Lost

“Well you certainly were right about nobody thinking to look here.”
Syn smirked at the smiles coming his way from Jimmy and Matt. It was a masterstroke, in the heart of the city but about as protected as you could get. Even more so now that the girls had layered protection in both magical form and Stefanie’s sentry bots. The Tower of London had never been so watertight.
“We can see what’s going on across the river too.”
Jimmy handed Lilith another box of books and supplies from the horde and pulled Syn and Johnny to one side. Matt was patrolling the roof and then there was the problem of the last of their number.
“Keep an eye on Zack, he looks like shit.”
“I’m on it.”
Syn strolled towards his lover, noticing the dark shadows under his eyes and the pain that seemed to emanate from every pore. He sat and put his arm around Zacky’s shoulder, the other man leaning into him as Johnny came to sit on the other side. Jimmy went to join Matt, all the girls downstairs in the lowest part of the White Tower setting up what was needed for the séance.
“Don’t give up on me now Z.”
Zacky tried to smile, sandwiched between the two men always felt so comfortable and his mind tried to make sense of things. All he could hear was the blade and Claire, the confusion making his brow knit as Syn’s fingers stroked his neck.
“I can’t live without her.”
“I know and you won’t have to.”
Zacky nodded, his eyes closing as if in sleep and Syn glanced at Johnny, worry written over his features. The shorter man kissed Zacky’s forehead and went downstairs, he knew that it as only Syn that could console his boy and Johnny badly wanted to wrap Stef in his arms and never let her go. It was steep and dark, the only light from below seemed to be candles and he could feel the magic from halfway down, the air already thick and cold.
“All ok?”
Stefanie appeared in his arms and Johnny held her close, kissing her gently as he looked around the room. It all looked so familiar, their weapons leant against the stone walls and Lilith on her knees laying out a salt circle. Dani was beside her, the blonde witch sorting through the various texts they would need. Raven had laid her blade inside the circle, its power and that of its twin would be required to pull Peg back to the realm of the mortal.
“Fine, how’s Zack?”
Johnny winced and Stefanie kissed him again, she knew how badly he felt it when any of his friends were hurting and the monstrous consequences it would have when Johnny let his temper out. Syn always said there was nothing like gnome rage…
“He’s in a bad way, Syn is with him.”
“Lilith’s nearly ready, then we can go kill Gerard.”
He giggled at that, pulling her into a tight hug as Jimmy and Matt came down the stairs. Both men had to duck, the cellar room feeling that much smaller now the two tallest members of the crew had arrived. Dani gazed up at Matt, his face was serious and she knew that he was itching to do something, to find Claire and make anyone in his way suffer.
“Matt, can you pass me the Latin book on the shelf there?”
Matt turned and picked up the musty book, trying not to stare down Dani’s cleavage as he did so. Watching the witch’s work had become a real turn on and he knew that Jimmy was grinning at him as Raven smirked too.
“This is safe….right?”
“Sure it is. Well, kinda….almost…maybe.”
Lilith turned on her sweetest smile at the stares from all directions and pointed at the floor. All of them began to take their places around the circle as Raven called up to Syn and Zacky. Soon they were all in place, Syn next to Lilith as always when he knew she was delving into the darker magic she had brought back with her from centuries past. Zacky leant forward, placing his blade next to Raven’s before linking hands with the angel on his left and Syn on his right.
“We open this circle in the light of love and trust…”
Lilith relaxed and closed her eyes, her book of hours was in front of her and the text worked its way up through her fingers. The oldest and darkest of magic was a part of her now and she fought to control it. If it spiralled out of control again there was no coming back and Lilith had been grateful for her second chance.
“Come forward Peg, help us now in our hour of most need. Show us the way to bring our sister home.”
Matt shivered as the temperature continued to fall. The room was misted now, they could all see their breath in the frigid air and he held tighter to Dani’s hand and Jimmy’s. Dani also had her eyes closed, a steady stream of magic assisting Lilith as the two witches made the cursed blades grow brighter. Raven was wrapping them all in protection, her aura a darker blue than normal as the old magic drew a face into the white mist.
Peg.
The old lady smiled in the smoke, her eyes somehow fixed on Lilith as she looked up at her. It was amazing to see her mentor, Lilith found her eyes were filled with tears as the voice of the dead woman echoed around the tiny chamber.
“Indeed my daughter, this will be your sternest test. Your sister had been awakened to the elemental magic you both have within you. It is old and ancient magic, all consuming and powerful. Claire has become the instrument of fire.”
Jimmy swallowed and glanced at Raven, this really did not sound good. Lilith frowned, elemental magic had never been something that she thought she and Claire had possessed and it was written that it could literally shatter a planet. That damn prophesy was coming true in all the very worst ways.
“What do we do?”
The face in the smoke became serious, seeming to loom large above them all as Syn held onto Lilith’s hand a little harder. He didn’t trust the magic and didn’t like the way Zacky was staring into the smoke, his face too pale.
“You must awaken the elements within you and Dani. Train Raven to be your third. Only then will you be able to fight back against what Gerard has planned. There will be death, too much death if he succeeds in turning the mystics into a tool of the mortals.”
Dani looked terrified at this, she knew the magic involved and the harm it could do but it seemed there was no other way. Lilith considered the options and had to agree, she could see that the boys didn’t like it but choice was a luxury they didn’t have.
“How?”
“Use the books, the Lexicon of Danos. It is lost but….”
Peg’s words were lost in a screech of terror as the mist seemed to explode outward in a choking cloud. Lilith was thrown back, slipping from Syn’s hand and Johnny’s so that her head connected hard with the wall and knocked her out. Syn struggled to see through the fog, realising that Zacky was now holding the cursed blade. He was about to shout a warning but time seemed to slow as his lover, the boy he had loved since he was fifteen, smiled at him.
Syn’s eyes widened as he plunged the blade into Raven’s chest, following it up with her own before he lost sight of Zacky in the fog. Everyone was screaming and shouting, the tower now looking as if it would crumble around them all. Syn struggled to take it in, the shaking of the ground forcing him to his knees as he scrambled towards the angel and screamed for Jimmy at the same time.
Matt and Jimmy had seen none of that, knowing only that something had stopped the séance in mid flow and now they were in trouble. Matt was relieved that Dani squeezed his hand back and told her to stay with Stefanie and a fallen Johnny as he bumped into another figure in the mist. There was a sudden deep pain in his chest and Matt felt himself falling as he passed out. Jimmy saw that but couldn’t identify who had hit Matt and didn’t realise he had been stabbed until he saw the blood on his own hands as he lifted the other man’s head.
“What the fuck!”
“It was Zacky.”
Jimmy was dumbfounded, both at the dead tone of Syn’s voice and half his friends being on the floor as the mist finally started to clear. Johnny groggily felt his way up the wall and stood. It was a sight from hell and his heart seemed to stop in his chest at the sight of the two prone figures on the floor and Syn holding Lilith as she moaned and started to come to.
A low moan broke from him as realised that one of them was gone.

Notes

So my loves...who do you think has bit the big one???