"I never found my friends," I say.
"I'm sorry. We got a lot of bad people tonight, but we lost your pal Parker."
"Parker was here?"
"Yeah. He took off pretty early in the assault. We lost him in the trees below the house. I don't know how."
"Mason probably gave him something to make him invisible or to transport him someplace. Was he alone?"
"As far as I know."
"How well have you searched this place?"
"Well enough that if there were two people who knew you, we'd have found them by now."
I nod toward the line of bodies on the other side of the room.
"What about the dead?"
"We've been watching you, remember? I know what your friends look like. They aren't here."
"I'll need that body armor back for a while."
"Why?"
"I'm going to go get them."
"Be realistic. Parker took off. If he had them, he's killed them. That's what men like Parker do."
"No. They're alive. He wants me to come and find them. Then he can have the fun of killing them in front of me. I think I know where he has them."
"Where's that?"
"The Orange Grove Bungalows on Sunset."
"We used to have that place under surveillance. Sub Rosa kids used it for magic and sex games for years."
"Yeah, we did."
"No one goes there now. It's just pathetic civilians. Strictly crackheads and whores these days."
"It's where he'll have them. It's his idea of a joke." I look at the body armor. "Can I have that back?"
To my surprise, Wells hands me the armor. I put it on and go to the line of corpses. Find a guy a little bit taller and fatter than me with a decent-looking jacket. I slip the jacket off his body and try it on. It fits across my shoulders and is loose enough that when I button it closed, it covers the body armor.
I ask Wells, "You find any usable shotguns?"
"Around the corner. There's a whole pile-help yourself."
I find a nice sawed-off double barrel, about twelve inches long.
"I'm taking this," I say, holding up the sawed-off.
"Be my guest."
Vigil members come from the sacrifice room, carrying angels on stretchers. Candy trails behind them looking more than a little uncomfortable.
I steal a clean cloth from the medical kit of the crew working on Aelita. Go over to Candy. She looks completely human now, except for all the blood and dirt. I put the shotgun in her hands, push her head back, and gently wipe her face. She laughs.>"Miss me?" she asks. Candy is covered in blood and things I don't want to think about.