Short two-shot that takes place some time after Dead Beat.
AN: I cannot remember why kind of car Michael drives, though I know he has one. Sorry that it's going to be completely made up.
I also don't remember the kind of relationship Thomas and Michael had, since I'm still rereading that book when I'm writing this and don't want to skip ahead so… call it AU if I got it wrong.
On the Job
"Harry, you know, I never thought about it before, but have you never had a real job?"
Thomas's question wasn't the first today that irked me, but I let it go, grabbing another cart off the truck. The rent was due soon and I had to rely on one of the clients that had come to my office that I'd initially passed up in order to make the payment.
"Stuff it. I haven't needed to do anything like this before, okay? And what do you mean, real job? I have a real job."
"You sit around your office, waiting for work to come to you while you read and do a lot of nothing. The only time you work you get some awful case that puts your life and the lives of others in danger and, even after you complete it, you almost never make out with the money you should. Honestly, I have no idea how you can call what you do a job."
If Thomas said more, I was already out of earshot. He didn't have to add insult to injury. It wasn't as if I got myself into those messes alone, and he was to thank for at least one of them and he knew it. Damn it, why did he have to come along?
Because, Harry, I told myself. You're no people person and you never could have gotten hired on your own.
My client this time, like most of the times I ended up falling into a case I wouldn't want to touch with a 39-½ foot pole, was a woman. She was in her thirties and her husband was a delivery driver. Her name was Marlene Tyler, and she contacted me because she'd been afraid her husband was cheating on her. I would have been surprised if he was. For a woman in her thirties, she looked in her early twenties; golden brown hair cut in some long, curly fashion that brought out the glow in her eyes. The way she sat spoke of too much formality but that was where it ended. She was just like any other woman, if not slightly more attractive than most, and even without showing off it was easy to tell she had all the right curves.
Every other detective she had hired had dropped her case. All nine of them. That was more than enough to keep certain wizards who didn't deal in marital problems away, but then she'd started crying and I'd seen the bill lying on my desk. I said yes for the money, I really did. It wasn't because my reassurances that I'd find out he was doing had made her stop crying and leave my office with a smile. It wasn't, really.
And of course I had to go to Thomas to help me get hired on and, if need be, explain why I had to sit in the back and not be near the huge engine that I could make go boom by just passing too close to it.
My brother, true to form, was doing almost no work and no one seemed to care. Even Ms. Tyler's husband, Ben, looked right past him as if he weren't even there and passed me with the next load of beverages we were dropping off. I stopped near Thomas before taking the cap of the uniform and hitting it downward so it hid his eyes.
"You know, just standing there isn't helping me at all. If you make him fall for you I'm going to have even more of a problem. Quit trying to look so damn appealing to everyone."
Thomas laughed, fixing the cap back up on his head to show off sparkling silver eyes and a smile. I noticed two girls walking by stop and look at him, even half shaded by the truck as he was.
"You know I'm not doing it on purpose. Funny it never works on you. Maybe you're just too weird to sense how irresistible I am."
"Oh, I sense it. No one can hide it from me when you're nearby. And gross, you're my brother. Why would you be able to affect me?"
"Wouldn't be the first time. We may not be able to affect one another when we're full-fledged creatures of pleasure, but we're fair game before that. You being my brother – and half brother might I add to stress even less blood – shouldn't matter at all." Thomas suddenly took my hand and looked me in the eye, drawing way too close to be anything other than an invasion of my space. "You really don't feel anything?" he asked in a voice that I'm sure had previously sent hundreds of girls to their knees.
It had no affect what so ever on me.
"Huh." Thomas let me go, eyeing me as he leaned against the truck. "You know, I was just joking before, but maybe there is something weird with you. I'm sure you've felt the allure of others of my kind, even if not from my House. Don't you feel anything from them?"
I nodded. It wasn't a great thing to admit to, but I was a man. If I didn't feel anything when something seductive was trying to seduce me, I'd be worried about my own internal workings. I'd never felt that way with Thomas though. "Maybe you're just not my type of date?" I answered, unsure as well.
"Hey! Get back to work!"
I jumped when Ben was suddenly behind me, taking another cart inside. His eyes were on me alone and I didn't miss the smirk when I turned back to Thomas, passed him, and grabbed another cart myself.
"At least I know I'm not the defective one."
Thomas gave me something to think about, after I got over the bit of anger at him just lounging around. Then again, Thomas wasn't getting paid for this, and I had never offered him anything for his help. He still owed me, but I was on shaky ground about that, as I owed him as well.
Laura had been able to… get to that part of my brain that I would rather not have controlling my actions. She hadn't been able to control me as easily as she had so many others, and I had surprised her, but I always assumed it was because I was a wizard. We weren't as easy to turn as a human, be it towards creatures of the dark or the light. We were just too stubborn.
What if there was something else though? I felt my hand go to the necklace. It had been my mother's and Thomas wore a similar one, though far less beat up and charred than my own. Maybe that had something to do with it? I knew she'd been with the White Court before I was born. I know she overcame their enthralling powers. But did that somehow change they way they got to me? I wasn't sure. It didn't sound like Thomas had been able to resist, but I hadn't been reading his expression too close when he'd used the term 'fair game'.
Thomas had always belittled himself to remain alive though. It was possible he wouldn't have fought or wanted to fight as hard as I would normally. Since he was fully grown into his powers, it wasn't as if we could test it.
"You know, Raith, you really are a terrible worker," Ben said to me as he passed. I tried not to wince. I hadn't been able to fill out the application I'd been handed without putting in a name. I sincerely hoped that Laura never found out about that. My own name was getting pretty well known around town, and Thomas hadn't faked his own, so I had figured it was the best way to go. I was sure more than the supposed bloodline had kept both of us on deliveries with Ben when only one would fit in the front of the truck with him. I hadn't asked Thomas what he'd done, but my brother had looked far too pleased when I'd been stunned to be asked along.
I went back to the truck, the job here done, while Ben nodded to Thomas. My brother hopped out of the delivery area as I stepped in, looking far too graceful, even flourishing his pitch-black hair out of his too pale face as he shot me a grin. I didn't miss Ben blink at him and not move for a few seconds after Thomas had already stepped past him before getting his wits back. He threw me a glare, slamming the door closed while I went over and sat in the only section of the truck that didn't put me in any danger of being 'that person who was crushed by a hundred bottles of cola because the driver took too sharp a turn'.
Thomas really wasn't making my job any easier and I really needed this money. I'd make near nothing, if not nothing – what with me using a fake name and all, working as a delivery boy.
There was a jerk and I slid a foot or so from where I'd been sitting, watching the bottles shake. I hit the side of the truck out of sudden anger at being frightened. "Hey, watch what you're doing!"
Then the truck stopped.
"Damn it," I cursed under my breath. I didn't think I'd been close enough to screw up the engine, but things went wrong when wizards got angry or scared or any really strong emotion flared up.
I waited, thinking it was better to let them handle it. If I got close I'd likely just make the whole thing worse. I'd done some pretty bad things to cars when I hadn't meant to. Thomas's big hunk of a tank was probably the only thing besides my own Blue Beatle that could handle me for any amount of time, and even that consisted of only a drive or two around town.
"Harry!" There was knocking at the door but it didn't open. I knew it was Thomas though. It was hard to hear but Ben's voice was deeper than my brother's that the insulation didn't matter much. "Could use some help out here!"
And how exactly was I supposed to help? I got up, opening the door to find we were parked along the side of a busy Chicago street. There were a line of cars behind the truck, going around it when we weren't moving and more than enough honking.
Of course, that was what I took in secondary. What first caught my attention was Thomas, side stepping blows and what appeared to be a small dagger of some sort that Ben was wielding, aiming to do any damage he could with it. There was a small cut through the sleeve on Thomas's uniform, pale blood staining the green of it.
"Thomas!" I had no idea what was going on but I sensed an underlay of magic. It wasn't strong but it wasn't weak either, and it was centered around Ben. Thomas easily avoided his attacks so I took a few seconds to assess the situation. I raised my hand, the shield bracelet there. I had nothing on me to focus my magic but I could at least defend myself if I had to.
The magic I was feeling was like nothing I'd ever encountered before. It was almost… demonic. I'd seen hellhounds close up and I was sensing the same feral power coming from the man now. His irises were pinpoint marks in his eyes there was a great big grin on his slightly overweight face as he repeatedly went after Thomas.
He looked like a man high off his ass on drugs and steroids.
There weren't many people who could keep up with my brother, and Ben wasn't as slim as Thomas, though they had about the same height on one another. It was one of the perks that came with being a White Court vampire. He was stronger and faster than any human, though not to the point some creatures of the Nevernever could reach. I'd gone jogging with him many, many times not to notice that I'd never be winning any marathons against him.
Yet Ben's attacks were fast, just barely missing skin. A few ripped at the uniform but no more than that. That was still closer than most could get.
So, odds were something from the Nevernever was possessing Ben and having him attack Thomas. But why? We'd only just started the job today and Ben didn't know either of us before now. No one who knew the man would associate him with us, and I was pretty sure most of the people who Thomas had made enemies with were in his own house or one of the other vampire houses. They could enthrall people but not control them like Ben was obviously being used.
"Harry, can you be something other than a bystander? If I hit him, I'll probably kill him or do more damage than I want." Thomas jumped aside, another rip showing up on the front of his shirt, the smallest trace of too light blood there as well.
"Working on it. I'm not an exorcist." This was something I'd need Michael for. I was in the same position Thomas was. If I threw any spells at Ben, uncontrolled without my staff or blasting rod to focus them, I'd likely take him out with whatever possessed him.
"Can you do something to just make him not move then? I've seen you do that before." Thomas jumped aside again. He had enough endurance that I wasn't overly worried, but he was going to ruin that uniform.
"I could but it would trap you with him, assuming you kept him still long enough for me to trap him in a circle."
"Damn it. You're so useless," Thomas shot back, ducking a punch and risking a kick to sweep out Ben's legs. It worked, the man falling to the floor but not letting go of the knife. Thomas tried to get on top of him but Ben moved to defend himself, the knife tip keeping him back as he got to his feet again, quiet dark laughed escaping his throat.
On an impulse, I stepped out of the truck and on his other side, shield bracelet up.
Ben turned to me, his smile fading a bit until he turned back to my brother, ignoring me completely.
Okay, so chalk one up to me. He was only after Thomas. That, or he didn't think of me as a threat.
More jumping and lunging and dodging started up again after that. I lowered my hand and watched, thinking. There was no way I could hold Ben down long. If his speed was already above mine, odds were the possession helped with any other faults he had as well. I could catch him in a circle, but I'd have to make it a mortal one, which could take some time and were harder than catching anything non-human.
Wait, if Ben was possessed, he wouldn't be able to leave a circle with something supernatural inside of him. I could probably set one up and get Thomas to lead him to it before closing it.
I looked around at several men and women who were gathering around to watch. I wasn't sure if any had called the police, but more were walking away than staying. As long as no one broke the circle, I should be able to keep him where he was.
If I didn't catch Thomas in it as well. Being a vampire, he'd be bound by the same laws Ben's possessor would.
I drew a rather large circle on the ground with the chalk I had in my pocket. I always kept some, even when I wasn't expecting anything supernatural to come at me. Circles helped me focus my magic and I used them for my finding spells all the time.
I didn't close it as I stepped back. The opening was closer to the two brawlers. I didn't want them to smudge it by walking over it and Ben wouldn't jump to avoid chalk lines like Thomas would. I'd have to be quick and my brother would have to be quicker in order for him to run out before I had to closed.
"Thomas! Over here and be careful!" He had room to dodge out here but if he got unlucky and was stuck at close range, even Thomas's superior speed wouldn't hold long.
Thomas looked over but he was quickly distracted again, not having much time to see what I'd done. He couldn't miss the circle though and I saw him nod, waiting for another punch as he ducked and ran as fast as he could towards me. Or, as fast as he could without tapping too much of his power.
Ben was close behind him and I blinked as the man put the knife his teeth and got down onto his hands and started running like a dog after Thomas. The only difference was, a dog had much shorter back legs. Ben did not and watching him run with them bent up and throwing his butt in the air would have been funny if he didn't look like he was salivating over a knife that had Thomas's blood on it.
Thomas was faster, but only because Ben had taken the time to move the knife and change his stance. He caught up soon enough, running in that awkward position, but not before Thomas had jumped the chalk line and I finished it, putting my will into it as it snapped shut.
Then something was in my brain, pushing against my walls. It was strong and it hurt and I felt myself fall to a knee outside the circle. There was growling and snarling and darkness that were almost enough to break my concentration. I hadn't been expecting as much recoil and hadn't prepared myself for it. Whatever was inside Ben, I wasn't feeling half of its power.
Thomas was by my side, letting out slow pants of breath. "Harry?" I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"Fine," I spoke in a pained breath. I pushed back against the force, getting to my feet. I had held back worse and this thing wasn't about to get the best of me. "What the hell happened?"
Thomas shook his head as Ben went at the invisible force of my circle, scratching at it like a dog and pushing back with his power, taking more of my concentration to force him back with. Thomas must have seen me wince because he moved so he was between Ben and me if the circle failed.
"I don't know. He just slammed on the breaks. I asked him what was wrong and he pulled out the knife and started coming at me. I bailed and figured you might be able to do something." He shrugged. "And you did, kind of."
"Can you feel it?" I asked. I knew Thomas didn't have magic like I did, but he had other senses I didn't possess. "It's obviously a dog of some kind, but I've never seen someone get possessed like this before."
"It's holy," Thomas spoke in a quiet voice, putting a hand up to his arm. It was the one that hadn't been slashed and I wondered why he was holding it. "Or unholy. Either way, its power comes from a god of some sort. It burns."
While true love was a White Court vampire's major weakness, all of them seemed to have some aversion to faith. The Red Court held that weakness the most, being the closest type of vampire to the known world with all the common weaknesses. It wasn't just the vampire courts that were affected this way. Most supernatural creatures couldn't stand to touch anything that had faith as a backbone to it. Thomas could hold up a cross without flinching but if it belonged to a steadfast Christian who believed, really believed, I was sure it wouldn't be as simple.
"How bad is your arm?" I asked.
Thomas smiled and shook his head, Ben getting my attention by snarling and trying at the barrier again. We both waited, watching the man for a few seconds before Thomas turned back to me. "Not as bad as it feels. I'll heal."
I nodded, not questioning him. That wasn't much of an answer but I'd have to believe he was telling the truth. I watched Ben pace inside the circle, back on four legs and making sure he didn't touch the boundary of it just yet. It was small, but I could see traces of dark, black magic around him.
Which made me frown.
"What kind of holy magic uses black magic with it?" I'd never heard of such a thing but, like Thomas, I'd felt a strange type of sanctity around Ben as well.
"Well, I'm not as well versed as you in this type of thing but people believe there's a heaven in Christianity, right? And they believe there's a hell. I've heard of Satanism before. It's a religion, if not a dark one. I can't say I know more than that about it though. Maybe it's something like that."
I wasn't as well versed on religions like that but Thomas had a point. It didn't have to be a 'good' holy creature to put itself in the 'faith' category. I used my necklace in a very similar way when it came to my belief in magic.
"And why's it after you? It clearly isn't interested in me."
"It wasn't," Thomas corrected, pointing behind him at Ben. "It looks like it wouldn't mind ripping your throat out now. What are we supposed to do with him?"
Right, we had to do something. If the police came, they would hardly take our word for it that Ben had to stay in the circle. They'd think us deranged and I didn't have time to contact Murphy. Besides, there was nothing the Chicago PD could do about this one.
"I have to call Michael," I told him calmly. "He'd be able to do something, I think."
"You think? How reassuring." Thomas pulled out his cell and sighed. "And you've killed my phone, again."
"Go ask one of the girls for theirs. I'm sure they wouldn't mind," I said with a cheeky smile. "I'll give you the number. Tell Michael it's me and that I need him to come out here and exorcise something evil. I can't risk losing concentration on the circle."
Thomas nodded without questing me further and went over to the crowd, smiling and talking with a few of them. I noticed them all start to laugh and one of the women blushed a few seconds later, handing over her phone. The undercurrent of fear and tension was gone, something softer and kinder replacing it. It helped relax some of the tension in me as well, though not enough for me to let my guard down with a very angry looking possessed man behind a thin wall of magic.
Thomas handed her phone back after a minute or so, taking her hand and kissing the back of it before pulling away. More than a few of them looked like they wanted to follow him back to where I was standing but apparently my face, or Ben's, was enough to have them give that idea a second thought.
"He said he was already on his way," Thomas said when he was once more at my side. "Something about telling you that calling him wasn't necessary and that he looks out for this kind of thing. The emphasis on that word was his."
I snorted out a laugh. Of course one of the very few times I need Michael, someone was looking out for me and already sent him on his way. I liked when that happened, but it didn't happen nearly as often as it should. Since Michael was the 'go to' guy of this kind of thing, on any spiritual plain, it meant whatever was inside of Ben had caught attention to itself.
"I haven't seen him in a while. Not since Justine was kidnapped anyway. I don't think he really likes me."
The fact that Michael had stood beside Thomas at all, when he knew what he was, said more than enough. Then again, there were kidnapped women at the time and hurting someone who was helping was never a good idea. I wasn't sure how well he'd take to him now.
"He knows your helping me. He may not like it, but he won't attack you, not unless he sees you feeding, so try not to do that in his presence and we're golden."
"Oh yeah, I was planning on taking one of the women in the street, right here," Thomas said with a roll of his eyes. "And I'm hungry, so lets stop talking about it."
I raised an eyebrow. I knew Thomas wasn't exactly indulging himself, but he didn't usually come help me when he was hungry. It left far too many people getting far too close too fast and screwing up anything I'd been planning.
"You didn't look it before." His eyes were the telling sign. Like all White Court vampires, they were silver. They turned a near white when they grew too hungry, or were taping a lot of their power, and I'd seen Thomas's like that a few too many times to be comfortable with.
"I wasn't, not before Ben touched me. It's taken a lot more power to heal that then the stupid cuts." Thomas grabbed the part of his shirtsleeve his blood had stained and pulled it down, revealing a healed cut. "Holy power hurts, and you know it, in an academic kind of way, so shut up."
"Sorry." I didn't know Thomas had used so much of his power to heal. It was likely why he was moving at his normal, superhuman speed, rather than putting on any extra help from the demon inside of him.
"I feel bad for Ben," Thomas acknowledged, his thoughts likely going where mine had at that thought. "If Michael can help him, great, but it's clear something is using him to try to get to me. I'm not sure why. I haven't made any new enemies, and don't know any I already have that use anything like this."
"It could be it's an enemy that Ben made," I said, trying to open up that path instead. My own list was so long I wouldn't know where to start, and I was pretty happy I didn't have to look into it. "Maybe it wanted him to kill whoever he was with at the time. That would have only been you. There are some spells like that, if you're in a close proximity, and this possession seems more like a type of summoning than something this obviously intelligent snarling beast would come up with on it's own."
"If that's the case, I'm looking at who's to blame." Thomas leveled his eyes at me but he smiled. "You're always getting me into trouble."
"Look at it this way instead. If it hadn't been you, we'd have a dead body on our hands. Maybe mine or maybe Ben's. I'm not sure how I would have reacted to protect myself."
"You can thank me later then." Thomas stretched, though I wasn't sure if he needed to. It looked good and there were more than enough eyes on him. "Oh, by the way." He tipped his head and looked at me. "I think my own powers don't work so well on you because I really don't want them to. I was thinking about it before Ben went nuts on me."
"You can't control them though, right?"
Thomas nodded. "That doesn't mean I wouldn't do some pretty bad things that I wouldn't like if something happened to you because I distracted you by looking so appealing." He smiled, his light eyes on my dark ones. We really looked very little a like, though it was there, in the shape. "I'm sure you'd feel terrible if something happened to me because of something you did too."
It wasn't a question and Thomas didn't have to make it one. He knew how much having a brother out there mattered to me, and Thomas wasn't a bad guy. If he had been, brother or not, I would never have let him so close.
A white Honda minivan pulled up, too new for me to want to step near on any given day. Out of it came Michael Carpenter, his sword, Amoracchius, clearly unsheathed and at his side. The broadsword was enough to have some of the people who had been lingering step back and away from him as he made his way over to Thomas and me.
Michael stopped, the sword glowing white and letting out a small sound that was hard to hear over the Chicago traffic. He eyed Thomas, who eyed him back, though neither showed any hatred towards one another – just a steady undercurrent of worry and trust issues. I sighed and stepped over to Michael, showing off Ben who was once more clawing at the barrier, only on the opposite end now.
"Thanks for coming. Our driver suddenly decided to go all possessed on us when I wasn't expecting it."
Michael relaxed slightly and stepped forward with a nod. He had no smile on his face as he went over to the circle, stepping around it and careful to not break it. Where Ben could not, Michael very well could break through it with something as simple as an untied shoelace.
Ben didn't move other than bend down on himself and start to quiver as Michael made his way around. I watched the knight place the sword on the very edge of the circle, bending his head forward and murmuring words that I couldn't possibly hear. Ben sank further down into the ground until it looked like he was trying to merge into it. After a few seconds, I noticed a white glow start around Michael's frame and he reached his hand out. I felt the magic of the circle snap around me like a twig, an audible sound similarly accompanying it and the pressure in my head now gone. He placed a glowing hand on Ben's head, bending down towards him.
Then Ben's features started to relax and I watched his eyes close as the white light started to envelop him for a few seconds as well before winking out when the man fell unconscious.
Michael went to one of his knees and rubbed Ben's arm for a few seconds before standing up and coming over to us.
"That's the first time I've seen something like that. It felt very foreign to me, and it was full of pain and suffering. Whatever the creature was, it was not here willingly, and it was very angry."
I nodded. "It was holy."
Michael shook his head. "Not something that I'm familiar with," he repeated. "I could ask Sanya if he knows anything about it though. He's traveled more than I have, but not by much. What was it doing here?"
I shrugged. "I have no idea. I was only here because our friend Ben here has a wife that thinks he's cheating on her. I wasn't expecting to run into this kind of thing."
"And yet you brought him." Michael turned back towards Thomas who stiffened slightly.
"To get hired. It's not easy for me to get a job, you know," I clarified. Michael wasn't any better at talking to people than I was and telling them it was a holy mission from God to save the sanctity of someone's marriage would never have flown with any company.
He raised an eyebrow but said nothing more. He looked back towards where Ben was lying, looking sound asleep. "He should be better now, but there's nothing I can do to keep him from being used by evil again. It has already touched him once, and next time will be even easier.
I nodded. Following Ben around didn't seem like it was going to be the cakewalk of a job I'd signed up for. Telling his wife that some sort of holy evil spirit likely possessed him, and might do so again, would have me fired. I could lie and say I'd found something, but I had never done that before, and I wouldn't now.
"I'm not getting paid for this, am I?"
Thomas and Michael both smiled at me. "There is no need to get paid for doing good in this world, Harry," Michael spoke all saintly.
"Yeah, and tools don't come cheap. Why do you think all the bad guys are rich? I just like to have an even playing field."
"The lord will give us all we need to accomplish his work."
Yeah, maybe Michael, but I was pretty sure the big guy didn't like me enough to make sure I had food and clothes every day, let alone a place to stay. The only person looking out for me was me, and I'd rather have something I could hold in my hand.
"Harry, if you don't need me anymore, I think I'm going to go home." I turned to Thomas when he spoke, seeing his eyes too white and a stiffness to his posture. I wasn't sure if I wanted to send him back that way, but he had helped and there really was nothing he could do right now.
"Think you can get Ben in the truck for me before you leave? I don't know of the police are going to show up, but it's better he doesn't get trampled anyway." We could all probably lift him, but Thomas would have a much easier time of it, and it felt strange asking Michael to do something so simple.
"Sure, as long as he's not going to bite my head off the second I get close to him again." Thomas went over to the truck, opening the back door first before going over and picking up Ben. He put him in the back, laying him down as comfortably as he could on a metal floor. "I'll call you after I get some rest or something," Thomas added vaguely, not walking back towards me and heading to his house. He probably didn't want to pass Michael again.
"Thanks for your help, Thomas." I would likely need it again, and Ben had all the more reason not to want to be near me. I could tail him, but this way was much easier and if he was going around, slashing at whoever was riding with him next time, I didn't want it to be some poor soul that didn't know what they were in for.
"I'll talk to Sanya," Michael said as he sheathed his sword. I didn't miss the fact that he waited until Thomas was gone before putting it away. "I'd recommend you take your friend there to a church, to make sure it doesn't happen again. He needs to recover."
"I would if I could but I can't," I admitted. "He's not my client and he wouldn't listen to me in any case. I'm not about to get fired because he tells the bosses I'm crazy. If it happens again, I'll be here." But then, what if it happened at home, with his wife? Did they have children? I leaned against the side of the truck. "I don't suppose giving him a cross to wear will help any."
Michael shook his head. "Not unless there's faith behind it, Harry. You know that. You can talk to him about it though. Perhaps his is more religious than you think. I have to go. Charity thinks I'm picking up the kids right now, and I really am. I don't want to leave them waiting too long."
I laughed and shooed him again. "Go on. I'd be more afraid of her than any demon."
"You and me both," Michael agreed before heading back over to his minivan that had barely enough room for his family.
I was left to sit there and wait for Ben to wake up, happy that the people had on the street must have thought we were shooting a movie or something. Or at worst, didn't care. Right now I was good with that, though it made me unsure of where this city was going to go if everyone in it turned their heads away from what they saw.
"Ow," were Ben's first words as he put a hand to his head and tried to sit up, obvious aches there followed by more 'ow's'. "What happened?"
"You passed out," I lied on the fly. I wasn't very good at lying but Ben still looked half asleep. "Thomas was able to take the wheel and pull over. He said it scared him though and he wanted to go home for the day. I wasn't sure if you needed an ambulance. Are you feeling okay?"
"I think so." Ben rubbed his head, mussing his hair in an unappealing fashion, grease or sweat making it stand up. "I've never passed out before."
"Maybe you're tired or hungry. We can take a break and get back to work after. I'm sure the bosses will understand." There was no way I was letting him behind the wheel of that big truck right now and I couldn't drive it. Thomas probably could have but I'm not sure I would have liked what would have happened in the cabin if he'd stayed.
"Yeah, food doesn't sound that bad." He looked around at where we were and I decided that was a pretty good idea. Going a few feet down the street it looked like we were illegally parked on the corner of North Orleans Street, in Old Town Chicago. Division was still a few lights up but there was still far too much traffic to stay here.
And of course there was a Church not half a street away. It was a work day and there didn't seem to be many cars in the lot.
"We can park in there and if anyone asked we can tell them there was an accident." The police were going to get called if we stayed here anyway. I was pretty sure no one was going to care if there was a truck in their lot for the next half an hour or so.
"Yeah," Ben agreed, far to easily. He still seemed out of it as he got out of the back of the truck. "Sounds good to me. I think I might just call in and have someone pick up the rig. I don't want to risk passing out again."
I didn't want to be alone with him either, so I hurriedly agreed as I took his spot in the truck as he moved it across the street, taking up a third of the parking spots there. Being a nice guy short on rent as I was, I paid for my own food and kept Ben company for a while. He was still shaken up. I'd never been possessed before but I was pretty sure the aftereffects weren't the nicest things in the world.
We parted ways after and I had to call Murphy to come pick me up. She hadn't called me for a case in a while and I wasn't about to call Michael back, and I knew Thomas was busy.
"Dresden," she spoke tersely, with just a hint of laughter, as she reached over and threw open the door to her small Saturn. "What in the world are you wearing?"
I looked down at the green work outfit I still had on, touching the cap on my head and taking it off. I really didn't like hats all that much. I got in and tossed it in the front of her windshield, where it wouldn't impede her vision. "What?" I asked. "Don't like me in green?"
"You're certainly ruining that image I have of you," she answered back, shifting the car back into park. The noise it let out when she did made both of us wince. "Remind me why I'm picking you up again?"
"I don't have money for the bus," I said honestly. "And I left my car back at my place."
"You're still not telling me the real reason I'm picking you up. I doubt your date left you stranded in the middle of the city."
"I wish." If that had happened, there was no way I would have called Murphy though. "If only my life were that simple. I'll call client confidentiality for now. Don't worry, Murph. It's nothing on your side of things."
"You say that now but if I find you were involved with something or someone's dead and it has something to do with you, I'm not going to be happy."
I shrugged. I wasn't planning on letting Ben die or anything, but I was worried about Marlene Tyler as well now. If I had a way of warning her, which would be great, but she'd never believe me as things stood now. Ultimately, her husband wasn't doing anything wrong, or if he was, I had bigger issues to deal with at the moment. The first thing I'd have to do was find out what possessed him, and Michael was my best option there. If it attached itself to Ben the next time I was around, I'd make sure I was prepared and I could force it to show itself.
"Dresden," Murphy snapped, drawing me out of my thoughts. "That won't happen, right?"
"Of course not," I assured her. "I haven't even finished my investigation yet or I might be able to talk to you. I can tell you that there is a husband and wife out there that don't seem to be hitting it off as well as they used to and maybe there might be something with said husband that made him go Chucky on me just now. I don't think it will happen again and no one's hurt." Thomas had been but I was pretty sure he wasn't hurt anymore. "Right now, the police don't know who he is and I'd like to protect him so they'll never have to."
"There's a man out there who just randomly attacked and, by the sound of it, tried to kill you, and you don't think that's police business?"
"He didn't try to," I corrected her quickly, hearing how angry she was getting. "Something got inside of him and was doing it. And it didn't go after me, it went after Thomas."
Murphy frowned. "Thomas? The vampire?"
I nodded. Murphy and Thomas hasn't been around each other much and, with the way most women looked at him, I think we were both happy they didn't have to meet that often. "I needed his help to watch someone. Rents due soon and I wasn't expecting this."
Murphy sighed. "I'd help, but there's nothing that's come in lately, and to be honest, I don't like using you as much as I could."
Her words stung a bit but I knew what kind of position she was in. Her job wasn't easy and her superiors didn't like to believe there were really things out there that could tear apart people in the way both of us had seen, so they liked to pretend it never happened and called any funds their department had a waste of money.
"I know that." She still called me in whenever magic was involved, whether they wanted her to or not, so I knew there just wasn't anything going on right now. I'd never forsake a calm month again, even if it meant I had to take on cases like this. I didn't need her help on this either, or I'd ask her for it. Murphy was the easiest of my 'most of the time' friends to talk to, and the best one to get at the last second when I finally did make that call.
She dropped me off in front of my house, giving me a few last warnings that I'd better know what I was doing, before driving off. I thank her and wondered if I took her away from work. She hadn't said anything about what she was doing when she'd picked me up.
Inside my dark and cozy basement apartment, I stopped for only a few second to pull open the trap door before going into my lab. I'd have liked to do something more productive, maybe follow Ben around, but I'd gotten some of his hair while he'd been out and I could track him later if I needed to.
Bob's eye lights were dim. I had to knock on the counter a few times to get his attention. "Hey, Bob. I need your help here."
The skull made a yawning noise, moving a bit where it was set on the shelf. "When do you not need my help? I'm like your personal Wiki."
I turned my head to him and frowned. "Wiki?"
"Never mind," Bob retorted. "So, what is it you need today? Please tell me it has something to do with women."
"Afraid not," I said, sitting down in my own chair and taking out my notebook. "I just ran into something I've never seen before. I was hoping you could give me a few guesses at what it was." I trusted Michael but if anyone knew something about every form of evil out there, it was Bob.
"Alright, alright. Give me the details. I'll see what I come up with. You owe me though. I was in the middle of something."
"Bob, you live in a skull. What could you be in the middle of?"
There was laughter and the skull rattled slightly against the wood. "More than you've been up to in the last decade or so. Go on then, ask away before I get bored."
"Right. I think I'm dealing with some kind of possessing spirit. Something from the 'holier than thou' side of things. It uses black magic though. I've never heard of a spirit doing that."
There was a sigh, though Bob had no breath. "Harry, Harry. The things you don't know could fill books, libraries. The main reason people like you don't hear of evil gods are because, once gods fall, they stop being gods. You call them demons, and you've run into a few of those before. There are some parts of the world though that do not believe in demons, only spirits, and they are holy whether they are good or evil. China and Japan are the areas with those types of beliefs, though Buddhism, Hinduism, and others have some gods of power that are more towards your version of evil in the wrong light. If you're dealing with a god though, you're on your own. Nothing I could say could help you fight off one of those."
I shook my head. "It wasn't smart enough for that. It kind of acted like a dog."
"A dog?" I could sense the curiosity in Bob's words, though he had no facial expression. "Sounds more like a familiar to me, Harry."
"A familiar? You mean like those old stories where wizards keep an animal at their side?" We might have in the past too. I was never sure and I'd never cared to ask Bob. "But this was a spirit and, like I said, it was holy."
"Ah, but Harry, a wizard can take on any kind of familiar they want. If they know how to work the magic, they can bewitch anything. Knowing something's true name works too, but it's not the same thing. As long as you remain in control, you can summon a spirit as a familiar for a short period of time."
"I'm lost." I had written down a few words but there was some bigger point I wasn't getting.
"That doesn't surprise me."
I didn't tell him to shut up. "What's the differences between a summon and a familiar?"
"A summon is usually done by a wizard. What the wizard calls upon my very, but most summons in this world are done to call demons. Once here, the demon is only in this world until it is killed. It has full reign of itself and can do what it wants unless sent back by a wizard. Think of it as having a pit bull on a very thin leash."
I nodded. I knew enough about summons to know that. I'd summoned a few demons myself. "And a familiar?"
"A familiar," Bob continued. "Is typically bodiless. They are spirits, either of the earth – such as creatures or sometimes even of trees and the like that live long enough to have one of their own. Sometimes they're spirits from the Nevernever. Obviously the later is much more powerful. Unlike a normal summon, familiars bond to their summoner and there is no risk of losing control of them once they're set out do something. They simply do it and return. If the person wants to use them as their familiar again, they'd need to redo whatever ceremony they had used the first time, and hope the spirit does what they wished. For a familiar, it's more like flipping a coin. If you flip wrong, things go wrong. Usually the person doing it ends up dead."
"What's with all those stories of black cats and witches then?" I asked.
Bob tutted. "Summoned familiars trapped in the body of animals. It's a dangerous game, if they do not want to be there, and a lot of the people who tried it did not live to regret it. Most summoned familiars tend to be on the tamer side though, as they were originally animals of some sort. A few truly do want to work with humans, but now a days you don't find many who know the names of these spirits or how to call them. This area isn't big on its animal spirits."
"Wait, wait. How does that make them holy?" I wrote down a few more notes, realizing Bob had never explained that part.
"Not all of them are. The few that would be considered in that category are closer to demons and they need something larger to be preformed to call them here. You can't miss that kind of thing when you see it. Usually it involves a lot of blood, mostly from different types of animals, depending on what you're summoning. The person creating the ritual treats them like a holy creature and ends up giving them they power, even if they didn't have it before."
"So they're only really dangerous if there's a summoner somewhere to call them. Most of these spirits don't act on their own, right?'
"Harry." There was another sighing noise. "Like I said, most were originally animals. Animals are not like you humans. They do not go out seeking to destroy anything. They come and they go, depending on how strong they are. There are some out there that obtain more power and do linger, but again, they are more animal than human. They'd have no reason to attack anyway. That's why I think your dog spirit there is a familiar. Someone would have to be making it act that way. Only humans have that kind of hatred in them."
I couldn't say he was wrong. I knew first hand how dark human nature could be, but I also knew how good and kind it could be as well. "There are all kinds of people. Okay, so how do I stop this thing?"
"A few ways. A magic circle is one. It's an animal spirit, but a spirit nonetheless. That should keep it still. Another would be to banish it, but you'd need holy power to do that, and I think you're a little short on that. The third…" Bob thought for a few moments before answering. "Would be some sort of spell for sealing the spirit away. I don't recommend that one though. It's better to just banish the spirit than risk it getting out again later."
"I can't destroy it?" It was a spirit. I wasn't really worried about killing something that wasn't alive anymore.
"Afraid not. Spirits of this kind can lose or gain power, but you can't destroy them completely. Let me correct that, you cannot destroy them. There are a few in this world that still have the means to, but no one you know."
I sighed and stood up, scratching my head. "So I'm dealing with some type of holy dog spirit that was summoned here my someone and is at their beck and call until I can do something about it. Short of finding someone's front yard covered in animal blood, this isn't looking easy."
"Oh, right." Bob's eyelids had started to fade out again before he remembered something. "You said dog. I'd watch out for those. Dog spirits are incredibly loyal to their summoner, just as normal dogs are. They won't always leave after they are banished or their summoner dismisses them. What kind of encounter was this you had? I don't see any dog bites."
"It took over a man I was with and, thankfully, went after Thomas long enough until I was able to trap it. I called in Michael and he exorcised it or banished it or whatever."
There was a whistling noise. "It took over a person. Well now, Harry, you should have told me that. A spirit has to have a lot of power over it to take over someone, unless they were already susceptible to it. You said something about black magic too, didn't you?"
I nodded.
"Well then, it should think you're dealing with something Asian. There are a few ceremonies I know for dog spirits, or demons if you want to call it one. The most well known of those possess people and drive them mad. They also have about as much black magic as Black Court vampire. You were lucky. You must have run into something that didn't have a strong summoner behind it. If I were you, I'd watch my back." Then the lights winked out and I was left in the quiet of my basement.
"Thanks for telling me what to look for," I snarled quietly under my breath. I went back up the stairs, not sure what I was supposed to do now. I could tail Ben, but I wasn't sure what good it would do. I could always phone Michael and tell him what I figured out. Maybe we could find some why to repel spirits from the Tyler's house at least. I would have needed Bob's help for that though and it looked like he was done giving me any.
Why did my jobs always have to be this way?