It was not quite two weeks later when Mack finally managed to not only hit David, which feat he'd accomplished by the end of the first day, but to actually take him down. "And right here's where I'd break your neck if you were one of those bastards," he said with a triumphant grin. He let go of David's head and just sat on the smaller vampire. David levered himself up, dumping Mack off. Mack laughed and sprawled back in the grass.

"I'm going to be sore after this," said David. "You did great. I think you're ready to fight, at least physically. Mentally..." He shook his head.

"Look, you're really good at this mental stuff," said Mack. "I'm not, that's just all there is to it. You say that most vampires are at least no better than I am, and that's as good as it's going to get."

David sighed. "I guess so. I just can't help but worry. But you should be fine. You're certainly stubborn enough to fend off most of them."

"It's time to hunt then," said Mack with an eager grin.

David grinned back, the excitement contagious. "Yes. It's time to hunt."

Megan and Jeff had wanted to get a few things that they could only find in the cities, including Megan's supplements, so David and Mack wouldn't be leaving them alone this time. Instead they would escort them to Georgetown, to stay for a week while the vampire pair hunted.

"Say hello to Mom for me," said David to Megan as he left her outside the city lights.

"I will," she said.

The human pair waved, and the two vampires vanished into the darkness.

"What first?" asked Mack as they ran.

"I think we should make a sweep along the road to Wind City first, that's the easiest. If we don't find anything there, we can start south, go to Sagebrush, see what's about. If that doesn't net us anything, I might see about trying to turn up a lair, I know there have to be some on the eastern side of the road. I've crossed and recrossed the western side too much, there's nothing there, at least not unless it's a good bit further south. The country to the east is a little more rugged, so that makes sense. And there are caves, lava tubes all over there. At least that's what Megan told me. She knows the most surprising things! But for now, Wind City."

The wind blew into their faces as they ran, and David more or less turned his mind off, just running, letting his eyes and feet connect directly without any intervention from his brain.

"Whoa." Mack skidded to a halt, and David stopped just a bit past him.

"What?"

"You kind of... faded out there for a minute. I mean, I could only just barely sense you."

David blinked. "Interesting. I was just kind of... dunno. Zoning out and not thinking about anything. I do it a lot when I'm running. I've always liked to run. I liked it even before I became a vampire and could run like this. I just sort of stop thinking, and let my feet go."

"And you've mostly been alone, so there was nobody to notice you fading out."

"When Aidan was with me, I was still too new to moving like this to be able to do it automatically. So yeah." He nodded. "I'll have to remember that, it might come in handy some day. But we should get going again."