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When Crush opened his eyes, he realized that he had been asleep for at least a couple of hours. The sun had gone down, and the moon was out in full glory. Stretching his neck, he recognized that his headache had finally disappeared with the peaceful rest, a fact that he was grateful for. Carefully, Crush peered around in all directions searching for Pound, but he could not find him anywhere in the immediate vicinity. The distant sound of a twig breaking and footsteps alerted Crush that someone was traveling along the trail, and he would have to wait to see which direction they were headed. As he listened, the sounds of the footsteps grew in intensity. The footsteps were coming toward Faith Rock. Crush laid down flat upon the rock and paused while the visitor broke out of the shadow to appear in the moonlight. He recognized the faces immediately; it was Noel and Jess. When he was certain that they were alone, Crush raised his head and called out to them in a whisper.
“Noel! Over here!” Crush said in a whispered call and waved a hand to signal them. The trained wariness on his part could not be transferred to Jess though. She began to growl, and the hairs stood up on the back of Crush’s neck.
“Jess!” Noel commanded softly, almost in a whisper, and the mixed breed dog’s ears fell as she looked to her master for forgiveness. “Come on!” he ordered as they traversed the surface of the rock over to where Crush now stood. Upon arrival, Jess sniffed Crush’s hand and began wagging her tail in recognition.
“Have you found anything yet?” Noel asked nonchalantly.
“I haven’t,” Crush replied without explaining any further. “Pound is out here somewhere though. I’m sure he’ll come up with something.”
“He’s out there alone? That’s not good after dark,” Noel responded.
“Says the boy who wanders out into the forest in the dark,” Crush commented sarcastically.
“Hey, I wasn’t alone. I have Jess remember,” the boy said with a smile.
“That kind of logic can get you in trouble, kid. Don’t worry though, Pound will be here soon.”
“You don’t think he fell into the river, do you?”
“I hope not, but he knows how to swim if he did,” Crush replied confidently, but wondered if Noel might be right in thinking that something may have happened to Pound. Then Noel reached into his back pocket and brought out an object that was curved in the shape of a ‘U’. “What’s that?”
“I was out here late one night a few weeks ago, and Jess was digging at the top of the hill there,” Noel explained as he pointed to the shadowy woods at the peak of the stone. “She dug this up, and I kept it. It’s a lucky horseshoe. As long as I have this, I’m not afraid of anything out here.”
“Can I see that for a minute?” Crush requested, and Noel handed it to him. Crush looked it over the best that he could in the dark, and for a moment the horseshoe reminded him of the story that the mayor had told earlier. “Hold onto that, kid. Don’t lose it,” he said as he passed it back to Noel.
Just then, Pound stepped from the trail out into the moonlight, and Crush waved his hand over his head in acknowledgement. There was something different about Pound’s appearance. His shirt had been torn off, and the gait of his walk was more labored, as if he were injured.
“Pound? Are you okay?” Crush called out to his friend and partner. No reply was returned in words, only a single grunt came from Pound’s mouth. It was then that the state of affairs degraded severely as Pound opened his jaws wide, and the flash of fangs was reflected by the moonlight. Noel gasped in a deep breath of surprise, and Jess began to growl defensively as Pound moved slowly toward them.
“Kid! Get behind me!” Crush commanded and instinctively placed himself between Pound and Noel. Jess stood her ground as Pound moved ever closer. The sound of leaves crunching came from the forest behind Crush and Noel, and Crush turned sideways to gaze that direction while still keeping an eye on Pound in his peripheral vision. At that instant, a disheveled and unkempt group of Eagle Scouts appeared from the shadows, five young men bearing fangs and sporting torn clothes.
“Noel! We have to get out of here, now!” But there were only two options for them, sprint up the stone hill into the shadows of the forest or slide down the slope into Deep River.
“Look!” shouted Noel, and he pointed to the top of the hill where a large animal stepped out of the shadows. “It’s a horse and rider!”
“What?!” exclaimed Crush as the horse broke into a gallop and bared down on them. Within seconds the horse and rider had reached them, and the red decorated mare came to a halt within inches of where Crush and Noel stood. The rider quickly dismounted, and Crush recognized him instantly.
“Mayor Hunter!” Crush announced. “What are you doing here?!”
“Saving you, of course!” the mayor answered while handing the reins over to Crush. “Get on, both of you,” he ordered, and Crush helped Noel onto the back of the horse before getting on himself. “Now ride out of here! I’ll handle these fellows,” he said as he pulled a hammer and a wooden stake out of his saddlebags.
“Hey! Who is that?!” shouted Noel at the first sight of yet another vampire who had emerged from the murky trail. This one was different from the others, however. He was a distinguished man with a red coat, and he appeared to have a score to settle that night.
“David Fanning!” shouted the mayor. “I thought the world had seen the last of his kind when he passed away in 1825.”
“Capture them!” Fanning ordered, and the vampires collapsed on the group.
“Go, Red Doe!” bellowed Mayor Hunter as he slapped the hindquarters of the mare, and she took off with a start straight down the hill with Jess following behind. Fifteen feet from the bottom, the horse and dog both leaped with full power straight out over the swirling waters of the river below. With a splash Crush, Noel, Jess, and Red Doe landed in the cold rushing waters, and all four began to swim for the far shore. Crush grabbed a rock protruding from the top surface of the river, and he turned his head to get a last look at the vampires as they surrounded the mayor on all sides. Then he watched as they collapsed upon the victim and restrained him from behind as David Fanning strode over to his quarry. With his fangs bared in full glory, Fanning bit the neck of the mayor as Crush watched helplessly from the river. Unable to watch the results of his failure any more, Crush turned his head and swam to the shore in shame.