Blood-Lines

Part 2

Sheriff Augustus Poe's office was larger than she might have otherwise expected, with two small desks covered as they were with a mixed assortment of long barrels, springs and other mechanisms with the odor of gun oil that hung pungent in the air.

The tall angular Sheriff with long white hair and wisp of dark grey beard leaned back against one table, his strong arms crossed over his chest as he'd watched her. She couldn't help but notice the metal brace that was wrapped around one of his knees.

"Care to tell me more about this so called feeling of yours?" He asked pleasantly enough, while what she saw in his gray eyes told of the far more serious side to his question.

The dark skinned Indian woman that she'd learned was called Running-Deer had gone off to inquire at Phoebes about her sister and her possible whereabouts.

Clementine had never met a woman who'd worn a badge before, let alone an Indian woman who also wore her own gun belt and pistols.

"As I've already explained to your deputy ..." she began, having become more than just a bit flustered, "... I've come from a family that is particularly ... sensitive to one another which in turn have given me the idea that I've had that Daniela's in some sort of serious trouble."

The story that she'd told had been invented just as she'd crossed the street; entirely unsure as she was as to how much she'd dare tell the Sheriff of her abilities and still have him believe her – having found that the average non-magical folks were often profoundly phobic of those who were adept at the art of natural spell casting.

He simply smiled, as he'd stroked his beard with one hand and shook his head.

"I'd almost buy that story ma'am; except that you seemed to have traveled all the way out here - by yourself on what little more than even I would have considered to have been even the barest hint of a hunch."

She didn't say a word as he spoke.

"Good looking young women such as yourself just plain do not do that kind of thing nowadays without a very good reason."

He looked her up and down in clear appraisal before he continued.

"Especially, if they were to expect to get wherever it was that they were going, in one piece and with their virtues very much left intact along the way."

Sheriff Poe's weathered appearance clearly had been hiding a sharper mind than she'd first realized.

"It might also explain how your sister got to be at Phoebes, if she's really there and working for him. Some women ask for that kind of work, while others just fall into it one way or another when they've found themselves desperate and flat out of luck."

Clementine, by now, had become annoyed well beyond words.

First, the vampires had managed to clearly see through her glamour spell and now this rather common sheriff had apparently as clearly realized that she was not quite the person that she'd said she was - while she was supposedly one of the best at her craft.

"What are you exactly?" He finally asked, as his smile dropped when he noted her frown.

"My name ... is Clementine Blue and I've traveled all the way from King's Cross, Pennsylvania while I've searched for my sister Daniela. I've told you much of this already. Why don't you want to believe me?"

His smile returned at the tenacity of her comments.

"I didn't ask who you are, ma'am, I simply asked what you are."

With a clear sigh of resignation, he moved to reverse the Indian's chair as he straddled it.

"Believe it or not ma'am, we get some very strange people that pass through here, now and again; fortunately for all involved I just happen to be of a mindset that there's nothing wrong with them being here ... as long as they don't pose much of a threat, which I'm of the firm belief that you most certainly don't."

She watched as he selected a trigger mechanism and began to assemble it just as his Indian deputy returned to quietly whisper something in his ear, while dark amber eyes kept track of Clementine as she spoke.

Poe appeared to wince at the news.

"Well, goddamn it to the moon and back anyway." He muttered as he looked down at the various gun parts while he appeared to consider what his deputy had just told him.

"Did she find my sister?" Clementine finally asked, having quickly realized that Running-Deer must have found something of Daniela that must not have been at all good.

Before he answered, Poe said something to the Indian in what sounded like broken French with what her language skills picked up what she could of it. From the fractured words that she could understand, it sounded an awful lot like he wanted her to check something out as quickly as she could.

The Indian nodded as she reached up to take down a double-barreled shotgun and loaded it before she left them again.

"Your sister ..." he mused with clear annoyance, "... appears to have taken up work at the mansion for a gentleman who only just recently tried to get rid of us ... rather permanently."

With veiled contempt and a frown, he rose to his feet where he pulled each of his pistols from its holster to verify that they were fully loaded in all cylinders.

"Are you expecting even more trouble from him?" Clementine asked, suddenly concerned as to what kind of man that her sister may have become involved with; given the last vision that she'd seen from the seeker.

"No, well ... not exactly ..." He replied with a wry grin, "... for you see I'm the Sheriff and we now have a legitimate reason to visit with him yet again which undoubtedly will annoy him to no end."

Poe reached for his hat as he shook his head.

"He's just not going to be at all happy to see us again, quite so soon."

When he moved to open the door and held it for her to follow, she was surprised that he had offered to take her along without having been asked to do so.

"If I'd told you to stay put and not follow us, would you have?" He asked knowingly with a bemused look.

"Probably not ..." She replied earnestly. "... but I'd have also stayed out of your way once I began to follow you."

It was her turn to smile as she rose from her chair and he looked around the office.

"Then let's go together, so I can keep an eye on you no matter what it is that you may be hiding yourself to be."

"Thank you for understanding my situation Sheriff."

"My pleasure ma'am; although you may not like the sister that you've come looking for when you find her, considering where she's been at and what she's probably done with that man up there." He warned, as he touched the brim of his hat with one hand while she passed.

"One step at a time, Sheriff; finding her is what I came out here to do."