I was lost, tired and bleeding when I first met her. She saved me from… something. Too tired to use magic, I was down to my last shot, and I doubted it would do anything other than make it mad. The other eleven I'd put in the thing hadn't. It was maybe ten foot tall, hunched over as it was, with claws the size of my forearm and even larger horns. It was strong, fast, and worst of all, smart. It had me backed into a corner and I swear it was grinning, showing enough razor sharp teeth to make a shark green with envy.
And then it's head exploded.
It collapsed forward, and I barely managed to move out the way of the things claws, though they managed to cut through my duster. My magically reinforced, bullet proof leather duster. Hells bells.
She stepped out of the shadows, holding a shotgun in front of her, but not pointed at me. I had my .44 up and pointed at her before I could think.
"Now, is that anyway to thank the gal that just saved your hide?" She took another step forward, into a shaft of sunlight, and I got my first good look at her.
She was short. She came up to around the middle of my chest, putting her at a little over five foot, maybe five four. She was wearing dark green armour of some kind, and even in that I doubted she weighed more than a hundred and fifty pounds. The bags she was carrying probably put her over that, though.
She had bright red hair and dark greens eyes, and a small smile tugged at her lips. She was pretty, not inhumanly so like some of the things I run into, but a pure, wholesome sort of pretty, that makes you think of apple pie and white picket fences.
Eventually, I managed to stop gawking and find my tongue. "No, it isn't. Names Harry Dresden," I said. I reached out to shake her hand. She looked at it for a second before taking it. She gave it a quick shake and let go.
"You don't look like you're from around here, Harry Dresden. Not enough dirt on you." She looked me up and down. "You certainly got the scars though."
I couldn't place her accent, which was starting to annoy me. It sounded vaguely British, in that it was posh, but had a certain down to earth charm to it.
"Where exactly is 'here'?" I asked.
She looked at me like I was an idiot, which was fair. After looking at me for a few seconds, she frowned. "You really don't know?" I shook my head. "Well then. Harry Dresden, let me be the first to welcome you to the Capitol Wasteland."