He woke again while the sun was still a bit above the horizon, slanting down into the window through the pine branches of the grove that stood around the cabin. His stomach was twisted in a knot, partly of hunger, but mostly of nerves, and he decided to try and get breakfast before the sun set.

He managed to work the can opener without assistance, but left the stove alone, eating a can of something called "chili" cold. Although the stuff proved to somehow be hot even though he could feel that it wasn't heated. He couldn't quite decide if he liked this or not, but it filled his stomach well enough. As the sun sank, he found himself retreating to the storage room. He didn't quite want to intrude on Aidan's bedroom, but he wasn't going to stay in any of the rooms where the windows looked out on the rapidly falling darkness.

Aidan stirred as the sun sank below the horizon, then slid out of bed and stretched, spreading his wings out to touch the walls of the room. He glanced over at where David stood amid the boxes and cans. "Come on in, it's all right. I just need to get dressed."

David stepped into the room as Aidan rummaged in a trunk at the foot of the bed, coming up with pants and a very peculiar shirt.

I guess he would need weird shirts, with those wings, thought David inanely.

He pulled on pants and shirt rapidly, then sat down on the bed. "Would you prefer we stayed back here this evening?"

"Well, yeah. I'm not normally afraid of the dark," he said firmly. "It's just... I know it has vampires in it now."

"More so than usual, even," said Aidan, with a flash of sharp teeth. "They'll come tonight, I'm certain. Vampires are not patient creatures, by and large."

"Another place where you're the exception to the rule?" asked David.

"Only some of the time," responded Aidan lightheartedly. "Right now I wish they would get here already. I don't want to waste this entire night waiting for them."

"Yeah, same here." David shifted, then came over and sat on the bed as well. "Do you really think you can beat three of them?"

"Almost certainly, yes," said Aidan confidently.

"But they're vampires too. I mean, you're strong and fast, but so are they."

"They're children, especially if it's Raven and company, which I strongly suspect it is. That's something most humans probably don't know about vampires. The younger you are as a vampire, the weaker you are. The older, the stronger. There are trade-offs, as older also means more vulnerable to sunlight, but it's not a bad deal. And I'm much, much older than..."

There was a sudden crash of breaking glass from the front room. "Melodramatics! The door wasn't even locked!" said Aidan in offended tones, and then, so quickly that David hardly saw it, he was off the bed and out the door.