Dresden Files Reread - Storm Front Chapter 13

Photo by Jaunathan Gagnon on Unsplash

Dresden wakes up in the middle of a thunderstorm, and finally begins to suspect that the killed could be
using the storms, although he's skeptical, since the precise use of that kind of power is apparently pretty difficult. We also get a really detailed description of what the storm feels like to Dresden's magical senses, which is just cool. 

Dresden still hasn't remembered the Susan was supposed to come pick him up for their date, so he's rather caught off guard when she shows up at 8:30. He's also expecting Linda to arrive at 9. I actually went back and checked, and Linda was supposed to get there at 8. If Dresden had remembered this, he might have realized something was wrong, but instead he worries about how "catty" the confrontation is likely to be if she gets there while Susan is waiting for him to get out of the shower. Apparently it doesn't occur to him that Linda is supposed to be giving him information about the murders, not having sex with him (however likely it is that she would have opted to do both), and if he just let that conversation be on the record, all would probably be forgiven. (I mean, it also doesn't occur to him that a reasonable person would accept 'sorry, I made this appointment when I was semiconscious from a traumatic brain injury. Susan is preemptively jealous at the mere possibility that Dresden is expecting someone else to come over, because this relationship is Just The Worst). 

Then a toad demon shows up, and distracts the hell out of everyone. This is actually one of the only times in the series that we encounter a demon as-such. Technically, the White Court vampires contain demons, and the Red Court are demons, but that sort of takes a backseat to the fact that they're, y'know, vampires. It's not clear whether the skinwalker in Turn Coat or the Ick in Changes are demons in the conventional sense. The skinwalker seems to be more closely comparable to the Fallen, despite its being corporeal, and judging by the Ick's likely source material, it seems likely that it's actually a semidivine being in the same general category as Mouse. Outsiders are sometimes called demons, but they're their whole own thing - demons come from the NeverNever, and Outsiders come from somewhere else, wholly outside our reality. The only other times we meet demons are Chauncey in...Grave Peril?, Nicodemus's horrible cat things in Death Masks, the flying monkeys in Blood Rites and the eusocial things in the gray suits that Binder uses in Turn Coat and Skin Game. 

The fight is really, really detailed, with practically every bullet and step accounted for, although we don't know exactly when during the conflict Dresden loses his towel. Describing the chunk the toad demon dissolves out of the couch as "heart sized" is a nice touch. Dresden recently spent a bunch of hours doing research that must have included getting real familiar with the dimensions of the human heart, so of course that's where his head goes. In general, though, this combat tells us more about the author than the characters. The painstaking level of detail is typical of a first-time author, and if I didn't already know Jim Butcher played tapletop role-playing games, this would pretty much tell me, because of how easy it actually is to follow, and especially to keep track of everyone's position relative to each other and tactically important things like the couch, the front door, and the trapdoor down to the lab. 

Then Susan drinks the love potion rather than the escape potion, because of course she does - if this had been any more heavily foreshadowed, it would have just been a notification. What's interesting is that the level of foreshadowing also means that this, one of the stupidest things in the book, does not involve anyone acting carelessly or making bad decisions. Dresden labeled the bottles clearly, in an effort to avoid specifically this. Susan couldn't see the labels, because the lab doesn't have electric lights, and she has neither magic with which to light the candles nor the knowledge of the (cluttered, disorganized) lab's layout necessary to locate matches, and the candles themselves, in almost total darkness. I suppose one could blame Bob for insisting Dresden make the love potion in the first place, but there's no reasonable way he could have seen this coming. Dresden almost never allows other people in the lab. (Which is also why it's not unreasonable that it's a total mess and the matches aren't anywhere obvious). 

The chapter ends with Dresden and Susan trying to squish into a magic circle, as the love potion beings to take effect...

Apparently at some point I did two chapters in one post, because I could have sworn the last one was Chapter 11 and this is Chapter 13. I will go back and add the double chapter to the appropriate post title so there won't be any confusion. I'm hoping we're actually back on schedule now, and we should have another Dresden reread post on Saturday and then keep ticking along normally from there, but I try not to make promises I'm not sure I can keep. Until next time - be gay, do crimes, and real All The Things.