Kat stared out the window, watching the snow come down harder and sighing. It would be a cold walk home. It was one of the few times she wished she wasn't terrified of driving a car. Nex offered to help her overcome it a little bit at a time. They sat in the car for an hour today before work without it moving and even though it was hard, she couldn't help but smile thinking about it.

"Don't be so tense, Katherine," Nex said, leaning back in his seat. "It's not on and we're in a garage. What's going to happen?"

"I know," Kat sighed, gripping the steering wheel and taking deep breaths.

Nex's hand landed on her back, rubbing soothing circles in her shoulder. "It's all right. Let's just pretend we're going somewhere, where would you want to go if you could go anywhere by car?"

"Vegas," Kat admitted, looking over at him sheepishly.

"Vegas?" He chuckled. "Still, huh?" Kat nodded and he leaned over, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Very well. Pretend we're driving to Vegas," he said, setting his hand on hers.

Suddenly the view outside the car shifted and they were on a street with endless bright buildings and flashing lights. Kat gasped and looked around, seeing several casinos and hotels.

"Is this...?" She asked.

"It's what it looked like three years ago, at least," Nex said. "We're not actually here, Katherine, why don't you pretend you're driving and see how you feel?" He suggested.

The scene changed and they were on an empty highway, looking down at the Vegas lights. Kat took a few deep breaths and pressed on the gas pedal. In reality, they didn't move, but with his abilities, Nex was able to make it seem like they were driving down the highway, towards the lights as the sun set and shot out beautiful colors...

"Kat," Connie said, snapping Kat out of it.

Kat turned and smiled, looking at Connie questioningly.

"Honey, a storm is coming in, worse than this one," she said, shaking her head. "There's no reason for us to stay open tonight. No one's going to come out in this."

"Okay," Kat nodded. "Why don't you get going and I'll close up?"

"I can't do that," Connie frowned. "You have to walk home, you should leave before it gets worse."

"You have a much further drive and the roads will only get worse," Kat pointed out. "I won't walk home alone. Nex will come. My house really isn't that far. I really don't want you to wait any longer while the roads get worse. It gets more dangerous," she said, biting her lip and darting her eyes away.

Connie sighed, watching Kat carefully. She knew it was a sensitive topic so as much as she didn't care for the idea of Kat walking home in the storm, she let it go.

"Are you sure?" Connie asked, chewing her lip.

"I'm sure," Kat said, waving her hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it."

"Thanks," Connie said. "Come into work a little early on Wednesday, please. I have some things to talk to you about."

"Oh," Kat frowned. "Okay, is there something I should be worried about?"

"Of course not, Kat," Connie laughed. "You're the best employee I could ask for. I just want to thank you for being the best employee I have, all right?"

"Oh," Kat sighed in relief, her shoulders slumping. "Thank you, Connie."

"Thank you, kiddo," she said, pulling her scarf on. "Do me a favor and call me when you're home so I know you made it okay, all right?"

"Okay," Kat nodded.

Connie waved and went out the door and Kat went to work closing up. There wasn't as much to do because the weather was so bad that not many people came in and messed up her displays. She just had to get the blinds shut, lights off and alarm set. Kat stopped to text Nex before she got too far along in the process.

Kat: Getting off soon, in about ten minutes, would you please come early?

She set her phone down and took care of the cash register, then everything else. She got back to her phone and had no response from Nex. She frowned, surprised because he usually responded quickly. She opened up the message and discovered hers didn't send for some reason. She shrugged and dialed his number instead, holding the phone between her ear and shoulder as she tidied the counter.

She waited for it to ring but it didn't. Kat frowned and brought the phone down, seeing the screen say "Connecting..." but never getting anywhere which was strange, she always had service at work. She slipped the phone in her pocket and reached over the counter for the work phone but when she picked it up, there was no dial tone.

Kat frowned and set the phone down, jumping slightly when a big gust of wind knocked down a sign outside and made a loud clatter. The storm must've messed with the phone lines. She wasn't sure why her phone wasn't working but the snow was picking up. Nex had been adamant about her not walking anywhere alone anymore, especially after dark, but she didn't have many options so she locked up and tried her phone again once she was outside.

Her messages continued to not send and when she tried to call, she got the same "Connecting..." that never went through. She stared down the street both ways but didn't see anyone around to ask to use their phone. She started to try again when a strong gust blew and made her gasp at the cold, knocking her scarf off and blowing it down the street.

"Dangit," Kat muttered, slipping her phone in her coat pocket and taking off down the street.

She started to pick up the scarf then stopped as something caught her eye. Down another street was a bridge going over a steep ledge. The snow eased up enough she could see there was a person standing on that ledge. Her eyes widened and she ran down the street, leaving her scarf behind.

Nex never received any attempt of Kat trying to get ahold of him and was trying to follow a recipe of Kat's mom's that she'd been wanting but he'd never had to actually make pasta from scratch. He stared down at the instructions and shook his head, checking his phone again but seeing no messages from her.

She usually texted him at least occasionally and the snow was falling down harder. He decided to try to call her and started to dial her number when Lucian appeared in the house.

"Nex," he said, his brows furrowed in concern. "Angels came into the realm. I don't know how we missed them but one of them has had contact with Kat. And just a couple hours ago they released a demon. They were trying to keep it quiet but it's here and I've heard she's been marked. Marcus is headed to the bookstore right now."

"How the fuck did we miss that?" Nex growled, dialing Kat's number and bringing the phone to his ear. He paled when it went straight to voicemail. He tried her work number and there was no answer.

"Fuck," he muttered, rushing out the door and shifting to his demon form so he could fly.

He arrived at the bookstore in seconds, landing on the ground and not bothering to hide. No humans were out in this weather anyway. His fear only accelerated when he saw the bookstore was dark and locked up.

"Shit," Lucian spat, pacing back and forth.

"Did you find her?" Marcus asked, running up to them.

"Does it look like I fucking found her?" Nex snapped, looking down the street both ways, his eyes catching on a red scarf he would recognize anywhere, even if it didn't stand out with its bright red color against the white snow. It was blowing around in the wind, caught on a bench.

He sped down the street and picked it up, inhaling her scent and planning to use his tracking abilities but the wind shifted and he picked up a scent. Not just her scent. Her scent and another's. Another demon. His head snapped to the side and he watched as Kat approached the demon who looked like a regular human about to go off a bridge.

"No," he breathed, running down the street as fast as he could.

Kat thought she heard someone calling through the wind but she couldn't lose her focus on this person that looked like they were about to jump. She approached slowly, hoping she would say the right thing.

"Hey," she said softly.

The person stiffened but didn't turn towards her.

"It's okay," Kat said. "I just want to talk. My name's Katherine, what's your name?" She tried.

"It doesn't matter," the person said, shaking its head.

"It does matter," Kat frowned, stepping closer. "You matter. Has someone made you feel like you don't?"

The person said nothing but it sounded like they were crying. Kat moved forward slowly, clutching her coat around her tighter.

"I know this time of year is hard," she tried. "Christmas just passing... It's not easy to get through holidays when you're hurting. I get it. Sometimes that pain feels unbearable."

They almost looked back. Kat continued moving closer, until she could reach them. She set a hand on their back and they stiffened again.

"Please come down from there," Kat pleaded. "Please. Why don't you come home with me? I'll get you warmed up and we can talk."

"Talk?" The person said.

"Yes, talk. Just talk," Kat shrugged. "About anything. Doesn't have to be about this. Here," Kat said, holding out her hand. "Let me help you down. It's okay."

Kat held her breath as the person said nothing. Then, slowly they placed their hand in hers. She breathed out a sigh of relief and helped them down. That's when she heard him calling her, the voice she would recognize anywhere. It echoed in her head and in the actual world for other people to hear.

"Katherine, don't! Get away from it!" Nex called.

Kat spun around, seeing Nex coming towards her quickly. Her eyes widened, she knew humans weren't supposed to see him move that fast. She turned back to the person but what she saw wasn't what she was expecting. It seemed human but something was off, it smiled too big with a mouth that suddenly seemed much too big to be human. Kat took a step back but it grabbed her wrists.

"How very good of you. Perhaps it'll be enough to keep you out of hell," it said before picking her up and throwing her off the edge.