Part 11 (1/2)

”Yeah. She gets oversensitive about 'little.'”

My shoulders tightened with the tension as Thomas drove forward slowly and carefully. He stopped the car beside the last house on the street. It had a finished look to it, the bushes of its landscaping poking up forlornly through the snow. There were curtains in the windows, and the faint marks of tire tracks, not quite full of new snowfall, led up the drive and to the closed garage.

”Someone's behind that third window,” Thomas said quietly. ”I saw them move.”

I hadn't seen anything, but then I wasn't a supernatural predator, complete with a bucketful of preternaturally sharp senses. I nodded to let him know that I'd heard him, and scanned the ground around the house. The snow was untouched. ”We're the first visitors,” I said. ”We're probably making someone nervous.”

”Gunman?”

”Probably,” I said. ”That's what most of Marcone's people are used to. Come on.”

”You don't want me to wait out here?”

I shook my head. ”There's something else else out here. It might be nothing, but you're a sitting duck in the car. Maybe if you'd gotten the armored version...” out here. It might be nothing, but you're a sitting duck in the car. Maybe if you'd gotten the armored version...”

”Nag, nag, nag,” Thomas said.

”Let's be calm and friendly,” I said. I opened the door of the Hummer and stepped out into snow that came up over my knees. I made sure not to move too quickly, and kept my hands out in plain sight. On the other side of the Hummer Thomas mirrored me.

”h.e.l.lo, the house!” I called. ”Anyone home?” My voice had that flat, heavy timbre you can only get when there's a lot of snow, almost like we were standing inside. ”My name is Dresden. I'm here to talk.”

Silence. The snow started soaking through my shoes and my jeans.

Thomas whipped his head around toward the end of the little street, where the subdivision ended and the woods that were next in line for the bulldozers began. He stared intently for a moment.

”It's in the trees,” he reported quietly.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I hoped fervently that whatever was out there, it didn't have a gun. ”I'm not here for trouble!” I called toward the house. I held up two fingers and said, ”Scout's honor.”

This time I saw the curtain twitch, and caught a faint stir of motion behind it. The inner door to the house opened and a man's voice said, ”Come in. Hands where I can see them.”

I nodded at Thomas. He lifted his hand, holding his car key, and pointed it at the Hummer. It clunked and chirped, its doors locking. He came around the car, sword belt hanging over his shoulder, while I broke trail to the front porch, struggling through the snow. I knocked as much of the powder as I could off my lower body, using it as an excuse to give me time to ready my s.h.i.+eld bracelet. I didn't particularly want to step through a dark doorway, presenting a shooting-gallery profile to any gunman inside, without taking precautions. When I came in I held my s.h.i.+eld before me, silent and invisible.

”Stop there,” growled a man's voice. ”Staff down. Show your hands.”

I leaned my staff against the wall and did so. I'd know those monosyllables anywhere. ”Hi, Hendricks.”

A ma.s.sive man appeared from the dimness in the next room, holding a police-issue riot gun in hands that made it look like a child's toy. He was built like a bull, and you could apply thick thick and and rocklike rocklike to just about everything in his anatomy, especially if you started with his skull. He came close enough to let me see his close-cropped red hair. ”Dresden. Step aside.” to just about everything in his anatomy, especially if you started with his skull. He came close enough to let me see his close-cropped red hair. ”Dresden. Step aside.”

I did, and the shotgun was trained on my brother. ”You, vampire. Sword down. Fingers laced behind your head.”

Thomas rolled his eyes and complied. ”How come he doesn't have to put his hands behind his head?”

”Wouldn't make any difference with him,” Hendricks replied. Narrow, beady eyes swiveled like gun turrets back to me. ”What do you want?”

I wasn't sure I'd ever heard Hendricks speak a complete sentence, much less string phrases together. It was sort of disconcerting, the way it would be if Mister suddenly developed the capacity to open his own cans of cat food. It took me a second to get over the mental speed b.u.mp. ”Uh,” I said. ”I want to...”

I realized how lame this was going to sound. I gritted my teeth and said it quickly. ”I want to help your boss.”

There was a clicking sound from the wall, the sound of an audio speaker popping to life. A woman's voice said, ”Send the wizard up.”

Hendricks growled. ”You sure?”

”Do it. The vampire stays downstairs.”

Hendricks grunted and tilted his head to the right. ”Through there and up the stairs, Dresden. Move it.”

”Harry,” Thomas said quietly.

Hendricks brought his shotgun back up and covered Thomas. ”Not you, prettyboy. You stay put. Or both of you get out.”

”It's okay,” I said quietly to my brother. ”I feel better if someone I trust is watching the door anyway. Just in case someone else shows up.” I cast my eyes meaningfully in the direction of the woods where Thomas had said something lurked.

He shook his head. ”Whatever.” Then he leaned back against the wall, casual and relaxed, his hands behind his head as if they were there only to pillow his skull.

I brushed past Hendricks. Without slowing down or looking behind me, I said, ”Careful with that gun. He gets hurt and it's going to be bad for you, Hendricks.”

Hendricks ignored me. I had a feeling it was his strongest conversational ploy.

I went up the stairs, noting a couple of details as I went. First, that the carpet was even cheaper than mine, which made me feel more confident for some obscure reason.

Second, that there were bloodstains on it. A lot of them.

At the top of the stairs I found more bloodstains, including a long smear along one wall. I followed them down to one of three bedrooms on the upper level of the house. I paused and knocked on the door.

”Come in, Dresden,” said a woman's voice.

I came in.

Miss Gard lay in bed. It had been hauled over to the window so that she could see out of it. She had a heavy a.s.sault rifle of a design I didn't recognize next to her. The wooden handle of a double-headed battle-ax leaned against the bed, within reach of her hand. Gard was blond, tall, athletic, and while she wasn't precisely beautiful, she was a striking woman, with clean-cut features, icy blue eyes, and an athlete's build.

She was also a mess of blood.

She was soaked in it. So was the bed beneath her. Her s.h.i.+rt was open, revealing a black athletic bra and a long wound that ran the width of her stomach, just below her belly b.u.t.ton. Slick grey-red ropy loops protruded slightly from the wound.

My stomach twisted, and I looked away.

”Goodness,” Miss Gard said, her voice quiet and rough, her face pale. ”You'd think you never saw anyone disemboweled before.”

”Just relieved,” I said. I forced myself to face her. ”First time today I've run into someone who looks worse than me.”

She showed me a weary smile for a moment.

”You need a doctor,” I said.

She shook her head. ”No.”

”Yes,” I said. ”You do. I'm surprised you haven't bled to death already. Think of what it would cost Monoc Securities to replace you.”