Life After Death
Chapter 5
"Harry Dresden is dead."
I thought on that statement and how it had changed my life in the past few days as I drove away from Raith manor and started heading on an indirect course back to my hospital room. I let my illusion of Harry that I wore dissolve once I was far enough away from regular civilization and in traffic with no one beside me so that there was no chance of someone seeing this change. I thought about how completely in over my head I was right now and just how dangerous it was playing this game all by myself. The other problem was that I had no one I could turn to for help, at least no one that I could actually trust with what I was doing.
"And just what the heck are you actually doing Molly?" I asked myself internally out of sheer frustration. "It's not like you can bring Harry back from the dead. At best all you are doing is trying to vent some steam here in the city befire everything begins to boil over."
"Be at ease child." That soothing motherly voice spoke once again within my mind. "Harry Dresden had faith in both your power and your judgment or he would not have accepted you as his apprentice. The time of you ascendency to the rank of a true wizard is upon you. I am sorry that it comes at a time and a means that is not of your choosing but that is far too often the way it is for those of us with this gift." She said with knowing sympathy. "That is the way it was for Harry as well."
Taken objectively the words were hardly comforting on their face value but they still gave me a warm sense of comfort and that I was not really as alone as I thought I was just a moment before. Sure Harry was not around there for me to talk to and seek advice, but he had drilled much of that into me over the past few years so it was not like he was completely gone either. And I also had friends to rely upon, friends with whom I had fought, bled, and shed tears and with whom I would willingly do so again.
I also had this new voice inside of me to seek council when I desperately required it. And like my friends of flesh and blood, this voice too had already offered me aid exclusive of seeking anything for itself. Without this voice I might have found the strength through anger to willingly tossed around those imposters trying to step into Harry's shoes but I am sure I would not have the courage to either stand up to Marcone to reach a deal of mutual support or to trade banter with the ruler of the White Court to get the influential networks of informants Lara controlled working for my interests either.
"And you performed admirably in both events my dear." The voice of Margaret Gwendolyn LeFay McCoy Dresden's shade spoke directly in my mind sharing a sense of nearly grandmotherly like pride. "The actions you took were all yours. I merely provided you with a bit of insight into things magical that your studies have not allowed for yet. The strength to resist temptation and fear and stand up for yourself was already within you dear."
Okay I guess I need to take a moment to explain what is going on and what has led me here to these events lest you think that your favorite perky wizard apprentice has gone completely off the deep end. I know quite well that after a traumatic event such as the death of a loved one that people are more prone to losing touch with reality and 'voices in your head' are one of those little subtle things that we all know can be a sign that we have turned off of Sanity Street and driving full on into Nutsville Avenue. That was my own first impression as well, but thankfully my deductive reasoning acts like a GPS unit and allows me to check on my sanity location when I engage it. But that is jumping ahead so let me put this whole situation in order for you so you can see I'm not a whack job too.
Like just about every interesting event, I was going to say 'terrible event' but that would be passing judgment on an episode that has not yet transpired fully, that has occurred in my life during the past few years I can trace this one's origins right back to the emergence of my powers, the way I misused them at first, and the continuing repercussions of that mistake.
After Harry had rescued me and we were at the point of trying to decide on whether he would offer his life for mine before the White Council and take me on as his apprentice, he me to consent willingly to a soulgaze first. I was of course hesitant at the thought because what person, much less teenage girl with emerging wizard powers and harboring a secret crush, wants all of her inner secret exposed to the man she has these awkward feelings for? But as much as I did not want him to know that secret and reject me, the truth of my situation was at that moment that I really had no choice in the matter. It was accept this soulgaze or face a rather short yet undoubtedly exciting life of being harassed, hunted down, and then executed by someone like Warden Donald Morgan who enjoyed such things.
So of course I consented, and the good side was that I also got to see the real Harry Dresden just as he got a chance to look upon the real me. What I did not know until just a few days ago was that in addition to what I saw in Harry, which if you are lucky I might speak about one day, there was also a small piece of a shade of Harry's mother Margaret transferred into me with these visions as well. I of course had no idea of this at the time and I suspect it has occurred with most, if not all, of those whom Harry has gazed upon. For you more modern types think of it like half a Trojan Horse computer virus had infected my operating system without my knowing.
Anyway it lay there within me and did nothing more than record my experiences and make judgments about the type of person I was. The original program buried deep inside Harry also gathered small bits of knowledge from him and kept them stored as well and these would transfer to me in casual ways such if our hands touched when I handed him a can of Coke. This collected knowledge was nothing nearly as useful but potentially deadly as siphoning to me part of his magical powers or his deepest secrets. Instead it actually consisted of the more of the common and regular everyday things that Harry and I had never talked about but likely he would have mentioned himself had the subject come up.
For example once the 'program' went active I learned a lot of general but still useful trivia about Harry's relationship with Gentleman Johnny Marcone such as the businesses he had a hand in and the general look and personalities of his most trusted employees; those being Mr Hendricks and Ms Gard. Through this data source I could not immediately recall every conversation Harry had with the three of them because I had no personal basis upon which to access these memories, but if they mentioned something specific then I might be able to access some general knowledge of the event much like one can find the right file by doing a keyword search. I know it sounds awfully complicated but I hardly even recognize it now when it is operating. And I have to admit is can be damn useful to have.
Of course since I had only half the Trojan Horse in my mind at first I had not been able to access these records because I did not know even existed until very recently. The completing piece to this ability came not from Harry, but instead was received when I had soulgazed Harry's brother Thomas, the White Court vampire. In that second exchange the complimentary other half of the Trojan Horse that was the shade of Margaret Dresden download in my soul as well. All the elements were present inside of me just waiting for the correct command to execute. And as far as I know I am the only wizard since Harry and Thomas's mother who had soulgazed both of them and completed this mystical link of herself that she had left behind. All that I unknowingly required was the activation command that she had established.
Yep, you probably guessed it by now. The execute command for awakening this consciousness within me occurred when Thomas stood in my hospital room and told me 'Harry Dresden is dead' and that the words had to be said with a sense of certainty not one of hopefully thinking or future desire. I am very certain now that the speaker to activate this spell was not solely required to be Thomas. I have the sinking suspicion that the reason I have heard these words so often in the past few days is because without knowing it all of these close to Harry have been magically yet subtly manipulated into saying it so that whoever happened to have the full program would bring this consciousness to life. I wonder if John Marcone would find that particular fact of this infringement of his free will as fascinating as I do myself?
At the point that Thomas said those words, while my grief was still in its early stages, that small part of Margret Dresden's soul that she had left behind in both of her sons came together and spoke to me. "Margaret Katherine Amanda Carpenter." The shade said in my mind using my full true name to invoke the power that now lay between us. "I am a mere shadow yet all that remains in this day and age of Margaret Gwendolyn LeFay McCoy Dresden, mother of Thomas Raith, Mother of Harry Dresden, and Wizard of the White Council. I pray by the love you have for my sons and the sake of the world they have tried to build you hear me out."
You should understand that this is the first time that I had ever had a ghost literally inside my head and since it was one that obviously knew my true name because she spoke it at the start at our conversation I knew that provided her all the power she required to command my full attention. According to what Harry had taught me knowledge of my true name alone was probably even enough to provide the shade of Margaret Dresden the ability to possess my body just like one of the Fallen if this part of her original spirit had so desired to do so. Thankfully Harry's mother was not of that type. But the shock of this encounter and my fears at realizing my danger of course did not stop my first words in response to her of accusing the ghost of attempting just that and then trying to banish her from my mind.
"Be gone ghost!" I commanded and was thankful later that I had a private room so I would not have to explain this particular outburst to a roommate. "Our Father who Art in Heaven, Hallowed Be Thy Name…" I began thinking that the Lord's prayer would protect me from this intrusion. Hey this is what a life of Catechism teaches you and when faced with this new situation for the first time you are not really willing to experiment.
"Molly…" The voice said both softly and submissively with only a hint of humor at my display. "…I am no evil spirit seeking to do you harm." She said. "I provided unto you also my own true name so you may compel me to depart if that is indeed your wish. I myself have been the unwilling slave of others during my own life so I will not willingly submit another to this same loss of humanity and dignity. With my name you may cast me aside with one command at any moment, but I plead for you to hear me out for the sake of many whom you yourself love."
I almost cast her out right then and there because I knew it would be the safest thing to do. "I hardly think any of the Fallen admit to being corrupting at first either. They probably all offer to be your friend and help you through times of trouble by giving you power." I said having heard my father whisper stories to my mother when I was supposed to be long asleep of his encounters with these tragic and evil beings and my own errors related to breaking the will of another I was not about to allow myself to be subjected to such a thing if it were in my power to stop it.
"You would be surprised then to learn that the shade of the demon Lasciel, whom Harry called Lash, made no attempt to hide that her ultimate goal was to bond and corrupt my son when she inhabited him." Margaret replied in my mind. And before I could raise an objection or a denial that such events had occurred I caught brief, quick glimpses into Harry's memories of Lash and the power she offered him while he still denied her. I also remembered the smell of Hellfire that Harry had wielded and knew instinctively that this is how he had come into that power.
"That just makes my case for removing you immediately from my soul that much stronger." I said.
"It does indeed." She admitted with a mental sigh of resignation. "And my spirit wherever it lays will hold no malice toward you for doing so. What I have done to reach you here many on the White Council might consider a violation of the third, the fifth and the sixth laws of magic. You would be right to be cautious of such. But I will ask one last time for you to hear me out before you take what would be an irreversible step for us both."
I thought on that and pulled back from my convictions to immediately send her packing. If anything in these past few years as Harry's apprentice I had learned there really is no such thing as purely black and white where free will exists. Few beings look upon themselves as evil.
Sure the White Council has it Laws of Magic which they say are truly in the realm of the black. But I had violated one of these and while I was still paying for that transgression, I liked to think my more recent history stood as proof that even breaking these laws did not immutably stain a soul with evil if the owner tried to make amends.
Harry's mom said that her presence in my mind was a potential violation of three of the Laws of Magic which compared to my one seemed pretty intimidating. This was even more so when I realized she was talking not only of invading the mind of another and reaching beyond the borders of life, Laws Three and Five, but also Law Six which forbid swimming against the currents of time! Anyone willing to put that much on the line for a chance to talk to me deserved at least a little consideration. And a little consideration is all I was willing to offer.
"I agree not to banish you." I said. "But before I agree to listen to any proposal you have for me I demand evidence that you are indeed who you say you are."
"That is very wise." Margaret's shade said to me. "And unfortunately it is problematic."
"Why?"
"Because, as you would not doubt reason out for yourself soon enough, you have no means to objectively prove on your own that anything I tell you is truth." She explained. "Any story I provided you would require confirmation from an neutral third party, not from one of the memories of Harry you carry within you since I could perhaps have created or corrected those to support my own desires as well. I fear that we are at an impasse."
"Then we must find someone capable of removing this impasse." I said logically but had no idea who that could be and neither did Margaret so we put our conversation on hold.
Two days later this requirement was alleviated by the arrival of Captain Luccio, head of the Wardens. In addition to be a Senior Warden and therefore having access to the records on every member of the White Council, most especially those like Harry and his mother Margaret who had been ones the both groups wanted carefully monitored due to their reckless natures, Luccio had also been an occasional friend with Margaret when she was alive. Harry's mom immediately explained this all to me in the instant as the Captain entered my room. She even provided me a perfect question to drop at an appropriate time and what the answer she hoped would prove her identity.
After the Captain gently interrogated me on my health, what had happened in Mexico, and finally on Harry's disappearance, I moved the conversation over to another subject. "Ma'am, because of my support on the Red Court attack, Harry had promised to take me to dinner in Venice, a city I have always wanted to see for myself. I know you are Italian by birth so you may be the perfect person to ask this. Could you name a good restaurant that would give me a real Italian feel, nothing romantic of course, but just a good place where friends can hang out and share a glass of wine?" The question was an exact recreation of the last encounter that Captain Luccio and Margaret Dresden had shared together.
And since this was purely an innocent and reasonable request and struck a familiar chord in the Warden even though she might not immediately understand from where she answered without even thinking. "I used to go with a friend of mine to a place called Luchio's, because the owner was actually my great, great… well let's just say a few generation remove grandnephew of mine who modified the family name over the past few decades. When you get out of the hospital and can walk without crutches I will take you myself…that is if Harry has not returned of course." She stumbled with her words and by her emotions had just as much trouble admitting he may be dead as I did. However, her answer was proof positive that the shade speaking in my head was exactly who she said she was.
After Captain Luccio left the room I could feel Margaret Dresden's spirit lingering in my mind waiting for me to choose to acknowledge her and that the information she had been provided was indeed factual. Sure it was possible perhaps that some demon might know or learn of key events taking place anywhere in the multi-universe but the chance even an immortal being with nothing but time on its hands went to any effort to collect where a Warden and a wizard went to lunch once in awhile hardly seems likely.
"Alright you proved your identity." I said speaking in my mind to Margaret's shade.
Her spirit voice had a bit of trepidation to it. "That is very good child for I fear by listening in on your conversation with Anastasia that our shared situation is even more precarious than I had at first thought." She said with obvious concern in her mental voice.
I was left wondering not so much how this was possible, but rather how she had learned this while I had been confined to my bed for so long and Margaret only had access to the same information sources and details that people brought to me. But as I have been having about two years of history of getting into bad situations without even trying I figured I might as well accept the possibility that what she was telling me was true. It is usually better to accept the problem and try and solve it than deny that it exists in the first place I have discovered.
"What are you talking about?" I asked hesitantly, not really wanting to know what type of trouble I could have gotten myself into now just lying in my hospital bed. You would think that this should be afforded neutral ground or whatever was similar as far as fate was concerned.
"I fear that as cordial as Captain Luccio was, her visit here was working for a deeper and less genial purpose than she led on." Margaret said and now that I had accepted her existence within me a mental image of her began to form so I would have someone to talk to. It was pretty basic as far as my imagination was concerned.
I pictured a kind and compassionate looking middle aged woman dressed in white wizard robes. She had the same colored hair as Harry and many of the same general features, especially his eyes. And as she spoke and I read her emotions I also pictured her biting her lip in obvious concern. I did not know she could see what I imagined as well.
"Physically you are close enough, but my dear the wardrobe is way too classical and conservative for me." Margaret said. "I should warn you now that you and I share more than just our first name and love for my son. I tend to lean much closer to your fashion trends than this one you picked for me and would be equally at home in torn jeans and a tank top." She said and the idea that Harry's mom might have been a rebel in fashion and not just in following the White Council's laws made me smile and then laugh as the image changed to fit what she described. This image made Margaret's shade smile and chuckle a bit as well.
"I never had a daughter Molly." She said. "But I find it a very remarkable coincidence that my son's apprentice and I share so many personality traits, not to mention we were both sensitive wizards which is extremely rare." She said making my eyes open in shock.
"Your powers were like mine?" I asked for confirmation.
"Not completely." She amended gently. "But I was more closely aligned to you skills with mental magic that I was to Harry's ability to toss fire. Don't get me wrong I could do some of that as well, but I preferred and had a more natural ability for the subtle arts and for gathering knowledge. I see you have enhanced your abilities with things like illusions and your chi healing ability that I had never even thought to pursue when I was alive. I think you have the potential within you to be far greater that I achieved, even if you do not pick up the mantle that was left for you."
Wow that was an odd revelation on how two people who shared a name were so much alike. And now there was a third Maggie out there, Harry's daughter, who we had just rescued from the heads of the Red Court, and who likely would be gifted with some sort of magic when she reached her teens just as I had. I hoped she would have a better introduction to it than I did. Maybe that was the mantle Margaret was speaking of. Of course she remained silent on this subject.
"Molly I do not wish to pressure you before you are ready to fully understand the current repercussions of what is taking place but I fear our time, in truth your time, to influence these events positively is quickly running out." Margaret Dresden said in my mind.
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Is Harry in need of me? Is he alive somewhere?"
"As you do not know child, I do not know." She admitted. "That is one of the things that we must consider and discuss when you feel you are ready to face it."
"Fine." I said taking a mental deep breath. "Tell me what I need to do to save Harry then." I said getting ready to sit up and leave my bed, well that was until I twisted my injured leg in such a way as to send a shooting pain all the way up my spine.
"Molly please do not do that as I feel your pain as well. It is not Harry himself we need to save, but rather we must do what we can to save what Harry represents." Margaret said soothingly in my head. "But to do that we must learn, plan, and most importantly you must heal if we are going to have any chance of pulling this off. I do not want to be cliché Molly but there are lives at stake in this."
"Like Harry's daughter." I said knowing that someone had to look out for the little girl.
"Like Harry's apprentice." Margaret replied.
I brushed that thought aside. "If whoever shot Harry wanted to kill me then I would likely be dead already." I reasoned knowing that a hospital was bed was hardly the safest place I could be from an assassin.
"I was referring to the White Council and the Wardens my dear not the mysterious assassin." Margaret explained.
The change in direction with the cast of characters caught me off guard for I had been focused on the evil side of the equation rather than the complications that Harry's death created for the 'good guys.'
"Yes Molly, if Harry is actually dead then you have no one standing between you and the Doom of Damocles any further." Margaret explained. "The Warden's executioner's blade is only prevented from falling on your neck based upon Harry's promise to take you in to train you and a willingness to share your fate if he failed. Is there another member of the White Council who would accept this burden in his place if Harry's death is confirmed?" She explained to me the full personal repercussions before following with her question.
I thought on that and knew that there was no one I would let do so even if they had the desire to do it in a way to honor Harry's memory. There were not many possibilities in that particular category anyway because most other wizards avoided Harry and had no use for a warlock apprentice. Warden Carlos Ramirez perhaps might consider it, but his own fiery personality tended to get him into enough trouble without taking me on as an additional concern. And those who did not like him might see my apprenticeship as a way to get rid of two birds with one stone.
There was Wizard McCoy, Harry's former master, but I did not think that he held me in any particular high regard to offer his life for my own. He had bigger issues to deal with as a member of the ruling council than one wayward apprentice. Just a few days ago he had been willing to sacrifice Harry's daughter, though he had not been aware of the family connection at the time, to better secure the White Council's position against the Red Court. Someone so willing to discard an innocent child would have no trouble tossing aside a guilty warlock if the situation required it.
And then there was Warden Captain Anastasia Luccio who had just come by to visit me, in part to see how I was doing and if I had heard from Harry, but now through Margaret's better understanding of her, also to determine if my stay of execution should remain in force until Harry's body was discovered or ended immediately. The fact that I had invaded the Captain's mind, in so doing brushing up against the very Law of Magic I had a death sentence place upon me for, was not something in her position she could forget even if it did help root out a spy that was manipulating her. Did I ever mention that I friggin hate politics and all the backstabbing it requires?
"No there is no one." I confirmed in my mind realizing that I was in a rather precarious position.
"Then we must find a way to keep Harry alive, even if only through uncertainty in the minds of those who seek to do harm, and to do so in such a way that no one suspects that you are involved or that survival instinct will cast doubt upon everything we are trying to achieve." Margaret Dresden reasoned with a mental nod.
"Illusions?" I asked.
"That must certainly play a role my dear for you are far too beautiful to look like Harry even at a distance." She said with light wit that made me smile and relax just a little at her comment.
"But glimpses and random sightings would only create the uncertainty we need for a brief period of time." She reasoned. "Without something substantive to back up these sighting people may start to suspect it is all a trick and once they are open to that idea that will lead them eventually right back to you my dear."
"But what else is there?" I asked. "It's not like I can hire an actor to play Harry on television or anything." I thought that actor Paul Blackstone I had seen in bit parts of movies might look close enough like Harry, but he was probably too busy to want to pretend to be a wizard.
"What we must do is decide what Harry would be doing if he were alive and then continue those actions in his stead." She answered calmly and rationally which is more than I can say for myself. "If we come up with a reasonable idea of what Harry would be doing right now, then it makes sense that others hearing of it will come to the same conclusions and thereby protect your involvement to a greater extent. And if Harry is indeed alive and doing whatever we reasoned, then we have a greater chance of crossing paths with him and combining our efforts."
"That makes sense to me." I said knowing immediately what he would want to do. "I think if Harry is alive he would probably be trying to figure out who had tried to kill him and then hunting this person or being down to make sure it did not happen again." Yes that definitely seemed like what Harry would be doing though with a lot of violence, burned down buildings, and more than a few injuries.
"The problem with knowing that is you are in a hospital bed so we cannot really do anything about it yet." Margaret replied. "That will greatly complicate our efforts."
"Only for a day or so." I explained. "I can use my chi healing to take care of this wound by then."
"Wait." She cautioned. "While that may be a benefit we must also think of a reasonable defense. While you are known to be injured and healing here in a hospital bed that throws suspicion away from you and supports the idea that Harry really is alive. If you suddenly make a miraculous recovery just when people start seeing Harry then the opposite occurs and we are in the situation we are trying to avoid."
I thought on this and from my experience of healing my brother's wounds where a rather large and disagreeable ten foot spider had skewered him I knew that the chi healing could be focused on specific things. If I knit the damaged muscles back together but left the outer wounds scabbed over then the only way anyone would know for sure what my condition was is if they took an x-ray, which being a wizard was rarely successful. I explained all this to Margaret and she agreed though her motherly tone remained one of concern for my wellbeing none the less. I started that process of healing, which was all mental anyway, and we turned to other issues.
"The next problem we have is that you cannot be in two places at once." Margaret explained. "You have far too many visitors, and too many of the young doctors find you too attractive, to chance someone coming by when you are not here."
"Then we take the risk and operate only at night once visiting hours have past." I suggested but got a warm smile that doctors were checking me out none the less. Hey, girls like to know those kinds of things!
"That takes care of family and friends, but you still have the medical staff who makes their rounds." She cautioned. "They get paid to notice little things like missing patients."
"Unless we can make it look like I am not missing." I replied. "But how do we do that? I really do not think the whole molded pillows under the sheets routine would fool anyone."
"No but your illusions would." Margaret said with a sense of inspiration in her words. If a shade were capable of actually snapping her fingers I am sure she would have.
"But wouldn't I have to be present to cast that type of spell?" I asked. "I mean I can keep up an illusion or a veil for a fairly long period of time, maybe more than a couple of hours if I can focus the magic through my wands, but I can't keep it running all night and certainly not if I am miles away from it as well." I said finding a need to explain my magic to a wizard who had been doing my kinds of things for a lot longer than me.
"You are thinking about it the wrong way." She said. "You do not need the spell to run constantly. All you need is an illusion if someone opens your door to check on you."
"You mean like a ward?" I asked. "I thought those were always explosive and dangerous."
"That is because you are used to Harry's and that is the type of magic that he specializes in." Margaret explained. "A ward is nothing more than a time or situation activated spell that you decide upon before casting it. It still requires all the same amount of power, and of course unless you want to start carving runes in the walls of your hospital room the spells will only last until dawn, but that should give you enough time to operate as Harry Dresden don't you think?" She asked.
"It should." I agreed. "So one spell ought to do it?"
"I would probably go with a minimum of three spells to allow for accidents and contingencies of your room being opened more than just once at night." She said and I had to agree that made sense. It would not do for an orderly to check on me, close the door, and then have to open it again a second later for a second look at sleeping beauty and now the patient is gone. So Margaret and I agreed three spells of me sleeping soundly was enough.
"Don't forget the cute little snoring dear." Harry's mom reminded me as I planned the spells.
"I don't snore."
"Okay dear." She conceded. "Then don't forget the occasion donkey braying sounds that mysteriously echo in the same room when you are unconscious." She said just as sweet as caramel covered pie. Yeah it is a good thing there are no ghost Mother's Day cards because she really would not be getting one.
Thankfully when I was brought to this hospital Thomas had the sense of mind to keep my possessions close by. My clothes were a total write off as they were soaked in blood and materials that I would rather not even speculate upon, but my wands were there as well, and these would be invaluable to me during this deception. The wands were not highly magical so much in and of themselves, but what they did provide was a much better way for me to focus my spells and therefore waste less energy. You can think about it as the difference between a candle flame burning and a flashlight's beam. Both may emit about the same amount of illumination when running, but the flashlight allows this light to be better focused and projected farther. My wands worked along the same concept.
"So I suppose you have some suggestions on how to start investigating as well?" I asked moving on so that I would not respond to the donkey comment.
"As I see it the police are the ones to likely have the best information on crimes occurring here in the city." Margaret replied. "You friend Murphy did not seem to have much but perhaps they are withholding information from her due to her suspension. I think they offer the most reasonable information on Harry's murder."
"Maybe." I considered this and was almost ready to agree then immediately realized that there were other sources here that might have an equal interest in crime. The most directly interested would be Gentleman Johnny Marcone who had his hand in most of the crime in this city and therefore had to have a good idea of what was taking place, at least when something as big as an assassination was concerned.
Margaret agreed that this was not a bad alternative and even showed me the information her shade had on Marcone's businesses and key employees Harry had gathered that I told you about earlier. She also provided me an important warning. "You may be able to fool the humans, but if Ms. Gard is indeed more than that as Harry believes then illusions are most likely not going to work for long on her."
"This still remains a better option than the police though." I reasoned. "Let's just hope it works out for the best." And as you have already seen, fate or merely pure random chance allowed for me to have this meeting with the crime boss without Marcone's female bodyguard being present so my skill with illusions was not unnecessarily tested to that degree.
While Marcone did not have the information on who had shot Harry, he did provide a clue that something big was going on. And of course that was not only a possible lead in his attack, but even if not directly related, it was just the kind of thing that Harry would have investigated at the same time. So allowing me to do so disguised as him merely promoted the idea that he was still alive to those who heard about it. This led me from Marcone to Stallings; the trail allowing me more support to the story of Chicago's wizard hunting down the one who had tried to kill him.
I had to admit that lying to Murphy this afternoon was not something I had wanted to do. In the past two years I had really come to like her, and what is more respect her, for all she did for me. I felt I was betraying her by lying about Harry being alive so of course I tried to play that aspect down as best I could. The problem was that if the Wardens thought Harry might actually be dead they were smart enough to watch Murphy and see if she thought he was dead too. Thankfully our conversation had left her uncertain enough that anyone watching her would not close the case on Harry Dresden just yet either.
I must admit that trying this illusion trick with Lara Raith was hardly something that I wanted to attempt when presented with the idea, but once again it was Margaret who talked me into it even though I was certain the White Court would see right through me. "A vampire's natural senses may be greater than that of a human's child, but their minds are just as easily deceived by seeing exactly what they expect to whether it is really there or not." I had to admit that this was indeed true in my experience as well. Illusions I had tried of average things were more likely to work than ones of fantastic or impossible things like Elvis Presley for example; well I mean that in anywhere but Las Vegas I guess.
My greatest concern came of course when faced with having to kiss the head of the White Court. It was not a kissing a girl thing, I had done well in acting class so could put what I needed to into that. What was more concerning to me was the addictive types of power that kissing a White Court vampire the Raith clan was likely to cause. I had tried this activity once with Thomas purely by accident and had Harry and Mouse not come to my rescue…well…I do not like to think of what that would have ultimately meant for your favorite perky wizard apprentice.
"The kiss is nothing that need concern you Molly." Margaret said with a laugh in her voice as I negotiated with Lara Raith, never knowing of the second conversation going on in my head.
"That is easy for you to say." I thought as I shuddered at how good that last kiss had felt.
"You forget child, I was married to Lara's father." She replied in my mind. "I can teach you the perfect spell for that particular situation and it will, if anything, even improve Harry's standing and reputation among their type."
"You know a spell to resist a vampire's kiss?" I said knowing that Harry had a potion that offered a limited ability to do this.
"Not resist child." Margaret said. "What fun would that be? The spell I created turns the power of the kiss back upon the vampire. All the desirability that they place into the kiss converts back to wanton lust within themselves. And since it is incredibly bad form for a White Court vampire to lose control of itself except in a life and death situation, the vampire is forced to break off the kiss before they lose their own self control."
"That is horrible!" I said with a mental laugh. "I absolutely love it!"
"I told you child your image of me as some scholarly matron was a bit far afield from the real McCoy." She said with an internal impish grin. "And yes that pun was intended."
Another Harry Dresden encounter successfully established along with a potential source of information so I decided to call it a night. On the way back to the hospital I stopped at a Denny's one block from the hospital for a quick meal, the food in the hospital being terrible and good food helps restore chi, and because Denny's had a payphone if I decided it was wise to call Stallings. I was just finishing my meal by the window when a white Corvette raced by headed straight for the hospital blowing through the red light at the corner without a care in the world. I only caught a glimpse of the driver but in that flash I knew I was in trouble and that my call to Stallings would have to wait.
It looked like Thomas Raith was about to make an unexpected late night call on a certain hospital patient. While I was fairly certain the illusion of me sleeping would look real to him if he opened the door and set off the ward, the fact that he was coming here this late at night and was willing to run a red light to get to me even quicker made me suspect that he would want to wake me up if he found me asleep. And the instant he touched 'me' the illusion would fall away, and so would my protection as well.
I dropped some cash on the table and raced for my car hoping I was not going to be too late.