The Holy Death

Chapter 29

When Scott was mortal, he didn't do well with dust. It affected his sinuses terribly and sometimes embarrassingly. Now here he was, sitting in ages of dust, not at all comfortable and in fact psychologically repelled. Oh sure, Scott could drink human blood and look upon the goriest remains with great interest, but dust was too much for him. Needless to say, he was not able to sleep. Jack and Jeremiah had both zoned out by this time. Scott was surprised that Jack was taking his rest, as he'd just been wakened from a year-long nap, but apparently that did not disable his desire for unconsciousness. So, Scott sat in all that dust, wide awake, but not bored – he kept hearing disembodied footsteps all around, ghostly voices (which were not directed at him, apparently), and the occasional odd knocking sound. Now, since Scott was a vampire, and had been a ghost himself for a short while, he was not scared, or even much concerned. He was annoyed, however. The cowboy who suddenly appeared in front of him (A different cowboy from the one he'd seen earlier) annoyed him even further.

"Is that Jack?" The cowboy asked. "The vampire, Jack Turner?"

"Uh," Scott usually didn't field queries from ghosts, yet here was one talking to him. "Uh, yeah, that's Jack, the vampire."

"That son of a bitch!" The cowboy pulled an old Merwin Hulbert from the simple leather holster on his belt and pointed it at Jack. He cocked the hammer and pulled the trigger. Since the revolver was as spectral as the cowboy, it had no effect. The hollow click didn't even awaken Jack. "Aw, dammit!"

"Who are you?"

"Amos McCoy, Esmeralda County Deputy Sheriff and Agent of Ministry. Who are you?"

"Scott Campbell."

"And what are you doing with that undead son of a bitch Jack?"

"He's my prisoner."

"How the hell did you work that out?"

"Not easily."

"I'd reckon not. So, what's your story? You work for Ministry?"

"Yeah, on a part-time basis. The other fellow over there is Jeremiah. You ever heard of Jeremiah?"

"Why, I'll be!" The cowboy tipped his hat to get a better view. "Of course I heard of Jeremiah! Who hasn't, in this line of work? Why, when I was younger, I was hoping for the chance to stick a stake in his gut. But then I got word he changed and was working for the side of Ministry. Never thought I'd hear of such a thing, a vampire working for Ministry, especially not one as prolific as Jeremiah!"

Scott then got an evil thought. Okay, maybe not evil, but certainly mean, and if there was someone who deserved being treated meanly, it was Jack. "Hey, Amos, would you like the chance to tell Jack what you think of him? I'll get him awake for you, if you want!"

"Yeah, okay. You do that. I got me a few words for the bastard!"

"Hey Jack!" Scott shouted into his ear. He mumbled something but otherwise did not react. So, Scott pulled out the remote.

"Waaa!" Jack cried as several thousand volts of electric pain woke him from his slumber. "What the fuck, Scott? Why the hell did you go and do that?"

"Jack," Scott said, "We have a visitor. Jack, this is Amos McCoy."

Jack looked at the spectral sheriff with disinterest. "Huh, okay."

"Yeah," The ghost snarled, "Amos Eliphalet McCoy, Esmeralda County Deputy Sheriff and Agent of Ministry!"

"Huh. Good for you. I'm going to go back to sleep now."