Lunark only became aware of how late the hour was when the shadows creeping over the angular planes of Frankenstein's face began to make her feel less secure in teasing the man. Frankenstein noticed it around the same time she did, resting his body on his arms against the desk and questioning her softly.
"Shouldn't you be getting back to the union so as not to raise suspicions, Fiery Woman?"
She shook her head. He could obviously go on with this brand of banter for hours, but as the moon rose into the blackening sky she could feel the stress of sleepless nights overwhelming her.
"I am supposed to be on a mission that is expected to at least take a week or so. I've checked for tails and, finding none, I'm in the clear."
The next question from him was rather unexpected.
"Do you have somewhere to stay?"
Lunark caught her breath.
"Y-yes, I mean, maybe. There is an almost infinite amount of union warehouses I could sleep in, but I still have to choose one and it gives them a chance to put a tail on me."
Frankenstein smirked at her.
"And we wouldn't want that would we?"
"Hmm, no."
Frankenstein's thin hands rose from the desk as he pushed off then steepled under his chin.
"Stay with us."
Lunark's eyebrows rose.
"With you? And the Noblesse? And all those other nobles? Are you crazy?"
"I thought I already answered that. Of course. There may be a tiny bit of opposition, but you're a tough woman. And it's my house, so my rules."
His eyes flashed a little. Lunark gave him a genuine smile.
"That sounds wonderful."
Frankenstein cleared his throat, turning away from her. He grabbed a small briefcase from the top of his desk, and led the way out the door, letting it swing back behind him so she had to grab it awkwardly and push it out for herself. She just sighed and heard his insane giggle coming from along the hall.
The route to the house was taken by the two of them alone, without any watchers. Frankenstein noticed her checking the rooftops.
"I generally go home with several of the occupants of my home, but they would react negatively to you and I'd hate to cause a scene in the street. I am the principal of a prestigious school after all."
"And you avoided this scene how?"
Frankenstein surprised her by answering quickly despite how secret the information must be.
"A mental link exists between me and my master. I simply informed him of the situation and he took the kids home."
"The kids?"
She teased. He gave her a half smile, hefting his briefcase over his shoulder like a delinquent student.
"That is the name I use for the occupants of my house generally. Despite their nobility, some of them are truly younger than me."
Lunark nodded and the walk continued in relative silence. She glanced around and found several human women and men staring at them, both with steaming anger in their eyes. The men were staring at Frankenstein and the women were staring at her. For a moment she was confused. Did they recognize the power in their midst? Then her face heated up as she realized that what she had mistaken as anger was jealousy.
She had never thought about it much, but supernatural strength did come with supernatural good looks. It was only natural that the humans would stare.
Well, she glanced up at Frankenstein out of the corner of her eye, he was objectively good-looking, even though he was a human. Striking deep azure eyes, and long blond hair with the slightest wave. And he was built, slim, but built, probably from the ages of training he had went through to fight opponents on the level of nobles.
She huffed and looked away, realizing she had been staring, and he was surely only getting amusement from it. Maybe the bond with the Noblesse had given him a boost. That must be it.
And she, she supposed she was attractive. She had had several werewolf suitors in her lifetime, none who she consented to marry, but they had always expressed how much they valued her beauty.
Frankenstein caught her arm as they turned a corner, noticing how she'd spaced out. The looks from women across the street increased in intensity and the child inside her couldn't help but smirk at them.
Surprisingly, the walk wasn't very long at all and before she knew it they were standing in front of a two story white house with an orange roof. Frankenstein went to knock on the door, explaining that his endorsement would be crucial in getting the "kids" used to her presence.
The man who answered the door looked a bit like Frankenstein himself, with short blonde hair waving down one side of his face, but with the telltale red eyes of a noble. He gave Frankenstein a nod, then his eyes alighted on Lunark. Undoubtably he had already sensed she was a werewolf and concluded the worst.
Frankenstein set a hand on his shoulder and moved close to his ear in order to whisper some instructions that even Lunark's ears couldn't pick up. The man nodded once and relaxed the tension in his muscles then leaned back towards Frankenstein as he made to come in and relayed yet another message.
At this Frankenstein's eyes widened and Lunark heard him groan slightly before walking back to her.
"We have to go in the back way and stay very quiet," he whispered, hands already on her shoulders, turning her around. She leaned back against the pressure.
"Why?"
She hissed.
He suddenly stopped pushing, allowing the two of them to fall close naturally.
"The kids are here."
"Yes, we talked about them didn't we?"
Frankenstein huffed, his breath wafting over her cheeks..
"No, not the nobles, the kids from school. We can't have them seeing you as they are already at risk of getting further caught up in this war by being friends with Master."
Lunark sighed and leaned off his hands, standing on her own.
"Fine."
They walked around to the backside of the house yet when they arrived it seemed to lack something very important. A door. Lunark squinted at Frankenstein, but he just winked and raised a trapdoor from where it had been hidden under some plants. He gestured at it. Lunark backed off so he just shrugged and hopped in himself. He disappeared much too quickly so Lunark rushed over to look and found, instead of stairs, a slide, leading into darkness.
She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
"I'm going to regret this," she murmured.
The ride down was surprisingly long and also very fast. As she neared the end it leveled out and she saw Frankenstein standing at the end, waiting for her. He reached out to catch her.
Lunark frowned, she wasn't having any more of his so-called chivalry this day.
Chancing a little bit of power, she half-transformed to extend her nails, and scraped them along the walls until she ground to a halt, grooves dug deep into the sides of the slide.
Frankenstein looked horrified. He stared, speechless, from her to the tube, to the grooves, then back again.
Lunark shook the debris from her hair and blinked at him.
"Something wrong?"
His voice, when it came out, was as unsteady as the first time she gave him a nickname.
"Y-you destroyed my transportation system…"
"You mean the slide."
"Yes I mean the slide! You cut up all the sides, how am I supposed to fix this!?"
Lunark set a finger against her lips.
"I don't know," was her final response.
With that the peppiness drained from Frankenstein's posture, sinking into the ground. He waved a hand weakly at her.
"Come along. I'll show you to a guest room while we wait for the students to leave."
He set her up in a small bedroom, so neatly made up the fabric almost sparkled. There was just one bed, set next to a small dresser, a larger closet off to the side as well as a door to a bathroom she could see.
She sat down on the bed and Frankenstein stood at the foot of it, pacing as he gave her his instructions.
"You are not to leave this room until I tell you to. I will then arrange a meeting between you and Master, but you will not be able to speak with him alone. Be respectful, his approval will be instrumental in whether or not you get to change sides peacefully."
"What's the not-peaceful option?"
Frankenstein's blue eyes drilled into her, with strength as well as a small bit of mischief poorly hidden in the back of his gaze.
"You become a prisoner of war."
Lunark exhaled hard, half in fear, and half in resignation. That seemed to be the end of the conversation, and Frankenstein gave her one awkward nod before leaving the room and closing the door.
Lunark groaned once he left and dropped her head onto her hand. She had put a lot of thought into defecting, but the process was proving to be much weirder than she expected. The cautious civility she was treated with made her so suspicious she almost wished for the rush and sadism of battle she felt when she was going toe to toe with Frankenstein. At least then he was easy to understand.
She laid back on the bed, flopping her arms out and staring at the ceiling. She remained that way for a couple of minutes then the softness of the perfectly laundered sheets lulled her to sleep.
She woke an hour later, a short nap even by her standards. Nothing in the room had changed, she was still lying half on the bed, her legs hanging off the end and her back bent uncomfortably backwards.
She was contemplating getting up and walking around when the door handle jingled. It opened before she could get up, and to her surprise it was the Noblesse who walked in.
The door slipped from his fingers as his eyes landed on her, swinging half open. His eyes widened in the most emotion Lunark had ever seen him display. He opened his mouth to speak then seemed to think better of it and turned his head away, his long black hair shading his eyes.
Lunark frowned.
"Hello?"
The Noblesse took a moment to respond.
"I-" He swallowed and Lunark marveled at how awkward he looked. "-I was looking for Frankenstein."
Lunark tilted her head away so she could only see a sliver of his face.
"Why would he be here?"
The Noblesse's brow creased ever so slightly. He glanced around the room, looking hopelessly confused. Finally he answered, still with the expression of a kicked puppy.
"This is his room."
Lunark's head spun towards him so fast she almost got whiplash. The poor Noblesse's face was bright red. Lunark just smacked a hand against her forehead.
"That bastard."
Author's note: My friends, I am so sorry about how late this is. Like, months! Life happened and I couldn't get around to it. I do intend to continue it though and thank you so much for requesting more, you have given me some of the nicest reviews ever. This chapter is rather short but I have a lot more planned. It just made more sense to end this one here than have a huge second chapter. Plus, it's funnier. Please R&R.
P.S. Rajak is alive because I say so!