Fevre Dream Page 0,133

Joshua's that night on the levee...

...and Abner Marsh snatched his hand away. "Joshua," he said loudly. "That's it. You ain't beaten him yet, have you? You got him whipped, but he's still alive, and you ain't got him to drink blood, you ain't got him to change. That's why." Marsh felt his blood rising to his face. "You don't care how much damn money this steamboat makes. If she sunk tomorrow, you wouldn't care a good goddamn, you'd just go somewheres else. And Sour Billy, maybe you want to get rid of him, use me instead, but that ain't it. It's Joshua. If I join you it will break whatever he's got left, prove you right. Joshua trusted me, and you want me 'cause you know what that'd do to him." Julian's hand was still extended, rings shining softly on his long pale fingers. "Damn you!" Marsh roared, and he picked up his walking stick and swung it hard, smashing the hand to the side. "DAMN YOU!"

The smile died on Damon Julian's lips and his face became something inhuman. There was nothing in his eyes but darkness and age and flickering dim fires that burned with ancient evil. He stood up, so he towered over Abner Marsh, and he snatched the stick away as Marsh swung it at his face. He broke it with his bare hands, as easily as Marsh might break a dead match, and tossed it to the side. The pieces clattered off the wall and dropped to the carpet. "You might have been remembered as the man who outran the Eclipse," Julian said with a malicious coldness. "Instead, you will die. It is going to last a long time, Captain Marsh. You are much too ugly for me. I am giving you to Billy, to teach him the taste of blood. Maybe dear Joshua should have a glass as well. It would do him good." He smiled. "As for your steamboat, Captain Marsh, don't worry. I will take good care of her after you are gone. No one on the river will ever forget your Fevre Dream."

Chapter Twenty-Six

Aboard the Steamer OZYMANDIAS, Mississippi River, October 1857

DAWN was breaking when Abner Marsh was led from the captain's cabin. Morning mists lay heavily on the river, gray wisps that drifted and curled smokily across the water and threaded themselves through the steamer's rails and colonnades, writhing like living things soon to burn and perish in the light of the morning sun. Damon Julian saw the red blush in the east, and remained in the dimness of his cabin. He pushed Marsh through the door. "Take the captain to his cabin, Billy," he said. "Keep him safe until dark. You will be so kind as to join us for supper, Captain Marsh?" He smiled. "I knew you would."

They were waiting just outside. Sour Billy, in a black suit and a checkered vest, was sitting with his chair tilted back against the wall of the texas, cleaning his fingernails with his knife. He stood up when the door opened, and tossed the knife easily in his hand. "Yes, sir, Mister Julian," he said, his ice-colored eyes fixed on Marsh.

He had two others with him. The night folks who'd helped Billy take Marsh from the Eli Reynolds had retreated back to their staterooms to escape the touch of morning, so Billy had called up some of his river scum, it appeared. As Julian shut the cabin door, they moved in. One of them was a portly youth with ragged brown whiskers, a live oak cudgel stuck through his cord belt. The other one was a giant, and the ugliest damn thing Abner Marsh had ever seen. He must have stood near seven foot tall, but he had a tiny little head, squinty eyes, wooden teeth, and no nose at all. Abner Marsh stared.

"Don't you go looking at Noseless," Sour Billy said. "It ain't polite, Cap'n." Noseless, as if to agree, grabbed Marsh's arm roughly and twisted it up behind him so hard it hurt. "A gator bit off his nose," Sour Billy said. "Ain't his fault. You hold Cap'n Marsh tight now, Noseless. Cap'n Marsh is fond of jumpin' into the river, and we don't want none of that." Billy swaggered over and poked his knife into Marsh's stomach, just enough so Marsh felt the prick. "You swim better'n I figgered, Cap'n. Must be all this fat, makes it easier to float." He twisted the knife suddenly and sliced a silver