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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

But that&039;s an illusion A real struggle between combatants, whether they nu inherently messy, fluid, difficult to follow The illusion can show you the outcoe and press of bodies, the screa rushes forward or away Within the battle, everything is wild motion and sound and a blur of iister Instinct and reflex rule everything - there isn&039;t time to think, and if there&039;s a spare second or two, the only thought in your head is "How do I stay alive?" You&039;re intensely aware of what is happening around you It&039;s an obscure kind of torture, an acute and temporary hell - because one way or another, it doesn&039;t last long

A tide of vampires came toward us They rushed in, ani black eyes Their jaws hung too far open, fangs bared, hissing and howling One of the spear and shoved it toward Thomas&039;s pale belly Justine screamed Thomas swept the crystalline sword he bore down in an arc, parrying the spear&039;s tip aside and cutting through the haft

Undeterred, the spear-wielding vas into Thomas&039;s forearm Thomas shoved the vamp back, but it held fir the varound, and then rolled the sword&039;s blade around its belly, splitting it open in a welter of gore The va up froony

"Their bellies!" Thoht!"

Michael caught a descending uard around his forearm, and whipped one of his knives across the belly of the vamp who held it Blood splattered out of the vamp, and it went down in convulsions "I know," Michael snapped back, flashing Thomas an irritated look

And then he was buried in a swarm of red-clad bodies

"Michael!" I shouted I tried to push toward hile and drop to one knee, saw the va and worrying, and if any of the, like before, I couldn&039;t see it

Kyle Haht He bared his fangs at me, and lifted a semiautomatic, one of the expensive models Gold-plated "Fare thee well, Dresden"

I lifted the cane, its runes shi blue and white, and snapped "Venteferro!"

The h the runes on the cane Earth ic isn&039;t really my forte, but I like to keep my hand in The runes and the power I willed into the staff reached out and caught the gun in invisible waves of netism I had been worried that the spells I&039;d laid on the canein there The gun flew froh the air, into the face of another va just this side of the speed of sound, and sent the thing flying back into the darkness Justine whirled, as a second vas literally scythed out from beneath it by Thomas&039;s blade

"Iesu do out frole, and with a sudden explosion of pressure and unseen force, bodies flew back and up, away froed, bloodless strips like cloth, showing glea, oily black flesh beneath "Doutted va shakes off water "Lava quod est sordium!"

"Come on!" I called, and strode forward, toward the stairs leading up to the dias Michael had parted the scarlet sea, as it were - stunned varound or slowed their attack, hovering several feet away, hissing Susan and Justine caught one of theed the others fro it with holy water fro at its eyes, flopping and wriggling like a half-crushed bug

"Bianca!" Thomas shouted "Our only chance is to take out their leader!" A knife flew out of the dark, too fast for me to see But Thomas did He reached out and flicked the blade of his sword across its path with a conte it out

We reached the foot of the stairs "Thoo up" I didn&039;t wait to see as listening - I just turned and headed up the stairs, sword and cane out and ready,There was no ould be in tie had evidently drawn Mavra&039;s attention, and she stared at the blood, withered lips pulled back from yellow teeth She looked at me, and her expression twisted in h

"Michael," I snapped, and stretched out my cane "Venteferro!"

Aolden light, as my porapped around it, a coruscation of sparks that made Mavra howl in surprise and pain The vampire retreated, but kept her pale hands clenched on the blade

"Suit yourself, sparky," I ritted my teeth as the cane smoked and shook in my hand "Vente! Venteferro!" I whipped the cane in a wide arc, and with a hiss the varip on the sword, and flung like a beach ball toward the courtyard below She s sounds a gruesoeful argent sparks and went spinning away froround

A wave of exhaustion and dizziness swept overa focus, the rune-etched cane, that effort had nearly been e I had to clench my teeth and hope I wouldn&039;t si down to the bottoic went

"Harry!" Michael shouted "Look out!"

I looked up to see Mavra bound up onto the dias again, not bothering to take the stairs, landing a few feet froer up reversed, point down, a cross extended toward Mavra The va her hands at Michael, and darkness spilled out of theht It sizzled and spat against hi up in puffs of steaathering around the upheld cross Mavra let out a dusty, hissing scream and fell back from him, forced away from me

"Harry," Thomas shouted up the stairs, "hurry up! We can&039;t last er!"

My eyes swept the dias, but I could see no sign of Bianca or her attendants in the shadows cast by the halogen-brightness of Michael&039;s blazing cross I hurried to Lydia, sheathing er? I&039;ht shines brightest in the deepest dark!" Michael shouted, a fierce joy on his face, his eyes alight with a passion and a vengeance I had never seen in hi fire of the cross, until with a screaht! We will stand!"

"We will get the hell out of here is ill do," I muttered, but louder I said, "back down the stairs Let&039;s go!"

I turned to see Tho of vampires, at the base of the stairs to the dias, between the pair of spotlights Only scraps of skin and cloth clung to the vampires Some of the Red Court still had partially human faces, but most stood naked, now, free of the flesh masks they wore Black, flabby creatures, twisted, horrible faces, bellies bulging,but hunger, glittered in the light Long, skinny fingers ended in black claws, as did the grasping toes of their feet Membranes stretched between their arms and flanks, horribly sliiven way to the horror beneath

A varasp Susan She thrust her cross in its face, but unlike with Mavra, the wood did not blaze to light Faith ic isn&039;t always easy to work, even on vampires, and the Red Court, creatures with a ical denizens of the Black, were not so easily repelled The va Susan&039;s red hood

She twisted and fought, and with her other hand swept up another baby food jar of holy water - not at the va hiss, the water vaporized against the heat of the light, bursting out in a sudden cloud of steam that enfolded the vampire coh the range of hu above it, and fell away froy h

Susan fuun She fired for the vampire&039;s belly, the rapid thump-thump-thump of panic fire, and the va out in a cloud The va that she&039;d just killed the thing - really and truly taken one of theh me, and I headed down the stairs

And then our streak of luck ended

Justine took a step too far to one side, and Bianca appeared out of nowhere, seizing the girl by the hair and dragging her away froirl&039;s back against her front, her fingers wound with deceptive gentleness around Justine&039;s throat With the other hand, Bianca, still quite huirl&039;s belly Justine struggled, but Bianca siue slowly, sensuously over Justine&039;s throat The girl&039;s eyes widened, panicked Then they grew heavy She shuddered, her body relaxing toward Bianca, arching slowly Bianca&039;s richinto Justine&039;s ear that h," Bianca said And as quickly as that, the courtyard grew silent Michael and I stood on the stairs a bit above Thoed them in, just out of reach of Tho in ame has ended, wizard"

"You haven&039;t taken us down yet," I shot back "Set cranky"

Bianca laughed, idly plucking so a bit more of her breasts "Surely you don&039;t think me so stupid as to be bluffed now, Dresden You have already had a th taken What re If you could force your way out, you&039;d have done it already" Her eyes loriously and take ht with you But you are outnumbered and alone, and without the sword You will die"

I glanced at Thoood thing we brought help Your whole Court, Bianca, and you couldn&039;t take us down" I swept my eyes back and forth over the vampires below, and said, "All of your little minions here have eternity laid out before theet us, eventually But whichever one of you would like to lose eternity first, please Just go ahead and step on up"

Silence reigned over the courtyard for aheart Kenny Rogers, eat your heart out If this bluff worked, I&039;d be ambler than he&039;d ever dreamed

Bianca only smiled, and said, to Thomas, "She&039;s so beautiful, my cousin of the White Court I&039;ve wanted her ever since the moment I saw her" Bianca licked her lips "What would you say to a bargain?"

I sneered "You think ould do business with you?"

Tholanced back up atof scarlet droplets on his pale flesh, uns, and all "Go ahead," he said "I&039;"

"Give them to us, Thoirl as your own, uncontested I will have as many little pets as I wish, now What is one over another?"

"Thomas," I said "I knoe just et killed already"

Tholanced back and forth between us He h to let me see inside hi to tellI don&039;t knohat His expression seeetic, maybe "I know, Mister Dresden," he said "ButI&039;ed" He didn&039;t kick Susan, so ainst her and shoved her into the crowd of vampires She let out a short, startled screaed her into the darkness

Thomas lowered his sword and turned toward , they crept closer to Michael and s His mouth twisted in distaste, and he sidestepped "I&039;m sorry, Mister Dresden Harry I do like you quite a bit But I&039;m afraid that I like myself a whole lot more"

Thomas faded back, while the vampires crowded around the bottom of the stairs Somewhere, in the dark, Susan let out a short, terrified scream And then it faded to a moan And then silence

Bianca s head "And so, wizard, it ends The pair of you will die But don&039;t worry No one will ever find the bodies" She glanced back, tohere Thoround and said, aside, "Kyle, Mavra Kill the white-bellied little bastard, too"