HELLSPAWN HUNTER

Chapter 7

# HELLSPAWN HUNTER

## Chapter 7: Lockdown

The screaming was coming from the cafeteria.

Kael ran through the hallways of Millbrook High, his enhanced senses picking up scents that definitely didn't belong in a school—sulfur, ozone, and something that smelled like a morgue on a hot day. The emergency lighting cast everything in hellish red, and the lockdown barriers had turned familiar corridors into a maze of dead ends.

*Left,* Vex'thul directed. *The cafeteria is through the main hallway.*

"I know where the cafeteria is. I've only been going to this school for three years."

*You've been going to the human version of this school. This is something else entirely.*

Kael rounded the corner and immediately saw what Vex'thul meant. The hallway stretched on for what looked like miles, lined with lockers that definitely hadn't been there this morning. Some of them were breathing.

"Okay, that's new," Kael muttered.

*Spatial distortion. They're folding the building in on itself.*

"They can do that?"

*You can breathe fire. Reality is negotiable.*

The screaming was getting louder, accompanied by sounds that made Kael's teeth hurt. He broke into a run, dodging past lockers that snapped at him with metallic teeth and bulletin boards that tried to wrap around his ankles.

The cafeteria, when he finally reached it, was a scene out of a nightmare. Students were huddled in groups throughout the room, but they weren't alone. Standing over them were things that looked like teachers—if teachers were made of shadow and malice and had way too many eyes.

"Mr. Henderson?" Kael stared at his old English teacher, or what used to be his old English teacher. The creature still wore Mr. Henderson's glasses and cardigan, but its face was a shifting mass of darkness with stars for eyes.

"Kael," it said in Mr. Henderson's voice. "So good of you to join us. We were just discussing your assignment."

*Don't listen to it. Whatever it says, don't listen.*

"What assignment?" Kael asked, despite Vex'thul's warning.

"The one you've been avoiding all semester. 'Who Am I?' A simple question, really. But you've been struggling with it, haven't you?"

All around the cafeteria, the shadow-teachers were asking similar questions. What are you? Where do you belong? Why are you different? And with each question, the students seemed to shrink into themselves, their eyes going vacant.

*They're feeding on identity confusion,* Vex'thul explained. *Adolescents are particularly vulnerable because they're already questioning who they are.*

"So they're basically weaponizing teenage angst?"

*Essentially, yes.*

"That's horrible."

*And effective.*

Emma was sitting at a table near the window, staring blankly at a shadow-teacher that looked like Mrs. Rodriguez from history class. Her shadow was writhing behind her, growing larger and more defined with each passing second.

"Emma!" Kael called out.

She turned toward him, but her eyes were completely black now. "Kael? Is that really you? Or are you just another shadow?"

*She's losing herself.*

"I'm real," Kael said, moving carefully through the room. The shadow-teachers were watching him, but they didn't seem to consider him a threat. "I'm going to get you out of here."

"Out of where?" Emma laughed, but it was a sound like breaking glass. "There is no out. There's only in. Deep, deep in, where all the shadows live."

*We need to disrupt their feeding pattern.*

"How?"

*Give them something else to focus on. Something that challenges their fundamental assumptions.*

"Such as?"

*A half-demon who knows exactly who he is.*

The shadow-teacher wearing Mr. Henderson's face turned its attention to Kael. "Ah, yes. The boy who can't decide if he's human or monster. Tell me, Kael, what do you see when you look in the mirror?"

"I see someone who's about to kick your ass," Kael replied.

*Not quite what I had in mind.*

"Sometimes I see a scared kid who misses his dad," Kael continued, his voice getting stronger. "Sometimes I see a guy who just wants to protect his friends. Sometimes I see a monster who could burn this whole place down if he wanted to."

The shadow-teacher's form wavered slightly. "And which one is real?"

"All of them. That's the point."

*Better.*

"You want to feed on confusion?" Kael let his eyes shift to silver. "Here's some confusion for you. I'm a seventeen-year-old kid with a demon in my head. I work at a gas station and I'm failing chemistry. I've killed things that used to be my neighbors, and I'm probably going to die before I turn eighteen."

The shadow-teachers were backing away now, their forms becoming less stable.

"But you know what? I'm okay with that. Because I know who I am. I'm the guy who shows up when things go wrong. I'm the guy who fights monsters, even when I'm becoming one myself. I'm the guy who saves people, even when they're afraid of me."

*Keep going.*

"I'm human and I'm demon and I'm something new. I'm all of those things at once, and I don't need to choose. I don't need to fit into your neat little categories."

The shadow-teacher wearing Mr. Henderson's face let out a shriek that sounded like feedback from a broken speaker. "Impossible! You must choose! You must define yourself!"

"I just did," Kael said. "I'm undefined. I'm a work in progress. I'm whatever I need to be to protect the people I care about."

The shadow-teachers were dissolving now, their forms breaking apart like smoke in a strong wind. As they faded, the students in the cafeteria began to stir, their eyes clearing.

"What happened?" Emma asked, blinking in confusion. "Where are we?"

"School," Kael said. "Unfortunately."

*The spatial distortion is collapsing. We need to move.*

The cafeteria was already returning to its normal size, which meant the hallways were probably doing the same thing. And somewhere in the building, Dr. Peterson was probably very unhappy with how his experiment was going.

"Everyone listen up!" Kael called out. "We need to get out of here. Now. The exits are blocked, but there might be another way."

*The maintenance tunnels,* Vex'thul suggested. *They connect to the city's old subway system.*

"How do you know about the maintenance tunnels?"

*Your father and I had a very educational chase through them once.*

"Of course you did."

Jake Morrison appeared at Kael's elbow, his amber eyes glowing in the emergency lighting. "I can smell the way out," he said. "This way."

They moved through the school in a group, picking up other students as they went. Most of them looked dazed and confused, but they were alive. That was something.

The maintenance access was in the basement, hidden behind a door marked "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY." Jake's enhanced strength made short work of the lock, and they descended into tunnels that smelled of rust and decades of accumulated grime.

"This is gross," Emma said, picking her way carefully through the ankle-deep water.

"Could be worse," Kael replied.

*Don't say that. Never say that.*

"Could be—"

Something roared behind them, echoing through the tunnels. It was followed by the sound of heavy footsteps and what sounded like metal scraping against concrete.

"Now look what you've done," Vex'thul sighed.

"What's that?" Emma asked, looking back toward the school.

Through the darkness, Kael could see lights moving in the tunnel behind them. Not flashlights—something that burned with the wrong color, casting shadows that moved independently of their sources.

"Dr. Peterson's cleanup crew," Kael said. "They're not going to let us just walk away."

*The subway platform is another half-mile ahead. We can make it if we run.*

"Everyone move!" Kael shouted. "And whatever you do, don't look back!"

They ran through the tunnels, splashing through water that was getting deeper with each step. Behind them, the roaring was getting closer, accompanied by sounds that suggested their pursuers weren't entirely human.

"There!" Jake pointed ahead to where the tunnel opened into a wider space. "The platform!"

They emerged into what had once been a subway station, long since abandoned. The tracks were rusted, the tiles were cracked, and everything smelled like decades of neglect. But it was big enough to hold them all, and there were multiple exits.

"Which way?" Emma asked.

*The north tunnel leads to the Underground. The south tunnel leads to the surface.*

"Split up," Kael decided. "Emma, take half the group and head for the surface. Jake, you take the others and head north. There's a place called the Underground—tell them Vespera sent you."

"What about you?" Emma asked.

"I'm going to buy you time."

*We're going to buy them time.*

"We're going to buy them time."

The lights in the tunnel behind them were getting brighter. Whatever was coming, it was moving fast.

"Go!" Kael shouted. "Now!"

The students scattered, disappearing into the tunnels. Emma hesitated for a moment, looking back at him.

"Be careful," she said.

"Always am."

*That's the biggest lie you've ever told.*

The first of Dr. Peterson's creatures emerged from the maintenance tunnel, and Kael got his first good look at what they were dealing with. It had been human once, probably one of the fake security guards. Now it was something else—eight feet tall, covered in surgical scars, with eyes that glowed like spotlights.

"Experimental enhancement," Kael said. "They're turning people into weapons."

*Crude work. I could do better.*

"Not helping."

*I'm just saying, if you're going to create monsters, at least make them aesthetically pleasing.*

More creatures were emerging from the tunnel. Kael counted at least six, all of them focusing on him with predatory intensity.

"You know what?" he said, letting his claws extend. "I'm getting really tired of being the good guy."

*Finally.*

"Let's show them what a real monster looks like."

*With pleasure.*