CHAPTER 106: THE FIRST VICTORY

Brock POV

The vampire’s scream cut through the night as a Void Walker’s shadow tentacles wrapped around her chest, pulling her into the darkness that wasn’t quite darkness.

"No!" I roared, flinging myself forward with werewolf speed. My claws raked across the creature’s form, but it was like trying to grab smoke. The vampire - Sarah, I think her name was - disappeared into the Void Walker’s hungry maw with one last frightened shriek.

That made twelve fighters we’d lost in the past hour.

"Brock, fall back!" Marcus, the witch commander, yelled from behind a crumbling wall. "We need to regroup!"

Regroup? We’d been gathering for three days straight while these monsters ate our people. I was done running.

Around me, the battlefield looked like a nightmare. Werewolves fought alongside vampires, witches cast spells next to fae fighters, and humans with blessed weapons tried to hold the line. It should have been impossible - all these supernatural animals working together. A month ago, we’d been foes. Now we were the only thing standing between the Void Walkers and total destruction.

The partnership had seemed like such a good idea when we’d first formed it. Pool our powers, combine our magic, fight as one. But watching another werewolf from the River Pack get pulled into darkness, I wondered if we were just making it easier for the Void Walkers to kill us all at once.

A huge shadow loomed over me. This Void Walker was different from the others - bigger, with eyes like burning stars and a mouth that seemed to hold an entire universe of hunger. It spoke in a voice that sounded like dying worlds.

"Little wolf," it hissed. "You taste of desperation. Delicious."

I shifted into my wolf form, my body expanding with strength and fur. In wolf shape, I was twice the size of an average werewolf, strong enough to rip through steel. But against these creatures, I felt like a puppy.

The Void Walker hit with tentacles of pure darkness. I dodged left, then right, my improved reflexes barely keeping me alive. Behind me, I heard Marcus chanting in the old language, trying to make a protection spell strong enough to actually hurt these things.

"Brock!" A familiar voice made my heart skip. Luna, the vampire queen, landed beside me with inhuman ease. Blood dripped from claw marks on her pale arms. "The spell’s almost ready, but Marcus needs more time!"

"How much time?" I growled, snapping at another shadow arm.

"Two minutes!"

The Void Walker laughed, a sound like broken glass. "Two minutes? You won’t last two seconds."

It was probably right. But I’d been protecting people my whole life. That’s what we werewolves do - we guard the pack, even when the pack includes vampires and witches and creatures we’d never trusted before.

The monster lunged forward, and I met it head-on.

Pain burst through my body as shadow-claws raked across my ribs. I bit down on whatever passed for the creature’s arm, tasting something like ice and dread. The Void Walker shrieked and threw me away like a rag doll.

I hit the ground hard, feeling bones crack. My wolf form flickered, threatening to fall back into human shape. Around me, the battle raged on. A fae warrior named Thorne was painting silver symbols in the air, his power creating barriers of light. A witch called Elena was throwing fireballs that actually seemed to hurt the Void Walkers, though they reformed seconds later.

But we were losing. For every small win, the darkness claimed two more fighters.

"Thirty seconds!" Marcus yelled.

The big Void Walker turned toward the witch, recognizing the real threat. It started moving toward Marcus, shadow tentacles whipping out to clear a way.

I couldn’t let it reach him. Not when we were so close.

Forcing myself back to my feet, I howled - a sound that echoed across the battlefield and made every supernatural thing look up. It was the werewolf call for final fight. The sound we made when we chose to die fighting rather than let evil win.

Other werewolves answered my call. Vampires hissed in unity. Witches raised their hands in salute. Even the proud fae fighters nodded with respect.

Together, we charged.

What happened next was the most beautiful and terrible thing I’d ever seen. Every magical creature on the battlefield forgot their old hatreds and became one fighting force. Vampire speed mixed with werewolf strength. Witch magic boosted by fae power. Human courage backed by inhuman skills.

The Void Walkers, for the first time, looked shocked.

"Now!" Marcus screamed.

Light burst from his position - not the clean light of day, but something deeper. The combined magical force of dozens of supernatural beings, all focused into one spell. The light hit the Void Walkers like a physical force, and they screamed in voices that hurt to hear.

The big creature that had been about to kill Marcus twisted in pain, its form becoming less solid. "Impossible," it gasped. "The barriers... they should prevent..."

"The barriers are breaking down," Marcus said, his voice carrying across the battlefield even though he was whispering. "Magic is changing. And you monsters aren’t the only ones who can change."

The light grew brighter, and one by one, the Void Walkers began to dissolve. Not disappear - melt, like sugar in water. They screamed and clawed at reality itself, but they couldn’t stop it.

We’d won. Our first real win against the Void Walkers.

The celebration lasted exactly thirty seconds.

"Brock," Luna said, her voice strange. "Look at Marcus."

I turned toward the witch leader, expecting to see exhaustion or relief. Instead, I saw something that made my blood freeze.

Marcus was glowing. Not with magic - with the same dark energy we’d just seen from the Void Walkers. His eyes had become bottomless pits, and when he smiled, his teeth looked like they belonged in a fantasy.

"Thank you," he said in a voice that rang with hungry darkness. "I couldn’t have absorbed their power without your help."

The spell hadn’t destroyed the Void Walkers.

It had fed them to Marcus.

And now, looking at the witch who’d been commanding our forces, I understood we’d been fighting the wrong enemy all along.

Marcus lifted his hands, and shadow tentacles began sprouting from his fingers.

"Now," he said with a grin that would haunt my dreams forever, "let’s discuss the real plan."