The Sheriff and his two Deputies along with the man called Carpenter and a Franciscan Monk named Brother Sebastian trudged up the hill to the entrance to the old Delgatto mine. The full moon provided enough light to illuminate their path, not that Carpenter and the Monk needed it, but they slowed their pace and walked behind the lawmen to give the illusion that their vision was hampered by the darkness.

When they reached to top, Styles kept them all at bay with two six shooters trained on them. The sight of Miss Holly lashed to the post caused their blood to boil with anger and they glared angrily at Styles. He was unmoved by their stares.
"Mister, you should have never come back," the Sheriff said through clenched teeth as he struggled to keep his anger in check.

"I had to. I had to prove to you all that she is a demon in human form," Styles responded.

"You tried already tried that twice and the only thing you proved was that you are touched in the head," the Sheriff answered.

"No. That last time it wasn't her," Styles responded.

"Mister you're even crazier than we thought. I saw her run into that alley and I brought her out. She was the only one back there.

"It was someone that looked and dressed like her, but the eyes were the wrong color," Styles continued.

In his left hand Styles held a pocket watch in such a manner that he could check and not move his gun off the men.

"Only about a minute to go," Styles informed them, as he stood next to Holly's post with his eyes fixed on the Eastern horizon.

The sky above the mountain range to the East began to glow red and slowly the top of the sun became visible. As soon the upper half had peaked over the mountain tops long fingers of sunlight crawled across the ground and made its way up the face of the cliff to where the men were.

"Finally, the moment of truth is at hand," Styles stated in a satisfied voice.

Against his will Carpenter began to feel panic. For hundreds of years he had avoided the sun as he was told that it would kill him. Now here he stood ready to be touched by its rays. The Monk sensed his fear and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Be at peace. I would not tell you anything, unless it was the truth," the Monk said quietly.

The brilliant rays touched Holly's shoes and then the hem of her white satin dress as it slowly moved upward. It touched her hands that were lashed to her side and nothing happened. Styles could only stare in disbelief.

The rays continued to slowly move up the front of her gown. Their pristine rays caused the white satin to glow in their light. It finally illuminated her slender neck and beautiful face that was still covered by her bridal veil. Much to his dismay nothing happened. There were no flames or screaming ad the rays touched her flesh.

Fear had clutched at Holly's heart as she saw the sun begin to rise. On the day she had been reborn Carpenter had told that sunlight was one of the few things that could destroy her. Now Here he was telling her that nothing would happen to her and to remain calm. So she mentally braced herself for whatever pain would accompany her being touched by the sun.

To her surprise there was no intense pain when the sun touched her hands. It felt like she had immersed her hands in hot water, they soon became used to it. When it reached her face, her eyes blinked rapidly at the intense light, but there was no pain. She wanted to shed tears of joy as she had forgotten the feeling of sunlight on face. but held in her emotions.

She looked down at Carpenter and saw that he also was bathed in the first rays of the morning sun and nothing happened to him. The seconds ticked by slowly and Styles could only stare at the scene in front of him, and his attention on the men was distracted.

That's when the Sheriff yelled to his men to rush him. Styles wheeled about to hold them at bay again, but he was too slow. The men moved so quickly that Styles was not ready and he was knocked down and his gun wrested from his hand.

When the rest of the posse saw that there was no longer any danger of gunshot they all charged up the hill to join the others. One of the men used his knife to cut Holly's bonds and a second later, she was in Carpenter's arms. Styles was arrested and taken to the jail.

A few hours later, they were back at Carpenter's ranch. Once behind the closed doors Holly allowed herself to weep with joy and relief. Carpenter also wept at this new revelation.

"This information was to be my wedding gift to you. It took me quite a while to find this out and I apologize for it," Brother Sebastian responded.

He received hugs of thanks from both Carpenter and Holly.

"How is this possible?" Holly asked.

"I am not sure and I may never know the answer." the Monk responded.

"What happens next?" Carpenter asked.

"First and foremost will be the trial of Styles. You will both be asked to testify."

"Sitting in that dusty makeshift courtroom all day will take its toll and we will need to find a way to feed," Carpenter said.

"No longer a problem," the Monk responded as he placed a sealed Mason jar full of liquid and a sealed envelope on the table.

"What is this?" Carpenter asked.

"This was the formula written in that ancient language. It must have been designed by one of our kind as it keeps the need for blood away and the effects last for a day," the Monk continued.

"So what happens to you now?" Holly asked.

"I will return to the monastery and continue to lecture and teach at the university. I can now accept offers to go anywhere to speak," he replied.

"I will have my rail car take you home whenever you wish," Carpenter said.

"If my presence is not needed for the trial then I will leave on Saturday. Now if you will excuse me I will say good night," the Monk said as he gave a slight bow and headed into the morning light.