Heart of Ashes

Anthony's Request

Evelyn returned, several minutes later, with Anthony. He was fidgety, he kept putting his hands in his pockets and taking them out to cross his arms or do something else with them, and, when Evelyn left, he became jumpy.

Caine didn't speak to him immediately, as he was busy writing down the base magic formula of Evelyn's ward, and every sudden move he made - to turn the page in his little notebook or a pause to think - sent little bursts of panic into the boy. Caine found it, somewhat, amusing and had to resist the urge to smile. At least for a little while.

Eventually, he put his pen down and looked up at the young man standing in front of his desk, who had become distracted in looking at the books around him. Caine cleared his throat, making Anthony jump and curse under his breath.

"You don't need to be afraid of me," Caine said, "not now, in any case."

Anthony swallowed, "Ah, yeah, thank you. Look, I need to ask you something, a favour?"

Caine folded his hands on the desk, sending a piece of paper fluttering to the carpet in the process, "And what might that favour be?"

Anthony's heart was racing and Caine tried, desperately, to ignore it then he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them he asked the question Caine had been expecting, "Can you make me like you?"

Caine smiled, "I most certainly can, but I will not."

Anthony's face fell, "Oh, I see. Thank you for your time."

Caine shook his head, "I said I will not make you like me," he said, "but I am willing to give you power, of a sort."

This seemed to spark his interest once more, "Y... you are? What kind of power?"

Caine rubbed his chin, "Well, that depends, what do you need it for?"

"I'm worried about Morwenna and I," he confessed, "those guys that attacked you that night, the ones that followed me, the ones that came in with the other vampire last night, I'm scared they come back, y'know, try to hurt us and I won't be able to do anything."

Caine smiled, "Ah, so you wish to be a sort of guardian?"

Anthony nodded, slowly at first then more enthusiastically, "Yeah, yeah that's right. A guardian."

"Well, you're in luck, I have just the thing."

A grin spread on Anthony's face, "Thank you, thank you so much, er, what do I have to do?"

"Come back tonight, come back here and then we'll see about what we can do. In the meantime, get some rest, you'll need your strength, and I will find the incantation."