Shock glowered as she watched the little devil scurry up the rope ladder and through the lair's window. Barrel downed another handful of popcorn as he looked over at Shock and Carmilla, obviously in anticipation of an inevitable mushroom cloud. To his legitimate surprise, Shock turned to Carmilla and gave the vampiress her sweetest smile.

"I think we can work something out," she said, in a syrupy-sweet voice that made Barrel freeze mid-swallow and nearly choke on his popcorn.

Oh, [i]bones[/i], was Lock in for it later! Barrel quickly tried to clear his throat and not spew popcorn sludge all over his drums. Shock ignored him and simply flipped through her sheet music until she found "Siren Song."

"There's a few notes that I'll need to warm up on first, but I'm sure I can handle Lillith's part for the moment."

Barrel actually looked nervous at the sudden camaraderie. It was as if the Pumpkin King suddenly re-grew his flesh!

~~~

Lock kept Lillith in sight as he followed her to the hidden hideout.

[I]This better be worth it[/i], he thought.

Shock wasn't going to let him off with just getting a few more forget-me-lots. Hell, he was probably going to be the one powdering them, mixing the bonding agent, and prepping the fog juice - and that was on the [i]lower[/i] end of the scale of not only ditching the practice [i]he[/i] set up, but forcing her to deal with Carmilla.

Carver and Barrel were going to have a damn field day, too, because they wouldn't be at the top of Shock's vengeance list for a good, long while. Lock groaned at the thought.

Well, too late now. Hopefully, Lillith would make it quick, and they'd be back soon.