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heartsways - The Eleventh Way: Revenge

LOST GIRL - BO/LAUREN

“Ways To Tell You I’m Sorry” series

The Eleventh Way: Revenge

heartsways

Title: Ways To Tell You I’m Sorry - The Eleventh Way: Revenge

Author: heartsways

Rating: NC–17

Fandom: Lost Girl

Pairing: Bo/Lauren

Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for–profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.

Summary: Bo exacts revenge on Lauren’s behalf and gets more than she bargained for.

Author’s Note: Thanks for the awesome beta and advice. Truly appreciated.

The Eleventh Way: Revenge

heartsways

The door to the luxurious office crashed open and Sagi lifted his head from where it had been pressed against a microscope. If he was surprised, his face didn’t show it and instead a cold smile slid over his lips as he stared at the figure in the doorway. He pushed his chair back from the desk and swung it around, rising nonchalantly and running his hands down over the front of his suit, picking at an invisible piece of lint. He inclined his head by way of greeting and eyed the bristling figure in the doorway. This was going to be interesting. Very interesting indeed.

“And you,” he said slowly, deliberately, “must be the Succubus everyone’s talking about.”

“And you must be the lying sack of shit that everyone’s going to be talking about when they find pieces of you up and down the river,” Bo snarled, lip curling as she advanced further inside the room.

“Oh dear,” Sagi frowned and folded his arms over his chest. “Should I be suitably terrified?”

The smile that returned to his mouth only served to fuel Bo’s anger and she shook her head, a cruel grin slashing her mouth. “I’d say so, yeah,” she told him in a low voice. “This is what happens when you fuck over people I care about.”

“I see.” Sagi’s voice was absent of fear as Bo moved towards him, even though her eyes were gleaming with rage and unspent anger. She really was quite the specimen, he thought absently, eyes travelling up and down the length of her body. Sleek, like a cat, and fierce too. The rumors about her had failed to do her justice because in person, she was much more intimidating than any stories the Dark Fae had told him. He watched, fascinated, as she rounded on him slowly, the consummate predator. Yes; she would benefit the Dark in ways he’d only ever dreamed of. And, of course, his own personal gain would be far beyond those dreams if The Morrigan’s promises were to be turned into reality.

“I don’t think you do,” Bo said, attracting his gaze and turning his mind from future glories to the present, tense and barely controlled in front of him.

“You sold Lauren out,” she spat. “You took her work and then went running off to that bitch you call a boss. If anything happens to her because of this – ”

Sagi held up his hand and stilled further recrimination. “Dear child,” he said in a silken tone. “I rather think we’re at a stage in the proceedings where ‘if’ is a worthless consideration. The Morrigan is an intensely private and protective Fae. Family is everything to her, and when someone intrudes upon that, then there really is no other choice but to teach them a lesson.”

“Family?” Bo’s head jerked back on her neck and an expression of disgust crossed her features. “That’s a pretty sick family you’ve got there, Sagi.”

“We protect our own,” he mused thoughtfully. “We could protect you too, if you’d join us.”

Tossing her head, Bo let out a scornful noise and flexed her fingers. “Maybe after I kill you, I’ll think about that.”

Lurching forwards, she grasped Sagi around the throat and propelled him backwards until he hit the wall, breath whooshing from his lungs. She could feel his muscles under her fingers, feel him try to swallow and wriggle free. It only made her increase her grip all the more until she felt his windpipe beneath her grasp. It wasn’t wise, killing a Dark Fae who had connections to The Morrigan. It wasn’t really wise for her to be here at all, but every time she’d thought of Lauren on the way over here, it had only urged her on. There had been enough lies pulling them apart. Killing Sagi would be payment enough for at least one of them. Anything else seemed immaterial and she increased her grip on the Kitsune, eliciting an injurious croak from his open mouth.

“Family…” he whispered, eyes bulging as she effectively began to cut off his air supply. “Your family…the Dark…”

“Shut up!” she snarled, pushing her face close to his. “I’m not like you. I never will be.”

Sagi had the temerity to smile, his mouth pulling into a rictus grin. “Not…yet…”

“Not ever!” Bo lifted her free hand and pulled it back, fist in the air ready to deliver a crashing blow to his face. “And I told you to shut up!”

Before she could punch him, even before she moved, she saw his gaze flicker beyond her head into the room behind. His smile increased and he relaxed in her grip, a portent of his submission and the movement that Bo felt, rather than saw, at her back. Her fist was suddenly covered, enveloped in a searing heat so painful that she screamed and let go of Sagi, who slid down the wall and lay slumped on the floor at her feet.

Turning, Bo was met with a heavyset man whose eyes were red with flames burning, it seemed, from the very heart of them. She looked at her fist; it was already turning crimson and blistering. As the man raised his hands, fire leapt from his palms, shooting up towards the ceiling. She could feel the heat and stumbled backwards away from it, shaking her head and sucking in a fortifying breath through her teeth as she stared at her hand.

“What the…?” she murmured, as the large Fae lumbered towards her, lips drawn back from his teeth in a terrifyingly primal snarl.

Near her feet, Sagi held a hand to his throat and scrambled to his knees. He let out a soft laugh that garnered Bo’s attention for a ridiculously distracted moment. A swathe of flame crossed her chest and she let out a cry as it sizzled through her clothing and sank into her skin, leaving a raw, scarlet stripe of unutterable pain.

“He’s an Elemental,” Sagi explained, moving to a safe distance near his desk. “A salamander, to be precise. Very dangerous. But then, I’ve never been averse to the smell of burning flesh. It reminds me of the good old days.”

Leaping back from another jet of fire directed towards her face, Bo’s eyes widened and she stared at Sagi momentarily, horror reflected in her gaze. “You knew I’d come here?”

“Sooner or later,” Sagi responded, rubbing at his neck. “You do have a reputation for being rather…proactive, shall we say?”

Bo dodged another burst of fire, but wasn’t quite quick enough to prevent it catching her shoulder and throwing her askance. She tumbled backwards and fell awkwardly, letting out a grunt of pain as she did so. Her jacket smoldered and the material produced faint sparks that she patted at hastily. But the pain…the pain was unbelievable. It spread over her shoulder…no, into her shoulder, almost down to the bone, it felt. White–hot pain that blurred her vision and threw nausea deep down into her stomach so that she bent over and pressed her arms against it, retching slightly.

“Agni,” Sagi’s voice held a warning tone. “We don’t want to kill her now, do we?”

The salamander shrugged non–committally and advanced upon Bo, clapping his hands together so that red and white sparks crackled between them like some sort of manual forge. Bo scrabbled at the floor and got to her feet, retreating for a moment to consider her options. She didn’t have many. And as the fire creature approached, she slid underneath his hands and aimed a heavy–booted kick at his knees. There was a satisfying crunch as she made contact and Agni let out a howl of pain, staggering backwards and away from her.

“Oh, well done!” Sagi’s voice came from across the room and ignited Bo’s anger once more, almost blotting out the encroaching the pain in her hand and shoulder. But the slash across her chest burned hot and bright as though it had a life of its own and she pressed a hand to it. Her skin was burning. From the inside out.

“Don’t be afraid of the dark inside you, child,” Sagi called to her. “Let it take free reign over you. You’re stronger that way.”

But Bo wasn’t. Not in the slightest. Going without feeding for as long as she had had severely depleted her energy levels and sapped at her strength. Even the little that she’d taken from Lauren hadn’t really begun to replenish her strength. She could feel the rage inside her, willing her on and trying to combat the pain, but it had little of her Succubus power on which to rely. As she careened across the floor, she knew that a few more well–placed burns and she would be utterly defenseless.

“My parents might be Dark Fae,” she hissed at Sagi, “but that doesn’t mean I am! I get to choose, right?” She ducked another whistling burst of fire and threw herself across the floor, rolling to one side and leaping to her feet, fists raised. “Well hear this. I don’t choose you!”

Agni moved towards her and she tried to get out of his way, tried to avoid the burning in his eyes and on his hands…all over his body, it seemed. It was as though he was made entirely of fire and Bo knew that if she went in for the kill, she’d have to be swift and sure otherwise his flames would surely consume her. The skin where she’d already been burned felt tight and painful, and she let out a grunt of distress as it prickled and stretched with her movements.

“Ah, yes.” Sagi leaned back against his desk and looked at her and Agni as though indulging in the playful romps of a recalcitrant child. “About that…”

Bo glared at him and moved closer to the door she’d burst through only minutes before. Picking up a chair by the conference table nearby, she threw it at Agni, who batted it out of the way with a lazy sweep of his flaming hand.

“We might have stretched the truth a little with the information we passed to your dear doctor,” Sagi pulled at his suit jacket, smoothing his hands over the lapels and straightening out the creases. “The Morrigan thought it might persuade you to join us if you were to suspect that your parents were both Dark Fae.”

“What?” Bo gasped, taking a chance and aiming a fist at Agni’s face. The blow pushed his head back on his neck and he growled at her. But as she pulled her hand back, she saw her knuckles already turning white, the skin there bubbling into blisters that sent pain rocketing all the way down her arm.

“Yes.” Sagi nodded gravely, although a slow smile appeared on his lips. “We really don’t know much more about your background than you do. But I can see the dark in you. Why don’t you join us and we can…work on it, hm? Wouldn’t you like to be stronger? Faster? Less…” he twirled his fingers around in the air and shrugged, “…in pain?”

Bo stopped for a moment. And it was only a moment. But it was enough to tear her concentration from her opponent. As she gaped at Sagi, his words sinking into her brain and whirling around it in confusion, she failed to see Agni bearing down on her, anger contorting his features into an inferno of rage. His fist made contact with her jaw and she felt, rather than heard the sickening crack as he punched her. The dull pain that spread up into her skull was compounded by the nauseating smell of her scorched flesh as she felt her face begin to burn.

She reeled back, this time heading for the door to the room. Her escape route. She was too weak, too empty and too injured to do this. Not feeding properly had left her dizzy; the pain from her burns was making her shiver and she knew that were she to stay, she would die. Meting out punishment on Sagi for his lies and deceit would have to wait. Agni would have to wait. And her own compulsion to seek out her parents? Well, if she didn’t leave now, that would die along with her.

Pitching backwards, Bo knew that she was going to pass out. Not here, she ordered herself. Not like this. Not weak and lost and alone.

She lurched through the doorway and down the corridor, every move sending unimaginable pain through her body. Home. She had to make it home.

* * * * *

Lauren rushed past Kenzi and into the house, looking around her with wild eyes. “Where is she?” she demanded, voice hitching over the words as her heart sat high in her chest, clattering so hard that she could barely breathe.

“Upstairs.” Kenzi’s face was pale, her eyes dark.

“Call Dyson,” Lauren threw over her shoulder as she made for the staircase.

“Wait a minute, Doc. Can’t you just – ”

“Call Dyson! Do it now!” Lauren shouted in a hard tone, barely giving Kenzi a second glance as she took the stairs two at a time. It was only when she reached Bo’s bedroom that she slowed, stopping outside the door and putting her hand against the frame. Sucking in a huge breath, she let it out slowly and tried to prepare herself for what she might find inside.

Kenzi had called her, begging Lauren to come to the house. It had been clear from Kenzi’s voice and the garbled answer to the pertinent, urgent questions that Lauren had asked that something was wrong. Very wrong. Kenzi had sounded hesitant, desperate. She’d kept on telling Lauren that Bo had been asking for her and it was apparent that Kenzi was suitably freaked out by Bo’s condition. She’d tried to calm the girl as much as she could on the phone while throwing on a jacket and heading for her car at breakneck pace. On the way over, she’d tried not to think of the consequences of Bo’s revenge. Tried not to think about the fact that she had let the Succubus go on an ill–advised rampage. No; she’d tried instead to figure out what treatments she might have in her medical bag stowed in the trunk, and if they would be at all useful.

Heart still pounding unreasonably fast, Lauren closed her eyes tight shut for a moment and then straightened up, opening them and walking into the bedroom. She’d witnessed some horrific conditions in her time as doctor to the Fae, and had managed to control her features and her emotions so that she could ascertain the extent of any injuries and treat them accordingly. It was how the medical profession was trained, to become hardened to the horrors that hospitals housed. There was very little that truly shocked Lauren any more.

She wasn’t altogether sure if that was a good thing.

As she approached the bed, however, she found that her training all but deserted her. Bo was lying in the center of the bed, her breathing ragged, uneven and very loud. She’d partially removed her clothes, her jacket and shirt lying in a crumpled heap by the side of the bed, bloodstains marring the material that was withered around gaping holes. Her booted feet shifted slightly on the bedclothes and she moaned in pain, eyes flickering shut, ignorant to Lauren’s presence as the doctor stood over her.

Lauren couldn’t help the gasp that escaped her mouth as she looked Bo over. The flesh that she could see was red, streaked with black that she knew was charred flesh. Third degree burns, she assessed mentally, with almost certainly first and second degree burns around them. Agonizingly painful and potentially fatal to a human. But Bo wasn’t human, and it was only her Succubus physiology that had prevented her from dying this time. Although, judging by what Lauren could see and the assumed injuries that she couldn’t, if Bo didn’t receive treatment soon, then death would take her. Sometimes Lauren felt as though death was always lingering around the edges of Bo’s life, often stepping into the fray to assert itself and remind the Succubus of her mortality. As she gingerly lowered herself onto the edge of the bed, Bo’s whimpers only served to confirm the doctor’s suspicions and Lauren couldn’t help putting a hand over her mouth to quell the horror that parted her lips. This was not a time for her own emotions to boil to the surface. She needed to be strong. For Bo, if not for herself.

“Bo,” she said gently. “It’s me, I’m here.”

Opening her eyes, Bo turned her head and only then was Lauren able to see the gash on her cheek, trailing blood down skin that was already starting to bruise underneath the crimson burn there.

“Hey,” Bo croaked. “I kind of got pounded.” She let out a laugh that turned into a cough and lifted her head from the bed, clutching at her stomach.

“Sssh,” Lauren urged, reaching for Bo’s hand; the only part of her, it seemed, that wasn’t damaged. “Don’t try to talk. Lie back.”

“I’m fine.” Bo attempted to sit up and winced, her features contorting in pain as she did so. “I’ll be fine. I just need to rest.”

“No,” Lauren said, putting her hand onto Bo’s shoulder then snatching it back as Bo hissed and flinched. “You need to heal, Bo. Please, lie back. Please.” Bo’s eyes met hers in anguish and Lauren nodded comfortingly, offering a smile that was hesitant and full of concern. But the Succubus did as requested and sighed as her head sunk into the pillow underneath it.

“That Sagi guy is an asshat,” Bo murmured, closing her eyes as Lauren stroked at her hair, tenderly moving it away from her forehead, trying to avoid the smears of blood and tender skin there.

“Bo, what did this to you? Kitsune aren’t able to burn people.”

“Some…some other Fae. Made of fire. An…Elemental?” Bo whispered, a crooked smile tugging at her mouth as she felt Lauren’s hands on her skin. Those practiced, healing fingers that had saved her on so many occasions. And now they were touching her with the simple grace of a lover. It almost made the pain bearable.

“You fought a salamander?” Lauren’s question was rhetorical as she cast her eyes over Bo’s flesh. “God, Bo, what were you thinking?”

“I thought if I…if I kicked his ass I might get…” Bo moved and caught her breath as agony overwhelmed speech. “Get…some play from you.” Opening her eyes, she blinked up at Lauren and saw the doctor smile ruefully. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for now. Because when Lauren looked at her like that, with those eyes that seemed to peer into the very depths of her, there was no price she wouldn’t pay to see it again and again.

“You’re ridiculous,” Lauren whispered, leaning down to place the softest of kisses on Bo’s forehead. Sitting back up, she frowned down at the Succubus and let her gaze sweep the length of the other woman’s body. “You need to heal, Bo. And I can’t…” She paused. She’d never felt the burden of her humanity and the constraints it placed on her heart more keenly than this moment. Her medical knowledge far surpassed that of any other doctor but even Lauren was aware that she was powerless to help Bo. Even if she were to give her life – and the thought had occurred to her at least twice since entering the room – it wouldn’t be nearly enough to bring Bo back to full strength.

“Sure you can,” Bo mumbled, looking at Lauren with glassy eyes. “Just give me enough to get me back on my feet and I’ll – ”

“I can’t, Bo,” Lauren said more firmly. Swallowing, she took a short breath and looked down at the Succubus. Being a good doctor meant that one often had to make difficult decisions. And hers had been made on the drive over here, for better or worse. She could deal with the consequences later. If there was a later after tonight.

“Dyson’s on his way over,” she told Bo. As the Succubus opened her mouth to protest, Lauren held up a hand to silence any doubts. The hardest decisions were the ones the patients never liked. The ones that she had to justify to herself as well as to them.

“He can help you,” she insisted. “You need to heal, Bo. It’s the only way.”

“Lauren…” Bo’s voice carried the doubt that ached at the back of Lauren’s neck. It held the hesitancy that they both felt; the understanding that trickled between them in scarlet droplets of shed blood and would hurt like the open wounds on Bo’s body.

“I know,” the doctor replied, heaving a huge sigh that lifted her chest and dissipated into the ether along with her good intentions. There had been a tiny part of her that had hoped she might be able to restore Bo’s strength. A part of her that irrationally believed that her own human energy might be enough to satisfy the Succubus’ cravings and heal her injuries. But their reality had proven otherwise, dashing Lauren’s hopes and replacing them with the fears that lurked in the back of her mind. She wasn’t enough for Bo. Not tonight. And tonight was all that mattered right now.

“Dyson’s here.”

Kenzi’s voice came from the doorway, low and troubled, laced with the worry that had shadowed her eyes when Lauren had arrived. Turning, the doctor nodded her thanks before standing and looking down at Bo.

“I’ll be back to check up on you,” she said softly, leaning down and meeting Bo’s eyes.

“Promise?” Bo’s voice met her ears with a plaintive tone and it was all Lauren could do not to give way to the tears that were prickling hot in her eyes and throat.

“I promise.” With one last lingering touch, Lauren let go of Bo’s hand and walked towards the door until the sound of her name caused her to stop and turn back towards the bed.

“Sagi…” Bo lifted her head with some difficulty and squinted across the room to where Lauren stood. “He told me…he said the information you got…it’s a lie. It was a lie. Everything you did…was all for nothing…” Grimacing as pain shot through her body once more, Bo closed her eyes and clutched her hand to her chest. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “It was all for nothing.”

“No.” Lauren’s dissent was firm, assertive. “You were worth it, Bo. All of it.”

The slow smile that crept across the Succubus’ face was recompense enough.

* * * * *

Dyson scratched at his beard and watched as Lauren appeared at the bottom of the staircase and walked towards him. Kenzi had told him that Bo was injured but said little more than that. She had been breathless, worried and the panic in her voice had unsettled him as he’d rushed towards his car without further questioning. From the expression on the doctor’s face right now and the harried nature of her gait, he suspected that Bo’s condition was a little more than just a few scratches. He moved towards Lauren and a frown crinkled his brow.

“What happened?” he asked, as Kenzi paced around them anxiously.

“Bo hasn’t fed for a while and tried to take on a salamander tonight.” Lauren wanted to give Dyson as few details as possible. She was only too aware what he thought of her and although she’d tried not to care, she knew that his closeness to Bo wouldn’t offer her many favors were he to discover Bo’s true intentions or the reasons why she’d taken on Sagi and the Elemental tonight.

“She hasn’t fed? Why?” he questioned, confused. It was only when Lauren avoided his gaze and shook her head that he began to gain a clearer picture of what had been happening lately. Shrugging, he tilted his head onto one side and raised his eyebrows. “You been holding out on her, hm?”

Lauren’s eyes rose to meet his own and he found that he was vaguely alarmed by what he saw in them. Humans were notoriously unable to hide their feelings well, but he’d always considered Lauren to be something of a master of disguise when it came to showing how she really felt. Tonight, however, there was nothing but emotion painted across her face and through her eyes in colors that almost blinded him with their intensity. He didn’t understand the relationship between Bo and Lauren – wasn’t even sure he really wanted to – but what he did know was that they would continue to circle one another until something broke.

Looking at Lauren right now, Dyson felt as though something had.

“Don’t be glib, Dyson,” Lauren said sternly, in no mood for flippant behavior. “She’s seriously injured and needs to heal. And you…” she trailed away and pressed her lips together firmly. Shifting under his gaze, her nostrils flared as she struggled to control herself. This was much harder than she’d expected. So much more difficult than the decision she’d made in her car, now that it was a reality standing in front of her.

“I can’t help her with that,” she said abruptly. “You can.”

Dyson nodded. “Is that what she wants?” It was his only way of asking what the hell was going on without being too blatant, but even this question seemed out of place and he cleared his throat and gazed down at the ground momentarily.

“It doesn’t matter what she wants,” Lauren answered shortly. “And if you don’t help her, Dyson, she’ll die. So stop wasting time with questions and go.” She jerked her head towards the staircase and turned on her heel, making for the door. As she passed Kenzi, she nodded to the girl and gave her a faint smile.

“Bo’s going to be fine. She’ll need a lot of rest after Dyson…after she heals. Make sure she gets it,” she said gently. She reached out to pat Kenzi on the shoulder and her hand was halfway there before it stopped and Lauren drew it back, almost embarrassed. Drawing her lips into a tight line, she nodded and turned towards the door. “Thanks for calling me, Kenzi.”

“And what about you?” Kenzi’s voice halted her. “Are you going to be fine?”

It wasn’t what Lauren had been expecting at all, and she swallowed over the ball of hurt in her throat, her back to the girl so that she could at least try to maintain her confidence. Because if she lost that, then she would surely allow the evening’s events to overwhelm her entirely. And if she were to do so, then she might never be able to claw her way back up towards an appropriation of life again. She heard Dyson’s footsteps on the staircase as he made his way up to Bo’s room and felt them echoed in the throbbing of her heart as it beat traitorously hard in her chest.

Lifting her head, she reached for the door handle and turned it, stepping forwards.

“Yeah,” she said quietly. “Call me when she wakes up.”

* * * * *

By the time Lauren made it to the relative safety of her car, she was already crying.

By the time she closed the door, she was gasping over the sobs wracking her chest.

And by the time she was clutching herself, giving vent to the confusion that tormented and ripped at her, she knew that she was absolutely, undeniably and painfully in love with Bo.

continued in

The Twelfth Way: Concession