Gowan was awoken by Elizabeth yelling and scrambling away from their picnic.

Victor stood over them with the knife.

"What are you doing?!" Gowan yelled.

He turned to Gowan. "Every time you leave you come back. Every time you could have killed, someone else took it. Every time I try to get rid of you, you keep coming back. I thought at the very least if I could get you drowsy and horny enough, you'd be easy to break down."

With his back turned, Elizabeth took a running start at Victor with the intent to grapple the knife from him. He held up one hand and she was pushed back across the room.

"I don't understand ..."

Victor clicked his tongue. "But you do. Well, you understand God at least. Evil won this time though."

"Are you," he lowered his voice, "Satan?"

"Your books got it a little wrong. I'm just here to collect the souls. The darkness is winning, for sure. Even before the rain you didn't need me to tell you that much. The navy blue smoke when those people died? That just means I've won."

"What are the rules?" Gowan just wanted to keep Victor talking. If he was talking, he wasn't harming them.

"Ah, where's the fun in telling you that?"

"Why here? Why a shopping center in Queensland?"

Victor shrugged. "I thought it would be fun. I mean, if everyone is dying, why not make it a game. After all, reality television is all the rage. I thought you humans would love it." He began walking towards Gowan slowly. "I thought it might give me a chance to score a few more points. Then I saw you." He held up his hands mockingly. "The selfless man of God, trying to get out the best in others. I'm surprised you didn't see through me."

"You spent all your time reading The Bible?"

"That old thing? Ugh. It was so boring, I mean, come on. After a while get some more material, you know?" Victor waived his finger. "My real genius was the beeswax candle thing. I thought I had you with the candle trick ... But you just had to go and find that woman. Do you know how hard it was to find a loophole to get her to shut up? People will do almost anything to themselves if you show them something scary and give them the small promise of life." He made a jokey hugging movement. "Just couldn't risk her running afterwards though, and blowing the cover too soon!"

Gowan looked to Elizabeth to make sure that she was still safe.

Victor was under an arms length away from Gowan.

"I had to teach her a lesson, but really, her blood is on your hands. You and this bitch," he gestured to Elizabeth, "blabbing about the three days being done."

"Watch it."

"I could have kept you here forever until you simply withered away. In fact, I still might." He put the knife in Gowan's hand. "Or you can kill yourself and your little girlfriend to end the pain a little more quickly. It's really up to you."

Gowan snatched the knife.

Victor's eyes got wider. He smirked. "Oh no, mister," he said sarcastically.

He guided Gowan's hand to his own pale cheek, pushing in the knife blade and slowly slashing his own flesh. He looked Gowan in the eyes as he took his hand to the wound, taking some blood on his fingers and licking it like a kitten. "I'm from the underworld, baby." He winked at Gowan. "You'll need something bigger than a knife to hurt me."

The slash faded instantly from Victor's face.

Victor took one of the candles and walked to the double doors calmly. He turned to face the pair. "I think it's just a little more fun if I turn this into a DIY couple's project. I'll let you decide how the adventure ends."

He untangled his frayed rope from the doors then turned around to face them.

"Do me a favour, will you? I'll give you one last chance to look at each other. You've been so cute together. I don't want your last memories of each other's faces have been fun after you stole so many potential souls from me. I could have used them, you know! Torment gets boring when it's the same old faces for all of eternity!"

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They both continued to look at Victor, stunned.

"Look at each other!" he demanded more loudly.

They complied.

"I want you to look at each other, with those watery eyes. Those snotty noses. Knowing you're going to die. Slowly or at each other's hands. All you can do is die now. In the dark. After wasting your lives." He clicked his fingers, causing the remaining candle to go out. "The best part is that one of you will have to face the end alone. That's a nice consolation for me."

The door clicked behind him as they were left in the room alone.

"I'm not going to kill you," Gowan whispered.

"I'm not going to kill you either," Elizabeth whispered back.

They whispered to each other, using their voices to locate each other until they were reunited in the darkness.

"Why didn't he kill us?" Elizabeth asked.

"Maybe he's not allowed to?" Gowan guessed.

"But Victor said there was a fight, and Donovan stood on Matthew."

"I saw it through the door. It was an accident, but it was definitely Donovan who fell over him. Maybe it's to do with intent."

"Whatever it is," Elizabeth said, "we can't stay here. We don't know what he is, if he can see in the dark, what he's capable of. We can't just die. What if he's in the projection booth?"

Gowan breathed deeply, "but what if he's waiting out there?"

"We don't have a choice. We need light again and a better spot until we think of something else. You saw my dress, Gowan. I'm ready to go out, let's go out pretty."

He found her forehead in the dark and gave her a kiss. They fumbled around in the dark for the candle Victor had left with them. Eventually, they were able to track one down amongst the rattle of the plates that were still on their makeshift picnic blanket. He left the knife, there was no longer any point of using it against something so ungodly.

The couple made their way to the door. After a deep breath they pushed it open and quickly made their way down the escalator.

Elizabeth's heart dropped as she saw the light from the candle round the corner of the food court under the cinema level. The pair began to run in the dark as Victor's candle followed.

"Hey!" he yelled out. "Hey! That wasn't an option! Get back in there and die already!"

They tried to run lightly on their feet, but their footsteps betrayed them. Every time they used a side-alley to change corridor, it was as if Victor could always keep up. Elizabeth could feel herself slowing down, her lungs were burning, but she just kept going to keep up as best she could with Gowan. He was taller, so he could cover more distance, but he was not going to leave Elizabeth behind.

"We can't go to The Home Store," he panted, "he knows that's where we got light from the first time."

As they slipped down another corridor, and for a brief moment, there was full darkness. Elizabeth yanked Gowan's hand and they felt for the contorted entrance of The Book Nook. Relying on muscle memory, once again they slipped under the safe, solid, checkout desk.

They tried to catch their breath, while simultaneously not allowing the noise they were making to betray them if Victor were to slip down this corridor.

The walkway outside the contorted door begun to light up. He was nearby.

"Come on, now," Victor taunted, "this is just fun for me. How's it going to play out for you? Be logical now."

The pair gathered together as tight as they could. Elizabeth jammed her eyes shut to avoid any sobs escaping as he walked past. She prayed that he would have the foresight to look for them in here.

He did.

"Are you in here?" he asked, as he took his candle and walked up and down the shelves filled with books.

He stood in front of the check out desk, and did a 360° pan of the room before sighing and leaving.

They continued to wait in silence as the light got dimmer and dimmer until they were back under the cloak of complete darkness.

"I don't think we can win this one," Elizabeth finally said shakily. "You saw what he can do to entire walls."

"So why didn't he do that to you? To me? He said he can't kill us, but what if he just fused us to a wall and left us to starve?"

Gowan shrugged. "I don't know demon logic," he said, somewhat dismissively. "Holy moly!" He begun tapping her excitedly. "I don't know demon logic."

Elizabeth said nothing.

"My mum used to say 'If a dog bites you, and you don't bite him back, he'll say you have no teeth' - Victor hasn't hurt me, and maybe it's because I've got something he doesn't."

Gowan let go of Elizabeth and held the candle in both hands. He closed his eyes tightly, really deeply trying to feel certainty in his chest. "Lord, I give this situation to you. It's gotten dark Lord. I want to be a soldier for you, Lord. I need you. I need you. I need you. I ask in your son's name for light."

Elizabeth joined in softly, "Please, Lord. I don't pray, but Gowan has been faithful to you. Please, Lord."

Gowan didn't command anything. He wasn't loud. There was no exciting yelling like those loud American pastors on television. He simply asked for light with all his heart.

When his eyes were opened, he realised he could see the underside of the desk again with all of it's marking and scratches. The age and wear of the mahogany was the second most beautiful thing to see in the light. The first was the glimpse of Elizabeth, with her eyes closed in humble prayer.

Elizabeth let out a mix between a sigh and a laugh. "Oh my God."

"He can be your God," Gowan had a cute smirk on his face, "if you want to accept him."

She gestured, stunned, at the candle, "Well I kinda feel like I have to at this point."

They shared a moment of relief.

"But what now?" she asked.

"I mean," Gowan floundered, "there's not really a manual for a demon uprising, but I guess they cast out demons in the bible." He shrugged, "Should we try that?"

"In a second," she said. She looked in his eyes. "Do you mind if we just ..." Her eyes wandered down to his full lips.

He placed the candle on top of the desk and embraced her. He held his hand under his chin and for one moment the world stopped spinning as their lips touched. All the darkness melted away and for one moment, the journey had been worth it.

If Gowan could just leave a world for Elizabeth, he would have lived for something.