Chapter 28

Tamsin went back to the convention center, where Dyson and Lauren had set up a temporary autopsy place in one of the meeting rooms.

While the others were still processing the scene, Lauren started examining the bodies that they had already labelled.

Dead bodies filled the floor of the room. The dead humans were grouped into four rows, those who had been charred, those who had their brains fried, those who had been ripped open and those who had their limbs ripped off. All the dead Faes were placed on the other side of the room.

In the middle, there were three autopsy tables, where Lauren and two other medical examiner who were from the police department were working on the dead bodies.

Dyson, who was standing right next to Lauren and staring at the body on the table closely, gave Tamsin a nod when she walked in.

He stepped aside and removed his mask, before he asked her in a low voice, "how's Dagny? Is she alright?"

"Never been better," Tamsin replied with a shrug. As she watched Lauren open a body's chest with a bone saw, she asked, "so, what do we know so far? Smell anything unusual yet?"

Dyson shook his head. "Too many people, too much blood," he told her while unconsciously sniffing again. Among the million scent he caught in the air, he couldn't tell which one he should be paying extra attention to. "I definitely don't smell Hades, that I can tell ya."

Tamsin nodded quietly. After giving a quick glance at all the human bodies, she murmured, "I guess we got a five-killer gang, huh?"

"Four," Dyson corrected her.

Tamsin raised her eyebrows at Dyson. "There were four distinct killing signatures among the human victims," she reminded him. "Burnt, brain fried, ripped open and ripped apart. Plus, don't we also have a mysterious sex demon who killed all the Faes?"

"True," Dyson acknowledged before he led her to the last two rows of got down on one knee and leaned over a body that had been ripped open. "Check this out," he told Tamsin as he pointed at two rows of messy marks left on the victim's right shoulder.

Tamsin had to put on a pair of gloves to remove the victim's clothes before she could have a closer look at the marks. "Bite marks?" She asked in a frown.

"Exactly," Dyson nodded while moving towards a body that had its legs torn off. "Now look at this one."

Tamsin carefully examined the body, and it didn't take her long to find some bite marks on the side of the victim's waist. She compared the two sets of bite marks, before she murmured, "well, I'm no bite mark expert, but...they look identical, right?"

"They do," Dyson said with a nod. "Which leads me to believe that these people were killed by the same person. In fact, I do have a theory of what type of Fae this killer is."

"Then why don't you share that theory, Wolfie?" Tamsin demanded.

"These marks...the way these people were killed, I think it's most likely that this person is a shifter who could shift into a large predator animal."

"Large as in your size, or larger than you?" Tamsin asked. Her frown got deeper.

"Much larger than me," Dyson told her. "Could be something like a bear, I don't know."

"Are werebears even real?" Tamsin commented. "And since when do we have werebears in town?"

"We don't. I mean, not that I know of," Dyson replied. After silently stared at all the bodies there, he said, "looks like we got quite a few new Faes in town. An amature too."

"What do you mean?"

"Shifters no longer hunt like this," Dyson explained. "Even if some do hunt humans, there wouldn't be so much hesitation."

"What do you mean by hesitation? I don't see any hesitation here," Tamsin said as she pointed at the bodies. "I saw ruthless killings, unnecessary, ruthless killings."

"I know, I'm not talking about the body count. I'm talking about the marks this killer left," Dyson told her. "This person left a lot of bite marks that on top of each other, like they weren't sure where exactly to bite. That's why I said it might be an amature. Someone that has barely hunted before. Someone that is still getting used to the beast inside them."

"Great, now we got an evolving crazy predator. What about those?" Tamsin asked as she threw her chin at the other two rows of bodies. "What type of Fae did it?"

"Well," Dyson said as he walked to the side of a body with a fried brain. "We believe that these people were killed by someone who could feed off people's thoughts and minds."

"And of course, this killer sucked them non-stop until their brains are fried," Tamsin said.

"One of the detectives in my team said she might have some clues on that one, so I left that to her," Dyson said. Then, he turned to the last row of bodies, where everyone was heavily burnt. "And for those-"

"-were killed by someone plays fire all the time?"

"The killer is definitely a pyro Fae, yes," Dyson said. "That might be our most viable clue right now, because pyro Faes are rare and they are required to register into a worldwide database the moment they are born. Mark is looking through that registry right now."

Tamsin nodded. She looked at all the dead Fae across the room, and asked, "and those are killed by our mysterious sex demon, right? Is there any surveillance footage or anything like that? Any witness?"

Dyson shook his head. "Not that we know of," he said, "but the tech team is looking into it."

Tamsin sighed. "So, we got a sex demon who has killed quite a few Faes not too long ago. And then, this sex demon teamed up with a mind eater, a fire player, and a grizzly. They are just roaming around together while leaving a massive body count behind. They do that because...they are a bunch of nutjobs who happened to have found each other, or because they somehow have some connections and now they are having a wild party in town?"

"Connection? What kind?"

"I don't know," Tamsin shrugged. "Say...Hades?"

"You think this has something to do with Hades? Why?" Dyson frowned at her.

"Well, A, he just got out, and B, he loves massacres," Tamsin said. "The timing is just...I mean, really, how often do we have a psychopath Ancient and a killer gang but they are totally unrelated?"

"I haven't found anything here that can connects him to this," Dyson told her honestly. "But, I mean, I guess it's always possible that…."

Before he could finish, Mark storemd in. He was panting hard while raising a stack of files in his hand. For a moment he tried to talk to them but was too overwhelmed by the dire need of oxygen.

Grabbing the edge of an autopsy table, he clenched his jaw while letting out a few growls. "I...I found something," he told them.

"You found one of the killers?"

Mark shook his head. "No, but I found...I found something interesting when I was going through the pyro Fae registry list."

"Well, what did you find?" Tamsin asked impatiently.

"One of the first four victims," Mark replied while breathing heavily through his nose.

"Huh?" Both Dyson and Tamsin frowned at him confused.

Mark slammed the files into Dyson's arms. "One of our first four victims, ya know, those thought to be killed by the new sex demon? One of them, that young woman, Libby. She was registered in that database."

Dyson quickly skimmed through a printout copy of the names on the registry. "So Libby Williams was a pyro Fae...wait that's...are you sure it's the same person? Maybe they just happen to have the same name?"

"Thought about that, so I dug deeper, and yeah this Libby is our Libby. We didn't know what types of Fae the four victims were because there was no need to. Anyway, I got my team out interviewing all these people on this list. Hopefully maybe we could find our suspect."

"It's a short list," Tamsin commented after having taken a glance at the list.

"Yeah, I know. It's a good thing right? Otherwise it'll take forever to run all the names on it," Mark replied.

"No, I mean...it's a short list as in there aren't many pyro Faes in town," Tamsin explained. "We now have one dead, and one running around killing people. Coincidence much?"

Mark shrugged. "Maybe the sex demon was looking for a pyro Fae to join the team and Libby was killed because she refused to join? Or maybe the sex demon went through Libby to find the teammate?"

"Huh, those are actually good theories," Dyson commented. "We definitely need to look into those."

"Sure," Mark nodded before he left the convention center tracking down some of the names on the list.


Tamsin spent the rest of the day helping Dyson carrying the bodies into the autopsy room and processing the crime scenes.

They had to move to another room because they ran out of floor space in the first one. Even though Tamsin had seen many deaths in her past lives, this particular scene still made her heart heavy.

In the late afternoon, Bo came over to help too. When she met Tamsin's concerned eyes, she gave Tamsin a firm nod and a smile. Though, Tamsin's concerned never went away after she noticed Bo's slightly knotted brows.

After a long day, they eventually decided to go home and get some rest. When they walked out from the building, Tamsin noticed that Bo looked a bit pale. She offered to drive her home, and Bo hesitantly agreed.

Bo almost immediately lolled in her seat once she got into the car. She threw her head back and closed her eyes while clenching her fingers around the edge of her seat cushion.

A groan that she had been holding back for too long had finally escaped from her mouth. The sharp pain that she had tried to ignore came back, biting her shoulder hard.

"Are you gonna tell me what's going on, or are you just gonna die in five minutes without telling me about it?" Tamsin asked.

Bo rolled her eyes. "I'm not gonna die, Tamsin. I'm fine."

"Yeah, when your face is that pale, you are not fine," Tamsin pointed out the obvious. She turned to Bo after she stopped at a red light. "What's the matter? You didn't have enough time to heal your wound or something?"

"It's healed, alright?" Bo told her as she carefully pulled the shoulder of her blouse to the side. She took a look at her shoulder. The skin felt like it was on fire. She could see a dense crimson spot growing under her skin. As it grew to the size of a ping pong ball, a tear appeared on her skin, like some force underneath was pulling it open.

"I swell I healed!" Bo exclaimed as she bit back a cry of pain. "I mean, I made sure that I was completely healed when I left the shack!"

"Then how do you explain that?" Tamsin pointed at the reappeared wound on Bo's shoulder.

"I don't know maybe this is a DoT or something," Bo grunted as she pressed her fingertip carefully against the edge of the wound. Just the mere touch made her tremble.

"Right, and I guess I can throw you a HoT and everything will be fixed," Tamsin snorted.

A moment of silence seized them, because Bo was too busy panting to say anything. She bit her lips hard not to cry out in pain, but she knew it was just a matter of time.

Tamsin let out a deep sigh and gently squeezed Bo's cold, sweaty hand while hitting the gas pedal hard.

They got back to the shack as fast as they could. Kenzi and Dagny left them a note saying that they were out looking for Zeus' lightning.

Tamsin helped Bo getting into her room. She let the brunette sit in her bed and watched Bo pressed her hand against her wound hard.

"Alright, I hate to say this but let's just take care of it, okay?" Tamsin suggested impatiently, worrying that Bo's wound might grow too large and cause some permanent damage.

Bo took a deep breath, feeling a nervous flutter in her stomach now. "By taking care of it, you mean…?"

Tamsin rolled her eyes. "Did you hit your head on something hard while I was gone? How else do you think I should take care of a wounded Succubus, hmmm?"

Bo swallowed hard. "I...don't think that's a good idea, Tamsin," she said as she shook her head.

"I didn't say that it's a good idea, Bo, but I'm pretty sure that it's the best solution. What are you just gonna sit here and watch it grow?"

"I think it's getting better, really," Bo said as she took a look at her shoulder. The tear had grown wider and deeper. Her flesh inside had turned into a darker color. The pain was so intense that she could hardly breathe.

Panicking, she quickly added, "besides, I drained all five of my regulars before I left for the convention center. I don't think you can heal me, Tamsin."

Tamsin raised her eyebrows as she let out a scoff. "Oh you did not just say that, Bo," she hissed.

"W-wait, I didn't mean…I didn't mean that," Bo stuttered, almost biting her tongue. She had completely forgotten how competitive and bossy Tamsin was, especially when she was in bed, until now. "I mean, it's...it's just not a good idea."

Tamsin cut her off by taking off her own shirt. She grabbed Bo's waist, laid her down in the bed and straddled her. "We'll see about that."

"Umm...Tamsin..." Bo muttered as she hesitantly placed her hands on the Valkyrie's waist. The heat on her skin seemed to have taken all her strength away.

She raised her head and looked at Tamsin in silence. When she met those light eyes, suddenly, her pain was gone.

Tamsin looked at her like she was the only meaningful thing in her life that was about to disappear. The finding slammed on Bo's chest like a hammer, wiping her mind blank.

Tamsin tucked her hands into Bo's blouse and lifted it over Bo's head. She tossed it aside before she hesitantly lowered her head and cupped Bo's face.

After a moment of silent gaze, their lips met. They kissed, kissed and kissed while both forgetting that this was meant to heal Bo.

Between the kisses, Bo gasped while raising a question with her mind that was no longer lucid. "What if...what if you really can't heal me?"

Tamsin breathed into her lips. "Then we'll do it again, and again, and again...until you are healed…."

Her words were muffled in her soft yet heated kisses. They fell on Bo's skin like raindrops of flames.

Bo closed her eyes and moaned, giving in to her desires, her hunger and that strong feeling that was pounding in her chest.

In the waves of pleasure and pain, she moaned, trembled, throbbed and screamed. In all that, that last piece of her clear mind wondered if she had finally gotten what she had longed for and if finally she was not alone.

Tracing her fingertip along Bo's index finger unconsciously, Tamsin cleared her throat quietly. With her other hand she pulled the blanket over her chest.

She cleared her throat again as the silence devoured her. She moved to the side of the bed a little, leaving a more than reasonable space between her and Bo.

But, Bo was all over the place. Her smell, her voice, her breath, her touch. A chaotic yet beautiful mess that she could never run away from.

"How's umm..." Tamsin eventually pushed those words out as she quickly glanced at Bo's shoulder.

"I feel alright, but I guess we'll see," Bo answered her honestly.

Tamsin nodded and muttered a "good", though she had no idea if Bo had heard her. They went quiet again while having one of their hands under the blanket. They weren't holding each other's hand too tight, because that would seem awkward, but some of their fingers tangled together comfortably in a loose grip.

Bo rolled to her side. "We had a funeral for you, you know," she blurted while wondering why she'd suddenly bring that up.

"You did?" Tamsin raised her eyebrows. "How come nobody has told me?"

"Probably because...you are back and it no longer matters?" Bo suggested. After a brief pause, she continued in a lower voice, "it was a small ceremony, just the few of us. We buried an empty casket. We came to visit your grave every year with flowers until-"

"Until I came back?"

Bo shook her head. With guilt, she admitted, "no, until no one else but me would go visit. I mean, Kenzi stayed in Spain raising Dagny. Dyson was too busy with the bar, his son and some old fling of his or something and Lauren was just...well, anyway, I stopped visiting because I didn't want to stand there staring at a piece of tombstone with nothing but your name and the date you died. I mean, the date you rose. We don't even know your last name. We don't even know your birth date. I don't even-I knew so little about you, Tamsin. Sometimes it just felt like...you never existed in my life at all."

"Bo, I'm back, and I'm right here," Tamsin reminded her as she rubbed her thumb against the back of Bo's hand.

"I know," Bo said. "After you rose, I told myself that you didn't die, you know. I told myself that you rose, that it was a perfect ending for a Valkyrie, that you've gone to a better place. I...I read that in Valkyrie heaven, there was nothing but endless fun like booze and eight pack hotties, all that kinda stuff…."

"I'm pretty sure that's Valhalla, or maybe Succubus heaven," Tamsin corrected her with a soft chuckle.

"Is it?" Bo asked after letting out an embarrassed chuckle. She trailed off, pondering for a long time, before she continued, "I just...sometimes I missed you."

It was a confession that was long overdue. It was the deepest secret of hers. It took her so long to say it, and then immediately she wondered how she could possible hold it back for this many years.

"You did?" Tamsin barely managed to say it.

"I just...you know, I wished that you didn't leave. I could have saved you, but that didn't happen because you didn't want to stay, and…."

She took a deep breath and then she let it out slowly. "Sometimes in my dreams, I stood there and looked at your casket. It wasn't empty anymore. You were in there like you were just sleeping. You and your wings...but you never woke up, like you never knew that I was there."

"Those were dreams, Bo," Tamsin reminded her.

Bo blushed a little as she let out a soft chuckle. "I know, but...you know, right before you came back, I had the same dream again, but that time, you woke up. So, I guess it might have meant something after all, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was something that Nyx's kid put in your mind as a reminder of me coming back."

Bo moved closer to Tamsin's side. "I know. It was just hard sometimes, after you left."

Yes, it had been hard sometimes, for her at least. There had been moments that she had never told anyone, not even Kenzi. There had been moments that had kept reminding her that Tamsin was no longer there with her.

It had felt heavier than just losing a friend. It had been less bitter but more painful than losing a lover. Part of her had been glad that Tamsin had gone to a better place, but the rest of her had never gotten enough courage to accept it. The soreness inside her, it had never left. It was just there, like a thorn buried her soft flesh, reminding her that she had lost a part of her life, a part of her memories, a part of herself. It had always been there, reminding her that nothing would be the same ever again.

She no longer had a listener when she had gotten a secret that she couldn't tell anyone else. She no longer had anyone there to support her when she tried to be herself. She no longer had that person, the one and the only person that could drag her out of her misery and tell her to get her shit together.

It was hard for her to accept the fact that Tamsin had been gone, but she had never said it out loud. She had never told anyone, not even herself, that she sometimes missed her, not as a friend, not as a lover, not as anyone else. She missed her because she was Tamsin, the one and the only Tamsin.

Every time she uttered that name, the last moment of theirs would appear, and it would squeeze her heart. She couldn't even describe it properly, but the painful void that it left just haunted her until now.

Had it been a combination of regret, sorrow, frustration and anger, or perhaps something completely different? Something completely different, completely new. Something that overwhelmed her, leaving her stunned, speechless and clueless.

She looked into Tamsin's eyes while a turmoil of feelings ravished inside her chest. "I'm so happy that you back, Tamsin...I just...I'm so sorry," she whispered after gently caressed Tamsin's cheek. She muttered those words again while gazing into those light eyes.

"You don't need to be sorry, Bo. As I said before, I never hated you. Whatever happened between us, it was just...hell I don't know whose fault that was but it certainly wasn't yours."

She held Bo's hand in hers and squeezed it softly. Slowly, she tucked her fingers between Bo's and locked them together. After a long, nervous hesitation, she leaned in and kissed the knuckles of Bo's fingers, before she rested her forehead against Bo's.

"Why do you...like me?" Bo asked in a whisper. She had carefully worded her question, because the word she had wanted to use had made her tongue tied.

"Because you are perfect?" Tamsin answered with a chuckle.

Bo smiled as she squeezed Tamsin's hand. "I wish I was really perfect, Tamsin."

Tamsin smiled too. She traced Bo's eyebrow with her thumb as she said, "yes you are, to me you are."

Her words were full of solemn sincerity. Too overwhelmed, Bo was left speechless again. She licked her lips while feeling that flutter inside her. A butterfly that was squeezing its wings out of its chrysalis. A stream of dancing flames. An endless strong tide. A deep longing, a burning desire. Something that was both strong and vulnerable. Something that she had thought she'd never have. Something that she had thought she had forever lost.

Slowly running the back of her index finger along a lock of Tamsin's hair, Bo gazed into those light eyes again. She saw the nervous flickers. She saw the intense passion. She saw the firm honesty. She saw all the unspoken feelings. She saw herself. She lost in them.

She leaned in, pressing her lips on Tamsin's. After a quick, brief touch, they both pulled back.

Before their lips met again, their phones beeped almost at the same time.

"Looks like we have to umm..." Bo murmured while reaching for her phone. She swallowed "continue this some time later" back and added, "Dyson's got some breakthrough on the killer gang."

"Yep, looks like it," Tamsin nodded after quickly reading the text Dyson had sent her. She slid out from under the blanket and reached for her pants that had been left on the floor. She quickly put them on, before she threw Bo her blouse.

"Come on, hotpants," she urged after having gotten lost in Bo's eyes for a brief moment. "Let's see what Dyson has found out."


A/N: Finally, some Valkubus moments! Hope everyone enjoys this chapter. Some plot twists and stuff are coming up next, and they are going to move the story forward a lot!