We met again the next morning. I knew that sunlight will not burn Lara but still felt disappointed.

"Any results?"

Dresden looked a bit fresher than yesterday. He got at least a couple of hours of sleep, then. Good.

"None. Tracking spell for Morgan failed miserably." I shook my head. I hated to admit defeat. "Girl's blood is showing at least fifteen different points on a map, all in the different parts of Chicago. Mavra either dismembered her or is using a counterspell."

Lara looked sickened and angry. Dresden - even angrier, than usual.

"I found a possible location of Mavra laboratory, but I am almost sure it is abandoned by now."

Of course, it is.

"What do we know about her motivation?" I exhaled. "She got the girl and Morgan. What does she need in the city?"

Can't she just leave? She already won a jackpot. In her stead, I would have already left Chicago.

"Many possible reasons." Dresden was almost ashamed. "I had almost burned a couple of years ago, on Bianca's mascarade. Michael had killed all her fledglings years ago. Besides, it was White Court who made Stocker publish his book. She may be on a revenge streak."

So, the list of possible targets: me, Dresden, father, all my family, bastards from the white court. Had she only be after them...

No such thing as luck in my life.

Lara came on a meeting with her own driver and a bulletproof limo. It dealt with the hex reasonably enough. Our combined efforts only burned the electronics inside during the ride. No, I was not being petty.

I was simply destroying the resources of a possible enemy.

I shook my head again. It was incredibly hard to concentrate.

?You know, I see where you are looking.? Lara smiled. ?Tell me, do you crave me so much or is it just a sword under your coat??

Her smile was definitely something. Her hair was so dark that its highlights were nearly blue. She had eyes of dark grey with hints of violet twilight at their centers. Deep, devouring eyes.

I felt like a deer in headlights. I hated to feel like that.

And I wanted her. I wanted her so much. I was hungry for her. Images burned inside of my head. I felt hot, bothered. Something primitive was taking better of me.

?I am looking for the places for holes, that I will make when this creature will turn on us.? I told to the air in the general direction of Dresden. He was sitting in the front row, ignoring us completely.

?I am sure that you are, indeed, looking for holes.? Lara laughed. ?That we established with all honesty.?

?Sorry, not into gerontophilia.? I almost hissed. And understood that answered to her, directly. Damn. ?Besides, at this point, this creature is nothing but a collection of stolen life force. It is complicated to get hard on that.?

She was, indeed, beautiful. So much, that only thing I wanted was to cut her head off and burn it. Not into vampires, thank you very much.

More so not into ones that feed on the life energy during sex. It's like to be something in between a medium-rare steak and vibrator.

?Boy is adorable. Isn't he, Harry? Push him around a bit, and he will run for his own tail. Like a cute little puppy.?

?Dresden, tell your pet vampire that I will murder it personally if it won't shut up.?

'Ignore it, and it will go away'

I did not want it to go away. I wanted to bend her over the table, pull up a dress and...

?He is too simple, though. Talented, but not very bright.? Lara smirked. ?Just point him in the direction of the closest vampire and say 'bite'."

?One more word and I will turn into her direction.?

?Oh? 'It' became 'her', my dear??

?Just get yourself a room already.? Dresden groaned. ?I can cut the sexual tension with a knife. And we are on the clock, so stop it.?

I put my hand on the sword handle. Lara smirked.

"You know, when a boy likes a girl he can show his interest in other ways then snarky remarks. Compliments and signs of appreciation work better." Lara chuckled. "But they don't teach that in warden corps, are they?"

"Lara."

Dresden was looking like he is going to be first to explode. Her smirk widened.

"I am just giving a bit of advice to a poor boy. He is still a virgin, you see. I feel like he needs it." Her voice was so salty that it almost hurt. She couldn't have whispered more erotically. "Do you always treat a woman like this? Threats are not the way to go in a relationship."

Oh, right, because a god damned vampire knows better.

?I. Will. Fucking. Murder. You.? I spelled it very slowly, letter by letter. In a way, that even dumbest vampire will understand.

Lara smiled.

"No. You will not." Her smile was mocking. "You desire me and try to cover it with made up aggression. Or are you trying to hide it from yourself?"

'Dear Lord, please keep me from murdering her for the next ten minutes. Amen.'

?Stop shitting around and get to work.? Barked Dresden. He was pissed.

She did. I felt disappointed for some reason.

?Seriously, though. Why do you hate me so much??

We were lying on a bed in the hugest presidential suite I had ever seen in my life. Not that I had seen a lot of them. As good as my job was, wardens weren't exactly paid in thousands of grand.

Laboratory was, indeed, abandoned and thoroughly burned to the ground. A dead-end, in every meaning of the prase. Thus, we were waiting for the Dresden's spells to bring results, drinking away the stress.

I probably shouldn't have agreed to her - its - invitation, but it was extremely hard to refuse when the only alternative was being alone in rental apartments.

?I don't hate you. I despise you and refuse you in a right to exist.?

?Why??

?Childhood dreams and beliefs, mostly.?

She smiled.

?And really??

?Would the phrases 'slut' and 'will betray and murder me at any moment' enough to sate your curiosity?? I looked her in the eyes. They were deep, wrongly so. She was beautiful, and there wasn't a drop of glamour or vampire charms in it. ?Let me think. You are at least a hundred years old vampire, that makes living by whoring herself to every creature, that can provide energy. And, I suspect, to daddy dearest too.?

?Should I take it as slut-shaming and personal assault??

Her voice was soft and she was smiling, not faltering, but I knew I touched a string.

?You can. Will it change anything?? I wasn't angry. Too hard to be, when a vampire of Raith bloodline is so damn close. ?You are old, murderous and will kill me in an instant had I ever turn my back to you. Probably drink me dry during sudden intercourse.?

"I doubt I would." Her voice was quiet, intentionally so. She was almost whispering, sending shivers down my spine. Making me lean towards her in order to hear anything. "You are talented, powerful and easy to control. Too useful to waste on something so casual."

I smirked.

"So you will waste me on something epic. Good to know."

?You will make a good dog, you know.? Lara kept smiling, but her eyes changed. There were cold, calculated. Murderous. ?You are in a way, already. For a Council.?

I smirked. Sunday services from a childhood kicked in.

?Laudare, Benedicere, Praedicare?

?Don't be a smartass, not in that way.? Lara was looking at me, and it was not a good look. ?I am serious, you know. I need personal enforcer, and you are as good as I can find.?

I laughed. I really did. No shit.

?And what comes in the benefits package?? I tried to guess. ?A million a month??

Her look was almost pitiful.

'Right, million a month means I have to earn every damn dollar from this million. I don't even want to think who she will send me after. Merlin? Her father?'

?Just write the sum down. I won't judge.?

I looked at the table. There really was a sketchbook and a pen. I expected an already prepared contract, written in blood, but she surprised me.

"Are there any benefits? Pension, healthcare, gym package?"

I was shitting, she knew it, and I knew it too. Yet I found myself unironically interested in what she had to offer. People look at their wanted posters with the same feelings, probably. It is curious to see how much someone is ready to pay for your head.

"None." Lara smiled. "I don't believe in partial benefits. I pay enough so you can afford any benefits you like."

?Let me guess, sex is the part of the deal??

She purred.

?Would you like me to put it on the invoice??

Hells bells. I finally got an offer to be paid for sex. Hell is officially frozen, or something.

?You are feeding, I am fucking, both benefiting??

Lara smirked.

?Something like that.?

There was silence, then. I was thinking about my morals, intensely trying to forget about her hand on my chest, and Lara was... curious about my childhood dreams, apparently.

?What is your childhood dream, anyway??

She really was spontaneous. Or this is some fine way to lead the conversation somewhere she wants. Definitely the latter.

Oh, this is just great. I am drinking wine worth more than my income in the next twenty years, with a vampire that saw the Great Depression with her own eyes and sharing with her my childhood dreams. When did my life go so wrong?

'Forgive me, father, for I have sinned.' Or something. I really should start attending church again.

?I wanted to be feared,? I answered with more honestly, than I thought I am capable of.

She was listening, quietly caressing my upper chest. It was sensitive, incredibly so. And she hadn't even used her lips.

Holy hell, I am so down...

?That redvamp, that attacked my family and almost killed Molly... I saw his eyes before father decapitated him. He was laughing. Amused. For this creature, we were nothing but food.? I stopped. I felt funny, talking about it for the first time in years. Maybe ever. Lara's lips were helping, too. ?I was angry, you know. I hated him. I wanted him to fear me. For creatures like him, so full of themselves, so proud, so powerful, the greatest hunters in a world of prey… I wanted them to feel fucking fear. I wanted them to squirm. To run, to punic, to burn! I wanted them to know, that someone bigger, scarier, faster, stronger than them is coming after them. I wanted to come after them. I wanted to murder them.?

I was quiet for a moment. My head was empty, yet my body felt more alive than ever.

"I ran to Morgan, right after that. He was good at killing. Better than me. Better than anyone I knew. And he was feared, by wizards and by vampires equally. Knights, they are all about saving and protecting. Wardens simply murder whatever."

Lara was smiling.

?You know, our goals are not that different.? Her smile was almost honest. Almost. ?You want a name for yourself. The reputation of the scariest man on this side of the ocean.?

?And you want the said scariest fucker running errands for the house Raith.?

She smiled, softly.

?Not for the house Raith, dummy. For myself. For such cases, like... like now.?

'Right, because go looking for a wizard to hire when someone is using your sister as a magical tv remote sucks.'

Then there was silence. Alcohol was raving in my brain, and I was blankly staring into her eyes, like captured fish. They were so fucking deep.

?No point in running errands for the Council, if you can do the same for me. I pay better, and targets are all the same.?

'Except it is not Council that grows stronger. It is you and your horde of...'

There was no anger in that thought. Emotions felt numb, blunted. And still no sign of magic. She had me by the balls and did not need even a drop of sorcery for that.

Lara was almost purring now, with her lips on my ear and fingers slowly patting my stomach. Slowly, oh, so slowly going down.

?I don't like to share, you know.?

In her eyes was pure amusement.

?You can't afford it.?

Aka ?I will suck you dry in less than a week, so don't even try.?

?And if it turns out I can??

She smiled.

?Remove 'daddy dearest' first. Then I will think about it.?