- x -

Kenzi jerked awake, freezing water splashing her face. She groaned and raised a hand to wipe her dripping eyes. She winced as she backhanded the water away before attempting to open them. She cracked one eye open first, seeing a booted foot before her. The boot was up to the top of its rubber sole in water, making Kenzi realize that she was also lying in the water. With this awareness came the uncontrollable shivering of fear.

"You awaken." There was an amused tone to the voice. It was a distinctly male voice-a familiar voice.

Kenzi said nothing, her teeth clenched tight to fight off the chattering. She didn't want to have a conversation with her captor, but she did force herself to look up. She fought the urge to cringe when she saw the man's face. It shifted back and forth between different features. She watched his nose change shapes, eyes change colour, lips become fuller. Eventually they settled on one visage and Kenzi did shrink away then. It was the man who was supposed to take her for X-Rays. He and Doctor Bane had moved her onto a gurney, but instead of having X-Rays, Kanzi had woken here, in the dark on the cold stone floor, with nothing but blackness to accompany her.

"Now that you're awake, I am going to give you something to keep you lucid. I want her to see the terror in your eyes as you die, human." The last word was spit out with such vehemence that Kenzi thought the guy must be wearing it.

She shook her head disbelievingly, unable to wrap her brain around what he was saying. "What did Bo ever do to you?" she whispered.

"Bo?" He barked a laugh. "You little fool, this isn't about the succubus!"

"But who—?"

"Do not speak to me again, Sushi."

Before he exited the room, slamming the door tight behind him, he darted forward and jabbed her with a quick-release needle. She yelped and grabbed her arm where it had bit her.

"The name is Kenzi!" she yelled at him, "Not Sushi!"

At least he left the lights on. Kenzi could finally get a good look at her surroundings. She was indeed sitting on a concrete floor, with a large drain in the center. There was one exit, the door the shifty-faced Fae had exited through and one very large window, which looked to be sealed exceptionally well. When Kenzi looked up, she saw Dr. Zandra Bane standing beyond the window, glancing in. She had a hand over her mouth and her eyes glittered excitedly behind her glasses. Noticing Kenzi's attention, the Doctor wiggled the fingers of her other hand in a creepy mockery of a hello.

She didn't have time to contemplate the Doctor's odd behavior because behind her she realized that the slow dripping she had heard before had turned into more of a frantic gushing. She turned to see a pipe that was running down the opposite wall had been opened to allow a large flood of water to begin filling the room.

"Oh crap!" Getting out of here on her own was now out of the question, and surviving until Bo rescued her just became a hell of a lot more difficult.

- x -

Lauren brought the car to a stop. "You sure about this, Hale?" she asked, not bothering to look at her unlikely sidekick.

"You bet, Doc. I gotta admit, you got a huge set of balls. You wanted to go against this… freak on your own?" Lauren stayed silent, staring at the steering wheel. She gripped it tight, knuckles turning white. "Holy fuck! Lauren, you were going to trade yourself, weren't you? He'd get you in exchange for Kenzi." He reached out and gripped her shoulder, turning her towards him. She saw a fleeting look of respect in his eyes, before it was replaced by a whole pile of anger. "Surely you're smarter than that! From what you've told me of this guy, he wouldn't have let Kenzi go. How do you think Bo would feel if he ended up with the both of you? Goddamn it, Lauren."

She dropped her gaze, ashamed at not having come up with a better plan. It frustrated her to no end that she was merely human and could not possibly have any effect on the Fae world. How many times would she have to sacrifice herself to protect the ones she loved? She was beginning to tire of the merry-go-round. She wanted off. If she had any shot at trading herself for Kenzi, she would have taken it. Hale's unexpected arrival had brought her chances of survival up, but not by much. She had warned him how dangerous this would be for him, but he had insisted that he knew the risks and was willing to take them.

"Well, you screwed that plan up, so hopefully yours is better."

"Of course it is. It's a classic trick. Use you as bait to distract, while I swoop in and save the day."

Lauren couldn't help the nervous laugh that burst out of her. "We're both idiots, Hale."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. I guess if I gotta meet my end, I might as well do it trying to do the right thing."

She fixed him with a serious look. "You've got it bad, Hale. Really bad."

He looked like he wanted to deny it, but instead he lowered his voice. "No one can ever know, Lauren. No one. Ever. Kenzi will be in so much danger if anyone ever knew."

"Not to mention you. You must know what they'll do to you."

"Don't remind me, lady. I've been fighting it since I realized how I felt, but… fuck—they say you can't help who you love, but this… this is messed up. I must have pissed off a Fate, or something."

"If we get out of this in one piece, you have my word. No one will hear of it from me."

Hale gave her arm an appreciative squeeze then took a deep breath and opened his car door. "Let's do this." He closed the door behind him and disappeared into the darkness. Lauren took one more look at his retreating form, then licked her seriously dry lips and picked up her cell phone with shaking fingers. She dialed the number she had been given, a sickness twisting in the lowest parts of her belly.

"I'm here," she managed, barely able to make her mouth say the words around the saliva that had begun to pool inside it. She snapped the phone shut, hastily opened her car door and promptly vomited on the street.

- x -