be suicide to fight them with what we had, so Ben gets the idea to ask the priest if he had any sort of holy weapons we could use. Father Higgins asked a blacksmith to melt down one of them silver crosses from his altar, mix it with lead, and make us some bullets. Once he had them, the priest gave them a blessing and handed them to us.
"We took them holy bullets back to the schoolhouse with us and set them witches to running. They set their pet hellhound on us, but Ben shot it square in the head with the special bullets and killed it stone dead. I managed to round up a good number of the witches, and we dragged them back to Father Higgins so he could set them straight.
"When we got back, the priest was so happy to see that we did the job that he near burst out crying. After he pulled himself together, he said we could find work doing that sort of thing if we wanted. Lots of folk out here had trouble with hellhounds and witches and whatnot, but there wasn't but a few folks in the business of killing such critters. The priesthood does what it can, but most priests ain't fighters, so they was looking for some more heroes. We enjoyed the job we did well enough, so we figured we'd try it out for a spell. Father Higgins let us keep the rest of the bullets he made for us and sent word to the other priests that we was in the business now.
"Now, a score of years later, here we are, still doing the same business. Hasn't all been glory and high spirits, but we stayed alive and made a living besides."
"A fascinating story, certainly," James said. They had arrived back in the foreman's office, and the rest of the men were waiting by the door, looking anxious.
"I like to think so," Cora said.
"One thing puzzles me, though." James set his lantern on the desk. "You say your husband has accompanied you all these years, yet I don't seem to recall ever meeting him. Do the two of you work separately?"
Cora looked at him in shock. "Why, he's been with us all afternoon." Looking over at the group of men by the door, she searched through their faces, but couldn't find Ben's. "He must have gone out to see to the horses just now. I swear I introduced the two of you when we talked to Harcourt, or even on the train back from Denver. He was asleep on the other bench, remember?"
"I'm afraid I don't," James said, "though I must admit I wasn't entirely sober that day. Still, you must introduce me when we get outside. I feel rather sheepish for having ignored him all this time."
"Well, he's easy to ignore," Cora said. "Why, I forget he's in the room half the time when he's into one of his books."
"Books, you say?" James asked, a smile spreading across his face. "Your husband is a bibliophile?" Cora gave him a blank look. "A book lover."
She laughed. "You got that right."
"I beg your pardon." The voice came from the cluster of men by the door. "Might this conversation be continued elsewhere?"
James turned and looked at the man who spoke. "Getting impatient, are we, Edward?"
An older man nodded. "Yes, actually."
"I suppose it is getting late," James said, examining his pocket watch. "I hope Constance remembered to put the kettle on, or tea will be late."
"Can't have that, now," Cora said. "All right, boys, go get your horses. Let's get out of here."
The men jostled one another as each fought to be the first out the door. Cora took one last look around the office. The rest of the vampires could still be lurking somewhere in the shadows beyond the door, watching them leave. They could rot there for all she cared. Night would bring them swarming out of the mine like ants. Leadville was quite a few miles away, and she didn't think they'd roam so far after losing half their numbers. Still, if they had a mastermind driving them, predicting their movements would be impossible. They wouldn't behave like normal animals.
"Shall we?" James asked.
"Shouldn't we put up a cross or something?" Cora said. "Try to keep them bottled in?"
James shook his head. "They have a human accomplice now. We'll need to find and eliminate him before we can move against the nosferatu." He turned and walked out the