Burning Desire

24

Darius was raging in one of the guest rooms, having sent Venus away with the other demons so he'd be safe while Darius destroyed the room in anger. They'd already tried to track him down on foot, but Roman was a master vampire, and an intelligent one at that, so he knew how to evade them.

"We need to summon Alastor," Simon said, having come home as soon as he got the call. "He branded Roman as soon as he got here and I don't know anyone who can remove a demon lord's brand."

Kayden sighed, laying his head back on Simon's shoulder. "I've done my research and it can be removed, but it'd have to be by the demon lord or a master vampire that's even older than Roman," he said, sounding defeated. "And even though Roman is a prick, I'm sure he has connections with other vampires."

"Then we have to track him down before he gets the brand removed," Paxton said, leaning against the counter and resting his chin in one of his palms. "I'm going to summon Master Alastor."

He vanished into one of the hallways and into a room to do the summoning while the others sat in silence.

Tristan was still dazed, his mind not awake yet because he was still getting over when his body was borrowed by a ghost, and then the chain of events where Alvis was taken and their prisoner escaped.

"How many bags of blood do you have saved?" Simon asked, nudging Kayden's shoulder.

Kayden had given up keeping what he was a secret, as Winston told him that Tristan already knew so there was no point hiding it.

"Two portions," Kayden said, fumbling with his fingers. "Enough to keep me healthy for two months, but then I'm going to be weak unless we get Roman back, and it won't be as easy as the first time. You can't send Venus in to trick him."

Venus frowned as he realized that. "Oh," he mumbled, clear sadness in his tone. "What can we do then? We can't leave Alvis there!"

"We won't," Winston said, offering a rare, kind smile to soothe Venus. "We'll find him and despite his shyness, Alvis is a shifter and he's scrappy. I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to sneak away on his own."

That seemed to calm down Venus enough to relax into the couch.

"He didn't seem shy to me," Tristan mumbled, referring to Alvis and his attitude almost the whole time they were together. "But yes, he's scrappy."

Paxton came back from the hallway, Alastor following closely behind him.

"Master Alastor," both Winston and Simon said, nodding respectfully while Kayden waved and Tristan threw up a peace sign.

"Where's Levi?" Tristan asked, since he hadn't seen his friend in a couple of days.

Alastor walked over to the chair and sat down, propping his legs up on the ottoman. "He wanted to be turned into a partial demon so he can live forever with Greyson and Elijah, so he won't be back for a week or so," he explained, before looking at Venus. "Where is your master?"

Venus hung his head. "Destroying one of the guest rooms."

Alastor huffed. "Paxton, go get him," he grumbled. "I will attempt to track Roman, but I assume his first step will be to find another master vampire to remove my mark. So, we will have to look for other options."

"Can't Kayden, like, text him or something?" Tristan asked, making Winston cover his laugh with a cough.

Kayden snickered, but Simon was glaring at Winston and Tristan, hugging Kayden tighter than he had been before.

"I don't have his number, sorry," Kayden said, wiping the smile off of his face because he could tell how upset Simon was.

Winston apologized to Simon as Paxton re-entered the room, Darius following him.