VEE

We return to the house with Seth’s odd collection from his storage unit, including the gun and passports. Since he discovered them, Seth’s returned to his mute behaviour, and the dark look that came over him remains.

At least we found the hard drive.

The moment we're home, Ewan pulls out his laptop while Seth sits with his shoebox on the table in front of him, and our afternoon trip is followed by an early evening working through the information held on Seth's hard drive. Xander's lifted mood drops again when we don’t find anything useful as quickly as he’d like.

I don't know where Joss is. Ewan told me he's sleeping; I'm surprised Xander allows him to. Or I would be if I hadn't noticed the whispered exchange between Ewan and Xander once we arrived home. Something more happened to Joss than they’re telling me.

"Mate, if anything on that hard drive fucks up my laptop you're gonna be sorry." Ewan narrows his eye at Seth, who gestures for Ewan to turn the laptop around.

"Nothing will happen, unless you have the wrong password. I'll open the files."

I smile to myself as Ewan hunches over nervously, as if he gave Seth his baby to hold. A fleeting image of Ewan and a baby crosses my mind; a scene I could never imagine happening.

"You want me to run through the info I have? Or did you want to look yourself?" he asks.

"Tell me what's on here." Ewan spins his baby back round and jabs a finger at the screen. "Uh. Why is there a file with my name?" His brow tugs deep. "Files with each of our names."

"I said we had some information on you. I can show you what, but please don't delete it."

Ewan sniffs. "It won't be true anyway. I told you reality isn’t what you think."

"I'm beginning to see that," he mutters. "Could I have a pen, please?"

I slide a notepad across to him, and he writes a series of neat letters and numbers. "Here're the passcode for all the files. What's inside is self-explanatory. We researched each department and the board, and all our findings are there. We couldn't join the dots, but if you know some of these names and who they're connected to, it could help?"

"Why couldn't you join the dots?" asks Xander.

"Because someone covered their tracks. Each time we hacked into the system, the information began overwriting by something else unrelated. We couldn't keep up or download quick enough."

"Whatever you did find was worth murdering you for," mutters Ewan. "Why?"

"I don't know. There are secret projects, but we can't identify what. At first we thought it could be illegal drug trials, but now we think they're bankrolling something the board are trying to hide."

"Like what?" asks Xander.

"We never found out." He pushes the notepad across the table to Ewan. "Look, I'm not going to lie to or hide anything from you; this is all I have. Now you have everything, can I leave?"

Both Seth and I know the answer before anybody speaks. "That's not a good idea," says Heath.

"I feel like a prisoner with twenty-four-hour guards," he complains. "I just want out of the whole situation."

"Do you honestly think that's possible?" I place my hand over Seth's. "We'll help each other."

Seth pulls on his lip and doesn’t reply.

Ewan clicks through the files and leans forward to study the screen. "Leave this with me. Let’s see what’s in here."

For the rest of the afternoon, Ewan, Seth, and I remain in the kitchen scrolling through and comparing data. Ewan tells Xander to leave the room; his constant hovering annoying us. He disappears to see if he can find more information about who Taron worked with.

Ewan runs through connections Seth's made between Nova Pharm and smaller companies, but there're no names the Horsemen have come across before. He spends hours combing through the information, checking names again and again, but the linked companies and people are new to him. Some have only existed a few months—months when they were distracted looking for me.

Ewan makes a list to check off, but there’re dozens to work though and we won’t manage this in one night.

"I don't understand why we've never come across these people before," says Ewan as he returns from Joss's study with more printed sheets.

"We can't know everybody, Ewan. They work fast sometimes."

"No, but we're fed information from the fae a lot, and we keep up to date that way."

As the days pass, the true consequences of the screw-up between the fae and Horsemen grow. I've held conversations with the guys about what they can do to reforge their alliance, but not in Xander's earshot. They're at a loss what to do, and I'm acutely aware I'm part of the problem.

If saving Portia's life a few weeks ago isn't enough to cement their relationship, I don't know what is. Heath suspects somebody is influencing her, but I can't see how anybody could manipulate Portia.

Seth stays with Ewan, who barks questions at him occasionally, and I stay with them both to help comb through the information. My head aches with frustration, and Seth's dark-rimmed eyes and tired face tell me he's not faring well.

Eventually, Xander returns with Heath. "Fuck this. Let’s work on the other issue. Ewan, did you find anything out about Taron while we were at Nova Pharm?"

"Yeah, I have found more on Taron. I managed to hack into his bank accounts; he may’ve been a great assassin, but he's not good at covering his tracks. I've pieced things together and found most of his clients via their bank accounts, but this latest amount has come from an offshore account. A tax haven. There's no way I'll hack into that easily or quickly. The best I can do is hit the system with a virus to prevent anybody touching anything in the records until I do."

Xander crosses his arms. "So what have you found?"

"A contact number for his friend, Syv."

"Oh?" Placing his palms on the table, Xander looks down at Ewan's scrawled notes. "Her address?"

"No."

"Then how do we find them?" asks Heath.

"Easy," replies Xander. "We phone her."

Heath takes the paper from Xander. "Oh yeah? The Horseman can randomly contact dubious supes and expect them to say yes to a meeting?"

"Not us. Him." Xander points at Seth.

Seth straightens. "Me? I’m the one with a target on my head!"

"Obviously you don't tell her who you are," sneers Ewan. "Just say you have a job for her and want to meet.”

"What? And she’ll agree to meet me? Just like that?”

"Offer a crap load of cash, and she'll be there. Tell her it’s a big job that needs two people, and she’ll bring her mate, Abel. Then we’ll have both of them in one place."

All four guys look at Seth who rubs his nose and pales. "But why me?"

"Because we're asking you to," says Xander in a low voice. "Do you want us to help you or not?"

"How? By calling their 'dial-an-assassin' number?" he asks snarkily.

"Yeah. You leave your details, and they'll contact you."

"How do you know all this?" he asks. "Have you used them?"

Xander laughs harshly. "Do you really think we need to use other people to help us?"

I want to step in and ask them to stop being so bloody rude to Seth, but I can also understand their urgency. Xander shoves the paper at Seth who clutches it as if he's been served a death notice.

"Ewan, since you hacked into Taron’s life, can you find info about his other clients?" Xander asks. "If there’s any connection between them?"

Ewan taps the table. "I can't figure out who they all are, but so far no. Most of his recent assignments were "solving" petty gang wars between shifters who wouldn't stick to their patch, or the occasional demon who needed to eliminate another. I think Seth needed taking out quickly because whoever did this knew he was with us."

"That's bloody great!" exclaims Seth. "I told you I should leave. I'm not safe with you all."

Heath ignores him and points at Ewan's notes. "Have you checked all the Nova Pharm board backgrounds? Are any connected to Taron and his mates? Any demon we know of?"

"Yes. I have names, but there aren't any red flags that any are demons. Some are fae. It would be a lot easier if..." He trails off and cocks a brow at Xander. "Well, whatever, this will be harder to piece together on our own."

"But the fact no demon names are coming up is a red flag. We know demons rank high in every organisation. The corpses showed obvious signs of demon interference," replies Xander.

"This is driving me bloody nuts!" exclaims Heath. "Every step forward, something else is thrown our way. Why isn’t anything showing up yet?"

"Calm down, this will all be connected somehow. We'll solve this." Ewan touches him on the shoulder. "Once we speak to Syv and Abel we’ll have some more clues.”

"You reckon?” snorts Heath. "Even on the creatures that attacked Ewan? How are they connected?"

"Don't worry about them," says Xander. "We can deal if we come across them again."

"But they weren't normal enemies!" says Heath. "In case you didn't notice, they killed Ewan in seconds. What if I hadn't been there? What if I'm not with you next time?"

"Heath. Chill."

Heath's expression darkens, and I swear he's about to hit his brother. I know we're having problems dealing with all this, but I never expected Heath to snap.

"I think we're all tired," I say in a soft voice. "I know you're superheroes, but you can't keep going forever, even fuelled by beer."

"We're not superheroes, Vee," growls Heath. "We're not guaranteed to save the world like in the stupid human fantasies."

"Heath. Dude. Calm down. Come on, let's take a walk." Ewan stands and attempts to take Heath's arm.

Heath violently pulls his arm away. "She's right. We're tired. I'm going to sleep, let me know when you need me to get back on the stupid fucking merry-go-round."

The door slams as Heath leaves, and heavy footsteps stomp upstairs. Xander focuses on a sheet of paper in front of him, and Ewan doesn't respond. I look to Seth who's studying, and rubbing, his injured arm. A small smile plays on his lips.