Actually just thought the same thing about GG/Loki. Definitely a stretch but hey..

 

I was actually thinking that the "rent" could be, assuming my theoretical connection to the Ukrainian shapeshifter is true, a payment to his superpower father that allows him to reside in the Ukraine without losing his powers as a naagloshii would otherwise.

 

Grey is Harrys other half Brother by Margaret and Shagnasty.

Called it.

 

I don't think Margaret got around quite that much...

 

Yeah... I keep tellin' ya, it'd make one hilarious fic.

 

Done, Zeelthor.

///

Growing up as an orphan, you come to realise something: you're all that there is. No mom, no dad, no brothers or sisters or aunts or uncles or grandfathers or grandmothers or Cousin Its... Nada. Most orphans go to sleep dreaming of a family coming back into their lives, sometimes a new one and sometimes the old and the known, hidden away by unfortunate circumstances before. I'd stopped dreaming of my mother or father or unknown family members after Justin adopted me. Just seemed like the thing to do.

So to find out I had a brother, all those years later, was a hell of a surprise. To find out I had a grandfather, a few more years later, was a pleasant bonus. Sure it came on the heels of having to kill the baby momma of my surprise daughter, but still. Three surprise family members weren't all that bad. They were in my life now and -

No wait, there was four. Surprise daughter impregnated in my head by the death of the imprint of a fallen angel who'd sacrificed herself for me. Good ol' Grace. Name I'd given her was as subtle as a Mack truck in hindsight, but I was glad to have her too. It was almost her one year birthday... Did I have to, like, get her something? Interesting to think.

"I lead the weirdest life," I commented aloud.

My grandfather, taking a sip from his coffee, raised an eyebrow. He swallowed and said, "What's on your mind, Hoss?"

"I was just thinking about, y'know, family," I said.

"Family, huh."

"Yeah. I'm... kinda lucky, aren't I. Thought I'd be alone forever sometimes, but then it turns out family keeps popping up left and right." I chuckled. "Good times."

Ebenezar very carefully put down his coffee mug. The two of us were in the middle of an enjoyable impromptu grandson-granfather bonding breakfast at my apartment, and there was eggs and bacon and burnt toast oh my. It was nice to catch up, him and I, and we'd talk about the kinds of stuff I'd always imagined talking to family about: sports and the weather, mostly. Again, good times.

But by the look on his centuries-weathered face, the conversation was about to take a turn.

"You know, as great as these breakfasts are..." Eb carefully considered his next words. "There was a reason that I didn't want to tell you about being your grandfather."

"Safety issues, you're the Blackstaff, got it," I said, waving him off.

"And there's the other thing. The thing where you'd ask about your other family members. And then I'd have to... tell you the truth, wouldn't I?"

Wait, what?

"Wait, what?" I articulated.

"I mean, I don't have to tell you the truth, Hoss," Eb continued, "But I feel you're old enough now and I won't be around forever and... You have to know."

"Know what?"

"You have... another brother."

I blinked.

Twice.

"Well snap," I said. "From Lord Raith or -"

Eb shook his head. "Your mother was... a passionate woman. And she certainly enjoyed living on the wild side." He grimaced. "Much to my dismay. And, well, there was a time before common birth control, and that time may have coincided with your mother's heyday. And well, she was always pro-life. Like, she really loved anything that was alive. Probably how she got knocked up in the first goddamn place. And the second. And the third, fourth, fifth... and so on."

"Wait wait wait," I said. "Fifth? So on? I thought you just said I had another brother."

"Well yeah," said Eb. "And you also have another brother. And another. And another. And I could go on. And then the sisters..."

Someone had laced my eggs, right? What the hell? "I can't fucking believe this."

"And the gender-neutral scion she had with Ferrovax, but that one didn't last long..."

"My mom boned a dragon?" I spluttered.

Eb ignored me and continued on, "And then Steve became Stephanie and then went back to being Steve and I don't even know what to call shim, really, so I don't return sher calls..."

"A dragon?" I exclaimed, louder.

That got his attention, and he sighed. "Among other things. A skinwalker, a Wyldfae lord or two, Red Court lord, a Fomor cantrev, Diablo El Robotico, Drakul twice over, Jade Court emperor, a couple of gods, angels, demons, a stockbroker... She got around. I can see where you inherited that."

"I do not get aro -" I stopped myself there. Knocked up Susan, got knocked up by Lash, banged Luccio and Elaine and Mab and Karrin, had broken up with the latter a few months back and am maybe having horizontal-y thoughts about Molls more and more... Dammit me.

"And your mom had a few years on you," said Eb. "You'll catch up, probably."

I took a moment to process this. Eb placidly sipped at his coffee.

"Uhh... who, exactly are some of my long lost siblings?" I asked, suddenly worried about the aforementioned list of women in my life. "Did I Luke to someone's Leia, Eb? For the love of Kringle, please tell me I didn't."

"No no, I made sure you didn't," Eb said. "C'mon now, what kind of grandfather do you take me for?" He made a tch noise, then paused. "Well... I never did find out who Elaine Mallory's parents were, really..."

I gagged a little.

My grandfather smiled apologetically. "But as for a list of people who were Marg's gets?" He hmm'd. "Where do I start? Uhh... who was that fella that helped you rob Hades's vault, again? Grey Goose or -"

"Goodman Grey," I said, feeling ill.

"That's one. Marg banged a skinwalker to have that 'un, and I don't really know if the skinwalker was posing as a human at the time. 'Nother she popped out was the Hellhound fella, Kincaid, via Drakul. Didn't he kill you once? Man I'm sure the White God liked a bit of Abel and Cain action there. Speaking of Him, I do know the Archangel Michael had an incident that led to Marg's... fifth daughter? Sixth, maybe. Semantics. She was a congresswoman in Alaska, bit dim that one. And then there's Lasciel's previous host, chick by the name of Olivia, that one was actually via Thorned Namsiel, another Denarian Marg had a thing with back in the sixties." Eb let loose a grave sigh and shook his head. "Fucking Woodstock."

"Please stop," I croaked out, unable to comprehend, but Eb kept going.

"And then Vadderung refused to acknowledge his bastard, of course, because Marg had spread her legs for his brother Loki around the same time so who even knows. Oh, and that same day Odin refused her Marg visited Fenrir himself and I think the unholy offspring that got born went by the name of Tera West when she became human for a bit... You ever meet her? Nice lady. Anyways, I think if you have to avoid one of the by-lows, it has to be Frankie."

"Frankie?" I wondered. "What's wrong with Frankie?"

"Eh, the dad's kind of a demon by the name of Chaunzzagoth. Or something like that. She always called him Chauncy -"

"So did I."

"Oh you do know him? That's good. Well. Probably not." Eb cleared his throat. "And there was also the mother of the current Archive, she was one of Marg's squeezin's. Ironically that woman got knocked up by Kincaid. But I never cared for Kincaid, so really, no loss there. And who else... Hoo boy there are a lot of them. Do you have a pen and a paper and about five hours? I may need to use a spell for memory recall or... Hmm, maybe your Winter Lady can help with that, speed things up. Oh, and speaking of her!"

"I swear to fucking God Eb if Molls is actually a distant niece I may stab you with this fork," I snapped, picking up said fork. "I am this close to thinking banging her is acceptable." I held up my thumb and forefinger together, almost touching. "This close, man."

Eb chuckled. "Please, Hoss, don't let me stop you. I was just going to say that the previous Winter Knight Slate was one of Marg's. Not a proud production from her, but even Spielberg directed crap. Probably."

"I feel icky," I said, moodily picking at my bacon. Even the bacon couldn't make me feel better. The pig it came from was probably one of my mom's bastards too.

Eb kept talking for another hour or so. I heard names I knew, names I didn't, and every one was like another knife to the orphan boy who'd lay awake at night thinking about this shit. He was naive, and no way in hell could've predicted his mom opened her legs with a ferocity Genghis Khan would've been impressed with. And he would've been impressed personally, because no doubt Margaret McCoy would've travelled back in time to get a piece of Khan prime rib. Somehow.

"... and the kid she had with the stockbroker guy ended up changing his name," Eb was saying, "Jimmy to... John, something? Something Italian. John Macaroni." He clicked his fingers together. "Marcone! That was it."

... Too far. Fucccccccccck that.

Eb's list did end some five hours later, and he didn't even need the memory recall spell. After he was done he went back to his cold coffee and finished it, with the look of a man who'd unburdened something from himself. Sharing the load of letting his grandson know he was not a special individual, and that his mother was as easy as learning the alphabet. ABCDEfuckingwhoreGH... Ugh.

"I do see the value in these grandfather-grandson breakfasts now," Ebenezar said.

I just stared into nothing. I lead the weirdest fucking life, man.

"So..." Eb started. "You and Molly, huh? Shall I advise you put a raincoat on your staff or are you hoping to beat your mother's high score?"

///

Not sorry.

 

You win the internetz for today, Matt.

 

I completely agree, but humans prefer shit explanations to none at all. It's a fun distraction of a person jonesing for the next book. Why I called it "random thoughts," where the biggest connection was the colour grey!

 

Did we ever learn who slit the throat of the guy whose eyes were needed for the vault's retina scan? I can't remember.

 

That leads me to assume it was indeed Dierdre.

 

Couldn't Marcone be referring to some poor guard at the vault?

 

More likely to be a named character I think.

 

That's what he was referring to. To reference: The first three guards in the vault were knocked unconscious (roman candles + Gray), the fourth was killed by Dierdre after shooting Gray with mentioned shotgun. Dierdre killed Marcone's employee, and died in Hades. As for the banker, I expect Marcone wouldn't regard him as his employee. He was an employee of the bank, and Marcone did business with him, making him no more an employee of Marcone's than your account manager is yours.

 

Ah, fair enough.

 

I got the impression he was employed in a similar manner to Edward J. O'Hare (Al Capone's bookkeeper) in that he was an employee of the bank, but also did a lot for Marcone on the side. This especially because he had access to Marcone's vault.

 

Way too much to read here, but I just finished the book too.
It is by far the nicest ending we've had in the series lately, which makes me think things are about to go horribly for Harry next book.
Changes is still my favorite of the series so far, but this one is among the top 5 or so.

Some quick thoughts I had, which may or may not have been brought up:
(Spoilers ahead, obviously)

-Neither Tessa nor Nico died. Gahhhh...

-Anybody else noticed how when Harry put on the Thorn Bracelets, aside from losing his magic, his immunity to pain, and the power of the Winter Mantle itself, he could still walk?
Does this mean something? Was it an error on Butcher's part?
Or has Harry's spine healed?

-Harry was holding the idiot ball so thoroughly when it came to Grey, holy hell.
"No, Murph, I should not use my skanky ol' wizard eyes to see what's eating the goats, the last time I did it I was reduced to a quivering baby after looking at the horror that was a Skinwalker, a terrible creature with golden-bronze eerily-glowing eyes and abominable confidence. Oh, hello stranger with golden-bronze eerily-glowing eyes and abominable confidence! Also, you're a shapeshifter too? ...Cool, I have no idea what sort of creature you could be!"
When Harry's partnership with Grey was revealed (clever girl, Butcher), I thought that he just pretended not to realize what he was.
But nope, then came the last chapter and "HOLY SHIT, GREY WAS A SKINWALKER ALL ALONG?! THIS IS A MOST SHOCKING TURN OF EVENTS FOR ME."

-I actually still remain annoyed at Butters, and I blame the destruction of the sword of faith entirely on him.
Yeah, he fixed it later, and it was cool, sure, but at the same time it really seemed like Butcher was stroking his geeky side with that, cause...lightsaber.
Nothing wrong with that, but still. XD
Seriously though--someone needs to take that freakin' skull away from him. I was surprised Harry didn't do it the second they were safely at Michael's. He's not the right person to handle Bob, especially now.

-Speaking of, I found the sword hidden on the bazooka kinda...silly, I guess. But I could deal with that, what really made me blink is that Nicodemus did not sense the sword inside for whatever reason. I mean...can't denarians sense the swords when they're nearby?

-Following on that, I actually DID figure Ascher was probably a Denarian early on (though not that her Fallen would be Lasciel, until much later), but then Michael met her and didn't pick up on anything, so I just assumed I was wrong. Yet I wasn't.
Wasn't Michael able to sense Laciel's presence in Harry without even touching him? Can't all Knights just sense when someone's a denarian? That confused the hell out of me at the reveal.

-What I DIDN'T figure was the Genoskwa being Ursiel's vessel. So, wait, big foots can be denarians now? Big Foots are mortals? (does that mean Trolls are mortals too?) Big Foots have souls? ...kay.

-Interestingly, I'm pretty sure Lasciel and Ursiel are permanently out of commission now, given that they're stuck in the Underworld and I see no way for them to get out--I really doubt Nico would have had the time, energy, or inclination to retrieve their coins from molten rock and hardened ice.
Also, I think we've found an excellent containment unit for the coins in Demonreach, if the church HAS indeed been compromised.

-So, question: Is there a particular reason why the Blood sacrifice had to be Deirdre? They made a big deal about it in the book, because she has to love him and her shade has to do it...But.
What about the squires?
Because yes. They love him. They are blindingly loyal. He is their God.
That's why they're fanatics. Blind adoration and devotion. Am I missing something? Does anyone have the slightest doubt that any of them would have done this for Nico in a second?
(Still, that was by far my favorite gambit by Nico, how he pulled it off, and how it was hinted at throughout the book, especially by Tessa. She looked a WRECK by the end. Though that may have been Michael's doing.)

-Bleh. I am not a fan of Harry/Murphy by this point. They don't work for so many reasons, physical, biological, and chemistry-wise. But fine, Butcher, you got them now. Please get it out of your system and move on.
(I give it a book. Maybe two.)

-I was actually really annoyed with Harry when it came to Molly's cellphone in the last chapter.
While I get the concern, he's gone through several years of him being the knight, of his worries about becoming a monster, his struggles, of his friends looking at him with mistrust and fear, of hearing Michael in this very book telling him why it would never happen, and of spending his every waking moment ensuring he doesn't...
Yet the second he sees a sign in one of the few people that has always believed and spoken up for him, 'omg, she's winter, she's totes going to be a monster!'
I get that he's just worried now, but his reaction speaks of a lack of faith on Molly that might as well be a slap in the face.
Especially when, and anyone feel free to disagree, it was very clearly on purpose and staged: Molly's not an idiot. She could have had her cellphone on mute. Or off. Not show it.
She didn't, she kept it on, possibly timed a call at around that time, and picked it up because she wanted Harry to see. She can't tell him for probably fae reasons, but she needed him to see this and he needs to sit down and figure out why.
The depressing thing is that I think I know where this whole Winter Knight/Lady things is going...'cause Butcher loves making Molly suffer.

-Lastly, I noticed some people mentioning the parts that made them tear up. This book had TONS of those moments, and I agree with pretty much all the ones I saw ('dada', the maggie meeting, the michael talk (oh god), the talk with lil' spirit guy, Butters' final stand...)
But actually one of the most powerful ones to me was the part where Uriel kills that Squire...and then looks up at Harry, and seems so lost and disgusted over what he's done.
I loved that part.

But yeah, good read. Anything I don't talk about, is because I loved.
8.5/10

 

The general agreement seems to be that the spine is part of a separate bargain. That is to say, Harry agreed to become a knight in exchange for having his spine fixed, and losing the mantle via iron does not cause that bargain to break. This actually happened in the last book too I think. Harry was paralyzed when he broke "winter law" (whatever that is), but not when he was stabbed by iron.

To be fair, Grey was a pretty decent guy and came recommended by Santa, while the previous skinwalker was horribly monstrous. And its not like shapeshifters are rare in Dverse. I could easily see why Harry would not make the connection that the decent and trustworthy Grey was related to the eldritch abomination he previously Saw. Also, it was implied that Grey might not be a true skinwalker, but rather offspring of one and a human.

Yeah, it is ironic that Butters gets the sword of faith, when faith in his friends is exactly what he lacked during this book, and which nearly killed Murphy. Heck, I don't think he even properly apologized.

More likely Butters will take the skull with him to his knightly adventures, and the new intellect spirit will take Bobs place. Sucks, but thats what I expect now.

Well, we don't know. Harry believed that Michael could sense Lasciels shadow, but when Harry finally met Michael, Michael gave no sign. Ofcourse it turns out Michael knew all along anyway.

Ofcourse, Michael did NOT know that Harry had buried the coin. He was pleasantly surprised when Harry revealed that he had not taken up the coin. So at the very least the knights cannot sense the difference between a shadow and a fullblown fallen.

Maybe he was half-human too? But yeah, this should have been better explained.

Yeah. Hopefully this will eventually be acknowledged one way or another. Even if its not possible for some reason, it should be explained why.

I have seen it theorized that the gate of Blood does infact require exactly that. Someone of your own blood (a relative in other words). The squires would not have worked, because they were not related to Nicodemus. Or perhaps an emotional connection was required both ways. Nicodemus did care for his daughter, but the squires were meaningless to him.

Another possibility is that Nicodemus chose his daughter because for some reason he wanted her soul trapped in the underworld (protected from Nemesis, Lucifer or God?).

Either way, the squires were so obvious that I cannot believe Butcher accidentally missed the possibility.

Err, arent you exaggerating a bit. He was worried, but thats all. I believe Butcher has stated via Word of God that human wizards cause tech to fail because they are "conflicted" due to having free will, while supernatural magic users like sidhe don't cause tech to fail because they have no internal conflict (no free will and so on).

In that light, Harry being concerned actually makes sense. Not concerned so much about Molly becoming a monster, but rather concerned FOR her, since using tech implies she is perhaps losing the "fight" against the winter mantle. Ofcourse this only makes sense if you know that WoG.

We know from Bob and Mother Summer that the mantles try to forcibly convert you, and since Mab has kept Harry blocked from Molly, he could not even warn her about this danger. Molly being able to use a phone could be taken as a subtle clue that she is succumbing to the mantles influence and beginning to lose her soul and/or free will.