Life After Death

Chapter 19

"Harry Dresden is dead." I said to the assembled crew before me and noticed Murphy wince at the brashness of my words. "Or at least he is not coming back in time to help us in what we must do right now." The words did not get her to smile but the underlying attempt was enough to remove the grimace from Karrin's face.

I looked over these 'warriors' that I had assembled to face death beside me and could not help but chuckle inside. We were either the cast of a Hollywood B movie that only gets shown late at night on the USA network or the star attraction for some nerds' gaming convention. Either way the title for our group would probably be 'Chicks in Chainmail' or something equally sexists, yet at that moment appropriate.

Ms. Gard naturally drew everyone's attention first in part because she was the only one here who was taller than I was. The fact that the also carried a new black iron, double bladed battleaxe that rested far too comfortably on one shoulder for someone so angelic – as in death angel – was also noteworthy. A pump action shotgun in a holster on the other shoulder, and a thirty inch short sword on her hip would also likely garner a second glance from most Chicago residents once they got over their initial shock. And like our nerd loving nome de gard, she wore a silvered shirt of chainmail, one of those that my mom made, which was also lined with Kevlar for the more modern concerns.

Sorry boys, but I am not going to spend any time telling you how the links were pulled tight to nearly bursting as they tried to contain her ample chest. I will say though that of all of us Gard showed the least signs of nervousness about the battle to come. I could only assume this type of situation was probably old hat for the valkyrie.

On the other end of the height spectrum, and because of that almost as noteworthy, was Sweet the leprechaun who looked almost as equally relaxed at our impending challenge as the valkyrie. This was not because she was the eighteen inch warrior queen of her kind, but rather because she agreed to partake of this adventure only after I promised her that her role was not related to combat. Knowing what she had to offer the group I figured I could use her skills for other tasks and thereby keep more fighters available for the main event.

Leprechaun stories generally revolve around two features; a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow or some other hidden spot, and demonstrating incredible skills and intelligence at not getting caught by things much bigger and with evil intentions for them. Since my promise to her was that her pot of gold would not play a role in tonight's schemes and that her only mission was to act as scout and help free the captives if she could manage it I was eventually able to get her to accept this role.

Okay it took a promise of half of my own remaining gold that I had been paid for services rendered a few years before, but I figured if I got killed tonight to resurrect a dragon the gold was not going to do me any good anyway. Besides I always figured I could bill Marcone for the rescue and get my money back all the same. He had this thing about honor and would certainly pay off these debts just not to feel he owed me.

My mom of course did not have any armor or weapons that would work for Sweet. The smallest dagger in the collection I was told had looked like a broadsword to the Irish sprite and when her first practice swing launched the weapon across the room and into a wall of the garage all parties agreed that Sweet would stick to her magic if she found the need to defend herself. As the rest of us made last minute preparations the leprechaun calmly puffed on her extended pipe of tobacco and shook her head silently in mirth at our preparative efforts.

If anyone could give Gard a run for her money on the whole medieval badass look it was my mother Charity. I have heard others say I get my looks from my mom and that she could be a supermodel instead of a housewife had she chosen to. Let's just admit up front that her biceps quickly distinguished her among the other forties year old mothers in the PTA, soccer leagues, and Victoria's Secret catalogues. Making chainmail over a hot forge tends to keep the upper body in shape. And of course her current attire only emphasized this all the more.

Since she made all of my father armor herself and helped him practicing the skills for mastering his sword she of course needed to have her own sparring gear as well. She currently wore her favorite Kevlar lined mail, and yes she has more than one suit. I noted that it was the same suit she also wore when she came to rescue me from the Winter Court with Harry a few years ago. I hoped it still held that level of luck.

She was also carrying a rather large hammer that even dragons dared only ignore at their peril. Of course it was not imbued with one of the three nails from the cross like a certain family sword, but it was inscribed with the holy cross and multiple angelic runes. It was not a magical weapon, at least not in the way of a wizard's creation I should say, but certainly carried a sense of faith with it. Combine that holy intimidation with the look of determination my mother had to recover Little Harry and if necessary reign divine wrathful judgment on the serpent that took him and like I said she gave Gard a serious challenge for team badass.

Like Sweet, Tera West forgo any offer my mother made of armor or weapons. Her reasoning was not based on avoiding combat like the leprechaun but rather that her body was her weapon and anything we might offer he would merely slow her down.

She wore only an old pair of raggedy sweats from one of my brothers', probably Daniel's, high school jock days. Because of their size differences she looked like she was drowning in them, so much that the neck of the sweatshirt hung down enough to almost offer a cleavage shot, that was if Tera actually had more than an A cup going for her. This of course meant they would literally fall away when the time came to transform which was the only reason she accepted any clothing at all.

Subtle tactics was not what I was planning for Tera and I doubt she would have been able to follow them if I laid out some elaborate plan anyway. When and if the time came her job was simply to offer mayhem and try not to get killed in the process or get in the way of others. I knew how fast she was and while her power may not be truly intimidating to the dragon, it's not like the lizard could ignore a wolf's claws or teeth aiming for vital areas like her eyes. And any distraction Tera created would be supporting a host of others willing to try more direct methods to do damage to the dragon bitch.

Murphy was the one who actually scared me. Sure she sort of looked tough in her suit of Kevlar chain, one of Charity's backups cinched tight since they were about similar height. Instead of going with bladed weapons like the majority of the group was packing, Karrin went modern and with a serious vengeance.

Start with a bolt action hunting rifle. Sure it was not very high tech, but the rounds it fired were guaranteed to penetrate through cinderblock walls or stop a charging rhino. Okay, I doubt we were going to face a charging rhino, sure one never knows in Chicago since I had heard about a T-Rex encounter one time, but as I figured it these bullets would almost certainly get a dragon's attention as well.

She backed this up with a smaller automatic weapon, she called it an MP-5 but as far as I know about guns she could have been talking about a music player she was carrying too. This second smaller weapon though came with half a dozen thirty round clips and when I mentioned that I had never seen silver headed rounds before Murphy informed me they were Teflon coated to guarantee penetration.

She called them 'cop killers' with a sense of irony since they were these a bane to those she had not long ago considered family. If she were caught with them she would almost assuredly do five years in prison and no Chicago cop would ever willingly talk to her again, not even those who had once called her friend. On the other hand they provided the best opportunity for penetrating dragon scales that modern technology had yet devised for black market purchase. She told me that she had been unsuccessful seeking depleted uranium rounds. I'm not sure she was kidding.

She also had her two standard automatic pistols slung in opposing shoulder holsters as a last ditch weapons, and in truth I think we both agreed if she had cause to draw these our little group was in serious trouble. They were however the weapons she was most comfortable with and ones that had saved her life on more than one occasion when out with Harry. I was therefore happy she had them for comfort sake if for no other reason.

It was not the weapons that were creeping me out about Murphy though but rather the emotions she was giving off. There was a fatalistic sense about her that had been growing since she learned I had faked being Harry Dresden. Like it was for me, Harry meant the world to her and more and more we were both facing the realization that he was no longer going to be a part of our lives. Looking at her out of the corner of my eye I figure she might, just might be able to overcome this if she had somewhere else to turn to, but unfortunately her job, which had been the center of her existence even before she met Harry had been torn away from her as well. She literally seemed to have nothing left to lose.

When I was young and lived at home watching the evening news with my dad, I used to wonder how much hate it would take to become a suicide bomber and blow yourself up in a crowd of innocent women and children. When I came into my powers and starting to understand others' feelings I figured out that hate would not drive a person to take such an action. In fact it was just the opposite, a complete lack of any powerful emotions in a person leaving them instead wallowing in grief and hopelessness that led a person to this type of decision; that of course and one religious fanatic to place the thought in their head. As I watched Murphy out of the corner of my eye I wondered if I had played the role of the fanatic by suggesting this raid.

Try as I might I could not come up with a reasonable way to start a conversation to check on her. Sure we women are better at expressing and discussing emotions than guys are, but there are limits in this area even for us. "Karrin, how you doing? Do you plan to get yourself killed doing something stupid in the next few minutes?" Yeah those types of questions qualify as really bad, and only would be used my guys reading books their girlfriends gave them on how to share their feelings more.

Besides it is not like I was an emotional storm anchor at the moment either. Between Harry probably being dead, my brother Little Harry kidnapped, and being responsible for leading my 'friends' into combat with something likely to kill us, my own emotions were also spiraling nearly out of control as well. Sure I tried to maintain my normal cool exterior in order to project a strong determination and confidence to the others, which I boosted a bit with subtle waves of similar emotions in their direction, but still I could feel the turmoil within me.

As I had walked the last two blocks with my 'parcel' to link up with the others, every street light I passed either shorted out or exploded when I got within ten feet of it because of the emotional connection feeding my magic. Granted, this helped darken the area, but the whole exploding streetlights effects pretty much blew the stealth aspects of this mission if the dragon was on alert and waiting for us.

I also tried to wave off on wearing the chainmail as well but my mother was fairly persistent, offering some threat related to spanking me in front of the entire crew if I back talked her, so I figured to keep my dignity I'd accept the armor. As for weapons I was going in light, only my pair of wands that were definitely showing signs of wear and tear but still the best I had in my arsenal. Besides I was going to be burdened down carrying the last member of the troop; The Archive.

Okay, there really is no surprise that by my carrying an unconscious Ivy up to the group it was bound to draw a few questions and lots of raised eyebrows. My mother of course fell into her matron healer aspect and immediately looked the girl over even though I assured he she was only sleeping and would awaken when the time came. Charity only stopped once she was satisfied that Ivy had no signs of injury; thankfully the form of suffocation I used did not tend to leave marks.

Karrin barely gave me a glance and went right back to checking her weapons for like the fifth time and ensuring there were rounds in the chamber ready to go. If anything said how far she had fallen it was that she said nothing. Yeah like I said earlier, creepy!

Of Tera, Sweet, and Gard, only the leprechaun and the valkyrie seemed to suspect something but neither was going to ask me what I was up to. There must be a professional courtesy clause among beings that walk between the darkness and the light not to make them explain aspects of a plan that obviously do not involve them.

I spent the first few minutes as I put on the armor bringing everyone up to speed on my dream snooping on the dragon, leaving out the parts related to my talk with Death and my plans related to Ivy. Sweet had taken the time before I arrived to do a bit of scouting on her own and confirmed the smell of dragon was pretty thick inside the building though she had not ventured too far so as to not give us away. She did leave the front door unlocked for us however, adding that courtesy free of charge she said with a wink.

"What are your plans to confront the serpent Molly?" Gard asked letting the massive axe rest comfortably on her shoulder. "Certainly the appearance of an armed troop such as we would place her on guard and put us at a disadvantage from the start. At the same token she will likely suspect a veil and look for such signs as well. In battling such a creature it is important to strike the first blow as quickly and decisively as possible. Anything less gives her more time to respond and lessens our chances."

"Yeah that is pretty much what I figured as well." I agreed with a nod. "As I estimate things, success in keeping her guard lowered so we can hit her lies in letting her see exactly what she expects to see or not letting her suspect things that are not there."

"You be thinking of a crafty illusion then lass?" Sweet asked as she tapped out her pipe and put it away in her vest pocket that could not possibly hold something that size. "The smart ones tend to be wise to such trickery. Believe me it is one thing I know."

"Hey trust me it worked well in Mexico!" I said with a smile to reassure he doubts. "And I even have the perfect music for it."

I cast my required preparation spells and hoisted Ivy's body back on my shoulder. I had done some incredibly foolhardy things since coming into my powers but this was certainly about to make the top ten, maybe even top five. It should provide you some sort of reflection on my life that walking in to do battle with a dragon does not immediately become the number one but what can I say? I mean yes I lead a rather interesting life.

Based on the layout of the prison that I had scouted I figured that the courtyard would be the best place for our confrontation, in part because the open space would not allow all of us to get confined close together and also this would allow Sweet to hopefully sneak past the dragon to rescue the captives and lead them to safety. As I figure the worst case was her having to worry about the dragon acting out the treasure scene from The Hobbit and her cast in the role of Bilbo Baggins.

The downside to this location for the fight was with open sky, if we were too successful and the bitch decided retreat was in order, she could fly away and we really would not be able to stop her. To reduce, but not fully eliminate that particular concern when I raised it Gard explained to Murphy and Tera the points on the dragon's wings that were most likely to hamper her ability to fly if damaged. These spots were unfortunately not located near any vital areas so concentrating damage on these meant sacrificing going after killing blows. But it was something to consider if the situation required it.

I looked over our troop one last time and thought if there was ever a call for an all-female Justice League group then this gathering was certainly comic book worthy. We looked good, some like Tera just naturally hot, others like Gard and my mother mixing beauty and badass into a perfect package. Now it was time to see if we could kick ass like a host of Wonder Women.

I willed my rave music spell through my left hand wand and then through the prison doors to serve as our calling card that we had arrived. I had never thought a prison would have such fine acoustics but smiled when the music immediately began playing and echoing off the stone walls even louder than I had hoped for. Of course that effect could also be because my emotions were running a bit high at the moment so sue me. I took the first step across the street and the rest fell into place to each side of me as we had agreed.

"I'm all dressed up with nowhere to go…

Walking with a dead man over my shoulder…

I'm all dressed up with nowhere to go…

Walking with a dead man over my shoulder…"

Okay Ivy was not dead, and certainly not a man, but hey just how many songs do you think had lyrics applicable to this type of situation. And based upon what I knew of the dragon and her literary tastes I figured Oingo Boingo was not likely to have been something she kept on her IPod so would probably confuse her a bit as well. I could be wrong on this, but if not it seemed only right to expand her tastes a bit.

"Waiting for an invitation to arrive…

Going to a party where no one's still alive…

Waiting for an invitation to arrive…

Going to a party where no one's still alive…"

I kicked open the double doors to the prison with aloud boom, not a bad trick considering that I was carrying a body over my shoulder and had to balance Ivy's weight when doing it. I strode in trying not to show fear and behind me stalked my five companions armed and ready for battle.

"I was struck by lightning…

Walking down the street…

I was hit by something last night in my sleep…

It's a dead man's party…

Who could ask for more…

Everybody's coming leave your body at the door…

Leave your body and soul at the door…

Don't run away it's only me…

Only me…"

I mean can any lyrics really offer a better calling card? I could actually sense the dragon's surprise even from a distance which helped not only to calm me but made me smile as well. Looks like being one of the big all-powerful and ancient race of dragon did not make you immune to finding yourself in new situations you were unprepared for. That thought made me smile even wider so I jacked the music up just a little louder and continued to step forward.

"I'm all dressed up with nowhere to go…

Walking with a dead man walking with a dead man…

Waiting for an invitation to arrive…

Walking with a dead man, dead man, dead man…"

The group of us entered the courtyard where the Mercedes was still parked off to the side. I lowered Ivy's body to the ground in front of me out in the open and looked to those on my left and right offering a nod that things were as I had expected.

As we had discussed, Murphy broke to the right and took up a firing position on the hood of the car to steady her aim while Tera moved off to the left and away from the rest of us assuming her hybrid form a she went and dropping my brother's sweats.

Charity stood close to my left side, closer than I preferred for safety sake in a battle but her emotions were reading a continued desire to protect her children, in this case me, from the dangers of the world. Gard took up a stance three paces way from me on my right and we all stood and waited for our host to arrive.

In my best suit and my tie…

Shiny silver dollar on either eye…

I hear the chauffeur comin' to the door…

Says there's room for maybe just one more…

In fact the courtyard had room for quite a few more, but if the dragon decided to assume her natural form it would probably get very crowded very quickly. It was what I was worried about and therefore what I had assumed in my planning. But instead, wearing a emotional cloak of pure arrogance at levels that I had only felt before in senior members of the Faerie Courts, the dragon stepped through the doors opposite of me in her cloaked woman form with her face still concealed and crossed her arms at our arrival.

Don't run away it's only me

Don't be afraid of what you can't see

Don't run away it's only me . . .

"Don't worry child it is not I that has any intentions of running away from these events." The dragon said as the song ended and then made a dramatic show of looking at each of my companions in turn before dismissing them with a mere snort that left a curl of steam rise from one nostril. I waited for her to decide how the next moment would go as it was one of those decision points that needed to be made.

"Illusions? Really that is the best you could think of? I can smell that particular flavor of magic so strongly on them and completely lacking on you and the child lying before you. Such an attempt is amateurish, even for an apprentice wizard." The dragon said dismissing my four companions from her further consideration as now completely unworthy of further discussion. "I am also very disappointed in you child that you would attempt the very same trick you used in Mexico not so long ago." She shook her head with the obvious disapproval of a teacher.

"You know about that?" I said with shock and not stopping a bit a surprise from reaching my face.

"I think perhaps I know of it even better than you do." She said with a smile only deepening even more to explain that she had been observing me for some time it seems. I had suspected such, but being faced with its confirmation was still a bit intimidating. Maybe she did know me better than I knew myself. Time was certainly going to tell.

"It reflects poorly not only upon you but also upon your master that you are so limited in skills as to try the same tired plan a second time." She said shaking her head in obvious disappointment.

"Say what you will about me but you do not get to talk disrespectful about him bitch." I said getting angry again and finally having someone to focus that anger toward.

"Oh have a touched an open wound?" She said tilting her head under her hood. "Are we so sensitive that we dare not face the truth that he failed you?" She laughed. "Well that is no surprise for I suspected from the first that you were not ready to face up to the truth."

"I said you do not get to talk about him bitch." I said letting my anger turn into fueling my magic as my hands found their way down to the wands in my holsters. "Now shut the hell up about him before you make this personal and really get hurt." I said with hate filling my eyes.

"No only overly sensitive but also suffering from delusions of grandeur as well. How Harry Dresden could put up with this for so long I have no clue. I would have sympathy for him if her were not to blame for it." She shook her head and laughed. "But of course that no longer matters because HARRY DRESDEN IS DEAD!"

'CRACK!'

The sound of Murphy's bolt action hunting rifle firing came as a shock to me, but even more so to the dragon. Yeah I had used illusions in Mexico to draw out opponents and make them vulnerable to a counter attack and the idea had originally appealed to me to do the same here. But then I thought of how I had laid an illusion over the cemetery to make it look the same while the grey men advanced into position and decided on an even better plan given the current situation and our need to get close.

Instead of making illusions of my friends, I figured how much smarter it would be to cover their bodies heavily in an exact illusion of what they actually looked like? That way when the dragon did look at them and sensed the illusionary magic she would dismiss the fact that they were actually hidden underneath this spell that left them in plain sight. I would feel about such a deception bad but I did leave the Oingo Boingo lyrics in the song that said 'Don't be afraid of what you can't see.' It's therefore not my fault that she chose to ignore the song's advice. Truth be told I was not planning on feeling bad about the deception either.

Of course Murphy taking the first shot was not really part of the plan as I had expected it to go down, or at least not happening at this point. We were supposed to get around to talking about a trade and thereby give Sweet the time to hopefully free and revive the prisoners. Murphy's pulling of the trigger early jumped up that particular time schedule a bit but improvisation is just as important to ultimate success as a well defined plan.

The rhino stopping slug flew straight and true, and gave the dragon only enough understanding of the true danger in order to flinch out of the way at the very last second, yeah she was fast, and turn the killer head shot into one that struck her left shoulder, spun her around, and dropped her down to her knees. A part of my brain registered the distinctive clicking of Karrin retracting the bolt and reloading but by them my own instincts were kicking in full as the battle had been joined.

"Go, go, go!" I ordered both Gard and Charity charged past me as I drew my wands out of their holsters.

The dragon started to spin back around, and as I said was incredibly fast in doing so. "Passion." She said aloud amused but to no one in particular. "Now that is something I can work with."

Because the rifle round had driven the dragon spinning to her left she was late, just an instant too late as she came back around to catch sight of Tera West's form leaping in from her right. Before the dragon could raise a defense the hybrid wolf crashed down upon the cloaked woman with her claws seeking to shred cloth and rend the flesh that lay beneath. The animalistic growl of fury Tera emitted only heightened the experience's savagery for those who watched it happen.

Had the contest between the two combatants been one solely of mass then the dragon would have barely been moved by the much smaller and leaner Tera. But when you add momentum the wolf brought to the equation and the fact the dragon was already off balance as she spun around Tera was able to successfully drive them both backwards making the pair crash to the ground in a snarling ball of rage.

Even while the instinct to kill was running strong within her, enough intellect remained to Tera to have her leap away after the initial attack rather than go toe to toe with her stronger foe at this point. She recognized that a solid blow the dragon landed on her would offer serious and perhaps fatal damage so she separated and leapt away after their joint tumble came to rest. Even so one of the dragon's arms still successfully clipped the wolf as she retreated and sent her spinning away as the cloaked woman focused upon finding her way back to her feet to face the next wave of attackers. I even felt a twinge of pain at the glancing blow she had landed on Tera and hoped not debilitating damage had been suffered.

"Rage. Excellent!" The hooded woman called out ignoring the rips left in her cloak. "That is an even better resource!"

Gard began her swing somewhere in Cleveland it seemed and by the time the axe was coming around and then down for the strike on the dragon's head the very air was literally shrieking at its passage. Something that big and intimidating as that black axe should not be capable of moving that fast, but it did and was barely a shadowy blur.

The dragon merely responded to this by widening her stance and catching the valkyrie's arms in her own, turning ever so slightly and using the built up momentum to send Gard and her axe flying back toward the Mercedes. The sound of tortured metal was just as loud as any car crash I had ever witnessed. Based up on the size of the dent she left in the car I suspect Gard might have found herself back in Cleveland had her path not been obstructed.

"Loyalty." The dragon spoke. "Lacking in passion but still useful in its own…"

SMACK!

Charity's hammer came down upon the dragon's knee causing it to buckle ever so slightly and the cloaked woman to wobble enough that her own immediate counter blow only launched my mother half as far as the one she leveled Gard with. Of the blows landed so far the one offered by Charity's hammer seemed to have caused the most pain based upon the emotions I felt emanating from our foe. Unfortunately I doubted my mother had too many more of those attacks in her as the glancing strike she took nearly staggered me as well.

"Faith and love on the other hand..." The dragon spoke. "I find them a waste of good power if you ask my opinion."

"I didn't ask your opinion bitch!." I said aloud drawing up my full power and feeding it with my own emotions. I felt the dragon smiled at me from beneath her hood.

CRACK!

Murphy's second shot went off before my spell but a flick of the woman's wrist was enough to put forth a magical shield that caused the round to ricochet away and nearly strike Tera who was just getting to her feet. "While some may consider persistence a virtue, I tend to see it merely as an excuse for continued failure. I suggest you try something new child." She spoke in response to Murphy's attack but looked directly at me.

"Fuego! Ventas Servitas!" I called forth leveling my right wand and firing a wave of flames while with my left willing a wall of air. The twin spells combined to form a rolling mass of fire that bathed the dragon in a mass of flames and momentarily caused us all to lose sight of her. But as impressive as it looked from the outside I felt no sense of emotional pain, merely one of mild amusement coming from within.

The flames and cyclone fell away from the dome of ice that surrounded the cloaked woman, all three spells ending at the same time. "That was a creative use of your master's base talents child, though of course you lack his raw power to make that truly impressive." She said as if grading me on a final homework assignment.

"I wonder, are you able to take a blow as well as he did?" She said lifting her arm to point a finger at me.

Tera came back into the battle at that moment using the upraised arm as her target, locking onto the wrist with her jaws and then using this leverage to allow all four hate filled claws to rake the side of her target. The sound of tearing cloth filled the room.

She released her bite after only an instant seeking to bound away to safety but the dragon seemed to have been ready for the hybrid's reaction and snatched the scruff of fur on the back of the wolf's neck and used it to launch her right into the nearest concrete wall.

For her part, Tera tried to spin her body to absorb the impact but there was no time as she hit with a bone crunching sound than made me wince in sympathetic pain as well. She also showed no immediate signs of returning to the fight, or for that matter even getting up.

"I said you should try something new!" The dragon laughed but it sounded more like an insulted growl as she looked at me again.

"Well how about fish?" Sweet suddenly appeared in the courtyard, standing next to the now fallen Tera and snapping her fingers in the direction of the dragon.

"Fish?" Both the cloaked woman and I spoke at the same time. I would have called jinx but suddenly the space above her began to rain tuna and cod, not illusions of tuna and cod, but the actual still living and flopping fish. It was very much like the fisherman's net being opened up and the day's catch spilling forth on top of the dragon. Yeah I guess this was one of those spells that Harry never got around to teaching me it seems.

The rain of fish lasted for maybe five second, which left a fairly substantial number of creatures flopping in the inevitable pile by the time it was over. I'm doubting the fish spell caused the dragon any real damage but then again neither had my ad hoc firestorm so who was I to criticize.

Gard was suddenly there again almost as the last fish fell swinging her axe into the center of the pile seeking to injure or destroy her opponent. My mom was likewise just now getting to her feet and picking up the hammer to join the party once more.

The pile of fish suddenly exploded outward as the dragon reemerged. At a distance of twenty feet or so I had the time to throw up a shield in front of me before getting pelted with smelt. Being a transparent shield and the fact the fist were still alive made that an interesting experience.

My mother ten feet further away had no shield and therefore the twenty pound tuna that caught her in the stomach was enough to knock her back down onto her backside once more. Tera, Murphy, and Sweet were beyond the explosive range; however Gard had been at the very epicenter when the blast of fish occurred.

I know the idea of attacking with a pile of fish seems like something dreamed up by Monty Python, but take it from me that getting hit and point blank range by a dozen or more twenty to fifty pound fish is no less damaging that being hit by the same number of twenty to fifty pound bricks. That is if you are anything less resilient than a dragon, which of course the valkyrie unfortunately was.

The combination of the chainmail, the Kevlar, and Gard's natural sheer combat created muscle shrugged off much of the force of each individual strike but still enough was left over from each one to add up to serious pain on top of the injuries she had already sustained that I had healed. The end result of a dozen of fish bricks was her axe went flying off in one direction and she the other.

The cloaked woman stood up and made a scene of brushing off her now even more tattered clothing. "Full points for a creative mind even if the attack was unconventional and caused no actual damage." She said with obvious approval in her tone and emotions.

"Then wait til ye get a load of me canned hams!" Sweet said flicking her fingers again at the woman in the now thoroughly tattered cloak.

The dragon snapped her own fingers and suddenly before the rest of us could react she and the leprechaun had swapped places; and just in time for the rain of canned hams that Sweet had called forth begin to fall on its unintended target.

"I admittedly like the creativity, but the when we reach the point of silliness we can certainly live without." Sweet's scream as the fist can landed was almost immediately muffled out by the dozens of those that followed. The pile of tin was almost as high as the pile of fish had been.

Murphy opened up with a full clip from the smaller automatic rifle and sprayed the area the dragon was now standing, keeping the line of her fire above the dragon's waist level to limit the chances of a stray round hitting the unconscious Tera slumped nearby. I noted the first two sparks jump from the wall as Karrin corrected her aim and put the next few right on target.

Maybe two or three of those struck home before the dragon snapped her fingers a second time leaving her standing amid the pile of canned hams and the leprechaun girl now bloody and unconscious lying next to the similarly battered hybrid wolf.

"The ingenuity and engineering of your species never ceases to amaze me." The dragon spoke as Murphy release the now empty clip from her gun and moved reflexively to replace it with a fresh one. The dragon paid her little notice and instead focused upon her right shoulder and upper arm, reaching with her left to yank the tattered and bullet torn sleeve away in order to inspect the oozing wounds beneath. It's unfair that the best high impact rounds Murphy had available to her only cause slow oozing wounds. Made me wish we had invested more time in seeking out the depleted uranium.

Murphy slammed the second clip in and released the bolt to chamber the first round even as she was bringing the weapon's sights to bear once more. The dragon merely raise her eyes and smiled, though made no active move to defend herself further such as tossing up a shield like I would have done in her place.

CLICK…CLACK

The noises from Murphy's gun occurred only an instant apart and while they meant nothing to me, Karrin obviously recognized the sounds for the problem it meant and tried to force the bolt back to clear the jammed round but could not get it to move freely. With all the magic flying around, not to mention the flying fish as well, it was probably not surprising that the high tech weapon had failed.

As she looked down to try and free the bolt one more time the dragon soccer kicked three of the canned hams toward Karrin. The first two struck fender and the hood of the car and glanced off but the third flew true to its intended target.

"Murphy!" I screamed making her raise her eyes in time to see the can as it struck her head and sent her sprawling to the ground. A twelve pound canned ham to the head would have certainly broken her neck or split her skull but I think the combination of my warning and her martial arts training was just enough to cause her to flinch and roll with the shot, hopefully enough to save her life, for all the good that was going to do her now that there were half of our group out of the battle.

I had pulled together more magic for my own next attack by this point and was just about to fire off another spell of my own when Margaret Dresden's voice called to me. "Molly wait." The shock of her interruption in my mind was enough to cause me to hesitate and that was just an instant long enough for Charity to find her feet and charge the dragon who was bending down to grab Gard by the neck.

"What?"

"Think it through." She spoke urgently. "You cannot beat her in a straight up fight."

"So what I should surrender to her and let her kill all of us?" I asked ready to dismiss the voice from my mind altogether.

"No." Margaret pleaded. "But you are not Harry."

"I KNOW THAT!" I screamed feeling even more helpless and weak than I had before at her accusation. "DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT? DO YOU SEE HIM HERE?"

"No Molly." She answered. "I mean going toe to toe with your enemies was never your way. Your magic is not suited to that course. You are not equipped for it."

"I did okay in Mexico." I was happy that mental conversations occur in the space of instants.

"Did you?" She asked. "Did you really? Remember!" Suddenly I was once more in the midst of all that darkness and blood with vampires coming at me from every direction. I had never been so scared in my entire life as I had been in those first few moments. And then the dying began.

As a sensitive wizard I am far more attuned to emotions and their effects than others. In fact the more powerful the emotion the more likely it is to affect me. And in the grand scheme of things there are no more power powerful emotions than at the moment of death.

I had felt deaths before after coming into my powers. The first I recall was a security guard that ended up on the wrong side of a Black Court vampire outside a shopping mall. The attack was so fast and so violent that the emotional backlash literally stunned me. Had Harry not been there that day I would have been on the menu as well.

Since then I had felt other deaths and they did not quite effect me to the same level though they were still pretty overwhelming. It's really not something you become used to, but many times you have the opportunity to prepare for it and that can make all the difference.

Then came Mexico.

The first death had been a Red Court vampire who literally chased a prisoner meant as a meal right into out camp and was dispatched for it. I handled that one okay because I watch the events unfold and I had girded myself for the idea that killing was going to be required. Unfortunately his death alerted the thousands of other Red Court vampires waiting not far away. Suddenly stealth was out the window and frontal assault was the only remaining option we had.

Harry explained his plan to me quickly and the critical role that I was to play in it. Maybe a thousand vampires were quickly descending upon us and just the level of their uncontrollable hate nearly overwhelmed my senses. I could not be distracted because Harry needed me and I was not going to let him down. I needed to become hard because that is what he needed. And hard people do not hold onto the silliness of childhood memories so with a quick spell upon myself I banished that part of myself and tuned to the task at hand; creating the illusion of the Knights of the Cross.

It worked just as Harry said it would. Hundreds of vampires were destroyed by that trick, though this was a mere fraction of their numbers arrayed against us and it our tactic bought us only a few moments of respite to plan for the next wave.

When Harry learned the next group was coming at us under veils he turned to me to solve that problem as it was my area of expertise.

"Molly?" He said looking at me in such a way as to say without words that our lives were in my hands. I knew right then that we were not going to come back from this alive if I froze up and remembering those war movies my dad used to watch I recalled how soldiers said the secret to surviving a battle was to consider yourself already dead and stop worrying about it. With another spell I dismissed by survival instinct as it was just a distraction and got down to the work Harry needed from me.

"On it boss." I replied casually.

And it worked. My magic turned all those hidden vampires into solid black outlines that the others could kill. And that they did as I recovered my strength and tried to ignore all the dying taking place around me.

After that came the negotiation phase. The Red King sent a woman, human, to deal with us and allow a truce to speak. But to do so meant that we had to continue forward into the very heart of an ancient Mayan city. And once the negotiations concluded Harry was to do battle with the one who wanted him dead, and the battle was to take place in a stadium.

You have undoubtedly heard that sometimes when people die violently they leave a small part of themselves behind at the scene. Necromancers and other sensitives can often sense these fragments because of the emotional connections are so strong. Think of it like a single flickering candle burning that some people can notice.

The problem was this was an original Mayan stadium which meant tens or hundreds of thousands had died horribly here just for sport. And after the fall of the Mayan empire the Red Court arose here and the number of deaths at this place grew exponentially over the centuries. So that single candle was like looking into the sun for someone with my powers. I tried to warn Harry, explain what this meant to me…

"Ugh." I said. "There are some pretty horrific stories about the Mayans' spectator sports boss." But even though I hoped he would sense my pain Harry remained focused on our mission. Because I felt my need to honor Harry's request was scraping against my soul I dismissed this next. I mean I was probably going to die in the next hour so what good was honor going to do me, right?

Watching Harry battle the vampire lady and finally decapitating her actually gave me a moment of hope that we were going to still get out of this alive. But then the Red King betrayed the promise he made to us and his most powerful member, the Lords of Outer Night, turned their power on us.

It was like treading water in the ocean and trying to battle the waves as they came at you. The vampires were in my mind urging us to give up, to stop fighting, that all our pain would be gone soon. And I so wanted to believe them and accept that idea. To be free of pain once and for all was something I wanted at that point. I was tired of hurting. Some philosophers say life is nothing more than pain, and that it is our way of growing. But right then I did not know if I want to grow any more.

It was these deeper thoughts that were holding me back I realized. If we were going to live I needed to get rid of these next. Philosophy is a luxury that you cannot afford in a life and death situation. I had already tossed away parts of myself that I actually liked, so there was really no problem in throwing away the deeper intellect and focusing only on the here and now. Who cares what tomorrow might bring if you can't live through today. Another spell of will and the intellect that the vampire lords were using to hold me back was suddenly gone and I was free.

"Harry!" I screamed to help give him strength but the Outer Lord I had defied turned to his jaguar warrior and ordered him to shoot me. His gun fired and I screamed. Thankfully the shield bracelet I wore deflected the round from killing me.

I could see that the others were held like I had been so I gathered magic and began to push a spell of courage out wanting to help the rest of our group resist.

"You did child." Margaret Dresden spoke in my mind. "But it would have failed for your power was too dispersed to positively affect so many. So instead I told you…"

"You had me focus on only one…"

"Yes… the only one capable of saving you at that moment."

By the time Harry reached Murphy the spell of will that I had placed upon her was beating back the Outer Lord and her defiance to his will was growing quickly. Harry's touch on her shoulder pushed her over that edge and freed her to draw forth Fidelacchius to explode in a blaze of holy light which I had never before beheld.

"You saved us." I said to Margaret.

"No child. I merely gave you the insight necessary to save yourselves." She replied.

We fought them back though their numbers were overwhelming. But it was obvious that we were going to lose. Even the best wizard tires and we had been fighting four hours it seemed. I looked to Harry and saw him stumble in a way that said he was exhausted. He had no reserves left. He was running on pure adrenaline and even that was running out for him.

So there really was only one choice. Harry's strength was fading so I gave him mine. I ran up beside him and drew my wands as I cast the spell to reinvigorate him with my own remaining strength in one glorious explosion. I cast away my strength, trading it in part to go out with one glorious blast and the other part passing on to Harry when we fought back to back.

"You take that side!" I said. "I'll take this one!" He was so tired he never felt my power going in to recharge him.

By rights we should have died, and in truth my release of strength had be my final roll of the dice as I thought it. But somehow the Grey Council forces arrived to save the day and give us one more chance than we had any true right to deserve. They beat back our enemies and then sent us off to go after the Red King while they dealt with the horde of minions.

Then the stray bullet hit me. I was still in the final throws of my strength spell so did not notice as my life drained from my leg. In fact I only felt it once Harry shouted in my ear.

"Come on! Let the birdmen take it from here! We've got to move." He said not realizing that my magic, like my life, was almost gone.

But Harry still needed me. He needed whatever I had left to give which was not much. Suddenly the strength spell was gone and I felt the pain in my leg. I was falling. I had failed him. He needed me and I had failed him. He had put his life on the line for me and I had failed him.

In a moment he was kneeling on the ground beside me and I knew if he waited too long his daughter would die. He had to keep moving. He could not worry about me. I was only his apprentice. His little girl needed her father's love. The same love I knew now I could never have. So as he rested my head in his lap and looked for my injuries with my last bit of magic I tossed the last part away to. I tossed away love because if I held onto it, he might not leave my side and all of this would be for nothing. My spell was weak, and probably sounded like a gasp. But it was enough. Love fled…Darkness won out…

"Now you understand…" Margaret Dresden said in my head as all my memories burst forth.

"Yes. Now I understand." I said opening my eyes to see the cloaked woman staring at me holding my mother around the neck with one hand and Gard around the neck with the other.

"Very good child." The cloaked woman said with obvious satisfaction. "I wondered if we would ever truly get this chance to talk." She dropped the pair, both unconscious but still alive and pulled back her hood to reveal her face once and for all.

"I should have suspected it was you…" I said pausing before saying the name aloud…