The Devil's Beat (The Devil's Mark) Read online

  He saw an opening. “I tell you what, why don't you get your guitar, and play for me? I'll tell you what I think, and I promise to be honest with you.”

  He thought he had her, when her face lightened from its burden of scorn and anger, but it was only a moment before it slammed down again. She snorted. “Yeah, like I care what you think.”

  She stomped past Max and slammed the door to her room.

  Max's heart sank. He thought he had been offered a chance at redemption, no matter how small. He sank back into the worn chair and wondered why he would ever think such a thing was available to him.

  He was woken from swirling dreams of concert tours, screaming fans and heady nights when Alice placed her hand on his shoulder. He immediately started awake. He looked up guiltily at Alice's warm smile. He apologized, “Uh, sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep!”

  Her smile got wider, letting her beauty shine through her own tired face. “It's no problem. I just wanted someone to be here. I take it they ran you ragged?”

  Max couldn't help but return her smile. “No! Not at all. They were great. You have lovely children. They were perfectly behaved.”

  Her raised eyebrows showed Max she thought this unlikely.

  He said, “Well, apparently, according to Jayne Ann, I was conned by Lily and Katelyn when I let them have a cookie and milk before they went to bed. Sorry if that's against the rules.”

  She laughed, “I know who conned you, and it wasn't Katelyn. Lily's the ringleader there. It scares me sometimes how well she can lie right to your face.” She paused. “I hope they brushed their teeth after that at least?”

  “Yep, brushed and flossed.”

  “Then you are forgiven for being taken in by my daughter.”

  Max stood up and looked at Alice. He looked at Jayne-Ann's closed door. “Can I talk to you a minute, outside?”

  She raised her eyebrows a little, but she said, “Sure.”

  Max went out on the porch with Alice and gently closed the door. He said, “I have a confession to make.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes, I'm afraid I told Jayne Ann that you had bragged to me about her playing.” He followed that quickly with, “She didn't think your opinion counted so I offered to give her mine. I was just trying to motivate her a little to practice. I hope that's okay.”

  “Did it work?”

  He shook his head sadly, “No, she told me she didn't want my opinion and slammed her door on me.”

  Alice's face was tender when she replied, “Max, I'm sorry about that. That was a sweet gesture on your part.”

  Max said, “I hope I didn't do any damage.”

  “No, I'm sure you didn't. She's just having a hard time right now. She's at that age when she needs a daddy around to tell her how pretty she is and how much he loves her. It's tough.”

  “I'm sorry if my... mistakes... made it worse for her.”

  “It's just life, Max. Things happen, and we deal with them.”

  Max nodded thoughtfully. He said, “The girls tell me someone stole the copper out of your air conditioner.”

  “Yeah, I haven't had the money to replace it yet. Sorry if it was too hot for you.”

  “No, that wasn't a problem, but I was thinking...” Max was surprised to hear that he had been thinking. Apparently, his brain had gone on without him. “I… I see how hard you work, and I was... uh...wondering if I could help out.”

  Alice tilted her head, showing Max that he had her full attention. He also got the feeling that he was walking some sort of invisible line. He wasn't sure over what.

  She said, “Help out how?”

  He forged ahead, he said, “Well, I was wondering if I could maybe help you out financially...” Looking at Alice's face, Max sensed he had one foot stepping over the abyss. He hurriedly added, “It's just that I found out that I've got nearly a billion dollars in the bank, and it's just ridiculous, and I don't need that much, and it seems stupid not to use that to help out the people I like, and it's stupid to have so much money, and I'm not saying you can't...”

  Alice smiled at his obvious discomfort and put her finger on Max's lips. She said, “It's okay, you silly man. I'm not offended.” Max was surprised to find that his foot had come down on solid ground. Alice continued, “I really appreciate the thought, and it really sounds tempting, but I don't know if I can make that kind of commitment now.”

  Max grabbed her hand and pulled it away from his face. He resumed babbling. “Uh, there's no commitment or anything. I'm not trying to sleep with you or anything like that. I mean, I like you, and you're very attractive, and all, but I wasn't trying to...” He trailed off, trying to look into her eyes through the shadows of the night.

  Without thinking, he leaned forward and kissed her. She met him halfway. Her lips were warm and soft, and desire flared in him as she pressed her body against his. Consumed by the moment, and his need, Max put his arms around her and... she pulled away and pushed him back with both hands. In the shadows, she looked wild and frightened and she said, “No! I can't do this! You need to go now.”

  The ground dissolved under both of Max's feet, and he flailed in free fall. He hadn't come even close landing when Alice choked out, “I'm sorry,” and fled back into the house, slamming the door on Max. Max stood there berating himself for being a stupid idiot. That hadn't been what he wanted. He was just trying to help, but now he'd had two doors slammed in his face in one night by two people who suddenly mattered.

  He figuratively picked himself up and headed back home, berating himself for ruining the one normal, good, thing in his life. As he was driving home, feeling guilty and frustrated and lacking, something Lucian had said about Adam falling for Eve popped up from the depths of his mind...

  ***

  They were in one of the series of endless hotel suites of Max's tours. Max and Lucian had been watching two incredibly hot girls dancing exuberantly on a large coffee table. Max said appreciatively to Lucian, “God really knew what he was doing when he made those two.”

  Lucian gave Max his sardonic smile. “Oh yeah, after Adam tossed Lilith out for not obeying his commands, God created Eve. He fucked us both, Adam and I, and not just in the biblical sense.”

  Max looked quizzically at Lucian through his pleasant alcohol buzz.

  “Oh, I'm serious as the clap. Women screwed up everything for you and for me. You see, Lilith came to me after Adam gave her the toss.”

  Lucian's eyes sparkled with the memory. “Damn Max, you should have seen her when she was newly made. She was the most compelling creature in all creation. It wasn't till I saw her that I even knew I was male. One look and I was lost. She was all kinds of sexy, all raw passion and lust. It was forbidden, but I had to have her, and I did. It was glorious. For the first time, I had something that rivaled my passion for God. She was insatiable, but every time we bumped uglies, she got pregnant, and a few minutes later would give birth to some monstrous thing or another. She wouldn't let me kill them, so I had to try and hide them. After a couple hundred, I finally decided that enough was enough. I stopped sleeping with her, but she just jumped Belial's bones. I didn't care, I was just glad she wasn't my problem anymore. But I got curious. I decided to go check on God's little experiment in Eden, see if there were any more like her, but maybe less fertile.

  “I was appalled when I saw them. Adam and Eve were two ignorant little animals playing in a pen. In his infinite cruelty, God created them flawed. After Lilith, God obviously reworked them. They were made of mud. There was, of course, some of the unchangeable, beautiful divine in them and Eve was a babe, but they were made with an expiration date. They existed for a pitifully short, miserable time, only to rot away back to mud or even worse. In their ignorance, they thought they were God's greatest creation.

  “Do you know what 'the apple' I offered to Eve contained? Knowledge. Understanding. That's it. Adam was a complete, oblivious buffoon, but Eve... Eve could tell that there was something wrong. She instinctively knew that
her ignorance was curable, and she lusted for power. When I told her what was waiting in the apple for her, she didn't hesitate. Of course, she gave it to Adam first, to make sure it wasn't poison. And, of course, that besotted fool would do anything for her. He crunched into the apple, and his face filled with the understanding I had provided. Even seeing the pain of his dawning understanding, Eve couldn't bear to be lesser than him, so she ate another. Together, they saw what they were. They saw how isolated they were from the Divine. They saw the pain that awaited them. They knew death, and they clutched to each other like drowning rats, hoping against hope that something would change. Nothing did. After God had let them stew in their fear for a time, he unleashed the hounds and drove them out of Eden for their disobedience.”

  ***

  Max soaked in the memory till he pulled up to the motel. He had never given the story much credence, but one thing was for sure: women still had the power to cloud men's minds.

  To his relief, when he got back to his new (clean) room, it was empty. There was a note scrawled on scrap paper saying that Josh and Vlad had gone back to the house. Max flopped down on the bed, alone with his roiling thoughts and self recriminations. He was such a walking disaster.

  All Apologies

  Max woke up late the next morning with an emotional hangover. It was much more comfortable than its alcohol induced cousin. He found himself wrapped in a welcome blanket of numbness. He got up and methodically went about his morning routine, then he headed out the door. Mike's car was gone so he walked the few blocks to the diner alone, which suited him fine. While he was eating a wonderful, greasy southern breakfast, he pulled out his phone and looked through his messages from the last couple of days. He deleted all the messages from Tony, and listened to the one from Alice asking him to babysit. That left just two messages on his phone. The first was from his new accountants, and the second was a local number that he didn't recognize.

  He pulled up the garbled automatic transcription of the message from the accountant and read through it. It didn't help much, but the words 'slave trade' gave him cause for concern. He listened to the message. He was stunned by what he heard, but knew he shouldn't have been surprised. As he was trying to digest the news, he listened to the next message.

  A hearty, heavily accented baritone voice came from the phone. “Hiya Max! Big Al here. I just wanted to thank you for coming to my little soiree t'other night. It was the talk of the town. I also wanted to thank you for offering to back me in my campaign for Governor. That is right neighborly of you. The missus is absolutely thrilled! She's been bragging about it to anyone who’s got ears and even to some of them who don't. Now, I know you are a busy man, but I was hoping you would do me the honor of coming by my humble abode sometime this week, so we can discuss what you might be willin' to do for my campaign. It's just startin', but we've already got some good momentum. Anyway, I'd be mighty obliged if you could give me a call at your earliest convenience.”

  Max deleted the message and sighed. God damned Lucian! He decided that he needed to stop this fiasco before it could go any further. Big Al seemed nice, but if he was involved with Lucian, that nice exterior had to be covering a rotten interior. Max wasn't going to back anyone for office, let alone him, and Max would be double damned if he was going to sing for him.

  Max found and dialed the Mayor's number. His hopes for leaving a message were ruthlessly crushed by reality when Al's hearty voice answered the phone.

  Max said, “Uh, hi, Big Al. This is Max Faust.”

  “Howdy boy! Thanks for calling back. Now I was hoping you...”

  “I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor, but I'm not going to be able to back you when you run for office or sing at any political fund raiser.”

  The mayor obliviously continued for a short time, “...could come by my... say what?”

  Max repeated himself.

  The mayor sputtered, “But, but, but, you can't pull out on me! Everyone knows you're on my side now! It would be disastrous if you didn't come through. You cain't stab me in the back like that, boy!”

  “I'm sorry Mayor, it's nothing personal, but I just can't be in the public eye right now. It's nothing personal but...”

  “Nothing personal!” roared Al. “It don't get much more personal than a blade in the back, you Judas! You can't back out! I won't stand for it. The missus will be devastated if you do this! You can't do this to her! What the missus wants, the missus gets!”

  “I'm sorry Mayor, but I just can't do it right now.” Max hung up as the Mayor was sputtering out more protests and threats. Despite the guilt for disappointing the Mayor's lovely, bubbly wife, it was a big weight off of his mind. He finished his breakfast and ignored a couple of calls back from the Mayor.

  He looked at the messages and saw that Tony had left another one. Without thought, he played back the last one.

  “...Pick up the goddamned phone! You can't do this to me you little piece of shit! I'll make you pay! I'll hunt—” Max deleted it.

  Just about what Max was expecting. He deleted the rest, turned his ringer off, and shoved the phone back in his pocket.

  He was sure, well pretty sure, that Tony was all hot air.

  When the waitress, Rosie (whose name seemed somehow cliché to Max) picked up the check, he stopped her and asked, “Is there somewhere in town I can rent a car?”

  Rosie skillfully replied around her chewing gum, “Hon, there ain't a car rental place for twenty miles around here.”

  “Okay, what about a car dealership?”

  “Dealin' Dan's is just a few blocks down Main and left on South St. He's always got some cars. Be careful though, he'll gouge you good if you let him.”

  “Okay, thanks, Rosie.”

  “You betcha, hon.”

  Max followed Rosie's direction and easily found Dealin' Dan's Auto Emporium. There were maybe two dozen cars on the lot. Max had barely stepped on the property when Dan himself bustled out of the door to his small office. When the slightly worn-looking salesman said excitedly, “Welcome to Dealin' Dan's!” Max decided to have a little fun.

  Max chuckled as he drove out in his new “previously loved” pickup truck. He was remembering the look on Dan's face when Max offered him triple his asking price if Dan promised him free towing, pickup, loaners and service for the next ten years. It was obvious that Dan was trying not to cackle with glee, when he bargained Max into agreeing to pay for parts. After that, Dan had goggled when Max's card had been approved for over thirty-six thousand dollars.

  Realizing that it could be a lot of fun having too much money, Max headed out to the house.

  A Cask of Amontillado

  When Max walked up to front door of Belle, there was a swarm of flies buzzing around the stains at the entrance. He waved away both the flies and the smell from his face with about equal effectiveness. He opened the front door, jumped through, and slammed it shut just as his brain flagged something weird. It was a two-fold weirdness: no flies came in with him and there had been a pile of dead flies at the threshold. He looked around to confirm the first and then opened the door a crack to check the other. Sure enough, no flies came through into the house. Those that were on course to come through the door hit an invisible wall and dropped to the ground dead.

  “Cool!” said Max.

  “Unless it's killing us too, only slower,” said Mike as he was coming down the stairs.

  “You're too paranoid,” said Max. “But, you’re looking pretty chipper. How are Vlad and Josh?”

  “Well Vlad is chomping at the bit to go find his true love. Ever since I told him about the internet, he has been bugging me to get online and search her down. For an old bugger, he seems pretty blasé about modern technology. Josh, our even older bugger, is in working on the music room.”

  Max asked hesitantly. “Anything or anybody else been destroyed?”

  “Not by us, but there was a headless badger and a few headless birds left at our door.”

  Josh found himself getting angry at th
e thought. It wasn't as if he didn't have any other problems to deal with. He said, “Fucking Lucian.”

  Mike was obviously surprised. “You think your manager is doing this?”

  “Uh, well, I wouldn't put it past him. He is a vindictive little asswipe.”

  “Sheesh Max, you really know how to pick 'em, don't you?”

  Max sighed. “You don't know the half of it, Mike.”

  “Maybe it’s that Tony character.”

  Max frowned at that and then nodded. “Yeah, that would fit him, too.”

  Mike said, “I've decided that I'm in a destructive mood today. I'm going to take down that brick wall I found the day your house tried to kill me. Hang on, I'll be right back.” Mike pushed past Max on his crutches through the front door and was back quickly with a large sledge hammer. He grinned at Max, “Great stress reliever!” He hobbled eagerly up the stairs.

  Max said under his breath, “Belle, behave yourself.” In response, a piece of the stair banister broke and fell down into the hallway, but nothing lethal headed his way, so he figured they had an understanding.

  After about ten minutes of steady whacking, Mike had made remarkably little progress. There were some chips of mortar and brick dust on the floor, but the wall showed no signs of giving way. Mike stopped, dropped the hammer's head on the ground, removed his hardhat, and mopped the sweat running from his face. “Damn, its hot up here. We need to work on getting some of the windows open up here.”

  Max smiled. “What's the matter Mike? Didn't have your Wheaties today?”

  “Ha ha. I've only got one good leg. You give it a try, Mister Universe.”

  “I could certainly use the stress relief.” He picked up the heavy hammer. He knew there was no way he would last even five minutes with it, but he puffed his chest and said to Mike, “Let me show you how it's done, junior.”

  Max swung the heavy hammer at the wall for all he was worth. The hammer hit amidst an explosion of brick and dust. When the dust cleared, the wall was just a pile of bricks. He gave Mike a shit-eating grin. “And that's how the real men do it!”