Sampson and Rodney fought, facing off in a circle of movement, each mirroring the other as they moved around the furthest reaches. They waited for the other to make the first move, and it wouldn't be Rodney if he was smart, or if he had been fighting to win. That was why Stone was not surprised when Rodney dashed for Sampson. A quick exchange of blows had Sampson clutching his side, but Rodney took a hit to the back of his shoulder that sent him sprawling to the ground. Sampson recovered quickly to slam a foot down on Rodney, but he rolled to the side, swinging a kick into the back of Sampson's knee.

All of the weight had Sampson shaking the arena as he dropped to a knee, but he quickly recovered to swat at Rodney's approach from above like he was a fly. The hit landed squarely in Rodney's abdomen and he flew before colliding with the far wall. A cheer went up from half the humans while another third encouraged Rodney from the sidelines. The women favored Rodney's pretty face, while the betting men wanted to see him fall. The remaining bystanders had bet on Rodney and were gnashing their teeth in despair as he appeared to be outmatched.

It was all for show, of course, Rodney taking each blow and landing each hit in a calculated charade that made him appear to struggle with the bigger and better man as he fought with mere tenacity and force of will. That was what humans liked the most, watching the underdog triumph. It gave them hope that they could rise against their own struggles to be something more, and Rodney was playing to every ounce of that.

The progression of the fight didn't matter, the outcome was guaranteed. Rodney took hit after hit, bones cracking, bruises marring his extensive bare muscles, and blood splattering onto the concrete around them. And just as Sampson thought he'd worn him down enough for the finishing blow, Rodney made his move, managing to glance his death off into his leg, which snapped like a children's toy, but Rodney's hands were free to crack Sampson over the head and put him down after the fight of a lifetime.

The crowd silenced as Rodney hobbled to his feet, blood dripping down Sampson's cracked skull as he struggled to remain conscious. There wasn't enough in the man to stand, which meant Rodney had won, and hoots of triumph went up over a much smaller part of the crowd while the other swam in curses and men getting up and leaving in a huff. Sampson had been favored, had absorbed the money of greater men, and they would take out their anger somewhere. From the muttering, Stone gleaned that Rodney had not won something this important in some time.

This put Rodney and Horus in danger, and Stone didn't like it.

The uneasy feeling of the scorned gamblers followed them to the outside of the coliseum as they departed. Horus and Rodney chatted on as if this were just another day of profits as they walked an empty alley to a distant transportation panel, but Stone's senses remained homed in on every noise around them. The approach of their human aggressors was loud and drew Horus and Rodney's attention, but Stone ignored the obvious confrontation for the softer sounds, the tapping of deft vampire feet on metal roofs, and the decent of dark magic faster than a human could sense. Stone spun, landing his foot square in a vampire's jaw and sending him flying into an empty shack not too far.

"Stone, no!" Horus yelled.

Stone froze, just as blades of dark magic pierced through his shoulder and scraped his sides. Such weak magic would never have struck him if he had not been ordered still, but it could still kill him if it hit him in any vital points. Unsure of what he was allowed to do, Stone slipped closer to Horus' back as the two angry human men circled. As they did, the vampires came out of the darkness, and the one he'd kicked rubbed his face with a low growl.

"I'm going to make your lackey pay for that," the vampire hissed, and before Stone could respond, he was sandwiched between Rodney and Horus. The protective formation surprised Stone, and his body trembled with frustration at being a protected chick when he should be a viper on the offensive.

"Sorry you suck," Horus chuckled as he circled Stone to face the vampires as Rodney did the approaching humans. It was a strange positioning considering Rodney was a better match for his own kind, but Horus was a grand mage and nothing to sneer at either. "My fighter in training doesn't know how things work around here, so I apologize if he hurt your pride, but you will not be touching him. You'll take what you want from Rodney and I, and you'll be on your way or I'll put you in the ground. Your choice."

"Hor–"

"Shhh," Rodney shushed Stone, and his body tensed with frustration.

The punch to Horus' gut was instant, but Stone could have stopped it were Rodney's hand not clenched around his wrist. The steel grip didn't keep Stone in place as much as Horus command to stand down, and Stone clenched his fangs to keep from growling as the weak excuses for vampire kind slugged Horus in the face. The blow wasn't hard enough to damage a human's nervous system, but a purple bruise formed on Horus' cheek and around the side of his eye as he spit blood onto the ground.

"Just take it, you shits." Horus tossed a bundle of money on the ground toward the vampires, but it was the humans who stepped around them and picked it up. The human smelled of tobacco and liquor, and he flipped through the cash as if counting it before looking to Rodney. "I don't give anything to my dog, but feel free to check him for fleas if you don't believe me."

Rodney spread his arms and the other human came up and roughly felt down his coat and body. Before he backed off, he tensed every muscle in his arm and backhanded Rodney, snapping his head to the side. If the vampire hadn't allowed his neck to move, the human would have broken his hand, but the human did not seem to understand that as he smiled from the bruise forming on Rodney's face. Even that injury was superficial, only forming because Rodney was suppressing his body's instant healing process. Just like the fights, this altercation was a charade for their pleasure.

"Think twice about fucking with the Hail Group," the human grumbled as he waved and the vampires flanked them out of the alley. Horus rolled on his back and coughed as Rodney went to his side and crouched.

"Woof," Rodney said only when they were out of ear shot, and Horus' burst of laughter had Stone jumping as he picked himself up off the ground. With a low groan, Horus poked the bruise on his face. "Good luck finding a Cinder to heal that. They'll all know you got it being shady again."

"Hearth might. I just made him enough to pay off his car." Horus flashed his gaze to Stone and sighed when his eyes landed on his wounds. "I didn't mean for you to get hurt, Stone. They would have left you alone had you not stuck your foot in that guy's mouth. This isn't the battlegrounds where you can just go swinging at people. Society is more complicated."

"Both society and the battlegrounds allow for a measure of self-defense when attacked," Stone replied more factually than as argument, trying to understand Horus actions in this situation.

"Yeah, but they won't let me back around the Pits if I injure paying customers."

"They robbed and beat you and you let them," Stone continued, still not processing how this was better. What could they have gained if they lost their profits?

"That was more of a tithe." Horus shrugged, flipping his fingers in the air to reveal a bag of wads of cash similar to the one he'd lost. "I give the jerks a drop in the bucket so they don't know how much I actually make as a fixer. They think I swindled them at the betting table, not that Rod and I throw and win fights at the bidding of the tournament overseer. The real problem is that I can't give you back to Helia like that."

Horus gestured up and down him, and Stone angled his attention to his cuts for the first time. They were shallow and his body had focused most of the healing on the shoulder puncture, connecting any important tissue but leaving a flesh wound on either side of him. The healing was languid for a vampire, but Stone could not say why. As soon as the ruffians had left, Rodney had healed himself completely, but Stone's body did not respond to his mental commands the same.

His body was weak from the void.

"Here." Horus offered his hand, and Stone looked to it with confusion.

"I can walk on my own. The wound is superficial."

Horus's rising eyebrow said that he'd missed something out of the gesture. "Look, just take it so Helia doesn't chew me out when I get back."

"I do not understand how accepting your hand changes that outcome."

"My goodness, he's daft," Rodney said, coming to Stone's side, grabbing Horus hand, and running a claw down the skin. The flesh split, the scent of human blood entered Stone's nostrils as it bubbled up from the cut, and Stone took a full step back from both of them. "Drink some of his blood, so your wounds close." Rodney bobbed Horus's open hand, but Stone's stomach turned and threw itself down and then up into his throat at the mere thought of such a thing.

"I cannot consume your blood," Stone said stiffly.

"There is no reason to decline it, Stone. It's all right. Here." Horus read Stone's words as polite declination instead of a physical imperative that he not, and before Stone could explain, the mage shoved his hand into his mouth.

Blood rolled onto Stone's tongue, narrowing his vision to pinpricks, and Stone's jaw shook as he shoved Horus away. Stone's mouth salivated but as a function to rid himself of the putrid substance as opposed to hungering for more. There wasn't enough spit to expel the taste, and Stone inhaled to search for anything to fix it, settling on a pale of stagnant water not a few yards behind him. His sight was near useless, but he found it easily with his other senses and poured it into his mouth. Thankfully it was clear water, though it would have mattered little if it was murky and slimy as a bog. As long as it purged the tang and thickness of human life from his mouth, then it was satisfactory. Several mouthfuls and rinses later, the taste faded enough that he could see a little more, but then he fell over onto his stomach and heaved against the ground.

The stomach spasms crippled him as they repeated, and tears watered his eyes from the action until he slumped on the ground with a low groan. Light magic approached, and Stone flitted his eyes over to Horus as he knelt next to him.

"Shit, I'm sorry, Stone. I didn't realize you meant you couldn't have blood."

"That is exactly what I said," Stone near whispered into the ground, squeezing his mouth to resist the urge to heave nothing again. None of the blood had found its way to his stomach, but it had absorbed into his mouth, and his body wanted it gone.

"Yeah, I guess it was." Horus slipped an arm under Stone's and hoisted him up into what could be considered a standing position, but Stone couldn't support himself well. Ice and dark magic slid across his back, and Stone turned to Rodney where he'd helped Horus with his other side.

"Thank you," Stone said, more so to ease the crinkle in the vampire's face than anything else. Echo Silver knew something was wrong with him, but had still helped him anyway. That at least said something for his character.

"Sure..." Rodney dragged the word out, narrowing his eyes. "That's what friends do, right? Help each other and not murder them." Rodney's half-hearted smile eased a real one onto Stone's.

"I'm not going to kill anyone," Stone insisted as they half dragged him off to the transportation tent. "I like having a friend." Stone added when Rodney didn't ease his tense muscles.

"Is that so? Well, you can't get any better than an outcast heir hiding among the crappiest mage house." Rodney's laughter dropped the tension by a considerable margin, and Stone leaned his head against the vampire's shoulder as his consciousness started to slip. The sun had yet to set, but his body was protesting the injury and weakness from having to expel blood. Perhaps after his nap, his new friends would think he wanted to kill them less.

Hopefully.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Word Count: 2212