Where Dark Things Wait: Night Creatures Book One

Chapter Seventeen - The Worst Kept Secret

After she sketched what she could remember of both the young woman from the club and the hooded sorcerer, Dunstan phoned Maloney and told her to meet them at the Major's office, then he ushered Kalyna out of his room and back through the warren of passages towards the administration block. They'd made no further strides towards understanding each other, but Kalyna didn't know where to begin with that, so she let it be.

Anyway, it didn't take long for the rest of her colleagues to replace frustration at Eorl with frustration at everyone else. Too many of the bright-eyed vampires, black eyed incubi and succubae, and wild scented wolves and lycans paused as they strode past, their nostrils flaring seconds before their eyes widened in surprise. They left Kalyna's skin crawling under the weight of so many speculative or accusing stares.

What the hell was wrong with everyone?

She almost asked Eorl about it, but when she inhaled, focussing on his scent in the hope of understanding his colleagues' reaction, she picked up a trace of her own scent on him, along with the musk of sex that neither of them had quite managed to wash off. A human probably wouldn't notice that lingering and incriminating evidence of what had taken place, but with her nose still hypersensitive from Eorl's blood, she recognised it. It made sense that other supernaturals would too. Everyone would know, and she felt her heart fall into her stomach. She wished the ground would swallow her up.

"Are you alright?" Dunstan asked, maybe feeling her dismay.

"You could have warned me that they'd be able to smell it," she mumbled.

He frowned at her, and then at a passing group of fatigue wearing privates who all followed the same routine; blinking in surprise before their eyes widened and they stared in disbelief. Only their Staff Sergeant's reproving glare had them shuffling off at speed rather than continuing to gawk.

"To be honest, I forgot that you wouldn't know," he admitted, frowning at the next set of uniformed men and women to pass. "I can't remember the last time I bedded anyone who hadn't been part of the supernatural world long enough to understand this; that there are no secrets where noses and ears are preternaturally honed. We weren't exactly quiet either...

"Still, I would've expected the others to ignore it. We aren't the first people to end up in bed and we won't be the last, but generally it's deemed inappropriate to acknowledge it. We try to preserve the illusion of privacy. As long as people separate the job from what goes on in private, we let people get away with far more than any other military wing. It hadn't occurred to me that anyone would fail to show us the same respect I've shown many of them over the years."

The next poor vampire to do a double-take grated on Eorl's last nerve, however, and he hollered, "Eyes forward, Private, or you'll be cleaning toilets for the rest of the year."

His voice reverberated in the corridor, a harsh bark that brooked no argument, and the man who'd been caught staring jerked his gaze away from Kalyna. He scuttled away down the corridor as fast as he could without actually running away. She didn't blame him, Dunstan sounded terrifying.

She expected that tone would be directed her a great deal in the coming weeks, and she tried not to cringe at the thought. As long as she obeyed orders and did her best, she'd be alright, yes?

God, she hoped so, but she'd always discounted any job that required blind obedience to authority figures. She'd always known she'd struggle with that. Yet she'd signed up anyway and Staff Sergeant Dunstan Eorl was her superior, so it seemed likely that he'd bark at her at some point.

"You have a look," he noted.

"I always have a look. Do you mean a particular look?" she asked.

He considered her, then admitted, "This one says you'd prefer I didn't pull up arseholes like Private Tanner for his lack of manners."