Jim Butcher - Cold Days

Outside the cottage, the rawhead bellowed, and Mouse’s snarling battle bark rang out defiantly.

“This is insane,” Sarissa breathed.

“The stones of the cottage have protections on them,” I said. “Not sure how well they work, but they should help.” I looked back at Karrin. “Where’s Molly?”

“Out there, playing Invisible Girl.”

There was the sound of a heavy impact, and Mouse let out a terrible, pained-sounding yelp.

Then it was quiet.

Karrin’s breathing started coming faster. She resettled her grip on the weapon.

“Oh, God,” Sarissa said. “Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God.”

I would have gotten terrified, too, but I was just too tired for it to stick.

There was no warning, nothing at all. The rawhead shoved its arm into the cottage, seized Karrin by the gun, and hauled her out. The weapon barked several times as she went.

And then it got quiet again.

“We have to run,” Sarissa said in a whisper. “Harry, please, we should run. Open a Way into the Nevernever. Get us out of here.”

“I’ve got a feeling we wouldn’t like the part of the Nevernever this place borders,” I said.

“Oh, Sir Knight,” Maeve called from outside. “Come out, come out, wherever you are, you and everyone with you. Or I’m going to start playing with your friends.”

“Hey, why don’t you come in here, Maeve?” I called back. “We’ll talk about it.”

I waited for an answer. I got one a minute later. Karrin let out a pained, gasping sound.

“Dammit,” I muttered. Then I started to climb to my feet again. “Come on.”

“What?” Sarissa asked. “No. I can’t go out there.”

“You’re about to,” I said quietly. “Mac.”

“We go out,” Mac said, “she’ll kill us.”

“If we don’t, she’ll kill us anyway. Starting with Karrin,” I said. “Maeve likes hurting people. Maybe we can string her along until . . .”

“Until what?” Sarissa asked. “Sunrise? That’s hours away.”

Justine put her hand on Sarissa’s shoulder. “But we’ll stay alive a little longer. Where there’s life, there’s hope.”

“You don’t understand,” Sarissa said. “Not for me. Not for me.”

Karrin let out another gasp of pain and I ground my teeth.

“Sarissa,” I said, “we don’t have a choice. Lily just about roasted the top off the hill in a moment of pique. Maeve can do worse. If we stay in here, she will.”

“Die now, or be tortured to death in a few hours,” she said. “Those are our choices?”

“We buy time,” I said. “We buy time so that I can think and maybe figure some way for us to get out of this clusterfuck. Now get up, or so help me I’ll carry you out there.”

A flash of anger went through Sarissa’s eyes. But she got up.

“All right, Maeve!” I called. “You win! We’re coming out!”

I held up my hands, palms out, and walked out of the meager makeshift protection of the ruined cottage.

Maeve was enjoying her victory tremendously.

She stood on a pile of stone fallen from the lighthouse, next to the Summer Lady and her coterie, who were still focused upon restraining Demonreach. On the ground in front of her lay Thomas, Karrin, and Mouse. Mouse had been hog-tied and his muzzle held shut with thick bands of what looked like black ice. He wasn’t struggling, but his deep, dark eyes were tracking everyone who moved. Karrin sat with her hands tied behind her back, scowling so ferociously that I could see the expression even through the mud. And my brother lay on the ground, bound up like Mouse was, but it didn’t look like he was conscious.

The rawhead loomed over them, minus one of its arms. The arm lay over on the ground, a jumble of brittle, cracked bones held together by withered strands of some kind of reddish fiber. The rawhead didn’t have an expression to read, but I thought the glow of its eyes looked sullen and satisfied. The Redcap was standing off to one side. Half of his face was a bloody mess, and he had only one good eye now. He was holding Karrin’s P90 casually, with much of the mud knocked off of it. Next to him, two of the Sidhe held Fix’s arms behind his back. The Summer Knight had a bruise blackening the entire left side of his face, running right to the hairline.

But Molly was not visible.

So. I might have been dealt a bad hand, but I still had a hole card out there somewhere.

Maeve hopped down from the fallen stones, still holding that little automatic in her hand, and smiling widely. “You made it interesting, Dresden. I’ll give you that. Your merry band is just so”—she kicked Karrin in the small of the back, drawing nothing but a hard exhale—“feisty.” She eyed the people standing with me. “Now let’s see. Who do we have here?”

Maeve made a gesture with one hand, and the air suddenly felt thick. Mud started plopping off of everyone covered in it, as if it had begun to rain again and gotten wetter and runnier. “Let’s see, let’s see,” she murmured. “Ah, the bartender. Irony, there. Getting a good view, are you?”

Mac stared at Maeve without speaking.

“Please allow me to make sure you don’t get bored. This is a participation sport,” Maeve said, and shot him in the stomach.

Mac grunted and rocked back onto his heels. He stared at Maeve, his expression completely impassive. Then he exhaled a groan and fell to one knee.

“Oh,” Maeve said, her eyes glittering. “That just never gets old.”

Justine made a quiet sound and went to Mac’s side.

Maeve’s eyes fastened on her. “And the vampire’s crumpet. Luscious little thing, aren’t you? And so close to Lady Raith. You and I are going to have a long talk after this, darling. I just know you’re going to start to see things my way.”

Justine didn’t look at Maeve, and didn’t answer. She didn’t look frightened—just concerned for Mac. Maybe because Justine was not the most balanced and danger-aware person I knew. Or maybe her poker face was just way better than mine.

Maeve’s eyes stopped on the last person with me and her smile became positively vulpine. “Well, well, well. Sweet little Sarissa. Isn’t this luscious? There’s nothing I have that you don’t want to ruin, is there?”

“Maeve,” Sarissa said. She didn’t seem frightened either. Just tired. “Maeve, for God’s sake, how many times have we had this talk?”

“And yet you keep spoiling things for me!”

Sarissa rolled her eyes and gave a helpless little lift and fall of her hands. “Maeve, what could I possibly have ruined for you? Did finally moving out of that studio apartment destroy your life? Did getting my nursing degree somehow diminish your power? Did I steal some boyfriend of yours that you accidently left breathing after the first night?”

“It always goes back to that, doesn’t it?” Maeve said, her tone waspish. “How important you think men are. And here you are trying to impress Mother by bedding this one.”

“It was work , Maeve. Therapy.”

“I could see how therapeutic that dress was at his party.”

“ My dress? You were wearing rhinestones . And nothing else!”

Maeve’s face contorted in rage. “They. Were. Diamonds. ”

Karrin looked back and forth between them with an expression of startled recognition. “Harry . . .” she said quietly.

“Yeah, I got it,” I said. I turned to Sarissa, who looked younger than Molly. “Mab’s BFF, eh?” I asked her.

“You said that, not me,” she said quickly.

“Right,” I said. “You’re just a young, single rehabilitative health professional.”

“This decade,” sneered Maeve. “What was it last time? Mathematics? You were going to describe the universe or some such? And before that, what was it? Environmental science? Did you save the Earth, Sarissa? And before that, an actress? You thought you could create art. Which soap opera was it again?”