Stone remained as the human rubbed his throat, straining to breathe, and then he fell forward onto his knees to cry. It was so pitiful that Stone couldn't resist opening his cell door and going in to get a closer look. The man noticed the door opening and crunched closer into the corner when he couldn't find anyone to have done so.

"You are a prisoner?" Stone asked, and the man spun around to the ghost voice.

"Yes," he whispered into the air, his bright red hair whipping with him and falling over one eye.

"Why?" Stone had to know why this human was down here, why Talamayas seemed to want to be close to him. What about this man deserved such restraints and isolation in the dark?

"I killed the Sol Mother," the man said, dropping his head.

"Monsters can have mothers?" Stone asked, and the word lifted the prisoner's eyebrows and quelled a bit of his fear.

"You don't belong to Talamayas?" the man asked.

"No. Not yet. I was invited to stay, but I wanted to know more about him. What do you mean by mother?"

"A mother is a mother," the man smiled, and it lightened his pain-stricken face significantly. "She birthed him as a human, I hear, and after she was changed, she became the Sol Mother. It's a title for the female vampire who sires new additions to a family. Female sires nearly guarantee the change is successful for males, and greatly reduces the risk for females, who the change is abnormally perilous with"

"Why did you kill her?" Stone asked, still unsure of who was in the wrong here. If Stone had known his mother, he was sure he would kill anyone that touched her. Why then was this human still alive?

"I didn't mean to," the human said. "My magic is poisonous to vampires, and I was startled by her. I reacted to defend myself and took her life in the process."

"For that, Talamayas keeps you down here?" Stone asked, and the man nodded.

Accident or not, this man had taken someone Talamayas loved and he had every right to have his vengeance, but it hadn't looked like vengeance was what Talamayas had wanted earlier. The man had looked lonely.

"Are you already a vampire?" the human asked, and Stone sighed.

"I was changed not more than a few days ago," Stone admitted, and the human stuffed himself into the wall for safety. "Oh, you needn't fear. My change didn't go right, so I hunger for the wrong type of blood."

"The wrong... type? You said that Talamayas invited you to join his house? I thought if a bloodline changed you, you belonged to them."

"Yes, but I was not changed by a house. I was bred in a human farm. I fled from them and accidentally ended up here. Talamayas has been nice enough to take me in and offer me a home, a family, he says, but I don't know what to believe."

"Take him up on the offer," the human said, and Stone was surprised when a smile spread on the man's dry lips.

"Why would you say that when he keeps you locked down here? I can smell the blood, so I know he hurts you. How can you say that I should stay here?" Stone didn't understand at all. Where was the malice?

"I took someone innocent from him," the human said with a sigh. "I deserve to be here, but you are asking about Talamayas himself. While Talamayas is vicious to his enemies, the man has shown decency when he could have been crueler to my people. If you are one of his own, he will stop at nothing to keep you happy and safe, and if you fall, you know that the one who struck you down will suffer and perish. It's quite hard to explain, but I am surprised time and again the more I exist down here. Talamayas is loyal, and he can be as cruel as he can be kind. Were we not on different sides of the same war, we might have been friends."

"War?" Stone asked, and the man really laughed then.

"You know nothing, do you?"

"I'm s-sorry," Stone sputtered in embarrassment.

"I'm not a normal human. I'm a mage, a magic wielding human. My people fought against Talamayas' killing your kind for no other reason than what they were. We believed them to have no soul, no capacity for things like kindness, love, nor sadness, but I have seen Talamayas grieve. It is something he does not show to his people, but when he wakes in the day haunted by memories of his mother's death, he comes down here. Inflicting pain on me eases him to some capacity, but he still cries, screams at the cruel fate reality has left him with, and suffers just as any human would.

"Not all mages are as extreme as my people were, but if you are alone, you will be hunted by mages regardless of who you are and what you do. Talamayas is honorable as a man, fierce and powerful as a leader, and has compassion for his people, so I can think of no better place for you to be if you need a place to belong."

Stone was silent for a moment as he tried to figure this man out. For an enemy of vampire kind, he sure was friendly and spoke highly of the man who tortured and scared the living hell out of him by just being there. It was strange to see a man who was terrified of and was tortured by another but did not hate them for it.

"Do you want me to free you?" Stone asked with a wisp of breath, and the man's grey eyes snapped up to his.

"You'd never get me out of this castle alive," the human said with what sounded like concern for him.

"Suppose I had a means to transport you out of here using a magic beyond this world. Would you like me to free you?"

"No," the human answered, and Stone frowned. "I have nowhere to go and sins to pay for, so many sins. My people are gone, and I spend the days counting every life I've taken, wondering if any or all of them might have been like Talamayas, if they wept at the loss of their loves ones. It quite haunts me, actually. The longer I am down here alone, the more their cries of death or screams for their kin that I took from them echo. It's almost relief when someone comes down here to torture me. For that long, I am released from hearing their cries because they are drowned out with my own."

"Perhaps I can come down here and talk to you from time to time?" Stone offered, but he shook his head.

"That would be to betray your master. I am his prisoner and my suffering or relief is solely at his discretion. If you desire a place to call home and a family, then you must forget about me and join the Sols. You'll be happy here, and there is no happiness left for me."

"I see." Stone frowned. "I should be getting back upstairs."

"Go ahead. Just please..." the human ran a hand up his face. "Don't tell Talamayas I said anything nice about him. The last thing I need is him getting any weird ideas about touching me again."

"I don't think he was..."

"I know," the human cut him off. "I got that when he almost collapsed my wind pipe. Go now, before you get in trouble."

Stone stood up and closed the cell door before turning back. "Thank you for talking to me."

"Sure. I hope you're happy here."

"Th-thanks." Stone took off up the stairs and had to slip in and out of the door.

There was a lot on his mind, but he spent his time adventuring through the floors in search of Talamayas. It led him all over for nearly an hour until he was back near the dungeons, and he paced back and forth. Not far from the dungeon door, there was a room he hadn't seen before and he slid up to it. Opening doors was not the best idea to remain hidden but he wanted to know where the man was enough that he cracked it just a fraction and slid inside. He was skinny, so not much was needed.

On the other side, he found the man he was searching for curled up on a bed and looking toward the wall. The sleeping arrangement was rather plain compared to the long curtains that had hung from Neil's bed. This one was nothing but a cot with a loose white sheet wrapped around it that looked two sizes too big, leaving long ripples, and the man had no blanket. The rest of the room was cluttered, stuffed with bookcases of parchment, and littered with boxes of trinkets or supplies that they might need. It looked like the man had taken up residence in a storage room and just thrown down a mattress.

Why?

Did he not like being far from his prisoner?

Following Talamayas had been informative, but Stone was tired, and he thought about joining his brother in the small room they'd been tucked in. Instead, the scent of Talamayas drew him closer and hunger gnawed on him. Without Ghost awake to stabilize him, he was losing control again.

"You can have more blood if you need," Talamayas said to the wall, and Stone flinched.

Stone remained completely still and silent, but that only made Talamayas laugh.

"Come," Talamayas turned toward him and offered him a hand.

Stone was sure he'd meant to take it, but instead he latched onto it with his fangs and Talamayas jumped just a bit. Worried the man would be angry, he also was unable to tear himself away from the blood spilling from Talamayas' wrist, and he whined as he awaited some sort of punishment. This man had been far patient enough with him.

"It's okay." Talamayas reached out and found Stone's head before stroking his hair even though he was invisible. "You were just changed, so you will hunger a lot."

It didn't take long for the blood to fill his stomach and then make him sick with how strong it was. While he needed it to live, too much of the man's blood was worse than the hunger. After Stone's fangs left his arm, Talamayas groped around Stone's neck until he found his collar and pulled him up on the bed to tuck him into his chest. Stone turned a bright shade of cherry that no one could see as Talamayas found a blanket and wrapped it around them.

"Sleep here. It's okay. I see you don't share your brother's weakness to the sun. Just another amazing thing about you... You can be visible, you know."

"I-I don't know how," Stone said, and Talamayas snorted into heavy laughter that heated Stone's neck as well as his already flushed face. "Ghost was the one who was calling the magic back to make us visible, so when he fell asleep abruptly, I got stuck."

"That explains why you two disappeared, I suppose," Talamayas said with a kind tone to his voice. The prisoner had said he was kind.

"How did you know I was here? Was it the door?"

Talamayas smiled, saying that it was more, and Stone frowned. "Much more than that, I'm afraid. Shan almost gutted you when he realized you were there, but I steadied him with a hand."

"How did you know?" Stone asked again, and Talamayas shrugged, making him growl. "I... I want to be part of your family, so if you could teach me, perhaps I could be of use."

"Really?" Talamayas seemed surprised. "Why?"

"I liked what I saw tonight," Stone said, and Talamayas grimaced.

"You followed me to the dungeons." There was a question in Talamayas statement, and Stone twiddled his fingers.

"I saw no fault in imprisoning the man who killed your mother."

"I see. We can discuss it tomorrow, I guess. Sleep for now."

Talamayas looked more like he wanted to sleep, and Stone settled against his chest as the man slipped away, just as his brother did with the sun. It was best that Stone slept at the same time as his brother so they could be conscious enough to control each other's urges, so he closed his eyes. Being against Talamayas should have made him sick, as many men had done similar things to a crueler end, but something felt different.

It was an energy beneath his skin, and it echoed his own, comforting him and easing him into sleep. Maybe Talamayas would explain that as well. Stone couldn't wait to wake and share everything he knew with Ghost. While they didn't so much talk, they collaborated silently, and Stone wanted Ghost to know that he'd be safe here.

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