Part 26 (1/2)

'Yes. You can kill them all.'

Gina picked at her food, staring out over the ocean and watching the sun slip down behind the trees on the west side of the island. Almost dusk, which meant dark would come soon.

Sunset meant preparation time. Arming the mental stamina for what was to come tonight.

More battles. And then what? How long would they be at this? Night after night after night. How long would they stay here and fight these things? How many of these d.a.m.n creatures were on this G.o.dforsaken island, anyway?

Hundreds? Thousands? Millions?

She wanted to go home.

No breeze lifted the heat that had settled over them. Suffocating humidity, bugs everywhere, souring her mood even further. She couldn't breathe.

'You look tired,' Olivia said after dumping her trash and grabbing the seat next to hers.

'I am.'

'Maybe you should stay behind tonight and do guard duty with Lou.'

'That bad, huh?' She probably looked as awful as she felt. And she was d.a.m.n tired of feeling this way.

'I think we're all worn out,' Trace said.

'I know I am,' Shay chimed in from across the table. 'How much longer are we going to be doing this?'

Derek looked up from his plate, finished chewing, and took a long swig from his bottle of water. 'Until they're all dead.'

'And how will we know when they're all dead?' Gina asked.

'When no more of them come out at night.'

Ryder s.h.i.+fted, pus.h.i.+ng his chair back. 'So we could be stuck here indefinitely?'

Derek stood, plate in hand. 'You all agreed to be hunters. This is what we do. Hunt demons.'

He left the tent without another word.

'Great,' Trace said. 'We could be here for months.'

'I don't think it'll be months,' Lou said.

The veteran hunters had all departed, leaving only the new ones alone with Lou. 'How do you know?' Gina asked.

'The Sons of Darkness have a plan, and I'm sure we're going to find out very shortly what it is.'

'Is this one of those Realm psychic things? You know they have a plan because you can feel it or something?' Trace asked.

'I can sense it. The other members of the Realm also know this to be true. There's something big going on with the Sons of Darkness.'

'Like a disturbance in the Force kind of thing?' Gina quipped.

'Something like that,' Lou replied with the hint of a smile.

'So how many others are there like you?' she asked. 'And where are they?'

'There are two dozen of us left. Spread around the world.'

'That's it? And how many of the Sons of Darkness?' Ryder asked.

'There are twelve Lords of the Sons of Darkness. As far as their minions!we don't know. Thousands, perhaps. Maybe more.'

'How many hunters?' Gina asked.

'Several hundred.'

'We're outnumbered.' She shouldn't have asked.

'How can we be expected to win when we're so outnumbered?' Shay asked. 'It's impossible.'

'Because you're better and smarter,' Lou replied. 'Because no matter how many of those things the Sons of Darkness manufacture, our weaponry!the skills, heart, and tenacity of our hunters!has always and will always win out.' He stood and scanned all of them, his eyes lighting up with a look of fierce determination. 'Don't give up hope. You all have an inner strength, a light that gives you special power over these evil beings. You are more than mere humans, capable of amazing feats. You simply haven't realized your potential yet.'

'C'mon, Lou. We're just people,' Trace said, jamming his fingers through his hair. 'We're not special.'

Lou's lips turned upward, as if he held a secret. 'You have no idea what you're capable of. Time will tell.'

Gina barely felt capable of making it through tonight's battle, let alone feeling special in any way. Lou had given them a pep talk. Total bulls.h.i.+t manufactured to pump them up, nothing more.

They weren't special. They were human. And they could die.

She'd seen how easily they could die at the hands of the Sons of Darkness.

But she kept her thoughts to herself, because maybe what Lou said would empower the others, keep them going for a while longer.

It hadn't helped her a bit.

And Derek had avoided her since they returned to base camp last night. Was it because he didn't want to deal with her angst over having killed demon Jake, or was it because of the way he'd been acting when he led them so far into the jungle before that?

She didn't know, and he still wasn't talking. To anyone.

Well, fine. If he could withdraw, so could she. She didn't need a confidant, a lover, a friend.

She'd spent years without someone to rely on.

She could easily do it again.

In fact, she preferred it. She liked isolation.

Liar. She hurt inside. Missed his touch, missed talking to him. She'd just opened her heart and he'd withdrawn, and G.o.ddammit, she missed him. She hurt inside. Missed his touch, missed talking to him. She'd just opened her heart and he'd withdrawn, and G.o.ddammit, she missed him.