"Enemies, as well as lovers, come to resemble each other over a period of time."-Sydney J. Harris
"Now," Vex started, both humans under the grip of his mesmer. Kenzi held her service weapon to her own head, silent while she watched the delight on Vex's face as he held his arm out toward Lauren. "Dr. Lewis, how have you been?"
"Fuck off."
"Hoo, hoo, hoo! Past your bedtime?"
Lauren grunted, resisting against a power that was inescapable. "Just tired of cleaning up your messes, Vex."
Vex pouted. "Poor little Human, overworked and undervalued. Kind of like your father, eh Blondie?"
Her eyes burned with an untapped rage. If she could've moved she'd have been choking the life out of him, but instead she stayed frozen in place, festering. "I'll kill you," she snarled.
He laughed. "How 'bout I kill you?" He flicked his wrist and she lifted the scalpel to her own throat. "One false move and it's curtains for you, babe." Kenzi's eyes were wide as she pulled back the hammer on her gun, Vex manipulating her as well.
"Leave her alone, Vex," Lauren ordered.
Vex sauntered up to Lauren's side, pressing against her and whispered: "If you haven't noticed, you're in no shape to tell me what to do." He shuffled to the left. "A little birdy told me you're going to be crowned Queen Consort, is that true?" Lauren looked away. "Tell Uncle Vexy."
"I'm not telling you anything," she said through clenched teeth.
"You sure about that?" When Lauren didn't reply Vex focused his attention on Kenzi again. Her hand began to shake, trigger finger unsteady.
"Kenzi…" The fear in her eyes sent a chill through Lauren. She looked at Vex. "Yes, it's true. Now, let her go."
Vex walked to where Kenzi stood, still frozen in place, her own gun to her head, finger curled around the trigger. He removed the gun from her hand and returned to Lauren. He reset the hammer before turning the pistol over in his hand, releasing the hold he had on Kenzi. She put her hands up but remained glued in place.
"Go on, Human, go alert the cavalry." He waved his arm and she paused, looking at Lauren.
Lauren tried to move. "Go, Kenzi."
"I'm not leaving."
"Kenzi, I can handle this. Go!"
"Well, isn't this sweet." He paced in front of her. "Nobody's going anywhere. You missed your window, love." He watched Lauren pull against his hold and he smirked. "You seem anxious, Doctor," he said. "Does healing the sick relax you? Maybe this sorry excuse for a soldier could use your expertise." Vex stopped in front of her, a breath away. "Maybe I'll let you gut her, Dr. Lewis. Your brother thought he could fight me off, too, and we know how that turned out."
Lauren was a human torch, brimstone and fire coursed through her veins. She would destroy him, of that she was certain. The more helpless he made her feel, the angrier she became. She flexed her hands. "Enough, Vex!"
"Ooh, you're a strong little Human, aren't you?" Kenzi inched forward. Her gun was two feet away on the table in front of Vex. "No funny business," he teased, and flung her against the wall. Sputtering, Kenzi righted herself, scrambling to her feet again. "That was fun, wasn't it?" He giggled. "Now, Doctor, what am I going to do with you?"
"I wish you'd figure it out because I'm getting bored."
"You're right," he said, leading her to the wall next to Kenzi. He spun them around to face the rough stone, Lauren's hand still holding the scalpel against her own throat. She heard the click of the gun and closed her eyes. She thought of Bo and wished that she had kissed her goodbye this morning instead of sneaking off to be killed. If this was how it was going to end, Lauren realized she wasn't ready. She thought the last time they were in a death denying situation that she was ready, now she saw how wrong she was. "Any last words?"
"See you in hell," Lauren said to the wall in front of them. Her arm went slack and she dropped the scalpel. She turned around slowly to find Vex gone.
Kenzi turned quickly after and looked at her wide-eyed. "You're bleeding, Doc." Kenzi pointed at her neck.
She touched her neck and felt her fingers slide through the blood. "So much for not telling Bo."
"Seriously?"
Lauren pulled some gauze from a drawer under the counter and held it against her throat. "What now?" She handed Kenzi a antiseptic pad and motioned to her forehead.
Kenzi held it to the cut there and hissed, glaring at Lauren's smirk. "Honesty isn't your strong suit, is it?"
The smile faded as she cleaned the cut on her neck and examined it in a small mirror. "I'm no liar."
"Maybe not outwardly." Kenzi looked up at Lauren when she showed her the band aid. "But you are a master of lying by omission."
Lauren sighed as she pulled the paper backing from the bandage and pressed it gently to Kenzi's forehead. "Kenzi, she's not going to take this in stride."
"So what?" Kenzi took the larger bandage from the doctor and motioned for her to tilt her head back. "She's allowed to worry, Lauren."
Lauren held her hair back while Kenzi dressed the wound. "You're right. I know that you're right but-"
"She's a big girl, Doc. Let her work it out."
They walked to the elevators in an uneasy silence. Neither expected another ambush, but the possibility was always there. Lauren called the elevator and sighed. Stewing in Kenzi's words, the silence continued for the swift ride to the top. When the doors opened, Kenzi held up a hand to Lauren who ignored her and charged past the soldier without a weapon. "Where is she?" Lauren asked Verns who peered over his newspaper at Lauren before hooking a thumb in the direction of the sunroom. Leaning against the table, Kenzi watched the doctor stalk down the hall and disappear through the glass paneled door.
Bo set her tea aside as soon as the door opened and stood. "You're hurt. Are you okay?" She inspected Lauren's wound.
She touched her neck again and took Bo's hand in her own. "I'm fine. It's Vex, he surprised us in the morgue."
"Vex?" Bo stopped and looked at her seriously. "How did you get free?"
Lauren shrugged. "He let us go, I can't explain it. He had us dead to rights and then he was gone."
Bo began to pace. "You mustn't go out anymore. It's too dangerous."
"I was afraid you might say that," Lauren replied with a sigh.
The Queen scoffed. "You're not going to fight me on this, I hope."
"I have to be free if I'm going to live here, Bo." Lauren looked out over the city and the setting sun on the horizon. "You can't keep me from the rest of the world."
"This isn't just about you anymore, Lauren," Bo told her. "This is about the kingdom. Our kingdom. This is hardly a situation that can allow for reckless liberty."
"Because you're afraid of losing me?"
"Because I'm afraid that you could die, Lauren."
Lauren turned to face the Queen. "That's a chance I take every day when I wake up in the morning, Bo. I'm Human, we aren't built for forever."
Bo embraced her, clutching Lauren tight against her body. "Please don't say those things," she whispered against her hair. It was like she hadn't thought of it before then; a wound so fresh it stung still. She held Lauren against her and when they parted, the unsinkable succubus was teary eyed and sullen. "Don't fight me on this, Lauren."
"You can't keep me from him, Bo," Lauren said softly. "As you and I are destined, so are Vex and myself. He killed my family and I will repay the favor."
"Revenge is an empty victory," Bo whispered.
"I'll let you know." Lauren turned to leave but paused as Bo shrunk away, sinking back against the sofa. "Bo…" She sat beside her but Bo didn't move to receive her. "I didn't mean to upset you." She placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's just something we've needed to talk about for awhile now."
"I've been so busy trying to protect you because life makes sense with you in it." Her thumb caressed Lauren's cheek. "And I'm terrified what it will be like when you go because what my life amounted to without you was all just wasted time."
Lauren shook her head. "You may have been biding your time, but every journey you took, every battle you fought in, every woman you loved brought you to me. I may not know the pain of living an extended life, Bo, but I know our love was worth the wait."
Bo smiled and shook her head, her hand falling to Lauren's lap. "You are wise beyond your years, Doctor."
Shift change was an hour ago, leaving Lauren in the thick of it with Bo. She almost felt bad for her but it was time for Lauren to be honest with the Queen. Kenzi stared down at her combat boots and khaki fatigue and thought about her strange tandem journey with Lauren to this place where she never thought they'd be welcome.
And now there was Oren. She was still merely scratching the surface with him, but with each passing day she found herself awakening to his affections. Tonight, a twilight picnic awaited him when he finished his shift. They had made the plans a couple days ago and Kenzi actually thought about cancelling after Vex. But now she couldn't think of anyone else she wanted to see more. She had laid a blanket on the front lawn, beneath the stars and from a satchel she produced a pair of sandwiches and a couple of bottles of beer. It was the seminal meal for soldiers avoiding tuna melt Tuesday and Kenzi clambered to her feet as he approached, a broad smile beckoning her to him.
Kenzi wasn't the relationship kind, at least that's what she told herself. But Oren was a good man and he liked her, more importantly she liked him and that was probably the best compliment she could offer.
"Hey," he said kissing her on the cheek. Kenzi took his hand and led him to the blanket. Sitting across from one another they toasted to the coming Solstice and cold beers and laughed about a day's work with Verns and Mitchell. It was free and easy banter like soldiers do, but Kenzi felt her reserves starting the crumble when it turned into something else. "Thanks for doing this," he said, leaning in to kiss her. She put a hand on his chest but did not stop his advance, instead, leaning into him.
One kiss turned to two, and then four turned to five and before she knew it, Kenzi couldn't count anymore. She rolled on top of him withdrew from his lips slowly. They had come close to consummating their relationship once before but something had spooked Oren and he ran out of her room with his shirt and jacket in his arms. Now, she felt him against her insistently and she knew this was their moment. She reached for his belt buckle.
"We've got plenty of time," he whispered, his hand stilling hers.
He was, of course, right. They were on the front lawn and though it was late and unlikely they'd meet a passerby, a guard would be by to do their rounds shortly. The thing was, Kenzi didn't care much for rules so she stood abruptly, taking Oren by the hand and leading him to her bunk. With his chiseled body beneath her fingers, he touched her delicately and brought about pleasure that she hadn't felt in a number of years. The war was a cold and unyielding place and love was an unexpected treasure. There was so much talk about destiny between Bo and Lauren that Kenzi couldn't help but to feel entangled. And now, because she had stayed with Lauren, she met Oren.
When they were spent, she lay in his arms, her head on his chest. She was positive she had made the right decision to take this next step but something niggled at the back of her brain. Something that said "Alert! Evacuate! Retreat!" She'd wait for him to fall asleep before slipping out into the castle and going for a walk.
Lauren dropped her robe near the end of the bed. Her shower had been extra hot and the pressure was punishing, hoping to clean her mind as well as her body of the ambush in the lab. In the twelve seconds Bo's eyes lingered on her body, she had time to prepare. A quiet storm was brewing and she steeled herself against the coming onslaught.
Three…two…one.
Blue lightning flashed in Bo's eyes. Lauren gasped as Bo's hands were on her quickly, reaching out and lifting her off the carpet. The joy this brought about in Lauren was unparalleled. She let her head fall back, grinning, as her blonde curls cascaded down her back and Bo descended upon her throat. Lauren brought a hand to her cheek, caressing Bo's face and she slowed the Queen's frenzy to a flurry, not really making much difference but finding that connection she craved.
She set Lauren onto the unmade bed and stood back appraising her beauty. Bo shook her head. "How are you even real?" It was a rhetorical question, but Bo paused as if she wanted to share her secret just the same. With Bo caught in her visage, Lauren was on her knees and crawling across the bed, pulling the Queen towards her by the collar of her shirt. Her hands tore at the top, yanking it over Bo's head before wrenching her bra open and kissing her hard.
Bo held her face as they kissed and loomed closer, pushing Lauren onto her back and climbing over her. Lauren sighed as Bo lavished kisses on her chest, following her collar bones across the flawless skin to her breasts. Lauren held Bo against her, overwhelmed. Any war-torn encounter paled in comparison to what she felt with Bo. She never let herself feel those things with anyone else, and so the first time they made love Lauren almost lost herself for good.
But Bo was not Lauren's first Fae. There was a smuggler named Violette, who supplied her with the contraband needed to continue her research. A traitor to the state, Vi knew a thing or two about human physiology and so their relationship was brief, but intense. There was nothing spoken between them, often just a knowing glance before Violette would pin her to the wall and fuck her standing up, mouth agape, eyes squeezed shut. It was never tender, never like this.
Bo wiggled her hips and slipped her pants down her legs, kicking them onto the floor moments later. It was always an unreal experience when Bo covered her with her body. Bo's temperature always ran high when they were together and tonight it was no different. As she settled between her legs, Lauren thought back to Violette on top of her in the back seat of a dusty sedan, fingers in her mouth, swearing in French against her ear and even still the memory paled in comparison to the reality of Bo who held one of Lauren's legs against her as she worked her hips. Lauren gasped as Bo grunted, sliding against her. The Queen's expression was pained, impatient for release. Her breath caught in the back of her throat as she whispered Lauren's name.
She pushed on Bo's shoulder, upending her. She landed on the mattress with a whoosh and it was Lauren's turn to loom over her. She nestled Bo's breast, her hand traveling the length of her chest, across her mid-section, over her navel to its destination between Bo's legs. Her eyes squeezed shut at the contact and she bit her lip. This was her favorite Bo. Was there anything better than watching a Fae in their own element? A succubus awash in pleasure, determined to deal as much bliss as she's received, Bo's eyes glowed.
When Lauren sunk into her, she stiffened, clutching at her back. "Shit," she gasped. Lauren settled on Bo's thigh, grinding against her as her fingers kept a steady rhythm between Bo's legs. With her other hand, Lauren found Bo's center and drew lazy circles against it. The Queen gripped her hips, holding Lauren against her thigh as she trembled with the effort of Lauren's machinations. Without skipping a beat, she quickened her pace, pressing deeper still. Her hips were wild against the pressure, jumping irregularly as her fingers rubbed against her. Thrusting harder, Bo's hips lifted from the bed as Lauren's ground down against her thigh with a bruising pressure. She gulped a mouthful of air before the dominoes began to fall. A gasp as release began to build in her hands, her hips gyrating against her, eyes open wide to Bo's oncoming liberation. Her fingers flexed against Lauren's side again and her mouth opened. When she moaned Lauren's name she took a clumsy grasp on her own release, arching backwards as she came.
Lauren leaned over Bo, her breath hot against her throat. When their breathing came easier, Lauren kissed her shoulder and rolled onto her back. "Wow," she said.
"Where did you go?" Bo asked.
"Hmm?" Lauren asked, knowing full well what Bo meant.
The Queen turned her head to look at the doctor. "I don't know where you went, but you weren't here with me."
The reminisce hadn't escaped Bo and Lauren damned herself for losing her edge. "It's nothing." She smiled reassuringly and laid flat on her back. But Bo was like a dog with a bone. She was silent, her eyes doing the talking as Lauren tried to navigate the quagmire she suddenly found herself in. She sighed. "Her name was Violette."
Bo raised her eyebrows. "Feeling nostalgic?"
"It's not like that," Lauren shook her head. "She was nothing like you. She was… unprincipled, often vulgar, always crass, undependable, irresponsible. Shall I go on?"
"But you gave her your body."
"It was a different time, Bo." Lauren turned onto her side and propped her head up on her hand, her other hand smoothing over the plane of Bo's stomach.
"Did she make you feel something during the war?"
"She wanted me and I wanted her. That's all." Bo stared at the ceiling and covered the hand Lauren had laid on her. "It changes nothing."
"You were thinking about her while I was making love to you, I'd say that changes a lot."
"Jesus, Bo, I wasn't plotting to run away with her, what I have with you is so much more than what I had with Violette."
Bo threaded her fingers with Lauren's and held her hand against her belly. "I'm sorry," she said, still staring at the ceiling. "You're allowed to have a past." She shook her head. "I'm just not used to sharing."
"Nobody's asking you to share anything," Lauren tipped Bo's chin down, capturing her gaze at last. "It's in the past."
Lauren had disappeared to the lab right after breakfast. Despite having two powerful and extremely vengeful Fae wandering their corridors, she still had to figure out how the serum went wrong, how to make it last, and she had to do it quickly. Bo had demanded an entourage of four to follow Lauren around since her run in with Vex and it took the doctor some time to relax while she researched with an audience.
She was staring into her microscope when the first case came in: acute food poisoning had been the diagnosis. Lauren was thankful for the distraction, but suspicious of the cause. It was routine, caring for a case like this. What wasn't routine was its effect. The first soldier was dead within the hour and soon her clinic was full of patients with the same ailment.
"What the hell is going on down at the Commissary?" Lauren shouted as she performed chest compressions on another losing battle.
"This batch is from the Mess hall," her assistant said. Her staff scrambled, working in pairs to triage the patients that were worse off.
"Well someone get up there and shut it down!" she shouted at her crew of assistants. They were running out of beds and the soldiers kept pouring in. This couldn't have been accidental. She was charging the defibrillator paddles. "Clear!" She yelled as she touched the paddles to the soldier's chest. She was rewarded with a heartbeat for the moment. She passed him off to another doctor and grabbed the phone from the wall.
"Bo," Lauren paused, catching her breath. "We've got a situation down here. Someone has poisoned the infantry." She nodded as she saw two more roll through the doors, listening to Bo speak through the receiver. She closed her eyes. "Seventeen," she said grimly. She hung up the phone and walked through the clinic doors, bodies were strewn down the hall, stretching on for as far as she could see, there was sick on the floor. They were outmatched and undermanned. There was no way they were going to have a winning record with this outbreak. They had already lost nearly a quarter of their infantry and the ones they did save would be down for the count for days. The castle was defenseless.
END PART THREE