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"What?"

"I can&039;t"

"Why not?"

He nodded at the doorway "There are three beams set up in an asyh rooh the open spaces"

"I&039;er and a hell of a lot gawkier And I knohat happens to tech when nervous wizards get close"

"Soh to"

We both looked down the hall at Murphy

Murphy didn&039;t look away froil, and said, "How do I disarh," Kincaid said "Dresden, better take her gun and cover us"

"Hey," I said "I&039;ive un so I can cover you"

I tied the handle of the paintball gun intorod usually went I winked at Murphy, who saw the gesture and did not respond to it She just passed un and turned her baseball cap around Then she walked down the hall, slipping out of her coat and gun belt on the way

"Better lose the Kevlar too," Kincaid said "I can pass it to you Bottom left corner looks like the best bet Stay as flat as you can and as et in"

"You think?" I asked "What if you&039;re wrong?"

He gaveyou hoatch that goddamned doorway in case all the vampires show up at any second to kill us, do you?" Kincaid asked

I was going to scowl at hiripping Murphy&039;s gun I fuun must have been some kind of military-issue, and it took me a second to find the safety I flicked it to reveal the red dot Or at least I was thought it was red The green cheht made it look black

"Stop," Kincaid said in a calm voice "Unclench"

"Unclench what?" Murphy demanded

"Unclench your ass"

"Excuseto trip the beam You need another quarter inch Relax"

"I arowled

"Oh," Kincaid said "Dareat ass then Take off your pants"

I winced and checked over my shoulder Murphy was stretched out on the floor on her belly, her cheek on the cold floor, arms stretched above her The sed to ain?"

"Take off your pants," Kincaid said, s "Think of the children"

Sheslightly

"No good," Kincaid said "You&039;re enius," Murphy said "What do I do?"

"Hold still," Kincaid said "I&039;ll do it"

There was silence for a second Murphy hissed out a breath Or asp

"I don&039;t bite," he said "Be still I want to live through this"

"Okay," Murphy said in a small voice a moment later

I scowled hard at the darkness and felt ain Murphy wriggled forward, all the way through the doorway Her legs were pale, pretty, and strong And I had to admit that Kincaid was completely correct about her posterior

Kincaid was bracing her legs, hands on her calves and sliding down as sheher to keep the too far Or at least that da, because if it wasn&039;t I would be forced to kill hiil Get a grip, Harry, I thought to myself It isn&039;t like you and Murphy are an ite you own She&039;s her own person She does what she wants ho she wants You&039;re not even involved with her You&039;ve got no say in it

I ran through those thoughts a couple of tiical,Kincaid Which is I didn&039;t have ti quietly to each other athe explosive, and Kincaid was giving her instructions

In the darkness beyond the last cheinto ht sticks I pressed the the two chemicals and shook thereen fire I threw thehts revealed little beyond more stone floor and some drywall Bob had reported that the rooe chamber, with several smaller chambers defined by recently installed drywall that could be used for storage, e, or additional rooht But all I could see was half of a door, a couple of stacks of cardboard boxes, a dressht

And then sohts for a second or two The dark-hound was a large and rangy anie Alsatian, and it deliberately stayed in place for ainto the shadows once un aimed down the hall and wished that Inari hadn&039;t brokenrod I would far rather have had it than the gun Without the blasting rod to help ies of fla away at the bad guys with ht quarters as the shelter But then, maybe it was just as well I had alreadydown public institutions this week

I couldn&039;t see anything else, but I knew there was so there So I lowered my eyelids al There was the faint sound of so un a bit, relaxingbecame louder, and I picked out several other faint sources of it A , which I realized was a beating heart More heartbeats joined it, a confused chorus of dru beats, but I was able to identify individual rhythhter-smaller hearts, probably the darkhounds There were four of theroup was hue cadence-pressed up against the walls on either side of the doorway, out of sight but less than twenty feet away

And from the back of the room I heard footsteps, slow and deliberate They slid quietly across the stone floor, and the wasted outline of an elow sticks

And no heartbeat accompanied it

Mavra

The darkhounds appeared, vague shapes, and paced restlessly through the shadows around the vampire My heart lurched in sudden apprehension, and I released ot to ain, that soft, h the basement

"Trouble," I said over my shoulder "Five Renfields, four darkhounds at least, and Mavra&039;s awake"

"Indeed," ca for you, Dresden There&039;s so to ask you"

"Oh?" I said I looked over ?

Kincaid had crouched and taken up his spear again He glanced back and said, "Thirty seconds"

"We take the kids and run," I whispered

"I&039;ve been ad you for some time now, Dresden," came Mavra&039;s voice "I&039;ve seen you stop bullets with your power I&039;ve seen you stop knives and claws and fangs" She esture with her hand "And so I siainst your oeapon of choice"

And two Renfields stepped out into the doorway, blockingthat bulged out above their shoulders, glea shapes of rounded metal A blue starter flame flickered at the end of the devices they held, and it hit

Both of the Renfields lifted their flamethrowers and filled the cramped little hallith fire