The stars were brilliant overhead as David moved through the darkness, alone. He found now, as a vampire, that he could see more of them, thousands of tiny specks that had escaped his notice before were now easily visible, turning the night sky into a blaze of glory. But tonight there was no time for stargazing. Tonight he hunted.

There was a faint glow ahead of him as he ran. It was not the glow of a city, it was much too small for that, but it was a barrier light all the same. As he topped one hill he could just make out the source, squinting against what seemed like incredible brightness. A long line of joined vehicles, a road train, with the massive engine in front and the cargo trailers behind, stood at the center of the glow. This was a salvage expedition, coming back from the distant ruins of the great city to the south.

He stopped there, not wanting to get any closer, and opened his mind, looking for other vampires. Three sources were moving through the night, and one of them was much, much closer to the light than he was. He wondered how the vampire it represented could manage to get so close. Even from this distance the light felt a little warm against his skin. With a mental shrug he picked out the stronger of the two remaining sources. He couldn't go after the one closer in while it stayed there, so he might as well pick off one of the other two while he waited.

When he got close enough to see the other vampire, it was a somewhat curious sight. He had no idea of its gender, because it was covered from neck to toe in heavy wrappings, bound tightly around its limbs and torso. It carried a bizarre sort of hat in one mittened hand, which looked like it would cover the vampire's head completely, and David suddenly had some idea of how the other one was so close in to the lights. One would have to move blind, but wrapped up like that one could get fairly close in, and a vampire's hearing was very good. And unlike the cities, which were surrounded by cleared space in which any motion would be noticed, the caravan was parked amid hills and brush and rocks.

"And I suppose you've come to share in my efforts," said the vampire, revealed as male by a baritone voice. "You obviously haven't got the guts to go into the light yourself!"

David moved slowly closer, wanting to get within striking range. "I can only admire someone as brave as you," he said, hoping that the compliment would encourage the vampire to not see him as a threat. "I certainly never could risk going right into the lights like that! And if I take a little bit of what's left when you're done, well... you can't take all the blood there is, can you?"

The other snorted. "No. But I could keep a human for a long time. I don't think I want to share."

David gave the vampire a little mental nudge, the first move in a round of vampire dominance games that Aidan had told him about. He didn't push with all his strength though, and when the other pushed back hard, he backed down. But stepped again a few steps closer. A weak vampire wasn't a threat, and if he wasn't a threat there was no reason to keep any distance from him. He could almost hear the other's subconscious assessment of him as harmless, and he took the last few steps, standing now nearly within arm's reach.

"Very well then," he said, with a feigned show of reluctance. "But I still do admire your courage," and he bowed, with a little flamboyant hand gesture which dipped his hand near where the sword hung on his hip. In a single fluid motion he grabbed the hilt, drew the sword, and brought it across at neck height with his full strength and speed behind it. And he had gotten just close enough, the strike took the vampire's head off cleanly before it had even seen the danger.

David grinned as the body fell to the ground. "Easy. Now, I hope the other two go this well."