VEE

"Who are you?" Joss's weakened voice comes from beside me.

"Erzla." The main points to himself and then at the woman. "Leoc."

"Angels?" he whispers.

Xander brushes dirt from his jeans and stands. He's not as cut up as Heath and the others, but he's pale and struggling for breath.

"Yes," Leoc replies,

And with those words, the world morphs again. Like Joss, I believed angels were true. That Seth's taunting from his hiding spot in a tree and his story God placed creatures on Chaos’s world, were true.

Now I know it’s true.

How will Joss cope? He remains on the ground, arms behind him as he props himself up. Demon blood streaks his pale face as he looks back at the angel, who returns his steady gaze.

Ewan approaches and helps me to my feet as I blink back at the two people in front of me.

"Angels." Xander's flat voice has lost his denial, but he can't hide his sarcasm in the next words. "Where have you been all my life?"

"Watching you fuck up," snaps Erzla.

The woman approaches and places hand on his arm. "Stay calm."

He looks down at where Leoc touches him and sucks his lips together.

"What Erzla means to say is we don't normally need to interfere, but knew this day was coming." She smiles at me, and instead of the serenity I expected, dread shivers through me.

"The day?" asks Heath. "You mean two days’ time?"

She nods, but Ewan interjects. "Why are you here? Can you kill Seth? You just had your chance."

"No, we can’t kill him," Leoc replies. The sudden hope from their appearance drops like lead into my sick stomach. "We can help you, though. The fight will be hard, but I'm sure we can win."

I stumble backwards and Ewan steadies me. The pent-up fear and emotion rushes out with relief. There's a chance. We have help. "Is that true?" I whisper.

"We can help ensure you defeat Chaos, yes. Look how he ran when he saw us together," sneers Erzla.

"Are you sure?" asks Xander. "Because nobody mentioned angels in the book.”

Leoc tucks away the weapon in her hand. "Because nobody translated the text correctly yet."

Heath makes a soft sound in his throat and watches, arms crossed. Leoc glances at him. "Do you have the book, Heath?"

"Forget the book. A shitload of demons—or whatever the fuck they are—walked through the portals." Ewan waves a hand into the distance. "Ones that can apparently teleport, which makes catching them fucking difficult."

"Most can’t teleport. We'll find them and deal with the issue. They won't go far," says Leoc

"And Seth?" I ask. "Can you find him?"

"No." Erzla growls the word. "We can't detect him unless he wants finding, just like you can’t."

The angels keep throwing me curious glances and Seth's words echo. Can we trust them?

“Why are you here now?" asks Ewan. "Why didn’t you step in and help before?"

"Well, we have our own duties without performing yours,” says Erzla. “But, currently you suck at performing your duties alone, and need our help.”

Duties?

“Oh really?” asks Xander, face sour. “And how will you do that? You can’t kill Seth, only Vee can, so that makes you weak.”

Erzla’s eyes harden. “And here is the problem we will face, Leoc. The Horsemen need to follow our instructions or the future takes a bad direction."

“Everything will work out. We'll deal with the demons, you clean yourselves up.” Leoc gestures after the retreating figures still alive. “We don’t have time to talk right now.”

Erzla nods. “We'll call you once we’ve sorted the escapees."

“Call us?” asks Xander. “You use mobile phones?”

Leoc arches a perfectly plucked brow. “Yes. Why wouldn’t we?”

I wait for a retort, questions, more demands, but the fight is beaten from the four. I’m exhausted and can’t keep up. What the hell is happening here?

As the angels turn to walk away, toward the desert edge the demons headed, I look from guy to guy. Do we call after or chase the angels? Joss steps forward as if about to, but Heath holds out a hand to restrain him.

The figures vanish.

“Do you believe them?” Ewan asks us.

“I believe they’re angels, yes,” says Joss flatly. “They feel familiar. Don’t they to you?”

Ewan stares after the retreating figures. “If Seth said they were, and he ran from them, I’m tempted to believe.”

“But not trust.” Xander’s voice comes gruffly as he fishes car keys from his pocket.

“Why?” asks Joss. “They said they could help.”

“Oh, yeah? So why didn’t they help stop the other portals opening? Or maybe find time to tell us who Seth was? A bit bloody convenient they rock up now.”

“Maybe they’ll tell us everything once they find us again?” suggests Joss. “They have a bigger job if they’re taking down everything that just walked through there.” He points at the space the portal once stood.

I look to a silent Heath, who rubs his temples and mutters something about the merry-go-round.