"How long until we get there?" Bo asked for probably the nine-hundredth time since they'd gotten in the vehicle.
Tamsin shrugged in response, just like the other eight hundred and ninety nine times the succubus had asked. She'd never been there either, how was she supposed to know? The valkyrie squinted and leaned forward in her seat; trying to see past the short view her all but useless headlights were providing on the dark road. She'd been meaning to replace the dimming bulbs, but having rarely ever driven out of the city after dark, she'd always forgotten.
"We're lucky this asshole's digs is even in the same country." The blonde admitted almost absentmindedly as she tried to reconcile the stupid intersecting lines on the outdated map she had pinned to the steering wheel with one hand and the dark, nearly rural road in front of them. "A strong enough venefica, with the right potion, can make a portal to basically anywhere."
"Yeah, well," Bo began flatly, interrupting herself to swear under her breath and grip the garment handle above the door in surprise as they jounced over a large and unexpected pothole. "If you hadn't scrambled Rona's brains so bad, it would have been safe for her to do that and we could have taken a portal there."
"Oops." Tamsin replied remorselessly. She was actually sorry they'd had to drive out to no man's land in order to chase after this Mr. Miller character, but she wasn't sorry enough to let an apologetic tone creep into her voice unchecked. Besides, if she kept Bo exasperated, the succubus would stop worrying about Lauren out loud so much which had only served to fray at the blonde's composure. "Look, we're here anyways." She pointed out, pulling off to the shoulder of the road when she spotted an ornate but abandoned looking barn Rona had marked down on the map as a landmark.
Bo followed Tamsin's lead and slipped out of the truck when the blonde cut off the engine and threw up her hands in frustration as she joined her in front of the vehicle. "Where's 'here'?" the brunette questioned, trying to suss out their surroundings in the moonless light which was useless. She wouldn't even know where they were if it was in the middle of the day though she thought, not for the first time that night, that she should have been the one to get information out of the witch.
"Got me." Tamsin replied, patting herself down quickly to make sure her weapons were still in place before starting forward. "As long as that little yellow-eyed bitch wasn't playing us, there's supposed to be an estate up the road." She glanced over at Bo when the shorter woman fell into step beside her. "It's guarded, and hot as we are, they're probably not going to let two chicks in a beat up truck through the gate after what happened tonight… or at all, really."
"Oh, but two chicks just strolling up on foot is totally better?" Bo retorted skeptically, half wanting an answer. She could barely read the expression on the valkyrie's face with the only light being given off by the stars, but she was fairly certain it was annoyance. "How are we supposed to get in?" she asked instead before she could get a response to her first question.
"Aren't you supposed to be a succubus?"
Bo let out a huff of air between her lips. The blonde was definitely annoyed. "So no plan, then?"
"Kinda didn't have time for that, Bo." Tamsin noted curtly, biting down on her own tongue to keep from sounding like she was chiding a petulant child. Which, Bo kind of was a lot of the time, but she knew the brunette was just worried. She tugged on the succubus' arm when she started to turn down a long driveway and noticed the brunette was still walking forward and she wasn't sure if the grunt Bo gave was one of agreement or of being suddenly jerked in a different direction.
They walked in silence until coming on a large wrought iron gate set into a light colored stone wall that enclosed an impressively opulent manor that seemed to have every light in every room on in addition to a well lit exterior.
"Think he's compensating?" Bo whispered as if she could be heard by a passing guard dressed in black; though it was unlikely he'd even be able to see them from that distance, let alone hear them.
Tamsin snorted and in the brighter lights, Bo could clearly see her roll her eyes. "Let's go." She said, pulling the succubus closer to the gate but veering off before they came within sight distance of anyone inside and led the brunette along the wall.
Bo allowed herself to be tugged along the perimeter, not really knowing what the Valkyrie was looking for. There'd be no way they could scale the wall. Even if one of them gave the other a boost, they'd still have to jump to grip the top. She should have been the one to talk to Rona, maybe she would have thought about asking things like that and although she doubted that, she allowed herself to remain peeved about it. She almost ran into the blonde's back when she stopped suddenly, only saving herself from crashing into the other woman because Tamsin had released her grip and it caused her to halt in curiosity. She watched as the Dark Fae began to scale a twisted tree situated near the wall with a frown on her face. How was Tamsin climbing a tree with those shoes on? How was she supposed to climb a tree with these shoes on?
"Come on, Baby Fae." Tamsin hissed in a stage whisper from a low branch, balancing herself carefully and offering a hand to help the succubus up.
Bo shook her head and reminded herself that Lauren needed them to keep from saying something back and scrambled up the rough trunk as best she could, gripping the valkyrie's hand when she could reach. She was pretty certain she'd not climbed a tree since grade school and it wasn't anywhere near as easy as she remembered it. They made it up to a branch overhanging the wall with minimal problems, meaning no one fell out of the tree and Bo followed Tamsin as she swung herself over the wall and dropped down the other side.
"Now what?" The succubus asked, half limping to where the blonde was peering towards the mansion from behind a cluster of hedges. She peered over the other woman's shoulder when she didn't answer, shifting her weight to rotate the ankle around that she had landed too hard on. There was a single guard halfway up the driveway, but he was huge, armed, and he looked tough. Judging from the distant beeping of walkie-talkies going off, there were likely more sentries stationed around the property and who knew what was inside. "Okay." Bo breathed out after several minutes of silence as she tried to formulate a plan aloud. "Kiss me."
Tamsin looked at her suspiciously and clicked her tongue. "Tch. Are you serious right now?" she whispered hotly under raised eyebrows.
Bo sighed and wondered if she would ever get used to Tamsin's easily triggered irritation. "Hello?" she whispered back, gesticulating to her face. "Succubus, remember? We don't know what's in there apart from Rona's 'it's probably guarded' help so…" she dragged out the last word to illustrate her point.
"I'm gettin real sick of you coming up with excuses to kiss me." The Valkyrie shot back, rolling her eyes, but she put a hand on Bo's shoulder and moved closer to her.
"You're full of shit." The brunette noted before closing the distance between them. She held the back of the blonde's neck to steady herself and tried not to register how soft the other woman's lips were, concentrating instead on drawing the energy out of the Valkyrie. She pulled back and pressed her fingers to her temples to stop the world from spinning when she felt like she was on the verge of getting out of control and shook her head, wondering how Tamsin managed to look so dazed and so decidedly annoyed at the same time. Her whole body was buzzing with energy; she'd taken chi from Tamsin before but it always surprised her how unprepared she was for the experience. "What is it about you?" Bo muttered in a hushed tone, half feeling like she was ready to beat up army of goons and half feeling like she was ready sleep with an army of goons.
"I just have that effect on women." Tamsin replied, shaking her head of the haze she'd been left with. "We gonna do it, or what?"
The succubus blew air through her lips quietly, displeased that her brain had immediately gone straight to the gutter on hearing the question. "Try not to get shot for once." She clamped a hand over her mouth and turned away to keep from snickering when the Valkyrie made a face like she was highly offended. The succubus did throw an apologetic glance towards the blonde though since she'd only been shot saving her life.
Bo raised herself slightly from her crouched position to look over the hedges without being noticed and spotted the guard at the front of the house, he had moved with his back towards them to light a cigarette. How cliché. Exchanging a knowing look with the valkyrie, they listened for a moment to where the beeps from the other walkie-talkies were coming from and when they sounded far away, they strode out of their hiding spot and up to the large man who seemed to get larger the closer they got.
"Hey, big boy." Bo called out sweetly, causing the guard to turn around, his hand dropping his cigarette and reaching for his gun. The succubus grabbed his face and pulled him to her, sending waves of seductive energy through her fingers until a dopey smile blossomed on his face.
"You're so beautiful." He said dreamily, practically swaying back and forth.
"What kind of security do you have on the inside?" she purred, ignoring his statement.
The guard shook his head as he tried to pull together some semblance of willpower. "I can't tell you that, but I can…" he trailed off and leaned down to try and capture Bo's lips.
The brunette wrinkled her nose and quickly moved her head back to escape the attempted kiss. "Come on," she countered in a singsong, pulsating more energy through her fingers. "You wouldn't want me to get hurt in there, would you?"
He screwed up his face as if that were the most odious thought in the world. "Just stay with me. I love you."
Bo glared over her shoulder at Tamsin when the valkyrie stifled a laugh and turned her attention back to the guard who seemed to only be upright through his desire to keep the brunette holding onto his face. "I'm just going to look around and then I'm coming right back." She promised, her lips close to his face. Tamsin wasn't sure if it was medically advisable to roll her eyes as often as she felt like over the course of this interaction. She briefly thought of reminding herself to ask Lauren if there were medical dangers to too much eye rolling but the thought of the other blonde and why they were here sobered her.
"I'm not…" he started, his brains having gone to mush. "I'm not sure; we're on separate rotation and they use a different frequency. Maybe three…maybe ten. Definitely one outside Mr. Miller's office on the third floor. Are we going to—are we going to kiss now?"
Bo nodded gamely and moved her face closer, sucking a steady stream of chi out of him until his eyes rolled back and he crumpled to the ground. The succubus moved her arms to chivalrously indicate that the blonde go ahead of her, which the valkyrie did, stepping on the guards back with one foot instead of over him.
"Big boy." Tamsin mocked, shaking her head as she unzipped the front of her jacket to palm a dagger that was so big, it had to have been digging into her ribs the whole time.
"Shut-up." Bo shot back, resisting the urge to shove the valkyrie into the front hall when she cautiously opened the front door and was peering inside. "It worked, didn't it?"
Tamsin nodded and reached behind her to grip the brunette's jacket and yank her inside when she heard a walkie beep around the side of the house, reminding her that there were more guards outside and they didn't have time for Bo to sway a bunch of those losers. She gave her a look she hoped was withering enough to get the succubus to keep her voice down and moved silently through the front hallway when Bo's mouth shut with an audible click. Tamsin stopped moving when she heard a door open further down the hall, tensing as a guard came into view. The man was smaller than the one outside, but he had a much bigger gun, which he raised immediately on seeing them. Well, which he started to raise, but Tamsin had skillfully thrown her knife hard in his direction, the blade planting itself deep in his chest and causing him to flop over anticlimactically.
"Was that necessary?" Bo hissed, following closely behind the blonde as she went to retrieve her weapon.
"You're welcome." Tamsin replied in a direct tone, pulling her knife out of the guard and wiping the blood off on his shirt. She motioned to a servant's elevator at the end of the hall that was visible beyond the green marble pillars now that they were at the right angle to see it. "It's not like he was planning on tickling us with that gun." She continued, pressing the elevator call button and immediately flattening herself against the adjacent wall.
Bo nodded reluctantly and mirrored the blonde's actions. She squinted at the Dark Fae who looked poised to spring once the elevator stopped. Aside from the Valkyrie's stunning good looks, Bo was having a hard time trying to figure out what Lauren saw in her. Sure, she would grudgingly admit that she considered Tamsin a friend and she knew that for all her bravado, the blonde was protective and loyal but she didn't understand how Lauren had somehow moved out of her orbit and into Tamsin's. She wanted to think that the valkyrie wasn't even the doctor's type, but she suddenly realized with a frown that she had no idea what Lauren's type was.
Bo was startled out of her musings when the elevator came to a loud mechanical halt. They both held their breath for a minute, waiting for something to happen but when nothing did, Bo pushed herself away from the wall and pulled the door to one side to open it, revealing the compartment to be empty. She stepped in with Tamsin closing the door behind her as she got in and pressed the button for the third floor. Nothing happened for a long moment but then the mechanisms running the lift groaned and they began their snails pace crawl upwards.
"The stairs would've been quicker." Bo commented.
Tamsin shrugged and pulled a curved blade out of her boot and handed it to the succubus. "Yeah, but we would have also had to hunt around for the stairs on the second floor." The blonde pointed out. "And I'm trying not to get shot for once."
Bo shook her head amusedly and moved to one side of the compartment while Tamsin moved to the other, reproducing their positions from just before they'd gotten into the elevator. "So what are we going to do once we get up there?"
The Dark Fae shrugged. "Well, your boyfriend said there was at least one asshole guarding the door to the office." Her gaze drifted to the ceiling as if she were trying to remember something. "Place like this? There's probably only one room up there. It'd be safe to think there's more than one guy up there, even if they weren't expecting us, which clearly they weren't. Put my energy to good use and you take care of anyone in the hall, I'll go for the office door. That Miller dude has got to be in there."
Bo nodded. "We need him uninjured." She reminded as the elevator came to a halt.
"If you think I'm going to deprive the Morrigan of being able to impose sentencing herself, then you're not as smart as I thought."
Bo wrinkled her nose and shrugged while they waited in case someone was going to open the door. "We can't control what happens in a scuffle though." She said thoughtfully. "Heat of battle and stuff."
They exchanged a knowing smile. "If there's more than one, I'm gonna do my thing, but only enough to give you a chance." Tamsin said, moving to pull the door open so Bo could get out first. "Ready?"
The succubus didn't have time to give an answer as the valkyrie had already begun to yank the door to one side. The brunette stepped into the hallway, almost immediately having the barrels of four guns aimed at her from four different guards who were advancing on her rom the other end of the hall. She tensed, suddenly remembering that saying about never bringing a knife to a gunfight and was about to say something, anything to keep them from shooting right away when she noticed them lower their weapons slightly and train their gaze on something behind her.
"Those aren't even loaded." Tamsin's voice said from behind her left shoulder. Her voice was even, cold and slightly mocking. Bo knew if she were to turn around the Valkyrie's features would be sunken and black. "They're useless." The valkyrie must have indicated a spot because all the guards tossed their weapons in the same spot, likely aiming towards the feet of where Tamsin was standing.
Bo thought briefly of picking up one of the guns, but discarded it almost as quickly as it popped into her head. She was better skilled without one and the little collection of sentries were already shaking off the doubt the blonde had pressed onto them, starting to regard her with predatory looks rather than uncertainty. She felt a squeeze on one shoulder and then a blur of motion as the other woman bolted from her position and barreled down the hall toward the tall ornate wooden door on the other side.
Tamsin barely slowed her sprint when she reached the door, ignoring the grunts of the fighting going on behind her and pulling open the door, slamming it behind her. Like she expected, the office was ostentatiously enormous but she had not been expecting it to look like some kind of stock room in a fae antiquities museum. There were crates and artifacts everywhere, causing the spacious room to seem a lot smaller. It wasn't ideal at all if there was a confrontation, but the arrangement did serve to narrow her gaze to the other side of the room where a tall gaunt man in black stood. She actually would have missed him, if he hadn't been blinking. His body melted into the shadows gathered behind him and his face resembled a porcelain mask that was hanging on the wall next to his head. He looked startled to see her, which she could understand.
"Miller, I guess?" Tamsin started, stalking slowly towards the man.
He blinked in surprise but quickly recovered and spread his arms wide as if he had invited her in. "You have me at a disadvantage. You know my name, but I'm afraid I don't know yours."
The blonde shrugged. "You are in such deep shit." She continued, smirking. "You know you got the Morrigan and the Ash playing real nice together." Tamsin hesitated when a wide smile grew on his face.
"That is magnificent." He said approvingly. "No wonder I've been feeling so energetic! I do hope they continue to work together to undo everything I've done since I've been here."
And then Tamsin understood. "You're a bezlad." She said, voicing her hunch. She watched him nod in a self-important manner and gripped the handle of her dagger tighter. Bezlad were fae that fed on disorder. If they set into motion an event that could cause chaos, they could feed on the resulting energy. The black market was actually a genius idea and Tamsin had to fix her face to not show that she was impressed with that kind of planning. All he'd done was hire some people to sell his stuff to humans, humans who knew nothing about fae and those humans would in turn would either sell them to other humans, increasing the chance for a deal to go wrong, or would create the pandemonium themselves through ignorance of what they'd bought. He probably hadn't done a moment of actual work to feed since he'd gotten the auction set up.
"They're gonna kill you." She continued, starting her slow stalking pace again, not wanting to spook him into flight. He didn't look like much, but he'd been feeding and feeding extremely well for at least the last six months, it was a possibility his looks belied some kind of hidden power. She cocked her head to one side. "Not right away, of course. I dunno what you are, but for your sake, you better be Light. Evony really hates being cheated."
Miller shrugged, his face unconcerned. "Oh, I figured I would be caught eventually. Everything I've done, and I've done a lot, is going to have to be undone." The rictus on his face took on a dreamy delirious quality. "Do you think they'll work together? I'm sure by now there's merchandise in all corners of that city." He hummed thoughtfully; eyes faraway and gleeful at the long-term havoc this had the potential to explode into. "Either way, this is the best feeding plan I've had in centuries." Tamsin was closer to him now and she kept her breath slow so as not to interrupt his monologue. "I've enough bargaining chips flittering about that I have no fear for my life."
Tamsin frowned and stopped again. He was totally right. Even Evony would be concerned with getting only god knows what off the streets to keep it from circulating among humans. That pompous little shit was going to get away with it.
"I can only assume," the tall man added, using his spidery fingers to smooth his hair. "That since you're here, Rona's helped you…" He shrugged and sighed dramatically. "I'm not sure what I expected, really. You can't trust humans, even ones with a little power. Speaking of humans, how did your little cadre manage? They didn't look like much." He clapped his hands together once in elation. "Did she kill one of them?"
The valkyrie's mind flashed immediately to the image of Lauren's supine form laid out on her bed. She had been drenched in sweat when they left, skin burning with fever and looking positively cadaverous. If not for the sweat beading onto her forehead as fast as Kenzi could wipe it away and the anguished groans and whimpers coming out of her, Lauren looked mostly dead. Tamsin felt the rage bubble up inside her and her knuckles turned white with how hard she was gripping the hilt of her dagger. Like hell she was going to let him feed off this situation. She launched herself over the distance between her and the bezlad, brandishing her weapon with intent to kill.
It had been a foolish move, of course, he'd been trying to get a rise out of her and she'd let him. She must have grossly underestimated how well he'd fed because he moved so fast she hadn't even registered it. The only indication that he had moved at all was that his fist was still closed around the short spear he'd pulled from its place leaning against the wall behind him. The other end buried deep in her side and sending excruciating pain throughout her body. She dropped her dagger in surprise and looked down where blood was already pooling around the entry point. She vaguely heard a noise behind her, like something heavy falling against the door.
"Well," Mr. Miller started, his tone diplomatic. "This is rather regrettable, but,"
"Bet you think you're tough shit, dontcha?" Tamsin asked rhetorically, her tone dangerous. She snatched her remaining weapon, a knife, from its unassuming holder at her hip and with the practiced ease of someone who'd spent lifetimes on battlefields, she slashed his neck open.
His eyes widened in surprise as blood spurted out of the deep cleft in his throat, futilely bringing up his free hand to try and stanch the dark red river gushing from the wound and only succeeding in covering his hand with blood. His mouth opened and closed a few times, an odd strangled noise escaping him, which only seemed to push more of his life out and he released his hold on the spear, causing Tamsin to stumble backwards. With a cry that was just as full of pain as anger, the valkyrie yanked the spear out of her abdomen and tossed it to the side, falling to her knees at the same time Mr. Miller backed into the wall and slid down its surface, slumping over when he hit the ground, his eyes open but unblinking.
She heard Bo shout her name urgently but only managed to hiss through her teeth in response. The pain seemed to be spreading out from the wound, traveling the length of her body and leaving searing pain in its wake. Fabulous. Of course she would get impaled by an enchanted weapon. She wasn't sure if she couldn't see because her eyes were closed or if it was because the pain was so intense that her other senses had shut down. Agony was too small a word to use for the pain she was in. Even if she could think clearly, she wouldn't know a word in any of the numerous languages she spoke that would sum up the type of pain she felt. If it were possible to unclench her teeth, she was sure she'd throw up. The only thing she thought with any clarity that wasn't focused on the molten torture radiating from the hole in her side, was that she was grateful that when she inevitably toppled backwards, Bo was there to catch her instead of the marble floor that was growing slick with blood.