Susan Rodriguez

Susan Rodriguez was an investigative reporter and Harry Dresden's former lover. She first appears in Storm Front.

Description
"Inside of her, though, I’d seen passion, like I’d rarely known in people other than myself. The motivation to go, to do, to act. It was what drove her forward, digging up stories of the supernatural for a half-comic rag like the Arcane. She had a gift for it, for digging down into the muck that people tried to ignore, and coming up with facts that weren’t always easily explained. She made people think. It was something personal for her — I knew that much, but not why. Susan was determined to make people see the truth."

- Harry Dresden, on his Soulgaze with Rodriguez.

Susan Rodriguez was an investigative reporter for the paranormal newspaper Midwestern Arcane. It's through her investigations that she encountered Harry Dresden and began soliciting him for information.

Dresden describes her as attractive, bright, appealing, with clear and simple motivations, and honest in pursuing them. She is of average height and striking dark beauty, with dark, straight hair trimmed in a neat cut ending at the nape of her neck. Her eyes have a dark lazy appeal. She flirts with him both for information and because she thought him attractive. She tricked him into meeting her eyes at the end of her first interview with him and then fainted after soulgazing him.

She relentlessly used her femininity in getting a story but had no idea just how attractive she really was.

Dresden entrusted Amoracchius to her for the task of returning her daughter to safety from the Reds and to use it in good faith.

Biography
Rodriguez started off as a paranormal reporter for a tabloid who flirts with Harry Dresden to get stories and while also being attracted to him. They got closer as the series progresses resisting any discussion about love though they clearly both have strong feelings for each other. Until it's too late and Rodriguez was bitten by a Red Court vampire and partially changed. She wouldn't change fully unless she drank the blood of a human killing him. She left town and joined the Fellowship of Saint Giles where she travelled around in heavily populated Red Court areas fighting against them in covert operations. A few years later, Rodriguez returned on a covert mission for the Fellowship to keep Paolo Ortega from killing Dresden. She and Dresden could never be together again and there was no cure for her.

Relationship with Harry Dresden
In Storm Front, Rodriguez visited Harry Dresden in the hospital and he used the sympathy factor to get another date with her. She didn't seem to mind. On their next date, they didn't need a potion and they were not interrupted by a demon; she presented him with a new duster.

In Fool Moon, Dresden and Rodriguez became closer. At Georgia's parents' home, they had some intimate time and vaguely discussed their feelings and holding back. It's implied that they had been lovers but resisted getting closer due to work. Dresden didin't call her for a while. He couldn't after she had seen him so far gone into being a monster. She didn't pressure him, but sent him flowers and pizza when he was working late. At the very end, Dresden picked up the phone to invite Rodriguez over with Mister's approval.

In Grave Peril, Harry Dresden resisted telling her he loves her until it's too late, telling her so only after she's bitten, something which snapped her back, keeping her from killing and turning. She declined his marriage proposal in order to protect him from what she knew lay within her.

In Death Masks, they still felt very strongly for each other. Their passion flared up we they met again, but Mister meowed a warning and they broke apart. Dresden was dizzy, and Rordiguez stated it's called the Kiss, she inherited from the Red Court vampires, though it's not as strong as theirs.

Storm Front
In Storm Front, Susan Rodriguez showed up for her date—which Harry Dresden had forgotten about—when they were attacked by a toad demon. Dresden told her to go down to the lab and take an escape potion, but she takes a love potion instead. They both went down and stand in the copper circle barely in time to block the demon's acid spittle. Then the love potion Rodriguez took started to kick in. Bob threw the other potion to Dresden, and they shared it, escaping only to outside the house. Rodriguez wrote an a headliner article for the Arcane; "Date with a Demon". Rodriguez visited him in the hospital and Dresden uses the sympathy factor to get another date with her. She didn't t seem to mind. On their next date, they didn't need a potion and they were not interrupted by a demon.

Fool Moon
In Fool Moon, Harry Dresden called her for a ride from Wolf Lake. After that, she acted as a driver for Dresden and the Alphas. Rodriguez picked up Dresden at the police station after the Loup-garou attack. She took Tera West and the Alphas to the Full Moon Garage to rescue Dresden from the Streetwolves. At Georgia's parents' home, Rodriguez and Dresden have some private time. Rodriguez gives Dresden a new leather duster, matte black so as not to reflect light. Rodriguez drives them all to Marcone's estate. Rodriguez talks Dresden—in wolf form and crazed by the wolf belt—out of killing Denton. He comes to his senses and rips off the belt. Rodriguez gets the Alphas out after Dresden snarls at her.

Rodriguez filmed Dresden killing the Loup-garou with a zoom lens and light-sensitive film. It shows Dresden throwing a lighted object at the monster who only looks like something shadowy, large and furry. Dresden's spell caused the picture to go staticy, clear up and show Murphy shoot Denton in monster-wolf form. It aired on the moring news and made Murphy popular so the IA investigation got called off.

Grave Peril
In Grave Peril, Rodriguez was bitten by Bianca St. Claire, a Red Court vampire. When captured, Rodriguez was thrown into a room with Dresden and Justine, with the intent of both of them being Rodriguez's first kill, thus killing the two and creating another Red Court vampire. Dresden was unwilling to hurt Rodriguez and thus prevent the killing because of his love for her. Just when Rodriguez was about to bite Dresden, he said, "I love you," to her, snapping her out of her blood lust. After the escape, Rodriguez decided to leave Chicago despite Dresden's marriage proposal in order to protect him from what she knew lay within her.

Rodriguez then began her existence as a half-vampire, refusing to perform her first feeding which would make her a full vampire.

Summer Knight
As of Summer Knight, there is still no cure for the vampire's bite. The urge to feed on people never subsides, but does fluctuate both with how often Rodriguez uses the abilities she's gained.

Death Masks
In Death Masks, Rodriguez jumps a Red Court vampire in Dresden's stairwell and ran him off herself. He insists she cross his threshold uninvited as a test to see if she's really Rodriguez or verify that she hasn't fully changed. Dresden almost succumbs to their venom-laden kiss, till Mister interrupts. Rodriguez is there partly to quit her job and partly to stop Ortega from killing Dresden. She introduces Martin to Dresden. Rodriguez tell Dresden she has a job in South America fighting the Reds and helping save children. She invites Dresden to come along. They both decide it can't work out.

Rodriguez got tickets to a charity art gala put on by Gentleman Marcone and the Chicago Historical & Art Society at the Marriott. She and Dresden attend seeking the Shroud. Martin causes a distraction to get them past Marcone's security. They find Anna Valmont and the sale of the Shroud. Then Denarians show up: Deirdre, Quintus Cassius and Nicodemus. There is a big fight, Rodriguez holds her own, Martin takes her away and they abduct Dresden. She helps Shiro, who sacrifices himself, rescue Dresden. They're trapped alone in Dresden's apartment till dawn. She told him about the Fellowship. With Rodriguez is on the brink of changing, Dresden ties her up with an enchanted fae rope. They make love which calms the vampire side. She left a number to call, Dresden calls it. She warns Dresden that Ortega plans to kill him. And they say good-bye.

Changes
In Changes, Rodriguez admits to Harry Dresden that they have a daughter—Maggie—together, who has been kidnapped by the Red Court. To find Maggie, Rodriguez and Martin burgle the management's computer of Dresden's office building. The Leanansidhe puts her in a coccoon. They burgle a Red Court warehouse in the desert. The Eebs attack FBI headquarters with a lot of vamps and the Ik'k'uox while Tilly has Rodriguez in FBI custody. Dresden gets her out into the Nevernever with the Eebs team following. The Erlking gives Dresden and Rodriguez a trial by fight against the Ik'k'uox and a vamp—Dresden and Rodriguez barely win.

Lea gives Rodriguez a feather outfit that can hide her like a veil would, shoes that leaves no tracks or sound, a cloak that can stop bullets, and a belt to hang a gun and a sword. The gifts will only last till noon the next day. Dresden entrusts Amoracchius to her for the task of returning her daughter to safety from the Reds and to use it in good faith. Dresden tells Ebenezar she's the mother of his child. She goes to Chichén Itzá with Dresden, Murphy, Sanya, Thomas Raith, Molly Carpenter, Mouse, Martin, Leanansidhe.

At the end of Changes, Rodriguez was tricked (regretfully) by Dresden into killing Martin, who planned it all along, finally turning completely into a Red Court vampire, shortly before asking Dresden to kill her, thus sacrificing herself and allowing him to use the bloodline curse ritual to obliterate the entire Red Court.

Ghost Story
In Ghost Story, Harry Dresden recalled frequently what he did to her on the altar at Chichén Itzá. To him, it was only hours ago rather than months, so the experience, the loss, the pain, and the deep regret were still fresh and ever present.

After the change
As a result of being bitten, she became super-humanly fast, strong, agile and fast-healing. Her senses became sharper and she now possessed the Kiss, a venom acting upon the victim like a narcotic, making them go under a something like a spell, and allowing the the vampire to bite them and kill them. For the Half-turned, it's not as strong as a full Red Court vampire.

Susan Rodriguez felt hungrier for blood. Every sight and sound and touch occupied her attention, she could smell the drops of blood on Harry Dresden's clothes. She could throw vampires twenty feet away.

The sun helped her quiet her vampiric urges. Dresden found her on a beach, just before moving away.

Rodriguez eventually joined the Fellowship of Saint Giles, an organization of people who have come together to oppose the vampires. The Fellowship provided her magical bindings in her skin, which warn her if her hunger is reaching unmanageable states.

In White Night, she was working in South America with the Fellowship to bring down the Red Court, yet, when Dresden is kissed by others, the burn still remaineds on the lips of the White vampires who touched him.