Vices and Maces

Chapter 66: Roman Has Some Unhealthy Habits

CW: depression/grief

Remus honestly didn't know what to do. Both his brother and his partner seemed depressed. Janus more so, but Roman was also very upset. He could see the vampire try to rely on his anger, as he always does when he's upset. Snapping easily, being more aggressive, though not hurting anyone.

Kayden left early in the day to hang out with Cecil. Remus explained to him what happened, so he's giving them space. Sidney's wing had healed, so even though she spent more time with them, she can sleep at her house now.

So Remus was left on his own to take care of the two grieving people. Janus hasn't left their room yet, Roman locked himself away in his own room throwing himself into work, they both refuse to eat anything.

The hafling has spent the last hour trying to coax Janus out of their room to go for a walk with him, get some fresh air, or do something. It amounted to nothing, and eventually the shifter fell asleep again.

So Remus went to go check on Roman. There was a spare key on the top of the door frame, so Remus quickly snatched it and unlocked the door. His brother was working at the desk, though it wasn't his own, it came with the house they rented. Roman was on his laptop, a million tabs open and he was switching between them, occasionally writing something.

"Ro, you know you can't work all day," Remus told him. "You shouldn't be working right now."

"There's nothing else for me to do," Roman said, his voice monotone.

"You need to rest. Last night was... difficult."

"Which is why I need to work. If we had just taken down Black faster, then Virgil would still be..." He drifted off, his voice becoming tight with tears.

Remus sighed and walked over, putting a hand on his shoulder. Roman tensed up and didn't relax. "Something horrible happened last night. You need time to process it. I know he was a friend, I know what it's like to lose a friend."

"It's not that. It's my fault he died! If he wasn't a mole, if he hadn't taken any unnecessary risks..."

"He chose to take those risks, he knew what would happen."

"I offered for him to stay with us last night. I met up with him last night. He told me about the stupid light! The moment Janus explained what it was, I should have gone back. I should have rushed to that stupid factory and I should have stopped him. There are so many things I should have done, and if I just did one of them then he would still be alive. If I was there..." Roman closed his eyes, pushing two tears out.

"Well... did he ever tell you anything he wanted to be done if he ever was caught? Anything at all?"

The vampire was quiet for a moment and focused on the laptop again. "He wanted me to find his sister and keep her safe. His family is pretty big, especially thanks to him in recent years so it was easy to find out basic information about her. I sent some people to go check out her home, and to keep her safe but... I don't know, there's a bunch of family drama it seems like."

"There's always drama with big, famous families."

"Yes but I'm learning a lot that I never knew before. Virgil was in a car crash, and it created a lot of tension in the family because he was under the influence."

"Really? I would honestly never have guessed."

"That's because in this old article, he said he was drugged. Traces of Devil's Tongue was found in his system."

"Black..."

"After that, he went missing for two years. The biggest news aside from that was Anna Noble, the oldest daughter, having a fight with her parents in public. She supposedly doesn't talk to them anymore, the parents say that she's gone bad or something. She graduated from law school but went on to work at a tattoo place."

"Damn, their parents must suck."

"They're the only ones that were able to be interviewed. Anna denied every interview, the only thing I can find that she said was she's much happier on her own away from her parents."

"Where does she live?"

"Only a few hours north of us. Like I said, I sent some people not too long ago to check on her. As long as she's alive then... I don't know. I owe Virgil that much at least."

Remus pressed his tongue against one of his small tusks. "You know... what happened wasn't your fault." Roman tensed up again. "We all could have done something to prevent what happened, but in the end, Black is the one that killed him. Not you."

"We met up yesterday at Daisy's... It just feels so... surreal now. I don't want to believe he's gone but Remus... I could smell the blood. He was there last night... I don't think he escaped."

"Yeah, I know. But it wasn't your fault. We can find his sister and protect her, and we can get rid of Black, but we can't do that if you're exhausted. So rest. Mourn. Don't throw yourself into work."

Roman nodded and Remus could see the exhaustion weigh on him as he relaxed. He stood up and was about to go back to bed, but his phone rang.

"I got it," Remus told him, reading the caller ID before answering. "Hey Iris, what's up?"

"Oh! Remus, I expected Roman. Is he okay?" Patton asked.

"Yeah, he's just resting." The halfling shooed his brother into bed.

"Well- uh, I don't have much time. My fiance came home just this morning, he was working last night. Roman told me that someone named Virgil Noble was killed last night?"

Remus's stomach twisted. Why was Patton bringing him up? Was his body found? "Yeah, that's right."

"Well... he's not dead."

It felt like the room dropped in temperature. Remus's eyes were blown wide and he leaned against the desk for support.

"What?" he asked quietly.

Roman frowned at him. "What is it?" he asked.

"Logan found him last night, took him to the hospital."

"The hospital?" Remus repeated.

"Yeah, he didn't tell me anything else though."

"But he's alive? Is he in stable condition? What-what happened?"

"Remus?" Roman called, walking back over. "What happened? Who's in the hospital?"

"I don't know what happened, Logan couldn't tell me. I can't pry, that would look too suspicious."

"Do you know which hospital?" Remus asked.

"I don't... But Logan's phone did die there! It hasn't been turned on yet, so if I can figure out where it last was before it died! I knew forcing him to download snapchat would come in handy!"

"Yes! Thank so much Patton, you have no idea how great this is! Send us the location, I'll explain everything to Roman and Janus."

"I'm glad I can help! Bye!"

"Bye!" Remus hung up with a giant smile on his face. He finally turned to his brother.

"What's going on?" Roman asked again. He was starting to get angry, but seeing his brother like this, hearing someone might be alive and in the hospital... It gave him hope.

"Virgil's alive."