VEE

Xander doesn't sleep late; he never does. This guy will never be the one who I’ll spend lazy mornings in bed with. My head hurts—because of alcohol or teleporting? Probably both. By the time I pull myself downstairs for breakfast, Xander's out walking.

I eat toast, an ordinary act in the midst of this all. As I chew, I stare at my coffee cup, focusing on how I feel. Powerful? Yes. But the dark magic still haunts my thoughts.

I’m pissed off about last night with Xander and mortified I fell asleep. Seriously, how can I be on the verge of delicious things with the man finally showing me affection rather than brute sex and then slip into unconsciousness? That must’ve hit Xander right in the ego. I hope he wasn’t in the room when I did. No, if he’d been touching me, my body would never have decided sleep was the way to go.

I blink as Syv storms into the room shouting for Xander, and an alarmed Joss appears too.

"What? What the fuck's happening? Is someone here?" Joss asks and looks around.

"Xander let my dog go!" she growls.

Joss’s mouth falls open. "I thought you meant something bad had happened."

I chew my lip and look down. This girl is odd. Did Syv seriously think she could keep her weird animal?

"I didn't." Xander walks through the door and pulls his hood down. "I didn’t go anywhere near the bloody thing."

"The door was open! Someone opened it." She snaps her head to Joss. "Was it you? Or Ewan?"

Xander crosses his arms. "I don't give a shit what happened. And I don't have time for your hysterics."

Joss touches Syv on the arm and she shakes him off. "He escaped, Syv. Me and Xander heard something last night and I went outside to investigate. The barn door was open and scratched. He’s strong—must’ve broken the lock."

Her eyes widen and her mouth turns down. "Oh. Maybe he’ll come back."

"Or maybe he’ll find someone nice to eat," says Xander. He nods at me. "How are you feeling this morning, Vee?"

I flush red and drink my coffee. "Fine."

"Uh huh." He bites away a smile.

"Joss, did you find out what Spot is? Is he a hellhound?" continues Syv.

"Maybe. Not sure."

Xander straightens. "What?"

"The closest in appearance that Ewan could find is a hellhound."

My mouth dries, oh god, don’t mention Hell again around Joss.

"Again, you should've killed the bloody thing!" Xander jabs a finger at Syv. "If it kills people, the blood is on your hands, Syv."

Out of everything in the world that's killing right now, Spot is low on the priority list. Spot...

"Look, forget this," puts in Joss. "Syv had something to say to me this morning over breakfast."

Over breakfast? Like we’re a bunch of housemates chatting before heading out for the day.

All eyes turn to Syv, who scratches the side of her head. "Yeah, so you know how I work for different clients."

"By that you mean Ripley?" retorts Xander. "Yeah, we know."

"And the Collector," she adds. "He figured out where the book was from."

"Go on...."

"He called me back after you left that day and told me he knew who the book once belonged to. Col has an idea where the book was last kept before he acquired it. He pointed me in that direction, hoping there were items connected to the book we could use to decipher it. Maybe a parchment or a stone—something with runes to match the book."

"And he didn’t tell us, why?" snaps Ewan.

"He’s worried the book is dangerous; he wants to translate it himself. Besides, you were in Scotland."

"Syv! Why the fuck didn’t you tell us?” asks Xander.

"I’m telling you now.”

Ewan scowls at her. "I knew we couldn’t trust you!"

"Hey! I’m on your side if you’re allied with Ripley and the fae now.”

"But is the Collector?"

Syv sighs. "He doesn’t trust many people, so he’s keeping is distance, but he’s okay with me talking to you guys. I was in Cambridge because Col suggested I look through certain collections there. I couldn’t get close yesterday." She taps the table. "It’s kinda one of the reasons for helping yesterday."

"Helping drink all the alcohol in the house?" says Joss with a laugh.

"You have no idea how stressful it is running from demons," she snaps.

"What?" Xander moves to sit next to her.

"They were following me, and now you’ve explained who Seth is, I know why I’m being followed. I’m no longer happy to do this shit on my own."

Heath and the others sit around the table with a guarded Syv, who gives a rundown on where she needs to go and what she needs to do.

There’s no question—today we go to Cambridge.