Sorry I was a day late on getting you the next five chapters.  I didn’t want you to go too long without continuing on from last time, but things come up.  As it turns out, I had to hunt vampires all of Saturday and Sunday nights.

You see there was a coven of vampires that wanted to destroy the Lincoln Memorial.  Back in the day, he was one of the best Hunters in the world, so they aren’t too keen on seeing him everywhere.  They couldn’t think of a better time to strike then Presidents Day Weekend.

I know what you’re thinking. “But, Ashe. No one hunts vampires at night.  That’s just asking for trouble.”  And you would be right. Thankfully, I’m a very lucky person (not to mention good at my night job).  I even managed to clean up the evidence before the Park Police showed up.

Anyway, enough about my silly escapades.  Let’s see what Harry Dresden is up to in chapters 11-15 of Jim Butcher’s Blood Rites. So if you don’t mind Spoilers:

After doing some digging into Arturo’s past, Harry went to grab the pooch from Murphy.

Let’s just say she wasn’t in the best of moods.  She received a call from her mother.  Her little sister was engaged.

Now that may not sound bad at all.  In fact, I’d be happy if I heard my sister was engaged, but that’s not how Murphy sees it.  There’s a tension between her and her mother, that’s made it seem to Murphy that she’s a failure in her mother’s eyes.  We’ve heard hints and whispers of this rift before, but not like this.

Murphy sees her sister’s engagement and the upcoming family picnic as a disaster area.  Murphy had been divorced twice, and completely dedicated herself to her career as a police officer.  Despite how well respected she is on the Force and how well she does her job, that doesn’t seem enough to her Irish Catholic mother.

I will make a little side note here.  The way that the Murphy described this Catholic family gives me the impression they’re closer to “Chreaster” Catholics.

Between her divorces and the way that Catholic-y things aren’t really talked about with her (like prayer and Mass and things like that), I have a feeling that her family isn’t the most devout.  Furthermore, I don’t take it as a mark against how she was written.

The reason why I mention it is because there’s another Catholic character in the series.

Michael (Freaking) Carpenter.

You can tell that this guy’s a Catholic.  Religion is a big deal, not only to him but to his family (check out Death Masks if you don’t believe me).  The Faith is an integral part of who he is and what drives him.

Comparing Michael’s Faith and Murphy’s is honestly really helpful.  It lets us know where she gets that amazing sense of duty from, and gives us a sneak peak into her family life.  Honestly, it came as some what of a surprise to me when Murphy said her family was Catholic. That wasn’t because I thought she was a bad person, but because the Faith didn’t seem to effect her in a deep way.  It felt like more of a “this is something I grew up with” than Michael’s sense of “CREDO IN UNUM DEUM!”  Also, how she handles interpersonal relationships makes more sense if Catholicism is more of neutral force in her life.  I’m not saying devout Catholic people will never have the family struggles that Murphy has.  It’s more like they handle it differently.

Oh, right.  You got it, Mr. Hulk.

Anyway, all that drama had poor Murphy stressed out beyond belief.  Harry, being the obnoxiously chivalrous and dedicated friend he is, did his best to poke at her pride until she felt better.  Sadly, his efforts were stopped by familial dementia.  It’s a mental hang up that people in dangerous lines of work have.  They are afraid to talk to the people they love about all the craziness they’ve been through because they don’t want to drag them into that world.  In Murphy’s case, it’s so bad that she’s scared to be close to her own mother.  Poor Murph.

After doing his best to help his friend (and leaving a few things for her to look up online), he went to the set to see Arturo.  He met Inari, Ar-

No. Not Inara. (why, Fox, why you cancel Firefly?)

Inari.  She is an assistant production assistant who thinks bean-curd and tofu are pizza toppings and all meat eaters will end up with “bulletproof arteries.”

At least she’s smart enough to drink caffeinated Coke.

He also met a few other women in Arturo’s company.  One of whom was Arturo’s third ex-wife, Trish… I mean Trixie Vixen.  She’s a peach…

Not.

This woman is completely self-absorbed and the center of her own universe (the only one that exists).  She didn’t show up for that long (thankfully), just long enough to complain about her costar.  She made a big deal about not being the one to start this actresses comeback, and was incensed that that was even a possibility.

And then we see this terrible costar, this washed up has-been.

And she’s stunning.

Now, Trixie is described to be a very attractive woman.  Her costar, Laura Romany (Inari’s sister), made her look false and unappealing. She surpasses any beauty that has been written about in the series so far. She out-shown everyone in the room and arrested everyone’s attention.  Needless to say, Harry noticed.

After he recovered from his initial reaction, he figured out why he was so enamored.  Lara was a White Court vampire, and probably Thomas’s sister.  Add that to the revelation that Arturo is going to be married to a mysterious woman, and it’s no wonder Harry was almost killed with a blow-dart.

Escaping death yet again, Harry goes back to where the crew had set up for filming.  He worked with Joan, got mesmerized by Lara again, and saw a figure creeping around in the shadows.

Wait. A creeping figure? It must be the culprit!

A high-speed foot chase ensues.  Harry trips the mysterious lurker and body-slams him to the ground, but it doesn’t end there.  The figure got away and went for the fence.  Finally, Harry sent fire after the shadow, knocking him once again to the pavement.

Surprise, surprise. It was Thomas.  Yup.  The guy who asked him to check this out.  Then again, things aren’t always what they seem.  Lara seemed pretty peeved that Harry jumped her brother. She even brought guns to the party.

Then she heard that it was her baby brother that gave Harry the case.

Needless to say she wasn’t happy with either gentleman after that.

Apparently (and unsurprisingly), the White Court has a very personal interest in the exotic film industry.  Arturo wishes to begin his own company, the Raith family is more than a little apprehensive about this business venture.  To have Thomas Raith bring in an outsider is not only interfering with their interests, but is basically an affront to his house.

So our favorite wizard once again is staring death in the face, only this time in the form of a beautiful vamipress with twin handguns.  Will he get out in one piece? Will Lara put down the gorram guns? Find out next time.