Title: In Our Bedroom After the War
Authors: hbomba & lonejaguar
Rating: M
Summary: As the Human/Fae war wages on in its third decade, the Queen is desperate to find the missing piece that would see it end once and for all. Meanwhile, Human Resistance doctor Lauren Lewis, fights for her kind from within the Queen's clutches.
"And wonder, dread and war have lingered in that land where loss and love in turn have held the upper hand." | Simon Armitage
"Freeze!" The guard yelled at the dark haired girl in the barren street. At the sound of his voice she bolted, darting through shells of buildings that lined the street.
From across four lanes, in a broken down pickup truck, Lauren Lewis watched in horror. She hadn't slept in three days and hadn't showered in at least twice as long. She was exhausted and starving, but the adrenaline was running high. The convoy stalled out in the early morning hours and they were still working on her truck when the Queen's guards came upon them. She sent the vehicles that were running ahead and hoped they had escaped.
Lauren looked back and forth, tapping the steering wheel impatiently and when her friend didn't emerge from the last building, she popped open the door and ran in after her. Lauren stopped short next to the doorway into the abandoned clothing store and peered around the corner.
The guard was standing over her body, his taser recharging. "Come on, get up!" He yanked on the girl's arm but she did not respond. "She's not breathing!" He yelled to his partner outside.
"Leave her," his partner called back.
Storming in from the shadows, Lauren ran toward the guard and shouldered him away from the girl. He stumbled over a pile of rubble and landed with a crash.
"What the hell?" The guard said from his back as Lauren began chest compressions on the downed female. "You better get in here!" The man yelled to his partner again. Within moments they were surrounded, every kind of weapon imaginable directed at Lauren. The Human Doctor for the Resistance leaned into her patient as the Queen's guards inched closer.
"Stand down, doctor," the General said, recognizing her instantly.
"You can take me wherever you want, but not right now." Lauren blew into the prone girl's mouth twice before thumping her chest again. "C'mon, c'mon."
"She's gone," he said.
"I'm not leaving her," Lauren said with force, resuming chest compressions.
His eyes rolled. "Delusional human," he mumbled.
"Dammit Kenzi, wake up!" The doctor's fist pounded against the girl's chest and as if on command, Kenzi drew in a noisy breath. Lauren exhaled, smiling.
The General raised his hand, signaling to the other guards. "Bag and tag the girl. The Doctor comes with me." He leveled his eyes on Lauren. "The Queen is anxious to meet you, Doctor Lewis."
Lauren reached for Kenzi as the guards separated them. "She needs my attention," she protested.
"And she shall have it, when you're both locked in the bowels of the Queen's dungeon." He yanked on her arm. "Now come along, Doctor."
A pair of guards surrounded her and walked her out to the car. The General climbed into driver's seat and the trunk popped open. "Get in," a guard said.
"Get bent." Lauren pushed the guard.
"Keep your hands to yourself, Human," the other guard warned.
She watched as Kenzi was loaded into a truck with the others. "Where are you taking them?"
"Work camps. Humans have to earn their keep."
"Are you insane? She just had a cardiac episode. She can't do hard labor!"
"Then we'll find another use for her. Maybe a happy little house Human?"
The guards chuckled and as they were enjoying their joke, Lauren's left hook connected with a jaw. The other guard scrambled for his mace. She made a move to run but was caught by her hair and viciously sprayed before being kicked in the stomach and falling backwards into the trunk. Lauren hit her head on the spare tire and her vision blurred. As she wavered in and out of wakefulness, she heard the General's voice.
"What the hell is this? I told you to put her in the trunk, not blind her. The Queen requested an audience with her, you idiots!"
She looked up at the General, but could see nothing more than an outline as his arms raised high above her. He brought them down and slammed the trunk shut in her face. She could smell the exhaust when the car started and was sure she wouldn't make it to their destination with the fumes that were invading the tiny space. More than that, it smelled like death. Like people had actually died in it or bodies had been transported in there. Her eyes burned. It was all she could do not to cry as her face swelled. The pressure on her eyes was painful as the car took a corner sharply and Lauren rolled around erratically. The next turn brought a bumpy road and Lauren wondered if they had gone that way just to punish her because with every bump, she came closer to banging her head against the top of the trunk. She held onto the spare tire for dear life and rode it out. The final bump sent her into the air, rebounding between the trunk's floor and door, she had the wind knocked out of her.
Brakes squeaked as the car slowed and Lauren wheezed. She could feel her. She knew the Queen was near. Her reign was legendary. Unspeakable acts of Human cruelty were credited to her family and Lauren was anxious to quiz her about them. At least, that was before her eyes had swelled from the mace facial the Fae had bestowed upon her. But Lauren knew the reality of the situation was that the Queen planned to feast on her, to drain the life right out of her.
The trunk opened and white light flooded what was left of her vision. "Up and at 'em!" The guard that had blinded her pulled her out of the car and dragged her towards her unfolding destiny. Her toes bounced on the gravel as she sagged in their arms, forcing them to carry her whole weight. Lauren hung her head, hair falling haphazardly over her face. She couldn't see much; just the glare of light from an unknown source and the figures marching in front and alongside her. Her shoes squeaked as they dragged her along. Some might've thought she had given up, but on the contrary: she was saving every last bit of fight she had in her for the Queen. Her powers were feared throughout the city, but Lauren wasn't afraid.
Through another set of corridors and five sets of doors, Lauren was being loaded into an elevator and having to endure the interminable ascent to the Queen's chambers. She had tried to keep track of the floors as the elevator ticked them off with a beep, but she quickly lost count as her head swam. She was losing hope that she'd ever find her way out, if she could even escape in the first place. The elevator bounced and the doors opened. She was dragged to the center of the room before being dropped unceremoniously in a heap.
The General spoke next. "My Queen, I bring you the bounty of a lifetime. Doctor Lauren Lewis." Lauren clambered to her feet unsteadily.
"What have you done to her?" Her heels clicked slowly towards Lauren until she felt a hand roughly grab her chin as she appraised her. She was close enough for Lauren to smell the petals of her lotion and the flora of her perfume. The mixture of the two left Lauren breathless. She released her chin. "She smells like death. You must clean your trunk, Dyson. I can't be expected to feed on someone who smells of garbage and decomposition."
"My apologies," he bowed.
"Now leave us." The men filed out of the room into the elevator, fading into the distance as the doors closed and the car descended.
"You mean to feed upon me?" Lauren's voice was bold, unafraid.
The Queen laughed. "I did, yes. But now, I think I'll wait." She pulled at the doctor's dirty shirt. "I'll let you get comfortable and make you wonder when I have grown tired of looking at you."
"I won't." Lauren held her chin high. She shook her head.
"You won't what?" She arranged the matted blonde hair about Lauren's shoulders, unable to hide the fact that it pleased her.
"I won't do whatever you think you can make me do."
The Succubus chuckled. "I can make you do whatever I want." Her fingers encircled the Doctor's wrist and warmth flooded her body.
She felt content, pliable, and completely open to anything that could be suggested. She shook her head. "Not like this." She swallowed hard, trying to keep it together before challenging the Queen to another round. "How strong must you think Humans are to fear what we can do so much that you can't even interrogate us without using your so-called gifts?"
Bo pulled her hand away and Lauren's breathing returned to normal. "I don't need to use my Fae to break you." She leaned into Lauren's ear. "I could do that with one arm tied behind my back. Because you see, Doctor… you're already broken." She was smiling as she pulled away, Lauren could deduce from the shadows on her face. And then she turned. "Take her to holding-nobody touches her but me."
Even as she waved her off, Lauren was being lifted by the armpits and dragged away from the Queen. Another never-ending ride in the elevator and this time the doors opened to a level that might've been called Hell. The dungeon was cold and dark, lit with single light bulbs every few feet. It was damp, the mildew seemed to cling to her skin as soon as she passed the threshold. The smell was overpowering. Sweat and blood, dirt and tears, it was the very definition of Human suffering. The moaning and wailing reached a crescendo as they guided her from the elevator car to an empty cell. The other cells were full of Humans and Human sympathizers, but Lauren found herself alone in hers, a perk of the Queen, no doubt. The doors to her cell shut behind her and she turned around, testing the bars. "Kenzi?" She called out.
"Doc?" A gravelly voice answered back.
"Are you okay?" Lauren sunk to the floor and hugged her knees.
"A-OK," Kenzi replied.
"Stay put. I'm going to get us out of here."
"Unless you've got a de-Faeing potion up your sleeve, you probably shouldn't be making promises you can't keep."
Lauren smirked. Kenzi's honesty was refreshing sometimes. She had no idea how she was going to get them out of this, least of all in her current condition, but she looked around her cell anyway, hoping there would be some weak link that would help them out of this mess.
She was the Queen, the Dark Queen, the Queen of the Fae and she was infamous. Her beauty was legendary and her succubus was feared throughout the settlement. A century old, Bo had honed her powers under the guidance of her succubus mother. When her parents were lost to the war, Bo became Queen and she ruled as her mother and her father had, mercilessly. It was open season on Humans in her court and she had surrounded herself with like-minded Fae. Humans were the enemy.
Except it was all a ruse. Bo knew her heritage and she knew her destiny and both included Humans. As the Humans were brought in, Bo would filter through them, searching, searching, always searching, much to dismay of her Human-hating advisor and General. But now she had the cherry on top of a war that had raged on far too long: Doctor Lauren Lewis. A brilliant and dangerous Human mind with beauty to match and the Queen was pinning all her hopes on the Human Doctor.
She was tired of the war. The unrest, the bloodshed, the killing for sport. It was all very distasteful to Bo. Despite being the child of two diabolical Fae, there was a soft underbelly to Bo. She learned to be wicked by example but always with a caveat. She was never without a reason to kill, but she did so discriminately, letting necessity guide her choices. And now there was a possibility of ending the war and Bo could barely contain herself. Doctor Lewis was the keystone to finding the leader of the Human Resistance, someone Bo had searched for what seemed like forever.
But the Doctor was dangerous and needed to be treated as such. Intel told them that she had been developing a de-Faeing serum to level the battlefield and that scared the hell out of the Fae. They could think of no worse fate than to become Human and therein lied her power.
So now, as she considered her next move, the Queen stood before the large, stone fireplace and watched it burn. The Doctor would be there soon and the next portion of the game was afoot. She could show no weakness, no mercy and most importantly no sign of intention because, if she was anything like her scouting reports, Doctor Lewis would see right through her.
Somewhere in the hazy daze of consciousness, Lauren heard the keys in the cell door. She snapped to attention before the door slid open and looked around. The huddled masses in the cells beside hers were mostly sleeping, though some were still moaning quietly. Lauren deduced that's how it always was.
"Move your ass, prisoner!" A voice came from the doorway. "You have a date with the Queen."
Lauren checked her watch. "It's three in the morning."
"We've got an official time keeper here, boys," he said over his shoulder. "Take it off," he growled at her.
"What?" She looked at the watch that had been her father's. "Absolutely not."
"Take it off or I will take it off for you," he snarled through gritted teeth.
Lauren unfastened the band and held it out to the guard. He whistled as he snatched it away. "Nice watch, Doc," he said, closing the band around his own wrist.
She swallowed the white hot rage she felt and let herself be pulled out of her cage and be guided to the elevator. She rubbed her eyes as the elevator ascended. Her sight was back. It was the middle of the night and Lauren was familiar with this Art of War tactic. Catch your adversary off-guard and be rewarded with information. Good luck with that.
The guards' endless chatter stopped abruptly when the elevator dinged and the doors opened. Standing in the center of the room, the Queen turned to greet her captive. Eyesight restored, Lauren took notice of the Queen and her accoutrements immediately. The room was imposing. A large oval desk stood in the center, adorned with blue roses, a special strain grown just for the Queen, and a large, stone fireplace on the adjacent wall with a pair of wingback chairs and a small table flanking it. It was tastefully decorated with leather and velvet and all the trappings of royalty. Not to be outdone, the Queen herself was simply stunning. Long, dark hair, fierce brown eyes that shimmered with something more and a body accentuated by tight-fitting, though tasteful clothing. Lauren let her eyes wander her form, enjoying the riding pants to the leather bodice that squeezed her bosom in the best possible way.
"Feeling better, I see." Immediately, Lauren looked at the floor. "Come now," she walked toward Lauren. "Don't be shy." Lauren crossed her arms and shook her head, avoiding the Queen's gaze until she lifted Lauren's chin and locked eyes with her. "You were caught twenty minutes from the border, what was your destination?"
Lauren closed her eyes. "I can't help you."
"You can and you will."
She opened her eyes to meet the icy stare of the Queen. "I'm just a doctor."
"Good, now tell me, where was the rebel convoy headed, Doctor?"
"I can't help you because I don't know!" Lauren shouted.
The Queen closed her eyes and sighed. "Let's start again." She pushed the blonde hair back from Lauren's face. "How are you feeling today?"
"I'm a little hungry," Lauren said quickly, adding a little more sarcasm than she intended. "I missed the dinner cart last night."
The Queen grinned. "Funny you should say that. I'm a little hungry, too."
Realizing her misstep, Lauren closed her eyes. "Shit." This is it. It all ends here. She held her breath as the Queen snapped her fingers. The side door opened and a young blonde woman was pushed into the room by a guard. The woman was sobbing. Lauren looked away as the Queen approached the young woman.
"There, there," she cooed to the girl, taking her hand, a warm glow spread throughout her body. She smiled, planting a kiss on the girl's hand. "You're fine." Another kiss on her cheek and then her lips before her eyes were alight with blue fire and the girl was fading.
"Stop!" Lauren pleaded. "This doesn't involve her." The girl became limp in the Queen's arms and Lauren sunk to her knees. "Stop," she said again but the girl was gone. Lauren immediately saw the folly of her own words and cringed. When Lauren didn't say anything more, the Queen waved a hand and turned away.
"Take her to the Blue Room," the Queen commanded.
Lauren looked over her shoulders at the approaching guards. "Wait, what? What is that? What did I do?" Lauren began to panic. As a doctor, she was no stranger to the horrors of war, but the Fae had discovered new ways to up the ante. She felt sick, three feet from the lifeless corpse of a girl who just moments earlier was alive. And for what? Because she sassed the evil Queen? Her stomach turned and she threw up all over the watch-stealing guard's shoes before everything went black.
The door was heavy, the click of the latch as loud as a gunshot in her ears. Bo flinched when the doctor disappeared behind the door, the look of confusion and rage was a different reaction than she normally got when she sent someone away. Many Human Resistance fighters came and went through the Queen's upper hall, usually spitting venom or weeping tears. Doctor Lewis was collected, but not calm, the vibration of her ramping anxiety as obvious as her attraction. But when she drained the girl, Lauren begging for her to stop, the wall started to crumble.
Bo dropped to her knees in front of the young blonde woman that lay in a heap on the floor. She had made an example of her in front of the defiant doctor, if only to make sure she knew the stories she'd heard about the Fae Queen weren't exaggerating. She was ruthless, unforgiving, and powerful. A child of her father and mother, both as formidable and legendary as their only daughter had become. Bo was a Fae feared over and above any other Fae. So she waited until the last guard closed the door behind them as they carted Doctor Lewis off to the Blue Room before she leaned over the prone blonde. Her face was still warm to the touch and as the stream of chi poured from Bo, she could feel the woman stir. When she finished and backed up a step, the woman's eyes widened in fear, scrambling on hands and feet. The Queen was on her feet by the time the door opened and the guard looked from the human to the Queen, his expression one of confusion. She felt guilty, first for taking the human's life in the first place, but second for feeling the need to explain why she'd brought her back.
"Take her back to the dungeon," Bo ordered and the guard moved quickly. "She's outgrown her usefulness."