The Vendetta Ride

The famous pursuit of the assassins of Abraham Lincoln, lead by some of the greatest hands of the Wild West, either because of personal stake or purely for money.
Lasting two years and dragging dozens of people into it's fold, they eventually managed to capture or kill all conspirators.
When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on the fateful night of the Grand Reveal, the country was in shock. The man who pulled the trigger, John Wilkes Booth; who had shown some incredible ability and athleticism for a man of his build and occupation, was pursued relentlessly. When federal agents finally tracked him down to a southern plantation, what they found shocked them all.
The posse of marshals that arrived at the plantation arrived in the middle of a party in full swing. Entering into the main house, barging past the doorman, they found a scene out of a nightmare. Blood coated the floor and walls, while some figures on the dance floor held their partners close before biting deep into their necks. Glasses of the viscous liquid were on every table, and the coppery scent of the stuff was overpowering. In fact, the retching noise one marshal made alerted the rest of the party to the marshals presence. One by one, sets of nocturnal eyes turned to them.
The marshals barely had time to draw their weapons before the creatures flooded forward. Their guns thundered, but their targets seemed to dance around their aim. They fought their way back to the door, losing half their number in the process, and continued back to their horses before riding hard into the night and until the creatures broke off their pursuit come morning. Of the 23 marshals that had entered the house, 3 made it to dawns first light.
The survivors could barely relay what had happened, but telegrams shot across country, informing the Whitehouse. As this was before the creation of the FBCD, the local army detachment was sent in. When they arrived, they found the house empty, any sign of who had been in attendance the previous night long gone.
All accept John Wilkes Boothe, who sat dancing in the ballroom by himself. To music only he could hear. When two soldiers attempted to grab him, he broke the ribs of one and crushed the windpipe of the other before drawing a revolver from his waistcoat. He was riddled with so many holes by the time he pulled the hammer back, he shouldn't have even been able to physically hold himself up, but he came on all the same. He managed to fire twice before he finally went down, leaving all of the soldiers in a stunned silence.
John Wilkes Booth had been thralled to a High Vampire. Of course, it took the government some time before they figured that out exactly. After all, despite the Grand Reveal many still didn't believe such a thin was possible, and myth and legend had to be sorted through to determine what was true now and what wasn't.
Not to mention they now had a whole conspiracy to unravel. Dozens of monsters that looked like people now scattered across the country. So scattered that it took nearly 20 years to find a proper lead, launching what would become the Vendetta Ride. A whole country out for revenge, and much more prepared to fight the creatures of the night than when they were first found.
Knowing the danger that these creatures posed, the government augmented it's forces with contracted guns for hire. Agents of the FBCD rode with guns of the Wild West, drawn in by the vast amounts of reward money on offer. Doc Holiday, Wyatt Earp and his brothers (one of which would be killed, and another maimed in the process), the Dalton Brothers, John Wesley Hardin, Wild Bill, The Wild Bunch, and the remains of Billy the Kids Regulators all were a part of the Ride at one point or another, though not all started from the beginning or toughed it out until the end.
Given a list of names, taken from an eventually tracked down and deciphered guest list, they were sent after the blood sucking fiends. At $500 dollars a head (quite literally in some cases) there were many unqualified individuals who cast their lot into the search and wound up dead. Or even worse, tracked down the wrong poor sod and delivered them to their maker early...
It took two years for every name on the list (the government regularly published an updated list with the names of confirmed kills crossed off), bar one, to be tracked down with a lot of blood, sweat, and tears being expended in the process. Dozens, if not hundreds of hunters were killed, by the Vampires or by each other and mishap. The last name on the last, one Amalia Van Eritan, still eludes authorities to this day. Despite her ring of vampires being broken up a dozen times at this point.

Conflict Type

Showdown

Start Date

June 30th, 1866

Ending Date

August 22nd, 1884