Tell (19 page)

“Holy shit,” Tell repeated.

“Appearances are often deceiving. You might have figured that out when I showed you the demon inside you in the mirror.” Meacham crossed his arms. “I won't dictate where you go. That's all up to you, but the time to go has come. I suggest you get moving so Beryl doesn't have twins on the ground. You understand I had to take Berner back, burn it into nothing to rid the world of the last of Astaroth's evil. I regret leaving you and the others homeless. But…” He smiled with a calm, pure light. “You have my gratitude. I'm certain you'll find your places in the world. Who would expect any less from the Heckmasters?”

With that, he vanished, horse and all, into the night.

Epilogue

“It's not Berner.” Tell wrapped his arms around Sylvie's waist.

She nestled against his chest. The Santa Fe skyline was visible from the porch of their new home less than three miles from town. Spanish-style architecture dominated the scene. Pretty in a way Berner hadn't been. “No, it's much different. Doesn't matter to me. I'm happy wherever you are.”

“Kinda boring, though. Quiet.” He frowned as he lowered his chin to her shoulder. “I can't sense them anymore. They must be out there.”

“I have no doubt, but I'm glad your powers are gone.” She folded her hands over his. “This is what it's like to be a normal person. It's not so terrible.”

“Powers made me special.”

“Oh, please. You're not sad because you can't sniff out a demon, are you?” She stuck out her tongue. “You miss being a tough guy who needed silver-plated weapons to defeat evil.”

“I'm still a tough guy.” The corner of his mouth quirked up in a half smile. “What I miss is adventure. Living this close to real civilization makes me itchy.”

“Well, Davy Crockett, are you going to pick up your musket and head for the mountains to explore untamed lands?”

“I'd make you Queen of the Rockies. Big step up from princess, ain't it?” He was teasing, but a sense of longing for adventure almost rolled off him. His muscles were tense, tightly coiled as though he'd spring away without a moment's notice.

She shifted, loosening his embrace. When she had room to move, she faced him. “Are you unhappy with me, Tell?”

“Hell no, Sylvie. I'm content as a fly on a pile of shit with you.”

“Charming.” She rolled her eyes. “Then what's wrong?”

He glanced out at the city. “I don't know what purpose I have these days. A man's gotta have a reason to get out of bed in the morning.”

She huffed. “I'd think your wife would be a pretty good reason.”

He grinned. “Nah, you're the reason I want to
stay
in bed. Touching, tasting, breathing you in. I'd keep you there day in and out, but you insist on getting up to keep those demanding customers of yours happy.”

“They're important.”

“More important than me?” He gave her a mock frown. “You're good at what you do, I admit. It'd be a shame to deny the world your talents.”

“Thank you. If it's this Santa Fe that's bothering you, remember it's just one place in the world. There are plenty of others. We could go anywhere you want.”

“I never had the need to get away from my family the way Eb wanted to. I don't mind Santa Fe. It's the worry that there's still trouble brewing between Heaven, Hell and the Gray Lands. I fought battles practically my whole life trying to keep demons down there where they belong. There's a strange sort of emptiness left behind knowing I'm a displaced warrior.” His eyes clouded and a solemnness he seldom displayed fell over him. “I ought to be glad that it's not my trouble any more, but I don't know what to do with myself. You've got sewing to keep you busy. I've got no real skills beyond killing demons.”

“I imagine Hell's rejoicing because Tell Heckmaster isn't out there chasing escapees.” She was secretly glad he wasn't able to sense them. No more worrying he'd get killed in a fight.

“That's what scares me. Our Pit is closed forever. Berner's gone and not ever coming back. But where else in the world is there trouble like that? Could be anywhere. And could be that any one of those demons we slayed could come for us.”

“Meacham—El—whoever—said not to worry about it. I'm sure your father is keeping an eye on us. Don't borrow trouble.” She pressed her cheek to his chest. “Why don't you ask Eban if you can help with his apothecary?”

Tell wrinkled his nose, then shivered. “That place stinks. He still does some doctoring in the back. I can't stand it.”

“For a man who was never afraid of getting demon gore all over him, you have a strange aversion to regular blood and guts.” She laughed as he frowned.

“It ain't the blood and guts. Those little scalpels and those spreaders and those big damn needles he uses don't sit right with me. Anyone who wants to go digging around in another person's body has a screw loose.”

“You were always eager enough to exam dead demons.”

“That's different. They don't belong here. Looking through their sorry carcasses helped me figure out how to defeat them. I'd never killed a human until…” He grimaced. “What Astaroth did to the people in Berner wasn't right. I wouldn't have laid a finger on them if he hadn't sent demons to possess them all.”

“I know.” She squeezed him with her arms. “They were our neighbors and some of them were friends.”

“What if it happens again and this time we're defenseless?” His voice came out rough.

“It's not our fight. We can't change that.” How to ease his aching soul? “I suppose the thing to do now is find a job you like doing. You want to raise livestock? Learn to farm? Learn a trade? You have to tell me what you want.”

“I don't know, Sylv. Part of me never believed we'd ever be in this position.”

“The other part?”

He met her gaze. “Wanted a wife and children. A little house like this one in a quiet part of the world. Guess my wish came true, if I only knew what to do with it. Learn a trade, I suppose. Doctorin' ain't for me. Wys can play human deputy in town all he wants, but I'm not about to take orders from some sheriff whose biggest worries are drunks and fist fights.”

“I think I have just the thing for you.” She grinned at him. “How would you do with a set of knitting needles?”

“Are you out of your mind, woman? Me with knitting needles? What am I doing, tatting ugly collars for the dresses you make?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of making baby blankets and tiny hats.”

His confused expression didn't ease. “What the hell for? Don't Jasper and Opal have plenty? I swear between you, Rhia and Beryl, those kids have enough blankets and clothes to wrap a dozen babies up every night.”

Beryl's twins, born only a week after they'd settled in Santa Fe, had won the hearts of her family immediately. They'd showered the babies with gifts to spoil them for life. Each time Sylvie held one of them, she ached for a child of her own.

That wish was finally coming true.

“You're dense as a stump, Heckmaster, you know that?” She jabbed her finger into his chest. “We're having a baby. Maybe that will give you something to do besides fussing about how there are demons to kill. I reckon a baby who cries all night will keep you from longing for the cool touch of your bolts and crossbow.”

He froze, then exhaled like she'd punched him. “Really?”

“What did you think would happen if we kept on like jackrabbits?” She put her hands on her hips. “For a man who spent plenty of time in saloons, I'd have thought you'd be familiar with how a baby is made.”

“Sylvie, be quiet.” He kissed her, then lifted her off her feet to swing her around in a circle. “Hot damn, woman. Why didn't you say so sooner instead of letting me carrying on like a pathetic old maid whining about how she'd never find a beau?”

She laughed as she looped her arms around his neck. “I wanted to draw out the torture a bit. It made it more exciting to tell you. You're happy now?”

He set her back on her feet. “I figure chasing a kid around will keep me pretty busy. Think of all the things I can teach him—or her. All about weapons. How to watch out for demons. Hey, you think it'll be like Sammy? Have some kind of power?”

While Tell's highly developed senses had vanished, Sammy still drew animals to him with little more than a look.

“Who knows? If it does, it'll make things even more exciting.”

“Maybe normalcy won't bore me to death after all.” He kissed her forehead. “I love my nieces and nephews, love my sisters-in-law, but there's no one I'd rather share my boring mortal days with than my own wife and whoever you birth.”

“Good, because I was beginning to think I'd have to tie you to a chair to get you to settle into a human life.”

He arched his brows. “There's some merit to that idea, if you promise to pleasure me while I'm tied up.”

“You read that chapter in the sex book.”

“It has some interesting suggestions. I'm willing to demonstrate if you like.” He swept her up in his arms. “Mrs. Heckmaster, shall we retire to the bedchamber?”

“Indeed, sir.”

They'd weathered demon attacks, possessions, Astaroth's wrath, the loss of loved ones. Tell might find this new life a hard adjustment, but she had no doubts of his love for her. It sparkled in his eyes, danced in his touch, pulsated from his entire being.

“I love you.”

They said it at the same time, then laughed.

He carried her into the house. From the moment he'd first held her close, she'd believed in the good she saw in him despite the wicked blood coursing through his veins. Love had trumped it and would see them through whatever else the future held. His part of Meacham's prophecy had come and gone. The past repaired, the future set right. Hers, his and that of their children for generations to come.

About the Author

A love of reading inspired Allison Merritt to pursue her dream of becoming an author, one who writes historical, paranormal and fantasy romances, often combining the sub-genres. She lives in a small town in the Ozark Mountains with her husband and dogs. When she's not writing or reading, she hikes in national parks and conservation areas.

Allison graduated from College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri with a BA in mass communications which has gathered dust since Allison determined that she's better at writing fluff than hard news.

You can find her blog at
havenovelwilledit.blogspot.com
, on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/allisonmwrites
, and Twitter
@Allison_Merritt
.

Look for these titles by Allison Merritt

Now Available:

The Heckmasters

Wystan

Eban

Tell

Don't miss the other titles in Allison Merritt's The Heckmasters Series!

Her search for safety lands her in a totally new kind of danger.

The Heckmasters
, Book 1

Certain that an ad for a job in a small New Mexico Territory town is the answer to her prayers, Nebraska schoolteacher Rhia Duke packs her sister into a rickety wagon and heads west.

Except when they reach the near-deserted town, she learns the truth. There is no job, no future, and no welcome in the bleak blue eyes of the handsome sheriff.

The minute Rhia's runaway team thunders into town, Wystan Heckmaster feels the change in the air. One of three sons of a demon who dared love a human, he keeps watch over a Pit guarded by seven seals, and slays any Hellbound demon that attempts to free the master imprisoned within.

With a gut full of regret and a forgotten town filled with reformed demons, Wystan is certain of one thing: he can't be the man Rhia needs. But when the truth behind Rhia's flight from Nebraska comes to light, Wystan must open his soul—and pray there's enough love between them to overcome the darkness rising from the Pit.

Warning: Contains a take-no-prisoners sheriff, a woman who can't outrun her supernatural secrets, and a dusty town where hope is as thin as dust in the wind. Author recommends keeping a glass of cool spring water at your elbow while reading.

If love can't save them, there will be hell to pay.

The Heckmasters
, Book 2

Grateful for his mother's human blood that cools the dark fire of his demon father, Eban Heckmaster has set up a medical practice in New Mexico territory. But there's no hope of living a normal life until he rids himself of a seductive demon that's been pursuing him.

Vanquishing it won't be as simple as sharpening his demon-hunting sword. The clever creature is hiding inside his best friend's head, and she has no idea of the havoc she's been wreaking, especially with his body.

Beryl suspects Eban knows why she's been waking up with no memory of where she's been or what she's done, but he's not talking. But when she inevitably learns what he's hiding—or rather, what's hiding inside her—she wonders if her love for him is real, or an illusion created by the demon's lust.

Eban is losing the battle to hold his rising desire in check. There may be only one way to extricate Beryl from the beast entangling her mind. Call upon his demon blood…and offer it as a sacrifice.

Warning: Contains a half-human, half-demon doctor who can heal anyone except himself, and a woman who'd blush if she could remember the sensuous torture she's been inflicting on him. Could make you wonder if you should start listening to the voices in your head…