Semyon had simply... Disappeared. One moment he had offered her a hand from their more-or-less not entirely painful crash landing, and the next, the wight had vanished into nothingness -
No, not entirely into nothingness. Veti knew that deathly cold her Russian friend had fallen into, a world within and beyond this one that a certain pink-haired BFF could slip into with an unnatural [supernatural?] ease. The werewolf could not begin to imagine what in this world Daisy could possibly want with Semyon, particularly when she seemed to despise the wight with a very special kind of hatred - but at the moment, there was really no time to dwell. He was safe - or at least safer than being caught beneath the enormous claws of a raging demigod - which was a hell of a lot more than could be said for -
What. The fucking. Hell?
The bouncing, careening headlights of a... A truck? Yes, it was a truck, some beat-up ancient piece of shit lurching toward the ravaged battlefield like some strange, geriatric cavalry. And the scene its bounding jostling headlights unveiled before her preternatural eyes sent the crimson wolf sprinting, her powerful haunches devouring the distance to her boss - her friend - and her mortal enemy.
In a motion as natural as breathing, Veti dropped the incendiary magazine from the pistol, and slammed in the silver, round chambered as she moved, her eyes never leaving the two figures those headlights illuminated, becoming brighter by the second. The loathing she had for the white wolf was visceral, needing neither reflection nor thought. Murderer, coward, beast. His life was forfeit. Her brother demanded it.
But it was Siya's exquisite, ivory face that flashed across her mind's eye as Atticus bled from innumerable cuts, retreating from the relentless onslaught of the white wolf's blade. Siya who would mourn; her precious friend who had only just found her Atticus again, who would be inconsolable, consumed by a desolate eternity without her infernal lover.
But that unthinkable moment was put off indefinitely, and quite spectacularly at that, as the ancient truck barreled into the white wolf like he wasn't much more than road kill. Damn, she couldn't help the wide, wolfish grin and the slightly maniacal laughter when she realized the fucking new guy had brains - or maybe just a touch of insanity - along with those crazy acrobatic skills.
Well, all right, just the touch of insanity then. Yeah, Veti had to give "brains" a pass as Gabe tore off the tattered shirt, sword in hand, and then... Then... Ran right by their bleeding, sliced up boss.
If she had a proper human face to palm at that moment, and even one spare second to do so? Yeah, she might have indulged herself.
Even so, Veti just couldn't help the lunatic mirth that rumbled from her throat as she slid beside her boss, one arm wrapping around his chest as she helped the incubus back-to-steady on his clawed feet. "Damn Atticus," she growled, heaving him upright though she tried like hell to avoid that tore up wing of his, "You look like shit, man. Keep bleeding out on the grass, and Siya's gonna be pissed."
The unmistakable scream of crunching, crushing metal, the teeth-grinding screech of claws rending an undercarriage to shreds stopped her laughter cold, and she ran with the incubus. Just past the hillock, the white wolf all but tore that truck in half, putting that aged, rattling old beast down for good. Pulling himself to his feet in that wreckage, the silver-edged shashka flashed in the moonlight as he stood to his full height. There was no more laughter from the white wolf now, only the promise of murder burning in his amber eyes as he lifted that ancient Cossack blade to run down Gabe -
Veti fired, the silver bullet shattering the bones in the white wolf's wrist. The shashka flew from his grip, its point buried deep in Irish soil - and not in FNG - as his shocked howl of agony gave even the Earth-ending wails of the Fenrir fair competition.
That made her smile. You had to take what joy you could at the end of the world.
But the white wolf was nowhere near done, cursing as he leapt to his claws, a dire glare for the still-living abomination and the incubus he had toyed with. But the driver was closer, that bastard who hit him with the truck, spoiling his sport - and he meant to see him his blood run over his claws before the end.
"Go for the eyes, Atticus," the werewolf growled in the incubus' ear as she reached to swiftly unfurl his one good wing. She didn't really need him to fly so much as to, well, glide a little. "Then tuck and roll. We can discuss trust issues and terminating my employment tomorrow."
"Well, you know - if it actually comes."
Veti was a crimson blur as she hurled the incubus with both clawed hands, straight into the path of the white wolf. In that split-second, she saw everything. She saw Atticus' halting flight, the distraction that would save Gabe, and the shocked roar that escaped the white wolf's maw. She saw his body twist just so, ready to swipe the demon from the sky but only exposing the width of his wide, ivory-furred chest - a perfect target.
And she saw the crimson bloom exactly where she aimed, the twin to her own silver-scarred flesh, when she pulled the trigger. The white wolf dropped, and Veti was satisfied. Yes, the world still might very well end tonight. But when she stood before the Throne of Judgment, she could say that this one thing was not left undone. That she kept faith with a brother, and that one sacred oath.
Veti strode to where the white wolf lay, mouthing a genuine, heartfelt 'Sorry' to Atticus before holding up one red claw to the FNG to back off. This fucker was hers.
The white wolf wasn't dead. Not yet. Yeah, Veti really was that good a shot. She smiled, hearing those bubbling, gurgling gasps for air as she approached. "Knife. Gun fight. Heh... " Veti slammed her knee into the white wolf's chest as she dropped, grinning as she batted aside his feeble attempts to clutch and claw at her as if he were no more than an irksome insect. "Yeah, that kiss of Luna - hurts like a bitch, doesn't it?"
The smile slid from her face, something predatory, dark and dangerous lighting her own amber eyes now. "Aislinn Hoyle was beautiful. Noble and decent, and worth a thousand of you, you worthless sack of shit."
The crimson wolf leaned forward, her voice dropping to a low, almost intimate whisper as if to a lover, her words meant only for him. "I want you to know, this is the last thing your mortal ears will ever hear. My living voice, telling you that Reginald Hoyle sent me to kill you, and that he will laugh as your soul slides to Hell. Your life meant nothing. Your death means even less. And the Teachglach Mactire still lives."
Veti pressed the muzzle of the Stetchkin between those hate-filled amber eyes, and pulled the trigger.