'Please close the door, Sem.'

Semila shot him a "fuck you" look, but she walked to the door of his room, took it by the handle, and moved it closed carefully until a barely audible click sounded, all the while smirking at him.

'Okay, I get it. You think I'm being an idiot.'

'A fuckwad,' she amended.

John frowned at her for a brief moment, fiddled with the camera buttons until the thing finally switched off, then sighed as he stuffed it in its protective bag. 'You know why I want it closed. Charlie is sneaky, and she knows nothing about what we do. Can you imagine if she figured it out?'

'I doubt she'd spy on us John.' Semila had that look on her face, the amused one that made him feel like an idiot and embarrassed at the same time.

'Cause she thinks we're dating?' John huffed and avoided her eyes, then zipped the bag closed, placing it on his new desk. 'She would because she thinks we're dating.'

Semila shook her head while John spoke and gripped her belt to tug up her jeans.

'Call it teenage curiosity or whatever.' He glanced at the photo album open on the table top next to the camera. 'So where we at with Drew?'

Sem strolled closer and stared at the open page for a minute. John knew there were about twelve spreads dedicated to Drew with all the photos and news articles they could find on him and his victims. This was their third album already. The others had been filled with killers like the Jack the Rippers' 'find-the-killer' stuff. News articles, evidence Marty sometimes dug out of police archives, and of course all the photos they could find.

Even though he and Semila had seen a lot of shit this last year since God had appointed them the official killer catchers--or whatever they were now...time jumpers he liked to call them inwardly, or Blinkers...Sem would never go for that. Anyway, since God had appointed them, they had stopped a lot of serial killers, from one-pagers to the especially douche-ie ones like the one they hunted now. The Camden Cannibal.

'We nearly had him with this photo,' she said and tapped the picture of a woman who police speculated had been murdered by the Camden Cannibal, the last picture of her snapped in the same street where the Camden Cannibal lived. It was the photo they had entered when they'd found the Visceral.

'No, we were too late Sem. He's already killed two others. The cops must've missed something.'

'So how the fuck do we find him earlier then? We both know there aren't any earlier pictures of this street or even close by.'

'I think I have an idea,' John said, scratching at his mussed hair. 'It'll take some travel. We might even need a cover story. Tell the family we're taking a weekend away...' he trailed off at the big smile on Semila's face.

'What.'

She laughed. 'Somebody wants a weekend away with an angel.'

'Sem!' He slapped at her hand, but she moved too quick. 'This is serious.'

'So we Blink into a random photo and travel there?'

John smiled. 'I was more thinking we Blink in a few days early, pay a photographer for pictures of the street with some guise, then Blink back once we have the pictures.'

Sem looked stunned.

'Easy,' John said. 'And don't look so shocked, I do have brains that work.'

Sem was about to answer, finger pointed at John's chest, but her eyes went distant and she dropped her hand.

'Sem?' As if in a trance, she gently nudged John aside and sat herself down at the table. She lifted a pen and flipped the photo album to its last page, then started to write on the inner of the back cover of the album. The handwriting wasn't her own. What the hell!

As she wrote, John read, his chest constricting more with each word written.

My daughter,

I don't have much time, and my missive is urgent. Your next task is from the Lord of Heaven himself. You and John must travel back in time to 1964, to Reddingmuirhead, Scotland. School age boys are going missing from a borstal for unruly youth, and we need you to find them. Save them. That's your task. The Lord has mentioned it is of utmost importance, even more important than your current task.

Be careful. Evil is rising, and they know what you can do. We suspect they may try something at the Council of Ten tomorrow. I can feel a shift in the balance, and it has unsettled my spirit, but I cannot be sure what they will do. Be wary child. Take care of John.

G

The pen in Semila's hand finished the curve on the G, then she gasped, dropping it to the desk, her eyes suddenly lucid.

'Sem!'

She turned to look at him. 'What?'

'Uhh.' John pointed at the note written in a perfect cursive very unlike anything Semila would write.

Her eyes went wide as she read it, then she turned back to him. 'Where did this come from?'

'You wrote it.'

She looked stumped, then read it again. 'I don't understand. Why would he send a message? He could just appear to us...' Her voice trailed off and she slid her fingers through her unruly hair. Suddenly her face snapped up to meet his eyes. 'Something must be wrong, and so close to the Council of Ten!'

There was panic in her voice that made John's stomach clench. Shit. 'What's the Council of Ten?' he asked.

'You know, last year when he died defending us...He was always so hard on me. I never realised how much it would hurt.'

It took John a moment to figure out that she was talking about her father, Gabriel the arch angel. He didn't know what to say.

'Feels surreal having him back, y'know?'

'Yeah,' he said, recalling how he had saved his own father from death as a teenager by Blinking into a photo. And then there was Charlie too. The Collector was supposed to have killed her, but John changed time, and now she was a smart-ass teenager. 'I often look at Charlie and feel...'

'I know,' she said. 'It feels too good to be true.'

'It does,' he agreed. After a moment's silence, John cleared his throat. 'Well, uhh...so tell me about this council.'

'Ahh yes. The Circle of Ten.' A thoughtful look crossed her face. John sat on the edge of his bed, and she turned in the chair to face him, resting her chin on the chair's back with her arms crossed underneath her chin.

'So you know evil and good are always at war by now.'

He didn't feel the need to respond, her eyes were far away; she was ticking off a mental list.

'You know my father, you've met the big man.'

'Have...Have you met any other demons?'

'Like Grimsol?'

'Well' —she cocked her chin— 'not precisely like him, but evil like that.'

John remembered the painting from Drew's building and explained it to Semila.

'Sounds like one of the ten,' she said. 'See, long ago, the fight between good and evil consumed everything. It threatened to destroy creation. Nobody could win, because the forces were equally balanced. Someone had to surrender, but neither party was willing.

'Enter Death, the only neutral party. He arranged a meeting of sorts between the head of the Arch Angels and the Lord over Demon Lords, a meeting he convened. At this meeting it was decided that both sides needed creation to survive in order to avoid the Big Man's wrath. A peace of sorts had to be found. A treaty was written up, a mutual agreement.'

Here she paused to smile and meet John's eyes. 'Don't get me wrong, the fuckers still hate each other, but the agreement set out rules to play by, rules that keep the balance of power in check and still keep us from destroying each other altogether.'

'Sounds like a big deal,' John said.

'Yeah, you have no idea. The fate of the world depends on these meetings. Lucky they only meet once in one hundred years and one hundred days.'

'And that's tomorrow.'

'You got it gay boy.'

'But what about Drew? Do we just forget him?'

Sem patted the book behind her. 'We have everything we need to nab that fucker later. Besides, a month away with an angel sounds like more fun than a weekend.'

John blushed before he could stop himself and felt a moment of thankfulness that Sem's eyes no longer got to him. He cleared his throat. 'Uhh, yeah, we can tell my family that we're going on a cruise or something.'

'Ooh, cruise with an angel.' She winked at him as she stood up and walked closer, her gold tooth visible as she smiled.

'Sometimes you're like a child,' he mumbled.

She swatted him on the shoulder just as Charlie opened the door.

'Dinner's done,' she chirped. 'And Mam wants to know if you're staying over...' She gave Sem a pointed look. 'Together?' Charlie thought Semila was a bad influence on John. If only she knew. Without Semila they would all be dead.

'Uh, tell Mam we've got other plans. I'll explain at the table.'

Charlie cocked an eyebrow and smiled. 'Okaay,' she sing-songed.

'She thinks you're gonna propose,' Sem noted with a flat tone.

'Ha!' John got to his feet and grabbed her hand. 'I'd never.'

'What're you trying to say?' Am I not good enough for you?'

He rolled his eyes, and when he saw her expression he laughed. 'After dinner we can pack for this cruise, formulate some kind of strategy.'

'Okay boyfie.' She grabbed his ass.

He yelped just as they exited the room, and Charlie burst into laughter at the foot of the stairs. Oh boy, this was gonna be weird. John took Sem's hand again and plastered on a smile he hoped looked eager and loving.

P.S.

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