He was laying on the grass in the middle of the clearing in front of the cabin with Aidan the next night, both of them looking up at the stars and Aidan teaching him the names of the constellations. The barrier lights in the city had largely washed out the stars, but here in the foothills they were clear and bright and beautiful.

"I wish I knew more of them," said Aidan, "but astronomy is a sadly dying science. Though it seems to be taking astrology with it, and that I can happily live without."

"What's astrology?"

"People used to think that the positions of the stars meant something, and that what star was highest in the sky when you were born determined what kind of person you would be, and what your destiny was. I think people found it comforting, the idea that everything was all set out from birth. They called that astrology."

"I don't think I'd like that. I... I feel right now like destiny, or fate, or whatever, is hanging over me, and I don't like the feeling."

"Dreams again?" said Aidan.

"Yeah." He stared at the sky for a while, no sound but a faint rustle of branches and a distant cricket chirp. "You said that dreams are just your own mind. Maybe... Either I'm fated, and fate is trying to make me do something, or it's just my own mind telling me what I want to do. Except what the dream seems to be saying is impossible. I think."

"I see. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know..." David sighed. There was another pause, then he asked, "What is it that makes you different from the other vampires? Why are they all evil, and you're not?"

"I think that telling you the story of how I changed my ways would not truly answer the question you meant to ask. I think it might serve better if I explained why vampires are the way they are. I was that way too once, you know. You wish to understand what it is about vampirism that makes a vampire evil, don't you?"

"Yes, that's exactly it. Why does becoming a vampire turn somebody into a monster?"

"Ah. But that is the great secret. It doesn't."

"What? But you've told me all these times that all other vampires are evil. If being a vampire doesn't make you a monster, then where are the good vampires?"

"There were good vampires, once. But I doubt there will be any more. You see, a vampire is what he is now because of what he was." Aidan paused, then shook his head. "Let me explain it another way. Do you know why some people get the vampire taint, but stay dead, and do not become vampires?"

"No. Nobody knows."

"No human knows, but at least some of the vampires have figured it out, myself among them. You see, vampirism is a choice. You don't simply die and wake up a vampire. There is a moment, in the instant of death, when you are offered a choice. It's not offered in words, there is no angel of death standing there making pronouncements, or anything so obvious, but you realize that there are two directions you can go. You can go backwards, cling to a miserable life in the chill darkness of your dead body, or you can let go and step forward, into peace, warmth, and light. And few indeed are the good people who would chose the darkness. Nobody decent selects Hell over Heaven. And so there are no good vampires. Once there were at least a few, people who chose to cling to life for good reasons, rather than selfish. And of course even now there are those who are merely petty, who fear death so deeply that they will embrace evil if it saves them from passing beyond. But there are few truly caring people who chose to live on the lifeblood of others merely to save themselves. Would any good and decent person in these times choose vampirism?"

"No...." David mulled this over slowly. It seemed to make sense. "What was it like for you," he asked, stricken with a sudden morbid curiosity, "when you changed?"

Aidan didn't answer for a long moment, and David said, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't pry."

"No, I don't mind. I was just remembering. It's been a long time. I tend towards the extremes. Now that I've decided to value honor and goodness, I'm honorable to a fault at times. As you may have noticed. But before... I sought it out, you know. I very deliberately tainted myself, and then killed myself to make it take effect. I wanted to be a vampire. I wanted power, and strength, and I wanted above all else to be feared. And I got it. When I awoke as a vampire it was glorious! And then, the terror I spread! Oh yes...." He trailed off, lost for a moment in dark memories. "Yes, they all feared me. But in the end it was hollow, and unsatisfying, and it couldn't get me the one thing I wanted above all else. You cannot terrify somebody into loving you. Love has to be earned in other ways."

"The orange-haired girl?"

Aidan sighed softly, regretfully. "Yes. I owe her the greatest debt of all. And that is something I need to speak to you about. There may come a time when I will have to leave here. Right now... I can't explain it. There is a sense of her, and I don't sense it. I'd know if she were here, because..." He paused. "No, that doesn't matter. The point is that when she comes, I will have to follow. I can't stay and protect you then." He sat up and looked down at David. "I'm pretty sure it won't be for some time yet." He chuckled softly. "I asked after her in the city as much out of habit as out of any real expectation of finding her. I didn't sense her there. But eventually I will. She must pass this way. And when the time comes for me to leave, I need to take you somewhere where you can be safe."

"I'm not sure I'd want to go live in a city again."

"Well you can't stay here! You might last a week, before the vampires realized I was gone, but then..." He shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay, you're right. It's just that going back to a city again feels somehow like giving up. Or giving in. Or something." He sat up and put his arms around his knees, staring pensively at the ground.