ratherastory (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ratherastory) wrote2010-01-02 11:46 am
ratherastory) wrote2010-01-02 11:46 am
Entry tags:
Death Curse: Chapter 13
Title: Death Curse
Rating: Work-safe!
Book or TV verse: Book verse. I haven't seen the show
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 12
*****
As though by some unspoken agreement, everyone made their appearance about an hour later, after I'd grilled Molly mercilessly on her decision to drag Elaine all the way from Los Angeles to Chicago.
“Harry, come on! I said I'm sorry, all right? I didn't know who else to call. You were so sick, and we couldn't take you to a hospital, and I thought you were going to die, and I was really scared...” she drew her breath in with a hiccup, refusing to look me in the eye and hugging herself tightly with both arms.
“Aww, no fair, Molly. You know I hate it when women cry.” I took down the box of tissues I keep on the fridge and handed one to her. I do hate it when women cry, especially if I appear to be the direct cause of it. I hadn't realized how scared she was, although in my defence I hadn't exactly been on top of my game the past few days. “Please stop leaking on my kitchen table. It'll leave streaks.”
She sniffled and laughed. “Did it work?”
“Very effective, only you didn't quite manage to get me off-track.”
She wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “I know it wouldn't have been your first choice, but everyone else thought I was right. I mean, would you rather I called the Wardens? That was our other option.”
I scowled. “No.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and awarded me a glare that would have made her mother proud. “So who would you have called? I'm open to suggestions, o mentor mine.”
“Point taken.”
“Why don't you just wait until she's here, and you can ask her everything your want. How about that?”
I rubbed my eyes with my index fingers. “Right. I can see that going well.”
“Well, they're here, anyway.”
I glanced up at the sound of the front door scraping open, and not for the first time made a mental note to try and fix it. Mind you, anything that discourages people —and creatures— from coming in uninvited can't be a bad thing. Sure, I put up wards, but a physical barrier isn't a bad thing either. Molly jumped up and ran to the front door. I stayed where I was for a minute, waiting for my pulse to slow to something resembling a normal speed. Not that I was nervous or anything. I could hear Molly talking animatedly, and eventually decided that I couldn't hide out in the kitchen forever —not that that's what I was doing, you understand.
“You can't hide in there forever, Dresden,” Murphy's voice reached me first.
I got to my feet, feeling as though I should be more unsteady than I was. “I'm not hiding!”
It was like walking into a conclave. I don't remember the last time there were that many people in my living room. I looked at Charity and Michael, here together even though it was the evening.
“Father Forthill is babysitting?”
Michael nodded. “How are you feeling, Harry?”
“A lot better, actually.”
Murphy was sitting on one side of the sofa, with Mouse's head taking up all the space in her lap. On the other side, was Elaine. She looked the same as the last time I'd seen her, maybe a little better. A little careworn, perhaps, but in our line of work that's to be expected. I've been told that I sport that look as well, sometimes. I wouldn't know, since I don't make it a habit of keeping mirrors around. Elaine does the same sort of consulting work I do, only in Los Angeles. She's even in the phone book under “Wizards,” taking a page from my book, so to speak. I felt my throat tighten a bit, and cleared it with a cough.
“Hi, Elaine.”
She turned to look at me with a smile, but she looked tired. “Hello, Harry.”
Even Thomas was there. It was like a reunion. I felt a grin spreading over my features. “I suppose you are wondering why I have brought you all here tonight...”
Murphy rolled her eyes. “Sit, Dresden.”
Thomas returned my grin, but jerked his head toward my armchair in a meaningful way. I was actually feeling a bit tired by then, so I decided not to make an issue of it. I eased myself into the chair, acutely conscious of six pairs of eyes watching me. “You guys are going to make me blush, staring like that. I'm fine, really.”
Elaine cleared her throat. “Actually, Harry, that's why we're here. You're not really fine.”
“Is this an intervention? Because I can quit anytime I want!”
“Would you please take this seriously, Dresden?” Charity's eyes snapped, and I subsided. If they had arranged for babysitting and were here this late on a school night, then they were really putting themselves out for me. In fact, they'd already gone well above and beyond the call of duty for the past few days, and it would be pretty churlish and ungrateful of me to throw that in their faces.
“Sorry.”
Elaine was twisting one of the rings she wears on the fingers of her left hand. They serve a similar purpose to the shield bracelet I wear, only hers is way more sophisticated than anything I've been able to come up with. I decided to make the job easier for her. I'm generous that way.
“So that's the second time today I've been told I'm not really fine. I feel fine —which is weird, granted, given the circumstances— so does anyone want to explain things to me?” Okay, maybe that came out a little more belligerently than I'd intended. Sue me, being sick and incapacitated for days makes me cranky.
Elaine kept fiddling with her ring, and Murphy took the lead. “Why don't you start, Dresden? How about you fill us in on what happened last Friday?”
Involuntarily my hand went to the laceration in my scalp that was now thoroughly scabbed over. “What do you mean?”
She fixed me with a flat look. “You haven't exactly given us a lot to go on. You stagger in here, concussed and bleeding all over your cheap carpets—”
“My carpets aren't cheap!”
Murphy didn't bat an eyelash. “And the next thing we know, you're delirious with fever and raving about death curses, and then lose consciousness for two days. So, how about you fill in the gaps in that story?”
“Uh...” I blinked, a little nonplussed. “Two days? What day is it?”
“Thursday.”
“Hell's bells.” I rubbed my hand over my face. I'd lost well over two days, almost three. It had been Tuesday morning the last time I'd been awake, I was almost sure of it.
So I gave them the condensed version of the story. It wasn't as though there was that much to tell. Murphy already knew that she'd asked me to look in on a series of odd deaths that had been taking place in the city. So I had done what I always do, which is stick my wizarding nose in where no one really wanted it, and come across some pretty sure signs of vampire activity. Now, any sensible wizard who essentially declared war on all the vampire courts (for the record, it was totally their fault!) would steer well-clear of that, but luckily for all of us I have never been sensible. This was new, too. Well, as new as vampires get. As a rule, vampires are pretty old-school. Be that as it may, this was new for Chicago. Occupational hazard means that I keep tabs on local vampiric activity, so anything new tends to attract my attention. A bit of extra digging had brought me to de Rome and his little group of wannabes, but that was as far as I'd been able to get before de Rome tried to re-decorate the Chicago landscape with my brain matter.
“So I don't really know what he was up to. I was trying to question him in a civilized matter, but he took it all wrong, and the next thing I know the place is on fire and I'm getting a death curse lobbed at my head.”
Elaine was shaking her head, and doing a very bad job of hiding a smile. I scowled at her.
“What?”
“A civilized manner?”
“Sure, why not?”
“Tell me that you didn't just find out where he was, go barging in there brandishing your magical phallic symbols, and not actually give any thought to how you were going to find out what they were up to.”
Murphy snorted, and I scowled harder, to no effect. “That's totally —you can't —okay, fine. Maybe I didn't exactly think it through. Sue me.”
Michael cleared his throat. “Maybe we could keep this on-topic?”
Elaine looked a bit abashed, and I stopped scowling. Thomas looked at me, cocking his head to the side, and I noticed both Elaine and Molly stealing covert glances at him. I sighed. Even when he's not trying, Thomas is annoyingly alluring. “What about this death curse? That's what all this is about, right? You're under a death curse, like... I mean, when a practitioner dies, he or she uses up all their remaining energy to make your life a living hell, right?”
I quirked an eyebrow at him. There are only a couple of people alive (or, technically, animated) who know of my mother's death curse against Thomas' father, the king of the White Court and head of House Raith. He is those things in name only. Thomas' sister Lara pulls all the strings now, and Thomas and I are the only other two people who know about it, lest it upset the whole of the balance of the White Court. I decided to pretend I hadn't noticed his slip.
“That's about the essence of it, yeah.”
Molly bit her lip. “I thought it was pretty much impossible for a death curse to, umm...” she hesitated.
“Outright kill someone?” I supplied helpfully, and she nodded, not meeting my eyes. “Pretty much, yeah.”
“So... it's not a death curse?”
“No, I think it is,” Elaine said softly. She glanced up at me, her soft eyes boring into mine. “I don't know how he managed it, but you were haemorrhaging energy when I got here, Harry. I'm not entirely sure what it is. We... I kind of jury-rigged a shield for you. It's blocking the drain temporarily, but that's it. It's just temporary.”
My stomach felt as though I had just swallowed a big lump of lead.
“So, basically, you're saying that unless we find a way to reverse this permanently, I'm going to die.”
*****
Rating: Work-safe!
Book or TV verse: Book verse. I haven't seen the show
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 12
As though by some unspoken agreement, everyone made their appearance about an hour later, after I'd grilled Molly mercilessly on her decision to drag Elaine all the way from Los Angeles to Chicago.
“Harry, come on! I said I'm sorry, all right? I didn't know who else to call. You were so sick, and we couldn't take you to a hospital, and I thought you were going to die, and I was really scared...” she drew her breath in with a hiccup, refusing to look me in the eye and hugging herself tightly with both arms.
“Aww, no fair, Molly. You know I hate it when women cry.” I took down the box of tissues I keep on the fridge and handed one to her. I do hate it when women cry, especially if I appear to be the direct cause of it. I hadn't realized how scared she was, although in my defence I hadn't exactly been on top of my game the past few days. “Please stop leaking on my kitchen table. It'll leave streaks.”
She sniffled and laughed. “Did it work?”
“Very effective, only you didn't quite manage to get me off-track.”
She wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “I know it wouldn't have been your first choice, but everyone else thought I was right. I mean, would you rather I called the Wardens? That was our other option.”
I scowled. “No.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and awarded me a glare that would have made her mother proud. “So who would you have called? I'm open to suggestions, o mentor mine.”
“Point taken.”
“Why don't you just wait until she's here, and you can ask her everything your want. How about that?”
I rubbed my eyes with my index fingers. “Right. I can see that going well.”
“Well, they're here, anyway.”
I glanced up at the sound of the front door scraping open, and not for the first time made a mental note to try and fix it. Mind you, anything that discourages people —and creatures— from coming in uninvited can't be a bad thing. Sure, I put up wards, but a physical barrier isn't a bad thing either. Molly jumped up and ran to the front door. I stayed where I was for a minute, waiting for my pulse to slow to something resembling a normal speed. Not that I was nervous or anything. I could hear Molly talking animatedly, and eventually decided that I couldn't hide out in the kitchen forever —not that that's what I was doing, you understand.
“You can't hide in there forever, Dresden,” Murphy's voice reached me first.
I got to my feet, feeling as though I should be more unsteady than I was. “I'm not hiding!”
It was like walking into a conclave. I don't remember the last time there were that many people in my living room. I looked at Charity and Michael, here together even though it was the evening.
“Father Forthill is babysitting?”
Michael nodded. “How are you feeling, Harry?”
“A lot better, actually.”
Murphy was sitting on one side of the sofa, with Mouse's head taking up all the space in her lap. On the other side, was Elaine. She looked the same as the last time I'd seen her, maybe a little better. A little careworn, perhaps, but in our line of work that's to be expected. I've been told that I sport that look as well, sometimes. I wouldn't know, since I don't make it a habit of keeping mirrors around. Elaine does the same sort of consulting work I do, only in Los Angeles. She's even in the phone book under “Wizards,” taking a page from my book, so to speak. I felt my throat tighten a bit, and cleared it with a cough.
“Hi, Elaine.”
She turned to look at me with a smile, but she looked tired. “Hello, Harry.”
Even Thomas was there. It was like a reunion. I felt a grin spreading over my features. “I suppose you are wondering why I have brought you all here tonight...”
Murphy rolled her eyes. “Sit, Dresden.”
Thomas returned my grin, but jerked his head toward my armchair in a meaningful way. I was actually feeling a bit tired by then, so I decided not to make an issue of it. I eased myself into the chair, acutely conscious of six pairs of eyes watching me. “You guys are going to make me blush, staring like that. I'm fine, really.”
Elaine cleared her throat. “Actually, Harry, that's why we're here. You're not really fine.”
“Is this an intervention? Because I can quit anytime I want!”
“Would you please take this seriously, Dresden?” Charity's eyes snapped, and I subsided. If they had arranged for babysitting and were here this late on a school night, then they were really putting themselves out for me. In fact, they'd already gone well above and beyond the call of duty for the past few days, and it would be pretty churlish and ungrateful of me to throw that in their faces.
“Sorry.”
Elaine was twisting one of the rings she wears on the fingers of her left hand. They serve a similar purpose to the shield bracelet I wear, only hers is way more sophisticated than anything I've been able to come up with. I decided to make the job easier for her. I'm generous that way.
“So that's the second time today I've been told I'm not really fine. I feel fine —which is weird, granted, given the circumstances— so does anyone want to explain things to me?” Okay, maybe that came out a little more belligerently than I'd intended. Sue me, being sick and incapacitated for days makes me cranky.
Elaine kept fiddling with her ring, and Murphy took the lead. “Why don't you start, Dresden? How about you fill us in on what happened last Friday?”
Involuntarily my hand went to the laceration in my scalp that was now thoroughly scabbed over. “What do you mean?”
She fixed me with a flat look. “You haven't exactly given us a lot to go on. You stagger in here, concussed and bleeding all over your cheap carpets—”
“My carpets aren't cheap!”
Murphy didn't bat an eyelash. “And the next thing we know, you're delirious with fever and raving about death curses, and then lose consciousness for two days. So, how about you fill in the gaps in that story?”
“Uh...” I blinked, a little nonplussed. “Two days? What day is it?”
“Thursday.”
“Hell's bells.” I rubbed my hand over my face. I'd lost well over two days, almost three. It had been Tuesday morning the last time I'd been awake, I was almost sure of it.
So I gave them the condensed version of the story. It wasn't as though there was that much to tell. Murphy already knew that she'd asked me to look in on a series of odd deaths that had been taking place in the city. So I had done what I always do, which is stick my wizarding nose in where no one really wanted it, and come across some pretty sure signs of vampire activity. Now, any sensible wizard who essentially declared war on all the vampire courts (for the record, it was totally their fault!) would steer well-clear of that, but luckily for all of us I have never been sensible. This was new, too. Well, as new as vampires get. As a rule, vampires are pretty old-school. Be that as it may, this was new for Chicago. Occupational hazard means that I keep tabs on local vampiric activity, so anything new tends to attract my attention. A bit of extra digging had brought me to de Rome and his little group of wannabes, but that was as far as I'd been able to get before de Rome tried to re-decorate the Chicago landscape with my brain matter.
“So I don't really know what he was up to. I was trying to question him in a civilized matter, but he took it all wrong, and the next thing I know the place is on fire and I'm getting a death curse lobbed at my head.”
Elaine was shaking her head, and doing a very bad job of hiding a smile. I scowled at her.
“What?”
“A civilized manner?”
“Sure, why not?”
“Tell me that you didn't just find out where he was, go barging in there brandishing your magical phallic symbols, and not actually give any thought to how you were going to find out what they were up to.”
Murphy snorted, and I scowled harder, to no effect. “That's totally —you can't —okay, fine. Maybe I didn't exactly think it through. Sue me.”
Michael cleared his throat. “Maybe we could keep this on-topic?”
Elaine looked a bit abashed, and I stopped scowling. Thomas looked at me, cocking his head to the side, and I noticed both Elaine and Molly stealing covert glances at him. I sighed. Even when he's not trying, Thomas is annoyingly alluring. “What about this death curse? That's what all this is about, right? You're under a death curse, like... I mean, when a practitioner dies, he or she uses up all their remaining energy to make your life a living hell, right?”
I quirked an eyebrow at him. There are only a couple of people alive (or, technically, animated) who know of my mother's death curse against Thomas' father, the king of the White Court and head of House Raith. He is those things in name only. Thomas' sister Lara pulls all the strings now, and Thomas and I are the only other two people who know about it, lest it upset the whole of the balance of the White Court. I decided to pretend I hadn't noticed his slip.
“That's about the essence of it, yeah.”
Molly bit her lip. “I thought it was pretty much impossible for a death curse to, umm...” she hesitated.
“Outright kill someone?” I supplied helpfully, and she nodded, not meeting my eyes. “Pretty much, yeah.”
“So... it's not a death curse?”
“No, I think it is,” Elaine said softly. She glanced up at me, her soft eyes boring into mine. “I don't know how he managed it, but you were haemorrhaging energy when I got here, Harry. I'm not entirely sure what it is. We... I kind of jury-rigged a shield for you. It's blocking the drain temporarily, but that's it. It's just temporary.”
My stomach felt as though I had just swallowed a big lump of lead.
“So, basically, you're saying that unless we find a way to reverse this permanently, I'm going to die.”
no subject
Please, please, you are going to finish this, right? I can't stand to be left hanging like this! There isn't much good Dresden fic out there, not that I've found, so this made my month.
no subject
I *do* plan on finishing this, have no fear. I've just run into a narrative snag which I'm trying to work out in my mind before I can resolve the story.
But it will get done, I promise!