He awoke slowly, aware of aches and pains from head to foot, but still feeling rested. A dim light filtered in through the entry tunnel, though no direct sunlight reached anywhere near. He stretched, feeling every bruise and overworked muscle. Then he heard a soft sound of distress and froze. A quick glance showed that he and the vampire were alone in the small chamber. He looked at the vampire for a moment, and realized that the sound had come from him. Aidan was curled into a tight ball, wings wrapped around him, and was twitching and making little half-whimpers every so often, though he seemed to be sound asleep. For a moment David thought that the vampire was having nightmares. Then he looked at the diffuse light spilling over the huddled heap of feathers and realized. I bet the sun is doing this, he thought. That's why he keeps blankets in here, to wrap up in them, and keep the light away.

David got to his feet slowly, groaning softly at the stiffened muscles and bruises. Then he picked up the largest of the ragged blankets and draped it over Aidan. The vampire gave a soft sigh and went still, settling deeper into slumber. David looked down at him for a moment. He's a vampire. I should be trying to kill him whole he's vulnerable, not help him to sleep soundly. But... he saved my life. I can't do it. He turned away from the sleeping vampire and tried to put it out of his mind, distracting himself with a round of careful calisthenics, stretching and working his abused muscles. By the time he felt limber enough to walk again, the light was beginning to dim. As the rays began to fade, Aidan stirred, his wings unfolding from around him. He sat up, the blanket sliding off, and blinked drowsily. Then he looked at the blanket draped over his legs, looked up and David, and back at the blanket again. "Ah. Thank you very much."

David shrugged, feeling strangely embarrassed. "No problem."

Aidan got to his feet, stretched, and yawned in a rather disturbing display of fangs. "Well, it's dark enough and time is wasting. Let's go. If we make good time, we can get there tonight."

David nodded and followed the vampire out of the little cave. Aidan stopped long enough to shove the rock back into place over the tunnel's mouth before leading the way out of the dry wash and towards the mountains.

After an hour or so of walking, David ventured to ask, "If you needed a blanket, why did you let me have all of them?"

Aidan shrugged. "I slept well enough. I have been in worse circumstances than that. And I owe you a debt. Your life was ruined because you aided me. Your comfort is more important than my own."

David digested that for a moment. "I don't know very many humans, let alone vampires, who have an honor code like that."

Aidan chuckled. "It is perishingly rare. But I learned long ago, and learned it the hardest way possible, that honor, that keeping your word and filling your debts and all such things, are very important. Would that I had learned it sooner than I did."

"What happened?"

"I don't think I'm ready to share that story yet, nor that you are ready to hear it. And besides, the story is not completed. I am still seeking to recover what I lost because of my dishonor and selfishness." He shrugged. "It's all long past, in any case."

David could think of nothing to say to that, so he said nothing, merely nodding. There was a long, and surprisingly companionable silence as they walked through the cool desert night. David took a break to eat some of his sadly meager supplies twice, but otherwise the rest of the night passed with hardly a word spoken. The terrain around them changed as they went along, the low hills and scrubby brush of the desert giving way to the foothills of the mountains, still dry and full of gullies, but bearing scrubby pine trees here and there, which thickened into something resembling a real forest as they climbed steadily upwards.

"Ah! Home, sweet home," proclaimed the vampire as they finished climbing another long slope and came out of a clump of trees. And there ahead was, indeed, a home. It was a cabin, built halfway into the side of the mountain. Not a log cabin, but rather some sort of hunting lodge, built in the days when humans could safely live alone in the wilderness.

"It used to belong to a survivalist, or so I assume," said Aidan cheerfully. "I find it somewhat ironic that it was the cities that survived when the loners, prepared for the end of the world with their generators and their canned goods, never stood a chance. You could find some sort of lesson in that, I'm sure."

He crossed the small clearing in front of the house and opened the apparently unlocked door. David, feeling if anything more tired than the night before, trudged his way across the clearing and into the house. He was too tired for a coherent tallying of the cabin's interior, but the general impression was of tidiness. Everything looked neat and clean. No dust, no clutter. No cobwebs or coffins, as he had half expected to find.

"I'll let you have the front bedroom with the windows, if you don't mind. I intend to bed down in the bunker at the back, as is my usual habit. I never really expected guests, but with nothing better to do I have managed to keep the linens more or less clean. I'll give things a thorough airing tomorrow, but for tonight we shall have to cope. Is there anything you need that I can get you?"

David shook his head, and yawned. "Sleep is all I want right now."

Aidan nodded. "Very well. The bedroom is through that door there." He pointed. "I'll see you come sunset, no doubt."

"Yes. Goodnight."

Aidan smiled. "Goodnight."

David stumbled into the bedroom and collapsed onto the slightly musty-smelling bed. He didn't even bother to undress or climb under the covers, he just put his head on the gloriously soft pillow and moments later he was asleep.