The human proved to be a girl of around his own age. She was short, hardly coming to his shoulder, and slightly built. Her hair was auburn, her eyes were green, the colors still vivid to his eyes in the moonlight.

"Are you all right?" he asked as he approached her.

She laughed, the sound just a little bit hysterical. "I should be asking you that! Did you get them all?"

He shook his head. "No, unfortunately. One of them got away."

"I'm Megan," she said. "And you must be the vampire who rescues people."

He nodded. "Yeah..." Something made him add, "I'm David."

"Well, thank you, David" she said.

He suddenly was very aware of the smell of blood in the air. He realized the girl already had a pair of puncture wounds on her neck. He sighed. He really hated trying to take from somebody who'd already been bitten against their will.

"So what now?" asked the girl.

David considered for a long time. Then he shrugged. "Now I escort you to the next city, I suppose."

She sighed. "I figured as much. Not that it will do me much good."

"Huh?" he said brightly. His mind felt a little fuzzy, and the scent of blood was making it very hard to concentrate.

"I'll just end up exiled again, no doubt."

He blinked. Then he realized something. Sagebrush, the nearby city, was within just a single day's travel of its nearest neighbor. They sometimes exiled even minor criminals, because if they exiled you in the morning, you could make it to shelter before sundown. Generally he found the more serious criminals a few miles out, having had only the afternoon and evening to walk. But more than an hour after sunset he and the girl stood only a little bit beyond the city lights. They must have exiled her right at sundown, he thought. "What on earth did you do?" he asked, startled.

"I studied forbidden literature and actually learned something about vampires. I told the city council that the cities were doomed if something doesn't change, and I had the radical notion that maybe vampires and humans could get along."

David snorted. "No wonder they threw you out at sundown then."

A look of frustration crossed her face. "Well they could! Just look at you! They say you take just a tiny bit, and let humans go, still alive. Why couldn't all the vampires do that? Why couldn't humans donate willingly, and the killing stop? Why?!"

David shook his head. "You're missing out on a few facts. I can see the appeal of your idea, but it's impossible. I'm very different from other vampires. They will never give up killing."

"Why?!" she demanded.

David glanced away from her, still all too aware of the smell of her blood in the air. He sighed, uncertain of what to say or do. He needed her blood, but she wasn't offering it, and taking it from somebody who neither offered, nor ran away, was always hard. When they ran, it was a sort of instinct, catch the prey, take what you need. When they offered it was a gift, but the worst ones were always the ones who did neither. And the question of blood aside, what was he going to do with her? Taking her to the next city would, as she had said, only result in her getting exiled again. He sighed again, seeing only one option.

"I'll give you the whole story later. For now we should get moving. It will take a few days, even if you let me carry you so I can run, to get there."

"Get where?" she asked, puzzled.

"To my home," he said. "I can't just take you to a city, and right now I can't think of anything else to do with you."

"Oh." She hesitated, then nodded. "All right. How far is it?"

He considered. "If we walk, it's nearly a week's journey, I think. I can run there in two days."

"Oh," she said again. "Then... I guess you should carry me?" She looked suddenly uncertain, and David smiled. It was one thing to talk about vampires and humans getting along. It was another thing to let one pick you up and run off with you.

"Probably." He stepped closer, then stopped, and shook his head. He wasn't going to be able to carry her all night with need pulsing at the back of his brain, and her blood-smell on the air. "But first..." He hesitated, then shrugged. She hadn't offered, but then he hadn't asked. "You talk about humans living with vampires, and donating willingly. Do you really think humans are capable of giving up their blood to vampires?"

"Of course," she said.

"Well then, will you?"

Her eyes widened. She was no doubt dedicated to her idea, but David suspected she had been thinking about it in abstract, and hadn't applied it to herself personally. She hesitated, obviously not really wanting to say yes, but not wanting to say no either. Then she raised her hand to her neck, fingering the bloody marks there. "I guess I've 'donated' once already, so I should survive doing it again. Okay."

"Thank you," he said, as he thanked all those who were willing to give their blood. It might be a bit reluctant, but it was willing all the same, he would not have to take it by force. He took another step, standing next to her. His eyes went to the marks already on her neck, but then he shook his head. He bent and took her hand. She looked at him, a little bewildered and quite a bit nervous. "I won't hurt you," he said and then he raised her wrist to his lips. He bit down quickly and cleanly, trying not to cause any more pain than he must, though she let out a soft gasp as his fangs cut through her skin. He kept a tight reign on his hunger as he drank. It whirled and howled at the back of his mind, and he knew how easy, how very, very easy it would be to drain her dry. But he took only three slow, carefully metered swallows, and then stopped, letting her wrist fall. He sighed softly in relief as the pressure of his need retreated.

She had closed her eyes as he fed, and now she stood in the road, her eyes still closed, a strange expression on her face, for several long seconds, before opening them and looking up at him. "That was... Different. Not what I expected."

David shrugged. "I'm afraid I don't really know what it's like. I've only had my blood taken the once..." he trailed off, remembering Aidan, then shook his head. "Well, never mind. We should get going."