History Literature / DeathMasks

** Harry casually mentions to Ortega that killing every vampire on the planet would save many lives. [[spoiler: Come ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', Harry '''exterminates''' the entirety of the Red Court of vampires to save his daughter and relatives[[note]]Though it's debatable exactly how many lives were saved, as the power vacuum this created, and the struggle to fill it later, has cost a lot of lives[[/note]]]].

* SecretKeeper: Harry discovers Marcone's deepest secret. [[spoiler:A young woman who is in a coma. It’s for her Marcone acquired the Shroud in hopes it could revive her from her long coma.]] Marcone tells Harry if he ever tells anyone this, he’ll kill him personally.

** Harry casually mentions to Ortega that killing every vampire on the planet would save many lives. [[spoiler: Come ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', Harry '''exterminates''' the entirety of the Red Court of vampires to save his daughter and relatives]].

** Nicodemus mentions almost every previous book reminding Harry's quite impressive killing record (three [[Literature/StormFront fellow]] [[Literature/GravePeril magicians, a Red Court noble]] and [[Literature/SummerKnight a fairy queen]]).

** Listening to headphones, Thomas bobs his head in a manner that's not much in synch with the music, which makes him a White guy with no rhythm.

** Shiro's age [[DentedIron is catcing up to him]], [[spoiler: plus having terminal cancer]], which impedes his performance and noted by his opponent. However it’s revealed that he was holding back later, and is clearly the ''most dangerous'' individual in the story.

* AntiHero: Harry fully accepts this title, compared to the {{Ideal Hero}}es the Knights of the Cross represent. This is what allows him to smash both knees and ankles and come inches from killing [[spoiler:Cassius, a Denarian,]] who has only "surrendered" to prevent Michael or Sanya from touching a single hair on his head. [[spoiler:Even just to get information on Nicodemus' final plan. Harry doesn't kill him in the end, and despite the injuries he gave him, Harry gives him a quarter for a pay phone to call for medical aid or possibly Nicodemus. Of course, the phone just happened to be on the other side of broken glass and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking pay phones cost more than a quarter now.]]]]

* ISurrenderSuckers: [[spoiler:Cassius gives up his coin willingly and claims he has seen the error of his ways. The Knights can no longer touch him, despite guessing these words are all bull. Cassius even openly ''says'' it is, but because he surrendered they cannot do him harm. [[AntiHero Harry]], as he isn't a Knight, has no such restraints and takes a bat to Cassius' knees.]]

* KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: Harry does this to Cassius, delivering a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown and then tossing him a bit of change and pointing him to a pay phone to call an ambulance. The trope kicks in when it turns out [[spoiler:the path to the phone requires Cassius to crawl over broken glass. And Harry purposely didn't give him enough change to actually ''make'' the call.]]

Not only does a vampire named Ortega want to duel Harry in a challenge that he says will end the war between wizards and vampires, but Harry’s semi-vampire girlfriend Susan has showed up again, and now Harry has been hired by a priest to find the stolen ShroudOfTurin.

Some days it just isn’t worth chewing through the restraints...

** Nic is after the ShroudOfTurin.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Harry does this to [[spoiler:Cassius by beating him (breaking most of his limbs in the process) with a baseball bat.]] He then gives him a quarter and tells him he can call for an ambulance from the payphone at the other end of a wide parking lot. [[spoiler:The path to the phone involves him crawling through broken glass]]. And the punchline?
-->'''Michael:''' Payphones cost more than a quarter now.\\
'''Harry:''' I know.
* KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: Harry does this to Cassius. See above.

* SecretKeeper: Harry discovers Marcone's deepest secret. [[spoiler:A young woman who is in a coma. It is for her Marcone acquired the Shroud in hopes it could revive her from her long coma.]] Marcone tells Harry if he ever tells anyone this, he will kill him personally.

** Shiro believes that Harry [[spoiler:did not cause the war. Harry's rampage kicked it off, but Shiro notes the Red Court had been slowly preparing for the war for years. In fact, it started a decade or two sooner than anticipated.]]

** Just as Harry is planning a potential HeroicSacrifice to summon the demon Chauncey to gain knowledge of [[spoiler:Nicodemus' plan]], Father Forthill[[spoiler:'s sleeve just happens to fall just right to reveal his old tattoo]], the information attached gives Harry the clue he needed to piece the situation together himself, rather than summoning the demon. As Chauncy has three fourths of Harry's True Name, it seems likely he would demand the fourth as payment, and that would be...unhealthy for Harry if a high ranking demon or a rival practitioner ever asked Chauncy for it.

* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: [[spoiler: Deirdre, whose hair morphs into prehensile blades, notes "Madame Medusa" isn't exactly original]].

** Marcone, on the other hand, is one. And Harry knows it. Marcone may be an evil man running all crime in Chicago, but he does have a strong code of honor and sense of responsibility. [[spoiler:Such as going out of his way to save Michael and Harry's lives when they were drowning in the river and then calling Murphy to tell her where they are, when he could have just walked away with the Shroud]].

* ConvenientTerminalIllness: [[spoiler:Shiro reveals he is suffering one to Harry in a letter]].

* BoundAndGagged: Harry's reunion sex with Susan, after Susan's vampiric hunger threatens to get the best of her. [[note]]This was Jim Butcher's response to a challenge/dare that you could not write a bondage sex scene and make it plot important.[[/note]]
* BreakingSpeech[=/=]YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre[=/=]YouAreNotAlone: Nicodemus use these three tropes to craft terrifying trifecta attack on Harry, [[spoiler:attacking how he stays poor and alone to the point of martyrdom, how he could be so much richer and more powerful if he let go of some of his moral qualms, pointing out Harry's personal demons about how black magic has always held a certain appeal to the darker aspects of him. And how he is truly alone because in a hundred years all his mortal friends will be worm food and he will still be here. But he need not be alone as Nicodemus is offering him a chance to join, to become something more than what he could ever imagine he was capable of being. With what Nicodemus offers, he could discover what truly became of his parents and find any family he might still have in the world. All he need do is join.]]

* BodyguardingABadass: Kincaid has the look of a professional fighter and likely assassin about him. He is the bodyguard to the seven year old Archive. Said Archive set off Harry's major warning systems in advance, telling him to take her seriously. She's also an incredibly powerful wizard, and [[spoiler:later uses deathstone to effortlessly kill several Red Court vampires]].

** Shiro is a kind, loving man. He would be the perfect babysitter and had no qualms helping Charity do the shopping. But when the Denarians are in town and he needs to draw his blade, the man becomes like his blade: sharp, cold, impassioned, dangerous, and not to be taken lightly. [[spoiler:There is a very good reason why Nicodemus would give up Harry for the chance to have Shiro, and saving his daughter isn't that reason]].

** Shiro's age [[DentedIron is catcing up to him]], [[spoiler: plus having terminal cancer]], which impedes his performance and noted by his opponent. However it is revealed that he was holding back later, and is clearly the ''most dangerous'' individual in the story.

* PublicDomainArtifact: [[UpToEleven So many]].

** There's a subtle hint that [[spoiler: Martin]] isn't really on the up-and-up when he tells Harry [[spoiler: Susan was playing him for a patsy and actually had no interest in seeing him or retrieving her things otherwise. Susan denies this to Harry at the end of the book.]].

** Bob, as a spirit of intellect, does not understand concepts like good and evil, making him this. So when he gets scared by a demonic sigil that Harry drew on a piece of paper, it makes Harry [[OhCrap get very nervous]].

** It is Shiro's honest belief that Harry [[spoiler:did not cause the war. Harry's rampage kicked it off, but Shiro notes the Red Court had been slowly preparing for the war for years. In fact, it started a decade or two sooner than anticipated.]]

* ObstructiveCodeOfConduct: Bob is a spirit of Knowledge and Logic. That is his domain. As such, areas involving Faith (such as the Shroud) are outside his jurisdiction because such items don't have a rational basis to them. He's not keen on poking his nose into matters of Faith for fear of angering angels, fallen or otherwise.