(from Shady McCoy’s journal)
Dear Diary…
So, after taking down Father Rastus at that old church near Black Horse, we needed a drink or two. The deputy, Booley McClain, suggested he knew a place not too far. So we all rode off.
We should have known better.
We arrived at the Last Chance as it started to get dark out. It was raining, too. Hitched up to the post near our horses was a merchant’s cart reading, “Burt’s Beeswax, Tonics & Sundries.”
Inside was seemingly cozy establishment. A roaring fire from the east gave the room some warmth and light. We saw two men, nursing drinks and playing cards. As we came in, the bartender was straightening a chair.
We settled in for a drink. Sheriff Herko Merrit and his deputy, McClain, grabbed a table for us. Louis and Royce talked up the gentlemen. One of them answered to the name Burt. Eventually, Louis excused himself due to the call of nature, heading to the outhouse from the back door. Royce started playing cards.
Louis explored the cellar, breaking in through a door on the back side of the building. In it, he found a man that had been recently beaten unconscious. He was lying directory under a trapdoor.
While Ezra and Jack went outside to check things out, Royce seemed to get awful friendly with the two gentlemen. Royce then went outside to ask Ezra and Jack to come back into the tavern.
When Louis came back, as the bartender served us a drink…things took a turn…
The bartender suddenly tried to attack one of us…
And at the same time, the deputy lunged at the sheriff!
The gentlemen, the bartender and Deputy Booley McClain were vampires. The fight broke the charms placed on Royce, who began firing from the porch into the saloon.
Claws, bites and bullets were quickly exchanged. They were tough. And not all of us made it. The sheriff fell after Booley sank his teeth into the sheriff’s neck. But Ezra caught Booley with a well-aimed silver bullet. Eventually, we dropped them all. But then the vampires turned into wispy vapors and slipped through the trapdoor underneath one of the tables.
We all caught our collective breaths as they disappeared. Once we healed up a little, we all went through the cellar door and roused the unconscious merchant. He was the real Burt. And he told us he’d come in earlier for a drink. The men tried to charm him (like they had Royce). But it didn’t work. So they overpowered him, knocked him and unconscious and dumped him through the trapdoor. Just as we were arriving. Burt was happy to be saved. And once we told him what we were up against, he suggested Jack go out to his wagon. He had something he’d come across in his travels that could help. A vampire kit, complete with holy water, symbols and twelve wooden stakes.
Once we knew Burt was safe, we investigated the rest of the cellar. After making a few gruesome discoveries of their victims, we came upon four coffins. The vampires were inside, resting and regenerating.
We staked those sons of bitches something good! We also took a trinket or two, and then blasted the cellar. For good measure, we torched the saloon. But not before making sure we all got a good pint of whiskey or two.
Dry Gulch Bugle 