Gradually Aidan began to pull himself together. He found his trousers and pulled them on. He was looking at the empty mirror and wishing he could see if he looked as bad as he felt when the door opened again. He looked up to see the minotaur’s bovine face regarding the empty mirror with something like curiosity. The minotaur advanced into the room and took him by the arm again. He didn’t resist. Perhaps he might have successfully escaped then, with Flame Song’s interest elsewhere, but he was too worn and numb to even think of it.

He welcomed the cool darkness of his cell. His mind was still reeling from what had happened. How could he have lost control so utterly? He had sworn he would never again betray his wife, and yet at the first temptation to do so he had given in. He pictured the scene just passed a thousand times and saw a thousand better things he might have done. So why had he given in? Why? He didn’t even notice when the minotaur locked the door behind him. He had a lot of serious thinking to do.

It was two days, or rather nights, later before the door again opened. Aidan had finished his thinking. Two days is a long time when there is nothing else to do but sit and think. So he’d sat, or stood, or paced, and thought. And as the sun rose, bringing the second night to a close, Aidan at last reached a state of calm.

So when the door opened showing the dark Flame Song and her minotaur servant standing in the hallway he didn’t react with the fear and confusion that might have otherwise filled him. The calm he’d found was deeply rooted and not easily upset. He felt he could accept anything that came. What did come was a little bit surprising, though he might have anticipated it had he thought. Flame Song wanted to break him, to bend him to her will. And so she had played on his weaknesses, his hunger, his low resistance to temptation, and gotten him to do something that ran against his nature, something wrong, even evil. She wanted to humiliate him and make him think he was helpless in her power. And now that she’d gotten him to give in to her in one way, commit one evil, she was trying another tack.

The minotaur held a girl with her hands tied behind her back. She was young, about fifteen or sixteen years old, with blond hair and brown eyes that were wide with terror. The minotaur propelled her into the cell. She stumbled and fell but couldn’t catch herself with her hands tied. Aidan darted forward and caught her before she could hit her head. He looked up at the mirror Flame Song questioningly.

She smiled down at him with a malicious gleam in her eyes. “I thought you might appreciate a meal, so I’ve brought you one. Enjoy.” And with that she turned and left, the door shutting firmly behind her.

Aidan gently put the girl down on the floor. She continued to stare at him with that look of wide-eyed terror. He dug out a tiny hidden dagger that rested in a special sheath at the small of his back. He was pretty sure that the mirror Flame Song knew he had it and hadn’t been concerned. With one quick slash he cut the rope that tied her. He re-sheathed the knife and stepped back to give her some space, going to stand in one corner. The girl didn’t get up; she just scooted to the opposite corner of the room. She pressed against the wall as if she would melt back into it to get away from him.

“It’s all right child, I won’t hurt you,” he said in a soft, soothing tone.

She just pressed back against the wall harder, hugging her knees in a fetal position.

“Here now, you’re over there and I promise I’ll stay over here. In fact,” he said as he again pulled out his hidden dagger, “I’ll let you have this. If I take even one step in your direction you can peg me with it.” He put the dagger on the floor and slid it across the room. It came to a halt a foot in front of the girl. She looked at it for a moment as if it might bite her, and then snatched it up.

“Why did you give me this? You’re Aidan, right? Aren’t you going to… to…” she couldn’t finish the sentence, though Aidan was sure the unspoken words had to do with his vampirism.

He sighed. “No, I’m not. And I’m not Aidan either. At least not the one you’re thinking of. You could say I’m his twin.”

“You’re not Aidan?” She was still terrified, but she was also a little bit curious.

“No.”

‘Then who are you?”

“Well, that’s a rather complicated question. My name is actually Aidan. I’m from another world, one that’s a kind of mirror of this one. So I’m a mirror of the other Aidan.”

“Oh.”

“You don’t have to trust me, in fact it would be better if you didn’t. I’ll just stay over here and you can stay over there and we’ll both be safe.”

He sat down in his corner and leaned his head against the wall. He could sense the sun rising high in the sky outside, though no hint of its light reached the dim cell. With the sun rising higher in the sky a deep tiredness and lethargy stole over him and it wasn’t long before he fell asleep.

Sometime during the day he came halfway awake, dimly aware of a presence looming over him. It took a moment for his brain, still fogged with sleep to realize who it was. The girl, whose name he still didn’t know, was standing over him, no doubt with his dagger clutched in her hand. He remained still, keeping his eyes closed and waiting to see what she would do. She stood there for a very long time before she turned and retreated to the far corner. Aidan relaxed and went back to sleep.

Aidan awoke again as the sun disappeared below the horizon. He yawned and sat up, looking over at the girl still sitting in the opposite corner. Her head leaned on her drawn-up knees and he realized that she was asleep. He got to his feet and stretched. The sense of complete calm was still with him. It was a bit strange to be in such dire circumstances and feel so at peace, but he was. He stretched out his wings. He did wish he was out of this confining cell and back with his wife, but since he was stuck here he might as well make the best of it. I’ve come a long way, he thought, suddenly remembering his helpless despair all those years ago when the Vampire Lord Drago had held him prisoner. But there’s still a long way to go.

He glanced again at the girl and found her awake and staring at him. He folded his wings and smiled at her. “You know, I don’t even know your name,” he said.

“I’m Celia,” she said. “Are you really from another world?”

“Yes,” he replied, “I am. Not that it’s much different from your world, really.”

“Are you…? I saw you sleeping and it looked like you weren’t breathing. Are you a vampire?”

He sighed, needing to deliberately draw breath in order to do so. “Yes, I am.”

“But you said you wouldn’t hurt me,” she said, fear returning to her voice.

“I did, and I meant it. I won’t touch you. I promise.”

“I thought vampires had to have blood every night.”

He shook his head. “Not every night, no. I can go some time without feeding. And when I’ve given my word, I keep it. I won’t touch you.”