They caught him easily, of course. He wasn't really trying to run or hide. Oh, the city was big enough that he could probably hide for a few days, perhaps even a few weeks, but every man, woman, and child in it would be hunting for him. He'd helped a vampire. That was the cardinal crime, the unforgivable sin. To aid a vampire was to side against all humanity. Never mind that he hadn't done it knowingly, he'd done it all the same. And the city was panicked. A flighted vampire, one of them who could effortlessly come over the barrier light, was very possibly the worst nightmare of everyone in the city. They were terrified. The whole city smelled of it. And they wanted a scapegoat. However much he tried to hide, he couldn't hide long. And what was the point in hiding, even if he could? Scapegoat or not, he'd done it, had helped a vampire. Hiding would only compound his guilt. So he didn't even try.

They beat him, when they caught him, but not too badly. Everyone knew what his fate would be, and satisfying as a beating was, it was nothing compared to the sentence that would certainly be passed on him.

The trial, if you could call it a trial, was held the same day. A good percentage of the city gathered in the city hall's largest room to watch. They wanted reassurance, they wanted to know that something was being done about this new threat. And so they came. The nervous tension was thick in the air. Much as they all wanted blood, they knew full well that condemning a sympathizer wouldn't save their own blood from one of them that could come over the barrier.

David's mother and siblings weren't there. David was relieved. He'd feared that his mother might come, might try to speak on his behalf, and he knew she would only be doomed along with him if she did. His siblings needed her, none of them were old enough yet to live on their own. Andy, Mike and Alek were there, of course, bearing gloating testimony about what had happened. In their version of the tale they had suspected the stranger's inhuman nature, and had been planning to lure him away to save the city from the vampiric evil. When they finished, the judge turned to David. "And what do you have to say about this?"

"They are well known for assaulting others. I saw them with a stranger, I thought the stranger was human. I saw him only for a moment, and I acted to save another human being. I didn't know what he was." With a bitter smile he added, "I think I did save another human being. Three of them. If Alek and his friends had attacked a vampire, no doubt we would have found their bodies this morning."

The judge scowled. "We are not here to speculate on what might have happened. We're here to determine what did happen, and by your own admission you assisted a vampire."

David said nothing. There was nothing to say.

"Do you deny it?"

"What good would denying it do me? You've decided my guilt already." There was a low growl from the watching crowd at this defiance. But David's voice echoed inside his own head, words unspoken. I am guilty. I did help a vampire. I should have known somehow...

"By your own testimony you assisted a vampire!" barked the judge. His anger was laid over fear, David could almost feel it. Could feel the desperation all around him. "So yes, your guilt is decided. I sentence you to exile. Perhaps the vampires will have pity on you for helping one of their own," he added, spitting out the words with aggressive force, like the weapons they were meant to be, attacking the only target he could reach. "Perhaps they'll let you live. But I wouldn't count on it."

David closed his eyes, trying to keep his own fear from showing. There it was. The death sentence.

The policemen who had stood on either side of him during the "trial" hustled him out of the hall, and escorted him to a bare room near the city gates. They were silent, avoiding contact or conversation, as if having anything to do with David might somehow rub the stigma of sympathizer off on them. That day and night were long, and bleak, and far too boring for David's peace of mind. He had far too much time to run the previous evening over and over in his head, looking for some way, any way, to have done it differently. It wasn't until mid-afternoon of the next day that they came for him again.

The sun was high, but already beginning to sink towards the distant horizon. The gates stood fearlessly open in the sunlight. A crowd had gathered again, around the gates, but only on the inside. Even though the sun was still high, none of them wanted to set foot outside the city. The two officers practically threw him out the gate, and they too didn't take so much as a step outside. Then they shut the gates behind him, the thick doors clanging as they closed. David picked himself up off the ground slowly. He was bruised all over, with a noticeable black eye and now torn jeans and abraded knees. Nothing serious though. And he still had his backpack. They hadn't bothered to take it from him. What was the point?

"Get out of here!"

He looked up, seeing one of the cops standing on top of the city wall, gun in hand. "If you're still in range in fifteen minutes, I'll save the vampires the trouble and plug you myself, sympathizer." The last word was said in the same sort of tone one might use for something very disgusting you had stepped in, and the cop's expression seemed to indicate that he would just love a chance to legally shoot a vampire sympathizer.

David sighed, and look out over the completely bare ground around the city. A faintly rutted road showed where the caravans ran. The next settlement was a full day's journey, and he had only a few hours. But there was at least a slim chance that the vampires might not find him the first night. Slim was better than nothing, so he shouldered the pack and turned his back on the city he'd called home for all his life.