Night Light [Dresden Files/Ward]

[Ellf]

Chapter Eleven

Undertown, as a rule, tends to suck. I wasn't sure if it was my luck, Victoria's luck, or her poor unfortunate friend's luck that had him down here, much less being chased by would-be yetis. Toot had mentioned that the Winter ogres weren't quite right, which implied things. Ostensibly, they had been Winter-aligned once, but even now, looking at them, something was off. I'd barely had time to think about it, but there was something remarkably cool about seeing literal superheroes in action. The three of them managed to even do a superhero pose, inspiring my coterie to do the same as we took our positions around the young man whom we'd come down here to retrieve.

Four would-be yetis remained, the largest glaring at me specifically, while one of the others had eyes for Victoria. A large part of me nearly growled for that, but another part of me beat that part back. Yes, she was an attractive blonde, but she could easily pop my head like an overripe tomato. Plus, what would Murph say? She'd only been gone a couple months now. Besides, she was a client, and so were her friends now.

"Dresden, do you have a plan?" Victoria asked, but before I could answer, the ogres charged.

One swung a massive axe at me, and I slipped backward just in time for the blonde to float forward.

The axe stopped mid-air, caught on something, and another hand, invisible to the naked eye, reached out and grasped the ogre, met by another, and another still.

"Excuse me, I was speaking." The ogre suddenly flew across the room, slamming through three half-crumbled walls before embedding into the concrete that surrounded us.

I snapped my staff's tip toward the one going toward Rain and gathered my will. "Fuego."

A lance of white-hot flame leapt from my blasting rod, spearing through the ogre right as Ashley held out a hand, unleashing her own power. The world warped and wailed as a ripple of force and raw annihilation that ate through the ogre's arm, club, and the other half of its torso. Something familiar twigged at my senses as she used her power, but I didn't have time to think about it now. The ogre fell forward, leaking ectoplasm from where the upper right of its body had been, and with a smoldering hole in its side.

Two more down.

Sveta wrapped part of herself around Rain, pulling him out of reach of another ogre, and her leg unfurled, wrapping around the creature's waist, the bladed edges of the ribbon-like appendage digging into the faerie's fur. She pulled taut, and with more ribbons, held the creature in place. It was interesting to see her power in action after the incident with Mab, but even more interesting was that she just restrained it.

She easily could have dug the blades in and finished the ogre off. Sure, it might have survived, but she'd only gone for restraint.

The final ogre of the four, the smallest, wielding an axe with a wicked blade the size of a watermelon, paused mid-charge and reversed direction. He stopped ten feet away from where he started and held up his arms, letting the axe clatter to the ground. "You win. I don't know why we was told this, anyway."

This had been the one to speak about the time of day, and he had a slightly younger voice than the angered leader earlier.

"Shut it, you," growled the one held by Sveta. Clearly, he didn't want his companion to talk. Which meant that there was something to talk about. I'd thought Rain had just been unlucky, but these ogres or yetis or whatever should have been Winter-aligned. After the death of the first one, they should have backed off.

They didn't. Which begged the question.

"Told what exactly?" I asked, standing up to my full height and slipping next to Sveta so I could meet the bound ogre's gaze with my own. I brought forth the full breadth of the mantle of the Winter Knight, beating back the bestial nature and desire, instead focusing its hunter's fury as I stared down the ogre. The temperature of the air dropped at least three degrees.

"Mr. Dresden, what are you—"

"Sveta," Victoria said, cutting her off. The ribbon-bodied superhero glanced to her friend, and something unspoken passed between them as I held up a hand, forestalling further questions.

Sveta seemed worried, but I couldn't focus on her worry and what we needed to know from the ogres.

"It is not your business, Winter Knight," said the bound ogre. "And if we kill you, Mab selects someone new."

My eyes flicked to the smaller one. Maybe it would respond.

He shook his head, closing his eyes.

"What were you told?" I asked, forcing my will into that statement. I knew that they'd feel the pressure, but it wouldn't be enough for them to break.

"Winter Knight, other Wizards, I will grind your bones to make my bread," said the bound ogre. "Avenge the fallen."

It wasn't often that winter fae actively cared about others of their kind, even when hunting in packs, but it wasn't completely unheard of. Malks would defend their own, as would several other Sidhe creatures. Judging from how angry the ogres were at the loss of their fellows, there was something here.

"They're not going to answer, Dresden," Victoria said. "Shouldn't we just take Rain and go?"

She didn't know about fairies, which was fair. Today was her first introduction to them, and she was from a world where superheroes and supervillains were the norm. Instead of correcting her, I'd show her what was needed.

I forced more of my will into my final statement. "Thrice I ask and done. What were you told?"

The ogre snarled and wriggled within Sveta's grasp before going limp. "Told of the human. Slippery, deadly little human."

"We was told if we ate him, we could eat many more," said the smaller ogre.

"Who told you that?" asked Victoria, floating toward the smaller one. Somehow, despite wearing her civilian clothing, she managed to make it look menacing. It was impressive, and it drew my attention to her even more. The Winter mantle surged in that moment.

"She did!" The ogre pointed at an empty space. Nobody was there, no human, no fae. I reached out with my senses, attempting to see if there was perhaps something hidden there, but if there was, they were so thoroughly veiled that I'd have to open my Sight to see them. "She told us! She—"

The ogre screamed out, falling to his knees, and suddenly, the one bound by Sveta started screaming as well.

Then the one in Sveta's grasp spoke with a voice not his own.

"Antares," said the voice as the ogre held by Sveta moved its gaze toward Victoria. "Still standing to oppose us, I see…"

The voice was vaguely feminine, with a rasp to it as grating as nails on a chalkboard, and it sent shivers down my spine. This wasn't normal. While I'd seen Sidhe be used as mouthpieces before, it had been for the Winter Queen, and this certainly wasn't Mab. Nor was it either of the other queens, neither my grasshopper nor Mother Winter. This felt more akin to what happened with Nemesis, but somehow different. He Who Walks Beside had a much different method of speech than this, and while I didn't doubt the Outsider would recognize Victoria, (Outsiders seemed to have some limited form of omniscience, Walkers especially) this seemed far more personal. This was someone she knew.

She seemed to realize it as well, changing her stance midair as she looked the ogre over. She had a better defensive stance from any attacks the held ogre would make while still being able to keep an eye on the smaller one.

"You recognize me?" asked Victoria, studying the ogre.

"Her," Rain whispered, and I placed myself directly between him and the held ogre. I didn't need to be my grasshopper to hear the fear in that voice. He knew who she was already.

"Ah, my dear Rain understands. You will join us all soon enough," said the woman through the ogre. The head lolled over toward the smaller ogre. "You are a coward and a failure, and you are of no further use to me."

There was a brief flash of light, and the smaller ogre's head lolled off its body before the entire thing burst into a mix of ectoplasm and ichor.

Sveta gasped, but nothing else came out.

I turned my head to her. She had the tendrils and the speed. If this was a possession of sorts, there was a way I could stop it. I murmured softly to her. "Sveta, when I tell you, draw a circle on the ground around the ogre and let it go."

"What?" Sveta hissed. "Are you crazy?"

"Christine Mathers," Victoria said. "This is new for you. Your powers don't behave this way."

"This world has such wonders, Antares, as you will soon see. I would offer you to join us, but after what was done to my Elijah…" The ogre's lips curled into a sneer. "I would much rather tear that head from your body myself and drain you dry."

I cleared my throat as I gathered my will, and the ogre turned toward me. Before it could speak again, I started my own speech. "Christine Mathers, good evening. As the Wizard of Chicago and Winter Knight, I order you to cease any and all supernatural activity and return forthwith to your place of origin or the nearest convenient parallel dimension."

The ogre blinked. "What?"

I sighed. Nobody appreciated the classics. I finished the mental calculations. "Now Sveta!"

Faster than my eye could follow, Sveta did as I asked. Her limbs fully unfurled, and a circle etched in the ground around the ogre as she released it. The moment the ogre touched the ground in the completed circle, I slammed my right hand forward and attempted to close it.

Resistance came from without the circle, as the energy pouring into the ogre, being used to control it by this Christine Mathers, kept trying to be used. But I had the advantage. Christine Mathers was new to this, and her power normally didn't work this way. I knew what I was doing.

I forced my will into the creation of the circle, slamming it shut tight, and the ogre collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.

So too, did Rain behind me.

Ashley let out a small almost inaudible curse, and she picked him up. "Are we done here?"

"Is she gone?" Victoria asked.

"She's not controlling it anymore," I said. "We can go."

Victoria nodded, and together, the four of us turned to leave while Ashley carried Rain. I couldn't tell exactly what was going on with him, but from what I'd been told, it was something to do with his powers. These superpower things were unique, and apparently, I'd have to deal with them, at least a bit longer, as I tried to get this group home.

As we started to leave the way we came in, a roaring sound echoed from the hole the ogre Victoria tossed made. The ogre swiftly ran out the hole, but it only made it two steps before falling forward.

Fluttering up from under its legs, in unison, were Lacuna and Toot, blades bloodied with the hamstring. Together, they sliced through the much larger faerie's neck, in a motion that resembled just a flash of light.

The three superheroes gaped at the sight for a second.

I shrugged. "Never underestimate the little guy."

Once we got out of Undertown, I was going to take the three of them home. We'd go get the rest of their group in the morning. I didn't feel the discussion we needed to have was appropriate for a kid Kenzie's age, and I was sure that between Charity, Michael and Mouse, their people would be safe for the night. The Carpenter place was one of the safest places in Chicago, after all.

As I looked at the three women I was escorting, I beat down other urges. They were counterproductive here. We all needed two things.

Sleep and answers. I hoped we'd be able to get at least one of them.

 

[Ellf]

Chapter Twelve

On the ride back to Dresden's castle, I tried to avoid looking too hard at Ashley. Damsel had been the one that had come with us when we went into the dreams, but this was our Ashley. Who was dead. Sure, it wasn't the first time a cape had returned from the dead, but between how she'd been acting and the expression of her power, she was our Ashley. Not Damsel. Mab had mentioned the Watchman when referring to her, and Ashley had mentioned she was offered a choice. A chance to return to address an imbalance. What sort of imbalance would she be addressing, and what had the power to return her intact?

I'd already seen a fairy queen, ogres, vampires, and pixies. What else was out there? What else was real that I might not have known about?

Were they even real on Earth Gimel? I turned to Dresden, ready to ask some questions. He was a trustworthy man, a good one, but he'd made hard choices. He'd lost people, and that loss severely affected him.

I didn't get the chance to ask my first question before he started with his.

"So, you've got some crazy supervillains, huh?" Dresden asked.

Ashley let out a sharp stilted laugh. "You could say that."

"The villain to hero ratio in some cities was as high as five to one," I said. "I'm not sure what the current estimate is for The City, but it's probably close. But not many villains are quite as bad as she is."

I avoided saying or even thinking the name of the Fallen matriarch, as I didn't dare tempt her power. However she managed to possess that ogre, I didn't want to open myself up to something of the sort. If, somehow, she'd augmented her power with magic, we needed to be prepared. This Earth needed us as much as our own did.

"You said her powers don't tend to work like that," Dresden said. "What's normal for her?"

"That woman is basically a walking information hazard," Sveta said. "If you see her, observe her in any way, her power can latch onto that sense and affect it. The effects degrade over time, and they don't work with her unconscious."

"But that's not quite what happened here," Dresden said. "She controlled that ogre, and she was forced out by the circle."

Circles. When he'd done the initial tracking spell, he'd mentioned the properties of circles, how they block energy. I still didn't fully understand how it worked, but if it was entirely based on willpower and association, theoretically any circle-shaped object could work for the mnemonic. That'd explain why Sveta's arms worked, even with them being made of a different material than the one he had in his lab.

"She mentioned draining me dry," I said. "Do you think—"

"she's a vampire now?" Dresden asked, and he shrugged as he turned down a familiar street. "Maybe. You seemed to recognize some of the vampires that Yoshimo had with her, right?"

I nodded, but after noting that Dresden was paying more attention to the road, I spoke up. "Yes. They looked like some of the capes and normal people that Teacher had under his control. Students."

"Your supervillains sure are creative," Dresden said. "I'd never think of calling the henchmen of someone who called himself Teacher Students." He let out a snort.

"Some are more creative than others," Ashley said. "I was Damsel of Distress at one point, Mr. Dresden. Perhaps one day, I will be again. Well, it is increasingly unlikely, given my state of being on Earth Gimel."

I frowned. "If we go home, will you be dead again? Who exactly was this Watchman that Mab referred to?"

"That is a discussion that we should probably have behind warded doors," Dresden said as he pulled into the parking lot near his castle.

"Wards, fairies, ogres…" Sveta said, shaking her head. "Are we sure this isn't some Maggie Holt-influenced shaker or master effect?"

"Reasonably sure," I said as I got out of the car. I went to pick up Rain when Dresden reached out to do the same. He met my eyes, and after a second, he relented, letting me pick up my teammate. Yes, he knew what I was capable of, but the wizard's chivalry was a notable trait that shone brightly in his soul. As was his tendency to self-sacrifice. "Let's get inside. You do have a place for us to sleep, right?"

"I'm sure we can wrestle up something," he said. "The BFS has extra cots at the very least, and we might even have some spare beds. We'll definitely need to find something for the kid there. You sure we can't wake him?"

"Certain," Sveta said. "I assume the castle is our destination?"

"It is," I confirmed. "Kenzie and I were there earlier, before we went to where Tristan and Byron are."

Dresden led us up to the door, and he repeated the same motions he did when he took Kenzie and me in before. We followed him inside, and after setting Rain down on an empty bed, Dresden took us to what apparently was a conference room. Why we hadn't used it earlier was beyond me, but I was sure Dresden had his reasons, even if they boiled down to just him not thinking of it.

Once we were all in the room, Dresden closed the door, and briefly, I felt a bit of something seem to pass through the air as he touched the knob. I wasn't sure what precisely it was, but maybe that was magic. That feeling. I needed to know more about it, and I was sure the wizard wanted to know more about us.

"So," Dresden said, sitting at the head of the table and clasping his hands together. "I'm sure you've wondered why I've gathered you all here."

I just gave the wizard a flat look. "Really, Dresden?"

He laughed briefly, but as he looked over the three of us, he sighed. "Well, at least you got that reference. After how that Mathers creature reacted to my Ghostbusters quote, I was worried for a second."

"She's the head of a cult that likely shunned movies and television," Sveta said. "Even I knew of Ghostbusters. Victoria and I had movie nights together when we were younger, and we've had some as a team."

"It was mostly Kenzie providing the movies though," Ashley said. "Her tastes are… eclectic, to say the least."

I smiled at Ashley. Kenzie's choices were hardly the only eclectic ones on the team. Of course… Well, we would need to figure things out. "Dresden, you said we should continue our conversation in a warded area. I assume we're in one now. The questions I asked before still apply, but why did you want to be here instead of the car?"

"I'm going to answer that question with a question of my own," Dresden said. "What do you know of wards? Magical ones, I mean."

"Wards are protective spells," Ashley said. "In Maggie Holt, they're a specialty of magic used by Wardens to reinforce boundaries and are used to protect civilians by supporting the metaphysical boundaries against Others."

Either she was paying more attention to the films than I thought those nights, or she ended up sneaking the books off the shelf and reading them. Either way, it was a good summary of what the books said.

"That's… not entirely inaccurate," Dresden said. "Wardens aren't exactly that here, but terminology differences make sense given different worlds and you're talking about a fictional story."

"To be fair, the largest cape group is also now called the Wardens, so it's especially jarring to hear or read now," I said. "So, you're saying that the wards here are similar to that in Maggie Holt?"

"Without having read the book or seen the movie, yes," Dresden said. "The concept is the same, anyway. Wards are magical defenses set up by practitioners, and they can be designed to do any number of things. The ones on this building are designed to keep out hostile magic, hostile beings from the Nevernever, and to protect from those with ill-designs toward those under their aegis. My car doesn't have those protections."

"I see," I said. "So, would it keep out this Watchman that your queen mentioned?"

Dresden let out a sharp laugh. "Unlikely. I don't have that kind of power, but he's not exactly someone you need to worry about. He's the one responsible for Ashley being here, but if she was dead, I'm not exactly sure how he managed to pull off the Lazarus trick with his limitations."

"It's… complicated," Ashley said. "I was offered a choice, and he told me that he was reinforcing something our world already had." She wiggled her fingers. "These are real now. This body… it is mine as much as the previous one. Perhaps more so."

"So, you have resurrection on your world then?" Dresden asked.

I waggled my right hand. "Not exactly… We do have someone capable of creating clones, well, a couple people, really. But the clones aren't exactly the original person, even with their memories."

"But we're not significantly different from our originals," Ashley said. "But sometimes small differences add up. My sister has certain inclinations that I don't."

"So… you're a clone… that was killed, and Uriel brought you back here," Dresden said. He offered Ashley a smile. "Did he give you details?"

"Not as such," she said. "Just that I was here to correct an imbalance."

"Yeah, well, he's got his limitations, and we have ours," Dresden said.

"Wait," I said. "Uriel. As in the Archangel Uriel? That one? He's real?"

"Well, a good friend of mine once said that perhaps he was some sort of highly advanced alien," Dresden said. "And well, there are definitely demons out there, along with Fallen Angels that work with humans. The supernatural world is large, and we recently had a short lifting of the veil here in Chicago. Barely a few months ago."

"What happened?" Sveta asked. "We passed by some areas that had started rebuilding."

"An Ancient Nasty came, and we fought it off," said Dresden. I could hear the capitals in his voice. His voice wavered a little as he looked down at the conference table. "We lost some good people that day. Some not so good too, but they were all willing to fight for Chicago."

Endbringer. They had fought something that might have been the supernatural equivalent of an Endbringer, and they'd won. Driven it off, defeated it, but the death toll still existed. Dresden had lost someone close to him too.

I glanced at the door. Rain would still be asleep for a good while yet. Our powers working and his own meant that we were still somehow connected to them, and having seen them in that crystalline dreamscape, somehow, we'd come out this side.

"Drain you dry…" Sveta murmured. She tapped her chin, giving me a once over. "Victoria, you said that you and Mr. Dresden faced vampire versions of Students, right?"

"Blampires," Dresden said. After a brief second, he shook his head and corrected himself. "Vampires of the Black Court. Basically, what you'd get out of Stoker or Buffy."

"So, weak to those standard weaknesses then," Ashley said. "But they're strong?"

"Stronger than what was on Maggie Holt," I said. "But… I'm stronger."

"What if she's one?" asked Sveta. "She wasn't able to possess people before, but maybe her power changed some when she changed."

"Powers can adjust," I admitted. "But by that much?" I thought back to some of the courses I'd taken along with everything we learned recently. Without knowing how the body and mind changed when the vampiric change happened, I wouldn't know full details.

"I'm not entirely sure an ogre counts as a person," Dresden said. "Sapient being, sure, but fairies don't have free will like you and me. They act within their purpose. But… she seemed capable of overriding that. I've only seen that a couple times before, but it wasn't a vampire that did it."

"But could a vampire do it, potentially?" I asked. "The change, I mean. Do you know much about the specifics?"

"For the Black Court? Not really," Dresden said. "But I know someone who does. Victoria, I trust you to be able to handle it well, but… Ashley and Sveta, I apologize. There are some secrets where the less some people know, the better."

Sveta nodded in understanding, and while Ashley wasn't happy with the choice, I knew she would understand. She wasn't stupid, and I'd share the information that I gained as it became relevant. It wouldn't be the first time I'd kept certain things secret from the team because they weren't directly relevant to what we planned. However, both knew that I'd share it if it became relevant.

A knocking came from the conference room's door, and the three of us looked over to Dresden. It was his place, after all.

"Expecting someone?" Ashley asked. "Should you get that?"

Dresden lazily shoved himself back from the desk, and he walked to the door. With another spark of static that made the hairs on my neck stand up, the vague feeling of oppression at the door faded. Dresden opened the door, revealing Will Borden, still wearing the same outfit as earlier, as he smiled at us.

"Harry," he said. "And Miss Dallon. It looks like you were successful at finding your people. Where's the kid?"

"At Michael's," said Dresden. "What's up, Will?"

"Ah. Makes sense," Will said. He glanced around again, but at what appeared to be a slight nod from Dresden, he continued. "There's been a phone call. I know that you didn't want to take calls from you-know-who again for a little while, but it came through on a private line. Also, while he wants to talk to you, he also wants to speak with Miss Dallon."

"Who does?" I asked as I floated closer.

Will looked up at me with the bits of joy I'd seen on those who encountered me for the first time. Admittedly, it was the second time today he'd seen me, but maybe it was the flight. "Harry knows."

"Johnny Marcone. Excuse me, Baron Johnny Marcone," Dresden said. "Of course, he knows something about this mess already. The question is how much?"

"And how?" I asked. "We seem to be a step behind everything. Who exactly is he, anyway?"

"Scum," Will said. "But scum that wants this city to thrive."

"Ah, the local Warlord," said Ashley. "If you don't wish to meet with him, Victoria, perhaps I will in your place."

"He specifically requested Miss Dallon," Will said. "He said that if you appeared reluctant to join Harry at Executive Priority Health, to uh… use a term that I wouldn't say around my wife, let alone any children. I'm glad your kid's not here."

"She's…" I trailed off, and I looked at the man, meeting his eyes. "What was the phrase?"

"He said, and I quote, 'If Miss Dallon is reluctant to join us, please relay that 'Glory Hole's presence' is required directly'," Will said. "He said that you would know what it meant."

"He's right," I said. I did know what it meant. "When does he want to meet?"

"Tomorrow morning," Will said. "No earlier than nine."

Dresden sighed. "Guess we should get some sleep then. Will, could you show Ashley and Sveta to some beds?"

"Of course, Harry, that's not a problem." Will gestured for them to follow him, and they did.

After Will escorted my teammates out of the room, Dresden turned to me and met my eyes. "There's only a couple of ways I can think of that Marcone knows about you. Someone at Mac's might have reported your presence to him, but that doesn't explain the phrase."

"He has someone with him," I said. "A… not quite an enemy, but not exactly a friend… "

"Okay…" Dresden said. "Someone you're familiar with, then?"

I nodded. "We've fought and worked together a few times. She can be a pain, but her heart's generally in the right place, even if she can be a bit of a bitch."

"Ah, makes sense," Dresden said. "She got a name?"

Well, she did, but I wasn't going to give away a secret identity unless she wanted me to. Even here. "She goes by Tattletale when in costume, and she's almost certainly in costume when working with someone like your Marcone."

"Tell me more about her?"

"If you tell me more about him," I replied. "And what about that thing for the vampires?"

"Right," Dresden said. "After our meeting with Marcone, I'll introduce you to Bob."

"Bob?" I asked.

"Our castle's resident spirit of knowledge," he said. "You'll either like him or hate him, but he is knowledgeable."

Right. Bob. Spirit of the Castle. I really needed to adjust my expectations for this world. But I steered the conversation back toward more familiar things. Bob could wait. If we were taking this meeting tomorrow, I needed to be prepared to meet with Baron Marcone.

And Dresden needed to prepare to meet Tattletale.

I'd do my best with him, but I wasn't a miracle worker.