Rise of the Night/Run of Night

A shot rang out in the open area of the catacombs and one of the assassins cornering Shadow dropped to the floor. The larger man standing next to him and female advancing on Shadow looked back at the body in surprise.

Another shot exploded from right beside Shadow and the larger man dropped. Shadow and the woman looked back towards each other, but the woman's turn was stopped by the business end of a handgun. Lyla stood to Shadow's left, firmly holding the gun in place.

"Nice trick," she growled. "Throwing someone across the room." She fired, coldly watching the woman jerk away from her from the force of the point blank shot. "I can do that too."

"I'd say nice shot," Shiva drawled from higher above them, "but that didn't exactly involve skill at that range."

"Shut up, Shiva," Lyla muttered, tucking the gun into her belt loop to inspect Shadow. She hated guns. Shadow seemed to be fine aside from some new bruises and the cut on his face but she still found herself frowning at him. "Are you alright?" She asked gently, trying to soften the expression on her face.

Congo hopped down from the perch he had taken to pick off the would be assassins with Shiva. "Yes, how is our intrepid solider?"

"Been better," Shadow admitted, letting Lyla inspect him before she tossed him the clothes she had gone looking for.

"And you," Congo said, turning to Lyla. "What am I going to do with you? Are there any orders of mine that you will listen to anymore?"

Lyla stayed silent, giving Congo a bold look of defiance.

"The silent treatment doesn't suit you, Lyla," he said, turning serious. "Didn't suit you as a pup, doesn't suit you now."

Lyla just glared in response.

"Look," Congo continued, despite Shadow's presence. "All I'm saying is that you're being... Very unlike yourself. Maybe a little... Irrational."

"Funny," Lyla finally said, looking very upset at Congo as she stood next to Shadow with her arms crossed. "I could have sworn we already had this conversation. For a couple hours. At a much higher volume."

"Then maybe you should have listened, pup," he said, pulling out his old nickname for her. "Don't get so easily distracted." And with that, Congo looked very obviously at Shadow. "But I suppose there are matters to attend to now that this riff raff have been cleared. Do you still have a safe house you could hide him at?"

Lyla nodded curtly, taking the opportunity to end the conversation. Congo had caught her while she was looking for clothes for Shadow and spent the better part of two hours reeming her up one side and down the other for ignoring his orders.

And for falling prey to your own feelings, she reminded herself. Though Shiva's response had been that Congo force Shadow to sleep with Lyla to get the whole thing sorted out. Lyla had damn near taken her head off, further proving the older lupus' point. Shiva had reminded them both that sexual tension helped no one before the fighting had broken out in the catacombs.

"What was all that about?" Shadow asked once they were out of earshot.

Turning suddenly, Lyla pinned Shadow into a dark corner of the tunnel they had been walking down.

"Do you want to sleep with me?" she asked, her gaze catching his and holding it.

"What?"

"Do you. Want to. Fuck?" she asked again, accentuating each word by pressing a little closer to him. She had to admit, being this close did feel good. Maybe Shiva wasn't so wrong.

The redness on his face crept all the way down to his neck. She knew her cheeks were flushed as well. He opened his mouth a couple of times as he searched for words.

"That's what it was about," she said, pushing away from the wall. She kept walking down the tunnel. "We'll be at the safe house in about twenty minutes. Best keep moving if we want to avoid another tail. Keep close, don't fall behind."

And with that, Lyla started to run. When she hit the edge of the tunnel, the ground dropped suddenly but she sailed right over the gap to the roof of a shed that ran parallel to the exit of the catacombs. She glanced back once to make sure Shadow could keep up. He had never been on one of her routes.

So she gave him the run of his life.

--

Once they reached the safe house, Lyla slipped in first to make sure the coast was clear. It was on top of the roof of the council building. No place safer than plain sight. The coast was clear, so she signalled Shadow to follow her. They squeezed down past some old rafters, Lyla leading the way with her small flashlight in her mouth.

They came out in what had once been the attic of the council building, back when it was several stories shorter and much less grand. Lyla flipped the lights on. It was a modest space, furnished with food and various supplies by her runners. A single bed sat in the far corner on the floor.

"We can talk here without worrying about the noise. The way they expanded to fancy the place up left them with a lot of dead empty space," she said, pointing to the awkward shape of the ceiling. "We're basically sound proofed. Makes a good place to rest."

She grabbed a water bottle and a packet of cookies from the food stash and plopped down on the bed to watch Shadow inspect the safety of the room.