The Dresden Files, #1
Storm Front
by Jim Butcher
Contents
Chapter Fourteen
Overview
Harry bargains Bob into a 24-hour leave to secure an escape potion, enabling Harry and Susan to flee the toad-demon. The real killer appears via projection, recalls the demon, and orders their deaths. Harry destroys the image and, tapping the storm, obliterates the demon with lightning. Warden Morgan then summons the White Council to try Harry, escalating the stakes as police arrive.
Summary
Harry struggles to restrain love-potion-besotted Susan while a toad-demon waits beyond his protective circle. He bargains with Bob for a 24-hour leave in exchange for throwing the escape potion. Bob, freed as orange lights, delivers the potion and vanishes.
Harry and Susan drink the escape potion and disapparate out of the basement into the storm, re-forming outside. Susan becomes violently ill from mixed potions. A shadowy image-projection of the hidden sorcerer appears, boasts of commanding the demon, and recalls it from the apartment to kill both Harry and Susan.
Harry tests and then counterspells the image, tearing it apart. With Susan too sick to run and the demon closing fast, Harry refuses to abandon her. Desperate, he raises his staff to tap the storm’s raw power.
Channeling lightning through himself, Harry unleashes it at the lunging demon, blasting it midair and destroying it in a flare of blue fire. Exhausted, he collapses beside Susan as the storm subsides.
Warden Morgan arrives, accuses Harry of summoning demons and black magic, and announces the White Council will convene in Chicago at dawn Monday to judge him—likely to execute him. As Susan recovers enough to speak, police arrive and detain the drenched, disheveled pair; Susan vows it will make a fantastic story.
Who Appears
- Harry DresdenWizard protagonist; bargains with Bob, escapes the circle, destroys the toad-demon by channeling storm lightning, then faces Morgan’s threat.
- Susan RodriguezUnder love potion’s sway, then sick from mixed potions; survives the demon attack and resolves to write the story.
- BobAir spirit in a skull; secures a 24-hour leave to throw the escape potion, then departs.
- Shadowy SummonerUnknown sorcerer projecting an image; recalls the demon and orders Harry and Susan’s deaths before Harry dispels the sending.
- Toad-demonSummoned killer; pursues Harry and Susan until Harry annihilates it with storm-channeled lightning.
- Warden MorganArrives after the battle; accuses Harry of black magic and convenes the White Council to judge him.
- Chicago police officersArrive post-chaos, spotlight and detain the drenched Harry and Susan on the sidewalk.