Sarah Beth felt a pop as Maria kicked her out of her mind. She released her bear hug and the detective flashed her a tight smile with tearstained cheeks. She pulled her service weapon and stepped between Sarah Beth and Victor.

“Victor, stop,” Maria commanded, addressing the creature on top of her mom.

The animal sounds went quiet, and Victor turned his head, presenting the most horrifying demonic visage Sarah Beth could possibly imagine.

“What did you say?”

“I said stop!” Maria said, leveling her pistol at him.

A sneer spread across the presenting demon’s face in sync with the sneer on Victor’s own corporeal one. “You think God will forgive you? You think there’s a place in heaven for fallen souls like yours? You chose your side years ago, my dear. Nothing you do now can change that. Your life is forfeit.”

“I know,” she said, “but I’m not doing this for myself. I’m doing this for the little girl behind me and all the little girls in this cruel world who need protection from you and monsters like you!”

He came at the detective in a flash and the detective did not flinch, emptying her magazine into the demon-infested thing that had once been a man. Bullets riddled Victor’s torso, but they had little effect. He slammed into Maria and drove her backward until she slammed into the wall. Sarah Beth watched in horror as he attacked, his body casting a colossal horned, winged shadow despite the dark. Maria kept firing until her magazine ran dry as he raked her face and neck with his talon nails. For a fleeting instant, time seemed to stand still. Victor’s shoulder dropped low enough for Sarah Beth to make eye contact with Maria, who, despite her mauled and bloody face, smiled at her.

Then Victor broke the detective’s neck, and she slid down the wall into a lifeless heap.

“Noooooo!” Sarah Beth screamed in horror as the now-dead detective tipped over onto the floor.

Victor whirled to face her.

Panic-stricken, Sarah Beth scanned the hall, taking in the horror show of misery and terror around her. Detective Perez dead. Corbin impaled and fighting for her life. Josh unconscious. Michaela whimpering with a broken arm. And her mom, battered and bloodied, crawling on the tile floor . . .

“That’s correct, Sarah Beth. There’s no one left to help you. And yes, this is all your fault,” Victor said, verbalizing her thoughts.

Uncle Jed will come.

Uncle Jed will save me.

“Not this time,” Victor laughed, eyes on fire. “Not this time.”

CHAPTER
FIFTY-FOUR

JUST OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL

It is said that black holes possess gravity so powerful that not even light can escape their ravenous, insatiable appetite. They are the universe’s great destroyers—eaters of planets and stars. Chaos collected, distilled, and concentrated to a form so pure and singular that all order and atomic substance is incinerated once ingested.