mouse vs servitors

And I watched, as Listen and maybe thirty or forty of his turtlenecks advanced into the yard in full tactical gear. They came in, in multiple stacks, heading for Michael’s front door, the kitchen door, the garage, and the door to the backyard.
I watched as, in a handful of seconds, the men set breaching charges on the door, blew it, and went in.
Michael Carpenter, stolid in his blue plaid work shirt, was waiting for them, shotgun in hand.
He wasn’t really a gunfighter. He was retired now.
It was over quickly.
They left his body in the entry hall and walked over it. Enemies, mortal enemies, twisted people but still people, flooded into his house to the chattering thumps of suppressed weapons. I knew there were angels on guard at Michael’s house. I knew they would have burned any supernatural attacker with the fires that ravaged Sodom and Gomorrah.
But these were mortals. People.
Angels weren’t allowed to gainsay people.
Listen and his team were thorough. They must have found the safe room, because charges went off again. Then some screams.
Some very high-pitched screams.
And gunfire.
And then the Fomor squads filed out with the same silence with which they’d filed in.
Listen stopped on the front lawn, next to where I stood in the vision, lifted a radio to his mouth, and said, “Tell her the target has been cleared and confirmed. We’re moving back to the shore to meet the rest of the company.”
I pushed forward, toward the house, toward the front door, and could see blood running from the second floor, from where the safe room was, and I ran up the stairs to the hidden entrance and found it twisted and torn with the violence of the breaching charges, and behind the door . . .
I saw them.
Saw her.
Charity and the Carpenter kids all lay between Maggie and the door. Even little Harry, who was almost as young as Maggie, had stood in her defense.
It had been efficient.
And suddenly I was standing on the shore of Lake Michigan again, cold and more brutally weary than I’d ever been, struggling against Ethniu’s will.
You see, mortal? the Titan’s voice said in my head. Listen and his people scouted this target thoroughly. They planned countermeasures for all of your kind here. And they planned something in particular for you and the Winter Lady. All those targets in one place just made it too tempting. Ethniu paused, and her mental voice became poisonously sweet. Your child is dead. Your ally and his family are dead. They were destroyed hours ago.
My stomach dropped out.
This is the world I bring to you, mortal.
And then she thought at me again. She showed me the world she desired. A world of blasted cities, of smoke, of tears, of screams. Blood ran in the gutters rather than water. And columns of greasy black smoke rose from altars, from temples, from shrines decorated with skulls and crusted with the blood of sacrifices.
This is what is coming. And there is nothing you can do to stop it. Just as well that your daughter will not see it, I think. Just as well that you won’t, either.
And I felt her will gathering again, preparing to shatter mine.
Everything felt spinny. Empty.
Bob let out a wordless wail. I could feel my hold on the circle weakening. I could feel the Titan beginning to burst free of the binding.
Maggie, I thought. I’m so sorry. I should have done more. I should have been there.
“Dresden!” Marcone screamed from the water. “We’ll never get another chance at this!”
Ethniu’s will began to rip mine apart. Slowly. Almost sensually. I could feel her pressing against my mind. Pressing inside. She found my pain and my horror and she slithered inside while I gritted my teeth and held on to the Spear for simple support to keep from falling.
. . . thrumthrumthrumthrumthrumthrumthrum . . .
I couldn’t get the image of my daughter’s little shattered body out of my head.
Ethniu’s savaged face twisted into a hideous smile.
I should have done more, taken more measures to protect you than just leave you with Mou . . .
My head snapped back up.
I stared at her for a second.
And then I clenched my teeth in a sudden wolfish smile.
“Hey, Bubbles,” I said. “You forgot the dog.”
Ethniu’s smile vanished. “What?”
“The dog,” I said. “The dog was with them. Maybe your guys could take him out, maybe not. But it wouldn’t be fast. And they’d only get to my daughter over his dead body. But he’s not there. Question, where is he? Answer, with my daughter. That’s the only place it’s possible for him to be. Ergo, she wasn’t there. She was never there. In fact, none of them were, because the dog’s absence was a message, to me, from the person responsible. This girl I know had places to be this evening. Man, she really has been busy.”

Battle Ground Chapter 34, Page 337-338