A/N: Ugh! I hate myself for writing this. I just... I hate myself. But it was a necessary evil. Kind of a short setup chapter to all the awesome crap that's about to go down (thanks to TheUnaligned for helping me work that stuff out). Nothing truly significant happens in this chapter, but it mildly lives up to the M rating of the story, and will eventually lead into my beloved valkubus. Would've just continued on with the plot, but this seemed as good a stopping point as any, and it's been a bit since my last upload...So, ugh, just read. Cry.
(QuickLookBusy, you'll probably love and hate this with a passion. My bad.)
There was an ominous stillness to the air. Cold and tasteless on the tongue, a calm that could rip through crowds with a devastating cleave, bringing about a silence that would settle upon the lands with an icy touch. It burned as it pressed against her skin, filled her dry lungs and stabbed at her eyelids. But she knew this stillness. Imbued in it was a hatred and a sickening fear… her hatred, her fear, and it shook her to the very core. The raw terror it wrought from her was unbridled and sickening… she wanted nothing more than to shake it, but she couldn't.
"You're afraid, valkyrie," came a deep, raspy voice that made the still air itself tremble.
A few feet before her, amidst the dull grey of her surroundings, a thick, black smoke erupted from the ground. It twisted up into the air, its thick width collapsing at the center and its climb ceasing at a certain point, so that it simply hovered in the air. Eventually, as the form of a person had become the evident shape of the black smoke, the black melted away into pink skin and brunette hair.
"Bo…" She spoke, her voice quivering with a hint of fear that was beginning to take hold of her.
The figure of the succubus stood half naked, most of her clothes resting at her feet as a seductive grin formed on her face. But she wasn't looking at Tamsin. The valkyrie was gazing at the brunette's side, watching as Bo lustfully bit her lip, staring at the emptiness before her. And then, rather suddenly, another tower of black smoke rose from the ground, its form twisting and collapsing into the figure of another... one who set Tamsin's heart ablaze with a hint of anger and jealousy. It was Lauren. The thin woman stood, as Bo did, half-exposed to the succubus before her.
The two figures remained still, their eyes locked onto each other's for a few long moments before they, at the precise same moment, began to approach each other. They closed the distance between them in less than second, ramming their mouths together in a passionate kiss. The figure of Lauren reached her hands up, gripping at the hair on the back of Bo's head and aggressively pulling her closer, slamming their bodies together in a heated collision. The succubus' hand, which had been pressed against Lauren's back, began to drag its way down, stopping at the blonde's hips, where they slid around and gripped the woman at the sides. Lightly pushing Lauren back to make a small crack of space between them, Bo moved her hands to rest her palms on the human's bare stomach. Their lips never parted.
"Why are you showing me this?" Tamsin asked, an obvious tremble in her cracking voice. Had anyone been looking, they might've seen a flash of anger in her steely green eyes. She felt so tragically empty, looking forward at the sight before her, her body held in place by an icy grip that burned into her flesh.
"Just wait," said the deep voice, a hint of excitement in his chilling tone.
Tamsin continued to watch as Lauren's hands made their way down Bo's body, her nails scraping against the brunette's glistening skin. She pushed Bo up against an invisible wall, a light smile forming at the edge of her lips as Bo's mouth moved to her jawline. Just then, as Bo's being seemed utterly consumed in the task at hand, her face nuzzled deep in the blonde's neck, the doctor's head rolled, her brown gaze meeting Tamsin's as her smile curved into a cynical smirk. The succubus, pulling her head back for a moment so that she could capture the blonde's lips, seemed obviously aroused by the entire situation, her hands yanking her lover closer. And then, in the longest second of Tamsin's life, it was all over.
The two bodies stopped moving, Lauren's playfully satisfied gaze still on Tamsin's. There was a drawn out silence, Tamsin's breath hitched in her throat, her body shaking in its place, the pain of the scorching grip around her falling to the recesses of her mind as the eerie and tension-filled silence shattered at the echoing sound of a drop of water slamming against the ground. Tamsin's eyes fell to the floor, where a single drop of red liquid lay… and then another, and another, and another, and then, with the clashing sound of metal hitting cement, a knife slammed into the small puddle of blood.
"No…" Tamsin breathed, her body screaming to break free from the grip that held her. "No!"
Bo's figure stumbled backwards, Lauren's hands falling to her sides, blood dripping from her fingertips. The blonde's gaze had since moved back to face the succubus, who had a tragic look of sorrow on her face. "I-I love you," she rasped to Lauren, who's smirk had morphed into a broad and twisted grin, as the succubus' knees buckled and her body crumpled to the ground. Her open hand collapsed into the puddle of blood, her head falling to the side, dark brown eyes meeting blue-green ones.
"Bo!" Tamsin screamed, her voice resonating through the seemingly endless space that surrounded her as she desperately and ferociously struggled to break free. But no matter how hard she fought, she couldn't escape… and no matter how hard she wished, she couldn't wake.
"She doesn't look well," Bo stated simply, her eyes raking over the sweating valkyrie.
"Her body's trying to heal," Trick replied, resting the back of his hand atop the blonde's forehead. "She's been through a lot."
"Yeah." Bo nodded in agreement, lightly and subconsciously running her fingertips up and down Tamsin's arm.
After having 'discretely' slipped Tamsin the valkyrie-strength pain syrup and partaking in a bit of alcohol consumption with Kenzi, Bo decided to give Trick a call, asking that he and Dyson come to the clubhouse. Despite the succubus' reluctance to explain to them the reasoning behind the request, they agreed, arriving twenty minutes later with an assortment of magical items and books that Trick had opted to bring. Bo asked Trick to check on Tamsin, considering him the closest thing to a fae doctor among her now limited group of friends.
"About—"
"Lauren," Trick abruptly finished, knowing full well where his granddaughter intended to lead this conversation. "I haven't had much of a chance to read up on the situation,' he stated solemnly, his eyes leaving the valkyrie's to meet Bo's. "This ability that Tamsin spoke of, did she mention a name or a type of fae?"
"No. She said she'd only heard of the ability."
"I see…" Trick reached his hand up, lightly pinching the bridge of his nose as he began to consider the matter of events.
"Trick, there has to be some way to snap her out of this… whatever it is," Bo all but pleaded as she stepped closer to her grandfather.
"If there is, I've yet to come across it," he replied. "All that I know is that the fae who owns this ability—the one who did this to Dyson and Lauren—is a very powerful being. To not just bend the will, but plant it is an incredibly strong ability… it's something of gods or great warriors of ancient times."
"Gods?" Bo asked, "Why would a god want control of Lauren's will?"
"I think the more appropriate question is why a fae with such incredible power feels the need to send a valkyrie to do his work."
Bo's eyes wandered back over to Tamsin. "I… I have to find Lauren."
Trick nodded, knowingly. "I know."
"But, I can't just leave her here."
"I can stay," Dyson stated, entering the room.
"I need you to come with me," Bo replied, her eyes never leaving Tamsin's slightly trembling form. "I can't track Lauren as quickly as you can."
Dyson simply nodded in response.
Kenzi entered the room behind Dyson, making her way past the large wolf-man to stand beside Bo. "Trickster and I can stay," she said, nudging Bo lightly to wake her from her trance. "Anyone comes a-knocking on our door, and we'll give them a solid beat down."
"I—" Bo stated with clear hesitation.
"Trickster is the goddamn blood king, Bobo! He is the shit of all shits. Supreme lord of… blood, or whatever."
Trick decided against objecting to the human's brutal depiction of his ancient title, choosing to listen to Bo's response instead.
"We can take whatever they send our way, Bo," Kenzi said, her tone suddenly taking on a more serious edge.
"You'll keep her safe?" Bo asked, her hand still running along the blonde's arm. There was a hint of sadness to her tone… she didn't want to leave Tamsin's side, but she also couldn't leave Lauren out there alone. Even if this version of Lauren wanted nothing more than to see the valkyrie dead, Bo simply knew that given some time, she could break the human from the mysterious hold on her mind. She had to.
"Safer than safe. I'd sooner die than—"
"No. No one is going to die," Bo quickly asserted, her eyes moving to meet Kenzi's, and then the remaining persons in the room. "No one is going to die," she repeated more quietly.
"Alright. But still, I will protect her. Trick's got her back, too. Right, gramps?" She turned her gaze towards the small elderly fae.
"I will defend her with my life," he agreed. "Bo, go and do what you have to do."
A look of upset in her brown eyes, Bo nodded. "Okay," she said, a deep sadness in the spoken word that only further inspired Kenzi and Trick. Bo cared for Tamsin, this they could tell. The valkyrie had proven herself worthy of becoming one of their gang… thus she had become worthy of their affectionate protection, even if she was currently unaware of the unfolding events.
With one last glance at the distressed but unconscious valkyrie, Bo took Dyson by the arm and dragged him downstairs. They stalked up on weapons, and then darted out the door.
This time, Bo and Lauren's glistening figures appeared merged on the floor. The positions in which they appeared in changed with each scene, but it always ended the same. The two women laid panting, Lauren atop of Bo, who's head rested in the remaining blood from the three previous scenes. Lauren's hands drew their way up and down Bo's torso, sharp nails scraping against smooth skin. Their lips were locked, moans escaping from their mouths as they gripped at each other, desperately holding one another as close as could possibly be arranged. But then came the silence.
The frigid grip around Tamsin's body tightened, causing her to groan aloud as the pain became more prominent in her traumatized mind. Despite this, her eyes remained locked on Bo, who collapsed back onto the hard ground, blood trickling from her stomach down her sides and onto the floor, where it joined the blood from every death of hers that Tamsin had been forced to watch. Lauren reached up, holding Bo's jaw in her hand, keeping the brunette from stealing one last glance at the valkyrie before the life faded from her eyes. Instead, Lauren took the final twisted and cold glance at Tamsin, her brutally sardonic gaze boring into the valkyrie's sole as Bo's body went limp beneath her.
"And so it will be," came the increasingly disturbing voice. Tamsin trembled as the owner's cold breath pressed against her neck, his hands appearing on her shoulders.
She could still feel the grip around her body, holding her in place, but this didn't seem to affect the figure that stood behind her. His hands slid down to her arms, then lower, and then sideways to her stomach, where they glided upwards towards her neck. "You will suffer at my will." His icy hands clamped around her throat, burning her flesh, leaving her to simply gasp for air as the figures of Bo and Lauren appeared again. This time the doctor had Bo pinned to the ground by her wrists, the succubus' lustful smile shining up at her. When Lauren leaned down, her lips slamming against Bo's passionately, she felt consumed by a peculiar mix of rage and sorrow.
In that moment, though confusing the thought was, she didn't much care if the hands around her throat choked the very life from her.
More A/N: Hope you enjoyed, or cried internally as I did.