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...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Several Cinders jumped to attention when Pyre approached the wall surrounding the main estate, bit not a one dared bar his entrance. One guard tapped their staff on the elevated platform he stood, and the large double doors pulled open much like they would in a castle. This castle wasn't much for defense though. Made of mud, sand, and thatch, it would fall if a Cascade so much as sneezed around it.
Pyre walked in with little care to the mumblings of his people who should have been loyal to him. They backed away as he headed for the main door, but one of them grabbed Stone's cloak. Before Pyre could curse the man out, Stone had the offender face down on the ground, a hand on the back of his head and a knee planted in his back. The mage struggled, but Stone wrenched his arm so hard that he stilled with a gasp of pain. Soulless grey eyes looked to Pyre for direction, and he waved Stone forward. The order Pyre wanted to give was for Stone to gut himself, but as obedient as the vampire was, Pyre doubted he'd kill himself at Pyre's behest.
It was not difficult to locate Blaze, his powerful magic emanating down the halls, but finding Blaze did Pyre little. In a lounge like area with circular couches and a bowl of ice filled with alcohol, Blaze was resting, his spikey, red hair waving from the breeze of a battery operated fan. He was likely recuperating from his attack on Talamayas, but if so, then it meant they intended to strike again. All the more reason Pyre needed to slap sense into him. The sound of Pyre's heavy footfalls snapped Blaze's eyes open, but he barely paid him any mind before zeroing in on Stone behind him.
"What is that?" Blaze nearly laughed, sitting up in his white, sleeveless, mage coat, confident that Stone was no threat due to his lack of magic. Or at least he was at first, until he looked too long at Stone's dead eyes and rigid form, his body poised and ready to strike to kill at any moment.
"Local help," Pyre smiled as he descended the half flight of stairs into Blaze's recessed lounge. "I enlisted a tour guide to see the sights." The words came from Pyre's mouth bitter, a joke yet a threat of what Stone really was. Blaze was too calculating to respond, so Pyre continued, "You have to stop this, Blaze. Turn yourself in, release the Cinders here to the Alliance's judgement, and return Talamayas' mate. The Alliance will treat them much less harshly if they turn themselves over."
"I do not bow to those vampire fucking pigs." Blaze's exact wording had Pyre flinching. That term now included his daughter, but Pyre'd be damned if he let Blaze find that out.
"You can't win against Talamayas, Blaze. What math did you fail at in this calculation?" Pyre tried cold hard facts rather than conscience since Blaze appearedly had no remorse for the way he was condemning their people.
"No, I can't, not with Cinders alone. Good job figuring that out, Pyre. I'm impressed."
The sheer weight in Blaze's condescension made Pyre want to break his face, but they were too evenly matched to go toe to toe with any real benefit. Blaze had never liked that Pyre was in charge, but the level of hatred in his voice struck a chord that had Pyre worried for his children. For a while, he'd doubted whether Blaze would try to hurt Helia or Horus after he'd set Pyre up, but now there no doubt in his mind.
