by LJ Swallow
If I’d seen this guy before, I’d remember.
Seth gives a slight shake of his head and straightens both shirtsleeves. He walks to the lounge doorway and stops, one hand on the handle. "I'm busy today. Sorry I can't help you more. Can you leave, please?"
A reluctant Xander and Joss follow me through into the bright hallway and back outside, with barely a goodbye from Seth. My heels click on the pavement as we walk back to Joss's car.
"We’re staying here to watch him," announces Xander as he climbs into the passenger seat besides Joss. "There's something not right about Seth. He's weird."
"And you’re Mr Normal McNormal from Normaltown," says Joss, and I stifle a laugh.
"You crack me up," says Xander with heavy sarcasm, holding his side as if he's laughing hard. "Things don't add up. He and John haven't known each other long, but they work at the same company. Casey isn't a girlfriend, apparently hardly saw John, but is too upset to talk."
"And he was cagey about her," puts in Joss. “Maybe she’s missing too?”
"Maybe. Or at work. Let me text Ewan for the details. He can find out which hospital. For now, Seth’s our priority." Xander inclines his head to the street behind.
"So we're going to sit here and wait to see where Seth goes? What if he doesn't leave the house for hours?" asks Joss.
“Yep.”
“Man, I’m starving!” he complains.
"There's a shop up there." Xander points. "And a bakery. Fetch some food, and we can wait. What do you want to eat, Vee?" He rests his arm on the seat back as he looks around.
A stake out in Joss's small Audi? Fun times.
"How long are we waiting?" I ask.
Xander frowns at me. "As long as it takes. All part of this life, Vee."
Boredom beats fighting horrific enemies I guess.
15
VEE
"Go!"
Half asleep, I’m roused by Xander's voice intruding my dreams. Dreams where both men are with me in the back of the car, kissing me and well... more. I wipe the drool from the corner of my mouth. Hmm.
The paper wrapper from the sandwich I ate before I nodded off is scrunched beside me. The car smells of the pie Xander ate before he finished off his meal with a cream donut and coffee. Seriously, how does eating junk food and drinking beer on a daily basis allow him to keep the body he does? Forget their weird powers; that's the most supernatural part of the guys.
Joss starts the car, and we follow the hatchback onto the main road, positioning ourselves several cars back as Seth drives away from the house. I should’ve known his would be the shiny red one, polished to perfection.
Ten minutes later, we pass the same petrol station alongside a roundabout I swear we've been around twice already.
"He knows you're following him," I say.
"Yeah," mutters Xander. "Doesn't mean I'm going to stop."
I slump back in my seat, fighting a complaint that I want to go home. An hour in circles getting absolutely nowhere, after hours waiting for Seth to leave, frustrates me, and the large coffee I drank earlier adds in a desperation to pee.
"Can we stop there?" I indicate the petrol station as we drive by. "I need to use the bathroom."
"We'll lose him,” grumbles Xander.
"I think we already did because he's leading you in circles," Joss says. "The day’s getting late. We can come back tomorrow or follow him from work. We have his name. Ewan may have found more information."
"Can you wait until we get home?" asks Xander.
I stare at the back of his head. "I'm not five! I need to go sooner."
"Might be women's problems," Joss whispers to Xander and receives a slap on the back of the head from me.
"First, that's totally irrelevant, and secondly, I don't have 'women's problems' as you so euphemistically put it."
I forgot to continue the conversation with Heath the morning after we had sex. Over the last year, I visited doctors attempting to discover why I don't menstruate. The explanation was simple: I don't have ovaries. At the time, the news shocked me, although I'd never considered kids or had a steady boyfriend. Motherhood was far from my radar.
Now, the answer’s obvious. I was created human, but only the important parts. My stomach becomes leaden at the reminder “created.” Horsemen evidently don’t need to reproduce.
The guys clamp up. Some things about these guys are as human male as you can get.
I shake away this new reminder I’m not Vee as Xander swings around the roundabout again and pulls onto the petrol station forecourt. "Fill up while we're here, Joss."
Once Joss climbs out, a silent Xander slumps down in his seat and swipes fingers across his screen, and I catch Google maps as I hop from the car.
Service station bathrooms aren't places to spend a moment longer than necessary in. If my need to pee could be controlled for the hour plus trip back to the house, I wouldn't touch the place. I head past the small shop with colour flower bunches for sale outside and around the back. A single door leads to a bathroom and I wrap my sleeve around my hand as I pull on the handle. I must’ve caught paranoia about germs while at Seth’s house.
This bathroom isn’t bad; at least the pine disinfectant smell trumps the urine. When I wash my hands, soap leaks from the dispensers and half-used paper towels spill from the bins. Ugh. The towel dispenser’s empty, so I wipe my hands on my suit jacket instead.
I open the door and blink into the sunshine after the badly lit bathroom. A girl waits outside, hands shoved into her black jacket pockets. She has light brown hair pulled into a ponytail and straightens as I walk outside. The girl darts a look around her. How old is she? Eighteen? Younger? Older? I spot a small rucksack on her shoulder. Runaway?
"Are you okay?" I ask.
She nods, smile forced. “I’m fine. How are you?”
“Good, thanks.”
“Cool.”
I’m about to walk away, confused by her exchange of pleasantries outside a petrol station bathroom, but something about her stops me. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
She picks at the rucksack strap on her shoulder and whispers, “Are you?”
“Me?”
Joss appears, tucking his wallet into a back pocket as he does. The girl grips the strap tighter and backs up. Huh?
Joss doesn’t register her. “C’mon. Xander’s—surprise, surprise—getting tetchy.”
“Seriously? That man has no patience.”
The girl shuffles around us and walks into the bathroom, then closes the door with a quiet click. As I follow Joss back to the car, I glance back. Do I read too much into every interaction I have with people recently?
Back at the car, Xander continues to stare at his phone. “Come on, let’s go,” he grumbles. Joss gives an exaggerated eye roll at me. Xander doesn’t look up. “I saw that look.”
“What? How?” asks Joss.
“You’re predictable.” He blows air into his cheeks. “C’mon. Go. What a wasted day.”
"We could come back tomorrow?" I suggest.
"Seth knows we're onto him, otherwise he wouldn’t have driven in circles. This means he has something to hide," replies Xander.
"Sometimes chasing people isn't the answer, Xan," says Joss. "We have some new info. Let’s go home and regroup. Then go from there. Okay?"
16
EWAN
I don’t need Joss’s warning that their excursion didn’t work out; I don’t require empathy skills to pick up on the defeat that follows Vee, Xander, and Joss through the door. An angry Xander isn’t fun to be around, but a Xander who’s quiet and lost what to do next worries me more.
Joss gives me a rundown on events, and I attempt to make the most of the situation. They found a housemate linked to a murder victim and who’s behaved suspiciously. We can track Seth down. I will track him down. I also need to look further into the place they both worked in case there’s a connection. Large corporations always have demons involved and influencing operations.
Tonight, I’m staying at this laptop until I’ve something solid to follow tomorrow.
I’m buried in a screen filled with open web pages and notes when Heath walks into the kitchen, shrugging on his green combat jacket as he does. “We’re headed out.”
I blink up in confusion. “Out where? It’s too late and dark to look anywhere. I don’t have anything new.”
“Nah. The pub.”
I push a hand into my hair, already mussed from my frustrated head rubbing. “Are you serious?”
“I think a change of scenery might help. Walking away from things for a few hours might bring a fresh perspective.”
“A fresh beer, you mean?”
“Yeah. That too. Xander needs to step back. He’s not thinking clearly and that leads to mistakes.”
“Maybe you can find him a chick for the night, to help him relieve some of his tension.”
“I don’t think that much distraction would be a good idea. For any of us.” Heath nods at me. “You coming?”
“No. I’m trying to pick apart Nova Pharmaceuticals staff records. The fact they’re as encrypted as they are worries me.”
“The Order?”
“Likely.”
Neither of us voices our fears. If the demon-led Order created whatever attacked us, someone more powerful has reappeared. Someone capable of breaching our defences and leaving murdered bodies on our driveway.
“What about fae involvement?” he asks.
“One thing at a time, Heath.”
He snorts. “I wish it was.”
I chew my mouth and return to my laptop.
“Vee’s staying too. Don’t let her distract you.” Heath cocks a brow.
“Why’s she staying?”
“She says she wants alone time, which is fair enough. Keep an eye on her though.”
I glance at the spot on the table where we ended up last time me and Vee spent time alone in the house, when I lost my grip on common sense. I can’t let that happen again, but if she comes to me unhappy and unsure, I’ve no idea what direction offering her comfort will go. “Sure. Has she contacted DoomMan yet?”
“No idea.”
“He’d better get in touch. I’m really suspicious about that guy. I think we need to meet him.”
“Oh yeah, agreed.” Joss calls from the lounge. “You sure you don’t want to come?”
“Nah.”
Heath disappears, and I’m on the brink of changing my mind when the front door slams closed. I’m barely back into my digging around when Vee appears. She’s wrapped in the baggy blue jumper she wears in the evenings thanks to our cool house, her long legs in black yoga pants ending in her slipper-style ankle boots. I’m filled with the desire to touch her face and wipe away the concern, and fighting possibilities from the fact I’m alone with this goddamn sexy girl again.
She hugs her laptop to her chest and heads over. “I thought I could help you out.”
“Sure.” I push a chair from the table with a foot, allowing her to sit beside me. “Have you any messages from your mysterious man?”
“I haven’t looked yet. I was sleeping.”
“Do you trust him?” I ask. “Don’t you think there’re too many coincidences here?”
She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear as she opens the laptop lid. “I’ve known him longer than you guys and long before I thought people were following me. If anything, I believe he’s in danger.”
I take a deep breath because I don’t trust the way she does. “Can you tell if people are lying when you talk to them online?”
Her face flickers with amusement. “No, only if we talk face to face. The same applies to me - I don’t need to be totally honest. That’s another reason I spent so much time online; keeping friends is easier.”
“Right. Strange.”
“I don’t think that’s the strangest thing in my life right now.” The Vee who walked into the room returns as quickly as she left—the worried girl, not the one I could joke around with.
I run through where I’m at with my search, and she picks up the thread to help out. My hacking skills outmatch hers, and she takes the information from me and runs through for clues. All the time, she flicks between her activity and the message board where she waits for a response from DoomMan. As the evening passes, she flicks more often and swears each time there’s no contact.
“I’m really worried,” she says as the day grows late. “He’s always around in the evenings. Always. What if he’s missing too and I end up finding his body?”
“I’m sure he’ll be in touch soon.”
Vee refreshes her page again. “The message board the five of us used is silent, Ewan. Even LonelyGhost hasn’t added anything for a day. Until recently the board was full of information and ideas.” Vee shoves her chair back and stands. “I don’t want to think about what might’ve happened.”
I pause, fingers over the keys as she leaves the room. A few moments later, I hear the TV. Should I go after her? No, Heath said she wanted alone time. If this is freaking Vee out, she needs to switch off. Besides, the shows she watches bore me senseless. Give me a good comedy, not dry documentaries. I grimace at the droning voice from the show she chose and switch back to my task.
I find Seth’s records, and that his employment at Nova Pharmaceuticals began a couple of months ago.
The guy who died began working there around the same time.
Nothing unusual in their records at all.
There’s fae on the board, also not unusual. Some names match our database of people to watch. Again, not suspicious, but now worth investigating further. If we had some help from the fae, things would be easier. Thanks, Xander.
The girl, Casey? Her employment checks out too, although she’s lived in the house and worked at the hospital over a year. Interestingly, there’s no record of the guys on her lease, but that’s common for a house share.
But there’s too much ‘not unusual’ in an unusual situation.
I dig further into their backgrounds. No police records. Social Security and medical records normal.
Normal. But this isn’t. I can feel it. Everything’s too neat.
My search on Vee’s darknet boards fail to find anything. I’m a lurker and rarely become involved in discussions, only enough to seem genuine. I’m annoyed DoomMan managed to keep me out of their secret board. He must possess some pro skills if I can’t match them.
Tomorrow, we pay Nova Pharmaceuticals a visit and hope Seth hasn’t disappeared—deliberately or unfortunately.
My eyes hurt, the screen beginning to blur from hours researching this shit. Xander wants me to find CCTV footage from around Seth’s place, but I won’t be able to concentrate on that as well. I lean back and stretch out my shoulders. Maybe I could catch the guys at the pub? Go for a ride? I check my phone. Too late, too tired.
I duck my head around the lounge room door. Vee’s huddled on the sofa, engrossed by the TV. “Want some company?” I ask.
“Yours? Of course.” She pats the sofa. “You don’t need to ask, Ewan.”
The moment I sit, Vee curls up against me and wraps an arm around my chest. Immediately guilt floods in. How did I miss the cues she wants my affection right now?
I place my chin on Vee’s head and pull her close. “How are you feeling?”
“Shit.” Vee buries her face into my neck, soft skin against mine, and everything I try to contain, for both our sakes, begins pushing to the surface.
“Anything I can do?” I whisper.
“Don’t leave me alone.” Her words wrench at my heart. Vee’s strong around us, but have I underestimated how she’s able to cope with everything the last few days? Dead bodies, creatures trying to kill us – successfully in my case. Now she’s terrified her friends are dead.
“Are you worried something will happen to you too?” I ask.
Her hot breath brushes
my neck as she laughs. “Something happening to me is inevitable, but at least I’ve a better chance of survival.”
Oh hell, I know which direction this is about to go in because she’s pierced through my resolve with a touch and a few words. My heartbeat launches higher as she moves her head, and her face is close to mine
“Nobody will survive if they hurt you, Vee. I’ll make sure. You learned that before.”
She reaches out and runs her fingers along my scruff, and she looks at me in the way I always turn away from. This open tenderness in her eyes kills me because I want to show her how much I match her affection and desire. But I can’t go there. I need to stay focused.
“I know.” Her lips press against mine, and the determination I would stay on task tonight leaves.
The kiss begins softly. Vee’s tentative and not driven by the same power as last time. As my blood runs hot, I can’t lie to myself. My reaction to her that night in the kitchen wasn’t due to a power coursing through Vee and drawing me to her, but a genuine insane need for a girl in a way I’ve never felt before.
An insanity gripping again now.
I seize Vee’s head and kiss her back hard. She makes a surprised noise in her throat and parts her lips, allowing me to taste and explore. She tastes of Vee and everything good in my world as I explore her mouth, and her softness and heat overwhelms. I can’t breathe. The restrained need unleashes as I push Vee down and cover her body with mine.
Pulling away, she props herself up on her elbows and smoothes my fringe. My hands remain on her body, and all I can picture is her naked.
“Show me where you healed again,” she says in a low voice. “I want to see.”
I grab my tee by the shoulders and drag it over my head. Scrunching it into a ball, I drop the T-shirt on the floor. Vee frowns and plays her fingers across my skin the sensation driving me closer to letting go of the control.
“How can you be perfect again? Even your tattoos aren’t damaged. There are no scars. Nothing. I don’t understand.”
