All that had happened in a matter of seconds, before anybody in the surrounding crowd could even register what was going on. Flame Song was the first to realize what had happened. She was at her husband’s side even as he fell, half carrying him back toward the courthouse. They entered the building’s shadow and Aidan’s screams stopped. He moaned terribly. Every inch of exposed skin was reddened and blistered. Flame gently lowered him to the ground. Corinne reached their side a moment later, Ariana and Littlespark in tow.

“Is he all right?” she asked.

Flame shook her head. “He’s not going to die right now, but if we can’t get him totally out of the sun soon he might.”

One observant watchmen bent over Branson’s limp form. He picked up the sun medallion from where it had dropped from Branson’s grip and came over to the huddled couple. “Here,” he said, holding the medallion out. Flame took it and placed in over Aidan’s heart. At its touch he stopped moaning and opened his eyes. Flame breathed a sigh of relief.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“No,” was his faint reply. “But I think I’ll live.”

“That’s more than you can say for him,” said the watchman, motioning to Branson. “His back’s been broken. He’d dead as a doornail.”

Aidan’s eyes closed again. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“Well I’m not!” said Corinne. “He tried to kill you twice, and came all too close both times. He deserved what he got.”

The watchman nodded his agreement. “He was insane to try and attack you again. You were only defending yourself.”

Aidan sighed. “Yes, but I still wish I hadn’t done it.”

“You’re a better man than I am then,” said the watchman with a shake of his head. “I guess I had better tell the judge what happened.” He left the little group, telling the gathered crowd of curious onlookers to go home, there was nothing more to see. He and his partner soon had the crowd dispersed, and while the one went into the courthouse the others carried Branson’s body away, leaving the little group gathered in its shade alone.

“What are we going to do with you?” said Corinne wryly.

Aidan slowly levered himself upright, wincing in pain at the motion. “I don’t know. It looks like I haven’t lost my knack for getting into trouble. Ouch,” he added.

“Are you really going to be all right?” asked Flame Song.

“Yes. With my medallion back,” he wrapped his sunburned fingers around the cool metal and stone of the medallion, “I’m not getting any worse, and once the sun goes down I’ll start to heal up again.”

“That’s hours away!” protested Flame.

“Tell me about it,” said Aidan with a grimace. He began to slowly get to his feet. “No point in sticking around here. I’d like to get some rest if I can.”

“Of course,” said Corinne. “Let’s go home.” They set off down the street, Aidan tightly clutching the sun medallion. Littlespark and Ariana tagged behind, the former yawning now and then. It was very late for her to still be up.

“How come your daddy got all burned?” asked the older girl, curious as only a four-year old can be.

“Cause he’s a vampire,” answered Littlespark.

“Oh,” said Ariana. “What’s a vampire?”

Littlespark shrugged. “Somebody like Daddy.”

“You mean with wings?”

“No, that’s an aerian. I have wings sometimes too.”

“You do? Show me!”

“I’ll show you later. A vampire means you don’t eat regular things, and you sleep when it’s daytime, that’s what a vampire is. And vampires have pointy teeth too,” she added.

“Oh. Is your mommy a vampire too?”

“No.”

“Are you one?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“You can’t be a vampire ‘cause of your parents, you have to get bit by one, or something like that.”

“Creepy!” said Ariana, sounding thrilled at the scare as only a small child can be.

“Yeah,” agreed Littlespark.

“Aren’t people scared of vampires?”

“Some people are. Daddy doesn’t scare me though.”

“But he’s scary sometimes?”

“Oh yeah! You saw before he got burned he threw that rude guy all the way across the street. He can do stuff like that. And when he’s mad and he smiles at somebody, it’s really creepy. But he doesn’t like to scare people usually.”

“Oh.” Ariana sounded disappointed that she wouldn’t see Aidan looking scary.

Flame Song smiled at the exchange. Littlespark really was a precocious girl. Soon they reached Corinne’s house. Aidan went upstairs and tried to rest. Flame Song wanted to sleep next to him, she was shaky from this second close call and wanted the comfort of having him near, but knew that his skin would be too sensitive from the burns to tolerate her touch. She shifted to firecat form and dozed on the floor next to the bed instead. Aidan lay on the bed on his back, trying to keep as much of his burned skin away from contact with the covers as he could. He was in too much pain to really sleep, but eventually he fell into a half-doze and managed to get a little bit of rest. It seemed like eternity before the sun finally set. It didn’t bring immediate relief, but it wasn’t long before Aidan’s blisters began to fade. He just lay there as the pain slowly ebbed away. It was a couple of hours later when he finally sat up. He felt a little bit shaky and weak, and more than a little bit hungry, but his skin had returned to its normal pale color. He got out of bed and just about tripped over Flame Song. She raised her head groggily.

“You’re awake,” she said. “And looking much better,” she added. “What time is it?”

“About two hours after sundown,” was his reply.

Flame got to her feet. Then she shimmered into human form and sat next to Aidan on the bed. She hugged him tightly. All at once it hit her all over again how close she’d come to losing him. She hugged him tighter, tears forming in her eyes. “Oh Aidan, if you’d died I don’t know what I’d do.”

He stroked her hair soothingly. “It’s all right, it’s all right,” he said softly. He was still shaky himself. That had been far too close. For a long time they both just clung together, seeking reassurance in their embrace.

Corinne softly opened the door to see how Aidan was doing. She smiled to see them sitting there, lost in each other, oblivious to the world. Neither of them noticed her as she closed the door again.