As their orderly retreat under Rick's barrier descended into utter pandemonium, Al took advantage of the time-dulling qualities of his Dog-given reflexes to consider the she-demon before him..
To be fair, she'd duplicated every detail of Alyce's nude form to perfection, right down to her depilatory habits and the way certain parts jiggled as she slipped his punch. He figured she must be sucking the image from his head, because this was the Alyce he remembered from eight years back, rather than her somewhat leaner current incarnation as Robyn.
Hellspawn were materilizing all around and throughout their group, the barrier that had previously shielded them now forcing the melee into claustrophobically tight quarters. All around him teeth and weapons flashed, commands were shouted, and dying devils wailed. Al figured that as long as they were doing time in Hell, might as well have some eye-candy, and decided to kill naked-Alyce last. He didn't have to look far to see another one, black and amorphous, with its attention on Lady Raven. Never one to miss a dirty blow, he muttered the names of three and a half voodoo gods and slammed the brass knuckles they bestowed upon him into the back of what passed for a head on the thing. Its half-physical form firmed up just fine under his voudoun-blessed blow, and he sent it reeling ghostly-visage-first into the unyielding ground.
He had the abomination on the ropes and was stepping in for the kill when a cannonball hit him between the shoulders, sending him momentarily off balance. Some idiot was shooting into the press. A quick glance confirmed his suspicion, and he muttered, "Give a woman a gun, git shot inna back, natch." But he had no time to deal with her - the stunned demon was starting to come up off the ground, rising unnaturally in defiance of gravity. Al mentally thanked his Pa for the jacket then jumped high and came down atop the upper half of the thing in a vicious pounce. Stuck his left thumb into one glowing eye and latched on before jackhammering his brass-knuckled right repeatedly into the thing until its form dissipated into nothingness.
