Jujube had called Drake out by name but of course it was not that coward who came charging out of the saloon. A half a dozen of Drakes vampire minions took to the street.

"Never send a pack a wolves to do the job of a vampire. If it were us you were facing..." A crossbow bolt pierced the vampire's heart. His eyes widened. He dropped to his knees and fell over dead. 

"You were saying," Van Helsing said with a grin, as he re-loaded his bow for another shot.

"It's an ambush!" Four vampires ran for cover. The fifth ran back into the saloon. 

Not having the tools he needed to be any good in this fight. Billy circled to the back of the saloon, opened the hatch to the cellar and snuck inside. 

Jujubee and Van Helsing made quick work of the remaining vampires. Now there were only two. One made the mistake of backing down an alley, only to turn to meet his demise at the paws of a pack of hungry wolves. 

"It's an ambush! It's not just the Injun! It's the Slayer too! He's already killed Stephan!" the last vampire standing, announced in a panic. 

Drake stood up enraged. "They are both ALIVE!" He picked up his chair. Swung it into the pillar. Shattering it in the process, leaving him only the splintered leg in his hand which he plunged into the heart of the messenger.

His yellow eyes glowed in anger as he took in the rest of the saloon occupants. The vampires sitting there withered under his gaze. "WELL?! What are you all sitting around HERE for?! Go out there and bring me back their lifeless corpses!"

They all scrambled from the tables, tripping over chairs and each other to get to the door. He looked back at Ruechari. She was no longer sitting at the table but was now standing behind the bar, with a wild look to her eye and wicked grin on her lips. She sloshed back a shot of the chocolate malt liqueur of her people. Leave it to the vampires to have the good stuff.

"YOU! You did this?!" Drake spat.

Ruechari's grin grew wider. "Ruechari. Shaman of the West. At your service." She poured two more shots and pushed one toward him. "Let me tell you how this is going to work."

The war waged out just outside the saloon doors. The wolves joined into the fray. The screams and shouts echoed in the now empty saloon but Ruechari never took her eyes off of Drake.

Yet in a flash, he was behind her. His arms wrapped around her. He tilted her head so her slender neck was left utterly exposed.

"I thought you were looking for a partner. Not just another mindless drone?" Ruechari taunted.

He ran his teeth against the smooth skin of her neck. A cascade of shivers to ran the length of her spine, and he laughed. "You going to try and convince me, you did not come to kill me?"

"No, that's exactly what I came here for, but the plan has changed," Ruechari pressed her palms against the smooth wood of the bar before she took another drink and then slowly turned in his arms.

Drake still held her close, too close for her to do anything but talk. "There is something, something inside of me that wants this. Wants what you have to offer. Together we would be an unstoppable force."

"Yes!" Drake said, his eyes gleamed with the idea of all that power. His smile flashed, showing his fangs,  "but if you expect me to believe you suddenly had a change of heart..."

Ruechari knew how badly Drake wanted what she was offering him. She could see it in those eyes; she could feel it emanating from him like a wave washing over her. To prove it, she easily pulled her arms free and smiled when he did not resist. 

"This has nothing to do with love. This is about power. Yours. Mine.  What we could accomplish together." She lifted her hands to his face, "Together we would be exceptional."

Touching him she could see so much more. His wants, his desires, his needs were all there for her to see. He suddenly felt powerless and weak against her gaze. She was drawing him in but to what demise. So, many emotions flooded his mind. So much pain, it nearly crippled him.

"What are you doing to me?"

"Giving you what you really need, a chance, one chance only, at redemption."

He wanted the pain to stop. All those he ever harmed, all those he mistreated, their pain became his. He felt every life he drained, their panic and agony. He wanted it to stop. She did not relent and brought him to the point where he'd promise her anything to make it all stop. 

There was a crash and coming from up from the cellar below was Billy, holding onto someone else she knew, Long Leg Liz, the White Queen. Ruechari had seen Billy's reflection in the mirror behind the saloon. The distraction was just enough to break the hold she held on Drake and the tables quickly turned.

Drake grabbed her and without a second's hesitation sank his teeth into her flesh. Ruechari felt the tear of her skin and his poison enter her. Billy's scream echoed in her ears as all thought and time slowed down. 

She wondered... Would this be the end?  What would become of her? And then suddenly she was ripped free from Drake by a rather large black cat. No one had seen the cat in the room. From kitty to panther he spelled Drake's doom. 

Jasper pulled him way. Ruechari fell to the floor. Jasper dragged the screaming vampire by his arm, out the saloon doors. Billy ran to Rue and picked her up in his arms. His look frantic. He'd done it again. Jujube was right, he would be her end. 

"Please?!" he begged. "Is there nothing we can do?"

The Queen collapsed into a chair, shaking her head. "If she survives. It will all up to Rue."

He fell with her to the floor and curled her up close. "Don't leave me, Rue."

"You forget," said the Queen. "If she dies, you do too."

She no sooner did she say this, did the pain rip through his body. As Ruechari struggled so did he. He looked to the doors, wondering about Jujubee.

Jujube was fighting at a furious pace. Switching from his bow to his tomahawks but there were too many to face. Immense pain brought him to his knees. Van Helsing ran to his aide. Killing the vampires that would have taken advantage. 

"Ruechari! She's in trouble!" Jujube gasped finding it hard to breathe.  Van Helsing pulled him to his feet. Together they fought their way to the saloon and were stunned when a panther pulled Drake out onto the street, his arm trapped in his teeth.

All the fighting had stopped, the vampires taking in the scene.

"Jasper!" Jujube yelled but the panther was relentless, shaking the vampire like he was nothing more than a rag doll. The wolves circled the panther in the middle of the road. He could no longer be seen. The largest of the wolves appeared and turned into human form and said, "Leave him to me!"

Van Helsing was torn as to what to do, but when Jujube collapsed. He knew. He left him on the porch and ran into the saloon in the hopes of saving Rue.