CHAPTER 41

WARNING: LEMON AHEAD! BEWARE!

XOXOXOXO

Dear Rosemary,

If you're reading this, then our battle has come to an unexpected end. I'll be honest: I don't think you'll ever get the chance to read this letter. You see – I'm going to kill you.

I've constantly underestimated you. You were a single, un-trained human girl with slightly above-average organizational skills. So you managed to make skilled, trained friends, and got a little superpower, but at your core – you are weak. You were just clever enough, however, to pit the other gangs against my Divide, and for that you must pay.

But I haven't this long to be ruled by overconfidence. In the slim chance that you get the the better of me, you will have earned the truth.

I loved you, Rosemary, like a daughter. I loved Oliver, too. I pitied your father, but I killed him for you. Yes, I despised that man – for years, you took care of his useless flesh. I know how much he hurt your heart, and his weakness had been catching. I killed him to make you strong. If you truly have beat me, then killing him would have been my mistake. I wanted you to spread your wings and thrive. But then you wanted revenge; that made things complicated. You were a reasonable woman; obviously, I erred in thinking you could move on from your father's death without significant fuss.

Then there was Balint. I humored and treated your turian fascination like any mother would her daughter's teenage obsession. It was supposed to be a hormone-driven phase. But again, I underestimated you. I liked Balint. I loved you. I never expected whatever attraction you two felt to... endure. What it is, is unnatural; it is a poison. Killing you is a kindness in itself. You must die before yet another abomination is created.

But I digress. I am starting to view the act of me writing this letter as what it is: a joke. I will be killing you tomorrow. But for whatever it's worth, Rosemary... I'm sorry. I'm sorry for hurting you, but that will not stay my hand. For your own good, and for the good of all life, you must die.

Regretfully deceased,

Saeli

XOXOXOXO

Rosemary hesitated only a second before deleting Saeli's final message on her omni-tool. She'd received it three weeks ago, mere hours after Saeli had been arrested and thrown into a cell. Saeli T'Garu had hid a poison on her body, and had died not an hour after being put behind bars. Rosemary had grieved, and her grief had only deepened after receiving Saeli's final letter. Saeli had been a monster, but... they had also been friends. Even if her mind knew that the world wasn't worse off with Saeli's passing, her heart was feeling a keen, guilt-ridden sorrow.

She sipped at her hot chocolate, bitter and... sad.

"I hope you weren't reading that message again."

Balint leaned down and tipped up Rosemary's chin with a talon. He kissed her, and Rosemary's sadness began to ebb. She knew the sadness would return, but Balint had a knack of knowing just what to do or say to burn away the shadows. He's also damn good with his tongue, Rosemary thought to herself, inwardly grinning.

"I was. But it's gone now. But Divide isn't." She gripped her mug, worry returning to her expression. "We still have work to do."

Balint didn't sit. "Yes, we do. But there's other work, too."

Rosemary groaned and shook her head. "Who is it, and how long is it going to take? If it's Meeno, I swear... Either he learn to manage things by himself or he's going back to college," Rosemary grouched. "I can't do everything myself!"

Balint stroked her cheek with a talon, halting her tirade with that simple, gentle action. "It's not Meeno, and Rosemary – it's not even dawn. Why are you still working?"

She'd been asking herself the same question. "As crazy as it sounds, when I'm stressed... I trick myself to thinking the monotony of paperwork can somehow... de-stress me."

"So you're lying to yourself."

"Essentially."

The turian chuckled. "You are adorable some days."

"Hardy har har, I – oh!" Rosemary squeaked as Balint pulled her from the chair and set her butt on the table. "Balint, we can't. We're in Wakey Brews... Ossuri... any minute!" It was hard to protest with Balint's talons and tongue distracting her so well.

"You don't open for hours, and we both know how fashionably late Ossuri likes to be."

"I forgot to shutter the windows! Anyone could... mm..." God, his tongue feels so long... and amazing!

"Then let's give them a show," Balint purred.

"Wait, what?!"

The danger both agitated and thrilled her. Already feeling self-conscious about her hair piled messily on top of her head, and her un-matched undergarments, she yelped as Balint slid her blouse off of her and brought her to one of the open windows. He turned her around and pressed her against the glass; she held her breath, feeling his eyes and the tips of his talons carress her back. Even if she was still wearing a bra, and her pants were still on, she felt completely naked with her back so exposed.

Balint knew what she liked. Her reservations dissolved as he ran a slow finger down the near-bare length of her spine; her shiver followed the tip of his talons tracing the curve of her butt. The bastard. He knew all too well the effect his talons had on her; the danger was thrilling, and had a heated effect on her arousal. It blew all reason from her mind. But still... "Does it have to be here," she whispered plaintively. "Can we maybe move back away from the street?"

His low chuckle was his answer. Her skin flushed as she gasped and arched from his talons' ministrations. Rosemary turned her head back slightly, her eyes holding her final plea. They both knew she didn't have will or want to resist him much longer. He bent his head to her ear – took a nibble. She was lost.

She didn't fight him when he took her hands and put them high on the glass. Through the glass, she could feel the cold of the night seeping through her palms. She was in full view of the street, she realized, trying to control her panic. Anyone could just come by – a patrolling C-Sec officer, a freakin' journalist – anyone! Then Balint stepped away.

She fought the urge to turn her head to look at him. "Balint?"

"You're so beautiful," he murmured. She flushed again, feeling pleasure from his words. She felt him move forward again, and deftly unclasped her bra. She wasn't used to that. Usually, there was a fair amount of ripping and tearing involved in the removal of her clothes. This time, Balint was deliciously slow with the chore, easing her pants over and down, then her panties – every so often, lightly scraping her with the edge of a talon. She liked the teasing, but no so much the pain and blood, so she stayed completely still when he did that. But he was making the task of staying still a very difficult task.

The feeling of pressing her breasts to the cold, hard surface made her jump. But it was his next words that were her true undoing. "Spread your legs wider," he growled.

The commanding timbre of his voice sent a gush of heat to her core; she gasped as she obeyed his order, cool air rushing between her thighs. She bit her lip; she'd never felt more aroused in her life.

She saw his reflection in the glass, his golden eyes hot with desire – for her. His smile was dark and wild, and his grip on her bottom, possessive. He slid his fingers down to feel her wetness, her readiness. Rosemary let out a growling moan as the other hand reached up to massage a breast, teasing her nipple with sharpness. Her body heat steamed the glass as he manipulated her body, roughly but pleasurably bringing her arousal to a peak. "Balint," she growled. ", if you don't, ah, soon – I'll kill you." God, his fingers!

Rosemary arched her back as without warning, Balint let out a deep groan as he pushed his way into her slowly, going all the way in with the first thrust. Her breath steamed against the glass as she gasped hotly, fighting a scream as he drew back and slammed into her with accelerating force.

Knowing she could take it, but still taking caution, he gripped her by the hips with the bases of his talons and pumped her hard and fast. "You feel so damn good," he snarled, lust turning his growls deep and ragged. Rosemary's moans became louder and louder as an intense orgasm began to build deep inside her core.

They stared into each other's eyes in the mirror's reflection, gold meeting blue. Balint reached forward and claimed her swaying breasts, feeling their full weight, teasing them with talon-tips. He drew her up and continued to massage her breasts as he grazed her neck with his teeth, teasing up until he had her earlobe under a fang.

"Look at yourself, Rose," he whispered, his tongue dipping into the snug on her ear's outer rim. "You're so damn beautiful."

Rosemary looked at their reflection and her whole self blushed; God, what a sight. Her skin was flushed with passion, and his Roman, avian features were twisted in an expression of sexy, animalistic lust. She shuddered as she ground on him, waves of ecstasy washing over her. Balint feverishly pounded into her, his talons finally breaking skin as his control broke.

Rosemary felt him twitch inside her; she couldn't feel the pain of his grip through the orgasm ripping pleasure throughout her body.

Balint hissed as he erupted violently deep inside her body, in direct response to her muscles squeezing, spasming around his length. Rosemary nearly fell backwards, but Balint caught her, pulling her back to his body. He continued to thrust into her as she twitched uncontrollably, gasping as euphoria crashed over her.

When their senses returned, Rosemary gasped again, this time with panic. She jumped up and stared at the window, at the street outside. No one. There was no one there. But there soon would be. Her eyes darted to the clock above the shop door. "Minutes! She'll be here in minutes!"

Balint chuckled as she went into full-panic mode, breaking out the cleaning supplies and pulling on clothes in an exceptional show of multi-tasking. Rosemary didn't much appreciate his attitude; he barely caught the spray bottle she had pitched at his head. "Clean yourself up, and help me!"

The turian's nose ridges twitched with amusement. "There really isn't any need to panic, Rose. Ossuri's never on time."

"Anomalies still exist," Rosemary said crossly. "Now disinfect! And use the air fresheners liberally! LIBERALLY!"

"Your word is my command."

XOXOXOXO

My, it had been a long day. Intense sex session aside, Wakey Brews had been packed to capacity. She'd had to recruit Oliver to help Imitha in the kitchen; she'd been banned to be within three feet of the ovens. Her feelings hadn't been hurt; it was a simple fact of life that she couldn't bake any better than a pyjak could. She had insisted, however, on being the last one out. So here she was, wiping the last table, and let her throughts wander.

The sex had helped physically, but Rosemary knew it was the tender way that Balint handled her afterward that had soothed her troubled thoughts. After removing all evidence of their coupling, Balint had held her close, without speaking a word. He somehow knew that she had needed the comfort of his closeness, his compassion, more than words.

She had a hard life ahead of her, but she had people who loved her, who would support her. The knowledge of that warmed her to her bones.

Rosemary wasn't so lost in her musings, however, to not hear the attacker come up behind her. She ducked, and felt her curls ruffle with the force of the attacker's strike. Rosemary turned, and made eye contact with a Divide gangster – well, as much as one could have when one of the parties is wearing a helmet. Rosemary calmly weighed her options. She could throw the bigoted idiot around via krogan-strength, but that would mean... property damage. No. No more. Wakey Brews was her home. Her haven. She didn't want so much as a nick in the furniture... well, at least not one from Divide. She could send out a call for help, but that would take time... and possibly property damage. That left Option Three.

"I am Divide! You may have killed our leader, but millions will rise – AAAGH!"

The gangster screamed as he fell to the floor, a bloody hole in his leg armor. Rosemary smiled admiringly at the not-so-hidden-anymore gun Yadai had installed on her omni-tool. Although... the Council would probably frown at Yadai sharing Spectre tech with a sort-of civilian. That just meant she'd have to hide the evidence – and in this case...

The Divide member tried to scuttle backwards when Rosemary advanced. "No... no!"

Rosemary sighed. "Relax, I'm not going to kill you. You'll be properly arrested by C-Sec when they get here... I just have a little business first."

The gangster stared when Rosemary pried off the damaged piece of armor, an arm piece, and a neck piece. She proceeded to beat them in with her fist, treating the leg piece the worst. Then she took a large knife from the kitchen and stabbed his leg wound with it. He screamed, but her expression remained stoic as she pulled the knife free. Inside, though, she was cringing. Ugh. That was bad. Really bad. And gross. But it'll keep Yadai from unnecessary scrutiny, and spread the word around the Citadel that I am a bad-ass. Rosemary the bad-ass. Heh. I like it.

Then she saw the blood. So much blood. Reason left her mind then. She stomped to the kitchen and grabbed a sponge from one of the sinks. She tossed it to the gangster, with a rag. "Tie your damn leg up and clean up the damn blood! Really! Sure, trying to kill me – that's bad enough. But to leave a mess? In my Wakey Brews? That's just bad manners," she grumbled, mostly to herself.

Word did get around the Citadel – and beyond. Rosemary continued to experience the occassional Divide attack for years to come, but never again on Wakey Brews grounds. Because word had passed – that she was a crazy bitch.