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The cold woke me
I came towater My head hurt enough tofeel pleasant by comparison My wrists and shoulders hurt even more My neck felt stiff, and it took ether overand twitching under the cold water and I tried to get out fro intoto free ress Thanks to the cold, I couldn&039;t even feel ot more scared by the ht have to risk using h that the thought of burningto reach out for the power to e it, it slithered away frorounds ether the water washed it away
The cold grew more intense,wildly, dull pain flaring inaway into numbness under the cold I screa on water while I tried
I didn&039;t haveand too tired to struggle any
I hurt, but I figured the pain couldn&039;t possibly get any worse
A few hours went by and showed ht stabbed at my eyes I would have flinched if I had been able to h the door carrying actual flaht let me see the room The wall beside the door was finished stone, but the walls all around me were a mishmash of fallen rubble and ancient brick, and one wasfor the city&039;s water systeh earth, some stone, some roots Water poured down froroove worn in the floor
They had taken s, tunnels, and ancient construction that underlay the city of Chicago Undertoas dark, daht and huht have been radioactive The tunnels where the Manhattan Project had been housed were just the start of Undertown The people who knew of its existence didn&039;t come down here-not even wizards like me-unless matters were desperate
No one knew their way around down here And no one would be co out pretty hard," I ot a cold beer? Maybe a freeze pop?"
They didn&039;t so much as look at me One man took up a position on the wall to ht
"I should have cleaned up, I know," I told the company I&039;d have taken a shower Mopped the floor"
No answer No expression on their faces No nothing
"Tough rooive theh the door and into the torchlight, freshly dressed, shaved, and showered He wore pajae The grey noose still circled his throat "I like to encourage discretion in h standards Sometimes it makes theoons talk?" I asked
He re with a sues"
"I guess your hue, is it," I said
He tamped tobacco into his pipe and smiled "You&039;d be surprised I offer an excellent dental plan"
"You&039;re going to need it when the formal-wear police knock your teeth out This is a rented tux"
His dark eyes glittered with sorown up to be a ths"
I stared at hi and startled into silence My aret
And I was her youngest? As far as I knew, I had been an only child But I knew precious little ofbirth to me My father had suffered an aneurism when I had been about six years old I had a picture of my father on a piece of yellowed newspaper I kept in a photo albu at a children&039;s benefit dinner in a s nancy, standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial I wore my mother&039;s pentacle amulet around my neck It was scarred and dented, but that&039;s to be expected when you run around using it to kill olves
They were the only concrete things I had left of my parents I&039;d heard stories before, thatof substance, just inferencescomments I&039;d had a demon tell me that my parents had been ht have relatives I&039;d shied away fro that the deiven that Nicodeanization, I probably couldn&039;t trust the Denarian either He was probably lying Probably
But what if he wasn&039;t?
Keep hi, I decided Fish for infore was power I e
Nicodemus lit the pipe with amy face with a little s at his eyes
"Harry- may I call you Harry?"
"Would it matter if I told you no?"
"It would tell et to know you, and I would rather not make this a trip to the dentist if I can avoid it"
I glared at hi water, the bu beneath the ropes "I&039;ve got to ask-just what kind of freaking dentist do you go to? Ortho de Sade? Sele, DDS?"
Nicodearded my bonds Another expressionless rey hair He pushed a room-service cart He unfolded a small table and set it up over to one side, where the water wouldn&039;t splash on it Nicodemus toyed with the bowl of his pipe "Dresden, ured the cart would open up to show an array of hardware intended to frighten me with its potential torture applications "If it&039;s okay with Frank, I guess I don&039;t mind"
Nicode chairs and cover the table with a white cloth "You have faced a great e, they have been idiots I try to avoid that whenever I a water"
"You&039;re afraid of me," I said
"Boy, you&039;ve destroyed three rival practitioners of the Arts, a noble of the vampire Courts, and even one of the Faerie Queens They underestimated you as well as your allies I don&039;t I suppose you could think of your current position as a co water out of my eyes "You&039;re way too kind"
Nicode far more diabolical than torture hardas there It was breakfast The old valet started setting out food on the table Hash browns Soes, pancakes, toast, fruit And coffee, dear God Hot coffee The smell hitaround on the inside of et some food
Nicodeuess pouring his oas beneath him "I did try to keep you out of this affair"
"Yeah You seeuy You&039;re the one who edited the prophecy Ulsharavas told me about?"
"You&039;ve no idea how difficult it is to waylay an angelic er"
"Uh- huh," I said "So why&039;d you do it?"
Nicodear His spoon clinked on the cup "I have a fond memory or two of your mother It cost me little to attempt it So why not?"
"That&039;s the second time you&039;ve mentioned her," I said
"Yes I respected her Which is quite unusual for me"
"You respected her so ht me here I see"
Nicodemus waved his hand "It worked out that way I needed someone of a certain metaphysical mass You interfered in my business, you were convenient, and you fit the recipe"
Recipe? "What recipe?"
He sipped at his coffee and closed his eyes in enjoyment The bastard "I take it that this is the portion of the conversation where I reveal ot to lose?"
"And apparently you expect ht have as well I am wounded by the lack of professional respect this iround my teeth "Chicken"
He picked up a piece of bacon and nibbled at it "It is enough for you to know that one of two things will happen"
"Oh, yeah?" Master of repartee, that&039;s me
"Indeed Either you will be freed and sit down to enjoy a nice breakfast -" He picked up a slightly curved and sharp-looking knife from the table "Or I will cut your throat as soon as I finish eating"
He said it scary-without any melodrama to it at all Matter-of-fact The way most people say that they need to take out the trash "Ye olde &039;join up or die&039; ultiet it, that one never goes out of style"
"Your history indicates that you are too dangerous to leave alive, I&039;m afraid-and I am on a schedule," Nicodeainst a time limit, then "I&039;m really inconvenient that way Don&039;t take it personal"
"I don&039;t," he assured me "This isn&039;t easy for either of us I&039;d use soical technique on you, but I haven&039;t gotten caught up on some of the more recent developain, I suppose not ists can drive chariots, so perhaps it balances out"
The door opened again, and a young wo, sleep-tousled dark hair, dark eyes, and a face a little too lean to be conventionally pretty She wore a kiaps appeared as sheon underneath it Like I said, Undertown is cold
The girl yawned and stretched lazily, watching uely British accent "Good "