Hi all and welcome to another exciting and thought provoking issue of this bi-weekly newsletter, The CORNERSTONE TRAVELER. Also available online at www.cornerstonetraveler.com.

mid-Hudson Valley news: The fall equinox was upon us, unfortunately the meteorologist are predicting a dull/non-colorful fall foliage because of the lack of rain according to these same meteorolists
. The rain bucket is down over seven inches for the year, therefore the trees won’t have the usual of most years.
Events happening in the mid-Hudson Valley: the 27th Garlic Festival was this past weekend. I have been there in previous years, but you can only look and see so much garlic as much as I like it in my pasta sauce.
The Rennesnce Fair was this past weekend. And again I couldn’t attend, as much as I liked in previous years, I couldn’t because of the pain and aches in my feet, legs and spine.

Observation: I have been watching everything I could about Pope Francis visit to the United States. Before Pope Francis, the pope I most admired was Pope John XXIII because he was influential on taking the out the mystery of the Catholic Mass by not requiring the Latin in the Mass. How he established the Vatican Council to get religious faiths to get together.

Now I admire Pope Francis because he is for the people and is so humble.
But there are conservatives like Rush Limbaugh who decry the visions of Pope Francis because Pope Francis decry’s the greed of capitalism. It is obvious that Limbaugh knows nothing of the teachings of Jesus, who biblical scholars believe was an early socialist.
Consider what Jesus taught:
-The meek shall inherit the earth. It is an obvious counter to the conservative way of thinking.
– You can’t serve both God and money: Totally against conservative thinking who put money over God.
– It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Conservatives either ignore this dictate of Jesus or say he wasn’t really referring to a tiny needle, but the entrance to a city. I believe this is the reasoning of the wealthy televangelists trying to rationalize their wealth before the people.
Mr. Limbaugh: Pope Francis is only following the teachings of the Messiah, Jesus. Deal with it.

Sports: The Jets beat the Colts but lost to the Eagles and now have a record of 2-1. The Giants lost two close ones to the Cowboys and the Hawks, but won one against the Redskins. Giving them a 1 -2 start in the NFL East.

other: As with all previous issues of this newsletter, everything printed here is either copyright protected of copyright pending.
Because this is the third issue of this newsletter in the month of September, I have P&G’s as it is now/presently.
Following this P&Gs report is part eight of my short story; IMMORTALS, VAMPIRES and WEREWOLVES. I hope you like it.

Thank-you – Rik McGuire

Present Day at P&G’s

P&G’s is the place to go for the college students, especially on Friday nights. I figure the students, after a week of classes and studying need a good place to crash and unwind and P&G’s is the ideal place because it is so much fun. There is always a DJ spinning records (or at P&G’s CD’s) at least on Friday nights. Though it is packed with students it is still fun.
Other than the partying on Friday nights, you can still have a good time on any other night. The place is that much fun.
Not only is it a bar, but also a highly rated restaurant. The food at P&G’s is top notch. There are always the best chefs preparing the food. There are chefs that were trained at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America).
There are the parties, World Series and Superbowl. At the Superbowl there are always free munchies and a grand layout for half time.
Every year on the Friday before Memorial Day is the annual P&G’s golf tournament where you can play 18 holes with a golf cart at a reasonable fee. The fee also includes free food and drink after the tournament for all the golfers. And naturally dozens and dozens of prizes are awarded for such things as longest drive, closest to the pin and scores of others.
It should be noted that the bartenders will not over serve people. If you are hammered, go someplace else for booze.
That’s P&G’s as it is today.

Bran and Greydorian

Trizackle told Conor where to find the bad vamps because he rightly thought if he let Conor search for the bad vamps haphazardly it was only an invitation for Conor to get into deep shit with the vampires.
Conor went to the town where Trizackle told him to go. It was at the base of high hills with almost unexplored caves.
He sat at the counter of a diner sipping absently at a large cup of iced coffee while he read his notes and scribbled more notes onto his ever present legal pad.
He almost finished his iced coffee and thought maybe to order another when a relatively young man of maybe mid twenties sat next to him at the counter. He politely shook his head when the hostess asked him if he would like anything.
“Hi.” He said. “I’m only here in this lovely town of yours searching for someone and I think I found him”
` Conor immediately looked up from his legal pad, turned to the man and asked. “Me?”
The man smiled and nodded. “Yes. You. Trizackle contacted me and asked if I would look after you.”
“Another of Trizackles immortals?”
The man laughed then whispered. “Yes, but no. I am a vampire.”

Conor immediately stuck his pen into his breast pocket, grabbed his legal pad then reached to the floor to grab his backpack with the hidden sword. Just as he reached under the flap of his backpack to retrieve his sword, the man put his hand on his arm.
“Relax.” He Said. “I’m not the kind you are after. Quite the contrary, I am like you. I hunt and try to kill the bad vamps.”
“But. . . .” Conor stammered.
“You already know. At least I assume you know that there are tree tribes of vampires in this world.” The man looked around to make certain no one was taking an interest in what he was saying though his voice was low enough that Conor could barely hear him.
“I am of the second tribe of vampires. I exist on the blood of beasts and the occasional sip of human blood. But it is so rare that I have not tasted human blood in more than one hundred years. And I have never in my seven hundred years of existence drained a human to the point of death when the heart stops.”
Conor sat back on his stool, wiped his hand across his forehead. “That’s a relief.”
“So? What are your plans?”
Conor could only shake his head “I’m not quite certain. I first have to find the bad vamps lair then I take it from there.”
“You will try and kill them all?”
Conor only shook his head. “As much as I would like to, it is probably impossible.”

“Your right, it is. What are your plans?”
“I thought I would take them out one by one. I know as soon as I take out the first there will be a mark or target on my back that I have to use to take another out, then another and another.”
The man nodded. “That may be a good plan, but foolhardy all the same.”
Conor looked to the man. “You don’t look more than twenty-five. Was that your age
when you were turned?”

The man nodded. “Yes. I was turned, as you call it, in the hills of Scotland. I was a Scottish brigand under William Wallace or Braveheart as he is known in the movie. And in one skirmish with Edward Longshanks, I had my first death. As I lay there in the Scottish Highlands, dying, a young man came to my body and almost drained me of my blood, but before I died he fed me his own blood and I became the vampire you see before you now.”
“What is your name?” Conor asked.
“My Parents named me Bran, no last name is necessary.”
“Who was the vampire who turned you?”
“His name is Graylaird and has been around for over fifteen hundred years. Eight hundred years before I was turned. He taught me how to feed on the beasts and the occasional human. But to never and I mean never take enough blood that the human will die.”
“Was that hard? I mean not to drain the human blood to the point of death?” Conor asked as he sucked the last iced coffee from his cup.

Bran laughed. “As easy as it was for you not to drain the last of that iced coffee from your cup.”
Conor chuckled. “Yes it is definitely learned. Is human blood that desirous?”
Bran smiled. “I imagine it is as desirous to me as that iced coffee is to you.”
Conor accepted his second cup of iced coffee from the hostess, took a sip. “Okay. What advice do you have for me?”
Bran could only nod. “Just tread carefully. There are at least three ages old vampires in that lair and they have developed their skills in their many years. And there are at least a dozen what you may call child bad vamps. But they are still dangerous to mortals such as yourself because they thirst daily for human blood. Though they don’t live directly in the lair, they are nearby in that bat filled cave in that large hill behind the lair.”

Conor laughed. “That sounds so Hollywood.”
Bran scowled. “Don’t laugh. Though they can’t fly, they have the speed to make them appear as if they can fly. They can be that dangerous.”
They talked for another fifteen minutes until Bran said he was needed elsewhere in the hills behind the bad vamps lair.
Conor said he would do his archeological studies up to the lair and discover what he could of the bad vamps.
Bran left the diner saying. “Just be careful.”
Conor waved goodbye. “But of course.”

Later in the afternoon, Conor was doing his supposed archeological study of the grounds up to the bad vamps lair when a huge shadow came over him as he knelt on the earth, scrapping the ground.
He looked up in surprise when the shadow engulfed him and he looked up to the appearance of Valkill grinning in anticipation of a human blood feast. As he dropped down on the still breathing body of Conor there suddenly came another form that shoved Valkill from his intended kill of Conor. He saw the form of Bran pummel and beat Valkill almost unmercifully. When he drove Valkill away, Bran said to him. “You should be safe in your investigations. At least for the time being. Just be careful.”
“I’m trying. But I am also curious trying to find the weak link of the bad vamps”
Bran shook his head. “If there is one, it will be difficult if not impossible to find. But I can’t protect you because I am needed elsewhere. Just be careful.”
Conor reached behind him to the sword in the pack. “But of course.”

Conor scrapped the ground in front of him for about another fifteen minutes and thought he could move his archeological study closer to the vampire liar. He moved fifty feet closer to the lair, dropped to his knees and restarted to rescrape the ground with the intensity of an archeologist when suddenly there appeared three shadows on the ground where he was scrapping. As he looked up and behind him, he saw three young men with protruding teeth grinning in anticipation of human blood. Conor knew he had to act quickly. He had left his backpack by his side so he would have easier access to his sword. He managed to pull it out, but before he could slide the switch to make the sword grow to five feet, they were on him salivating of human blood. Conor saw this and knew his life was near its end when a wolf like creature slammed into the three child like vampires. The three child like vampires rose

quickly to confront their attacker. But all three were surprised at the creature before them. It was obvious that none of them and ever seen such a creature with such brute force.
The wolf like creature leapt to the first vampire who rose and swiped its massive clawed paw on the vampire’s neck and tore it out. Before the vampire fell dead, headless to the ground, the other two child vampires stepped back in surprise. They didn’t know how to react or respond.
The wolf like creature leapt at the two of them and crushed their bodies together with its massive paws. The two child vampires lay stunned on the ground, not moving.
The wolf like creature stood over them and growled. “You will not ever harm my friend.” The child vampires nodded sheepishly. “And tell your masters that I will rip your throats out like I did to your friend if they ever try to harm my friend.”
The child vampires could only nod, rise then race at close to supernatural speed away from certain death. They couldn’t race as fast as they would have liked because they had been that injured by the creature.

Conor sat back, stunned by the sudden appearance of this creature that saved his life.
“Who. . .What are you?” He asked.
The wolf like creature seemed to smile. “I am what you know as a werewolf. And I have been one for over six hundred years. Werewolves protect mortals such as you from the evil vampires.”
Conor rose, dusted himself off, and starred at the werewolf. “You have been a werewolf for six hundred years?”
The werewolf nodded as the wolf body shape shifted to a young man that Conor thought looked no more than twenty years old. “You are like the vampires and immortals who were turned into what they became when they were young.”
The man nodded. “Yes. Six hundred years ago a Alpha female werewolf licked the wounds I sustained in a battle in France and I became the werewolf you see before you. I fought with Joan de Arc, battling and fighting the hated English invader of our country. Though I and all of our kind do not like term werewolf. We prefer to be called shape shifters.
“But you are so powerful.” Conor exclaimed. “You killed one bad vamp, but you could have killed the other two. Why didn’t you?”
“Believe me, I wanted to, but thought it better if I let them live so they could report back to the bad vamp lair that you are not only protected by immortals, the second tribe of vampires, but also we shape shifters.”
“How should I call you by name? Conor asked.
“I was called Greydorian before I was turned. And I want to be known that way.” The young man said.
“Do people like you ever age?” Conor had to ask.

“No. We’re like immortals and vampires. We can only die if you separate our heads from our bodies.”
“So. What is your advice on how I should confront the bad vamps and maybe destroy them?” Conor asked.
Greydorian stood back, stroked his chin then said. “I think you, Bran and me should work as a team.”
“How so?”
“Bran and I are very clever and can conceal ourselves almost anywhere. And we will use you as bait to get the bad vamps out into the open.”
“Me as bait? I don’t know if I like my role in this plan.” Conor said.
“Trust me. Bran and I have been battling these bad vamps for centuries. We know them maybe even better than they know themselves.”
“So. I will be well protected from the bad vamps by you and Bran ?”
“You should be.”
“Damn! I hope so.”
“You fine with our plan?”
“Why shouldn’t I be? I trust the both of you. And with my life” Conor said.
Greydorian shook his head. “I should warn you. There have been other Watchers, like yourself, who had the same attitude to attack and destroy the bad vamps.”
“What happened to them?”
“They certainly didn’t die of old age.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“No. Just advice on what awaits you and you could be risking your life.”

“What should I do?” Conor almost pleaded.
Greydorian laughed. “Just go back to your lady friend and love. We, Bran and I will train you on how to defeat the bad vamps.”
“Is there anything else you need to tell me or explain to me?”
“Only that other Watchers risked their lives, the way you will and they lost. So love your Melody and then be ready to maybe lose your life, die.”
“If you’re trying to make me feel better, it’s not working.”
Greydorian smiled. “I know. I and Bran have been working with mortals like you for centuries. We know the risks.”
Before Bran, Greydorian and Conor could hatch the plan to confront the bad vamp, Conor returned to the home he shared with Melody. She was so happy to see him, she almost dragged him forcibly upstairs to their bedroom.
After a long period of lovemaking they dragged themselves downstairs with smiles on their faces for much needed iced coffee. Conor told Melody about Bran and Greydorian and how they planned to ambush the bad vamps.
“They are going to use you as bait?” Melody asked.
Conor nodded. “I should be fine. I have seen both of them in action and they are quite formidable.”
“I hope so!” Melody almost cried.