Part Two, The Hunter

Ching! The sound of steel tapping against steel is distinctive, and the irregular chime of metal carried far on the night air. Fortunately there was nobody out to hear it but deer, squirrels, and one lone mountain lion who had better things to do with her time then investigate such sounds. She stalked through the woods on her business, ignoring the sound of voices added to the ching, ching of swordplay just as she'd ignored the noise of combat in the first place.

"Ready to give up?" Aidan called out cheerfully, whipping his blade around in a strike that David just barely managed to block. Each individual blow was snake-strike quick, nearly too fast for the eye to follow. But there was a pause between each one. The muscles moving the blades were inhumanly strong, inhumanly fast, but the brains processing the battle, planning the strikes, were still more or less human, so the combat was not a bur of speed, but was instead a series of individual lightning-fast strikes, each one separated by a tiny pause.

"Not quite," said David, with a grin that matched his companion's. Not only was it every bit as cheery, it was just as sharp. He ducked a second strike, and countered with a blurringly fast attack that just nicked the other vampire's arm.

Aidan grinned wider and lowered his sword, stepping back. "You got me!"

"Ha! I win!"

"Only because the sword isn't really my forte," said Aidan. "But then you'll be mostly facing vampires who are unarmed, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. Woe betide you if you should actually run into a vampire sword master though, he'd wipe the floor with you."

"Somehow I doubt I'll have to worry about that."

"No, probably not. One thing to be said for your chances in this crazed endeavor of yours. They're an egotistic lot, so they mostly don't bother with finesse or skill. And the first ones, at least, won't see you coming at all."

"Which is a good thing," said David, nodding, his grin gone. "A very good thing."

"Indeed." Aidan smiled and sheathed the sword. "And you'll have a few modest surprises for the later ones, I hope, particularly if you keep getting better at the sword at the same rate as you're going now. You seem to be a real natural at it. I can't say I think you'll survive all that long, mind. But who is guaranteed that in this world? And you'll take at least a few of them with you. But there are still things you need to learn."

"Oh?"

Aidan nodded. "Yes. Do you know the reason why the sword is the best weapon for you?"

"Because it's hard to get bullets, and a lot of guns were too complicated and fragile, they might not work reliably anymore."

Aidan nodded. "That's one reason. The other, though, is that killing a vampire with a gun is a pain. You need a fairly large caliber, and you need a head shot. Which is difficult to do when the target moves that fast; even if your own speed is equally high, aiming isn't really a speed game, it takes time and steadiness. A sword though... the surest way to kill a vampire is to sever the spinal cord. And you're quite strong enough now to reliably deliver that killing blow, should you get an opening."

"I have to behead them."

"Yes." Aidan chuckled. "Think about it! I stabbed you right in the heart, and here you are. It takes a lot more than that to kill a vampire. Non-lethal wounds can slow them down if they lose enough blood, or if you manage to sever something important, but the only way to stop a vampire is to cut its head off, or destroy its brain."

"What else do I need to know to do that, though? You said you can't teach me any more about sword fighting."

"I can't teach you, no. But... you need to have done it. You need to understand the force needed, and how the bone and muscle are going to respond to a decapitating stroke, and your first try shouldn't be on something that could kill you if you mess up. So you're going to have to try something else. Deer, probably, or feral cows, or something else of that sort."

"I... see." David frowned. Somehow the notion of slaughtering an animal just for practice wasn't terribly appealing to him.

"Squeamish?" asked Aidan with a grin.

"Oh shut up. And you know I am. But I guess if it has to be done, it has to be done."

"Indeed. So let's go."