Chapter Nine

AN: Wow, two chapters in one day. I can't seem to stop writing! Anyway, I'm borrowing/modifying some of my own stuff again, so a piece in here might be familiar.

Bo woke with her arms around Tamsin's waist and her face tucked into the crook of her neck. The succubus instinctively snuggled closer, and the Valkyrie tightened her embrace, placing a kiss to Bo's hair. "You're awake?" the brunette mumbled.

"A little," Tamsin replied, voice husky with sleep. "How're you feeling?"

"Better, I guess," Bo realized. "I…you helped."

Tamsin was glad that Bo couldn't see her blush. "Anytime, succulette."

The silence soon grew too thick, and Tamsin disentangled herself from Bo's arms so she could roll out of bed. "Tell you what – you take a shower and I'll go downstairs and make us breakfast."

"You cook?" Bo asked, surprised. "I've only ever seen you eat cereal. And vodka."

Tamsin chuckled as she left the room. "I'm a woman of many talents, succubabe."

Bo fell back on the bed as she listened to the Valkyrie's footsteps descend the stairs. Now that she was alone, she could examine Tamsin's room a little more closely. It was the only room in her apartment that wasn't almost completely bare. Instead of a dresser, Tamsin had small cupboards along the wall topped by bookshelves packed haphazardly with tomes of all types. There was no particular order to any of them, but Bo had the feeling that Tamsin could tell her exactly where each title was. The Valkyrie had a nightstand with a lamp on each side of the queen-sized bed and a weapons chest at the end of it, wide and deep and packed with God-knows-how many swords and maces and the like. There was a tall wooden wardrobe in the corner with a halberd propped against it along with a tower shield. Bo chuckled at the sight: only Tamsin could make warfare seem so domestic. Curious, she stood from the bed and tried the handle on the wardrobe to find it locked. She probably could have picked it, but she didn't want to invade Tamsin's privacy more than she was already.

She had turned back to look at the bed when out of the corner of her eye Bo noticed that not all of Tamsin's books were novels: a handful of notebooks were propped up on the lowermost left shelf. Curious, Bo pulled one out and found it to be filled with Tamsin's handwriting. Most of the writing was a jumble of symbols that Bo could only assume was runic Norse, but the succubus would recognize that lilting scrawl anywhere.

Figuring there was no harm in browsing if she couldn't understand any of it, Bo looked through another notebook of scribbles only to find that the symbols were now formatted in stanzas. Poetry? Bo wondered, tracing the letters. Tamsin writes poetry? Flipping through further, Bo found a few pages with letters she recognized, though the words still seemed to be in different languages. Tamsin did write poetry, it seemed, including some that Bo now recognized as Irish. Only when she was nearly at the end of the book did she find something in English.

The words were almost impossible to read, many written in the margins as almost all the lines had been unforgivingly struck through. Only two stanzas were really readable, and even they had cross-outs and mark-ups all over them. Bo had to squint, but she could just barely make out what seemed to be the end of the poem:

I vow to her my sword and shield,
In her light, I will shine,
My love, my life, my warrior,
My Valkyrie is thine.

I love her with all that I am,
And loving her has saved me.
I will give her my forever
If only she will have me.

Something about the words twisted her heart, and looking at the top corner of the page, Bo saw that the poem had been written barely a month ago. She bit her lip as she pondered the words. Who could Tamsin be talking about? Was it that girl Kayleigh she'd seemed so friendly with? It couldn't have been: Bo had heard them talk about Kayleigh's girlfriend. But that didn't mean there wasn't unrequited love there. Kenzi? No way: the Valkyrie loved the human, to be sure, but as "momz." There was only one other person Bo could think of, and the thought gave her wild, desperate hope she would never admit.

She can't possibly think of me like that, Bo sighed to herself, replacing the notebook and going to take a shower.

When Bo was done and dressed, she came downstairs to find that Tamsin had laid out omelets for both of them and was halfway through hers. "Peppers but no cheese, right?" the Valkyrie confirmed.

"You remembered," Bo grinned in delight, sitting down and digging into her breakfast. "Lemme guess," she spoke around a mouthful. "Yours is bacon and cheese?"

Tamsin smirked. "Only way to go," she confirmed. Polishing off her meal at record speed, the Valkyrie hopped down from the stool at the kitchen counter and took her plate to the dishwasher. "I'm gonna take a shower and then Trick wants us down at the Dal again. At this rate we'll be moving in."

"Tamsin," Bo stopped her before she reached the stairs. "How many languages do you speak?"

The Valkyrie frowned. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just…you said you knew a little bit of Irish, and I just wondered what else you knew," Bo explained, leaving out the part about seeing her notebook.

"Well, by 'a little' I actually meant 'fluently,'" Tamsin admitted. "English, obviously, but I grew up speaking old Norse, so now I'm pretty good with Norwegian. Then there's Dutch, German, Icelandic, and most of the other Scandinavian dialects. French, of course, but I never really got around to Italian or Spanish. Japanese, Chinese. Oh, and Latin, but nobody really speaks that anymore. There are probably a few others I'm forgetting." Bo gaped at her, making Tamsin shift uncomfortably. "What?"

"It's just…I can barely speak one!"

Tamsin chuckled. "I could always teach you stuff, succubus. All you have to do is ask."

"Well, considering the circumstances…could you maybe teach me some Irish?"

Tamsin grinned. "Sure thing, succulette. I'll have you reading the Táin in no time." With one last smile that made Bo's heart stumble in its rhythm, Tamsin began to make her way up the stairs.

"Wait!"

"What now?" Tamsin sounded exasperated, but her expression was still amused.

"How do you say 'thank you'?"

The Valkyrie regarded her for a long moment before replying, "Go raibh maith agat."

"Go rev ma-hagot," Bo repeated with a nod. "Well, go raibh maith agat. For breakfast."

Tamsin smiled again, and the joy in her expression was almost blinding. "You're welcome, Bo."

…

"'Sup, ladies?" Kenzi asked when Tamsin and Bo trooped down the stairs into Trick's Lair.

"Not much, short-stack," Tamsin replied, plopping onto the couch next to the human. Trick smiled at the two of them, and Bo smiled back.

"Dia dhuit, mo sheanathair," The succubus said, stumbling over the words a bit.

Kenzi nearly fell off the couch and Trick blinked in surprise. "Dia is Muire dhuit, Bo," he replied, slightly bemused.

"Dude, when did you start speaking Irish?" Kenzi demanded.

Bo blushed. "Um, Tamsin started teaching me a little bit on the drive over." Kenzi gave Tamsin a look that said "you so have it bad for this girl don't you dare deny it" and the Valkyrie gave her a shove.

"Well, it's a complicated language, but you should learn quickly enough. Reading it is much easier than speaking it, so we can go through these books together – "

Bo groaned. "I was afraid you'd say that." Trick's stern look was almost hurt. "But Trick…thank you. I'd love for you to teach me more. Both of you," she added, looking over at Tamsin.

"Right – feel-good moment time ends now," Kenzi cut in. "We have to figure out who let the dogs in." The human snickered at her own joke, but everyone else rolled their eyes.

"More to the point, we have to figure out what kind of dogs they were," Trick continued. "The fact that they left a trail of water should narrow things down."

"I've been thinking about that," Tamsin spoke up. "I think they might be – "

She was cut off by the sound of splintering wood upstairs followed by sharp scrabbling along the floor and menacing growls.

" – here!" the four of them shouted at once before springing into action.

Tamsin drew her sword while Bo pulled her dagger and Trick grabbed his quarterstaff out of the corner. "Kenzi, call Dyson and Hale," Bo ordered, and the human nodded, fumbling with her phone as the other three rushed upstairs to defend the Dal.

Bo, Tamsin, and Trick stumbled into the main bar and nearly into the invading creatures. They were indeed dogs, but unlike anything the group had ever seen. Their bodies stretched at least six feet long, and the Fae could see the play of muscles rippling under their fur. The creatures' legs were shorter than an average dog's, but the joints still bent backwards. Their paws stretched out nearly as long as a human's foot, and the claws were longer. Bo noted that the creatures' toes were webbed, which explained the trail of water behind them. The three hounds bared their teeth: thickly curved and sharp as needles.

"What are they?" Bo gasped in a combination of disgust and fear.

"Under-Fae of some sort," Trick replied.

"So just cast doubt on them," the succubus shot at Tamsin, not looking away from the creatures.

"Doubt doesn't work the same way on Under-Fae," Tamsin replied. "Sometimes it doesn't work on them at all."

"Oh, great. Good to know," Bo managed to be sarcastic despite the circumstances.

Apparently deciding the Fae had stalled enough, the three creatures attacked with roaring leaps.

Tamsin managed to slide away from hers even as she brought her sword across its shoulder. The creature howled in pain as white blood spurted from the wound and splashed across the floor. "They're sídhe!" Tamsin shouted. "They're not just Under-Fae, they're ancient Under-Fae!"

Bo swore as she dodged a swipe of the creature's paw, then another. She lashed out with her dagger, but the hound jumped back before surging forward again, fangs bared. Bo brought the pommel of her blade forward and smashed it into the creature's mouth, breaking and scattering a few teeth. More enraged than in pain, the creature slashed at Bo again and managed to cut four red lines across her shoulder.

Trick, meanwhile, had blocked his hound's every attack, swinging the quarterstaff in skillful circles. More than once the creature tried to break it, but to no avail. Using the beast's size against it, the Blood King ducked beneath the creature's head and swung his staff around the back of its neck. With a jump and a twist of the weapon, the hound's neck broke with a loud crack and it fell lifeless to the floor.

Tamsin was focusing half on Bo and half on her opponent. If she hadn't been keeping an eye on the succubus, the creature would be long dead, but the Valkyrie would never forgive herself if anything happened to her warrior. More than once she made a swipe at the hound attacking the succubus in an attempt to provoke it into attacking her instead, but the creature never took the bait. Tamsin failed to block a sweep of the creature's paw and growled her annoyance at the slice across her bicep. The sound made Bo turn to see what had happened and that was all the opportunity her hound needed to pounce, pinning her down. The succubus pushed the creature away with all her strength, the sound of Tamsin calling her name distant in her ears. The hound was gnashing its teeth trying to get to her head and Bo could feel its hot breath across her skin.

Trick moved to help but before he could attack, the remains of the Dal door banged open. A thick cloud of smoke rolled into the room, encompassing the hounds. The creatures staggered backwards, reeling at the new assault. Tamsin's hound swayed dazedly on its feet, but Bo's shook off the effects and lunged for her again. She was ready this time, bringing her dagger up just as the creature brought its head down. Driven to the hilt, the blade pieced upwards through its mouth and brain to break through its skull. The hound twitched once before sliding off the blade. Tamsin brought her sword down through the back of her hound's neck, severing its spine in one fluid motion. The battle was over as quickly as it had begun.

The smoke began to dissipate and the three Fae looked up to identify its source. A tall man with long, fair hair had his lips pursed as if exhaling from a pipe or a cigarette, only closing his mouth when the grey cloud had completely vanished. Behind him stood Kayleigh and a blonde woman of about the same height. The man looked around at the three bodies and then at the Fae standing over them.

"Wow, Kayleigh was right," he said with a flick of his hair, his voice carrying the hint of an Irish accent. "You do keep fine company."

More language lessons:

"Go raibh maith agat": Pronounced "go rev ma-hagot." "Thank you."

"Dia dhuit, mo sheanathair": Pronounced "dee-a hwit, mo shawn-a-har." "Dia dhuit" is the traditional Irish greeting meaning "God to you." "Mo sheanathair" means "my grandfather." This is another case where the word takes an extra letter, so the word for grandfather by itself is "seanathair."

"Dia is Muire dhuit": Pronounced "dee-a iss moor-uh hwit." Traditional response to traditional greeting meaning "God and Mary to you."