The Cost of Blood
"No. No no no. This . . . this isn't how it's supposed to happen!" It was a chilling sight. Bo's words were quiet, an essence of calm despite the undercurrent of urgency – as if she were reciting a dramatic monologue straight out of Shakespeare for the sake of memorization and less to capture the emotion. Likewise, her body was in equal indecision. Trembling hands wrung her jaw before reaching out to the cold body of her mother, ghoulish white to the point where she almost seemed illuminated in the dank, light-less jail cell while the rest of her body was as stiff as the rigamortis before them. "We were supposed to find her. Alive. She's supposed to be alive!" Bo crumpled to her knees, barely brushing the backs of her fingernails against Aife's cheek before her hand jerked back violently. "She's so cold."
"Bo . . ." Lauren exhaled painfully, watching as Kenzi had the strength to do what she longed to, kneeling beside her best friend as she gently but firmly grasped Bo's shoulders.
"We need to get her out of here," Kenzi suggested softly to Bo, though Lauren caught the double meaning without skipping a beat as Kenzi shot her a look over the shoulder. "She deserves to rest somewhere warmer. Come on, Bo Bo . . ." Kenzi massaged Bo's shoulder, waiting for her invincible best friend to rise. When she didn't, Kenzi took matters into her own hands. Slipping both arms beneath Bo's armpits, she dug her heels into the dusty cobblestone and hefted, first slowly, but then more insistently as Bo remained unmoved.
"Bo," Lauren repeated, inhaling a deep breath before crossing to Aife's side, dropping to her haunches to catch Bo's down-turned gaze. "Let's put her to rest, Bo. Okay?" With a weak nod, Bo remained limp. She hadn't bothered to meet Lauren's gaze, but Lauren knew she was crying. The tears had already managed to carve trails through the dust of the craggy floor.
Rolling up the sleeves of her coat, Lauren slowly eased the length of both her forearms beneath Aife, gathering the bulk of her weight before slowly and stiffly lifting them both from the knees. Reaching her full height, she shifted Aife until the body cradled inward against her chest. Bo's face shot up horrified before catching Lauren's eyes. Her mouth had opened in passionate protest, but the warmth and compassion in those pleading, honey brown eyes let her know that she didn't have to fight. Not yet. Not now. Shifting her legs beneath her, she helped Kenzi help her up, brushing her cheeks dry with the back of her wrist.
"We need to take her to the Dal. Trick needs to know," Bo said shakily, the objectivity of the statement the only dam keeping the tears back.
"Trick, is there a back door we can use?" Kenzi asked as she approached the bar, slapping her palm against the counter-top more out of habit than anything. The dwarf's back was on her, assisting another customer.
A smile spread upon his lips as he answered before turning, "Isn't that a question better asked after you've had your usual four shots?" The butt of his question marked the end of his merriment as his attempt at Kenzi humor was met with nothing but buzzing blue irises scanning his. The crinkles of his eyes gave way to a deep furrow of his brow. "Yeah, there's a door by the dumpster out back. I'll meet you there to let you in." Without another word, the two hurried for the rendezvous, Hale nearly giving himself whip lash as he tried to follow Kenzi's blazing trail.
"I think something's up, man," Hale turned to Dyson before nodding his head in the direction that Kenzi had left. Dyson's eyes lingered on the freshly closed door before returning to his drink.
"When is there not something up?" he mumbled into his Jack before shooting the rest of the glass, shaking his in front of Hale as he waited for the burn to clear his throat. "I'm going to grab another one. You in?" Hale stared at him.
"Dude. What about 'something's up' did you not understand?"
"Probably the same part of 'It's not our business' that you seem to struggle with. I'll get two. If you don't drink yours, I will."
"Can you see the van from here?" Lauren asked as she backed the delivery van into the back alley.
"No, that's perfect," Kenzi reassured, rapping on the back door a third time before it swung open, revealing a slightly out of breath Trick.
"Okay, Trick, don't freak out until we get inside," Kenzi attempted to disclaim before the van's back doors swung open, Bo shielding her eyes from the sunlight as they readjusted. Lauren killed the motor before slipping out of the front seat to meet her, the both of them working together to lift Aife from the bed of the vehicle.
Trick's eyes bugged out of his head, but he ushered them inside without a peep, locking the door behind them. "Come on, this leads us down into my private study. There's a couch we can lay her on. Is she-?"
"Deceased?" Lauren offered without thinking before feeling the repercussions of her clinically desensitized mind, having to stop suddenly as Bo did to not drop the body. Bo stared at her wordlessly a beat, whatever emotion she meant to portray tangled up in so many others, before finally she shrugged off the attempt and kept after the quickly waddling man. "Yes . . ." Lauren finished more cautiously.
"Just right there," Trick pointed before gathering four glasses and an ornate bottle from a rustic china cabinet. He poured four, cleared the glass meant for him, and refilled it before turning to face his lost girls, raising the glasses up in offering. "To still the nerves." Bo refused with a firm hand gesture. Lauren accepted her glass. Kenzi accepted hers and Bo's.
"We have to find the monster that did this," Bo growled as she sat dutifully beside her mother.
"There's an injection site on her left arm, and from the dilation of the veins throughout her body, I would not rule out the same track was used to . . . to drain her, as well." Both Kenzi and Bo's wide eyes flew upon her. Nervously, she nursed her drink. Trick willed his feet to carry him to his daughter, examining her from head to toe, touching her arm.
"The Ash never does accept anything short of exemplary from his humans. I'd say you're right on the money." He placed Aife's arm back down gently against the cushion.
"So it was a fae kill," Bo rushed, trying hard not to imagine the life of her mother being sucked out of her, liter by liter.
"Not necessarily, but it is your mother we're talking about—"
"And your daughter," Bo bit accusingly. She expected the clinical approach from Lauren. Even if it was unsettling to her at times, she had seen it save her life and the lives of others too many times to fault her now. But Trick? "She's your daughter and she's dead and you're acting like we're playing a game of Clue!"
"I'm acting rational, so I can find out who did this!" Trick's snarl boomed like thunder as he stared down his granddaughter. An awkward beat passed between them before Trick turned his back on them once again, gravitating to a table filled with dozens of tombs. He brushed his fingers along the spines of three or four before plucking a smaller hardback from the lot.
"If it was a fae, this kill is very telling. Blood demons may be dozens in number, but each have specific methods and reasoning behind their hunt. Fortunately, whatever drained . . . my Aife . . . isn't a drinker. He'll still have her blood on him. And we can track it."
"Dyson?" Kenzi asked, having found her way to the bottle Trick had broken out, pouring herself a third shot. "I can go get him. I think he's upstairs."
"No." Bo and Trick both said in unison, sharing a confused glance before Trick clarified. "Even a wolf's nose has limits. We don't know how far away this fae is. But blood calls to blood, and as surely as my blood ran through Aife, Aife's blood runs through Bo." He paused, looking between the three of them before continuing, beginning with a heavy sigh. "I can use Bo as a conduit. With my blood magic and Bo's blood singing to Aife's, I can . . . feel where the fae who did this is."
Lauren cleared her throat, but Bo voiced concerns first. "What about the consequences?"
"Applicable only when I write history. This is more or less an induced state that a being of my particular genetic makeup can achieve," Trick explained calmly. "With your help, anyway."
"So what are we waiting for?" Bo asked, standing to her feet.
Lauren's body lurched forward to join her at her side, to maybe even ease her back down in the chair, but she stilled herself. It wasn't her call to make, but she could still ask . . . "When you say you'll use Bo as a conduit, what exactly does that mean?"
Trick hesitated, his mouth moving wordlessly before speech caught up with him. "She'll have to be comatose. I can't . . . I can't have her consciousness struggling with mine. There's only so much a mind can take. After that, it's as simple as . . ." he took a deep breath before bulldozing through the procedure, "me pricking my finger, placing a drop on Bo's tongue, inducing a trance through the consumption of a wheedlewart toxin sac and continuous, uninterrupted contact with Bo at all times up until the moment we wake up."
"What?"
"Gross."
"So are you gonna hold my hand or what?"
"Bo, I think you should—" Lauren began, only to fall silent of her own volition as Bo's eyes found her again, subtly luminescent.
"When I find the man that murdered my mother, I am going to show him what it's like. To feel the loss of every ounce of life evacuate your body. To watch as it's drawn from you while you're paralyzed." The otherworldly electric blue of Bo's irises intensified with every word, her mounting hunger for vengeance gripping her. "And when his trembling body is the only means he has left to beg for his life . . . I'll stop." Bo squeezed her eyes shut tightly and when she opened them again, she saw relieved faces through the pops of red and black spots and more importantly, through her human shade of blue. Kenzi and Lauren both exhaled breathes they hadn't been aware had caught, only to be winded a second time as Bo spoke up again, an icy calm in her tone. "I'll stop, and I'll let the rest of him perish naturally."
"Whatever we do, we have to find him first," Trick stated neutrally, doing his best to hide the quickening of his own pulse at the shift in the air. "Bo?" He offered his hand to her, gesturing to a pair of chairs with an open palm. Bo clasped his hand firmly, allowing the shorter man to lead them both, sinking into the chair to the left of her grandfather. As he settled, he looked over to her, a sadness penetrating the level-headed authority he had been displaying the very moment he discovered Aife's death. Wordlessly, he squeezed Bo's hand until he felt her squeeze back. A trembling ghost of a smile left as soon as it came before his attentions were turned toward Lauren, her arms crossed firmly over her chest.
"I'll need your help more than anyone's . . ." he admitted humbly. Her disbelieving eyes remained wide, arms somehow tightening further as her fingers wrung the fabric of her jacket.
"You can't ask this of me. I . . . I don't even know what it is you're asking," Lauren finally sputtered, head shaking back and forth as her hands gestured helplessness.
"Lauren . . ." Bo uttered softly. The sandy blonde answered without fail, turning her head and letting her hands fall to her side, eyes wavering. "I need to know who did this. Please. If they've killed my mother, who's to say Trick won't be next. Or me. Or you, or Kenzi or anyone for that matter. I . . . I just need to know, so I can protect us. I'm tired of finding people only to lose them." Her wrist unfurled toward Lauren, presenting an open palm. Quietly, Lauren approached to give it company, but before she could place her hand in Bo's, it was reaching up to cup her cheek and beckoning her downward. Hopelessly, Lauren followed, gripping the armrests of Bo's seat as the succubus' lips parted mere millimeters from her own. "Thank you for finding me. I know you always will," Bo whispered so quietly that Lauren felt the words more than heard them before they were sealed with the pressure of Bo's lips caressing hers. Lauren urged for more, anchoring her fingers in Bo's hair at the nape, lips becoming tongues becoming her heart pounding in her chest, desperate to break through and witness the emotions pouring between them. And then reality cut in with the clearing of a throat. Drawing back reluctantly, Lauren lingered, fingertips digging into the armrest as she gathered herself. Her tongue traced over the slight swell of her bottom lip before she straightened up, looking to Trick as if nothing had happened, the flush of her cheeks the only tell-tale sign.
"Tell me what to do."
With a nod, Trick reached into his breast pocket, producing a delicate silk string of crimson, easily twice his height in length. Kenzi cocked an eyebrow.
"Into some kinky fae play, are we, Trick?" she joked for the first time in hours, earning her the look she had grown accustomed to from Trick; the classic sideways glance that seemed to say "oh you" with a firm wag of his finger, regardless of whether he was washing a dish or nabbing a pilfered shot glass from her hands. He offered her a kind smile before handing the string to Lauren and twining his fingers with Bo's.
"Tie us together. I can't guarantee our bodies won't . . . spasm. This will make sure the contact holds. Make the knots tight. We'll cut the string later if we have to." Lauren looked to Bo for permission and at her nod, began weaving the string between the arm rests and their arms until the length of it was spent. Cinching the knot as tightly as she could, she brushed her hands free of the act against her pant legs, knowing the worst was yet to come.
"So . . . so how exactly did you plan on . . . putting Bo under," Lauren managed, lips pursing into a thin line.
"I trust you're a skilled anesthesiologist?"
Kenzi's gaze shifted from Trick to Lauren, wide eyes accompanied with a gaping mouth as Lauren reluctantly nodded. "And I trust your private study doesn't also double as a sinister bondage dungeon, right Trickster?"
"Right," he replied casually, keeping his eyes on Lauren as he gestured to a set of metal lockers. "There's a number of injections in there; propofol, midazolam, methohexital – take your pick. The anesthesia machine will be behind the curtains there by the east window."
"What kind of vapours?" Lauren inquired as she rummaged through the locker, bringing needles to her eye level to read each label.
"Isoflurane. It tends to work best with most fae physiology."
"That it does . . ." Lauren muttered to herself, settling on a needle of methohexital before disappearing behind the curtain. Kenzi took the opportunity to converse with Bo, wild eyes asking her if she knew what she was getting into. Bo could only smile weakly.
"Bobbafet, you know you don't have to go this alone, right? We haven't even given Dyson a shot yet. Shit's about to get serious. I'm sure if we toss him a Scooby snack and you rub his belly and other non-belly areas, he'll come . . . around. He'll help us out. I mean, maybe a game of Scratch-n-Sniff is all he needs to feel like a man again."
"This isn't about Dyson, Kenz. I know he would help me if I really needed it, but right now . . . I just really need to do this. Dyson's just an extra step that I don't have time for right now." The creak of the wheels of the anesthesia machine drew both their eyes to the daunting cart, outfitted with two monitors and an overhead pole.
"I'm sorry about this, Bo, but I'm going to need your left arm," Lauren instructed as she hooked a bag of clear fluid onto the extended pole. "I'll need to establish an IV," her fingertips grazed the crook of Bo's elbow, "right about there. Is that okay?" Bo glanced over at her mother. Her arm was obscured from view at her sitting height, but she could still see the telling puncture clear as day in her mind. Closing her eyes, she nodded.
"Of course. It's just a little needle, right?"
"You're going to feel a pinch," Lauren stated calmly, dawning latex gloves before tying one around Bo's bicep.
"Ow," Bo's bottom lip jutted out as she frowned.
"That's not the pinch," a hint of a smile played in Lauren's voice until the context of her actions sobered her. Ripping a hypothermic needle from its sanitation package, Lauren used her thumb and middle finger to flick against Bo's skin, coaxing out her vein. "Big breath," she instructed calmly, and with Bo's eyes still closed, pierced the succubus' skin. "And release." Bo exhaled.
"Okay, I'm ready, Doc."
"For what?" Lauren asked, brushing her thumb against Bo's cheek affectionately before taping the IV down. Bo opened first one eye, chancing a glance down before opening both, head nodding slowly, impressed.
As Lauren hooked up the tubing, Trick beckoned Kenzi. "The wheedlewart is in a small, ornate box in the top drawer of my drafting desk. Would you fetch it for me?"
"The gold or the navy blue?" Kenzi asked as she rummaged through the drawer, pulling out an assortment of ambiguous, but beautiful objects, managing to pocket a silver coin before Trick looked up to see what she was referencing.
"The gold—and hey, put the quartz back."
Rolling her eyes, Kenzi fished a three inch quartz from her pocket, dropping it back down into the drawer dramatically before sliding it closed. She walked the small wooden box to Trick, placing it in his palm before looking over to Lauren. The needle of liquid anesthesia was prepped, Lauren holding it upright and an arm close to her chest as she waited for the word.
"I don't know how long we'll be under, but to be safe, dose Bo for an hour."
"An hour? Easy. That's practically an episode of Sex and the City," Bo crowed confidently before muttering to Trick with a knowing glance at Kenzi. "And I certainly wouldn't have minded being comatose for some of those." Kenzi's mouth dropped open and a sound of utter betrayal pushed the air from her lungs as she leaned over Trick to slap Bo's hand.
"Are you ready?" Lauren asked, the weight of the needle in her hand growing heavier with every delayed second. Bo looked to Trick. Trick nodded.
"Yes," she replied with no fear, looking up at Lauren. Lauren lingered in her eyes for a beat before lining the needle up with Bo's IV. Emptying the contents, she turned to face the anesthesia machine, adjusting the monitors and issuing a few commands before gathering the breathing apparatus in her hands. Turning back to Bo, she slipped the mask on, securing a suction fit carefully before looking Bo dead in the eyes.
"On my mark, I want you to start counting down from ten." Bo nodded her compliance, her hand reaching out to catch Lauren's wrist. Lauren looked down at the contact, cradling Bo's hand there for a beat before turning her back once again. With a press of a button and a turn of a knob, Lauren called mark.
"Ten. Nine. Eight . . . s-seven. Six . . ." Bo was out before five.
Trick squeezed Bo's hand tightly until it turned white in his grasp. No reaction. Satisfied, he pulled a thimble from his breast pocket, the inside of it hiding a needle point. He brought it to his captive hand for safe holding before opening the small wooden box on his armrest. The wheedlewart sac was bottled, preserved in a tinted liquid of some kind. Working the cork off with a twist of his thumb and index finger, he shot the contents, shaking the bottle firmly until the solids of the cocktail cleared the opening. With a blanch he swallowed, sticking his tongue out to air as his eyes watered. "Alright, quickly," he prompted somewhat raspily, fitting the thimble over his thumb before pressing down, drawing beads of blood enough to fill it. He extended it first to Kenzi, then to Lauren before finally holding it out in neutral air. Kenzi's face scrunched up, but through a hissing inhale, she plucked the thimble from Trick's fingers and stood before Bo. "Make sure to really coat her tongue."
"Not really my specialty," Kenzi groaned, tipping Bo's head back with the backs of her fingers before gingerly working her lips open. "Bottoms up, Bo Bo." Placing the thimble against her teeth to reduce the chance of spilling, she slowly tipped it inward, watching her procedure through one eye. As soon as the thimble was spent, she carefully tucked it back into Trick's breast pocket, straightening his collar as he stared unamused at her before his expression fell blank. His body fell back completely in his chair and with his last ounce of wakefulness, he closed his eyes.
"What do we do now?" Kenzi asked, dragging her chair parallel to Bo before falling back into it, trying her best to ignore the mask obscuring Bo's mouth and nose.
"We wait."