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Science, the largest religion of the twentieth century, had become somewhat tarnished by images of exploding space shuttles, crack babies, and a generation of complacent Americans who had allowed the television to raise their children. People were looking for something—I think they just didn’t know what. And even though they were once again starting to open their eyes to the world of magic and the arcane that had been with them all the while, they still thought I must be some kind of joke.
I stared at it in a somewhat surly fashion. We wizards are terrific at brooding.
It is the prerogative of wizards to be grumpy. It is not, however, the prerogative of freelance consultants who are late on their rent, so instead of saying something smart, I told the woman on the phone, “Yes, ma’am. How can I help you today?”
he's sassy lol
Vampire attacks, troll maraudings, and faery abductions of children didn’t fit in very neatly on a police report—but at the same time, people got attacked, infants got stolen, property was damaged or destroyed. And someone had to look into it.
Paranoid? Probably. But just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that there isn’t an invisible demon about to eat your face.
Maybe my values are outdated, but I come from an old school of thought. I think that men ought to treat women like something other than just shorter, weaker men with breasts. Try and convict me if I’m a bad person for thinking so. I enjoy treating a woman like a lady, opening doors for her, paying for shared meals, giving flowers—all that sort of thing.
yea, you have the right idea, Dresden!
If you’ve never touched it, it’s hard to explain. Magic is created by life, and most of all by the awareness, intelligence, emotions of a human being. To end such a life with the same magic that was born from it was hideous, almost incestuous somehow.
“The way magic works. Whenever you do something with it, it comes from inside of you. Wizards have to focus on what they’re trying to do, visualize it, believe in it, to make it work. You can’t make something happen that isn’t a part of you, inside.
a rather large man had stepped out of it onto the sidewalk in front of me. He had bright red hair and a thick neck. His face looked like someone had smashed it flat with a board, repeatedly, when he was a baby—
lmao
The car was almost to my office building. The car door was still unlocked. I hadn’t worn my seat belt, either—just in case I needed to throw the door open and jump out. See how I think ahead? It’s that wizardly intellect—and paranoia.
lol
ashes. I react badly to fear. I don’t usually have the good sense to run, or hide—I just try to smash whatever it is that is making me afraid. It’s a primitive sort of thing, and one I don’t question too much. But reflex-based murder seemed a tad extreme, so rather than setting him on fire, I nodded instead.
reflex-based murder lol
I didn’t dare mess around with Morgan when he was acting in his role as a Warden of the White Council. But he wasn’t wearing that hat, now. Once he’d put the sword away, he was acting on his own, without any more official authority than any other man—or at least, that was the technical truth. Morgan was big on technicalities. He had scared the heck out of me and annoyed the heck out of me, in rapid succession. Now he was trying to 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.
omg?? okay gangsta
“Are you sure on that one? I thought the base for a love potion was supposed to be champagne.” “Champagne, tequila, what’s the difference, so long as it’ll lower her inhibitions?” Bob said. “Uh. I’m thinking it’s going to get us a, um, sleazier result.”
lmao
The vampire stiffened, and though its voice was still harsh with rage and pain, still sexy as a silk shirt without any buttons,
I'm gonna use that lol
and now I could see what she was up to. She was wearing the alley-cat mask, appealing to my glands instead of my brain, and trying to distract me with it, trying to keep me from finding something out.
The police station Murphy worked in was one in an aged complex of buildings that housed the metro police department. It was run-down, sagging in places like an old soldier who nonetheless stood at attention and struggled to hold in his gut.
the similies in this > lol
The kind of things you see when you learn how to open your Third Eye could be blindingly beautiful, bring tears to your eyes—or they could be horrible, things that made your worst nightmares seem ordinary and comforting. Visions of the past, the future, of the true natures of things. Psychic stains, troubled shades, spirit-folk of all description, the shivering power of the Nevernever in all its brilliant and subtle hues—and all going straight into your brain: unforgettable, permanent.
My thoughts were on that topic and similar issues of doom and gloom when a man with a hat pulled low over his face began to walk past me, stopped halfway, then turned and drove his fist into my belly. I had time to think, Not again, and then he struck me a second, and third time. Each blow drove into my guts, thrust me back against the unyielding wall, made me sick.
DRESDEN CAN'T CATCH A BREAK OMG
I didn’t feel like moving, like going anywhere, like doing anything. Useless. It had all been useless. I was going to die in the next two days. The worst part was that I wasn’t sure that I cared. I was just so tired, exhausted from all the magic I’d had to use, from the walking, from the bruises and punches and lack of sleep. It was dark. Everything was dark.
HARRY, GET UP 😩
“What the hell are you doing, Harry?” I demanded, out loud. “Lying down to die,” I told myself, petulantly. “Like hell,” my wiser part said. “Get off the floor and get to work.”
I know that's right, GET UP
I had another lead to follow, but there wasn’t much time to follow it. I had to get up, to get on my feet, and get going, fast. You can’t keep a good wizard down.
you know what, I fw Dresden so hard
I couldn’t kill him with sorcery—but somehow, I had to stop him. Odds seemed really good that I was going to get killed, whether I tried to face him or not. To hell with it, then. If I was going to go out, it wasn’t going to be while I was lying around moaning and bitching about how useless it all was. If Victor Sells wanted to take out Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, he was going to have to shove his magic right down my throat.
he's really Him !! I know that's right, Harry
The pain in my leg didn’t make me weaker, didn’t discourage me, didn’t distract me as I walked. It was like a fire in my thoughts, my concentration, burning ever more brightly, more pure, refining my anger, my hate, into something steel-hard, steel-sharp. I could feel it burning, and reached for it eagerly, shoving the pain inside to fuel my incandescent anger. Victor Shadowman was going to pay for what he’d done to all those people, to me and to my friends. Dammit all, I was not going out before I’d caught up to that man and shown him what a real wizard could do.
🗣️ BEAT HIS ASS, BEAT HIS ASS!
A roomful of deadly drug. One evil sorcerer on his home turf. Two crazies with guns. One storm of wild magic looking for something to set it into explosive motion. And half a dozen scorpions like the one I had barely survived earlier, rapidly growing to movie-monster size. Less than a minute on the clock and no time-outs remaining for the quarterback. All in all, it was looking like a bad evening for the home team.
things are getting worsa & worsa...
I don’t want to live in a world where the strong rule and the weak cower. I’d rather make a place where things are a little quieter. Where trolls stay the hell under their bridges and where elves don’t come swooping out to snatch children from their cradles. Where vampires respect the limits, and where the faeries mind their p’s and q’s. My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. When things get strange, when what goes bump in the night flicks on the lights, when no one else can help you, give me a call.
WHAT A GUY
