Page 75 of Hollow

“That’s just the first setting,” Patrick said with a smug laugh, turning a small knob to increase the pain.

A spark sounded like static pulsing, and Dimitri began to convulse in sheer agony.

Jack recalled all his shadows, sending them surging toward Patrick. He would slaughter this foul human, then turn his attention back onto the hunters after he’d secured Dimitri.

“Ah-ah-ah, I’d be careful.” Patrick pressed a button, and the red light dimmed.

Dimitri stopped convulsing, but his body still twitched. He clamped his jaw, attempting to compose himself.

“Dead man’s switch, so don’t get any ideas unless you want to short-circuit his brain.” Patrick chuckled. “Setting one emits a high-pitched noise perfect for dropping Leshy. The second setting sends little jolts of electricity frying his nervous system. You really don’t want him experiencing the next settings.”

Jack trembled, fighting back the equal bouts of fear and fury that consumed him. He wanted to snatch Dimitri away into the pocket portal of his shadows, but he didn’t know the range or capabilities of that damn device. He wanted to drop Patrick Hearst into absolute darkness and slash him a thousand times over, choking him with his insides as he ripped this hateful human apart.

But Jack didn’t do anything. He stood still, practically petrified by indecision.

“How did you…” Dimitri asked through chattering teeth.

“My old man has had you chipped for years now,” Patrick explained. “Though we never had to resort to such measures with you collared and shackled.”

Dimitri’s ears twitched, his face contorting into sheer horror as he tried to comprehend this hellish revelation.

“You were always so well behaved.” Patrick gave Dimitri a wicked smile, the kind of expression that sickened Jack. He wanted nothing more than to peel Patrick’s flesh from his face and decapitate him.

Instead, Jack stayed silent, processing these horrors and attempting to figure a way out. An escape that wouldn’t harm Dimitri.

“Come now, you didn’t think we’d rely on the shackles alone?” Patrick tsked mockingly. “Then again, you always were a stupid creature, weren’t you?”

Dimitri flinched. Jack couldn’t tell if it was because of Patrick’s words, his hateful tone, or the way he waved that wicked gadget around.

This device, the one Patrick held. It was identical to the one Gordon attempted to use when Jack and Dimitri confronted him.

“It didn’t work before, though,” Jack muttered, turning his attention to Dimitri. “Gordon, he had the same thing, remember?”

Dimitri nodded.

“Ah, yes, Father didn’t realize I’d dropped a little jamming field over his location when you came knocking down his door,” Patrick boldly confessed. “Guess I owe you two a bit of thanks. As the family heir and all, I finally get to lead the Hearst businesses into a prosperous direction.”

Jack understood now why Gordon’s overconfidence failed him. The old man didn’t underestimate the monsters he approached; he failed to recognize the monsters in his family, and one devoured him as a consequence.

“My father always had an obsession with cryptids, legends, the monsters of old.” Patrick smirked. “But like so many of our ancestors, he wasted their potential.”

“Meaning?” Dimitri asked.

“Meaning he finally had one bright idea when he snatched you up, Leshy,” Patrick said. “But all he did was use your talent to track down and kill other monsters. Pointless. Why have one cryptid to help track down trophies when you can have a thousand cryptids and sell them to the highest bidders? I won’t waste that potential.”

“What kind of potential?” Dimitri asked with a snarl of contempt.

“Limitless,” Patrick said proudly. “Honestly, I don’t care what the buyers want. They can turn you into tools, weapons, or fuck toys for all I care. It’s an untapped market.”

Dimitri grimaced, staring down at the ground with a vacant expression, and Jack couldn’t help but wonder what horrors he’d endured. Horrors Jack deluded himself into thinking he could wash away with silly jokes and pointless doomscrolling. He never offered Dimitri real help, a real second chance, and now the fears that haunted Dimitri had come true. The Hearst family had returned in full force. Their former patriarch was a mere feint attack, a phony vanguard that didn’t prepare Jack for what Patrick had in store.

“Think of the profit margins he could have been building? I mean, he used you to what? Track down a few dozen monsters, all of which he killed for his own ego in some petty vanity to prove himself an apex creature. Pathetic. I want that little tracking talent to find, capture, and sell these oddities. Even if I only found a quarter of what my old man tallied up in his lifetime, it would change the entire landscape of business.”

Dimitri snarled, attempting to stand up. Electricity erupted, dropping him back to the ground, but he did not cry out in pain. Instead, Dimitri growled and locked eyes with Patrick even as his skin sizzled with smoke.

It was a test of power, of will, and Jack wanted to cry out, but he didn’t know if that was the wrong move. Everything he’d done leading up to this moment had clearly been a mistake.

Patrick rolled his eyes, relenting more from boredom than surrender.