The last area was covered with a thick impact mat and was the largest in the gym. Several people in judo pajamas were already working through various grappling techniques. I recognized most of the pajama people on sight as members of Chicago's finest.
One of the men, a large and brawny rookie, let out a sharp shout, and then he and another man closed in to attack a single opponent. They were quick, and worked well together. If it had been anyone but Murphy up against them, they probably would have been successful.
Lt. Karrin Murphy, the woman in charge of the Special Investigations division of Chicago PD, stood an even five feet. Her blond hair had been tied back into a tail, and she wore white pajamas with a faded belt that was more grey than black. She was attractive in a pleasantly wholesome kind of way-crystal blue eyes, clear skin, an upturned nose.
And she'd been a student of aikido since she was eleven.
The brawny rookie underestimated her speed, and she had slipped aside from his kick before he realized his mistake. She caught him by an ankle, twisted with her whole frame, and sent him stumbling away for a second or two-time enough for her to handle the second attacker. He struck more cautiously, and Murphy let out an abrupt shout of her own, faked a jab, and drove a front kick into his belt. It wasn't at full strength, and he'd taken the blow correctly, but he fell back a couple of steps, hands lifted in acknowledgment. If Murphy had been in earnest, she'd have put him down, hard.
The rookie came back in, but he hadn't really gotten up to speed. Murphy blocked a jab and a slow reverse punch, got the rookie by the wrist, and sent him smashing down on the impact mat, one hand twisted to the breaking point and held firm at the small of his back. The rookie grimaced and slapped the mat three times. Murphy released him.
"Hey, Stallings," she said, loudly enough to be heard by the whole gym. "What just happened here?"
The older opponent grinned and said, "O'Toole just got beat up by a girl, Lieutenant."
There was a general round of applause and good-natured jeers from the other cops in the gym, including several calls of "Pay up!" and "Told you so!"
O'Toole shook his head ruefully. "What did I do wrong?"
"Telegraphed the kick," Murphy said. "You're a moose, O'Toole. Even a light kick from you will do the job. Don't sacrifice speed to get more power. Keep it quick and simple."
O'Toole nodded, and walked over to an open corner of the mat with his partner.
"Hey, Murphy," I called. "When are you gonna stop picking on little kids and fight someone your own size?"
Murphy flicked her tail over her shoulder, her eyes shining. "Come say that to my face, Dresden."
"Give me a minute to amputate my legs and I will," I responded. I took my shoes off and set them against the wall, along with my duster. Murphy got a smooth wooden staff about five feet long from a rack on the wall. I took my staff into a square marked in tape on the mat, and we bowed to each other.
We warmed up with a simple sequence, alternating strikes in a steady, working rhythm, wooden staves clacking solidly. Murphy didn't start pushing for more speed. "Haven't seen you for almost two weeks. You flaking out on this self-defense notion?"
"No," I said, keeping my voice down. "Been on a job. Finished it up last night." I lost focus, slipped up in the sequence, and Murphy's staff banged down hard on the fingers of my left hand. "Hell's bells, ow! ow!"
"Concentrate, wimp." Murphy gave me a second to shake my fingers, and then she started again from the beginning. "You've got something on your mind."
"Something off the record," I said, lowering my voice.
She looked around. No one was close enough to listen in. "Okay."
"I need a thug. You available?"
Murphy arched a brow. "You need manpower?"
"Thugpower," I said.
Murphy frowned. "What do you have in mind?"
"Black Court," I said. "At least two in town, probably more."
"Hitters?"
I nodded. "One of them came pretty close to taking me last night."
"You okay?"
"Yeah. But we have to shut these guys down, and fast. They aren't gentle and fun-loving like the Reds."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning that when they feed, their victims don't usually survive. They don't feed as often, but the longer they stay, the more people are going to get killed."
Murphy's eyes glittered with a sudden, angry fire. "What's the plan?"
"Find them. Kill them."
Her brows shot up. "Just like that? No formal balls, no masquerades, no clandestine meetings as preliminaries?"
"Nah. I thought it might be nice to get the drop on the bad guys for a change."
"I like that plan."
"It's simple," I agreed.
"Like you," Murphy said.
"Just like me."
"When?"
I shook my head. "As soon as I find where they're holed up during daylight. I can probably do it in a day or three."
"How's Saturday?"
"Uh. Why?"
She rolled her eyes. "Murphy annual family reunion is this weekend. I try to be working on reunion weekend."
"Oh," I said. "Why don't you just, you know... not show up."
"I need a good excuse not to show up, or my mother won't let me hear the end of it."
"So lie."
Murphy shook her head. "She'd know. She's psychic or something."
I felt my eyebrows go up. "Well, gee, Murph. I guess I'll just try to arrange things so that the deadly monster threat will be convenient to ducking your annual family fun-fest. Your sense of priorities once more astounds me."
She grimaced. "Sorry. I spend time dreading this every year. Things are sort of hard between me and my mother. Family skews your sanity. I don't expect you to under-"
She broke off abruptly, and a little pang of hurt went through me. She didn't expect me to understand. I didn't have a mother. I didn't have a family. I never had. Even my dim memories of my father had all but vanished. I'd been only six years old when he died.
"God, Harry," Murph said. "I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry."
I coughed and focused on the sequence. "It shouldn't be a long job. I find the vamps. We go in, pound in some stakes, cut some heads, toss some holy water, and we're gone."
She began to speed the pace, evidently as glad as I to leave that comment unremarked. The strength of her swings made my hands buzz when her staff hit mine. "You mean we get to live the cliche?" she asked. "Stakes and crosses and garlic?"
"Yeah. Cakewalk."
Murphy snorted. "Then why do you need thugs?"
"In case they have goons. I need thugpower with countergoon capability."
Murphy nodded. "A few extra hands wouldn't be a bad idea." She sped up again, her staff a blur. I had to struggle to keep up. "Why don't you ask the holy knight guy?"
"No," I said.
"What if we need him?"
"Michael would come in a hot second if I asked him. But I'm tired of seeing him get hurt because of me." I frowned, almost lost the rhythm, then found it again. "God or someone like Him does Michael's event scheduling, and I get the feeling that Michael's a lot less invincible when he isn't officially on the clock."
"But he's a big boy. I mean, he knows the risks. He has brains."
"He also has kids."
Murphy faltered this time, and I hit one of her thumbs. She winced and nodded toward the rookie cop she'd humbled. "O'Toole there is Mickey Malone's nephew. He'd jump through fire for you, if I asked him along."
"God, no. No newbies on this run. A stupid mistake could be fatal."
"I could talk to Stallings."
I shook my head. "Murph, the boys in SI are a lot better at handling supernatural weirdness than the average bear-but a lot of them still don't really believe what they're dealing with. I want someone smart and tough, and who won't freeze or freak out, and that's you."
"They're better than that."
"What happens to them if something goes wrong? If I make a mistake. Or you do. Even if they got out in one piece, how do you think they would handle the backlash when they got back to the real world? Where people don't believe in vampires, and there are bodies to explain?"
Murphy frowned. "The same thing that would happen to me, I guess."
"Yeah. But you're their leader. You want to be responsible for sending them into that kind of mess? Expose them to that?"
Murphy looked at several of the men around the gym and grimaced. "You know I don't want that. But my point is that I'm as vulnerable as they are."
"Maybe. But you know the score. They don't. Not really. You know enough to be careful and smart."
"What about the White Council?" Murphy asked. "Shouldn't they be willing to help you? I mean, you're one of their own."
I shrugged. "By and large they don't like me. I need their help like I need a sword in the neck."
"Gee. Someone actually resisted your charm and finesse."
"What can I say. They have no taste."
Murphy nodded. "So who else are you going to get?"
"You and one more will do for coffin patrol," I said. "I know a guy who is good with vampires. And I'm going to have a driver standing by when it goes down."
"How many laws are you planning on breaking?"
"None," I said. "If I can help it."
"What if these vampires have human goons?"
"We disable them. I'm only gunning for Black Court. But if you want to pull double duty as conscience officer, that's fine by me."
We finished the sequence, backed a step away, and bowed to each other. Murphy walked with me to the edge of the mat, frowning and mulling things over. "I don't want to sidestep any laws. Vampire hunting is one thing. Going vigilante is another."
"Done," I said.
She frowned. "And I'd really, really like it if we did it on Saturday."
I snorted. "If we go early, maybe you can get laid up in the hospital or something, at least."
"Ha-ha," Murphy said.
"Do me a favor and keep an eye on missing persons for a few days. It might help tip us off to their location. I want every bit of information I can get."
"Gotcha," Murphy said. "You want to work on some hand-to-hand?"
I picked up my duster. "Can't. Got to be on the new job in half an hour."
"Harry, aikido is a demanding discipline. If you don't practice every day, you're going to lose what you've learned."
"I know, I know. But it isn't like I can depend on a routine from day to day."
"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," Murphy said. She held my staff for me while I put on my coat and abruptly frowned as she handed it back.
"What?" I asked her.
Her mouth twisted into the shape it got when she tried to hold back laughter. "Is that a puppy in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?"
I looked down. The puppy had woken from his nap and poked its head out of my duster's pocket, and was panting happily. "Oh. Right."
Murphy plucked the puppy out of my pocket, turned him belly up, and started rubbing his tummy. "What's his name?"
"No name. I'm not keeping him."
"Ah," Murphy said.