Some thoughts started to run through my head on my careful reread of Peace Talks.
Page 3
1] On the run with Harry, Thomas is nervous and anxious, but it is about more than just Justine
and the embryo Hunger. Harry notices it, "You don't look fine."
That made him jerk his head towards me and glare. The expression changed him. Suddenly he looked less like a human being and more like something carved out of marble. I felt my shoulders tense up in the presense of a creature I knew was genuinely dangerous. Now I wouldn't say exactly that Harry was frightened, but then again even after Shaggy was done, the meeting at the zoo back in Turn Coat do I remember Harry having this kind of reaction to his brother. Then things seem to get back to normal, Harry says Thomas has to deal with what is to come.. Thomas replies on page 4
He nodded. "Probably. I have a solution in mind,"he said.
Harry then asks if
his Dad's family are going to be an issue? Thomas replies when aren't they an issue?
My point is what triggered that response from Thomas? I think the dye had already been cast, Thomas was going to attempt the assassination. The motive being someone had convinced him that if he did this, Justine would survive the pregnancy.
Jump ahead to the scene with Lara and Mab in the Munstermobile.. The timing is interesting, Lara decides to cash in on three favors owed to her by the Winter Court. Mab has already granted one, but what it was, was never said. The other two Harry is supposed to grant on Mab's behalf.. This happens after the run that morning and Thomas attacking the svartalf embassy.
Jump ahead to Justine's place. Harry tells her and is taken aback by the first words out of her mouth. page 77
"Does Lara know?"
Harry admits it was a smart question, but taken aback because it was very rational,
notemotional like one would expect when one hears bad news about a loved one.
Now we start to get into the more heavy stuff.. Harry says that Lara keeps pretty good security
around the place, if there was something weird going on magically, Thomas inherited enough from
their mother to spot any pattern. To be safe he scans everything including the doorman with his wizard's sight, nothing, the doorman is a plain old ordinary vanilla mortal and so is Justine.. Then Eb shows up and begins his lecture on the evils of vampires.. They get into what the White Council has against him also a little bit, sounds like they are blaming Harry for the rise of the Fomor because he did in the Red Court. Eb admits he was glad that Harry had done that.. Anyway, then the cornerhounds show up.. Now it gets interesting;
They are Outsiders or sent by them,
only mortals can call them up... Hmmm... There are only two mortals in the area, Justine and the doorman, unless it was done very remotely. Eb educates
Harry a little about being a starborn, then says that normal earthly fire is a good way to do them in.
Which Harry should have figured out on his own, that is how he dispatched HWWB in the first place when he blew up the gas station when he was sixteen..
Which brings us to part 2, Harry's history with Outsiders and Vampires, or more specifically White Court Vampires..
For many years Harry figured it was Justin who sent HWWB after him when he ran off. However in his flashback in Ghost Story, that isn't so clear. More like HWWB had been sent to test young Harry.
Now it wouldn't be a shock to find out that the Outsiders knew what Harry was from the moment he was born. What happened when Harry was born? Oh Lord Raith sent an entrophy curse out to supposedly kill his mother. It did, but could it be that baby Harry was supposed to be taken out as well? Then Justin was duped or bribed by some promise of power that he latched on to a couple of young talented children to raise as enforcers, to make them his thralls, it didn't work out.
Let's jump to Blood Rites;
Harry finds out from Eb that it was Lord Raith that killed his mother. He also finds out that though Eb attempted more than once to kill Lord Raith, there was something about him that protects him from magic, though Margaret with her death curse managed to knock out his Hunger so he cannot feed. He continues to exist, but he cannot feed so weakened. Yet he manages to get three mortal woman, Madge, Trixie, and Lucille to conger up Outsiders, his aim is to get both Thomas and Harry killed so he can break the binding that Margaret put on him. Let's back up a minute, Eb said that magic cannot touch Lord Raith.. Harry on the other hand when he touches him, feels the empty coldness, but knows he'd felt it before.. Could it be that Eb couldn't figure it out because he isn't star born, but because he is, Harry knew instinctively that Lord Raith was possessed by an Outsider that is protecting him? In White Night, Harry runs into this again, yet another White Court Vampire, Vittorio Malvora, possession by an Outsider and our old pal Cowl just happens to be a part of it.
Anyway, Eb could be right about all vampires, but perhaps not in the way he thinks. White Court Vampires have had connections with Outsiders over the years. There is a series odd coincidences,
Justine gets pregnant just when there is about to be peace talks between the Fomor and the Alliance. Thomas has made some kind of "arrangements" but we are not told.. Suddenly Lara goes to Mab to call in three favors owed.. Thomas attacks Etri which puts the talks in danger.. Harry feels that Thomas was used as a dupe by someone. Goes to Justine who first asks if Lara knows before she asks if Thomas is alive or dead.. Then last but not least, with just two mere mortals in the area a whole pack of Outsider cornerhounds are sicced on Harry and Eb..
Then at the Peace Talks we learn that the Fomor and a Titan are about to attack Chicago.. Yet another diversion? Because at the same time the Outsiders are launching an all out attack on the Gates.. So if the Red Court was the cat's paw of the Fomor, on the other paw we have the White Court Vamps more directly controlled by the Outsiders.. I don't know if any of this makes sense, just trying to add 2 and 2 together and see if makes 4 or 6..
