Dresden Files Reread - Grave Peril Chapter 24

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As they pull up to Bianca's mansion, Michael asks Harry to explain in more detail why they're at this party. So Harry runs him through the chain of reasoning: Someone is stirring up the spirit world in order to create the Nightmare, Lydia is somehow connected to the Nightmare, Bianca sent Kelly and Kyle to kidnap Lydia. This makes a pretty convincing case that Bianca is somehow involved with the Nightmare, as it would be a bit of a stretch to suppose that Lydia was involved with two completely unrelated supernatural entities. Even if Bianca isn't directly involved, though, she's currently hosting a party for most of the major bad guys currently local to Chicago, so there's a reasonable chance that whoever is involved, whichever dark power was feeding the Nightmare when Harry confronted it in the previous chapter, is going to be at this thing. This reasoning holds up pretty well, and doesn't hinge on any of the dubious parts of Harry's current theory. It was also a remarkably solid decision to review it all here, not least because, if I remember correctly, we're getting close to the part where things start not making any sense, and it's good to know that we've got a firm foundation under us when the nonsense starts. Now that Harry has felt the power of whoever or whatever is controlling the Nightmare, he should be able to identify them again, and a party like this is an excellent opportunity to vibe check a lot of bad guys and monsters all at once. It's a reasonable plan. 

Michael is not thrilled with...any of this, really. He doesn't like the plan, he doesn't want to be at the extremely dangerous party full of monsters, and he'd really like to know why the Nightmare didn't go after Harry as soon as the sun was down. Harry suggests that the Nightmare might be afraid to go after him, since he was able to bind it, but I don't think even Harry finds this idea terribly convincing, and Michael certainly doesn't. Nor is he especially reassured by Harry's insistence that they'll be protected by the laws of hospitality, which is honestly fair given that he's not willing to abide by them himself, if he sees innocent people in danger. As much as Harry is valid for wanting armed backup, I feel like he might actually have done better to bring Susan, who isn't much less adept at navigating supernatural politics, whose presence isn't in and of itself an insult to their hosts, and who probably could be relied upon to follow the rules if Harry explained properly. Before they go in, Michael asks Harry to pray with him, or at least shut up for a minute to he can pray. Harry reflects on how he doesn't really understand God, or trust most religious people. Which is fair, at least from his position, but then he thinks that he doesn't know how God can look at the way people treat one another and not chalk the entire human race up as a bad idea. As we say on Tumblr, I mean, God did look at the way people treat one another and chalk the entire human race up as a bad idea. That was a pretty significant thing that happened. Like I understand where you're coming from here but God very much did look at the way people treat one another and chalk the entire human race up as a bad idea. And the reason He hasn't done it since, at least according to the set of beliefs under discussion here, is basically that he pinky promised not to, after that one time. I would love to know what exactly Harry's background with Christianity is. It's established in one of the middle books that he knows the Pslams pretty well, and in Proven Guilty that he's not familiar with the Parable of the Talents, but does he seriously not know the story of Noah's Arc? Dude was in foster care for like seven years, between the ages of six and thirteen and he was never forced to attend Sunday School? That...that might actually be significant. We see full Wizards of the White Council from most of the larger religions, but smalltime practitioners are, at least if the ones we meet in White Night, and the supplies stocked at Bock Ordered Books, are anything to go by, are disproportionately neopagan and Buddhist. If the Council had a hand in arranging his care, which seems at least plausible, they'd naturally want him with people over whom they held some sway, and that's not a group that trends strongly to regular church attendance. Come to think of it, this would also help account for how Justin found him so quickly after his power manifested. Justin was no longer associated with the Council himself at that point, but he certainly still had contacts, and I imagine it caused something of a stir when word got around that Maggie le Fey's youngest came into his power. This would leave open the question of why they let Justin take him, but I can see a few possibilities. 1. They considered his going to the dark side a foregone conclusion in any case so they figured they'd watch and wait until he actually broke one of the Laws and then raid the house, take down Du Morne and both his apprentices in one fell swoop. 2. Justin's lair was somehow concealed from the Council (reasonably well supported by their failing to do anything about the rogue Warden for like, years). 3 They just didn't care that much.

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They park on the street, rather than trust Michael's truck to a vampire valet, and arrive at just about the same time as Thomas and Justine, in their probably-Eros-and-Psyche couples costume, both scantily clad and unreasonably attractive, although considerably more page space is devoted to Justine's legs than to Thomas's supernatural beauty.  Thomas recognizes Harry, which weirds Harry right the hell out. He introduces himself, and we're informed that there are three vampire Courts, Red, White, and Black, which Harry claims he already knows, although I don't know that he actually did, and that the Black Court has "fallen on hard times". While I still don't think the situation with Kravos being dead is presented very smoothly, the effort has clearly improved Butcher's gradual reveal skills, because the little things, like information about the vampire Courts, and Harry's costume, are handled very well. Thomas walks them in and tries to give Harry a sense of what to expect. They'll be presented to the other guests and have time to mingle, and then they'll be formally introduced to Bianca who, as the host, will give them gifts. Harry asks why Thomas is being helpful (beginning of pattern, noted!) and Thomas pretty well dodges the question. He does, however, shake Harry's hand, and while he definitely has a magical aura, it's not the one they're looking for. 

As Harry and Michael enter the courtyard where the party is happening, they're hit with a blinding spotlight and announced as "Harry Dresden, Wizard of the White Council, and guest". Whether the spotlight was intentionally turned up and pointed into his eyes in order to embarrass and inconvenience him is left as an exercise for the reader. We finally get a description of Harry's cheesy vampire costume, with the tattered blue tuxedo and the fake blood and all. The gathered monsters get their first good look at it at the same time, and everyone goes for a weapon. 

And on that tense, cliff-hangery note, I leave you for the time being. I'm much happier with how this post, written on the computer like my previous Dresden Files post was, turned out, and it is much faster, so I think we'll be sticking with this for the time being. Until next time, be Gay, do Crimes, and read All The Things!