The Dresden Files Series

Renew：Part I Part 170
Author：Jim Butcher
Update：08-15-2023
Tags：Fiction Literature
Description：The Dresden Files Series summary: The Dresden Files Series summary is updating. Come visit Novelonlinefull.com sometime to read the latest chapter of The Dresden Files Series. If you have any question about this novel, Please don't hesitate to contact us or translate team. Hope you enjoy it.

Read Now

Chapter List

Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-one Chapter Twenty-two Chapter Twenty-three Chapter Twenty-four Chapter Twenty-five Chapter Twenty-six Chapter Twenty-seven Author"s Note
Chapter Three Gentleman Johnny Marcone didn"t look like the sort of man who would have my legs broken or my jaw wired shut. His salt-and-pepper hair was cut short, and there were lines from sun and smiling etched into the corners of his eyes. His eyes were the green of well-worn dollar bills. He seemed more like a college football coach: good-looking, tanned, athletic, and enthusiastic. The impression was reinforced by the men he kept with him. Cujo Hendricks hulked like an all-pro player who had been ousted for extreme unnecessary roughness.
Chapter Five Mca.n.a.lly"s is a pub a few blocks from my office. I go there when I"m feeling stressed, or when I have a few extra bucks to spend on a nice dinner. A lot of us fringe types do. Mac, the pub"s owner, is used to wizards and all the problems that come along with us. There aren"t any video games at Mca.n.a.lly"s. There are no televisions or expensive computer trivia games. There isn"t even a jukebox. Mac keeps a player piano instead. It"s less likely to go haywire around us.
Chapter Six Mister was nowhere to be seen when I got home, but I left the food in his dish anyway. He would eventually forgive me for getting home late. I collected the things I would need from my kitchen-fresh-baked bread with no preservatives, honey, milk, a fresh apple, a sharp silver penknife, and a tiny dinner set of a plate, bowl, and cup that I had carved myself from a block of teakwood.
Chapter Seven Have you ever been approached by a grim-looking man, carrying a naked sword with a blade about ten miles long in his hand, in the middle of the night, beneath the stars on the sh.o.r.es of Lake Michigan? If you have, seek professional help. If you have not, then believe you me, it can scare the bejeezus out of you.
Chapter Eight By the time I got home, it was after two o"clock in the morning. The clock in the Beetle didn"t work (of course), but I made a pretty good guess from the position of the stars and the moon. I was strung out, weary, and my nerves were stretched as tight as guitar strings.
Chapter Nine Friday night, I went to see Bianca, the vampiress.
Chapter 8
Chapter Ten I departed Bianca"s place in George"s loaner, a wood-panel Studebaker that grumbled and growled and squealed everywhere it went. I stopped at a pay phone, a short distance from the house, and called Linda Randall"s number. departed Bianca"s place in George"s loaner, a wood-panel Studebaker that grumbled and growled and squealed everywhere it went. I stopped at a pay phone, a short distance from the house, and called Linda Randall"s number.
Chapter Eleven It took me the rest of the night and part of the morning, but I worked out how I could murder someone in the same manner that Tommy Tomm and Jennifer Stanton had been killed. After the fifth or sixth time I"d checked the figures, I stared at my calculations.
Chapter Twelve I woke up on the floor of Murphy"s office. The clock on the wall said that it was about twenty minutes later. Something soft was underneath my head, and my feet were propped up with several phone books. Murphy was pressing a cool cloth against my forehead and throat. woke up on the floor of Murphy"s office. The clock on the wall said that it was about twenty minutes later. Something soft was underneath my head, and my feet were propped up with several phone books. Murphy was pressing a cool cloth against my forehead and throat.
Chapter Thirteen I woke up when thunder rattled the old house above me. woke up when thunder rattled the old house above me.
Chapter Fourteen Susan tugged at my neck and jerked my head down to hers for a kiss. As kisses went, well. It was, um, extremely interesting. Perfectly pa.s.sionate, abandoned, not a trace of self-consciousness or hesitation to it. Or at any rate not from her. I came up for air a minute later, my lips itching with the intensity of it, and she stared up at me with burning eyes. "Take me, Harry. I need you."
Chapter Fifteen As it turned out, Linda Randall had a darn good reason for skipping out on our appointment Sat.u.r.day night.
Chapter Sixteen I walked down the block from Linda Randall"s apartment building, my thoughts and emotions a far more furious thunderstorm than the one now rolling away from the city, out over the vastness of the lake. I called a cab from the pay phone outside a gas station and stood about with my back resting against the wall of the building in the misting rain, scowling and waiting. walked down the block from Linda Randall"s apartment building, my thoughts and emotions a far more furious thunderstorm than the one now rolling away from the city, out over the vastness of the lake. I called a cab from the pay phone outside a gas station and stood about with my back resting against the wall of the building in the misting rain, scowling and waiting.
Chapter Eighteen Have you ever felt despair? Absolute hopelessness? Have you ever stood in the darkness and known, deep in your heart, in your spirit, that it was never, ever going to get better? That something had been lost, forever, and that it wasn"t coming back?
Chapter Twenty The cabby dropped me off a block away from Monica Sells"s house in the suburbs. I was running out of time, out of Murphy"s loan, and out of patience, so I didn"t waste any daylight in walking down the street toward her place.
Chapter Twenty-one Monica Sells had a cheerful, brightly colored kitchen. She collected painted cartoon cows, and they ranged over the walls and cabinet doors of the room in a cheerful, bovine sort of indolence. The refrigerator was covered with crayon drawings and report cards. There was a row of colored gla.s.s bottles on the windowsill. I could hear wind chimes outside, restlessly stirred by a cool, rising wind. A big, friendly cow clock on the wall swung its tail back and forth, tick, tick, tick. tick, tick, tick.
Chapter Twenty-two The building was locked on Sunday. I jammed my key in the lock, twisted it hard to open it, and jerked the keys out again. I didn"t bother with the elevator, just hurtled up the stairs as quickly as I could.
Chapter Twenty-four I drove for my life. drove for my life.
Chapter Twenty-six I was so dead. There was no way out of the kitchen, no time to use an explosive evocation in close quarters, and the deadly scorpions would rip me to pieces well before Victor could blow me up with explosive magic or one of the blood-maddened Beckitts could get their guns working long enough to put a few more bullets in me. My hip was beginning to scream with pain, which I supposed was better than the deadly dull numbness of more serious injuries and shock, but at the moment it was the least of my worries. I clutched the broom to me, my only pitiful weapon. I didn"t even have the mobility to use it. was so dead. There was no way out of the kitchen, no time to use an explosive evocation in close quarters, and the deadly scorpions would rip me to pieces well before Victor could blow me up with explosive magic or one of the blood-maddened Beckitts could get their guns working long enough to put a few more bullets in me. My hip was beginning to scream with pain, which I supposed was better than the deadly dull numbness of more serious injuries and shock, but at the moment it was the least of my worries. I clutched the broom to me, my only pitiful weapon. I didn"t even have the mobility to use it.
Chapter Twenty-seven I awoke somewhere cool and dark, in tremendous pain, coughing my lungs out. Rain was falling on my face, and it was the greatest feeling I"d ever known. Morgan"s face was over mine, and I realized he"d been giving me CPR. Eww. awoke somewhere cool and dark, in tremendous pain, coughing my lungs out. Rain was falling on my face, and it was the greatest feeling I"d ever known. Morgan"s face was over mine, and I realized he"d been giving me CPR. Eww.
Chapter Two Murphy declined to ride in the Blue Beetle, my old Volkswagen bug.
Chapter Three My stomach roiled around with disgust at the macabre sights inside the building, and with tension at what had nearly happened. One of my ears was still ringing from the sound of the gunshot. I was starting to shake all over now, the adrenaline rush fading and leaving me jumpy and wired. I stuck my hands in my duster"s pockets, careful of the bloodstained shard of gla.s.s wrapped in my handkerchief, and turned my face into the wind, closing my eyes.
Chapter Four "Jail?" I said. "Jail? "Jail? h.e.l.l, Murphy. Were you planning on mentioning this to me anytime soon?" h.e.l.l, Murphy. Were you planning on mentioning this to me anytime soon?"
Chapter Six Call me crazy, but I"m not big on defiance when I"ve got a gun rammed against my skull. I carefully set the .38 in my left hand down and moved my fingers away from it.
Chapter 27
Chapter Eight The police headquarters downtown consists of a sprawling collection of buildings that have sprung up over the years as the need for law enforcement has increased. They don"t match, and they come from a wildly varying selection of styles and designs, but they have somehow adapted themselves into a cohesive whole-much like the force itself. Special Investigations operates out of a big, run-down old building, a huge cube that has managed to hold up solidly in spite of the years, the grime, the smog, and the graffiti sprayed on its walls. It has bars over the windows and the doors and sits hunkered amidst buildings much taller than it, like a faithful old bulldog amidst a crowd of unruly children, struggling to maintain peace and order.
Chapter Nine A block from the Forty-ninth Street Beach there was a rundown garage, the sort of place you only find in the worst sections of big cities. The building consisted of corrugated metal on a steel frame, oxidating in the rain and the mist rising off the lake so that gobbets of rust ran down the walls in streaks and pooled on the sidewalks in uneven puddles. On one side of the garage was a vacant lot; on the other, what looked like the sort of p.a.w.n shop where crooks traded in their spare guns and knives for a few extra dollars when things were tight. A faded sign hung askew over one of the garage doors, reading FULL MOON GARAGE. I pulled the Beetle into the gravel parking lot, and parked a few feet from the building. block from the Forty-ninth Street Beach there was a rundown garage, the sort of place you only find in the worst sections of big cities. The building consisted of corrugated metal on a steel frame, oxidating in the rain and the mist rising off the lake so that gobbets of rust ran down the walls in streaks and pooled on the sidewalks in uneven puddles. On one side of the garage was a vacant lot; on the other, what looked like the sort of p.a.w.n shop where crooks traded in their spare guns and knives for a few extra dollars when things were tight. A faded sign hung askew over one of the garage doors, reading FULL MOON GARAGE. I pulled the Beetle into the gravel parking lot, and parked a few feet from the building.
Chapter Eleven The demon trapped in the summoning circle screamed, slamming its crablike pincers against the unseen barrier, hurling its chitinous shoulders from side to side in an effort to escape the confinement. It couldn"t. I kept my will on the circle, kept the demon from bursting free.
Chapter Twelve Eight eighty-eight Ralston was a townhouse in the Gold Coast, the richest area of Chicago. It was set on its own little plot, surrounded by trees that hid the house from view almost entirely. High hedges, worked around the house in a small garden, added to the concealment as I drove up the white pebble drive, and parked the Beetle at the rear of a small fleet of police cars and emergency vehicles.
Chapter Thirteen Walking down stairs with your hands fastened behind your back is more difficult than you would think. You depend upon your arms for balance, whether you realize it or not. With my hands cuffed at the small of my back, and Murphy walking me up the narrow servant"s staircase, and then down the front stairs of MacFinn"s building in front of a gaggle of staring police officers, my balance was gone.
Chapter Fifteen So there I was being strangled by a ranting, half-naked madman in the middle of the woods, with a she-werewolf dangling from a rope snare somewhere nearby. My gunshot wound hurt horribly, and my jaw throbbed from where my buddy the cop had brutalized it the night before. I"ve had worse days. That"s the great thing about being a wizard. I can always tell myself, honestly, that things could be worse.
Chapter Sixteen I made it out of the park, exhausted and barely able to keep from screaming with pain. I stopped at the first gas station I could find, so I could take off my boots. Old and comfortable as they were, cowboy boots were not meant for running cross-country. I leaned against the side of the building by the pay phones, away from the street, and sat down on the sidewalk. My body throbbed with pain, slowing as my heart and breathing did. made it out of the park, exhausted and barely able to keep from screaming with pain. I stopped at the first gas station I could find, so I could take off my boots. Old and comfortable as they were, cowboy boots were not meant for running cross-country. I leaned against the side of the building by the pay phones, away from the street, and sat down on the sidewalk. My body throbbed with pain, slowing as my heart and breathing did.
Chapter Seventeen Ever wish you had an almanac?
Chapter Eighteen I tried to make my stunned body respond, to get to my feet, to unleash every ounce of magic at my command to protect Murphy, and to h.e.l.l with the consequences. tried to make my stunned body respond, to get to my feet, to unleash every ounce of magic at my command to protect Murphy, and to h.e.l.l with the consequences.
Chapter Nineteen From out in the hallway, there came a scream that no human throat could have made, a sound of such fury and insane anger that it made my stomach roil and my guts shake. Gunfire erupted, not in a rattling series of individual detonations, but in a roar of furious thunder. Bullets shot through the wall, somewhere near me, and smashed out a couple of windows in the Special Investigations office.
Chapter Twenty-one Twenty-one I rubbed at my eyes and mumbled some vague curse at whoever was following us. "Okay, okay. Give me a minute." rubbed at my eyes and mumbled some vague curse at whoever was following us. "Okay, okay. Give me a minute."
Chapter Twenty-two Twenty-two There"s a point after which one cannot possibly continue doing complicated things like thinking and keeping one"s eyes open. Blackness ensues and everything stops until the body, or the mind, is ready to function again. The blackness came for me and I welcomed it.
Chapter Twenty-three Twenty-three I clenched my teeth and kicked my legs. The duct tape around my ankles gave way, but it was too late to do me any good. I didn"t have time to get my weight beneath me, to run, but I made the gesture in any case. Just one of those things you do when you"re about to die, I guess. clenched my teeth and kicked my legs. The duct tape around my ankles gave way, but it was too late to do me any good. I didn"t have time to get my weight beneath me, to run, but I made the gesture in any case. Just one of those things you do when you"re about to die, I guess.
Chapter Twenty-five Twenty-five The wolf"s fur was speckled with drops of blood that had beaded on it like rain. The gravel in the alley shone in the half-light from the distant street lamps. The wolf"s muzzle, a little shorter and broader than I had seen on Wild Kingdom, Wild Kingdom, was drawn back, black lips from fangs striped white and red like peppermints. Its eyes were blue, rather than any proper lupine shade, and gleamed with a sort of demented awareness. was drawn back, black lips from fangs striped white and red like peppermints. Its eyes were blue, rather than any proper lupine shade, and gleamed with a sort of demented awareness.
Chapter Twenty-six Twenty-six Tera and I walked toward the sh.o.r.es of Lake Michigan.
Chapter Twenty-seven Twenty-seven Susan"s perfume led me to her. She was waiting for me in a bedroom on the first floor. She stood in the simply furnished room, in her jeans and a white T-shirt blazoned with the words, EAT IT? I WOULDN"T SIT ON IT! It was one of mine. She lifted her chin up high when she saw me, as though trying to keep the tears in her eyes from falling.
Chapter Twenty-nine Twenty-nine Alone.
Chapter Thrity-one Thrity-one The barrel of Denton"s gun looked bigger and deeper than the national debt as it swung to bear on my face. His grey eyes glittered down the sights at me, and I saw the decision to pull the trigger flash across them. Before he could, I met his eyes hard, shoved myself out toward him with a sudden screaming pain in my temples, and locked him into a soulgaze.
Chapter Thirty-two Thirty-two "Okay," I said, fear making my voice weak. "This is bad.
Chapter Thirty-three Thirty-three I circled into the trees and stepped over Harris"s corpse. The kid"s face had been smashed in by two bullets, though the semiautomatic was still in his dead hand. Murphy must have had Wilson"s gun. Wilson lay not far from Harris, also dead. Wounds to the chest, ma.s.sive bleeding. Benn lay next to him, naked but for a business skirt soaked in blood. There was a line of greenish goo around her waist, probably the remains of the wolf belt. Its magic must have died when she did. I tried not to look at the mangled meat on the back of her thighs, or the tears near her jugular. I tried not to smell her blood, or to notice the dark surge of contemptuous pride that went through me, leftovers from my experience with my own wolf belt. circled into the trees and stepped over Harris"s corpse. The kid"s face had been smashed in by two bullets, though the semiautomatic was still in his dead hand. Murphy must have had Wilson"s gun. Wilson lay not far from Harris, also dead. Wounds to the chest, ma.s.sive bleeding. Benn lay next to him, naked but for a business skirt soaked in blood. There was a line of greenish goo around her waist, probably the remains of the wolf belt. Its magic must have died when she did. I tried not to look at the mangled meat on the back of her thighs, or the tears near her jugular. I tried not to smell her blood, or to notice the dark surge of contemptuous pride that went through me, leftovers from my experience with my own wolf belt.
Chapter Thirty-four Thirty-four I woke up. woke up.
Chapter Two We took the fire stairs. Michael knows how technology reacts to me, and the last thing either of us wanted was to be trapped in a broken elevator while innocent lives were snuffed out. Michael led the way, one hand on the rail, one on the hilt of his sword, his legs churning steadily.
Chapter Three Even days that culminate in a grand battle against an insane ghost and a trip across the border between this world and the spirit realm usually start out pretty normally. This one, for example, started off with breakfast and then work at the office.
Chapter Four I let us both back into the office, and flicked on the lights. The bulb blew out. It does that a lot. I sighed, and shut the door behind us, leaving stripes of golden autumn light pouring through the blinds, interweaving with shadows on the floor and walls.
Chapter Six My G.o.dmother looked around at the inferno and smiled. "It reminds me of times gone by. Doesn"t it remind you, my sweet?" She idly reached down and stroked the head of one of the hounds at her side.
Chapter Seven Michael rested his chin in his hands and sighed. "I can"t believe we"re in jail."
Chapter Eight One of the vampires let out a velvet laugh, and stepped out into the dim light. He wasn"t particularly tall, and he moved with a casual and dangerous grace that belied his crystal-blue eyes, styled blond hair, and the tennis whites he wore. "Bianca told us you"d be nervous," he purred.
Chapter Nine I dreamed.
Chapter Ten Mortimer Lindquist had tried to give his house that gothic feel. Greyish gargoyles stood at the corners of his roof. Black iron gates glowered at the front of his house and statuary lined the walk to his front door. Long gra.s.s had overgrown his yard. If his house hadn"t been a red-roofed, white-walled stucco transplant from somewhere in southern California, it might have worked.
Chapter Eleven An unmarked car sat in my driveway with two nondescript men inside.
Chapter Thirteen I drew up a chair beside the bed and sat down. Micky stared at me with white-rimmed eyes. I rummaged around in the inside pocket of my duster. I had some chalk there, in case I needed to draw a circle. A candle and some matches. A couple of old receipts. Not much, magically speaking, to work with.
Chapter Fourteen "No," I said into the phone. I tossed my coat onto a chair and then sprawled out on the couch. My apartment lay covered in shadows, sunlight filtering in through the sunken windows high up on the walls. "I haven"t gotten the chance yet. I lost a couple of hours detouring to pull a spell off of Micky Malone, from S.I. Someone had wrapped barbed wire around his spirit."
Chapter Fifteen "Dead before the sun rises," I said. "Stars, Bob, why don"t you just go all the way over the melodramatic edge and tell me that I"m going to be sleeping with the fishes?"
Chapter Seventeen I don"t remember how I managed to get home again. I have a vague image of all the cars around me going way too fast, and then of Mister"s rumbling purr greeting me as I got into my apartment and locked the door behind me.
Chapter Eighteen "Eat me," I whispered. "I don"t ... I don"t understand."
Chapter Nineteen There"s a kind of mathematics that goes along with saving people"s lives. You find yourself running the figures without even realizing it, like a medic on a battlefield. This patient has no chance of surviving. That one does, but only if you let a third die.
Chapter Twenty I wouldn"t have thought you could find a peaceful, suburbanish neighborhood in the city of Chicago. Michael had managed, not too far west of Wrigley Field. Ancient old trees lined either side of the street in stately splendor. The homes were mostly old Victorian affairs, restored after a fluctuating economy and a century of wear and tear had reduced them to trembling firetraps. Michael"s house looked like it was made of gingerbread. Fancy trim, elegant paint in ivory and burgundy-and, perhaps inevitably, a white picket fence around the house and its front yard. The porch light cast a circle of white radiance out onto the front lawn, almost to the edge of the property.
Chapter 65
Chapter Twenty-two Twenty-two All hospital emergency rooms have the same feel to them. They"re all decorated in the same dull, muted tones and softened edges, which are meant to be comforting and aren"t. They all have the same smell too: one part tangy antiseptics, one part cool dispa.s.sion, one part anxiety, and one part naked fear.
Chapter Twenty-three Twenty-three Back in my lab, it felt a little creepy to be working by candle-light. Intellectually, I knew that it was still full daylight outside, but last night had brought out the instinctive fear of the dark that is a part of being human. I had been wounded. Everything, every shadow, every small sound made me twitch and jerk and look aside.
Chapter Twenty-four Twenty-four Michael parked his truck on the street outside Bianca"s mansion. He put the keys in his leather belt pouch, and b.u.t.toned it with the silver cross b.u.t.ton. Then he straightened the collar of his doublet, which showed through the neck of the mail, and reached behind the seat for the steel helmet that slipped on over his head. "Tell me again, Harry, why this is a good idea. Why are we going to a masquerade ball with a bunch of monsters?"
Chapter 69
Chapter Twenty-five Twenty-five Silence lay heavy over the courtyard. I gripped my cane and waited for the first gunshot, or whistle of a thrown knife, or bloodcurdling scream of fury. Michael was a steel-smelling presence beside me, silent and confident in the face of the hostility. h.e.l.l"s bells. I"d meant to give the vamps a little thumb of the nose with the costume, but wow. I didn"t think I"d net this this much of a reaction. much of a reaction.
Chapter Twenty-seven Twenty-seven I turned to find Lea facing me, her hands on her hips. She wore a slender, strapless dress of pale blue, which flowed over her curves like water, crashing into white foamy lace at its hem. She wore a cape of some material so light and sheer that it seemed almost unreal, and it drifted around her, catching the light in an opalescent sheen that trapped little rainbows and set them to dancing against her pale skin. When people talk about models or movie stars being glamorous, they take it from the old word, from glamour, glamour, from the beauty of the high sidhe, faerie magic. Supermodels wish they had it so good as Lea. from the beauty of the high sidhe, faerie magic. Supermodels wish they had it so good as Lea.
Chapter Twenty-eight Twenty-eight I stared at Susan in mute disbelief.
Chapter 73
Chapter Twenty-nine Twenty-nine Fear has a lot of flavors and textures. There"s a sharp, silver fear that runs like lightning through your arms and legs, galvanizes you into action, power, motion. There"s heavy, leaden fear that comes in ingots, piling up in your belly during the empty hours between midnight and morning, when everything is dark, every problem grows larger, and every wound and illness grows worse.
Chapter Thirty In games and history books and military science lectures, teachers and old warhorses and other scholarly types lay out diagrams and stand-up models in neat lines and rows. They show you, in a methodical order, how this division forced a hole in that line, or how these troops held their ground when all others broke.
Chapter Thirty-one Thirty-one The darkness swallowed me and kept me for a long time. There was nothing but silence where I drifted, nothing but endless night. I wasn"t cold. I wasn"t warm. I wasn"t anything. No thought, no dreams, no anything.
Chapter 77
Chapter Thirty-two Thirty-two I flailed my arms and legs and watched the fireplace get closer to breaking open my head. At the last second, I saw a blur of white and pink, and then I slammed into Thomas, driving him into the stones of the fireplace. He let out a grunt, and I bounced off of him, and back to the floor, momentarily breathless. I shoved myself up to my hands and knees and looked at him. He"d wrapped a pink bath towel around his hips, but either the sheer speed of his movement or else the impact had knocked it mostly askew. His ribs jutted out on one side, oddly misshapen.
Chapter 79
Chapter Thirty-three Thirty-three It only takes a couple of these rough little episodes of life to teach a man a certain amount of cynicism. Once a rogue wizard or three has tried to end your life, or some berserk hexenwolves have worked really hard to have your throat torn out, you start to expect the worst. In fact, if the worst doesn"t happen, you find yourself somewhat disappointed.
Chapter Thirty-four Thirty-four I have very few memories of my father. I was about six years old when he died. What I do remember is a careworn, slightly stoop-shouldered man with kind eyes and strong hands. He was a magician-not a wizard, a stage magician. A good one. He never made it big, though. He spent too much time performing for children"s hospitals and orphanages to pull down much money. He and I and his little show roamed around the country. The memories of the first several years of my life are of my bed in the backseat of the station wagon, going to sleep to the whisper of asphalt beneath the tires, secure in the knowledge that my father was awake, driving the car, and there to take care of me. have very few memories of my father. I was about six years old when he died. What I do remember is a careworn, slightly stoop-shouldered man with kind eyes and strong hands. He was a magician-not a wizard, a stage magician. A good one. He never made it big, though. He spent too much time performing for children"s hospitals and orphanages to pull down much money. He and I and his little show roamed around the country. The memories of the first several years of my life are of my bed in the backseat of the station wagon, going to sleep to the whisper of asphalt beneath the tires, secure in the knowledge that my father was awake, driving the car, and there to take care of me.
Chapter Thirty-five Thirty-five Susan let out a whimper and a groan, moving fitfully. By chance, her mouth brushed against my forearm, still stained with drying blood. She froze, completely, her whole body shuddering. She looked up at me with those dark, huge eyes, her face twisting with need. She moved toward my arm again, and I jerked it back from her mouth.
Chapter Thirty-six Thirty-six My nightmares came quickly, dull cloud of poisonous confusion blurring my senses, distorting my perceptions. For a moment, I was hanging by one wrist over an inferno of fire, smoke, and horrible creatures, the steel of the handcuffs suspending me cutting into my flesh, drawing blood. Smoke smothered me, forced me to cough, and my vision blurred as I started to fade out.
Chapter Thirty-seven Thirty-seven Fury surged through me, before fear or anxiety, a fury so scarlet and bright that I could scarcely believe it was mine. Maybe it wasn"t. After all, you are what you eat-even if you"re a wizard.
Chapter Thirty-eight Thirty-eight I lifted my left hand before me, pouring energy into the shield bracelet, and shouted, "Riflettum!" "Riflettum!"
Chapter Thirty-nine Thirty-nine I regard it as one last s.a.d.i.s.tic gibe of whatever power had decided to make my life a living h.e.l.l that the burn ward was full, and I was given a room to share with Charity Carpenter. She had recovered in spirit, if not in body, and she started in on me the moment I awoke. The woman"s tongue was sharper than any sword. Even Amoracchius. Amoracchius. I smiled through most of it. Michael would have been proud. I smiled through most of it. Michael would have been proud.
Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-one Chapter Twenty-two Chapter Twenty-three Chapter Twenty-four Chapter Twenty-five Chapter Twenty-six Chapter Twenty-seven Chapter Twenty-eight Chapter Twenty-nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-one Chapter Thirty-two Chapter Thirty-three Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Two [image]
Chapter Three [image]
Chapter Four [image]
Chapter 91
Chapter Five [image]
Chapter Six [image]
Chapter Seven [image]
Chapter 95
Chapter Eight [image]
Chapter Nine [image]
Chapter Ten [image]
Chapter 99
Chapter Eleven [image]
Chapter Thirteen [image]
Chapter Fourteen [image]
Chapter Fifteen [image]
Chapter 104
Chapter Sixteen [image]
Chapter Seventeen [image]
Chapter 107
Chapter Eighteen [image]
Chapter Nineteen [image]
Chapter Twenty [image]
Chapter Twenty-one [image]
Chapter 112
Chapter Twenty-three [image]
Chapter Twenty-four [image]
Chapter Twenty-five [image]
Chapter 116
Chapter Twenty-seven [image]
Chapter Twenty-eight [image]
Chapter Twenty-nine [image]
Chapter Thirty [image]
Chapter Thirty-one [image]
Chapter Thirty-three [image]
Chapter Thirty-four [image]
Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-one Chapter Twenty-two Chapter Twenty-three Chapter Twenty-four Chapter Twenty-five Chapter Twenty-six Chapter Twenty-seven Chapter Twenty-eight Chapter Twenty-nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-one Chapter Thirty-two Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Two I started walking for my car, and beckoned Father Vincent to follow. He did, and I walked fast enough to make him work to keep up with me. "You must understand," he said, "that I must insist upon strict confidentiality if I am to divulge details of my problem to you."
Chapter Three Father Vincent directed me to a motel a little ways north of O"Hare. It was a national chain, cheap but clean, with rows of doors facing the parking lot. I drove around to the back of the motel, away from the street, frowning. It didn"t look like the kind of place someone like Vincent would stay in. The priest left my car almost before I"d set the parking break, hurried to the nearest door, and ducked inside as quickly as he could open the lock.
Chapter Four Susan.
Chapter Five They don"t make morgues with windows. In fact, if the geography allows for it, they hardly ever make morgues above the ground. I guess it"s partly because it must be easier to refrigerate a bunch of coffin-sized chambers in a room insulated by the earth. But that can"t be all there is to it. Under the earth means a lot more than relative alt.i.tude. It"s where dead things fit. Graves are under the earth. So are h.e.l.l, Gehenna, Hades, and a dozen other reported afterlives.
Chapter 129
Chapter Six I"d learned something in several years of professional wizarding. Never walk into a fight when the bad guys are the ones who set it up. Wizards can call down lightning from the heavens, rip apart the earth beneath their enemy"s feet, blow them into a neighboring time zone with gale winds, and a million other things even less pleasant-but not if we don"t plan things out in advance.
Chapter Seven I followed Michael"s white pickup truck in the Blue Beetle to Saint Mary of the Angels Cathedral. It"s a big, big church, a city landmark. If there"s anything you like in the way of gothic architecture, you can find it somewhere on Saint Mary"s. We parked near the back of the cathedral, and went to the delivery entrance, a plain oak door framed by lovingly tended rose vines.
Chapter Eight I fumed and brooded all the way back to my apartment, the Beetle"s engine sputtering nervously the whole time. Mister was sitting at the top of the steps, and let out a plaintive meow as I shut and locked up my car. Though I kept my blasting rod and shield bracelet ready in case any vanilla goons were waiting around with more silenced guns, I was fairly confident no preternasties were hanging around in ambush. Mister tended to make lots of noise and then leave whenever supernatural danger was around.
Chapter 133
Chapter Nine I hate cryptic warnings. I know, the whole cryptic-remark concept is part and parcel of the wizard gig, but it doesn"t suit my style. I mean, what good good is a warning like that? All three Knights and the population of Chicago would die if I didn"t get involved-and my number would be up if I did. That sounded like the worst kind of self-fulfilling c.r.a.p. is a warning like that? All three Knights and the population of Chicago would die if I didn"t get involved-and my number would be up if I did. That sounded like the worst kind of self-fulfilling c.r.a.p.
Chapter Ten I got up the ladder in time to hear a car door shut outside my apartment. I"d lost my .357 during a battle between the Faerie Courts hosted on clouds over Lake Michigan the previous midsummer, so I"d moved my .44 from the office to home. It hung on a gun belt on a peg beside the door, just over a wire basket I"d attached to the wall. Holy water, a couple cloves of garlic, vials of salt, and iron filings filled the basket, intended to be door prizes for anything that showed up in an attempt to suck my blood, carry me off to faerieland, or sell me stale cookies.
Chapter Eleven Ivy seemed reluctant to leave off petting Mister, but she and Kincaid left without further conversation. I shut the door after them and leaned on it, listening with my eyes closed until they"d gone. I didn"t feel as tired as I should have. Probably because I had a wealth of experience that suggested I would get a lot more worn out before I got a real chance to rest.
Chapter Twelve When I first came to Chicago I thought of a harbor as a giant bowl of ocean with ships and boats in the foreground and the faded outline of the buildings on the far side in the background. I had always imagined political subversives dressed up as tribal natives and a huge hit in the profit margin of the East India Company.
Chapter Fourteen I"ve been clouted in the head a few times in my day. The b.u.mp Anna Valmont had given me was smaller than some, but my head pounded all the way home. At least my stomach settled down before I started throwing up all over myself. I shambled in, washed down a couple of Tylenol with a can of c.o.ke, and folded some ice into a towel. I sat down by the phone, put the ice pack against the back of my head, and called Father Vincent.
Chapter 139
Chapter Fifteen I had bad dreams.
Chapter Sixteen Shiro came out of the office and showed me an address written on a piece of paper. "We meet them tonight at eight."
Chapter 142
Chapter Seventeen I put on an old fleece-lined denim jacket and went by my office. The night security guy gave me a little trouble, but I eventually browbeat him into opening the safe in the office to retrieve my envelope from Father Vincent. I opened it and found a plastic case the size of a playing card, like the kind coin collectors use to frame paper money. In the exact center of the case was a single, dirty white thread about two inches long. The sample from the Shroud.
Chapter Eighteen I didn"t have long to wait. The door opened behind me, and Kincaid emerged. He didn"t say a word to me, just got into a rented sedan and left. Ortega came next. A car swung in off the street, and he opened the pa.s.senger door. He paused and looked back at me.
Chapter Nineteen The downtown Marriott was huge, brilliantly lit, and busy as an anthill. Several blue-and-whites were parked nearby, and a couple of officers were helping to direct traffic in front of the hotel. I could see maybe twenty limos on the street and pulling through the archway in front of the hotel doors, and every one of them looked bigger and nicer than ours. Valets rushed around to park the cars of guests who had driven themselves. There were a dozen men in red jackets standing around with bored expressions that some might mistake for inattention. Hotel security.
Chapter 146
Chapter Twenty My eyes adjusted enough to make out some details. The demonic female with the Joan Jett hair, two sets of eyes, a glowing sigil, and vicious claws was the same Denarian who had attacked at the harbor that morning. The second demonic being was covered in dark grey scales flecked with bits of rust red. From shoulders to waist, he looked more or less human. From the neck up and the waist down, he looked like some kind of flattened serpent. No legs. Coils slithered out behind him, scales rasping over the floor. He too had the double pair of eyes, one set golden and serpentine, the other, inside the first, glowing faintly blue-green, matching the pulsing symbol of the same light that seemed to dance in the gleam of the scales of the snake"s head.
Chapter Twenty-one The cold woke me.
Chapter Twenty-two Nicodemus walked over to me, his expression somewhat distracted. I realized with a chill that he looked like a man planning his activities for the day. To Nicodemus, I wasn"t a person anymore. I was an item on his checklist, a note in his appointment book. He would feel no differently about cutting my throat than he would about putting down a check mark.
Chapter Twenty-three The shrieks died off more quickly than I would have thought, and I did my best to keep moving in a straight line. It was mostly dark. I was aware of a couple of doorways pa.s.sing on my left, and I stumbled along until I found the second one on my right. I took it, and found a ladder that led up some kind of pipe or shaft, with a light shining down from about seven hundred miles above.
Chapter Twenty-four As we went out the door, Susan pulled me hard against her. On general policy, I approved. She got one arm around the back of my head, shielding the base of my skull and the top of my neck. We hit the ground with Susan on the bottom, bounced up a bit, rolling, and hit the ground again. The impacts were jolting, but I was on the bottom only once. The rest of the time, the impact was something I felt only through my contact with Susan.
Chapter Twenty-six I opened my eyes a while later, and saw Susan standing in the living room, her eyes closed. She was crouched, her hands held before her as if grasping an invisible basketball. As I watched, she moved, arms and legs gliding through gentle, circular motions. Tai chi. It was a meditative form of exercise that had originally come from martial arts. Lots of people who practiced tai chi didn"t realize that the movements they followed were beautiful, slow-motion renditions of bone-breaking throws and joint locks.
Chapter Twenty-seven I grabbed my staff, blasting rod, and Shiro"s cane, and made a note to get myself a freaking golf bag. We took the cab to McAnnally"s. The Blue Beetle was still in the nearby lot, and it hadn"t been stolen, vaporized, or otherwise mishandled.
Chapter 154
Chapter Twenty-eight When Father Vincent answered my knock, I kicked the door into his face as hard as I could. He fell back with a grunt of surprise. I came into the room with Father Forthill"s Louisville Slugger in my hands, and jabbed the broad end of the bat into Vincent"s throat.
Chapter 156
Chapter Twenty-nine Back at my apartment, I called Murphy on her personal cell phone. I used simple sentences and told her everything.
Chapter Thirty "You can"t," I said. I shot a glance toward home plate, but the Archive apparently hadn"t noticed anything amiss. My will wavered, and the mordite sphere bobbed back and forth. "They"ll hear the shot. They"ll kill you."
Chapter Thirty-one I parked at a rental lot outside O"Hare about five minutes after seven. I got out of the car with my staff and rod in hand. There was only one old light burning on the lot, but the moon had risen huge and bright, and I had no trouble seeing Michael coming. His white truck came crunching to a halt on the gravel in front of me. I walked around to the pa.s.senger door. Sanya swung it open for me, then slid over. He was wearing blue denim and a big black cowboy hat.
Chapter 160
Chapter Thirty-two After a few minutes, the ride got b.u.mpy. The chopper started jouncing at random, lurching several feet in any given direction. If I hadn"t been strapped in, I probably would have slammed my head against the walls or ceiling.
Chapter 162
Chapter Thirty-three I woke up in the back of Michael"s pickup staring up at the stars and the moon and in considerable pain. Sanya sat at the back of the truck, facing me. Michael lay still and unmoving beside me.
Chapter 164
Chapter 165
Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-one Chapter Twenty-two Chapter Twenty-three Chapter Twenty-four Chapter Twenty-five Chapter Twenty-six Chapter Twenty-seven Chapter Twenty-eight Chapter Twenty-nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-one Chapter Thirty-two Chapter Thirty-three Chapter Thirty-four Chapter Thirty-five Chapter Thirty-six Chapter Thirty-seven Chapter Thirty-eight Chapter Thirty-nine Chapter Forty Chapter Forty-one Chapter Forty-two
Chapter 167
Chapter Two [image]
Chapter Three [image]
Chapter Five [image]