A/N: Just a note for any Dresden fans who are looking for a good conversation about our favourite wizard and haven't been there already: check out darklordpotter dot net. The focus is on Harry Potter, but it's also got the second-largest group of Dresden fans on the 'net after Jim's own site. And a lot more swearing, too.

Getting to the bus depot wasn't hard. In fact, it was remarkably easy going. The place was empty, windows were shattered, and the lights were out. Calling up light is one of the first things any wizard learns, though, so darkness wasn't a problem. Finding the keys to the big buses wasn't a problem, either – they were hanging on a nicely organised board in a manager's office, each along with their last parking spot noted on a little tag.

The problem was the damn doors. All the buses were inside the depot, none were waiting in those convenient outdoor spots where folks usually get aboard and head off. With 17 people lifting, the lack of power wasn't a hindrance in getting the big door open, but the frames had twisted in the quake. Oh, not a lot. Just enough to make my life difficult.

In the end, Carlos and one of the other Wardens did something, uh, green, and the door, and a chunk of the surrounding wall, simply dissolved.

In one of those strange but wonderful twists of fate, it turned out three of our group actually had experience driving buses, albeit much older, less fancy ones. They did a variation of rock-paper-scissors, and two of them took keys: a grey-haired lady from Zanzibar, and a long-haired red-headed man. The one concern they had was that in these conditions, darkness, slippery roads, holes in roads, etc., stopping would be an adventure.

As I knew the roads better, and the Beetle could stop more easily than a bus, I offered to drive my car out front, like a pilot-ship. Molly and I hot-footed back to Mac's while Carlos and everyone else got the buses running. Doing so mostly consisted of having everyone stand really far away while the drivers got the engines running, then boarding and trying to stay away from said engines, crowding into the middle seats.

I was glad I had my own car, even if the back window was missing. At least I'd get my own seat. I got the engine running by thinking calm thoughts and being very assertive with the clutch. Even with the heater going full blast, it was a bit nippy. Molly didn't seem to mind, of course.

I cranked my window down as we pulled up in front of the depot. Carlos was standing at the opening that had until a few minutes ago been a door. "We good to go?" I shouted.

"Lead the way!" he called back. He turned and waved into the darkness, and I heard the big diesels roar. I waited until he had hopped aboard the first bus, then we started down the road.

There were cars lining the sides of the street, which actually helped keep the snow drifts to a minimum. This far from downtown, the damage wasn't extensive, and I'm pretty sure the old depot had taken the brunt of it. There were few broken windows, though still no street lights working. Torn between the need for speed, and the need for caution, I kept it under 25.

And for the next ten minutes, very little happened. So, as is my way, I talked.

"You okay, Molly?"

She took a second before responding. "You mean about earlier? With Luccio?"

"Yeah. I mean, it pissed me off, but - "

"Harry, the last few months for me have been… hard to describe." She turned her head, looking out her window into the gloom. "Mab and Maeve aren't exactly… gentle masters."

Her hands moved to her lap, in a subconsciously defensive action. I found myself silently grinding my teeth, and wanting more than ever to beat a Faerie Queen to death. But I held my tongue. When Molly was ready to talk, I would be here.

Her voice never changed. "I'm a big girl, Harry. I can deal with people who hurt me." She snorted. "People who love me, on the other hand…"

I took a breath and let the anger go. For now. "Yeah, I got the impression from your mom that you only kind-of sorted things out."

She looked down, and a tiny smile tugged at her mouth. She looked very young. Some of her hair came loose, and she brushed a purple lock back over her ear. "There was crying, shouting, hugging. And on some level… they let go. Not completely, I don't think they could do that if they tried, but they knew I was going to do what I had to, no matter what they said. We said the last of it in front of everybody, just before they got on the bus."

I slowed down to manoeuvre around a stalled tow-truck, of all things. "Well, at least they got out of town. You don't have to worry about them."

Her eyes crinkled in thought. "But would I have to worry if they'd stayed? I thought it was part of Dad's retirement package – protection from supernatural evil?"

"Sure," I said. "Though if Chicago is cut off from the outside world, they might eventually starve, or be hurt by regular people in the grip of panic." I patted her leg. "You did good by getting them out, kid."

She nodded absently. "Yeah, I guess so." We were quiet for a minute, during which I led the convoy around a corner. The snow didn't fade away, but the darkness got thicker. It somehow seemed colder, even with the heater blowing full blast. "You're still uncomfortable with this, aren't you?

"Huh?" Damn, I'm sharp.

"The Winter Knight deal."

"Oh, that. Uncomfortable isn't the right word. Unhappy? No. Angry? That's closer. Seriously-fucking-pissed? That might be right. And now knowing that Ana played a part in it… you can mix confused and betrayed in there. And no matter what you say, there's a touch of guilt, too."

"I wouldn't expect anything less. You always feel responsible for things."

"You were my responsibility, Molly."

"I'll say it again; I'm a big girl now. Though it's kind of cool to know you feel that way. It's very… human of you."

She looked away from me again, watching the shadows. I suspected she hadn't felt much like 'human' in the last little while. "Human is as human does," I said.

And that was ten minutes. I shifted uncomfortably at a sudden shiver running down my spine. I put my hand on the heater knob, but realised it was already set at high. It wasn't the cold that had caused my reaction. "Did you feel a chill?" I asked Molly.

"I don't really feel the cold anymore," she said, quietly. "Besides, the window's – no, wait, I felt something!"

I slid us to a stop, killed the noisy heater, and grabbed my blasting rod from beside my seat. Behind us, I heard the buses' brakes squealing hard, and they stopped moving, about 40 yards back. Something was out there, in the shadows. Something quiet and dangerous. I turned the engine off.

Molly and I exchanged a glance, then opened our doors. I had my shield bracelet charged and ready. We stepped out of the car, our senses stretched and alert. I held my left hand out, shield ready to spring into existence, and my right arm back, fire just as ready. Lash? See anything I'm missing?

Not yet.

Great. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

Half a block behind us, I knew the Wardens were getting ready. I heard a couple of pneumatic doors open, and some feet hitting the ground.

I got another chill. This time, I recognised it. "Vampires," I whispered, and took a step back to the Beetle.

"Harry?" Carlos' voice called. "What is it?"

"Get back in the bus!" I said. "It's vampires; we're ploughing through!"

I saw him nod and turn back to the door; I turned back to the Beetle. Naturally, that's when they attacked.

I felt it a split second before the impact, a cold, heavy ball in my gut, a deep feeling of wrong in my most private of areas, and managed to spin and pull up a thin shield, purely on instinct. The animated corpse hit me like a small car instead of a freight train, but I still went flying, left arm momentarily numb.

I caught only the briefest of looks at its face, but the paleness, the rheumy eyes, and the massive chunk missing from the neck told me all I needed to know. Then I was on my back, looking at the overcast sky, before bouncing off the rear of the Beetle and rolling onto the street.

I managed to hold onto my blasting rod by two fingers, and snapped it up at the vampire, wheezing out a weak "Fuego!"

Fortunately, evocation magic, the quick and dirty stuff, is about intent, not pronunciation. If I'd been working thaumaturgy, the slow, ritual-like stuff I'm better at, I might have been in trouble, but a burst of flame jumped out of the charmed wood like a flame-thrower tossing napalm.

Unfortunately, Black Court vampires are freaking fast. The remains of what had been a cashier at MacDonald's until a day or two ago launched herself out of the way and disappeared back into the darkness. The fire hit the side of a frosty brick building and dissipated.

Before I could gain my feet, there was an inhuman screech from behind me. I rolled over to see Molly holding another vampire at bay by simple strength, her hands gripping its wrists, the former fireman's jaws snapping at her throat.

I got my feet and brought my rod up again, opening my mouth to tell her to duck. Then, as I watched, ice began to grow over the vampire's arms, spreading out from her hands in a thick sheet. The vamp noticed, his head snapping back and forth. The ice quickly grew over his hands, locking the claws safely away. Then it screamed again and started pulling away from her.

Almost faster than I could follow, she dropped his arms, braced herself against the Beetle, and kicked, hard. The vamp flew through the air like an extra in The Matrix, all four limbs trailing behind his body. When he hit the ground, his arms snapped down, and his hands shattered, blowing apart with the ice. He writhed, he howled in pain, then he flipped over and ran, vanishing up an alley, cradling his stumps.

"Wow," I said.

Molly was breathing hard. "Didn't know I could do that," she said.

I looked back in the direction of the one who had jumped me. Until just a little while ago, she'd been a survivor. Someone who had lived through a massive devastation in her town – my town! – until she'd been bitten by a monster. And now, she was a monster herself. Goddamn Mavra.

"Harry!" Carlos shouted.

I snapped my head around. The buses had pretty much emptied out. Ramirez trotted up to us with four other Wardens in tow, swords and staves out. "You okay?"

"For the moment. They both got away. One of them went - " The lead bus rocked to the side with the sound of metal dragging on metal.

"That way?" he asked.

"Yeah." We all broke into a run as the other Wardens began to react, swarming around the bus. In the ten seconds it took to cover the distance, I saw several bursts of flame, felt the wind react to a call, and heard too many screams and grunts for comfort.

Why did I stop driving? Dammit, what the hell was I thinking?

We headed straight for the largest group, on the driver side of the lead bus. I pulled up short as a Warden let out a victorious shout, and lifted his sword over his head. It was wet with black fluid. At his feet, through the legs of three or four of his comrades, I saw a smoking stain that had been a body.

I worked my way into the crowd, and saw three Wardens on the ground. One of them, a large black man, got himself to his feet. I helped a woman – a girl, really, she couldn't have been more than 20 – up. The third person, a stout fellow who looked like a Viking with his long hair and pale face, lay face down and didn't move.

The guy who'd killed the vampire dropped to his knees, and started talking in a harsh but elegant language with his friend. The guy on the ground responded weakly in the same tongue, probably Swedish. He helped the Warden roll over a bit, and I knew the poor bastard was done for. Most of his abdomen stayed on the ground, and few of us could keep looking.

I didn't let myself look away. Why did I stop? Why? Stupid!

After a second, the two Wardens shared a weak laugh. Another second, and there was only one Warden left.

I made a fist tight enough that I heard my knuckles pop. I gave everyone a three-count of silence, then said, "We have to get going. The others will be back any second."

Which, of course, was when they came back. Three vampires, including the one who had blind-sided me a minute ago, exploded out of the shadows, launching themselves at us.

Now, here's the thing about wizards; taken by surprise, we're basically human beings. Nothing too special. We can be shocked, stunned, or even killed. But, give us a warning or a little prep time, and we can call the powers of the Gods to our service. So, it's best not to attack us when we're ready for you. Especially not when there's a dozen or so of us who are ready for you and we're pissed that you just killed one of us.

All three vamps hit our shields. One of them bounced off a few shields like mine, flying back into the night; the one who jumped me disintegrated in a green sphere that Carlos used; and the last just stopped dead in midair. He gave us an angry scream, then six different wizards, possibly including myself, threw fire at his face. He was reduced to ash in less time than it took to blink.

Looking back on it, we probably should have asked him where his boss was, or at least how many of them there were, but sue me; we were angry.

Another roar sounded from the other side of the buses. "Listens-to-Wind," I mumbled. All of us started running. The buses had stopped so closely together we couldn't get between them. As I rounded the front of the lead bus, The headlights almost blinded me. A step past them, and I saw Joseph standing near the sidewalk.

I skidded to a stop. There were two vampires, one behind him and one in front, running full tilt at him, jaws open, claws flailing. They would be on him in less than a second. I raised my blasting rod, but didn't cast a spell; I couldn't shoot the vamps without hitting Injun' Joe. Everyone else had the same problem.

Not that it mattered. At the last possible moment, the old man simply vanished. In his place, and about three feet higher in the air, was an eagle, wings lazily treading air. The two vamps smashed into each other and rebounded, knocked senseless. I shook my head. It was like watching weirdest-ever episode of The Three Stooges.

The eagle turned back into an earth-bound wizard, who looked with disdain and pity on the vamps, who had just gone sprawling. "Nature weeps for you," he muttered. Then he pointed his hands, and fire engulfed them both, consuming them almost instantly.

"Whoa," Molly said from beside me.

"Yeah. That's why he's on the Senior Counsel, and we're not." To everyone else, I shouted, "Back in the buses! We don't stop again! It's a straight shot downthis road to the school!"

Everyone moved, including Listens-to-Wind. Molly and I ran for the Beetle. Another inhuman screech sounded not far away, and a little above us. I glanced up.

There were half a dozen of them, all standing on the second- and third-storey roofs of the surrounding buildings, three to a side. "Hell's bells, run, Molly!"

Now, because of how fast and strong they are, running from Black Court vampires is really only useful in two possible situations: One, you're trying to get to direct sunlight, which the younger ones can't stand; or two, you're trying to get a better angle to hit them with a weapon.

I didn't have any sunlight on me, but if they lined up right, I could probably fry three of them at once. I heard shouts and the roar of unhappy engines and felt magic fly behind me. I focussed on getting to my poor car, watching the vamps jump from the rooftops out of the corners of my eyes. I kept my shield and blasting rod ready. I felt my newly-repaired heart pounding furiously.

Molly and I reached the Beetle at the same moment. I slid to a stop, but she treated ice like it was pavement. One of the vamps, Stumpy, jumped out of the shadows behind her. "Molly!" I cried.

I whipped my blasting rod into position as she ducked, turning. I shouted "Fuego!" at the same moment she shouted "Actis!"

The gout of flame and stream of ice combined into a messy 'Arctiuego' spell. A wall of super-heated steam waited for the vamp as he jumped, and… well, I won't go into too much detail, but his flesh basically boiled off.

The corpse, and it was just a corpse again, landed on the Beetle, denting the roof and cracking the windshield, before rolling off into the street.

We both stared. "Well," Molly said, "that was cool."

"I think it was hot stuff, myself," I said, and yanked the driver's door open. I got in, and bumped my head on the suddenly-compacted roof. My poor car.

"That was awful," she said, joining me.

"You're going to complain about my sense of humour now?" I cranked the Beetle over and gunned the engine. The rearview was useless, now, reflecting a V-shaped chunk of car ceiling. I cranked my window down and poked my head out. Molly did the same. In the door-mounted mirror, I saw the buses already moving, windows down and wizards throwing magic out of them. Everything under control, relatively speaking.

Then there was a horrible scream of metal bending, and the rear bus rocked over on two wheels. I snapped my head around. The bus corrected, but didn't sound happy about it. It probably wasn't helped by the three vampires clinging to it.

"Oh, seriously? If it's not one thing, it's three." I thought fast for a moment, came up with something stupid, and decided to do it, anyway.

I cranked the wheel around and worked the pedals, swinging the Blue Beetle into a 180 degree turn, then shot back up the road, the little engine roaring like a lion cub trying to make itself heard among the pride. "Molly, you ready for some drive-by wizarding?"

"Is that even a real thing?"

"It is now!"

The invisible woman pulled herself up and half-through her window, sitting on the edge of her door. As we slipped past the bus, fire began to fly over the car, almost singeing my hair. The blast wasn't as tight as mine would've been, but Molly didn't have a fire-focus, and her proficiencies were obviously at the opposite end of the spectrum, now. It had the desired effect, though; all three vampires let go of the bus and fell to the ground.

I turned the Beetle around again, and the engine stuttered. We bounced forward, once, twice… then my old friend stalled. "Oh, no. That's not good."

Two of the vamps turned and dashed off after the busses. One of them, a particularly nasty-looking, ichor-stained beastie, stayed. I started feverishly trying to get the engine started again.

"Uh, Harry? Now what?" Molly asked.

Instead of answering, I growled at the steering column. "Come on, come on!"

Molly took it on herself to hop back up on the door and throw some flame. Good intentions, but the vamp was too far away, and dodged easily. I did not want to be stuck here with this thing. We had to get moving. We had to. Billy, Murphy, Elaine, all the Alphas, were waiting for me.

"Molly, no magic!"

She stopped flinging fire, though she didn't slide back inside.

I kept turning the key, and kept getting a pathetic, 'yuh, yuh, yuh' sound out of the starter. The vampire started forward, a few steps at a time. Great. This one was smarter than the last few, or at least more in control of itself.

"Come on, old buddy, come on…" I tried one last time, deciding that if it didn't catch, I'd get out and do some damage with my bare -

The engine caught. The vampire looked just as surprised as I probably did. Then I was smiling. I jammed the gas down, popped the clutch… and didn't move an inch forward. We were on ice.

My smile vanished, and the vamp grew one. It was rather horrible to look at. I cranked the wheel back and forth, getting the slightest sideways movement out of the rear end. Molly slid back inside. "Uh, Harry? Want to try the magic steam thing again?"

The vamp got within two feet of the Beetle and took a swing, sending one of the head lights flying off into oblivion. Oh, my poor car. "Asshole," I said quietly.

I hadn't taken my foot off the gas. With no warning, the tires suddenly caught pavement, and we shot forward. The vamp, taken by surprise, was caught by the fender and did a beautiful faceplant into what remained of the windshield, spiderwebbing it and crushing the hood. Oh, you asshole!

The vamp lifted his head, growled at us, then drew back an arm and punched the windshield to bits. Glass exploded inward, causing me to flinch and swerve.

You fucking asshole…

I was pissed, as you might have gathered.

"Molly, seatbelt!" I pulled mine on. The vamp grabbed the forward edge of the Beetle's roof, and pulled upwards, peeling it back like a fruit cup lid, I guess to get a better grabbing angle on Molly and me. His smile got even bigger and more grotesque.

"What are you smiling about?" I asked, and steered for a large, tent-shaped snowbank. I drew in my will, and as the car hit the bank at an angle, tilting up, I thought about the underside of the car and shouted, "Ventas servitas!"

The Beetle caught some wicked air. Seriously, there's no other way to describe it. We launched, car, wizards and vampire, into the air and over a small parking lot. I felt like I was in the world's worst roller coaster. Or, maybe, the best.

We came down in said parking lot, in a spot already occupied by a parked van. We hit the side of that van at about 40 miles an hour, and about four feet off the ground. The vamp was splattered against the sliding door. After impact, we rebounded about a foot and smashed to the ground.

The Blue Beetle's last act was to crush a vampire up against that van… and simultaneously crack several of my ribs, I'm sure of it.

I blacked out. Just for a minute, I think, but by then Molly, who was obviously much tougher than me, now, had managed to disentangle herself from the mess. She staggered around the wreck and got my door half-open by yanking on it. She managed to get my seatbelt off and help me out of the seat, which I could not do myself; I simply had no leverage, and couldn't even take a deep breath.

I unfolded with her help, one arm over her shoulders. I was sore, but nothing felt broken. My head was a little rattled, but what else was new? We turned to look at the car. Or, rather, what was left of it. "Oh, Harry," Molly said. "This sucks."

The front end was crumpled flat, the windows were all gone, the seats were twisted, many different fluids were leaking, the dent in the roof had become a fold, the frame was twisted, the wheels were all pointing in different directions…

I leaned forward, put a hand on the frame, just above the door. "Sorry, old friend. You're not coming back from this one." I looked at the smeared remains of the vampire. "And thanks," I muttered. I reached back in and pulled out my staff and rod. "Let's go. I think we're hot-footing it to the school."

Molly led me over the snow bank and back onto the street. I was cold. Wet. Possibly concussed. Carless. I had the start of a bitch of a headache. But there was still a job to do.

"Are you going to be okay?" Molly asked,

"Yes," I said, then tripped over a rut in the snow.

She put a hand out to steady me. We shared a look, me a sheepish one, she a disapproving one her mother would have been proud of, then turned forward again,

There was a vampire in the intersection ahead. I sighed. "Another conveniently placed vampire? What the fuck is this, Twilight?"

She was small, kind of round, and looked like she'd only been dead a few hours. She opened her mouth. A voice came out of it. A voice I recognised.

"Wizard," it said.

"Mavra? Speaking through the hired help? That's Mab's trick, you know."

"What the Winter Queen does is no longer a concern for us." I felt Molly tense beside me.

"Us?"

"The Circle, of course. And in a few hours' time, there will be no outside concerns at all."

"Why, because you're cutting us off?"

"You were warned, wizard. And you did not get your people to flee. Any now left here belong to us."

As you might imagine, that got my back up. "The hell they do." I pointed my blasting rod right at the vamp's face. "I'm declaring open season on you and all your super-villain friends!"

"Foolish mortal. You are now the wild game. And you are already hunted. Much like your friends, the wolves."

"What did you say? Hey, answer me!"

Her mouth closed, then broke into a grin. Mavra had let go of the 'child.' She looked like she was going to spring at us.

"Great. And us fresh out of cars." I shook my left wrist, getting my shield ready. "Okay, Invisible Woman, flank her. Let's spread out and – what is that?" I cut myself off when I heard a strange roaring noise, like an engine. But the busses were long gone. The vamp was looking around, too.

An enormous white SUV exploded into the intersection from the cross-street, blowing through a snow bank. The vamp tried to move, but slipped. The huge truck slammed into her.

The vamp went skidding down the road. Molly and I watched her go, then looked back at the truck. On its far side, the driver's door open, and the commander of the street-legal tank stood up, his head emerging over the roof. "Need a lift?" my brother asked.

I smiled like an idiot, then laughed. "What took you so long?"

"Sorry. Traffic. Get in."

He ducked back down and Molly and I started toward the truck. "Shotgun!" Molly said.

The passenger side window rolled down, and we both slid to a stop.

"Oh, Harry, Molly. It's so good to see you," Lara Raith said. And she licked her lips as she did, too.

I glanced at Molly. "All yours."