A Great Day to Die

"So you are saying it's over?" Bo asked, her finger tips touching the rim of her wine glass. The cafe was a little crowded but the day as warm and sunny, and sitting outside under the veranda made it ok. Tamsin who was sat opposite with an almost finished fresh salad and white wine at her lips, pulled a yes but no expression.

"I want to say yes, but obviously Scarlet still wants us to keep him up to date." She said, waiting to reveal more than she could but holding herself back. Taking a stronger gulp of the wine, not enough for Bo to realise. Bo sipped hers softly and placed it on the metal cafe table.

"Well I can understand that, it's just I thought he would back off. But Fae always have their bullshit." Bo said, picking at the remains of her own salad. Tamsin wanted to tell her so badly, and so bit her lip to hold the words in her mouth. She checked her watch, it was nearing time.

"Hey I want to get some stuff from the mall, if you want to come with?" Tamsin said, finishing her salad, drying up the dressing sauce with some faccacia bread that came as a side. She licked her fingers and got up, waiting for a response from Bo, who looked weary at her and then smiled.

"Of course I will. No use eating alone." Bo said, getting her leather jacket, her white tank top needed an accessory. Tamsin dropped to bills under her plate and grabbed her phone and keys. They both walked down the street to her truck which was parked just over the corner.

"So Kenzi and Dyson are ok?" Tamsin said, breaking the slightly awkward silence between them. Bo looked to the ground hugging her jacket.

"Yeah, I mean Kenzi is going to take longer than Dyson, but it's been a few days now she should be better." She said, looking up as a small group of people walked through them, one girl with lubricious blue hair and deep soulful green eyes walked past catching her gaze. Bo looked after her and smiled, she was absolutely stunning. Tamsin saw her and guilty flooded through her like she had been hit by a sack of cement, her heart feeling crushed. That girl would be one of the innocent victims. Another crowd of people walked past them, one man pushing between them in a hurry.

"Where are all these people heading?" Tamsin asked, they stopped for a moment just short of the corner where her truck was. Bo looked at her as if she was an idiot.

"Today is the gay pride parade, it had to be a day early because of something, but it's happening now at the bull mall. I thought that's why you took the day off and dragged me here, most of the kids are skivvying too. I mean well, there isn't much of a school to go to during the massive investigation we have had to fake." Bo said, and longed to see the parade, colours of which were just visible in the distance. Tamsin didn't know if she could actually do it, all these people, Fae, Human, this wasn't supposed to happen. Or was it?

"Duh that's why I brought you, I don't really need anything, I have a close up place we can go." Tamsin said biting her tongue and acting as if this was her plan. The Bull mall would have to wait, they walked slightly fast over to her truck and she got in, roaring the engine into life. Bo sat next to her, her tight skinnies crossed over showing off her shapely legs. Tamsin looked for a moment, forgetting where she was and pulled the car into drive. Most of the road was closed off but Tamsin pulled out her badge and they let her through, right up at the middle of the parade where no one was, in between two buildings. The truck stopped and the two got out, Tamsin spreading a blanket over the bonnet and helping her climb onto it to sit down.

"Oh shit, I forgot something, let me go to the store and get it, I swear I wont be long." Before Bo could reply Tamsin grabbed her wallet and ran around the corner of the to buildings and out of Bo's sight. The parade was making it's way down to them on the road, dancers in extravagant outfits, feathers, rainbows and soap bubbles everywhere. This would have to happen now to minimise causalities. She stopped, dropped to her knees and pulled the device out of her bag and onto the floor in front of her. Half of her wanted to chuck it in the bin and deal with the consequences, the other half wanted to fulfil her destiny and follow Scarlet, with Bo at her side. But she knew after this Bo was hardly going to take her back. Her fingers pressed against the pressurised control pad, typing in the timing and mass it would need to have to release the agent. This was no ordinary bomb, it would destroy the Fae and turn humans into diseased ridden vessels. But not just destroy the Fae, Scarlet wouldn't do something as meagre as that, no he had to go hard or go home. It would burn Fae from the inside out, starting with their lungs when they inhaled it and flowing to their blood to rot them, before they could even realise what was happening. Tamsin took a deep breath and pressed confirm, she placed it in the middle of the road, thinking she had just enough time to come up with some excuse, get Bo and leave.

Tamsin ran back towards the alley and the van. She heard the beeping of the bomb get faster and faster as she got closer and closer to the truck. Bo was still sat on the bonnet eating something she had got from somewhere. Tamsin smiled and signed for her to get in the truck right away. Bo was confused but got off of the bonnet. Tamsin heard the last few beeps of the bomb go and just as she opened the truck door.

"Get in!" She yelled, just as Bo looked at her worried, she heard the last click and the bomb and her body ran cold. "Get the fuck in the truck!" Tamsin yelled chucking herself in. The bomb only made the smallest sound, surprisingly considering Scarlet was one for theatrics, but she knew that wasn't it. Bo got in the car and slammed the door.

"Hey watch it! What's going on?" Bo said and she pulled her seatbelt on. Just as Tamsin was about to make up some excuse a man with her hands wrapped around his throat ran out in front of them from the road. His body was painted the colours of the rainbow and he was wearing just a skirt and sandals (hot weather). But the gruesome detail was that his eyes were puffy and bright red, his mouth was frothing a white foam and his hands were gripping his throat not out of pain but out of self harm.

"Shit!" Tamsin said as she slammed her foot on the gas running him down. He jumped onto the bonnet, slamming his body onto the glass.

"What the fuck is going on?" Bo cried out, watching the man's crazed eyes.

"If I tell you don't be mad." Tamsin was battling with her words, wanting to tell her everything.

"I wont tell me now." Bo screamed as the man fell off and under the wheels, his body crushing under them. Tamsin squinted as it happened and Bo was screaming hysterically. When they got onto the main road, the road was full of a just visible gas, the whole of the parade had fallen to shit to their left and Bo just looked on in horror as everyone in the front line was already dead, the rows behind were falling about clutching to their last breaths. Tamsin slammed her foot again ramming the gear to go. The body was making her tired stick, in the meantime she mean time she made sure all of the windows were up and the doors shut. She flicked a switch to only circulate air and not let any from the outside in. Bo was confused staring at the scene in horror.

"You said you'd join us right?..." She didn't give Bo a chance to respond. "Because this is now, and we have started a whole whirl wind of shit." Tamsin said, her eyes were slightly red, the exposure to the bomb must have caused it somehow.

"What have you done Tamsin?!" Bo asked, but more shouted as they finally roared over the body, people still dressed up chasing after them grabbing their throats, the same foam oozing out of them. Tamsin had her shoulders hunched up as she steered wildly around the road avoiding bodies that had crawled there. The mist was getting thicker and turning a deadly orange colour.

"You signed up for it!" Tamsin said, even she was confused, Tamsin was she had doubts about what she had done. "I am so sorry Bo I have messed everything up." Bo could see that Tamsin was struggling with her words, her hands were shaking.

"What have you done!" Bo asked a final time, her voice no longer hysterical but scared and worried. She could no longer see the bodies behind them, and didn't even want to think about whatever was happening as side from just behind them.. Tamsin's hands were welded to the wheel the car roaring at her relenting power. She pulled her shit together and shook her head. Relaxing her shoulders, she gave a heavy hearted sigh. Releasing her worries in that breath she slammed the car to the right, just missing the edge of the road in the heavy mist. Bo swung to the left against her door. There was a slight crack. Tamsin's head snapped to the door Bo was leaning on, her eyes wild in sorrow but tinted black form her Valkyrie power. Bo's mouth dropped open.

"What did you do?" Bo repeated her voice was softer, she was scared. Tamsin took another breath and was about to tell her when their car was smashed forward, the tail of it up in the air and Bo and Tamsin's slammed against the windscreen, the air bags pushing them back into their seats. Tamsin's eyes flickered once, just enough time to see Bo with blood coming from her head and her eyes closed. Black.

"Great job, utterly thrilled, honestly the best I have seen in a billion moons."

"Tamsin get the fuck up. You know I have been reading up on your culture, and to be honest it disgusts me. Why do you people favour love over hate. Love is so dull, people kills and fuck and fall out. It's all so everyday. Hate, now that is very exciting. It comes in many forms, wanting to avoid someone, wanting to post things on their book face, facebook? Tumblr? Whatever, some stupid thing."

There was a shuffling, near by. Stinging seared through from her finger tips to her head.

"Honestly you are useless. One car crash and suddenly you have run out of your lives and lay on the floor. Fuck sake you have made such a mess, blood everywhere. What are Fae these days, weak?"

More shuffling. A thud, as if something was being kicked. If it was her Tamsin couldn't feel it.

"Why do you people say 'F.U.C.K so much. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth...I love it."

Now Tamsin could feel the pain, where she guessed she had been kicked. Sensations in her cheek were beginning to come to her, coldness, a cold dull ache, like she imagined a piece of meat felt like when slapped on a chopping board from chilled.

"Get the fuck up."

There was a weird sensation and Tamsin suddenly felt woozy, as if she was falling, but in reverse. Her cheek was no longer cold but warming at a sudden pace as if she was not on the floor but in the air. Her eyes still weren't opening and her senses weren't kicking in yet.

"Brush you self off..." Tamsin felt the cold again, but this time like a horrible clamp was seizing her whole front side. There was a small crack. "Oh shit. Sorry about that." The cold was gone again but the sensation across her front was still present.

"Hey buddy, I don't know what kind of shit you are pulling, but that's my Valkyrie." Bo's voice was there, just a bit away from her, it felt strong and Fae, unhurt it seemed. There was a lot of shuffling and that woozy sensation Tamsin felt before was coming again, but suddenly it was taken away and she was being pulled away from something. There was some shouting, and Tamsin felt like she was being pulled.

"Oh no, not a succubus? What ever will I do?" Scarlet said, his voice strained with loads of sarcasm.

"I am not just any 'succubus'." She said, Tamsin felt something burst through her lips and into her chest. Her eyes flashed open, her body snapped up to a standing position, just for a moment she could feel the way her body kept hitting the floor and her cheek was bruised. But in a second the orange neon chi flooded into her from Bo, form Scarlet. Tamsin pulled back to get away from it, she loved Bo but Scarlet was her commander. Bo let the connection drop and Tamsin tumbled back, still unsure of her footing but a lot stronger and more collected than she was. The room was white, so they must not have been in Scarlet's lair, or if they were he had changed a lot. Tamsin walked over to Scarlet who was stood there amused at the scene, holding his mouth at the sensation of chi coming form him. When she got there she slapped him hard in the face, his head turned away but froze there in a smile.

"I love how angry you get." He said amused again, his face turning back to her. "I am impressed, I didn't think you had it in you, but now the toxin is released and soon the world will be in my control once again." His fist clenched in front of him grasping the air, his eyes fixed on something not there.

"Will somebody please tell me what the hell is going on?!" Bo shouted into the white room, her voice louder as it echoed slightly. She was frustrated, confused, angry, scared, and a whole bunch of other emotions she couldn't name. In front of her stood her enemy who she had decided to join who had tried to kill her friends and the girl she loved. Both of whom she hated. She stepped forward, her stance strong and powerful like she could attack at any second but knew her words were stronger.

"What is happening to all those people out there? Plus buddy, your security here sucks. Guards in fancy metal outfits? No problem, but don't worry I left them unconscious not dead." To anyone else her words would have struck fear, even for a teacher she was not someone to fuck with. Scarlet just clapped in appreciation and walked over to her in his riding boots. Tamsin stood just back from both of them, confused about what she really wanted.

"What happened, why not leave them dead? This place needs a little...decoration." Scarlet looked up at the white walls and ceiling frowning slightly. He clicked and the room was swarmed with gold, she could now see the edge of the room, 4 walls with no visible door, quite small.

"You're sick!" Bo said, she grabbed her dagger and pointed it at Scarlet. "Tell me what you made her do!" Bo said, briefly pointing the dagger at Tamsin, her teacherly protection suddenly came over her. Tamsin put her hands in the air, looking at Scarlet for help but knowing he would never do that.

"I didn't make her do anything, she did it herself. Destroying the Fae population was a gift from her to me."

"Destroying the Fae?!" Bo's jaw dropped but tightened in anger, she foot moving waiting to attack but needing more information. "Is that what happened to that man, he was Fae? You killed him? Why?" Bo almost let her emotions get the better of her, but restrained herself, keeping what was left of her cool. She pictured the man's face, the foam, the blood, the anguish and horror..she squinted in disgust, it was too much to handle.

"Bo I am so so sorry, I wanted to explain but I am caught up between a rock and a hard place! I care about you so much, but I have loyalty to Scarlet, this is my purpose Bo. Not being a teacher, not being the model person but being his warrior." Tamsin said her hands out in front of her pleading in this horrible situation what was left of her moral compass to apologise to Bo. Conflict was all over her face. Bo stared at her and said nothing, acknowledging the pain in her eyes, but letting it be there as a punishment.

"You've brainwashed her haven't you. I knew Tamsin, she was a drunk lazy arse but she was nothing like this. She was not capable of this. She didn't even know she was a Valkyrie. So don't give me any shit about her doing this as a gift, because I know you are lying." Bo walked closer to Scarlet a change in her tone, more sensual. "You better reverse whatever this is that you did, before this knife goes through your throat." Bo's lips were by his ear whispering this into it, his face alive with humour and childish mischief.

"Oh no Bo, don't threaten me I am so scared." Scarlet said, grabbed the arm with the knife in his fist and holding it in an iron clamp. His face suddenly narrows and lines of anger were on his forehead. "Don't you dare threaten me again." He said, his voice sinister vibrating the room, her ear drums felt like they were collapsing on themselves but at the same time popping over and over again. She cried out, but seemed to be the only one hearing the voice, Tamsin stood silently watching. Her other hand went straight for her head holding it, trying to give some comfort. The knife dropped out of her hand and the voice stopped, she slumped to the ground, blood coming form her ears, the knife a few feet away. Scarlet stared at her, disgust evident in his expression, he spat just to the side of her and turned around storming away disappearing through the golden wall. Tamsin ran after him, but struck the hard wall, her palms flat against it she started to cry against it's solid surface. She sighed breathing into the wall, which tasted metallic on her tongue. Her hands brought themselves into fists against the wall her nails dragging down slightly.

"Tamsin what about Dyson? Kenzi?!" Bo strained her voice to emphasise it but she couldn't hear it that well. Tamsin closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. What have I done? She thought, she turned agonisingly slowly to face Bo, her hands now behind her back she showed her true emotions. Her face innocent she just watched, waiting to be told off waiting to be punished waiting like a child waits when they know they've done wrong.

"I don't know..." Tamsin voice was tired. She had done the wrong thing, she had followed this man and he turned out to be the dick she had always imagined. Bo got up, wiping the blood from the sides of her face onto the back of her arm and came closer to Tamsin. She removed the madness in her eyes, the hatred for her, the resentment. Bo became the great teacher she was and reassured Tamsin.

"Look lets just focus on getting out of here." Bo offered, looking at Tamsin with wide calming eyes. Tamsin's hands came from behind her back and let themselves hang there.

"No we can't Bo. I fucked up, I really really fucked up. I always do. When there is trouble I am always at the centre of it, it follows me around!" This time Tamsin was the hysterical one, this time she was loosing her shit. Even before she was recruited by the Fae she was always at the cause of trouble. Bar fights circled around her, family deaths were blamed on her. It was always her. Bo held Tamsin's arm gently with her own blood stained hand. She attempted a smile. But she as breaking down too, she was always the strong one, she always had to put on a strong face but it was all coming to shit now Tamsin was in her life.

"It's not your fault." Bo managed to say, Dyson and Kenzi could wait, Trick and Lauren could wait, her students could wait, the dead Fae elders and producers could wait. "This whole thing is circumstance, you didn't ask for any of this. He brainwashed you." Bo was dragging all the clues together, Scarlet had brain washed her no self respecting Fae would do this, Tamsin wasn't capable. "He is Odin or whatever he claims to be, we need to destroy him ok. Then worry about the people in the streets. He caused this not you."

The atmosphere shifted from high tensions and angst to calm sadness. Tamsin no longer struggling with her inner conflict as much, but it still played on her mind what she had done.

"It doesn't matter if he brain washed me Bo. I put down the bomb, I released the agent, I killed all of those people." Tamsin was getting hysterical again, Bo bit her lip. She pushed Tamsin against the wall as their lips connected. This wasn't a passionate kiss, this wasn't a love filled kiss. This was a goodbye kiss.

"You were brainwashed. You planted that bomb and set he agent off because he made you, you had no choice." Bo said, pulling her head back, her heart only flutter for a second before she could take no more. Tamsin's eyes were closed still as she savoured the soured taste filled with regret.

"There is always free will, I had a choice, I even thought about it. I could have just put the bomb in the bin or somewhere else and walked away. But I choose to do it Bo. I let myself do it." Tamsin slumped to the floor in a seated position her back against the wall. Bo slowly dropped to her knees and sat down next to Tamsin against the golden wall.

"Tamsin, our whole life is determined by something. I woke up this morning ready for a school day, I didn't choose to take the day off because I overtly wanted to, I did because you text me. I wouldn't have had you not. The same way you only set off the bomb and the agent because he made you. You wouldn't have done it otherwise. It wasn't you fault." Bo said, her arm wrapping around her shoulders. Tamsin felt awful, she felt like her whole world had come down around her and she was there staring at the folded pieces on the ground.

"I didn't have a choice to join him. My ancestors signed some kind of deal." Her voice was soft and muffled in a repressed cry. Her fingers played with each other in her lap, and her head faced down, her hair loose in its pull back.

"I've never played well with deals." Bo said, she herself sighed heavily. Her life had gone to shit too, she didn't even dare think about the implications on the school, who was dead, who was alive.

"That's the difference between me and you Bo. I do. I am bound to my honour and role. I have to do this." Tamsin said, looking up at Bo her face red and her eyes puffy from tears.

"No you don't you don't ever have to do anything you don't want to do...Trust me, I always do what I want." Bo said this and looked up at Tamsin too, smiling. In all the shit they had just seen, all of the dead bodies, Scarlet, the anger they both had built up inside of them. It was just nice to talk.

"My life has literally changed in a week, and I just...I never thought anything like this would happen. I just finished university, I just got my degree. I was going to be a teacher you know, just teach kids, inspire them, then see them grow and live the life I never could. I just wanted to be normal." Tamsin was honest, raw and filled with sorrow, Bo respected that she had opened up.

"When I was a kid, before I was wrapped up in Fae bullshit, I had dreams to be an international super spy, but then Fae puberty hit and I saw that dashed when I realised there was a much bigger world I had never even known about. I wouldn't have know if I didn't...well there was this one..." Bo sighed. "I killed a boy, the first boy I was ever with..I killed him." Bo was honest. Tamsin was shocked staring at her, Bo had killed a person. "I didn't mean to kill him, I just couldn't control myself, it was my first time. I had no idea about my powers. Fae always think humans are lesser than them, it's just the hierarchy in our world. I never liked it. So when I killed him..I was torn. I had become everything I had seen in the news, murderers, killings, shootings, stabbings I just couldn't believe I was one of those bad guys...But then I thought, I am not bad. I have done a bad thing but that doesn't define me. I ran for a while, and then settled down here, well at the Dal. I settled and have been battling with it all of my life, but I wont let it get me down."

There was silence between the two girls, Tamsin understood. It wasn't her fault, she didn't want to kill the people and torture them. She was made to. But somewhere in Tamsin she felt like..she wanted it. As if her true nature was to kill and that made her feel horrible, like a monster she herself was scared of. Bo looked at Tamsin's restless fingers and thought about the face of the guy she killed in the car that night..

"We have to kill Scarlet, and save the world. Ok? Ok." Bo said getting up and offering the broken Tamsin her hand.