A/N: This chapter is extra special, like hot melted chocolate on top of vanilla ice cream special. Why? Because I decided to feature my good friend (leonard-cohen-the-second on the Tumblr and EchoGalen here on )'s work in here (look for the stars *). 1) she's amazing, 2) check out her stories ;) Also I must apologize for the delay, but I went on a camping trip with friends for a week and then I had to drive home and long story short I was shit tired and I don't think my head was screwed on right. I had the intention of making this chapter extremely long but I realized jam packing it with so much stuff wouldn't be the best idea, not to mention I felt bad for not updating in so long, so I cut it in half.
"Why pick a human?" Tamsin immediately moved herself in front of Lauren as she saw the Undertaker taking a step closer towards her.
"It's been centuries since I've tasted-" Licking his lips, the man craned his head to gaze over the protective body standing in front of the smaller blonde. A sickening smirk appeared on his face. "-Delicious human flesh."
Flaring her nostrils, she snarled: "Don't hold your breath fucker, this one's not on the menu."
"Threatened by a weak and dying Valkyrie, should I be frightened?" As the question escaped his lips, he moved his head sideways to taunt the woman further. Tamsin followed him with her eyes and attempted to not let his taunts reel her in, but when did she ever listen to herself?
Curling back her arm, she made a fist and swung it at the frail looking man. It passed right through him, his body evaporating into a stream of thick, pungent black smoke, and Tamsin corrected herself accordingly as to not fall. "Shit for brains, damn that…"
The Doctor looked spooked, but it wasn't the Undertaker's childish voodoo tricks that seeled the deal. Turning Tamsin towards her, her brow creased as she gazed into green eyes and she asked, "Weak and dying?" Lauren couldn't be bothered with where the man went; she could only rejoice that the foul stink had also left with him.
How long did you think you'd be able to keep this from her? Her conscience made a point of twisting the sharp blade into the wound, but this didn't stop her from dodging the question. "It's not important right now, Doc. We're about to be sucked into a whirlwind of shit. I just need you to trust me."
Tamsin was right; they had much more pressing matters to attend to, wherever they were. "At least tell me why we're here…wherever here is."
"The Zenith is like the Dawning's unwanted child. The Undertaker only opens it when he's hungry."
"He feeds on human flesh?"
"The cannibalism is just a fucked hobby. Some people like to dip their french fries in vanilla ice cream…"
"-While others enjoy the taste of flesh. Yummy." Memories her journey in the Congo flashed in her mind, and she was eager to suppress them. Cannibalism was quite common in the most secluded and remote areas of that continent. This part of her died when Lauren Lewis was born, and she intended to keep it that way.
Tamsin saw the distant look Lauren was giving her, but she didn't question her. Instead, she channeled Trick's Fae-encyclopedia and continued her explanation: "Undertakers feed off of fear and death."
"Mm, like an Ixtab?"
"If they were injected with steroids, yeah."
"It doesn't make any sense. What are we doing here?"
"We'll need to get past a series of challenges."
"Trials? What kind?"
The Detective promptly dismissed Lauren's question, waving her hand about. "Forget that. Whether we succeed or not means jack shit. As long as Bo's in there, we're stuck here."
Involuntary gulping, the wrinkles adorning Lauren's forehead could make any vampire jealous. "Our only way out is Bo surviving through her Dawning." Voice just above a whisper, her worried brown eyes darted over the Scandinavian's face.
Sensing that the reality of their predicament sucker punched the lively out of Lauren, the Valkyrie decided to provide them with some comedic relief as she used a well refined English accent: "Fret not, m'lady. Nothing shall harm you as long as I'm by your side."
"I would have never pegged you as the poetic type."
Graciously raising a brow, the Detective's face grew serious, yet simultaneously not so serious. Puffed chest, shoulders rolled back, she took a step towards the smaller woman. "Doth I continuously deceive you so, missus?"
Although Lauren greatly appreciated the accurate depiction of Shakespearean speak, a set of words relentlessly churned her insides. "Tamsin," Urging the taller blonde to remain serious, she lay her hand down on Tamsin's outstretched arm. "What did he mean by weak and dying?"
Before Tamsin could answer, not that she was going to, one of the walls collapsed, startling the pair. One of whom thanked the high heavens, welcoming the distraction with open arms while the other cursed its timing and everyone's inability to answer her questions. Behind the now non-existent wall panel were three green doors.
"That's our cue. Come on, hotpants." Her hand instantly slipped into Lauren's as she led them over the mountain of wrecked wood and into the newly exposed room.
It didn't take Martha Stewart's expert advice to observe the drastic change in scenery. The décor seemed like it had been directly pulled out of one of the Titanic's luxury suites: bright greens accentuated with crown moldings so white it could make Mr. Clean's teeth look yellow.
The beauty of it all distracted the Doctor from viciously glaring at the back of Tamsin's head. She untangled her fingers from the hand clasped in her own, reluctantly stepping towards one of the doors. Turning her shoulders, she held Tamsin's stare with a tight smile.
Cheap thrills for the Undertaker. The Fae sure have a fucked up sense of humor. The Detective came to stand beside Lauren, surveying the doors with a skeptical eye. Resting both of her hands on her hips, she shot her a side glance. "Pick one."
With a cringe, the Doctor curled her hand around a golden handle belonging to the door farthest to the right. Yanking it open, a giant pair of green feral eyes were staring back at both women. Eyes which belonged to an even larger flying beast usually referred to as a: "Einstein all mighty!" (Well, that's not the correct term, per say).
Rushing forward, arms extended in front of her, Tamsin slammed the door shut before both of them get featured on Colonel Sander's menu. "O-kay…maybe not that one."
"W-was that really a-a," Swallowing hard, Lauren took a deep breath: "Dragon?"
"Might be real, might be fake."
"Oddly, I don't think I want to find out."
"Agreed." The Valkyrie took slow and deliberate steps towards the middle door. Taking hold of the knob, she closed her eyes, moving two of her fingers to her chest, forehead and both of her shoulders, tracing the shape of a cross. The mock Catholic symbol, as Tamsin was far from the religion, only seemed to calm Lauren down as she watched her take another deep breath.
Opening the door in a swift motion, Tamsin brought her fist up next to her head to make herself look intimidating to anything that would appear behind the door. Though, complete darkness was a complex thing to actually frighten.
Deflating her shoulders, she looked behind her nodding her head at the Doctor, "All clear." Taking a blind step inside the darkness of the room, she found that her boot didn't actually come into contact with the ground. There was no ground. Before she could react, she was free falling; perhaps into sharp spikes or a pit of hungry and venomous snakes. Either way, those both sounded extremely painful.
The sand-clad ground somewhat softened the blow to her ribs as she fell down, the momentum causing her to roll a few times before coming to stop. "Fucking hell…" A groan of pain echoed, bouncing off of the rocky walls as she held her tender side.
Face contorted in pain, the blonde pushed herself onto her knees and let her legs do the rest of the work. Making a face she stuck out her tongue out, she spat out sand that had sneaked its way into the depths of her mouth.
Lauren kneeled down at the opening of the door, both of her hands held the edge of the door as she peered down the seemingly endless blackness. "Dear Lord, Tamsin! Are you alright?"
"Peachy. My ribs broke my fall," The Detective had the pleasure of replying as she dusted herself off, spitting out more sand which was irritatingly crunching between her teeth.
"I'll-I'll find something to get you out of there. Are you injured?"
"I'm good, but it's no use, Doc. Ya better just drop down."
"You can't be serious, Tamsin. It has to be a twenty foot drop…possibly more."
"Come on, I've got ya." Tamsin coaxed, yet again. It would be way too dangerous to leave Lauren roaming these parts by herself, or worse, let her go through the last door.
Lauren recited her will underneath her breath, closed her eyes and stepped into the emptiness, completely trusting what she couldn't see. Not a few seconds later, she fell into the warmth of Tamsin's waiting arms.
The glow from the torches hanging on the wall illuminated a slight portion of her distinct Scandinavian features. She never looked so breathtakingly beautiful, though the dark circles underneath her eyes told a different story. Why did the Doctor never notice them before? Tamsin looked tired, exhausted even. Was she really dying?
Don't say it, don't say it, don't- "Nice of you to drop in." Great, you said it. Such a comedian you are.
Lauren was let down on her feet gently, though she was too worried about the heavy breathing and grunting noises getting closer and closer to properly thank the taller woman. "Tamsin. 12 o'clock, big problem."
*The valkyrie immediately whirled around, looking towards what Lauren was pointing to frantically. She briefly realized the soft sand they were standing on was resonating with each giant footstep the large underfae made towards them. Tamsin wasn't sure what was more frightening, the fact that his muscles had muscles or the long and sharp gigantic sword in his hand.
"Stay behind me."
"But Tamsin-"
"Stay behind me!" Her determined eyes never left the gargantuan beast as she used her hand to push the petite woman behind her.
The underfae, for his massive size, moved pretty fast as one minute he was far enough away to make out little detail, and the next he was swinging his sword to connect with Tamsin's neck. The valkyrie quickly pushed Lauren down hard into the sand and bent backwards. The sword nicked her throat only slightly, and she put her hand to the fresh wound as she bent her knees and brushed the sand with delicate fingers. Looking up towards the underfae, Tamsin jumped to the right as the big man swung the sword downward, and connected to packed sand.
Out of breath, Tamsin looked behind her and saw Lauren had rolled a ways away and the sword had no harm on her. The underfae opened its mouth and out came a long, slitted tongue, and it flicked around the air.
"A face that'd make a mom proud," Tamsin said, and tried to stand as the massive giant got his sword unstuck from the sand. Shit, shit, shit, Tamsin thought as she tried to scamper backwards on her back. Her arms and legs failed her, and she watched horrified as the underfae raised his sword above his head.
His mouth contorted into a dark grin and he laughed gleefully as he swung it downward, presumably right into Tamsin's stomach.
I can't…the valkyrie thought, as she realized her life was coming to an end, closing her eyes and accepting it, she was caught off guard at a piercing scream filled her.
"Tamsin, no!" Lauren. It was Lauren. Her scream pushed Tamsin over the edge and she opened her eyes again, ready to live. If only for the human doctor.
"You don't want do that," She said lowly, making direct eye contact with the massive giant. The underfae's sword stopped only a breath hair away from Tamsin's stomach, and if she breathed any harder, the blade would pierce her. "You don't want to do that," She repeated.
The underfae growled and shook his head, only to have his eyes connect with Tamsin's again. His tongue shot out of his mouth again and his sword smashed hard into the sand.
"You don't want to harm us." Tamsin slowly got to her feet and walked closer to the gargantuan, her eyes turning dark, her face turning to that of a skeleton. "You want to kill yourself."
The giant looked down at his fallen sword and his body spasmed as he bent down slowly, obviously as if he was fighting his own actions, and picked up the massive sword.
"That's right, you're gonna take that sword, and push it into your belly." Tamsin watched, barely caring, as the giant underfae took hold of the handle with both of his hands, and pushed it slowly into his own stomach. His face contorted into pain but his eyes never left Tamsin's as his blood flowed out of his body, hitting the sand in grotesque puddles, staining it dark with blood. Soon, rather than later, his eyes went dull and colorless as the light left them, and his body crashed into the sand. Spurts of sand mixed with blood hit Tamsin's cheeks as she looked down, completely uncaring at the underfae's death.
She backed up suddenly as the sand began to groan. How could sand groan she had no idea, but it did as it began to quake underneath the recently dead.
"Lauren," Tamsin shouted, outstretching her hands to the human doctor. The woman immediately complied and ran into Tamsin's arms, basking in her warmth. The women watched as the body of the underfae, his sword, and his blood were sucked down into the sand pit. It swallowed him greedily and soon, the two women were the only ones left in the never ending field of sand.
"That wasn't so hard was-" Tamsin cut herself, and coughed violently, as she looked towards Lauren. "Shit, I guess I should have…" The valkyrie's legs weakened underneath her and she felt herself falling. That was, however, until Lauren caught her quickly.
"Tamsin, Tamsin what's wrong?" Lauren gently allowed the blonde to lean on her as she bent her legs, holding Tamsin's head on her lap.
"It's nothing, Doc, I'll be fine in just-"
"Stop lying to me, Tamsin!" Lauren's voice cut through any decision Tamsin had made to keep her out of the loop and her green eyes lowered in defeat. "A-are you really dying?"
"Yeah," Tamsin whispered, "I'm dying." The valkyrie hated herself as she heard the human gasp slightly.
"Tell me, please. What…"
"It's the life of a valkyrie, Lauren. We live, we serve, and then we die. Then, after we've died, we'll be resurrected- almost like our body creates a fresh skin- and we'll rise again to live out our servitude."
"Servitude to whom?"
"It doesn't matter who the person we serve is at the time, it just matters that we serve them. My life cycle- that's what we call them- is coming to an end. I should have expired years ago," Tamsin sounded a heartless laugh, "I'm just too stubborn. Now, it's affecting my ability to save you." She reached her hand up and touched Lauren's cheek slightly. "I need you to do something for me."
"Anything," Lauren said immediately. Shaky fingers curled around the Detective's hand, keeping it pressed against her own cheek.
Tamsin smiled and said, "In my pocket, there's something a druid gave me. It's to pump me up to eleven again. I need you to take it and inject in into my bloodstream."
The human quickly dug into Tamsin's back pocket and found the small silver shaft. "Will this hurt you?"
"No, it'll just help me get back to what I was."
"Will you be… different?"
Tamsin's thumb caressed Lauren's cheek. Looking into her eyes she said, "No. I promise."
Lauren gulped unnecessarily and unhooked the lid from the shaft. The needle looked menacing enough for Lauren not to care about lifting Tamsin's jacket, and she pushed the large needle into Tamsin's shoulder. The valkyrie's body jolted upward as she was injected, a rowdy and borderline maniacal laughter escaped her mouth.
After injecting, what she thought anyway, all of the substance into Tamsin's arm, Lauren quickly pulled the needle out and looked down at the blonde.
The valkyrie smiled widely as she got from her high. "Damn, he was jokin' around when he said this was his 'special blend'." Tamsin laughed as she looked up toward Lauren, getting to her knees. "Thanks, doc. I needed that." The raw energy flowing freely into her blood lit up every single muscle in her body like the fourth of July in Texas. She felt stronger, faster and most importantly, younger.
Lauren nodded slowly, wondering if the valkyrie's words to her before were a lie and she was indeed changed. "What do we do now?" She asked, looking around the desert of sand.
"Beats me, I say we just keep walking and see where it takes us." Tamsin smiled brightly, as if they weren't just in real danger, and grabbed Lauren's hand as she pushed off the ground. Without a word from her partner, Tamsin began to drag them across the field of sand.*
The Detective felt a slight resistance, and as she looked behind her she observed that Lauren had stopped dead in her tracks. "As much as I love chocolate, this ain't the best time to take Kit-Kat break, Doc."
"Tamsin," Taking a breath, brown eyes examined the endless field of sand vanish and fill with an eerie darkness. "We seem to have a slight problem."
"Great. That's just fucking great," Sighing, the Scandinavian woman let both of her hands rest on her hip as she looked around. "We can't backtrack, and unless you have a jet pack in your back pocket, there's no way in hell we can make it across. However far 'across' is." Angrily kicking the sand around with her previously polished black shoes, Tamsin was far too busy imagining all the ways she would kill the Succubus if she didn't pass her Dawning to notice the Doctor was actually using her time wisely.
Lauren had slid closer to the walls and ran her hands over the rough and rugged surface. There was something irregular about it, a section seemed purposely raised to catch someone's prying eyes. Applying just enough pressure, the raised piece sunk into itself and a distinctive mechanic click was heard.
The ground began trembling and large pieces of rocks, one by one, suddenly jut out from where the edge of the ground met emptiness, creating a bridge. Victorious half smile on her face, Lauren turned towards Tamsin and said: "When in doubt, look for secret switches. Thank you Temple of Doom." Rolling her eyes upward, she let out a nervous laugh at the look the Detective was giving her. She had never quite met a lover, except from Bo, whom was actually fond of her nerdness.
"Nice work, Nerd Jones." Tamsin wasn't sure where that bridge would take them, but it's there's only way to advance to the next trial. You don't want to know what happens to the individuals who refuse to continue. Little hint: The Undertaker will make spending an eternity in hell seems like paradise.
The pair quickly made their way across, Tamsin leading the duo. She stepped off the bridge and onto the solid ground when a sudden earthquake-like tremor shook the entire area. Green eyes landed on the Doctor, whom was still on the bridge, fighting to keep her balance. Loud rumbling noises caught both of their attention and has they looked back, they wish to fuck they hadn't. The bridge started collapsing on itself and before they knew it, the piece Lauren was on vanished like the others.
Both feet on the edge, Tamsin extended her arm and caught the woman's slender wrist between her fingers. The extra weight brought her down flat on her stomach harshly and caused her to slide forward. Quickly, her hand gripped the edge and right now, it was the only thing keeping her from tumbling over.
"Fuck, hold on!" Gritting her teeth together, Tamsin used every ounce of her strength to scoot her knees forward and pull herself back onto them. The muscles in her shoulder strained and screamed at her to stop, sending big red warning flags that they were on the brink of snapping from the pressure.
Using the extra leverage from her knees she continued to lean back slowly and pull the woman up until she was able to jump onto her feet in a crouching position. Gripping Lauren's bicep with her other hand, one last push was enough to lift the distressed Doctor up and over the edge, ungracefully causing them to topple over on the ground, which they were both extremely grateful for at the moment.
The Detective let her head fall back on the ground, attempting to forget about how close she was to dropping her. They both stared at the destroyed path, now cast in darkness, and took a well deserved moment to catch their breath and let their body come down from the adrenaline high.
As the pair moved to a sitting position, Lauren turned to stare at the wide-eyed Valkyrie and she said, between labored breaths: "Nice catch." This not only surprised them both, but earned her relieved laughter from Tamsin.
Two things crossed the Detective's mind: One, she will always let Lauren go in front from now on and two, holy fuck on a stick was she eternally indebted to Massimo for his pick-me-up potion. Without it, Tamsin was sure her arm would have fallen off like a rotten piece of wood.