"Make sure they're okay!" I snap. "If we're what stands between Seth... Chaos and his plans, I don't know what he's waiting for, but he could do something at any moment."
Heath silently stares ahead, massaging his temples. "This explains a lot, Xander. Seth’s been dividing us—and pushing us away from Vee. Who has he clashed with the most? Ewan. Ewan, the one of us we need closer to her right now. He's distracting us, and now I'm bloody sure Vee needs Ewan to complete her powers."
"Ah. Truth." Breanna leans forward and puts her head in her hands. "Now she is a conundrum. I have information about who you are, boys, but I'm stumped on who she is."
"What do you mean?"
"Ask your companion, Famine, how he is. He's starting to remember things, which is unusual. Someone is separating the veil between your current and past selves; I think we can all guess who." She rubs her mouth with a slender finger. "I know you all have moments when this happens, but it's happening quicker this time. This will screw you over and weaken you because it will fuck with your heads."
"Who are you?" I growl.
"You could call me a human resources manager."
"At Nova Pharm?" asks Heath.
"Please, we can get back to this later." Ripley scratches his cheek. "We need to know— will you join with us to end this threat. We can make it mutually beneficial?"
"How?"
"Well, first we can call a ceasefire and second, well, we all want a world to live in that's in one piece."
"Ha ha, you mean the world you want to bring your demon friends to conquer? Yeah... um, no."
"Are you listening?" Ripley's voice rises. "There will be no world for any of us! Isn't that the Horseman’s whole reason for being here? You will not be able to do this alone. Not quickly enough."
I stand. "We'll manage. This must be the reason Vee is here."
"Well, you don't seem to be managing very well so far."
Heath places an arm on my sleeve. "Maybe we should listen."
I blink at him in shock. "Are you serious?"
"If Seth is Chaos, he's played us for days. If he's undetectable in human form, how the hell are we supposed to find him if he gets away? Or what if he hurts Vee?"
"Shit." I stand. "We need to deal with Seth. We'll bring him here, and between us, we'll find out who the fuck he is. What he is. Heath?”
Heath stands, but his look is panicked. "I'm telling you. He's Chaos, and if he is and knows we've discovered this, I don't think we have any chance of bringing him to anybody."
I straighten my shoulders. "I'm willing to bet Vee can."
Ripley stands and straightens his shirtsleeves. "I bloody hope so, because if she's here to help him, and not us, then we are, to put it bluntly, fucked."
I rub a hand across my face, paralysed for a moment by the shock and confusion. What is the whole story here? Our greatest enemies hold some of the information we need, and we have the help they need. The world— supernatural and human—is threatened by something nobody fully understands.
I never imagined the chaos surrounding us since Vee arrived existed in reality, and I’ve never imagined I'd spend ten minutes in a room with demons and see everybody survive.
The world is more screwed than I thought.
Is Vee here to help or is her arrival the beginning of the end?
To be continued