Chapter 10

"And now we've willingly walked ourselves right into a trap." Sarcasm dripped from Tamsin's words. The Valkyrie's eyebrows were knit together in a tight frown and her lips pulled together in annoyance. Dyson stood behind Dolph, glaring at the stoic Bear on the other side of the immovable iron gate. Bo and Kenzi stood to the side, the former with a frown identical to Tamsin's lining her face and the latter fiddling with the wrist warmers that covered her hands from palms to elbows. Her nonchalance at the situation troubled Tamsin, she knew the human had a tendency to hide her fear behind a veneer of cool indifference and witty humor, but even this seemed uncharacteristic in the raven-haired young woman.

"Bo?" a familiar voice rasped from the impenetrable depths of the cell they'd been ushered into. Dingy and disheveled, but unharmed, Lauren crept from the shadows, her features both hopeful and terrified at once, as she advanced into the weak, sputtering reach of torchlight.

"Lauren!" the Succubus gasped. Everything suddenly forgotten, she rushed past Kenzi to pull Lauren into a tight embrace, hands reaching and grasping and touching her lover all over to reassure herself of Lauren's presence, that she was really there, she was really okay.

Lauren's arms circled Bo. She buried her face in the thick tresses of Bo's chocolate hair, breathing her in deeply and choking back sobs of relief and anxiety. It had only been a few hours since O'Meara and Dolph had shown up at her apartment and brought her here, but those hours had been filled with fear, anxiety and miserable discovery. Lauren squeezed her eyes shut, her arms tightened around Bo, and she pressed her lips to Bo's shoulder, her heart hammering against her ribcage at the events she knew would unfold. The pit of Lauren's stomach fell at the dismal situation they were in, captured in the dank, underground dungeon of a powerful Fae madman. Still, she melted into the body held close to hers, her fingers dug deep into the creases of Bo's jacket, and she pressed a desperate kiss to Bo's lips, finding solace in the Succubus' warm, silken mouth and comfort in the strong, loving arms that embraced her, so grateful for Bo's arms around her she felt she might burst, and desperately wishing Bo were anywhere else but here, all at once.

Tamsin and Maia turned away modestly, both too embarrassed to watch the way Lauren and Bo parted only briefly to stare at each other, only to lean in again and share hungry kisses. Their words were mumbled, mingled with passionate lips and caresses and sighed, choked sobs. Maia spared a glance at the blonde that shifted uncomfortably beside her, at the lonely, almost longing expression that tightened the corners of her mouth into a wistful smile and pulled her eyebrows askance.

Clumsily, she slipped her hand into Tamsin's, suddenly finding a strange common ground with the outcast Valkyrie. She avoided Tamsin's startled, questioning glance, and only cradled her throbbing broken arm closer to her chest. Tamsin didn't pull away, only mumbled something about needy humans and physical contact and redirected her glare to the floor between her feet.

"Holy cheeseballs, get a fucking room already," Kenzi's sharp voice broke the tenderness of the moment. Maia's brow creased at the callousness that had run jaggedly in Kenzi's demeanor ever since she and Bo had arrived at the broken-down club house earlier that day, a callousness she could have sworn didn't exist in the charming, bubbly girl she'd met the day before.

Lauren and Bo pulled apart again, the Succubus turning to glare in mixed irritation and confusion at her best friend and the doctor's tawny eyes probing the faces around her, searching for the right one. Her gaze settled on Maia, and with a reassuring kiss brushed gently to the backs of Bo's knuckles, she delicately disentangled herself from Bo's tight, grateful hold and reached instead for Maia.

Her expression was somber. Pity and regret swirled in her sad caramel eyes, and she settled gentle fingers on Maia's shoulders.

"I'm so sorry, Maia. There wasn't anything I could do."

Maia's eyes widened, the swollen flesh on the side of her face tightening painfully, as she returned Lauren's remorseful stare with an anxious, questioning one of her own. Lauren's gentle grip on her shoulders pulled at her in answer, and she tilted and jerked her head to indicate Maia to follow, and the doctor led her into the darkest corner of the dungeon, deep in the recesses from which she'd emerged. Tamsin shadowed them, footsteps uncertain, her hand still clutched obliviously in Maia's sweaty palm.

Her eyes adjusted slowly to the cold dimness that enveloped them. A bundle draped in what were once richly colorful, expensive clothes but were now grime encrusted rags shuddered and coughed quietly. Runny eyes opened a sliver, and Maia drew in a sharp breath of recognition as they settled blearily on her. She dropped to her knees, releasing Tamsin's hand suddenly, and wrapped shaking arms around the feverish, dying creature that huddled defeatedly in the corner.

Lauren stepped back, her hand reaching for Bo's, for comfort, strength and assurance and huddled instinctively into Bo's open arms. Seth was fading fast. They wound their arms around each other's waists, clung to each other and leaned in to one another's warm, firm bodies for comfort, for support, and looked on in sympathy as Maia held the woman she loved for what could be the last time.

Maia could only whisper Seth's name in harsh, croaking echoes as she pulled the Seer into her arms. Frantically, she brushed Seth's matted, greasy hair across her forehead, wiped tears and grime and blood from her face, kissed her cheeks and cried quietly into Seth's hot neck. The Seer pulsed with fever, and the stench of disease and decay rolled off her weak, dying body in waves.

Seth regained a small amount of energy and consciousness at Maia's touch. Her eyes fluttered again and she settled her arms, covered in bleeding sores that seemed to spread over every inch of her graying, mottled skin, over Maia's, her fingers stroking her human's bruised shoulders and cheeks tenderly.

Maia's battered state didn't escape the weakened woman's observant gaze. Seth pried herself carefully from Maia's desperate hold on her and eyed the broken girl critically. Her tired expression softened, her eyelids fell shut again as she allowed Maia to pull her back into the circle of her arms.

"Oh, Maia… What have they done to you?" Seth's voice was so soft, Maia barely heard it crack over the snapping of the torches along the walls. She stifled a sob and buried her face into the crook of Seth's neck, her nose burrowing into the hollow of her throat. "You shouldn't have come…" the Seer groaned, "you shouldn't have come." Seth's fingers buried themselves into the tangled brown curls of Maia's hair.

Tamsin swallowed the bile that threatened to rise and spill through her mouth at the sight of the broken, ailing shape of the woman clutched tightly in Maia's arms. She remembered the days in which she'd known the Seer, images of a petite, lithe woman full of fire and vivacity and laughter flashed mercilessly before her eyes, a stark, cruel contrast the trembling, dying, filthy being curled into Maia's shaking arms. It broke Tamsin's resolve and tightened her chest until her breath became shallow and unsteady. Finally, unable to contain herself, the typically apathetic Valkyrie collapsed to her knees beside their shuddering bodies. A hand came to tremulous rest on Seth's bare, burning ankle.

"Seth," she mumbled, pale green eyes brimming with long-denied emotion. The Seer's eyes fluttered open again and steadied on Tamsin's. A slow, painful smile spread on her broken, ashen lips as recognition flickered across her drawn face.

"Tamsin," the Seer sighed in reply, a hand rising from Maia's shuddering back to reach for her. Tamsin leaned in to the seeking touch, Seth's fingers drifted across her features, full of sweet reminiscence, "the years since we last met look good on you." Tamsin turned her face and pressed her lips tenderly to the palm of Seth's hand in a caressing, affectionate kiss. Seth's smile widened a fraction, her fingers hooked firmly around the nape of Tamsin's neck, and the Seer, surrounded by familiar, dear faces, pulled the Valkyrie close to press their cheeks together, lips moving as she whispered softly, unintelligibly into her ear.

Lauren's lips pursed into a perfectly surprised O. She expected this kind of tenderness from Maia. But never could she have ever anticipated the rawness being displayed by the sardonic, belligerent detective, the badass Valkyrie that never seemed to care. It sent a bitter pang through her chest to watch the three women, held together by the dying creature with whom she'd shared this cell for the past few hours, and she turned her face into Bo's neck again, grateful and awash with pity and demoralized and terrified of what she knew would come next.

Harsh, pitiless laughter rang against the cold, hard stone walls, splintering the moment into an irreparable memory. Footsteps echoed down the hall, and the formidable shape of Jack O'Meara loomed in the half-shadows, jumping and leaping wildly in the struggling firelight.

"How sweet," the Fomor commented in his smooth, rich voice. Mockery colored his words, hard-edged and ill-concealed. O'Meara gave a deep chuckle and stepped fully into the light. He was dressed in a dark gray suit, his flawless dark brown hair brushed neatly back, a dark red rose, no doubt clipped from his own garden, tucked neatly into the button hole on his lapel and a handsome deep purple silk tie pressed to his waist by a firm, muscled hand.

"But I don't wish to be rude," a cat-like grin crossed his lips, madness danced in his deeply familiar brown eyes, "for those of you who have not yet met me, my name is Jack O'Meara." His rich voice lilted with the melodic tones of an Irish accent, "welcome to my home."

He stepped forward, the heels of his expensive Italian leather shoes clicking sharply against the rough stone floor. His dark brown eyes met with Bo's. "I see you've brought your friends along. I would have preferred a private reunion," the cold glitter in his eyes contradicted this sentiment, "however, as we've already two guests as witness, what's the harm in adding a few more?"

Bo, mesmerized by the strange likeness in those dark, mahogany eyes, took a step forward, her fingers slipping from Lauren's waist. A wisp of awareness struggled to be made known, understanding just eluding her like a word at the tip of her tongue.

Dyson, for the most part forgotten and avoiding the bitter-sweet reunion scene between the woman he loved and the woman she loved, dashed between O'Meara and Bo, snarling and spitting rabidly at the Fomor that drew Bo's attention like a moth to the flame. He crouched before Bo protectively, his face twisted into a furious scowl, his eyes breaking from soft blue to piercing yellow, and his nostrils flaring wildly. Bo was startled into a stop, blinking against the heavy, mind-numbing influence the Fomor seemed to hold over her and took in a sharp inhale of breath.

O'Meara only tutted him calmly, head dropping in feigned disappointment as he shook it from side to side.

"Wolf. Only you would be so presumptuous as to jump to my Isabeau's aid." O'Meara raised his head slightly, his amused gaze rising to meet Dyson's out of the corners of his eyes. A smirk flitted across his thin lips, the dimple in his right cheek flashed in and out of existence.

Dyson hesitated, taken aback by the familiarity of that cheerful little dimple. A thunderous frown clouded Lauren's face, and Bo was once more held in rapt attention to the tall, powerfully built man that mocked them from the other side of the bars.

"When will you learn that she doesn't need a hero to save her? When will you see that her list of kills, even for her fledgling career, is enough to make a man proud?" The disconcerting grin grew on his features, the terrifying dimple deepening in the contours of his strong cheek. The air stilled around them as the horrific realization dawned on them, and they drew a collective, time-stopping breath before he spoke again in a husky, gratified whisper: "enough to make a father proud!"

The pregnant silence that followed this revelation was shattered by Bo's heated, outraged cry of denial.

"No. No!" Her dark brown eyes darted first over every familiar feature, every familiar gesture and look from the abhorrent man that proclaimed their familial tie, then back to the shocked stares of her companions around her. Dyson's eyes, back to their faded blue, flickered from O'Meara to Bo, watching and comparing carefully, apprehension and distrust etched deep in the lines across his face.

"No!" she whispered again, softly, confidence lending strength to her quietly spoken words, as if saying so and believing it would make it true, "my father's name is Sam Dennis. He's a good man, an honorable man. He was not a monster." Bo's mouth pressed into a hard line, she turned her hard, burning gaze from Dyson, to Kenzi, to O'Meara again. Her face was pale with the indignity that pounded with her heart against her ribcage, her fists clenched at her sides, and her cheeks reddened with the anger that pulsed in her temples and pulled her eyebrows into a twitching frown.

"Oh no, Darling. I'm sure he was not. But regardless of who raised you, Isabeau, I am still your father. I am still the man whose seed you have spawned from. You and I, we are one and the same, my child," he sounded so calm, so self-assured. His dark eyes, a replica to Bo's in almost every aspect, glittered with malice and madness, but also with a strange, twisted affection for the woman standing across from him.

"No. I am not a monster!" Bo insisted, her nostrils flared in irritation at the arrogant smirk that curled in the corners of O'Meara's mouth, her certainty faltered a little, and she finally turned to Lauren, faith falling into despair at the aggrieved expression painted across her lover's face. Jack only grinned cruelly at her flailing dissent. "My father is Sam Dennis…" she asserted shakily, bottom lip trembling with the fear that twisted and writhed in her belly, and stared beseechingly at Lauren, searching desperately for support, for validation. Her last words came out a barely audible whisper, "… right?"

Tears slid down Lauren's cheeks, she swallowed down her hurt and clenched her fists at her sides, hating herself for not being able to refute O'Meara's claim.

"Don't believe him, Bo," Dyson's throaty voice rang across the stone that surrounded them, his words sounded surer than Bo felt, "he's just trying to rattle you!"

"I'm sorry, my dear," Seth's voice rasped from the darkness of her corner of the cell. All eyes swiveled to the trembling shadow that lay curled halfway in Maia's lap. The Seer's voice broke, her words tired, resigned, and sad. She fell into another, violent fit of coughs and spasms, and Maia struggled to contain the dying woman in her arms. Tamsin leaned in closer, her hand rubbed soothing circles into Seth's back absently, and her eyes were mistrustful and thoughtful as she stared between the Succubus whose control seemed to visibly be slipping and the mad, blood-thirsty Fomor that taunted them from the other side of the bars.

No one knew who Bo's father really was. There was nothing to neither refute his claim, nor to confirm it. Tamsin didn't trust the crazed glint in O'Meara's eye, and now, she felt she couldn't rely on the Succubus that unraveled before her either.

"Ah, but you don't want to listen to the mad ramblings of an old, sick crone," O'Meara cackled, "Tell her, Doctor, about the DNA samples, the paternity test." His laughing eyes slunk toward Lauren, who tilted her head, eyes shut against the anguish that rocked her. She looked so frail, so beautifully broken, Bo reached a hand to flutter her fingers against Lauren's skin, her dark brown eyes earnest and absolutely unquestioning.

"What paternity test?"

Lauren's eyes fluttered open, her hands crept up to wrap Bo's fingers in her own. They were freezing cold.

"He took a paternity test, Bo," her voice cracked, strained against the weight of her confession, "here, in the dungeon." Her gaze flicked momentarily to the corner beside the bars where Jack O'Meara had sat patiently, gleefully, while Lauren swabbed the inside of his mouth. He had left her all the equipment she'd needed, under Walter's watchful eye, to check his DNA against the DNA in Bo's blood sample, a blood sample she'd gathered herself in order to find a new serum for Bo's hunger, one that he'd insisted she bring with them when he came to bring her under his custody.

Bo's eyebrows knit together as the truth finally began to sink its cold, piercing claws deep into her. She couldn't lie… the truth was so obvious, bare and brazen in the shuddering torchlight, its every movement, every look, every smile wholly redolent, seeping from the pores of the poisonous man that watched with eager eyes.

And how long had they all lied to Bo, to protect her? When had that ever turned out well? Lauren met Bo's pleading stare, the corners of her lips pulled downward as if by invisible strings. Her chin trembled, and she took a deep breath, her heart fracturing in her chest for the destructive truth she knew she couldn't avoid. "I checked the results myself," Lauren continued, her mouth dry, heart thumping convulsively, heavily, in her chest, "They were positive."

Until that point, the Redcaps had held their silence, watching unobtrusively from the hallway as the events around them unfolded. Now, they howled in glee, almost drowning out O'Meara's deafening, victorious laughter. Kenzi, milling silently, almost impatiently, in the flickering shadows close behind Bo, suddenly cried out in delight.

"Holy father of Batman, Bo-Bo! This really is a reunion!" her slender hands clapped to her mouth, her eyes glittered with a joy the real Kenzi would never have felt at such a revelation. The corners of her lips quivered above the line of her hands, stretched tight with the force of her excitement.

The Fomor raised his arm, brown eyes glowing with insane mirth, and shouted over the raucous din.

"You know the rules, gents! Dolph, open the door!"

And then, though it all happened at once and ended in moments, time seemed to stretch out indefinitely for Maia.

The door of their cell slid open with an earsplitting shriek. Like a tidal wave, the Redcaps surged through the gap, screaming and calling, fists and industrial box-cutters and crowbars raised above their heads. Dyson darted into the fray immediately, claws extended, ripping and tearing and gnashing his teeth at the whirlwind of chaos he'd thrown himself wholly into. Blood spurted and flew, splattering in staccato notes across the walls, ceiling and floor. Tamsin followed a beat later, wrenching herself out of the safe circle of Seth's embrace, a dagger sprouting from the hem of her jacket-sleeve. Kenzi, whom Maia had finally, belatedly realized wasn't really Kenzi at all, ducked and squirmed through the roiling mass of bodies to squeeze through the open gate and stumble breathlessly, elatedly to O'Meara's side.

Maia watched in horror as the Wolf and the Valkyrie were drawn into the frenzy of battle. They spun and kicked and stabbed, their movements a crimson blur that made the grieving scrapper dizzy. She withdrew deeper into the shadows and pressed herself against the jagged stone wall, clutching Seth to her chest, squeezing her eyes shut and focusing on the tremulous, dying words the Seer whispered into her ear.

Lauren threw herself at Bo, winding her arms around the frantic, struggling woman, stilling the furious Succubus in her arms and pleading with her to listen, to understand that none of it mattered, that Bo was not a monster, that she was kind, and generous and selfless. The Succubus' rage and grief throbbed in their ears, giving the violence that erupted around them a beating, breathing life of its own. Even through the bloodied haze of battle, Tamsin caught a glimpse of cold, lifeless blue flashing dissonantly in Bo's eyes.

Lauren's embrace and reassurances worked to calm Bo's panic for a scant few seconds. The Succubus stilled, breathing ragged, for a moment, long enough for Duncan to rend himself from the writhing, twisting bodies around him and lunge for Lauren. Maia saw the same crazed excitement flash in the Redcap's eyes that she had seen the night before, in her bathroom, and her heart leapt to her throat as Duncan's filthy hand wrapped tightly around Lauren's forearm. The knuckles in his fingers were white with the force of his grip. His spiked cast forced itself into the space between Lauren's chest and Bo's, and the pair tumbled to the hard, stony ground together, Lauren's arms still flailing for Bo, her face a mask of surprised pain and terror.

Maia froze with her arms still wound tightly around Seth, unable to react to the desperate circumstances around her. Seth had finally fallen silent, totally spent and lying catatonic in her arms, the only thing keeping her heart yet beating the thunderous, rapid rhythm of Maia's own heart pressed against her eardrum. Somewhere, lost in the shards of this nightmarish reality, Tamsin and Dyson had vanished beneath the wild, gyrating bodies of half a dozen Redcaps. Duncan scrambled to straddle Lauren, a terrible fervor lighting his face and stained teeth gleaming in the hellish firelight of the dungeon's torches, her face half-hidden beneath strands of golden, glowing hair, one tawny eye wide with terror.

Bo erupted, the deafening scream she emitted set Maia's teeth on edge and her ears ringing painfully. Bo threw her arms and chest back, her legs splayed solidly across the floor and her face raised to the sky somewhere above, hidden by the many layers of this twisted Narnian castle. Her skin pulsed an intense scarlet glow, and when her head lowered, Maia could see the endless, shocking icy blue of her eyes. Her lips parted, the muscles and tendons in her neck stretched and tightened, cording visibly in the crimson, throbbing glow of her skin.

The Fae that wasn't Kenzi shook with drunken, excited laughter, thrilled by the wild chaos that stormed before her. Jack O'Meara stood patiently still, watching the scene unravel before him with a quiet vehemence. The consuming fires of zealous madness in his eyes drank in the sight of his daughter's transformation greedily. He grinned, head lowered, and watched through thick, dark eyelashes, his hands in his pockets and his terrible, hateful dimple flickering fitfully in his cheek.

Incandescent blue light rent itself violently from the mouths of Bo's enemies. The Redcaps, Duncan, Dolph, and even the Fae that had posed as Kenzi, jerked and shuddered, their eyes suddenly vacant and their lips parting as their Chi was drained. The softly glowing, life-giving sapphire energy spiraled slowly up, and, like a river flowing slowly backwards, joined together in a confluence above Bo's now again upturned face, then descended and disappeared into the Succubus' waiting mouth. Russet curls flipped and played around her pale face with an otherworldly breeze that blew only for her.

The drained Fae sank slowly to their knees, then slumped against the walls and each other, and eventually, to the floor. Duncan's raised fist fell to his side, and he teetered on his knees before collapsing in a lifeless, harmless heap over Lauren.

Tamsin and Dyson shook themselves free of the limp bodies that draped over them, staring in shocked, dismal silence at the graveyard they found themselves in. Maia gaped openmouthed at Bo, never having seen such a display before in her life. Tremors of fear ran up and down her spine, her breath caught in her throat as she watched Lauren scramble out from under Duncan's dead body, disgust and terror twisting her face and her shoulders shaking with the force of her repulsion.

O'Meara gave a quiet chuckle that resonated convulsively within the heaving chests of the living, then shook his shoe free of the ebony-haired creature that lay obliviously across it. The Fae that had stolen Kenzi's identity rolled slightly, her face emerging from the shadows with a look of erotic pleasure stretched across her dead features, and little, sharp, pointed teeth bared in a final climactic grin.

Maia shuddered, her insides liquefied in terror, her thoughts whirling like a dervish. O'Meara, free of his burden, ambled close to the bars of the cell, his footsteps light and expression pleased.

"My daughter…" he whispered, almost worshipful, "you are more powerful than I can have imagined." Slowly, he raised a hand and stretched it, supplicating, through the bars at the Succubus that still throbbed with power and passion. "Together, we will bridle the masses and ride unto glory. There will be no Dark, and no Light." Bo turned her face ponderously toward her father, her eyes a steady, deep blue, as she considered the portentous, prophetic words he uttered, "There will be only us," O'Meara's deep, gravelly voice was soft, ardent, just shy of beseeching. His dark, brown eyes gazed adoringly at the woman he had brought into the world.

A slow, languorous smile spread across Bo's features, radiating with power and heat, and she raised her arm in response, their fingertips close enough to just brush together. Drawing a deep, happy breath, O'Meara took a final step in Bo's direction, and their hands clasped together tightly.

"There will be only us," Bo repeated, her voice folding in on itself over and over. Then, with a curious tilt of her head, Bo turned her face to gaze unsympathetically at her companions. The expression in Bo was as alien to them as they seemed to be to her. Her voice, when she addressed them, was indifferent and commanding. "Go."

"Bo!" Dyson cried out, stumbling over the bodies of the dead Redcaps that littered the floor around him, arms outstretched to reach for the woman he loved, his life-mate, the woman he'd sworn to protect.

"No! Dyson!" Tamsin threw out her hand and pulled the frantic Wolf back, her expression hard and angry. "We have to go, now!" Dyson rocked on his feet for a moment, thrown off balance by both the limbs and torsos strewn between his feet and the surprising strength of the blonde that dragged him backward. Tamsin grabbed his powerful, bloodied shoulders in her hands, her dagger lost and forgotten now, and shoved the Shifter to the gate that yawned open beside her. He tumbled breathlessly over, his feet trampling sickeningly over arms and legs on his way, and crashed ungracefully into the bars of the cell opposite theirs.

Lauren scrambled across the stony floor to Maia, and the pair struggled to lift Seth's limp, dying body. Maia's arms, chest and shoulders screamed in protest, and Lauren grunted with the effort, only to be torn backward by the collar of her shirt and tossed effortlessly into the wall behind her. The doctor struck the wall with a dull, thudding crack, and her head lolled around her shoulders unconsciously. Bo towered over Maia, who screamed for Lauren and leapt up to help her, but was stopped by a careless, sizzling touch from the overpowered Succubus.

"Mine."

Maia struggled against the terrific azure gaze that bored breathtakingly into her. She stifled a sob, too afraid for herself to oppose, too afraid for Lauren to obey, and torn into complete inaction.

"Maia!" Tamsin barked for the human's attention, wading through the shin-deep pile of corpses to reach the petrified woman who still labored to carry the fading Seer. Maia tore her stare from Bo's forceful blue gaze to spare a glance at Lauren, who groaned and raised faltering hands to her injured head. Her arms wrapped more tightly, more staunchly around Seth's frail shoulders, and she pulled, whimpering inaudibly at the horrible strain to drag Seth into a fireman's carry. Her floundering heart struggled to writhe its way out of her throat. Pain seared across her shoulders and stabbed through her chest with her weakening efforts.

And then the floor fell away beneath her, and it was all she could manage to clutch the Seer tightly to her chest. Tamsin had gathered them both into her strong, wiry arms and carried them out of the cell, picking her way carefully over the unmoving casualties strewn across the rough flagstones below.

Bo watched with steely blue eyes as they grouped in the hallway, the red, stuttering torchlight leaping across their exhausted, defeated faces. Lauren finally managed to regain consciousness long enough to raise dazed eyes to the retreating backs of her friends. Her unfocused gaze met Maia's for a fleeting instant over Tamsin's straining shoulders and Maia swore to herself that they'd be back for the woman that had risked her standing in the Light Fae community to nurse a broken, lost girl back to life. She only hoped Lauren could see it in the hard shine of her tear-filled eyes and the determined edge of her tight-lipped grimace. A small, faltering smile flitted across Lauren's pale lips, humorless, but hopeful, before the rough edges of the prison wall broke their stare. Then, they edged around Jack O'Meara and the lifeless body of the Fae that had pretended to be Kenzi. O'Meara's crazed, victorious laughter bounced across the walls and chased them through the hellish mansion and out to Tamsin's waiting truck.

Author's Note: I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for the lovely reviews. Honestly, they make my day, so thank you!

I also thought I'd remind everyone that this story was actually written and almost complete by the middle of season 3, when The Wanderer was still just a tarot card and our imaginations were all running wild. I actually do have a lot in mind for this story, and maybe now would be a good time to mention that I am currently working on its sequel. Yay!

See you all next week! =)