"You won't feel much," Vice tried to convince Kopje Cinder to help them, but Kopje backed away with the repulsion one would expect from an infiltrator class grand mage.

Even if Kopje had chosen to live with the Sols, he was a Cinder through and through. Riff melting his brain and his healing her father had done a number on him, and he fell exhausted into an arm chair. This was a new room since the Songs had collapsed the main Sol castle into the ravine, but it was as posh as one could get. Real wood furniture with ornate carvings on the feet and backs, a bed larger than a small studio apartment and furnishings to match. Living with the devil paid off.

Helia hadn't seen Kopje since her eleventh birthday when he'd stopped by the Cinder complex to wish her well. Back then he'd still had that close cut style reminiscent of the human military, sparing enough hair for a small tail but nothing else. He'd had two eyes then, and Helia couldn't help but stare at the scar down his face and the empty socket. With current prosthetics, she wondered why he didn't get a glass eye. Cinders didn't care much what people thought of them, but they also didn't take pride in suffering injury.

"I get that, Vice, but I don't want any of your freaky magic inside of me. I can barely see straight, which I realize isn't much better than Pyre, but why can't you use him? He's also a grand mage, and you two seem chummy." The last words had both Vice and Kopje tightening their expressions.

The best her father had done for Vice was not kill him to Kopje's knowledge. Pyre had not broadcast that he'd bared his throat for Vice, and if Vice so much as uttered anything about it, Pyre'd stick a mage sword up his ass most likely.

"I need full control, Kopje. A body, magic, and a mind. Pyre would never consent to me inside of his mind, nor am I comfortable intruding into it."

"As I won't." Kopje crossed his arms as he leaned back. The silence between the two of them had Helia's ears ringing until the door latch clicked. All eyes snapped over as it opened and a man stepped in.

Helia had never seen a Song in person, as most her age hadn't. The only one known to live still was Wren Sol, and it wasn't like the Sols had picnics with the Cinders. The deep red hair that hung to the man's shoulders was near blood red, eclipsing the color of her spiral curls with a vibrance known only to one house. Like any infiltrator class mage, the Song was tall and built with muscle, but Helia couldn't see much of it than his body shape with his white mage robes. The Songs, like the Cinders, wore the ceremonial garb that some of the more modern houses had abandoned. Wide sleeves, airy pants to keep full range of motion, insulating anti-magic under layers and tight-fitting undershirts. Black Song notes trimmed the sleeve edges and collar to honor his house.

"Harper Song." Kopje acknowledged the man as he came in, standing from his chair even though his bones creaked in doing so.

"I couldn't help but hear your discussion." Harper spoke, his voice softer than Helia expected. All of the Songs were proud assholes to Pyre's telling, but this one seemed as tired as Kopje, though not as injured.

"With your ear pressed to the door, no doubt." Kopje's words rang bitter, and Harper bowed his head, his long red hair dipping with him.

"Perhaps it is nosey of me, but Riff's fate is a concern of mine even if my life is only grains of sand down an hourglass." Harper sounded downright sad, and Helia found herself pitying him. The shackles on his wrists marked him as a prisoner, even if Talamayas hadn't chained him to a wall in the dungeons, and he expected his death at any moment.

"Harper's fate is for Wren to decide, Helia," Vice said when he noticed her sinking mood, rubbing his shoulder against her for comfort. "As long as no one is hurt, Wren will grant him leniency. Harper only attacked us under Riff's command because of his son. Harper thought Talamayas had killed him, when he had in fact been sheltering him here."

"I owe you for Cadence' life as much as I feel responsible for Riff's, so please allow me to help you. You need someone to emulate with your magic? If you have a complete connection, Riff will not know that you are a vampire. I imagine that is the goal?"

"Yes," Vice said, the single word curt toward the man who'd attacked his house.

"Riff isn't a bad person, he's just in a poor position and trying to free his friend and avenge his house." The words fell on deaf ears as they waited for him to say something they cared to hear. It stung even Helia, the rejection when this man was just trying to save his family. "Riff is a god of battle against your kind, comparable to no other mage you've met, Wren included, but he is still a man at heart. If he thinks I'm opposing him, he'll pull his punches."

"What makes you think he won't be twice as motivated to kill you as a traitor?" Kopje sat back in his chair once he realized this was more words than just shooing him out. His knees would not outlast a conversation.

"Because the moment you tell him Talamayas has Cadence alive, he will think me fighting to avoid my son's death. Even Riff couldn't fault me for fighting him if Cadence's life is on the line."

"You're implying that my master would hold your son hostage and force you to fight for him?" Vice cold tone was a threat as much as Kopje's glare. Apparently hostage taking of children was beyond Talamayas. From the stories, not much was beneath the desert torturer.

"This is Riff we're talking about," Harper replied calmly, trying to ease the hostility with his hands out as he implored. "You needn't lie nor imply anything. Merely saying that my son is alive will have Riff filling in all the blanks. He will believe nothing short of Talamayas turning Cadence on a spit, as I would have had I not seen my son." Harper had a valid point there, even if Helia didn't know Riff personally. She was sure she would be next on a spit if she ever asked anything from Vice that put distance between him and his master.

"What do you get out of this?" Kopje asked. As heir to the leader of the infiltrator training facilities, he was always phishing for as much information as possible before embarking on anything dangerous. Though Vice was Talamayas' general, he was a man of few words unless he was excited in a library.

"All I would ask is that you bring Riff in and not kill him if it can be avoided. After losing Wren and our people, he had to be our strength for decades while he tried to find a way to free his best friend. Though he is filled with hate, I would like to think his love for what's left of our house could win out in the end."

"Oh yes, I'm sure he'll just eat at Talamayas' right hand and kiss his feet," Kopje muttered.

Harper's expression tightened in his first show of frustration. For all he was trying, Kopje and Vice weren't being very receptive. It was fair considering he'd plunged Talamayas' castle down into a ravine, but the Songs were operating on fear and grief, something Helia could understand. If she knew what vampire had killed her mother, she'd do everything she could to run him though too, even it was Talamayas Sol himself.

"Riff will never reconcile with the Sols, but perhaps we could convince him to cease hostilities." Despite Vice and Kopje, Harper continued to fight for his family, a truly honorable trait. If Vice didn't listen to him soon, Helia might just punch him herself. "His motivations for doing so are to free Wren and avenge his people. It will look less appealing if Wren and Riff can talk and if he could see how happy Cadence is.

"Riff loves Cadence and can find no failing in him accepting peace like he would for me. Cadence was not there for Talamayas' slaughter of his people, and as much as he can hate Wren and me for choosing the Sols, he couldn't do something to actively destroy Cadence's chances at a life."

"What can really go wrong with using Harper?" Helia piped up to break some of the tension when they'd appeared to hit a lull. Watching these three stubborn war generals try to discuss anything was gross mental torture.

"The totem must remain in contact with his body," Vice said, turning to her. Those serious, grey eyes softened when he spoke to her, and she hoped it would open him up to listening to Harper as well. The guy didn't seem that bad. "If he were to find a way to remove it, it could kill you and I when my magic failed."

"So integrate it with his shackles. He isn't taking those off." Helia's blunt approach had Vice smiling, and she tried not to blush as Kopje stared too hard at them.

There was no mistaking what they were to each other when Vice stood so close that the sides of their bodies brushed against one another. Less so, when he watched her constantly like she was a baby chick on a skateboard—amusing whether she fell off or managed to roll a little and in need of constant surveillance. Helia liked being with Vice though, whether it be Stone or Ghost, so she wasn't complaining. All this time, she'd feared Vice regaining his memories and murdering her, and she wasn't sure if Kopje raising a single eyebrow and doing head math wasn't worse.

"You know I will have full access to your mind," Vice said, ungluing his eyes from Helia's. Harper nodded, but that didn't seem to be enough confirmation for Vice. "I will know of any deceit as much as I will be knowledgeable of Riff's fighting preferences, weaknesses, and magics. You would be giving me the advantage against your own."

"That is why I am asking for you to capture Riff instead of killing him." Harper sighed, the weight of his betrayal weighing on him. "With my knowledge and power, it should make that possible where it would not be otherwise. Please, I am asking you to use my power to save him."

"Harper, even if Vice can capture him, Riff is not a man to bend." For once, Kopje's voice wasn't antagonistic. Even he understood the gravity of betraying one of his own. "If Riff does not agree to peace, he will die in the cells. Talamayas cannot let him go if he is a threat to his people, and Wren would not be able to tolerate one of his own in chains for a prolonged time. All you are trading here is an honorable death as a warrior for pitiful death in chains. That is no mercy."

"I'm asking for the sliver of a chance that Riff might concede. If he doesn't and perishes, I will suffer for that. Any hope that he might live is worth any amount of pain I would suffer later."

"Very well." Vice ended the discussion though Kopje had more to say. More than anyone, Cinders understood the desire to die free. Perishing in a cell, especially in the Sol dungeons, was the worst death a mage could suffer. They didn't have time to debate that one, as it would go nowhere and Blaze was already at their gates.

They affixed a piece of pointed, black glass much like a gem to the inside of Harper's shackles. It cut right into his flesh and looked horribly uncomfortable, but the blood was necessary for the spell. Vice had to peel his skin suit down to his hips to run the spell down his arms, and dark magic glyphs lit along both of them like he was rewriting himself in real time. That much tanned muscle had her looking at Harper to avoid remembering what they felt like pressed to her.

The final part of Vice's transformation required him to ingest a good amount of blood, but Harper did not respond well when he realized. It had Vice pausing, and a darkness dimmed his grey eyes as he kept his distance. With how Stone didn't drink human blood, they had never talked much about the process, but it clearly bothered him to drink blood from someone who wasn't willing.

They had little time to hang out here, so Helia offered Harper her hand in the best gesture of comfort she could manage. Harper was an infiltrator class war general, so she fully expected him to brush her off. For a few moments, he did, until Vice was unmoving, and then Harper slowly slid his fingers into hers. They trembled, cold from fear, and Helia warmed them with magic that had Harper jumping. A laugh escaped him when he realized it was just a spell, and it calmed Harper enough to sigh and tilt his head to the side to offer his vein. Vice still didn't look like he wanted to take it, but his master was relying on him, so he did his duty.

For all of Harper's trepidation, Vice was gentle, touching the side of his face and sinking his fangs into the side of his neck with a soft grip of his mouth. It had Helia's heart beating faster to watch him feed from another, wondering what it would feel like to have his mouth on her as much as she was fascinated by the whole process. The attention drew Vice's notice, and his eyes opened to gaze in her direction, his mouth still on Harper neck. It drove a strange heat through her, and she averted her gaze with a furiously spreading blush.

By the time Kopje helped Harper to a chair, Helia had cooled off, but her jaw near unhinged as Vice changed in front of her. The lovely gold of his skin peeled away like it was nothing but leaf, falling in dry patches as pale apricot took its place. Red ran through his hair in a sweep and lengthened it down to his shoulders just as Harper's was. It shadowed his body but not enough so to obscure his shoulders stretching and snapping into place as his joints rearranged. His muscles puffed up like someone had stuck a tube in and stepped on an air inflator. Helia pretended she didn't hear the clickity-clack of his spine rattling and stretching as he gained half a foot to match Harper's height.

The smooth face she loved jutted out at his chin for a more masculine face, his nose broadened just so much, and the soft grey of his eyes hardened to that of a sad, but aged warrior. By the time she realized that this was about to get way too personal, she barely had time to turn about-face. Vice in his stretch suit was a blatant porn endorsement, and she didn't need to know the shape nor size of Harper's dick. Why was the spell so thorough that it changed everything? Did that mean he got a... if he did this spell with a girl?

Somethings Helia didn't need to know.

"You need my clothes." Harper seemed to realize well too late. There was a deal of shuffling but Helia kept her nose in a corner until things grew quiet. It was almost too quiet, and she dared a look behind her. The original Harper was in a long cloak that must belong to Kopje, and Vice was dressed like Harper in all his fancy robes, music notes lining his collar and sleeves.

"We must get going, Helia. Talamayas is waiting." Vice offered her a hand, but it wasn't his. It was larger, and without his body suit, she could feel the calluses on the fingers as she accepted his gentle hold. Vice's normal touch was smooth and unmarred by the wars and fighting of a general class mage. As an assassin, he killed before there was any fight. The thought gave her a shiver, but she would not be the one at the end of his blade today.

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