The Anvil (48 page)

They
walked
out
of
the
town
just
as
a
man
came
running
up
to
the
town
.
He
was
trying
to
get
people
'
s
attention
,
he
got
up
on
a
box
and
starting
yelling
“
Help
me
!
My
son
has
been
taken
!
Please
help
me
!”
Tom
and
Josh
looked
at
each
other
and
walked
over
. “
What
happened
?”
Tom
asked
,
the
man
looked
at
him
“
My
son
was
taken
,
I
think
by
werewolves
.
We
heard
a
noise
outside
our
house
and
he
went
to
look
.
We
heard
some
yelling
and
fighting
.
When
we
went
out
he
was
gone
.”
the
man
explained
.

The
group
listened
and
agreed
to
help
,
they
thought
that
if
one
young
man
was
taken
maybe
others
were
also
,
like
Caleb
.

The
man
led
them
to
his
farm
,
which
took
two
days
,
showed
them
the
tracks
and
they
left
.
They
made
much
slower
progress
than
before
as
they
needed
to
follow
the
tracks
.
They
soon
had
a
routine
,
travel
for
most
the
day
,
sleep
as
soon
as
Tom
couldn
'
t
see
and
wake
when
it
was
light
.

Tom
had
the
worst
night
vision
of
the
group
as
the
vampires
naturally
had
night
vision
to
hunt
at
night
and
immortals
had
better
night
vision
than
humans
.
After
two
days
of
following
the
tracks
they
saw
very
fresh
embers
,
they
could
see
the
moisture
in
the
ground
from
the
water
used
to
put
it
out
.

About
a
day
after
that
they
finally
caught
up
the
the
group
they
were
tracking
.
They
saw
a
circle
of
about
ten
tents
with
a
large
area
in
the
middle
.
In
the
center
was
a
dying
fire
and
the
shapes
of
people
sleeping
.

They
crawled
away
from
the
clearing
and
one
vampire
,
Ponterial
,
went
to
spy
on
the
camp
.
The
rest
set
up
their
camp
and
waited
.
When
Ponterial
returned
he
looked
worried
. “
I
saw
how
many
werewolves
there
are
and
how
many
of
the
kidnapped
people
can
help
fight
.
Not
only
are
there
kidnapped
young
men
,
but
young
women
also
ages
ranging
from
about
twenty
-
three
to
about
ten
.
Few
look
strong
enough
to
fight
,
but
those
who
do
look
very
strong
.
The
werewolves
number
at
about
twenty
,
so
we
will
be
outnumbered
about
four
to
one
.”
he
reported
,
and
quickly
the
group
started
thinking
of
strategies
.

After
what
seemed
like
hours
but
really
only
half
an
hour
they
decided
on
a
plan
.
Tom
and
two
of
the
vampires
sneaked
into
the
camp
and
hid
.
Josh
and
the
other
two
vampires
stayed
near
their
camp
.
As
Tom
slipped
into
his
cover
he
quickly
scanned
the
prisoners
,
he
recognized
his
brother
after
a
moment
.
Once
he
had
been
very
healthy
,
but
you
could
see
it
but
now
you
could
see
he
had
been
underfed
and
didn
'
t
get
much
sleep
.
Tom
sent
the
signal
,
a
series
of
gusts
,
and
the
attack
was
about
to
start
.

Chapter
18

             
Suddenly
Josh
and
the
two
vampires
with
him
appeared
in
the
air
flying
as
fast
as
possible
towards
the
camp
.
The
werewolf
watchmen
responded
how
they
had
wanted
,
shouting
and
pointing
at
the
approaching
trio
.

The
sleeping
ones
ran
out
of
their
tents
,
some
with
weapons
and
some
simply
changing
form
.
They
prepared
and
didn
'
t
notice
Tom
and
the
two
vampires
until
they
started
attacking
.
Josh
and
the
others
landed
and
Tom
ran
over
to
the
prisoners
and
released
them
.
Some
ran
to
grab
weapons
and
help
,
some
ran
and
hid
,
and
still
others
curled
up
and
laid
there
.

Caleb
was
one
who
ran
to
get
a
weapon
,
Tom
just
finished
cutting
the
ropes
on
the
final
prisoner
he
looked
over
where
Caleb
was
trying
to
fight
off
a
particularly
large
werewolf
,
the
werewolf
had
changed
into
the
full
form
,
which
often
meant
he
had
changed
himself
into
a
mindless
killing
machine
,
Tom
ran
over
and
jumped
in
the
way
of
the
werewolf
'
s
swipe
and
blocked
it
with
his
shield
.