by Darren Shan
“Grubbs… you… this…” Meera can’t find words to express what she feels.
“I did what I had to,” I grunt. “It was a fair fight.”
“But you enjoyed it!” Meera gasps. “You laughed as you killed. The way you drank…”
“I was thirsty,” I shrug.
Before Meera can say anything else, I call my private retinue of advanced werewolves to my side. Not all of the chosen come—some are dead. But most assemble, grinning ghoulishly, blood dripping from their chins.
“Let’s go and find Juni,” I tell them, and over the mounds of dead bodies we climb.
Not all of the soldiers perished at the perimeter. Some dropped back when they realised their cause was lost. They’re fleeing through the compound, pursued by ravenous werewolves. I don’t know where they think they can hide. It’s over. They’ll be tracked down and slit from groin to skull.
Running only adds sport to the slaughter. It’s hard not to give in to temptation and hunt with the pack. Juni’s just one person (or whatever the hell it is that she’s become). There are so many others to chase and murder. I have to focus to keep my feral nature in check. I tell myself Juni will be worth it, that the joy of killing her will be greater than a dozen human deaths.
But I’m not convinced. I think I might be happier if I surrendered to my desires and ran wild. I’d like to butcher freely while the butchering’s good.
I’m aware of Meera, Timas and Prae arming themselves, picking guns from the corpses. I don’t bother with weapons. I relied on magic and my wits before. Now I have something even better— claws and fangs.
Some of the werewolves sniff longingly at the humans, but the members of my personal guard warn them off with soft growls. Give it a few days and they might not be so obedient. But there’s plenty for all to eat now, so they’re willing to let these three snack-boxes on legs pass unmolested.
We press further into the building. The stench of Juni’s sickly sweet sweat fills my nostrils. I hope she’s sweating with fear, that she’s trapped, nowhere to run, dreading our confrontation. If she’s not afraid now, I’ll show her fear before I kill her. I don’t want her to die without knowing what it’s like to tremble in the clutches of one more twisted and vicious than yourself.
As I’m closing on her location, I feel a sweep of something like air gushing through the compound. It’s warm and tingling. It seeps into my pores, filling me with power.
Magic.
I should be grateful for the extra strength, but I’m not. The wash of magic through the building can only mean one thing—a window has been opened. I’m not afraid of what might come through—I’d fight any number of demons—but I don’t want Juni skipping ahead of me to safety in the foul universe she’s chosen to call home.
“Quick!” I roar, darting ahead of the others, shouldering a door aside, rushing down a corridor, homing in on the scent of Juni Swan.
“Grubbs!” shouts Meera. “Wait. Don’t go in there alone.”
But nothing can stop me. A couple of seconds later, wild at the thought that I might miss my chance for revenge, I break through another doorway and into the room where we discovered Prae Athim bound and gagged.
The window hovers near the back of the room, a jagged red panel of light. I dart towards it, meaning to follow Juni, even though I know it’s suicide. Then a bolt of energy knocks me sideways. Searing pain eats into my flesh, forcing a scream from my lips.
I stagger and realise I’ve been tricked. Juni’s still here. She was standing to the left of the door. Easy to spot if I’d been paying attention, but I lost my wits for a few vital seconds. Now she has the upper hand.
As I lurch towards her, she mutters a spell and the floor at my feet explodes. Splinters shoot into my stomach, chest and face. I instinctively jerk my head back.
Roaring, I raise a hand to protect my eyes. Ignoring the stinging pain of the splinters buried in my flesh, I set my sights on the pustulant, bloodstained, flesh-dripping Juni Swan. She’s smiling insanely. Beyond her, in the doorway, I see Meera and the others, separated from us by an invisible barrier. The werewolves of my retinue are digging at the barrier with their claws, but it will take more than brute force to penetrate Juni’s magic shield.
“Did you think I’d leave without saying goodbye?” Juni giggles.
“I’ll kill you!” I roar. “I’ll rip your head from your neck and—”
“Please don’t finish,” Juni interrupts. “I detest vulgarity.” She waves a hand at me and the splinters expand and burrow deeper into my skin. I gasp and collapse to my knees. Another couple of seconds and they’ll pierce my heart and brain.
If you’ll allow me some leeway… the voice of the Kah-Gash murmurs. The splinters shoot out of my body and rain down on Juni. That catches her by surprise. With a shriek, she covers her eyes, protecting them as I did. For a moment she’s defenceless.
Using the newly developed muscles in my legs, I spring across the room and bowl Juni over. I slam her to the floor and drive a claw into the putrid, oozing flesh of her stomach. She moans, eyes shooting wide, baring her teeth, trembling with agony. I make a fist, grab some of her inner organs and jerk hard. My hand shlups out, trailing guts. Blood splatters the floor. I gurgle with delight.
Juni screams, then covers the hole in her stomach with a hand. Magic flares and the flesh around the hole heals. I don’t care. While she’s repairing herself, I latch on to her head, jam my fangs into the bone behind her right ear, and start chewing my way through to her brain.
Juni’s fresh screams fill me with delight. I almost pull away to enjoy her expression. But I know how dangerous she is. I can’t give her any freedom. Best to chew quickly and disable her.
Heat flares in my fangs. I try desperately to bite down. I’m almost through the hard covering of the skull. So close to her brain. But the heat’s too much to bear. With a cry of pain and rage, I break free.
Juni’s at my throat with incredible speed. Newly grown fingernails dig into the flesh beneath my chin, while the fingers of her other hand tighten around my neck. I sense the fingers stretching, looping, meeting at the back and melting into each other, tightening into a noose. I try to roar but my vocal cords are squeezed shut.
I slam an elbow into Juni’s ribs. Several crack. She grunts, but doesn’t release me. She’s cackling. Pokes her face up close to mine. Her left eye was punctured, but it grows back as she taunts me.
“Thought you could kill sweet Juni?” she screeches. “Thought a pup like you could overcome a full-grown mistress of dark magic?” Her fingers tighten another notch. “What do you think now, Grubitsch?”
I wheeze at her, then manage to get hold of the hand around my throat. Filling my fingers with magic, I sever through the flesh and bones of the noose, then yank myself clear. Panting, I make a fist and smash it into her face. Her nose shatters, splattering me with blood, pus and slimy snot.
“You look like hell,” I snarl.
“You can talk,” she sneers, running a scornful eye over my deformed features.
For a moment we grin at each other and get our breath back.
“It’s not too late,” Juni purrs. “Join us. I sensed you killing those pitiful humans. You’ve found your true self. Come with me. Put the last vestiges of your useless human morals behind you. With us, you can kill forever. There’s a whole world of humans to torment and butcher. You can be a glorious, wolfen god.”
“I bet I could have you too,” I chuckle darkly.
“Maybe,” she smiles. “Lord Loss is my master, but you could be my mate. I can change out of this grotesque form, be any woman you wish. In the new world, anything will be possible.”
“There’s just one problem,” I sigh.
“What?” Juni frowns.
“I hate your guts,” I hiss and spring on her.
I drive my fist towards the hole where Juni’s nose used to be. My plan is to jam a few fingers in the gap, widen it, then claw out her brain, scoop by gloopy scoop. But Juni’s faster. Sh
e ducks, then lashes at my stomach with a leg. I wasn’t expecting a bloody kung fu move! I’m sent hurtling backwards and slam hard into the wall. My head cracks and my neck almost snaps.
She’s on me before I hit the floor, hands a blur, jabbing incessantly. I try to roar, but all that comes out is a startled croak. I get a glimpse of her throat and lunge for it. Juni shimmies and rams a forearm into my mouth, gagging me. As I choke, she sends what feels like a million volts of magic sizzling through my body. I scream mutedly and go limp. Juni hits me with another burst of energy. Another.
Blood’s pumping from my nose, mouth and ears. Even from my eyes. I’m seeing events through a red mist. I reach deep within myself, looking for the power to strike back, but I’m in disarray.
Forgetting about magic, I lash out at Juni. She laughs, removes the arm from my mouth and wraps it around me. Squeezes tight, like a boa constrictor.
“Poor Grubbs,” she coos, wiping blood from my eyes. “You don’t have the hang of magic, do you? You’re strong, but experience is everything. My master told me to be wary, but I knew I had the beating of you. When the soldiers and werewolves failed, I decided to finish you off myself.”
I spit blood at her. She stops it mid-air, letting the pearly drops float in front of my eyes. Then she leans forward, extends her tongue and delicately slurps the red pearls from the air, as though tasting an exquisite wine.
“Now it’s time to die,” she says. Her face is blank. The madness and hatred in her eyes have been replaced by a cold business-like look.
I struggle feebly. This can’t be happening. I’m the pack leader, a magician, part of the Kah-Gash. I’ve fought and defeated stronger demons than this servant of Lord Loss. I should be dancing on her corpse, not fighting for breath, locked within her suffocating embrace.
“A kiss,” Juni hums, pressing her face to mine. “I’ll suck your last breath from your body along with your part of the Kah-Gash. I’ll take everything and own you completely. You might think it’s the end, but your agonies are just beginning. I have the power of death. I’ll pluck at the strings of your soul until the end of time, and every strum will draw a thousand screams.”
She covers my mouth and inhales, drawing the last of my oxygen from my lungs. I go limp, senses crumpling. It’s like she’s sucking me down a tunnel into herself. I can’t fight. I’m helpless. I’m doomed.
Then, for no apparent reason, she breaks the contact and blinks, staring at me as if stabbed in the back. My heart leaps hopefully. Someone must have found a way past the barrier, snuck up behind her and struck while she was gloating over me. I glance over her shoulder in search of my saviour but I can’t see anyone.
Juni releases me and takes a step back. Her expression clears and she smiles. Then she laughs, and the laughter strikes me harder than any of her blows. She screams with crazy delight, jumping up and down on the spot, bits of her diseased flesh dropping off like bloated ticks.
“Oh, Grubbs!” she cries. “You absolute darling. How delicious. How ironic. The saviour of the world… protector of mankind… Hah!”
I slump to the floor, take a painful, rasping breath and stare at Juni. Has she lost herself entirely to madness? Have I been saved by a mental breakdown?
“I just had a vision, darling Grubbs,” Juni says, backing up to the window. “I had them all the time when I was Beranabus’s assistant. I catch glimpses of the future. That’s why he valued my services so highly. I served Lord Loss in the same way when I joined him. That’s how we knew the cave in Carcery Vale was going to be reopened, why we acted when we did.
“But this vision was the most vivid ever. You were in it, the star of the show. It was the near future… very near. You were at your most powerful, tapping into the sort of power that would allow you to crush me like a bug.”
Juni sticks a hand through the window. It’s pulsing at the edges. It will close soon, but not before she fires off her parting shot.
“I saw the world destroyed,” she whispers. “It was blown to pieces. The seas bubbled away, lava erupted, the land split and crumbled. Everyone died, young and old, good and bad. Then a ball of fire burst from the heart of the planet, incinerated the globe and blasted the ashes off into space, before spreading to consume the universe—worlds, suns, galaxies, all.
“You were there,” she sobs, crying with happiness. “But you weren’t trying to stop it. You made no attempt to save the world. You couldn’t… you didn’t want to… because you were controlling the mayhem. The Demonata won’t destroy your universe, Grubbs Grady—you will!”
With that she skips through the window, giggling girlishly. Moaning wildly, I drag myself after her, but before I’m even halfway the window disintegrates, and all I can do is lower my face to the cold, hard, blood-drenched floor and weep.
THE DEVIL’S IN THE DETAILS
As magic drains from the air, the barrier blocking the doorway gives way. Meera, Prae and the werewolves stumble into the room. Timas enters via the hole which Pip blew in one of the side walls earlier. He must have circled round while I was fighting Juni. A dangerous manoeuvre—he could have been attacked by a rogue werewolf but he got away with it. Not that it mattered. Juni had blocked that entrance too.
“Grubbs,” Meera cries, rushing over. “Are you OK?”
I moan pitifully, reaching for a window which is no longer there, Juni’s prediction echoing in my ears. It can’t be true. She was mocking me. It’s part of some horrible game.
But she had me at her mercy. I was helpless. It would have been a simple matter to finish me off. She spared me because she saw me destroy the world in the future. Nothing else makes sense. I’m more valuable to her alive than dead. I can do what she, Lord Loss and the Shadow can’t.
“You’re wounded,” Meera says, fussing over me. “You have to heal yourself.”
“Leave me alone,” I cry, hammering the floor and cursing.
“The magic’s fading,” Meera hisses. “Use it to heal yourself or you’ll die.”
“Good,” I mutter. Better if I die. I can’t wreck the world if I’m dead.
“Grubbs!” she snaps. “Don’t be an ass. Heal yourself. Now!”
I sigh miserably, then focus my power on the bleeding wounds, broken ribs and ruptured inner organs. It would be for the best if I perished, but I can’t give up on life. I’m not that much of a hero.
“What happened?” Timas asks.
“Didn’t you hear?” I wheeze, working on my chest and upper stomach.
“The sound faded out,” Timas says. “It was like someone turning down the volume on a television set.”
“It was the same for us,” Meera says.
So Juni didn’t want the others to hear her prediction, in case they decided to kill me for the good of mankind. I consider telling them. I’m pretty sure one of them—maybe all three—would put a bullet through my head if they knew of the threat I pose. But that would be another form of suicide, so I hold my tongue and shake my head.
“Just more of the same rubbish,” I grumble. “She said she was sparing me for her master, that Lord Loss wanted to kill me himself.”
“Strange,” Timas notes. “She was happy to let the werewolves slaughter you.”
“I guess she knew I’d survive. It was all a set-up. She never meant for me to die, only the rest of you, so that she could relish my pain.”
Timas makes a sceptical humming noise, but says no more. I continue healing myself, Meera watching closely to make sure I don’t miss anything. The power’s fading fast, but I’ve dealt with most of the life-threatening injuries. I’ll live.
The werewolves—there are five in the room with us—are sniffing the floor by one of the walls. They’re growling. I bark at them to be quiet. Listening carefully, I hear scrabbling sounds. Someone’s crawling away in a hurry.
“The maps you studied earlier,” I say to Timas, rising painfully but standing steady on my feet once I’m up. “Did they show any tunnels or crawlways running off this room?”
“No,” Timas says, edging up beside the werewolves.
“Then they weren’t as complete as you thought,” I sniff.
“You’re right,” he says, tapping the wall. “There’s a hidden panel. I’m sure I can find the opening mechanism if you give me a few—”
I snap at the werewolves. The largest smashes a fist into the metal panel. Again. A third time. It crumples under his fourth blow, snapping loose at the upper and left edges. The werewolf gets a few fingers into the gap and wrenches off the panel, revealing a small passage.
The werewolf who removed the panel darts into the crawlway, but stops at a command from me. Shuffling forward, I stoop and stare into the gloominess. I can’t see the person scuttling away from us, but I can smell him. It’s a familiar, cultured scent. I smile viciously.
“After me,” I say softly, then lower myself to my hands and knees. I edge forward, moving faster than the man ahead of me, steadily catching up, making heavy snarling noises, letting him know I’m coming, savouring the intoxicating smell of his mounting fear.
The crawlway opens out into a large room at the rear of the compound. There are several boats stacked at the sides, but all the hulls have been shattered, holes punched through the shells, making them as seaworthy as sieves. I figure Juni wanted to give her soldiers an extra incentive to stand and fight. She made sure nobody shipped out early.
Antoine Horwitzer is struggling with one of the useless boats, hauling it towards an open section at the far side of the room. I can smell and hear the sea, the crash of the waves, the cries of the gulls. Antoine is sobbing, his jacket tossed to one side, shirt ripped, trousers dirty. He must know he can’t get anywhere in the boat, but desperation drives him on.
As the others emerge behind me, I raise a hand, holding them in check. Antoine doesn’t know we’re here. He’s totally focused, head bent, straining painfully, using muscles he probably hasn’t tested in years. I’m amused by the sight of him dragging the wreck of a boat towards the edge. For a while I forget about Juni Swan and her terrible prophecy, and just enjoy the show.