Hector's eyes flicked toward Adam, then back to the shadow creature reforming on the wall.

  Adam felt the faintest hint of hope.

  The light hurt to look at, and he could feel subtle waves of power radiating from it. He had no idea what Hector was doing, or what powers he possessed, but he was damned glad to see him.

  "Just in time,” Adam said, grinning weakly. "Any chance you kill it?"

  Hector tore his eyes from the creature, glancing at the torch, then again at Adam's battered form. "You want me to kill it? I barely managed to get here."

  Adam’s eyes widened as the shadow finished coalescing, once again in the shape of a man, but this time with eight writhing arms. The arms flew across the ground in an inky wave, almost too fast to see in the shifting torchlight, until they reared up and dove into the box of surgical tools.

  "Please?"

  The arms withdrew, now holding a spread of gleaming instruments and they fanned out across the wall like a demonic spider. Adam watched Hector grit his teeth as the light from the torch bent toward his right hand, flaring in a starburst.

  The shadow shrieked, the unnatural sound sharp and high enough to make Adam's ears pop. He wished he could cover them, but the restraints held him fast.

  A wave of sound slammed into Hector and the torchlight wavered, bowing under the pressure of the scream. The light bent backward, but Hector's face stayed locked in an expression of grim determination. He wrestled the light back under control, forcing it toward the creature just as it lunged, twin scalpels flashing like fangs.

  The two blades shot forward and bit deep into Hector's coat. He hissed in pain but didn't slow. Chopping his hand to the side, away from the torch, he summoned a thin plane of light that sliced through the air, severing two of the shadow's limbs.

  The severed arms hit the floor and evaporated as the creature shrieked again.

  It writhed, reforming into a nest of snakelike appendages, each one brandishing a blade.

  Hector swung the torch like a club, battering away a scalpel flying toward his face. A second blade slipped past his guard and buried itself in his thigh.

  "Fuck!" Hector snapped, staggering back and favoring the wounded leg. He bent the light upward from the torch, intercepting another shadow appendage aimed at his throat. The arm dissolved into smoke and the blade clattered uselessly to the floor, then he risked a glance over his shoulder at Adam.

  "Adam! Do you trust me?" Hector yelled, looking desperate. Adam couldn't blame him.

  "Does it matter?" Adam shot back, watching as the entity pulled inward, once again changing its form, arms twisting into a tight spiral like a snake about to strike.

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  "No."

  Hector yanked a bottle from his coat pocket and doused a set of surgical drapes in one smooth motion.

  Five scalpels lanced toward his chest as he jammed the torch into the drapes.

  The fire roared to life instantly, racing upward and licking the ceiling. The entity's attack faltered in mid-air, the scalpels clattering harmlessly against Hector's chest. The tendrils recoiled, writhing under the blaze's hellish glow.

  Adam felt sweat bead on his forehead as the fire traced up the ceiling, the room quickly turning into an oven. Hector held his hand out, palm facing the shadow, while flames dancing behind him. He glanced at Adam, grim resolve etched across his face.

  He watched as Hector pushed at the air, the tendons in his neck standing out with the strain, as if he were trying to shove a mountain. Light rippled across the room, reminding Adam of a pressure wave from an explosion.

  Hector stepped forward, keeping his arm locked in front of him. The entity spasmed and thrashed, its appendages smashing through equipment. One lashed out, coiling around the cart full of surgical tools. It snapped taunt, the ribbon of black silhouetted in the blaze, and hurled the cart across the room toward Hector.

  Adam reacted without thinking, kicking out at the flying cart. It collided with the top of his foot, and something gave. Bolts of fresh agony shot up his leg as the impact sent him spinning like a top. His restraints twisted, coiling tighter around his wrists.

  The cart smashed into the wall inches from Hector's face. Surgical implements exploded from the drawers in a burst of flashing metal, but Hector didn't flinch. His eyes stayed locked on the shadow as he stepped forward again, pressing outward with his hand. The light from the growing blaze bent inward, and Adam saw a halo of brilliance forming around Hector's outstretched hand, folding the glow toward it.

  Above, Adam felt the ceiling support give under the strain at the end of his spin. The tension on his shoulders abruptly vanished, and he crashed to the ground. His face bounced off the tile with a wet thud, and flashes of color bloomed behind his eyes. His teeth clacked together, one snapping loose before spinning out of his mouth. Vision tunneling, he lay still, staring up at Hector.

  The halo around Hector's hand grew, bearing down on the shadow entity. The tentacles recoiled as the light intensified, waving frantically in retreat. Hector took another step forward and bent his fingers inward. The halo of light snapped into place around the shadow, locking it in place.

  He lunged forward with the torch, slamming the flaming tip into the center of the shadow. The entity went mad as the light seared it from inside and out. Tendrils of smoke rose from the creature as it burned away beneath the luminous onslaught.

  A tendril of shadow shot from the dying mass, another scalpel clenched in its grip. Adam watched in slow motion as the blade sliced cleanly through hector's thumb, sending it flopping to the floor. Hector's remaining four fingers clenched, and the halo collapsed, crushing the shadow into nothingness between layers of irresistible light. Its final, agonized shriek cut off mid-sound.

  Adam watched Hector fall to his hands and knees, blood pulsing from the stump of his thumb, slowly pooling on the tile beneath him. He panted hard, sucking down the shimmering, smoke-thick air. The fire was spreading, and Adam knew they didn't have long.

  "Hector, you good?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer.

  Hector looked over his shoulder at Adam, then raised his maimed hand in Adam’s direction. A fresh spurt of blood geysered from the stump. It took Adam a second to realize Hector was giving him a thumbs-up.

  "That's... That's really fucked up."

  Adam fought back a laugh and struggled to sit up, the heat from the blazing ceiling painful on his cheek.

  Hector nodded weakly, eyes drifting to his bleeding stump. Without warning, he jammed what was left of his thumb into the torch in his off-hand. Adam gasped and Hector shrieked, the smell of searing flesh mingling with the smoke quickly filling the room.

  After a moment, Hector yanked his hand back. "No. That was fucked up."

  Adam could hear the pain in his voice, and honestly, he didn't blame him.

  A sharp crack split the air overhead. The fire was fully out of control now, racing across the ceiling toward the door.

  "We have to get out of here."