Black Dog(69)

“Father McClanahan,” Sheriff Pearson said briskly. “He’s worked with the Pure now and then. And my deputies – I only have one, ordinarily, but I thought it just as well to do a little recruiting yesterday. Now I’m glad of it. Shotguns may not be magic, but they slow most things down.” He opened his door and jumped to the street before Natividad could ask him what kind of ammunition those guns were loaded with.

The priest was a big man with a round, soft face and a rounder, softer body. His thinning hair was reddish, his eyes blue, his nose crooked, his mouth made for smiling. But he wasn’t smiling now. He took Natividad’s hands in his, looked at her with concentrated attention, and said, “Pure, are you, then? Good. That’s good. God knows I spent the night praying Grayson Lanning would send us real help.” Before she could answer, he added to Sheriff Pearson, “How is Cassie?”

“Fine,” the sheriff said, clearly meaning he didn’t want to talk about it. “Natividad, these men are my deputies – Belliveau, Harris, and Denoux. Well, Denoux? How have things been here? Quiet?”

The deputy addressed, a stocky man with fair hair and a round face and blue eyes set at a slight slant in his face, shook his head and opened his hands. “Not as quiet as we’d wish, Sheriff. The Stewarts found all their cows slaughtered. Torn up in big chunks, partly eaten, blood everywhere. Not an hour past. They turned around and drove right back here, seeing nothing worse than ravens on the way.”

“They’re in the rectory now,” Father McClanahan put in. “Thanking God the kids weren’t out making snowmen when the killers came by.”

Pearson nodded, his mouth tightening.

“That was never vampire work,” Father McClanahan said to Natividad, a faint question in his tone. “Black dogs, I guess. But we’ve never had trouble with black dogs before…”

“With Dimilioc right there on your doorstep, I guess not! But you’re going to have trouble now. Until Dimilioc builds back its strength.” Natividad didn’t want to be so blunt, but it was true. She didn’t want to think about what would happen to Lewis if Dimilioc couldn’t build back, if instead it got overrun by Vonhausel’s black dogs.

“You trust that damned Lanning bastard?” one of the deputies, Belliveau, asked her. His tone was more than a little hostile. He was clearly the oldest of the three, a man with grizzled hair and a hard mouth.

Natividad tried not to wince visibly. She said quickly, “Some black dogs, you can trust. My Papá, he was a black dog, you know? And my brother, he is, too.” She looked from one deputy to the next and then the next. Their expressions ranged from intent to suspicious, though Denoux did not look actually hostile and Harris, youngest of the three, gave her a swift grin when she met his eyes. She smiled back and said to all three of the men, as firmly as possible, “If you don’t want to run for Newport, you’d better trust Grayson Lanning, and Dimilioc, and me, because if you don’t have us you don’t have anything. Shotguns and prayers are both good, but they’re not going to be enough.”

“That’s true, by God,” Father McClanahan said. “That’s true, and we know it.” He looked anxiously around at the three deputies, then back at Natividad. “We don’t know you, young lady, but we know what you are. Don’t worry about us.”

Natividad nodded, grateful for his support. She said, speaking quickly because she hated what she had to say, “Dimilioc beat them once, you know, those other black dogs, but I don’t think they’re giving up, I really don’t. I think they’re going to stay right here and try again, and as long as black dog strays are gathering in the woods around Lewis, you’re all in a whole lot of trouble. You really ought to leave. Newport…” The men were all shaking their heads.

“This is our home!” Harris said right out, almost as fierce as a territorial black dog. “We didn’t let those damned vampires drive us out, and we won’t run from black dogs!”

Belliveau nodded with grim conviction, and Denoux said, “That’s right, miss. That’s how it is.”

Natividad supposed after the vampire war, these people probably knew their own minds pretty well. She shrugged. “Then at least you’ve got a good church to anchor my circle. I guess you had some trouble with vampires during the war?” This was met by a grim laugh from the oldest man. She nodded. “Then you’ll want to remember, black dogs aren’t vampires. A church, a good solid church with Pure magic all through it, like this one you’ve got…” She nodded to the ornate building with its clean stone and tall bell tower and finished, “No vampire or vampire magic could get into a church like this one. But black dogs aren’t vampires, you know? A church is pretty safe against black dogs, but not all the way safe. So, a protective circle will give you another line of defense. It won’t keep out everything, but it’ll help, and it’ll give you time so you can figure out other things to do.”