Mallian had control of the fairy, which meant that his glamour had worked. From Vince’s wide-eyed expression, she thought he might have been struggling against Mallian all this time.

The Nephilim strode out into the dusky sunlight and rolled his shoulders, clenching and unclenching his big hands as if reloading or rebooting himself. His gait was strange, uncertain. Perhaps he had not walked far for some time.

As he approached, Lilou caught a whiff of his body odour. Some of it was familiar, most not. There was dirt and filth and decay there, smothering his more familiar scents. She felt so sad for him.

Even though he smiled, she knew he had been through so much. Mallian was proud, and he would not take torture or mistreatment lightly.

Lilou walked past Angela, Vince and Sammi, skirted around Grace where she stood frozen to the spot, and stepped out to meet Mallian.

“Lilou,” Vince said. “Don’t mess with him.”

She didn’t reply. Vince was a friend, but she and Mallian had such deep history that the humans behind her seemed little more than smudges on time, fleeting patterns of thought and shape that would be gone with the next moon. She and Mallian were more permanent. They were part of the landscape, and this was a continuation of their long story.

“Mallian,” she said as they drew close. “You’ve looked better.”

“You never have,” he said. “My sweet Lilou.” She had never heard such affection in his voice.

“What did she do to you in there?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all.”

Lilou frowned.

“She treated me as if I didn’t exist,” he continued. He looked past Lilou at the fairy, and grinned. “She knows different now. Watch this.” He closed his eyes, frowning a little, and raised his chin.

Lilou sensed movement behind her. She glanced back and saw the fairy contorted, twisting in pain, her limbs drawn in and then hands slapping at the air around her head. Two shapes parted from her back with a delicate ripping sound, and Grace screamed.

“What are you doing?” Lilou asked. Mallian did not acknowledge the question. He remained in concentration, and he smiled as the fairy’s tattered wings started flapping, creating first a swish-swish sound and then a light buzzing as her weight grew less and she lifted from her feet.

All the time, she was crying out.

“It’s hurting her!” Lilou said.

Mallian’s eyes snapped open and his smile turned into a grimace. “Good,” he said, and the fairy rose higher, five metres off the ground and describing an uneven circle in the air above Angela and the others.

“I don’t know what she did to you in there, but there’s no need for this.”

“There’s every need,” Mallian said. “And who are you to give me orders, Lilou?”

“I’m your friend.”