Invisible Hand

by Sunshine Temple

A side story to the Return

Naturally, I own neither Sailor Moon nor Ranma nor the Dresden Files. So here's the disclaimer:

Ranma 1/2 and its characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Koudansha, TV Asahi, and Toei Douga, and DIC. And the Dresden Files is owned by Jim Butcher.

Other works can be found at my fanfiction website.

http://jtemple.florestica.com/

Temporary Backup Site.

http://www.fukufics.com/fic/

Other website Temple of Ranma's Senshi Seifuku

http://fukufics.com

C&C as always is wanted.

This takes place after Blood Debts (book 5) but before Bonding Allure (book 6)

Chapter 2: Cake Walk

The park was.... well, it was a modern suburban park, which meant it was more of a flat rectangle of grass with a few trees planted in a half-hearted manner. It lacked the established fountains and vegetation and paths of a proper, or at least fancy, city park, but I suppose it might be less... sketchy at night.

Then again, the Fomor were getting frisky everywhere, not to mention human predators know how to use cars.

Still, it was a nice, if warm, day; it felt like spring had come early and a couple dozen of kids screamed and ran playing around the park; though with a bit less enthusiasm one might expect. Maybe it was the heat. They were loosely corralled by a bunch of harried parents. Some of the kids looked a bit pale and their mothers were on nose blowing duty. There was probably a bug was going around. A couple picnic tables had been commandeered for drinks, snacks, and a sequestered cake and a pile of presents, I might have smiled.

"I know that look," Andi murmured.

"What look?"

"You're wishing Maggie were here," Andi said as we walked around the perimeter of the park. At least she was pretty good at the casual surveillance thing.

"Maybe," I shook my head. I never got a party like this as a kid. "What's the deal?"

Andi nodded to a cluster of people at the center of the park. "Perna family: wife Judy, husband Hector, eldest daughter is Jill, thirteen, which is why she looks like she's being tortured by lameness. It's the birthday of the twins Tiffany and Karl; nine as of today."

And that.... I looked over to the man at the head of the crowd. He had a cleared space around him and most of the attention was on him. And why not? Balducci the Illusive was in full wizarding regalia of dapper pinstripe suit, long-tailed coat, fedora with glossy green hatband and crisp white gloves.

Those gloves were deftly catching and releasing half a dozen flaming skewers. Giving a beaming smile, he was saying something as he juggled.

"That's not as impressive as it looks?" Andi asked.

"There's a trick to it," I said and Listened. It was hard to cut through the chatter of the audience, but I could focus on hearing Balducci and Balducci alone.

In the flesh, he was very well preserved. He was a bit older than me, but it looked like he took better care of himself.

Better than I did when I was human. His cheekbones and strong chin made him look distinguished and his dirty blonde hair was cut short and helped give him a calculatedly rakish look.

"Now kids, the trick to juggling is you need to work your way up to it." His voice was resonant and carried well. I hardly needed to use my ability.

"The easy way is to start with torches not on fire," Balducci said.

"What about chainsaws?" one of the kids, a cynical looking brunette girl demanded, pointing to one.

"Oh, those?" Laughing, Balducci turned while still flipping the torches. "Here's the secret." He gave a grin that was conspiratorial and full of mirth, it drew everyone in. "They make a lot of noise, but the chains have been removed."

"But then they wouldn't cut anything," the girl pouted before coughing.

"That's why it's a trick." Balducci paused to hold one of the torches in his left hand while juggling the remaining in his right. "But this is real fire."

There was a.... well his patter was charismatic. And that was part of being a stage performer. And even without any magic, that was a magic of its own.

Fascinated, the girl went a bit closer. The rest of the kids were also enrapt, at least they weren't entranced, or, Stars and Stones, enthralled.

"Hey... careful," Balducci laughed and flicked the torch out of his hand and up into the air. He tried to switch to juggling two-handed but there was a slight bobble.

It was a minor thing; just a bit too much wrist in the flip. And the correction was minor too. All the torches were rotating, twisted in midair, but one, the one that would have fallen on the audience instead arced back and fell into his waiting hand.

I frowned. That was a bit of kinetomancy.

"Fancy meeting you here," a voice interjected.

I turned and saw a man light years away from Balducci's carefully maintained image. His suit was rumpled and a bit ill fitting, his haircut was... well my brother would not cry over seeing it... much.

But his dark eyes were intelligent, and scanned over Andi and myself.

He was also a cop. Specifically, the head of the Chicago PD's Special Investigations division. It was the branch dedicated to cleaning up, or more generally covering up, supernatural problems that managed to get the city's attention.

Murphy used to run SI, but after helping me on a case she ended up demoted, and then, years later after helping me on another case, she ended up being fired.

This man was her partner.

"Stallings," I bowed my head.

"Dresden is it? Halley Dresden that is?" he asked in that cop voice that implied he was still making up his mind on if I was officially a troublemaker or not.

"Yes, taking over the business of my cousin!" I said with forced cheer.

"Right," Stallings drew the word out. "And you are?" he asked Andi.

"Andi Macklin, this is Lieutenant John Stallings. Stallings, this is Andi," I said with a bright smile. Okay, I might have flashed some teeth.

"Ah, you're Miss Macklin." He eyed us. "Murphy's mentioned you before. Both of you."

"Only positive things, I hope," I brightly said. Hey, I had dimples now, might as well use them.

He grunted. Specifically, the cop grunt for "Maybe she did. Maybe she didn't." Cops practically have a whole language of grunts, sighs, side-eye looks, and squints. It was a dialect they shared with enlisted troops and was in the same linguistic neighborhood as the varied non verbal communications of mechanics, electricians, firefighters, plumbers, and paramedics.

"The question is what you're doing here?"

"Judy's my kid sister. I'm here for my niece and nephew's birthday." He nodded to the crowd around Balducci. "Now, what are you doing here?"

"It's a public sidewalk," I offered.

He chewed his lip. A bit of worry flashed over his face before he concealed it. "Sure? Because Miss Macklin left me a message. She made it sound like you had a professional interest."

I looked to Andi.

She sighed. "I told you I had an in."

Stallings adjusted his coat. "See, it makes a man think when both of Chicago's professional... wizards are at my niece and nephew's birthday party. Not to mention when one of Karrin's friends from the Better Future Society leaves me a message about it."

And I placed the worry. "What's wrong with your niece and nephew?"

Stallings' look was skeptical. "You're both gonna fight over this?"

I held up a hand. "Hey, I don't do kid's parties and I'm not therapist or a counselor . I'm just a private detective... who happens to be a wizard. I'd be happy to give all birthdays and bar mitzvahs and other special events over to this clown."

"He actually is one. Degree and everything," Stallings noted with a wry smile.

Of course Stallings did a background check on Balducci. The man was nothing if not thorough. He was the type to cross-index by country the shelves of chronologically sorted National Geographics in his den.

"Yeah, he can handle all that stuff: juggling, balloon animals, even pinatas; much as I love hitting stuff with sticks until candy comes out. But if there's a real problem, well, a real supernatural problem. You're not going to want flashy Patch Adams over there."

The cop eyed me. "You've got Dresden's shtick down, I'll give you that."

"She is smarter than he ever was," Andi stated.

I glared at her. That was offensive... I think.

Stallings rubbed his forehead. He then gave me another scan. Sure, I was carrying a big chunk of carved wood, but my blouse and skirt were nicer than the t-shirt and jeans that I would bum around in before.

Even my duster was a bit more fashionable and fitted. Then there was my whole pentacle choker; the way my hair was fluffed and my makeup... Well, it was less makeup and more that my natural complexion came in tinges of blue instead of a Caucasian human's tinges of red and pink.

"Honestly, I'm hoping this is something he can solve," the cop nodded to Balducci, who had stopped his juggling and was now doing an interlocking ring routine.

I paused to watch. The guy was pretty good at it. Linking rings was one of my father's favorite bits when he did stage magic. He was better than Balducci, but maybe not by much.

"How'd you know something was wrong?" I asked.

Stallings scanned the group and looked over his relatives. "Month ago, I visited and noticed Karl was a bit listless, Tiffany seemed a down as well. Judy said she had heard from the school nurse that there was a bug going around and that the kids were to be watched for symptoms, given fluids, watched, if anyone got real bad take them out for a few days."

"But?"

"Well, they got better, but something was still off."

"Bad enough to get Murphy involved?" I asked.

Stallings' face clouded. I could see why. Sure, he trusted Murphy, and he knew she was the more action-oriented when they were partners. But that had cost her her job, and Special Investigations was his domain now. And from what I saw, he trained up his cops well, emphasizing teamwork, and tried to encourage flexible minds.

Still, he wasn't sure if this was something Murphy could have helped with.

"Neither one's been that sick since. Hardly anyone's missed school, no one in the hospital," Stallings chewed his lip. He was a man who liked things to fit together to at least make sense.

And what would a rational, sensible man do when faced with a mystery? Get data.

"But... you leaned on Judy to get them tested? Maybe some blood work?" I asked, glancing back at the kids. Balducci had finished the ring routine and was now sitting on one of the picnic tables doing some card tricks to a smaller group.

A group that I noticed included the cynical redheaded girl and the Perna twins.

Stallings nodded at me, giving that opaque look. "Inconclusive. And I sent it to the same company our medical examiners use."

"What kind of inconclusive? Because I'm guessing if the tests didn't work, or if the docs found some mystery things in the kids' blood you'd have hatted up and called Murphy."

Stallings pointed a finger at me. "He must've taught you everything he knew."

"Who?" I blinked. "Oh, yeah; Dresden sure did."

Andi sighed.

The cop murmured. "And I figured you'd ask about blood."

I glared but neither huffed nor stomped a foot. "It's a normal question." He better not be assuming I'm some sort of vampire.

"So... with nothing scary in the bloodwork, you might just be worried over a lingering cold bug?" Andi prompted giving me a warning look.

Stallings went back to the skeptical cop look. He was good at it. That he had run Special Investigations for years, and been partnered with Murphy for even longer also contributed.

"It was Judy hiring the clown that pushed me over," Stallings glanced to Balducci who was now teaching the twins how to make a card disappear and reappear.

"But you think he's a fraud?" I watched Balducci's dexterity. He was a natural.

"Maybe not a real wizard like you.... and your cousin," Stallings added with a smirk. "But Judy still paid for a birthday counselor."

"Is she... clued in?" Andi asked.

Stallings' attention went from me to Balducci and snorted. "Hector's a good man, great father, but he's a corporate tax accountant, all numbers. Anything beyond that's..."

"A bit out of his comfort zone?" I asked with a light smile.

The comment seemed to go over his head. People could be so clueless. "Come on, you're already nosing around," Stallings said, leading us into the park proper.

Watching the kids, my smile grew. Sure, Balducci was teaching the twins and their friends magic, but the Perna parents had pulled out the cake. And when given a choice between card tricks and cake, most kids didn't even hesitate.

Though one of the twins had given him a paper plate with a slice of darkly frosted red velvet cake before going back.

Holding a fork, Balducci looked up. Huh, the guy even ate with those silly gloves on. Maybe they were more than just show.

"Ah, Lieutenant Stallings!" he said giving a bright easy smile. "And who are these lovely ladies?"

"Well, this is Andi and..." I blinked. Right. I'm a lovely lady, too now. It was still awkward to think of myself in Andi's league in terms of appearance. Yes, I was not as buxom as the redhead, but I was willowy and could effortlessly be all kinds of exotic and goth.

"I'm Dresden... Halley Dresden."

"Ah, the competition." Balducci stood and gave a shallow but theatrical bow. "My condolences for your cousin. He was a good man."

"You've met him?" Stallings asked before I could.

"Only by reputation." In person, Balducci was... not quite smarmy, but he was not quite as charming as he thought he was. Then again, maybe he did have a bit of a silver tongue, magically speaking.

Stallings snorted.

I gave a matching grin. If he really knew my reputation, Chicago would be the last place Balducci would be.

"You're worried," he noted, to Stallings forking some cake.

"Oh?" the cop adjusted his plainer and far drabber suit.

"I know she's not here to poach my job." He waved a gloved hand towards me and a business card appeared between his fingers.

"Yeah, yeah, I don't do parties," I took the offered card. It was elaborately gilt and had a shorter version of his yellow page ad's tagline. More relevantly, it had a slight tinge of magical energy.

"Far be it for me to encourage direct competition, but you'd be great at it," Balducci gave a broad smile.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I glowered.

"That you'd look great in fishnets and sparkly bodice," Andi stated.

"Obviously, but I wouldn't be the magician's assistant. He's the newcomer here! I- um... Dresdens have been working in Chicago for nearly two decades!"

"You two can have a magic duel or measure wands or whatever later." Stallings pinched the bridge of his nose.

I might have tapped the side of my staff against the edge of the picnic table.

Stallings lowered his voice "What about my niece and nephew?"

It was like a switch flipped. Gone was the gregarious stage presence as Balducci sobered. "There's something awry."

Taking out a notepad, Stallings nodded. "Anything more specific?"

Balducci leaned back. "They're anxious, tired, maybe a bit scared. And it's not just Jill and Karl. There's at least half a dozen other kids. Very similar symptoms. " His tone grew more clinical. "Lieutenant, it doesn't quite match domestic abuse, and I didn't spot any obvious physical bruising, but my examination was just casual. Have they been looked at by a doctor? Recently?"

"They have," Stallings said while taking notes. "Can you give me the names and descriptions the other children you suspect?"

Balducci did. It turns out that redhead was named Rebecca Dagan.

"How'd you know to ask if they've seen a doctor?" Andi asked the stage magician.

He gave a sad little smile. "In my job, when a police officer asks certain questions you know where his mind is going."

Tapping fingers on my staff, I decided to go for it. "Did you detect anything magical on them?"

Balducci blinked.

Right. He had some power, but he clearly was not "clued in" at least not fully. Hells Bells, he was openly calling himself a wizard. And since the Wardens did not know about him, then he was either playing a wizarding "grey market" like Elaine was, or he really had no idea about the White Council of Wizards.

Which was a rather humorless group who did not like people, with any level of magical aptitude, publicly declaring themselves wizards, especially when said proclaimers were not actually members of their secret club.

Balducci glanced to Stallings and Andi. His expression was questioning.

I laughed. "Look, Booster Gold, I'd bet folding money they've seen more supernatural stuff than you have."

He flicked a card around his fingers, then nodded. "No bet."

"You're aware?" Stallings asked.

"There are things I... question," Balducci admitted.

I exhaled. "I suppose I can check them over." Looking people over for magical trauma, magical predation, was never fun. Especially if I used my Wizard's Sight to examine them.

Anything I Saw using that ability would stay with me, permanently fresh and vivid in my memory. But there were other, less effective but less scarring, things I could try first.

Balducci nodded. "As I said, I did not see any obvious trauma, but I only had a bit of time to talk with them."

I then gestured to the picnic table still swarming with kids. There was a quieter spot a few yards away where the twins and some of their friends had retreated to enjoy their cake. "I suppose I can get some cake."

Stallings frowned. "I'll introduce you," he said we made our way over.

"We going with a cover story?"

He snorted. "You're a private eye and department consultant."

"You know, I technically haven't worked for you yet, but I'd be eager for the business," I purred.

Stallings snorted. "I've worked with Dresden before, as long as your fees aren't much higher than his we'll do fine."

"Higher?"

"Yeah, Harry kept the same hourly rate and per deim for over a decade. I'm surprised he never renegotiated it with Karrin," Stallings shrugged. "Not that she'd complain to him about it."

"That little shrimp," I growled, playfully of course. It was my own fault. And SI, being the unwanted cast-off department of the Chicago Police was always running a short budget. The kicker was that the Warden payscale was also well behind inflation, like decades behind. Not that they didn't have their own bureaucratic tricks..

Stallings gave a contained smile. "I'm sure she can make it up to you," he dryly said as we closed into the party.

"John!" Judy Perna smiled. While he had the same gleaming intelligent eyes as her sibling, her haircut was much better. She took after her brother, though more aesthetically pleasing and not quite as overtly world-weary and cynical "You came; Tiffany and Karl will be so happy."

Stallings pulled out a couple of brightly wrapped envelopes.

Judy narrowed her eyes. "You didn't..."

"The tickets weren't that hard to get."

Hector ambled over. He was a good half a head shorter than his wife, but the blocky accountant looked like he bench-pressed those ledgers and had an easy going smile. Spotting, Stallings' gifts he sighed. "If you got them tickets to the convention, then you're going to be their chaperone."

He then looked to me. "And who is this?"

Judy brightened. "Yes, John. Introduce us to your lovely friend. Are you..."

Stallings laughed. "Oh no, she's a consultant from work."

"A cop?" Judy smiled. "She does remind me of that tiny blonde partner of yours."

"No, Ma'am, I'm a private investigator: Halley Dresden." I vacillated between bowing and offering my hand. Casual physical contact was awkward enough as a Practitioner, but add in succubae powers...

Her skin was cool and she felt... well Thomas was more in tune with his Hunger's desires and the "flavors" of humans. She seemed very nice and... I felt she could be rather fun and that Hector was a lucky man.

There was a sparkle to her eye, when she looked to him, and a tingle to her hand. It was a minor prickle, below even that of someone in the Paranet. Probably not enough to really cultivate a latent ability. Though it might mean her kids could have gotten something, magic did tend to follow matrilineal lines.

Judy tilted her head. "From the Yellow-pages."

"Yes, Ma'am." And William and the other Alphas thought I was old fashioned for keeping that ad for all these years.

"Please, I'm not that much older than you."

I bowed my head. In all honesty I was older than Mrs. Perna, but... succubus.

Hector nodded. "Yeah... you're the other wizard. The one who doesn't do birthday parties." The accountant shook his head. "Do you know how much revenue you're leaving on the table? Entertaining is bread and butter for stage magicians."

"I have plenty of other work," I said, maybe a bit defensively.

"And that brought you here?" Judy asked me, but then gave Stallings a critical look.

I paused. I could not answer with the truth. Saying "I came here because I'm jealous of some clown making a mockery of my wizard ad" would not endear me to the people who had hired said clown.

Or the cop who thought I was here out of a concern of supernatural predation on his niece and nephew.

That was not fair. By pretending to be a wizard, in a world filled with things who wanted to kill wizards, Balducci might have been playing with fire, and not the kind he could juggle. But the guy at least seemed to care about kids.

"She's here because I asked her to take a look at the twins." Stallings said with a tiny bit of impatience directed my way.

"Ah, so charging extra for child services is a common thing among wizards?" Hector grumbled.

"Hey, I leave that to the professionals!" I assured. I might have glanced back at the one professional, or at least credentialed counselor, who was at this moment was pulling a long scarf out from behind a kid's ear.

Hector snorted.

Stallings shot me a tiny frown but exhaled. "Just let her talk to the twins. She's seen a lot of stuff working for the department."

"You think they're..." Judy's forehead crinkled as her eyes gained a worry she could not quite articulate, a worry she was not able to manifest.

"I don't know," I spread my hands. "But I will look into it."

"How much?" the accountant asked, his dusky features... well... calculating. He reminded me of a stouter, more mature Carlos. Hector might not believe in the supernatural, but he knew there was something strange going on.

"I'll cover it," Stallings sighed.

Part of me wanted to protest that we had not actually argued the fees, but then I spotted the twins off to one side with their cake. The cynical redhead, Rebecca and another mop-headed boy was with them. The twins were looking at the stack of presents with a palpable longing.

But not a familiar one. My father had died when I was young, my mother even younger, as such I had grown up in orphanages. My childhood was challenging.

As I closed in, I considered an icebreaker. But then I got distracted by cake and went to the table right next to the covetous quartet.

Putting my staff down, I looked over the cake and then with a vicious smile found my target, cut out a slice rich red velvet cake with gleaming dark frosting, and gently deposited it on a paper plate. I filled a plastic cup with water.

"Hey! You can't take a corner piece!" Karl cried.

"Yeah! It's got all the extra frosting-flowers," his sister Tiffany added. She then tilted her head. "Who are you anyway? You're much... fancier than most of Mom's friends."

"I'm just a bit overdressed." I nervously stepped one side to the other idly swishing my skirt and stuck my fork into the cake. "Oh, that's good."

"Mom made it." Tiffany's pride was a bit muted.

"Why are you here?" Rebecca asked suspiciously. "I know you're not the mom of any of the other kids here."

"Because I just got here?" I asked. The kids were.... yeah something was off. Sure they were excited about cake and presents and a... magician. But it was alike a wet blanket was over all of them: dulling their energy and making them a bit more uncomfortable and listless.

The redhead tapped her chin. "You might have dropped your kid or kids off early, but you didn't walk up to any of us kids when you got here. You went right to the adults."

"Plus we know our friend's moms," Tiffany added.

"Clever," I forced myself to smile and take a sip of water. "No, I'm a friend of your uncle John."

"He has a friend like you?" Karl blinked, shock pulling him out of his torpor.

"Work friend," I clarified. "I'm Halley Dresden," this time I managed to get my cover name said without a hitch and held out my hand.

Karl looked at my long fingers for a confused moment and took it.

I gave him a quick shake. The kid felt... muffled. There was also a prickle of power, a bit more than his mother's. "Nice to meet you Karl. And you're Tiffany?" I asked shaking her hand.

Her power was like her brother's, identically so: thready and minor. Maybe it would grow more, maybe not. Puberty was a when a lot of Practitioners bloomed. But if their mother had a twinkle and these two had a spark, then maybe the next generation...

"You're on the vice squad?" Rebecca asked, being way too snarky for a pre-teen. She was also cheeky and grabbed my hand first. I flummoxed a bit at that. At least my reaction seemed to brighten her mood.

And I was four for four with minor powers today.

"Vice?" I frowned. I was wearing a full length skirt and a blouse with all but the top button done up. Aside from my hands and face I wasn't showing any skin. I took a moment to consider in abstract. Attractive woman plus friends with cop uncle.

Yeah, someone could casually assume vice squad.

And suddenly I got a lot more sympathetic for Murphy. She did not look like the typical cop either. And she had it worse off because she's short, and cute as a button, like a favored aunt. Where I'm all tall and gothy and more than a bit fae.

Putting my cup down, I returned my attention to the kids. There was something off about them. Stallings was right to think illness was about. Balducci, curse his juggling hands, was also onto something. These kids weren't scared, not exactly, but they were... skittish.

Eating more cake, I frowned.

"What's got you worried?" Karl asked.

"I'm not worried!" I replied.

"Please. You look as guilty as my dog is after she's knocked the garbage can over, but without the curled up tail," Rebecca added.

I frowned, my dog, Mouse never looked guilty quite like that. Course he was a good dog and would never knock over the garbage can. Though he had pretended to be more injured due to a gunshot wound than he really was.

"It just seems... strange. I mean aren't you kids having fun?" I exhaled and went for it. "You seemed happy enough earlier when Balducci was doing his magic, and he's really good at it. It's not the... wizard, and it can't be the cake. So, I gotta wonder what's wrong?"

I looked around and maybe a third, maybe a half, of the other kids in attendance were not at their best. They couldn't all have minor powers, but I didn't like the odds I was seeing. This was all kinds of wrong.

Granted, I was grading on the curve of "pre-teens at a birthday party loaded with sugar" but a bunch of them seemed mellow, almost morose.

"A bug was going around school, some kids were sick," Tiffany said.

"Yeah, but not the fun kind, hardly anyone missed school, we didn't," Karl added with a point.

Rebecca and the other boy eyed me cautiously. "If you're going to ask us questions the least you can do is show us a trick," she stated.

"Yeah, Balducci is fun. Not at all creepy, like a clown," Tiffany said.

I smiled the guy was right to rebrand. "A trick?" My eye went down to the slice of cake and cup of water.

Karl shook his head. "No 'Becca , she works with uncle John, she doesn't know magic like the Balducci the Illusive."

I might have growled at that. I forced a smile, without teeth, and exhaled. "I know a few tricks," I admitted. Bob would be laughing his ass off, if the intellect-spirit-living-in-a-Skull had an ass. He was the one who had encouraged me to sell love potions, be an entertainer, and do kids parties.

And here I was...

I dipped the tips of my fingers in the cup of water.

The kids' interest was raised until Rebecca broke the spell. "What kind of trick?" she asked with open caution.

Smart kid.

"Yeah what kind?" Tiffany added.

"Just some sparkles," I assured, swirling the water in the cup. My nails started to glow with a deep sapphire opalescence as water began to creep up my fingers.

"How girly," the other boy said, earning an elbow to his side from Rebecca.

"What do you expect from a woman as pretty as her?" Tiffany said.

"Using water for the sparkles?" Rebecca asked, pointing to my fingers which were now practically gloved in water.

"Hey what is going on with that?"

"Magic," I said and taking up my staff with my left hand, flicked my right arm up in a precise arc. Twisting my wrist and spreading my hands I cried "Arctis!"

Water droplets sprayed out well above the kids and in an instant all froze into tiny, glittering motes of ice.

"Whoa!" the twins cried as the four kids were enveloped in a miniature, but much more glittery snowstorm.

"Optio," I stated as the runes on my staff started to flare and added a tiny bit of Soulfire. A gift from an archangel, SoulFire allowed me to use a bit of my own soul in magical workings. Think of it as an enhancement; like rebar in poured concrete or a catalyst in reactions. It helped with my evocation and my thaumaturgy and, really, any magic I did.

The first time I had used it my force spell had manifested as an illusionary silver hand.

I had used a similar spell frequently in the past to reveal magical connections and effects. Finely ground quartz dust stored in a packet with runes inscribed using ink that had said dust as a component was my previous go-to method.

It was robust and not that expensive as spell components went. However, the grinding and inscribing took time, and I was still rebuilding my cache of magical components. It had taken over a decade for me to get a passable wizard's laboratory build up, and then the Red Court had burned it down in one night.

Stupid vampires.

However, with my wintry powers I could make my own "powder". And that was the key bit. Whether quartz or ice or (if you didn't care about the mess) ink, the goal was to fill a space with a fine, but charged, medium that would then adhere to certain magical effects.

Think of it like dusting for finger-prints. The SoulFire enhanced the ice crystals and tied in the whole spell giving it an extra oomph.

It was a good thing the kids were delighted by my little display. It helped distract them from my own reaction.

I had my confirmation. There was Black Magic here. The ice glinted with more iridescence than one would expect on a sunny day like this. Which was because it was interacting with their auras. The kids' auras were... weakened. The extra color and flare that came from, even their minor, powers were... well not quite muted but in a higher contrast. It was like going from a professionally printed high gloss comic book, to a cheaply stamped pulp. The colors were there, but they were cruder.

There was something wrong with them, and the explanation came from the threads of black sorcery tied around their upper arms. Strangely, they seemed quiescent. There was no seething or throbbing with dark power. Inactive like this it was hard to tell exactly what they were made to do.

They looked dead, inert. But so did some downed power lines. Just because it's not sparking doesn't mean it isn't a bad idea to touch it. Speaking of a downed line, I followed the sorcerous threads and saw that they just... terminated.

At least this probably was not Fomor's doing. Those toads would snatch up anyone with even a twinkle of power, and plenty of people without any. They would not leave people with... tracking devices, probes... I was not really sure what those bits of black magic in them were. Other than they could have been a lot more invasive.

My confusion outlasted the tiny bits of ice and they rapidly melted before the runes on my staff faded away.

The kids were still animated and I noticed I had attracted a bit of attention, and not just from the other children attending the party.

Right, magic in a public park. A few of the parents looked worried, and Stallings had squeezed the bridge of his nose.

Then one of the adults clapped. "Marvelous!" Balducci said as he stepped up. "A wonderful bit of sleight of hand."

Hector's attention went from me to Balducci. The accountant's expression calculating. "How do you sleight of hand snow?"

"I would never reveal a lady's secrets." Balducci gave an elegant bow towards me and then extended a gloved hand. He twisted his fingers and there was a snapping noise as bright green flames sparked up out of his palm. He winked

Ah, so that was his game. I crossed my arms. "It's not hard, it's just chemistry. Mr. Wizard did the same trick all the time on his show."

Stallings had approached and seemed about to correct me on that. Of course, he grew up watching Mr. Wizard. "Miss Dresden, Mr. Balducci, a moment?"

Gathering up my cake, I nodded and followed the two away from the others.

"You found something," Stallings stated once we had some privacy. We were near a surprisingly low-profile grey van that had commercial plates. By the way Balducci rummaged around in the back to put a few more tricks up his sleeves, it had to be his.

Honestly, I was surprised the sides weren't emblazoned with ads featuring his oh-so-mysterious face.

Balducci adjusted his gloves. "I'm guessing it's outside of my expertise."

I snorted. "Yeah, Black Magic. Someone's draining those kids, stealing their life, feeding off of them, something like that," I snarled. I kept secret, for now, that they had a little bit of power. I would have to tell Stallings later, depending on how puberty went for the Perna twins, I might have a couple more young protégées.

Regardless, whoever was doing this, they were hunting in my territory. They were poaching.

Pretending to ignore my outburst, Stallings rubbed his chin. "But doing it slow. They got sick, but not too sick."

Looking over the party, Balducci narrowed his eyes. "Making it last?"

"Sure, there's plenty of... things who take their time with a source of food." And people with a bit of magical power... well that could give some extra flavor. If that's what they were after.

"Things? What are we looking at here?" Stallings asked.

I held up a hand. "It could be anyone. Hells Bells, I once saw very similar, but stronger threads on another kid a few years back. It had knocked him out. Turns out some two bit human caster was draining the boy to regrow his hair."

Stallings raised an eyebrow while Balducci laughed. I may have left out that the kid in question was the son of Bigfoot. Okay, he was the son of one of the Forest People and a human woman. Irwin was doing well and had made good use of his football scholarship and his succubus.... fiancee.

Okay, she was White Court, but I couldn't hold that against her, even if her father was a complete asshole. Like a throw a few dozen ghouls at some wizard because you're angry that your little girl didn't sex her first boyfriend to death like a good little White Court vamp is supposed to.

What can I say? The White Court was messed-up when it came to parenting and values.

But given his father, Irwin was a ruggedly-handsome, extremely-large guy overflowing with energy. It made him a target to all sorts of people.

He was, well, very appealing to.... Connie, and that was before one took her succubus-like side into account. Feeling a bit hungry, I took a bite of cake.

"But you can recognize the caster if you see them do it?" Stallings continued

"Huh?" I shook my head, distracted. "Sure, there's unique bits in the way whoever did this wove the spell."

"What about getting it off the kids?" Balducci asked. "Stop it from hurting... from draining them."

I nodded. Someone was adapting. "I can unweave it, but right now they're not being drained. Whoever is doing this would notice it the next time they come up to drain the kids, and they'll weave in new spells to drain 'em all over again."

Looking a little bit smug, Andi sauntered up to us.

"Another friend of the detective?" Balducci bowed to her.

"Yes," I replied while Stallings gave a very cop frown.

"This what a real wizard keeps in his van?" Andi looked through the open vehicle's open doors.

I scoffed.

"I may dabble..." Balducci coughed.

"Sniff out any clues?"

Andi narrowed her eyes at me. She then gave a very bright smile. "Please, my nose is only a bit better than yours."

Huh. In wolf mode, Andi was, well, a wolf. And wolves had a sense of smell that was hundreds of times better than a human. And... okay, I'm not human anymore, but I don't think succubae were nearly that good...

Right?

I cocked my head to her and I got the feeling that both of us would have preferred to have our tails out for this covert conversation. The key thing was that Andi only had her super-nose if she slipped off and went fuzzy.

And experienced werewolves were really quick at changing from human to wolf and back. So, I was really asking if she had used her time to sneak away and turn into a wolf to sniff things out.

The buxom redhead shook her head. "I ambled about but didn't pick up anything too strange." She eyed me with a smile.

Huh... what did I smell like to a werewolf, now?

Knowing my luck, probably delicious.

Fitting, so many things smelled way too delicious to me now. It was like constantly wandering around a high class Vegas buffet. I could take whatever I wanted, as long as I was willing to pay the price. My stomach, and a few other things, grumbled in hunger.

"But there is something wrong here," Balducci sighed as he went back to rummaging around his van.

"Oh?" Andi asked.

I quickly filled her in with what I had discovered.

"Hair?" Andi laughed.

"Sure, a lotta guys really don't take to well to going bald," I glanced at the two men then down at myself. "Or so I'd heard."

"There's a common element," Balducci noted.

"They all go to the same school," Stallings noted.

I exhaled. "Lotta options there: teachers, staff, fellow students, might not even be the school proper. Maybe they all hang out at the same... where do kids hang out these days? Malls? Arcades? Malt-shops?"

"It's a start," Stallings looked to Balducci. The cop seemed to weigh the ostentatiously dressed magician. "There might be more kids to interview."

Balducci nodded. "Sure, but that's only part, Halley's the one who can really see what's wrong," he gestured towards me.

"On a magical level." I eyed him. He was definitely not a skeptic. He also had some power, and wore gloves so I couldn't get an easy skin contact read on his power.

But just because he knew magic was real did not mean he knew what he was doing. If he had any real experience he'd know calling himself a wizard would get the White Council very angry. Complete with a Warden knocking on his door telling him to knock it off, and telling him all about the Laws of Magic.

And, technically, I was a Warden. I gave him a bright smile and finished off the last of my cake.

"That looked really good. There anymore?" Andi asked.

"Right by the table," I turned and gestured.

A petite woman with short golden hair and a white blouse was over by the cake table talking to Hector and Judy before giving the twins a present.

Both Tiffany and Karl perked up at that, and then let the woman examine them.

"That their doctor?" I asked Stallings.

He shook his head.

I caught Andi's eye. "You wanted some cake?"

With the sexy werewolf at my heel, I went back to the tables. Behind us I could hear Balducci closing up his van. Not every woman who stopped in and took interest in these kids was an inhuman predator.

Present company excluded.

But it did not hurt to check the woman out.

And besides: cake.

**************

Going back to the picnic tables that the party had coalesced around, I got a better look of the woman. She was slight and petite, with pageboy style golden hair. The bangs on the left side of her face were held back by a faux jade barrette in the shape of a foxtail. Deep green eyes peeked out from slim glasses. Between her Japanese features and short height, I was reminded of my elder sister.

Though this woman was less pale.

And...

I stepped up and gave the twins a big smile. "Karl, Tiffany, great party!" I said in a loud voice as I sauntered up taking as much "space" as I could. "Have you met my friend Andi? I was telling her about how great the cake was and she just wanted a piece"

The Japanese woman turned to me and a gentle smile froze on her delicate features. She had none of the sharp cheekbones and chin-line of my biggest sister, but for a moment.

The twins brightened. "Red velvet is my favorite," Tiffany said.

"Good choice," I turned to the blonde and gave her a big bright smile. "Hi! I'm Halley, who are you?"

Those eyes studied me moving from head to foot as her frown deepened. I could hear her mutter the name I had given her. "I am Mikki Saito," she bowed to me. "How do you know Karl and Tiffany?"

"Friend of their uncle and competitor to the entertainment," I pointed to Balducci who had returned to the area in front of the tables.

Saito gave the formally dressed magician a long look. She blinked then turned back to me.

"Now..." I leaned on my staff. "How do you know 'em? Friend of the family?"

"Miss Saito's our school nurse!" Tiffany said.

Ah. My eyes narrowed. And my grip tightened. Wood creaked.

Saito smelled human. But that did not mean much. A human Practitioner did something like this to Son-of-Bigfoot Irwin. And there were plenty of supernatural predators that could pass as human, albeit a rather pretty human.

The White Court Vampires, for one, were very adept at hiding as human, to even careful examination. And few years back a group of Whites had taken a, murderous interest, in people with minor powers.

And speaking of supernatural predators who could pass as pretty humans: there were at least two of us present.

And Miss Saito could just be a concerned nurse coming in to look on her charges. Or she could be predator number three.

I exhaled and focused on keeping my glamour up. It was easier to make sure if my face got flushed it did so in shades of red and not shades of blue. Stupid blue Winter demon blood. Even if Saito weren't human she might not be the one behind this.

Thinking non-human equaled guilty was crazy-Warden thinking.

I relaxed my grip and made my smile a bit less... aggressive. "That skirt really compliments your eyes, and I've got to ask what shampoo you use, your hair smells delicious."

Saito blinked. "It's nothing special."

"Nonsense," I leaned in and loomed over her. "It must also work well for dye, I can hardly see the dark roots."

"Roots," Saito tilted her head.

"You know, all the black strands you've left hanging about. Oh there's one," I reached and plucked an imaginary errant hair.

For an instant Saito tensed and the air hummed, but she drew back in and gave a concerned and angry look at me.

Right, she was a player. A normal human would find someone plucking their hair to be an annoying violation of their personal space. Someone aware of magic would see taking a hair as an overt threat.

Andi had slipped up to the side and was eating a slice of cake.

"You." Saito's green eyes dilated.

"Me." I could feel her body tensing up as fight or flight instincts ramped and she gave me a calculating look. "Kids can you go off and get the great and powerful Balducci some cake? He'd been eyeing seconds and told me he'd give you some magic cards and stuff if you did."

The woman's bright smile flashed as she watched the kids amble away. "I had heard Dresden had claimed this ward. And rumors that..."

"Was all pretty now?" Andi stated.

I exhaled and tilted my head... "Now... Mikki, have you been a naughty nurse?"

Green eyes shifting to a calculating mode, she gave a sly smile. "Really? Will you cause a scene here? In public?"

Looming over her, I leaned on my staff. "Gee... yeah. That might get the police involved." I flashed a bright smile. "And you're not the first warlock they've handled."

Adjusting her glasses, Saito gave a light chuckle. "Oh... you are a delight."

"And you're hurting kids."

Her glare sharpened. "Incorrect." She turned and started walking away.

She... she just left. Bad guys can't just do that! We had to spar verbally, if not physically.

Leaving Andi back with the kids, I went after her, catching up was easy due to my longer stride. "You think you can just run off?"

Now across the street and in front of a cafe, she turned and faced me. "I know your reputation," she hissed. "If you were in my shoes you'd be running too."

"If I were in those shoes, my toes would be hating me. Really, who wears pumps to a party in the park?" I waspishly asked, stepping forward.

Saito blinked at me. "You really are of Her blood."

I could hear the capitalization in the woman's voice. "Not you too... does everyone know about my grandmother?"

The blonde took a step back. We were now at the mouth of a wide alley between the cafe and a heating, air conditioning, and plumbing company.

I sniffed the air. She smelled human, but there was something... "Not just a player; not just some minor spell-slinger."

Placing her hands behind her back, Saito gave a contemptuous stretch. She was just in the alley "You have no idea what you've stumbled onto."

Oh, the Black Magic practitioner wanted to go into the alley. Well, I've played that song and dance before. I glanced down. The end of the alley was blocked by a high chain-link gate that went to a storage lot full of racks of pipes, rows of air conditioners, and a couple of parked vans. The gate was chained and padlocked and was tipped in razor wire.

I guess even in the 'burbs people would steal. And pipes and AC units were rich in scrap metal.

"Lady, you have no idea how often I've heard that." I echoed with a smile and stepped closer.

Honestly, every two bit dark-power peddler liked to do that "you have no idea" bit. Now, as a Wizard, I could totally understand the raw joy that came with keeping a good secret.

The nurse folded her hands in front of herself. Blinking at me, she played with thin silver rings on each thumb.

"But I'm going to find out." My staff tapped the sidewalk as blue motes started to fall from the runes. "And we can do it the fun way or..." I smiled again showing some more teeth.

"Fun it is!" Saito's hands split apart with a twang. I noticed two things at once. First those were not rings. Those were the pins to two grenades. A blinding horrific flash and snapping bang assaulted me.

And showed the real downside to superhuman senses. Blinded and deaf, I shot forward but the second grenade was already billowing out a thick cloud of smoke that filled the alley. I had a star-filled vision of her turning tail and running.

And then I learned the second thing. The blonde nurse was almost certainly not human. By the time the smoke cleared and my senses had recovered she was gone. Being able to run that fast, that far, in heels like that was a supernatural skill. One I had only seen high sidhe and certain vampires pull off.

As I coughed, I glanced back to the park and noticed I had got some attention. Smoothing my skirt I eyed the spent grenade canisters and swore. I looked to the end of the alley. The two buildings had blank walls, and the eight foot tall chain-link gate was still locked... but it was shorter than the buildings to either side.

"She vanished with a smoke bomb and bounded over a barb wire fence..." I swore again and rubbed some stars out of my eyes. Of all the cliches, it looked like I was dealing with a naughty nurse ninja.

End Chapter 2

Halfway and Dresden's starting to realize the scale of the problem she's stumbled into.

Thanks to DCG, Ellf, Kevin D Hammel, Henry Stickman, and J.St.C.Patrick for their help with the corrections. I'm doing something a bit different as Patrick has given me leave to post this before he's given it a full check.

Update: And now Pat's gone over it, with more than a few corrections for his great efforts!