The next day, Esperanza lent Hayden his Mercedes-Benz so he could play chauffeur for Aubrey. Funny enough, it was the same car that hit him on his first encounter with Esperanza, although the bumper is now repaired.
They sped down the road, Aubrey in the front seat, clearly not enjoying the company. Being alone with Hayden made her want to scream, let alone sitting beside him.
When they reached school, Hayden walked her to class. Once she was seated, he leaned close and whispered something only she could hear.
"I'm heading out for a bit. Stay put while I'm gone."
Without acknowledging his forewarning, Aubrey rolled her eyes like a bitch, pretending to hear nothing.
Thinking nothing catastrophic would happen on this bright, peaceful day, Hayden went outside the classroom and his mission began.
Just moments later, when Aubrey's circle got to the classroom, a dumb thought occurred to her.
"Hey, guys, wanna grab a snack at the cafeteria before class starts?"
She's not actually craving for something. She just wanted to annoy Hayden as payback for getting under her skin the previous day.
~~~~~~~~~
"Your target for tomorrow is Conor; the school principal," this is Franklin's instruction. "And the objective: assassinate him and make it look like a suicide."
The details about the mission ran through Hayden's head as he made his way to the principal's office. The whole assassination thing doesn't trouble Hayden since he's an expert at it.
The Headhunter will never want Conor dead without a strong reason. An intelligence came the previous day, accusing Conor of molesting students. According to the intel, Conor lures the students he'd like and sexually assaults them with the entire scene filmed. After that, he threatens his victims to remain silent, otherwise those videos will be released on the internet.
There are proofs supporting this intel, and it's pretty solid, hence the assassination of the principal is ordered.
More than 20 students are estimated to have been victimised, and to halt this monstrosity, Hayden made his move, walking casually along the corridors.
But when he reached the principal's office, he stopped. The office was locked. Hayden pressed his ear against the door. Nothing. Not a sound inside, not even the hum of the air conditioner.
His eyes narrowed. "Strange. The intel said Conor would be here."
Something wasn't right.
If the target wasn't in his office, he had to be somewhere else. Hayden headed to the registrar's office for answers.
Behind the counter, the registrar was typing away at her computer when Hayden approached.
"Excuse me," he said. "Is Principal Conor around?"
She looked up, blinking. "Oh, he's at the gymnasium. Right by the main gate."
Hayden tilted his head. "Any idea why?"
The woman shook her head with a shrug. "No, but he's there if you're looking for him."
Hayden nodded once and turned to leave—
But suddenly…
The light shifted
The bright hallway dimmed, shadows bleeding across the floor until everything turned gray. It's as if it became night time in a matter of seconds.
'A solar eclipse?' he thought.
Unaware of what was happening beyond the walls, he continued down the corridor.
Meanwhile, over at the cafeteria, Aubrey was sipping a coffee with her friends when something caught their eyes. Through the window, a black streak shot up into the sky, like a firework, but carried a dark color.
It burst high above the campus. Weirdly enough, the explosion doesn't produce any sound, no fiery display. Instead, it spreads darkness that unfurls like a massive, shadowy canopy blanketing the entire school.
Gasps filled the cafeteria. Some students stood frozen; others ran to the windows, phones in hand to record the chilling sight.
Back in the hallway, Hayden noticed the light fading even more, shadows crawling up the walls. A cold weight settled in his chest.
Then, the PA system crackled to life.
"ATTENTION EVERYONE: An Umbrella Gate has broken out. All students are to remain calm and follow their teacher's instructions. The school must be evacuated immediately. Your cooperation is crucial to ensuring everyone's safety. Thank you."
The message echoed down the hallway.
A chill ran through Hayden's spine. 'Umbrella Gate? Here?'
He knew what that meant… dimensional rifts that unleashed demons into the human world. Once one opened, chaos followed.
Worried, he sprinted to the end of the hallway and looked outside. The sky above had turned a swirling purplish black, resembling a color of a decaying human.
This day had just taken a terrifying turn. Soon, the campus would be crawling with murderous demons.
Hayden had to decide fast.
Should he continue his assassination mission? Or should he forfeit and get Aubrey away?
This was a big decision for Hayden since he had never left any missions undone, not even once.
Although it was a tough choice, Hayden made up his mind almost instantly and sprinted back toward Aubrey's classroom.
After all, saving her could earn him more cash than killing a filthy principal.
In the end, every decision he made always came down to money.
And so, he hurried.
'Based on the barrier overhead, it's safe to say that the heart or the center of this umbrella gate is over the school's entrance. That means the gate opened at that location. It won't take long before the campus is infested with demons.'
Hayden is well aware of the situation.
However, as he sprinted down the school grounds, he skidded to a stop, stumbling across something gruesome on the pathway.
'A demon?' he assumed.
The thing was lying dormant on the grass that was drenched with its own purple fluids. It's obvious that this demon was freshly killed by someone, but only the DHs are capable of killing such a creature and this is not a DH academy, so it occurred to him that this must be Jace's doing, in service to protect Grace.
Hayden's eyes darted across the campus, but something felt off…
No screams. No hurried footsteps. No alarms echoing through the corridors.
The only sound was the faint rustle of leaves from the acacia trees lining the courtyard, their shadows swaying over the empty benches and silent hallways.
Putting the surroundings aside, Hayden approached the corpse of the demon, and upon closer inspection, he realized that the situation was far more sinister than he could ever imagine.
The thing's body embodied the shape of a human but in a distorted state. Its entire size expands twice the size of an adult human, one arm is abnormally bulged and asymmetrical to the other arm, the skin on its legs is peeling off, its left eye is gouged out and hung by a strand of nerve, and its head is extremely bloated—worse than Jimmy Neutron.
The place where Hayden found the thing was far from the demon's gate, and considering there are buildings full of students near the gate, those wretched demons should be busy gobbling up.
Demons are driven by their desire to kill humans and they will attack whoever is closest by instinct. The gate just opened, so it's too soon for a demon to have gotten this far.
At that very moment, it finally clicks into him as he gawks at the remnants in front of him.
'This thing… It's not a demon. It's a human.'