Chapter 54

Looking dumbstruck in the middle of a fight is never the smartest thing to do, but in Lauren's case – who had never really had any physical altercations in her life before Shona had taken up training her – it was the only thing to do when she saw how smoothly the Fae spear pierced through the giant, Norse hellcat's chest and came out just to the left of its spine. The doomed feline yowled in pain before dying, the dead weight suddenly making Lauren aware she was open for attack.

As she confidently pulled her weapon from the Skogcatt's now human carcass, (she felt proud of not being squeamish anymore since Dyson had her practicing with various weapons on dead pigs) she heard another death-yowl, cut abruptly short, come from another hellcat. She swung back around to face Shona and the others and found her teacher releasing the cat's head, neck broken but otherwise intact.

The other two that had been facing them had skirted to the sides as much possible, gauging the two women if that start to attack them. They were content to growl and take swipes at them when they circled too close. They had them trapped while the giants hauled Brynna off to her father.

"Nae!" Shona yelled enraged and torn between trying to go after her wife or making sure Lauren wouldn't get mauled to death.

"Go after her!" Lauren commanded as she kept her attention on the cats. She didn't know if it was the battle or the adrenaline pumping through her veins that made her so aggressive. "We're no good to her if Angus gets her!"

Shona snapped out of it and turned to look at Lauren. Adjusting her eyes to see her aura, she was shock to find a wisp of golden smoke wrapping itself in the various colors within. It was coming from the spear, which was haloed by the same gilded smoke. Something was boosting her to fight, and Shona was glad she'd brought the weapon with. Lugh's aura must still be bound to his spear, even after his death millenia ago. Maybe Lauren was the chosen to wield her family's most precious possession after all.

"I can't – "

"You can." Lauren nudged her in the direction the giant's dragged Brynna. "I can fight these two off as long as one of them doesn't decide to circle around to my back."

Shona worried her lip before slipping off a charm from her necklace. She mumbled an incantation and it fused to the iron of Lauren's necklace. "If you need strength, draw from this. But know it has its limits. It must be replenished after sustained use for long periods. Use it sparingly."

Shona began to run down the hall but not without sending a boulder to the side of one of the cats to give Lauren an advantage.

Once the Skogkatts saw that their prey had separated, they seemed to linger on how to handle the situation now. Their mistress hadn't told them this could be a possibility.

"Hey, you big...pussies..." Lauren weakly called out to them, not being able to think up a clever line like Bo or Kenzi would at that moment. It didn't matter as the cats decided at least one would keep their mistress from being angered at them.

Lauren made a quick assessment of the situation: two Skogkatts, one injured enough to be limping. Should she go for the lamed one or take out the faster, more healthier cat?

The cats didn't let her think further than that before the uninjured one leaped forward, fangs bared and claws out as it tried to disembowel Lauren. Sucking in her stomach as much as possible, only her shirt was the casualty, sporting a fashionable shredded look from ribs to navel.

She managed to think quickly and try to plunged the spear up through the cat's lower jaw, but it was faster than Lauren and hopped away, readying for another strike. When the Skogkatt lifted its paw to strike again, this time aiming for Lauren's head and shoulders, Lauren jabbed the spear forward.

The spear's tip sliced through a good portion of the right side of the cat's mouth, making it pause in attacking and tried batting the spear away from itself and Lauren. It backed away, and by now the previously wound cat was skulking behind Lauren.

She left the other cat to bleed and turned to snarl at the other Skogkatt. She was really feeling the power of the Spear of Lugh, little jolts pricked her palms and fingers and raced through her arms in an invigorating way. Memories of wars and battles flashed briefly through her mind and her muscles reacted, her calves rushing her forth with the strength she drew from the spear and the charm. The Skogkatt couldn't move fast enough to stop her and ended up skewered like the first.

In a matters of minutes, four dead women were scattered out in front of Lauren, who shook slightly from the ordeal before gathering her wits and moving down the hall where Shona and Brynna disappeared down.

* LOST * GIRL *

"Why does my breath smell and taste like the south end of a goat?" These were Blair's first words upon waking to find herself on a ragged mattress with hardly any memory of what went on. She looked around to find Kenzi and Kieran sitting on the sofa, a huge bowl of cheese balls between them, watching The Wolf Man.

"Maybe because you've chewed your way through a pair of me boots? Or maybe when ye sneaked away from us to drink from the toilet?" Kieran raised a brow, looking at his befuddled sister-in-law before clamping a hand over his mouth to hide his gleeful laughter as she bolted for the bathroom. The sounds of retching and the scrubbing of a toothbrush hinted that Blair was beginning to decontaminate her mouth. Soon the cursing would start anew and with passion.

"Still say my foot soup was worse." Kenzi said through a mouthful of cheese balls before brushing the neon cheese seasoning on her pants and checking on the distraught succubus. Once she calmed Blair enough to leave her alone with Kieran, Kenzi went to answer the knocking at the door.

Lorna and Dyson was on the other side – looking black and blue with various cuts – with Donovan and Moira not in much better shape. Clothes were ripped and Dyson had lost his shirt somehow. Donovan and Moira looked like they were in the eyes of a mosh pit storm; Lorna looked like she merely got into a minor scuffle or two.

"Got a bit a problem." Dyson panted, ushering the others in as he followed, flopping into a chair. "Freyja must have figured we got to her Huldra and has been sending out UnderFae left and right. We just took out five Skogkatts and a few more Maenads."

"And don't forget the Dullahans." Donovan added, leaning against a wall.

"And the Fir Gorta." Moira said, laying her duffle-bag of firearms by her husband's feet. "Babe, grab my ammo and cleaning kits?" Donovan gave her a kiss and jogged upstairs.

"We couldn't kill all the Fir Gorta." Dyson informed, "There were just too many of them and the Draugr... I suggest we head to the Dal. We can use Trick's tunnels if they breach the bar. I've already called to let him know, so he's cleared the Dal."

"Walking Fae Dead?" If Kenzi could get any paler, she just did. "What about Bo and the others?"

"Garrett told me he received a message they were preparing to storm Angus' castle. He hasn't heard anything back from them, but he's heard rumors of a mass attack in Tir na nOg by a band of warriors and druids and so far they're winning. We should begin gathering our things."

"But –" A loud slam made Kenzi jump and groaning could be heard from the kitchen. She saw an arm had broken a board on the window. "I'll go grab Geraldine."

"I'll help pack weapons." Lorna said, rushing up the stairs with Kenzi.

The others started grabbing weapons as groaning, scratching, and banging filled the background. The Hungry Men were beginning to get frustrated – if they could feel anything other than their raging hunger for flesh – and began running at the boarded windows, unfortunately knocking a few of the boards loose.

"We gotta go, mates!" Moira yelled to the rest of them upstairs before putting an iron bullet through one of the UnderFae that managed to squeeze in between a couple of the boards. She grabbed up her bag and froze when she heard a scream then a crash from upstairs.

"I got them." Dyson said as he raced up the stairs. What he found made him curse in Gaelic.

The Fir Gorta were apparently a distraction for several Fae to climb through the windows upstairs. And then he smelled it – the dead, rotten, and frostbit stench of Draugar.

"Don't let them grab you or hold you down." Dyson said quickly before slinging the nearest one against the wall who had been trying to tackle Lorna to the ground.

Draugar were the Norse equivalent to zombies, except if the got a hold of you, they didn't eat your flesh or brains. They have an interesting ability to fluctuate their size and weight to kill their victims. Dyson had ran into a couple years ago in Iceland and that battle hadn't been pretty.

They were slow and easy to outrun but tenacious. They have excellent tracking abilities and always find their prey eventually. Dyson had a pretty good idea who sent them their way.

He dodged to the left as one of the Draugr tried grabbing him into a choke-hold, forgetting about attacking Kenzi for the meantime.

Cursing something awful in Russian, the petite goth unsheathed Geraldine and raised her high above her head, landing it in the middle of the Nordic zombie's skull. It's grip went slack on Dyson as it crumpled to the ground and faded into goo.

"Next time we face zombies, please let them just be pixelated." Kenzi picked up her sword and with the others in tow, made their way down to to living room to see the crack house was about to become living dead central.

The drive to the Dal was highly unrecommended by every one in the lump of flammable material going nearly eighty miles an hour. Thank the gods the streets were deserted at the moment.

"Now I know why Hale never lets you drive, D-man. You drive like a maniac." Kenzi clutched at her seat-belt and the dash as Dyson took another sharp turn and almost had the Rover on two wheels; the others cursed as they were jostled around.

"I drive like a warrior." Dyson simply smirked, having too much fun scaring the small woman.

"Yeah. From Mad Max." Moira commented as she shot another bolt into the cranium of a Fir Gorta. Lorna and Kieran were busy trying to find better angles with which to throw ninja stars and their own gunfire at the group of undead following them. Most of the undead took their time dragging themselves down the road while the rest galloped and ran like madmen to catch the group.

Dyson laid heavy on the horn and soon Trick was waving them to the back from the front door before locking it up again. They drove to the back and piled out in an efficient military fashion into the safer, more reinforced rooms of the Dal.

"They've already tried breaking in here a few hours ago. Luckily, my wards and the steel held, so we're safe here for the moment." Trick said once they had all settled into his den and licked their wounds. Not literally because, ew, zombie brains and goo.

"They caught us unawares while we were scouting." Moira informed Trick of the past happenings and the old man's face wrinkled in concern and concentration. Aggravated banging came from all sides as the undead tried to find a way in to seize their targets for their masters.

"They're getting desperate. We'll need to strike where they've gathered their above ground forces and take them out."

"And just how do you plan on taking out the Real Zombies of Faeronto, huh? You got a huge stash of C4 or TNT we can chuck at them?" Trick just stared at Kenzi, eyes wide and blinking.

"Ohmygod! Explosives in the Dal?! What the Fae, Trick?!" she shouted.

"I've procured things over the years from some unlikely and unsavory people. I've got two boxes full of dynamite in storage. I've kept them warded to preserve them and to protect my patriots."

"Talk about a bag of Tricks huh?" Moira grinned and went back to preparing her weapons. She knew her father kept items more lethal than the whole two boxes of TNT in his pub. She was sure if she'd mentioned them to the poor Kenzi, but the poor woman was already fighting off a panic attack

"Took the words right out of my mouth."