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Chapter Seventeen

You," I snarled, gesturing at Bock with the end of onna sell ht here"

Froe point above Alicia&039;s curly-haired head, Bock blinked atto leave anything in irl would see If I&039;d tried to protect Bock, it would only haveto hi to threaten him, it would make him seem more unimportant to the necro I could do to protect hih several subtle shades of couilt He twitched his head at me in a nod of thanks

"Well, well," Alicia said She hadn&039;t moved, other than to turn toward me "I&039;ve never heard of you, but I must admit that you kno to make an entrance, Harry Dresden"

"I took lessons," I said

"Give me the book," she said

"Ha," I said "Why?"

"Because I want it," she said

"Sorry It&039;s the hot Christmas present this year," I said "Maybe you can find a scalper in a parking lot or soers of her hand still flickering with little shi from asphalt "You refuse?"

"Yes, moppet," I told her "I refuse I deny thee No, already"

Her eyes narrowed in anger and well, so happened that I hadn&039;t ever seen before The store got darker I don&039;t ot darker There was a low, trele a little, and the shadows simply expanded up out of the corners and di reasy sensation of cold came with them When the shadoashed over an outlet that housed the power cords to a pair of table lamps, the lamps themselves went dim and then died out They covered the old radio, and Aretha Franklin&039;s voice faded away to a whisper and vanished The shadows got to the register and its lights went out, and when they brushed the old ceiling fan it began to whirl down to a stop The shadows crept over Bock and he went pale and started shaking He thrust one hand down onto the counter as if he had to do it to keep hiht

The only place the darkness didn&039;t spread was over me The shadows stopped in a circle all around s I was carrying The Hellfire shtly in the darkness, and the tiny sparks falling in a steady rain froed shield bracelet seemed to burn away tiny pockets of the darkness where they fell, only to have it slide back in once they had burned away

This was a kind of power I hadn&039;t felt before Nor major mojo around draws their stuff up around the violent and active I&039;d seen wizards who charged the air around them with so much electricity it ather light into nearly solid gem-shaped clouds that orbited around theround shake, wizards who could shroud themselves in dark fire that burned anyone near theic

This was different Alicia&039;s pohatever it was, didn&039;t fill the store It emptied it in a way that I didn&039;t think I fully understood Utter stillness spread out fro tranquil, accepting This stillness was a horrible, hungry e not It was made of the emptiness at the loss of a loved one, of the silence between the beats of a heart, and of the inevitability of the erow cold and burn out It was poholly different froic I knew-and it was strong God, it was so strong

I began to treh to go up against this

"I don&039;t like your answer," Alicia said She smiled at me, a slow and evil expression She had a dimple on one cheek Hell&039;s bells, an evil dimple

My mouth felt dry, but my voice sounded steady when I spoke "That&039;s too bad If you&039;re so upset about not getting a copy, I suggest you take it up with Cowl"

She stared at me with no expression for a moment and then said, "You are with Cowl?"

"No," I told her "I was, in fact, forced to drop a car on hiht when he tried to take the book froht Cowl, you&039;d be dead"

"Whatever," I replied, my tone bored "I&039;ll tell you what I told him My book You can&039;t have it"

She pursed her lips thoughtfully "Wait a moment You were at the mortuary In the entryway"

"We call it the Forensic Institute now"

Her eyes glittered "You found it You succeeded where Grevane failed, didn&039;t you?"

I turned up one corner of

Alicia took in a deep breath "Perhaps we can reach an understanding"

"Funny," I said "Grevane said the very saer step toward me "You denied him?"

"I didn&039;t like his hat"

"You have wisdo but a doghis fallen ratitude of the Capiorcorpus, by contrast, is an eternal asset"

Capiorcorpus Roughly translated, the taker of corpses, or bodies I suddenly had a better idea of why Li Xian had referred to Alicia as "ratitude," I said, "what price would it carry?"

"Give me the book," she said "Give e I will grant you autonomy and the principality of your choice when the new order arises"

I didn&039;t want her to know that I had no freaking clue what she was talking about, so I said, "That&039;s a te offer"

"It should be," she said She lifted her chin, and her eyes glittered with soht and utterly confident "The new order will change s in this world You have the opportunity to help shape it to your liking"

"And if I turn you down?" I asked

She reat tragedy when a man with your potential dies before his tiaze at once When a wizard looks into another person&039;s eyes for an instant too long, he sees into theaze If I&039;d left et an up-close and personal look at her soul- and she aton behind that dinized that perfect surety in her o or fanatic conviction

It was pure madness Whatever else Alicia was, she was calmly and horribly insane

My , andthe rest of me to let them run away "I&039;ll have to think about it"

"By all ly expression and her voice hardened "Consider it But take a single step from where you stand and it will be your last"

"Killing et you the Word," I said "Or did you think I was carrying both of theht hand clenched into a slow fist and the roorees colder "Where is the Word?"

Wouldn&039;t I like to know? I thought

"Wouldn&039;t you like to know," I said "Kill me now and there&039;s no Word No new order"

She uncurled her hand "I can make you tell me," she said

"If you could do that, you&039;d have done it by now, instead of standing there looking stupid"

She started taking slow steps toward"I prefer to atte activity Are you sure you wouldn&039;t rather ith rey area of the art Every wizard whoin how to defend against mental assaults, but that was perfunctory at best After all, the Council made it a special point to wipe out wizards who violated the sanctuary of another&039;s ic, and if the Wardens caught so it, they killed the as an expert at that kind of ic on the White Council, and as a result the defense training was devised by relative a told me that Alicia the Corpsetaker wasn&039;t an ah," I said in a cold voice

She kept walking, very slowly, a sort of sinuous enjoyment in her stride "Last chance"

"I mean it," I said "Stay ba-"

Before I could finish the word, she ers of her left hand

There was a whirling sensation, and I was suddenly caught in a gale, a ind that tried to carryacross the floor I leaned back with a cry, lifting my shield bracelet, and it blazed into a do at all The vicious vortex continued to draw me to her outstretched hand

I started to panic, and then realized as happening There was no wind-not physically, anyway The books on the shelves were not stirring, nor wasleather duster My shield offered me no protection fro th

The hideous vacuuhts

"That&039;s right," Alicia said

Holy crap She&039;d heardh of your ritted hts, my defenses

"It&039;s too late for that, boy"

Like hell it was My thoughts coalesced into a unified whole, an absolute ie of the wall in myat the ready I felt a nauseating confusion for a second, and then the un

Alicia&039;s head jerked as if she&039;d been slapped across the cheek

I glared at her, teeth gritted, and asked, "Is that all you got?"

Corpsetaker snarled out a spiteful curse, lifted her left ar claw

There was a hideous pressure against the ile, resounding blow, as I had expected fro raht, as if a sudden tide had flooded in to wash the wall away coht that pressure would ease in a moment, but it only becaled to hold the i I could do, dark and eh it My defenses were cru

"Delicious," Corpsetaker said, and her voice didn&039;t sound strained at all "After a century, they&039;re still teaching the young ones the same tripe"

I saw movement beyond Corpsetaker, and Li Xian appeared in the shattered plywood doorway Half of his face was lu, and one shoulder had been sreenish-brown fluid, and reat pain, but he came in on his oer, and his eyes were alert

"My lord," Xian said "Are you well?"

"Perfectly," Corpsetaker purred "Once I have his mind, the rest is yours"

His misshapen face twisted into a smile that spread too wide for human features "Thank you, lord"

Holy crap It was time to leave

But my feet wouldn&039;twizard," Corpsetaker said "If you take the attention you would need to free your feet, your ill fail Just open to nored the necromancer and tried to think of other options My th of will I spent to et the pressure off of ive iven that I could barely move at all, my options were severely lian to cru in, the first trickle from a dark sea

If I wanted to live, I had little choice

I reachedin the runes ofwall that protected ranite filled with crimson flame, and where the dark sea of Corpsetaker&039;s will pressed against it there was a screa into a cloud of steaasp, and the pressure on ot my balance, and then ran for the back door

"Take him!" Corpsetaker snarled behind me "He has the book and the Word!"

There was a sickly ripping, crackling sound, and Li Xian let out a bestial and inhuh the back room of the bookstore, and to the back door I slah it, out into the alley behind the shop I heard two sets of feet followingvoice That hideous pressure began to surge against ain, but this time I was ready for it, and my defenses fell into place

I ran down the alley, and made it hon to my mental defenses I droppede and jerked theood look, but I saw a flash of steel and a lot of blood-and Corpsetaker and the ghoul were still co

There was no way I could have whipped up anyCorpsetaker frohoul physically- even wounded, Xian was quick on its feet, and closing the distance fast

I drew the44 and sent three shots back down the alley Corpsetaker darted to one side, but the ghoul never even slowed down It flung one too-long arlooh to knock me down, but the spell-covered leather of le of steel fell to the ground, each point sharpened and given a razor&039;s edge

"All I needed," I houls" I emptied the revolver at Xian He wasn&039;t ten feet from me on the last shot, and I must have hit him He jerked, careened off a wall, and stu way from down

Corpsetaker&039;s will continued to erode et away from her, or she&039;d open up my brains like a tin of sardines-and then Xian would eat them

The three-pointed shuriken still inpain I seized led toward the end of the alley My only chance was toa ride froet some help I knew there wasn&039;t , but it was all I had

I al steadily worse-and then I abruptly lost track of as going on

Onei there, sort of floundering Whatever I&039;d been doing, it was right on the tip of ue I knew that if I could just focus for a second, I&039;d be able to re hurt I knew that And hts there, but in disarray, as if I&039;d gone through a drawer of folded laundry, pulled out soain without straightening anything up

I heard a snarl behind , it was too late to get back on track now I tried to turn around, but for some reason I couldn&039;t remember how

"I have it," panted a woman&039;s voice behind me "Numbers It&039;s only He only has numbers"

"My lord," snarled a thick, deformed voice "What is your command?"

"He doesn&039;t knohere the Word is He is useless to ht pocket of his coat Take it, Xian Then kill hihteen

I was pretty sure that Corpsetaker was talking aboutI just couldn&039;t figure out how to go about doing so about ht

A battered-looking man entered h to watch hi that he was going to do so unpleasant, but he just stuck his hand in

The ghoul turned away from me and offered the book to someone out ofpages "Excellent," Corpsetaker said "Take hier than most I&039;d rather not hold hi my mind captive That meant that she was in my head Thatthose thoughts together , and as it did the pain in rew more intense

"Hurry," she said, her voice now strained

Rough hands seized the back of et everything to respond together An inspiration seized me If Corpsetaker was in -such as the burning pain ined to twist ood knee I fell over sideways, onto the wounded leg The fall drove the shuriken a little harder into my calf, and the world hite with pain

Corpsetaker shrieked I heard a metallic clatter, as if she had stus cohoul stu He pushed off the wall and came at me I spun on the sood knee

That&039;s a nasty defensive technique Murphy taught me, and one that doesn&039;t rely upon raw physical power The ghoul&039;s weight was all on that leg, and the kick connected hard There was a grinding pop, and he let out a spitting snarl of pain

I scra and the heels of my hands I could see my blood on the floor of the alley, s There were little stars fluttering throughwas spinning around so et to my feet I crawled out of the cold shadows of the alley, onto the sidewalk, and into broad daylight

I heard so There were police sirens a block or tay They were doubtless heading for Bock&039;s place, after soh the plywood-covered door Give the on, and I&039;d havedesire to speak to the dead professor&039;sassistants all around me

Of course, by then I&039;d probably have been dead for a houl, his face twisted, jaws lolling open wide to show yellowed fangs, ca out of the alley after h and furious and totally unafraid There was a whooshing sound, a spinning shape, and then an ax- a freaking double-bladed ax-buried itself to the eye in the ghoul&039;s flank Just as it hit, there was a flash of light froht that it left a red le rune burned into houl The creature was thrown forcefully to the sidewalk, and thin, greenish-brown fluid sprayed everywhere in a disgusting shower

A woht She was better than six feet tall, blond, and coldly beautiful Her blue eyes burned with battle-lust and exciteht, three-foot blade from the scabbard at her side As I watched, she took several shoul and me Then she pointed the tip of the sword at hihoul tore the ax fro the weapon in both hands with a panicked desperation He took a pair of aard, shuffling steps back