As I talk to Tom, I notice Grace come downstairs. The sudden realisation Alek doesn't know Grace is connected to Tom has me excuse myself and head over to him. Alek's already seen Grace and now he’s gripping his bottle, staring as if she's the ghost.
"What the fuck?" he growls.
Worried he'll get angry with Grace, I hang around as she approaches.
"Hey, Alek, how’re things?" There’s no apprehension in her warm welcome, which appears to disarm Alek.
"How do you know Tom?" he asks. I place a hand on Alek’s arm, hoping to calm him.
"I live here."
Alek drags a hand through his hair. "Are you a ghostbuster, too? Did you know about me when you lived at the house?"
Grace nods. "Not the nicest place to live. I couldn't stand all the ghosts."
"Why didn’t you bring your equipment to kill them?" he asks snidely.
Grace shakes her head at him and walks off. I laugh. "I guess she lived with you long enough to avoid your bad moods."
Alek mutters something under his breath. "I can’t deal with this shit. Want another beer?"
I hold up the bottle I'm holding. "I don't drink as quickly as you."
"Like I said, keeps me calm."
‘Party’ is a loose description for the strange gathering. Tom appears to be stuck half-way between a kid's party and a student party. Tom's made a bizarre collection of party nibbles, including the cheese and pineapple chunks stuck on cocktail sticks protruding from a tinfoil-wrapped pineapple half. Some of the partygoers conclude he's being ironic. I suspect he isn't.
Nobody approaches Alek, apart from Tom and Grace. Alek's disdain for Tom morphs into amusement, and then interest, as Tom fills Alek in on things he's learnt. After ten minutes or so, Tom switches his attentions to me, and Alek wanders back to his corner.
"Did Finn say he was definitely coming?" asks Tom, munching on crackers.
"Yes."
"Are you okay? You seem unhappy tonight."
"I'm tired."
"Maybe you're lacking energy?" he asks. "You don't feel like you're going to...you know."
"What? Eat someone?" I snap.
"No, faint."
My cheeks heat. "Oh, sorry." An awkward silence follows. "Can you get me another drink?"
I glance at Alek as Tom disappears into the kitchen. He's changed position and sits on the floor with his long legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles. People need to step over him to move and anyone who knocks him is greeted with a withering look. I eye the girl from earlier who I'm sure keeps checking him out. Part of me would like her to approach him, so I can watch what happens.
As if aware of my scrutiny, Alek looks up. He beckons me with one finger and I turn away. Power struggles will always be a feature of whatever we have, that I'm sure of.
Ten minutes later, I walk downstairs from the bathroom and find the place packed with more bodies, the volume of voices and laughter jar. There's a group in rugby shirts who bump each other raucously then head out to the garden.
Finn has arrived, too, his tall figure in the corner of the room, chatting to a girl, who's playing with her hair and standing close. Something surges. Jealousy again? What right do I have? No. Fear for her. I don't need to look at Alek to know his scrutiny is trained on Finn. There are many similarities between Finn and Alek, apart from their paranormal existence. They dress similarly, although Finn prefers hoodies to leather, and even though Finn is marginally taller, they are a similar build. The muscles beneath Finn’s shirt match Alek’s as far as I know. Alek’s, I clearly know about. If they fought, who would win? The Reaper or the psy-vamp? Even when I worried Finn was responsible for the hospital deaths, there was something inexplicable that attracted me to him. Not in the same, intense way as Alek, but a desire for his calm friendship.
Finn makes his excuses and crosses to where I hover at the bottom of the stairs.
"Are you okay after our talk?" he asks cautiously.
I shrug to indicate the subject is closed. Alek shakes his fringe from his eyes and stares across the room at us.
Finn looks over his shoulder to see what I’m looking at. "I see Crazy Boy is having fun."
"Don't speak to him," I warn him. "He's wound up about you."
Finn turns around and gives Alek a small wave. I make the mistake of pushing Finn’s hand and withdraw as soon as the cold hits. Finn’s mouth turns down.
"What do you feel when that happens?" I ask him.
Finn inhales and holds his breath before exhaling slowly. "Your life."
"But I'm dead."
"No, I said you're alive, but your soul is broken."
"I don't want to talk about this." I edge away from him to sit on the stairs. Finn joins me, all the while under Alek's watchful eye.
"Why's Alek not sitting with you?" he asks.
"I'm not sure. He's odd like that."
Finn chuckles. "Odd. Really?"
"I mean he's very hot and cold with me." Why am I speaking to Finn about this?
Finn sits next to me, close but not touching. "You have a weird connection."
"You're telling me…"
"No, I mean literally, a weird connection. There are few of you around, and as well as the physical reaction to each other, there's a fear of being alone, I think."
His insight is uncomfortable. I’m not telling Finn about how the unity with Alek feels more than physical, or the need for him, which intensified the night we had sex.
"Not as weird as the connection with you," I inform Finn.
A flicker of something I can't fathom crosses Finn's face. "I know. It's only because I gave you life, though."
"Did one of you create Alek, too?" I ask.
Finn chews his lip. "His creation was different to yours. He knows a little, but not everything."
I glance at Alek, unsure if I should go to him or not; if Alek doesn’t know, maybe I shouldn’t know either. But Alek has moved from his position and isn’t in the room anymore.
"What do you mean his creation was different to mine?" I ask.
Finn runs a hand across his face. "His situation was the reverse of yours. The Dark Reaper came for his sister and one of us came for Alek. Somehow he knew what was happening and, when he saw the Dark taking his sister, Alek fought against the one of us trying to take his soul."
"You didn’t help Alek?" I ask, "Why not?"
"I wasn't there. People aren't usually aware they’re dying, but somehow, Alek did; he hovered on the border of life and death and saw what was happening. He was on drugs at the time, maybe that's why. Alek bargained with the Dark Reaper, asked him to take his soul instead of his sister’s. The Dark agreed but the Reaper who’d come for Alek couldn't let that happen, so again the process was interrupted by one of us fighting with the Dark. His sister's soul was saved, but Alek’s was broken."
"So, one of you gave him life, like you did me?"
"No, unlike me, this Reaper knew the action was forbidden.” He huffs and watches me warily. “One of the Dark saved his soul from Hell, gave him demon energy and made him a Between. Between are rare and difficult to control once they’re created, so there’s a reason for Alek’s existence."
We meet each other's gaze and the realisation hits. "Alek is Dark?"
"No, but they own him."
"Own him? What?"
"They own his soul. In return for them saving his sister, he must help them. It’s why he's hidden himself for so many years, but he’ll have to do what they want eventually or he’ll end up in Hell. I have my suspicions what they’re going to ask of him. Remember I said Between are one of the few who can freely pass between the realms? I think that’s why he was created."
Finally, I understand Alek's evasiveness wasn't deliberate. Alek never gave me answers because he doesn't have them. I’m about to ask Finn to elaborate when Alek appears.
"You okay, Rose?” Alek addresses me but he stares at Finn.
"Fine," I say and prepare myself for the inevitable clash.<
br />
The two men regard each other. Finn sighs and stands. "I need to chat with Tom."
I guess fighting about who's the bad guy in front of a roomful of humans isn't wise, despite looks that suggest they want to. Finn walks away and, I'm sure, he deliberately knocks Alek as he does. Alek tenses and turns to say something, so I grab his arm.
"Alek..."
He puts his hand over mine, the connection immediately soothes. His stiffened stance drops and he leans in to kiss my cheek. I fight the usual urge to reciprocate and step away.
Alek drops his hand. "Are you upset with me?"
"No."
"You've been weird ever since you came back from your shift at the hospital. Did something happen?"
"No."
"Is it Finn?" I shake my head; but my eyes betray me. "It is Finn! What did he do?"
How can I tell Alek my story in the middle of a room full of people? I've tried to contain everything but if I don't share, my head will explode. Now Finn has told me about Alek I have to talk to him. I lace my fingers through Alek's. "Come outside?"
I lead Alek through the kitchen and the open back door, past the people loitering by the table covered in cans of beer and bottles of wine who half-block the way out to the garden. The evening is cool, winter oncoming, and I pull my cardigan around myself. More people have spilled from the tiny house into the small garden. A group of girls sit on the wall of a garden bed chatting, and three of the rugby boys I saw inside lean against the brick house, knocking back beers in a way Alek would be proud of.
I can't help but look at Alek through different eyes. He sacrificed himself for his sister.
Alek sets his bottle on the windowsill. "What happened? Has he threatened you? I don't understand why you were talking to him."
I lean against the rough wall. "At the hospital, he told me about how I became a Between. And he also told me he's not a Dark. I believe him, Alek."
"But only Darks make Between..."
"How do you know?"
Alek shifts his look to the floor. "Because Between have dark souls, right? Otherwise, why else would we be dangerous to humans?"
Since talking to Finn earlier, I’m sure Alek doesn’t know as much as I do. Twenty years of not knowing his full story - of understanding what Reapers are. Who is he running from?
"How much do you know about who created you?" I ask.
"I don't want to talk about that."
"Finn told me about your sister."
He steps back, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets. "He did what? How does he know?"
"Of course he knows! What you did..."
Alek interrupts me with a hard kiss, digging his hands into my backside as he drags me toward him. I part my lips in shock and his tongue explores my mouth, caressing mine. The white light I see in my mind's eye holds me in place despite my desire to push him away. As the blinding energy wipes my thoughts, I catch up to what he's doing and wrench my head away. He grips me tighter, attempting to get his mouth back on mine.
"Alek, stop..."
"Don't talk," he says gruffly, "I don't want to talk about it."
The engulfing energy crosses into my body as we kiss again, pulling me from the surroundings as Alek intends. The voices and people around retreat into the distance, my sole focus on Alek once more. I slide a hand beneath his T-shirt and play my fingers across his back. The heat of his lips and the way his tongue explores mine sends shockwaves through my body and soul. He pulls away and grips my head tightly as his lost eyes search mine.
“Are you still leaving?” he asks hoarsely.
“I don’t know.”
“If I told you I loved you, would you stay?”
I step back. “What? No, not if it isn’t true. Why are you saying that?”
"I know I'm a crazy, moody bastard, but I want you to stay in my life. Don’t leave." He rakes a hand through his hair, fixing me with the intense look that slips through his defences sometimes. “And I think I am in love with you. I don’t know, I never got close enough to anyone to feel whatever this is, but it scares me and it fucking hurts.”
His words are a greater shock than any he’s given me through physical contact, like a lightning bolt to the head. How can he? I run a finger along his lips and he shudders. "You're so confusing, Alek."
A yell interrupts our conversation, loud voices arguing. I pull away from Alek, yanked back to reality. Two guys push at each other, arguing and swearing loudly. I don't catch what the argument is about. The taller of the two has close-cropped hair and is broadly built, wearing a blue and yellow striped rugby shirt. The other guy has the same shirt on but he's shorter and stockier, brown hair falling into his eyes. Alek leans against the wall next to me as we watch a gathering crowd. I wait for someone to step in, but they don't.
The shorter guy uppercuts the other, who crashes backwards and hits his head on the pavers. A girl shrieks, and everything goes into slow motion. The guy on the floor doesn't move and the same girl kneels next to him, screaming for help and stroking his head.
"Do something!" I say and push Alek.
"Like what? He's dying and if we go close, we'll finish him off," he says in a noncommittal way.
"What? He only fell over."
"Can't you feel the energy leaking?"
I shake my head. "No, I can't!"
The ruckus attracts more onlookers and a man pushes through the doorway. He kneels down by the guy on the floor. "Has anyone called an ambulance?"
I study him; he's familiar. Youngish, blonde hair, too skinny. I have an image of him from the hospital and there was a group of nurses I recognised here tonight. Chloe isn’t here, so they’re Tom's friends, I guess.
"What's his name?" he asks the stupefied guy responsible for the punch.
"John. Shit, I didn't mean to hurt him. Is he okay?"
"You punched him! Of course you hurt him!" shrieks the girl.
The kneeling man calmly checks the unconscious man's pulse. "John? Are you okay?"
Alek jolts. "Fuck! Where's your Reaper friend?"
"What?"
He grabs my arm. "Look at what he's doing!"
The man has switched to attempting resuscitation. "He's helping him!"
"No. Shit. Where's the ghostbuster?"
Alek pushes through the gathering crowd and into the house, leaving me shaking and watching on in horror. I close my eyes, attempting to feel what Alek told me. I don't sense anything.
"Is the ambulance on its way?" calls the man. "Someone check."
"Is he going to be okay?" sobs the girl, pulling her dark hair from her face.
"Go inside, find his coat. We'll keep him warm until the ambulance appears."
She nods dutifully and picks herself up from the floor. When the girl disappears into the kitchen, I'm alone in the garden with the man and the injured teen, the murmuring crowd looking on.
"Step out of the shadows, Rose," he says softly. "Help."
"Help with what?" I glance at the people nearby but none of them are close enough to hear.
"You can save him."
"No, I can't, how?"
The man sits back on his heels. "You can save people. He doesn't have to die."
"I'm not a nurse; I just work at the hospital."
The kitchen door closes, the people in the doorway gone. I blink. Why would they all suddenly leave the scene of an accident they're all intrigued by?
A calmness comes over my thoughts as if I'm channelled into this situation and nothing else matters as everything fades.
The man stands and approaches me. "The angel who loves you. He gave you the power to heal yourself, and you can use it to heal others."
"What angel?" I glance between him and the motionless body on the floor.
"What do you think a Reaper is, Rose?"
Angel. The word struggles into my blurred mind. "No, that's not true."
"It's just semantics, Rose. Think about the gift you have." He indicates John on the floor, voice low, cajolin
g me. "Surely you want to help someone if you can. Go to him."
"Who are you?"
“Are you going to let him die? Help him," he urges.
A man lies on the ground dying and I can do something? Should I? I kneel down. "What do I do?"
"All you need to do is touch him, nothing else. Hold his hand and comfort him."
Finn said he healed me and that I have the power now. If this is true, my existence in the world could be for good. I can help people; I could save this guy's life. Pushing at my thoughts is something else, a warning I can't grasp. My head feels stuffed with cotton wool and an uneasy feeling accompanies the attempted thought but is washed away. I can't focus on anything but the two men.
Carefully, I take hold of the dying man's broad hand and circle my fingers around his. The kitchen door slams open behind me, but I ignore the newcomers and lean over. What happens? How do I do this?
Arms circle my waist from behind and drag me to my feet. "Rose! Don't!"
I think I know the man's voice. He exists on the outside with the warning battling into my head. The chill from the garden is nothing compared with the intense cold shivering through as this man holds me. The raw iciness surges through my body, wiping away all sensation in my limbs. My head aches as the sharp pain stabs behind my eyes and consciousness fades away and I can't breathe as the fog joins to choke me. Through the oncoming haze, another man yells and the man's grip on me loosens as I black out.
PART TWO
Chapter Twenty-two
ALEK
"Where the fuck did she go? What have you done?" I yell.
The Reaper is sprawled on the floor where I knocked him, when trying to get him to release Rose He pulls himself to sit and stares ahead, blonde hair hanging in his eyes and covering his expression. I turn back to where the Dark, or whatever he is, hovered over the unconscious guy, but he’s gone. Of course. The dying guy’s energy fades and the crowd re-gathers. An ambulance siren sounds in the distance, but they won’t be any use.
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