Silver Moon
Adventurer
Chapter Two-hundred-sixteen, “Interview with a Vampire“, Sunday, June 18th, 3:00 A.M.
Jeff dropped Kate in the shadows of the back door of the Cooper shop. In the quiet there she cast a mage armor on herself, then looked out into the intersection. Jake approached the thing, and Kate cringed but was relieved at the same time. They couldn't just follow him all night long, eventually someone had to do something just a bit unwise. Chasing down vampires in the dark was foolish to begin with. She pulled out the slim metal rod and watched. Despite the very late hour lights are on at both the Lucky Lady and Gay Lady, including the Lucky Lady Porch which illuminates the intersection of Allen and Main. Nobody other than Jake and Franklin are immediately visible but that could change rather quickly. Franklin stares at Jake
Back in the hotel room Mrs. Dyson shakes her head no to Chester‘s question. A female voice behind the woman says, "Mother, just let the deputy in." The door is opened to reveal a second woman in the room. This woman looks to be in her mid-twenties, with rather plain looks, and is wearing a terrycloth bath robe over floral nightgown. She looks up at Chester and says, "Mr. Franklin is a friend of the family. He hasn't been able to visit with us today due to the poker tournament. He just came by to make sure that we were alright and to let us know that he will be playing tomorrow too."
She speaks in an alto/tenor voice that Chester finds familiar but cannot completely place. Chester tips his hat to the women. "Sorry to bother you folks, but I'm checking rumors that Mr. Franklin is cheating. We believe his helpers are using these." He pulls out the holy symbol Minerva gave him and watches for their reaction. Both women have no real reaction to it, and from where the silver shines he sees reflections. The older woman says, "I don't think that Mr. Franklin would cheat, he's too honest a person. Is there anything further that you need Deputy? It is very late and we would like to get some sleep."
Out on the street, Franklin says, "Mr. Cook, If you are implying that I have not spent enough of my money at your establishment I will remind you that my choosing to enter this tournament cost me three-thousand dollars. Your saloon clearly gets a cut of those proceeds and you yourself stand a good chance of winning given the present standings in the tournament."
Attempting to delay the monster further, and trusting that his companions will actually spring into action at some point, Jake continues with his dialog, "Ah, no, I am quite pleased with the money being spent. I have no complaints in that regard. My only real concern is the rather embarrassing spectacle that will be created when the local law officials finish their investigation of room number 11 at the Promise City Hotel, and the state of the poor woman in it, and arrive here. Bad business all around Mr. Franklin, very bad indeed."
The man folds his arms and says, "Her state? Mr. Cook. There is no law that I know of that prevents a woman from passing herself off as a man. Admittedly, my dear friend Wilhemina is upset over her elimination from the tournament, but there is no reason at all for you to bring in the law into this situation and add further to her embarrassment." Jake sighs and mutters under his breath, "Why me? What did I do to deserve this?"
Jake returns to his conversation with Franklin, "It was not I that brought the law into this. Once the law starts sniffing around, I do take notice. I find it best to keep them clear of the Lucky Lady, and that means keeping problems that draw their attention out as well. You should have been more careful.... about many things." He thinks, Bloody Hades, where in the world is everyone while I stand here in the street in the middle of the night trading banter with a blasted vampire. Some days, Jake Cook, you are a great fool.
Franklin replies, "Mr. Cook, it is late and we've both had long days. I have no further plans than to return to my room at the Lucky Lady for a well deserved night's sleep and hopefully be fresh for playing tomorrow at noon. I would suggest that we perhaps continue this conversation tomorrow after the tournament is over." Minerva and Nakomo walk down the street chatting about the play. They pass by Jake and Franklin. Ignoring them they walk around the corner out of sight and stop Kate noted Minerva and Nakomo walking by, then noticed Mr. Tomlinson and Shannon near the Lady. She checked one more time to make sure no one else was around and tried to judge the distance between herself and the vampire.
Seeing his allies now in the immediate vicinity Jake states, "Going to sleep now?" Jake takes a couple of steps back. "That surprises me, I was lead to believe a vampire slept while the sun was out?" "Mr. Cook, there is no such thing as a vampire," Franklin states. Jake immediately senses that Franklin's comment is far more than just words as he senses the man attempting to control his mind to make him 'believe' what he just heard. Jake however knows enough of these creatures and has the willpower to effectively fight it.
Jake shakes his head a bit as if to clear it and a bitter smile crosses his lips. "I have been told denying ones self often leads to an early demise. I know who I am. Seem you have confirmed to me that I know who you are too. Good bye Mr. Franklin, or whatever your real name was." Franklin exclaims "I am not that easy to get rid of" as he dives forward towards Jake, hands outstretched and fangs now visible. Jake attempts to dodge him using the tricks Helen Barker showed him and fires three rounds. Jake is very successful with the initial dodge, dropping partially to the ground and pivoting to the side. This prevents Franklin from grabbing him for a life-draining blow but also throws Jake's aim off on the initial shot which misses hitting the monster.
Jake's next shot is more accurate, striking the creature in the shoulder. Being one of Pierre's enchanted rounds the shot wounds Franklin who yells out in pain to the unexpected sensation. Jake's third shot causes even more pain when it strikes the center of the creature's chest but unfortunately missing the heart by a few inches. The creature lunges again, this time not towards Jake but towards and through the Cooper Shop front window, the sound of breaking glass filling the air as he falls amongst the barrels in the fifteen-by-twenty foot darkened front room of the single-story wooden shop.
Upstairs, Chester hears the sound of three gunshots firing followed by the sound of breaking glass. Chester lets go of the holy symbol and draws one of his Remingtons. He hisses at the women, "Get down. It'll be safer." He leaps down the stairs and motions for Mrs. Smith to duck behind the counter. She does do with a fearful look in her eyes. He says to her, "I'll be back when it's safe." Chester darts to the front door and peeks out. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he runs towards the Lucky Lady.
After hearing the creature crash through the window of the cooper's shop, Kate grabbed the handle and tried to open the door, ready to cast a knock spell if it's locked. Jeff helps Kate push the door open just as Coyote Kay is lighting the lantern in her bedroom to see what is going on. She is in her bed attired only in a very large man's shirt that Kate finds remarkably similar to one that she has previously seen Jeff Mills wearing. Kay Kaufman exclaims, "Huh? Jeff?" He replies, "Stay put, there's trouble.." as he and Kate head across the room to the door to the other room.
Minerva rushes toward the shop, her holy water in one hand and her pistol in the other. When she reaches the shop she throws the vial at Franklin.
There is another yell from the creature from inside the darkened shop as the liquid from the vial scatters about. He rushes behind a large barrel. Nakomo rushes in after Minerva. He sees her focused in prayer as she prays to the gods to protect her from this evil. She then casts bull strength on herself and draws a stake from the hidden folds of her gown. She tosses a vial of holy water towards Nakomo and moves toward the barrel. As she reaches the barrel she does not see anyone or anything behind it, certainly not a monster the size of a man. The darkened room then fills with light from the door to the back room opens up, the other room illuminated by a lantern, as Jeff Mills and Kate Kale stand in that doorway.
Nakomo begins a slow rhythmic movement of his feet, he raises his voice and the room resonates with the steady beat of an ancient Yavapi prayer Upon completion of the prayer the room fills with a light green light. A loud screech sounds out from a pile of barrel slats a few feet away from Minerva as a bat flies upward from there. "Shut The doors" Minerva Yells as Nakomo tosses the holy water at the bat. Kate wedged herself between the doorway and Jeff so Kay wouldn't be able to see her. She used the sounds Nakomo and Minerva were making to cover her own spell and threw a Magic Missile spell at the bat that had just flown up into the air.
Nakomo's toss is short, the water missing the creature as it flies towards the broken front window. Kate's missiles strike it and it lets out a loud "Skree" sound as it files through the opening and back out onto Main Street at a height of ten feet from the ground. Minerva yells to Luna, who then dives toward the bat. The only weapons that Nakomo has on him is the one other vial of holy water that Minerva handed out to everyone earlier that evening and his dagger. He pulls out the holy water and throws it at the bat.
Jake picks himself of the ground and dusts off his revolver. He stays in the street as the others rush into the shop. Hammer cocked on his Colt, he patiently waits. Soon a bat emerges from the shop. From the corner of his eye he sees the priestesses white owl coming down towards the shop as well. The owl is fast but Silver Jake Cook is faster. "No, not easy to get rid of Mr. Franklin, but not impossible." He has shot bats before, including a bat much like this one. He aims quickly, carefully and pulls off a single round. Minerva aims with the pistol and fires a sleep round toward the bat if she can do so without hitting Luna.
The bat had begun to fly directly across the street towards the Lucky Lady when it spots the owl flying towards it and starts to dive towards the right to avoid the bird. Jake sees the change in movement and readjusts his aim. The bullet misses the torso of the rodent but manages to shred the right wing, the already wounded and weakened creature rapidly drops downward towards the Street. It strikes a hitching post between the Lucky Lady porch and the adjacent Hammer Jeweler and Watchmaker.
The creature begins to transform back into the form of James Franklin. With her superhuman speed Shannon O'Hara has already shortened the distance and is almost upon him. At this point Gay Lady employees Burton Lumley, Pepe Diderot and John Hagen have moved to the front windows of their Dance Hall and Saloon to see what is going on outside. They see Jake Cook standing in front of the Cooper Shop with a gun in his hand as well as Kevin Tomlinson rushing across the street towards the Lucky Lady.
Inside the Lucky Lady Harry Rote, Maria Figures and Cornelius Van Horne have moved to the front windows to see what the commotion is outside. Kate clutched the wand, but without her pistol to help disguise it and in the dark where it would obviously flare she didn't dare use it. She watched as Shannon O'Hara barreled down on the creature, one of the same silver knives from the Lucky Lady that Kate had secreted in her own skirts in her hand. The young woman grabbed hold of a limb that was half bat-wing, half-arm and thrust the blade where the heart should be. The knife finds it's mark and the creature explodes into a pile of dust.
After Jakes shot, and Shannon's intervention, he holsters his pistol. He is aware of the eyes on him from the Gay Lady. Jake acts as if nothing out of the ordinary occurs, watching Shannon finish the monster as if he had little to do with the event and was a curious onlooker much like those who were watching him. Those that are not guilty do not look guilty.
Chester rounded the bend in time to watch the creature’s demise. Seeing Burton Lumley about Tomlinson tells Chester "I'll take Shannon home, figure out what to tell people Deputy, I'll vouch for it." Chester holsters his gun and says, "Thanks, Kevin. I can take care of this. That Shannon sure knows what she's doing." Tomlinson replies, "She has the killing part down, but she needs to learn to do it out of sight. That's where I come in. Good night, Deputy." Shannon beams with pride. Tomlinson walks over to her and says something in her ear. She nods and they leave.
Harry Rote steps outside of he Lucky Lady with a shocked expression on his face. Maria and Van Horne also were witness to the vampire's demise. Those at the Gay Lady however did not see that due to the angle, although Burton Lumley does step outside and calls across to Street to Jake saying "Cook, what was that shooting? And what happened to Kay's window?" Chester slowly walks over to Lumley. "Evening Mr. Lumley. Looks like we had a bit of excitement. Someone tried to rob the cooper shop, but luckily Jeff Mills scared him off. The guy tried to shoot him and missed. I'll go search for him. Now just go on back inside, Mr. Lumley. Everything's under control." Lumley heads back inside.
With the super human strength of the gods still coursing through her veins Minerva stands tense clutching the wooden stake in her tightly closed fist. Luna glides gracefully down from the night sky and lands on the priestess shoulder. She nuzzles Minerva's cheek and silently communicates a feeling of calm to her mistress. It is over "I should go talk to Harry and Maria. What are you going to tell Kay?" Kate asked Jeff. He replies, "The truth...to a degree. That at a tournament player was cheating and when confronted about it he attacked Jake and then tried to then escape."
Kate nodded. "Thank you for taking care of me." She moved away from the cooperage and stopped for a moment as she passed Minerva to touch her arm and nod. "Hopefully this will be the end of these things for a while." Reaching Harry, she said, "Let's go inside." Harry follows Kate inside. Maria and Van Horne are also standing there. Van Horne says, "I will go assist your Mr. Cook," and heads out the door. Maria glances towards Kate with a look of anxiety on her face. Kate replies, "Thank you Mr. Van Horne."
Van Horne steps outside of the Lucky Lady and approaches Jake. Jake waits for Van Horne to approach before speaking to him. Jake is aware of the fear and concern of those around him, those that know what evil walked among them and those that merely feared for the unknown in their midst. He feels numb to these events. Similar events of the past are too painful to relive right now, and he feels no compulsion to make others feel safe and secure right now. Franklin is gone; Promise City is safe again.
Jake wants no thanks or recognition for his part, foolish that it may have been. Part of him wants to extract $400 from Franklin's worldly goods to pay for the enchanted rounds he was forced to use against him. Instead his sheds his thoughts of the vampires distraction, pleased with the day's results of the Poker Tournament and committed to get the necessary rest to be in top form for tomorrow. His dark mood lightens some and a smile comes to his lips and he mutters to himself as he walks back home, "Yes, Jacob Cook, there is always tomorrow."
Inside the Lucky Lady, Kate smiled gently at Maria and put an arm around her waist. "Why don't we all sit, have a drink if you like, and you can ask me whatever questions you have. I will explain as best I can." Harry says, "What....what was that thing? What just happened?" She sat the two of them down together at the table farthest from the door even though the saloon was now deserted. Kate took a deep breath. "It was a vampire, you may have heard legends about them. Vampires are men who are dead, but their body doesn't know it. They drink the blood of others to survive. You saw the thing turn to dust when Miss O'Hara stabbed it because it was already dead. I can tell you there are no more of the creatures in Promise City, you can rest easy."
Maria exclaims "El Diablos! Devils! The gods must have sent them to punish us! What have we done to displease the gods!" "Nothing, Maria!" she said and took the other woman's hand. "In fact, Diana gave us means to fight them and information about where to find them. It is a long story, but I believe the first creature to come here came through family connection to someone still living. It saw opportunity in the conflicts going on with the Cowboy Gang. Several Cowboy Gang members were also creatures. They have all been destroyed.”
She looks deeply into Maria’s eyes and states, “The gods have seen to it that we have the tools to stop these creatures from harming anyone here. They are pleased with us and have given us the means to protect ourselves." Maria nods and says "Si, I understand. That was very brave of Miss O'Hara to try to help kill the creature." Kate says, "Yes, and she succeeded. It is very brave of anyone to try to help. I need you both to listen carefully now. We have not made the existence of these creatures generally known, and it must remain that way. We would not want people who are not equipped or skilled enough to face them to try and be seriously hurt or killed.
Also, if our knowledge became known and the creatures learned we are a danger to them it could be very bad for us. Most people have nothing to fear. The creatures cannot enter your home without an invitation, nor can they walk in sunlight. They also have no reflection in mirrors; that's how we discovered that Mr. Franklin was one. If you ever notice that just tell me, Jake, Minerva or Jeff and we will take care of it."
Harry says, "Ah, so was that why that drunk broke our big mirror last week?" Kate replies, "We think so, probably preparing for Mr. Franklin. That's why Jake tried to replace it so quickly as well. I carry a little hand mirror; you might have noticed. I'm not really that vain," she said with a little laugh. Harry and Maria both agree to keep quiet. Harry offers to escort Kate home as it is now 3:15 in the morning and they all need to be back in eight hours or so for the tournament to resume. Maria heads upstairs to her room.
"Thank you Harry," Kate said, and went with him out into the dark streets. Harry lets her off at the door and says, "Be sure you are at the Lady tomorrow by 11:30, we have a surprise that I think you will like." Before she can inquire further he hurries off. Kate stood in the doorway with her mouth hanging open for a moment, then went inside. Apparently tomorrow was going to be a busy day. She wrote a short note for Janet, asking her to wake her so she could go with her to the stage, then went gratefully to bed. Chester saw Harry walking Kate home. Jake heads off talking to Van Horne. It appears that things have now quieted down for the night.
It is heading toward dawn when a mentally exhausted Minerva and Nakomo head for home. But Minerva is to wound up to sleep and spends hours in the back yard practicing with her rapier. She pushes herself thrusting and stabbing unseen foes until the sun comes up before she makes her way to her room where she thanks the gods for their intervention and falls into a dreamless sleep.
Jeff dropped Kate in the shadows of the back door of the Cooper shop. In the quiet there she cast a mage armor on herself, then looked out into the intersection. Jake approached the thing, and Kate cringed but was relieved at the same time. They couldn't just follow him all night long, eventually someone had to do something just a bit unwise. Chasing down vampires in the dark was foolish to begin with. She pulled out the slim metal rod and watched. Despite the very late hour lights are on at both the Lucky Lady and Gay Lady, including the Lucky Lady Porch which illuminates the intersection of Allen and Main. Nobody other than Jake and Franklin are immediately visible but that could change rather quickly. Franklin stares at Jake
Back in the hotel room Mrs. Dyson shakes her head no to Chester‘s question. A female voice behind the woman says, "Mother, just let the deputy in." The door is opened to reveal a second woman in the room. This woman looks to be in her mid-twenties, with rather plain looks, and is wearing a terrycloth bath robe over floral nightgown. She looks up at Chester and says, "Mr. Franklin is a friend of the family. He hasn't been able to visit with us today due to the poker tournament. He just came by to make sure that we were alright and to let us know that he will be playing tomorrow too."
She speaks in an alto/tenor voice that Chester finds familiar but cannot completely place. Chester tips his hat to the women. "Sorry to bother you folks, but I'm checking rumors that Mr. Franklin is cheating. We believe his helpers are using these." He pulls out the holy symbol Minerva gave him and watches for their reaction. Both women have no real reaction to it, and from where the silver shines he sees reflections. The older woman says, "I don't think that Mr. Franklin would cheat, he's too honest a person. Is there anything further that you need Deputy? It is very late and we would like to get some sleep."
Out on the street, Franklin says, "Mr. Cook, If you are implying that I have not spent enough of my money at your establishment I will remind you that my choosing to enter this tournament cost me three-thousand dollars. Your saloon clearly gets a cut of those proceeds and you yourself stand a good chance of winning given the present standings in the tournament."
Attempting to delay the monster further, and trusting that his companions will actually spring into action at some point, Jake continues with his dialog, "Ah, no, I am quite pleased with the money being spent. I have no complaints in that regard. My only real concern is the rather embarrassing spectacle that will be created when the local law officials finish their investigation of room number 11 at the Promise City Hotel, and the state of the poor woman in it, and arrive here. Bad business all around Mr. Franklin, very bad indeed."
The man folds his arms and says, "Her state? Mr. Cook. There is no law that I know of that prevents a woman from passing herself off as a man. Admittedly, my dear friend Wilhemina is upset over her elimination from the tournament, but there is no reason at all for you to bring in the law into this situation and add further to her embarrassment." Jake sighs and mutters under his breath, "Why me? What did I do to deserve this?"
Jake returns to his conversation with Franklin, "It was not I that brought the law into this. Once the law starts sniffing around, I do take notice. I find it best to keep them clear of the Lucky Lady, and that means keeping problems that draw their attention out as well. You should have been more careful.... about many things." He thinks, Bloody Hades, where in the world is everyone while I stand here in the street in the middle of the night trading banter with a blasted vampire. Some days, Jake Cook, you are a great fool.
Franklin replies, "Mr. Cook, it is late and we've both had long days. I have no further plans than to return to my room at the Lucky Lady for a well deserved night's sleep and hopefully be fresh for playing tomorrow at noon. I would suggest that we perhaps continue this conversation tomorrow after the tournament is over." Minerva and Nakomo walk down the street chatting about the play. They pass by Jake and Franklin. Ignoring them they walk around the corner out of sight and stop Kate noted Minerva and Nakomo walking by, then noticed Mr. Tomlinson and Shannon near the Lady. She checked one more time to make sure no one else was around and tried to judge the distance between herself and the vampire.
Seeing his allies now in the immediate vicinity Jake states, "Going to sleep now?" Jake takes a couple of steps back. "That surprises me, I was lead to believe a vampire slept while the sun was out?" "Mr. Cook, there is no such thing as a vampire," Franklin states. Jake immediately senses that Franklin's comment is far more than just words as he senses the man attempting to control his mind to make him 'believe' what he just heard. Jake however knows enough of these creatures and has the willpower to effectively fight it.
Jake shakes his head a bit as if to clear it and a bitter smile crosses his lips. "I have been told denying ones self often leads to an early demise. I know who I am. Seem you have confirmed to me that I know who you are too. Good bye Mr. Franklin, or whatever your real name was." Franklin exclaims "I am not that easy to get rid of" as he dives forward towards Jake, hands outstretched and fangs now visible. Jake attempts to dodge him using the tricks Helen Barker showed him and fires three rounds. Jake is very successful with the initial dodge, dropping partially to the ground and pivoting to the side. This prevents Franklin from grabbing him for a life-draining blow but also throws Jake's aim off on the initial shot which misses hitting the monster.
Jake's next shot is more accurate, striking the creature in the shoulder. Being one of Pierre's enchanted rounds the shot wounds Franklin who yells out in pain to the unexpected sensation. Jake's third shot causes even more pain when it strikes the center of the creature's chest but unfortunately missing the heart by a few inches. The creature lunges again, this time not towards Jake but towards and through the Cooper Shop front window, the sound of breaking glass filling the air as he falls amongst the barrels in the fifteen-by-twenty foot darkened front room of the single-story wooden shop.
Upstairs, Chester hears the sound of three gunshots firing followed by the sound of breaking glass. Chester lets go of the holy symbol and draws one of his Remingtons. He hisses at the women, "Get down. It'll be safer." He leaps down the stairs and motions for Mrs. Smith to duck behind the counter. She does do with a fearful look in her eyes. He says to her, "I'll be back when it's safe." Chester darts to the front door and peeks out. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he runs towards the Lucky Lady.
After hearing the creature crash through the window of the cooper's shop, Kate grabbed the handle and tried to open the door, ready to cast a knock spell if it's locked. Jeff helps Kate push the door open just as Coyote Kay is lighting the lantern in her bedroom to see what is going on. She is in her bed attired only in a very large man's shirt that Kate finds remarkably similar to one that she has previously seen Jeff Mills wearing. Kay Kaufman exclaims, "Huh? Jeff?" He replies, "Stay put, there's trouble.." as he and Kate head across the room to the door to the other room.
Minerva rushes toward the shop, her holy water in one hand and her pistol in the other. When she reaches the shop she throws the vial at Franklin.
There is another yell from the creature from inside the darkened shop as the liquid from the vial scatters about. He rushes behind a large barrel. Nakomo rushes in after Minerva. He sees her focused in prayer as she prays to the gods to protect her from this evil. She then casts bull strength on herself and draws a stake from the hidden folds of her gown. She tosses a vial of holy water towards Nakomo and moves toward the barrel. As she reaches the barrel she does not see anyone or anything behind it, certainly not a monster the size of a man. The darkened room then fills with light from the door to the back room opens up, the other room illuminated by a lantern, as Jeff Mills and Kate Kale stand in that doorway.
Nakomo begins a slow rhythmic movement of his feet, he raises his voice and the room resonates with the steady beat of an ancient Yavapi prayer Upon completion of the prayer the room fills with a light green light. A loud screech sounds out from a pile of barrel slats a few feet away from Minerva as a bat flies upward from there. "Shut The doors" Minerva Yells as Nakomo tosses the holy water at the bat. Kate wedged herself between the doorway and Jeff so Kay wouldn't be able to see her. She used the sounds Nakomo and Minerva were making to cover her own spell and threw a Magic Missile spell at the bat that had just flown up into the air.
Nakomo's toss is short, the water missing the creature as it flies towards the broken front window. Kate's missiles strike it and it lets out a loud "Skree" sound as it files through the opening and back out onto Main Street at a height of ten feet from the ground. Minerva yells to Luna, who then dives toward the bat. The only weapons that Nakomo has on him is the one other vial of holy water that Minerva handed out to everyone earlier that evening and his dagger. He pulls out the holy water and throws it at the bat.
Jake picks himself of the ground and dusts off his revolver. He stays in the street as the others rush into the shop. Hammer cocked on his Colt, he patiently waits. Soon a bat emerges from the shop. From the corner of his eye he sees the priestesses white owl coming down towards the shop as well. The owl is fast but Silver Jake Cook is faster. "No, not easy to get rid of Mr. Franklin, but not impossible." He has shot bats before, including a bat much like this one. He aims quickly, carefully and pulls off a single round. Minerva aims with the pistol and fires a sleep round toward the bat if she can do so without hitting Luna.
The bat had begun to fly directly across the street towards the Lucky Lady when it spots the owl flying towards it and starts to dive towards the right to avoid the bird. Jake sees the change in movement and readjusts his aim. The bullet misses the torso of the rodent but manages to shred the right wing, the already wounded and weakened creature rapidly drops downward towards the Street. It strikes a hitching post between the Lucky Lady porch and the adjacent Hammer Jeweler and Watchmaker.
The creature begins to transform back into the form of James Franklin. With her superhuman speed Shannon O'Hara has already shortened the distance and is almost upon him. At this point Gay Lady employees Burton Lumley, Pepe Diderot and John Hagen have moved to the front windows of their Dance Hall and Saloon to see what is going on outside. They see Jake Cook standing in front of the Cooper Shop with a gun in his hand as well as Kevin Tomlinson rushing across the street towards the Lucky Lady.
Inside the Lucky Lady Harry Rote, Maria Figures and Cornelius Van Horne have moved to the front windows to see what the commotion is outside. Kate clutched the wand, but without her pistol to help disguise it and in the dark where it would obviously flare she didn't dare use it. She watched as Shannon O'Hara barreled down on the creature, one of the same silver knives from the Lucky Lady that Kate had secreted in her own skirts in her hand. The young woman grabbed hold of a limb that was half bat-wing, half-arm and thrust the blade where the heart should be. The knife finds it's mark and the creature explodes into a pile of dust.
After Jakes shot, and Shannon's intervention, he holsters his pistol. He is aware of the eyes on him from the Gay Lady. Jake acts as if nothing out of the ordinary occurs, watching Shannon finish the monster as if he had little to do with the event and was a curious onlooker much like those who were watching him. Those that are not guilty do not look guilty.
Chester rounded the bend in time to watch the creature’s demise. Seeing Burton Lumley about Tomlinson tells Chester "I'll take Shannon home, figure out what to tell people Deputy, I'll vouch for it." Chester holsters his gun and says, "Thanks, Kevin. I can take care of this. That Shannon sure knows what she's doing." Tomlinson replies, "She has the killing part down, but she needs to learn to do it out of sight. That's where I come in. Good night, Deputy." Shannon beams with pride. Tomlinson walks over to her and says something in her ear. She nods and they leave.
Harry Rote steps outside of he Lucky Lady with a shocked expression on his face. Maria and Van Horne also were witness to the vampire's demise. Those at the Gay Lady however did not see that due to the angle, although Burton Lumley does step outside and calls across to Street to Jake saying "Cook, what was that shooting? And what happened to Kay's window?" Chester slowly walks over to Lumley. "Evening Mr. Lumley. Looks like we had a bit of excitement. Someone tried to rob the cooper shop, but luckily Jeff Mills scared him off. The guy tried to shoot him and missed. I'll go search for him. Now just go on back inside, Mr. Lumley. Everything's under control." Lumley heads back inside.
With the super human strength of the gods still coursing through her veins Minerva stands tense clutching the wooden stake in her tightly closed fist. Luna glides gracefully down from the night sky and lands on the priestess shoulder. She nuzzles Minerva's cheek and silently communicates a feeling of calm to her mistress. It is over "I should go talk to Harry and Maria. What are you going to tell Kay?" Kate asked Jeff. He replies, "The truth...to a degree. That at a tournament player was cheating and when confronted about it he attacked Jake and then tried to then escape."
Kate nodded. "Thank you for taking care of me." She moved away from the cooperage and stopped for a moment as she passed Minerva to touch her arm and nod. "Hopefully this will be the end of these things for a while." Reaching Harry, she said, "Let's go inside." Harry follows Kate inside. Maria and Van Horne are also standing there. Van Horne says, "I will go assist your Mr. Cook," and heads out the door. Maria glances towards Kate with a look of anxiety on her face. Kate replies, "Thank you Mr. Van Horne."
Van Horne steps outside of the Lucky Lady and approaches Jake. Jake waits for Van Horne to approach before speaking to him. Jake is aware of the fear and concern of those around him, those that know what evil walked among them and those that merely feared for the unknown in their midst. He feels numb to these events. Similar events of the past are too painful to relive right now, and he feels no compulsion to make others feel safe and secure right now. Franklin is gone; Promise City is safe again.
Jake wants no thanks or recognition for his part, foolish that it may have been. Part of him wants to extract $400 from Franklin's worldly goods to pay for the enchanted rounds he was forced to use against him. Instead his sheds his thoughts of the vampires distraction, pleased with the day's results of the Poker Tournament and committed to get the necessary rest to be in top form for tomorrow. His dark mood lightens some and a smile comes to his lips and he mutters to himself as he walks back home, "Yes, Jacob Cook, there is always tomorrow."
Inside the Lucky Lady, Kate smiled gently at Maria and put an arm around her waist. "Why don't we all sit, have a drink if you like, and you can ask me whatever questions you have. I will explain as best I can." Harry says, "What....what was that thing? What just happened?" She sat the two of them down together at the table farthest from the door even though the saloon was now deserted. Kate took a deep breath. "It was a vampire, you may have heard legends about them. Vampires are men who are dead, but their body doesn't know it. They drink the blood of others to survive. You saw the thing turn to dust when Miss O'Hara stabbed it because it was already dead. I can tell you there are no more of the creatures in Promise City, you can rest easy."
Maria exclaims "El Diablos! Devils! The gods must have sent them to punish us! What have we done to displease the gods!" "Nothing, Maria!" she said and took the other woman's hand. "In fact, Diana gave us means to fight them and information about where to find them. It is a long story, but I believe the first creature to come here came through family connection to someone still living. It saw opportunity in the conflicts going on with the Cowboy Gang. Several Cowboy Gang members were also creatures. They have all been destroyed.”
She looks deeply into Maria’s eyes and states, “The gods have seen to it that we have the tools to stop these creatures from harming anyone here. They are pleased with us and have given us the means to protect ourselves." Maria nods and says "Si, I understand. That was very brave of Miss O'Hara to try to help kill the creature." Kate says, "Yes, and she succeeded. It is very brave of anyone to try to help. I need you both to listen carefully now. We have not made the existence of these creatures generally known, and it must remain that way. We would not want people who are not equipped or skilled enough to face them to try and be seriously hurt or killed.
Also, if our knowledge became known and the creatures learned we are a danger to them it could be very bad for us. Most people have nothing to fear. The creatures cannot enter your home without an invitation, nor can they walk in sunlight. They also have no reflection in mirrors; that's how we discovered that Mr. Franklin was one. If you ever notice that just tell me, Jake, Minerva or Jeff and we will take care of it."
Harry says, "Ah, so was that why that drunk broke our big mirror last week?" Kate replies, "We think so, probably preparing for Mr. Franklin. That's why Jake tried to replace it so quickly as well. I carry a little hand mirror; you might have noticed. I'm not really that vain," she said with a little laugh. Harry and Maria both agree to keep quiet. Harry offers to escort Kate home as it is now 3:15 in the morning and they all need to be back in eight hours or so for the tournament to resume. Maria heads upstairs to her room.
"Thank you Harry," Kate said, and went with him out into the dark streets. Harry lets her off at the door and says, "Be sure you are at the Lady tomorrow by 11:30, we have a surprise that I think you will like." Before she can inquire further he hurries off. Kate stood in the doorway with her mouth hanging open for a moment, then went inside. Apparently tomorrow was going to be a busy day. She wrote a short note for Janet, asking her to wake her so she could go with her to the stage, then went gratefully to bed. Chester saw Harry walking Kate home. Jake heads off talking to Van Horne. It appears that things have now quieted down for the night.
It is heading toward dawn when a mentally exhausted Minerva and Nakomo head for home. But Minerva is to wound up to sleep and spends hours in the back yard practicing with her rapier. She pushes herself thrusting and stabbing unseen foes until the sun comes up before she makes her way to her room where she thanks the gods for their intervention and falls into a dreamless sleep.
