Page 8 of Roman

Roman had heard rumors before of humans with magical abilities: healing, the sight, telepathy, even shapeshifting. He’d never come across one himself, but their blood was supposed to be especially enticing to Roman’s kind.

As of now, the only other logical reason Roman could think of was one he didn’t want to consider. Not if he was hoping to move on from this town without sending his demon into a spiral.

And if he couldn’t get answers, maybe Roman could fuck the boy out of their system. The thought held more than just a little appeal.

He finally stopped his pacing, readjusting his hardening cock, and took a seat on the king-size hotel bed, ignoring his arousal for the moment. He felt better now that he had a plan. Not exactly athoroughplan but better than the instinct-driven mindlessness of the past few hours. See Danny, charm Danny, compel some answers from Danny.

Now he just had to worry about Luc. There was at least one person who could help a little with that.

Roman pulled his phone out of his pocket and sent out a text.

Can you keep an eye on Luc’s trail for me? I’m in Colorado. Let me know if he starts traveling south.

He received an immediate reply.

Colorado? Thought you’d be clearing out of the States. I was already planning our tropical reunion. The mountains are fucking boring, bad choice.

Roman rolled his eyes. Little shit.Something came up.

What came up?

Just tell me if Luc comes close.

Fine. Be mysterious. Knowing you, it’s not anything exciting, anyway.

Brat.

Bore.

He was just putting his phone away when it dinged one last time.

You know if your someTHINGis a someONE,you can’t let Luc catch up to you. Hurry up with whatever you’re doing and move on.

Roman wasn’t sure how Soren did that. He always seemed to know what wasn’t being said. Roman couldn’t tell if it was something that came with his greater age, or a skill he’d just always naturally had.

But Soren wasn’t wrong. Roman really couldn’t linger.

Just a few days, he told himself.Just to get some answers, and then I’m gone.

His demon, mercifully quiet, let the lie pass.

Just a few days.

three

Danny

“Danny,I’vegottogive you another one. Bay two. Overdosed downtown. He got two doses of Narcan in the ambulance already, stable and holding his own airway.”

“Got it.” Danny nodded, typing quickly to catch up on his charting.

So much for a night off.

He’d been finishing a late dinner—if you could call stale cereal dinner—when he’d gotten a frantic text from his work asking if he could come in. The staffing center knew he was always up to pick up extra shifts. He was exhausted enough that he had almost said no for once, but then had reminded himself that student loans didn’t pay themselves, and he had two nights off in a row coming up if he could just get through this one.

The chaos in the ER was in direct contrast to the night before. Just after midnight and they were already almost full, even if that wasn’t saying much considering their small size. It was the normal variety of a not-so-big city: some dehydration from stomach bugs, a few broken bones, now apparently an overdose. He was supposed to have gone on break a half hour ago, but these things weren’t guaranteed on busier nights.

He had just gotten his patient assessed and settled in, making sure his vitals were being measured every fifteen minutes in case the Narcan wore off before the drugs left his system, when Chloe stopped by his station.

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