Page 6 (2/2)

I examined Susan quickly She had no obvious wounds She was breathing She had a pulse And that was pretty e I checked Martin, too, but was disappointed He was in the saodmother Mister was sprawled in her lap on his back, luxuriating as she traced her long nails over his chest and tuh the room "What did you do to them?"

"I lulled their predator spirit to sleep," she said calth they drew from it Mayhap this will prove a useful lesson"

I frowned at that "You meanthe vampire part of them?"

"Of course"

I sat there for a moment, stunned

If the vampire infection within half vampires like Susan and Martin could be enchanted to sleep, then it was presus to it as well Suppress it, ht even be possible to destroy it

I felt a door in o

Maybe I could save them both

"I" I shook my head "I searched for a way toI spent more than a" I shookto find a way to" I looked at odmother "Ho did you do it?"

She looked back atthat wasn&039;t precisely a smile "Oh, sweet child Information of that sort is treasure indeed What have you to trade for such a precious gee?"

I clenched ains with you, isn&039;t it"

"Of course, child But I always live up to my end Hence, my protection of you"

"Protection?" I de to turn !"

"Only when you strayed out of the mortal world," she said, as if baffled at why I would be upset "Child, we had a bargain And you had not willingly provided your portion of it" She s"

Mouse watched her with calm, wary eyes, his body motionless

I frowned "Butyou sold my debt to Mab"

"Precisely At an excellent price, I ht add So now, all that reain Unless you would prefer to enter another compact, of course"

I shuddered "No, thank you" I finally lowered my shields The Leanansidhe beamed at me "I saw you in Mab&039;s tower," I said

Soh her ehtly away from me "Indeed," she said quietly "You sahat it means for my queen to heal an affliction"

"What affliction?"

"A madness had beset ifts" She shook her head "I can think on it no ain Suffice to say that I aertip over an icy white streak in her hair "The strength of my queen prevailed, andof arden, the one on the other side of this placeIt&039;s yours"

"Indeed, child," she said "Did you not think it strange that in your turht to enter froiven forerator? Never poured a basket of asps into your closet so that they sought refuge in your shoes, your boots, the pockets of your clothing?" She shook her head "Sweet, sweet child Had you walked much farther, you would have seen the s that have attempted to reach you, and which I have destroyed"

"Yeah, well I nearly wound up there uardians were created to attack any intruder - including one that looked like you We couldn&039;t have sohed "You took a terrible toll on my primroses Honestly, child, there are eleht to diversify Now I have two gaping maws to feed instead of one"

"I&039;llbe more careful next ti" She studied me quietly "It has been true for your entire lifetiuardians and defenses &039;pon the other side to ward your sleep, to stand sentinel over your hos of an idea of howher delicately pointed canine teeth again "Tried, and failed"

Which also explained how she was always near at hand whenever I had entered the Nevernever How she would be upon my trail in seconds whenever I went in

Because she had been there, protectingbut herself

"Now, then," she said, her tone businesslike "You left a considerable trove of equip"

"It was an eency"

"I had assuuard it or return it, as you wish And, should you perish, I will deliver it to an heir of your designation"

I let out a weary laugh "YouOf course you will" I eyed Mouse "What do you think, boy?"

Mouse looked at me, and then at Lea Then he sat down - but still kept watching her carefully

"Yeah," I said "I think that, too"

The Leanansidhe sood that you have takenuniverse we live in Only with strength of body and mind can you hope to control your own fate Be wary of everyone Even your protector"

I sat there for a

My mother had prepared protection for ht She had anticipateds for uessed at?

Hoould I pass on a legacy toto be alive to see it happen? What kind of legacy did I have, other than a collection of ear that anyone could probably accumulate without help, in tie

Ye gods and little fishes, but knowledge was a dangerous legacy I ie of fifteen, I had learned aspects of ic that had not come to me on their own until I was over thirty It would have been like handing a child a cocked and loaded gun

A safetythat would prevent the child froh to handle it wisely So, for a child A wizard child

I snorance Expressed in the si a question And, as I no,

"God for you to give me when I was ready for it? A book? A map?"

Lea took a very slow, deep breath, her eyes luminous "Well," she murmured "Well, well, well"

"She did, didn&039;t she"

"Yes, indeed But I was told to give you fair warning It is a deadly legacy If you accept it, you accept what comes with it"

"Which is?" I asked

She shrugged a shoulder "It varies from one individual to the next Your ht be worse for you Or it ht about that for a moment, and then nodded "I want it"

Lea never took her eyes off ers over it, and opened theht as a drop of blood, carved in a pentagon, lay in her hand

"It is the sue of the Ways," Lea said quietly "Every path, every shortcut, every connection She developed enough skill at searching them out that she was eventually able to predict thee from decade to decade, but your mother knehere they were and where they would be Very few of mine own kind can say as e is the burden I hold in my hand, child Mine own belief is that it will destroy thee The choice e myself to breathe slowly All the Ways The ability to travel around the world without concern for geography Knowledge like that could have won the ith the Red Court ale could regard laith utter impunity, avoid retribution from mortal authorities or supernatural nations alike Go anywhere Escape fro Gather more information than anyone else possibly could

Hell&039;s bells That gleath that had the potential to be as potent as any I had seen Such power

Such temptation

I wondered if I&039;d be able to handle it I am not a saint

At the same time, I had never seen a tool so obviously intended to help a irl No et away clean

Maggie

I reached out and took the geodmother&039;s hand

Chapter 16

"Harry," Molly called fro up"

I grunted and lifted onal ruby had been quite obviously cut for this particular piece of jewelry Or it had been before I&039;d been forced to use the necklace as a silver bullet My little pentacle, the five-pointed star within a circle, had been warped by the extrehtening it out with the set of jeweler&039;s tools I used to update Little Chicago

The jewel abruptly snapped into the center of the pentacle as if into a socket I shook the necklace several ti chances I turned it over and sht not look pretty from the front after it had dried, but I was pressed for ti," I muttered to myself I looked up to Bob&039;s shelf, where Mister was sprawling, using a couple of paperbacks for pillohile he ah the ertips, setting hiet Bob back soon: For the tierous to leave unguarded In Lea&039;s bloodthirsty garden, they were probably safer than they had been in my apartment in the first place

I lefton lue could dry, and padded up the stepladder

I had hefted Susan up onto the sofa and fetched a pillow for her head, and a blanket Molly had iven him a pillow and a blanket, too Mouse had settled down on the floor near Martin to sleep Even though his eyes were closed and he was snoring slightly, his ears twitched at every sound

While I had been in the lab, Molly had been cleaning up She probably knehere all the dishes went better than I did Or she was reorganizing them completely Either way, I was sure that the next ti, I wouldn&039;t be able to find the little skillet until after I had already used the big skillet and cleaned it off

I hunkered down next to Susan, and as I did she stirred and h her nose, her eyes suddenly opening wide, as if she were panicked

"Easy," I said at once "Susan It&039;s Harry You&039;re safe"

It seemed to take several seconds for ain, blinked a few times, and turned her head toward me

"What happened to me?" she asked

"You were mistaken for an intruder," I said "You were hit with a foric that made you sleep"

She frowned tiredly "Oh I was drea that the curse was gone That I was huht I was done having that one Martin?"

"Here," Martin slurred "I&039;," I said "The apartment&039;s wards are down We&039;re naked here"

"Well," Martin said in an acidic voice "I think we learned our lesson about where that leads"

Susan rolled her eyes, but the look she gave me, a little hint of a smile and a level stare with her dark eyes, was positively sood

"Did you guys find out about our tail?" I asked

"Tails, as it turns out Three different local investigative agencies," Martin supplied "They were paid cash up front to follow us froave a different description of the woman who hired them All of them were too beautiful to believe"

"Arianna?" I asked

Martin grunted "Probably The oldest of theht, hidden from the sun in the shadow of their own mask"

I lifted my eyebrows That was news I wasn&039;t even sure the Wardens had that kind of infory fro e out?" Susan asked

"I got here about five hours ago Sun&039;s down"

She closed her eyes for a , and nodded "All right Martin and I need to get "

"Where?" I asked

"The airport," Martin said "We should be able to be in Nevada by very late tonight or early to Then we can move on the warehouse and look for more information"

"We discussed it, Harry," Susan said quietly "You can&039;t take a plane, and we&039;re counting the et us there in about seven hours The car will take two days There&039;s no ti," I said

Martin stood up creakily and stretched "Entering the facility may require a reconnaissance period We&039;ll have to deter, and so on before we - "

I interrupted hi a piece of notebook paper down on the coffee table "The storage facility is set into the side of a stone hill There are some portable units stored outside in a yard with a twelve-foot razor-wire fence A road leads into the hill and down into what I presue space or appropriated after aoperation closed" I pointed at the notebook paper, to different points on the sketch, as I nificant feature

"There is a single watchtoith one guard ar scope There are twoa patrol around the perimeter fence with those little assault rifles - "

"Carbines," Molly said brightly, frorenades They aren&039;t in a hurry Takes theo inside for a drink and come back out There are security cah cars in the eround portion of the facility is probably pretty big, and probably has some kind of barracks for their security team"

I nodded "That&039;s about it on the surface, but there&039;s no e can get inside to scout it out ahead of tihtforward We move up to it under a veil; I shut down the communications We use a distraction to draw everyone&039;s attention, and when the reinforce out, we&039;re in Hopefully we can find a way to lock them outside After that, it&039;s just a matter of"

I trailed off as I looked up to find Martin and Susan staring atlimply

"What?" I said

"How" Martin began

"Where" Susan said

Molly burst out into a fit of giggles she didn&039;t even try to hide

"How do I know?" I reached over to the table and held up an old set of binoculars I&039;d left sitting there "I went over to take a look Tookyou, if you want, but it&039;s cool if you guys want to take the plane I&039;ll wait for you"

Martin stared hard at er in her tone Then she threw back her head and laughed "You insufferable, arrogant pig," she said fondly "I shouldn&039;t have underestiracefully when everything is on the line - but you&039;re always there, aren&039;t you"

"I hope so," I said quietly I stood up again "Better eat so up in the lab that o in one hour"