JOSS

I rest against my car bonnet and look around as Ewan joins me. Miserable grey industrial estate meets miserable grey weather. I bloody hate winter. I yank my jacket collar higher against the wind.

"Did they say whereabouts they were?" asks Ewan. "It's a bloody big place."

"Nah. They said wait here."

"Fun times." He kicks at some loose tarmac with his boot. "What do you think about this Seth guy?"

"I'm not sure yet. Let's see what he comes up with for us. I don't think he murdered anybody though. I don't get that vibe from him; he's terrified right now."

Ewan's expression shows he isn't convinced. "I guess Vee trusts him. I'll see exactly what is on this hard drive; if there's anything incriminating, I'll wipe it."

Vee. What the hell is going on with her? The unease from her request won't leave, even though she's calmer this morning. I knew sex with her would be intense, and I was unsure what power exchange would happen, and I'm worried whether I took away some of what she wanted in the moment I lost control. She energised me; hell, I could've spent all night repeating what we did, addicted now I've had a taste. But Vee seems stronger too and more determined.

Was the only reason she came to me because she wanted me to attempt to drain her emotions with my power? Or was her need something deeper? I spoke to Heath, who shares my concern. Should I say something to Ewan?

Ewan makes the decision for me. "How does Vee seem to you at the moment? I know you and Heath spent some, uh, time with her recently. Is she okay after her breakdown?"

I gaze across the car park at the empty boxes piled by the skip and papers blowing across the car park. "Vee told me she doesn't want to be human anymore, and thinks I can starve her of human emotions."

"What?" I look back to Ewan's incredulous face. "Why?"

"Because of the breakdown at the hall. She feels she's letting us down. Vee thinks she can't fulfill her role until she loses that side of herself."

Ewan blows air into his cheeks and stares at the ground. "That worries me."

"Yeah, me too."

He side glances me. "Did you?"

"Did I what? Do what she asked? No, I bloody didn't, but saying no to her goes against everything I feel."

"You had sex with her though. What was that like?"

I scowl at him in warning. "Ewan."

"Jesus, no. I don't mean what it was like. I meant what happened with your power. Did it trigger like Heath said his did?"

"Uh. I guess." I shift. "I feel more connection to her, and she seemed calmer since. Maybe I half did."

"So you think she took your power? Or you gave her it?"

"Honestly, Ewan, I was caught in the moment, you know. Can we stop talking about this?"

"Do you think she's had sex with Xander?" he continues.

I'm bloody sure she has. I'm not stupid; I know what I saw the aftermath of in the hotel room. It's odd they're still distant though. Xander's bloody good at maintaining his front.

"I’d lay bets he has. Why are you asking?”

"I just want to know what happened." He catches my half smile. "You know what I mean! What if something weird happens to her once she has sex with all of us?"

"I thought you’d dropped the 'Vee's trouble' thoughts you had back when she first arrived."

Ewan digs hands into his pockets. "Have you ever had a girl affect you the way she does? She can be in a different room, and I sense her. Not just sense her, but I'm drawn to find her. Touch her. Protect her. If she's too close, I have to struggle to think straight. Does that happen to you?"

I nod.

"And how she reacts sometimes—that crazy sex drive. She doesn't understand who she is, nor do we. Now you've told me this, I'm worried."

"Don't you start overthinking too, Ewan." A nearby car engine distracts me, and a blue sedan passes the security gates and drives further into the estate. I elbow Ewan in the side. "Just don't succumb to her charms if you're worried about what she'll do to you."

"No, Joss. I'm worried about what I'll do to her."

The car travels back again, driving slowly by the gates. With the car window up, I can't see the driver clearly, but I'd swear he's looking our way as he passes again.

Something catches my eye to the left, further along the roadway towards one of the facility doors. A tall figure, dressed in black, a coat flaring around his body. I straighten. Forget the car. "Ewan."

I grab his arm and point, but the figure has gone.

"Someone there?" he asks.

"Yeah. Come on." I stride away, down the small slope towards the door I swear I saw the guy walk through. If he was a guy. Ewan follows, and texts Xander as we walk. Numbers on signs outside the doors indicate where units are located. I halt outside the door the person walked through.

"Wrong number," Ewan says. "Xander said Seth’s is 2698. This is 2500-2600. You can't get in without a card."

"I'll wait for the guy to come back out then. You wait up by the car in case this is a decoy and others arrive."

One thing I hate in life is the constant suspicion. We interact with people every day, but we look for sinister motives in normal activities. No wonder we have trouble trusting Seth. We could be stalking a guy going about his daily business unaware two of the Four Horsemen follow him.

Ewan walks away, and I rest on the wall by the door.

Another thing I hate? Hanging around waiting to see if I'll be attacked or not.

The door clicks unlocked and I straighten, ready to walk in as if I have business here. The heavy door opens and a man carrying a box almost walks into me. We perform the weird stepping side to side ritual, as we attempt to pass each other but end up standing back opposite. He wears a suit beneath the long black coat and a hassled look. I grab the door and apologise for getting in his way. As a typical English guy, he apologises in return.

Now we’re close, I’m aware he’s human and nothing else. I watch him walk away in the opposite direction to Ewan and our car. Where’s his car? Still holding the door, I debate what to do.

A quick look won’t hurt.

"Ewan!”

I gesture at the door, and he sets off back towards me as I walk inside to a sterile building. Rows of padlocked doors stretch before me. Pausing, I listen for other footsteps or the metal creak from a unit door.

Nothing.

I head stealthily along the corridor for a fifty metres or so, then jump, adrenaline flooding as the door behind slams shut. Hopefully that’s Ewan, so I turn to head back to the entrance. As I approach, I pass a corridor on my left lined with units and swear I can I detect a sense of something odd. A movement catches my eye and a black shape shifts around another corner.

Weird. I close my eyes and focus. Not a demon but something unusual I can’t walk away from without investigating.

"Ewan! Row 10!” I call then hurry after the figure, hand inside my jacket ready to pull my knife.

I round the corner at the end of the short passage and abruptly stop. The air shimmers in front of me, as if I’m looking at something underwater, and stretches from floor to ceiling. There’s no unusual scent or sound, just fresh paint and Ewan’s footsteps following.

A sudden, intense dread grasps me, and every cell in my body screams at me to run. Before I can back away to find Ewan, the shimmering air moves forward, deathly cold where it hits me in the face.

I reel backwards, my head hits the smooth concrete floor, and I black out.

I'm lying, limbs stretched out in a star shape, chained. My skin burns in agony, and I lift my head to stare down at my naked chest.

I have no skin.

I'm bloodied and raw, and the fear intensifies the torture. I scream out, the tormented sound joining the wailing and shouting surrounding me, hundreds of voices crying in the same pain and fear.

Manacles hold my wrists and ankles, and as I pull, the metal rubs my raw skin and more pain careens through my body. Darkness surrounds me and I can't move my head or see where I am. Breathing against the pain, I manage to tip my head and my nose almost touches metal bars one side of me. I tip my head up again. Bars above me, just centimetres from my face.

How can anybody experience injury and agony like this and stay conscious? Each time I sink towards oblivion I ache for, a noise jolts me awake—screeching as if I'm plugged into headphones. Even unconsciousness is denied to me.

I pant out breaths, praying this is a dream and close my eyes again.

The cage shakes, and I snap my eyes open. Someone or something looks down at me; the figure obscured by the bright, white light surrounding it.

The figure speaks in a whisper hardly audible above the screaming around me. "I have a proposition for you."

EWAN

Fuck.

Don't let him be dead.

I stare down at Joss's prone body, then spin 360 degrees attempting to find his assailant.

Nothing.

Nobody.

"Joss?" I crouch down and take his arm, searching for a pulse. His pulse beats at a normal pace, but he's ice cold, and I snatch my fingers away as his skin drags heat from inside me.

I could cope with the situation if it wasn't for the frozen terror on his face, his eyes wide and the expression running waves of chills through me.

What the hell happened to him? I passed a guy leaving, but he wasn’t anything remarkable. He said hello and I searched his face for hints of anything out of the ordinary but didn’t see any.

Was I wrong?

"Joss?" He remains prone, and I stand again. Focusing all my senses, I attempt to pick up anything other than the fresh-paint smell or the distant echo from other storage boxes opening and closing.

Nothing.

I push hair from my face and stare down. Do I leave him? Find Heath? He's alive, but for how long?

Crouching again, I place my hands on his shoulders and shake, the cool biting at my hands through the material. Joss's head snaps back as his chest arches upwards, and he lets out a huge breath. His eyes focus, but not before he pushes me hard in the chest and I sprawl backwards onto my arse.

"Get the fuck off me!" he screams.

"Fuck, man. Are you okay?"

Joss scrambles to his feet and looks down at his chest, patting, before studying his wrists.

"Joss. You're hyperventilating. Slow breaths, dude, or you'll pass out."

He blinks at me, but the fear I saw earlier remains. "Did you see anything? A demon?" He stares ahead and backs toward me.

"No. I haven't seen anything apart from a guy. What happened to you?"

Joss slides his hands down his legs as he bends over, heaving more breaths. "I don't know."

"You were attacked, and knocked out? Did you see who by?"

"No," he says to the floor. "There was something weird in the air, and it hit me. I don’t know. What the fuck happened?”

"I heard you yell my name a minute ago and followed you. I found you on the floor. Are you hurt?"

He examines his clothes again, then drags off his coat. He yanks at his shirt and pulls it over his head. Wild-eyed, he moves his fingers along his naked chest and twists to examine his side. He turns his back. "Can you see anything? Please don't tell me there's one of those runes on me."

"No. Nothing. You're fine. What the hell happened?"

Joss puts his shirt back on, pale face reappearing through the hole. "I had a vision, Ewan. A fucking terrifying one this time." Joss squeezes his eyes closed and shakes his head. "I was somewhere. Trapped.”

My mouth dries. "Somewhere dark?”

"Yeah.” He opens his eyes. "I know we have visions sometimes, but I saw something, Ewan. I saw through the darkness.”

I chew on a knuckle. I want to ask Joss what he saw, but a hundred times more don’t want to know. I don’t want to share whatever put the terrified look on Joss’s face, in case he triggers a memory hidden my mind’s dark recesses.

"Whatever happened, we need to get the fuck out.” I grab Joss’s arm, but he continues to stare into a space close by. "We can tell the others what happened.”

The last thing we need is more freaky shit, but at least he’s unhurt.

"I can’t describe what or where, and I don't want to think or talk about it," he says in a hoarse voice.

But Joss won't have a choice, and even though I nod in agreement, he knows. I won't ask questions now, but the others need to know.

"C’mon, let’s find the others and see if Seth has his info.”

I’m no empath, but I know when someone’s not in a good place. I walk out with a quiet Joss, followed by my fear whatever he saw might change him.