Demon Night

Sammael’s eyes had been, Michael’s were all one color, but obsidian—and the only way to judge the direction of his gaze was by the turn of his head. “When I do find their prison,” Michael said, “I will likely need your assistance.”
    Because it would be locked, Charlie realized. But although Ethan agreed, he was frowning. “Why is it that you need to return, if we’ve evidence that they have been released?”
    “There were just over a hundred imprisoned,” Michael said. “And apparently he has allowed more than one to return to Earth. We must know what we are facing.”
    “A hundred?” Lilith shook her head, as if she couldn’t believe it. “A hundred of them brought Lucifer and his armies to their knees? How is it that he dares to release even one?”
    “The Rules must be enforced,” Michael stated. “And I anticipated that Lucifer would release one, so that it could be called to Earth if a demon should break them. It would not need to use a Gate.”
    Ethan’s hand tightened on Charlie’s. “You expected it, but you didn’t warn us?”
    “To be truthful, it was of little importance and—I thought—no danger to us. The nephilim are called, they destroy the demon, and they are called back to Hell. They cannot teleport at will, and they have a purpose that did not interfere with our own.”
    “But that ain’t what happened,” Ethan said. “It didn’t return to Hell after slaying the demon.”
    “No. Lilith is correct—with Lucifer embroiled in his war with Belial, he must have feared the consequences of having the nephilim free in Hell. Which is the second reason I only expected the one.”
    Castleford pushed his hand through his short dark hair. “So they are free on Earth instead? A force that powerful?”
    “Not as powerful,” Michael said. “Not when they are in human form—and they must bind themselves to a human form. Even if he does not call them back to Hell, Lucifer cannot alter that aspect of their nature.” He turned to Ethan again. “And that is where you will find a weakness in them.”
    “Slaying it when it looks human?”
    “Yes. It does not have a nephilim’s strength or speed—it is hardly more powerful than a vampire would be.”
    Ethan’s brows lowered, as if he was working that through. “The human’s dead—for certain?”
    “Yes.”
    “It won’t be difficult to find out who it is, then,” Lilith said dryly. “We just have to compile a list of everyone on Earth who’s died in the past year—all fifty million of them—then go knocking at their doors.”
    The corners of Michael’s mouth lifted slightly. “Unfortunately, possession takes place almost immediately after death, so there might be no more indication than a mild heart attack, or an injury from which the person seems to have miraculously escaped.”
    “Do I have to concern myself that as soon as I kill it, it’ll jump into another dead body?” Ethan asked.
    “No.” Michael looked at each of them, then drew in a short breath. “Being called is nothing more than Lucifer allowing the nephilim to take possession of a human’s essence—the psychic energy—as it crosses the realms, from Earth to Hell. The nephilim sheds its physical form, forces the human essence back through at the point of entry, then returns it to the body.”
    “And the nephilim piggybacks its way in,” Ethan guessed, and when Michael nodded, he asked, “Why isn’t every demon trying to get out that way? Seems to me I’ve heard that angels were spirits of light—beings of energy, who took on a solid form only when they wished.”
    “I have no definite knowledge regarding the angels’ construction—and even if Lucifer allowed demons to possess a human’s essence, they cannot shed their forms in the same way as the nephilim,” Michael said. After a brief hesitation, he added, “I can only speculate that, when demons were cursed and transformed, their psychic energy was bound to flesh. As was the nosferatu’s, although they were bound much closer—and so they cannot shift their shape except to form their wings, and they feel the urges of the flesh: sleep, hunger, and arousal.”
    Bloodlust, Charlie thought. And vampires weren’t much different.
    “But you aren’t certain?” Lilith asked.
    “No. I assume it is so, because when I transform human to Guardian,” Michael explained, “one task I must perform is to bind the psychic energy to flesh with the symbols—but I do not bind it so