Semper Fidelis
Chapter 4
I drove home with a mixture of smiles and dread upon my face. The image of Crystal finding out if Butters lived up to the reputation of all great polka players was certainly enough of a karma balancing payback in my book for the humor Butters got in describing me as his girlfriend. The fact that she was undoubtedly a take charge kind of girl and not one to likely take no for an answer could certainly do Butters a world of good. I figured as long as she did not put the little guy in the hospital the scales were now pretty well balanced between us. Hell it was also funny enough that I might even tell Harry about it and chance getting a lecture.
On the other hand the desiccated corpse I had observed was disturbing to me to say the least. There was obviously something relatively nasty that had made its way to Chicago. It was cruel for me to rationalize but hopefully the city was just a stopover point as whatever had committed this murder continued its journey to Los Angeles or New York. That would make the victim just the unfortunate human quick snack equivalent of a Big Mac, and what I saw of the remains merely a biodegradable wrapper disgarded as litter on the side of the road.
Of course we would only know for certain that my theory was false when a second such corpse was found. That would mean the diner had found the local cuisine to its liking and decided to indulge a little more. At that point I hoped Harry would be back and my job would be merely to plot where the attacks had taken place in the city.
I actually had a remote hope that Harry was back when I stopped at his place and I could turn this case over to him, therefore telling demonstrating firmly to any being that may be watching that I had no desire for another Harry-type adventure. I realized I had not take proper advantage of my cheerleading days so if Harry were home I would gratefully sit back and provide whatever assistance I could from the sidelines in a moral supporting role.
But hey, there was no need to rent trouble just yet. Odds were a single death was all we would see and if Harry's books could offer a reasonable explanation for the creature that commit the act, the case could be closed and Butters could focus upon Crystal and not things that looked upon grown humans as some sort of Happy Meal.
The little nagging voice inside of me that sounded a lot like Harry's reminded me that Uriel had told me not long ago that I had to have faith things would work themselves out as required. Most importantly I was not to let my worries distract me from what I would have to do, something important enough for an archangel to deliver this bit of advice personally. In my book this roughly translated to him telling me to build an ark because a serious storm was headed my way.
Because dad had set me away I made it to Harry's place at about the same time I had expected to get to the morgue so I figured this put me ahead of my schedule for the night and provided me an extra hour for research. At nineteen I did not have a curfew to be home by, but I knew my mother slept better knowing I was under her roof while dad was in the hospital so I tried to get in by midnight to ease her worries.
I parked my car across the street from his apartment and slipped through the wards by temporarily disarming them long enough to enter. As easy as that sound the process takes nearly a minute and most of that is committed to pushing the big warped steel door open just enough from me to get through and then back into its frame. The wards themselves take almost no time to set back up. Harry has two types of these that guard his place and the surrounding area. The first are those right upon the home itself that immobilizes or can even kill those trying to enter without first turning them off, like I had learned to do, or possessing a charm to bypass them like Murphy had been given.
He also had a set of wards strung further out, sort of like an invisible spider web, about two blocks in all directions anchored to various spots like lampposts and chimneys. These wards were primarily ones of magical detection whose purpose was to let Harry know if anyone of power, or anything from the Nevernever was in proximity to his home. Unfortunately these did not detect everything of danger. Vampires, for example, were for the most part not creature of magic and on more than one occasion had nearly ambushed Harry on his very doorstep because he had not sensed them.
He had also explained to me that a rather disagreeable necromancer had sent zombies one at a time to knock down his wards by sacrificing themselves. When the protections had run out they were the ones responsible for bending Harry's steel door. I figured that was a good lesson that wards were not infallible protection.
After I came onboard as his apprentice, Harry modified these protections a little bit so that if they were tripped a series of candles and bells he had enchanted would burst into flame and rings as a warning to me trouble was nearby. Green colored candles meant something had tripped the alarms wards out at the two square block limit line. Yellow candles meant whatever it was had crossed the one block limit. Red then meant something was within a hundred feet of the apartment.
In all the time I had stayed at Harry's place I had never observed a red or yellow candle event and it was not on my to do list either. I had only experienced two green candle events and both of those Harry later determined through his spells had just been something travelling nearby and had set off the alarms, not a creature with an unhealthy interest in his home. After these two events left me a bit on edge and afraid to leave the apartment for nearly a day he further modified the spells out in the green ward area to turn themselves off after an hour of no longer sensing the intruder's presence.
Now that I have explained this all, it was of course a green ward I noticed that was burning when I entered Harry's apartment. Thankfully I took this as merely a noted warning of caution, but not one that required any immediate attention on my part since I was now inside and the wards were once more active.
While whatever it was could right now be preparing an attack on the apartment, I was pretty sure I would have noticed an army of bloodthirsty zombies forming up ranks in the street if a repeat performance was about to begin. I told myself it was likely the candle would extinguish itself in the next sixty minutes or so as it had both times in the past. But just in case I decided I would take all three candles in their modified carrying menorah down into the lab with me when I started my research.
But first I needed to get something to eat. I loved the fact that Harry kept his apartment well stocked for food, though I have to admit sometimes I wondered just how he did his shopping. I mean one time the house was filled with only Fruit Loops and Hostess Cupcakes. I literally had to ask Harry if he was diabetic based on his diet. He gave me a look that said he was not, but that he refused to explain any further. Have I mentioned he is rather odd, even for a wizard?
Since that discussion there is usually a wider variety of foods available, though the freezer always contains at least half a dozen frozen pizzas. Harry had told me to eat these as often as I wanted to and make sure to leave the remains out for Mouse and Mister to finish after I went to sleep. I had never seen either of his pets actually eat the pizza leftovers, but there was never any left the next morning when I got up.
Right now I did not want pizza though. I wanted something relatively quick and easy so I opted for sandwiches. Unfortunately cold cuts are one area that Harry's cupboards seemed to be missing. I really craved bologna right now, something about all those sandwiches as a kid at school made them a psychologically comforting food when I had bigger things on my mind; bigger things such as desiccated corpses for example. The desire was so strong in fact that I thought about driving to the store but this late it would be a round trip of over an hour and I wanted to get this research issue cleared up and off my plate as quickly as possible. Plus of course there was the deterrent value of the burning green candle. This meant I had to fall back to the old reliable standby of peanut butter and jelly instead. I whipped up three of these and headed for the lab to get to work.
Harry's subbasement workshop is frigging freezing. I mean it is normally cold in Chicago except perhaps in the very heart of summer, but even then the lab never got more than remotely comfortable in temperature. Here during the winter months the climate difference between down in the workshop and outside was only in the fact that there was no wind blowing down here. I swear if it were possible I would come down here one day and there would be fresh snow on the floor. I might have to bring Al Gore here sometime to get in on that whole global warming thing just to keep from getting frostbite.
I started by lighting the various candles spaced about the room to provide me light and a modicum of heat. I could lie and say I was magically cool and started them all through a quick spell like Harry often does, but the truth of the matter is that since I had one candle already lit in my hand it was much easier just to walk the circuit of the basement and set each wick to the torch manually. It also kept me warm moving around as the little fires began desperately to bring heat to the icebox Harry calls home. It was so cold, I was even surprised his stores of magical components did not all freeze in their various bottles and jars and become useless.
This gave me the idea that since I was going to be down here for a while anyway looking through Harry's books I might as well brew a potion for practice and kill two birds with one stone. And based upon the current temperature both down here and outside, a potion of warmth seemed just the ticket. I collected the various ingredients, the base liquid flask of apple cider being nearly icy sludge, and set the mixture to boil nicely.
Since I would have an hour or so to let that simmer, and infuse the room with the cinnamon spice I used for smell, I turned back to the library books on the shelves and noted by this time the green warding candle was no longer burning. With an audible sigh of relief at this one less concern I pulled off the first and most likely book to start my research, The Creature Catalogue from the game Arcanos.
Like I said before, Harry had shown me in my training that almost all of the creatures in the book were either based upon actual residents of the Nevernever, or were really scary modified versions of creatures here on Earth, like the giant scorpions Harry had told me about battling once. I decided to focus my search on just the Nevernever denizens as I suspected if a six-foot giant cockroach or some such thing would were responsible for the killing it likely would have made the news or at least this week's copy of The Arcane.
That research book, however, and even its follow on volume, The Tome of Terrors, wielded no new clues to what had killed the victim I had observed. This was also barring the major demonic powers that existed beyond the Outer Gates who were likely capable of such feats of unique death. I certainly hoped that such a being was not once again walking freely around Chicago. Tricking two such denizens would not be a simple task, even for a talented and perky wizard apprentice.
I put the book away knowing by my internal clock my hour of research had passed along with a little bit more to boot. The potion was also completed and I poured it into one of Harry's sports bottles to cool before slipping it into the backpack I still carried rather than a purse. It was at this point I turned back to the library and noticed that not only was the green candle burning once more, but so too were the yellow and red.
"Oh shit!" I said in a whisper. That meant whatever had approached was basically right outside the apartment. Thankfully the wards should be able to stop or at the very least slow down this attacker and give him or her something else to think about if he or she sensed them. Perhaps that would be enough time for me to come up with a plan of what I should do if they don't deter whoever was out there.
Then, the small tinkling bell Harry had placed on his door so that even down here in the subbasement he could tell when anyone entered the apartment went off informing me whatever had come by for a visit, now had made it past the wards as well.
"Okay Molly, now might be a really good time to come up with that contingency plan." I thought to myself. But of course inspiration was lacking to me at this moment. Instead I was focused upon the really bad news. Whatever had entered the apartment had done so with enough power to shrug off the spells Harry had created to keep things like it out. That meant even if this being was wounded by the wards, it was still likely more powerful than I was. Except of course, I suddenly realized, it had also forced itself over the threshold as well.
Harry explained to me once that the old phrase 'A man's home is his castle' actually originated from average people's dealing with wizards in times long past. Crossing thresholds uninvited stripped even the mightiest of wizards of much of their power if the practitioner forced their way inside the house rather than being invited. This had to do with the amount of emotion and love that went into a home during the years that an individual or family lived within its walls. Since Jesus had declared that Love was the greatest of all powers, it did not seem all that farfetched to me that the walls of a home might absorb some of that residual power shared between families over time. So through this process the home of even a common man eventually created a castle-like barrier against those who wielded magical power.
I ran my possible options through my head, and the first and foremost one to appear was what Harry always told should be my best choice; run away. He even found the nerve to constantly remind me in a high pitched and squeaky voice claiming he was quoting a famous Monty Python scene. Of course under these conditions I found myself in, all my master's wisdom, or for that matter John Cleese's, I realized very little discussion had been given to what to do if fleeing were not an option.
"Okay Molly back to the basics and play to your strengths." I thought silently to myself as I willed together magic. Having practiced now for months I noted my heart was racing and was therefore making my ability to properly gather power less effective than it should be. I pushed aside this panic by using the first store of magic I gathered to cast a spell of emotional courage upon myself.
The Fourth Law of Magic forbids me from casting my spells to dominate the minds of others; a skill which of course just happens to be in the area of my greatest gifts. The law though did not forbid me from casting such a spell upon myself. I had tested this theory in combat and perfected it over the past six months to serve as a survival technique.
Through the months of practice I found there were a few such spells I could cast that actually helped me increase my power in this way. In the current case my dousing myself with a healthy dose of courage my heartbeat slowed closer to normal and I could gather magic and think clearly without worries of panic eating away at my every thought. I had a similar spell for concentration to help me focus my mind upon whatever task Harry had set for me. Both of course only worked for a limited duration, ten to thirty minutes or so, based upon how much power I put into it.
Except for training, I rarely employed these types of enchantments; mainly because Harry had explained magic can be a crutch if used improperly and I wanted to build up my actual magical strength not just temporarily simulate the increase through this effect. But I did keep them ready for use when necessary, sort of my own version of Popeye's spinach, such as when something has broken through Harry's wards probably looking for a meal and I was potentially on the menu!
Okay, now feeling the calming effect of the spell I began again to draw up more magic, using the next pool of power to call up a veil to cover me from sight. I was confident in my skills in this area would provide me significant defense. Of course what I needed was a reliable offense as well.
Magic is great, but there are a good number of other options for combat if a wizard is smart enough to look for them, or like me has few other options. I looked around the room and finally decided to pour a handful of salt and pepper into my left hand, this being the same hand I wore my shield bracelet on so it left my right free for combat spells. Hearing movement upstairs I decided it was time to go find out who or what had broken in.
Mister had not returned when I had unlocked the door earlier tonight so it could not be him and I suddenly realized that Mouse had given no warnings or response to the intruder either. That was incredibly strange since the dog was frighteningly intelligent where magic beings were concerned, a fact I could attest to myself. But even for all his courage and intelligence, he was only a dog and likely could be taken down as easily as anyone or anything else if the enemy had prepared for a contingency for him. Seeing as how the intruder had gotten past the wards so knew of their existence, I could only assume they likely knew about Mouse as well.
I climbed slowly up the stairs, and after having both Murphy and Harry catch and kick my backsides for catching me under a veil I made sure I took a very slow and meticulous pace avoiding the creaky stairs that led up from the subbasement. You will have to remind me to tell Harry to correct this situation in the near future. Luckily I had trod upon them enough times to know which steps were the bad ones. And for safety sake I kept my feet out at the very outside edges of those step I did use just in case I had forgotten.
I had only left two candles burning upstairs because I had not been planning on staying there so saw no reason to waste them. Of course had I known unexpected company was coming I would have probably lit a few more to give me a better view.
The first thing I noticed, because I was purposely looking for it, was that there was no sign of Mouse and worse still no signs of a struggle. That was worse news I realized because if the intruder or intruders, I hoped it was only one, knew about Mouse and had prepared for him, I was pretty certain whoever it was knew about me as well. And having my convertible Mustang parked across the street probably was enough of a giveaway to tell the intruder I was presently in residence. Okay then, all this scene needs is the cry of that odd jungle bird that always screams in the movies when the hero and villain are trying to get a drop on each other.
At the top of the stairs I again heard movement this time coming from the kitchen area. It sounded like metal links banging into something hard, most likely the kitchen countertop. As far as combat spells go I am fairly limited in my options so I readied myself for whatever possibilities I had as the intruder finally made an appearance.
I knew at once it was not Harry. The person was too small compared to him. I also knew it was not Carlos, the West Coast Warden and only other wizard that Harry had entrusted with how to work his wards to. The stranger was the right height, but was shaped definitely female. Last I could tell immediately it was not Murphy, the only person Harry had given a charm to in order to bypass his wards. Of course none of that trio, Harry, Carlos, nor Murphy, would have set off the ward candles with their arrival anyway.
The figure was dressed head to toe in dark clothing as if planning on not being seen at night, but most telling was the scarlet cloak she wore about her shoulders. Other than on Halloween when normal people dress up as vampires and witches, or the very small select part of society with yearly box seats at the opera, by in large the general population in the 21st century no longer wore cloaks when stepping out. Wizards, however, and of course some rather bad non-normal things still did. Oddly it seemed to me to be some sort of an informal attire of membership like a school logo or a Masonic ring.
That established, the color of the cloak was often telling as to what alliances the wearer followed. The Wardens, for example, wore only grey cloaks and those were made of a magical material that did not allow blood or other liquids to stain their appearance. Alternatively, lots of the bad guys Harry had fought went with either the black or grey cloaks because they were just generally more intimidating if being somewhat stereotypical in Hollywood. Just once I thought it would be interesting to see the bad guy decked out in a sunny yellow or bright orange.
The same rules generally applied to the non-human aspects of our 'spooky' fraternity. The black court of vampires did go for the standard black cloaks. The White Court members, like Thomas, rarely if ever wore cloaks since they were much more creatures of current fashion. When they did wear cloaks though, such as at formal events, they went with white colored ones for their court allegiance. So following pattern, yet not a rule, that meant the crimson cloak wearing woman before me was most likely a Red Court vampire, the ones who had been at war with the White Council for years. And according to Harry they would have no compunction against killing off a perky wizard apprentice if they got their chance to do so.
If there were any creatures Harry required me to learn everything about in our Arcanos games it was the Red and Black court vampires. The first thing I knew was from a purely magical standpoint I was way outclassed. I also did not have a reliable weapon for killing vampires readily at my disposal like my dad would when he did battle with such things. While there were two quite serviceable holy swords just a few steps away, I knew I was not permitted to wield either just yet. My own wooden practice one I had I of course left in the backseat of my car so it's not like it was going to help me serving as a makeshift stake in the heart or anything. So in the weapon department my resources were about as scarce as in the magic area.
What I did have at my disposal though was faith, something Uriel had told me I would require for this very moment it seemed, and of course the cross that my mother had given me just six months ago I wore around my neck. This combination would be enough to destroy a relatively weak vampire and at least protect me while driving a stronger vampire out of the apartment. Since this one was obviously looking for something in Harry's apartment, something beyond Mouse's leash chain she held in her hands, or preparing an ambush for my master I figured getting her outside before she found it would be a victory for the good guys. How I was likely to do that though might require some creative finesse.
From my lessons I realized the fact that she was carrying Mouse's leash might explain why he had not made an appearance to defeat this intruder himself. It was entirely possible that she was using the leash as a spell component, much like a voodoo doll, to symbolize holding the dog at bay with magic the very way one might try to do so with the chain. If so I then reasoned if I could get the chain away from her it was likely that the spell she had cast upon Mouse would be broken and the big dog would be able to make an appearance to help me wrap things up. Yeah that was counting on a lot of separate things to break in my favor.
I positioned myself roughly along the path the woman's course took toward me, cursing the fact that the candles I had left lit were to the sides and behind her as she approached making my next required move to be totally based on guesswork. When she was only two steps from me I raised my left hand, the one with the salt and pepper in it and tossed it into her face, or at least where I expected the face of the vampire to be. It must have sensed the movement of the air currents between us as my hand shot up for she froze in place instead of taking the next step as I expected, but she still likely got a face full of the mixed spices.
I dropped my veil and took a step back from her, not only out of arm's reach, but out of spitting distance too since the Red Court's seductive saliva was their most dangerous weapon. This was a lesson my character had learned the hard way in a game of Arcanos. Only this time I would not have Billy the Barbarian coming to my rescue if I got splattered by it.
I pulled the cross out from under my shirt and willed my magic into it. "Illuminate!" I commanded and the cross burst into a sparkling holy light of pure bluish white. I had become a bit more adept at using this for a focus just like my bracelet worked for my shields and now when I cast this spell, my cross even became something akin to a flashlight allowing me to projects a cross-like beam of light out to ten feet or so. I kept this beam of light aimed right on the head and chest of the vampire.
Yeah well that plan did not work as well as I had hoped. With a quick step and a flick of her wrist the creature sent the dog's leash end spiraling toward my outraised left hand as I tried to quickly call forth a shield. The clip on the end touched my palm as I was willing the magic together and the magical electricity stored in the chain flowed into my body and launched me six feet backwards across the room and into the fireplace, which thankfully I had not chosen to light. I almost fell completely down when I landed but my hand caught on the mantle and I kept myself on my feet as the vampire approached.
"Where is Harry Dresden?" The voice rasped at me spinning the chain and preparing to obviously launch another bold of magical lightning into me. I knew I would not stand through a second such jolt and if I lost my feet and my ability to run I was doomed. Unfortunately as I pulled myself up I realized instantly I really did not have any means at my disposal to prevent such a thing from happening since my shield hand was out of position on the mantle and my opponent would not likely allow me to get it between us and take the necessary second or two to call up a shield without attacking again.
That was also assuming I could call up magic at the moment which I doubted. That shock had me frazzled and not able to fully concentrate. It also provided me one hell of a good reason to reconsider my various piercings which were all currently uncomfortably warm in even more uncomfortable places. Note to self that wizards and current fashion did not mix well. Can I say "Ow!"
But realizing where I happened to be standing did bring some resolve back to me, in part thanks to my courage spell. "Probably out killing your Red Court king." I snarled grabbing up Fidelacchius from the mantle and swinging it between us. I did not draw the blade from its wooden sheath. I was not allowed to wield the blade yet. But that did not mean I could not use it as an effective club; a club that also just happened to be non-conductive.
The vampire's arm with the chain flickered up toward me reflexively as I made my move and wrapped neatly around the wooded handle just as I leapt off the ground. The magical lightning, unable to go where directed by the laws of conductivity, now blew back instead along the links of the leash and into the caster of the spell, sending her flying instead and more importantly getting her to release the chain. I let it slide off the scabbard and immediately when my feet hit the ground pursued the vampire who had fell back toward the couch behind her.
I had only half suspected my plan would work but that was a bit more than my opponent it seemed. The vampire appeared stunned by its own power, and I was not about to give it a chance to recover and discuss the subject a second time. The sword felt both comfortable and familiar in my hand, even with the added weight of the scabbard it was so light to be almost unnoticeable. That was probably thanks to the adrenaline pumping through my body.
The very moves I had shown my father a few hours ago and been given polite improvements on I now put to good use slipping past sluggish defenses of upraised arms to strike the side of the head of my opponent. And when she covered her head for protection I changed targets, taking out knees and causing her to collapse to the ground.
"You picked the wrong house to break into you blood sucking bitch!" I called out triumphantly as she collapsed beneath a rain of blows and seemed unable to even raise her arms any more in defense. I lifted the cross once more with the intent to lay it on her and kill her with its touch when her ally made his appearance known to me by bowling me over and knocking the sword from my hands.
"Mouse get off of me!" I screamed but the dog merely continued to lay across me and keep me pinned to the ground as the vampire groggily began to get to her feet. I suddenly wondered if vampire saliva could make a thrall out of animals as well. Damn it all! I beat her! Losing now was totally unfair. And besides I'd make a sucky vampire; pun intended.
The woman made it to her knees and turned to look at me. "I will only ask you one more time child." She said lifting her hands to her hood. "Where is Harry Dresden?" She inquired and pulled the hood back from her face; a face I now recognized as having seen when she was unconscious and being rescued by Harry less than a year ago.
"Elaine?" I asked seeing my knowledge of her name register recognition in her eyes.
"Then you must be Molly." She said in response, relaxing ever so slightly. Yeah she would not have recognized me since she had been unconscious and bleeding over me at our only encounter. Wow this was probably not the best introduction I had ever made to one of Harry's oldest friends. My only bonus lay in the fact that nothing I had done just now came close to violating any of the Laws of Magic.
"Yep that would be me." I said smiling weakly as Mouse kept me pinned down on the floor. "Sorry about the whole attacking you thing." I said somewhat sheepishly. Yeah this is not going to be a story I am going to enjoy explaining to Harry. Even less though will I enjoy him hearing it from Elaine.
"And the blood sucking bitch comment?' She said with her eyes closed and pressing delicately on a rather nasty bump growing on the right side of her temple. Yeah that had been a particularly satisfying blow at the time when I had struck it I recalled.
"Yeah sorry about that too." I agreed. "Course it seemed an appropriate moniker for a Red Court vampire."
She looked at me again, her eyes a little glassy and red from tears but trying to focus. "Red Court." She said slowly. "I understand." She sat on the couch looking at me trapped under a two-hundred pound dog. Her eyes were now watering I could see and she sneezed as well telling me my shot with the pepper had worked effectively too. Just my luck all my plans work when I really do not need them to.
"Oh…yeah…sorry about the salt and pepper thing to…" I said with a shrug that was masked by the dog's body anyway.
"Extremely creative." She said between sneezes then got control again. "Now where is Harry? Please tell me he did not leave already without me." She asked.
Mouse by this point figured out the battle between us was over so he got up and headed over to his bowl to chew on some kibble while I just sat on the floor in a lotus position. Yeah acting a bit submissive was probably a smart thing to do in my current situation.
"Harry's been gone for nearly a week." I said. "I think he is on Warden business if that is what you are also talking about." I hate when those around me play this I got a secret thing and leave out details that I need to know what is actually going on.
"A week?" She asked surprised. "No then he does not know." She stopped and looked at me. "Was there a visitor here tonight? Did anyone leave a message or package for Harry?"
I looked at her confused. "No one came while I have been home and there was no package at the door or message on his answering machine." I said.
"When I said visitor I was not speaking of anything human." Elaine explained. "And it would not be something to use a telephone either I suspect." She finished.
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"One of Mab's emissaries." Elaine replied. "It would have been a creature of the Winter Court. It had orders to come here to gather a trusted human agent just as a creature of Summer came to get me. He and I are needed if we are to stop a war between the faire courts."
Harry had explained the two faire courts to me in great detail and how over the past few years their rivalry and relative truce that had lasted centuries had nearly broken into outright war on at least two occasions. He explained as well that if this were to happen when Winter's power were on the climb up until Winter solstice in less than a month, Mab's forces would likely win the day. And here on Earth that would likely mean the start of a new ice age. Try and blame SUVs for THAT Al Gore!
"Wouldn't Mab be able to send it to wherever Harry was at?" I asked. "She's an all-powerful faire queen and all."
"Perhaps." Elaine considered. "Except my Summer Court emissary told me to come here. I can't think that Winter would know an agent's location and Summer would not. I suspect then that Harry is hidden from their view wherever he is and they hoped he was here."
She sat considering things for a few seconds and seemed to grow more anxious. "You have no means to get in touch with him?" She asked me with a look of desperate hope.
"I can contact the Wardens and they can likely get a message to him over time." I said.
"No!" Elaine said a little too forcefully that hinted she wanted nothing to do with the magical enforcers of the White Council. This was a feeling I readily shared being under the Doom and all. "That would likely take too long anyway." She reasoned.
"So what are you going to do?" I asked.
"I don't know." She replied. "I cannot go alone. Even with my token from Summer, Mab would never accept me as an impartial agent in these affairs to broker a peace between the two faire courts. That is why I need Harry. He is someone whose judgment she trusts."
"What about me?" I blurted out and then felt my eyes go wide. Why the heck had I said that? The absolute last thing I wanted was to get involved in a war between faire courts. Then I realized. That stupid courage spell had affected my common sense!
Elaine looked at me and shook her head. "You are not the one Mab's has chosen." She said making me smile in relief as she let me off the hook. Now if I could just keep my mouth shut long enough for Elaine to leave and go look for Harry I would be okay.
Then I saw her eyes pause in consideration. "On the other hand you are Harry's chosen apprentice. In this you represent not only his judgment as his chose successor but are in much the same way an extension of him, just as Lady Winter Maeve is an extension of Mab herself." She paused. "Yes I think that might indeed work." She smiled.
"But I'm not powerful like Harry or you are." I reasoned hoping to change this course before me. "Mab would certainly want someone of power and not just an apprentice."
"The mission is not one of power but one of reason." Elaine explained. "And I think I have a firsthand demonstration that your ability to think on your feet is certainly as good as or even better than mine." She complimented me and my heart rose up in my throat.
"Of course there still is one problem." She said making my eyes light up hopefully that I was off the hook.
"Which is?"
"The Winter Token." She explained. "Mab sent her token to Harry to demonstrate to all forces loyal to Winter that he was her agent and anyone who crossed paths with him or his companions would answer to her." She pulled a butterfly broach from her cloak. "I have the similar charm from Summer so as long as he and I worked together we would be protected from the creatures of either court while in Nevernever. And those not aligned usually have no desire to upset one of the Queens much less both so we should be safe." Yes that would be pretty effective I figured.
"But I do not have the token." I said with relief. "And the Winter emissary has not brought it here so I guess that rules this plan out." I explained.
"That is odd." She said. "The creature should have reached here by now. Something must have happened that was unforeseen by either of the Queens." Her eyes took on that distant look again.
I thought on that and then thought back once more to the candle wards. They were designed to detect things very much like Winter's emissary. What if they had detected that creature and not Elaine as I first suspected. That actually made a whole lot more sense. Against my better judgment, but completely because Uriel had told me I was going to face some sort of important challenge soon, I explained this possibility of the wards to Elaine.
"Grab your coat and we can determine if you are right with a quick search." She said standing up, a bit wobbly from my thrashing I noted, and headed for the door. I came after her slipping my parka on as well as I went and hoping I was wrong.
Since the red candle had gone off I knew the creature it detected had been close, within a hundred feet or so of the apartment, so Elaine started by crossing the street and with me racing and slipping to catch up. She stopped near my car as it was the most obvious object to block sight of things on the street. A part of my mind also noticed it was snowing lightly again, perhaps a symbol of the potential for Winter's victory if war came to the faire courts. And there in the fresh snow Elaine pointed to the first bit of evidence that told us we were on the right track.
It was a footprint, sort of human looking except for the odd size. If we lived in Oregon someone would say Bigfoot had come to call, but knowing we were talking about one of Winter's emissaries, ones I had seen before when Harry had come to rescue me from the heart of Winter's power, I knew the real name for the maker of this print. "Yeti." I said aloud and Elaine nodded her head following the tracks with her eyes toward my car. There she pointed to a small lump nearly hidden in its shadows.
We walked toward it and saw it was a nine foot patch of yeti fur lying carefully on the ground like it had been spread out like a blanket. It was also slowly turning into ectoplasm slime like all such creatures from Nevernever did here on Earth within an hour of when they died. The problem with this one though was that I could also tell what had killed the beast because enough was left of the yeti to show me all that remained now was merely a bag of skin and bones. Whatever had killed Butters's victim had also just killed and eaten a full grown yeti as well.
"Well that's not good…" I said aloud.