Chapter 1; Harry

Often, my day starts with my alarm clock bawling its metallic alarm, my legs stiff and asleep because Mister, my 60-pound cat, sprawls across my knees with a satisfied cat smirk. I shove and bump him off, to his utmost discontent, throw the covers off, and smash the alarm clock with all the finesse of a cranky Neanderthal.

This morning when I woke up my hands were asleep, due the fact that my chin was cutting off their blood flow. The dampness of my subbasement was mildly oppressive, and a black marker was hovering above my nose, its sharp scent biting.

"Draw boobs on his forehead." Bob, a spirit of amazing intellect, was gleefully giving perverted instructions to my half-brother, Thomas Raith, who was also a vampire of the White Court.

I hang out with weird friends. So sue me.

Thomas chuckled as I opened my eyes. He was shirtless, and looked better than Abercrombie models. Ass.

"What are you? 18? Give me that marker," I growled as I took a sleepy swipe at it. Thomas held it just out of my reach and gave my hand a quick smiley face. While it was still moving. Double ass. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to have a nice chat with Bob." Thomas laughed. Egad. I'm glad I was asleep for that. The White Court vampires, rather than feeding on blood like the Black Court and the Red Court, feed on emotions and life force. The Raith family feeds predominantly on sexual energy, which is why Thomas looked like a Greek god escaped from Mount Olympus. Most women could not physically resist him, and at the peak of their emotions, the White Court vamps would feed on them. Thomas probably has many perverted stories about the women he's fed on. And Bob's a pervert.

"Why isn't he living here anymore? I like him," Bob chirped. Bob the skull wasn't actually a skull, but a spirit living and bound to the skull. Bob served me and helped me with a lot of my spells. The only evidence of the spirit in the skull was the two pinpricks of light that moved in the eye sockets like eyes would. Bob didn't have a gender, but he chose the general male mindset, and had about ten erotic novels on the shelf beside him, which he thumbed through so often the spines were breaking. Next to the books was a single red ribbon that arrived on a very beautiful girl, ahem, wearing nothing else.

Don't look at me like that. It was a thank you gift. From Thomas. No other explanation needed.

"Because, Bob, I need some of my sanity, at least." My comment came out surly, but if either of the two noticed, they didn't care.

"So what are you doing in the Harry Cave?" Thomas asked lightly.

"Sleeping," I grunted back. Stupid Abercrombie model pain-in-the-ass vampire.

"Thanks. I didn't get that from the fact you were unconscious, non-reactive to your name and a wet marker on your face, or your snoring." My brother rolled his steel-colored eyes and gave a too-white grin.

"I snore?" I asked with my eyebrows raised.

"Well…" Thomas started.

"Like a chainsaw!!" Bob interjected cheerily.

"But you're evading the question. What were you doing down here?" Thomas nailed me with the stare of a professional interrogator.

"I was…doing research. For another pamphlet-"

Bob made a loud game-show buzzer sound and yelled "Bullshit!" I shot him a withering glare, and my hand moved a fraction of an inch toward my favorite metal hammer. Bob's eye lights dimmed a bit, as if he retreated a little, and he fell silent. I tried again.

"I was making progress in a-"

Bob made a whisper soft buzzing noise and sung "buuuuull- shiiiiiit!" in perfect soprano.

The chair I was sitting in scraped loudly against the cement floor as my hand gripped the hammer's wooden handle tightly. Bob squeaked and the eye lights went out completely. I felt a restraining hand on my shoulder, firm but gentle, and turned to see a sad-faced Thomas.

"You were trying to find a cure again."

I said nothing, and my feet were suddenly a lot more interesting than anything else. A raw hole in my chest gave an uncomfortable throb. A few years ago, the woman I loved got into trouble because of me. The Red Court vampires took her to get to me, and by the time I got to her, I was too late. Susan had been infected by the vampires, but not fully turned. The moment she made her first kill, she would turn completely into a rubbery bat-monster with a beautiful human skin, bloodthirsty and ruthless. I had asked her to marry me, but she turned me down. She said she wasn't able to control herself, and hurting me would destroy her.

In more ways than one.

I had been trying to find a cure to the limbo Susan was in but I let myself go, and no one had seen me for months. I came out of it for a while, but Thomas was afraid I was sinking into that again.

Hell, I was afraid of that.

"Harry, you can't afford to live like that again."

I know.

"You can't afford to lose anymore work."

I know.

"You can't afford to ignore your friends-"

"I know, Thomas, I know I can't." I choked a bit on my words. His words stung. I couldn't help her.

It's impossible.

"And you can't afford any distractions right now."

"What?" My head snapped up and I eyed him.

"There were two bodies of homeless men found by Lake Michigan." Thomas' eyes were focused on mine.

"There must be magic involved if you're telling me this," I kneaded the space between my eyebrows. I just love being a wizard. Give it a moment.

"Well, not magic exactly…"

Wait for it…

"One's head was cleanly and completely severed from his body. The other one's head was split vertically."

Give it a minute.

"They were killed by a sword-like weapon."

"Oh, lovely." Here we go.