“Lavasida,” he said, “do you ever want to be normal again?”

The other vampire considered for a long moment before replying. “I’ve never discussed this much. Who was there to speak to?” He favored his fellow vampire with a rare smile. “But I suppose you can understand this as well as any. There are occasionally things about being a mortal man that I miss, I’ll not deny it, but no. I wouldn’t trade in what I am now if I could. I did go through a stage where I regretted what I’d done. I chose to be a vampire, I sought it out, and I thought it was what I wanted. At first it was prefect, but as I grew older I came to see the negative side as well. I’ve given up many happy ordinary things.” There was a faint look of sadness in his eyes, and Aidan wondered what it was that the Dark Lord regretted. “But had I chosen to remain mortal I would now be more than five centuries dead, so I never would have…” he stopped suddenly and turned away. “Never mind.”

Aidan wanted to ask Lavasida what he’d meant, but he knew better than to pry. So he simply lay down on the bed and by the time Flame Song came into the room he was sound asleep.

The next night was almost done when the ship reached the island. Aidan was grateful for the cover of darkness as they disembarked. The sailors refused to come ashore, and as Aidan looked around he didn’t blame them. The port town was eerily deserted. Houses were falling down, dust and cobwebs gathered everywhere, and the wind was the only sound. It looked as though it had been abandoned for years.

“What happened here?” said Flame Song.

“I have no idea,” replied Aidan, “but whatever it was it happened a long time ago.”

“It doesn’t matter,” said Brianna. “The place we’re looking for is inland. There’s no need for us to hang around here, so lets get going.”

They’d gone perhaps three miles inland when the sun came up. Lavasida and Aidan both stopped as the first light touched them. The others came to a halt moments later. Brianna looked at the pair with concern. “We need to keep moving if we can. Do you think you two can make it?”

“I’ll be fine,” said Lavasida, starting forward again and gritting his teeth.

“Aidan?” Brianna looked at the little aerian, almost a head shorter than she.

Aidan squinted against the unbearable brightness. “I… think I can do it.”

“If not, I can carry the lad,” said Belak.

“We’ll press on then,” said Brianna.

Flame Song put an arm around her husband. “Lean on me, I’ll help you.”

Aidan gratefully draped his arm over her shoulder and let her guide him as they continued down the road. He could hardly see in the blinding glare, and every inch of him ached bone deep, but he found he could move. The rest of the day was a blur of brilliant light and a dusty road that went on and on. Aidan just concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.

Finally, just when he felt one more step would be the death of him, the sun touched the horizon. All too slowly it sank below a distant hill and vanished. Aidan took his arm from Flame’s shoulders and slowly straightened. With a long sigh he opened his eyes and looked around at the blessedly dim twilight that had descended over island.

“How much farther do we have to go?” he asked.

“Not far, less than a mile I think,” replied Flame.

“I am so sick of this place. I am so tired of being a vampire. I hate it!”

“It’s all right, Aidan. We’ll get the amulet and then we can go.”

“Yes, go on to some other crazy world.” He sighed. “I just want to go home.”

“Me too. Me too.”

“There!” interrupted Lon, pointing up ahead. A dark shape loomed up before them. It was a castle. It looked just as abandoned as the port town, with some of the towers falling down, but one dim light showed that somebody was home. Nearer at hand a high wall of greenery blocked off their view of the base of the tower.

“What might that be?” asked Belak from just a foot behind Aidan, making the vampire jump.

“Don’t do that!”

“Sorry lad.”

“I think,” said Brianna, “That it’s a maze.”

“Joy,” said Aidan sarcastically.

“I also think,” added the tall woman, “that we ought to split up. Who knows if we’ll be able to get in by the front door? I think you,” she pointed to Aidan, “Belak, and Seymore should circle around the back and look for a way in there. The rest of us will try a more frontal approach.”

“Right,” said Lavasida. “Let’s go.”

Aidan said a quick goodbye to Flame and set out with Seymore and the invisible Belak. They made their way around the edge of the maze and into the thick forest that surrounded the castle. The woods were gloomy and dim, the trees covered with hanging moss. Aidan looked around nervously. Sure, darkness is a thief’s and a vampire’s best friend, he thought to himself, but I don’t like this one bit. There’s darkness and then there’s darkness. And this, he added mentally with a touch of gloomy humor, is definitely darkness.

The trio made their way cautiously through the trees. Aidan kept seeing movement out of the corner of his eyes, but when he turned to look there was never anything but the omnipresent trees. Turning to look yet again at a half-glimpsed motion, he looked back to see Seymore well ahead of him. “Hey Seymore! Wait up!” He ran forward, hurrying to catch up. Abruptly a tree root reached up and grabbed his foot. He staggered and almost fell, just managing to keep his balance. Then the root actually pulled, jerking his feet out from under him. He toppled backward, his head hit something hard, and everything went dim.