Page 10 (2/2)

There was a peal of , this tiain - and again, she vanished coround Once ot its attention with a rock and a few taunts, only to vanish froht as it came at her

Each time, she was a little closer to the creature, unable to match its raw speed And each time, she led it a little farther away from the three of us A couple of times, she even shouted, "Toro, toro! Ol¨¦!"

"Thomas!" I called "Get up!"

My brother blinked his eyes several times, each time a little more quickly Then he swiped a hand at the bloodied side of his face, shook his head violently to get the blood out of his eyes, and looked down at the section ofout of his storile that one through He dropped it on the ground, groaning in pain, and his eyes rolled briefly back into his head

I saw his other nature corew paler, and al stabilized i his hairline where he&039;d been bleeding began to close He opened his eyes, and their color had changed frory, lanced at ood"

A few feet away, Mouse got to his feet and shook hiotten as far as the street again, and there was an enor sound

"This time, we do it smart," Tho to go in first and get its attention Go for its strings I think you&039;ll have to hit two limbs to really cripple it"

Mouse woofed, evidently an affirrowl, and once athered around him

Thomas nodded, and picked up a section of ruined deck that had scattered around where he landed He shouldered a corner post, a section of four-by-four about a yard and a half long, and said, "Don&039;t sweat, Harry We&039;ll be back for you in a minute"

"Go, Team Dresden," I wheezed

The two of them took off, zero to cheetah speed in about a second Then they were out of sight I heard Thoood Bruce Lee i so hard

An instant later, Mouse let out his battle roar There was a flicker of strobing colors of light as Molly pitched a bit of dazzling , but the kid could inable burst from empty air, accompanied by a variety of sounds if she so chose She called it her One-wo the last Independence Day, she had used it to throw up a fireworks display from her parents&039; backyard so impressive that evidently it had caused traffic problems on the expressway

It was hard to lie there twisted halfway around at the waist, to see only the occasional flash of light or to hear the thuain and had no luck So I just settled down and concentrated on not blacking out or breathing too hard The creature had definitely cracked at least one of my ribs

That hen I noticed the two sets of glowing red eyes staring atwith the un slowly, steadily, silently closer

I suddenly realized that everyone around who ht have helped me was sort of distracted at the moment

"Oh," I breathed "Oh, crap"

Chapter 26

The eyes rushed towardstruckconsciousness The bloas enough to ringpicked up and tossed over someone&039;s shoulder Then there was a lot of rapid, sickening h for y to aim at my abductor

A subjective eternity later, I was thrown to the ground I lay still, hoping to foolI was barely conscious and weak as a kitten Which should be easy, since I was I&039;ve never really had much ambition as a performer

"We don&039;t like it," said a woman&039;s voice "Its Power smells foul"

"We reat asset"

"It is listening to us," the woman said

"We know that," replied the man

I heard soft footsteps, cushioned by pine needles, and the wory "Poor thing So battered We should give it a kiss and let it sleep It would be merciful And He would be pleased with us"

"No, our love He would be satisfied with us There is a difference"

"Have we not come to understand this simple fact?" she shot back, acid in her voice "Never will He na into the Court We are interlopers We are not of the first Maya"

"Many things can change in the span of eternity, our love We will be patient"

"You iggle "Then why aren&039;t we currying favor with Arianna?"

"We shall not even consider it," he replied, his voice hard "Should we even think of it too often, He ht act Do we understand?"

"We do," she said, her tone petulant

Then soers and flipped me ontoo reflecting froht to let er than a child Seriously, she h her proportions seemed identical to those of any adult She had very pale skin with a light dusting of freckles, and looked as if she ht brown and very straight Her eyes were extre One was pale, icy blue, the other deep, dark green, and I had an i behind those

She earing a goith long, flowing sleeves, and some kind of sleeveless robe and corset over that She was barefoot, though I knew because I could feel her cold little foot when she planted it on my chest and leaned over to peer down at me

"We&039;re too late Look, it&039;s starting to go bad"

"Nonsense," said the male voice "It&039;s a perfectly appropriate specih, our love"

I looked up and saw the other speaker He was perhaps five-foot-six, with a short brush of red hair, a black beard, and skin that looked darkened and bronzed by the sun He wore black silk clothing, and looked like he&039;d just come from a dress rehearsal of Hamlet

"Aha," I said "You must be Esteban and Esmerelda I&039;ve heard about you"

"We are fa up at the hed, and said, "Aye, we are Here to stop you fron"

I blinked "What?"

Esmerelda leaned closer Her hair brushed my nose and lips "Are its ears broken? If the ears are defective, can we detach them and send them back?"

"Peace, our love," Esteban said He hunkered down on his heels and eyed me "It isn&039;t its fault It doesn&039;t even realize how Arianna isabout?" I said "Look, folks, no one wants to stop Arianna ue hand "Yes, yes It feels it must rescue its spawn It will try to take her back, fro it at the center of vast ht tip balances any nuh" Esed, dirty creature"

Esteban shrugged "We know, by now, that the outside hardly matters What lies within is what holds ied wizard?"

I lickedwith a couple of insane va that lives long enough tends to lose track of passing time rather easily, on the one by, an hour doesn&039;t really rate If ht, they would realize I was gone within a few minutes - and I didn&039;t think the Eebs had carried h away to let them evade Mouse As far as I can tell, Mouse can follow a scent trail from space

Talk to them Stall

"That depends upon the nature of the subject and observer," I said "But if you are using the metaphor in its si supersedes its outer appearance in terms of importance" I tried a smile "This is quite pleasant treat entirely different"

"We wanted to eat you and kill you Or kill you, then eat you," Es than ht still"

"Obviously you had soh," I said "Apparently you wish to talk I&039; to listen"

"Excellent," Esteban said "We are pleased that you can address the matter rationally"

"To which matter do you refer, specifically?"

"The matter of your involvement with Arianna&039;s plan," Esteban said "We wish you to discontinue your participation"

"Thatcould be probleoing to killwith the child&039;s lance, their facial expressions shifting subtly I got the iot done

Esteban turned back to ed wizard?"

"It&039;s what I do," I said

"Oooo," said Es my hips with hers She was so tiny that I could hardly feel her weight onLike forance It&039;s so sweet to watch arrogant little things succued wizard? Which color do you like more? Look closely and carefully"

You don&039;t look vampires in the eyes Everyone knows that one Even so, I&039;d had a couple of encounters with the stare of one of the Red Court and never had a proble them out It wasn&039;t even particularly difficult

But evidently, those vareen swirled in my vision, and it was only at the very last instant that I realized as happening, sla only the hard, fortified places to attack, a castle of idea and memory, ready to withstand an assault

"Stop that, please," I said quietly aanywhere like this"

The little va whether to be upset or aled her hips around a little "Lovely, lovely, lovely We are well pleased"

"You do have options," Esteban said If he was put out by Esmerelda&039;s behavior, it didn&039;t show Hell, he hadn&039;t even seemed to notice

"By all means," I said "Enumerate them"

"I suppose the simplest means to solve our problem would be for you to take your own life," he said "If you are dead, Arianna has no reason to har-dead part, there are some minor problems with that idea"

"By all means," Esteban said, "enumerate them"

"What confirmation would I have that the child was safe and returned to her mother? What security would I have toa month from now?"

"A contract could be drafted," Esteban said "Witnessed and signed, arbitrated by one of the neutral parties of the Accords For security, we suppose we could ask our Lord if He would give his Word upon it that your eance"

"A possibility worth consideration," I said "Though the part where I die see of a flaw"

"Understandably," Esteban said "We ht also offer you an alternative to death"

The roll of Esmerelda&039;s hips became slower, more sensuous I&039;ve been abused by Red Court vahtirl atop me had that fe so close to her wasto her with uncomfortable intensity

"Alternative," she said in a breathy little voice "In this day, thatlittle mortals how to be fashionable"

"You would make me like you," I said quietly

Es up into a lazy, sensual sainst

"It would offer you several advantages," Esteban said "Even should Arianna coeance rite, the transforainst it And, of course, you would not be killed, captured, or tortured to death, as the White Council will be over the next six months or so"

"It certainly bears consideration as well," I said "Very practical Are there any other paths you think feasible?"

"One more," Esteban said "Gift your spawn to our Lord, the Red King"

If I&039;d had the strength to take a swing at hi that I didn&039;t "And ould that accomplish?"

"He would then take possession of the spawn She would, in fact, be under his protection, until such ti of such care"

Esmerelda nodded rapidly "She would be his He does so dote on his little pets We think it quite endearing" She opened her ht in the midst of a whispered conference about forbidden subjects "Oh, my, would Arianna be upset She would howl for centuries"

"We could provide chattel in exchange to sweeten the deal, Dresden," Esteban said "We would be willing to go as high as seven young women You could select them from our stock or from their natural habitat, and ould see to their preparation and disposition"

I thought about it for a long htly at estions But I feel that I do not understand so not simply order Arianna to desist?"

Both of the Eebs drew in breaths of scandalized surprise "Because of her mate, Dresden," said Esteban

"Slain by the wizard of the black stick," said Esmerelda "A blood debt"

"Sacred blood"

"Holy blood"

Esteban shook his head "Not even our Lord can interfere in the collection of a blood debt It is Arianna&039;s right"

Esmerelda nodded "As it was Bianca&039;s to collect froh many wished that she would not have done what she did, it was her right, even as a very, very young enitor, Arianna&039;s mate took up that debt As Arianna now has done herself" She looked at Esteban and beaed wizard It is so civil and pleasant Coht we keep it for our own?"

"Business, our love," Esteban chided "Business first"

Esmerelda thrust out her lower lip - and abruptly turned, all , to focus intently in one direction

"What is it, our love?" Esteban asked quietly

"The Ik&039;k&039;uox," she said in a distant, puzzled voice "It is in pain It flees It" She opened her eyes very wide, and suddenly they flooded in solid black, just as the creature&039;s had been "Oh! It cheated!" Her face turned down to ht a demon of its own! A mountain ice demon from the Land of Dreams!"

"If you don&039;t exercise them, they&039;re impossible," I said, philosophically

"The constable," Esteban said "Did it kill the constable?"

Es for a moment and then said, "No It was attacked only seconds after entering his hoed wizard&039;s dehed "We had hoped to work out soed wizard What say you to my offer?"

"Go fuck yourself," I said

Esteban&039;s eyes went black and flat "Kill hihtened in what looked like a sexual fervor, and she leaned down, teeth bared, letting out a low sound filled to the bri the last few ht hand had undone the clasp on my mother&039;s amulet As the little vampire leaned into me, she met the silver pentacle necklace, the sy the four elements and the spirit, bound within a circle of mortal control, will, and co on churches of any kind, despite the fact that I&039;ve spoken, face-to-face, with an archangel of the Als I believed in Sos I had faith in And faith isn&039;t about perfect attendance to services, or how oing skyclad to the Holy Rites, oreach day upon the divine

Faith is about what you do It&039;s about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are It&039;s about ood of others - even when there&039;s not going to be anyone telling you what a hero you are

Faith is a power of its own, and one even ic A syenuine belief and sincerity, is the bane of many an otherworldly predator - and one of the creatures ly affected were vampires of the Red Court I don&039;t knoorks, or why I don&039;t know if so the line I never asked for one of the me up anyway

The pentacle flared into brilliant silver light that struck Es her off ofthe creature inside it

I twisted and presented the symbol to Esteban, but he had already backed several paces away, and it only forced him to lift his hand to shade his eyes as he continued retreating

There was a hissing, serpentine sound froaunt, black-skinned creature stand up out of the ruins of gown and flesh mask alike It was just as ser, by at least a third, than hers had seeed down, and its face would ly South American bats feel better about itself

She opened her jaws, baring fangs and a long, writhing tongue that was pink with black spots Her all-black eyes were ablaze with fury

Shadows shifted as a pale blue light began to grow nearer, and the woods suddenly rang out with Mouse&039;s triu howl He had foundin

Ese and hate

"We mustn&039;t!" Esteban snarled He dashed aroundpendant a wide berth He seized the little vampire woman by the arm They both stared at me for an instant with their cold, e wind and they were gone

I sagged onto the ground gratefully My racing heart began to slow,reled and iht

Mouse let out a single loud bark and then the big dog was standing next to ed me with his nose until I lifted a hand and scratched his ears a little

Tholad Tho more slowly so that my apprentice wouldn&039;t be alone in the woods His eyes were bright silver, hisin his hair The left half of Molly&039;s upper body was generously coated in green paint

"Okay," I slurred "I&039;m backward"

"What&039;s that?" Molly asked, kneeling down next to me, her expression worried

"Backward &039;M a detective Supposed to find things out I been working backward The more I look at it, theon"

"Can you stand?" Thoht be broken Can&039;t take the weight"

"I&039;ll carry him," Thomas said "Find a phone"

"Okay"

My brother picked me up and carried me out of the woods We went back to the car

The car&039;s remains

I stared dully at thehad taken Tho and put it in a trash coether, had been sh Liquids and fuel bled out onto the street below the as I stared atto resurrect fro tears out of my eyes It wasn&039;t an expensive car It wasn&039;t a sexy car It was one

"Dammit," I mumbled

"Hmmm?" Thomas asked He looked considerably less broken up than hed "Takes weeks toto be annoyed with me," Thomas said "That&039;s the third one this year"

I rolledthing?"

"The fight?" Tho tactics, for the most part When it tried to focus on one, the other tould come at its back Mouse did you rather proud"

The big dog wagged his tail cheerily

"Paint?" I asked

"Oh, the thing threw a five-gallon bucket of paint at her, either trying to kill her with it or so it could try to see her through the veil Worked for about five seconds, too, but then she fixed it and was gone again She did fairly well for someone so lie anything from my trunk Excuse me"

I just sat down on the street in front of the car, and Mouse ca a furry flank for support The Blue Beetle was dead I was too tired to cry"It will meet us two blocks down Get him and I&039;ll veil us until it arrives"

"Yeah," Thoain

I don&039;t re awake for the cab ride