Part 12 (1/2)

'Any other weaknesses we need to know about?' Gina asked.

'Let me give you some basics first,' Lou started. 'There's more than one kind of demon.'

'Are you serious?' Shay's eyes widened as she looked to the others.

Yeah, Derek figured that would throw them. Now they had the shocked looks again. This was going to take some time to a.s.similate. G.o.d, he wished they had weeks, months, to train them, fill them in on what they needed to know. Instead, they had hours. Talk about trial by fire.

'When the Sons of Darkness realized their females were sterile, they quickly also realized they were at a fighting disadvantage. The more demons we killed, the fewer their numbers. So they went about evening the odds in two ways. One, to try and decrease our numbers, and two, to increase their own.'

'How could they kill more of you if there were fewer of them?' Trace asked.

'By destroying our lineage,' Lou said.

Derek hated when Lou had to tell this story, but knew it was necessary. It was like a light went out in Lou's eyes whenever he had to reveal what had happened to the Keepers and their families.

'For centuries, the bloodline of the Realm of Light has been slowly dying out. Only a handful of pure descendants of the Realm now exist.'

'Why?' Gina asked. 'What happened?'

'The Sons of Darkness began killing the wives and children of all the Keepers.'

Gina gasped, knowing without asking that that included Lou's wife and children. She looked to the others, saw the shock and pain on their faces, too. So they weren't the only ones to have suffered a great loss at the hands of these demons. 'My G.o.d. I'm so sorry.'

Lou shrugged. 'It's in the past and we deal with what we must.'

Gina fought back tears, angry at herself for being so d.a.m.ned emotional. For someone who hadn't cried in years, she sure had gotten close in the past several hours. The misery, the torment, it was all too much. The pure evil wreaked by these creatures was unbearable. They had to be stopped.

'I hate to ask this, Lou, but why haven't the Keepers re-married and had more children?' Olivia asked.

'Some did,' Lou said with a slight smile. 'The Sons of Darkness managed to get to many of them and kill them, too. Several of the Keepers were too fearful of trying again, of putting women and children at risk. Quite a few of us have remained single after losing our wives and children. As a result, the Realm is aging. Which is why we have been forced to recruit hunters outside our bloodline. Though we aren't able to pa.s.s on our psychic gifts, there are other ways to battle demons. The fight must continue. If not, the Sons of Darkness will win, and we will all be lost.'

For a few moments, everyone went silent.

Until Lou cleared his throat. 'Let me continue. In order to increase their numbers and ensure the survival of their species long enough for them to cure their own females from whatever has caused their sterility, demons have begun capturing humans and turning them into demons.'

'They're genetically altering humans?' Gina asked.

'Yes.'

'Christ,' Ryder said.

Derek stepped up beside Lou. 'Pure demons as we know them look very much like us. Basically human in appearance, except for having exceptionally pale blue eyes and unnaturally icy cold skin. They're very fast, cunning, can communicate with humans, but they're also more vulnerable to our weaponry, which I'll show you in a little while. However, they also have fangs and claws that excrete a toxic, paralyzing substance which will freeze you on the spot. If they get a bite or gouge in your skin, you're screwed.'

'Oh, nice. Like a freakin' vampire,' Trace said.

'Sort of,' Derek said with a shrug. 'That's why you need fast reflexes. Just don't let them get close to you.'

'Good advice,' Gina said, shuddering. Like the monsters in the movies, only real ones.

'The half demons, the ones bred from humans, are very similar in appearance to a human. The only difference is they're not quite as strong as the pure demons.'

'So they look human, are stronger than humans, but not as powerful as the pure demons. Great,' Gina said, rolling her eyes.

'Now the hybrid demons they create in their labs or whatever the h.e.l.l they've got down there, the ones they genetically alter from humans they stealthese are big, ugly sonofab.i.t.c.hes,' Derek continued. 'I don't know what the Sons of Darkness mixed up in the genetic soup for these f.u.c.kers, but it wasn't good. They're huge, incredibly strong, and they have a very thick skin. Almost like body armor. They're d.a.m.ned hard to kill, but they're also easier to fight because they're slow. They're the muscle for the demons. You don't want to get into a wrestling match or any kind of hand-to-hand combat with these guys because you'll lose. They can snap a man's neck with one squeeze of their hands.'

Gina swallowed, not liking the thought of meeting up with one of those in the dark jungle. 'Where are these things hiding?'

'They live underground, where it's cool and sheltered from the heat and light. They come out of portals in the ground, at will, whenever and wherever they choose.'

'How?'

Lou smiled. 'Well, if we knew that, we could predict when and where they'd show up and our jobs as hunters would be a lot easier. Portals are like heat spots that appear in locations where demons emerge. But they seem to close as soon as they open, and we have never been able to catch demons either emerging from or retreating into them. They don't seem to come and go in the same spots. But they do leave a lingering signature that we can pick up with a program I've developed on my computer.'

'I'd like to see that,' Jake said.

'It's a thermal imaging program. Tracks the heat signature left by the portal locations when the demons come and go. Given their aversions to high temperatures, I imagine they don't like the entry and exits much,' Lou said with a slight curve of his lips. 'But so far there's no telling where they'll come from, or where they'll reenter.'

'Which is why you have to have sharp eyes and ears when you're out hunting,' Derek added. 'They're liable to pop out right behind you. And if it's a pure or half demon and he gets to you, you're dead before you even know he's there. At least with the hybrid demons you know they're coming.'

'How so?' Olivia asked.

'They stink,' Lou said.

Gina arched a brow. 'Stink?'

'Really bad. Believe me, you'll know when they're around.'

Demons with body odor. Fascinating.

'So how does this program help us in fighting them?' Gina wanted to know. 'Is it only good for after the fact, to see where they've come and gone?'

'Good question, Gina,' Lou said. 'The imaging program can pinpoint hot spots when you're all in the jungle on the hunt, areas of ground that are heating up, indicating a demon has emerged. I can also track your locations and at least give you a few seconds' warning if one is in your immediate vicinity.'

That was something, at least.

'How do we kill them?' Shay asked. 'I really need to know how we kill them.'

Derek grinned. 'A very good question, and one I was just about to get to.' He pulled the tarp off a long table behind him, revealing several incredibly foreign-looking weapons, including the one he was carrying last night when he found her. Long, black rifle with a laser sight and thicker than normal barrel, filled with a bluish liquid. Derek lifted it off the table.

'This is our UV laser light rifle. It fires a flash of concentrated ultraviolet light, which, as Gina can attest to, will melt a demon into a pile of liquid in an instant.'

'Cool,' Jake said, grinning.

Gina shuddered and made a face at the memory.

'That bad, huh?' Shay asked next to her, a worried expression on her face.