It turned out that none of them had been there when Sin had returned home because they had decided to throw a welcoming party. One thing had led to another and all but Roth had ended up going shopping.
Sin smiled—he was not the least bit surprised that they had lost track of time. They were a rowdy bunch. Their energy seemed to outmatch that of any of his other main branches. Any group plans they made usually went awry. Sin only hoped their efforts would not go to waste. From what he had learned of the arcadian so far, Cecil would not be easily swayed bytheir energy.
“Ye sure ye should go tae this meetin’ alone? I do nae like or trust the bloke. For all we know, he could be behind the disappearances,” Roth rumbled.
Finishing with the last button of his coat, Sin peered at Roth out of the corner of his eye. “Roth, I am well armed, in more ways than one. You know perfectly well that, despite how I appear, I can be quite violent.”
While Sin would like to say he naturally leaned toward more civil solutions, it would be a lie. The solid feeling of the guns in his shoulder holster, along with the various knives strapped to his body, were a great reminder of that.
Not that he honestly needed them for such a reminder. The part of himself that he hid from most of the world would never allow him to forget that under all the expensive clothes and grooming, he was a violent individual.
He did try to be peaceful, but Sin had killed quite a lot in his life and there would be many more, he was sure. Ordering the death and torture of others was part of his job. Most of the time, he did the deed himself—he was both the head of his group and its executioner.
Only a few years into his position, during the time when swords, not guns, were the weapons to back up the strength of an individual’s own power, he had a choice of great magnitude thrust upon him. That day, Sin had decided death was sometimes the only solution.
Sin had lost whatever guilt he may have felt over having a hand in the death of another years ago. Righteous punishment or not, he had no other choice. When one had a violent side that would be considered unnatural, even in the Second Realm, his only options had been to accept it and learn control, or allow it to consume him and become a murderous cretin like those he putdown. So with a heart full of loathing, he had accepted his lot in life.
“Aye, but even ye can only handle so many at once.”
“True. But I am not so foolish as to meet him in a place of vulnerability. There would be far too many witnesses if they tried anything.”
“If ye say so…”
“I do.” Grabbing the shoehorn from the small entryway table, he slid on his Oxfords.
“Well, make sure nae tae be too late. Ye have a date with the she-bitc?—”
“Roth!” Sin snapped, causing Roth to snort.
“Ye have a date with that woman,” the man restated dryly.
Within his group, of those Sin worked closely with, Roth was by far the worst when it came to swearing. The man was second-in-command of the Bellfall branch, so he made some allowances. Mostly because Sin’s attempts at curbing Roth’s behavior had, for the most part, failed. But there was only so much he would allow.
“I am perfectly aware of my date.”
“Ye know she’s nae right for ye, don’t ye?”
“That is not for you to decide.”
Roth shook his head as he watched the front door close behind Sin. The man had terrible taste in women, men, non-binary, it didn’t matter. But Sin did seem to date more of the first.
Shaking his head one last time, he turned and pushed through the doors into the entertainment room. Various off-duty members of the crew were lying about playing games and whatnot. His favorite wee purple-haired vampire, however, was nowhere in sight—a shame.
He called ‘hellos’ to those who greeted him and left the room. Roth had no interest in games at the moment, he would rather try to coax out the laddie who had locked himself away.
Cecil would leave his room today, one way or another. If not just to make the gang stop whining that they hadn’t met him yet. Or that their presents and decorations were going to waste.
After heading up the stairs and through many doors, Roth had just about made it to his destination when he bumped into the very person he was inking to drag out.
The poor laddie fell to the floor with a grunt as the door Roth pushed open knocked into him.
“Och, sorry there, laddie. I’m a wee bit clumsy at times. Afraid it’s mah size,” Roth apologized and pulled Cecil to his feet.
He grimaced when Cecil quickly put distance between them. Considering what Sin had told him, it wasn’t surprising.
Roth would never understand those who raised a hand to a bairn, let alone their own. It was not right hurting those so defenseless. Though he supposed he was a bit of a hypocrite. Roth had no issue using his size and strength when it came to capturing the evil bastards whose crimes warranted it. For instance, Cecil’s father. The man was not that big, but Roth wouldn’t feel bad knocking him around.
“I’m fine,” the lad said, clearing his throatnervously.
