David waited. There was no wind to send his cape fluttering, and no moonlight to gleam off of his drawn sword, only the diamond brilliance of the stars above and perfect silence in the desert below.

Then the silence was broken by the sound of footsteps. Slow, cautious footsteps, and David smiled grimly to know that just by being here he had already bought the fleeing humans that much more time.

He had positioned himself on top of a slope, and so he could see them all as they emerged from the darkness. Forty-eight vampires. Forty-six of them that he would have to fight, if it came down to it. They paused as they saw him framed against the stars. There was a murmur of voices, a feeling of tension. They knew who he was. And although he stood alone to their veritable army, he stood with such confidence that they could almost believe he could take them all.

David spoke softly. Their hearing was as keen as his own, he had no need to bluster or shout. "There are many of you, and only one of me. I can see you thinking it. And perhaps there are enough of you to kill me, but I promise you, the first to move within reach of my blade dies." He grinned then, a feral, wild grin. A not quite sane grin that caused a few of the vampires below to fall back a step. "And I keep my promises."

There was a tense silence. Then their leader shoved his way to the front of the crowd. "What are you waiting for, get him!" he said, radiating fury. The crowd stirred, but nobody stepped forward. Nobody wanted to be that first person, who was guaranteed death.

The leader snarled. He caught at the minds of his followers, and six of them stepped, clumsily, reluctantly, forward. David's grin widened. If six was the most he could force at once, well... six was easy. The attackers climbed the slope and attempted to surround David, but they had no chance. They were slow and clumsy and he didn't even need to call up the whirling muscle-memory speed attack, he simply killed them as they came, with easy, almost leisurely motions. They fell at his feet, six bodies, six heads. One of the heads rolled down the hill and came to a halt in front of the watching vampires. Several of them stepped back from it.

"There are six less of you now," said David. "I can keep killing you like that until you're all dead."

The leader reached out and grabbed David with his mind, with a force made that much stronger by his rage, but David merely ceased to exist for a moment, and slipped from his grip. The leader looked like he might explode in fury. He kicked the severed head in frustration, sending it spinning out into the darkness. "How are you doing that?!"

David only smiled.

The leader turned to his followers, screeched, "Kill him, or you'll all be punished severely!"

Safely anonymous in the crowd, a voice said "Why don't you kill him yourself?" David suppressed a laugh. He recognized that voice.

"Fine! You will all regret this greatly," he hissed at them. "I will kill him myself! You!" He pushed his way through the crowd, who all gave way before him, not wanting to be the object of his attentions any more than they wanted to face the Hunter. He stopped directly in front of Alek. "You have a sword, give it to me!"

Alek hesitated. But he reluctantly handed the sword over. If he refused he'd just be controlled and forced to do it anyhow. Dave can take him, he told himself.

The leader drew it, swung it through the air a few times, and nodded. He climbed the hill, angling to the side so that he wouldn't be directly downhill of David when he met him. David could have moved to block him, but he was content enough to let this play out. Every minute was that much more time for the humans to reach the safety of the road train.