JOSS

Am I missing something about this couple because I’m too distracted by Breanna? My same unease exists around the demon, despite her friendliness. I’m looking forward to asking Breanna questions. Maybe her information will join dots with what the Collector told me .

I walk out the bar first, pulling my phone from my pocket and pretending to send a message as I do. The guy from the bar walks across the car park to a dark-coloured hatchback parked in the shadows. He pauses and leans against the car. I keep one eye on him as he reaches into a pocket.

Ewan appears at my shoulder. "Anything?"

"No." I slump against the wall. "Maybe he's leaving."

A large guy with a long beard grunts at us to move from the doorway and pushes by. I nudge Ewan as he's distracted by the bikes again. "Seriously, man. We have other things to think about."

"You think I don't know that?"

I wave a hand at him to keep his voice down as the man by the car looks over. Whatever he intended to take from his pocket he leaves in. "What do you reckon?" I incline my head towards him.

"Get to the car. I have keys, we can follow if we need to."

“Okay, but let Xander know what’s happening.”

The Jeep is parked at the opposite end of the parking area and we settle into the front seats. The man doesn’t move. If he’s waiting for the woman, why did they leave separately?

“Breanna,” I hiss at Ewan and shuffle down in the seat as she steps into view and scans the car park. “I thought she left earlier?”

Ewan moves down in his seat too, though it’s harder for him to hide his height.

With one glance at our car, she approaches the man at his. I move for the best possible view without revealing myself. I can read body language easily, but I can’t figure out if the pair know each other. After a minute, they step away from the car and toward the building’s corner.

“Fuck,” I mutter. “Do we follow?”

Ewan’s mouth thins. “I knew we couldn’t trust her.”

One arm over the back of Ewan’s headrest, I crane my neck to look to the building. Did the others follow her?

Nobody.

“Let’s go.” I open the driver’s door.

As we cross in the direction the pair headed, a motorbike roars to life. The guy who passed us earlier revs his engine and speeds in front of us, too close for my comfort. I step back, wrinkling my nose at the fumes. “For fuck’s sake.”

Ewan places a hand on my arm. “Wait,” he whispers. “Listen.”

Breanna and the guy are out of sight around the corner and I strain to hear their conversation. We exchange a “what the fuck is happening?” look and continue our charade. Two guys overawed by the bikes while waiting for friends.

I don’t hear anything useful, until Breanna shouts, “No!”

With a reflex action, my hand grips the knife inside my jacket. Breanna shouts a second time. We step forward and around the corner. Whatever is happening, and whoever Breanna is, we need to help her because she can sure as hell help us.

Breanna is on her arse, hands either side as she props herself up on the tarmac. The man has his back to us, leaning over her. In his right hand, a blade glints. No, not glints, but shines with a faint white light.

“I fucking knew it,” mutters Ewan.

Neither the guy nor Breanna notices us, intent on each other. He lunges at Breanna, who dodges his weapon’s thrust by rolling onto her side. She scrambles onto her hands and knees and the man knees Breanna in the back, sending her sprawling back to the floor. He kneels on her and she reaches behind herself to try and dislodge him.

The man yanks her head back by the hair and wraps his arm around to hold the blade against her neck.

Holy fuck. I step forward to interrupt.

Too late.

Breanna screams out, a high-pitched noise of pain, spurring Ewan into action. He charges forward and grabs the man’s arm, dislodging the weapon and sending it spinning across the alley. The man releases Breanna, who rolls onto her back and grasps her neck. Seconds later, I’m by her side, terrified how much blood I’ll see spreading from beneath Breanna’s fingers.

“Get away,” she says hoarsely and blows hair from her face. “Seriously. Leave.”

There’s no blood spreading through her fingers. What the fuck?

I pull Breanna’s hand away and a mark, glowing white to match the weapon on the floor, slices her neck into a sick smile. Her face contorts with pain as she attempts to focus on us.

“Hey, Pestilence, think about this for a few minutes,” says the guy.

I snap my head around and see the man sneering at Ewan. He pushes Ewan’s chest with his fingers and slams him against the wall several metres behind. Air knocked from his lungs, Ewan takes a deep breath and struggles to regain his balance.

No.

More as strong as Chaos?

Heart pounding in my ears, I stand and straighten, ready to fight whoever this is. Whatever this is.

“Can you let us do our job, Famine?”

I jerk and spin back around at a woman’s smooth tones behind me. Huge blue eyes set in a face blazing with anger.

Oh fuck.

I step back. “What’s happening?”

“Listen to the demon. Leave.” She sighs as she looks at Ewan, who has his hand on the wall, still unsteady. “You guys. Always with your hit first, think later strategy.”

“Doesn’t look like Breanna’s choice to talk to you instead helped.” I narrow my eyes and indicate the woman curled on the ground.

These aren’t demons. I don’t know what the fuck they are. They attacked a demon, but also threw Ewan against a wall. More worryingly, which side are they on?

“We don’t negotiate with demons, especially not her.”

“Don’t talk to them.” The man straightens and scowls at the woman. “We do our job and leave.”

“How was I to know the damn Horsemen would be here?” retorts the woman.

“Deal with them too.”

“Oh sure, go ahead. The other two will be here any second. Plus—,” she pauses, “—the other. And you don’t want her involved.”

Thoughts leap through my head, and my indecision freezes me. Do I attack them? Look at Ewan. Look at them. A knife won’t work. Would my power?

“Don’t try it,” she snaps as if reading my thoughts. “Your party trick won’t work on me.”

“Yeah, you would say that.” I lift my hands, ready to seize her neck between my fingers. She rolls her eyes and sighs, fingers on me the way the guy did to Ewan. I wince as a force pushes me backwards and my head hits the bricks on the wall behind me.

I can’t fucking move.

“Stop playing around and deal with the demon,” the guy calls.

Through the spots dancing across my vision, I see Breanna break from staring at events around her. The glowing wound across her neck spreads upwards, like a rash covering her neck and toward her face.

She shuffles backward.

“Not so fast.” The man moves to pick up his weapon.

A force launches across the ground, gathering speed past my feet. Both attackers are knocked backwards as if something slugged them in the chest. The invisible grip on me drops, but Ewan doesn’t move.

Xander charges past me and slams into the guy with more War force, who lands spread-eagled several metres away. Xander kneels and snarls into the guy’s face, “Who the fuck are you?”

“Yeah. Good question.” The man bucks against him. “Get the hell off me or I’ll take you with me.”

“Take me where?” Xander stands and keeps a foot firmly on the guy’s chest.

“Back,” he sneers. The man disappears, leaving an empty space beneath Xander’s foot. No sound. No light. No crack in the earth. Nothing.

The woman rushes forward and grips Breanna’s arm. “Get up!”

She drags Breanna to her feet and they disappear as if someone swiped a screen and wiped them away.

I stare in the direction Breanna faced, as if I might see her running away, but nothing. Nobody. What the fuck?

“Where’s Vee?”

“Here.”

This is serious. The pair had unusual strength against us, and Vee didn’t—or couldn’t—react.

Walking forward, Vee crouches down and touches the ground, palm outstretched and brow pinched. “I told you I felt something was strange about them.”

An uncomfortable silence drops, filled only by music inside the club and distant voices.

“Did anybody from the bar see what happened?” I ask Heath.

“I don’t think so. If they did, they probably thought it was a drunk fight.”

“There wasn’t much to see and it was dark,” adds Xander.

“Who were they?” Vee addresses her question to the ground, herself, and all of us.

“Are you thinking this could be something else Seth let through a portal?” Ewan hauls himself up. “They didn’t hit as hard as Seth, but I haven’t been knocked like that by an ordinary supe for a while.”

Something shines, close to the wall. Not as brightly as before, but large and long enough for me to see what it is.

Their weapon.

“The guy used that.” I point. “We should take it. Vee? What do you think? I can’t detect anything strange about it.”

I grab her hand as she reaches for the ornate silver handle. “Careful. Sometimes weapons can hurt in the wrong hands.”

“It’s okay.” Vee takes it and turns the blade over gently in her hand. “This is lighter than it looks.”

She passes to Xander and each of us take turns in examining. We see weapons often, but aren’t experts. The blade is long and thin, like a polished and pointed carving knife, and the faint white glow has gone. “We could ask Syv? She might know what this is.”

Joss takes it from Xander. “She’s not around.”

“Send her a picture.”

He shakes his head. “Dude, she needs to be near an item to be able to detect what magic affects it.”

“We can get her over here?” I suggest.

“She’s unsure about helping after the Paris scenario. Maybe if you ask her, Vee? We need to figure out what magic this is and who they were.”

“And why they killed Breanna,” adds Ewan.

“She might not be dead.” Xander strides away and I turn to watch him go. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to talk to fucking Ripley. I bet he’s involved.”