Authors: Darren Shan
Wolf Island
Copyright © 2008 by Darren Shan
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced,
distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
Little, Brown and Company
Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Visit our Web site at
www.HachetteBookGroup.com
Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
First eBook Edition: April 2009
First published in Great Britain by Collins in 2008
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental
and not intended by the author.
ISBN: 978-0-316-07346-2
Contents
THIS IS THE END, BEAUTIFUL FRIEND
Also in
THE DEMONATA
series:
Lord Loss (Book 1)
Demon Thief (Book 2)
Slawter (Book 3)
Bec (Book 4)
Blood Beast (Book 5)
Demon Apocalypse (Book 6)
Death’s Shadow (Book 7)
For:
Bas – managing director of Shan Island
OBEs (Order of the Bloody Entrails) to:
Csilla and Gabor – Budapest’s best!
Head Lab Technician:
Stella Paskins
Board of Governors:
The Christopher Little Lambs
A
FIVE-HEADED
demon with the body of a giant earwig bears down on me. I leap high into the air and unleash a paralyzing spell. The demon
stiffens, quivers wildly, then collapses. Its brittle legs shatter beneath the weight of its oversized body. Beranabus and
Kernel move in on the helpless bug. I follow halfheartedly, stifling a yawn. Just another dull day at the office.
One of the demon’s heads looks like a crow, another a vulture, while the rest look like nothing on Earth. It opens its birdlike
beak and squirts a thick green liquid. Beranabus ducks swiftly, but the spit catches Kernel’s right arm. His flesh bubbles
away to the bone. Cursing with more irritation than pain, he uses magic to cleanse his flesh and repair the damage.
“We could do with a bit of help here,” Kernel growls as I stroll after them.
“I doubt it,” I grunt, but break into a jog, just in case the demon’s tougher than we anticipated. Wouldn’t want to let the
team down.
The earwig unleashes another ball of spit at Beranabus. The elderly magician flicks a hand at the liquid, which rebounds over
the demon’s heads. It screams with shock and then agony. Kernel, back to full health, freezes the acidic spit before it fries
the creature’s brains. We want this ugly baby alive.
I leap onto the demon’s back. Its shell is slimy beneath my bare feet. Stinks worse than a thousand sweaty armpits. But in
this universe that doesn’t even begin to approach the boundaries of disgusting. I confronted a demon made of vomit a few months
ago. The only way to subdue it was to suck on the strands of puke and sap it of its strength. Yum!
This wasn’t a career move. I didn’t read a prospectus and go, “Hmm, drinking demon puke… I could do that!” Life just led me
here. I’m a magician, and if you’re born with a power like mine, you tend to get drawn into the war with the Demonata hordes.
I fought my destiny for a long time, but now I grudgingly accept it and get on with the job at hand.
The earwig shudders, overcoming my paralyzing spell. It tries to buck me off, but I dig my toes in and drive a fist through
the shell. I let magical warmth flood from my fingers. An electric shock crackles through the demon. It squeals, then collapses
limply beneath me.
Beranabus and Kernel face the demon’s vulture-like head and interrogate it. I stay perched on its back, hand immersed in its
gooey flesh, green blood staining my forearm, nose crinkled against the stench.
“What is it?” Beranabus shouts, punching the twisted head, then grabbing the beak. “What’s its real name? Where’s it from?
How powerful is it? What are its plans?” He releases his hold and waits for an answer.
The demon only moans in response. There are thousands of demon languages. I can’t speak any, but there are spells you can
cast to understand them. I generally don’t bother. I’m sure this demon knows no more about the mysterious Shadow than any
of the hundreds we’ve tormented over the last however many months that we’ve been on this wild goose chase.
The Shadow is the name we’ve given to a demon of immense power. It’s a massive, pitch-black beast, seemingly stitched together
out of patches of shadow, with hundreds of snake-like tentacles. Beranabus thinks it’s the greatest threat we’ve ever faced.
Lord Loss — an old foe of mine — said the Shadow was going to destroy the world. When a demon master makes a prediction like
that, only a fool doesn’t take note.
We’ve been searching for the monster ever since we first encountered it in a cave, on a night when I lost my brother, but
saved the world. We’ve been trying to find out more about it by torturing creatures like this giant earwig. We know the Shadow
has assembled an army of demons, promising them the destruction of mankind and even the end of death itself. But we don’t
know who it is, where it comes from, exactly how powerful it is.
“This is your last chance,” Beranabus growls, taking a step back from the earwig. “Tell us what you know or we’ll kill you.”
The demon makes a series of spluttering noises. Beranabus and Kernel listen attentively while I scratch my neck and yawn again.
“The same old rubbish,” Kernel murmurs when the demon finishes.
“Unless it’s lying,” Beranabus says without any real hope.
The earwig babbles rapidly, panicked.
“Spare you?” Beranabus muses, as if it’s a novel idea. “Why should we?”
More squeaks and splutters.
“Very well,” Beranabus says after a short pause. “But if you discover something and don’t tell us…” There’s no need for him
to finish. The magician is feared in this universe of horrors. The earwig knows the many kinds of hell we could put it through.
I withdraw my hand from the hole in the earwig’s shell and jump to the ground. We’re in a gloomy realm, no sun in the dark
purple sky. The land around us is like a desert. I make my hand hard and jab it into the dry earth, over and over, cleaning
the green blood from my skin. Kernel opens a window while I’m doing that. When I’m ready, we step through into the next zone,
in search of more demons to pump for information about the elusive, ominous Shadow.
S
IX
demons later, we rest for a while on a deserted asteroid in the blackest depths of demonic space, each of us sheltered by
a magical force field that provides oxygen and warmth. Beranabus creates a few balls of light, directing the rays down, shielding
us from any passers-by. In this universe you’re never safe, even in areas usually devoid of life.
You don’t have to sleep, eat, or drink much here, but it helps to rest every so often and recharge your batteries. I haven’t
been to this spot before, so I go on a stroll in case there’s anything worth seeing. We’ve cut a wild, meandering route through
demon territories since I linked up with Beranabus. He’s worried that Lord Loss or others of the Shadow’s forces are tracking
us, so we’ve kept on the move, hopefully several steps ahead of any pursuers.
