Margaret "Molly" Katherine Amanda Carpenter (ragged_lady) wrote in blood_red_sky, @ 2011-10-01 17:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | harry dresden, karrin murphy, molly carpenter |
The demi-gods and hungry ghosts oh god, god knows i'm not at home (Harry/Murphy)
“It was down this road.” Molly had pretty much led Harry by the hand approaching Trout Run Road, but once they started getting closer to it she became less eager she became until she was almost behind him. “I could feel it. Like a trail of darkness that got thicker the longer you walked.” She looked up at Harry curious to see if he felt it too. “I was going to follow it all the way down until I ran into para-military guy blowing demon heads up in the middle of the road. Riley. I told you about him.”
Harry knew this road. The Gates themselves weren't hidden, but out of the way. Unlike most urban legend-type places, there was no gift shop, no guided tours. This was real, and it was old. People didn't like to be at places like this. Deep in their subconscious, they knew something had tainted the earth, the trees, the very air.
"You felt the Gates," Harry said, nodding. "I can't sense it the same way. It just feels... like the air is a bit slimy, muddy ground even though I can feel it's dry and solid." A trail now, that was something interesting. But Molly's senses for magic had always been more delicate than his. Much more delicate.
He also wondered about the military guy. Why was the military here? There usually weren't enough vanillas who believed in this sort of thing to have them so active. Special Investigations types were the most clued-in as Harry had ever found. Bringing in mortals like that... it was dangerous ground. Nuclear assault of the supernatural world.
When Molly began to flag, Harry drew himself up, his stance widening into something a bit more assertive and confident from his usual stooping walk. The staff in his hand began to glow faintly as he drew in his will, a subtle display of power. He wanted Molly to feel safe with him. He wanted her to feel safe, period.
“Really?” Molly’s voice sounded a bit small and she bit her lip. She had been walking right to them! Following her mystical nose straight to the gates to hell. If Riley hadn’t shown up who knows what could have happened to her! That was a bit daunting of an idea, and she was beginning to wonder if she was way out of her depth here.
She looked up at her venerable teacher and couldn’t help but wonder if he was angry with her for having even started to follow this trail she felt. “Have you seen them?” She was resisting the urge to grab a hold of his coat sleeve as if she were seeking comfort. Instead she fiddled her fingers together. This place was making her twitchy!
Harry nodded. "Yeah. I was out here when I met Fray. That Slayer from the future I told you about." Briefly, at least. Harry didn't know much about Fray, but allies were allies. "The Gates seem to be dormant during the day. Bob said there were different locks on them, in a few different dimensions. Space, time, astrological, et cetera. I only saw the first one, but it was apparently locked at the time."
He caught her look, and smirked. "Just try and be aware where you're going, grasshopper. At least at night."
That sounded…really neat! Her mind latched onto it and began pondering how to apply something like that to wards. Physical lock could house a key that linked to another that could be grounded in the threshold which could lead to another on the other side in the Nevernever and whoa! Kerboom wouldn’t even begin to cover the reaction.
Her eyes had gone perhaps a little vacant but that worried look was still in place. She snapped out of her reverie and smiled a little up at Harry. “Always am.”
Then suddenly her eyes went wide and that Ragged Lady Harry didn’t like crashed over her features. She was gone from sight a heart beat later just as Harry got a sharp shove. “Run!”
There was a blur of motion then Molly cried out. Her voice wasn’t right beside Harry like it should have been but in the trees across the street along with a whole lot of rustling as fallen leaves and twigs were displaced.
Harry didn't think, just reacted. Run? What the hell kind of instruction was that? Molly had vanished under one of her first-class veils, but the scream brought him running, his long legs getting him from point A to point B faster than someone his size should have been able to move. Power slammed into his shield bracelet, in a dome all around. He couldn't see the danger, but all his instincts were screaming at him that it was there.
"Molly!" Deep red light flared from his staff as the carvings began to glow. Shadows warped all around as Harry turned, trying to get a better idea of what was going on.
He got there just in time to see Molly’s face go flat of all emotion, her eyes drained of any sort of awareness. The Ragged Lady was in the house at the moment. With a vampire trying to get a bite on her. He was a normal looking guy, average, nothing to stand him out from the rest but he had a hold of Molly, and was aiming to take a snack from her.
Idiot.
Something in Molly’s head saw the fangs that close and snapped entirely. A word shouted out blasted the vampire off of her hard enough to send him flying back first against a tree large enough Harry’s arms might have trouble circling it. The impact split the trunk and the vamp fell to the earth. Unfortunately so did Molly. The amount of force she used snapped her back against a tree knocking her unconscious after her head knocked against the wood.
"Molly!" Hell's bells. Harry ignored the vampire for the moment. A blow like that would knock out the creatures he was familiar with, except for the Black Court. Which that glance had confirmed this bastard was not. He dropped to the ground beside his apprentice, the shield fading as he felt for her pulse.
It was thready, but there. Her face was slack, unconscious. No help from that end. He remembered how she'd struck the tree, and had an unpleasant reminder about the sharp world of agony he'd felt when his back had struck the brick path behind the boarding house. The last thing he'd felt until Mab had healed his spine.
Something shifted in the wood behind him. Harry spun, whipping out his staff, but the blow was clumsy from how he was kneeling. It was knocked from his hand, and the faint red light was gone, leaving Harry in darkness.
"Aw, shit."
He belonged to no Court Harry would recognize. There were no telltale signs beyond the elongated canines to even identify him as vampire. No claws. No black on black eyes. No rotting flesh constantly flaking away. But he was fast, strong, and there was something about his eyes that pegged him as not human. Small pinpoints of light dwelled within his pupils as if something other than himself looked out through his eyes.
The vampire recognized a practitioner when he saw one. The girl would have been easy, but this one looked like he knew what he was about. He couldn’t waste time toying with the magi. The staff was out of his grip, but it was kicked away for good measure. Then he rushed the mage, his lips pulled back exposing his fangs but eerily silent. He had learned that silence seemed to disturb your opponent, kept them off balance. He would never understand why.
Operating on pure instinct, Harry threw himself to the side. He pour some willpower into his amulet, giving off a pale blue light to see by, and the moment he saw the figure standing, he raised a hand and unleashed the power stored in half the rings on his hand.
The blast knocked him off his feet and back a few yards, but he was on his feet and into a blur of motion almost immediately. He kept to darting behind and around trees, keeping to no pattern but not closing in on the magi yet. His voice came from everywhere and nowhere mockingly. “I know you, mystic. I thought I recognized that damned trinket around your neck.” He chuckled, and just to be cheeky nudged the prone Molly on a pass pulling a groan from her. “The descriptions of Harry Dresden do not live up to the reality, I must say.”
"Yeah, I keep telling my publicist. I don't do hats." The staff was gone, and he wasn't about to start searching for it in the dark. No use, not when a damned vampire was goading him. Harry was staying low, but he knew the light was something he needed, and the vampire didn't. Shutting it off would only give it more advantage. He didn't bother trying to hide, since it would find him anyway, by sight or smell or sound.
He had his blasting rod, but that was a tool for fire magic. And fire, once called, behaved like fire. With how dry the ground was, he could light up the forest in a matter of seconds. The point was to survive killing the uppity bloodsuckers.
Then the bastard did something to Molly. Harry rose, his right hand coming up. "Trust me. You really don't want to meet that guy."
Ah. So the man reacted when his pets were threatened. Weakness noted. Maybe the man’s reputation was as exaggerated as his appearance had been. “Oh I have been looking forward to meeting you, Mr. Dresden. Chichén Itzá is becoming something of a tale to scare little neonates with.”
He stepped out from behind the tree Molly had hit. She was coming to, frowning against the headache pounding behind her skull but was certainly not aware of her surroundings yet. He smirked at Dresden, his eyes actually trying to catch the wizard’s. “How does it go? Don’t move or the lady gets it.”
Harry arched a brow. "Who needs to move?" Without pausing, he poured out his will, shouting, "Forzare!" On-the-fly corrections had always been a strong suit of Harry's, as now. A lance of force erupted between the vampire and the apprentice, knocking them in opposite directions; the vampire away, and Molly, to Harry. He shifted a step, but was slightly unprepared for the velocity at which Molly was moving. That, plus her weight (and Molly was a well built young woman), knocked Harry back to the ground and sent Molly rolling away again.
"Veil, Molly," Harry snapped, hoping his voice would reach her through the attempts to wake up. "Veil! Now!"
The amulet had gone out. Harry went still. There was barely enough starlight to see by. But at least now he was between the vampire and Molly.
Molly had opened her eyes just in time for that and lots of practice with Lea kicked in. She went limp for the landing and rolled, disappearing immediately on Harry’s urgings. The vamp flew back again, landing not near as gracefully as Molly had, but got his feet under him and blurred after the wizard. The girl was gone. Again! But she was also forgotten within his rage for getting struck twice by this upstart. He would have his blood!
Harry was in the middle of turning over so he could get to his feet when the arm supporting him was pulled away. There was a pop and his shoulder became a world of bright red agony, the arm cruelly pulled behind his back while a knee drove into his hip to keep him against the ground. Not willing to give in, Harry began to rock, trying to get momentum to toss the bastard off his back, struggling to block out the pain from his shoulder.
His opponent was down. So easily damaged. This Dresden was nothing! He could present him to his creator with a bow on his head. The vampire’s fingers clamped down on that shoulder, squeezing to make sure he had the wizard’s attention as he leaned down to take a taste of the magi who murdered an entire race…
…only to reel back with a scream. Blood dribbled unswallowed down his chin and he pawed frantically to clear it from his mouth. “Cold! Death cold!” He hissed, scrabbling off Harry’s back. “What are you?!”
“He’s Harry Fucking Dresden, asshole!” Molly’s voice was cracked, not sounding like her at all, but the incantation she shouted was unmistakable. The resulting kinetic blast that shot the vampire away from her teacher just as recognizable as only an apprentice to him could prove. “Back off!”
Her eyes were widened with whites showing all around her blues. She was shaking hard enough to be visible even in the low light, and she was breathing hard. She was petrified, and judging by how she would flinch occasionally she was seeing things that weren’t really there.
His arm was dislocated, but that suddenly didn't matter much to Harry. Rage had burned through now, rage at being bitten by one of these dribbling idiots. He heard Molly, felt the vampire get off his back, and used his right arm to support the left. Six rings left.
"Fucking vampires," Harry growled, and released the power stored in all six rings at once, directly at the vampire's neck.
But his hands slipped a bit, and the lance of force barreled like a train at the groin instead.
Vampire or no that was pain. A whole lot of pain. The force blasted his leg out from under him and he went down with his snarl pitched a few octaves higher. He knew he would be vulnerable, and death at the hands of the likes of Dresden was not what he wanted to be remembered for. Desperation put him back into motion, launching him towards the girl in a feint then redirecting at Dresden at the last minute.
Molly had shrieked and crumpled in on herself, as the vampire managed to get an eyelock on Dresden, immediately slamming him with the glamour he and his kind can work instead of sinking into the expected soulgaze. “You don’t remember me.” The force of his mind stripped all memory of him from the wizard then he was gone.
It was enough. If you had danglies, and could lose them, you wanted to make sure they stayed where they were. The vampire's shriek of pain brought a grim smile to Dresden's lips, and he began to struggle to his feet once more.
The eye contact was sudden and unexpected, and with Harry trying to block out the coming soulgaze, the vampire's words flooded over his mind. His feet fell away and he landed on his bad shoulder, letting out a scream of his own.
You don't remember me.
I'll remember you, you son of a bitch.
You don't remember me. The words took hold, burning through his mind. Then everything went mercifully black.
”…harry..” Panic was setting in hard. In between trying to wake Harry Molly was whimpering, and trying to force her mind to work right, but it wasn’t and she was losing it. She kept flinching and twitching, feeling things grab at her, touch her, wanting to hurtkilltearherapart. This was bad. Very bad. She couldn’t be alone can’t bealonedon’tleavemealone- “Harry wake up please!” She shook him hard as she cried that out.
Blinding pain in his shoulder brought Harry back to consciousness with a scream. His instincts were still in battle-mode, pushing out a solid dome shield to cover himself and... Molly, that was Molly. Crying. Why did he want to rip something's face off?
"M...Molls?" His head felt like a bad hangover. What the hell had just happened? They were walking to the Gates... and now... Harry tried to hit up, but let out a surprised cry of pain when his left arm refused to do anything. Hell's bells, it was one huge knot of pain. He held the shield up, just in case, using his right arm to reach out for Molly. "Veil us. What happened, Molly? Stars and stones, what the hell happened?"
Every time he called out for the pain Molly cringed even further in on herself until she finally clapped her hands to her ears. “I’msorryI’msorryI’msorry!” She rocked in place with her knees pulled up tight to her chest, her eyes shutting tightly. The veil that slammed around them was almost audible, but the night got even darker for as thickly as she made it.
“A vampire. Oh god, Harry they’re everywhere!” She was screening out sound as well as sight, hiding them from the monsters she just knew were out there. They were hiding behind every tree, every stray scrub, waiting for her to move just enough. “…everywhere..all around us…” At least she stopped shouting.
Vampires? Here? Harry reached out with his wizard senses, but couldn't find anything around. Some residual traces of evocation, making him wince as pain pierced his mind, but apart from him and Molly and the veil, there was nothing.
"It's okay, Molly. We're alone. Just us. No vampires here, I promise." Something wasn't right. How had he... There was a blank spot in his memory. Walking along the path, and now here. His shoulder was hurting, from under his chin to just above his elbow. And his head ached.
Carefully, he lowered the shield and reached for his.... "Molly? Where's my staff?" He was going to need help getting up. Hell's bells, he wasn't going to be able to drive like this! And Molly... she was in no condition for anything right now. What the hell was she apologizing about?
She failed. He’s hurt. She should have done more. Shouldn’t have gotten in the way. It’s all her fault and it was getting difficult to breathe. Harry asked her a question though. Pay attention! If you aren’t paying attention you are dead! Lea’s words echoed in her head as her eyes darted around looking for where Harry’s staff got kicked. She pointed off in the direction she thinks she saw it land then pulled her hand back quickly as if there were a shark out there just waiting to snap it off. “Over there. I think.”
This wasn't going to work. He didn't know what was going on, but Molly was in too much trauma to be any help.
The question was, how would they get help? It was already after sunset, and the idea of waiting all night this close to the Gates was one Harry didn't intend to see through in this state. Neither of them had a cell phone, and - not for the first time - Harry swore about not being able to carry one. He didn't want to risk calling Toot-toot, since the pixie was normally stationed in Chicago, and since Molly didn't know him, any unknown might be viewed as a threat right now.
Elaine was too far away. Susan was gone. So Harry turned his thoughts to another woman who truly mattered.
Murph? He'd never tried the spell like this before. He had no physical intimate connection to Murphy, but all the same, he knew her. Knew her as well as anyone he'd soulgazed. He sent the spell out to her, lacing it with soulfire to give it the extra something. Murphy, I need you!
Murphy was home early, for once. She'd just settled into cooking dinner when something nudged her. She couldn't put her finger on it exactly. Not right away.
And then, clear as day, Harry's voice spoke to her.
"Harry?"
Even though it hadn't been audible, even though it had seemed to come from inside her head, all the same Murphy turned on the spot looking for him. She'd spent over a decade watching Harry do things that were not only impossible but nigh-inconceivable. All the same, a part of her still searched for the 'real', for the grounded. And that part took a few minutes to accept that Harry was not physically in the room and that his voice was somehow in her thoughts.
Either she was going insane or somehow Harry had gone Professor Xavier on her.
"Harry? Where are you?" she tried thinking back, though she honestly didn't know if it would even work
”I’msorryI’msorry.” Molly tucked her head down behind her knees with her arms wrapping around them tightly, pulling herself into a ball as she sat in the leaves shivering. Her head was pounding, her back hurt and there was a phantom pain in her thigh where she had taken a bullet. With her eyes squeezed shut all she heard, all she saw was that night in Chichén Itzá. Magic was being hurled all around her. Blood sprayed across her face, everywhere. It was hot when it hit her skin, hotter than she would have ever thought. Her One Woman Rave of light and sound blasted away, but even with that vampires got through. Someone’s sword took care of them, or someone’s bullet, but they still got close enough for Molly to see their faces which burned into her memories with their eyes, fangs and bat-like features forever hers to relive. She heard and mentally felt her friends get hurt, shared their fear. There was nothing she could do to help and she was failing.
”Hold on! Keep going! He’s counting on you! Pushpushpush!” She wasn’t aware she was repeating out loud now what she had kept telling herself then, and right now she couldn’t even conceive of the mantra the Leanansidhe had taught her.
Oh, hell yeah, Harry thought. The spell was hard to maintain like this, and it was using soulfire each moment. There was no room to separate private thoughts from the ones he was sending to her. Radio Dresden, loud and clear!
He tried to pump a fist, but that made him shift and clamp his teeth against a burst of pain from his shoulder. Ow ow ow! Trout Run Road. Hurt. Molly's freaking out. She said vampires, but I can't find any. Ooh, starting to feel dizzy. That's weird, can you be dizzy laying down?
"Harry," Murphy spoke aloud again, even though she knew full well he wouldn't be able to hear her.
Her brain kicked into overdrive. Vampires. Trout Run Road. She knew full well what was on Trout Run Road.
"Damnit," she muttered. Her adrenaline was now pumping through her veins and she could think of nothing but getting to Harry and Molly before anything else did.
I'm coming now. Hang on, Harry. she thought in his general direction.
She had the presence of mind to grab her sword, though that was already becoming a knee jerk reaction. She almost forgot the keys to the unmarked squad car that was hers to use as long as she was freelancing for the York PD, but grabbed them at the last minute. The car had a first aid kit, so that would work for any minor injuries.
Though knowing Harry, it wasn't going to be just a minor injury. It never was with him.
She flipped on the siren, not caring if she was breaking policy, and pushed the gas pedal to the floor as the car tore off in the direction of one of the gates to Hell.
Molly was entirely lost into her memories. They were beginning to blend together between Chichén Itzá and Corpse Taker tearing up her mental frontier. When she did open her eyes which peered over her knees they didn’t see the here and now. Molly wasn’t here now Mr. Dresden. All you had beside you was The Ragged Lady. It might seem like she was vulnerable, but that opinion went straight to hell when the siren got close.
It startled her to her feet with a shout of denial. Her head whipped around as if she were seeing herself surrounded again. ”No! Get away! Mouse! Thomas! Murphy where are you?!” She back pedaled until her back hit a tree, startling her more and then she burst into her OWR which might have been beneficial to the real Murphy locating them off the road into the woods.
Harry had been concentrating on holding that faint connection with Murphy. It was fragile, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to do it again if it broke. He'd been playing Star Wars over in his mind to keep the line going, since it was almost effortless to remember the lines and scenes. He'd just heard the siren when Molly got to her feet. His hindbrain reacted to her fear, trying to sit up, and the jolt made him lie down again. Her words chilled him.
She was there. Chichén Itzá. And the light show might have helped Murph find them, but it wouldn't help her get close. "Molly!" he roared, trying to reach her over the cacophony of DJ Molly C. "Molly, stop! That's enough!"
Murphy parked the car and turned off the siren when she saw the lights. Molly. It had to be.
Or maybe she just hoped it was Molly. Either way, if Molly was going off like that and was as far gone as Harry had managed to convey, she knew that getting close to them was a dangerous proposition. Even more dangerous was trying to drive right into that with her own lights and sounds. Granted, the car would probably die long before she reached them. But possibly not before it sent Molly into a panic. And she really didn't want to be on the receiving end of whatever magic Molly might use to respond to feeling threatened.
So it was time to continue on foot. She left the car where it was and shouldered her sword and the first aid kit, moving toward the flashing lights.
I'm here. Just hang on, Harry. Try to get Molly to calm down, she attempted to send his way.
”Harry?!” Molly frantically looked around but she might as well still be blind. She was in full on panic, favoring her right leg with her arms outstretched to control the spell. ”Harry where are you?! Did we lose?! They’re still here! Harry!”’’
Then her head snapped towards the road as she picked up on Murphy’s thoughts. Molly was wide open right now. She was sensitive on a normal day, but wide open she caught Murphy’s thoughts as if they were shouted at her instead of Harry. Murphy? Murphy! Where are you?! Something’s wrong! It’s gone wrong and I’m stuck!
Harry snapped his attention back to Molly. She'd heard Karrin. Harry squeezed his eyes shut in concentration. It's okay, Molly. We won. Drop the rave, we won. Karrin's going to get us all home now, but she can't handle the light show. He was trying to keep his mental voice as calm as possible. Or maybe he was just too tired to be worried anymore.
Too much soulfire. He should have learned before, but he never learned once, did he? Harry gritted his teeth, swallowed back the pain, and began to slowly rise. He made it to his knees before his strength gave out and he toppled over again. "Crap." Had his legs gone all numb the last time? Hm.
Murphy almost jumped at Molly's voice in her head. She hadn't realized that Molly had been in on the connection the whole time. Or maybe she hadn't been but was now picking up on it. Whatever the case, the panic in her voice made Murphy's stomach drop.
Worse was the illuminated figure that she spotted in a distance. Tall and thin enough that it could only be Harry. She watched him stumble and suddenly her short legs were carrying her toward the lights as fast as they could. She didn't care about the consequences of getting too close to Molly's light show anymore. She just had to get to Harry.
Harry’s voice was reassuring and Molly nodded, dropping her spell immediately before she fell to her left knee. It felt like her right leg was on fire. Just like then with the bullet wound bleeding out. Except there was nothing wrong with her leg now. That wound was long since healed and scarred over by now. She sat onto her hip leaning against the tree with exhaustion setting in. The silence of the night was almost as loud as her spell had been with the absence of sound and light.
In the sudden silence, Harry could hear Murphy running through the trees. He propped himself up on an elbow to watch. He was sure there was a time when he'd been more relieved and happy to see her, but at the moment, he couldn't remember when it was.
"So ya heard me, huh?"
He was trying to get up again. It was a brand of stubborn patented by Harry Dresden. His limbs were trembling too much for it to be successful. Except for the left arm, which hung in limp agony. "Need to get Molly out of here. Something... I don't know, something went bad."
Murphy didn't say anything at first. She was already moving over to Harry's side to help him up. She cracked a small, if strained smile.
"Yeah, I heard you. Any other secret mutant powers I should know about?"
She stopped before getting to Harry to help him up when he mentioned Molly. She didn't like the idea of leaving either of them out here alone, but she knew full well that Harry wouldn't let her help him to the car unless she'd gotten Molly to safety first. Murphy's eyes fell on the young woman and she tried not to cringe. Molly looked terrified, and she was resembling the rag lady a lot more than even the Molly she'd argued with outside of the Phoenix a few days back.
"Molly?" she said in a quiet voice, cautiously stepping towards her. "You ready to blow this popsicle stand?"
Molly had curled herself against the tree with her right leg at an awkward angle and chewing on a thumbnail. Her attention snapped to Murphy when she spoke to her, Molly’s eyes wide and fearful. She knew something was wrong, and knew it was her fault. She screwed up somewhere. Some how. She just couldn’t figure out how exactly, and she wasn’t entirely certain where she was.
She did recognize the woman in front of her though and that helped a little. “…yeah okay…” She inched herself to her feet using the tree as leverage. “Is there a boat? I don’t know if Harry can open a Way and you really don’t want me to.”