Lauren opened her eyes. Pain waved through her mind, her head dizzy. She tried to sit up, her arm told her otherwise.
"Easy." she heard a familiar voice next to her. "Bo!" Lauren recognized the succubus watching her, an adorable smile on her lips.
"Hey!" Oh how she missed it. The Fae closed the book she was reading in and approached her, took a seat on the edge of her bed and pushed her slowly back. "How are you feeling?" Lauren gave willingly in.
"Sore?"
"You scared the hell out of me!" Bo's concern was palpable.
"I am sorry. What happened?" Lauren wanted to know.
"I hoped you could tell me." Pictures ran through Laurens head. She in a lab, a man with cold dark eyes and a warm smile. Friendly and dangerous. The Serum. An explosion. "No. No... I can't remember anything." Lauren finally said. She knew it was wrong to not tell the truth. But when she would start, Bo would go to find the pack diving in a battle head first and she wasn't so sure this would end so healthy for her.
"Okay. Do you remember our last meeting?" Of course she did. Bo's tears and her whispered words were burned in her mind for ever. "In the Dal?" A disappointment washed over Bo's features.
"Do you know what date we have?"
"No." And that was the truth.
You were missed... for about 7 days." Lauren nodded thoughtfully. She wasn't aware how long she was with the pack. "Really?"
"Yeah." She heard Bo's response and felt her intense eyes on her. "I missed you. I..." Bo's voice trailed off and she blinked a tear away. "Bo! It's okay. I am here now." Deja-vu.
"I was thinking that you maybe … decided to run away. Without telling me."
Lauren took her hand, her thumb caressed her skin. They both looked on that gesture.
"I am sorry to bother you."
"No...no... I am just glad .. Do you mind, when I kiss you?" The human smirked and denied. Nothing against a sweet kiss. "Good. Because..." Bo bent over and her lips slightly touched the doctors. "...I am not willing to ever give you away again" she breathed against Laurens. "You are sometimes such a sweet talker." the human chuckled but regretted it immediately. "Ouch." She felt the soft touch of Bos fingers in her face.
"Well... I missed you.."
"You mentioned it."
"I meant it!" The succubus returned, this time determined. What to answer such a statement. Her lack of words hurt the Fae. "You should rest." The brunette said flatly and turned away to leave. "Bo!" Lauren called out. Bo stopped in her movement. With her free hand she made the Fae to look at her, caressed her cheek and pulled her closer to her to cover the delicate lips of the succubus. When they separated, it was Bo who lacked of words. "You are in my mind. Always." Lauren whispered.
"And it works? a growling voice rolled through the little room in the back of a tiny bar.
"Absolutely." The suited man answered. "I have a reputation to lose." His behavior labeled him as uneasy and nervous. Although he tried his best to over do it.
A suspected glance on what the Fae offered him.
"Please, carefully, it is a bit sensitive..."
"How many doses?"
"Twenty, as you ordered." he closed the little box, put it in his pocket and raised.
"If not, we will meet again, Mr. Lambert." The Dark fae smiled unpleasant by the snarled words of the hooded man.
"Believe me, I am not interested in that."
"You do wisley!"
The hooded man threw a bag filled with money on the table. Without any other word he left the Dark Fae.
When he arrived the new hideout of the pack he handed the serum to another pack member. "Take care of it! Defense it with your life."
"As you wish!" she answered and put it in a bag under her coat. The bearded man came to him.
"Don't you think this was too risky?"
"It's not that we have a choice, don't we?" the hooded man answered.
"You think he recognized you?"
"If you never seen a dragon before, how do you know it when you see one?" The bearded man grinned. "But sooner or later he will put one and one together. I am not sure how much time we have." The bearded man nodded, sorrow in his face. "And the traitor? It's been three days since... how can you be sure he isn't any longer among us."
The hooded man's eyes wandered to everyone around.
"I am pretty sure he is not. But he is looking for us. And still, we are too many to observe all of us...but maybe we can give him a hint..." he silenced in his sentence and waved a man to come.
"What do you have in mind?"
"We force him to make a move..." When the Runners reached he laid a hand on his shoulder.
"You have to do me a favour." he said and smiled coldly.
Bo startled from a short nap. She blinked and watched to the clock on the wall. Three a.m.
The blond shape of Lauren Lewis was resting in her bed. Her chest moved in a steady up and down. Bo smiled. She couldn't get enough of this view.
The Fae woman rubbed the sleep out of her eyes when she saw a nurse on Laurens drip. "Hey!"
He lifted the head and smiled friendly. "Hey? Hope I didn't woke you."
"No. No … what are you doing there?"
"Add just another medication..." he said casually very focused on what he was doing.
"Why?" She saw him taking a injection out of his pocket and check it.
"To make her sleep. There is no reason to worry. I am just following doctors orders." he smiled again. Bo intended to say something when the light in the room began to flicker... "What's that?" she asked rhetorically. "Looks like a power loss." he said between teeth. "Oh great!" she mumbled. looked around. The whole wing seemed to be afflicted. "I call a nurse.."
"No... This isn't necessary. I am …. I am a nurse... see!" The change in his behavior woke Bo's interest. "I never seen you here before..." she said and took a step away from her chair to round the bed, when she suddenly became aware of a thick grey fog on the ground. "What is that..." It grew to a thick cocoon which wrapped her and block her view.
Strong hands pulled her back on the chair. "What the..."Hey!" she protested. A stitch on her neck let her squeal and immediately she felt dizzy and unfocused. "You are kidding me..." her words nothing more than a slur.
"Hello, crow." The sound of the voice let Bo shiver. It was rough and deep and unnatural. She wished she could see something. The attacker. The nurse. Lauren. She fought against the fog in her head. Forced herself to move her muscles...her arms, her legs, they disobey her commandes.
"The..." the young man whirled around.
"...himself. Yes. Finishing your work?" the creature cut the man off.
"You... That was a trap."
"Yeah. Didn't thought you would take it, you've been so smart and careful in the past. But that's the thing with vengeance motivated deeds. It drives you. You have to do things till the end, right? Now, I...was wondering who you would be. I remember you."
"Yeah? Do you also remember my mother?"
"Yes. I do. She was one of the best thieves the pack had."
"How can you stand there and say something like that? You let my mother die." He snapped. the anger in his voice obvious. "She was in pain for a about ten days. And no one came to save her. No one. No crow, no stupid wolf pack. You let her down. " he shouted tears in his eyes. The creature listened patiently. "We don't let our people down, have you forgotten this?" his voice calm but sober.
"You deserved to die. As painful as she did."
"I understand your anger, I really do. The truth is, she was poisoned by a trap. We warned her. Told her not to take the risk of that raid, but she didn't listen."
"That's not true!" the man shouted back. The creature remained unimpressed by the emotional outbreak of the young man.
"Believe it or not! Her death was her own fault!"
"No!"
Silence. Just a soft whimper filled the room, a sobb. "You let her die!" he cried desperately.
The wolfs creature stepped closer, laid his hands on his shoulders, patted them. "My pure boy..." took the boys head tenderly between his paws and wiped his tears away. Caressing his cheeks. "Was it worth it?" he asked in a friendly tone and forced him to look into his eyes. The answer was another sniff.
"Such a waste of talent." And the silence was intersected by the sound of breaking bones and a heavy body that hit the ground.
"We are done here..." he said coldly.
"No!" Bo breathed unbelievingly. That did not happened. Where was the Fae power when she needed it? Bo's head hung from her shoulders, her chin tipped the chest. She was so tired. So exhausted. It was such an immense effort for her to keep her eyes open. "Who are you?" she managed to arrange a question clearly, but no one answered. Instead someone lifted her head by her hair and forced her to face two orange glowing circles in the fog. Accompanied with an angry growl. "What do you want?" her mouth was so dry, making it unbelievable hard to speak. The grip in her hair disbanded...
"And then he just vanished. With the fog." Bos waved her hands in the air to underline the content of her words.
"This sounds creepy!" Kenzi mumbled, eyes wide open. Bo looked at her and nodded while she was sipping on her drink.
"Well … I never saw that before. It gave me goosebumps. Why he didn't kill me?"
"Hey, Bo-Bo, be careful with your wishes...I know what I am talking about."
Dyson smiled on Kenzi's comment. "He didn't kill you, because ...for a reason you are not on his list." he explained in his typical Dyson-style.
"Oh yeah? Do you know him?"
"I heard about him. Yes." he confirmed. "What is he? A super mutant hero wolfy?" The shape shifter lowered his head barely amused.
"He is the Black Wolf. Head of the Shadows. A master of the silent death. He reigned the Fae World, four hundred years ago. He is a hunter, born to kill." Trick told them from behind the bar with a serious face. "You mean he is an assassin?" Bo wanted to make sure she understood her grandfather correctly.
"Yes, he was before he changed his mind. He kills because he can. He doesn't care of rich, poor, dark or light. If you are worth to be hunted...he is on you. He s dangerous Bo. No one have seen him before, he was there killed and gone in a second. Whoever and whenever he wanted to."
"Well I have seen him." Bo gave him a triumphantly smile.
"You have seen his eyes!" Dyson corrected her.
"Nevermind. You know what? I am not impressed." Bo responded, took another sip of her glass and slid from her seat. "But you should!" The shape shifter warned her.
"I will go, visit Lauren." The succubus declared ending that subject.
"How is she?" Dyson asked interested. "She was brought back in the compound this afternoon and the doctors say she will recover completely. It will take some time but she will be fine." Dyson nodded. "Glad to hear that."
Bo watched him suspiciously, gave her roommate a clap on her smaller back and left.
Lauren watched out in the night. The moon lightened clouds from behind, painted them in silver and grey when they passed by. She was sitting in her wheelchair, listened to the silence in her head, her heart and her soul. A shiver make her aware of the presence of another person in her room. "The Darkness in person." She said dryly and turned around. It was the first time she heard him slightly chuckle. It wasn't cruel just amused.
"How are you doing?" he sounded differently, growly, feral, less human.
"I am perfectly fine, as you see …" her voice pregnant with sarcasm. When he moved, there was no sound of it.
"Why are you here? Are you going to kill me?"
"No. If I wanted you dead, you would be." Lauren huffed. "True!"
Again silence. "What about the serum?"
"We found a way." Lauren gave him a nod not sure he could see it.
His rough voice was like a stranger in this world. "We leave. I have to rebuilt my pack."
"So you are here to say goodbye?"
"No, I am here to warn you." He slightly bent over in the silvery carpet of the moon. He was about ten feet high, his head the skull of a wolf. " I am what .. your succubus will be... " he let his words sink in.
"Bo will never be like this..." Lauren frowned by these whispered words.
"She will. And you know that." The creature raised to his full size. "Maybe not as long as you are with her. But one day ….she will be a threat as well. I know you are aware of this."
Lauren swallowed. "You give me quite too much credit."
"Do I?" and Lauren felt his amused smirk. The woman couldn't answer. "Do you think I was born like this?" he asked and the calm deep voice she knew from him drawing his words in the dark. "The path your succubus tread isn't an unwalked one. They think I am a danger, but we both know, the true danger is behind that beautiful smile of your succubus. You can lie to yourself. But you know about the power of her mother. And the power of her grandfather. You saw her fighting the Garuda." All of this wasn't something Lauren wanted to hear. "So, why you didn't kill her, when you could?" she whispered back tears in her eyes.
He kneeled down beside her wheel, his eyes like glowing embers. "Because you are adorable, human, you know that? And your succubus can feel lucky to have such a brave and brilliant … human on her side." Lauren huffed and looked down on her hands in her lap. The blond felt his claw under her chin, turning her face to him, make her look into his eyes. They've been narrowed and clouded with something she couldn't tell. "Maybe, we do terrible things. Maybe the other fae fear us. And they certainly hate us. But matter of fact, no one knows us. No one have ever seen us the way you did. And you, Lauren, did something no one else would have ever done. You kept your word, you helped us." She felt the sharp edge of his claw running soothingly over her cheek. "Your succubus will be safe as long as you live. That's my offer to you. From the shadows. But the day, you will die..."
"She will be prey...I understand." Her left hand touched the wrist of the wolfman, felt the rough fur, the a strange texture. "And when this day will come...we will be prepared." The human blinked about this words. She did not understand.
"Lauren...?" His eyes shifted to the door of the apartment. This conversation was over. She lost the touch when he melted back in the darkness.
As Bo switched the lights on, she saw her friend thoughtfully in her wheelchair. "Why you sitting here in the dark?" Lauren gave no response.
"I was wondering if you ….maybe like some company...?"
Laurens sad eyes met Bo's loving dark orbs. She gulped in bitterness but forced herself to a bright smile. "I'd love to."
Epilogue
We ARE the children of the everlasting night. Touched by the moon.
Born without names. We run as wolves, move with the fog, remain as shadows. We are your last memory.
Our words come out as whistles or storms, our deeds will causing a spark or a blaze. You will never see us come.
We are the shadows in the fog.
FIN
That's it! I know it's not a masterpiece of english, sorry about that and I truly apologize for all the horrible things I did to this beautiful language!I am not sure this is what you expected...so let me know. Hope you liked the idea and the story - thanks for reading.
Bye.