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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3145314" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Ninety-eight, “Vampires“, Thursday June 8th , 1882, 10:00 A.M. "Meirde," escapes Jake’s lips quietly and he manages to avoid dropping his coffee. He is greatly tempted to tell her to find other help, he has slain enough vampires to say he has done his share. But no, his personal code will not allow it. He sighs and reluctantly says, "You were there for me."  He walks to the unadorned window and looks out. He stares at the street. How ordinary. Why cannot it all be ordinary? He realizes he is wasting valuable time.A tender smile comes to her lips along with a strong sense of relief when she hears his words. She had been alone in the world for so long it still surprised her to know that there were people who were willing to stand alongside her and guard her back. Unable to express her gratitude she nods and simply replies "Gracias."He quickly rouses himself from such inward musings. "I wound on each wrist?" He says thinking out loud. "The sheriff in Thomaswell had three wounds, and there were three of them. I would say that two coffins is no coincidence. I will go prepare." He walks to towards the door and stops just before opening it. "We learned a few things, I believe. I still do not understand what powers the gods give you that may help but there were more mundane items that will be useful. Can you and the others gather them while I get ready? We could use stakes and hammers, rope, some flammable oil, hmmm..." he strokes the whiskers on his chin before running his hand down his shaved cheek, "garlic, and as much of that god blessed water as you can get your hands on." He opens the door to let her out. "I will meet you at the Marshall's office as quickly as I may."Minerva places her finger to her lip as she considers his list. " I have already gathered most of what is on your list but I did not think of oil. I will go and get some. Make sure to bring some of those special bullets of yours.. just in case." I will see you at the sheriff's then." She rushes home to gather the rest of the items and say an extra couple of prayers while she's there before meeting everyone at the Sheriffs."After speaking with Minerva, there is no time to lose. He walks quickly to the El Parador. There he instructs Grant to saddle up his horse and bring it over to Jake's house. Again he walks quickly to his house. He dons his duster, straps on his second revolver and tosses his rifles and extra rounds on the bed. As he passes the mirror it strikes him that he has not outfitted himself such in a while. Before he can get melancholy, another thought springs to his mind. "The mirror!" He opens the drawer of his night stand and removes the small mirror that was taken from the deceased Nolan Edwards, "Perhaps it will be of some further use in the way you intended." Again, another thought springs to mind. "Jake you idiot," he says out loud to himself while he dials the combination of his safe. "Edwards likely would have been pleased to see this used again." Into his saddle bags goes extra rounds, the sawed off shotgun, the last two sticks of dynamite and fuse he has in the house, and the small burlap sack from the safe. He specifically loads his last four pyrotechnic rounds into the long barreled Colt revolver that Ruby had given him. He sighs heavily, pushing that thought away and fills the remaining two holes in the cylinder with Pierre's magic rounds. He pops a sixth magic round in his fast draw Colt, pats his derringer that is loaded with a single magic round with one hand, adjusts the dagger in his boot. He has one pyrotechnic round left for his Spencer, so he loads that to be fired first. He takes a short moment to look around and take inventory. "I feel like the blasted army with all this iron." Just as he thinks he is prepared, he can hear his horse and Grant at the front. "Thanks for the favor, pard. I would not have asked if it was not an emergency." Jake ties his long shotgun across the back of the saddle while Grant helps him with the saddle bags. The Spencer and the Vetterli slide into the long holsters on each side of his horse. "Looks like you're going' t'war?" Grant asks of him as he steps back. "If all goes well I will be back in a few hours, all will be safe and no one will be the wiser. Keep it to yourself." With that Jake spurs his horse to meet Minerva.Chester comes into the Lucky Lady not long after Jake has left for his home. Grant sees him come in and says, "Is something going' on, Deputy? I just brought Jake's horse around to his house. He was loaded for bear, he was." Chester says, "We got a situation. I can't tell you more than that. But it's dangerous. We won't be long." Chester thinks, Let's hope we all make it back this time. He grabs his two Spencer magazines containing pyrotechnic ammunition and popped them into his Blakeslee cartridge box. Finally he reaches under the bed and draws out the box containing the hand cannon. "Never know when I'll need this." He opens the box and check to see that there are shells in the box. He comes back downstairs, ties the hand cannon box to his saddle and rides back to where the others are waiting.Jake, Minerva and Chester meet up at the Marshall's Office. Marshall Berg and Eduardo Rodriguez are ready to ride out with them. He says that Neil Cassidy and Bishop Costas Papandraus are over at Lester's Funeral Parlor. They will be remaining there as the Bishop needs to conduct a ceremony to prevent Sheriff Hunter from returning from the dead and Neil will stand guard to prevent the ceremony from being interrupted. However the Bishop has sent the female dwarven Priestess Hilldi Argyle MacTavish to join them. She tells them that she has had previous experience with both caves battles and fighting undead so might be able to help.Minerva places her finger to her lip as she considers his list. " I have already gathered most of what is on your list but I did not think of oil. I will go and get some. Make sure to bring some of those special bullets of yours.. just in case." I will see you at the sheriff's then." She rushes home to gather the rest of the items and say an extra couple of prayers while she's there before meeting everyone at the Sheriffs. She returns to her horse, Shadow, and begins to pack up the saddlebags. She begins piling in her holy symbols, vials of holy water, rope and there rest of the items on her list. When she moves to open the second saddlebag she remembers the armored vest that was taken off of the dead man. "Ugh!" it is still covered in blood. The blood of the horse, not the dead man, she recalls. "Spilled by a filthy fiend. Well perhaps it will help me more than it did him." She takes it into the house and cleans it off before slipping it on under her blouse."  She returns to Shadow making one last inventory of items before securing her rifle to the animal. She gives a soft whistle, signaling Luna to follow her and makes her way to the Marshall’s office.Jake fishes the burlap sack out of his saddlebag. From it he removes a Colt Peacemaker with a standard length barrel and a red neckerchief with a not in it. He undoes the knot and removes six bullets that all have shiny silver slugs on the top of their cartridges. He reties the neckerchief and then carefully loads the Colt with the six rounds. He hands both to the priestess Minerva. "It belonged to Nolan Edwards. Those are enchanted silver tipped rounds in it. I had put it away just in case we needed it someday. I never expected to need it again so soon. I know you have your own pistol, however Edwards carried these for a reason. Perhaps he is looking upon us and glad his weapon will combat these fiends once more." Jake shrugs. "We need all the help we can get no matter how unlikely." Jake greets the others, chatting in a relaxed and friendly tone with no more concern than if they were going rabbit hunting. Finally he asks with no more fanfare than asking who was going skin the catch, "Who is the hammer and stake wielder? I tried doing that a couple of times and was down right pitiful at it. Especially if they are still moving around, biting and all. I am just not strong enough. Is it you Chet? Any chance we could drive one right through the box and not have to open it?"  Chester says, "I can do it. They sleep during the day, right? That'll make it easy. I'll have to do it quick like. They're going to wake up when I start."The Priestess Hilldi says, "The undead I am personally familiar with are wraiths and specters however I do know some lore regarding vampires. For the stake to effectively stop one it needs to be driven direction into the heart. So it is unlikely that you would be able to discern exactly that target without being able to see exactly how the corpse is lying."The group ride off back in the direction of the Dos Cabezas mountains. They reach the murder site and head up the train to the cave. Once they enter the first chamber Hilldi makes the observation "Early high elvan, mostly natural but with modifications made for habitation. I estimate the workmanship to be between one and two thousand years in age." As they continue towards the next inner chamber with the cots Hilldi says, "I sense great evil has been here recently. Please wait while I say a prayer for support from my patron deity." The room becomes silent as the dwarf begins her prayer saying, "Goddess Aretmis, daughter of Leto and Zeus, goddess of the wilderness the hunt and the earth, watch over us as we venture forth through this place. Guide our path and the aim of our weapons as we face these abominations to life itself. This we ask."  Chester bows his head in prayer to the goddess of the hunt. After the prayer is finished, he says, "Elves made this place? I never took them for cave-dwelling folk."  Hilldi says, "They weren't normally. The present tribes in Arizona and New Mexico, the Apache, Navajo and Yavapai, all descend from the ancient Pueblo Indians, but prior to that they lived near the mountains, it being a source for water, and the Elders and Shaman of the tribe would reside in the caves." She points out a place in the wall with very faint discoloration in the stone can barely be seen. She says, "Those are drawings on walls made by the shaman thousands of years ago. Weather, age and smoke from fires and tobacco have coated these walls in the time since then, but if these walls were to be cleaned using proper cleaning solutions you would once again be able to see the drawings that the ancients had left."  Chester gives a grim smile. "Interesting, priestess. But, umm, we have a more pressing concern. Sorry about that, but I want to get this over with as soon as possible. Those blood-suckers could wake up at any moment."Eduardo leads the group of six down the narrow tunnel into the inside chamber with the bats. He waits by the chamber entrance and helps the others into the room.  Jake left his rifles out with the horse. His sawed off shotgun loaded with bird shot hangs on a lanyard outside his duster. Once in the room he places the burlap sack, now containing two sticks of dynamite and fuse on the ground near the wall. Back to the wall he watches and listens carefully as the others come into the room. The calm confidence replaced with a grim determination.Chester says in a low voice, "We'll open one coffin, then the other. If I'm doing the staking, someone else will have to do the opening. Keep watch on the other one. We don't want to get surprised. OK?"  Berg tells Chester "You're the strongest, we'll get the casket lid and you do the staking." They had brought a bulls eye lantern with them this trip which Marshall Berg opens up and positions on the ground pointing towards the caskets. Eduardo and Chester venture forward checking the room for tracks. Based upon the lack of fresh prints and a build up of bat guano on the tarp they conclude that the room is undisturbed since their previous visit a few hours before. Chester and Eduardo carefully remove the tarp and gesture for the others to come forward. Hilldi takes out her holy symbol fastening it on a chain around her neck. She then gets out a wooden stake and hammer as well. Marshall Berg and Deputy Rodriguez get on either end of the casket lid and working together lift it off. The first casket is empty save for a few inches of dirt covering the bottom of it. Chester and Hilldi move around as the other lawmen move to the top and bottom of the other casket. They remove the lid of second casket revealing a dead body inside. The body is perfectly still, the arms crossed over his chest and eyes closed. He is also lying on a few inches of dirt. Berg states "It's Philemon Grove, the man who killed Niles Hoover. He was shot dead during the mob riot and supposedly buried the next day on the Thayer Ranch." Minerva Florencia looks forward at the face of the man who she had shot, the bullet hole in his forehead clearly visible. Eduardo comments, "Ken Wagner said earlier that Grove was the only one who Nick Thayer ever brought up here with him."   Chester gets a puzzled look on his face. "Can people become vampires if they're already dead?" He lowers his hands. "If Grove's not a vampire, what's he doing here? And who's the other coffin for? This doesn't make any sense." "Ahem," Jake finally speaks up, "Can you check to be sure he is not one of them, uh creatures? I know they usually get violent when you open the lid, perhaps it would be best to make certain before we go chatting on."  Hilldi replies, "No, they cannot become undead after death. But he could have already been a vampire before he was shot. How did they check his body? Did they just check to see if he was breathing? Because he wouldn't have been, since vampires don't breathe. I think that....." Her words are then abruptly ended as she and the deputies had made the potentially fatal error of looking at each other while they conversed and not the body inside the casket. Thus, they are taken by surprise as the arms rapidly uncross and thrust upward, each hand grabbing both Hilldi and Eduardo by the necks as Philemon Grove sits up in the casket. His eyes glow read, his mouth reveals fangs and he makes a guttural sound as his fingers begin to tighten on their necks and thrusts his arms up higher lifting them both up from the floor.   Jake groans inwardly, “I just told you.…”   Minerva had been pulling a bottle of holy water out of her gown pocket When the evil creature grabs Hilldi, she throws the vial of water on him.  Her aim is a bit off with around half of the vial striking the casket. Some does fall upon Grove's harm holding up the dwarf and the arm begins to burn but he does not release his grip. A voice then calls out from across the room "Phil...stop." The voice comes from a man who steps out from behind one of the larger stalagmites in the room. The man's face is familiar to most in the room as a Promise City resident although only those who had been to the Long Branch Saloon before know him by name. The man appears to be unarmed however his left hand remains behind the stalagmite in front of him so could potentially be holding a gun in it. Berg exclaims, "Wilson? What is going on here?"  The man continues to look at the vampire in the coffin and says, "Phil, don't kill them." The vampire continues to hold the dwarf and the elf in the air by the neck, but he does now relax his grip instead of crushing the windpipes.   What is Dooley Wilson doing here? Jake's mind is racing as soon as the man appears. He pretends to be stunned by the turn of events where he is standing away from the others and takes a half step back. He uses this bluff to remove the small mirror from his left coat pocket and shift the duster flap to clear his pistol for a cross draw. He angles the mirror so he can get a quick glance of the man behind the stalagmite while his mind ticks off what he remembers. I cannot remember seeing Dooley in daylight recently, the mirror in the Long Branch is away from the piano, there is access to the piano from the back or upstairs away from the mirror. Jake mentally prepares to draw and shoot in half a moment if what he suspects is true. After a quick glance he drops the mirror back in his pocket just as surreptitiously as he removed it, keeping his focus the Long Branch piano player but not looking him in the face.Wilson states, "You must forgive my companion for his ill-manners. He suffered a serious injury to his brain when you lawmen fired upon the crowd. He has been no more than a simpleton since then. Of course, that bullet would not have harmed him unless it was magical. I'm curious what Judge Isby would say Marshall Berg if he knew that the Town Marshall and his deputies were using illegal wizard magics!"Finding no reflection of Dooley Wilson in the mirror, Jake ignores any distractions and immediately fast draws his long barreled Colt. No quick fancy shots, no special tricks, all his focus is on the aim. He points the gun at the thing that was once Dooley Wilson, dead center at the chest using all his skill and experience and pulls the trigger once. The trademark retort that is the Colt Peacemaker echos in the cavern as a single pyrotechnic bullet leaves the barrel towards the vampire. The only thought in Jakes mind was, Hilldi I hope your goddess was paying attention.The pyrotechnic shot is on target, striking Dooley Wilson at the intended location causing a large explosion which explodes the body of the undead creature sending flaming pieces of body parts around the area while simultaneously breaking and splitting the stalagmite in front of him.  Jake mutters, "Seems to be an opening for a piano player at the Long Branch, I bet Kate Higgins wants one that is not so 'hot' on the keys." One unintended consequence of the explosion is that the one-thousand-plus bats along the ceiling become active and afraid, leaving their perches and flying haphazardly across the room with near-ear-shattering shrieks given the close quarters. Meanwhile, at the sight of his companion's demise the creature that was once Philemon Grove again squeezes his fingers on the throats of his two captives.Minerva grips her holy symbol and prays to Jupiter and Minerva to protect her from the evil creature, casting protection from evil and drawing her silver dagger, throws herself between the vampire and Hilldi and Eduardo in an attempt to break his hold on them.   Minerva knocks against the vampire, her holy symbol grazing the arm holding Deputy Rodriguez. The vampire screams in pain and tosses the Deputy away knocking Minerva to the floor with him.Chester reacts and lunges for Phil Grove. He tries to stab the vampire in the heart with the stake he holds.  Chester successfully jabs the wooden stake into the monster's chest above the heart but the initial thrust does not drive it deep enough to puncture the heart. He ignores this threat, being preoccupied by the dwarven priestess whose larynx he is crushing.  Minerva pulls another vial from her pocket and throws it at the vampire's face.   The vampire's face begins to burn and he finally releases Hilldi, who falls to the floor either unconscious or dead.Jake then spins the cylinder on the revolver, moving the first of two enchanted rounds into position. There is a crowd of people around the remaining fiend who is still holding the dwarven woman. Minerva falls, Chester attacks and he aims at a point just below where the neck reaches the chest and waits for a clear shot, not wanting to shoot any of the others. "Patience, Jake, patience," he mutters to himself waiting for the opportunity.Chester takes the mallet in his right hand and tries to pound the stake home. "I don't want to see any more of you people ever again."   The stake finds its mark and the vampire collapses into the casket.</blockquote>

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