21. Chapter 21

21

S he spun around to search the docks, because the first thing this approaching rumble brought to mind was an armored tank.

That couldn’t be right. There were no tanks.

The rumbling only grew louder as the rest of her team battled the remaining griybreki. Then a pair of violently bright headlights appeared at the entrance to the docks.

Those high beams wavered across the cement as the vehicle approached and turned toward the scene of the fighting.

A fourth transport vehicle came into view, steadily approaching what little of the battle remained.

And then it headed toward all of them at top speed.

The air of the Shade team’s impending victory morphed into something entirely different when the eighteen-wheeler growled, its engine coughed and sputtered, and the night air filled with the ear-splitting screech of over-worn brakes and tires squealing across the asphalt.

Thick gray smoke billowed behind every tire as the vehicle fishtailed across the docks. It came dangerously close to tipping over before its driver finally brought it to a squealing, smoking stop inches from the retaining wall at the edge of the docks.

“Showed up late to the party,” Diego said with a snigger as he released another griybreki from a chokehold. The unconscious creature dropped in front of him with a wet slap.

Just like the rest of her team, Rebecca stared at the newly arrived vehicle and frowned.

There was something wrong with this picture. She just couldn’t put her finger on it quickly enough.

Then a low, stuttering rumble and whine rose from inside the truck’s trailer still rocking side to side after such an entrance.

A very familiar low whine, like that of a particularly large magitek weapon powering up and readying to fire.

Shit. There were more weapons in that fourth truck. Only these ones were live and ready to be used against Rebecca and her team.

Before she could sound the alarm to ready for another attack that was coming, the rear door of the eighteen-wheeler lifted violently open with a metallic rumble and crash. The whine of the weapon powering up inside doubled in volume.

That wasn’t a good sign, but Rebecca focused not on the high-powered magitek weapon inside that truck but on the creature standing behind it.

The griybreki who had opened that rear door was enormous, damn near the size of a full-blooded ogre when every other griybreki Rebecca had seen was under four feet tall.

This one bellowed in their guttural language, spittle flying from his huge, grotesquely bloated lips, his voice nearly as deep and gravelly as an ogre’s too, though there was no denying the hulking creature was griybreki through and through.

Once he had everyone’s attention, the big guy turned, bent behind an enormous metal crate beside him, and straightened again with his acquired item in hand.

A terrifyingly large weapon, like a cross between an RPG launcher and an M249 belt-fed machine gun, the entire system lighting up with deviously bright, shimmering green light from within as the wine of the weapon system’s power-up only intensified.

It wasn’t the magitek RPG launcher inside Eduardo’s base that Aldous had wanted to get his hands on so badly. But it certainly could have been in the same family of black-market augmented weaponry.

The second the griybreki had the enormous weapon lifted in both arms, propping the thick, heavy stock against the side of his overhanging belly, Rebecca knew she and her team were in trouble.

The monstrous griybreki opened fire with a warbling bellow that sent a tremor through the docks.

The same eerie green light erupted from the weapon in a blazing line of energy.

Like a damn magical laser.

The first shot zipped across the docks and crashed into the closest shipping container with a metallic boom.

The giant griybreki screamed non-stop as he fired, turning continuously to spray a stream of magical laser beam back and forth across the docks. Explosions erupted in quick succession at the contact.

Metal shipping containers ripped apart or were seared in half beneath a single blast of light. Bits of concrete were drilled free and knocked high into the air before crashing down in a crumbling, crushing mess.

Everything that green laser touched fell under the spraying stream. When the charge hit a stack of shipping containers and cut through the first layer of them like a knife through butter, Rebecca started moving again.

The tower of shipping containers burst apart with a deafening roar, sending the remaining slivers of metal shrapnel zipping in every direction across the docks. All that remained in its place was a pile of glittering dust and the last few bits of debris pelting down around Rebecca, her team, and the few remaining griybreki they hadn’t yet subdued.

It didn’t seem possible that this was only a demonstration, but the giant griybreki in the truck let out a blood-chilling roar of laughter before he slammed a meaty fist into the side of the new weapon. The system’s magically powered whine kicked up a notch until it practically screamed across the docks.

So did the griybreki when he opened fire with an even deadlier stream of blinding green light swiveling back and forth.

Clearly, Rebecca’s celebratory pride had been a little premature.

The docks exploded wherever the passing stream of green laser touched. Rebecca darted forward, summoning more powerful fireballs in both hands to blast at the griybreki in the trailer as she screamed to her team, “Take cover!”

The battle on the docks reignited when the remaining griybreki realized they might gain the upper hand. A dozen others swarmed from the fourth transport truck, veering around their giant firing one of the deadliest magitek weapons on Earth.

Her team wasn’t out of the woods yet.

Shade’s shouts now mingled with the griybreki’s wild screams and the wail of the enormous weapon firing in every direction, carrying far more griybreki into the fight. The creatures now swarmed across the docks again, renewing their attack on Rebecca and her operatives.

Colorful, magical bursts sprayed everywhere, illuminating the darkness like fireworks. Rebecca’s team scattered to avoid the worst of the magical laser’s destructive bursts. The enormous griybreki inside the new eighteen-wheeler just wouldn’t let up on his firing.

Then she heard the shouts of her team but couldn’t quite make sense of what they were saying.

“We gotta bring him down!” she shouted anyway, then dove behind another stack of shipping crates to avoid the next hissing burst of green light swerving in her direction. She missed getting caught in the crossfire, but the second the sizzling energy crashed into the shipping containers, the entire stack was obliterated.

An explosion of green light and sparks and shreds of bursting metal illuminated the area around her.

“What the hell do we do now?” Diego shouted.

“The big one!” Rebecca screamed as she ran for cover behind another stack of containers, though who knew how long it would remain. She stabbed a finger toward the big griybreki in the fourth truck. “Bring him down!”

Titus lumbered toward the last truck spewing green weapons fire. Three much smaller griybreki threw themselves at him, stopping him, and he was forced to fight them off instead.

The whip-like tendrils of Diego’s blood magic lashed across the docks, but the weapon was still too far away and out of his reach. The latest batch of griybreki reinforcements kept him from getting any closer.

Everywhere Rebecca looked, she found the other members of her team preoccupied with their own individual battles as a final truckload of Eduardo’s convoy entered the fight.

Now was as good a time as any to head for the truck herself, try to bring the giant griybreki down before that laser hit any of her people. She took off for the open rear of the truck, firing crimson battle magic and roiling fireballs at anything that moved, so long as it wasn’t one of her operatives.

Somehow, she’d missed the bulk of the newly arrived griybreki on the scene and got most of the way toward the rear of the open trailer, the massive griybreki now within her sights.

It would have been a hell of a lot easier to go after him with her Bloodshadow magic, but once again, it was far too risky to use out in the open. Even as Shade’s commander.

Instead, she summoned a ball of churning flame appropriately sized for combating the giant creature.

When Rebecca spread her arms, the raging fire she’d conjured hissed and crackled between her hands, roaring with its own internal force and washing her face in a fiery glow and a heat strong enough to make her momentarily reconsider.

But she had to bring this asshole down and stop that weapon before it did irreparable damage to more than the docks.

She thought she had him when the largest fireball she’d conjured in years burst from her hands and hurtled through the air. Just before it would have entered the open trailer and hit the ogre-sized griybreki, a blindingly bright net of neon-yellow wards erupted in front of the open trailer to deflect Rebecca’s flames.

Instead, the raging fireball clanged off the magical barrier and ricocheted across the docks before crashing into the side of the single-story building with a deafening boom.

So close.

Rebecca gaped at the enormous hole left in the brick building, which continued to crumble even after the impact. Then she returned her attention to that open transport trailer.

What had she missed?

A burst of high-pitched laughter careened toward her. It took a moment to find the griybreki who thought her failure was so hilarious. He stood beside the truck, hopping from foot to foot and cackling madly, taunting Rebecca with a clawed finger pointed right at her face.

The little shit had blocked her attack.

The sheer annoyance of the griybreki’s laughter and the fact that it had so easily thwarted her pissed her off more than anything else tonight. But now, Rebecca had free rein to act on her anger.

Fighting to keep her Bloodshadow magic in check during the heat of battle, she relied on her crimson battle magic instead as she stalked toward the cackling griybreki. She fired off round after round at the conniving little cretin. She could hardly see how accurate her attacks were through the blaze of her own magic lighting up the docks, but she didn’t stop to double check.

She blasted her way closer and closer toward the rear of the open trailer while the green laser shredded one area of the docks after another and the rest of the griybreki forces converged on her team.

Rebecca did, however, hear her operatives shouting at each other, trying to make their way toward the vehicle.

Then Maxwell’s furious growl reached her ears, and she looked across the docks long enough to see him stalking toward the newest truck. The shifter leapt away from the violent lines of magical laser fire whenever it drew too close, but he didn’t stop, his gaze focused intently on the giant griybreki destroying the property—and everyone still on it.

“Cover him!” Leonard shouted as he pointed at Maxwell. “Clear a path!”

From all different directions, Rebecca’s team opened fire, trying to do exactly that. Then, at least one of them could make it to the truck and take down the laser.

Maxwell tossed his weapon aside with a furious snarl and took off at a dead run toward the vehicle. His silver eyes strobed with bright light. One second he was a man racing across the docks, and the next, a giant, shaggy gray wolf leapt through the air.

He landed in front of two griybreki trying to head him off, crippled one in his crushing jaws, and tossed it aside before leaping at the other.

Well, that was one way to get close when no one else could.

Rebecca joined her team in picking off the griybreki who would have stood in Maxwell’s way while the gray wolf leapt from target to target, filling the air with even more griybreki screams.

Then the high-pitched whine of the super-powered magitek laser took on a different timber and grew in intensity.

A deep, bellowing laugh joined the sound. Rebecca caught another glimpse of the giant griybreki in the back of the transport trailer, his glowing orange eyes wide and wild as he gripped the weapon and prepared for an even stronger kickback while the device finished powering up.

The laser swung wildly from side to side, now settled on a swiveling mount in the back of the truck. It lit up the docks with a crackling blaze of deeper green light, destroying everything it touched.

The laughing buffoon didn’t seem to notice his own fellow griybreki getting caught in the crossfire. He just kept swinging the weapon madly back and forth, spraying green laser everywhere in a poor attempt to blast down the gray wolf leaping from creature to creature and drawing steadily closer.

Maxwell was fast, yes. His wolf was even faster. If it hadn’t been for that damn laser stream and its violently unpredictable path, he would have reached his target much sooner. Instead, having to dodge and avoid being obliterated slowed him down too much.

Rebecca fired off more battle magic at a group of griybreki chasing after Maxwell’s wolf, but she couldn’t get any closer to the back of the trailer.

And they’d been so close to calling this mission a success.

Maxwell’s wolf darted around the docks, avoiding the laser blasts and sending the much smaller griybreki flying in all directions, screaming from their injuries. If they survived.

Then a dark flash erupted from somewhere behind Rebecca.

The kind of dark flash she instantly recognized.

Before she finished spinning around toward it, she was already looking for the source.

The dark light that wasn’t light at all but its opposite created its own shadows along the docks, washing everything in a dancing veil of disorienting shapes that shouldn’t have been able to move on their own. Under normal circumstances, they couldn’t.

But this was Rowan Blackmoon’s magic, and he had mastered it long ago.

Rebecca didn’t expect to find him so high off the ground, but it made sense. He ran across the tops of the shipping containers, sailing over the gaps between them in one graceful leap after another. This way, he circumvented both the griybreki forces on the ground and the green spray of laser fire.

Even the stray shots going wild seemed too easy for the Blackmoon Elf to avoid. He dodged them effortlessly without losing so much as a second in his swift advance on the rear of the open transport trailer.

When he’d almost reached the truck, the giant griybreki wielding the weapon noticed Rowan’s approach. With a snarl, the creature heaved back on the laser gun to angle it up at the tops of the shipping containers.

Rebecca watched the next blasting stream of obliterating green light spew from the end of the laser gun and arc right up toward Rowan. For a split second, she couldn’t keep the horror from overwhelming her while the rest of the world moved in slow motion.

It looked like this was about to be the end of Rowan Blackmoon.

It might have been, but Rebecca had forgotten just how skilled he really was.

Before the laser ever came close to reaching him, Rowan leapt off the edge of the final shipping container, flipped over the deadly green beam of magical energy, and sailed forward to land on the ground inches from the mouth of the open trailer.

Before the griybreki could pull the laser back down again, Rowan jumped into the trailer and disappeared from view.

There wasn’t even time to shout after him or attempt going to his aid. Rebecca merely stared at the end of the vehicle.

The horrifying whine of the laser gun inside sputtered and finally brought the entire machine to a standstill. No more hum of augmented magitek, no more green glow from inside the trailer. Just a crackling hiss, a clatter of mechanical components grinding to a halt as if forced to disengage, and an incredibly heavy thump of an enormous body hitting the trailer floor.

Another twitching mechanical whirr and a shower of sparks erupted from the mouth of the trailer, joined by a thick gray smoke and more violent hissing.

With the big griybreki and his laser gun out of the way, Rebecca’s team made short work of their remaining enemy forces. Only a few more stray shots echoed across the docks, their numbers petering out when the last of Eduardo’s convoy dropped.

Someone shouted across the docks, chasing after the grotesque slapping of bare webbed feet growing steadily fainter. Rebecca could only assume it was the sound of a griybreki or two escaping the same fate as the rest of their convoy.

That might become a problem for Shade in the future, when Eduardo found out what had happened. But for now, one or two escaped creatures running back to safety posed little threat.

At least the laser had stopped, and as far as she could tell, Rebecca’s team were all in good health.

When she still hadn’t seen any sign of Rowan, she darted around the trailer to get a better look inside. She reached it just as Rowan jerked on the handle of his dagger to pull the blade from the side of the giant griybreki’s neck.

A thick spray of blood burst from the wound. The griybreki let out a gurgling hiss, then the big, dumb oaf toppled to the trailer floor with another echoing thud that rocked the trailer on its wheels.

Then everything else fell still.

Rebecca noticed the rest of her team had joined her to confirm the laser gun’s operator had been taken out. She glanced at each of them, all of whom stared at Rowan with matching expressions of shock, awe, and an understandable amount of weariness after what he’d just accomplished.

Rowan stooped to wipe his dagger’s blade on the giant griybreki’s sleeve, then straightened. When he found Rebecca standing there among the others, he smirked. “How’s that for confirmation?”

She huffed out a wry laugh and shook her head. “It wasn’t the plan, but I guess that’ll do it.”

A deep growl made her turn to find Maxwell’s wolf behind her, his teeth bared in a warning snarl and his thick hackles raised all along his back.

His glowing silver eyes had fixed intently on the elf inside the truck.

The rest of the team noticed the gray wolf as well, each of them taking a careful step back before Titus cleared his throat.

“Dude,” he said, looking back and forth between Rowan up in the trailer and the gray wolf preparing to pounce at any second. “I wouldn’t make any sudden moves if I were you…”

Sheathing his dagger at his hip, Rowan stared down the gray wolf and raised an eyebrow. “That’s real cute and all, but sorry, pal. I’m fresh outta dog treats.”

No one laughed.

Rebecca didn’t think anyone would have even if Maxwell were in his slightly less-threatening form. But Rowan taunting a shifter like that before the heat of battle even wore off?

Only a complete idiot would try something that stupid.

Rebecca knew Rowan Blackmoon wasn’t an idiot.

At least, he didn’t used to be…

The Blackmoon Elf chuckled again and waved away the snarling wolf with a flippant toss of his hand, as if the whole thing were still one big joke from which he could walk away whenever he wanted.

Rebecca should have seen it coming. She wasn’t surprised by it, either, but that didn’t stop her heart from leaping right up into her throat when Maxwell’s wolf let out one more vicious snarl.

Then he leapt up into the back of the trailer, his powerful jaws open wide, fangs glistening under the exterior lights along the dock, pouncing straight for Rowan Blackmoon’s throat.