JOSS

Something’s wrong.

As Heath drives closer to the farmhouse, I sense the wards are broken, or at least damaged in some way. Vee sits besides me and leans forward to survey the driveway.

"Do you feel that, Joss?" she whispers and looks to Joss in the back.

"I haven’t felt something like this since the day in the car park, when Ewan was attacked."

"Shit." Heath pulls the car to one side and stop horizontally across the driveway to prevent Xander’s car passing. Immediately, Xander slams his brakes on and jumps from the car. I lower my window as he approaches.

"What the fuck, dude?" He throws his hands upwards.

Vee leans around me. "Something’s here."

Xander steps back and sweeps a gaze around. "Seth?"

"We can’t detect Seth," I reply. "No. Something I can’t identify."

"Shit! What? Do we leave? How bad is it?"

I climb from the car and scratch an eyebrow as I look around. "I’m not sure. Strong enough that we can feel it from here."

All five of us are out of the cars and together, Xander’s hand in his pocket, clenched around the stone. We stand slightly apart, turning to survey the flat landscape surrounding the fields, gazing into the trees.

The world remains still.

My heart beats faster and the power inside grows, triggered harder by whatever waits for us.

"I can’t figure exactly where either. The whole estate reeks of something weird. Whatever this is may not be in the house. Should we check everywhere?"

"We should’ve expected this," says Heath in a low voice. "Seth broke the wards once before, when he left the fae body and his bloodied message."

Ewan huffs. "Oh yeah, and when he fucking lived with us."

Vee looks at the ground, hair hanging forward and obscuring her face. I poke Ewan and nod at her.

"Do you think this is what they saw in Paris? Is this something still looking for the stone?" I interrupt.

"No, the Collector said he’d dealt with that."

"Stop hanging around talking. Come on. Who’s going inside the house, and who’s checking the other buildings?" asks Ewan.

"I’ll take Vee to see what she can sense; Heath, you can go in with Joss. Ewan, wait outside." Xander pulls out the stones. "I’ll keep hold of these."

"No, don’t keep them together. Give one to somebody else—Vee’s the strongest."

I look to Heath. None of us have spoken the words before, but he’s right, whether Xander likes it or not. With a curt nod, he starts walking to the edge of the fields and towards the old barn. Hesitantly, I open the door to the house. Vee follows Xander.

VEE

Xander hands the stone to me. "Heath’s right. We don’t want one person holding them both if we do meet something." We continue to tramp toward the barn. "Can you sense anything around here?"

I close my eyes and inhale, the earthy winter scent muddled by the acrid smell assaulting me when demons are around.

"It’s fainter here."

"So we're headed the wrong way?" he asks.

"I definitely felt the presence stronger near the house."

"Let’s take a quick look here anyway." I nod and follow as he stomps away again. "The barn. Maybe the dog came back."

"This doesn’t feel like the dog’s presence."

The vast, double doors to the old building creak on the hinges as Xander pulls them open. On the other side, the metal door is gouged by scratches, presumably from Syv’s dog. The barn is empty and has been for years, rusted farm tools are tossed in a corner amongst old paint tins. I smile at other bottles and cloths arranged on a wooden shelf; looks like Xander does his own car detailing.

I frown and shake my head. "I can detect something, but it might be Spot."

Xander repeats the name derisively and turns to leave. As I follow, I notice something else.

"Xander. Do you guys sleep in here sometimes?"

"Why?"

"I don’t know. Like when you argue and want to get away from each other." Like the big kids you can be.

He screws up his face. "I had other places and people to escape for a few hours, and it didn’t involve cold, dank barns."

I swallow down my jealousy. "I bet you did."

"All of us, Vee, not just me," he says, and I look in surprise as he touches my arm.

I shrug him off. "That’s not really relevant right now. Is someone sleeping here?" Walking to a corner, I indicate a screwed-up blanket on the ground on top of a pile of clothes. "Are these from the house?"

Xander crouches down and lifts up the item. "I’m not expert on what blankets we use, but it could be." He looks at the jeans and then holds up a blue shirt.

"This is Ewan’s," I say. "Maybe he hides out in here?"

"Huh." Xander straightens. "If he does, that’s bloody weird."

"So these aren’t yours from when you’re babysitting."

"What?"

"Your baby?" I ask with a smile, then add. "The Aston."

"Very funny." He continues to stare at the items on the floor. "Do they smell of demons?"

"What? I’m not sniffing them!"

"No, can you detect them?"

I shiver, aware we’re backed into a corner if somebody walks through the doors. "Nothing here. Let’s go."

Xander continues to stare at the items on the floor as we leave, with a troubled look to his brow.

"Xander!" Ewan’s voice echoes across the space between us. "Get here, now!"

Without stopping for a breath, Xander charges towards the house. I run to catch up. Ewan stands in the doorway, face pale with Heath beside him.

Xander halts. "What’s happened?"

I don’t need to ask, because the unmistakable burning scent comes from inside. "Where’s Joss?"

Heath rubs his face. "There’s a fire. He’s trying to grab some books."

"What fire?" demands Xander and strides inside.

"Is it safe?" I ask Heath.

"Contained in the study for now, but with all the books in there..."

"Joss! Out!" calls Xander.

There’s an uncomfortable déjà vu to this situation and a fear I’m about to lose the one thing that grounds me: my home. Another fire. Why are we always attacked with fire?

"Xander, no!" I call as he pushes past Ewan and through the door. "You guys aren’t fireproof!" No response. "Wait!"

I step forward to follow and Heath seizes my arm. "No. You’re not fireproof, either."

I yank my arm away and step back, looking up to the two bedroom windows at the front of the house. No flames yet, but how fast will this spread?

I hold both hands over my face and look to the others as Ewan pulls out his phone.

* * *

XANDER

I reach Joss, who stands looking on in shock as the books ignite in the study. The room fills with heat, and I slam the door closed, pulling at his arm.

"Joss. We have to leave, there’s nothing we can do and there’s a lot of fuel for the fire in there."

"But the books. The one we want to take to the Collector."

"Don’t risk it." I tighten my grip, convinced he’s about to walk in. We’ve encountered fires many times, some big, some small, and there’s never any way to know how quickly one will take hold. The house’s original study door is thicker and heavier than a modern one, maybe giving us a short time to leave before fire bursts through, but not much. The farmhouse still has the wooden-beamed ceilings and some walls are also panelled. The stairs too. Furniture.

A lot of fuel to create a fast fire.

Joss doesn’t protest anymore as the thick smoke begins to seep under the door, and we turn to run back out. I halt as I spot a female figure disappearing around the corner and upstairs.

What the fuck, Vee?

Without considering the sudden amount of smoke behind me, or listening to the study door cracking, I throw myself up the steps two at a time.

"Vee! It’s too dangerous to grab anything—come on!" I call and then halt in shock as I come face to face with the figure.

Something—or someone—stands in the hallway between the bedrooms. She’s taller than any of the guys, slender and lean. At first, I think her hair is on fire to match the burning eyes, but the flickering doesn’t harm her pale skin. We regard each other with silent curiosity, and she extends a hand. With a sweep around her, flames pour from a palm onto the stair rail where they rush down, dancing across the stair carpet and igniting the wood.

What the fuck? I swear I saw Vee.

The woman laughs, a low rumble like thunder sweeping across the hills. As she moves her head, the flames swirl around like snakes. She holds out a hand, palm upright.

"Stone. Then I’ll put the fire out." Her accent is strange; she trips over the words as if English isn’t her natural language.

"Who sent you? Seth?" I glance back at the smoke billowing on the stairs below.

The woman gestures the length of me. "Burnt body is the end. Ashes." She laughs the same low rumble. "Final."

I swallow. Is the woman right? If something happens because of my stupidity, will Heath be able to put back together a pile of ash?

Fuck. I open the closest bedroom door, run in the room and slam it back closed, heaving in a breath away from the smoke. Before I have a chance to open the window and jump, the door is blasted open, scorched with a space large enough for the woman to walk in.

Spinning, I cross and pull at the window frame, attempting to open it, but the metal glows red and sears my hands. I step back, and for the first time in months, I’m fucking terrified.

I dart a look around the room, weighing up my odds as I back behind the bed. I lean down and turn over the bed, throwing it with force between myself and the woman.

I blink as the flames in her hair spread across her body, like a creature half-way human and half...

Elemental. I’ve seen creatures like her in Joss’s books.

How is she here? The elemental plane is trapped behind a portal; there can’t be any of her kind here.

"Where are you from?" I ask as I back up. "How are you here?"

"Give."

"Seriously, you need to expand your vocabulary."

What else can I move? A wooden dresser? Like that’s going to be any use. Behind her, flames and smoke follow and there’s a crack and crash. Even if the flames were put out now, the house will be gutted.

I pull my shirt up so it covers my nose, a useless barrier against the smoke beginning to fill my lungs. I back up and elbow the window, wincing as the glass breaks and the shards spit across the floor, also landing on my hand.

Fumbling in my pocket, eyes on my attacker, I take the stone and throw it as hard as I can, hoping with every cell that one of the others stands below.

The creature’s face darkens, black skin splitting into lines as if fire lies beneath, shining an angry orange. Her eyes glow brighter.

"Stupid Horseman."

"Go get it," I snarl. "Try and take us all on."

"You die. You break the chain. Doesn’t matter." The creature lifts a flame-covered hand and blue flames grow in the centre, a more destructive fire.

Is this it? I die at the hands of something I’ve spent years trying to prevent walking into the world through a portal?

Does Chaos beat me?

Steps thunder up broken stairs and I shout, "Get out! Don’t be fucking stupid."

The elemental creature spins around and I recoil as a large canine figure throws itself at her. The woman lands on her back, the dog’s weight taking her down as if she were a small child.

Syv’s dog.

I cringe, waiting for the creature to burn as the fire engulfs them both, but the dog doesn’t flinch as he seizes the woman around the neck. An unearthly scream escapes the creature’s lips as the dog’s massive teeth tear at her throat, dark blood spilling across the charred skin. The flames flicker around the dog, as if it is made of fire too, and he continues to savage the woman, oblivious to my horror. I cough against the smoke. Oh great, a hungry hellhound joins the fun.

The dog releases the limp woman and steps back. The fire surrounding the elemental fades, skin returning to normal colour, making the horrific mess she’s become more sickening. Her face is lacerated beyond recognition, flesh hanging from her arms where she’s tried to defend herself.

Dead. Am I next?

"I don’t have the stone." I snap at the dog as it turns red eyes towards me. "Leave me alone."

He shakes his fur, shaking away the flames as if they’re water after a run through a river.

What the fuck is happening here?

As the creature springs forward, launching himself at me, I crouch down, covering my head with my hands. If I die, Heath had better bring me back.

Glass shatters above my head and more showers onto me and the room falls silent. I open an eye. No dog. Someone yells beneath me and the sound is distant because I’m choking to breathe and dizziness is taking over.

I pull myself upwards, ignoring the pain from the sharp glass in the metal frame. Only jagged edges remain, leaving a space for me to easily jump. If I have the strength.

Of course I fucking do. I’m War.

I heave myself to the edge, and the ground below spins, the four others shouting up at me. Shakily, I climb onto the sill.

The ground comes up to greet me before I have a chance to think what I’m doing.