Between (27 page)

"Trapped where?
Who by?"

"
Somewhere unpleasant. He needs to borrow you."

"Borrow me how?"

“You’re strong enough to carry him."

I stiffen. "Carry him?”

"Dante needs to borrow your body."

Whoa
. I stand. "What the fuck? No way! This guy is a demon, right? If he possesses me, he might never leave!"

Julian makes a scornful noise in his throat. "Believe me, he won't want to stay with you. He has his own form
, which is preferable and probably a good deal stronger."

If he’s
as powerful as Julian says and is trapped, there’s a reason. This Dante must be powerful if demons are desperate for him to re-enter a world where the Dark are killing people. I don’t have time for people, don’t care what happens to them; however, I’m part of their world. This world is comfortable and I’m still part-human. I don’t want it to change again. "No, I won't do it."

"Fine." Julian shuffles some paper around on his desk. "We'll get Rose to carry him instead. I guess she's there already..."

I slump back onto the seat. "No. No, you can't. She can't."

"I guess she might fail." He sucks air between his teeth. "Nasty. I wonder what would happen to her
then? How terrible if her soul was completely destroyed."

I chew inside my cheek, refusing to show him how his words are affecting me.

"You know the answer." He leans across the table. "I mean, I can't guarantee your soul will come out of this completely untainted either, but it's worth the risk?"

Anger
toward Finn seethes in every ounce of my body; the fact he brought me to this point overrides the fact he did this to her. He made Rose, weakened me, and brought me to a place I avoided for years. Finn made me feel again - and not just the growing love I admit to myself I have for Rose. I care about what happens to the world, and I hate that.

I continue to fight against showing any reaction, but Julian smiles. He knows without asking. When I made the choice to swap places with Laura, the Dark told me where they took the souls. I was told they couldn't describe the
horror of the repetitive cycle of torture I’d endure for eternity or until I broke and became a demon. My sister would be there if it wasn't for me and I can’t let Rose suffer the same fate, if that’s what they’re threatening. They can’t leave Rose in the Void because they know I would spend eternity trying to bring her out again. They would have to send Rose to the Dark. To Hell.

In the early days, when I ran from the place the Dark brought me back to, I spent
time confused, not knowing exactly what or who I was, but I was determined to fit back into the world in some way. I lived alone before I died, kicked out of home for using drugs when I was a teenager, which sent me further into the scene. The irony is I'd been clean for months before the night Laura died. One relapse and my world was fucked. So the emotional isolation I returned to wasn't new; I went back to my old life in a lot of ways by blending in and pretending I was still a hundred percent human. I lived on the edge again.

Realising I wasn’t human anymore was a huge shock, something the Dark neglected to tell me when I agreed.
I was fucking immortal. There was so much I didn't know and couldn’t cope with. The worst: the thirst for energy that saw me unable to make friends and interact. The first time I screwed a girl, she died. Not immediately, but I learnt staying in a girl’s bed all night was bad for their health. Permanently. That was the day Lizzie appeared, almost a year after I became Between. I retreated into a life with her, where she kept the humans safe by keeping me away from everything but necessary contact.

Raven stands behind, listening to every word. I look over my shoulder at the betraying bitch. She's wearing her Lizzie disguise. Twenty years she's been with me, helping and guiding. She taught me about feeding on Shades, about how to integrate while keeping to the shadows. I lived in that house with her for twenty years and never once suspected. I confided in her on the few occasions I let my guard down; and she kept me alive on the dark days, where I wanted to give in and walk into the Void forever.

Since Raven revealed herself, I’ve scoured my head for any suspicions or indications something wasn’t right. Did she put some kind of weird spell on me to stop me questioning things? She must have. I lived with her for twenty years, and not once, did it cross my mind she wasn’t ageing. They had me pinned and under their control until the moment they needed me, everything an illusion. Locked in my own world, refusing to get close to anyone, she was on my periphery and she kept me on hers.

She became the sister I lost and all along it was a clever fucking game.

I stand. "I guess I'll think about it."

Julian
’s eyes widen in amusement, and then he laughs. "Tick tock, Alek. She won't be there forever, and then you’ll both go to Hell. Could you do that to Rose?"

This time
, Tom has to agree to see me. He must know who Dante is, and if he doesn't, we need to find out.

****

Tom's house is as faceless as his human life is. I stare at the flaking green front door, memories of Rose flooding back because this is the last place I saw her. Nobody is home or they're ignoring me, so I sit on the cold stone step and wait.

Fortunately, Tom appears first
, the weird skinny guy dressed as if he was twenty years older than he is, nondescript trousers and shirt. At school, I’d have teased the hell out of this guy. Now I have to ask him for help. He pauses on the pavement and eyes me warily. "Alek?"

"Tom. Rose needs your help."

"I tried to call her loads and she’s not answering. Is she okay?"

"No."

He doesn't approach, clutching the handle of his large bag. If I stand, he could get intimidated, so despite my desperate need that has me on the edge of demanding or threatening, I stay where I am.

"Where is she?"

"In danger from some of these people you track."

"The Dark?"
His expression changes to one of interest.

"Worse. Do you have some kind of database with names
? I need to find out who somebody is."

"You won't hurt me, will you?" he asks.

"What the fuck? If you're the only person who can help me find Rose, what do you think?"

"Okay." Tom edges toward me
. I move to one side.

As I enter his house,
the punch in the guts accompanying thoughts of Rose hits again. We walk into the kitchen. I stare out the window at the spot on the pavement where the man died. The place I last saw her.

"What happened after the party? Did the police come?" I turn back to him.

Tom sets his black messenger bag on the table. "They arrested the guy who did it. There were plenty of witnesses. Our landlord is threatening to evict us, though." He makes a soft sound in his throat. "Our first ever party."

I scoff. "You did invite Between, Dark
, and Reapers, Tom. Who invited the nurse? I'd like to talk to him about what he saw Finn do." And kill the Dark bastard.

"Finn or Rose
, I suppose? I don't know him. What did Finn do?"

I bristle, suspicious of Finn again. His reaction to Rose's disappearance was genuine shock
, though. Or is he a good actor because he now refuses to help? I tell Tom the story, about how I saw Rose disappear and of my suspicions. I don't give him the story about Lizzie and Julian.

The front door opens and Tom goes out to see who
arrived. Grace's voice travels from the lounge and she comes into the room.

"Hey,
Alek. Why are you here?"

I edge to the corner of the room, aware I'm drawing some of their energy
, and I want to stay and talk. "I have a name and I need to find out who it is."

"Raven?"
asks Grace.

I stare at her. "How do you know about her?"

"I lived with her, didn't I?"

"What the fuck?"

"We're paranormal investigators, Alek." She pauses and fixes me with a disparaging stare. "Not ghostbusters. We don't waste time trying to find ghosts, our work is a bit more than that.”

“
There’s bigger stuff happening,” says Tom. “Otherwise, why would Grace risk living with two demons?"

Shocked silence
isn’t a normal response of mine, but it’s all I have.

Tom pulls a couple chocolate bars from his bag and throws one to Grace. I frown. "To counteract what you're doing to us," he says
, unwrapping the bar.

"I'm not deliberately
taking your energy."

"I know, but you drain a lot more than Rose
. You can't stay here long."

In a
room full of people, I don't do much harm; in a room with just a couple, it’s tough not to. "Can't we go somewhere else and talk?"

Grace shakes her head. "We're not talking about this publicly and we don't want to be seen with you. The party has put us in the spotlight as it is." She throws Tom an unimpressed look.

"How was I supposed to know what would happen?" asks Tom.

"You should've listened to Zach!" she retorts.

"Look, if I have to leave soon, just tell me what I need to know and quickly,” I say.

"Which is?" asks Grace

"Who's Dante?" I ask.

Grace's hands hover where she's taking her laptop from her rucksack. "Dante?
Where did you hear that name?"

"Obviously you
know him. How about the doctor at the hospital? Julian Granger?"

Tom pulls out a small
, red notepad and I stare as he writes something down. "I put everything in my book, so we don't lose anything if we get hacked."

"What if you lose your book?" I ask.

"Exactly what I say," says Grace. "That's why I'm part of the twenty-first century." She flips open the lid on her laptop.

Grace clicks a few
keys as Tom leafs through his book. "Dante. Chief demon, a king perhaps."

"I doubt they have a democracy," snorts Tom.

"King? So he's a leader?" I ask.

"Yeah, he's mentioned in a lot of old texts as a mythical leader. He’s a martyr to the cause of the Dark and a symbol of the power they could regain. The
‘good old Dante days’. "

This is worse than I thought. "Which I presume weren't good?"

"Awesome, if you've a Dark soul. Not so great for the rest of us."

I bristle but bite my tongue against explaining I'm not Dark because I'm Between. "Where is he?"

"Hell, of course. Or whatever your kind call it."

What the fuck? They want to send me to Hell? "I’m not their kind," I growl.

"What's wrong?" asks Tom sharply. "You've gone pale."

" I think
we might be revisiting ‘the good old Dante days’. The guy at the hospital, the doctor, he’s preparing for him to come back."

"I knew it!" says Tom triumphantly. "Didn't I say?" He looks at Grace who stares back at him as if he's a lunatic.

"Yeah, but you say it like it's a good thing," she says.

Tom clears his throat. "That's not what I meant."

"What's he planning to do when he gets back?" Grace asks me.

"I thought you might be able to tell me?"

Tom swears under his breath. "No, what you should be asking Alek is
how
is he getting back?"

That is something they don’t need to know, not until I’ve decided what I’m going to do.

"Thanks for telling me about Dante." I peel myself from the kitchen bench and head to the door.

"You can't ask us and then just leave us with half a story!" protests Tom.

"I don't know the whole story," I say and lean toward him. "I’m going now before I hurt someone." Tom takes a step back, and I push my way out of the kitchen. I wouldn't hurt the guy, but it’s best if his wariness of me borders on fear.

"Will you be able to help Rose?" asks Tom from the kitchen.
I pause, hand on the front door handle. "Can you bring her back from wherever they took her?"

"I hope so
," I say quietly, wishing I could say ‘yes’.

CHAPTER 27

             
ALEK

The next morning, I hang around the house after a night running my choices over and over in my head. Dante’s from Hell and Finn's an angel, right? I was never religious, but the ideas came from somewhere. Good conquers evil? This means Finn can help? Finn knows what's happening, he has to.

Rose's handbag rests on the table by the front door where I placed it after the party. I pull out her phone and search for Finn's name. Tempted to read through their messages, I stop myself. Rose was scared of him
; why would there be anything between them?