Gerry knew he was being followed. It was more than just the hairs on the back of his neck sticking up as something in his hindbrain recognized a threat. He felt it in his bones and his body was reacting, but every time he turned around he saw nothing.

He didn’t consciously think about taking a circuitous route to the exit. He just did it. Around every corner he checked behind him to see if he saw any pattern. He didn’t find anything, so after delaying his departure for ten minutes he finally reached the exit. He took one last look through one of those big circular mirrors that hid a security camera behind it, but came up empty again.

Anger flooded his mind. He felt like a failure for not being able to identify the threat. It was a weird sensation because another part of him said it was stupid to get angry over something so pointless. The two sides went back and forth in his head as the sliding glass door opened and admitted him into the cool evening air. The moon wasn’t high in the sky yet, but it was full, and it was bathing the city in much needed light.

Gerry didn’t remember what happened, but it didn’t look good. The power to the hospital was being supplied by a house-sized generator brought in by the Army Corps of Engineers. Dozens of drums were sitting next to it with soldiers in urban camouflage waiting to pour the fuel into to the constantly thirsty tank.

He watched them for a second too long because they ended up staring right back.

“Gerry.” A soft voice whispered behind him, and he totally overreacted.

The anger had trickled away, but his vigilance over what he felt in the hospital was in overdrive. He whirled on the voice with arms out and ready to punch or throttle the person.

“Fucking hell, Gerry!” Whoever it was ducked under his hands and back peddled. She was fast.

Part of him urged to press the attack while the other wanted him to step back and take a deep breath. He went with the latter because it was a woman…or a girl…a very cute girl.

“Sorry.” He took that deep breath after all and lowered his hands.

The girl made a dismissive gesture with her hands and the half-dozen soldiers who’d seen him overreact started to walk back toward the generator with a mix of anger and jealously plastered on their faces.

“Don’t be sorry, I’m just happy you’re alive.” She smiled and perfectly-white teeth reflected the Moon’s growing light. “So, what the hell happened?” She put her hands on her hips and didn’t look like she was moving anytime soon.

Everything about the girl felt familiar, but he couldn’t place her. “Um…I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” He shrugged, not knowing what else to tell her.

“Is this a can’t tell or won’t tell situation?” The girl didn’t take ‘I don’t know’ for an answer. “Is there some Infernal handshake I don’t know about that will get me access to all the juicy deets?”

Anger flooded back into him, and being directed at the girl felt right on some deeper level.

“I’m sorry…” he let the sentence hang.

The girl looked at him like he was retarded. “Victoria…Vicky” She stopped cocking her hip to the side and stood up straight. “Vampire Queen of Charlotte. Your Lieutenant. Set up that sweet ambush on little Maria, and from the looks of it, Ava whooped your ass. I seriously though one of those angels stomped you back downstairs.” She said all of this like he should know it.

When he didn’t show any recognition she face palmed. “You’re Gerald Fuller, right?”

“That’s what my ID says.”

“From Boston…”

“Yeah…” The anger built with every second she looked at him like he was an idiot. “What do you want?”

“Ok, you’re starting to mess with my shit now, boss. You’re fucking hilarious, but we need to get organized.” She flinched slightly as she said the words, like she expected him to physically react.

Part of him wanted to, but another part was cognizant of the soldiers still watching them.

“Listen,” he said through gritted teeth. “I don’t know who you are, what anything that you said even means, and I sure as shit am not your boss.”

“Yeah you are.” She leaned in and replied just as angrily. “You’re exact words to me were, ‘I run this shit’, and then you talked about putting me back on my knees if I didn’t get in line.” She flexed her fingers to make air quotes. “Don’t go forgetting everything I’ve done for you now. Shit is falling apart and we need you.” The anger was tinged with a hint of desperation.

Gerry took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose to relieve a bit of stress. He didn’t know anything about this girl, but she seemed to know him.

“Assuming that I do know who you are,” he made sure she knew that was a big if, “what would I normally do next after this.” He waved to show the city’s destruction around them.

“Consolidate your forces,” she replied without hesitation. “I don’t know what happened to Lono, Jeb, or Jizzabel. I saw you turn that douche angel from Charleston and Lucian into an Infernal-Divine shish kabob, so I wouldn’t show your face south of the border for a while or they’ll think you’re making a power play. As far as I know, Anton made it out, and I can send word to him about you and try to smooth things over.”

He could sense she wanted to say something. Nothing she’d said so far had the hollowness that the cops, Army, and FBI questioners had, so he felt like she was telling the truth, but there was a difference between the truth and omitted lies.

“Spit it out.” He snapped.

It was clearly meant as an insult, but it got a smile from the girl. If anything, it made him understand the situation even less.

“Rumor has it that Seere died in the battle. If Seere died…?”

The name pulled powerfully at his memory, but everything was so jumbled together he couldn’t make sense of it. He just caught flashed of imagery…weird imagery…like hallucinating during a bad acid trip weird. It physically hurt.

He brought a hand to his temple and started massaging clockwise. He grimaced as he pressed his thumb deeper. The pressure eventually faded, but he still couldn’t remember more than all of this was vaguely familiar.

“Ok,” he ignored the lingering question she’d left unasked. “Consolidation…where would we consolidate?”

“They’ve set up refugee camps to help everyone displaced from the city. I’m staying at one not too far from here. You can regroup there with me until you’re feeling better. You’ll be safe too. I’ve got what’s left of my coven there, so we’ll be able to protect you.”

Something deep inside Gerry didn’t like that she was trying to protect him.

“I’m going to eat these words later,” she continued with her own grimace, “but we need you. Hell,” she chuckled, “I’ve even got Caroline back at camp. I’ll let you have her for free. Call it a recuperation bonus.”

Gerry was about to say something when the ground lurched underneath his feet. Two of the soldiers had been lifting a barrel up to the giant generator when the shock happened. One screamed as it rolled off his shoulder, fell, and shattered his foot. His friends rushed to his side while others ran after the barrel that was sloshing gas all over the parking lot.

“Make a hole, get the hell out of the…” the end of the scream was drowned out by a great ripping sound.

Gerry felt his eardrums pop like they did with a sudden change in altitude. He worked his jaw up and down and blinked as the weird sensation gradually faded, and that was when he noticed the second source of light. Up in the sky, next to the glowing white of the moon, it looked like a golden sun momentarily lit up the world.

The only problem was that gold sun was vomiting little black figures that were getting bigger and bigger as they plunged toward the earth. He couldn’t recall what one looked like, but he knew what they were, and this looked like one, minus the golden glob in the sky.

He was still staring up when sirens started to go off everywhere, and a loud voice began giving instructions. “This is the United States Government emergency management system. All citizens need to get inside and shelter in place. I repeat, all citizens need to get inside and shelter in place. This is the United States…” the message repeated, but Gerry didn’t move.

Over by the generator, the soldiers were grabbing weapons and armor. That is what Gerry wanted to be doing, not running and hiding like a coward.

“They’re so screwed.” Vicky laughed, but she didn’t move from his side. “So, are we going to watch the fireworks or get out of here?”

“We’re…” Gerry had made up his mind to get out of there, but something in his perspective shifted. It was like a magnet grabbed a hold of his heart and started to tug at him.

It was painful, not debilitating, but its meaning was clear. He needed to go that way, and that way was in the sky and rapidly approaching the ground. He was staring in the direction he needed to go when missile batteries that were transported into the city after the attack opened fire on anything that was coming through the golden rift in the sky.