"Why, yes," Cowl said, and what sounded like a genuine laugh bubbled in his voice. "We smile at one another and play nicely all in the name of Kemmler's greater glory, of course. But we are all planning on killing one another as soon as it's convenient. I take it that Corpsetaker tried to remove Grevane last night?"

"Yeah. It was a real party."

"Pity. I would have enjoyed watching them in action again. But I was busy with the actual work. That's how it usually works out."

"Taking out the city's power grid."

"And phone lines, radio communications, and quite a few other, subtler things," Cowl said. "It was difficult, but someone had to do it. Naturally it fell to me. But we'll see how things settle out before morning."

"Heh," I said. "They think they're using you to get the serious technical magic done, while they save up their juice for the fight. And you think you're lulling them off guard, so that when the Darkhallow goes down, you get the power."

"There's no real reason to practice my swordplay and summoning of the dead when I have no intention of entering a tactical contest with them."

"You really intend to make yourself into a god?" I asked.

"I intend to take power," Cowl said. "I regard myself as the least of the possible evils."

"Uh-huh," I said. "Someone is going to get the power. Might as well be you. Something like that?"

"Something like that," Cowl said.

"What if no one got it?" I said.

"I don't really see that happening," he said. "Grevane and the Corpsetaker are determined. I intend to beat them to the prize and use it to destroy them. It's the only way to be sure one of those madmen does not become something more terrible than the earth has ever seen."

"Right," I said. "You're the correct madman for the job."

Cowl was silent for a long moment in the rain. Drops fell off the end of my pistol in his gloved hand. Then he said, his voice pensive, "I do not perceive myself to be mad. But if I were truly mad, would I be able to tell?"

I shivered. Probably from the rain and the cold.

Cowl took a step back from me and said, voice firm and confident again, "Did you find him?"

I looked behind me and saw Kumori glide out the back door of Murphy's house. "Yes."

I stared hard at Kumori, and my heart lurched in my chest.

She left the door open behind her. There was no candlelight in the kitchen. There was no movement inside the house.

"Excellent," Cowl said. He took a step back from me. "I have already warned you to stay clear of my path, Dresden. I now suspect that you are too proud to back down. I know of the Wardens now in the city. They pose no serious obstacle to my plans."