Kaitlyn sat up with a cry.

Except for the warm glow pouring in through the frosted window, it was dark. She scrambled to her feet. She'd been lying on the cold floor of her cell. Her body was stiff, sluggish and sore and she was covered in goose bumps. Her neck ached.

She twisted around, touching herself. Her clothes were intact. Though she could still feel him: his mouth, his fingers, his nails. His triumphant laughter rang in her ears. Kaitlyn staggered over to the camera, waving her arms. A green light was blinking. 'Let me out! He's coming! He's coming after me! Let me OUT!'

Next, she raced over to the door, banging her fists against it until she hurt her hands. She pulled and yanked at the handle. Then she ran over to the window. Could she break the glass? She looked briefly around the room. She hurried over to the chair but it was nailed down like everything else.

Dropping her eyes to the floor she quickly slid off one of her joggers. She tried pounding it against the glass but the glass was so strong that the window didn't even jump in its frame.

With a gasp, Kaitlyn covered her eyes when the lights suddenly flicked on. She turned at the sound of the door opening, her arm raised against the glare.

A police officer marched in. Her heart dropped into her stomach. He was holding a gun. No. A tazer. 'Turn around! Hands up against the wall!'

Three more officers followed him inside.

'You've got to listen to me!' she cried. 'He's coming! They're all coming. He's going to take me. And when he does you're all going to burn!'

'Who? Who's going to take you?' a female officer asked.

'The Dark One!' Why couldn't she say his name? Satan. Satan. It still sounded foolish in her ears. Lucifer. Had she really spoken his name? Why had he let her go?

'What's she talking about?' one of them said.

'Nothing. She's just another nutter.'

'I'm not crazy!' Kaitlyn took a deep breath as she tried to control a sharp swell of anger. She suddenly realised why Samuel was so annoyed by humans. After all that had happened, how could they still not see? How could they not believe?

'You have to let me out!'

'Drop the shoe. Hands against the wall!'

'No!'

The officer with the tazer glared at her. 'I'll keep her in my sights.'

The female officer raised her hands, palms outward. 'You can't go about throwing yourself around the room like this. You're causing damage and you're going to hurt yourself.'

'I'm not throwing myself around the room. I need you to get me out. He's coming!'

The female officer continued to approach. The other two followed. The man with the tazer watched Kaitlyn closely, his weapon pointed at her chest.

Kaitlyn tried to back away only to bump into the chair. There was nowhere to go. 'Stop it. What are you trying to do?'

'Trying to help you.' The woman paused, then pounced.

With a shriek, Kaitlyn tried to dodge her—unsuccessfully. The woman was big and had her pinned up against the wall before Kaitlyn understood what was happening. The male officers helped wrestle Kaitlyn onto the bed, shouting for her to "be calm!". Kaitlyn's screams were muffled into the mattress. It was hard to breathe. There was too much pain. They were on top of her and were so heavy!

'Get off!' she gasped. 'He's coming. And you're all going to die!'

She laughed manically, then started to cry as they yanked her arms back and slapped cuffs around her wrists. 'You don't know what you're doing!'

The light snapped off. Darkness fell.

'What the hell?' the man on top of her said.

'Turn the light on,' spoke the female officer.

Kaitlyn heard a click but the darkness remained. 'Not working.'

'Try it again.'

'No point. Look, it's dark outside too. It looks like the whole building might be out.'

And he was right. The room was almost pitch black, no glow coming through the frosted window from the hallway beyond. A tingle of fear trickled down Kaitlyn's spine. She remembered how the streetlight blinked off when she'd first been attacked by The Fallen.

'Isn't there a generator?' the woman asked.

'If there is, it ain't working.'

'I'll get a flashlight.'

Kaitlyn heard one of them hurry out of the room.

They waited. It was so quiet. Too quiet. She could hear the breathing of the man holding her down—it was fast and shallow. Something was digging into her lower back but she was too afraid to ask him to move. She could hear the rustling of their clothes, the scuffing of their shoes, their panting breaths.

Kaitlyn tried to control her breathing as she thought about all that she'd dreamed. Satan knew. He didn't know exactly where she was—she doubted she was still in Bowdie—but he knew the region. How many police stations could there be hereabouts? She supposed it didn't really matter. It wouldn't take them long to find her.

Once you step outside, our enemies' heads will turn and the darkness will irrevocably creep towards us.

Her stomach tightened. It would take even less time for them to sense where she was. Even now, she felt Satan's black eyes watching her. His thin white lips were smirking. His awful laughter continued to ring in her ears.

Where was Jacob? Where were her angels?

Kaitlyn snapped her head to the side. Did something just move in the shadows? Arching her neck painfully, she stared into the darkness, her heart beating in her throat. Was that a figure standing there in the corner or was it just her fears playing tricks on her? Tall and rake-thin, it seemed to slouch over itself. Were those arms hanging loosely at its sides? Were those legs? She closed her eyes, then opened them again. Whatever it was, it was gone.

Kaitlyn felt a prickling at the back of her neck. She'd just assumed that The Fallen would be the ones to find her and take her, but she'd forgotten about Satan's legions. She suddenly thought of the creatures scuttling in Satan's halls.

Bringing all kinds of mischief.

Demons.

She suddenly turned cold. She began to shake. 'They're here,' she croaked. 'They've found us.'

'Shut up,' the officer holding her snapped. 'On the floor. On your butt!'

He sounded nervous as he yanked her up. He shoved her to the ground and Kaitlyn sat there. What else could she do? Her cuffs clanged against the frame of the bed. She turned her head again at the sight of more movement.

'What the hell was that?' one of the cops said.

Two of the three officers spun around. The man with the tazer pointed his weapon into the shadows. It was so dark the three police officers were hardly more than indistinct figures.

'Where the hell's Michael with the flashlight?'

They all jumped at a loud crackling sound. Kaitlyn's heart pounded. It sounded like it was coming from everywhere. She could hear a voice speaking amid the crackling. Faint and hard to hear. Then she realised—she was hearing a walkie talkie.

The female officer took hers out. 'Say again. I can't hear you. You're breaking up.'

'Now the walkie talkies aren't working?' said the man with the tazer in disgust. He turned back to the shadows, aiming his weapon. 'I told you, this is what happens when we have our budget cut.' He cleared his throat. 'Where the hell are the lights?'

They all whipped their heads towards the walkie talkie. Amid the crackling, someone was screaming. Kaitlyn's heart flipped.

'Jesus!' the woman said.

'Let's move!'

They all fled the cell, slamming the door behind them.

'What are you doing?' Kaitlyn screamed. 'You can't leave me here!' Not in the darkness. Not alone.

Desperately, she tried to get up but it was difficult with her arms cuffed behind her back. Wriggling like a worm on the floor, she eventually staggered to her feet, stumbling against the wall in her one shoe. She hurried to the door and wasted her time kicking at it. 'Let me out. Let me out. Let me out!'

Giving up, she turned back to the room. What the hell was she going to do now?

The back of her neck was prickling again. Goose bumps erupted all up her arms and down her legs. She turned to the left, then the right, then spun around like a fool.

She turned towards the window as light suddenly beamed into the room. A bunch of fuzzy figures rushed past, carrying flashlights. Their footsteps thudded loudly. They were shouting at each other.

All Kaitlyn could do was back into a corner. Sitting onto the floor, she pulled her knees to her chest and waited. 'Please go away. Please go away. Please go away.' She pressed her face into her knees.

She wasn't alone. She could sense it. She could sense them. There was definitely more than one. Mashing her face harder into her knees, she begged more furiously. But they weren't listening. Steadily, the room turned colder and colder, until she started to shiver and her teeth began to chatter.

She looked up with a start at the sound of a thud. She whipped her head around at a shift in the shadows to her left. Whatever was in here with her, they were too quick to see. Her breath was coming out in a mist as she stared into the shadows ahead. Was that a figure standing against the wall, watching her?

She heard a snigger. Kaitlyn whipped her head around. 'Keep away!'

The sniggering snapped off. Kaitlyn yanked at her cuffs in alarm at the sight of something scuttling across the floor. It vanished under the bed.

Her throat turned paper dry. She started to gasp for every breath. Her heart was thundering in her chest, beating so erratically it made her jaw ache. Her eyes burned hot with tears.

Then something rose up in the centre of the room. Slowly, almost elegantly, like an eerie flower pushing up through the earth. It rose and it rose. Kaitlyn swallowed. It was the figure she'd seen before. The tall, thin one with the long arms. It stared at her.

'Leave me—leave me alone,' she gasped.

It turned its head and Kaitlyn stifled a shriek. Its face. It had no face. It was sunken in, as though it had been scooped away with a spoon.

Kaitlyn gagged, then retched. She had never felt such fear. She had never known such horror. It seemed to reach deep into her bones. The cuffs rattled against the wall as she trembled.

It was too quiet. All she could hear was her own gasping—and it sounded like she was breathing her last breaths. They caught in her throat. They rattled in her chest. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. But terror gripped her throat tightly in its icy fingers.

It continued to look at her, whatever it was. Then it turned its faceless head towards the door. For a moment it just stood there, staring. Then it moved. Two gangly, awkward steps that made Kaitlyn's stomach twist in terror.

Standing by the door, it reached out one of its unnaturally long arms and gripped the handle. Long, thick fingers. Sharp talons. Its skin had a greasy, mottled look to it.

Just as it turned the handle, more light flashed through her window as someone rushed past. It gleamed against the demon. Instantly, the demon vanished before Kaitlyn could get a good look at it. The light disappeared, the darkness fell again, but the demon didn't return.

At the sound of a creak, she turned back to the door. She sucked in a breath. It was open! It was letting her out. Why was it letting her out?

What did it matter? Kaitlyn struggled to her feet. In her desperation and fear, she fell over twice, unable to use her hands, the muscles in her legs so tight they felt like tree branches. Her one shoe kept overbalancing her. Eventually, she staggered through the door.

The hall was empty and it was way too quiet. Where were the cops? She trembled at the thought that she could very well be alone in this dreadful place. She turned her head at the sound of a shout. There was a flash of light. She hurried down the hall, turning a corner as she followed the sound of more voices. Another flash of light. She turned another corner.

Entering through a doorway, Kaitlyn stopped. The room looked familiar—she'd made it to the entrance. She could hear them properly now—the police. They were standing behind the glass partition, weapons raised and trained on the front door. They didn't know she was there as she stood behind them out of sight. The beams from their flashlights made the barrels of their guns shine. It gleamed against their hair and turned their skin pale.

'How many of them are out there?' one of them spoke.

'God knows.'

'This can't be real. This has to be some kind of joke.'

'Where are our reinforcements?!'

Kaitlyn dared to clear her throat. They all spun around, and Kaitlyn suddenly found herself staring down four barrels. She flinched and took a step back, squinting against their flashlights.

'How the hell did you get out?' the female officer shouted, gun still pointing in Kaitlyn's face.

'They let me out. Can I-can I stay with you?'

The police looked at each other.

'Who let you out?'

'Them.'

There was a pause.

'I told you, Mason. I told you she had something to do with it,' one of the male officers said. The panic was clear in his voice.

'Bullshit. She's just nuts!'

'This whole thing is nuts,' the woman said.

'Get her back to the cell. We can't have her running around.'

Two of the officers approached. Kaitlyn backed away. 'You can't take me back there! You won't.'

Thud!

Kaitlyn ducked her head. The female officer cried out. The two officers approaching her crouched, training their weapons on the ceiling.

'Shit! They're on the roof!'

'What the hell!'

There came another thud! followed by creaking, as though someone was walking. Thud. Thud Thud!

'Shit.'

'What the hell are they?! What the hell are they doing?'

'They're angels,' Kaitlyn said with surprisingly calmness. 'Dark Angels. Sent by Satan to seek me out. I told you, I told you he was after me, but you wouldn't believe me. Now look what's happened.'

'Shut up, you crazy bitch!'

Thud! Thud! More creaking.

'This is not happening. This is not happening.' The male officer's hands were trembling. He wiped his face. He was crouched to the floor like the others but in his fear he was struggling to keep his balance.

'Shut up!'

'Keep our cool. Keep our cool.'

More creaking. Another thud! Then there followed a wrenching sound, as though something metallic was slowly being bent—or ripped up.

'Jesus! They're going to get in! We have to get out!' spoke the panicking officer. He looked at Kaitlyn with his darting eyes. He paused. Slowly, he stood. He towered over her. He reached for the keys at his belt. 'Turn around.'

Kaitlyn's heart leapt hopefully.

'What are you doing?' someone hissed.

He dropped the keys twice as he fumbled with her cuffs. 'I'm giving them what they want.'

Kaitlyn's heart dropped. 'No!' She tried to rip her hands away.

He yanked painfully at her cuffs. 'Either with cuffs or without them, but you're going to them either way.' His hands were rough as he struggled to unlock them. His breath was panting and hot against the back of her neck.

'Stop! Brett! You can't do that!' The female officer stood, only to drop back down again at another heavy thud! 'Shit! Brett!'

Finally, he got her cuffs free and started shoving her towards the entrance.

'Stop it!' Kaitlyn cried, trying to twist around. She tried to grab at his arms but he simply flung her away. He was like a boulder. 'Stop it! If they take me, you're doomed too!'

But he wasn't listening. He was so pale against the beam of his flashlight. His eyes were too bright. He was in shock. And Kaitlyn knew there was no getting through to him. Sucking in a breath, she leaned back against him as she tried to dig in the heel of her one shoe, but all it did was make her stumble. He yanked her up before she could crash to the floor.

Then they were at the door. He tried to open it, only for Kaitlyn to kick it shut. He tried to open it again but Kaitlyn kicked it shut again. Finally, he'd had enough. Thrusting her away, he ripped out his weapon from its holster. His hands shook. 'Go, now, or for the love of God, I'll shoot.' His hands were trembling so hard Kaitlyn wasn't sure he might not accidentally shoot her.

'Brett!' the woman cried.

'Don't do it, you maniac!'

Thud! Thud! Thud! Wreeeennch!

'They're coming in!'

Kaitlyn ducked at the sound of a crack! It was so loud it turned her deaf and made her ears ache. A gunshot! For a horrifying moment she thought he'd shot her. She dropped to her knees in a daze. Had he shot her? Quickly, she checked herself only to find herself uninjured. Dropping her head, she took a shuddering breath. It was hard to breathe. It was hard to hear anything against the ringing in her ears. Her heart was beating madly. She felt stiff and strange. Her body didn't feel like hers at all. She lifted her head again. The panicking police officer was turned away from her and was backing up against the wall as the rest of his team defended themselves.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

They were shooting at the ceiling.

Kaitlyn blocked her ears with her hands. They sounded like little explosions. The female officer screamed, the men shouted, as a big chunk of the ceiling crashed to the floor. Dust billowed everywhere. She couldn't see the officers anymore. Then something appeared through the gap left behind—something long and thin and waving. It took Kaitlyn several moments before she realised what it was: a long white arm with long grasping fingers. It was clawing its way through the ceiling!

More gunshots. More screaming.

'Don't let it through!' someone cried.

Dizzy and breathless, Kaitlyn leapt to her feet and did the only thing she could—she wrenched open the door and fled into the night.