Vincent Finds Love In Laramie

by artworxchan

Vincent comes to Laramie, Wyoming, drifting until he finds what he is looking for - love. He is tired of conflict and simply wants peace. Like a hummingbird, he searches for sweet nectars. But when pleasure mixes with poison - all hell breaks loose. What will Jess Harper and Slim Sherman do about this stranger? Many mature, heavy topics, therefore marked as mature rating.

1. Part 1: Finding Love In Laramie

Vincent Finds Love In Laramie:

• Crossover: No

• Original Characters?: Yes

• Rating: 18 and up

• Timeline: Theoretically takes place during season 1 of Laramie

• Shippings: OC x OC

• Genres: Western, Romance, Mystery (kinda), thriller, Sci-Fi, horror

• Trigger Warnings: Blood and gore, violence, drinking, cursing, sexual themes, bodily horror

• Status: Complete

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Author's Note:

Hi everyone, Dana here! I have uploaded my Laramie fanfiction to fanfiction .net! I have included the neccesary information and trigger warnings above. As of April 7th, 2021, I am going to be finishing part 2 and uploading it soon. A few things I'd like to point out:

This is my first Laramie story. I am fresh to the series, my Mom had introduced me to it last year winter and I fell IN LOVE! I never really watch Westerns, and the old TV shows I now love my Mom introduced me to, like All In The Family and Good Times. I plan on writing some stories for those soon!

I started writing this Laramie fan fiction after only watching the series for a week or two, so I apologize if Jess and Slim are out of character! I asked my Mom for help a lot, mainly with the first half and general setting questions (such as what would they do in such an extreme situation as the climax, I am NOT familiar with Western settings much whatsoever, despite living in Arizona LOL)

I'm probably the only person in the whole wide world that would write such a crazy story idea as this for the Laramie series LOL! If you are new to my page, I will be making some art based off of this fan fiction soon! You can find me on Tik Tok, Instagram, and Twitter artworxchan

Please enjoy the fan fic!

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It is a hot summer midday in Laramie. Jess Harper and Slim Sherman are on lunch break enjoying some whiskey in the saloon. It is as chatty as ever, men laughing and having a good time. The saloon becomes a lot more quiet when a stranger walks into the saloon.

The stranger is incredibly tall, probably almost 7 feet, with dark brown hair, a hairstyle unlike anyone else in the town. His hair is styled back, with lots of layers all perfectly styled in place with a bang in the front as well.

The stranger walks to the far right end of the bar, the corner seat. He seemed to be aware that his presence made the saloon go quiet but didn't seem to care. Jess and Slim eye the stranger like everyone else. Some were already murmuring about him. The two were sitting at the far left end, directly opposite of the stranger; they could see him easily from where they are sitting.

Slim whispers to Jess, "You see that new guy over there?"

"Yeah, I was eyeing him too. I'm gonna go talk to him." Says Jess in his raspy, low voice. He gets up from his seat and walks over to the stranger, going around all the other men at the bar.

"I'll have an orange soda, please." the stranger says to the bartender in a smooth voice.

"A soda? It's been awhile since someone has ordered a soda at my saloon." The bartender gets the stranger his soda and the stranger leaves the coin on the bar counter.

"Thank you." Says the stranger softly as he took the soda which the bartender already opened for him. The stranger takes a drink of the soda and hums in delight. A smile forms on his face, until Jess approaches him on his right side and says, "Hi there, you must be new in town."

The smile on the stranger's face fades and his expression becomes neutral, not turning to look at Jess but replies, "Yes, I am."

Upon closer inspection of the stranger, Jess notices the stranger has a lack of a gun, wasn't wearing a bag of some sort or carrying anything with him. He also notices the strange watch the man was wearing.

"Well if you are outta line in this town, they are gonna throw you in jail." Says Jess in his ever serious voice.

The stranger holds onto his soda bottle with both gloved hands and answers calmly, still not turning to face Jess, "I am well aware of that."

Jess notices the very high quality material of the gloves, the outer side black and the inner side white. Every piece of clothing was very high quality, higher than he's seen any stranger come into Laramie wearing.

"Where are you from?" Asks Jess.

"I'm from Europe. Austria." The stranger's tone of voice was neutral once again. For being from Austria, the man's accent wasn't like he expected for someone from Austria. It sounded like a mixture of different European accents, all the while sounding smooth and even.

The stranger's eyes were completely hidden behind those dark indigo blue shades that faded up to a light cream color. Jess also notices the defined cheekbones the man has. Not a single blemish on the perfect milky white skin. It was a bit difficult to assess his age, the man could be anywhere from his mid-20's to early-30's.

"What's your name?"

"Doppler. Vincent Doppler. And yours?"

"Jess Harper."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Jess Harper." These words weren't as neutral as the previously said ones. There was a hint of warmth to it, more of sincerity than anything else. But it was still distant, as if saying hello from afar.

The stranger takes a small sip of his soda and sets it down on the bar counter gently. Jess couldn't help but notice the odd skin-tight shirt the stranger is wearing. A dark indigo blue with white trim at the high collar. Every muscle threatened to burst the seams, the defined pectorals could be seen a mile away. Whoever this man was, he was ripped. Despite this, his body wasn't bulky or veiny. He was more like a slimmer version of the Statue of David, muscles all present yet a smaller, defined waist.

The added icy white sash belt and smooth black shoes with white trim gave off an Oriental vibe, yet the man's top coat and pants is of Western style. Jess also notices the common colors of black, white, indigo blue, and earth colors, like the light tannish brown top coat and shades that fade up to a light cream color. Even the top coat has the white trim that is present throughout the whole outfit. Everything was color coordinated to a perfect style that Jess couldn't stop feasting his eyes on.

Unable to know what to make of him, Jess doesn't say anything else and gives Vincent one last look before turning and heading back to his seat with Slim.

When Jess sits back down next to Slim he asks him, "Did you see the watch he was wearing?"

"Yeah, I did."

Jess says as he eyes Vincent from across the bar, "I ain't seen anyone wear a watch like that in this town."

"Maybe it's a common thing where he's from. I mean it's obvious he ain't from around here."

"I'll keep an eye on him while doing some delivery work around town and see if he causes any trouble."

Slim nods and says, "Right." and then takes a drink of his whiskey.

Vincent drinks the remainder of his soda in silence and when he is done he thanks the bartender again and walks out of the saloon.

Jess walks out of the saloon and watches Vincent walk in the shade of the buildings of the town. Jess unfortunately had to head in the opposite direction for the deliveries, but would keep an eye on the tall stranger whenever he had the chance.

And walking around the town was all the stranger did, kind of. He occasionally would stand in the shade and observe the people go by, hands in his pants pockets, thumbs sticking out. After doing some deliveries Jess could see from across the dirt street Vincent had stopped at the local flower shop to smell the flowers on display. Upon smelling the flowers Vincent hums in delight, like he did with the soda bottle back at the saloon and that same smile forms on his face.

The shopkeeper smiles as she says, "You like the way those flowers smell?"

Vincent looks at her and nods, saying, "Yes, they are lovely."

"Do you got yourself a pretty lady to buy some flowers for?"

"No, but I would like to buy some flowers for myself."

She says with surprise, "Oh! Alright then, come inside and follow me." She laughs and Vincent smiles and nods, following her inside.

Jess sees the whole thing and raises a quizzical eyebrow as he says to himself, "That's odd." He walks off and continues his deliveries duties for the early afternoon.

Vincent continues to walk around, now holding an entire boutique of flowers of all sorts of variety. He smells the boutique once more, smiling and humming as usual, when suddenly he senses that a group of five men are staring at him from outside the saloon. He stops walking, the smile disappears from his face and his head turns sharply as he looks at the group of men eyeing him from across the main dirt street.

When they realize he is looking directly at them, they go back inside the saloon without saying a word. Vincent continues to walk around town, etching their faces into his mind in case they were a threat later on. Jess sees this but doesn't approach the men or Vincent. Jess wonders out loud, "How did he know those men were eyeing him?"

It was late afternoon. Vincent had walked around the entire town by now. Jess was also done with his deliveries for the day and sees Vincent head into the local hotel. The only hotel, really. Jess follows him but keeps his distance. He sees Vincent walk up the stairs to the second floor. Jess continues to follow but by the time he arrived at the second floor, Vincent was just entering his hotel room and closed the door behind him. Jess decides to head home back to Slim for some food. He was hungry after a long day of work.

Vincent takes a bath upon entering his hotel room and after an hour exits his bathroom, dries his body and hair as any normal human would do. Only he purifies his clothing with a light touch and faint glow, then proceeds to go to bed with only his pants and undergarments on. He lays there with the blankets over himself and tries to rest.

During the time that Vincent was bathing, Jess had already made it back home. As soon as he saw Slim at the dinner table eating he gave a greeting, "Hey, Slim."

"Hey Jess. How was work?"

"The usual. Long, boring, the weather is hot as hell. Do you remember that stranger that walked into the saloon today? His name is Vincent Doppler."

"Hm? Yeah, I do. What about him?"

Jess sits down at the dinner table in front of his plate that was already served for him as he says, "I kept an eye on him like I said I would. He didn't cause any trouble or do anything wrong, just acted a little odd."

"How so?" Slim said before drinking some water.

Jess was chewing a piece of bread and swallowing before answering, "He stopped at the flower shop, smelled the flowers and then bought some."

"Yeah, and what's wrong with that?"

"He bought them for himself, Slim."

"Oh."

"The shopkeeper asked him if he had a pretty lady that he wanted to buy flowers for. He said no, and that he wanted to buy flowers for himself."

"Really? That is odd. Anything else odd that he did?"

"Yeah. I saw him again a little later, holding and smelling the flowers he bought. When suddenly he stops walking and turns his head, staring at some men that were across the street at the saloon. It's like he knew they were feasting their eyes on him. When they noticed, they walked back inside the saloon without saying a word. Then Vincent continued to walk around the town like nothing happened."

"Huh, that is really odd. How did he know they were looking at him?"

"I dunno, but later on I saw him again, entering the hotel. I followed him but kept my distance. His room is on the second floor, fifth room on the right."

"Maybe you should go back to the hotel and watch him for a bit tonight. Those men may try to do something rotten at night when people are asleep. When he's asleep."

"Yeah, you're right. It's really odd. He seems to tune out the town, yet is completely aware of his surroundings. I better get going as soon as possible."

"Be sure to eat first, you don't wanna go into a gun fight without any energy."

"Yeah."

After Jess is done eating he heads out back to the hotel but the group of men sent two of them to the hotel before Jess had arrived. They asked the front desk lady which room contained a tall fellow by the name of Vincent Doppler and she told the two that he was on the second floor, fifth room on the right. They headed straight upstairs and when they arrived at the door they gave a hard knock.

Vincent was awake. He moans in annoyance when he hears the knocking.

"Oh boy, trouble."

He slowly rises from the bed, takes his shades that were on his nightstand and puts them on. He then walks over to the door and opens it.

The men have serious faces as one of the two ask, "May we come in?"

"What do you want?"

Suddenly the man pulls out a gun and points it at Vincent, who backs away and the two men enter the room. The other man closes the door behind him. Vincent continues to back away and puts some space between him and the two men.

"You seem to be a man that loves money, judging by your expensive clothing. We have an offer for you." Said the man pointing the gun.

Jess arrives at the hotel and enters. He goes up the stairs but as he walks up, he hears voices from Vincent's room. He keeps his hand on his holster and slowly walks towards the fifth room on the right.

While Jess was walking up the stairs, inside the bedroom Vincent answers to the man, "Oh? An offer?"

"I want you to rob the bank for us. If you do, we'll give you 20%."

"Why should I help you?"

"Because if you don't I'll blast a bullet through your brain." Barks the man.

"You don't want to mess with me. You two are making a fatal mistake. I could kill you two in half a second. No, even less than that."

"How could you do that? You don't even have a gun."

Vincent smirks. "Why don't you come and find out?"

The man's right eye twitches and he fires a bullet at Vincent. To both of their shock Vincent grabs the bullet, crumbling it with ease and before they had a moment to react, his head unravels into two morph blades and slices them to bits.

As soon as Jess hears the gunshot he runs through the hallway and busts into the room with his gun pointed and ready to shoot. But to his confusion Vincent is in bed at the far right end of the room with his back to the door. Vincent sits up and turns around, his shades on his nightstand and the lights off. The only light in the room was from the open door and the sheer curtains of the windows.

Jess lowers his gun and asks, "What happened to the men in here?"

"What men?" Says Vincent.

"I thought I heard some men in here. They fired a gun."

"What? No, there were no men in here."

Jess doesn't say anything for a moment. He would've sworn he heard men in the room, and also Vincent's voice, but there was no one else in the room.

Jess says slowly, "Well I guess when you're right, you're right."

Vincent exclaims, "Is it normal for people to barge into people's hotel rooms in this town? I ask that you leave and close the door on your way out. I want to sleep."

Jess barks, "Normally we don't, but if we hear a gunshot, we would like to save somebody's life. A gunshot means someone is killing someone, or that someone is being killed." He then turns around and leaves, shutting the door hard behind him.

Vincent doesn't say anything for a moment and then chuckles. He then turns around and goes back to resting.

Jess immediately goes back home to tell Slim everything. Slim was awake and chilling on the porch with a lamp fire lit as he waited for Jess to return.

As soon as he saw Jess arrive he sat up. "So what happened? Is Vincent alright? Did those men attack him?"

Jess walks to the porch and begins, "I thought I heard a gunshot in his hotel room, but he got kinda short with me because I "barged in".

"Guess he doesn't know that we normally try to save people's lives around here when we hear a gunshot. He doesn't know that a gunshot means someone is killing someone or someone is being killed."

"That's exactly what I told him. I also heard some men talking in his room and would've sworn I heard Vincent talking, but he flat out denied it."

"Well now we know that if he's in trouble we ain't gonna help him until he asks for our help."

"You're right. I know I heard a gunshot and men talking but he was the only one there. When I came in he was laying in bed. Don't you think that's a bit strange?"

"Yeah, it is." Slim tried to wrap his brain around it, but couldn't think of an answer.

"I'm going to keep my eye on him still. I think I'll give him a little visit in the morning as well.

"Yeah, I'll come with you. I'm going to head to bed."

"I think I'll do the same."

The next morning Jess and Slim got up, ready for the scorching hot Saturday and went to the hotel to visit Vincent. When they arrived they saw Vincent about to sit down at a corner table by himself to eat breakfast.

They approach him and right when Vincent was going to take a bite of his pastry, Jess greets with a, "Hey there, Vincent. This is my friend, Slim Sherman."

Slim waves, smiling, "Howdy."

Vincent sets his pastry down and looks at Slim from top to bottom, then looks at his face and says, "Hello, Slim."

"Mind if we sit down and join you while you enjoy your breakfast?" Slim asks with a smile.

"That's fine." Vincent says in a neutral tone of voice.

Both men sit down at the two empty chairs. Both Jess and Slim notice the ridiculous amount of pastries on Vincent's glass platter - not plate - platter. And that pastries was the only thing on his platter. At the side of his platter was a tall glass of milk.

Jess asks, "So, ya like pastries, Vincent?"

Vincent says in a playful yet sarcastic tone, "What would make you think that?"

Vincent picks up his pastry and takes a bite. He cheerfully hums and smiles upon tasting its sweet flavors. It was as sweet as nectar and all-natural. Nothing was artificial.

Slim says, "Do you always eat this many pastries for breakfast?"

Vincent swallows his current bite and answers plainly, "No." Then drinks a small sip of his milk.

Jess returns the sarcastic remark, "So you only eat this many pastries on Saturdays?"

Vincent sets down his glass of milk gently. "No. I simply like sweet food. Sweet things. I haven't come across pastries like this before, so I wanted to try one of each." He takes another bite of his pastry.

Slim asks, "How can you eat so many?" Slim has never seen anything so absurd in his life. And from a stranger like him. His mysterious and serious look did not match the sweet foods that he claims to like. Not only that, Vincent was ripped. How could he eat so much sugar?

"I have a big appetite." Vincent says as he looks at Slim with something between a smile and a smirk before taking another bite of his pastry, then proceeds to wash it down with some milk.

Jess says with a serious tone of voice, "Well enough talk about that. I want to know what happened last night."

Vincent states, "I already told you before, there were no men in my room. You even said that I was right. No one was there but me."

Jess barked, "I don't believe you - I know what I heard!"

Vincent didn't say anything for a moment. People were looking around at the three of them.

Vincent spoke up, "If you don't believe me, that's your problem. You even saw for yourself when you barged into my room that no one else was there but me. If you continue to yell, I will walk away."

Jess was getting ticked off. He abruptly stood up and turned around to everyone else eating breakfast. "Did anyone hear a gunshot last night in this hotel - second floor?"

Upon getting no response from anyone, he yells, "Anyone!?"

Just as he said he would, Vincent stood up from his chair and began to walk away.

Jess barks after Vincent, "Where do you think you're going?"

Vincent replies without looking back, "I'm going to my room. Do not follow me."

Jess was about to follow Vincent when then Slim held Jess back by the left shoulder. "Just let him go, Jess."

Jess looked back and forth between Slim and Vincent, and ultimately decided to let Vincent go.

"Fine. I'll let him go….for now." Jess said under his breath but loud enough for Slim to hear.

Slim states, "He hasn't done anything wrong. You saw him almost the whole day yesterday!"

"I know, but I can't just shake off the feeling that something isn't right. That he's hiding something. Something rotten."

"You have no way of proving it. Come on, let's go."

Jess and Slim went about their daily duties for the stage coach line. They met at their usual time at the saloon for lunch. To their surprise, Vincent enters the saloon the same exact time he did yesterday. He also sat at the exact same spot at the bar as he did yesterday, the far right corner.

"I'll have a strawberry soda, please." Vincent says to the bartender.

"Another soda? Do you always drink soda?" The bartender gets the soda ready.

"No." Says Vincent plainly.

The bartender raises a quizzical eyebrow. "How often do you drink?" He hands him the glass bottle of soda.

"I don't drink alcohol. And thank you." Vincent takes a drink of his soda, hums as usual, and smiles. "This one is refreshing, I like it."

"You like that flavor? It's a popular flavor. Probably the only one that really sells around here."

Vincent nods and doesn't say anything else as he continues to drink his soda in silence.

Jess and Slim watched the whole thing from their seats.

Slim says to Jess, "Guess the whole soda and pastries thing makes sense now. The guy's got a sweet tooth."

Jess says in his usual raspy low voice, "Yeah, I wonder what else odd there is about him that he's not telling us."

Slim suggests, "Maybe I can go talk to him, he might be mad at you still."

Jess grunts, "More like I'm still mad at him. I know my gut, Slim. I trust my gut. I know he's hiding something. I just can't figure it out."

Slim gets up and says before walking away, "I'll go talk to him."

Vincent was quietly enjoying his soda with that same smile as usual. He sees Slim approach him, and turns to face him.

"Howdy there, Vincent."

"Hello, Slim."

"So, uh, you like drinking soda, eh?" Slim was unsure how to start the conversation, he didn't think that far by the time he got over to Vincent's side of the bar.

Vincent says in that same playful yet slightly sarcastic tone as earlier, "Oh, what would make you think that?" He drinks some of his soda, a little more than the usual small sip this time.

"Well uh, you're drinking soda."

"Yes?"

"So you must like it."

"Why are you really here?"

"Well, can't two men have a conversation? Seeing as you are new in town, I was thinking I could get to know you better."

"Hmm, I see..." Vincent smiles and drinks some of his soda before setting it down on the bar counter gently.

Jess was watching the conversation between Slim and Vincent from his seat. He noticed that Vincent seemed to open up slightly more to Slim than him. He wasn't sure why. Now that he thought about it, it was kinda odd when Vincent looked at Slim from top to bottom, almost like he was scanning him. Jess couldn't figure out what Vincent had in mind while talking to Slim, but would absolutely make sure that Vincent doesn't do anything odd or weird to his friend.

Suddenly a notification shows up on Vincent's watch, to which Vincent presses a button at the side of the watch which causes the screen to go back to black.

Slim notices this and asks, "What kind of watch is that?"

"Where I come from, this kind of watch is common."

"Oh really? But what kind of watch is it?"

"The kind found in Austria." Vincent takes his glass of soda and another drink of it.

"I've never seen anyone with a watch like that in this town." Exclaims Slim.

"I can believe that."

"What can it do?"

"What can what do?"

"That watch."

"What else? Tell the time."

"Those looked like words to me before you pressed that button, not numbers."

"You could read it?"

"No. I don't know the language, but I know they weren't numbers. Or at least didn't look like em'".

Vincent doesn't say anything, when suddenly the sound of three men barging into the saloon caught everyone off guard, except for Vincent.

The three men look around and when they spot Vincent they immediately approach him. One of them points a gun at Vincent, barking, "What did you do with Clint and Cooper?"

Vincent doesn't turn to face the three men, not saying a word.

"Answer me! We haven't seen them since yesterday. Where did you put them?"

Vincent says calmly, "I don't know what you're talking about."

He picks up his soda to take a drink when suddenly the man shoots a bullet at Vincent's drink, causing it to explode.

"I could've shot that bullet through your head. Now you will tell me where they are or else I will shoot a bullet through your brain!"

Vincent didn't move an inch upon the bottle being shot. The drink was all over him and he held half of what was left of the bottle before hissing, "I liked that drink. That was mine. You'll pay for that." He crushes the glass like it was nothing and stands up from his chair.

"Oh really? You don't got a gun, pal. How dumb is your rich ass?" He was laughing and looking around at his men as he says, "You think you can walk into this town without a -" the man was silenced when Vincent smacks the man in the face faster than lightning. The man went soaring and out the saloon doors.

But it didn't stop there, he crashes into the middle of the dirt road and rolls like a tumbleweed all the way to the other side of the street - bumping his head into the brick wall of the bank.

Before the other men could turn around to shoot their guns at Vincent he does a 360 roundhouse kick, kicking one of them into the other. They crash into each other and into an empty table with glass plates and bottles so hard that the table splits in half upon impact. All three men were knocked out cold.

The men in the saloon were shocked speechless, including Jess and Slim. What happens next shocks Jess and Slim even more, however. Vincent turns to the bar counter, takes out 4 bills of money from his coat pocket, lays it on the counter and tells the bartender, "To pay for the damage expenses, and for two bottles of strawberry soda."

The bartender picks up the money and his jaw drops when he sees the amount. "This is four hundred dollars! This is way more than needed for the damage and two bottles of pop!"

"Oh. Then give the house a round of drinks for the next week, on me."

The whole saloon was filled with the sound of men cheering and clashing their drinks. The bartender hands Vincent his two bottles of soda and the tall stranger slips away among the crowd of men laughing joyously.

Slim and Jess look at each other, until Jess decides to go after Vincent. Slim follows after asking, "Where are you headed, Jess?"

"I'm going after Vincent!"

But by the time Jess and Slim make it out of the saloon, Vincent is nowhere in plain sight.

"Damn, he's fast. Where'd he go?" Jess looks around, Slim exiting the saloon shortly after.

"Yeah, he is fast. Maybe he went back to his hotel room?"

"Yeah, you're right. He probably did."

"But why are you going after him? He didn't do anything wrong - he just bought everyone drinks on the house for the next whole week!"

"Did you see how fast and hard he smacked that guy that shot his soda? I have never seen anyone fly like that from a smack to the face!"

"He's a big fellow, and strong lookin', too. Of course he's gonna pack a punch! And he didn't do anything wrong - he defended himself!"

Jess grunts and begins to head towards the hotel. "I'm going to go ask him some questions whether you like it or not, Slim!"

"Then I'm coming with you!" Slim jogs after Jess, not letting him go too far by himself.

Slim catches up with Jess and they enter the hotel. The duo goes straight up the stairs to the second floor, fifth door on the right and stop in front of it.

Jess knocks on the door, saying a little firm and loud. "Vincent, it's me, Jess, and Slim. We wanna talk to you."

Upon getting no response, Jess knocks again. "Vincent?"

There was no response again, and the door was locked from the inside. There was a keyhole on the door. "A lock was installed on the door. He probably had it installed after what happened last night."

"Then where could he be?"

"I dunno, Slim."

"We should probably head back to the deliveries, before it gets any later."

"Yeah, you're right. He'll come up sooner or later. He's not hard to spot."

While Jess and Slim were looking for Vincent, the said stranger had headed to the flower shop again. But before heading towards the flower shop however he goes behind the saloon building, making sure no one else was around. With a wave of his hand, he removes the glass and drink from himself and his clothing. Then he went on his way.

When he arrives he smells the flowers on display. These ones were different than the ones from yesterday. He hums in delight, like the call of a hummingbird looking for his female partner.

And just like that, the woman shopkeeper walks out of the shop. When she sees Vincent smelling the flowers, she smiles. "Are you going to buy flowers for yourself again, mister?"

Vincent turns to her. "No, but I brought you this." He shows her the two bottles of strawberry soda. "I was hoping you and I could enjoy these together."

"Oh! For me? Oh my, you shouldn't have!" He hands her the bottle and she blushes, thanking, "Aren't you such a dearheart. Thank you."

Vincent smiles. "You are welcome. Are you able to sit down with me now to enjoy these?"

"Oh, of course! Hardly anyone visits the shop on the weekends. We can sit right here." She motions to the bench.

"Sounds wonderful. Ladies first." He smiles and she smiles too as she sits down and he sits next to her.

He opens her bottle for her and then opens his. "Thank you." She says as she brushes her brown hair behind her ear before taking a drink of the soda. "Oh my, this is delicious! It's been a very long time since I've had a soda. Why, probably when I was a little girl is when I last had one."

"I can buy you as many sodas as you want." Vincent says with a smile.

"Oh, you're too kind, mister!"

"Please, call me Vincent." He looks into her bright blue eyes when he says this, but she doesn't know that due to his shades being so dark.

"Well, Vincent, you are very kind. Oh! I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Claire."

"Claire. What a beautiful name for a beautiful young woman like you."

Claire blushes upon hearing this. "Oh, aren't you just the sweet talker!"

"My words are sweeter than strawberry soda, but I'll still buy you as many as you want, Claire."

She and him laugh and giggle, both enjoying the company of someone new.

"What's your last name, Vincent?" Claire asks before taking a sip of her strawberry soda.

"Doppler. Vincent Doppler." He says smiling before taking a sip of his own soda.

"Oh wow, that's an interesting name, now isn't it? My last name is Rose. So my full name is Claire Rose."

"So your last name is Rose and you work at a flower shop? I should've seen that one coming." Vincent states in a playful tone.

The two of them laugh together, then Vincent takes another sip of his soda.

"So where are you from, Vincent?"

"Europe. Austria, more specifically."

"Oh really? You traveled all the way from Austria?"

"Yep."

"That's incredible! What do you do for a living?"

"Oh, I have no need to work, my uncle died and gave me his inheritance. I am free to travel the world as I please. Explore, find new places, meet new people." He turns his head and looks at her smiling, "People like you, Claire. It's not often I travel to towns like this. As much as I like the city, I often find the people in small towns have a heart of gold, and are the kindest of people in the world."

Claire giggles and blushes a little. "That's great to know, Vincent. But if you're saying you're a city man, then you've got an even bigger heart of gold than anyone else. I don't know any city man that has bought me soda like this, and has been as nice as you."

Vincent nods, "I'm just being myself. So tell me about yourself, Claire. Is your flower shop a family business?"

"Why, yes it is. My Ma and Pa are going to hand it down to me when I'm ready. I get a feeling that will be soon."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, they said when I find a special someone who treats me real special, genuinely out of the kindness of his heart."

Vincent grins. "I'm happy to hear that, Claire." He takes a long, slow drink of his soda, then continues again, "I hope I can be that special someone for you."

Claire laughs, "I guess we'll have to see."

And so Claire and Vincent spent the rest of the afternoon with each other. Around 2:45 PM Jess saw Vincent and Claire talking, enjoying their sodas still. Jess could see how happy Claire looked while talking to Vincent, and how happy Vincent looked talking to Claire.

"So that's why he walked out with two bottles of pop. Guess he won't be buying flowers for himself no more." Jess mutters to himself as he gets back to his delivery work.

From that point onward, Vincent didn't spend any time in the saloon and all the time out of his hotel with Claire. He helped her around the shop, buying her soda, talking with her when the shop wasn't busy, and even cooked and ate lunch with her a few times.

Jess still kept an eye on Vincent, not letting his guard down even for a second. Those men seemingly left town, but they weren't gonna go without getting back at Vincent. They begin to spy on Vincent and Claire, and just as Jess said, something rotten would go down.

Around midweek at the saloon Slim and Jess were enjoying their usual lunchtime whiskey, when then Slim exclaims to Jess, "I haven't seen Vincent in the saloon since the day he bought the whole house drinks for this whole week."

"Yeah, he's been with that new girl, Claire, at her flower shop. He spends all his time with her, it seems like."

"Really? Seems kinda odd. Maybe her comment about buying flowers for a lady made him wanna court her."

"I still can't trust him. I still get the feeling that something isn't right."

A man sitting at the bar next to Jess says, "Jess, that man just bought all of us drinks for the whole week! This is the best week of my life! Free drinks for a whole damn week! I've never had free drinks for a whole week! And from a stranger, no less! Not a friend, not a local of Laramie. A stranger. He's a saint in my book!"

The men with him cheer and tip their glasses together, agreeing, "Yeah!" "A stranger saint!"

Jess grunts, "Yeah, yeah. So the guy's got money. So what?"

"Oh?" Begins the man. "I don't see you buying drinks for the whole house for a whole week, Jess. And you've been here for a long ol' while! Why don't you buy us drinks for once?" The men all agree shouting, "Yeah!" "Yeah, Jess!"

Jess barks, "I don't have that kinda money, you know that! But with the way y'all are treatin' me after all the times I've saved this town! Even if I had the money, I wouldn't do it for the likes of y'all!"

The drunk men bark back, "What!?" Before things could escalate, a man comes into the saloon shouting, "Hey! Hey! Everyone! The barkeeper is throwing a dance in Vincent's honor this Saturday for buying the whole house drinks for this whole week!"

The entire saloon goes wild, cheering Vincent's name over and over.

Jess slams his whisky shot on the counter and walks out. Slim follows, yelling, "Jess! Jess!"

Slim catches up to Jess outside the saloon and asks, "Jess, where are you going?"

"Back to work, that's what. And don't expect me to be at that dance, either!" Jess walks off in a huff and Slim stops and sighs.

Just as Jess was walking off in a huff, he sees Vincent and Claire coming out of the bakery with cookies.

"I can't believe you gave the baker a $100 tip! That's awful nice of you, Vincent!"

"Eh, it was nothing. Anything to help out your friend's family. It's the least I could do."

Suddenly Vincent senses those familiar energies coming in, those hostile energies. "Claire, there's some men coming, go back to your shop!"

"What? What do you mean?"

"Remember those men I told you about? It's those same men, they're coming back into town! Now go!"

"How do you know?"

"Just a gut instinct! Please, Claire! Before they arrive back here!"

Claire's face is one of distraught but she runs back to her shop anyways.

Vincent turns around and faces the direction of the entrance of town.

By now Slim had walked over and over heard Vincent and Claire. He approaches Jess and says, "We better get ready for a fight, we may need to intervene."

"Right." Jess agrees.

Jess and Slim get their guns ready for the trouble coming and hide at the side of the bank.

And just like that, the three men from before come riding into town on their horses, heading straight for Vincent. They stop in front of him.

"Well, well, well. Here you are, Mr. Filthy Rich - standing here waitin' for us? How'd you know we were comin'?"

"I know your type. You are the sore loser type - the kind of man that can't accept defeat, so you come back for revenge to cause chaos."

"My boys here have been keeping an eye on ya for me. You've been with that pretty little lady, haven't ya? Where is she now? It seems you've been spending all your time with her. Now all of a sudden she's not with ya anymore?"

"Why bring her into this? She has nothing to do with this." Vincent smirks as he eyes the man's shotgun. "If you were a real man, you'd try to beat me the way I beat you. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

"You got an awfully smug look on your face for a man with a rifle pointed at him."

"Exactly. The men of the West have too much confidence in their guns. Their weaponry. You are nothing without that gun. Real power comes from within, not the weapon. You think you're a man? You want your revenge?" Vincent takes a basic martial arts stance, beckoning to him. "Prove it and come get it." He smirks.

The man on the right horse points his gun shouting, "Why I oughta-" "No!" Began the head leader. "He's right. Besides, I want him to feel the beating of a lifetime. We'll settle this the old fashioned way. I'm getting sick of gun fights anyways, I've been itching to knock his perfect white teeth out, after what he did to me and mine! Get off your horses and drop all your guns, we're fighting him all at once!"

Vincent smirks while motioning, "I'll even let you tie your horses down over there. No need to worry about me shooting you behind your back, no guns on me."

The men sneer and tie their horses to the side at the saloon, dropping their guns to the side of their horses. They then come towards Vincent with the three of them in a row.

They stop in front of him until they are 8 feet apart from him.

Vincent raises his fists to eye level and taunts, "Well come on, ya slow pokes! Hit me!"

The man on the right that tried shooting Vincent earlier runs and throws a punch for him. In one blazing second Vincent side steps to the left, grabs the arm of the man, twists the man's arm to throw him over and sends him plummeting to the hard dirt ground - knocking him out cold.

Claire watches from inside her shop through the window and is shocked at what she sees unfolding. "Vincent?"

Before the other two men could react in time Vincent does a 360 roundhouse kick and kicks the leader into his goonie. They both crash into each other and roll on the dirt in a tangled mess. Before they have a chance to get up Vincent does a quick turn, runs towards the bank wall, scaling it, quick turns on the wall and by the time they are getting up he's soaring through the air and comes down on the other goonie.

"GAAAH!" Vincent's sheer body weight and velocity forces the air out of the goonie's lungs. The goonie is then greeted with a smack to the nose so hard it bends it out of shape.

Jess sees the leader take a derringer out of his boot to come down on Vincent. Jess is about to intervene, but the leader misses his shot when Vincent does a reflex fast kip up - pushing his feet into the leader's gut and sending him flying across the dirt road. By the time the leader is flying through the air, Vincent is already on his feet and running towards one of the free horse railings. Vincent springboard jumps off the railing and flips onto the roof of the saloon. He lands perfectly on his two feet.

The leader scrambles to his own feet, desperately looking for his gun, but time - and more importantly - speed, was not in his favor or in his fighting skill set. He looks up towards the blinding sun only to see a black overcast in the shape of Vincent. When he realizes what's happening Vincent delivers the final blow with a hard smack down right in the teeth. The dirt ground cracks upon impact.

Vincent rises, slowly walks over to the derringer that the leader had dropped earlier and picks it up. He looks at it with a smirk, walks over to the now groaning leader and exclaims, "I knew you couldn't give up your guns. Pathetic. You are weak."

He throws the gun at the leader like a ninja dart. It wacks the leader's forehead, bouncing off of it and sliding across the dirt ground. A goose egg forms and he passes out cold.

The derringer stops at the feet of Jess Harper with Slim Sherman right behind him.

Jess approaches Vincent and asks him, "Are you a prized fighter? I have never seen anyone fight like that in this town."

Vincent brushes the dust off his clothing as he states, "I've traveled across the globe and have had access to many types of fighting techniques, masters from both the East and West."

Suddenly Claire comes running over and hugs Vincent, exclaiming, "Oh, Vincent, I'm so glad you are okay!"

Vincent smiles and they look at each other as he cups his hands around her face. "As am I, Claire."

Claire smiles back at Vincent, when then Jess asks another question, "What exactly initiated the conflict between you and those men?"

Vincent turns to Jess and answers, "They tried to rob me before I came to this town. I thought they were out of my life, but I guess not. I'm not sure myself why. All I want is peace."

Slim steps in and says, "Similar situations have happened before. We want you to know that we have your back, that you can count on us to help out if anything else happens."

Vincent nods. "Thank you, Slim. Now if you'll excuse Claire and I, the two of us have some cookies to eat."

"Hold on, Vincent. We gotta ask these men their side of the story before we can put them in jail. You'll need to be there for that."

"Oh. Alright." Vincent said. Then turns to Claire. "I won't be long, dearheart. You go back to your shop, I'll be back soon."

"Of course, Vincent." She smiles.

The three men wake up and realize they are in the questioning chairs of the jail house. They also see Jess, Slim, and Vincent there. They are wearing handcuffs.

Upon seeing Vincent, the leader abruptly gets up but Jess pushes him by the shoulder back down to his seat. "Now hold it! You three are gonna be asked some questions. We want to hear your side of the story."

Slim asks, "What are your names? Starting with you." He points to the leader.

The man looks at the finger and sneers. "The name is Bart Rider. These here are my brothers, Bill Rider and Bruce Rider."

Jess asks, "Is it true that you and your brothers tried to rob Vincent?"

"I-" begins Bart, but suddenly he stops talking and gets a spaced out look in his eyes. So do his brothers Bill and Bruce.

Jess and Slim raise a quizzical eyebrow, looking at each other. Then Jess presses, "Well? Did you?"

Bart says while looking at the wall, his voice monotone, "We did try to rob him. But he got away."

Jess and Slim look at each other again, then Slim looks at the three brothers. "Well, if you're admitting to it, then you know what will happen next. Come on, Jess."

The three brothers are locked up in their jail cells and Jess and Slim approach Vincent. "Well, you're free to go, Vincent."

"Thank you." Vincent nods before walking out of the room.

Jess says to Slim, "I'm surprised they admitted so easily. You don't think Vincent is lying?"

"I dunno, Jess. They did act strange all of a sudden. But, they said it, and they didn't struggle. I would just let it go."

"Hmm…" Jess and Slim return to their stage coach duties for the remainder of the day.

The Rider brothers are alone in their jail cells. They all blink rapidly at the same time and have a look of confusion. "What the...how?" Began Bruce. All the brothers quickly walk up to the bars of their cells and talk to each other.

"Bill, what the hell happened?"

"I dunno, Bruce. It's like I fell asleep, but was awake!"

"I think this was Vincent's doing!" Exclaims Bruce.

"But how?" Asks Bart.

"I don't know! Did it happen to you two as well?" Asks Bill.

"Yeah, it did happen to me." Confirms Bruce.

"Me too." Says Bart.

"This must be a trick! Maybe we've been drugged!" Exclaims Bill.

"There's nothing we can do now. We'll have to wait for an opportunity to get out of here." Says Bart.

"How?" Asks Bruce.

"Oh, something will happen. With that Vincent, something will." Bart exhales.

On Thursday evening, Claire informed her parents during dinner about Vincent. When her parents heard that this Vincent was the same Vincent that bought a round of drinks for the house for the whole week and fought against those men in Laramie, they were eager to encourage her to marry him.

On Friday evening, Vincent invites Claire to a walk together to the nearby river. Claire and Vincent enjoyed the sounds of the night, the crickets chirping, the owls hooting, the frogs ribbeting. Claire holds onto Vincent's left hand. "Do you always wear those gloves?"

"Yes, when I am out and about." He smiles.

"I would love to hold your hand, Vincent. Really hold your hand." She gives him fluttering eyes.

"Well...alright." Vincent takes off his glove with his other hand and puts the glove in his coat pocket. She locks her fingers with his.

"Oh my, your hand is so warm, Vincent."

"You warm my heart, Claire. My whole body radiates with burning passion and warmth for you." He smiles and she giggles and blushes a dark shade of pink.

They continue their walk towards the river, passing trees and bushes, the cool breeze of the wind blowing their hair.

When they reach the river they stop in front of it. The river water was still, shining in the moonlight like a glassy mirror.

"The water is so still we can see ourselves!"

"The moon is watching over the two of us, tonight, Claire." He turns to her and smiles.

She slowly turns to him and blinks a couple times. "I've never seen your eyes before, Vincent. Please, take off your glasses and show me."

Vincent looks surprised for a moment, but then smiles and takes off his shades to reveal to her his eyes.

Upon seeing his eyes her heart fluttered with love - like the fast fluttering wings of a female hummingbird. His eyes were big, innocent looking. A little on the round side. They shined an icy blue fitting of a man as mysterious and serious looking as him. Yet they continued to look innocent and curious, like a child. His eyelashes were curled perfectly, even the lower lashes were like a babe's.

"Oh my goodness…" she exclaims to herself.

"Claire…" began Vincent. He takes out of his other coat pocket a small box. He gets on his knees, opens the box, showing it to Claire and asks, "Will...will you be my wife, Claire?"

Claire gasps softly. The sapphire blue ring gleams in the moonlight. "...Yes. Yes, I will be, Vincent."

He stands up, takes the ring out, and puts the ring on her ring finger. She looks at it up close, it was the most beautiful ring she has ever seen in her entire life.

Before she knows it, Vincent's perfectly sculpted lips come closer to her and they share a kiss.

Their gentle kissing becomes more passionate as the seconds pass. Vincent drops the box and wraps his arms around her, dropping her under the shadows of the nearby trees. They make love that night, the moon and her shining glory the only witness of their act of passion.

He took off each article of her clothing, one by one. He nuzzles himself in the crook of her neck, giving sweet yet sensual kisses from her neck all the way down to the first prize. She giggles from the small pecks and experiences newfound pleasure when he begins to suck on her nipples.

"Oh, Vincent…" she moans, but he gently presses a finger to her lip and whispers, "Just enjoy the moment, dearheart."

The moon began to pass through the night sky, still witnessing their act of love. The second prize.

Vincent thrusts himself into Claire, gently at first, slowly speeding up the pace. She lay on her back on the grass and Vincent sat as he thrusts into her. Claire is scared at first, but his kisses to her stomach warm her from the inside out, relaxing her for him to go further.

The moon continues to pass. The night grew colder but their act of love kept them warm and passionate.

"I love you! I love you! I love you! I love you!" Pants Vincent as he speeds up his thrusts, pushing himself further and further into her pocket.

Claire tries to speak but could only let out breathless and excited moans. Vincent proclaims his love for her over and over, both of their blue eyes dilated almost black.

The moon is now covered with the foggy clouds of the night. She does not want to see what will occur when their act of love is completed - she turns her face away.

Saliva begins to flow down the sides of Vincent's mouth as he moans in pleasure, "Ooohhhhh, it has been far too long…"

Claire could barely think, let alone understand her lover. "Huh? Vincent?"

"Claire, take my seed, and bring our baby into this beautiful world! Protect him with your life!"

Vincent throws his head back and growls into the night in his native tongue, "Mea!"

He spurts his release inside of her, the warm, creamy and milky white fluids overflowing.

Claire passes out from her intense yet silent climax, her womb filled with Vincent's seed.

Vincent lets out a final moan and the top half of his body slumps on top of her. His head rests on her breasts, letting his body be consumed in the afterglow. He presses his right ear against her, hearing his handiwork already working on the inside of her. His sperm in her womb creates an invisible barrier. No other man could release his seed into her womb.

Vincent rubs his palm over her slim tummy and hums in delight. "You are mine. You will have my offspring, and only my offspring. We are one, my mate." He kisses her stomach and pulls out of her, erasing from existence the evidence in the area. He sends her home in bed, wrapped in her blankets, like how her new baby will be wrapped in a blanket one day.

Vincent found love in Laramie.

The evening of the dance had finally come. Slim decides to go, despite Jess not wanting to come. This isn't the first time Jess didn't want to attend a dance, and the fact that this one was in honor of Vincent made him not want to attend even more.

The women are wearing their best dresses, the men their best suits. Vincent is wearing his usual outfit. Or rather, his only outfit, but it wasn't unfitting for the occasion. He and Claire sit together at the tables, drinking punch. Claire's childhood friends, the daughters of the bakers, are there. A man shouts. "May I gather everyone's attention?"

The whole room goes quiet. The man states, "I, the barkeeper of our saloon in Laramie, pronounce a toast for our new friend, Vincent Doppler, who so kindly paid for the damages in the saloon and a round of drinks for the whole house for this whole week. Cheers, for Vincent!"

Everyone raises their glasses, except for Vincent, "For Vincent!"

Meanwhile, Jess is back at home and can't stop thinking about the dance. Something in his gut is telling him to go to the dance, but his pride overrides his gut feeling, for once. It gnaws at him from the inside out, he just couldn't stop thinking about Vincent. He tried letting the stranger be for the week, but it was just nagging at him so much he pounds his fist on his bed, runs out to get his horse and rides back to Laramie.

After the cheers, people are already beginning to dance to the lively music. Claire's friends whisper something in each other's ear and they giggle, nodding in agreement to go on with their little prank. One of the girl's pours a glass halfway with whiskey, the other girl halfway with a red fruit punch. The two girls snicker as they mix their concoction with a spoon and head over to Claire. Vincent was looking around at the dancers.

"Psst. Claire!" They whisper in sync.

"Huh?" She turns to her friends.

"We got some punch for you to give Vincent. I noticed his cup was empty, so here is some punch for you to give him."

"Oh, thank you so much, Belle! And thank you Lillian!" She takes the cup from her friend, completely unaware of what would unfold. She turns to Vincent, "Hey, Vincent."

Vincent turns around to her, "Yes, dearheart?"

"My friends got some punch for me to give to you."

"Oh, that was nice of them. Thank you."

He takes it and drinks it. The whiskey doesn't hit him right away, surprisingly. Both Belle and Lillian were watching him the whole time, but upon seeing no immediate reaction out of Vincent, their excitement deflates like a balloon.

The song playing now was a softer, slower, more romantic song. Vincent turns to Claire, offering his hand and says lovingly, "May I take this dance with you?"

Claire smiles, "Oh of course, Vincent."

She takes his hand and he leads her to the dance floor. They begin to dance slowly, along with the other young couples, and older couples as well. Slim watches by himself, wishing that Jess would lighten up for once and come to a dance.

Vincent and Claire look into each other's eyes. Vincent asks softly, "Claire?"

"Yes?"

"Will you always love me?"

"Of course, Vincent!"

Vincent gasps softly, a look of relief and joy appears on his face. "Thank you. Thank you so much!"

They hug romantically, both smiling and enjoying the warmth of one another.

After about 25 minutes of dancing, Slim notices Vincent looks incredibly sick.

Vincent is sweating, a bit shaky. When Claire notices this she stops dancing and asks him, "Vincent, is there something wrong?"

"I...I don't feel good. What...what was in that drink your friends gave you?" His vision is beginning to become blurry, and sooner than he expects he is losing his sense of balance. He stumbles over his own two feet and falls to the ground. The music stops abruptly. Claire immediately drops to her knees to help him up.

"Vincent!" She cries out.

Belle and Lillian feel incredibly guilty. Belle comes forward and asks, "Is he alright?"

Claire snaps at Belle, "What did you put in his drink!?"

Lillian comes forward and confesses, "We mixed a little whiskey with his punch - that's all! We had heard that he doesn't drink, it was just a little joke, that's all!"

"What!? Do you realize what you've just done!?" Vincent shouts at them while holding a hand to his head while his other hand props himself up. Vincent begins to moan and groan from the sick feeling building up in his entire body.

"Oh, Vincent!" She holds onto him and turns to her friends snapping at them, "He told me that alcohol makes him feel really sick! It's not that he doesn't like it! Look what you did to him!"

Slim comes over and sees what's happening from up close. Vincent was shaking, eyes twitching, his teeth clattering like crazy. Slim looks around and shouts, "Is anyone a doctor, here!? He needs help!"

"N-no! I don't need a doctor! Get away from me!" Vincent scrambles to his feet and tries to leave the dance, but his vision was too blurry at this point. He stumbles when he runs and everyone begins to back away.

"I-I-I can't hold it any longer!" Vincent stands and grips his hands into shaking fists.

"Vincent!" Shouts Claire as she goes after him.

"I SAID GET AWAY!" Vincent snaps as he turns around and thrashes his arm at her, but she was too far from him.

Claire stops abruptly and looks like she's about to cry, when suddenly the one she loves reveals his true self, not of his own will.

A thin tear appears across Vincent's forehead, like his skin was ripping. Then, another tear diagonally across his eyes, nose and high cheeks. Then, a third tear across under his nose. Finally, his head unravels like silk tape into three morph blades that slice through the air faster than the human eye could see.

The three morph blades stop abruptly in front of Claire as Vincent says with a trembling voice, the area from below his nose still normal, "Claire, I'm sorry, I love you!"

Claire is the first to scream and run. Immediately after shrieks of terror fill the room as women and men run out for their life. Jess arrives into town just as he hears the screaming and runs as fast as he can to the saloon. The doors burst open and people pour out running to their homes, screaming at the top of their lungs. There was too much chaos but Jess runs to the saloon anyways.

Slim is in shock, frozen - too terrified to move an inch. Jess comes in and is shocked at what he sees. Two of the men are brave enough - or rather foolish enough - to pull out their guns and start shooting at Vincent.

The bullets pierce through Vincent's clothes and into his skin. Normally their bullets wouldn't affect him, but with the state he was in his defense was reduced to less than half.

"AGH! STOP SHOOTING, I CAN'T CONTROL IT!" One of Vincent's morph blades stretches out and slices the two men in less than half a second, blood splattering everywhere.

"Slim!" Shouts Jess to Slim, which upon hearing his friend's voice, Slim snaps out of it and turns around.

"DUCK, SLIM!" When Slim realizes what Jess meant, Slim ducks, barely missing a slice from Vincent's morph blade as it cuts through the back of Slim's shirt collar but luckily not his skin.

Jess grabs Slim by the hand and runs with him, shouting, "EVERYONE GET OUT NOW!" The rest of the men run for their lives but one of them trips over a table leg.

"I SAID I WAS SORRY! I DIDN'T KNOW THIS WOULD HAPPEN! CLAIRE, COME BACK!" Suddenly the back morph blade slices the man that tripped in half down the middle and blood splatters everywhere again.

Slim is going into shock again, his hearing begins to become muddled, and could feel Jess pulling him by the hand as they both run out of the saloon and Jess shut the doors on their way out.

Jess runs to his sheriff's office immediately and begins to send a telegraph.

TELEGRAPH: STRANGER IN LARAMIE. UNPRECEDENTED EXTREME DANGER TO WORLD. SEND HELP IMMEDIATELY. ALERT PRESIDENT ULYSSES S. GRANT.

Slim was still in shock. Jess shouts at Slim, "Slim! Slim!"

Jess runs to Slim and starts shaking him by the shoulders, "Slim!"

Slim jerks and finally snaps out of it as he looks at Jess with wide eyes.

"I just sent a telegram to the cavalry. They should be here in a day. Now tell me what happened at the dance, Slim!"

Slim says with fear and guilt in his voice, "You were right, Jess. There was something wrong about him. Something rotten. We're not dealing with something normal!"

"Forget about that and just tell me what happened!"

"I don't know what happened! After Claire's friends mixed whiskey with Vincent's fruit punch and they gave it to Claire to give to him, he drank it. Him and Claire danced, but he looked real sick. Then he….he…."

Slim turns away from Jess quickly and starts pacing back and forth. "It-it-it-its like his head unraveled! He is not a normal human being! I don't think it was of his own accord, those blades! He kept saying he couldn't hold it any longer! He kept apologizing and yelling for Claire to come back!"

"I knew I should have come to the dance! I let my damn pride get the better of me. I knew something rotten would happen!"

"Well what do we do now!?"

"All the women and children need to leave town, go home as far away from here as possible. Make sure all the businesses are closed and get every man available with all the guns we got. If things get really bad before the cavalry arrives, we'll have to use every bit of dynamite at hand! Now we need to move!"

Meanwhile, Vincent is still in the saloon and in his shifted morph blades form. "Fuck! This is bad! I need to look human but I can't control them!" He tries to morph the blades back to become his head, but they only shapeshift partially before becoming the morph blades again.

"They won't completely shapeshift! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I need to look human! I need to look like someone else!"

He balls his hands into fists and attempts to shapeshift his body, but it just reverts back to his current form. "Fuck! The alcohol is too far into my system! I'm stuck like this until it wears off! Need to leave town - get away from their guns!"

Slim and Jess run out and get the word around but suddenly they hear the saloon doors being sliced in fourths. Vincent stumbles out of the saloon and almost falls down the steps of the saloon porch but his morph blades plant into the ground to stop him from falling.

Slim shouts, "How far can those things reach!?"

Jess points his gun and barks, "Guess we'll have to find out!" He fires bullets at Vincent who is getting up and the bullets pierce through his skin.

"GAAAAH! STOP IT! BEFORE I GET ANGRY!" Vincent's third morph blade stretches out to slice at Jess but it doesn't reach him, barely by three feet as it slows down and wobbles. Jess took this as an opportunity to shoot the fleshy, long part of the blade.

"FUUUUUCK!" Screams Vincent upon his morph blade being shot at.

The blade part explodes off and falls to the floor, squirming and making a squealing noise like a parasite. After 5 seconds it finally shrivels up and dies. The remaining fleshy part of the morph blade returns to Vincent and morphs back to become the middle part of his head. Everything from underneath his eyes was normal looking, including his shades.

The Rider brothers can hear the chaos from inside their jail cells. "What the hell is going on out there!?" Asks Bill.

The tallest brother, Bruce, tries to get a look by standing on his bed and peeking out the tiny window. His eyes shot open wide when he saw Vincent in his morph blade form.

"Wh-what the hell!? What the fuck!?" Bruce curses as stumbles over from his shock and falls off his bed onto the cold stone floor.

"What did you see!?" Asks Bart.

"V-V-V-Vincent! H-h-h-his head is!" Bruce couldn't give a comprehensive answer.

"What about his head!?" Bart asks angrily.

"H-he's a monster!" Bruce cries out.

"STOP SHOOTING GOD DAMMIT! I CAN'T CONTROL THEM! LISTEN TO ME! PLEASE!" Vincent cries out in desperation as he faces Jess' direction.

"Shoot at the flesh branches from afar on my order and take cover!" Orders Jess to the men, who all hide around buildings while keeping their distance.

Vincent steps onto the dirt road. He cries out desperately, "I didn't want this! All I wanted was love! I try to be peaceful with humans but they always screw things up! Please stop and listen to me! My blades will only kill those who shoot at me or get close! I WANT LOVE! I WANT CLAIRE!"

"FIRE!" Commands Jess. All the men begin shooting their bullets at the fleshy part of the morph blades. The blades retaliate and deflect the bullet shells back at the men. Some were killed instantly, while others the bullets thankfully missed. Jess is hit in the right shoulder while a bullet grazes Slim's left thigh.

"Shit!" Shouts Jess, to which a wide grin appears on Vincent's face, or rather what was still formed of it.

Vincent says with emotional pain and anger in his voice, "Ha! That's what you get! But you deserve much more, for causing me so much trouble and pain! I'll never have Claire back! Now you better listen up, men! This time your lives depend on it!"

Back at the homes where the women and children are, there are a few men here and there keeping watch outside the homes with their guns ready. The women huddle together by the fire, scared and worried sick for their husbands. But the most scared one was Claire.

She can't stop crying, covering her face as her friends plead, "We had no idea this would happen Claire! We're so sorry!"

"No! You don't understand!" Claire cries between sobs, suddenly the women in her house realize.

"Wait...Claire, did you….did you have sex with him?"

Claire removes her hands from her face, slowly nodding her head yes.

Claire's mother gasps and holds onto her chest, she felt like she was going to have a heart attack.

The women are in shock and so are Claire's friends.

Vincent states with grandeur and outstretched arms, "My love, Claire, has been filled with my seed. She will give birth to a half-breed of human and Alterer! But don't bother trying to abort it! You won't find anything. It may be sperm, but it is still a part of me. I can control it however I please - hide it, merge it with her inner flesh. Her fate is sealed. She is mine. No other man will be able to fill his seed into her womb. If I can't have Claire, then no one can. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"FIRE!" Yells Jess as the men continue to fire at Vincent. Once again his two remaining morph blades deflect the bullet shells back at the men. More were killed, some injured, but this time Slim was hit in the outer right arm.

"AGH! I'm hit!" Yells Slim, holding onto his injured arm.

Vincent continues, "The alcohol affecting my nervous system will wear off eventually. You miserable humans will never catch up with my race! Yet you scum were blessed with such a beautiful planet! It sickens me! If you drop your guns and run now, I will spare you. If my words are not enough, then I will show you what I am capable of…"

Vincent points an open palm to the sheriff's office, fingers together, when suddenly an energy sphere whirls in his hand.

The Rider brothers can hear the sound of the energy beam and look out the window. But by the time they saw what was happening, it was too late.

Vincent shoots the energy beam at the sheriff's office. It is as wide and tall as the building, completely obliterating it and everything in its path for the next 3 miles.

The men that are left drop their guns and run for their life. Even Slim got up to run.

But not Jess. Jess was shocked - but he wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"Slim! Plan B!"

Slim heard Jess and both ran off.

Vincent sounded confused. "Plan B? What is plan B? Heh, you humans actually have a backup plan? The cavalry won't come in time. You humans are going to die! Every single one of you! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Back at the homes of the women, they are trying to abort the baby but when they look, there is nothing there.

"I don't understand! You said you had sex with him, right?" Claire's friend says as the women are frightened.

"Yes! I did! I swear I'm not lying!"

Suddenly they see a man arriving at the homes on a horse from Laramie. "The men are gonna blow Laramie with dynamite! We need to go!"

The men that are guarding the houses all got the women and children on horses and in wagons and they move as fast as they can from away from their homes, their town. The town they loved and grew up in, will be gone.

Vincent walks around the town slowly, trying to sense for Jess, Slim, and the other men. His ability to sense other life forms was not working very well, it was a muddle of energies and he couldn't find their specific location. "There's too many of them. My body will recover soon, however."

Vincent outstretches his hands again and he shouts, taunting, "What could you humans possibly have planned to try and kill me? You human scum have no idea what you are up against." He walks around, he can sense the energies running away.

"Where are you all going?"

The breeze of wind picks up as Vincent continues to walk around. He hears the sound of a sizzling, and walks towards the sound due to his curiosity. He makes a turn around the corner of the entrance to town, but by the time he figures out what is happening, it is too late.

The dynamite explodes right in front of Vincent, taking the town with it and bursts into a huge fiery explosion of flames.

Jess and Slim riding on their horses could feel the force of wind moving out in a wave from where their town once was. Jess looks back while riding on his horse, then looks forward again as he swallows. He hopes it is enough to kill Vincent. If it isn't, he just cost everyone their entire town.

The women and children can see the explosion from afar gasping in horror. Claire's mother exclaims, "Oh dear God!" The children begin to cry, holding onto their mothers as the women begin to cry too.

Claire watches the explosion from the wagon. Her eyes grow wide and she whispers to herself, "This is my fault. This is all my fault."

Claire screams at the top of her lungs, and begins to cry uncontrollably. "HOW COULD I LOVE A MONSTER!?" Her mother holds onto Claire, hugging her tight and holding her close.

Everyone had camped out, exhausted and traumatized. Everyone was by the fires they set up, huddled together in the cold with their blankets. Claire sat by her mother, a distant, spaced out look in her eyes. No one had said a word since the explosion. Everyone was still processing what was happening.

Jess stands up and begins, "Alright, everybody. I know what has happened this evening is shocking to everyone. But now we know that men like him exist in this world. We need to be prepared and have a plan." He motions to Claire, "We need to protect our women, children, and men. Everyone needs to be protected."

Jess walks over to Claire and kneels in front of her. "Claire, we heard from Vincent-" "DON'T SAY THAT NAME!" She screams and hides her face in her knees that are hugging her chest.

Jess and Slim look at each other, then Slim exclaims, "Claire, I know this is hard for you. It's hard for all of us-" "I had sex with him!" She yells.

"We know. We know, Claire. We-" "I don't want to talk about this anymore! Please just make it stop!" She starts crying again and her mother hugs her tight.

Slim and Jess look at each other again. Jess continues with a serious tone, "Now look, everyone! I know this is hard for all of us! But in just a few short hours we all just lost the entire town! Laramie is gone! Now with what we saw and know about him, it could've ended up a lot worse. Everyone could've ended up dead. He is not human. He called himself Alterer. He is not of this world. But we do know one weakness."

Slim stands up too and says, "Alcohol. He said during the battle that it affects his nervous system. Now we know that we need to be alert for anyone that we meet that says he or she doesn't drink alcohol."

Jess adds, "We also know that his race can change shape, to some extent. We also found out today that his flesh branches are a weak spot. Think of it like a tree. His body is the trunk, with branches at the top. Those branches are a weak spot for him. But his blades react to movement. They seem to have a mind of their own. His blades are fast and can deflect our bullets. We also found out that when his body is weak from the alcohol, his branches can only go so far. The distance from the saloon to the other side of the road is the maximum distance. One last thing. He can create some type of explosion with his hands. He blew up the sheriff's office and destroyed everything in its path for about three miles."

Everyone gasps upon hearing this. Jess quickly adds, "Now don't panic! It could've been a lot worse. He could've aimed the explosion at us, and we would not be here if that happened. He destroyed the sheriff's office to show us what he is capable of."

Slim states, "Jess sent a telegram immediately after leaving the saloon. The cavalry will be on their way, they should be here by tomorrow. Let's just thank God that we are still alive - that not everyone died today. We will mourn our men who fought so bravely to protect us. But for the rest of the night, we need a breather. We need rest."

Everyone falls asleep for the night. The men who were injured were bandaged and taken care of by the women before going to sleep.

By early morning, Jess couldn't move on without knowing whether or not Vincent was dead. He quietly gets on his horse and rides back to the remains of Laramie.

Jess arrives at the ruins of the town. Everything was destroyed. He rides into the rubble on his horse. Vincent is nowhere to be found. "Where is he?"

Jess' horse neighs in a squealing-like way, the horse's ears flickering in all directions. Suddenly the horse lifts its front legs up and squeals again, Jess exclaims, "Woah, there!"

Fear runs down Jess' gut when he hears the sound of flesh morphing instantly behind him and the hissing shing of a blade. Before Jess had a chance to draw his gun two long pieces of flesh wrap around him tightly.

Jess is constricted and struggles to break free. He is lifted into the air and turned around so Vincent could speak to him face to face. The horse was stuck in place, it couldn't move no matter how much it tried.

"You lowlife humans thought that would be enough to kill me? HA! Foolish of you. But I will give you a warning in particular, Jess…"

Slim was waking up already. He could barely get any sleep after what happened. When he realizes that Jess is not asleep next to him, he immediately gets up and on his horse back to Laramie to find Jess.

Jess could barely speak as he croaks, "Just - what the hell are you!? Are you and your race demons!?"

"Angels, actually. Or rather we used to be. I can sense your friend Slim coming here. By the time he arrives however, I will have departed this planet. I am feeling strangely merciful, Jess Harper. As stated before, I try to make peace with humans but they screw things up. Humans act so irrational. I will spare you and restore your town back to its former state. However, I want my mark to be made on this town, so that my race will know that this is my territory. Unfortunately, some of us Alterers can act just as irrational as humans. Any Alterer that passes through this town will know that I have claimed it. Think of it like a warning sign for my race, to be extra careful when in Laramie. My race has been breeding with humans for over a century. It has been decades since I last filled a human woman with my seed. Claire will give birth to my beautiful offspring! One of my many beautiful offspring. You humans think you are the only intelligent life forms out there? Think again. I can sense your friend Slim arriving soon. Remember the name of my race! The Alterers! Good luck trying to find us, though. We have a knack for blending in. Hahahahaha!"

Vincent slams Jess to the ground, knocking him out. With a raise of his right hand, his hand begins to glow and the town begins to repair itself back to normal. In just a few short moments the town looks normal again. With the snap of his fingers the bodies of the men who died during the battle and dance frenzy are in neat rows and columns.

His hand lowers to his sides. He suddenly exhales sharply, releasing an invisible Alterer wave. To humans, it would feel like a gust of wind. But the wave wraps itself around the buildings and objects in the town. Vincent then smirks before laughing maniacally and teleporting away.

When Slim starts getting close to Laramie, he is shocked to see the town back to normal. He rides in and is relieved to see Jess alive but also shocked to see the row of dead bodies all lined up in rows and columns. Slim gets off his horse and runs to Jess, shaking him by the shoulders to wake up. "Jess! Jess!"

Jess wakes up. His eyes shoot open wide and he points his gun at Slim out of reflex.

"It's me!" Slim shouts.

"Oh, sorry, Slim." He puts away his gun and props himself up with one hand while the other holds onto his head. He groans and says, "My head hurts like hell." He realizes. "Vincent - where'd he go?"

"Vincent isn't dead? And Jess, look around."

Jess gets up and looks around. Laramie is back to normal, then Jess turns and sees the dead bodies. Jess immediately turns to Slim. "Vincent did this! When I came into the remains of Laramie to see if he was dead or not, he wasn't in plain sight. Next thing I know I hear his flesh moving, then before I had a chance to grab my gun I'm wrapped tight by his flesh branches!"

"Did he hurt you? You don't look hurt."

"No, he just slammed me into the ground and then I passed out. But Slim, he brought back Laramie, but, Laramie will never be the same."

"What do you mean?"

"He said he was going to leave a mark on Laramie, to warn his race that this is his territory. I don't know what kind of mark, but now if his race passes through here, they'll know to be extra careful, extra secretive about looking human. He said good luck trying to find them, that they have a knack for blending in."

"Do you think he means they can change the way they look?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking. If they can change their whole body, not just their heads, that just opens a whole other can of worms to deal with. We'll bring everyone back to Laramie and try looking for this mark of his."

"I don't think it'll be a mark we can see, Jess."

"Well it's better to look and check the town, we don't know if it's really the same. God knows how he was able to put everything back together."

Jess and Slim go back to the others to bring the men to check Laramie before bringing the women and children. After they checked the entire town, everything appeared to be as normal. Even the saloom and sheriff's office was normal, no blood or evidence of any sort. Jess and Slim were unsure how Vincent managed to do it, but at the same time were relieved that Vincent didn't decide to kill everyone.

By the time everyone had arrived back to Laramie, the cavalry was arriving. The cavalry enter and look around. Jess and Slim approach them.

"We got your message, Jess Harper. Where is this unprecedented extreme danger, the stranger you mentioned?"

"He's gone, general. He left."

Slim says, "But he left evidence of his doing." Slim points to the dead bodies on the ground.

The general and the other soldiers all go towards the dead men. A look of horror comes over their faces.

"One man, one stranger - did all this? Killed all these men?"

"He was no man, general. He wasn't of this world." Jess says seriously.

"Now what are you talking about?"

Slim begins, "It's one crazy story, but it's real. Everyone alive here can testify to that."

Jess and Slim explain everything in detail to the cavalry.

The general didn't ask any questions, only listened to the unspeakable tale. He could only imagine.

"Sweet mother of God. And you're telling me that he got away? That something like that is on the loose?!"

"It's not just that, general. He marked Laramie as his territory. His race is among us, among humanity, I mean."

"We get the feeling they can change shape - not just their heads, but their whole body - after what Vincent told Jess." Adds Slim.

"This cannot be left alone. The word will go to President Grant. The entire country must know. We'll be on our way. Is there anything we can do to help Laramie now? And about Claire Rose, when her baby is born, what will happen then? What will she give birth to?"

"We have no choice but to kill the baby when it is born." Says one of the soldiers.

"Food and supplies would be good. And extra men, security. We don't know if another Alterer will attack Laramie again." Slim states.

"We brought some food and supplies already. We'll gladly leave some men here as well. It seems Laramie has lost a lot of men already."

"We'll be giving a proper burial, general. There will be a lot of mourning for a while." Jess says.

"I still can't wrap my head around it, er..." The general realizes what he said, then continues, "but these dead men are enough proof for me. We'll be on our way, we can't lose any more precious time."

The cavalry general and a few other soldiers leave, the majority of them staying in Laramie.

The town of Laramie, Wyoming, began the funeral for their lost loved ones. The town could not fully process what had happened. The funeral was long, many graves all lined up on that sad hill.

The day after the funeral, the town was never the same. People went about their daily business, only going through the motions of life. Very few were in good spirits, even the children and young ones could sense the depressive spirit of the town.

No one spoke to Claire Rose since the day of the incident. The day her life changed, forever. She couldn't stop thinking of what if scenarios. What if I never had sex with Vincent? What if my friends never gave him the punch mixed with whiskey? Would I be happy with him, if I never knew what he was? Would I be happy, if I never knew I would give birth to a monster? Would all those people have died, if I never gave him the drink?

She went through the motions like everyone else, but for her, it was different. She had a living thing, growing on the inside of her body.

A part of her wanted to have it killed as soon as it was born. A part of her wanted to commit suicide. But what if the baby is still born somehow even after her death? What if she kills herself, and it is in vain?

She didn't have the strength or willpower to end her life. She wanted to live, to somehow, just somehow, move on, and pretend that Vincent Doppler had never existed. She wanted to live life as if he never came into her own.

Yet she still wore that ring. That beautiful ring, the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. She could never afford such a ring herself. Neither could her family. But wearing it only brought her pain. Only reminded her of how sweet and beautiful life was for those short few days. The happiest days of her life. She had never been happier.

...

***Claire. What a beautiful name for a beautiful young woman like you.***

***Oh, aren't you just the sweet talker!***

***My words are sweeter than strawberry soda, but I'll still buy you as many as you want, Claire.***

...

***Claire…will...will you be my wife, Claire?***

***...Yes. Yes I will be. Vincent.***

...

***Claire?***

***Yes?***

***Will you always love me?***

***Of course, Vincent!***

***Thank you. Thank you so much!***

...

No. She could never forget. Never move on. A part of her wanted to love him, truly. But she knew better than to seek him out. She wasn't dumb, no matter what her friends have always told her. She wouldn't take that risk.

His words echoed in her mind every night. She wept, mourned, every night. The loss of her loved ones. The loss of her virginity.

The loss of her innocence. She seems to have lost everything, except for her life. Would she take her life and lose that too? Her mother and father would mourn for the rest of their lives. She could not do it. She kept telling herself. She would not do it. She had to be strong, just like her father had told her.

She knew her parents were eager to have her marry Vincent because of his wealth. Now they felt extremely guilty. They felt it was all their fault.

But the damage had already been done. There was nothing they could do….for now.

The cavalry kept watch and an eye on Claire. Guarding her and her parent's home. They told her it was for her own protection, but she wasn't stupid. She knew that the baby growing inside of her was half-Human, half-Alterer. The moment it is born, they would kill her baby. Her first born, her only baby - would be killed.

She dreads that day. Even if she wanted to start over, find someone new, she could never have another baby. After Vincent changed her inner flesh, she could never have another child.

As a woman, being stripped of the one thing she is designed to do. Procreation. She didn't feel like a woman anymore. She didn't even feel like a human anymore. Because although she was alive in the flesh. Breathing, moving, eating, sleeping.

That fateful day, she had already died.

It is autumn. There was the sound of men riding quietly on horses through the night, towards the river not far from Laramie. The same river that Claire and Vincent had gone to during their night of sex.

When they arrive, the man leading the pack of men gets off his horse and walks towards the river. He looks around, then at the clear waters swaying gently before him. He turns to his right and looks at the trees that Vincent and Claire had hidden under that fateful night. He keeps walking towards it and stops suddenly. He bends down, picks up a small black box, and opens it.

"Well boys, I was right. Here's the proof of our hard and long searching." His voice was that of a young man. A man in his prime age of 25.

He gets up, turns around and shows them the small box.

"Boy, boss! You got the best instincts out of all of us! For being a half-breed, you sure got a real good radar for them waves!" Says one of the men excitedly but quietly. Despite their boss being so young, the men themselves appeared to be in anywhere from their 30's to late 40's.

"You got that right. I can sense he already marked his territory in that town not too far from here. But I can also sense that he's no longer around here. He may have already left the planet by now."

"Damn, so we just missed him. What do you want to do now, boss?" Asks another one of the mysterious young man's henchmen.

The young man looks towards the direction of the town. He says with an evil glint in his shining eyes, "We're goin' to Laramie."

TO BE CONTINUED…..

---

Author's Note:

Well everyone, that is the Laramie story part 1! Dang, that was just friggin sad. This is what I meant on my profile that I mainly touch on mature topics for my writing these days. I've grown so much as a writer since I first made this account back in 2013.

Also, I know there is no flower shop in Laramie, I just added it in for this story, as the flowers, hummingbird/nectar references are symbolism. C: The cover art is of Vincent with a hummingbird on his hand, and in case it went over your head, pretty much the only two things on hummingbirds minds are food and sex - food being the sweet nectars from flowers, so Vincent loving sweets and obviously the sex with Claire. :P You can read more about it online, I did a little bit of research and the hummingbird perfectly fit for this writing, as well as the bleeding hearts flower background :D

Thank you for reading and please let me know what you think! One last thing. A lot of you Laramie fans may have been wondering where Andy and Jonesey were this whole time. I decided not to include them, as it would have made the fan fiction much longer than I had intended. They wouldn't be neccessary to the plot anyways, but you'll see them in the second part. :) I might do a short one shot of what happened while they were away, possibly meeting an Alterer for themselves but not even knowing :O

We'll have to see if I wanna do that later on XD Please drop a follow for more Laramie fan fiction!