"Cool," Bobby said, reinforcing his artillery, packing his vest down with ammo. "Then like Dan said, we got your backs."
"All right, listen up," Damali said as the all-female squad trudged through the sand. "We do this fast, according to the formation Hu�bert gave you, because I'm getting dead air, no signal. And I want me and Marlene as seasoned vets with the prayer-lock around this... Donot allow anything into your heads that isn't radiating white light. Got it? This could be a setup, too, so let's err on the side of caution." She glanced around and received nods of agreement. "Cool."
"I'm all for playing this safe, D," Inez said, her eyes on the horizon. "This shit gives me the heebie-jeebies, and if something huge comes after me... girl, I don't know."
"That's just it; this isnot a drill. Everything you've been dealing with and have learned up to this point is the only defense you've got-so use it," Damali said, making the group come to a halt in front of the jetty. "At any given time, any of us are vulnerable to something bigger, stronger, and crazier than we are. The key is to always fight, es�pecially if it tries to abduct you. Make a stand wherever it comes for you. Don't let it drag you into the pit or a cavern or separate you from the group."
"But if it's stronger and has weapons..." Jasmine said, her voice filled with fear.
"It's going to try to kill you," Damali said flatly. "There is no ne�gotiation with it. Your goal is to maim it, kill it, do it before it does you, and run your ass off the second you get free. Do not try to bar�gain with it, reason your way out, and you have to be in the mindset that its intent is murderous, therefore, no holds barred." She looked at each woman without blinking. "I almost made a fatal mistake because I knew the attacker and thought that I could reason it off me. Not.
Next time I see him, it's mortal combat. I was lucky the first time. I'm not gambling on the next time."
Damali began climbing, and soon the tense group had mounted the rocks with her. All she could wonder was how many women in the world had dealt with the same thing, and never lived to tell about it or rehash options. Renewed fury entered her as she thought about every woman and all the children worldwide that had been found in Dumpsters, alleys, or in their own homes, killed, beaten, or raped by someone they knew. To her mind, what had happened with Cain was no different, and the odds of winning against a huge predator no less dicey. Even going against her own foster father had been the same; the beast was bigger than her, stronger, insane, and the only reason she'd lived to see another day was because she'd lashed out hard, used every weapon she'd had at her disposal as a defense, and tried to kill the bas�tard where he stood-and then ran.
She sensed for the right position as the group gathered into a loose assembly, knowing full well that fear was a virus, one that predators fed off of and used to make a potential victim hesitate. The thought of getting stabbed or shot or punched was generally enough to make a human being cringe and try to avoid pain. What she had to get through to the group was that if trapped, theywould be shot, stabbed, punched, or worse, so anyone who found themselves in that position might as well go for broke within any split-second opportunity that presented itself.
"Whew, there's a serious charge coming off these rocks," Damali said, trying to divert the fear rippling through the team and to get the group to relax enough to get the job done. "Enough to light up half of Manhattan. Dang."
Heather offered Damali a weak half-smile after a moment. "Uh-mmm... well, I can explain."
"No need," Damali said with a wink as the group formed the cor�rect circles. "It's all good."
Marlene gave her a slight nod. "You ready to put up the barrier?"
"Like old times, Mar," Damali said, growing confident. "Just be�cause something is bigger and stronger doesn't mean you can't lob a good defense. Everything has a weak point, and even if our backup gets here late, we can protect ourselves from an attack."
The women joined hands while Damali and Marlene joined men�tally and then focused on white light and said the Twenty-third Psalm out loud. As soon as the barrier was set, Damali could feel a slight cur�rent ripple from Heather to Jasmine to Krissy and gain strength as Marjorie stood in the middle of the group, her gaze becoming far�away and glassy.
Juanita's head dropped forward as Inez began to pant through her mouth. The image ricocheted from Marj to Juanita to Inez and then to Marlene and entered Damali's mind. Quick snapshot visions of worldwide ancient ruins filled Damali's inner sight, and soon she could make out large, red, bubbling seawater, as well as horizontal, black funnel clouds streaking the air.
"It's on the move now," Juanita said in a low, guttural voice that was foreign to her.
Heather reeled and Marjorie caught her before she fell. "Hundreds of them," she said. "All focused this way."
Damali broke the circle and turned to see J.L. rushing down the beach.
"Land, air, and sea! Incoming!" J.L. shouted. "Get back to base camp!"
The group scrambled down the rocks as a huge, gray plume whirled past them and crash-landed on the beach with a boom. Guns whipped out of holsters, and a small nymph held up her hands as larger entities surrounded her.
"Sanctuary!" the nymph shouted, and dropped to her knees.
"Hold your fire!" J.L. and Marlene shouted in unison. "Refugee hybrids!"
The largest entity in the small group of hybrids bowed slightly, and spoke, breathing hard. "We felt you access the stones and came to take a stand with you, but you must get Sara into the house." He motioned to the nymph with his chin. "She cannot withstand a battle. She only has love and gentleness in her. I am Hubert and at your command with the others."
"It's getting dark, and we hadn't heard from the Neterus," Sara said, becoming hysterical. "Please don't leave us out here alone."
"All right," Damali said, reluctantly. "J.L., let her inside, but you other guys are gonna have to wait for a threshold pass." She raked her locks, not sure, as she stared at eleven very suspect-looking creatures and then at something that had gentle angel written all over her.
"All right. We understand and can take up a position outside with your men. He will bring hybrids, first," Hubert said, glancing around the group. "Cain is not a full vampire, and has not formally died from the bite-at least not when he was in Nod. If that is still true, he can only make them by seed, not the bite, and the hybrids that follow him are part human. Your normal artillery should stop them. They will also be slower in this density than full-breed demons that have already adjusted to the earth pane's atmosphere."
"That's bullshit, man," J.L. argued, helping Jasmine down. "This afternoon we fired I don't know how many rounds and none of you bought it."
"That was illusion," Hubert said, ignoring J.L. and looking at Damali as the group began hurrying toward the villa. He spoke ur�gently while he jogged by Damali's side. "We can throw images of ourselves and move with speed like any demon once we adjust to the new density, but if we get hit by a shell, it's a mortal wound. That is why it was necessary to trick you into expending artillery and shoot�ing at what was only a hollow image of us."
"Nowthat's good info," Damali said, jogging faster down the beach toward the villa. "If Cain hasn't had time to amass vampires or other full-breed demons yet, and is on the move in twilight, then whatever we hit we can possibly take down."