Harry Dresden (i_wizard) wrote in we_coexist, @ 2011-02-12 10:28:00 |
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Entry tags: | dinah lance, harry dresden |
When There's Something Strange in the Neighborhood... [Dinah/Harry]
Dinah left her encounter with the vampires and Buffy feeling more than just a little out of sorts. Her head was spinning, though it was hard to tell if that was from the revelation that the City's baddies were nothing like the bad guys from home, or if it was the blood loss. Thankfully, she had some gauze, medical tape, and sanitary wipes in her first aid kit and so she was able to clean up her wound and wrap it in gauze.
She hadn't been too far from home when she'd been attacked, so she reasoned that it would be a short ride home and then she could sleep off the long fight and the injury. She hadn't counted on the City and its nasty sense of humor.
After the 10th time that she'd tried to turn to get home and ended up, again, on the same street, Dinah felt her temper bubbling over. This was really not her night.
She sped down the street past a walking figure in a long black leather duster, and then took a turn. Two seconds later, she passed the same figure. Dinah exhaled in frustration and eased her foot off the gas. She maneuvered the bike into a parking spot and kicked the tire. To prevent herself from taking out any more frustration on her baby, she turned and then took a better look at the lone person on the street. Her annoyance didn't entirely evaporate, but it eased somewhat as the figure stepped into a street light, which cast a glow over the features of Harry Dresden.
"Harry!" she exclaimed, and rushed over to him. "Are you stuck in a loop on this street too?" She tried her best to keep the faint note of hopefulness out of her voice, because she wasn't proud of the hope that she wasn't the only one the City was toying with tonight.
Misery did love company after all.
Harry had noticed the motorcycle, even though he wasn't paying any particular attention to it. It was a side-effect from so long as an investigator, he figured. And when a figure on a motorcycle passes by several times in a row, that tends to get noticed.
As Dinah hurried over to him, Mouse stepped up first, not making a sound. The movement placed him directly between Harry and the woman, with nothing so threatening as much as his simple mass and presence. Harry moved beside the dog and patted Mouse's shoulder with one hand. "Easy, boy. She's a friend." Mouse huffed out his breath, but didn't move, head tilting to watch the two humans.
To Dinah, Harry gave an easy smile. "Loop?" he echoed, confused. "No, I'm not stuck. I live here." He gestured at the boarding house across the street. "Basement, right there. What's wrong, the City's not letting you go?"
“Lucky you,” Dinah said, “And apparently the City doesn’t want me to go home tonight.” A wave of dizziness swept over her. Dinah closed her eyes and reached out for a nearby light pole. She steadied herself and then opened her eyes again.
She knelt in front of the dog and smiled encouragingly, despite the still-fierce expression on his face.
“Hey boy, I promise not to harm your master,” she addressed the dog, and then straightened up and turned her attention back to Harry.
Mouse looked wary, but huffed out his breath. He looked from Harry, to Dinah, and let out a slight whimpering noise. Harry, who had given a start when Dinah's balance seemed to waver, knelt down himself and saw the bandage on her neck. He felt his blood go cold for a moment, gripping at his staff, and took a breath. Mouse was wary, but not barking. Not growling. Just wary.
"Dinah?" Harry put a hand out, catching her shoulder to help steady her. "Did you run into something tonight?"
Mouse had placed himself between them again, under Harry's arm, but he wasn't making any hostile motions. The promise seemed to placate him for now.
"You can lean on Mouse," Harry said. "He won't let you fall." Which was true enough. Mouse was good about things like that.
“I’ll be fine,” Dinah protested, but all the same placed a bit of her weight on the dog. “Vampires. I got into a fight with some vampires.” She sighed, still frustrated with her own ignorance of something that seemed to be common to the City. “I would have lost too, but this woman showed up and stabbed them with a wood stake and they turned into dust. Well, all but the last one.”
Dinah took note then of the way Harry gripped his staff, the note of caution in his voice. She stood up straight and took a step back from the pair.
“She said that she didn’t think I would turn into one of them.” Her eyes widened as the uncertainty of that statement hit her. “You don’t think… could she have been wrong? I just assumed-hoped… she said it was her job to kill vampires, so I figured that’s as close to an expert opinion as I would get.”
Vampires. Hell's bells. Vampires.
"Black Court?" he asked, holding tighter at his staff. "Red Court?" Not Red Court, Harry hoped. Stars and stones, not the Red Court. "Might be Black, if she killed them with wooden stakes. Black Court vampires are vulnerable to that sort of thing. Where are the--" Then he frowned, looking puzzled. "They turned into dust?"
Not even really ancient vampires turned into dust when they were killed. They were just corpses. Humanoid, but not human. The whole idea of one turning into dust...
"That's... clean. Efficient. And pretty damn convenient." Harry glanced at Dinah again. "You... were bitten. But you didn't drink?" There were other ways to turn someone, as Harry well knew. But they wouldn't truly be turned unless they took a life themselves, gave into the blood thirst and embraced it. In the meantime, they could survive in that half-state, like Susan had.
A sharp bolt of pain went through Harry at the thought of Susan, but he didn't let it show in his face. He had to pay attention to Dinah now, and see what was going on.
Dinah grimaced at the question.
“I didn’t drink anything.” She tried not to gag. “But now that you mention it, I’d have to say I don’t think I’ll ever be able to even look at a rare steak again.”
Her brow furrowed as she tried to focus on his question about courts. “They didn’t say anything about any court. Buffy-the woman who saved me-didn’t mention courts either. She just said that they could be killed by a stake to the heart, sunlight, beheading. The third one she killed didn’t turn to dust though. He…” Dinah fumbled for the words to describe what she’d seen. “Sort of popped into a bubble of flesh and blood.” A hint of a shudder went through her.
“Look, Harry, if I do change into one of them… would you be able to kill me?” Dinah’s jaw set in determination. “You know what I can do. I’ve spent the last fifteen years training, honing my skills, getting stronger. All so I can help people. If there’s a chance that all that time spent training will end up hurting people, I’d rather be dead.”
If he refused, or if he didn’t think he could manage to kill her if she turned, then she would just have to seek out Buffy. Or wait in the park until the sun rose.
Harry shut his eyes, and turned away from her for a moment. Not because it was a hard choice, but for the opposite reason - he knew, knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, what his answer would be. And he didn't want to say it so quickly.
"Yes," he said, finally, turning back to look her in the eyes. "Yes, Dinah, I could kill you. And I would." That said, he withdrew his eyes before a soulgaze could begin. If she was turned, he didn't want to... oh, Hell's bells.
"I can look," he said. "To see if they've infected you." The words felt stale on his lips and tongue. If she'd been turned, he would kill her here, now. Immediately. Before the demon within her could try and save itself.
Dinah forced a small smile, attempting to be encouraging. She knew it wasn't an easy or pleasant request, but it was a relief that he was willing to do the right thing. She'd faced death down before and she wasn't going to let him know just how much the idea might shake her. She had been willing to die to save people if that was the necessary thing in the past, and that part of her personality hadn't changed.
"You could?" her voice shook slightly at the possibility of a definite answer as to whether or not she would become a monster this night. "Please do," her voice came out smaller than she wanted it to. But the determination was still there in the squared shoulders, the raised chin.
Hells bells, he didn't want to do this. But there was more at stake than simply what Harry Dresden wanted. As usual.
"I'm going to look at you," he said slowly, his voice calmer than he would have thought himself capable right now. "And you look back at me. You'll see something, and I'm sorry, but whatever you see will stay with you for the rest of your life. And I'll see something about you. And I'll know for certain."
If she had been turned, this would be moot. You needed a soul to share a soulgaze. But he would know how far any trace of corruption went.
Harry lifted his eyes and looked into hers. And waited. After a few seconds, when the stare of eyes upon eyes verged on intimacy, the soulgaze happened and Harry felt himself be drawn in.
Dinah didn’t hesitate. Something that would stay with her for the rest of her life didn’t matter if her life lasted the next five minutes. And if he was able to prove that she wasn’t a danger, then she’d live with whatever she saw there.
For the first time, Dinah realized, Harry looked her directly in the eyes. She held the gaze, and then something drew her in deeper.
A mass of images rushed at her. Rather than the mostly ordinary image of the man before her, she saw Harry garbed in armor of ice. A champion. She knew without a doubt that he would stop at nothing to protect the innocent, and to defend those he cared for. A darker shadow of the man lurked behind the figure in silvery ice, bound by Harry’s own will.
Lives lost flashed before her eyes, along with an almost overwhelming sense of regret. There was a sense of love, loss, sacrifice.
On closer inspection, the Harry in ice armor was bruised and wounded, his heart bleeding. A silver pentacle glimmered at her, a sign of hope and protection amidst the lonely figure of the wizard encased in shimmering ice.
For Harry, it was close to what Seeing Murphy had been like. But where the Sight was an overlay, a holographic image over the real world, the soulgaze was in full 3D high-definition surround sound.
He saw armor, constructed of light and sound. While not ill-fitting at all, it was old, handed down. Wings, glorious black feathered wings, rose up from behind Dinah's back, and they were carried on the sweet sounds of birds singing. In one hand, she bore a sword; bright and shining, without a hint of blood on the blade. It seemed made of glass, but she held it as though it were tempered steel. In her other hand was a shield, this one also of glass, but chipped and cracked. The sigil on it was of hands clasped over a heart. The cracks fractured the image of the hands, but never quite reached deep enough to penetrate the heart.
There were bruises on her skin, over her heart, but those would fade in time. Some were darker than others. The wound at her throat was merely that - a wound. It would heal. It would close. It would scar. The memory of the attack would do more damage than any physical remains, but she would remember it.
It was probably for the best.
Dinah’s knees buckled and gave way under the weight of everything she’d seen, but she fought to maintain her hold on consciousness.
Seeing Dinah's knees buckle, Harry stepped forward and caught her. There was no hesitation, no need to consider it. She was fine. With surprising ease, Harry lifted her into his arms. Even Mouse moved to be under her hand, providing what comfort he could.
Dinah looked up at Harry as he caught her, still trying to process the very personal glimpse into what must have been his soul. But before she could apologize for intruding like that, she needed to know.
“Did I pass?” the attempt at lightheartedness fell slightly flat with the quiver of her voice.
At her question, slowly, Harry nodded. "You're okay," he said. "Some rest, and you'll be fine." He met her eyes now, unafraid. Once they had shared a soulgaze, there wouldn't be another. "Come inside," he offered, head tilting as he motioned towards his apartment. "Let me clean that out for you, get you something to eat. We should get off the streets."
He didn't make a move to put her down. Harry wasn't certain how much blood she'd lost, but he'd seen people faint after exchanging a soulgaze with him. He didn't know what she'd seen of himself - he didn't keep a lot of mirrors - but with her this unsteady, there was no way he was going to leave her out here to fend for herself. Especially not with vampires around.
The constriction in Dinah’s chest released at the pronouncement that she was okay. To Harry’s suggestion, she nodded in agreement. “Off the streets is a good thing,” she agreed. “Not sure I could defend either of us against a mad cat attack, let alone anything else the City has to offer."
Before he could move to help her inside, Dinah rested her head against Harry’s shoulder and gave him a tight squeeze.
“You’re a good man, Harry Dresden,” she murmured.
Harry wasn't certain how to respond to that, so instinct kicked in. "Don't go around telling everyone," he said, waving a hand as he lowered the wards around his apartment, keeping Dinah in his arms. He unlocked the door, and Mouse nosed it open. "I have some PR guys reminding everyone that wizards are crotchety, bitter old men. Cuts down on the number of calls I get asking me to do birthday parties."
When the door was open, Mister, the next best thing to thirty pounds of tomcat, shot out the door, slammed against Harry's knees in an affectionate manner, and took off.
Luckily, Harry was used to this by now, and had already prepared his legs for the ambush. "Mad cat's out for the night," he said. "And nothing's getting through my wards." Harry went inside, and let Mouse shut the steel security door behind them. Inside, the apartment was dark, the only flickers of light being the dying fire. Harry sent out an effort of will and spoke, "Fliccum biccus." Candles ignited all over the apartment, and in the fireplace, the flames rose up again to offer light and warmth. Harry carried Dinah in and set her down on one of the soft couches. "Drink?" he offered. "I've got some beer, water, and Coke."
Dinah practically sank into the couch, her entire body grateful for the soft cushions and the opportunity to not have to remain upright any longer. She allowed her eyes to flicker closed for just a moment.
“So long as you don’t tell anyone that I nearly fainted after a fight with only three vampires, your secret’s safe with me,” Dinah said with a small smile. She reopened her eyes and looked up at Harry, now starting to realize that he might have seen something of her as well. Something beyond whether or not she was a vampire.
“Water please,” she answered in response to his question about beverages.
Harry froze for a moment, and stared at her. Then, he turned and walked into the kitchen, pulled a beer from the icebox, and started to drink. When the bottle was half-empty, he paused, took a breath, and then brought Dinah a glass of icewater, using some of the ice from the box. Since he didn't have any electricity, the box was his only way to keep anything cold.
"Three?" he asked, his face looking a bit pale. "You fought off three vampires?" Another long swig finished the bottle of beer. "Hell's bells."
Dinah slowly pushed herself into a sitting position and scooted over to allow Harry room to sit beside her. She accepted the water and downed half the glass in one gulp, enjoying the sensation of cool liquid on her parched throat.
Once Dinah had swallowed the water, she looked up at Harry.
“I’m not sure ‘fought off’ is the right term. I held them off for maybe an hour or two, but this was…” an involuntary shudder ran through her, “I’ve been in fights where I’ve been outclassed in skill, and I’ve been in fights that I wasn’t quite sure I could win. But this wasn’t a matter of skill or training. They all had a sloppy fighting style, but it didn’t matter. They outmatched me with strength and speed, and nothing I did knocked them down for long. I haven’t faced many options where I couldn’t at least figure out their weakness and a way to end the fight.”
Dinah took another sip of water to mask the slight shake to her voice.
“Buffy-she said that there’s no way to predict what the City has in store for you. She said there were vampires and demons, gods and monsters, random dance numbers… I’m hoping she was kidding on the last one,” Dinah said. She met Harry’s eyes. “From the sounds of it, vampires are the least of our worries. And these almost…” she shook her head, since ‘almost’ didn’t matter. Almost misses had happened before. Just not as a result of her own utter incompetence. “Anyway, I guess I have a lot to learn.”
While Dinah was talking, Harry had to go and help himself to another beer. He drank this one more slowly, but wished that he had something stronger in the apartment. He wasn't much of a drinker, but some conversations just required that he not be completely sober to discuss them. "Dinah," he said, finally. "There's no way I could hold off a vampire for that long. Not in combat. My best defenses against them are to hit them as fast and hard as I possibly can, and hope to hell that I can get away before they recoup."
Drinking the beer, holding on to it, was the best way to hide that his hand was shaking. Harry had been caught by vampires before. They had... done things. It was only pure luck and a highly toxic mushroom that kept them from draining him dry, or turning him into one himself. When they had learned that... they had gotten creative. He didn't like to remember it.
Harry let out a breath when she said that vampires were the least of their worries. That seemed more along the line he was used to. "There's a lot of things in the supernatural world to be afraid of," he said, his voice soft. "Vampires are just one of them. If they... if you lasted that long against them, they were probably toying with you." Going for her throat meant Red or Black Court - the White Court were far more subtle than that. And they didn't advertise what they were, in any case. They never went for direct action when they could use deceit and treachery instead. "What did they look like?"
“A lot of things to be afraid of. There’s a comfort,” Dinah said with a dry laugh. Then again, there were a lot of things to be afraid of where Dinah came from. But unfortunately she didn’t have Superman, Wonder Woman, or Oracle on speed dial here. She had operated on her own, of course, but not when faced with so many unknown factors. Not against things straight out of mythology and horror movies. Well, not typically anyway.
“They looked human, except for their faces. Those were distorted… more feral, animalistic. Yellow eyes. Fangs, of course.”
She took note of the softness of Harry’s voice and look up at him then. Her eyes fell on the empty beer can on the coffee table in front of her, and then traveled up to his face, which was drawn tight, slightly paler than she had thought a few minutes ago.
“Damnit Dinah,” she muttered to herself. She had been so caught up in what was going on with her and how it all felt for her that she hadn’t given much thought to how everything that had happened tonight might affect Harry.
“This is a touchy subject, isn’t it?” she asked, warm compassion flooding her voice. “We don’t need to talk about this right now. I’ve already imposed on you enough by showing up at your doorstep and dumping my problem in your lap. Not to mention that it’s late and you’re probably tired out from… what you did out there.”
She wanted to ask what it had been exactly. Wanted to ask quite a few things actually, but he’d done enough. Instead, Dinah let the unspoken gratitude she felt hang in the air. She owed him quite a bit for all he’d done for her in the short time she’d known him, but she wasn’t even quite sure how to voice that, let alone what she could do to repay the ever-growing debt.
From her description, it could only be Red Court. Black Court vampires resembled corpses more than anything else. Even the fresh ones stank of rot and death. Red Court vampires used a flesh mask to hide their demons, and that mask could resemble anything they wished. Exposing themselves could show the demon within, which might have been a hint of what Dinah had seen.
Red Court. Harry began to feel a wave of anger rising up from him. Mouse picked up his head from the floor and looked at the wizard. Harry forced himself to calm down, using the same tricks he'd taught Molly. Think, Harry, think! You killed the Red Court. They're gone. Extinct. Listen to her words. Sort them out. Something doesn't make sense.
True. He'd considered Black Court first, because of the stakes, sunlight, beheading bit. Stroker's book had been published with backing from the White Council, in order to show the world how to kill the Black Court. It had been successful, in those times. The Black Court was still vulnerable to those implements.
Red Court vampires weren't. The only way to kill them was to deny their body of the blood they feasted on, piercing the blood sac under the ribs and letting them bleed out.
Beheading was good, too. There weren't many things that could survive if you took off their heads. Humans included.
It took a moment for Dinah's voice to register. Harry looked up, and then shook his head. "The soulgaze? That's..." He considered before answering. "It's not something in and of itself that's draining. But what you see... it's sometimes hard to deal with. I'm sorry I didn't warn you."
He got back to his feet. "Let me make some sandwiches. If there's vampires out, I'd rather you stay here until morning. It won't be safe in the dark."
Definitely a sore subject. Harry barely seemed to hear half of what she’d said. Dinah waited for him to return with the sandwiches before she said anything else.
“So that was a glimpse of your soul then? It wasn’t… hard to deal with.” She didn’t meet his eyes, but she felt she owed it to him to properly thank him for what he’d done.
“It’s hard sometimes to hang onto hope when you’re fighting psychopathic serial killers, child molesters, drug dealers. Sometimes it’s easy to drown in that darkness, to forget that there is good. That glimpse-you said it will stay with me. Well, now I have some tangible proof that even when faced with loss, darkness, the temptations of power-there’s still capacity for good and nobility. Thank you.” Dinah cleared her throat nervously. “I’m sorry if the glimpse you received in return added to your burdens. I didn’t realize what I was asking of you.”
At her words, Harry actually smiled a bit. "No," he said. "I didn't see anything in you that... nothing bad. It was a nice change, actually. You've got more strength than you realize. And your wounds will heal. I didn't see anything bad at all."
It was still something of a surprise to hear what she said about him. No one had ever told Harry much about what they had learned after a soulgaze with him. Save that he was lonely. And one man who suddenly became convinced that Hell truly existed.
"I'm just... not sure what to think. The vampires you're describing aren't something I've come across before. I can tell the differences between the Red and Black Courts easily, and no White Court vampire would have attacked you like that... but it doesn't fit with what I know." He took in a deep breath and met her eyes. "There's a lot of things in the supernatural world, Dinah. You're shielded from most of it, by not knowing about it. If I tell you the whole story, you could end up in some serious trouble. I've tried to protect people before, but sometimes they get involved anyway, and..." He was thinking about Will, about Georgia, about Andie and Kirby. "I thought I had that right. That responsibility. But I don't. If you want to know, then I'll tell you. But there's no turning back once you know."
Harry’s assessment of her strength was a reassurance to Dinah. She didn’t feel particularly strong at the moment. Not after losing everyone important to her and ending up in a place where she didn’t know the rules anymore. She returned his smile.
“Well, maybe they’re not from your world,” Dinah mused. “The more people I meet here, the more I realize that every world seems to have differences. Sometimes subtle, sometimes huge. Even Buffy seemed surprised by the way that third vampire died-as though she’d never seen it before. Someone who says that fighting vampires is her job, and yet she’s never seen a vampire die in that particular way.” Dinah frowned at the implications. “It makes sense for the City, I suppose. There don’t seem to be any hard and fast rules for the City or its inner workings-so why should creatures like vampires be bound to any one set of rules?”
“As for whether or not you tell me about all this-Harry, not knowing almost got me killed tonight. Or possibly worse. And before you tell me that I should just stay home where it’s safe, ask yourself if you could just stay home and let people suffer and die? Not to mention that there are some things that have made it over from my world and all the supernatural knowledge won’t protect you-or anyone else-against the evil that my world has to offer.” A small shiver ran up her spine at the thought of the Joker and his potential presence in the City.
Harry nodded. "I understand. Really. But I had to give you the choice." He passed her a sandwich and opened another beer for himself. "Bear with me now."
He talked for a while. She had already caught on about magic being real, having seen what he could do, but it needed the right emphasis. Which Harry gave. He told her about the White Council, which was the governing body of wizards, and about the Wardens, who were its enforcers. He told her about the different courts of vampires that he knew of, Black, Red, and White. He told her about the long war between the White Council and the Red Court, brought about when Harry had struck a fiery blow against them for taking away the woman he loved. He told her about how Susan had been changed by them, and how he had lost her anyway when she left to deal with her new life as a half-vampire.
He told her about all the old gods being real, about all the old faerie tales being true. He told her about the Fae and the Sidhe, the Seelie and Unseelie Courts of Summer and Winter (respectively). About the Queens Titania and Mab, the Ladies Lily and Maeve, and the Mothers.
He told her about werewolves, about demons, about Outsiders. He told her everything he could tell her about, and even gave her several small vials of holy water to keep with her. Harry even explained about the wards around his apartment, and warned her not to try to enter, under pain of becoming a greasy black spot on the pavement. He told her how the previous wards had been destroyed after a full-scale zombie assault, with the necromancer in charge simply throwing zombies at the wards until the spells were spent. And that he'd improved things since then.
And he told her about how the Red Court had been exterminated, leaving out the part where the child needed saving was his own. He wouldn't, couldn't put his daughter in danger. Dinah wouldn't hurt her, Harry knew, but that didn't mean others couldn't get the information. The fewer people who knew about Maggie, the safer she was.
He had to make more sandwiches during the telling. And refill their drinks twice. The fire was starting to die down, and it was early morning by the time he was finished.
There were times when Dinah wanted to respond, but she felt it was better to just let Harry talk. There was a lot to digest, and her mind struggled to wrap around some of the things that should only have existed in fiction, not told in such a matter-of-fact way as things that had actually happened to someone. The story about Susan and the loss of Susan was the moment when Dinah most wanted to interject, wanted to say something comforting. Wanted to apologize for bringing vampires up to him at all. But she didn’t. She had a feeling it was painful enough for him to tell that story and digging deeper would only make it worse.
By the time Harry finished, Dinah released a breath that she must have been holding for awhile.
“Wow. That… explains a lot of things. And I’m pretty sure creates more questions, though I need time to process everything. And I thought homicidal robots, murderous aliens, and evil clones were bad,” she murmured.
Dinah leaned over and kissed Harry’s forehead.
“Thank you. For reliving all of that for me. For… everything you did for me tonight.”
Harry gave her a weary smile. It had been a lot of talking, and the emotional impact of telling her about Susan had been more draining than he had expected. He knew it was a risk in telling her anything, but... in truth... Harry was tired of being alone. He missed his friends. Dinah wasn't Murphy, but he'd seen something of Murphy's personality reflected in Dinah during that soulgaze. Both had the same warrior spirit, the same drive to protect others. Both had gotten their hearts broken before, and had turned to their own branches of crime-fighting to make their lives meaningful.
Cassius' death curse had shaken Harry, hard. He didn't want to die alone. He didn't want to live alone. And he didn't want to be in this mess alone.
But needing a friend didn't mean he could let her take his warnings any less serious. "From my world or not," he said, pulling the leather glove from his left hand. "Vampires are nasty business. Once they figure you out, know your vulnerabilities, they'll hit with everything they've got." He showed her the mangled hand. It was mostly back in shape now, after seven years of healing, but it didn't look pretty. The white and pink skin looked rubbery and melted. His nails had not yet begun to grow back, giving his fingertips an asymmetrical appearance. The palm of his hand was oddly unharmed in spots, but still looked terrible, giving a far more comprehensive look between the healthy skin, and the burned flesh. "They used flamethrowers. The fire couldn't get past my shield, but it wasn't designed to withstand heat back then. My hand melted. They nearly crippled me right there. It was another two years before I could even bring myself to use a simple fire spell, like the one I used to light my candles."
Dinah drew in a breath at the sight of the injury, but she looked it dead-on. She met Harry’s eyes and nodded.
“I won’t take them lightly,” she promised. “Believe me. When you’ve been doing what I do for as long, you see a lot of things. Killer robots, murderous aliens, evil clones, Black Lanterns. Not sure if you realize, but the life expectancy for people in my line of work isn’t very long. It’s a whole hell of a lot shorter once you start to underestimate what’s out there.”
Dinah settled back into the couch, her eyes fluttering closed for just a minute. Her muscles were now beginning to ache from the extended fight with the vampires, exhaustion creeping in to every nook and cranny of her body.
“I’ll have to give you the rundown of some of the things from my world later. You deserve to know what else might show up here. I have a feeling that the City pulls in all sorts of champions and then brings their enemies, forcing them to fight in close quarters. I really hope I’m wrong about that,” she muttered.
She opened her eyes again and looked over at Harry.
“I’d offer to compare scars with you, but mine were… healed a few years ago. The worst of them were inflicted by a human though. I suppose that seems pretty tame, comparatively,” she said with a humorless smile.
Harry nodded, and lifted the bottom of his shirt, revealing a thick scar that curved against his abdomen, the ends hidden higher on his chest, and lower past the waist of his jeans. "That was a human. With a grudge. Tried to fillet me with a hook knife." He released the shirt and shrugged. "I walked away. He didn't. I guess that's as much as we can hope for."
Dinah looked away from the scar, blinking for just a moment. Now wasn’t the time to get into that particular experience. It wasn’t something she was anxious to describe to anyone, even after all Harry had shared with her over the past few hours.
“I had a similar scar, before that dip in the Lazarus Pit,” she said. “I hate to say it, but even after all the stuff you’ve told me about, the evil that humans can do to each other still scares me more than anything.”
She closed her eyes and leaned against the couch again. It was getting harder to keep her eyes open.
He saw her eyes flutter, and got to his feet, picking her up again. "Alright," he said. "That means it's bedtime. I've kept you up long enough." He carried her to the bedroom, not concerned if she was going to try and protest. She looked wiped out, and she needed sleep. Harry was tired himself, but he needed to get some work done in his lab before he turned in for the... day.
She was getting the bed, and Harry was taking one of the couches. And that was that.
Dinah let out a small noise of protest when Harry laid her down on his bed.
“What happened to guests getting the couch and hosts keeping their bed?”
"That was different," Harry said. "That was your home. This is mine. And I'm not going to sleep on the bed when there's a hurt and tired woman out on my sofa. That's just not right.
"Besides. I have some work I need to do. I won't be sleeping just yet." Thanks to the abilities granted to him as the Winter Knight, Harry didn't feel a pressing need for sleep just yet. And he needed to find out more about these vampires, to see what they were and what was going on. He needed to talk to Bob.
Dinah rolled her eyes, a small smile playing on her lips. “Hypocrite.”
With that said, she snuggled into the pillow and quickly surrendered to the peaceful oblivion of sleep.