Jim Butcher - Dresden 06 by Blood Rites

Author:Blood Rites [Rites, Blood]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-04-05T04:00:00+00:00

"Wizard means that you can do sorcery if you need to," I said, "but it also means you can do a lot of other things too. A wizard's power isn't limited to blowing things up, or calling up demons. A good wizard can adapt his magic in almost any way he can imagine. Which is the problem."

"What do you mean?" Murphy said.

"Mavra is good at veils," I said, mostly to Kincaid. "Real good. She did some long range mental communications last night, too."

Kincaid stopped eating.

"You're saying that this vampire is a wizard?" Murphy asked.

Kincaid stared at me.

"It's possible," I said. "Maybe even likely. It would go a long way toward explaining how Mavra survived all this time."

"This mission is heading for downtown FUBAR," Kincaid said.

"You want out?" I asked.

He was silent for a minute and then shook his head. "But if Mavra is awake and active, and if she's able to start tossing heavy magic around in closed quarters, we might as well drink some Bacardi-and-strychnine and save ourselves some walking."

"You're afraid of her," Murphy said.

"Damn right," Kincaid said.

She frowned. "Harry, can you shut down her magic? Like you did with Kravos?"

"Depends how strong she is," I said. "But a wizard could handle her. Probably."

Kincaid shook his head. "Magical lockdown. I've seen that work before," he said. "One time I saw it fail. Everybody died."

"Except you?" I asked.

"I was in back, covering our spellslinger when his head exploded. Barely made it out the door." Kincaid pushed a piece of sausage around his plate. "Even if you can shut her down, Mavra's still going to be real tough."

"That's why you get to charge so much," I said.

"True."

"We go in Stoker-standard," I said. "Garlic, crosses, holy water, the works."

"Hey," Murphy said. "What about that pocketful-of-sunshine thing you told me about? With the white handkerchief you used on Bianca a few years back?"

I grimaced. "Can't," I said.

"Why not?"

"It's impossible, Murph. It isn't important why." I hauled the conversation back on course. "We should be able to keep Mavra back until we deal with any goons. Then we can take her down. Any questions?"

Kincaid coughed significantly, and nodded at the table, where the waitress had, at some point, left us a bill. I frowned and fumbled through my pockets. I had enough to cover it, but only because I managed to find a couple of quarters in the various pockets of my duster. I left the money on the table. There wasn't enough for a tip.

Kincaid regarded my lump of wrinkled small bills and change, then studied me with a distant, calculating gaze that would have made some people very nervous. Like people who had agreed to pay a lot of money but didn't have any.

"That's it for now then," I said, rising. "Get anything you need ready, and we'll go later today. I want to hit them as soon as I find them."

Kincaid nodded and turned back to his plate. I left. My shoulder blades felt itchy when I turned my back to Kincaid.

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