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"You can&039;t," I said I shot a glance toward home plate, but the Archive apparently hadn&039;t noticed anything amiss My avered, and the mordite sphere bobbed back and forth "They&039;ll hear the shot They&039;ll kill you"

"Quite possibly," he agreed "As I said, I am prepared to accept that"

His words chilled ht it a couple of feet from me and held it, but just barely

"I told you, Dresden There&039;s only one way this can end I would have preferred an honorable demise for you, but any death will do"

I stared at the hidden gun

A dot of bright scarlet light appeared on Ortega&039;s chest, and tracked slowly up

My expression ht pinpoint of the laser sight settled over his heart and becaa&039;s eyes widened and his expression twisted into fury

A lot of things happened at once

There was a hissing sound, a thua&039;s chest dented in Scarlet sprayed out behind hi sound much deeper than the crack of a rifle echoed around the stadiuh end of the scale Fire erupted froa&039;s flesh mask and shirt to reveal the muzzle of a small-caliber revolver clenched in an inhua had taken had half twisted hiain was a bad idea, so I threw ave the ed the ht red dot appeared on his thigh for half a second, and with another hiss-thuain I heard the bones of Ortega&039;s leg break

Susan threwhis free ar as if to throw him Instead, the va the fleshit away like a banana skin to reveal the slia He still held the gun though, and he turned to shoot at ain

I screa my will at dirt of the pitcher&039;s mound It whirled up into athe vampire to turn its head and shield its eyes The second shot ild as well, and I scra dirt slowed her down, but Susan still went for Ortega&039;s gun hand It was a a screeched again, twisted, and flung Susan from the pitcher&039;s mound into the third row of seats behind first base She hit with bone-breaking force and dropped out of sight

Sudden screeches filled the air, and I looked up to see as many as a dozen of the Red Court, revealed in their true for into the stadium Some climbed over the walls, so out of private boxes in showers of exploding glass

I spun toward Ortega, lifting o!" A jet of fla va hih, greasy skin going up like a bonfire, and it screamed hideously as it burned

I sensedacross the ground He scooped up the Archive and raced for one of the dugouts One of the Red Court vaot in his way Kincaid&039;s ar in it, and withouta step he put two shots neatly between the vampire&039;s eyes The vampire started to fall, and as he went by it, Kincaid pumped another half dozen shots into its belly, which erupted in aand thrashing weakly on the ground

"Harry, look out!" Thoured on the worst and leapt forward I heard a va up behind out of fire fro rod, butvenomous saliva into my face

I&039;d been hit with vampire venoe amounts But I&039;d taken the potion to block it, and all this did was make me itch I used the time while the vampire sprayed me to prepare another blast, and unleashed the strike with the rod pressed against the vamp&039;s flabby body It scorched a wound in the vampire&039;s belly the size of my fist and bleo-foot hole in the creature&039;s back The va

Seven or eight va fast Tho in his hand, and hit one of the vamps frole slice, and the creature collapsed to the ground "Harry, get out!"

"No!" I shouted "Get Susan out of here!"

Thoed course He leapt up onto the first-base dugout and hopped neatly over the rail into the stands

No help there, and there wasn&039;t ti, "Defendre, defendre," in a steady litany It was difficult to do without ht up all the defensive energy I could e in a doainst it in e Any one of thethith only a little effort Their blows against the shield could have crushed concrete within seconds, and I kneas not going to be able to hold the defense in place for long Once it went down, they were going to literally tear ave the shieldit down

Then there was a roar, and a flash of brilliant light A jet of fire streaked over me and took one of the va and waving its too-thin ar like a half-crushed bug My shield collapsed, overloaded, and the bracelet began burning my wrist I crouched lower

Another jet of fire went by, incinerating the head of another va in confusion

Kincaid stood outside the dugout and dropped a s next to him, smooth and professional, and drew out another double-barreled shotgun One of the vampires leapt at hier, and the shotgun roared A jet of fla this one in the neck, and continuing to the right-field fence, where it blew a hole the size of my face in the wall There was a sound behind him, and Kincaid spun to shoot the other barrel at a vah the stands above the third-base dugout He put the shot right down the vampire&039;s throat, literally, and the creature went up in flaun as well, and reached for the stock of another in his golf bag

The other vampires leapt at Kincaid when he turned his back

They got to deal with the Archive instead

The child stepped out fro between her hands She released the sphere and esture

The little cloud of darkness blurred toward the vampires and streaked into each in turn at the pace of a busy work When the mordite sphere struck theht, a swell of darkness, and then the sphere passed on through It left ash and black bones raining down behind it I could barely follow the mordite sphere&039;s path, it moved so fast One second the vaone Black bones and grey ash littered the ground aroundI could hear wasof my own pulse in a anywhere The two varound Kincaid drew the last shotgun fro blasts executed theently back to rest between the Archive&039;s tiny hands, and she stood regardingin her expression Nothing in her eyes Nothing I felt the beginnings of a soulgaze and pulled my face away, fast

"Who broke the sanctity of the duel first, Kincaid?" asked the Archive

"Couldn&039;t tell," Kincaid answered He wasn&039;t so "

The Archive stood there ame pet your kitty, Mister Dresden And thank you for ood-bye, but it was only polite to answer, "You&039;re welcome, Ivy"

The Archive nodded and said, "Kincaid The box, please"

I looked up to watch Kincaid set the wooden box down on the ground The Archive sent theslowly down into it, and then closed the lid on the box "These proceedings are concluded"

I looked around at the bones, dust, and s vaarded o It&039;s after ry," Kincaid said, shouldering his golf bag "We&039;ll hit a drive-through You can have the cookies"