Shadow's End (Elder Races, #9)(76)

Everything exploded.

As Malphas whirled to kick at Julian, Graydon leaped on the Djinn, fangs and talons out. While he tore at the Djinn’s physical form, he used his Power like a battering ram, bludgeoning Malphas with raw brute force.

It was an inelegant attack, but it was all Graydon had to use against him.

As fast as he tore wounds into Malphas, they closed again. Abandoning his kick, Malphas rounded on him with an inhuman snarl and bludgeoned him back, with a roundhouse punch fueled and magnified by his own Power.

If the blow had connected, it would have crushed Graydon’s face. At the last moment, he jerked to one side, and the blow caught him along the side of his head.

Pain exploded in his skull, and his ear rang. Savagely, he sank his teeth into the side of the Djinn’s neck and tore away a chunk of flesh. It melted to nothing as he spat it out, the gaping wound at Malphas’s neck healing over.

Vaguely, he was aware of Malphas kicking at the dark, armored figure at his feet.

Then Constantine fell on them from the sky, the weight of his body slamming them both to the ground. With a harsh eagle’s cry, Rune joined them, driving his lethal gryphon’s beak into the Djinn’s body. Constantine shouted something, but Graydon couldn’t make out what. The ringing in his ear was too loud.

Power gathered nearby, a great deal of it. Carling crouched a few yards away, hands up as she whispered an incantation. Graydon caught a glimpse of her face. She looked tense and afraid.

He had just enough time to think, well, shit. This is going to get a whole lot worse.

Malphas howled in rage. The Djinn’s body heaved, and erupted.

Julian might have him trapped and embodied, but he never had been human. Like the illusion that it was, his human form melted. His body grew larger, and tentacles with spikes exploded from his center.

Many tentacles, with needle-sharp spikes. Julian flung his legs around one tentacle, keeping a death grip on it. He was a big, heavy man, and he carried an extra forty to fifty pounds in armor, but despite his weight, the tentacle lifted him into the air and slammed him into the rocky ground with a crash that Graydon felt at the back of his teeth.

Rune shouted, “Watch out!”

Constantine curled and twisted at the same time, narrowly escaping the tentacle that drove toward him. He slammed his booted foot repeatedly at the tentacle, until it appeared to snap.

It reformed, flowing back into the monster’s body.

They had pissed Malphas off, but they weren’t killing him. Graydon wasn’t even sure they were hurting him. Djinn were creatures of Power and spirit, not flesh.

“When you tear off pieces of his body, throw them toward me,” Carling shouted. “Otherwise, he’ll just keep re-forming!”

Throw pieces of the Djinn at the witch. Got it.

With a roar, he tore into Malphas’s new monster body, ripped away a tentacle and tossed it at Carling. She flung out one hand, fingers splayed. Power shot out from her palm like a fireball and obliterated the tentacle before it could melt and flow back into the Djinn’s body.

That hurt him.

Malphas’s howling raised in tone, until it sounded like the whistle of a gigantic teakettle. The sound split the air, driving like a spike into Graydon’s good ear.

As the sound increased, the monster’s body began to heat, until a light poured out that was so bright, Graydon had to squint to endure it. The heat increased until the Djinn felt like a burning flame.

All the while, his immense body boiled and convulsed. The three gryphons tore pieces off the monster, flinging them at Carling. Most of the time, she struck them with a ball of Power, but sometimes she missed, and they flowed back into the Djinn.

Tentacles flailed, driving spikes toward each of the men. One tentacle snaked around Graydon’s waist before he could deflect it, lifting him bodily to slam him repeatedly into the rocks. He felt ribs snap and coughed in breathless anguish.

The heat turned unbearable. He felt his skin sear where he came in contact with the Djinn.

Someone shouted. Not the teakettle. One of them.

Julian was bellowing in agony.

How long could the Vampyre bear to hold on?

If he lost his hold, they lost Malphas. He couldn’t get away. He couldn’t.

The battle hadn’t lasted for very long, but it felt like it had been going on forever. With renewed frenzy, Graydon tore at the monster, gouging huge chunks out of his flesh.

The monster heaved, flipping over completely, knocking them all to shit. At the same time it speared Rune high in one thigh. As Rune roared, it flung him with such vicious force so that Rune slammed into a waist-high boulder half submerged in water. His head snapped back, and he slid into the icy water.

Screaming, Carling lunged after him.

Graydon had just torn a tentacle from the monster’s body. The physical shape flowed away from his grasp, back into Malphas’s body.

At the same moment, Peacekeeper war mages raced onto the scene while medics jumped into the water to help Carling pull an unconscious Rune to shore.

“Over here!” one of the Peacekeepers shouted, his hands up and beckoning.

Graydon twisted at the waist. His broken ribs ground together: more agony. This nightmarish bastard had to die. Growling, he tore off another tentacle with his teeth and flung it over his shoulder at the Peacekeeper.

Constantine shouted. Even though the other sentinel strained against the monster, so close the two men could have touched, he fought on the side of Graydon’s deafened ear. His shout sounded like it came from a great distance.