I should have kept the gun. The pavement is cracked in little fissures breaking out from my body. I feel myself bleed.
�It�s not personal, my dear.� His teeth are gleaming white in the lamplight. Kneeling beside me, I can almost see him smile. �You were merely a pawn. It is he who must pay for shaming me.�
The voice sounds familiar, but I can�t place it. I don�t care. I want to leap forward and wipe that facetious grin off his face. I try to pull myself up. Sharp stabbing lights pierce my eyes, pound through my skull and wedge themselves like needles in my back. I can hardly breathe.
�So be a good girl and just stay put.�
I saw Maxis fall. He�s a still heap in the corner of my eye. I have to move, do something. Fear is a cold weight around me, the pain a sparkling counterpoint. I�m caught between, willing my body to act. Maxis can�t take another hit like the last one. He doesn�t heal like me. The thought is spinning pain laced circles through my mind. He doesn�t heal like me. He doesn�t�
The werewolf stands.
�Leave him the fuck alone you asshole!� I try to yell, but I end up groaning instead. The blood has slowed. In half form, my body heals even faster than usual. I don�t know when he became a friend. I feel something warm run down my face and I realize I�m crying. Shit. The wind has stilled to nothing. It�s quiet. Too quiet.
The werewolf starts walking towards Maxis. He hasn�t moved. I feel it first, a breeze tickling my skin. The air gets colder.
�You know, it�s almost disappointing you won�t be conscious to witness your final defeat.� The werewolf says, standing a few feet from Maxis�s prone body. Just let him keep talking. I�m breathing easier now. If he keeps talking, maybe I�ll heal enough to move again.
The wind picks up, flying through my blood matted fur. The sound starts as a rumble. I feel my fur rise as the air changes. It smells almost like a storm. I can hear my heart beat. Then the wind is tearing past me, past the werewolf�s feet, tossing up leaves and pieces of trash as it starts to spin.
�A simple student wizard can hardly match the skill of a professional.� The werewolf is still talking. It�s like he is in love with the sound of his own voice. The wind is forming a vortex around Maxis� prone body. �Though it was a laudable attempt. Had we met in different circumstances, maybe��
�Shut up.� The voice comes low, almost a whisper, but harsher. Maxis shakes, then starts to rise. I hear a pop, and then the shatter of broken glass as sparks fly across the pavement. The streetlights have blown. It�s darker, almost spooky with only the lanterns shining.
My fur, my hair, it�s all standing on end now. So is the werewolf�s . His back is mostly to me, so I can�t see his face. But he�s quiet now. Maxis stands up completely. His eyes open and they are a shifting sea of electricity. No whites. No cornea. Just unending blue. They crackle. Implacable. Deadly. Like the shifting element they represent. The wind twists around him.
A part of me is afraid. I don�t even see him move. I hear the crunch and squish of breaking bones. Nobody should be able to hit that hard. I can smell electricity as the werewolf flails his arms out as his body folds into Maxis. The wind is pushing, pounding. My tears have long since been snatched away.
I watch in shock as Maxis lifts the nine foot werewolf over his head as though it weighs nothing. Then his weight shifts and the werewolf is driven into the ground, headfirst, like a stake. The pavement cracks. I wince.
�Now, how do you like it?� Maxis says. He hasn�t raised his voice. He isn�t really asking a question.
Then the werewolf is flying again as Maxis kicks him with enough force to throw him out of the hole his body had created. Maxis walks towards the werewolf, now laying in a heap on the ground. The werewolf starts to pull himself up onto one arm, his yellow eyes glaring. Maxis throws another lightening series of kicks, forcing the werewolf to his feet. There is a dull thud as each one impacts, followed by a rush of wind.