Oh god, no. Trish.

Kara and the others looked dazed but were still battling. Somehow Alex shoved aside his feelings – but having drawn his gun, he saw suddenly there was nothing to fire on, unless he was going to start shooting at his team. He wouldn’t, not even to save the world.

With every instinct screaming to aim his gun at the angels, he instead hurled himself at Kara and wrested the pistol from her hands. “Stop the attack!” he yelled. “Everyone, stop firing now!”

“No!” Kara’s face contorted with desperate fury as she fought him. Meanwhile Willow and Seb’s angels had appeared and were darting around the room – blocking shots from the AKs at the same time they were protecting the team from the Council. Alex saw Willow’s angel swoop between a Council angel and Liz, spreading her wings over Liz for a second time.

Across the room, another Council angel vanished in a spray of light; Alex couldn’t tell who’d gotten it. The human Willow stood pressed against the wall beside Seb; she’d drawn her gun but obviously realized, like him, that there was nothing she could do. Wesley was still trying to fend off the crying Trish. As Wes shot again, Seb’s angel flinched in the air; the human Seb staggered.

Fleetingly, Alex noticed a woman with pale blonde hair struggle to her feet. She surveyed the room with a small, satisfied smile and slipped out; then one of Kara’s punches almost connected and he forgot about the blonde woman. He got Kara’s arms pinned behind her. She was gasping, almost crying. “Alex, she’s got you under a spell! Don’t do this!”

He ignored her. “Stop the attack!” he shouted again. “This is what Raziel wants, it could destroy our world!”

Most of the team were panicked now; no one even seemed to have heard him. Another Council angel dove straight at Sam, who froze wide-eyed – then shook himself with a roar as he aimed and shot. Willow’s angel darted in front; the bullet went through her as the Council member twisted away.

Alex heard the human Willow gasp in pain and had to force himself not to go running to see if she was all right. Instead, he shoved Kara hard to one side and flung himself at Sam as the Texan fired again. They crashed to the carpeted floor. Sam squirmed out from under Alex and kept firing; another Council member, a male, went down in a spray of radiance.

Only three angels remained. They grew brighter, glowing with a painful light that throbbed at the air. Brendan was running back and forth as he dodged Willow’s angel; in a blur, Alex saw Willow herself sitting on the floor with her eyes closed. Seb had his switchblade out, but hardly looked capable of using it. Another bullet hit his angel and he stumbled, catching himself against the wall.