Bo and Tamsin
de la Marche Estate

"Fuck no."

Words Bo had woken up to a few times, usually uttered by herself. To be woken up BY them was a somewhat new experience. She blinked a few more times, shaking her head as she opened her eyes.

Tamsin was a few feet away, standing as she paced the finely furnished room. The Valkyrie was looking over a dress, creamy white with gray accents and perfectly in her size.

Bo sat up, catching her attention.

"Look at this shit. A fucking dress. I don't do dresses." She held up the offending garment so her companion could get a good look shaking it out in her disbelief and anger. It was pretty, but as Tamsin had said, it was certainly not what she could see the warrior wearing.

The Succubus stood up in a single motion, sweeping the sheets off. She was in her underwear, with none of the aches and pains she expected to have after the fight she and Tamsin had had. The other woman didn't have a mark on her either, and she was also clad in her underwear.

Bo shook her head as she moved to the adjoining bathroom, looking in the hamper at the off chance that their clothes were inside. No such luck. Finishing her business, she returned to the room.

She and Tamsin had been laid in twin beds in the room. It was, as she had noticed before, well furnished with elegance and a subtle style. Each piece looked like it might be at home in an antique collection but they showed signs of occasional use. There were no windows and the only door looked very sturdy.

The Valkyrie noted her sweep of the room.

"I tried it. Locked, of course. And no weapons or things that could be used as weapons. And the only clothes are… these."

Two wardrobes, both opened. Tamsin had tossed one, strewing the clothes about the room in, Bo presumed, frustration. The other had some articles of clothing out, but only a few.

"Those are sized for you. Not a piece of leather in sight."

Bo answered with a snaky grin.

"Well, I've been kept in worse cells. And with worse clothes."

The Succubus shrugged as she moved to the bathroom, intent on making use of the shower. Tamsin stared after her, mouth open in disbelief as she followed. She absently continued dragging the evening dress , it's fine fabric whispering along the floor.

"What the fuck are you doing?," she finally squealed.

Ever the temptress she was born to be, Bo replied over her shoulder as she removed her underwear.

"Getting in the shower, obviously. If I must go to a party, I'm going to go in style. And clean."

Slinking away, she left the Valkryie with a hanging jaw which she shut with a resounding click. The Succubus missed the frustrated growl over the noise of the 12 nozzle shower.

-
With her natural beauty, Bo's makeup generally involved only an application of mascara. And with Tamsin's lack of giving a fuck as she put it, the pair were dressed in under an hour. Slipping into the high-heels Bo spoke to the Tamsin as she finished putting her hair up in her own utilitarian style.

"I thought Vampires were sort of a joke? I mean Sigfried was…"

The Valkryie shook her head as she pinned.

"Sigfried is what happens when a vampire no longer hunts for his food. It happens to most of them as the ages go by. They sort of cycle in periods of not caring, or being angst ridden tools, or trying to be as 'human' as they can. And with the availability of human blood without having to seduce or kill for it, it's made it so much easier for them to become lazy."

Bo nodded as she paced, thinking things out with her… co-belligerent.

"And de la Marche. It's like 'caged tiger versus wild tiger'."

The Valkyrie stepped out, also slipping into her heels. The pair moved to a full length mirror, observing the effect the clothes had. While not their normal fare, each still suited their coloring and body shape to a tee. And they were perfectly tailored.

"Pretty close. Only this tiger likes to play with his food. As old as he is, he doesn't need to feed often. He does it for the pleasure and the power as much as for a simple feed."

Bo nodded crisply.

"So, we're the main course."

Tamsin's ice blue eyes shone like steel even as she smoothed the beautiful fabric so elegantly wrapped around her.

"Well, maybe you. But I intend to rip the bloodsuckers teeth out and scrape his eyeballs out with them."

The polite knock on the door only served to highlight the moment. The pair glided to it, where it opened before they could even reach the door knob. Their visitor stepped quickly inside with the pair frozen in shock.

The next to enter was a tuxedoed guard who met their eyes with his own, dull gaze. He spoke with a voice that seemed distant, as though it was not coming from him.

"The Baron extends an invitation to his table."

The pair smoothed over their finery, their previous visitor having already disappeared with none the wiser.

"Well then, lead on. We wouldn't want to keep our host waiting."

The two nodded to one another, assuming a stately pace behind the enthralled human.

The Baron stood in the next hallway, his lithe form bent forward to breathe in the scent of a floral arrangement. His springy black locks obscured his eyes for a moment before he stood upright to take in the appearance of his guests.

His servant had already departed, leaving him alone to escort Bo and Tamsin. He stepped with effortless grace, almost a dance with every step forward.

"Ladies, please allow me to give you a small tour of my home. I do not often receive visitors in the private residence."

Bo could see that Tamsin was still quietly seething and had no doubt that the Vampire could as well. She spoke for the both of them, readily agreeing to a tour. Mementos of a very long life, conquests and accolades which de la Marche obviously felt should be awe-inspiring to a young Fae only left her cold. She had seen more joy in a few feet of Lau's hallway than the football fields' length of personal history shown here. Still, she nodded appropriately, her gasps and wonderment applied like a cheap lacquer that he could easily discern. Tamsin kept her cool Valkryie detachment, though she did linger over a few battlefield trophies. Bo thought that she had possibly been at several of those slaughters, picking over the dead to take to the halls of Valhalla.

"Your home is magnificent. And it's security is certainly easy to underestimate."

Bo's eyes pinned Tamsin's gaze as she spoke. The warrior simply shrugged.

"Yes. The sigils. A simple design with a feature I added myself; They are laid in a sort of magical circuit, allowing security to quickly ascertain where a breach has been formed. I based it on the ideas of Nikola Tesla relating magic to electrical circuits. It has proven to be a useful innovation."

Both Bo and Tamsin nodded politely. The Succubus vaguely remembered something about an early electrical pioneer, the picture of a mad scientist.

"We also noticed some of the more interesting security elements. From the outside your home looks like an easy target, but once inside, any room or door can be locked from the control room." Tamsin spoke as she caressed a worn set of crossed spears bolted to the wall.

The Vampire nodded his head to the point as he opened the door to the main dining room.

"Yes. I have often found that dealing with intruders myself leads to less… confusion among other Fae as to what can happen."

The three moved on to the table, set in high style with candles throughout. The long table was set for the small party, though it could easily seat a hundred guests along the length of the polished maple. A few servants in livery were stationed at the doors with wheeled serving trays at the ready.

Tamsin saw a slight hitch in de la Marche's step as he considered her words. The ever so small tic in his shoulder as he tried to think of just HOW his guest could know something so intimate about his security arrangements.

The air snapped as he turned his head to regard them. He was moving at an imperceptible speed, only to be brought up short by bared steel as the pair met him with drawn blades. For just a moment his jaw dropped and his eyes widened in surprise but his long years served him well, he hid it quickly.

But not quickly enough as both the Succubus and the Valkyrie raised an eyebrow and gave a small grin.

"We had an unexpected visit from a friend. She dropped of a few gifts to help us dress for the party. Hope you don't mind if we cut the gloating portion of the evening short. We have business to attend to."

As if on cue, the lights of the dining room came on, fully illuminating the area. The servants stood solidly at attention, the faint scent of a paralyzing agent about them. The locks of each door engaged in succession, locking the room from any outside interference.

The Baron growled, his jaw clenching at the thought of this invasion. Bo watched as the Vampire changed from his beautiful form to a far more deadly one. His fangs and claws grew monstrous as his muscles swelled with power. His shoulders hunched as his neck lengthened; his jaw jutted out, forming more of a muzzle. But his eyes remained the same shining green as before, almost hypnotizing in their beauty.

His voice, where it had been melodious now only spoke with a guttural growl.

"You'll never leave these grounds alive. And then I'll hunt down every friend you have, everyone who even knows your name. The Wolf, your human pets, every client you ever helped. I'll split them open and drink them from the inside out."

He struck as he spoke the last words, with Bo already moving the blade into a block. Claws were repulsed by the clean and shining steel and Tamsin flashed into a lunge which the Vampire twisted away from with a growl. The pair closed on the monster, intent on keeping him close.

Valkyrie and Succubus danced as though they had tangoed for years, aided by the sharing of Chi when their visitor had armed them. Inside the Succubus the voices of a thousand fallen warriors roared, compelling her to fight and move just so as the Valkyrie moved here. She could see how de la Marche looked for openings to use his frightening speed only to find a blade intersecting his path. Reluctant to take wounds from the steel in the blades and obviously used to fighting in dark and enclosed spaces, he was frustrated.

He shook his head, flicking a bit of blood of his claws from a successful strike to Bo's shoulder. He stepped back again, flashing forward before Tamsin could follow. He caught the Valkyrie with a long slash from her left shoulder almost to her right hip. Though it was a shallow cut, it bled profusely. The stoic warrior made only a hiss as she drove the hilt of her blade into the side of the Vampires' head.

Bo followed up with a piercing thrust towards his chest but a shift caused the blade to glance off a rib instead. She continued with her momentum, passing the Vampire and catching him with a well-placed elbow to the jaw. He stumbled back, catching Tamsin's sweeping overhand with his left forearm, leaving a deep cut down to Fae toughened bone but not a more serious wound to the neck or chest.

To Bo the combatants seemed to freeze for a moment. She watched as Tamsin's eyes sank to a close, puzzling over it before her sword moved seemingly of its' own volition. Whether to avoid the monster's gaze or simply to avoid showing Bo's reflection in her orbs, the Succubus had no time to puzzle it out. The sliver of hesitation it brought to the Vampire was used to great effect.

Bo drew the cut from the shoulder and down the back, rending supporting muscles there and causing her opponent to shout a pained roar as he blindly swept his claws around. She had anticipated the powerful but reckless move crouching under the right hand claws and driving the hilt of the katana down into the left knee.

It shattered with a disturbing crunch but the Vampire remained standing. It was Tamsin's horizontal slice to the back of both thighs that brought him down, the tendons parting under the longsword's blade. Bo could see the knee knitting itself even as de la Marche fell, a knee strike to his nose hastening his fall. A final long heel kick to the side of the head threw the menace into unconsciousness.

Not trusting even those blows to keeping the powerful Fae down, Bo mounted him, giving a warning glance to Tamsin who was moving to simply finish him off by removing his head. Instead the Succubus used her talents, a strong stream of Chi energy flowing from the Vampire to her mouth held over his. She fed until his pale skin was almost translucent, the color even fleeing from his lips. His breath was shallow but still present as she bounced up, her eyes glowing blue and her face shining with satisfaction.

Tamsin whispered. "Eyes of Brown and Blue."

Bo blinked in confusion, the shining blue dimming to a dull glow.

"What?"

The Valkyrie shook her head.

"Nothing. Lets get him out of here. No matter what our friend did in the security control room, someone's going to come looking for this guy soon."

"Right. You ok? I can… you know… share." Bo questioned as she took in the slashes bleeding through the expensive fabric of the warrior's dress. She tore a piece of the tablecloth off to bind the wound.

"I'm fine. Let's just get him out of here. She said she'd be in the garage right?"

Bo nodded, already moving.