"Your father wants you to visit for a day?" Tala asked with suspicion as Neil read the letter from his father in the greeting room. Shan had brought it not a moment ago, and it reeked of something nefarious. It had taken years for Tala to form up Neil from the ashes Vincent had left behind, and he wasn't enthusiastic to return him.

"My mother's anniversary is tomorrow, so I can see how he might want to honor her. My father wasn't very kind to me, but... he used to be when she was around. If nothing else, he loved her." Neil had matured over the last ten years, though he hadn't gotten much taller. Taller than a seven-year-old, yes, as tall as he should be at eighteen, not so much. The boy had yet to hit his growth spurt, but it would come with time.

Talamayas hoped.

Soon, the boy would be ready to be one of their kind, and Tala was still entertaining thoughts about stealing him for the Sols. Vincent would have no claim other than a blood bond as a human, which meant nothing as a vampire. The man hadn't bitten his own son to lay claim to him and Tala feared letting him go to his father for that reason. One he owned him, Tala couldn't take him.

"A day, no more, and only if you want to go," Tala said begrudgingly.

There was no reason to piss off Vincent when he'd left his son to him for so long. Shan nodded and headed off to return the message. The sun had just set and they had a full night together, so Tala would go over everything with Neil to make sure he could wear the face of a stronger man for his father. Vincent wouldn't return him if he didn't look primed for the change.

Before Shan could leave, dark energy ripped through his senses and Tala snarled, scaring Neil several feet away in terror. Someone had infiltrated the desert. Not on the edges or in a lull of anti-magic, right near one of the pillars. How? The pillars should have blocked all transportation magic into the Sol territory.

"Shan, with me. Watch Neil," Talamayas said the last to his closest guards and they formed up around the boy in a protective stance. This had to be dealt with or Neil would be in danger.

"Be careful!" Neil called after him as he took off with Shan, and Tala smiled back to him.

They'd grown on each other over the year, and the boys eyes shone a stronger blue under the light sunshine hair that tread his collar bone. The way he stood tall, even when frightened now, made Tala proud for the boy.

Whoever had invaded his territory, he would slaughter to keep his people safe.

They found the intruder, or rather intruders, in the dunes. Two of them picked themselves up from the sands, and Tala had to take a step back as he realized they were stark naked. They reeked of blood and humans, so they had been changed not a day past at most. The first turned to him, and Tala found the dark sunburst of the slave farms tattooed on the right side of his neck. These were humans bred to be fodder soldier for houses, but how had they gotten here?

On sight of aggressors, the two clung to each other, oblivious of the fact that they were naked and covered in sand. Did whatever farm they'd come from not even afford them clothes? How cruel. They were identical and looked much like Tala's people, tan-skinned, dark hair, and pitch eyes. It made him feel a sort of protectiveness even though they weren't blood kin, and he didn't need extra reason to pity them.

Tala took a step closer, and the one holding his brother more protectively let out a whine that sounded as if it had meant to be a growl. Such a weak new vampire would have wanted to be aggressive but his instincts would have dampened it once they sensed his power. It likely didn't even know that.

"Who are you?" Shan asked, but Tala raised a hand to stop him. These weren't infiltrators but lost children of his kind, new to this world, frightened, and defensive.

"Were you bought?" Talamayas asked. That was all that really mattered. If they were slave soldiers and they'd escaped a farm, no one had blood claim to them. The sires sacrificed all claim if they were branded so selling them was easier. If no one had bought them yet, he could help them without much issue.

"No." The one being held said, the more timid one. The other was staring at Tala's throat awfully hard, and he wondered if he was imagining lunging for it to kill him. That wasn't possible with vampire instincts; they should be screaming at him to run.

"How did you get here?" Tala asked, needing to know how they'd breached his anti-magic barrier.

"I... I just wanted to flee and then we were here," the one who'd tried to growl at him said. Fear permeated the air around both of them, and Tala could see how desperate they were to escape, but they looked malnourished and fragile from their change.

It seemed as if one of them had cast magic, but neither looked like they understood much about its uses. If it was powerful enough to get them out of magic bound cells and into his anti-magic, then it was truly powerful. Something he shouldn't give back to the slavers. Not that he'd planned to give them back anyway. Talamayas detested the trafficking trade.

"Very well. If you need a place to go, you may use my castle until your sort yourself out. The desert is perilous both day and night and you won't last long out here."

"We can't go back to the farm," the quieter one growled.

"You won't," Talamayas assured them. "If no one bought you, they have no claim to you, and you can stay in my castle for as long as you figure out what you'd like to do."

"Really?" the quieter one calmed on his words, though the other looked doubtful of his intentions–as they should as humans who had been bred, left in cages, and forcibly changed.

"Yes. My territory does not have slave soldiers, so we do not follow the laws of ownership regarding them unless they have been accepted into a house. At the least, you need to get out of the desert, so please come."

The quieter one stood to follow, coaxing the other to join him, and the man tried but collapsed back into the sand with a groan. That must have been the one who'd cast the magic. Any spell that could break through so much anti-magic had to be taxing. The man almost rolled down the dune, but Talamayas put himself in the way and scooped him into his arms. Tala met his gaze with compassion, but the man's eyes drifted down to his throat and his fangs lengthened.

Faster than Tala could process, the man bit him, and Tala jumped but steadied as he felt the man calm once blood hit his tongue. It drank from him, and Talamayas couldn't believe the groan of pleasure as the man nestled his throat and pulled more into his mouth. Vampire blood to another vampire was like swallowing burning tar and extremely unpleasant to say the least, worse if the vampire was powerful like him.

"I'm sorry!" the quieter one said immediately, coming up to him. "He is just hungry. They did not let him feed from me at the farm."

"From... you?" Talamayas asked incredulously.

"The change didn't go right for him..." the man said quietly, nervously.

"I can see that." Talamayas laughed. No, no it didn't, and the lips on his throat showed that. Talamayas had never heard of a vampire feeding off its own kind, not in the hundreds of years he'd been around. A vampire that could break through magic and fed off their own. No wonder they'd had to flee. "If he needs blood, he can have some of mine. I've got plenty."

That calmed the man, and Tala started back to the castle with the very naked two men in tow. At the first transportation spell wrought into the ground, his men guarding it took one look at them and unrolled their cloaks. Talamayas thanked them and covered the two men, promising to bring them new cloaks as soon as he arrived back.

The man in his arms had dropped from his neck and fallen asleep like any newly changed vampire who was full. They hungered uncontrollably for some time, and Talamayas was surprised the boy next to him was able to move at all. He seemed absorbed in the cloak around him like it was something grand, even though it was dirty from the sands and much too long for him, trailing near his toes.

When they reached the castle, the one in his arms roused as the other ogled it. Neither of them had ever seen a structure as big as his cliffside castle, he imagined, and their eyes were as big as dinner saucers as they looked up to the windows and then around at the guards who greeted him and opened the doors.

"It's nicer inside," Talamayas joked as he walked in, and the shy one turned a light shade of crimson and followed him in the door. The one in his arms struggled, and Tala set him down. The moment the man's feet hit the tiles he had his arms around his brother and was hugging him for dear life. They were a very interesting pair of twins, very devoted to each other and uncomfortable being apart.

"Tala, you're back!" Neil said with excitement, and Shan gestured for the boy to stay as he ran up to them, keeping Neil a few yards back.

As expected, the one who hadn't drank from his neck focused unduly hard on Neil's neck and his lips rolled back in hunger. New vampires were horrible with human pulses for the first few years, and Shan was prepared to take the man down when he looked to his brother. The twins exchanged a glance and the man's lips lowered before he tucked his face into his brother and calmed.

That was impossible.

New vampires couldn't control the call of blood like that. Something wasn't right about them, clearly. Something the fed one had done had calmed the hungry one enough to keep from lunging at a human only a day after he'd been changed. These two were going to be extremely powerful as they grew, not at all slave soldier fodder.

"Please forgive him," the one who'd fed from him said.

"You are all right," Talamayas said quietly as Shan stared just as hard at the two. His general knew better than to not think something was terribly off here. "That is normal for vampires after they've just been changed. We can get someone to provide you with blood so you are calm. I know it must be hard resisting like that."

"I don't want to kill anyone else," the quiet one said through clenched fangs.

"We don't kill the men and women who give us blood around here," Talamayas said with understanding. "One of mine will pull you away before you drink too much. Please go with Shan and he will help you. If possible, could I speak with your brother for a bit while you feed?"

They exchanged glances. The fed one nodded to him, and the other whined as Shan led him out of the room. It was understandable that the more timid one did not want to be separated, but he needed to feed so that no one was at risk around here, and Tala needed answers.

"What do you need to know so that we might stay here?" The one left with them asked, and Talamayas smiled gently.

"Not here. The gardens, come. Neil, you may come as well." Talamayas led them and left the newcomer at his back so he could observe the way he regarded Neil from the corner of his eye. The man didn't even glance at the pulse in Neil's neck, and that was something truly amazing. If he exclusively hungered for vampire blood, that created an interesting dynamic.

Tala opened the doors to the gardens, and they sat under the shade of the palms. They blocked the moonlight and created shadows for eyes like his, but Neil squinted in the dark so hard that Tala chuckled. Poor boy was human and couldn't see a thing but what was directly under open moonlight. Raising his hand, Tala lit the torches he'd set up around for him in the last years, and the vampire with him nearly jumped out of his skin.

"It's just magic," Talamayas assured him, but the man's eyes remained wide as they sat in the grass not far from the water. "I imagine that is what you used to bring you and your brother here. We all have different magic and mine happens to be flames."

"I could do magic?" the man seemed curious.

"Yes. You already have, and it will grow with time. I know this world is new to you, but vampires need to belong to a house to be protected under our laws. If they didn't sell you, I would happily take you in under my house, if you could be loyal to my family."

"We won't serve monsters," the man bit out with anger.

"Family," Talamayas said sternly, and the stranger's anger waned as he tried to understand. "Do you serve your brother?" Tala asked, and the man shook his head. "Then you wouldn't serve me. I do expect a certain level of adhering to rules here, but otherwise I would not force you to do anything you don't want to do."

"Why is he here?" The man pointed at Neil, and the boy eep'd like he did when he was startled. That was something they were working on.

"What about him?" Talamayas asked, unsure where this man was going.

"Are you going to force him to become a monster like they forced us?" the man almost growled at him.

"We're not monsters," Talamayas said immediately, and the man flinched back. "The men who held you and forced this life on you were, but my kind are not inherently monsters. Many of us can be just as kind as you are to your brother, and I have not harmed you despite your rather odd need to bite my neck."

"I appreciate you allowing me your blood," he said, bowing his head.

"Did it taste good?" Talamayas asked with curiosity.

"For me, it tasted like strength and brought every fiber of my body to life, but it's different," the man trailed off.

"Different?"

"Different than what my brother is drinking now. Human blood is sweeter, warmer and feels more satisfying." The man purred as if he were drinking it himself, and Talamayas' eyebrows pitched in again.

"You can taste the blood your brother is drinking now?" Talamayas was getting more and more curious each time this man spoke.

"Yes. It was not that way when I was human, but during the change I... I was dying. I had seen other men fail to change, and I knew I wasn't going to make it. Then my brother's hand reached out from the darkness and yanked me back into life. There, I treaded the edge of life and death until my brother brought me to his neck and I drank, not just his blood but his life, filling myself to keep me afloat. Ever since that moment, what I think he can hear, what he sees, I see, when we touch, it feels as if I am embracing myself. It's strange but it feels more as if we are one, than two."

"That is how you stopped him from lunging for Neil when he hungered. You did not hunger, and it pacified him." Talamayas realized, and the man shrugged, not seeming all too sure.

"I told him we would get in trouble if he harmed your human slave, and he calmed."

"S-slave?" Neil asked, and the man looked to him, frowned, and then bowed his head in apology. "Tala is teaching me how to fight and be a man before I change to one of his kind, but I'm not a slave."

"Forgive me. I have not seen a human with a vampire that was not a slave."

"There are no slaves here," Tala said calmly, and the man nodded.

"I noticed," he said. "There are humans who come and go in the hallways, but they are free of shackles and seem to be comfortable with your kind. The one who offered herself to my brother was kind, and he was happy that she was not forced to feed him."

"Holy hell, that ability is something else," Talamayas said in a hush of breath. "You just processed all that information while we were talking?"

"I don't... think about it. It's like my brother and I both take in sensation and information and they all join in the middle. That way, it's not as confusing, not a jumble, but two clear lines of information that intersect within us."

"You are your brother are going to be powerful one day, and though I admit that's part of the reason I welcome you here, I would still offer you a place regardless." Talamayas tried again, but the man still frowned. The prejudice against vampire kind ran deep, and Tala wasn't sure if he could break the hold of hate.

"I will think on it. Please allow me some time,"he said finally, and Tala nodded. Time, this man had in abundance as he wouldsoon find out.

Word Count: 3002