Fighting the Shadows

By Nicholas Windley

My book follows the life of a young man (eighteen to nineteen) as he works for a secret agency in the protection of humankind against the forces of supernatural creatures and the prevention of mankind learning about the real supernatural world. (Every supernatural creature comes from a city kilometres underground—vampires, giants, Cyclops, demons, and so forth.) This agent is code named Black because he has the power to transform to a full-sized black-scaled dragon with red eyes and purple flames. But the first time he transformed, he was trying to protect a little girl from lava lizards, huge one-ton lizards that spit lava. His powers went out of control, and he burned up the little girl. Now, he does not let a lot of people close. One night, he comes across a work site where four teenagers are being attacked by a shadow wraith (a creature of darkness that feeds on the life force of any living thing). After the attack, Agent Black takes them back to this base to get them checked, where they meet Doc, an elven doctor, and the commander, an immortal woman that has lived for more than a thousand years, and she is the head of the SNPA, the Supernatural Protection/Prevention Agency (depends on which world you come from). Soon after all this, they learn that four teenagers have the same power as Black and have the power to change into dragon (three guys, one girl—ice, earth, and fire guys, and golden magical dragon girl) and are asked to learn from Black to control their powers and protect the secret of this world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Nov 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9781669887621

Nicholas Windley

This is the first book I have written, and this means the most because it came about because of a question that was asked to my friends: if you could be any kind of dragon, what would you be? And after I took all of their answers and what they wanted to be, I turned it into this story. Most of it is fiction, but there is a small amount of truth to it, like how some of the relationships played out, and I wanted this to be the first I got published because there is a little piece of my friends in it.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

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(City at dusk

Two teenagers walking home after a long day at school in St John City; out the shadow of Angel; Demon Mountain range

One guy and one girl)

T hey were walking by a construction yard when they heard a scream, a primitive unholy sound. Then a shadow shot out of the wall nearby and grabbed the girl, pulling her towards the wall. The boy grabbed her hand, and the shadow let her go. He said, ‘Are you OK? What was that thing? I think we need to get out of here. Here, let me help you.’

As they turned around to run out of the construction yard, a red/purple mark appeared on the ground in front of them, trapping them with their backs to the wall. The mark glowed bright, and then a black smoke started pouring forth. The screaming started again as it turned into something black. The smoke formed a body first and then the wings and, finally, the head with red eyes and a red glowing mouth.

‘Sesesesese’ was the noise the creature made.

He said, ‘Get behind me.’

As the creature moved towards them, a figure jumped across the full moon. A flash of light went through the creature. As they looked up at the creature, it was half the size, with glowing objects stuck in the ground around the purple mark at the base of the creature, and it was getting smaller by the minute. As it got smaller, they saw that there was someone standing behind the creature. It was hard to see him because he was dressed in all black and it was just after dark. The creature got smaller and smaller until it was just a small black crystal no bigger than a baseball. The man in black picked up the crystal and threw it to some soldiers and said, ‘That is for the vault.’

The soldiers replied, ‘Yes, sir!’ The soldier put it in a lead box.

Black then picked up the five long white crystals and put them on his ammo belt and threw it at the nearest soldier. ‘Put that in the armoury.’

The soldier replied, ‘Yes, sir.’

Two other boys bolted through the opening in the wall and said, ‘What in the hell is going on over here? Is anyone hurt? Can we help?’

Black walked over to the guy and the girl and said, ‘No, it is all right. You’re safe now. Everything is going to be fine,’ as he took off his long black jacket and placed it over her shoulders and then led her to a black sports car, put her in the front seat, and then shut the door.

He then turned to the now three boys and said, ‘Get in the car or all of you will be taken by force from those soldiers, your change you have.’ Three seconds later, all three of them were climbing into the back seat. Black started the car and drove off, as the three boys in the back seat were wondering where they were being taken by this strange man driving the car.

The first boy asked, ‘Who are you? What was that thing? Where are you taking us?’

Black said back to the kid, ‘If I start to explain it to you now with no profile, you would think me crazy, and it is easier if I show you anyway, and it’s not like you are going to remember this night anyway.’

All the guys said, ‘What? Why? What are you going to do to us?’

Black said, ‘What? You didn’t think we would just let you walk away with knowing about us, did you?’

All of the boys said, ‘But we don’t know anything about you or the soldiers you were with or about the thing that attacked us.’

Black replied, ‘But you know about that, and if you saw us once, you may see us again, and then you might try to find us, get information on us, and then try to expose us for some big secret. And when the world finds out what we really do and what we protect it from, it will kick off a worldwide panic because things are real.’

The car raced towards an old tunnel not far out from the city. Black put his hand on the outside, and the red glowing mark was on the back of his hand. Then just before they entered the tunnel, the same mark started to glow on top of the tunnel. As the lights in the tunnel flew past and the bright city off in the distance, they suddenly stopped in the middle the road, started to move, and dropped into the ground. Once the car was completely underground, the car drove into large room filled with tanks, jets, choppers, and hundreds of soldiers in futuristic arms and weapons. Then Black drove into the hangar and got out, walked around to the passenger side door, opened the door, and helped the girl out of the car. The guy in black helped the girl of the front seat and then walked her to a door with a red cross on it, but before he took her through, the three boys jumped out of the car and ran over to him and stood in front of the door.

‘Where are you taking her? What is this place? Where are we?’

Guy in black said, ‘Now, if you don’t get out of my way, you won’t live to see the morning. Now, move to the side.’

So the three boys stepped to the side and let them -him pass through the doors, which found him into they follow them throught the long corridor with hospital rooms down both sides. The guy in black led them to a room with a man in a long white coat and pointy ears. The guy in black said, ‘Hey, Doc, I need you to find out about this girl.’

Doc said, ‘Why? What happened to her?’

Guy in black replied, ‘She was attack by a shadow wraith,’

Doc said, ‘That’s not possible. How is she still—’

Guy in black said, ‘That’s why I brought her to you because if you can’t work it out, then no one can.’

So the doctor walked over to the girl and took her back to an empty bed and laid her upon it. He looked into her eyes and then listened to her heart. After that, he went to a small computer in the wall and pushed a few buttons. A metal arm came down from the roof and laser started scanning her head to toe. As the scan data came up onto the screen—bone, blood workup, brain waves—the doctor had no idea of how she could have survived the attack as well as she did because she would have been the first to survive an attack from a shadow wraith.

Guy in black said, ‘So what have you found out about her?’

Doc said, ‘Nothing, nothing that could be said how she survived. No magic item or demon mark. Nothing at all. So I think it would be best if we keep a close eye on her. What do you think, Black?’

Guy in black said, ‘It’s your call.’

Then the doctor said, ‘So has he’—pointing at the guy in black—‘been giving you the few words that don’t make sense? Well, here it is. My code name is Doc, but you can call me Mathew, Mathew Locks. And that man over there is Agent Black, but you can call him—’

Agent Black shouted, ‘Not one more word, Doc!’

Doc continued talking. ‘OK, I won’t. That’s your job to tell them your name anyway. This is the SNPA, which stands for Supernatural Prevention Agency. We deal with the underworld or more like—’

Agent Black said, ‘We deal with vampires, werewolves, demons, zombies, or, say, if it is supernatural, we deal with it, or I do anyway. He fixes us—well, them, as in the soldiers, not so much me.’

Doc said, ‘But when you started here, you were in here twice a week.’

Then the girl started to stir. As she awoke, Doc walked over to her and asked her over and over again, ‘Can you hear me? Are you all right? Does it hurt anywhere? What’s your name?’

She replied slowly, ‘Yes . . . I . . . can . . . hear . . . No . . . doesn’t . . . hurt. My name is . . . is Zoe, Zoe Elizabeth, and you have pointy ears. Where am I? Who are you people?’

Agent Black said, ‘You’re safe here. I have to get back to work, so I’ll let your friends tell you about it. So goodnight.’

As he picked up his jacket and walked out the door, Doc started talking again. ‘And what are your names, boys?’

The first boy to speak was the one who tried to save her from the attack. He was wearing a red singlet, long cargo pants, and boots. ‘My name is Jackie Wood. I go to school with her. I was walking Zoe home.’

Then the second boy to speak was the boy in green short pants and a red zombie T-shirt. ‘I’m Chris Silcock. Same school, different class. I’ve seen them around, haven’t talked before.’

And the third boy, wearing a white jacket with blue stripes, grey shirt, and full-length jeans, did not said anything at all, so they helped him out and said that his name was Spencer Ingra.

Jackie walked over to Zoe and asked and took her hand. ‘Right, you should be OK. I need to do something. I’ll be right back.’ Then he let her hand go and walked to the door, as Doc started to explain to Zoe what had happened to her. Once Jackie was out the door, he looked left and right to see if Agent Black was still around, just to see him walk through the doors at the end of the hallway. He then ran to the doors and through them. He said, ‘Hey, Black, wait up, will you?’

Agent Black replied, ‘What?’

Jackie went on. ‘I would like to thank you for what you did for us.’

Black said, ‘Don’t bother with it. I was just doing my job, nothing to it.’

Jackie said, ‘But still, thanks. I better get back.’

Black hands him a card and replies said, ‘Hey, take this, and when you would like to go home, just give that to any soldier. They will take you home.’

As he went to walk away, Jackie said, ‘What about my friends?’

Black replied, ‘Yes, them too. Anything more you wish to add?’

Jackie said, ‘No, that’s all, and thank you again,’ and they both walked off in different directions.

A sound of a voice encode through the hangar as it played a message, ‘Black, get up here now.’

Black quietly said, ‘Oh, that’s not good.’

As he walk towards a set of stairs at the hangar, Jackie looked over the stairs and wished to see where it goes, so he went after him. He waited until he went through the door at the top and then ran up the stairs and followed him to the door, where Jackie could hear shouting of one person he didn’t know, and what he heard was she was ripping in to Black.

‘What the hell were you thinking bringing them here! You should have wiped their memory on site and then dropped them off at the nearest bus stop and left them there. That is protocol!’

Black said, ‘Are you going to listen to me or not?’

The female voice said, ‘OK, I’m listening.’

Black said, ‘I was standing on a rooftop two streets over from the construction site. We had tracked the shadow wraith to that site, and the troops were placed in three locations around the site in three different places to awaiting for nightfall so we could move in and attackI didn’t think the kids were in any danger, and then it attacked them. As it grabbed her, I saw something, and it’s hard to explain, but I think it was some sort of energy, and I only saw it in the spectrum filter, and as soon as the wraith let her go, it stopped. That’s why I acted so fast and why I brought them here, and Doc said that he can’t find that energy.’

Jackie was still listening to him talk, and softly he said, ‘Energy,’ which Black heard and knew that there was someone listening in on this conversation, and he actioned to find out who was eavesdropping on them. Black pulled his sword and ran it through the door just in front of Jackie to scare him. Black then opened the door inward to see Jackie sitting on the floor with a look of terror on his face.

Black asked, ‘Are you going to explain what you are doing listening in on our conversion conversationGet in here, will you black picked him and pulled him into the office Now, what did you hear?’

Jackie replied, ‘Nothing at all.’

Black said, ‘Don’t lie to us. What did you hear?’ as Black pulled out his sword out of the door.

Then Jackie quietly said, ‘Everything, I heard everything. Please, not my memory.’

Black said, ‘We can’t. We can only wipe out about an hour of your memories, so you would forget all of this, but you would remember the attack from the wraith, so it’s too late,’ as he put the sword back into its sheath.

‘Now, this is Commander Beck Armstrong. She is the head of the largest SNPA base in the world—this one includened, in fact.’

Jackie said, ‘Really, this is the largest base? That hangar is big huge but not that big.’

Black said, ‘That hangar is one of five hangars in this area all linked to that one,’ as he pointed the door.

Commander B Armstrong said, ‘So now you know all about us, and I would think that your friends would know most of it too. So we have two ways of dealing with people who find out about all of this: one is to get rid of you by special means and you’re dead by morning, or we give you a job and you work for us and then die two years down the track, but you never see your family again. It’s your call for you and your friends.’

Jackie asked, ‘Can I think about it?’

Commander B Armstrong replied, ‘You have until you walk down to your friends. Now, go on back to your friends.’

Jackie stood up and walked to the door and then down the stairs as slowly as possible to give him the most time to think. Black watched him walk down the stairs, and when Jackie was at the bottom, Black turned around and looked at the commander, and then both of them started laughing so hard at the fact that they were bullshitting that whole conversion conversation and Jackie had believed it all.

As Jackie walked through, Black and the commander then started heading towards the infirmary to continue with the joke on Jackie and on the others. As they walked to the room with all the teenagers in it, they both were in time just to hear the end of Jackie explain it to the rest of them. With a look on their faces like everyone in the room was about to die, the room fell silent as they were waiting to find out their fate. Then the doctor started to laugh at Black and the commander.

The teenagers were all looking around, asking, ‘What the hell is going on?’

Then the commander explained. ‘Ha, like we would hire teenagers to fight the supernatural. Are you insane? Because we’re not.’

Black said, ‘How long do you think we could have played it if the doctor had not blown it for us?’

Doctor said, ‘I couldn’t not do it with you two standing there like you’re going to kill everyone in the room, and the look on your faces.’

Jackie said, ‘So you’re not going kill us or hire us?’

Black said, ‘No way. We don’t hire humans. All the soldiers out there, they are all the soldiers that have died.’

Chris asked, ‘So, what, they are all zombies?’

Doctor said, ‘The suits stop them from rotting after and stop them smelling too.’

Black said, ‘And they don’t eat, drink, sleep, and die, and demons hate them, so they’re the perfect soldiers, and they could have anything they want for themselves, and they can take a bullet or a laser around.’

Jackie asked, ‘So what’s going to happen to us?’

Commander replied, ‘Absolutely nothing. As soon as the doctor says you’re good to go’—she pointed at Zoe—‘we will take you home, all of you, just say the word.’

Chris asked, ‘Um, can I be driven home by a zombie, please? . . . What? It’s a fair question.’

Commander replied, ‘Um, why not? It’s a bit of a slow night anyway. So, is she good to go?’

The doctor walked over to a small refrigerator, opened it, and took out four bottles of water and handed one to each of them and told them to drink up.

Black said, ‘Doc, they’re good to go. Zoe, Jackie, you’re with me. Chris and Spence, take one of the zombie soldiers and one of the jeeps so you can head home. Stay in link with the comms system in the jeep. Let’s go.’

Jackie quietly said to Zoe, ‘Are you sure you are OK?’

Zoe replied, ‘Yeah, I’m fine. Why?’

Jackie said, ‘No reason.’

After walking back out into the hangar and loading up in the cars, they drove towards the secret exit in the mountain.

Jackie asked, ‘So, what are you?’

Black replied, ‘SNPA has classes.’

Zoe asked, ‘Like a school or something, a place to learn?’

Jackie Blacksaid, ‘No, more like how we fight. You have angel class, which are the ones who very have wings of any kind. Then you have your were class, things that get their power from the full moon, like werewolves and werelizards, that kind of things. Shadow class are the ones who can’t go out in the sunlight. Vampires are the main ones. The undead class are all the soldiers we use, and, not to forget, the aqua class, which are all fish people. Some of the most powerful are star class. They use magic or energy. Plus the blood class is where you are half of something else, animals or demon.’

Zoe asked, ‘So, what type are you?’

Black replied, ‘I’m X class. I’m the guy they send in to deal with the big problems. I’m like the one-man army, and I like to work solo anyway. So where do you two live again?’

Zoe thought, As we zipped through the city streets, I found my mind thinking about all that I had learned today. There is a whole other world, and millions of people don’t even know about it or that it’s real.

As they pulled up in front of both their houses both Zoe and Jackie got out, Jackie asked, ‘Will we ever see you again?’

Black replied, ‘Maybe. See you when I see you,’ then drove off down the road.

Black said, ‘The package has been dropped. Memory will be gone by morning.’

Commander Armstrong ‘Mind agent confirmed can you confirm It is done’, Black, as a female in combat clothing sitting in the front seat of car said, ‘Commander I can confirm it, they won’t remember a thing. Siy, out.’

CHAPTER 2

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T he next morning at sunrise, Jackie woke up and went for a run out the house, down the road, through the park, down along the train tracks, and then back home, as he did every day, and got ready for school. As he walked out the front door, he saw Zoe down the street on her way to school. Jackie said, ‘Hey, wait up. So, did you do the homework last night?’

Zoe said, ‘Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing.’

Jackie, ‘What? You haven’t done the homework? That is not like you. What happened?’

Zoe replied, ‘I don’t know. I can’t remember.’

Jackie, ‘Well, no harm, we can do it at school.’

High on a rooftop out of sight, Black was watching the two of them. ‘This is watch team one. The mind wipe is holding on one and two. Watch team two and three (with two soldiers), report in on targets three and four.’

‘Sir, team two reporting that target three’s mind wipe is holding.’

‘Sir, team three, target four’s mind wipe is intact.’

‘Watch them until sunset, but stay out of sight. That is an order. Team one, out.’

Seven hours later, school was let out for the day. Black was still watching them to find out what they are and how they fit in to his world. ‘Commander, my report: they are not a class of any kind.’

Commander asked, ‘Black, are they X class?’

Black replied, ‘Unknown. Four hours until sunset, confirm by then.’

Commander said, ‘Acknowledged.’

As Zoe and Jackie walked the same way home as they do every day before, Black watched them closer to see if the mind wipe will hold as they walk past the construction yard. As they walked past the opening in the fence, Black held his breath, but nothing—they had forgotten it all and would never remember it.

A moment of silence over this town, and then boom through the building, down the street to Zoe and Jackie. As the dust fell, a 3m metre creature with a bull’s head stood on its two back legs and holding a steel beam in its hand. It smelt the air and looked down the road towards the two of them and then roared and ran at Jackie and Zoe. Closer and closer the creature came, and then it all just stopped. Time froze as they both looked at each other, scared of what this thing was suddenly . Bang as a tank shell, exploded and hit the creature in the face to knock it off balance and sending it fly into the side of the building.

Black jumped down off the roof, onto the road. He pulled his sword and activated a homing tracker and throw it at Zoe. Blackshouted as he landed, ‘You two, run! Get to the tanks. When you get there, tell Siy to undo what she did. Now, go!’ a huge tank drove down the street.

The creature crushes out of the building runs at black swung the beam into Black and sent him up through the building across street . Then the creature went for Zoe and Jackie one more time, the menator roared and smashing everything in its path the soilders pulled Zoe and Jackie into the tank and drive off with them. Black jumped out of the building, shot a purple-and-black fireball into his hand, threw it at the creature, headed straight for the menator, and punched it in the head. Afterwards, he jumped backwards and threw his sword into the air, jumping after it, and kicked the sword into the creature’s chest. As it landed on the road, he ran and uppercut the creature in the face. As it fell back, Black pulled his sword out of the creature and then jumped over its head, landed on its back, and then ran his sword through the back of the neck, killing the creature. He jumped off the creature and ran down the road to find Zoe and Jackie.

Zoe and Jackie the tankhad driven them a few kilometres away when black count up with them up. Jackie said, ‘Is there a Siy on board? Because some guy told us to find you as he was fighting some big monster.’

A small woman dressed in combat gear stepped forward. ‘And what do I need to do?’

Jackie replied, ‘He said to undo what you did.’

Black climbs into the tank

Black ‘hey I need you to undo what you did to right now because that menator was clearly going after them and it will take to long to tell them everything all over again’

Siy said, ‘fine you two Sit down they is something I need to do.’ As they sat, Siy put her hands on their foreheads, and she unlocked their memories.

Zoe said, ‘We need to find Chris and Spence, and where is Black?’

Black jumps into the drive sitBlack ‘Drive. I’m on board. Commander, two class X confirmed. Waiting to confirm other two as X class. Siy, talk to your sister, get their location.’

One of the soldiers said, ‘Sir, we have two unknown targets. They’re airborne, moving fast.’

Siy said, ‘I have the information from Flashback, and the targets are heading for our targets.’

Black said, ‘I’ll take out the far one, you get to the close one, and after, get to the base. I will meet you there. Open the top door.’

Black jumps out of the drive sit climbed out onto the roof of the tank. Then with purple and black flames over his arms, legs, and face, he grew bigger and, as his skin turned black, grew two wings and a tail. He jumped high over the city and then flew straight at the creature. With his sword drawn, he flew faster and faster at the creature until he smashing into the creature, pushing it into the side of the building. He was piercing and pinning it to the building. Black stabbed it, and then he roared and shot fire at it. The creature was incinerated. Black then turned back into a human being shout of breath he repost in.

Breathing soundly, he said, ‘The . . . target . . . is gone. Going for our target now.’

Siy asked, ‘were you too late to turn back?’

Black replied, ‘No I’m fine. I just flown too fast that’s all.’

Black pulled the sword out of the wall and fell thirty storeys and landed on the footpath in front of Chris. Black said, ‘You don’t know me, but things are trying to kill you. Get in the tank when it gets here.’

Chris said, ‘Done.’

Black asked, ‘What? No question?’

Chris replied, ‘You’re holding a sword and telling me to get in a tank. I don’t need to know any more than that.’

The tank screeched in and out of the road and stopped in the middle of the road. Black said, ‘That’s us. Siy, can you undo mind wipe on them?’

Siy said, ‘No. Flashback will have to do it for them.’

Black said, ‘Back to base, and step on it.’

Jackie and Zoe both asked, ‘What class are we under—angel, star, what?’

Black replied, ‘You’re X class. That means that we have no know what you what you are but the fact is you might have great power in you now we need you get you back to base .’

Soldier said, ‘Sir, we have three hours until nightfall. Orders?’

Black replied, ‘Get all bases on full throttle, and get the soldiers on the street and a citywide message for all situation stations to get everyone out of the city, and say that the nuclear reactor is going into meltdown,’ and then said quietly, ‘It is going to be a long night.’Ten minutes later, the tank entered the secret tunnel in the mountain. Black said, ‘Soldier, how long until the city is clear?’

Soldier replied, ‘Sixty per cent of the city’s streets are clear, and the other 40 per cent will be clear in an hour, and all troops have been deployed.’

Commander Armstrong ‘what the hell is happening I’ve never seen this kind of thing creatures attacking humans in broad day light you were right to call for a evacuasion’

Black walked over to the armoury, picked up four black combat suits, and then threw them at them. ‘Put them on. It will stop most things.’ He picked up two guns and ammo boxes. ‘Flashback, undo the mind wipe on those two.’ He then gave the guns, put the boxes on the floor, and went back and did it again. ‘So here is the plan. You shoot and try to stay alive. Everyone clear on the plan? Good. Now I’m going to turn into a dragon and go kill everything outside. Good luck.’

Siy said, ‘What? You’re not going leave them unprotected here, are you? They would be dead by midnight."

Black replied, ‘I’m going outside to the top mountain to be the front line, and I will be dead before I let anything get in here.’

Siy said, ‘But that might not be your choice.’

Black said, ‘And what would you have me do—babysit them? If I’m in the front line, they may survive this. If I’m down here, they wouldn’t.’ He shouted out loud, ‘All of you, stay alive until morning. Shoot anything that moves.’ Lowering his voice, he told Siy, ‘Please, just do this for me.’ He walked over to a big lever and pulled it down to open a giant door pointed at the sky. ‘It’s time.’

He walked away from the group and stood in an empty bay, lifted his arms, straightened his body, and burst into purple-and-black flame, small at first and then fully engulfing him in a spinning ball of fire. Then the ball started to rise into the air. It created the shape of a dragon with the wings first. The legs and tail were next; afterwards, the arms, and, finally, the head. As the flames grew smaller as the fires turned into scales, they saw his true form—a dragon that stood about thirty metres tall to which he spread his wings and flew up through the opened hangar door.

He stood at the top of the mountain to the see the last minutes of sunlight and the moments of peace and quiet before samething was about to happen . The city had no lights on to keep all the people how live they who lived they out of sight and from seeing all that they weredo . It was a full moon, and it made the city glow. As the sun set on that part of the world, the creatures came out of their hiding holes and headed into the city streets as a swarm of flying watchful eyes gazed above the city to seek out the teenagers . Boom, the sound of tanks firing in city. The flashes of guns lit up the city in the dark. Howls, roars, and shouting encode echoed through the city. As Black watched the flying eyes, he saw something in all the chaos—someone in the middle of it all controlling all the creatures, but he couldn’t see who it is.

‘Code black, code black. Drop the fireball,’ one of the soldiers said over the comms system.

Black was about to take off and help. ‘If I save the city, then I kill in the base . . . Computer, lock down the base. Code: alpha, two, omega, forty-three. Authorisation, Black X one.’ He flew into the night sky as he weaved in and out of the buildings, lighting the hordes of creature on fire.

Minutes after the call for help, half of the city streets were in flame. Then Black looked to the skies to see hundreds of glowing eyes flying in a ring, flying at him like they were shot out of a canon. Black set himself on fire and flew into the swarm, and the eyes began to burn. As he entered the centre of the swarm of eyes and met face to face with the flying creatures, Black shouted, ‘Who are you! Who sent you!’

The creature replied, ‘I serve my master, as do all of us. I’m Brawley.’

Black thought, What does it mean? Satan? Wait, Satan doesn’t have the power to control the supernatural, so who is controlling them now?

Brawley said, ‘It’s not me or my master you should be thinking about. It’s the ultimate power we seek.’

Black said, ‘Power? What power? The four teenagers what are they, and how can they be used as the ultimate weapons and the greatest devastation since hell broke open.’

Back at the base, there were banging and screeching on the metal doors around the base and the sound of metal being ripped open. As the werewolves ripped open the steel wall, hundreds of wolves ran into the base. Siy, Flashback, and the four teenagers opened fire on the werewolves and tried to hold them back, but the werewolves’ number soon overwhelmed them and surround them all of them over willed be which they were surrounded. Their eyes were full of rage, and as they growled at the humans, showing their fangs, a single howl rang out. As the werewolves parted into groups, lowering their heads, the humans saw a girl walking towards them, with the two biggest werewolves following her. She spoke. ‘Give me one reason why I should let you live.’

Jackie pointed her gun at her and said, ‘Funny, I was going to say the same thing to you.’

The two big werewolves moved closer to her, growling. She slowly put her hands in front of them and said to the humans, ‘If you shoot me, my friends will rip you apart like a rag doll, and then I will walk out of here unharmed and without a care.’

On the outside of the base, Black was in the centre of