Alaric, already tense from the earlier clash, narrowed his eyes. "He wouldn't just wander off."
"Unless something pulled him off," Jean added, barely hiding her growing anxiety.
Sebastian, lounging beside the window like a smug cat, folded his arms. "He's a big vampire. He can handle himself. Probably just got tired of being hunted like a dog and decided to slip into a shadow or two."
"That's not funny, Sebastian," Jean snapped, her voice sharp.
"I'm not joking," Sebastian replied, a flicker of seriousness sliding beneath his lazy expression. "If he wanted to disappear, he would. But if he didn't want to… then yeah, maybe we should worry."
Salviana shifted closer to her husband, worry flickering across her face.
Alaric exhaled slowly, dragging a hand through his hair. "He won't go far. If anything pulled him away, he'll find a way back. We wait. We watch. But we don't panic yet."
"I highly doubt anything pulled him, he looked uncomfortable," Sebastian mumbed.
