It was only a few days later when David awoke with that feeling of pressure the foremost thing in his mind. He shook his head, trying to push the sensation back, but he couldn't quite banish it, and it was hard to think of anything else.

He was sleeping in the same back room as Aidan, though he had dragged in the second bed and made room for it, rather than share a bed with his occasionally bewildering companion, who kept making incomprehensible jokes, which David suspected were all quite lewd. He didn't really think he had anything to worry about, but he was still much more comfortable with separate beds, even if separate sleeping quarters weren't an option.

Aidan yawned and stretched, and David ducked one extended wing. "Hey, watch it!" The other vampire just chuckled.

David slid out from between the sheets and sat on the edge of the bed, feeling nervous and pensive. He knew what that pressure meant, and the suddenly increased strength of it meant he couldn't put it off much longer.

Aidan noticed his expression. "What's wrong?"

"I feel kind of..." he trailed off, not sure how to describe it. "Kind of... I don't know. I think..." He sighed. "I think I'm going to need to feed soon. And not on cows or deer either."

"Ah." Aidan nodded soberly, then his lips quirked in a small smile. "I'll be okay for a while yet. Older vampires can go longer between feedings, and, well... my last one was rather more than I needed, and not that long ago. But yes, I'm not surprised that you're feeling the need. I guess that means it's time for a hunt of a different sort, then."

David nodded. They had discussed what he would need to do. He could not, as Aidan did, go into the cities and take quietly without harming anybody. And he would not, as the other vampires did, attack travelers. His way would have to be different.

"We should leave now, then" David said. "The nearest city is nearly a full day away."

Aidan nodded. He could get to the nearest place and back in a single night, but then he could fly. On foot, even as fast as a vampire could run, it would take much longer. "No reason to delay. Get dressed, get your sword, and let's go."

Minutes later they were running through the trees at top speed. This was the one thing about being a vampire that David loved. Running like this, so fast that the wind was a tangible force against him, he felt like he was flying. It was amazingly liberating. He sometimes thought that if he didn't have his duty calling him that he could just set out and run all the way around the world.

The stars wheeled overhead as the pair ran through the forested foothills and then out into the true desert. They were heading for a different city from David's home of Georgetown. David had, when he lived there, simply thought of it as "The City," as it was the only city he knew, but of course it was just one of many cities. Humanity had once lived in thousands of cities, towns, and villages. But the smaller settlements hadn't had the resources to make walls, barriers, hydroponics, and everything else a city needed to survive. The largest cities also had failed, being simply too big to surround and support. Only the mid-sized cities had survived, and not all of them. The ones that remained huddled in little clusters, a mere handful amid the countless ruins of humanity's bygone heyday.

Georgetown was one of half a dozen cities that lay in the desert plains and hills near Aidan's home. There were others, further off to the north, and still more along the old road to the south as well.

The ruins of one of the great cities also lay not far off. Scavenging caravans sometimes went there, but it was a dangerous place, and their losses were often high.

Just now, however, Aidan and David were headed to Wind City, which happened to be the city that David had hoped to reach on that first night of his exile. He would never set foot inside it now, he knew, but what he sought wouldn't be inside the city anyhow. It would be outside, on the road at night as he had been. The thought of that first night increased his determination, and his face was set in grim lines as he ran.