Okay, so now, let me get this straight,Hubert," Rider said, walking back and forth, raking his hair as the motley group stood on the beach eyeing each other. "There's more of you guys over there in Nod try�ing to get asylum from Cain, and you want to hang with us?" He glanced at the Guardians that flanked him. "Did I hear right, or am I still shell-shocked and deaf from the blasts?"
The heavily armed Guardian team had given the entities wide berth, training their weapons on the strange creatures before them and taking aim at any human appendage that they thought they could wound.
"The bigger question is, what do y'all eat Stateside?" Shabazz said, gaining a fist pound from Mike.
The large entity that had identified himself as Hubert lifted his chin and seemed offended. "It is true that my father was a flesh eater, but he was from the royal legions of guard demons at the Incan palaces. However, my mother was a sacrificial virgin," he added with pride in his voice. "My soul is anchored on my mother's side of the family tree. Thus I do not pursue my baser nature and I am well educated in all the human culinary arts,and spent my time in Nod learning world cultures and foreign languages. I hope that alleviates your concerns."
"Hissoul ?"Jose said in a sideline whisper to Marlene.
"And you should be the one to cast aspersions, brother," Hubert said in a huff, his tail beginning to twitch. "I thought Guardian teams of Neteru rank were not besotted by prejudices?"
Jose chuckled nervously and simply stared at the being that looked perfectly human from the nose up. He scratched his head as he peered at something that had mellow brown eyes, but whose skin turned green and black in splotches from the fangs down, bore huge leathery wings, and had a spaded tail that hung out beneath black military fa�tigues. "Okay, my bad, but the packaging, man..." Jose finally said.
"I cannot help that." Hubert looked away as the nymph petted his huge shoulders.
"You've hurt his feelings," she said, her voice a soft, angry murmur of chastises. "Hubert is one of the nicest entities I know." She turned to Hubert when he looked away. "They didn't mean it; I'm sure once you're here a while you'll be able to cover up like we did in Nod so thatignorant people won't jump to conclusions."
Hubert rolled his shoulder. "The explosion the witch hit me with still hurts, that's all. I am used to humans like him by now."
"I'm nota witch" Marjorie said, her voice tense. "I am a Guardian with earth element powers,mother power, mister. And I don't care what refinement and culture you claim to have-touch my son again, and you'll see just how unrefined I can be!"
"I was only trying to get you to cease fire before one of us got hurt," Hubert said, rubbing his shoulder that still had a char mark from Marjorie's blast. "I wouldn't have hurt him."
The team stared slack-jawed as the nymph stood on tiptoes and kissed the huge, muscle-bulked green shoulder, and smiled.
"I can heal it later, all right?" the small, lovely creature said, her skin and wings glittering with pastel opalescent hues under the sun.
"Thank you, angel," Hubert murmured and kissed the top of her baby-blue hair. He looked up at Marjorie. "I am not a monster."
"I'm having an out-of-body experience," Marjorie said, pressing the heel of her palm to her forehead. "Thatmust be it."
"Those are wonderful," the nymph remarked, and then looked at Marlene. "Thank you for making me feel better. It was the ash and soot in my lungs from all the bombs."
"Don't mention it," Marlene muttered.
The nymph gazed at Marlene with shimmering turquoise eyes. "Why would I not mention it? What you did was divine."
Marlene briefly closed her eyes. "Help us understand, because weare truly ignorant of what's going on right now."
"Well," the nymph said with a sigh, glancing around the weary group. "Some of us believed Cain when he said he wanted peace. A lot of hybrid angels are trapped over in Nod, too afraid or not quite strong enough, energy-wise, to get out on their own. A lot of demon hybrids feel the same way, but think it is safer to just hide with the masses and seem like they are going along with Cain. If they get slaughtered, their fate is much worse than those with angelic parent�age, I'm afraid to say. So, do not judge them harshly because of their paralyzing fear; they have more to lose in the long run."
"I can only imagine," Marlene said in a weary voice. "I guess we never thought about it that way." She glanced around the team. "Is a lot of what we've been through in the past starting to make sense to anybody else on the team but me?"
"Mar, my brain is so tired that it feels like it's leaking out of my ears," Shabazz muttered.
"But Hubert is strong, as you have seen, and I wanted to be the first to talk to the one named Carlos Rivera that still has silver burning brightly within him. He can call out those more like me. So can Damali. So we gathered a small band of rebels and drew straws to make an escape. Some of us had to get word to the Neteru before it was too late and any of us coming over the barrier would be extermi�nated on sight by both the Neteru and Cain. We're refugees, caught in the middle of the war. We've always been caught in the middle with nowhere to turn. It was risky, but Hubert held me in his arms the whole time," she said, beginning to glow. "He isamazing. He's been our mentor of languages and philosophy for years."
"How come every time our boy Carlos goes somewhere, he comes back with a lot of drama?" Shabazz said, beginning to rake his locks and pace. "This family is beginning to get real strange looking, Mar. I'm serious."
"I'm thinking strategic advantage, though," Dan said calmly, look�ing at the bizarre but potential allies before them. "They know Cain," he added, locking gazes with Shabazz. "That's a serious advantage. They also know what's over there coming for us; we pretty much know what's gonna spew up from Hell and have been battling that for years... but if they hadn't come here like they did, we would have been caught blind-sided by Cain's hybrids' abilities."
"True dat," Jose said. "They didn't drop like they was supposed to, and a daylight firefight is a whole new ball game, holmes."
"Word," Big Mike agreed. "Better to know now than later."
"Aw'ight. Dan has a good point," Shabazz conceded, glancing at the hopeful nymph that hugged Hubert tighter.
"See, it was all in divine order," the nymph said with a swoon. "We meant no harm."