"Vexley, what is happening over there? Your camera is dead! Answer me, Dog!" Elliot shouted from the communication device still attached to David's right ear.David raised his violently trembling hand, feeling his own ear. He yanked the small device out, crushed it into pieces of plastic and wire, and threw it into a puddle on the asphalt road."Shut your mouth," David hissed between ragged breaths.The warehouse behind him was still burning fiercely. The heat of the fire stung his blistered back, but David's eyes captured only absolute emptiness. Pitch black. He raised both his hands in front of his face. He blinked repeatedly. The result was the same. Total blindness had robbed him of his world."Five miles," David muttered to himself. He swallowed the blood pooling in his throat. "Only five miles to home. I can do this."David turned his body slowly, trying to remember the layout of the dirt road he had taken when riding the motorcycle earlier.

"Listen to the rhythm, Arthur. It's Morse code," David whispered.David sat on the cold kitchen floor. His blistered hands held the receiver of the corded landline phone. He tapped his index fingernail against the microphone part of the receiver. Short and long rhythmic taps echoed softly in the room. Tap, tap tap, tap.On the other end of the line, Franky was in a dingy motel in another state. He made no sound, only pressing the phone's number keys in a reply that meant he understood and was asking David to continue his message."He's tapping all our digital signals, but he's too arrogant to tap an analog copper wire from the eighties," David continued softly. He kept tapping, transmitting details about Elliot's local network and Elena's pacemaker.A few minutes later, Franky's answering taps sounded faster and panicked. David closed his white eyes, translating the code in his head."I can do it, Dave. I can create signal-spoofing malware to freez

"Bring Miller out! Hand the arsonist over to us!"Sheriff Tate's harsh voice echoed from the patrol car's loudspeaker, blending with the roar of Silas's pickup truck engines. Red and blue strobe lights flashed wildly, piercing the thin dawn fog in Upstate New York.David Vexley hid behind the trunk of a giant oak tree at the edge of his yard. His head throbbed violently, as if a sledgehammer were repeatedly smashing the inside of his skull. The residual side effects of the Wrath energy he had forced out that night still burned every motor nerve in his body. His vision was no longer pitch black, but the world before him was merely a collection of blurry silhouettes and irregularly moving grey shadows."They have no proof, Dave," Elena whispered with a trembling voice.His wife was suddenly beside him, having slipped out the back door of the house while clutching Arthur, who had his eyes squeezed shut in terror. Elena pulled David's shirtsleeve so her husba

"Let me chase those bastards outside!" David roared.His voice boomed, shattering the shock in the living room. Without waiting for Isabella's or Elena's approval, David forced his battered body to stand. He ignored the pain in his ribs, pushing his legs to step forward toward the shattered window frame.However, his eyes, covered in a cloudy white film, could not judge distance correctly. On his third step, David's shin slammed hard against the edge of the wooden coffee table in the center of the room.CRASH!David lost his balance. He fell forward, his hands reflexively bracing his body on the wooden floor littered with sharp glass shards. The glass fragments pierced his blistered palms, drawing fresh blood that immediately mixed with the rainwater."Dave, stop! You can't see anything out there!" Elena screamed. She released her embrace on Arthur and immediately knelt beside her husband, trying to pull the man's arms away from the broken glass."Let go of me, El! I can still break t

"I'm right here, Silas! Don't touch my wife and son!" David roared from behind the destroyed kitchen table. His voice was hoarse because of the thick smoke beginning to fill the room.Silas laughed loudly, his laughter overpowering the roar of the rain outside. The skull-tattooed man pumped the barrel of his shotgun. "You are all going to die tonight, Miller. No one can save a witch from the wrath of God!"BANG!Silas pulled the trigger without hesitation. The warning shot hit the living room ceiling. Shards of drywall and rotting wood rained down on Elena's hair as she hugged Arthur tightly. The Nephilim baby, whose power was dormant, cried hysterically, his breathing whistling loudly due to asthma triggered by the thick smoke."Keep your head down, El! Cover Arthur's ears!" David commanded.David did not summon cosmic energy. He did not activate the void shield. He suppressed his divine instincts to the deepest depths of his soul. If he unleashed