"Harben." He already knew the vampire's name as he had been spoken about widely as the oldest and most feared blood-drinker in the city. "I want to know about your powers."

Harben lifted his head slowly. The monarch was disconcerted to see his eyes were almost identical in colour to his own.

"I want to watch you heal yourself. I have long been researching your species."

"You have long been destroying it," Harben cried suddenly with a flash of spirit.

Lucius backhanded him across the face and then dragged him up to his feet when he fell to the floor.

Kavan clicked his tongue a little, keeping his famous temper in check. "Bring me a servant from downstairs Lucius," he said. "Anyone will do. I want to watch this demon feed."

Lucius strode from the room.

Kavan regarded Harben with malevolence, gaze roaming blatantly over the vampire's body. Truth be told, his quest for Eachan had moved to second place as of that morning because he was rather interested in his newest captive. Nobody had warned him Harben was so physically blessed. His body and his beautiful face aroused him hopelessly. Kavan was disgusted with himself for reacting to him as he would any other attractive man.

He got up from his throne and stalked down to the floor, circling the vampire, breathing on his neck and looking him up and down. He smelled sweetly of Bela's salve, a scent Kavan had always found intoxicating. The creature stood tall and proud, despite his hands being bound before him, his body muscular and hard. Behind Harben, his wings trailed from beneath his tunic, almost brushing his ankles. The delicate meshwork of the fibres was something about vampires that had always fascinated him. He longed to break this one. With those eyes and those wings, Harben was alluring, far too alluring for his liking.

Lucius returned with a short, skinny boy in tow and unbound Harben's hands. The boy seemed to know nosferatu when he saw it. He screamed and begged for his life. Harben's eyes went dark with bloodlust and his mouth opened, canines lengthening and bared.

Kavan stood fascinated as Harben went in for the kill, stopping abruptly as the first tears ran down the boy's face. The vampire drew back, looking contrite and hesitant. He cupped the boy's head and licked the tears tenderly from his face. The rest of Harben's wounds healed before Kavan's eyes, revealing that pale, freckled skin of his, and one more secret of his power was divulged.

Harben lifted his head and looked at Kavan. "Take him away, please."

With a curt gesture of his head, Kavan ordered the boy removed. "So," he said, standing a distance away, uneasy at the humanity he had just witnessed and not sure what to make of it. "You are fully recovered by drinking human tears. Would you not kill me now despite my guards?"

Harben merely regarded him, his eyes cold. He did not reply.

Kavan had lost this first round to the vampire, and as such, needed to enter the arena again. He ordered Harben to be taken to the tower and imprisoned in the chamber there. When the vampire had been dragged away and he was left alone, Kavan sank back into his throne and rubbed a little angrily at the erection he sported.