It wasn't long before David caught a glimpse of the source of vampire presence. He saw just one, tall and thin, a male, running towards him. David stopped, and drew his sword. A faint hint of a breeze was just enough to flutter the edges of his cloak around him, and he smiled. Just right, he thought, as the other drew closer, suddenly wary.

Then the approaching vampire drew a sword. "Who are you?"

Ah crap, David thought. Just my luck. He didn't answer, though. His voice was a light tenor that sounded very young, and he knew that silence could be much more intimidating than any bluster, so he said nothing. His opponent waved the sword at him. "Answer me! Who are you, and what do you want?"

David said nothing, merely standing there between the vampire and his goal.

With a snarl of sharp fangs, the vampire suddenly lunged at him, and David moved quickly to counter.

And as he stepped forward to meet his fellow undead, he sensed another vampire, perhaps several, in the distance. He wouldn't have time for finesse then. I hope this guy hasn't got any training, he thought to himself, as he blocked that first blow, and then with a leap and a slash of steel, he attacked.

His first blow was blocked in turn, but as he used a series of quick slashes to test out his opponent, David smiled. This sort of combat, where the actions were much faster than the response speed of the fighters, favored the attacker, and while the thin vampire had plenty of bravado, he didn't have much skill, and didn't know how to press the attack. David had him on the defensive almost immediately.

But the other still managed a few offensive blows, and he was fairly quick, even if he wasn't particularly skilled. One lightning-fast flicker of steel slid off David's not quite correctly angled blocking blade and drew a long red line on his thigh. He clenched his teeth, biting back a hiss of pain, and stepped up his attacks, releasing a flurry of practiced blows. And at last one got through, leaving a red gash across the other vampire's shoulder.

Sensing his chance, David attacked mentally as well. His opponent stopped, standing in place, and countered the mental attack, and as he did so, the tip of his sword dropped. With a grin David lunged in, still keeping up the mental pressure, and his blade flashed as he cut the other vampire's sword hand off. The vampire let out a shriek of pain, but he didn't have time to do anything else, because David's next stroke removed his head entirely.

David leaned on his sword for a moment, then straightened and examined the cut in his thigh. It was deep, but already the bleeding had stopped. And it hadn't gotten anything important, he could still walk.

Then he heard the sound of a footfall behind him and spun around, half expecting that the other vampires he sensed had snuck up on him while he was distracted.

Instead he saw the human standing there, only a few yards away. At this distance he could see the man was fair-haired, wearing jeans and a short sleeved shirt and vest, which revealed that his burly arms were covered in tattoos. His expression didn't look fearful at all, and he kept walking closer, even though he had to know he was approaching a vampire. David regarded the human in surprise. Usually humans ran from vampire combat, he'd certainly never had one approach him before.

"You're the vampire that rescues humans, aren't you?" said the man.

David was further surprised. "Yes..." he said, a little uncertainly.

"Oh good," said the man, and smiled. "Thanks then."

"Don't thank me yet," said David, recovering a bit and reaching out with his mental senses. "There is at least one more out there. Though it's keeping its distance right now, it will probably attack us shortly."

The man nodded. "Should I go on, or stay here?"

David shrugged. "One is as good as the other. But we might as well keep moving. You'll want to reach Cottonwood City as soon as possible anyhow."

The man nodded again. "You said 'we'. So you're coming along with me then?"

David chuckled. "Well, I don't think you'd make it far if I didn't. So yes."

They angled back to the road, and walked along it. David could sense the other vampire, keeping a bit of a distance, but keeping pace with them as they went. For a while they walked in silence, then the man said, "My name's Mack, by the way."

David considered, then shrugged and said "Call me D."

Another long pause, then David said, "You know, most humans I see run from me. Most humans I see are running even before the vampires get there. But you didn't."

Mack laughed. "I'm a tough guy. I've always run with a tough crowd. I figure I'm going to die young anyhow, so who cares if it's other humans or vampires who get me? I've never been afraid of anything, why start now? Well, and it helped that I heard the radio show a few nights back."

"Radio show?" said David, puzzled.

"Yeah. I guess vampires don't tune in."

"Even when I was human, we didn't have radios," he said.

Mack considered that for a while. "Heh. You don't really think about vampires being human. But I guess you were once, weren't you? What city?"

"I lived in Georgetown," he said.

"Figures. They're a bunch of Luddites over there. Technology is evil, except for lights and hydros. Plenty of folks have radios, they don't take much juice, and there are some good shows. Music, talking, all kinds of things. A few days ago one of the news shows told about a series of weird events, where humans who'd been exiled, or who had gotten taken from caravans, were saved from the vampires by another vampire. A pretty distinctive one, in a cape and hat."

David shook his head. He'd known that eventually his fellow vampires would know about him, but he'd never thought that the humans would know too. Would, in fact, know long before, since so far none of the vampires he'd met had survived.

"Didn't figure on being famous?" said Mack.

"No."