Lupi 06 - Blood Magic

messy. Something she has done before. She has not an original mind. She has great patience, great power, but she does not change readily."
    "Can you give us more of a clue?"
    Grandmother's lips thinned. She shook her head.
    "Okay. Back to Cullen. You said he was wrong on two counts and told us about names. What's the other way he was wrong?"
    She arched her eyebrows. "Mr. Seabourne possesses more than one ability which the sorcerer fears."
    "Shit!" Lily exclaimed as the obvious jumped up and bit her. "Mage fire. Of course. That's what he's afraid of. It's supposed to burn anything. Maybe it couldn't kill the Chimei, but it could damned sure hurt her."
    Cullen Seabourne's thoughts contain many profanities, Sam observed. He castigates himself for not perceiving this earlier. He speculates that mage fire might disrupt the bond between our enemies. He wishes me to share with you his belief that a sorcerer who participates to some degree in his lover's immortality might be hard to kill by normal means.
    Probably true, but killing him wasn't the goal, so that wasn't a major problem. Lily was more concerned with what to do with him once they caught him. "We'll keep it in mind, Cullen, but you're in no shape to toss around mage fire, and won't be for some time."
    She glanced around at the others. "Assume we find the sorcerer. How do we incarcerate him if he can burn things down or pick locks magically or whatever? I'd rather not duplicate the techniques used in the Purge." Back then, they'd cut out tongues and lopped off hands. And that was with the people they suspected of being sorcerers, but not workers of dark magic. The ones they thought were into the bad shit they'd killed any way they could.
    Rule and Grandmother exchanged a look.
    "Oh, no," Lily said. "We are not going there. Murder isn't an option."
    "Not for you," Grandmother said equably. "You are an agent of the law, the government. It is very bad if governments start assassinating people."
    "It's not an option for anyone in this room." Lily looked at Rule when she said that. "It's also very bad if governments sanction murder by looking the other way."
    He met her eyes steadily. "I'll decide for myself what my options are. But killing isn't my first choice, so we'll talk about our other options."
    First they had to think of one. So far, she hadn't.
    Cynna spoke suddenly. "Send him to Edge."
    Lily looked at her, startled. So did everyone else.
    "It makes sense," Cynna said. "We're not set up to deal with magical heavyweights. They are. Shit, they cope with elves. This sorcerer dude can't be harder to deal with than the Sidhe."
    Send him to another realm. Yes. It might work. "We could sedate him," Lily said. "Catch him, keep him sedated, fly him across the country, and shove him through the gate."
    "Banishment is an old punishment," Rule said, "which means there is precedent. The law appreciates precedent. In modern times there's extraordinary rendition - "
    "Which is only quasi-legal," Lily said, frowning.
    " Quasi may be as close as we can get. Given sufficient payment, the gnomes who govern Edge might agree."
    "What about the Chimei?" Lily asked. "Would she be able to follow him there? Can she cross without using a gate? The gnomes might not be willing to take the sorcerer if she tags along."
    "I am not sure," Grandmother said slowly. "I had not considered this before. I think she could cross, yes. I do not know if she would do so."
    "Sam?" Rule said.
    Chimei can travel between realms. It would be costly to her, however. I had not considered this possibility. I will do so. He was silent a moment. I believe Cynna Weaver has changed the parameters again with her idea. I am able to tell you that this would be a temporary solution. If you are able to banish the sorcerer and if the Chimei follows her lover - which is far from certain - she will seek to free him and return here.
    "How temporary?" Rule asked.
    I cannot say. Twenty years, fifty, a few hundred... a considerable delay by your standards, I suppose.
    "It could work." Lily's mind was starting to buzz with possibilities. "I'll call Ruben. No, shit, why bother? I'd have to be able to tell him about the Chimei." She looked at Rule. "You can tell him."
    "He's coming here tomorrow," Rule began.
    Lily's phone interrupted with "The Star-Spangled Banner." It was clipped to her jacket pocket, so she had to retrieve that to get the phone and accept the call. "Lily Yu here."
    "I'm glad you still are. I heard about the