by LJ Swallow
I can't let go. Heath doesn't let go. His eyes drop to my mouth, and he grazes his teeth over his bottom lip. My breath catches in my throat.
"Xander was right. He knew when the Fifth arrived, things would become complicated." Heath drops my hand and reaches out to touch my cheek. "He also warned us if the Fifth isn't a man that’ll be the biggest complication of all."
I moisten my dry lips, as he shifts and holds his a whisper away from mine. They could be touching, the invisible gap charged with what we both know is inevitable. Heath doesn't need to say anymore as his mouth closes over mine. My body jerks as the energy between us grows, blinding me to everything but the places our bodies touch. Our chaste touch drops as I dig my hands into his hair, and he holds my head, as our mouths move against each other in the unleashed passion of two lovers parted by years and miles.
White light flashes across my mind and images stream through my head. Faces. People. Places. One after another, and I'm unable to grasp anything but glimpses until I see a vision of myself. I'm on the floor in my flat, ashen white with scratches on my neck, looking back in fear. A surge of emotions accompanies the image: concern and then anger. As the image of myself continues to look back, a new feeling surges.
Desire to protect. To touch. To hold and not let go.
Heath's memories.
He moves to hold me closer, hands in the small of my back, and my nipples harden as if our skin was touching, and his grip tightens.
I'm not the type of girl who tears clothes off and drags a guy to bed, but it's a bloody good job we're outside in the cold otherwise I’d be tempted. Heath's the epitome of a guy I'd lust over, but this reaction goes beyond purely physical. A different unity exists here, and what I saw seals my belief that I'm part of Heath. Of them.
I pull my mouth away with a gasp, lips swollen, and touch his face. Heath nods and touches my lips, as if aware of what I saw when we kissed.
"Well you didn't waste much time, did you?"
I attempt to move away at the sound of the voice, my fingers pulling Heath's as I turn my head to Joss. Joss frowns, hands deep in jacket pockets as he looks at how close Heath and I are.
Heath's grip remains on me. "Vee needs to understand how connected she is."
Joss cocks a brow. "Hmm. Very connected to you, by the looks."
"I told her the connection is to all of us."
"And then what? Kissed her?" Joss scratches his cheek with a thumbnail, then gestures at us. His amused tone switches to warning. "Don't you think this will be complicated enough to begin with, without one of us behaving like this, Heath?”
I succeed in detaching myself from Heath and stare at the ground. Is Joss jealous? The heat from our kiss dissipates, apart from my burning cheeks from Joss's arrival.
"I should go," says Heath and tips my chin with two fingers. "Sorry, Vee."
I fight against saying “I'm not,” unashamed, but the tension surrounding prevents me. Heath's footsteps crunch across the gravel, and I look up to see him muttering something in Joss's ear. Joss's steady gaze reaches mine again, and he nods at Heath's words.
As Heath walks away, the energy between us fades, but my desire for him doesn't. Joss runs a hand through his hair and grips the front as he looks back at me.
"I told you, you were too cute. Come on, trouble." Joss winks at me and smiles, but behind the smile, there's something more.
I hesitate, but the decision was made the moment my lips touched Heath's and I saw myself through his eyes. If I'm one fifth of whatever this is, and the other three have the same effect on me, the mysterious Xander's right. Our lives are about to become complicated. Especially mine.
9
JOSS
Verity walks back to the house with me, and I fight against striding ahead of her to tell Heath exactly what I think about his actions. Annoyance and jealousy vie for control. I knew Verity would arrive soon; we all did. I'd already guessed the reaction we'd all have, but the guys also agreed not to act on the desire bound to come with meeting her.
Problem: Verity's a part of me in the same way Heath and the other guys are. I’m positive we’re bonded by our creation, the essence inside each of us necessary to hold together five powerful beings and the natural conflict that will arise from the situation. Seriously, without this overarching need to keep each other safe, and to interact and exist in a shared responsibility, I would've walked away by now, duty or no fucking duty.
The four of us also fight like siblings, even though only Heath and Xander are. Still, we're like brothers forced to live with each other in our claustrophobic, pressured lives, which often ends in conflict and Xander walking away. His volatile personality doesn't suit any attempt at harmony, but what would anybody expect of War?
We weren't aware Verity existed until three years ago. We've been here ten years, or the current version of the Four have been. Each Horsemen “batch”—because that's how I feel best describes us sometimes—fails, and more filth cross through the portals the Horsemen fail to keep closed. This time, the Fifth is a new addition, something to hold us together. The idea only fully made sense to me when Xander revealed the Fifth was a girl. We'll strive harder to keep her alive. To keep the Truth alive.
The Four are pursued, a lot, and we often find ourselves in situations tricky to escape, but immortality helps with that. Plus, Death on our team can find a permanent solution to those hell-bent on eradicating the Four.
Some supernatural races cooperate with us, especially the fae who don't have anywhere to return to and need to remain here if their population is to survive. Well, they could return to the frozen wasteland their realm became, but they refuse to speak about why they won’t, or what happened to force the population to leave.
If anything, the fae's interests lie in helping us keep the portals closed and the human world alive. They've no desire to mix themselves with the demons either. If the demons and their leader achieve their desire to eradicate humans and take the world for themselves, there's no knowing how they'll treat the fae. We allow the fae to remain untouched, if they keep their population under control, their peoples’ numbers and actions.
The Four of us are no longer sure that control is happening. Fae locating and attempting to take Verity before we found and approached her doesn't bode well for our shaky alliance. Especially considering Heath killed the fae guy.
Was he rogue? Or a true example of the fae attitude to our relationship now the demons’ tendrils spread further through every area of society?
I blow air into my cheeks as I walk back into the building. The whole time she's spent inside the house, Verity's face has been pale and eyes filled with trepidation. Now there's colour to her cheeks, put there by Heath. Irritation surges again. As the first to see her weeks ago, Heath warned us that Xander was right and the effect on us won't be easy to keep a handle on. I thought Heath meant when we were close to her, but not a head-splitting need to touch her from standing in the same bloody room.
Is Vee aware what happened between her and Heath outside is more than kissing the cute guy she met at work? If that was an attempt to tell herself she's capable of normality, she's turned in the wrong direction.
Girls we meet on our rare nights off “work” attempt to get up close and personal with Heath within a few hours; that's nothing new, but he shouldn't have been so accommodating to Vee.
The issue here I don't want to admit, even though the voice nags, is I wish I'd been in his place. Seeing them stabbed anger into my mind and disappointment into my stomach, unwarranted and a huge surprise.
The dickhead just made things awkward for all of us.
Verity meets my eyes, the way she has many times since we met, but this time she looks away and focuses on her hands instead. Disappointment she's breaking the building understanding that we're attracted to each other, and this could mean more, pushes in and I glare at Heath instead.
At least he isn't standing next to her, Verity's big protector who rescues her from demon
s. Yeah, well, when we've taught Vee how powerful she is, she won't need his bullshit knight-in-shining-armour act.
Heath notices my look and inclines his head to Ewan, with a small shake. I'm half-tempted to tell Ewan what Heath did, but if Vee sees us in full-blown conflict mode, she'll definitely run for the hills.
Still shirtless, Ewan's laptop-free for once and scouting the kitchen for food. Ewan's denied Vee had any major effect on him, but come on, the guy must know walking around semi-naked in front of a girl fated to be attracted to him sends her signals.
But I guess Ewan's a slob and has sworn off spending time alone with her. Maybe I'm overthinking this, and one of us at least has his head screwed on around Vee.
Vee sits at the table again, arms crossed in the defensive way she has most of the time she's around us. She runs her tongue along her lips, stirring my desire to do the same, and I look away.
“You’re the Four Horsemen? And I’m connected?” she asks in a low voice. "Is this why a fae invaded my home last night?"
"Yes."
"And I've always had this"—she makes inverted commas with her fingers—"uniqueness."
"Yes. We've only recently discovered you exist, and we’ve spent the last few months looking for and choosing the right time to approach you," says Heath.
Vee nods, as if the words have added believability coming from his mouth out of the three of us.
"We were hoping to gradually get to know you rather than this mindfuck as you call it," I put in. "Sorry."
She narrows her eyes at Heath. "Is this why I didn't hurt you with my car?"
"Yeah, you can't kill Death." One corner of his mouth lifts up in a smile. "Or any of us."
"But I can be killed? Nice. I'm in your gang and not equal."
"No, you can't be killed," replies Ewan.
Her mouth parts in surprise. "What? Because I'm Truth. Ha. People kill the truth all the time."
"Not really," says Heath with a smile. "The Truth always survives. We all do, none of us can be beaten."
"At least you're not Famine," I put in. "I spend half my life accidentally soaking up and experiencing the emotions of others, which can leave them hungering for basic human needs. Food. Warmth. Comfort. Love." Vee's troubled look pushes me to explain myself, which I hate. "Not deliberately. I have control and can save my talent for those who deserve to be starved of those things."
"He's a good cook though," pipes up Heath.
"Screw you."
"And what do you do?" she asks Heath.
"I'm usually out helping my brother, but sometimes he works without me," he says evasively.
"Or sometimes they hang around here fighting," Ewan replies.
"Seems you all like to do that," Vee says. "Are you all related?”
"No but we may as well be," mutters Ewan.
I zone out and leave the talking to Heath and Ewan, although most talking comes from Heath. Don't they understand that all the time spent talking to Vee equals time lost to track down who's behind the attack on her? Ewan may've warded the property, but Vee has a job and life, which I doubt she'll give up readily to fight alongside us. Whether she'll have the choice or not remains to be seen, but Vee definitely won't be able to continue her human existence indefinitely.
I catch up with Heath as he sorts through his weapons in the lounge room, removing each knife from its sheath and inspecting the blade. When he hears my footsteps, Heath slams the long black case closed and spins around.
He purses his lips at me. "Oh. Thought you might be Verity. She isn't a fan of weapons."
"She prefers to be called Vee."
Heath shoves thick dark hair from his brow and studies me. "Don't walk in here and start lecturing me."
"Start? What the hell was that? You and her?"
His eyes widen, and he walks to the door, closing it quietly. "It wasn't supposed to happen."
"Damn straight, Heath."
"I thought Vee was leaving, looked bloody terrified, Joss." He scrunches his face as he pauses. "And she cried, for fucks sake. I held her hands, tried to let Vee know we were here for her and wouldn't hurt her and..."
"And what?"
“Boom!” He makes exploding motions with his fingers. "Her energy slammed into my chest. I could hardly breathe for a moment, and then suddenly I was kissing her and she was kissing me. Talk about bloody intense."
"Which is exactly why we were told to keep hands off her! No. Touching. The. Fifth."
"Yeah, well I'd touched Vee a few times helping out in the last day or so and nothing happened. I thought Xander had exaggerated and we'd be okay."
I dig hands into my pockets. "You know this isn't because she wants you, right? Could be any of us. All of us."
Heath shrugs. "Yeah, whatever. I think we sparked before she knew who I was."
"No, listen. It's unfair. She feels what you do, but for all of us, if we touch. The four of us guys? Yeah, we can notice each other's power and unite to strengthen that, but she has the guy-girl thing to deal with on top of the bond."
"You heard from Xander?" he asks.
I narrow my eyes at his subject change. "No. I've only spoken to his voicemail."
"There's something bloody strange going on." Heath turns back and reopens the black case, then runs a finger along above the knives before selecting the same one he took yesterday. Short, carved-ivory handle. Iron blade. "You know what I think?"
I shake my head at him as he turns. "Someone's trying to distract us."
"Obviously, otherwise they wouldn't have found Vee before us."
"No, trying to distract us from investigating Ripley’s latest venture."
Ripley. Head honcho demon. His Order’s web extends around the world, wrapped around people and organisations. I'm sure we only know the half of it. Every time we track him down, he's moved on, leaving footprints in trails of blood behind. Sometimes literally.
“Ripley is attempting to hook up with the Nightwalkers again."
"Huh? Nobody can negotiate with that vamp clan. They don't have the brains to join in scheming."
Heath pulls a derisive face. "Did you think perhaps that's the reason he chose them? They're brutal. Handy allies who're easily influenced."
"Man, this is all getting too hard."
Heath gestures at the door with his knife. "We have the Fifth now. We're stronger."
In some ways, but what about divisions the Fifth causes already?
Ten minutes later, I watch through the kitchen window as Vee walks to Heath's SUV with him. Heath's distance from her is a lot bloody better than the last time I saw them together.
I just hope he listened.
10
VERITY
When I arrive with Heath, my flat appears the same as yesterday from the outside, although the prospect of heading inside doesn't appeal. My memories of supernatural creatures attempting to abduct and/or strangle me and mysterious fires in the house don't encourage me to walk back inside.
Heath reassures me he checked the place out last night and I'm safe to go inside, but I hang back as I follow him cautiously into the flat.
Now, I stand in the bedroom doorway and chew a nail, looking between the mess in the room and in my flat. No cat. If Heath hadn't been with me, I doubt I would've set foot in here. The moment I did, I pictured myself pinned against the wall by the demon, terrified I'd be strangled, burned alive, or both.
Singe marks cover my bedroom carpet, and the light fitting has melted. A burnt electrical smell hangs in the air. The black marks on the floor are damp from somebody extinguishing the fire, but apart from that, my room is unscathed. Ha ha. How am I supposed to explain this one to my landlord?
"I don't think you should stay here," says Heath, echoing my thoughts.
I look over my shoulder where he stands in the open doorway watching the stairs. His uncertainty whether we were followed is enough to prompt my resounding agreement, but I'm pissed off that someone's forcing me from my home.
The drive
back to my place from the guys' house was filled with the same heavy silence as yesterday. Last time, I sat beside Heath shaking and in shock. This time, the unspoken kiss filled the humming air between us.
I'm trying to get my head around the fact I'm a... whatever a Horseman is, and all I can focus on is my encounter with Heath.
One he's avoiding by saying the bare minimum to me today and completely avoiding the topic, as if the intense kiss never happened.
I heard raised voices between Joss and Heath before we left, and I want to ask why, but the evidence is in front of me. Heath crossed a line, and he's backed away.
"I was thinking." Heath watches as I tuck my laptop into the rucksack filled with my clothes and essentials. "Do you still have the meeting arranged with the guy from your online group? I'm wondering if he has anything to do with this."
"To be honest, that's the furthest thing from my mind right now."
The tension grows, but for the first time he holds my gaze long enough for me to see a confusion to match mine. "Everything is complicated, Vee."
"You're telling me," I say with a small laugh.
I will him to walk over and put his arms around me, to tell me everything will be okay, but do I really want him to lie? No.
"I think you should. One of us will go with you, just in case...." Heath trails off.
Just in case someone else tries to drag me off God knows where?
"Okay. We arranged to meet next week."
"Where?"
"In town at one of the cafes, The Coffee Spot. Public."
Heath nods slowly. "I'll talk to the guys and see if they agree."
Nothing more is said as I follow him from the flat with my gear in a rucksack. As the damage is less than I expected, I could stay if I put up with the burnt smell, but my unease inside the place sends me home with Death.
On the way back to the boys' place, I steal a glance at him as he drives. He's dressed in a plaid shirt beneath his army green jacket, large hands sliding across the wheel. Anytime I'm in close proximity to any of these guys, my chest flutters. Is that because of this connection? Exactly what is my connection?
