LILITH (DEMONOLOGY I)

X

We spent a whole day plotting. With my abilities and their weapons, nothing could stop us. Luna had even taken me out hunting, to see how the group handled hordes of - or even single large - demons.

I sat in the back of a military-grade truck with Luna and a few other huntsmen. Dale sat in the front along with the driver, a man named Gabe. They were all armed with guns that were loaded with salt. All I needed was me, myself, and I.

We needed to practice taking on demons. They were the first step in the long road to liberation. To vanquish all of the supernatural beings, we had to work from the ground up.

"Up ahead is a cemetery," Luna said. "Reports say that demons have been gathering here to feed on the corpses. They're mostly scavengers, though, like imps. Nothing too serious."

"Are you sure that tenderfoot here can handle it?" One of the huntsmen said, gesturing towards me. He was a short guy named Eric. He hated the fact that the others had accepted me so easily, and he was even more pissed that Luna went to bat for my plan.

I wanted to argue with him, but I couldn't. These guys had way more experience than I did. All I had to keep me alive was my fire. And even that wasn't reliable. During a scout with the Fourth Array, my abilities had completely given up on me. Luckily, Thalia had been there to save me, but this was different. I couldn't rely on any of them, considering I'm just like the beings that they're fighting against.

"Look alive, everyone," another huntsmen said. He was Clay, the leader of this group. There were hundreds of other Holy Shield members around the world, but when it came to the East Coast, Clay was in charge, according to what Luna had told me. "There's a whole bunch of 'em up ahead. Take point and fire." Almost in unison, they lifted their firearms and unloaded on the demons, taking out nearly half of them. While they stopped to reload, I spotted something interesting in the middle of a group of larger demons. There were people there, and they were under attack.

I didn't wait for the others to notice. Instead, I hopped out of the truck and made a B line towards the demons.

"What are you doing?! You can't just rush in there, you'll get yourself killed." Clay called to me. I ignored him, for I knew exactly what I was doing. These were the same kinds of demons that had raided the chapel. They were humanoid, but had slightly disproportionate features, such as large, pointed ears or sharp claws for fingernails.

One of them spotted me coming towards them and ran towards me. It was like a game a chicken; whoever broke course first would lose. Or in this situation, die. If we kept going straight, we would ram right into each other, which was just what the demon wanted. Once I got close enough, I leapt over the demon, grabbed its neck, and pinned it to the ground. It began to decay with one small touch from my cross. One by one, the others charged me, and one by one, they fell. Soon, the huntsmen caught up with me.

"Are you nuts or something?" Clay shoved me. "In case you haven't realized, I'm the one calling the shots around here. You don't make a move unless I tell you to do so."

"If I had just sat around and waited for you to make a call, these people would have died." I gestured towards the group of people that had been surrounded, who were now being checked on by the other huntsmen.

"We could have handled the situation just fine. What you did was irrational, and could have gotten you killed. You may be a Nephilim, but that doesn't make you invincible."

"I know what I'm doing. I may have only just learned about what I am a week ago, but I'm a fast learner. I know all about these things and their mannerisms."

"Well, being a fast learner isn't going to help you in the underworld. We need to get there in order to fulfill this plan of yours, and the demons there are much worse than the ones you'll see up here. In fact, only one of us had made it back alive."