Pepper- She's at it again… shamelessly stealing works from others

Shadow- Bad dragon! Pepper, you keep that up and you're not getting anymore Cinastixs!

Pepper-*muttering* If you were more consistent in posting…

Shadow- Not you too! Fine, roll disclaimer!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Jane and Talin… and Fred the cat. Everybody else belongs to Jim Butcher. Occasional references to other works of literature, mostly the Brothers Grim and Alice and Wonderland… I've even branched out and added some Yeats! Other than that, I am just a poor retch who has a love obsession with dark chocolate and Pepsi.

Chapter 10

Jane held the little bell still as she walked down the street at a determined pace, she needed to think and find the reason that when with the rhyme... She tripped on the concrete's edge and growled something unladylike under her breath as she felt more of the insistent vibrations. She was not going to let him bring his carcass through to this world when she was so close to a Winter Queen. She brushed past a hobo who skittered out of her way. The wind picked up and she pulled her jacket closer and slowly remembered why there was a bulge in her pocket. She would deal with it later, for now she just needed time to think, she had to get home.

The wind started to really pick up as her house came into sight and she raced it up the porch steps and through the door. Pulling the door shut she scooped up the cat and deposited him into the nearest doily chair and habitually spun on her heels to re-set the wards and secure her charm. Humming as she worked she strengthened the wards and used her free hand to search for the charm on the knob. After a moment of probing with her finger she glanced down to frown at the empty knob.

"That bitch took my charm!" The Queens warning had come to late…

"Of course she did dearie," came from the kitchen.

"It was my mothers, the best protection from the fae!" she continued storming into the room.

"What did you expect? Especially when a fae lord popped in for a chat," said Granny stirring something on the stove. Jane deflated. Granny didn't know about her bargain, and for some reason didn't blame here for the intrusion. It was nagging at her; the charm should have worked on all the fae… Talin had been invited but the fae that had cast the blood spell had not. She winced away from the image of blood and cinnamon on the floor. Focus on what you can deal with, she told herself. The vampire Sasha had her charm, the bloodsucker must have been sent by the Queen of Summer to get easy access to Granny but to what end? Jane sat down on the counter fiddling with one of the wooden spoons. The Red Court vampires were in league with Summer, but why would a Queen of Summer hint at her missing clauddagh charm? And how did a Winter Queen find out about her contract with Summer? What was she missing?

"Granny, what would I mean if I asked you to change your clauddagh?"

"Well, if you were a handsome man, I suppose it would mean that you were asking me to marry you. You ought to know that love."

"From Galway I am not…" she muttered.

I hardly think my love life is a priority for a Queen of Summer, unless she was trying to breed herself a wizard of her own… Jane sighed and put the spoon back. There were just too many things that a Queen could be plotting but which ones were meant by the new Queen? The comment was meant to tell her two things, emphasize her change in loyalty while also mentioning the significance of the charm… The only way the little Queen of Summer would know about the charm was from Talin, but if he was in league with her why not have him snatch it when she called him for help? Or force her to hand it over when she had promised to be his, she ended that thought mentally stumbling and continued on. She reasoned that he had nothing to gain by virtue of their bargain. Unless of course he had been there before it was made and told the bloodsuckers about the charm from the start… This was getting her nowhere. She was thinking in circles and not making any headway. Rubbing her temples Jane tried to ignore the details and concentrate back on the grand scheme. She watched Granny sprinkle mint over the boiling pan and wondered about the old women's part in the banshee plan. After a few moments of distracted reflection she was poked by a ladle and grudgingly passed the salt when wrinkled hands began to search the counter.

"Speaking of clauddagh rings, what ever happened to that wizard fellow that came for pie the other day? He was nice enough to carry you up to your room."

Jane rolled her eyes.

"He is not available and I'm not interested. Besides he has a thing for women in uniform."

"Now dearie, you could find yourself a nice man if only you would-"

"Not flit off to see the Fair Folk? It's not my first choice, believe me."

"If only you could stop dancing with that fae Lord. He wouldn't happen to be the same one mother mentioned from back when she was your guardian?" Jane decided that now was the perfect time to examine the aged wooden shelves of the pantry, all the better to hide her blush.

"And this is where I take my leave. Good to see near death experiences have little to no effect on your matchmaking," she said swinging herself down from the counter.

"I see, no more meddling then? Couldn't let an old women keep her pass time hmmm? Just wait till you get to be my age missy!" Jane waved her wrist as she exited the kitchen but paused when she almost stepped on the cat. Slitted eyes looked up at her accusingly.

"Whose side are you on any way?" she told it and kept going. The cat kept pace with her and started mewing.

"You too? I get it, I need to get out and see mortal men, get off my back cat. I have a lot on my plate, missing charms, missing lords and missing facts. I don't need you mothering me too!" she told him climbing the stairs to her room. She stopped on the landing. Something nagged at her; a thought pulled at the corners… the missing part of the banshee spell. Three victims, a child, a women and a grandmother. The Celtic knot charm flashed in her mind. Maid, Mother and Crone. The three that would bind the power, the loss of innocence, beauty and power to fuel the beast. Three piles of case files, the little Summer Queen was giving them their entire plan, but why? What could she possibly gain from them? Her bell began to ring again. This time she let him cross over and told him what she had discovered.

"We need to see Talin, Fred. I need to know what's been going on in the Realms."

"Mistress, I would not summon him here without your charm. Anyone can pass through with him," Fred grumbled situating himself amongst her boxes. She sighed vowing to finish unpacking tonight.

"In this death trap without my invitation they would have a hell of a time getting anywhere." On cue a tower of boxes came tumbling down on Fred.

"Perhaps elsewhere mistress? The lawn behind the house is blocked from view…" suggested Fred shaking off the novels and dust. Jane glanced out the rippled glass window at the high stone fence. "Might we wait for the wizard and the little human female?" he continued as she began to restack the fallen books around him.

"Their names are Dresden and Murphy, Fred. I don't think I'll be needing them… besides, he came through last time and didn't cause to much trouble…"

Back at the pub Harry and Murphy were trying to glean more information from the Summer Queen but not having much luck. In an almost bored fashion Lily had been tracing her nail in the wood doodling while she waited for them to try a new angle with their interview. So far they had stacks of rearranged pictures, no real motive for the Summer Queen's orders and a deeper understanding of how perversely delighted the kelpie was about aquatic murder but no mention of Toby's aging curse. To top it all off Harry was starting to miss Jane's high strung personality, it certainly beat talking in circles. Sitting back in his chair he sighed giving up. Jane had said he had the rhyme and just needed the reason. He was looking for the motive but it wasn't here… He looked over at Murphy who had been writing something on her notepad, he leaned over to see her doodling in the margins as well. He sat up a little straighter. She was following the pattern that Lily had been scraping into the wood. A Celtic knot. He suddenly understood how they would keep the banshee together. By using the knot they could bind the three women's souls, Maid, Mother and Crone they would each stabilize and strengthen the spell using the wrath of three spirits. The banshee they could create would be something the world had never seen before. The blood spell still had him confused but he reasoned that the old women could be used as a focal point, as the only magic user of the three. The boy's curse didn't fit into the equation though.

"Who put that curse on the boy in the picture and why?"

"It wasn't me Harry. If it was one of mine, I don't know their name." He sighed. He was getting nowhere with these two. He already knew the dancer was done by the kelpie but he had nothing to go on for a third culprit. Jane had been right. He turned to Murphy to tell her that they were done here but he got a pencil jab to the nose for his trouble. Murphy turned and pointed her eraser at the kelpie next.

"What would he say if I asked him who cursed the boy and why?" she asked setting down her notepad, pencil poised above it. Harry looked closer to see two columns, improvised Celtic symbols and, was that a truth table? He looked up to see Lily's look of surprise.

"What he would say?" she asked looking her servant. Murphy waited. The kelpie stopped smirking just as Harry started.

"He would say that a fae lord with a white glove set the curse. He wouldn't know or care why," she said carefully watching the kelpie who had begun to shift under all of the scrutiny. Bingo, he couldn't wait to see Jane's face when… Damn. She was in Talin's payroll now, how far could they trust her after seeing that display of servitude from the kelpie?

"Alright, I have to get going now. I have a cat that needs feeding." They said their goodbyes and taking their things they headed for the door. Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw something dark with teeth move apart from the shadows in the dim lighting. Angling himself behind Murphy he put himself between her and whatever was following them and let her open the door out. She turned and gave him a look, it was lost on him as he tried to pinpoint where the sudden movement had come from. He turned and caught another glimpse of claws in the shadow of a chair.

"Harry, what is it?" He gently pushed them both through the door.

"Quietly, take the safety off and stick close. We have a tail." She nodded and calmly put her arm inside her jacket as though the wind were pulling it away from her. They had stayed at the bar for awhile, when they had entered the bar there had been a bright sky and now they returned to find that the brightness had leaked away into a fading grey.

"Ideas?" Murphy whispered as they walked to the parking lot.

"Staying in the light seems like a good plan."

"And when the sun sets?"

"Hopefully it wont wait that long."

An answering skittering followed them till they reached the nearest light post. Back to back they surveyed the pavement and decorative trees along the street. Silence reined.

The wind picked up rustling the leaves and hiding any warnings. Harry shook his wrist and readied his rings, the long moment hung in the air but when it finally came he had missed it.

Murphy had not. She had fired twice before he had time to spin around and active his shield bracelet. He was getting rusty…

A rumbling came from the nearby hedge just beyond the light post and as Harry turned to face it he caught sight of a large greyhound that was rapidly disintegrating around two bullet holes in its abdomen.

"Fae hound, Murph. Get to the Beetle, we can-" his back hit the pavement as his shield bracelet took most of the crushing force of three more mean looking hounds. Between the bristling fur he caught Murphy trying to get an angle on the giant dogs without hitting him.

"You never had a problem shooting me before, today Murph!" he grunted as the sheer force of the hounds pushed him a foot across the pavement.

"Don't move!" he heard her shout. He concentrated on moving only one of the beast dogs back and angling his shield he gave it his all and shoved the one of the brutes aside for her but in the gap he saw another hound crouched and crawling up behind her. With the image of what was to come he let loose his kinetic rings and sent the hound yelping as Murphy efficiently took out the dog he had sent her way. A concussive roar came from the bush beyond Murphy who divided her attention between him and the new sound. Had one of the lions escaped from the zoo? He didn't have time to ponder its source. One of the dogs that had been clawing at his shield took the window of opportunity and launched itself at her while she stared wide eyed at the bushes. She turned to point her firearm when she was pushed backward by something he could not make out. Darkness spread over his vision and he lost sight of her entirely.

"Murphy!" he shouted pushing back at the persistent hound that was still snapping at his shield. With his concentration broken it barely budged, while it may have been smaller than its litter mates its size still made a Great Dane look average. His vision cleared and he saw a huge man dressed in shadow and dark furs standing over Murphy, he had a struggling dog by the throat. A deep growl was emanating from his chest as he stabbed the lungs of the dog he held with a white bladed knife.

"Move!" he shouted. She struggled to find the source of his voice but rolled away until she was at the edge of the curb. Harry shoved again at the shield, Forzare! The dogs muzzle smoked and sizzled as it clawed at the flames that engulfed its face.

Murphy was back on her feet gun at the ready to his right as the shadow man circled. Harry's hand was shaking and his staff was feeling heavier than usual in his hand. These were the times he wished that he worked the nine to five shift like the other average joes. He pulled his staff to him and concentrated, its sigils brightening. The flames were out on the fae hounds muzzle leaving it half blind and crusty but more importantly pissed off. Its eyes locked on his throat. He concentrated harder and the staff flared alarmingly in his hand. Its eyes were bleary but it saw the threat and began to withdraw. A gruff laugh made it jump and dash away as the shadow man approached them, his white knife nowhere to be found.

"Good to see your bite is as bad as your bark wizard. Now come, my mistress is in need of your talents," he motioned to them closer to him.

Murphy leveled her gun. Her elevated brow asked if shooting was in order.

"You must come now, Knight of Chicago. You will be light enough to carry along with the tall Englishmen." The shadow man tilted his head down the road. "We must be off, time is short."

"Who are-"

"Fred?" said Harry watching the shadow man pace before them.

"Why are humans so concerned about what form one takes. Yes, wizard it is I. Get on my back now or I will carry you in my teeth like the stubborn kit you are turning into." That said the man leapt into the dark and landed on four feet. "Now wizard!" Far from arguing with the feline that had single handedly strangled and maimed a fae hound he once again tried to jump up on to Fred's back. To his irritation once he was settled the shadow fae lowered himself onto his belly as Murphy approached.

"Quickly little knight." Murphy bristled but let Harry pull her up onto Fred's back. They were charging off through full night and he tried not to look around too much as they went. Not being able to concentrate or make out any one shape after a time would only make him dizzy. Knowing Jane, that was the last thing he wanted to be when they got to whatever mess she was in now. He didn't have long to wonder.

They came up on Jane's house but his skin prickled at a sudden surge of power. Fred dashed around the house and cleared the high fence without breaking stride.

"No! Not again. I'm not going anywhere with you," Jane shouted tugging at the rose vines that were pulling at her jacket. The bastard tilted his head and snapped his fingers enjoying himself.

"Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild, with a faery, hand in hand, for the world's more full of weeping than you can understand," he called as the winds began to pull at her hair and claw at her face. Her bracelet jingled as she doubled her efforts to remain where she stood.

"The land under the hill is not for me and nether are their people. A fire burns inside their hearts; driving others to pain; they destroy, they hurt; for nothing to gain," she quoted back to his handsome smirking face.

His face hardened and it gave her courage to murmur a soft charm into the buffeting winds. With what she had learned, she followed it with a prayer hoping it would be enough.

"Poetry slams and windstorms, an odd combination even for you Jane." Jane grinned against the winds.

"Just when I was beginning to miss you Harry, good to see Fred hasn't eaten you."

"Mistress, I am here," Fred purred baring his teeth at the other fae. The shadow cat wrapped himself around her tearing at the vines and grumbling.

"You made a deal with a fae lord, it's time to collect."

"The jig is up Lord Talin, you can't harm us without breaking your word. You know who has been behind the fae attacks don't you?" Harry saw surprise register on Jane's face. The feline tank must have filled her in on what he had overheard.

"I do. I've known all along. I am the one you've been hunting, and with Jane I will become the new King of Summer!"

"You son of a bitch." Jane pulled the last lashing vine from her and strode menacingly toward the fae. "You sneaky, conniving son of a bitch."

The fae lords smile widened as she approached.

Shadow- and that boys and girls is it for today! Hope you're enjoying the story so far.