Stolen Innocence

25

(2 months later)

"For being a Master Vampire, you're whiny as hell," Kayden said, malice in his voice.

He had been taught by Paxton a few weeks before how to draw Roman's blood so he could collect it on his own. The first time had been a struggle, as Roman had used all of his vampire influence to try to tempt Kayden to bite directly from his neck, which would have led to a stronger connection with the vampire.

Simon was nearly crying with joy when he saw how hard Kayden fought the temptation and ultimately won.

"I don't like needles," Roman said, wincing as Kayden pushed the needle into one of his veins and began to draw it out. "Ow!"

Kayden rolled his eyes. "Shut up. You're being so annoying," he said, pulling the needle out once the bag was full. "If you weren't a vengeful piece of shit, we wouldn't have this problem."

Roman bared his fangs, and a month ago that would have made Kayden fall to his knees and cower, but now it just made him scoff as he put a cotton ball on the tiny mark before replacing it with a bandage.

"I did it to save you from these demons."

Kayden put the blood bag in a cooled case as he packed up all of the medical supplies. "Are you delusional? Under the impression that every human needs saving?" he asked with a disgusted look. "I didn't need saving. I was quite happy with my life and you took that away from me, made me immortal, and I still have fifteen days before I get real food!"

Roman almost looked sorry for a minute, but then he wiped the look off his face. "They're demons. They always want something, but they never give."

"All you wanted was revenge for something that they couldn't help you with," Kayden spat, walking out of the cell.

"That's not true! You broke out of my control, didn't you? He could've broken away from Alastor as well!"

Kayden shook his head. "No, he couldn't have, because vampires shift others through blood and make connections, whereas demons make the shift through taking their soul and changing it. I've done my research. Turning into a partial demon is even too risky because it's irreversible and they feel drawn to demons, so if you were a demon it would work, but not a vampire," he said, feeling bad when he saw the sad, broken look on Roman's face. "I'm sorry."

"No you're not," Roman said, walking over to the bed in his cell. "You're happy because, in your eyes, I'm getting what I deserve."

Kayden sighed deeply. "No," he said, securing the cell and making sure it was locked. "I'm not vengeful and I feel sorry for you. If anything, now being a supernatural makes me feel a stronger connection to my soulmate, and I can't imaging a life without him. So, I feel sorry for you, but you brought your demise and capture on yourself when you decided to take revenge."

Roman had tears in his eyes, thinking of his lost soulmate and angry with himself for letting the demons win. "Are you going to keep me locked up here forever?"

"That's not up to me."

With that, Kayden left the dungeon. He locked the door to the room and carried his bag of blood to the small fridge in the corner of the pantry that they'd put in so he didn't have to see all of the other food in the fridge.

He grabbed one of the already cold bags and poured it into a cup, the familiar, irritating feel of his fangs popping out and poking at his bottom lip.

"Yummy," Paxton said sarcastically, entering the kitchen. "Nothing like a tall glass of blood in the morning to start the day."

Kayden rolled his eyes. "You're up early," he said, looking at the clock on the stove.