It was a cold November night, with a hint of snow in the air. No sane person would be out in miserable weather like this unless they had good reason. Lou McCloud, Buck Cross and the Kid had no reason to be out, not in Lou's mind anyway. It wasn't as if they were delivering the mail or anything important like that. She and the Kid had just been out on a ride to get some privacy, and lost track of the time. On their way back to the Sweetwater way-station, they met up with Buck who was coming home from Benton. They thought they were just on their way home, trying to beat the elements. If only they knew.

It wasn't long before they heard it, eerie howling in the night. Katy, Lightning and Buck's chestnut whinnied in terror. "What was that?" Lou asked, nervously.

Buck shrugged. "Wolves, probably."

"Wolves!"

"They're probably hungry. Food's pretty scarce this time of year. It's not safe to stay."

They urged their horses on. However, before they'd gotten more than a few yards, Lightning suddenly stepped in a gopher's hole, tossing Lou on her head. "Lou!" Kid screamed, jumping down from Katy and rushing over to her.

"I'm okay," Lou said, sitting up. "I'm not sure about Lightnin' though."

At that moment, the clouds parted, revealing a full moon; which gave Kid enough light to take a look at Lightning's leg. Lightning was obviously favouring the leg, and needed a rest. Only when Kid suggested this, Buck shook his head.

"It's too dangerous. If a pack of wolves hunting for food should come across us, we wouldn't be able to defend ourselves in time."

To prove his point, just as Kid had mounted Katy again and was preparing to pull Lou up behind him, a lone wolf pounced from the shadows and attacked her. Lou screamed as Kid and Buck immediately drew their guns and fired, praying they wouldn't hit her instead. Three shots rang out. The wolf yelped and ran off. Buck looked around to see who fired the third shot while Kid leaped down to check on Lou. A man, tall and dark moved out of the shadows, holding a flaming torch. His clothes were not that of a typical westerner, and he had a foreign look about him. Nevertheless, looking up, Kid felt he had to thank him. "Thanks, mister."

"How is she?" Buck asked. After he initial scream Lou had been silent, and Buck was afraid she had been killed.

"She's alive," Kid replied, "but she's bleedin' pretty bad."

The stranger spoke for the first time. "You'd best bring her to my camp. She needs attention." He had a thick accent.

Despite their misgivings, Kid and Buck allowed the stranger to pick Lou up, and they followed him blindly to his camp; sensing that it was the only chance Lou had to survive.

The stranger led them to a large clearing, where there were several caravans circled around a large fire. There was music playing and people dancing and a general sense of good cheer. The scene was totally foreign to Kid and Buck, yet Kid knew what it was straight away. These people were gypsies, nomadic people who preferred to roam free than stay in one town. They were often treated with mistrust by people who did not understand their ways and were afraid of them; and if there was a theft in a town where the gypsies were, they were always the first ones accused. So, Kid wasn't surprised by the looks of distrust the gypsies gave him and Buck as they followed the stranger into the camp.

The stranger spoke rapidly to a woman in a language Kid didn't understand. Before he finished speaking, the gypsies suddenly disappeared into their caravans. Buck exchanged a glance with the Kid. They didn't like the look of this. The stranger handed Lou to the woman, and she carried her into a caravan. Kid moved as if he were going to take Lou back, but the stranger held up a hand.

"Don't worry," he said in the same thick accent. "She is my wife, Elizabeta. She will take care of your lover." The stranger's frankness surprised them Buck coughed lightly and Kid flushed. The stranger looked confused. "Have I made a mistake. She is you lover, is she not?"

"She is my girlfriend, yes." Kid replied.

"My name is Vladimir," the stranger said. "I would like to offer you the hospitality of our camp until the young lady is well enough to travel."

"Thank you..." Kid began.

Buck cut in. "But I at least must go. I need to tell our boss what happened, so that he won't worry."

"I'm sorry, but I can't allow that," Vladimir said.

"What?" The riders asked incredulously.

"It is too dangerous with the werewolf out there. You'll have to wait until morning."

Buck was about to protest, when something Vladimir said... "Werewolf?" He asked sceptically.

Vladimir nodded. "You have never heard of werewolf?" Both Kid and Buck shook their heads. "Sit down," Vladimir indicated the empty spaces around the fire. "And tell me your names."

The riders did so. "I'm Buck Cross, and he's the Kid. What's all this about werewolves?"

Vladimir sat with them. "A werewolf," he began, "is a thing of great evil. It is a creature that is both man and wolf."

"Huh?" Kid asked, confused.

"A werewolf starts out as a man, but can turn into a wolf." Vladimir elaborated.

"Ah," Buck said. "A manitou."

"A what?"

"A manitou," Buck explained. "That's what the Lakota call the creature Vladimir is talkin' about. There are many legends about it. Eagle Feather told me that they used to scare her silly."

"I believe," Vladimir continued, "that it was a werewolf that attacked your friend."

"You have got to be jokin'." Kid said.

"No, I am serious. Many terrible things have been troubling us since we left our home of Bucharest in Romania. Children have been bitten by wolves, even when there were no wolves to be found. People have been found dead, their bodies totally drained of blood. It is the work of an evil spirit."

"Bodies drained of blood," Kid exclaimed impatiently. "What's this got to do with Lou and the 'werewolf' you believed attacked her?"

"Plenty, if I am right." Vladimir said. "In our country, werewolves are commonly associated with the nosferatu."

"The what?" Buck asked.

Before Vladimir could reply, Elizabeta came out. "The young lady is resting comfortably," she said. "Would you like to see her?" She asked the Kid. He nodded and went into the caravan.

Lou was lying on a bed, sleeping peacefully. Kid noted that she was not in the clothes she had been wearing. Instead she had on a nightgown, similar to the one she had worn the night they had "gotten together". She looked so beautiful, that Kid was loath to disturb her. So he leaned down and gently kissed her forehead.

When the Kid came back out he found Vladimir, Elizabeta, and Buck all watching him expectantly. "What?" He asked, sitting down.

Buck turned to Vladimir. "You were about to tell us about the nosferatu."

"Ah, yes." Vladimir said. "The nosferatu, or the undead. Also known as vampires. They are also evil creatures, that live on the blood of the living. In our country, anybody who kills himself or is excommunicated from the Church is said to become a nosferatu. If you should taste the blood of a nosferatu, even for a brief moment, you also, will become one."

"But this is all just folk lore and legend," Kid injected. "What's it got to do with Lou?" Hearing her name, Lou, having woken up when Kid kissed her, got up as quietly as she could and sat at the door of the caravan to listen to Vladimir's story.

"Don't be so sure that it's just folk lore," Vladimir warned. "I shall answer your question, but first, I will tell you a story, which you may find interesting. It may even answer some of your questions."

Vladimir's story began several years before in Bucharest, Romania, with a beautiful young lady named Danica. She was a good girl, always trying to help those who needed, and unselfishly gave up her time to do so. She was well loved by everyone, but no one loved her more than Count Leopold.

Count Leopold was an enigmatic man at best. He was much older then Danica was, and unmarried. Conjecture had it that once a woman had been inside his castle, she would never go again, and a few days later, she would be found dead. He could, therefore, never find a wife. And he only came out at night. But Danica never listened to such rumours. She always judged a person on what she knew about them and never harshly then.

One day, the people in Bucharest heard that Count Leopold had taken ill. No one knew what, exactly -- even the doctors were baffled. No one wanted to go near the place to help the count. Danica thought this was silly, so she volunteered to go sit with Count Leopold until he either died or got better. The townspeople all warned her not to do it, repeating crazy rumours of evil spirits, strange noises and other such horror tales. But as Danica never put much stock in tales like that, she ignored them and went anyway.

No one knew what happened behind those closed doors, save that Danica had not been scared away like so many other women had. She continued to go see the count, night after night, as he gradually became better. Even after the doctors declared that he was as healthy as he ever was, she continued to go; saying that Count Leopold liked her company, and as he was so old, she felt that she should not disappoint him. Rumour abounded about a love affair, but there was not much stock in it because of the age difference.

Danica's family grew concerned as her visits continued. Danica became paler and paler, weaker and weaker. When she slept through the day, she was prone to sleepwalking and bad nightmares. She would awaken screaming, only to sleep fitfully again. Finally, her father put him foot down, She was not to visit Count Leopold anymore. Danica pleaded, but it was just no use. Her father conceded to one last visit, for politeness' sake, so she could tell him not to expect her anymore.

Danica never made it back that morning. Her father beat down the door of the Count's castle, but there was no answer. The following night she appeared again, the same and yet not the same. Her brother was the fist to notice something strange about her. She had come into his bedroom to talk while he was shaving, and when he looked into the mirror, there was no reflection of her ! When he was about to ask her of this, she quickly left the room, and he could never be sure that it was not just his imagination.

About that time strange things began to happen. People began to get ill, bodies were found drained of blood. More and more people had picked up Count Leopold and Danica's habits of sleeping through the day. Wolves were howling in the night. Noting these strange occurrences, people began recounting the old legends of the nosferatu. Everything seemed to fit, they said.

Panic began to spread, as more people believed that it was the work of the nosferatu. One night they decided to storm Count Leopold's castle, as they believed him the cause. They all carried torches, and when the torches were thrown at the castle, the place became a blaze of light.

Count Leopold came rushing from the flames like a vision from many a terrifying nightmare. Werewolves were coming out from behind him. Danica's father carried a big stake. As soon as Count Leopold came close enough to him, he hurled the stake into Leopold's heart. Straight away, the count's power seemed to diminish. As he was dying, so to speak, he began screaming about a curse on Danica's family, brought on by Danica herself. Then Count Leopold's body disappeared and the castle burnt to a cinder.

Even at the end of the story, Kid was still confused "I still don't see what this has to do with Lou."

"Don't you?" Vladimir asked quietly. "Danica was my sister. Two nights after Count Leopold's castle was burnt down, my parents were found dead and Danica had disappeared. The townspeople of Bucharest were all afraid of us after that, and we were forced to leave Romania and come here to the New World. Only I fear we have the brought the curse with us. But no more talk about curses tonight. As only one incident seems to happen per night, we shall be bothered no more tonight. Let us get some sleep."

The next morning, Buck set out for Sweetwater to tell Teaspoon and the others what had happened (omitting the part about Danica's curse). As Lou was not yet strong enough to travel, Kid opted top stay with her.

That night something terrible happened. There was another wolf attack, this time on a small child who was not strong enough to survive the attack. Vladimir drove the wolf off by throwing a stake at it. Needless to say, Lou did not want to stay there any longer, so she and the Kid left the next morning.

"What do you think about this curse Vladimir was talking about?" Lou asked Kid as they headed back top Sweetwater.

Kid shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "I usually don't put much stock in folk lore like that."

As they rode past, neither of them noticed the body of a beautiful young woman, with a stake through her heart.

THE END