Under a blood red sky

Rhubarb. Where the fuck was he supposed to find fresh rhubarb and ginger at this time of year? Granted he had his suspicions as to why Justine was sending him on the wild goose chase of the year on this particular day but he didn't really have anything else to do. That meant getting in his glorious gas hog of a vehicle (and hoping today didn't actually involve running things over with it) and heading for larger stores to get what Justine wanted.

It took him until about five at night and several texts about was she SURE that was what she needed to get home.

It wasn't like Justine cooked after all so this had to be a diversionary tactic.

Karrin was righteously pissed off at him and Dresden both. He knew she'd be pissed at him when she found out the truth, but apparently Dresden hadn't told her the whole truth. Nice of him. Kincaid not only wanted to find out if that contract was still active, but if Dresden had set him up to be the fall guy when he got back. Next time he was getting this shit in writing, damn it!

He went back to Dresden's neighborhood. Everything seemed peaceful so maybe Karrin hadn't made it here yet. He'd have bet she would have gone straight here to take a pound of flesh out of the wizard, but maybe he wasn't giving her enough credit. Fine by him. That just meant he got first dibs.

He waited to see if Dresden would actually venture out, not really wanting to go into the lion's den. Dresden wouldn't give him an invitation, he was pretty sure of that, which meant he'd be vulnerable to that damn threshold. As soon as he saw the gangly wizard leave the house he paced him for about half a block then rushed ahead so he could be standing on the corner in plain view. He didn't say a word when Dresden saw him, just gave him that flat, cold expression that could mean anything. His hands were unarmed.

It was a quiet night, so Murphy took the opportunity to go for a job. She was getting restless given the lack of action that had occurred over the past few weeks. Not that she wanted things to explode, but she knew they would at the worst possible moment. She was ready to close the book on both of her cases. It was extremely frustrating to know exactly what the culprit was and to be unable to find them-or find a way to kill them.

She caught sight of a flash of red in a tree and slowed her pace. She pulled out her gun, ready for anything, as she slowly approached the tree.

There was a bit of a sense of letdown as she recognized what the little bit of red was. It was a pair lace panties that...

Murphy moved a little closer. She didn't reach up to touch them, but she sure as hell recognized them. She'd bought them just before Hawaii and hadn't been able to find them anywhere after she'd gotten back. She had her suspicions about where they'd ended up, but that didn't exactly explain why they were now in a tree here.

Of course, it could be coincidence and could just be a pair belonging to someone else who shopped at Victoria's Secret, but Murphy didn't believe in coincidence.

Once she'd woken up for the evening from the mess of a dream Saerian invaded, Phaedra immediately called Lindsey to make sure he was okay. She'd gone right for the source, though, and tried to find the man himself. It'd failed.

Two nights later, she was heading over to Lindsey's motel. There was too much going on to let him out of her sight for long. She knew he might be moving location, soon, too, and couldn't blame him. Saerian knew where he was. Might as well make it a little harder for the bastard.

She stopped just short of a block away from the place and turned around. There was someone there. She wasn't an easy woman to find, and not easy to track; she'd been moving faster than a human eye could see for most of her trip over.

A hand touched the hilt of one of her daggers, and she raised an eyebrow. She could feel someone there.

"This should be interesting," she said.

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