HEATH

Vee's insistence she gives notice she’s leaving her job, rather than never returning amuses me, but she's serious. Xander doesn't comment beyond the fact I'm instructed to go with her as safety in numbers for Vee's one-week notice period.

Two days to go.

I don't see Vee at work, but her appearance at the end of each day worries me. Despite her not fitting in at the company, even after three years, Vee always smiles and exchanges polite conversation with people. Nowadays, she's distracted; the strain of the last few days caught up. She’s focusing on her phone as she walks toward me now. I understand that trick, stops people talking when you want to stay quiet. I spent the last five minutes doing the same.

"Are you okay?" I ask as we leave the building. "Is this too much?"

Vee shrugs her bag onto a shoulder. "I feel weird here, like I don't belong anymore."

I resist telling her she doesn't, instead taking her hand and squeezing. "I think this will be easier once we move on. We use the house as a base and will be back, but policing the world can't be done from a small town in Oxfordshire."

She gives a weak smile. "I bet. So we're still headed north?"

"I think so. Once we clear up the mess round here." I chew my lip. She might not want to hear this. "We might need to head overseas at some point."

"Overseas?" Her eyes widen. "But I've never been further than Spain when I was a kid..." She trails off. "Or I thought so. Why?"

"The supernatural threat doesn't limit itself to a small island in Europe. Or even to the Western world, although the biggest control exists amongst the powerful countries. Once the demons take hold of the powerful countries, controlling the rest is simple."

We reach my car and Vee pauses. "Are we any closer to tracking down the demons who got away at the club the other night?"

Ewan's obsession with finding and ending the succubi gang is unusual for him. He took down one at the club, Xander two more, but not before being told there's a gang living in the area. Fury followed him home that night when the one he knew was still in the club got away. Why is Vee bothered too?

Ewan tends to get pissed off with us for wasting time on small fry when we should be focusing on the big guys. I get that but, as Xander also argues, if we let the low-level demons out of control, they'll see the world as ripe for the picking. Ewan insists this time we make examples of them. He's probably right.

"Joss and Xander headed out today to talk to some local vampires who've indicated they've seen their sex-starved rivals around. To be honest, I think the vamps would deal with the threat themselves if we left the two sides alone."

We climb into the car and her scent from the bodywash she leaves in the bathroom reaches me, along with images of Vee in the shower. My room's next to the bathroom, and not only have I listened to the water trickle and daydreamed, I've also encountered her dressed in just a towel.

Crap. Even the thought arouses me. I shift uncomfortably.

"What's wrong?" she asks.

"Nothing." I start the car. "If they locate the gang, we’re going in tonight to clear them out."

"Good. I think it would be good practice. Xander's taught me more attack moves. Ewan agrees that starting with simple enemies would be better than confronting more powerful ones." Vee stares ahead, mouth thinning. "I want to do this. I want them dead."

Whoa. I study her lined face. "They’re not worth wasting more than a knife blade on. They're pathetic. Weak."

"Some of us don't have the experience you do," she snaps at me. "If I kill them I'll know I can always defend myself."

Her harsh tone doesn't sound like Vee. Maybe she's spending too much time around Xander, and he's filling her head with ideas that brute force is the way to go. "Wow, okay."

She turns a smile to me, but her eyes hold something different, adding to the stress surrounding her. "Maybe I can try both. Blind them, then stab them."

I laugh. "Perhaps you can, if your power triggers."

Vee's quiet much of the journey home until we approach the house, tyres crunching on gravel as I slow to approach the house. "Why do you still work at Alphanet?" she asks. "You could've left once you found me."

"So could you."

"I am leaving."

I tap my fingers on the steering wheel. "I like some normality occasionally. When we're around here, I almost feel like I have a home. In a weird way, having a job in the real world felt good. I get sick of being on the road."

Vee chews her lip as she looks at me. "Aren't you happy with being who you are?"

What do I say? That I struggle some days because I want more? That I see the real human world around me and crave to be part of it? I fight against my human side, remind myself I'm Death and don't belong. I wasn't born into a family, but thrown into a weird brotherhood with no memory of my past.

"Sometimes I want my reality to be different too," I reply. "As you may've noticed, saving the world is hard work. I like downtime."

"Working at a boring telecommunications company?"

"Spending time with a girl who's the centre of my world." I shake my head. Shit. "Literally. You know what I mean."

"I do." She places a hand on my leg and squeezes. "You want a girl to date. Someone ordinary. A relationship."

"Not really." You. I want you. So bloody much. "Just a different reality."

"Do the others know you feel like this?"

"I think we all do occasionally. Even Xander. He gets pissed off with me because sometimes I get too distracted by what he calls my sulking."

"Hah. You all spend time at pubs and clubs and hook up with girls. I think you have plenty of human in your life."

"Yeah, but that's not the same, Vee."

My words close down the conversation, and when I glance at her, there's a sadness in her downturned mouth. I mentally kick myself. By sharing my struggles, have I reminded her of what she thought was true and what she lost?