Pitt and Gumm wandered through the town. They checked the guards and buildings to make sure both hadn't been touched. The monster hunter doubted the vampire would attack directly unless it had overwhelming force behind it.

Attacking the outlying farms and homesteads would be more to the monster's liking. It could drain blood until it had enough followers, then try to take the town. One of its minions dying would not stop it from its objective. It needed to eat, and it needed to eat people most of all.

Pitt decided that he would have to look around the farms for signs. Maybe he could write the sign of Pantalus down to keep the monster away. Forcing it to attack the town while it was under strength was the best chance for the town. Once the problem was dealt with, they could get back to normal.

He wondered if the undead thing had buried itself in a field somewhere. Horses wouldn't get near it if that was the case. It was something he could use when he was desperate.

“The changing of the guard is going to be the problem if the vampire is watching the town,” said Pitt. They had circled back to the main square the town surrounded. “He might be able to grab someone while they are moving to bunks and setting up near the signs.”

“I know,” said Gumm. “I'm surprised he didn't try to take us while we were walking around.”

“Probably too scared to try to take on a Cleric of Avrii Noll,” said Pitt. “Everyone knows what they do with their swords.”

Gumm probably couldn't compete with a dedicated cleric of the War Goddess, but he wouldn't be allowed to stay if he couldn't fight. That was the least the War God demanded from its followers.

“I don't think I'm that good with a blade,” said Gumm. “I haven't fought anyone in years.”

“Go ahead and take a break at the temple,” said Pitt. “I'm going to take another walk around the town. Maybe the vampire will show if he thinks I'm alone.”

“If he doesn't come tonight, we'll have to look for him in the morning,” said Gumm. “The town won't last a week under these conditions.”

“I think the local farms are where it's going to attack,” said Pitt. “We should check them tomorrow to see if anyone was taken.”

“All right,” said Gumm. “It's an all day job to check in with everyone in reach.”

“It's the best we can do.” said Pitt. “If it doesn't feed off anybody, the only tactic I can think to consider is it might set the town on fire while we're looking around. That'll leave everyone out in the open air with signs saying Eat Me in big letters.”

“And then we lose the town,” said Gumm.

“It has to be somewhere close to the town to feed on the people in the temple,” said Pitt. “I think it's visiting different people to spread the vampirism.”

“I'll talk to Mogen Farn in the morning,” said Gumm. “Maybe he has an idea for an easy way to detect vampires.”

“If he does, he'll talk to you in your sleep,” said Pitt. “None of the gods like vampires, or liches for that matter.”

“Because they're walking dead?,” asked Gumm.

“That and they eat people,” said Pitt. “People keep the gods in motion, enforcing certain principles. The gods see people as lesser versions of themselves. So the people worship the gods, and the gods look out for things that need to be stopped before too many people can be hurt. Vampires are gluttons and eat as many as they can, making more vampires. If they aren't stopped where they are found, then there's a chance that a good size of the population would be dead or undead. And the problem would just get bigger until something really big had to be done. So it's better if we handle this before it gets too bad, so Pantalus or Mogen Farn don't have to take things in their hands.”

“You seem familiar with Pantalus,” said Gumm.

“Known him most of my life,” said Pitt. “Go ahead and get some sleep so we can plan our next move fresh in the morning.”

“Be careful,” said Gumm. “You'll be the one wandering in the dark where it lives.”

“There are things in the dark worse than the lowly vampire,” said Pitt. “And I have dealt with most of them in one way or the other. Take your rest while you can.”

The two split up. Gumm headed for his temple, hand to the mask he had to wear to stand for Avrii Noll. Pitt walked the other way, lighting a cigarette as he went. How long did they have before things got serious?

He decided to give it a night. The monster probably wanted people jumping out of their skins at the least little thing. Fear would help it carry the day. The biggest thing he could do was keep people calm and looking out for each other until this mess was over.

He couldn't do anything for the people away from the town. They were on their own until they came into town, or the vampire was caught. They were also in the most danger without clerical protection of any kind.

He hoped they didn't find a raft of dead bodies with bite marks when he went out to search again in the daytime. That would make keeping the town calm a harder job than he wanted. Living people with bite marks would be in danger of being put down before they could turn.

A real monster would do that just to torture the town. All he had to do was flee to a new hunting ground. Guilt would eat the town alive.

Pitt made another circuit of the town, drifting in and out of the dark. He was ready in case something happened, but it looked like the vampire was not going to do anything that night.

It couldn't last. Either the vampire would lose patience, or the townspeople would crack under the pressure. Both were bad in different ways.

A spark of light attracted his attention. He watched it as it arced toward the town. It looked like burning the town out was the next tactic.

Pitt picked up a rock and slung it at the flaming arrow. The missile split in the air and dropped short of its target. He looked for another one as he looked for the nearest militia man to warn. He had to get the townspeople ready to fight fires if he missed the arrows as they came down,

He had expected the tactic, but he had thought it would come earlier than this. Nothing he could do, but try to ride things out until the sun came up and gave him a hand.

He spotted another trail of flame in the air as he shifted his position. He threw another rock and splattered it high in the sky. He wondered how long it would take before he saw a different tactic.

Should he tell people they might have to fight a fire? Was that part of the tactic? Having an alarm raised to keep people awake was ruthless and created pressure. Did he want people out in the street and in his way?

He decided that he could stop the arrows if he had a bit of help. If one got past him, then he would raise the alarm.

First, he needed a helper.

Pitt found a militia man half asleep in front of his temple sign, leaning on an old pike. He grabbed the guy and shook him. The guard snapped awake, sure he had been grabbed by the enemy and about to be carried away.

“I need you to gather up a bunch of loose rocks for me,” said Pitt. “The tallest building is the temple, right?”

The guard nodded.

“Bring the rocks there,” said Pitt. “I'll be on the roof. Don't step out of the light, or too far from the signs. “I'm going to need you to hurry.”

“What's going on?,” said the guard.

“I'm practicing my throwing,” said Pitt. “Get yourself together and lend me the hand.”

Another arrow appeared in the air. Pitt ripped a piece of wood from the railing and flung it up in the air. The two missles collided in the air. Streamers drifted down and vanished before they hit the ground.

“I'll get those rocks,” said the guard.

“See if you can get somebody on the roof here and see where those things are being shot,” said Pitt. “Tell him to keep low so he isn't split.”

“Understood,” said the militia man.

“Go before there's more dropping down,” said Pitt.

Pitt rushed to the temple. He gripped the wall of the place and climbed the outside to the roof. He stood and looked around. It wasn't really that tall, but it was taller than the rest of the town.

Was the vampire staying in one place while he shot the flaming arrows at the town? If he was, then two shots would give Pitt an area he could target himself. He couldn't guarantee that he could kill the thing in the dark, but he could make it reconsider trying to burn the town down with rocks blasting down around it.

And if Pitt could stall long enough, the sun would be up and allow him to see what he was trying to kill.

And if he could see the target of his throwing, the target was as good as dead.

“Sir,” said a voice from below. “I gathered up as many loose rocks as I could. I didn't know how many you needed.”

Pitt took a risk and dropped down to get the bag of projectiles he needed. He gripped them with a nod. They didn't feel big, but he didn't need anything real big, he just needed something to get in the way of the arrow and deflect it.

“Were you able to get someone on the roof?,” asked Pitt.

“I asked the Small brothers,” said the guard. “They took the roof where you wanted someone to watch and the roof two stores down.”

“Climb up on the Inn there,” said Pitt. “I have to get back on top of the Temple. Just mark where you see the arrows coming from, but don't do anything else. And keep low. I don't want to explain how you caught an arrow to the face while you were helping me.”

“I don't want to catch an arrow to the face,” said the guard.

Pitt climbed back on the Temple roof and looked around. Nothing had flown toward the town while he had been securing his ammunition. How long would the vampire keep trying to set the town on fire?

What would it do when it couldn't?

The demigod intercepted ten more arrows in the next few minutes. He had a vague idea they were being shot in a square space somewhere north of town. He flung a couple of rocks that way just to say he did.

He wondered what the vampire thought of two eyeball big rocks slicing through whatever it was using for cover.

He hoped the monster hadn't been using people for cover when the rocks came through the area. That would be awkward to explain when they found the bodies in the morning.

The sky lightened as the sun started climbing sideways out of the Eternal Court. The darkness drew back from the watchmen as they sighed in relief.

The day meant a lessening in the siege. They had until the sun went down to find the vampire and deal with it. After that, they would have to deal with the next tactic it could try in the night.

Gumm needed to make sure the town hadn't lost anybody in the night, and then they needed to plan what they had to do next.

Pitt looked toward where he had thrown his rocks in the dark. He didn't see any damage from the top of the Temple. What would he find if he looked closer?

He hoped none of the farms had been hit while they had hid behind holy symbols. That would make things tougher for the town when everything was settled.

He looked over the roofs. He spotted the guy he had initially asked to help curled up on his roof. He was breathing so the vampire hadn't bit him while everyone was looking the other way.

The Small brothers sat on their roofs. One waved at Pitt and pointed. It looked to be the same direction he had thrown his rocks. Maybe he hadn't been as far off as he had thought.

He dropped down from the roof and started toward where the Small had pointed. Maybe he could pick up a trail before the sun went down.

It would be great to end this before he had to work on his markmanship again.