Hell Riders

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

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

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

Nadir was a jinn far from where his existence began, charming, gambling and wandering his way across the world. How he became a Hell Rider depends entirely on which Rider tells the story. At some point he also became Nadir Hollister. Booker insists he never gave Nadir his surname. Nadir insists he 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 him 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 Rafael can follow a man's scent across a territory. That Harlan has been shot dead more than once. That Nadir 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 Booker Hollister.

If the vampire and his boys 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, brothers, lovers—perhaps all three, depending on the men 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.