The center of the chaos was a cluster of students outside the front of one of the older buildings set almost diagonally from the Waterman building where this had all started.
Chris moved up to the crowd and flipped over top of them, coming down in the middle of what looked like seven or eight wounded or dead individuals spread out on the lawn. He stood up from his landing crouch, facing a young female student who was being held in the viselike grip of a Helbourne demon. The demon grinned at him like it was waiting for him. A soft thrum told him that Omega’s drones had caught up with him. He tucked that piece of information away as he let his combat persona study the situation. The Helbourne was holding the girl with one claw-like hand clutching her trachea so tightly that he wondered if she could even breathe.
Using the girl as a shield, it was mostly hidden behind her, probably still vulnerable to precision projectile or laser fire from the drones, but was equally likely to rip out her throat if it was hit.
“Greetings, fallen one. My leader sends her regards…” it hissed, eyes flickering out over the dead and wounded bodies lying around them on the ground. That’s as far as it got, as Chris saw Holly suddenly materialize out of the crowd behind the demon, run up behind it, grabbing the hand covering the girl’s throat and expertly breaking it free. The hostage fell away, clutching her throat as Holly proceeded to snap the Helbourne’s arm in five places. And that’s as far as she got as Chris, or rather Grim, moved right up to the demon and pulled it free from the body, throwing up to be caught by Kirby, the God Raptor.
“Omega!” he yelled.
“Already on it, Chris. EMTs and other first responders will arrive in the next fifty seconds.”
Sirens sounding from at least three directions confirmed the AI’s words, but as the rest of both squads of his team converged on the site, he got them busy trying to help the wounded.
The demon had used only hands and feet, yet the damage was devastating. Many of the wounded had broken limbs and bruised or shattered ribs, and the two dead boys had partially caved-in skulls. Several other kids were hovering close to death but were stabilized by immediate application of small amounts of his own blood, which every team member carried in a vial on their persons at all times.
“Omega, where’s the other one?” Chris asked as he stepped back, satisfied that no one else was going to die in the next few minutes.
“I am tracking it now. It immediately stole a car and is headed in the general direction of the city’s water treatment plant.”
“Stop it!” he yelled, turning to look for either of their cars. The vehicle Nika’s group had used was pulled over near the corner of University Place and Colchester Avenue, so he again drew on his vampire-given speed to race to the SUV. His stomach growled as he threw himself into the big vehicle, simultaneously telling the driver to go, go, go. Instantly the big four-wheel drive shot forward while he rummaged in the glove compartment, finding two pemmican bars to feed his savage metabolism.
“I have disabled the vehicle’s engine and removed the Helbourne’s legs at the knee. It is still trying to get away, using just its arms. Now I have removed its left arm at the shoulder. Movement is minimal. You should arrive in two-point-six minutes.”
They made it in just over two, pulling up behind two Burlington PD cruisers already on scene. The Helbourne was flopping about in the middle of the road, a smoking Jeep Rubicon stopped fifteen feet behind it, a massive, blackened hole in the center of the Jeep’s hood.
The responding officers were standing near their cars, guns hanging by their sides as they watched two of Omega’s drones circle the downed demon.
“Everyone alright?” Chris asked, hopping out.
“Ah, yes sir. Those drones just chopped him right up. I was worried at first, but the damned thing kept going, didn’t make a sound, just ignored the damage and kept trying to go. After the arm came off, it mostly just started going in a circle,” one of the cops, an Officer T. McGee, according to his name badge, reported, looking simultaneously shocked and awed. The other two officers just stared at Chris, one of them holstering his gun, which caused his buddy to follow suit.
Another cop car pulled up, this one an unmarked SUV, and Detective Schulz got out, his eyes locked on the Helbourne. “Is that… ”
“No. That’s a Helbourne. Think Jason Voorhees from the Friday the Thirteenth movies. Empty body occupied by a demon. We lost the demoness. She’s Lilith, by the way. But she gave up her means of hiding from me, so it’s just a matter of time,” Chris said.
“So one of these killed those kids on campus and wounded all the others? And it’s not even the leader?” Schulz asked. “And she’s still out there? You’re supposed to be good at this.”
Chris stopped and turned, fixing Schulz with his violet eyes. For a second, he felt the cage in his mind rattle. Then he spun about and strode to the Helbourne, picking it up without effort, holding it at arm’s length.
“One of these pieces of shit killed my whole family when I was eight… with an axe. We’re incredibly lucky that the dead count was just two.”
Then he pulled the demon from its shell and threw it up to Kirby, who hovered in place for four massive wing flaps before disappearing.
“We are the only ones who do this. Those things could have decimated this city. This one was likely headed to the water plant to poison the drinking supply. All three are stopped. And in just…”
“Fourteen minutes, Chris.”
“It’s just that you’ve been baiting these things with that kid, who is the only reason it’s even here,” Schulz said.
“It’s here to scout a way forward for the legions of Hell. Does that involve Declan? Yes. But the important thing is that it is here—on Earth, and therefore a danger to the entire planet. How do you catch a demon incarnate, Detective Schulz?”
“I don’t know. That’s your job.”
“Yes, it is. You ever work a case where you had to wait for a criminal to show himself? Where you had to trap him because he was too well-hidden to hunt?” Chris asked. Schulz gave a slow, reluctant nod. “It came with risks, didn’t it?”
The detective looked away for a second, then turned back and changed the subject. “What do we do with that?”
“Bag it, tag it, identify, and notify next of kin. In all honesty, you won’t likely even get that far. One of the fed agencies will likely seize it. Won’t be your problem. Now if you’ll excuse me, I got a demon to hunt,” Chris said, moving back to the car. Somehow, he didn’t think any of his comments had done a damn thing to change Schulz’s mind.