ratherastory (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ratherastory) wrote2010-10-14 02:34 pm
ratherastory) wrote2010-10-14 02:34 pm
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Death Curse: Chapter 14
The story still isn't finished, but I thought I'd better put up all the remaining chapters and maybe that'll motivate me to finish this eventually. Just as soon as I figure out how to get myself out of this narrative corner into which I've accidentally painted myself. ;)
Title: Death Curse
Rating: Work-safe!
Book or TV verse: Book verse.
Summary: The problem with vampires who are also practitioners of magic, is well, that they are practitioners, with all that entails. Has Harry bitten off more than he can chew? Set between White Night and Small Favor. Spoilers up to SF.
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Jim Butcher, I'm just playing in his sandbox and hoping no one sends lawyers after me.
Chapter 13
Nothing got resolved then and there. That would have been way too easy. Oh, there was a lot of talk back and forth, mostly speculation about what the vampires were after, but with so little to go on, it became an exercise in frustration. One by one, people left as the evening wore on. Michael and Charity left first, with a reluctant Molly in tow, citing a school night as a reasonable excuse to leave me alone with Elaine. Murphy and Thomas followed, and that left Elaine on my sofa, her legs curled under her, watching me with the same eyes that had won me over when we were teenagers. The eyes were a little older now, a little wiser, a whole lot sadder, but they were still the same eyes. She didn't say anything, but then, she didn't have to. Silences with Elaine weren't awkward —unless I made them awkward, and I do have a talent for that.
"Uh, have you got a place to stay?"
She smiled at me. "I was thinking of your couch, actually. It's pretty comfy, and cheaper than a hotel." Her smile faded. "Also, I want to keep an eye on you."
"Not too sure about this magical jury-rigging of yours, I take it?"
"What do you want from me, Harry? I get dragged halfway across the country to find you at death's door from some curse I know nothing about, and you expect me to pull a cure out of thin air?"
I may not always be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I know enough to back down when Elaine gets mad. I raised my hands in a gesture of surrender. "Okay, bad joke. I'm sorry. I apologize."
She sighed and rubbed her face with both hands. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap. It's just... I was worried. I am worried. I didn't know what to expect when I got here, and... it was worse than what I'd imagined. Can you even begin to understand what that was like?"
I shook my head. "I'm sorry. I never meant for you to get dragged into this."
"I'm not sorry Molly called: don't think that for a minute. It's just... I still haven't put all the pieces together, you know, from before." She didn't have to say more. Only she knows, and I have an inkling, of how badly Justin DuMorne broke her back when he had her in his thrall and tried to murder me. "And then when I saw you," she fiddled with her ring, keeping her gaze averted from mine, "and you were so far gone, I didn't know if there was even anything I could do, and it scared me, Harry. I'm not ready to —to lose anyone else. Not now."
I felt my chest constrict at that. I'm not made of stone, okay? And even if Elaine and I aren't involved anymore, and probably never will be again, there's a part of me that still loves her. She was my first, and you never forget your first. I got up from my chair and moved to sit next to her on the sofa. She let me gather her into my arms and leaned her head on my chest with a small sigh. Her hair smelled nice, like strawberries and sunlight.
"Don't worry, kiddo. I'm not going anywhere."
She poked me in the ribs. "We're the same age, jerk."
"Ow! Technically, I'm older than you."
"By a few months. That stops counting after you turn ten, Harry."
"Says you."
I could feel her laughing against me, and relaxed. At my feet, Mouse chuffed contentedly.
"Molly's a good kid," she said after a few moments. "You've taught her really good control. She was a big help, even though she was afraid."
"Molly helped?"
She nodded. "Yeah. It was too big a job to do by myself, and there wasn't exactly time to call in for back-up. She's a firecracker, that one. Stood up to both her parents and Murphy. Not many teenagers who can do that."
"She got into an argument with her parents and Murphy? The girl obviously has more of a death wish than I thought."
"Don't be an ass, Harry. You were unconscious, practically in a coma, and everyone around you started to panic before I got here. They wanted to take you to a hospital, and she stood her ground until I got here and was able to back her up."
"I told Murphy the hospital was a bad idea. She never believes me until the machines have started breaking down. And Michael and Charity really ought to know better by now."
Elaine's voice was gentle. "You can't blame them, Harry. They were frightened for you, and normal people go to the hospital when they're sick."
I chuckled. "Well, you know how well I do normal."
She ignored the comment. "It took me a while to convince them that she was right. The way you were bleeding energy, I think the whole hospital might have gone up in smoke."
That got my attention. I shifted my weight so that we could both sit back comfortably. "All right, now that the others are gone, maybe you can tell me what you found, and explain the mechanics of what you did. I'd like to know just how long I have, here."
"You were pretty far gone when I got here."
"So you said." I tried not to be impatient, letting her take things at her own pace. Okay, maybe I was a little impatient. Sue me.
"It's hard to explain, exactly. I don't know what I was Seeing, except that it was really bad."
"You used your Sight?"
She nodded. "I had to. It's strange, because physically there's nothing really wrong with you, except for the external injuries."
I snorted. "You could have fooled me."
"You could have fooled all of us. Your body is reacting exactly as though you were physically ill, but you're not. It's all psychic wounds, but I've never seen anything so bad. It's like you were bleeding out through every pore in your body, and the more time went on the worse it got." She shuddered. "You were covered in blood —even the whites of your eyes."
I squeezed her shoulders, not knowing what to say. The thing about using your Sight, that ability that all wizard have to see the world the way it truly is, magic and all, is that you can never unsee what you've Seen. It stays there forever, and it never fades away. Whatever horror imprints itself in your mind stays there, as fresh and horrific as the moment you first Saw it. I don't know what Elaine Saw when she looked at me, but given some of the things I had etched forever in my mind, I didn't want to think too hard about it.
"I'm sorry," I murmured, and I meant it, too.
"Molly's very powerful, you know. She's probably going to be more powerful than either of us, once she's mastered the art. I haven't felt power like hers since... well, since a very long time."
"What did you do, exactly?"
"I kind of improvised a ritual."
I laughed at that, and she drew herself up, half-indignant. "What's so funny?"
I kept laughing. "You. You 'kind of improvised a ritual?' Just like that?" I shook my head. "Stars and stones, Elaine, it's a good thing you lied to the Council, or else they'd have you on the front lines of the war."
"Which is precisely why I lied." She pointed out.
"Point taken. I'm kind of jealous, though. I haven't had a chance to do a full ritual with Molly yet. You got to break in my apprentice before me."
She tried to brush it aside, maybe as a way of salving my wounded mentor pride. "Mostly she just channelled energy for me, but she's very good. She probably saved your life. I couldn't have done it on my own."
"So what did you do?"
"There wasn't much to do, to be honest. Mostly I did what you'd do to a regular injury that's bleeding: I applied pressure. I didn't want to do more, because I was afraid it would hurt you, and you were already hurting badly."
"Pressure?" It raised all sorts of mental images, none of which I imagined were particularly accurate.
"Sort of like a modified ward. It's not going to fix you, but it's slowed the energy drain almost completely."
"So I'm still leaking like a sieve, only not as fast?"
"Pretty much."
"How long do you think it'll hold up?"
She twisted the ring on her finger again. "I don't know. A few days, maybe. Maybe less. I can always try the ritual again, but it won't be effective, long-term. At best it's a stop-gap."
"Hell's bells." I wiped my good hand over my face. "No pressure, then."
She pressed up closer against me, and I stroked her hair. I confess, it was nice. It's been... a long time since I've been close to a woman, and even though I don't have any such designs on Elaine, she can still make me feel as though I've been on the receiving end of a live wire. We stayed like that for a while, I'm not sure how long, not speaking. With Elaine, I've never felt as though I always have to fill the silence. She reached up and brushed my hair away from my forehead, and involuntarily I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of her skin against mine.
"How is it that every time I see you, you always need a haircut?"
"You're bruising my ego, Elaine."
She pursed her lips in a mock-pout. "So easily bruised, too. I promise I'll be more careful in the future."
"It's okay. My ego is kind of a jerk."
"What?"
"Never mind. Long story." I leaned back against the sofa, feeling inexplicably tired. Well, maybe not inexplicably, but I wasn't expecting it.
Elaine drew herself upright, suddenly all business. "You need to go back to bed. We can figure out our plan of action in the morning, once you've had a proper night's sleep. And no, a near-coma doesn't count as sleep."
"I never said it did."
"You were going to."
"Am I really that predictable?"
She laughed and tugged me to my feet. "Bed. Now. You're dead on your feet, and if we're going to beat this thing, you're going to need to rest as much as you can. Nothing's going to replace the energy you've lost, so you're not going to lose any more while I'm on watch."
I didn't have the energy or the inclination to resist. With a last gentle shove, Elaine ushered me back to my room, then stood on her tiptoes, and kissed me on the cheek.
"Good night, Harry. Try to get some sleep, okay?"
"I will."
I watched her until she disappeared around the corner, then bit back a sigh, changed out of my clothes, and climbed back into my bed, which had been fitted with clean sheets and pillow cases while I'd been up, bless the little faery hearts who took care of me. I thought that after everything that had happened, with all I had on my mind, that I wouldn't be able to sleep at all, but seconds after my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.
Chapter 15
Title: Death Curse
Rating: Work-safe!
Book or TV verse: Book verse.
Summary: The problem with vampires who are also practitioners of magic, is well, that they are practitioners, with all that entails. Has Harry bitten off more than he can chew? Set between White Night and Small Favor. Spoilers up to SF.
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Jim Butcher, I'm just playing in his sandbox and hoping no one sends lawyers after me.
Chapter 13
Nothing got resolved then and there. That would have been way too easy. Oh, there was a lot of talk back and forth, mostly speculation about what the vampires were after, but with so little to go on, it became an exercise in frustration. One by one, people left as the evening wore on. Michael and Charity left first, with a reluctant Molly in tow, citing a school night as a reasonable excuse to leave me alone with Elaine. Murphy and Thomas followed, and that left Elaine on my sofa, her legs curled under her, watching me with the same eyes that had won me over when we were teenagers. The eyes were a little older now, a little wiser, a whole lot sadder, but they were still the same eyes. She didn't say anything, but then, she didn't have to. Silences with Elaine weren't awkward —unless I made them awkward, and I do have a talent for that.
"Uh, have you got a place to stay?"
She smiled at me. "I was thinking of your couch, actually. It's pretty comfy, and cheaper than a hotel." Her smile faded. "Also, I want to keep an eye on you."
"Not too sure about this magical jury-rigging of yours, I take it?"
"What do you want from me, Harry? I get dragged halfway across the country to find you at death's door from some curse I know nothing about, and you expect me to pull a cure out of thin air?"
I may not always be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I know enough to back down when Elaine gets mad. I raised my hands in a gesture of surrender. "Okay, bad joke. I'm sorry. I apologize."
She sighed and rubbed her face with both hands. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap. It's just... I was worried. I am worried. I didn't know what to expect when I got here, and... it was worse than what I'd imagined. Can you even begin to understand what that was like?"
I shook my head. "I'm sorry. I never meant for you to get dragged into this."
"I'm not sorry Molly called: don't think that for a minute. It's just... I still haven't put all the pieces together, you know, from before." She didn't have to say more. Only she knows, and I have an inkling, of how badly Justin DuMorne broke her back when he had her in his thrall and tried to murder me. "And then when I saw you," she fiddled with her ring, keeping her gaze averted from mine, "and you were so far gone, I didn't know if there was even anything I could do, and it scared me, Harry. I'm not ready to —to lose anyone else. Not now."
I felt my chest constrict at that. I'm not made of stone, okay? And even if Elaine and I aren't involved anymore, and probably never will be again, there's a part of me that still loves her. She was my first, and you never forget your first. I got up from my chair and moved to sit next to her on the sofa. She let me gather her into my arms and leaned her head on my chest with a small sigh. Her hair smelled nice, like strawberries and sunlight.
"Don't worry, kiddo. I'm not going anywhere."
She poked me in the ribs. "We're the same age, jerk."
"Ow! Technically, I'm older than you."
"By a few months. That stops counting after you turn ten, Harry."
"Says you."
I could feel her laughing against me, and relaxed. At my feet, Mouse chuffed contentedly.
"Molly's a good kid," she said after a few moments. "You've taught her really good control. She was a big help, even though she was afraid."
"Molly helped?"
She nodded. "Yeah. It was too big a job to do by myself, and there wasn't exactly time to call in for back-up. She's a firecracker, that one. Stood up to both her parents and Murphy. Not many teenagers who can do that."
"She got into an argument with her parents and Murphy? The girl obviously has more of a death wish than I thought."
"Don't be an ass, Harry. You were unconscious, practically in a coma, and everyone around you started to panic before I got here. They wanted to take you to a hospital, and she stood her ground until I got here and was able to back her up."
"I told Murphy the hospital was a bad idea. She never believes me until the machines have started breaking down. And Michael and Charity really ought to know better by now."
Elaine's voice was gentle. "You can't blame them, Harry. They were frightened for you, and normal people go to the hospital when they're sick."
I chuckled. "Well, you know how well I do normal."
She ignored the comment. "It took me a while to convince them that she was right. The way you were bleeding energy, I think the whole hospital might have gone up in smoke."
That got my attention. I shifted my weight so that we could both sit back comfortably. "All right, now that the others are gone, maybe you can tell me what you found, and explain the mechanics of what you did. I'd like to know just how long I have, here."
"You were pretty far gone when I got here."
"So you said." I tried not to be impatient, letting her take things at her own pace. Okay, maybe I was a little impatient. Sue me.
"It's hard to explain, exactly. I don't know what I was Seeing, except that it was really bad."
"You used your Sight?"
She nodded. "I had to. It's strange, because physically there's nothing really wrong with you, except for the external injuries."
I snorted. "You could have fooled me."
"You could have fooled all of us. Your body is reacting exactly as though you were physically ill, but you're not. It's all psychic wounds, but I've never seen anything so bad. It's like you were bleeding out through every pore in your body, and the more time went on the worse it got." She shuddered. "You were covered in blood —even the whites of your eyes."
I squeezed her shoulders, not knowing what to say. The thing about using your Sight, that ability that all wizard have to see the world the way it truly is, magic and all, is that you can never unsee what you've Seen. It stays there forever, and it never fades away. Whatever horror imprints itself in your mind stays there, as fresh and horrific as the moment you first Saw it. I don't know what Elaine Saw when she looked at me, but given some of the things I had etched forever in my mind, I didn't want to think too hard about it.
"I'm sorry," I murmured, and I meant it, too.
"Molly's very powerful, you know. She's probably going to be more powerful than either of us, once she's mastered the art. I haven't felt power like hers since... well, since a very long time."
"What did you do, exactly?"
"I kind of improvised a ritual."
I laughed at that, and she drew herself up, half-indignant. "What's so funny?"
I kept laughing. "You. You 'kind of improvised a ritual?' Just like that?" I shook my head. "Stars and stones, Elaine, it's a good thing you lied to the Council, or else they'd have you on the front lines of the war."
"Which is precisely why I lied." She pointed out.
"Point taken. I'm kind of jealous, though. I haven't had a chance to do a full ritual with Molly yet. You got to break in my apprentice before me."
She tried to brush it aside, maybe as a way of salving my wounded mentor pride. "Mostly she just channelled energy for me, but she's very good. She probably saved your life. I couldn't have done it on my own."
"So what did you do?"
"There wasn't much to do, to be honest. Mostly I did what you'd do to a regular injury that's bleeding: I applied pressure. I didn't want to do more, because I was afraid it would hurt you, and you were already hurting badly."
"Pressure?" It raised all sorts of mental images, none of which I imagined were particularly accurate.
"Sort of like a modified ward. It's not going to fix you, but it's slowed the energy drain almost completely."
"So I'm still leaking like a sieve, only not as fast?"
"Pretty much."
"How long do you think it'll hold up?"
She twisted the ring on her finger again. "I don't know. A few days, maybe. Maybe less. I can always try the ritual again, but it won't be effective, long-term. At best it's a stop-gap."
"Hell's bells." I wiped my good hand over my face. "No pressure, then."
She pressed up closer against me, and I stroked her hair. I confess, it was nice. It's been... a long time since I've been close to a woman, and even though I don't have any such designs on Elaine, she can still make me feel as though I've been on the receiving end of a live wire. We stayed like that for a while, I'm not sure how long, not speaking. With Elaine, I've never felt as though I always have to fill the silence. She reached up and brushed my hair away from my forehead, and involuntarily I closed my eyes, enjoying the feel of her skin against mine.
"How is it that every time I see you, you always need a haircut?"
"You're bruising my ego, Elaine."
She pursed her lips in a mock-pout. "So easily bruised, too. I promise I'll be more careful in the future."
"It's okay. My ego is kind of a jerk."
"What?"
"Never mind. Long story." I leaned back against the sofa, feeling inexplicably tired. Well, maybe not inexplicably, but I wasn't expecting it.
Elaine drew herself upright, suddenly all business. "You need to go back to bed. We can figure out our plan of action in the morning, once you've had a proper night's sleep. And no, a near-coma doesn't count as sleep."
"I never said it did."
"You were going to."
"Am I really that predictable?"
She laughed and tugged me to my feet. "Bed. Now. You're dead on your feet, and if we're going to beat this thing, you're going to need to rest as much as you can. Nothing's going to replace the energy you've lost, so you're not going to lose any more while I'm on watch."
I didn't have the energy or the inclination to resist. With a last gentle shove, Elaine ushered me back to my room, then stood on her tiptoes, and kissed me on the cheek.
"Good night, Harry. Try to get some sleep, okay?"
"I will."
I watched her until she disappeared around the corner, then bit back a sigh, changed out of my clothes, and climbed back into my bed, which had been fitted with clean sheets and pillow cases while I'd been up, bless the little faery hearts who took care of me. I thought that after everything that had happened, with all I had on my mind, that I wouldn't be able to sleep at all, but seconds after my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.
Chapter 15