David sheathed his sword and followed the other vampire into the night. He had been a vampire for three weeks now, and was fairly experienced at hunting of this sort. Deer and feral cows made up the majority of his diet. He had not yet fed on human blood, though there was a sort of... pressure building somewhere at the back of his head, or perhaps in the base of his spine, that was telling him he would need to soon. He wasn't exactly looking forward to it. He hated taking animal blood, it always made him sort of queasy, even if his hunger was enough to overcome the sick feeling and allow him to drink. He imagined that taking human blood would be even worse. But that was a worry for another night.

The two moved quickly and quietly through the forest, seeking some sign of game. Before long they found a small herd of cows standing dozing in the darkness. Circling downwind the pair approached. Cows were easier prey than deer, they were less skittish. But they were also more likely to get in a good kick if they spotted you coming, David had learned.

He picked out the one he would go after, and with a steadying breath, he approached, sword in hand. He crept slowly until he was within a few yards, and then with that snake-quick rush he covered the final distance in a flash, his sword sweeping down with all his force, and all the weight of the blade behind it. The shock when it bit into the still-sleeping animal's neck and hit bone jarred his hands, almost knocking the sword from his grip, but there was enough force behind the blow, and enough sharpness and strength in the blade, to carry it cleanly through the animal's neck. There was a lot of blood, though not quite as much as David had expected, and the cow fell to the ground in an ungraceful heap. The rest of the herd startled, and with a great deal of lowing and a lot of noise they ran off into the night, leaving their dead fellow behind.

David stood for a moment, staring at the carcass. Then he sighed and cleaned his sword off on the grass. No doubt the scavengers would appreciate the unexpected bounty, nature wouldn't let the cow go to waste, but he still hadn't really liked doing that.

Aidan stepped up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "You did very well. It will take less force than that to decapitate a vampire, so you shouldn't have any problem. And," he added, "Look at it this way. It says a great deal about your humanity that you can feel remorse for something as simple as this. No other vampire in the world would."

David sighed and nodded. "I'm glad of that, I guess."

Aidan grinned. "Come on, cheer up! You're nearly ready to take down your first evil, blood-sucking fiend. And with the practice you've had, and with surprise on your side, I don't doubt that the first one will be about as easy as this cow was! But," he added, "speaking of surprises, we should practice the mental combat again."

"Ugh. I'll have headache all night," said David.

"It's your real advantage over most of them, so you'd better work at it," said Aidan, and without further word he launched his attack. An onlooker, were there any there to see, would have seen nothing. Just two men standing in a clearing with a dead cow, looking at each other. But though David didn't see anything either, he could sense the attack, could feel it as Aidan beat at him with his mind instead of his blade.

David had heard rumors, back when he'd lived in the city, that vampires could hypnotize people, and that if you looked a vampire in the eye, it could compel you to obey it.

This was completely untrue. When faced with a normal human being, a vampire had no special influence. This was because a vampire's psychic ability worked only on other vampires. And now Aidan was using his mental skills, assaulting David with waves of coercion. Obey, he commanded. Give in. Do as I wish, you must. It was an almost tangible pressure. But David resisted stubbornly, and quickly launched a counter-attack

They stood, motionless, apparently doing nothing, locked in mental combat. They were nearly matched, and for a long time nothing happened. Then suddenly Aidan took a step forward and kicked David in the ankle. David was so intent on the mental battle that he didn't have a chance to recover his balance, and fell over.

Aidan looked down and grinned. "There's the last of the lessons for tonight, I think. Remember it, because it will be a huge advantage. Almost all vampires will either attack mentally or physically. If you can manage to do both, you'll take them by surprise."

David picked himself up and nodded ruefully. "Yeah, so I see."

"Good. We'll be practicing that more tomorrow."

David groaned, but although he didn't always enjoy the lessons that much, he was still eager to learn. Every new skill brought him that much closer to the day when he could start hunting vampires.