Disclaimers: All original property is owned by Showcase, and we do not infer that any characters, creations or the concept of 'Lost Girl' are our property and the following fan fiction has been written purely for entertainment purposes only.
Pairings: Bo/Lauren
Time-Frame: Set directly after Episode 3:02
Rating: M (Contains scenes of violence, sexuality and mild nudity)
Summary: Set directly after Episode 3:02, following an AU storyline of our own creation.. Distinctly Bo/Lauren centric.
"Lauren and Bo resonate." Zoie Palmer speaking about Doccubus in an interview on AfterEllen.
Heavenly Resonance - Part Thirty Six
By: The RainbowWriters
As they reached the bar, Kenzi pulled herself up onto a stool before she let go of Dyson's arm, making sure that the wolf didn't stray too far. After all the revelations that Bo had made downstairs still had her feeling off kilter. It just seemed that every time she started to get perspective on her life, something else was being thrown at her to take things out of focus again.
How was she supposed to react to the knowledge that she had some kind of serum inside her that enhanced Fae powers? Especially when she knew in her own heart that not even the Doctor knew exactly what this meant to her or those around her. How bad was the timing that she was now a disaster waiting to happen just as they were on the eve of a fight that rivalled their struggle against the Garuda? All of these questions and more were making her head spin.
"So we didn't really have our first fight, I'm just contaminated with 'make a wolf angry'?" Kenzi tried to make a witty joke about the situation as she looked at Dyson with a weak smile.
"Well I'm not sure about that." Dyson gave a soft sideways smile. "We did fundamentally disagree with each other which can be the basis of a fight." He pointed out. "But it's okay Kenzi, your life is really complicated right now, I understand that, it's not a good time right now, we're all feeling the pressure more than we know." He put his hand on her shoulder, his eyes shifting off the young woman for a moment to look over to to where Lauren was stood, her concentration completely given to the conversation she was having on the small phone she held to her ear.
"I know we fundamentally disagree but I want to be sure that we're still fundamentally okay?" Kenzi blinked blue eyes at him. "I didn't expect you to go MIA last night and give up guard duty, kinda freaked me when I woke up and you weren't there."
"We're okay." Dyson turned his attention back to the young woman and eased up on a stool beside her, his voice full of strength and commitment. "I only left you last night because what happened worried me so much I called Lauren." He explained. "Which I know you already know." He added with a small smile, his voice softer as he made sure to lock eyes with the small young woman. "Your attachment to Eliyana bothers me. She's new, she's a Geist and she's Dark Fae from a family whose legacy would horrify you." His eyes narrowed slightly. "But I should know better than to try and challenge you." His face relaxed again. "Especially when it comes to matters of the heart." He added. "I still hold my opinions and I don't know if they will change, but my feelings for you are stronger than my pride." He rubbed her shoulder gently.
"Thank you." Kenzi said the words with obvious relief. "And I appreciate you being worried about me, I really do." She underlined. "And I don't want you to ever stop doing it, just like I'm never going to stop worrying about you." She made her second point just as solid before she continued. "And I know you know a lot more about the history of Geists and the Frosts than I do but Eliyana isn't that history." She shook her head gently. "I know I can't expect you to just understand that, and it's not fair of me to ask but if you can, just give her a chance, for me?"
"If I can visit the Dwarfs with this beard, I can give Eliyana Frost a chance for you." The old wolf smiled more and nodded, then once again looked over to Lauren who had started to pace a little, a frown creasing her brow as she continued to talk on the phone.
"Did something happen between you and the Doc?" Kenzi followed his eyes to where the blonde was on the phone with a soft frown.
"No." Dyson pulled his attention back to Kenzi shaking his head. "Just after what happened last night..." He shook his head.
"What happened last night?" Kenzi's voice tightened as she looked between the two of them again.
"Either Eysan or Mikah had Lauren's apartment watched by a pair of Lupines, ready to rip anyone who returned there apart." He explained. "I managed to stop them before they could hurt her." He breathed a little deeper and looked at Kenzi.
"You got attacked at the Doc's place and you didn't tell me?" The brunette reached out and struck his arm lightly in shock. "Are you okay?" She glanced back at Lauren again as if making a clear assessment that the blonde was clearly fine.
"A few bites and scratches, the things I wouldn't let Lauren heal." Dyson replied with a nod. "Nothing I can't handle, more than she could." He made the assessment honestly as he looked into blue eyes.
Kenzi looked him over for a long moment, everything in her mind boiling down to the fact that because of her the Doctor had been back to her apartment and there they'd been attacked and nearly killed if it wasn't for Dyson putting his hide on the line.
"You're my hero you know that right?" She blinked innocent, almost child like eyes at him.
Dyson gave her a smile and winked.
"Is it my ruggedly handsome looks, my charm, or the fact that I have fangs, claws and a six pack?" He chuckled.
"No, it's the fact that you do the things you do to protect all of us without question." Kenzi smiled at his assessment. "Lauren technically is the chick who stole your mate from you, but still you put your own ruggedly handsome self on the line to keep her safe. That's pretty awesome D-man." She smiled brightly at him. "And seems to me I might have learned to act crazy for love from somewhere."
"I think you had that in you before you knew me." Dyson shook his head still smiling. "I have a delivery to make." He slipped off his stool and looked Kenzi in the eye. "Take care and keep safe." He said his tone deep and serious. "At best the Lupines were left over from Eysan, at worse they were a new level of Mikah intervention." He pointed out maintaining eye contact. "Either way, you need to take extra care, no going anywhere alone, promise me."
"I promise." Kenzi held up her usual boy scout salute. "I'll even hang up here and find out why Lauren has frowny face." She threw a look over her shoulder to the blonde who was still talking to the clinic. "Oh and be careful, you know the Dark King will have figured out by now you're helping Bo." She said the statement without continuing into the possible gory scenarios.
"You know I will." Dyson nodded and stepped away, moving swiftly to the exit and out of the Dal.
-x-
"Evony please." Hale looked over his desk at the leader of the Dark Fae, doing his best to keep his calm, though both of them knew she was trying every last ounce of his patience and she was loving it.
"Please what? Word has reached my ears that a full team of Light Fae operations personal went onto Dark Fae territory, not only with your say so, but accompanied by you, without my consent.." She paused. "Ash, wars have been started over less."
"Yes, they have been but you won't start one this time." Hale fixed her with dark eyes. "Because you have a bigger problem, we both do."
"My dry cleaning bill?" The beautifully dark Fae leaned back slightly. "Or are you referring to the fact that when I sent my own evidence gathering minions in to see if they could find anything to corroborate this little rumour all they found was a very large hole and bits of squished or semi vaporized Light Fae?" She arched an eyebrow slightly at Hale and fluttered her eyelashes at him. "Because if that's what you're referring to I don't see that as my problem."
"No, I can see how you wouldn't see past taking delight in the murder of over a dozen of my people." Hale reached up and actually pulled his tie a little loose and undid the top button of his shirt before leaning down and reaching into the bottom drawer of his desk from which he pulled out two small ivory cups and a decanter of dark purple liquor. "Now if you could see past that Evony, you would be asking yourself the question what on earth could have done that kind of damage? What on earth could have ripped the barn that was supposed to be there out of the ground and make it disappear?" He poured them both a drink.
"Oh honey do you think I'm stupid?" Evony eyeballed him with a slight frown. "Anyone could tell that place had ancient power written all over it, elementals, warlocks, something of the like, what you don't seem to understand is all of those oh so nasty and oh so violent treasures, come under my umbrella." She gave him a brilliant white smile.
"Yes, yes of course they do." He gave her a gentle nod and picked up his small glass swirling the liquid around inside of it. "Unless..." He paused and looked at her seeing that his relaxation had peaked her curiosity at the very least. "They come under a bigger umbrella then even yours."
"Bigger than mine?" The Morrigan scoffed. "Sweetie you were cute when you were a little police detective, now your wild out of the blue guesses are just, well honestly, annoying." She gave a tight frown. "Around here there is you, and me, there are no other umbrella's and to be honest at the moment yours is more of a cocktail garnish."
"There's his umbrella." Rather defiant to her put downs Hale reached into his top drawer and from it pulled a small dagger, of course at the hilt of it where the blade met the handle was the very clear ancient symbol of the Dark King himself. A symbol that he knew she would recognize, it was made up of a upwards pointing sword with two crowns impaled on it mid blade.
Instantly Evony's bright laughter filled the office.
"The Dark King." She tittered brightly. "You think Mikah himself ripped up a half rotten farm barn in a little holding north of the city, and took a few of your little minions with him." She brought her laughter under control and blinked the mirth from her eyes as she looked at the Siren. "You are young and you want to make a name for yourself, I understand that Master Santiago, but tossing an ancient King into the mix isn't the way to do it." She turned suddenly serious. "Because if Mikah did raise that barn and slaughter your pathetic little group of unquestioning dependants, then there is nothing you can do about it." She narrowed her eyes a little as she looked at him. "No one wants a fight with the Dark King, not you, not me, I doubt even the silly little succubus is stupid enough to choose that battle because its one she won't win."
"You can scoff at me all you want Evony, but he is coming and his intent is to put both of our so called umbrellas into his drink." He took the mouthful of liquid he has poured himself. "He has had his minions working in your territory for months now, paying no respect of head to you in any way. He has infiltrated the highest levels of your organization, as he has mine, shed blood in both territories and from what I did learn before that little rotten barn was lifted up into the sky by his Elementals..." He leaned against the desk looking at her. "He's coming to take control of everything."
Evony gave another half laugh though this one was no where near as confident.
"Why on earth would he make sure a move now, after so long?" She tried to keep her demure casual as she looked at Hale, swinging her crossed legs a little, though her jaw muscles danced and flexed. "What was in that barn?" She asked narrowing her eyes more as she stared into the siren's eyes. "What aren't you telling me?"
"Eysan Frost was in that barn." Hale could see the change in her attitude immediately.
"Ridiculous, that pathetic pile of ashes was scattered to the wind along with his parents years ago." The Morrigan snapped. "You'll have to do better than that."
"I wondered if the King had even hidden that fact from the Dark, hidden that he held a Geist." Hale pushed up and moved sideways with confident steps to a long cupboard. Reaching inside he pulled the long navy robe and he walked back a few feet throwing it so it draped over Evony's long perfect legs. "Burnt up like this would have been, yes?"
Dark eyes took in the Frost robe and then locked onto the Ash.
"Are you trying to tell me that the Geist what? Wanted to defect? Come to your welcoming arms? And Mikah snatched him back and killed a handful of your gratuity guards at the same time?"
"Nothing of the sort, Eysan was as evil and diabolical as his master and teacher." Hale moved to retake his seat pouring another drink for himself. "He has been working in your territory for months now. He was behind the murder of Elder Heralder, had his underlings hiding a Benease right under your nose."
"What do I care if a Geist and his oh so Dark master took out a Light Fae Elder and kept a forbidden pet in my territory, considering who his master is I think I can overlook such petty crimes." Evony rolled her eyes. "You however are lying to me, or at the least not telling me everything. How do you come to have this?" She lifted the robe off her leg and tossed it onto his desk. "How did you know The Geist was at the farm house, yes the land was Frost property but that old history, and I what I mean by that is ancient history. You are the one so far who has trespassed on Dark territory and so far not given me an adequate explanation." She looked at him breathing in deeply. "Answer me carefully Siren."
"I know he was at the farmhouse because she who slayed the Garuda, brought a blade to that farmhouse and cut off his head." Hale made sure he held her eyes without a waiver in his stare of his body.
"The succubus." Evony's eyes rolled as the air left her lungs in an exasperated sigh. "That little bitch killed the Dark King's Geist?" The beautiful Fae pushed out of the leather chair and paced a little away from the desk. "Is there anything she doesn't meddle with? Anything she can't resist getting involved in?" She snapped, her voice tense and agitated. "Let me guess, you asked her to find out who killed your precious old Elder, and she was unusually efficient as usual and suddenly you have a dead Geist on your hands that just happens to be the property of the most powerful Fae alive." She stopped and turned on her heel and stared hard at Hale. "Are you proud of yourself Santiago? You've probably killed us all."
"I didn't send her to do anything, the King himself started all of this." Hale shook his head at her accusation. "Don't play stupid Evony, I know you are aware of the murders, all of them looking as if Bo was the perpetrator. All of them carefully planned and mastered on Mikah's behalf by Eysan for reasons unknown to any of us right now." He watched her pace a few feet listening to him but clearly thinking at the same time. "The Dark King has the unaligned in his sights, and with that seems willing to supersede any laws he sees fit too. I know you are enough of a historian to know he will lay waste to this whole county if he sees fit too, Light and Dark."
"Then my advice to you would be give her to him, I can get you a mailing address." The Morrigan replied quickly. "I know it's what I'll be doing if she crosses my path."
"Because it has proven before to be that easy?" Hale looked at her with a slightly admonishing expression. "All I am asking of you right now is to not start a war over the Farm, file papers, let your elders claim writs, demand compensation, do anything and everything you wish to rattle the war chains but do not start one. This meeting between the King and the Succubus could play out many ways, if she is all he really wants then as you said he will come and pluck her like a piece of fruit that he will devour. If he wishes for more then we must both be ready to fight for what is rightfully ours, not bickering amongst ourselves." He gave her a soft smile. "I lost many good Fae at that farm, I have been more than spanked for my indiscretion. Can I trust you to let things lie for now?"
"You are young and new to this game so very well I'll overlook this incident and handle it myself." The stunning brunette walked to the door. "But forgiveness is not a quality I am known for, neither is generosity, you would do well to remember that." She walked to the office door not waiting for any notion from Hale that the conversation was over. "You will hear from me again if I am not happy with how things progress, Ash." She pulled the door open and sashayed out closing it behind her to stop him from pursuing her.
The instant she was in the corridor beyond and flanked by her two large bodyguards, she turned to her assistant who was instantly by her side.
"Find the Valkyrie and bring her to me, I want to know what's really going on with the Succubitch and her band of misfits."
-x-
Lauren looked up from her book to where Eliyana was thumbing her way through one of the tome's that Trick had produced on Alchemical serums, struck by how the young woman seemed so very eager to do whatever it took to fully understand what was happening to Kenzi.
"You know you are allowed to take a break?" Lauren said gently as she rested the tome she was reading on the table top. "I'm usually the only one who can take this long buried in a book, even Trick is up making tea."
"I just want to help. No, maybe not that, keep busy?" The short haired Geist admitted as she closed the book slowly on her lap glancing down at the cover, a slightly guilty look on her face. "My mind's kind of a jumbled mess, focusing on other things means I don't have to work on sorting it out." She explained more giving Lauren a soft of half smile. "And working out as much as we can for you so you can help Kenzi, that's a good thing to focus on."
"Do you mind me asking what is jumbling up your mind that you want to avoid?" Lauren gave her a soft smile back. "Not that I couldn't guess more than a half dozen or so things but..." She offered making it clear that if Eli didn't want to talk to her she understood.
"It's not so much I want to avoid them, it's more that I know that now isn't the time to even begin to try and deal and..." The Geist stopped herself and shook her head. "I feel like the world is turning too fast and I'm barely hanging on." She admitted breathing out, her exhale a little staggered.
"Admitting that takes a lot more courage then you probably realize." Lauren tried to be supportive. "And you're right, there are a lot of things going on that deserve time to be thought about and contemplated. If we just had a pause button." She gave a soft sigh of her own. "You've probably noticed but Bo, when things get like they are now, she just puts on blinders of sorts, focusing on what she has too and letting the rest fall out of view. Sometimes I don't know how she can do it, everything just keeps whirling around in my head."
Light brown eyes looked at the blonde softly.
"Until you sort it into its appropriate box." The young Fae said with a half smile. "You can't fool me Dr. Lewis." She added,."You're a compartmentalizer." She summed up. "You put this away here, that away there to deal with it all at an appropriate time."
"I do." Lauren gave a soft laugh. "And since I've met Bo my 'think about that later' section has gotten quite big." Her mouth curled into a wistful smile. "You've had the benefit Eli of only seeing us when we've been in synch with one another, in the early days, well things were far more complicated and less clear cut."
Eli nodded in understanding as she glanced up to see Trick talking with Bo over by fireplace, the two obviously deep in conversation about something serious.
"Now this serum has bonded with Kenzi's body, your healing powers wouldn't help her would they?" She asked suddenly.
Lauren looked at her for a moment, her mouth catching on the beginnings of a word before she seemed to stop and think even harder.
"I honestly don't know." She answered finally the most truthful way she could. "I mean theoretically the serum is a foreign substance within her natural biological processes..." She seemed to continue thinking. " But at the same time, I'm not exactly sure where the serum has seated itself within her system." She continued to look at Eli. "So far I've only used my abilities..." Inside her mind stuck on the word as she realized she was discussing her being able to 'heal' people like it was a given almost. "To heal injury, perhaps at the very least I could get a better understanding of how the serum is interacting within her and replicating itself?" She looked at the younger woman for her input.
"I was just throwing it out there not because I think you should try it or anything, in that I wasn't being all judgemental..." Eliyana frowned slightly and rubbed at her forehead. "I think you need to be careful with yourself, you've been through a lot in a short space of time, research is good right now, your lab test results showed its not doing any damage to Kenzi's body." She underlined.
"My out of date test results, but so far getting your girlfriend to sit still long enough for another blood test has been hard." Lauren made the soft admittance. "Maybe I could enlist your help in that arena."
"She doesn't like needles." Eli nodded and looked around to find that Kenzi was missing no doubt up in the bar with Tamsin. The Geist took a breath and then looked back at Lauren. "Bo said, that is she was telling me you think I might be the reason the serum activates, the Frenum link that is." She said, her face forming a somber line of seriousness.
"My hypothesis is more that Kenzi uses the Frenum it causes a replication of the serum inside of her too occur, because when she is using the Frenum is the only time she is exhibiting anything like a Fae power. But of course this is with the admittance that my knowledge of the Frenum is very infantile." Lauren stressed the point heavily. "Do you know if there is a physical link created by the Frenum or is is purely a psychic one?"
"It can be either or both." Eli replied taking a breath. "It's a stronger bond when made both physically and psychically. Ours is both."
"Oh so you mean the sexual encounter you had actually creates a physical bond?" Lauren questioned immediately clearly the query coming more as a scientist then as a nosey friend.
"Taking the Frenum sexually doesn't guarantee a dual bond." Eliyana explained. "The night it happened we broke the kitchen window, Kenzi accidentally cut her hand, the hand she... It was a deliberate choice on my part." A slight blush rose to Eliyana's cheeks.
"Right!" Lauren's eyes went wide as the outline she was getting cleared in her mind slowly. "I didn't even think of a dual transference process, that's simply fascinating. The simple exchange of a few drops of blood creates a physical bond..." She looked at Eli, completely oblivious in most ways to her blush or discomfort. "Does it manifest in any ways I can monitor or quantify?"
"I'm sorry, what do you mean?" Eli asked frowning slightly.
"The exchange of blood, how does it manifest in each of you? Is there a quantifiable change in a enzymatic marker or change at the cellular level?" As she spoke Lauren could literally feel her mind reach a tipping point. "I need to take blood from both of you." She blurted the words out. "We all have to go to my apartment, it's the only place I have all the necessary equipment." She closed the book in front of her.
"But Lauren the attack?" Eliyana frowned slightly. "What if news of the Lupines being taken down has already got back and they've been replaced, putting you and Kenzi in danger..." She shook her head. "I could go get what you need?" She offered.
"You using your teleportation powers is too draining, if you were needed for other reasons..." The blonde pointed out the other issue.
"It's not that far and I can rest and feed if necessary, it's better than risking yours and Kenzi's safety." She turned her head glancing towards Bo. "You know Bo would agree."
"Let's ask her." Lauren gave a head nod to the Geist as she turned to call for her lover's attention.
-x-
"Champagne for me, really?" Tamsin arched her eyes as Evony passed her a crystal flute before tapping on the glass to signal to the limo driver to pull away from the random curb they had picked the Valkyrie up from.
"Considering you smell like a drunk hobo I'm not sure why I bothered, what happened to the Pride of a Valkyrie?" The leader of the Dark Fae asked as she settled back into the plush seat.
"Wars stopped being bloody and fun." Tamsin offered drinking half of it in one long drink.
"How terrible for you I'm sure." Evony rolled her eyes her tone totally disinterested. "Now, I need you to tell me what's been going on for the last say, five days with the succubitch and her little crew, because you see I've just had to sit through a very uncomfortable meeting with the Ash, in which I was forced to play catch up, something I most certainly don't like to do, especially not when I'm supposed to have a pawn in their camp as it were. So why don't you start to earn that little talisman you have around your neck and start talking."
"Well..." Tamsin finished the rest of the champagne. "The succubus found out that whoever was framing her was using a Huldra to impersonate her, so she tracked down the Huldra, who she used her little power on..." She wiggled her fingers at the Morrigan. "Who told her about a Treant, who just happened to be the one keeping this horrible ugly sack of shit type thing..." She tried to show the brunette a gauge of the creature's size with her hands. "Apparently called a Benease, that was the thing being used to make it look like she'd been sucking the life out of everyone."
"So now the Ash has a pet Benease and the succubus is off the hook, all fine and dandy. But that doesn't tell me about a dead Geist, lots of dead Light Fae, a missing barn, and you..." She raised her eyebrow slightly, "Hiring four horses, from Lerric's stables the day all that happened." The Morrigan smiled slightly. "Did you think the old coot wouldn't tell me?" She shook her head.
"No, I knew he would, I had figured he'd phone you the minute I headed out to be honest." The Valkyrie eyed her back. "And I was getting to that bit. The Treant led her back around to Vex, believe it or not that stupid Mesmer got himself mixed up with the Geist trying to get his mojo working again but the Geist put a thing in his head to fuck with him. So when pressed by Bo, he turned into a sobbing wreck who was willing to do anything to get rid of the Geist. Leading to us renting the horses, me half expecting a Dark Fae Calvary riding in I might add, and the Succubus then killing said Geist... who can I add dressed a little like Liberace in his heyday..." She began a tangent but quickly saw the stare she was getting from the Morrigan. "Happily ending the whole saga of him trying to get her sent to the recently closed Hecuba for being a rampant mass murderer, or at least we thought. Most of the sunshine gang was back celebrating, I was enjoying the free booze, when the call came in that an Elemental tornado had struck so from my guess the fear maker was working for someone, aren't they always, and Bo has pissed off yet another Fae."
Evony leaned back in the seat, took a sip of her drink and then put the crystal flute down safely in its holder before beginning a slow clap.
"Very nice." She said with a smile. "I just have one problem." She ran her hand along the back of her seat looking down at her elegant shoes. "And that's with math." She tipped her head to the side and looked back at the blonde. "You see there's you on a horse, there's the succubus on a horse, a wolf who no horse in the world would go anywhere near, so there's two of you and four horses, and please don't tell me she took along the humans, she's sickeningly in lust with the doctor and the annoying one is... well even if she had tagged along, that's still three horses and you took four. And please not the gnome or Vex, because if the Geist really did have something over my poor dear Mesmer, then taking him along would have been like giving him an extra member of his army. Something you would have already known, being rather well versed in combating and fighting along side Geists." Dark eyes looked at the Valkyrie.
"Actually she did take along the humans but she swayed them both, turns out it messes with a Geist's ability to get into their heads and make them go pop. I told her it was one hell of a gamble but like you said she won't go anywhere without those two." Tamsin met the inaccuracy with a quick believable explanation. "Seems having two humans he couldn't turn into goo screwed him up something fierce, and I have to give a little credit here, she's gotten much better with a sword then anyone told me she had."
The Morrigan took a breath and held it for a moment and then breathed out.
"I don't like it when you lie to me, I don't like it when anyone lies to me so I'm going to give you a chance to redeem yourself, but just one." The beautiful Fae seemed to take another calming breath. "She's about yay tall." Evony raised her hand. "Scrappy looking and according to my sources is a street scavenger like the succubitch's Pet. Who is she and why has she been suspiciously absent from your summary, and be careful Valkyrie, you are on your last warning."
"Medi?" Tamsin looked at the Morrigan to get one more quirked eyebrow on purpose. "You've got your Kobold to blame for that, he took her in, told her what he was, they've been running in the human street gangs for years before he came back to the fold as you know. Of course when Bo and her pet started poking around in all that, especially with the Geist making said Kobold turn up headless, wham bam thank you ma'am the Succubus has picked up another pet. Because you know she couldn't let the poor poor wayward girl flounder alone in a world where she knows there's Fae. Even Bo has enough sense to know any human who knows has to be kept close. The pet has taken the new one under her wing so to speak."
The leader of the Dark Fae listened carefully then leaned to the large bucket of ice in the space between them and picked up the champagne bottle refilling both her and Tamsin's glass.
"Take your necklace off dear." She motioned to it as she put the bottle back into the ice and lifted the glass to her lips.
"I'm getting fired?" Tamsin reached up to undo the clasp and slip off the necklace.
"No I like you and I'm pulling you." She held out her hand for the charm. "I've heard things, things I don't like and I want you somewhere I don't think is going to be the centre of a fuck up. I know you came into this for personal reasons and that those haven't been fulfilled, and I promise you that when what I have heard about either blows over, or proves to be nonsense, you can go with my blessing and take revenge the way a Valkyrie would." Dark eyes focused on the blonde for a moment.
"You know who holds that Geist's strings don't you?" Tamsin eyeballed her back for a moment and then made a noise of acceptance. "As long as I get anything left of the Succubus to meter out payment for David, I'm happy to be free of her for now."
"I was hoping you'd feel that way because I have a job for you to do, since we've developed such a bond." Evony smiled.
"I didn't earn any vaca time?" Tamsin pouted. "What is it?"
"I need you to bring me the succubus' pet." A smile crossed Evony's lips. "Me and her have a little unfinished business and I'm in the mood for a general recall."
"It might take me a few hours but you'll have her asap." Tamsin gave a confident nod. "Does it matter how she arrives?"
"In one piece, she's no use to me dead." Evony summed up as she tapped on the separating glass again and the limo pulled to a stop, the door seeming to just pop open as the wheels stopped turning, telling Tamsin this talk was officially over. "Do this for me Valkyrie and you will please me more than you know. More than anyone has in a long time." Dark eyes looked at the blonde for a moment. "Great things can happen to those who please me, to them and their loved ones."
"I'll call when I'm ready for delivery." Tamsin climbed out of the limo.
-x-
"To you it sounds logical, to me it sounds like a disaster waiting to happen." Bo stared at Eliyana, the two of them locked eyes, both standing nearly toe to toe with one another, neither showing any sign of backing down or weakness.
"Lauren needs the equipment for more tests, and we all need answers on Kenzi." The Geist's eyes flicked over briefly to her lover who was standing close to the blonde, a deep frown on her face as she had come down mid argument, having slipped upstairs to get more bottles of beer for everyone. "I could be in and out quickly and if there was anyone waiting I could handle them. I'm not saying faced with two Lupines I could walk away unscathed, but I'm pretty sure I would walk away."
The succubus balled her hands up into fists at her sides and locked her jaw as she looked at the smaller Fae in front of her.
"I know inside you know it's the right thing to do." Eliyana lowered the aggression in her voice slightly. "That if you were the one going instead of me, we wouldn't even still be talking about it..." She added her voice even softer. "It's okay to delegate Ysabeau, part of being a good leader is knowing when to sometimes let others do the things you want or feel the need to do, to take the risks you feel should be yours to take." She took a small breath. "I will teleport there and back, yes it will use a lot of power and I will need to rest after, but it will be better than any alternatives." She continued to use her softer tone.
Bo locked eyes again with the younger Fae and then slowly breathed out.
"I don't like it." She underlined again, though some of the tight tension in her shoulders dropped. "But okay." She added breathing out at the same time before moving over and pulling Eli into a tight hug. "You go, you get what Lauren asked for, you come back." She said as she held onto the smaller woman.
The Geist moved her arms up around the brunette and nodded, keeping the embrace as long at Bo wanted. Finally the succubus moved back, only to be replaced almost instantly by Kenzi who silently pressed herself tight to Eliyana's small frame. Bo turned and moved away, over to Lauren who had suddenly found something interesting to look at having turned away from the younger couple.
"Don't stop and sight see." Kenzi said, her voice a whisper as she laid her head against Eliyana's shoulder.
A soft smile graced the Geist's lips.
"I won't I promise." She made the vow easily. "But we need to know what's going on inside of you." She eased Kenzi back slightly and looked into blue eyes. "I need to know that you are safe..." She paused. "As safe as you can be right now, with all that is going on." She amended her statement. "You know my payment for doing this is you being good and letting Lauren do what she needs to, even if it includes needles."
A thin smile danced on Kenzi's lips under Eliyana's stare.
"I hate it when I'm tricked or backed into a corner over something." She said reaching out to punch the Geist lightly on the arm. "Damn you and your chivalry." She smiled a little more.
"You know you hit like a girl." Eli teased with a grin.
-x-
Lauren knew that until Eliyana returned with the required equipment that there was little she could do, and it was that lull in activity that made it impossible to ignore the facts that were gnawing away at the back of her mind. The fact that Kenzi had retreated away from the books that dominated the lower level to the upper bar that she was much more comfortable in made getting Bo alone for once easy.
"Bo..." There was a hint of trepidation in her voice as she said her Resonance's name. "There's something we need to talk about before Eli gets back."
"I don't like that tone." The succubus instantly picked up on the blonde's tone and a frown crept onto her brow. "Come sit down and talk to me." She reached out and took her lover's hand and drew her backwards towards the soft couch like chaise near the fireplace.
Lauren moved with her and settled into the comfortably close position with her lover, hating that she even felt the need to express what she was thinking to Bo right now considering everything that was going on.
"It's about what is going on with Kenzi, well no, it's about what has gone on with Kenzi, about the Frenum." Lauren kept a hold of her lover's hand.
"Okay, so you spoke to Eliyana? Or did you read something?" The succubus offered a couple of choices for the new level of information. "How does it complicate or change things? I can talk to Kenzi if that's what this talk is about, I know you're not always comfortable doing that." She offered with a tender smile.
"It's something Eliyana told me." Lauren took a soft breath. "Which complicates the fact that if Kenzi does have a power serum inside of her, it won't just be effecting her."
Bo's face crumpled into a look of confusion.
"I know you only said like a few words just then, but you lost me already." She said, her tone apologetic. "Did Eliyana know there was something inside Kenzi? Were you right about their being a link between the Frenum and the serum's activity?" It was obvious that the succubus wanted to understand but was clearly not doing so.
"Kenzi was exposed to the serum well before she met Eli, which means that when the two of them consummated the Frenum it was already at work within Kenzi's system." Lauren tried to break down what she was saying into digestible chunks.
"Are you suggesting that that was a part of why Eliyana chose Kenzi?" The frown that had been dancing on Bo's became solid.
"No, nothing like that." The blonde shook her head immediately. "But there is something else about that night I don't think you're going to like." She frowned softly. "The Frenum they share is just not based on the sexual contact they had..." She hesitated for a moment. "It was consummated with blood."
Bo's eyebrow quirked.
"You're either about to tell me something kinky or..."
"Kenzi had a cut on her hand, remember the broken window." Lauren clarified the point immediately. "It was done accidentally but Eli realized that it would create a blood bonded Frenum." She frowned again waiting to see what Bo would say in reaction.
Bo held her hand up a little.
"You're saying the injury was accidental, but Eliyana chose to take advantage of that?" Her dark brown eyes narrowed a little as she focused on her lover's face for a moment.
"I think when discussing this we have to remember that the 'love bubble' we created may have influenced them both to some degree." Lauren used the very unscientific term reluctantly but considering that Bo's mind had gone immediately to the place hers had eventually found its way too made her want to be very clear about what she was saying. "Eli decided to give her Frenum to Kenzi without any knowledge that she had any link to the Fae. Using other blood bonds as evidence, I would assume she figured that having such a Frenum link with Kenzi would assure she could be called at any time to protect her, even without Kenzi realizing she that she was a Geist."
"So you're saying what might seem to me as a questionable, even suspect choice, was probably made by Eli for selfless rather than selfish reasons?" The tension in Bo's shoulders seemed to drop just slightly. "But none the less it's had an effect on the serum or at least you think it has, right?"
"I do, which is why I was so desperate to get my equipment. I won't be able to run anything more than some rudimentary blood tests but it should help give me some ideas of what is going on." Lauren watched the brunette's reaction. "I wish I knew more about Geists and their Frenum in particular, I would have better parameters to understand what was normal and what may be an effect of the serum." She admitted her own failing in the situation. "What I'm afraid is that the powerfulness of the Frenum, coupled with an exchange of blood will have exposed Eli to the serum Bo." She voiced her greatest concern.
For the first time in the conversation Bo truly caught on to what was the doctor's 'bigger' picture.
"You think..." She stopped, turning away from the blonde for just a moment as the idea settled in her brain. "You need to test Eliyana's blood." She settled on the obvious statement. "Did you find anything, did any of my Grandfather's books have details on the serum? If I need to I'll go and sway the damn Norn to get the details you need." She turned back to look at her lover.
"I'm going to be testing both of them." Lauren nodded to confirm the fact she'd already made clear. "And I'm going to figure out anything I can but I don't think we're dealing with a scenario that is going to be in any book." She shook her head to the idea she was working from facts more than theory. "And I doubt the Norn can be swayed." She gave her lover a soft smile. "I could be wrong Bo, the exchange of blood between them would have been negligible, the Frenum most likely doesn't need more than the presence of blood not a large exchange like we had to undergo in the Ritual." She reminded Bo of the difference between the two acts. "With any luck Eli hasn't been exposed to the serum and we can focus solely on dealing with the effects of it being inside Kenzi, monitor the effect she has on Fae that is around." She squeezed her lover's hand. "Ironically I actually wish Dyson wasn't delivering the message for Trick, because I would really like to go over what happened in the hospital between them. You haven't noticed any enhanced power flux when you're around her have you?"
"This is going to sound stupid." Bo breathed out a sigh. "You and Kenzi, you make me feel stronger, you always have, but that I doubt that has anything to do with any serum." She shook her head. "Kenzi and I have this bond, you know we do Lauren, she believed in me before anyone else did, trusted me when no one did. She makes me feel invincible sometimes, but she always has."
"I'll do everything I can to figure out what's going on." Lauren vowed.
"There's no one I trust more, you know that don't you?" Bo squeezed her hand over Lauren's arm. "I don't know what I did so right to get you, but I know that I'm eternally grateful that I did." She let the fingers of her other hand drift lightly over the blonde's cheek.
"The feeling is mutual." Lauren help brown eyes with her own.
-x-
"Hey are you trying to have enough alcohol in your blood to screw up Lauren's tests?" Bo pushed up onto the bar stool beside her best friend and reached to steal the bottle of beer in question taking a long sip from it.
"Drinking to ignore." Kenzi replied not putting up a fight in the slightest, in fact she just propped up her head on her hands and sighed. "I'm sorry, the last thing you need in the middle of all this is more craziness caused by me and my shit." She said, her blue eyes looking sad and soulful.
"I don't want your apology, there's nothing to apologize for." Bo shook her head holding blue eyes. "Impeding fight with my evil Dad or not, you are one of my top two most important people Kenz, never forget that."
"Yeah but by being me I've put a ton of extra work and pressure on the other one of those peeps." Kenzi's voice was tight with inner anger. "I haven't seen the Doc this worked up since the Naga venom." She glanced towards the door that led to the lower rooms. "I really messed up Bo." She sighed again and dropped her head. "I never did take anything seriously, and it bit me back big time." She absently rubbed her arm were the Norn's serum had landed all that time ago. "What if this means I can't be with Eli?" She blinked forlorn blue eyes at her best friend.
"You choose whether or not you can be with Eli, not a serum." Bo shook her head. "Whatever is rolling around in there, Lauren's going to figure it out, just like the Naga venom." She tried to reassure her best friend. "And come on, you haven't done anything to affect me or her. Maybe it's just because of what Dyson is that you were able to affect him, that and you were both so tired and you'd gone through being in the fire..." She listed off all the reasons for why it might have been a one off rather than a problem.
"That's not true, even if we both want it to be, the Eli thing." Kenzi dropped her eyes again and breathed out. "Everyone is terrified of her already, and if it turns out I have this shit inside me that turns normal good guys like Dyson into unpredictable douches, then how can I be around Eli?" She shook her head, moisture glistening in her large blue eyes. "I couldn't be with Nate because he was a human who couldn't know about the Fae and I can't be with Eli because I'm a human who makes dangerous Fae ridiculously lethal. Wow my love prospects suck." Her hollow attempt at humour easily showed how deeply in pain she felt.
"I know right now things seem overwhelmingly against you." Bo put her hand down and physically made the bar stool swivel so her best friend was looking at her. "But don't you dare give up on you. Lauren is working her ass off because she believes she can figure this out, I believe she can too and more than that I believe in you." She made sure to hold eye contact with the other brunette. "Whatever this serum is doing inside you, we're going to deal with it." She saw that despite her glum attitude Kenzi was paying attention to her. "Maybe there will be a learning curve, maybe there will have to be baby steps but if I could learn to control my power, you can learn to control this." She put her hand over Kenzi's. "The other thing you're not factoring into this is that Eli isn't going to give up on you. She just risked heading into a pack of Lupines because she wants to help. This whole serum thing, the Frenum thing, I admit it Kenz, it's screwed up but I see the way she looks at you. Remember I'm a succubus."
"I know..." Kenzi tried hard not to sigh with her reply, but it was obvious that the young woman was fighting a hard wall of negativity. "But I right now I'm stuck in the shitty part of this mess, I'm not seeing the rest." She admitted.
"That's okay, you're allowed to wallow in the wow suckage factor that all this has." Bo assured her that her response wasn't unwarranted. "Just remember no matter how bad it seems, I'm not going anywhere, I'm going to be right there with you."
"If you can be." Kenzi said glumly dropping her arms onto the bar top and taking back her beer bottle.
Bo watched the move and mimicked her arm movements and body position, letting silence fall over them for a long moment.
"Tell me about what happened with Dyson." She spoke the request in a soft easy tone.
"I don't want to talk about it." Kenzi shook her head. "Other than to note that he can be scary." She kept her body low and took a swig of the nearly empty beer.
"Please Kenzi." Bo urged her. "I want to understand what you're going through, what it felt like, what exactly his reaction was."
"You can't understand." Kenzi flashed blue eyes at her best friend quickly. "You can't understand because you're one of them." She said the words that were, for the young woman rather out of character, to the point that almost as soon as she said them she stopped, took a breath and shook her head, looking away from the succubus and back to the bar top. "None of you can understand." She put the bottle down hard and pushed off the stool.
-x-
"I need a drink." The words were the first thing that really alerted Bo to Dyson's presence, mainly because the succubus had been somewhat zoned out. Having taken Lauren's all be it unspoken request to leave her alone in the lower rooms to do what she needed to set up the equipment that Eliyana had returned with and giving her best friend chill time to just play pool with the returned Geist and not to push any of the matters that had so recently caused tension between them.
Looking up from where she had been sitting studying her empty shot glass, Bo was surprised to see not only the tall handsome shifter, but a small, well built dwarf beside him. The smaller Fae had shockingly red hair, that hung in a shaggy mane around his shoulders and had a beard of the same hue that fell in three thick braids, down to the waist of his leather pants.
"You need a drink? I've just been in a ride though Hades itself and you need a drink?" The Dwarf accompanying Dyson scowled.
"Lucky for you both this is a bar." Bo stood up and addressed them both with a smile.
"Well then wench, get me an ale." Dark slightly murky green eyes landed briefly on Bo as the Dwarf approached the bar, looking up at the tall stool in front of it with a dangerously dark scowl.
Dyson didn't even bother to hide his broad smile at the term his companion used for Bo.
"Did he just call me a wench?" Bo's hands went to her hips taking offence to his statement.
"Tamkl Deathdig!" From out of no where Trick appeared, hastily settling his false beard into place, a fact that made his granddaughter have to stifle a laugh as he looked at little like a badly costumed mall Santa. "Welcome to the Dal Riata, may your steel be hot and your barrels always full." He extended his arm as he came closer to the Dwarf.
"Fitzpatrick." The thick accented Fae gave Trick a beaming smile and moved to clasp Trick's forearm and then pull him into a hard embrace. "Could you do no better than to send a beardless cub out to get me?" He glanced back over his should at Dyson with a frown. "I nearly fed him to ma pigs in insult."
"My apologies." Trick gave the apology as Bo quirked a smile at Dyson who just gave a soft roll of his eyes, clearly he'd had to listen to more of this sentiment already. "Join me in the private rooms, there is proper seating and goblets waiting."
"An invitation I will accept, since we have much to discuss." Tamkl agreed to Trick's offer of relocation.
Standing straight and still until both older Fae had left the room Dyson breathed out a lung full of air as soon as he was free of his burden.
"Next time someone else can be messenger, I will do anything other than that, I had forgotten just how unforgiving they are of men who shun their beards." He sat down heavily on the stool next to Bo, shaking his head with a smile.
"They seem a little obsessed with them." Bo acknowledged. "And did he mean wench in a bad way?"
Dyson's smile grew wider again.
"I'm not going to answer that." He replied shaking his head. "Just be thankful that your grandfather diverted him." He nodded towards the door the two had left by and then glanced back towards Eli and Kenzi, who had barely stopped their game to check what was going on. "I'm picking up some mixed vibes, something I should know about?" He checked, nodding a smile at Pam the waitress as she dropped off a beer for him.
"Lauren's running tests to try and better figure out what is going on with Kenzi... and Kenzi..." She glanced over to where her best friend was leaning against her cue. "Is worried." She gave a soft sigh and then looked at the wolf. "I need you to explain to me what happened between you two at the hospital Dyson."
"We've been through this Bo, it was nothing." Dyson shook his head. "Just a misunderstanding that got out of hand, I don't even remember really." He rubbed his chin.
"Don't feed me that bullshit right now." Bo snapped the words at him before she could check herself. "I know you, you don't forget things like that. Both of you are trying to push me off with the same line about it being nothing, it wasn't nothing. It was enough for you to call Lauren in the middle of the night panicked, and you don't panic over just anything."
Dyson shifted his weight slightly and stroked his hand over his chin and shook his head slightly.
"Bo, what matters right now is finding out what's going on in Kenzi's body, what getting my love back cost her." He frowned harder still. "Our little argument isn't the point." He stood by his guns. "What caused it, what it was about, though you think it might, it doesn't matter." He breathed out a slightly heavy sigh. "What matters is that Kenzi was hurt doing something that I should have been big enough and brave enough to do for myself, but wasn't." The muscles in his strong jaw clenched slightly. "And because of that she is facing something she shouldn't be. None of this should be happening, but it is." He stood a little straighter. "And that's what matters." He picked up his beer and took a drink. "And one thing I know you know is that you and Kenzi matter more to me than anyone has in a long time." He looked into Bo's dark brown eyes.
"I'm sorry." Bo let out a long sigh. "I just feel so helpless right now. Kenzi is convinced this is the end of her world, that she's going to lose Eli and maybe herself." She looked over to where her best friend was sitting up on a table sipping a beer as the Geist took a shot at the pool table. "I just want to understand what is going on so I can reassure her that we can deal with it." She turned her eyes back to him. "Did Tamkl know of anything that might help us against my father?" She moved onto the other topic that was stalking around in the back of her mind after the possible problem with Kenzi pushed itself to the front.
"He wouldn't say anything to me, to be honest the fact that he returned with me fills me with hope because rather than just saying nothing or returning me with a note, he wanted to talk to Trick." Dyson reasoned out his thinking. "But the fact he didn't bring anything with him..." He let Bo draw her own conclusions from that.
"Like you said it's a start of something." Bo gave a sad nod, even if she had been hoping the Dwarf would come up suddenly with some ancient artifact that would give them the edge. "Have you heard from Tamsin?" She asked the other question burning in her mind, after all the Valkyrie had been summoned by the leader of the Dark Fae and that couldn't mean anything good.
Dyson shook his head again and sighed harder.
"How's Lauren doing?" He asked his voice surprisingly gentle.
"She's engrossed in what she's doing." Bo gave him a soft smile of thanks for the query. "I was going to give her another half hour and then see if I can get a progress report out of her that doesn't involve twenty letter words and strange acronyms."
-x-
By the time Trick returned to his place behind the bar, he had four eager people waiting to hear what he had learned from his Dwarven visitor. Detaching the false beard from his face, he tucked it safely behind the bar knowing even in her dim mood it would be impossible to keep Kenzi from playing with the comical object.
"It has been along time since I had to wear one of those." Trick poured himself a small glass of water, having drank enough mead with his visitor to last him awhile.
"Did he have any ideas how to help?" Bo pushed the fact quickly and nervously as she bounced up onto the balls of her feet. What she really wanted right now was a way to steam roll over her father so that she could focus on the issues with Kenzi and not have to be distracted by anything other than her best friend.
"Perhaps." The old Fae glanced first at his granddaughter and then at the others who were looking so intently at him. "But as with everything it will not be coming to us with any great ease."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kenzi asked, her temper obviously still short and frayed from everything in her busy head. "Does the guy know of a weapon that kills soul suckers or not? God why do you all make things so complicated are you unable to just answer simple questions?" She sighed hard garnering looks from both Eliyana and Bo.
To his credit Trick didn't rise to Kenzi's anger, instead he just moved to refresh everyones drinks.
"You might be a little rusty with your old lore Dyson, but do you recall anything of the old forge of Ranril?" The Blood king looked at the tall shifter for any sign of recognition. "It was used back in the dark times to create unique weapons, one of which Tamkl believes might help us."
"That's great news, now clearly the catch, what horrible dangerous place is this weapon now?" Bo tried to be direct and not add further to her best friend's intense state.
"Bo, be patient." Dyson shook his head at the Succubus, ignoring the flash of blue eyes that came from Kenzi as well. "The Forge of Ranril was said to have been created when an ancient blacksmith wanted to find a way to create weapons from prismatic metals. He found a place where lava bubbled up from the centre of the earth and created a basin for it with the hollowed out skull of a great sea serpent. With that he placed an anvil made of pure diamond and spent the rest of his life creating mythical weapons for the most worthy of warriors."
"Did you just make that up, it sounded like you just made that up." For the first time in a long while Kenzi's face twisted into a half smile.
"Right off the top of my head." Dyson flashed her a smile back, happy to see her at least finding her footing again. "Which of the mythical weapons does he think will help and where can we start looking for it?" He finally got around to the same question Bo had already asked.
"The Gemini dagger." Trick revealed the name of their apparent quarry, which in turn made the wolf's eyebrow quirk high.
"That was lost before the old war." He pointed out immediately, resting his hand on the small shot glass filled with high quality whiskey.
"Apparently more hidden than lost." Trick replied, lowering his voice and moving a lot closer to the congregated group, his eyes making a quick scan of the area before continuing. "As you can imagine the words worthy and arduous journey featured greatly in our conversation but Tamkl truly believes that not only is it obtainable but that it will be the weapon that turns the tide."
"I'm in, where do I start looking?" Bo put her hand flat on the bar top, fully prepared to do whatever it took to find this 'hidden' treasure.
The Blood King's eyes flickered up to meet his granddaughter's briefly.
"I told Tamkl I would have a worthy party sent to the under city as soon as I could to begin." His eyes travelled to Dyson.
"I'll get together what I'll need." Dyson gave a nod and knocked his knuckles against the bar top.
"I'll get ready too." Bo watched the look that passed between them and felt a suddenly inkling that something wasn't right.
"Me too." Kenzi echoed her best friend, apparently all trace of what shadowed her mind just seconds ago cast off in favour of a new distraction.
Trick stopped them both by clearing his throat.
"Neither of you will be going." He shook his head as he looked at the two women.
"Sorry?" Bo blinked brown eyes at him in disbelief. "Of course I'm going, we need this dagger."
"Is this a beard thing, because I can get beards." Kenzi put a hand on her slender hip. "Better than your goat hair one, I'm talking 100% human."
"The Dwarves would never allow a human into the heart of the under city, but it has little even to do with that." Trick shook his head with a frown. "You father is watching you Ysabeau, you too Kenzi, putting either of you in a party to retrieve the dagger would be counter productive to say the least." He said, the words obviously causing him pain to even say them.
"Damn it!" Bo pushed away from the bar, feeling a hot burning pain of disappointment in herself. "Dyson can't go alone." She pointed out the simple obvious fact. "This dagger isn't going to be just sitting in a dresser waiting for him to 'find' it."
"I'll go with him." From behind them all Lauren appeared at the side of the bar, her hands buried deep in the pockets of the lab coat that she was wearing.
"No." The word shot out of Bo's mouth before she even processed it. "I'm sorry but you are not going anywhere near an Under City on a quest to find a mythical dagger hidden away sometime before some old war and I'm not even sure which old war that is." She continued to shake her head.
"And like I said to Kenzi, the Dwarfs..." Trick turned to look at her.
"Please Trick, we all know I'm not human any more." She silenced with with a frown and then turned her attention back to her lover. "You said yourself Dyson can't go alone and we have limited options." She made her voice gentle. "Vex is out of the question and that leaves Tamsin, who I don't know if anyone else has noticed is doing a good impression of not being here right now." She summed up pulling her hands out of her pocket, pushing one of them through her hair. "Before you say anything Eliyana." Brown eyes flickered to meet with soft brown ones, "Of course I hadn't forgotten you, but your unique position also rules you out of the equation, until you are ready to reveal your existence to the Fae I am the logical option." She summed up.
Before anyone else could say anything, almost as if she'd been waiting for her cue the tall blonde Valkyrie stalked her way into the bar with the unmistakable body language that she was in a foul angry mood.
"You!" Her long arm came up and her index finger pointed past everyone to zone in directly at Kenzi. "I want a word with you!"
-x-