Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="orchid blossom" data-source="post: 2819583" data-attributes="member: 12815">About half an hour after the meeting breaks up, Sheriff Weeks pulls up in a carriage that has enough room for everyone. The Sheriff has his own mount which he states that he would prefer to ride. He offers to lead the way to the ranch if someone else can drive the carriage.As the group is loading up to depart the doctor comes and speaks with Sheriff Weeks. He then addresses the party with the information that was just given to him."The good doctor hear has determined that Sheriff Wilson died from blood loss before he was hung. He had three puncture wounds, one on the neck, and one on each wrist. All three wounds were from different sources as the bite sizes are all different. This leaves no doubt to me that our friends at the ranch did this.""Hey Chet how about you driving?” Jake asks. "I was thinking we could stop somewhere a little ways away and walk in quietly, if there is a place to stop somewhat unnoticed."Before he helps Ruby into the carriage, Jake opens his bag and takes out two of Minerva's garlic necklaces. He puts one around his neck and then places one around Ruby's. "Yes, yes I know they are quite pungent. Humor me Mrs. Jacobs and let us smell like an Italian kitchen together.""Yes darliingg," Ruby purrs as she leans in close to Jake, letting him wrap the garlic around her neck, "As long as we do it together. I like Italians. I mean Italian. Food. I like Italian food. Let's get some when we get home."Nanuet also adorns his garlic jewelry and offers to ride atop the carriage with Chester. "My sight is pretty good, I might be able to notice anything strange from up there."     Kate climbed into the carriage and sat looking out at the town. If she had been a bit quicker, she'd have offered to drive herself. It had been a while since she'd had the riens of a team and she would have enjoyed sitting on top of the carriage in the fresh air. At least a breeze started blowing in once the carriage began moving.Sheriff Weeks jumps on his mount and spurs forward. He is eager to get to their destination but soon realizes he is outdistancing the carriage. The day is hot and hazy, the unrelenting sun beating down on the party. After about a half hour ride the sheriff wheels his mount and rides back to the carriage."The ranch is about 300 yards away up the road. I figured this would be a good place to stop and we can go forward from here on foot."Kate scrambled gratefully out of the carriage, not waiting for anyone to offer a hand to help her down. The black leather soaked up the sun and she wished she could take off the duster, but not only did it help hide her gestures when she needed to, the damned garlic was stuffed in the pockets.She still hadn't gotten a gunbelt or holster for the pistol, so she checked it in her pocket and put her derringer on the other side, then waited for the others to be ready."It's hot!" Ruby blurts out as the carriage comes to a halt. She pulls her jacket off, her poor shirt straining over her bust as she ungracefully tugs at the leather. She throws the jacket on the floor before letting Chester help her out of the carriage.Chester says to the group, "Don't go anywhere alone. We have the advantage in numbers, but they know their home better than we do. A single person would get overwhelmed right quick." He checks his Spencer and sets up near the front door."Ahhh, that's better," she smiles, stretching while looking around. Everyone was preparing their various weapons and gadgets so Ruby figured she should too. Her gun still had special bullets in it and with her leather outfit she could wear the gun belt and holster that wrapped around her waist and leg for easier access to her gun. She pats her gun then shrugs. There wasn't anything else for her to do. She had the stinky garlic around her neck, the holy water in her pocket, her tools down her shirt, her dagger tucked into her waistband."I want one of those stakes and I'm not going anywhere without one," Ruby announces as she twists her hair up into a messy knot. Everyone there already knew and had seen her pretty bruise, so might as well be comfortable.Nolan Edwards departs the carriage and wipes the sweat from his brow. "Yes, it's hot but the sun is our ally today." He scans his new allies quickly "Not sure how much good garlic will do if we are invading their hideout, but I suppose it can't hurt. Remember, our initial plan is stealth, lets try and get them where they lie.""I understand, Mr. Edwards," Kate said. "We'll follow your lead."Edwards nods and looks to Sheriff Weeks. "You know the lay of the land the best, can you lead the way to the house?"Weeks checks his weapon again, straightens his badge on his chest, then nods as he starts walking forward.As the ranch comes into view it is noted that there are two buildings, a two-story house which lies straight ahead and a barn which is off to the right. The buildings are separated by a dirt road, the same one that the party had followed in the carriage up to this point. Also to the right is the large fenced in area where the cattle are kept.All is silent as the group nears the apparently deserted ranch house. Cattle chew grass to the right but seem to be keeping a lazy eye on the stranger's progress. In fact one of them - a very large bull - begins wandering toward the group, an odd look in it's eyes. Fortunately there is a wooden fence separating the group from the beast...Ruby pokes Jake in the arm and whispers, "Do you see that?" while pointing to the freaky looking bull. As they continue to walk on she says, "I guess we try to house first? Let's get this over with.""This whole town is weird." Jake shoulders his bag and unslings his Spencer. He loads the first round in the magazine and follows along quietly behind the others. Spooked by the bull, he keeps an eye on it.Minerva has remained quiet during the ride to the ranch. Although outwardly calm. She is tense and alert, taking in the surroundings.She is armed with a stake, her holy water and pistol with the magic bullets and has her whip hooked to her belt. Without waiting for assistance she jumps down from the carriage and makes her way to the edge of the house where she can discreetly peer into the window.Ruby watches Minerva walk up to the window, so she as silently as she can, follows her and peeks over her shoulder into the window.Kate sighed as the others went right up to the house. Quietly at least. She was no cow expert, but being around the cattle on the ranch she was at least familiar with them. There was definitely something strange about that bull. She was suddenly glad of the pistol in her pocket and got hold of it as they walked past the fence.Jake and Katherine are rewarded for their vigilance as they are the first to notice the bull begin to charge towards the fence, as soon as Minerva walks past it and towards the house. The bull breaks through the fence as if it were made of balsa wood and continues it's charge in the direction of Minerva and Ruby. Almost at the same time a shot rings out from the upper story of the house and Minerva howls in pain as the shot strikes her squarely in the chest Nanuet cries out "NO!" as he sees Minerva get shot. He runs forward, saying a prayer as he goes.Nolan Edwards reaches for something in the folds of his robes and then begins a chant as he keeps his attention focused on the bull. After a few moments he shouts "The creature is undead! I will try and turn it back!""Damn it!" Kate swore as the Priestess crumpled. Nanuet was already on his way, so she made for the barn to cover not only her body but her spells as well. She peered at the upper story window trying to get line of sight on the shooter and hoped Edwards could take care of the bull.Since Ruby was right behind Minerva, she grabs her and tries to drag her to the nearest cover alongside the house. "Oh, I know a good song," Ruby comments as she helps her, and she starts singing her song of healing as she helps her move. Unaware of the bull, they keep their eyes peeled on the house, looking for where the shot came from.Ruby's voice fills the air as she sings her magical song. The now familiar blue glow appears around the wound on Minerva's chest and the bleeding slows but does not cease as the bullet works it's way out of the wound.Jake swings his Spencer carbine around quickly and snaps off two magically enchanted rounds at the bull. One of them hits the large target but the bull seems undeterred by the damage that the weapon does to it and continues it's charge.Jake moves to intercept the unholy bovine before it can get to the women. "Señor Toro, aquí." *Mister Bull, over here! After he moves closer he aims and fires the next round in his Spencer at it. The bull is much too far away and moving too quickly for Jake to intercept it so he aims and fires the Spencer at it again. Again his shot is straight and the bullet hits the huge bovine and explodes, causing the creature to fall, plowing into the ground it's momentum carrying it forward. The carcass burns, the odor of it's seared undead flesh causing the companions to retch.Kate couldn't see the shooter and was ready to help with the bull until she saw Jake strike it with the incendiary bullet. She turned and ran around the barn, hoping to be able to approach the house without having shots taken at her.The monster hunter holds forth his holy symbol and begins speaking his words of turning when the bull explodes in front of him. He turns his head away, shielding his eyes from the explosion and says "Or you could just blow him up. I like your style Mr. Jacobs, I like your style." He scans the area and sees Kate slipping behind the barn. "I think your friend has the right idea, let's follow her so we are not such an easy target". Nolan Edwards then makes his way towards the barn hoping to not draw any more fire from the farmhouse.The barrel of a rifle shows through the window again, and one shot is fired at Nanuet which misses and a second shot is fired at Jake, hitting his duster but doing no damage.Nanuet continues moving forward, oblivious to the shot being fired at him despite his spell to ward off attacks. He arrives at Minerva and Ruby's location near the house and sees the bullet expelled from Minerva's body. He kneels down and examines the wound. "Thank you Ruby, your song saved her. Minerva, look at me. Are you OK?""I should have looked up," Minerva berates herself. She sees the panic in Nanuet's eyes and attempts to make light of the situation. “I will be fine once we destroy these bastards. On top of all of their other evil deeds they have ruined a perfectly good dress."Ruby looks at Nanuet with surprise on her face. "I did? With just my song?" She pauses for only a moment before ducking under the porch and positioning herself in front of the door, pulling her gun off her hip. "Get her under here Nanuet," Ruby says before calling out, "Hellllooo, anyone home?" while simultaneously kicking in the front door.Nanuet smiles at his lover's whimsy. He pulls her up and carefully makes his way along the house to the cover of the porch and to see what Ruby had uncovered."Gentlemen," Kate nodded as Jake and Edwards caught up with her at the corner of the barn."We'll have to take our chances, it seems Constance already has the door open. They'll be needing us." Kate looked up at the windows, checking for more shooters. She took a deep breath and said, "I don't see anyone at the windows. On the count of three?" After the men nodded she counted it off and dashed toward the house.Chester draws both his Remingtons and checks to make sure they're both fully loaded. Once Ruby kicks the door down, Chester motions toward the stairs. He whispers, "The gunfire came from upstairs. Let's go up there."Ruby nods. She only quickly glances back at Jake, knowing if she lingers too long he'd try to stop her from going in at all. "What about the monster hunter?"Chester nods in agreement and Ruby calls out, "You first Mr. Edwards."Once Nolan Edwards arrives he is more than willing to take the lead but first he says "Yes, there is obviously someone upstairs, and we have no idea if they are a vampire or not. More importantly we should be looking for their coffins so we can actually destroy any that might be resting. Usually they prefer to keep the coffins in dark places, maybe there is a basement or an interior room that is blocked from the light. Keep your eyes open."Nolan checks his weapons and holds his holy symbol in one hand and his peacemaker in the other. Several stakes hang from the belt on his robe. He ascends the stairs slowly scanning back and forth."Wait!" Ruby whispers, pulling on Nolan's arm. "Maybe we should split into 2 groups then? One to search down here and one to deal with whoever is upstairs?"Nolan replies in a whisper "Excellent idea, I don't know who does what well among your friends, but splitting up sounds like a good idea. The house can't be too big in case someone gets in trouble.""Jake," Ruby frantically waves him over and whispers, "Split us into 2 groups, one to go upstairs, one to search around for coffins down here. The priests are probably better going up with Nolan." He looks about quickly and says, "No, split up the priests I think is better. Whatever special powers they have both groups will need." He glances at his friends quickly and says, "Chet, you Minerva and Nanuet down here. Katherine watch the entrances to the first floor and outside, come to help whichever group needs it. Ruby, you, me and Edwards will take care of the shooter upstairs." Jake scratches his chin before quickly moving over to a chair and breaking off a piece of a leg about one foot long. He rummages through his bag and removes a fuse, jams it into the splintered end of the broken leg and thrusts it into his pocket. He draws his fast draw Colt, and closes his duster. "I am ready. Maybe I should go first up those stairs."Chester says, "OK. Hit 'em hard. We'll check the ground floor and then the cellar. The entrance is probably out back." He pats the pocket to his jacket. "I have a stake here and the garlic is in my other pocket. Minerva, Nanuet, let's go."Ruby gulps. "I was hoping that we could investigate the coffins..." her voice trails off after seeing Jake's face. "Alright, I just thought Minerva and Nanuet might have a better chance at those things..." Her voice trails off again. "Ok FINE. Give me one of those," she says, pointing to Edwards stakes. He hands one to Ruby and she smiles half heartedly, "Thanks," before standing next to Jake."You want to tell me again how much you love me before we go up there?" Ruby says while keeping her eyes focused up the stairs.Jake gives her a kiss and then a smirk. "We need to continue that later my love, so I can put it into the proper words. Wish me luck, and stay close." Jake squeezes past Edwards and moves quietly up the stairs and stops near the top to listen and examine the openings."Luck!" Ruby says then obeys her lover, sticking close behind him with her hand grasped tightly on his belt, letting the vampire hunter take up the rear. She keeps her gun in one hand and the stake in the other."Give me one minute, Chet," Nanuet says. Nanuet stands next to Minerva and gently takes her hand, "Are you sure you are feeling up to this? You are still injured," he asks in a concerned tone. "You could wait outside with Katherine..."Chester looks over his shoulder. "You were hit? I know that healing magic is powerful stuff, but maybe you should take it easy for now.""Gracias, Mi Amor. I appreciate your concern, but I am fine," she says standing on her toes to gently place a kiss upon Nanuet's lips. "I cannot rest until this is finished. Come we will all finish this together," she says drawing her gun and following Chester.Nanuet shakes his head at Minerva's will and smiles. "Ok, let's go." He has gun in hand and keeps a close eye and ear on the rear of the group.Chester Minerva and Nanuet begin carefully checking the first floor rooms of the house. "Looks like we search the family room first, kitchen, then the dining room. After that we look for the cellar."They make their way into the house searching the family room first. The family room has a large couch and coffee table as well as a rocking chair. There are three windows, two on the same wall as the door facing out the front of the house and one on the wall to the right.As they move deeper into the house they see the kitchen to the right and the larger dining room next to it. The kitchen has an open archway leading into it and at first glance appears unoccupied. The back wall of the house has another window and a door leading to a back porch.The wall to the left has another opening, leading to a hallway and the back of the stairs that lead to the second floor has a closed door.The dining room is furnished with a large oak table and 6 chairs. It is also currently unoccupied.All of the windows have thick heavy drapes that keep the light out. Odd shadows are cast through the rooms from the light that comes through the front door and around the edges of the windows.Chester helps Nanuet open the drapes. "Minerva, keep a watch on the door down that hallway there. That might lead upstairs. If whoever's upstairs is flushed out by Jake and the others, they'll come out that way. Where'd Sheriff Weeks go?""Not sure where he went, Chet." Nanuet walks to the heavy drapes. "Let's shed a little light, shall we?" He pulls the drapes open illuminating the room with light as they continue to search on.Sheriff Weeks had been outside poking around the barn and cattle yard when he realized that the others had all left him. He sprints to the house and through the door as Nanuet and Chester are opening the drapes."Sorry!" he huffs, out of breath. "I was just looking around outside, didn't realize you had moved on. Is everyone still OK?" Weeks asks."Did you find anything out there?" Chester asks. "We haven't seen anything out of the ordinary so far. Just these heavy drapes on the windows.""No, not really. I found their horses in the barn, they seemed normal, not like that bull. The others are upstairs?"Chester nods. "Yep. Hard to explain horses with glowing eyes. Probably why they didn't change them too. We're checking out the first floor and then the cellar. Hmm. Let's see what's in the kitchen."Minerva silently moves down the hall to the closed door and listens while watching for any movement bt doesn't see or hear anything as she listens at the closed door. It is actually eerily quiet in the house. The only movement she spots is that of Chester, Nanuet and Sheriff Weeks.Minerva tries the knob on the door in the hopes that it is a door to the upstairs but it does not turn, apparently the door is locked. Since it is the back of the stairs leading up though, Minerva doubts that what is behind this door would lead up. It is most likely a closet under the stairs or... stairs leading down.Chester and Weeks check out the kitchen while Nanuet stays with Minerva near the closed door. The kitchen, unlike the rest of the house is a mess. There is food that has been left out for weeks. The smell hits them as soon as they stick their heads inside. Weeks immediately pulls his bandana over his nose and mouth and coughs weakly.Used pots and pans are piled up in the dry sink and a sack of corn lies spilled onto the floor. A rat scurries out when he hears people approaching.Chester coughs, "Ugh. That's horrible. This must have been from when these guys were still alive." He spits on the floor. "Let's check out that other door."Leading the other group, Jake steps up on the landing and gently touches the knob to see if it is locked, and listens while he is doing so.  There are no sounds to be heard, and the locked door remains stubbornly closed."Watch my back and the other doors," he whispers to Ruby. He buttons up his duster tight and flips up the collar. He places his bag and rifle on the floor behind him. He points down at his bag and whispers, "Dynamite."Jake pulls the hammer back on his Colt. He turns the knob just enough to release the latch and flings the door open and drops to the floor on his side with the pistol pointing into the room.Jake's maneuver draws the attention of the rooms occupant as a pair of gloved hands reach out for him as he drops to the floor. Once he realized the ploy, Pete "Gloves" Williams retreats back into the room leaving the door ajar.Ruby stands, wide-eyed and surprised, as Jake drops to the floor, flinging the door open. Luckily the creature retreated back into the room instead of targeting her. She pushes Jake's bag back with the toe of her boot and flattens herself out on the wall next to the door. Breathing heavily, she keeps her eyes on the other doors in the hallway and tries to stay calm.Jake fires off a round at Williams and rolls over onto the stairs out of sight of the door.Ruby lets her head fall back against the dirty wall. She keeps nervously glancing up and down the hallway as Jake fires into the room and Nolan starts muttering something, his attentions also on the room.Suddenly, Ruby squeezes her eyes shut. No no no... I can't, I can't, she argues to herself, shaking her head back and forth Noooo... A sweat breaks out on her forehead as she fights a losing urge and her hand starts to rise against her own will.Trembling, her arm continues to rise as silently tears fall down her cheek. Her body and movements not her own, Ruby pulls herself off the wall and aims her gun at the man on the floor, her lover and best friend, Silver Jake Cook.Ruby West's aim was known to be true and she struggles with herself as she shakily aims the gun right at Jake's head.Jake fires as "Gloves" ducks back into the room but is unable to hit the moving target from his position. The bullet hits the door frame right where the body would be showering him and the floor with shards of splintered wood.Jake looks up and sees Ruby point the gun at him. He attempts to push the gun up and away and push her down the stairs. "Ruby, no!""She's possessed by one of them!" Nolan Edwards says as he holds his holy symbol firmly in his hand and thrusts it out before him as he makes his way past Jake and Ruby into the doorway. A hissing can be heard from somewhere deeper in the room and Edwards yells "That's right you monster! Stay back, you cannot fight the strength of the gods that I wield!"Jake's push is strong and Ruby trips, falling backwards down the stairs. She loses her gun as she falls, hitting her head on the steps as she does. When she comes to a stop she lies dazed near the bottom of the stairs, still trembling and tears falling down her dirty cheeks. Minerva hears the gunshot from upstairs. "By the goddess! Nanuet! Jake and Ruby must be in trouble!" She rushes back to the stairs that lead up.Nanuet grabs the back of her skirt and stops the wayward priestess. "No Minerva," he says sternly, "We must continue down here. We knew there was someone or something upstairs but it is now safer for everyone to stick to the plan." His voice softens, "We must search and find the blood monsters down here, if there are any. They will be alright."Nanuet keeps his grip firm on Minerva but has a calming look in his eyes.Minerva tries again to run off, but Nanuet has her gripped tightly. "What has come over you my love? You deliberately go against the plan and put us all in danger? Have you been possessed by one of them?" Nanuet, extremely concerned, looks deeply into Minerva's eyes. "I am not letting you run off right now."Minerva tries to pull away from Nanuet. "No, I am NOT possessed. They are in trouble!. Did you not hear the gunshot?""Yes I heard," Nanuet says quickly, with a tinge of annoyance now in his voice. "We make plans for a reason. They are in even more danger if they are surprised by vampires that run up the stairs from down here and block and trap them up there. And they are not expecting us, if we run into the fight we could get shot by them. We need to do our job down here, and quickly at that. They will call us if they have need of us."Nanuet keeps his grip on Minerva but looks to Chester, who had continued to search and has found the door. Chester readies his gun and tires opening the door."Nanuet's right. They have the vampire hunter with them. If the others are downstairs, then we need to get them now. Chester holsters his guns and tries to break the door down.The door frame snaps where the door knob was as it breaks apart after Chester's mighty blow. Beyond the doorway are stairs that lead down into darkness. "Check around for a lamp or lantern. Even monsters need to see."Nanuet looks at Chester with an odd look. "Chester, I am not a monster and I can see in the dark, perhaps they have that same ability. Their weakness is daylight, I doubt they have too many lights around here.""Did you not think there would be shots involved. I am sure they will call for help if they need it. One shot is no big deal.""I'm sorry," Chester says. "I didn't mean that you were a monster, Nanuet. I didn't know your people could see in the dark."Nanuet is about to continue speaking when two more shots ring out from upstairs. Jake realizes that they are coming from inside the room in front of him."Is three shots a big deal Nanuet? Perhaps they are unable to call for help. Perhaps they have already fallen to the evil!""Katherine!" Jake yells. "Ruby is not herself, come stop her!" He pulls his bag over and tears it open. Out comes a stake from the bag and into Jake's hand as he follows Edwards.Katherine hears Jake's cry and she comes running in, finding Ruby at the bottom of the stairs sobbing and crumpled.Ruby shakes her head as she sees Katherine come towards her. She squeezes her eyes shut tight again but the tears come even stronger than before. "I'm sorry," Ruby chokes out, as she stands slowly, "I'm very sorry..." With that she lunges at Kate and in one deft move she pulls her dagger off her belt and tries to stab at her.Katherine tries to duck but is no match for Ruby's quickness as Ruby only narrowly misses stabbing her. Kate grabs Ruby by the shoulders, trying to hold her off as they roll around on the floor. She cries out, "Jake! I need help!" and manages to dodge Ruby's swats.Chester's torn between continuing with the mission and helping his friends. "Damn. Let's go downstairs and take care of this quickly." He draws both guns. "I'll go first. Sheriff, could you carry the lantern, please?"Nanuet says to Minerva, "I hear Katherine asking for help, go see to her."Nanuet quickly turns his back to Minerva and starts towards the stairs with Chester. They wait only moments before Weeks hurries back with the lantern. "Let's go. Minerva's attentions are elsewhere."Upstairs, Jake sees that both men have fired shots, Nolan is clutching his gun arm and there is a wound there. The vampire is laughing at him just as it lunges forward towards Nolan, his white duster flowing out behind him.Jake leaps into the room, steps aside to attempt a flank on Williams and thrusts the stake at him putting his full weight behind it."The heart!" Nolan groans. "It only works if you hit them in the heart."The vampire is desperately trying to get at the man's neck and his bared fangs are slowly inching closer. Another shot goes off and the vampire staggers backwards, a hole in it's stomach. Green liquid flows from the hole, eating away at it's clothing and smoking as it drips onto the floor. Jake's swing with the stake misses due to the sudden movement. A tendril of smoke is rising from the barrel of Nolan's gun as he tries to collect himself."I think you should have told me that little detail earlier," Jake says as he drops the stake and cross draws his long barrel Colt. He steps back and fires two rounds into Williams.The first shot flies wildly off to the side, hitting the dresser and causing it to burst into flames. The second shot hits the blonde vampire squarely and does what it is designed for, causing him to explode in a fireball. Where his body should be however there is nothing and a cloud of mist is seen nearby.The room, which is quickly becoming filled with smoke from the now blazing furniture, is decorated like a typical bedroom with a single bed, a dresser and a night stand next to the bed. There is also a chest at the foot of the bed. The smoke is beginning to obscure Jake's vision and he does not see anything that resembles a coffin."Quick give me a hand with this, Edwards!" Jake yells and points to the chest. "Chuck it out the window and let run."Edwards grabs the chest with his good arm and helps Jake heave it out the window and watches it crash to the ground below. Jake notices the older man is looking a bit pale."We need to find where the coffins are! He won't be able to regenerate if we destroy them!" He then turns and heads for the door leading to the landing at the top of the stairs.Ruby continues to swat at Kate, each shot getting closer. She uses her weight to flip Kate over and pin her to the ground, using her thighs to squeeze Kate into place. She is about to raise her dagger when she catches Minerva rushing over out of the corner of her eye.As she already has the advantage on Kate she quickly grabs her derringer with her free hand and fires it at Minerva.Minerva sees Ruby and ducks, praying for the gods favor.Ruby's single shot strikes Minerva in the shoulder spinning her around. Ruby flinches as her shot hits and she stutters, "I am so-sorry,".Then Ruby hears Kate casting a spell and turns her attentions back to her. She tries to interrupt her casting her spell but stabbing at her once more.The bullet strikes Minerva’s flesh causing searing pain, but she is able to grit her teeth and finishes her casting before screaming out in pain.Ruby finds herself stiffing up and soon becomes rigid falling over with some assistance from Kate."Senora." Minerva says with some urgency "Help me carry Ruby outside." Minerva picks Ruby up under the arms and Katherine takes her legs. They quickly bring her outside away from the house.Jake makes his way back to the landing and his bag. He pulls out a potion and hands it to Edwards, "Drink this, I need you alive."  He glances down the stairs and sees Katherine, Ruby and Minerva. "Have you got Ruby contained?"Katherine calls up to Jake in an exasperated tone, "Does ANYONE ever have Ruby contained?" as she and Minerva struggle with Ruby. "I don't know what will happen when she unstiffens." Jake sees that they are taking Ruby outside and cannot wait any longer. He tests the door to the left of the stairs to see if it is locked and keeps his weapon ready. They get Ruby outside, near the pen. "Perhaps we should tie her before she breaks the spell?" Kate says to Minerva. "I can use some long bandages. They need us, at least you, in there now.""Tying her with bandages is a good idea. I need to get back." Minerva sprints back to the house and heads for the cellar.Edwards looks at the flask for a brief moment before gnawing the stopper off with his teeth and chugging the elixir down. "Thanks, feeling better already. Let's hurry before this place burns down with us in it!"Jake holsters his pistols, grabs up his rifle and bag and runs down the stairs. He stops at the front door to toss his rifle out. He notices Ruby's revolver on the floor and kicks it out the door into the yard as well.Nanuet and Sheriff Weeks try to ignore the chaos from the front of the house and upstairs. "Let me get this lantern lit." Weeks says taking out matches. "There, that should do it." he says, adjusting the flame."I'll follow the both of you, let's get down there and see what we're dealing with," says Nanuet.As the trio goes into the cellar, Chester asks, "Say, Sheriff. Have you been in the house before?""Never been in the house no, until recently I've never had cause to. These guys were always good folks up till recently."As they arrive in the cellar, an eerie sight is revealed. 3 new coffins lay on tables in the center of the room. There are various other stored supplies and a root cellar with food stuffs, but the trios eyes are drawn to the coffins. Two of them are closed, while the left most one has the lid tossed to the side."Alright, let's break these up. From to what I've been told, that'll keep these vampires from coming back." He sniffs the air. "Does anyone else smell smoke?"Nanuet says "Chester, I think those two might still be occupied" pointing to the ones with the lids still intact."Smoke?" Sheriff Weeks says. "I thought that was just the lantern, it seemed kinda smoky to me.""You're probably right. Get the lids off these caskets. I have one stake. We're going to need one more." Chester and Nanuet lift the lid off one of the caskets. Chester reaches for the stake in his pocket.Outside, Ruby sits up suddenly, having broken the spell. Kate's back is to her, and she sees Minerva run into the house. She only takes a second to rub her head before she quickly dives at Kate and tackles her to the ground. her dagger missing she does the best she can, and reaches for Kate's slender neck, tackling her to the ground with all her weight.If there was one thing a girl learned with two brothers, it was how to fight dirty. There was no way Kate was going to win this with brute strength, so she reached around, grabbed Ruby's hair and yanked her head back while drove her knee up between the other woman's legs. It wouldn't hurt as much as it would hurt a man, but it would hurt.And with that move Kate is able to free herself from Ruby's grasp . Both women land sprawled out on the ground. Kate scratched dust from the ground and cast a sleep spell at Ruby.Ruby still can't seem to control her actions, and looks like she is pained, but is not giving up. She shakes off the spell, then rises over Kate on her knees and slaps her hard across the face before driving back on top of her. Kate's spell seemed to have failed and Ruby's slap hit home, stinging Kate's face, but doing little real damage. "Mierda," Jake says as he sees Katherine and Ruby wrestling in the yard. He drops his bag on the ground away from the house and pulls out two sticks of dynamite. "Hey darling, it is me that you really want to stop because I am going to blow those coffins to Hades in a minute," Jake says rather loudly in a nonchalant manner. He places the sticks in the pockets of his duster and puts his hands on his hips. "Come on lover, I am right here."Nolan Edwards peers out the door at Jake and his eyebrows rise when he sees the explosives. "No time for playing, if you are going to do what I think you are going to do then let's get on with it."Nolan turns back into the first floor of the house and begins screaming for the others to come outside and that the house is on fire."Looks like a change in plans then. Let's get out of here." Chester, Nanuet, and Weeks rush up the stairs. Smoke billows throughout the first floor. Coughing, Chester says, "Out the back door. It should be right over here."Nolan Edwards sees Chester and the other two emerge from the basement and he helps usher them out the back door and then follows them around to the front of the house.Ruby looks up to Jake, holding two sticks of dynamite, and back to Kate, sprawled out on the ground. She quickly realizes that Jake is the more dangerous of the two so she stands and gets out of Kate's reach.Ruby stands for only a second, her heart trying to win out over her head but she fails again. She starts quickly walking towards Jake, a wild look in her eyes and she starts speaking in the language Jake doesn't know but now recognizes. It's not long before Ruby gets to Jake and in one quick motion she tries to knock his legs out from under him and straddle him.Jake takes the derringer out of his right pocket surreptitiously takes a step towards Ruby and tosses it in the air towards her when she starts to speak in that weird language. "Here, shoot me why don't you? It is the only way to stop me. Your spell will not work on me, the priest has seen to that."Ruby doesn't fall for Jake's trick, she lets the gun drop. She continues to try to knock him to the ground.Ruby got to Jake before Kate could manage another spell. She hoped her placement would be right and cast a grease spell under Ruby's feet, trying to keep it from spreading under Jake as well.Ruby's trip is successful knocking Jake prone. However, she soon finds her own footing to be suspect and despite her excellent reflexes and balance soon finds herself sprawled out next to her lover.As Jake rises Ruby takes Jake's moment of weakness and again tries to knock him to the ground. This time he easily avoids the trip."Damn." Jake exclaims, he rises quickly and sprints into the house, pulling the magical dagger on the way. "Incendie." He looks for the door to the basement. "Where is everybody?" he yells.A chorus of voices answer him from outside the back door. "Outside, we went out the back door!" The flames are now engulfing the upper story and a large beam falls down the from the ceiling and tumbles down the stairs.Jake ducks, pulls the dynamite sticks one at a time out of his pocket, tosses them down the stairs into the cellar and sprints for the door. He dives out the back door immediately after.There is a loud "BANG!" from inside the house as the dynamite explodes. By now the entire roof is ablaze and starts to sag from the concussion of the dynamite. It will be only a matter of a couple minutes before the entire house collapses.Kate was rapidly running out of options, even counting the unthinkable ones where she actually had to hurt Ruby to stop her. She ran up to where Ruby and Jake had been wrestling, ready to try to knock Ruby down again if she tried to go after Jake.Ruby stands and starts to follow Jake but stops abruptly. She looks down at her feet, looks around at her surroundings, obviously confused. She sees Kate not too far from her, approaching, but doesn't see anyone else. Ruby falls to her knees, and covers her face with her hands. Her long hair shields her face from view, but her whole body moves up and down as she sobs violently.Kate slowed her run, seeing Ruby stop trying to pursue Jake. She approached carefully until she was sure the other woman would not attack her. She got down on her knees next to Ruby and laid her arm around her shoulder. "You're alright now," she said quietly."Don't touch me!" Ruby says forcefully, moving away from Kate. "I'm poison."Kate didn't try to get any closer, but she didn't back away. "You're not poison. They are poison, and now you are free of it."Ruby doesn't look up, she just keeps sobbing, but she shakes her head. "I'll never be free of them, ever."She sobs for long moment before she rises and runs off, over near the barn. She falls against the wall, still sobbing and hiding her face. At that moment, she never wanted to look at her friends again.</blockquote>

Verification