HEATH

We sit in silence on the drive to the Warehouse, Vee in the back of the car with Seth and Joss, Xander beside me. Ewan chose to ride his bike again, but this time tails me rather than driving away to take his "scenic route.” I heard Seth complain to Vee, he's exhausted over the last few days; I forget how frail humans are. Yeah, I need sleep, but I can keep going as long as needed. In the past, we've worked 24/7 on cases, and not even ones as important as this one. I'm wired after the last few days and eager to keep going too. My anxiety rests as much with the threat to human life, and not just Seth's. This is big, otherwise Xander would calm down for five minutes.

I’m still not coping with him trying to follow a hundred leads at once. I’m unable to get my head around dealing with Nova Pharm at the same time as the assassin issue. Sure, they’re probably connected but man I’m confused by all this. Hopefully Ewan can straighten this out, join a few more dots, and we’ll have a clear direction. This had better include whatever the hell those things are and how they're connected to the chaos swirling around us.

Tonight will be a start, or another dead end to infuriate us all.

Joss isn’t a great help right now. He’s either feeling overwhelmed as I am, or something more than he’s admitting happened earlier today. Ewan told me he’d found him unconscious, and Joss was unsure what happened. Ewan didn’t see anything unusual, and there was no sign when we left him outside to check over the place too. Joss doesn’t usually imagine these things, so what the hell happened?

Xander strides through the crowded entrance, into the bloody awful music, and pushes his way downstairs to the motley crew writhing on the dancefloor with Joss hot on his heels. I'm bemused by Xander pausing in the middle of the crowd who've parted around him as he stands hands on hips surveying the room.

Vee hangs back in the entrance hall with Ewan and Seth. She doesn’t seem keen on a return visit. Ewan holds Vee's hand and dips his head to talk to her, as she looks at the floor. My concern and need to protect draw me back over there too.

"Everything okay?" I ask.

Vee straightens and nods, but I don't miss her glance at Ewan. Seth chews a nail and edges toward the wall. I’m guessing not his usual hangout.

"Xander's heading up the other stairs." Ewan points at Xander's tall figure halfway up the metal steps opposite.

A girl bumps into him on the steps and stops to apologise. It’s hard to see her face from a distance, but the strobe lights pick out a slender figure and short dress. In the past, Xander would’ve placed a hand on her arm, responded to the inevitable flirting with his hot self, but today he doesn’t pause.

Yeah, whatever he says about her, Vee’s changed him. I'm interested to see if his random hook-ups continue, or whether his respect for our new dynamic will stop that.

I'm sure if he gets a taste of Vee, he won't want to look anywhere else again.

Joss told me his suspicion about Vee and Xander, but I can't believe anything happened. Xander's adamant he won't succumb to her, as he puts it, and the tension remains between them. Perhaps he's a little softer around Vee, but I can't see him giving in to how he feels yet.

I tip Vee’s chin and kiss her softly, my body immediately firing at her sweet scent and taste, evoking memories of our time in the shower earlier. She strokes my cheek with the back of her hand, and the smile she gives indicates she’s having the same memories.

"Come on," Ewan says.

Seth hurries to walk next to me as we push downstairs through the revellers and up the stairs Xander took. Xander and Joss already located a table at a smaller bar area and sit on the cushioned chairs.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Let's have a drink while we wait," says Xander.

Ewan and Seth sit too, and Vee lowers herself into a chair, hesitantly. "Do we all need to stay? I'd rather wait outside."

"You'll be okay, I told you." Ewan places his large palm on her leg, and she shuffles closer. What's this about?

Seth leans closer to me and says in a low voice, "Being here pisses her off because of what happened last time."

"What do you mean last time?"

Xander asks if I want a beer, and I nod. No surprises when Seth declines for a glass of sparkling water.

"When we walked in, I heard her talking to Ewan about the last time she came here with him. Someone spiked her drink or something. I couldn't quite understand what they were talking about."

Huh?

"She said something about not wanting Ewan to find her being assaulted again, and that if anybody tried, she’d rip their head off," continues Seth. "Man, she’s full on sometimes. Not the quiet, nervous girl I expected.”

What the actual fuck?

Seth’s eyes widen. "Oh. Crap. Did you not know?"

My darkened expression answers his question, but that look isn't for him. I squint at Ewan and Vee through the dim. Secrets? Why the fuck didn't Ewan and Xander say something happened to Vee that night. Since when do we hide things from each other?

One beer and ten minutes spent fuming later, I ask Ewan if I can talk to him. Privately. The confused guy follows me to a quieter spot, the edge of the bar, and I lean my elbow on the sticky wood.

"What's wrong, man?" he asks. "Have you seen something you want to hide from Seth?"

I suck my teeth and weigh my words. A guy, spiked black hair and piercings, approaches the bar and I shuffle further along.

"Tell me why you never told any of us that someone attacked Vee the night you and Xander came here before."

He straightens. "How do you know about that?"

"Was Xander in on this decision? Did you both hide this?"

"No. He doesn't know either. Vee wanted me to keep it between us." I swear under my breath. "Heath, it's done with. Nothing serious happened."

"Tell me exactly what happened," I growl. "You don't hide this shit!"

"Calm down, man. It’s nothing."

"The hell it is,” I growl. "I am so fucking pissed off with you. Tell me exactly what happened.”

Ewan runs me through a staccato list of events that night, and Vee’s vehemence around killing demons in the days that follow now make more sense. Am I pissed off because Ewan and Vee hid this from me, or because Vee didn't tell me? At the time, I thought we had a closer relationship than the others, back when I fooled myself she was the human chick who'd fallen for me, the guy from work. I soon realised we’d never be that, and the bond extends between all of us, but the fact she never confided in me hurts.

"You told nobody?" I ask. "Why the fuck not?"

Ewan drags a hand through his hair. "Vee was upset. Confused. She was still trying to come to terms with everything, and I decided keeping it on the lowdown might be a good idea. Maybe some of it was worry how you guys would react, especially you. I don't know. The whole situation got weird.”

"How?”

"The incubus looked like me so everything was more complicated. I wanted to forget it happened too."

"But we don't fucking do this!" I growl. "We never hide shit.”

"Really? You think Xander’s always straight down the line with us, such as what he does when he pisses off on his own?”

I inhale. Maybe Ewan’s right, but right now this is what matters to me.

"Look, I’m sorry, okay? Just don’t be shitty with Vee about this.”

I shake my head. "Oh man, wait until Xan finds out. You need to tell him and Joss. No more secrets.”

I wait for Ewan to protest but he tips his head acknowledging he needs to fess up. Didn’t he realise we’d discover what happened eventually?

In silence, I order more beers and attempt to switch back to this evening’s task. But I can’t help the hurt that remains.