Hell Riders: Hell's Belles

The Hell Riders weren't born a gang. They found each other.

Beatrix Hollister came first. A vampire already accustomed to living beyond human society, she took to the outlaw life and discovered she rather liked it. More importantly, she discovered there were other things wandering the world that had nowhere to belong.

Rafaela Navarro was one of them. A werewolf with no interest in being anybody's obedient dog, Rafa found something resembling a pack beside Bea instead. Harriet Pike came later—or came back, more accurately. Whatever killed the gunslinger failed to keep her buried. Bea didn't particularly care that Hattie was dead so long as she could still ride.

Nadia was a jinn far from where her existence began, charming, gambling and wandering her way across the world. How she became a Hell Rider depends entirely on which Rider tells the story. At some point she also became Nadia Hollister. Bea insists she never gave Nadia her surname. Nadia insists she most certainly did. The argument has lasted years.

Shigure came last.

The Riders initially thought they were hunting the creature responsible for a string of gruesome deaths. Instead, they found Shigure hunting it. What they witnessed afterward convinced even four monsters that perhaps some questions were better left unanswered. Somehow, they brought her home anyway.

Over the years, the five became the subject of campfire stories and saloon whispers. People say the Hell Riders only appear after sundown. That Rafa can follow a man's scent across a territory. That Hattie has been shot dead more than once. That Nadia can talk a man out of everything he owns. That something with far too many legs follows their horses through the darkness.

Most stories agree on Beatrix Hollister.

If the vampire and her girls ride into town, something is about to happen.

The Hell Riders rob banks, trains, stagecoaches and wealthy travelers, but money is rarely their only objective. A train carrying payroll might also carry a supernatural relic. A bank vault may contain something that was never meant to be locked inside. A prisoner they break from a jail might not be human. Sometimes they arrive hunting something considerably worse than themselves.

Nobody outside the gang truly understands what the Riders are to one another. They share money, blood, beds, affection, arguments and an absolute loyalty that outsiders rarely survive testing. Friends, sisters, lovers—perhaps all three, depending on the women involved. The Riders have never felt obligated to explain.

Whatever else they are, they're family.

And there's always room around their fire for someone they decide belongs there.