Last Call is a short story in the The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. It is set between Small Favor and Turn Coat. It was originally published in P. N. Elrod's Strange Brew, and was included in the anthology Side Jobs.

Author's BlurbEdit

Having already written a mead-themed short story, I wasn't quite sure what to do with this one. But hey, it was Pat Elrod asking me, and I've never been good at saying no, and I decided to tread upon what is very nearly holy ground, in the Dresden Files - the forces of darkness were going to violate Mac's beer.

Naturally, Harry gets to respond just as many readers would: Oh, snap!

This was a fairly lighthearted piece, for me, anyway, and I tried to carry the same sense of energy and pace through this story that you get from the really good "Monster of the Week" episodes of the X-Files. I'll have to make it up to Mac sometime. ^[1]

Plot Edit

Harry walks into McAnally's pub and smells something burning. All of the other patrons are unconscious, except for Mac. Mac tells Harry that his customers went crazy, started attacking one another and destroying the bar, and then all passed out. Harry calls Murphy who gets emergency services to the bar to take care of the patrons. Harry and Murphy track down Caine as a suspect for tainting Mac's beer.

Harry and Murphy show up at Caine's apartment. Caine attempts to run, but is quickly stopped and interrogated. Harry threatens to kill Caine with magic, and he tell Harry that he helped whoever was messing with Mac's beer by selling them a blood stone bought from Bert Decker.

They then go to Bert's store, called Left Hand Goods. Playing "good cop, bad cop", the two manage to get the description and credit card information of the woman who bought the blood stone. Discovering that the beer had been sold to a catering company and was going to be sold at a Bulls game at United Center, they attempt to stop the beer from being sold.

Harry catches up with the woman, who turns out to be a maenad. The now intoxicated Murphy and the maenad attack Dresden, but he knocks them out, getting soaked in beer in the process. The police show up and arrest the three of them. Harry manages to convince the cops to round up the whole batch of bad beer. Harry is forced to spend the night in the drunk tank at the police station, lamenting that he never got his beer.

Characters Edit

Main article: List of The Dresden Files characters

• Harry Dresden
• Karrin Murphy

External links Edit

• The Dresden Files short stories on jim-butcher.com