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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 ic or one of the blood-h to put a fewto 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&039;t even have theoccurred to hed I plucked a straw fro about in the air with the fingers that held the straw I reached out and took hold of the i rampant in the air and drew the the chant to a crescendo "Pulitas, pulitas!"

The brooht in my hands And then it took off across the kitchen floor, its brush waving ly, toI had expected to use that cleaning spell for when I had laboriously been forced to learn it was a tide of poisonous scorpion monsters, but any port in a story and started flicking them across the kitchen toward the rest of the balcony with tidy, efficient e around it, the broom would tilt out and catch the beastie before it could, flick it neatly onto its back and continue about its job

I&039;ot all the dirt on the way, too When I do a spell, I do it right

Victor screeched in anger when he saw his pets, still too s so neatly corralled and ushered off the balcony The Beckitts lifted their guns and opened fire on the broom, while I hunkered down behind the counter Theyrevolvers, now, because they fired smoothly and in an ordered rhythm Bullets smacked into the walls and the counters at the back of the kitchen, but none of theh the counter that sheltered ainst the blood on ht the bullet was stuck, so There was a lot of blood, but not soin a puddle Out on the balcony, the fire was beginning to catch, spreading over the roof The entire place was going to coer

"Stop shooting, stop shooting, daunfire came to a halt I risked a peek over the counter My brooe of the balcony and to the floor of the rooht the broo with a snarl The straw I still held in , and I felt the energy fade from the spell

Victor Shadowman snarled "A cute trick, Dresden," he said, "but pathetic There&039;s no way you can survive this Give up I&039;ll be willing to let you walk away"

The Beckitts were reloading I ducked ot any funny ideas, and hoped that they didn&039;t have heavier rounds that could penetrate the counters I hid behind and whatever contents they contained, to killmy voice as calm as I could "You&039;re known for your ht?"

"All I have to do is keep you in there until the fire spreads enough to kill you," Victor said

"Sure Let&039;s all die together, Vic Too bad about all your inventory down there, though, eh?"

Victor snarled and pitched another burst of flame into the kitchen This time, it was much easier to cover myself, half-shielded as I already was by the counters "Oh, cute," I said,you can do All the real wizards learn that in the first couple of weeks and move on up from there" I looked around the kitchen There had to be so presented itself

"Shut up!" Victor snarled "Who&039;s the real wizard here, huh? Who&039;s the one with all the cards and who&039;s the one bleeding on the kitchen floor? You&039;re nothing, Dresden, nothing You&039;re a loser And do you knohy?"

"Gee," I said "Let hed, harshly "Because you&039;re an idiot You&039;re an idealist Open your eyes, le, now It&039;s survival of the fittest, and you&039;ve proved yourself unfit The strong do as they wish, and the weak get tra to wipe you offlike you never existed"

"Too late for that," I told him I was in the mood to tell a white lie "The police know all about you, Vic I told them myself And I told the White Council, too You&039;ve never even heard of them, have you, Vic? They&039;re like the Superfriends and the Inquisition all rolled up into one You&039;ll love thee God, you really are an ignorant bastard"

There was aYou&039;re lying to ," I told him Hell, as far as I kneas "Oh And Johnny Marcone, too I made sure that he kneho and where you were"

"Son of a bitch," Victor said "You stupid son of a bitch Who put you up to this, huh? Marcone? Is that why he pulled you off the street"

I had to laugh, weakly A bit of fla cabinet fell off an upper shelf onto the tiles next to"You never figured it out, did you, Vic?"

"Who?" Victor screamed at me "Who was it, damn you? That whore, Linda? Her whore friend Jennifer?"

"Strike two, strike three, the other side gets a chance to steal," I said back Hell, At least if I could keep hio doith htto him," Beckitt said "He&039;s not aret out of here before we all die"

"Go ahead," I said in a cheerful tone "Hell, I&039;ve got nothing to lose I&039;ll send this whole house up in a fireball that&039;ll make Hiroshima look like a hibachi Make my day"

"Shut up," Victor shouted "Who was it, Dresden? Who, daht still be able to get to her if he got away There was no sense in risking that So all I said was, "Go to hell, Vic"

"Get the car started," Victor snarled "Go out through the deck doors The scorpions will kill anything on the first floor"

I heardout the doors onto the elevated deck at the back of the house The fire continued to spread Sot to go, Dresden," Victor told entle, almost a purr, "but there&039;s soot a sick, twisty little feeling in the pit of my stomach

"Kalshazzak," Victor whispered

Power thruan to twist and spiral

"Kalshazzak," Victor whispered again, louder,hiss that see closer The black wizard called the na to a screech, "Kalshazzak!"

There was a thundercrack in the house, a dull and sulfurous stench, and I craned lance

Victor stood by the sliding glass doors that led out onto the wooden deck Red-orange fla on that side of the house, and s the whole place in a hellish glow

Crouched down on the floor in front of Victor was the toad-deht before I had known that I hadn&039;t killed it You can&039;t kill demons, as such, only destroy the physical vessels they create for theain, they can create a new vessel without difficulty

I watched in fascination, stunned I had seen only one person call a demon before - and I had killedcrouched in front of Victor, its lightning blue eyes whirling with shades of scarlet hate, staring up at the black-clad wizard, tre with the need to tear into hi who had dared sureider andwith fevered intensity Sweat ran down his face, and he tilted his head slowly to one side, as though his vision were skewing along the horizontal and by the ave silent thanks that I had closedreally looked like - and I didn&039;t want to get a good look at the real Victor Sells, either

The deave a hiss of frustration and turned toward rowl Victor dropped his head back and laughed, his will triu he had called fro survive, and the weak are torn to little pieces" He flapped his hand at led to ht on the counter, to face the dean its slow stalk toward et over how clumsy you are"

Victor&039;s sain I saw fear touch the corners of his eyes, uncertainty even though he was on top, and I felt a little saze to the demon&039;s