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safe place; a place where a warm fire burned on the hearth and fragrant herbs scented the air.
    “Oh Annie, I am going to need your help I can feel the evil in this town. Underneath the evil, good is masked by greed. You have taught me to purify and consecrate. That is not enough. I will need to purge the demons from them by any means possible, physical, emotional and mental.”
    Annie did not directly answer but a sudden gust of wind blew through the window. A chill passed like lightning through her and she heard Annie’s voice in her head. “Yore up agin’ it again Gal, this time but I’ll be watchin from th’ other side. Just give ol’ Annie a holler.”
    She awoke with a start, staring into the predawn light. The nausea and pain of the sickness receded. A surge of new energy filled her. The raucous sounds of the town floated up through her window. They were the sounds built upon layers of greed and avarice, the fertile ground for demons, possession and lost souls.  She closed her eyes briefly. There was work to be done here in Virginia City work that would test her talents of both a seer and exorcist. Talents she had honed since Red Bluff for she was determined to never be at a disadvantage with evil again.
    Or be seduced by it either.
     

Chapter Four
    Reunion
     
    T he place that Devlin called home while he was in Virginia City took the form of two custom built railroad cars that were parked at the train depot off E Street. A private elegantly appointed space, a cocoon of polished wood, crystal chandeliers and Turkish carpets worthy of a sultan.
    It was to here that he brought his friend the Indian, Walking Ghost. Devlin settled him down at a table beside the wood stove where cup after cup of black coffee and a large plate of food was served to Walking Ghost by a silent uniformed Chinese manservant.
    When Walking Ghost had eaten his fill and pushed away from the table, Devlin spoke. “The fates have brought us together once more, my friend, I can’t believe it to be a coincidence”.
    Walking Ghost paused before answering. “If you live again then this thing has not ended and if you live again, does not that demon Horace live also?
    Devlin smiled.  “Horace has been returned to the hell from whence he had come from, burned to ashes in Red Bluff. My work here in Virginia City however has taken on a new twist, a new enemy and one that could potentially open the gates for all manner of Demons even the gates of Hell itself.”
    “Who is he, this enemy?” Walking Ghost inquired.
    “His name is Big Jim Diamond, the owner of the Diamond J mining company, a man cut from the same cloth as Horace but with a sheen of sophistication. Nevertheless, he is surrounded by the same murderous scum as before.”
    “And what of the souls of your enemies? And your pact with the Dark Ones?” Walking Ghost asked.
    Devlin looked away. “There is no pact, maybe there never was and if so the right souls, the ones that would have the power to free me, have taken a hell of a lot of time to cross my path again.”
    Walking Ghost sat up straight. “You will need Walking Ghost again, I will be your shadow no one will suspect this lowly Indian.”
    “This is not your fight, my friend, but if you choose to join me it will be an honor to have you watch my back.” 
    Walking Ghost looked him in the eye. “Our paths have crossed again. Two rivers headed for the same lake. There is powerful medicine in this. Since Red Bluff I have drifted like a leaf in the wind. It will be good to be able to face this enemy again and to finish it.”
     
    The next morning in his office above the distinguished Washoe Club the object of Devlin and Walking Ghost’s conversation, Big Jim Diamond, was holding a meeting of his own.  He sat in a large, stuffed leather chair and puffed on a big cigar while he addressed the unsavory characters that sat before him: The gunslinger Laredo, the oily carpetbagger Mr. Leonard White, and Miguel Cruz, a dark