Jekyll & Hyde Inc.

The remaining wolves hit the Hydes low, going for the groin or an exposed leg muscle. Daniel and Tina stood their ground and hacked and stabbed at everything that came within range. The gray-furred shapes surrounded them, coming at them from every side at once, but never making a sound. Silver knives backed by Hyde muscles plunged in and out of the lean wolf bodies, forced all the way in till they slammed to a halt against the heavy hilts. The blades were sharp enough to cut like razors, and heavy enough to shear through bones as well as flesh. Dark blood spurted on the night air and rained down onto the grass, and the werewolves finally howled in pain and fury as they realized the wounds they took from the silver blades weren’t healing. The pack circled Daniel and Tina, darting in to bite and claw before pulling back again, evading the silver blades and doing their utmost to keep the Hydes off-balance.

Daniel and Tina moved quickly to stand back-to-back, lashing about them with undiminished strength and speed. The wolves were moving so quickly now they were just a gray blur in the moonlight, changing direction so suddenly the Hydes were never sure where the snapping teeth and tearing claws were coming from, and it took everything Daniel and Tina had, just to keep up with them.

Daniel plunged his silver blade deep into gray-furred sides, searching for the heart, while Tina’s blade flashed fiercely as it cut the throats of wolves that got too close. Werewolves fell dying to the blood-soaked grass in a sprawl of gray fur and clawed paws, but were pitifully human by the time they lay still. The last of the wolves gave up all thought of tactics and threw themselves bodily at the Hydes, desperate to drag them down and finish them.

Huge fangs tore through Daniel’s jacket and savaged the flesh beneath, while terrible claws raked bloody furrows in Tina’s bare arms. The Hydes laughed in the wolves’ faces and kept on fighting. Hate and stubbornness kept them going, long after strength and courage might have failed them. Hyde blood rained down onto the grass, to mingle with that of the wolves, and sometimes Daniel or Tina would cry out from shock or pain, but their silver knives never slowed or faltered as they killed one alpha wolf after another. This was their last fight, the end of their war against the monster Clans, and they were damned if they’d lose now after having come so far.

In the end the wolves lost because they were all attack and no defense. They were too used to surviving whatever wounds they took, as long as that brought them to the kill. It had been a really long time since they’d had to face silver knives in the hands of those who knew how to use them and had the guts to go head to head with werewolves. And it did help that the Hydes’ wounds closed and healed when the wolves’ didn’t. The werewolves threw themselves at Daniel and Tina again and again with increasing desperation, a raging storm of teeth and claws—but the Hydes stood firm and met them with cold silver and colder determination. They were beyond hot blood; they were in the killing place now. And for all the wolves’ strength and speed and fury, they were the ones who died, while the Hydes didn’t.

One last wolf finally got close enough to hit Daniel square in the chest and bowl him over. The two of them went sprawling on the blood-soaked grass, and the werewolf locked its jaws on Daniel’s shoulder and shook him like a dog shakes a rat. Daniel gritted his teeth and plunged his knife into the werewolf’s ribs again and again, until finally he pierced its heart and a dead human body collapsed on top of him. Daniel heaved it off and lurched to his feet, blood streaming down from his savaged shoulder. He looked round just in time to see Tina thrust her silver knife deep into a werewolf’s throat, almost cutting its head off before it finally collapsed.

And that was the end of the alpha wolves. Daniel saw the blood dripping from Tina’s many wounds and stumbled over to hold her; it was a sign of how exhausted she was that she let him. They leaned heavily on each other, breathing hard. Blood from their injuries dripped down onto the trampled grass, but already the wounds were closing and their heads were clearing. Tina pushed Daniel away and checked him over carefully, searching for any wound that hadn’t closed, any sign that the werewolves might have infected him with their change . . . but all the wounds were gone, even the deep bite on Daniel’s shoulder. He looked Tina over too, and then they both smiled and relaxed, as it became clear they felt no fire in their blood, no fury in the soul, and that the moonlight was just moonlight. Daniel sighed, and stretched slowly.

“It seems Hydes are immune.”

“Well,” said Tina. “That’s good to know.”

They looked at the human bodies piled up around them. The last alphas of the werewolf clan, come to a very final end on the blood-soaked grass. Daniel and Tina looked at each other, and laughed out loud.