Three's Company

“So here is what I know—and what I can prove,” Crystal said, crossing her arms as she sat on the edge of Joey’s couch.

She pointed directly at him.

“Joey, while you have become MARKEDLY more interesting in a very short amount of time…” She winked. “…you still basically make sense.”

Joey blinked. “Thanks. I think?”

“But YOU,” Crystal continued, turning toward Cassandra, “make absolutely none.”

Cassandra lifted an elegant eyebrow.

“Joey is cute,” Crystal said carefully. “Like… surprisingly cute once he stopped acting like a frightened substitute teacher all the time.” Joey opened his mouth in protest while Crystal continued talking over him. “But you are *unfuckingbelievably* hot.”

The second the sentence escaped her mouth, Crystal’s face turned bright red.

“…Wow,” she muttered. “Cool. Great. Nailed that.”

Cassandra smiled slowly.

“Thank you,” she purred. “You look quite delicious yourself.”

Then she slowly licked a trace of dried blood from her lower lip.

Joey’s eyes widened immediately.

“Oh no,” he said, pointing at both of them dramatically. “Absolutely not. You are both going to horny jail right now.”

Crystal stared at him.

Cassandra stared at him.

They somehow managed to give him the exact same unimpressed look.

Joey pointed harder.

“Do not team up on me. That is illegal.”

Crystal snorted despite herself while Cassandra looked deeply amused.

Then Joey’s expression shifted serious.

“No,” he said firmly, turning toward Crystal. “Listen to me. This is way too dangerous for you to get dragged into.”

Crystal blinked slightly at the sudden intensity in his voice.

Then he turned toward Cassandra.

“And you,” he continued, “stop encouraging this! She could get hurt!”

The apartment fell quiet for a moment.

Cassandra studied him carefully.

There was something different about Joey now.

Not just confidence.

Presence.

Weight.

When he spoke seriously now, people listened.

Even her.

“Joey,” Cassandra said softly, “we are already past that point.”

His face tightened slightly.

“Silas—assuming he stays dead—was not working entirely alone.” Her expression darkened. “Hunters share information. Rumors. Sightings. Witnesses.”

Crystal’s nervousness returned instantly.

“…Witnesses,” she repeated weakly.

Cassandra nodded.

“It would not be difficult for someone to connect the attack to both of you.”

Joey rubbed a hand over his face.

“…Fantastic.”

“So,” Cassandra continued calmly, “if anything, Crystal is safer close to us than alone.”

Crystal pointed toward Cassandra suddenly.

“Wait wait wait—back up.” Her eyes widened. “That asshole is actually dead?!”

Nobody answered quickly enough.

Crystal shot to her feet.

“Oh my God.” She started pacing immediately. “Oh my God, we are so screwed. The cops are gonna find blood everywhere! There are cameras! Fingerprints! CSI exists, Cassandra!”

Joey winced slightly at the rising panic in her voice.

But Cassandra remained perfectly calm.

“Crystal,” she said gently.

Crystal kept pacing.

“Crystal.”

Still pacing.

Then Cassandra’s eyes flashed crimson for just a second.

“Crystal. Look at me.”

Crystal stopped instantly.

Her eyes turned glassy again, just like at the restaurant.

Joey felt the shift through the bond immediately.

Not fear.

Control.

Subtle.

Terrifyingly smooth.

Cassandra stepped closer carefully.

“Silas was not the type of man who appeared on official records,” she said softly. “No fingerprints. No legal identity worth tracking. No trail.”

Crystal’s breathing slowly steadied.

“People like him clean up after themselves,” Cassandra continued. “And after each other.”

“…Okay,” Crystal said quietly.

“By morning,” Cassandra assured her, “that restaurant will look like a gas leak and electrical fire.”

Joey stared at her.

“…You know that’s somehow *more* concerning, right?”

Cassandra shrugged lightly.

“I know professionals.”

Crystal blinked a few times as the hypnotic haze faded.

“…Okay,” she murmured again, sounding calmer now. “Okay… if you say so.”

Joey noticed her eyes drifting toward him almost immediately afterward.

Her heartbeat sped up too.

Not because of fear this time.

Because he’d protected her.

Stood up for her.

Carried her out of danger.

And apparently that did something for her.

Joey really wished his new vampire-enhanced hearing came with an off switch.

Cassandra noticed him noticing.

The smug satisfaction drifting through their emotional bond nearly made Joey groan out loud.

*Do not start,* he mentally begged her.

Her lips twitched.

“Oh, I’m absolutely starting.”

Crystal looked between them suspiciously.

“…Okay seriously, are you two doing telepathy right now?”

Both Joey and Cassandra froze.

“…No,” Joey lied terribly.

“Yes,” Cassandra said at the same time.

Crystal pointed immediately. “HA! I knew it!”

“There is no telepathy,” Joey insisted.

Cassandra tilted her head innocently. “Not exactly.”

“That answer somehow made it worse.”

“It should,” Cassandra replied.

Crystal dropped back onto the couch and rubbed her temples dramatically.

“I had a psychotic manager meltdown yesterday morning and now I’m apparently trapped in an episode of supernatural reality TV.”

“You were the psychotic manager,” Joey reminded her.

Crystal pointed at him. “And now you’re hot when you argue with me. This is your fault somehow.”

Joey nearly choked on air.

Cassandra outright laughed.

Crystal immediately looked embarrassed.

“…I did not mean to say that out loud.”

“Yes you did,” Cassandra purred.

Crystal covered her face with a pillow.

“Oh my God.”

Joey sat down slowly in the armchair opposite them, trying desperately to regain control of this conversation.

“Okay,” he said firmly. “Ground rules.”

Both women looked at him.

“No killing people.”

Cassandra sighed dramatically.

“Bare minimum flirting.”

Crystal lowered the pillow slightly. “Define minimum.”

Joey pointed at her. “You’re already on thin ice.”

To his horror, Crystal smiled at that.

Not mocking.

Interested.

Cassandra felt it too through the bond and looked utterly delighted.

“Oh,” she murmured softly. “That explains quite a bit.”

“What does?” Joey asked nervously.

Cassandra crossed one leg over the other lazily.

“She enjoys being told what to do.”

Crystal turned scarlet instantly.

“WH—”

“And apparently,” Cassandra continued calmly, “being protected.”

Crystal looked like she wanted the floor to swallow her whole.

Joey, meanwhile, looked seconds away from spontaneous combustion.

“I hate this enhanced hearing thing,” he muttered.

“You love it,” Cassandra corrected.

“…A little.”

Crystal slowly lowered the pillow from her face.

“…So what happens now?”

The humor faded slightly from the room.

Cassandra answered first.

“Now,” she said quietly, “we stay alive.”

The weight behind her words settled heavily over the apartment.

Hunters.

More attacks.

A world Joey had never known existed.

And somehow all three of them were tied together now.

Joey looked at Crystal.

Then at Cassandra.

And despite the danger—

despite how insane everything had become—

he realized something.

For the first time in a very long time…

he wasn’t alone anymore.