Chapter 45

"That's where you live?" Dyson asked, disbelief lacing his voice, "You are the most down-living succubus I've ever heard of."

Bo was staring gaping-mouthed at the still smoking blackened carcass of the house while Kenzi replied to the wolf in a conspiratorial whisper, "It was nothing to write home about from the start but after the deep-fry it's no longer habitable. Can we take her home with us, please?"

Dyson looked considerably less than enthusiastic about the idea of a rogue succubus in his loft, "No way, Kenz, as far as I am concerned, she is on probation at best. I am not giving her the key to where we sleep. She is a strong fae with a still-unelucidated agenda and she might be dangerous."

"Seems like succubi are more dangerous to you than to me, wolfie, as I don't have a p-appendage or enough chi to give," the girl mocked, "Besides, don't forget she saved your life."

"And that's the only things that's keeping me from turning her in as a criminal," the shifter said sternly, "Anyways, first things first, why did this crack-shack of an abode get burnt down?"

"Did you leave your iron on, Bobo?" Kenzi chirped up shaking the other girl our of her miserable contemplation.

By way of an answer Bo passed a hand down her typical leather outfit. "I have no iron or anything worth ironing," she explained further, "And it was her. Aofe. My Mom. She burnt my house down."

"What? Instead of smacking you on the bottom or taking away your TV privileged?" Kenzi scoffed, "That woman is nothing but a responsible parent."

"Guess, that settles it," Dyson intervened, "Aofe is full-out crazy and you are going to Trick. For explanation and habitation. You owe him the first, he owes you the second."

As if by tacit accord the trio stalled on the sidewalk before the entrance to the tavern, none of them relishing the prospect of a massive talk-through. Kenzi was just about to suggest going down the block and grabbing a comfort ice-cream first when the door swung open and a tall blonde woman stumbled out.

"Hey, furry paws, you well know how to pick them," Tamsin slurred giving Bo a cross-eyed up-and-down the succubus was immediately drawn to reciprocate. The Valkyrie then transferred her green gaze onto Kenzi, "And your little girl seems to have fleshed out a bit. Hard choice, hah? One brunette for the body, the other brunette for the soul?"

"And one cheeky blonde for an exercise in witticism," Dyson growled without menace, "What are you doing here this early and already tanked?"

"Not already tanked but still tanked," Tamsin hiccupped, "Was trying to hit the old Trickster up for a drop or two but he's gone all moralistic. You shall not drink before five." She screwed up her face in an attempt to mimic the bar-tender's stentorian voice and expression.

"Go home, sleep it off," Dyson said not without a note of fondness, "If you don't feel better about yourself after that, come back here in the evening and we might carry on with our drinking contest. Last tim I won, I seem to remember, and had to hire you a carriage to get your plastered ass home." He turned to lead the two girls at his side into the tavern while the blonde made a lurching step forward in the other direction. As soon as the door was closed, however, the soused fell off her in a swoop. The valkyrie straightened her spine and squared her shoulders, her green eyes cleared and the speech was articulate and alcohol-uninhibited when she punched a number into her phone and spoke up.

"She's here, looks like you describe, but more appetizing." she reported confidently, "She has just come in to meet the Blood King with the wolf and the human girl. Is she the target?"

A rich male voice boomed in her ear peremptorily, "No, my valkyrie, she is not, on the contrary, she is to be guarded at all costs. The target is another woman. I'll send you the photo."

The phone vibrated with the message received and Tamsin looked at the screen. "Photo?!" she snorted, "Looks more like a portrait of a wax figure from Madame Tussaud's".

"Find her and deliver her to me," the voice barked out of the cell's speaker, "Alive's preferable but if need be, I'll settle for her dead body too."

"Gotcha, boss," the blonde shrugged her shoulders and set off with a new sense of purpose to her gait.

Dyson strode into the bar closely followed by the girls and propped himself against the counter, which distracted Trick from restocking the shelves and made him climb down form the high stool he was using for the purpose. "My young friends that early in the morning," he gave a genuine smile especially when his eye caught the full form of the older girl. "Have never put you down for milk-lovers and that's the only drink you're getting at my bar at this hour," he added maliciously and internally gloated at the others' sour expressions, "Someone has to be responsible here." Ten minutes into the talk, however, having heard the choice peaces of Bo's biography interspersed with the account of the previous night's events Trick plunked four glasses and a bottle of something potent-smelling on the counter.

"I know I should have taken what Aofe was feeding me with a grain of salt, I should have caught that crazy gleam in her eye," Bo wrapped up her story, "but after a teenagehood of repressing my urges and slut-shaming myself and another couple of years on the run from the people I grew up with, feeling like a murderous freak, I finally met someone who sorted me out, taught me to control my powers, taught me to enjoy being what I am. She told me she had had to leave me with the people to protect me from those who had been persecuting her. She told me she had been betrayed by her own father. She told me it was an unfair, artificially imposed order that divided and weakened the fae. She told me she wanted revenge on the culprits and her rightful place as the equitable ruler of all fae."

"And you bought the teary-noble act, turned a blind eye to the crazy showing through and had a flash of a princess dream," Kenzi huffed out a recap. "If my Mommy dearest showed her face now with an offer of a throne and a couple of i-am-sorries thrown in, I might have a weak moment myself."

"So, you knew we were family and played me, played us all," Trick was still getting over the shock of being the one on the receiving end of a fooling scheme. A surprisingly chiding glance from Dyson immediately brought his budding recriminations up short and sent him off on another course. "She did a fine job of turning you against me, Ysabeau, and I can't say that she had nothing to go on."

"She said you had sold her to the enemy, she said Dyson had brought her to the Dark prison on your orders," the succubus looked her grandfather straight into the eye and there was regret and accusation in her voice.

"Did she also tell you why I had committed such an ignominy?" Trick's tone was uneven but unhesitant. "Did she tell you that I was the one to forge a peace between the Light and the Dark and stop the blood-bath that had been carrying on for centuries with thousands of fae and humans perishing in the war? That she rebelled against me, sent an assassin to me in an attempt to prevent the signing of the Laws – Dyson saved my life, but he couldn't have saved my poor wife's heart. It broke when she found out what our daughter was turning into. Aofe wanted power, she lusted it and didn't mind the cost. She rallied an army of the discontent and the blood-thirsty after the Peace Treaty and the Laws were signed by both sides and started a war of her own. Just to give you a taste of her policies, Aofe attacked a Dark lord and decimated his castle, the throats of his family and servants were slit, the villages around the castle were pillaged, men were killed, women were raped, human and non-human alike. The Dark were on the verge of pulling out of the Treaty and the only way to keep the peace was to stop the aggressor." Trick didn't bother with a glass any longer and tilted the bottle to take a huge gulp. Wincing as the burning liquid made its way down to his stomach he dropped his lackluster eyes and said, "I had to sacrifice my daughter to save thousands and thousands more to come from mindless carnage. She will never forgive me and I will never forgive myself, but maybe one day you could, Bo."

The woman's big heart, absorbing yet another dose of her family's suffering, was overflowing with sympathy and pain, she grabbed Trick's hands into hers and squeezed them tightly, "I don't know if I am in any position to judge you, Grand-dad, I have only lived 28 years and managed to take lives and to do things I'll always regret."

"That's another lesson to learn here, my succulent friend," Kenzi couldn't stand the strain of the moment any more, "Don't judge the outfit by its brand label. If she calls herself your Mom, doesn't mean she's all cute and necessarily sane."

"Though I must admit I've been doing quite a bit of concealment myself," the Blood King went on before his acquired Dutch courage could fail him, "There is a prophecy about you, Bo, the savior of fae, the one who will defeat the Garuda and ..."

"… will breach the divide brought on by her ancestor the Blood King and will rule as bestows her royal blood," Bo cut in reciting from memory, "Mom had practically made a lullaby out of it. But she said it was about her."

"Her?" Trick smirked, "There are words pure-hearted, selfless and noble in it. Which part of the description does Aofe think she fits? It's about you, my grand-daughter, and your way is going to be long and fraught with battles and hardship. Wait, let me show you something."

The Blood King waddled away leaving his younger friends to compare notes on the information just dumped on them.

"Shall I call you my Queen, your regal boobness," Kenzi executed a mock-bow and succeeded in nearly falling off the high stool.

"It's not a laughing matter, both of you," Dyson gruffed catching the tiny girl and replacing her onto the seat. "And Aofe is still at large and majorly pissed off and dangerous."

"Tell me about it, she burnt my house down," Bo pouted, "And here I am, saddled with a spine-crashing weight of some super grand prophecy and homeless and motherless again." Her voice hitched and her brown eyes were suspiciously glittering moist. The succubus sniffed with a soft kitten-like sound and two droplets of dew coursed down her smooth cheeks.

"Hey, Bobo," Kenzi leaned forward and encircled the other girl with her arms, "Some mothers are worth dropping, take the word of an orphan by-intent for that. And sometimes the family you stumble upon is a much better deal then the one you were fitted out with initially. I am not sure I am making myself understood, but I love you, Bo, and that counts for something, right?"

The sister-bonding moment was broken by the Blood King reappearing with a scroll that he smoothed out on the counter surface. The dark yellow parchment was filled with ink squiggles that everyone bent to peer at uncomprehendingly. With a snort Trick brought a closed hand to his mouth and, opening it, blew onto his palm. A small cloud of pinkish dust-like powder floated down onto the scroll and the squiggles moved like disturbed ants to rearrange themselves into Latin letters reading perfect English. "Kids these days," the bar-keep signed mournfully, "No education, can't read any more." The girls ignored his lament pouring excitedly over the text while Dyson gave a nonchalant shrug under his elder's reproachful gaze, "Hey, we didn't have a proper school in our neck of the Scottish woods when I was a pup."

"Aren't you one extra awesome chick!" Kenzi lifted her crystalline orbs off the scroll after a prolonged perusal, "And who the heck is this guy with a Spanish-sounding name? Is he serious trouble?"

"He's the most serious trouble since the last Ice Age and I don't mean the movie," Trick mumbled. "He feeds off the hatred and stokes it to homicidal heights while being practically invincible."

"And I'm destined to fight him?" Bo asked incredulously, "Can I just renounce the throne?"

"Hey, sista, what's the cold feet fit? It says here you'll succeed if your loved one is by your side, that's me and I'm by your side, and the wolf here is all ready to unite, that is the effort not the nasty bits. This Garuda is toast!" Kenzi twittered confidently. Trick's bushy eyebrows shot up at such an interpretation of the prophecy and he was about to object but Bo reacted faster. She impetuously hopped off her chair to give the human girl an affectionate hug and enveloping her into a loving gaze the brunette whispered, "Since I met you I feel like I've trulyfound my heart, Kenz."

"Yeah, I have that effect on people," Kenzi squeaked back from the succubus firm embrace but underneath her sass she was obviously genuinely touched.

Watching the scene unfold, the old fae was suddenly struck by an uncomfortable realization that the tiny human's version of the prophecy might have some validity to it. Never before had it occurred to him that the love of a succubus could be not carnal and be attached to an insignificant human.