There was a sound, an all-encompassing sound. It wasn't really a sound, the vibration was something different, something more profound and strange, but sound was the thing it was most like. The world and everything on it shook from it. Every speck of dirt, every molecule of air, and every living thing vibrated in sympathy with the sound that rang through everything so loudly that even though ears couldn't really hear it, it was deafening all the same.

Aidan came awake with a start. He thought for a moment that the sound was something from a dream, but he could hear the fading vibrations of it still echoing and re-echoing all around him. The earth itself seemed to be ringing like a bell, and Aidan felt like he was somehow ringing too, the sound was in his very bones. He looked over to where his wife, Flame Song, lay beside him. She too was awake, her eyes wide.

"What was that?" she said once the sound had faded completely.

He shook his head. "I have no idea. It felt like we were inside a church bell, or something. I don't see anything different though."

Aidan looked around. There was no sign of cracked plaster or crumbling ceiling to indicate that the walls had been ringing only seconds ago. Perhaps the sound had been a dream after all? But no, Flame had heard it too. They got up and checked the rest of their house, but the central room, spare bedroom, kitchen and even cellar seemed completely unchanged. A quick check outside showed that it was still dark, so they went back to bed, resuming their disturbed sleep.

Three days later a white dove came down out of the sky to perch on Aidan's upraised arm. He had been enjoying the sun of a rare warm day in early autumn. Snow would be flying soon here in the far north, so days like this were to be savored.

He removed a tiny scrap of parchment from the dove's leg. It grew to a palm-sized note when he unfolded it, but he had expected the little touch of magic. He had gotten quite a few such notes before, over the last few years.

Come as swift as you can. All are needed, and this is a more urgent matter than any we have yet seen to.
-Tara

Aidan's eyes went wide. A more urgent matter than any they had seen to? They had "seen to" some pretty urgent matters. Matters of life and death for hundreds, even. What could possibly have gone wrong that was that urgent? And then he remembered the bell tone of three days past. It had felt like the whole world had rung. It would be a massive coincidence indeed if that wasn't related to this sudden summons. This is something big. Bigger than just Tara.

"We'll come as fast as we can," he said to the dove, and threw it into the air. It took wing and streaked off to the south, moving impossibly fast.

Less than an hour later he and his wife were following the dove's path, if much slower. They flew together, Aidan leading with Flame in his slipstream, both of them born on snow white aerian wings. They had made this journey many times before. But normally they went at a leisurely pace, enjoying the scenery below and taking plenty of time for rest and food. Now they pressed on as fast as they could fly, stopping only when absolutely necessary. They traded off flying point so that neither would tire faster than the other. They made it over the pass and into Snowcap in less than two days. They stopped there to sleep and eat, and then set out on the hardest leg, the ocean crossing. It was a day and a half before they reached land, tired and hungry, and stopped again to rest. But they didn't stop long, they were soon winging their way southwest. They flew for a full day over the dense forest of the elven woods. Then they crossed the high peaks of the Aerie Mountains, though far north of Aerievale, where the peaks were lower. The crossing took nearly a day, and then two days' flight over settled fields and pastures saw them to Tara's Tower. They landed in the central courtyard, and were immediately ushered into Tara's private library, the place where she most often called the Queen's Own when she needed them.

They were both worn and hungry, but they were the last to arrive, and apparently this couldn't wait. Only the dwarf Belak, who made his home in Coppertop, took longer to reach the tower, and he had already been in the southern lands on other business when the summons came, so this time he had beat Flame and Aidan there.

There were thirty-odd people gathered in the modest room, the full membership of the Queen's Own. Humans and aerians, elves and dwarves, were-folk and even one goblin, they represented a cross-section of Tara's people. Queen Tara herself sat in a chair near the fireplace, with the eyes of all present fixed on her. She appeared to be a human woman of average appearance, not too tall, not too short, not too thin, not too broad, with brown hair and brown eyes and tanned skin. Completely unremarkable. But she was not human, and she was anything but unremarkable. Her true form was that of a magnificent golden dragon. She seldom took that form now. She ruled a kingdom of smaller beings, and her tower and castle had been built for such, so her magic kept her in human form nearly all the time. But everyone in the kingdom knew what she was. She had ruled there now for nearly three hundred years, and she had ruled well. Long ago she had taken over a tiny kingdom devastated by plague, torn by wars of succession that had killed what few of the ruling family survived the plague, and threatened by attack from without. She had defended, and healed, and built that tiny space around her tower up into a kingdom that now stretched from the southern plains to the northern sea, and from the eastern peaks to the western ocean. The name of that long-ago kingdom had been forgotten. Her realm was now called the Kingdom of Tara, or simply Tara, as she herself was, and indeed she and her kingdom were inseparable, it was unthinkable to have one without the other.

The stories of her battles with the Dark Lord Lavasida were the stuff of legends, repeated over countless generations, and the stories of how she had used her magic to tend to the sick and dying people of her kingdom were told nearly as often. At that thought, Aidan flicked a glance to one corner of the room, where the firelight almost didn't reach. The tall, dark-clad form of Lavasida stood there, watching his once-enemy with a slight smile on his pale face. Few outside of the Queen's Own knew that Lavasida still lived. And even they didn't know how the Dark Lord had gone from being Tara's bitter enemy to being one of her closest and most trusted servants. Neither of them had ever shared the story. But Tara had told the rest that Lavasida could be trusted, and such was their trust in her that they had accepted him without question.

Tara spoke. "We are all here now, and we will all be needed. This is something that has never happened before. Quite possibly the worst thing that has ever happened to this world. You all, no doubt, remember hearing or feeling a ringing sound a week or so past. It was heard everywhere on this planet, because the planet itself was ringing. Jordanis can explain it better than I can, I think." She turned to the robed mage standing next to her chair, and he nodded, his canine face sober. He was a were-jackal, but unlike most of the were-folk he chose to keep in his change form rather than stay human.

"I'll leave the technical details of what we think happened out," he said, "And just say that the ringing was only a side-effect of the spell that caused it. Ordinarily non-mages can't hear the sound of magic, but this was so powerful, so loud, that everyone and everything heard it. But as I said, that was not the true purpose of the spell. Its true purpose was to crack the world sphere."

There was a gasp from several people at that. Aidan and Flame exchanged glances, neither of them quite knowing what Jordanis meant.

"I'll explain. Or rather, I'll show you what I mean." He raised one blunt-clawed hand, and a swirling mist formed in the air next to him. The center of the mist cleared, and it showed a map, familiar to all those watching. It was a map of the Kingdom of Tara. Then the view drew back, and the elven kingdoms to the east, the northern continent, and the southern plains all gradually appeared. The view continued to pull back until a globe hung there, black space behind it. Tara was tiny on the vast expanse. "Some people think that Aretha is flat, and that the sky is a dome that arches over it, with sun, moon, and stars moving along it. This is not true. Aretha is a sphere, and it spins in space." The view pulled back still more, and the moon came into view, circling the larger world. "The moon circles Aretha, and Aretha in turn circles the sun." The view moved back further. A thin white line drew out behind the planet, and as the view pulled back more and more the line became visibly curved. When the world was nothing more than a tiny speck the sun came into view, a ball of glowing fire, and the line of the world's track was revealed as a slightly elliptical circle. Two more circles appeared inside it, and Jordanis said, "There are two other worlds closer to the sun. There are also three more further out." The view drew back still more. Aretha was completely invisible now, only the thin line of its orbit showed, and three more circles appeared around the sun, which was now itself only a tiny ball in the center of the view. Flame was wide-eyed at the scale of it. She had never known the universe was so large! "Beyond those worlds there is a ring of smaller things. Asteroids and comets and things not quite large enough to be worlds." Still further back now, a hazy ring, like a cloud of dust, circled everything. "And beyond that, the world sphere, with the stars set in it." And suddenly the view rushed back, and passed through something like a wall, and the wall drew back and became a sphere of silvery-blue crystal.

"This is what has cracked. The hole is tiny on such a scale, no larger than the size of a man, but beyond the sphere there is nothing but primal chaos. The sphere resists chaos, but what lies within it cannot, and chaos is leaking in through the hole. For now the effects are tiny, unnoticeable. But chaos diffuses quickly, and the first touch of it is already here, if you know how to measure such things. Within a few weeks the effects will begin to show. In a few months chaos will be warping and distorting everything. In a few years this world will be completely uninhabitable, but there will be nothing we would recognize left to inhabit it anyhow. And eventually everything within the world sphere will have been dissolved into the primal chaos and there will be nothing at all left."

Faces all around the room looked grim. "You wouldn't have called us if there wasn't something we could do," said Brianna. She was the leader of the Queen's Own, a skilled warrior and a talented negotiator and strategist.

Tara nodded. "There is something. Several somethings. This calamity was caused by a vampiric human named Radu. We know almost nothing about him, though we are fairly certain he is an outworlder. We hope to be able to find him, capture him, find the nature of the spell he did this with and perhaps reverse it. Most of you will be staying here in the kingdom to help with that effort. But... we cannot count on finding him. We didn't know his name or race until recently, but we have been hunting him for some years with no luck. So we must have a second plan as well."

Jordanis spoke again. "The second plan is to repair the leak. I have certain gifts that make this possible. Not easy, but possible. All of you who are spell-crafters will be staying here, with myself and with the other court mages, to build the spells that we'll need in the attempt. Just reaching the breach will be difficult, and fixing it... I cannot create the stuff the sphere is made from. I may be able to alter it slightly, and I hope to be able to mold it so that I can patch the hole. But the surest way to patch it is to find the pieces. I don't expect we can find all of them, some are very small, but there were two large chunks broken loose, and if I have those in my possession the repair will be, if not easy, at least within what I know I can accomplish. So some of you must go after the pieces."

"But the pieces have gone out into the primal chaos," said Lavasida quietly from his corner. "We can't venture there."

Jordanis shook his head. "No. Or rather yes, but that's not the full story. Chaos cannot dissolve or change the material of the sphere, but the effects of chaos may still work on it, and what chaos did to these pieces was to fling them elsewhere. They are on other worlds now. I can't track the smaller shards, but the large pieces carry enough of the sense of Aretha with them that I was able to locate them." He grinned, a brief flash of sharp teeth. "I have a natural talent, a gift, as it were, for portal magic. I can build portals to other worlds. I do it by instinct, by feel. I can feel the shards, the tiny bit of this reality, in those other worlds. I can send you there to bring them back. Other people of this world may be making their own efforts to fix this, but my gift is beyond rare. I doubt there is anyone else in the world who has it. So we must do this, nobody else can."

"So some of you will have to go across the worlds," said Tara, "And retrieve the shards. I want to send a selection of abilities. We don't know much about the places you'll be going. You may need to fight for them, you may need to bargain for them, or you may need to steal them." She flashed a smile at Aidan, and he smiled back. "Brianna, you should go, to bargain. And Lavasida also, for bargains of a different sort. Lon, of course," she smiled at Brianna's husband, a were-wolf and a healing cleric. "And Aidan, in case thievery will be needed. And Belak, you're probably our best fighter." The dwarf nodded. "And I suppose Flame Song will want to go along with Aidan." Flame smiled. "You'll make a second fighter, and Lavasida a third. And lastly... Seymore?" The little goblin perked up. "We don't know the races of the worlds where we'll send you, but Jordanis says these worlds are near ours, and that this means they're likely to be similar. So you go as well, in case the shards are in the hands of one of the uncivilized races."

She looked at them all. "Those of you who are helping Jordanis with his spell-crafting should go with him to begin. Those who will stay and hunt for Radu stay here, I have more to tell you. And those who will be going to the other worlds," she looked at Aidan and Flame, "You're yet tired, and I don't want to send you out exhausted. Go rest, sleep, and prepare. Jordanis will cast the portal spell to send you out first thing in the morning."

Aidan almost expected to have uneasy dreams, given what he had just learned, but he slept the deep sleep of the exhausted, and had to be shaken awake by Flame at sunrise. He dressed, and made sure he had everything he would need. He had his two obvious belt daggers, and a half dozen hidden knives, from the easily found boot dagger to the tiny blade cleverly built into his belt. Two sets of lock picks, also hidden, completed his inventory. He was ready.

Flame carried nothing but one small belt dagger. She did not fight with weapons, her firecat's claws were far more effective than any sword would have been in her hands.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Ready as I'll get," she said, looking sober and worried.

The left their rooms, and went out into the central courtyard. The other five were there already, with Jordanis.

"A few words before you go," the canine mage said. "I've fixed a return spell on you. All of you will be pulled back here, along with the shard, as soon as any one of you touches it. I'll be trying to set you down close to it, but this is an imprecise art, so I'm not completely certain where you'll end up. And... just a warning. Most of the worlds that are 'near' to Aretha share her habit of changing any who visit them. Some are more aggressive about it than others, so you may find nothing happens, or you may find yourselves altered considerably. Whatever the changes are, if there are any, they'll be undone as soon as you return, so don't worry too much about them.

"I've done all I can to help you succeed, the rest is up to you." He turned then, and faced an empty archway. It had been built with ordinary traveling portals in mind, and made it that much easier to cast one. It would serve just as well for a portal between worlds. And Jordanis was an expert portal mage. He had prepared his spell well, and had it cast within only a few minutes. The arch filled with a rainbow shimmer, whatever might lie beyond it obscured behind the swirling colors. One by one they filed through, vanishing into it.

When Aidan stepped through for an instant he was surrounded by nothing but color. He felt a twisting, pulling, spinning sensation. It was disorienting, and he felt a little sick, but it cleared away almost immediately, leaving him standing again on solid ground.

He looked around. Flame came through right on his heels and the glow of the portal behind them vanished. They stood on a cobblestoned street. It was night, the sky overhead obscured by clouds, the street below dark except for a dim glow that spilled from a nearby building.

The glow increased as somebody opened a door and came out. It was a human man, and he took one look at the group standing there and let out a yelp of shock. "Monsters! Help!"

Aidan looked at the others. They didn't look that much different, except for something about Lon... but he didn't have time to think about it, because people were flooding out of the building, a sudden mob advancing on their small group.

"Scatter and run!" shouted Brianna, and the night erupted into chaos as the seven scattered, and the mob went after them.

Aidan knew that Flame could take care of herself, so he escaped the best way he knew, straight up. With a leap and a flurry of wingbeats he was aloft. He gained altitude as quickly as he could, and soon he could see the town laid out below him. It wasn't large, but it seemed that half the population was roused now. Men with torches streamed up and down the streets, searching. But he didn't see any sign that they had caught anybody. The others seemed to have escaped easily enough in the darkness. He circled higher, looking for some sign of them. After quite some time he made out a flicker of light on a hill a mile or so outside of town. The hill was backed by a thick forest, and no roads led to it. Aidan hoped that it was his friends, and he winged his way towards it.

As he approached he could hear familiar voices. Brianna and Lavasida were speaking together, though he couldn't quite make out the words. But at this distance he could only have heard them if they were speaking quite loudly. Why weren't they keeping their voices down? Did they want to get found by the townspeople? He soared in closer, and landed a little ways away from the light, just in case. He paused to catch his breath... and realized that he didn't need to. That's odd, he thought. I've been flying for well over an hour. I should be at least a little winded, but I'm not. What kind of world makes it so you don't need to breathe? And... he surveyed himself with a bit of surprise, finding that though he didn't seem to look any different, his clothing had been rather drastically altered. What kind of world puts you in evening wear? He quickly checked his belt, but found that his daggers were still there, though they didn't exactly match his outfit.

He shrugged the strangeness off and walked towards the firelight where he could hear his friend's voices far too loudly. He could see five people standing around the fire, and as he drew closer he recognized his friends of the Queen's Own. But... changed. Lavasida looked much as he always had, though he too had acquired formal wear. Seymore seemed completely unchanged, not even his clothing was different. Lon was the most obviously altered. He was a were-wolf, of course, but now he looked it. He was in the were form, halfway between wolf and human, that he never wore ordinarily. Brianna looked somewhat like herself, but her skin was pale and slightly greenish, and her clothing, far from being formal, was ragged and tattered. Her expression was pained, she didn't seem happy with whatever change had been made to her. Flame Song was there also. She seemed to be human still, and was dressed in a brightly colored dress with several layers of skirts.

"What happened?" he said as he approached. The sound came out louder than he had expected, and he had a sudden suspicion that Brianna and Lavasida hadn't been talking loudly after all. It was his own hearing that had changed, becoming more sensitive.

"Aidan!" Flame got up and went to him, taking his hand. A puzzled look crossed her face as she did, but Brianna spoke before Flame could say anything.

"We're all here then."

Aidan looked around the hilltop again, but saw no sign of the seventh member of their group. "What about Belak?" he asked.

"I'm right here, lad." Aidan jumped. The voice had come from thin air just ahead of him. "It seems I've become invisible. Jordanis was right. We've been somewhat changed, yourself included, lad."

"We're a fine collection of Hollywood horrors," said Brianna, with a wry smile.

"What kind of horrors?" Flame looked puzzled.

"Sorry, it's one of those Earth things." Brianna was from the same world as Aidan, a world much different from Aretha, a world called simply "Earth" by those who lived there.

"Ah," said Flame. She had gotten used to Brianna and Aidan sharing an incomprehensible language of in-jokes and references that nobody else understood.

"What do I look like then?" asked Aidan.

Brianna grinned. "Like Count Dracula. Only shorter, and with wings."

"What!" Aidan yelped. "You mean I'm a vampire?!"

Lavasida grinned, showing his own sharp fangs. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"I... uh... but you're the Dark Lord! You're supposed to be one. I'm not... I don't want to be... I mean me as a vampire is ridiculous!"

Brianna sighed. "No more so than me being a zombie, Aidan. We're just going to have to cope with this. Hopefully we can find the shard quickly and return to Aretha and to our normal selves."

"Yeah." He was about to say more, but a long howl interrupted him. Everyone looked at Lon with shock. Moonlight streamed down around him, the moon had just come out from behind the clouds. He howled again, then shifted, completing the transformation to wolf form, and ran down the hill and into the trees.

"That idiot." Lavasida shifted too, and a black wolf streaked after the gray wolf into the dark.

Brianna sat down with a sigh. "What next? I suppose we'll have to wait for them to come back."

So they settled in to wait. Aidan leaned tiredly against the trunk of one of the few scraggly trees that grew on the hilltop. He wasn't really physically worn out, but he felt emotionally battered. He hadn't expected anything like what had just happened. Flame Song settled in next to him gingerly, giving him a troubled glance.

“What is it?” asked Aidan softly. He knew her well enough to know that something was bothering her.

“It’s just…” She sighed. “I don’t know. This vampire thing. I don’t like it. I don’t like the thought of you as some kind of undead.”

Aidan ran his tongue over his fangs, feeling their sharpness. He took a breath to speak, suddenly aware all over again that he wasn’t breathing normally. “I don’t exactly like it either.” He reached out and took her hand in his.

"Your hand is cold..." Flame still looked worried and tense, and Aidan felt a stab of painful sadness. His heart might not be beating any more, but it could still feel.

“Flame… you know I would never hurt you, no matter what.”

“I know,” she said, and consciously made the effort to relax. “I just can’t help but worry. What if it changes you? What if you become like other vampires? I mean I know Lavasida is an honorable man in his own way… but he’s hard, Aidan. He’s cold-blooded and inhuman. I couldn’t stand to see you like that.”

Aidan sighed, closing his eyes. Flame had just voiced exactly what he’d been afraid of and exactly what he’d been trying not to think about. “I won’t. Maybe if it was just me I might,” he said. “But it isn’t just me. I have you. So long as you’re with me I could never become cold. You’re my Flame, you’ll keep me warm,” he added with an impish smile.

The worried expression vanished as Flame Song smiled back. She squeezed his hand gently. “You're right. I'm sorry.” Aidan caressed her hand, running his fingers over her smooth skin. She sighed softly and relaxed further, letting out a sigh of released tension. He smiled and leaned in toward her, resting his raven-haired head on her shoulder. Flame was taller than he by three inches. Not a really significant difference, but enough that it was more comfortable for him to rest his head on her shoulder rather than the other way around. He could recall a time when that had seemed odd, but now it was just the way things were. They leaned together comfortably until Flame let out a yawn.

"Tired?" asked Aidan.

"Yes. I'm still not quite recovered from that flight down, and tonight has been a bit too exciting."

“Well, I’m afraid we’re short on bedding, but if I’ll do as a pillow, feel free to go to sleep. I don’t think I’ll be able to fall asleep tonight.”

Flame Song smiled and laid her head in Aidan’s lap, and moments later she was snoring softly. Aidan smiled down at her, remembering all over again how much he loved her. He could never get over the fact that she’d agreed to marry him. Even after nearly three years it still seemed like a miracle. He gently stoked her fire-orange hair. He could hear her soft breathing as she slipped deeper into sleep. He could hear too the gentle rhythm of her heart, as clearly as if he’d had a stethoscope to her chest, could see the faint pulse in her neck, and even smell the scent of her blood… No! He broke off his gaze, a shudder going through him. He forced down the sudden surge of hunger that swept over him, clenching his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to block out sound, sight, and scent. I must do nothing to harm her! Nothing!

He opened his eyes and stared up at the cool, distant stars for a long time. I have to keep this under control, he told himself. Maybe I can talk to Lavasida. He’s been a vampire for who knows how long. He’s sure to be able to help me control myself. I’m sure we’ll find the shard in just a day or two, and then we can leave here and I’ll be back to my normal self.

After several hours had passed his newly keen hearing picked up the sound of approaching footsteps. He could make out two sets. Hopefully it was Lon and Lavasida returning. He looked over and after a few moments saw the pair step out of the forest and climb to the crest of the hill. Lavasida was carrying something in his arms. As they approached the fire he saw that it was a human boy.

"What happened?" asked Brianna.

Lon looked embarrassed, or as embarrassed as a wolfman could look. Aidan got the feeling that if he hadn't been covered in fur he would have been beet red. "I'm sorry. The moon just... I had to run!"

“Your beloved cleric has yet again distinguished himself, Brianna," said Lavasida. "He has managed to scare this child nearly to death. By the time I caught up with him he’d knocked the boy down. To give him credit I doubt he intended any harm, but the child was so terrified he fainted on the spot.”

“Well, what’s done is done. I suppose we’ll just have to deal with it. Lavasida, put the boy down over here. We’ll see if Lon can redeem himself a bit and revive the child. And perhaps…” she looked around for a moment before her gaze settled on Flame Song, who’d been woken by all the commotion. “Perhaps a more normal-looking person than myself should be the one to speak to the boy when he awakes.”

Flame Song nodded and went over to the boy. He was perhaps twelve or thirteen, with dark hair and dusky brown skin. Lon, still looking somewhat sheepish, knelt down next to him and put his large, furry hands on the boy’s head. He closed his eyes, summoning his clerical power. A few moments later the boy’s eyes fluttered. Lon quickly backed away from the boy. When his eyes opened all the way, all he saw at first was Flame. She smiled at him. “Are you all right?”

The boy nodded hesitantly. Then he looked around, and let out a little sound of fear at seeing the others, his eyes going wide.

"It's all right," said Flame. "Nobody will hurt you, I promise."

He made a gesture, muttering something in another language that might have been a prayer, or might have been a spell to ward off evil. Aidan realized that even from where he sat a few yards away he could hear the boy's heartbeat racing. "You... you are people, from elsewhere? Who only look like monsters but are not monsters in truth?"

Flame blinked, a little surprised. "Yes..."

The boy took a deep breath, and his heart rate slowed slightly. "Then you are the ones I was sent to find."

The group exchanged surprised glances. He had been sent to find them?

"My grandmother wants to speak to you. She says she knows why you are here, and wants to help you. She is our wise woman, she knows everything. She told me where to go, and that I would be safe in the forest, even though it would be night before I reached here."

"I see." Brianna looked a little bemused. "Well... I suppose it's as good a place to start as any. Very well. We'll go see your grandmother."

With no reason to hesitate further, they gathered themselves together and set out. The boy led the way down the hill and through the forest.

"How far is it?" asked Brianna.

"I left at first light," said the boy. "So it will be a full day and a few hours more."

They continued on, threading their way among the trees. Aidan was continually surprised as how much better his senses were. He could hear well enough to track the invisible Belak by his footsteps, and could smell things he'd never smelled before. And though they kept up a brisk pace, and with his short legs he ended up taking nearly two steps to every one of Brianna's or Lon's, he wasn't winded at all. I guess there are a few benefits to this whole mess, he thought to himself. Strength, speed, inhumanly keen senses, that’s all good. But there’s plenty of downside to go with it. I really wouldn’t like to be stuck this way. Drinking blood isn’t going to be pleasant for one thing, and what about when morning comes? Do I have to find a coffin to crawl into? I really ought to talk to Lavasida, find out how this all works. He’s been out in daylight lots, but then he’s a very, very old and powerful vampire. Me, I’ve been one for a couple of hours. In some of the stories that makes a big difference. I hope all that about crosses and garlic doesn’t turn out to be true either, but with my luck it will. He looked up at the sky, where the first faint hints of dawn were showing, when the horizon could be glimpsed between the trees. Looks like I’m going to be finding out about the sunlight thing pretty soon.

The sun was not yet anywhere near showing itself, really, but Aidan realized he could actually sense it. He could tell exactly how far it was from the horizon. A little while later they came out into a meadow, and he could see the horizon clearly, the light seeming impossibly bright even though the sun itself had not yet risen. But then it did, the barest sliver edging above the distant trees. Immediately he felt it, like a blow. It was as if a giant, scalding weight were pressing against every inch of him. He could feel his skin burning everywhere the sunlight touched.

He let out a shocked cry, dropping to his knees in the grass. Flame realized what had happened almost instantly, and she took his arm, pulling him to his feet and half dragging him towards the shelter of the forest. Something supported him on the other side and he dimly realized, through the pain, that the invisible Belak was helping as well. Thankfully the far side of the meadow was close, and soon merciful shade closed around him. He dropped to the ground again next to a tree trunk, where the shade was unbroken. He looked down at his hands, expecting them to be burned and blistered, but the skin was unmarked.

Freed from the immediacy of his own problems he was suddenly aware of the stream of inventive cursing coming from just a few yards away. When he looked over he saw Lavasida likewise sheltering in the shadow of a tree trunk. Lon, looking a little less wolfish and more human now that the moon had set, was crouched next to him with a concerned expression on his face. “I thought your amulet protected you from sunlight?” asked the cleric.

“It used to,” snarled the Dark Lord. “Apparently it doesn’t work on this insane world.”

“Maybe I can…” Lon reached out toward the vampire.

“Don’t touch me!” snapped Lavasida. “Idiot. You’re a cleric, I’m a vampire. You couldn’t heal me if you tried. You’d just hurt me more.”

“Oh. Sorry, I forgot.”

Brianna looked from Lavasida to Aidan and back again. “I guess we’re not going to go any further today,” said Brianna with a sigh. “We’ll just have to wait until sundown.”

Sundown was a long time coming. The shade offered by the trees was infinitely better than direct sunlight, but Aidan could still feel the hot hammering of the sun, even indirect as it was. He squinted against the intolerable brightness, almost totally blinded, and tried to wait with patience. He tried to rest, but couldn’t do more than doze fitfully. The worst came at noon. With the sun directly overhead there were no more solid shadows. Bits of direct sunlight filtered down among the leaves and shone down on the huddled vampire. However much he tried to protect himself, folding his wings around him and curling up as tightly as he could, some little bit of sun still managed to find bare skin. When at last a patch of deeper shadow appeared on the opposite side of the tree he moved into it with a little sigh of relief.

Aidan heaved a much bigger sigh when at last the sun went down. He heard a matching sound from Lavasida and looked over to find the Dark Lord looking back with a wry smile. “Being a vampire isn’t always a bad thing, Aidan. But it’s not always an easy thing either." He got slowly to his feet and stretched.

Aidan nodded. "So I'm learning."

“Well,” said Brianna, “now that we can all move again, let’s get going.”

They quickly gathered themselves together, making sure everyone, even the invisible Belak, was with them, and set off with the boy in the lead. The moon was high in the sky by the time they reached their destination.

In a clearing amid the trees was a gypsy encampment. There were no tents. Instead a dozen brightly painted wagons circled around several huge bonfires. Sitting around the fires were the gypsies. The men and women alike were colorfully dressed, in a style very similar to Flame Song's changed clothing. Every eye in the encampment regarded the little group with wary suspicion. Aidan and Lavasida received the brunt of the suspicious looks. Vampires were obviously not welcome here.

Aidan tested the air, smelling smoke, sweat, and somewhere the faint taint of spilled blood. Somebody in the camp was injured. He pushed a recurring spasm of hunger out of his mind and looked ahead to where an old woman sat next to the central fire.

"Come, sit by the fire and hear me," the woman said. Aidan looked at her with curiosity as he found a seat on one of the rough log benches that circled the fire. Her hair was snow white, and her face lined, but she was somehow beautiful all the same, a strong, almost uncomfortable beauty that could be seen most clearly in her piercing dark eyes. She surveyed the seven that sat before her, and Aidan got the feeling that she could see the invisible Belak as easily as she saw any of the others. "It is my gift to know that which will benefit my people," she said, "And sometimes, but rarely, I am also given to know something that will benefit others. I know of what you seek, and I know why, and I cannot stand idly by and see a wold die. So I will aid you.

"The shard you seek is but two days' journey from here. But it is not lying free for you to claim. It has been found by the lord of this land, the Baron Almaric. He is not an evil man, but neither is he a good one. He thinks first of his own land and people. He will not aid strangers without a price. You cannot move him with pleas, he will only give aid where he has received aid in turn. I do not see all, but I can see the hope of success in your future. It is not sure, but it is possible. The price he will ask is one that you can pay, though you may suffer in the paying of it. And do not think to steal from him, or take what you seek by force. He is a magician of great power, and commands forces enough that force will avail you naught."

“How do we know,” said Lavasida, “that we can trust you? You’re a stranger to us.”

The woman smiled. “Ah. You are one how knows much of betrayal. But you need not trust me over-much. Go, speak with the Baron. If you find all as I have said, then you know I speak true. If not, your quest may go on unhindered by my words."

Lavasida didn’t look satisfied, but he nodded curt acceptance. They had no other clues.

"I will aid you also, as much as I may. My people know something of betrayal also, and they do not readily trust creatures such as yourselves. But I can lend you one of our wagons, and there is at least one man in the camp who fears you little enough to drive it for you, and return it when you are done. Also, I will tell you something that may aid you greatly. As you look now you will not be able to walk into Almaric's castle. You would be killed at the gates! But he often shows his wealth and power in great celebrations. Three nights hence he shall hold a ball. A masked ball." The old gypsy smiled. "On that night your odd appearance will not draw comment, save perhaps admiration for the quality of your costumes."

"Thank you," said Brianna.

"You may rest here while the wagon is prepared. It should be ready to depart by dawn."

"Thank you," repeated Brianna.

The old woman rose, and went to make whatever preparations where needed. The others remained gathered around the fire, but Aidan got up and made his way out of the circle of wagons. Flame rose and followed him. “Are you alright?”

With a heavy sigh he sat down at the base of a huge oak that stood a little ways from the gypsy's clearing. “I guess. I just… I’m not adjusting to this vampire thing very well. The whole time that old gypsy was talking it was all I could do to keep my attention on her. Somebody in the camp is injured, bleeding, and I can smell it. I’m hungry in a way I’ve never been before. It’s getting harder and harder to ignore. I just had to get away from it.”

Flame Song sat down next to him and took his hand. “I hope you don’t mind if I keep you company.”

Aidan closed his eyes. “I… I’m afraid I do mind. It’s not really you, but… so long as you’re here I can still smell it. Do you understand?” He looked at her pleadingly. “I can smell your blood! I can hear your heartbeat! There’s just no escaping it, and it gets harder and harder to fight it.”

Flame looked at Aidan silently for a long time. Then she took a deep breath and said softly, “Maybe you shouldn’t fight it.”

"What?" He stared at her.

“Look Aidan. We’ve been here for only two days now, right? And you’re already having problems. We need at least three more days, if this gypsy is right. Are you going to be able to hold out that long? And what if it takes longer? What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know! But I can’t just go out and find some victim.”

“But you have to do something. What happens if you lost control and just attack somebody? You might kill them.”

“Well, what are you suggesting?” said Aidan, frustration in his voice.

“Haven’t you told me that people on your Earth give blood to those who are injured? It wouldn’t hurt me to give you a little bit of blood. Surely you don’t need that much?”

Aidan was horrified. He couldn’t… couldn’t drink his wife’s blood! The very thought was repulsive. “No! I couldn't do that.”

“What then? You’ll wait until you can’t control yourself and end up killing some innocent?”

“That’s exactly why I can’t do it! What if I kill you?”

“You won’t Aidan. I know you. I trust you. And I trust our love. I know you won’t hurt me. And I can’t see any other way. It’s this now, or someone’s death later.”

“I just can’t. If I hurt you, I couldn’t live with myself.” His tone was pleading as he tried to convince her. She surely didn’t know what she was offering. To donate blood in a blood drive was one thing, but this!

Flame Song suddenly smiled. “But you wouldn’t have to live with yourself. You’re already dead.”

Aidan sputtered wordlessly. This wasn’t a joking matter! Besides, whispered a little voice at the back of his mind, you’re supposed to be the one who makes the jokes. Almost against his will a laugh escaped him. He quickly returned to seriousness, however, at the thought of what Flame was offering him. He looked at her. Too his newly sensitive eyes her face was clear in the dim moonlight that filtered through the trees. He knew that to her his face must have been mostly in shadow. An expression of determination marked her features. It was one he’d seen before. She wouldn’t back down easily. And the thing was, he knew she was right. He felt like he was starving already. What would it be like tomorrow? The day after? He couldn’t keep on without risking a total loss of control. And here was Flame Song, offering him the greatest gift she could offer, offering to risk her life for him. He suddenly felt tears gather in his eyes. He hadn’t known vampires could cry. Not trusting himself to speak, he nodded.

Flame smiled warmly, trustingly, at him. “What do I do then?”

“You know as well as I. But I don’t think you need to do anything. Just hold still.”

He put his arms around her, one hand brushing the hair away from her neck. She closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side. He could hear her heartbeat racing, the blood seeming to thunder in his ears. He hesitated, torn between hunger and revulsion. How could he do this? He realized that Flame was trembling and pulled back a bit to look at her. “Flame? Are you sure?”

She shivered and spoke with her eyes still closed. “I… I admit it scares me. But yes, I’m sure. I love you, Aidan. I want to do this for you.”

With tears again welling in his eyes Aidan gently bent forward. He kissed the side of her neck softly, whispering “Thank you,” before biting down as gently as he could. She let out an involuntary gasp of pain. I must not hurt her, thought Aidan. I must take the smallest possible amount. And then he swallowed the first drops and all thought left him. It felt like nothing else he’d ever experienced. It was as if he’d swallowed liquid electricity, pure fire. Those were the only terms that fit, but there was nothing unpleasant about the sensation. It reached to the end of every nerve in his body, filling him with an amazing euphoric energy. Each drop strengthened him, filled him with new life, but he gradually became aware that as he grew stronger Flame Song was growing weaker. She sagged limply now in his arms, her breathing fast and shallow. He could feel what she felt, could feel the energy draining out of her.

He struggled. He didn’t want this incredible euphoria to end. It was so intoxicating, so seductive. Surely he could take just a little bit more? No! No, I must not hurt her. I can’t! The struggle went on for a moment longer and then at last will prevailed over appetite and Aidan drew back. Had it been some other person there instead of his love he might not have stopped, but the thought of losing her was motivation enough to counter any temptation. He looked down at her where she lay slumped in his arms. Her eyes were closed and her breathing shallow, and for one horrible moment Aidan feared he’d gone too far in spite of all he could do, but then she sighed softly and took a deeper breath, relaxing into a natural sleep. He shifted slightly to rest her head against his shoulder, cradling her gently in his arms. She murmured sleepily and snuggled closer to him. She’s only asleep, thank whatever gods there are in this cursed place. And… the hunger is gone!

He looked down at his wife with a deep sense of gratitude. She had risked her life for him before, but somehow this was different. This was more… intimate, more personal. She’d offered him her own life’s blood. He was hit all over again by how very much he loved her. What would he do without her?

The eastern sky was light with the first hints of dawn and the gypsy wagon was almost ready to go when at last Flame Song stirred.

“Good morning,” said Aidan. “How do you feel?”

“Still tired, but otherwise alright.”

“Did it… did it hurt very much?”

“Actually no. It did a little bit at first, but it really wasn’t that bad. I could sort of… I don’t know, sort of feel what you were feeling. Like there was some kind of link between us.”

“That’s weird.”

“You have no idea…”

“Hey, Aidan, Flame!” Brianna’s shout interrupted them before Flame could answer. “The wagon is ready, and the sun’s almost up. Let’s get going!”

“We’ll talk more later,” said Flame, and set off at a brisk trot toward the wagon. Aidan shrugged and followed. Flame climbed up onto the seat next to the gypsy driver; calling down to Brianna, “Hope nobody minds if I ride for a bit. I’m afraid I’ve had a rather… draining evening.”

Aidan shook his head. Flame seemed to be in a strangely good mood for somebody who had lost a significant amount of blood and only slept a few hours. He was still feeling the energy he’d gained, but he was also feeling a certain lethargy with the approach of the sun, so he didn’t waste any time climbing inside the wagon. It was furnished surprisingly comfortably, a tiny house with all the amenities possible packed into as little space as possible. There was a single marrow bed, a little table, a few chairs, and a tiny kitchen area.

Lavasida was already in the wagon when Aidan came in and shut the door. He turned around and acknowledged Aidan’s presence with a curt nod, saying, “I’ve made sure the curtains will stay closed.” The Dark Lord walked over to the bed and picked up one of the pillows. “Well, I suppose you’ll be wanting the bed, since you didn’t sleep much yesterday.” He dropped to the floor and set the pillow down next to him.

Aidan gaped at the other vampire. Lavasida, the Dark Lord, was being nice? He hadn’t slept any better than Aidan had the previous day, and as far as Aidan knew he hadn't fed at all! Why was he doing this? But Lavasida’s expression didn’t invite questions, so Aidan simply lay down on the bed without a word. Moments later the sun rose unseen outside the wagon’s sturdy wooden walls and both of them were soundly asleep.

Aidan awoke feeling refreshed and rested, with only the faintest hint of hunger lurking in the back of his mind. He stretched and looked around. Lavasida was already up, sprawled comfortably in a chair and seemingly unmindful of the lurching movement of the wagon. Aidan got out of the bed and made his own way to a second chair. He had just seated himself and was trying to think of something to say when the wagon suddenly stopped. Aidan and Lavasida exchanged glances and both of them got to their feet.

Thunk! Aidan looked up at the noise to see the tip of an arrow protruding from one wall. What the…? Before he could even complete the thought Lavasida had drawn his sword and was halfway out the door. Gathering his scattered wits, Aidan drew one of his long daggers and followed.

Outside was a scene of total chaos. Wavering torchlight cast shifting shadows across a scene of battle. Aidan couldn’t make heads or tails of who was fighting who, so he simplified matters by getting an aerial view. One quick bound and he was in the air. From thirty feet above he looked down on the battle and was quickly able to sort it out. The little group had been attacked by a larger group of torch-wielding human men. There were perhaps a dozen attackers, details of age and appearance impossible to make out from above in the dim light. There was no sign of the gypsy driver anywhere. As for the members of the Queen's Own, Brianna, Lon and Seymore had formed a rough triangle. Lavasida was quickly fighting his way toward them and a moment later had joined up. Aidan couldn’t see Belak of course, but then he saw one of the attackers drop for no apparent reason, ample evidence that the invisible dwarf was taking part in the battle. At first Aidan couldn’t make out Flame Song either, but after a moment he saw a pale shape among the bushes, stalking one of the attackers. She had reverted to her natural form. Her white fur and fire-orange stripes were surprisingly effective camouflage in the flickering firelight. She leapt at the unsuspecting man and he went down without a sound at the impact.

Confident that his wife was doing just fine, Aidan picked his own target. He sheathed his dagger and dove at one of the men who were crowding forward to attack the little circle of defenders. He weighed in at only ten pounds over a hundred, but with the speed he’d attained in the dive the force of his impact was more than enough to knock the man off his feet. The man hit the ground with a grunt and immediately took a swing at Aidan with an odd-looking weapon. It took the new vampire a moment to place it, but with a kind of shock he realized that the man was holding a wooden stake. He dodged with cat-quick reflexes and batted the thing out of the man’s hand.

Who does this guy think he is, Buffy? Aidan almost laughed at the thought. Well, he’s going to get the rough end of the vampire-hunting business.

Aidan grabbed the man by the shoulders, very aware of his new strength. The vampire hunter was almost a foot taller than the diminutive aerian, and weighed nearly twice as much, but Aidan held the man immobile with little effort. He bent in close, smelling the scent of the man’s blood and of his fear. As Aidan moved in toward the man’s neck, he went suddenly limp in the vampire’s grip. Fainted, thought Aidan. So much for Mr. Buffy.

He hesitated for a long moment, looking down at the unconscious man. His hunger was poking its ugly head up again, but… could he do this in cold blood to an unwilling victim? This man would have killed me if he could, Aidan told himself. I don’t need to feel any guilt on his behalf. He let the hunger loose and banished his second thoughts. He sank his fangs into the man’s neck and drank deeply, and it was good. It was very good. Here was a food source with no need for holding back and no need for remorse. But he had fed only the night before, and so when at last he pulled back, fully sated, the man was still alive.

Aidan got up, leaving him there, and wiped the blood off of his mouth with the back of his hand. He looked around to see Flame Song staring at him, her own muzzle stained with red. “Better him than you, love,” said Aidan, and leapt back into the sky.

Already, however, the battle was ending. Between Lavasida’s gifted swordsmanship, Flame’s ferocity, and the sheer unnerving quality of the invisible Belak the attackers had had more than enough. Brianna, Lon and Seymore too had done their part, and only a handful fled back into the dark woods.

They regrouped by the wagon to assess their injuries. There were a few cuts and scrapes, but nobody was seriously injured. Brianna had been run through by one lucky swordsman, but being a zombie apparently had its good side, because she seemed to be just fine. She was trying to convince Lon of that, and he wasn’t cooperating. Aidan left the couple to their argument and wandered away from the battleground. Flame Song, who’d reverted to human form, tagged after him.

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. You?”

“I’m fine,” she answered.

Aidan looked at her. He knew she preferred being a firecat to being human, most of the time. “How come you’re back in human form so soon?”

"I couldn’t keep the firecat shape going. There’s something about this world that just won’t let me. It was all I could do not to change back in the middle of the battle.”

“Huh. That's odd. I suppose it's just one more annoying thing about this horrible place." The wagon started moving again, the driver having reappeared from wherever he’d been hiding.

Aidan didn't really feel like riding anymore, so they walked alongside together for a while. Eventually Flame spoke. “Aidan, I keep thinking about how you killed that man. What did you mean when you said, ‘Better him than you.’?”

“I don’t want to have to depend on you for… for blood the whole time I’m here in this crazy world. You can’t afford to lose blood that often. So, well… better that I take from people like that. Though I didn’t kill him, you know.”

“You didn’t?”

“No. He may still die, but he was breathing when I left him.”

“Oh. I had assumed… well, I shouldn’t have.” She went silent again.

“What’s bothering you, Flame?”

“I… You’re a gentle man,” she said softly. “And I mean that in the most literal sense. It’s part of what I love about you. Underneath the jokes and the thieving you’re a wonderfully kind person. I don’t want that to change. I don’t ever want it to change. I thought… I was afraid that you’d killed that man, that you were starting to change.”

"I've killed before, Flame. Not often, but I have. And I may well have killed that man too."

“I don’t like that thought. I don’t want you to be a killer.”

"What about you? There was blood enough on your claws tonight, and you've killed before."

Flame sighed. “I’m a hunter, Aidan. I always have been. And yes, I’ve been a killer too. It’s part of what I am. There is..." she paused, looking for the words. "There is something in me, in my nature, that's accustomed to death. I don't like it, I never will, but I can feel the necessity of it, and can do it without guilt, without having it on my soul. You're different though. So light-hearted, so… I don’t know, almost innocent. Whenever you mention that first time you had to kill you seem to be suffering for it. It does weigh on your soul, and if you add enough weights like that, they will change you, they can't help but change you..”

Aidan took her hand, holding it gently as they continued to walk. “We all change, love. There’s no way to help it. And I don’t know if innocent is the word.” He added with a smile.

“Possibly not,” she agreed, smiling back. “And I know changes will come. But… I don’t want you to become somebody I don’t recognize. Promise me that you won’t start to enjoy blood and death Aidan. Just promise me that.”

“I can promise that without reservation. I hate being a vampire. I hate needing blood. I can’t wait until we find the shard and can leave this horrible world.” That was all true, but what Aidan tried not to admit to himself was that there had been a certain undeniable pleasure in taking the vampire hunter’s blood. He hadn’t needed to hold back, hadn’t worried about consequences, and it had been good. Too good. It would be so easy, he thought. There are enough thugs out there for me to justify it. I could say I was doing the world a favor by ridding it of criminals. But I would be just as much in the wrong as those vampire hunters. They thought they were doing the world a favor by ridding it of the evil undead, and they almost killed good people doing it. I wouldn't want to become something like that.

Flame smiled at him and squeezed his hand. He returned the gentle pressure and the smile too. “I agree,” she said. “Though who knows what the next world will be like. Maybe it will be worse.”

“Don’t say that! Ugh… I don’t even want to think about what could be worse than this.”

The remainder of the night passed without incident, and Aidan slept in the wagon again the next day. When he awoke with the sunset they had arrived at Castle Almaric. They had stopped some distance away from the castle and town, at a place where the road passed along a cliff that fell to the ocean. Aidan could hear the rumble of waves and smell the scent of the sea as he stepped out of the wagon. The driver didn’t wait any longer than he had to, no sooner were the two vampires out of the wagon he turned it around and headed back the way he’d come.

“Guess we’re on our own now,” said Brianna, watching the gypsy man drive off.

“We’ve been on our own all this time, lass,” said Belak’s voice out of the darkness. “He’s not been much use thus far.”

“I suppose so. Well, let’s see about finding a place to stay for a bit. The big party isn’t until tomorrow night, so there’s not much we can do until then.”

They had driven through forest all along the way, and the forest still stood thickly here, nearly surrounding the town and castle. They retreated a short distance into the woods, far enough to be out of sight from the road, but close enough that they wouldn't have far to go the next night. And then they camped, and waited out the day.

It was not at all pleasant for Aidan, but Flame sat next to him and distracted him with stories. He had heard some of the tales of her homeland, but she was a storyteller, the keeper of her people's oral tradition, and she knew hundreds of different tales, each one memorized exactly as she had first heard it, word perfect.

"Someday you should write those down," he said.

Flame shrugged. "I suppose. I still am not terribly good at writing though."

"Well, I like to write. Maybe you can tell them to me, and I'll write them for you."

She smiled. "I'd like that."

At last the day was past. The seven of them got themselves presentable for the costume ball. Aidan cleaned off his somewhat rumpled clothing as best he could. Lavasida was likewise dusting off his similar finery. Brianna, Lon, Seymore, and Flame Song didn’t need to do much, they all looked right with somewhat ragged clothes, and Belak of course didn’t need to do anything, as he was still entirely invisible.

They set out for the party just after sundown. Ahead, at the top of a slight hill, the castle loomed forbiddingly. The dark silhouette was, however, lightened by a great many lights, and even at this distance Aidan could hear, very faintly, the sound of music coming from it. The town lay below it, spread out around a river that ran into the sea. There was a harbor there, where ships were anchored, a few of them showing bobbing lights in the darkness. They passed through the largely quiet town and across the bridge over the river. Or at least tried to. Most of the group walked out onto the stone span without difficulty, but Aidan and Lavasida were both forced to halt.

"Oh for..." Lavasida started swearing again, his fangs showing in a snarl of frustrated anger.

Aidan sighed. "Running water doesn't stop vampires in Aretha, does it?"

"No it doesn't! But it seems it does here."

"Well, what are we going to do?"

Lavasida just snarled. He was trying, with all his might, to step out onto the bridge, but it was as if there was a stone wall right where the water began below. The others turned back, and Brianna said, "We can't leave you behind. What can we do?"

"Maybe..."Aidan thought hard. "We can't walk over on our own, but if one of you carried us? I seem to recall something like that working in one of the stories I read."

"Can't hurt to try," said Belak, and Aidan let out a yelp of surprise as the invisible dwarf picked him up. Aidan felt peculiar, and was sure he looked peculiar, hanging in the air, supported by nothing. Belak stepped forward. "Ooof. There's a wee bit of resistance here," he said, but though he had to go quite slowly, he managed to carry Aidan to the far side.

Lavasida gave them both a sour look from where he still stood. Aidan got the feeling that being carried was an affront to the Dark Lord's dignity. But there was nothing for it. And as Flame and Brianna were both too slight to bear the tall vampire's weight, and Lon as a cleric couldn't touch him, Belak had to make a second trip. Aidan could hear him puffing as he reached the edge of the bride. "Whew! That's me all done in. I need a bit, I think, to catch my breath." They paused there by the side of the road for a few minutes. As they waited a carriage rattled over the bridge, decorated in bright colors with an elaborate crest on the doors, probably some noble from out of town going to the ball.

There were a few others abroad in the night, and once they were on their way again they saw more and more people coming up to the castle. Some of them came in carriages, but others rode, and a few even walked. Most seemed to be nobility, great and small, but there were merchants and other commoners as well. They had worried about not having an invitation, but it seemed that no such thing was required. If you had a costume, you could enter. The guard at the castle gate complemented them on the realism of theirs. They exchanged amused glances, but said nothing.

Inside the courtyard there were lights glowing, music playing, fountains splashing, and food being served. People costumed as everything from beggars to queens mingled and danced and ate. Sitting in a dais overlooking the revelry was a bearish man with flaming red hair. He could be no other than Baron Almaric.

"So what now?" said Flame softly as they stood to one side of the courtyard.

Brianna looked at Baron Almaric. Then she shrugged. "There's nothing else to do but go ask." And she walked across the courtyard, heading directly for the baron.

“She has quite a bit of courage, doesn’t she?” said Lavasida.

“Courage, yeah,” said Aidan, thinking that he would probably have called it craziness rather than courage. Lavasida smiled and set out after Brianna, the others close on his heels.

"Baron Almaric." Brianna presented herself in front of the Baron's raised throne with a bow. A curtsy would have looked out of place in her tattered warrior's clothes.

“I don’t think I know you,” said the baron, his voice rich and deep.

"You don't," said Brianna. "We have come from... elsewhere. But we've come in search of something that you might have in your possession. We need it greatly."

"Oh?"

"Yes. A piece of crystal. It would be perhaps half the size of a man, a silver-blue color, and too hard for anything to scratch it."

"I might have such a thing," said the baron, his face revealing nothing. "I might not. If I did have it, why should I give it to you?"

Brianna looked for a long time at the baron, trying to judge him, but his face was impassive. She remembered the gypsy's words, so at last she said, “My lord, I could give you many reasons. I could talk about doing good, I could talk about saving lives, but instead I’ll tell you this. I will do anything you ask, complete any task you set, give you anything I possess, in order to gain it. And all of these my companions can say the same.” She gestured at where the others stood behind her.

"So." The baron's cool blue eyes regarded her levelly. "You tempt me to test the limits of 'anything', but perhaps there is something you can do for me. You want what I suspect is an item of great power from me, and yes I do have the thing you seek. Well, there is an item of great power which I want as well. It lies now beyond my reach, but it may not be beyond yours."

He sat back in his chair. "I will spare you the lengthy details and simply say that I have a sister. She and I divided up our father's kingdom long ago. She took the smaller half, an island with few inhabitants some distance from here. It has even fewer now, I suspect. She is a sorceress of great power. Her castle there is defended by many magics. By my own sworn word I cannot set foot on her lands, nor she on mine. But a servant of hers stole something of mine some years past. I would send my own servants after it, but none of them are a match for her magic. You, however..." He surveyed the group and smiled. "I think that you may be able to succeed where my own people would fail. So. If you want your crystal you must bring me my talisman. It is an amulet, the size of a child's palm, tarnished silver set with clear stones. She wears it always. If you can take it from her without killing her, I would prefer it, but if her death is what is required, then so be it."

Aidan shivered at the coldness of those words. He would order the death of his own sister?

"We will do it," said Brianna firmly. If she was put off by Baron Almaric's ruthlessness she showed no sign of it.

"Very well. I can supply you with a ship to reach her island, which is two day's sailing from here. And if you need any other supplies, I will be happy to provide them."

“We’ll be ready to go as soon as the ship is,” said Brianna. Aidan just sighed. Two days there, two days back, and probably a day or two getting the thing, he thought. I am so sick of this world! I want to go home. Home… With a kind of inward start he realized that he had really started thinking of Aretha as home. When had that happened? Earth used to be home. But it’s true. Aretha is my home now.

“The ship will sail on the morning tide,” said the Baron. "But in the meantime I invite you to enjoy the party. I must say your costumes are quite excellent.” The twinkle in the baron’s eye as he said that last made Aidan quite certain that he knew the “costumes” were nothing of the sort.

Brianna stepped in closer to the dais, apparently wanting to talk to the baron further. Aidan took a good look around. There were people dancing, food, laughter, and generally a good time all around. He couldn't enjoy the food, but there was no reason not to enjoy everything else. He smiled at Flame Song and held out his hand as the musicians struck up a new song. “May I have this dance?”

Flame laughed. “You ought to know I’m not the best dancer.”

“But you’re the only one I care about.”

She blushed and took Aidan’s hand. Aidan held her close as they circled the dance floor, just enjoying her nearness. She was beautiful in the warm light of the many lanterns set up around the courtyard. Her green eyes sparkled and she smiled warmly down at him. He smiled back, amazed all over again at her beauty. His newly enhanced senses let him smell the scent of her, feline and feminine and alluring. He felt a different sort of hunger stir as he gazed into her eyes. My blood may not be all my own these days, he thought to himself, but it’s a red as the next man’s. Too bad we’re not likely to have much privacy for the next few days. Ships aren’t exactly known for plentiful and spacious accommodations. Ah well. I will enjoy what I have now and not worry about tomorrow.

They boarded the ship the next morning. Aidan was half blinded by sunlight, and was glad of Flame's hand guiding him aboard. He was gladder still when they descended below decks. There were only two small cabins for the seven of them to share. Lavasida, Aidan, and Flame took the smaller, windowless cabin while the other four shared the slightly larger cabin with little portholes that looked out just above the water line.

The first day passed without incident. Aidan slept most of it away. The night was uneventful as well. It was even rather pleasant. Aidan had suffered from seasickness all his life, but apparently vampires were immune to that particular problem, because he felt not even the least twinge as the ship rocked and bobbed amid the waves. He sat on the deck, watching the waves go by, with Flame Song at his side and enjoyed the peaceful night.

Peace, however, was not to last. Mid-morning on the second day Aidan was awakened by someone calling his name. “Aidan! Aidan! Wake up!”

“Huh? What?” Aidan opened his eyes to see Lavasida bending over him, the other vampire’s sword drawn.

"Come! There is a battle up there, and we are needed."

Aidan jolted to full awareness and drew both his daggers. He followed the Dark Lord through the narrow passageway and up a steep stair onto the deck. In a glance Aidan took in the situation. A thick veil of fog, for which Aidan was profoundly thankful, hid the sun. The sky was still far too bright for his taste, but at least he wasn’t feeling the punishing blow of direct sunlight.

A second ship, which flew no flag, was grappled to their own ship. Scruffy men, presumably pirates, were pouring aboard the ship and the baron’s sailors were fighting them off with Aidan’s friends fighting alongside. Aidan quickly took to the air, gaining the high ground, and picked his first target. He hadn't fed for the last several days, so this was a welcome opportunity. One pirate quickly went down, dead or simply fainted from blood loss Aidan didn’t know. He caught a glimpse of white fur as he returned to the sky and looked down to see Flame dispatching a pirate. He also saw a second pirate behind her who, rather than closing with the deadly cat, had a dagger in his hand, pulled back to throw.

“Flame!” shouted Aidan, but before he could do anything the pirate had thrown the knife. It thudded into Flame’s side and she cried out. And then all of the sudden her form blurred and wavered and instead of a huge firecat there was a slender human woman standing there, unarmed but for a small dagger of her own.

The pirate grinned and drew a curved cutlass. Flame backed into the rail, having nowhere to retreat to. And Aidan dived, daggers drawn. He hit the pirate from behind, with the full force of his dive behind him and his left-hand dagger leading the way. The pirate and Aidan together crashed into the deck. Only Aidan got up. He pulled his dagger from the pirate’s heart and wiped it off on the dead man’s shirt.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes," said Flame. "It's not a terribly deep cut. What about you?”

“I…” Aidan started to say, “I’m fine,” but the fog had begun to break up and a beam of sunlight shone directly on the ship. Aidan gasped and collapsed, flattened to the deck by the hammer blow of pain and light. Flame looked up to see the other ship breaking off, cutting away the grapples and retreating back into the fog.

“Looks like we won. Guess I’d better get you back below deck.” She draped Aidan’s arm over her shoulder and hoisted him to his feet. She made a little noise of pain as the attempt to lift her husband sent a sharp twinge of pain through her wounded side.

“Here,” said a voice out of nowhere, “I’ll get the lad.” Aidan rose into the air apparently unsupported as the invisible Belak easily lifted the slight aerian.

“Thanks,” said Flame. Aidan just groaned. The sunlight was just about the most painful thing he’d ever felt. He felt as though his skin was on fire, though there was no visible reddening. But it wasn’t just his skin that hurt, it was his whole body. The sun seemed to pierce him and pass through him, reaching every bit of him. When at last Belak carried him down the hatch the cool darkness below was the best thing he'd ever felt.

“Here, I’m alright. Put me down.”

“Sure lad,” said the dwarf, putting Aidan back on his feet. “And now I’ll go fetch the cleric for you, lass,” added the voice from nowhere, and the tread of heavy booted feet was clearly audible going back up the stairs.

“Are you really alright?” asked Flame, clearly worried.

“Yeah. Sunlight doesn’t seem to do my any real damage, it just hurts like nothing else.”

“And you’re very lucky that it works that way here,” said a voice from the stairs. The Dark Lord, Lavasida, was descending. He let out a relived sigh as he reached the shadows. “Back on Aretha sunlight will burn you and it can even kill you. If you were there, you might well have died just then, and I most certainly would have. Then again, if we were on Aretha my amulet would be working and I wouldn’t have to suffer the pain of sunlight, and you would yet be a breathing man, quite immune to its effect.” He smiled a sharp-toothed smile. “There’s nothing you can slice so thin that there aren’t two sides to it.”

“How do you stand it?” asked Aidan.

“You’re young yet, and new to vampirism. You learn to deal with pain as you gain more experience. But then you’re not likely to remain a vampire long enough for it to make much difference.”

Just then Lon came down the stairs. “Belak told me Flame Song was injured?” he said, making the statement into a question.

“Yes. Not badly though. I got a dagger in the back. It didn’t go in very deep, and I was a firecat at the time.”

“It’s getting far too crowded in the hall,” said Lavasida, trying to avoid touching the cleric in the narrow passage.

“Come on, Aidan, let’s go back to our room.” Aidan nodded and made his way to their little cabin. He sat down on one of the two narrow beds in the room and relaxed.

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

“Normal." The other vampire considered for a long moment before answering. "This is normal for me now. But... I do sometimes have regrets. I’ve never discussed this much. Who is 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 very greatly. I chose to be a vampire, I sought it out, and I thought it was what I wanted. At first it was perfect, 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. 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.

“I wonder what happened here?” said Flame Song.

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

“The place we’re looking for is inland," said Brianna. "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. Aidan had at least managed not to collapse this time, though he was in as much pain as he had been in before. The others came to a halt as well. 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 attempting to look as though nothing was wrong, though his teeth were clenched tightly against the pain.

“Aidan?” Brianna looked at the little aerian, almost a head shorter than she, looking pale and fragile in the bright light of day.

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 the 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!" He was weary, he still ached all over, he was starting to feel hungry again, and he was sick, sick, sick of this world, of vampirism, and of everything to do with either.

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

He sighed. "I know. But this has taken much longer than I'd hoped it would. Even if we get he amulet tonight it will take us three days to get back to the baron's castle. And... even once we're home, we'll have to immediately set out again."

“I think we have arrived,” interrupted Lavasida, pointing up ahead. A dark shape loomed up before them, only just visible in the gloom. 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.”

“Oh joy,” said Aidan sarcastically, making Flame giggle.

"I think we should split up," said Brianna. "The frontal approach might work, or it might not. Somebody needs to try to circle around and approach the castle from the back. Aidan, you're probably the best choice for breaking in quietly. Belak, as you are now you're just as good at going unnoticed. And Seymore should go with you as well, I think. Meanwhile the rest of us will see about threading the maze."

Aidan said a quick goodbye to Flame and set out with the goblin and the invisible dwarf. She sent all us shorties together, though Aidan with a chuckle. Belak was only a little bit shorter than Aidan, but Seymore hardly came up to his chest.

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, their branches bare and somehow menacing as they clawed at the sky. Aidan looked around nervously. There was something wrong, something subtly off about this forest and its gathered gloom. 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 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.

He came to gradually. He was aware that he was lying flat on his back and something was tugging on his foot. Or rather somebody was pulling him away and his foot was being held firmly in place.

“Blasted plant! Let go!” shouted a voice. Aidan’s eyes shot open, but he still didn’t see much of anything, just waving branches overhead.

“Belak?”

“Aidan, lad, you’re alive! I was afraid you'd gone and died on us. Can you get yourself loose? I can’t get this cursed tree to let go of you, and the others are getting a mite annoying.”

“Huh?” Aidan looked around and his eyes went wide. The waving branches were not waving in the wind. They were moving with a life and purpose of their own, and they did not seem to be friendly. Little Seymore was crouched with spear in hand and attempting to fend off the reaching branches around him. The invisible hands gripping Aidan’s shoulders let go, and suddenly an axe appeared out of nowhere, spinning through the air to chop at branches and trunks.

Aidan tried to get to his feet, but the tree root was still holding his foot. No sooner was he up than it pulled him down again. Drawing a dagger he started sawing away at the wood. Around him Seymore and Belak were fending off the trees that actually seemed to be moving slowly closer.

“Aidan, you have to get loose. I can only hold them off for so long!”

“I’m sorry! I can’t cut this thing! It’s as hard as rock.”

“Me have idea!” The usually quiet goblin suddenly piped up. “Trees hard to cut, but trees burn. They no like fire, me think.”

“Seymore lad, you’re a genius. Fire! Hold them off for a moment more and I’ll have a torch.” The goblin nodded grimly and attacked the branches with renewed ferocity. A dead branch rose up off the ground, there was a crash of glass as the invisible dwarf broke his oil flask over it, and then a flare of fire. “Take this!” shouted the dwarf, and flung the torch.

Aidan almost expected a shriek as the nearest tree went up in flames, but there was no sound. The tree writhed, its branches flailing in agony, spreading the fire to the neighboring trees. Aidan felt the root around his ankle let go and he jumped to his feet. Seymore was already out from the immediate circle of trees and was running through the woods. Aidan ran after him, but something latched onto his shoulder. A flaming tree wrapped a branch around him, apparently determined to take Aidan down with it.

Aidan struggled to free himself, but a second branch was already wrapping itself around his throat, dragging him backward. He tried to shout for help, but he couldn’t get any air. The tree had him pinned to its trunk now and the flaming branches were all around. He heard Belak shouting, but knew there was no way the dwarf could reach him.

Curiously the flames didn’t seem very hot. He could see them licking up all around him. Not only was the tree still burning, but now his trousers and jacket were catching fire. But he couldn’t feel it. What was going on?

The grip of the branches was weakening as the tree died, and suddenly Aidan broke free. He tumbled to the ground and stayed there, rolling to extinguish his clothes. He eventually picked himself up and took inventory. His clothes were ruined, but he himself seemed unhurt. That was downright weird, he thought to himself as he hurried away from the burning trees. Weird, but very welcome.

"Aidan! That's the second time tonight I've thought you were dead," said Belak.

"Technically I am dead. But thankfully no deader than usual just now." said Aidan, with a somewhat nervous laugh. His legs felt like jelly and he suddenly had to sit down. "I thought I was a goner too. I have no idea what happened there. I ought to be burned at least a little." He examined his very much the worse for wear finery. There were burn holes all over it, but his skin beneath was unmarked. His head, on the other hand, ached horribly. He put his hand to it, feeling a sizable lump, and his fingers came away red.

"Are you all right lad? When you got that lump I really did wonder if you'd died. It doesn't look too good."

“Maybe I’ve got a concussion.” Everything was still swirling around him, refusing to fully focus. The adrenaline rush that had carried him through the battle with the trees was fading and he felt worn out. Dead tired in fact. And I can’t even get up the energy to laugh at my own bad pun. Sad.

He looked back at the forest, where the fire was still smoldering, but not spreading. There were plenty more trees between them and the castle. "I don't think we'll be getting around the back way. I hope the others have better luck than we did."

"Aye."

The trio circled back to their starting point and sat down to wait for the others.

Aidan sighed. “I never seem to be any use. I always end up needing to be rescued.”

“I didn’t save you from that tree, Aidan," said Belak, from the empty air next to him. "You saved yourself.”

“But I didn’t do anything. It was just… weird. The fire didn’t hurt me. I don’t know why. Flame Song is immune to fire, but I’m not! And its not as if you can gain something like fire immunity just by being married to a firecat.”

“No, most likely not.”

They sat in silence for several hours before there was a sound of footsteps from the maze.

"I hope that's Brianna and the rest," said Belak.

"You and me both," said Aidan.

Much to their relief when somebody stepped out of the entrance of the maze it was Lavasida, with the others close behind him. “What happened to you?” he asked, surveying the scorched aerian and somewhat battered goblin.

“We met a few trees,” said Aidan. “You?”

“We found the sorceress and she found us.”

“Found you charming,” said Brianna with a grin. "The sorceress caught us, but Lavasida seduced her and got what we came for. She is probably going to be very unhappy when she wakes up though, so we should get going."

"Yeah." Aidan climbed to his feet. Suddenly everything started spinning again, and he started to collapse. Lavasida darted forward and caught Aidan before he could hit the ground.

“Are you all right?”

“Not exactly,” said Aidan woozily. “But I don’t want to stick around here.”

“I’ll second that,” said Flame, taking Aidan’s arm as Lavasida helped him to his feet. “Let’s get going.”

With Aidan leaning on Flame they set out back the way they’d come. They had only gone a few miles when the sun again peeked above the horizon. Aidan groaned. He already ached all over, his head felt like it was going to explode, and the light seemed to pierce through his eyes and burn its way towards his injured scalp from the inside. He only stumbled on a few more steps before Belak had to carry him. So when they reached an abandoned town an hour or so later Brianna called a halt. Aidan hadn’t even noticed the town on the way up, but now he was very glad of it. He knew that he was the main reason Brianna insisted on stopping, any of the others could easily have gone on, but he wasn’t going to argue. There was no sign of pursuit. If Baron Almaric's sister had noticed her loss she did not seem immediately inclined to do anything about it.

They found an empty inn and made themselves at home. Aidan felt weak, he couldn’t stay in focus, and he was worried. Flame Song guided him over to a dusty couch and sat him down gently on it.

“Are you going to be all right Aidan?” she asked, looking concerned. “You don’t look good at all. What happened?”

“I was tripped by a tree, as far as I can tell. And it was deliberate too! Darn trees…”

Flame smiled. “I had a run in with some greenery too.”

“Tell me about it. I need something to focus on. I’m worried… I’ve heard that you need to keep awake when you have a concussion, that if you lose consciousness you might never wake up.”

Flame Song nodded. “All right. The first thing was the maze. The actual maze itself wasn’t hard, but it turns out it was enchanted. There were these bush sculptures, animals, monsters, things like that. They started coming alive. One of them got the jump on me, but then Lon had a bright idea and started setting them on fire. I got a bit scorched, but of course fire can’t hurt me.”

“I got burned too. Or well, I should have been burned, I was right in the fire, but I didn’t. I can’t figure that out. It’s not like I could catch fire immunity from you.”

Flame Song cocked her head to one side and looked at her husband. “Maybe you did get it from me.”

“Huh?”

“Well, you did drink my blood. Maybe whatever it is that makes me immune to fire is in my blood and it got into you.”

“Heh. Maybe so. It makes more sense than anything else I can think of. What else happened to you guys? How did you get the amulet?”

“It’s like Brianna said, the witch thought Lavasida was charming. We made such a racket fighting the bushes that she heard and met us right at the door. She had a spell that kept us from moving, and she locked us all up without too much trouble. But apparently she liked the looks of Lavasida. She took him up to her bedroom." Flame blushed a bit. "So he, um… anyway, he got the amulet after she fell asleep and came down and let us out. That’s it. What about you?”

“Nothing really. We tried to go through the woods, the trees attacked us, Belak rescued me and set them on fire, I almost got set on fire, I lived, we turned back. I’m really not much use you know. No matter what I always seem to end up needing a rescue.”

“You’re plenty of use, Aidan love. Just because you’re not out front with sword in hand, being the hero, doesn’t mean you haven’t contributed. Why without you I’d most likely have been killed by that pirate, and that’s not the first time you’ve saved my life.”

“Guess I’m just feeling a bit down right now. This place is getting to me.”

“Well maybe this will cheer you a bit. There is something I meant to ask you about. When Brianna charged the animated bushes that were attacking us, she shouted a very odd war cry, something about knights of knees and shrubbery. It that another of your obscure Earth jokes?”

“Knights of knees… knights of knees and shrubbery…” It took a moment for it to dawn on him, but when it did he burst out laughing. His aching head instantly told him that laughter was a bad idea, but he couldn’t help it. In spite of the pain it felt good to laugh. He hadn’t really laughed in far too long. “Yes, it’s one of those obscure Earth jokes,” he said when at last he calmed down, “And I don’t really think I could explain it properly. I think you have to see it to understand.”

“Oh.” She shrugged. “Well, I was just curious. And now I’m curious about the prospect of food. Lon said he was going to try and cook something."

She stood up and went, leaving Aidan alone with his somewhat jumbled thoughts. He kept trying to focus on something, but his mind insisted on wandering off on tangents.

Stop wandering, mind, he told himself, if I lose you I’ll be in trouble. I’m in trouble already, I think, and there I’m thinking so my mind must be around here somewhere… I never thought that vampires could get concussions. Looks like they can. I wonder how Lavasida is doing? He looked around until he spotted the other vampire, talking to Brianna. So strange, that. He has more presence than Brianna, but he follows her lead. Why? There’s so much history I’m missing here. So odd that the Dark Lord is part of the Queen's Own. He’s evil, sort of. But he has his own kind of honor. I guess that’s why he follows Brianna too, honor. And maybe respect for her. There’s something between them. Wish I knew the whole story there… But I’m wandering again. Need to focus, need to be in control.

Lavasida now, he's always in control, definitely dominant, Hmmm… alliteration, and there goes my mind again. Come back here, I need to focus, on what? Oh yes, vampires. I’m one now and Lavasida has always been one. I have a feeling that if it were just the two of us he’d be the one in charge. Right now if he said “frog” I’d hop without thinking. I can just sense his dominance. Guess vampires are kind of like wolves, there has to be an alpha.

Wolves and wandering minds, and there’s that alliteration again and why can’t I focus? Strange how my senses are so good but it just distracts. I can tell where the sun is, which is really odd now that I think of it. Even when it’s set I can still feel it. And I can smell people, and I can sense Lavasida’s strength. This vampire thing is just weird all over.

Finally Flame Song returned, carrying a bowl filled with something. The smell of it ought to have been enticing, but instead it smelled utterly unappetizing.

“What’s that?”

“Stew. Lon threw together a bit of this and a bit of that. It’s not the best I’ve ever had, but it fills up the empty spots. Speaking of which, how are you doing?”

“Wishing I could stomach that,” said Aidan. “I’m starving again, I think being injured is making it worse, but that stuff smells awful.” Aidan could smell what he really needed, the blood scent was practically pouring off of Flame Song. He tried to put it out of his mind. After all, they had the amulet and they were on their way back. Three more days at the most would see them off of this world. Surely he could hold out that long.

Flame Song finished the stew and put the bowl down. “You really don’t look so good. I think you need some help in order to heal up.” And before Aidan really registered what she’d said she’d pulled out her little dagger and nicked herself across her wrist. Aidan went wide-eyed. How could she just do that? I can stand the sight of blood just fine, especially now, oh yes… but I don’t think I could take a knife to myself like that.

“Flame! What are you doing?”

“What do you think? Here.” She held out her wrist to him and he stared at it, fascinated almost against his will. He could smell her blood, rich and inviting. The scent overwhelmed all thought, leaving room only for action. He took her wrist in his hands and brought it to his lips. The warmth of it flowed through him, soothing and strengthening and electrifying all at once, and the pain in his head gradually faded away.

This time he managed to stop before Flame fainted. It was still difficult, but it seemed to be getting easier. Flame Song smiled at him and put her arm around him. He smiled back, and all of the sudden everything that had happened seemed to catch up with him at once. He put his head in Flame's lap and closed his eyes. Before he knew it he was sound asleep.

“Wake up you two.” Aidan opened his eyes to see Brianna standing over him. “The sun has set and we’ve got to get moving.”

They reached the ship just before dawn. Flame Song practically dragged Aidan down to the little cabin and once they were inside she slid the bolt across, locking the door.

“What are you doing? Lavasida…”

“Can take care of himself. There are plenty of places where sunlight doesn’t reach on this ship. We haven’t had a real moment alone since we left the northlands.”

It was true enough. And Aidan knew that when Flame made up her mind about something there was little chance of convincing her otherwise. Besides, he thought, why would I want to?

“Sounds like a good idea, but the sun is coming up pretty soon. I’m worn out and then some, so I’m afraid all I’m going to be doing for the next few hours is sleep.”

“Fine by me,” said Flame as Aidan lay down on the narrow bunk. She sat down next to him and gently stroked his raven-black hair. Aidan relaxed completely, her gentle caress and her nearness filling him with a special warmth as he drifted off to sleep.

He awoke at sundown, feeling more refreshed and relaxed than he had in ages. Flame Song was sitting on the floor next to the bed with her head pillowed on her arm. She seemed to be asleep. Aidan softly said, “Flame?”

“Hmmm?” Flame yawned and raised her head.

“You awake?”

“I am now.”

“Anything interesting happen while I was out?”

“No, thank heavens. We could use some peace and quiet.”

Aidan sat up and stretched and Flame got up and sat next to him. For a long time they just sat there, holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes like a pair of lovesick teenagers. Well, lovesick anyhow, thought Aidan. I’m not exactly a teen anymore, even if I still look like one. Twenty-one, and almost three years married. There are times when I still can hardly believe it. Aidan smiled warmly at Flame and put his arms around her. Flame returned his embrace with interest. He could smell the sweet scent of her, hear her breath quicken and her heart begin to race. She nibbled on his ear, and his own kisses moved down her neck. Aidan felt her pulse pounding beneath his lips, and that’s when things got away from him. Without consciously thinking about what he was doing, he found the spot over the vein in her neck and broke through her skin with his teeth. For a moment, as Flame’s blood welled up in his mouth, he was filled with intense pleasure. This was different from the other times he’d taken her blood, far different. Her blood was heated with passion, and his own passion rose to match it. Then the soft cry she’d made as he cut into her registered on his mind. Realization hit him like a physical blow and he quickly broke things off.

He pulled away from her, putting some space between them and giving him time to calm down. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you, I just… I lost control,” he said, sick with the thought that he’d caused her needless pain.

Flame Song’s eyes were wide and she was breathing hard. She raised her hand tentatively to the tiny wounds Aidan had made. Her fingers came away bloodied. It was a long moment before she finally calmed a bit and to his surprise replied, “It didn’t really hurt at all. Quite the contrary in fact.”

“Huh? How could my biting you not hurt you?”

Her expression turned thoughtful as she answered, “I’m not sure, but I think sharing blood makes some kind of emotional link. The other times I’ve been oddly aware of how you were feeling. It was kind of funny to be able to feel your hunger, and the pain when your head was inured.” She shook her head. “Maybe this time because you weren’t actually hungry and because of the way we were feeling…” she trailed off before finishing the thought, but Aidan understood what she was getting at.

“I guess that makes sense. I could feel what you were feeling, which is kind of logical, but it’s kind of odd that it goes both ways.” He looked into her clear green eyes. “You’re sure I didn’t hurt you?”

She nodded with a rather dreamy smile. “Anything but.”

Aidan smiled back and leaned in toward her, lowering his face to her neck. She took a deep breath as his lips touched her skin, then let it out in a long, slow sigh as he gently kissed away the thin trickle of blood that oozed from the marks he’d made. He drew back for a moment and with a twinkle in his eye said, “This definitely calls for further experimentation.”

Further experimentation kept them busy for quite some time. Much later they lay curled up together on the bunk, it narrowness making it necessary for them to cuddle close together, which neither of them minded at all. Aidan’s arm was around Flame’s waist and one wing was draped over her. He closed his eyes and listened to her even breathing. He loved this, simply being close to her, enjoying her warm presence. “How did I ever get so lucky?” he murmured softly.

“I could ask the same thing,” she said. Then after a long silence she added, “I wonder sometimes, why did you ask me to marry you? I mean me, of all people!”

Aidan kissed the back of her neck. He didn’t want to move and it was the only thing he could reach without moving. “Because you’re just wonderful,” he said.

She gave a soft little laugh. “Is that the only reason? You seemed to enjoy my company quite a bit that winter, but... it was quite a jump, from being companions to being husband and wife. It's not as though we courted first.”

“You really want an honest answer?”

“Yes.”

Aidan was silent for a long time, thinking back. It seemed like forever ago, an entirely different lifetime even, though it hadn't even been three years yet. "I suppose, when it comes down to it, it wasn't you so much as it was me. I'd been alone all my life. No girl had ever shown interest in me when I was a scrawny geek back on Earth, and certainly nobody had ever been interested in me as a scruffy little thief in Aerievale. I've never really felt wanted, ever. I was short and looked like a kid, and I'd gotten more mocking than care in my life. And I was lonely. Finding that you actually liked me... that was something amazing, and wonderful. A beautiful woman, who seems perfect in every way, liking me, wanting me. It was... it was so miraculous that I wanted to be certain that the miracle wouldn't end. So I did the only thing I could think of to be sure you stayed always. I had a hard time believing it when you said yes. Although..." he trailed off.

"What?"

"It's a funny thing, but I don't think I really loved you yet, then. Liked you, yes. Wanted to be with you, certainly. But it wasn't until later that I really started to love you."

"You were more like me than I thought, I guess," said Flame softly.

"I still don't understand that," said Aidan. "I remember that you said, then, that nobody else would ever want you. But surely..."

Flame shook her head. "The Queen's Own accept me, but they accept the Dark Lord himself, Aidan. I've had many years worth of rejections to prove that other Arethans aren't always so kind. The other shape-shifters... they think of human form as their true form. They are humans, with the gift. But you know that I'm not even remotely human. And they actually..." there was a little catch in her voice and she paused. "They think of it as a kind of perversion, to consider an animal form your true form." She stopped again for a moment, and Aidan wondered at the story behind the pain in her voice. Eventually she continued. "Elves and dwarves wouldn't even consider me, they marry among their own kind. The were-folk..." she shrugged. "They came closest, there were several among them who were at least accepting, but accepting is not loving, and they too think of themselves as human first, and animal second. And humans and aerians... they are so variable. I've seen dozens of different reactions when I reveal that I'm not really human. Some were repulsed outright, others merely grew cooler towards me. When I was a cat I could get no interest at all, and in human form any interest would fade once they knew. A few were willing to be friends. There were even some that might have been temporary lovers. But that isn't the firecat way. Our language has no word for divorce, and there is no such thing as a one night stand among us. We do not mate without love. And once we give our hearts, they are given forever. We can give them only once. And there were none who were willing to tie their lives to mine. So I was alone. The only one of my species on the entire planet." Aidan heard the note of old bitterness in her voice, and he held her tighter. "But all that is past and gone. I have found my mate, and I couldn't possibly be happier. Though... I think you are right, a little, about love coming later. I loved you in a way at first, but it was because of the loneliness, because you were willing to stay with me. I came to truly love you for yourself later."

She was silent for a while, the suddenly Flame laughed. “You know, on our wedding night I was absolutely terrified. I was sure I wouldn’t know how to make love as a human and I’d do something really stupid and ruin it all.”

Aidan laughed and kissed the back of her neck again. “Well, you didn’t need to worry about that. As I recall it was perfectly wonderful.”

The return voyage was happily free of incident, and the ship docked at Castle Almaric not long after sunset on the second day of sailing. Aidan looked up at the castle that loomed above the harbor and sighed. He would be very glad to get off this world and hopefully back to his normal self, but all the same he felt a sudden pang of regret. It didn’t make any sense, being here had been little but misery and gloom, but all the same there was something… Ah, emotions are so illogical and messy, he thought. Why on earth would I miss this horrible place? What’s there to miss about being a vampire? I can’t wait to get out of here.

The Baron was waiting for the little group in the courtyard. Brianna, looking bone-tired and somewhat decomposed, handed him the amulet wordlessly. The Baron took it and examined it.

“Well, you have kept your part of our bargain. Does my sister yet live, or did you have to kill her to get this?”

“She lives, my lord. Lavasida struck up a friendship with her and got the amulet without a fight.”

Friendship huh? Is that what you call it? Aidan grinned a bit at the thought.

"I am a man of my word, so I will give you what you seek," said the Baron. "Come with me." He led the way across the courtyard and through a door. They descended a broad staircase to a basement storage room stacked with barrels and boxes and bales. A cloth was draped over an irregular waist-high object sitting amid the stores. The baron flipped back the cloth to reveal the crystal. It was unmistakable, an irregular chunk of silvery-blue, slightly translucent and seeming to almost glow as it reflected the lantern light and threw it back at a thousand different angles. "There is your crystal. How you take it from here is your concern though, not mine. I have done my part in giving it to you."

Brianna smiled. "So you have. But I don't think removing it will be any trouble." She looked around at the others, then stepped forward and placed her hand on the crystal.

Aidan felt the same tugging, whirling, queasy sort of feeling as he had felt when he went through the portal. When it cleared he found himself standing in the courtyard of Tara's castle. Sunlight poured down from a cloudless sky... and it didn't hurt! He tipped his face up to the sun and laughed. He was himself again!

When he finished assuring himself that he really was a mortal aerian again, he looked over to see Lon and Brianna clinging to each other as if they would never let go. Flame, beside him, was smiling at them.

“What’s with them?”

Lavasida gave Aidan a contemptuous look. “You’re rather dense at times. Tell me, what is it that Lon does?”

“He’s a cleric.”

"Indeed. And for the last few weeks what has Brianna been?”

“A zombie, but why…” suddenly it dawned on Aidan. Here he’d been wallowing in pity because of his vampirism, and he hadn’t even noticed Brianna’s greater curse. Her husband was a cleric, and she had been undead. They hadn’t even been able to touch for the entire time! “You’re right, I’m pretty dense. And pretty self-centered. Here I’ve been throwing myself a pity party, and Brianna and Lon have been so much worse off than me.”

"Quite," said Lavasida shortly. He stalked off towards the castle proper, and Aidan looked after him, feeling more than a little guilty.

Flame took Aidan's hand and squeezed it. "It's okay. It's not like either of them complained. I don't think they wanted our pity, and there's nothing we could have done for them."

"Yeah..." Aidan found that the thought did help him feel less guilty, and he was still feeling practically giddy to be released from his vampiric curse. He hugged Flame, and she laughed and hugged him back. "We're home!" he said.

She smiled. "Yes, we're home. But..." She glanced at the Tower, where Jordanis was hurrying out into the courtyard. "But only for a little while. Hard as this was, there's still more to come. We can't abandon our efforts now."

Aidan sighed. "No, I guess we can't. I just hope that wherever we go next hasn't got vampires in it."

Flame giggled. "Well it will once we get there, Lavasida's not going to change back like you did! But never mind that. Come on. The castle has proper bathtubs, and I haven't had a bath in two weeks. Let's enjoy ourselves while we can."

Aidan nodded and let Flame tow him off to the bath house. She was right. They should enjoy themselves while they could. Chapter 2