Ashton was hungry. His eating schedule with the school was set so that he'd be fed on a regular basis to keep him from feeling the instinctual need to hunt and kill his prey, prey that could potentially, presumably be a human, he thought. The idea of killing humans in large quantities hadn't been appealing to Ashton since his hatching and, in all of his studies, he couldn't fathom why the stories about dragons destroying towns and cities and sinking armadas could make any sense. Why would the dragon care so much about ending human life? Humans brought forth gold, from what Ashton knew. Gold was what he wanted more than anything except maybe revenge against Blake and his entire family. But without humans, how could he acquire his heart's desire?
It was a mystery he was intent on solving, particularly as Ashton hadn't found any way to explain the destruction his kin caused in the history books - mostly fairytales. There had to be at least a grain of truth behind even the most bizarre story, didn't there? What made his kin so angry that they sought to destroy civilizations and thus created hunters, Dragonslayers, who were trained and magically imbued to kill them in return?
He was researching the answer to this question in the library both to have a better understanding of his own kind and to keep his mind off of his hunger. There would be a feast and Ashton wanted to be ready for it. If he ate now, he would not be hungry again for several weeks. Perhaps a snack... Perhaps Barclay had a snack for him, or perhaps Xanthippe would catch him a small animal in the woods, as he was forbidden from hunting for himself.
Closing the book he'd been reading and scowling at the title, Grimm, what do you know, anyway?, Ashton stood up and stalked back over towards the bookshelf, passing another boy who was tucked away reading at a nearby table. Pausing there, the dragon studied him. Ah, the new vampire. A quick sniff of the air told Ashton that this boy didn't carry any gold on him, but that didn't mean he couldn't help distract him from his craving for red meat.
"What are you reading?" He laid his fingers on Ben's book and pulled it towards himself, disregarding civility and taking command of the book himself.