Ghosts of Culloden Moor 14 - Liam (Diane Darcy) Read online

  ~~~

  One moment Liam was caught up within a storm of green, of ghosts, of intense feeling, and the next he was dropped to his knees, gasping for breath in a crowd of noise and people.

  He moved his hands quickly in order to avoid being walked upon.

  “Did you see that?” A young lady asked.

  “Soni?” He raised his head.

  The steady stream of slow-walking folk glanced at him as they passed by. He was in the middle of a sea of people, and he quickly scrambled to his feet, standing taller than almost anyone around him. His eyes widened, his mouth gaped, and his hand went to his sword.

  What was going on? Where was he? He glanced around and tried to spot an enemy, but all he saw were…tourists? Men, women, and children wearing the type of clothing he’d seen often over the years at Culloden Moor.

  And though it was nighttime, Lord, it was hot!

  This was like nothing he’d expected!

  Hundreds, mayhap thousands of people, moving against and around each other. Lines of slow moving cars in designs and colors the likes of which he’d never seen. Colorful buildings that rose high into the sky! The noise was almost painful. He’d hold his hands over his ears if he could, but he didn’t dare release the grip of his sword.

  Two young ladies stared at him, but when he met their eyes, they joined the crowd and moved on, whispering and giggling as they strolled away.

  “Hey, there’s another one!”

  Liam turned to see a tall, thickset man, wearing knee-length breeches and an overlarge white shirt with short sleeves. He ran forward, grabbed Liam’s elbow and pulled him into an alcove out of the crowd. Liam thought to attack, then changed his mind as the man wasn’t carrying any weapons. Mayhap he was to help him in some way?

  “Okay, right here is good. Penelope, Rory! Come over here and stand by us!”

  Two slightly petulant children, bearing an unfortunate resemblance to their father, came to stand on Liam’s other side. The man put his arm around Liam and smiled toward a short brunette woman that Liam could only assume was his wife.

  She lifted a camera—he’d seen hundreds of those—and pointed it at them as the crowd veered around them. “Smile!”

  A second later he was slapped on the back. “Thanks, buddy, nice costume. Here,” the man thrust a paper bill at him which he recognized as money. “Thanks for your trouble.”

  The four of them were soon on their way, rejoining the crowd of people walking between buildings, and a slow-moving line of cars.

  It was better off to the side. He was able to get his bearings and looked around while feeling less threatened. He took it all in at once. The huge buildings, the bright lights in colors such as he’d never seen before. The people laughing and talking. Everything was vivid. He’d not remembered living to be so colorful.

  A man approached and handed Liam a piece of paper and he glanced down and was so shocked by the picture of an unclad woman, he dropped it and shoved the man away.

  The miscreant bumped into a couple, cursed him in a language he didn’t ken, and skittered away.

  And that fast, Liam realized where he was.

  He was in Hell.

  Soncerae had lied, and sent him straight to the devil!

  He did a quick recap of his life and death. Granted, he’d made some missteps, but he’d never thought to end up here!

  The noise was deafening, and he wished to get away, but was so shocked by Soni’s betrayal, he couldn’t move.

  He couldn’t believe it of her. He wouldn’t believe it!

  Realization hit him, as well as relief. Of course! This, then, was where Bonnie Prince Charlie resided! Of course!

  Was he meant to find the villain? Find him, and destroy him in whichever way possible? Then go on to his true reward?

  He glanced around and though some of the people were strange to look upon, and many of the ladies wore next to naught, none resembled devils or demons.

  But Soni had deposited him here for a reason. He looked behind him to see a lake, though not one of fire. Beyond it, rose the grandest building he’d ever set eyes upon. Grander even than Edinburgh Castle.

  People gathered around, jostled him, and suddenly, the water before him rose and began to dance as music filled the air.

  Liam gaped open-mouthed. ’Twas wondrous! Unlike anything he’d ever beheld. He was mesmerized by the movements, as were those around him. He watched every bit of the spectacle and after it stopped and people began to move toward the grand building, he decided to follow.

  As Soni had placed him here, mayhap the prince was inside the building. Perhaps if he followed the line, he’d be led directly to the blackguard himself. If he knew anything about Charles Stuart, and he did, the man would be in the grandest building, no doubt holding court.

  Perhaps the water had been a taunt daring him to enter? Or a display of his power here?

  There was only one way to find out.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Amber was in the back of the limousine. She’d tried to get Victor to take her downtown in the gardener’s truck, but he was having nothing to do with it.

  He’d grown as pretentious as her father.

  Occasionally, Victor looked at her in the rear-view mirror, his eyes disapproving.

  “What?” She finally asked.

  “Why do you have to drive the old man so crazy? You know the rest of us have to pay for this when you do it? For the next week or so, we’ll have to hear, in a variety of ways, about how ungrateful you are and how he’s worried about you.”

  She lifted a shoulder defensively. “Why can’t he lead a life on the straight and narrow? Why did he have to be somebody I can’t be proud of?”

  “You’re funny kid, you know that? Most people would just be glad to have what he’s offering, without caring about where the money came from.”

  “You keep telling yourself that, why don’t you? I don’t think most people torture others in their basement, and then walk on with their merry lives spending blood money, without worrying a thing about it.”

  “Sorry you had to see that, Princess.”

  Amber flinched. The princess comment shouldn’t hurt, but it still did after all these years. “You know what? Just shut up and drive.”

  “You got it.”

  She rolled up the window between the two of them, and sat back.

  Growing up, her dad called her princess. Her parents had spoiled her so badly, she’d taken it for granted that she practically was one. Her senior year, not long after her mother died she’d found her father with Victor and another thug in the basement torturing a man. She’d run away. She could still remember her father calling out to her, Princess, come back!

  She’d never let him call her that again.

  She’d gone away to college and tried to forget the whole thing. She shouldn’t have agreed to come back to Las Vegas to live, but her therapist thought it was a good idea to try to lay the past to rest.

  One of the first things she’d done when she’d arrived was demand her father take her to see the man he’d tortured so she’d know if he was still alive.

  Her father had gladly done so. See? You blew the whole thing out of proportion.

  She didn’t want to believe her father was a murderer. Other than a few unknown cousins, he was the only family she had. So she’d simply tried to forget about it and move on with her life. She’d tried living with her father again, but at twenty-three years old she just hadn’t been able to do it.

  She’d considered moving out of state, but she wasn’t ready to do that yet. Closure, right? And family. He was all she had left. Family was complicated. She knew that was true for everyone.

  For now, she was just living her life on her terms, with no interference. But if he kept pulling her off the street whenever he wanted to talk to her, she’d open up a map, choose the state furthest away from Nevada, and start over again.

  ~~~

  Liam went inside the golden building and was suddenly in he
aven.

  He didn’t ken this place at all. Huge flowers hung from the ceiling, there were more dancing water displays, marble floors and beautiful paintings. It smelled wonderful. Of fresh meadows and flowers. Was outside hell and inside heaven?

  Father McGuffey had explained the place many times and Liam had always pictured the underworld as lakes of brimstone and fire, interspersed with ghastly torture. So what was this place?

  There were people dragging packs on wheels, others lined up to a big desk, many people wandering around taking pictures. Everyone seemed happy enough. Liam openly stared at everything and everyone, still unsure he’d come to the right location.

  Bell-like noises rang from another grand room, and he headed in that direction. He wandered inside the smoke-filled room to find people sitting in fancy chairs in front of flashing boxes that twinkled and flared with beautiful colors, running numbers, and various fruits.

  Another family hurried to him and took another picture, giving him more money to stuff in his sporran. It was all so confusing, but he didn’t feel threatened. There was an air of frivolity. People yelling out in excitement and gazing in hope and adoration at their colorful boxes as they pushed at the pretty white buttons in front of them.

  He started to calm, could feel himself relaxing. He quite enjoyed the spectacle of it all. Groups of people stood around a table throwing dice, and yelling occasionally. He realized exactly where he was.

  A gambling den.

  Like naught he’d ever seen before, but he recognized gaming when he saw it.

  He walked to the most crowded table and pushed his way forward for a better view just as a cheer rose in the air.

  The man throwing dice was laughing, but sweating, too. He had a frenzied look in his eyes, and Liam wished to tell him it was of no use. In hell, a man couldn’t win. No doubt it was but another way to torture, perhaps an entry to worse, an endless round of hope and disappointment.

  Liam wouldn’t fall for such.

  The gambler spotted Liam and returned his gaze. “Should I roll again?”

  The man wished to. Liam could clearly see he was aching to do so. Liam lifted a shoulder.

  The man wiped sweat off his forehead. He gazed around at the crowd spurring him, shook the two dice in one hand, then glanced back at Liam. “Any chance you’re lucky?”

  Liam grinned, feeling steadier, finally getting his bearings enough to relax. “I’m a black-haired, blue-eyed Scots. I’m nothing but lucky.”

  The man held up his hand. “Come blow on my dice.”

  Either way, Liam had no doubt the man would lose. This was hell, after all. But since he was starting to have fun, he decided to play along. He jerked his chin. “I’ll not do it unless there’s something in it for me.”

  “Done! I’ll give you a quarter of my winnings.”

  Liam could see the desperation in the man’s face, the desire to believe. “A quarter, is it? I’ll have to rethink, won’t I?” He turned to walk away, and the gambler called after him. “Wait! Wait! I’ll give you thirty percent!”

  “If I’m to be giving away me luck, I’ll have to take half then, won’t I?”

  The crowd, smiling, laughing, urged the man to take the deal.

  Desperation pulled at the man’s thin face and he finally nodded. “Okay, it’s a deal. You all heard me, right? If the man blows on my dice and I win, I’ll give him half my winnings.”

  Everyone around the table, smiled, laughed, and clapped, enjoying the display.

  Liam straightened his shoulders and shifted forward. He hadn’t been lying. Until a musket ball to the chest ended him, he truly was known to be blessed with fortune, a fact that drove his brothers to madness. He was curious to see if his fortune held, even in the depths of the netherworld.

  Since he’d arrived, he’d had money thrown at him twice by those wishing for his picture.

  Third time was a charm, was it not?

  He bent over as the gamester was short, and gently blew onto the dice in the man’s open hand, doing it slowly and making a spectacle of it.

  The gamester’s face filled with hope, fear, and eagerness. He turned and, without gripping the dice, gently threw them to the table.

  Everyone held a collective breath as the dice bounced, once, twice, before settling.

  “Snake eyes for the win!”

  The crowd exploded with screams, cheers, and backslapping.

  No one was as surprised as Liam, but he cheered as loudly as the rest.

  Aye then, it seemed even in hell his good fortune held.

  ~~~

  Amber was dropped off at the curb.

  Victor, of course, did not get out to open her door.

  That was fine by her, she didn’t want to see his ugly face again for the rest of her life, let alone the next ten seconds.

  She gladly stepped out of the car herself, and barely stopped from slamming the door. Feeling like a hooker getting dropped off at the curb didn’t improve her mood at all, and she quickly merged with all the foot traffic and headed down The Strip.

  Why couldn’t her father just leave her alone?

  Why couldn’t he just let her live her own life and stop trying to interfere all the time?

  She tried to decide whether to get a cab to take her home, or to call one of her friends. Well, friend. Roger was the only one with a car, but chances were he wouldn’t have any gas, or just enough to get to work in the morning. He’d come if she asked, but she didn’t want to do that to him. Besides, his car broke down half the time, and she didn’t want to feel responsible for that.

  She’d look up the bus schedule on her cell phone.

  Though it was full dark, it was warm, even for July. Las Vegas was going through a heat wave at the moment, not unusual for July, but worse than usual.

  As she meandered down The Strip, she kept her eye out for an unoccupied bench. She wondered for about the tenth time, whether she should just call it a day and move out of Nevada. After college, her father had given her a one-way ticket home and frozen her bank accounts to force her hand. Typical behavior for him, so she hadn’t been surprised.

  At that point, she hadn’t really considered anything else, anyway, though her father’s actions had made her realize he thought she’d been making plans.

  Would that she were that intelligent.

  But this was her home. She’d been raised here, her mother was buried here, and she hadn’t thought to go anywhere else.

  Unfortunately, with her mother gone, and her father getting crazier by the day, and caught up in all kinds of illegal activities, maybe it was time to go.

  She didn’t want to get caught up in that.

  The only problem was, though she made enough to support herself, she was broke. If she did leave town, it would be her father’s money financing it, wouldn’t it? And though her accounts had been reopened since the moment she’d hit Nevada, she didn’t want to touch his blood money.

  Which meant she had to earn it herself.

  Maybe, she could write some additional travel articles using the Internet as motivation. She could get a job, but really didn’t want to plant roots if she might leave.

  She would try writing something else maybe, though she didn’t know what. She’d heard relationship stories sold well. Perhaps she’d read a few and see if it was a good fit.

  If that didn’t work, Velma might help her get a job at the flower shop she worked at.

  She continued to wander, still scanning for a place to sit so she could look up the bus schedule, when she was grabbed from behind.

  CHAPTER THREE

  With his sporran full of the money a woman helped him retrieve in exchange for chips, Liam asked around the gambling den, but no one had heard of Bonnie Prince Charlie.

  Someone suggested he try Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, but Liam didn’t know what that meant, though the man had tried to give him directions. One thing he did ken, though, was the prince was not inside. He was outside somewhere. Perhaps at Madam Tussuads
, though perhaps not, as the man who’d given him the information had smirked.

  He tried to find his way outdoors again but it took a while.

  It was all very confusing. Did his brothers have as hard a time as well? There was no way to tell, but as he’d only two days to complete his task, he’d better get to it.

  The place was enormous, and it took him a while to find his way out of doors again. He’d finally followed a crowd of people looking as if they knew where they headed, and ended up outdoors again with an entirely new crowd. He followed toward the main street and the slow moving cars.

  He was starting to think that mayhap this place wasn’t hell after all. Or heaven, either. But simply a city where people lived.

  Granted he’d not seen the like, or heard of it, but that did not mean it didn’t exist. He headed along the main thoroughfare, made a right, and stopped the first normal looking man he saw. “Excuse me, can ye please tell me where I am.”

  The man, clean-shaven, shorter by a head, and with balding blonde hair chuckled. “Too much to drink? I’ve been there before, buddy. Right here on The Strip as a matter of fact. Where are you staying and I’ll point you in the right direction.”

  “Is that the name of the city? The Strip?”

  The guy chuckled. “Wow, you’ve really been on one. You’re in Las Vegas. City of sin. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas? Does that ring a bell?”

  He was in Las Vegas. It meant naught, but did convince him he was still on this earthly plane.

  So perhaps The Young Pretender wasn’t here after all?

  Mayhap he needed to clear his head and start looking for the task he was to accomplish before his time was up.

  He’d not wish to shame himself by being the first to fail, would he?

  Not that he knew what the others had done before him, but the witch seemed pleased enough by everyone’s progress. She’d certainly not complained at any rate.

  With a new sense of purpose he headed down the street looking for a task to complete.

  A woman screamed.

  Liam’s eyebrows shot up. That was easy enough. Apparently, he’d simply needed to focus better on his task in order to have it set before him.