Aidan didn't waste any more time, he took to the air again and winged his way across the forest. On foot Balford was nearly a day's journey away, but he made it in a matter of hours. It was only mid morning when he landed in the center of the town. Here he got no suspicious looks. No one here knew who, or what, he was. And few people think "vampire" when they see somebody out by daylight. There was a town hall here as well, with a sign on the front, and the door stood open. He stepped inside. There was a desk immediately inside the door, with a young man sitting behind it.

"Excuse me. I'm looking for the orphanage. Do you know where it is?"

The man looked up. "Sure. Just go east down the trade road from here about three blocks, and it's on the left, very easy to find."

"Thank you."

He strode quickly down the street. This town was indeed much larger than Stonewood. Many of the buildings were made with brick rather than wood, though he had to wonder at that. When you live in the center of a massive forest, why go to all the trouble to get brick, when wood is so easy to come by? He shrugged off the thought.

The orphanage was one of the brick buildings, a two-story cube, plain and not particularly pretty. He knocked on the front door. After a moment a woman answered, in her mid-thirties most likely, with brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing a plain dress, and her face was the sort of face that frowns more readily than it smiles.

"Yes?"

"Excuse me. I'm looking for a boy named Damien."

She surveyed him with sudden suspicion, and he had to hold back a sigh. She'd been told about him.

"And why, exactly, are you looking for this boy?"

With a kind of weary resignation he said, "Because he's my son, and I want to take him home. He doesn't belong here."

She snorted. "He belongs here more than he belongs with you."

Aidan did sigh then. "Please ma'am. I don't know what you've been told about me, but I would never hurt him. He's my son. I love him"

That provoked another snort. "I have been told about you, yes. And thank heavens I was! You are an unnatural creature, and I am not sending a helpless child with you."

"Please!" Aidan felt frustration building. All he wanted was to take his son home with him! "I'm not a creature, I'm a person. I'm a father, and I want my son!"

"Dad?" Aidan's eyes flicked behind the woman in the doorway. Inside a group of children were filing past in a neat line. But one of them broke away from the line and ran towards him.

"Damien!"

Then a man ran up and caught the boy, picked him up and carried him out of sight. Aidan could hear him yelling. "No! I want my father! Let me go!" His heart was nearly breaking. He wanted nothing more than to run in, to take his son. But if he started a fight, he might hurt someone, might even kill someone. He couldn't bear it if that happened.

"Ma'am..." His expression was pleading. "He wants to be with me. I want to take care of him. Why are you so determined to separate a child from his father?"

"You know perfectly well, why," she said with a glare. "I take good care of all the children here, and I am not sending a child with a vampire. Good day." And she slammed the door in his face.

He wanted to just sink down in the street and cry. All he wanted was to be with his son. And no one would believe that he could possibly love a child, and not want to hurt him, simply because he happened to drink blood for his food. He sighed deeply and turned back to the street. With a leap he took to the air. He had hoped... but it seemed that he was going to have to do things the hard way.