VEE

The woman standing beside Syv at the café counter stares at the spot she once stood. Her arm is outstretched to pay with her card but frozen above a dish containing tiny sugar sachets. The guy behind the counter runs a hand across his slicked black hair and joins the disbelief.

“Fuck,” mutters Xander.

I rush forward to the space Syv occupied until moments ago and stand there. Did I expect to teleport too? There’s nothing unusual about the air around. Seth literally snatched and dragged her away, but in a way nobody in this café ever saw before.

Not waiting to hear people’s reactions, Ewan turns back to the door. “We need to go.”

I stay rooted to the space Syv stood. “But—”

“She’s gone. Don’t have this conversation here,” says Joss quietly. “We’ll find her.”

What I witnessed hits me. Seth kills. And the same thought is in Joss’s eyes. My throat thickens.

“Vee.” Heath approaches and wraps an arm around my shoulder. He guides me out the café, away from the resumed conversations into the busy street. The world feels distant for the second time and the guys’ voices echo from far away as I stare at the cars passing by.

“Will he kill Syv?” I interrupt.

Nobody replies.

“We have to do something!” I stride along the street, bumping into people walking in the opposite direction. A guy around my age almost trips over my feet in an attempt to sidestep me. I barely register his presence. “Where are the angels?”

A girl clutching her handbag close as she edges by double-takes at my words.

“They left, but we can call them. Ask for help.” Heath catches my arm again. “Slow down and think about this.”

I stop whirl around. “Seth has Syv. He kills people. For fun.”

“No, he’s using her as leverage.” Xander crosses his arms. “He knows we’ll do what he says now, because she’s connected to us.”

“I can’t just wait for him to contact us. There must be a way I can sense where he is.”

Joss shakes his head. “You never have before. We need to wait for him.”

“We need the angels to help find Syv. They can’t be far.”

As if attracted by my silent prayer, Erzla and Leoc stand in the garden, heads together as they talk beneath the porch.

“Help us!” I call out to them. “Seth took Syv.”

“Help you to save a demon?” scoffs Erzla.

I march forward and he stumbles back in surprise as I hit him in the chest with a palm. “She helped us. She’s not a bad person.” I swallow. “Syv’s my friend.”

Erzla brushes at his chest. “Demons don’t have friends, only people they use for their own ends.”

“I don’t care!” I shout. “Find her!”

Joss pulls me close. “We will, but this won’t help.” His calming voice doesn’t work and I grit my teeth.

“Vee. Please.” Heath’s voice. The four guys. Surrounding me. Blocking out the world. “We need to stay calm and think.”

Joss holds my face and tries to catch my attention. I’m aware Xander stands between me and the angels, watching, arms crossed, and I sense Ewan behind me.

They’re right. I need to calm down. Think straight. I slump onto the ground and draw my knees into my chest. “Why did you come here today?” I ask the angels in a tired voice. “Is this to tell us where today happens?”

They nod. “Yes, but we haven’t told Chaos yet. We’d hoped he’d show himself soon, but never expected this.”

Xander snorts. “I told you he’d be close by. He’s waiting and watching.”

“He’s gone now,” says Leoc. “We can get there first and prepare.”

“Prepare for what?” I ask. “It’s a bloody prophecy, it just happens!”

Erzla raises both brows at me. “Ewan said he had a plan to spread Order between you. Perhaps we should figure that out first.”

“He’s right, Vee,” says Joss. “We’ll be in a stronger position.”

With a sigh I take Joss’s offered hand and he pulls me to my feet. “Where do we need to be?”

The guys glance at each other. “Near our old house, in England.”

I rub my head in confusion. “When?”

Erzla and Leoc look at each other. Erzla shakes up his sleeve and stares down at his watch. “In about—”

I startle as something knocks into me from behind. I whirl around to defend myself and a confused looking Syv grabs my arm. My head spins further as Seth appears behind her.

“That old place?” He shakes his head and lifts his arm in my direction, like a gentleman offering a lady the next dance at ball. “Shall we?”

“No fucking way!” Xander steps between us.

The world slides sideways and I hit the ground, landing hard on my side. I push onto my hands and knees and take a sharp breath. My hands glow brightly and when I lift one up to look at it, the earth below is scorched. What the hell? I stare down at the blackening grass and a sharp pain stabs behind my eyes. The burned hand print fades as the world swirls like the creamer I stirred into my coffee before. A sensation I’ve only felt once before in my life rushes through, the world becoming a dark tunnel.

The guys’ faces rush away, but this time nobody has time to touch me before Seth’s void engulfs.