A/N-Sorry for another long wait. Once again things have conspired to keep me unable from writing for a few weeks (edit-months). I'll take this space to address some (well…an) issue that a reviewer brought to my attention-Dresden beats so many people out of his weight class, why hasn't he just kicked the ass of Tarm? The reason is that this story's not over yet, and I'm not finished beating Dresden up. Authors can be such pricks sometimes.

Having been an avid watcher of Looney Toons when I was a kid, I of course knew quite a lot about traps and how to set good ones. For instance-checking to see if your trap has gone off is generally a bad idea, as is going into it to see why the poor Roadrunner hasn't triggered it yet. Anvils were off-limits in this trap, as was paint. However, standing in an abandoned warehouse that must have been over 100 degrees, I belatedly realized something-you can take the stupidity out of the plan, but you can't plan out your stupidity.

"Anything yet?" I hissed to Fix, who was on lookout duty.

"Nothing yet", he whispered back. Sighing, I settled back and worked on a way to turn my cool Winter Knight powers into an air conditioner.

"We need to lure him in", I had said to Fix back at Burger King. "But it needs to be plausible. Something that, despite his suspicions, he needs to check out".

"Congratulations", Fix said. "You've just described a trap".

Glaring at him, I continued: "He seemed to have quite a bit of interest in the Brighter Future Society, so it might be possible to lure him in off of that angle.

Fix looked up from his hamburger at me. "What if we send him a message telling him that someone from the Society wants to meet him?"

"I like it," I said. "We just need a way of getting the message to him".

"That is the kicker", said Fix.

However, as I thought about it, an idea hit me. I smiled into my own burger. "Fix, finish up", I said. "We're going to play Cowboys and Indians".

In hindsight, the easiest way to send a message was obvious, if not particularly legal. However, one (abandoned) building fire later and some magically directed smoke, I was fairly confident that he had seen the giant magical clouds of smoke pointing out the warehouse where we now sat. I was jolted out of these thoughts by the sound of the warehouse door opening. Peeking out from behind my hiding place, I could see that it was, indeed, Tarm.

"Hello?" He called into the warehouse. He stepped in a little further, peering suspiciously around. "Anyone in here?"

Now, there are many ways for people to communicate using magic. I had used one crude form of this many years ago with Elaine, my first crush, and I had used one again when…when I rescued my daughter. I opted for a simpler method:

"Now, Fix!" I screamed across the warehouse, "Go!"

A few things happened as I screamed that. Tarm whirled around, his hands glowing with some kind of golden power, presumably meant to make my life a living hell. I started sucking all available power in from the air around me, storing it but not releasing it. And, most importantly, a circle of power snapped into place around the entire warehouse, cutting off the flow of magic to the building. Tarm's hands immediately stopped glowing with that weird light, and I took the opportunity to snarl "forzare", converting some of the pent-up power in my body into a lance of raw force so powerful it blew him across the warehouse. There were some very solid-looking boxes there. He went through them.

"Karma's a bitch", I snarled, stalking over to him. "Ready to surrender yet, Nicky boy"?

Wincing, he staggered to his feet, and then faced me. "I'm good for another round if you are".

Briefly, I entertained the notion that I might have been out of my depth.

Hissing something under his breath, he vanished, and I heard a crash from behind me. I'd like to say I was cool and unflappable, but the truth was I had had enough at this point. I whirled, cursing, pulled out my revolver and started firing shots blindly. I was rewarded by the sight of Tarm doubled over, hands clutched over his stomach. He stood up, snarling, and leapt at me. Within a few seconds, it was all over.

"Not bad," he said, as he staggered to a relatively vertical position. "But now it's time to end this".

I had done everything I could have to have stopped him…except for one thing. I staggered over to a nearby crate and grabbed one single, little thing.

"Well Knight," he said panting, time to go". And with that, he opened the door…and came to a dead stop. Outside, restrained by the circle Fix had drawn up, was an army. Faeries were everywhere-pressing against the circle, flying around, as far as the eye could see. Tarm turned around. I held up the one thing I had grabbed-a pebble.

"You surrender", I said very quietly. "Or I flick my wrist and let you deal with them".

His mouth twisted into a bitter smile. "I'm beat, aren't I".

I nodded.

"Let's go then".

I pulled out the specially designed faerie cuffs, and took him to his destiny with Mab.

A/N-Thanks for reading after the REALLY long wait. I'll try to take less time on the next (and last) chapter! Reviews are helpful-if I'm doing something wrong, don't hesitate to tell me. I want to know if I'm screwing something up. Once again, thanks for sticking with me!