Chapter Seven


Bo and Dyson drove to the clinic as fast as Bo's car would take them. Even though Bo knew there was almost no chance that Aldern would try something against Lauren again so soon, she wanted to see it for herself. She was also concerned about having to protect everyone from Elders now.

"Bo, what's the next move here?"

"Besides finding a way to kill Aldern?" Bo sighed. "I have to figure out who we can trust to watch the clinic. I think Lauren will go crazy if I'm at the clinic every day."

Dyson smiled. "She'll go crazy or you'll go crazy?"

"She will go crazy because I'll get bored and start bothering her."

He didn't respond and Bo concentrated on driving. Even with that, she couldn't help but think about her encounter with Aldern. The first thing she wanted to figure out was when he could have gotten a koushang. The fact that he knew about it didn't surprise her. Elders were more concerned with their own survival than anything else and it would make sense that Aldern would research how he could protect himself from her.

What bothered her was where he would have gotten one. The only one she knew of was the one she took from the Light Fae trophy room. After she used it against her mother she had given it to Trick to keep safe. As far as she knew it had never left his possession. It should still be with everything else in his lair.

"Bo?"

She blinked her eyes a couple times and looked at him. "Yeah?"

"We're here."

Bo noticed that she was parked in front of the clinic. "Yeah . . . have you looked through all of Trick's things?"

Dyson shook his head. "Why?"

"I want to know where Aldern got his koushang," Bo explained. "The one I took from the Light I gave to Trick after everything with my mom. I really doubt that there are too many koushangs roaming around."

"You think he has the one he gave Trick?"

"I don't know what to think right now," Bo admitted and opened the car door.

The clinic was busy but that was something Bo had come to expect. Lauren had an amazing bedside manner and both Dark and Light Fae knew that she was the most knowledgeable doctor in the area. No matter what was going on with her and Bo or even what happened to Evony, they still showed up at the clinic. The only rule was that Humans were given the same level of treatment. Fae were not more important at Lauren's clinic.

Bo and Dyson bypassed everyone in order to get back to Lauren's lab. The only pleasantries were polite nods and no one tried to get them to do anything more than that. It seemed everyone else was busy and didn't have time for idle chit chat or ask why Bo was visiting twice in one day.

They walked into the lab to find Lauren stitching up a cut on a boy's shoulder. The same arm was already in a cast almost up to his elbow. Since Lauren was concentrating she didn't notice their presence and neither did the boy. He was maybe fourteen and by looking at his aura, he was completely enamored with her fiancé. The scene made Bo smile, thinking about how caring Lauren was and how that was a major turn on.

"All right, looks like we're all done," Lauren said, smiling at him. "Stitches should be out in a week and we'll check on your arm in a month."

He smiled. "Thanks, Dr. Lewis. Will you be the one checking on me what I come back?"

"We'll see." She winked at him then helped him stand. "Your dad should be right outside. Have him stop by the front desk before you leave."

"I will."

He turned and moved past Bo and Dyson, rushing faster than he probably should have out of the room. At the same time, Lauren realized that Bo and Dyson were standing just inside the lab.

"How long have you been standing there?"

Bo walked toward her, a teasing smirk on her face. "Long enough to see that that poor boy has a huge crush on you. Should I be worried?"

Lauren laughed. "No, he doesn't."

"I'm a Succubus, babe. I can tell," she reminded her before leaning in and giving her a light kiss. "Hi."

"Hi." She looked from Bo to Dyson standing behind her and back again. "What's going on?"

Bo quickly summarized what happened with Aldern, noticing that Lauren has fallen into analytical mode. "So . . . do you know if there's multiple koushangs roaming around?"

"It's possible," Lauren answered. "When I read about it all I was only using it for informational purposes. It didn't tell me how many of them existed. I knew the Light had one because I did a little cross referencing. When I was with the Dark, I spent more time reading through their archives than looking through their artifacts."

"Maybe we should go through Trick's things first," Dyson offered. "I should really check in on Mark. I don't really trust him with the bar, especially with Vex always hanging around."

Bo and Lauren shared a look and Bo thought about bringing up the topic of Vex and Mark with Dyson. She opened her mouth to say something but Lauren beat her to it. "You should go easy on Vex, Dyson."

"He's Dark and he's betrayed us multiple times," Dyson said. "I don't trust him and I don't like that he's always hanging around."

"Dyson, we're trying to get rid of the sides so being Dark or Light shouldn't matter anymore. Besides, Vex came through for us when we needed him. You need to try and move past everything else. He's part of the family now."

"I don't know if I can do that."

Bo opened her mouth again to jump in but Lauren continued. "Maybe you should consider this: when I was a slave for the Light you didn't treat me very well. Then when Bo came into the picture, you even upped it to show her that Fae were superior to Humans. There should be a lot of bad blood between us but obviously, I've gotten past that."

Dyson started to speak but stopped, pausing before responding. "That's not the same, Lauren."

"But it is," Lauren said. "There have been times where Vex has been on the opposite side but we couldn't have defeated Hades without him. He put his life on the line as much as the rest of us."

"She's got a point, Dyson."

He looked at both of them and let out a quiet sigh. "I will try." He met Bo's eyes. "Will you meet me at the Dal so we can go through Trick's things?"

"Yeah, I'll be there after I'm done here," Bo said and with a nod, Dyson walked out of the lab.

With Dyson gone, Lauren turned her attention to Bo, taking her hands in her own. "How are you doing?"

"Worried about you," Bo admitted. "You need to hire guards or get Evony to up security or something. Aldern is going to come after everyone in his way and he's already come after you once. I need to make sure you're going to be safe."

"I'm never going to be completely safe in this world, Bo," Lauren stated, letting going of her hands. "You can't watch over me and have us both do what we need to do. I can turn the cameras in my lab on again and hire some after-hours guards."

Bo shook her head. "No, that's not enough. Guards can be scared or paid off. We need someone who'll be loyal to us and will protect you no matter what." She thought for a couple seconds before smiling and taking out her phone.

"Who are you calling?"

Bo looked up at Lauren as she put the phone to her ear. "Bruce. He'll defend you with his life and I trust him."


After talking to Bruce and arranging for him to play guard dog once he got back into town, Bo left for the Dal. Only after making Lauren promise that she would leave with the rest of the staff at the end of the day though. She didn't want to take any chances with her fiancé.

Life was definitely returning to normal by the look of the Dal when Bo walked in. The place was full of Fae, eating, drinking, and playing pool. She noticed Mark and another bartender she didn't recognize behind the bar working on drinks and talking to patrons. There were also a couple waitresses roaming around and Bo was sure the cook was back since she noticed food on several of the tables. Everything looked completely normal.

She walked to the bar and got Mark's attention. "Hey, is Dyson downstairs?"

Mark looked at her and nodded. "Yeah, he's down there with Vex."

Bo raised an eyebrow at the response. "Is he now?"

"Yeah, he said something about trying to live in the new era," Mark said. "I'm just happy they aren't fighting."

"Better for you, right?" Bo commented and smiled when Mark blushed slightly. He really had the worst poker face. "Look, whatever you have going on with Vex, just give Dyson some time with it. He was enemies with Vex for a very long time and Vex protected the man who killed his best friend. He needs time."

"You know, Bo, we're just . . ." Mark started out but then stopped. "Never mind. I get it. Time."

Bo only nodded in response, knowing nothing else needed to be said. She walked back to Trick's lair, ducking her head as she walked down the stairs. Dyson was sitting on the couch reading through some papers that were yellowed with age. She also heard some rustling in the back, which she assumed was Vex.

"Did you find it?" she asked by way of a greeting.

"Not yet," Dyson answered, getting up from the couch. "But then, we don't know where Trick put anything. Or how he organized everything."

"There isn't any organization," Vex yelled from the back. "Trickster might have a lot of Fae shit but there's no rhyme or reason to this madness."

"I'm willing to bet that anything involving you would have been well hidden," Dyson said to Bo. "Maybe it was a way of defending you in case someone wanted to find something to use against you."

"Then we'll have to practically tear this place apart."

Bo looked at Vex as he reappeared from the back. "We're not going to 'tear this place apart'. If anything, we need to catalogue what we have here and keep it safe. Then we'll know if anything we know about has been taken."

"I can probably help with that."

Bo looked toward the entrance to see Lauren walking down the stairs. "Hey, decided to leave early?"

Lauren nodded. "Everyone had the rest of the day under control and I knew that none of you would know how Trick organized his Fae artifacts. There was a method to the madness and anything of value is either locked up or well hidden."

"He told you where everything was?" Dyson asked.

"No," Lauren answered, "but I can probably identify everything here. I spent years researching the Fae and everything that was, is, or might be in the colony. If Trick had some things hidden, we'll be able to find it. If he had something that would either protect or hurt Bo, he would have protected it in some way."

"Makes sense," Vex said. "Trick would have protected his granddaughter above everything. He would have to had kept that koushang hidden away."

"Then we need to start looking."

Each of them picked out a section of the lair and started looking through items. Bo kept close to Lauren, mostly because she had the least amount of knowledge when it came to Fae artifacts. It was odd but outside of the koushang, she had no idea if there was anything else that could either hurt or enhance a Succubus' powers.

The more Bo thought about it, the more she realized that she still knew very little about what she was. Succubi were already rare enough and the only one she had ever encountered was her mother. She remembered Aife saying that there were more of her kind in Europe, specifically Berlin, but it wasn't like she'd ever had an opportunity to find out. Life was too busy to drop everything and travel. Besides, if they were as crazy as her mother, she really didn't want to find them anyway.

She picked up one of Trick's books and looked it over. Bo found it fascinating that so many items that were hundreds of years old had made it into Trick's possessions. She always thought he was a bit of a packrat but it was helping them now. Hopefully, it would be something that would help get them through this.

"Maybe this is something."

All of them looked toward Vex and Bo spoke up. "What is it?"

"Well, it's not a koushang but it is information on all of the Elders in the colony." Vex held up a small book. "Trick must have wanted to make sure that he knew everything about the Elders."

"Smart move."

"What does it have an Aldern?" Dyson asked.

Vex paged through the book, muttering to himself as he did. "Ah, yes, Aldern. Well, it lists his abilities, which I already told you about so you're welcome for that." He read for another few seconds. "It also has all of his panic room locations on his estate. He is very paranoid."

"That's helpful but does he have anything in there that will help us defeat him? I think I need to make an example of him."

"Trick wrote in here that his hubris is his biggest weakness but so is the fact that he's very paranoid. That's kind of a given, isn't it? You know, with the panic rooms and all that. Maybe you could just fight him instead of going all love machine on him." Vex looked at Bo. "You know, he probably thinks he's won because you're the only one who'll kill him."

"And?"

"He won't see someone else killing him," Lauren answered. "He assumes you'll act like other leaders, Fae leaders especially, and will want to show your power by killing him yourself. Someone else should do it."

Bo thought about the option and the first reaction was that she wanted to be the one to kill him. Then again, they were a team and she didn't want to be a ruler, only a leader. She also didn't want to be elevated above anyone and going after Aldern as a group did make the most sense. "Who would? I don't want to sacrifice anyone."

"Maybe we need to see what Elders are on our side, too," Lauren said. "Like starting with the one I passed on the way in."

"Lauren is right. We need to make sure we know who will back us when we kill Aldern." Dyson looked at Lauren. "Who's upstairs?"

"Daphne, one of the Light Elders," Lauren answered. "She was flirting with Mark when I came in."

Bo noticed the sudden uneasiness that flashed across Vex's face before he hid it away. "Do we know if she thinks of Humans as less than Fae?"

Everyone turned to Lauren, who just shrugged. "I don't think she had any Human slaves, if that's what you're asking. She wasn't overly dismissive the few times we crossed paths but she wasn't nice either. That might be the best we get."

"I'll go up and talk to her," Bo said. "Maybe she'll be able to tell me who's on our side or who won't care if Aldern's dead."

"She's Light and he's Dark so that might not concern her," Vex pointed out.

"Good call," Bo agreed. "Keep looking for the koushang. I'll be back after I talk to her." She paused. "What type of Fae is she?"

"Amazon," Lauren answered. "She's also the leading Light Fae weapons expert."

Bo thought about her last encounter with Amazons and turned to Lauren. "She wasn't involved with Hecuba, was she?"

Lauren shook her head. "She had separated herself from them a long time ago and as far as I know, wasn't aware of what was going on. I don't completely know her thoughts on you though."

"Then I will tread lightly." She gave Lauren a quick kiss on the lips before turning to Vex and Dyson. "I'll go up alone so you can keep looking."

She didn't wait for a response before walking back up the stairs and back out to the bar. It was still busy and she quickly noticed the Elder Lauren spoke of at the bar. Daphne was blonde, tall, and athletic-looking and was wearing a sleek black business suit. She didn't look much like the Elders that had met with her at the Dal previously and Bo had to think to remember if she was even there.

When she sat on the stool next to her, Daphne chuckled quietly. "Figured I'd run into you here."

"Can't say I thought I would see an Elder in here," Bo responded. "Especially one dressed like you are."

Daphne turned her head to face her and Bo could see a mischievous twinkle in her bright blue eyes. "Girl's gotta make a living. I bet if you dressed like this you'd get a lot of proposals."

Bo narrowed her eyes but didn't take the bait that Daphne obviously wanted her to. "So what made you decide to get a drink here? The Dal isn't exactly known as an Elder hangout."

"No, it's not," she agreed. "I was curious at why you're going after Aldern. He's one of the more dangerous of the Dark. He may have embraced some of today's advantages but he loves the old Fae laws. Not my style but a fantastic dresser though."

"And you don't share his love of old Fae laws?"

"I'm, as one would say, open to the possibility of change," she said, smiling. "I've found my place in business and have no use for slaves or servitude. I've found that while some fear is good, being a master can be disadvantageous."

The answer showed some promise at a positive outcome to the conversation but Bo kept a straight face. "Are there others who share your opinion?"

"There are," Daphne said, "but you'll have to take out Aldern before they admit it. You know Elders. Most don't have balls."

Bo let out a quiet laugh. "No, they don't." She turned more of her body toward the Elder, feeling there was very little threat now. "Were you friends with Trick?"

"I respected him," she answered. "To me, that's more important than any friendship."

"Would Aldern try to steal from him?"

Daphne shook her head. "Why don't you ask me what you want? Most of the Elders are trying to figure out how to deal with you and your friends. They're scared of you and Dr. Lewis, especially."

Bo sighed. "Is that because of that prophecy?"

"Oh, that." She waved her hand dismissively. "Some of the Elders are simply terrified of your power and that's another way to be terrified of it. I've never been a fan of prophecy." She took a sip of her drink. "But old artifacts still prove useful, don't they?"

"Where did he get the koushang?"

"Bo, there is more than one of them, though not that many," Daphne said. "He probably paid a high price for it." She let out a sarcastic laugh. "He probably overpaid."

While Bo was happy she knew how Aldern got his koushang, that still left one question. "Would I have your support in ending the sides?"

Daphne shrugged. "Let's see how you handle Aldern first. You'll need to prove you can take out an Elder."

"You know we don't have to have it go down this way," Bo commented. She didn't see why she needed to prove anything.

"Oh, it does, Bo," Daphne said, standing. "Talk to me after you show some strength."

Bo opened her mouth to respond but the Elder walked away from her before she could. She sat there for a moment, going through what just happened with Daphne. The Elder had given her some good information and the possibility of support but nothing immediate and that annoyed her. Talking with an Elder always seemed to leave her with less than she had to begin with.


"Why does every single day for us have to be so exhausting?"

Lauren turned her head and looked at Bo, stopping from adjusting the pillows on their bed. "Just a day in the life, right?"

Bo let out a long groan. "Can we go back to just spending a couple days in bed and block out the rest of the world?"

"As fun as that sounds, you know we can't do that yet. Besides, the woman I love would never leave something like this unfinished."

"You're right." Bo walked over to Lauren and wrapped her hands around her waist. "At least we got some information today and we organized Trick's stuff a little."

Lauren reached a hand up and ran her fingers through her hair, smiling at her. "Just because we didn't find it today, doesn't mean it's not there you know. We only looked for a couple hours and didn't find any secret hiding place yet. Or safe."

"I know," Bo said, unable to be annoyed at the result of the searching when Lauren was looking at her the way she was. "Bruce won't be able to get here for a couple days. Maybe I should hang around the clinic until he can."

"I'll be fine," Lauren insisted. "No late nights for now."

Bo leaned in and kissed her, loving that Lauren leaned into her the way she always did. She deepened the kiss and moaned when she felt Lauren's hands move under her shirt. Even with all the shit they were having to deal with at the moment, she would always want to end the day like this. She always wanted her fiancé.

They slowly undressed each other, taking off each item of clothing and placing it off to the side. Neither wanted to rush and Bo always loved to see each part of Lauren revealed to her a little at a time. She would caress and kiss each part, enjoying the sounds she made as she did. It turned her on almost as much as any of the geek speak that would come out of Lauren's mouth at any given time.

Once they made it to the bed, Bo was in control first, taking the time to make her fiancé scream out her name multiple times before Lauren turned the tables on her. Then she let her do the same, exhausting her in a way that no one else could. She thought that might have something to do with the fact that she loved her more than anyone.

When they knew they needed to get some sleep, Bo wrapped her arms around her as they cuddled in the middle of the bed. "As long as I can end the day like this, I think I can do anything."

"Hmm, I promise that once we're done with Aldern, we'll take a trip somewhere," Lauren said, shutting her eyes. "We could use a vacation."

Bo smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Then we better kill Aldern because I want nothing more right now to see you in a bikini on a beach somewhere."

The only response she received was quiet breathing as Lauren fell asleep.


A/N: here's another chapter! Please let me know what you think. I'll be working on a chapter of New Rules next. Until next time! Twitter: hayley128. :)