A/N- I had to do this. It's been bugging me for a while now, and I can't seem to shake it. I offer this to you as a prompt: How did Thomas find out about Harry's death?

Here's mine, hope you like it.

Carlos was lost in a sea of grey cloaks. He wasn't exactly sure how many Wardens there were, but he knew it was way to many to fit on a boat as small as the one they were on. They still did it, but it wasn't comfortable. He was sure it didn't take that many people to investigate a murder or to look at a crime scene. Even if it was the same scene where the notorious Harry Dresden was finally taken out.

It was a small mercy that the local authorities had finished with the place hours before. It was way too many people, and if Harry had been there ,he would have had a fit about them fudging up the evidence.

But he wasn't there...

His body may have been gone, either by slipping into the icy waters or by whatever killed him, but jugging from the amount of blood left on the glossy wooden deck of the Water Beetle (Seriously Dresden? The Water Beetle?) he knew that the once feared wizard was dead. It hurt like a bitch to admit it, but not even a Sasquatch like Harry could loose that much blood.

Water rocked the boat in a peaceful tempo and the chill in the air became more pronounced with each passing second Carlos stood there. Storm clouds rumbled overhead and the Chicago night seemed to grow darker. Everything seemed to grow darker, but the most noticeable to him was his thoughts.

First and foremost was Harry's death curse. The dude packed some serious mojo. He would hate to be the one on the receiving end of that one. Whoever was on the desired target was going to turn up dead or worse, and he knew that he would be investing every paranormal death within a hundred mile radius to see where the curse went. Harry could never do things simply.

His second thought was centered around Harry's friends. Nobody other than the Wardens and a few of CPD's finest knew about the recent addition to the obituary section of the papers. Hell, Harry's buddy Murphy could have been the first one on the scene. Now that he thought about it, she could have been the one to find him. Even if she was, there was no way that she would be able to spread word of his death in her condition. Losing someone you care about is like taking a sucker punch to the gut and the pain never going away, and having met the Sergeant, she was probably at a gym dishing out a few punches herself.

Carlos felt a pang in his chest for the woman he had come to respect. It was only too bad that she and Harry never realized what they had, and he would bet the farm that she was finding that out at that very second what could have happened.

There was only one person that could break the news to the supernatural community of Chicago, him. The council sure as hell weren't going to be the ones who did it. They weren't to be bothered with matters that didn't concern them. It didn't matter that Harry had friends that directly influenced a great deal of council affairs. They didn't care about the mobster, werewolves, white court vamps, sidhe, wizards, cops, and only god knows who else he kept on his mental speed dial. It was going to be a long night.

A sigh escaped Carlos's lips. The night wasn't getting any younger.

His cloak billowed around him as he took his leave from the Water Beetle. The shadows of the night stretched around him and he felt the familiar feeling of paranoia settle in his gut. The hairs on the back of his stood up, and as discreetly as he could, he reached for his blasting rod. Someone was watching him, following him, and with his luck it could have been Dresden's killer.

"Warden Remirez." A voice said behind him. Calling upon his will and readying the first spell that came to mind, Carlos spun on the spot. However, instead of coming face to face with some unknown assailant, he was met by a different sight all together.

Thomas Raith, the White court vampire, or more importantly, one of Harry's right hand men.

"Would you care to explain why my boat is overrun with wardens?" He asked, stepping forward into the dim light of the moon. As usual, he was dressed impeccably with not a hair out of place, but there was something different about him. He looked tired and something lurked in his eyes other than his inner demon. He looked like he was worried.

"Your boat?" He asked. The question was the only thing that came to mind. He didn't want to give any information out until he knew Thomas's game plan.

"Yes, my boat. I loaned it to Harry recently, and I'm wondering what he could have done in only a few hours to have the council in such a fit."

"You don't know?" He asked quietly, and with a start Carlos realized what the vampire was worried about. He was worried about Harry.

Sensing his grief, a brief look of panic crossed Thomas's face. "Ramirez, where's Harry?" Thomas said with venom in his words.

"He's dead."

Carlos could see the emotions on his face twist behind the mask the vampire had so carefully constructed, and he could see denial above all the rest.

"I'm not in the mood for this. Where's Harry?" Thomas asked with a deadly calm and with each word he stalked towards Carlos. Going against his instincts, Carlos put away his blasting rod. He had to make himself as small of a threat as possible. Anything to keep himself alive long enough for him to convince Thomas of his friend's passing.

"He's dead, Thomas." Carlos said, and before he could blink, he was shoved against a fence with a hand around his throat. Black spots danced in his vision and he could barely think straight as the lack of oxygen made itself know.

"No, He's. Not." Thomas growled. His expression was a mixture between disbelief and rage. It would take a miracle for him to escape this one, but he had to try.

"S-sorry." He choked out, using the last bit of the precious air he had left. It was sad to think that he would be joining Harry in the afterlife so soon, and at the hands of one of Harry's most trusted too. They even had the same pendent for Christ's sake.

Suddenly, the hand released his throat.

"You're not lying to me, are you?" Thomas asked, his voice shifted from angry to tired in a flash. Carlos couldn't speak over the coughing and retching noises his body was making, so he settled for shaking his head. "D-did you find his body?"

Carlos shook his head again.

"He might be alive."

"Too much blood." He panted. He had to make the vampire see sense, but it looked as if Thomas wasn't having any of it. Never before has Carlos seen that level of devotion between a vampire and a wizard. In fact, he had never seen something resembling it at all.

"If you don't believe that he could be alive, then you don't know Harry as well as you think you do." Thomas snapped, and he could only watch the vampire's retreating form vanish into the darkness. It was the kind of actions like the ones that Thomas had just displayed that always made Carlos think that the two of them were more than the friends that they claimed to be. He knew for a fact that Harry wasn't gay, but something still nagged at him from the back of his mind. It may have had something to do with the pendents or the way their jawlines were identical, but whatever it was he hoped to hell that Harry wasn't as close to all his friends as he was Thomas.

If he was, Carlos was in for a rough night.

Using the fence as a support, Carlos pulled himself to his feet.

"Might as well start with the werewolves."

A/N- Feed the idea gnome, leave a review. He's hungry.