REVENANT
Chapter 1
Everglades. Florida. July 1836
"Soft Step " Asked the tall, lanky liaison of Indian affairs through the opening of the tee pee.
At nearly six feet, the cowboy with the distinguished slate gray hair, walked with purpose to the Indian. His boyish good looks were well-groomed and cleanly shaven.
"I come in peace." The liaison said as he showed the palms of his manicured hands.
Inside the tee pee, a Seminole Indian sat with his legs crossed. An Indian boy in his fifth year sat on his lap. The adult Indian stopped the reading lesson from the children's book.
" I do not know you." Said the Indian, as he encouraged Meijo to play with a tap on his bottom.
The Indians spoke perfect English. The hairless, bare chested Indian's frame was heavily muscled. His skins bronze from endless hours riding roughshod in the sun. He wore deerskin pants and vest. Calf length water moccasins, with gusset lace up sides clothed his feet.
The Indian's face was long, tapered at the chin. His eyes as well as his hair were devil black. Closely cropped at the temples, his hair was cut in a Mohawk. A tribal tattoo illustrated his abdomen.
Around the Indians neck, a necklace adorned with dozen razor sharp canine teeth.
"That is good, teaching the boy English." The cowboy said as he playfully rubbed the child's head.
"Learn English or have his mouth washed out with soap when we speak ours." The Indian hissed.
"I have heard about you." The cowboy said in an arrogant tone.
The Indian bore a look at the liaison. It was as if he could look into his soul. His deep-set eyes never wavered from his. He finished his drink.
"Unless you have more substance than this book, I strongly encourage you leave." The Indian said as he rose to his full vertical height.
"I know all about you." The cowboy smirked his focus on the necklace around the Indians neck.
The cowboy reached lethargically slow for the necklace. The Indian smacked his hand away. His wrist inverted, the tiny bones cracked and cried out. In crisp fluid motion, the cowboy's arm was forced behind him. His elbow was locked behind him.
"If you will let me go, I can explain." The liaison said.
The Indian released his grip on the liaison. He straightened his fringe jacket and turned to the Indian.
" I am Chip Kidd." The cowboy offered his glove soft hand and manicured fingers.
"I am the founder of a little town by the lighthouse on the East Coast, called Roughshod."
"Not much of a town really. Roughshod is dependent on the lighthouse..."
"I know you. You are a pirate. The ships set their course for you and end up on the mainland along the beachhead. You rob them blind and make whores out of the women." The Indian said.
Chip Kidd nodded in agreement.
"I have a business proposition." Chip smiled a Cheshire cat grin.
"I have come to understand that you are the best damn tracker in the East."
"Geiger Wolfsbane he is the best." The Indian said.
"Was the best." Chip said as he reached into his breast pocket and procured a silken bag with a drawstring. Inside the silken bag was a necklace similar to the one on the Indian. Tethered to the necklace was a row of canine teeth. Numbering a bakers dozen, the canines were slightly larger than those adorned on the Indians.
"Geiger Wolfsbane is dead and buried, about two weeks." Chip Kidd said.
"That's the thing about you trackers, you're loyal to each other." Chip said in a reminiscent tone.
"Gieger said the same of you."
"I understand that you track, something called Revenant, Vampires?"
A silent exchange confirmed this.
"Gieger tracked a coven of Vampires on the outskirts of Roughshod. Killed a few but there is safety in numbers."
"I have come to understand that you are the tip of the spear on a attack, planned on the main land."
The Indians reaction was cold and guarded.
"A war over a lighthouse and a few scalps? I think not...."
"I have a business proposition."
"Vampires, Revenant... are for lack of a better term, are bad for business."
"They or them are muscling in on sacred ground. They are stealing the merchant's blind and draining their blood. Very messy."
"I have come into some money."
"I know times are rough." Chip said as he surveyed the teepee.
"The depression is of your making! Unnatural. The treaties you have broken. The lies!"
"I am a simple business man in need of the skills of your people." Chipp said as he formed his hands into a triangle.
"How old is the boy? Five? And the squaw, she is with child no?" Chipp said knowing his words cut a nerve on the Indian.
"It is a tough world out there. I am trying to help."
"What is it you wish?" The Indian snapped
"Roughshod lighthouse." Chipp said as he pulled out a composite sketch of the lighthouse.
"What are there numbers?" The Indian said.
"Six maybe more. Closed lipped society. Gieger took two of them down. He went out fighting."
"How much?" Chipp Kidd said his tone suggested dollar signs.
"One thousand down, one hundred a day cash. All in advance plus expenses and incentives."
"Incentives?" Chip said as he curled an eyebrow.
"One hundred dollars a fang. You can do with it (the other fang) as you wish."
"Inventive. I like that." Chip smiled showcasing his gleaming white teeth.
" I make no guarantees and give no refunds." Soft Step said.
Chip Kidd handed an envelope stuffed to the breaking hilt with currency.
"This should be enough to interest you."
Chipp Kidd reached into his breast pocket for a long and thin book. The book was made of genuine leather, eroded and faded with time. Its kidskin pages edged in gold. Embossed on the cover, written in old English script was the word lilim.
"Gieger wanted you to have it."
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