text: Bev's cry of grief ripped through Hikaru's soul. Bev and the fallen Mindy had spent the night together, a new love snuffed out by the Demon's cruelty. The Nephilim took a step, leaving behind the ruin of Mindy's body. Righteous fury filled Hikaru. There had to be a way to stop this monstrous thing. But nothing she threw at it seemed to damage it.
  
  There has to be away!
  
  "Reach into it!" Rochelle screamed.
  
  She turned to see Rochelle racing towards her, followed by the green-haired Cassie. "What?" Hikaru asked.
  
  "Reach into the damned thing with your mind! You're the only one here who can stop it. A skeleton of energy animates it! All the corpses are just its armor!"
  
  Hikaru nodded, reaching out with her mind. Rochelle took her hand, squeezing and giving her strength, love, support. Hikaru squeezed her wife's hand back and wormed her mind through the small gaps between the crush of Lemures' corpses, wiggling through like an eel, slippery and agile. She hated it. Death surround her, and her stomach curdled.
  
  But Rochelle squeezed her hand and Bill's love gave her this power.
  
  Deeper and deeper, probing, finding the gaps and holes, and then she hit it. Black, disgusting energy pulsed through the core of the Nephilim. Her thoughts recoiled in fear. This energy was darkness, oblivion, death. The very antithesis of the life and love that fueled her powers.
  
  I can't be weak now. I'm the only one who can stop it. This is why I had to come back. I made the right decision!
  
  She grasped the oily energy, dirtying her soul, and pulled.
  
  It resisted.
  
  "Hurry, Hikaru," her wife urged.
  
  The ground shook; the Nephilim turned towards them; Rochelle's hand squeezed hard. Hikaru heaved, throwing every bit of her will into the horror, prying at the bone of pulsing, greasy energy. Her mind wanted to slip off the disgusting femur.
  
  "I will not fail!" she hissed.
  
  "I believe in you, Hikaru," Rochelle whispered.
  
  The ground shook; the Nephilim's shadow fell upon them.
  
  "Love is stronger than death. Hope slays despair. Life drives back the darkness."
  
  Rochelle's words fueled her. The power she used was proof of Bill's love for her and her love for him, and that gave her hope. It blossomed inside her, and she heaved with her newfound strength. She was alive, and it was dead, and she would banish its darkness with all the joyful life she could muster.
  
  The ground shook; death loomed over her, raising a fist.
  
  "I have faith in you, Hikaru!" Rochelle shouted.
  
  Her love, hope, and life conquered the darkness.
  
  She ripped through the energy supporting its left leg. Corpses fell with heavy thuds, raining upon the gravel as its left leg fell off. The Nephilim stumbled backwards, coming down on the stomp of its leg. The abomination planted its fists in the ground to keep from toppling over. Hikaru didn't wait. Her thoughts wiggled up the energy, across its hips and ripped at the right thigh. More corpses fell, and the Nephilim tottered back with a heavy crash onto the undergrowth.
  
  "Yes!" Rochelle exclaimed. "I knew you could."
  
  She ripped at the arms as it struggled to rise, and it collapsed into a torso and a head, writhing like a massive worm. She reached into its neck and ripped out its spine, moving lower and lower, tearing the energy to pieces. It fell apart into a mound of Lemures' corpses.
  
  Rochelle hugged her. "You saved us!"
  
  "It was your words," Hikaru answered. "They were exactly what I needed to hear."
  
  "I know. I cheated and looked into the future."