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Chapter Ten

The hot surees cooler and a million times cleaner than e&039;d left behind us Thoht and walked until he&039;d found a spot of shadoeen streetlights, and leaned one shoulder against the wall of the building He bowed his head, and stayed that way for a minute, then two

I waited I didn&039;t need to ask th and power he&039;d used on Madeline had cost hi on victims, as Madeline had done to that poor sap inside He wasn&039;t upset by what had happened in Zero He was hungry

Thoer was complicated, difficult, and maybe i, though The rest of the Raith faot it

He walked back over to me a minute later, his cool features distant and untouchable as Antarctic an walking down the street toward the lot where he&039;d parked his car

"Ask you a question?" I said

He nodded

"The White Court only get burned when they try to feed on soht?"

"It isn&039;t as siot to do with how er has over you when you touch"

I grunted "But when they feed, the hunger&039;s in control"

Thomas nodded slowly

"So why&039;d Madeline try to feed on Justine? She had to knoould hurt her"

"Same reason I do," Thomas said "She can&039;t help it It&039;s reflex"

I frowned "I don&039;t get it"

He was quiet long enough to , before he finally spoke "Justine and I were together for years And she means a lot toelse but her And when I touch her, everything inyour hunger," I said quietly

He nodded "We agree on that point,close to the surface, I suppose you could call it"

"And it gets burned," I said

He nodded "Madeline is the other end of the spectruet to feed on anyone she wants, anywhere, anytime She doesn&039;t see other people She just sees food Her hunger controls her completely" He smiled a bitter little smile "So for her it&039;s reflex, just like for me"

"You&039;re different For her it&039;s everyone," I said, "not only Justine"

He shrugged "I don&039;t care about everyone I care about Justine"

"You&039;re different," I said

Thoid and cold "Shut up, Harry"

"But-"

His voice dropped to a low snarl "Shut Up"

It was a little scary

He stared hard at er, then shook his head and exhaled slowly "I&039;ll get the car Wait here"

"Sure," I said

He walked away on silent feet, his hands in his pockets, his head bowed Every woman he passed, and sonored theot a lot of looks, too, but that was because I was standing on a sidewalk near a lot of Chicago&039;s night spots on a hot su a quarterstaff carved with mystic runes Thomas&039;s looks had all been subtitled: Yuh to believe I was co out ahead on that one

While I waited, ain, a hairs-on-the-back-of-my-neck certainty that someone was focused on me My instincts had been on a streak, so I paid attention to the my shield bracelet as I turned my head in a slow, casual look up and down the street I didn&039;t spot anybody, but my vision sort of flickered as it passed over an alley across the street I focused on that point intently for a uely human shape there

Then the flicker was abruptly replaced with the form of Anastasia Luccio, who raised a hand and beckoned me

Yikes

I jaywalked over to her, ti car, and we took several steps back into the alley

"Evening, Stacy," I said

She turned to le motion, drew a curved saber froun in her other hand The tip of the blade menaced my face, and I had to jerk my head back, which put ainst a wall

Anastasia arched an eyebrow, her soft mouth set in a hard line "I hope for your sake that you are the true Harry Dresden, only using that abomination of a nickname to make sure that I was the true Anastasia"-she ehtly-"Luccio"

"Well, yes, Anastasia," I said, being careful not to move "And by your reaction, I can tell that it really is you"

She dropped the sword&039;s point and lowered the gun The tension faded from her body, and she put her hardware away "Well, of course it&039;s me Who else would it be?"

I shook ht"

She arched an eyebrow Anastasia Luccio was the captain of the Wardens of the White Council She had a couple of centuries of experience

"I&039;ve had those," she said, and put a hand on ht?"

We stepped into each other and hugged I hadn&039;t realized how stiffly I&039;d been holding myself until I exhaled and relaxed a little She felt slender and war in my arms "So far I&039; spell to run me down-since you don&039;t seem to be worried about whether or not I&039;m me"

She lifted her face to mine and planted a soft kiss on"Who would pretend to be you?"

"Someone anted to be kissed in dark alleys by seductive older women, apparently"

Her soing to have to break down the door and co in that White Court cesspit?"

I didn&039;t think I&039;d done anything to cause it, but we stepped out of each other&039;s ar&039;s up And someone&039;s cut me out of the loop"

Anastasia pressed her lips together and looked away Her expression was closed, touched with anger "Yes Orders"

"Orders," I said "Frouess"

"Frorunted in surprise McCoy had been et it," I said "He was afraid that if I heard Morgan was on the run, I&039;d hat up and dish out solanced up at ed, without quite looking h cause to do so"

"You agreed with him," I said

She looked up athere?"

I frowned at her and scratched ot me on that one"

"Besides," she said "I orried about you"

"Worried?"

She nodded "Morgan&039;s done so him from even the Senior Council&039;s abilities I was afraid that he ht come here"

Poker face don&039;t fail me now "That&039;s crazy," I said "Why would he do that?"

She squared her shoulders and faced me steadily "Maybe because he&039;s innocent"

"And?"

"There are a nuht perate you under the presu inforan has been one of the itators"

I took a deep breath "You&039;re saying that Morgan knows he isn&039;t the traitor And he thinks it&039;stoward you, in an atte that"

"Kill o down, you think he ets the axe"

And suddenly I had to wonder if Morgan had shown up at iven an&039;s mentor, when he was an apprentice She&039;d known the enerations

What if her judgan wasn&039;t in any shape to kill me personally-but he wouldn&039;t need to All he had to do is call the Wardens and tell them where he was A lot of people in the Council didn&039;t likeaid and comfort to a traitor

I suddenly felt naive and vulnerable and maybe a little stupid

"He was already in custody," I said "How did he get away?"

Luccio s we didn&039;t And he put three Wardens in the hospital when he left"

"But you don&039;t think he&039;s guilty"

"I" She frowned for a ainst a man I know and trust But it doesn&039;t h evidence to kill him"

"What evidence?" I asked

"Other than finding hi over LaFortier&039;s corpse with a literal bloody knife in his hand?"

"Yeah," I said "Other than that"

She raked her fingers back through her curly hair "The information the Red Court has attained was exclusive to a very small pool of suspects, of which he was one We have telephone records of him in frequent contact with a known operative of the Red Court We also tracked down an offshore account belonging to him, in which several million dollars had recently been deposited"

I snorted derisively "Yeah, that&039;s hins in his eyes"

"I know," she said "That&039;s what Ito coain We know that if we don&039;t eliminate the traitor, their first blow could be fatal The Merlin is desperate"

"Join the club," I hed

She touched ht to know," she said "I&039;et here sooner"

I covered her hand with ently "Yeah," I said "Thanks"

"You look awful"

"You sweet talker, you"

She lifted her hand to touch ot a few hours before I need to be back on duty I was thinking a bottle of wine and a ht be in order"

I only barely kept froht of one of Anastasia&039;sbody hadn&039;t been invented But I sure as hell couldn&039;t have her back over to the apartan, and if he truly intended to betray ly easy for her head to wind up on the floor next to Morgan&039;s and ot to go to the hospital"

She frowned "What happened?"

"A skinwalker picked up ht, when I was at Billy Borden&039;s place Kirby&039;s dead Andi&039;s in the hospital"

She sucked in a breath, wincing in eed I watchedan excuse to keep her away from my place Kirby and I hadn&039;t been blood brothers or anything-but he was a friend, a regular part ofI can do?" she asked

I shook my head Then I said, "Actually, yeah"

"Very well"

"Find out whatever you can about skinwalkers I&039;ht," she said

"Meanwhile," I said, "is there anything I can do for you?"

"For an could use whatever help he can get"

"Yeah," I said "Like I&039;an"

She lifted her hands "I know I know But there&039;s not much I can do Everyone knows he wasme If I try to help him openly, they&039;ll suspend me as captain of the Wardens, at best"

"Don&039;t you just love it when justice can&039;t be bothered with petty concerns like fact?"

"Harry," she said "What if he&039;s innocent?"

I shrugged "The way I was all those years? I&039; the karma to lend a hand to the bastard" Out on the street, Tho cruised by the end of the alley, then pulled up to the curb and stopped

I glanced at the car and said, "There&039;s my ride"

Anastasia arched an eyebrow at Thomas and his car "The vampire?"

"He owed me a favor"

"Mmmm," Anastasia said Her look at Thomas did not say yue by how et "You&039;re sure?"