Choosing to say out of the Alliance, the Cinders are isolated in their own conflicts, and when Helia Cinder reaches to the void for answers, she inadvertently draws a creature out. Expecting to be eaten alive, she is instead left with a man with no...
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They headed off for the college, and Pyre gave her a heavy look of disapproval as he saw them together. After she'd left him to Horus for her training, she'd gotten him back missing pieces, so she was making Stone the priority today. Hopefully, Skytower could shed some light on what family Stone was from if nothing else. They had resources there, and Zane was extremely knowledgeable regarding vampire houses, which was why he manned the library. Face to face, Helia would beat him in combat, but he would win where intellect was concerned. It wasn't like Helia was unintelligent, but Zane was practically an intellectual and strategical genius.
As they walked down the underground corridor into the library, Stone's eyes opened wider than dinner saucers even though he was only looking at the framed news articles they'd posted up on the walls. Mages posed in some for their club pictures, some memorialized men or women they'd lost, and others commended those who'd reached general status or higher. Every college liked to brag about their success stories, and Stone was learning each one of them as they passed.
Helia opened the door to the great library and hung back as Stone took a step in, then three more in wonder before he took off to the nearest shelf. By the time Zane got himself out of the main desk, Stone was scanning the titles with an urgency Helia had yet seen in him. A dozen stacks later, he returned with three books in his hand and a gleeful smile plastered on his face.
The vampire assassin she'd pulled from the void liked books?
"Can we check these out?" Stone bounced from one leg to the other like a giddy child asking for a treat, flipping pages even as he asked. "This tome of archaic glyphs and their origins of use within spells only has half a dozen copies in print, all sequestered in mage libraries. I have wanted to get my hands on one of these for ages." Stone stopped about the same time Helia raised an eyebrow. He'd just expressed a personal desire, which meant the books had triggered part of his lost memories. "I guess I like books," Stone said, touching his chin with a finger before he eyed Zane where he stood next to her. "Are you a friend of Helia's?"
"More like a coworker," Zane replied with a poorly concealed flinch. "Helia isn't much for friends. I'm Zane." Zane held out a hand, much more open to interacting with vampires than she was, and Stone juggled the books to shake it with a pleasant, welcoming expression "You're a strangely social vampire. Usually your kind give me a hard stare before stiffly crushing my hand because I'm a mage general, even if we're on friendly school grounds."
"Well, I'd like to be as cordial with Helia's acquaintances as possible," Stone said, tucking a bookmark that he'd plucked from the containers on the sides of the shelves into his book. "You are also no threat to me, Zane Fleet, so trepidation is wasted." Zane's expression crunched into a scowl so quickly that Helia couldn't keep in the laugh.
"Come on, Zane, what vampire isn't overconfident?" Helia tried to brush Stone's innocent candor as bravado, but Stone would likely wipe the floor with Zane. Like other mages, Zane had a normal life in society, hobbies, downtime, and a job. Stone lived for his existence as an assassin, using everything he could to grow stronger and deadlier. It was easy to see when she paid too much attention him.
