A. N. I feel obligated to tell you that there is a very, very, very minor spoiler for Small Favor and Turn Coat in this chapter. Personally I think it's almost negligible, and if someone didn't know better would probably assume a little creative licenseing on my part.


Chapter 23

I wound my way from the study back down to the makeshift war room. Added to the maps of missing persons cases and body locations there were more detailed maps of Seattle with curved arrows marking out angles of attack, angles of retreat, and good spots to flank. I'll hand it to them; they're smart, but none of them know much about how to organize an attack within a city.

All the strategies are technically perfect, but none of them are practical in a city if we want to remain relatively unnoticed, which we do.

Everyone in the war room looked completely flawless, something I've never seen.

Time takes a toll on everyone, or it should. After twenty-four hours worth of work even the strongest people start showing fatigue, maybe not physically, but mentally. It just isn't possible for the mind to stay active forever without some sort of down time.

I guess that's why I'm human and there not, they aren't burdened with the same things I am. And by the same token I'm not burdened with the same things they are.

"I don't mean to sound selfish but stop what you're doing and focus on me." I announced as I walked in. I didn't have to say anything everyone's attention was already focused intently on me.

"Okay, I have some good news and a lot of bad news." I said taking a seat at the head of the table, "The good news is that we're getting some grade 'A' backup: my old mentor, Harry, and the captain of the wardens. The bad news, that's all were getting, the third I was hoping for just had a friend get executed." I took a quick moment to look at a new plan that Alice was sketching on a separate copy of the map. No one looked completely surprised by what I said; I guess Alice had told them all of this.

"There's worse news: Edward, Alice, both of your gifts are technically illegal under the laws of magic, no one in the Council outside this room knows just how strong they are. So if you guys want to keep your heads attached to your necks; don't make it obvious that you have them. In other words, no showing off!"

They both looked at me with moderate surprise; I'd gotten the jump on them for a change. Without their gifts, I'd imagine they would be as lost as I would be without my magic. Eventually they both gave slight nods of understanding.

"Have you given any thought to when we should go?" Rosalie asked turning away from one of the windows covered in close up maps.

"Tonight if possible. There's no reason to wait; the longer we wait, the more we're out numbered. In two hours we'll know for sure." I got up from the table and started again towards the stairs.

I turned around "if you can, get at least dozen swords here, were going to need them."

I left them to plan out what they could, I'm sure they knew that the plans would all change. That's why I stopped worrying about it.

I climbed the stairs navigating my way over to the bathroom that has been supposedly wizard proofed. It didn't take me very long to strip down and get into the nicest shower of my life, it's the nicest because it's the current one and it's still hot. The water heater is far enough away I suppose. There was a small area of one shelf cleared off that had my soap and shampoo resting comfortable on it.

It took me fifteen minutes to finish my shower and change into a spare set of cloths I keep in the bathroom. Just like a boy scout, always prepared. It was a set of fighting clothes, a black long sleeved t-shirt and black fatigue pants. Forty-five minutes left to get over to the sport store. I'm glad I found a convenient Way into and out of Forks.

I toweled my hair dry while walking into Alice's room to grab my cloak and staff. I tossed the towel on the floor by my suit cases heading back down the stairs. I was getting scary good at navigating this house.

Back down to the war room again. I walked in like I owned the place. "Rosalie, what's up with the swords?"

"They should be here in six hours or less." She responded a bit confused. Alice, standing behind her, mouthed 'four and a half.'

"Good. Edward, it would be better if Bella wasn't around when the other Wardens get here." I said walking over to the window covered in the most up to date plan of attack.

"Bella isn't here; she's with the dogs on the reservation." He shot back not taking his eyes off what he was doing. "She should be safe there for today."

"Alice, how many are we dealing with?" I said wrapping an arm around her waist. Her eyes had a glazed over look, like she was having a vision, but her hand was tracing something out onto a sheet of paper, it looked like a plaza or some sort of public square.

It looked like a good area to fight a perfect place to pincer people in and then give them no way out. There were various similar sketches all around the table and the windows. Many of them having pieces of various colored yarn connecting them to a specific points on the map. Some of them having notations under them, like 'avoid', or 'try to fight here.' Clearly the speech on toning down their gifts was working terribly well.

Suddenly Alice snapped out of her trance, her drawing finished. "There's ten of our kind, and fifteen of your Red Court." She said smiling. Those weren't bad odds, especially considering the type of terrain we were going to be fighting in.

"Wonderful. In forty five minutes Harry Dresden and Captain Luccio, will be at Newton's sporting goods. Once we get back we're going to come up with a real plan. Hopefully by tomorrow morning there won't be any more vampire death-squads." I said leaning on the table.

"You want to take my car?" Alice as interlocking her fingers in mine.

I nodded.

"Good let's go get the keys." She said pulling me up from my chair. We went back up the stairs and through the twisting maze of hallways.

When we got back to her room she pushed me up against the door and started kissing me hungrily though her eyes were back to bright gold. Her cold tongue frantically roamed through my mouth.

I kissed back as soon as the initial shock and surprise wore off. I met her move for move; pull her closer against me, tangling my hands in her silky spikes. I nipped lightly at her bottom lip, she moaned into my mouth, making me shiver with excitement. I was starting to get light headed from the lack of oxygen.

I reluctantly pulled back, breaking the kiss, "We're not going to be able to do this while the other wizards are here." I said going back in for another quick kiss before she could say anything.

"I know," she said breaking this new kiss, "but that doesn't mean we can't do this right now."

Can't argue with perfect logic like that.

Because she is a lady and I a gentleman I won't go into the details of what we did for the next fifteen minutes, but I will say that it was both hot and heavy.

"Okay, I really need to leave this time." I said getting up from the bed, readjusting my cloak.

"Fine," she said, pulling down her shirt. I said I wasn't going to describe what we were doing, the aftermath is fair game. "The keys are on the bookshelf." She curled up on the bed, closing her eyes.

I grabbed the keys and my staff before making my way towards the garage, an even longer walk than it was to the war room.

I unlocked the car door the old fashion way, part of the wizard proofing the car was removing the keyless entry. I tossed my staff in the back. My hands were trembling when I opened the garage door. They were completely shaking when I turned the engine over. The purr of the engine sounded just like Alice when she was pretending to be asleep.

The Porsche was an absolute dream to drive, the winding of the engine just before I had to shift, the absolutely smoothness of the ride. It was a close second to sex as far as pleasurable activities go. It was a night and day difference to whatever junker I drove, when I was lucky enough to have a car. I didn't dare take it over seventy-five though, and a lot slower when I hit the town limit. I swerved into the parking lot at "Newton's Sporting Goods," a small mom and pop store that was situated in what passed for Forks downtown area. It was deserted on this Sunday morning. I got out of the car tossing my cloak into the backseat. Harry was right; cloaks and cars do not mix especially fine European sports cars. I grabbed my staff out of the back seat before going to the back of the store. It took a few moments to find the exact doorway to Faerie.

I wish I could say that opening a door to another world was really dramatic, but it is pretty cool. I held my staff up to the wall tracing the correct area in a large square; the wall seemed to melt away for a moment leaving a soft shimmer.

I stepped right through it, and as I did the wall closed behind me leaving me about three feet from the actual Way.

The weather in this area of Faerie is absolutely amazing. It was just over the border into summer, and the climate would make Hawaii jealous. The sun was marvelously warm, not hot, but warm, with a pleasant breeze that came straight from the heart of Summer.

Faerie is never a safe place even when you have permission from the Queen to be there. Even so I found a comfortable little stump and waited for the arrival of Harry and Luccio.

I didn't have long to wait. Ten minutes later I heard hard footsteps further down the trail. Another minute later I say the two of them in grey cloaks carrying staves. Harry was on the right, a slightly intimidating man standing about six four and lanky as hell. He never like the idea of being a warden so he rarely, if ever, wore his grey cloak, instead he was wrapped up heavy black-leather duster, that I know for a fact is more bullet proof than Kevlar. There was a huge bulge in his duster pocket, the evidence of the comically large .44 revolver he carried. Underneath his leather duster was a blasting rod that looked very similar to mine tied to the inside by a leather thong.

Next to him was a woman that didn't look her age, a few years ago Luccio ran into a nasty necromancer called The Corpse Taker. It took over her body and left her in the body of a twenty something co-ed. She was wearing her grey cloak and black fatigues underneath her cloak. She carried a solid white, staff that didn't show any type of runs or other marks. She was the captain of the wardens for a reason. She didn't send in twenty box tops and nine dollars and ninety-five cents to become the leader of the militant branch of the White Council. On her hip was a small pistol, a Sig I think, definitely more sensible than Harry's .44 or my Desert Eagle. But c'mon those guns are a lot of fun and extremely manly. On her other his she wore a delicately curved saber, very similar to my own rapier.

I casually rose up from the stump I was sitting on, that wasn't a good idea in Faerie you never know what's actually alive. I strode over too them in a relaxed manner, the rest of the day was going to be tense enough, there's no point in making an uncomfortable day even worse. "Captain, Harry," I greeted them motioning them to follow me.

I reopened the portal and led them back into our world. "Welcome to my slice of hell. It's not much, but it sucks." I said with a grand gesture to the raining sight around us. "If you come with me I will show you to your ride." I said going over the corner of the parking lot with the Porsche. "It's not much, but it's a loner." I unlocked the passenger door along with the rear passenger door.

Harry's jaw dropped, Luccio looked at it with a measure of discomfort and disgust. "Captain, to answer your unasked question, it's a loner the vampires didn't try and bribe me with it." I said regarding Luccio's uneasiness.

"Warden, I hope these vampires are half as trusting as you think they are." She said sharply, slipping off the cloak, and sliding into the back seat.

Without breathing a word Harry mouthed, "Nice ride," before he folded himself into the front passenger seat. I climbed into the driver seat and started up the engine, it turned over with the slightest cough, I cringed at the sound; if I hurt this car it was a fair guess that Alice would hurt me.

I drove back much slower, giving me time to catch both of them up on the details. What's happening in Seattle, what these new types of vampires were like, basically I told them the basic basics. It was less than a twenty minute ride so I couldn't tell them much. Harry was impressed by my skillful navigation of the grey area; Luccio was disgusted by the same thing.

In my most humble of opinions most White Council members need to remove the sticks from their collective asses.

I pulled into the drive way and cut the engine and opened my door; gesturing them to follow me. I knocked gently on the door and waited for almost a second. Esme opened the door looking like a Stepford wife preparing to go to war. "Wardens please come in." She said backing away from the door allowing us to move past. "Everyone is waiting for the three of you in the dining room."

"Thank you." I said walking in; Harry and Luccio followed my lead. Esme showed us into the dining room, I thought it best if I didn't lead everyone in, I was still supposed to be a stranger here.

Everyone besides Carlisle was still fine tuning their plans. The table and windows were covered in even more sketches, more string, and more maps. I hadn't had the time I wanted to figure out the right place to fight. That was something I would let them decide.

Carlisle came up to our little trio and introduced himself pleasantly, "I extend to you my hospitality that no harm will come to any of you as long as you are in my home." He looked Luccio straight in the eye. "My name is Carlisle, you met my wife Esme at the door, my daughters Alice and Rosalie are at the window, and my sons Emmet and Edward are at the table."

"Thank you Carlisle," Luccio said meeting his gaze; either she didn't believe me about them having a soul or she intentionally drew him into a soulgaze. Either way it happened. I'm not used to seeing a soulgaze from the outside, and frankly it's rather disturbing, both participants seem to zone out and they look like zombies, it only lasts a few seconds though, when you're active in one it seems like hours. After it was over Luccio looked towards me and gave me a look of affirmation, admitting without words that I was right and they could be trusted; people should listen to me more often, I'm wise beyond my years.

I fought the urge to say, 'Told ya so.' Occasionally my mind works faster than my mouth.

"Let's get to work," I said breaking the momentary tension, "we have vampires to kill."

"No offense." I said addressing Carlisle.

"None taken," he said coolly turning back to what he was working on.

In my estimation any creature that can process information ten times faster than a regular human shouldn't have to take this long to strategize. I sat down at the opposite end of the table, flanked on either side by the two new wizards, reviewing all the detailed maps with sketches that said some variation of 'go here' attached. I also took note of the other sketches that were either marked 'Danger,' or 'Avoid.' I stood up when I'd studied all of the smaller maps, turning my focus onto the larger area map; the one that had all the flags of people that had disappeared and were murdered. The only real discrepancy I saw was in Port Angeles. No detailed maps, no sketches, nothing and yet there was about a quarter of the crimes within the city.

"Are there any theories about what's going on in PA?" I said thumping the city on map with my finger. "Whatever's going on here is going on in Seattle on a much bigger scale."

"No we haven't considered it, with what's going on in Seattle," Slabs boomed quietly. I forget that even though most of the people in this room look young their close to four times my age.

"I think I get what you're getting at." Harry said, "There snacking in PA and feasting in Seattle." There are times I'm not sure whether Harry is a genius or he's an idiot. This is the latter. "The real question is what their favorite blood type is?"

"Not exactly," I said, "what if they're feeding in Seattle and turning people in Seattle and then bringing them back to PA." Occam's razor at work, sometimes the simplest explanation isn't the correct one, but this makes as few assumptions as possible.

"That's unlikely, newborns of our kind are extremely violent and unpredictable, if they were in a city as small as Port Angeles we would know about it." Edward said in that god awfully perfect voice of his.

"Not if they were using magic." I said trying to match his tone, and failing miserably.

"Containment circles."

"Containment circles." Harry and Luccio said in perfect unison, before both tried to stifle a childish giggle. There's something about your boss and your mentor giggling over something so stupid that just makes your blood run cold.

"What's a containment circle?" Alice asked moving her gaze from one wizard to the next. My bet she already knew the answer, but was playing dumb.

"Remember that tracking spell I did and the circle I used." She nodded playing along, "That kind of circle is used to keep other power out; a containment circle is used to keep energies in." I explained quickly, I received a room full of blank looks, except for the two people who know more about them than I do. I didn't think that explanation was so hard to understand. "They're like cages; they can keep people, animals, vampires, and demons in them."

Suddenly everyone made the same leaps I had made five minutes ago. The vampires were trying to get closer to their intended target while making it look like they were further away. I wouldn't have made the connection at all if they hadn't screwed up and killed in Port Angeles. And if they were using containment circles then we were dealing with something much more powerful than a bunch of shitty vampires.

Fuck!

We're dealing with The Black Council. I looked straight at Harry; he'd made the same connection; I saw it in his eyes. It's a mento/mentee thing that most people don't understand. He'd been the one that told me about some group trying to do something bigger, they'd been responsible for a ton of things that had happened before I met him, and presumably several things since.

They're the reason I'm a warden, they have a mole somewhere deep in the White Council; that mole is responsible for getting almost fifty wardens killed in Sicily a few years ago, which is why so many young wizards became wardens.

On cue, the doorbell rang, making a tense situation even worse, not many people will stop by this house in the middle of the forest, and even fewer will ring the doorbell.

Rosalie got up immediately and went the door at a completely human speed. She came back in an instant later carrying two large boxes under each arm. "I paid an extra two grand to have these rushed here in under six hours." She said setting the boxes down on the dining room table. "Thirteen just like you asked for."

Thirteen? I said a dozen, I suppose thirteen is a baker's dozen. "Good, razor sharp?"

"Doesn't even begin to describe them." She said almost cutting me off.

"I trust everyone in this room knows how to use them." Everyone started giving me weird looks, especially the vampires; Edward especially, his face was twisted in concentration, he was trying to read me.

"Okay here's the plan." I said leaning against the wall, "All of us won't be fighting together, we're going to break up into two groups. The three of us," I said indicating Harry, Luccio, and myself, "are going after the Rose Court vampires, and we're going to make a huge scene about it. They aren't signed on to the accords in any way." Faces slowly started to melt into understanding, Alice first.

"We can attack them without worrying about any repercussions. As wardens we can't aggressively go after the Red Court, if we do they'll take that as an excuse to start the war again. That would be disasters for the White Council." Luccio nodded solemnly, Harry just shrugged. "That's why when the three of us are making a huge scene; the six of you are going to start taking out the Red Courters quietly. You already have the advantage of speed over them so use it. Take the swords and either cut their heads off or cut their bellies open, preferably both. That way we wizards have deniability that we didn't touch the Red Court."

An odd silence fell across the room; everyone, including Harry, was speechless. I half-expected someone (okay either Harry or Slabs) to start a slow clap or something, I thought the plan was brilliant; especially because I just came up with it on the fly. I searched around the room waiting for someone to say something, or I was going to break into an awkward song and dance number, high school drama, remember. I caught Alice's eye, she gave a slight smile; at least one person approved of my plan.

"Interesting plan, warden." Luccio said with a slight nod, breaking the awkward silence.

"I like it; simple, direct, plenty of violence. Gosh darn it, it seems like a winner to me." Harry said in his trademark sarcastic tone. At least it's one vote for my plan, no matter how sarcastic.

"Works for me!" Slabs laughed before being slapped on the back of the head by the Ice Queen.

"That's all well and good," Carlisle began, pacing towards the map, "But none of the images Alice has seen have pointed towards Port Angeles." He did have a point, but I had a better one.

"Yes, but both have a massive amount of docks and piers, both of which look incredibly similar. And since none of the visions have given us an exact location the best we can say is that they all resemble ports." I think everyone had an unspoken agreement that Alice's power gave her glimpses of important areas that she could draw from memory.

"If they want us to think they are in Seattle, then maybe they want us to attack them there." Luccio said her voice neutral and distant. She was watching the battle play out in her head; something you can see after a hundred and fifty years of being a warden. It's not near the same as my ability; I can see specific outcomes of specific decisions as the battle plays out. Not as impressive as it sounds, trust me.

"An ambush." Esme said. Those were the only two words I'd heard her speak since we started planning; she seemed to be content sitting in the corner and watching.

"Exactly." I interjected, "so we hit 'em where they don't expect us to." Everyone gave one solemn nod. Seems like this plan is a keeper.

Suddenly all six vampires in the room tensed up, something was coming.

Nothing is ever easy.