He led Megan back into the rear bedroom, flipping on the light there as he entered the dim concrete cube. The dresser proved to be quite full of various articles of clothing. He pulled out an armful and spread them out on the bed.

Megan picked up a shirt. "These are the weirdest shirts I've ever seen. Why do they have those huge holes in the back?"

"Aidan was a genie. He had wings."

"Wings... Wow. I've never heard of somebody with wings."

"He was the only one I ever knew of."

"Could he actually fly?" asked Megan.

David nodded. "Yeah."

"I wish I could," she said, and her expression was a little wistful. "I've always wanted to fly. Sometimes... When I'm not having nightmares, sometimes I dream about flying."

"Heh. You know I've never had a flying dream? Well..." Suddenly he remembered the Hunter, and dreaming of having wings in the dark above the city. "At least not the kind that other people seem to have."

"Speaking of dreams..." Megan blushed. "I really am sorry about last night."

David smiled. "It's fine. Though I don't know how you can possibly find me that comforting. I'm not even warm. You might as well cuddle a brick, or a rock or something."

She giggled. "Well... you're not warm like a human is, but it's not like you're freezing or anything. You're just sort of room temperature. I think people think of it as cold because it's colder than they expect from somebody who looks human, but you're not actually cold at all. And you kind of warmed up eventually. I guess it's like snakes... have you ever held one? They feel kind of cold when you pick one up, but if you hold it for a while, they warm up."

"Uh... I've never held a snake, no."

She giggled again. "I guess that's one thing I have on you then. I love animals. I was always sad that I was never allowed to go out into the desert to look for them, but there are some that live in the cities, of course. I used to catch things and bring them home all the time. And my mother always insisted that I put them right back where I found them, she didn't like them so much."

David smiled. "You'll like it up here then, there are all kinds of animals around. I probably haven't even seen half the things that live in the forest here, I haven't really looked, except for the deer, and cows."

"Cows? Why would you look for cows?"

"For dinner," he said. "They're my food source, not entirely unlike they were for humans before hydroponics and protein goo."

Megan looked so confused that he couldn't help but laugh. "I live on blood, but I don't live on human blood. Mostly it's animal blood. Human blood is... different. It's not food so much as... hmm. I don't really have a word for what it is. There's a need, and if you don't fill it, you go kind of... crazy. I haven't seen it yet, but I was told that you lose the capacity for rational thought entirely. I gather the only reason there aren't mad vampires all over is that most of them can't remember to stay out of the sun, so they don't live long after that." He shrugged. "I only need human blood once a month or so, and no more than the tiny bit I took from you. So I'll be good there for a while yet. But tonight I really should feed, it's been a few days since I last did."

"Oh. I never really thought about it, but I guess it makes sense."

David nodded. "If vampires actually lived on human blood, the cities would have fallen by now, I suspect. There are so many of them... needing it every few nights, and not just once a month or so, they'd end up just killing everybody, I think."

"Yeah."

"I might as well go now. Do you need anything?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine for now. Maybe you can show me how to open those cans and make something to eat when you get back, but I'm not really hungry yet."

He nodded, going to the door, where he'd hung his cloak and hat on a peg there. He swirled the cloak around his shoulders, settled the hat on his head, and went out into the moonlight. As he moved quietly through the woods his thoughts wandered. Something was changing again. He felt that feeling of destiny, the way he'd felt it before he changed, hanging around him. I wish I knew what it meant. Heck, I'll settle for just knowing if it's only my own mind, my subconscious coming up with something I haven't figured out yet, or if it really is destiny, or fate. But I guess that's probably too much to ask.

He shook his head and moved deeper into the forest. Destiny would have to wait at least until after dinner.