Chapter Eleven
AN: Sorry if Aífe and Bo's reactions to her are a little OOC. I'm not overly familiar with the character. I wrote this chapter to Blackmore's Night's "Castles and Dreams" (again).
trigg: Your review made me smile 'cause that was exactly what I had planned.
Bo wasn't sure exactly when she moved, but suddenly she'd stood with enough force to knock her chair backwards and had Lauren pinned to the wall. Shouts of disbelief and pleas for her to stop echoed behind her, but Bo heard none of them. "Tell me!" she demanded of the doctor she held captive. "Tell me!"
"She was already at the hospital when I arrived at the Dark compound," Lauren blurted, hoping that if she told the story fast enough Bo would let her go. "The Fae doctors told me that they'd found her crawling through an alley with a broken leg. They took her to the hospital and offered someone for her to feed from, but she refused to feed. She's just staying in her room and letting her leg heal on its own. She won't say who she got into a fight with."
"It was me," came Trick's quiet voice. Still pinning Lauren to the wall with one hand, Bo whirled to face him, eyes blazing blue. "It was when we'd all been cursed to forget you. She'd been trying to find you and we ended up meeting, not knowing the history between us. The spell was broken while we were talking and she came at me with a knife."
"So you broke her leg and left her to die?!"
"I defended myself," Trick protested. "I did what I had to to get away. I knew she'd be all right. She's strong," he insisted, and the others could tell that it was more to assuage his own guilt than actual belief in his daughter's ability to survive.
Bo shook her head in disgust. "At least I already expect it from you, Trick," she spat. "It's your name, isn't it? Trick. Always lying and deceiving to save your own hide. But you're used to throwing Aífe to the wolves at this point, aren't you? You sold her to the Dark, you used your own blood to determine her fate, and now you went and wounded her again. Your own daughter. Why should I even trust you? After everything you've done to her, how do I know that you won't do the same to me?"
The Blood King almost doubled over at the agony of her words. Every single one was a dagger driven to the hilt within his heart and he could not remove a single blade, for every one was truth. Bo stared him down with a gaze that was almost cruel – icy blue that was slowly beginning to rim with an orange none had seen before – before she turned on Lauren.
"But you! I trusted you! I loved you! But you're just like him, aren't you? Lying – always lying and hiding! Our first night together, then Nadia, and then Taft, and now this! You're keeping my own mother from me! Were we a lie, too, Lauren? Was it stupid to believe you actually felt anything for me?" Her hands had moved from Lauren's shoulders to wrap around her throat. "It's all any of you have ever done!" Bo roared, and her voice held the undertone of darkness that had broken through after her Dawning. "You've only ever lied to me about who I am and what I can do! You've hidden every single second of my past from me! You claim you want to protect me, but you do it for yourselves!" She tightened her grip on Lauren's throat, and the doctor tried to pry her hands away as she gasped for air. Dyson had sprung forward and grabbed Bo's arm but the succubus lashed out with her foot straight to his stomach, knocking him backwards with strength she didn't know she had. She was ready to let Lauren die against the wall except –
"Bo." The voice was soft. The hands on her shoulders were gentle.
The succubus loosened her grip, the blue of her eyes fading back to brown as she staggered backwards into Tamsin's arms. She shook so fiercely she might have fallen had the Valkyrie not been holding her up. She looked at the woman she once loved with horror and shame, eyes filling with tears. "Oh God, Lauren…Lauren, I'm so sorry…I'm so…I…"
"It's all right, Bo," the doctor replied, her words genuine. "I deserved that," she continued, rubbing her neck. "I deserved every bit of that. You're right, Bo: I should've told you the minute I found out. I'll make sure you get to see her. Today."
Bo nodded, still shaking and silently crying in Tamsin's embrace. "Does she ask about me?" Her voice was small and trembling, filled with the hopes and pleas of a small child. The sound broke the Valkyrie's heart.
It was Lauren's turn for tears. "Every day."
…
Bo gripped Tamsin's hand like a lifeline as they followed Lauren down the hall of the Dark compound's hospital wing. All three were silent, each reflecting on the events of the morning. As much as Bo was torturing herself for what she did, Lauren had accepted it, knowing that she probably deserved much worse. Tamsin, meanwhile, was thinking about the darkness she had seen in Bo and how absolutely terrified she'd been that it would take her completely. Their thoughts made for a short walk to Aífe's room.
"I know that this doesn't even begin to fix things," Lauren said as she keyed in the code for the door. "But I'm going to try."
"It'll never be fixed," Bo replied in a hoarse, hollow voice.
"I know. Not completely. But I'm still gonna try." The light on the door clicked from red to green. "Take as much time as you need. I told the other doctors that you're to be allowed access here whenever you want."
"Lauren…" Bo choked as the doctor began to walk away. "Thanks. And…I'm sorry."
Lauren gave her a little half-smile. "It's ok, Bo. And there's nothing to thank me for." She turned and retreated down the hall.
Bo looked at Tamsin with fearful hope, nervous despite herself. The Valkyrie gave her a reassuring smile, squeezing her hand. Giving her a shaky smile in return, Bo pushed open the door.
Aífe was lying back on a comfortable-looking double bed in the corner of a spacious room. There was a large window in the wall above the bed that let sunlight shine across the covers. Across from the bed sat a desk with a lamp, a cup full of pencils, a scattering of erasers, and two stacks of paper: one blank, one filled with drawings. There was a bookshelf by the desk packed with novels of every age and genre and Bo couldn't help but notice that there were more than a few books of Irish mythology hiding amongst the fiction.
Aífe had been doodling in a sketchbook lying across her lap but looked up at the sound of the door opening. When she saw who had come to visit, a smile so wonderfully joyous lit her face that Bo couldn't help but smile back, just as thrilled to see her. "Bo!" the older succubus exclaimed, tossing the sketchbook aside and holding out her arms. She was unable to move further, hindered by the metal and plastic cast that took up almost the entirety of her right leg.
"Mom," Bo almost sobbed, rushing forward and into her mother's embrace.
"I've missed you so much, baby girl," Aífe murmured. "They wouldn't tell me where you were."
"They didn't tell me where you were, either. I'm so sorry, Mom; if I'd known, I'd've been here sooner."
Aífe rubbed her daughter's back. "Shh, it's all right. You're here now." She looked up and tensed, tightening her hold on Bo. "Who's that?" she demanded. "Who's this woman?"
Bo looked over to see Tamsin shifting rather uncomfortably by the door, hands in her pockets and shoulders slumped. "Mom, that's Tamsin. She's a…good friend," she finally settled on, not sure what else to go with. Still, Tamsin's heart did a little backflip as she nodded to Aífe. The older succubus relaxed and went back to focusing on holding her daughter.
"Mom, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry he did this to you," Bo was crying. "I found out and I wanted to kill him. I almost killed Lauren…"
Far from being disconcerted, Aífe continued to soothe her. "It's all right, baby girl. He'll get what's coming to him. That Lauren girl seems nice, though – always brings me books and paper to sketch with."
"How…how are you feeling? Why won't you feed?"
Aífe sighed, and the sound weighed heavily on Bo's heart. "'Cause it just leaves me feeling hollow, Bo. I don't want to be hollow anymore. But now you're here, so I don't feel quite so hollow."
Tamsin, meanwhile, had been staring at Aífe's sketchbook, feeling more uneasy by the second. "Bo," she whispered. The succubus looked annoyed to have her attention taken away from her mother, but when Tamsin nodded at the sketchbook, her expression changed.
"The triple-spiral…" the succubus murmured. "Mom…do you know what's happening?"
"I've felt it, baby girl," Aífe shivered, holding Bo tighter again. "He made sure I could always feel it, always know, always know when he might come back to get me."
"My father?" Bo confirmed timidly.
"Yes, Bo. But he'll never get to you. I won't let him get to you."
"I think he almost did, Mom, but I escaped," Bo told her. "I won't let him get me, I promise."
Once again, Tamsin felt the guilt come crashing down upon her, twisting her heart and filling it with lead until she nearly broke down. If not for her Valkyrie training and sheer willpower, she might've.
"Mom…" Bo was saying, unsure of how to proceed. "I think…I need to know who he is. I had a dream that told me who he might be, but I have to know. I'm sorry, Mom, I can't even imagine how much it hurts – "
"You're going to stop him, aren't you?" her mother cut her off. "Him and the other Tuatha and the ancient sídhe?" Bo nodded, and her mother gave her a proud but vengeful smile. "Oh, I want to be there when you do, baby girl. I want to help you kill him. I want to watch his blood spill." Bo tried not to shiver but Tamsin couldn't help but admire Aífe's gruesome determination.
"So…he really is one of the Tuatha?" Bo had begun to tremble, clinging to her mother.
"He's one of the Tuatha, Bo. They looked to him and then he followed them. He Wandered through the veil, back and forth until he couldn't, but there were so many cracks left, so many tears, so many places to pull people through…" Aífe shuddered, and Bo snuggled up to her. Tamsin pulled the desk chair over so Bo could sit down and the younger succubus nodded her thanks. "He was their king, Bo. And then he was their Wanderer. And now he wants you to be his queen. They called him kind, the Lord of Plenty, but all those years made him cruel, so cruel…"
"Dagda," Tamsin whispered. "Dagda was called the Lord of Plenty."
Aífe hissed at the Valkyrie, who took an apologetic step back. "He'll not have you, Bo. I won't let him."
"I won't let him either, Mom," Bo repeated. "I promise."
As if that single promise was a trigger, Aífe's entire demeanor changed. No longer both vengeful and fearful, she'd become a mother again, stroking Bo's hair and smiling at her. "So tell me how you've been, Bo. Tell me what's been happening in your life!"
They talked about everything and nothing for a good hour. Bo told Aífe about all the crazy adventures she'd had with Kenzi, about how she'd passed her Dawning (leaving out the part where she'd channeled that darkness deep within her in order to save Dyson). To Tamsin's chagrin, Bo had many an amusing story about the Valkyrie's recent childhood, all of which had both succubi in fits of laughter. Tamsin's spirits were lifted somewhat when Bo told her mother that she "maybe" had someone in her life but assured her "no, it's not Lauren" and reacted to Dyson's name with "oh, God, no, not him."
But Aífe couldn't hide her yawns forever, and Bo gave her an affectionate smile when she failed to suppress the biggest of them. "I'll let you get some sleep, Mom. But I'll come back and see you tomorrow, I promise."
"I look forward to it, baby girl." She gave her daughter one last hug. "I'll always love you, Bo. You know that, right?"
"Of course, Mom. I love you, too." Bo gave her a little wave as she backed towards the door.
Bo and Tamsin had just turned to leave when Aífe's voice called after them. "You. Tamsin." The Valkyrie looked back at the older succubus, who beckoned for her to come closer. Squeezing Bo's hand to assure her that she'd be all right, Tamsin stepped back into the room, standing beside the bed. She and Aífe met each other's unflinching gazes and held them for a long time, observing and calculating.
"I see the way you look at her when you think no one's watching," Aífe told her in a soft voice. "I see what she means to you." Her expression became imploring. "Take care of my baby girl, will you?"
Tamsin placed her right fist over her heart and bowed at the waist: a Valkyrie sign of respect and promise. "With everything that I am."
Bo knew that she shouldn't have been listening, but she couldn't help wondering what her mother had to say to Tamsin that she couldn't say in front of her daughter. Aífe's words made her glad she doubled-back even as she almost wished she hadn't. Tamsin couldn't possibly…could she? The Valkyrie's response made Bo's heart swell with hope and another emotion she didn't recognize but filled her with warmth and light. She retreated before Tamsin could catch her, so the Valkyrie found Bo waiting for her a little ways down the hall, leaning against the wall with her arms folded across her chest.
"Can we go home?" the succubus asked, mentally drained.
Tamsin's heart backflipped again at her casual use of the word "home." "Of course, Bo."
…
"I think I'm gonna take a nap," Bo sighed as she and Tamsin trudged into the Valkyrie's apartment. "I need time to process all of this." She stopped when she realized the blonde wasn't beside her. "Tamsin?" Bo turned around.
Tamsin stood in the middle of her living room, sagging under the crushing burden of guilt she was no longer able to bear. "Bo…" she forced out in a gasp, tears welling in her eyes. "Bo, this is my fault."
Confused, the succubus turned and walked back to where the Valkyrie stood. "How is this your fault, Tam? You didn't keep my mother from me."
"Not your mother, Bo. The Wanderer. The veil. The Death Train. Everything."
Bo said nothing, only nodding to show that she was listening without judgment. "I was supposed to bring you to him…" Tamsin choked. "But I couldn't. I…I cared too much. Acacia tried to warn me and I defied her, and she…she was killed because of me, and I knew I had to…" She let out a shuddering sigh. "It was the Rune Glass. I'm not sure, but I think the Rune Glass marked you so he could take you and put you on the Death Train." Tamsin shook with the effort of containing her sobs, even as a few tears escaped to trail down her cheeks. "Bo, this is my fault, and I'm so, so sorry."
Tamsin would have struggled to say more, but Bo stepped forward and put her hands on the Valkyrie's shoulders. "Tamsin…I know," she murmured. "I figured it out a long time ago." The succubus reached up and gently wiped a tear from Tamsin's face. "I forgave you a long time ago, too."
It wasn't fair to Bo; Tamsin knew that. The succubus needed time to think about her mother and what she'd learned about her father. But Tamsin couldn't stay strong any longer, and in the warmth of Bo's forgiveness, the Valkyrie broke down.
Bo held Tamsin close and rubbed her back as the blonde clung to her, wracked with sobs. The Valkyrie – always so strong, always so steadfast – fell apart in Bo's arms, finally allowing her emotions to overwhelm her in the safety of the succubus's embrace. Bo guided them both to the couch, lying back against the cushions with Tamsin draped across her. The Valkyrie instinctively curled around her, crying away her guilt and pain as Bo cradled her in comfort and forgiveness, stroking her hair and whispering soothing sounds in her ear. Safe in the arms of her warrior, Tamsin sobbed herself into exhaustion.
