Blood Rites (The Dresden Files #6) - Jim Butcher Page 0,15

do."

"I'll take care of it," I said.

"It might be more than you can handle alone."

"That's why I'm going Justice League on them," I said, fighting a yawn. I put the cardboard box with the puppy on the worktable, picked up my candle, and went to the stepladder.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Bob asked.

"Bed. Early day tomorrow. New case."

"And the temple dog is staying here why?"

"Because I don't want to leave him all by his lonesome," I said. "If I take him with me I think Mister would eat him after I went to sleep."

"Dammit, Harry, I'm a voyeur, not a veterinarian."

I scowled. "I need shut-eye."

"And I get to babysit the dog?"

"Yeah."

"My job sucks."

"Form a union," I said heartlessly.

"What's the new case?" Bob asked.

I told him.

"Arturo Genosa?" Bob asked. "The Arturo Genosa? The movie producer?"

I lifted my eyebrows. "Yeah, I guess. You've heard of him?"

"Heard of him? Heck, yeah! He's the best there is!"

My intuition piped up again, and I felt something in my insides drop. "Uh. What kind of movies?"

"Critically acclaimed erotic features!" Bob said, fairly bubbling with enthusiasm.

I blinked. "There are erotic film critics?"

"Sure!" Bob bubbled. "All kinds of periodicals."

"Like what?"

"Juggs, Hooters, Funkybuns, Busting Out—"

I rubbed at my eyes. "Bob, those are porno magazines, not trade journals."

"Four stars, four boners, what's the difference?" Bob asked.

I wasn't going to touch that one.

The skull sighed. "Harry, I'm not trying to call you stupid or belabor the obvious, but you did get hired by a vampire of the White Court. An incubus. What kind of job did you think this was going to be?"

I glowered at Bob. He was right. I should have known it wasn't going to be simple.

"Speaking of," I said, "how much do you know about the White Court?"

"Oh, the usual," Bob said, which meant he knew plenty.

"I saw Thomas get real weird tonight," I said. "I don't know how to describe it, exactly. But Justine was there, and she said that he was freezing and that it worried her. Then he hit her with some kind of mind-magic hypnosis whammy, and zoned her out entirely."

"He was Hungry," Bob said. "I mean, capital H kind of Hungry. The Hunger is a kind of… I don't know. Symbiotic spirit, inside a White Court vamp. They're born with it."

"Ah," I said. "That's where they get the strength and powers and stuff."

"Among them nigh-immortality," Bob said. "But it don't happen for free. That's why they do the whole feeding thing. The Hunger needs it to survive."

"I got it, I got it," I said, through a yawn. "They use their powers and it makes the spirit hungry so they have to feed." I frowned. "What happens if they don't feed?"

"Short-term? Moodiness, anger, violent behavior, paranoia. In the long term, they'll use up whatever reservoir of life energy they have. Once that happens, the Hunger pretty much takes over and makes them hunt."

"If they can't hunt?"

"They go insane."

"What about the people they feed on?" I asked.

"What about them?" Bob said. "They get little pieces of their life nibbled away. It does a form of spiritual damage, like when the Nightmare mauled Mickey Malone. It leaves them vulnerable to the Whites' mental allure and control, so it's easy for the Whites to come by for another bite."

"What happens if they keep getting fed on?"

"It's fed upon, o Bard, and if it keeps up the mortal burns out early. Sort of fades away into a kind of mindless daze. Heart attack during an intense feeding usually kills them."

"Killer sex," I said. "Literally."

"To die for," Bob confirmed.

An eerie thought, and one that disturbed me a lot more than I thought it should. "What if the vamp doesn't want to feed on someone?"

"Want doesn't matter," Bob said. "They feed on pure reflex. It's what they are."

"So if they stay with someone," I said, "eventually they kill them."

"Sooner or later," Bob said. "Always."

I shook my head. "I'll remember that," I said. "Tough to keep up the paranoia around Thomas. He's… well, hell, if he was human I might not mind buying him a beer once in a while."

Bob's tone turned serious. "He might be a great guy, Harry, but it doesn't change the fact that he isn't always in control of his power, or his Hunger. I doubt he can stop himself from entrancing that pretty girl of his. Or from feeding upon her." Bob paused. "Not that he'd really want to. I mean, she's hot. Who wouldn't want a little nibble of Justine now and then?