Devlin's Curse by Lady Brenda Page A

glanced at the crowd that had gathered for the gunfight. He saw Esmeralda standing under a tree and a serpent of dread wound its way through his mind. He would have to ask Walking Ghost to shadow her every move. He had no doubt that history was repeating itself placing him directly in the path of the Demon; one that he must slay again and again. Perhaps it was fortunate he was immortal after all? Mortal man had proven to be fodder to such evil, easily possessed and corrupted. It especially preyed on the weak, the vain and the drunk.
    After the fatal shot sent Laredo home to Hell, a brief silence filled the air for a space of a few seconds, then the noise of the town resumed. Not one person made an attempt to approach Devlin. No one took notice as he walked away and left a pack of ragged drunks to swarm over Laredo like flies on a road apple while they emptied his pockets and pulled off his boots. 
    There was one person that did watch Devlin go.
    Mr. Leonard White had witnessed the speed in which the gambler had drilled Laredo and he now knew for certain that he dared not meet Devlin face to face. Dry gulching was the only way he could be sure to plant the gambler for good. Fortunately ol’ Leonard White knew a fair amount about that.
    After the gunfight, Devlin walked swiftly to intercept Esmeralda before she could flee back to her salon. He blocked her path. Esmeralda would not meet his eyes. He reached out and took her arm.
    “Angel?”
    She pulled her arm free and looked up at him. Her green eyes blazed with fury.
    “Oh God Devlin. Wasn’t it enough to be trapped in that mine? Was this display necessary?”
    “Laredo had it coming, he set the charge that buried Walking Ghost and me in that mine. His associates had better think twice before they try to harm those that are under my protection,” he said.
    “Does that include me?” Esmeralda asked. Things had begun to take a sinister turn. “To be under your protection is to be a part of the danger, surely”
    “Yes.” He stared at her. She tried to hide the expression on her face.
    But he knew.
    Devlin smiled slightly.
    “Open the door to me tonight Angel,” he said.
     
    Chinatown was one vast living organism. It was like a giant web with Grandfather Woo in the center. There was not a single whisper from C Street and above that did not come to his ear. The events of the past few days had been gossiped about and even bet upon in the Chinese lotteries. Chinese servants worked tirelessly in all the great houses, and as the silent backbone of Virginia City they provided everything from fresh vegetables, firewood and laundry services to opium.
    Woo was the English word for Wu. Chinese for sorcerer, spirit medium and doctor. Grandfather was all of these and came from a long line of Wu’s. In their native China the Wu family was revered, feared even, for their extraordinary talents of magic and healing.
    This particular branch of the Wu family tree, were the guardians of the Demon, or Beast, the Red Dragon of the earth. They were experts in demonic possession and spirit warfare. Their presence in Virginia City was the same as in many mining towns where the excavation of the mines had opened portals to the lairs of Demons. Through ritual and sacrifice they had held these Demons at bay but what concerned them now was the extraordinary fascination between Big Jim Diamond and the Demon of the Gilded Bird Mine.
    Grandfather Woo and his three young sons gathered in the back of the herb store. Grandmother Woo and two young Chinese women moved silently behind them serving them tea and lighting their pipes.
    “My sons,” Grandfather said, as he puffed on his long pipe, “a demon, like the one that killed your brother Hop, is here in Virginia City. As you all know, for hundreds of years this family have been the guardians of that evil and now Chow, my number two son, you are the guardian of the Demons host, a bloated water buffalo that calls himself Big Jim.”
    Chow sat up