won the battle with her boots. Bracing herself, she rose to her feet, then leaned against the wall as her head punished her. She waited out the worst of the storm before picking up her coat and moving to the door.
"They got eggs down there?"
Ben grunted.
"Think I'll have me a prairie oyster with breakfast, then. Might do me some good."
Ben grunted again, but she had already left the room. Her shaky legs carried her through the hallway and down the stairs. A hearty breakfast greeted her when she stepped into the Northern Hotel's big common room: fresh sowbelly, long strips of crackling bacon, steaming sourdough biscuits, and several large tins of coffee. The hotel's early risers hovered around the fare like flies buzzing around a week-old carcass. Several others sat at nearby tables, wolfing down their first meal of the day.
The sight was enough to make her sick.
She worked her way past the crowd of hungry guests and grabbed a nearby bellhop.
"You got any fresh eggs?"
"Of course," he replied, prying her fingers from his shirt. "How many would you like?"
"Just one, with some whiskey and pepper in a glass."
"Fried?"
"Raw."
Confusion flickered across the little man's face for a moment before his head bobbed and he disappeared into the kitchen. Cora made her way to an empty table and collapsed. She folded her arms on the rough wood, rested her forehead on them, and waited. Her shoulders muffled the sounds in the room enough to allow her to doze for a few minutes before she heard a voice at her elbow.
"Your egg, ma'am."
Picking her head up, she stared at the concoction he had brought. Dark flecks of pepper dotted the egg yolk as it floated in the whiskey. Taking a deep breath, she picked up the glass. Her other hand pinched her nose shut, and she downed the mixture in one gulp. She could feel the egg slide down her throat and drop into her stomach like a lump of mud. She smacked her lips a few times, set the glass down, laid her head back down on her arms, and waited.
After a short while, Cora felt well enough to join the other guests. Taking the empty glass with her, she walked over to the big table. She grabbed a couple of sourdough biscuits, stuffed them in the glass, then picked up a handful of sowbelly. Satisfied, she made her way back to her table and set to.
The sowbelly, heavily salted, was the first to go. The biscuits followed, one after the other. They were warm, not steaming like they had been when she first walked in, but they were good. Halfway through the second, her thirst caught up with her. Picking up her glass, she looked around for a pitcher of fresh water. There was plenty of coffee, but the tiny bellhop seemed to have forgotten any other drinks. Not wanting to bother with him again, she threw her coat around her shoulders and stood up. She made her way through a small side door and found herself in an alley. The snow was still fresh and undisturbed, so she sank to her knees and began to shovel handfuls into her mouth. The cold numbed her throat, but it was water.
Cora wiped her mouth and rose to her feet. Stepping out from the alley into the street, she squinted in the sunlight and cursed her hat for being back in the room. She considered going up to fetch it, but that might mean another talk with Ben. Another talk meant another argument, and she didn't want to sit around doing nothing while he read through his books. He hadn't been there to see that monster bleed and hear it squeal as she unloaded on it, so he didn't know it could feel pain. Sure, it was tough, but so was she.
Her breath curled around her face as she looked down at her boots. He was right, though. Nothing they'd fought in the past had taken that many silver bullets to the head and kept coming. Knowing it was still up in that mineshaft made her uneasy, but what could she do about it?
Get some advice, she answered herself. She wasn't sure if Leadville had a proper priest, but maybe Father Baez was still in Denver. They could get some information from him before charging headlong back into the woods.
She'd met the Denver priest only once, nearly ten years before. She and Ben had been hunting a vampire nest in the area