All Roads Lead to Rome

Rome Rebuilding

Lyra stood and reached for her coat to pay for the drink in front of her. The angelic hostess met her eyes from across the room and shook her head with a small smile. Lyra nodded in response and put her coat on. She should have known better.

She made her way across the club then stopped as she got to the door. Turning, she looked back for one more look of them and her eyes clashed with Romulus'. She saw him murmur to Antares, who followed his gaze. The relief there was nearly her undoing as were the shadows under their eyes. They were worrying about her. Even though they shouldn't.

"We're not giving up on you." Romulus' voice was clear in her mind and she understood the warning they were giving her. She wouldn't be rid of them so easily. Or so they thought.

"I'm trying to protect you. I'm not healthy for you." She thought, maintaining eye contact with him.

"We'll see."

"You can't make me stay." His dark eyes went warm with humor and she wished she was close enough to hit him. To touch him.

"I wouldn't dream of trying to. Button up your coat. It is cold out tonight."

He turned his head and said something to Antares that had the man smiling. Her heart throbbed with the longing to join them in their warmth. Remember the risk, she reminded herself.

"Stop pretending you love me." she thought, going out the door.

"I never said I did. Just that I could. And that maybe I'm beginning to. Sleep well. We'll see you later."

She left the club, walking down the street fuming. Lyra deliberately left her coat open even though she had known he was right. It was cold.

Not the damn point, she thought. She had made her decision. She couldn't let her own problems send either of them spiraling. It wasn't going to happen. Not if she could prevent it. She heard male laughter and her head came up, automatically going on alert. Lyra slowed her walk as she saw the trademark insignia of the Shielders on the back of the jacket. Great. Just what her day needed. Harassment from the local jerk patrol.

A relatively new law enforcement group, they existed solely to enforce the inter-species' laws. On the surface that was. In reality, they were the remnants of a witch's powers gone bad and corruption was rampant. A time traveling witch had brought the original group of them forward to help with the Awakening. That was the official name for when all hell broke loose a few years back. Magical creatures and monsters had come out of the woodwork. The human race had suddenly discovered that they shared their world with several other species. Lyra couldn't remember why it had all happened, but it didn't really matter to her.

They had known already, having grown up in a vampiric neighborhood. Rhiannon and her had only noticed the overreaction that humans were legendary for. That overreaction led to Shielders. These Shielders targeted neighborhoods that were mostly nonhuman, looking for infractions of the hundreds of laws the humans had passed in an effort to control their newfound neighbors.

She glanced both ways then crossed the street at the light, hoping to avoid them. It was not something she was in the mood for right now. They had pretty much a free license to do what they pleased and if there was one thing they disliked more than non-humans, it was a human that freely associated with them.

And she had...associated with them freely. She smirked, thinking about Rome and Antares. Had enjoyed every minute of said association. Lyra quickened her pace as she approached them from the other side of the street.

"Hey! Lyra? Is that you?" one of them called out. She cursed under her breath but otherwise pretended not to hear them. Figures. This one had been downright stalking her before Rhiannon died.