The trip was a short one, with two vampires to carry the two humans. The return trip might, perhaps, take a little longer.

David sent Megan and Jeff together into the city. "And you might as well just bring him back with you this time," he told Megan with a smile. "It'll be easier if I can talk to him in person, and you have this habit of doing so anyway. Though if he doesn't want to come, I wouldn't be surprised. You know enough about what we need, and about our cause, to explain it to him."

Megan nodded.

At the very next sundown Megan and Jeff were waiting when David and Mack came out of the bolt hole. And beside Megan stood Alek, looking a little nervous in the darkness. As David had said, he was the kind of person who made connections, got to know people, and people got to know him. So it hadn't taken long at all for Megan and Jeff to find him.

"Alek," said David.

"David," Alek nodded. "Good to see you again."

David chuckled. "Do you really mean that, or are you just being polite?"

Alek snorted. "Yeah, I mean it. Mostly. But enough jabbering. Your friends here tell me you're looking for somebody to join you."

David nodded. "It turns out that we really need three. Two is much better for hunting the vampires, but somebody has to stay behind, and guard our donors. I don't want to have to go back to taking from everybody I save. As the vampires get more scarce, or at least more shy, the victims are kind of drying up too, anyhow."

Alek nodded. "Yeah, I can see that. Are there any special requirements you're looking for?"

David shook his head. "Just the one, they have to be willing to become a vampire, to die once, and then to risk dying again fighting other vampires. I figure that's a tall enough order for you to find, without being picky about it."

Alek blew out a long breath. David noticed that he seemed even more nervous, his heart rate was way up. "All right then. I've found you somebody already. I'll do it."

David blinked. "What, you?"

"Hey, don't look so surprised!" Alek glowered at him.

"But... why?"

A range of expressions crossed Alek's face in rapid succession, then he sighed. "Look. I was a wuss. I know it. I liked to swagger around, and was so proud of beating up people in alleys, but I always knew, under it, that I was a pussy about everything. That's why I always ran with gangs, because I didn't have the guts to beat up somebody on my own. And I'm sure you knew that too. Man, I hated you! You never wussed out, you always just stood us down, even when there was three of us to your one. I hated that so much! And I thought, when I got you exiled, that getting one over on you at last would just be the best thing ever. I'd be able to feel all brave, because I'd finally beat you, the one person who'd never backed down to me.

"But it wasn't like that. At first, a little, yeah. But then I just felt guilty. And more like a wuss than ever, because I hadn't really beaten you myself. It was just chance, you know? I didn't do anything. Hell, like you said, you saved my life, probably. I'd have been vampire bait. And I kept seeing your family around, it was like they were following me! And man did I ever feel guilty about that! They were all so sad-looking after you went.

"Then I got exiled, and it seemed kind of like I was getting what was coming to me. When you turned up on the road, I really thought that I was getting what was coming to me! And I was scared. I'd never been scared like that. And then what do you do but save my life again! So then I was guilty, and I owed you my life. I felt like crap. I was the biggest pussy ever, and I knew it. But..." he heaved a deep sigh. "You asked me, you know, for blood. And man! It scared me half to death. But I owed you. I owed you big time, and I couldn't think of any way to back down. So I did it. And you know, it was the first time ever that I'd been really scared, and hadn't wussed out.

"It felt good, to have done it, finally. To have done something like that, something that really needed doing, and to have ballsed up and not backed down. It felt like I wasn't a wuss, that I really was the tough guy I had just pretended to be before. I guess I decided then that I wanted to clean up my act some. I never even beat up anybody in an alley the whole time I've been here in Wind City." He grinned. "Imagine that! I've nearly gone legit.

"But that's not the end of it. I think I was still guilty. Giving you a little blood, when it didn't even hurt me, that wasn't anything, really, compared to what you'd done. And it got even worse, because in Wind City you're a hero. The radio broadcasts it whenever somebody turns up with a new story of something you did, somebody you saved. And there's always rumors, and talking. And yeah, some people think that no vampire could ever be good, but most of 'em... most of 'em practically idolize you, I think. That made me feel even lower. I was just a pussy, who'd only manned up the once. You were a hero, and you'd manned up dozens of times, fighting all these vampires. I wanted to hate you, but you really had saved all those people, and me too. I couldn't.

"And then your friends here turn up and say that you want somebody to join you. I'll tell you, for a while there I was just going to try and pass along the word, but... no. This is my chance. I've envied you. I envied you even back home. I wanted to have the kind of guts you've got, and I want to even more now. I don't know if I ever will, and I'm nearly shaking in my shoes this scares me so much, but I don't care. I got up the guts to do something that scared me nearly as much once, and it was the best feeling. I figure if I do this, even if I just distract 'em while you kill 'em, or whatever, I'll finally have... I dunno, I'll have made it. I won't be a wuss any more. I'm sick of always being scared."

David had stood silent while Alek poured out his story. Now he said, softly, "Alek... if you're sure, we'll take you. But you have to be sure. You can't go back, once you've changed."

Alek shrugged. "I can't go back anyhow. My home is in Georgetown, and that's gone. I thought I was gonna' die when I got exiled. Every day since then has been a bonus, I figure. So I'm in."

David grinned. "Well, welcome to the Hunters then."

Mack slapped Alek on the back, staggering the much smaller man. "I think you'll get on with us just fine."