Both men who approached had dirt for hair, much darker than Trent's but also short cut around their ears in a military cut. Their features were square and hardened by years of war and fighting. These two were active on the battlefield in slaughtering the mages and bathing in their blood, no doubt.

"Thel Steel, I did not expect to see you here, less with Deandre Rift. How are you related?" Neil asked, petting her hair, and she groaned happily to be in a calm position for once. It was really soothing.

Thel Steel was the house head of the Steel's, a decently powerful vampire house from the south. They did not have the same numbers as the bigger houses like the Shades, Arcs, or Fleurs, but they had a powerful leader and generals. Thel had also not been present up until now, so something had to have changed to make him show his hand.

"Deandre communicated to me the happenings of today's meeting. I found it... interesting. Your father would have never handled himself so well in a room of his peers, nor defied their lust for blood for stability and order. I was intrigued and, quite frankly, excited by the direction Angelus is heading in."

"At least one of is." Neil growled in distaste, dropping Thel's smile. "Your members loathe each other more than they're motivated for our cause. I can only stitch them together as a bandage, but they'll tear apart if tested."

"Yes," Thel said. "Most of our armies are Lorenzo's, which is a problem if we want anything... committed done. That is why I came to you. Vincent had spiderwebs everywhere to his allies, but when you killed him, you severed them. If you can bring them back, we can have the power necessary to subdue Lorenzo into submitting completely to our rule."

"I have no connection to my father's allies. You don't want them anyway," Neil said sharply, and Thel frowned with disapproval. "But if you want an army and a house who has no reservation about killing their enemies, I have an ally I think you will like."

"Oh?"

"You know Talamayas Sol. The man loathed my father, and in killing him I made an unlikely ally. His armies are larger than mine, stronger than any, and ruthless as they come. Not to mention that Talamayas is the most straightforward vampire in the Northern Alliance. The man doesn't believe in backstabbing because front stabbing is more fun. All he wants are subjects to torture, so if I promise him bodies, he will aid us for his own pleasure. Would that be... sufficient?"

Silvia wasn't sure she'd ever seen a man's eyes glitter with such lust for power, and she shivered against Neil's legs, drawing the Thel's eyes immediately.

"If you can bring him into Angelus, that will satisfy all of our needs. You do keep strange company though." Thel growled at her.

Neil chuckled. "You are worried about her being the infiltrator." Neil brushed his hand over her hair, and she cringed as he did so, waiting for his act to take over his gentleness.

"Aren't you?" Thel inquired.

"No." Neil smiled ear to ear. "I keep a tight leash on her, and she knows what happens when she fails." Neil uncovered her back, revealing the crisscrossed layer of scars that now marred it. "She also knows how I pamper her when she performs well. She brought me two prominent house heirs, just a line shy of inheritance. If the true heirs fall, they will lead, and we have our foothold. If she ever even thinks of betraying me, I will give her to Talamayas. The man loves a good mage to strip bare of their outsides."

"He certainly does." Thel didn't look convinced about her.

"Are you loyal to me, Silvia Copse?" Neil pulsed the darkness of his allure into her as he pulled her up to his lips.

"Yes, Master Neil," Silvia said into them, and he purred as he slid his nose down her neck.

"Do you want me?" Neil continued, licking the wound on her neck.

"Always, Master Neil." She gasped as he sucked on her neck.

"Would you ever betray me?" Neil hissed, gripping her throat with his hand as he lifted his face back to hers.

"No, never, Master Neil." Silvia choked out under his hand.

"See, you have nothing to worry about, Thel. The woman likes what I give her, and she is loyal. After all, she still has to prove herself to me, and I need a liaison to send to Talamayas, a tribute if I could call it something. The man likes to be gifted things, and if he gets a taste of what I have to offer, he will come readily."

"That's a cruel fate for the girl," Thel said darkly, but his smirk crawled up his face.

"Silvia knows the price she has to pay for what she wants. I doubt Talamayas will kill my gift. The man likes to play, not murder. It's no fun if his toys die. It's more like lending her to him until he arrives back with her."

"Will you obey and sate Talamayas' lusts so he will join us?" Neil asked.

"Yes, Master Neil," Silvia croaked, but tears dripped from her eyes.

Talamayas Sol wasn't just any vampire. He was the ruling head of the desert clan of the north. He was well known to the mages as a torturer, preferring burning his prisoners alive, healing them, and then repeating the process. The man was downright deranged, but he was isolated in the battlegrounds, surrounded by a desert with frequent sandstorms that kept his territory and his castle impenetrable by outsiders. Few knew the way in, and those who did would die before giving that info away. Even if they could infiltrate, they could lead a few, not an army. It would only be more bodies for Talamayas to torture.

Why did Neil want her to go to a man like that?

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"You're frightened," Neil said, sitting across from her at the desk in his study.

The man had a fourth of a castle to occupy if he wanted but they were stuffed into his meeting room for her departure. Here, they could touch, even if he couldn't verbally reassure her. Silvia wasn't sure there was anything he could say anyway. Talamayas had quite the reputation, just like the Arcs, but his was accurate. The man had tortured corpses to prove his depravity.

"I am a little nervous, Master Neil. The way you described Master Talamayas and what I know of him are quite terrifying."

"Talamayas is my closest ally. I need someone who will have my back and bring strength to this organization," Neil was writing a letter of introduction on his desk for Talamayas so that he'd know the reason for her being there. Closing it, he sealed the small white envelope with protective magic. If the wrong person opened it, it would incinerate the contents.

Silvia was unsure if Neil meant that he needed someone who would turn on Angelus with him, or if he needed to bring this vampire in to perish with Angelus when they turned on them with the Shades and the mages. Talamayas had never been an ally of the Arcs to Neil's telling.

"Tala is a little..." Neil rubbed his temples having a hard time finding words. "Over the top, I guess. The man can get a little handsy, but he will serve his purpose here. Tell him you were sent from me immediately, and he won't get too bad."

That was reassuring. Like she needed another vampire getting handsy. Style had been enough for her entire life time, and now she had to deal with a guy who relished torture. She was at least dressed in more clothes, meant to shield her from the heat and sand as she walked. Most of it just plopped off for her normal blood slave clothes though, so it wasn't like she was dressed.

Neil came around the desk and pressed the letter into her hand, hugging her against him and inhaling against her hair. "Go, Silvia, prove you are committed to me, and when Talamayas comes here, you will get what you desire, just like the rest of us."

Silvia leaned back and tried to smile, but it fell away to nervousness. "As you command, Master Neil."

They left the office and he led her to the open area in his room. There, he formed a transportation spell, but she would never be ready for this. She was pretty sure Neil knew that, and he gave her one last smile before he pressed his hand to the spell on the ground.

"Demand to see Tala directly when you arrive. They will take you to him."

As soon as the last word left his lips, she was transported to a completely different world. Wind whipped sand and dry heat against her and she wanted to find cover. There was some sort of sandstorm going on like there was most of any given year. She pinned the face mask over her mouth, but didn't make it a step into the desert before two vampires flanked her. It wasn't like she could travel on her own anyway.

The vampires were hard to make out against their getups that blended in with the sand, wrapping them in folds of fabric and covering all but their eyes. One had onyx eyes that flashed hostilely and the other a cool blue that was harder than the glaciers at the poles.

"I demand to be taken to your master. I want to speak with Talamayas Sol," she said, tucking her eyes down as the wind picked up.

They grabbed her arm, shackled her wrists, and dragged her forward, but she knew they would oblige. In vampire culture, demanding to be taken before a house head was a death sentence, but one they allowed and respected.

They led her through an ungodly amount of transportation spells. Each led to the next and then the next, winding through the Sol territory in a labyrinth, navigating huge pillars of anti-magic that prevented direct travel. They hummed as they passed, giant rocks that jutted from the ground, inscribed with a canceler spell.

No wonder no one ever got to him.

She stumbled up the stairs to a castle twice Neil's in height that climbed up a rock face in the desert and was built into a ledge that curled around a steep cliff at the front. The sand spun around it, showing only lights that flickered from the windows like the ghosts of the people who'd perished within its walls. They gave her no time to linger more than the quick glance and dragged her in the door.

In a room much like Neil's own greeting room, as customary, three thrones stood at the top of an elevated dais with two stairs to the top. The guards threw her on her knees, and she cried out more from fear than the pain. The white marble floor–swirled with golden-grey streaks–sure hurt like hell, but her skin being peeled and burned off as she screamed would be worse. It took all her strength to look up at the man.

Talamayas Sol.

"This mage entered our territory demanding to speak to you, Talamayas." The vampire that had brought her in said, and she swallowed hard as she met with the crimson eyes of the Sol leader.

The man was a dessert dweller with short dark hair that was styled in a whip of black that just tickled his forehead, and his eyes were pools of blood. It was strange to see a vampire with such tan skin, the color of sand charred by the sun. After she'd spent so much time with Neil, who was pale as a saltine, she'd though all vampire were ghosts. They must retain their skin pallor from when they were humans.

While his dark hair tickled his ears around his face, it tied back behind his head. The long tail of it rolled over his shoulder and down his golden vest that revealed half his chest and all of his muscled arms. What was worse was the brutal look in his molten eyes. They were so stark against the rest of him, and warped with glee at her detention.

His guards frisked her, removing her outwear until she was left in nothing but her normal blood slave clothes. One found Neil's letter and went to Talamayas. Bending to a knee, the man handed it to him, and their leader turned it in his hands as he stood and stepped down in front of her.

"I am bringing a message from Angelus to–" Silvia's words were cut off as Talamayas moved like lightning and grabbed her face with his hand. With how hard his finger bones dug into her face and smothered her mouth, she couldn't get another sound out.

"I didn't say you could speak," Talamayas said, grazing her with his eyes. "A letter from Angelus?" Talamayas fingered it and then slid it into his pocket, elevating Silvia's heartbeat. "I don't like reading. It's boring, not at all as interesting as music. What type do you prefer?" Talamayas asked, leaning forward with an ear to ear smile, showing his fangs in a promising manner. "I prefer the shrill timbre of a woman's screams."

No. She'd chosen the wrong few words to start with. Neil had told her to tell Talamayas that he'd sent her, but she'd expected to get at least one sentence out. He'd cut her off before she could utter Neil's name, and no matter how she shook and struggled in his hands, he wouldn't release her mouth.

"Perhaps if you sing, it will get me in the mood for a story and I'll read your letter."

Something dark twisted on Talamayas' face, and his hand left her face only to grab her sides with a pair of burning hands. It was impossible to say anything to save herself as heat and pain spiked in either side of her stomach, and true to his request, she screamed.

It burned and her insides felt like he was twisting her intestines in knots and popping her kidneys. The smell of her own flesh sizzling choked her, and the only reason she hadn't collapsed yet was because he was holding her up. All the while, he bore blood-red eyes into hers with malice and a deranged smirk until he let her go.

And she fell.

On the ground, she couldn't even croak a sound as she shook in what she thought were likely convulsions. All she'd gotten was half a sentence, and she hadn't said Neil's name fast enough. Tears dripped down her face as the pain finally took her, the last sound she heard, the unfolding of paper.

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Word Count: 2481