by LJ Swallow
“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.
31
VEE
The ground beneath my back is hard and the sky above grey. The air smells damp and the fresh scent of mud surrounds my head. A sharp pain in my hands feels like an insect bit me, and I lift them above my head. My fingers glow with a white energy, the way they did the night at Portia’s house, and sometimes how they do after nights with Heath. But stronger. The smell of fire fills the air around and I scramble to sit in case I’m facing yet another firebug.
My head still pounds as I take in familiar surroundings. In front of me stands the shell of the guys’ house. The place no longer burns but the remains from the fire are fresh and pungent. I stagger to my feet and wipe a muddy hand down my face.
“Joss?” He was the last to touch me. Maybe we both ended up here. I turn slowly in a circle. Nothing has changed since I drove away from the house the other day. No cars. No other people. I shiver against the dread creeping along my spine.
“Seth?”
The winter wind bites my cheeks and my eyes water in the cold. I’m not dressed for an English winter, but my body burns with heat.
Heat and determination.
“Where the fuck are you?” I storm toward the broken house I once saw as a sanctuary. The blackened beams barely hold onto the bricks and I place a hand on a wall inside, attempting to remember where in the house this was. Am I in the same place?
I look back toward the woods. The tree, standing taller than the others around, is there. The one I almost reached when I ran from the house, my body wracked with terror.
This is definitely what’s left of the Four Horsemen’s house.
Tears spring to my eyes as memories of the last few days creep in. Pain shoots along my arm and my hand jerks against the bricks. The white glow remains, faint, but enough for me to see.
Is this the end? Am I dying, ready for Order to take on Chaos?
I trip as I make my way through the house remains. If I am, he must be here.
Something crunches behind and I swivel my head. Nobody.
“Fine.” I turn on my heel and pick my way through the wreckage. My arm jerks again and I cradle it against my chest, clenching my teeth against the pain. But what aches more right now is my distance from the guys. I don’t want them with me in case they’re hurt, but another part screams for them to come to me.
I sink forward, sliding my hands down my legs. The thought is enough to set pain rippling through my heart.
I suck in my determination and straighten.
“Fuck you, then. I’m leaving.” Once over, the words would be bravado but this is a taunt. I’ll unearth him. I can kill him. And I will.
If that means I need to walk away, I will.
The snow we left behind when we went to the States has been replaced by slush, and my boots squelch as I walk away from the house to the field leading to the woods. Through the other side, a rough path leads to the edge of the property. Beyond that, a country road leads to Grangeton.
A force yanks me backwards as if somebody pulled my hair. I grasp behind at my assailant but nobody touches me. Not physically, but a force drags me back and I struggle to keep my footing.
“Where are you going?” Seth’s voice asks from behind.
The energy building in the last half hour finally finds an outlet as I turn, throw my hand out, and a crackling white bolt hits Seth in the chest.
He’s knocked away, landing on his backside with a thud and a growl. Seth’s eyes flash black and the invisible force that was pulling me back hits my stomach.
Gritting my teeth, I double over and back up. A quiet rumble travels below my
feet and the ground shudders. No way would an earthquake hit this part of the world.
Is this Seth’s work?
“Can we wait for the others before we do this?” Seth gestures around him as he stands in the broken doorframe leading to the house.
“Why? Do you want them to watch you die?” The pressure inside pushes against my eyes and I hold my temples. A voice whispers to attack. Stop him. Now. But I hold on to images of the guy’s faces.
I need them here to help. To keep me alive. To finish this as together.
I dig my fingernails into my palms to ground myself and suck in the cold air. Hyperventilation continues as my anger refuses to subside, especially now I’ve seen the bastard’s smug smile.
The smile that disappears as the ground beneath his feet shudders. He holds his arms out either side to steady himself on the remains of the door frame, alarm crossing his face as the rumbling below grows.
“What the fuck are you doing?” He looks at the ground in bewilderment.
Nothing.
But he doesn’t know that.
The stone covered ground at Seth’s feet cracks, a small line spreading through as if someone cracked an eggshell. This grows wider, similar in size to the fault line he created in the desert. As it continues to run between his legs and backwards through the doorway to the house, he jumps to one side.
The crack widens into a small chasm. Gravel and dirt slip toward the growing hole.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Seth demands and points at the ground. “Don’t bother with this shit. I could pull the world in two and stand on the edge watching.”
But he’s doubtful. Confused. Seth may not realise, but I sense it. I feel him, the way he described in the café.
We lose attention on each other as the jagged splinter cracks grow. Other lines appear, stretching from either side of the ruined building. Remaining walls crumble to the floor. A blue haze of building dust falls and shrouds Seth from full view. He doesn’t move.
If this isn’t Seth, what the hell is happening?
I back up, heart rate rising as the noise below the ground escapes through the widening split, moving from a rumble to a roar. What remains of the house collapses, sucked into the widening chasm as if it were caught in a vortex. Bricks are thrown high and spinning in the air along with the dust. I cover my eyes with an arm, stomach sinking along with the building as everything disappears.
The obliterated farmhouse isn’t just a building. This was the guys’ home. Their—our—place. The Horsemen’s sanctuary from the craziness they’re forced to live has already burned, now nothing is left. After the fire, Ewan and Heath planned to take the building and attempt to salvage parts, whereas Xander and Joss argued it was unsafe. I informed them we need to find somewhere new.
I guess Xander and Joss win this one.
The dust cloud billows around before being sucked into the chasm. Mine and Seth’s battle pauses as we remain transfixed, both with the same thought: who did this?
The last of the debris is dragged away and six figures appear in the haze. I don’t need the world clear to recognise my Four Horsemen, all running towards me. Erzla and Leoc walk behind. The fogged air around them gives the eerie feeling they stepped from another world.
Xander reaches me first and seizes me in a tight hug, holding my head against his chest, and I can’t breathe.
“Where did you come from?” I gasp.
“Angels teleport too.” Xander says then adds with some sarcasm, “They have their own transport system.”
I struggle from his arms and the others join us. I hold on to all of them, desperate to feel them around me again. Ewan puts his chin on my shoulder and stares at the hole, mouth open. “Fuck.”
I almost laugh at his typical low-key, one-word response.
Seth marches up to the angels and spits out, “What is that? I never knew you could break your precious world.”
“You did this,” replies Leoc. “You’ve opened the seventh portal.”
Seth rubs both hands along his dirt-streaked face and stares back at the gaping hole. “This isn’t a portal. There are only six portals. I didn’t create this.”
Erzla gestures. “Seth, this is the gateway to Hell.”
What the fuck? Hell? I look at the guys for their reaction. Why no surprise? “You knew?”
Ewan continues to stare at the space his house once stood. “Erzla and Leoc told us an hour ago, in the kitchen. We didn’t exactly have time to tell you, thanks to him.”
“How is there a seventh portal that’s not mine?” Seth demands, like a child.
“Because when we were wasting our time dealing with you and Order, someone took advantage of our distraction and created a gateway!” Erzla’s vehemence shocks me, and his normally composed features fill with hatred. “Now, finally, we end you and end this.”
Seth laughter carries into the air, and then he coughs on the dust. “Do you seriously think you can drag me to Hell? Nothing in there can hold me. You can't constrain my power with your rules.”
“No, we don’t think that.” Erzla brushes at the dust on his jacket. “We have to see the gateway closed permanently. The explosion of power in this area when you’re obliterated will close this. That is what the prophecy is for.”
Seth huffs. “Why do you waste your pathetic lives trying to stop me? Your Heaven and Hell are all part of what you attached to my creation. The whole fucking lot dies, not just your gateway. Why bother?”
“I don’t think so,” I say and straighten. “Nobody dies here today apart from you.”
Waving a dismissive hand, Seth steps away from the chasm and calls out, “Fine. Let’s get this party started.”
He holds out a hand, and a dark shadow grows in the air around him. Seth moves his wrist in circles, wrapping the dark magic around his arm like a rope. He jerks his hand outwards and the shadow whips across the space between him and Joss. Before anybody can react, the shadow winds around his chest. Joss’s body jerks and he gasps for breath as the bond pulls tighter.
My mind flashes back to the demon in the museum bathrooms. I did this then.
“No!” I shriek and run over. A shaking Heath crouches beside Joss and struggles to reach through the grey to place his hands on Joss’s chest.
“Do something,” I call out to the angels. They watch impassively from a distance as I kneel on the other side of Heath.
Xander yells out in rage. His dark eyes and switched-off expression transform him into his pure War as he thunders across the hard ground to reach Seth.
Seth stands his ground with a sneer on his face. “Seriously?” He flicks all his fingers in one hand towards Xander, as if flicking away water. “I told you, you’re last!”
Xander is thrown in the air, half as high at the house once was, and the cracking thud he lands with turns my stomach inside out. He lies still, and I look between the three guys, bewildered. Ewan steps forward to join the fray, and I scream at him in terror, to stop.
“Don’t touch them,” I yell at Seth as he lifts his hands again.
I close my eyes, channelling my power. This grows, ramped up by my horror and fear for the guys’ lives. As the power grows and spills, Vee is pushed away. My body veers between pain and numbness and my ears ring. For the first time in days, fear runs through my veins too.
We planned to split Order between us all.
We swore we’d take Chaos down together.
And we never figured out how.
As the coursing energy rushes painfully through my veins, I gasp at the new strength. Gritting my teeth, I hold my hands out and a white energy streams from my palms. The surroundings flood with blinding white light.
The focused energy spirals through the air and hits Seth square in the chest as hard as he hit Xander with his own. I drop my hands, relief mingling with satisfaction, as he’s thrown backwards.
Seth’s lands close to the chasm’s edge and he tips his head back, laughing. He holds an arm above himself and
circles his hand, stirring the air around. The darkness he conjures pulses upwards, and a ball of black energy grows in his hand. I tense, ready to defend myself against his retaliation.
Without sitting or looking over, he throws the energy to one side, where the angels stand.
“You’re it!”
32
VEE
Erzla’s hit with a force that sends him crashing to the floor. His jacket falls open, and something flies from inside. He struggles to stands and grabs the item before we see.
“Is that...?” Ewan stares. “Did you take the weapon from our house?”
“Yes.” He holds it in front of him, and Leoc throws him a worried glance.
“We thought we should try everything we could,” puts in Leoc. “Between us, we can weaken him while Order fulfils her role.”
“Vee,” snaps Ewan. “She’s Vee. We need to end this fucker now. Why are you standing there? Help?”
The aching pressure inside grows, and I lean forward to catch my breath. Ewan grabs my arm as I stagger. His touch hurts as my skin burns like I’ve spent the day unprotected in the sun. I grip Ewan, and I rasp out, “Don’t attack him, Seth. Look at what’s happening to Joss and Xander.”
“She’s not Vee for long, I hear!” smirks Seth, now standing. He hops to one side, away from the chasm, and approaches Ewan, who stands his ground. “You gonna save her with your big muscles, Pestilence? Wrap your arms around your beautiful girl while I tear you all apart?”
“Get fucked,” he snarls.
“Some bloody help here, maybe?” Heath calls to the angels. Joss chokes for breath and pulls at the shadows wound around him. “We need the four of us to help her, remember?”
“Yeah, but I’d rather you were indisposed,” says Seth. “Two less to deal with, for now, y’know?”
Blood pounding in my ears, I stare from person to person, at the four guys divided around the area, when we should be together.
The energy needs sharing between us, or I die.
“Aww! Was I too quick? Is he dying already?” asks Seth.