If his twin was hibernating because he had no food, then there was one sure way to wake him up. Aidan brought his wrist to his mouth and tore his sharp fangs across it. Blood welled up sluggishly, teasing sharply at the mirror Aidan’s own huger. He ignored it and held his wrist over his twin’s mouth, letting a few drops fall on his lips. His twin licked them off. Then he opened his eyes. For a moment they were unfocused, with no sign of intelligence in them. Gradually Aidan blinked again and began to come all the way awake. His double put his wrist to his own mouth and sucked off the last few drops of blood, not wanting to waste any. Blood was blood, after all, even if it was his own.

“What…?” asked Aidan weakly.

“Your wife is here, but I need to be sure it’s her. What can you ask her that her double wouldn’t know?”

“Children’s names…” said Aidan.

“Littlespark, Firedart, and Phoenixflare,” answered Flame immediately.

Aidan's twin shook his head. “My Flame could have overheard us talking abut them. I can’t be sure.”

“One more…” said Aidan, his voice a weak whisper. “Mine, not hers. Haven’t mentioned…”

The mirror Aidan looked from his twin to Flame questioningly.

“Damien,” said Flame, a soft trace of sorrow in her voice. “He means Damien.”

“Yes, it’s her," said Aidan, and his eyes closed again.

His double held in his sudden questions, though he was quite curious. Did that “mine, not hers” remark mean what he thought it did? Dismissing the thought for the moment, he picked up his twin, staggering slightly. The weight shouldn’t have been heavy, considering his vampiric strength, but though he hadn’t been without sustenance as long as his twin, it had still been a long time. The last day he’d begun to suspect he was blacking out for short periods as well. In his eagerness to get out of the cell however, he hadn’t forgotten the third prisoner.

“Celia,” he said. “Are you awake?”

“Yes,” came her soft-voiced response. She got to her feet. Flame Song started. She hadn’t even noticed the girl.

“Who…?” She didn’t finish the question, but she didn’t need to.

“My name’s Celia. The other you put me in here.”

Flame nodded. “I can guess the reason why.” She looked at the mirror Aidan with a touch more warmth in her eyes. “Things have changed since the last time I saw you, haven’t they?”

He just nodded. “Let’s get out of here.”

The little group left the castle, the laconic Aldro leading the way with Aidan and his double following and Flame and Celia bringing up the rear. It didn’t take them long to get out of the castle and into the night.

“Where to now?” asked Flame, not sure who to direct the question to.

“Somewhere where your husband and I can get some food,” said Aidan. “He’s in bad shape, and I’m not doing so well myself. But I don’t know where. My usual feeding habits are no longer an option for me I think.”

“There’s a farm maybe half a mile from here,” said Celia.

“What good will that do?” asked Aidan.

“Well, farms usually have cows and horses, don’t they? Won’t cow blood do almost as well as human?”

“Celia, I could kiss you! I didn’t even think of that.”

“Neither did I,” said Flame, “and I should have. Guess I’m just too tired to think straight.”

The journey to the nearest farm wasn’t a long one but to the mirror Aidan it felt like forever. Carrying his double and feeling weaker than he’d ever felt he kept staggering. Flame offered to help him, but he only told her to stay back. He was hyper-aware of the heartbeats and blood scent of the three breathing people that accompanied him. It was all he could do to cling to his newfound resolve.

He needed to occupy his mind, distract it from the hunger. He thought of a rather important question all of the sudden. “Flame Song, did you have to kill your double?”

“No. She was still alive when I left her, though no doubt she’ll have one huge headache when she wakes up.”

“What happened?”

“Aldro hit her on the head, actually. She was about ready to tear me to shreds, but he thumped her before she could.”

“Ah. You know you probably should have killed her while you had the chance.”

“I know. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it, not in cold blood like that. And I was more concerned about my husband anyhow. Are you sorry that she’s alive?”

He thought about that one for a while. "After everything she's done I should be. But find that I'm not. Although it's probably going to complicate my life a good bit."

“Maybe she can change. If you can change as much as you have in just a week or so, why not?”

He snorted. "She's... not like me. I suppose anything is possible, but I'm not going to hold my breath." He flashed her a grin. "And I can hold it a good long time."

At last they reached a silent farm. Aidan walked openly into the farmyard and approached the barn. “Shouldn’t we be sneaking?” asked Flame in a soft whisper. “What if the farmer wakes up and comes out after us?”

Aidan gave a little laugh. “We’re less than a mile from my castle. I may have turned over a new leaf this past week, but I doubt the people here have heard. They won’t set foot outside after dark for anything less than a matter of life or death.”

“Oh.”

He didn’t waste any more time on conversation, but pushed open the barn door and went inside. It was dark inside, but her could hear and smell several animals, probably horses, moving around. His eyes quickly adjusted to the gloom and he picked out a big draft horse standing in a stall along one wall of the barn. He slipped open the stall door and put his twin down on the straw inside. Aidan came partly awake, no doubt aware of the rush of blood beneath the horse’s skin. His double took hold of the horse’s halter and stoked its cheek to keep it calm. Aidan had gotten to his knees and grabbed onto the horse’s leg. The animal gave a start at the unexpected contact, then calmed under the mirror Aidan’s soothing touch. It didn’t even twitch when the other vampire’s fangs cut through the skin over the big vein on its leg.

The mirror Aidan left his twin feeding. The horse wouldn’t be going anywhere now, and he needed to get his own nourishment. A second stall next to the first housed a somewhat smaller animal. Aidan stroked it to calm it. Then he knelt next to it, his fingers tracing the veins that ran just under the skin. He chose his spot and bit through the tough skin to reach the rushing blood beneath. The sensation as it flowed into his mouth was wonderful. Hot life ran into him, filling him up and flooding him with energy. He drank more deeply than he ever had, reveling in the feast after the famine. At last he was full and he pulled back. A little trickle of blood oozed down the horse’s skin, but otherwise it seemed fine. It was a large animal; the amount of blood he’d taken wouldn’t be enough to cause it any difficulty.

He emerged from the stall, latching the door again behind him. He found his double just closing the other door. They looked at each other for a long moment, then his twin said, “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”