It was a long time before he came down to earth, came back to himself, and started thinking again instead of just feeling. His first thought wasn’t a happy one. What have I done? He didn’t just come down from the high of lovemaking; he crashed down hard into a low of depression.

Shauna looked at him sleepily, a puzzled expression crossing her features. “Aidan, what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I’ve just ruined my life, that’s what’s wrong. Why…” He hardy knew what question to ask. “Why did this have to happen? Why did you have to kiss me?”

She stiffened. “It wasn’t entirely my idea, you know,” she said in a dangerous tone of voice. “I didn’t force myself on you.”

He stopped short, realizing that trying to blame Shauna wouldn’t do him any good. “I know,” he said. “Sorry. I just…” he sighed, trying to think of what to say, how to explain himself. And what was he going to say to Flame Song when he went home? “My wife,” he said, “she…” he stopped again, looking for the right words.

“She doesn’t need to know,” said Shauna, “and what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”

Aidan shook his head. “I can’t keep something like this from her! She knows me too well. I… I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“Well sitting here feeing sorry for yourself isn’t going to help you any,” said Shauna sharply. “You…” whatever she was going to say was cut off by the sound of a chime from somewhere else in the house. “Bother, what now?” she said, and slid out of the bed, throwing on a robe.

Aidan buried his face in his hands and wallowed in depression. Why couldn’t he have kept control of himself? And why did have to have this cursed hunger that took control of him? If he’d still been a breathing man this never would have happened. The sound of voices raised in anger dimly penetrated his consciousness, and for something to do other than lay there being miserable he got up and got dressed, or at least as dressed as he could get with no shirt and no sign of his boots either, and padded barefoot to the door. His keen hearing could make out what they were saying long before he reached the front room where the argument originated.

"I'm telling you again that you have no business here. Go away!"

"I am not going until I can speak with the vampire!"

"Well you can sit on my front step until you rot then!" said Shauna sharply.

"I think not. You could have done this the easy way, but I will come in."

Aidan didn’t wait any longer, he threw open the door and walked into the room. Shauna was staring determinedly up at a well-built half-elven man. He had one hand raised threateningly, but she didn’t look threatened. They both turned to look at Aidan when he came in. "Well, here I am. What do you have to say to me?" Shauna saw something in his eyes and stepped back, letting Aidan take her place in the doorway.

"I bear a message from my master, vampire. He promised that you would never have peace. He keeps his promises."

Aidan heard the phrase "never have peace" with a kind of shock. "And who is your master?" he asked, knowing the answer already.

"Asmodeus, who will soon be Lord of Hell," said the man, and his eyes lit up as he said it.

"He can't touch me," said Aidan. "His threats are empty."

The man laughed. "Are they? Have you known peace these last six years?"

Aidan eyes the man. He hadn't had peace, no, but none of the things that had happened to him had anything to do with demons.

The man laughed louder. "You haven't, and my master has been the cause. He it was who whispered to the vampire Marco and sent him to release you, to get you to take innocent blood and damn yourself. He whispered also in Branson Alder's ear and sent him to kill you if he could, or to be killed by you. And he sent me today to shoot you from the sky and bring you here, into the path of temptation." His eyes nearly glowed with gloating pleasure. Aidan just stood in shock. "And I see the marks on this girl, you have given in to it, haven't you? You've damned yourself. You might as well simply give him what he wants, and die a true death, and go to your place in Hell."

At that last Aidan's shock flashed over into white-hot rage. The man was echoing what Aidan himself had been thinking only moments before. But now he could turn the whirl of guilt and undirected anger that filled him at a target. He lunged forward, took the man by the throat, and lifted him bodily off the ground. The man let out a strangled sound of surprise and grabbed at his hands, tried to pry him loose, but Aidan was far stronger. He spun the man around and slammed him into the nearest wall. Then he did it again, and again a third time. Then he lifted the man higher and literally threw him out the door. His fangs were bared in a savage snarl. "I should just kill you," he said, his voice almost unrecognizable with anger. "But I'll leave you alive so you can tell your master this. He will never get what he wants. And if he doesn't forget he ever heard of it and go back to Hell, maybe I'll send him there myself, permanently! Demons can die a true death too."

The man lay where he'd landed, looking stunned. Aidan thought for a moment that he might have killed the half-elf after all, and he didn't really care. But the man groaned and slowly picked himself up. Aidan had the urge to go out and kick him a few times, for good measure, but instead he shut the door and then leaned against it, the anger draining out of him as quickly as it had come.

Shauna looked a little startled at his ferocity. "What was that all about?"

"An old enemy of mine. I thought he'd given up and left me alone, but it seems not." He sighed deeply, feeling incredibly weary. “I’m sorry Shauna. Sorry about that thug, sorry about tonight, I’m just sorry.”

“Well I’m not.” She looked at him, and her eyes softened. “I know you feel bad about what happened, and, well, I wish you weren’t so hurt by it. A lot of guys, they don’t think anything of that sort of thing. So long as nobody knows, it’s just fine. I guess your family matters more to you than that. I’m sorry if you and your wife split up over this, but if she deserves you at all she’ll love you enough to forgive you, that’s what I think. I didn’t know how much this would upset you. But I’d still do it again the same way if I had it to do over.”

Aidan sighed again. “I wouldn’t. It’s…” he looked for the right words again. “It’s not you, it’s just… Flame Song means everything to me, and I don’t know what I’ll do without her.”

“You could come here,” said Shauna. “But I don’t think you will.” She shook her head. Then she swayed slightly.

Aidan looked at her, his eyes going to the two little red marks on her neck. He’d taken a lot more blood that he usually did with Flame Song. “Are you all right?” he asked.

She found a nearby chair and sat down. She put her hand to her head. “Just a little bit dizzy.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again.

“You apologize too much.”

“I…”

“Hush, I’ll be fine. Dizziness isn’t the end of the world. I’m a little bit light-headed, that’s all.”

“I took more from you than I should have. I…”

She held up a hand. “If you’re going to say ‘I’m sorry’ again, don’t. I know you did, but I will be just fine. I’m not in any danger of dying on the spot. I’m a tough girl. Don’t worry about me.”

Aidan looked down at the floor, studying his bare feet for a while. When he looked up at last, he said, “I think I should go now.”

Shauna nodded. “You’ll probably want your boots then. And your belt and daggers.”

“Yes.”

She got up and went to get them, glaring at Aidan when he moved as if to help her up. She came back and handed over belt, daggers, and boots. “I’m sorry about your shirt.”

He shrugged. “I’ll survive. The cold doesn’t bother me.” He buckled on the belt and slipped the boots onto his feet. Then without a word he turned and opened the door to go. Her voice, sounding suddenly soft and small stopped him.

“Aidan,” she said, and he turned around, tension written in his face. What more could she have to say?

“Aidan… do you hate me?”

He sighed and some of the tension went out of him. “No, I don’t hate you. You didn’t mean for this to come out the way it did. I… I wish you well. But,” he added softly, “I don’t think I’ll ever come back here again.”

“Goodbye then.”

“Goodbye.” He stepped out the door and without waiting he leaped skyward, his wings catching the gentle night breeze and carrying him upward.

His thoughts were darker than the night sky as he flew. The stars lit the sky, but what light or hope did he have? It was tempting to blame everything on Asmodeus, if the demon really had engineered his encounter with Shauna. But even if the demon had put him in the path of temptation, he was the one who had given in to it. He'd resisted such before. He'd been hurt at least that badly by Branson's stake, and he hadn't just jumped on whoever was nearest. He'd had the option of breaking off, but he hadn't taken it. He had indeed damned himself.