Page 32 (1/2)

I flailed et closer to breaking open my head At the last second, I saw a blur of white and pink, and then I sla hirunt, and I bounced off of him, and back to the floor, momentarily breathless I shoved myself up to my hands and knees and looked at him He&039;d wrapped a pink bath towel around his hips, but either the sheer speed of his movement or else the impact had knocked it mostly askew His ribs jutted out on one side, oddly misshapen

Thoriht," he said "Look out"

I looked up to find Lydia stalking toward me "Idiot," she seethed at Thomas "What did you think you could accoot added to the list"

Michael slipped in between the possessed girl and ht of the rooh," he said "Get back"

I struggled back to my feet, and wheezed, "Michael, be careful"

Lydia let out another twisted laugh, and leaned forward, pressing her sternuht Get back or what? You&039;ll murder this poor child? I don&039;t think so I see able to draw innocent blood, wasn&039;t there?"

Michael blinked, and darted a glance back at ot to ical construct, likebefore The Night we do to Lydia&039;s body, she&039;s going to have to live with, later"

The girl ran a hand over her breasts, beneath the taut Lycra, licking her lips and staring at Michael with bloody eyes "Yes Just a sweet little innocent lamb, wandered astray You wouldn&039;t want to hurt her, would you, Knight?"

"Harry," Michael said, "hoe handle this?"

"You die," Lydia purred She rushed Michael, one hand reaching out to strike the sword&039;s blade aside

When she rushed , experience He let the sword fall to the floor and rolled back with Lydia&039;s rush He grabbed her forearms as she reached for his throat, whirled, and sent her tu her into a sprawl on the far side

"Keep her busy!" I shouted to hiet it out of her!" And then I rushed back into redients for an exorcish it, while out in the living rooain There was another thu the wall beside the bedroo

"Hurry up, Harry!" Michael gasped "She&039;s strong!"

"I know, I know!" I jerked open the door to s off the shelves, rather than hunt through the cream, I located five trick birthday candles, the kind that you can&039;t blow out, and a five-pound bag of salt "Okay!" I called "I&039;!"

Michael and Lydia lay on the floor, his legs wrapped around hers, while his arms pinned hers back behind her in some kind of modified full Nelson hold

"Hold her there!" I shouted I rushed in a circle around thes and carpets aside, finally jerking the last one out fro like an eel and screas

I tore open the salt and ran about the pair of the it out into a whitethe candles down, piling up enough salt around the turned over Lydia sahat I was doing and screa her efforts

"Flicku a hurried effort of will into the little spell The effort ht, the circle of candles and salt gathering power

I rose, reaching outit up in a spinning vortex winding about the three beings inside it - Lydia, Michael, and the Nightit I could al on All I needed was the right htmare, to lock it up for a second, so that the exorcisal!" I shouted, bellowing out the deal!" I stretched out one!"

Energy rushed out of ht seal off a rock -

- and passed over, leaving it untouched

Lydia began to laugh wildly, and ave a twist, and bones snapped with sharp pops and crackles Michael let out an agonized screa He knocked the circle of salt askew, and Lydia escaped hi to face me

"Such a fool, wizard," she said I didn&039;t banter I didn&039;t even stand there, stunned that my spell had failed so miserably I wound back a hand and threw a punch at her as hard as I could, hoping to stun the body the de

The possessed Lydia glided froht my wrist, and dumped me onto my back I started to push myself up, but she threw herself astride ainst the floor, twice I saw stars

Lydia stretched above ainst , but s just didn&039;t respond She reached down, laying both of her hands almost delicately on my throat, and murmured, "Such a shame All this time, and you didn&039;t even knoho it was after you You didn&039;t even knoho else wanted revenge"

"I guess sometimes you find out the hard way," I slurred

"So And then her hands closed over my throat, and I didn&039;t have anydeath, it feels like everything slon Everything stands out sharply in detail, alh your brain has decided, in sheer defiance, to seize the last fewleft

My brain did that, but instead of showing me my trashed apartment and how I really needed a new coat of paint on the ceiling, it started frantically shoving puzzle pieces together Lydia The shadow de stood out in my one for a day or there I had barely been able to talk to her She&039;d said she orking on so It fit, somehow, somewhere

Stars swas I struggled to pry her arms off ofto deal with

Susan had been asking nificant part of the phone conversation we had, between sexual innuendos What had it been?

I heard hk" I tried to lever Lydia&039;s weight up and off of ht onto her and then continuing the an to darken, though I openedup at Lydia&039;s blood-filled eyes

I saw Michael struggle to his knees, his face white as a fresh dusting of snow He htly and kicked hi else snap as the force of the kick drove Michael back

Murphy had been distracted about soed subjects on Intuition drew a line between then

And then I had it: the last piece of the puzzle I knehat had happened, where the Nightmare had come from, why it was after me, in particular I kne to stop it, knehat its limits were, how Bianca had enlisted it, and why my spells had been so hard-pressed to affect it

Als out just in tiether

And a moment later, so did the pain inoff into whatever lay beyond, though, I sucked in a breath of air, choking and gasping My vision becah my head, and then started to clear

Lydia still crouched overme - but she&039;d released my throat Instead, she had arched her arms up and back, over her head, to caress Thomas&039;s naked shoulders

The vaainst Lydia&039;s back His ue that irl shudder and quiver His hands roaers roa up beneath the brief Lycra top to caress her breasts Lydia gasped, blood-filled eyes distant, unfocused, body responding with a slow, sensual grace

Thoh the dark fall of his hair, to rey anymore They were e off of hi I sensed more than felt on my skin, a horrible and seductive cold He continued, spreading a line of kisses up Lydia&039;s neck, to her ear,her whimper and shake

I sed, and crawled back on s out from beneath the pair of them

Thomas murmured, so softly that I wasn&039;t sure I&039;d heard hi I can distract her, Dresden Quit gawking and do so I&039;ll put on afternoon theater for you later, if you want to watch that bad" Then hisopen wide before they languidly closed, deepening the kiss

I flushed at Thomas&039;s words, which made my head pound painfully I rooted around the floor and recovered the candles, still lit, and the bag of salt I spread the salt in a circle around Lydia and Thorasp at Thoroan of pure anguish and said, "Dresden Hurry"

I settled the candles into place and gathered up whatever power I had left to close the circle and to begin the vortex again If I was right, I would free Lydia, , this was the last ofThe Nightmare would presumably kill us - and I didn&039;t think any of us were in shape to do anything about it

Energy gathered in the circle, rising in a grohirl of invisible, tingling power I stretched outdizzy

The Nightain Lydia shivered and leaned a little away fro some of the contact between them - then the bloodred eyes snapped open, and focused on an to rise, but Tho her

The power rose again, a second vortex whirling around the pair of theies within Lydia screamed

"Leonid Kravos!" I thundered I repeated the naone, Kravos! You second-rate firecaller! Begone! Begone!" And with the last word, I sta the power of the exorcism down, into the earth

Lydia screa open wide Within the whirling vortex, glittering athered into a funnel, centered on Lydia&039;s gapingoverlap of screa, feminine, terrified, while the other was inhuht lashed forth from Lydia&039;s eyes, stolen away by the vortex&039;s power

And then with a rush and an implosion of suddenly empty air, the vortex swirled into an infinitely thin line and vanished, dropping down into the floor, lower, deep into the earth

Lydia let out a low, exhausted cry, and dropped li her, tumbled doith her Silence fell on the roo for breath

Finally, I ed to sit up "Michael," I called, my voice hoarse "Michael Are you okay?"

"Did you stop it?" he asked "Is the girl all right?"

"I think so"

"Thank God," he said "It kicked ot one of my ribs I&039;m not sure I can sit up"

"Don&039;t," I said, and mopped sweat from my brow "Broken ribs could be bad Thomas? Are you - Hey! What the hell do you think you&039;re doing?"

Thomas lay with his arainst hers, his lips nuzzling her ear Lydia&039;s eyes were open, colored naturally again, but not focused on anything She didn&039;t look conscious, but she wasback to him Thomas blinked up at me when I spoke, eyes still empty and white

"What?" he asked "She&039;s not unwilling She&039;s probably just grateful to me, for my help"

"Get away frory," he said "It won&039;t kill her, Dresden Not the first tiht noithout me Just let me - "

"No," I said

"But - "

"No Get off of her, or you and I are going to have words"

A snarl split the air between us, Tho back fros Whiter and more perfect than human teeth, but other than that, normal

I returned his stare coolly

Thomas looked away first He closed his eyes for a s of color in the He released Lydia and rolled away from her His ribs still looked dented, but not as ot to his feet and wrapped the towel around his hips again, then stalked back toward the bathroom without another word

I checked Lydia&039;s pulse, blushed, and tugged her shorts back into place Then I righted the couch and put her back onto it, beneath the blankets After that, I went to Michael

"What was that all about?" he asked

I told him what had happened, in terlance back toward the bathroom "They&039;re like that The White Court Seducers They feed on lust, fear, hatred Emotions But they always use lust to seduce their victie in sex It&039;s how they feed"