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The morning sun climbed over the horizon, shafts of pale golden light spilling through tree branches and dispelling the last dewy vestiges of night, yet Tamsin shivered. The bounty hunter recognized the cold presence of Death, felt its advance like a second heartbeat.
"I'm getting too old for this bullshit," she muttered to herself as she stalked over fallen limbs. Indeed, age was catching up with her; this body was starting to fail. Tamsin was already winded by the time she caught up to her mark, and she hurt everywhere. Her final days loomed before her, an agonizing slog of slow breakdown. Pain chewed through her, relentless, deep, and her very bones ached with each jarring step. Her hands shook with it. A sheen of sweat appeared on her brow and beaded on the small of her back.
The target and her canine shadow lingered near a small creek. The werewolf paced while she drank from her cupped hands, the water filtered crisp and clear from some mountain spring. Tamsin was under no illusion that the beast was unaware of her presence.
Sure enough, it turned as she approached, tongue lolling stupidly out of its mouth with panting breaths. Damn it to hell, there weren't supposed to be two of them! There was no point in hiding, she decided, and stepped forward. The wolf's jaw immediately snapped shut, and a menacing growl filled the space between them. Tamsin summoned a confident smirk while the shift passed over the animal and ripped forward a human being. A man no less vicious-appearing than his lupine form marched forward.
"Who the hell are you?" The woman rose to her feet, effectively diverting Tamsin's attention completely from the immediate threat of the werewolf. She knew a hero when she saw one.
Dark eyes swept over Tamsin's considerable height critically and her hand twitched for a weapon the red prison uniform didn't provide. She compensated for that lack in sheer presence.
"Independent observer," Tamsin quipped. She felt a moment's anxiety, the hypnic panic of having forgotten to remember something important. She let it go, too tired to focus on anything but the present moment. And it was gorgeous.
"We don't have time for this." The wolf advanced, a snarl pinching his face into a grimace of lines and shadows.
Even armed to the teeth, she knew she couldn't survive a battle against a werewolf and another fae together. She was older, more experienced, but it pained her to admit that he was faster and stronger. She needed to take him out as quickly as possible.
Tamsin made a snap decision she would soon regret.
Meanwhile, Hale crouched in the undergrowth several miles away from his friends. Too far to assist against Tamsin, but he intended to be very effective all the same. Serena paced in front of his hiding place, and she would soon be out of game entirely.
She practically fumed with frustration. Lost already, pitiful. Hale tried not to laugh openly and give himself away.
"Alright succubus, where are you?" Serena said under her breath as she rolled up her shirt sleeves. Hale picked the sound out easily from between the trilling frequency of birdsong and the lower percussive crunch of her footsteps atop dry leaves. "One to find out. What's an acre or two to an Ash?" Flames erupted from the palms of her hands.
"For the record," Tamsin managed to say between dodging clawed punches, "I really didn't want to have to do this." Retreating backwards into the trees in order to constrict her opponent's movements, she waited for her opening.
She always judged the effectiveness of the spell by her enemy's reactions. It honestly felt no different to her, the unveiling of her other face, at least not at first. The werewolf's wild golden eyes widened and he backpedaled toward the woman with the dark eyes.
"What are you?" His voice and facial expression pitched upward in confusion. He shook his head. Tamsin couldn't breathe.
"Dyson? Hey! What have you done to him?"
The wolf, Dyson, stumbled and knelt before her. As soon as his knees touched the fallen leaves, Tamsin released him to his inner demons and took a deep breath. As she grew weaker, her abilities became harder to control.
"Bo? What's happening?" Dyson spoke from the ground. "My head…"
Bo rushed to his side while Tamsin looked on, gathering herself for another round. "You're going to be okay."
"No, Bo you need to run…are you sure this was the right thing to do?" His words were muffled by the dirt.
"It's not about right or –"
"Because I love you...I think."
"Seriously?"
Tamsin rolled her eyes as she drew a knife from her belt. "Spare me." She grasped the back of Bo's collar, intending to threaten her with the knife to her throat. This was a bounty her boss wanted taken alive. Next thing she knew, she was flipped on her back. Should have seen that coming.
The other woman's weight held her down and her eyes bore into Tamsin's, lit from within with a spectral brilliance. "What the-" She looked down between them where her hand was slicked with blood, the hilt of her knife pressed flush against Bo's abdomen.
Bo made a pained noise and rolled off of Tamsin, hauling herself to her feet. Tamsin stood as well, more unsteady than Bo.
"You're hurt," Dyson visibly blanched.
Fixed in that blue gaze, Tamsin couldn't move. Bo caught her face in her hands and pulled her in close. Loose strands of blonde hair tangled and came away between her fingers.
Tamsin was not prepared for the full force of Bo's uninhibited touch. She was lashed with waves of lightning, a heat that carried all the warmth of a nightmare. Her kiss was soft and then…maddening. Tasting her own soul on Bo's lips, the rusted bells of expiry tolled less stridently, and Tamsin felt so alive, pulsating and vibrant and drained simultaneously.
One with eyes both brown and blue