"The love expressed between women is particular and powerful, because we have had to love in order to live; love has been our survival."-Audre Lorde
"A wise woman wishes to be no one's enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone's victim."-Maya Angelou
"The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire." -Ferdinand Foch
Lauren walked the halls of the castle on the way to the lab, eager to disappear in her research for the day. She'd been unable to shake the sensation of waiting for the inevitable to happen, even after spending the morning with Bo. What she didn't expect to see was Violette rounding the corner ahead of her, bag in hand. She was walking briskly, like she always did, appearing and disappearing like a shadow.
"You're leaving?" Lauren asked, surprised.
Violette stopped suddenly and looked just as shocked to run into Lauren. "You're right," she said, as if they had already been talking. "The past is the past and it's time to move on."
Lauren nodded. "And what will you do about Jericho?"
"I can hide." She shrugged. "I've done it before, I'll do it again."
"That's no way to live."
"And you would know, right?" Violette sighed. "I'm sorry." She smiled halfheartedly. "You've got a good thing going here and you don't need me screwing it up."
"I appreciate that." Lauren looked at her bag. "Do you want an escort?"
Violette shook her head. "Best make this a clean break." She reached a hand out to caress Lauren's cheek.
Her hand was cool and stiff. Lauren shivered and Violette smiled, leaving her feeling unsettled. "Goodbye Violette," her voice but a whisper.
She withdrew her hand, warming her other hand with the heat from Lauren's skin before lifting her bag from the floor. "If you ever find yourself on the outs with Queenie, look me up."
Lauren smirked. "I'll tell Bo you said goodbye."
Violette moved past her and started down the hall, stopping to turn back a few feet away. "Have a nice life, Cherie."
Lauren boarded the Queen's elevator and rode it to the penthouse, putting the research on hold. She thought of Violette and her version of goodbye, relieved that she finally came around. All Lauren could think of was telling Bo she was finally gone. One less thing to worry about with her upcoming Coronation and ongoing life with Bo. Things were hard enough. The elevator dinged and she walked briskly into their home, but scanning the living space she didn't see the Queen.
"Bo?" she called as she walked down the hall. There in the library, sat Bo, reading on the same sofa they had made love on the night before. She hung in the doorway. "Bo," she said again.
Bo snapped the book shut and stood, dropping it where she had sat. "I thought you were going to the lab," she said, smiling at the sight of her. Lauren was drawn to her, walking into her arms and kissing her tenderly.
"I have some good news," she said as she pulled away slightly, Bo's hands at her hips, keeping her close.
"Tell me."
"She's gone," Lauren said with a slight smile. "I saw her leave."
Bo's eyebrows raised. "What made her change her mind?"
"She said she didn't want to come between us and…" Lauren trailed off as a thought rippled through her mind and she came to the realize she'd been had. "Shit," she said, turning in Bo's arms and pulling her toward the door. She paused in the doorway, gently slipping free of Bo's embrace and heading down the hall. "She took something," she said over her shoulder.
Bo followed the doctor to the elevator. "What did she take?"
"I don't know. I just know her and there's no way she'd give up on free room and board to do me a favor."
The elevator doors opened and Lauren stepped inside. "I'm coming with you," the Queen said trailing her into the car. The two posted guards followed suit.
Lauren stood next to Bo in the elevator, casting a glance back at the bench that had seen yet another recent encounter of theirs. Bo caught her looking and smiled knowingly. It was a nice reminder but Lauren didn't dwell on it for long, instead thoughts of Violette and her forked tongue filled her head. How could she have believed her? She felt foolish, especially since there was no shortage of projects she could've stolen from the lab.
They left the elevator and charged down the hall. The lab was closed, locked and dark for the day and Lauren's keys rattled loudly in the hallway as she unlocked the door. Flipping on the lights, she began to go through drawer after drawer. She looked up at Bo who stood, arms crossed, by the door. "It's all here," she said, her eyes scanning the room. "I don't understand."
"Maybe she grew a conscience overnight?" Bo watched Lauren rush toward the corner of the room, to her wall safe. She punched in a number and opened it, deflating instantly.
"No, she's still a thief…" She sagged.
"What is it?"
Lauren gestured to the empty safe. "The serum is gone."
"How did she get in there?" Bo asked.
"She knew my code."
"You haven't changed your code in fifteen years?"
"Can we discuss protocol later, Bo? What are we going to do?" Lauren swore at herself, annoyed she had ignored her own instinct. Her only saving grace was that she was smart enough to keep her notes separate from the serum that was truly of questionable use.
Bo grinned and rocked back on her heels. "Well, whoever she stole it for is in for a rude awakening."
Lauren brushed past Bo without a word, walking briskly to the elevator but instead of going up she went down to the floor where Violette was staying. Bursting into her now vacant room, Lauren systematically turned on every light in the unit. Bo stood back watching Lauren's eyes case the room. Studying every detail, looking for that one thing that was out of place.
She walked to the bed and flipped the pillow on the left side of the bed and beneath it lay a note. Written in a hand with much flourish, Violette had left Lauren something to remember her by.
Cherie,
By now you've discovered that I've taken your beloved serum. Surely you can make more? I've something to offer for an equitable trade if you check beneath the other pillow. It seems you have a rat problem in your decommissioned chapel and the passages that surround it. Accept this coin as a token to help slay your dragon-the mighty Mesmer-once and for all.
J'adore,
Violette
Lauren turned the artifact over in her hand and studied the coat of arms embossed on both sides as Bo read the note. Bo looked up. "The old chapel-I know we've checked there."
"They must've hid somewhere else when the guards searched it," Bo told her. "And it wouldn't have been difficult with the highway of tunnels that join up there."
"Of course!" Lauren looked up at Bo "All the attacks took place in the old portion of the castle where those tunnels ran. The Commissary, the Conservatory, the Mess hall, the Morgue, of course, of course." It was all coming together now. "I know how we're going to stop him."
Trickling water echoed throughout the underground hallways, pooling in the cracks in between the stones. The rain hadn't done this place any favors, the already thick moss had grown thicker with all the moisture. She could feel it like pillows beneath her feet, deflating as she stepped on them. A flashlight beam reflected in the puddles and up the wall. Kenzi could see the chamber ahead of them and she held up a hand. The men behind her stopped their advance. The click of her weapon sounded like gunshots in the silence. She crept forward, casting a glance at Oren who was right beside her as they entered the old chapel. Hundreds of candles lit the small room and Kenzi's eyes scanned the chiaroscuro on the floor and walls of the chapel until she saw her, barely recognizable, in a puddle on the floor: Elliot, the other missing guard.
"Jesus," Oren said approaching what was left of the body, never having seen Evony's handiwork.
Kenzi sent the other guards to check out the connecting hallways and holstered her weapon. "Dammit!" She kicked a pew. "How are they still two steps ahead of us?"
"We'll get them." He put a hand on her shoulder. "It's gonna be all right," Oren said.
"Nothing about this is all right, Oren. We failed them and we are still desperately trying to keep up with Vex and Evony's demented games."
He wrapped her up in an embrace. "You're right. I know you're right, but can't we just pretend that we have some idea how this is going to end?"
"I have an idea," she said ominously. "But it's not something I dare say out loud." Before Oren could respond, a resounding boom shook the chapel, separating them. Dust filtered down from ceiling, the chandelier swayed, and the candles flickered as a breeze blew into the chapel. "What the shit was that?" Kenzi looked up. The alarm began to sound in the distance and she could hear the guards running towards them from the other tunnels. Kenzi pulled on Oren's arm. "Let's get back to the Queen."
The alarm had been pulled. They were under attack again. Bo and Lauren were rushed to the relative safety of their penthouse under the care of the General just like the drills so many times before. Bo sat at the dining room table, her lips touching tented fingers while Lauren paced in front of the windows. The Queen had hardly seen her so anxious. Dyson glanced at her as he walked back and forth across the length of the penthouse.
Kenzi and Oren emerged from the elevator sometime later, having sent the other troops to calm the citizens and to find out where that ominous boom originated. They greeted the General with a concerned look and a nod. Lauren stopped and turned to them, running a hand over her face.
Bo pushed the chair back and stood. "Tell me, what has happened?"
Oren glanced at Kenzi before he responded. "Someone destroyed the statue of you in the foyer, my Queen," he said, standing at attention.
"We believe it was a diversion," Kenzi rejoined. "But there's no telling where we'll be hit next."
All eyes were on the elevator when it dinged again and the doors slid open. The car, its light flickering in the aftermath of the explosion, seemed empty. Dyson looked at the Queen and moved quietly into elevator to investigate and a few moments later he emerged, his movements stiff and unfamiliar.
Alarmed, Lauren took a step toward Bo. "Dyson?"
"What is it?" Bo glanced at Lauren as she arrived at her side.
"Something's wrong," Lauren said.
"Dyson?" Bo repeated.
"Well hello, lovelies!" Vex dropped down into the elevator, his hand outstretched. "I bet you're wondering how I arrived in your company."
Oren and Kenzi pulled their weapons on the puppeteer, who giggled and danced in place. He waved his hands and the soldiers were laying down their arms on the floor in front of them helplessly. "I hid on top of the lift until I could put the ol hex on Dyson." He bowed as the Queen's elevator opened and Evony emerged.
"Fashionably late, again," she said as Vex forced Oren to tie Dyson to one of the dining room chairs. At the same time, he had Kenzi disable the elevators, isolating them from the rest of the castle.
Lauren inched towards the kitchen doorway with Bo in tow, but when Vex looked up, he noticed their progress and lifted his arm to halt forward movement. He couldn't keep them all under his control simultaneously, they knew so they bided their time. Lauren kept her eyes trained on him, reading his movements. One false move and he would know Bo wasn't Human anymore or that Lauren possessed the one thing that could demystify the Mesmer's attacks and she wouldn't have the upper hand any longer.
"I didn't mean to get started so soon," Vex said. "But if you must visit the kitchen, bring me back something shiny." He giggled, waving his arm and Lauren walked into the kitchen and pulled a chef's knife from the butcher block on the counter before returning to Bo.
"What do you want from us?" Bo asked, struggling against his powers.
Evony stood in front of the floor to ceiling windows and looked out over the city. "You were never supposed to supposed to live this long," she sighed. "This was all meant to be mine and I've come to reclaim it."
"Blind ambition will destroy you, Evony," Bo said confidently.
She laughed. "Honey, have we met? Evony always lands on her feet." She turned and smiled at Bo. "Except that one time when I landed on my back. Or have you forgotten me already, my Queen?"
Lauren's eyes widened. "You owe me a story," she whispered.
"On with the show, shall we?" Vex interrupted. "You must be wondering why I chose such a shiny and pointy instrument. I'll tell you… I planned a little revival." Lauren tensed, sensing the direction it was turning. "Yes!" He pointed at Lauren. "You know where I'm headed."
A flick of his wrist and Lauren was holding the knife against Bo's throat. She hissed as the blade cut her superficially and her blood began to trickle from the wound. "It would be so easy to just slit her throat right now but what would be the fun in that?"
"Don't make me hurt her," Lauren pleaded.
"Honey, that ship sailed the minute you walked into her life," Evony declared. "You were always going to hurt her."
Lauren furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"
"Destiny has a way of evening things out," Evony said.
"Whose destiny?" Bo asked. "Yours or mine, Evony?"
"Why Bo-Bo, it has always been our destiny."
"If you mean your bid for the crown, your destiny is to watch as we take our rightful place on the throne."
Evony glared at Kenzi and Oren next to the elevator, holding them still as she sat at the end of the table, flipping through a magazine. She smiled and returned her gaze to Bo. "When you're bleeding out on the floor just think of me hijacking the Coronation you worked so hard planning."
Vex tapped his foot. "Are we through yet?" He chewed on a fingernail.
She looked up from the magazine. "Do you think the royal tailor can take in your gown on such short notice?"
"Sure, but the Priest is going to need to bless more holy oil," Bo said matter-of-factly.
Vex laughed and held up his hands like a peacekeeper. "Ladies! Let's focus on the task here: the bloody Human is about to become the bloody Human!" He giggled. "I remember it like it was yesterday." He stopped and pointed at Lauren. "And I bet you do, too."
Lauren knew exactly what he was referring to: her brother. Vex had made him kill their parents before killing himself. An act that set her on her current path to her destiny, and one that Lauren could not scour from her brain. Some would say her destiny was to die that day and others, like Bo, would say living through that day turned her mission into a cause and led her to the Queen.
"I won't hurt her," Lauren said, her voice hard.
Vex's grin was menacing, his eyes shining with a twisted glee. "When your knife splits her heart in two, you will know anguish before you gut yourself like a fish."
Evony made a noise. "Euch."
Vex lifted head and raised his arm. Lauren's arm mimicking his as he drew back.
"Fight him, Lauren!" Kenzi shouted. "Fight!"
Evony glared at the humans. "Zip it, Ragamuffin."
Kenzi's eyes grew wide. "What did you say?"
"I said sit!" Vex gestured and Kenzi crumpled to the floor.
Oren was quick to kneel beside her. "Are you okay?"
"Protect the Queen," she whispered.
Oren stood and before Vex could react, he rushed Lauren and knocked her to the floor. Vex's belly laugh was unsettling as Lauren got to her feet with the bloody knife in her crimson soaked hand. Bo stood, aghast as she looked from Lauren to Oren who remained on the carpet, bleeding.
"Oren!" Kenzi crawled quickly across the to him and pressed the wound on his abdomen with her hands. Lauren watched, horrified at what had just happened but unable to offer help.
"How sweet," Evony said. "The little Humans tried to protect the Queen. You're becoming quite the collector of these woeful little creatures, Bo. I remember a time when you would have feasted on their life force." She flipped another page of the magazine she wasn't reading. "And then the blonde one made you soft. I wonder, how did you like the Reynard? Despicable thing, really, but very useful-delivered the explosives right to your doorstep and you didn't even check her bags." Evony sneered.
Lauren's eyes squeezed shut; Bo looked at her, a blank expression was all she was willing to give up to Vex and Evony.
"Come now," Evony continued. "Tell me how is it that your destined lover could have led you to this moment?"
"You've made your point, now leave before I kill you both," the Queen said through gritted teeth.
Vex and Evony looked at one another before bursting into laughter. "Nobody here believes that. Just look around."
The Queen scanned the scene. Kenzi was in tears, Oren was fading, and Lauren's guilt was crippling her plan. Bo's eyes flashed blue and Vex's eyebrows raised. "Oh, right, you see this, Evony?" His hand steadied the Succubus. "I guess the Great Doctor isn't so great anymore. What happened, Blondie?" He teased. "Did the succubus steal your skill as well as your life?" When Bo growled, her eyes a brilliant blue, Vex tsked at her. "Easy now, or I'll make you feed on them. I'm sure Dyson would enjoy watching that." The General growled and fought against his restraints. Vex giggled. "Let's get this show on the road, shall we?" he said, lifting his arms like a maestro.
Lauren raised the bloody knife to Bo's neck again. "I won't hurt her," Lauren said more forcefully this time.
"Your brother said he wouldn't hurt your parents-you saw how well that worked for him."
The fire was alive in her again. The mere mention of her brother sent Lauren into a blind rage which she tempered carefully in front of the Mesmer. Her eyes drifted to Oren who was drifting in and out of consciousness on the dining room floor. Lauren steeled herself against the turmoil she felt and focused her hatred for Vex.
"Time for the star-crossed lovers to part ways. Say 'see you in the afterlife,' ladies." Vex threw his arm into the air and when Lauren didn't respond, he growled and rushed forward. She put a hand on Bo's shoulder and moved her aside as she reached back and threw the kitchen knife at him in one fluid motion. It hit him in the chest with a bloody thump and he staggered backwards, wearing a shocked expression.
Evony looked up from her magazine. "What-?" Bo's eyes flashed and she was drawing Evony's chi from across the room. She wavered before crumpling from the chair to the floor and Bo resisted draining her completely because death was too swift a punishment.
Some would say her destiny was to die that day but Lauren now understood her true path; it was all of it. The death of her family, the years of toil during the war, assuming the leadership of the Human Resistance, getting captured by the Queen, falling in love with Bo, killing Vex, and becoming the Queen Consort. There was so much in store for her, she was certain, but standing above Vex's sputtering body and not moving a muscle to help him made it difficult to see past the moment when she betrayed everything she believed in-the Hippocratic oath-to watch him die.
"Lauren!" Kenzi cried.
She looked up from Vex's body to Oren, who was still hanging on and rushed to his side. "He's in shock." She patted his cheek as his eyes began to close. "Stay with me, Oren." She ripped open his shirt and inspected the wound. "It's superficial," she said. "Keep pressure on it and let's get him to the infirmary." She stood over them. "Kenzi," Lauren said and smiled. "He'll be fine."
Bo untied Dyson. "Call the cleaners," she said.
"Yes, my Queen." He rubbed his wrists. "What would you have me do with Evony?"
Bo looked back at her unconscious body. "Take her to the middle of the Outlands and leave her there without provisions."
He nodded and tied Evony's hands behind her back, threw her over his shoulder and disappeared into the elevator to reset the system. Bo came to stand beside Lauren, who had returned to Vex's body, staring into Vex's lifeless gaze. "C'mon," she said. "Let's take Oren to the infirmary and get some fresh air." Wrapping her arm around Lauren, she pulled her away.
"Wait." Lauren said, kneeling on the floor. She reached over him and pressing two fingers against his neck, as she searched for a pulse. When she was satisfied that he was dead, she returned to Bo and together they helped Oren to his feet. Kenzi wrapped her arm around him and they walked carefully to the Queen's private elevator. Bo reset the lift and a few moments later, the doors were sliding shut. Lauren looked over her shoulder at the Queen and then turned, sagging into her arms. The Queen held her and closed her eyes, listening to the hum of the elevator descending. Lauren sighed. The world was, quite literally, at their feet and with the menace lifted, maybe they could both relax. Lauren did not cry for Vex or Evony or even for herself, she buried her face in Bo's neck to inhale her sweet scent and she was grounded again. Bo spoke of destiny and her Coronation which loomed closer still. With all the distraction it had been easy to forget that she was going to be Queen Consort in three short days. Bo whispered her dreams for them into her hair and ascension grew nearer.
END PART TWELVE