I busted out the first 7 chapters in like, .3 seconds flat and now I've hit a little wall. It's okay though, because I think I figured out where I want everything to go and how I want it all to get there so YAY. I can't promise any kind of regularity in the updates but I can promise that they will happen. ;)
Anyways I love you guys.
And if any of you are flailing as bad as I am about season 4 so far, it's okay. Remember when times were good. Maybe some day we'll go back there and every one and thing in the entire world will stop shitting on Lauren Lewis! Maybe copdoc will happen. Who knows. They're about as likely as each other at this point.
"You're kidding", Evony says, incredulous, glancing from Lauren – still flanked by Tamsin and Bo on either side – to where Hale is standing with a similar expression on his face. Her bodyguards seemed to flinch at the inflection of her voice, and even the largest of them gulped visibly. "Please tell me she's kidding, Hale."
The siren gulps in turn, motioning subtlety for his own bodyguards to close ranks around him should The Morrigan react half as badly as she did last time a fae broke the norm and refused to name a side.
"I... don't think she's kidding."
"Oh, she's definitely not kidding", Bo answers for the doctor, smirking. Tamsin can feel Lauren stiffen next to her as Evony clicks her tongue, and Hale exhales sharply from his nose.
Any sets of eyes that weren't already fixed on the tense scene playing out at the center of the room were certainly there now – everyone was glancing nervously from Lauren, Tamsin and Bo to The Morrigan, who was still standing poised with her hip cocked and arms crossed over her chest. If Evony is anything but calm, none of it shows on her face – the picture of serenity, the woman smiles in the group's direction before nodding tightly.
"Right. Well then congratulations, succubus; it seems you are no longer alone in your terrible decision making. Tamsin", the Valkyrie looks her way while moving a fraction of an inch closer to Lauren, pressing her hand just the slightest bit more firmly into the small of her back, "come. We have... things to discuss."
"What?"
Evony's lips curl upwards into a seemingly sweet smile, but those who know better see the threat behind it. Still, she holds herself as nothing but casual, even when she opens her mouth again and poisoned-dipped words come out.
"You heard me. Come."
But Tamsin just moves closer to Lauren, who looks over to her girlfriend with a surprising calmness in her eyes. She uses the arm not clutching the valkyrie's sword to support herself to gently brush her fingers against Tamsin's flushed cheek, only to jerk her hand away when she sees the fresh blood she accidentally wiped there
"It's okay, Tamsin", she says quietly as she wipes at the red mark with broad strokes of her thumb. "Go."
"But... You need to go to the hospital, Lauren. And soon. I'm not leaving you to fend for yourself while I get treated like her favorite pet. Again."
The two regard each other seriously for a moment. Lauren licks her lips to speak again, but is wracked with coughs instead – moving far too sluggish to bring a hand up to cover it, a fresh trickle of blood comes from her mouth and both Bo and Tamsin suck in a breath at the sight of it.
"I'll take her", Bo offers. The succubus slowly extends a hand and takes the sword out of Lauren's vice grip, instead threading an arm under her's to support her weight. Lauren, happy for the strong woman's help, sighs as she leans a little heavier into Bo. "But we need to go soon. So make a decision."
Lauren, torn between not wanting Tamsin to leave her side and wanting to keep whatever precarious peace they have in tact for as long as possible, wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and turns her head to place a gentle kiss to the valkyrie's cheek. She nods in response, not trusting herself to speak anymore than Lauren does. Evony turns on her heel, smirking, and begins to make her way out of the building; Tamsin reluctantly follows, stopping at the doorway to send Bo a worried look over her shoulder.
"You better take good care of her, succuslut."
The limo ride back to The Morrigan's high-rise office did little more than grate Tamsin's nerves even more; Evony avoided all of the valkyrie's attempts to find out why she felt the need to drag her away from her seriously injured girlfriend, and instead insisted on humming the entire time. The soft noises she made were only broken up when she took long sips from her wine flute and sent sidelong glances in Tamsin's direction.
"Would you like some wine?", Evony finally says with a disarming smile, interrupting Tamsin mid-sentence and completely disregarding the dirty looks she is casting in her direction across the back of the limo.
"No."
The remainder of the ride is silent, with Tamsin checking her cellphone much more often than necessary to see if Bo had sent her any updates about Lauren's condition – she had received a text to let her know that they had arrived at the hospital, but hasn't heard anything since. Evony doesn't comment on her constant cellphone use, but does extend a firm hand to still the knee that the valkyrie was nervously shaking hard enough to shake the entire back of the limo. She leaves her hand there a second longer than Tamsin is comfortable with (not to say that she is ever comfortable with Evony touching her) but she pulls it back into her lap before the valkyrie decides to say anything.
When they finally arrive at The Morrigan's office, they are escorted by large men on either side through the building and up to the high-rise, where all twelve of them excuse themselves and leave just Evony and Tamsin standing in the large space. The Morrgian walks over to a small cooler next to the desk and pulls out yet another bottle of wine, then motions for Tamsin to sit. She takes a seat on the couch in the center of the room, as far away from the plush armchair that Evony herself has sat in.
"So", Tamsin begins as Evony takes her time filling up the wine flute she retrieved from the desk directly behind her chair, "I'm sure you have a really good reason from pulling me away from my injured girlfriend after she kicked your test in the ass. Can we skip all these 'pleasantries' and get to that part so I can leave?"
The Morrigan clicks her tongue, and takes a long sip from her glass. She licks her lips as she pulls it away, the quirk in her eyebrow signifying how much she enjoys that Tamsin looks at them and licks her own in response out of habit.
"Tamsin. Must you always be so crass? Perhaps I just wanted to have a chat with my favorite valkyrie."
"Bullshit."
"You're right. You're certainly not my favorite." Another sip. This time, Tamsin remembers to keep her eyes trained anything but her lips. "But you have something I want. And I am not known for sharing. Or patience."
Tamsin leans forward and places her elbows on her knees, her head in her hands. She puts on the best shit-eating grin she can muster as she makes eye contact with the woman across the room from her.
"I'm not going to sleep with you."
"You know, if you keep bringing it up, I'm going to start thinking that you want to sleep with me."
Huffing, the valkyrie leans back in her seat. On any other day – because this is certainly not the first time that Evony had called Tamsin into her office to dance around the subject with flirting – she would almost enjoy the banter. But today, her girlfriend is in the hospital with what Tamsin can only assume is a menagerie of serious injuries and she needs to be there with her, and not here bullshitting with the leader of the Dark fae for whatever reason.
"Listen. Normally I would be all for the back and forth with you here, but Lauren is really hurt. And I need to get out of here so I can be with her. I get it – you're crazy. You're sexy, sure. But you're crazy. So enlighten me on you're particular brand of crazy for today so I can get out of here."
The Morrigan pouts, crossing her arms over her chest and batting her eyelashes at the valkyrie in faux-sadness.
"That's not a very nice thing to say to your host, Tamsin."
"Evony."
"Oh fine. You're no fun today, you know that?" She uncrosses her arms, her faux-pout replaced with her usual cocky smirk. "I need Lauren to pick a side, Tamsin. At this point I don't even care what side, as long as she chooses. If every fae that doesn't like the system decides to join her and that succubus in being unaligned we will have a fucking mutiny on our hands."
"I can't make her choose a side, Marquise. You know that."
"But you can persuade her, can you not? I mean it's been a long time since I've been with a woman, but you seem like you could be particularly...", she leans forward, taking no effort to hide the way she rakes her eyes over every inch of the valkyrie's body, her dark eyes pausing at her chest before finally making their way back to Tamsin's own, "convincing, if need be."
"Did you just...?", Tamsin shakes her head, not sure where to begin processing what The Morrigan just hinted at. "You know what? Never mind. The answer is still no."
"As hard as this is going to be for your to believe, and as hard as it is for me to say it, this isn't about me. Something is coming, Tamsin. Something nasty. And we're going to need all the help we can get. Which means we need as many talented fae alive as possible. Which means I need Lauren alive. And without a side, she has no protect-"
"She has me."
Evony smiles again, as malicious as it is charming, and refills her wine flute. She offers Tamsin a glass, but she again declines, instead crossing her arms over her chest defensively and raising an eyebrow at The Morrigan as she takes her time taking a long sip.
"But are you enough?", she says finally, gently placing the glass next to her and folding her hands in her lap in a deceivingly civil manner. "Were you enough to protect her before?"
Before Tamsin can even wrap her tongue around a snarky reply, Evony picks up the black folder sitting behind her wine flute, slams it down on the coffee table separating her from the valkyrie loud enough to cause her to swallow her words, and then slides it across. Tamsin picks it up, eying The Morrigan carefully before opening it – and dropping her jaw as she sees what it contains. The folder is absolutely filled with pictures, pages upon pages of pictures. From Valhalla. Pictures of Lauren's battered body at the foot of Odin's throne, pictures of her lifeless body being carried by Brynja, pictures of Tamsin beating her sister... but more disturbing are the pictures in the back of the folder, all of Tamsin's apartment at some point after the attack on Lauren but obviously before Tamsin and Dyson had stumbled in. The valkyrie looks up from the folder wild-eyed and has to bite back a string of curses when she sees the smile still plastered on Evony's face.
"If you couldn't protect her from this, how can you protect her from every nasty hungry thing out there that wants to have a taste?"
Tamsin looks away, biting the inside of her cheek. Is she right?
"She has Dyson, and Hale, and Kenzi." She struggles over the who else Lauren has to protect her, but knows that – as much as she wants to dislike her – the succubus has proven herself a loyal ally to the valkyrie herself, and a trustworthy friend to Lauren. "And she has Bo. They wouldn't let anything happen to her."
"Is that so?" Evony makes a noncommittal noise and retrieves her wine glass from the table next to her. She takes another long sip before pressing a button on the office intercom just behind her on the desk. She says nothing, but the door to her office opens almost immediately and a large man fills the doorway. "We shall see. When this nasty thing rears it's ugly face in our direction, I truly hope she's ready. I hope you're ready."
The large man from the door way walks quietly to where Tamsin is sitting, completely betraying his massive size, and grabs her upper arm roughly to pull her out of the chair. He practically drags her to to door, and the last thing she hears before it is shut loudly behind her is The Morrigan chuckling.
"Good luck, Tamsin."
