Chapter seven

Ian couldn't help but cringe at hearing Cat's voice. Normally he wouldn't have minded her witty remarks, but now he was not in the mood.

"Go away reaper," he snarled.

"Well good morning to you too."

Bones couldn't hold back a laugh. "This is something I thought I'd never see," he chuckled. "Ian you should see the look on your face."

"You do look a bit weird," Cat agreed. "Is that embarrassment I feel from you?" the disbelief was so evident in her voice Ian had to roll his eyes.

"Certainly isn't."

"Where's Veritas?" Cat suddenly asked. "I thought I'd heard her here."

Bones shot Ian an amused grin, before looking at his wife. "She left Mencheres to handle the situation, appears Ian here said some things to her that she didn't like to hear."

Cat shot Ian an accusing glare. "Why am I not surprised," she muttered. Then her eyes widened as she suddenly got the meaning behind that wink last night. And before that, Bones's weird comment about Ian wanting to get some sleep.

"Oh Ian you didn't?" she exclaimed. "Tell me you didn't sleep with Veritas."

"That's none of your business."

Cat sighed. "We needed her on our side, and you threw all that away for a few minutes of pleasure. You're disgusting!"

"I can assure you poppet, it was a lot more than a few minutes."

Cat wanted to scream in frustration. "She's a law guardian for god's sake," she said instead. "Don't you have any respect?"

"Kitten, don't be so quick to judge him, you don't have the whole story."

"What more is there to know except the fact that he's a …"

"I bloody love her, is that a good enough answer for you reaper?" Ian snapped. "Now leave me alone, both of you," he turned so fast he slammed into Mencheres who had managed to sneak up on them without being heard. And for once the Egyptian vampire had a look of pure surprise on his face.

"Get out of my way," Ian threw up his hands in frustration, but when Mencheres didn't move quickly enough Ian grabbed him and shoved him aside and then stomped off into the other room.

Cat stared after him, mouth hanging open in a not so attractive way. Even Mencheres seemed to be at a loss for words as he stood there staring back at her with a look of disbelief on his face. If that look was from what he'd heard Ian say, or the fact that he had been roughly shoved aside Cat couldn't tell. She had a feeling that didn't happen to him very often.

It was Bones who broke the tension by laughing. "Can't remember the last time I've seen him so agitated," he chuckled. "There must be more to Veritas than I've seen. Bloody hell, I wish Charles was here to see this."

It took more time for Cat to recover from the shock, but when she could finally find her voice, she didn't know what to say.

"He loves Veritas?" she finally managed to ask. "No wonder she ran off, I would too if…" her voice trailed off as she took in the last piece of information by the look on her husbands face. Her eyes widened as she stared back at him. "She feels the same." It was a statement, not a question. "I can't believe it!" Cat shook her head, feeling an astonished sort of smile tug at her lips. Then, the smile turned into a frown. "Wait, if that's true, then why did she leave?"

"Appears Ian wasn't handling it so well," Bones began. "He kind of told Veritas she…"

"…was nothing more than pussy to him," she interrupted, remembering walking in hearing Bones saying that, but hadn't known what it meant. Now she knew exactly why Veritas had left. Hell, she would have too if she'd been in her place.

"Gosh I'm surprised Ian's still alive," she shook her head at the absurdity of the situation. "I bet Veritas is really pissed."

"I do not believe she would be mad at Ian," Mencheres spoke up for the first time since he'd entered.

"Why not?"

"Hurt, yes, but mad, no, not if it is true and she loves him."

Cat sighed, finding no point in arguing with Mencheres about something he probably knew a lot more about than she did. "Well," she began. "There is not much we can do about this. We should focus on the vampire ghoul market thingy, and since Veritas is gone, you're the boss Mencheres."

"Funny how she asks you for help, then takes off letting you do all the hard work," Bones remarked.

"That is not like Veritas at all. I believe she will be back soon."

XxxxX

The group had gathered in the library, discussing ideas and strategies, but still lacking information made it hard to come up with anything useful.

"I don't understand," Kira said. "Veritas asks us to help her catch this vampire, but she won't tell us all the details we need to know, and then she leaves. It's seems a bit unfair that she won't even stay to help, since we're all doing her a favor."

Mencheres gave her hand a gentle squeeze, letting her know without speaking that he would tell her everything once they were alone.

"You can thank Ian for that," Cat muttered.

"Why, what did he do?" Kira asked curiously.

Cat was just about to reply, when Mencheres held up a hand in a gesture for silence. Then he smiled a small smile. "Veritas is back, I told you she would come."

XxxxX

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