Hundreds of people were inside, though the cathedral was so large it didn’t seem crowded. Many sat praying in the long pews; others wandered respectfully about, taking photographs and videos, or lighting candles that stood on small winged stands. Alex spotted one or two being fed from, their faces alight as angels stood beside them – hands buried deep in the humans’ life forces as their halos burned brighter and brighter.

Sam had seen too; Alex could practically feel him twitching for his gun. “Steady,” he whispered to him.

The AKs moved down the central aisle, their feet echoing on the marble floor. Kara gazed dreamily up at the domed ceiling with its newly-painted pink and white rococo angels that soared between the round windows. Alex knew he couldn’t do the blissed-out look as well as she was; he just tried not to look like he completely hated this place.

To either side, the space where chapels to individual saints had once stood was devoted to different aspects of the angels’ love. Pretending to be showing them the “love for our planet” chapel, Kara led the AKs to a painting of three angels holding a globe of the world between them.

She pointed upwards, as if indicating a detail of the artwork. “Okay, don’t look now, but that door behind me leads to the main administrative offices,” she said to the team. Alex had seen it several times before; he took a sideways glance anyway at the dark, arched door in the corner.

“You can see the keypad right beside it,” went on Kara. “Like I was just saying to Alex, we’ve got the code now and it shouldn’t be changing again till Thursday – and from what I’ve seen, there’s a few times during the day when we might be able to slip in without being noticed. Evening service is the main one – everyone seems pretty distracted then. There’s another issue that’s come up though.”

Alex had been standing with his back to the stone wall as he listened, pretending to look at the cathedral while he kept an eye out for angels. The two that had been feeding were gone now, at least in their angelic forms. Scanning, he didn’t sense any of the creatures in the main space – but a tingle crawled up his spine at the number of them in the unseen office area.

He bent his head towards Kara. “Jesus, how many of them are back there?” he muttered.

“That...is the problem,” said Kara. Her eyes met his. “It’s a new development we have to deal with – ’cause I’ve got a bad feeling it’s here to stay. Come on, let’s give the rest of these guys a quick look around at the layout, then maybe we can all go to a cafe or something. I’ve seriously had enough of this place for one day.”