Disclaimer: Lost Girl belongs to Showcase or SYFY and I am only playing in their universe.
A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews and reads. This is a different story for me and I appreciate your input. I should raise the rating to an "R" (if they had that) for violence and gory stuff in this chapter. So... Lauren has been found by a bounty hunter but maybe that is the least of her worries…
Forty-five minutes had passed before Lila left the Fort and came looking for Lauren. She had watched the woman leave after her dance with her grandson, Gunner. Lauren was a puzzle to the older woman. She wanted so much to just set her down and make Lew tell her everything that she had been through but that was not their agreement. It didn't mean that Lila couldn't keep trying to build up enough trust between the women that Lauren would just tell her everything one day.
Lila had wanted to chase after Lauren when she saw the girl leave but the Colonel had caught her for a dance, and it was sometime before she could break away. She sighed in relief as she located her prey. Lauren and the dog, General, were having a rare moment of peace as they both sat in the bed of Lauren's pickup. Lila smiled and began to walk towards their location. The big dog was mad that he couldn't go in to be near the crew so he had found another familiar face to be with. Lauren for her part was glad to be sitting with someone who didn't ask any questions or remind her of the past in any way. Lauren was holding a half-filled glass to her chest as she looked up at the stars stroking the big dog's neck. The big animal was watching the door and pretending he wasn't enjoying the extra attention.
"What do the heavens tell you tonight my young friend?" Ask Lila as she moved up join them. "Are you making wishes?" She picked up the bottle from Lauren's side and was pleased to see that it was still over halfway full. General shifted his position to curl up near the cab. As big as the dog was, he blended in and almost disappeared from sight in the corner. Lila did a little hop and moved to sit in the truck bed and rested against Lauren, leaning back she began to star gaze herself.
"Oh Lila," said Lauren with a tipsy lilt to her voice, "I stopped wishing long ago. I see scientific wonders in the night sky, real tangible things one can count on to behave in predictable ways." The depression that came with Lauren's stirred up memories and alcohol consumption had bubbled to the surface. Lauren knew her positive natured friend would be readying a lecture so she quickly added. "Wishing is for the more optimistic types, I am more of a realist now and it is working for me. There is no need for wishing when you stick to what you can do and make that happen. Put yourself in realistic situations where you have a bit of control and life works out." She took the bottle back from Lila and added some liquid courage to her glass. "Before I came here, my life centered on me striving for impossible goals. I quickly learned that I was never enough. By trying to be what I wasn't, I lost everything." Lauren took a long sip and then in a sad whisper said, "Lord knows I tried but I just never, ever was enough."
"Okay, that's enough of that." Lila reached out and took the bottle and the glass from Lauren. "Lew," the older woman had such a disapproving look on her face it made Lauren's heart hurt. "Girl you are so difficult to understand at times. For someone so smart, you get the silliest thoughts in your head. You are an amazing being. You are capable of so much. In just the short time I have known you look at what you have done around here. Turned this whole business around, improved the lives of hundreds of people and become my very good friend. You are beautiful and have caught the eye of several of the men and women inside …." Lauren gave a drunk gasp at the older woman's match making and grabbed her pulling her into a tight hug muffling her mouth with her shoulder. Damned if this woman didn't just make her feel better all the time, whether she wanted to feel good or not. Lila was a true friend.
"You and your pep talks, just let me be a melancholy drunk tonight, okay?" giggled Lauren as she placed a sloppy alcohol laced kiss on the side of her friend's face. The older woman pushed at the strong arm that held her and then playfully poked fingers at Lauren's rib cage getting the strong younger woman to loosen her grip.
"No, I will never stop my pep talks and you just shut up with this I'm not being enough nonsense. It's bull and you know it." said the older woman as she finally broke loose after finding a ticklish spot on her tipsy friend. Lauren shifted so her arm was just draped over Lila's shoulder as they stilled from their playful interaction.
"Do you ladies need a referee?" a man's spoke just off to the side of the women as he rounded the cab from a shadowed side. From his spot low in the truck bed, General shot to his feet and lunged at the man. If Lauren had not been just fast enough, their unexpected visitor would have had his throat ripped out. Flinging her arms out, she caught General around the neck and held on. Unfortunately, Lila was pushed off balance and got caught between Lauren's rib cage and the side of the truck. The dog strained and Lauren was relieved as she felt her upper body training pay off as she pulled the animal back into the truck. If she really had thought about it the only reason it worked was she had leverage on the big dog.
The man had stepped back but did not run at the animal's reaction to him. He spoke calmly to the big animal, "General, did I scare you boy? I didn't see you there or I would have made more noise." The deep growl of the large dog continued but he stilled in Lauren grip.
Lila finally wiggled free and pulled herself back to a seated position. She took a frazzled look around as she adjusted her clothing and hair. "Dr. Malek?" Lila said finally in recognition of the man, "Heavens, General could have really hurt you. Thank goodness you are a vet, anyone else would have been running for the hills or died from fright." The man smiled at the older woman. His eyes only found Lauren's for a moment, it wasn't long enough for her to notice if anything was strange or not. She was still holding General and that was her main concern.
"Miss Lila, holy moly, I didn't see that it was you. How are you this evening? Are you okay?" Dr. Malek asked with a composed tone, half his concentration on the still agitated animal in Lauren's grip but the man's surprise and disappointment at the older woman's presence was not lost on Lauren. "General will never forgive me for giving him those first shots. The beast has a memory like an elephant." The vet went to reach out but thought better of it. Lauren could have sworn she heard the dog whine with disappointment. "Well I think I will put some distance between the two of us." He motioned to the dog and smiled. "You ladies have a good evening okay?" The man waved and walked off to join another group.
Lauren waited and General finally relaxed. She stroked his chest and ears to calm the big guy. The dog did not move, his attention was fully on the vet. Lauren had to laugh, she thought she held a grudge but General had her beat hands down. "I take it there was an incident at the vet's office?" said Lauren. She fully released the dog and he moved and sat at alert on the tailgate. Lauren then gave Lila a once over to assure that the woman was unharmed. The older woman held up hands to stop Lauren but an eyebrow raised on the younger woman's face, and that was the end of the argument.
Lila allowed Lauren to check her over as she explained the history between the vet and dog, "Dr. Malek paid us a visit when he was setting up shop in Red Valley. Free vaccinations or something, anyway General had a dreadful reaction to the drugs and almost died. It was terrible. The man felt awful and he came back over and over trying to help but General would never let the man near him again." Lila shook her head at the thought. "Whenever General sees the vet he goes into attack mode. If the vet had known that General was in the truck bed he would never have come over." Lila gave a sniff and then leaned close to Lauren.
"What?" said Lauren as she sniffed too. "Man," she groaned. "General what the hell did you roll in?"
"I don't know but it smells like rotten meat." said Lila, "I think it's now all over you." She looked at Lauren and smiled. Lauren gave a sharp look to the dog who just looked back and thumped his tail a few times. Quickly he turned and went on alert again. It was curious Lauren had sat with the dog for almost an hour and never smelled anything. Maybe the alcohol had dulled her senses more than she knew.
"That settles it, my party's done. I call it officially over. I'm hitting the showers." said Lauren. She moved to hug Lila but the older woman held out her hands.
"The night is young sister. I intend to keep dancing and that smell will never do." Lila blew Lauren a kiss. "Sleep well Lew, sweet dreams and no more drinking." Lauren watched as the older woman made her way back into the Fort taking the bottle and glass with her. General was torn between the two women. The dog and the Fort manager were not the best of pals but there was a mutual respect between the two. Not knowing what possessed her Lauren spoke softly to the dog, "Keep them safe General." The dog gave a small shiver as if relieved to have the choice made for him and then jumped down and moved to sit by the back door.
Jumping out of the back of the truck, Lauren secured the tailgate and then walked around to the cab. Something about the whole evening had her on edge, it was silly but knowing the dog was watching the door made her feel better about leaving early. Grabbing her tool belt from the front seat and still smelling the sickly sweet of rot, Lauren locked up the truck and followed the path towards her house. It would be good to let the hot water of a shower wash away the day. She needed a good night's sleep to fight off all the bad feelings she was having.
She was reaching for the doorknob when Lauren heard it. God, she had placed the simplistic noise traps so long ago now it was almost surreal to hear one of them being tripped. All the effects of the alcohol burned off in a burst of fear and adrenaline, she started running immediately. Lauren's survival instincts kicked in and her mind went to her plans of escape. Who knew what had set off the trap. Hell it could have been a party goer being nosey, but if it was fae and she hesitated to act she would be dead in short order. Whatever had approached the far side of the hut might not have seen her yet and that worked to her advantage.
Lauren hoped she could get the intruder away from the party so no one else would get hurt. Clearing the far end of the hut, she located the dirt bike she had ready for just such an occasion. As she had practiced, she jumped on the thing and hit the modified start. With a roar Lauren took off down her planned escape route. If the person who set off the trap had been after her then Lauren would know it in just a few minutes.
Secure in her route, having just ran the thing this morning, Lauren had some confidence in checking the mirror more often than one normally would riding a motorcycle at night at reckless speeds through the desert. Finally she saw it in the moonlight and her heart jumped to her throat. A darkened shape was running after her. It was humanoid in appearance but it was running with more of an ape like gate, bipedal with long arms that powered shorter legs along. "Damn it, a Trollgre." This was a powerful fae, it looked to be a mix between troll and ogre in appearance but had a more sophisticated biology and higher intelligence factor. This fae could mini shift to look human so it wasn't considered underfae but it was damn close. In ancient times the species served their lords by tracking with their keen sense of smell. This thing was born to hunt so bounty hunting was an excellent modern day occupation choice. Lauren smiled as she saw the huge fae was gaining on her. She needed the hunter to catch up but not too soon. She just had to hold on a bit longer, if her plan was to work. At the end, the fae hunter had to be right on top of her. The timing had to be just right with this.
The headlight of the bike caught a sharp turn in the trail and Lauren sighed in relief as she made the change in direction. It had been vital for her to make it to this part of the trail. "Come to momma," she whispered. Grabbing a pair of goggles from a clip on the gas tank, she put them on and shut off the bike's headlight. She ran the bike in the dark using night vision technology. It wasn't like the movies but it was better than nothing. The fae would have reasonable night vision on its own and would still be tracking her. She moved along for a minute or two more and then skidded to halt with a flourish of dirt.
Hoping upon hope the maneuver looked like she had wrecked the bike. Lauren turned the machine to face the oncoming fae, she rested the bike on it's side. With the motor off and surrounded by the silence of the desert, the beat of the heavy loping approach of the fae was terrifying. Lauren forced herself to stick with her plan, acting like she was working on her bike frantically running around while all the time she was watching her attacker's approach with infrared option on the goggles.
The bounty hunter was moving at amazing speed. The fae never failed to amaze the scientist in Lauren. She reached for a tube-like attachment on the side of the bike. Pulling out a thick bar of metal, she began to bang on the bumper to add an element of sound to her illusion. The Trollgre was so close, it let out a huge scream and Lauren jumped around to face it. Through the goggles she saw the creature's determined dangerous face as it grinned with the knowledge it had it's prey within it's grasp. Lauren let out a yell herself and hit a trigger on the metal bar she held, two spear like iron spikes shot out of each end. She also kicked a switch on her bike, a super bright halogen light shot out of the headlight directly into the eyes of the oncoming bounty hunter.
Blinded and moving as fast as it was, the Trollgre had no choice but to lunge for Lauren as best it could. She dropped down as she stabbed upward with one of the iron spikes. It embedded deep in the Trollgre's gut, tearing at the flesh but then was ripped out of Lauren's hand as it caught on something more solid as he flew over her head. She felt the graze of the fae's clawed hand as it over shot her just enough, missing getting a grip on her body by a hair. If the fae had solid ground to land on it would have been able to adjust and come at her again. The problem was that there was no solid ground for her attacker to land on. The turn in the trail's direction had Lauren traveling along a deep gorge. The bright light had prevented the fae from seeing the size of the cliff they were at the edge of and he had just dove off head first into a deep drop that ended in nothing but boulders. Lauren killed the light on her bike and looked over the edge with the assistance of the night vision technology. The body lay as odd angles amongst the rocks below. The Trollgre had to be dead. Even something as strong as that fae species could not have handled that type of damage.
Driving back to the Fort as fast as she dared, Lauren was jumpy and shaking. Her heart was pounding so hard she thought she might be close to having a stroke. Seeing the hut, Lauren quickly hit a remote control switch to a small garage door. It opened and she drove in fast closing it behind her almost before she had made it through the opening. Running to the office, Lauren quickly opened and then slammed the door locking it behind her. She turned on all her equipment and checked the alarms and surveillance cameras. The party was still going and she checked on her friends, all were still safe and having a good time. To her relief General was still standing guard and the silly dog had a pleased look on it's face as it sat on alert.
She had seven other monitors that were now up and running various views of the property and inside her hut. She saw nothing else that caused her any other worries. Lauren did not move from her position as she sat and watched the monitors for other dangers till it was almost dawn. Sometime around 2:00 a.m., when the party finally broke up, she brought up the footage from earlier in the evening on half of the screens and watched for her attacker. The Trollgre had blended in so well, if you hadn't known what to look for you would have missed the telltale catch in the hunter's stride. Lauren rewound and watched as he pulled his motorcycle in and parked with a group of Red Valley townies that arrived a good two hours into the party. He greeted them and made it look like he belonged there. She saw him walk in the bar but almost as quickly step back outside.
The fae looked confused as he sat at an outside table near a window and looked in with concern. She caught her breath as she saw her group of friends walk out to the patio area for some air. Cappy, Gunner and Lila walked right by the guy to a nearby table. Lauren saw him watching them and her blood ran cold at the look he had in his eyes. Did he know that she was friends with them, Oh God she thought had she endangered more people she cared about? Cook then moved into the frame but stopped when he got to the man's table. Watching Lauren saw the big man stop and talk to the Trollgre. Lauren wished she could make out what he was saying as it wasn't the most polite of conversations. The conversation had ended with the hunter nodding sharply to Cook and the Trollgre walking off the porch. Cook watched him as he went, none too happy, but then again Cook was never totally happy.
She clicked through the footage and followed the bounty hunter as he moved towards his bike but once out of sight of her friends he doubled back towards the side of the house. She watched as he walked back towards her place finding a new location to set up his surveillance. The man just blended in so well it was frightening. Fast forwarding the tapes after checking the monitors showing the current state of the property, she saw herself almost on the run out the backdoor of the Fort. Lauren looked away from the pain that was radiating off her being as she was running from her memories.
Refocusing, she watched the Trollgre, he had seen her and was ready to move but he stopped. She smiled, General had just jumped in the back of the truck with her. She reminded herself to leave some caramel rolls out for the big guy. The presence of the dog and more and more people that gathered in the dirt lot behind the Fort made it impossible for him to approach the truck. When Lila had joined her, the Trollgre moved off even farther. So much so he would have lost sight of her. It was odd but really it had been the thing that saved her.
Lauren had regained her composure somewhat and was now at an uneasy calm as the realization set in, "It had finally happened the fae had found her again. What the hell are you going to do now?" she thought to herself as tears of stress, relief of survival, and fear of what was to come rolled down her cheeks. She shut down the monitors as the sun was an hour away from rising. She never thought to watch what had happened after she drove away on that bike. Did she have a reason too?
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The sound of the motor cycle had caught the man's attention. He was around the side of the Fort as he avoided the crowd at the back of the building to have a quick smoke. He saw the bike moving fast off into the open desert. Who was he to pass up a challenge like this he reasoned and was about to step out to give chase when a dark form moved out from behind the hut. It too was watching the bike. This was too good, the lone bike rider and now a challenger to his prize, how lucky could he get. Watching as the dark shape moved to follow the bike. He was about to follow the duo when shouts of his name forced him to turn. He growled and cursed the end of his lucky streak and made his way back to the party to play nice with the town folk. When he could he did break away, pointing to his cell phone with a jolly, "My work is never done." He was all forced smiles and waves as he left, grabbing his car to drive to a more secluded area where he could begin his hunt.
Driving to a pull off area he knew well. The man found his regular parking spot and then jumped out of the car. He let his natural form take over and relished the freedom he felt and then experienced the cramps of hunger that always followed. He began running down the side of a trail. When he was sure no one was around he allowed himself to extend and move at full speed. His acute hearing picked up a screaming sound and he could see lights but he was too late and much too far away. As he watched, the motor bike was turned and started moving back towards the Fort.
"Maybe I can catch it," he thought feverishly and drove himself forward with a burst of speed. He was so hungry now, his thoughts were a jumble. About to make the turn to follow the bike, the smell of blood caught him by surprise and he skidded to as stop. Well, well his prey had not played nice. "What a feisty little lot I am chasing." he thought. Following his nose, the creature peered over the edge. "Oh my, just what do we have here?" he growled extending sharp bony claws. Slamming them into the earth as he moved over the edge, he worked his way down the rocky cliff like a huge spider.
The body of the bounty hunter was huge. Amazingly enough he was still alive, if just barely. The mortally injury man groaned as he pawed at his gut. There was some type of thing sticking out of him, caught on a hip bone by the looks of it. Reaching to grab the metal, the newcomer pulled back his hand flinging the object, staring at his clawed hand now covered with blisters. "Laced with iron?" he hissed and looked at the wounded gentleman and said sharply, "You could have warned me."
The hunger hit him so hard he screamed in pain as he flew at the body, ripping with teeth and claws. Between mouthfuls of flesh he sighed as the last of the bounty hunter's life force fled and just the warm meat remained for him to consume at his leisure. There was something so tasty about this meal, it took a while to figure it out. He had feasted not long ago on two hikers and they did not meet his needs as this flesh did. It hit the man in a flash and he rose to a standing position and roared with delight as he realizing what he was tasting. "My friend you are not human, you are fae. I am eating fae flesh. By the gods, the power and succulence of this meat, I should have known. It has been ages since I tasted a thing so exotic." He patted a fleshy section of the remains with satisfaction.
He gorged himself until dawn and felt fully sated for the first time in his recent memory. Taking in this wonderful feeling he sighed, "I thank you for your flesh," he spoke to the bones, as that was all that was left. "But I am afraid you were too much of a good thing. All I'll want from now on is fae to feed on." He gave an odd high pitched giggle. "Funny thing is I know just were to find some more." He scaled the wall and watched the beginnings of sunrise as he walked to his car slowly as if trying to make this all last just a little longer. He pulled his keys from the top of the front tire and opened the door. As he started the car and just as he went to drive away he felt it and hung his head with remorse. His endless hunger for flesh had already started to return.
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Lauren forced herself to wait until her normal run time. She never knew when one of the crew would show up early so she needed to keep to her routine as much as possible. There was fifteen minutes to go but no longer able to wait, Lauren took off at almost a frantic pace down the trail. She had a hoodie on and underneath she had a vest of equipment strapped tight. Ignoring the stress and panic that made it hard to breath, she reached the turn in the road and took it, moments later she was at the spot of the attack.
The tracks in the sandy soil were almost gone. Just a little more wind and nothing would be left. Steeling herself she looked over the edge of the cliff. Lauren jumped back to prevent the shock she felt from pulling her over the edge. Wasting no time, she pulled a metal bar from her pocket, hitting the trigger and a single iron spike shot out one end. Lauren jammed it deep into the ground, she hit a second trigger to shot the spike farther into the ground securing it. Pulling the thin ultra-strong climbing rope from over her shoulder, with a quick slip knot she had secured the line on the metal bar. It took her one more minute to pull out the harness she had in her pocket and step into it. Then she was over the edge, the rapid descent took seconds.
Lauren could not believe what she was seeing. There was blood everywhere but the flesh was gone. The bones of her bounty hunter were gleaming in the morning sun. Lauren tried to wrap her mind around what type of scavenging pack might have done this much damage. There were large paw prints everywhere. Pulling a camera out she recorded the scene and did several quick measurements. The iron spike she had used had been tossed clear. She picked it up, disengaged the spikes and pocketed the tool. Clean up was going to be faster than she anticipated. Pulling the small charge from her vest pocket, Lauren buried it as best she could in the sand. Jumping behind a boulder she detonated the charge and blew a good size hole in the ground. People were always shooting guns in the desert so the sound would not cause any alarm.
Quickly she kicked the bones into the opening and pulled sand over them. After a moment she said some general words over the grave and then checked the area. If anyone took a close look it was obvious that something horrific had gone on here but this was not a popular hiking or jeeping trail and the likelihood of anyone seeing this was slim. Just to be safe she set a second charge and blew more sand over the area. That along with two or three good wind storms and there would be no sign of anything having gone on, it was a sobering fact how easily things could be covered up in this ever shifting terrain.
Scaling the cliff face, Lauren found hand holds easily, too easily. She made note of the size and distance from one to the other. It was almost as if she was not the first to climb in this spot. She pulled herself up over the edge and checked for any signs of something out of the ordinary. Nothing stood out. She checked her watch and then gathered her gear. Ahead of schedule, Lauren set out cross country, following the path her attacker had taken. The large loping strides of the Trollgre had left distinct tracks that were deep and easy to follow. She found what she was looking for about half way back to the Fort. A pile of clothing, Lauren grabbed them and stuffed them into a small bag she had brought and swung it on like a backpack. She ran for the Fort and arrived just in time to drop her extra gear in the back and step out for Reveille. "That's right, everything is totally normal," she said quietly through clinched teeth. The crew was all there but worse for wear from the party so her own haggard appearance was not noticed. She yelled, "Breakfast?" and was relieved to find she had no takers as they wandered back to their vehicles and went home to nurse their self-imposed hurts.
Forcing herself to walk into the hut, Lauren closed the door behind her slowly. She ran for the workshop and grabbed the bag of clothing. Pulling the garments out, she rifled through the pockets. There was a wallet with a fake ID, couple hundred bucks in spending money, cell phone which looked to be a burner model and then she found it. Pulling the folded papers out she steadied herself and then opened them up. There it was in black and white, Lauren Lewis enemy of the fae, dangerous approach with caution, wanted in connection with seventy-five counts of murder and suspicion of medical misconduct resulting in human fae hybrids. More chilling was the part hand written. The words in ragged script read, "Bounty will be paid for Lewis dead or alive, no restrictions on bodily harm, capture at all cost, only human, no real threat. Paid upon delivery $100,000 – DNA sample and picture required." There was a map and the hunter had a large region circled as if this was his assigned search area.
She looked at the wallet again and found the Bounty hunter's ID behind some credit cards. She quickly did her round about search of the internet and found the place he worked for, she knew it. A dark fae business from the city, she knew that Bo had dealt with them from time to time. There was a good chance that this guy was working alone she sighed with relief. This was a rough bunch and they weren't known for playing well with others. She had seen their work in the hospital many, many times.
Checking his phone and there was nothing in the history but a list of calls to a single phone number. His last call had been less than a week ago. She double checked the number with the web site and found it did match up with the bounty hunting office. "Check-in calls," she thought and by the looks of the calls and their dates she had almost a month before the Trollgre was to make his next call to the home office.
She looked again at the writing on the paper, "Only human, no real threat." She said aloud and shook her head. "Keep telling yourself that boys, keep telling yourself that." After some quick pictures of the documents, she dropped everything she found into a barrel and burned it. She added a few extra chemicals to make sure everything was utterly destroyed. She retrieved the man's motorcycle and parked it in the shop then jumped in the shower. Lauren did her best to get on with her day without having a complete breakdown.