Six Guns Straight From Hell - Tales Of Horror And Dark Fantasy From The Weird Weird West by Jennifer Campbell-Hicks, David B. Riley (Editors) Page A

in his own arm. He pressed the fleshy spigot to the man's mouth and commanded him to drink. Like a suckling pig, Paul drank until Daniel was confident the disease had been transferred.
    Paul dropped to the floor and twitched. The others ran to him and watched with a mix of horror and fascination as their sib's scars vanished and the roughness of his skin smoothed. He was virginal again, handsome, reborn anew. It was too bad, Daniel thought, that he'd be nothing but trouble for him and the world.
    “ Take him and keep him covered. Sunlight will burn him. Make sure he drinks before he goes into the ground and make sure that vessel is filled with some of young Matthew's blood. I'll expect my payment in one month. If not, I'll find and slaughter your whole family, starting with the youngling and leaving mom for last.”
    They nodded and dragged the prone form of their brother out of Daniel's domain. He licked his lips. He looked forward to finishing his meal when the boys returned. He couldn't leave anyone alive who knew what and where he was.
    The dark lord sent a familiar to Drowned Horse to check on the boy's progress the night after they left. The report had not been good. Paul had woken hungry and they fed him pig's blood. He threw up most of it, but managed to keep his head about him long enough to slip past his kin. The new vampire's first stop was his intended, Deborah Sue, where he effortlessly entered her room and seduced away her chaste. Vampires were very convincing, if anything. They were interrupted before Paul could feast on more than just her virtues and he fled into the night.
    It took Daniel's familiar awhile to track the undead boy, but finally reasoned that he must be at the town's only bar when a patron passed through the front wall and landed in the street. Familiars weren't all that smart. By then, Matthew and Luke had caught up with him. They got him out the back door and gave Paul some blood from the bottle. It immediately calmed him down and he left with them.
    Paul might take to being a vampire too well. Daniel considered ending the charade and slaughtering the lot. Maybe even the whole town, if anyone got wind of Paul's new look and abilities. The recently sullied Miss Zemanski was definitely on the list, as who knew what he told her or she reasoned during their intercourse. But the aged vampire held himself back. He wanted, no, he needed to see this play out. Daniel had been too long without a challenge, something to tax his mastery over men and beast. Paul was certainly a beast and would be slain like one.
    The remainder of the time passed uneventfully. Daniel only feasted once, a native that was out on a spirit quest; a journey that would now take the Indian brave to the next realm. The vampire thought about his trio of would-be thieves. He wondered how the plan had gone. When they returned, Daniel would kill Paul immediately, so that the new vampire couldn't protect his siblings. He expected a double-cross and would be disappointed if they didn't. When he was done with his family feast, Daniel knew of a bear cave nearby. He'd drop their bodies there and send a familiar to alert authorities of the tragedy. He'd used variations on this plan for centuries,
    The sun was just setting and the Dark Lord sensed the approach of one man. By the scent, it was surely Luke. He entered the cave, not timidly as he had the first time, but in a panic.
    “ Lord Daniel, sir! We have a problem!”
    They rode at a break neck pace through the night. They'd never make Drowned Horse, which was in the Arizona Territory, by morning. During their day ride, Daniel draped himself in a blanket, careful to make sure no light would touch his extremities. There were fewer places to stop to change horses in Arizona, but the benefit was there were less people to see them. The vampire was taking a severe chance, but from what Luke had described, he had no choice. It was midnight before they reached the edge of town where Matthew