VERITY

The room sways and I place my mug on the table before I drop it. "Excuse me? Fifth what?"

"The fifth Horseman. Or 'Horseperson' if you prefer." Ewan's smile snakes further across his face.

Heath steps forward and pushes him in the chest. "Stop screwing with her head, asshole."

Ewan grabs his arm and pushes him to one side. "Why? Why protect her after all this time? We fucking need Verity."

"Not now, Ewan," he says in a low voice. I whip my head from man to man, attempting to keep up with who's telling the truth.

"I'm a harbinger of the apocalypse?" I ask with a side of snark. "Sure."

"A hacker," puts in Joss with a warning look at Ewan. "He's messing with you. Your skills. You can help us. We're hackers, on the same mission as you to expose people."

I close my eyes and soak in the energies around me, detecting not just their tension, but who's telling me the truth.

"Oh for fuck's sake," says Ewan. "I am not spending the best part of three years looking for our missing part to dance around and ease her into the truth. She's the Fifth and that's it. End of story."

"That's ridiculous. Don't you think I'd know if I was some... whatever you are and not human?" I reply.

"You're human. Unique, but human."

"Bullshit!" I stand and slam my chair backwards. "I've put up with enough of this. I want to leave now. Take me home."

"Vee, no, listen," says Heath.

I need air, not claustrophobia. Huge, lungfuls of fresh air. Stumbling from the room, I make my way back along the slate-tiled hallway to the dark wood front door. Pulling the black metal handle down, I pray the guys haven't locked me in. When the handle moves, stiffly, I throw all my strength into getting out of the house.

The uneven ground around the house is muddy following recent rain, and my shoes squelch as I run across the makeshift driveway towards the lane leading towards the road. But I have no idea where I am? My hair blows behind me as I keep going, my tight chest constricting further as I go. Run. Leave. Find road. Flag down car. The escape process runs through my head. I know the surrounding villages around the town, I'm sure I can locate where I am.

Damn the bloody fae for setting fire to my phone.

Fae. Bile rises again and I halt, leaning over and sliding my hands down my knees and tears build. Please make this stop. The wind bites my arms through the thin material, cooling the perspiration away from my body. News that vampires and demons are real, that supernatural creatures attacked me, okay, I can accept as the evidence is there. But Horsemen? Me involved in all this? No. Can't be true.

"Vee!" A voice travels through the wind towards me, carrying passed my ears and into the silent space around.

The gate to the road is a few hundred metres away, the house equally as far from where I stand. I spin around in case all three guys are chasing me, but Heath's the one who's approaching. My instinct to run drops away the closer he moves to me, as if something inside tugs me towards him.

"Vee, please stop." He pauses, far enough away to not threaten me. "Please don't leave."

"What's happening?" I say and finally the tears I've held back for hours spill. Pissed off, I scrub a cheek with my sleeve. "Yesterday you asked me out for a drink like we were an ordinary guy and girl, and now I’m wrapped up in something as weird as things I investigate."

"I'm sorry. I wanted to get to know you first so we had some trust. Ease you into the idea."

"Let me guess, the others didn't agree."

"There wasn't any mutual agreement, no." He smiles. "Besides, I liked I had the chance to get to know you better. Made up for taking that shitty job that I had a chance to be around you first."

Heath rubs his mouth, and I watch the action, absent-mindedly wondering what his mouth feels like, what would've happened if I kissed him last night.

Last night when the world was different. Recent events slam into my reality again and I heave in a breath, more tears escaping my eyes.

"Oh hell, Vee." Heath takes my hands, and circles them with his strong fingers, holding tight.

We've touched before, fingers brushing, and when he held my hand to help me last night, I never noticed the extent of the effect. This time it's clear. Something more powerful than the attraction I have to him pulses through my blood, sharpening my senses and wiping away the weakness that'd set in with my fear. We look back at each other, transfixed, as I grip him in return.

An energy hums between us, spiralling in the air around, and as we continue to look at each other, this pulls us closer. "Is Ewan telling the truth?" I whisper. "Am I part of... you all?"

"You know he is, Verity," he whispers.

"He can't be. I'm ordinary. Human."

The surging energy builds despite my words, and he pulls me closer. "Yes, but no. You're part of this. Of us. We need you." His chest brushes mine, the thick cotton against my thin shirt, but I feel him as if we were naked, my body firing with a different energy. "Please stay."

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 why the Fifth isn't a man. And that's going to 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 and that any clothing removal would cool the passionate heat. 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 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's 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?"

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.