Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone! Regardless of hanging with family, or even celebrating, I hope you all have wonderful days and eats lots of food for me! xoxo
Violet eyes opened slowly and peered out into the darkness of the room. Strands of her light blonde hair fell in front of her face, blocking her vision only slightly, and she simply looked to her right to dislodge them. A warm body was sleeping next to her, the person's right hand slung over the valkyrie's midsection, the left laying idly between them. Hair cascaded beautifully onto the woman's closed lids, and the valkyrie slowly disentangled them as she brushed them to rest on her cheeks.
She traced a slender finger across the woman's strong jaw line and a callused digit rested slightly about her soft lips. Her hair was in disarray as most of the blonde locks were streamed on the pillow, as if she had taken her hair and flayed it out before lying down. Purple orbs descended upon beautiful collarbones. Lower still her eyes traveled and she cocked her head to the side as she found the woman's nipples still erect.
As a fae, especially one who did not experience the chill often, the valkyrie did not feel coldness as that of humans and she wondered how low the temperature was in the room. Slowly pulling the sheet and thin blanket up to rest just below the woman's chin, the valkyrie smiled gently as the doctor moaned softly and adjusted herself in slumber.
The woman's hand released the valkyrie's midsection, and it joined her left just between the pillows of both occupants. With the new position, the human's hair fell back into her eyes and cheeks and the valkyrie's lips were lifted into another smile as she watched.
Bare feet brushed the brisk stone of the ground, and that seemed to make the valkyrie feel something. Chilled, she slowly placed her feet to the limestone fully, and pressed her hands into her hair. Looking to her right, she saw the discarded clothes of her ward and the valkyrie gradually pushed herself up to her feet.
The cold air hit her fully as her body was exposed to the room. She would have shivered if she still felt such an emotion, or cared about it, and she walked slowly to the discarded garments. The valkyrie had made Jennifer bring the doctor the same clothes she had taken off the woman at the beginning of the lesson. She had slowly folded and placed them onto the stone steps of the dungeon, and only after she had creased them with her palms did she begin with her lover.
Two fingers reached down into the front pocket, the only one the valkyrie saw an outline from, and she pulled out a small device. Just from the feel, she thought it was what she had been looking for, and what she had told the doctor to find for her, but she could not tell for certain as it was too dim in the room even for her expert vision.
Standing erect, the valkyrie quickly walked by the bed and to the side of the room. Opening the bathroom door quietly, she closed it just as silently and flicked on the light. Holding the device up into the luminescence, her lips curled into a humorless and wicked smile as she witnessed what she held: the machine that would allow her to concoct the answer to turn a human into a fae. She would need someone to help decipher the doctor-speak, but she would be able to give Lauren the ultimate protection if she could duplicate the experiment.
Setting it down onto the sink counter, she turned the warm faucet and watched as the cold water slowly became heated. Cupping her hands under the current, the valkyrie splashed the liquid across her face and looked into the mirror, smiling softly.
That smile was wiped off her features immediately, however, and she would have backtracked if she wasn't so in control of her emotions.
"What are you doing here?" she hissed, her violet eyes burning into green.
"Just enjoying the view. I really am smoking hot!" Tamsin, the real valkyrie, quipped from the mirror, her eyes going to her full breasts and taut stomach as she cocked her head. Her smile waned and she said, "You know that isn't going to help the doc."
Purple flashed to the flashdrive and back into the mirror, which was becoming foggy with the heat from the faucet. The green eyed valkyrie's vision, however, was crystal clear as she stood at odds with the vapor. "It will make her less vulnerable to the rest of the population."
"It'll make her hate you, that's what it will do. Or it'll kill her."
"I would never hurt her."
"Don't you dare!" Tamsin fumed, ethereal sparks seeming to fly behind her as she seethed. "You tortured her. My hands are stained with her blood. How dare you say you wouldn't hurt her?"
The valkyrie slammed her hands onto the sink's counter. "What would you have me do, Shadow Soul? Allow her to stay as she is and die? This is absurd!"
"Look at me, arguing with myself. I really have gone off the deep end." Tamsin pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed deeply. "Look, your ignorance is distracting you from the bigger picture."
The valkyrie could sense Tamsin's strain on the words 'bigger picture' and she replied, "I am looking out for Lauren, that is all."
Tamsin laughed and said, "Lauren can take care of herself." Shaking her head, looking around the darkened area she was in, she slowly looked into purple eyes and replied, "And because of your misplaced concern, you're not sensing what's going on above us. They're becoming... restless."
"Who?"
Tamsin shrugged. "What did good ol' dad use to call them? The Dishonorable dead? Unholy beings."
"I have not heard those names since-"
"Since I was a child, yeah. Bed time stories filled with blood, death, and destruction. Only the best for the favorite daughter." Tamsin smiled ruthlessly and moved her hand over her hair.
It was a complete different picture as the valkyrie's blonde locks were drizzling down her shoulders while her reflection's was pulled into a tight bun. While one wore nothing, the other wore a tight green tank top without a bra, and make-up adorning her features. Her rosy cheeks were at odds with the valkyrie's pale ones and Tamsin didn't like what she was looking at.
"You look like death," she commented.
"I am death."
"Yeah, maybe, but that is still my body and if by some grace of Odin I get back into it, I would like it not to be malnourished."
"Lauren tried to get you back. It did not work."
Tamsin's voice raised an octave in fake enthusiasm, "Guess what! I know." Her voice lowered and she said, "You tortured her for it."
"You seem displeased."
"Let me run it by you again. You. Tortured. Her." Tamsin thought using her hands as a guide would help the valkyrie opposing her. It obviously didn't.
"She is fine now."
"Yeah, because the other person you tried to kill helped her survive. She thinks the only way to get me back is to give herself to you."
"As if her love would be enough. It is nice, however."
Tamsin shook her head. "It was enough to change me into you."
The valkyrie mirrored her reflection as she shook her own head. "I am fae." She said it as if it were explanation enough to make Tamsin a blood thirsty monster. "And soon Lauren will be too."
"You should watch who you trust, valkyrie. It might come back and bite you in the ass."
"I do not trust as freely as you did. No one can hide from my eyes."
"Strange how she has been hiding under your nose for the last few days then."
"Enough of your riddles!" the valkyrie seethed. Her violet eyes intensified as she looked at her soul; the true nature of her soul, anyways. "You failed her and now it is my turn to succeed."
"Father would be so proud." Tamsin directed the insult to the glint of blood lust, not love, in her reflection's eyes.
"I will also succeed him if he interferes."
Tamsin began to stare at the creature that had taken over her body and began to laugh uncontrollably. "You are so delusional!" she cried, her arms going to the sides of her stomach, her eyes closed in response to her ruckus laughter.
The valkyrie's definite and cold tone could be felt from across the room, "What is so funny?"
"You are!" Tamsin's smile wiped off her face and she became deadly serious. "He is the only person in the world, other than yours truly, who can save Lauren and every other fae and human in this territory. They are coming, valkyrie, and when they do, no one will be able to stop their destruction they will wrought across this small planet. And it will be on your head."
"On our head," the valkyrie corrected.
Tamsin chuckled as she turned away from the imposter. "I would sooner allow Lauren to kill me to save the world. I doubt you would give her such an honor."
"She would never kill me. She loves me."
The green eyed valkyrie turned sharply, stopping her movement away from the front of the mirror and she almost screamed, "She loves me! Everything she has done with you is in response to getting me back. She doesn't love you. Lauren could never love someone so cold."
"And yet she chose you in the beginning. Did she not?"
That stung. Tamsin, however, calmed slowly and she sighed with a smile on her face. "I've warned you, valkyrie. The path you're going down is going to be a dark one. And by the end of it, you're not going to survive."
"Then neither will you." The valkyrie looked into green eyes as they turned and she whispered, "You will die with me. This I promise you."
"We all gotta die someday," Tamsin called, throwing up a peace sign, as she walked away into the darkness of the mirror. A whispering echo escaped the mirror as the last remnants of Tamsin's body seemed to ripple like water and disappear. Leaving only the purple eyed monster staring at a fogged outline of her own body.
"We all gotta die someday."
Bo Dennis awoke groggily and yawned languidly. It took her a moment to realize where she was, only remembering the events of an hour ago, and she calmed when she found herself in her own bed. Running a hand through her hair, she placed her other on the sheets and looked over at her sleeping partner as she rose off of the mat.
The man's chest was bare, raising and falling rhythmically in deep sleep. The sheets Bo had pulled around herself slightly raised from over her partner's groin and she smiled slightly before retrieving her phone off the side table. She did not realize they had gone to sleep after their entertainment, and when she checked the time, Bo almost screamed in agitation.
"Dyson, get up!" she yelled, shedding the covers off of her and placing her bare feet to the cold wooden ground. Slightly shivering, she made her way to the end of the bed, near her weapons case, and bent to retrieve her clothing. "Dyson, now!"
"What?" he asked, his voice betraying how deep in slumber he really had been. He probably didn't remember why they had screwed all night either.
"It's morning," Bo said hurriedly as she pulled on her tank top then shirt.
"What are you talking about?"
"The compound, Dyson! Lauren and Hale."
Dyson lifted from the bed as well and looked at his phone. "Shit," he breathed after looking at the time and realizing what that entitled. "It's morning; we slept the night away."
"Its morning," Bo repeated, finally getting her belt secured around her pants. She felt stronger than she had the night before and she descended the stairs with her boots in hand. Bo didn't understand why Kenzi hadn't gotten them up when she realized they had fallen asleep, and after coming down the stairs, she found out. "Kenz, wake up."
Bo shook her friend lightly, her voice even, as she found Kenzi with a sword in hand. The girl still had a rag and had fallen asleep cleaning the blade of crusted blood.
"Kenz!"
"I'm up!" The sword Kenzi was cleaning fell to the ground after hitting the table with a clash, and the girl watched it go down with tired eyes. Bringing the back of her hand across her closed lids she asked, "What time is it?"
"It's morning," replied Bo, going to the kitchen as she retrieved her dagger holster from the table.
"What do you mean 'it's morning'?" Kenzi asked dubiously.
She quickly got to her feet and looked at the weapons wearily as her hand touched the side of her forehead. Bo wondered if she had gotten drunk in preparation for the days coming events but said nothing about it.
"I don't know. I don't know, we must have fallen asleep."
"All of us," Kenzi asked incredulous.
"All of us," confirmed Dyson as he walked down the stairs, putting on his shirt. His service weapon was holstered at his side and he combed his hands through his hair to contain the curls.
"But, but, Hale an-and Lauren!"
"I know, Kenz. I know." Bo came over to her friend and placed a comforting hand on her upper arm. Bending down and retrieving her dagger, she quickly holstered it and looked over to Dyson. "Are you grabbing anything here?"
The shifter shook his head. "I don't need weapons, you know that."
"Right," Bo whispered, shaking her head. Of course, she thought, he had claws for any battle or fight they would find themselves in.
"I'll get the mints," Kenzi muttered as she walked hesitantly toward the kitchen and started looking around cabinets.
Bo shook her head - she would have told her friend how the bad guys wouldn't care how their breath smelled but decided against it - and sheathed another dagger into her second holster. Calling Dyson over, she got her back holster on with his help and retrieved her crossbow. She wasn't a fan of using it, but if Tamsin had more guards than the group thought, it would come in handy for long range combat.
Looking back at the table, she saw a strong sword she had used on many occasions, and sheathed it on her right side, just above her dagger. Looking back at Kenzi, who had chewed down half of the mints in the tray as she walked over, she sighed and took the tin can away from her.
"Are you going to get strapped up?"
"Yeah..."
"Kenzi, we're going to get them out, okay?"
"I know, Bo. Just... while we were sleeping, what else could have happened to them? They could have been killed in the night and we were here resting!"
"Kenz," Bo hushed her friend, "we're going to get them out alive. We needed the recharge, and now we're going in fresh and with even more determination than before. They're going to be okay."
The Gypsy girl's blue eyes peered into brown and she nodded her head slowly. Retrieving her own crossbow, the new one Bo had bought; she quickly secured the small bolt quiver on her back and looked at her friend again. Dyson had walked to the door, presumably to make a call, and was walking back when Kenzi finally spoke.
"Давайте дадим им ад!"*
Lauren had to quickly glance at the ceiling and then at her hands as she sat in the passenger seat of the blacked out SUV. Jennifer had just driven up to the doors of the Morrigan's high rise, how she had gotten so close without the Dark's guards storming the vehicle was beyond the doctor, and they pulled to a stop just as the building doors opened and out popped a jubilant looking girl from the first time Lauren had visited.
Stepping out of the car Lauren smiled sweetly and kindly said, "Kiki, it's um..."
"Nice to see you too, Dr. Lewis. You get prettier every time you come here."
Lauren would have blushed if not under the current circumstance, especially since she wore a plain dark blue v-neck with black pants, and she replied with a laugh. "I know it's a late request, but may I see the Morrigan?" Lauren's politeness and subterfuge when talking to the fae reared its ugly head and coated her words, "The Ash has sent me over to collect something from her."
The girl laughed. "Funny," she said, her chipper voice giving away her obvious wariness, "you aren't wearing the pendant given to all pets of the Light."
The doctor's hand quickly went to her neck and she realized that she was indeed not wearing her pendant. Her mind feverishly withdrew to a time when she could have had it taken off of her, maybe she had taken it off herself, but for the life of her she could not remember. Had Tamsin removed it from around her neck when she was sleeping, or had Hale? It wasn't like she was really going to need it in the "New World" Tamsin was trying to construct. However, the knowledge of the loss of the pendant was somehow... strange.
A tight smile lifted the doctor's lips and she said, "Must have forgotten it in my other lab coat."
Kiki laughed at that too and replied, "Of course, Dr. Lewis. If not for your standing in the Light's council, I would have had to throw you in the dungeons to await trial."
"Trial for what?" Lauren's curiosity got the better of her, instead of dwelling on the threat about the dungeons, and she visibly retracted from Jennifer's body coming around the car and standing close to her. The human could tell Kiki had seen her discomfort and her eyes seemed to dim from her fake enthusiasm.
"You have been with the light for some time, doctor. The Morrigan would probably make you pay for the crimes of the ones who owned you."
"This is irrelevant," Jennifer spoke, her words cutting through the tension like a knife through butter. "We are here to see the Morrigan. Take us to her, girl."
Kiki's brown eyes traveled to that of the elves blue ones and she gave a wholesome smile. "Of course. But the Morrigan will only see one. Dr. Lewis, right this way."
Jennifer quickly stepped in front of Lauren and placed a hand back behind her on the doctor's stomach, stopping her in her tracks. "Wherever she goes, I go."
"You can wait outside of the door if you'd like. But Ms. Marquise is a busy woman and will only have one inside of her office at a time. You are still light and if you don't follow the rules, we can and will kill you for stepping on Dark territory." Kiki's face brightened and she said, "Now, Dr. Lewis, please follow me. I trust you remember the way."
Lauren nodded her head slightly and looked up towards Jennifer quickly before stepping around her motionless body to walk inside of the building; trailing behind Kiki. She heard the slight movement of Jennifer walking behind them and when the elevator chimed and the doors opened, the elf walked in first and stood behind the two like a stone gargoyle.
When the door finally opened and Kiki stepped out, Lauren quickly followed with the light fae agitatedly glowering as she walked behind them. The hallways and building in general were just as grand as Lauren remembered and she was on her second double take when Kiki stopped and moved her hand toward the door as if she were a bellboy.
"She's expecting you, doctor."
Lauren smiled but was not ready to enter yet. Morrigan be damned, she had to know what was troubling her heart. "I'm sorry to keep her waiting, but last time I was here I saw those beautiful paintings on the wall."
Kiki's eyes traveled to said paintings and she seemed to grow meek.
"I finally got the name of the person who painted them... Are those your work?"
The girl's face seemed to fall as her brown eyes scavenged the canvases. The beautiful brushwork, the articulate design of the strands of grass and clouds of the sky, sitting for hours on end just painting, listening to soft music as she swayed on her stool. It all came crashing back to her as she looked upon them.
"Yes," she finally said, "I painted them."
"And you had come to the Morrigan to excel. Didn't you?" Lauren already knew the answer; she did not have to see the way the girl's shoulders dropped slightly to know she had guessed correctly.
"I was more use to her as her assistant than a painter anyways," the girl said, her psychotically chipper voice from the first time Lauren had met her creeping back into her voice. "Please, the Morrigan is waiting. You can sit out here and wait," the comment was instructed towards Jennifer and the elf's blue eyes pierced that of brown before she sat down.
The fae's arms and legs were poised and Lauren knew if anything were to happen in the room, say her screams of pain or abuse, the elf would quickly dart in and save her; if only to win over her precious Sovereign. Lauren inwardly scoffed at her own foolish thoughts and she watched as Kiki walked back to the elevators. The doctor could tell, however, that the girl was trying her very best to not gaze upon her own work when she pushed the button to call the lift. It came quickly and she was on it in a flash, her brown hair disappearing through the doors in the blink of the eyes.
Taking a deep breath, making sure to not look toward the angry elf, Lauren entered the Morrigan's office for the second time in her life.
Tamsin had taken off her lover's pendant the first night they had slept together in the Ash's bed. The woman was sleeping, her blonde curls, matted with dried blood, were clumped strands behind her on the pillow. Her face was turned toward the valkyrie and her arm was to her side, her fingers splayed. If the valkyrie had not known any better, she would have thought even in slumber the doctor looked restrained. Ignoring this, Tamsin slowly unclasped the pendant's chain and raised it off of the doctor's neck with caution. She did not want to wake the woman up from their feverish night, especially since she had harmed the woman on accident that very day.
Placing the accursed pendant in the drawer of the side table, the valkyrie had run her hands over Lauren's collarbones lightly, all too aware how good it looked to see the human without her restraints.
Even if the valkyrie would set new ones for her...
So when Tamsin had walked back out of the bathroom that night, the flashdrive tucked between her index and middle finger, she did not hide her disdain with idle glances at Lauren's covered collarbones. The valkyrie had forgotten she had moved the sheets up to the woman's neck, and she quickly tore the covers away to rest on the doctor's midsection after putting the flashdrive into the same drawer the forgotten pendant rested in.
The purple eyed monster saw her lover's nipple almost immediately turn hard and she descended upon it curtly. A soft moan, then an intake of breath, told the valkyrie her lover was just waking up and she moved the covers over her own body as she placed her thigh in the space between the doctor's legs.
"Tell me you love me," the valkyrie whispered, her strong arms holding her body above the human's as the latter ran the back of her hand over her lids.
"What time is it, Tamsin?" Her voice was groggy with sleep and her eyes were visibly heavy. If not for her body's reactions to the valkyrie's pressure on her nether regions, she was sure she would have gone straight back to sleep.
"Lauren," the valkyrie's words were husky, "tell me you love me." She urged.
Warm hands pressed to the sides of Tamsin's face and fingers played with the strands of soft hair that were running down onto the woman's bare chest. "I love Tamsin." A jerk of the thigh made Lauren's lids close and she bit her lip to hold back a moan. The answer she gave was obviously not the right one. She couldn't see the valkyrie's eyes above her, but she knew her Tamsin had not clocked back in yet. Even after their night together, it seemed to be her love was not solely enough to bring Tamsin back. If not just her love, what else could Lauren do?
"I am Tamsin," the valkyrie said, her hand moving just beside the doctor's neck, her thumb pressing on the small hollow crevice between collarbone and throat.
"Then doesn't that mean I love you?" Lauren swallowed with difficulty as the thumb Tamsin pressed into her throat increased in pressure. "Tamsin?"
"Why won't you just accept me?"
"Tamsin, please-"
"I'm giving you everything. I'm making the city safer for you. Why won't you just love me!"
The words were barely spoken as the pressure on her neck was so great,"I do, baby."
"You don't! You love her. She couldn't protect you and you still want her. I'm better in every way so tell me why!"
"Because... you keep hurting me," Lauren choked out, her left hand finally coming to pull at the valkyrie's right.
Tamsin's hand quickly moved to grasp Lauren's, pinning it to the bed and squeezing, and she bent her head down to give a hectic kiss. It was received with less passion, and she wanted to slap the human for denying her yet again.
"She hurt you and you did not care."
"It was different," the doctor said.
If Tamsin hadn't known any better, she'd have thought the human crying. "She hurt you more times than I can count when she was fucking you." The valkyrie whispered and felt the human's body shudder under her at her crassness but continued, "Even after when she left you alone in your bed. She wormed her way into your heart and your mind and then she ignored you for weeks. She hurt you far longer than I could ever imagine. I am so much better."
"And how is that?" Lauren asked, her tone turning to that of regret and pain. "How is torturing me, hurting the people I care for, and keeping me as your slave better than what she did to me because she was as lost as I was?"
"Why do you hate me so?"
"Because you took over the woman I loved and you won't give her back to me."
Definite tears, the valkyrie decided as she heard the human's voice break. "Would giving her to you this night change your view of me?"
Lauren was silent for a few moments before saying, "Y-you would do that?"
"If it would make you stop hating me... I will allow you this one night with her."
"Please," Lauren's words were high and pleading, "just one night and I'll be better. I'll do whatever you say. I'll be... good. Please."
Moments passed between the two women in silence. Lauren would have said something if not for the sudden shift in the air. The body above her suddenly yielded to the human's touch, and her right hand that was clutching Lauren's left wrist went soft. Gentle strands of hair tickled down the doctor's bare chest as the valkyrie's head lowered until her forehead was laying peacefully on flesh, and her left hand slowly raised to caress Lauren's face and lips. The thigh pressed between the doctor's legs slowly raised and fell back down onto the bed just beside Lauren's, so that the body above her was simply straddling her, and the valkyrie sighed after breathing the human in languidly.
"Tamsin?"
The voice was gruff, but it held its unique abrasive yet snarky and gentle tone, "It's me, doc."
Hands suddenly flew to the back of the valkyrie's head, tangling in the strands of hair, and Lauren bent her head to kiss the top of her lover's head. She longed to see beautiful green eyes, but just her voice would do; if only for now. "Tamsin, is that really you?"
"I didn't think she'd actually do it."
The question was asked quickly and with little thought on the doctor's part, "How can I fix you, Tamsin? How can I bring you back?"
Tamsin chuckled."She won't let me tell you that. If I try, she'll take over again and I'd rather spend the night here if you don't mind."
"Can you tell me where you go when she comes out?"
"You don't want to know that one, doc. You really don't."
"Please, Tamsin, I-"
"Doc, can I please just sleep with you tonight? If I get one night on the earth, I'd rather spend it listening to your heartbeat."
"I'm sorry..."
"Hey," Tamsin rose from her comfortable spot on Lauren's chest and moved her legs until she was slightly sitting on her girlfriend's legs, "don't you ever be sorry for anything." The valkyrie moved her left leg to join her right on one side of the doctor's body and she hunkered down in the sheets. "Remember our first Christmas together?"
Lauren's smile would have filled the entire room with its brilliance. The fact she had been thinking the exact thing just that morning made it so much better. She laughed slightly and nodded. "If I recall, you tripped on the ice and wanted to get off immediately."
"The ice had an unfair advantage. What, I'm for real!" the valkyrie exclaimed when the doctor's laughter filled the darkened room. "Yelling, 'Go forth and be one with the ice!' is not very helpful when I first start out ice skating, doc! I have tried every form of ways to getting around, but skating on ice is beyond me."
"So are snowball fights," Lauren said, her lids closing as Tamsin's head rested just above her breast, on her heart.
"Which I won," Tamsin whispered, her smile being heard through her words easily.
"Because you cheated!"
"I did not. I caught you unaware, and you paid the price."
"Yelling 'snow fight' is not catching me unaware. It's cheating! And even though you did, I still won."
"Throwing your entire regiment of snowballs was a tactical disadvantage," the valkyrie said in a very impressive infomercial voice.
Lauren laughed and said, "But it won me the battle."
Tamsin grinned and replied, "So it did, doc. So it did."
The women were in comfortable silence for a few moments until Lauren spoke softly, "I've missed you, Tamsin."
The valkyrie's hand moved across the doctor's stomach to hold her side, hovering over the latter's healed stomach wound slightly. "I've missed you too, Lauren."
Lauren bent down slightly to kiss the top of her lover's head again, her mind thinking of when she had been dying on one of her hospital beds and Tamsin had said her name for the first time. She moved her hand to brush into the valkyrie's hair, and she closed her eyes as she nestled in to rest on the top of her lover's head.
The hand around Lauren's side slightly squeezed as Tamsin also began to relax for sleep, and she secretly loved the doctor's hand through her hair. It was always the other way around, Tamsin would allow the doctor to rest on her when she had spent the night after the Dawning, and the sudden change of roles was welcomed.
If only for that night.
The purple eyed monster shook her head as the valkyrie girl beside her pointed to the screen. She was tired of remembering as she watched through Tamsin's eyes the lover's conversation. Lauren would never have such a light hearted discussion with her, and she wanted to wring her neck for it. No, the valkyrie reprimanded herself, Lauren would not be harmed. She wouldn't be hurt by anyone, not even her own self.
"The research shows that you cannot just take anyone's bone marrow and place it into a human. It first has to be compatible, like any donor," Ætta said, her fingers pressed against the numerous pictures and text across the screen. "It is not even the bone marrow that we are after really. It is the stem cells inside of it along with their blood cell production."
"Yes, yes," the valkyrie said, her head shaking from one side to the other in aggravation, "how do I know if my marrow will be compatible with Lauren's?"
"You want to make her a valkyrie, commander? Isn't there something else you could think of?"
"Why not a valkyrie?"
Purple eyes turned on gray and the girl gulped. "You would have her trade in a life of servitude for another one. The only difference is this one would demand her watch as others die around her, while the last one at least gave her the opportunity to save them."
"Lauren will be happy with this choice," the valkyrie said, her voice definite.
"He won't be so happy with the decision, sister," Ætta pressed, her hand going to the valkyrie's arm.
"Since when do I care what He wants?"
"He can take your essence in a simple stroke of his hand! That seems to cause alarm to one such as I."
The valkyrie looked down at her progeny. "This body belongs to someone close to him. Even you know that. He could not take my essence without taking hers." Her voice turned mocking as she said, "I quiver to think that is why I am still able to help you and Lauren after my abuse of power."
Ætta was silent for a few moments until she whispered, "Tamsin... have you given any thought to what we discussed earlier?"
Purple eyes stopped flashing across text they could not understand and looked back up to the valkyrie standing beside her now. "To release them would be a grave mistake."
"But you could control them. They'd do whatever you said."
"It would make Lauren and you more at risk than you already are."
"They could take out the people that are putting us at risk, sister. We would know peace then. We would be safe."
"I said no."
The finality in the older valkyrie's voice brought hesitance to the younger, but she still spoke, "Then we will both die!"
"Enough!" Tamsin quickly bolted from her seat and it was the only thing moving in the room as it swiveled around. The valkyrie's were standing close together, so close that some would think it was an intimate moment, but it was far from arousing. Tamsin's hand clutched tightly around Ætta's neck and the latter's hands went up to claw uselessly at them. "I have made my verdict, girl. They will stay in the sky where they belong. Now, can I trust you to run the tests of compatibility between Lauren and I, or will I have to find someone else?"
"You are not compatible," Ætta strained out.
Tamsin was dubious at best but she let go of the girl's neck and asked, "How do you know?"
"I've always had a different ability than you, sister. Connections between people are my specialty. You and Lauren do not have it. You will have to find a different fae to turn her into. Or waste time trying to find a valkyrie who is just like her."
"No... she must be a valkyrie."
"I can find you a fae, sister... If you trust me enough."
"I trust you." Tamsin shook her head as she sat back into her chair. She ran a hand through her locks and was completely disinterested in where the conversation had led, "I do not know why I said otherwise." If she could not make Lauren a valkyrie...
"It was out of anger and love, I understand," the young valkyrie said. "I can-"
"Shh," the valkyrie's head shot up from looking idly at the table, and she hushed her sister as she raised off of the chair again.
"What is it?" Ætta whispered, knowing her mentor would not care if she spoke so low.
"Be off immediately to retrieve the bone marrow," Tamsin whispered back, her hand going to the small laptop, closing the lid with a wicked smile on her lips, "for we have company."
Lauren entered the room much as she did the first time. Her eyes wandered around to the exquisite looking interior, and out at the tall buildings that the one she was standing in far outmatched. The scotch and brandy selection seemed to have been undisturbed and the furniture looked as if it was never used. The Morrigan was doing the exact same thing she always was, on her laptop, and Lauren walked slowly yet unconsciously to the desk.
Clearing her throat seemed to do nothing, Lauren did find however that the Morrigan had painted her nails since the last time she was there, and she said, "Morrigan."
"I'll be with you in a minute."
The brunette never stopped typing and Lauren's nerves wracked her body in the form of her producing her fake smile and her eyes darting quickly to the ceiling and back toward the woman.
"Evony, I've come because I need to know how you knew this was going to happen."
A sudden twitch descended upon the Morrigan's hands and she stopped typing for a moment to glance up at the human brave enough, or stupid enough, to think she was on a first name basis with the leader of the fucking Dark. "That what was going to happen?"
"Please don't insult my intelligence." Lauren was speaking much bolder than she felt, but her facade never dropped, "You asked me to complete a favor for you, to keep yourself alive at any consequence to me. You asked me that only moments before Tamsin became that thing. If you know about it, then you know how to stop it."
"Aren't we presumptuous," the Morrigan said, getting up from her desk and walking over to the alcoholic tray. "Would you like any?"
"No, thank you."
The strain in the human's voice was evident and it made the Morrigan smile as she turned away and poured herself a glass. She took her time sipping down the liquid and she only turned after the entire glass was emptied. "I don't know how to stop her. I just knew it was coming," she confessed, her fingers playing with the glass.
"There isn't much going on in the city that you don't know about," replied Lauren, not falling for the ruse.
"The world must be ending for the day to come when a lowly human pet would challenge my word."
"I'm sorry," Lauren apologized, her hand going to the side of her head quickly before falling to her side. "Morrigan, you should know that Tamsin will know if I need her here; if I am in danger."
Brown eyes flashed and the Morrigan asked, "What are you trying to imply, human?"
"Only that if I start causing myself to hyperventilate, if I make it seem as if I am in danger, she will come for me and do... whatever she thinks is necessary to see that I am safe."
"You would let her kill me even with our deal? What kind of human would that make you?"
"A merciful one," Lauren whispered, her strong jaw setting in determination.
The Morrigan laughed and placed her glass down. So the human had balls, it seemed. The usage of her own words thrown back at her was not expected, and she had to give the human credit for that small feat indeed. "I've told you all I know, doctor. I knew Tamsin would change but after that, everything is growing uncertain like the roll of the dice."
"This isn't a dice game, Morrigan. People are going to die if Tamsin, the real Tamsin, doesn't get back into her own body. The valkyrie will go crazy eventually and she'll destroy the whole city."
The Morrigan shrugged and walked to the front of her desk, just mere inches away from Lauren. "I can't help you. I wouldn't know where to start. Shit's about to hit the fan again. They are coming, along with the valkyrie's fury, and there will be some of you that won't survive it."
"What are you talking about? Who will die? What is coming?"
"The blood die has been rolled, Dr. Lewis. It just depends on what number it'll land on." The Morrigan watched with an amused stare as Lauren looked down in thought and suddenly started for the door, her feet carrying her into a slow run that would most likely break out into a fast one as she hit the hallway. "Do give my regards to Tamsin, sweetcheeks!" she yelled after her, just as the door hit it's frame as it swung shut.
Things were moving at an accelerated rate, Evony thought as she placed a well manicured nail to her lips after watching the doctor run from the room. She was ready for the brimstone. Even ready for the fall of all things fae. But was she ready for the valkyrie's fury so soon?
Shaking her head, the Morrigan went back to her computer screen to send one last message to her source. Hopefully, if things turned out for the worst, she wouldn't have to chip a nail.
*"Давайте дадим им ад!" Is Russian which means "Let's give 'em hell!" in English.
Things are getting -sing along- freeeeaaakkkyyy! Hope you all enjoyed.