[[Warnings still in effect]]
"So tell me more about these Ancient Assholes," Kenzi said in the confines of their stake-out car that smelled of Fritos and lukewarm coffee.
"The Quinary is an ancient order of Fae-the Elders began the Human hunt, a trophy hunt for humans with exceptional abilities."
"What do they want with Lauren?" Kenzi said ironically.
"Kenzi." Dyson interrupted. "Bo loves you, you know that."
"She just loves her more."
"Sometimes you have to accept what others can give you, even if you want more than they offer you," he said quietly.
"She's just so infuriatingly perfect. With her blonde hair and beauty, her doctor smarts, and her Fae…" The last word was spoken like a curse word-spat ugly into the night.
"And she is hunted because of it. You don't want the kind of trouble Lauren courts with this new ability."
She knew he spoke from experience and she knew he was right but Kenzi found herself resisting still. "She's always going to be between us."
"Not so much between as beside."
"What's gotten into you?" Kenzi looked at Dyson critically. "Since when did you become her number one fan?"
"I can't deny Bo's feelings any longer."
"So that's it? You're giving up?"
Dyson sighed. "Kenz, it's not about giving up or giving in, it's about acceptance. Can you accept your new place in Bo's life?"
"What other choice do I have?"
"Exactly." He bumped her shoulder with his own.
Hours had passed, Lauren's hand still cast a warm glow on the space between them. It resembled the lamp light of Bo's bedroom which kept them both calm. As calm as either could manage at this stage in the game.
"Oh, Bo… I brought this all on myself," she sniffed.
Bo leaned against the wall of her cage, her forehead lulling on her knees pulled close to her chest. Her bruises and cuts stung more and more with each passing hour. If she could just get a little sleep, maybe the ache in her bones and the burning of her wounds would lessen and she could think straight again.
"Lauren," Bo's voice was even. "There is no one to blame except the freaking Fae who insist on doing shit like this."
Lauren wiped her tears away with her hand and dried her palm on her pants. "This feels so hopeless, Bo. I'm not healing fast enough. I don't want to die like this."
"I'm not going to let anything happen to you." She put her hand against the plexi-glass and stared at Lauren across the distance. "We're not going to die in someone's ancient man cave."
Lauren laughed. "I'm going to hold you to that."
"What can you tell me about this box?"
"They had another woman in a box like that when I arrived. It blocks your Fae as far as I can tell."
"The hand?" Lauren's face was serious. She nodded. "Jesus. They made you watch?" Lauren shook her head and looked away. "Lauren did you…?"
Her eyes closed and she rested her forehead against the bars of her cage. "I performed the amputation," she said. "They were butchering her," she added defensively.
"Shit. That is so messed up." Bo exhaled. Silence settled between them, the ancient stones surrounding them were weeping for the humidity and for what they must have seen before. She couldn't think about it anymore, Bo was too sore and too tired and yes, too horny, to wax philosophical about weeping rocks of an unsealed catacomb. "Hey, have I ever told you about how I pass the time in the night sometimes?"
Lauren paused. She had never considered how Bo spent her extra awake time after Lauren had drifted off. Now, she was kind of curious. "No?"
Bo scooted closer to the wall and put her palm up against it. "I like to plan fake trips."
"What?"
"Yeah, while you thought I was surfing for porn, I was actually making mock, money's- no-object itineraries for us."
"Where would you take me?" Lauren's voice softened and Bo could tell she was smiling.
"Rome, Athens, Paris… and then I thought you've probably been to all those places so I upped my game."
"Oh?"
"Have you ever heard of a place called Angkor Wat? Who am I kidding, of course you have…"
"Bo…" Her voice was soft, comforting. "It's okay."
"Nothing about this is okay. It's Saturday night and we were supposed to go out to dinner-for the first time in a year-and we'd be making love by midnight and right now, yes, right now, we are supposed to be raiding the fridge for a snack."
"Where were you taking me for dinner?"
"Le Chaudron. It's this trendy little fondue restaurant."
Lauren sighed. "That would have been nice."
"Yeah. So are you free next Saturday?"
"Hmm," Lauren grunted noncommittally.
"Lauren?"
There was a long silence before she answered. "Yeah?" She sniffed.
"We're gonna be okay."
By dawn Lauren had healed. Bo stayed up with her through it all: the tears, the doubt, the regret of something she couldn't even name anymore. And then she slept and Bo watched over her still. She was surprised when breakfast arrived on silver trays. Having never been afforded such dignities when she'd fallen prisoner in the past, Bo weighed it with the knowledge that cattle are well-fed too, to fatten them up for the slaughter, or in their case, the feast.
It went on like that for three days and three nights, and each time Bo witnessed her agony. She had checked every crack in her cage and whatever hex they had put on the container itself showed no signs of dissipating. Each night Bo would stay up with her until dawn, keeping her distracted with stories of their adventures. It was all she could do and it just wasn't good enough for Bo.
And then the night came when the hall remained dark. The Sandman nor the Frost Giant came and Bo and Lauren could only look at one another through their cages and wonder if they were coming back. Had Dyson cracked the case? Shut them down? Was he searching the restaurant as they waited? Would he find them before the next gruesome round?
Bo could hear her breathing. The even in and out, the slow rise of her breast barely visible from her vantage point. Electricity prickled Bo's skin. Lauren was kinetic, supercharged and Bo wanted her. She had not fed in days, her wounds were beginning to ooze as infection began to take hold of the dirty knife bites, split lips, and that gouge in her side where someone tried to run her through with a rusty crowbar.
"You're hungry," Lauren's voice echoed in the empty hall. She was too far to see the blue shimmering in Bo's eyes or hear her breath, fast and relentless.
"I'm fine." Bo tried pushing on the sides of her cage for the hundredth time and the outcome was no different than the first time she tried. "Shit."
"What is it?"
"Nothing." Bo sighed.
Silence, and then she spoke. "I love you, Bo."
Every emotion in her body was at war. She felt her chin tremble and then the tears came. She hadn't meant to cry, to break down, to let Lauren hear how she really felt.
"Oh, honey," came Lauren's voice from the darkness. "Don't give up. We still have a few adventures left in us yet."
Bo sniffed and wiped away her tears, her resolve fortified. "Lauren?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm going to get you out of here. They won't hurt you again." Her voice was steely.
"I know you will…"
Bo jerked awake. How long had she been out? Her eyes searched the room. She had fallen asleep and Lauren's cage was gone. The nightmare was renewed.
"Where is she?!" Bo yelled, her voice so loud, it hurt her own ears.
"Settle down, Succubus," The Doorman approached her cage.
Bo pounded on her cage. "Tell me where she is."
"Or what?" He laughed at her.
"God dammit, where is Lauren?"
"Tonight's the night. Open house." He clapped his hands together excitedly.
"No." She shook her head. "She's not strong enough."
"She is the Hybrid. She will survive." He dusted his hands off and began to turn away from Bo.
"Touch her again and I will kill you," she growled.
A smile lit up the Doorman's face as he turned to face her again. "All bark and no bite. I must say you are not what I was expecting."
"And what were you expecting?"
"A Weapon worthy of the Hybrid. Someone who wouldn't let her our of their sight.
"I am all those things and more."
"And yet…" He held up his hands illustrating Lauren's absence.
"Please, just let me see her." Her vulnerability was showing through.
"Such pleasantries!" He laughed. "Do you know who else was very polite? Your grandfather." Bo stopped struggling with the cage and stayed stock still. "We used to be friends, you know… started a little club together and everything but…" He drew in a deep breath. "…you know how these things go… I'm afraid after awhile he just lost a taste for it." The Doorman grinned. "Don't you worry now, she'll be back soon enough. Farewell, Weapon!"
Bo banged her back against the wall of her cage in defeat. "Shit." She sighed.
It was early evening and the lot behind Café de Paris was filling up. Dyson hopped out of their stakeout vehicle and walked toward the restaurant. The front door opened and the Doorman passed through it. "I've seen you lurking in the shadows for three days. Is there something I can help you with?"
"You know why I'm here."
"I'm afraid I don't, sir."
"I'm here for dinner." He smirked.
"I'm sorry, our restaurant is by reservation only."
"Then make me one of those." He smiled.
"That won't be possible. Our clients have made arrangements sometimes months in advance to eat here."
Dyson looked around. "You're located in a strip mall."
"Our cuisine is world renowned."
Dyson gritted his teeth. "By cannibals."
"Come now, Wolf, surely if anyone were to understand it would be you."
"I don't eat my own kind."
"Except for that one time, hmm?" He smirked.
"You know nothing!"
"I know everything about your hot little ex and her new flame, too. I bet that stung, huh?" He grinned.
"You've been watching us."
"It's my job," he said simply. "Now go on, rally the troops. I wouldn't mind meeting that Valkyrie of yours, either."
She's not mine."
"Oh, poor Wolf, all alone, with no mate to speak of. She'll come around once she's separated from the Hybrid. Won't you help us make that transition?"
"Take me. Let Bo and Lauren go."
"So admirable!" He chortled. "I wasn't expecting such chivalry from you, but I'm afraid you just won't do. Kind of what I take away from your relationships."
Dyson growled and grabbed the Doorman by the throat. "Take me to them!"
A snarl startled the dining room and a man in dark clothes leapt at Dyson, tackling him to the floor in front of the Doorman. The men rolled around on the ground, punching, growling and biting each other until Dyson slipped out of the embrace that kept him pinned to the floor. He popped up onto his feet.
"Silas!" Dyson lunged at the other, more powerful, shifter.
He grinned, his white teeth gleaming in the low light of the restaurant. "Good to see you, Dyson. It's been awhile."
"Not long enough," he growled.
"It's a shame you can't taste hundreds of years of hard work."
"Those are my friends."
"Under your nose all this time. Such a disappointment, Dyson…" Dyson clenched his jaw. "You better get back to that little Human treasure before I rip her to shreds," he sneered. He shoved Dyson out the door.
"Call and make a reservation," the Doorman called after him.
Dyson dropped into the driver's seat of the car and slammed the door.
Kenzi shook her head. "Just when you think the Fae couldn't get any more foul, bam! Right in the middle of Hannibal Lecter's lair."
Dyson dabbed blood from his lip. "The Quinary have an elite squad of shifters that do their hunting for them."
Kenzi scooted closer. "And they asked you to join up?"
"Sort of."
"Score! Ready-made cover, D-man!"
"Except I kind of blew it," Dyson interrupted her celebration.
"Oh."
"We'll find another way in, I have faith."
Dyson smiled. "Look, Kenzi, it's too dangerous. You're going to have to hang back and let me handle this."
"Are you kidding me? Kenzi ain't going out like that."
"I know you want to help but I can't risk losing you, too."
"Tough, because I'm your wheelman." Kenzi folded her arms.
Dyson exhaled. "Bo is gonna kill me."
Kenzi smiled, knowing she had one. "So people know what's on the menu? And they eat there anyway?"
"It appears so."
"But what if you just wanted a regular meal?" Before Dyson could answer, Kenzi hopped to her feet. "That's it! If they are serving illegal meats…" Kenzi made a face and shuddered. "Can't we just report them? I mean, don't you have some Fae Food Inspector friend you can call to get them shut down?"
Dyson raised a finger and nodded. He dialed his cell phone. "Jonesie, meet me at Café de Paris in an hour. There's something you're gonna wanna see."
End part 6