"It's one thing to fall in love. It's another to feel someone else fall in love with you, and to feel a responsibility toward that love."––David Levithan
Lauren stared at a slide in her microscope and sighed. No change. She was losing the battle and it hadn't even started yet. Lauren dosed another slide and slid it under the microscope. A moment later, her eyes tore away from the eyepiece with a 'tsk' and she removed the slide to the garbage.
She was failing. Failing Bo, failing herself. Lauren pinched the bridge of her nose and rubbed her face. She was alone in the darkened lab, a few switches left on when the last technician left, his goodbyes falling on deaf ears. Lauren checked her watch. It was late, she was tired and the hum of the fluorescent lights was starting to put her to sleep. She washed her slides and wiped down the bench before shutting off the lights, locking down the lab and heading for the elevator. She rounded the corner in the hall and came face to face with Kenzi.
"Shit!" Kenzi exclaimed.
"Kenzi, what the hell?" Lauren asked, taking a step backwards, a hand on her chest.
"Doc," Kenzi breathed. "Thank god you're all right."
"What is it?" Lauren asked, grabbing Kenzi's arm with a solid grip. "Is Bo okay?"
Kenzi nodded. "She's fine. It's Vex and Evony, they've made another mess. C'mon, let's get you upstairs. I'll tell you on the way."
The Queen's elevator came swiftly and they both exhaled when they boarded the car without incident. There were three more dead at the hands of Vex and Evony and once again they were nowhere to be found. Getting back to the scene was the first thing on her mind, but Kenzi grabbed her hand when she reached for the panel of buttons. "The Queen wants to see you, Lauren."
There was a second when Lauren stared at Kenzi, shocked first by the insubordination, but the problem was slowly becoming apparent: Bo would always be the Queen and Lauren, the Human, always at her beck and call. Lauren nodded. "Of course."
When the elevator doors opened, Kenzi entered the penthouse first, holding up a hand until she found it safe for Lauren to follow. Standing in the middle of the living room was Bo, eyes full of concern, posture telegraphing her worry. "Out," she said to the group of guards when she set her eyes upon Lauren. "I was worried sick."
Bo stopped and looked her over, her hands squeezing her shoulders. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." Lauren's hand took hold of Bo's arm. "Kenzi only just told me what happened."
"You have to start taking an escort."
"You can't keep me safe forever, Bo."
"Maybe not, but I have to try." She caressed Lauren's cheek. "Come now, let's retire. You look exhausted."
Lauren closed her eyes, wanting nothing more than to disappear into Bo's arms. "I have to go look at the scene."
"It can wait till the morning."
"With all due respect, we can't keep the public out of the scene for that long. Besides, those bodies need to be refrigerated or the whole East wing is going to reek."
Bo sighed, her arms dropping to her sides. "Fine, but I'm coming with you."
Lauren shook her head. "Absolutely not. We can't risk being in the same place at the same time. Vex is just waiting for that kind of opportunity."
"I am more than capable of taking care of myself," Bo said defensively.
"I know you are, but humor me. I'll be back in no time. I just have to get a sense of what happened."
Bo captured her hand as she turned to go and pulled her into a fierce hug. "Please be careful," Bo whispered in her ear.
Lauren nodded as she pulled away and returned to Kenzi's side by the elevator. "Take me to the scene." She turned around and Verns nodded at her from his spot in the dining room. "Keep her safe," she directed before boarding the elevator car with Kenzi.
The East wing was in the old part of the castle, its pitted stone walls and floors paid tribute to its endless history. There had no doubt been many deaths there, but none quite as gruesome as one man with a fork sticking out of his chest, another with a beer bottle through his eye socket and the last, well, the last man had cut the most tender piece of himself off and had begun to eat it before vomiting over the rest of the scene and bleeding out.
"Wow," Lauren said. It was the only word that seemed appropriate.
"You ain't whistling Dixie, Doc."
"This is definitely Vex's handy work." She paced slowly. "But where's Evony in all this?"
"The brains of the operation?" Kenzi said, checking under the tables.
Lauren shook her head, confused. "This is small time, something big is on the way."
"Can we clear the bodies, Doc?" Kenzi asked.
She sighed, staring at each body and its haphazard placement. Why would they murder innocent soldiers instead of escaping the compound? "Send them to the morgue." Her eyes finally rested on Kenzi. "I'll examine them in the morning."
"You got it." Kenzi looked over her shoulder at the men guarding the scene. "Wait here," she said.
Lauren's eyes roamed the room, searching for where Vex might've stood as he conducted his cruel orchestra. Her eyes combed the rows of tables in the commissary for something out of the ordinary. She stopped on what could only be Vex's dusty footprints on three of the nine tables. He had danced as he killed those men. But where had he come from. She explored the room but could see no entry point nor a trail to or from the tables. She looked up. A fine chandelier hung above the tables and the smooth ceiling above it showed no gaps. She was stumped.
She turned and nearly ran into Kenzi. "You ready, Doc?"
Lauren nodded. "Let's go."
It was late and conversation didn't come easy for them tonight. Lauren had a lot on her plate and Kenzi didn't want to compound the problem with tales of her new relationship, so they walked in silence at a brisk pace and rode the elevator in quiet contemplation.
When they were a few floors away, Lauren cleared her throat. "Please apologize to Corporal Kershaw when you release him." The elevator doors opened and Lauren smiled at Kenzi. "I'm sorry."
Verns was where they had left him and Bo was sequestered away in another room. Kenzi sat down at the table next to Verns. "See you in the morning, Doc," she said as Lauren walked to their bedroom.
When the door cracked open, Bo shot forward in bed, prepared for the worst. "It's just me," Lauren said and she could see Bo relax.
"Did you get any answers?"
She shook her head. "Just more questions." Lauren began unbuttoning her shirt and Bo watched her with interest. Shrugging the button-down off, she unfastened her pants and slid them off her hips and down her legs. Bo began to drum her fingers, as if waiting for the finale. She discarded her underwear and climbed into bed with Bo.
Lauren sighed. "I am glad to be home." She laid her head on Bo's shoulder.
"How bad was it?" Bo asked, combing her fingers through Lauren's blonde hair.
"Bad enough." She inhaled against Bo's chest. "Three more dead. Definitely at the hands of Vex."
Bo hummed in disapproval. "He's teasing us," she said.
"But to what end?" Her hand snaked across Bo's waist and Bo's arm hooked around her shoulder, squeezing it softly.
"What of Evony?"
Lauren yawned. "Nothing."
"He's the distraction, you know. She's the real threat."
"I hate waiting for the other shoe to drop," Lauren groused.
"And my patience for Vex's shenanigans wore out when we were in the Outlands."
Lauren yawned again. "I'll know more in the morning when I can look at the bodies more closely." She closed her eyes, her breath long and even.
"Lauren?" Bo asked into the dark.
"Hmm?" She replied, sleep starting to take hold.
"Are you happy here?" Bo sagged when the silence stretched on before her soft snoozing sounds could be heard. She stared at the ceiling, pulling Lauren closer, protectively. Destiny never said it would be this hard.
Kenzi roused from the cot behind the sofa. The guards slept in shifts and she looked across the living room to see Lauren emerge from the bedroom, closing the door gently. It was rare that she would be up and on the go before the Queen. As a rule, succubus didn't require much sleep, but they were still catching up from their time in the Outlands. Besides, the longer she slept the less she'd worry about Lauren.
The doctor marched through the living room, waving a hand to Kenzi who followed eagerly.
"What's up?" She asked, pulling on her combat jacket.
Lauren pushed the elevator button and looked over her shoulder. "The Queen wants me to have an escort whenever I leave the penthouse. You're it."
"Where are we going?" she asked, watching Lauren walk in ahead of her.
A single button push and then a few insistent ones to prod the door closed. "East wing and then to the morgue for autopsies."
Kenzi groaned. "You mean I have to watch you cut people open all day?"
"Looks like you've won the lottery."
"I was hoping more for a cash settlement." Lauren smirked and looked up at the numbers, each one lighting up as they passed. "What crawled in your craw today?"
Lauren sighed and closed her eyes. "Vex is teasing us and I have to get to the bottom of this. It's my fault."
"Still beating yourself up about the serum, huh?"
"The situation doesn't seem to be improving so it's hard not to." When the elevator doors opened onto the main atrium, Lauren made a beeline to the stairs to the commissary. Kenzi had to jog to catch up.
"You tried something revolutionary and it didn't work," she said "You have to see the victory in that."
The doctor stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to her cohort. "It's just-how am I supposed to be crowned Queen Consort when I can't even fix this?"
Kenzi stopped short. "Okay, that's a whole 'nother can of worms, Doc."
"Not helping, Kenzi."
"Does Bo know how you feel about this?"
Lauren laughed. "Are you kidding me? Bo is hanging by a thread right now, last thing I need is for her to think I don't love her."
Kenzi put a hand on her hip. "Well do you?"
"Of course, what kind of question is that?"
"One that you should be asking yourself if you can't even talk to her."
Lauren's mouth fell open momentarily. "I don't think I want your advice anymore." She started down the stairs and Kenzi followed doggedly behind her.
"Lauren… Come on, you know what I meant."
"I heard your message loud and clear, Soldier."
"Don't do that." She put a hand on her arm and stopped her at the bottom of the stairs. "Look, all I meant was that maybe you should be airing these feelings with Bo instead of me."
Lauren nodded. "Of course, you're right, it just feels like there's a disconnect between us right now. I let her down…"
"Bullshit. Humans make mistakes and science isn't always absolute, what are you gonna do?" Kenzi shrugged and Lauren smiled. She was right, of course, Lauren had let her guilt override a solid assessment of the situation.
"Thanks, Kenz." Lauren took a deep breath and pushed through the doors to the Commissary, bustling with its morning coffee and donut set. She watched the patterns of people imprinting on the large room and tried to make sense of how Vex could appear and terrorize one group of people but leave the others to run off screaming. Her eyes scanned the room. There was no fire in the fireplace, but being late spring, that wasn't that unusual. The windows were all sealed shut and unless there was a dummy stone, all the stones in the floor seemed solid.
Kenzi looped around the room, checking the perimeter and the troops' morale before stopping at Lauren's side. "Looks clear in here," she said. "No one seems overly concerned."
Lauren sighed and shook her head. "Let's get to the morgue."
In the hours since her foray back to the East wing, Lauren had waded through two autopsies. Neither victim was particularly remarkable beyond the circumstances surrounding their deaths. There was no question they were murdered. There really wasn't much question in the perpetrator either. Kenzi stood by the door, guarding the entrance. She stood on her toes and craned her neck up at the air duct. She grimaced.
"Tell me you aren't used to this smell." Lauren smirked and set the scalpel down on the metal tray beside her and snapped off her gloves. She turned, dropping the used gloves into the trash and lifting a small bottle from the shelf. She tossed it to Kenzi who caught it solidly and read the label. "Menthol?"
"Dab a little between your lip and your nose. It covers the smell."
Kenzi stuck her finger in the bottle. "Thanks for sharing this with me four hours ago."
Lauren smirked. "We're even."
The soldier inhaled deeply, sighing in relief. "So what now?"
Lauren wheeled victim number two back into the cold room and returned with the victim number three. "Two down, one to go." She smiled, pulling on a new pair of gloves.
Kenzi made a noise and turned her back when Lauren wielded the scalpel again. "How can you be so happy when you're weighing entrails?"
She shrugged, pulling the blade through the victim's skin. "Death is a fascinating process."
"If you say so, Doc."
"So tell me about Mr. Right." Lauren spread the victim's ribcage and Kenzi grimaced at the sound.
"What do you want to know?" Kenzi looked out door and down the hall.
Lauren juggled the man's heart in her hands. "What a way to go…"
"Vex does have a flair for the dramatic."
That he did. She wasn't a stranger to his powers and she never had any luck researching a counter to Vex's mesmer. An ancient talisman was said to absorb the power of the Mesmer, keeping it as a charge, but no one had seen nor heard of it in centuries. In fact, it had been so long, it had become myth. She began to close the Y-incision. "Does he treat you good?"
Kenzi pushed herself off the wall and walked towards Lauren. "Yeah, he's sweet and smart. He keeps me on my toes."
Lauren covered the body with a clean sheet. "Believe me when I say there's nobody that's happier for you, Kenz." She removed her gloves and deposited them in the trash before pushing the gurney into the cold room. When she returned Kenzi was looking at her expectantly. "Just give me a minute to clean up, Kenz and we can head back to the tower."
"Whatever you say, Doc."
There was a boom in the hallway that made both women jump just as the lab doors flew open. "Well, hello, lovies!" Vex stood in front of the women, who glanced between each other. Kenzi lifted her weapon and pointed it at the Mesmer. "Ah, ah, ah," he said using his powers to direct the pistol against her head.
"Kenzi!" Lauren shouted as she lifted the scalpel from the tray and barreled towards Vex.
"Doctor!" He giggled. "Settle down." He lowered his hand and she was frozen in place. "Now," he started. "Dr. Lewis, how have you been?"
END PART TWO