Dark Howl

by Anechoic clap

Grubbs, Bec, a group of mages, a squadron of soldiers and a pack of werewolves are acting as Earth's guardians against the demonata. Re-write of the final stand, set just after wolf island.

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to demonata or any of its characters. That is the property of Darren Shan.

So this this is a re-write. The first one isn't that bad but this is much better. Really helps if you've read the first 8 books. Obviously this story will have to veer off the real plot because of book 9 and all. That gives me some freedom to do something crazy like pair up Grubbs and Bec among other stuff if I feel like it. Someone pointed out that in the final stand bullets could kill demons which was incorrect. In this story, weak demons can be killed without magic.

Also before you start going through all the demonata books looking for a character a calledMark, you won't find him, I made him up.

The aim of this is to be a really fun read. So… have fun!

Chapter 1: Demons, mages, humans and wolves

In a sudden flash of power a wave of magic based energy washes over me. I take in a deep breath as thaumaturgic energy ripples through my skin and snaking into my pores. My form stands in a conflict between wolf and human, while being none specifically I remain stronger than both. I clench my finger like toes into the hard ground feeling a slight give as my sharp claws dig into the tarmac. I hold my huge clawed hands in front of me. Energy plays around them, swirling complex unseen shapes dancing to the tune of the arcane. I am no ordinary werewolf, I am no ordinary mage. I am a magician and shape shifter. I am Grubbs Grady!

Somewhere nearby a portal has materialised. Demon attacks used to be a thing of rarity, occurring seldom of frequency and light of severity. Now they seem to be cropping up all over the place, terrifying in its determination yet ad hoc in its unity. Now it seems densely populated places are the number one location of choice. Demons aren't here just to cause damage to fuel their sick nature. Now it seems as if they have declared all-out war and wish to erase us from the dual universe. Well; I'm not going to let them. I have a group of mages, a pack of werewolves, the trigger, the memory and an acquired taste for revenge.

I plant my feet onto the ground and bring down my hands to adopt a more lupine stance. I throw back my head a let out a commanding howl to summon my pack to my side. My werewolves are our ace card for the battle against the demons. Part demon by the nature of their impure blood, their existential stability and increased intelligence makes them far stronger than lesser demons.

I'm standing in the streets of an unknown European city. I'm not sure where exactly, I'd heard the name but couldn't pronounce it let alone remember. Odd for me as I can speak every language of the demonata and still get confused with exonyms.

I hear an ear splitting screech somewhere between a cry for help and two metal plates grinding together. Looks like we have a loud group; just brilliant, my ears are sensitive and I find ambience too loud. Before I ever see demons approach I hear them first, they like to make their presence known. They assume the denizens lying behind the dimensional face of their window will cower in fear. Well… today is not their lucky day.

"They're coming Master Grady, are you going to make your advance?" Says a voice far too loudly in my ear. It's Mark talking to me through my ear piece from twenty metres back. If I had my way I wouldn't wear the damn thing, its attached securely to my ear otherwise it would just fall off during a transformation. "I've got sensitive ears. Keep your noise down!" I retort.
"Put up with it" he growls in response "You just howled my damn head in!"
"I'm waiting until they come into view, then we charge."
"We'll be behind bringing up the rear, catching any that slip through. Good luck Grady."
"I don't need luck," I growl in a deep low voice.
"Didn't quite copy that Grady, please repeat."
"Just be quiet," I say more clearly. He doesn't respond so I assume he heard that just fine.

Mark is a member of the disciples. He's not a mage but he's ex-military and he has a small squad of armed soldiers which follow us to the demon breakthroughs. I was dubious at first at having soldiers assist us. I assumed they'd be useless when pitted against creatures of magic but they turned out to give the demons a run for their money. They are tough and fearless and demons aren't has immune to live rounds as I first thought they were. It's unlikely to kill them but can completely paralyse or just slow them down. A crippled demon is no better than chew toy for my werewolves so the soldiers and lupines make an effective team.

Mark also bears the logistical nightmare on his shoulders. He seems to spend the majority of his time making phone calls and I'm not about to complain as whatever it is he's doing, it's working. Mark just has to say the right word in the right ear and we just waltz straight through any security. If we need a place to stay Mark will find us one and perhaps the most impressive is managing my wolves. We can stay in a hotel but that's not an option for werewolves. Mark might be good but he can't ferry over thirty werewolves into a hotel by saying the right word in the right ear.

Between me and Mark is Dervish, Meera, Kirilli and Bec. We're down by Beranebus and Kernal. Before the old magician pulled his final disappearing trick he told Bec that Kernal could find him. Fat lot of good that is seeming as Kernal has also disappeared. He's either a collection of scattered limbs sprinkled over an isolated floating zombie apocalypse or in the middle the demonata universe… as a collection of scattered limbs. Bec isn't nearly as realistic as I am and thinks he's still alive. I have yet to ask her if that's based on anything other than wishful thinking. After all, he hasn't come back.

I hear the thundering and clattering signalling the demonic advance as the horrific creatures come flooding around the corner. I dig all of my claw into the tarmac and feel my muzzle form a growl without any thought. I can practically taste the tension eradiating from the werewolves as their impatience and anticipation coats them like an aura. There is no sight that can subdue one of my beasts and this is one terrible sight indeed.

For all their variety the demons still manage to have a familiar look to them. They'll always be cheap nightmare knockoffs. They cobble their forms together from a collection of existing animals creating forms that looks like a three year olds' interpretation of a chimera. They're shape and size are always laughably implausible and only exist due to a saturation of magic. Without it the laws of physics would start to apply to them and they'll find themselves quite literally falling apart.
"My men are getting itchy fingers Master Grady," Says Mark.
"Just wait for it, I'm not meeting them at their full charge, I'll be the one to charge."
"Not sure what you're getting at Grady, there's no ambush advantage here, they can quite clearly see us."
"That's where you're wrong," I growl in such a low voice that the last word probably didn't exist.

A subtle ripple runs through the demons as their approach brings us into their sights. No ambush advantage my arse. They've just turned the corner to find a genetically modified pack of werewolves, a group of mages and a squadron of armed men. For all their demonic power, they didn't really come here to fight, they came to slaughter. The Shadow might know what it's doing but the demons don't know they're being used as very expendable shock troopers.

The demons start to slow. The ones just behind the front line barrel into their slowing brethren caught off-guard by the sudden deceleration. They don't grind to a halt because of the huge pressure of advancing demons behind them who have yet to see us. However the slowing down front lines demons have dropped their guard. Rather than charging with fangs ready and claws extended they're instead moving towards us simply because they can't stop. They're charge attack has been ruined. Now it's my turn.

With a loud bloodthirsty roar I push back the road with all twenty of my claws. The roar goes flying behind me, picked up and echoed by my lupine brethren and with our ferocity now easily trumping that of the demonata, we charge.

"Stand by and be ready to fire! Safeties off please!" Yells a human voice into my ear. I'm aware that the annoying contraption attached to my pinna is the source of the noise but the voice belongs to a human who's at least ten lopes behind me. I ignore his meaningless nattering as I'm sure he's not talking to me. There's a small pack of humans of which he is the alpha. The one who calls himself Mark.

Ignoring the odd flash of demon style projectiles, acid and fire I close in on the biggest and toughest demon in the front lines. It has a huge body, that of a grizzly bear I presume. No head, just three serpents sprouting out from the neck. The bear knockoff doesn't have claws and instead has tiny wriggling human hands with mouths in the centre. There's one giant eye in the middle of its torso.

I come sliding towards it reaching out with my clawed hand. Before the demon can co-ordinate an attack I grab one the snake heads and pull with my superior strength. I feel the give of the serpentine flesh as the out of place limb comes ripping free and black blood comes spurting out of the demon's fresh wound. As part of the same move I throw the snake to the ground and raise one of my legs. Being decapitated from its body doesn't bother the snake and it's still alive. Crunch! Splat! Was alive.

With a dual hiss from the general direction of where the head should be, the bear creature throws a wild swinging blow at me. Without a moment of hesitation I reach out and catch its swing with my left paw and preparing to throw a punch with my right. I feel the shockwave pass through my body briefly aware that the demon's superior size should make it stronger than me. Yet I've caught the limb with relative ease and I immediately let fly my counter punch straight towards the pupil of that ridiculously oversized eye.

My paw smashes into the creature's centre eye and I let my paw open up so my claws can lacerate the thing to pieces as it passes through. More delicious black demon blood comes pouring down my arm along with a thick creamy white gloop which is the remains of its eye. The matter comes falling around my arm in coagulated chunks and I wiggle my claws around trying to scratch my way to the demon's spine.

Giving up on my original intent I grasp my right paw around a collection of its flesh and tighten my left around the bear's right limb and pull with both. I bring my jaw quickly up to the remaining two snakes and bite hard around the base of their bodies, at the neck of the bear. My fangs sink in easily through the hard demon scales. I pull hard feeling the heads start to give, the blood start to flow and the body start to go wild.

Before I can get the damn heads ripped from the body the creature's other arm comes swinging wildly around me and batting against my back. For all its strength it feels like a passive aggressive pat on the back, that is until the myriad of little mouths start biting into the back of my neck. I squeeze my eyes shut against the pain and focus on the heads. Just before I rip them free one of them twists awkwardly and spits at me.

Pain comes alarmingly strong in the side of my neck. Acid. I whine as I drop the serpents. The little mouths at the back of my neck fall away as the demon finally dies with a massive hole in its chest and lacking all three heads. Though none of this matters as the world starts to blur and warm blood starts to gush out of my neck. I whine in a high voice pleading for one of my brothers to come to my aid

"Grubbs!" Yells the dervish human. The one I'm fond of. "You've gone full wolf, never go full wolf!"

I consider that and find an intruding thought flower in the centre of my brain. 'Back off, now!' Something demands. I'm not sure who's thinking that, is it me, or is it the intruder? Perhaps I'm the intruder?

No. I am me and I demand that you back off now! You're screwing up my concentration damn it. I reach out with a hypothetical hand and seize the wolf by the scuff of its neck. It's so well imbued into me that I feel like I'm clutching my own neck. Before I can back out in primal fear I throw the wolf down to the ground with all my might. I brace myself for impact, expecting to be smashed onto the ground in full force.

There is no impact but the effect is felt immediately. Straight away my vision becomes less clear, not at all blurry but not as sharp before. My field of vision expands so I can catch the annoyances that play on the edge of my periphery. My head clears up as the lupine thought processes retreat from my mind.

The wolf sulks back into its state of limbo. Just how long was I like that? I was supposed to unleash the wolf fully for the initial charge to get my pack all riled up and enthusiastic. I completely forgot about subduing it back down again so that I could think clearly and use… fucking ouch! It hurts!

I immediately neutralise the acid gnawing into me and patch up the wound in seconds, I do the same to the tiny cuts on the back of my neck. The damn wolf screwed up my thoughts so much that I didn't even think about the possibility of pushing it back down. What's worse is that I completely forgot who I was to the point that I was unaware of magic. That sort of injury wouldn't bother me in the slightest had I been in a form that was a little more human. Guess I still need a little more practise. I had Dervish there to tell me I'd relinquished too much control, the last thing I wanted was a repeat of my fight against Juni when I forgot to use magic.

"Have you stopped your whining now wolf boy? You're giving me a headache," snaps Mark in my ear.
"Shut it Mark," I yell back just to annoy him. I have a look around realising my internal struggle had lasted all of two seconds and I'm still the furthest out from the rest of my wolves which are now catching up and the fight is just starting to break out in full.

I rear up onto my hind legs strengthening them for the bipedal load and let put a roar feeling magic energy crackle out with the sound. I charge forward again as I catch my pack on edges of my vision come smashing into the front lines of the demons.

I come face to… mandible with a demon even larger than the last which resembles a giant beetle. Its pincers are oversized and look more like reverse curved katanas than proper insectoid mouth parts. It's also got a scorpion tail. It looks like whatever is on the end of that tail is not a stinger. It looks more like a bludgeon. I don't get a long look at the demon though because it immediately lunges at me snapping shut its pincers.

I jump to the side and watch the guillotine like snap close around empty space. With the demon now defenceless I lash out both of my hands towards one of its pincers and grab it around the base. Using something resembling a Jiu -Jitsu move I jerk my hands in a sharp twist. I throw my body into a spin to add my weight behind the move to add extra torque. I feel the snap of the exoskeleton and the dangerous pincer comes free.

Rather than drop it to the ground I keep hold of it and lift it above my head. Before I can bring it down the beetle comes snapping at me again. Without its second pincer attached to act as a counter movement the pincer moves feebly and almost snaps off when it fails to meet its symmetrical partner.

As the demon staggers in confusion I bring down the sword like pincer and it drives itself right into the centre of shell. Dark purple blood starts to bubble up around the area where the pincer had connected. The beetle ducks its head down I just catch the movement at the edges of my vision as a large object comes hurtling towards me. Ready to deflect the object with magic I stop realising it's not on a direct Collison course.

The large object turns out to be the demon's tail which it had just flicked towards me. The replacement for the stinger is far worse than I first thought. It's not a bludgeon, it's an eyeless human looking head with a beetle shell on its head. It comes sailing past me and stops just to the left of my head. The mouth opens and it lets out an almighty ear splitting screech.

Pain explodes into my left ear. The sound is somewhere between a cry for help and two metal plates grinding together. 'So you're the loud bastard' I think to myself as the tail retreats again. I watch it go and let the pincer I'm holding drop and it remains buried into the flesh under the beetle's tough demonic shell. I can't hear anything through my left ear and my right ear has been muted.

As the tail flicks back to its starting position I vault after it, somersaulting over the shell. As I come to land I reach out and grab the part of the tail just under the human like head and pull. The flesh seems unwilling to budge so I bring up one of my clawed feet and cut loose the abominable tail. Purple blood spills out like a spitting gargoyle.

I Throw the head tail down to the ground and bring up one leg. I do the same to the tail as I did to the serpent and crush its skull underfoot. The absurdly coloured blood comes flying out in all directions making a purple spectral pattern on the tarmac. The demon starts to spin round to face me. It seems strangely agile for such a large creature and I realise it owes its movement down to its legs. Rather that beetle legs the abomination has something akin to lion legs ending in long spikes that look nothing like claws. Like with the pincers its claws look synthetic as if they are metal spikes protruding from the skin.

Before the demon can finish spinning I fire a bolt of magic making it stagger sideways and then I leap at it. I come landing on the shell and I reach out and grab the protruding pincer for support. The shell feels unusually slippery and dig into it with my claws and raise my right hand up ready to strike.

I bring down my hand with force smashing against the shell. This yields no results so I try again. For a second time my hand smashes against the shell but doesn't break it. Maybe I underestimated just how sharp those pincers were. It had plunged into the hard shell with relative ease. Ok, one last time. I raise my right hand again and this time I charge it with magic. I bring it down fast and this time part of the shell shatters upon the impact and my hand rips into the soft flesh beneath.

I focus and let heat eradiate from my hand. The demons wriggles around erratically but my claws are secured firmly into the beast's shell and my left hand is firmly gripped around the embedded pincer. The heat is intense enough to incinerate the creatures flesh and there's nowhere for that heat to go as its being generated from underneath its shell. The giant lion footed beetle staggers around in a vain attempt to shake me off but its effort is futile, I'm not letting go. Staggering for the last time the demon collapses.

I jump off the shell only to come within millimetres of another demon. I rather instinctually fire an arc of lightning at it and then spin into a duck to avoid a second demon striking at me. As I jump back up I fire a bolt of magic to counter. The demon is struck in the back and goes tumbling forward tripping over its insectoid feet. The demon looks look a giant bipedal ant, or… crab perhaps? I'm not sure, it's definitely based on an arthropod and has crab like pincers. I'm guessing its claws are much stronger than an oversized crab and I don't care to find out.

I throw a quick glance to my left as I advance checking on the demon I had just electrocuted. The thing has been thrown back at least five metres and a werewolf is closing in on it. I supposed I won't need to worry about that one. The other demon, the giant ant thing has managed to get to its feet and is running at me. Now that it's upright I notice that it doesn't have any eyes. No wait… I swear I just saw something blink. It does have eyes but they're on its claws. How inconvenient is that?

I do not want to fight this thing claw to claw so I half clench my right hand drawing in power for a split second and then unleash a powerful magic bolt from the palm of my hand. The strike hits the demon in its excuse for a face and yells at me in outrage, a sound that resembles someone scraping their fingernails down a blackboard. Which would be horrible if I wasn't still half deaf. I should probably do something about that before something sneaks up on me.

I charge at the stunned demons and grab a hold of both of its pincers and bring my muzzle up to the creature's neck. I bite down hard feeling the firm resistance of the exoskeleton and then my fangs puncture though. I pull back hard feeling the rip of the soft tissue and the crunch and crackle of the hard skin. I pull out a mouthful of its throat and spit it to the ground. I'm sure if the demon could yell it would do so now. After spitting out the foul flesh I close my mouth around the wound in the demons throat and channel magic into the creature.

After a second the monster explodes showing me with blood and hard fragments of its exoskeleton. I realise I'm still holding onto its claws which didn't explode with the rest of the demon. I drop the pincers to the hard tarmac and can't help but notice the eyes are still moving. I know demons are tough but this is just ridiculous how could the demon still be alive after this? Well, it's no concern of mine, its harmless now and it'll die properly once the window has closed.

Pain explodes in my right arm and realise a long thin spike has gone straight through it. I half hear a load squawk behind me and fire a powerful pulse of electricity back through the tail. With a second squawk the spike is withdrawn and I immediately patch over the damage. Ha! I've had injections that were worse than that.

I turn to face the demon. Its looks like a… Griffin perhaps? Yeah definitely a Griffin but without the wings. I wonder if some mythical creatures were actually demon sightings. Though considering the lack of imagination expressed by these creatures it's unlikely. This Griffin also has a tail that seems to be an impossibly agile needle.

With another squawk the demons lunges at me with its razor sharp beak. Ouch! My ears have just recovered and the only thing I hear is a damn demon yell. My reach puts the demon to shame so has it lunges towards me I stay put and throw a claw stabbing uppercut. My claws connect with its throat well before the beak can even get close. The demon makes a noise that's somewhere between a cough and a hoot. I clench fist around a handful of flesh and rip it free throwing it to the ground. Dark red blood come flooding out from its neck. 'Uh, it's finally the right colour.'

The head of the beast lowers as its blood starts freely flowing out and onto the road. It continues to make its avian coughing noises. I see a flash of white and I raise my hand to grab onto the sharp tail before it can stab me again. Ack! That hurts. That's not a needle it's a blade! Regardless of the double bladed bone like structure I keep the tail firmly in my grip and start to channel electricity into the creature. The whole body shudders and I up the voltage until the demon's blood starts to boil and comes erupting through the flesh from multiple lacerations.

I look up from the tattered remains of the demon I had just killed to see I'd fallen behind from the front lines. Some pack most of overtaken me at some point during the fight. Ok time to provide some back up on the way back to the front lines. "No! Get to the side and fire sideways only!" Shouts Mark in my ear. "Watch your fire, don't hit the mages in the back." Huh, maybe I should have healed my hearing a little sooner, I had no idea what was happening at the back.
"How are things on your end Mark?"
"Please don't distract me Master Grady, my limbs don't reattach."
"Jerk," I mutter under my breath.
"That wasn't quite quiet enough Grady."
"I know."
"Grady, my men have to listen to your constant nattering, be quiet."

Ignoring Mark I head forward again towards the front lines. I see a werewolf locked in combat with what looks like a giant Salamander. The wolf makes and advance and the demon lashes out with its tongue like a frog. Rather than being sticky the tongue has a spike ball on the end and the wolf yelps as it is driven back. As the Salamander rears for another strike I concentrate and as soon and the tongue flicks out I send a wave on magic and deflect the mace like tip to the side. With its tongue being dragged aside the beast staggers forward. The wolf dashes forwards and throws a downward slash with its claws cutting off the tongue.

'Anyone else?' I think just before I reach the demons again. I spot a werewolf facing off against what looks like a giant spider. This isn't the sort of thing I could trap under a glass, it's almost as big as I am.

It's not quite like its real counterpart with its ten pairs of legs, ridiculous size and more eyes than a spider would be comfortable with. The demon also has blades embedded into the ends of its legs forcing the werewolf to fight cautiously. The wolf makes quick lashing blows at the demon trying to avoid the countless blades. On one of its strikes it doesn't quite retreat in time and gets a shallow nick across its forelimb. Negligible damage for a werewolf but my lupine has stopped. It's not quite sure how to proceed and is on the verge of having to retreat.

'I guess she could use some help,' I think, starting to concentrate magic in front of me. I let lose my wave of energy just as the arachnid facsimile unleashes a strike of its own. Before its wolfish opponent can react the magic connects and the bladed limb explodes. The remaining magic manifests onto the limb fragments causing the dangerous shrapnel to flying straight into the demon.

The beast staggers back in shock, its defences are down and this is all the opening my wolf needs. She charges in and quickly starts to disable the remaining nine limbs.

I hear a lupine whine just before I approach the front lines. If any of my wolves are hurt their cries pierce into my head. I can always distinguish the sound against any ambient backdrop. Even it's a loud and demonic one. The sound came mostly from my left and I see one of my wolves with a nasty wound on the side of neck. Not just a nasty wound but one that's gradually getting worse. Looks like I've yet another acid spitter on the scene.

I neutralise the acid immediately and try my best to patch up the wound. I don't need to do a fantastic job so long as I stop the bleeding their natural healing ability will properly repair the damage. It's a good thing too as I'm not a fantastic healer, nothing like Bec.

With the wound healed (sort of) the demon responsible comes back for another go. The demon in question is a flyer. Looks a lot like a moth, not many body features just a sausage shape with an acid spitting mouth. Its wings however are bat wings but the demon is far bigger than any bat though it's a lot smaller than the land bound demons. In fact it's small enough that it's just about plausible that the thing can fly. I'm sure if the magic was gone however the thing would struggle. It would also struggle to live altogether.

Learning from his previous mistake the wolf jumps to the side to dodge the next corrosive projectile. Then he leaps up and grabs the bat/moth/thing in one big clawed paw and smashes it into the ground. The wolf then pins it down with both of his paws and chews the thing to death with long sharp fangs.

I reach the front lines coming up against a demon with the body of a small horse, a large crocodile tail and stupid mouth. I really mean mouth, its entire head is just an oversized mouth. I can't see any eyes but I've learnt by now that by no means is that a cause to believe it has none. Demons don't seem to be picky about where they put them. Despite the apparent lack of any visual input the demon seems to have no problem barrelling towards me.

I don't want to get anywhere near that mouth, it's wider than my arm, almost as high and has more teeth than a shark. So to get the thing out of my way I throw a quick front snap kick catching the mouth head from below with my clawed feet. I'm surprised by how little give there is in the demonic flesh. It's all tight muscle and bone and very little blood comes from the wound. Despite this the demon is stunned and tries to cancel out its forward momentum and ends up veering off to the side.

After gathering magic for a split second I fire a bolt of energy at the creature. The force of the blast pushes the demon further to the side so that it's completely side on to me. While advancing on the demon intending to finish it off the beast twists violently sending its front half away from me and its crocodile tail towards me. I'm far too close to dodge the blow and the beefy tail smashes into my side. The astounding force sends me stumbling sideways straight towards that damn mouth.

That fucking hurt! That the hell is that thing made of? I note the huge muscular horse body and the equally muscular reptilian tail. I guess underestimated the strength of the creature. This thing makes the grizzly bear I fought earlier look like a wimp.

I grab the tail that struck me before it can recoil for another strike and end up being dragged back with it. Just as planned, so long as I tag around near the tail I'm a comfortable distance from the mouth. I tighten my grip on the scaly green tail, both of my arms are wrapped around the tree trunk of a limb. As I turn my grip into a vice something blinks at me. 'I've found the eyes,' I think. Why in hell are the on its tail and how does it see what's directly in front of it? Or perhaps a better question is why in hell am I having such pointless thoughts while wrestling a giant horse/crocodile/shark thing?'

I gather energy into my forearms and dig my claws into the hard scales. Which is no easy feat as its tail is just as tightly muscled as its abominable head. The demon also seems completely unbothered by my claws, I guess its size makes the wounds rather minor. 'Now for the main event!' I think and convert the magic surplus of energy into an electrical current. Time to fry this oversized brute to a crisp!

Now the demon reacts. Or more accurately the beast goes completely AWOL thrashing its tail around violently. It really is strong being able to swing its tail with me clutching onto the end of it, I'm not light. The tail's eyes have shut and the demon is desperately trying to separate its self from the electrical source. Unfortunately for the demon I'm also strong and have a very secure grip. I'm being swung from side to side and my hind claws are leaving shallow scratches on the tarmac. This is actually pretty fun! Kind of reminds me of ice skating.

The thrashing starts to die down and the once green scales which are in contact with my arms have burned to a brown. I gather more magic and send a sudden pulse of increased current. I am then suddenly spattered with demonic blood as countless major blood vessels in the horse body had pretty much exploded. The tail is paradoxically unaffected, although a lot more of the scales have tuned brown and the already burnt ones have turned black. The thing is well and truly dead now and I let go of the tail. I think this was the toughest of the present demons. If this this group had a leader, then that would have been it but… I don't think any demon here cares about their brethren dying, leader or no. Demons don't play by the same rules of moral that humans do.

I take a couple more bounds towards the window, the demons have seemed to have thinned out considerably now. In front of me are two more of the acid moths. I jump up and grab one of them by the wing with one clawed paw. It hadn't expected me to jump that high, when I go from all fours, to bipedal to a jump the height change is quite significant. Easy enough to catch a low flying demon. One which I now slamming into the road. I raise my other paw up and bring down my claws like a set of knives cutting the moth body into five segments. 'Dead already' I think 'these acid moths are pretty weak, I wonder where the second one went, I could probably shoot it down.'

For the first time in the fight I turn around to look at the battle happening behind me. 'Holy shit!' I think looking at the scene before me 'there are hundreds of the fuckers!' Well maybe hundreds was a bit of an exaggeration but since the appearance of the first acid moth, which was just before I fought the horse thing, countless more have slipped through the Window. It's not a huge exaggeration either, there's probably close to one hundred on the damn things.

I would have thought a bunch of acid spitting flying monsters would be a tough battle for my allies but no one seems bothered. The gunfire has really kicked off now. The wolves are watching the sky dodging the corrosive projectiles, the mages are neutralising a lot of them. The mages are also taking them down by throwing rubble with a strong magic kick. The soldiers are completely destroying the acid moths. They might have a nasty spit but they're also small and weak so the gunfire is tearing them to pieces.

"Space yourselves out!" Yells Mark, "keep your eyes on the sky, don't let yourself get hit."
'Master of the bloody obvious,' I think to myself.
"Can you repeat that Grady?" Says Mark in my ear making me jump.
"You can read my mind now? Why do I need this earpiece?"
"Master Grady, you said that out loud."
Oh. Maybe I have trouble internalising as a wolf.

There's no front line left for me to fight, the flyers have slipped past me going straight over my head. "Wolf boy?" Enquires Mark over the sound of muffled gunfire also coming through the earpiece. "Don't call me that," I growl in response.
"Answer me please Grady," Replies Mark.
"What do you want?" I ask resisting the urge to say 'I did answer you.'
"Are you by the Window?"
"Yeah and there's fuck all happening over here."
"Master Grady I want you to cover the Window, stop anything else from coming through, stop us from getting swamped."
"I wasn't joking Mark," I snap "There's nothing happening here, demons have stopped crossing."
"Why?"
"The hell should I know, want me to go across and see?" I bark sarcastically.
"Negative Grady, we'll lose contact, stay on this side of reality."

With Mark I am genuinely unsure of whether he got the sarcasm or not. "If you've been freed up, come help us, use your laser powers to take some of these fuckers down. Mark out." Again that was a little too obvious and I'm infuriated that the only thing I can do now is exactly what he just said.

Rising to two legs I revert my body to be more human. I raise my hands and gather magic into my palms. I track an acid moth with my right hand a let loose a bolt of magic. It misses… 'Ok, maybe I misjudged the agility of these things.' I fire two more bolts in quick succession, left hand then right. The first bolt catches the moth's right wing causing it to explode. The force of the bolt causing it to rotate ninety degrees and the second bolt catches it right in the centre of its body. 'That's more like it,' I think as the remains of the acid moth falls to the ground. 'One down.'

I trace my steps back through the battleground, there are the dead bodies of demons everywhere. Some of them probably aren't dead but are too injured to move, they'll die as soon as the Window shuts, which should be any minute now. That's probably why the demons have stopped crossing, wouldn't want to risk getting caught without magic. Either that or we managed to kill all of those that were gathered here. The acid moths are evenly distributed in the air above us. There's no clear front line anymore, everyone is everywhere. In fact it's about one step away from total chaos.

I see one of Mark's soldiers shooting at the acid moths with a rifle. One of them shoots back, spitting acid that matches the bullets trajectory but it reverse. The acid hits the rifle dead on immediately starting to dissolve it. The soldier doesn't even flinch. Without freezing or hesitating she calmly but quickly drops her rifle. Then in the same manner she peels of her gloves before the acid can reach her hands. After throwing them to the ground she draws a pistol from somewhere and continue firing. Mark's soldiers are tough!

"What are doing? Trying to kill them in mid-air? Aim for the wings, the wolves will do the rest." Mark's yelling at his soldiers again. 'This advice I can support,' I think as another of my magic bolts catches the tip of an acid moth's wing. The damage causes it to spiral chaotically to the ground. Another of my magic bolts misses. My wolves have had nothing to do except dodge acid and they really want something to tear apart. If the soldiers can bring the moths out of the sky then my wolves can rip these killer butterflies to shreds. Bam! That's one moth exploded in mid-air, coolio!

'…Or not so coolio' I think as I see the remains splatter onto one of the soldiers. The same one I'd seen earlier. This perturbs her a little more than acid hitting her rifle but she shakes it off after a couple of seconds. Well, she'll never know it was… "Why are you asking me? I don't know, probably one of you idiots who can't aim properly." Says Mark in reply to an unheard query. "Well of course you're going to say that." There's a short pause as the conversation continues on the other end. "Maybe it was wolf boy."

'Dammit Mark!' I think. The way this communication system is set up means that I can hear what Mark says but not any of the soldiers. The soldiers on the other hand can hear everything. This is my decision as I didn't want to listen to anybody at all but kind of have to keep up with Mark. The downside is that I can only hear Mark when he's having a conversation with his group. "Wasn't me," I say.
"Wasn't you who did what wolf boy?"

'Double dammit Mark!' Using your human brain against me is cheating!
"Yeah, I think that's pretty clear," says Mark as reply to someone.
"Want me to stop shooting?" I growl.
"No, by all means, keep going, a little demon blood never hurt anyone."
"That's definitely not true Mark, sometimes it's acidic" says Dervish.
"Ah, Dervish? You can hear everything?" I ask.
"That's right Grubbs," he replies.

I think that's enough talking for me I'm probably just going to get someone hit by taking their concentration away. Someone like me. "Grubbs out," I say. I fire another bolt into the sky while sidestepping to avoid a ball of acid. I can neutralise and deflect them but why bother? A lot of the time it's easier to just get out of the way. Jeez, the way it digs into the tarmac really shows how strong that stuff is. How can a moth use it without dissolving its face off? And dodge! Looks like I don't need other people to distract myself.

I get another bolt to hit, exploding the front part of its body. It spins during its fall to the ground, spattering onto the tarmac well away from the soldiers. The wolves are barking in delight as the soldiers are supplying them with a steady supply of de-winged acid moths for them to chew on. Though the sky has thinned out now and the numbers are dropping rapidly. The dangerous part is over.

I hear a squeal of shock and pain from one the werewolves' close by. I stop firing at the thinning mass of and turn my attention to the distressed wolf. At first I'm not sure what happened. 'Has it been hit? I can't see the damage,' I think 'also it's standing in front of a flightless moth.' Then I realise what has happened. I can see the damage now, it's in the werewolf's mouth. Quickly I neutralise the acid and the wolf spits out blood and raises its paws to dissect the moth. As I'm turning my attention back to the sky I hear another pained cry, this time from another direction. Jeez! Can these things grow some brain cells? How stupid to you have to be to chew on an acid spitting moth? They could at least try and avoid the acid glands.

I neutralise the acid with just a quick glance, now that I know what to look for. Turning back to the moths that are still air borne I see one that looks like its heading straight for me. Before I fire I realise it's going to fly over my head not barrel into me. As it closes upon my location I reach up and make a deep gouge in the creature's midsection as the demon flies through my claws. I quickly fire a magic bolt at another demon that's heading straight for me. It's much easier to hit something that charging at you. The bolt hits it heat on and blows up its front half.

I see three more acid moths heading towards me and the ones that are left in the sky are also beginning to turn to my direction. 'Holy shit!' I think 'why are they all ganging up on me all of a sudden?' I raise my hands and gather in magic getting ready for some rapid firing.
"Erm, Grubbs?" Says Dervish "You can just get out of the way."
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"They're retreating Grubbs and you're blocking the path to the Window."

'Oh' I think stealing a quick glance behind me. So they're not heading towards me at all, they're going for the Window. That's why none of them are spitting acid at me despite all of them facing my direction. I toy with the idea of standing my ground and shooting them all out of the air while they retreat. However that sounds like a very wolfish thing to do and rather stupid.

I scramble to the side and the acid moths cease their attack and head full tilt towards the dying Window. "Advance authorised," says Mark "let's drive these monsters back to the depths of hell!" There's a roar as the soldiers advance quickly spraying the air with rifle fire. No longer concerned with dodging acid the soldiers are quick an efficient. Despite the quick retreat of the flying demons most of them don't make it. The soldiers are still aiming for the wings and therefore most of the moths find only form of retreat being torn from their body by a quick spray of bullets.

For once I don't join in and let the soldiers tear down the moths for the wolves who wait below to finish of the job. The Window is rippling no, there's only a few seconds until reality denies its existence. Once the Window is gone this demon attack will have been… Another sharp whining noise comes from my pack. 'Stupid wolves!' I think neutralising more acid that a werewolf thought it could chew on. Maybe after this they will think twice before they try to eat an acid demon.

With a final ripple the Window blinks out of existence. If I could see the bindings of the universe as Kernal can I would see a bundle of different coloured shapes flying apart. As it is all I see is a panel of light in one moment and no panel of light in the next. There's a few acid moths still left who fly through the patch of empty space where the Window had been. Now stranded on their least favourite universe the moths turn around and resume their attack on the soldiers, desperate to do some damage before the lack of magic reminds them of aerodynamics and gravity.

They don't stand a chance. In a few seconds the last of the acid moths are torn out of the sky by rifle fire. The last acid moth manages to get in a hit, spattering a soldier on his arm with acid. Without thinking the man grabs the acid soaked region of his arm with his other hand and pauses. I'm ready to neutralise the acid but the man is completely unperturbed just a little confused. He says something quietly. "I don't really care and you should have been more careful anyway," says Mark. 'Uh' I think. Now that some of the magic has faded it's no longer acidic.

"Ok." Says Mark loudly "I want everyone back at the hotel in one hour for debriefing and discussion of our next mission." I smile as I revert back to full human, or near enough. Then my earpiece buzzes back into action. "Oh, and please can all of you turn up clean ok? There are these things called showers and clean clothes and there're less scary than the demonata."
"Oh shut up Mark," I laugh.
"I mean it Grady you better not turn up still covered in demon blood."
"Grubbs out," I say taking off my earpiece and turning it off.