I'm still new to writing in this fandom, so I hope that I'm improving ^^

Chapter 2

The only thing I had on me to work with was my mother's necklace. The hair I had pulled from the brush was tied loosely around the points of the star and I had it dangling in front of my hand as we drove down the street that I had just arrived on from the train. Watching the necklace was hard when the roads weren't paved and I lost what direction it was leaning towards until the road calmed down. After a while, I stopped swearing under my breath so much and simply let it do whatever it wanted. It wasn't as if I could make the road even out. My thoughts played around with that idea for a while before I decided that reconstruction of the countryside was not a good waste of magic.

We missed a few turns because either a bump had made the necklace start doing the Hustle or because I thought that I had accidentally nudged it before I realized it was pulling back towards me. While it was annoying for me, Ryan was downright aggravated. In his defense, it really did look like I wasn't doing anything productive. Even if he did see the pentacle move, he wouldn't believe I was tracking his wife with magic. After the train ride and the time I'd spent at Ryan's house, there was only an hour before sundown, so I figured it was best to let him think I was lazy than worry about what would happen once the sun was gone. Predators loved the dark and I wanted to be back so the kid wasn't left at the house alone.

You didn't have to be a wizard to know that there were creatures that came out when the sun went down. They say you get the simplest concepts from children. Well, children knew to be afraid of the dark. We're all born with the fear of knowing that we aren't he biggest, baddest wolf in the forest; we just choose to ignore that fact, and belittle those that don't.

Another bump jarred me and I tried to get any part of my arm that was in contact with the vehicle away from it so I had a better chance of getting a good reading. "Damn road." Ryan looked at me and I shook my head. "Nothing. Where's your wife work anyway?"

He gave me the closest thing to a smile that I'd seen from him so far. "What? Think she's out cheating on me? Even if she was interested in that type of thing, I don't think there's much of that going on at the post office."

"You'd be surprised."

He all but glared at me this time. Hey, it wasn't my fault that there were opportunities everywhere these days. Thomas could walk into a nunnery and walk out with at least half a dozen numbers, even when he wasn't trying. "Not that someone would try to hit on a married woman."

I was apparently becoming a pro at creating awkward silences. There were times when even Billy was at a loss for words around me. Then again, he'd thought I was insane not long ago, not without good reason, but that type of thing left an impression on you. Even when he was right in more ways than I would let him know. That's what happens when you spew whatever words come to you without thinking about them. Most of the people who knew me well enough to know I was kidding were hours away and I was stuck with a man I'd all but outright insinuated had married a woman who was cheating on him.

"Stop!"

Ryan slammed on the breaks. Hard.

I smashed my arm against the dashboard to brace myself because I wasn't wearing a seat belt. I was too focused on other things to care as I threw open the door. There was something here. It wasn't even nightfall yet and I felt the same presence that I'd gotten a whiff of at the house. It was human and it was strong.

Worst of all, it was tinted with dark magic. There were just tendrils of it here, but follow a web and it will lead you to a spider.

"What's the matter?"

I turned to think of what to do with Ryan. He didn't get out of the car. Smart man. Maybe he was smart enough to sit still for a minute while I tired to figure out where the energy was coming from.

We were near another small neighborhood that I hadn't been through before, a forest weaving in and out of it like a snake. I stood near the road still and could see a house up on a hill in front of me, white, lighted, and filled with the sounds of a television turned up way too loud. In front of me was a path that led to nothing but sparse little oaks and maples. The forestation had tried to thrive here but was entangled by weeds that were literally eating away at them. I'd seen some of the same weed when I was growing up. They ate at the roots of the trees, stealing the nutrients, all the while not killing them wholly so that they could keep feeding off of them like a parasite.

It had a very spooky feel to it, but it didn't look threatening. Not totally comfortable, but with that edge to it that warned you that something might happen because, really, there were strange things that happened every day and you might be that one out of a hundred that it happens to. The small path of trees led up the hill and I followed, using my staff to keep my footing. I was lucky I did because those weeds were good at hiding deep holes and I almost fell back down the way I came after only a few steps. I felt like I was trying to climb Mount Everest without a rope.

"Where are you going?"

"Stay put" I said. I turned back to look at Ryan. He was in the truck with the engine running and all but shouting that he wanted to leave. "What's that matter?"

"Nothing. I just- What are we doing here? Weren't we looking for Melissa?"

I raised my hand, showing my pentacle that was now glowing a faint blue as I willed some of my power into it. It was getting dark and the shadows under the trees reached out their web-like fingers. The necklace pulled to my right, up the hill. "She's this way."

"How do you know?"

This is why I didn't like clients coming with me. They never understood, nor did I expect them to. People were going to be people, and all I could do was be me in return. "The monkey on my back told me, now stay put."

I wasn't going to wait for him, even if he did follow. The trail was fresh.

After a few steps in, I noticed a spell over the area that I had to fight against. It was a warding and it was throwing off my make-shift tracking spell. It was easy enough to keep it up, but it wasn't effortless. As long as I wasn't performing any of my larger tricks, the lighting and tracking spells which took only a will and a focus, wouldn't be snuffed out.

I almost fell again when I was near the top. I hated this place. I was never again going to complain about Chicago's constant noise again. So what if half the city was awake and doing god knows what at all hours of the night? It was too quiet and too dark here.

Ryan had actually followed me. I only noticed because something made me stop dead in my tracks. I waited for him to catch up, watching the white house I'd seen from the foot of the hill while I did.

"Remind me again why we're trespassing?"

I didn't answer him. I was still focusing on removing the barrier.

Someone really didn't want me here.

The practitioner I was hunting down was looking more and more dangerous by the second. Barriers aren't easy things to set up when you put them out in the elements. A gust of wind or unwary traveler could knock something out of place and the whole thing comes crumbling down. Whoever set this one up managed to put a barrier around the perimeter as well, so that it couldn't be tampered with. I had to use raw force to try and break through.

"Stand back."

He backed up. Again, I give him credit for having the brains that most people don't have. It comes with not being taken seriously. With what happened to his son, I guess he was taking me seriously.

I raised my right hand, placing it so that it was in contact with the magical barricade. It was like putting my palm up up to a vacuum in reverse. It's been a while since I've had to break through one this way so I took a few more seconds to focus my will. It was late and I didn't want to get anyone's attention, which required even more time for me to iron everything out. A fat lot of good I'd do if I were sitting in jail without Murphy to get me out.

So instead of trying to break the whole thing apart at once, I concentrated on the area just under my palm. It isn't very hard to break something if you keep chipping away at the same spot. In minutes I had a nice little hole all ready for what I had planned next.

"Vento servitas."

My duster flew around me in a sudden gust from the magic that was being reflected off of the ward. Had I had anything not attached to me, say a hat or a pair of glasses, it would have been laying somewhere half a mile away now. The same current of air rushed into the barrier like a trapped animal, throwing up branches, random bits of clothing and trash that had been discarded in the area, and I was sure I saw and unfortunate chipmunk caught in the blast.

Ryan took a few more steps back with an arm up to block his face. I waited until he was out of my peripheral vision and willed the last bit of power necessary to turn the gust into a hurricane.

The barrier came down.

And with that all my senses were free to feel what lay beyond it. I couldn't help falling onto one knees as the overriding scent of the magic that had been cast washed over me. It was powerful beyond words and as dark as any of the great demons I had faced down in the past, if not worse. The aroma of fresh blood and the left over emotions of great a pain came with the sensations, clouding my judgment for a moment while I got got my head back together.

"Mister Dresden?"

"I'm fine." I dusted off my pants and stared bleakly into the area that left even the trees with whispers of death. "I don't think your wife is."

"How do you know? What happened just now? What did you do?"

I turned to him. "You hired a wizard. I did what anyone else in my profession that was worth their two cents would have done, except with style. Whoever it is that's after you must know I'm here, or they knew they'd be getting the attention. A simpler barrier would have kept anyone normal out of here."

Walking forward through the broken branches I followed the black magic to where I knew it would lead. I didn't need my senses telling me every second that I should turn around and go back home somewhere safe. Hiding under my blankets in my room sounded like a good idea but it wouldn't get me anywhere and it wouldn't make the danger go away.

About twenty-five feet in I found my first clue. I had to back up and turn away.

"You wouldn't happen to know what your wife was wearing tonight, would you?"

"Ah, I think she had on her white shirt and black pants. She always likes to look nice when she goes to work."

"White shirt, huh? Is it long-sleeved with a button on the cuff?"

"Yeah."

"Then I think this is where we call the police." I backed away from the scene so I wouldn't mess it up. Who knows, the cops may be able to find clues I wouldn't. I didn't need to have a closer look to see what had killed her. It had been done fast, tearing clean through muscle and bone from the part of her arm that I found laying on the floor. Her fingernails were dark and broken from where she must have tired to fight off whoever was attacking her.

Ryan had to look and I backed away when I heard him take in a shaky breath that was half a sob and half a sound a person only makes when they've lost something as dear to them as their life. When I started to hear him cry, I walked away, letting him have his privacy."

He came over to me about fifteen minutes later with red-rimmed eyes and his fists clenched so tight I think he'd broken through his skin.

"That was my wife."

"I know." There was no joy in my acknowledgment. I took the hairs out of the necklace and let the blue light fade out into nothing as the darkness fell around us, hiding the scene from human eyes.

"What could have done that to her?"

I shrugged. "Magic, maybe a demon or some sort of spirit. I'm not sure. It feels human and I don't think anyone summoned anything here, but there's so much energy floating around that I can't sense anything more than the fact that it was done by someone with incredible power."

"But that doesn't make sense. Who would want to hurt my wife? I've never heard of any magic before! I mean, she didn't do anything! And all this- this stuff that's happening, it doesn't make sense! Someone just killed my wife and you're going to stand there saying that it was something out of a story book?"

"I'm trying to help you, Mister Fairwell. I'm telling you what you hired me to find out."

"For all I know you could have done this and then found her! You could- Oh my god."

"I didn't kill your wife. I found her with magic, yes. Magic is real. I only need you to believe me and then go happily on with your life it you want and pretend I was never here. But do not accuse me of murder!"

Ryan wiped a hand across his face, trying to calm down. "This doesn't make sense."

"You called me out here because it wasn't making sense. Now I don't know what happened here, but I had no part in it. I'm going to help you find who did this, and who's attacking your son, but you have to let me do my job. Right now we need to call the police. I don't want them thinking I had something to do with this either..." I thought about it. "If you can, don't bring up anything I've said. I find cops tend to want to throw you in the loony bin when you do that and I'm sure you don't want to share a trip in a padded cell with me when you tell them about the gaps in your memories. We found her because I was looking around the area for clues to who was vandalizing your house. That's simple enough."

Ryan nodded to me, looking up into my eyes so that I had to turn away.

"You really didn't do this?"

"I really didn't do it."

"Then why won't you look at me."

I hesitated. "Because you won't like what you see. I didn't kill your wife, but I haven't exactly been a saint either. Wizards are different then normal people. I don't think you'd really want to see what I'm like. Hell, I even have trouble looking in the mirror on some days."

"And you're asking me to trust you. My wife is dead. This isn't a game."

"It's never a game. People die every day from things that humanity wants to turn away from. Do you think a saw did that? I'm asking you to trust me long enough for me to help you, then you can hate me and do whatever it is you want. Don't even think my name if you don't want to. Right now though, we do need the police out here."

"I'll call them." He was clearly uneasy around me. I didn't notice it half as much as I noticed how upset and utterly defeated he seemed. It was clear that he had loved his wife dearly and finding her in pieces, littered around the forest like garbage, would get any man angry. Angry enough to cause trouble. I had to watch him from now now. This practitioner I was up against was good and if he went up against them out of anger, it would be Ryan that the police had to scrape up off the ground next.

Ryan got on his cell and I walked away so I wouldn't interfere with the signal. We were already in the middle of nowhere as it was so I had to think reception was sketchy. I could hear his voice trail after me, laced with sorrow and guilt as he told the operator on the other end of the line what had happened.

He joined me a few minutes later on the edge of the trees.

"They'll be here in a few minutes."

"Station must be pretty close by then." I leaned against a tree and let myself feel the area around me for any sign that my catch had gone back to the road or vanished off into the woods.

Something on the edge of my senses suddenly flashed and I spun to the side where a thick grove of trees blocked everything from my view.

I raised my blasting rod as I closed in on them instead of waiting for them to come to me.

A figure I hadn't sensed, let alone seen, shot out of the tree next to me and I had my shield bracelet raised and a half-dome up in seconds.

My assailant knocked on it with their knuckles to the beat of 'What's New Pussy Cat?'

"Hell's bells," I swore, lowering my hand. "You scared the life out of me!"

"That's funny. You don't look dead." Thomas sauntered over while I growled at him under my breath.

"That was not funny."

"Maybe not for you. It was hilarious for me. Don't you see me doubled over in laughter?" My brother smiled warmly at me. It wasn't an apology. He was definitely gloating. "I didn't think I'd be able to sneak up on you."

"Yeah, well, you had the element of surprise. Sensing you in all this mess when I'm not trying is like a needle in a haystack and all that jazz. I'm sure even you can feel what happened."

Thomas shook his head. "Not so much as I can smell it."

"Right, Fido." I lowered my weapons and turned my head to Ryan. "Meet our client."

Thomas looked Ryan over and the man did the same. Thomas and I looked like polar opposites except for the fact they we both blended well with the darkness. His black coat and hair hid him as well as my duster and darker hair did. Not that hiding for me was easy, particularly if I were moving. Thomas had snuck up on me pretty good. I never saw him coming except for when it would have already been too late. I had to give him kudos for that.

"Our client? Since when have I ever worked for you? I'm no detective."

"I'm not asking you to be. You're more of hired muscle, if you want a title. I'm sure working that brain of yours too hard will fry it out so we'll leave that job up to me."

"Oh, ha ha, Harry, very funny. Besides the dead body, what's going on? You said it was important."

I turned back. I may not have been able to see her, but I knew there was a dead woman up there and that part of the responsibility for that lay with me. I knew that someone had already attracted the son and his father so I should have been more worried about the mother when I came. If I'd asked to meet with her, things may have turned out differently.

"Hey, I got it. Bad things are happening. They usually are around you." Thomas clamped a hand on my shoulder. "I'm here now, little brother." He ignored me while I continued to growl at him as he went up to Ryan and offered his hand. "Thomas Raith. Call me Thomas."

"Ryan Fairwell," Ryan introduced himself, confused. "How did you find us?"

"Little tracking spell of my own." Thomas pulled out his pentacle necklace that was identical to my own. "As long as Harry's close by, I can pull off enough magic to find him, though I'm not in the profession."

"Magic, right." The man was still in a daze about it all and I couldn't blame him. I sighed and turned back to Thomas.

"Mind waiting somewhere nearby? The police are on their way and you'll only make things more difficult."

"Sure, call me at a seconds notice, tell me to get on a train and get here as fast as I can, then run me off." Thomas winked at me. "I'll be back when they're gone."

To show off to me or because he'd overheard my conversation with Ryan and discovred what a skeptic he was, Thomas used more of his power then he had to so that he was sprinting fast enough to make it look like he'd disappeared into the trees.

"This is too much. Who was that anyway, and how can he help? I feel like even the police won't be able to help me."

"That," I looked at him in the eye for a second to get my point across before looking down his nose, "is my brother and he's one of the best monster-butt-kickers I know, so when we find out whoever is doing this and how they're doing it, you'll be sure that they won't be able to so much as blink when we're through with them."

"Oddly enough, that's reassuring."

I waited with Ryan until two squad cars and an ambulance came a few minutes later. The officers took down our stories, eyeing me suspiciously and repeatedly asking what we were doing out there at that time of night and how we happened to find the body. I lied through my teeth and Ryan went along with it. Without any evidence to prove otherwise, they let us go while a forensics team arrived to try and find any clues.

We walked over to the truck and got in. A light shake in the back told me Thomas was in the bed. He didn't have to do it, since I was sure he could have gotten in without either of us knowing, but I was still on high alert and Ryan had been through enough. I opened the back window slot and Thomas poked his head in.

"So, want to tell me what's going on, now that we have the time? I think I'll make a pretty lousy partner otherwise."

"Someone's been after their kid. I don't know what it is, maybe you might. I'll let you see when we get back. There were no signs of it before, but I think the whole family is in danger now." I shared a look with Ryan as he started the truck and headed back to his place. He nodded to me.

"I don't care, as long as Joshua is safe. I need to know who did this."

I nodded back. "I know. And you will."

And hopefully no one else will have to die before I figured it out.