#blacksteeldrake

“I don’t know, Thomas.  Maggie’s got a thing, and I have a case lined up, and god knows what her royal freeze-pop has planned in the next few weeks,” Harry hedged, though Karrin didn’t buy any of those excuses for a second – she highly suspected that a much stronger part of his hesitation was the fact that the case – or ‘case’ – was for a White Court cousin.

Thomas immediately assumed a wounded expression. “Come on, Harry,” he said, aggrieved. “I’m your brother.”

“And you want the family discount, right?” Harry replied, unmoved by the obviously sincere plea.

Thomas rolled his eyes, waving his hand impatiently. “It’s a family resort. Lara will bankroll you. Don’t be cheap, little brother. Do it for me.”

“I’m not being cheap—” Harry began to protest, but was cut off as Karrin cleared her throat.

“I’ll come with you, if you like,” she said, in an off-hand manner, not missing the gleam in Thomas’s eyes at her words. Ah. So that was his plan, which at least explained why she was here. Not the most subtle, but then, subtlety wasn’t exactly a family trait.

“Good idea,” Thomas said smoothly. “You two travel up to the resort, solve their spooky problem together, and are back in time for dinner. I get to spend time with Maggie for a couple days while you’re doing your thing. What could possibly go wrong?”

Harry glared at him. “Why,” he demanded, annoyed, “Would you think that was okay to ask?”

----

Officially, this branch of the Raith Relaxation Resort was in Wisconsin, somewhere supposedly not too far from Milwaukee, though from how it compared to its surroundings, its appearance, and the impression of remoteness it gave, Karrin wasn’t entirely convinced they hadn’t taken a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in Italy. This was only further emphasised when they were greeted at the door by one of the most objectively stunning women that Karrin had ever seen – her olive skin had a glossy sheen which was emphasised by the jet-black colour of her hair, her lips were full and redder than lips had a right to be, her eyes, wide and brown, shone widely and innocently from her pretty face. She looked about twenty, but barely; young enough to still be spritely, but old enough that men would feel slightly less creepy about it. She was wearing a summer dress which was hardly there, and a hat with a wide-enough brim that she probably got the whole outfit from a beach catalogue. Or inspired the beach catalogue.

Karrin, who had experienced her fair share of White Court whammy, was unimpressed. “Murphy,” she said, offering a hand. “Karrin Murphy. I’m here—”

“With me, on business,” Harry interrupted, much to Karrin’s combined exasperation and amusement. “Harry Dresden. Thomas sent us?”

The woman’s lips twitched, one corner artfully raised, and Karrin could have sworn she saw Harry’s fists clench beside her. She bit her lip to keep herself from laughing as the woman turned away and called back into the reception room, “Carmella, darling, they’re here!”

The woman who sashayed out of the doorway was the very image of the one already there, right down to the dress, though the new one wore pink instead of blue.  She draped herself over the original woman, who wrapped her arm around her waist. “Ah! Renata, my love, but Thomas’ friends are very lovely, are they not?” the new one, Carmella, asked.

“Now, now, sister,” Renata replied, running the back of her hand lightly and affectionately down the other’s cheek. “Thomas said we were to treat them as family.”

“Yes,” purred Carmella, pressing herself closer. “And we do love our family.”

“Right, ladies,” Karrin said, after a sidelong glance at Harry showed her that he was going to be no help in the immediate future. “Where do you want us to start? What seems to be the problem?”

The two vampire sisters glanced at each other before Renata spoke, a suggestive curve to her lips which Karrin didn’t particularly like. “We’re being … haunted,” she told them.

“Haunted?” Harry asked, apparently distracted enough by the prospect of ghosts to break out of his apparent sexual reverie. “In what way?”

“By ghosts, Mr. Dresden,” Renata replied, without a trace of irony, and Karrin was a little too slow to cover up her snort. “One, or two. My sister and I have not yet encountered them, but numerous clients have fallen victim to their evil ways.”

Karrin raised an eyebrow. She had been assuming this was a set-up by Thomas, but if there were actual bodies, well… “Fallen victim?”

“No deaths, Ms. Murphy,” Carmella told her politely. “Though much fear. Many of our esteemed clientele have left us in fear of their lives. You understand why we would like this problem to be solved as quickly as possible, and why we have sought out your aid.”

“We have set up our best suite in the resort for you both,” Renata said, gesturing up at the building behind them. “Since the hauntings only occur to visitors, we thought it best that the two of you act as our guests for the next few days. Undercover, if you will.”

Karrin pressed her lips together. She’d clearly been right in the first place. Very subtle, Thomas. Rather than argue, though, she simply shrugged. “What do you think, Harry?” she asked, looking up at him. His eyes were firmly trained on the sisters again, which should possibly have irritated Karrin more than it amused her, but did not. “Harry?” she said again, with a little cough.

Harry’s attention snapped back to her at the sound, and his expression was instantly clouded over. A scowl darkened his features as he glanced back at the vampires, though it smoothed away quickly as he said, in his most professional tone, “Yes, I think we can do that. If it’s okay with you.”

Renata and Carmella, without waiting for any further conversation, turned on their heels and re-entered the building. Harry and Karrin stood there for a moment longer, then, in unison and without speaking, followed.

                                                                 ----------

The room was beautiful, simply decorated and spacious, with a balcony overlooking water which should not have been there. The huge bed in its centre with the crisp white sheets was a delicious place to spend the night, and being woken by the sun streaming in through the delicate glass was far from the worst way that Karrin had ever started her day.

However, the image of perfection was ruined somewhat after an hour or so. Harry would not leave the room, too occupied was he in setting up every kind of detection and protection and whatever other kind of magic spell he had in his bag. “They said the ghosts only appeared to guests, Harry,” Karrin hinted around midday, but it was no use – the spells, Harry reasoned, would locate the source of the haunting without going to all of that trouble. As the hours ticked by, she grew more and more frustrated, until eventually she gave up, wandering out by herself to discover what joys the resort held for her. She doubted Harry had even noticed her leave.

After being treated to a free pedicure, followed by a wonderful massage from a very handsome gentleman, Karrin was feeling much less irritable. She headed back up to the bedroom to try to persuade him to come down for dinner, and was surprised to meet him in the hallway as she approached.

“Karrin,” he said, sounding relieved. “I was looking for you. Listen, I don’t think this place is haunted.”

Karrin looked up at him, not even bothering to feign surprise as she said, “Oh?”

If Harry noticed her deadpan response, he didn’t comment. Instead, just as seriously, he said, “My spells picked up on nothing, and I’ve been asking around, and nobody’s said anything about any ghosts. I think I know what’s going on here.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. Politics.”

Karrin blinked. “Politics?”

“Friggin’ vampires,” he growled in confirmation. “We’re stuck in the middle of a turf war or something, and Thomas has got us right in the middle of it.”

Karrin stared at him for a moment. “You … uh, Harry, I think you’ve got the wrong idea here,” she said.

“I ordered us pizza,” Harry told her. “I didn’t think eating anything the Weird Sisters had to offer was a good idea. It’s waiting in the room.” He turned and began walking back in that direction, and, after a moment’s hesitation, she followed.

“Are you even allowed to do that?” Karrin asked, to which Harry shrugged. As they entered the room and the door clicked shut behind him, she said, “Look, Harry, I’m pretty sure that Thomas set this up.”

Harry had walked over to the pizza boxes sitting on the bedsheets – great, that would leave a stain – but he turned to look at her quizzically. As she explained, his expression changed a few times: first confusion, then annoyance, and then a sort of grim satisfaction. “I knew it,” he said.

“You did?” Karrin asked him, approaching to take a slice of the pizza which she figured she may as well eat now.

“Yeah,” Harry nodded, sitting down on the bed heavily. “Doesn’t that sound like exactly the kind of game Lara would play? Explains her bankrolling the trip, too. Clever of her to use Thomas for it.”

Karrin looked at her pizza slice and sighed. “Sure, Harry,” she said. “Though I don’t think it would kill you to try out the pool with me tomorrow.”

Harry snorted. “You say that,” he said, “But knowing the company we’re in I might just drown if I do.”

                                                               ------------

The next day was similar to the first in that Harry’s continued paranoia meant that Karrin ended up enjoying most of the luxuries alone while he investigated, though what he was actually hoping to find remained a mystery. At various points throughout the day, she tried to convince him to join her – no, he wouldn’t have breakfast at the restaurant, because it could be poisoned; no, he wouldn’t come into the artificial hot spring, even if his magic didn’t fizz it out it might boil him alive; no, he didn’t think the massages were good enough to be worth the risk, and besides, Karrin, it’s probably just the White Court mojo working on your brain.

Well, White Court mojo or not, Karrin was finding her spa trip much more enjoyable than she imagined Harry was finding his, even if doing the couples’ dancing lesson with a complete stranger wasn’t exactly how she’d have wanted to spend the afternoon. Admittedly, had Harry been with her, the height difference would have made dancing together awkward … but then, with Harry, that was part of the fun. Still, despite her disappointment, she managed to get through the day in a relatively good mood, though she fully intended to berate Thomas on his shoddy planning when this was over.

What she was not expecting when she went up to her bedroom, though, was one of the two Wonder Twins to be inside, while Harry sat on the bed and stared at her, clearly transfixed. The door was slightly open, and Karrin watched through it as the woman prowled towards the bed, kneeling on it next to Harry and whispering something in his ear, a throaty chuckle escaping.

“Look, lady, I’m not—” Harry started, and Karrin, who had been in his position herself, felt a surge of something close to pride at his resistance. Harry’s voice was dry and a little husky, but otherwise firm, and Karrin couldn’t help but smile a little at that. She pushed at the door, allowing it to swing fully open, fully intending to break up what was going on inside. Before she had a chance, however, there was a hiss of pain from within.

As Karrin entered the room, the vampire woman – she was fairly certain it was Carmella – had jumped back from the bed, an angry redness decorating her hand and lips. She spotted Karrin at the same time Harry did, and there was a moment of frozen silence before Carmella let out a wordless noise of anger. The vampire stalked past Karrin, careful not to touch her, and slammed the door behind her.

Harry and Karrin looked at each other in silence for a moment, before Karrin said, “Fun day?”

“I’ve had better,” he told her, as she walked over to sit next to him. “You?”

“Yeah, plenty fun,” she replied. A smile was pressing against her lips as the realisation of what she’d just witnessed began to hit her, but she wouldn’t comment on it, not yet, not until he did. “I learned to dance.”

“I could have taught you to dance,” Harry said, a goofy grin already decorating his features. “So I had a visit from Carmella.”

“I noticed,” Karrin replied, leaning back on the bed.

“And you thought I was being paranoid.”

“You were being paranoid,” said Karrin, “It just so happens that she is also a psychotic vampire.”

Harry snorted, but didn’t attempt any sort of disagreement as he, too, lay back on the pillows.

“A psychotic vampire who can’t touch you anymore,” Karrin added, staring determinedly at the ceiling. “So that’s new.”

Harry didn’t reply, but his hand found hers and squeezed it. They lay there like that for a moment before he said, “You want to go down for dinner?”

Karrin turned her head to look at him. “You sure? You might get poisoned.”

“Will you wear that dress you brought?” Harry asked.

Karrin bit her lip to hold in her smirk. “I suppose I could do that,” she said.

“In that case: worth it.”

                                                               ---

That night, when dinner was over and they’d attended the night show and gained a surprise apology from Renata for her sister’s uncouth behaviour, Harry and Karrin went up to their room hand in hand for their final night together at the spa resort. Karrin lay with her back pressed to Harry’s chest, his arms wrapped around her waist, and all felt right with the world.

When he began to kiss her neck, Karrin didn’t exactly object, but when she turned around to face him and he whispered her name, she couldn’t help herself.

“Yes?” she asked.

“Well, it seems a shame to waste this alone time while we have it, don’t you think?” Harry asked her.

Karrin looked at him, and after a moment, leaned over to kiss his forehead. “It’s probably just the White Court mojo working on your brain, Harry,” she said, turning back away from him again and reaching over to turn off the bedside lamp. “Goodnight.”