Vampire Seeker (17 page)

“So it’s true,” the man said, who stood before the others and pointed in our direction. “The Dark
Man has arrived.” He then made the sign of the cross over his chest and glanced up at the huge crucifix attached to
the wall behind him. Then facing the congregation, he shouted, “We’ve been waiting for you, Preacher Man.”

With his clear blue eyes keen and sharp, the preacher said, “I thought you called me a man of darkness – not of
light.”

“Darkness follows you, Preacher,” the man said, and a tide of whispers passed amongst those packed into the church.
“We were told that you were taking a train up into the mountains. News came from Black Water Gap that you left Hell
behind you.”

“You must forgive me,” the preacher said back, “but I do not remember doing so.”

I looked sideways at Harry, and his fingers hovered over his pistols.

“They found a woman,” the man said. “She was slain, ripped to pieces. Her guts and her heart missing. Vampire’s
work, they say.”

To hear the man speak reminded me of the article I’d read in the newspaper, but that murder had taken place in a town
called Crows Ranch.

Had there been another committed right under our very noses in Black Water Gap
? I wondered.

“Who says this about me?” the preacher asked, and I saw Louise and Zoe hook their thumbs into their belts, their
hands in reach of their guns.

“The Marshal and our preacher,” the man said back, and I noticed several of the congregation cross themselves.

“And where are these men now?” the preacher called out as he looked about those huddled together in the candlelight.

“They went to intercept your train last night so you couldn’t reach this place,” he said as he stood in
his dusty overalls. “But the fact that you’re standing before us now, tells me that they failed in their mission.”

Another wave of whispers passed over the crowd.

“The moment your train arrived in town, we gathered here knowing we would be protected in the Lord’s house. He
has offered sanctuary – but sadly, not to all of us.”

“Who did the Lord fail to protect?” the preacher asked him, his eyes narrowing.

“The Marshal’s wife,” the man said. “Within minutes of your Scorpion Steamer arriving, her decapitated
and disembowelled body was found behind the Undertaker’s. I’ve never seen such a thing. Looked as if she had been
torn to pieces by the very devil himself. Just left lying there, she was, like a discarded lump of meat.”

Again, I saw several members of the congregation cross themselves and murmur a prayer.

“So we gathered here and waited for sunset, knowing that’s when you would come from that train. What they say
about you is true, Preacher,” the man said. “Darkness does follow you.”

Before the preacher had a chance to make any kind of response, the bell in the tower above us started to ring. Hearing its
solemn boom, those gathered in the church began to shriek and cry hysterically.

“They’re coming,” the self-appointed leader of the town shouted. “Prove that you are still a man of
light, Preacher, and protect us.”

The preacher glanced sideways at us and nodded. He then left the church.

Not knowing what was about to happen, I followed the others out of the church. No sooner had the door closed behind me when
I heard the sound of bolts being slid into place on the other side. Night had fallen while in the church, and moonlight blazed
from behind a bank of cloud, which lumbered across the sky.

I looked down the length of Main Street, and could see the outline of the Scorpion Steam waiting at the platform. Black smoke
poured from its funnel. I followed the others into the street. The bell stopped ringing from above and was replaced with the
sound of horses galloping in our direction. I spun around and could see plumes of dust rising up from the foot of the mountains
behind us.

“We’ve got company,” the preacher breathed. Then looking at Harry, he said, “Go and get what we came
for.”

Harry nodded back at the preacher and raced down the centre of Main Street.

“C’mon,” the preacher snapped at us, and headed after Harry.

I watched Harry stop outside the gunsmith’s. He then ran at the door, colliding into it with his shoulder. The door
blew inwards in a shower of splinters, as if being taken apart with a pile of explosives. Harry returned moments later, his
arms crammed full with boxes of bullets. He hurriedly shared the boxes between us, and I filled my coat pockets with them.

Then, standing in the middle of Main Street facing the church, the preacher lit one of his smokes and said, “You all
know what to do.”

I wasn’t sure that I did know what to do, but for the first time since arriving in 1888, I felt a sense of belonging.
I felt a part of this team. The sound of hooves thundering over the hard-packed ground grew louder as a group of what looked
like ten cowboys rode into town from behind the church. Seeing us spread across the street in a line, one of them raised a
hand and the others brought their horses to a slow trot. They approached us, and as they did, I noticed that these cowboys
had red bandanas pulled up over the lower part of their faces. All I could see were their eyes staring out from beneath their
hats.

Although my heart was thumping inside my chest, that part of me, which now raced to the fore every time I was in the shit,
was scanning the outlaws who now came towards us. My mind was working out which one to kill first. When they were about ten
feet away, they stopped and the outlaws sat and looked down at us. All I could see were their eyes shining brightly over the
tops of the bandanas. Then, something happened that I could never have readied myself for.

The outlaws, if that’s what they were, pulled down their bandanas and what I saw made me take a step backward. I immediately
felt Harry’s hand shove me forward again.

“Hold the line,” he hissed.

I didn’t look at Harry, as I couldn’t take my eyes off the mouths of the outlaws. They were huge and crammed full
of spiked teeth. Their mouths seemed to start just behind their ears, and join in what looked like an open wound in the front
of their faces. Black blood dribbled from their fleshy grey gums and covered their chins. Their razor-sharp teeth glistened
wetly in the dark.

“What the fuck are they?” I breathed.

“Oh, they’re the Vrykolakas,” Louise said matter-of-factly.

“Vampires?” I whispered, pushing pictures of Robert Pattinson from my mind.

“You bet,” Harry said.

“Really?” I asked, glancing at him.

“You sound disappointed,” he replied, not taking his eyes off the riders.

“It’s just that I thought vampires were meant to be kinda sexy,” I said. “These guys are like, really
gross.”

“Like I said,” Harry groaned. “Sitting on your ass, thinking about cock all day long.”

“Now, hold on a minute…” I started, but before I’d the chance to finish, all hell had broken loose.

No sooner had the first gun been fired, my own guns were in my fists and thundering. The vampires charged at us, their horses
rearing up their front legs and kicking wildly. The vampires drew their guns and unleashed a volley of bullets. The preacher
was out front, his right arm stretched out as his left hand snapped back and forth in a blinding flash over the hammer of
his gun. Flashes of bright white light sparked from the end of his revolver as he fired with blinding speed at the vampires.
I moved forward, my own guns almost seeming to explode in my fists as my fingers pulled repeatedly on the triggers. One of
the vampires charged at me on his horse, his gun blazing smoke and fire. I dropped to the ground before the creature’s
giant hooves had a chance to trample me. Then I was up again, empting my gun into the back of the vampire’s head. It
exploded on his shoulders in a spray of red and grey mess. Although the vampire’s body seemed to slope to one side,
the horse kept running and running. I glanced at Harry, who was racing towards the charging vampires and not away from them.
With his arms out front and aiming high, his mouth just a grim slit, he fired over and over again as he dodged the vampire’s
gunfire. He sunk a series of bullets into the chest of one of the creatures who flew back off his horse and into the air.
Gripping the horse’s reins, Harry raced alongside the fleeing horse and swung up into the saddle. He turned the horse
and raced back towards the vampire who was now getting back up off the ground. It made a screeching noise in the back of its
throat as it raced towards Harry, blood spraying in a red stream from its teeth. The vampire launched itself into the air,
and for a moment, I thought Harry had been knocked from the horse. But as it raced past me, I saw that Harry had dropped backwards
over the side of the horse. With one leg hooked over the saddle, he fired upwards into the vampire as he dropped out of the
night at him.

With his guns blasting in his fists, the upper left side of the vampire’s head blew away like a bloody Frisbee. The
vampire dropped out of the sky like a stone and hit the ground, sending up a wake of dust. Hearing screaming behind me, I
turned around to see a vampire launching himself out of his saddle at me. Its foaming mouth sprayed a jet of black blood into
the air, but before its pointed teeth reached me, half of its jawbone was spinning away.

I glanced right and saw Louise firing wildly at it. The flashes from her gun lit up her eyes like fireworks. “I’ve
got your back,” she smiled at me. Then she spun around on the heel of her boots and emptied the rest of her bullets
into the same vampire which raced towards her, half of its face missing. From the corner of my eye, I saw the preacher drop,
and at first I thought he was injured. But when I looked again, I could see he was resting on one knee as he fired over and
over again at the vampires which circled us on their giant black horses. Just like the barrels of his guns, the preacher’s
eyes seemed to be blazing, and in the darkness I was sure I could see him laughing. I saw Zoe come racing out of the shadows
behind him, and it was then I realised why he had dropped onto one knee. With her guns in her hands, and a look of wild anger
on her face, she ran up the length of the preacher’s back. Timed with utter perfection, the preacher stood as her feet
touched his shoulders, propelling her up. I watched in awe as Zoe spun and twisted through the air, her guns blazing. The
vampires looked up in bewilderment as bullets rained down upon them. And while they looked up to see how they were being attacked
from above, the rest of us seized the moment and filled their upturned faces with lead.

The sound of gunfire was deafening, and the smell of gunpowder intoxicating in some strange way. I watched Zoe spiral out
of the air and land in the saddle behind one of the vampires. Before he’d a chance to even look back, Zoe had placed
her guns on either side of his head and pulled both triggers. The last of the vampires’ heads exploded or imploded,
it happened so quickly I couldn’t be sure. All I could see was a fountain of red shower up into the night.

Zoe threw the vampire’s corpse from the horse and raced towards the preacher. Hanging from the side of the horse, she
dropped her arm. The preacher grabbed it, swung up into the air, landing into the saddle in front of her. Then, before I knew
what was happening, I was being lifted off my feet and thrown backwards. I landed in the saddle facing Harry as he raced after
the preacher. I looked left and could see Louise racing alongside us. Her long black hair whipped back off her face and her
eyes shone with excitement, bordering on lust.

At the end of Main Street, the preacher slowed his horse and brought it to a stop and we joined him. Gathered together, we
looked back at the church and the pile of vampire bodies we had left behind.

“That wasn’t so bad,” Harry remarked.

I was pressed against his chest. His shirt was open and I could see a thin line of sweat run down his neck and across his
smooth hard skin.

No sooner had the words left his mouth when the sound of rumbling filled the air, and another posse of vampires rode into
the street from just behind the church.

“Okay, maybe not so easy,” he muttered, yanking on the reins.

“And they’re not our only problem,” the preacher hissed. “That son-of-a-bitch Drake is leaving without
us.”

At once, we all glanced around to see the Scorpion Steam chugging out of the station.

“Drake’s sold us out,” Louise spat, prodding the sides of the horse with her calves and galloping off after
the fast-disappearing train.

“We need to get back on board,” the preacher shouted over the sound of the approaching vampires. “We can’t
stay out here!” Then he was gone, racing away with Zoe in pursuit of his lover and the train.

Harry made a loud clucking noise in the back of his throat and pulled me closer against him as we galloped away. I glanced
back over his shoulder and could see the vampires racing after us. I counted ten of them, their bandanas dropped and fangs
exposed. Placing my hands on Harry’s shoulders, I tried to position myself in the saddle, so I had a clear shot over
his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” he roared back at me.

“You just keep your eyes on that train and leave everything else to me,” I shouted. I gripped his muscular shoulder
with my left hand to keep myself steady, and pressing myself flat against him, I drew my gun. As I levered myself into position
and to keep a grip of him, I wrapped my legs around his waist. As I rode up against him, I felt my breasts brush against his
face.

He made a mumbling noise against me.

“Say what?” I shouted. “Stop mumbling!”

“Get your tits outter my face!” he roared at me. “I can’t see a god-damn thing!”

“Oh stop getting so excited!” I shouted back at him. “It was an accident for crying-out-loud”

He made a grunting noise in the back of his throat.

Rocking back and forth in the saddle as Harry raced the horse forwards, I took aim at the vampires, who were nearly upon us,
and fired. The lead vampire’s head flew back off its shoulders. The horse raced on as if carrying the Headless Horseman
from
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
. I fired again, but my gun just clicked dry.