The drive ended. Alex pressed against the side of the house, deftly screwing on his own pistol’s silencer before peering around the back.

A chaos of scrambling bodies; three angels swooping about like giant moths to a flame. There were five AKs – two girls and three guys – and they were shouting, waving their guns around. The angels were toying with them, Alex saw grimly – laughing as they darted towards their opponents and then away again, biding their time before they ripped their life forces away.

They were in a concrete courtyard; there was a back door with a light over it, casting a circle of luminance like a bizarre stage set. A muscular blond guy stood in the spotlight’s centre, grasping a gun with both hands and swinging it wildly.

“Come on, cabrona!” he screamed at a female angel. “Come and get me!” His accent was pure Texan.

Alex saw the angel decide it had had enough of playing; it went high and then dove at the guy, screeching. Alex tracked the creature as it moved, aiming for the pure, bright blue at the centre of its halo. Even through his concentration, he was shaking his head. Tex was flailing about so frantically he’d be lucky not to blow one of his friends away.

“Oh god, one’s about to get that girl,” burst out Willow. With a smooth shiver her angel form appeared; her human body was still crouched at his side, eyes closed now as she concentrated.

“Willow, no,” he started. “Seriously, stay back—”

Her angel had already sped away, heading towards the cement wall that bordered the courtyard. Wings outspread, she swooped over a dark-haired girl with a sharp face, protecting her. The attacking angel drew back with a surprised hiss; the girl flinched and gaped upwards.

“I can’t just let it kill her!” said the human Willow at his side. “I’ll be okay.” Alex gritted his teeth and tried not to worry. Willow’s life force was in her human body, not her angel one – but neither of them knew what might happen if her angel self got injured somehow.

The diving angel was still corkscrewing down, wings flashing. Aiming again, Alex shot; the creature seemed to sense him, dodging aside at the last moment. He shot again, anticipating the move this time, and the angel erupted into a million pieces of light. Tex gave a yelp as the shockwave blew him backwards, off his feet.

One down, two to go. Alex glanced again at the girl cowering by the wall. Above, Willow’s angel darted about like a shining bird as she held off the attacking female. The angel was beating its wings fiercely as it tried to get past her. Willow’s angel was smaller than average – only barely larger than her human form – but incredibly nimble in the air, like a kestrel.

“You!” Alex heard the female angel hiss. “Half-human thing—”