At the end of the week, the sprawling desert finally showed itself to them. Sebastian had wasted no time in stashing away his clock and unbuttoning his shirt. Edwin lamented the loss of hard ground and made peace with the fact that there was going to be sand in his shoes soon.

As they walked, they searched for a road. There wasn’t one, but every 500 meters, there was a sign post. One of the plagues read Asylum of Blood, so they walked in the general direction of the pointing arrow.

Then, just as night was falling, a strong wind came from the west. Edwin had heard about the fierce sandstorms in the deserts and didn’t want to end up in one. But he had no idea what he could do.

“Come on, time to bury ourselves in the dunes,” yelled Sebastian over the whipping wind.

“We will suffocate!” Yelled back Edwin, then he blushed as he remembered what they were. “Never mind.”

“You have to start thinking like one of us, Eddy. Or you will be an outsider in your community,” Sebastian was on his knees and digging into the sand. Edwin fell on his knees and began helping him.

They ended with a well-like hole big enough for two and went inside.

“Shouldn’t we close the top?” Sebastian sent him an annoyed look.

“Sandstorm, remember? It will close by itself,” and that was that. As the grains of sand began falling inside their hole, Edwin had to remind himself not to panic.

Closing his eyes, he began to count to one thousand. When his breathing didn’t become any less hectic, he kept on counting. Then an arm wrapped around him, and he opened his eyes to see his face flush against Sebastian’s tattoo covered chest.

“We’ll be fine, kiddo,” murmured the vampire. Edwin repeated his words in a daze, minus the kiddo part, and attempted to relax in the hold. The hole was quickly filling up, but Edwin took comfort in the arm around his shoulders. Sebastian was taller than him, he realized, and could get better access to the air from the hole above them.

“Why did we have to bury ourselves?” Edwin was new to this traveling thing, but he trusted that Sebastian was not leading them astray.

“That wind from above would have sent sand to grind us down. Our skin would have gotten torn up, Eddy. Look, do you want to know something about me?” This was to get Edwin’s attention off the fact they would end up in the dark, soon. But Edwin allowed it and nodded.

“Back when I was an elf, I was a water mage. The best. There was this time that I made rain happen during a drought. I took the water from the Alanqian Empire. They were so pissed over there that they send a vampire to turn me as punishment. What they found was my mother, Regina, dancing in the rain,” there was bitterness in Sebastian voice that gave Edwin a hint of what happened next, but he kept on listening.

“So, they turned her and left her, starving, to turn or kill me. They didn’t care what happened to me. She attempted to control herself the first couple of days, but then, one night, she bit me. I barely managed to bite her back. She drank me dry, and the first thing I endeavored to do was conjure a bowl of water afterwards to wash her bloodstained mouth. But I found I could not,” the hand gripped Edwin harder.

Edwin was under no illusions that Sebastian was a good man, but to kill his mother over magic was evil. There was no denying it. Still, Sebastian wasn’t done and Edwin decided that he, a sure killer who had goaded Fernand into attacking, shouldn’t have the right to judge.

“And I was fine with that, really, but then the drought, the one I had put a stop to with rains from the empire that doomed me, returned. There was nothing I could do, and I was so mad that I…”

“I get it,” Edwin really did. Many must have died for Sebastian to have done what he did. And to his mother, no less. “You don’t need to say it. Do you want me to tell you about myself?”

“A dark secret for a dark secret, eh, healer? And here I thought you didn’t have any. If this is about Frederik and your family, however, I know,” the sand now reached Edwin’s chin, and he needed to speak fast. He needed to tell someone.

“Yes, but you have no idea what I did to kill him. Before him, I didn’t practice my necromancy at all. So, when I found my family dead, I made a deal with Harika that my soul would be destroyed upon my death in exchange for her making me her champion, with all the power that come with it.”

Sebastian chuckled at that. Harika was not going to destroy Edwin, if she let him command shape-shifting shadows. She was going to toy with him for all eternity. He told Edwin that, and he got a gurgle.

Looking down, he saw that Edwin’s mouth was blocked by the sand. So, now that there won’t be any arguments, and they were stuck together, Sebastian bent down to whisper in Edwin’s ear.

“You don’t need to worry about Harika because you have me. I, unlike you, am her champion because of my deeds. And do you know what?” Edwin tilted his head towards him the best he could. Sebastian was amused by that. The feeling that someone was not afraid of him was refreshing.

“I will be the one to take your soul, once you fix me. Oh, I’ll wait for you to die, but you will be the first wraith I create that I will keep. And we will spend eternity murdering vampires together. But, while you are alive, my power is yours. Just like your power will be mine once you die.”

He got an eye roll at that. And the sand finally reached his mouth.