Authors Notes: As always, thank you so much for all who got in touch or left a few words. Apologies for the delay in both PM's and updates. I kinda deep fried my finger. The index pointy one. It is currently wrapped up in about 3 feet of gel and bandage. Bitch to type without that finger. All better now, so hopefully next chapter wont take so long.

Chapter 4 – Exterminating Angel

Here it comes again
Taste of jagged glass and rusty can
Hordes of locusts blot out your sun
Raining down, rain on everyone - Creatures

*/*/*/

"So where's Lauren?" Bo got up, walking around the office, waiting for an explanation.

"She's at home today, all that excitement last night. She's been doing a lot of personal research as well. Honestly I think she thinks she is a Valkyrie sometimes, what was she thinking grabbing the stone like that." Evony threw her hands up in despair.

"Eh, turning up to a fight in your jammies waving a chicken basher? Gets my vote." Tamsin offered. "Freya is threatening to give her a stone of her own. I would take her up on that if I were you."

Evony took a sip of her drink. "I just might. Freya seems terribly fond of you, handing out stones to your friends. In all my years I have never even seen a portal stone, let alone having two in the house." She stared at Tamsin curiously as the blonde looked to Bo who nodded.

Evony took another sip while she waited for the silent conversation to play out, curious as to what Tamsin had on Freya that would give her this kind of power. When Tamsin finally spoke, she wished she had left the drink on the table. "Your mother? Holy shit, you're the heir to Valhalla?" She screeched as she wiped the fluid away from her shirt.

"Wait, what? The heir?" Bo spun around.

"Oh brother. Moving on! And that's like super secret." Tamsin glared at Evony.

"Then I'm even more pleased I never actually killed you. Damn Tamsin." Evony looked at her in shock.

"Amazons, why are there Amazons?" Tamsin tried to turn the conversation around.

"Ah yes, Amazons. Well since my recent bout of humanism and then that ridiculously lame coup attempt by Santiago, the Elders, in their questionable wisdom, had a kumbaya moment and decided that the best way forward, would be to unite all of the Fae. Can you believe there were actually several sanctioned weddings between prominent light and dark Fae? That I could get behind, but one of those idiots extended a welcome hand when the Queen started turning up."

"Why is she here? And where has she been while she wasn't here?" Bo asked.

"Amazons live on Olympus. Not a mountain. " Tamsin interrupted what she was sure would be Bo's first question. "Like Valhalla, another plane. They're warriors for both Athena and Artemis. What I want to know, is why she suddenly turned up now? There was no love lost between Hades and his family, so it's not a vengeance thing." Tamsin sat down next to Bo and took her hand. "Yet they seemed to seek you out right away didn't they? I'm supposed to believe that a bunch of women, that make the original Mayflower families look like party animals, just so happen to break with tradition and seek out an industrial Goth rave the one night you are there?"

Bo opened her mouth and closed it again.

"Maybe that's it?" Evony spoke up. "Family. The Olympians are your family, regardless of how you were brought into the world and Aoife's non participation, you have Olympian blood. And not just Olympian, but pretty high up the chain. Either you were the worlds best kept secret or they really didn't know you existed until recently."

Bo paled slightly. "But no one is supposed to know. Other than us I mean."

"Pretty sure it's a God thing. No one down here seems to know." Tamsin suggested.

"And it's not like they were particularly welcoming. Trying to kill my bestie, not a good way to start with the reunion." Bo shrugged, wondering why Tamsin and Evony just grimaced. "What?"

Evony sighed and poured another drink. "Amazons aren't like everyone else. They wouldn't have any idea about how you feel with Kenzi. To them, your friend dies in a fight, you either get revenge and carry on, or you just carry on."

"So really not like Valkyries then?" Bo smiled.

"Please!" Tamsin laughed.

"She's right, they probably thought they could kill Kenzi and Tomorrow or Tuesday you would be fine and ready to talk." Evony rolled her eyes. "Anyway. We have Amazons. Thanks to Elder stupid, when the queen started sniffing around, he extended an olive branch. The peace project between you and Dyson was so effective, they instigated another one. Dyson's new partner is an Amazon."

"And what about the Dark? What's your peace project?" Bo asked.

"Their healers are notorious for their ability to deal with battle field wounds. They are some of the best healers in any realm." Evony scowled.

"You are fucking kidding me? You have Lauren with one of those psychos?" Bo snapped.

Tamsin chuckled to herself, knowing that Bo and Evony were likely about to clash.

"I am The Morrigan! Lauren, is the wife of The Morrigan. One word from me and the entire earth bound Dark Fae would hunt them to extinction. Doing anything to her would end their race. Lauren is perfectly safe." Evony haughtily remind them before slamming her glass down. "And I hate it. Treacherous creatures. I wish to God this would all blow up so we could have our little war then go about our lives. Us here, them, Olympus." She sighed, deflated.

Finally Bo smiled. "Like you say. Lauren will be fine. Maybe take Freya up on that portal stone though."

*/*/*/

Bo finished explaining to Kenzi and Mirja what transpired in Evony's office. She sat back and rubbed her eyes, exhausted. One look at the clock and she realized that she had to go and open the bar in a little over an hour.

"So no one trusts these bitches then?" Kenzi asked.

"Nope!" Tamsin popped the P loudly knowing it would set Hailey off giggling.

"And they don't trust each other?"

"Again. Nope!" She did it again making Hailey lean over and try to grab her lips.

"But they must have some bonds right? I mean they live together all the time, like you guys." She nodded at the blondes. "They live as long as you right?"

"Complicated. In theory, they're immortal. You can kill them and they go to Elysium or Tartarus, but if you don't kill them, they just keep on living." Tamsin sighed.

"I don't get it. In all that time, they don't end up forming families, or lovers, nothing?" Bo looked around for some explanation.

"OK, pop quiz. Mirja?"

"Tamsin?" The younger blonde smirked.

"We are on a boat, the waves are huge. We get knocked overboard and the sharks approach. What do you do?" Tamsin sat back and waited, while Bo and Kenzi leaned forward to hear the answer.

"We fly out of the water!" Mirja quipped sarcastically.

Tamsin rolled her eyes. "It's magical rain, our wings fell off when we left port."

"Well, you're stronger than I am, which means you can almost certainly get to the boat and live. Also, if you get on the boat, you have a good chance of getting me to safety. So I draw blood on myself and swim toward the shark to get it away from you." She offered up happily. Blushing when Bo and Kenzi started making awww noises at her.

"Alright! Now, same situation, but you and I are Amazons."

"Ah, simple. I stab you, maybe nick an artery, I want lots of blood, but I don't want you to bleed out, I want you thrashing around in the water in a panic. I then push you behind me while I race to the boat. Depending on your rank and worth, I might drag you out if you are still alive, so I can exhort money and or influence from you for the rest of our lives."

"Et voila!" Tamsin clapped.

"Oh my God that's horrible!" Bo gasped.

"It really is. So what about actual family ties?" Kenzi asked as she took Hailey back from Tamsin who was making a face and trying not to inhale. "Didn't you say that the red head was the Queens daughter? What are they like?"

"Worse, the royal line has always been terrifying. Queens killing kids cause they think they are power hungry. Kids killing Queens cause they are power hungry." Mirja explained.

"Jeez, it's a wonder they bother having kids." Kenzi laughed.

"No choice for queens, the rules for royalty dictate they have to have kids to secure the royal line." Tamsin told them. "You remember that scandal a while back? The Queen fell in love with a man, got knocked up by him."

"I do. Rumour has it the Queens own sister called for her death just to take over the throne." Mirja laughed. "Yeap, they really don't do loyalty very well."

"Is that the queen we met today?" Bo asked Tamsin.

"Andromache? That's her."

"And she killed her sister cause she was in love with a man?"

"That didn't help her case. But no, they killed her for getting pregnant." Tamsin clarified.

"You just said the Queens have to get pregnant." Bo was starting to get confused with Amazon politics.

"Not by a man. That's a huge no no. Specially for the royal line."

Bo started laughing. "How else did they plan to do it?"

Tamsin sighed realizing the conversation was about to go into bizarre land. "Divine intervention. Athena gives blessing and two women can conceive. Because genetic material only comes from women, child is guaranteed female. This also guarantees that the royal line is always carrying the blood of the Greek Pantheon thus securing their loyalty to Athena and Artemis."

"Headfuck." Kenzi spoke up. "So they're loyal to the Gods at least right?"

"The Gods and the Queen. If the royal line breaks, they lose their protection, so less about loyalty and more about self serving." Mirja grabbed Hailey to change her.

"And that's my queue to leave before I lose what little I ate today. You going into the Dal shortly?" Tamsin asked Bo.

"Hmm. Kenzi bring the baby in tonight, come hang out. It's Sunday, s'not like it's gonna be busy."

"You worried BoBear?" Kenzi questioned.

"Eh, worried, tired. Sure it will pass. Come on, I'll ban everyone else from the dart board for you."

*/*/*/

"Look at these footprints." Tasarla walked around the scene carefully. "This is staged. If he tried to hold him up like he claimed, these would be pushed backwards with the weight, but they aren't, see how the dominant one is slightly behind. He pushed him." She finished confidently.

Dyson handed over a coffee and they sat on the wall of the high rise overlooking the city. "Nice catch. That's a neat little trick with the footprints." He praised her.

She took the coffee, fumbling a little when she heard his words of praise. "Thanks. Years of learning tracking."

"I thought you just learn hunting and basic tracking." He asked surprised.

Tasarla shrugged and looked away. "If you aren't considered warrior material, you learn more." When no reply was forthcoming she sighed. "I'm not as strong as they are. Something they never fail to remind me of. I'm sure they told you all about it in my brief."

Dyson looked at her carefully. She wasn't a bad person, but she had some pretty misguided ideas. He took a slow sip of his coffee and looked across the skyline. "I have no idea, I never read it."

Tasarla scoffed and shook her head. "Right. You get stuck with a rogue Fae partner and you never read up what you're dealing with?"

"I never read it. I've been around long enough to know what is written and what is truth can be two very different things. I like to make my own opinions."

The Amazon looked at him curiously. Apart from threatening to eat her if she mentioned that damn baby, he had been surprisingly decent to her. She put her coffee down and decided to go with her gut instinct of trusting him, for now at least. "So, um, how old are you?"

Dyson twitched an eyebrow at her. "You know that's up there with asking what kind of Fae someone is right?"

She blushed. Dyson thought it looked very wrong for someone like an Amazon. "I'm thirty four." She mumbled.

Dyson's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. "Then I'm even more impressed with your skills. I'd say you have plenty of time to prove your worth as a warrior."

"Not for me sadly. I think my future has already been decided for me." She sighed and looked out over the city. "So what happens now?"

Dyson finished his coffee and threw the cup into the trash as they walked out. "Now? We write up what you found, go back over the people in his life and figure out who wanted him dead and who had the connections to set this up. Tomorrow." He smiled.

"Ah, plans for tonight?" She asked.

"Drinks with some friends. You should join us." He offered genuinely.

She stuttered out a laugh. "Yeah, no. If those friends happen to be a Succubus, a pair of Valkyries and a crazy ass human that seems to have the entirety of Valhalla on speed dial, I think I might pass."

"What do you have against them anyway? We all know that fight at the club was a setup."

Tasarla shrugged. "Amazons and Valkyries, don't get on, that's all I know."

"So you're just following the company song? You should make your own mind up, you might be surprised."

"I can make my own mind up. I've seen the reports. I know what she is capable of. Makes perfect sense that the Nation sees her as a threat." She shot back hotly. "I'm here to make sure she doesn't get any special treatment from the Fae laws."

Dyson furrowed his brow in confusion. "Sees who as a threat? Kenzi?"

The Amazon rolled her eyes. "The Succubus. Bo. Or whatever her name is. She's a threat. She is unaligned, has her hooks into a lot of power, she killed Hades and has a direct claim on his throne. Do I need to go on?"

Dyson chuckled quietly, much to her annoyance.

"You don't see how that is a threat?"

"I don't. Bo is probably more worried about whether her purse matches her shoes than whether she has enough support to take on the Nation." He laughed to himself. "You know the last partner I had came here just to take Bo down. Bounty hunter. For Hades actually."

"And what happened to her?" Tasarla made her point. "I don't see her around."

"She fell in love with Bo, sacrificed her life to save her from Hades."

Tasarla scoffed again. "Yeah don't expect that to happen again."

Dyson looked her in the eye. "I hope not. Tamsin might kill you for sure then." He walked away, leaving the Amazon pondering that thought. "C'mon partner, lemme buy you a beer."

*/*/*/

Dyson and Tasarla walk into the Dal, even for a Sunday night it was still boisterous. He spotted Kenzi playing darts with Tamsin while Mirja entertained the baby. Bo was moving back and forth along the bar serving drinkers and interacting with her friends.

"Dyson!" She spotted him and yelled enthusiastically. "Dyson can you settle this argument?" Bo held up a large purse with a floral arrangement. "Can you tell Tamsin that these don't look like sequins from a distant?"

Dyson smiled before whispering out of the side of his mouth. "There she is, the great Amazon threat. Are you scared yet?"

Tasarla couldn't help it, she laughed. "Alright. Maybe I can make my own mind up. Providing the Valkyries don't kill me."

"Nah, they wont kill you. The human however bites. Watch yourself." He smiled and walked them to the bar.

All things being equal, the atmosphere wasn't horribly strained. Tasarla had heard that Valkyries, unlike Amazons, didn't tend to hold grudges. They fought and it was dealt with. Perhaps as she was still sporting some cracked ribs, Tamsin had moved on. She wasn't overly friendly, but she wasn't being a bitch either. She watched Bo over the rim of her glass, flirting with a woman at the bar. When the woman turned around, she recognized one of the tribe. She was about to go and talk to her when the woman shot her an evil glare, screaming with her eyes to shut up and look away. Tasarla frowned and looked down, wondering what was going on. She put the beer down and walked to the bathroom, glad of the peace when the door closed behind her. She moved into an empty stall to take care of her bladder. When she came out, Tamsin was standing in front of the entrance, her arms crossed over her chest, looking at Tasarla curiously.

"You really had no idea did you?" She asked.

Tasarla shrugged, determined to give nothing away until she knew what they were talking about.

"The Amazon at the bar throwing herself at Bo while pretending not to be an Amazon. You had no idea she was going to be there doing that. Which makes me wonder. Why is that?" Tamsin tilted her head.

"I'm not in the position to know what goes on with the tribe. I do my job, do as I am told by my queen. If I need to know, they'll tell me." She toyed with leaving past the blonde but wanted to know whether she would end up in a fight as she walked past.

"I trust Dyson. He's never wrong about people." Tamsin looked at the detective. "Don't be the first." She opened the door and walked out leaving Tasarla shaking slightly and wondering what the hell was going on that had these people in the sights of the Gods.

*/*/*/

"Because. Sequins are one of those things you have to be really careful with!" Bo whined at Kenzi as they waited for Mirja to open the door.

Kenzi juggled Hailey from one arm to the other. "Did you see her tonight, she was super aware of everyone, her little eyes were following everyone around. I don't think she giggled once."

"Except that time you nearly pierced Tamsin's skull with a dart." Mirja chuckled as she led them inside.

"Hurry up. That woman next door is twitching her curtains again. I still don't get why she doesn't like us." Bo shook her head. She was about to say something else when Toby barged past her, growling low in his throat.

Tamsin and Mirja were armed in seconds, standing rigidly at the base of the stairs looking around. Finally Tamsin put her blade away and shrugged. "I got nothing. You?" She looked to Mirja who shook her head and put her blade away as well.

"Damn dog is as highly strung as you these days. I'm outtie peeps, need some sleep." Kenzi took Hailey into her room to get her ready for bed leaving the others to their own devices.

Bo and Mirja climbed the stairs to get ready for bed, Tamsin made her way to the refrigerator for something to eat while she texted Sigjold.

Bo was laughing at something Mirja said as she stood at the entrance to her bedroom when Toby knocked her over, ran into the room and started barking aggressively at the bed.

Mirja grabbed his collar and tried to settle him. Bo frowned and looked at the bed. "Silly puppy. Look, nothing here." She flipped the covers back and screamed.

A huge colourful snake was laying in the middle of the bed, it's eyes fixed on Bo and without warning it struck out at her, it's fangs extended, half of its enormous body flying through the air towards her. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Bo put her arms out to cover her face, Mirja released a frantic Toby, grabbed a halberd from the wall and swung at the snake's head, a millisecond before she made contact she pulled the weapon as Tamsin's hand appeared from nowhere and grabbed the creature around it's throat, halting any further movement.

Bo peeked open her eyes and looked gingerly above her arms, still across her face to see why she hadn't been bitten. She was confronted with a wide eyed Mirja, a snarling Toby and Tamsin, squeezing the life out of the snake in her hand, visibly shaking with anger.

When the snake was long since dead and it's bones starting to poke through the skin from Tamsin's grip, she held out her hand to Tamsin. "Hey, hey, it's dead. Put it down before you hurt yourself. Cant these things bite even after they die?" She asked Mirja who shrugged.

"Kenzi!" Mirja ran out of the room and thundered down the stairs followed by Tamsin and Bo. They turned the baby's room upside down to be sure. Toby was sniffing in every corner, they then moved to Kenzi's room to be sure there was nothing waiting for them there.

"That is so not cool." Kenzi snapped, clearly terrified. "Who can sleep after that?"

Mirja left the door wide open between Kenzi's bedroom and the nursery where Hailey slept. She pulled over the day bed they kept in the nursery and dropped it between the cot and the door. "I'll be here tonight. Nothing else is gonna happen. It was a stupid joke, that's all."

"It wasn't fucking funny." Kenzi crossed her arms and resisted the urge to pick the sleeping child up and disturb her. "That thing could have killed us!"

"That thing isn't gonna kill you."

Bo and Tamsin turned around to see Sigjold, Arun and Thoma standing at the door in various stages of shock, anger and amusement.

"What are you guys doing here?" Bo asked them.

"We wanted to find out why Tamsin suddenly sent a ton of fried shrimp emotes. It's not poisonous. Can leave a nasty bite, but wouldn't even make you sick. This is a scare tactic. Pretty fucking cheap one as well. Can't imagine who would pull a stunt like that." Arun smirked.

"Guess we know why that Amazon was all over you tonight. She was the look out." Tamsin spat angrily. She grabbed a sheet from the cupboard, stormed upstairs and wrapped the dead snake in it before hauling it over her shoulder and stomping back down. She stopped at the door. "Sig, can you and Thoma stay here for a while. Arun and I are gonna take this back to where it came from."

Tamsin walked out to the truck, dropping the snake with a sickening thud in the back. Arun silently climbing in the passenger side.

Bo made to move after the still livid Valkyrie but Thoma wrapped an arm around her stomach and held her back. "Stay here with us. She'll be fine, let her get it out of her system. If she needs us, she'll call." She whispered quietly into Bo's ear, pleased when the Succubus relaxed into her.

Sigjold checked to make sure Kenzi and Hailey were settled with Mirja standing guard before grabbing Toby to check the rest of the house and wait for Tamsin's return.

*/*/*/

Tasarla rolled over in her spartan bunk at her apartment. She grabbed the ringing phone, looking with bleary eyes at the screen to check the time. 7.30am. She flicked the screen and spoke. "A what? Is is alive? Oh. OK. I'm on my way."

She tumbled out of bed, scrabbled into some clean clothes and ran out to her unmarked squad car. She toyed with calling Dyson but thought better of it until she could find out what her people wanted to do.

Twenty minutes later, she pulled into the basement parking of the apartment complex that the Queen and the senior Amazons were staying at. The garage door was wide open and three Amazons were standing at the entrance looking a little green. She got out of the car, wondering why the several amazons inside were wearing scarves over their faces. When she opened the car door, she immediately knew why. Steeling her features and fighting her gag reflex she walked over to the Queens personal car.

There were at least three different piles of vomit on the ground. The car itself was still running, adding a potent mix of exhaust fumes to the already vile perfume of the scene.

"Can we turn it off?" She asked one of them.

"You don't think we thought of that?" Ariana snapped at her. "They've fused the keys in the ignition and sealed the hood closed."

"They?" She asked.

"Valkyries." Ariana told her, nodding to the back of the car.

Tasarla looked in the back of the Queens vehicle. Something, she had no idea what, was torn to pieces and spread all over the inside. She saw lumps of flesh but they were so small and bloody that she had no idea what they were from. Based on the heat, whoever had done this, left the car running with the heat on full. Tasarla imagined the initial smell when they opened the doors more than justified the vomit. She looked in the front and had a feeling she knew what was in the back if the large snake head hanging lifelessly from the rear view mirror was any clue.

"Fucking animals." Dalses spat on the floor, no doubt to clear the taste that lingered in the air. "You see that? Fucking animals!" She spat again, pointing to the windscreen where someone had written LOL in giant red letters.

Tasarla bit the inside of her cheek thinking that yes, Tamsin would very likely laugh out loud if she could see the colour of some of the Great Nation right now.

*/*/*/