A/N Here's the next installment of Blurred Lines. I don't have anything to say so read, enjoy, and maybe drop me a line
Chapter 22
"Are you sure there is nothing I can do." Edward said for the hundredth time this hour. It was close to ten o'clock, and I'd been working on this mess of psychic chain for three and a half hours. My hands were stiff, my head hurt, and to say I was pissed off would be the understatement to end all understatements.
"Yes, I'm sure." I snapped back wiping my forehead off with the back of my hand. I wasn't taking any chances with this chain; I was snipping individual links off, one at a time. That meant examining each link for anything unusual before cutting it off and laying it neatly in the pocket of my enchanted over coat.
I set the forceps down and closed my sight. Bella managed to lie completely still on the massive bed; Edward next to her the entire time, bugging the hell out me. I leaned back in the rolling computer chair grabbing another half of a sandwich Alice made of me. Turkey club extra bacon, it was piece of culinary heaven on Earth.
I let a heavy sigh and took a massive bite. If I couldn't sleep I could at least eat something. "How are you doing?" I asked in between bites.
"Bored." She answered in a frustrated voice, still staring at the ceiling.
"It shouldn't take much longer," I said putting the sandwich back on the plate. I took a deep breath opening my sight again, letting the headache back into my life. I grabbed the forceps and the wire cutters and went back to work. Examine, snip, and remove. That was the process I was involved with for going on four hours.
I was making a lot of progress. I had started where the chain crisscrossed around her waist. I'd worked down one leg and back up the other. Doing it this way was probably easier since I didn't have to actually untangle the chain. It was still a nightmare, at this rate it would take at least another four hours. I was afraid to go any faster; it would increase the chance that I would be splattered across the giant plate glass window. I guess it was her safety too, but mainly mine; I won't lie.
I worked for another two hours straight. The pain in my head increased exponentially and Sparkles wasn't making my life any easier with his constant offers to help, and I couldn't even look at him for fear that he might be some disgusting nightmare of a monster that would incapacitate me for another two hours. If I needed his help wouldn't I just think it?
I shut closed my third eye as the clock was striking midnight. I needed another break. I finished off the sandwich and tried closing my eyes for a while. Of course all I could see tiny gold dragons. That's something I would never forget, literally. I don't get to see much beauty with my Sight, about all I have is a memory of Katherine. I should probably not call up that visual while around Mr. Mindreader.
I finished removing the chain from the legs, lower abdomen, and arms. That left the upper torso, and head. All the areas that are going to make this uncomfortable, well more uncomfortable.
I opened up the Wizards Sight, hopefully for the last time this year. The pounding in my head was somehow worse. I shouldn't be able to focus, but the threat Alice made when she dropped off the sandwich made me focus. I continued this completely mundane task. With all the experience I was getting with this spell I deemed it safe to start cutting two at a time. I just doubled the inspecting time. It wasn't going much faster, but some was better than none.
I must have zoned out somewhere in this process. Because the next thing I knew it was one thirty A.M. and I was done removing the chain. I scanned up and down her body looking for anything I may have missed. I finished back where I started. That means, hopefully, I removed the entire curse (I hope.) With luck (pun intended) Bella wouldn't be having anymore bad luck.
"I'm done." I announced standing up from the confines of my chair. I was expecting a round of applause or something. Instead all I got was the sound of Bella lightly snoring and a look from Sparkles that said 'get out' in bold letters.
I get no respect, I thought as I left them alone in the bed room. I made my way through the more familiar maze back to the dining room slash war room. Everything and everyone were in the same place they were when I left. They all focused on me as I entered the room.
I pretended to lower a surgical mask and nodded slowly. The only person who seemed to find it funny was Slabs. His booming laugh was cut off by Ice Queen putting a fist in his gut. Finally someone who gets me. "Bella is fine and hopefully curse free, the quote surgery unquote was a success." I announced. "Any more information down here?"
Alice was standing over the map holding a handful of orange pins. Great another color. "Not much. Orange pins are places where they will likely get another victim." She explained.
"So we're at square one point five." I said rubbing the small of her back. "We should concentrate here, for now." I said pointing to Port Angeles. "It has absolutely everything Seattle and Tacoma have."
"Good idea," Carlisle said from his place at the head of the table.
"We need to do this my way. I'm calling in some back up of my own. I need to keep my end small though; the Red Court will do anything to start up the war again. What kind of numbers can you guys get?" I said shifting to my authoritative voice.
"There's the seven – six of us." Alice said looking like someone just stuck a knife in her chest as Rosalie spoke. "Do you think Tanya would be willing to help?"
"I've already thought of that. She's not going to help. She's going to say that it's not her fight." Alice must have already seen it.
"Wonderful, with my two or three, and your six we have nine or ten." I sighed leaning back, "That may be enough. I've seen worse odds, hell I've won with worse odds." Once I would like to be in a fight where the odds were on my side. I let out a large yawn turning my attention back to the map.
"Go get some sleep." Alice said sitting on my lap, "You look exhausted." She curled up into my arms. I'm not entirely sure that she wasn't that she was trying to get me to leave.
"Sleep is for winners." I said picking up some of the other newspaper articles. There still wasn't any real connection between the victims, any of them. Black, white, rich, poor, single, married, young, old; none of the victims were from the same neighborhood. That's it, they have nothing in common, that's the link; they were trying to keep people from making the connection.
"I got it!" I shouted before explaining the brilliant connection I just made.
"We figured that a while ago, so what." The bitch queen shot back. I still didn't like her.
"So, it means that there still trying to be covert. If there were out just building an army they wouldn't care where the conscripts came from. They're building a hit squad not an army. They're trying to be discreet. It's like when a kid tries to sneak dessert before dinner, the kid gets caught because he's not making the right kind of noise." I was rather impressed by my metaphor with the kid and the cookie. "Hell, they may have started the rumors about the IPK to cover their tracks, the work of one serial killer seems better than a whole bunch of random killings." Of course they weren't betting on a new warden in an area that hasn't had one in almost thirty years.
"Round one goes to Aaron Marsdon, the rookie from the mid-west." Alice said in a mock announcer voice. "Okay you win, now go to bed." I still didn't move, I was this close to connecting all the pieces, I'd be damned if someone made me sleep now.
"Please." She whispered softly into my ear; placing a soft kiss on my neck.
A man can only take so much, "okay, fine," I said giving into her. It was only a matter of time before she completely eroded my will anyway. She led me by the hand upstairs.
I groaned on the inside. The random little things we do for love. Back up the three flights of stairs past the recording studio, the ballroom, and the conservatory, before actually making it back to her room.
"Okay, now close your eyes." She told me. I reluctantly agreed, placing my hand over loosely over my eyes. I shifted my weight a few times before I heard the door latch click open and the light turn on. "Follow my voice."
I did like she said getting more and more board with this game. "How much longer are we going to be playing this game?" I groaned.
"I think this was part six of the surprise." I was getting really cranky at this point. I ether wanted to sleep or work or…
Wham, I was flat on my back, on something soft, really soft, incredibly soft, extremely soft. I was lying on, quite possibly, the softest mattress in the world. Suddenly the all the fatigue and exhaustion came back, I struggled to stay awake, and even harder to get up; but there were a pair of gentle stone hands stopping me. I was allowed; however, to open my eyes. I love when I'm right; I was indeed sprawled across a bed larger than my old bedroom, and it was the most comfortable thing in the world. "Wow," was all I could manage.
"Is that a good wow, or a bad wow?" She asked.
"Don't worry. It was a good wow; I was just thinking how I could fit most of my stuff on to this bed and still have room to sleep." I said kicking my shoes off. "Finally something I can stretch out on." Alice graciously allowed me to swing my legs on to the bead.
"Will you get some sleep now?" She asked pouting. She probably, (definitely) already knew the answer or the condition.
"Only if you stay here with me," I said pulling her close to me. She didn't answer with words; she complied and lay down next to me, wrapping her cold arms around my neck. I closed my eyes holding out a hand and with a minute effort of will whispered "frozare." The bedroom light clicked off immediately. Soon after, sleep found me.
I welcomed it with open arms, when Alice was close to me, the nightmares that plagued me for so long ceased to exist. For the most part they were pleasant dreams or no dreams at all.
Tonight was different; they weren't nightmares, more like fears that I'd harbored inside me for the last week. What will happen when someone in the Council finds out I'm in love with a vampire, will the fact she has a soul make a difference? Will something ever happen that causes me to hurt someone in her family? These nightmare scenarios played out in my head time and time again. I didn't want to hurt Alice, not now, not ever; but I felt the same way about Katherine, and I know exactly how that turned out.
"Katherine!" I called out to the cold forest that surrounded me, "Katherine, I'm sorry." There was no response for the thick stands of old oak trees. I stood knee deep in a cold wet blanket of fog that obscured the ground from me. I waited; sooner or later Katherine would come, she always came.
I didn't have to wait much longer. Katherine appeared maybe a hundred feet in front of me in a brilliant silver flash. She wore nothing special, something I'd seen her in a hundred times, but something I didn't recognize; her hair flowed gently down her back. It seemed like she was floating towards me on top of the thick cloud of fog, rather than walking through it.
If I could, I would have run toward her, but I was once again stuck. Five feet in front of me she landed softly on the ground, the fog retreated around her, leaving her bathing in a pool of golden sunlight. She started closing the remaining distance between the two of us, her face a completely neutral mask. She stopped, inches from my face, and gave a quiet, soft smile. I let out a sigh of relief.
"I'm sorry too," she said barely above a whisper. She stood up on her tip toes and kissed me lightly on the lips. She pulled away from me slowly, before asking me a simple question, "Do you love her?" Katherine's voice was still soft, weak, desperate.
"Yes, I do." The clouds above me, and the fog below me slowly melted away, leaving both of us in bright golden sunlight. Her face relaxed no mask, no pain, just happiness.
"Then you should be with her." She smiled, wrapping her arms around me, pulling her closer to me.
"Thank you." I muttered embracing her tightly, "I still love you."
"I know, but we can't be together anymore." She was trying to hold back tears. I meant as much to her as she meant to me; except I still had the option of moving on, and finding love and life again. "Promise you will never forget me." She begged me.
"Never." I promised, holding her closer. "Maybe someday, I'll figure out a way for you to meet Alice."
"I would like that." She said into my chest. "I love you, I always will." She openly sobbed into my chest. I felt tears of my own rolling down my cheeks. The sun around us grew even warmer; her perfect silver hair gleamed, making this scene even more beautiful.
I gently opened my burning eyes. The morning was cold and grey, no real surprise, but after the bright golden sunshine of my dreams, even the real thing would have been a disappointment. Alice was still in my arms, I pulled her closer, burying my nose in her sweet smelling hair; which was damp, presumably from the tears that caused the burning in my eyes.
"Bad dreams?" Alice asked lifting her head from the crook of my shoulder. Her eyes were even a dimmer shade of gold, the constant reminder of what was inside of her.
"Surprisingly no, sad maybe." I told her, placing a gentle kiss on her frozen lips. A futile gesture, I know. "The dreams aren't bad when you're here." Alice had pulled one of the softest blankets around us. I could get used to this; soft bed, warm blanket, and a cold girl.
Something there seems backwards. A warm bed and a soft blanket; that's more like it.
"Think we should go back and join the others?" I asked into her damp hair, regretting my words instantly. Nothing in the world would be better right now than spending the morning in bed with Alice.
"No, I think that I should go back down to the others and I think you should call in your back up." She said kissing me lightly before slithering out of my arms and almost dancing to the door in less time than it took me to blink.
I lay there for a moment trying to gather the will to stand up. It took a solid five minutes of conscious effort before I could even get my legs on the floor, and another five to actually stand up.
I looked down at the bed, slowly shaking my head; that bed probably cost what I make in three months. Damn I wish I had money.
I quickly made my way through the post modernist labyrinth of their house, it was starting to get familiar too me, no indoor bowling alley, no basketball court, no movie theater. I missed my delusions and hallucinations sometimes. I found Carlisle's study again. One more point for the wizard from Missouri. The ultra modern phone that I'd found there on my first visit had been replaced by an old school rotary dial phone. They really put themselves out for me, I would have to get them a fruit basket for Christmas; except of course that they don't eat. But if what my parents told me holds water it's the thought that counts.
I dialed Harry's number as fast as the rotary dial let me. The phone rang once, twice half way through the third ring someone picked up. "Hello" an unfamiliar voice answered.
"Is this the number for Harry Dresden?" I asked wondering if I misdialed the phone.
"Yes," the feminine voice responded.
"Am I talking to Molly?" I asked hoping for a straight answer.
"No, this is Anastasia. Who may I say is calling?" Oh shit! I'd called Harry and Captain Luccio picked up the phone.
"Captain," I stammered, "I didn't recognize your voice. This is Warden Marsdon. Is everything okay?" My mind was trying to figure out all the possible reasons that the Captain of the wardens was answering the phone in Harry's apartment.
"Relax, Aaron," she answered, keeping her voice calm, "everything's fine." She sounded more relaxed than I'd ever heard her before; normally her voice is tense on edge.
"Actually Captain, you were my second call today." I started with a mouth full of cotton, "I'm sure you're well aware of the recent murders in Seattle," she murmured an ascent "I'm ninety percent sure that there the work of the Red Court, or at least a faction of the Red Court."
"I figured as much. What about the other murders, where full bite marks are left?" I guess you don't get to be the captain of the wardens sitting around on your ass.
"They're the work of a new species of vampire, nick named the Rose Court." I answered as directly as I could. "Long story, short they may be the most powerful vampires I've ever seen. They're every bit as strong as the Black Court with absolutely none of the weaknesses. I shot one in the head with a fifty caliber steel core round and it shrugged it off like I threw a piece of paper. Fortunately they seem to be week against fire, and a warden's blade."
"Good work, I've heard rumors about a race of vampires that the White Council doesn't recognize." she commented offhand, "I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you need some help, and instead of going through proper channels you were going to ask Harry."
"Ya that's about right," I said, my face getting hot. "I was also hoping to call in the favor you said you'd owe me after what happened in Oregon."
"I can't really say no to that. After all a favor is a favor." She replied coolly, some static picked up on the line. Using this older phone was really helping cut down on the amount of static on the line.
"I don't know how much anyone has told you about this new species of vampire." I started
"Very little, other than the Volturi are members of the court." she cut me off.
"I feel it is important to mention now that it appears at least one of the vampires here has a soul."
I could hear a breath of surprise on the other end of the phone. "You're positive."
"I've only soulgazed one of them, on accident, but there definitely a soul in there. That's why I've started working with them."
"You what!" Her voice flashed over in anger. "Soul or no soul, they are still vampires, and you cannot work with them!"
"Wait until you meet them to judge them. They are more than willing to fight their own for no personal gain. They killed one of their own already to protect a human." I said immediately defending people…err…creatures…err…people that have helped me for no real reason.
"They still feed on the blood of humans don't they?" She said still on the offensive.
"No!" Another breath of surprise escaped, "They feed on the blood of animals. Before you ask yes I've seen one who feeds on humans. It could be why they have souls." I said taking over the power of the argument. This is the problem I've always had with the White Council; they are quick to judgment without the facts. It's the problem a lot of the younger wizards have with the council.
"I'm not asking you to like them, or to take my word. Just reserve judgment until you meet them." I know that no one would ever condone my relationship with Alice, but to condemn an entire group based on old prejudice. "Captain, you've trusted me in the past, all I'm asking for is a little trust now."
"Fine!" She said, giving in. "But after this consider all favors that I may owe you erased. Now I suppose you still would like to talk to Dresden." Her voice was cold and icy, the way it had always been.
"Yes captain, and thank you." I said. The line was silent before I'd even finished speaking. I'd waited a short while before the other receiver was picked up.
"Kid, I don't know what you said to piss of Ana like that, but you're going to pay for ruining my weekend." Wonderful, both allies I had are now pissed at me. "C'mon how many weekends do I get where no one is trying to kill me."
Whoa! Ana? Does that mean that Harry and Captain Luccio are dating! That's just unnatural. It's just weird.
"I wouldn't have called if it wasn't bad. I'm dealing with two separate species of vampires forming either hit-squads or armies in Seattle, and I think they're after a teenage girl. Who else would I turn to but the man who trained me?" Ha, ha, I'd pushed the duty button and the chivalry button.
"Damn you know how to push my buttons to well kid. How fast do you need me… us there?" I guess this relationship was rather new if he's still doesn't know when to use 'I' and 'we'.
"Fast as possible. There's a Way through Summer that will take from behind CPD to a local sporting goods store. Shouldn't take you more than an hour." For anyone confused a Way with a capital 'w' is a path through Faerie wizards are allowed to use. Ways are paths that shorten the distance from two normally long points to a short walk. A journey that would take a normal person ten hours by commercial jet can be made using the Ways in under an hour. Summer is the other court of Faerie and is ruled by Titania, but I digress…again.
"Anything else I should know?"
"Let's see murdering vampires, times two; working with vampires that have souls; did I mention the prophecy?" I was trying to make sure that I told him everything before I was gagged by the presence of the White Council.
"Did you find out that you get to be a real boy?" He said with mock sarcasm.
"No but I did find about the Dhampir." I said completely ignoring the joke. I learned a long time ago never, ever, ever encourage him by laughing at his jokes.
He let out a sharp whistle, but didn't say a word.
"It's coming, I'm not going to get involved unless absolutely necessary, but there is a young girl here who fell in love with one of the vampires, and unfortunately he fell in love with her." I decided to skip all the other details and just give him the highlights.
"You've gotten yourself into a mess big enough for me." He said after a brief pause, "prophecies are a nasty business, but you're doing the right thing by not getting involved."
Okay vampires check, other vampires check, prophecy check, if Luccio's with him I'm not going to be stupid enough to ask him to bring in his vampiric half brother. "One last thing," I said before I managed to forget. "What's going on with Ramirez?"
"Long story," Harry sighed almost immediately. "One of his best friends was just tried and executed for breaking the second law. He's pretty damn pissed at the council. I wouldn't be surprised if he resigned."
That's really rough; too many good people get executed for making simple mistakes. The Council isn't really interested in justice; its only concern is about stemming the amount of dark magic being used. Dark magic is just like a drug, the more you use the more you want to use, the more you have to use. I understand it, but I don't like it.
But to be executed for turning someone into an animal. That's not a law that gets broken all the time; personally I've never heard of anyone being executed for it before.
"That sucks," was all I could really manage. "Okay, I'll catch both of you up the rest of the way after you get to the great state of Washington."
"All right, see you soon kid." He hung up the phone. I ended up muttering a goodbye to a dial tone.
Wonderful, now I only have two wizards coming instead of three and no other help.
I've got one hour before Harry and Luccio get here. That means less than one hour to prepare the people here, get a new plan together, and go pick them up.
At least no one's trying to kill me right freaking now!