December 1069

"You want my help," Lucille said slowly.

After getting a physical description of Cerdic, I'd given John a tentative maybe on dealing with Ursiel and accompanied him back to the castle. Then after seeing him to his chapel, I went searching for Lucille and found her wandering the halls.

"Yes," I said. "I'd also prefer to discuss this in private, considering the details are rather sensitive."

"Weren't you the one to request I set up appointments?" she asked. "Do your rules only apply to me?"

"No, but I'm in a hurry and your brother's potentially in danger, so can we skip past the posturing, please?" I asked.

Lucille frowned. "What do you mean?"

"See, this is why I want to talk in private," I said. "So?"

Her frown deepened for a moment, then she turned. "Fine. Follow me."

She led me through the halls, searching for an empty and secluded room, and finally decided on a guest room that was in the middle of a rarely trod hallway. She checked that no one was inside, then stepped in and waited for me to do the same. I walked in.

"Why do you think he is in danger?" Lucille asked the moment I closed the door.

"I was very recently informed that a rather powerful demon is loose in England," I said. "And I mean demon in the biblical sense. I suspect it is going after King William, or Earl Robert, or both, or someone near them. Your brother is one of Robert's knights."

Lucille's expression grew considering. "And how do I play into this? What do you need my help for? Do you think I had something to do with the demon?"

"No," I sighed. "Look. I'm not accusing you or your brother of anything. But this demon has had almost a month's head start on me, and I try and catch up to Robert the slow way, that might take me almost a month on its own just to find them. 'Up north' is a very vague set of directions. So I need to take a shortcut. That is where you come in." I took a deep breath. "What exactly is your relationship with your brother?"

I really, really was not looking forward to this next part. It was stupendously, insanely, and dangerously risky. But there was no other way for me to overtake Cerdic and Ursiel, assuming they were hunting the king. Or Robert. Or both.

"What are you asking, precisely?" she asked.

"Are you older, younger, how far apart, did you have the same mother, so on," I asked.

"We're twins," Lucille said, a tinge of bitterness creeping into her tone. "He is older by a few minutes."

I paused. Definitely some resentment there, but I couldn't deal with that right now. "That's perfect for my purposes."

Lucille looked up at me, meeting my eyes. "Do you intend to use magic to move from me to him?"

"Not exactly," I said. "How familiar are you with the Nevernever?"

Lucille looked at me blankly. "I don't know what that is," she said.

"Huh. Bit surprised by that, but alright." I cleared my throat. "The Nevernever is, essentially, a parallel dimension of the supernatural. Basically anything that isn't in the world is there, somewhere. Heaven, hell, divine domains, planes of spirits, realms of Faerie, the whole hodgepodge. If you have the power, you can enter the Nevernever and use it to move around the world. With the right paths and Ways, you could go from London to Constantinople in an hour or two."

"And you think I can navigate this Nevernever?" she asked.

"Not exactly. That's my role. What I think you can do is find your brother, or at least the other side of where your brother is in this world," I said. "You're connected by blood, heritage, and nature, which will translate to some instinct in the Nevernever, a feel for where to go and look. Especially if I help with that."

"And how would you do that?"

"Well, I'd use something of your brother's that you have lying around, mixed with a drop of your blood."

Her eyes narrowed into slits. "Is that so."

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. "I am not trying to manipulate you here, Lucille. I am trying to save lives, one of which may be your brother's. Now, I can only guess at what personal issues you have with him, but I'm pretty damn sure you still love him."

Lucille scowled and looked away. "What, precisely, would you need from me, wizard?" she asked a few moments later.

"An item of your brother's, a drop of your blood, for you to follow and lead me through the Ways, and that is it," I said. "Maybe, maybe to help with the demon, if you actually know how to fight. But that is separate to getting to wherever your brother is right now and we can discuss that when we get there."

"What you are proposing, how dangerous is it to me?"

"Unfortunately, very. We'd have to pass through Faerie, and Faerie is… rather hostile to me," I said. That was an understatement. "We'll have to be running the entire time, and we will be chased and hounded. If the path isn't short, we'll have to fight a bit, buy some more time. But it's the only way to get there ahead of the demon."

Lucille stayed silent, not looking at me.

"Please," I pleaded.

Lucille glanced at me and I could almost see the calculation in her eyes, the weighing of lives and opportunities. The aftermath of a royal assassination and slaughter, and the resulting mass of wars, would be very fertile ground for a young, pretty vampire to exploit. And with my presence in Robert's court, her ability to manipulate him towards her own ends was minimized. This was, essentially, the best opportunity for her to cut and run. Chaos in the realm, I run the risk of dying during the journey, or afterwards, and all she needed to do was say no.

And in doing so, potentially condemn her brother to death.

"I want consideration," she said.

I sighed. "Fine. Say what you want, and I'll consider it."

"When the opportunity comes," Lucille said, trailing off for a moment. Then she took a deep breath. "When the opportunity comes, and it will come within the next few years if not sooner, if I tell you, when I tell you, you will kill someone for me."

"That really, really depends on who you're asking me to kill," I said. "Because based on just that statement I'm leaning towards 'no way in hell' as a response."

It took almost a full minute for Lucille to reply. "My father."

I sighed. "What is it with vampires wanting me to kill or destroy their fathers?" I muttered under my breath. "Who's your father?"

"Gauthier Renouth," Lucille said. "The current Constable of France."

I looked at Lucille and blinked. "You're kidding me."

"I wish I was," she said.

"What is the Constable of France, exactly?"

"The commander of the armies of France, in place of the king. Given King Philip's youth and inexperience, that makes my father one of the most powerful nobles in France."

"And you want me to kill him," I said slowly. "Me, a wizard, killing the commander of France's armies. A vampire." I paused for a second. "You're asking me to start a war."

"You're asking me to help prevent one," Lucille said. "And if you wish me to be blunt and direct, then I shall be. My father is not a good man, nor a humble one. He has great influence over France, may rule it in all but name through various thralls. I know he intended for me to catch King Philip's eye once the boy was older. I doubt he's given up on that plan."

I leaned back against the door and sighed. "Is that your final offer?"

"It is," she said.

A great set of options. Sleep with Mab to get a pass through the Ways, go it myself, or agree to murder France's Commander-in-Chief and maybe start a war between the White Council and a Vampire Court. Wouldn't be the first time. Wouldn't even be for that different of a reason, now that I thought about it.

"I need to think about this," I said. "I'll send you a message in an hour or two, by the same little messenger I used months ago. It'll either be a simple yes or a no. If it's a yes, you grab what I asked for, grab what you think you need, and come over to my house. Is that agreeable?"

"It is," she said. "I'll await your response eagerly."

"I'm sure," I said. I stepped aside and opened the door for her, and after one last look at me, Lucille walked out.

"It doesn't rain, but it pours," I said.

Was there another option? Owl Helga and explain the situation, ask her to try and handle it? Maybe, but that was only an option if she was still there, and if she could figure out a way to find Ursiel, and if she could figure out a way to stop him.

Granted, I didn't really have any smart ideas on that last front. But at least I had experience. And finding Cerdic and Ursiel, well, that was only my problem once I got there, if I got there.

And who, exactly, could I consult to get a second opinion on this choice? John? That would require explaining a lot. Elfleda? Well, maybe, but I didn't want to involve her in this.

No, I had to make this choice myself.

I headed back to the chapel and told John that I'd do what I could, and asked him to look after Shadowfax while I was gone. While I was there, I also grabbed quill, ink, and parchment, wrote down an ugly and hastily penned letter that I stuffed into a pocket, and took a detour to the kitchens to grab a small platter of salted meat.

Then I tracked down Eva.

I found her in Elfleda's room, the two of them sitting on the bed in the room, knitting and discussing courtly politics. That's my guess, anyway.

"Harry," Elfleda said in slight surprise. "John said you were likely to be busy today."

"Yeah. I am," I said. "I'm actually about to do something highly risky and probably stupid."

Elfleda grew serious. "How so?"

"I am heading off to fight a demonic bear."

"But you're injured."

"I know, which is why I said highly risky and probably stupid," I said, setting the platter down on top of a dresser before fishing my letter out of my pocket. It had smudged and run over a bit, but was still mostly legible.

"Okay Eva, quick crash course" I said, turning to face my apprentice. "When you want to summon something, all you really need is a Name and some power put into it. Today, you're going to summon an owl. Hogwig, specifically, the owl you saw last month."

"Why am I doing it?" she asked.

"Because I'm in a hurry," I said. "And I don't have time to wait for however long it might take for him to arrive." I gestured at the letter and platter. "Both are for him. Offer the meat first, then the letter, then tell him to deliver it to his owner, Helga. Repeat that please."

"Call his name, give him the food, give him the latter, ask him to deliver it to his owner Helga," Eva repeated.

"Good," I said, nodding.

"Please tell me that is not a will," Elfleda said.

"Only half of it. And very abridged," I said.

Elfleda sighed. "Do you have to do whatever this is yourself?"

I let out a long sigh. "Yes. I think I do."

She looked at me in silence for a few moments, focusing on my lips in particular, then harrumphed. "Then good luck."

"Thanks." I turned to Eva. "Don't do anything I'd do while I'm gone."

Eva frowned. "Don't you mean don't do anything you wouldn't do?" she asked.

"I know what I said." With a final nod to them both, I turned around and headed home, mentally debating Lucille's offer the whole way there. I made my decision as I reached my door.

No.

Author's Note: Gauthier, Third Constable of France is an actual historical figure. However, since literally the only things I could dig up on him were his name and his position, I had free reign for everything else.