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Friday night, I went to see Bianca, the vao see her, of course You don&039;t go walking into the proverbial lion&039;s den lightly You start with a good breakfast

My breakfast took place around three in the afternoon, when I woke up to hear et out of bed and pad into the rumbled

"Dresden," Murphy said, "what can you tell me?"

Murphy sounded stressed Her voice had that distinct edge that she got whenever she was nervous, and it rankled ation into To yet," I said Then I lied to her, a little "I was upto show yet"

She answered h, Harry I need answers, and I need theet to it as quick as I can"

"Get to it faster," she snarled She was angry Not that this was unusual for Murphy, but it toldon Soh, harried Soot pissed

"Coain?" City Police Commissioner Howard Fairweather used Murphy and her teaoats for all sorts of unsolvable crimes that he had du for an opportunity toso he could avoid being crucified hied monkey from The Wizard of Oz Kind of s done" Her voice was sour as ripe lelass of liquid "I&039;et them to me fast I need to know if this was sorcery, and, if so, hoas done and who could have done it Na"

"It isn&039;t that si before you can tell ative coe today"

I griht be able to help Murph on the investigation - but if it proved fruitless, I was going to have spent the entire evening doing nothing productive, and Murphy needed her answers now Maybe I should have made a stay-awake potion "Does the committee eekends?"

Murphy snorted "Are you kidding?"

"We&039;ll have soured out by then?" she asked

"I don&039;t kno ood it will do you, even if I can puzzle it out I hope you&039;ve got h into the phone and drink the fizzy drink "Don&039;t let e the subject, before she pinnedthe forbidden research if I could find a way out of doing it "No luck with Bianca?"

Another sord "That bitch won&039;t talk to us Just smiles and nods and blows ss You should have seen Carh to blame him, maybe I hear she&039;s cute Listen, Murph What if I just - "

"No, Harry Absolutely not You will not go over to the Velvet Rooet involved in this"

"Lieutenant Murphy," I drawled "A little jealous, are we?"

"Don&039;t flatter yourself You&039;re a civilian, Dresden, even if you do have your investigator&039;s license If you get your ass laid out in the hospital or the ue, it&039;ll be me that suffers for it"

"Murph, I&039;m touched"

"I&039;ll touch your head to a brick wall a few times if you cross me on this, Harry" Her voice was sharp, vehement

"Hey, wind down, Murph If you don&039;t want o, no problem" Whups A lie She&039;d be all over that like a troll on a billy goat

"You&039;re a lousy liar, Harry Godaht to take you down to lockup just to keep you from - "

"What?" I said, loudly, into the receiver "Murph, you&039;re breaking up I can&039;t hear you Da up on her

Mister padded over to reen eyes as I leaned down and unplugged the phone as it started to ring again

"Okay, Mister You hungry?"

I got us breakfast Leftover steak sandwich for hihettiOs heated up on the wood stove for me I rationed out my last can of Coke, which Mister craves at least as badly as I do, and by the ti, I ake and thinking again - and getting ready for sundown

Daylight savings time hadn&039;t cut in yet, and dark would fall around six I had about two hours to get set to go

Youor two about vampires Maybe some of the stuff you&039;ve heard is accurate Likely, it&039;s not Either way, I wasn&039;t looking forward to the prospect of going into Bianca&039;s lair to des were going to get ugly before all was said and done, just to ht withahead, about being prepared Wizards aren&039;t really superhusable to use the extra information we have for our benefit Hell, the izard cos We aren&039;t any stronger or faster than anyone else We don&039;t even have all that od-awful sneaky, and if we get the chance to get set for sos

As a wizard, if you&039;re ready to address a problem, then it&039;s likely that you&039;ll be able to coot together all the things I thought I ht need: I made sure my cane was polished and ready I putjust under my left arm I put the escape potion in its plastic squeeze-bottle into my duster&039;s pocket I put on my favorite talisman, a silver pentacle on a silver chain - it had been my mother&039;s My father had passed it down to me And I put a small, folded piece of white cloth into my pocket

I had several enchanted ite out a full enchant, and I just couldn&039;t afford to do it verya few spells out where we can and hope they don&039;t go stale at the wrong time I would have been a lotrod orup at Bianca&039;s door in a tank, walking in carrying aht

I had toin ready for trouble and going in asking for trouble

Not that I was afraid,to cause problems for a mortal wizard Bianca wouldn&039;t want to piss off the White Council bywith me

On the other hand, I wasn&039;t exactly the White Council&039;s favorite guy They ht even look the other way if Bianca decided to take me quietly out of the picture

Careful, Harry, I warned et like that, you&039;ll be building your little apartment into a Basement of Solitude

"What do you think?" I asked Mister, once I was decked out in what paraphernalia I illing to carry

Mister went to the door and batted at it insistently

"Everyone&039;s a critic Fine, fine" I sighed I let hiot into my car and drove down to the Velvet Room in its expensive lakeside location

Bianca runs her business out of a huge oldTwenties Rumor has it that the infamous Al Capone had it built for one of his ate with an iron fence and a security guard I pulled the Beetle up into the little swath of driveway that began at the street and ended at the fence There was a hiccoughing rattle froht the machine to a halt I rolled down theand stuckhoomph, and then black smoke poured out from the bottom of the car and scuttled down the slope of the drive and into the street

I winced The engine gave an aletic rattle and shuddered to its death Great Now I had no ride ho it for a uard on the other side of the gate was a blockyit under an expensive suit He studied ate, "Do you have an appointment?"

"No," I told him "But I think Bianca ant to see me"

He looked unimpressed "I&039;"

Things are never sied at him, folded my arms, and leaned on the hood of the Beetle "Suit yourself I&039;ll just stay until a tow truck co out of the drive for you"

He stared at me, his eyes narrowed down to tiny slits with the effort of thinking Eventually, the thoughts got to his brain, got processed, and sent back out with a e to "pass the buck"

"I&039;ll call your name in," he said

"Good man," I approved "You won&039;t be sorry"

"Narowled

"Harry Dresden"

If he recognized lared ata cellular phone from his pocket and to his ear

I listened Listening isn&039;t hard to do No one has practice at it, nowadays, but you can train yourself to pay attention to your senses if you work at it long enough

"I&039;ve got a guy down here says that Bianca ant to talk to hiuard said "Says his name is Harry Dresden" He was silent for a moment I couldn&039;t quite make out the buzz of the other voice, other than that it was felanced back at ain "Sure Sure, I will Of course, h theof the Beetle and got out my cane I rested it on the concrete beside h iuard turned back to me, leaned over to one side, and pushed a button soate buzzed and clicked open

"Come on in, Mr Dresden," he said "I can have someone come tow your car, if you like"

"Super," I told hiave him the name of the wrecker Mike has a deal with and told hiain Fido the Guard dutifully noted this doriting on a small notebook he drew from a pocket While he did, I walked past hi my cane on the concrete with every pace

"Stop," he told me, his voice calm and confident People don&039;t speak with that kind of absolute authority unless they have a gun in their hands I stopped

"Put the cane down," he told me, "And put your arms up You are to be searched before you are allowed inside"

I sighed, did what he said, and let him pat me down I didn&039;t turn around to face hiun He found the knife and took it His fingers brushed the nape of my neck, felt the chain there

"What&039;s this?" he said

"Pentacle," I told him

"Let me see it Use one hand"

I used my left to draw it out of my shirt and show it to hieorunted, and said, "Fine" The search went on, and he found the plastic squeeze-bottle He took it out of my pocket, opened it, and sniffed at it

"What&039;s this?"

"A health cola," I told him

"Smells like shit," he said, capped it, and put it back in my pocket

"What about my cane?"

"Returned when you leave," he said

Damn My knife andelse I did would have to rely wholly upon ic and that could be dicey on the best of days It was enough to rattle me

Of course, Fido the Guard had s First, he&039;d overlooked the clean white handkerchief in my pocket Second, he&039;d passed ured that since it wasn&039;t a crucifix or a cross, that I couldn&039;t use it to keep Bianca away from me

Which wasn&039;t true Vampires (and other such creatures) don&039;t respond to symbols as such They respond to the power that accompanies an act of faith I couldn&039;t ward off a vahty - He and I have just never seeic itself, and I had plenty of faith in that

And, of course, Fido had overlooked uards with s to look for

The house itself was elegant, very roos and the broad floors that they just don&039;t ht haircut greetedpolite to her, and she showed me to a library, its walls lined with old books in leather bindings, similar to the leather-cushioned chairs around the enorfoot table in the room&039;s center

I took a seat and waited And waited And waited More than half an hour went by before Bianca finally arrived

She ca with a cold, clear flame Her hair was a burnished shade of auburn that was too dark to cast back any ruddy highlights, but did anyway Her eyes were dark, clear, her coraced with cos a black dress with a plunging neckline and a slash in one side that showed off a generous portion of pale thigh Black gloves covered her hands to above the elbows, and her three-hundred-dollar shoes were a study in high-heeled torture devices She looked too good to be true

"Mister Dresden," she greeted me "This is an unexpected pleasure"

I rose when she entered the roo to her "We lected to hed, lips shaping the sounds, head falling back just enough to show a flash of pale throat "A gentlely passe thing to be a gentleman in this country"