I didn't know how long I'd been laying on the staircase.

Maybe a lifetime. Maybe just a few moments.

I remembered getting in the cab, but not the journey home. I remembered fumbling with the key in the lock and walking into the house, although walking was a stretch of the truth to be fair. Shuffling would have been more apt. I'd gotten as far as the staircase and collapsed, half-twisted on my back, staring up at the ceiling. There was a cobweb right above my head, a thin wispy strand that danced on the breeze blowing through the still-open doorway.

I couldn't move. I wanted to, I think I wanted to, I knew I probably should have moved. The front door was open, after all. The keys were still in the lock. But I'd been falling since I'd reached home, falling as I lay on my back staring upwards at the cobweb, falling even though I wasn't falling at all. I was dimly aware that my leg was bent at an angle that was uncomfortable and that there was a dull pain building in the base of my stomach, yet I couldn't move an inch.

The breeze grew stronger and the cobweb danced furiously, dislodging from the ceiling and floating down, the sticky thread landing on my forehead and draping over my eyelashes.

'Oh my,' a woman's voice said, from far away, floating on the breeze with the web. 'You poor thing. Let me help you.'

A shadow passed across my vision. Delicate fingers removed the dusty strand and brushed my hair back from where it was plastered across my face.

'Shall we get you off these stairs? It looks terribly uncomfortable,' the woman said, closer now, although it sounded muffled as if I was underwater.

I was moving now, but not of my own volition. Instead, I felt hands hooking under my armpits and around my chest as I was pulled off the staircase, my legs dragging lifelessly along the floor. I'd lost a shoe and blood was smeared around one coral-varnished toe nail. A scent of perfume filled my nostrils, something sweet but not unpleasant.

The woman pulled me over to the rug and propped me up against the edge of the sofa. I caught the sway of dark curls over a slim, pale face, just before my head drooped down onto my chest, my vision blurring.

'There now. Is that better?' she said. Her accent was well-spoken English, soft, gentle, but clipped in a way unfamiliar to Hackney-born-and-bred Londoners. I'd never been that keen on anyone who spoke like they'd been born with a silver spoon firmly embedded in their gobs, but there was something about her voice that made me wish I could look at her.

As if she'd read my mind, she lifted my chin and tapped me lightly on the cheek, a small encouraging pat to rouse me from whatever hole I had sunk a little deeper into. 'Come now, dear, open those eyes of yours,' she said brightly. 'Now is simply not the time to sleep.'

Even before I opened my eyes, I knew she was smiling. I could hear it in her voice, a warmth that only came from a smile as someone spoke.

I'd been right about the smile, which was wide, perfect white teeth between dark-red glossed lips, and I'd been right about the dark curls, which framed her face in loose tendrils, the rest pinned back and piled high on her head. She was beautiful – stunning, even – and I stared at her in something close to awe and confusion, as she looked at me from where she was crouched by my side, her head tilted as if examining a bug under a microscope.

'Well now, there you are!' she exclaimed. 'I thought maybe I had lost you already, but I see that you're still in there somewhere. What a rather pleasant surprise. It would be easier if you could move, but matter not. What cannot move itself, can still be moved and it's so much better that we can talk before we leave here.'

Leave. Yes. Leave it all. Get out. Run away.

Her eyes flitted over my face as she stroked the backs of her fingers over my cheek.

'Oh, but silly me!' she said, with a small frown that quickly disappeared. 'Of course, I'll be the one that does the talking, seeing as you appear to be unable, which is really such a shame for you. I hear ketamine is something of a Russian Roulette. Euphoria or incapacitation. It's such a terribly fine line, isn't it? I wonder, which one were you hoping for, dear?'

Sitting back on her heels, she let go of my chin and my head rolled back to rest on the cushioned edge of the sofa. She cast her gaze around the room, pursing her lips as her eyes came back to rest on my limp form. Picking up one of my hands, she placed it in her lap and stroked my palm, idly making circles with the pad of her thumb. Outside, I was mannequin-still, but inside, I wanted to run. To scream. This wasn't what I'd thought it was and I had a horrible, dark feeling creeping up my limbs that conjured flashes of black, pungent mould spreading over faces and walls.

'You really have had quite a horrid time, haven't you?' she said, matter-of-factly. 'I can't even begin to imagine how frightfully confusing it must have all been. Simply terrifying, I suppose. It's rather hard for the human brain to comprehend, I know, particularly one as fragile as yours, but I can assure you that it will all be okay. It really will. Of course, the first part will unfortunately not be particularly pleasant, and quite painful I'm told, but it's inevitable I'm afraid and once it's over, you will forget all about it very quickly, I can promise you that.'

Raising my hand to her mouth, she pressed her lips to my palm.

'You do believe me, don't you, dear?' she said, placing my open palm against her cheek and holding it there, closing her eyes almost as if in rapture at my touch.

'Whether she does or not, it's not like she can tell you right now, Juliette, as you well know.'

The woman's eyes flew open, a fury burning within which she quickly buried, turning her head to look in the direction of Ethan's voice, that wide smile returning in full force.

He stood in the doorway to the living room, looking bigger than I remembered, but I knew he wasn't. It wasn't him that had grown, it was that darkness he always carried with him, filling the doorframe, the room, the whole house. It was palpable and terrifying and I was torn between my fear of him and a spark of elation that he was alive and that he was here.

The woman – Juliette, I now knew – dropped my hand back into her lap, but didn't let go, and I felt the distinct tremble of her hand around mine, not that her face announced a shred of nerves as she stared at Ethan, her gaze steady and controlled.

'Ethan,' she said, the breathless catch in her voice betraying her. 'Well, now, this is a surprise. Blake's been looking for you for simply forever, you know. Not one sighting for years, not one whisper of you and now here you are. He'll be so pleased to know that you've resurfaced.'

'I couldn't give a shit if Blake whipped out a fucking marching band and paraded down the street naked in celebration. I'm not here for Blake,' he said. 'I'm here for the girl.'

I detected his anger, even as I languished just under the surface, I could hear it, feel it. It was so strong, I think I would have felt it fathoms deep.

'P-pardon?' Juliette stammered, her eyes widening. 'You're here for her?'

Ethan smirked. 'You didn't actually think I was here for you? I'm really not that crazy.'

'Of course not, but this one?' she scoffed, with a burst of laughter, throwing her head back to reveal a wide expanse of slim, pale throat as she did so. 'Goodness me, Ethan, you can't honestly be serious. What on earth could you possibly want with her?'

'What I want with her has got nothing to do with you,' he replied. He stepped forward and I caught blurred glimpses of his face, his hair, the way his fists were clenching and unclenching by his side.

Juliette looked back at me, her eyes narrowing, almost as if she was suddenly unsure of what was under her microscope, but clearly finding nothing of particular interest, she dismissed the idea with a shake of her head.

'I wasn't aware you were working for anyone, Ethan?' she said, raising one perfectly-arched brow. 'Please don't tell me that Samuel convinced you to join him, after all?'

'If you really think I would collect for that low-level scum, you're more insane than I thought you were.'

Juliet's grip on my hand tightened, her smile wavering. 'Now, now, play nice, my darling. Let's not make this anymore unpleasant than it has to be.'

'It'll only get unpleasant if you don't do as I say. Get away from her now.'

The corners of her mouth twitched as she looked at him, an admiring heat in her gaze. 'Always so demanding. I see nothing has changed. Same old Ethan. Oh, how I've missed you.'

'Same old Juliette, stalling for time. And just for the record, I don't miss you.'

Patting my hand, she dropped it from her lap and climbed to her feet, brushing down her trousers. By my side, my fingers of my discarded hand jerked, a welcome warmth breaking through the thawing ice.

'Hmm, you never were very good at lying,' Juliette said, with another maddeningly bright smile. 'And despite what you believe, I have no need to stall for time. The collection business has been awfully lucrative recently. The quality has really been quite staggering. So very rewarding. So utterly fulfilling.' She looked at him pointedly, running her tongue along the edge of her teeth. 'I think you'll find I'm not quite the same Juliette you once knew.'

A shimmer rippled in the air. A shift in the atmosphere that felt heavy, like some great beast hovered above, threatening to crush me.

They both struck simultaneously, arms outstretched, feet braced against the floor and whatever they did, the force of it sent waves rippling through the room, hitting me hard. My body jolted once, then stilled, and I felt myself sinking again, as if the skin on my back was fusing to the rug and the sofa, as if the very fibres of the fabrics were sucking me in. Nausea swelled deep and strong.

They stood there, holding the air between them, something which looked as if it took considerable effort, considering the way Juliette was gritting her teeth and how Ethan's face was fixed in a snarl of concentration. Neither seemed about to weaken, when, with a flick of her other hand, Juliet threw a wave of energy right at him, which he deftly deflected, forcing it across the room, dislodging framed pictures from the walls and hitting the fifty-inch flat screen in the corner. Glass exploded as the television flew backwards off the unit, crashing to the floor.

Hitting fast and hard with the counter-punch, Ethan hurled a ball of energy right at her and she dived over me, raising her arm mid-air and pushing with so much force, that the huge ripple of air she threw back at him, slammed into the doorway with so much force that the wooden frame splintered and a crack fractured the plaster, spiking right up to the ceiling.

I felt useless as I lay there, watching as they attacked and counter-attacked, dodging waves, manipulating the air in their hands and hurling energy at each other, until finally they ended up as they had started, holding what looked like a huge spinning ball of shimmering air between them. Sweat peppered their brows as they faced each other in silent stand-off, the only sound being their heavy, laboured breaths as they glared at each other. All around us, the room looked like it had been ransacked by a marauding hoard. Shattered shards of glass were everywhere. In the kitchen area, the table and chairs had been reduced to a jigsaw of splintered wood. Cupboard doors were hanging off their hinges.

Underneath the whirling ball of energy, the toes on my bare foot twitched, and it took me a few seconds to realise I was doing it. I was wiggling my toes, as if willing my feet to move, to help me get up, to help me run from this chaos. I couldn't, of course, but that didn't mean I couldn't at least try to climb out of this hole. With an effort that seemed to hurt every bone, every muscle, I managed to drop to one side, landing half on my stomach, my hands clutching at the rug.

'Ethan, darling, please,' Juliette said, her patronising tone cutting through the tension. 'This is so unnecessary. I don't want this. Truly I don't. Just let me take the girl and let's be done with this madness.'

Ethan snorted. 'You know your problem, Juliette? You know why I never stuck around? You want everyone to dance to your mad little tune. Even after everything, you honestly think I'm just going to roll over and let you have your own way.'

'Well, I don't see why not,' she pouted. 'If I recall, you were often rather accommodating of some of my demands. Very accommodating for that matter.'

'Not this time. Not with this one.'

Her head jerked, jolting her as if he'd managed to get a successful blow right into her gut, but she recovered quickly, straightening her spine and lifting her chin, fixing him with an arrogant, furious glare.

'Oh, don't tell me you actually like this one? How positively disgusting. I always knew you had extreme tastes – to put it somewhat mildly – but this is low, even for you,' she said, with a peel of cold laughter, which ended in a twisted sneer, malice darkening the hollows of her cheeks. 'Well, in that case, I shall take great joy in collecting her. The next time you see her, she won't even know who you are. Of course, she won't even know who she is either, but I can't imagine that will be much of a loss.'

I pushed out with my feet – pushed hard – and began trying to pull myself along, managing a kind of pitiful half-crawl, half-slither. With a whimper, I tried. I tried so bloody hard that I thought my shins might crack with exertion, that my spine might split into two.

Juliette laughed again, cruelly. 'I mean, look at her, Ethan. She's so utterly pathetic. Pretty, I'll give you that, if you like that kind of thing, but she's just so... so weak. It almost makes me feel a little sad for what I have to do to her, but surely even you can see it's so much better if I just put her out of her misery.'

I was on my knees now. I was on my hands and knees and the pain was thundering through every part of me, a raging hurricane threatening to knock me flat and wipe me out.

'Touch her and I'll tear you apart,' growled Ethan. 'You know I can do it too, Juliette. You might think you're stronger now, but you know what I'm capable of. You've seen it. You hurt Casey and I promise you that Blake will be scrubbing your rotten innards of these fucking walls for centuries to come.'

'Goodness me, you really are attached to this one. How very peculiar. How very nauseating,' Juliette replied. 'The question, however, is do you really want her to know what you're capable of? I think not somehow.'

It hit me from behind as I attempted to crawl a little farther away, something heavy and strong around my neck that yanked me upwards onto my knees. It pulled, tightened, and I clawed at my throat, desperately trying to release the invisible noose that was choking the breath out of me, but my hands found nothing there to grab hold of.

Ethan stared at me, his eyes wide, as tears sprang to my own. A stifling heat consumed my face and I reached out to him with one hand, imploring him, begging him to do something. Juliette's laughter rang out harshly and whatever was around my throat squeezed harder, black spots blurring my vision.

'Stop it, Juliette!' he snarled.

'No. You stop me. Go on, darling. Do it!'

I was falling into the hole again, tumbling, unable to grab onto anything as darkness swelled towards me, around me, pulling me under, and as my eyes began to close, I saw something –  a snapshot so brief that I was sure my mind must be unravelling. Thunder exploded and I was knocked sideways, slamming into the wall, as the floor shook beneath me. With the noose released around my throat, I curled into a ball, unable to open my eyes as the cyclone raged, unable to do anything but gasp for breath and pray the building wouldn't collapse. It was like being caught in a tornado, feeling the force of the twister as it whipped at my body, hearing the roar of the volatile air, the pressure threatening to crush everything. I heard a scream, full of pain and then hands were on me, dragging me across the room.

Opening my eyes, I found myself looking into Ethan's as he held onto me, his arms wrapped around my waist.

I gasped.

The lounge was a shell. Reduced to a crumbling war zone. Everything was destroyed and across the room, Juliette was on her hands and knees, dark curls tumbling over her face, blood pouring from a wound that matted darkly in her hair. Unsteadily, she tried to stand up, but her limbs shook, weakened, and she fell to one side, looking stunned. Using what was left of the sofa as support, she struggled to her feet, coming to rest against the wall. There was a ragged hole in her trousers, and underneath, what looked like a ragged hole in her thigh too. She touched her fingers to her temple, staring at the blood on her fingertips before raising her hand to her mouth and licking at the dark, sticky liquid, her gaze flickering to Ethan.

'Still rocking my world after all these years, my love.' She grinned.

She was mad. Truly fucking mad. She had to be. Standing there smiling despite the blood pouring down her face, her clothes torn, her body having clearly taken one Hell of a battering by God knows what.

'You need to leave. Now,' Ethan ordered.

Commotion exploded in the hallway, voices I recognised and I was comforted by it and afraid all at once. They couldn't be here. Not now. They were running headlong into danger and they had no idea. No fucking idea at all.

Davey came to stop in the doorway, with Addi just beside him. I could see Leon, Tegs, Azim, Fields, the rest of Davey's inner circle all crowding behind them, a mixture of anger and confusion on their faces, but panic too – panic because they had no clue what the fuck was going on and this was their place, Davey's place, and it had been reduced to a pile of broken furniture, glass and dust and there were people here, people they didn't know. Strangers.

'Casey!' Davey stared at me in shock, his gaze taking in everything. 'Who the fuck are you?' he demanded of Ethan and my struggling breath caught in my throat when I saw the Baikal in his hand, pointed directly at him.

When Ethan tightened his hold on my waist and said nothing, Davey stepped forward, his head tilted to one side. 'I don't know who you are or what the fuck this is about, but that's my girl you've got there and she's got nothing to do with any of this. Now you let her go right now and maybe we'll think twice about not blowing your fucking face right off.'

The others moved into the space behind Davey, spreading out cautiously, but they were rattled, tense, all tooled up. Addi's eyes met mine and I silently willed him to run.

Please. Just fucking run.

Across the room, Juliette sighed. 'See how tiresome these creatures are, Ethan?'

'Bitch, shut the fuck up!' Davey shouted at her. 'You shut up right now or I swear I will take out your fucking kneecaps.'

Juliette just smiled in response, but by her side, she rubbed her thumb and fingertips together and I thought she's getting ready, she's going to do it, she's going to strike.

'Case, you hurt, babe? These fuckers hurt you?'

I saw it, that territorial streak in Davey's eyes, but there was something else there too, a warmth that hit me hard because it reminded me of when we'd first met and of the way he'd looked at me during that first summer in Ibiza. Like I was everything. Like I was his whole world. And I had been for a while, even if I hadn't wanted to admit it back then, even if I hadn't wanted it, I'd known it was true and since then I'd been pushing hard against it, pushing it away until it had become something else. Something I felt more comfortable with. Seeing it in his eyes again made me feel like that noose was around my throat once more. I was choked by it and by the realisation of how much I wanted it now, of how much I hoped it was real.

Before I could answer, Ethan cut in. 'She's fine,' he said, flatly.

'He didn't bloody ask you,' Addi shouted, his gun also pointing at Ethan's head. I noticed how his hand trembled, the way his furious gaze kept flitting to Ethan's arm wrapped around my waist.

'Oh, come on, Ethan,' drawled Juliette, rolling her eyes. 'Just let me have some fun, please. You can take the girl if you really must, but at least leave the rest for me.'

Davey stalked across the room, pressing the muzzle of the gun against her forehead. 'I told you to shut up. Didn't I fucking tell you that? I will drill a hole in your bloody head if you open your mouth one more time.' He pointed at Ethan with his gun-free hand. 'You. You let Casey go right now or your friend here is dead.'

But Ethan's attention was no longer fixed on Davey, Addi, or anyone for that matter.

He was staring upwards at the light fitting hanging from the ceiling.

The light was flickering.

Oblivious, Davey continued. 'Are you fucking mental or something, mate? Let her go. I won't bloody tell you again.'

On. Off.

On.

On.

The light grew brighter. Brighter. Brighter still, and the room was suddenly filled with a light so intense that it couldn't possibly have been generated by a single bulb.

'What the fuck...' cried Davey, shielding his eyes from the glare, the others doing the same.

Ethan pulled me to face him. 'Turn away, Casey, don't look at it. No matter what you do, don't look at the light, okay?' Clutching me to his chest, he wrapped his arms around my head, as the light filled the room. Even with my eyes closed and my face pressed into his neck, I could see the glare behind my eyelids. White. Blinding. Flames licked at my back, my legs, my scalp. Screams filled the air, endless ear-splitting screams that tore into me, ripping me apart.

When the screaming stopped, a low hissing replaced it.

The sound snaked through the room, the hair on the back of my neck prickling as terror gripped me.

Something was here.

'Stay with me, slowly now.' Ethan whispered the warning in my ear, and he began to step backwards, pulling me with him.

An odd clicking sound grated on my ears, cold, inhuman, making me flinch in Ethan's arms.

Something. Was. Here.

Someone was crying. Leon maybe. High-pitched, child-like wails that drove ice into my heart.

Ethan shifted, trying to manoeuvre me behind him and as he did so, I opened my eyes. It was just a sliver, but I couldn't help it. A burning curiosity ate away at me, a nagging urge that told me to do it, to look, to see.

I gasped, my knees crumbling in fear and I was instantly pulled up by Ethan, who cradled me to him. I understood the screams. I understood the wails. I wanted to do both.

The creature that filled the corner of the lounge was so tall that it had to bend its neck slightly to fit its immense height into the room. Its skin was marbled alabaster, apart from large scaled patches all over its body that resembled peeling layers of shimmering gold paint, flesh fractured into deep fissures. Its face was gaunt, skull-like, with deep hollowed cheeks, thin lips, and sunken eyes. Long gnarled limbs of twisted muscle and sinew, ended in razor-sharp talons, the claws on its bony, bird-like feet tapping erratically against the floor.

And on its back, opening, retracting, spreading out behind it, as it studied those prostrate at its feet, was a pair of wings so huge that the shadow they made engulfed the walls and ceiling, making the room seem smaller, its silhouette threatening to swallow everything that existed within its shade. They were silvery-grey and as they moved, the light caught shimmers of gold on the tips of the feathers. They were beautiful. Mesmerising. Terrifying.

Closest to its feet was Leon and I'd been right, he was the one crying, rocking while sobbing, his tall frame suddenly looking so tiny and so insignificant as he knelt before it. Shoelaces of snot hung from his nose, his head was bowed, not daring to look up.

The creature towered over him, bending slightly to sniff at the air above his head. Its lips curled back from its gums to reveal needle-sharp teeth and it hissed, its misshapen clawed hands hovering over his head. Flexing its thin, bony fingers, it pushed and Leon's head jerked upwards, his body snapping backwards in an unnatural angle. His eyes were wide pools of terror, his mouth set in an agonised grimace. Leaning close to his face, the creature opened its mouth wide, but instead of biting down on Leon's head, which is what I had expected, it let out a drum-shattering shriek, like a thousand birds now filled the room.

I clapped my hands over my ears, the force of the noise vibrating so violently in my head that it made me feel nauseous and disorientated. I swayed, collapsing against Ethan, who caught me, pulling us backwards until we were in the kitchen area, splintered wood and glass strewn around our feet.

When the creature finally stopped, it released Leon, who fell backwards onto the floor, his whole body convulsing, his eyes rolled back in their sockets to reveal nothing but stark white. Saliva frothed from his mouth. Blood seeped sluggishly from his ears.

'Juliette?' Ethan said, tearing his eyes away from the creature to glance at the woman.

Juliette was still leaning on the wall, only now she was pressed firmly against it, her palms pressed flat, fingers splayed as if she was gripping onto it, in fear she might fall. She was so close to the creature that if she reached out, she could have brushed the tip of its wing with her fingertips. Her body was rigid, tense, unmoving.

'Juliette. No!' Ethan gasped.

Although her body might have been like stone, Juliette's hands were moving against the wall, moving in strange circles like she was winding up a clock. Behind her the wall rippled, undulated, like it was liquid and not made of solid brick at all.

'I'm sorry, darling,' she said, daring to shoot an apologetic glance at Ethan. 'It's been fun, but I'm rather afraid this is one battle you'll have to fight alone. Best of luck, my love. Ciao.'

Stepping back, she moved into the wall and it swallowed her whole, sucking her into the liquefied void, until she was gone and all that was left was a dense, unyielding surface that only a sledgehammer could demolish.

The creature which had been seemingly enthralled by the frothing, bleeding form of Leon shaking violently on the floor, twisted its head to look directly at us, its silvery eyes gleaming.

'Fuck,' hissed Ethan.

The gunshot rang out.

The bullet shot from the gun in Davey's hand tore into the creature's throat, ripping into its neck, tearing back the skin, the pellet burying deep inside, but instead of dropping to the floor, the creature's flesh just knitted back together, layer upon layer of shimmering cracked gold covering the hole where the bullet had struck. With another ear-piercing scream, the creature turned its attention fully on Davey, who scrambled backwards desperately, his limbs tangling together in blind panic.

He didn't get far.

I watched horrified, as he was lifted up into the air, the creature not even touching him as it brought Davey up to its height, studying him carefully. It grinned – or at least looked like it was grinning – and its tongue clicked rapidly against its teeth, producing that odd clicking sound I'd heard after the light had hit. Just when I thought it was going to do the same to him, as had been done to Leon, the creature made a turning gesture with its skeletal-thin hands and Davey was flipped around to face us, his arms outstretched as if pinned to a crucifix.

His eyes bulged, suspended in the air like marionette strings were holding him there. Behind him, the creature's face twisted with glee and it tore at the air, one violent slash of talons that ripped the clothes from Davey's torso. Another slash and the skin was stripped from his arms in bloodied ribbons, exposing muscle and bone underneath. Strips of torn skin fell from his body, coiling to the floor with a sickening squelch of wet flesh.

Davey screamed and it was like nothing I had ever heard. Worse than the hissing. Worse than the bird-like shrieks. It filled the room and increased in volume with every passing second, until I wasn't sure what was worse: seeing what was left of his arms or hearing his screams.

The creature struck again, this time spreading its long arms wide and curling them around Davey as if about to tug him back into an embrace.

Instead, it dug into the air with its talons and pulled.

Davey's chest split down the middle, flesh tearing apart like it was paper. There was a great crack of bone as his rib cage was opened up, wrenched apart, blood spraying across the room in a wide arc. Somehow, inside his chest cavity, his heart still pumped, keeping him alive through all of the pain, letting him experience all the suffering, every last second of agony. This was the creature's revenge against the one who had dared to strike it, the one who had dared to fight back instead of grovelling at its feet and in its terrible face, I saw nothing but a dark loathing and a wicked glee. It was enjoying this. Relishing in the torture. Taking pleasure from the pain.

I hated it. Hated it more than anything. More than them. More than her.

'C-Casey,' Davey whispered, locking eyes with me. 'Casey, run. Run.'

Transfixed by the horror, I hadn't even noticed what Ethan was doing beside me. I'd barely even remembered he was there, being so caught up in Davey's suffering, but when the kitchen tiles rippled under my feet, almost knocking me off balance, I tore my eyes away to see him spinning his arms in a sweeping gesture, his palms pointed at the floor. The area around where we stood shimmered, swelling and rippling, like something was moving under the surface.

Gripping me around the waist, Ethan pulled me against him with one arm.

My gaze snapped back to Davey, his mouth wide in silent scream.

'No, wait,' I cried, reaching out to him. 'Please.'

Ethan's face darkened. 'He's dead, Casey. They're all dead.' 

I screamed as the floor opened up beneath us, a black bottomless chasm sucking us down into the never-ending darkness. I screamed for Davey, I screamed for Addi, for all of them, I screamed for myself.

But most of all, I screamed because I'd just witnessed Hell on Earth.

I screamed because I'd seen an Angel.