Alice knew there was something about Damien worth studying, she just apparently didn't get the time to now. She had a knack for knowing when people were different, but apparently this one didn't want to be studied, and especially not while Marcus was so busy showing him off like a trophy boyfriend.

"Don't mind if I do," she chuckled when Damien walked away in a fit like that. Turning her attention back to Marcus, she noticed hos he was frowning at her and couldn't help but tilt his head to place a gentle kiss on his cheek. "Mind telling me what you're doing here?" He asked her coldly, watching what was playing out between Damien and an old friend. "If I told you, where would the fun in that be?" She chuckled and made a small wave to the vampire flirting so openly with Damien. "I can tell you that I just met with an old friend of yours though." And just like that, she had his attention away from Damien for a moment.

Feeling a set of rough hands caress her face for a moment, Alice leaned into the touch before her head was yanked back by her hair. "Stop your pretty little deception, what do you want?" It didn't even occur to him that she was trying to keep his attention away from the vampire flirting with Damien. When he looked up though, he saw the vampire actually try to kiss Damien and hissed as he let go of Alice and was at Damien's side in a second, pulling him close again.

"Let's go home," he murmured softly, nuzzling Damien's neck, trying to get him to forgive him.

Damien refused the other vampires advances of course, he wasn't in the mood to be touched by another male at the moment and just took a sip of his drink. It wasn't until the vampire wasn't having none of that and actually try to kiss him did he back up some and then felt arms around him. He felt Marcus warm breath hit his neck and heard the other say that they should just head home.

Aren't you going to rekindle the old flame? He asked. Yeah...Damien wasn't exactly happy at the moment with anyone.

He looked to the elder vampire who did back off some, but he still kept his eyes on the blue eyed vampire till the mans drinks suddenly spilled right on his fancy white suit. You should be more careful next time. He said as the vampire walked off to try and get the stain out.

Damien's words did actually hurt, why was he thinking so lowly of him all of a sudden? "Why would I want to do that when it's you and only you I want?" he whispered softly in his fledgeling's ear, wanting nothing more than to make him happy. It had never been his intentions to make Damien feel out of place or jealous as there was nothing to be jealous about as far as Alice was concerned.

"Love? I just need to have a few words with dear Talbot who you just spilled his own drink on. I'll meet you outside in five minutes, ready to go?" he nuzzled Damien's neck again, wishing now that he'd changed his mind when they were at the doorstep as he was not looking forward to telling an old friend to lay off.

Walking over to the vampire, who by now was trying to get the stain out of his shirt, Marcus had a few quick words with him before offering Alice a courteous goodbye smile and stepped outside. He'd expected to find Damien and a car waiting for him when he got outside, instead he only found an empty car with a note in the back seat.

M,
An eye for and eye,
T

Where had they taken Damien?

Maybe he was over reacting to all this and sigh softly, leaning back some into Marcus touch and just nodded. He did give the man a soft kiss on the cheek as a apology before heading outside like he was told.

But when he got outside....things took a turn for the worst. He was suddenly ambushed. Damien fought of course, throwing two of the man into a alleyway but when he was stunned by a electric object, he fell to the ground and only heard a female voice and a group of males before he was picked up.

His wrist and feet were bounded and had a gag in his mouth. A man lift him over his shoulders and they disappeared. He had no idea where he was or what had happened, but he felt himself being dropped onto a carpeted floor. They stunned him again for good measure, making the blue eyed vampire whimper in pain and looked up at whoever was in charge of this kidnapping operation.

Only thing other than the name that he recognized was a scent that lingered in the car where the note had been left. Whirling around he went back inside and dragged Alice with him to the car. He didn't care who stared right now, people should know to leave Damien alone.
"Where did you take him? What is Talbot up to?"

Marcus was snarling now, dragging his nails across the pretty redhead's cheek, making deep cuts. "Tell me, Alice. I don't have all night. Why does he want Damien?" He could honestly say that out of all the things he'd expected her to do, giggle was no one of them. "But Anthony, you were always so kind before. Always friendly towards people you thought deserved it. It wasn't too long ago that Talbot had a fledgeling he cared for deeply that you took away from him, remember?"

He remembered all too well really. Alice had been new and beguiling, she'd outsmarted them both really and had given up many secrets on both ends. Did that mean the plan was to turn Damien against him?

"Take me to him," he said dangerously quiet. "If you're sure you want to save your lover, then go ahead," she stopped to give the driver directions. "But he may not be the same man as was kidnapped just now." Marcus hit her square across the face to shut her up and they rode the rest of the way in silence.

Of course, once they got to where Damien was being kept, Alice decided to be cryptic and full of deceit again and they had to take the long way to get to Damien.

It was the man from before....the one who was hitting on him and he caused the mans drink to become apart of his suit. Damien broke the bonds and went to attack the man, but quickly he was sedated by a heavy round of electric shocks.

Damien body involuntarily twitched, he was curled up in a ball and tried to contain any small sounds from leaving him. The man just tsk him, commenting it would be ashamed to ruin such a pretty face. Damien didn't understand why this was happening till he remembered something that Marcus had said to him about keeping his guard up....was this one of the guys that wanted Marcus dead?

Once Alice had led him to the right building, he was forced to drag her along as she wouldn't be anymore help and he wasn't going to let her wander off and do something silly. Not that she did things like that, but he could never be too careful, which was why he pushed her first through the door where Damien was.

Holding the redhead close by her arms, he glared at Talbot. "What do you want this time that you have to send your little spies out?" To get Alice out of the way for a moment, he snapped her neck and dropped her to the floor. She would wake up again when the injury was healed.

Stepping over to Talbot they stood for a moment and just sized each other up. "Doesn't feel good, does it? To have your fledgeling and lover stolen away from you like that?" Oh the other vampire was really smug about the whole thing, thinking he'd finally bested Marcus at something. They were only a few centuries apart in age, maybe five-six, but they'd gotten along very well once upon a time.

"Now we both know that you can't steal what you already own, and you owed me Alice," pulling Talbot with him, he brought the other vampire out of ear shot of Damien and they discussed the situation quietly. When that didn't help, Marcus knocked him out the same way he'd knocked the redhead out. It didn't give him too much time, but it was time enough to get Damien and pull him into his arms. "You'll be safe soon, love." he said, stroking his cheek lovingly.

Damien didn't understand this at all, he wanted to go home....back to America and back to the sleepy little town of Somber Falls. He wasn't sure if he should be mad at Marcus for this or not, the man did warn him and he should have been on high alert...and it was him that wanted to go to England so it wasn't really Marcus fault that this was happening. The thought though that it was his own fault made tears swell in his eyes and he wrapped his arms around his body and started to cry.

The man was about to try something else when the door suddenly opened. Damien looked and saw it was none other than Marcus and the red head from the party that crashed their table. He blinked his curious eyes at both of them, watching the two vampires size each other up and disappeared for a moment. He slowly got up now, his cloths were torn and he shivered some when he heard the sound of a neck breaking.

Marcus returned just moments later, he wrapped his arms around Marcus and had to use the mans shoulders to keep his legs steady. I want to go home.... He whispered and opened his eyes to see the man again, he had regain his former self. He gripped Marcus shirt tightly and whispered that the man was behind him, hiding his face from the sight.

None of this made sense to Marcus and he would guess it made even less sense to Damien. He was just glad to find him relatively unharmed. Whatever Talbot had had in mind could wait, or not happen at all as Marcus wasn't planning on lending out his fledgeling to anyone. So naturally when he had Damien wrapped his arms around him, Marcus held the younger vampire close.

"Then home is where we'll go," he said quietly, hugging Damien closely. He didn't acknowledge the fact that Talbot was moving closer until the man was standing right behind him. At this point, Marcus pushed Damien behind himself and whirled around and grabbed the other vampire by his throat again. "You stay away from him," he practically snarled. The last thing he wanted was to hurt his former friend if he didn't have to. "Remember Rome?" He asked quietly, having effectively restrained the other vampire by holding holding his arms still and keeping him from moving at all.

Alice was waking up again now as well, having healed up again and ready to pick a side. The redhead knew better than to pick a losing team, but she wasn't entirely sure who was really loosing now. "Anthony... Talbot... You two used to be friends, remember? Way back when?" she was trying to keep the two men from making their problems even bigger, when they could just laugh about this in a few centuries if they kept from trying to kill one another.

Without warning, Marcus had let go of Talbot and was pulling her by her hair. "Clever little girls like you should know when to keep quiet. Don't want your darling maker to get wind of your little problem now would we?" He was speaking quietly enough for only her to hear him and she practically gasped in horror. If her sire found out she literally couldn't sire anyone, that might be a very bad thing. She whimpered slightly, astonished that just because he'd rekindled his interest in Damien, no one else mattered at the moment.

It seemed reminding Talbot about their time together had changed his mind for now regarding Damien and possession of him. The pair had a long history of arguing and making up afterwards, especially when it came to lovers. Heck, he'd made sure he even had Arya marry the man's fledgeling. They would deal with this current issue without either of the younglings around and it was none of their business. And Marcus knew he would have to make the trip on his own again shortly after returning Damien home to really straighten things out and make sure nothing bad happened again.

"Let's go home, love," Marcus said to Damien, wrapping an arm around him to support him and because it felt good, and glared slightly at Alice before they left without another word being exchanged between any of them.

The events that were taking place confused Damien so much and he wondered if maybe going on this trip was a bad idea.....but why would Marcus even agreed to go on a trip when their were people in this city that want the man dead. He knew that Marcus had probably pissed off alot of people, the man always took what he wanted and giving whatever he had taken in the first place was hard to take back.

He felt himself being pushed behind Marcus now and watched with somewhat wide eyes at the scene being played out before him. He had never seen Marcus act this way before, did he really mean that much to the man now? The red head had woken up now from her little neck breaking ordeal and he could read her thoughts about wondering who side she should go on now.

He kept quite, trying his best to stand up now without help and finally when Marcus got done yanking in the red heads hair and whispered something into her ear that only she could hear did Marcus finally come back to his side. Damien just nodded and tried not to be like a damsel in distress, but he was zapped so many times that his nerves were shot all to hell at this point and he just fell to the side and hit the floor, hard to and was passed out.

Marcus hadn't expected to react the way he did towards his old friend, but apparently he got very protective as well as possessive as far as Damien was concerned. All that mattered was to convince his former friend to let bygones be bygones and let them just leave. Heck, Marcus would come back alone and sort it out without having to worry about Damien at all.

When they were finally ready to go and Damien collapsed, he didn't react in time to stop him from hitting the floor, but was quick to pick him up and carry him to the car. Both Talbot and Alice knew where to find him and he had things to hold over both their heads to keep them in line.

The car ride back to his property was uneventful and once they got home, he carried Damien up to Marcus' room and laid him down on the bed, snuggling up to him. "You're safe now," he whispered softly and held his lover close.

Damien was actually tired, sore and the fact that he been electricuted so many times just wore the young vampire out. He didnt know what had happened next, only feeling himself being lifted up and could hear Marcus voice. He just laid his head against the mans chest and struggled to get awake.

It must have been hours when he woke up because when he did he could vaguely see small strips of sunlight peer through the covers on the windows. He rubbed his head and sat up, remembering what had happened last night and looked down to see Marcu was in bed with him. He blinked his eyes and rubbed them before getting up and wobbled some but regain his composure and went to the bathroom.

He took his cloths off and started to fill the tub with hot water and even poured some bubbles in for added comfort. Once the tub was filled to his liking, he slowly stepped in and laid down on the tub, resting his head back and closed his eyes with a soft sigh.

Marcus didn't wake up at once when Damien got up, he'd actually been sleeping. For some reason, he slept much more soundly with Damien around than he did on his own, and he knew no one would dare try anything while they were home. Besides, it was good to sleep for a little while and not always worry about everything.

When he did wake up, shortly after Damien had filled the tub, he was confused as to why Damien was gone. He'd expected to find the younger vampire at his side, but the bed was empty. Getting up, he listened for any sounds that could give him an idea where Damien was and barely caught the soft sigh coming from the bathroom.

Relaxing again, he walked into the bathroom himself and decided to bathe Damien because he wanted to take the opportunity to really just be close to him. Stepping out of his clothes, he got into the big tub behind Damien. Wrapping his arms around the younger vampire, he held him close for a moment before he started massaging his shoulders very gently rubbing soap into Damien's skin. Skilled fingers worked their way up Damien's neck before he placed a kiss on his cheek. "I'm sorry about what happened," he murmured, determined to make Damien feel all better by being gentle with him.

Damien wanted this soreness to go away, he hurt alot especially on his sides where he was probed with electric rods. The warm water felt incredible on his skin as he sigh softly and kept his eyes closed. It wasn't until the door to the bathroom opened did he jump and quickly looked up to see it was Marcus. He looked down at the water once he started to undress and moved some to let Marcus get behind him.

He made softly sounds of content at the rubbing and had his eyes closed. He leaned back back into Marcus chest and draped his head over the mans shoulder. He heard the soft apology and sigh. He didnt know if he should even get mad at Marcus for what had happened....he felt like it was his fault because he wasn't strong enough to fight anther vampire.....he always needed Marcus to protect him like a damsel in distress.

He said nothing and couldn't help but to lean forward and rubbed his eyes and face with slight frustration."I don't know why you keep me around.....it's obvious I am not as strong as I thought I was...." He whispered.

Marcus didn't know why he needed a reason to keep Damien around, he just knew it had never been about the younger vampire's strength. Strength of spirit maybe, but he didn't need a bodyguard. Right now he wanted to bring his lover back to perfect health so they could travel home and not worry any more about old friends or enemies as they were less likely to ever set food in Bitter Springs.

"I don't need a bodyguard Damien, and I like having you around. You're smart, beautiful and good at what you do. Talbot is even older than your sister, you wouldn't have stood a chance against him in a fair fight," he didn't mean to sound condescending or anything, it was just the truth. Damien couldn't possibly have won that fight if he'd tried, and Marcus was glad that he hadn't. "You are perfect, love, just the way you are."

With all the sentimentality out of the way, Marcus continued to rub Damien's shoulders, gently kneading out the tension. "Now, that being said, I also enjoy having a complete tease around," he chuckled.