All Roads Lead to Rome

In Love and War

"There's a situation..." Romulus slammed Vincent up against the wall and held him there. He could tell Vincent was straining to push him away. Mainly by the strain in the man's muscles, but he could still tell.

"I don't fucking care." he enunciated clearly, fury burning in his black eyes. "You don't abandon your family. Especially when you based your reasons on a damn lie! Her sister's alive and well. Not in that hole in the ground."

"She's too aggressive to allow near humans." Vincent gritted out. "Which means you need to let me go before she gets through the block I have in my head right now or she's going to go off on you."

That explained the effort for control at least. Romulus' hand tightened. "I may not have liked you before at all. But I respected you. That ended tonight." Romulus dropped him and turned to walk out. "By the way, she came in alone to my club. That's dangerously reckless for her fragile kind."

"I didn't have a choice." Vincent's weary voice made him pause. "It was cut her off from her human life or the Mistresses' Council would have killed her."

His pity vanished. "I get it. Her sister's life for hers. You have your priorities, Vincent. And now, so do I." He turned and walked out to face the bouncers. He shook his head, a sneer forming. "You really think this is going to change my mind?"

"It wasn't my call," Vincent said, coming out of the office. Romulus looked up at the VIP window and seen the female silhouette. A cold rage iced over his eyes.

"Your mistress should know something. While she gained a mate in exchange for cutting off her family, the only thing her sister had to turn to was a razor blade and a bottle of pills. That was how tonight would have ended if not for that incubus you scorned."

Vincent cursed as the form of the silhouette buckled and he heard Romulus laugh softly. "Kick his ass then throw him out," he ordered, running up the stairs. Romulus heard sobbing when the door opened. Satisfied, he turned his attention to the bouncers that now circled him.

"Let's play," he said going forward with a roll of his shoulders.

****

He limped into the loft he shared with Antares over the club an hour later, with coat tossed over his shoulder jauntily. Setting the book he was reading to the side, Antares came to his feet and went over, concerned. Romulus noticed that he was still wearing the fedora. It suited him, he thought with a smile.

"What happened to you?"

"I went to see Vincent about your dancer. He was less than hospitable." Romulus said with a laugh, hanging up his coat then taking the hat off of Antares and hanging it on the rack too. "But I walked out of my own accord." Not thrown out as Vincent had ordered, he thought with a satisfied smile. That fact had improved his mood immensely.

"What about my dancer?" Antares focused in with laser precision. Romulus began limping over to the bar. Antares steered him to a seat. "I'll get it. What about her?"

Willing to be tended, Romulus sank down into the plush couch with a heavy sigh as Antares poured. "For starters, her name is Lyra."

"I smell her on you." The words held no accusation but curiosity. They had always considered adding a third to their family, given their mutual hunger but never met anyone they would both enjoy long term. "She appeals to you too?"

Romulus took the goblet of wine and blood that Antares offered him. "It won't do me any good without you feeding, Antares." he pointed out. Antares held up the goblet he had in his hand.

"I'm using my back stock filled with pheromones. It'll do for now. So she appeals to you too?"

"She does, although we are going to have to be careful with her if we want to bring her in. She has prior connections to this world and they are a danger to her."