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Jan. 24th, 2008 10:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indiana_jTitle: Faith
Rating: PG13
Fandom: Dresden Files
Characters: Harry, Murphy
Summary: Harry doesn't realize that Murphy's packing more than just a gun.
Author's Notes: Not mine! Just playing! Also, this is set after book 6. Thanks to Nute for looking it over since I wrote it, uh, tonight... :)
The first thing I thought when I came to was 'We're going to die.'
Actually, wait, no. The very first thing I thought was 'Ow, ow, fuck, ow' and then 'We're going to die.'
The left side of my face felt like a side of raw hamburger and the right...it's better not to speak of how much pain was radiating from the right half of my face. A hand clamped around my shoulder and forced me to roll over. In response, I made the most pitiful noises in the entire universe.
Me, big tough wizard, raar.
The person belonging to that hand, I'm assuming, forced one of my eyelids open and I glared as best I could at the offender.
Murphy returned my glare with force from being unmangled behind it. "Goddammit, Dresden," she growled, patting my body down for any glaring holes in it, "one of these days you'll run out of those damned cat lives you seem to have."
I really, really hoped not.
And then I remembered why my second thought was about us dieing and why I hurt so damned badly. When I said a demon, a wizard and a vampire walked into a bar, trust me, that was not the first line of a really awful joke. I was the wizard, thankfully, but Kincaid and Thomas weren't with me so, trust me, those other two weren't friends.
Or mercenaries that charge me a lot of money to retain their services.
Six of one, half dozen of the other.
"Murph, run." Though since my jaw and tongue felt like tapioca pudding, it came out something like "Mrrrphnn" and she reacted just like I thought she would. She ignored me. She always ignored me.
And when I saw what was coming up behind her, I cursed her for it.
Face pinched into hard, sharp lines of worry and anger as she bent over me, Murphy froze when she noticed the expression on my face. Immediately, she spun around into a shooting stance, one of her guns sliding out of its holsters and into her hand faster than I could track. Murph was fast but the Black Court Vampire behind her was bound to be faster.
It had been chewed up in the last blast of magic I'd let loose before something else had gotten the drop on me – it was missing the left side of it's skull and an arm had gone missing at some point. Though I really could not remember if it had come to the party like that or not. I hoped not. Nothing I like more than blowing body parts off the bad guys, especially the ones that enjoyed chewing on me.
Now I was struggling to sit up, trying to ignore the soul sucking pain because I wasn't about to let my friend get torn apart, or worse, by that thing. I managed to get to my knees before Murphy did the darndest thing.
She shoved me back down with her free hand and I nearly went head over heels from the impact. Stunned, I shook my head and propped myself up in time to watch her dig something out of her back pocket. Murphy moved it around in front and stood up, shoulders square and back ramrod straight. Something dangled out of her clenched fist and I squinted, trying to figure out exactly what she was holding...
It swung in lazy circles and I realized she was gripping her badge as hard as she could and right as I was about to kick her legs out from under her to get her out of the line of fire, the damned thing light up like the fourth of July. Silver light blazed from the center of the badge and ran up the cord, making it seem almost alive in her hand. My jaw dropped as the vampire in front of us suddenly screamed, the inhuman sound cutting through my ears, and combusted.
Faith.
It wasn't a cross or my symbol of what I believed in, the pentacle, or anything that someone would mistake as being a symbol of a deeply held belief. Faith magic is a funny, funny thing, though. It worked on what you believed in the most, what you held dear to your heart and knew that it wasn't going anywhere.
For Lt. Karrin Murphy, head of the Special Investigations division the Chicago PD, that symbol of faith was the badge of office that she carried with her. The sworn promise and duty to uphold the law and protect those who could not protect themselves. She didn't just live that badge, she took it to heart. For her, the shield wasn't just a little metal doohickey with a pin -- it was a shield she wielded in front of her to protect those behind. And I feared for whatever slammed into it.
And something in my own heart unclenched just a little bit to see that. If I had to be quaint about it, Murphy was my best friend and I know that neither of us regret it (okay, I don't; she probably curses my name every chance she got but she always had my back). But when I came clean with her about everything from my own past to the White Counsel, I know that faith in the law and badge had taken one hell of a beating.
Especially since we'd had to go all vigilante on a nest of Black Court Vampires that had taken up camp in a homeless shelter. It was one thing for her to accept putting Part A of Stake, the pointy bit, into the undead bad guys and hit Part B to drive it home. It was another for her to realize that some of the people we were going up against were still breathing. The law that ruled the humans could barely scratch the surface of a lot the supernatural world and that was overlooking the Nevernever completely.
Her faith may have been shaken but it was still deep and pure and it was saving our behinds right now. I indulged for a second and recalled what my Sight had Seen of Murphy twice now – a golden avenging angel willing to kick ass to save my skin. And others, so many others.
Now I did struggle back up to my feet, my weight mostly on the staff back at my side. I hobbled towards Murphy who gave me a glance over her shoulder that clearly said "Now what?"
I squinted at the writhing vampire on the floor before us and gave her a wild grin. It must have looked really awful because she grimaced at me but I didn't care. I was up and mobile and the avenging angel at my side was really pissed off and it wasn't directed at me.
"Let's kick ass."
It would have been much cooler if it had actually sounded like that. Stupid jaw.
Rating: PG13
Fandom: Dresden Files
Characters: Harry, Murphy
Summary: Harry doesn't realize that Murphy's packing more than just a gun.
Author's Notes: Not mine! Just playing! Also, this is set after book 6. Thanks to Nute for looking it over since I wrote it, uh, tonight... :)
The first thing I thought when I came to was 'We're going to die.'
Actually, wait, no. The very first thing I thought was 'Ow, ow, fuck, ow' and then 'We're going to die.'
The left side of my face felt like a side of raw hamburger and the right...it's better not to speak of how much pain was radiating from the right half of my face. A hand clamped around my shoulder and forced me to roll over. In response, I made the most pitiful noises in the entire universe.
Me, big tough wizard, raar.
The person belonging to that hand, I'm assuming, forced one of my eyelids open and I glared as best I could at the offender.
Murphy returned my glare with force from being unmangled behind it. "Goddammit, Dresden," she growled, patting my body down for any glaring holes in it, "one of these days you'll run out of those damned cat lives you seem to have."
I really, really hoped not.
And then I remembered why my second thought was about us dieing and why I hurt so damned badly. When I said a demon, a wizard and a vampire walked into a bar, trust me, that was not the first line of a really awful joke. I was the wizard, thankfully, but Kincaid and Thomas weren't with me so, trust me, those other two weren't friends.
Or mercenaries that charge me a lot of money to retain their services.
Six of one, half dozen of the other.
"Murph, run." Though since my jaw and tongue felt like tapioca pudding, it came out something like "Mrrrphnn" and she reacted just like I thought she would. She ignored me. She always ignored me.
And when I saw what was coming up behind her, I cursed her for it.
Face pinched into hard, sharp lines of worry and anger as she bent over me, Murphy froze when she noticed the expression on my face. Immediately, she spun around into a shooting stance, one of her guns sliding out of its holsters and into her hand faster than I could track. Murph was fast but the Black Court Vampire behind her was bound to be faster.
It had been chewed up in the last blast of magic I'd let loose before something else had gotten the drop on me – it was missing the left side of it's skull and an arm had gone missing at some point. Though I really could not remember if it had come to the party like that or not. I hoped not. Nothing I like more than blowing body parts off the bad guys, especially the ones that enjoyed chewing on me.
Now I was struggling to sit up, trying to ignore the soul sucking pain because I wasn't about to let my friend get torn apart, or worse, by that thing. I managed to get to my knees before Murphy did the darndest thing.
She shoved me back down with her free hand and I nearly went head over heels from the impact. Stunned, I shook my head and propped myself up in time to watch her dig something out of her back pocket. Murphy moved it around in front and stood up, shoulders square and back ramrod straight. Something dangled out of her clenched fist and I squinted, trying to figure out exactly what she was holding...
It swung in lazy circles and I realized she was gripping her badge as hard as she could and right as I was about to kick her legs out from under her to get her out of the line of fire, the damned thing light up like the fourth of July. Silver light blazed from the center of the badge and ran up the cord, making it seem almost alive in her hand. My jaw dropped as the vampire in front of us suddenly screamed, the inhuman sound cutting through my ears, and combusted.
Faith.
It wasn't a cross or my symbol of what I believed in, the pentacle, or anything that someone would mistake as being a symbol of a deeply held belief. Faith magic is a funny, funny thing, though. It worked on what you believed in the most, what you held dear to your heart and knew that it wasn't going anywhere.
For Lt. Karrin Murphy, head of the Special Investigations division the Chicago PD, that symbol of faith was the badge of office that she carried with her. The sworn promise and duty to uphold the law and protect those who could not protect themselves. She didn't just live that badge, she took it to heart. For her, the shield wasn't just a little metal doohickey with a pin -- it was a shield she wielded in front of her to protect those behind. And I feared for whatever slammed into it.
And something in my own heart unclenched just a little bit to see that. If I had to be quaint about it, Murphy was my best friend and I know that neither of us regret it (okay, I don't; she probably curses my name every chance she got but she always had my back). But when I came clean with her about everything from my own past to the White Counsel, I know that faith in the law and badge had taken one hell of a beating.
Especially since we'd had to go all vigilante on a nest of Black Court Vampires that had taken up camp in a homeless shelter. It was one thing for her to accept putting Part A of Stake, the pointy bit, into the undead bad guys and hit Part B to drive it home. It was another for her to realize that some of the people we were going up against were still breathing. The law that ruled the humans could barely scratch the surface of a lot the supernatural world and that was overlooking the Nevernever completely.
Her faith may have been shaken but it was still deep and pure and it was saving our behinds right now. I indulged for a second and recalled what my Sight had Seen of Murphy twice now – a golden avenging angel willing to kick ass to save my skin. And others, so many others.
Now I did struggle back up to my feet, my weight mostly on the staff back at my side. I hobbled towards Murphy who gave me a glance over her shoulder that clearly said "Now what?"
I squinted at the writhing vampire on the floor before us and gave her a wild grin. It must have looked really awful because she grimaced at me but I didn't care. I was up and mobile and the avenging angel at my side was really pissed off and it wasn't directed at me.
"Let's kick ass."
It would have been much cooler if it had actually sounded like that. Stupid jaw.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-25 03:31 pm (UTC)