When Claire returned home and to her and Sean’s bedroom for the night, he had just gotten into bed moments before she entered the room. As he turned his eyes to her upon her arrival, Sean immediately noted her discontent, as he always did, “rough night?” he greeted sympathetically.

“To put it mildly” she mumbled as she leaned down to remove her boots.

Sean was quiet another moment as he watched Claire’s aura, “you smell like blood.”

“You say the sweetest things” Claire mumbled further as she shuffled toward the bed before adding, “and that’s because I spent most of the evening trying to get it out of the floorboards, again” she added pointedly.

“Another gun-happy mortal?” Sean sighed. Claire simply nodded as she slid under the cover and curled against his chest, “thought that special ingredient in the booze cut down on that.”

“It does; but the asshole with the itchy trigger finger has never had a drink at my place as far as I recall” Claire sighed again. She then added, “and Sebastian’s leaving.”

“Leaving?” Sean asked as he looked down at where she still laid her head sadly upon his chest, “leaving temporarily you mean?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be permanent; told him you’d give him a fair price on lumber for his own place” she added sadly.

“That’s rather surprising” Sean returned thoughtfully, “especially considering that booze we just mentioned; I figured every man in the place would be loath to leave it, let alone one who’s been working and living there for over a decade.”

“Funny you should mention the booze; that’s part of the problem” she sighed.

“Not sure I follow” Sean replied.

“Ever since I started adding my blood to the drinks, Sebastian has hardly touched a drop of alcohol there” she began.

“Did he happen to explain why?” Sean asked as he continued to look down at that sadness and worry in her aura, as well as a bit of anger as well.

“Something about me taking away the free will of every man in town and proving why the hellhounds think we’re so evil” she grumbled with an angry sort of regret.

“He actually said that?” Sean returned with his own worry.

“More or less” Claire sighed as she finally looked up to see the obvious apprehension in Sean, “don’t worry, the first night he started working there he was compelled to never lead them here or tell anyone about us” she assured as she sighed and rested her cheek against Sean’s chest once more, “he just thinks I’m an evil bitch who he doesn’t wanna work for anymore, apparently”

“And he said that?” Sean asked with a bit more volume.

“It was more implied” Claire admitted with another sigh, “though I did get called a bitch tonight by someone else. Good times” she added sarcastically.

“Someone else who hasn’t drunk enough at your place yet I assume?” Sean returned warily.

“The same prick that pulled the trigger tonight” she offered, and then lowered her voice, “and he promised to come back tomorrow to put me and Bas both in our place.”

That was when Sean became even more alert, “come again?”

“That’s the other part of the reason Bas is leaving. He has a feeling he’d have less luck surviving that asshole’s next visit than I would” she stated with another sad and frustrated sigh.

“And I take it there were too many people around for you to put this prick in his place” Sean replied with the same worry still coloring his tone.

“Gotta uphold the fucking Masquerade, don’t I?” Claire replied bitterly.

Trying to force down his own fears of some danger coming to her aside from just the problems of a possibly broken Kindred law, Sean had to ask for more details, “what exactly did he say, Claire?”

“He was pissed that all of his whores and customers prefer my place to his; said that if he didn’t get them back by tomorrow, or I guess tonight, that he would come back with a bullet for Bas and me both… considering I didn’t have many pleasant words for him either tonight” Claire answered with continued annoyance over the entire situation before her.

“He’s actually threatened to come back and shoot you both just because your business is doing better than his?” Sean responded with his own angry disbelief.

“And, considering Bas knows damn well that my girls and my customers will never leave me, thanks to… reasons; that asshole Tobin will never get his wish, at least not tonight. It’d take months for my blood to wear off, even if I stopped serving the tainted booze right this very evening; not to mention that if I did that, I’d go back to having pregnant and diseased girls getting beaten to death and customers ducking bullets every fucking night of the week, just like it is at all the other saloons” Claire further explained, her anger renewed the more she thought on her current situation.

“Tobin’s his name?” Sean returned, his own anger simmering then.

“Not that it matters even if he did come back and shoot me; though I would have a bit of trouble explaining my inability to be murdered to the hundreds of men sure to be underneath my roof tonight” she grumbled.

Sean scoffed as he looked down at her, “so, you’re just gonna let this asshole come in and shoot you; then what? Just retire until your customers are too old to remember your face?”

“Well I don’t know what else to do, short of murdering that prick” Claire sighed again, “and I’m pretty sure that would break our stupid fucking laws too if I took a chunk out of him.”

“There are other ways to deal with him. We can control any mortal we want, remember?” Sean reminded after taking a moment to calm his own irritation at the fact of this man threatening Claire, even if it was a threat that wouldn’t necessarily kill her; it still angered him more than a bit.

“Not without every unbound customer wondering how I managed to get a murderous asshole to suddenly forget that he wants to put a bullet in me” Claire told him pointedly.

“Then you’ll have to get to him when you’re not surrounded by others” Sean stated plainly.

“Easier said than done. My place is always packed to the rafters and I’m sure he’s got plenty of toadies surrounding him under his roof too” Claire attempted to argue the success of the plan.

“I’m sure we can find a way” Sean stated as he looked toward the patio doors with annoyance, knowing the sun would most likely be up before either of them could develop a foolproof plan to tend to the Tobin problem.

“I doubt we’ll find it before morning though” Claire complained, her own thoughts mirroring his as she sighed and curled down into their pillows knowing that their conversation would soon be forced to an end anyway.

Sean followed Claire from their chambers the next night and down the stairs to the main hall, which was not that odd in itself. But when he continued to follow Claire into the foyer, she had to turn back to him questioningly, “you have somewhere to go too?” she asked as she looked up at him.

“Yes. I’m coming with you” Sean told her plainly.

“To the saloon?” Claire repeated as she raised a brow.

“Why, were you planning on going somewhere else first?” Sean returned her questioning look.

“No, but if you come to The Loft with me…” Claire just shook her head, “don’t you have other things you have to do tonight?”

“Nothing that supersedes a threat on my wife’s life” he told her with conviction.

“We both know a bullet won’t end my life” Claire reminded.

“There’s a lot of painful things that won’t end our lives; doesn’t mean I’d enjoy sitting idly by and letting you endure any of them though” Sean continued in the same unwavering tone.

Claire just shook her head up at him. She then sighed heavily, “you’re the Prince; you can’t break your own laws” she reminded him unnecessarily.

“Did I say I was planning to break any laws tonight?” Sean stated with feigned innocence.

“Oh, so if Tobin comes in waving a gun at me you’re not gonna do a thing, huh? I don’t have to be a mind reader to know that’s a lie and a half” she scoffed.

“You’ll be at the bar. I’ll be near the door. The second you see this prick, you let me know and I will remove him to the nearest dark alley for a chat, of some kind or another” Sean added the last bit wryly.

“A chat, huh?” Claire retorted, trying to sound angry though not able to help the smirk, “you know, as old as we are, I still think we missed the days of knights in shining armor by a few centuries.”

“What about a Prince Charming?” Sean returned her smirk.

“Think we missed that one too” she wrinkled her nose up at him.

“I beg to differ, my lady” Sean allowed another wry smile and a slight bow, “lead the way, won’t you?”

“Seriously, what are you going to do?” Claire had to ask as they made their way to the saloon several minutes later on that mild December night.

“Once we’re alone in that dark alley, it won’t matter, will it?” Sean stated in the same even tone.

“So you don’t honestly have a plan?” Claire asked as she looked back up at him questioningly.

“It will be his own behavior that determines exactly how forcefully I have to get my point across” Sean informed her thoughtfully.

“You know that even if you dissuade his prick-like tendencies, every other saloon owner in this city also has it in for me thanks to my special drinks” Claire warned with her own apprehension.

“Good thing we have many, many years to correct their way of thinking then” Sean shrugged as Claire just shook her head once more, somehow doubting this was going to be a simple or permanent fix, no matter how exactly Sean handled it.

Once they passed through the doors, they were greeted by the usual attentiveness Claire always received, as well as by the slightly overwhelmed look on the face of the servant who had been sent to help run the place that day. “Did Sebastian already leave?” she asked the servant with concern as she approached and helped him with some of the glasses he had been trying to return to the bar without them toppling from the overfilled tray.

Sean stayed near the door as he had planned to and nodded to Claire to assure her that he was ready for her warning the moment Tobin made any appearance at all. Though, the servant’s voice drew her attention from Sean as he answered, “I haven’t seen Sebastian all day Miss Claire” he told her with worry as they made their way to the bar, each carrying their own share of glassware.

“Did you check the office?” Claire asked as she rolled her eyes at a few of the whistles the customers offered her, each receiving an annoyed look from Sean who still remained stationed near the door.

“Haven’t had a moment to breathe let alone go look for him” the servant told her apologetically as he set his own tray on the bar and took the glasses Claire’s arms had been filled with.

Claire just shook her head as she easily found Sean through the crowd and made a gesture to insinuate she would be heading upstairs for a moment. Sean simply nodded with a sigh as he went back to scanning the auras as well as thoughts of the assembled men, despite how lewd those thoughts seemed to be about his own wife; which of course didn’t improve Sean’s mood despite knowing that alcohol and her blood would easily make any man want to ravage her, considering how badly the sober and unbound ones had always wanted her too.

Once Claire reached the top floor, she first checked Sebastian’s room. Inside, she found his belongings all packed and stacked inside the door; which did not give her any comfort about why he hadn’t been downstairs all day according to the servant working that night. Bracing herself, she moved across the way to her office to see if he had decided to hide himself away from the crowd to avoid having to deal with Tobin’s promised return to the premises.

Upon opening the door though, her fears were realized. It seemed that Tobin’s return had not necessarily meant that he would wait until nightfall. Inside, Sebastian sat slouched in the chair with dark eyes open and glazed over, blood pouring from his chest out of the bullet wound. Claire whimpered as she moved her hands to her face, immediately sinking to her knees in the doorway; her first thought being that the thing she was had now cost the life of both this young man as well as his mother’s thirty years prior.

She wasn’t sure how many minutes had passed as she sat there on her knees, leaning against the doorframe, staring into Sebastian’s glassy eyes with her own bloody tear-filled pools of emerald green. She barely even acknowledged the footsteps behind her which faltered as they approached the open doorway she had collapsed into.

“I take it he came here during the day” Sean’s voice shook as he came to stand behind her, taking in the scene as well. It was true that he had never had much of a friendship with the young man whose body now lay dead before them; but he knew that Claire had always cared for him, despite any difficulties their own relationship had endured over the last thirteen years.

But before Claire could confirm the obvious through her own grief, the sound of more gunshots then pierced the air downstairs.