The Sol leader had returned after being gone for the entire night, and Stone watched him with fascination. Ghost had passed out as soon as the sun had risen, but it had no effect on him. Unfortunately, with his brother asleep, he didn't know how to disengage the magic they'd been playing around with. Talamayas had been distracted for the past few days, so Ghost and he had explored their connection to each other, seeing just how far it reached, and Stone had found that he could funnel their energy somewhere else.
Where, he had no idea.
Either way, when he did so, it hid them from sight and sensation. They'd walked among the Sol generals and guards and none had been able to perceive them, though they could hear them if they made sound. Both of them were light though, so walking in silence was easy as he hovered close to the man that had taken them in. It had never been his intention to spy, but it was fortuitous that he could find out what he really wanted.
No vampire had altruistic motives.
In his arms, Talamayas held a boy that made Stone salivate, and he shook off the hunger as he realized the boy was a vampire. The face and size had made him think of Neil, the human boy from before, but the coloring was all wrong. White had replaced the sheen of sunshine hair, and fangs stretched past his lips as he rolled over in his sleep as if he were in pain. Stone slid in closer to look. So it was the human boy who'd been so excited to spend time here, but he was now a monster. Or... not a monster, according to Talamayas, a vampire.
For all the muscles he had, Talamayas was gentle as he carried the boy to another room and set him down on a bench in the washroom. Talamayas stripped away his clothes and dark red stained his front below his face, smelling of blood, human blood, and Stone cringed. Ghost had killed both humans in their cell the day they'd been changed, ravenous after losing his own blood to save him from the abyss.
Neil had to be suffering as well, and it showed in the way he trembled even in his sleep as Talamayas eased him into a tub to slowly work the blood off of his skin. It was a slow, gentle process to wash the blood off of the boy, and Talamayas did it with care before drying, dressing, and laying him down on the bed to sleep. Lifting a single hand, Talamayas moved to touch him and hesitated for a moment. Why, Stone wasn't sure, but after a moment Talamayas straightened a few loose hair and moved them behind the boy's ear before he stood and left the room.
Just outside the room, Shan Sol took up sentry at the door, and Talamayas called to the nearest pair of guards. "Did you find the twins some place to sleep?" was the first thing Talamayas asked, and it warmed Stone that the man thought of them first. It shouldn't. Surely the man just wanted to use them in some manner.
"They..." the guard fumbled on his words, and Talamayas craned an eyebrow. "They disappeared, sir. We aren't sure when or to where, but we can't find them."
"I see," Talamayas said with a frown.
"Do you want us to search for them?" the man asked.
"No. If they don't want to be here, there is nothing I can do. Allow them passage if they return, but don't hunt them. Vampires already did them wrong, and I won't be added to that list."
Stone's heart skipped as he listened to the man. Even if they ran, he had no intention of hunting them but would still welcome them here. What sort of vampire did things like that? There was no benefit to this vampire from allowing them to come and go freely, and Talamayas had recognized the cruelty his own kind had inflicted on him and his brother and understood.
"Do you really think that wise, Talamayas?" Shan asked, the man who was always at Talamayas' side with long black hair and hardened pitch eyes. "Their ability to break through magic inhibitors makes them unbelievably powerful... and dangerous if they turned on you." This one sounded more as Stone would expect, self-interested in wanting them for power, and dangerous to them if they refused.
"Do you think they'll just excitedly agree to confinement here, Shan?" Talamayas asked and his general frowned. "How would I hold them?" Talamayas laughed, and Stone jumped.
The small sound drew both Talamayas' and Shan's eyes, but they dismissed it and continued on. Shan remained on Neil's door, and Talamayas headed down one of the hallways. As silently as he could manage, Stone followed. They descended down so many levels and narrow staircases that Stone could barely keep up with Talamayas. At the bottom of the last, he was excited to go no further, but then cold rushed through his veins as he saw where they'd stopped. There were cells ahead and a human in one of them.
There are no slaves here.
Talamayas had lied. Stone's lips rolled back into a snarl that he had to cut off before it sounded. That would give him away. No matter how impressive his powers were to this man, Stone had no doubt that he'd perish in a straight fight. All he could do was watch.
Talamayas opened the cell, but the human was sleeping much as his brother did when the sun rose. If the human was used to rising and slumbering on a vampire's schedule it made sense that he'd be passed out now. It didn't deter Talamayas as he crouched in front of him and inhaled deeply of the man's scent.
Was he going to feed from him?
That was usually the reason any of the monsters had inhaled around humankind, desire for blood, touch, and other things that he'd care not to name. What was this man to Talamayas, and why was he shackled in a dungeon below? This place reeked of old blood and Stone doubted the human was down here to be fed from exclusively.
Talamayas sat down on the dungeon floor, right in the water that coated it, and placed himself between the man and the bars he'd been leaning against. They hadn't looked too comfortable against his face, and the precision with which Talamayas replaced himself with the bars kept the man unconscious. Then he just sat there.
Stone didn't know what he was doing, but Talamayas sat there for some time, just staring out at the bars and occasionally leaning into the man next to him and inhaling his scent as if he were trying to figure something about him out. That lasted nearly an hour before the human jerked in his sleep and woke screaming. Terror shined in the prisoner's grey eyes as he fell onto his hands and searched the walkway in front of the cells.
Finding it empty, he let out a ragged breath and fell onto his elbows as he slowed his breathing and allowed his heart to calm. It did little good in the long run. As soon as the human turned back to return to sleep, he saw Talamayas sitting in the corner with his arms crossed, and he really trembled.
"N-no," the man said, backing into the bars on the other side, but his chains didn't allow him to get as far as he wanted. "What did I do?" he rasped, pulling his hands in and shaking his head as if he could dispel the man. "Please... forgive me... hurt me, just don't touch me again."
Touch? Touch had never meant anything good in the slave breeders' compounds, and Stone had to shake the horrible memories of being dragged to a private room away. His stomach turned as he watched the two of them, and Talamayas growled low at the human as he remained far from him.
"Why?" Talamayas asked, and Stone didn't see what about that request was confusing.
The human didn't answer for the reason Stone imagined one might not. What could one even say to that? Saying they didn't want to be touched would just get them beaten at the farm. Or laughed at. It was worse when they'd laughed, their eyes hollow of morality as they stripped them of their dignity.
"Why did you cry?" Talamayas asked, and the human opened and closed his mouth with a confused groan. "I didn't harm you, merely touched your face and you seemed more terrified than when I burned you flesh off. What did I do? Does my mere presence make you sick?"
"How can you ask that?" the human rasped. "Do you really think me down here just daydreaming about your next visit?" the man scoffed, gaining more strength than Stone had expected. "I don't care if you like men, but I'm not interested in doing that with you. I suppose I can't stop you from forcing me, but I won't take it lying down. Maybe if I struggle it will be rough enough to kill me, so at least I'll finally be rid of you!"
Talamayas didn't look like he'd heard anything past the word men. Something in his expression had twisted, and Stone got the idea that the human had misunderstood something Talamayas had done. The growing disgust that formed on his face didn't look like that of guilt from a captor who'd tried to force himself on a slave. It looked like rage that the man would think that at all.
The motion was so fast it was a flash, and Talamayas grabbed the human's throat and crushed him into the hard stone of the cell floor. Squeezing, Tala growled, but the human didn't fight as his breath was choked off. In fact, the man looked so satisfied that Tala let him go and threw him into a corner. It took the man's breath away, and Talamayas stormed out of the cell and up the stairs.
Word count: 1708