Stiles was supplied with a horse and a pack mule by his employer and began the long trek back to the town of Springwood. As he rode he started to formulate his plan to expose that dance hall harlot for what she truly was and the only obstacle was the man called Carpenter.

"Is he under her power?" he asked himself out loud, "He must be as he seems to be always there to assist her."

"No matter, if he attempts to interfere then he will pay the price," he said to himself.

There were many instances where these abominations placed a human under their power and they would do whatever was necessary to protect their master. He had been forced to defend himself with his pistols more than once as these protectors be they man or woman were willing to fight to the death. Even when wounded they always seemed to find the strength to attack him again and he was forced to kill them.

Then there is the matter of finding the creature that turned this dance hall hostess into what she was. Did he/she reside in the same town? Was he just passing through? He had much to ponder as he rode along.

Meanwhile Carpenter had been spending a great deal of time reading from the notes and journals that he had pilfered from the room of the late Dr. Vincent. It was as he thought, this man had never face someone like him.

He had rooted out those that were little more than animated corpses and a real menace to the public. Most of those that he dispatched were new born to the dark life barley ten years old so they were of no real challenge.

The most they could do was show their fangs and hiss and hope that it froze you in your tracks so they could attack. Carpenter had lived for hundreds of years and each of those years was a learning experience. He never planned on settling in the West. He had forced to flee from his home in England and was chased to the harbor with the hunters less than a few minutes behind him.

He jumped onboard the first ship he saw and hid in the cargo hold until his pursuers gave up searching. It was his luck that the ship was ready to set sale and began to move away from the pier. He though of jumping ship but noticed the hunters still on the docks and it was almost Sunrise, so he stayed put.

There were plenty of rats to feed on so he could avoid the passengers. Months later he wound up San Francisco. It did not suite him and he began to move toward the East. He stayed in dozens of small boom towns until his strange hours began to attract attention and he was forced to move on.

The moves were never easy being forced to travel at night and he had to ensure that whatever mode of transportation he selected arrived before Sunrise.

As he read he kept coming across one name in the journals of Dr.Vincent's predecessor, a monk named Julian Sebastian. He recalled the name from one of the earliest journals and opened it, he smiled as he read the pages and noted the handwritten notes in the margins.

This journal was written in Latin and the notes suggested that unlike him Dr. Vincent could not read it and was in the process of trying to deciphering it. This monk was considered an expert in the area of the supernatural.

There were newspaper clippings in Dr. Vincent's journal and the date on the top was less than ten years old and the town mentioned was San Pablo. It was much to far to for a spur-of-the moment visit, this kind of journey would require great planning. Carpenter then wrote letters to the mission and the school there inquiring if the monk was scheduled to lecture near his hometown.

They were delivered to the Pony Express office the next Morning by Marcus, now would come the waiting.