“Where did you hear that?” Shaniah said quietly and he jumped for she was right behind him. He’d had no idea she’d moved from her original spot. “We’re quite familiar with fire and its many uses.”
“I read it in Van… somewhere. From a trustworthy source.”
“Well your source is wrong. You are thinking of vampires, not Archaics. Fire will burn us, like a human, but it cannot kill us. From what I have heard, fire does kill vampires. Our accelerated healing makes it an annoyance at worst. A fire will slow us down and only make us angry.”
“As if you ain’t naturally angry enough already.” Hollister snorted.
Shaniah ignored him.
“What are they doing?” Hollister said, changing the subject.
“If I had to guess, I would say they are going to smoke you out,” she said.
Their next move surprised all of them.
One of the males holding a torch spoke. “We would speak to the female,” he said.
“I think he’s asking for you,” Hollister said, looking at Shaniah, who never took her eyes off the Archaic in the street. “What does he want?”
“I have no idea,” she said. “This is… this is… not right. Those men should not yet be able to speak… unless…” she paused thinking, pacing back and forth.
“Unless what?” Hollister demanded.
“Malachi sent them here,” she said.
“Malachi… just to be clear. He’s the really tall guy with the white hair?” Hollister asked again.
“Yes. This means he’s getting stronger, he’s nearly… well, we can discuss it later. Suffice it to say, he’s powerful enough now to turn a whole town if he wants to. Those would be his soldiers he sent to start the turning and the killing.”
Hollister was caught a little off guard. Tired and sore from his exertions, he was stumbling over what to do next.
“Do you think he’s here?” Hollister asked.
She shook her head. “No. I would be able to tell if he was.”
“How?”
“Many ways. Smell mostly.”
“Nice,” Hollister said.
“It is not the only way. Archaics who have lived many years develop a sense of each other-a connection, you might call it. We are always able to tell when another is nearby. I don’t sense him here or even anywhere close. But I suspect those two are among his most valued soldiers.”
“How do you know that?” Chee asked.
“Because it is what I would do,” she said. Hollister wondered if she even noticed how she drew back a little when she spoke to Chee. Something about him made her nervous. He didn’t know what it was yet, but he wanted to find out. It might come in handy.
“Sally, can you come here a minute?” he asked the young woman.
She joined them at the window and they made room for her to see out the port. She let out a sharp breath of fear upon seeing all the Archaics.
“It’s okay, Sally,” he said. “Do you recognize either of the men holding those torches? Are they from around here?”
She studied them and shook her head.
“I don’t recognize ’em. I mean there’s people comin’ and goin’ all the time in a minin’ town. But I ain’t never seen ’em before.” She looked up at him and he thought she might have the brownest eyes he’d ever seen. But there were so many lines on her face for someone so young and he felt a little sad, thinking of the hard life she must have faced. He wanted to get her out of here. Out of this jail and this town. To get her somewhere safe where she might have a chance.
“Thanks, Sally,” he said. “Would you mind keeping an extra eye on Billy for me? I don’t want him surprising us again and I’m not sure his mother is… well, I just need someone I can trust keeping a watch on things.”
Sally nodded, and the look on her face told him she knew she was being dismissed, but she had the good grace not to say anything about it. The women were quiet but the children were stirring and he heard one of the little girls whine about being hungry. He realized they had left the food and water in the cells when they escaped. He toyed with the idea of trying to retrieve the supplies but with a glance at the creatures pacing about in the street, he rejected it. They would have to hold out a little longer.
“Just so you know there is something wrong with the one you call Billy,” Shaniah said.
“What do you mean wrong?” Hollister asked.
“He doesn’t smell right. He may have been turned,” she said.
“But you can’t be sure?” Hollister said.
“No, it has been so long since I have been near a human child turned Archaic, I can’t be sure. But you should kill him, just to be safe,” she said.
With that, Chee swung the rifle around so it was inches from her temple. Shaniah did not flinch, but the two of them stared at each other like two bulls sharing a pasture.
“We do not kill children,” he said.
Hollister pushed the rifle away from Shaniah and back to its proper place in the shooting port. “Chee, let’s try to remain friendly. Shaniah, please avoid talking about child killing as it tends to rile up my sergeant.”
Hollister was still struggling with a next step, when one of the torch bearing men spoke again.
“We would speak to the female,” it said. The voice was deep, with a raspy, breathless quality and Hollister remembered how Malachi had sounded on the Wyoming plain.
“Like a snake trying to talk,” he muttered.
“Sir?” Chee asked, confused.
“Nothing,” he answered.
“When they feed on human blood, their voices change. It affects their internal organs. In the old days it was one of the ways an Archaic could be judged for breaking Archaic law by feeding on humans.”
The sound of the voice sent the women and children inside the jail into a frenzy.
“Oh God, oh God, oh God,” Rebecca moaned from her spot in the corner. This started some of the younger children to crying.
“Hush now,” Sally whispered to them. “It’s gonna be all right.”
“I’m ready for suggestions,” Hollister said quietly to Shaniah and Chee.
“Open the door,” she said. “Let me talk to them.”
“I don’t think so,” Hollister said. “Let me rephrase that. I’m ready for suggestions that don’t involve opening the door. I send you out there and you’re overwhelmed. We’re going to need you to get out of this.”
“I may be able to talk them into giving up,” she pointed out.
“They don’t look like they’re in a giving-up mood. And there’s about three times as many as you faced in the street. Plus these two new fellows, they don’t look like they’d spook as easy,” Hollister said. “Like it our not, next to Chee here, you’re my most valuable weapon. I can’t afford to lose you.” She was actually worth about ten Chees, but he didn’t want to hurt the young man’s feelings.
“We would speak to the female now!” the same man hollered again. The other Archaics stood behind the two men, looking nervous and jumpy. Or hungry. Jonas couldn’t tell.
A few minutes passed and everyone was silent. Then the next step was taken for them as the two men stepped forward, hurling their torches onto the roof of the jail.
Chapter Forty-nine
The torches spun through the darkness and landed atop the building with a thud. At first, Hollister thought they might be okay, maybe the torches wouldn’t catch, but there was a large sound of rushing air and the smell of something burning. The flames lit up the street in front of the jail and Hollister wondered about earlier in the night when the Archaics had jumped on the roof, stomping all around. They must have been preparing it to burn
