Alternate Ending to "City of Heavenly Fire" (A TMI/Artemis Fowl crossover)

The Lost Colony: Chapter 14

*Artemis*

Artemis watched as the demons began to lose interest in the monkey Qwan had conjured. He could tell they were begging for a fight.

"I miss Butler," Artemis murmured. He was so used to having his bodyguard there to protect him - although Artemis had admittedly been doing a lot lately without the luxury of Butler's protection.

Holly opened her mouth to reply, but then N°1 said suddenly, "Er, Qwan? Did we, by any chance, accidentally bring another human with us when traveling to Hybras?"

The elder warlock looked at his new apprentice curiously. "No. What makes you ask that?"

N°1 pointed down, and the other three followed his gaze to the ground.

Artemis couldn't deny; what he saw took him temporarily by surprise. A boy, older than he was by a good few years, with curling blond hair, was running pell-mell towards the base of the volcano. Judging by the rounded ears, he was indeed human, and he was carrying a long, dark sword in his fist.

Holly glanced up sharply at Qwan. "Who is that?" she demanded. "I've never seen that Mud Buy before." She turned on Artemis. "Do you know him?" Her eyes were narrowed suspiciously.

Artemis shook his head, still watching the boy. "No, not at all." He looked up into his friend's furious face. "You don't believe me, do you?"

Holly shook her head in frustration. "Well if we didn't accidentally bring this kid along from the museum, and if this isn't one of Arty's clever little schemes, then who the" - Holly swore in Gnommish - "is he?!"

Qwan was watching the boy thoughtfully. "Perhaps," he muttered, "we are not alone on this island."

Holly grabbed Qwan's shoulders and spun him around to face the demons, which she pointed to with the shaking hand that currently didn't have a death grip on her Neutrino. "Um, no need to be rude," Holly practically bellowed, "but I've figured that out already, thank you!"

"That is not what I - " Qwan's sentence was cut off as the demons, taking Holly's outburst as a declaration of war, howled to the sky, and would have come charging down towards them had Leon Abbot not yelled, "STOP!", as he made his way to the front of the crowd.

Abbot stood there, his sword at the ready, and Holly's gun aimed at his chest. The demon leader looked stunned, but not because of Holly.

"Qwan!" he cried. "You're alive? I thought all the warlocks were dead."

"Except the one that helped you," N°1 burst out. Abbot retreated a few steps back.

"Well, yes. Except that one - "

Abbot had frozen, looking past the foursome. Then he pointed his sword at Qwan. "But it doesn't matter! The warlocks betrayed us, all those years ago! And they've betrayed us again - see! They've brought two humans and an elf into our lands to fight against us!"

Two humans? Artemis stared. That can't be right . . .

Artemis's brain went into overdrive, and by the time the voice behind them said, "Well, I'm not your ordinary human, demon," Artemis already knew who was standing feet from them.

He, the warlocks, and Holly turned, the latter's gun still pointing at Abbot, to stare. There stood the blond-headed boy, his sword clutched tightly in a now bloody hand. He had more blood splattered across his skin and his ripped black clothes. He was about a head taller than Artemis, who was by far the tallest in their group, and he was panting but grinning devilishly.

"In fact," the boy continued, still smiling at the furious Abbot, "I'm specially trained to take out vermin like you and your friends. Haven't your friends who we've already killed told you stories of the Shadowhunters?"