The Dresden Files/Codex Alera is copyright Jim Butcher. This story is licensed under the Creative Commons as derivative, noncommercial fiction.

Part Two:

We arrived at the Holiday Inn express where I dropped Susan off the previous night. I didn't know her room number, so we needed to pull off a little chicanery in order to get this right. I knew Susan would probably still be sleeping, and we wanted to be there when she woke up so she wouldn't immediately attack.

Thomas opened his trunk and handed me three or four higher end clothing store bags, and set in a few of the running weights he had in the trunk. I slid my Cartier sunglasses up onto my head, and grabbed my purse along with the bags, then made a show of staggering in the front door.

"Excuse me!" I said, in Lara's highest pitch voice. "Excuse me!"

Several people were waiting in line, but I moved to the counter. "I like, totally forgot our room key. Can you look it up for me, pretty please?"

One of the managers popped out. "Miss if you can get in line, we can take care of—"

"Look, I have to use the Ladies' super bad and these bags are so heavy and we've been shopping all day." I looked back at Thomas and gave a theatric wink. "We just need our key."

"What was the name?"

"Rodriguez," Thomas said. "Under Susan."

One of the clerks did a quick lookup on his computer, then created a couple of cards. "Here you go Mr. And Mrs. Rodriguez. Hope you enjoy your stay."

"You're such a doll. Thank you so much!" I said, making a noisy exit, pounding my heels on the floor as we made out way to the elevator. "Oh, and were we in three twenty-seven? God, I totally forgot our room number."

The clerk glanced down. "One-Seventeen."

"Oh my God, thank you!" I said, as I took Thomas's arm and headed down the hallway.

"That was a bit much, even by Lara standards."

"Yeah, well, I've only been a chick a few hours. Gimme a break."

We got to room one-seventeen, and knocked on the door. I didn't think she would answer, in fact, but I wanted to check on her and see.

When no one answered the door, Thomas slipped the key through the reader, and we went in.

The place was dark, very dark. And humid. It also smelled strange, like the den of a bear, or a wolf.

"Susan?" I said. It's me…La…" I paused. "Tell her who I am."

"It's Thomas and Harry," Thomas said.

We looked around the room, but no one was in the bed. The bathroom door was shut, however, and when Thomas went to open the door, something came raging out, all claws, snapping jaws, and moving really really fast. In a moment, Thomas was down, and the thing was going for his throat.

"Susan!" I said. "Stop, it's L…Fuck, it's the Wizard!"

The thing paused briefly, turning to me. Her eyes glowed red in the dim light as I saw immense jaws poised to rip out Thomas's throat.

"I got mixed up in a body swap, but it's me."

"Harry?" the thing said, and it didn't sound feminine at all. Low, guttural and raspy.

"Yes, it's me."

"And I'm Thomas!" my brother said in a clenched voice as he struggled against the hand that was around his throat.

"Ease up, baby. It's us. We're here to help."

The thing seemed to consider it a few moments, then shook itself, and susan was standing there.

"What the hell happened to you, and why do you look like Lara Raith?"

"Long story. Can you let my brother go?"

"Oh, sorry Thomas." Susan released the hold she had on Thomas's neck.

"Sorry, why didn't you call?"

"Um, don't have my phone, and I didn't know what room you were in. Plus I figured you were sleeping."

"I was. I didn't wake up until Thomas was opening the door."

"Why were you sleeping in the bathroom?" I said.

She looked back into it, a bit guiltily. "I guess I don't sleep in beds anymore. I need a place to hang by my…well, my feet. There's a shower rod in there, and so I was sleeping."

Her flesh mask was perfect now. She appeared in every way like my former paramour. Dark hair glistening setting off dark eyes with Mediterranean skin.

"Look, can I turn on a light? We need to talk."

"Sure," she said.

I went back to the main entry and flipped on the light.

The bathroom looked like it had stepped out of a horror movie. Mud and blood mixed with unknown gobbets of body parts that had been strewn over the floor, into the tub, and in various locations all around the bathroom.

Susan closed the bathroom door behind her. "Sorry about that. I'm still getting used to my new…condition."

"I'm sure," I said. "How have you been holding up?"

She looked at me, a faint smile on her face. "You mean, have a killed anyone given the horror show of a bathroom?"

"Yeah," I said. "That."

"No, but I can say that some of the local farmers may be missing some stock."

I breathed out a breath I didn't even know I'd been holding. She gave me a sidelong glance. "Wow, I can sense your vampirism from here too. Same question?"

I felt a blush creep up my features. "No, haven't killed anyone."

She smiled. "Want to tell me how it happened?"

I thought of Murphy when we drove up, Harry's arms around her lovingly as they waved goodbye. "Let's say it was a misunderstanding."

She nodded. "And she left you with her curse; did she take your magic?"

I sighed. "My innate ability, yes. But Lara…I, am powerful in other areas."

"In many ways, Harry, people might think this is more of a step up in the world, than down. At least it's more a lateral move."

I frowned. "I beg to differ. People who make 'lateral moves' don't have to suffer this hunger."

A haunted look crossed her face. "Agreed."

"So, now that we've settled why I'm stuck in a body not my own. Have you given any thought to your predicament?"

She nodded. "I've made a list of people who I might have hurt, or caused issues."

I smiled, and handed her a folder. "We have as well."

She opened the folder and looked through. She took her time, scanning through each page. I glanced back at Thomas, and he gave me a shrug.

Tears started to leak from Susan's eyes. She snatched a few tissues, continuing to read, dabbing at her eyes.

"Well," she said in a soft voice. "I guess I better start getting used to being a monster. There's no possible way I could reach out to everyone on these two lists. It would take years to atone for all these sins."

"Perhaps you could atone for more than one at a time?" I said.

"How?"

"Atone doesn't necessarily mean to apologize. Atonement means you've made amends for past mistakes, or to be helpful.

"And how can I do that — like this?" She held out her arms.

"Well…" I scratched my head, then smoothed Lara's hair back down.

"You were a reporter, Miss Rodriguez. Perhaps you could write something that would help those if you've hurt?"

"Or…" I said. "What if you used your new Vampiric capabilities and took out your past victim's bullies?"

She giggled at that.

"Or…" Thomas said. "Maybe she could target the ones that were actually 'sins' and not worry about the small things?"

"That sounds like a good idea," Susan said. "So which one's relate to sins?"

"Hmmm," I said. "The seven deadly sins are Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy…"

"And Pride." Thomas said.

"Right, Pride. I always forget that one."

"Well, I never did anything out of gluttony, at least I don't think."

"Right."

"And I was never a slothful person."

"Nope, you were neat as a pin, current circumstance excluded."

"Have you considered what the Archive said? Someone from your salon?"

I sighed. "Yeah…about that."

Thomas grinned. "Meet my new hairdresser, Lara Raith."

I rolled my eyes. "I can't use my name. Well, her name, I can't use her name."

"No."

"So you're going undercover?"

"I figured two birds, meet one stone."

She smiled. "I could go in too."

I glanced up at Thomas. He shook his head, once, tightly.

"Considering your current…affliction, probably best to avoid temptation."

Susan nodded.

"So that leaves Lust, Greet, Wrath, Envy and Pride," Thomas said. "Anyone from that list -not- part of that?"

"Hmmm," Susan said. "Well, this one was just a story I did on the Elspeth Circle. A group of witches in upper Minnesota. Other than exposure, I don't think anyone really suffered, and if they did, they were basically stealing children away, so the exposure helped rather than hurt."

I held pointed to another page. "That one was an article for a lost cat medium."

"It had a typo," Thomas said. "The cat was never found."

"So that was just a bit of negligence, not outright Sin."

We went through the list, carefully creating a pile that could be considered "Sin-based" and another pile that we thought we could safely discard.

"That leaves 15." Susan smiled, holding up the pages.

"Much easier to handle, now, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Well, my shift starts in the morning, but I could come out tomorrow afternoon and start assisting."

"Okay, Harry," Susan said, taking my hand. "Thank you for helping me."

"Well, it's what I do." I stood up. "Helping fair maiden's in distress has always been my MO."

She smiled. "Even now, when you are the fair maiden?"

"Hey!" I put my hands on Lara's hips. "Lara is a sexy she-vamp, not a fair maiden, I'll have you know!"

Susan giggled. "Okay, Harry."

"Meh, probably should call me Lara. Something about whatever he did makes my brain itch if you don't call me that."

"Okay, Lara. Thank you for helping me."

"You're welcome." I walked toward the door. "You'll be okay tonight?"

"I will. Probably go out and get a little more beef later, but I'll be fine, I promise."

"Okay, good." I took both her hands in mine, then kissed both of her cheeks. "Stay safe, and be careful."

She giggled a little at the feminine gesture, then nodded. "You too, Lara."

I felt a little tingle when she said it. Almost like magic.

"Have a good evening, Ms. Rodriguez," Thomas said.

"Sure you don't want to stay for a bite, Thomas?" Susan said.

He rolled his eyes. "Not even funny."

Susan giggled and saw us to the door. "Drive safe."

"We will!" I said, waving over my shoulder.

We left.

Driving back we put the top up because it was starting to get chilly. Evening was settling in, and shadows grew long.

"She is taking this well," Thomas said.

"That's what bothers me," I said.

He nodded, lighting a cigarette, then handing it to me.

I cracked open the window and held the tip out so it wouldn't pollute the interior of his car.

"Hairdresser, huh?"

"Yeah."

"I can't go in as Lara. She's pretty well known."

"We'll need a disguise," Thomas said.

I sighed. "Wish I had my magic. I could just cast a glamor."

"Lara has tons of wigs, outfits, and clothes of all styles. When the hunger struck her, she'd disguise herself and go on the prowl."

"Yeah," I said. From Lara's memories I had full color renditions of that. Thomas just mentioning it with night falling was kicking in Lara's needs and desires.

"Wow," I said softly, taking a drag from the cigarette.

"What's that," Thomas said.

"You guys have a dungeon."

Thomas grinned, plucking the cigarette from my lit fingers. "Mhmm."

"Jesus fuck. Is there a fucktoy you two don't have?"

"If we don't you should tell us."

I parsed through Lara's memories of the Dungeon. They practiced a healthy form of BDSM called RACK, Risk aware consensual kink. And kinky, they were. If there was a kink that could be exploited or capitalized on, they had tried it.

"My Little Ponies?" I said after a few moments. "Really?"

"Yeah, she never got that one, either."

"You're deranged, man."

"Hey, don't knock it 'til you tried it, bub."

"I'm just glad you haven't…you know. With each other."

"We are kinky in so many ways, but she and I have only been wingman to each other. Sometimes I enable her, sometimes she enables me. I know you haven't been too fond of Lara, but we've always had a rather close relationship.

I took the cigarette and dragged on it. "I can see that now."

"So you can understand why this was such a deep violation to me. She's been a lot more than just a big sister to me; she's been like you, my best friend, confidant, wingman, enabler, you name it. We've stuck together through all of it, especially the familial manipulations. I'm surprised you haven't struck on Lara's work stuff."

I could feel that as an omnipresent dread I didn't want to dig into just yet. I kept that at bay for now, because I knew the minute I consciously thought of it, I'd have to address certain decisions Lara needed to make, and wasn't making. I had notified Lara's PAs that I was taking a moment — which was a signal to the company I would be unavailable for a few days. They would only pester me in a dire emergency, and with the quarantine, things had been relatively quiet, though I knew there was some major decisions to be made. Money matters, stock options, the market had been in a freefall, and Lara had pulled out in the nick of time. She needed to gauge just the right moment to get back into it in order to leverage the billions of dollars of the company's portfolio. In order to keep billions of dollars, one had to invest and work it. A dynamic portfolio was only as strong as the person who guided it.

"Thinking about that gonna give me an anuerism."

He chuckled. "Yeah, it's a lot to take in. Hopefully, you can figure out this body swap thing before it becomes and issue for you both."

"Oh, it's already an issue, Thomas. He's with Murphy. Right now. In my fucking bed. With Murphy, Thomas."

"I know the only reason you aren't burning him to the ground right now is the fact she wants him."

"Yeah. Fuck. Thralls are the worst to deal with, especially if it is voluntary."

"You know, you're cussing a lot more now that you're Lara."

I sighed. "I need you to keep reminding me who I actually am. It will help."

"Okay, Harry."

"Ugh, except the damned name. She really planted some fucked up thing in my head about that. Call me Lara, just remind me who I really am."

"Okay, Wizard Lara."

I giggled at that. "Goof."

He grinned. "You know, in my book. This is the best of both worlds."

I looked at him, and smoked the last of the cigarette, stubbing it out in his technoashtray. "How so?"

"Well, I mean, you've been my brother. But there's been this whole side of myself I haven't, couldn't, share with you. And there's a whole other side of me that I haven't, couldn't share with Lara. You made me want to be a better person. Lara made me a better man."

"Huh." I said, glancing out the window. "Guess I never thought of it that way."

"If it hadn't been for you, Justine probably wouldn't be alive right now. You made me want her, even though she was in love with me."

I smiled. "All in a day's work, little brother."

"You know it really is unfair that I'm your little brother both as Harry, and as Lara."

I smiled softly. "And don't you forget it, either."

He grinned, and shook his head. Driving on into the night.

"What a crazy last few days. Susan stuck in a seventeen year old's body, then becoming the first of the new Red Court vampires, Molly becoming Maalshiira, a full sidhe, me becoming Murphy and then Lara. When's it going to end?"

"Harr…I mean, Lara." Thomas paused, clenching his jaw a bit.

"What?"

He sighed. "I hate to say this, but…"

He paused again, and I could tell he was steeling his nerve.

"What, man?"

"Lara doesn't take half-measures. If she wanted this, she must have been planning it for awhile now. It's not like her to just step off, you know?"

"You're saying it's not going to be a walk in the park getting my body back?"

"Yeah, that."

I sighed. "When is anything I do ever easy?"

"I just worry, is all. I don't want anything bad to happen to either of you. I hate that you've become enemies like this."

I considered that statement. He didn't say we'd become enemies with her. I wondered when push came to shove who Thomas would side with. I needed to be able to depend on him, but if he acted in Lara's interest instead of mine, would I even know? Could he be doing it, even now?

"Where's those fucking cigarettes, man." I said.

He pulled one out of his breast pocket. He started to hand me one, but I stopped him.

I took the pack.