Chapter 4
The other young girl of African descent had semi-transformed into a wolf. With her head that of a large werewolf, her body grew into an oversized human. She had run up behind her sister and latched onto the man's neck before spinning to a stop and spitting the head over the edge of the rooftop. She then transformed back into a small-sized human.
Great, Viktor thought, as he absorbed the scene before him. Remnants of the blown chopper and body parts lay burnt, askew at their feet. The smell of burnt flesh and aviation fuel assailed their nostrils. Smoke from the blast also hung low about their ankles, held there by the cold night air. The rain would be pouring on them soon. Viktor advanced towards the entrance. No survivors from their entrance. He cursed.
"I recall you saying earlier that you needed some alive?" Darksmith stood behind him, looking into the shadowy stairwell.
"Not if direct fire doesn't allow it." But this was too much overkill, Viktor thought.
"Right then." Darksmith advanced into the corridor. Above the blaring sirens that called the men securing the property to arms, footsteps could be heard shuffling cautiously in their direction. Darksmith reached to his side and pulled out a bronze hammer, the head of which was shaped like a fist. Darksmith grasped the hammer tightly with both hands, lifted it above and over his shoulder. Its handle length appeared to increase by way of magic. The fist opened into a palm, and Darksmith then swung the weapon onto the ground with a dull clang. The floor erupted with waves that were visible to the naked eye, and also what seemed to transport a blue, flickering electric pulse down the floor of the corridor, turning the corner, out of their sight.
A few moments after the disappearance of the wave, resounding screams of pain could be heard along the corridor. Viktor led the team round the bend to discover the bodies of men in bulletproof vests and grey security fatigues littering the floor.
"Kelly." Viktor crossed over the men walking further down the corridor. "Get to work."
* * *
Xin glanced up at the twin full moons in the sky. Ahh, he thought, always a comforting sight. Eyes closed, he breathed in the dewy, cold night air of the tropical jungle that surrounded him. The crackle of thunder overhead disrupted his musings and his eyes fluttered open on a heavy sigh.
The darkness of the jungle was no match for his natural, unimpaired night vision. He saw all, from the dark African violets more than fifty feet away behind him that grew in abundance round the white building that had come under Viktor's attack, to the colorful, very venomous red and yellow coral snake nest that lay hidden beneath some loose rocks a mile in front of him.