Chapter 7
After a few moments she released me and steadied herself, smoothing her dress with her palms as she sat up with her head high and shoulders back. She was still a little dazed from the soul gaze but was recovering quickly.
"So, are you satisfied with what you have seen Mr. Dresden?" She asked as if about to break into tears as she mentioned my name.
"Yes." I said feeling a smile cross my face as I remembered her dancing and creating beautiful works of art almost effortlessly, "When you started working with Emily, did she have you go through an initiation ceremony?" I asked still remembering the dirty, vicious girl draining Camilla of her power to do terrible things.
"Yes. It was one of the few times we were in the circle together where I remember everything that had happened." She said her eyes seeming to focus on past memories.
"Could you perform the ceremony from memory?" I asked in a complicit tone.
"I suppose, I'd need a few things, but sure." She said with a curious look on her face as a smile spread across mine. I glanced at Ebenezer who had a satisfied look on his face as well.
"Camilla, can you give us a minute?" I asked
"Actually, I would kill for some coffee. So if you'll excuse me, I'll be right back." She said excusing herself to head into the coffee shop. The sun lit her dress as she walked away, showing her silhouette in dark shadow as she glided to the doors and entered the shop.
"What are you thinking Hoss?" Ebenezer said, pulling my attention away from my client as she left.
"It looks like this Emily is using her like a battery, using Camilla's power to do black magic." I said remembering the tube she was using to pull Camilla's energy.
"I sort of figured that one out for myself when she didn't remember what happened during the ceremonies." He said giving me a flat look.
"That and from what she said, it sounds as if she is being compelled to go after the necklace. This Emily is a nasty piece of work, the only bright spot is she isn't powerful and hasn't gotten to one of the necklaces yet." I said. "I think we need to introduce Camilla to her other cousin, Abbey." I finished.
"Hoss are you sure? If she's being compelled by this warlock then there's no telling what she'll do if she gets near the necklace or anyone trying to keep her from it." He finished.
"That's why you'll be watching her the entire time. If we can get her to initiate Abbey, she can claim the necklace and this whole thing is over." I said with a smile. See, simple, elegant and should be easy. Why did I have the sinking feeling that things were about to get a lot more complicated?
"I have an idea how to deal with Emily, Hoss. You leave her to me." He said as he got up. Using his staff as a walking stick, he headed over to the pay phones at the corner of the coffee shop, dropped in a few coins and started dialing.
I took a long drink off of my coffee and started to run the plan through my head. The warmth of the sun on my face felt good. My back and neck cracked as I leaned back shaking my head feeling the weight of my hair. I had let it get too long again and it was starting to get bushy. I heard the chair next to me slide on the pebbled paving stones of the seating area and leaned forward and opened my eyes. I had expected to find Camilla sitting across from me, instead there was a woman, late forties dressed in an impeccable red and black pant suit, her curly brown hair was up off her collar and her brown eyes wore just a hint of makeup to give them depth. She was definitely a relative having features of both Camilla and her grandmother, possibly another aunt? How big was this freaking family?
"Hello, Mr. Dresden." She said. "I don't have much time so I'll get to the point." She said and her words were accented by the click of the hammer of a large caliber hand gun being pulled into the firing position. "Gregario was an interloper and Camilla is a fool, if you want to survive this week, you will give me the necklace." She said her eyes narrowed and hard. It was clear she meant business and I could only assume she knew how to use the gun she held under the table aimed at some of my favorite organs. My staff was within reach but I didn't think I'd have time to raise a shield and grab my staff before she perforated my abdomen and left me to bleed out. We were in public so that worked to my advantage, no sense making a scene when we could just talk nice like normal people.
"I don't have it on me and I'm pretty sure you'd know if I did." I said in an unimpressed voice, picking up my coffee and taking a sip. It was a little too sweet but still it was coffee. "So what do we do now? If you kill me then you won't get it and if you stay here much longer things will get complicated, so what do you propose?" I asked setting the cup down on the table and giving her a flat stare. She avoided my eyes and I noticed an ornate bracelet on her left wrist, it looked like a silver charm bracelet that had an assortment of charms on it, however, it had many charms of one sort in various colors, they appeared to be little round scales that I recognized as shields.
"You will deliver the necklace to me tonight," she said producing a slip of paper from her bag, "be there at seven sharp or I will take it as a sign of bad faith." She said, moving her bag under the table before getting up and backing to the sidewalk, hand in bag, where a dark blue town car quickly pulled up. She turned quickly and got in and the car was moving away before the door was completely closed.
"Hoss, who was that woman?" Ebenezer asked as he walked up to the table.
"I just made a new friend." I said with a frown.
"With friends like that, you should cover your back a little more carefully." He said as he sat down.
"Someone else wants the necklace. She knew Camilla and Gregario, she called them both by name." I said shaking my head as I opened the slip of paper.
The paper was written in a flowing script, Water Front Park, West end, 7:00pm. That didn't leave us enough time to do the initiation. Normally these things are done at night after the moon has risen. It wasn't going to get dark until 9pm. Things are never simple.
"Hoss, I don't want you going alone and this throws a kink in our plans. I have things in motion to take care of this Emily but it will take a few hours. Until then I suggest we keep Camilla and Abbey apart. Even without training, Camilla can be dangerous to herself and others if things get out of hand. Once we know that Emily isn't pulling her strings maybe we can bring the two together, until then it's just asking for trouble." He said calmly and I knew he was right.
When Camilla came out from the shop, we told her that we had some errands to take care of but that we'd be in touch later tonight and hopefully we could get together again then. Camilla smiled sweetly and shocked me when she leaned over and hugged me tightly. Her warm body and sheer cotton dress against my body felt way too good. "You are a good man Harry Dresden" she whispered in my ear, her hot breath on my ear gave me goose pimples and sent warm tingling sensations all over my body. Then she pulled away and offered her hand to Ebenezer. When he touched her hand, I could see the surprise on both of their faces, then Ebenezer gave her a warm smile and patted her hand.
"Just sit tight miss, we'll get this all sorted out." He told her as he released her hand and handed me my staff, and collected his own.
"I'm sure you will sir." She said with a friendly smile as she took her coffee from the table and headed for the sidewalk, walking into the sunlight. I really do love summer, I thought as the last tingles were subsiding from her hug.
Ebenezer's elbow connected with my sore ribs just hard enough to get me to close my mouth and avert my gaze from her silhouette as she glided away.
"Um, ya, we should be getting back." I said.
We made our way to the blue beetle and then sputtered off into the city streets. Ebenezer suggested that we make a few stops on the way. We hit a few of the more well stocked occult stores and purchased some candles, a small cauldron and large bag of powdered chalk and a bag of course rock salt among other things. Once we had finished our shopping we headed back to my apartment.
As we pulled in to the small parking area, we hardly had any space to park as it was filled with a concrete truck, Michaels truck and there was a pile of debris laying off to the side of the house. As I got out of the car I saw my landlady coming from her apartment and start hobbling down the stairs.
"Um, give me a minute," I said to Ebenezer as I started for the front of the building.
"Mr. Dresden!" she started with an angry flush starting in her cheeks. "What are all these people doing here?" She demanded.
"He's a friend of mine, he's repairing my door." I said in a loud voice to be heard over the banging and sawing going on around the corner.
"What's wrong with your floor?" She demanded. "And why are they taking the siding off the building?"
"Door, they are fixing my Door." I said louder, "They will put everything back as soon as they are done." I said loudly trying to give her a friendly smile.
"Oh, so you won't be banging it every time you come in, at all hours I might add." She said giving me a disapproving look.
"Exactly!" I said as her look softened.
"You're a good boy Harry, just next time you need to let me know before you have anything done to my building." She said only half scolding.
"I didn't think they'd be here this soon, I was going to tell you this week. I'm really sorry about the noise." I said my cheeks turning a little red.
"It's okay, son." She said smiling. "I met the man doing the work, he seems like a nice man too. Just tell him not to work too late or start too early. The neighbors upstairs might complain." She finished.
I helped her up the stairs and as we got to the top, she turned to me with a sheepish look.
"Harry, I've noticed you've had a lot of lady friends over. Do we need to talk about adding anyone to the lease?" She said looking hopeful.
"Nothing like that, they will be gone in a day or so." I said blushing deeply.
"That's too bad, a nice man like you. You should really find yourself a good girl and settle down, Harry." She said with a kind smile.
"I've been hearing that a lot lately." I told her as she turned to go inside.
"I really like that Karin that keeps coming over. Molly is a good girl too. She helped me with my groceries the other day and we had tea. She doesn't dress well, but she's sweet too." She said giving me a wink before going inside and closing her door.
Now totally embarrassed and depressed thinking of my love life, I headed back down to the cacophony of hammers and saws at my front door.
"Michael!" I yelled. He took the piece of wood from his chop saw and turned to face me with a broad smile.
"Harry, we had a break in our other work and decided to get this handled for you since we had the time." He said, shouting to be heard over the noise.
"I hear you met my landlady." I said yelling at his ear.
"She's a sweet Lady Harry. She seems to like you." He said smiling a little wider.
"How long will this take?" I yelled.
"We've reinforced the landing and the support beams and are just now starting on the framework." He shouted back, pointing to the newly poured threshold that had small silver crosses laid into the drying concrete between the ends or the rebar poking out. "I added a little extra to it, just in case." He beamed. There were steel bars fixed to the 2X6's he had set as the outside of the frame for the door. There was a metal fire door with wood overlay that made it look like a standard door when the door was closed. It actually looked nicer than the original door and more secure than the door I had now.
"Are you sure what I gave you will cover this?" I asked loudly.
"You wouldn't believe the discount I got on this stuff, I'll probably owe you some money when it's all said and done." He yelled back shrugging his shoulders. "We're getting close to a stopping point. We can hang the door for tonight while everything sets, then tomorrow we'll finish attaching it properly and get the siding back on." He yelled.
"Fine." I Yelled back as the saws, compressor and generators all went off one by one. Leaving the side of the house quiet. My ears rang from the sudden quiet. "That's great, just don't start too early tomorrow, my neighbors tend to get up around 8 and they don't do well with loud noises." I said smiling.
"Not a problem Harry, I have some errands to run in the morning anyway." He said turning to one of his workers, he started giving instructions. I turned and went inside, stepping over the wet cement and tools lying here and there.
"So much for my wards," I said turning to Ebenezer.
"Don't worry. We can throw up a few temporary wards for tonight Hoss." He said smiling and admiring the craftsmanship of the framing. "I don't know what you're expecting to come at the door Hoss, but this will probably stop a tank when he's done." He said rubbing his chin.
"Michael has been here when I had uninvited guests." I said smiling.
As I continued into my apartment, Mouse was sitting up in the kitchen watching the workers go about their tasks. When I came close he turned to me, his tail wagging and his mouth fell opened with his tongue dropping out like it was too big to fit in his mouth. I stopped and kneeled down to scratch him behind his ears as he leaned into me, nudging my face with his head. Then refilled the food water bowls for him and Mister.
The phone rang and Molly answered it, then called to Ebenezer and handed him the receiver when he was close enough. There are times I wish I could have a cordless phone, but I'm sure I'd just end up losing it. Ebenezer spoke quietly and the conversation was short, before hanging up I heard him say, "Thanks and good luck on that other thing." Ebenezer gave me a nod letting me know that Emily had been taken care of.
There were a lot of duties I didn't like having to do as a warden but there were definitely times when I was glad we were there to do what we do. People like Emily and Gregario needed to be stopped. They thought that just because they had magic that they could twist it to use others as puppets. I don't know how much damage Emily had done to Camilla but I remembered how that oozing cut had looked puffy, red and infected, that couldn't mean good things for her psyche, but at least it was over.
Ebenezer and I set about laying some temporary wards on the door, stairway and surrounding building. It wasn't going to stop an army but it was still enough to give us warning of anything coming at us and give is a nice body slam when it got there.
The sun was making its way towards the horizon when I pulled the Blue beetle into Lake Front Park. I found a parking space as most of the families and packed it in for the day. There were some couples and young people walking around the water and lurking around the bar-b-q pits, but it was mostly empty. I parked the car and pulled my staff from the passenger seat and mad sure my blasting rod was in place under my duster as I climbed out of the car. The coat was a bit conspicuous in the warm summer evening, but with the week I was having so far, I wasn't going to this meeting without it.
The far West end of the park was fairly secluded as the path turned a bit inland and around a copse of trees and brush leaving a large circle of grass next to an old and rickety dock. On one of the benches sat the woman I had come here to meet. She was wearing the same pant suit and had the same large bag sitting under her right arm. She rose as I came around the corner and out of sight of the rest of the park. She smoothly slid her had into her bag as she came close.
"No sudden moves Wizard." She said calmly in a silky voice.
"Wouldn't dream of it, miss…" I paused waiting to get her name.
"Call me Fiona, Mr. Dresden," She said with a raised eyebrow. "Did you bring it?"
"Before we get to that I have a few questions for you." I said leaning on my staff carefully pushing power into it and my shield bracelet.
"We don't have time for twenty questions Mr. Dresden, either you brought it or not." She said frankly.
"Why do you want it?" I asked. She opened her mouth to answer but I cut her off, "I know what it is and if you want it then you must be part of the Sisterhood." I said flatly, looking her in the face. At the mention of the sisterhood she drew in a quick breath and her eyes widened a little.
"You are particularly well informed, Wizard. But I don't see how any of this concerns you." She said becoming a little impatient.
"It concerns me when young girls are attacked and people try to kill me, call me overly sensitive but I take it personally." I said letting some anger creep into my words.
"Like I said Gregario was a idiot and he has no rightful claim on the necklace, it's just as well that he's out of the picture." She said flatly. "As for the Sisterhood, let's just say that we've been biding our time and now after many centuries, we are in a position to regain our status and the White council is in no position to stop us." She said smiling.
"So what, you're going to come out of the shadows after all these years and take back what? Your lands? I believe it's already been spoken for and is now part of at least three different countries. So are you just going to kick everyone out?" I asked incredulously.
"Oh, no wizard. We aren't going to kick anyone out, we are simply going to take back our place in those lands. The mortals there once worshiped our leader as a Goddess and they will again. They will be our servants and we will rule them as it was in the old days." She said, her eyes lighting up and her face smiling with a fierce and malevolent grin.
"Do you honestly think for a moment that they will simply turn control over to you?" I said mockingly.
"Not me, wizard. My mistress, The Goddess of old. When the medallions are brought together at last by each of the families, each in the circle giving their power, the gates will open and bring back our leader, our beloved Goddess." She said in a shrill maniacal voice.
"So what then?" I asked. "You're going to take over Eastern Europe? Don't you think the rest of the world won't come after you? They have really big guns now you know." I said sarcastically.
"No Wizard, we are taking over the whole world. Mortal minds are easily enthralled, the world leaders will welcome us and gladly give control over to us. Their militaries will serve us willingly like the good puppies they are." She said fiercely. "All we need is the last necklace. That old bag, wouldn't give it to us and wouldn't go along with what we were going to do, so instead of waiting another two centuries for the old crone to die. I expedited matters." She said with an evil grin, "We have prepared for this for a long time and will not be denied by a puppet of the pathetic White Council." She spat her face becoming drawn and hateful. "Now give it to me!" she yelled her left hand outstretched.
"And if I say no?" I asked flatly trying to sound completely unimpressed.
"Then you shall die wizard." She said, her eyes widened and I felt her begin to draw power.
I turned my hand on my staff to point my rings at her and let the first band go. A lance of power simply jumped from my hand, hitting her square in the face, lifting her off of her feet and throwing her a few feet back onto the sun hardened ground. Her bag went flying and the wand she held fired a bolt of fire into the air, missing me by a good six feet as her head and shoulders hit the dry brown turf.
She howled with rage and sat up with blood running from her nose and lips, a fire burning in her eyes of pure rage and hate. She extended her left arm as I leveled my staff, runes glowing silvery orange. A sliver shimmering dome of energy suddenly surrounded her.
"You aren't the only one with trinkets." She said pulling a silver piece from her bracelet. She whispered a word to it and then threw it at my chest.
"Forzare!" I shouted and sent a shaft of power out of my staff hitting the silver charm in midair. It exploded like a bomb. I was lifted off of my feet and thrown a good five feet back and into the split rail fence that separated the grassy circle from the trees. My side screamed in pain at the impact. I found my feet as I saw her coming towards me with her wand or small rod, level at me.
I brought up my shield in a dome around me, learning from the incident with Gregario, as she shot a thin beam of intense heat and fire at my chest. It hit the shield a few feet in front of me and was deflected into the air. I thought I heard a bird squawk in pain somewhere above.
"Give me what is mine, wizard. You can't win this fight!" she snarled as the wind blew the curls out of her face.
"I usually hear that just before I wipe the floor with the person who said it, it really pisses me off!" I snarled back and realized that it really did.
"You arrogant fool!" she cried.
"You… crazy, egomaniac!" I yelled back, suddenly unable to think of a better come back and nearly sticking my tongue out at her for good measure.
"I'm NOT Crazy!" she screamed eyes suddenly wide and mad with rage. What can I say? I've always had a way with the ladies.
She turned her hands palms up and her fingers came up to form claws, she raised her hands and turned to point her palms at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a column of water rising from the lake and arch directly at me. I flattened one side of my shield and angled it slightly while pressing magic and soul fire into my shield and staff. The water bounced off of my shield and sprayed towards Fiona. She crouched and braced for the weight of the water to hit her shield and just as it was about to hit, I leveled my staff and said, "Fugeo!"
A shaft of silvery orange light shot out of my staff and hit the water and it erupted violently into a cloud of superheated steam. Fiona screamed in pain as the steam blew into the silvery dome she had constructed. Although it may stop magic and solid objects, the steam blew over her blinding her and scalding her exposed skin and likely her lungs as well. She dropped her wand and simply fell to the ground, her shield simmered and was gone, and she lay there still on the wet grass.
I stood there for a moment, staff held ready and she didn't move. I saw her chest heaving for breath. I took a step forward and her mad eyes sprung to life as she ripped another charm from her bracelet and hurled it at me in one motion. Surprised at her speed I didn't have time to react, except to force more power into my shield.
The charm expanded into a long silvery ribbon as came at me. The ends of the charm hit the shield and attached themselves, then began snaking around the shield, glowing stronger and stronger as it took more and more effort to keep the shield up. Soon I was panting for breath as my shield buckled and the silvery ribbon contracted and pulled my arms against my body then wrapped my chest and thighs in its silvery tendrils dropping me onto my back. I could feel it pulling the power out of my staff and even my rings. I tried to close my mind to the silver bands as they tightened around me, trying to strip the very magic from my body. I concentrated and was able to lock it out of my head but not without great effort and I wasn't sure how long I could hold it off.
"You see wizard, I told you that you could not win this fight." She rasped with a gleeful look on her face, her eyes still betrayed the madness that dwelt behind them as she leaned over my body, sitting beside me. I looked away because I didn't want to look into the soul of this crazed megalomaniac, I'd seen enough horrific things in my life, I didn't need any more horrors I couldn't get rid of.
"Now I will take what is mine, then I will add your power to that already in the necklace and you will help us to usher in a new age for humanity, as our slaves. Then we will eradicate the phages from this world and it will be truly ours." She said as if reading off a grocery list, with a twisted, evil smile on her face that made my skin crawl and stomach turn as her hands began to fumble in my pockets.
"Why do you crazy people always go after the world? Have you ever thought of just starting with Australia?" I spat back at her. "How is it that you always try to take it all at once? How about starting with the Philippines? It's small but centrally located. You could push to china or the Pacific Rim countries from there, you know, start small. But NO! You have to come to MY TOWN and declare that you're going after the whole enchilada! What kind of response do you expect?" I snarled. "Now I'm giving you this one chance to run like hell and never come back. Otherwise when I get up, Lady or not, I'm going to kick your insane butt back over the pond to wherever it is you came from!" I said writhing in pain, hardly able to speak much less move while trying desperately to fight off her charm.
"I told you," she said baring her teeth and pointing her wand at my head then slowly she spoke again in almost a whisper speaking each word distinctly, "I'm NOT Crazy!" Her wand began to glow as she pointed it at my temple. I could feel my strength weakening, holding back the silver ribbon out of my head, from devouring my strength, power and my mind.
"All the same, you're still a bitch." Ebenezer's voice came sternly from behind the witch, her eyes widening in suprise and anger. His black gnarled staff made a heavy dull thud as it smashed into the back of her skull. Her body fell limply across my chest, sending shooting pains through my ribs and back. Ebenezer waved his staff horizontally over my body and the silver ribbon evaporated with a hissing sound as my strength flowed back into my body, the pressure in my head subsiding blissfully into a dull pounding headache.
My mentor rolled the limp body off my chest with his steel toed work boot and then offered me his hand to help me up. I grabbed my staff and then his hand and stood, looking down at the woman who would be queen, or duchess maybe. Her clothes were rumpled and her skirt had slid up her legs to show the well-toned muscles of her calves and thighs her tailored jacket pulled up above her waist revealing her silk blouse pulled tight around her. I almost felt sorry for her.
We gathered her things and quickly bound and veiled her, then levitated her off the ground and took her back to Ebenezer's truck. He had parked on the street closer to this end of the park so as not to be seen, which was good because I was too tired to hold the levitate spell much longer. Once secured under a tarp in the bed of his truck, Ebenezer turned to me.
"Are you going to be okay to drive back, Hoss?" He asked.
"Ya, I'll be fine. I'll see you there in a few minutes." I said rubbing the back of my head and neck trying to relieve the pounding in my skull.
"If yer sure." He said giving me a long hard look.
"I'm good sir. I'll be right behind you." I said and turned to head back to the blue beetle as the truck roared to life behind me and pulled off into traffic.
