The ride to San Antonio took them a few days in total. Thankfully, the cultists had left enough supplies around town that they were able to scrounge enough together to make the trip without issue. By the time they finally made it to the entry point of the city, Alain was wincing with every step his horse took.

"Fuck me…" he said. "If I never have to ride on a horse again, it'll be too soon…"

"Were you not a cowboy?" Sable asked. "I thought horseback riding was basically in your blood."

"Not quite. I've been just about everything there is to be in the outdoors, at least job-wise – frontiersman, outdoorsman, farmhand… you name it, and I've probably done it. But I wouldn't consider myself a cowboy. And besides, you of all people ought to know what's in my blood."

Sable let out a tired sigh. "You and the stupid vampire puns…"

"Consider it revenge for carrying me like a baby a few days ago," Alain replied. He looked over his shoulder. "Az, Danielle, you both doing okay?"

"We may need to stop soon," Az reported. "I think my horse needs a break."

"I'm not surprised; that horse basically has a brick shithouse riding on it. How about you, Danielle?"

"I'll be fine," she said. "We're almost there, anyway."

"Yeah, about that…' Sable began. "Where are you leading us, anyway?"

"To where my father was last staying," she said. "Like I told you earlier, he was only in this town for business. He was staying at a hotel with armed guards."

"He was?" Alain asked, surprised. "You didn't mention that part earlier."

She shrugged. "It didn't seem important."

A vein pulsed in Alain's forehead. "Look, Danielle – at this point, you should consider everything important. It's possible one of those guards was in on your father's disappearance."

"No, it isn't," she retorted. "My father personally hired and vetted all of his guards, and he paid them extremely well in order to keep them loyal."

"Perhaps they simply received a better offer from someone else," Az observed. Danielle gave him a side-eyed glance, and he shrugged. "I've been around humans enough to know how greedy they can get. Every soul can be bought; Judas' was for a mere thirty silver coins."

Alain suddenly caught sight of something on the main road into town, and stopped his horse. The others stopped behind him; he leaned in, squinting as he did so.

"Looks like there's a checkpoint set up leading into town," he said.

"I'm not surprised," Danielle told him. "They probably locked the entire place down after my father went missing."

"Yeah, well, let's hope they're friendly to vampires, because otherwise this is going to be a lot harder."

Alain snapped the reins, and his horse took off at a trot once more, the others falling in behind him.

XXX

"Halt," one of the guards said as the four of them approached the checkpoint. There were around ten of them, all dressed in Army uniforms and with rifles slung over their shoulders, though none of them seemed to be from Colonel Stone's unit; a shame, as it probably would have made getting into San Antonio much easier.

"State your name and your business here," the guard added.

"Alain Smith," he replied. "We're here looking for the missing senator. The three of us were hired by his daughter; I have her here with me."

Danielle peered out from behind Alain, waving at the guards. Instantly, they all blanched, exchanging a glance with each other.

"O-of course you do," one of them, a Corporal judging by the two chevrons on the shoulder of his uniform, said. "Our apologies, Miss Silvera."

"It's no big deal," she assured him. "Though, if you boys could just stand aside and let us through, we'd be very-"

"Wait," another soldier said; Alain turned to the sound of his voice and was met by a gruff-looking Sergeant approaching him. His gaze landed on Sable and Az, and his eyes narrowed. "Those two are vampires."

Instantly, the other nine men all reached for their rifles, snapping them up into their shoulders as they took aim at everyone but Danielle. Slowly, Alain raised his hands above his head, and Sable and Az did the same behind him.

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"Easy," Alain implored. "We're just here because Danielle hired us to look for her father."

"Like I'm expected to believe that," the Sergeant said with a snarl. "I've read about what vampires are capable of – apparently, they can control someone's mind with just a bite."

"Not necessarily," Sable said, sounding very unimpressed. "We have to will for it to-"

"Shut up," the Sergeant growled. He turned to two of his men and motioned for them to step up. "Check the cowboy and Miss Silvera for bite marks on their necks."

"So you are a cowboy after all," Sable said to Alain. He scowled, but offered no resistance as one of the two soldiers approached him and checked his neck.

"He's got puncture wounds!" one of them reported.

Instantly, the Sergeant's eyes went wide. "Miss Silvera-"

"She's clean," the other soldier reported.

"Oh, enough of this," Sable said, rolling her eyes. "Are you really trying to get in the way of official Tribunal business?"

"Tribunal?" the Sergeant asked, his eyes going wide.

"Tribunal?" Alain echoed under his breath, equally as confused. Sable gave him a knowing look, and he decided the best course of action was to be quiet and let her keep speaking.

"Honestly," Sable began, "do you bunch of morons really believe the senator's daughter would hire just any pair of random vampires off the street to help look for her father?"

"Wait, she hired you?" the Sergeant asked, perplexed. "I thought this was official Tribunal business…"

"If you're good at something, never do it for free," Sable replied without missing a beat. "She wanted the best, so she hired some Tribunal members; the Tribunal, for their part, figured it might as well be made official. So, consider the two of us envoys to your little town."

The Sergeant's brow furrowed. "Right, well, we'll need to confirm-"

"Do you not realize how little time we have?" Az questioned from behind Sable. "The man's been missing for several days now, that means each and every second matters. And the more time you waste holding us here trying to verify a story is yet more sand draining from his proverbial hourglass. Now, are you going to keep being a part of the problem, or are you going to start being a part of the solution and let us through?"

The Sergeant blinked once, then turned back to consult with his men. After a few seconds, he turned back to them with a nod.

"Okay, fine, I suppose your story checks out, especially since you have Miss Silvera with you already," he agreed, though he sounded none too pleased about it. "That being said, I'll need to record your names to have a record of who entered the town. I already have Miss Silvera and Mister Smith, but the other two-"

"Az," he answered. "Just Az. A-Z. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Sir, I'm going to need more than-"

"That's all you're getting from me. Take it or leave it."

"If I were you, I'd take it," Sable advised.

The Sergeant heaved a tired sigh. "...Fine. And you, ma'am?"

"Sable."

"I'll need a last name, too."

"That is my last name. Don't ask for my first name unless you want to know what a member of the Tribunal is really capable of. I assure you, whatever gory possibilities you may have just conjured up in your mind pale in comparison to the amount of paperwork I can drown this town in with just a telegram back to the others."

"Y-yes, of course…" The Sergeant stammered out. "My mistake; you may all pass, now."

With that, his men stepped aside, allowing them entry. Alain tipped his hat to them.

"Much obliged," he said. "Let's get going, y'all."

"You're doing the cowboy thing again," Sable said as they rode past the ten dumbfounded guards and entered town.

"Fuck off, Sable."

XXX

As it turned out, San Antonio was much smaller than Alain had anticipated. It was nowhere near as hustle-and-bustle as San Francisco or New Orleans had been, although it was still plenty busy – people moved through the streets with purpose, so much so that many of them barely offered Sable and Az more than a passing glance, though the few who did recognize them immediately took off running in the other direction.

"No, seriously, that has to get old fast," Alain observed as what had to be sixth person ran away from them.

"I don't know, I kind of like it," Sable observed. "Keeps things quiet, you know?"

"I suppose." Alain looked over his shoulder. "Danielle, where's this hotel, exactly?"

"Right in the center of town," she confirmed. "I think it's called The Silver Buffalo, or some fancy southern shit like that – you'll know it when you see it, believe me; you honestly can't miss it."

"I'll take your word for it," Alain replied.

The four of them continued riding on until they turned a street corner and were immediately met by a large, multi-story building that seemed to take up an entire block on its own. As if that wasn't conspicuous enough, the large metal buffalo on its rooftop gave it away immediately.

"Well, you were right about one thing, Danielle," Alain observed. "That is certainly impossible to miss."

"Right?" she asked. "Come on, I see some of his guards still milling about. I'll go talk to them."

Danielle rode her horse over to the front of the hotel, then stopped in front of it and attached its lead to a nearby tether; Alain, Sable, and Az did the same, then followed after her as she approached a tall man in a dark suit carrying a double-barrel shotgun.

"Hey, Murphy," she greeted.

Murphy's jaw dropped. "M-Miss Silvera?! What are you-"

"I came looking for Dad, obviously. Know where he is?"

"N-no, that's… I thought you were out of state! You can't be here, what if the kidnappers come for you next?!"

Danielle rolled her eyes. "Oh, lighten up, I can handle myself just fine." She patted her hip, where her revolver was resting in its holster. "And besides, I hired some help of my own to watch over me."

Murphy turned just in time to see Alain, Az, and Sable approaching. His eyes bugged out of his skull, and he snapped his shotgun's stock into his shoulder, taking aim at Az. Immediately, the three of them froze, and Alain raised his hands in surrender.

"Murphy, wait!" Danielle called out. "Those are my bodyguards!"

"So now we're bodyguards, too…" Sable muttered.

"Technically, that was part of the job already," Alain said.

"Babysitters, more like. This girl's a menace."

"She's also our ward," Az grunted. "Though I wish she'd speak up sooner so people would stop pointing guns at us."

"Somehow, I think being held at gunpoint is going to be a theme during our time here," Alain said, his voice dry.

After several seconds, Danielle managed to talk Murphy down, and he lowered his shotgun, exhaling as he did so.

"...Well, if she's willing to vouch for you, then who am I to argue?" he said. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine, it happens all the time at this point," Alain offered. "At least you didn't actually pull the trigger this time. Last time that happened, I was picking shotgun pellets out of Sable's stomach for days."

Sable cast him a baleful glance, then turned back to Murphy. "Mind if we take a look around the senator's hotel room?"

Murphy shook his head. "Knock yourselves out. The rest of us along with the local police have the scene secured, plus the government sent in some kind of hotshot private detectives from DC to help, too. I doubt you'll find anything they haven't already, but it couldn't hurt. If anyone gives you grief about poking around in there, just tell them I said it was okay."

"Sure thing, Murphy," Danielle replied, giving him a familiar smile. She motioned for the others to follow her. "Come on, let's get to work."

The three of them said nothing as Danielle led them into the hotel and up to her father's room.