The Rough Riders

Brandenburg, Virginia, commonly called "Freak Central" by the more unusual inhabitants, wasn't always the tightly knit community that it became.

The first steps were taken by the Rough Riders, a hodgepodge "family" of vampires that were brought together by Slate McCormick. And it was their experiences with camaraderie, friendship and betrayal that led them to confide in Spider Pennworth, the woman who became 'Lady Exposition.'

Some wounds never heal, even for the undead, and when the stories were all told, it was those wounds that led to the first alliance of what would become Freak Central - an alliance between vampire and willworker, Slate McCormick and Jonas Foster.