He awoke at sundown to the omnipresent sound of wind. The storm still raged. This deep into winter the days were only a few hours long, and soon they would vanish entirely. But though he hadn't slept long at all he felt rested and refreshed. And hungry. He shuddered and pushed that thought from his mind.

He sat up to find Jander looking at him intensely. "I have had a thought about our conversation last night. We spoke much of the dwarves, but they are not the only people living here, because you live here. So I suspect you may have left something out, though you cannot lie to me. So tell me now, in full, and leave nothing out. Are there any people who live north of the mountains who are not dwarves?"

Aidan's heart sank. He desperately wanted to lie, or to say nothing, but he could not, the compulsion was irresistible. "Yes." The command to leave nothing out nearly had him blurting out more, but with a supreme act of will he managed to say only that single word. But that would do him no good, he knew.

"What are their names?"

Aidan gritted his teeth, wanting to do anything but answer. "Flame Song and Littlespark."

"And what are they to you?" asked the vampire, seeing Aidan's reluctance and guessing at what must lie behind it.

"My wife and daughter." He hung his head, grief so strong as to be almost unbearable, tearing at his heart. He had betrayed his family. There was no hope now, and no further low for him to sink to.

"How marvelous. And here you are, separated from your family. So sad! And it's all my fault, how terrible. I must arrange a reunion, and make it up to you. A shame that we cannot depart this very instant. We shall have to wait out the storm."

Aidan turned away from Jander and curled up again. He couldn't hold back tears this time. He wept, shaking with silent sobs.

The storm blew all that night. Aidan cried himself to sleep as hadn’t done since he met Flame Song. When the sun set the next evening he awoke to stillness. He had thought he couldn't feel any worse, but his heart sank even lower. The storm was over, and now they would go out and find Flame and Littlespark and he, unable to disobey his maker, would have to take part in the killing of his own family. He looked over to where Jander was stirring. Surely there was some way out of this! The other vampire was a lunatic! But he was no idiot and he held all the cards. Aidan was weaker, and no matter what he tried it would take only a word of command from Jander to thwart whatever attempts he might make. And yet there had to be something! It was bad enough that he had to suffer at the hands of an undead monster, but Flame Song? That was unthinkable. And Littlespark... Aidan shied away from that thought, not wanting to complete it. Jander was after followers to convert to vampirism. Babies do not make useful servants, and he did not seem to type to keep around what he had no use for...

Aidan tried to think of something, but he couldn't concentrate. Hunger suddenly reared its head, insistent and demanding. He pushed it aside, but knew he couldn't do so for much longer. Jander rose and stretched.

"Follow me," he said, and Aidan did. They walked out into the star-studded night. The aurora was playing overhead, but Aidan didn't even look up. He looked at his feet, head down in utter misery. He followed the other vampire for nearly an hour in silence. When they stopped he glanced around and recognized the end of his trap line. A foot or so of snow obscured the contours, but he knew the place well enough.

"Lead me to your home. Take the shortest way. No tricks, no sidetracks. And when we get there no speaking, you are not to warn them." Aidan stepped forward. He went slowly, fighting the compulsion with all he had. Jander soon commanded him to walk faster, and he was forced to pick up his pace.

He led the way to his home, and stepped down into the tunnel that went back into the hillside. He reached the door at the end turned the doorknob. It was locked. And suddenly a flash of hope went through him. Flame Song never locked the door while she was at home. She only locked it if she was leaving for some extended period.

"What is it?" snapped Jander.

"The door is locked."

"Well I assume you have the key. Open it!"

Aidan did so and stepped inside. It was dark, though he could see clearly enough. Dark and utterly silent. There was not a breath or heartbeat in the house. Jander came in the door behind him and looked around.

"There's no one here."

Aidan almost laughed. "They're gone."

"Where have they... No, there's only one place they could have gone. To the dwarves. It seems I must change my plans a bit." He surveyed the spacious front room. "A very comfortable home you have here. It might make a better headquarters than my modest hovel."

Aidan instantly pictured Flame coming home during daylight and killing Jander as he slept. Sure, stay here, he thought.

"Ah but no. Your dear wife might return at any time, and should she return during daylight it would be most unfortunate for us. Perhaps later. For now I think we'd best return to said hovel. Follow me."

He turned and left, with Aidan trailing obediently behind him, the brief uplift of hope fading away into bleak depression as he walked. His sense of the sun's position told him that the night was nearly half gone. He followed Jander back the way they had come to the rough shack. The faintest touch of light was beginning to show to the southeast by the time they arrived. Tiredly, and with a painful awareness of almost unbearable hunger, Aidan lay down and went to sleep.