When Harry Met Eve

Chapter 7

By Evelyn Raith

When light began to creep its way into the basement apartment I opened my eyes to find Harry's extremely large dog, Mouse, staring at me. The irony of the name was not lost on me. I sat up off the couch where I had fallen asleep just a few hours before, shoving maps and notes that Harry and I had accumulated through the night's work. Mouse wagged his tail and hopped up onto the spot of couch I had just vacated. I got a few big drooly kisses and then he climbed onto my lap like he was some tiny lap dog.

After a bit of adjusting, I could breathe again. I swear he must feed the beast Dragonkin to get him this big. I scratched behind his ears and then heard something horrible and truly evil to my right.

I jerked my head to look over and find Harry asleep in one of his recliners, head tipped back, drool coming out of the corner of his mouth and snoring like a rusty chainsaw.

The sound nearly rattled the windows.

It was becoming less of a mystery why he lived alone in a basement.

"Harry." I tried to get his attention. "Harry!" Still nothing. "HARRY!" Yet another barrage of snores.

Mouse didn't seem keen on letting me get up off the couch, so I grabbed one of the beat up throw pillows next to me and tossed it at Harry's head.

With one final snort he was up and on his feet, ready to take on whatever had attacked him.

"Well good morning, sunshine. Have a good nap?" I said, overly perky and cheerful.

He looked at me for a stunned second, remembered where he was and rubbed his face as he muttered, "Wizard needs caffeine, badly."

Harry grabbed a Coke out of his ice box and wordlessly offered me one as well. I put up my hand and he tossed it underhand to me. I caught it and tapped on the top of the can a few times, I didn't want it to fizz over onto Mouse. By the time mine was open, Harry's was empty and he had opened a second one.

He picked up the phone and made a call to someone named "Murph" and explained about his car. There was a long pause where he didn't talk, really didn't listen and just drank his soda. Then he said "Love you too, Murph. I'll keep you updated" and hung up.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "You love everyone at CPD or just him?"

Harry called Mouse off my lap and I was slowly able to feel my toes again. Mouse still stayed at my side for more ear skritches. "He's a she." He said. "I mean, Murph is a she."

"Cue the love interest."

"It's not like that. We're old friends. It would just be weird."

"Is she attractive?"

He smiled a little and closed his eyes; you could tell he was visualizing her. "Yeah. She's cute."

"Is she smart?"

"One of the smartest people I know."

"Do you tell her everything?"

"Pretty much."

"Ah, cue the angsty sexual tension love interest."

Harry opened his eyes and glowered at me. "If I didn't know better, I'd think Thomas had sent you."

I made my most innocent of faces. I did know his brother, Thomas, but how I knew him wasn't really a topic that I could share. So best to leave it all unsaid.

Harry shook his head and passed me the phone. "Your turn, who are you calling?"

I ignored him, picked up the handset and dialed the number, Harry moved over to the couch to listen in. A familiar voice picked up the phone.

"Kincaid." He answered sternly.

"Jared, I need a favor."

"Eve? Every time you need a favor, I need traction. "

Harry was leaning in, trying to listen in on the call and being quite obvious about it. "You know Kincaid?" He mouthed at me. I nodded yes.

"Well, you would be breaking some pretty big rules from The Big Guy if you help me on this." I dropped that juicy tidbit for him.

"In that case, what is it you need?" I could hear the smug smile on his face.

Harry stopped mouthing things when I wasn't answering him and started whispering loudly, "How well do you know him? Have you met Ivy? Why do I have a very bad feeling about this?"

"Is that Dresden? You're in Chicago? Hanging out with White Council now?"

Great, I was getting it from both sides.

I hushed Harry and turned my back to him as I continued my conversation. "I need to know who wrote in Raziel's Book of Secrets last and when."

"Oh, you weren't kidding, you are really pushing the rules this time." He paused a moment and then continued. "Is your cloak fire resistant? You should ward it. Harry and fire go hand and hand."

"This time?" Harry came around the other side of me. "What happened last time? Why did he need traction? How in the hell do you know Kincaid?" I put my hand firmly over his mouth and looked at him sternly. Good grief, men will be the death of me.

I ignored Kincaid's questions and pushed forward. "Focus, Jared. Do you think she could help me?" It was really all in The Archive's court.

There were some muffled sounds like Jared had put his hand over the mouth piece of the phone and a moment later he came back to me. "She says we should meet somewhere to discuss it… the usual at noon?"

"You're in Chicago too? The usual sounds perfect!"

"Tell Dresden to come, she only agreed to meet so quickly because she wants to see him." Jared grumbled a bit.

I still had my hand over Harry's mouth but raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, yes… of course. See you then, love."

Jared hung up the phone and I hung up my end. I slowly removed my hand from Harry's mouth.

"LOVE?" He blurted out. "You just called The Hellhound LOVE?"

"Well yes, Harry. He's my son."

Disclaimer: Harry Dresden and all established characters, settings, etc. are the property of Jim Butcher and ROC publishers. The original characters and plots are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.