Green eyes blinked away the beads of sweat rolling down her forehead. Hair matted to flushed cheeks holding thin strands of blond hair hostage. Tamsin's muscles burned, but she moved despite the protests of her tired limbs. She threw jab after jab that her opponent dodged. He was good. She was better, although that wasn't the name of the game tonight. The Ogre landed a blow to her jaw and the crowd shot to their feet, some in rage and others in excitement. They were drunk on that gambling adrenaline. The ogre raised his arms like he'd already won on the way to his corner.
She shrugged her shoulders staring at her monstrosity of an opponent. He was six feet of tall and butt ugly Ogre and all she wanted was for this to be over. She had a couch to get to and alcohol to soothe her into oblivion. They were on the last stretch of this dance. Tamsin was more focused on drinking and sleep rather than winning. Winning was overrated. She got to her feet thinking she'd never won anything in her life and she was just fine. When she left her body open for a side splitting blow the pain took her over like a wave. She lost her breath and she saw stars where angry faces had once been. She saw a monster, an enemy that wanted her dead. On instinct she threw wide. Later when she was in the locker room soaked from sweat and blood she would think, not for the first time, that she couldn't trust her mind. War had turned her unconscious self into a maniac. That was who forgot about the stipulations of this fight. The maniac's fist connected with the Ogre's jaw. The maniac smirked when he was startled enough to withdraw to the ropes. The maniac slammed her fist to his temple following him when he stumbled to the corner where she pinned him. Rage fed the maniac and it made her stronger. It made the world simpler. When he fell she looked over his mangled face. Gone was the overconfident Ogre who had danced in the ring and played up his size.
A hand pushed her aside and the referee counted then confirmed her victory. Her chest heaved and sweat tickled her neck. She pulled her arm free when the referee claimed it to name her the winner. Her short walk to the lockers was made even longer by her bruised body. A handful of happy people were overshadowed by the majority who had come to see her lose. She stopped her tired trek and glared upward with no apparent effect on the boisterous under-fae. Anger was gone, replaced by indifference to their opinion of how the fight should have turned out.
Tamsin sought a shower to drown out everything, even her own demons. The cleansing waters washed away the fight. The water burned open wounds and irritated sensitive parts the ogre tenderized with his fist.
"Bravo," the sultry voice of the Morrigan cut through the steam of the hot shower.
Tamsin craned her neck unfazed by the Morrigan's appreciative gaze. She stood at the room's entrance with a towel over her arm.
"I took you for smart Tasmin."
She lowered her head as if in prayer and rolled her neck back and forth under the water. "That was your first mistake."
"You'll make this up to me."
Water sprayed on the wall when the blond turned furiously. "Next time make sure they don't have glass jaws."
Six months now of secrets, schemes, and fruitless promises and Tamsin cared a little less about placating Evony. Tamsin finished with her shower wrapped in a towel ignored the dark fae to dry and dress.
"You owe me a loss and something else."
Buttoning her blouse Tamsin waited for the brunette to make her demands.
"The fae elders have proposed a truce/pet project. I'm entirely against it, but you know how stubborn and set in their ways those old wind bags get."
Tamsin hissed as her ribs protested the movement to put on her jacket. "Does this lead somewhere?"
"It does. And you won't even have to worry about keeping your pretty face out of harm's way."
Tamsin placed her gym bag gently on her shoulder. "It sounds a little too Vanilla for my tastes."
"Tamsin that's up to you." The Morrigan teased.
Tamsin rolled her eyes and just when she thought her position couldn't decline Evony called her back. Keys dangled from perfectly manicured fingers. "We can discuss it more tomorrow tonight when you deliver my dry cleaning."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Barkeep, get me the strongest thing you got and keep 'em coming," Kenzi slapped the surface of the bar with the palm of her hand. Trick eyed Kenzi from the corner of his eye before he begrudgingly complied putting the glass he'd been drying down.
"Where's Bo?" He queried sliding her a bottle.
"Doing the succubus thang. Staying in that house with walls shaking..."
Trick's face folded.
"...it's like the second coming-."
Trick interrupted loudly. "Bo is indisposed I get it Kenz." He tended to the opposite end of the bar before the human could continue.
Kenzi pulled the full container to her until another pale hand grasped the neck and stopped it. Kenzi's eyes blazed with ire as the bottle was easily pulled from her grasp. The human grabbed it with her second hand. "Get your own," Kenzi glared.
Tamsin shrugged the girl off the bottle claiming it by the neck. Sliding off the barstool she strolled out the door with her feet dragging as if she had one too many already. Leaving the Dal the blond checked the label of the bottle. Senses numbed and dually distracted she didn't register rocks crunching under hurried steps behind her and soon she had a tiny human on her back.
"What the hell are you doing?" The blond tried using her free hand to get rid of her nuisance.
"That's my bottle and I want it back," Kenzi yelled holding on for dear life when they began spinning.
Though Tamsin's efforts came an abrupt stop when she realized spinning did more harm than good. She collided with the wall to crush the human against it. She brought her back erect when she lightened her load. Tamsin turned to see Kenzi sitting on the dirt and a pipe in her hands.
Kenzi held it over her shoulder like a bat. "Hand the bottle over nice and easy and I won't pretend your head is a piñata, got it?"
"You know something I don't?" Tamsin's brows hiked waiting to be enlightened. "You're the human and I'm the fae." She closed the distance between them mindful of the pipe and continued. "In a dark alley, where anyone concerned about neutral ground is behind those doors."
Kenzi shifted her weight from one leg to the other. "All the more reason for you to hand over the booze. Nobody's going to be here to take me off you if you don't."
The remark startled Tamsin and she drew back snorting at the human's bravado. "Look I'm wearing my nice jeans," she gestured to Kenzi's outfit, "you're wearing that. I'm almost positive neither one of us came out tonight to go ham on anybody. Truce."
Kenzi frowned. "Riiiight, mama wasn't born yesterday."
"A matter we can discuss intelligently over shots." the blond suggested. "Would you believe this is just my way of saying I hate drinking alone."
"There's a whole bar in their sister."
"I love drinking for free more than I hate drinking alone. Truce."
Kenzi flexed her fingers adjusting her grip on the pipe. Drinking was always better with two and her kind heart was getting in the way of her territorial instincts. She threw the pipe aside gesturing for the thief to lead the way.
At the bar Kenzi procured them glasses and the fae opened the bottle.
"So you like to live dangerously?" Tamsin noted as she poured a generous amount of amber liquid in both glasses.
"With a capital D."
"For the record I could have crushed you puny human." Tamsin shrugged as she drank.
"You would have tried and failed like so many others before you, who underestimated the Kenz and her death swing."
"Sounds intimidating."
"Quiver with fear bitch 'cause not many who try to man handle my booze gets to live to tell about it."
Tamsin eyed her over the glass. Kenzi followed suit. Gradually their one bottle was emptied from an unspoken competition between Valkyrie and human. Tamsin had had worse company impressed by the way Kenzi handled her alcohol. The brunette's relationship with Dal owner and barkeep (who kept their glasses full at Kenzi's behest) won Tamsin's tolerance.
A roaming eye scanned the crowds. Tamsin asked, "Are you any good at pool?"
"I've been known to sink a ball or two. And that sounded way dirtier coming out my mouth than-"
Tamsin interrupted. "I see two easy marks, I don't care if you can't hit the broad side of a huge ass. Just stand there look pretty and distract them so I can take their money."
"Whoa whoa what kind of girl do you think I am?"
Tamsin stood. "I'll throw in a few wings I plan to buy from my winnings."
Kenzi rose and sauntered toward the pool table. "Mama never passes up free food so in the future just open with wings."
Four games, rising stakes, batting eye lashes, and girlish giggles transpired at the corner pool table. Tamsin had made three strategic moves to feel out her opponent and now only his pride was keeping him in the game. Pride and her new partners charm. The two broad shouldered fae, who lost focus of the game, thought they could remedy their bruised egos with a nightcap. When Tamsin sank the eight ball in the last game she rose to her full height and if it was choreographed Kenzi sidled up to her. One arm over Kenzi's shoulder and the other placed the stick on the table Tamsin thanked them for the game.
At the bar over a tray of hot wings the duo toasted their drumsticks.
"I think I'm beginning to like you." Kenzi admitted. "Uh oh...we're getting low," her eyes bulged at the near empty bottle. She volunteered to grab a new one just as Tamsin's phone rang.
Recognizing the number Tamsin sobered. Her finger hovered over the button to send it to voicemail. One last glance to Kenzi at the bar and she decided to take the call. She started for the door for privacy. She didn't notice a buxom brunette or a thin blonde heading towards her drinking companion.
The young Russian dropped back onto her chair when she acquired her booty holding the bottle close to her chest ready to show her new friend. Only then did she realize the wrong blonde was sitting beside her. "You're not tall blonde and bad ass."
"Hello to you too Kenzi." Lauren folded her jacket over her lap.
"Seriously, I made a new friend. What did you guys do to her?"
"Imaginary friends don't count Kenz." Bo drew closer to Lauren to cuddle.
Kenzi ignored the display to pour herself another shot. She brought it chin level when a hand snatched it from her.
"Hey!"
Tamsin pursed her lips uncaringly after she swallowed.
Two flushed and familiar faces joined them. "We want a rematch."
A confused Bo and Lauren sensed trouble.
"You're human for one game." The bulkier of the two proposed with eyes only for a wide eyed Kenzi.
"And if I win?"
The thinner man pulled off a ring from his pinky finger.
Kenzi swooned. "Ooooh pretty. What does it do?"
"Family heirloom." He said a few other things to his friend in a different language. It was old and Tamsin was a little rusty, hell she'd forgotten was it was called, but she understood the gist. Her temper threatened to get the best of her. While it would have pleased her to end them with a good ole bar fight she thought of a better solution.
"I've got an even better idea." She poured herself a drink. "If you win I'll give you the keys to our place."
Kenzi was sure she wasn't drunk enough to hear what she heard and asked as much when the elves left to set up the table.
"Relax, I got this." Tamsin cracked her knuckles and joined the other fae by the pool.
Bo caught Kenzi's elbow. "Kenz, who the hell is that and who's human are you?"
"A little joke that went too far." The Russian waved the worry away like an unwelcome pest. "And I never caught her name, just watch." She finished with all the confidence in the world oozing out of every syllable.
Tamsin played her worst game yet. It was ridiculous that the same players she swindled not hours ago were suddenly this good. They were cheating. She was sure, which made them all the more deserving of their prize.
From the bar a worried duo and a disbelieving lush witnessed the blonde's defeat in record time.
"Our prize…" The bulky elf held out his hand for the keys. Tamsin smiled thinly handing them a key off of her key chain. She walked over to the bar to ask if Trick could spare pen and paper.
Kenzi answered their self-satisfied grins with a frown. "Dude you're not going to give dumb and dumber your address are you?"
Tamsin scribbled the street name and apartment number ignoring her audience. "A deals a deal."