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Chapter Eighteen

I debated talking to Arturo before I left but decided against it Thoot medical care, the better Additionally, One-ear the vaotten his own flunky immolated in order to escape If he had so with Maht already be on the ith reinforcements

One- ear was still pretty new to the vaame, and his pair of followers had been virtual infants, and they had almost been more than all of us could handle Mavra was in a different league entirely She had been killing for centuries, and the near-extermination of the Black Court had est, and erous enough, but if Mavra caught us in the open, she would take us apart

So I ran to get the Blue Beetle fro It was a quick run, a couple of plots up and one over fro Only a couple of people saw nored them as I ducked into the studio doors, seizedpuppy, and fumbled in the coat until I found my car keys I carried the whole kit and caboodle out to the car

I coaxed the Beetle to life and tore down the gravel lanes with all the speed its little engine could lared over Lara, who had Thomas in a fireman&039;s carry She&039;d taken off the short black robe and had tied it into an i behind her older sister

I opened the doors and helped her lower Thomas into the back of the Beetle Lara stared for a second at my car&039;s interior It didn&039;t look like she approved of the stripped and improvised quality of it "There&039;s no seat in back," she said

"That&039;s why there&039;s a blanket," I answered her "Get in How is he?"

"Alive, for now," Lara said "He&039;s breathing, but he&039;s emptied his reserves He&039;ll need to refresh them"

I paused and stared at her "You mean he needs to feed on soirl had her hands full sih the pain, and probably wouldn&039;t have heard the space shuttle lifting off Nonetheless, Lara lowered her voice "Yes Deeply"

"Hell&039;s bells," I said I got the door for Inari and helped her into the passenger-side seat, buckled her in, and dropped the puppy in her lap She clutched at hiot the Beetle the hell away from the little industrial park After several , I started to relax I kept checking, but I saw no one followingtricks, just in case, and finally felt able to speak "I&039;ll get you to my place," I told Lara

"You can&039;t possibly think that the basehouse will be secure"

"How do you knohere I live?" I demanded

"I&039;ve read the Court&039;s defensive assessment of your home," she said with an absent wave of her hand

Which was scary as hell, that sooing to show her that "It&039;s kept et there we can fort up under my heavy defenses We&039;ll be stuck inside, but safe until "

"If you wish But if he does not feed, Thomas will be dead within the hour"

I spat an oath

"Mavra knohere you live, in any case, Dresden She will doubtless have so near your aparto?"

"My fao?"

"Of course not," Lara said, her voice tired "But we keep houses in several cities around the world Thoo for the past two or three years, between resort vacations Justine is at the house, waiting for him"

"Inari will need a doctor"

"I have one," she said Then added, "On retainer"

I stared at her in my rearview mirror for a ged "Which way?"

"North along the lake," she said "I&039;ht at the light ahead"

She gave directions and I followed them, and I reminded myself that it would be a bad habit to foret up to one of the wealthy lakeside develope body of water makes inevitable I&039;d seen several such developations, but the area Lara directedas any I had ever seen

The house we finally pulled up to had s, multiple stories, and a couple of faux-castle turrets It had cost soits, and could have doubled as the headquarters of the villain in a Jarown up around it, and was reen hummocks and beautiful, shapely trees wreathed in ivy and autumn leaves Small lit pools were dotted here and there, each shrouded with its o cloud of evening h Little Sherwood for better than half atried to kill me, I was too far away from the road to run for help Or even to screale of the little silver shields on o at an instant&039;s notice

Lara&039;s pale grey eyes regarded me in the rearview mirror for a moment, and then she said, "Dresden, you and ht I will respect our truce, and extend guest rights to you while you are in my family&039;s home And I do so swear it"

I frowned and didn&039;t chance a look at her eyes, even in thein her voice that I recognized Call it the ring of truth

The one advantage to dealing with supernatural foes was that the code of honor of the Old World was accepted and expected e negotiated with one another A sworn oath and the obligations of hospitality werein those circles than the threat of physical force What Lara had offered me meant that not only would she not atteated to protect me should anyone else attempt to do so If she failed in her duties as a host, it would represent a et around

But fro all the calls in the Raith household If soht he could get aith it without word leaking out, he ht decide to subtract me from the old equation of life It was a real risk, and I didn&039;t want to take it

The last vampire who had offered eda hich incidentally forced ation with the Queens of Faerie), and tried to feed me to her most recent vampire "recruit," my former lover, Susan There was no reason to think that Lara wasn&039;t capable of the same treachery

Unfortunately, ht of all my options I had no idea of how to help Thomas, and my apartment was the only place in toould be safe If I cut and ran Tho but a strong intuition that Lara would hold to the letter of our truce Two seconds after it was over she&039;d finish what she started, sure, but in the ht be okay

A paranoid little voice inside reminded me that Lara seemed like she was more or less on the level, and that it should make me nervous Their near-huerous I&039;d never co thatmonster I&039;d known that she wasn&039;t hule tiet any more of a creature-feature vibe froure they were cut from a similar mold There would be lies under lies I had to be paranoid, which in this instance was another word for smart I couldn&039;t afford to extend Lara much trust if I wanted to avoid a rerun of the Harry Nearly Dies Because of His Stupid Chivalry Show

I proot dicey I would blast h the nearest wall, incinerating first and asking questions later It wouldn&039;t be the subtlest escape in the whole world, but I was pretty sure the Raiths could afford to repair the da homeowner&039;s insurance

I pulled the Blue Beetle around the circular drive in front of Chateau Raith Its engine shuddered, coughed, and finally died before I could shut it down A sidewalk swept between a pair of vicious-looking stone gargoyles four feet high, and led through a rose garden bedded with pure white gravel

The rose vines were old ones, so tendrils twined all around the entirety of the garden and over the feet of the crouching gargoyles The lighting was all arranged in soft blues and greens, and it rew all over the vines, but here and there I could see the wicked needle tips of larger-than-average thorns The air was filled with their light, heady scent

"Help Inari," Lara said "I will carry Tho that you&039;re the one who shot him in the first place, I&039;ll carry Thomas," I said "You help Inari"

Her lips cohtly, but she nodded "As you wish"

Daht, as I wish

Lara leaned over to pull Inari froirl the notch-eared puppy sprang up out of his sleep, barking and snarling at Lara in squeaky fury Lara jerked her hand back, broering in consternation "What&039;s wrong with your anihed and slid into er door "I keep telling everyone he&039;s not mine" I scooped up the little psychopath and deposited him in one of my coat pockets He scraed to poke his head out The puppy kept his eyes on Lara and kept growling "There Now the beast cannot harave me a cool look and coaxed Inari to her feet Then she helped ently as possible He was flaccid and cold, his eyes entirely white, but I could hear his labored breathing Without knowing the extent of the injuries to his upper body, I didn&039;t dare risk a fireot an ars, and lifted him like a child He was heavy My shoulders screa with a quiet, shrill tone

I felt dizzy for a second, and shrugged it off with an effort of will I couldn&039;t afford to show any weakness now

I followed Lara and Inari up the sidewalk to the house Lara pushed a button on a small plastic panel beside the door and said, "Lara Raith" There was a heavy metallic click-clack, and one of the doors drifted slowly in

Just then the lights of another car swept across us A white limo pulled in beside the Blue Beetle on the circular drive and came to a halt A moment later a white sedan pulled in behind the limo

The lirey uniform Her hair was pulled back in a severe braid, and she wore dark red lipstick A tall, strong-looking er side of the li his jacket His eyes swept around, taking in everything, including us at the door, the drive, the grounds, the trees, and the roof of the house He was checking possible lines of fire A bodyguard

Siot out of the white sedan At first I thought that they were the same two people I blinked The rey suit a lot like the one of the ot it-two sets of identical twins They all looked wary, coerous They fanned out around the limo in silent coordination, like they&039;d done it a jillion times

Then the driver opened the back door of the lihty had flicked on the air-conditioning A man slid out of the car He was about six feet tall, dark of hair and pale of flesh He was dressed in a white linen suit with a silver-grey silk shirt and Italian leather shoes There was a scarlet geh his fine, straight hair hid it until a breeze briefly tossed the dark strands to one side He had long, spatulate fingers, broad shoulders, the eyes of a drowsy jaguar, and he was better-looking than Thomas

Beside me, Lara shuddered, and I heard her whisper, "Dammit, no"

The newcomer walked over to us, very slowly and deliberately The doubles fell into position to his sides and behind him, and I couldn&039;t help but think they looked like toys-two uard Ken The pale oyles and plucked a stem and a rose froain, in no hurry whatsoever, plucking off leaves and thorns from the flower one by one

When he was about four feet away he stopped, finally looking up from the rose "Ah, dearest Lara," he murmured His voice was deep, quiet, and as smooth as warm honey "What a pleasant surprise to find you here"

Lara&039;s expression slipped into a neutralthe anxiety I could feel in the tension of her body She inclined her head in a courtly nod, and left her eyes on the sidewalk

The man smiled His eyes swept over the rest of us meanwhile, distant and alien "Have you been well?"

"Yes, my Lord"

His lips pursed into a pout "This is hardly a formal occasion, little Lara I&039;ve hed SheThen she turned to step closer to theher eyes and whispered, "And I you, Father"

Oh, crap

Chapter Nineteen

Lord Raith looked Lara up and down "That&039;s quite a novel ense"

"It&039;s been a busy night"

Raith nodded and went to Inari, gently touching her shoulder, peering at her arhter ue and said, "We wereThat makes sense, doesn&039;t it?"

Raith didn&039;t hesitate a beat "Of course it does, dearest" He fixed his eyes on Lara and said, "How could you let so like this happen to your baby sister?"

"Forgive enerous hand "She needs medical attention, Lara I believe hospitals provide such a thing"

"Bruce is here," Lara said "I&039;m sure he can take care of it"

"Which is Bruce?"

I would have expected her tone to hold annoyance, but if so I didn&039;t hear it "The doctor"

"He came with you from California? How fortuitous"

I couldn&039;t take it anyirl&039;s about to pass out on her feet Tho So both of you shut your mouth and help theers at h to merit the use of a Kelvin scale "I do not respond well to deround my teeth and said, "Both of you shut your mouth and help them Please"

And they say I can&039;t be diplomatic

Raith flicked an irritated hand at the bookend brigade Bodyguard Kens and Barbies drew their guns in precise unison and raised them to shoot