Hi guys!

Still trying to suss my way through this story but it'll get there. Welcome to my new followers and as always thanks to Nerd'- you are my writing rock! FrenChi, it's funny you should mention that. The other day I was re-watching Series 4 after I had written that last chapter and when that scene came on I had a wee "ah ha!" moment so great shout by you!

Chapter Three

"They came to my house Dyson; don't you dare tell me to stay calm!" Bo screeched, slamming the flat of her palm thunderously on one of the sticky round bar tables in the Dàl's main lounge. "They are threatening my family and you want me to do nothing? What, is this what you're hoping for? That I lose everything and come running back into your arms?" she continued, flinging her hands about wildly in mid-air.

It was the morning after their mysterious midnight visit and it had found Bo at her local waystation, quizzing her old friend for answers but unfortunately, he was proving less than helpful, at least in her eyes.

The scruffy-faced wolf took a carefully measured breath before he allowed himself to reply. They all knew that Bo was a creature of passion who often possessed little control over her reactions. Right now, she was acting out of fear. Being frightened was anathema to the Succubus who had personally seen off more than her share of supposedly superior opponents but on the rare occasions when it did happen, her first response was to lash out at anything or anyone that was nearby. It was her (misguided) way of showing that she was still strong but he understood it well, having been guilty of the same thing himself on far too many counts. Still, it seemed that even after all these years of peace, the ingrained tradition of 'fear or be feared' was a hard one to break. However, Dyson also knew that from time to time Bo had to be reminded who the real enemy was…and that he was not in this room.

"Bo, you know that's not true, Lauren and I reached an accord a long, long time ago."

"Yeah, until she turned Fae and wrecked all your dreams of a happy ending! Admit it, you were just counting down the years 'til she upped and died on me!" she spat, leaning menacingly over him where he remained at the table in his best conciliatory pose. "Let me tell you lover boy, there ain't nothin' more unattractive that a jealous ex who just can't move on."

For an instant, the Succubus' eyes flashed, a brighter, whiter blue than Dyson could recall ever seeing before.

"Bo, you know I am very happy with Kenzi, remember? What the hell is wrong with you?"

For a moment, the cocky expression on Bo's face seemed to pause and she halted in confusion. The mention of her best friend's name felt like a bucket of ice water being poured over her and she almost appeared to come back to herself from somewhere. Abruptly Bo jumped back from the rickety wooden table top as if it burned. Seriously though, when was this guy going to get some new stuff in here? She thought distractedly. As she made to leave, clearly calling this unproductive exchange to an end, her tall booted heels caught on the slightly tacky pub floorboards and her head struggled to maintain a sense of balance as the room whizzed around her. Dyson's brow creased in an uncertain frown.

"Bo, you okay?"

The succubus held up an unsteady hand;

"I'm fine, just got a little woozy I guess."

The wolf eyed her suspiciously for a moment.

"Must be the strain of the day, I imagine."

"Yeah, must be" she agreed a little breathlessly before tottering out of the bar into the waiting daylight beyond. "See you around Wolfman" she tossed carelessly over her shoulder.

Lauren glanced up from where she was busily unpacking the weekly grocery shop from behind the kitchen island when Bo finally got home an indeterminate number of hours later. Her curiosity peaked when the Succubus proceeded to slump without a word onto one of the bar stools neatly stowed beneath the countertop.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" She inquired carefully. After their many years of living and fighting side-by-side, the doctor was well-cognisant of her wife's moods. Something about the intent look in the other woman's eyes told her to approach with caution. When the Succubus eventually deigned to meet her gaze, there was something in Bo's expression that Lauren didn't quite recognise. She listened in closely with her mind, the brunette's thoughts were clouded. Unfamiliar. She couldn't quite discern Bo's instantly recognisable voice. She became aware of a picture on an agitated Bo pounding the streets of Toronto and her head buzzed with a swarm of indistinct thoughts that slipped by too fast for her to catch a hold of. She obviously hadn't hidden her scrutiny as well as she'd hoped. Bo had read the tension around the blonde's stare.

"I know what you're doing Lauren, now back off" she growled.

Shocked but not entirely undeterred, the doctor pressed on;

"I know you left the Dàl hours ago. Dyson called. He's worried about you."

"What, are you checking up on me now?" Bo snarled in an odd, predatory show of teeth.

"Honey, what's wrong? You're really starting to scare me."

The Succubus huffed, her irises flashing that same oddly bright hue that the Wolf had described over the phone and it sent a chilling shiver down the doctor's spine.

"I told you, back the fuck off!" Bo roared, immediately flying off the stool and stomping off towards the living room windows, hands thrust firmly on her hips as she breathed hard, nostrils flaring at the sheer effort. Lauren stalked across the room in fury.

"Hey! I know you're having a hard time with this…thing, whatever the hell it is but I deserve better than to be spoken to like some little whore that you can abuse and toss aside. I am your wife and I am allowed to know what's going on with you! You don't take your shit out on me like that!" She came to a halt just outside Bo's personal space.

The brunette grinned sadistically and whipped around, prowling towards the doctor like a tigress stalking her prey and Lauren instinctively knew something had changed.

"Oh, bad move Lo…very bad move!" Suddenly she lunged forward, gripping Lauren by the neck, easily lifting her as though she weighed nothing while the blonde's feet dangled helplessly below, caught completely off-guard and unable to defend herself.

"Bo, honey, please just let me help you. Please sweetheart! Something is really wrong with you! Please Bo!" she squeaked frantically above the rising pressure around her throat, grasping fruitlessly at Bo's wrist. Lauren almost felt relieved when Bo finally lowered her towards the ground but then shrunk in horror as, maintaining her death grip around the blonde's neck, the Succubus pulled her close and roughly pushed her mouth against hers.

"I think you should feed me now doctor." She hissed and again, the voice that came out sounded completely unlike Bo's gentle lover's murmurings and Lauren's blood ran cold. She wasn't used to being afraid of her own wife's touch and it terrified her.

Bo let go just for a moment while Lauren dropped to her knees, reaching a hand up to her burning throat, hacking a cough and desperately trying to get air into her lungs but again Bo came at her, throwing the blonde's body back against the glass coffee table, the blonde both stunned and grateful when she didn't immediately plunge straight through on impact. Bo climbed over her thrashing form and began trying to pin her down by the wrists but this time Lauren was quicker, sending her knee hard into her wife's crotch. It didn't have quite the same satisfaction as the time she kicked the randy fifteen-year-old Tommy Spinkley in the nuts when he'd begged her for sex in the school yard but it would still do the trick.

Bo fell to the side, squeezing her thighs together at the sudden pain that lanced through her nether half but she merely grinned impishly;

"So, you do wanna play, huh, Doc?"

She swiped a high arm towards Lauren's skull which the blonde easily blocked but this only gave Bo the leverage she needed to draw forward, stretching to squeeze Lauren's cheeks tightly between her fingers, forcing the other woman's mouth to open for her.

"Baby, you're sick. I don't wanna fight you, please! I know you're in there somewhere honey, fight it…you're breaking my heart." The doctor pleaded softly. For just a second, something agonising flashed across Bo's features and her grip loosened a fraction but all too soon it was gone, her fingers solidifying the hold Bo had on her wife along with whatever it was that had a hold on her. The thing sneered depravedly at her;

"I would have enjoyed taking you but if I have to just drain you dry instead, so be it." But the she paused and her face lit up as though she had just discovered gravity and she manoeuvred them closer again, her hot breath saturated Lauren's skin as she whispered sickeningly in her ear; "Not unless…uh oh…where are the kids? Upstairs? Maybe out with Auntie Dagny or big sis?" Lauren shook her head in panic, her eyes wide. "Maybe we wait…put on a little show for them huh? Honey?" She said mockingly. "Hey kids, here's what Mommy and Mommy do when they think you're all tucked up fast asleep!" She sang.

The creak and dull thud of the front door opening and closing went unnoticed by both women.

"Mom!"

"Mommy!"

The horrified faces of Charlotte and Ethan stood frozen next to their Aunt in the doorway.

"Dagny, get them out of here!" screamed Lauren in the brief moment of distraction.

"Bo, what the fuck are you doing?" Yelled Dagny but when the Succubus turned on her she knew it wasn't her sister she was talking to, rapidly taking note of the hand-print around her mentor's neck. Quickly, she bundled the kids out the door; "Go kids, go find Saoirse and wait by the car right now!"

"But-" Ethan objected.

"No buts, just go!" she insisted, ushering them out to the driveway and slamming the door shut behind them before facing her sister who now licked her lips lasciviously and swiftly swatted an exhausted Lauren away with the back of her hand, sending her careening into a wall unit.

"I'll finish with you later, lover!"

She sashayed her way over to Dagny who met her straight in the eye with an expression of pure and infinite determination.

"You are not my sister…and whoever you are, you will go no further. You will not harm our children!"

"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it sweetcheeks? I kinda like being this badass" Bo mocked, curling her index finger around the Valkyrie's chin.

"Well, I guess it's now or never." Dagny muttered under her breath before her face began to darken, the eerie visage of death and destruction took hold in her features while the icy cold of doubt burned through her stare as, for the first time, she used her gifts to cast doubt over one who stood against her.

Bo staggered back for a second but seemed to rally before finally clasping her hand tight against her forehead as a hard pounding pulsed through her temples. It felt as though her very cranium was borne through with a pneumatic drill.

Meanwhile, Lauren had regained her feet and Bo was distantly aware of the sound of her lover's voice screaming at Dagny to stop, that she would hurt her if she wasn't careful.

The Succubus felt fuzzy and she blinked rapidly against the cloud that seemed to have enveloped her senses, holding up a hand wearily in protest at the onslaught of…whatever it was. Suddenly she dropped to her knees, her legs somehow unable to support her own bodyweight, why was that?

Immediately Lauren and Dagny had rushed to her, the doctor holding the prone Succubus lightly in her arms while Dagny curved her fingers around one of Bo's wrists, feeling for a pulse.

"Bo, honey, speak to me. Are you alright? Can you hear me?"

Bo could make out the tears threatening to spill from the corners of Lauren's eyes and wondered why she was crying.

"Mmm, I think so…I mean…yeah…no…uh…you're pretty!" she finished with a vacant smile.

Lauren glanced up at Dagny and despite herself, started to giggle absurdly;

"Wow, that was some powerful whammy you put on her. Way to go Valkyrie!"

Dagny, who couldn't quite work out whether Lauren was being sarcastic or just plain hysterical only shrugged and mumbled a short 'thanks' but Lauren shook her head and strained against her still-burning throat;

"No, I mean it Dag, your mom would be proud of you right now."

The faint glow that rose in the young woman's face was more than worth the small amount of praise. Then the two doctors turned their attention on the Succubus who was currently flopping about in a haze under Lauren's gentle grasp.

"I should go and get the kids," Dagny said quietly, "they're probably scared out their wits."

"No." Whispered Lauren. The simple word was barely audible but nonetheless firm.

"You sure, Lo?"

Lauren raised her gaze to meet squarely that of the Valkyrie's.

"They're with Saoirse. right?" She continued at Dagny's nod of confirmation. "Then they're safe. Tell her to take them somewhere for the night. I don't know what came over Bo earlier but I don't want our children around her tonight."

Dagny sighed heavily but silently agreed with the older woman's assessment.

"What about you?"

Lauren closed her eyes briefly before refocusing on her wife's stricken form.

"I'll just have to be okay, won't I?"

Well folks, slightly shorter update tonight, really writing this on instinct with only a rough idea as to how exactly this plot is going to unfold so as always, let me know your thoughts!

P&L