The next day proved to be better than the last, minding that everything was damp and the air humid; though the parks were empty with utter silence, school was out for the ominous summer. Something was being plotted...Though the three hadn't even a clue.

Merton stretched and looked around the dimly-lit room. He leafed through the old book once more, noticing some fine details and drawings. He came upon something piculiar, though. It was a drawing different from the others, it had a resnaissance-era feel to it. It was that of a familiar-looking werewolf and a vampire with a distinguishing look, engaging in battle. The werewolf looked almost as if it were...

"Nah...It's just a coincidence...Tommy wasn't even alive back then!" Merton said to himself. He paid more attention, though, to the artist's name. The initials were NRQ. Merton put the book down and grabbed another from a shelf.

"Is it Nordilain?" he leafed carefully through the new book and noticed a particular artist by the name of Nordilain Roweign Quinn. NRQ. His short biography was no different from your ordinary artist. He lived around the resaissance-era, and so was the style of his paintings. There was too much complication running around in Merton's brain now, though, to even have the slightest thought of how Nordilain could have been linked to this whole war.

"Whatever..." Merton dropped the book abruptly and fell backwards on his bed, looking towards the ceiling. He suddenly struck a thought and jumped back off his bed and back to his book shelf. He quickly grabbed both the art book and grabbed one called, "Infamously Infamous Terribly Terrible Vampires From History" and quickly flew by the pages and stopped at a single page. His eyes suddenly widened and he dropped the book.

'I've got to tell Tommy...' Merton grabbed his jacket and ran straight out the door. He didn't even bother to say anything to his mother, and paid no attention to his sister as she yelled some idiotic insult as he shut the door. He bouned down the driveway and into his hearse and drove as fast as the speed limit would allow.

____________________

As he was about to leave, as he had been told to meet up with Merton at 12, Tommy reached for the door handle, and before he even turned it, the door flew open. Merton was standing there, panting and shoving the two books into Tommy's hands.

"Merton, what's wrong? J-just sit down or something..." Merton looked more pale than usual and closed his eyes for a moment before calming down.

"Look at this," Merton shoved a torn page from the old book into Tommy's hands. Tommy set the two books down and took the page. It was the picture of the vampire and werewolf that Merton found. Tommy squinted and raised his brow.

"It looks...like me!" Tommy had the same look that Merton had when he'd seen it, and sat down at the kitchen table to look at the books.

"Now look at the artist name. NRQ. Now look at the art book, the page that's bookmarked," Tommy read the short biography of Nordilain. "Yeah, same guy."

"And what does this Nordilain guy have to do with it?" Tommy asked. Merton opened up the other book and showed Tommy the portrait of the same Nordilain Roweign Quinn. Tommy was more curious now, and he hadn't even the need to ask Merton anything.

"I recognized his picture when I was sorting out my bookshelf. I couldn't really believe it at first, but it really is the same guy! Same name, same everything! But it says that during around the Renaissance period, the war slowed down but still raged in his parts and he was documenting it with his paintings. When the early 1900's came about he started revealing his work and making himself one of the more known artists of the world, playing as a normal human being. But look! It has a few quotes of this guy: 'I dreamt of a young werewolf. He had not a sense of realism, but some kind of dreadful fear came about me in this dream. I knew that some day I should come across this young lycanthrope, and I should slay him if I did. God knows whoever he is, but he shall only pray for mercy.' Tommy! He's the head of the whole vampires! He's the one sending the notes! He knows about you!"

Tommy looked to the floor and finally looked up after about two minutes. His eyes were full of rage and yet adventure. Merton could tell that Tommy was ready to take on whatever was coming for him. He knew then that Tommy could readily fight whatever was out there, and Merton would be there, wherever his friend would be.