HELLSPAWN HUNTER

Chapter 8

# HELLSPAWN HUNTER

## Chapter 8: Underground Railroad

The first enhanced soldier lunged at Kael with inhuman speed, its surgical-scarred arms ending in claws that could punch through steel. Kael sidestepped, feeling the wind from its strike ruffle his hair, and brought his own claws up in a vicious uppercut that opened the creature's throat.

Black ichor sprayed across the abandoned subway platform, hissing where it hit the cracked tiles. The creature stumbled backward, clutching its neck, but it didn't fall. Instead, the wound began to close, the torn flesh knitting itself back together with wet, sucking sounds.

"Regeneration," Kael muttered. "Of course."

*They're using demon blood in the enhancement process,* Vex'thul observed. *Crude, but effective.*

The other five soldiers spread out, moving with coordinated precision that spoke of military training. They weren't just enhanced—they were experienced. Professional killers who'd been given supernatural upgrades.

"Kael Draven," one of them spoke, its voice a mechanical rasp. "Dr. Peterson sends his regards. You've caused considerable inconvenience to our operation."

"Yeah, well, your operation killed my neighbors," Kael replied, circling slowly. "I tend to take that personally."

*The tunnel entrances. We need to collapse them before more arrive.*

"How many more could there be?"

*Assume infinite until proven otherwise.*

The soldiers attacked as one, moving with perfect synchronization. Kael dropped low, sweeping the legs of the nearest one while launching himself sideways to avoid the claws of another. He rolled, came up running, and sprinted toward the north tunnel where Jake had taken half the students.

Behind him, heavy footsteps echoed through the platform. The soldiers weren't just fast—they were relentless. No fatigue, no hesitation, no fear. Whatever Peterson had done to them, he'd carved out everything human except the ability to follow orders.

The north tunnel stretched ahead, lit by bioluminescent fungi that hadn't been there when the subway was operational. The air was warmer here, carrying scents of wood smoke and something that might have been cooking meat.

*The Underground isn't just a place,* Vex'thul explained as they ran. *It's a community. Humans and supernaturals who've rejected the Council's authority.*

"And they'll help us?"

*If they don't eat us first.*

"You're just full of good news today."

Behind them, the mechanical breathing of the enhanced soldiers echoed through the tunnel. They were gaining ground, their augmented physiology allowing them to maintain a killing pace without tiring.

The tunnel began to slope upward, opening into a cavern that definitely hadn't been part of the original subway system. Wooden walkways connected platforms carved from living stone, and the air was thick with the smell of humanity—sweat, cooking food, unwashed bodies, and something else. Something wild.

"Welcome to the Underground," a voice said from above.

Kael looked up to see a figure perched on one of the walkways. At first glance, it looked like a young woman—maybe twenty-five, with dark hair and pale skin. But her eyes were too large, too dark, and when she smiled, her teeth were too sharp.

"Vespera sent you," she continued, dropping down to land gracefully on the tunnel floor. "I'm Nyx. And you're the half-demon who's been causing so much trouble topside."

"Word travels fast."

"It does when you're burning down entire neighborhoods." Nyx tilted her head, studying him. "Though I have to say, you're smaller than I expected. And younger. How old are you, boy?"

"Seventeen."

"Seventeen." Nyx laughed, a sound like breaking bells. "The Council is afraid of a seventeen-year-old. How delightfully absurd."

*She's not entirely human,* Vex'thul warned. *Something older. Much older.*

"What are you?" Kael asked.

"Depends on who's asking." Nyx's smile widened. "To the humans down here, I'm their protector. To the supernaturals, I'm their liaison. To the Council, I'm a terrorist. To you..." She paused, considering. "I'm whatever you need me to be."

The sound of approaching footsteps echoed from the tunnel behind them. The enhanced soldiers were getting closer.

"We've got company," Kael said.

"Yes, I can smell them." Nyx wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Peterson's abominations. He's been very busy lately, hasn't he? Turning perfectly good humans into meat puppets."

"Can you help us?"

"Help you?" Nyx laughed again. "Boy, I've been waiting for someone like you my entire life. The question is, are you ready to help me?"

*Careful. She wants something.*

"What kind of help?"

"The kind that involves killing Dr. Peterson and everyone who works for him."

Kael felt something cold settle in his stomach. "I'm not an assassin."

"No? What would you call what you did to those Council soldiers in the shopping district? What about the ones at the apartment complex? Or the enhanced humans at your school?"

"That was different. They were trying to kill innocent people."

"And Dr. Peterson isn't?" Nyx stepped closer, her dark eyes boring into his. "He's running experiments on anyone he can get his hands on. Humans, supernaturals, it doesn't matter. He's turning them into weapons for the Council's war."

*She's not lying about Peterson.*

"What war?"

"The one that's been brewing for decades. The Council wants to exterminate every supernatural being on the planet. They've been preparing for it, building an army of enhanced soldiers, developing weapons that can kill things that shouldn't be able to die."

The footsteps were getting closer. Kael could hear the mechanical breathing of the enhanced soldiers, the wet sound of their regenerating wounds.

"We need to move," he said.

"No," Nyx said firmly. "We need to make a stand. This is our territory, and I'm tired of running from Peterson's monsters."

*She's right about one thing. Running won't solve anything.*

"Jake brought a group of students this way. Are they safe?"

"Safe as anyone can be down here. They're in the main settlement, probably being fed and questioned. Don't worry—we don't hurt innocents."

The first enhanced soldier appeared at the tunnel entrance, its glowing eyes scanning the cavern. It raised its arm, and Kael saw that the limb had been modified with some kind of weapon system—tubes and wires that pulsed with unnatural energy.

"Plasma cannon," Nyx said conversationally. "Peterson's been busy. That's new."

The soldier fired, and a ball of superheated energy seared through the air where Kael had been standing. He rolled aside, feeling the heat wash over him, and came up with his claws extended.

"How many of these things can you take?" he asked Nyx.

"Depends on how creative I'm feeling." She smiled, and her form began to shift. Her skin darkened, becoming mottled with shadows. Her fingers elongated into claws, and her eyes became pools of absolute darkness. "I haven't had a good fight in months."

*She's a shadow demon. Very old, very powerful.*

"Why are you helping humans?"

*Ask her later. Right now, we have bigger problems.*

The other enhanced soldiers were entering the cavern now, spreading out to surround them. Six in total, all armed with various weapons that definitely weren't standard military issue.

"Target acquired," one of them said in that mechanical voice. "Kael Draven, you are ordered to surrender for processing."

"Processing?" Kael laughed. "Is that what you call it?"

"Enhancement. You will be made useful to the Council's objectives."

"I'd rather die."

"That can be arranged."

The soldiers attacked simultaneously, their enhanced speed turning them into blurs of motion. Kael dodged a plasma blast, ducked under a blade that whistled through the air where his head had been, and brought his claws up to block a strike that would have caved in his ribs.

Nyx moved like liquid shadow, flowing between the soldiers' attacks and striking with precision that spoke of centuries of combat experience. Her claws tore through enhanced flesh and artificial armor alike, sending black ichor spraying across the cavern floor.

But the soldiers kept coming. Their wounds healed almost instantly, their weapons recharged between shots, and they showed no signs of fatigue or pain.

*We need to end this quickly,* Vex'thul said. *They're wearing us down.*

"Any suggestions?"

*The weapons are powered by demon blood. Corrupt the source, and the weapons fail.*

"How do I corrupt demon blood?"

*You don't. I do.*

Kael felt Vex'thul's presence surge forward, and suddenly his vision shifted. He could see the energy flowing through the soldiers' weapons, the demon blood that powered their enhancements, the artificial modifications that kept them functional.

And he could see the flaws in Peterson's design.

"Nyx!" he called out. "Keep them busy for thirty seconds!"

"What are you planning?"

"Something stupid."

*Something brilliant.*

Kael reached out with senses he didn't know he had, feeling for the demon blood in the soldiers' systems. It was there, a dark current running through their veins, powering their regeneration and enhancing their abilities.

But it wasn't pure. Peterson had mixed it with human blood, synthetic chemicals, and something else—something that felt familiar.

*Angel blood,* Vex'thul hissed. *He's using angel blood as a stabilizer.*

"That's impossible."

*Is it? Your father was investigating angel sightings before he died. What if he found something?*

The realization hit Kael like a physical blow. Peterson hadn't just been experimenting on humans and demons. He'd been harvesting angel blood, using it to create soldiers that could fight supernatural beings on equal terms.

And if he had angel blood, that meant he'd killed angels to get it.

"You bastard," Kael whispered.

*Focus. We can process the implications later.*

Kael reached deeper into the soldiers' systems, feeling for the point where demon blood and angel blood met. It was unstable, held together by artificial compounds that Peterson had developed. But it was still demon blood, which meant Vex'thul could influence it.

*Now,* the demon said.

Power flowed through Kael, dark and ancient and utterly alien. It reached out through the cavern, touching the demon blood in each soldier's system, and whispered a single word in the language of the Pit.

*Chaos.*

The soldiers stopped moving. For a moment, they stood perfectly still, their glowing eyes flickering like dying bulbs. Then they began to convulse, their enhanced bodies rejecting the corrupted blood flowing through their veins.

"What did you do?" Nyx asked, backing away as the soldiers collapsed.

"I reminded the demon blood what it really was," Kael said.

The soldiers were dissolving now, their enhanced flesh melting away to reveal the humans underneath. They were barely recognizable—scarred, modified, more machine than man. But they were still alive.

"They're human," Nyx said, her voice filled with something that might have been surprise. "Under all that enhancement, they're still human."

*Peterson's been using volunteers,* Vex'thul realized. *People who agreed to the enhancement process.*

"Why would anyone agree to that?"

*Look at them. Really look.*

Kael knelt beside one of the fallen soldiers, studying his face. The man was young, maybe mid-twenties, with the kind of scars that came from serious injury. His legs were artificial, high-tech prosthetics that had been integrated into his enhanced physiology.

"He's a veteran," Kael said. "They're all veterans."

*Wounded soldiers. Peterson is targeting people who have nothing left to lose.*

"He's offering them a chance to serve again," Nyx said, her voice grim. "Enhanced bodies, supernatural abilities, a sense of purpose. For someone who's lost everything, it would be tempting."

One of the soldiers stirred, his eyes flickering open. They were brown now, human, filled with confusion and pain.

"Where... where am I?" he asked.

"You're safe," Kael said. "The enhancement process is breaking down. You're going to be human again."

"Human?" The soldier tried to sit up, failed, and lay back down. "I don't want to be human. I can't... my legs..."

"Your legs are fine," Nyx said gently. "The prosthetics are still functional. You just won't have the supernatural enhancements anymore."

"I was strong," the soldier whispered. "I could fight again. I could matter."

*This is what Peterson's been selling,* Vex'thul said. *Not just enhancement. Hope.*

"You always mattered," Kael said. "You didn't need the enhancements for that."

"Easy for you to say. You're not broken."

Kael looked down at his own hands, at the claws that weren't entirely his, at the power that came from sharing his body with a demon. "Everyone's broken somehow. The question is what you do about it."

*Profound wisdom from a seventeen-year-old.*

"I'm learning from my mistakes."

More footsteps echoed from the tunnel entrance. But these weren't the mechanical rhythms of enhanced soldiers—these were human footsteps, moving quickly but not with inhuman precision.

"Reinforcements," Nyx said, her form shifting back to mostly human. "Peterson's getting desperate."

But the figures that emerged from the tunnel weren't soldiers. They were people—men and women in civilian clothes, all of them carrying weapons that looked suspiciously like the ones the enhanced soldiers had been using.

"Volunteers," Kael realized. "More volunteers."

The leader of the group was a woman in her forties, with graying hair and eyes that had seen too much. She was missing her left arm, but the weapon in her right hand was steady.

"Stand down," she called out. "We're not here to fight."

"Then why are you here?" Nyx asked.

"To talk. To Dr. Peterson's pet demon." The woman's gaze fixed on Kael. "You're the one who's been disrupting our operations."

"Your operations involve turning humans into weapons."

"Our operations involve giving people a choice," the woman replied. "A choice to be something more than victims."

*She believes it,* Vex'thul observed. *She genuinely believes Peterson is helping people.*

"What's your name?" Kael asked.

"Colonel Sarah Mitchell. I was commanding officer of the 173rd Airborne until an IED took my arm and half my unit. Dr. Peterson gave me a chance to serve again."

"By becoming a monster?"

"By becoming powerful enough to protect people who can't protect themselves." Mitchell's jaw tightened. "You think we're the bad guys? Look around you. The world is full of things that want to hurt innocent people. Demons, vampires, werewolves—"

"I'm standing right here," Nyx interrupted.

"—and the Council is the only organization with the resources to fight them. But they needed soldiers who could match supernatural beings in combat. That's where we come in."

"What about the people who don't volunteer?" Kael asked. "What about the ones who get taken against their will?"

"Collateral damage," Mitchell said, but her voice lacked conviction. "War is never clean."

*She's having doubts,* Vex'thul noted. *The corruption of the demon blood is affecting her judgment.*

"You know it's wrong," Kael said. "Deep down, you know what Peterson is doing isn't right."

"What I know is that my daughter is alive because enhanced soldiers stopped a vampire coven from turning her into food," Mitchell snapped. "What I know is that my son can sleep safely at night because we're out there fighting the monsters."

"What if the monsters aren't the real enemy?"

"What?"

"What if the real enemy is the people who convinced you that becoming a monster was the only way to fight them?"

Mitchell's weapon wavered slightly. "That's not... we're not monsters. We're soldiers."

"Look at your men," Kael said quietly. "Look at what the enhancement process did to them. Is that what you signed up for?"

The soldiers behind Mitchell were indeed changed. Their eyes glowed with artificial light, their movements had the jerky precision of machinery, and their skin had the waxy pallor of the dead. They were alive, but they weren't human anymore.

"They volunteered," Mitchell said, but her voice was barely a whisper.

"Did they volunteer to lose their humanity?"

*Now,* Vex'thul said. *Strike now while her faith is shaken.*

"What if I told you there was another way?" Kael asked. "What if you could fight the real monsters without becoming one yourself?"

"I'd say you're naive."

"Maybe. But I'd also say you're tired. Tired of fighting, tired of losing pieces of yourself, tired of wondering if you're still one of the good guys."

Mitchell's weapon dropped to her side. "What are you proposing?"

"Help us stop Peterson. Help us expose what he's really doing. Help us find a better way."

"And if there isn't a better way?"

"Then we figure one out together."

*That's a dangerous promise to make.*

"I'm good at dangerous."

Mitchell looked at her soldiers, then at the fallen enhanced soldiers, then at Kael. "What about them?" she asked, nodding toward her men. "What happens to them if we turn against Peterson?"

"I don't know," Kael admitted. "But I know what happens if we don't. More people get turned into weapons. More families get torn apart. More kids lose their parents to an endless war."

"Like you did?"

"Like I did."

Mitchell was quiet for a long moment. Then she holstered her weapon. "What do you need from us?"

"Information. How many facilities does Peterson have? How many enhanced soldiers has he created? What's his endgame?"

"He's building an army," Mitchell said. "Thousands of enhanced soldiers, all ready to deploy when the Council gives the order."

"Deploy where?"

"Everywhere. Every major city, every supernatural community, every place where humans and supernaturals coexist. He calls it the Final Solution."

*Genocide,* Vex'thul hissed. *He's planning genocide.*

"When?" Kael asked.

"Soon. Maybe days, maybe weeks. The last batch of soldiers just finished their enhancement process."

"We need to stop him."

"You need to kill him," Mitchell corrected. "There's no stopping Peterson. He's too far gone, too committed to his vision. The only way to end this is to end him."

*She's right. And we both know it.*

"I'm not a killer."

"You've killed before. I've seen the reports."

"That was different. That was self-defense."

"This is self-defense too. Just on a bigger scale."

Kael felt something cold settle in his chest. The weight of necessity, of choices that had to be made whether he wanted to make them or not.

"Where is he?"

"The main facility is in the old industrial district. Sublevel 7, behind about a dozen layers of security. But there's a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

"He's not just enhanced. He's... something else. Something that used to be human but isn't anymore."

*What did he do to himself?*

"He injected himself with everything," Mitchell said. "Demon blood, angel blood, synthetic compounds, genetic modifications. He's turned himself into something that shouldn't exist."

"How powerful?"

"Powerful enough to kill a room full of enhanced soldiers without breaking a sweat. Powerful enough to survive a direct hit from a plasma cannon. Powerful enough to regenerate from injuries that would kill a demon."

*He's created his own version of what you are,* Vex'thul realized. *But without the safeguards, without the balance. He's pure chaos.*

"Can he be killed?"

"Everything can be killed," Mitchell said. "But it won't be easy. And it won't be clean."

"Nothing about this has been clean."

"No. It hasn't."

Kael looked around the cavern, at the fallen soldiers, at the humans who'd volunteered to become weapons, at the supernatural beings who'd been driven underground by fear and persecution.

"We're going to need help," he said.

"The Underground will stand with you," Nyx said. "We've been waiting for someone to lead the fight against the Council."

"I'm not a leader."

"You're what we have."

*And what we need.*

"What about the students? The ones from the school?"

"They're safe," Nyx assured him. "Jake's keeping them calm, and we've got people who can help them process what happened."

"And Emma?"

"She made it to the surface. She's probably calling her parents right now, trying to explain why she was found in an abandoned subway tunnel."

*The authorities will be investigating soon. We need to move quickly.*

"How long do we have?"

"Not long," Mitchell said. "Once Peterson realizes his soldiers failed, he'll escalate. He might even move up his timeline."

"Then we go tonight."

"Tonight?" Nyx raised an eyebrow. "That's ambitious."

"That's necessary."

*Are you sure about this?*

"No. But I'm sure about what happens if we don't try."

"What's the plan?"

Kael looked at the group that had somehow formed around him—a shadow demon, a former military officer, a handful of enhanced soldiers who were questioning their orders, and somewhere in the tunnels, a werewolf teenager who'd probably gotten himself adopted by the Underground's community.

"We're going to walk into Peterson's facility," he said. "We're going to find him. And we're going to end this."

"That's not a plan," Mitchell said. "That's suicide."

"Yeah, well," Kael grinned, feeling Vex'thul's approval wash through him. "I'm getting good at that."

*This is going to be interesting.*

"Define 'interesting.'"

*The kind of interesting that ends with either salvation or apocalypse.*

"Great. No pressure."

But as they began to plan their assault on Peterson's facility, Kael couldn't shake the feeling that they were missing something. Something important. Something that would change everything.

In the shadows of the tunnel, unnoticed by any of them, a figure watched and listened. It was human-shaped but moved with the fluid grace of something that had never truly been human. Its eyes were the color of fresh snow, and when it smiled, the temperature in the cavern dropped by several degrees.

*The angel,* it thought to itself. *The boy is stronger than anticipated. This changes things.*

The figure melted back into the shadows, disappearing as silently as it had appeared. But its presence lingered, a cold spot in the darkness that made the nearby humans shiver without knowing why.

The real game was just beginning.