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As I make my way deeper into town, I emerge into the main market square. It’s a Friday night, so crowds of people are spilling out of bars and restaurants, their laughter and chatter filling the air. Couples stroll arm in arm across the cobblestones, smiling and lost in their own worlds.

The normalcy of it all feels strange. And it occurs to me that we’ve never had this.

Me, Kole, Mack, Luther, Tanner, Sam.

Not once, since we met, since we fell in love with each other, have we had normal.

I thought when The Split healed and The King was defeated that it would be the start of our next chapter.

I waited for everything to feel happy and perfect and wonderful.

Sure, we’ve had our perfect moments.

But we haven’t had date nights or movie nights or picnics in the park.

We’ve spent the last three months fighting fires. Literally.

The AMA.

The escaped demons.

The mundanes – I like that word – who want me to burn because they think I’m a danger to humanity.

I stop and wrap my arms around myself. A group of people in paper Christmas crowns, waving their arms and singing, tumble out of a restaurant.

“Merry Christmas, boss!” one of them shouts. The man in the center of the group, wearing a smart blue suit, smiles and starts to make a speech. At the back of the crowd, a face stands out among the others.

A guy about Tanner’s age, wearing thick black glasses. Sandy hair. Stubbled jaw. A checked shirt, buttoned up high, and a sensible gray jacket. He adjusts his glasses on his nose.

While the others are paying attention to their leader and his over the top mutterings about what a wonderful year they’ve had, and how the team at Thomas, Hewitt, and Parker is truly special, the guy in glasses scans the market square.

Something in his face makes me keep watching.

It’s as if he s looking for something too.

And then his gaze snags on mine.

I blink and look away.

When I look back, he’s gone. The crowd is still there, the boss is still speaking, but the guy in glasses has disappeared.

Turning away from them, trying to dislodge the sense that something significant just happened, I’m about to take out my phone and call Tanner – ask him to come search with me – when the guy with glasses flits back into my line of sight.

He’s turned into a small dark alleyway, but someone is following him.

At first, I think it’s Kole because the figure is huge.

Tall, and broad, but with a hood over its head and a gait that does not belong to my viking.

The figure hesitates in the opening of the alley. It glances back, in my direction, and that’s when I see it…

The way its eyes catch the light.

Bright green with thick dark slits in their center.

Fire crackles to life beneath my skin.

Shit.