"All of them? At once?" Luccio asked.
I shook my head and shovelled another Twinkie into my mouth. It was just about the last of the food. "No." I swallowed the golden, artificially sweetened ambrosia.
"One at a time." I dusted my fingers off, sprinkling my bag, which Thomas had thoughtfully brought along, in sticky crumbs.
Everyone was crowded into the war room (as I liked to think of it). I had 'borrowed' an erasable whiteboard from Father Fraser's office, along with a couple of felt markers. I'd drawn a large five-pointed star on it, then thickened the pentagon in the middle. "What's left of the city inside the barrier has been carved up. The north-eastern part," – I marked off a quarter of the inner pentagon – "has been claimed by Cowl and Kumori. She's potentially on our side. They'll be surrounded by ghosts and zombies.
"The northwest is claimed by Summer." I made another 'L'-shaped line and thought again, with regret, of Murph's house collapsing. I saw Fix take a deep breath. "Hobgoblins, sylphs, gruffs, and who-knows-what-else Titania has on hand.
"The south-eastern part, where we are now," – I made a little dot on the board – "is claimed by Mavra and her Black Court cronies. She's already shown she's willing to work together with the others, as we saw when we got the last group out. Although, I'm willing to bet there's some animosity between Cowl and Mavra – I doubt she likes the idea that she could be controlled, in any way.
"And based on the corpse I found, I'm willing to bet the southwest is claimed by the Red Court. Probably some higher-up member of their nobility."
Molly asked, "And you want to take them out, one at a time? Is that good idea? Or even possible?"
I capped the marker. "Look. The church's grounds are safe – for now. Once the Transit completes – and it will complete, every second, it gets closer – the barrier comes down, and the hordes will flood in. There are demons and other nasties stalking the streets right now – I killed one on my way here. They're only able to get in because they've been to Chicago before, through portals or in summoning rituals."
"Not to mention the souls," McCoy said.
I stiffened up. "You mean people who used to live here?"
He nodded, his eyes distant. "They'll be set loose, to torture and terrorise those they once knew. If they've been here long, there won't be much difference between them and the pure demons." He blinked and sighed. "And once the demons flood in," McCoy said, his voice now slow, deliberate, and somehow heavy, "we're done for, hallowed ground or not. And so are all the other people here, or still in hiding."
There was a moment of complete silence. I let it sink in.
"The Transit is being maintained. It will become permanent if people believe the image they're being presented with for long enough. And what with the colour of the sky, and the recent earthquakes, and everything else they've witnessed… The only way to save the people who are left," I said, "is to show them that they can get out of here. The only way back is to stop the ones who are maintaining the Transit. If we're lucky, and fast, we'll get them all before Chicago is screwed forever. Hopefully, each one we take out will cause the others more strain, and speed up the process."
There was another quiet moment, and I had to resist the urge to say, 'One does not just walk into Mordor.'
Then Thomas raised his hand. "So who do we go after first?"
Before I could answer, Billy said, "Why do I feel like I'm about to play a bad Final Fantasy game?"
Sanya turned to him. "13?"
"I was thinking Ten-two."
"Da, that was bad."
I cleared my throat. When I had everyone's attention back, I pointed at the board. "We clean up own backyard, first. We go after Mavra and the Black Court."
"Where do we start looking?" Luccio asked.
"Well, I think there's a good reason she took this end of town." I turned to the little table and picked up a street map of Chicago. I unfolded it and clipped it to the whiteboard. "We're here," I said, making a dot with my marker. "And she's used this neighbourhood before." I made another dot, on a street nine blocks away. It was run-down, largely poor and with a low population, even before the mass exodus. She'd used the building I'd dotted a few years ago; a homeless shelter. "I think she'll take up residence here, again. Or at least nearby."
"You're sure?" Ana asked.
"It's where she held children as snacks. It's where she broke the will of several workers and the mind of another, forcing Murphy to kill the poor bastard. It's where she used napalm to virtually incinerate my left hand." Ana winced.
"And it's where she managed to fake her own death, escaping into Undertown."
Yeah, she'd be there. She was an old creature, a creature of habit, a survivor. She'd want what was familiar and usable. And she'd have an army, likely raised from the poor and incognizant she'd found in the neighbourhood.
"Should be a piece of cake. Now, who's coming?"
They all came. McCoy insisted, despite Luccio's protests. So, she and Chandler had to come to protect him. Fix, Molly, Elaine and Mouse were pretty much givens, and Carlos stepped up once Molly did. Sanya just laughed and stepped forward. At Thomas' sharp look, Lara rolled her eyes and said something about not being comfortable in churches anyway.
Will volunteered, then he and Georgia went to have a quiet conversation with the rest of the Alphas. The pack stayed behind. The two teams of Wardens also remained to protect the church, and the Guardsmen were all too happy to have them.
I took a few minutes to grab an item or three from my Big Bag of Wizarding, and consult briefly with a priest, then we were off.
The first hundred or so steps on our march went well; we mostly managed to fit into two cars, including Thomas' 'borrowed' pick-up. Fix, Molly, Elaine and I rode with the Raiths; Sanya went with the White Council members in Father Fraser's old station wagon, following us. Will, Georgia and Mouse provided a four-legged escort. For a wonder, the vehicles kept running after we left the church grounds.
The ride was tense, as you might imagine. We kept our eyes peeled, and the window in the back of the cab open. Thomas and Carlos drove slowly, keeping the engines quiet and avoiding the various wrecks and damage to the streets. The tension was almost palpable, and I could not get comfortable in my duster.
"How's everyone holding up?" I asked quietly.
"Can't seem to… catch my breath," Fix muttered. So, he relies on his Sidhe-gifted vitality, Lash whispered.
"Can't… can't concentrate," Molly said. Takes her mental fortitude for granted.
"Feeling a little exposed," Elaine said. Her eyes were huge. Her anonymity.
"I'm fine," Lara said over her shoulder. I could almost feel Lash roll her eyes.
"Yeah, me too," Thomas said, though he at least had the decency to look embarrassed about it.
On a hunch, I said, "Let me try something. Give me your hands." I put a hand out, face up, and Elaine, Fix and Molly each put one on it in a pile. Then I capped them with my other, and touched Soulfire. I didn't really have a spell in mind, I just willed out a little energy to work with. As it touched them, looks of alertness returned to their faces, and some tension bled away. They looked at their hands, then at each other. "Thanks," Molly said.
"No problem." I turned back to the road.
Two blocks from the shelter, they attacked us. It started with a sudden, distinctive chill, running right down my spine. I heard Mouse growling over the cars.
"Here they come!" I said, though I couldn't see any vampires.
Thomas hit the brakes, and my eyes snapped forward. Three vamps were landing in the middle of the street. "They're too close to run down," he said.
"Then we cut them in half," Fix said.
"Sounds good to me," I said, and started to jump over the side of the truck's box. The others followed suit. As I was in the air, the vamps all charged the truck, hitting it at the same second and lifting. The nose of the truck flew off the ground, and the edge of the box snagged my foot, causing me to twist in the air. The truck flipped right over, landing on its roof and knocking my staff out of my hand. I was the only one who didn't land on my feet; fortunately, I managed to recover into a very cool-looking roll, very carefully not landing on my left pocket.
As I rolled, I saw the other car, surrounded by vampires. Before I could even get to my feet, two waves of blue-grey energy erupted out from the doors of the station wagon, blasting the vamps away, and taking the doors with them. Luccio, Sanya and Carlos popped out of one side, McCoy and Chandler on the other. No problems there.
I turned back to see Thomas and Lara wrestling a vampire to the ground, Fix and Molly eviscerating another, and a third wrapped in a thick chain, writhing on the ground, Elaine standing over it. "Well, I feel useful," I muttered, snagging my staff and heaving myself to my feet. I glanced back at the other car again, where Sanya was cutting a vampire in half and Chandler was immolating another, and saw something out of the corner of my eye.
Just a flicker of movement. A bit of a blur, but definitely a human-size form. There, then gone. Instinct took over, and I threw up a shield, twisting my body halfway around to get my left arm pointing to the right. Nothing hit me.
And sent me flying over the upside-down truck.
I landed on Fix, saw stars, then Molly's face. "Harry, are you okay?"
"Uhhh," I said.
"He's fine!" she said over her shoulder.
Elaine entered my vision. "Help me get him up." They heaved me to my feet. Brain still a little groggy, I turned to look down at Fix. Mouse had come out of nowhere, and was now with us, too. He licked the Summer Knight.
"You okay?" I asked Fix.
"Uhhh."
"Good." I checked my pockets, then got my left hand out again, and managed to keep my balance. I shook my head clear, then said, "Shields up, vampires off the port bow."
Molly helped Fix stand, then shook out her own defensive focus. Lara and Thomas came closer, the vamp they'd been working on now dissolving into black goo. He looked fidgety and restless, she was fine.
"Hoss!" McCoy called. He was only about twenty feet away, head and eyes in constant motion. "You alright?"
"Yeah. I barely saw the one that got me, though. It was a blur."
"Got to be old, then." The older Black Court Vampires get, the more powerful they get. And the more they need to feed. Sanya, the Wardens and the werewolves encircled McCoy, the group slowly getting closer.
"I guess we came the right way," Thomas said, his voice tight. He produced a ridiculous-looking handgun from his unnecessarily tight jeans. He started aiming into every shadow, jerky and tense.
He was hungry, and fighting it.
I heard the first four shots individually before I realised we were even under fire. Three pinged off my shield, one more off Molly's. The kid flinched and made an "Ahhh!" sound. Thomas spun and got off a few pot-shots.
"Down!" I shouted. Almost everyone hit the deck, even the canines.
The pings became a roaring rain of metal, bouncing off shields, asphalt and brick, shattering glass and tearing into the metal of the truck. Contrary to most action movies, cars don't provide very good protection from bullets. I twisted my head. Elaine, Molly, McCoy, Ana and Chandler had all thrown up shields like mine, though they came in a variety of colours.
Carlos had remained standing. He created a G-bad, and had picked out where the shooters were in a blink of an eye. While the rest of us were cowering, he calmly pulled a grenade from his webvest, closed his eyes, muttered to himself, then lobbed it unnaturally far, to the roof of a two-storey Laundromat/tenement. The shooting stopped.
The explosion wasn't huge, but it was loud. The echo died away unnaturally quickly.
Taking advantage of the situation, I hopped to my feet to get a look around, before saying anything. Luccio beat me to it: "Fall back!" she shouted.
I looked at her. "Fall back to where?"
"Yeah," Molly said, "We're literally up against a wall here."
"The direction we were going – that way!" She pointed down the road toward the shelter, now only about two blocks away. Then she was moving, all but dragging McCoy, Chandler at her side.
"Move it, Hoss! Everyone, now!" I could argue with my boss, but not my grandfather.
"You heard him," I said. I grabbed Elaine's shoulder and started pushing her down the street. Then I grabbed Molly and did the same thing. Mouse and the Alphas followed her. The others started moving in spite of themselves, Lara heaving Thomas along by his collar. Gun shots started ringing out again, but they weren't concentrated. I ducked my head, then got moving myself.
Carlos got beside me as we ran. Sanya and Fix brought up the rear.
"Nice work," I said.
"It's what they pay me for," he said. "I'm glad it worked – for a minute there, I wasn't sure…" He trailed off. His confidence had been taken, or at least drained a bit.
Damn Hell.
Literally.
Something caught my eye. Once again, I saw a blur out of the corner of my eye, a little ahead and to the left. Beside Elaine. Beside Mouse. Without thinking, I threw up a shield and extended it forward.
Once again, nothing hit it, and hit it hard. I felt the impact right up my arm, and was thrown off balance, grunting in shock. Carlos caught me, kept me upright and moving.
"What was that?" I heard Fix ask from behind.
"Different vampire!" Sanya answered.
And it clicked, though it probably should have five minutes earlier. The vamps that were invisible weren't Black Court.
"Jades," I said. "Jade Court vampires!"
I saw McCoy's head snap around. "What?"
"Jades! Keep moving!"
"Wait," Carlos said beside me, "What are we - "
"Shit! Move!" I shouted, grabbing his arm. "Keep going! Run!"
I saw everyone who was running keep stumbling, like they had forgotten that they were moving, and had to keep egging them on. Jades are fast. Just like the White Court, they feed psychically, but rather than emotions, they absorb memories. They're so good at it, that they can do it while the memories are forming, essentially keeping a person from understanding what's going on, or even noticing that time is passing.
They're also masterful veil-casters, more powerful and more natural than Molly. Being invisible and erasing people's memories has kept them safe and secret for centuries. Having Lash keeps me safe now.
I had to keep shouting at everyone, as, one by one, they all stumbled or fell, forgetting where they were and what they were doing. Billy, Georgia and Mouse didn't seem to be affected, helping to keep people standing, but I saw Thomas and Lara both fall, limp, to the ground. Carlos and I skidded to a stop beside Elaine and Molly.
"Help me," I said quickly.
"What? Harry? What's - ?"
"Just help me, Molly!"
"Right, okay. Just calm… just… Why is Thomas on the ground?"
Just for the record, the Jade Court is, by far, the most annoying Court of vampires there is.
I heard Mouse growl, and spun, arm up, ramming power into my shield, throwing up just past my dog's nose. This time, there was no impact; I saw the vamp. It was Black Court, as the torn clothes and sharp teeth indicated. It had been a man, not long ago, a young one. His skin hadn't yet started to decay or take on that sunken look they get.
It grinned at me, and I really wanted to take a step back. Or maybe a few steps. I glanced left and right. There were more of them. I risked moving my head. Then I turned in a half-circle one way, then the other. We were surrounded.
And everyone but me and my four-legged companions was just standing there, or lying there, in the case of Thomas and Lara, empty-faced, glassy-eyed and swaying on their feet.
Terrific.
"Guys? Carlos?" I waved a hand in front of his face. His eyes followed the motion, but when I stopped, they went back to looking at nothing.
Well, this is bad. I can't protect everyone and take out the vamps by myself. I need at least one of them to come out of it. Lash? Any suggestions?
Perhaps… Forgive me. The Jades are attempting to feed, and blocking them is distracting, to say the least. I have to intervene in the memory-creation process… Your communication spell with Elaine; It may move faster than their memory-absorbing abilities.
Yes! But it takes a second to establish. I looked around. Why are the vampires just standing there?
If they wanted to kill you, they would be attacking.
Yeah, which means…
I dropped my shield, mostly because it took a fair bit power to hold it up. "Alright, what do you want?" I asked the vampire closest to me.
Mouse, Will and Georgia stood at my side, staring down the vamp with bared teeth and low growls. As had happened yesterday – stars and stones, I was suddenly tired – the vamp opened its mouth and spoke with the voice of its master. "Wizard. You were warned. And you failed to heed me."
"And I told you, a long time ago, what I would do if you came back into my life. I told you how much power I could pick up, and how dead you'd be after." As I was talking, I was forming an image of Elaine in my mind. Splitting concentration isn't easy, but when you spend a couple of your formative years practising, you pick it up.
"The power you can harness is miniscule next to the forces you are now dealing with."
I laughed. "What, you the Secret Society?"
"No," it said slowly. "Not us."
I actually got a chill.
"Then what are you talking about?"
"I doubt you could comprehend."
"That a fact?" Instead of another chill, I felt a laugh bubbling up; I was pretty sure she was talking about the Outside. "Well, try me. I'm a pretty quick student." My mental image of Elaine was almost complete. I glanced at her, over my right shoulder. She was still gazing at nothing.
Then I looked over my left shoulder, just so it wouldn't seem suspicious. I would have to hit her with the spell, and tell what to do quickly, or the Jade holding her mind in stasis would hear what I was saying. I'd only get one shot, basically. "Something tells me, that whatever's going on, you don't have a full grasp of it, either."
The voice hesitated. "The powers of the Outside flood in, overwhelming and unmaking. And those who do understand such, the Summer Queen for example, wish only for your head. I wish to know why."
I froze. Mavra didn't know about my birth circumstances, and my supposed 'Power' over Outsiders?
Interesting. The Circle's members weren't sharing nicely.
"Why? Well, what can I say?" Elaine. Elaine! Hear me! "Everyone wants to kill me. It's hardly something new." Elaine Mallory! Can you hear me? "Well, except for Cowl, of course."
The vamp's head twitched to the side. "Cowl?"
"Yeah. I had a run in with his apprentice. She said he doesn't want me dead. Seemed strange, for a necromancer." Elaine!
Harry? Her mental voice was weak and distracted, but it was there.
Lightning! Lightning, Elaine, now! Now! Lightning!
What are you - ?
Now, godammit, now! Please!
I didn't have time to stop and listen or look to make sure she was doing it. Throughout my life, I've learned a few hard lessons, one of the most important being: Given the choice between action and nothing, fucking do something!
I dropped my staff and brought my left arm up over my head, drawing in magic with my breath, and touching Soulfire in my mind. I shaped a dome-like shield with my will, and brought it into being with a whisper of, "Reflittum!"
At the same instant, Elaine shouted, "Fulminaris!"
Lightning exploded mere feet from us.
Vampires burned and blew backwards through the air. I was knocked off my feet, landing face-down. But as I fell, I saw the blurs of disrupted veils. My shield had kept the heat and most of the noise of the strike off of us, but not all of the raw, concussive force.
Everything was quiet for a long moment. My ears rang a bit. A shake of the head cleared it.
From behind me, I heard Thomas, his voice strained. "Harry? What the hell - ?"
"Get up! Everyone, we have to move while we can!" I grabbed my staff and pushed myself up. Everyone was moving, trying to stand or helping someone else. "Let's go, folks, memory-eaters abound!" Mouse and the Alphas nudged a few stragglers to their feet. "Come on, the way is open… for the moment."
"Hoss, what happened?"
"I'll explain later, when you'll remember."
I watched Lara pull Thomas up. She gave him a concerned look, deep into his eyes, which were glassy and flecked with silver. She glanced at me.
"Thomas, give me your hand," I said.
"Harry, that's not a good - "
"Now. Please, just trust me," I added in a whisper.
He gritted his teeth and held his left hand out without looking at me. Lara watched us both carefully with a raised eyebrow.
I took my brother's hand and pushed a little Soulfire into it. He inhaled, sharply. I held him for a three-count. He opened his eyes, slowly. He looked at me, and the silver was gone. I let go.
He took a deep breath, blinked. Nodded at me.
I nodded back.
Lara looked at Thomas' eyes herself, then at me. She looked me up and down, smirked a tiny, sexy smirk, made a 'hmmph' sound, then nodded to herself, and started dragging Thomas along.
I turned to Elaine, who had pulled herself to her feet. "Something just exploded," she said. For some reason, her voice was suspicious, as though she were blaming me, of all people.
"Yeah, you just incinerated a dozen vampires, including a few Jades," I said.
We looked around; most of the vamps were now charred smudges. "Well, how about that," she said. "Go me."
Once everyone was up again, I stayed at the back, as we headed for the shelter. I ran, staff in one hand, bracelet out on the other, eyes restless. Nothing else seemed to want to get in our way, though. Thomas and Lara went first, dashing unnaturally fast, leaving the rest of us behind. Considering how hungry Thomas must have been, I was glad.
For a minute, I deluded myself into thinking we might make it the rest of the way without a problem; then, half a block from our destination, the mist started pouring into the street. From every crack, every broken window, every alley, over all the roofs and out of the sewers.
In mere seconds, we were waist-deep in fog, and it kept coming.
Everyone stopped. It wasn't terribly thick, but the further from us the mist was, the denser it seemed to be. When I looked for them, Thomas and Lara had vanished into the haze. "Thomas!" I called. My voice sounded dead, hollow. I heard a growl beside me and realised Mouse was at my heel. He was peering into the deepening darkness and didn't like what he saw.
I got no response from my brother. I started forward to find him.
"Hold up, Hoss." McCoy put a hand out to stop me.
"Sir, I - "
"She wants us running off, Harry," Ana said. "Getting separated. Can we try wind?"
"Doubt it'll work, but give it a shot," McCoy said.
Ana looked at me, and I nodded. We both lifted a hand.
She murmured something that sounded like, "Ventari," which I don't think is a real word.
I drew in my will and said, "Ventas servitas."
Air began to move, and the fog was dragged along with it, like smoke in front of a fan. And it kept moving. And kept moving.
After a moment, it felt like I was standing in a white subway tunnel, watching graffiti-covered walls whipping by. A glance back showed more of the same; the mist wasn't thinning. Ana and I shared another look, and dropped our hands, giving it up as a bad job.
"Well," I said, "so much for plan A. Everyone still thinking? Able to move?"
"Da," Sanya said. He was squinting into the invisible distance. Esperacchius was in his hands, giving off a soft glow. "Something is moving out there. Can feel it."
I stopped, closed my eyes for a second, and reached out with my arcane senses. He was right; something ethereal was lurking in the mist. Something that sent a chill up my spine. Vampires, probably Black Court.
I pulled my pentacle necklace off and wrapped the cord around my left hand, willing it to light. The glow the thin metal began to give off was soon joined by Chandler and Elaine's foci. The mist reflected most of it back at us, thickening it.
"Put'em out," McCoy ordered. "They're not helping." We did as we were told, since he was right. I hooked the necklace back around my neck.
"I'm all turned around," Fix said. "Which way is the shelter?"
"Uh," I said wisely. I studied the road until I found a yellow line to orient myself with. Standing on the line, I pointed. "That way, on the left side of the road. About 100 yards down. I think."
"Alright," McCoy said. "Give me a second." He fished a piece of chalk out of a pocket, and drew a quick circle around himself.
Ana and Chandler moved to his sides while he closed his eyes in concentration. Carlos and Molly moved closer to me. "What do you think he's doing?" Carlos asked.
"Whatever it is, it'll help," I said. "McCoy knows his stuff. And he knows how to fight vampires."
"I just hope we don't run into any Renfields," Molly said quietly.
"Renfields?" Fix asked.
Elaine answered him without looking, a length of chain in her hand swinging back and forth. "Black Court can enthral easily, and if freed, those people can usually recover. But Renfields…" She shook her head. "They're broken. Mentally. Completely unable to think for themselves, they become nothing more than an extension of their masters' will. They can't be saved."
"Oh." He looked really uncomfortable. The whole idea probably struck a little close to home.
I heard McCoy take a deep breath, and turned back to him. He smudged the chalk line with his foot, and as he breathed out, the fog moved away from him, inch by inch, foot by foot. He breathed out a bit longer than I would have thought normal, but then, he wasn't a normal wizard.
The mist pushed back from him, and since it was moving in every direction, more mist couldn't flow in to replace it. When he finally stopped pushing, there was a thirty-foot-across dome of clear air centred on him. Everyone stepped closer to stay well within the clear spot.
"Alright. Harry, lead the way."
"Yes, sir." I took the lead, one step at a time, eyes peeled, shield up. I kept seeing hints of movement, a dark or pale splotch of skin or clothing, dashing away just as the leading edge of our bubble got close. Or I might have been seeing nothing at all.
After a stretch of time, which felt like both a couple of hours and barely a few seconds, the curb of the sidewalk appeared. A day or a minute later, the door to the shelter popped into our bubble. The heavy metal door was open, just a crack. Beyond, there was a weak, flickering orange light, like fire.
"Okay," I said. "Glad that isn't contrived to look super creepy or anything."
From behind me, only a bark.
I turned. "Will? What's - ?" Everyone was standing, once again, glassy-eyed, except for Will, Georgia and Mouse. "Oh, no, no, no, not again. Hey! Hey, wake up!" I waved my hand in front of four different faces and shook two people before I realised it wasn't doing any good.
"Dammit." I turned to the fog. "Show yourselves! Come on, where are you? Stop being cowards and face me!"
When I glanced down, I saw the bubble was vanishing. "Oh, crap." I shoved power into my shield bracelet as the mist rolled over me, bracing myself between the group and the darkness. "Guys, can you get them inside?"
Georgia looked at me, and shook her head.
"Well, change back."
She shook her head again.
"No? What do you - ? No, wait, you're right. You'll be stuck, too. Okay, okay, what next, Harry? What do you do now?" Over my shoulder, the door swung open. It creaked, of course. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me. I mean, seriously?"
I turned, saw the flames inside flare, and I had a moment's flashback to watching my house burn down a few weeks ago. I blinked it away. It was kind of obvious what I was supposed to do next, but damned if I liked it. I shook my head. "You are serious, aren't you?" I gritted my teeth. With everyone else frozen without being able to think, I only had Mouse and the Alphas. But with the roving vamps I knew were waiting in the fog, someone who could still think had to stay and watch the others.
I sighed. Well, just standing here wasn't helping anyone. "Mavra, you bitch," I murmured to myself. "Alright, dog squad, stay out here, keep an eye on everyone."
I heard a low groan from beside me. I knelt down, put a hand on Mouse's neck, and said, "I know, pal. But almost everyone I care about is out here. You've got to keep them safe."
He huffed, while looking me right in the eye.
"Oh, come on. You don't think I'd charge in there without a plan, do you?"
He looked at the door, then back at me.
"Yeah, okay, maybe I would. And I admit, I'm scared out of my head right now. But it has to be done, right?"
He looked down, then back up, and huffed again.
"I promise, I'll come back. Tell you what; if things get too heavy, I'll use my Universal Plan B: just burn the place down and run like hell."
He opened his jaw in a grin.
"That's what I need to see. So keep an eye. And if you find Thomas, that might be nice, too. And Lara… well, if you've got time. And if they do wake up, you can come get me." I stood up, took another look around into the misty nothingness around me, picked out the stunned faces of my friends, then turned and walked into the building before I could change my mind.
The place was lit by flickering candles. In better times, it would have had half a dozen fluorescent lights on. I poked my left hand in first, leading with a small shield. I nudged the door open the rest of the way with my staff. When nothing jumped out and tried to eat me, I took a step. Then another.
My eyes whipped back and forth; all I saw was dirty, off-white wall, some cheap plastic chairs and a desk behind security glass. The front office area wasn't large; it was more of a check-in. The ceiling was low, made of drop-tile. The windows along the front of the building looked out on nothing, reflecting a few flickers of flame and nothing else. There was a heavy door standing open to the side of the security window. I stepped slowly through it. A couple of desks separated by partitions had been overturned. Some papers and computers decorated the floors. Pamphlets and posters about addiction treatment and job-hunting were everywhere.
There were a few doors at the back leading into offices. The rooms, such as they were, were on the second and third floors; men on two, women on three. I moved as quickly as I dared, around the desks, checking under them, poking into each of the three dark offices. They were empty. There was an elevator, but the door stood open and no light was visible inside or on the call button.
I turned to the only other door accessible from the front office: the stairwell. Last time I was here, Kincaid and Murphy had been with me. Kincaid had kicked that door in on the first try, which as anyone who's actually tried to do so will tell you, is damn near impossible. The damage had been repaired. This time, I tried the knob.
It turned easily. I let it swing open, shield and staff held ready, heart hammering in my chest. Nothing jumped out at me. The landing was small; to the right, stairs went up. To the left, stairs went down. Into the basement. It was there that my left hand had almost been burned right off. Mavra had made creative use of home-made napalm. It was the single major reason I'd gone back and re-taught myself how to make a shield focus, turning the device from a simple physical barrier into –
Son of a bitch. There was a blood trail on the floor. With a glance around, I ducked down, touched a finger to the slightly darker patch of the poorly-lit floor. It came away slick. I pulled off my amulet again, and willed it to light. The trail led up the stairs, and I found myself silently thankful. I glanced back into the basement. A flash of the incident, the image of fire, all-consuming and so goddamn painful ripped through my mind, then was gone.
I actually flinched back. I flexed my hand. It had healed fairly well – especially for something that the specialists had wanted to amputate. It still wasn't very pretty, but it worked, and aside from occasional stiffness, didn't bother me at all anymore.
All the same, I was glad I wasn't going back down there. I stepped into the stairwell, hugging the wall to my right, eyes up at the turn around, where a pair of candles steadily melted. I started walking, one stair at a time.
I followed the steps and the blood trail, which began to grow wider and, eventually, up the walls, until I saw the door that said, 'Employees Only.' It led to the roof.
I saw that the swing arrestor had been yanked from the wall and hung, twisted, against the door. Someone wanted to be able to get up here easily. Knowing I wasn't going to like what I found, put my amulet back around my neck, then gave the lockbar a shove and got my left hand up, ready to bring a shield up in a blink.
It was something out of a 1950s horror movie. The roof wasn't too large. Roughly in its centre, there was a bonfire. The fire itself was made of wood and clothing. An odd cooking smell washed over me, though I didn't recognise it. Around the fire, five naked people knelt, swaying rhythmically and chanting. In the enhanced light, I could see markings etched into the roof, archaic symbols I couldn't quite recognise, and figured I didn't want to.
A little off to the side, their master was standing. Mavra hadn't changed a speck since I'd seen her last… whenever the hell that had been. I'd completely lost track.
She was looking at me. "Wizard," she croaked out.
"Vampire," I answered. I didn't step out of the limited protection the stair alcove gave me. Brick walls might not be much of a barrier to vampires, but it might slow her down if she tried anything.
"Will you stand there, and come no closer? I thought you were here to disrupt me."
"That's the plan. If I get lucky, maybe I'll kill you, too."
"Direct. I will be equally blunt. From that distance, you cannot hope to harm me. And the Transit will be complete shortly." She stretched her face in a disgusting grimace, her approximation of a smile again. "The choice is yours."
I didn't move, though I really wanted to. My muscles and heart were straining with unspent adrenaline. My breathing was quicker than I'd have liked. But I didn't move. I laughed instead. "There's one problem with your logic," I said. "I can fry your Renfields from here." I adjusted the end of my staff ever so slightly, targeting the chanting circle.
"Renfields? Wizard, these are thralls."
My confidence cracked. "Thralls?"
"Renfields are much harder to control for something so subtle as a ritual such as this. Once they completed their tasks, they became fuel." She gestured to the fire. "These, on the other hand," and she made a circular motion, indicating her Hell's Choir, "are simply innocent people." She paused. "You wouldn't kill innocents, would you?"
I ground my teeth as my lips pulled back.
"Of course, once the Transit is complete, they will die anyway. As will everyone cowering in your church."
Ah, hell. Lash, any advice?
Yes.
I expected something practical, like, 'Run away,' or 'Kill them anyway.'
Move quickly, do not let your shield falter, do not forget your extra weapon, and I will help you in anyway I can.
My lips came back together into a tight smile. That's my angel.
I stepped out on to the roof…
…And he blindsided me. He came out of nowhere, and caught a part of my shield, otherwise I might have been crushed instantly. I was knocked over on my left side and rolled on to my back. I somehow got my left hand up again and deflected a second, slightly weaker blow.
He was a blur. He wasn't fast, but he was veiled. "Ah, crap," I said.
The veil parted. "Mr. Dresden," the man said in better English than I could speak. He was Asian, smiling, and dressed in what looked like a black and white version of the Dalai Lama's robes. "It is so nice to finally meet you."
"Who the hell are you?" I asked. It was instinctual; I already knew who he was. It was kind of obvious.
"My name is Kai Taira," he said. "And I am the King of the Jade Court."
I glanced at Mavra, who was watching, but hadn't moved. I stumbled back as I got to my feet. All I could think of to say was, "Yamohito Hai was the Jade King."
He shook his head. "Not exactly." He took a few steps to his right, forcing me to my right. He continued to walk slowly, and I kept moving to counter him. "The position of King was shared among several of us."
I barked out a laugh. "Murphy was right. You guys rotated. Kingship, public face, everything… no one ever knew who you really were, or who was really in power."
"The Jade Court understand the importance of secrecy, above all other things. It is as much a natural defence for us as our veils. So, naturally, to come across a human who is immune to us, grants us some… consternation."
"I can only imagine."
"After your encounter with my sister some years ago, the Court as a whole was, shall we say, concerned."
"Kitoro? Sumi Kitoro is your sister?" She was the vampire who had led me to discover Titania was sort-of behind the Black Council. Some time travel had been involved, so it hadn't been my first rodeo with the Jades, but it had been their first encounter with me.
"Yes." His face darkened. "She was." He blurred forward and punched my shield, hard.
I felt the shock up my arm and fell back, landing on my left hip. I got my staff pointed in his general direction and snapped, "Forzare!" The blast of force should have knocked him back, but he dodged to the side and kept talking.
"Her fear, of you, and what you might teach other mortals, led her into great inner conflict." He dashed forward, around what little barrier I'd been able to get back up, grabbed my right shoulder, and heaved. I flew, past the choir and the bonfire – again, having a strange flash of fire in my mind, a memory of the cottage on Demonreach burning up around me – then I was landing in a tangle near the edge of the roof.
I dropped my staff, bruised a knee, and hit my funny bone trying not to land on my right side.
I tried to get back to my feet and get a shield up, but Taira had veiled himself again. Still unmoving, Mavra stood near the bonfire, watching me with one eye and her choir with the other. Of course. They were thralls; she had to control them.
"Where did he go?" I asked stupidly.
Her eyes met mine for just a second, then she tried to smile again. Taira came out of nowhere and grabbed me, one arm around my shoulders on the outside of my duster, the other inside, so that his arms didn't touch. I cried out in surprise and not a little bit of pain. He was smart; I'd added a few repulsion runes to the leather a few months back, and anyone who grabbed me around my jacket would have been thrown off if their limbs touched. It had happened to Kitoro; she must have told him.
"And then," he said as he pinned my arms down, "you and the Hellhound defeated Yamohito, and Akira. She could not take the fear, nor the shame of failing me. She took her own life. I was only thankful that Akira was not alive to see it." He lifted me up and dangled me over the side of the building, where thick fog obscured the street below. It had happened so quickly… how the hell was I supposed to get out of this?
"Yamohito had never believed that you could be immune to us, but again, your memories were safe. Now, the truth is wizard, that I can see your memories. I can call them forth…"
Harry, I cannot stop him!
I was suddenly in the basement again, fire crawling all over me, devouring my hand…
Then I was back.
"…though, I cannot take them, I can see them. It is curious." He switched his grip with a flourish, tossing me a little into the air, then he had me by the scruff of my shirt with one hand.
Harry, he's so much stronger than the others…
"The Queen of the Black Court promised you to me. She says you don't much care for flame."
And I was surrounded by flames, and in so much pain… it was happening so slowly. Wasn't it supposed to be faster than this? The pain was dragging… I started to scream.
A voice, distant, said, "Feed him to the fire."
I was moving, though I was still standing in the basement, screaming in pain and fear…
Another image. That day, that same day, that same exact time. Two of Mavra's Renfields, toasting me alive with their improvised flamethrowers… Kincaid telling me they needed ten seconds to disarm an anti-personnel mine rigged up behind us… Then what I had been seeing, the fire, and the pain (Oh, God, the pain)… Then the windstorm I'd called up, throwing the fire back the way it had come, and the pain settling in again, I was blinded…
Except, I hadn't truly been blind – my brain had just been so focused on the pain that it had refused any other input. I didn't remember it consciously, but I had seen Murphy running to me, fear in her eyes… and something else? Something more than fear, something…
I snapped back to the present. I was above Taira; he was holding me over his head, about to toss me on the bonfire. His eyes snapped to mine. I didn't have time to think, I just pointed a hand at him and shouted, "Fuego!"
He recoiled, his robes on fire. He dropped me, and I rolled in midair to land as carefully as I could, feet and hands first. I changed a look at Mavra, who was now alternately looking at me, and back at her thralls. She had to concentrate to keep them working the Transit spell. Maybe she'd stay off my back while I dealt with the burning monk.
I turned back to Taira, who was pulling his robes off. His skin had hardly been touched, except for his face, which had reddened. It healed even as I watched. He looked at me. I looked around quickly for my staff, but it was beside him. His teeth came out, and he vanished from sight.
In a slight panic, I threw all my fear and anger and a little Soulfire into my hands. "Pyrofuego!" Fire, red and white and hot all over, erupted from me in a semi-circular arc, smashing down into the roof and cracking it. A screaming human-shaped thing came dashing through it. He was so used to his veil protecting him, that he didn't even try to go around and get me from behind.
Now, the interesting thing about Soulfire is its creative properties. It grants any spell conjured with it greater strength and longevity than it would otherwise have; but it also enhances the intent of a spell. Taira's mad dash into fire seared his skin. Normally, that would have been the end of it, and he would have been through. But the Soulfire made the fire cling to him.
Not unlike napalm.
He flailed around, screaming, and I threw myself to the side, narrowly avoiding his burning limbs. He screamed like Chauncey had screamed, high and unnatural. I lay there a minute, exhausted and breathing heavily, watching him die. His skin burned away faster than he could grow it back. He tried to stop, drop and roll it, but Soulfire doesn't extinguish easy. He made a desperate grab for me, but my shield was already up, fuelled by determination and anger; he bounced off. He stumbled for another moment, then weaved right into the circle of the bonfire and fell in.
The big problem with fire that strong is that it catches easily. A glance told me I'd accidentally burned right through the roof and down into the third floor, which was now starting to catch. Whoops.
I rolled on to my back, and saw Mavra looking at me again. Her eyes narrowed. I heaved myself to my feet, took a few breaths and said, "You're next."
She moved faster than Taira did. One second, I was saying 'next,' and the same second I was flying through the air, courtesy of her backhand. I came down near my staff. The air was driven from my lungs, and I bounced my head off the roof at least once. I saw stars and lost feeling in my left arm for a second. My vision came back, and my finger woke to pins and needles.
I saw her standing over me. "Humans," she said. And with such disdain. You'd think she didn't like us. I turned my head, and reached for my staff with my left hand. My right hand, I slid into my pocket.
She brought her foot down on my staff, and it snapped into half a dozen pieces. I flinched back. Her left hand came down and she grabbed me by the neck. I got my left hand around her wrist as she pulled me up, to my knees, my feet, higher.
"You have failed, Dresden. All you have done is eliminate another competitor for me. And the Transit completes in mere minutes."
I wheezed something at her, and smiled.
She tilted her head and loosened her grip. "What?"
"I said," I whispered, "that one of your children fell victim to this a few years ago. I'm surprised you did, too."
"What are you talking about?"
I pulled out my right hand, a small water balloon gripped in it. "This." I grabbed her wrist with both hands, and squeezed. The balloon ruptured, and holy water, blessed by Father Fraser as I was leaving St. Mary's, spilled all down her arm.
She growled in pain and withdrew her hand, dropping me. I collapsed to my knees again. Holy water is like acid to Black Court vampires, like all other objects of faith. Still angry at the pain of having her hand all but disintegrate, she glared at me. I couldn't help but smile. "Hurts, don't it?" I asked. She took a step toward me. "Aren't they supposed to be singing?" I asked, pointing at the choir.
Behind her, the thrall's voices seemed to fade. She turned, and after three or four seconds, they started chanting again. Then she turned back to me.
And caught another balloon right in the face. She screamed incoherently as her eyes exploded and her face began to disintegrate.
"Ha!" I shouted. "Batter up, motherfucker!"
Lost in rage, blinded, and absolutely intent on killing me, she shrieked and charged. I threw up a shield, but needn't have bothered.
Mouse exploded out of the stairwell and hit her full in the chest. His jaws locked around her neck even as she fell, and with one great yanking motion, he tore her head off. She carried with the momentum even as he landed, rolling over. The body fell through the hole I'd burned in the roof.
Mouse dropped her head, gave a last growl in her general direction, then turned to me, tail wagging. I fell flat on my ass, exhausted. My eyes were starting to water. My hands tingled from the Soulfire use. "Oh, good boy." I held my arms out, and he charged right into them, giving me the dog equivalent of a hug. I was completely overcome, and nearly rolled onto my back. I'd just faced down two extremely powerful vampires, and lived. I felt like laughing. I felt like crying. I felt like celebrating. I felt like… like I was about to catch fire.
Molly and Sanya burst out of the door, swords in hand. "Harry!" Molly cried.
"Time to go! Get them!" I pointed at the enthralled people, who had stopped chanting again, and were starting to look around, slowly, dazedly.
Molly and Mouse helped me up while Sanya replaced Esperacchius over his shoulder and went to the thralls. Molly joined him once I was vertical, and they got three people moving under their own power, two women and a man. Sanya took the other man over his shoulder, and Molly got the other woman in a fireman's carry. Leaning heavily on Mouse, I led the way down the stairs as quickly as I could, without letting the freed thralls stop. Smoke was seeping into the stairwell from the third floor door.
As we reached the second floor, one of the women asked in a dreamy voice, "Where are my clothes?"
"Uh, one sec, I'll get you a blanket, or something," I answered.
"Oh, okay," she said.
I pushed on the door to the floor. It didn't budge. So, I backed up against the wall, lifted my hand and shouted, "Forzare!" The door blew inward, taking its hinges with it. I ducked into one of the tiny bedrooms. I pulled the sheets, flat and fitted, from the cot, then repeated the process in the next two rooms. I returned to the stairway, wrapped the woman who could almost think first, then sent her down. I wrapped the next two, and held onto the last sheets as I guided them back to the lobby. Finally, Sanya and Molly joined us and I let everyone out into the street.
We walked out into the aftermath of a real light show. Literally; it was brighter out. Sanya, Molly and I helped the thralls to a bus bench, got them all covered, and sat them down.
Sanya placed his man down, then said, "I will be back," and dashed off to who-knew-where, taking Fix with him.
Elaine saw us first. "Harry!" She came over and put a hand on the side of my face. "Are you okay?"
"Surprisingly, yeah. What the hell happened out here?"
"I'm not sure. One minute, we were walking down the street in fog, then I blink, and we're in the middle of a firefight."
I looked around. There were burnt corpses in a roughly circular pattern around the shelter's entrance. Everyone I knew seemed to be alive, if not up and moving. A wolf padded over to me. It shimmered into Billy. I handed him my last sheet. "Everybody woke up at once," he said. "Then those Black Court vamps attacked out of the fog."
I nodded. "Taira. The Jade King – well, the last of the Jade Kings – was up there. He was probably holding everyone down here in stasis. I got lucky and managed to set him on fire. Speaking of which…"
Will followed my gaze up to the shelter's roof. "Uh, won't that spread?"
"Probably."
"I got it, Hoss." McCoy stepped up beside me, his staff resting against his shoulder. He stared at the building for a moment, arms out to his sides. Then he brought them together in one quick motion, closing his fists at the same time. When his knuckles met, there was a 'woof' sound from the roof, and the fire went out.
My eyebrows jumped involuntarily.
"Wow," Will said. "Sucked the oxygen right out of the space. Is that even possible?"
"For an engineer, you ask a lot of ridiculous questions, Bill. You never showed me that one, Sir."
He winked at me. "I don't know what you did up there, but I can feel the change. The Transit is faltering; it's weaker than it was. You delayed it. I mean, look at the sky." We did. Was that a hint of blue I saw? "Where's you staff, boy?"
I glanced at him, then looked up at the roof again. "Burnt to several cinders."
He grunted and handed me his.
I stared at it. "I can't - "
"Don't be an idiot. Take it. I've got another one." He tapped his nose and turned back to what he'd been doing before: taping Chandler's leg, along with Ana. "Sprain an ankle, Steed?" I asked.
"Broken leg, Harry," Luccio said.
I grimaced. "Sorry."
"Hardly," Chandler said. "The lesson here is, just because you're already engaged with two vampires, don't think a third won't try something. But, I'm afraid Warden Ramirez got it worse."
My head snapped around, and I found him with Georgia, who was wearing his jacket, and Molly, bandaging his… stump. "What - ?"
Elaine touched my arm. "He lost his left hand, Harry."
I gave her a stunned look, then stumbled over to my friend. "Carlos?"
"Hey, Dresden." His voice was tight, and his jaw didn't move much; he was in a lot of pain. "Tell me you killed something big."
I kneeled down. "Two somethings. What happened, man?"
"My own damn fault. Threw up a ball to kill one, another one hit me from the side. Didn't even see it coming. My hand just… went right through it."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. All this really means is I'm going to have to start dating more, right?"
I snorted, he laughed, Molly blushed, and Georgia rolled her eyes.
Thomas walked up behind me. "Hey."
I stood. "Hey." I looked into his eyes, then gave him a once-over. "You good?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Turns out, if they're fresh enough, we can feed on Black Court. Just a little."
"Good to know."
"You're telling me." He tilted his head. At the same moment, Mouse perked up his ears, and Lara, who was standing a little too close to, and looking a little too closely at, the freed thralls for my liking, turned. Then I heard a car engine. Everyone tensed, Billy and Georgia put on their good suits, and swords and foci came out.
Two vans came around the corner. They slowed as they got closer, and a big, dark arm came out of a driver's window, waving at us. Sanya pulled up, followed closely by Fix. "Parking garage had these. Easy to hotwire."
I shook my head. "Let's get the hell out of here."