Damien was silent again for a while, thinking. "I think I could do that."

"I'm sure you could," said Aidan. "If a little runt like me can do it, anybody can."

Damien gave him another disbelieving look. "You're not a runt."

"Sure I am. I'm only taller than you because you're just eight. When you're grown you'll probably tower over me. Everybody else does. I used to get teased about it all the time, but I don't mind so much any more."

"The other kids tease me too. They call me names. They..." he trailed off and looked over at Aidan. "They make fun of my wings, and they call me 'bastard' because I don't have a dad."

Aidan flinched. "I'm sorry. It's not your fault I can't stay here and be a real father for you, and you shouldn't have to suffer because of me. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I know your other kids are more important than I am."

Aidan flinched again, looking pained. He put his hand on Damien's shoulder. "Damien, they're not more important. I care about you just as much as I care about any of them. You're my son, even if I can't be here for you. But I love my wife too much, I can't leave her. I like your mother, she's a good friend, but she's not my wife. I wish I could stay here and be with you, I really do. I'm sorry."

"Maybe you could come more often?" said Damien.

Aidan sighed. "I should. None of my excuses for not coming more often are really any good. I'm sorry."

Damien giggled. "Mom was right, you say 'I'm sorry' too much."

Aidan reddened. "Heh. Yeah, I suppose I do. Guess I shouldn't say that I'm sorry for doing it though, should I?"

Damien giggled again.

There was another long, comfortable silence. Aidan had carved something that might, if one were being charitable, look like a dog's head, or possibly a duck, on the end of his stick. Damien had turned about half of his into splinters. After quite a long time he looked over at Aidan and said, "What is it really like?" That odd intensity was back in his eyes.

"What is what really like?"

"Being... well.... you know, being dead."

"I'm not really 'dead' but I get what you mean." He looked at Damien. The boy seemed to really want to know. "I don't know if I can explain it. Mostly it's just like being alive is, I'm not all that different. Sometimes it's really different, but it's hard to describe."

"If it's not all that different, then why do people make such a big deal about it?"

"Why do people make a big deal about you having wings? People don't always like anything that's different, even if it's not much. Aerians are different. Vampires are different. And some vampires are very, very evil. They've done things that have given the rest of us a bad reputation."

"Like what?"

Aidan shrugged. He wasn't going to go into graphic detail for the boy, but trying to shelter him from even the idea of evil would be futile. "Killing people. Torturing people and then killing them. Taking blood from people who were unwilling. Turning people who didn't want to be into vampires too."

"Is that what happened to you?"

Aidan nodded. "Yes."

"Were you... were you afraid, when it happened?"

Aidan thought back to that night, and he felt a shiver go through him. He shifted his wings with a soft rustle of feathers. "Yes. More than I've ever been afraid of anything. It still scares me sometimes. I had nightmares about it for a long time after."

Damien was silent for a long time. Then he asked, "Did it hurt?"

"Yes. Pretty badly. Though mostly it wasn't physical pain. It was emotional pain."

"Huh?"

"It hurts, in a way, when somebody teases you, right?" Damien nodded. "Well, when a vampire bites somebody, it makes a kind of connection. The vampire can feel what you are feeling, and you can feel what he is feeling. If you both like each other, then that can be very nice. I've bitten your mother before, and I don't think she minded it." He smiled. The pain of that memory was very nearly gone by now. He still wouldn't have done it, if he had it to do over, but if he hadn't done it, he never would have had Damien, and he would regret not having the boy almost as much as he regretted betraying his wife. "But if the vampire who bites you hates you, then you can feel that too, and it hurts. It hurts the way getting teased hurts, only even more."

"That's really weird."

Aidan laughed. "Yeah, it is."