Lupi 06 - Blood Magic

locals.
    Captain Dreyer was the epitome of cooperation. Rule thought he would have agreed if she'd suggested he go home and watch Sesame Street. It was disturbing. Pleasant, but disturbing. "How long will he be like that?" he murmured to Madame Yu.
    "A day, a week." She waved her hand dismissively. "I will admit I used more power than was necessary. He has pig eyes."
    In other words, she'd been pissed. Like her granddaughter. He smiled. "And did you use a similar method to get past the police barricades?"
    She looked at him sternly, but her eyes were twinkling. "This is a silly question."
    "Here's another one. What did you trade for with Cullen to get that unlock spell you used?" Cullen was like a dragon in one way. Dragons hoarded and occasionally bartered information; Cullen hoarded and occasionally bartered spells.
    "I was very generous. I told him one way of creating a wan chi spell, which is a carrier spell. You do not know what that means, but he did. I also told him about an out-realm being who has lived in China."
    Startled, he said, "You told him about the Chimei? When was - "
    "Months ago. Hush."
    The slightly scruffy older man who used to work with Lily ambled up to them. What was his... Oh, yes, Rule remembered now. He had what sounded like two first names - Thomas James. Lily called him by his initials. T.J.
    "Ma'am," Thomas James said, "you can head inside now. But the elevators aren't working yet, and I understand the patient you're wanting to visit is on the fourth floor. Do you need - "
    Madame Yu awarded his concern a single snort and started for the hospital entry.
    "Guess not." James glanced at Rule. "I met her once before. Did Lily tell you?"
    Rule shook his head, glanced over at Lily - who waved him on and kept talking to the fire department official - and started for the hospital entry. "What was it like?"
    "Embarrassed the hell out of Lily." He fell into step beside Rule, grinning. "She'd just transferred to Homicide and I sort of took her under my wing. Habit of mine, with the young ones. I guess she said something about that to her grandmother, because a week later Lily turns up, all stiff and embarrassed, telling me her grandmother wants to have lunch with me. To check me out," he added in case Rule, not being a cop, had overlooked the obvious. "Not that Lily said so, of course. But Mrs. Yu didn't have a problem saying it."
    "You must have checked out. You seem to be intact."
    "That," James said after a moment, "isn't funny. She scared the shit out of me. I laughed it off - you know, made like it was the same as being interrogated by that fourth-grade teacher who terrified you as a kid. And it was, in a way. But in another way, it wasn't the same at all." His brow creased. "What did she do to Dreyer, anyway?"
    Rule considered various answers, but decided to keep it simple. "Nothing permanent. The, ah, skill is one she rarely uses."
    James grunted, looking thoughtful.
    The ability to ensorcell with one's gaze wasn't a human talent. As far as Rule knew, dragons were the only beings who could do it. At some point, Madame Yu had been transformed into a dragon. At some point, she'd returned to her original form - but some of the dragon magic had remained. It must have become interwoven with her being so deeply that it couldn't be separated. Deeply enough that she'd passed a version of it down through the blood.
    That part didn't surprise Rule. Didn't he enjoy some degree of his wolf's gifts even in this form? Didn't lupi pass their magic down through the blood, even though they mated in human form?
    No, the surprising part was Madame Yu's other ability. That seemed to have little to do with dragon magic. Rule had never heard of anyone else who could turn into a -
    "You think she put a whammy on me like she did with Dreyer?" James asked suddenly. "Put the fear into me magically, I mean."
    "Hmm? Oh, you mean Madame Yu. No, I don't think so. She inspires a certain caution without resorting to magic. The, ah, unusual ability she used on Dreyer... that experience isn't one you'd mistake for anything else."
    "Yeah?" His eyebrows rose in surprised curiosity. "Pulled it on you, has she?"
    "Once." It had been terrifying. Infuriating. Then he'd learned why she'd done it - in a misguided attempt to draw demon poison from his system into herself. The woman lacked sense sometimes, particularly if she was protecting those she cared about. Again, like her granddaughter. "I was angry, but it was an unusual