Eternal Night

(III) Chapter 10: Back in the Game

Carmen slipped into the war room, quietly shutting the door behind her.

"Are they here yet?" she whispered, tiptoeing over to the long communal desk where Lyra and Jacob were sitting. The latter had the live feed from the security cameras of the back alley and front entrance up on his screen.

"Not yet," Lyra said. "Where's Rémy?"

"He and Danny are checking something in the tunnels in the basement. They'll be down there a while." The brunette slid in between the pair to check over Jake's shoulder so she could see the laptop screen. "Do you think they'll come together or separately?"

"Given that his majesty still hasn't told Rémy the truth – nor does he seem likely to..." Jacob began, the thought trailing off with a meaningful look. He finished it with a sip of blood from his mug.

"I still don't get why he won't just come out about who he is," Carmen replied. "I mean – most of us already know."

"Not that I condone Dracula's decision, a part of me gets it. I mean, given all the tragedy and bullshit going on, how do you think Rémy would take the news?"

"Point taken."

"And then if you include the fact that he and Frankie were secretly blood-bound last week and have done nothing but bang the shit out of each other since... Rémy would lose his goddamn mind if he knew," Lyra added archly.

The Spaniard sent the redhead a narrowed look.

"Do you think they'll even show tonight?" she asked, looking to Jacob.

"Considering the state they were in when I dropped by earlier this afternoon?" he began with a wry grin.

"My money is still on no," Lyra said, leaning back in her chair, arms folded over her chest confidently.

"And mine is still on yes," he countered. "You and Frankie might share a sire-bond, but you don't know my sister-in-law as well as you think you do."

"Oh please! You didn't spend the last four days using every trick in the book to block wave after wave after wave of pleasure slamming down a sire-bond. Even with my walls up, I could still sense what he was doing to her." Lyra shifted a little in her seat. "Honestly, I'm more worried about having to look his majesty in the face after all that. I thought she and Tristan were hot together..." and she trailed off a bit, blowing a heavy puff of air out between barely parted lips.

"Were you expecting him to be lackluster?" Carmen asked teasingly. "He's Dracula. And you know as well as I do the tension that had been brewing between them over the last year. Honestly, if the two of them finally falling into bed together was anything less than what you said it was – and that's with your mental shields up – I'd have been disappointed."

Lyra almost looked haunted for a moment.

"I'm never going to get a moments peace again, am I?"

Jake snorted back a laugh and the woman's brows furrowed disapprovingly.

"Will that masking spray you cooked up work?" Carmen interjected. "The one you dropped off for them earlier?"

"It will if they can keep their hands off each other long enough for it to do its job," he explained. "Bonding scents are tricky things to hide. Personally, I'm more worried about the two of them eye-fucking and getting caught by Rémy."

"Or just straight-up fucking in a corner," Lyra grumbled.

"Well, it's a quarter after – they're late," Carmen announced and the redhead grinned, holding out her palm in front of the warlock.