"Sounds like in the Church."
"You're going to fuck that woman in the Church?" he gasped.
"I'm kinda hoping for a little privacy because of it," Thane admitted. "Because she's not going to be happy. Unless..." A thought hit him. "Do they lose their memories when they die?"
"Not that we know of," Laird admitted. "From what I've read - and keep in mind, those are the only recalls I know of - the spirit comes back, will need to be fed, and then the body forms. You'll start out with a ghostly sensation on your dick and end up with a woman riding you before you manage to blow your load."
"Graphic," Thane teased.
"So are the descriptions. In truth, they're the closest we get to porn." Then Laird pushed out a heavy breath. "She's going to kill you. The moment she realizes where she is, she will tear your throat out, snap your neck, or one of her other little tricks."
"There's going to be an illusion," Thane explained. "She won't know where we are. I'm just curious whether the room will be monitored. Will I be able to warn her?"
"No," Laird told him. "Someone will be listening. You can feed her. You can fuel her. If you can't call her, they will blame you, not the name they found, so you'd better make it work. If you don't..."
"You'll end up staking me," Thane realized.
Laird nodded. "The Cardinal made it clear that if you were found wanting again, he would expect me to prove that my love of God is stronger than my love for you. There was a whole thing about Abraham and his son."
"What are we going to do?" Thane asked. "How the hell do we get out of this?"
"You call her, you feed her, and you leave her for us to deal with," his brother said, sounding no happier about it than Thane felt. "That's all we can do."
"There has to be something more," Thane insisted. "Her girlfriend just died."
"And she was already dead," Laird insisted. "She had centuries that she didn't deserve. Tell yourself it's the natural order. Convince yourself she means nothing. I don't care, Thane, but if you try anything in there, the Cardinal will make sure that there are no more Keegans to worry about."
"Except Dad," Thane grumbled.
Laird nodded. "But the microphones aren't perfect. They can hear you talking, but whispering won't come across. They might hear that you are whispering, but not exactly what. They will not have cameras, because the last thing the Church needs is to have any of us getting ideas about fucking something. Calling demons is much too easy of an excuse for a group of celibate priests who never wanted to take their vows."
"Like you?" Thane asked.
"Like me," Laird agreed. "Trust me, I envy you most days. I also know that the only time I've ever even kissed a woman was when she drained me. Not really what I had in mind." He lifted a brow, making sure Thane caught his meaning.
"So, we've now kissed the same girl, huh?" Thane teased, only a little shocked. That was how Dahlia fed, after all, so he shouldn't take it personally. He still did.
Laird just chuckled. "I suppose that's one way to look at it. Guess this means we share more than we thought?"
Thane leaned over to slap his shoulder. "I'll make it work. I'll do my part. One way or another, you'll be seen as a hero after this."
"And if she kills you?" Laird asked.
"Then I promise I will die a very happy man. Probably with my dick in her, so at least zip my pants before anyone sees me, ok? Don't want the world to know I'm hung like a parakeet."
Laird actually laughed. "Promise. And when all this is over, I'll even help you find a nice girl with some kind of kink. Not sure how, but you can tell me all about it and we'll convince ourselves it's like old times."
"Perv," Thane teased.
But it was the best they had. That stupid little fantasy was the closest thing either of them dared to think of as a daydream. It wasn't much, but at least it was possible. The rest of this?
Yeah. It wouldn't end well. As soon as Dahlia realized what he was doing, she would definitely kill him, and she probably wouldn't even feel bad about it.
Chapter Thirty
DAHLIA
Darkness. Silence. In the Abyss, there was nothing. No sight, no smells, and not even the feeling of air on skin, because the soul was intangible. It was nothing. She was nothing - except thoughts. Those kept her company, repeating Mei Yun's death over and over. The look on her face when Mei realized she was truly dying. The helplessness Dahlia had felt when she saw the stake through her lover's body. The emptiness inside her heart when Mei was truly gone.