Once Upon a Time in the West

Once Upon a Time in the West Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Casualties.

The Indians were hot on our trail.  The rains had begun and swamped the road into red clay like mud.  All I know is I'm over the back of Kid Maverick's horse. He literally has my stomach plopped down on the seat while he looks down on me.  There was something wrong with his eyes. They were completely black. Solid black. There was no white of the eye. No pupil. Just blackness. 

This wasn't Kid Maverick any longer.

This was the thing killing him from the inside.  This was the spirit of the Sea Dog. 

"We're gonna die!" I couldn't help screaming as arrows flew past my head.

It was the Matawee warriors. Their horses covering ground so quickly, it felt like they were breathing down our damn necks,  as bow sprung arrows barely missed us. Or rather they missed hitting it. The Sea Dog. 

I wasn't so lucky. Slung over the horse as I was, all I was trying to do was get a sense of my bearings, when an arrow head sliced across my forehead sending streaks of blood down my face. 

What happens next shocks me. I remember when I was a kid, I used to watch my father and uncles break in horses. The Ahuli were known to be a horse tribe, and my father used to tell me Ahuli were part man, part horse. We learned to ride even before we walked. Ahuli are some of the best riders in the world. So I consider myself pretty damn near expert on the subject. So trust me when I say, I've never seen a man handle a horse the way of the Sea Dog.

One minute the Sea dog is hunkered over me, his still naked body hotter than a skillet, the next he stuck his  foot through the drag strap attached to his saddle and leaned to the left until his knee was in line with the saddle horn.  Then in one swift motion, he twisted his body so that he hung down the side of the horse, his other leg suspended at a ninety-degree angle from his horse, and his hands dragging along the ground.  

I was dumbstruck for a moment, couldn't figure if he'd been shot or I don't know what, especially after his body slipped farther down the side of the horse. He was shifting his weight lower and lower, and I started thinking maybe I should grab him. I may not have been not have been raised up in the saddle like the rest of my tribe, but I'd been around horses enough to know that the sudden change was enough to pull the horse on top of him.  I was concerned.

Not for the Sea Dog.

For Kid Maverick.

What was this vampire doing with his body?  

"STOP THAT!"  I scream.

It was pointless.  The horses' gait is off, and he stumbles nearly tossing me off it's back. As I hang on for dear life, I catch sight of the Sea Dog.  He's looking back at the tribe horses, and tosses a stick of dynamite on the ground. I watched as he quickly draws his revolver and fanned the hammer firing 2 shots towards the oncoming Indians. Suddenly an explosion dust, rocks and desert sage brush fell about us as the Sea dog's bullet hit home. 

Don't know if any Matawee warriors were hit, but it didn't matter.  For now, we'd gotten away. 

~

October rains broke the hot spell that had dug it's heels into August as if it planned to stay all Winter.  Clouds arrived with daybreak from the south, swirling, reaching skyward into dark billowing shapes. By noon, darkness had spread across the land and the rains were getting worse. 

At first the rains were gentle, but turned torrential, biblical my Miriam would have said.  The winds upended anything not securely anchored.   

"I can't take it anymore."

I feel as though I'm getting sick.  The possessed gunslinger looks back with  irritation. For the first time I see that he truly isn't human and looks at me as nothing more than prey.  I touch my neck again where he bit me. It still hurts. More painful than I remember anything ever feeling in my life, and I'd broken a collar bone once.   

He ignores me and we keep moving.  With the ground burnt hard from so many  months of unrelenting sunshine, the soil rejected the  rain's attempt to soak in and it had nowhere to go but the lowest areas.  Every creek and canyon stream gushed to overflowing.  

Finally we stop.

In a cave.

"What are you going to do to me?"

He looks at me, husky and handsome as Kid Maverick with a face that would put the fear of God in you and make you fall in love all at the same time.   Below us are the rivers with surging waters. We'd only stopped because it had become impossible to cross even with horses. We had no choice but to wait out the storm.

"Quiet..."

"Am I going to change?" I ask him, "Am I going to be like you?  Since you bit me I mean?"

He looks at me and shakes his head.

"No."

That's when I realize my bite is still bleeding.

"Am I gonna bleed out?"

No response.

"Quiet blood bag," he says after I attempt to ask more questions. 

"I'm dying."

"QUIET!"

That's when he slapped me and I flew into the wall of the cave, sinking to the floor.  He came over and grabbed a lock of my hair, his purplish black eyes slightly turning pale.  I bite my lip to keep from whimpering as he dragged me and threw me next to a blanket he'd lain out.  He climbed on top of me and gently traced his fingers down the sides of my thigh. He cupped my chin and slid his other hand up my thigh.  

"Kid wouldn't do this."

I can't say out loud what "this" is.  This man was taking advantage of me. I knew that much.  But then again I think about all the times that Kid Maverick had done the same.  I think about how I enjoyed it. Why doesn't this feel the same?

"I'm not Kid."

He unsheathed his fangs, and smirked as he brought his head down to my neck, biting me and finishing the meal he had earlier.  My heart raced. I was literally being DRANK! I cried out in pain as the burning sensation reminded me of a childhood moment when I'd stuck my hand in boiling water and was curious what it felt like. A stinging relentless pain.

Not less than five minutes later, he was at my entrance.  No warning came. It hurt more than I expected as I took him in.  I gripped the blanket. His thrusts were fast and hard.   

"Respond." He ordered.  Respond. Even though it hurt so much.  I lifted my hips to meet the rhythm of his thrusts.  He kissed me roughly and bit my lip, drawing blood. The pain from his bite and his thrusts caused me to groan in anguish.  I responded as ordered to. He came faster and faster, finally releasing in me. 

He pulled out of me and went down to my asshole.  I felt his warm, moist tongue slip into the hole. He lapped his tongue around my prostate and sucked the blood that he had produced from raping me.  No. Not raping me. Possessing me. 

In this moment I was his. 

"Sore huh?" he picked me up by the waist, "Hold onto me."

I wrapped my arms and legs around him.  He smirked and took me outside in the rain fucking me again and again as the water ran down his back.  I gripped onto his shoulders as he ran his hands over my naked body and entered me again, and again, and again.  I didn't want to respond to him and I couldn't respond like he wanted me to, but he seemed content. 

"Beg for me, Blood Bag.  To go harder, faster. Scream for me."

"Harder!" I obey him. 

I begged him, bringing his head closer to my neck, where he first bit me.  I felt him smirk against my skin and felt his fangs pierce through. 

I'd started thinking of my kidnapping as an adventure, and my adventure was something so much more enjoyable than I'd thought it would be.  My sexual awakening seemed to be the catalyst for doing so many things I'd been desiring but never had a reason to seek. I'd discovered so many things about myself, and it had felt rewarding. 

Until now.

Now  I felt an emptiness.  A loss. This is how it really was in the West.

Hard.  

And wild...

~

I wake up to a hand. A hand touching me.  I jerk at that moment sitting up and almost screaming.

"Relax it's just me----"

"You're back..."

I turn to him and sure enough Kid Maverick's pupils are there.  His husky firm body is right next to me. Just as firm and conditioned but with a softness to him now that wasn't there the night before.

He tries to reach back but I jerk away.

"Don't..."

"I...I did something to you didn't I?" he states with this wild look of shock in his eyes.

It's at that moment it occurs to me that he doesn't remember what happens when he was possessed.  He didn't remember being the Sea Dog and forcing himself on me sexually. 

But for some reason everything is confusing me.

"Did you know?" I ask him, "Did you know why the Sea Dog destroyed my village."

He thinks about it.  It looks like he wasn't ready to talk about this.  Not yet at least. I can see it all in his eyes, that there is reluctance involving the topic.  It's the same as the day before. I understand him though. A lot more at least than I did before. 

"He was trying to keep his secrets.  He still is," he explains, "Just decided to keep the Mattawee.  They serve him. You realize. They worship him as a God. They'll do anything to have his soul tied to a `proper' body."

"Can't you just release yourself from him somehow?"

He shakes his head, "Not unless I find his treasure.  His body is buried with the treasure. If I find his body I can untie his soul and place it in his own body."

I think about it.  It would be dangerous to get to the Sea Dog's Body.  It would be even more difficult to perform the task of ending this possession.

"Otherwise you die?" I aks.

He nods, "Otherwise I die."

It must have felt like a terrifying sickness deep down inside.  I feel bad for him. I'm terrified. I"m terrified of the Sea Dog.  I'm terrified of the Mattawee. They would stalk us to the end of the world and I think Kid Maverick is aware of that. 

"So we get to the end," I suggest, "Together.

~

We head west.  He's acting weird since last night and I think it's only a reaction to my acting standoffish.  Usually I'm staring at him. Usually I'm flirting. Usually there is some sort of interaction between us, but this isn't happening this time.  I can feel his eyes on me though burning through my body as we trod through the hot sun on our horses.

I keep my horse Sunny away from Kid Maverick and his horse who he says is really called Dark Hex.  Clearly the Dark Hex was named after him. It's kind of sad now that I realize that, but secretly I was just happy that his horse was no longer Frick to Mooney's Frack.

"We got much further?"

"We should be in the Ahuli grave yard in a few days," he explains.

"What about Mooney and the gang."

He shrugs, "What about em?"

"We gonna meet back up with them?"

He sighs and shrugs, "Perhaps.  One day. Mooney. He don't care about me.  Not the way I thought he did. Not if he was willing to leave me like that. You.  You're different I guess. Why'd you do it? Why'd you stay?"

"Probably stupid."

He laughs.

"Probably. But the good kinda stupid," he smiles, "The kind of stupid that a guy like me needs around.  You're the special kind of stupid. The wild kind of the stupid. The kind of stupid to take care of someone when they old.  The kind of stupid you fall in love with. The kind of stupid you cherish forever. You're stupid, Doc. The right kind of stupid though.  My kind of stupid."

His kind of stupid.  I smile at the idea and even look over at him.  Our eyes connect. And that's when he does something I don't expect.  He leans over on his horse and he offers me his hand.

"What's that?"

"What's it look like."

"You are a goddamn outlaw.  You don't want to hold my hand.  What's gotten into you, Kid Maverick----save the Sea Dog's spirit?"

He smiles, "Stupidity."

I look at his hand and I leave it there.  He looks back at me and he smiles but I wonder if he's disappointed.  I don't know why I'm nervous about holding his hand. A part of it is what happened with the Sea Dog but another part of it is different.

Another part of it is fear of actually getting too close to Kid.

~

We end up in the town of Plains landing.  Plains landing started off as a boomtown. Early mining camps, boom towns and towns in their infancy were typically wooden buildings. 

Houses were located on the main street but typically as you came into or were leaving town  because the good ladies did not want to live cheek-to-jowl with the prostitutes, gamblers, drunks, etc.. The center of the early towns had lots of saloons - very long and narrow buildings. There were inns, stores, fraternal buildings. Outhouses somewhere out back. Same as any small town in the west.  The churches and the school might be located on the edge of town or housed in a building in town like Bannack, for example, had the school downstairs and the fraternal building upstairs in the same structure.

Most towns out west grew up around old mining camps. But when railways started expanded across country, all a sudden, towns started cropping up wherever and whenever the trains needed to refuel. The town founder was usually the guy savvy enough to buy up land with a good water source. Streets were typically a grid of blocks laid out with little consideration of the terrain.  Marysville, MT had platted streets where a goat would have trouble traveling.

It was often the case that the "good people" segregated themselves from the "bad element". The term "deadline" was a demarcation line separating the  "moral businesses" from "immoral businesses". The red light district was a real thing. Prostitutes - from bawdy houses to the low-down cribs - were often restricted to particular parts of a community. 

We find ourselves at the Anderson, an inn in the red light district. A woman with a smile that seemed to split her face in half kept looking over the attractive outlaw.

"What a handsome cowboy," she drawls

I don't really think she cared if he was cowboy or preacher,  but its clear her clitirous wants to go on a pilgrimage to the see what the Hexed One is all about.  I look over at the outlaw who is grunting with disinterest. 

" A room please."

"Two..." I correct him.

She looks over at us with confusion, "Is it two rooms or one?"

We both answer differently.  He says one. I say two. Afterward we're stuck just standing there in the hallway wondering how to deal with this.  Slowly his eyes creep over at mine. He doesn't smile or anything. He just stares.

"Two rooms," he finally folds, "Seems like my partner here hates me."

"I don't...well I do but you know how we are."

"How are we?"

"Casual."

That's the only word that comes to mind.  I get an interesting reaction from him when I say it. 

"Yeah, casual.  Good word," he states before crossing his arms, "I guess that's what you're calling fear now."

He doesn't say anything else when we leave and I can't help but to think about it even into the middle of the night.  Every part of me wants to go to his room and have a conversation with him, but I have to admit I'm afraid. He was possessed.  It wasn't like I ran across that all the time, but still there was something going on between us that at least deserved a conversation.

Or...

We could keep things casual.  

That's when I get a knock on the door...casually.  I know who it is. If I were smart I wouldn't answer.  If I were smart I'd ignore him. I wouldn't have walked to the door if I was smart.  I wouldn't have opened it. I wouldn't have smiled when I see him standing there smelling good and staring at me with those midnight eyes of his. 

"Vampire law.  You have to invite me in?"

I gulp.

"Do I really?"

He takes a step forward.  He doesn't just enter my room but he enters my space.  He challenges me getting close to me. So close that if I lean forward I could feel his nose up against mine.  He's so close I could feel his breath on my lips.

"You don't have to be afraid.  I'm not a vampire. I'm possessed by one, remember?" he states, "I can control when it comes."

"Can you?"

There is a pause.  I don't think this is the usual Kid Maverick.  The usual way he would deal with this is to act like it didn't bother him.  This clearly bothered him and he's showing that with his hesitation. He wasn't trying to bullshit me any longer. Within a matter of seconds he makes a move. 

He rubs his mouth up against my neck.  I lean back almost giving up already, but instead of biting me he just leans back again.  The little tease drives my body into chaos. 

"Relax, I can control it. Besides...I got some gin."

He shows me the bottle and in his own way offers a bit of a white flag truce between us.

~

We spend the night in my room laughing and joking with one another.  Before we know it we are on the streets walking around, and in a drunken slur as he tells me stories about the city.

"Plainlandings was the place me and Mooney fell in love to start.  See over there . All the bums hanging out by the new store, they have a leader we call king bum... He got dethroned by the sheriff the day I first made love to Shannon, after he beat the hell out the sheriff for choking a hooker. The bum hierarchy is in shambles right now."

I see the way he smiles.

"You guys had a lot of time together on the road."

"Oh yeah... that shit can over there was the first time I spit a wad in him and fucked him 10 ways till noon. He said he'd never let anyone in him again. Shitty as Mooney is, I'll tell ya... he kept that there promise."

"Ahh... romance isn't dead," I roll my eyes.

I don't think he gets the sarcasm, "Oh no it wasn't it used to get real romantic all in the desert no one to keep you warm but the man you went out with. Creates a bond. No wonder the sex between men, can be connections deeper than any marriage between a man and a woman. That's what the trail brings us."

He didn't get it. At this point I'm standing there and tears come to my eyes, nearly blinding me.  I can't even cry right. Someone walks buy, bumps into me and cursed, "Git outta the way you 

Goddam city slicker."

"What's ya say?" Kid asks.

"He's the same one rode in town with that painted donkey he called a horse."

"I outta...!" Maverick is going to wail on the guy in my honor,  but I stop him right in his tracks.

"Don't you go assaulting people.  This isn't Mooney's gang anymore. Besides this is all your fault!"

"My fault!  My fault?" He asks outraged.

He had no idea what he did to me. He was spending quality time with me talking about Shannon Mooney and all the amazing times they had when he could be spending that time to get to know me. At this point, I feel like I'm wasting time mooning over Maverick.

Before I can explain the offended guy gives me a push, "You outta apologize for stinking up the town, all duded up with your city folk ways!"   

Still here.

"Now run along fella. He's saving you. You know who I am?  I'm Kid "the Hexed" Maverick. Outlaw extraordinaire."

"Kid Maverick? Mooney's sidekick? Well hell! I'm more outlaw then you——"

Wham!  The man is smacked across the face. He hits the ground and a cut extends halfway across his jaw causing him to gush blood.

It wasn't Maverick who hits him. It's me.

"Goddam Doc. I think I'm in love. I'm ready to haul you back to the ranch and get you barefoot and pregnant!"

He laughs thinking this little situation is all so funny. He doesn't think it's funny when I hit him. I hit him real hard right in the face.  As soon as Maverick hits the floor he starts screaming out the worst sorts of profanities. On that night I was everything but a child of God.  

Something was different though. Even as he follows me down the muddy Plainlandings roads we knew something was different.

He didn't hit me.  He didn't put his hands on me, not once.

And then something weirder. The anger softens. All of a sudden there is concern in his eyes.

"Listen Ok I was wrong. I should have never spoke bout goddam Mooney. Old habits."

I push him off of me. We are stumbling up into town square. I manage to lose him in the crowd. People are gathering. It looks like some sort of an announcement or something that is about to happen. Of course at this point I could care less. I find a bench and sulk. Within the two seconds I'm alone a kid tries to rob me, then a prostitute tries to rob me and a woman with a fake pregnant stomach ends up actually pulling it off.

I lose all the money Yant gave me and god darn Maverick sits right there is does nothing. He'd been watching me the whole time.

"You outta be careful. Lot of crooks around here. This lil' town is busy."

"Who are these people."

"Dangerous people..."

There were all these men gathering in the square. Dangerous looking men. Men who seemed like they knew a thing or two about pulling a trigger.

"I can bless a bullet."

He looks around at the strange crowd, "Bless a couple. These people don't know each other. Someone called them here and I don't like it. Stay close.  And don't run off again. Here."

It's my coin purse.  Not the one that was just stolen. The original one. All the money is in there.

"You kept this the whole time."

"I held onto it for you Doc.  You're a fool with his money. I have never seem anybody so damn clumsy with his coins. How is it you haven't managed to get yourself killed or worse."

Good point. I'd been all kinds of a victim in this harsh world but I was getting better. He knew it. I knew he knew it when I socked that guy. Probably the reason he gives me back my coin purse . 

"What's worse than death?"

"This..."

He looks at me when he says it. There is a pause we look out to some speaker getting up on a caller's bench and getting all crazy.

"What's this?" I ask.

"The way I feel for you. The goddam purgatory of it all.   I've always been attracted to you. That was fine. You were a piece of ass. That was all. I never meant to take you serious. I never meant to respect you.  I never meant to..."

He doesn't finish his thought. It all seems heavy for him. Almost literally. He drops his shoulders and his fingers point to the ground as though being pulled. 

"Oh..."

It hurts a bit. It was his truth but it hurts all the same.

"Don't get all sensitive now Doc. It's a horrible beautiful thing thinking of someone the way I think about you. Here. Open your hand. I got you something."

"I don't want it."

"Open your goddarn hand before I shove my gift down your throat."

At this point I'm emotionally rattled, shaking with frustration..

"What sort of devil forces a man to take a gift?"

He shoves it closer. Upon opening it I find a dead animal.

"A carcass?!"

"Rabbits foot."

"So a partial carcass."

"When I was young my tribe would tie me up. It was impossible to have the soul of Bello, the Sea Wolf run free with my body . Every time I got back I'd loose my voice. It was like I had to learn how to speak again."

"What do you think it was?"

"I don't know. My grandFather says I saw the Sea Dogs memories and I was speechless but I don't remember. My mother, she left me this rabbit's foot before she died to keep me safe. Ever since I got the foot I didn't forget how to speak any longer."

"This is important. You should keep it. What happens if you don't have it next time?"

He shrugs ,"I guess it doesn't matter. I'm not in rush to speak to anyone but you. I'll just wait till you get there. Y'know?"

He shrugs. It's no a big deal to him. He has even a managed to start smoking from a pipe he kept in his pack. He has no idea what that meant to me until I grab him  and look him in his eyes. Him telling me that he was giving me his lucky rabbits foot meant the world to me.

Before I know it tears are coming out of my eyes. 

"I love you."

I kiss him. No light peck. No, I go all out. Every emotion that I've ever thought pours out into that kiss. All my wildness that I've learned on this trail is for this moment. At this moment I'm a predator and Kid Maverick is my prey. At this moment I am at my most wild.

"Don't goddarn say things like —-"

He is walking off to the point that I have to run him down. When I catch up with him I throw my body in front of him.

"You feel it too. Not a soft spot. This was harder than that."

"Goddam brick is what it is."

"Bricks break too,"  I assure him, "You love me, so you go on ahead and admit it."

He is breathing heavy, "Keep your voice down. We can't do that. Don't you get it. Even if I did. Even if I wanted to say it we can't. Society. Indians. Death. Curses. Mooney. Name the disaster waiting to happen if you and I fall in love."

"Fine. The disaster is a beautiful home. The disaster is a few chickens and a few acres. Disaster is you finding a way to beat this curse and untying the Sea Dogs soul."

He stays quiet.

"Say you'll do it," I urge him on.

"Fine.  We will travel to the Ahuli graveyard. We finish what we started."

That's when I lean in. I kiss him again. The whole town could see and I couldn't care less. I was here for him and he was here for me. He doesn't hold back on the kiss grabbing my back and pulling me clean into him in such a shocking way an old lady claps as though we are doing a some sort of acrobatic show.

Our lips leave each other and it feels as though I am leaving my home. It feels as though everything. Everything I ever needed was in that kiss.

That kiss was where I belonged.

With Maverick was where I belonged.

"Did you feel that?"

I was shaking.  The hairs on my hand stand on end. At first he's acting so cool that I think I imagined it but then I realize this whole time he has been holding his breath. When he releases his breathing is heavy. He touched his lips and keeps looking at me as though he can pounce on me right now.

"Yeah, I felt that."

He doesn't smile. He doesn't do it again. Why isn't he doing it again? If it felt so good wouldn't he want to.

Instead Maverick sort of scowls.

"You don't seem like you enjoyed it."

"I did."

"Then why aren't you acting like it."

"Because I'll enjoy it too much," he explains, "I don't give a darn about society.  I'm an outlaw. But I can't be with you Doc. Not yet. Not until we break this curse. I'll put you in danger."

"I was ok."

"You were in danger. And besides I don't have much longer. You can feel it in me. Be a miracle if this demon in me doesn't eat me alive before spring."

"Don't talk like that."

"It's the truth."

He is sad.

I hated it. That wasn't the truth. He was wrong. The Truth is he was pulling back from me. The fact is I believed in Maverick. The fact is from the moment I met him I knew he'd bring an excitement into my life.  He was what I needed.

"I was gonna kill myself. Before I got the letter you wrote..." I admit.

He looks shocked, "What?"

"Went to the barn. Miriam had taken off and left me and her horse Dark Days behind. I always knew how I felt about other men. Knew I had an attraction to them. When I married Mariam, I hoped all that would stop. I tried to be a good husband to her. I tried to forget about wanting to be in the company of men. But I guess I failed.  With her gone, I didn't have our marriage to hide behind.  I felt myself growing older with no real purpose in life.  So I tied one end of a rope to Dark Days and the other to my neck. I was ready to give her a good smack when I remembered I'd gotten a letter at the post office earlier that day. All of a sudden, it seemed rude to let a letter go unanswered.  That was your letter, and it  gave me a reason to want to live again. You gave me excitement and a reason to want more.  I was a victim. I still am in a way but everyday I grow stronger.  Because of you. "

I get Maverick to cry somewhere around a reason to live again. 

He nods, "Yes. Stronger."

He's proud of me. He didn't have to say it. I knew.

I want to hold him and kiss him but we just shake hands. Right now we would be partners. We would be friends.

For now...

Somethings happening.

A sheriff is in the square. He's tacking up posters.   We move to get a closer look, and it then I realize what he's posting. 

A picture of Mooney's gang!

Immediately Maverick throws his bandana over his face. Luckily the crowd had become so thick we'd become lost in it but sure enough a slick looking man is standing there with drawings of not only Maverick and Mooney but the others too. 

And that's when I see it. I see it for the first time.

Me!

"These men are wanted. In the last three weeks they've robbed multiple banks and seem to be hitting bigger and bigger targets as they go..."

Mooney and the others had been busy.  I knew Yant and Judd were raising all sorts of hell.  I wonder if Gideon was still with them though. I missed Gideon.  I missed all of them.

.

"Well at least ya look handsome," Maverick teases

"I didn't do anything."

"What's the saying?  Birds of a feather. You're officially a member of Mooney's gang Doc."

"Time to go."  He wants to sneak away before we get caught. I stop him though.

"Wait..."

"We are offering a bounty for anyone to bring any member of Mooney. Dead or alive. 20,000 per member."

Holy shit.

What the hell was Mooney up to? I look around. Now it became clear.

All of a sudden our mission to save Mavericks soul just got a lot harder.

We were wanted by every Bounty Hunter within 100 miles.

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