a0 Okay? \u00a0You don’t want to drag him out here tonight for what’s gonna turn out to be nothing.”<\/p>\n There was about Ben Cartwright an air of authority he had only seen once or twice in his life.\u00a0 General Washington had been such a man.\u00a0 The Virginian’s very presence commanded attention and it took a man of strong character to challenge him.<\/p>\n There were three <\/em>such strong men standing before him.<\/p>\n “I’ll take little brother up and tuck him in bed, Pa,” the giant among them said.\u00a0 “I’ll even sit with him if you want me to.”<\/p>\n Before Joseph could protest, Nicholas interrupted.\u00a0 “Mister Cartwright?”<\/p>\n “Yes?”<\/p>\n “I have some\u2026experience with the medical arts.\u00a0 An illness can come upon one with the silent swiftness of a mountain cat.\u00a0 It wouldn’t hurt to have someone watch over Joseph tonight.”<\/p>\n Joseph started to object.<\/p>\n A look silenced him.<\/p>\n Ben was pulling at his chin.\u00a0 “Yes.\u00a0 I agree. \u00a0Hoss, take your brother inside.\u00a0 Adam and I will make certain everything is shut down for the night.”\u00a0 The older man paused as he watched the pair start toward the house and then turned once again to him. “Thank you for helping my son.”<\/p>\n “My pleasure, sir.”<\/p>\n “I’m going to go check the barn, Pa,” Adam said.\u00a0 “Good night, Nicholas.”<\/p>\n “Good night.”<\/p>\n “Did you find the bunkhouse comfortable?” Ben asked after his son disappeared.<\/p>\n “I was only in it briefly, but it appeared more than adequate.”<\/p>\n “The men didn’t give you any trouble?”<\/p>\n Nicholas shook his head.\u00a0 Then he squared his feet and met the older man’s slightly puzzled stare.<\/p>\n This was the tricky part.<\/p>\n “Actually, sir, I meant to speak to you.\u00a0 If you don’t mind, I prefer working at night.\u00a0 I have a\u2026condition.\u00a0 The sun causes me great pain.”<\/p>\n “And you want to be a ranch hand?” Ben asked with surprise.<\/p>\n “There are always the jobs no one else wants \u2013 riding the herd in the dark, keeping the midnight watch.”\u00a0 He laughed.\u00a0 “I’m always popular.\u00a0 Wherever I work, everyone else gets to sleep.”<\/p>\n “You might have told me this before.”<\/p>\n “Yes, and you might not have hired me and I need the work.”<\/p>\n The older man ran fingers over his chin.\u00a0 “So you would be willing now to go and relieve the man watching the cattle?”<\/p>\n “More<\/em> than willing.”<\/p>\n Ben’s brow was furrowed. \u00a0“It’s rather unusual, but then\u2026I sense you are a most<\/em> unusual man.”<\/p>\n “Mister Cartwright, I know you have no reason to believe me, but I am<\/em> here to help.\u00a0 I wasn’t entirely honest before.\u00a0 I asked around town a lot <\/em>and was impressed by what I was told about you and your sons.\u00a0 I want to be a\u2026part of the Ponderosa.\u00a0 I feel, well, it is worth preserving.”<\/p>\n It was hard to say enough without saying too much.<\/p>\n “That’s\u2026kind of you.”<\/p>\n “It is my duty, sir.\u00a0 And my privilege.”<\/p>\n He was frowning now.\u00a0 “Are you a soldier?”<\/p>\n “I was,” Nicholas answered honestly.<\/p>\n The older man nodded.\u00a0 “So was I.\u00a0 I\u2026think I understand.\u00a0 You’ll find the herd in the north pasture.\u00a0 Tell Jim I sent you and that he’s to rouse Thom and tell him to relieve you just before dawn.”<\/p>\n “I will.”<\/p>\n “Good night, then, Nick.\u00a0 Thank you.”<\/p>\n As Ben Cartwright turned to go into his house, he couldn’t help but call the older man back.<\/p>\n “Sir?”<\/p>\n “Yes?”<\/p>\n “One word of advice.\u00a0 The night is chill.\u00a0 I would\u2026advise you to tell your son\u2026Hoss, is it?”<\/p>\n He nodded.<\/p>\n “Tell Hoss to keep the window to Joseph’s room closed.\u00a0 You wouldn\u2019t want the night air to get in.”<\/p>\n “Oh.\u00a0 Yes, I will.\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you for the reminder.”<\/p>\n Nicholas Knight watched until the rancher had entered the house and closed the door.\u00a0 Then he sighed.<\/p>\n “The night air or anything else.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The moon was cloaked in an inky garment of clouds. \u00a0Here and there its pale beams struck the deserted streets of Martinville, illuminating the abandoned mercantile, the empty saloon; passing through the wrecked stain-glass windows of its long-forsaken church to cast multicolored shadows on its wooden floor. \u00a0There was no excuse for any other kind of light.\u00a0 Martinville’s inhabitants were at rest at last, released from their decades old curse by a young man named Little Joe Cartwright who had stumbled into the town half-dead and taught its citizens the meaning of valor.<\/p>\n And yet, there was a light.<\/p>\n Its unhealthy luminescence shone through the window of the late Sheriff O’Brien’s office \u2013 an unhealthy luminescence that waivered as someone \u2013 or something \u2013 walked past.<\/p>\n Some\u2026thing.<\/p>\n Or someone.<\/p>\n Someone who moved to the window and drew the ragged curtains back so they could stare at the deserted street beyond. \u00a0If there had been someone else there to see, they would have noted the woman\u2019s stick-straight ebon hair drawn back painfully into a tight round bun.\u00a0 They would have seen her dark eyes dart from one side of the street to the other and, perhaps, chuckled at the expression that crossed her face \u2013 an expression so severe it was almost comical. \u00a0She was a tall woman, dressed in garb that hinted of an exotic birth.\u00a0 Her name was Kate O’Brien.\u00a0 She was the late sheriff’s widow.<\/p>\n She was also a witch.<\/p>\n With a small sigh Kate released the curtain and let it fall back into place.\u00a0 The one she awaited had promised to appear before the sun dawned in the sky, and still she had seen no sign of them.\u00a0 Perhaps they had changed their mind.\u00a0 Perhaps they would not come.<\/p>\n Perhaps, she would not have to pay.<\/p>\n Kate rested her hands on the windowsill and leaned her weight on them.\u00a0 So many choices.\u00a0 She had made so <\/em>many choices in her youth that she\u2019d lived to regret.\u00a0 Marrying Tom O\u2019Brien had been the only good one.\u00a0 This office in a small town of even smaller nobodies had been an oasis of peace in a life marked by storms.\u00a0 It had <\/em>been, for a few brief years, until the nobodies sacrificed her husband on the altar of their cowardice.\u00a0 Kate\u2019s knuckles went to bone where they gripped the sill.\u00a0 Spineless damned<\/em> villains!\u00a0 They deserved what they got, every one of them!\u00a0 She\u2019d<\/em> made them pay.\u00a0 The older woman\u2019s right eye twitched as her lips flattened into a line of steel.<\/p>\n Or she had until that child <\/em>had come.\u00a0 The one who put an end it.\u00a0 That unexpected boy<\/em> who had released those she\u2019d cursed from what should have been their eternal damnation.<\/p>\n Little Joe Cartwright.<\/p>\n A shift in the shadows that occupied the back corner of the office returned Kate to the present.\u00a0 The steely line curled into a forced smile.<\/p>\n \u201cWelcome back, my dear,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cBack?\u201d a light voice asked.\u00a0 \u201cWhere\u2026where did I go?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOnly to sleep for a while.\u00a0 But the time has come to wake.\u201d<\/p>\n The shadows stirred again, yet no form appeared. \u00a0\u201cI was dreaming. Such wonderful dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf that boy, I imagine,\u201d Kate smirked.<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u00a0 When will I get to see him again?\u201d<\/p>\n The tall dark-haired woman pushed off the window and moved across the room.\u00a0 \u201cIt will not be long now.\u00a0 A\u2026man is coming.\u00a0 He will make a way.\u201d<\/p>\n The girl\u2019s hands were visible now.\u00a0 Soft, small hands.\u00a0 The kind a man loved to clasp.\u00a0 Her pale blue gown shifted, catching the ascending light that cascaded in the window, announcing that today would not be the day.\u00a0 The man she awaited would not come.<\/p>\n He was no friend to the light.<\/p>\n Kate bit off her disappointment.\u00a0 \u201cBut not until tonight. You should rest again, my dear.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo!\u00a0 I want\u2026.\u00a0 I want to see him today!\u201d<\/p>\n The enchantress snorted.\u00a0\u00a0 Such spirit.\u00a0 It was what had allowed this one to remain after all the others had gone to their eternal rest.\u00a0 That and\u2026love.<\/p>\n Kate\u2019s mouth watered.\u00a0 Not with desire but with distaste.<\/p>\n The severe woman opened her lips to respond, but instead let out a small, startled sound as the office\u2019s heavy wooden door was thrust in and a tall, commanding figured dressed in the costliest finery San Francisco had to offer entered the room.\u00a0 In spite of crossing the desert, not a speck of dust clung to him.\u00a0 His clothing was immaculate.\u00a0 His crisp, white hair stood martial straight and unblemished upon his head.\u00a0 The man\u2019s face was long and lean as a jackal\u2019s.\u00a0 It held a pair of eyes pale as his hair, but tinged with a sickly-blue the color of the lips of a drowned man.<\/p>\n Lucien LaCroix paused just inside the door, and then \u2013 upon seeing her \u2013 sneered.<\/p>\n Just like that jackal before the kill.<\/p>\n \u201cI am so sorry that I am late, my dear,\u201d the ancient creature remarked casually, as though he had missed a date to share a cup of tea.\u00a0 \u201cDid you think I wasn\u2019t coming?\u201d<\/p>\n What should she say?\u00a0 She had hoped he wouldn\u2019t, but longed <\/em>that he would?<\/p>\n \u201cI thought perhaps\u2026tonight\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n The white-haired man looked behind him.\u00a0 \u201cOh, the daylight?\u00a0 It\u2019s a bit of a bother, but after several thousand years you grow used to it.\u201d\u00a0 He paused. \u00a0\u201cKnow this, Kate O\u2019Brien, nothing keeps me from my business.\u00a0 Nothing<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n She was<\/em> his business, in a way.\u00a0 But then, so was the pale girl who clung to the shadows.\u00a0 Maybe even more so.<\/p>\n La Croix removed his cloak and tossed it over the back of her late husband\u2019s chair before crossing over to her and taking her chin in his fingers \u2013 forcefully.<\/p>\n \u201cI see the years have not been kind to you,\u201d he remarked.\u00a0 \u201cPity.\u00a0 I once offered you another way.\u201d<\/p>\n He had, and she had refused it.<\/p>\n Without flinching, Kate replied, \u201cI didn\u2019t need to be twice <\/em>damned.\u00a0 Once is quite enough, thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019d made her<\/em> choice before she met him.\u00a0 Her father had been in the spice trade.\u00a0 As a young girl she\u2019d traveled to the West Indies where she fell in love with a man who was a Houngans, a priest of Vodou.\u00a0 Being young \u2013 Kate\u2019s eyes flicked to the corner where the shadows had grown still \u2013 she\u2019d made a young woman\u2019s choice to become a part of his world.<\/p>\n To become a mistress of the dark arts.<\/p>\n \u201cI heard reports of your work here. \u00a0Quite well done.\u00a0 A whole village suspended in time with their knuckles an inch short of rapping on the pearly gates.\u201d\u00a0 LaCroix chuckled. \u00a0\u201cYes, quite well done.\u201d\u00a0 Then he sobered.\u00a0 \u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n He knew. \u00a0She had told him in a letter.<\/p>\n \u201cJoseph Cartwright,\u201d she growled.\u00a0 \u201cJoseph Cartwright<\/em> happened.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, yes.\u00a0 The young man of impeccable character and great moral strength.\u00a0 Sounds just like poor Nicholas.\u00a0 I have yet to curb his<\/em> penchant for\u2026good.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 He spat the word out.\u00a0 \u201cAre you sure your young woman knows what she is asking?\u201d<\/p>\n It was all a part of his plan.\u00a0 She had told him of the girl and her desires; of how her love for the one called \u2018Little Joe\u2019 had kept her from passing over with all of the other nobodies and bound her to this place.<\/p>\n Of how he could use her in his plan to destroy Benjamin Cartwright.<\/p>\n \u201cShe knows.\u00a0 She believes her love will be enough.\u201d<\/p>\n LaCroix blew out a breath.\u00a0 \u201cAh, young love.\u00a0 So precious.\u00a0 So beautiful.\u201d\u00a0 His lips curled in a feral snarl.\u00a0 \u201cSo easily crushed.\u201d<\/p>\n A small sound, like a frightened animal ready to take flight, drew LaCroix\u2019s attention.\u00a0 He released her and turned so he was facing the corner.<\/p>\n \u201cCome into the light.\u201d<\/p>\n There was a moment\u2019s hesitation and then the girl appeared, slender as a sapling and pallid as a dream; her dark blonde hair flowing over the shoulders of her billowing gown in a wave.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is your name?\u201d LaCroix demanded.<\/p>\n \u201cLouise Corman.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd what do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLittle Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n LaCroix moved in closer, until he hovered over the child like a predatory bird.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd what are you willing to do to have him?\u201d<\/p>\n There was no hesitation this time.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It took a moment and then the sound of his brother\u2019s voice penetrated the fog he was in.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe?\u00a0 Are you listening?\u201d<\/p>\n Blinking, Joe looked up.\u00a0 \u201cSorry, Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou looked like you were a million miles away.\u201d<\/p>\n His face twitched.\u00a0 \u201cI guess I was.\u201d<\/p>\n Before he could stop it, his brother\u2019s hand was on his forehead \u2013 just like it had always been when he was a kid and was hiding how he felt.<\/p>\n \u201cNo fever,\u201d Adam pronounced as he removed it.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019d guess it was a girl if it wasn\u2019t for that little incident before.\u00a0 Are you still dizzy?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s green eyes narrowed with terror as he glanced toward the kitchen. \u00a0\u201cShh!\u00a0 Pa will hear you!\u00a0 You know him, if he thinks something\u2019s wrong, he\u2019ll go to town and bring Doc Martin out here no matter how late it is!\u201d<\/p>\n His brother had one eyebrow arched.\u00a0 \u201cSo you are <\/em>dizzy.\u201d<\/p>\n It was almost morning.\u00a0 The light was dawning outside.\u00a0 He\u2019d been sitting up half the night thinking about\u2026he wasn\u2019t sure what.\u00a0 And while he wouldn\u2019t say he was \u2018dizzy\u2019, he did feel a little\u2026odd.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m fine.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoseph Francis Cartwright\u2019s famous last words!\u201d Adam laughed as he headed for the kitchen.<\/p>\n Joe shivered.\u00a0 \u201cWhatever made you say that?!\u00a0 I am<\/em> fine!\u00a0 It\u2019s not like I\u2019ve got one foot in the grave or something!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoe.\u00a0 Take it easy.\u201d His brother said as he turned back into the room.\u00a0 \u201cIt was just a joke.\u201d\u00a0 Adam paused.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe I should check you for fever again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy?\u201d he demanded defensively.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, for one thing your attitude.\u00a0 For another,\u201d Adam indicated the blazing fire, \u201cunless I\u2018m mistaken, you seem to be trying to bake something out.\u201d<\/p>\n He was cold.\u00a0 Ever since he\u2019d passed out, he\u2019d been that way.\u00a0 He\u2019d even donned his red and black checked flannel shirt, which was a rarity.<\/p>\n Maybe he was<\/em> sick.<\/p>\n \u201cYou catch a chill, little brother?\u201d a jolly voice asked.\u00a0 Hoss was coming out of the kitchen with a plate of sandwiches in his hand.\u00a0 When middle brother saw him looking, he winced.\u00a0 \u201cNow, don\u2019t you go tellin\u2019 Hop Sing I made myself an early morning snack.\u201d<\/p>\n There were about a dozen sandwiches on the plate.<\/p>\n \u201cJust so you don\u2019t tell Pa I took a chill,\u201d Joe countered.<\/p>\n Hoss put the plate down on the table before the fire.\u00a0 He raised up and crossed himself.\u00a0 \u201cYou got my word,\u201d the big man said. \u201cLessen you get worse, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n He couldn\u2019t win.<\/p>\n \u201cHow come you two lugs are up so early?\u201d Joe snarled as he swung his stockinged feet up and onto the settee.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t you need your beauty sleep?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cSame as you, I guess.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs for me, I got myself up nice and early so I could take care of your horse, little brother,\u201d Hoss replied as he sat and reached for a sandwich.<\/p>\n Joe winced.\u00a0 Damn!\u00a0 Pa had whisked him into the house so fast after he came to that he\u2019d forgotten about Cochise.<\/p>\n \u201cIs Cooch okay?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s fine.\u00a0 Just plain tuckered out from carrying that load all night.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss munched a moment and then asked, \u201cWhere was you goin\u2019 anyhow?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe folded his arms.\u00a0 \u201cNone of your business.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh!\u201d\u00a0 The big man\u2019s brows popped up toward his thinning hairline.\u00a0 \u201cIt ain\u2019t, eh?\u00a0 But takin\u2019 care of your horse is? \u00a0You know, little brother, sometimes I just want to pick you up, dust you off, and plant a hand on your backside.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe swung his legs over the side of the settee and rose to his feet, fists ready.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cOh, yeah?\u00a0 Well, you just try it!\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss munched a moment more before addressing Adam.\u00a0 \u201cTouchy, ain\u2019t he?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always thought so,\u201d the eldest among them remarked as he reached for a sandwich.<\/p>\n Joe was looking from one to the other. \u00a0It was never easy with the two of them to tell when they were serious and when they were pulling his leg.\u00a0 When neither of them took him up on his offer to duke it out, the curly-headed man dropped his fists.\u00a0 He stood there a moment, shuffling his feet and thinking about what to say.<\/p>\n \u201cSit that skinny hiney of yours down, little brother,\u201d Hoss said, offering him a sandwich. \u201cStuff this in that mouth of yours.\u00a0 It\u2019ll keep you from puttin\u2019 your foot in it for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n It was before breakfast.\u00a0 Hop Sing was going to kill them.<\/p>\n Joe took the sandwich and sat down.\u00a0 Then he stared at it.<\/p>\n He really didn\u2019t have an appetite.<\/p>\n After a moment he asked, as casually as he could, \u201cSay, what did you do with the stuff Cooch was carrying?\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss eyed him before answering. \u201cIt\u2019s all there in the tack room. Why?\u00a0 You thinkin\u2019 of takin\u2019 off again?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTaking off?\u00a0 What\u2019s this all about?\u201d Adam asked.<\/p>\n Double damn.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing,\u201d Joe replied.\u00a0 \u201cI was gonna take a ride.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA long<\/em> ride,\u201d Hoss inserted.<\/p>\n Brother Adam was staring at him.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?!\u201d Joe demanded.<\/p>\n \u201cI was right before.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPatterns, baby brother, patterns.\u00a0 You have them.\u00a0 I have them. \u00a0So does Hoss.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss was nodding.\u00a0 \u201cYeah.\u00a0 Starin\u2019 off into nowhere.\u00a0 Not eatin\u2019.\u00a0 Grouchy as a grizzly with a stubbed toe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA mysterious ride.\u201d\u00a0 Adam was nodding.\u00a0 \u201cDefinitely<\/em> a girl.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe thrust the untouched sandwich back onto the pile.\u00a0 \u201cShows what you two know!\u00a0 There isn\u2019t <\/em>any girl.\u00a0 How could there be <\/em>a girl?\u00a0 I haven\u2019t been to town in over a month!\u201d<\/p>\n Adam was frowning.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s right.\u00a0 It has<\/em> been a month.\u00a0 So what happened a month ago?\u00a0 Let\u2019s see\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 His brother\u2019s eyes went wide.\u00a0 \u201cJoe. \u00a0No.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss had picked up his fourth sandwich.\u00a0 \u201cHuh?\u00a0 \u2018No\u2019 what?\u201d<\/p>\n Older brother\u2019s eyes had narrowed and he was shaking his head.<\/p>\n How did he do it?\u00a0 How did<\/em> Adam know?<\/p>\n Louise.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n THREE<\/p>\n Adam Cartwright let out a sigh as he turned to look at the stairs.\u00a0 Joe had just gone up them.\u00a0 Hoss was in the barn.\u00a0 Hop Sing was in the kitchen, and all was right with the world once again.<\/p>\n Well, almost.<\/p>\n It had started about ten minutes before.\u00a0 They\u2019d received a fairly inflammatory dressing down from their\u00a0 housekeeper when he came into the great room and found them already up \u2013 with two of them still in their night clothes, and eating yesterday\u2019s food.<\/p>\n Hop Sing\u2019s string of rather irate Cantonese words still rung in his ears.<\/p>\n In response, Hoss \u2013 the coward! \u2013 had snatched up the last of the sandwiches and stuffed them in his pockets and made good his escape by explaining that he had work to do in the stable.\u00a0 That left him to do his best to calm down their Asian housekeeper.\u00a0 He did so by assuring Hop Sing that they would eat everything he cooked throughout the day \u2013 cross his heart and hope to die \u2013 everything!<\/em> \u00a0Throughout this tempest and the chaos of a typical Cartwright morning, youngest brother had done nothing.\u00a0 Little Joe remained seated, staring off into the distance, as if completely unaware of what was happening.\u00a0 It had taken a hand on Joe\u2019s shoulder and a gentle nudge to get the kid to head upstairs to change his clothes.<\/p>\n \u2018Preoccupied\u2019 didn\u2019t begin to define it.<\/p>\n He\u2019d just about made his mind up to follow Joe up those stairs and question him about it again, when Pa appeared at the top and started down.\u00a0 Joe didn\u2019t acknowledge their father\u2019s greeting as the pair passed.\u00a0 By the time the older man got to the bottom, he was staring back up to the top.<\/p>\n And sighing.<\/p>\n \u201cThat boy. What am I going to do with him\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTrade him in for a more sensible model,\u201d he suggested.<\/p>\n His father turned to look at him \u2013 and laughed.\u00a0 \u201cOne bred of New England stock instead of New Orleans?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSolid sturdy <\/em>stock, those northerners.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUnlike the hot, tempestuous southerners, eh?\u201d Pa asked.\u00a0\u00a0 Another sigh escaped him.\u00a0 \u201cJoe is so<\/em> like his mother.\u201d\u00a0 Pa\u2019s hand came down on his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cAs are you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike my mother, or solid and sturdy?\u201d he asked with a grin.<\/p>\n \u201cBoth!\u201d Pa declared.\u00a0 Then he turned back toward the staircase.\u00a0 \u201cIs this about Martinville?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think so.\u00a0 Pa, I know Paul Martin hinted that a man who became badly dehydrated could be affected deeply \u2013 that there might be permanent damage \u2013 but I thought he said Joe<\/em> was okay.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa nodded.\u00a0 \u201cHe did, but you have to remember your brother was also attacked.\u00a0 Little Joe took a severe blow to the head.\u00a0 The combination\u2026.\u00a0 Well, Paul said we should watch him for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe did?\u201d\u00a0 At first he was surprised, but then Adam nodded. \u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s why no trips to town since\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSince <\/em>Martinville.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd why his passing out concerned you so.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d\u00a0 Pa took a seat in his chair before the fire.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s the first physical <\/em>sign I have seen that something could be wrong.\u00a0 As you know, in other ways, your brother has not\u2026been himself.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI heard about him packing up for a \u2018short\u2019 trip,\u201d he said as he too sat down.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cHeading back there?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe can\u2019t seem to let go of that girl.\u00a0 He thinks she was\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cReal?\u201d<\/p>\n Pa nodded \u2013 and sighed again.<\/p>\n Adam thought a moment.\u00a0 \u201cPa, I don\u2019t know what you\u2019ll think about this\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think I should take Little Joe back to Martinville.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdam, no. We have the drive to think about. A million things\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPa, Joe was packed up and ready to go on his own.\u00a0 I saw his eyes when Hoss said the items he\u2019d gathered were still in the stable.\u201d \u00a0He met his father\u2019s gaze.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s thinking about going again.\u00a0 Better he go with<\/em> someone than alone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI offered\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPa, no offense, but you\u2019re well\u2026.you\u2019re \u2018pa<\/em>\u2019\u2026if you know what I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cToo old to understand about an obsession with a woman, you mean?\u201d the older man asked with a wry twist of his lips.<\/p>\n Adam chuckled.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe.\u00a0 But more, what I meant is this, Joe isn\u2019t going to be as open with you about his feelings for this girl \u2013 about the whole thing \u2013 as he would be with Hoss or me.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t want you to\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 The black-haired man paused. This was tricky territory.\u00a0 \u201cHe doesn\u2019t want you to think less of him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI would never \u2013 \u201c<\/p>\n \u201cI <\/em>know that, Pa, and you know that, but Little Joe doesn\u2019t.<\/em>\u00a0 He won\u2019t want to admit to any weakness.\u00a0 If there is something\u2026physically\u2026wrong with him, he\u2019s more likely to tell me, and he is even more <\/em>likely to do it if we are on the road alone.\u201d<\/p>\n It was that way with them.\u00a0 Fight like a jackal and a cougar and then turn around and face the grizzly together.\u00a0 He loved Joe.\u00a0 He loved him fiercely.<\/p>\n He was concerned for him.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d hate to think that your brother doesn\u2019t feel confident in speaking to me,\u201d Pa replied as he knew he would.<\/p>\n \u201cHe does, Pa.\u00a0 About most things.\u00a0 Just not about girls.\u201d Adam grinned.\u00a0 \u201cDid you talk to your father about girls?\u201d<\/p>\n Pa\u2019s black eyebrows peaked.\u00a0 \u201cPoint taken,\u201d he said softly.<\/p>\n \u201cMistah Cartwright,\u201d a soft voice called out unexpectedly.<\/p>\n They both looked to find Hop Sing had come into the room.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, Hop Sing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFather, son, talk.\u00a0 Not hear.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot hear what?\u201d Adam asked as he rose.<\/p>\n Their cook pointed toward the door.\u00a0 \u201cCarriage roll into yard.\u00a0 Someone come.\u201d\u00a0 He smiled.\u00a0 \u201cSomeone pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n Apparently Hop Sing had peeked out the window in the kitchen door.<\/p>\n Pa rose too. \u201cA woman, visiting this early?\u00a0 I wonder who it is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d advise opening the door, Pa.\u00a0 It\u2019s the only way to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n His father laughed as he did what he suggested. When the door opened, it was to reveal a woman in her mid-to-late fifties, or so he would have guessed.\u00a0 She was a handsome specimen \u2013 sturdy like Pa\u2019s northerners \u2013 in that she was tall and erect of bearing and had a no-nonsense manner about her.\u00a0 She put him in mind of the only woman who had taught at the college he attended.\u00a0 Her hair was coal black with lightning streaks of silver at the temples. \u00a0She wore it pulled back in a bun, but not a severe one, which meant there was hope that she knew how to smile.\u00a0 Another hopeful sign was the deep crimson suit she wore that was edged with an expensive black lace which here and there sparked with gold.\u00a0 Obviously, she was willing to spend a little extra money on herself.\u00a0 Adam\u2019s lips curled with a smile.<\/p>\n Maybe she had a little \u2018Southern\u2019 blood as well.<\/p>\n The stranger looked at Pa.\u00a0 \u201cAre you\u2026Benjamin Cartwright?\u201d she asked.\u00a0 Her voice was soft, with a light English accent.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, that\u2019s me,\u201d Pa said. \u201cWon\u2019t you come in?\u201d\u00a0 As she complied, the older man turned to Hop Sing. \u201cIf you would get our guest a glass of water?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThank you,\u201d the woman said as she stepped into the house.\u00a0 \u201cIt was<\/em> a long and rather dusty trip.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTwenty miles,\u201d Adam confirmed as he held out his hand.\u00a0 \u201cHello.\u00a0 I\u2019m Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe son,\u201d she remarked oddly as she took it.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Their visitor looked slightly startled.\u00a0 \u201cThere are more of you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSeveral,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, dear,\u201d she muttered, and then seemed to choose <\/em>to brighten her tone. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to imagine Benjamin as a father \u2013 to even one boy.\u00a0 He, well\u2026.\u00a0 As a young man he had\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n Obviously she had known his father when younger.\u00a0 This was getting more interesting.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026a wild and misspent youth?\u201d<\/p>\n The woman laughed.\u00a0 \u201cThat, and a temper.\u00a0 We used to call him \u2018Vesuvius\u2019, he erupted so often.\u201d<\/p>\n A noise drew his attention.\u00a0 Adam turned to find his father standing at the edge of the great room, glass in hand and mouth gaping wide.<\/p>\n \u201cSephora?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBenjie, why so formal?\u201d\u00a0 At his father\u2019s horrified look, she laughed.\u00a0 \u201cI suppose you don\u2019t use that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n His father had placed the glass on the sideboard and was headed their way.\u00a0 He wrapped the woman in a bear hug and then pulled back saying, \u201cAs I imagine you don\u2019t use \u2018Sapphire\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Her lips quirked.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t I?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam watched the two of them for a moment and then cleared his throat. \u201cEr, Pa\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh!\u201d\u00a0 His father chuckled.\u00a0 \u201cSorry, son.\u00a0 Sephora, this is my eldest son, Adam.\u00a0 Adam, this is my cousin Sephora Cartwright from England.\u00a0 One of my elder brothers\u2019 girls.\u201d\u00a0 Pa paused.\u00a0 \u201cNo, it\u2019s probably not Cartwright.\u00a0 It\u2019s been what?\u00a0 Over thirty years?\u00a0 I\u2019m sure you married.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs did you.\u201d Sephora looked around.\u00a0 \u201cWhere is your wife?\u00a0 I remember Elizabeth from the wedding.\u00a0 She was so lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThank you, Hop Sing,\u201d Pa said as their cook silently entered bearing a tray with tea and biscuits. \u201cSaph,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s what my friends call me.\u201d\u00a0 As she complied, moving and taking a seat on the sofa, Pa\u2019s cousin said, \u201cAdam mentioned you have more<\/em> children?\u201d<\/p>\n Pa pursed his lips as he sat down.\u00a0 \u201cYes, but not by Elizabeth. \u00a0She died long ago. I\u2019ve been married two other times and each wife left me a son.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll dead?\u201d she squeaked.<\/p>\n His father nodded. \u00a0\u201cYes.\u00a0 Elizabeth died in childbirth.\u00a0 Marie and Inger, well, let\u2019s just say the West took them.\u201d<\/p>\n Sephora had knit her hands in her lap.\u00a0 She stared at them for a moment before looking up at his father.\u00a0 \u201cThen, I am too late.\u201d<\/p>\n Pa leaned forward.\u00a0 \u201cToo late?\u00a0 I don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\n The Englishwoman drew herself up.\u00a0 \u201cYou will <\/em>once I explain.\u00a0 I am sorry\u2026Ben,\u2026you should have been told before.\u00a0 We all thought it impossible, and Papa forbid us to mention it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u00a0 Mention what?\u201d<\/p>\n The woman\u2019s eyes flicked to him and then back to his father.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Cartwright curse.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ben Cartwright sat in his chair chewing on \u2013 and trying to digest \u2013 the information Sephora had given him before heading upstairs with Hop Sing.\u00a0 He\u2019d sent one of the ranch hands into town to fetch her things from the International House. \u00a0She\u2019d protested, as he knew she would, but Saph \u2013 as she liked to be called \u2013 was family and he would not conscience family staying anywhere but at the Ponderosa.\u00a0 Sephora was four years older than him.\u00a0 As a small boy he and his father and brothers had sailed to England to visit the Cartwrights who had remained in the old world.\u00a0 They had come to know one another then.\u00a0 She had come to his wedding, but after that time \u2013 and tide \u2013 had literally come between them.<\/p>\n It had been decades since they had had any contact.<\/p>\n The older man rose and walked to his office.\u00a0 Once there, he gazed at the portraits of his three wives for a moment before moving to the window and looking out on the hustle and bustle of the new day.\u00a0 Sephora had requested they speak alone.\u00a0 Adam wasn\u2019t happy about it, but he acquiesced.\u00a0 The boy knew he would fill him in later if need be.\u00a0 \u00a0He was outside now talking to one of their younger hands.\u00a0 Hoss was gone.\u00a0 His middle boy had traveled to town along with the hand to help secure Sephora\u2019s belongings, as well as to gather up a few last minute supplies they needed for the drive.<\/p>\n Joseph was nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n Ben shifted so he could look out the window to the left.\u00a0 The woodpile remained untouched as did the bucket used for hauling water to the kitchen.\u00a0 Hop Sing\u2019s irate words still rang in his ears.\u00a0 His cook had let him know in no uncertain terms that if he had no firewood or water, there would be no food!\u00a0 The rancher ran a hand over his chin and sighed.\u00a0 Since the incident in the desert, he\u2019d mostly confined Joseph to household chores, wanting to keep the boy close in order to keep an eye on him.\u00a0 His son had chafed at being assigned what he referred to as \u2018childrens\u2019 tasks, but complied without too much complaint.\u00a0 Little Joe should be out there chopping wood right now and he wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Maybe he should go look for him.<\/p>\n But no, Joseph could simply be in the stable or helping one of the hands in the field.\u00a0 There was no reason to suspect anything untoward had happened.<\/p>\n Other than Sephora\u2019s words.<\/p>\n It all seemed too much of a fairy tale \u2013 an ancient enemy, a curse \u2013 and yet, there were his three dead wives and his sons less than lucky love lives.\u00a0 If one took only Joseph into account, in the last few years there had been Laura and Amy, as well as Julia Bulette \u2013 all beautiful, spirited women, rich with the hope of a long life and a future that held both daughters and sons.<\/p>\n All dead.<\/p>\n Leaving the window and his worries behind, Ben moved to his desk.\u00a0 Once he was seated, he took the key from his pocket and opened the lower right-hand drawer and drew out a small book.\u00a0 Sephora had given it to him and he\u2019d placed it there until he had time to peruse it.\u00a0 The volume was bound in leather and edged with gilt and was obviously old.\u00a0 A second key opened the lock that kept its contents private.\u00a0 Ben sat for a moment with his hand on its worn cover, thinking, and then eased back in his chair and opened it.\u00a0 The script was fine.\u00a0 Whoever had kept the journal had obviously been well-educated, but nearly a century separated him from their style of writing.\u00a0 The long S alone would make it difficult to read.\u00a0 And yet, read it he must \u2013 his cousin asserted \u2013 if he was to understand.<\/p>\n And to be armed against what was coming.<\/p>\n The journal had been kept by his great-grandfather, whose name had been Benjamin as well. It dated to the late 18th<\/sup> century, around the time Britain had gone to war with her colonies.\u00a0 His father\u2019s side of the family had never been one to dwell on the past and he knew only a little bit about them. They had originated in England.\u00a0 His great-grandfather had been a seaman like him, and then settled in Bath, starting his family at a late age.<\/p>\n Wetting a finger, Ben took hold of the fragile end-paper and turned it and began to read.\u00a0 As he did, the front door opened and his eldest son walked in.\u00a0 Adam looked around for him and then, upon spotting him, came over to the desk.<\/p>\n \u201cHave you seen Joe lately, Pa?\u201d he asked, his tone concerned.<\/p>\n Ben closed the journal and laid it on the desktop.\u00a0 \u201cNot since breakfast,\u201d he admitted. \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam let out a sigh.\u00a0 \u201cI was afraid of that. \u00a0His gear is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat about Cochise?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s in his stall, but that black gelding \u2013 Gunpowder \u2013 he\u2019s missing.\u201d<\/p>\n The rancher glanced toward the window and then back to his son. \u00a0\u201cYou think your brother is headed for Martinville?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure he is, Pa.\u00a0 In fact, that new hand we have \u2013 the young one named Jess \u2013 he was pretty sure he saw Joe ride off mid-morning.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPretty sure?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJess has only seen Joe a few times.\u201d\u00a0 Adam chuckled.\u00a0 \u201cHe said he recognized his hair.\u201d<\/p>\n That head of spiraling curls was pretty unique!<\/p>\n Ben rose and came around the corner of the desk.\u00a0 \u201cTell one of the men to saddle up Buck.\u00a0 I\u2019ll join you.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam caught his arm.\u00a0 \u201cPa, I think you should stay here.\u00a0 And not only for the reason I cited before.\u201d<\/p>\n That \u2018reason\u2019 being his brother would be more open with him than he would with his father.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat else, then?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam\u2019s eyes landed on the small leather book, and then went to the stair.\u00a0 \u201cI can only call it an intuition, Pa, but I think there\u2019s more to your cousin\u2019s visit than she\u2019s letting on. \u00a0This whole \u2018Cartwright curse\u2019 thing is absurd, of course.\u00a0 There has<\/em> to be more.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben\u2019s nod was slow.<\/p>\n Adam was staring at him.\u00a0 \u201cPa, surely you don\u2019t believe the family was cursed for something your great-grandfather did over one hundred years ago?\u201d<\/p>\n He was an educated man. Of course, he didn\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n Mostly<\/em> he didn\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n \u201cI should go after your brother.\u00a0 Maybe I can talk reason to him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPa, you\u2019ve tried that before.\u00a0 Little Joe won\u2019t listen. Whatever\u2026hold\u2026this town, this \u2018Louise\u2019 has on him, it goes beyond<\/em> reason.\u00a0 You know how Joe is.\u00a0 Remember those nightmares he had as a kid?\u00a0 The ones where the black shapes in his room came alive and wanted to carry him away?\u00a0 Nothing any of us said could convince him that the shadows in his room were just that \u2013 shadows \u2013 and they had no power to take him anywhere.\u201d\u00a0 Adam sighed. \u201cOnce Joe gets something in his head, he\u2019s <\/em>the only one who can get it out.\u201d<\/p>\n In spite of everything, Ben chuckled. \u201cLike the day he grew old enough to realize that all he had to do was turn the thumb wheel and increase the light in his room, and the shadows would disappear?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam laughed too.\u00a0 \u201cExactly.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben returned to the window and looked out.\u00a0 \u201cHow long did Jess think Joe had been gone?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOnly an hour or so.\u00a0 If I get right on his tail, I should catch him up by nightfall.\u201d<\/p>\n Something shivered through him.\u00a0 \u201cNot before?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can ride hard, but Martinville is a good ways away, Pa.\u00a0 I doubt I can make it before then.\u201d<\/p>\n He thought a moment. \u00a0\u201cAll right.\u00a0 You go.\u00a0 One of us is needed here to continue to prep for the drive anyhow.\u201d\u00a0 Ben glanced at the slender volume on his desk.\u00a0 \u201cAs well as to explore the mystery of cousin Sephora\u2019s visit.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHave you read any of the journal yet?\u201d his son asked.<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t had time.\u00a0 Maybe later tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam chuckled.\u00a0 \u201cWell, just think of me when you\u2019re seated in your chair by the fire sipping brandy and reading a rousing bit of speculative fiction.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be nurse-maiding a lovesick kid.\u201d<\/p>\n A lovesick kid in love with a girl who never existed.<\/p>\n Ben felt that shiver again.<\/p>\n Only this time, it felt like someone walking over his grave.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The day flew by at a stallion\u2019s pace, moving on fleet feet, and was over almost before it had begun.\u00a0 Adam had taken an hour to prepare, and then his eldest had been held up further when he had to deal with a disgruntled employee.\u00a0 About the same time Hoss returned from town.\u00a0 He wanted to go with Adam, but after a family discussion, they decided it was best that his eldest go alone.\u00a0 If the two of them went, Joseph \u2013 most likely \u2013 would feel ganged up on and his defenses would go up. \u00a0Alone, Adam had some hope of talking to his volatile younger brother and making Little Joe see reason.\u00a0\u00a0 In his life he had experience of young men who had seen visions and sworn an oath upon the Good Book that they were real.\u00a0 One young sailor believed that he\u2019d been visited by a mermaid and had even tried to leap overboard to join her.\u00a0 Another had seen a wandering woman in white on one of the West Indies\u2019 isles.\u00a0 He had been certain<\/em> she was real; so certain that in following that vision he had found his death by plunging over a cliff in pursuit of her.<\/p>\n Paul Martin had pulled him aside that first day, after they\u2019d returned from Martinville and the physician had examined Joseph.\u00a0 His son had been battered, bruised, burnt, and badly dehydrated \u2013 on top of the fact that he had taken a vicious knock to the head with the business end of a pistol.\u00a0 His friend assured him that they had found Little Joe in time and that his son would recover from his ordeal in the desert.\u00a0 Paul, however, had been concerned about the blow to the head.\u00a0 It had been a bad one.\u00a0 Joseph had a concussion and a severe one.\u00a0 The physician put down his son\u2019s vision of Martinville and its damned inhabitants to that.\u00a0 In time, Paul said, Little Joe should heal.\u00a0 Then, there was a hesitation.\u00a0 A\u2026but.\u00a0 \u2018But,\u2019 Paul said, \u2018I would keep a close eye on him for a month or so just to be sure.\u00a0 We are only beginning to understand the brain, Ben, and how it works.\u00a0 There could be damage unseen and unknown.\u2019<\/p>\n Unseen.<\/p>\n Unknown.<\/p>\n Ben\u2019s gaze went to his great-grandfather\u2019s journal where it lay on the table beside his hearth-side chair.<\/p>\n Yet another \u2018unknown\u2019.<\/p>\n Just as the rancher made up his mind to begin reading again, a knock sounded at the door.\u00a0 With a grunt, Ben turned and headed for it, wondering who might come calling so late.\u00a0 As he passed the tall case clock, he noted it was after eight.\u00a0 The sun had been bedded down for several hours and most of the hands were in the bunkhouse.<\/p>\n Most, but not all.<\/p>\n It was Nicholas Knight.<\/p>\n \u201cGood evening, Mister Cartwright,\u201d the young man said.\u00a0 \u201cI apologize for disturbing you.\u00a0 I was looking for Joseph and Jess told me he thought he had seen him ride out earlier in the day?\u201d<\/p>\n There was an edge to his voice, as if this was more than just a social inquiry.<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u00a0 Little Joe did ride out,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n To describe the loner\u2019s face as cherubic was an understatement.\u00a0 With his head of tousled blond curls and bright blue eyes, Nicholas Knight had the appearance of an angel. But there was something about his eyes.\u00a0 Something\u2026<\/p>\n Wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cYou did not let him ride out alone,\u201d the blond stated flatly.\u00a0 Then, he seemed to think better of what he had said.\u00a0 \u201cForgive me.\u00a0 The fainting incident.\u00a0 It\u2026concerns me still.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben shivered as a gust of the late October air pushed its way past his new hand.\u00a0 \u201cNicholas, why don\u2019t you come in?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThank you.\u00a0 I will for a moment.\u00a0 Oh, and remember?\u00a0 It\u2019s just plain Nick.\u201d\u00a0 He beamed.\u00a0 \u201cTo my friends, that is.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNick, yes.\u00a0 Come over to the fire and warm yourself. \u201d\u00a0 As he said it, Ben noted that the other man was dressed only in a thin shirt and jeans.\u00a0 He wore no coat, gloves, or hat.\u00a0 \u201cOr maybe not?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the side effects of my\u2026illness.\u201d\u00a0 Nick shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cI rarely feel the cold.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s an admirable attribute on these long wintry nights,\u201d Ben said as he indicated the settee with a hand.\u00a0 As he did, a pang of loneliness struck him.\u00a0 Hoss had gone ahead to prepare the camp for the first stage of the drive and was not expected to return.\u00a0 Adam and Joe were in or nearing Martinville.\u00a0 It was only him, Hop Sing, and Sephora rattling around the ranch house right now.<\/p>\n And his visitor.<\/p>\n \u201cTell me a little bit about yourself,\u201d Ben said as he sat down.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, there\u2019s not much to tell really.\u00a0 A young lad who went off to war and found more than he bargained for.\u201d\u00a0 He smiled again.\u00a0 \u201cHe ran away and has been running ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAre you American?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d\u00a0 Nick leaned back.\u00a0 \u201cI was born in Belgium.\u201d<\/p>\n Hence, the slight accent.\u00a0 \u201cWhat brings you to the West?\u201d<\/p>\n The other man hesitated.\u00a0 \u201cI have a\u2026friend.\u00a0 Well, more than a friend, but\u2026less.\u00a0 I was traveling with him and another friend.\u00a0 A woman.\u00a0 My friend \u2013 the male one \u2013 became embroiled in some business dealings that were less than\u2026above-board.\u00a0 I decided to seek other work.\u201d\u00a0 Nick paused and those pale blue eyes met his.\u00a0 \u201cHonest<\/em> work.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis \u2018friend\u2019, does he know you are here on the Ponderosa?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think so.\u201d\u00a0 Nick hesitated and then the grin reappeared.\u00a0 \u201cI am pretty good at leaving no tracks to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI see.\u201d\u00a0 Ben hesitated too, and then plunged ahead.\u00a0 \u201cThis \u2018business\u2019 of your friend\u2019s, does it involve my family?\u201d<\/p>\n Nick\u2019s pale brows popped upward toward those curls. \u201cWhat makes you think that?\u201d<\/p>\n Ben shook his head and let out a sigh.\u00a0 \u201cI am grasping at straws, I guess.\u00a0 My cousin came in last night.\u00a0 I am afraid she has me rather unnerved.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA woman will often do that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d\u00a0 Ben laughed. \u201cOh, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s more than that.\u201d\u00a0 Something in Nick\u2019s voice changed.\u00a0 The tone became melodious \u2013 leading.\u00a0 \u201cTell me what.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben fought it, but found he had no will to resist.\u00a0 \u201cShe came carrying a tale of a curse laid on the Cartwright family over one hundred years ago \u2013 a curse that would fall upon the head of any descendant bearing a certain name.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBenjamin.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d\u00a0 The rancher blinked.\u00a0 He was feeling drowsy.<\/p>\n It must be the fire.<\/p>\n \u201cGo on.\u00a0 What curse?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat any son of the Cartwright family named \u2018Benjamin\u2019 with die without descent.\u00a0 His wives\u2026 his children\u2026would pass before him.\u201d\u00a0 The older man shook himself.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s all nonsense, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course.\u201d \u00a0The blond man stood and looked around.\u00a0 \u201cWhere are Adam and Hoss?\u201d<\/p>\n For a moment he couldn\u2019t answer.\u00a0 It was like he was coming out of a dream.\u00a0 When the fog cleared, the rancher said, \u201cHoss has gone on to the camp.\u00a0 Adam went after his brother.\u201d<\/p>\n His new hand seemed to visibly relax.\u00a0 \u201cAdam and Little Joe?\u00a0 They\u2019ve gone to Virginia City then?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d Ben said as he too found his feet and joined the other man.\u00a0 \u201cA place called Martinville.\u00a0 Little Joe has something there he needs to \u2013 \u201d<\/p>\n A hand clamped on his arm. The grip was fierce.<\/p>\n \u201cMartinville?\u00a0 What in the name of all that is unholy are they doing there?\u201d<\/p>\n Again, Nick acted as though he<\/em> were the one in command \u2013 and for some reason, he let him be.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat does it matter?\u00a0 It\u2019s just a\u2026dead town.\u201d<\/p>\n The blond man sucked in a breath,\u00a0 His jaw tightened.<\/p>\n \u201cThat \u2018friend\u2019 of mine?\u00a0 The one I mentioned running from?<\/p>\n \u201cMartinville is<\/em> his business.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n FOUR<\/p>\n Joe Cartwright stood at the edge of Martinville, staring at the empty buildings as twilight descended, suddenly uneasy.\u00a0 \u00a0He had no idea why.\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019d ridden hard and fast from the Ponderosa with every intention of making it to the town before dark so he could begin his search, but now that he was here, something held him back.<\/p>\n A nameless dread.\u00a0 An unknown fear.<\/p>\n He felt like a fool.\u00a0 The worst thing possible was that his pa and brothers were right and Martinville was a used-up old ghost town with nothing in it but dust and forgotten hopes.\u00a0 The best thing would be that he <\/em>was right and that there was a village of living breathing people here who \u2013 with his help \u2013 had finally found their courage and slain their dragon named Felix Matthews.<\/p>\n Staring at the darkened, empty buildings with their faceless signs flapping like bats\u2019 wings in the autumn wind, Joe had a feeling he knew who would win the argument.<\/p>\n The wind lifted his chestnut curls as he stood there, tossing them onto his forehead and into his eyes.\u00a0 It was a warm wind for a cold night.\u00a0 It blew up the main street of Martinville, propelling tumbleweeds and other debris before it, and rolled out of the town inviting him to enter.\u00a0 He remembered halting on Cochise at about this spot that day his pa and brothers had found him in the desert and rescued him.\u00a0 He\u2019d stopped and pointed out the overturned wagon to his father \u2013 the one he had put there during his stand against Matthews and his thugs.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t there now.<\/p>\n Of course, some drifter could have come along and moved it.\u00a0 He was sure in the month he had been away that more than one poor soul had wandered into Martinville looking for a safe haven.\u00a0 Still, it made him wonder if he had ever seen it. \u00a0Maybe Pa and the others were just humoring him.<\/p>\n Maybe the whole thing had been nothing but a fevered dream, brought on by the blow to his head.<\/p>\n He could accept that.\u00a0 At least, he was pretty sure he could.\u00a0 He just needed to take one final turn through the town. \u00a0He needed to inspect every nook and cranny, to open all the doors and look into every cellar and attic.\u00a0 He needed to go back to the mercantile, the one run by the Cormans.<\/p>\n He needed to exorcise Louise.<\/p>\n She haunted him.\u00a0 He saw her each and every night standing here, at the edge of the town, reaching out with her pale, white arms \u2013 calling him in her childlike voice.\u00a0 Her honey-colored hair whipped in a phantom wind about her face, sometimes masking her hazel eyes; at other times framing them and setting them off so they flashed and pierced his heart with longing.\u00a0 His longing.<\/p>\n Her<\/em> longing.<\/p>\n She still needed rescued.\u00a0 He knew it.<\/p>\n He just didn\u2019t know how.<\/p>\n Joe remained where he was for a moment, considering his choices.\u00a0 It was too late to begin his inspection of the town and he really had no desire to hole up in one of its deserted buildings overnight.\u00a0 Looking up, he noted the crisp clear sky with its bloated moon and array of a million stars.\u00a0 There was something immense \u2013 something eternal about it \u2013 and it called him back into the desert.\u00a0 He\u2019d return tomorrow.\u00a0 He\u2019d explore in the daylight and then, he would go home.<\/p>\n With Louise or without her.<\/p>\n He\u2019d dismounted earlier and was on foot.\u00a0 Gunpowder, the black gelding he\u2019d \u2018borrowed\u2019 from the stable, had grown skittish as they approached Martinville\u2019s perimeter and so he had left him tethered to a bent-over old crone of a tree a good half-mile out.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t blame him.\u00a0 There was something unsettling about a place where people had lived and thrived that had died.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what Martinville was.\u00a0 A dead place.<\/p>\n Why had he come here?<\/p>\n As Joe turned to leave, he had his answer.\u00a0 It was carried on the wind.\u00a0 Both struck him at the same instant, sending chills along his spine.<\/p>\n The wind and two words.<\/p>\n \u2018Little Joe.\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cAnd so it begins,\u201d Lucien LaCroix remarked as he dropped the curtains and turned back into the late Sheriff O\u2019Brien\u2019s office.<\/p>\n \u201cReally, LaCroix, is this necessary?\u201d the sheriff\u2019s wife asked.<\/p>\n \u201cLet us just say,\u201d the ancient vampire replied with a twitch of his upper lip, \u201cI know how to hold a grudge.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA grudge born long<\/em> before this boy\u2019s father was.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo you question my choice?\u201d Lucien snapped.<\/p>\n \u201cNo. I have no right to.\u00a0 You may do as you wish.\u00a0 You\u2026own me.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, he did.\u00a0 And he had for over one hundred years.<\/p>\n Kate O\u2019Brien was tall for a woman, but he was taller and he used his height to loom over her. \u00a0One hundred-odd years before \u2013 the blink of an eye to him, a creature of nearly two thousand years \u2013 he had taken her under his wing.\u00a0 Kate was skilled in the ways of the witch, but it had taken more than the skills of an enchantress to capture and hold an entire town\u2019s population on the brink of damnation.\u00a0 He and his children, Janette and Nicholas, had been traveling in the colonies.\u00a0 The war was raging. The Americans stood on the verge of destruction.\u00a0 Wars were a balm to both his days and his soul.\u00a0 So much destruction and death.\u00a0 So many battles.<\/p>\n So many chances to feed unawares.<\/p>\n Kate had spent a portion of her life in the West Indies and tied herself to a man there who had taught her the dark arts.\u00a0 She had played with them, as most humans did, never fully understanding what <\/em>she played with \u2013 like a child who lights a match only to be surprised when they are burned.\u00a0 She was nearly hung.\u00a0 It was Nicholas who saved her from the noose, but he who preserved her \u2013 for his own uses.<\/p>\n One never knew when a witch would come in handy.<\/p>\n Her last husband had been unaware of her clandestine activities.\u00a0 Thom O\u2019Brien thought his wife a handsome woman in her middle thirties \u2013 fit for America\u2019s rough and tumble frontier.\u00a0 LaCroix glanced out the window at the endless parade of dust and debris passing by.\u00a0 God, how he hated it!\u00a0 How he detested its brash honesty and overly pious pioneers, its zealous sheriffs and their eternal quest for right through might, and \u2013 most of all \u2013 its self-made men.\u00a0 In the Old World a man knew his place.\u00a0 There were ancient lines and ancient loyalties that took precedence.<\/p>\n As well as ancient debts.<\/p>\n \u201cLucien\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n He had strayed,\u00a0 Oh dear.\u00a0 He had a tendency to do that.<\/p>\n \u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n Kate sucked in a breath.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve delivered the boy.\u00a0 Am I\u2026.\u00a0 Is my debt paid?\u201d<\/p>\n He glanced at the window again.\u00a0 Beyond human vision, the girl was leading Benjamin Cartwright\u2019s son through the deserted streets to his fate.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the deed is done, we shall see,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy\u2026\u201d she began, but halted.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy what?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy this <\/em>boy?\u00a0 Why not one of his older brothers?\u00a0 \u00a0The curse\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n Kate had been with him on that island in the West Indies.\u00a0 In fact, it was she who had woven the spell.\u00a0 The curse that said, in so many words, that Benjamin Cartwright \u2013 any<\/em> Benjamin Cartwright \u2013 would end his life in sorrow, bereft, and alone.\u00a0 LaCroix let out a little sigh.\u00a0 He was not a cruel man.\u00a0 Not really.\u00a0 Nor a greedy one.\u00a0 He\u2019d watched as John and James and Samuel and William Cartwright flourished.\u00a0 He\u2019d even attended a few weddings and christenings. \u00a0He\u2019d been content to leave the family alone so long as they remembered, as he<\/em> remembered, the moment when one of their own had overreached his bounds. After the war ended, his own interests had taken him and his children many places \u2013 to France, Ireland, and England.\u00a0 It was when they returned to the Colonies, to what was now known as the Wild West, that he had heard there was a new patriarch of the Cartwright clan.<\/p>\n Named \u2018Benjamin\u2019 Cartwright.<\/p>\n How dare <\/em>they!<\/p>\n \u201cYou wonder why it is not the oldest son I choose to use as my weapon?\u201d he asked her.\u00a0 As she nodded, Lucien went on.\u00a0 \u201cThe oldest has wanderlust.\u00a0 He will soon be gone, never to return.\u00a0 The middle son, his heart speaks of an early end.\u201d<\/p>\n He had not been idle.\u00a0 He had flown \u2013 literally \u2013 from Virginia City to the Ponderosa and spent time observing Benjamin Cartwright\u2019s three sons.\u00a0 One as ancient as him could see the mark of death.\u00a0 The middle boy was not long for this world.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is in the youngest that this <\/em>Benjamin Cartwright places all his hopes.\u00a0 His petit Joseph<\/em> is the heir to all his dreams \u2013 to his \u2018Ponderosa\u2019. \u00a0He is the one who will carry on the name.\u201d\u00a0 LaCroix snorted.\u00a0 \u201cOr he was.\u201d<\/p>\n Kate\u2019s hand had gone to her throat.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWould it not be kinder to kill him?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n The ancient creature pursed his lips. \u201cKinder?\u201d he asked.\u00a0 \u201cOh, I suppose.\u00a0 Still,\u201d LaCroix said as he returned to the window and drew the curtain back again, \u201cJanette and Nicholas can use a new companion.\u00a0 From what I have seen, the boy has potential.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd this way, it will be so<\/em> much more fun!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It was almost dark and he almost missed him.\u00a0 He\u2019d been flying fast and a black horse on a black night was a hard thing to see.\u00a0 If Gunpowder hadn\u2019t shifted and whinnied at his approach, he would have ridden by without noticing him. As it was, he\u2019d had to backtrack and dismount and approach the gelding slowly.\u00a0 The horse was uneasy.<\/p>\n So was he.<\/p>\n Adam tethered his own horse beside the black and then turned to look at the town that had become a bone of contention in their family.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t want to make Little Joe feel foolish, but it was nothing but a ghost town.\u00a0 Martinville had been deserted long before Joe was born. \u00a0Maybe before he<\/em> was born.\u00a0 It had been one of the first settlements that grew up with the hope of a strike that would make the town rich. Sadly, it died along with that hope.\u00a0 He supposed the people had deserted it slowly, one family or two at a time, until at last there was nothing left to occupy its shops and streets but brush and the occasional wild animal.\u00a0 It certainly wasn\u2019t the home of a lovely young woman named Louise.<\/p>\n Adam snorted.\u00a0 Typical of his little brother that if he conjured up anything,<\/em> it would be a beautiful girl.<\/p>\n Adam stood with his hands anchored on his hips.\u00a0 He had a choice to make.\u00a0 He could camp here and keep an eye on the horses through the night, or go into the town and look for his brother.\u00a0 Most likely he would find Joe asleep on some moth-eaten, desert-dry old bed frame in what was left of the town\u2019s hotel.\u00a0 That was a concern, both for him and for his brother \u2013 the age of the place.\u00a0 The buildings might look sturdy \u2013 somewhat \u2013 but with how long the town had been empty, it was likely a good many of the structures were rotten.\u00a0 The floors could cave in easily.\u00a0 Joe could have fallen.\u00a0 He might be hurt.<\/p>\n His brother could need his help.<\/p>\n Adam sighed.\u00a0 It had been a long, hard-pressed ride.\u00a0 All he wanted to do was lay out his bedding and crawl into it and sleep until Sunday.\u00a0 He glanced at Sport who seemed to sense what he was contemplating.\u00a0 His old friend nickered and then shook his head.<\/p>\n Smart horse.<\/p>\n Still, he couldn\u2019t abandon Joe.\u00a0 Obviously his little brother was not entirely in his right mind.\u00a0 Pa had explained what Paul Martin said about the blow to the head Joe took.\u00a0 It had been vicious.\u00a0 There was such a thing as a post-concussion pattern.\u00a0 With some people, the effects lingered for months or even years.\u00a0 Paul had told Pa to watch out for certain signs that might indicate a build-up of pressure in the skull.<\/p>\n Signs like Little Joe passing out without reason.<\/p>\n With a sigh, the black-haired man approached the horse his brother had taken from the stable.\u00a0 Gunpowder was young and had a disposition to go with his name, and that meant that \u2013 after several hours of inactivity \u2013 he was ready and raring to go.\u00a0 Unlike Sport <\/em>who was ready to call it a night.\u00a0 Crossing to the animal, he told him they were going to go look for Joe and then mounted up.\u00a0 After walking Gunpowder in a few circles, giving him time to make his acquaintance again, Adam turned the gelding\u2019s nose toward Martinville and gave him his lead.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t far.\u00a0 At the pace they were moving, it would take no more than fifteen minutes to reach it.\u00a0 As he rode, Adam considered his brother\u2019s reaction.\u00a0 Little Joe would be angry to see him and then \u2013 he hoped \u2013 grateful for the company.<\/p>\n Ten minutes later, Adam came upon the access to the high ridge where they\u2019d found his brother unconscious next to the man who had bushwhacked him.\u00a0 There was no reason to stop, except that he felt drawn to the place \u2013 as if he might find something there that would clear away some part of the mystery.\u00a0 Upon attaining the summit, the black-haired man ground tethered Gunpowder and worked his way up and into the rocks alone.\u00a0 As he reached the top, Adam turned and looked toward the town \u2013 and was surprised to see a cloud of dust rising between him and it.\u00a0 It took a moment to recognize the sound of horses\u2019 hooves pounding the desert floor.<\/p>\n It took only a second longer to recognize the feel of cold steel on his skin.<\/p>\n \u201cYou looking for something, mister?\u201d a man drawled.<\/p>\n Adam\u2019s hands went up.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m certainly not looking to cause any trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you looking to cause then?\u201d a second man asked as he stepped out of the shadows.\u00a0 He was of medium height with non-descript brown hair.\u00a0 His wide-brimmed tan hat hid most of his face. \u00a0The light that managed to creep under it to strike his eyes, or the area where his eyes should have been, revealed nothing but needle-thin slits.\u00a0 \u201cTrouble, maybe?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, not trouble,\u201d he answered as the barrel of the pistol pressed into his flesh.<\/p>\n \u201cAin\u2019t nothing around here for miles but Martinville.\u00a0 You paying someone a visit?\u201d<\/p>\n There was something about the second man \u2013 a self-importance that smacked of arrogance and a need for control.\u00a0 Adam noticed that the first outlaw deferred to him, letting him do all the talking.<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t normally one to let others know his business, but he couldn\u2019t think of anything else but a portion of the truth.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m looking for my kid brother.\u00a0 This is his horse.\u00a0 I found it tethered out a ways and figured he might have walked into the town and holed up for the night.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSkinny kid?\u00a0 Lots of curls?\u201d<\/p>\n The black-haired man sighed with relief.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s him.\u00a0 Have you seen him?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I saw him, about a month ago,\u201d the second man said as he approached.\u00a0 \u201cHe was standing at the edge of town behind an overturned wagon. \u201c The man jabbed two fingers into his chest. \u201cThe kid was in my way just like you\u2019re<\/em> in my way now.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe had mentioned the wagon.\u00a0 He said he\u2019d overturned it to create a barricade to stop the men who terrorized Martinville from gaining access.<\/p>\n These men.<\/p>\n \u201cYou must be \u2013 \u201c<\/p>\n The man pushed his tan hat back, revealing an ugly mug and a smug, self-satisfied sneer.\u00a0 \u201cFelix Matthews, at your service.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam knew it was coming, even before he felt the steel shift and the gun butt make contact with his head.<\/p>\n \u201cWelcome to Hell.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He\u2019d seen her.\u00a0 He knew he\u2019d seen her.\u00a0 She was here.\u00a0 Louise was here<\/em>\u2026.<\/p>\n Somewhere.<\/p>\n Louise had seemed no more than a dream, standing there \u2013 pale and beautiful \u2013 in the same spot where he\u2019d last seen her.\u00a0 She\u2019d had that smile on her face, the one that lit it up like a kid at Christmas.\u00a0 He\u2019d hesitated \u2013 only a few seconds \u2013 and in that time she had disappeared, playfully looking over her shoulder as she ran around a corner to hide from him, like a little girl playing hide and go seek. \u00a0When he\u2019d rounded the corner, there\u2019d been no sign of her, but there had been a sound.\u00a0 He heard her laughing. The light, lilting sound of it called him forward along the main road, into an alley, and then deeper into the shadows that lined the empty streets of Martinville.<\/p>\n Louise led him along them and through them for some time, into and out of buildings, up and down stairs until at last they came to the town\u2019s mercantile. \u00a0Would her father be waiting within, Joe wondered, his haggard face furrowed with fear and wrinkled with worries as it had been before?\u00a0 Would the other inhabitants of the town be there, waiting \u2013 perhaps to surprise him?\u00a0 If Louise was real, then they must be too.\u00a0 He had lived among them; helped them.\u00a0 In a way, he had saved them by forcing them to remember who they once had been \u2013 strong men and women of sterling character.<\/p>\n They were real.\u00a0 It was all <\/em>real.<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t crazy.<\/p>\n As Joe hesitated outside the mercantile\u2019s door, a single light flickered into existence within.\u00a0 Its pale glow passed through the plate glass window and fell to the ground, illuminating the dry dusty boardwalk he occupied. \u00a0He stared at it for a moment, noting how the planks were jagged and broken through here and there, and how the dust was a good inch thick where it clung to their jagged ends.\u00a0 It gave him a moment\u2019s pause, but only a moment\u2019s.\u00a0 Martinville was in the middle of nowhere. \u00a0There was nothing to protect the town or its buildings from the relentless rays of the sun.\u00a0 Wood dried out.\u00a0 It rotted.\u00a0 Dust rolled and took hold.\u00a0 There was nothing strange here.\u00a0 Nothing to fear.<\/p>\n Nothing.<\/p>\n The wind brushed his cheek and lifted the curls from his forehead.\u00a0 With it came words.<\/p>\n \u201cLittle Joe, I\u2019m waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe wet his lips. \u00a0Still <\/em>he hesitated.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Why?<\/em>\u00a0 Now that he was so close\u2026.<\/p>\n The door opened several inches.\u00a0 A pale hand appeared.<\/p>\n \u201cLittle Joe, come inside.\u201d<\/p>\n He knew her voice.\u00a0 It was her and yet\u2026.not.<\/p>\n \u201cLouise, are you okay?\u201d he asked, and was surprised to find his voice trembled a bit as he did.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll be fine once you come in.\u00a0 I\u2019ve missed you, Little Joe.\u00a0 I\u2019ve missed you so<\/em> much.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve\u2026I\u2019ve m\u2026missed you too,\u201d he stammered.<\/p>\n \u201cYou remember?\u00a0 You said when you came back you wanted to see me standing right where I was. \u00a0I was there. \u00a0Now,<\/em> I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n He had said that, and for so long he had wanted nothing else.\u00a0 Joe glanced at the sky, at the empty streets, and then he summoned everything that was in him and reached for the handle and pushed in the door.<\/p>\n The room was empty.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m in the back,\u201d Louise said.\u00a0 \u201cIn your room.\u00a0 Remember?\u201d<\/p>\n He remembered.\u00a0 He\u2019d wakened there to find her looking down at him \u2013 watching over him.<\/p>\n Joe fixed his eyes on the inner door, willing himself to pay no attention to the empty shelves, to the untouched dust on the floor, or the multiple layers of cobwebs in the corners.\u00a0 None of it mattered.\u00a0 Only Louise<\/em> mattered.<\/p>\n He\u2019d sought her and he\u2019d found her and, now, they could be together.<\/p>\n As Joe stepped into the back room, he saw her.\u00a0 She was standing in the far corner, bathed in the pallid moonlight that spilled through an open window.\u00a0 The moonlight was mesmerizing. \u00a0It turned her honey-blonde hair a pastel shade of blue and shone through the gossamer gown she wore, revealing her shapely waist and slender legs.<\/p>\n \u201cCome to me, Little Joe,\u201d Louise said, her voice thick and husky.\u00a0 \u201cCome to me now.\u201d<\/p>\n He couldn\u2019t disobey.<\/p>\n Like a sleepwalker, Joe Cartwright made his way across the room; his gaze fastened on his object of his desire \u2013 his ears attuned only to her voice.\u00a0 So much so that when an ominous \u2018crack!\u2019 sounded beneath him, he paid it no mind.<\/p>\n Then the floor was gone and he was flying, but only for a moment.<\/p>\n The landing was hard.\u00a0 It drove the air \u2013 and nearly the life out of him.<\/p>\n Joe Cartwright blinked away blood and looked up.\u00a0 The beam of moonlight had followed him into the chasm created by the floor\u2019s collapse.\u00a0 Louise was riding it, down, down, down to where he lay, broken, on the stones of the store\u2019s root cellar.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve hurt yourself,\u201d she said as knelt beside him.\u00a0 A finger passed over his lips and came away bloody.\u00a0 \u201cPoor boy.\u00a0 Let me kiss it and make it better.\u201d<\/p>\n Louise smiled as she said it.<\/p>\n It might have been the pain causing him to see something that wasn\u2019t there, but if someone had asked him, Joe would have sworn that it was with the feral delight of a wolf moving in for the kill.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Adam Cartwright scowled and tried the bars of his prison window one more time.\u00a0 You\u2019d think in a town practically gone to dust, that the walls of the jail would be something less than trustworthy, but so far they had proven to be as solid as the rock beneath his feet.\u00a0 Felix Matthews, or whoever it was who had taken him, had waited until he\u2019d awakened within the cell and then walked away, leaving him alone with no guard and no way out.\u00a0 The black-haired man had gone to the window and watched as the outlaw and his men moved into the street, where they met with a white-haired man wearing a gray frock coat.\u00a0 While they talked, a wind swept through the town raising dust and momentarily obscuring them. When it dissipated, Matthews and his men were gone.<\/p>\n What in Sam Hill was going on here?<\/p>\n With a sigh, Adam released the bars and turned back into the cell. \u00a0Anyone who knew him would tell you that he was a man with his feet rooted firmly to the ground.\u00a0 This time of year with its talk of ghosts and ghouls and things that went bump in the night had one of two effects on him \u2013 it either amused or annoyed him. \u00a0Oh, he\u2019d told his fair share of ghost stories, mostly to terrify his younger brothers, but he\u2019d never believed there was any truth behind any<\/em> of it.<\/p>\n Adam\u2019s gaze returned to the empty street.\u00a0 The men had been there and then \u2013 not.\u00a0 They could have moved away under the cover of the dust, but if they had, they\u2019d done it faster than a bee-stung stallion.\u00a0 He\u2019d done no more than blink.<\/p>\n \u201cI sense you are puzzled, Adam Cartwright.\u00a0 Perhaps there is something I <\/em>can do to lift the veil of your befuddlement.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam pivoted and came face to face with the man in the frock coat.<\/p>\n \u201cWho are you?\u201d he demanded.<\/p>\n \u201cTsk, tsk. Such a lack of manners.\u00a0 I would have expected more from a Cartwright.\u201d\u00a0 A sneer lifted one corner of the man\u2019s full lips.\u00a0 \u201cBut then, these are not ordinary circumstances, so I suppose one must make exceptions.\u00a0 My name is LaCroix. \u00a0Lucien LaCroix.\u201d<\/p>\n A name as odd as the man.<\/p>\n \u201cLet me out of here!\u201d he demanded.<\/p>\n \u201cAgain.\u00a0 Goodness, didn\u2019t your father teach you how to behave in polite society?\u201d<\/p>\n He had a manner, this one.\u00a0 Cold.\u00a0 Insouciant.<\/p>\n Disquieting.<\/p>\n Adam sucked in his outrage and managed, \u201cSorry.\u00a0 Your men\u2026.\u00a0 I assume they were \u2018your\u2019 men?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThose ruffians?\u00a0 Pish tosh!\u00a0 Their own mothers wouldn\u2019t claim them.\u201d\u00a0 The white-haired man chuckled. \u201cI do, however, find them useful from time to time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne of them struck me in the head.\u00a0 Must have knocked a few marbles loose.\u201d\u00a0 Adam forced a smile.\u00a0 \u201cIt seems a mistake has been made.\u00a0 I\u2019ve done nothing wrong.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019d noted the keys hanging on a hook just beyond his reach.\u00a0 \u201cLet me out of here, will you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAh, well.\u201d\u00a0 Lucien pursed his lips.\u00a0 \u201cI might consider it did I not know of the penchant of older brothers to protect their younger siblings.\u00a0 I\u2019m afraid such a thing would interfere with my plans, and that\u2019s something I just simply can\u2019t <\/em>allow.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019d wagged his finger on the last words like a father chiding a child.<\/p>\n Adam\u2019s hands gripped the bars.\u00a0 \u201cIf you\u2019ve done anything to my brother\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll what?\u00a0 Take me by the throat, throttle me, and toss me out with the rubbish?\u201d \u00a0LaCroix looked him up and down. A unnatural light entered his eyes. \u00a0\u201cI can guarantee you \u2013 should <\/em>I let you out \u2013 the exact opposite would occur.\u201d<\/p>\n There was a game afoot here.\u00a0 He had no idea what it was or why<\/em> it was, but obviously it had something to do with Little Joe.\u00a0 Maybe with all <\/em>of them.<\/p>\n \u201cYou told me your name,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cBut not who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAh, a lover of words.\u00a0 It is true they can have many meanings.\u00a0 Suffice it to say that I am your worst nightmare.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>He shrugged. \u201cOr perhaps, to put it more succinctly, your dear father\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do you have against my father?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNothing.\u00a0 I don\u2019t even know him.\u201d\u00a0 Lucien LaCroix came closer. \u00a0He didn\u2019t want to, but Adam took a step back, so strong was the stranger\u2019s presence.\u00a0 \u201cI did however know another <\/em>Benjamin Cartwright and that\u2026association..left a rather bad taste in my mouth.\u201d\u00a0 He chuckled again as if what he\u2019d just said had some humor in it.\u00a0 LaCroix reached up and unfastened the top button of his crisp white shirt and pulled the fabric back to reveal a long, jagged scar just above his heart.\u00a0 \u201cFor one thing, he owes me for this!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cMy father, or the other <\/em>Benjamin Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll Benjamin Cartwrights, for all<\/em> eternity!\u201d \u00a0LaCroix\u2019s voice had grown guttural.\u00a0 It howled through the small cell with the rage of a rabid wolf.\u00a0 Then, abruptly, he fell silent.\u00a0 The silence was followed by a shrug.\u00a0 \u201cThe sins of the father and all that, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n It was obvious he was treating with a madman \u2013 a madman who held a grudge against his father.\u00a0 What he couldn\u2019t understand was why he\u2019d gone for Joe?\u00a0 He was the oldest \u2013 the heir.\u00a0 If the sins of the father were visited upon the next generation, they should have been visited upon him<\/em> first.<\/p>\n \u201cLet my little brother go.\u00a0 I\u2019ll stay.\u00a0 You can do whatever you want with me.\u201d<\/p>\n LaCroix scoffed.\u00a0 \u201cMy dear chap!\u00a0 I can do whatever I want with you now<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut I\u2019m the oldest!\u00a0 If you want to take revenge \u2013 \u201d<\/p>\n The white-haired man drew closer.\u00a0 His voice altered again, this time taking on the tone of a seer.\u00a0 \u201cI will have it.\u00a0 In the end Benjamin Cartwright will be left bereft and alone.\u00a0 You will desert him\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u00a0 You know it in your heart.\u00a0 Close your eyes, Adam Cartwright, feel the call of distant places, of the unknown, and of being your own man.\u201d<\/p>\n He could <\/em>feel it.\u00a0 He always had<\/em>, just as he had always known that one day he would <\/em>go.<\/p>\n \u201cPa will have Hoss\u2026and Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBenjamin Cartwright\u2019s second son will feel his own call.\u00a0 And as for the young one\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 LaCroix gripped the bars and leaned in so his face was caught between them, the skin pulled back to bare his teeth like a wolf\u2019s.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is mine!\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n FIVE<\/p>\n His companion was prowling like a caged lion.<\/p>\n Ben sighed as he watched Nicholas Knight walk off his frustration.\u00a0 He had insisted on coming along with the other man, and his new hand was not happy about it.\u00a0 Nick said he could travel faster alone and that reaching Martinville as quickly as possible was imperative. While the blond man was probably right, he hadn\u2019t been comfortable agreeing to it.\u00a0 They were going to find Joseph and Adam and sadly, he didn\u2019t trust the man,<\/p>\n And he did.<\/p>\n It was, to put it mildly, complicated.<\/p>\n Ben knew little about Nick other than the facts he had given \u2013 that he had been a ranch hand in South America and that he had a condition that kept him out of the sun.\u00a0 It was night now.\u00a0 They had taken off shortly after the conclusion of their conversation and flown like the wind.\u00a0 Nick had to admit \u2013 grudgingly \u2013 that he sat a horse well.\u00a0 The comment made Ben chuckle.\u00a0 He\u2019d been \u2018sitting\u2019 a horse longer than the young man had been alive.<\/p>\n \u201cBen, we should move,\u201d his companion said.\u00a0 \u201cThe dawn is fast approaching.\u201d<\/p>\n The rancher looked at the fire they had kindled.\u00a0 Nick\u2019s portion of their supper still lay in the pan.\u00a0 \u201cYou haven\u2019t eaten anything.\u201d<\/p>\n The blond man shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cI have no appetite.\u00a0 Save it for later.\u00a0 Your sons may have need of it when we find them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA man can\u2019t think clearly on an empty stomach,\u201d the rancher said as he gathered up the biscuits and placed them in a red kerchief.\u00a0 \u201cHe makes mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI have my own\u2026sustenance.\u00a0 I ate before we left.\u00a0 Perhaps\u2026later.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben walked over to his horse.\u00a0 He opened his off-side saddlebag where he stowed the biscuits and remnants of fried rabbit.\u00a0 \u201cDo you need to relieve yourself before we set out?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u00a0 I\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI suppose you did that before we left as well.\u201d<\/p>\n There was something odd about Nicholas Knight.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t put his finger on it, but it was there.\u00a0 The blond man had an easy surety about him and yet, a shy reticence as well.\u00a0 It was almost as if he was afraid to grow too close \u2013 to become too involved or too at ease.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, Nick, I asked you before we left what your investment is in this and you never replied.\u00a0 If what Joseph said about Martinville is true \u2013 if it isn\u2019t <\/em>a ghost town \u2013 there is a band of marauders guarding it.\u00a0 They are dangerous men. Why put yourself in harm\u2019s way? You barely know me or my sons.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou are wrong, Ben.\u00a0 I
\n\u201cSephora, why don\u2019t we move to the settee?\u201d<\/p>\n