If you meet me, have some sympathy 5

As they shuffled me out of the office, all Hell broke loose – or at least the small part of it that was hanging around that bank. Two of my captors crumpled at the first onslaught but the rest closed ranks and counter-attacked. Black fire and white light ricocheted off steel and glass, the air suddenly full of beating wings and flailing tails as the spirits took on their war-shapes.

I don’t think the humans noticed a thing. It was just another grey morning to them, perhaps with the hangover a little worse than usual. As I was eased past the water cooler on the landing, there was a group of them just standing there chatting. A battalion burst out of the lift shaft only to be blasted back again, the bolt of fire passing straight through the man who was speaking. I noticed him frown and reach for an aspirin.

As for me I went quietly. I wanted nothing to do with the battle – it was all just a pointless distraction. If she was involved, if she knew about the mission, then I had to find out why. It had been a century or so since we’d last crossed paths.