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Have you ever been approached by a gri a naked sith a blade about ten ht, beneath the stars on the shores 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

I took in a quick breath, and had to work not to put it into a quasi-Latin phrase on the exhale, one that would set the man&039;s body on fire and reduce him to a mound of ashes I react badly to fear I don&039;t usually have the good sense to run, or hide - I just try to s , and one I don&039;t question too much

But reflex-basedhian You knoell as I do that those laws apply toas trivial as I just did And I didn&039;t break the Fourth Law He had the choice whether to take an&039;s sour, leathery face turned a bitand beco deeper "That&039;s a technicality, Dresden A pair of therip upon the sword he held His unevenly greying hair was tied into a ponytail in the back, like Sean Connery&039;s in soan&039;s face was too pinched and thin to pull off the look

"Your point being?" I didnervous or ian was ned to me by the White Council to ic He hung about and spied onaround after I&039;d cast a spell of so to let the White Council&039;s guard dog see any fear out of uilt, in the true spirit of paranoid fanatics everywhere So, all I had to do was keep a straight face and get out beforehe could use against an was one of the deadliest evocators in the world He wasn&039;t bright enough to question his loyalties to the Council, and he could do quick-and-dirty ic like few others could

Quick and dirty enough to rip the hearts out of Tommy Tomm and Jennifer Stanton&039;s chests, in fact, if he wanted to

"My point," he said, scowling, "is that it is ned duty to monitor your use of your power, and to see to it that you do not abuse it"

"I&039;-persons case," I said "All I did was call up a dewdrop faery to get soan Everybody calls up faeries now and then There&039;s no har the things Just leaning on therowled

I stuck out h he outweighed me by about a hundred pounds I could pick better people to antagonize, but he&039;d really gotten under my skin "A technicality I&039;m prepared to hide wildly behind So, unless you want to convene aof the Council to call ht here I&039;m pretty sure it will only take theeet here I can put you up until then Ia bunch of really crotchety old , but if you really think it&039;s necessary "

Morgan scowled at me "No It isn&039;t worth it" He opened his dark trench coat and slid the sword away into its scabbard I relaxed a little The sasn&039;t theshot, but it was his syiven to him by the White Council, and if ruical spells of anyone resisting hih for me to find out if the ruree about soain" I started to walk past hi hands on ers closed around it "I&039;m not finished with you, Dresden"

I didn&039;t darein his role as a Warden of the White Council But he wasn&039;t wearing that hat, now Once he&039;d put the sword away, he was acting on his oithout any more official authority than any other an was big on technicalities He had scared the heck out of me and annoyed the heck out ofto bully me I hate bullies

So I took a calculated risk, used my free hand, and hit him as hard as I could in the mouth

I think the blow startled hio of my arm in surprise, and just blinked at ers away, there was blood on them

I plantedhis eyes "Don&039;t touch an continued to stare at er creep over his face, set his jaw, make the veins at his temple stand out

"How dare you," he said "How dare you strike me"

"It wasn&039;t so hard," I said "If you&039;ve got Council business with ive you whatever respect is your due When you co to me on personal business, I don&039;t have to put up with it"

I saw the stea out of his ears as he mulled it over He looked for a reason to come afterto the Laws He wasn&039;t too bright - did Ione for following the Laws "You&039;re a fool, Dresden," he sputtered finally "An arrogant little fool"

"Probably," I told him I tensed myself to move quickly if necessary I may not like to run away froht hopeless battles, either, and Morgan had me by years of experience and a hundred pounds, at least There was no Law of Magic that protected me from hiht decide to do so about it That punch I&039;d landed had been lucky, coain

"Soht, Dresden I think it was you And when I find how you did it and can trace it back to you, don&039;t think you&039;re going to live long enough to cast the sa fist