This chapter marks a shift. The rules change here. Containment ends. The hunt begins.
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Seth leans in, voice low. "My dear, terrifying wife. Other moms bring their kids teddy bears and bedtime stories. You bring ours the thing that hides under the bed."
I keep my eyes on the cage. "My kids are special," I say. "Teddy bears are for children who sleep."
Seth hums quietly. "I married you knowing that."
Without looking back, I call out, "Jamey. Adrian. I need you."
They are beside me within moments. I turn to Adrian.
"I need answers out of it."
He frowns, breath caught halfway in. "I've never whispered to a demon before."
I jerk my thumb toward Jamey. "That's why he's here."
"Power him up."
Jamey's mouth twitches. "Sure. Let's make it uncomfortable."
He steps in beside Adrian and settles a loose hand on his shoulder.
Adrian does not look at the demon.
Jamey does.
He holds the creature's gaze without flinching, steady and unafraid. The sight hits me harder than I expect.
Great. He's leveling up mid-crisis.
Gold and silver rise from both of them in thin, deliberate streams, lifting like breath drawn deep and held too long. The currents lean toward me for a split second, responding to proximity, then snap back and redirect into Jamey. His gold flares, catches Adrian's silver, and hurls it forward in a tight arc. The combined force slams into the breath cage with a concussive impact, ricochets off the curved surface, and whips back toward Adrian. It coils around him, spins once, twice, then settles again into a steady orbit around them both, gold and silver twining together as the air tightens and falls into a controlled, lethal rhythm.
The demon feels it.
Its movements change. The thrashing fades into tension. Listening replaces resistance.
I shift my gaze to Adrian.
"Whisper."
He does.
The sound barely exists. A thread of breath slipping between syllables, sliding past resistance before it can brace.
"Where is your leader," he murmurs.
The words do not strike.
They sink.
The demon jerks violently. Claws fly to its head, raking at its skull as if it can tear the sound out before it roots. Its body slams into the breath wall again and again, panic sharpening every movement.
Jamey feeds more power into him.
I do not give it time.
"Again."
Adrian sways slightly now, silver spiraling tighter, gold pressing it forward.
"Where is your leader?"
The demon screams. One claw punches through the breath wall, wrapped instantly, forced back hard enough to snap the limb away, and throw its body off balance.
Adrian tilts his head, voice still soft. Still beautiful.
"Tell us," he whispers. "You don't get to keep it."
The demon's resistance fractures. It's breathing stutters. Its eyes dart wildly between Adrian and me.
"The old subway," it grinds out, voice shredding itself raw. "Under the city."
I turn away the moment the words leave it.
Seth steps forward.
The breath responds.
The circle contracts.
The demon realizes what is happening.
It shrieks, a high, animal sound, throwing itself against the shrinking curve, claws scraping, body folding as space collapses around it. Panic pours off it now, thick and desperate.
The silver contracts.
The creature screams as the space collapses, its body buckling inward, limbs folding where there is no room left to keep them. The sound tears itself raw, then snaps off as breath is crushed from it.
The silver draws tight one final time.
Nothing remains.
I stop and turn my head, the heat in my chest finally showing.
"Old, abandoned subways," I say. "These are bad places. Dark enough for things like him to think they're safe."
I face the room.
"Victor. Rachel. Leah. Gabriel. You're with me."
Thania and Marcus move in the same breath.
"And me," they say together.
Alec steps in beside us. "Tunnels only work if they stay dark."
Seth steps forward with the rest of them. He almost speaks. Stops himself. His eyes stay on me anyway.
"And the faithful husband?"
I turn to him. Hold his gaze a second longer than necessary. "Not this time," I say. "I'm not taking both parents from the twins."
Something in his expression tightens. Just for a breath. "You stay," I add. "If I need you, you'll know."
He nods once. Sharp. Controlled.
But he doesn't step back right away.
Only when I turn does he finally move.
I turn for the door.
No more waiting.
The hunt is on.
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The tunnel takes us whole.
Darkness closes in the moment we step past the barrier of the old station. Sound dulls. Space tightens. The air smells old, wet, and corrupted.
The Flame reacts before I do.
Gold spills out of me in sudden streams, low and fast, skimming the floor like living fire. Silver breath follows immediately, threading through it, cooling and sharpening the surge without slowing it. The combined force surges forward, strikes the concrete, then rebounds hard, heat and pressure crashing together into the walls. The tracks catch it next. Steel flashes gold and silver as flame and breath race along the rails, leap the gap, and slam into the far wall in a rolling wave that leaves the tunnel humming with restrained violence.
It knows what has been here.
The Flame splits, streaks crossing the tunnel in violent arcs, while silver breath threads through each strike, guiding and sharpening the sweep. Together they test corners, climb pillars, and press into the dark as if daring it to respond. Hunger drives the motion, fast and unforgiving, yet held in check by breath that refuses to let the force lose shape or purpose.
I feel the pull in my chest.
"Stop," I say. "Come back."
The Flame pushes back against the Breath for the span of a single inhale, strain flashing through the current before discipline clamps down again.
Then it recoils, streams snapping back into me, both settling under my skin like a caged thing that has already picked its target.
The tunnel breathes again, dark and aware.
I turn my head toward Alec.
"What are you waiting for?"
Lightning answers before he does.
Alec lifts one hand.
Light gathers slowly, pulled inward, folding in on itself. A tight sphere forms above his palm, white-blue and dense, lightning compressed until it hums low and heavy.
He flicks his wrist.
The orb drifts forward, unhurried, almost gentle.
It stops midair and begins to brighten.
The light swells outward in steady increments, like a bulb being turned higher and higher. Shadows thin. Corners soften. Darkness loses its grip as the tunnel fills wall to wall.
The space gives itself up.
That is when we see them.
The demons cling to the ceiling and walls, bodies flattened against the concrete, broad and low, built to vanish where light should fail. Cracks web across their frames, glowing from within. Lava-like light moves beneath their skin, flowing from fracture to fracture, circulating without spill or leak.
Their heads are wide and blunt, flattened at the crown, necks short and thick. When they bare their mouths, rows of heavy teeth catch the rising glow.
These are defenders.
The light keeps climbing.
Some press themselves tighter against the ceiling, limbs spread wide, as if depth might save them. Others crawl backward along the walls, scraping for shadow that no longer holds.
Alec's other hand is already moving.
Another sphere forms, smaller at first, then tightening fast. Lightning spins hard on its axis, contained, focused, hungry.
He throws it with intent.
The second orb tears forward the instant it leaves his hand, accelerating as it hunts movement. It snaps toward anything that flees, spinning faster as panic spreads.
The demons scatter.
They collide along the ceiling and walls, bodies slamming together as coordination breaks down. Some drop low. Others bolt for side passages. The orb keeps pace, cutting them off, driving them into one another as it floods the space with violent clarity.
Light fills every surface.
The tunnel belongs to us now.
Farther down, deeper in the dark, something larger pulls back, dragging lesser forms with it, asserting order through fear alone.
Hierarchy.
I step forward, eyes tracking the movement.
"Good," I murmur. "Run."
The Flame and Breath stir again, restless now, and eager to finish this.
I speak low and fast, keeping my voice tight to the moment.
"Victor, you're up front. Alec, you stay with me at the rear. Gabriel, you don't leave Thania, Leah, and Rachel. We protect them first."
My gaze cuts across the group.
"And for heaven's sake, don't let anything inside your head."
Thania snorts softly. "Comforting. Truly. I'll try to die politely behind the shield."
We move.
The revealer orb floats ahead of us, steady and bright, turning the tunnel into a corridor of exposed stone and steel. Its light spreads evenly, climbing walls, washing the ceiling, leaving nowhere for the dark to settle.
The sound changes with our steps.
Whispers slide through the tunnel, thin and backward, crawling against the direction of our movement. They skim past ears instead of meeting them head-on, words stretching, folding, slipping sideways before meaning can settle.
A distant train horn rolls through the dark.
The sound does not belong to this place.
The Flame stirs under my skin, restless, while silver breath coils through it, reacting to something moving alongside us. I release the clones.
Eight of them step out of me in smooth succession, gold-edged and deliberate, breath tracing their forms as they take shape. Two fall in behind Alec and me. Two slide wide on either side, attention fixed on walls and ceiling. Two push forward, pacing Victor's advance.
Formation locks.
One of the clones reacts before any of us catch the threat.
It breaks formation in a flash of gold and silver, surging forward with violent intent. Flame and Breath move together without hesitation, drawn to the corruption ahead. They recognize this evil the way a blade recognizes a whetstone.
The clone slams something into the wall ahead of us.
Concrete fractures under the impact. A demon peels out of shadow too late, broad body pinned as the clone drives it into the stone again and again, each strike precise and final.
A strip of glyph-light snaps free from the clone's form and punches through the demon's abdomen.
The body stiffens.
Cracks race across its frame as the molten glow inside gutters and dies. The form collapses inward, breaking apart into ash and dust that scatter across the wall and fall soundlessly to the ground.
The clone turns back at once.
It slides back into formation as if it never left.
No one stops.
We all saw it.
Then the tunnel screams.
Metal shrieks along the rails without warning, the sound tearing sharp and high before twisting halfway into something almost human. Leah flinches. Rachel's hand tightens in her sleeve.
Silence crashes in behind it.
The absence presses harder than the noise did.
I feel the danger immediately.
"Keep talking," I say. "Keep it short. Keep it real. Anchor each other."
Whispers multiply, brushing close enough to feel like breath at the ear. The distant train sound returns in fragments now, arriving too early, too late, and never in rhythm with the space.
The orb holds steady.
I lift my hand.
"Keep moving."
We advance as one.
The tunnel answers with noise that wants to be remembered.
We refuse to let it decide what is real.
The hunt continues, carried forward by motion, light, and voices that do not break.
The shriek comes again, closer this time, sharper.
It rebounds off the tunnel walls and the lesser demons answer at once, bodies peeling out of shadow in a coordinated rush.
The clones on the left absorb the first impact.
Two demons hit the clone at full force, driving it back on its heel. The clone collapses into its partner in a violent surge of gold and silver, one form plunging straight through the other as if being devoured. Their outlines compress, power stacking tight and dense, breath and flame grinding together for the span of a heartbeat. Then the mass tears itself apart. Two forms re-emerge, heavier, sharper, wrong with concentrated force. Glyph-strips explode outward, snapping through flesh and shadow in clean, surgical strikes that leave no time for screams.
One demon is severed mid-lunge and disintegrates into ash before it hits the ground. Another is ripped off the wall and driven headfirst into the concrete until its frame collapses inward.
The third recoils, dragging itself back into darkness.
"Look to the front," Victor snaps. "We've got multiple targets coming in."
Bronze light surges outward in response, pouring from him in a fluid wall that reshapes as it meets the charge. The shield flexes under impact, yielding just enough to absorb the force before locking again.
Demons slam into it and stop.
Their momentum dies mid-lunge as the bronze thickens around limbs and jaws, binding them in place while bodies strain against restraint that refuses to yield. Claws scrape. Teeth grind against air that no longer moves.
A shriek cuts through the clash.
Victor staggers as something tears across his left arm, flesh ripping open under blackened claws. His scream echoes sharp and raw.
Rachel and Leah move without a word.
Light flares between them, hands already pressed to the wound. Gold and silver thread together as they seal torn muscle and shattered bone in a breath's span. Victor gasps once, pain breaking into shock, then steadies as the damage closes beneath their touch.
Thania steps forward into the gap, pole spinning into her grip. The glyphs I etched along its length ignite as she drives it into the charging demon's chest, stance low and brutal. The impact sends the creature skidding back in a spray of sparks and shadow.
Gabriel is already moving.
He snaps the whip from his side, glyphs along its length flaring as it cracks through the air. The first strike cripples, folding a demon in half mid-charge. The second strike ends it, shadow tearing apart under the weight of my inscriptions.
"Watch it, Alec. Your right," Marcus shouts.
A larger demon drops from the ceiling, body flattening as it skids along the wall toward the rear line.
Marcus does not hesitate.
Ancient spirits tear free from him in a violent surge, shapes warped by age and fury. They slam into the demon in a screaming mass, ripping into it with relentless precision. The creature barely manages a sound before it is shredded and scattered across the tunnel floor.
Above us, the revealer orb holds steady, flooding the space with even, merciless light. Alec's second orb snaps toward movement, spinning fast as it hunts, driving fleeing demons back into Victor's shield or straight into the clones' reach.
The tunnel erupts into controlled chaos.
We hold.
Through it all, I track the shift ahead. The higher-ranked presence withdraws deeper into the dark, its command spent but its fear sharp and loud.
"You called them," I say quietly. "Good."
Flame and Breath surge together beneath my skin, pressure building fast and violent.
"Now it's my turn."
Gold explodes outward in a sudden bloom, low and fast, while silver breath threads through it, binding the force into something sharper. The Flame rolls through me and settles.
My hair lightens instantly, dark giving way to white as it lengthens and flows around me in deliberate waves. Glyph-ribbons slip free from my sides and spine, drifting outward, inscriptions shifting as they move. The golden glyph at my chest pulses harder, brighter, each beat steady and unforgiving. Silver-blue symbols slide into place where my eyes should be, watching the tunnel without blinking.
I rise above fractured stone, the air around me shimmering with heat and disciplined intent.
The clones fall back on instinct, giving the space I now occupy the distance it demands.
"Stay back," I say.
The glyph-ribbons widen, carving through the light as I turn toward the darkness ahead, white hair trailing behind me like a warning.
The hunt stops being shared.
It becomes personal.
The ribbons move before I do.
They snap outward in sharp arcs, striking at the edges of the light where the lesser demons hesitate. Each lash carries intent, forcing a choice that leaves no mercy.
Stay, and be taken.
Run, and be exposed.
The demons shriek and recoil, then surge again, driven forward by a command stronger than fear. The ribbons answer by lengthening, snapping tighter, dragging one screaming body from the mass before tearing it apart midair.
The rest break.
They scream like banshees now, panic ripping raw as claws dig into concrete and steel. Stone crumbles under the strain as they cling to walls or flatten against the ground, bodies pressed thin in a futile attempt to disappear.
It does not save them.
The ribbons keep pushing, snapping closer, driving them back step by step toward the deeper dark ahead.
I move with them.
The tunnel narrows. The air thickens. Light bends as the space ahead resists my presence.
The lesser demons rush once more in a final, desperate surge, then scatter all at once, fleeing from a fear they cannot outrun.
I stop.
Four of my clones draw in close, their forms steady and familiar. They pass straight through me, ghosting through my light, and emerge on the other side already remade.
White hair spills free. Glyph-ribbons unfurl. Golden light ignites at their chests in fierce, synchronized pulses.
I move with them.
We cross the boundary together, stepping fully into the leader's space.
The tunnel locks.
Then the roar erupts.
It tears out of the depths ahead, vast and uncontrolled, a sound too large for the space it comes from. The rails shudder. Dust shakes loose from the ceiling. The roar fractures mid-bellow, twisting upward into a shriek that scrapes raw along the walls.
Fear drives it.
The leader knows what has entered his domain.
Every demon hears it.
Every one of them stills.
Through the clones, I feel the shock ripple back down the tunnel. Rachel stumbles. Leah catches her. The line tightens instinctively.
Alec surges forward, lightning flaring.
Marcus stops him, hand locking around his arm. The command is silent, but it carries. Hold. Obey.
I do not turn.
The shriek sharpens, rising and falling in panicked bursts as the presence ahead pulls inward, desperate and cornered.
A brilliant flare tears through the tunnel, absolute and unforgiving. Demons that dare move closer burn out mid-step, bodies collapsing into ash and heat. The rest break and flee, abandoning the space entirely.
For a single heartbeat, the tunnel floods white.
In that instant, one image stamps itself across every shared sense.
Me.
And four identical forms beside me.
All of us diving forward together, glyph-ribbons flaring wide, white hair streaming, golden cores blazing as we descend on the leader at once.
Then the light collapses.
Darkness rushes back in.
And the tunnel falls silent.
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Fear spreads faster underground. Especially when it knows it's being followed.