Chapter 194

Blink. Blinding white hot light engulfed everything, decimating the city, every building, every car, every paving slab, every blade of grass. It raged, like some great mythical beast that sought to burn everything to cinder and reduce the whole world to ashes. Blink. I opened my eyes wide and replaced the searing glare with fairy lights, thousands of fairy lights stretching out across London, draped over the iron landscape. Blink. As soon as I closed my eyes again, the fairy lights became swinging amber orbs. Swinging amber orbs became venomous amber stares. And then it was all gone again, engulfed in that awful, blazing light that had been imprisoned inside for so long that its hunger felt untameable. I saw flashes of them all, of Brandon, of Drachmann, every single one of them knocked out cold from the blinding light. But mostly I saw Philippe. Poor Philippe Charmonde. My friend. My enemy. Even though he was gone, I could still feel his anguish