Thomas had a new Mercedes. It was white with silver trim, very shiny, and full of very sensitive, expensive, bells and whistles. As soon as he started it, with both Elaine and myself inside, the stereo became a problem. The damn thing wouldn't turn off. He managed to get the volume cranked down, but we were stuck with white noise for the whole ride. Stupid technology.

I offered Elaine the front seat, but she insisted on sitting in the back. Probably wanted to keep an eye on the sneaky vampire.

"So, your dungeon?" Thomas asked. He was pretending to be playful, but I could tell he was on guard against Elaine. You have to know the guy.

"Yeah. If someone can blow up my office, I don't want to know what they can do to my house. I need to check on Mouse and Mister."

"So, Elaine," Thomas said, looking in the rear-view, "what brings you to Chicago?"

She looked right back at him, through the mirror. "Harry called me this morning. Tells me some children went missing."

"Yeah?"

"Well, if you'll excuse the un-ladylike expression, I don't like it when people fuck with children."

"Consider it forgiven."

"So, Thomas," Elaine said, a note of anger creeping into her voice, "what's new?"

"Oh, boy," I said. "Uh, that's not a worry, anymore."

"What?" he said. "What's not a worry?"

"Uh, the last time I spoke to Elaine, it was just after you'd… you know… had your bad day."

"Oh, right."

I turned around in the seat. "Just pretend everything I told you that day didn't happen. He's still just the guy who helped us save all those women."

Indignation jumped into her eyes, rather than confusion. "How can I forget it? You told me he changed, Harry. You said he stared feeding indiscriminately. That he wasn't the friend he was before."

"Technically speaking," Thomas put in, "I've never just been a friend."

Fire jumped into her face, and her cheeks coloured. Then she hit my shoulder. Several times. "I knew it! I knew he was feeding on you! You lying bastard!"

"What? Ow! Stop! No! He never fed on me!"

"That's just what you would say if he had!"

"Yeah, or if he hadn't! Ow, stop that!"

Thomas hit the brakes hard at a stop sign, and threw the transmission into park. "Alright, that's it! I don't want to tell you both to get out, but I will."

We both just stared at him. Elaine and I glanced at each other, then slowly lowered our hands. "Wow," I said. "You used your serious voice."

He ignored me. "Elaine, do you trust Harry?"

"I thought I did."

"Look, you have my word, I have never fed on him."

She smiled, daintily. "That's sweet. But I've met vampires before; the White Court has a lot of territory in L.A. I know we got along just fine last time I was here, but the rest of your kind? Not so much. I've seen what the Hunger can do."

"I would never feed on Harry, even if my life depended on it."

She snorted, a rather unfeminine sound. "How can you possibly say that? White Court members don't have many scruples about who they feed on. And no offence, but you can't control the Hunger."

Thomas' expression softened. He reached up to his collar, and pulled out a small, silver pentacle amulet on a necklace, just like the one I wear at all times, and very similar to the one Elaine wore herself. The one he'd taken off for the last few months. The one our mother gave him. "We don't feed on family," he said.

Elaine just stared at him, his face and the amulet. Then she looked at me. I pulled my own necklace out; they were identical, save that mine was a little more beaten up. She looked back and forth a couple times, and I saw understanding dawn on her face. Her jaw dropped open. "Harry…" she whispered.

We put our amulets away. "Thomas, allow me to introduce Elaine Mallory, the first woman I ever loved, and the only other openly practising wizard in America. Elaine, meet Thomas Raith, the first vampire I ever trusted, and the only other son of my mother."

"Harry," she whispered again, and there was a lot of emotion in her voice. There was anger, confusion, jealousy and joy, all warring for dominance. I saw her eyes get a little watery, felt mine do the same. Joy won out. "You have a brother?" I nodded, unable to speak. If you're an orphan, you understand. If you're not, I can't explain it. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"As you noticed," Thomas answered for me, "I'm a member of the White Court. The ruling House, no less. For political, and safety reasons, we couldn't tell anyone."

I found my voice, though it was a touch husky. "The only people who really found out are Molly and Murphy."

"Your apprentice and your cop friend, right?"

Thomas and I exchanged a look. "I'm just going to drive," he said.

Elaine lifted a confused eyebrow at me. "It's been a busy couple of months," I said.

By the time we got to my apartment, I had filled Elaine in on the various goings-on of the recent past, including Murphy's career change, Molly's disappearing act, and even my time-travel incident. I left nothing out. Beyond Murphy and McCoy, and maybe Molly's father, Michael, Thomas and Elaine were the people I trusted most in the world. If I couldn't tell them, who could I tell?

As we approached the old boarding house, I found myself anxious; if the place was burning down, or surrounded by vampires, or zombies, again, or anything, I would just about lose my –

There was nothing, of course.

Thomas pulled into the driveway, slowly. My upstairs neighbours didn't drive, so no other car was there. He turned off the engine, and Elaine and I both reached out with our arcane senses, feeling for anything unusual. Thomas said nothing.

After a long, quiet moment, I turned to her. "Anything?"

"Not a thing." She'd always been better with the delicate, sensitive magic than I was. I'd always been better at shoving power into things until they exploded. I took her word for it. "Except for your wards. You change them up?"

I wore a tiny, smug expression as I got out of the car. "Maybe a little. Thomas, do me a favour?"

"Of course."

"Call Murphy's cell. Let her know I'm okay, and we're going to meet her at her place. Then ask her to order something. A lot of something. I'm starved."

"No problem." He grabbed his phone and emerged from the other side of the car. Elaine got out on my side, closer to the house.

I stood and stared at the building that had, for many years, been my home. I had come back to it countless times when I'd needed safety, or rest, or just a touch of the familiar.

Tonight, though, something was off.

Elaine touched my elbow. "Hey. What's wrong?"

I shook my head. "Can't put my finger on it. This place…" I thought about my office, burning and collapsing. I thought about my elderly upstairs neighbours, and what a time they'd have escaping from a fire. Burning down my house was about the only effective way of destroying it, especially with all of the wards I'd put up over the years. A well-placed Molotov cocktail, and my landlady and I would go up like tinder.

I've had bad experiences with fire before, my office just being one example. My slowly healing left hand was testament to that.

Finally, I figured out what I was trying to say. "It just doesn't feel safe anymore. And not just for me. The other people inside aren't exactly as mobile as I am." I looked up and down the street, half-expecting a car to come whizzing around the corner with a flame-thrower hanging out the window.

"Well, trust your instincts. They've gotten you this far."

"Yeah. If I stay here, they're in trouble. Help me grab a few things?"

"Sure."

"Oh, and Thomas?" I called.

"Yeah?"

"Do you mind if Mouse and Mister come along?"

*****

The stupid dog rode up front. Oh, don't think I'm bitter. Mouse takes up a lot of space, and in Thomas' sporty import, the back seat simply wasn't big enough for him. Unfortunately, Elaine and I both have rather long limbs (which, as teenagers, we had put to several interesting uses) and the drive to Murph's house isn't quick, especially in the tailend of rush hour, with a grumpy cat and his litter box sandwiched between us.

At least there was a decent trunk. My staff, emergency pack, a small suitcase with a few changes of clothes, a couple of my more explosive quasi-legal possessions, twin bags of kitty-litter and -food, and the two Swords of the Cross that had been entrusted to me all fit in there nicely.

After five minutes, I began to wonder if I should have traded with my staff. Mouse, of course, loved every second of it, and had his head out the window for the entire ride. Thomas turned on a heater in the rear so we wouldn't freeze. The heater was fancy, and keeping my fingers from turning blue, so I tried to think calm thoughts in its direction.

Mister expressed his tolerance of the whole situation by barely moving at all.

"You two comfy back there? The seats are up as far as they go."

"Just fine, thanks," Elaine said.

In a moment of nostalgic flirtatiousness, I lowered my voice. "You're a terrible liar."

"I'm better than you ever were," she shot back.

"Excuse me, missy, but when we had to explain to Justin what we'd been doing that made all the racket, who had to do the talking?"

She actually blushed and gave me a look. "You are about to say something that will get you smacked."

"I'd prefer spanked."

She looked away, smiling, and licked her lips. Then she smacked me on the arm. "You're awful," she said.

"Awfully good."

"You're both awfully forgetful," Thomas said, raising his voice over the wind. "Vampire hearing, remember? By the way, Harry, she's much better at the pillow talk than you are."

"Thank you," Elaine said, then sniffed in my direction.

I don't get any respect.

Elaine shifted awkwardly, moving her legs one at a time to the other side of her body, allowing her torso to get a little closer to me. Watching her move like that brought back a few memories. "Hey, can we be serious for a minute?"

"Sure. But only for a minute."

She rolled her eyes and petted Mister with one hand. He allowed it. "Did you want to talk about the case? You didn't leave a lot of information on the answering service."

"I was going to wait until we got to Murphy's place."

Her light-hearted expression darkened, just a touch. Not sure why. She knew Murph was good people. "Oh. Any reason?"

"It'll be easier to talk to Thomas without the window open."

"Thomas? What do you mean?"

"Well, he's the one who hired me."

Her brows furrowed, and I saw comprehension spread across her face. Quickly followed by unhappiness. "The kids are vampires." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah."

"Seems like the sort of thing you might have mentioned."

"If I had, would you have come?"

She looked away from me, out at the traffic, a sour look on her expressive face. "You know what a fan I am of vampires, Harry." Sure did. Last time she was in town, a member of House Skavis, who prefer to feed on despair, had almost managed to talk her into killing herself.

"Elaine, they don't know what they are, or what they could grow up to be. They're innocent, for now."

She looked at me again, with thunderclouds in her eyes.

So, like the bastard I am, I played the guilt card. "All they know is, a monster took them out of their beds, away from their families, and is going to hurt them." Her angry mask faltered, and she looked back out the window. "All I know is, I'm not going to let that happen. Will you help me?"

She was quiet for a minute. I heard her sigh, saw her shake her head. I basically watched her talk herself into it. When she turned back to me, her eyes had hardened. She nodded, once. "Of course I will, Harry."

We exchanged small smiles. "Thanks."

A few minutes later, Thomas stopped the car at Murphy's house. "Last stop. Everybody out," he said in his conductor's voice.

Elaine and I unfolded ourselves from the seat, and I almost tripped on my own legs. I rolled my shoulders and turned to see her stretching her neck. I let Mouse out. "Don't go running off, okay?" He sneezed at me. "What? I trust you, but there are a lot of squirrels on this block." He instantly perked up and started wagging his tail. "You're hilarious. Head inside." He opened his mouth in a huge doggie grin, then turned towards the house.

I looked in at Mister. He seemed ready to scamper for his nightly prowl. "You're lucky you've got a tag. This is a new neighbourhood, so be careful. I'm going to show you the house, first." I heaved, and cat and box moved. I almost slipped a disk picking him up; 30+ pounds is a lot of cat.

By the time I had him, Elaine and Thomas had the rest of my stuff out of the trunk, most of it piled on my brother. He didn't seem to notice the weight. Elaine had her hood back up. They were both, very subtly, watching the street.

We ambled up to the front door, and Murph opened it before we got there. "Harry!" She was a little breathless. She came out and put two hands on my chest, grabbing me by the lapels of my duster, reaching over Mister to do so. "As your friend, I am going to ask you this once: Please, for the love of God, and the sake of my nerves, stop being inside buildings when they blow up."

"I'll try."

She nodded and sighed, lowered her arms. Then seemed to notice everything and everyone else. "Jeez. Where are the other two rings?"

My arms were straining a bit, but I could banter. "They blew up my office, Karrin. I can't risk leaving anything important at my house. If I owned any plants, they'd be here, too. Can I leave Mister and a few things here? Please?"

She quirked an eyebrow, crossed her arms and looked at Thomas. "Is he included in that request?"

"Flattering that you think of me so possessively," Thomas said.

"Not exactly what I meant."

"Hey," he said, "I'm okay. I'm one of the good guys, again." He gave her his best grin.

Murph is resistant to Thomas' charms. Not immune, but resistant. "If you're such a nice guy, why didn't you offer to take your brother's stuff?"

"I would have offered to take everything, but he didn't give me the chance."

I looked over my shoulder. "No way was I leaving Mister with you. Your place is such a mess, he'd get lost in there."

He opened his mouth to argue, then stopped. He appeared to think about it, then nodded. "True."

"Everything's cool with Thomas. We talked it out."

Murph looked at him one more time, he bounced his eyebrows and showed his empty hands, then she stepped back from the door. "Spare bedroom's all yours."

Thomas went in first, carrying most of my stuff, including Mister's supplies. Mouse followed him.

Elaine stepped forward. She had the Swords criss-crossed over her back, my staff in one hand and a bag of my clothes in the other. She'd kill me if she knew, but I thought she looked great like that. Like a hot warrior-monk-chick.

Murph didn't stiffen or anything when Elaine came into sight. Her head tilted to one side, and her eyes ran up and down as she sized up this new person. Then they settled on her face. Surprise registered. She dropped her arms. "Elaine? Elaine Mallory?"

Elaine took a breath, then, staff resting against her shoulder, pulled her hood back again, smiling a little. "Hello, Karrin." She took a step closer, edging a little towards me. "It's good to see you."

Murph also took a step closer, ending up just a few inches closer to me than Elaine was. "It's good to see you up and moving. Last time we talked, you were lying in a hospital bed."

"Yes. I'm sorry about that." She took another half-step. "I had to get home. And I'm not much for goodbyes."

Again, Murph came closer. Now my arms were sore, Mister looked ready to jump, and I was feeling crowded. "Don't worry about it. Don't like them, myself."

"Beg your pardon, ladies," I said. "But the cat's about to mutiny." I extricated myself, and headed inside. Thomas had already dumped everything on the floor, none too carefully, and wandered into the kitchen. Mister quickly acclimated to his surroundings, which is to say he rubbed up against everything. Within moments, he was out the door, ready to claim some new territory.

I joined my brother near to the food; three large brown bags of Chinese take-out. "Mmmm. MSG."

Thomas handed me a plate. "One of the 143 non-essential food groups," he said.

Murphy followed Elaine in a moment later, Elaine pulling a Toucan Sam. "Do I smell ginger beef?"

"I had a craving," Murphy said. Then she walked up to Thomas, her hand held out. "On you, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Thomas said, effortlessly balancing a heaping plate with one hand while digging through his pocket with the other. If his damn jeans weren't so tight, he might have had an easier time. Mouse, who was sitting under the kitchen table, eyed the plate very closely.

With dextrous fingers, my brother pulled three twenties out and offered them to Murphy, who took them.

"More," she said.

"Huh?"

"You tipped really well."

With a smile, he offered her another greenback. I wouldn't be surprised if Murph made a couple bucks on the transaction.

A couple minutes later, our plates stacked high, and a container of beef and vegetables set in front of Mouse, we settled in around the table. Somehow, I ended up across from Thomas, with Murph and Elaine across from each other. And they were both sitting closer to me than to Thomas. He didn't seem put out.

The table was an older one, inherited from Murphy's grandmother, and big enough to feed an average sized Irish-Catholic family. I think the main reason Murph hadn't replaced it with something smaller was she couldn't get the bloody thing out of the kitchen without knocking down a wall.

As we ate, I gave Murph the run down on my day so far. Once I'd caught up to dinner, I turned to Thomas. "Alright. Any details you've got, now's the time to share."

He nodded and dropped his egg roll. He took a moment to collect himself. "Two days ago, Brin Kirasi, a 4 year old girl, was kidnapped out of her home in Miami. Only one of her bodyguards survived, albeit with a collapsed lung and a broken arm. He said she was taken by a multi-tentacled beast." Elaine put her steamed rice down.

Thomas took a deep breath before continuing. "A few hours later, in L.A., Michaelo Malvora, a 6 year old boy, was taken. The two witnesses, another bodyguard, and his mother, both said the same thing; he was taken by a strange-looking bird creature, half covered in feathers, and half in thick, leathery hide. About the size and shape of a human being, but distorted, somehow." Murph finally gave up on her chow mien.

Inside my mind, I felt Lash sit up and take notice. That gave me a sinking feeling.

One of Thomas' legs started bouncing up and down. "Yesterday, in New York, what we believe, but of course, cannot prove, to have been a Red Court strike team took Jessica Skavis, a nine year old, from her boarding school." He got up from the table and stepped away from us. Even Mouse stopped picking at his bowl.

"In between," he continued, beginning to pace, "four other children were taken, without witnesses. Now, the Court takes care of its own, but we had nothing to go on, until about 4 this morning. One of the local mystics we keep on retainer called the house. She said she'd dreamed something. Something to do with 7 children. And she said the dream took place in Chicago, though she wasn't sure how she knew that. We then spent 5 hours searching the whole of the city, and got nothing."

He finally stopped pacing and leaned up against a wall, arms crossed. "That's when someone decided to bring me in?" I asked.

"I suggested you to Lara. She latched on to the idea like a drowning person."

"Thomas," Murphy said. "I know you're upset, but you're awfully…"

"Animated," Elaine supplied.

He looked at each of our faces, ending with mine. "One of the kids in a Raith," I said.

"Dominic Scolari," he said. "He's Bobby and Inari's 3 year old son."