Blood Choice

The city was a ring of brilliant light surrounding a core of darkness, the black made all the darker by the light around it. The watcher above knew the reasons for this. The UV illumination was a pure practicality, the black within a sign of the limited energy, every scrap of which must go to the defending lights during the night.

Still, the barrier of light, aimed outward in a feathering corona of warm brightness on the barren fields that surrounded the city seemed like the act of some mad artist of bygone times. Nobody now spent much effort on art. Survival was more important than art these days. Humans being humans, of course, there were still those who drew and wrote and sang and created. But there were far fewer of them now than during the decades-vanished heyday of humanity. And much as the illuminating circle seemed a thing of beauty, it was in fact a creation of deadly purpose. Fragile and intangible as the light was, it was also an impenetrable wall between the wild darkness without and the safe, dark womb of the city within.

Or nearly impenetrable, thought the watcher to himself. And then, with a sharp smile and a soft whisper of feathers in the wind, he descended on the unsuspecting darkness.

Part 1, Son of the City

David hummed to himself as he strolled down the darkened street. There weren't very many people willing to go out after sunset, so the street was utterly deserted. He chuckled. Most of the city's inhabitants still regarded the darkness with a superstitious dread, especially the older ones, who remembered the days before the barrier. Yet even though the city had been safe for nearly two decades now, most of David's generation feared the dark. But David wasn't worried. There was nothing worse lurking in the shadows than the occasional hopeful mugger, and not many of those, since victims were rare after sunset.

David's musings on the safety of city life were interrupted by the soft sound of voices. Curious about who else would be out at this hour without fear, he peered down a dim alley, lit only by the faint back-glow from the barrier lights. Three indistinct figures stood there. One of them seemed to be wearing a light-colored cape of some kind, the paleness gleaming dimly in the gloom. The other two were familiar forms, dramatically dressed in black trench coats and attempting to look tougher than they were, the pair of would-be hoodlums were a sight David had seen often enough. They prided themselves on fearing nothing, not even the darkness. They were dangerous only to the ignorant, because they were cowards at heart. Too afraid for a fair fight, they would lure people to wherever their current lair was, and the third member of their little gang would attack the very outnumbered victim from behind.

David sighed and rolled his eyes, then turned down the alley to confront the pair. Whoever the cloaked stranger was, David couldn't just walk by and let him be assaulted. He cleared his throat as he approached, and the stranger turned around. He was short, fair-skinned and dark-haired, and looked to be in his late teens or early twenties, around the same age as David himself.

"Excuse me, I hate to interrupt, but did you know that these two are con artists?"

Alek, the "leader" of the "gang" made a strangled sound of protest at this, and Mike, his partner in crime, said "Hey!"

The stranger glanced from the pair to David and back again. "Ah. I see. Thank you." There was a look on his face that was almost like disappointment, but more, perhaps, like resignation. "I take it then that these gentleman do not actually know a young woman with unusually orange hair and green eyes?"

David shook his head. "Anybody they know I'd probably know too, and while I know a couple of redheads, none of them are what I'd call 'unusually' orange."

"I see. Then I shall be on my way." He gave a little half bow, then walked past David towards the street.

As the stranger passed, David suppressed a gasp of surprise. Up close it was plain that he was not wearing a cloak. Instead the paleness that fell from shoulders to heels was revealed as a pair of wings, folded close to his back. A genie! David thought in shock. I thought the major genies had all died years ago! It was common enough to see somebody with a minor gene-mod. Weird hair colors, funny eyes, minor cosmetics that somebody, a couple of generations back, had thought ought to become a family trait. And you got the invisible ones, those were common as dirt. Better hearing, higher strength, things like that. David himself had the very common low-light eyesight mod. He'd inherited it from his mother, whose own mother had been the one to get the mod, back when that kind of thing was still possible. But the flashy ones hadn't often proved survivable in the chaos following the collapse of the old civilization. And he'd never even heard of somebody with wings before.

He was snapped out of his shock by a pointed throat-clearing.

"What did you go and do that for?" Alek gave him a glare that was meant to be intimidating. David just rolled his eyes.

"I'm not going to just walk by and let you mug some stranger."

"Why do you care? You don't know anything about him."

"Nah, but I know plenty about you." David rested his hand on the mace-gun strapped to his belt. It was meant for other uses, but it would incapacitate a plain old human being just fine. "I don't feel like arguing about it."

Alek's eyes fell to his own belt gun, while Mike bristled ineffectually. But neither of them made any move to advance. David turned away and walked out of the alley. "You don't mess with us!" called Mike after him. "You'll regret it!"

David just rolled his eyes again. He'd be sure to watch his back for the next few days, but he wasn't afraid of that pair, nor of their even less courageous partner in crime, Andy. If they couldn't sneak up and bash him from behind without conflict, they weren't going to do anything.

He continued on his way, humming again. There was rumors of a darkrave going on somewhere nearby, and he rather hoped he could find the illicit dance party before it got shut down.

He did manage, and so it was far, far too early when his mother shook his shoulder the next morning. "David, get up!" Groggily he blinked up at her, and then the near-panic in her voice registered and he snapped to full awareness.

"What is it?"

"There's one of them here, inside the barrier, David." Her eyes were wide. "There's a vampire in the city. He assaulted a woman last night, I just heard the news." Her face was creased with worry, and David could tell she was remembering the bad old days, when she'd been his age and the vampires had roamed freely after sunset.

David blinked, trying to digest the idea. A vampire. One of them, inside? Impossible! None of them could get within half a mile of the barrier.

"That's impossible. How could it get in? The barrier..."

"It flew over. It's a genie, with wings."

Wings. It was an almost tangible blow, a shock as great as if the bed had suddenly fallen through the floor and into the room below. Wings. Wings were unheard of. There couldn't be two winged people in the city. And that meant... Oh God. I helped a vampire. I helped a vampire! And... a second shock, worse than the first. Andy and Mike saw it. I'm dead. They'll spread the word and I'll be torn to pieces.

His stunned expression penetrated his mother's worry. "David? It's daylight, we're safe for now, I just..."

"No," he interrupted. "You're safe, if I get away from you right now. I've got to go! I need to get out of here before they decide you were a part of it too."

"David? I... I don't understand. What are you talking about?"

"I saw it last night. I thought it was human! I... I helped it!"

The color drained from his mother's face. "Oh... oh no... Oh David..." She rallied a bit, looking at him hopefully. "If nobody saw..."

"Somebody did," he said grimly. He flung himself out of bed and started gathering up clothes, mace gun, his old school backpack. "They're going to come for me any minute now. If I'm not here..."

"But if you leave, you'll just look more guilty. You didn't know it wasn't human..."

He stopped and looked at her. "Mom, you know better than that. You know what it's like even better than I do. I helped a vampire. They won't care that I didn't know. I should have known! The best I can hope for is to distance myself from you and the rest of the family."

She stood there helplessly, her face sagging, looking suddenly old and worn. "I know... Oh David!"

He looked at her for a moment, then stepped close and hugged her tight. Then he scooped up the hastily packed backpack and strode rapidly down the stairs. He paused only to grab what food would travel well and fling it into the bag. Once he was out the door he didn't stop or look back. His younger brother called after him, "David! Where are you going?" but he didn't look back. He couldn't.

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.

The day was hot, and dust hung in the air as he trudged down the road. The sun was to his left, slowly sinking lower. All too soon the day's heat would be ended. The lights would be switched on, the city behind him huddling in the center of its protective glow. And he would be alone on the road in the dark. He shuddered. Much as he wanted to put his hope in reaching the shelter of light before the vampires found him, he'd be most of the night on the road before he reached the glow of the nearest settlement. And it was entirely possible that somebody from the city would have sent them word and he'd be turned back. Many of the old technologies had been lost, but radio was simple, and still worked just fine to keep people in touch. And given the attitude of the city's people, it was very likely that they'd done so.

He sighed again. I remember wondering what I'd do if I were faced with death, he thought, almost absently. I guess now I know. It's weird that I can be this calm, but it almost doesn't seem real... I just hope that they don't turn me. I wouldn't want to be a vampire.

Most people who got contaminated with vampirism didn't turn, of course. Perhaps one in thirty rose again after dying with the vampire taint. And just being bitten wasn't enough, you had to get the vampire's blood in you somehow. People still argued if it was a purely scientific thing, or something supernatural. You could detect the vampire taint with a microscope. Thankfully, or what little of civilization that remained would have torn itself apart with suspicion and mistrust. But you couldn't predict who would actually turn. It didn't follow any pattern of age, race, or gender. Some people had the taint, and stayed dead, some had it and rose again. That was just all there was to it. In a way it was far more terrifying than if everyone tainted became a vampire. There was the uncertainty, the hope that somebody might rest in peace, the fear that they might not.

Not that David had known anybody who was tainted. When the light barriers had finally been built, the protected populace had finally been able to winnow the tainted out from among them. He'd heard horror stories of that too. Sometimes the tainted were left to live, and their corpses burned when they died, but in some places the tainted had been burned alive. He shuddered again. That's still better than coming back as a vampire.

He trudged on, too bruised to really move briskly, but trying to go as fast as he could. The sun sank. As it touched the horizon, the lights of the city came up behind him. He glanced back over his shoulder at the distant glow, lighting the sky behind. The city itself was well out of sight, but the lights were visible for miles. As the sky darkened he could make out a faint hint of glow ahead of him. His destination, still miles away. And full night had fallen. David tried to suppress another shudder. Maybe he would get lucky. Maybe...

"Look Raven, the humans have sent us dinner. How nice of them!"

David stopped, glancing around. The cruelly taunting male voice had come from the right, but he couldn't see anything but unremarkable dirt, the occasional rock, and some scrubby brush.

"They're so kind," said a female voice from the left, and suddenly he could pick out two forms in the gloom. Two vampires, the male on one side, the female on the other, both of them lean, dressed in dark colors, and both of them advancing on him. He drew his mace gun. It couldn't kill them, but the concentrated spray would stun them for a bit... Then in a flash the male was right up against him, and had grabbed his wrist. David cried out as the vampire twisted, and the gun dropped from his suddenly limp hand.

He'd heard stories all his life of how strong and fast vampires were. But he'd never really realized what a moving vampire was like. It was like a striking snake, but more startling. You didn't expect that flash of motion from something that looked human. Suddenly the female was at his other side, grinning at him with too-sharp teeth. She grabbed his hair, twisting her fingers through it, and forced his head back. David let out an involuntary whimper. He tried to pull away from her grip, but he might as well have been pulling against a rock for all the difference it made. She ran fingertips down his throat and he shuddered, whimpering again. The male laughed, a cold sound of sadistic enjoyment at David's fear, and kept his grip on David's wrist, keeping him pinned between the two of them. The female leaned in, her breath cool against his neck, and licked the side of his neck, her startlingly cold body pressed against him.

Then a third voice spoke out of the dark.

"Raven, my dear, I've told you before it's not nice to play with your food."

"Aidan." the female vampire spat the name with enough venom to drop an elephant.

"Indeed." The owner of the third voice strode into view. Cheshire-like, his white-fanged grin and alabaster wings appeared out of the gloom first, followed by the rest of him, short, fair skinned, dark haired. The same stranger David had seen the night before.

"Go find your own dinner," growled the male, still holding David's wrist.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. I owe that young man a debt of honor, you see. So I must insist that you let him go."

The female practically hissed. "Honor is for the weak!"

"Really?" The grin broadened as the winged vampire continued to stride forward. "If I'm so weak, Raven, why can I smell your fear? You reek of terror more than the boy you're holding." Then his grin changed to a flat, hard look, tinted with anger. "Let him go now or you'll sorely regret it."

The male dropped David's wrist and stepped back. The female kept her grip on his hair a moment longer, then let go with a frustrated snarl. "I should kill him right now, you human-lover."

The flat looked flashed over into a snarl. "If you do that, I will torment you for a year and a day, and then leave your miserable carcass for the sun, Raven. And you know I do not make idle threats."

She backed up a step, the defiant snarl wavering, then both of them vanished into the darkness. David sank to his knees, weak with relief. He found he was trembling, shivering uncontrollably.

A pair of boots stepped into his field of view and then the winged vampire was crouching in front of him. "Are you all right? Did they hurt you?"

David took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "I... I'm okay. They didn't do anything to me."

The vampire reached out to him and he flinched, half-falling backward to sit on the dusty road. The vampire looked at him for a moment, his expression unreadable, then sighed softly. "I swear to you that I won't harm you. I'll swear by whatever gods you worship, if you want. I said I owe you a debt of honor. I meant that. I will allow no harm to befall you." His voice was soft, sincere, human-sounding.

"Sorry," said David inanely, still shivering. His brain was running in mad circles. I almost died! He saved me! He's a vampire and he's right there! I'm inches away from a vampire, I'm going to die! But he saved me! He took another deep breath, closing his eyes.

There was a soft rustle as the vampire stood up, and David looked up to find him reaching out a hand. The vampire's eyes were a deep, startling blue that seemed to almost glow in the dim starlight. His expression was calm, friendly. David took another breath and extended his own hand upward. The vampire clasped it, his flesh cool to the touch, and pulled David effortlessly to his feet.

The vampire smiled. It was a close-mouthed smile that didn't show his fangs at all. "I must now resist the urge to quote cheesy old movie lines. Though I doubt you've seen the movie in question anyhow. But if you wish to survive the night, it might be best if you came with me."

"Where would we go?"

"To my home, eventually. Though it's more than a single day's travel on foot. But it is the one place where you would be safe both from vampires and from your fellow humans." He looked at David regretfully and gave another soft sigh. "And for that latter I apologize. You attempted to do a good thing, not knowing that I was in no danger, and in return you were cast out to die. I regret my part in that greatly, and I am sorry."

"I... um... it's okay. I guess we're even now, since you saved me. And I was really in danger." He shivered again, involuntarily, and tried to push out the too-bright memory of the female vampire's lick, of the feel of her cold body against his. "How far away is your home?"

The vampire pointed to the west, where the black of the nighttime desert was divided from the cold, deep blue of the darkened sky by a jagged line of mountains. "It's in the mountains, there. None of the other vampires will come anywhere near it, so you'd be safe."

David hesitated, then shrugged. "What other choice have I got?"

The vampire smiled regretfully. "None, I'm afraid.

"My name is Aidan, by they way," he added as he turned to lead the way across the barren desert. "I'd say 'nice to meet you,' but it's probably not appropriate to the situation."

"Er... no, I guess not. I'm David."

"David. A good, classical name. I knew another David once, quite a few years ago. He was a rather nice fellow. A bit prone to depression and melancholy, but still quite engaging."

"Um," David found it more than a bit surreal to be making small talk with a vampire, but what else was he going to do? "I don't think I've ever met anybody named Aidan before," he said.

"It's not a terribly common name. I'm told it's Irish in origin, though I wouldn't know. I've been to many places, but it happens that Ireland isn't one of them. And these days such trips are rather too difficult to make. A shame really. I'd always wanted to visit Ireland, because of the name, if for no other reason. Not that I've any particular Irish heritage, mind. My mother went through a period of being far too fond of Irish culture. I think I had a narrow escape with being called Cu Chulainn, or something equally difficult to spell." He chuckled softly.

David couldn't think of anything to say in response. You didn't think of vampires as having mothers. You knew they did, that they'd once been just as human as anybody, but that was something you didn't think about, didn't speak of. They were them, inhuman and other. They weren't like you.

"You're... not quite like... er..."

"Not like you expected a vampire to be?" Aidan asked.

David nodded wordlessly.

"No, I'm not."Aidan's voice hardened, and when David glanced over his expression was grim. "I've said you can trust me, David, and it's true. But the other vampires are not like me. Not at all like me. Never trust one of them. Never come anywhere near one of them, if you can help it." He paused for a long moment, then chuckled. "But you hardly need me to tell you that. You've been raised, no doubt, on stories of the evils of vampirism. Trust those stories, they're all true."

There was a long moment of silence, then David asked hesitantly, "What makes you different from them?"

Aidan stopped walking for a moment and looked at him. Then he shrugged and continued. "That is a very, very long story, and one you probably wouldn't believe anyhow. I shall just say that I was like them once, long ago, but I learned that a life of pure selfishness is very unrewarding in the long run, much fun as it might be in the short term."

"Oh."

There was a long silence after that as the two made their way through scrub brush, up hills and across small dry washes. Once they crossed a stream, and David stopped to fill his water bottle. Once he halted to eat some of the food he'd packed. As the night passed, David began to stumble and trip, weariness overcoming him. The third time he fell and began to slowly pick himself up, Aidan looked at him, and then glanced at the clear night sky, full of stars, overhead. "You're tired. You've walked all day, and half the night. But I want to get as far as I can before sunrise, and we're nowhere near a safe place for me to spend the day yet. We would go much faster if I carried you. Would that I could carry you and fly, but you probably weigh twice what I do."

"Yeah..." said David wearily. He wasn't especially tall, but he was compactly muscled, and the slender vampire was a full head shorter. "But how are you going to carry me? I'm still bigger than you are on the ground too."

Aidan smiled, the very tips of his fangs showing. "I'm a great deal stronger than I look." Then he stepped forward and almost before David knew what was happening, he'd been picked up and slung over the vampire's shoulder. He let out a yelp of surprise, and then yelped again as Aidan started to move, not quite jogging, but walking very rapidly, as though completely unaffected by his burden. David found it wasn't terribly comfortable to be carried, but he also found he was tired enough he didn't much mind, really. He fell into a kind of half doze, not quite able to fall asleep, but not quite awake either.

He was jolted out of this state by the vampire setting him down and saying, "We're here."

David blinked groggily. "Huh? Where? Wait, I thought you said we couldn't reach your home tonight."

"We can't, and we haven't, but this is one of my bolt-holes. There are places like this all across this desert, some natural, some made by vampires, all used by us to hide from the sun during the day." David looked around. They were standing on the floor of a dry wash, like countless others they'd crossed during the night. This one was, perhaps, a bit deeper than most they'd encountered, but there seemed to be nothing special about it. Rocks, some sand, a few scrubby plants here and there, nothing out of the ordinary. Then Aidan stepped up to one of the massive boulders that lay on the floor of the wash and pushed it aside as though it was made from Styrofoam. Behind it an opening gaped black in the bank of the wash.

David blinked again. "Good Lord. No human could move that. No wonder nobody ever finds vampire hiding places."

Aidan nodded. "Yes. This is why, even though you still have them terribly outnumbered, you may yet lose the perpetual, undeclared war between your kind and mine. I am stronger than most vampires. But the weakest of them is still stronger than the strongest of you. There are ways, still. There have been humans who hunted them down successfully. But that only happens once, or twice, before a few of them band together, and then..." he shrugged again. "But enough of such depressing topics. Come in and rest. You are weary, and dawn is coming." And with that he stepped into the blackness of the hole.

David followed, too tired to feel nervous. He had to duck to get into the tunnel, and inside it was pitch black, but then there was a scrape and a flare of light as Aidan lit a match. He touched the match to a candle, and then continued on down the narrow corridor. It made a sharp turn and ended abruptly in a tiny oval chamber. There was a nest of blankets against the far wall, and a small stack of candles, but otherwise the room was bare.

Aidan dropped down to sit on the floor, and leaned against one wall. "I shall let you have the bed, such as it is," he said with a wry smile.

"Thanks," said David wearily, and dropped down into the pile of blankets. They seemed to be clean enough, and he was too tired to really care anyhow. Moments later he had curled up and fallen sound asleep.

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.

David awoke with a yawn, feeling vaguely disoriented for a moment. He was in bed, but everything was all wrong. He sat up, blinking, and the events of the past few nights slowly percolated back through his brain. He sighed, then shrugged and stretched. If anything he was even stiffer than he'd been the night before. The soft bed had been wonderful, but his legs were one mass of pain from the walking and climbing. He groaned softly

His stomach informed him that he hadn't eaten much lately, and it wasn't pleased with this. He pulled himself up out of bed and went to explore the house. He didn't have too much hope of finding food. Vampires were hardly likely to keep well-stocked larders, but it couldn't hurt to look.

The bedroom he was in was bare but clean. The rumpled bed and a small dresser were the only furniture there. The afternoon sunlight poured in through two large windows. He got up and ran his hand through his hair, feeling suddenly very grimy. "Ugh, I need a bath."

A closed door proved to lead to a bathroom. It appeared to have actual plumbing. David looked at the bathtub. "There's no way the water actually works," he muttered to himself, then shrugged and tried the tap. To his surprise a steady stream of clear water began to pour into the tub. He quickly plugged the tub, and turned the other handle, marked "hot," as well. Nobody in the city had hot water, it took too much energy to heat it, and he didn't expect to get hot water here either, but once again, to his surprise, when he put his hand in the stream, it was warm.

Well over half an hour later he emerged from the bathroom with a towel around his waist, feeling much cleaner and much more relaxed. The sun was still up, if only just barely, so he decided he might as well explore the rest of the house while he waited for Aidan to wake up.

The main room proved to be fairly unremarkable, sunlight streaming in through two windows flanking the front door illuminating mostly bare walls. The floor had a worn throw rug covering most of it. A bookshelf stood against one wall, holding a collection of battered books. A fireplace was empty even of ash, while above it a moth-eaten moose head stood guard, looking morose as only a moose can. Another door proved to lead into a small kitchen, or at least David assumed it was a kitchen, though the only really familiar thing there was a small table. The boxy thing he assumed was a stove looked nothing like the iron stoves he'd seen. A window let sunlight into the kitchen as well, but the room past that was dark, and seemed to be dug into the side of the mountain itself. The walls were concrete, and the plain cube of a chamber was full of dusty boxes and cans.

Curious, David inspected one stack of large cans. With surprise he realized they were full of food. Plain labels read things like "dried apples," "wheat" and "rice." The boxes proved to be filled with smaller cans, containing such items as "beef stew," "carrots," and "pickled beets," with faded pictures on the labels.

This must be old, old, old, he thought to himself. From before the collapse. I wonder if any of it is still good? I hope some of it is still good! He remembered carrots. He'd had real carrots a few times. They did well in the hydroponics, so even though they were far, far more expensive than the supposedly meat flavored "balanced protein" that was the usual fare of city dwellers, they weren't too terribly uncommon. He'd never had an apple though. Or real beef. Nobody could afford to keep cows, they ate too much, and there were no apple trees in the city. He'd had a plum once or twice, there were a few plum trees, and he'd had strawberries on rare, special occasions. They were a luxury, but the hydroponics grew a few of them. He wasn't even sure what a "beet" was, but the faded picture on the label looked interesting. Though the purple color reminded him of plums, and he couldn't imagine a pickled plum. Did beets taste anything like the cucumbers in regular pickles? He'd had pickles before, they were pretty good.

His mouth was watering. But he had no idea if fifty-year-old cans would be safe to open and eat. Nor any notion of how to open them, for that matter. So he turned away from the heap of ancient food and looked into the last room. It was another concrete cube, but some attempt had been made to soften it with throw rugs on the floor, and a painting hung on one wall. A small cabinet held a body object that David didn't recognize. A tilted draftsman's table sat in one corner, and a bed occupied the center of the room. Curled up in it was Aidan, blankets pulled up so that only the top of his head was visible, the rest of him a lump beneath the layers of fabric.

Leaving the vampire to sleep, David wandered back out into the front room. With nothing better to do, he paged idly through some of the books in the bookshelf. There were a few works of fiction, a couple of what seemed to be religious texts, a few obvious survivalist handbooks of various kinds, and a collection of books about things he'd never heard of, like "UFOs" and "Crop Circles."

"Good morning," said Aidan cheerfully, making David jump. He hadn't heard the vampire coming. "Or good evening, perhaps."

"Uh, yeah." David blushed, suddenly oddly aware that he was still wearing nothing but a towel.

"Enjoying a little reading?"

"I guess." David looked down at the book in his hands. "Why did these aliens stop coming? Is it because there were no more crops for them to make crop circles in?"

Aidan chuckled. "No. There never were any aliens. Humans made the circles, but other humans didn't want to believe it. Human nature is such that we believe what we wish to believe far more readily than we believe the truth."

"Oh. Yeah... I know what you mean." He remembered the angry face of the judge, the derisive scorn of the policemen. They'd wanted to believe something. He still hardly knew what to believe about that night. Why feel guilty when the vampire he'd helped turned out to be no threat? And yet threads of guilt still hung around his memories.

"I imagine you'd like some breakfast," said Aidan, breaking into David's bleak thoughts.

"Yeah. I'm starving! Though, um... my old clothes are filthy. I don't suppose there's something I could change into?"

"There are some clothes here, from the original owner. I don't know how they'll fit, but they're better than trying to stuff you into something of mine." He grinned and led the way back into the bedroom. As he stepped into the room he flicked a switch on the wall, and a soft golden glow flicked on in the ceiling. David gasped softly. Aidan smiled. "As I have no need for ultra-violet lamps, I have plenty of electricity for normal lights, among other things. There's a generator and a battery bank in the basement here. I'll show you sometime, if you like." Then he turned to the dresser that stood against the wall, which proved to contain jeans and shirts that turned out to be only slightly too large, if very musty and a bit yellowed with age.

"It's a good thing denim lasts forever. Now, onto the food! I think I shall venture an experiment. The canned foods you may have seen in the back are all long ago expired, but expiration dates don't really mean much on cans, sometimes. Once upon a time I myself ate an entire can of sweetened condensed milk that was four years past due to be thrown out, and was perfectly fine after. Not that it's terribly relevant, as these are several decades gone. But still, I think if they have gone bad, it will be readily evident, so let us go explore. I'm fairly certain I even have a can opener somewhere about the house."

Digging around in somewhat dusty drawers turned up a very strange looking contraption that Aidan assured him would open up the cans. "Now, what would you like to try?"

"Beef stew? I've never had real beef, just things flavored like it."

"There's nothing like the real thing!" Aidan picked up a can and took it to the kitchen. "Hmm... I think you'll thank me if I heat this up first. Cold stew isn't that awful, but hot stew is much better. And is that much less likely to have some nasty bacteria in it as well." He rummaged in the drawers again and came up with a small pot, which he put on the stove. David had seen wood and coal fueled stoves. They weren't terribly common, fuel was hard to come by, but there were a few. This was something different though. Instead of the iron top, this had a smooth top that seemed to be enameled, with four flat spirals of something that looked much like iron set into it. Aidan twisted a dial on the front of the stove, and set the pot on one of the spirals. As David watched with interest, the vampire applied the can opener to the can, then emptied its contents into the pot.

"Now, we wait a bit for it to heat up."

David stared, fascinated, as the spiral of metal began to glow. He held his hand close to it and felt the heat radiating off of it. "How does it do that?"

"Er, you know I don't actually know all the details. Electricity goes through the metal and makes it warm, and the warmth is enough to make it glow. Beyond that, I've no idea."

Aidan fished a spoon out of one of the drawers and stirred the brownish, lumpy mixture on the stove. To David it looked less appetizing than the protein goo he was used to, but as it warmed, he started to smell it, and it smelled amazing. When it had bubbled for a while, Aidan twisted the dial again, and picked up the pan.

"Careful with it, it's hot," he said.

David, never having eaten hot food before, managed to burn his tongue anyhow, but he didn't care. The stuff tasted much, much better than protein goo. He sat back when the pan had been scraped completely clean, with a replete sigh. "I could get used to that." As he got up from the table, he groaned as his leg muscles protested. "I am stiff as anything."

"I could do something about that, if you like."

"Huh?"

Aidan smiled. "I have a certain skill at massage. That is, if you wouldn't mind such attentions. I assure you I'll take no liberties with your person."

David tried to puzzle his way through that. "I guess," he finally said.

"Oh good! Then I suggest you remove your pants."

David blushed bright red. "My pants? What?"

"Well, if I'm going to do anything about the muscle stiffness in your legs, it would go much more easily for both of us if there isn't a layer of thick fabric in the way. Leave your underthings on, of course, but the pants need to go."

"Oh. I... um... okay." Still blushing, David stripped off his pants.

"Now, why don't we go to the front room, where there is a rug at least, and you can just lie down and relax."

David followed the vampire into the other room, already having second thoughts, but he couldn't quite bring himself to object, so he dropped down on the floor obediently, and settled into position on his stomach. Aidan sat next to him, and rubbed his hands briskly together. "Friction," he remarked. "Cold hands make for lousy massages." David had a sudden moment of nervous tension at that reminder of what Aidan was. He was half-naked, lying totally vulnerable, next to a vampire. A vampire! The bogeyman of the entire human race!

But Aidan's hands were warm as he placed them on David's thigh and started to knead at the knotted muscles there. "Let me know if it hurts," said Aidan. "I don't want to rub too hard."

"Yeah," said David distractedly, starting to relax a bit. It felt very, very good, if occasionally a bit painful when Aidan hit a particularly sore spot. The massage was thorough and impersonal. As promised, Aidan took no liberties, but when he was done, David just sprawled on the rug, totally limp.

"Oh man... that was really nice, if kinda weird. I think I won't move for the rest of the night."

Aidan chuckled. "Good to see I haven't lost my touch. But now that I've seen to my guest, it's time I saw to my own needs. I haven't fed these last two nights."

David shivered, suddenly cold. "So you're going to fly back to the city then."

"No," said Aidan softly, "I will not. Vampires do not feed only on human blood, you know. Animal blood will do, most of the time. And I make it do as much as I possibly can. I do not like taking human blood."

"But you did. My mother said you'd assaulted a woman in the city. If you hadn't, nobody would even have known you were a vampire, and none of this would have happened!" There was an edge of accusatory bitterness in his voice.

Aidan sighed. "Females are always to be my downfall, it seems. I did not 'assault' anybody. I hired the services of a prostitute. There are a number of them in the city, you know. And if, during the course of doing what one does in such circumstances, I took a sip of her blood, it did not hurt her. I need only a small amount. A spoonful, no more. I left her well paid and unharmed, and if she'd had any real sense she wouldn't have said anything about it. But apparently she was so fearful that she went straight to the authorities and reported me. I hope they didn't mistreat her. But be assured that I did her no harm." He looked at David. "And yet again I differ from my brethren there. I know of no other vampire that would merely take enough to stave off the madness. They would have killed her."

"Madness?" David asked the question mostly to distract himself from the mental images that last line stirred in his mind.

Aidan nodded. "When a vampire gets no blood, he becomes weak. But when a vampire gets only animal blood, and no human blood, eventually he goes mad. The blood-lust becomes everything, and he kills mindlessly. Once you have stepped over that perilous brink, it is nearly impossible to go back. But it doesn't take much to keep a vampire sane."

"I've always been told that vampires fed on nothing but human blood."

Aidan laughed. "Think on it! Do you know how many vampires there are in this area?"

"No..."

"There are nearly three dozen. And how many humans does the city lose to vampires in a month?"

"Uh... just a few. Eight or nine?"

"And if three dozen vampires were all getting human blood every night, you would be losing that many in a day, even considering the ones they keep alive for sport, and the vampires who hunt in packs and share. No, a vampire needs human blood only once in a month, at most. I myself will not need to feed again for two months. But that's human blood. I require animal blood every other night, generally. And as it has been longer than that, I shall now depart."

He got to his feet and strode out the door without a further word.

David was left sitting on the floor, shivering. He couldn't quite forget that Aidan was a vampire, but sometimes he managed to put it to the back of his mind and relax. But all of the sudden he realized again just what situation he was in. I am completely at the mercy of a vampire. Even though he seems to be a good person, he keeps telling me how evil vampires are. I can't think of one single reason why he'd be pretending to be nice if he just wanted to kill me for my blood, but just because I can't think of one, doesn't mean that he can't. He shuddered and wrapped his arms around himself. Suddenly the night was very cold.

Aidan returned an hour or so later, looking grim."There are vampires in the woods not too far off. It may be a coincidence, but I think not. They've probably decided to try and challenge me again." He muttered something, the sound a low growl, under his breath. "If they attack the house, you need to go to the back room, and say there. If I lose you're doomed anyhow, but if I win, I want you out of harm's way."

David nodded, feeling a sick dread at the thought of facing someone like Raven again. "I'd help if I could. But..."

"But you wouldn't even see them coming."

"Yeah..."

Aidan shook his head. "I'm sorry. And truly I don't expect them to kill me, but there are at least three of them, and it's best to be prepared. As much as it is possible to prepare."

"Do you think they'll attack us tonight?"

Aidan shrugged. "There are enough bolt-holes nearby that they could certainly wait through the day. But they're close enough to reach us tonight if they wish to. I can't say."

"Great," muttered David sourly.

Aidan sighed and nodded a wordless agreement. He flopped on the floor and splayed his wings out around him, staring up at the ceiling, where the diffuse glow of the light fixture illuminated the texture of the plaster with oblique shadows.

Time passed in nervous silence. Eventually David said "I'm hungry again." Aidan sprang to his feet as though eager to have something to do.

"Well, what would you like for lunch, then?"

"I don't know... pickled beets? Have you ever had a pickled beet?"

Aidan smiled wryly. "Yes, actually. They were, a very long time ago, a favorite snack of mine. Though a snack is all they are, not much nourishment in them. Let's go see what else we can add to them to make a meal for you."

Somehow they managed to pass the rest of the night, and the dawn came without any incident. David only managed to sleep soundly because of the sunlight flooding his room. He knew that once darkness fell, the fear would be back.

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.

David resisted the urge to pull his knees up to his chest and huddle. His heart was racing as thuds and muffled yells began to sound from the front room. There was a second crash of glass and he wondered if it was somebody else coming in, or somebody exiting forcefully. He almost wanted to go out there and help somehow, foolish as he knew it would be to try. Even with a supposedly anti-vampire mace gun, he hadn't moved fast enough to do anything. What good would he be now?

He'd always been a protector and a provider, ever since his father had died. But he had also always been practical, and he knew that going out there wouldn't do anybody any good. The noises from the other room were rising in intensity, a flurry of thuds, muffled cries, and shouts. Then suddenly a figure stood in the doorway, and it definitely wasn't Aidan.

Oh no, thought David, shrinking back onto the bed. In a snake-strike of vampire-quick movement the figure was next to the bed, and he could make out just enough in the unlit room to tell that it was Raven, the female vampire he'd met on the road. The sounds of combat continued from the front room, so David knew that Aidan wasn't dead. But apparently he was being kept very busy, and that wasn't at all good.

She grinned, showing her fangs. "Hello human. You and that traitor Aidan humiliated me once, and now I'll have my revenge. I just can't decide if I should kill you outright, or give you the taint and then kill you."

David shuddered and instinctively tried to scramble away, but before he'd even begin the movement, she'd grabbed his arm, holding him tightly enough to hurt. Oh God, I'm going to die, he thought. I've got to do something. Can't run, can't fight. I need Aidan to rescue me again, but he's fighting, I've got to delay. Right, delay somehow. The decision was as fast as a vampire's strike, and he didn't even have to fake his performance. "Please, don't turn me. I'll do whatever you want, but not that. Please!" His whole body was shaking, his voice trembling, and his words utterly sincere. He didn't want to be turned. But despite the fact that he was nearly frozen in terror, one tiny bit of him was calm, planning how best to keep her talking.

"Whatever I want?" She laughed. "What could you possibly give me that I couldn't take from you anyhow?"

"I don't know! Anything! Please!"

"Ha!" She laughed again. "You beg very prettily, but it's not going to save you. My friends are killing your little winged traitor even now."

"He's not a traitor!" said David.

Raven clenched her teeth, her grip tightening almost unbearably. "Yes he is! He's weak, and pathetic, and soft. He sides with you sniveling humans."

There was a sudden scream from the front room, cut off abruptly with a disturbing gurgle, and then it was silent. Let that not be Aidan, David prayed fervently. Please dear God, let it not be Aidan.

"That's the end of the traitor right there!" said Raven triumphantly.

And then a blur of white whirled in the door, snatched up Raven, and threw her across the room.

David let out a gasp of shock, startled by the incredible speed. Aidan leaped over the bed almost before Raven had hit the ground, and grabbed her by the shoulders, lifting her in the air. "I wish I had the luxury of killing you slowly," he snarled at her. She grabbed his wrists, tried to pull his grip off of her, but despite being taller than the diminutive winged vampire, her efforts had no more effect than David's earlier struggles had.

"Let me go, human-lover!"

Aidan grinned, the expression pure savagery. "I'll let you go all right." He dropped his grip on her shoulders and grabbed her head instead, his hands gripping her hair, and with a savage twist snapped her neck, the sound a wet, horrible crack. "Go straight to Hell, that is," he snarled at the nearly decapitated corpse.

David gagged as Aidan dropped the limp form to the floor, the body falling with a dull thump. He huddled on the bed, eyes wide. Aidan turned, his white wings patterned with blood-spray that looked black in the unlit room, his eyes wide and wild, and David had a sudden certainty that Aidan was going to leap at him then, and break his neck the same way. Then the vampire staggered and dropped to his knees, and David realized that a good portion of the blood on him seemed to be his own.

"Gods." Aidan was shivering, panting rapidly. "Gods, there were five of them! One of them had a sword! If Raven had stayed and fought I think they would have killed me."

"Are you all right?"

Aidan shook his head slowly, the trembling stilling, and took deep breaths. "I'll be fine. Give me a bit, I'll be fine," he repeated. "That was just far, far too close for comfort. One of these days they're going to manage to rally enough vampires to take me down" He shivered.

David suppressed a shiver of his own and asked, "Is there anything I can do?"

Aidan took another deep breath and looked down at himself, then up again. "I could use a bath, for one thing. Ugh. And if you're not squeamish, you can help me get rid of them first." He gestured at where Raven's body lay limply on the floor.

David nodded. He wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea of hauling around dead vampires, but... he wanted to do something! He got up and went over to where Raven lay on the floor in a heap.

"Just get them out front, When the sun comes up, that will take care of the rest," said Aidan, getting slowly to his feet. "I'll help."

David looked at him. There were dozens of gashes across his body, especially on his wings. Bone showed through one slice on his shoulder. "No way. You stay right there. I ought to bandage you up."

Aidan glanced down at himself, and fingered a second bone-deep slice across his forearm. It was only trickling blood thinly, though an equivalent wound on a human would have had blood gushing out. "Actually, what I really need is to go feed. That will heal the worst of this up."

"Then if that's what you need, go. I'll take care of this."

"Heh. If you insist," said Aidan. "Times like this I wish I kept a cow, or a horse, or some goats or something." He limped across the room, one wing partially unfolded, the tips of the feathers dragging on the ground.. "I'll be back as soon as I can, but I doubt anything else will happen tonight. If there had been any more of them, they would have come with this bunch."

David nodded, then turned to the unpleasant task of hauling the vampire's body outside. His stomach turned as he grabbed her limp hands, no colder now than they'd been when she was alive, and dragged her out of the room.

The front room was completely ruined, both the large windows broken in, the door hanging from one hinge, the bookshelf splintered, and even the moose head had fallen off the wall and lay in a ruin on the floor, with a vampire crumpled half over it. He dragged Raven's body out through the ruined door, then returned for the others.

He nearly lost his breakfast when he had to deal with one that had had an arm torn completely off, but he managed to get all five bodies outside eventually. Then he stumbled back inside and went into the bathroom. He ran the water as hot as it would run and scrubbed his bloodied hands thoroughly, until he'd scrubbed them nearly raw.

"Thanks." David jumped when he heard Aidan's voice behind him. The vampire had come up silently. He turned around and looked at Aidan. He was still covered in blood, but the cuts and gashes seemed to have closed, his wings were both folded properly, and he no longer limped as he crossed the bedroom to the bathroom door. "Are you finished in here?"

David nodded. "Yeah."

"Then if you don't mind, I think I'll take a bath. Then perhaps we can try to salvage the front room as best we can."

Several hours later they sat in the kitchen, Aidan stirring another can of stew on the stove, while David leaned tiredly against the wall. They'd done what they could to salvage the front room, but the broken windows, stained floor, and totally destroyed bookshelf were beyond all help.

David sighed, slouching against the wall. An endless train of thought was running through his head. I couldn't do anything. Nobody human could have. But I wanted to do something. I don't want to be helpless. Nobody can do anything, the vampires are winning. He shook himself and sat up.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"Huh?" He looked up at Aidan, confused.

Aidan chuckled. "Sorry. An old saying, I guess it's finally gone out of fashion. I was just curious what you were thinking."

David sighed again. "I don't know. Just... just hating feeling helpless. I mean... Before, in the city, I never really thought about the future. The city would always be there, I'd always be there, and things would just go on. But now... I guess I could go find another city, somewhere else. But it wouldn't be like that anymore. You said there's a war. You said we're losing it. And tonight... I couldn't do anything! Nobody human could have. You're right. And what happens if they ever find a way into the cities? Everybody back home was in such a panic about you being able to come over the barrier, but nobody had any ideas of what to do about it, other than exile me. There's nothing they could do, really. Light the whole city, I guess. But there are always shadows, and we don't have that much energy. We ought to go out and fight them! But nobody wants to. The cities are safe, only they're not, really. And what can I do about any of it? I get to just stay here with you, until... I don't know. Until a vampire gets us both, I guess. I don't want to do that, but I don't know what else I can do!"

"I don't know what to tell you." Aidan shook his head. "If you want to go to another city, I'll help you get there."

"I don't know..."

"Well, decisions later, lunch now!" said Aidan, and pulled the pot off the stove.

After David had eaten, Aidan beckoned him to the back end of the house. "I'd rather not sit out in the front room just now, and I'd rather not mope around brooding either. We need a distraction, and I have just the thing. Ever see a movie before?"

"No. I've heard about them, but since nobody in the city has electricity anymore, well..."

Aidan grinned. "Well, since I've got plenty, and also happen to have a television, and a number of old movies, and the DVD player even still works, I thought you might like to see one."

"Sure."

Aidan flicked on the light in his bedroom and hopped over the bed. Thankfully there were no bloodstains here. The boxy object that David had been unable to identify earlier proved to be the "television" Aidan had mentioned, and the cabinet it sat on was full of thin cases that Aidan said contained the movies.

"I've picked up a few things that interest me as I've been able to find them," said Aidan, "but most of what's here reflects the interests of the original owner, sadly. A few too many religious shows and just plain weird stuff, I'm afraid. Is there anything that catches your fancy?"

David ran a finger over the startlingly shiny plastic of the movies. The titles were all unfamiliar, of course. His finger suddenly stopped. "What's this one?"

Aidan pulled out the case. "You would pick this one, wouldn't you?" he said with a wry smile, running a hand over the title. "Vampire Hunter D. They banned it, not long before the collapse. I was very surprised when I found this copy." He looked at David seriously then. "It's not real, you understand. It was made before the vampires turned up, even. Back in the old days of the previous century. They didn't know what vampires would really be like, but there were legends, and myths, and stories, and somebody thought about what a future with vampires might be like, and this is what they came up with. It's not much like the truth, in most ways. It's just a story. I always rather liked it though. Do you want to watch it?"

David nodded.

Aidan opened the case, took out a shiny circle that glittered with rainbow highlights, looking strange and magical. He put that into a machine that sat below the television, and then pushed a button. The screen of the television suddenly glowed, and David sat down on the bed, and watched intently. He felt strange, tense, and alert, as if this movie was going to be a revelation of some kind, even though Aidan had said it wasn't real. Then the movie started and he was absorbed into the dark imagery of it. Despite the fact that he could tell it was all somehow drawn, or painted, it seemed strangely believable, as though somewhere it might actually have happened.

When it was over, David flopped back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Aidan had been right, the world in that movie had been nothing at all like the real world. And yet... And yet there was something, somehow, the same. His mind didn't whirl now, in fact it was very calm, but it was slowly working. He could sense the revelation in there, somewhere. Some idea that was beginning to bud.

"It's a good story, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It's a good story." David yawned. "I think it's time for bed though. Dawn can't be that far off."

Aidan nodded.

"Guess I'll go off to sleep then." David got to his feet. He walked out of the room, but paused just outside the door and turned back. "Aidan, in the movie, the vampire hunter was a half-vampire. Is that possible?"

Aidan shook his head. "No. It's not possible."

"I see." David turned back and headed for bed, dim thoughts still circling slowly in his brain.

The city hovered below him. He looked to the side and saw Aidan there, hanging in the air with his wings spread. "The city is yours," said Aidan. "Go down and destroy it, they can't stop you now that you have wings."

He nodded, folded his wings, and dove into the darkness.

He walked down a street. It was a street he'd never seen. All around him there were people in the shadows. They were vampires, he knew. They were going to kill him. No, he thought, I'm a vampire too now. They're here with me, I let them into the city and now we'll kill everyone.

His mother's face swam up before him, and he was in his bedroom, facing her. "I'm sorry, but I'm a vampire now. I don't want to kill you, but I have to."

And then he did, and she fell away from him and crumbled into dust. He went downstairs, and his brother and sisters were there. "I think I have to kill you too," he told them. They didn't seem to notice, they just stood there, like statues, and he stepped forward, but then the Hunter was there, with his long cape, and his wide-brimmed hat.

"No. You're not supposed to kill them."

"But I'm a vampire. Vampires kill people."

"Yes. But not them. Here." The Hunter handed him his sword, and David felt the weight of it in his hands. "You know what to do with it. It is yours now. Go, and kill. And remember that fear kills faster than the sword. That is why you will also need a hat."

And the dream faded like a chalk drawing in the rain, washing away, and David woke to the afternoon sun filling the room.

The next few days passed uneventfully. The pile of dead vampires in front of the cabin had vanished the next night, a heap of dust with fragments of clothing mixed in the only remnant.

When the dust began to blow away, David noticed the sword that one of the vampires had carried lying there. On in impulse he took it inside and cleaned it off. It was a straight, single-edged blade, not entirely unlike the one from the movie. He had no sheath for it, but then he had no real use for it either. He leaned it in a corner in his room and left it there.

"Do you believe in fate?" he asked Aidan later.

"Fate?" Aidan looked thoughtful. "I don't believe that our every choice is fated before we make it, if that's what you mean. But... I do think that some of us have destinies and that something, call it fate, or God, or whatever you wish, places those destinies in our path. We may turn aside from them, or embrace them, as we choose." He paused, the added, "Why do you ask?"

"I had a dream the other night... I'm not sure what it means."

"Sometimes dreams don't mean anything, you know. They're just your brain, reorganizing the things you've seen and thought and done during the day."

"But do they ever mean something? Did you ever have a dream that came true?"

Aidan shook his head. "No. But I very seldom dream at all. I've not had a dream in years, and none of mine ever came true. When I did have them, I'm afraid my dreams tended to be mostly nonsensical. But I take it yours wasn't."

"No. Well, I mean, some of it was, kinda. But even the bits that didn't make sense seemed like they should make sense, if I just knew enough."

"I see. I'm afraid I can't offer you any insight on the subject though."

"That's all right. I need to think about it some more."

"The city is yours." The lines from his dream ran through David's mind as he learned to use the stove. "It is yours now," echoed in his head as he helped Aidan attempt to repair the bookshelf. He had been able to feel the sword when the Hunter had handed it to him. He found himself glancing at the sword leaning in the corner every time he entered the room.

What use is a sword against a real vampire? The Hunter was fast and powerful, like they are. I'm just human. If I tried to hunt vampires, I'd become a meal for the first one I found.

But despite all logic, the thoughts ate at him. He remembered the feel of it from his dream. He hefted the real sword, and it wasn't the same, but... it wasn't entirely different either. He swung it a few times through the air, then shook his head and put it down. There was no point in even trying. So you're going to stay here, the traitor voice in his head whispered, and be helpless, and depend on Aidan for protection for the rest of your life? He sighed. In the dream he'd been powerful. He wanted that feeling. In the dream you were a vampire, he answered himself. Do you want that too?

He dreamed again, and yet again he hovered over the city. This time the Hunter stood in the air next to him."The city is yours. Take it."

"I don't understand."

"You do understand. Don't be afraid of yourself. The city is not a gift. You must take it. Here." The Hunter held out his sword, hilt first. "Take it."

"But why? What am I supposed to do?"

"You know what you need to do. Take it."

He reached out and grasped the hilt of the sword. It was heavy in his hand, and yet light. He looked up at the Hunter. The Hunter's eyes were glowing blue. "Good. Now, make the sacrifice, pay the price. I'll help you."

And then he grinned, and his teeth lengthened suddenly, and he leaped on David and sank his fangs deeply into his neck.

David screamed, and then he was falling, falling and bleeding, and the city rushed up below him, and the Hunter was still standing above him in the air and grinning, his teeth stained red. "You took the sword, you must pay the price!"

He fell down to the city, and then the city cracked and broke apart all around him, and he fell through it, through the streets that shattered into fragments like a mirror breaking, and down through darkness, down and down and down into nothing and then suddenly he woke up with a gasp.

He was laying on the grass in the middle of the clearing in front of the cabin with Aidan the next night, both of them looking up at the stars and Aidan teaching him the names of the constellations. The barrier lights in the city had largely washed out the stars, but here in the foothills they were clear and bright and beautiful.

"I wish I knew more of them," said Aidan, "but astronomy is a sadly dying science. Though it seems to be taking astrology with it, and that I can happily live without."

"What's astrology?"

"People used to think that the positions of the stars meant something, and that what star was highest in the sky when you were born determined what kind of person you would be, and what your destiny was. I think people found it comforting, the idea that everything was all set out from birth. They called that astrology."

"I don't think I'd like that. I... I feel right now like destiny, or fate, or whatever, is hanging over me, and I don't like the feeling."

"Dreams again?" said Aidan.

"Yeah." He stared at the sky for a while, no sound but a faint rustle of branches and a distant cricket chirp. "You said that dreams are just your own mind. Maybe... Either I'm fated, and fate is trying to make me do something, or it's just my own mind telling me what I want to do. Except what the dream seems to be saying is impossible. I think."

"I see. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know..." David sighed. There was another pause, then he asked, "What is it that makes you different from the other vampires? Why are they all evil, and you're not?"

"I think that telling you the story of how I changed my ways would not truly answer the question you meant to ask. I think it might serve better if I explained why vampires are the way they are. I was that way too once, you know. You wish to understand what it is about vampirism that makes a vampire evil, don't you?"

"Yes, that's exactly it. Why does becoming a vampire turn somebody into a monster?"

"Ah. But that is the great secret. It doesn't."

"What? But you've told me all these times that all other vampires are evil. If being a vampire doesn't make you a monster, then where are the good vampires?"

"There were good vampires, once. But I doubt there will be any more. You see, a vampire is what he is now because of what he was." Aidan paused, then shook his head. "Let me explain it another way. Do you know why some people get the vampire taint, but stay dead, and do not become vampires?"

"No. Nobody knows."

"No human knows, but at least some of the vampires have figured it out, myself among them. You see, vampirism is a choice. You don't simply die and wake up a vampire. There is a moment, in the instant of death, when you are offered a choice. It's not offered in words, there is no angel of death standing there making pronouncements, or anything so obvious, but you realize that there are two directions you can go. You can go backwards, cling to a miserable life in the chill darkness of your dead body, or you can let go and step forward, into peace, warmth, and light. And few indeed are the good people who would chose the darkness. Nobody decent selects Hell over Heaven. And so there are no good vampires. Once there were at least a few, people who chose to cling to life for good reasons, rather than selfish. And of course even now there are those who are merely petty, who fear death so deeply that they will embrace evil if it saves them from passing beyond. But there are few truly caring people who chose to live on the lifeblood of others merely to save themselves. Would any good and decent person in these times choose vampirism?"

"No...." David mulled this over slowly. It seemed to make sense. "What was it like for you," he asked, stricken with a sudden morbid curiosity, "when you changed?"

Aidan didn't answer for a long moment, and David said, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't pry."

"No, I don't mind. I was just remembering. It's been a long time. I tend towards the extremes. Now that I've decided to value honor and goodness, I'm honorable to a fault at times. As you may have noticed. But before... I sought it out, you know. I very deliberately tainted myself, and then killed myself to make it take effect. I wanted to be a vampire. I wanted power, and strength, and I wanted above all else to be feared. And I got it. When I awoke as a vampire it was glorious! And then, the terror I spread! Oh yes...." He trailed off, lost for a moment in dark memories. "Yes, they all feared me. But in the end it was hollow, and unsatisfying, and it couldn't get me the one thing I wanted above all else. You cannot terrify somebody into loving you. Love has to be earned in other ways."

"The orange-haired girl?"

Aidan sighed softly, regretfully. "Yes. I owe her the greatest debt of all. And that is something I need to speak to you about. There may come a time when I will have to leave here. Right now... I can't explain it. There is a sense of her, and I don't sense it. I'd know if she were here, because..." He paused. "No, that doesn't matter. The point is that when she comes, I will have to follow. I can't stay and protect you then." He sat up and looked down at David. "I'm pretty sure it won't be for some time yet." He chuckled softly. "I asked after her in the city as much out of habit as out of any real expectation of finding her. I didn't sense her there. But eventually I will. She must pass this way. And when the time comes for me to leave, I need to take you somewhere where you can be safe."

"I'm not sure I'd want to go live in a city again."

"Well you can't stay here! You might last a week, before the vampires realized I was gone, but then..." He shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay, you're right. It's just that going back to a city again feels somehow like giving up. Or giving in. Or something." He sat up and put his arms around his knees, staring pensively at the ground.

Aidan looked over at him, then grinned suddenly. "This is entirely too serious. You can't spend all your time pondering destiny and fate, you know."

"Well, what would you suggest I do then?" said David.

Aidan gave a little laugh that could only be described as a snicker, and said "I don't think you want to know what I'd suggest you do. I get the feeling you're not the type."

David blinked. "Huh?"

"Oh, nothing, really. I'm just being dirty-minded. If I did think you were the type, I'd be all over you just now. You're very handsome." And he winked at David.

"I... uh... " David blushed. He knew there were men who liked other men like that, but he'd never been hit on by one before. And to have Aidan suddenly do so was more than a little surreal.

"Now, now, that's not how you accept a compliment. The correct response is 'Why thank you Aidan, you're a gorgeous hunk of a man yourself.'"

David couldn't help laughing. "Uh... no, I don't think so."

"You don't think I'm gorgeous? Woe! I've been rejected! I think I'll go cry now."

David looked at Aidan incredulously, to find that the vampire was grinning broadly at him.

"Well, that distracted you from the serious thoughts, didn't it? I could be even more distracting, but you probably wouldn't appreciate being molested, so I'll refrain."

"Uh, thanks," said David, still giving Aidan a disbelieving look.

"You're very welcome." Then he smiled a bit more normally and added, "And while I will admit I do in truth find you attractive, I assure you that I have no intention of actually molesting you. Unless you should, of course, decide you swing that way after all, and want to be molested."

"Er... I don't think I will."

"Terrible," said Aidan, with a chuckle and a smile. "Your loss, I suppose." He glanced at David, who was still staring, and then got to his feet. "I think I'm going to go inside. Dawn isn't that far off. Are you coming?"

"No," said David, lying back down on the grass. "I think I want to stay up and watch the sun rise."

Aidan's smile turned wistful. "I wish I could join you. But ah well... Goodnight then."

"Goodnight."

He dreamed again, and this dream was a whirl of chaos. The city streets spun around him, became the walls of Aidan's house, Raven lunged at him again, laughed over him, but her head hung to the side, her neck still broken. The other vampires rose up around her and laughed too. The stars were overhead, and they began, one by one, to turn into drops of blood that fell down on him, leaving him spattered in red. Aidan, also covered in gore, laughed and said "Come, make your choice!"

"I don't understand!"

"Choose!" shouted the circling, laughing vampires, "Choose, choose, choose!" and the whole room spun, and the sky above, and all the stars had fallen as a red rain of blood and David cried out in frustration and leaped at the mocking undead.

And suddenly he was out in the still and silent desert, the stars were where they belonged above, twinkling and pale as they should be, and the Hunter stood before him, a dark, broad-shouldered shape against the stars. He repeated, "Come, make your choice," and the slow, calm words echoed in the silence of the empty desert.

And David understood.

"Yes," he said softly. The single syllable fell out into the still night, and it rang like a bell, the sound growing and growing, the whole world vibrating, shivering into blurred indistinctness until it blurred into nothing and was gone.

David woke up with the feeling that the bell-clear ringing had been real, that he had only just missed hearing it when he woke. He felt almost as though he was still in the dream. The sense of clarity was still with him. He knew. And then he shuddered. He'd finally realized what the dreams wanted him to do, what he, himself, wanted to do, and he knew also why he'd been resisting knowing, though the message was obvious.

He wanted to go and ask Aidan about it, but the vampire was, of course, still asleep. So instead he picked up the sword and went outside. As the day waned he swung it experimentally, hacked at a tree for a bit, then swished it through some tall, standing weeds. It cut through them in a satisfying manner. He swung the sword, getting used to the way it felt in his hand, the way it moved. It was fun, to spin, swishing it dramatically through the air.

He stopped, panting a bit, as full darkness fell.

"You know, if you want to learn to use that, I could teach you. But I'd suggest that you clean it off first thing. All that sap on it is definitely not good for the blade."

"Um, sorry," said David, turning around and blushing in embarrassment.

Aidan grinned. "I understand the impulse. I had a katana when I was a teenager, and I murdered many a weed with it."

"What's a katana?"

"That is." Aidan gestured at the sword. "It's one of the names for that sort of sword."

"Oh."

"Would you like me to teach you how to use it?"

"Yes!"

"Well, I think I'd better start by showing you how to properly clean and care for it. Come on."

As he worked to scrub the sap off of the blade, David said, "I want to be able to do something about all this."

"All this?" asked Aidan.

"The vampires, the cities, the way things are right now. I mean... I know that just one person doesn't make much difference, but if you decided to go hunt vampires, you could kill an awful lot of them. It would be doing something!"

"I have another obligation. I can't just go out and kill vampires. Eventually they would hunt me down, and kill me, and I can't let that happen if I can readily prevent it. This is not my fight."

"But it is mine."

"You're not Vampire Hunter D, David, even if your name starts with the same letter. You can't fight this."

David took a deep breath and said, "I could, if I was a vampire."

Aidan gave him a long, measuring look. "You're not though."

"But I could become one. You said vampirism is a choice!" He managed to avoid emphasizing the point with the sword still in his hand. "Look, I've thought about this. This is what my dreams have been about. I want to fight them! I want to hunt them, even if it means eventually they'll kill me. I want to do this! And if becoming a vampire is a choice, then I can choose it. You could give me the taint, make me a vampire, and I could actually do something, and not huddle in fear! The whole human race is huddled in fear, and I've been hiding my whole life, and I don't want to anymore!"

"You're willing to die, and you do die, don't make any mistake about that, and to live on blood, to never see the sun again? To fight against your own hunger every day of your life? To never be able to live among humans? To give up everything, just so you can kill vampires?"

"Yes!"

Aidan shook his head. "I'm not sure I can do what you want. You have no understanding of what it will be like."

"Awful, I'm sure. But you know what? It's awful right now! It's been awful my whole life, and I never even knew that anybody could do anything about it. And maybe nobody can. But maybe somebody can make some kind of a difference, and the only person who's here to make that difference is me. I don't care what it's like. You're proof that it's possible to choose to be a vampire and still be human."

"I chose to be a monster, and regained what little humanity I have left at a great cost. It will cost you something as well, I assure you, to become a vampire."

"I don't care. You say you owe me a debt. Turn me and I'll consider that debt more than repaid."

Aidan looked at David for a long moment, then he sighed. "Turning you will not repay my debt, even if you say it will. But if you're that determined, I will do it."

"Thank you!"

"If you still feel that way afterwards, thank me then," he said darkly.

"I'm sure I will," said David firmly. "What do I have to do?"

Aidan grinned then. It was a disturbing grin, entirely unlike his usual cheerful expression. "You don't have to do anything." He took the sword from David's hand and set it aside. "Are you ready, really ready, tonight?"

"Yes," said David. There was a temptation to put it off, but he knew that if he put it off today, he'd put it off tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that, until it never happened at all.

"Very well," said Aidan, and then he leaped at David, with the snake-strike movement of vampire speed that was all the more shocking because David was used to Aidan moving like a normal human being. David gasped as Aidan grabbed him. The vampire grinned again, and said, "The best way for you to get the taint, and to not reject it, is if the tainted blood you receive is the correct blood type, you know. Which means that I am now going to indulge the hunger that I've fought off all this time. I suppose I should be glad of the chance to have human blood so easily."

David shuddered. His instincts were screaming at him to struggle, to try and flee, but he held himself still. This was what he wanted, what he needed to do, and nothing was going to keep him from doing it. Aidan looked at him, his blue eye intense, full of a need that seemed as great as David's own, and then the the vampire's look softened, and he sighed. "It seems you truly are determined. I'm sorry. I shall be as gentle as I can."

Aidan slid his arms around David, as he stood stiffly, and put one hand to the back of David's neck. David felt a prick of fangs on his neck, and then Aidan bit down, sinking his fangs in deep. His wings came up and folded around David as he drank. David closed his eyes, relaxing a bit. It hurt, but not that much. There was no soul-sucking evil or unbearable pain. Just the pain you'd expect from two small puncture wounds. And then there was... something else. Something strange. Not so much a physical sensation as an emotional one, a feeling that wasn't quite describable. It was warm, and... deep somehow. And it had regret and pleasure and hope and sadness all mixed up together in it. David sighed softly, relaxing completely, feeling as though he were floating in the strange warmth of whatever it was. After what seemed like a very long time he opened his eyes and realized that he was lying on his bed.

"Wha?" He blinked, tried to sit up, and dropped back down again as dizziness nearly overwhelmed him. Aidan was kneeling on the floor next to the bed. "I'm sorry. I got just a little bit carried away. It's been a very long time since I allowed myself more than the tiniest sip." He looked down at the blankets. "I stopped in time. I'm very sorry."

"It's all right," said David. "I asked you to do this."

"Yes. And you'll know what it's like to fight the hunger all too soon." Aidan looked over at him, and shook his head. "Now that we've started this, it's time to take the next step." He slid up the sleeve of his shirt, baring a pale, slender wrist. He brought it to his lips and with a quick, harsh motion tore his fangs across it. A trickle of thick blood welled up in the cut. Aidan stretched out his arm and pressed the bleeding gash to David's lips, and David parted his lips and drank, taking in the slow trickle. The taste was strange, both like and unlike what David had expected. He swallowed, and Aidan pulled his arm back. "There. It's done."

"Just like that?

Aidan nodded. "Yes. It is possible that if you died this very moment, you could come back. But to be sure the taint has time to spread, I think I would prefer it if you lived until tomorrow."

David fought off a shiver of fear. This is what I want, he told himself silently. It's what I need to do.

"Rest now," said Aidan, his expression unreadable as he got to his feet. "Tomorrow will come soon enough."

David closed his eyes, drifting off into a weary slumber. He slept through the day without dreams.

He awoke in the dark, and wondered for a moment if it was still the same night. He didn't feel rested, he felt weak still, and tired. Drained, he thought with a momentary flicker of gallows humor. That's how I feel. Literally.

A soft rustle of feathers by the doorway made him look up, to see Aidan standing there, holding the sword. The vampire's face was unreadable in the shadows. "Are you ready?" he asked softly.

David slowly sat up, still feeling a little bit light headed. "Yes," he replied.

"You know that in order for this to work you need to die? There is even a chance that you won't come back."

"I know."

Aidan gave him a long look, then nodded. "I am nearly tempted to try again to talk you out of this. But it's not my place to make your decisions for you."

David smiled. "Thanks. So..." he took a deep breath, "How do we go about this?"

"Let's go outside. I'd rather not clean any more blood off of the floor, if you don't mind."

David nodded and got carefully to his feet. He swayed a bit, and Aidan came over to his side. "Here, lean on me." David gratefully put an arm around Aidan's shoulders, and they walked together outside.

The stars were bright overhead and the moon was up, rising above the trees. David looked up at it. This could be the last time he saw the moon, or the stars, or anything else, for that matter. Then he shook his head. He remembered the dreams, the voice of the Hunter, the feel of the sword in his hand. He had a destiny before him, and he was choosing to fulfill it. He wouldn't die.

Still his heart was racing fast as Aidan stepped away from him and raised the sword. "You're certain?" asked the vampire. "There's no going back."

"Yes," he said simply.

Without a further word, Aidan stepped forward and then, in a flick of motion almost too fast for the eye to follow, he thrust the sword into David's chest.

David felt the shock of impact, But there was no pain. He dropped to his knees as Aidan withdrew the sword. Then he fell to the ground. The world began to narrow, blackness gathering around the edges of his vision. The last thing he saw was Aidan's face, the moon full behind him, and then the blackness closed in and there was nothing else.

There was nothing but darkness, and the darkness was cold. A cold that seemed to penetrate to his very core. He hung alone in the utter black for a long time. He had no sense of being, no feeling of arms or legs or even eyes. He just was; the essence of himself and nothing more, formless in the darkness. Then he saw, or sensed, a hint of light, like the very beginning of sunrise. The light grew, until he could see a shining point, off in the distance. The light fell on him, even though he had no body for it to fall on, and it was warm, though he had no skin to feel it with. As the light and warmth grew, he realized that they weren't moving closer to him, he was being drawn closer to them. He resisted, turning towards the darkness with grin determination. The light pulled enticingly, beckoning with peace, and happiness. He suddenly could remember all the good, joyful moments of his life. Being with his family before his father had died. The accomplishments of his youth. The brief happiness he'd found in his first love. All those and more came flooding back to him, and the light promised a life of many more such moments. Still he kept his back to the light, and clung stubbornly to the dark. Heaven might call all it wished, he had a purpose. He wasn't ready to go yet. When I've lived out my life, when I've finished my destiny, then I'll go, he told the light, but not yet. And then slowly the light withdrew, shrinking to a pinprick and then vanishing utterly, leaving him alone again in the cold dark.

End Part 1

Part Two