Chapter 11

Author's Note: I should have probably set this story in time from the start, but my idea doesn't exactly fit with the developments in late season 3 and season 4, so, I'll have to go with an unspecified moment somewhere mid-season 3, after Bo's dawning but before the Taft-related events, when my LG universe swerved in a slightly different direction to make all of these possible. Or you can take it as an alternative post season 4. No Tamsin simply because I love her and don't want to relegate her to a bit part as there's no proper storyline for her in this fic.

While the girls were having their heart-to-heart, the other three retreated discreetly to another corner of the room to map out the further plan of action.

"The fastest way to find Dar is to get the Morrigan in on that, seeing as he is one of her people," Lauren did not seem particularly happy making this announcement, "And under the circumstances, with Bo unable to stand up to her, it should fall on you, Trick, to secure an interview with her."

"By presenting Evony with the information you'll be effectively giving her ammo against all of us," the old fae shook his head with a meditative air, "Dyson is not exactly at his best, Kenzi is an untrained baby, and the rest of us are more of the brain-no-muscle-to-speak-of variety to put it flatteringly."

"Trick's right, that would be too much of a Christmas treat for the Morrigan," Dyson cut in hastily to cover the bar-tender's slip regarding his current weakened state, "We need someone dark and someone we can pressurize into helping us without risking full exposure."

"Vex!" the vote was unanimous with the blonde, the sandy-haired and the balding heads nodding in agreement.

"Coming along for the ride?" Dyson turned to the doctor with an open invitation, "I need someone to do persuasive talking while I am doing the growling."

For a second, Lauren looked uncomfortable at the idea of pitching in with pressurizing the Mesmer, action not being her area of expertise, but a look at the girls, still locked in an embrace across the room, filled her with tender protectiveness towards the one she was so used to thinking of as doing most of the protection around their part of the fae world. She plastered a decisive look onto her face and squared her shoulders before giving a dignified nod, "I am coming, Dyson."

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Bo stepped into the now filling bar and turned to beckon to Kenzi. "Ready?"

The other girl made a tentative entrance and froze on the threshold giving the room a sweep with her pale grey eyes. Trick was busy behind the counter, catering to his swelling clientele, Bo was holding out a supportive hand towards her bestie, the fae at the tables were nonchalantly chatting and drinking, without paying the girls any particular attention. Kenzi took a deep breath, as if before taking a plunge into a freezing-looking lake, and followed the brunette, who led her friend to a lonely table in the corner and pushed her into a seat facing the crowd.

"You are still full now, Kenz," Bo was telling her in a steady confident tone, "and aren't likely to fly off the handle. Look around, see, appreciate and make yourself turn away. It's like you're in a candy shop – everything is mouthwatering but you know that you have just had a steak and you don't have enough cash on you and you simply walk away."

"Actually, I usually lift a wallet, get the candies and add them to the steak in a slim hope it will fill up my tits," Kenzi muttered forlornly, "But I can see your point, my culinary-minded friend."

"Ok, let's take a different angle," the older girl sighed before venturing on a more dangerous tack, "You remember the taste of the chi flowing into you?"

Kenzi gulped as the words brought back to her the deliciousness of the energy entering her body, the sweet taste with strong woodsy overtones, filling her, boosting her, making her crave action, making her imagine herself running wild somewhere in the forest, breathing in the nipping air.

"And you remember the face of the person who was giving you his chi – the face that was first a display of pleasure and relish and then started filling gradually with a deathly exhaustion. That's the moment when you need to think about how bad the sweets are for your teeth and make yourself stop," Bo's voice was suddenly snapping orders.

Kenzi's mind's eye filled with Dyson's drained face, his blue eyes fluttering closed in weariness and she yelped in near physical pain of her own.

"I am not saying it's easy," Bo's sympathetic hand squeezed the girl's cold fingers splayed on the table, "I started this whole mess by taking one too many from Lauren, remember? But that's something you need to imprint into your mind until we swap back, Kenz: it's not about not feeding, it's about stopping in time. It's about being considerate towards your partner, watching out for dangerous signs, it's about putting his or her safety above everything and imbedding it into your MO."

"No her for me, pretty please, this walking awesomeness here is a dick-only girl," Kenzi replied lightly, though in fact she was listening eagerly, her pulsating brain taking in, absorbing, storing for future use the lesson her friend was giving her. The scene with Dyson was on a constant loop in her memories, she was going through it frame by frame until she hit upon the moment Bo had been talking about – upon the moment she should have stopped taking from the half-conscious wolf.

"I'm tracking you, Bobolicious,' the girl slowly nodded her understanding, "It's just that I let my hunger blind me to everything else."

"And that's why we need to keep you nourished. If you starve, you might lose it again," the ex-succubus was clearly speaking from experience, "Are you sure you don't want to call Hale? He should be more than willing to help you out."

"No, no Hale," Kenzi shook her head emphatically, "Sounds like a nice piece of perverted logic, but right now I just can't put my boy-friend to the risk of doing the nasty with the yet unbalanced me. Not until I am a bit more trained or get myself a spare boy-friend."

"The guy you fed from was human," Bo reminded her judiciously, "And Hale is fae, he is much stronger, he can stop you."

"No, believe me he can't, even Dyson couldn't… I mean, Dyson couldn't always stop you from taking too much when you were still learning self-control, right? And he's stronger than Hale," the new succubus was groping with words to convince her friend without letting slip the very bit of information she was desperate to hide, "I am so unbalanced right now, like a teenager with her hormones all over the place. No Hale until I am a little more settled."

"Ok," Bo conceded easily, "then another important lesson – look around, zero in on someone suitably appetizing." Kenzi swept the room and her eyes soon landed on a tall guy at the counter talking to a girl on a stool next to him. "Concentrate on him, on how sincere his smile is, on how twinkly his eyes are. Do you see anything else about him? Do you think he is interested in his friend in any sexual way?" the older woman was talking with an easy authority of experience.

"Ye-es," Kenzi gasped in amazement, "I can see something – there's a slight radiance around him, like coolish blue. Nay, I wouldn't say he's really interested, more like "You'll do if I get sufficiently hammered or if I don't stumble on someone more hard-on-inducing. What a dick, leading a girl on like that!"

Bo gave a soft saddish smile, "I knew it, though I can't see it any longer myself."

"What a self-absorbed fool I've been," Kenzi was lighting-quick latching onto the emotion beneath the words, "It hasn't been a walk in an amusement park for you either, my boobacious bestie. Let's face it, I am not the only frightened, lost girl at this table."

Bo leaned forward in her seat to take both of Kenzi's slender hands into her grip. "I never realized before how enormously brave you need to be, a human in the fae world. And you, Kenz, you always were just that and some more – standing tall, not cowed by all the powerful creatures around. And I am just not sure I can be the same. I am used to looking around the crowd like I am at a buffet party and not I am like a rabbit with my ears shaking in fear that there might be a hungry fox at the next table who might be interested in making me his dinner."

"Well, don't be afraid of a fox when you have a wolf on your side plus a half-baked succubus," Kenzi grinned archly, "Besides, your grandpa actually owns the place. Bravery is something you've got in spades, you just haven't tapped into your resources yet, Bo. Maybe you are not the only one who can do some lecturing, I might give you a couple of classes myself. Kenzi on how to be a dazzling human among fae."

"I might take you up on that later," Bo had to admit Kenzi's idea made sense, "But for now, on with our lesson. Look around and find an aura burning hotter than that bluish jerk, you need to know how to recognize a willing potential partner with chi to offer."