Retribution of Soul: Book 3 of the In-Between

by Senese, Rebecca M.

  “Remembering, I see.” Gareth nodded. “You pick up quick enough, despite what Nigel thinks. But that’s Nigel for ya. That’s his problem, trying to keep everything contained. That’s his way of dealing with it.”

  “Dealing with it?” Sebastian said.

  “With being In-Between. We all have our ways of dealing with it. Nigel tries to keep everything neat and organized. You go off on your own, doing your thing.”

  “How do you deal with it?”

  A smile spread across Gareth’s face. “Oh me? I research, try to learn everything I can. That’s why she asked me to come along. She thinks you’re losing it but I think you’re gaining it. What it is, I don’t know yet but I don’t think you know either, do you?”

  A chill tightened the muscles up and down Sebastian’s back. He became acutely aware of how close Gareth stood, how his hand hung so casually by his gun. The man was at full strength while Sebastian was tired, head pounding from the sunlight, weakened by his efforts. Would he even get five steps away from the man?

  Then he felt his brain click onto one of the other words Gareth had said: she.

  Could that be...

  Jessica?

  After everything, after he’d run out, was she still trying to reach him? To help him? He was afraid to hope.

  But Gareth said she thought Sebastian was losing it.

  She was probably right.

  “Research,” Sebastian said. “Did you know about the book?”

  Gareth nodded. “I never saw it but I knew Grellock had written something. There are origin legends about the vampires, how he made a pact with the Devil for eternal life in exchange for blood sacrifices.”

  “Yes. Yes, that’s right,” Sebastian said. His fingers tingled. He remembered holding the book. He remembered scratching across the pages, his hands not his own, learning the secrets of what Grellock had done.

  “Still affects you, doesn’t it?” Gareth said.

  Sebastian shuddered. “No. I’m fine.”

  Gareth chuckled. “Right. As fine as an In-Between ever gets.”

  No judgment, not like Nigel who picked apart everything Sebastian did. Not like Jessica who worried. Gareth just looked amused.

  “Well,” Sebastian said. “Maybe not fine.” He glanced over his shoulder. Charlie still stood there, arms crossed, a quizzical look on his face. He cocked his head.

  “So?” Charlie said. “You gonna ask or just keep being a dick?”

  “Fuck off,” Sebastian said.

  “Pardon?” Gareth said.

  “Not you.” Sebastian turned back. “Him.” He cocked his thumb over his shoulder. “My old college roommate, Charlie. He’s dead and a ghost.”

  Now the man would really think he was nuts. But the amused look returned to Gareth’s lined face. He nodded.

  “Ghost, right,” he said. “Joan mentioned something about that. You talking to them now?”

  This wasn’t quite the reaction he was expecting. Where was the incredulity? Where was the denial? Then again, they were both In-Between, they both knew vampires were real. Were ghosts that big a leap?

  “Just the one,” Sebastian said.

  “Tell him to come along then,” Gareth said. “We got to head off. Don’t want to keep her waiting. It’s already taken me this long to catch up to you.”

  His feet rustled the grass as he stepped forward Sebastian. One hand lifted to grasp Sebastian’s arm, turning him back toward the airport.

  “Her?” Sebastian said.

  That was as close as he could get to asking, as close as he’d let himself get. His chest tightened. His heart thudded. It felt almost painful, this horrible thing called hope.

  “Jessica,” Gareth said. “Who else?”

  Gareth had a small Ford with blacked out windows. Sebastian got into the passenger’s seat. The dim lighting eased the vice grip around his head. Gareth reached into the glove compartment and pulled out two pairs of sunglasses. He dumped one pair on Sebastian’s lap before slipping the second pair onto his own face.

  “Always be prepared,” the man said. He grinned. “Tell your ghost friend I’m sorry about the cramped back seat. I didn’t expect it’d be more than us.”

  Sebastian glanced into the back. Half of the back seat was taken up with packed boxes. Charlie sat with his legs stretched through them. He gave Sebastian a thumbs up.

  “He’s fine,” Sebastian said.

  “Then let’s go.”

  Gareth swung the car out of the airport parking lot. A few more turns and they hit the highway, speeding northeast.

  “Grand Rapids, right?” Gareth said. “That’s where your folks are?”

  “Yes,” Sebastian said. “I was heading there.”

  “And got sidetracked,” Gareth said. “Only way I caught up to you. Jessica took another route. We figured one of us would find you.”

  Sebastian wanted to ask but he couldn’t. He hardly knew this man, he couldn’t ask him about Jessica.

  He turned his face to the black window and stared at the dull reflection of his face. With the sunglasses, he looked like an alien with huge bulbous eyes.

  Maybe he was more alien than he liked to think.

  He stared at that alien face, wondering how he was going to explain any of this to his parents until the hum of the car engine and the gentle rocking of movement lulled him to sleep.

  “Hey! Wake up!”

  Charlie’s voice yelled in his ear. Dammit, was he late for class? How could Charlie be up before him? That wasn’t possible. Didn’t that defy some law of the universe? Charlie stayed up to all hours and Sebastian was the one with the early morning classes. That was the natural order of things. He had an eight-thirty economics class, one he never missed because he got to see Alexa. Alexa with brown hair in a pixie cut that framed her impish eyes and stylish glasses. And that soft, perfect mouth with pale peach lips so beautiful when she smiled…

  and revealed her fangs.

  Sebastian jolted up.

  “’Bout time you woke up, man.” Charlie hung his arm over the armrest of the car. “I’ve been yelling in your ear for practically ever.”

  Sebastian blinked sleep from his eyes. Dark. Everything looked so dark. Then he realized he still had sunglasses on his face. He yanked them off. They clattered from his hands, bouncing off the gear shifter before falling to the floor at his feet. Sebastian ducked down to grab them. His foot shifted, knocked the glasses. They disappeared under the seat.

  Oh great.

  “Will you forget the glasses?” Charlie said. “I can’t believe you’re still so uncoordinated.” He shook his head. His blond hair shifted along his shoulders.

  But Sebastian could still see the back seat through his head.

  Charlie’s dead ghost head.

  No more college. No more Alexa. Not the Alexa he knew anyway. Sebastian turned back to face the front of the car. He brushed his hand over his forehead, wiping the sweat from his brow and pushing his black hair back over his head. Jesus, after a few years you’d think he’d get used to waking up to this nightmare.

  Guess not.

  The driver’s seat sat empty. They were parked in a parking lot behind what looked like a strip mall. The sound of traffic filtered in through the window. Not too far from the highway then.

  “Where’s Gareth?” Sebastian said.

  “I think he went to take a leak,” Charlie said.

  Sebastian stared out the window. Something about this stop looked familiar. The angle of the grey building, coated with dust from the highway. The buzz of traffic as it whipped along, curving toward the right just ahead. He could tell from the way the sunlight angled that the sun was just starting to go down.

  They must have been driving for hours.

  That’s why he knew this rest stop. It was just outside Grand Rapids.

  He spun toward the driver’s side, groping along the steering column. Dammit, no keys! Where the hell was Gareth? They had to go, had to go now!

  “Sebasti
an?” Charlie said. “What’s up?”

  “Where is he?” Sebastian said. “We have to go.”

  “I told you, I think he went... hey, where are you going?”

  Sebastian shoved the passenger’s door open and jumped out. The sunlight pounded at his head, making him wince. He shut the door and headed across the expanse of parking lot toward the rest stop building. In front, two sets of gas pumps sat empty. The parking lot held about twenty cars, not quite halfway full. Gravel skidded along under his feet as he walked. He took a deep breath, smelling the exhaust from the traffic and... something else. He paused, scenting the air. Was it? Yes, it was, water. The river and possibly the lake.

  They must be closer to home even than he thought.

  Dammit, where was Gareth?

  “Dude, we should wait in the car,” Charlie said. He appeared beside Sebastian. Now he wore his usual black t-shirt untucked over his ripped jeans.

  “I’ll find him,” Sebastian said. He headed off again.

  “Dude!”

  Sebastian reached the set of glass double doors and yanked the right one open. He moved past a set of vending machines, including one of those square ones with the claw.

  “Hey man, remember that one time at the fair?” Charlie said.

  Sebastian did remember. The time the three of them went to the Ridgewater Fair and spent the evening on the midway, playing stupid games of chance, losing way too much money and eating way too many corn dogs. At the end of the night, Sebastian had tried in vain to grab a plush dog for Alexa from one of those vending machines but he couldn’t get the claw to work fast enough. The grinding of the motor filled his memory punctuated by the sounds of Alexa laughing at his efforts. He could still hear it.

  No, it was the set of kids standing at the machine to his left. A boy and girl, faces pressed up to the glass, pointing and laughing at the contents.

  Gareth, he had to find Gareth. Don’t get sidetracked. He had to get home.

  He passed the kids and stepped into the food court area. It seemed like everyone from those twenty cars sat at those plastic tables with those plastic seats attached to them. Had every one of those twenty cars been filled to capacity? The room was filled with adults and kids of all ages, wearing all sorts of clothes in all colors. Reds and blues and browns and greens assaulted his eyes. The steady hum of conversation even drowned out the incessant buzz of the traffic outside.

  The air seemed filled with the overriding stench of greasy food. He spotted French fries and hamburgers at most tables. If he took a deep enough breath he knew he’d smell the sourness of relish and the sharp tang of ketchup and mustard.

  But all of it paled against the warm, inviting scent of blood.

  He stopped in the doorway, feeling the air currents move around him. The chug of a ventilation shaft sounded about his head. He felt the movement of air rustle his hair across his forehead. It carried to him the smell of blood from all through the food court.

  There in the corner, he could smell the sweetness of the blood of that little girl sitting with her mother. Not yet full of junk food, her blood would carry the sweet innocence of her, just like the way she tucked one ankle behind the other as she swung her legs while sitting in that plastic seat.

  And there, against the window, that older couple had a tinge of bitterness in their blood, a product of too much smoking, Sebastian had ascertained over time. Still their blood would taste good. He could almost feel it on his tongue.

  That one there, the young man sitting by himself, back to the counter as he stared intently at the worn book propped open on the table in front of him. Was he a student? He had that student look. Shabby jeans, plain t-shirt, hoodie with frayed cuffs. Despite his disheveled appearance, Sebastian could tell from the smell of his blood that the young man had never gone hungry. In fact, probably only ate organic the majority of the time except for the occasional indulgence.

  Like today.

  Sebastian felt a temptation to indulge himself.

  His foot slid along the grey tile floor, leading him into the food court area.

  As he cleared the doorway, the left wall fell away, revealing more diners sitting at more plastic tables. The scent of their blood wafted forth. Sebastian breathed it in, turned his head to the left to survey them.

  Against the far wall, he saw a family of three. Two parents and a boy. The mother with long dark hair sat with her back to the wall, facing Sebastian as she bent over the table, picking up a French fry. The father sat on her left, wearing a beige spring jacket, unzipped. He lifted a hamburger to his mouth. A drop of ketchup squeezed out of the end and dropped, splat, down onto the napkin on the man’s lap.

  Across from him, sat the boy. Maybe twelve or a little older, shaggy black hair that needed a trim, the boy stirred a French fry in a puddle of ketchup on the wax paper in front of him. Picking at his food. Long gangly arms and legs tucked around the table and chair as if the boy wasn’t quite sure how to make his limbs fit in properly, as if he’d grown fast and he wasn’t yet used to them. Sebastian remembered that feeling. Callum was just starting to get like that too. Last time he’d seen the boy, Callum had grown over an inch in the space of a few months.

  Callum...

  What the hell was he doing?

  Sebastian spun away from the food court. The stench of greasy food flooded his nostrils, making him want to gag. He clutched the doorway and stumbled forward. Just ten feet across the entrance hallway, past the vending machines and he could be outside in the air. Away from the greasy stench.

  Away from the call of blood.

  A hand tightened on his elbow.

  “What are you doing?” Gareth’s voice hissed in his ear.

  “I...” Sebastian shook his head. What the hell had he been doing? He couldn’t remember, he just knew he had to get out. Had to.

  “Come on.” Gareth’s grip steered him forward. Sebastian’s feet fumbled along the floor, as if they’d forgotten how to walk. He staggered but Gareth’s steady hand kept him upright. They moved past the vending machines, past the one with the claw. Sebastian caught a glimpse of two kids standing in front of the glass. They no longer looked at the trapped toys, they looked at him, staring as if he was a crazy person.

  Closer to the truth than they knew.

  Through the door now. The rush of air, filled with dust and car exhaust, brushed away the lingering stench of grease and blood. Sebastian inhaled, drawing it deep into his lungs. It washed away the overriding urge, leaving him sagging against a concrete barrier in front of the rest stop.

  Gareth released him. He shoved a white bag in front of Sebastian’s face.

  “When was the last time you ate?” he said. “You know better than that. Eat this.”

  Sebastian took the bag and opened it. The paper crinkled in his fingers. The greasy food smell wafted out. A cheese burger and fries. His stomach tightened.

  “Eat it,” Gareth said. “Or I’ll stuff it down your throat.”

  He stood in front of Sebastian with arms crossed against his chest. His top rode up a little on his waist, revealing a hint of the gun holstered there. Sebastian didn’t feel any menace from the man but he did feel the determination.

  Besides, he knew Gareth was right; he hadn’t eaten any regular food in days. He’d left himself vulnerable to the call of blood.

  His own damn fault.

  How was he going to take care of Callum and his parents when he couldn’t even take care of himself?

  He pulled out the cheeseburger and took a bite. It felt like cardboard in his mouth. Bland, tasteless cardboard. His stomach clenched. He felt bile rising in his throat. His tongue wanted to push the food out of his mouth.

  He forced himself to finish every last bite. Including all the French fries.

  As he wadded up the bag and tossed it at the orange plastic garbage receptacle by the door, tension drained out of Gareth. He nodded at Sebastian.

  “Good job. It’s good to see you’ve got some sense when forced in
to it. We’re almost there.”

  “I know,” Sebastian said. “I recognize this area.” He tilted his head at the man. “You stopped here to make sure I ate something.”

  “The way she said you took off I knew you probably hadn’t eaten anything. I know how it gets when you skip for any length of time. I figured you didn’t want to see your family like that.”

  “You figured right,” Sebastian said. “Thanks.”

  Gareth nodded. “I’ve been at this a while. Lot longer than two years. Let’s go.”

  He led the way back to the car. Sebastian followed. Each step brought coordination and strength. He could almost feel the food working in him. He’d forgotten how it helped.

  He wouldn’t forget again.

  They climbed back into the car. Gareth backed out and headed back onto the highway. As they settled in with the traffic, Sebastian turned to him.

  “How long have you been In-Between?” he said. “If you don’t mind talking about it.”

  A flicker of a smile crossed Gareth’s lips but he kept his gaze fixed on the road ahead. “A while. I was about fifteen when I was bit. My own stupid fault. Hanging out in the wrong area of town with the wrong kinda kids. Cutting through an alley to get home before my momma found out I’d been out ‘til all hours. This vampire slid up behind me and before I knew it, chomp. I think he was probably trying for a full feeding but something interrupted him. All I knew is I woke up in the middle of that alley in the morning, feeling like hell, weak as a kitten with my head pounding from the sunlight. I thought my momma’s anger was the worst thing I faced that day.” He shook his head. “Didn’t realize that would be the best thing I faced for a long time.”

  “How did you find out what happened to you?” Sebastian said. “How did you cope?”

  “A couple days after, another In-Between found me. We can’t smell each other, right? That’s how you know someone’s an In-Between. This older guy, early twenties. At first I thought he was a pervert or something but then he started telling me about my symptoms. He knew everything about what was going on, the sunlight sensitivity, the food problems. He explained it. Told me my life would never be the same. But he gave me a choice.”