Lockhart's Legacy (Vespari Lockhart Book 1) (24 page)

Wynonna shrugged. “So, we take care of them first. That’s fine. Then, he can help me track down the Gentleman. That was our deal from the beginning.”

Iris reached out and took Wynonna’s hand. “I’m sorry, but it doesn’t work that way.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know why. I just know. If you decide to kill the beldams, then the Gentleman will slip through your fingers forever. If you kill the Gentleman, your master will perish.”

“Cory?”

Iris nodded. “If you choose to follow your rage and let your master die, you must accept that you will be the one to pull the trigger… so to speak.”

Wynonna just stared at her for a minute, not quite understanding what she was saying. Eventually, she managed to ask, “I have to choose?”

“Your revenge or your master’s life. You cannot have both.”

“I’m not going to let Cory die.”

“That is noble, but your family’s murderer will evade you forever.”

Wynonna frowned, realizing she couldn’t let him escape so easily. “Then, how am I supposed to--”

Iris shook her head. “I cannot help you make such a decision. I can only tell you that you must weigh these two things.”

“I… I can’t just let him die.”

“Then, that is your choice?”

Wynonna stared at the wood grain of the table, tracing the lines with her eyes. “I… I don’t know. I haven’t been able to think about anything but my revenge. I see my family’s faces every night. I see what that bastard made them into. How can I let him slip through my fingers?

“But, I wouldn’t even have got this far without Cory. He saved my life. The revenant would’ve already killed me and made me into a ghoul if he hadn’t showed up. He gave me a purpose. He would never choose vengeance over my life. How could I live with myself if I allowed him to die for something so selfish?”

Iris wrapped her other hand around Wynonna’s. “You do not need to justify your decision to me. You will do exactly what you are supposed to do, and then… then you will find a way to deal with the consequences of your actions.”

Wynonna nodded. “Show me.”

The fortune teller released her grip on Wynonna’s hand and then put a finger to each of her temples. Both women’s eyes drifted closed, and after a moment, Wynonna saw images begin to flash in her head, framed in an almost bronze light. Iris showed her where the beldams would be, and then she saw the Gentleman. She saw the two paths presented before her, but even seeing everything, she couldn’t decide between them. The visions of these two locations ceased, and Wynonna opened her eyes to find herself back in that fortune teller’s home. Iris stared back at her, and she smiled softly as if to apologize for what she’d showed her.

“No one should have to make such a choice,” Iris told her.

Wynonna’s eyes dropped back down to the table, once more tracing the grain of the wood.

“How will you decide?”

“I don’t know.”

“You’ve been through so much already. Too much. Is there anything else I can do to help you?”

Wynonna looked up at the fortune teller. “Can I stay here tonight?”

***

Waking up the next morning wasn’t easy for Lockhart. His head pounded against his skull, and the taste of vomit still lingered in his mouth. He’d blacked out somewhere during the drinking contest, and he couldn’t even remember whether he’d won. Looking around the room, he found that he’d made it back to his own bed, or at least, he hoped he had. The spinning room wasn’t helping him validate that one way or the other though.

Eventually, through great strains, he was able to exert enough control to get himself to sit upright. Though his head pounded and the contents of his stomach swirled, he proved that he was indeed where he expected himself to be. That still left the mystery of the former evening, however.

Lockhart checked his waist. His revolver wasn’t there, but that didn’t mean much. His entire belt, gun holster and all, was missing, so its absence didn’t prove anything one way or the other. Sometimes he took it off to sleep, especially if he stayed at an inn. Looking at his feet, he’d only managed to take off one of his boots before stumbling to bed though. Clearly, it hadn’t been a smooth transition onto the mattress.

Leaning forward over the side of the bed, he tried to grab his boot to put it back on his much colder foot. Doing so, nearly made him vomit out anything he still had left in his stomach and evoked an intense pain in the front of his head at the same time. Putting one hand to his stomach and the other to his head, he tried to quell the nausea and pain simultaneously. After a minute of just focusing on breathing with his eyes closed, he was able to move past it.

Opening his eyes once more, he picked up the boot without leaning forward as much and wriggled his foot inside. With both boots on, he finally managed to stand himself upright. Granted, he nearly fell as soon as he was vertical, but he stumbled over to a table and chair, catching himself before he hurt himself. That’s when he caught sight of one of the most beautiful sights he’d ever beheld.

There, draped over the table, Lockhart found his silver and pearl revolver and a pile of bullets. Apparently, he’d won the little drinking contest with Klaus. The sight cheered him up, but he still felt like he might vomit at any given moment, so he approached it with an even temperament.

Still having his revolver and now also having bullets meant he could actually face the beldams and have a chance. All that remained was to find out where they were. He couldn’t be far. His mad lotus visions had showed him a snowy region, and he wasn’t far off such a locale. Feeling somewhat optimistic, Lockhart slung the belt around his waist and left the room in search for his apprentice.

Unfortunately, upon reaching Wynonna’s room, Lockhart found himself reliving the same experience that he had back in Missoula. She wasn’t answering when he knocked on the door. He’d learned his lesson though. He wasn’t going to barge in and find her in another awkward position. He felt terrible about that just remembering it. He’d reacted poorly to it, and he didn’t even fully know why. Regardless, he didn’t want to disturb Wynonna any further, especially with how she reacted to his refusal of the fortune teller’s services, so he left her room and headed down to the first floor where Cecilia offered to prepare him a breakfast.

While he waited for his food, he sat down at one of the tables and clutched his head in an attempt to soothe his headache. Sitting there and doing nothing, gave him the opportunity to simply watch the other patrons. Since leaving Alexandria all those years prior, Lockhart had spent less and less time around people. He’d gotten used to that, but when he was in a town, one of his favorite things to do was just observe people. He found it helped him keep his resolve, his commitment, his oath. Every happy interaction made him realize that the sacrifices he’d made were worth it and that people were better off for him having made it.

The travelers and locals in the inn were no different. They went about their days, none the wiser of the horrible creatures roaming the world. They hadn’t seen the things he had, and they hadn’t experienced the misery that these monsters could produce. Just looking at the state that the ettin had left Layton in was proof of what they could do. He’d been too late to help anyone in that town, but he couldn’t focus on the negatives. He had to keep his mind on the survivors still out there and do everything in his power to keep them alive, safe, and happy. Tracking down and killing these beldams would just be the latest in a long list. Still, he had to determine how he was going to do that.

After a few minutes of him pondering that subject but not coming to any solid conclusions, Cecilia came back to him and delivered his steaming plate. Just looking at it, his mouth started to water. It would be the biggest meal he’d had in weeks. Two scrambled eggs, a few sausages, two biscuits, and even three strips of perfectly prepared bacon.

He reached inside his duster for his coins. “How much--”

Cecilia held her hand to his arm. “You know I’m not taking your money. You eat for free. You know the deal.”

“It j-just doesn’t seem--”

“Shh,” she told him. “It’s just food. I wouldn’t even be here if not for you. This is the absolute least I can do. Now, you eat up.”

“Th-thank you, Cecilia.”

She smiled, nodded, and left back for the kitchen, while he set in on the meal. He ate quickly, having been running on fumes for the last few days, and he was all too happy to have something sitting in his belly. He didn’t make it very far before he found himself accompanied once more. Wynonna appeared and plopped herself down in the chair across the table.

“Cory,” she simply stated.

“You know I-I-I don’t like when you c-call me that,” he replied.

She smiled. “I know.”

He glared but thought it best to simply move on. “Where have you b-been? I knocked, b-b-but you didn’t answer.”

Wynonna reached across the table and grabbed one of the strips of bacon, crunching off a piece of it with her teeth. “Didn’t sleep there,” she told him through bites.

He wasn’t allowing himself to fall into the trap of dictating to her how she should or shouldn’t live her life. So, instead, he just replied, “Oh,” and focused on his meal.

Wynonna allowed the silence to linger, but Lockhart refused to meet eyes with her. After he made it clear that he wasn’t going to say anything, she continued, “I know where the coven is.”

He narrowed his eyes and looked up at her. “How?”

“I went to see the fortune teller.”

“What?”

“I needed to know. She had the answers. If I get to have sex too, I’m not seeing the downside.”

“I t-t-t-told you not to.” He regretted it as soon as he said it.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do, and I don’t have to follow your rules. I realize I’m not a real vespari like you. I probably never will be. It is a
brotherhood
after all. I haven’t taken any oaths of celibacy like you, and I don’t intend to. I did what I had to, and I’m not going to apologize for it.” She paused for a second. “Besides, she didn’t even induce a vision with sex anyway.”

“What?”

Wynonna folded her arms at her chest. “You heard me. She was winding you up. No sex required.”

“Then why--?”

“I don’t know,” she said, tossing her hands in the air. “She’s a fortune teller. She’s guided by fate and whimsy and whatever else.”

“Then y-you didn’t have s-sex with her?”

Wynonna chuckled to herself. “I didn’t say that.” She shook her head. ”But, that’s not the point anyway.”

He scowled. “And what i-is?”

“I know where the beldams are, and I can get us there.”

“You sh-shouldn’t have gone b-b-behind my back.”

She shrugged. “Look, I’ve already done it. There’s no point getting upset now. It’s done. Are you really so adamant that you’re not going to act on the knowledge?”

Lockhart groaned.

“I know where the beldams are,” she repeated. “You want to kill them and destroy the hex or not?”

“What a-about the Gentleman?”

Wynonna clenched her hand and looked away from him, down to the dirt. “Yeah. She told me where he is too.” She paused, meeting his gaze once more. “Way I figure it though, we gotta take care of yours first. You’re no good to me dead.”

“I’m glad y-you’re being so p-p-practical,” he replied with a slight glare.

She shrugged. “I’m sure there’s more for you to teach me too.”

“Mm. Don’t g-get too emotional on me.”

“Whatever. Are we going to track ‘em down or not?”

He unclenched the glare from his face, sighed, and then nodded.

“Good,” she told him. Then, her eyes drifted down to his plate.

She was obvious about it. He took one of the sausages for himself and slid the plate across the table.

Wynonna smiled. “Thanks.” She took the remaining biscuit and took a big bite out of it. With her mouth still full, she said, “I wuv tarving.”

He shook his head at her and just ate the sausage, letting her finish the rest of the food. When she’d had her fill, she pushed the empty plate to the middle of the table and leaned back in the chair.

“You n-need to grab anything or a-a-are you ready?” Lockhart asked her.

“I’m good,” she replied. “Does that mean you were able to win some bullets from that weird merchant?”

The vespari nodded. “Worked out p-pretty well. We got ten total now.”

“That is pretty good. We still only got one gun though.”

“True,” he replied. “We’ll f-figure it out.”

“Need me to carve some?”

Lockhart reached into his duster pocket and pulled out a handful of the bullets. “I’ll take f-f-five. You take five.”

“Yeah. Alright. Sounds fair.” She took them and shoved them in her pants pocket as she stood up. “Then, we going?”

He nodded and stood up too. “Yeah, but where are we going?”

Wynonna thought for a moment, and replied, “Columbia. The beldams are in Columbia.”

***