Lauren concentrated her gaze on the world outside the car to quell the irritation she felt from continually catching Dyson glancing over at her from the driver's seat. She wished someone else had come to pick her up from the lab, but Tamsin had gone from the 39th division straight to the clubhouse to 'big the brat' and fit Kenzi with hidden surveillance and of course Bo was with Kenzi, so that left Dyson to take her to the designated meeting spot in the neutral zone. There had been a time when Lauren had first been bound to the Ash that she and the shifter were on much more friendly terms. He was the one who had helped her navigate the new world she found herself in. He took it upon himself to introduce her to Trick who had proved to be more useful than a lot of the books in the Ash's own archives over the years and the wolf had usually been the most pleasant face she saw all day a lot of the time. Dyson had always been the one to give her a morale boost when she felt like she wasn't getting anywhere with helping her girlfriend and when the despair of her situation would become overwhelming.
Approaching the third year of her servitude however, when her work had since become habitually more focused on fae related business than on finding a cure for Nadia, she had gone to the Dal one night after getting out of the lab. It had become usual for her to do that, unlike the initial year of her enslavement where she would work nearly around the clock; in the first several months, she had in fact, collapsed from mental and physical exhaustion a number of times often leaving her work only on official mandate from the Ash. Eventually, she had been forbidden from the lab more than two hours after everyone else left though once she'd learnt to manage her time that rule was rarely enforced. After more than two years of nothing but dead ends and no leads, she took to actually going home or to the Dal when she wasn't required to be anywhere. When she'd gotten to the Dal that particular night, she took up a corner of the bar to herself as she was wont to do and was perfectly content with not thinking and sampling beers when a svelte fae woman slid up to the bar.
Lauren knew the woman, her name was Isabelle and she saw her around the Light Fae compound a lot. She did something for the Ash, but she was never sure what. They were on friendly terms, which was a relief to Lauren since when she'd first been thrown into the fae world, she was generally met with derision, ambivalence being the most hoped for reaction. The doctor was fairly fond of the fae woman. She was kind and witty and reminded her a lot of Nadia, even in looks but even so, her flirtation had been unwelcome at first. Dyson had explained to her within the first few days of becoming ward of the Ash that although human/fae sexual relationships happened frequently, romantic relationships were frowned on and depending on the intensity could be outright forbidden.
She had shrugged it off, figuring she would only be 'employed' as she called it then, by the Light for maybe six months tops and her desperate need to fix what was wrong with Nadia made it so she couldn't fathom playfully entertaining the idea of even platonic flirting. But as time wore on, her resolve wore down and she found herself responding to and returning Isabelle's advances. That night, when Isabelle had been her usual charming self, when she had whispered playfully into her ear, when Lauren realized that it had been almost three years and Nadia was still lying in a locked room, oblivious to the world around her and neither of them was going anywhere anytime soon, she physically felt part of herself let go. Lauren didn't feel guilty when the fae kept finding excuses to touch her, she didn't feel guilty when Isabelle took her hand and led her into the cool darkness of the buttery and she didn't feel guilty when they finally kissed. In fact, the only guilt she felt was when Dyson had walked in on them, Lauren propped up against a barrel full of mead, her legs wrapped around Isabelle's waist and raking her fingernails down the fae's back while Isabelle had one earth colored hand tangled in her hair, yanking her head backwards for better access to her neck.
Dyson had reprimanded her as if she was a child, and she supposed to him, she was. Though she was truly sorry for disappointing him and had said as much, their relationship dynamics had changed that night. She still considered him her friend, the only one she really had, but he had taken on an added dimension of strict supervisor. Over enforcing the stipulations of her conditional slavery at every turn. The Ash never spoke to her about her indiscretion with Isabelle, but she had been mysteriously assigned to another area and Lauren only ever saw her in passing for a few months before she stopped seeing her at all which she always suspected had more to do with Dyson than the Ash since to date, none of the Ash's had ever spared her feelings or were hesitant to point out her mistakes for any reason. After that, the doctor kept mostly to herself, trying to bury her feelings of isolation by feeding her fascination with Fae research work. Sure, she'd had a few more 'incidents' but never with Fae staying in the area, lest Dyson have a coronary. It wasn't a satisfying way to live. She needed companionship but tried to force herself to be happy with what she could get away with. That was, of course, until she had met Bo which had opened up a whole new set of problems and not just between her and the shifter. She sighed and looked over at him, just catching him returning his eyes to the road.
"Are you going to say something?" she asked, surprised her voice didn't sound anywhere near as fed up as she felt.
"What do you want me to say?" he countered not looking at her.
"You've been looking at me like you've wanted to say something since I got in the car."
"I'm just…" he started, clenching the steering wheel tightly as he searched for the right words. "I'm concerned."
"About what?" although given the familiarity of the statement, she was sure she knew.
"You and Tamsin." He replied, confirming her suspicions.
Lauren smiled humorlessly, deciding to play to the script. "What about me and Tamsin?"
"It's not a good idea." He said after a moment. "It could get very messy and dangerous… for both of you. She's Dark, Lauren."
The human genuinely wanted to laugh at the sentiment but cleared her throat to kill the feeling. If he replaced Tamsin's name with Bo's and Dark with Unaligned, they had had this exact conversation several years ago so it was almost comical he'd say the same thing, already knowing how fruitful this little talk had been last time. It wasn't up to him. It was up to her and the valkyrie, but given Dyson's self-imposed role as enforcer of his own morality code on her, it was likely he didn't and wouldn't see it that way. She looked back out of the passenger's side window, wanting to respond acerbically about how she was well aware of Tamsin's alignment, what that meant and how familiar she was with the rules after over eight years of them. She wanted to force him to the realization that his policing her behavior was hypocritical at best and outright cruel at worst. Though if she were honest, it was someplace between the two despite his altruistic pretenses.
"I can't survive under your laws." She said finally looking at him, her voice quiet but firm.
The shifter looked over at her with sympathy in his eyes. "I know it's hard, but…"
"No, you don't know." She interrupted bitterly.
"But the fae laws are…" he continued gently.
"I don't mean the fae laws." Lauren clarified firmly. "I mean your laws, Dyson. Can you imagine living the way you've wanted me to for the rest of your life? The restraints of my enslavement are strict enough as it is without you. It's a miserable existence. I tried to live up to your expectations and I can't do it. No one can do it."
"You had a chance to leave." He brought up, though she wasn't sure if he genuinely thought that or he was trying to deflect blame off of himself.
"No I didn't." she replied, both of them knowing she was right. He of all people should realize that there was no way she would have left Bo just for her own self-preservation. Even now, if she had the chance to escape, she didn't think she would. She considered the little core group her friends, her family even, despite how dysfunctional that last thought was. At any rate, she was too far removed from the human world to ever integrate back into it fully again. She knew too much. More than a lot of fae doctors, and she knew she was exceedingly valuable not just to the Light but to the fae in general and if she ran away, she would be under her own protection; she wasn't completely useless in a fistfight but she was certainly not a fighter by nature and wouldn't be any match for even the weakest fae except by catching them completely off guard. Unless her memories were erased, and she knew too much for that to be an option, she had come to accept that she was going to owe fealty to a fae for the rest of her life even if she were miraculously released from her current bondage. At least if she made the choice to stay, she was picking her owner rather than leaving it up to chance. "Despite what Kenzi says, I do have my own feelings and needs." She pointed out.
"I know you do. It's not easy being a human in your position." Dyson answered and Lauren bit her tongue to keep herself from blurting out that she was acutely aware of that and didn't need to be reminded. "You're in a more precarious position than someone like Kenzi… I'm just trying to protect you."
The doctor knew there was truth in his response but she refrained from mentioning that a lot of his 'protection' since Bo had shown up had a lot more to do with keeping them away from each other and outright encouraging her to run away at one point despite knowing the consequences as well as she than deference to her safety. Still, she knew the wolf did care about her in his own mildly self-possessed way and his heart was generally in the right place. "Not everyone needs to be protected all the time." She said as they pulled into a spot edging a curb. "And even if they did, you can't protect everyone all the time." She added as they got out of the car, thinking more of his tendency to smother people, especially Bo, with his White Knight Syndrome. Still, she returned the smile he gave her as they walked into an unimpressive office building.
"Just be careful, is all." He said as they stepped off the elevator and walked down the hallway, stopping halfway so he could rap gently on a door. His tone suggested they weren't done talking about it.
She nodded, slipping into the room ahead of him when Kenzi opened the door. Her eyes were immediately drawn to Tamsin who was fiddling with the device that would allow them to hear what was being spoken once Kenzi's surveillance tap was turned on. The valkyrie looked up when she felt eyes on her and smiled her greeting, holding her gaze for a minute before Lauren turned away to find Dyson regarding her uncomfortably. She could tell he was trying not to say something so she gave him a slight smile in appreciative recognition and turned to sweep the rest of the room.
"Where's Bo?" she voiced, not seeing the succubus anywhere in the spacious conference room.
"She'll be here." Kenzi assured, flopping over in a rolling office chair and swinging herself back and forth in half circles with her feet. "Trick said we'd better not go in with anything fae in case the wards pick up on it." She tugged at a nondescript chain around her neck with a medium sized locket attached. She flicked the locket open with her fingers, revealing a small microphone before snapping it closed. "Hence the old fashioned wiring. Bo stayed behind at Trick's to try and find a way around any wards with no evidence of, um," she circled her hands around each other as if that would help her find the word she was looking for. "Wardiness. But don't worry, you know she wouldn't let us go in there without her watching our backs."
"We'll be here," Dyson started, checking his watch. "We're directly underneath the meeting room you're going to. I think it would be best if you showed up early, hopefully you'll get there first and you can either see her put the ward down or if we're lucky, she may not do it if she's being watched. If anything happens, we'll be up there as fast as we can."
"And if there's a ward?" Kenzi mumbled, standing up and heading towards the door.
"We'll have to trust that Bo and Trick have found something useful." He said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder and squeezing gently. "If not, we'll figure something out."
"Be careful, you guys." Tamsin said, addressing them both but looking at Lauren.
The doctor nodded and followed the smaller woman out of the room and to the elevators at the end of the hallway.
"Sooooo," Kenzi drawled, jabbing the elevator call button with her thumb. "What's up with you and the lush?"
"Lush?" Lauren asked, avoiding the question. "Isn't that a little hypocritical?"
Kenzi crossed her arms. "No! …Maybe. A little. Not the point." She scowled when Lauren chuckled, following the doctor into the elevator as the doors slid open.
"I don't know." The doctor admitted quietly, keeping her gaze trained on the silver metal doors as they slid closed. She looked over at the shorter woman in surprise when she felt the hand on her arm giving her a reassuring squeeze.
"Are you nervous? I'm not nervous, are you nervous?" she rambled, letting go of the blonde's arm as the elevator chimed and the doors slid open to a brightly lit hallway identical to the one they had just left.
"Maybe you should go back." Lauren suggested seriously. "Given what Rona knows about me, I can't imagine this is going to go smoothly."
"Yeah, totally." Kenzi said sarcastically. "I'm not letting you go in there alone and even if I did, I'm pretty sure Tamsin would kill me in a probably really unpleasant way and I like to think Bo loves me too much to want to kill me, but I'm not willing to test that theory."
"We'll just offer to buy the first thing and get out of there. Ready?" Lauren asked as they stopped in front of the door.
"I'd be more ready if I could have brought Geraldine." She admitted, sucking in a preparatory breath and letting it out loudly before turning the knob on the office door.
The doctor tried to hide her disappointment on entering the executive office when she immediately spotted Rona leaning against the wall behind an empty mahogany desk meaning any wards were most certainly in place already. She felt Kenzi elbow her gently and she looked over towards where the smaller woman was inclining her head slightly, noticing that there was a man she recognized who had been talking to the auctioneer that was standing on the other side of the room gazing at them passively.
"You're early." Rona started, smiling genially enough though the action was slightly unsettling given the sharp gold hue of her eyes. "I like that. Shows initiative." She gestured to two highly decorative leather chairs across from the desk. "Have a seat."
The two women obeyed and Rona pushed herself off the wall, taking a step forward and pulling out the chair behind the desk but didn't sit down.
"You didn't come empty handed I take it?" the redhead asked, eyeing Lauren who immediately looked at Kenzi in the hopes she'd brought something to indicate they had money.
"Come on." The Russian said, crossing her arms. "Do you honestly think we'd show up in an unknown location with a shitload of money without even seeing what we could be buying first? This ain't my first rodeo. We have money, just not here."
Rona smiled widely. "You hang onto her." She told Lauren. "She's smarter than she looks. "Now then, shall we get started? I'll get Mr. Miller and let him tell you himself about the unusual items you'd been looking for." She made a gesture with her hand and a black door identical to the one they had seen in the warehouse appeared off to the side. After a moment, the door swung open and a tall gaunt man stepped over the threshold, Rona waving her hand again and causing the door to disappear to where it had come from.
The thin man sat in the chair Rona had pulled out and scooted up to the desk, folding his bony fingers together. "I'm so glad Rona was able to find some serious clients." He said brightly. "I'm curious, how did you come to find out about my… little auction house?"
"A client recommended me." Lauren replied, repeating the story she'd given Rona the day before. "He bought a breeding pair of manticore some time ago."
Mr. Miller smiled fondly. "Ah, yes! Tell me, how are his little pets doing? Has the male had his spikes come in yet?"
"Absolutely." Lauren replied, thinking about the greenish barbs that had been launched into Tamsin's side.
"Splendid! Now then, what kind of business are you in? Collector or…?"
"I do collect, but mostly I'm a dealer."
Mr. Miller's eyes lit up and he steepled his fingers together. "Oh that's fabulous. I do love to sell to dealers. The idea of my collection reaching a wider audience is… very satisfying." He said gleefully. "Now then, let's get started. Rona?" he looked over at the redhead who nodded and motioned with both hands, a simple looking dagger with a white pearlescent hilt appearing on the desktop.
"Doesn't look like much." Kenzi noted, her voice as unimpressed as she felt.
Mr. Miller laughed heartily and nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, it does look rather unremarkable, doesn't it?" he agreed, picking it up and tilting it from side to side so they could see it. "However, to assume so would be completely wrong. You see, this is Carnwennan, the dagger of King Arthur himself with which he slayed the witch Orddu by slicing her clean in half. It will grant the user considerable skill where there is none. It is said," he continued, placing the dagger back on the desktop. "That it has the ability to render the user undetectable as well but I'm afraid that feature is not guaranteed. It chooses when and to whom it renders that particular skill but there's still a chance it could happen."
"It looks a little better now." Kenzi admitted reluctantly causing the lean man to smile broadly.
"Only seven hundred thousand, a steal!" He informed, leaning back in his chair and directed his gaze at Lauren. "I'm sure you could sell this to a client for twice as much quite easily, wouldn't you say?"
The blonde nodded slightly. "What do you get out of selling it to me for seven hundred then?" she asked.
"You're unconvinced." He said instead of answering. "And as well you should be! Go on, pick it up, inspect it all you'd like, it's totally authentic!"
Lauren hesitated for a moment until Kenzi cleared her throat to encourage her to do something and the doctor leaned over with her arm outstretched, wrapping her fingers around the hilt of the dagger, immediately feeling power rush through her. She glanced up at Mr. Miller who seemed to have paled and was staring at her strangely.
"Well, you think it over for a moment," he said in a manner that belied his calm demeanor, standing up. "And I'll be back in a minute." He looked over at Rona and nodded, causing her to wave her hands so the black door appeared and he stepped through it, slamming the door behind him.
"What's his problem?" Kenzi asked as the door disappeared.
Rona gave a small wave to the two men standing in the back of the room. "I don't know," she said coolly. "It must be something you're wearing."
Kenzi immediately looked down at herself, suddenly terrified that her wire had been discovered but the locket was closed and looked no different than when they had come in. She glanced over at Lauren questioningly, wondering if the doctor knew what was going on and then she spotted it. "Oh balls." She whispered, drawing Lauren's gaze down to where she was looking. When the blonde had leaned over, the necklace symbolizing not just her servitude but her servitude to the Ash must have fallen out of her shirt, as now it was plainly visible.
Lauren looked up, the panic plain on her face. She opened her mouth to say something when she felt the heavy backhand of the man who had come up behind her delivered to her, causing her to lurch forward violently, striking her head on the mahogany desk and causing her to go blind momentarily. She pulled herself up, dazed and trying to ignore the throbbing in her head, hearing Kenzi shouting for their backup to get the lead out.
Kenzi launched herself out of her chair; narrowly missing a blow intended for her and scrambled over to the dagger, grabbing it off the floor where Lauren had dropped it when she'd been hit. The man, who had been advancing on her, hesitated as she slashed out at the air in front of her, proving that Mr. Miller's claim that the dagger provided talent with the weapon was no bluff.
Lauren threw an imprecise right hook as Rona advanced on her, catching the edge of her fist on the redhead's jaw and causing her reel back, giving her time to pick up a paperweight from the desk and slam it as hard as she could on the back of the head of the goon trying to disarm Kenzi. He crumpled in a heap on the floor just as the door burst open, Bo, Tamsin and Dyson tumbling into the room as if they had been leaning on the door before it opened.
While Lauren was momentarily distracted, Rona threw her arm around the blonde's neck and dragged her backwards to the far side of the room, producing a switchblade from her pocket with her other hand. "That's far enough." The witch commanded, smiling when everyone froze. "I should have known you were full of shit." She informed Lauren who was struggling to breathe in the tight chokehold.
"You don't want to do this." Bo said, her voice calm but her demeanor tense.
Rona held the switchblade up towards Lauren's reddening face and shook her head. "Not another step." She informed them. "I want to make a deal."
"Are you kidding?" Tamsin asked incredulously, her hands balled into fists. "Let Lauren go and you won't have to spend the rest of your days breathing through a tube, how's that for a deal?"
"I can get you Mr. Miller." She said, loosening her grip around Lauren's neck so she could gasp for air. "He knows now, you won't have another shot at him except through me." She pointed out. "I help you, you help me. You let me leave the city and you won't ever have to see me again."
"Fine." Dyson agreed before anyone could speak. "But let her go."
"Sure." Rona agreed. "But a little insurance first."
Without hesitation, the redhead quickly dragged the switchblade across the side of Lauren's neck and though the cut wasn't deep, it immediately drew blood, the dark red liquid beading along the line of the incision. Tamsin and Bo launched themselves forward but before anyone could stop her, Rona tilted her head down and latched onto the wound, dragging her tongue along the length of it. Lauren stumbled forward, lightheaded from lack of air and fell forward, being caught on both sides by the two fae women.
"There." Rona said, sounding satisfied with herself. "If you don't help me, she'll die. Slowly and painfully so we better not drag this out."
"Bet you think you're tough shit, dontcha?" Tamsin asked, making sure Bo was supporting the doctor's weight before stepping over to the redhead. Rona smiled, clearly pleased with herself but didn't answer. The witch didn't even have time to feel shock as the Valkyrie's fist landed squarely on her face with a sick bone on meat sound causing her to tumble backwards, blacked out before she hit the floor with a loud thud. "I hate people who think they're tough shit." She informed the unconscious heap near her feet, going back over to Bo and Lauren to help the succubus aid the doctor down to their vehicles and giving Dyson a look on the way out that dared him to say anything. He clenched his jaw but kept quiet, stepping further into the room, signaling to Kenzi to help him carry Rona.