Work Text:
I hadn’t expected to find Georgia waiting for me when I stepped outside. She was leaning against her silver SUV, blonde hair pulled back in a tail, arms folded across her chest, wearing an expression that bordered on pure rage. Will was standing next to her, his expression one of worry; it lessened when he saw me emerge from the Librum Bellum’s building.
“Harry? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I told him, then asked Georgia, “What are you doing here?”
She bared her teeth. “They threatened my daughter and took my husband by force. I came to take him back.”
I gave her a brief smile. “I’m glad that proved unnecessary.” I could too easily picture Georgia cut down in a spray of bullets, werewolf or not.
That stoked her anger, rather than lessened it. “I have half a mind to -“
Will caught her arm before she could take two steps. “Georgia, look at me. I’m fine. Harry’s fine. Let’s just go, all right?” She looked down at him, tears welling in her eyes as she finally nodded, blinking a few times. “I’ll drive.” He took the keys from Georgia’s shaking hand.
I slid my staff in the back before climbing in, giving the two-story office building one last, long, hard look before closing the door. Will pulled out of the parking lot, heading towards the interstate. Something brightly colored caught my eye, and I glanced down to find several toys partially hidden under the seats. I picked up one that was a well-loved floppy rabbit with a smile.
“Where’s Callie?” I asked, leaning forward for ease of conversation.
“With my parents,” Georgia replied, wiping the last traces of tears away. “Who are they? What did they want?”
I noticed my own hands shaking a little, and clenched them into fists. “The Library of Congress, Special Collections Division. AKA the Librum Bellum, AKA the Men in Black. I don’t know much about them, except that Lara Raith called them ‘extremely dangerous.’ They supposedly have accumulated several centuries of knowledge through the Masons. This one is on me. I haven’t bothered to look into them, because honestly? I forgot all about them.”
Georgia’s head whipped around and she stared me down. I quickly moved my gaze to somewhere above her right eye. “This is not your fault, Harry. Not everything that happens in Chicago is your fault.”
While that might be true, it still felt like my fault. How could I have forgotten about an organization classified by the top predator in town as extremely dangerous?
Will added, “You’ve had a lot to deal with this past year, not the least of which is Lara. You can forgive yourself for not being omnipotent, you know.”
“If only,” I replied with a snort.
“What did they want?” he asked, repeating Georgia’s question. “I assume it’s important if they were willing to risk coming after us to get to you.”
I let out a long breath. “They’re after the Titan’s Eye.”
I felt Will’s regard from the mirror, but didn’t look up. “So, power then. For what purpose?”
“The usual,” I replied with a shrug. “Kill off as many supernaturals as they can, threaten and subdue enemies. Hell, with that thing they could take on the Sidhe Courts. You saw what it did in the Titan’s hands. Imagine it belonging to a shadow government organization that does whatever the hell it wants in the name of protecting the innocent and has no accountability.”
“So, um… like Men In Black?”
I chuckled at Will’s comment. “Combine that with access to the Raiders of the Lost Ark vault at the movie’s end and… yeah. Maybe. Probably.”
Georgia’s anger was still simmering. “What are we going to do about it?” she demanded. Much of my life I’d operated without backup, and hearing her say ‘we’ still shocked me enough to summon a fuzzy warmth in the pit of my stomach. I was no longer alone, even if I acted like it more often than I should.
“For the moment, nothing. I need to gather more information and see what they do in response to the interview today. I kind of… destroyed their office on the way out.”
Georgia snorted. “Good.”
The darker part of me agreed with her. But the rest of me knew I’d done a stupid, foolhardy thing in blasting through the interrogation room door. Anyone standing behind it would’ve been grievously injured, if not outright killed, and once again I hadn’t thought through the consequences. I’d given in to anger and the desire to make the Librum Bellum fear me.
But what if someone had died?
Luckily, no one hadn’t. The room across the hall looked to be a supply closet. While I’d destroyed a good number of computers and related electronics, it had been devoid of people.
“I want you to put out word through the Paranet. If they’re after the Eye, it’s unlikely the Librum Bellum will go after them, but they need to be aware of the potential threat. I’ve got to call Maggie’s school -“
“Michael already took care of it,” Will interrupted. “I called him, he said he’d inform St. Mark’s.”
I let out a sigh of relief and slumped back in my seat. “Thanks.” While they hadn’t brought up Maggie’s name in interrogation, it was idiotic to believe they weren’t aware of her. And if the organization was who I believed them to be, they wouldn’t hesitate at using my daughter against me if they thought it’d get them what they wanted.
“Everything all right on the island?” Georgia asked, frowning.
“What? Oh. Yeah, everything’s fine. Just needed to check on one of the prisoners,” I replied, leaving it as vague as possible. If I told them I was planning on springing a naagloshii to take on Cowl, we’d end up arguing about it and I just didn’t have the energy to spare.
You’re afraid of what they’ll say. You’re afraid they’ll talk you out of it.
You’re afraid they’ll look at you like you’re evil incarnate.
“They didn’t bother to ask what I was doing at the marina,” I quickly added, hoping it’d redirect the conversation.
Will chuckled. “I told them you were out fishing.”
“Really? And they believed you?”
“Some people like to fish early in the morning, Harry,” he said, rolling his eyes. “It’s not that difficult to believe.”
“It is when that person is a professional wizard. There isn’t even any fishing gear on board.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “But they didn’t look, did they?”
No , they hadn’t. Either they’d believed Will’s story, or they didn’t care. I didn’t want to contemplate the third option: that they already knew the location of Demonreach and of my connection to it. The island wasn’t a secret; hell, at one point people had lived on it. It existed for centuries before I became its Warden, and had no problem defending itself when threatened.
But it wasn’t a pleasant thing to imagine, an army of suits (possibly including the actual Army) invading Demonreach, trying to blast their way inside the lighthouse.
Will pulled up next to the Munstermobile a few minutes later. I extricated myself and my staff, pausing by the passenger side door as the window rolled down. I leaned over so I could see inside.
“You’re welcome to come stay with me if you’d like.”
Georgia gave me a smile. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ll be damned if they drive us from our home.”
“Well, you’re always welcome to stay with me, any time for any reason, all right?”
“We appreciate that,” she replied. “Watch your back, Harry.”
I twirled my staff, then thunked it on the asphalt. “Always. You do the same. Let me know if anything happens.”
“Will do.” She squeezed my arm briefly.
“Later,” Will added with a small wave as I backed away from the car. I waved in return as the SUV turned around and headed for the exit, using that as an excuse to casually examine any cars parked nearby. I hadn’t seen anyone follow us into the lot, but that didn’t mean we hadn’t been followed.
None stood out.
I tossed my staff into the back seat and started up the Munstermobile, realizing only after I did that it might have been wise to check beneath the car for incendiary or tracking devices.
Electronic trackers would eventually fail by simple proximity to me, though if they wanted to track my car, it wouldn’t be hard with its size and bold paint scheme. I’d just have to be aware of the possibility, and use alternate methods of transportation should I need to go somewhere I didn’t want the Librum Bellum to know about. Like visiting River Shoulders.
Of course, I could always veil the car at an opportune moment and hope the surrounding traffic didn’t crash into me. It’d worked before.
As I sat there and nothing continued to happen, I decided to head home.
I’m not hyper vigilant, but I’m more aware of my surroundings than I used to be. Combine numerous death threats with spending years working for the Chicago P.D., and it had become second nature to watch for anyone tailing me. While I might not be able to spot a pro, I identified a black sedan a few cars back that made a few too many of the same turns I did.
Agents from the Librum Bellum were following me. To be fair, I’d expected it, but it still pissed me off. Did they really think I’d be stupid enough to lead them straight to the Eye?
I stopped by Burger King for lunch. Not because I wanted to lose the tail; I was just hungry. The smell of fried potatoes soon filled the car, making my stomach rumble. I snuck a few French fries out of the bag one-handed as I drove. “You can have one if you’d like,” I told the pixie who’d joined me inside the car, gesturing to the paper bag. Za Lord’s army may be paid in pizza, but I wouldn’t begrudge sharing my lunch.
I had to hold in giggles as the faerie flew in and brought out a fry twice as tall as she was. A few words too high pitched for me to make out, and she retreated to the back seat with her prize.
“No problem,” I replied.
Predictably, the agents tailed me home. I parked in my usual spot, while they parked several houses down on the other side of the street. When I got out, food in one hand, staff in the other (making sure the Fae was safely out of my car), I gave the sedan a beauty pageant-style wave.
I don’t think they were impressed, but with the tinted windows I couldn’t be sure.
Grinning, I lowered my wards, unlocked my front door and went inside. A glowing blue skull abruptly shot up through the floor and into my face. “Boss!” Bob exclaimed as I tried not to twitch in surprise. “Will told me you were delayed. Did you happen to stop off at a strip club? Tuck a few folded singles into a G-string? See the goods up close and personal?”
“Is that all you think about?”
“Well… yeah.”
I sighed, set my staff in the corner and hung up my duster, then carried my lunch into the living room. “No. Made an unscheduled stop at Demonreach, then was abducted by the Librum Bellum on my way home. What do you know about them?”
Bob settled on the edge of the coffee table. “Really? The Men in Black were interested in you? Why?”
“Last July,” I said, inhaling a good portion of my burger. “They think I’m in possession of the Eye of Balor. Or know where it is, at least.”
“Ah. Well, that makes sense. The Librum Bellum has its roots in the Freemasons. The earliest records of the organization come from the 1720s in Pennsylvania. While originally operating out of Masonic Lodges, they were chartered under the Library of Congress in 1816 after Thomas Jefferson sold his personal library to replace the books lost during the burning of the original Library. While he was not a Mason, he recognized the importance of the arcane knowledge the Librum Bellum had collected, and made incorporating them a stipulation of the sale.”
I finished off the burger. “While that’s fascinating, it doesn’t really tell me what they do. Are they an officially recognized government organization? What powers do they have? Could they arrest me? Guantanamo me?”
“Oh, that. Well, officially they are called the ‘Special Collections Division’ and operate as part of the Library of Congress for funding purposes. Outside of that, though… there’s little information.”
“So clandestine operation with no government oversight used to doing whatever the hell it wants?”
Bob snorted. “Pretty much.”
“Fabulous. So they won’t need to take me to Guantanamo to torture me.”
His eyelights brightened. “Torture?”
“Sarcasm, Bob.” At least… I hoped it was sarcasm. I’d had run-ins with local law enforcement, but few with Feds outside the FBI-agents-turned-hexenwulfen and Murphy’s ex. “They’re parked down the block. Black sedan.”
Bob disappeared for a moment. “Did they think you wouldn’t notice?”
“Oh, they know that I know they’re watching me. Gave them a friendly wave on the way in.”
His eyelights brightened again. “Maybe you should do something to grab their attention, like blow up their car. Or send over the gargoyles to rough them up a bit.”
I shoved a few fries in my mouth. “I’m not trying to kill them, Bob. They can watch me all they want, they’re not going to learn anything.” There was a loud knock on the front door and I froze, another fry halfway to my mouth. “That’s them, isn’t it?”
“Yep. Two, but they don’t seem to be armed.”
Sighing, I wiped my hands on a napkin. “Guess I better see what they want.” I took my time walking down the hall, getting a good look at the agents. Both men, one possibly Hispanic, the other Asian, both with black hair cut in a short, neat style, both clean-shaven.
“Gentlemen,” I said as I opened the door. “I expected at least a few hours of peace and quiet before making your acquaintance.” As I spoke, I let my arcane senses brush over the agents and found nothing. Not practitioners or magical beings, and not carrying anything magical. Or at least nothing magically active.
Their suits, like all the other agents I’d encountered thus far, were black, complete with the standard white shirt and black tie. And as Bob had said, they did not appear armed, but that didn’t mean they weren’t armed.
“Mr. Dresden, I’m Agent Valero, this is Agent Lee,” said the taller of the two. “We’re sorry to trouble you, but my partner really needs to use the bathroom.” He gestured to Lee, who grimaced in apology. “May we come in?”
Oh, I’d seen far too many police procedurals (not to mention worked with a number of cops myself) to not understand how this would play out. Agent Lee, under pretense of using the restroom, would wander around the castle unchaperoned and “accidentally” pry into my personal business. Not that I had much in the way of personal anything; it wasn’t as if I left an unlocked computer lying around they could access.
In the meantime, Agent Valero would do his best to keep my attention occupied.
I didn’t like the underhanded tactics, but I understood them. I’d do the same in their position, given the opportunity.
I folded my arms. “Let me see some identification.”
They exchanged a glance. Valero shrugged slightly and nodded, and both removed badges from their coat pockets. The badge was a brass shield engraved with a stylized image of an eagle, wings outstretched, an open book obscuring its body. The words “Library of Congress” were stamped above it, “Special Collections Division” below.
“Classy,” I said, handing them back, then held the door for them. “Bathroom’s that way.” I pointed down the hall to a bathroom that was shared between two rooms that I’d left as guest bedrooms. It was a dead end, and nothing for Agent Lee to find, the hallway easily viewable from the living room.
I didn’t move until he’d closed the bathroom door, then pasted on a smile for Valero. “Coffee?”
His eyes lit up. “I’d love some.”
“Coming right up.” I used the hall to access the kitchen, subvocalizing, “Bob, keep an eye on them. Warn me if they’re up to something. Get the Za Lord’s army watching them, too, but tell them to be the sneakiest sneaks about it.”
“On it, boss,” he whispered in reply.
Coffee makers typically last a few weeks in my possession. My current one was brand new, Will having dropped it off while I’d been with River Shoulders. I prepped it with a filter and grounds, then removed the pot and took it to the sink.
Valero hadn’t been idle. He’d examined the photos on my mantel, then moved around the room though there wasn’t much else to see. He finally stopped in front of the fireplace closest to the kitchen, staring at the empty brackets above it. I was glad Amoracchius was gone; even if they knew of the Swords of the Cross, they didn’t need to be handling one. Or potentially stealing one, though the sword might emphatically express its opinion about that.
Then I froze, hand on the faucet. I couldn’t see either agent from the kitchen, yet I knew where each was. It wasn’t the precise intellectus of Demonreach, but it was definitely something, a fuzzy generality of each man’s location in relation to the castle’s wards.
I knew Agent Lee had left the bathroom and was standing next to my coffee table, undoubtedly looking through the books scattered around. Three different paperbacks, an illustrated leatherbound book on Wyldfae I’d ordered from Bock’s, and a college-level textbook on geology that Will picked up for me at the campus bookstore.
The spatial sensations were distracting, so I pushed them to the back of my mind for the moment and focused on filling the coffee pot with water. I let the agents nose around while I waited for the coffee to finish.
“Harry,” hissed Bob, a tiny blue pinprick appearing on the wall next to me.
Even knowing where the agents were in my home, his appearance made me look around just to be sure no one was watching. “What is it?” I hissed back.
“Lara Raith’s car just parked outside. You have less than twenty seconds to get to the front door before she does.”
Oh, crap.
I ran for the door, throwing it open just as Lara’s hand was poised to knock. I grabbed her shoulders and roughly pushed her back a step. She stiffened in surprise. “Now’s not a good time, Lara,” I growled. “The Librum Bellum -“
“I know,” she replied quietly with a faint smile. “That’s why I’m here.” Then she raised her voice deliberately. “Harry, aren’t you going to invite me in?”
I wanted to smack myself in the forehead. Whatever she had planned couldn’t be good. But she’d forced my hand; nothing to do now but play it out. “Why Lara, a pleasure to see you. Please, come in,” I said as I backed up, holding the door open for her.
She was dressed in business casual, a white jacket over a blouse patterned in green and gold, black slacks and black shoes, which she removed as she stood in the entryway. The shoes, not the pants, much to my disappointment. Then she pulled me into a quick, light kiss, barely a brush of her lips against mine; it sent a bolt of lighting coursing through me. I knew it was for the agents’ benefit, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to pin her against the wall and take my time exploring her body.
Regardless of who was watching.
“You didn’t tell me you had company,” Lara said, glancing into the living room. Both agents were staring at us, or rather, at her. It was clear she had their undivided attention, and based on their glassy-eyed expressions, it was also clear they’d never encountered a White Court vampire before.
“Agents Lee and Valero, this is Lara Raith.”
She held out her hand. “Are you from the FBI?” she asked, all innocence.
“The Librum Bellum, ma’am,” Valero replied, taking a moment to clear his throat. “We assist the Library of Congress with special acquisitions.”
“And you are here investigating Mr. Dresden? Did he abscond with an overdue book?” Lara smiled suggestively at the agents, her eyes taking on a faint sheen of silver as she used her come-hither on them. Though it wasn’t directed at me, I was close enough that I had to steady myself against its backlash.
“Y-y-yes. And… no…” Agent Lee stuttered, then sighed as she cupped his cheek with one hand, lightly caressing his face. A soft moan escaped, and his eyes closed as a look of rapture suffused his face. I’d seen that look before. Hell’s bells, I’d worn that look before.
“It is a trivial matter to change their focus, Harry,” she purred, low in her throat. Every part of my body strained towards her, and not just because of the succubus’ sexual pull. “They will think us unimportant in whatever schemes they are plotting, whatever plans they are investigating, and report as much to their superiors. We can point them in any direction we choose.”
Agent Valero slowly sank to his knees, his hands following the contours of Lara’s body as he did. Her moan of pleasure was much more emphatic than the agent’s had been, and the scent of wild jasmine grew to intoxication. I drew in a breath, savoring the scent, the one that drove me to distraction. The one that, on several occasions, had driven me further still.
I was not prepared for the jealousy that rammed into my gut. I was absolutely not prepared for the strength of it, or the red haze of anger that followed. Mine! the Mantle screamed, and my hands twitched with the need to rip her away from my rivals and claim her in every way imaginable. It took longer than it should have to wrest control back and force my libido down a few notches, which gave my subconscious the opportunity he’d been waiting for.
Let Lara take care of your little problem for you. It’s worth it, Harry. They’ll forget all about you, and more importantly, forget about Maggie. What’s a little coercion now compared to all the problems they could cause you later?
My alter-ego, my darker, baser nature wasn’t wrong.
I have to stop this. Yet I did nothing as Lee, under Lara’s continuing light touch, also sank to his knees. “Yes,” Lara whispered, and grabbed each one by his throat, enough to assert control but not enough to strangle. “You want me, do you not? You would do anything for me, anything to please me.” She leaned down to kiss one on the forehead, then the other. “Anything,” she repeated, drawing the word out into a breathy whisper. Groans and choked gasps, faces locked in expressions of pained ecstasy, and -
“Lara,” I managed to croak, tearing my gaze away from them.
She paid me no mind, her eyes shining silver mirrors as she drank in the agents’ emotional release accompanying their physical one. Then she let out a small cry as her own release claimed her.
My body was screaming in desperate need, hands reaching for her that I barely stopped in time. If I gave in now, it was over. I’d never trust myself again with her. I used that lust and frustration, pushing stubborn will into mental shields that provided some protection. “Enough!” I barked. “Lara, you are a guest in my house and you will behave as such!” The effort it took to speak made it feel like I’d been running a marathon, gasping for air as sweat beaded down my face.
She froze, no longer a mostly-human creature but a statue made of marble, beautiful and cold. The sexual pressure vanished abruptly, and both agents fell to the floor. They looked to be unconscious. Lara herself took several steps back as I approached them and knelt, checking for a pulse. Rapid, but they weren’t in any danger of dying.
I stayed where I was, tilting my head up to regard Lara with a stony expression. “These men are under my protection, Lara, and you caused them harm by taking them against their will.“
Her eyes had returned to their usual shade of gray, the flecks of blue unusually bright in the firelight. And though her skin was faintly glowing, it was also deathly pale. She only held my gaze a moment before dropping her head. “You are correct, wizard. I have violated guest-right and harmed someone under your protection.“
“Will they be addicted?”
“It is unlikely after a single feeding, one that involved such little physical contact,” she replied.
“But it’s possible.”
She gave a little laugh. “With kine, it is always possible. Not every human is cursed to possess such an intractable will as you.”
Dammit. I hadn’t wanted them hurt, merely gone. And now that Lara knew the Librum Bellum were in Chicago, word would quickly spread through the supernatural community. The White Court would distract them, and Marcone… anything from bodies silently disappearing in the night to whole-scale slaughter was possible. Though I had a suspicion he’d probably throw his legal team at them. The Librum Bellum’s strength was in their anonymity; risk that, and they’d probably back off.
At least to a safe distance.
Lara bent down and briefly touched each agent’s temple. “They will not be unconscious long.”
“Will they remember what happened?”
“Not with any clarity. I doubt they will remember entering your home,” she replied.
I rubbed my forehead for a moment, thinking. “Put them in their car. Let them believe they fell asleep on the job.” Normally I wouldn’t ask a woman to perform such a task, but Lara was a vampire and carrying the weight of a grown man was nothing to her. It was also her means of penance, so I kept my face a mask as she brought each out to their car, where her driver helped her arrange the agents to her liking.
I did hold the door for her, though.
“Coffee?” I asked once she was done.
She smiled and slipped off her shoes. “I would love some.”
“Bob,” I muttered as I removed two mugs from a cabinet, “ask Toot to set up surveillance on the agents. Actually, belay that order. I have a better idea. Ask Purpleweed to join me in in the kitchen. There’s an extra pizza in it for her.”
“You got it.”
I nabbed a piece of chalk, sketched a circle, then scooped a fingerful of soft wax from a nearby candle and closed the circle. The spell was a matter of quick focus and will, shaping it as I shaped the pliable wax into two pieces. Releasing my will into the wax, I shoved one into left my ear, molding it into an earpiece, while I flattened the other into a small disk. Then I smudged the chalk with the ball of my foot; the circle broke with a tiny fluttering of power.
“I am here, Za Lord, reporting as ordered,” Purpleweed said, flying in front of my face with a salute.
I saluted back. “I have a job for a sneaky sneak such as yourself.” I held up the wax disk. “I need you to take this, put it on the roof of the black car with two men sleeping in it. If you can put it inside on the back seat, that’s even better, but don’t risk getting caught.”
“Right away, Za Lord!” Purpleweed rocketed by me, lifting the wax from my fingers and disappearing between one blink and the next.
“Harry? Are you all right?” Lara asked. The living room was so massive, her voice echoed oddly and she’d probably had to shout.
“Yeah, sorry, I’m coming!” I shouted back, pouring the coffee and doctoring mine heavily with powdered creamer and sugar. Lara, of course, took hers black. “Here.” I handed over her mug, then retreated the couch’s opposite end. I took several gulps of lukewarm coffee, hoping the sugar and caffeine would help clear my head.
“What is it they want with you?” Lara asked, tucking bare feet under her. It was an adorably cute and admittedly sexy position. As if my hormones hadn’t already been through a workout today.
“They’re after the Eye of Balor. They believe I know where it is.”
She raised a brow. “And do you?”
“Haven’t a clue, and I told them that. But they don’t seem to believe me.” I waved vaguely towards the door. “Thus the stakeout.”
Lara slowly smiled. “I do not believe you, either, Mr. Dresden. But that does not concern me. What does concern me is their presence in Chicago, and deciding how best to be rid of them.”
“There will be no murdering of agents, Lara. I want your word on that.”
“Do you take me for a common street thug?” she asked, the smile growing.
“I take you for the predator you are, one whose life and livelihood could be jeopardized by any investigation the Librum Bellum choose to undertake. Am I wrong?”
Her laugh did interesting things to my body. She sipped at her drink, then answered, “No, you are not wrong. And I notice you did not stipulate no coercion.”
I slumped back with a sigh. “You are what you are, Lara. I don’t want them here any more than you do, but I don’t want them dead, either. If you can find other ways to convince them to leave, well… I can’t argue with that.”
“As long as you are not privy to my methods?” she asked.
“Something like that.” I slumped further, insides writhing with guilt. I should be telling her feeding from them was off-limits. I should be telling her that using Hunger’s persuasion went against my principles. Truth was… she was right. What the Librum Bellum wanted was too dangerous, and I was too afraid they’d try to use Maggie against me. If that happened… there was no telling what I’d do. I knew I was capable of killing. Knew I’d do it to protect Maggie. Had already killed to protect my daughter.
“Your word, Lara,” I insisted. I’d live with the guilt. “Dead agents will invite the Chicago PD and SI into this and none of us can afford their scrutiny.”
She took another sip of coffee. “Not if there are no bodies to find. But yes,” she added, holding up a hand as I started to protest, “I promise that none will be harmed by me or mine, and none will be killed. It is more advantageous to leave them alive, and I would have done so even without you extracting a promise from me. Agents disappearing will only invite more scrutiny, as you say. But convince the right members of the Librum Bellum there is nothing to be gained here and they will depart of their own free will.”
A wave of exhaustion suddenly swept over me, and I rubbed my stinging eyes.
I heard Lara set her mug down on my table. “I will take my leave. There are plans I must put into motion, now that the Librum Bellum is here.” She knelt beside me and put a cool hand over my scarred one. It surprised me enough that I blinked a few times at her, trying to focus. “You should try to sleep. You look as though you could use it.”
The corner of my mouth turned up. “You trying to say I look like two miles of bad road?”
Her gentle kiss on my cheek made me blush for no specific reason, though it was nice to have someone care about my well-being. Even if it was more self-serving than affectionate, it still felt nice. “Get some rest, Harry. I will show myself out.”
I stretched out on the couch, listening to her put on her shoes, then close the door firmly behind her. Clementine appeared out of thin air, jumping gracefully onto my chest to shove her face into mine. I chuckled, scratching her head and back. “Nice to see you, too.” When she curled up with purrs vibrating her body and mine, I covered us both with the blanket, closed my eyes, and fell asleep.
*
Waking up to unfamiliar voices speaking inside your ear can be disorienting.
The listening spell didn’t reveal anything useful. But it did confirm that they believed they’d fallen asleep in the car, and had no memory of coming inside or of Lara’s subsequent actions. It broke once the agents drove out of range, and I settled back into sleep.
For the next several days, Librum Bellum agents camped outside the castle. The car and agents rotated, but every time I looked through the front door’s window, there they were. I spent the time going over the police reports for the women in Seattle and Miami with Bob and Bonea, though nothing came of it.
“Maybe it’s not about the murders or why the women died, but how it was accomplished,” Bonnie finally said. “The Librum Bellum asked you about Seattle because they suspected you’d know something, based on the case you and Lt. Murphy worked years ago. Perhaps the manner of death was only meant to point them in your direction by someone who wanted you distracted.”
“That sounds like Cowl,” I said with a sigh, piling the papers into stacks. “We’re taking a break. I’m taking a break. There’s only so much of this I can handle.” It made me physically ill looking at the photos, knowing all too well what they’d suffered in their final moments. It was written in every agonizing line of their expressions.
Bob’s eyelights brightened. “Does that mean -“
“Yes, Bob,” I said, shooing him away. “Go enjoy your porn.”
“I take back all the things I said about you, Harry.” He melted into the floor and vanished from sight.
“You, too, Bonnie. Go get some rest.”
She yawned, which made me yawn in response. “Night, Harry.”
I fixed myself a sandwich with cold cuts, a generous slathering of mustard, and Swiss cheese for lunch, washing it down with a can of Coke. I grabbed another soda on the way back to the couch, where I spent the next several hours reading about an astronaut left on Mars after a storm forced the rest of his crew to abandon him, believing he’d died. The movie based on the book was due to be released in the fall.
“Harry!” Bob exclaimed, causing me to jump.
“Dammit, Bob. How many times have I told you not to do that.” My heart thudded in my chest from the adrenaline rush. I set the book aside and sat up to better glare at him.
“There’s a storm approaching,” he said, blue light bouncing in agitation. “Sounds like it’s going to be bad. And…”
“And?” I prompted after he trailed off.
“I don’t think it’s a natural storm. I can sense magical energy in the air.”
I blinked at him. “You think a wizard created the storm?”
“It’s theoretically possible. Kemmler did something like it but small-scale, and he had an existing storm to work with. This is an entire storm front conjured from nothing. It was sunny less than an hour ago, not a cloud in the sky, and based on today’s weather patterns… this storm shouldn’t exist.”
“Crap. I better go see for myself.” I trotted up the stairs and went out on the roof, the wailing storm warning sirens barely audible above the wind whipping around me. The clouds overhead were dark and growing darker, eddies swirling in response to the chaotic air currents. As I scanned the sky to the south, my eyes widened. A black vortex rotated counterclockwise, the beginnings of a funnel cloud extending towards the ground. And the clouds supporting it were moving against the wind, straight towards me.
“Oh, fuck. Red Squadron, we’re leaving! Inside, now!” I barked, running for the door. I pushed it open just in time to nearly get flattened by the four granite gargoyles bearing down on me. I scrambled for the stairs as they winged their way down and into the main room. “Bob! How long do we have before that funnel gets here?”
“If its speed remains constant, five minutes or less.”
I pivoted around the railing and down the next flight of stairs. “Any estimates on strength?”
“Possibly an EF3, judging by the currents around its rotation,” Bob said.
“And that means?”
“Gusts up to 165 miles per hour,” he replied.
“Crap. Can the castle withstand that?” Almost to the first floor.
Bob brightened a moment. “With the wards active, sure. But it’ll probably destroy a good number of the houses around us.”
All those people, injured or dead for the simple reason I chose to live here. That storm was wizard-made and aimed squarely at me.
I burst through the front door, running for the Librum Bellum’s sedan. They’d never survive a tornado if they stayed outside. “Forzare!” I snarled, pushing out a wave of force from my outstretched hand. As I didn’t have my staff for finer control, it blew out every window in the car. “Get out, get to my castle!” I yelled over the howling wind, hauling the driver out by his arm. It was Agent Valero, and he was fumbling for his gun. “I don’t have time for this. Look!” I spun him around and pointed at the funnel cloud that had begun to descend.
He stopped struggling. “Oh, my God.”
“Get inside, now!” Agent Lee had exited under his own power, and after a single glance behind him, took off for the castle. Valero followed, and I spared one last look at the nascent tornado before joining them.
“Get in the back room,” I snapped, pushing them (and maybe dragging them a little) down the hall, ignoring their protests. Then I slammed the door in their faces and conjured a quick and dirty ward over the door that would produce a nasty shock when they attempted to open it. Which Valero did, then yelped and swore.
“Let us the fuck out, Dresden!”
“You’re safer here, just stay put!” I shouted back, then ran to grab my staff. “Red Squadron, keep an eye on them.”
This time when I got to the roof, the clouds had become so dark they were a purplish-black. The vortex rotation had increased, its funnel almost halfway to the ground. I closed my eyes, focused my will, then gazed upon the storm with my Sight. It confirmed my suspicions that this was no normal storm, but one created with magic. Powerful magic at that; the spell shaping the tornado was far more complex than I had ever seen. Silver bolts of electricity shot over its core, a throbbing mass of fiery crimson and black, threaded through with strands of lurid green. From that, a fast-spinning spiral of blue-white descended, pulling in and condensing water vapor from the clouds above.
Once it reached the ground, there was no expectation the spell would stop. If anything, it might increase in power and speed.
I squinted (never a good thing while using the Sight) at a tiny flash of white almost hidden inside the storm clouds. It took a moment, but I finally made out its contours and realized it was a tether to the practitioner powering the spell. Whatever this was, it required an active connection and a steady supply of energy to keep it running.
I’d have to keep up my Sight if I wanted to take apart the spell with precision; anything else could result in the tornado forming regardless of what I did. In magic - as in many things - it’s easier to destroy than to create. Breaking the spell, provided I didn’t care if it exploded when I did (and I didn’t), wouldn’t be too difficult.
I summoned my will and raised my staff, pointing its end at the dead center of the spiral. “Forzare!” I snarled, sending out a wave of tiny energy shards that drove into its matrix. Two frantic heartbeats later, they exploded, disrupting the spell’s pattern. Another wave, then a third, and the spell finally broke apart; its remnants were swept up by the funnel cloud. I hoped the practitioner on the other end got a painful jolt from the backlash.
But it was too late. The tornado reformed of its own accord, driven by the wind’s rotation. It touched down at the end of my street, ripping up trees and grass and dirt, flinging cars around like toys, peeling off the roof of a nearby house.
Stars and stones, the sheer destructive power was terrifying to behold.
Now that someone’s will wasn’t directing its path, it appeared the tornado would move east, away from the castle, but through hundreds and hundreds of homes. And I’d be damned if I was going to let that happen, force of nature or not.
I used a spinning technique with my staff Ebenezar taught me long ago, a way to focus thought and will, shaping a spell in my mind. I’d never tried anything quite like this, and needed enough power for the first attempt because I wouldn’t get a second. I pulled on my rage and fear, then pulled from the storm itself, letting it build inside me until my skin could barely contain it. And then I drew from the frozen depths of Arctis Tor buried in my soul.
Faster and faster my staff spun, until I froze mid-spin with the end pointed directly at the tornado. “Ventas cyclis infriga!” A massive cyclone formed of glittering ice crystals flew towards it, only to be sucked up by the vortex. The updraft on a tornado is composed of warm, humid air, and I’d just thrown the equivalent of a wrench into its inner workings. Not only was my cyclone made up of dry, intensely frigid air, but it spun in the opposite direction. As this went against Earth’s rotation (which is why tornadoes here almost always spin counterclockwise), it was difficult to maintain, and drained my power far quicker than I had expected.
The bottom of the funnel broke apart, scattering large chunks of debris like leaves. I held the spell, pushing more and more power into it as it was sucked up through the funnel, freezing the air around it and slowing its rotation. The funnel finally vanished, swallowed up by the clouds.
Another word and push of will and my spell exploded, sending a pulse of energy in every direction. The clouds rippled as the icy blast wave passed through, causing patchy holes to appear. They filled in, but it had been enough to stop the storm’s rotation. I used my Sight one last time, searching the sky, but no traces of the spell or the practitioner remained.
With my power drained and adrenaline fading, my hands began to shake. I planted my staff and leaned on it, trying to catch my breath.
I need a vacation.
“Holy shit.” The quiet exclamation had me whirling around too fast and I fell. At least I was able to partially brace myself and avoided hitting my head on the stone. But my limbs, consumed with bone-deep weariness, failed. I rolled with it and ended up on my back, Valero and Lee staring down at me.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay put?” I asked, voice cracking, trying to ignore the edges of my vision fading to gray. Someone stoked an inferno in my gut, and I found I couldn’t even lift my hand to wipe away the sweat dripping into my eyes. Or was that rain?
Valero knelt next to me, and it was hard to miss the fear in his face. “You all right?”
“I’ll be fine,” I assured him.
And then I passed out.