"Will you stop staring at her, Kenzi?" I ask.
We are sitting at a table at the back, and I have been sitting next to Kenzi while she gawks at Gala who is standing by the bar.
"I'm sorry, it's just too hard. Ever since her anatomy make-over, after she was framed for murder and us finding out about her being in a Trick's version of a witness protection program because she is like fae royalty, she has gotten even more overwhelmingly hot." Kenzi stated.
I look towards Gala; she is wear a long shirt that compliments her figure and short jean shorts that show off her long legs, which leads me eyes to her signature combat boots. Kenzi is right, she is even hotter, than before.
"She still sort of dresses like a guy." I comment.
"Excuse me, but that's like the pot calling the kettle black." Kenzi counters.
"What is that supposed to mean?" I questioned.
"Good evening." Gala said.
"Ah!" Kenzi yelled.
"Damn it Gala, don't sneak up on people like that."
"I didn't sneak up on you; you either jumped because you are talking about something super-secret or doing something you shouldn't be doing. So which one is it?" She asked.
"We aren't doing anything; well at least I'm not." I said.
"Excuse me, what is that supposed to mean?" Kenzi questioned.
"You know what it means." I argued.
"Well, why don't you enlighten me?" she countered.
"Please do." Gala chirped.
"What are you even doing here, Gala?" I ask in order to divert my argument with Kenzi.
"Well, I figured since you were both talking about me. I might as well join the conversation." Gala replied.
Kenzi and I momentarily taken aback, but Kenzi manages to pick up the ball and rolls with it.
"Um … we weren't talking about you." Kenzi disagreed.
"Oh, so you don't think I look overwhelmingly hot." Gala quipped.
That's creepy, how did she know Kenzi said that, does she have super hearing or something.
"Pfft, why would you even think that I think that?" Kenzi questioned.
"I felt like someone was undressing me with their eyes, so I figured it had to be you." Gala theorized, as she took a seat across from Kenzi and me.
I look at Kenzi, and she her cheeks begin to turn Beetroot. I know Kenzi isn't a total stalker, but I feel like she is starting too weird out Gala. I try and think of a way to defuse the situation.
"It wasn't her … it was me." I lied, sort of.
A surprised expression passes on to Gala's face. "Really, you were checking me out?" Gala tested.
"Why are you so surprised, it's not like your ugly or anything?" I defended.
"Was I ugly before?" she questioned.
She is trying to trip me up, and she is doing a good job.
"No, but if I had to compare the person you were pretending to look like, with the person that is sitting in front of me, I like this version sitting in front of me better." I stated.
"Well, thank you, Bo. You look good yourself." She commented.
"She looks good, you look good and I look fantastic, but I just want to ask you something, G." Kenzi asked.
"Okay."
"You had to hide your identity, because you're some type of … fae royalty, right." Kenzi stated, but whispered the fae royalty part, because it's still a secret.
"Yes." Gala said.
"Why?" Kenzi asked.
"Because, over the last millennia or so, I had been lost, missing if you will and I have no memory of what happened to me during these missing years. One of the things I missed was when everyone chose a side." Gala replied.
"So you're unaligned, like me."
"Yes, like you, Bo, I am unaligned."
Wow, she is probably the first person I have ever met who is unaligned. I am surprised because she is sort of like me in a few ways.
"Well, I'm liking you more by the minute." I said.
"So why hide because of that? Bo hasn't chosen and she doesn't have to hide." Kenzi continued.
"There are currently around six clans, three on each side. Before the divide there were seven, my family was one of them, an odd number back then ensured, that there were no stalemates which had to be broken through blood." Gala detailed. "I was born to a noble family within our species … actually I wouldn't say species, a better word to describe it would be our genre of fae –"
"You keep on saying the word ours. What is that supposed to mean. You aren't a Succubus." I interrupted.
"No, I am not a Succubus. But when it comes to the genre, our species of fae are connected." She explained.
"Connected how, by marriage, blood or ..."
"What do you feel is your genre, Bo?" Gala asked.
"Sex is what fuels me, so sex." I answered.
"What is sex usually connected to." Gala asked rhetorically.
"It's usually connected to desire." I said.
"Eh, sort of, desire is a factor of it, but think deeper."
What is something sex is connected to, other than desire? Unless.
"…Love."
A wide smile spreads across, Gala's face.
"You're a love fae." I said.
"Yes, but which type of love fae am I?" She playfully asked.
"What are you a cupid?" Kenzi asked.
Her smile dropped. "Don't ever call me a cupid."
"Why?" I asked, confused by her sudden change.
"My species, before we sort of became extinct, were at the top of the food chain when it came to love – Cupids were a close number two – but during my missing years, they snaked in. Egotistically vain bastards wanted to be at the top and now they are." Gala said, with a dark expression.
"What do you mean top of the top?" Kenzi asked.
"Do you mind telling me things that are big part of a person's existence, for example love?" Gala asked.
"Life, death, hate … um." I paused.
"Peace, war and money." Kenzi added.
"Yes, I suppose wealth would be one." Gala said to herself.
"What are you getting at?" I asked.
"I am of love, and do you feel that love is a pretty important thing in life." Gala asked.
"Yeah, it's very important – at least I think so." I answered.
"Do you feel love is the roots of or is connected to a lot of things in this world, like sex for example?" Gala inquired.
"Yeah, I suppose." I guessed.
"Sex is connected to love by attraction, desire, devotion, intimacy and so on. That is how we are connected we both are in the genre of love, although yours is a sub-genre of love." She revealed.
"Sex is a sub - genre of love." I said.
"No, desire is a sub-genre of love, and sex is connected to both." Gala corrected. "And fae that belong to the foundation of a genre are unbelievably powerful. Although cupids are now at the top of the love pyramid, they will never be as strong or as powerful as my kind – ever.
"What type of fae are you."
"I am an Amor, which is superior and better than a cupid." Gala answered, with slight contempt in her voice.
"You really dislike them don't you?" I asked rhetorically.
"I don't dislike them all, it's just some of them haven't given love a good name." Gala reasoned.
"Why are finally telling me this. I thought you bound by your word." I mimicked, with a British accent.
"You can thank Tamsin, she had a discussion with Trick and now I am not as tightly bound by my word." Gala explained.
I wonder what Tamsin said to Trick. I'll have to ask her later, but why would she talk to Trick about Gala. Either way now I can finally get some answers.
"Can you tell me how you knew my grandmother?" I asked.
"No, just about who I am, species-wise that is, with slight background." She replied.
Damn it! I want to ask her … never mind it would be weird, and I don't want to ask her in front of Kenzi.
"Kenzi, can you do me a favour." Gala asked.
"Um … yeah, what's the favour?" She asked.
"I was hoping you could get me a drink at the bar."
"Okay no prob, what do you want?" Kenzi asked.
"You can pick for me, just tell Trick it's for me." She said.
"Okay, you want anything Bobo?" Kenzi asked.
"Oh I'm not – "Gala nudges my foot with hers. I look at her and she gives me a look to say yes to Kenzi. "Sure I'll have a … Swindler's Pint." I said.
"Aw, are you kidding me that takes like ten minutes to –"Kenzi began.
Gala put her hand on Kenzi's arm. "Swindler's Pint … I'll have one too, Kenzi." Gala asked.
"Okay, two Pint's coming up." Kenzi announced enthusiastically.
She then walked backwards into a table. "Ha-ha … where did that come from." Kenzi joked, and then walked towards the bar.
I look back at Gala and give her a judgemental look.
"What?" Gala asked.
"You didn't have to use your charms on her." I stated.
"I didn't." Gala argued.
I look over Gala's shoulder at Kenzi, who is trying to be discreet at watching the two of us. God, Kenzi is taking this crush of hers up a couple of levels.
"What did you want to ask me, Bo?" Gala asked.
"Who did you – " I began.
"When I said I was still bound, you were disappointed. You usually pick at things until you get something close to what you want, but you didn't. I figured it was because you were embarrassed to ask me in front of Kenzi, so I solved that dilemma." Gala hypothesized.
"You got that all from my facial expression." I said.
"No, I could see the disappointment in your eyes. You rarely show how you feel with your face, except your lips, with the only exception being when you are deeply affected. Now ask me before, she comes back." Gala urged.
I don't know what to say to that, how the heck does she know I do all of that, about me.
"How do you know I do all of that?" I asked.
Gala rubs her eyebrows with her thumb and middle finger, so that her hand is covering her face. "Because I pay attention, now ask me." She urged, and then dropped her hand.
I don't buy her answer for a second, but for now I'll play along. I scoot my seat forward and lean on the table with my forearms, so that I am closer to her, so I don't have to speak as loud.
"Are we … related?" I asked.
"Related?" Gala questioned.
"Yeah, are you my cousin or my … aunt?" I said.
Please don't be my aunt that felt weird as soon as I said it. And from the look on her face it sounded weird to her too.
"Why do you think we're related?" She asked.
"Um, well. You have this complicated history with Trick and it's sort of a family resentment feel to it, and you knew my mother and my grandmother. You get this soft look in your eyes, like you are right now, whenever someone mentions Isabeau, and how you said our genres are connected." I answered.
"I could see why you think that, but no, we are not related. Isabeau was not my grandmother or my aunt or cousin, we looked the same age when I knew her, and we were … friends" Gala said.
"Oh."
"You sound disappointed." Gala pointed out.
"I am – I'm not disappointed, well … I'm disappointed because I thought I had figured it out, but now I'm back to square one. I'm not disappointed that we aren't related, to be honest I'm sort of relieved." I revealed.
"Why?" She asked.
"Oh um … because …" I mumbled.
"I'm just messing with you. I know why you're relieved." She joked.
"Funny." I said.
"I try." Gala said.
After we stop laughing it starts to get awkward, and I don't know where to look or what to say, and I don't know why. I look at her and I can see she want to ask me something.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I want to know your other reasons for thinking we are related." She asked.
"Um … we look similar, I can't bewitch you – "I began.
"You can't bewitch me, because I don't want you too." She interrupted.
"You can decide whether you can be bewitched."
"Or charmed or doubted all things that pertain to the mind." She explained.
"Why is it only your mind?" I asked.
"No clue, but my point is the fact you can't bewitch me isn't a valid reason." She said.
"What are you saying?" I questioned.
"Never mind what I'm saying." She argued.
"No, tell me what you're saying." I argued.
"I am saying … it would have been weird if were related."
"It would have been very weird."
"Do you know why it would have been weird?" She asked, rhetorically.
"I have a feeling you're going to tell me." I responded.
"No, I'm going to show you. Give me your hand." Gala said.
She offers me her left hand, and I question whether I should take it. Oh what the hell. I give her my right hand, but she pulls back. I look at her questioningly.
"Your left would be better." She explained.
I give her my left hand, and she grasps it with both hands. I flinch at the touch, and she drops her hands.
"Are you okay?" Gala asked.
"Yeah, it's just your hands are cold." I explained.
She suddenly looks embarrassed. "Forgive me I always forget." She murmured.
I grab her left hand between my own. "It's okay, I like it. Are your hands usually cold?" I asked.
"Yeah it's a love fae thing, the warmer the hands the colder the heart." Gala clarified.
"So that's where that phrase comes from." I said, to myself.
She scrunches eyebrows questioningly.
"There a saying "cold hands warm heart." It figures it has something to do with the fae. Don't your hands ever get warm?" I asked.
"Yes, when I'm doing something that raises my temperature." She answered.
"Oh, what raises your temperature?" I ask coyly, while giving her a little wink.
"Get your mind out of the gutter, Bo." She scoffed.
"Can't make any promises – now, what did you want to show me?" I asked.
"I want you to with your left hand try and bewitch me." She said.
"I thought you said –" I began.
"Just do it, and while you're doing that, I will be charming you." She interjected.
Should I do this? Why shouldn't I do this? It's not like anything huge is going to happen.
"Okay then, on the count of three, one – two – three." I said.
I send my charms towards her, and she sends her towards mine. They meet in the palm of our hands and a deep crimson colour flares up. I start to feel really … good, which is just …
"Wow." I said, out loud.
"This thing in the palm of our hands is why, it would be weird. We are … attracted to one another." Gala said, and from the look on her face, she seems to be affected to same way I am.
"Well I am a Succubus, and I am attracted to a lot of people and a lot of people are attracted to me." I teasingly argued.
"Don't do that."
"What?" I asked.
"Don't act like being a Succubus makes you who you are. You are surrounded by a group of people who care about you not because you are a Succubus, but because you're you. I haven't let what I am define me ever. I am a creature of love, but I don't go saying I can help people fall in love or into bed with each other – which I can by the way – or that people easily fall into love with me, because I am what I am." Gala argued.
"Oh really so the fact that Kenzi is under your spell isn't because you're a "creature of love"." I quipped.
"I didn't charm her when she walked into the table, but yet she did. I, like you Bo, cannot help but emit an energy representing what I am. You as a Succubus emit a sexual drawl, as do I although mine is … softer and laced with love. And people are drawn to love, they want it and the more you crave love or the more you love, the more easily effected you are by me. For example Kenzi, she has a big heart with plenty of room to be filled with, and she is affected by me, because of that and because she craves love." Gala insisted.
I look over at Kenzi, and I see her looking at us. She looks hurt and … jealous, but why would she be … oh, because Gala and I are holding hands. I forgot we were still holding hands, each of us still sending pulses into the palm of our hands. What am I doing? I know Kenzi likes Gala, but here I am getting all flirty and sexual with her.
I quickly let go and lean back in my chair. I try my best to hide my guilty expression.
"That look, right there is what I am talking about. Right now you are feeling guilty, because we are attracted to each other, because there is a connection." Gala addressed.
"We don't – "I began.
"Yes we do, and what I have been trying to say is that it is alright, our species have always had to that type of connection to each other. So it's not your fault or mine, so don't feel guilty, because nothing major will happen between us." Gala insisted.
"How are you so sure?" I questioned.
"Because I don't want to be with you, and you don't want to be with me. We just have this connection, because it is in our D.N.A to be attracted to each other, it's as simple as that." Gala responded.
I look over at Kenzi again, but this time I see Trick. He has an expression that I can't name on his face that he quickly hides when he sees I am looking at him, but why? I think about all the times Gala and Trick have talked, he's always had a look that he kept hidden behind his eyes.
The way he was looking at me and Gala, was like he was watching something that he had seen before. The gears start to move in my head as I start to realize the relationship Gala has with Trick and my grandmother.
"Oh my god." I gasped.
"What's wrong?" Gala asked.
"You say our species are naturally attracted to each other." I asked.
"Yes." She replied.
"And that it's okay, for us to want each other, and not want to be together." I continued.
"…Yes." She replied.
"Did you and my … grandmother want each other?" I asked, feeling slightly weird, about asking looks away from me, then takes a deep breath and slowly nods her head.
"Did you want to be together?" I continued.
"I … I didn't, but she … did." Gala stammered.
"Why didn't you want to be with her?" I asked.
"I don't know. I just didn't, and I told her to stop pining for me, and accept the love she was being given." Gala revealed.
"You mean from Trick." I theorized.
"Yes, and she did, but Trick always felt that she settled with him, and me being in there lives was a constant reminder. But he never said a word, because he loved her and she loved me. And I disliked him, but I loved them both together." Gala responded.
"Are you saying she didn't really love, Trick." I asked.
"No, no, heavens no, she loved him, she just couldn't see it at first. Their love was good, but as time went on, Fitz grew the need to prove himself, to her and to the world, and that was the beginning of the blood king, and the beginning of my disappearance and blackout." She revealed.
"How long was the blackout, and how old were you?" I questioned.
"Didn't anyone tell you it's rude to ask a lady her age?" She asked, with an amused tone.
"You are as much as a lady, as I am a monk." I retorted.
"Well then what am I, if not a lady?" She countered.
"You are more of a knight, you are so polite talking and chivalrous." I responded.
"Well, I am a knight." Gala pointed out.
"Are you really?" I asked.
A drink is suddenly put in front of me, slightly hard enough to spill it a little and make a thump, then in front of Gala. I look up to see Kenzi holding a glass filled with whiskey, with a slightly bitter expression.
"I am sorry to interrupt, but here are your drinks." Kenzi informed.
"Thank you very much, Kenzi." Gala said, with a genuine smile, that Kenzi reciprocates.
"Thanks Kenzi." I said.
She ignores me, and then sits next to me. I can tell she is a bit upset about the hand holding, but it's not like we were making out. I have to try and be extra nice, so she'll have a hard time being mad at me.
"What have I missed?" she asked.
"Stuff I will tell you about later. I can tell her right?" I asked.
"If you wish to, then yes." She answered.
"Thank you, and right now Gala was about to tell me her how old she was when she disappeared." I continued.
"I am not going to tell you the year I was born, because then it was a very long time ago for you both, but for me it still feels like a lot less, but I will say I woke up in 1951 just outside this very bar, but I was unfortunately out of my mind as I suddenly became conscious of the world, as well as other things I can't explain, so Trick put me in an asylum, and asylums back then were similar to a setting in a horror movie."
"He put you in an asylum." Bo said in unison to Kenzi who said.
"That was sixty-three years ago."
"To answer Kenzi's question, yes, but like I said I was in an asylum, and to me it didn't really count as a life lived, because I wasn't really living. To me, so many years have been robbed of me, to me I still feel like I'm young, but of course on paper I am very, very old." Gala said.
"Well for an old woman your legs look good in those shorts." Tamsin said coming up of nowhere, wearing that black and white leather jacket, which I love, because it's the jacket she wore, when we were both almost made into candy, and when we sort of made out.
"Looking good yourself in that jacket." Gala commented, as if she plucked the thought from my head. How does she keep on doing that?
"I try." She said, then took a seat from an empty table, to place it at the foot of the table between Gala and I.
"Hi, Tamsin." I greeted.
"Oh hi, I didn't see you there." Tamsin said.
"Thanks." I said, sarcastically.
"What are you here for?" Gala asked.
"I've got a lead on the case on the case you were setup on, and I wanted to see if you'd come along." She answered.
"How can we help?" I asked, wanting to help Gala.
"You can help by staying here." Tamsin jested.
"Do you really expect me to just stay here?" I questioned.
"Why do you even care, you don't even like Gala." Tamsin argued.
"That's not true, we were just having a good talk until you butted in, and since when did the two of you become so chummy." I asked.
"Since I helped her transition into the modern world, and since I have been working this case." She revealed.
"That's nice you made a friend, and here I thought you didn't have a social skills." I mocked.
"I don't. She is just easier to talk to than most people." Tamsin said.
"The feeling is mutual, Tamsin." Gala agreed.
"So where is the lead?" I asked, trying to use the moment to squeeze into the case.
"It's none of your business." Tamsin argued.
"Tamsin, parlent-ils français." Gala said in French.
"Non, ils ne le font pas." Tamsin said in French.
Whoa, since when did Tamsin speak French?
"Vous allez un peu trop loin avec le plan. J'ai dit être soi-même, pas une pute." Gala said.
"Vous avez également dit d'être distant avec elle, et concentré sur vous." Tamsin said, as if she was arguing, with Gala.
"Oui, mais vous êtes trop agressif –" Gala started.
"Since when have you been able to speak French, Tamsin?" I interrupted.
Tamsin looks towards me, annoyed I interrupted the conversation. "Since the French Revolution - that was a great time in a great place." She turns towards Gala. "I'm sorry you missed it."
Gala puts her hand on Tamsin's arm, and I suddenly get very jealous, but I don't know who I am jealous of.
"Moi aussi. Tamsin Je comprends que vous dites non à l'enfant à faire son envie de venir avec nous encore plus, mais elle serait venue quand même." Gala said, she looked like she was asking a question.
"J'essaie d'être difficile à obtenir." Tamsin said.
"Il ya une différence entre être difficile à obtenir, et d'être difficile d'être autour d." Gala said.
The two appeared to be arguing, but I don't like not knowing what they are arguing about.
"As sexy as the French is, would you both mind talking in English." I complained.
Tamsin gives Gala a dark look and me an annoyed look. "You can come." She said.
She then got up without a word and began to walk out of the bar. Gala the whole time looked very pleased with Tamsin's response, and then proceeded to walk after her.
I guess she won the argument they were having. I still don't get why it's such an issue for me to come along.
I stand up, and so does Kenzi. "Let's roll." chirped Kenzi.