They had stayed late that evening at Corinne’s. Flame Song was now seven months along and getting too large to travel comfortably, so this would be their last visit. “I’m always here if you need me. But both babies are doing just fine, and you should have no problems,” said Corinne.

“Thank you so much,” said Flame Song as they stood on the doorstep. The sun had been down long enough for full darkness to settle in and the light from Corinne’s house spilled out into the night, emphasizing the depth of the shadows.

“You’re more than welcome.” Corinne waved one last goodbye and closed the door.

With Littlespark walking between them they headed down the street. It was late spring, and the night air was crisply chilly, though the snow was off the ground in the coastal lowlands where Snowcap lay. Flame shivered a bit in the cold, but Aidan didn’t even notice.

Before they’d even gone half a block a dark shape leaped out of the shadows, slamming headlong into Aidan. He grunted in pain as a stabbing fire burned through his side. He clutched at the spot and dropped to his knees, hitting them hard on the cobblestones, but he didn’t even feel it. All he could feel was the intense pain that shot through him from the wound in his side. He’d never felt anything like it. The scent of blood filled the air and when he looked down his hands looked black with blood in the moonlight.

Even as he fell Littlespark screamed and Flame Song blurred into firecat form, ready to fight. The man who had attacked them, his face hidden in a concealing hood, drew back in sudden alarm. He turned to run, and Flame, concerned over her husband, might have let him get away, but Corinne had heard the commotion, and her door flew open, pinning the unknown attacker in the light. She raised her hands and invoked a clerical spell, freezing the man on the spot. Unexpectedly, he cancelled her magic and started to run again. This time Corinne didn’t bother with spells; she hit him in a flying tackle. They went down in a tangle. A moment later Corinne stood up. The attacker stayed down, out cold.

She left his still form and hurried over to where Aidan was kneeling on the cobblestones. With a snap of her fingers she conjured a light. The scene it showed wasn’t pretty. Aidan was shaking, one hand braced on the ground, the other clutching at the end of a long, narrow wooden stake that had actually been driven through him, the point sticking out an inch or so beyond his back. It had missed his heart, having entered on the right and a little too low, but it still was an injury that would almost certainly have killed a normal man. There was blood everywhere. Flame knelt next to him, having returned to human form. Littlespark stood nearby, her feet just inches from the puddle of blood that poured from her father. Her eyes were wide in fright.

“Good gods…” said Corinne. “What happened? And what am I supposed to do? Healing spells will only hurt him more.”

Aidan drew in a slow breath, jerking in pain as the motion of his lungs expanding jarred the stake. “Take it out,” he gasped.

“What? You’ll bleed to death!” said Corinne. “I can’t just pull it out right here.”

“No… take it out!” he insisted.

“All right,” she said, hoping he knew what he was talking about. She knew a lot about healing, but not much about vampires. “You’ll need to straighten up so I can get a grip on it.”

Aidan nodded. Then slowly, very slowly, he straightened. His teeth were clenched tightly against the pain. Corinne knelt down next to him. Her trousers were immediately soaked with blood, but she didn’t care. “I’ll try not to touch you, but even if I don’t this is going to hurt a lot,” she warned him.

“Just do it,” he said through his clenched teeth.

She mentally braced herself, then reached down and got a firm grip on the stake. She had to put one hand on Aidan’s shoulder for leverage, but he was already in so much pain he didn’t even notice. Flame Song found herself holding her breath, and Littlespark moved close to her mother, hiding her face in Flame’s shoulder. “Is Daddy going to be all right?” she whispered.

“Yes, he will,” said Flame, hoping it was true.

Corinne didn’t bother trying to ease the stake out, she just pulled as hard as she could, and in one long smooth motion it came free. She dropped it to the cobblestones, where the blood-spattered length of wood lay in the pool of blood that spread out across the street. Aidan gave a long cry of pain as it pulled free. Then he collapsed in a faint. At least Corinne hoped it was a faint, with no telltale heartbeat she wasn’t sure how to tell. She looked up at Flame Song. “I don’t know what to do.”

Flame snapped out of her shock. She moved awkwardly over to her husband, heedless of the blood she was getting on her clothes. She pulled up his shirt and looked at the spot where the stake had gone through. The wound was still ugly, a red and raw hole, but it had stopped bleeding. She breathed a sigh of relief. “He’s starting to heal already. I think he’ll live”

“So what do we do now?”

Flame considered. “Let’s get him off of the street for starters.”

Corinne nodded. “You shouldn’t do any heavy lifting. I’ll carry him.” The tall half-elf picked up the unconscious aerian easily as he was almost a foot shorter than she, and considerably lighter. One wing, feathers matted with blood, trailed along the ground. He moaned faintly at her touch, and she hurried as quickly as she could back into her house. She had a back room she used for occasions like this, though she was more used to minor accidents; a child who’d broken an arm falling out of a tree, a man with a pulled muscle from lifting, that sort of thing. She put Aidan down on a table in the center of the room. In the bright lamplight he looked horrible. His skin was far too pale, even for him, he was covered with blood, and his stillness looked alarmingly like death.

Corinne’s every instinct was telling her to do something, anything, but she knew that her usual methods would only cause Aidan more pain. Again she turned to Flame Song who had followed her inside with Littlespark trailing after, her tiny hand clutching her mother’s larger one tightly. “Is there anything else we can do for him?”

Flame sighed. “Not right now. He’s going to need blood when he wakes up though. He lost a lot of it, and that’s not good.” She paused, thinking. “Animal blood will do just fine, but from what he’s said in the past human blood, or something near it, is better.”

“How much will he need?” asked Corinne.

“Your guess is a good as mine. As much as he lost? More? I don’t know. This hasn’t happened before. I mean he’s been injured, but never anything like this!”

“Well, you can’t afford to donate any right now, but I suppose I can. Also, there’s my horse out back. He’s a big fellow, he can certainly spare a few pints.” Then she looked at Flame, saying, “If I can’t do anything for your husband, I can at least check on you.” She put her hand to Flame rounded stomach. A moment later she smiled. “Well, all this excitement doesn’t seem to have hurt the twins any. They’re both still just fine.” Flame Song smiled in relief.

“You know, whoever did this is still sitting out there,” said Flame after a moment of silence.

Corinne blinked. In her concern about Aidan she’d forgotten all about his attacker. “I hope the cobblestones give him a terrible crick in his neck, to go with the headache he’ll have from my thumping him!” she said fiercely. “We’d better go and get him though before he wakes up and gets away. Actually, you stay here, I’ll go fetch him.” She vanished outside. A few moments later she returned, unceremoniously dragging the unconscious man along the ground. She dropped him in a corner, then bent over and pulled back his hood. “Well, well, why am I not surprised?”

“Who is it?” said Flame, coming over to take a look.

“That crazy preacher,” answered Corinne.