Choosing to say out of the Alliance, the Cinders are isolated in their own conflicts, and when Helia Cinder reaches to the void for answers, she inadvertently draws a creature out. Expecting to be eaten alive, she is instead left with a man with no...
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Across from him, Talamayas stood against a wall in one of the open bedrooms, blade in hand and that stupid smirk on his face, but his shoulders were no longer as sturdy as they were when this started. Wren had cut him a number of times, though the shallow wounds healed with his power quickly. A gash along his side had been deep enough that it would take some time, and the same could be said about one that rounded the side of his shoulder. Aside from the bite marks on his shoulder near his neck, Wren was uninjured.
And not because he was the better fighter.
Wren was as skilled as they came, so he'd seen Talamayas weaken his slashes to give him time enough to dodge, or shift his punches so they struck thicker muscle instead of his vital points. No matter how powerful Wren was, without his chains to puppet Talamayas, this was not an even match. All of the battle prowess and light magic mastery in the world didn't make a difference when the vampire had thirty pounds of muscle mass and warped magic that steamed his own flesh as he harnessed too much of it.
Talamayas Sol was like a wild beast.
One who wouldn't bite his pet.
"You're not fighting me in earnest." Wren spit the words with anger that had Talamayas' smirk dipping. No matter how he tried to pretend the vampire was just this bad, it was impossible, and the truth showed in Talamayas' crimson eyes as they sank to the sanded bricks instead of his opponent. "You were, at the start, but now you're just playing with me. Don't think I didn't notice. Are you a masochist or something? Is this fun to you? Watching me struggle with no hope of victory as I slowly wear myself down?"
"Not really fun," Talamayas muttered, lowering his blades of dark magic and rubbing the back of his short, ruffled hair. "You wanted to face me, and I accepted, but I can't find it in me to dominate you. It isn't an entirely fair fight, and you know that."Without your chains, you're not the general you used to be. I did not know they would be ineffective with our bond, so I feel poorly."
"No fun fighting a declawed wolf?" Wren scoffed, his own shoulders losing some of their tension, but not as much as Talamayas' did. At any moment, the man could spring at him, so Wren couldn't let down his guard. "Can I ask you something, in the spirit of fairness?" The anger of this whole situation dipped his voice to as near a hiss as he could manage.
"Ask anything, Wren." Talamayas was losing his threatening stance and demeanor, and Wren didn't know if he'd be able to fight him if he came at him with that adoration. Using the wall, Talamayas slipped to a cross-legged position on the floor. A taunt? Or was he really sitting to take a break?
"What did you do to my mind?" Wren's question was met with silence and a narrowing of Talamayas' eyes that said he did not understand. "What I mean is that I keep trying to kill you, striking for your weakest points, but I always veer away just before I land the blow. That gash on you shoulder should be your head on the floor and that cut to your side should have severed you through from the spine."
