He awoke to darkness again, but this time he could see in the dark, see every corner of the little shack clearly. He was changed. His senses were sharper, his strength greater, but the price for those gifts was one he had not wanted to pay. My life is gone now. I barely had a year, he thought. Just one year since I came back from death. But there will be no returning this time.

"I see you are awake."

Aidan lifted his head and glared at the vampire. The other vampire now, I guess. I wish I had died. He dropped his head again and curled up into a ball of misery, wrapping his wings around him.

"Sit up," said Jander imperiously. Aidan didn't want to, he wanted to just stay were he was, but he found himself sitting up anyway. Why did I do that? I don't want to obey him! But... I remember reading stories, about how a young vampire has to obey the one who created him. Not all of the stories are true here. Why did that one have to be? "Now that I've gotten a start, I need to make plans. Plans require information. And you live here, you no doubt know more about this land than I do. Tell me about the land, about the inhabitants."

Aidan was compelled to answer, though he desperately wanted to keep silent. He was not going to tell this sadist about his family! Slowly, reluctantly, he said "This land is controlled by the dwarven kingdom."

"Address me as Lord Jander," said the other vampire sharply.

Aidan gritted his teeth, abruptly conscious of his fangs, but couldn't help but answer. "Yes Lord Jander."

"Continue. The dwarves rule here?"

"Yes Lord Jander. They control all the land from where the Barrier Mountains begin to where the ice that never melts lies."

"And do they all live in the dwarven city?"

"Yes Lord Jander. All the dwarves live in or under Coppertop."

"That is not suitable," he said, sounding quite irritated. "Are you certain?"

"What I've said is the truth, Lord Jander," said Aidan.

"Curse it! Perhaps I should have begun in Snowcap after all." He muttered to himself, and though Aidan's hearing was very sharp now he couldn't make out what Jander was saying. It might have been another language, or it might just have been nonsense. "Tell me more about the dwarves," said Jander. Aidan obliged, feeling relieved that he hadn't been forced to betray his family. They spoke for an hour or so before Jander ran out of questions. He moved to the far wall of the shack and leaned against it, apparently lost in his dreams of conquest. Aidan curled up again, a ball of misery and depression, and tried not to weep.

The wind still howled outside, the blizzard was nowhere near blowing out yet. Aidan sensed the sun, still far below the horizon. He remembered thinking, before, that it was interesting, fascinating even, how he could do that. But before he had known it was temporary. However much he had hated his vampirism, there had been the promise of eventual release. Now...

It was a relief when the sun finally edged above the unseen horizon and Aidan could escape from his dark thoughts into a dreamless sleep.