"A cave?" Xander said, glancing at Aaron and wondering about his statement about Xander's instincts and remembering his dream. "They're holed up in a cave?"
"About 20 kliks from here, yes." Aaron confirmed. "I got a vision after touching some blood from one of the demons. The villagers fought hard and inflicted damage of their own. Why? Is it going to be a problem?"
"Potentially. We have no idea if it's part of a cave system and we have no time to go to a city where we might find any records of any official exploration that might have been done of those caves. Just blowing the entrance might block them in, but they might have an exit point. They might also be strong enough to dig their way out."
"Digging your way out of something like a cave takes brains as well as strength. I think we're dealing with Hanoch demons. They're thin humanoids with blueish-grey skin, shining green eyes, clawed hands and horns all over their body. They're hunch-backed and tend to wave their hands. The most notable thing is that they tend to emit a high-pitched screech during battle. It should also be noted that they're similar to vampires and can be killed with fire, decapitation and a stake to the heart, all of which would result in the demon turning to dust as they die."
"Anything else we should know about them." Xander asked. "I've never heard of them and I don't remember seeing them in any of the books I've read through."
"Yes, they can produce an impassable barrier by releasing a green substance from their mouths which can only be shut down by killing the demon. They're flexible and very agile and can also jump high and crawl on walls and ceilings. They are capable of hopping on their enemy and killing them while in mid-air."
"Oh. Colonel, how well stocked are we on incendiary rounds and grenades?"
"Some, not as well as I'd like. We don't run into vampires much down here since they prefer cities with plentiful numbers of humans to feed on. It has happened, which is how I lost two of my men to them. It was before we started using the Wards. Hard to form a threshold when none of us can think of this place as home."
"Unfortunately true." Xander sympathized, his home was waiting for him in New York. "Make sure everyone has some of each. I'm going to check what the supply closet has available."
"I take it the bomb wasn't a one off thing, you can make other types of explosives from scratch?"
"I suspect I have a hidden pyro manic in me and it's only my semi civilized exterior that keeps it from coming out to play more often." Xander answered, heading out to find the chemicals stored away in the supply closet, leaving a chuckling Colonel behind.
"I'm glad he's on our side, we can help him hone and utilize that skill for the betterment of mankind." Which had the rest of the men chuckling as well.
Xander came back with a trolly loaded with plastic bottles and aerosol containers. "A lot of these chemicals are flammable all on their own. Combining some of them can make others flammable or cause caustic gases. Whether these things need to breath or not, it'll cause damage to their eyes and skin and depending on how long it takes them to heal or overcome the pain, buy us time. We have to take them by surprise, it's our best chance of destroying them. The barriers they can create, not to mention their ability to climb walls or jump over our heads means we can't give them an opportunity to use any of those abilities. Which means hitting hard and fast from multiple positions and from as far away as possible. How likely are we to find other demons hanging out with them?" He asked Aaron.
"Aside from vampires, which they occasionally work for, it's extremely unlikely. I've never heard of them working for anything else. They're mostly just dumb animals and most demons despise vampires and these demons are a lot like them, so most demons will either avoid or destroy them themselves when they encounter them." He answered.
"Good, hard to plan for other demons if you don't have any idea if they're there. Please tell me protective gear is a given, right? HQ could not possibly think to send us out against things with claws and way too many sharp teeth that think we make tasty treats to not make sure we've got battle armor."
"I don't know, we're talking about the same people who thought Walsh's ideas were brilliant. Those people can be pretty damn stupid." The Colonel said dryly. "But yes, we have full battle armor for everyone. Vests and helmets, the vests will stop armor piercing bullets, so claws and teeth, in some cases actually get broken on them."
"Damn, we could have used those back home. We didn't have any kind of protective gear."
"You hunted without protective gear?!"
"Our group was under the direction of a guy that thought stakes were the height of available weaponry against vamps. We had access to a couple of swords and crossbows. I taught myself to use a crossbow and an ax. But Sunnydale had the Slayer and she preferred stakes anyway."
"We heard about her. Mystical superhero. You went to school with her?"
"Yes, she's the one who played bait for the giant snake. She saved a lot of lives."
"Alright, I think we're ready." The Colonel announced a couple of hours later. "Let's gear up and take these things down!"
A/N A klik is short for a kilometer. Twenty kilks is a little less than twelve and a half miles.
Description of Hanoch demons comes from Buffy wiki.