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"Fuck," I breathed into the phone – putting my head in my free hand. It was 5am and I had woken up to my vibrating phone. Dyson had called to let me know that they had found another body. In his defense, I made him promise to call me right when he found out. It didn't help that Lauren and I had just gotten to sleep a couple of hours ago. Unfortunately for me, as I succubus I ran on sex but as Bo I ran on sleep, alcohol, and coffee. When I didn't get one of those three, I wasn't the 'best Bo that I could be' – also known as 'cranky Bo'.

I felt a strong hand on my lower back as the bed shifted. Double fuck. My emotional expression must have been just a tad too loud as I had just woke Lauren up. I looked down at her with an apologetic expression – her sleepy light brown eyes glistened in the moon light. Even in the turmoil and chaos that we were in, she still made my heart stop. I couldn't not look at her. After a few moments of listening to Dyson speak, I pulled myself back to the conversation.

"So what now?" I asked Dyson over the phone.

"We wait."

"And while we wait, others are at risk," I reasoned.

"You mean Lauren," he emphasized.

"A lot of people, Dyson, Lauren included."

The hand on my back disappeared and I felt Lauren scoot up the bed to sit up fully – her hand repositioning itself on my knee concerningly. She must have stretched herself as the side lamp turned on, illuminating the room. I looked around the newly lit room – bits and pieces of clothes were strewn everywhere. Sometimes I didn't know if it was morally right that I still had such a large sex drive even though my… my…my doctor was in danger. Even though it had been a while since we had met and discussed our feelings for each other, we never really decided if we were putting a label on our relationship. So instead of forcing one, I just called her my doctor. I found that Lauren being pre-med (and already more knowledgable than most of the doctors I had met) was very sexy not to mention that the faux title gave her the authority to examine me whenever she saw fit.

"Bo, there's not much we can do right now. We're searching. We're watching. We're profiling."

"Exactly what do you have, Dyson? This is the 6th body in 5 days!" I was getting irritated. Something inside of me just told me it was a matter of time before this person tried to come after Lauren.

I would get these feelings sometimes – I couldn't really explain it. Sometimes I just had that internal instinct that I knew I had to follow and I was rarely wrong. Many times I would pray that I was wrong – but I never was.

"I know Bo. Just…keep safe."

"I'm not the sitting around and waiting kind of girl, Dyson. Or did you forget?"

He chuckled. "I didn't forget Bo. We've got some DNA left at the scene, but we don't know where to run it. Dr. Hueschl is out of the country and we can't just give it to anyone to analyze. We're kind of stuck."

"So get him IN the country," I spat.

"It's not that easy, Bo."

"I gotta go, call me when you actually have something useful, Dyson."

"Bo, we are working on it. Trick is working. Hale is working. I am working. We're all trying to put our resources together to figure this out. I know you are worried about Lauren, but we've got to be smart about this."

"I'm sorry. You're right. I am worried. I'll talk to you later," I concluded, hanging up the phone.

"What was that about?" Lauren asked softly, stroking my naked knee.

I let out a held breath and turned to face her. "Another body was found today. Same mark."

"Makes 6," she added.

"Yep."

"So what's the plan?"

"The problem is that the doctor that Dyson and Hale typically work with to isolate or track DNA of suspected Fae crimes is out of the country. There's no one else to do it and so we are stuck – waiting."

"How will the DNA help? I mean, I know it will help, but do the Fae have a DNA system of their own?"

"I honestly don't know. I do know that Dr. Hueschl has done things with DNA and gotten some answers before – helped us narrow down who we were searching for, how to defeat them – weaknesses and such."

"DNA holds a lot of answers, if you know what to look for." Lauren's face narrowed a bit in thought. "Could you get me access to the equipment?"

"Why?"

"Well, I'd assume Dr. Hueschl would have left notes or a book somewhere and I have the skills. I can't do it at the school, but I'd be happy to try to see what I could do if he has notes or something – anything."

"No…it's too dangerous."

"Bo, listen to me," Lauren coaxed, getting up on her knees and scooting closer to me. "It is more dangerous if I don't. I'm not worried about me, but I don't like other people dying either. This is how I can help. Call Dyson."

From Lauren's tone I could tell that she wasn't asking for permission.


I watched her in her element as she buzzed around the unfamiliar laboratory opening drawers, cabinets, notebooks, and the like trying to create some organization in the chaotic workspace Dr. Hueschl kept. Lauren was very meticiulous and very OCD – everything had a place. Dr. Hueschl was the opposite. I'm sure he would have called it organized chaos; Lauren said (several times) it resembled the wreckage from a tornado.

She and Dr. Hueschl had had a 2 hour conversation about his techniques, his experiments, his notes and so forth. Since, Lauren had been running around the laboratory gathering solutions and instruments, preparing herself to conduct experiments she had only had talked about, once, on the phone with a partial guideline in front of her. She had told me to go home several times – but I refused to leave. Kenzi was with Trick, an unknown rogue Fae was feeding on intelligence and IQ, and I was firmly planted in a chair doing homework. Now, if you would have asked me what my plan was should this unknown Fae walk through the door, my answer would have been I didn't have two clues, BUT I was going to be there. I logically knew Lauren didn't need my protection – hell with the little conduit trick, she was probably more of my protector than anything, but I didn't really care about logic.

Lauren's face remained focused – her hands appeared steady as she moved solutions from tube to tube with what she explained to me was a micropipette. She had explained to me a while ago that science was all about "hurry up and wait", meaning when you have work to do – do it correctly but as quick as possible and then you have to wait for it to get cold, to mix, to incubate, whatever. As she moved throughout the lab, moving the tubes to different machines, I began to just watch her. She was so graceful in the laboratory once she got her rhythm – it reminded me of the very first biology lesson she gave me about cell cultures at the Dal nearly 6 weeks ago. During some of her waiting periods, I asked her several questions about what she was doing and what it did, what each machine did – I was actually interested. Lauren made science look like an art and I was beyond impressed that the 21 year old undergraduate junior was able to come into an unfamiliar laboratory, read a few notes, skim a couple books and protocols and was able to move forward as easily as she was. However, this was exhibit A as to why I was so concerned about her.

"Hey Bo, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what do you need?" I asked getting up off the office chair by the desk.

"Can you put some gloves on and go to the chemical cabinet and find a few things for me?"

"Of course."

"I thought I had enough here, but I don't and I don't have time to get it myself."

"Its perfectly okay, Lauren. What do you need?"

"I need 70% ethanol – but we made need to make that. The squirt bottle is low and I need it to keep everything pure. You will see EtOH, but it may only be 100%"

I walked over to the cabinet after putting on a pair of blue gloves. "I see 100%, but I don't see 70%," I called out.

"Okay, grab the 100% and I'll give you directions."

I grabbed the bottle, closed the cabinet and walked over to the lab bench next to her.

"Get a 100ml graduated cylinder – I see one over by the sink – it's the largest one there. Pour 70ml of ethanol into the beaker and then put it in this bottle here," she pointed to a large glass bottle with an orange top labeled "70% EtOH" in red tape.

I retrieved the graduated cylinder and carefully poured the liquid from the big bottle into the cylinder until it reached the 70 tick and continued to follow her instructions carefully.

"Okay, now, go over to the sink. There is the main faucet and a smaller faucet that should have a 'di' or 'dei' or di-H20' labeled beside it. Turn it on and fill the cylinder up to 30 and then add it to the glass jar."

I did exactly as she said – noting the dei labeling on the faucet.

"Thank you. Will you fill this bottle up with the mixture?"

I took the squirt bottle and filled it up carefully before recapping and setting it down beside her. Lauren immediately took it and squirted the solution onto a spot on the lab-bench before wiping it down and tossing the wet paper towel into a red bin labeled "bio-hazard".

"What happened?"

Some of the supernatant got onto the bench – not a big deal. With humans, once we lyse the cells and start going after the DNA, it's not very harmful. With Fae, even the DNA can be harmful or have unexpected results, so I had to treat it like a contamination. I would have preferred bleach, but I didn't see any when I was walking around.

"Ah. So what are you doing?"

"You really want to know?"

"Yes, I do."

"Okay – grab a lab coat and come back over here.

I went around to the other side of the bench and put on a lab coat identical to Lauren's and went back over to the lab bench.

"Don't I need goggles or something?"

"No – it's unlikely you are going to be splashed with any chemical. You'll be okay."

"Then why do we have to wear them every minute in the bio labs?" I asked curiously.

"Because there are many stupid people who can't use common sense."

"Got it."

"So what Dyson handed me was a sliver of skin that was caught under the girl's fingernails. We assume she was trying to fight him off. She was a species of Fae that can feed off of light energy and was probably harder to kill because even the moon gives off light. Dyson and I have hypothesized that when she wouldn't die, the Magina was angered and became physically violent. She had defensive wounds, but also left us a present – a slice of skin under her finger nail. So what I had to do is first homogenize the tissue in lysis buffer – that helps to break apart the cells and then add Proteinase K, mix it, and incubate it."

"That's what you did before your big break?"

"Yes. Then I added 10 microliters of RNase A – this buffer here – to the tube and I had to mix it by inverting and let it sit for 2 minutes. Then I had to add the magnetic microbeads and mix it and then the purification buffer and mix it. And now I'm at the next step," she explained handing me a typed page that almost looked like a cooking recipe.

"So what I personally do is I place a small penciled check mark at each step so I know exactly where I am. So whats my next step?" she asked.

I gazed over the paper and found the first bullet point without a check mark and read aloud, "Place the sample in the MagnaRack for 2 minutes or until the beads have formed a tight pellet."

"Okay," she said, grabbing a clear rack that she could set the tube right into. "Now we wait. While we are waiting, whats the next step?"

"Without removing the tube from the MagnaRack, carefully remove the supernatant and discard. Take care not to disturb the pellet of beads by angling the pipette such that the tip is pointed away from the pellet."

"Okay, so this is a pipette, right? We've been over that…" she thrusted the scientific instrument into my hand. "Now, when we are ready, you're going to open this box, press the edge of the pipette into one of these tips – don't touch the tip with your finger, just press the pipette into the tip and it'll attach. Then, you're going to very carefully suck up the liquid with the pipette and transfer it into this big tube here," she pointed to the discard bottle. "Now, put your thumb here on the plunger and your other fingers around the base of it. I have already set it to the appropriate size – so I want you to push down on the plunger gently until you feel a little resistance…"

I pushed down on the plunger with my thumb until I felt the little resistance she was talking about.

"That is what is called the 'first stop'. When you want to pick up liquid, you first push down to the first stop, then put the pipette into the liquid, and slowly raise your thumb. So lets try it with water," she said pushing a tube of water towards me.

I followed her directions and sucked up a very small amount of water into the pipette tip.

"Good. Now, when you want to discard, push until you feel the first stop and then push just a little bit more," she guided.

I placed the filled tip towards the big tube labeled "discard" and plunged all of the water out. I beamed up at Lauren – I was actually very proud of myself.

"Okay, we're ready for the real thing," she said putting the little 1.5ml tube beside me. I handed her the pipette willingly, but instead of taking it she just looked at me.

"What are you handing that to me for?" she asked.

"Well, you are working," I replied, confused.

"Oh no.. this is all you now."

"What? I can't…I'll fuck it up…"

"You won't. I promise. There's nothing to fuck up right now. Here, take the tube in your left hand and tilt it. Do you see how all the liquid is pooling at the side now?"

"Yes."

"Take the tip of your pipette and suck the liquid out. Just try."

I never get nervous. I mean, never. I am just about 200% assured on everything I do – including the things I don't know if I can do. However this – I was not assured I could do this. My hands were shaking as I held the pipette up to the tube. Lauren stood behind me and while looking over my shoulder, placed her hands atop mine – guiding them, keeping them steady. I followed her previous directions about how to suck up liquid with the pipette and slowly began to suck up the bright pink liquid.

"Good – that's it," she encouraged. "Now – go ahead and discard that. You don't have to change tips, but we have a little more to get…" she explained. "Go ahead and tilt the tube back on its side and this time you're going to tilt it just a little more while sucking…so you have to be a little more coordinated."

Lauren watched and helped to tilt the tube (I was afraid all the beads were going to come out, but they never did. After I accomplished the first task, Lauren took it upon herself to read me the directions and teach me how to do the rest of the protocol. She took the time to show me the technique and guided me when I was doing the real thing. I had to admit – it was kind of fun. I wasn't sure I'd want to do it every day or be the person that thought all of it through, but it felt good to work with my hands a little bit. It definitely helped me think that I was actually helping to figure out what was going on with this whole damn thing.

"Okay, so I just have to put this plate into the sequencer and we can go home. We'll come back tomorrow afternoon and we'll have a data output that we can sit down, analyze and put together," she explained pipetting the last reagent (she corrected me when I called it a solvent) into the labeled plate.

It had been a very long night. We began working around 8 in the morning and it had to be well over 11pm. Neither of us had eaten much of anything. Lauren explained that the process from DNA isolation to DNA sequencing typically took a span of 3 days for normal working hours with normal working breaks – but we didn't have that time. We needed to figure out what we were dealing with – if this even helped. The thought that the DNA wouldn't make much of a difference crossed my mind several times. From the human perspective – the forensic science we learn in school – DNA is able to help match a physical person with evidence left at a crime scene. However you had to have a suspect. I wasn't real sure what DNA could tell us about a Fae. That concern I left with Lauren and Dr. Huschel. I could only hope they were a little more confident and knowledgable than I.

Lauren and I gathered our things and headed for the camero outside of the building. I got behind the wheel and tried to start the car but it wouldn't turn over.

"What the fuck?" I screamed at the canary yellow vehicle. The Beast had never let me down before. I was tired, Lauren was tired, I was hungry and I was sure Lauren was hungry. I did not have the will or want to do much other than eat and sleep. And when I meant really sleep – like eyes closed, cuddling to a pillow (preferably Lauren) and sleep. It had been a mentally and physically exhausting day.

I popped open the hood and looked at the mechanics with the flashlight from my phone.

"Lauren – try to start her, please?" I called.

I listened closely – it wasn't even clicking, so it wasn't the battery or the alternator. In fact, there was no sound at all – so that definitely meant it wasn't the starter. All of those make noise.

"What the hell is going on?" I whispered to myself.

"Bo…" I heard Lauren call.

I slammed the hood of the car down, getting ready to call Dyson for a ride. He would still be up. But before I could, I saw Laurens' face – it was pale white. I turned around and saw a 6 and a half foot male heading straight for us. The more he came into view, the more I saw the tattoos – or markings - on his neck and forearms of the same arrow-like shape we saw on all of the victims.

I heard Lauren exit the car and walk over to me. Her hand grabbed mine tightly. As sure-stanced as she was, I could feel the slight tremble in her fingers as the figure came closer and closer.

I wasn't really sure what I thought this person was going to look like – but he certainly did not fit my expectations. The very large man was well dressed in what I assumed was an extremely expensive dress shirt and tie. He had the sleeves of his silk-like shirt rolled up so his forearms were exposed. His hair was combed back almost perfectly and to be honest if I hadn't known he was the one responsible for all of the deaths lately, he looked like someone I would want to feed from – or hell, not even feed, just have my way with.

I heard a sound coming from my right and another coming from the left. I turned my head, my body remaining in a guarded stance.

"There's more than one," I whispered.

Each man looked the same – nearly identical in features. Each walked slowly, purposefully. We had no where to run, no where to go.

"Bo, what do we do?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "Get behind me."

"I am not getting behind you. We're in this together."

"Do you still have the Siracon?" I asked.

Lauren reached into her side pocket and pulled out the artifact before putting it into my hands. I slid it over my wrist lightly – just waiting before I intentionally activated it.

Lauren took off her jacket and threw it into the car – the lack of roof at least made that easy.

"Not exactly the timing to take your clothes off, babe."

Lauren chuckled trying to ease the tension as the man walked agonizingly slowly towards us. It was the first time I ever felt hunted, and he wasn't even hunting me. His eyes were solely locked on Lauren – my doctor.

I looked over at the blonde and watched as she put her hair up in a pony tail – her face contorting with concentration.

"Wanna know the other thing about a conduit, Bo?"

"What's that?" I asked – wondering why she was giving me a lesson.

"It works multiple ways," she said grabbing my hand tightly, activating the Siracon.