by Jim Butcher
Lara sat at the table, wearing white clothing accented with embroidered red roses. Her hair was drawn back into a loose tail, and she rose to greet us both with outstretched hands.
"Thomas," she said. "And Harry."
"Sis," Thomas replied. "Should I assume from our greeting that there's been a change of management?"
She took her seat again, and Thomas joined her. I took a seat opposite him, so that I could watch his back, and I didn't spare any energy for false smiles. I didn't want Lara to think that we were going to be buddies now, and I suck at faking them anyway.
Lara took in my gaze, her own eyes calculating behind the smile. "Oh, it's just the usual little family spat," she said. "I'm sure Father is going to be angry with me for a while and will forget all about it."
"And if he doesn't?" Thomas asked.
Lara's smile grew a little sharper. "I'm sure he will." She took a sip of orange juice. "Unfortunately, Thomas, I don't know if he's going to be as forgiving to you."
Thomas inhaled sharply.
"I'm sorry," Lara said. She looked like she meant it.
"You're turning your back on him?" I asked. "On your brother."
Lara lifted a hand. "I do not want to, but my father's antagonism with Thomas is well known. If I am to maintain the fiction that my father is in control of his House, Thomas cannot remain. I'm not going to have you removed, of course, Thomas. But I do have to cut you off. You no longer enjoy the protection of House Raith-in any overt sense, in any case. And I am truly sorry for it."
"The twins," he said. "They put you up to this. They wanted me gone."
"Madrigal did," Lara confirmed. "Madeline didn't particularly care, but she has always indulged his tantrums. And simply put, I needed their support more than I did yours."
Thomas took another deep breath and nodded. "Things might change later."
"I hope so," Lara said. "But for now, there is nothing else I can do. Don't approach me openly again, Thomas. Don't visit. Don't claim Raith as your home. Lose the credit cards, and don't try to touch your accounts. You've got something tucked away?"
"A little," he said. "The money doesn't matter."
Lara set her orange juice down and leaned back in her seat. "But Justine does," she said.
"Yes. Madrigal would love to get his hands on her."
"He won't," she responded. "I swear it to you, Thomas, that I will keep her safe with me. I can do that much for you, at least."
Something eased out of Thomas's shoulders. "How is she?"
"Distant," Lara said. "Very vague and distracted. But happy, I think. She speaks of you at times."
"You'll…" His face twisted in distaste.
"Actually, no," Lara said.
Thomas frowned at her.
"Why don't you go see her," Lara suggested, and nodded toward a lower portion of the garden, where I could see Justine, in her wheelchair, sketching something on a pad across her lap.
Thomas rose like a shot, then visibly forced himself to slow down, and went down the winding path to the girl, leaving me alone with Lara.
"He really doesn't belong here, you know," she said. "Like Inari."
"How is she?"
"In traction," Lara said. "In a room with her boyfriend at the hospital. He isn't in much better shape. They're always talking, laughing." She sighed. "It's got all the signs of love. I spoke to her, as we agreed I would do. I don't think Inari will be one of us after all. She said something about doing feng shui in California."
"I didn't know she knew martial arts," I said.
Lara smiled a little, watching Thomas. He was kneeling beside Justine, looking at her sketches and talking. She looked weak but delighted, like when they take terminal kids to Disneyland on those talk shows. It warmed the heart at the same time it wrenched it. I didn't like the way it made me feel.
"Just to be up-front with you, Lara," I said, "I don't trust you."
She nodded. "Good."
"But we've got a hostage crisis on our hands."
"Of what sort?"
"Family secrets. You know mine about Thomas."
Her eyes were unreadable. "Yes. And you know about my father."
"If you spout off about Thomas, I spout off about your dad. We both lose. So I think it would be best if we agreed to truce of mutual honesty. You don't have to like me. Or agree with me. Or help me. But be honest and you'll get the same from me. If I'm about to go hostile, I'll tell you that our truce is over. You do the same. It's good for both of us."
She nodded slowly and then said, "Your word on it then?"
"My word. Yours?"
"Yes. You have my word."
We both tucked into breakfast then, in silence.
Half an hour later Thomas rose, leaned down, and brushed his lips against Justine's cheek. He stood up rather abruptly, then turned and hurried away with tense, pained motions. He didn't look back. As he approached, I got a good look at his face.
His lips were burned and blistered. He walked past us as if we weren't there, his eyes distant.
"He was always a romantic." Lara sighed. "She's protected. The little idiot should never have let himself feel so much for prey. It was that last time together that did it, I imagine."
"Had to go both ways."
"Greater love hath no man," Lara agreed.
We left. Thomas and I got into the Beetle and I asked him, "You okay?"
His head was bowed. He didn't say anything.
"I asked after Inari," I said.
His eyes moved toward me, though he didn't lift his head.
"She's in traction. And she's in love. Gonna be weeks before she and Bobby are going to get to do anything. No crimes of passion."
"She's free," Thomas said.
"Yeah."
"Good." After a minute he added, "No one should have to be like the Raiths. Destroying the people you care about the most."
"You didn't destroy her. And I think Lara really will protect her."
He shrugged, his expression dark.
"You slept much since Saturday?"
"No."
"You need to rest and I need a dog-sitter. I'll drop you at my place. I'll run errands. You drink Mac's beer until you crash on my couch. We'll figure out what you do next when you're rested. Okay?"
"Okay," he said. "Thank you."
I took him back to my apartment and spent the rest of the morning trying to collect on bills a few people still owed me. I didn't have much luck. I spent the rest of the day applying for loans, and had even less luck. Bank guys get so hung up about things like bad credit histories and people who fill in the "occupation" blank of the application with wizard. I guess it could have been worse. I could have been filling out the reason the loan was needed with pay off mercenary for services rendered.
By the end of the day, my hand hurt so badly that it had begun to cut through the painkillers, and I was exhausted. On the way out of the last bank, I forgot what my car looked like for a minute. I missed my street and had to drive around the block, but I missed it the second time, too. I managed to get home before I completely lost sentience, staggered past Thomas and Mister and the puppy asleep on the couch, and collapsed onto my bed.
When I woke up, it was Tuesday morning.
I found myself nervously looking around for the bright red dot of a laser sight to appear on my nose while I was in the shower with a plastic trash bag over my bandaged hand. I got dressed, got on the phone, and called Kincaid's number, then waited for him to return the call.
It took less than three minutes. "It's Dresden," I told the phone.
"I know. How's the hand?"
"I saw this great Swiss Army prosthesis with all these different attachments, but my hopes got crushed. I'm keeping the original."
"Damn shame," Kincaid said. "You need another contract?"
"Wanted to talk about the last one," I said. "Uh, I mean, I know you said Tuesday, but I'm still getting some assets turned into cash." I wasn't lying to him. I hadn't sold all my u
sed paperbacks yet, or dipped into my comic collection. "I need a little more time."
"What are you talking about?"
"Time. I need more time."
"For what?"
"To get your money," I said, leaving out the word dolt. See? I can be diplomatic.
"The money got here hours ago."
I blinked.
"You can pay me twice if you like," Kincaid said. "I won't stop you. Anything else?"
"Uh. No. I don't think so."
"Don't call me again if it isn't business." He paused. "Though I want to give you a piece of advice."
"What's that?" I asked, cleverly hiding my confusion.
"She went down pretty easy," Kincaid said. "Mavra, I mean."
"Yeah. 'Cause of your groovy cutting-edge vampire-hunting weapon, I guess. Thanks."
"It's paid for," he said. "But I mostly gave it to you to make you feel better. And to make sure you didn't shoot me by accident."
"What about what you said about how cool a weapon it was?"
"Dresden. Come on. It's a paintball gun. Mavra's world-class bad news. I expected it to chew apart newbie vamps, sure. You think Mavra would have tottered on out of the smoke to let you kill her? Nice and dramatic like that? If you buy that one, I got a bridge to sell you."
I got a sick, sinking little feeling in my stomach. "It was her," I said.
"How do you know?" he asked.
"Well. Because… she was wearing the same outfit," I said. "Son of a bitch. That sounds really lame, even to me. One corpse looks a lot like another. It could have been a decoy."
"Could," he said. "So my advice to you, Dresden. Watch your back."
"Gee. Thanks."
"No charge." He paused for a second as someone spoke in the background, then said, "Ivy says to tell your kitty hello for her." He hung up.
I put the phone down, thoughtful. When I turned around Thomas was sitting up on the couch. Silently he offered me the business card with Kincaid's account number and the amount of the bill on it.
"Found it in the laundry," he said.
"You didn't have to do that," I said.
"I know," he replied.
"You really have that much money?"
He shook his head. "Not anymore. That was pretty much everything I'd set aside. I hadn't made a lot of plans for independence. I figured I'd either be dead or running things. I've got about fifty bucks to my name now."
I sat down on the couch. The puppy snuffled me with his nose and wagged his tail in greeting.
"Where are you going to go?" I asked.
"I don't know," he said. "Guess I can do what my cousin Madrigal does: find some rich girl." He grimaced. "I don't know what to do."
"Look," I said. "You really saved my ass. Crash here for a while."
"I don't want charity."
"It isn't," I said. "Think of that money transfer as a rent payment. You can have the couch until you get your feet under you again. It'll be crowded, maybe, but it isn't forever."
He nodded. "You sure?"
"Sure."
Later Thomas went to the grocery store and I went down to the lab to talk to Bob. I filled him in on events.
"You're sure?" Bob asked. "It was He Who Walks Behind?"
I shivered. "Yeah. Thought I'd killed him."
"Walkers aren't killable, Harry," Bob said. "When you tore him up before, it banished him from the mortal realm. Might have hurt him, made him take time to heal up. But he's still out there."
"That's comforting," I said. I unwrapped my burned hand.
"Yuck," said Bob.
"Can you see anything about the injury?" I asked.
"Burned meat and nerve damage, looks like," Bob said. "Hmm, I think it still has reflexes, though. I bet you could use it a little if you did it without thinking about it."
I frowned. "You're right. I think I did during the fight with Raith. But look at this." I opened my stiff fingers with my right hand.
There was unburned flesh there, just as the doctor had observed. What he didn't know was that the unharmed flesh was in the shape of a sigil in angelic script-the name of one of the Fallen angels. Specifically, the same entity imprisoned in an ancient silver coin, at that very moment trapped under two feet of concrete and half a dozen warding spells on the far side of the lab.
"Lasciel," Bob said. His voice was worried.
"I thought she was locked up. I thought she couldn't touch me from there, Bob."
"She can't," Bob said, bewildered. "I mean, that's impossible. There's no way she should be able to reach out from there."
"Sounds kind of familiar," I muttered. I wrapped up my hand again. "But that's what I thought too. And my staff is acting weird. When I start to run power through it, I'm getting excess heat. The runes start glowing like embers and there smoke curling up out of them. Seemed like my workings with the staff were coming out a lot bigger than I wanted, too. Did I blow something on the preparation?"
"Maybe," Bob said. "But, uh. Well, it sounds a lot like Hellfire. I hear that some of the Fallen really love it."
"What?"
"Hellfire," Bob said. "Uh, it's sort of an alternate power source. Not a pleasant one, but man, you could really turbocharge violent spells with it."
"I know what Hellfire is, Bob."
"Oh. Right. Why are you using it then, Harry?"
I said through clenched teeth, "I don't know. I didn't mean to. I don't know what the hell is going on."
"Hell," Bob said. "Heh. You made with the funny, boss."
I had involuntary access to Hellfire. How had that happened?
Lasciel's sigil on my left palm was the only cool spot on my burning hand.
Hell's bells. I shook my head and headed for the ladder back up.
As I left Bob said, "Hey, Harry?"
"Yeah?"
The orange lights in the skull glowed eagerly. "Tell me again about Murphy's ass."
Thomas came back from the store later that day. "Got the puppy a bowl and a collar and food and so on. Nice little guy. Real quiet. Don't think I've heard him whine at all." He tousled the puppy's ears. "You decide on a name?"
The puppy cocked his head to one side, ears tilted up with interest, dark little eyes on my face.
"I never said I was keeping him," I said.
Thomas snorted. "Yeah. Right."
I frowned down at the puppy. "He's tiny. He's grey. He doesn't make much noise," I said after a minute. I dropped to a knee and held my hand out to the little dog. "How about Mouse?"
Mouse bounced straight up in a fit of eager puppy joy and romped over to lick my hand and chew gently on one of my fingers.
Thomas smiled, though it was a little sad. "I like it," he said.
We started putting groceries away, and it was the strangest feeling. I was used to being alone. Now there was someone else in my personal space. Someone I didn't mind being there. Thomas was all but a stranger, but at the same time he wasn't. The bond I sensed between us was not made weaker by being inexplicable, no less absolute for being illogical.
I had a family. Hell, I had a dog.
This was a huge change. I was happy about it, but at the same time I realized that it was going to be a big adjustment. My place was going to be pretty crowded, pretty fast, but once Thomas got into his own apartment, it would be more normal. I don't think either one of us wanted to be tripping all over each other every time we turned around.
I felt myself smiling. It looked like life was looking up.
I had started feeling a little crowded already, sure. But I took a deep breath and brushed it back. Thomas wouldn't be here too long, and the dog was certainly a lot smaller than Mister. I could handle a little claustrophobia.
I frowned at a giant green bag and asked Thomas, "Hey. Why did you get large breed Puppy Chow?"
Version 1.0-scanned, OCR'd and spell-checked from mass-market paperback first edition. This is the sixth in my complete series of Dresden Files scans.
Version 2.0 -September 6, 2004
-proofread and corrected by The_Ghiti from first printing (deadtree release date: August 1, 2004). Sorry this one took so long. I thought I had pre-ordered it from Amazon, but it never arrived, and it took me a couple of weeks to even realize it hadn't shown up. I usually correct obvious errors in the original, as I regard bookz as new editions, not mere "reproductions". If you find OCR-related errors, please fix, increment version number by 0.1 and re-post.
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Document creation date: 28.07.2005
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Document history:
Version 1.0-scanned, OCR'd and spell-checked from mass-market paperback first edition. This is the sixth in my complete series of Dresden Files scans. Version 2.0 -September 6, 2004-proofread and corrected by The_Ghiti from first printing (deadtree release date: August 1, 2004). Sorry this one took so long. I thought I had pre-ordered it from Amazon, but it never arrived, and it took me a couple of weeks to even realize it hadn't shown up. I usually correct obvious errors in the original, as I regard bookz as new editions, not mere "reproductions". If you find OCR-related errors, please fix, increment version number by 0.1 and re-post.
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