Secret Worlds (407 page)

Her words knock the breath from my lungs. Rose is more angel than demon. Between are inherently evil, created by the Dark. Rose never told me her story, but I doubt she remembers in the way that I remember mine.
How can we connect as we do if I’m demon?
I rub my eyes. Finn’s words about him and Rose confuse me further.
Finn and Rose.
No wonder Finn is so possessive of her. He’s responsible for everything about Rose.

“Are you Lizzie?” I ask.

“Usually. Recently. You’ve been very annoying to live with, by the way; the attitude on you...”

“You’re not a witch?”

The girl wrinkles her nose thoughtfully. “Technically, no. Does necromancer count?”

This shit gets weirder, my world dragged from under my feet. Can I fight this thing? Probably not. I’ve no idea what a necromancer is apart from the shitty horror movies I’ve seen where they definitely weren’t the good guys. When the idea to ask Tom about this enters my head, I groan inwardly. I should’ve listened to Rose; he’s more use than I credited.

“Why are you here now?” I ask.

“To tell you to keep your part of the bargain. We saved your sister; we made you Between instead of sending you and your broken soul to the Void, so now we have a job for you.”

“Job?”

“Task? Challenge? Whatever you want to call it. As an extra incentive, we’ll keep Rose where she is until you’re done. Then you can decide whether to join her.”

“Where is she?”

“Safely tucked away. We won’t hurt her, don’t worry. Well, if she cooperates we won’t, anyway.”

I lie back against the sofa and cover my face with my hands, squeezing my temples. “What do I need to do?”

When I open my eyes again, Raven has gone.

ALEK

I rest against a tree on the edge of the car park, pushing the leaves into a pile with my heavy boots. The autumn weather edges into winter and I pull my leather jacket closer. How long will Finn be? Going into the hospital to find him is not an option. The sick and dying won’t survive long with me around, which is why I never figured out how Rose could work there. Now I realise she’s different from me; I guess there are a lot of unanswered questions.

Ones Finn has answers to.

I straighten as Finn’s tall figure appears, his blonde head easy to spot, hunched down in his grey woollen coat. I wait for him to cross the car park out of the sight of other people then follow him. When he arrives at his car, he opens the door of the blue hatchback and pauses, facing away from me.

“What do you want, Alek? You’re not very successful at surprise attacks.”

“I’m not here to attack you,” I mutter.

Finn closes the car door, and then turns to me, looking at me from under his blonde fringe. “What do you want? You left the pub yesterday without speaking; I thought we’d said all we had to say?”

The same question has crashed around my mind since Raven left last night, along with the fear of what will happen next. I’m not telling him everything, no way; but he has one answer I need.

“Are you an angel, Finn?” He blinks several times, his surprise giving me the answer when he doesn’t. “Does Rose mean something to you? I always thought it was because you... wanted her, but is it more?”

“I let her down. Twice.” He turns back to the car.

I step toward him. “Fix it then.”

“Alek, I can’t fix this; nobody can.”

“If you’re a fucking angel, you have the power to do something!” I hiss.

Finn spins round. “What do you know about angels, Alek? Do you think they’re benevolent people in flowing, white robes with halos answering to a higher being? Merciful beings who use their powers, but to do what? I have a job, I perform it; sometimes I fuck it up, and this is the result.”

“So, nobody can help?” I ask, knowing this leaves one person. Me. If I agree to help the Dark.

“I can’t help you, Alek,” he says flatly.

“You’re going to leave her there?”

“Please, go away.”

“You have to at least try!”

He ignores me and climbs in the car. Although his face is impassive, I saw in his eyes the same as I saw in mine this morning. Fear for Rose.

***

Round Two. Ghostbusters.

The look of shock on Tom’s face doesn’t improve his gaunter-than-usual appearance. He attempts to close the door again, and I shove my boot in the way.

“You need to leave,” he says. “Someone died here!”

“That wasn’t my fault! I had nothing to do with him.”

Another guy appears in the door behind, tall, shaggy-blonde hair and a hostile look. “You need to go.”

Taking a huge swallow of my pride, I say, “I need your help.”

“We don’t want to help you.”

“With Rose.”

Tom’s hand drops a little. “What’s wrong with her?”

The guy pulls at his arm. “You heard what Grace said about them. Come on.”

“About who? Grace was fine with me last night!”

I was really pissed off last night when I discovered Grace was a spy for the ghostbusters, but that’s a tiny blip on my fucked-off-with-the world radar now. Still, she was with us a few months, why didn’t Lizzie or I notice something was odd?

They slam the door in my face, and I hesitate as the two guys argue over letting me inside.

“You need to help Rose, Tom,” I call.

When the voices quieten and the door remains closed, I walk away.

ALEK

When I get home, Lizzie is sitting on the front step outside, peeling the flaking paint from the front door with her fingernails. She looks up as I approach, flicking the paint on the floor. Beneath her black winter jacket, she’s wearing her nurse’s uniform.

“Where’ve you been, Alek?” she asks.

The bouncing curls and round friendly face are Lizzie, but I know she isn’t. “No point disguising yourself now,” I tell her.

“But it’s fun!” grins Lizzie. “Besides, I need to go to work to look after those poor sick kiddies.”

I shake my head, ignoring the undertone of her words, and make to step past her. She stands between me and the door. “No. You have to come with me.”

“Where?”

Lizzie tips her head, “Seriously, Alek? I said yesterday your time was up. Come on.”

I look around. “Come on to where?”

“Hospital. The doctor would like to see you.” She giggles.

The possibility of running or locking myself in the house with the Shades crosses my mind, but what I’m dealing with is bigger than her. Demons, angels, and whoever the hell this doctor is are out of my league. I fooled myself into believing I could escape the fate I chose, that I could live happily in my new state. Instead, the fear of constantly hiding and the ache of loneliness was all I had. Closed down for years, I saw hope from meeting Rose. Her arrival was the beginning of a life change I didn’t want, and now that chance has gone.

Doctor. I know that whatever is happening centres on the hospital, but I didn’t expect them to be brazen enough to take on positions of power. It’s one thing to sneak around interfering in whatever way the Dark do, but it’s another to orchestrate plans that include deaths and go unnoticed.

We arrive at the hospital, and I stare up at the huge grey building, at the rows of ward windows. I’ve stood outside this place many times recently, and I don’t want to go inside. I know I don’t intend to harm people, but I also know I will speed along the death of anyone I get close to. I swallow hard against the thought Raven might take me to the Children’s Ward.

As Lizzie, she uses her security card on a lanyard to pass from floor to floor and offers breezy hellos to people she passes. I shift my jacket around and keep my look to the tiled floor. In the elevator, a porter wheels in a patient on a bed, and I detect the death hovering around the elderly man. Closing my eyes, I attempt to detach my senses and hold my breath. As if that’ll do any good.

Eventually, we reach a wooden door with a black and silver nameplate: Julian Granger. Lizzie knocks, immediately opens the door, and then leans in

“Hello! We have a guest!” she says, the usual annoying glee in her voice.

A man looks up from the desk. He appears middle-aged, brown hair. Of course he’s attractive; not to me obviously, but I imagine his charming smile and clean-cut looks help him get what he wants. He sits in a large chair, making notes in manila folders. A bookshelf is covered in medical textbooks, his qualifications hung on the wall. Two other seats face his desk where patients meet the heart consultant and discuss their prognosis. Ordinary. Every day. Unlike him.

The door clicks shut behind.

“Alek! Thank you for agreeing to see me. I’ve been waiting for you to get in touch.”

“I’m only here because of Rose. Lizzie…Raven says if I help you, you’ll release her.”

The man smiles and gestures for me to sit in one of the comfortable, upholstered, grey chairs opposite his desk. “Release her? You make us sound so barbaric! We didn’t send her there; you know that.”

I sit. Yes, Finn did, but was Rose’s disappearance arranged by them? “Can you get her out?”

“You can, Alek. We need you to go to where she is and help us with a little something.”

“Little? I’ll bet it isn’t.”

“We have a problem. My good friend, Dante, is trapped, and he needs help to leave. He can’t get through like Shades can. They’ve prevented him becoming…what’s the word... corporeal again...”

“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?”