To Dance With Demons: Chapter 1

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We made it to the ranch house in just a few minutes, the gate had been left open for us since we were expected.

I had watched as Barton filled a small, shabby suitcase with his clothing, which wasn't much, a few pairs of jeans, one pair of decent pants, a couple of dozen t-shirts, several long sleeved shirts including a few flannel ones, a couple of light sweaters and two jackets.

One of the jackets was denim, matching several pairs of the boy's jeans, the other matched the pair of decent pants.

I assumed the nice jacket, a rather decent shirt and the pants matching the jacket were Sunday clothes, it was the only nice outfit in there.

He had left behind most of the odds and ends that were in what had been his small room, taking only a large light brown stuffed bear with him.

Once we were parked near the main house on our ranch, we were met by our 'boss' hand, Philbert Thomason.

He showed us around the various rooms in the house, bedrooms included, then pointed out behind the house to the bunkhouse and barns. One barn was huge, almost three hundred feet long and at least sixty wide, Phil said that's where the cows are milked and fed twice a day.

The second barn was much smaller, perhaps 75 feet long by about 40 wide. That one had stalls for the horses the ranch hands used regularly.

Phil told us that there were nine other hands working on the ranch at the moment. Four watched the cattle, two were checking fences and doing repairs where they were needed, two were working on bringing the big well on the property up to specs, the last was fixing a barn stall.

He then took a moment to name off the hands: First on the list were Pete Longfall and Josh Harland who were checking the fences, then Bill VandeVeldt, Ramon Pedrovera, Simon Ashdale and Terry Falworth who were watching the cattle out on the range. Then there was Frank Janistell and Angel Velmar, the lone female hand, they were fixing the well and Phil's younger brother Jeff was repairing the barn stall.

We could actually see Frank and Angel as they worked on the well which was at most fifty feet from the main house's back porch.

"We're running just over 2000 head of cattle at the moment. About 500 will be going to a buyer in Western Colorado next week. We keep about two to three hundred beef cattle for production purposes, the rest are dairy cattle, they give us quite a bit of milk on a daily basis.

"We kill five or six dozen beef cattle each year and sell the meat, keeping some for our use. Same goes for the dairy cows, we make cheese here. Terry and Pete have a knack of being able to produce a variety of cheeses from about half the milk we get, we keep some for our use. Most of the rest of the milk is treated as per government regulations, then sold to markets between Farmington and Shiprock just north of us.

"Ma'am, I need to get back to work, there's gear in the small barn that needs to be repaired, I have a good eye and hand with the tools."

We all nodded, thanked him for the tour and the information, then let him go, watching as he stalked out toward the smaller barn.

**********

Barton had left his suitcase on the main floor when we entered the house. He scurried downstairs and returned with it a moment later.

As there were five bedrooms and Mom would have the one with the king sized bed, Chantel, Barton and I were able to wander back and forth between the other four bedrooms, each pair of bedrooms having a shared full bathroom available to the occupants.

Barton and I chose the rooms on the west side of the house, Chantel picked one on the east side. Mom's was on the south side.

I snatched a glance at Barton as he put things away. It didn't take him very long. When he was done, he set the teddy bear on his bed.

The trailer with the belongings from our old house in Raleigh was waiting outside. It would take a couple of hours or so to unload it.

Since the hands had known we would be arriving either tonight or tomorrow, they had arranged for some food to be in the house for us. Mom picked out several ingredients, asked us to help her, and we spent a little over two hours setting up a pot of chilli to cook overnight.

Once Mom was happy with the contents of the large crock pot, she set the burner on at the lowest setting, then we had sliced beef off a big roast that was in the fridge, along with fresh corn, new potatoes and biscuits that one of the farm hands had made earlier that day.

From what we saw, the roast had already been cooked, so we only needed to warm the meat. We waited for the potatoes and corn to cook.

Once everything was ready, we settled down to the table to wait after yelling out back for the hands to come on in for the food.

Making food for them as well just meant we used more of what we had. We didn't mind, besides, they deserved a decent meal, too.

Apparently Phil used a walkie talkie or something like that to let the hands know that dinner was ready. The whole lot of them showed up within ten or fifteen minutes. We had kept the food warm, then set it out on the table as the last hands arrived and laid out the flatware.

The meal was enjoyed by one and all. Mom decided at that point that there would be at least one communal meal each day.

Phil agreed, saying that they'd made do until now with whatever they could prepare on the fly, eating as needed through the day.

**********

When we had packed the trailer, we had kept small bags with a change of clothes and night wear near the doors. I walked out to the trailer, used the key mom had handed to me to unlock it, then grabbed the three small bags, locked the trailer and carried them back to the house.

Once I was back inside, I handed the key to mom, then passed one bag to her and another to Chantel.

That was easy to do, as we had each used a bit of masking tape, written our names on a piece, then stuck it onto our bag.

We headed upstairs to relax in a nice bath before going to bed.

I was running the bath for Barton as we were sharing the bathroom, and when the tub was full, he asked me to stay with him. I have no idea why the kid was so scared, but scared he rather obviously was and I relented, helping him first to get clean, then towel off afterward.

After a quick rinse of the tub, I refilled it for my own bath, relaxing in the hot water once it was ready. Barton stayed close by the whole time.

I know I don't look particularly female, but I'm not big and strong, either, so I suppose Barton felt safe in my presence.

Eventually, I washed myself, including my hair, rinsed out the tub, dried myself off, then slipped into my lightweight pajamas.

Barton followed me, I actually had to take him by the hand into his own room to get him to put on his pajamas.

Something was definitely bothering Barton as he followed me back into my room and whined that he didn't want to be alone. I shrugged, slipped into the bed and patted the spot next to me. Barton grinned, just a brief one, then scurried into place next to me on the bed.

That was when I noticed he had brought his teddy bear with him when he followed me into my room.

I had been reading a novel, a sci-fi/fantasy one that I liked, and with Barton there, I decided to read it out loud. He listened intently.

I turned to look at him after I had been reading for a bit. He was already asleep, teddy bear in his hands, on his side with his back to me.

I read for another ten or fifteen minutes, then laid down to sleep. I'm not sure why, but I curled up behind Barton, holding him gently.

**********

When I woke up the next morning, the sun was already well above the horizon. It was going to be a hot one for sure.

Barton had already left the bed, I could hear him in the washroom. I climbed out of the bed, took a moment to make it nice and neat, then made my way to the washroom just as Barton flipped the latch on the door on my side, then exited from the washroom into his own bedroom.

It didn't take me very long to do what I needed to do, then I washed my hands and padded down the stairs, heading for the kitchen.

Mom, Chantel and Barton were all there, Chantel and Barton having cereal along with bacon, eggs, sausages, hash browns and pancakes. That looked just fine to my hungry stomach, which chose that moment to rumble, and mom placed the same items in front of me.

She then said that she had been awake for about an hour already and had decided to just let the three of us wake up on our own.

Mom had to go into town and talk with Mr. Randall, the banker and Miss Evans, the junior schoolteacher.

She headed out around 9:30 AM after having Pete detach the trailer from the car, we would be unloading it when she returned.

Chantel, Barton and I decided to wander around and watch what the hands were doing. Even though we weren't employees here, we thought there might be ways that we could help. Josh pointed out the chicken coop and said we could feed them and collect the eggs.

We hadn't realized until then that there were chickens on the ranch. We agreed and the three of us were soon busy in the coop. I have to say that some of the chickens in there were quite grumpy; even with fresh food available, about a dozen or so were giving us a hard time.

With some nasty looking marks inflicted by the overly peckish chickens, we eventually managed to gather all the eggs into a large basket. Angel came wandering out of the bunkhouse and saw us there, then noticed the marks and waved to us to come with her for a moment.

She led us back into the bunkhouse, then down to a small room at the end which appeared to be an office of sorts.

She rummaged in a cabinet for a moment, then pulled out some medical supplies and began to treat our wounds.

That took about fifteen minutes. Most of the pecks hadn't actually broken through the skin, but had left visible marks.

When she was done, she suggested we might want to use some of the smaller pairs of work gloves hanging in the office here in the future.

We laughed and agreed with her, saying that if we had known they were available, we likely would have used them.

We then went out, retrieved the basket of eggs and brought it into the bunkhouse, then watched her wipe and pack the eggs in boxes.

"Next time you kids help out with collecting the eggs, you can do this afterward. It's not difficult, it just takes a little time," Angel suggested.

Well, we learned something that morning, that experience is often the best teacher if one is willing to pay attention to the lessons.

**********

We spent the afternoon being introduced to several of the horses, then Frank and Jeff taught us how to feed them without getting hurt.

We grinned as the horses nudged at the carrot or apples that we held, then lipped them right off of our hands.

As we became a bit more familiar with some of the horses, the two men started to give us riding lessons on a gentle horse.

That was when we learned that the horse we were learning to ride on was a mare. We hadn't been able to see her up until that point, as she had been in a stall. We listened to the men as they instructed us. By the time the afternoon had ended, we could handle the walking paces.

Around mid-afternoon, we followed Frank and Jeff into the bunkhouse where Angel had prepared a simple meal of beans and franks.

After the meal, we relaxed for a little while, then returned to the small corral where we were learning to ride.

Frank and Jeff, then Angel when she joined us, kept us busy with the lessons. By the time the sun set, we were more capable and confident.

What we hadn't realized, as we had been following the directions quite intently, is that mom had been watching us for some time.

We headed into the house, washed ourselves after the day's various activities, then settled down to the chilli mom had been making.

Tonight, the hands from the smaller Plummer ranch showed up as well, that meant there were eighteen people at the table in the evenings.

We had already met Joe, the boss hand for the Plummer ranch. He introduced us to James Kimball, Rodd Barkle and Sam Harrison.

Everyone gave the chilli a thumbs up, several saying it hit just the right point, being spicy but not overly so. The large crock pot was empty.

After dinner on that second evening, we unloaded the trailer, then placed our clothes and belongings in our respective bedrooms.

Mom hauled the trailer to a U-Haul office in Farmington the next morning and paid the outstanding fees.

**********

That was how things went for the next month or so. We would wander around the ranch, learning how to do various things.

We all developed the strong tans you see on folks who spend a lot of time outside under the sun.

One expense that we had all agreed to quite readily was buying fairly decent but not overly expensive Stetsons for daily wear.

Mom often went into town to talk with several of the townsfolk, most often the banker and the junior schoolteacher.

Mom also took Barton in to see the doctor on a weekly basis. Like many country doctors, she worked many jobs, general practitioner, surgeon, veterinarian, psychiatrist/psychologist, OB/GYN, in fact whatever medical services could not be handled by the people themselves.

Over that summer, as I watched Barton and Chantel who were slowly adjusting to being in a loving family, I could swear that I saw Barton looking at Chantel the way that I had looked at her that night in the motel more than a month before. Did I actually see jealousy on his face?

I have to admit that there were times as I looked at Chantel that I almost wished I was in her clothes.

I had never felt this way before that night in the motel as we travelled here, so I was quite confused as to my feelings about it all.

It was about a week after the 4th of July celebrations that I spoke to mom about it. I would start seeing Dr. Elisabeth Shenderas as well.

Perhaps we could figure out what was causing me to feel so jealous of Chantel. I sure hoped so, it was driving me bonkers by then.

**********

As July wound down that summer, a truly hoary old clunker of a car broke down for the final time about two miles north of Felson's Hell.

The driver, a young woman, perhaps in her late teen years, stepped out of the car, swearing a blue streak, then kicked the door.

When she realized that it wouldn't be going anywhere, she kicked it again, then opened the back door, grabbed a bag and shut it again.

The bag was similar in appearance to what carpetbaggers back in the Depression had carried. It didn't look very heavy.

She snarled, giving the door one last kick, then started walking slowly toward the town which could be seen in the shimmery summer haze.

If anyone had seen her at that point, they would have said there was something 'off' about her, something not quite right.

They would have been absolutely correct, even more so if they had heard her swearing in four different languages as she strode along.

Lilith had arrived. Soon, there would be hell to pay for anyone who interfered with her. People would learn, or they would die.

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Comments

Lilith

I looks like they are going to get hurt by the demon, even magically shapeshifted.

hugs :)
Michelle SidheElf Amaianna

Re: Lilith

Ahhh... this is Lilith, the original Queen of Hell, albeit in a new form that will likely have people ignoring her at their peril.

As for what will happen, that will have to wait to be seen. I will say that Lilith will be busy preparing and gathering her forces.