The traffic light flickered uselessly above the intersection.
Red.
Yellow.
Red again.
Jack Storm stood in the middle of the road, coat torn, boots soaked in rain and blood that wasn't his—mostly. Neon lights reflected off puddles like broken halos. Phones were out. People were screaming. Someone was filming.
None of that mattered.
What mattered was the woman pinned against the bus stop behind him.
Her eyes were wrong.
Too wide. Too black. Veins spiderwebbed across her neck, pulsing like something was crawling beneath her skin. She laughed—but the sound came out layered, distorted, as if two voices were sharing the same throat.
"You should run," the thing inside her said. "You still have time."
Jack exhaled slowly.
His eyes burned red.
"I know."
The air around him warped. Asphalt cracked beneath his feet as heat bled outward in a perfect circle. Hellfire crept along his arms like living veins, stopping just short of his hands—he was holding back. Always holding back.
"Please," the woman sobbed suddenly, fighting for control. "I don't want to—"
The demon forced her head up.
"Too late."
It lunged.
Jack moved.
To the crowd, it looked like the night exploded.
He crossed the distance in a blink, grabbed the woman by the collar, and twisted—not her neck, but the thing coiled inside her. Hellfire surged, precise and surgical, burning only what didn't belong.
The demon screamed.
A sound no human mouth should ever make.
Jack whispered, voice low and steady.
"Get out."
The shadow ripped free—clawed, horned, furious—before collapsing into ash midair.
The woman fell unconscious into Jack's arms.
Silence.
Then sirens.
Jack set her down gently, already backing away as his chest burned hotter—another mark carved into the invisible counter inside him.
Another step closer to the end.
As police lights washed over him, someone in the crowd whispered:
"That's him…"
"The Hellstorm."
Jack turned, coat fluttering, and disappeared into the rain before anyone could stop him.
And then—
Jack Storm used to enjoy hurting people.
Not because he was strong—but because it made him feel like he wasn't weak.
He grew up fast and angry. School didn't stick. Jobs didn't last. Friends didn't stay. By twenty-three, he had a record, a reputation, and nowhere left to fall except deeper.
He ran with the wrong people.
Did the wrong things.
Became exactly what everyone expected him to become.
A bully.
A criminal.
A dead end.
Then came the night of the accident.
Rain again. Always rain.
Jack was mid-argument, mid-shout, mid-mistake—when he saw the kid step off the curb.
The car didn't slow down.
There was no heroic music.
No dramatic pause.
Jack moved because his body did—before his mind could talk him out of it.
He shoved the kid.
Hard.
The impact took Jack instead.
The world shattered into pain, metal, and darkness.
His last thought wasn't regret.
It was relief.
Death wasn't fire.
It was quiet.
Jack stood in a vast, empty place—neither dark nor light. No ground. No sky. Just presence. Something watched him.
Not with eyes.
With judgment.
"You lived poorly," the voice said.
"Yes," Jack replied.
"You died well."
"…I know."
Silence stretched.
Then:
"You will be given another life."
Jack laughed bitterly. "Why?"
"Because you chose someone else over yourself."
The voice continued:
"You will hunt demons born from human sin. You will sever possession from this world. You will walk in hellfire—and resist it."
Jack felt something burn into his chest.
A core.
A clock.
"And if I refuse?"
"There is nothing to refuse. You already chose."