He whined to the empty air because he couldn't whine to the others. He was weak enough without appearing weaker still by complaining of it. His fingers scraped absently at the dirt and rock and concrete chunks that made up the hillside as he repeated his litany of woes. Then suddenly his hand broke through into a pocket of open space. A swirl of cold air against his skin told him that there was more behind him than just an animal burrow. The gentle air current spoke of space. Lots and lots of space. The entire hillside might well be hollow. He stopped whining and turned to opening the hole wider. He wasn't given to flights of fancy, and so he had no thoughts for what wonders might lie beyond. He would find them when he'd dug out enough space to enter. Thus with an unthinking scrabble of fingers against earth he crawled forward into his destiny.
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."
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.
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.
The faintest hint of dawn, invisible as yet to human eyes but all too obvious to his, was on the far horizon when he and Aidan stopped. Aidan had been trying to show David as many of his bolt holes as possible, but there were a lot of them scattered across the desert, and this one was new to him.
Like most of them, the entrance was blocked with a large boulder. Inside this one the tunnel was small enough that he had to crawl, though the chamber at the end was fairly roomy. Aidan went ahead down it, while David pulled the boulder back into place across the entrance. He knew now that a vampire would never leave a bolt hole open during daylight, Aidan had left his unblocked that first day only for the breathing David's sake. As the sun began to rise outside, the pair settled themselves on the rough stone floor. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but once the sun lipped up over the horizon, David was out cold, and knew nothing more until it vanished again at sunset.
When night had again fallen the pair rose quickly. They would need to move fast now. They set off across the desert, towards the readily visible glow of the city ahead. And as they ran David began to sense other vampires in the darkness ahead. He had learned a bit of how to interpret the odd extra sense from Aidan. It had a limit of a mile or so, anything past that would be impossible to sense at all. It was directional, roughly, so he could tell where the other vampires were, but it was very hard to get a sense of distance, and nearly impossible to get a sense of numbers, there was only a sense of strength. A particular feeling might be a single, strong-minded vampire, or a dozen less powerful ones. But what he sensed now was fairly clear. A tiny little source, surely just one single weak vampire was ahead and slightly to the left, where the road would be. Ahead and to the right was a stronger source, moving fast. An old vampire, or a group, no way to know which, approaching the road as well.
Aidan and David exchanged glances, and there was no need to speak. For this, David's first fight with another vampire, it would be better if he faced the lone, weak one. They split, David veering left, Aidan right, and Aidan was quickly out of sight behind the low rolling hills that covered this area. David ran on, but as he got closer, he slowed. He could see the thread of the road just ahead, and as he jogged nearer, he could see a single form standing on it. No, he suddenly realized, there were two forms there, the one of them holding the other.
Realizing what must be happening, he sprinted forward, then skidded to a halt a mere two yards or so away from the pair, the one, unbreathing, a vampire, the other, his wrists gripped firmly by the undead, was hyperventilating, his eyes rolling in terror, very much a living human, no doubt an exile as David had been. David gave the vampire a solid, challenging push with his mind. The vampire growled at him in return, and tried to push back, rather ineffectually.
"This one's mine. You can have him when I'm done, but I got here first, he's mine."
David ignored the nasal voice. This was probably one of the fearful ones, the ones who had become vampires entirely out of cowardice rather than real evil. David increased the pressure of his mind, and the vampire froze in place, suddenly held, his will overwhelmed. David pushed further, sending out a command. The vampire slowly, unwillingly, let go of the human man's wrists and stepped away. And that was all that David needed. With one smooth motion he drew his sword and leaped forward. He covered the last two yards in a flash, and with a single, full-powered stroke he beheaded the vampire.
There was a spray of blood, and the headless body dropped to the ground. Just like that, thought David. So easily! The human, suddenly drenched in the thick, dark blood of his assailant, dropped as well, and for a moment David wondered if he'd somehow managed to hit the man too, but when he knelt down and examined the human, he found no sign of injury. The man had simply fainted. David looked again at the headless corpse of the vampire. It looked very human, sprawled limply on the road. But it wasn't, he knew. He found that he felt no remorse. He had regretted the cow more then he regretted this. And rightly so, he thought. The cow never did anything to hurt anyone. The vampire...
David shook off his thoughts and looked in the direction Aidan had gone. There was only one "source" of the sense of vampire presence there now, so Aidan had met the other source, whatever it was. Abruptly the source dimmed, then dimmed again, and now was at about the right strength, David thought, to be Aidan alone. Which was still quite strong, the older vampire had a very powerful mind, David knew. A few minutes later Aidan soared down out of the sky and landed on the road.
"Success?"
David grinned. "Yes! Though this poor guy seems to have fainted."
"Ah well. What comes next will be easier for you that way, I suspect."
David's grin faded. "Yeah..."
"Don't get squeamish on me now," said Aidan. "If you're going to kill vampires, you need to be strong and sane, so you need human blood. And this fellow here would have lost all of his if you hadn't come along. The least he can do is give you a sip."
"I know," David said. They'd discussed this before. He glanced at the man again, an unremarkable human perhaps a bit older than David himself, with a scruffy beard and unkempt shoulder-length hair. "It just seems... I don't know... Biting some guy I don't even know..."
Aidan chuckled. "It seems too intimate, you mean?"
"Yes! It was weird enough with you, who I know, coming up and hugging me like a lover when you bit me," he said, in irritated tones, and then added, more genially "You fruit. But at least I had some idea who you were. Here's this total stranger, and I'm supposed to bite him on the neck? I'm not a fruit, and I don't really want to bite some random guy."
Aidan laughed. He laughed hard enough he had to sit down, hard enough that it was some time before he actually responded. "I don't think I've been called a fruit before! But it beats some of the other names for it! You don't have to bite him on the neck though. That's for melodramatic types like Raven, or for when you're taking in quantity." He laughed again and added, "Or when you're a fruit! But you just need a sip, and that you can get at the wrist easily enough."
"Oh," said David, feeling rather foolish. "Good. Well, then..." He looked at the man again, then sighed. He could actually smell him, and smell his blood, the scent utterly different from the vampire's blood liberally splattered around. The scent was very appealing, and although he did still feel a little queasy, the scent helped as he knelt next to the unconscious man and lifted his wrist. Trying not to think too much about what he was doing, he closed his eyes and bit down.
Instantly he tasted blood, even the first tiny droplets intense on his tongue. Unlike taking from an animal, which was good, but pretty much like drinking liquid protein goo, this was different. Like drinking alcohol, perhaps, in that it was heady, dizzying even, but more so even than that. It was intoxicating, but not inebriating, his mind was still clear, the taste was just utterly thrilling, alluring.
Then Aidan thumped him on the back of the head and he remembered he was supposed to just take a sip. He dropped the man's arm and blinked. He could hear the man's pulse clearly, and it hadn't changed, so he hadn't taken too much, but he realized how it was that Aidan had gotten carried away earlier.
"Wow."
Aidan laughed again. "Yes, wow pretty well covers it. Now come on, we need to get moving. The night is passing, and we need to reach Georgetown with time left to find a bolt hole."
David picked up the unconscious human, slinging him easily over his shoulder, and the pair set off into the cool summer night, running swiftly and easily along the road towards Georgetown. Hours slipped by, and gradually the glow ahead strengthened. Soon it seemed almost dazzlingly bright, and David found himself squinting when he looked at it directly. Shortly after that, Aidan stopped.
"This is as far as I go. Being younger, you're not as sensitive, so you can carry him closer, but if I get any closer I'm going to start getting burned, and I'd prefer not to."
David nodded and continued on at a slower pace. Soon he could feel the light, like the sensation of standing in the sun on a hot summer day, warmth that seemed to beat physically on his skin. He went a few steps further, but then stopped. No point in getting burned, there was no sense of other vampires around, and sunrise wasn't that far off. This late and this close to the city lights, the man should be safe.
David set him down gently. The he looked once more at the dazzling glow in the distance. He couldn't even make out the shape of the city he had once called home, it was just one big blur of light. He sighed, then shrugged and turned to run back into the dark.
With another month or so before he would need to go out again, David set himself to learning every trick Aidan could teach him. Mostly that meant practicing mental combat, and learning how to fight physically while still attacking with his mind.
"You're getting good at this," said Aidan, ducking a sword swing as he also countered David's mental pressure. David had no idea how Aidan could manage to fight, concentrate mentally, and still speak all at once, it was all David could do to manage the two tasks at the same time, and his physical reaction speed wasn't nearly as good as when fighting had his full attention. "Which is," he paused as he slashed at David, "A very good thing indeed. You have ," he blocked another strike, "More chance of pulling this off than I thought. Your mental combat is even better than I'd hoped," he ducked, "And given the fact that vampires mostly posture and seldom" he lashed out with a quick jab that got through David's defenses and pricked his arm, "Actually fight each other, you should do quite well indeed." He lowered his sword, having won this particular round, and grinned. "In fact, I think there's just one more lesson I need to give you. Vampires are fundamentally selfish, and nearly always cowards, which means they're weak minded, by and large. And you're anything but! But there are a few exceptions, and it's possible that eventually you're going to run into somebody who is stronger than you are. There is one little trick that may still allow you to get the upper hand." Aidan sheathed his sword, and David did likewise.
"Make a mental attack. I'm going to let you 'win' and then I'll show you the trick."
David nodded, and with the ease of nearly two month's familiarity he reached out mentally, applying pressure to Aidan's mind. There was much less resistance than he was used to, and soon he had the other vampire very firmly under his control. And then suddenly he didn't, because Aidan had vanished, and there was nothing there to grab. He gave the older vampire a startled look. He was still standing there, but mentally David sensed nothing, nobody. If he closed his eyes, he would have assumed he was completely alone. Then Aidan reappeared and attacked in the same instant, and still surprised and confused, David wasn't able to mount any kind of resistance. Aidan released him a moment later and stood there, grinning.
"What the hell was that?" said David.
"Meditation," answered Aidan, and grinned wider.
"What?"
"Meditation. Well, sort of. If you stop fighting, and blank your mind completely, think of nothing at all, then you suddenly aren't 'there' any more, and the person who has you is going to be overbalanced. It's the mental equivalent of letting go of the rope during a tug of war. It's useful for other things too, though close to impossible to do while you're moving. But you can sit down and vanish to the mental senses of your opponents, which means you can set ambushes, or lose pursuit, because they won't know you're there at all. It's a really helpful trick, and given your strength of mind it shouldn't take you long to learn at all. Here, we'll give it a try."
And without further warning Aidan attacked mentally again. David had been expecting it though, and countered. But this time was different from the other occasions when he and Aidan had sparred. This time the older vampire's mind grabbed and overwhelmed David's quickly, easily, and David suddenly realized that Aidan had been holding back before. With a thought Aidan held David in place, frozen physically as well as mentally.
"All right. Now you just have to stop fighting and blank your mind."
David relaxed and stopped trying to break free of the mental hold, closing his eyes to try and concentrate. Every time he thought he'd cleared his mind, some thought would pop back up. He would have said something in frustration, but Aidan's hold wouldn't let him.
"You might find it helpful to concentrate on a visual image," said Aidan in a conversational tone, his mental grip not weakening an ounce despite the distraction of speaking. "If you can picture a single object in a white room, and then it dissolves and there's nothing but white, or a flame in a black room, which goes out, leaving the black, I find that helps, to focus on a single thing and then when you've blocked out all other thought, let that thing go."
David, his eyes still closed, pictured the white room. An empty white room with just his sword leaning against the wall. It was much easier to avoid other thoughts, as Aidan had said. Soon the room was all that existed. He felt very calm and still, and he realized somewhere at the back of his mind how busy his thoughts usually were. Then, when there was nothing else in the universe but the room and the single sword, he pictured the sword dissolving, leaving just the empty white. And with a kind of mental snap, like a rubber band under tension springing away when you let one end go, Aidan's hold on him was gone.
"Excellent!" David opened his eyes to see Aidan's familiar toothy grin. "You'll want to learn to do it faster, and to counter-attack as soon as you're free, but doing it on the first try was really quite good of you, mastering it entirely shouldn't be hard at all!"
David nodded. Then he thought of something. "Hey, if you could take over my mind that easily, why didn't you make Raven do what you wanted that way, when you first met me?"
Aidan grimaced. "The mental ability of a vampire is a little different for me. For you, you're just going to sense a sort of..." he trailed off and shrugged. "A sort of formless power, for lack of a better way to put it. But I'm a lot more sensitive. I can actually tell what a vampire is thinking, when I touch their minds. I avoid mental combat as much as I possibly can. The thoughts of Raven and her type really aren't that pleasant. And the fact that I once thought similar things myself tends to make it worse. Too many bad memories. I use it when I must, but generally I can get that sort to back down without having to resort to it."
"Oh."
Aidan grinned. "But enough of that. Time for more practice!"
"Ugh," said David.
"Come on! You must master the mysterious and mystical art of ceasing to exist! Very useful! And," he added, his expression turning serious, "Once you've mastered that, that's it. There's nothing else I can teach you."
David nodded soberly. "Then it will be time for me to hunt."
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."
He could only sense one vampire presence now, a little ways out into the desert from the road train, on the far side of it from him Given its strength, it was most likely both of the vampires he had sensed earlier, now together. I hate to hope that the one venturing in got what he came for, he thought to himself as he ran towards them, but I do. I just also hope that if they have a human, they don't just kill him first thing.
He circled wide around the caravan and slowed to a rapid trot as he approached the vampires he had sensed. Sure enough, there were two of them, a male and a female. And the female held a struggling man close, already feeding. Ah crap. I've got to separate them, or I'll end up killing her victim along with her. Formulating a quick plan, he strode confidently up to the pair, and gave the feeding vampire a hard mental shove. She stopped and lifted her head from the shivering human's neck, to give David a snarl. "What do you want?"
"I want a turn before you kill it," he said, and shoved again, not quite trying to actually take over, just asserting his strength.
"Hey!" The male vampire stepped in a little closer. "I'm going next."
David rounded on him and pushed hard with his mind. "No, I don't think you are." The other vampire was fairly weak-minded, and with a petulant expression he backed down.
"Oh fine. But save some for me."
David grinned. "I will, don't worry." He turned to the female again and stepped closer. She glared at him, but then shoved the man at him. The human stumbled and fell at David's feet, but David paid him no attention, for the instant he was clear of the vampire, David had drawn his sword and struck at her. The blade tore through her neck in a spray of blood as the male vampire let out a shocked cry... but her head remained attached, he'd managed only to cut her throat. David swore.
She clutched at her bleeding neck and stumbled back. David leaped forward over the prone human, striking at her again, but this time she raised one arm to block the blow. He cut a deep gouge in her forearm, but did no other damage. David growled in frustration as he heard rapid steps heading away from the battle. The male vampire was running for it. And this early on David was not at all ready to have the vampire community at large know he existed. He reached out mentally and grabbed at the female vampire's mind. Concentrating on the physical fight, she wasn't prepared for the mental attack, though her mind was strong, and she fought back hard. But David had her, and he held her just long enough to force her to lower her arms. One quick slice later it was over, and not even pausing to watch her body fall, he sprinted after the other vampire.
And then he heard another set of footsteps, slower but still at a running pace. The human had gotten to his feet and was making a break for the caravan's lights. He swore again.
David ran faster, reaching out ahead with his mind. He gave the fleeing vampire a mental shove, and the creature tripped, falling face first in the sand. That was enough to let David catch up. The vampire scrambled to his feet to run again, but with a growl David swung his sword, slicing through the back of the vampire's leg, effectively ham-stringing him. The vampire rounded on David, but David reached out with his mind again and held the weak-minded creature easily. He wasted no time, but with one full-force swing he cut the vampire's head off. Then he spun around and ran back the way he came, after the fleeing human.
The man was running flat-out, but no human could out-run a vampire, and David caught up with him while he was still short of the road train's lights. He dropped his sword and grabbed the man with both hands. He held the struggling human by his wrists, easily keeping the man captive. And then he sighed heavily. "I am very sorry," he said. "If I didn't need to do this, I wouldn't, but I must. Forgive me."
He brought the man's wrist up to his lips and bit down. The man let out a whimper, and David felt another pang of regret, but what he was doing was nothing compared to the fate he'd likely saved this man from. And the whimper was easy enough to ignore as the incredible taste of human blood flooded into him. Prepared for the sensation, he was better able to keep his head, and this time he took just the one sip, before releasing the human and stepping back. The man stood for a moment, trembling, looking incredulously at David.
"Well, go on!"
The man twitched, then spun around and ran for it, as though he expected David to chase him again. Which he probably does expect, thought David with another sigh. Oh well. Still... there are three less vampires in the world today. Not a bad night's work!
After that first successful solo hunt he hunted more frequently. Sometimes Aidan joined him, sometimes he hunted alone. Often he rescued humans, exiles or fools who had strayed too close to the edges of the light, and took what he needed from them, though he felt remorse every time he did. Sometimes though there were no victims in the night, and he merely hunted hopeful vampires, waiting in vain for prey that didn't come. As the weeks passed he killed at least a dozen of them, but he recalled what Aidan had said. Just around his own home city there were three or four dozen, and among the half dozen cities where he hunted, there would be hundreds. And haunting the fringes of the other cities to the north and south there would be hundreds more.
And eventually they're going to notice they're being hunted, he thought to himself one evening as he sat in front of Aidan's cabin and stared at the stars. They're going to start hunting back, and I'm awfully outnumbered, even if I can take any one or two of them.
Aidan walked out the front door, still off its hinges after the months-past battle, and sat down next to David. "Penny for your thoughts?"
"Just fretting about the future. Eventually the vampires are going to notice somebody's killing them, or one that's seen me will manage to get away. Hunting is going to become a lot harder after that."
Aidan nodded. "There's not much you can do about it, though."
"No, I suppose not. Though..." he trailed off, a sudden snippet of dream memory floating through his mind. "Though maybe there is a way to add a little to my advantage."
"Oh?"
David grinned, unable to resist the urge to be cryptic to Aidan for once. "Yes. I think I'm going to need a hat."
The pair ran through the night, sprinting at top speed. They would need to cover as much ground as possible. "You're sure there are bolt holes all the way there?" said David. Not needing to breathe, he wasn't winded at all by running.
"Yes. I've made the trip a couple of times in recent years, and I'm sure I remember enough to get us there."
"Good! And you're also sure we won't find the stuff any closer?"
"The nearest old city is pretty picked over by now, and we could waste months trying to search a city I don't know. This one I know, and I know where to look for what you need. Besides," added Aidan cheerfully, "This is going to be a terrific trip. You've never seen real mountains, or the ocean before!"
"No, I suppose not," said David, and then they ran on in silence.
For four nights they ran through the desert, following an old highway that threaded through narrow gorges and ran across flat plains. They passed on the second night through the ruins of the nearest great city, where high towers lay fallen and desert dust and sand were piled up against buildings that had once been opulent and luxurious, but which were now empty, everything useful stripped away, only the useless decorations of gilt and glitter left behind, dulled by decades of dust.
On the fifth night the desert stopped abruptly, and a line of gray-topped mountains, dwarfing the mountains above Aidan's cabin, which David had always thought of as high, rose directly, without any foothills, from the dry plain. The road wound its way up through them, and the two vampires followed it higher, the desert scrub giving way to a dry forest of fragrant pines. As the night waned they took shelter inside an old cabin, chinked thoroughly against the light.
"The ground here is mostly granite," explained Aidan, "And not even vampires can dig holes in granite with their bare hands."
Another night saw them across the highest point of the mountains, and descending amid a rich, damp forest where massive evergreens towered impossibly high. They wound their way through tree-covered hills, until emerging onto a rolling plain, where the straight lines of old orchards, fields and canals could still be made out faintly. It took three more nights to cross the plain, and they had to circle wide around several glowing cities. The next night they began to see ruins along the side of the crumbling road. David was amazed at the size of this ancient city, for they took shelter in a basement bolt hole that day while still amid buildings, and Aidan told him that there was almost a half day's travel yet before they reached the city's heart. "Although this wasn't really one city, it was actually several. In those days there were so many, and they grew so large that they often grew together."
The following night was cloudy and dim as they ran through the ruins. Everything seemed almost surreal, shapes looming up out of the dark as they ran. And then they crested a small hill, and David caught a glimpse of shimmering light ahead. For a moment the moon peeked out from behind a cloud, and shattered into a million reflections on the ground before him. David had never seen a large body of water before, so it took him a moment to realize that the shivered silver trail was the moonlight glancing off of waves.
"Is that the ocean?" he said.
Aidan chuckled. "No. That's a bay. Look there, across the water."
David lifted his gaze from the shifting waves, to see what must be the heart of the city lying beyond the bay. The half tumbled buildings didn't seem to be as high as the ones from the desert city, but they were clustered closely on the hill that rose from across the water, a jumble of angular, alien shapes in the moonlight. Then the moon vanished again, and the city was gone.
"Come on. The night is yet young!" Aidan laughed and sprinted down the road. David chuckled and ran after him.
Soon they came to the edge of the bay, where the road ran out across a bridge. David eyed it warily. It was large, and seemed quite solid, but he knew it had to be close to a hundred years old, at least. The road curved gradually up to the bridge, which arched high over the bay. He jogged up the slope behind Aidan, but then hesitated where the crumbling black road surface gave way to rusted metal decking.
Aidan glanced back. "Worried about the bridge collapsing?"
"It's got to be a century old, so yes." said David, irritated at his own nervousness.
Aidan nodded. "If it helps, this thing was built to drive things almost as big as road trains over, so it's all kinds of sturdy. It should be fine."
"I suppose..." said David dubiously.
"I'll fly across, so there's less weight on it, and I can fish you out if it does fall down." said Aidan. "It's either that, or swim across," he added. "Our goal is on the other side."
David nodded, and gingerly set foot on the rusted metal. It didn't budge so much as a millimeter beneath his foot, so he set off, slowly at first, but with increasing confidence as the bridge proved to still be rock solid even after so many years. Soon he was stepping off on the other side, entering the city proper.
The streets here were narrow, and the ancient houses stood close, many of them touching their neighbors. There were no gigantic towers, though some of the ruined buildings rose many stories above the streets. Aidan lead the way, threading the maze with easy confidence. "Ah, here is the district we want," he said after some time. The street here was slightly wider, and lined not with houses but with stores, their fronts gaping open where glass windows had once looked out onto the street. "I used to love coming here, on the rare occasions when I could," said Aidan, with a sad note in his voice. "So many interesting things, so many interesting people. All gone now..."
David glanced at Aidan. Suddenly he just had to ask. "How old are you?"
Aidan laughed. "Old enough. The years don't matter, even if I could tally them up correctly. But old enough to have walked these streets when there were no such things as vampires." David blinked. The building of the barrier lights was within the memory of his grand parents, and the collapse had been only a decade or so before that, but vampires had first appeared generations earlier!
Aidan shrugged off David's incredulous look. "What difference does it make? I'm older than you, leave it at that. Now come on! We have exciting discoveries to make!" Aidan strolled along briskly, reading the faded signs, and David trailed after him. Eventually he stepped into one of the stores, beckoning David to follow.
The store's interior was gloomy with no moonlight to provide illumination, but David's vampire's eyes adjusted to the dark soon enough. The crumbling display at the front was empty, but further back there were shelves filled with boxes. And the boxes, David realized, were filled with shoes.
"Shoes? I already have perfectly good shoes," he said.
Aidan grinned, his fangs a flash of white in the dimness. "Yes, you do. But they don't really match the outfit we're going to assemble. If you're going to do this, you should do it right, and that means shoes. Or boots, rather. Synthetic walking shoes aren't right at all, you need boots and you need leather. And leather can hold up fairly well to the years, so I've high hopes of finding something still wearable here. Trust my fashion sense!" he added, his grin growing broader. "Fruits are notorious for it, you know."
David shrugged, a little bemused, and trailed behind Aidan as he investigated the rows and rows of shoes. Some of them he prodded at, and often they cracked and crumbled at the touch. But some didn't, and soon Aidan had gathered a modest selection. "I'll want to see about softening these up, and treating them," he said, "But for now, just try them on." David shrugged again and sat down on a dusty chair to try on boots.
They emerged from that dim storefront not long after, carrying several boxes, and continued down the street.
Several hours later, as the very first hints of dawn began to show over the hills, David stood in front of a mirror, miraculously intact, in the dressing room of an old costume shop. Here they had found the last of the items he would need, the hat. It was not quite so broad-brimmed as the one in the movie, but it was somewhat similar in style, and it was black. The pants and shirt were both simple, unadorned garments that Aidan had chosen mostly for their durability, and for ease of movement, though their cut was somehow flamboyant, despite its simplicity. And the cloak was pure dramatics. David suspected he'd have to do some practicing to get used to fighting while wearing it. But it did add a certain something to the costume, David thought as he looked at his reflection. His pale face and hands seemed almost disembodied, his black clothing nearly invisible against the black gloom of the store behind him. Still... He turned to Aidan and nodded.
"This looks right, I think."
The winged vampire nodded back solemnly, then grinned. "You look quite dashing. But yes, this is right. I don't know how much help it will be, but you're right about any possible edge being useful. And a lot of vampires are easily impressed by such melodrama. It's why half of them use names like Raven and Shadow, and other such nonsense."
"Raven wasn't her real name?"
"Oh no. I think it was Sarah, or something like that. And are you going to change your name to go with your new look?"
David laughed. "I don't think I need to. I don't anticipate introducing myself to the vampires I fight. They'll know me as the Hunter, and that should be enough."
On a cool spring evening, with the last light of sunset fading from the sky, David stood on a hilltop and adjusted his hat as he surveyed the city ahead. He had been a vampire for more than eight months now, and had been hunting in earnest for nearly six, and the vampires around the half dozen desert cities were starting to become a little more wary. They didn't know what was killing them, but even solitary as they tended to be, they were beginning to suspect that they were being hunted.
So David had decided to take a trip north. There was a pair of cities there, close enough that the occasional caravan crossed between them and their more southernly fellows, but far enough away that rumor of his hunting was unlikely to have spread this far.
Aidan had remained behind. He seemed restless and preoccupied of late, but he refused to talk about whatever was bothering him. So David had gone without him. He was confident now in his skills, and didn't need the older vampire's presence, much as he enjoyed having Aidan around.
The city in the distance was a glowing blur, and he sighed. Once perhaps he might have been able to appreciate the subtle differences between one city and another, as he had noticed the differences between the ruined desert city and the city by the bay, but now they were all the same, only their glowing barriers visible to his sensitive eyes. He couldn't sense any other vampires right now, but he suspected they would be around. Sunset on the edges of a city was always the best time to find them, because they haunted those borders nearly every night, not wanting to miss the chance at finding an exile and getting human blood.
David wondered sometimes, now that he could look at the system from outside, if the human leaders, the governors and judges and police who made and enforced the laws, knew how deep their hypocrisy ran. They had beat him and spit on him for being a "sympathizer," for having done one small favor, all unknowing, to a single vampire. And yet their justice system, their method of dealing with major crimes, benefited all the vampires immensely. Without the exiles, their only possible source of prey would be the caravans, and they would probably lose quite a few of their number in failed assaults on the heavily lighted and heavily armed travelers, and even more in fights among themselves for limited prey. But then, he mused, human losses would be fairly high as well, and more caravans would be lost entirely. I suppose that if the human leadership understands how their exiles feed the vampires, they may well still continue to do it, to keep the caravans safe. But that doesn't make their hypocrisy in any less. His musings were interrupted by a faint, distant sound of footsteps. He sensed no vampires near, not yet, so the sound must be that of a human. Swiftly and silently he moved through the night, and although he knew it was probably very childish of him, he couldn't but help take a certain pleasure in the way his cloak swirled out behind him as he moved. He approached the road but kept a little distance from it as yet. Soon he saw a single form walking along. It was a human, male, tall and rather broadly built, who moved with a steady and unhurried gait on the road between the two sister cities. No doubt an exile from one, hoping to reach the safety of the other, though most such that Aidan had seen went much faster, or else much slower after having exhausted themselves running during daylight. This man walked as if there was nothing else in the night, simply covering ground from here to there.
David paralleled the man's course. He wasn't going to attack the exile, though he felt the need for human blood lurking in the back of his mind. It had not yet been long enough that the need was urgent, but it had still been fairly long, and he would take the chance to get human blood if he could. But for now he merely walked along in the desert, keeping the man just in sight, and moving quietly. The human couldn't possibly spot him, but he would know if any other vampires drew near.
They moved in parallel paths that way for nearly an hour before David sensed another vampire approaching. A single source, moderately strong, coming from out in the desert on the far side of the road. It might be one vampire or it might be several, there was no way to tell. David sprinted ahead of the slower-moving human and crossed the road well out of the man's sight. Then he took up his parallel course again, this time keeping between the human and whatever other vampires might be out there.
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."
David looked out into the desert. The vampire, or possibly vampires, who had been trailing him were moving up, no longer directly behind, he could now sense them from slightly to the side, moving closer. He drew his sword. "You should stay out of the way," he said.
"Yeah," said Mack, and retreated down the road a little.
David soon saw two shapes approaching from the desert. They ran fast, side by side. He glanced behind him, to make sure Mack was well out of the way, then ran to meet them. As he drew near his stomach sank. They must have passed by the corpse of the vampire he had fought earlier, because one of them was holding his sword. Damn it, I should have broken it! They were both female, but that didn't mean they'd be any less strong or fast. Still, there was nothing for it, and David dove into the fight.
They were both fairly strong-minded, though he could have taken either of them easily alone, and the one with the sword was thankfully not practiced at all, but she was very quick and every time he had to block her, he left openings for the other one, who hit, kicked, and even grabbed at him, throwing him off balance before being driven back by his blade, which in turn allowed the one with the sword to get through his defenses. He used his mental combat to full effect, and only the way they tended to pause physically in order to fight back mentally kept them from getting the upper hand. If he'd just been able to mentally go after one, he might have accomplished something, but turning his attention to one of them just left him open to mental and physical attacks from the other. And they were managing to not halt completely when they countered his mental blows, so he was rapidly picking up a collection of cuts and bruises, and was aware of the way blood loss was weakening him.
I can't fight them both, I have to somehow take one at a time, he thought. The idea came to him quickly, and he put it into action just as quickly. He turned and ran back towards the road, giving him a few yards space before the pair ran after him. Then he spun around, and with all his strength he threw his sword, point first. It wasn't really an aerodynamic missile, but it didn't have to go very far, and it hit its target dead on, taking the sword-wielder in the throat. She dropped, probably not dead, but out of the combat for just a few minutes, and that was all David needed. He hit the other vampire with everything he had, his mind overwhelming hers, and held her still and helpless as he approached. She snarled at him, but he didn't back down, and as soon as he was within reach he grabbed her head. He hesitated just a heartbeat, not really liking what he needed to do, but then he twisted as hard as he could, and her neck snapped with a sickening crunch. He kept twisting, needing to be sure the spinal cord was destroyed, and when her head faced backwards, he let her go. He felt a little sick, but he couldn't stop and think about it.
The other vampire, still down on the desert floor, was struggling to pull his sword from her throat. He grabbed the hilt and pulled it out for her. She looked up at him and her expression was almost pleading, but he hardened himself against it. He knew she would have killed him, and Mack too, without any remorse, so he had little for her as he struck down and cut off her head.
With a tired sigh he cleaned his sword off on her clothes, and then limped back towards the road.
"You okay?" said Mack as David approached.
David just nodded wearily, the motion only visible to the human in the faint light of a quarter moon because of his hat.
Mack shook his head as David walked closer and he could make out the many cuts and gashes on his body. They were mostly superficial, but there were a lot of them. "You don't look that great"
"I'll live," said David as he reached the road. "Just give me a minute." He sat down and took his hat off, setting it on the road beside him.
Mack stood there and looked at him for a moment. Then he nodded to himself and walked up to the vampire. He knelt down in the road at David's side held out his hand. "Here."
David looked up at him, puzzled. "What?"
"The story said that you took blood from the people you saved. I figured it was because you needed it. And it looks like you need something or other now, and I don't know what else it would be. I'm a pretty big guy, compared to you, I figure I have a little to spare, considering you saved my life."
David hesitated, staring at this surprising human for a long time. Then he nodded once. "Thank you," and he bent his head to take what was offered.
He took somewhat more than his usual single sip, but he was careful, he remembered how easy it was to lose himself in the euphoria of blood taking, and metered and counted his swallows carefully. After six slow mouthfulls he stopped, although there was something animalistic at the back of his head that howled for him to continue, to take it all. He ignored it and dropped Mack's wrist. "Thank you," he repeated.
Mack looked down at the two modest puncture wounds, his expression a little bemused. "Hey, no problem."
David got to his feet, feeling much better. He picked up his hat and dropped it on his head. "Well, I don't sense anybody else out there, but I should probably escort you the rest of the way to Cottonwood, just in case."
"Thanks," said Mack.
They walked most of the night in silence, each alone with his thoughts. As they came within sight of the city's glow, David stopped. "This is as far as I go," he said. "There aren't any other vampires nearby, so you should make it to the lights just fine."
Mack nodded. "Thank you again. I just have to ask one more thing though... Why?"
"Why do I hunt vampires?"
"Yeah. And why do you save humans? There's just one of you, and there's an awful lot of them. And you can't save us all."
David considered the answer for a moment, then he shrugged. "I can't save you all, but I will save who I can, because I was human once too."
"So you're famous now?" said Aidan with a smile.
"Yeah." David shook his head. "Go figure. I never really thought about how humans would look at me, I was just worried about the vampires. But I guess at least some of them see me as a hero."
Aidan chuckled. "Maybe you are a hero."
David rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. I'm more like a lunatic."
"We're all a little crazy, one way or another," said Aidan softly, and his expression turned pensive.
"Will you tell me what's bothering you?" said David.
Aidan looked up. "Heh. I guess I should. I wasn't sure until just a few days ago, but... she's coming. She'll be here soon, and then..." He sighed. "I've come to like you, and I admire your dedication to your quest. I wish I could stay and help you, but I can't. My obligation to you is very small compared to the debt I owe her. I need to pay it, one way or another."
David nodded. "I'd wondered if that was it. Well, I'll miss you, but I think I can carry on by myself now. And if I can't well, I've already taken down a lot of them. The world is that much better for it."
Aidan nodded. Then, changeable as always, he grinned. "Enough of the gloom and doom. Let's go watch a movie."
David chuckled, and followed his friend back inside.
The night air was cool, but no longer cold, spring was rapidly advancing into the long desert summer. David breathed deeply, smelling green, growing life. Even in the desert, things grew in the springtime.
He was out hunting, but not too seriously. He could see no sign of caravans this night, and though he'd swung by one nearby city on his course from the bolt hole where he's started the night, there was nobody on the road, so he wandered through the empty hills, hoping he might chance on a vampire in a bolt hole. He'd done so a few times before, but finding just one in all the endless miles of desert, when he could only sense them from about a mile off, was a matter of sheer luck and didn't happen often. But the night was starting to wane now, and he turned his course towards Aidan's cabin. He would have enough time to reach it before dawn.
As he paused atop a small rise, however, he heard a sound. It was unmistakable: footsteps in the distance. Not following the road, but moving cross-country, headed in his direction. He could sense no vampires, so the steps had to be human. But... what sort of madness would bring a human out into the night, alone, with no lights?
He moved cautiously towards the sound, curious, but also a little wary. He was only just close enough to catch a glimpse of a humanoid figure wearing a pack and moving slowly but steadily across the desert, when the figure spoke. "I can smell you out there, vampire. I'm not human, my blood won't do you any good, so please just go on your way and save us both a lot of trouble."
The voice was female, a warm alto, but with a note of weary resignation in it. Despite what she had said, she sounded very human indeed, but as David came a little closer, he realized that the tantalizing scent of human blood was completely absent, and even at this distance, he ought to have been able to detect it.
"I'm not after human blood, ma'am," he said. "So you don't have to worry about me."
She laughed, and stopped, turning a bit to look at him. "I don't think I've ever been called 'ma'am' by a vampire before."
David blushed a bit. "My mother always taught me to be respectful. Just because I'm undead doesn't mean I should be rude."
"You're a rare one." She chuckled, and as she started walking forward again, she came close enough for David to make out color in the dim light. She was dressed in ordinary clothes, jeans and a plain white shirt, but her hair was an incredible, vivid orange, streaked through with red and gold.
He blinked in surprise. Although her face was lined enough that "girl" probably no longer applied, there was no mistaking her identity. "You're the orange-haired girl."
She stopped again and gave him a long look. Then she sighed. "And you must know Aidan then."
"Yes ma'am. He's helped me out a great deal. I consider him a friend."
"Aidan, friends with polite vampires. Amazing." There was a note of bitterness in her voice as she said it.
"Ma'am..." David trailed off, uncertain of how to say what he wanted to say and feeling rather awkward. "He said, once, that he'd done you a really great wrong, and I guess maybe you're still upset at him about it, but I'm pretty sure he's changed since then, and all he wants is to make it up to you somehow."
"Ha!" It was almost laughter, that short bark, but not a joyful sort of laughter. "Make it up to me! There's no way in all the worlds he could make up for what he did!"
David shook his head. "Maybe there isn't, ma'am, but... could you at least talk to him, give him a chance to try? He owed me a tiny debt, one most people wouldn't even consider a debt at all, and he's done a lot to help me because of it. I guess he'd do pretty much anything at all to make up his debt to you. Honor is very important to him."
"Honor!" She shook her head, then sighed. "If honor is important to him, then maybe he has changed." She paused for a long time, then sighed again, a deep, weary sound. "I stopped fearing him many years ago. I suppose maybe I could try not hating him as well. All right, sir polite vampire. You've convinced me. I'll talk to him. I take it you know where I can find him?"
"Yes ma'am." David considered. He wasn't really that far from Aidan's cabin, but it would still take him a few hours to get there, and that was at a vampire's speed. At the slow pace of the obviously tired woman, the sun would be up long before they arrived. "Uhm. It's still a good ways off, ma'am, and I don't think you could make it there before sunrise. Would it be all right if I carried you?"
She gave him a level look. "You do believe me when I say I'm not human? You wouldn't get any benefit from biting me, and I wouldn't be very pleased about it if you did. I may not be a vampire, but I've fought them before, and they didn't usually come off terribly well."
"Yes ma'am. I won't hurt you. I promise."
"Very well. I'm probably crazy, but... very well."
David picked her up very carefully, trying to make sure she was as comfortable as possible. She was shorter than he, but not by much, and was sturdily built. But her weight wasn't too much once he got it balanced, and a moment later he was running across the desert at nearly full speed. He couldn't help but wonder, as he carried her, exactly what she was. She was telling the truth when she said she wasn't human, her scent was utterly alien, strange and different. But she wasn't any sort of vampire either, he could hear breathing and a steady heartbeat. But what else was there in the world that could look so like a human and yet not be one?
Eventually he sighted the cabin ahead. He stopped when still a little ways off and set the woman down.
"Thank you," she said.
"You're welcome ma'am," he responded, feeling suddenly very young and awkward. There was something about her that was old, really old. As old maybe even as Aidan was.
Then Aidan stepped out of the cabin, and David felt like he had vanished. The pair looked only at each other, there was nothing else in the world. The woman's gaze was wary, with a tired and bitter edge to it. Aidan's was full of sorrow, hope, regret, and things David couldn't even name.
"Flame Song," he said, and David knew, by the way he said it, by the way that everything that was in Aidan's eyes was in it, that this was her name.
"Aidan," she said softly. "Your young friend convinced me to talk to you. And I'm tired of running and chasing anyhow. I became tired of it many years past."
"I am sorry," said Aidan, and he stepped forward and sank to his knees in front of her. "I don't even have words to say how sorry I am. I don't expect your forgiveness, but I will do anything, anything at all, to pay for even a tiny portion of the wrong I've done you."
She was silent for a long time, as he knelt, looking up at her with a flicker of hope mingled with the incredible sorrow of his expression. Then she sighed again, that weary, sad sound. "And what if all I want is for you to go away, to leave me alone?"
"Then I will go. If that is what you wish. Though..." he hesitated. "I don't say it to try and convince you, but if I go, you can't pass through the gate. There's no way home for you."
"By now my home may well be crumbled to dust," she said harshly. "Even if you could take me home, it may not be there for me to return to!"
He lowered his head, gazing at her feet. "Yes," he said softly.
"And just leaving... that pays for nothing!" she added. "What if I want you dead?"
His voice was almost steady, but David could hear a faint tremble, not of fear, but of heartbreak in it as he answered, "If that is what you wish."
She gave Aidan a hard, doubting look. "You'd just let me kill you?"
A little shiver went through him, and his feathers rustled against each other. "If that is what you want in payment for my debt, then yes."
She was silent for another long moment, and then she turned to David. "Give me your sword."
"What? I... no! I'm not going to let you kill him!"
"David," said Aidan softly, "Give it to her. I can take it from you if you don't, you know that."
"You're crazy!" said David.
Aidan shook his head. "Not crazy. But I've told you before, I owe her everything, even my life if she wants it. Give her your sword, or I will take it."
David hesitated. Then slowly, reluctantly, he drew the sword. For an instant he considered attacking the woman with it, but he knew that Aidan wouldn't let him, so he turned it hilt first and held it out, still not sure if he should be doing this or not. The woman took the sword from him, holding it with the loose ease of long familiarity.
"I think perhaps you should go," said Aidan softly.
David hesitated again, then he nodded. He didn't want to stay and watch his friend get killed. But as he walked away, he couldn't resist turning back for a glance.
Aidan knelt still, his head bowed, and she stood over him, sword raised. David couldn't quite bring himself to turn away as she brought it sweeping down. He knew that stroke, he had delivered it many times, and she was putting her full force behind the weight of the blade as it sliced through the air. It would be a killing stroke. At the last instant David shut his eyes, finally unable to watch.
But when he opened them again, Aidan still knelt there, alive. David blinked in surprise. The woman lifted the sword from where her stroke had brought it to the ground, and the tip was bloody. But only the very tip. Aidan looked up at her, and put his hand to his neck. He shuddered, and then looked at his bloodied fingers. He had a gouge nearly an inch deep across the side of his neck. Had he been human it probably would have killed him, but she knew well enough that he was not.
"You really would have let me kill you," she said wonderingly.
"Yes," he answered simply.
She shook her head. "I guess you have changed then. Maybe...." she sighed softly, then smiled. "Maybe it's time for me to go home."
Aidan nodded. He climbed slowly to his feet. "Home... yes. I think it is long past time." Then Aidan turned to where David stood, and said "I have to go now. Good luck with your cause. I am proud to have aided you as much as I could. The cabin is yours now. Goodbye."
David stepped towards him, then suddenly ran and hugged him. "I'll miss you. I'll miss you a lot, you fruit."
Aidan laughed, a small, somewhat shaky sound. "I'll miss you too. Take care."
"You take care of yourself too," said David, "And don't do anything crazy like that again!"
Aidan looked over at the woman, who had a wry smile on her weathered face. He shook his head. "I make no promises. But... I need to go now. Goodbye."
"Goodbye," said David, stepping back reluctantly.
And then the woman held out her hand to Aidan, and his face lit up, completely transformed as he stepped to her and took her hand. Together they walked into the forest, and only seconds later vanished from sight.
David looked after them for a long time. He had a feeling that "home" wasn't just going to be just over the hills. Dawn was coming in less than an hour, and Aidan had no bolt holes that close, but he'd walked off without hesitation.
Suddenly curious, David followed their trail. Eyes and nose were enough to lead him through the forest, but it was only a few minutes before he came to a place, in the middle of a field, where their footsteps had crushed the grass and left an obvious trail, and the trail simply ended. No sign of back-tracking, and no reason to do so, it just stopped. He shook his head, not quite believing, but not really able to think of any other option. "Home" had obviously been somewhere very far away indeed.
End Part 2