There was a long silence. Eventually Aidan said, "Sorry if I sermonized too much."

"No. You've given me something to think about. Though I don't know if it will do me any good at this point. I think I may have gone too far to turn back. Just look at Celia, how she reacted to me. She couldn't be more afraid of Count Dracula himself. I'm a monster. I could almost wish you two hadn't come along and I could just have gone on being damned without ever having to think about it. But now... I keep saying 'what if.' I see you, and you're almost me, so alike, but you're so much stronger than I am. And yet you say you started out worse off than I did. What if I hadn't taken the first step? What if I hadn't already damned myself? I keep thinking about it, and it's driving me crazy."

Aidan looked at his twin. He’d never seen that heartbroken expression on his own features, but that was only because by the time he’d had cause for that kind of sorrow he’d ceased to show up in mirrors. He could sympathize rather closely with his double’s fears, though he was sure he’d never done a lot of the things his twin had done. But still, his own past was far from unspotted. “I don’t think it’s too late. If I can turn over a new leaf after some of the things I’ve done, then maybe you can too.”

"You don't know what I've done."

"I have some idea. But tell me, and don't just answer, think about it. Do you regret it? Do you regret all of it, the big things and the small things?"

Aidan's double shuddered, and suddenly tears started streaming down his cheeks. "Gods. I regret so much that I could be crushed under it. I had gone forward and never looked back, and now I'm forced to look back, to see where I started. What I've done would have sickened me then! It sickens me now, and I almost don't know how I could have done those things, but I do know, because I remember what I thought when I did them, and I wish I hadn't. I would give anything to take them back, to undo them! So yes I regret. I regret them so much that it feels like I could die of it, and I almost want to, to just kill myself and take my evil out of the world." He lowered his head, still crying, shaking with sobs.

Aidan felt any last bits of anger or hatred he might have felt towards this other self, this person who might have been him if not for the love of his wife, fade away. He gently eased Celia down from his shoulder, the girl so soundly asleep that she didn't even stir, and crossed over to where his twin sat. He knelt next to him and put his hand on the other's shoulder. "The fact that you can feel regret, and can hurt like this, means that you're not damned yet. There's still hope. Maybe you can't undo what you've done, but you can still change."

"I hope you're right." It was almost a whisper, choked with sobs. "Gods I hope you're right."

Aidan sat down next to him. After a while, when his twin's sobs had faded, he said, "Well... you may have a chance to find out if I'm right if we're here much longer."

"What do you mean?"

He gestured at the sleeping girl. "Her. I don't know when you last fed, but I'm pretty sure that your wife isn't going to let us out of here until one or the other of us has bitten her. Which in my case means never, but what does it mean in yours?"

He lifted his head, looked over at Celia. "I'm... not sure. I fed last night on my way home, so for now I'm fine, but I've never even tried to go without before. I have no idea how long is even possible."

"Six days, for certain," said Aidan. "That's the longest it's ever been for me, though it's not much fun." He mentally tallied up. "I'm at three right now, which is okay, if a bit annoying. Given how I felt at six, things are going to get... interesting if it's any longer than that. But I know I can do it."

His twin shook his head. "I don't know... but I guess when it's been six for you it will only have been three for me." He was silent again for a while, thinking. "Yes. If you can, I can too. We're the same person, after all. Right? I'll do it."

Aidan smiled. "I'm glad. And I'm sure you can. As you say, we're the same person."

"I sure hope so, anyhow."

"Hey, have a little faith."

"Faith isn't something I'm used to having. But I'll try."

Aidan suddenly laughed. "I'm giving myself a pep talk. Gods this is surreal!"

"Tell me about it."

"Okay. I'm sitting here talking to my self, and it is all kinds of surreal."

His twin laughed. "That's not what I meant."

Aidan put on an exaggerated expression of surprise. "It's not?"

"No."

They looked at each other and then they both dissolved into laughter. It was perhaps a little hysterical, but real laughter all the same. After quite a while they managed to calm down and Aidan's twin said, "Gods, I needed that. I haven't laughed like that in I don't even know how long! I think I like you."

"Well, they say you have to start by learning to like yourself."

"I thought it was learning to love yourself?"

"I'm not sure self-loving is what we need just now."

His double snickered. "No? I dunno, self-loving sounds like fun to me."

"No, I don't think so. I don't swing that way!"

He snickered even more, but also turned a little red. "Actually, if you really are me, yes you do."

"Uh..." Aidan eyed him. "Okay, that was more than I really wanted to know. But I don't think I do."

"Heh. I suppose it could be one of our differences, though other than the magic those are seeming more and more like they're circumstantial rather than real personality differences. But given how I used to feel about it..." He grinned wickedly. "You're probably so far into the closet your home address is in Narnia. I certainly was."

"Uh..." Aidan was red to his roots. "I really don't think so. Though I suppose it doesn't matter. Even if I did swing that way, I'm very much committed to my wife."

The other sighed at that, his grin fading a bit. "Yes, there is that. And I hope you know how incredibly lucky you are to have her."

"I do."