Tamsin's POV

Monday. The worst day of the week and I had a case load the size of Mt. Rushmore. To top it off, I had Kenzi and Bo all in my workspace. Unwelcome, for the most part. Dyson spent most of the morning going over a case with Bo, while Kenzi and I sat in the background, talking lowly.

"How's she been?" I mumbled, partially blocking the question with my coffee mug. Bo hadn't said a word to me, which wasn't out of the ordinary, but she seemed especially dejected towards me today.

"She's... Bo-Bo." Kenzi said hesitantly. "Oblivious to the obvious. I mean, don't get me wrong, the doc is great... But I'm deff Team Slamsin." She grinned in the low light.

I groaned at the nickname Kenzi had chosen. Ever since the Dal, she'd been spending more time at my side these past few weeks. I guess I should've expected it, what with my confession and with Lauren taking up all of Bo's time, but it was strangely welcome. Certainly better than having Dyson in my corner all the time.

"Are you two paying attention?" Dyson called gruffly, as he peeked out behind Bo.

"Yeah, sure, Dyson. Mass forest killings, torn flesh, missing tourist. Sounds like your run of the mill animal attack." I deflected nonchalantly.

Suddenly, the lights flicked on. Dyson shoved a picture in my hand roughly. His gaze was stern as he leant against the table.

"Does that look like an animal attack to you, Detective?"

Looking down at the picture, I saw the apparent strangulation marks. They seemed to be cause by a wire, postmortem. The skin of the victim was in tatters, conclusive to an animal attack, but the markings around the neck indicated otherwise. I'd only ever seen this type of kill once before.

"Holy... BALLS!" Kenzi exclaimed from my side.

"Dyson," I said, placing my mug in the desk. "This isn't possible. The placement isn't right, the season..."

"What is it?" Bo said softly.

Acknowledgement, at last.

"Uh, ahem... This type of Fae, the Wendigo, it's said to be extinct." I muttered out.

"Well, your source is wrong, Detective." Bo rebutted, crossing her arms against her chest.

"It can't be." I took another glance at the photo, trying to see a difference in the M.O.

"And what makes you so sure?" Bo rebutted again, to my annoyance.

"I'm my source, Succubus." I sneered back at her, rising out of my seat.

Unbridled tension entered the atmosphere as we locked eyes. Neither of us dropped our defenses, leaving Dyson and Kenzi in the middle of this stare down.

"Ahem!" Dyson cleared his throat. "Look, it's not big deal we can follow your lead on this, Tamsin, since you've experienced this-"

"Oh, like hell we are!" Bo argued. "She obviously didn't do such a great job the first time."

"Strong words coming from you." I smirked. "Only thing you're capable of is burying Fae between your legs."

Bo's jaw dropped, unable to comeback from that insult.

"Hokaaay, let's spit up then. Tammers and I will go to the scene of the crime and-"

"Nope." Bo protested, cutting Kenzi off. "No way, I don't trust her."

"Bo, either she goes with Tamsin or with me." Dyson reassured.

Bo contemplated for a second, realizing what he was implying; She would be stuck with me.

"Fine. If anything happens to her, I swear, Tamsin." Bo threatened walking towards the exit with Dyson.

"She's touchy..." I grumbled as she left.

"C'mon, T-Sin."Kenzi sighed, placed her hand softly on my shoulder. "Let's go catch us a monster."

Bo's POV

"How are we supposed to track this thing without knowing what it looks like, Dyson?" I asked sharply, still riled after Tamsin.

"Just look for anything out of the ordinary. Blood, bits of clothing, tracks, anything of that sort." He replied as he sniffed at a tree.

"Y'know, Tamsin isn't the most reliable partner you've had. Handling this case with her isn't exactly comforting."

Dyson was silent.

"I mean, who goes into this line of work, but doesn't know how to be a team player? It doesn't make sense to me." I continued, studying the ground.

"That's Tamsin for ya." He responded. "Maybe if you got to know her, you'd get on a little better. She did save Kenzi's hide, as well as yours, after all."

"Yeah, right. She'd feed me to sharks before that could happen. "I scoffed.

Dyson was silent again as we moved further towards the scene of the crime. He seemed to be listening for something in the wind.

"She's just so... Infuriating." I growled.

Dyson chuckled suddenly, but was silent. It piqued my interest. I didn't think what I said was humorous.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing." He teased, examining a tree. "Sounds like someone I know."

I contemplated that, mauling it over in my head, while he continued to laugh at the priceless expression I must've had plastered on my face. Then I got it.

"Hey!" I scolded. "I'm nothing like Tamsin, Dyson."

"You'd be surprised, Bo." He said, finally.

I grumbled at this and continued following his lead.

Kenzi's POV

"This. Is... AWESOME!" I exclaimed excitedly as Tamsin pulled up the yellow police tape.

"Don't touch anything." She said sternly, passing me a pair of blue latex gloves.

'What crawled up her ass?' I thought to myself. She was tense and cold on the drive over here. Could it have been Bo or did she hate that I was with her?

Tamsin knelt next to the victims body and examined the remains. Her brow furrowed and she pursed her lips in thought. I followed her lead, but grew to regret it.

"Oh, sweet, merciful god, that shit reeks." I pinched my nose tightly, almost gagging in my mouth.

Tamsin chuckled and shook her head. I don't know how she hasn't blown chunks.

"It's definitely a Wendigo." She said, walking towards the closest tree. "It doesn't make sense... I wiped them out centuries ago."

"Evil, mutant experiment gone wrong?" I suggested in order to lighten the mood.

It didn't work.

Tamsin continued to pace farther away from the body, examining the ground and looking up in the trees for anything out of the ordinary. Like a smack in the face, that smell hit me again.

"T, that smell." My voice was nasally from pinching my nose.

"It really shouldn't be that..." Tamsin started, as she turned towards me. Her eyes widened significantly, but they weren't fixed on me.

"What is it, T? Smell finally hit ya?" I chuckled.

Tamsin's pointer finger slowly hovered by her lips, telling me to be quiet.

"Slowly, get behind me, Kenzi." She said in a hushed voice.

"What's going on?" I whispered, following her instructions.

Finally reaching her, I turned to follow her gaze. Standing gauntly across us, was a lanky, bloodied figure. It was all bare teeth, bone, and talons. It's eyes were black and sunken deep into it's skin. Matted fur lined it's back, like a dog that lived on the streets and it's skin was pale, resembling someone who had a flesh eating disease. The smell only intensified the longer it stared. Surprisingly, it stood as if it were somewhat human.

"On my count, you run. Find Bo and Dyson. Get help." She ordered, placing her hand against the gun holstered on her hip.

"No way," I gasped. "You need me here."

"One," she counted off, tugging at the clip on the holster.

"Tamsin, don't do this..." I pleaded.

"Two," She continued, gripping the handle tightly.

It was inevitable.

"Three!"

Turning on my heels, I ran furiously. A loud growl reverberated through the trees behind me, followed by a gunshot. I couldn't look back.

What if I didn't like what I saw?

A/N: I'm so sorry for my absence. Hopefully, updates will regulate for a little while after this. Big changes are happening in my life, but I'll be making time for my writing as much as I can. Please bear with me.

Anyway, I just wanted to get the story moving. Next chapter for Sleeping Sickness will be up in a couple days. As always, read and drop a review. I appreciate it. :)