He didn’t understand it, but he didn’t wait for the Dimilioc wolves to close with the black dogs of the shadow pack, either. He hurled himself straight at Vonhausel, who in his arrogance was still in his vulnerable human form. But Vonhausel only gave way before his first raking blow, and though Alejandro’s claws ripped right across his belly, his shadow roiled around him and his wounds closed immediately. Vonhausel did not have to use the cambio de cuerpo to get his shadow to carry away his injuries; his shadow could just take them away as they were dealt. Alejandro had never fought anything that could not be wounded. It was like fighting a vampire, only worse. Even the strongest of the vampires and their blood kin had been vulnerable to a black dog’s determined attack. Nor was Vonhausel going to stop at merely showing off his control over his shadow: he was now allowing himself to slide into the cambio after all. His change was almost as swift and effortless as Ezekiel’s, and from the vicious ferocity of his smile as he changed, he intended to enjoy the blood and death of the Dimilioc wolves, and then enjoy putting their shadows back in their dead bodies.
