Ghost Song

Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from The Dresden Files, and I'm not making any money from this fic. Any character you don't recognise from the show or books, I probably own. Anything you recognise from another fandom, I don't own

Summary: After the licking she got from Lea, Raye realises that – if she's to have any chance of rescuing Kestrel – she's going to have to get to work on getting Harry Dresden to Lea, which means finding out what's going on in the mortal realm…

Warning(s): Spanking (eventually); strong violence; spoilers – mainly for the book series; original characters; swearing

Author's Note: Thanks to those who've read and reviewed the last chapter of this. Each review really means a lot – it's nice to know when people enjoy my fics.

I hope you enjoy this next chapter!

Before I started walking, I made sure to repair the material of my robe. I winced as the cotton brushed against my still-sore backside – but I knew from past experience that the crop wouldn't have left any marks.

Even though the pain would remain for quite a while.

As I walked out of the clearing, I rubbed at my behind, and then wiped at my face to get rid of the tears. I didn't do a particularly good job at cleaning myself up, but it didn't take long for me to get to the lake that was close by, and I crouched down to wash my face, then brought up a light breeze to dry my skin.

If only I had the magic to save my friend… And, of course, remove the pain. But I couldn't do the really important things.

As I stood up, I figured that I couldn't spend any time feeling sorry for myself. Every second wasted was a further moment for Kestrel to give in to the soul – or lack of – of the hellhound. And I couldn't allow that to happen.

Not if I could do anything about it.

By the time I pulled myself out of my thoughts, I realised where I was – at the Faerie Dust, one of the taverns in the Nevernever. It was also one of the best places to go if one was looking for specific information. And maybe someone in there would be able to tell me what information Harry Dresden was looking for in the mortal realm. I wasn't going to beat around the tree – or was it bush? – to save Kestrel.

I wiped at my face, trying to get rid of the last traces of tears. When it came to dealing with others of my kind, showing any kind of weakness was virtually suicide. And for the few mortals with magical ability? Well, most of them didn't understand what we were like. Give me an inch, and I'd take a mile.

Since I was just about as presentable as I was ever going to be, I stepped up to the door, and it disappeared to allow me access. I stepped into the smoky room, and headed up to the bar, but was stopped by one of the male sidhe stepping in front of me. He looked me slowly up and down, and apparently liked what he saw, because he smirked at me.

"Are you busy, Raye? Or would you like to come with me and… have some fun?"

I arched a brow at him. "Sorry," I replied. "There are more important things for me to do. Besides, you're not exactly my type." Yes, my type is the tall, dark-haired, brooding mortal type, I thought. Then, I blinked. Argh! I didn't mean that! It was bad enough that I had to give the wizard my true name. Now, he was invading my thoughts!

Lachlan watched me, his expression unreadable – at least as far as I was concerned. "So what is your type?"

"Not you," I answered promptly, and pushed past him to head over to the bar itself. I couldn't afford any distractions right now. I had a deadline, and the worst part was that I didn't even know what it was.

The bartender – a red-haired sidhe with huge, feathery wings coming out of her back – nodded to me. "Hello, Raye. Want the usual?"

I considered that for a moment, and then nodded. "Sure." Getting drunk seemed like a very good idea right now. Even though I couldn't get totally wasted, surely one drink couldn't hurt. Well, even if it could, I didn't care.

Maya smiled, and mixed up my cocktail of alcohol, which would be lethal to any mortals. I took it with a soft murmur of thanks, and leaned on my hip against the bar as I turned to survey the occupants, trying to decide who might be the most likely to give me the information I needed.

"So what are you looking for?" Maya asked softly from behind me.

I turned back round to look into her aqua eyes. "One of the sidhe who might know what's going on in the mortal realm," I answered. I knew I could trust Maya, to a certain extent – but I didn't want to tell her everything. I definitely wouldn't put it past Lea to go after Maya in an attempt to get to me.

Maya raised her eyebrows, and turned to start mixing another drink. "You could always ask me, you know," she said. "I've spent quite a lot of time in the mortal realm, and particularly recently."

To be honest, it hadn't occurred to me to ask Maya. Sometimes, I forget that she can't spend all of her time working in the tavern. I know that sounds really bad – but give me a break. I have a lot on my mind right now. I'm sure it's quite difficult to keep everything in the forefront of one's brain all at the same time. Well, it is for me, at least. Do I not think all the time? Probably. Am I insensitive? I hope not. So, I asked. "Do you know what's going on in the mortal world?"

"The ghosts are acting up again," Maya answered, continuing to mix up the drinks. "Something's making them angry. Either that or someone's exerting control over the spirits. But I'm sure you understand that even most of us sidhe don't have anything like that sort of power."

"I guess…" I started biting at one of my fingernails, a bad habit that I've picked up. "You don't happen to know any names?"

"Why is this so important to you?" Maya questioned in turn. "If you let me know more information, I might be able to help you more."

I opened my mouth. But before I could say anything more to Maya, I felt a tugging at my soul. I could hear my name being called – he'd managed to pronounce it exactly right, getting all the liquid syllables correct. I didn't try to fight the pull, even though I still hadn't found the information I needed.

But trying to fight would be a waste of energy, anyway…

As I was pulled out of the Nevernever, I had to close my eyes as I – briefly – lost consciousness.

My first thought when I came to again was that the place I was now in was that it really didn't look like a wizard's hideaway. For one thing, it was a mess. There were papers and various objects – I assumed ingredients for spells and potions – cluttered about everywhere. Since one of the things I'm apparently famous for is speaking without thinking, my mouth decided to run away with me again.

"Well, this is a lot messier than I expected."

"Looks like you got a talkative fairy this time, Harry."

The comment seemed to come from a skull with glowing orange eyes. I drew myself up in the protective circle, and primly addressed the skull with all of my usual eloquence. "My name is Raye. And 'fairy' isn't the correct term. It's sidhe. Or 'faerie', if you prefer."

"There's a difference?" the man I had seen before asked.

"Fairies are silly little creatures with wings who flutter around too much and aren't very observant," I replied, unable to help the slight sneer in my tone. "As you can see, we're mostly human sized… Some a bit bigger…"

"And some a bit smaller," the skull cut in. "Particularly compared to Harry."

I arched an eyebrow at the skull. "It's not my fault he's too tall. I'm surprised he doesn't keep banging his head on the ceiling."

Harry looked in the skull's direction, and narrowed his eyes. Whether that was some sort of signal, I didn't know – but the skull's voice subsided. I thought I could hear a muttering coming from that direction, though…

I turned my attention back to Harry, crossing my legs on the floor in front of me and resting my hands on my knees. "So? I'm a very busy sidhe, you know. Could you get on with asking whatever it is you want to ask? And then I can get on with what I need to do." I had to put the right amount of reluctant annoyance into my tone. It wouldn't do to start making the wizard suspicious.

"Well, first things first," Harry said. "Why did you want me to summon you?"

I fought to keep the panic off my face. "What makes you think I wanted you to summon me?" I asked in what I thought was quite a calm tone. "Surely you know how humiliating we sidhe find it to have a human – even a wizard like you – to be able to summon us and use one of us as if we were little more than… slaves."

"See, a funny thing happened to Harry earlier this evening," the skull commented. "Your name was whispered to him on the wind."

"Those wind spirits have very big mouths," I commented. "As do you… But if I didn't know better, I'd say you are an air spirit. You act like one, at least." I looked at Harry. "You should tell him to be more careful with just throwing your name around like that. Anyone could pick it up."

"There's power in names," Harry pointed out, leaning casually against the wall. "Isn't that part of the payment you'd ask for? One of my names. I thought I'd save you the trouble of asking for it. My name is Harry Dresden." He pronounced both carefully, being polite enough to sound them out exactly.

What a nice wizard.

I decided it was unlikely Harry had worked out I had anything to do with his godmother. As far as I knew, Lea had all of his names – there was something about a deal they'd made years ago. To be honest, I didn't know much about it. Hey, it's not like that was important at all. Of course, maybe I'd better now start paying attention to things like that.

"Just get on with it, Harry," the skull said. "You know what the sidhe are like. Slippery as eels, the lot of them."

Hey! I took offence at that remark. All right, so I was going to turn round and betray Harry the first chance I got – but still! I had a good reason for doing so!

"Now about these spirits…" Harry started.

A split second warning was all I got. Something moved in the air, and I yelled out a warning before I really thought about it, both out loud and into the wizard's mind.

"WATCH OUT!"

Harry moved, and the tentacles hit the wall he'd been standing in front of. I managed to make out a vague, indistinct form. Shit! Spirits weren't supposed to be able to physically attack the living!

And as the spirit turned its attention elsewhere, I had just enough time to think that it shouldn't be attacking me, either.