Soundproofed.
So here he was. Funny how closely this room resembled the room Stan was being kept in. A single cot against the far wall. Plain grey blanket and flat pillow. Porta-pottie in the corner. A single hard backed chair in the other corner. But no desk.
Someone had slapped beige paint over the concrete walls, not caring if they slopped on the concrete floor. He smelled dust from the door installation and from the small, inch wide vents near the ceiling.
Someone had finished this room recently.
Was he the intended occupant? Or had it originally been designed for someone else?
No windows, just those concrete walls and the steel door. Seemed a bit of overkill for an In-Between.
Why did he think that someone maybe thought of trapping a vampire in here?
Why the hell would anyone want to contain a vampire? Why not kill it?
He didn’t like where his thoughts were leading him. It wasn’t his problem anymore. He had a big enough problem worrying about Alexa.
Dammit, he had to get out of here!
Charlie faded through the door and stood half inside the room.
“Nice accommodations, great view of absolutely nothing.”
Either get in or out. Don’t stand halfway in the door. It’s disturbing.
“What?” Charlie said. He glanced down and behind himself. “Oh sorry. Didn’t realize I hadn’t come all the way in.” He stepped farther inside. “Better?”
It would be better if you could help me get out of here.
“And we just got here,” Charlie said.
Remember Alexa? She’s going after my family. I have to go help them.
“Yeah, yeah, okay. I gotcha. Let me take a look around. See what’s going on. Then we can make plans.”
Do those plans involving getting that door open?
“Patience, grasshopper. Let ol’ Charlie do his magic.”
He smiled and faded away.
Just like that.
The room felt weirdly empty after Charlie left, as if Sebastian wasn’t even there either. His head ached, sending pain across his shoulders. His stomach felt hollow and he realized he couldn’t remember when he’d eaten last. He was supposed to eat on a regular basis. That was one way to stay human, or at least as close to human as he was now. Not eating not only weakened his body but increased the blood lust.
No wonder that homeless man had smelled so good.
He’d asked for food. Hopefully they’d bring him some.
How long before Charlie came back? Before the other In-Between decided to check on him? Could be minutes or hours or even days.
He lay down on the cot. The mattress felt lumpy against his lower back. The right side dipped a half inch. The blanket felt scratchy against his upper arms.
Sleep claimed him as he lamented how his legs hung over the end.
The click of the door lock woke him. He sat up, blinking sleep from his eyes. As he swung his legs over the side of the cot and put his feet on the ground, pins and needles erupted across his feet and spread up his shins. Dammit, his feet had gone numb from hanging over the edge of the cot.
Being tall just never worked well for him.
The door creaked open. The hall beyond was dark and the person standing in the doorway stayed in shadow. An In-Between. He couldn’t smell the person and he was still too tired to force his eyes to adjust.
“Coming in or staying out?” he said.
“Maybe I should ask you something similar.”
She stepped forward and slammed the door shut behind her.
Jessica.
Thank god!
He forced himself to stand. His feet still felt like rubber and the pain burned in them, a distant echo of the throbbing in his head. At least that had settled down somewhat.
He smiled at her, then let the smile fade as he noticed she didn’t exactly looked pleased to see him.
“Jessica?”
“What the hell were you doing?” She stepped toward him and stabbed a finger into his chest. “I go out and you take off. Without a word, without anything? What the hell were you thinking?”
“I found an article about murders near my home town. A whole motel full of people killed. There was trauma to the neck.”
Her arms crossed over her chest. “We know there are vampires in the US. That doesn’t mean it was…”
“It was, I know it was.”
“So you just take off without a word, without anything.” Her voice was flat. Her face blank.
“I tried to find you.” His voice sounded weak, even to him.
“Right. You asked Joan where I was. Then you just left.”
His body sagged at the disappointment in her voice. It was his family. Didn’t she understand?
“But you don’t go the airport, no. You go to the safe house where they’re keeping Stan for a little chat.” Her lips twisted into humorless smile at his surprised expression. “Didn’t think we heard about that?”
Of course, Cath would have sent word out after he left. Hell, maybe even before, when he was still down in the cell with Stan.
“I had to see him,” Sebastian said.
“Why? It was more important to you to see him than to go home to your family? I thought that’s why you ran out on me.”
“Charlie,” he said. How could he explain to her? Would she really listen? With her crossed arms and then closed look on her face, she’d never believe him now.
“Charlie’s gone, Sebastian. He’s been dead for years now.”
“Gee, he’s been dead for years so let’s forget all about him. He won’t care. Let’s forget about anyone who isn’t in your little clique.” Charlie appeared behind her, arms crossed, leaning against the door.
“Shut up,” Sebastian said.
“What?” Jessica said.
“Not you.”
“Not me,” she said. “Then who?” She turned to look around the room, her arms spreading to take it all in. “There’s no one else here.”
Against the door, Charlie grinned.
Great, just great.
She couldn’t see him either.
Sebastian sank down to sit on the cot. He put his head in his hands.
“Don’t you have anything else to say?” she said. “Aren’t you even going to try to justify yourself?”
He couldn’t smell her but he could hear the hurt in her voice. And he’d caused it. She’d never done anything but try to help him and support him the entire time he’d known her. And what had he done for her? Disappointed her.
He had to make it up to her. But he couldn’t just yet. He had to get home first. He had to make sure his family were okay.
He had to stop Alexa.
He looked up.
Charlie still stood behind her but Sebastian ignored the ghost. He pushed himself up off the cot. His legs still felt unsteady and he teetered a little.
“I’m sorry, Jessica, I really am. I want to explain everything to you because you deserve to know it all but I don’t have time right now. I have to get home. I have to save my parents and my brother. You understand that, don’t you?”
Did he detected a softening around her eyes and mouth?
“It doesn’t matter what I understand,” she said. “You deserted right before a mission. Nigel and the others will have something to say about that.” She shook her head and turned back toward the door.
As she stepped toward it, Charlie slid to the right, out of the way.
“What do you mean they’ll have something to say about it?” Sebastian said.
“They have to maintain discipline,” she said. She didn’t turn around. Her voice sounded muffled as she talked to the door. “It’s important for the group to survive as a whole.”
Discipline? Group survival? This wasn’t the Jessica he knew. She sounded like she was spouting nonsense.
“Jessica...”
“You have to have loyalty somewhere or you won’t survive,” she said. “You have to know who you c
an trust.”
And she couldn’t trust him.
He could feel the unspoken words hanging in the air between them.
She banged on the door. A moment later it swung open and she stepped out.
Leaving him.
The door banged shut.
“Well,” Charlie said. “That’s a bitch.”
“Shut up!” Sebastian said. “Won’t you just shut up?”
“Hey, I didn’t mean her. I just meant... Sorry, Sebastian.” Charlie spread his hands. “You’re in this mess because I pushed you to see Stan. Sorry. But I couldn’t just let it go, do you understand? We were right here. If I let you just go back, I might never had gotten another chance.”
Sebastian dropped back down to the cot. He spread his legs out in front of him, moving his feet to get the circulation working.
Why couldn’t you just stay yourself and see him? Why did you need me to go?
Charlie moved to sit on the end of the cot. His shoulders shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t really know the rules for this ghost thing. If there are rules.”
Great, just great. He had a ghost “tethered” to him, his family was under threat from a vicious vampire who just happened to be the woman he used to love (and maybe still did, a little anyway), and Jessica would probably never talk to him or trust him again.
This day couldn’t get worse.
Then they came to fetch him to see Nigel.
CHAPTER 6
The door opened and two In-Between men stepped inside the room. Sebastian didn’t recognize them. They spread out on either side of him, as if they expected him to cause trouble. Looking at the muscles on both of them, he figured even with his height, he probably weighed about half of one of them.
Some trouble he could cause.
“Nigel wants to see you,” said the one on the right. He wore the regular outfit of the In-Between, black pants with a black t-shirt stretching over his chest. Light brown hair bristled up an inch from his head, making it look flatter than necessary.
The other guy gestured Sebastian forward. He wore the same pants but a charcoal grey long sleeved top. His hairstyle matched guy number one except his bristles were blond.
Blond Bristles and Brown Bristles. He probably wasn’t going to get names from either of them.
Sebastian got up from the cot and followed them out of the room.
They brought him upstairs, to a large room that reminded him of the ballroom where Stan had met with Constantine and Alexa. The resonance of it echoed through his mind as he walked in, images from Stan’s memory (vision?) trying to reassert themselves over what he now saw. Heavy navy curtains darkened to burgundy then shifted back to navy. The white walls changed to beige wallpaper and then back. The plain oak table morphed into something more ornate, with curling legs and chairs with sloping arms before snapping back into clean, straight lines.
What the hell?
He shook his head.
Nigel sat at the head of the table. Several other lieutenants of the In-Between sat along the sides, leaving a couple of chairs empty at the end. He spotted Jessica sitting halfway down the table on the right. She sat between Joan and Hanson, the man from the kitchen.
She didn’t look up.
Blond Bristles pointed at the empty chair at the end of the table.
Inquisition time.
Sebastian sat down. His feet and legs finally felt like the blood was moving through them again but a brief rest was welcome.
“Nice of you to join us, Sebastian.” Nigel’s voice boomed through the room, even without him trying to yell.
Impressive acoustics in the room. Whose house was this? An In-Between supporter or a vampire victim?
Too often they seemed to end up the same thing.
“We’re here to decide what to do about you,” Nigel said.
Sebastian shifted on the chair. The navy cushion was thinner than it appeared. The hard edges of the chair bit into him.
“What do you mean?” he said.
“You deserted,” Nigel said, “and it isn’t the first time. This seems a recurring pattern with you. You stick around for a while then take off when it’s convenient for you. You don’t even tell anyone.”
His chin lifted in a nod. Sebastian didn’t have to look to feel how Jessica stiffened at Nigel’s words. From here, he could hear the sharp intake of her breath, how she let it out slowly.
Damn you, Nigel.
He slid his hands off the smooth surface of the table and curled then into fists on his lap.
“I have to go home,” Sebastian said. “You know why and you know I have to go. I’ve told you many times over but you don’t listen.”
“Who is it that doesn’t listen, Sebastian?” Nigel said. “I told you we had people in the US keeping an eye out. You knew we had vital missions going on that needed your expertise.” He said the word as if he was spitting it out, hating the taste of it in his mouth.
“You knew things were changing with the vampires but instead of helping us, you leave. To go home, you say, but how do we know that? Do you think you’d be the first In-Between to hate yourself enough to want to turn all the way so you turn on us?”
“What?” Sebastian said. “Are you crazy?”
“That’s it, isn’t it?” Nigel’s voice boomed down. He pounded a fist on the table. It gave a hollow thud that reverberated down the length. “You want to find the one who tried to change you and have her finish the job. You never fit in here.”
Sebastian shook his head. He couldn’t believe this. Did Nigel hate him that much that he could believe this garbage?
“That’s a lie and you know it,” he said. “I’ve done everything I could to help. I killed Constantine and burned that damned book. I’ve helped you on your raids. All I want is to go home and make sure my family is safe. You say you’ve got people watching out but that’s not enough. She has to be stopped.”
“Yeah, you burned that book,” Nigel said. “Only when you were forced to. How do we know what you would have done if you’d been alone with it.”
“This guy is a total prick.”
Charlie’s voice came from Sebastian’s left.
Sebastian shifted his eyes without turning his head. He could just see Charlie out of the corner of his eye. Charlie shook his head, blond hair flopping on his shoulders. He crossed his arms again. He’d changed this time. He wore jeans ripped at the knees and a black t-shirt.
“You actually worked with this schmuck?” he said to Sebastian.
“Not voluntarily.” Sebastian mumbled the words.
Across the room, Nigel frowned. His thin long face seemed to draw thinner. “What did you say?”
“He said you were a dick!” Charlie shouted.
Sebastian squeezed his lips shut to stop the laugh that threatened to spill out.
“You think this is funny?” Nigel said. “It’s all a big joke to you, isn’t it? You think you’re so great just because you can Influence a few vampires.”
“Made one climb up to a roof, you dick,” Charlie said. “Gonna be a barbecue in the morning.”
The smile that pressed against Sebastian’s lips faded. He remembered the feeling of pushing that vampire, Influencing it so completely that it did what he wanted.
He had to tell them. If he could do it, maybe he could train some of the others. Maybe they had another way to fight the vampires.
But then they’d never let him leave.
He stayed silent.
“I think we should throw you down the sewer like we did that guy.” Nigel waved his hand as if brushing dust from the table. “You could be neighbors at the end of that hole in the ground.” Nigel’s lips twisted down. “Unfortunately, a few of the others have pointed out that we still need you for the job in Rome.”
“I have to go home,” Sebastian said.
“You’ll leave when we’re good and ready for you to leave,” Nigel said. “If it was up to me, I’d have kicked you out a long time ago.”
His head tilted a little. Sebastian gaze followed this time. Jessica sat with her head bowed. Joan had a hand on her forearm.
“I bet I could pull his chair out from under him,” Charlie said.
I thought you couldn’t do anything.
“I’ll have to concentrate really hard.”
That’ll never happen.
“Fuck off, Sebastian, or I’ll leave you to deal with dickhead here yourself.”
Sorry.
Charlie faded from beside him then reappeared behind Nigel’s chair. As Sebastian watched, something shifted around Charlie. The air seemed to flicker and glow around him. His hands reached out for the back of the chair.
Around the table, the In-Between shifted and murmured. Even from the other end of the room, Sebastian could feel the shift in the air, like an electrical field pulsing. He could almost smell a tinge of ozone.
Joan turned to look over at Nigel. She sucked in a breath. Her eyes widened. She started to rise from her chair.
“There’s...”
Charlie’s hands tightened on the back of Nigel’s chair. He yanked. The chair flew back. Nigel slammed forward against the table and fell to the floor.
Charlie’s laugh echoed in the air. The chair clattered to the ground.
Sebastian couldn’t help it.
He snickered.
Joan’s head spun toward him. Her accusing glare froze the snicker in his throat.
“Who was that?” she said. “You know who it was.”
Nigel crawled up from under the table. The two people beside him steadied him. A smear of blood showed under his nose.
“What the hell?” he said.
“It was a ghost,” Joan said. “I saw it right before the chair flew back. The ghost did it.” She pointed at Sebastian. “You know who it was, don’t you?”
They all stared at him. He could feel the waves of anger and confusion buffeting him.
Great. Just great.
“Sorry, man. Didn’t mean to jam you up worse. I thought it was funny.”
Charlie reappeared beside him. He shrugged his shoulders.
I thought it was funny too.
Retribution of Soul: Book 3 of the In-Between Page 8