His thoughts were rambling away from him. One of his symptoms of being overtired. But he couldn’t sleep. Not now. Not so close.
Callum.
He had to stay awake and alert for his brother.
Besides, he was afraid he might not wake up if he fell asleep.
Instead, stay focused. Pay attention. Stay alert. Those dumpsters. They even painted them the same shade of blue. Probably got a deal on the paint…
The lids were closed, he noticed. You usually didn’t see that.
The breeze brought a whiff of sourness.
His heart almost stuttered then began to pound. Vampire!
Sebastian lunged forward. His legs caught and started pounding on the pavement. He heard Jessica call him. Then her footsteps surged after him.
Man, what the hell are you doing, Charlie roared in his head.
Vampire! It could be Alexa!
His feet skidded on the pavement as he reached the first dumpster. His palm touched the side, scraping on flaking paint as he stopped himself.
Jessica reached him a moment later. She grabbed his arm and wrenched him around.
“What the hell?” she said.
“Vampires!” Sebastian’s voice bellowed out of his throat.
He could still feel Charlie in there, still felt the coldness in his limbs. But he was more himself. Every minute, he gained more control again.
He needed it now.
“Smell them?” he said.
Jessica tilted her head back and sniffed the air. Her lips parted, then thinned as she nodded. Her right hand waved to the next one.
There, she mouthed.
Still in the early morning twilight, the vampire could still be dangerous. The back of the building shaded them from the rising sun. It could be just enough darkness for the vampire, if it was fast.
They had to be faster.
Jessica pulled out her handgun but Sebastian didn’t have anything. They’d taken the shotgun from him. He started to turn toward Jessica. She yanked a large knife from her belt and handed it to him, handle first.
His fingers touched the handle as the lid of the dumpster flew open.
The stench of rotting orange peels and coffee grounds wafted out, still not overpowering the arching sour smell. The vampire leapt up, balancing on the top edges of the dumpster, hunching in the shadow of the building. Grime and garbage smeared the sides of her face. It was female, dressed in a now stained white flowered dress. Hands with nails decorated with chipped pink nail polish hooked into claws. Light brown hair hung in clumps around her head, pulled out of a loose bun at the nap of her neck. Her face twisted in a snarl.
No spark of intelligence in those eyes, just the wild glare of an animalistic vampire.
The most dangerous kind.
At the most dangerous time.
She snarled and leapt for Sebastian, hands reaching. He jumped back at the last minute. Her nails whooshed past his face, parting the air a mere inch away. As she landed, Jessica fired.
The gunshot echoed in the parking lot. The vampire squealed as the shot hit her in the thigh. She lunged and swung at Jessica. Jessica jumped back. Her foot slipped on the gravel. Her arms shot out to try to keep balance, but her leg was already too far in front.
She fell back, landing on her rump.
The vampire leapt.
Sebastian reversed the knife blade and threw it. The knife hummed as it sliced the air then slammed into the vampire’s back. It reared up, shrieking. Hands clawed behind itself as it tried to reach the knife buried between its shoulder blades.
Jessica rolled to her right, reaching for the gun.
The vampire noticed the movement. Lunged forward. Claws reaching for Jessica.
Jessica was too far from the gun.
No!
Sebastian pushed at the vampire, felt her mind raging like a wild, molten thing, all fury and blood lust. The killing desire roared at him, flooding his senses until he thought he would drown in it. No! He pushed it away, pushed through it as if he was swimming in her mind. There had to be something else here, something he could hold on to, make her hold on to. Wild emotions swarmed around him, pulling and yanking at him, daring him to indulge. Scraps of memory floated past him, biting, blood, drinking. Was that all she was aware of? She was the most primitive of Grellock’s legacy, not even killing for revenge, only to satiate her thirst.
But she wasn’t always like this, there had to be something from before, some scrap. He dug down, searching. The blood lust hummed in his brain. So easy to just taste a little, just drink a little...
Dig down.
Summer.
The feel of cotton sheets, damp from the washer.
A warm breeze bringing the scent of cut grass and just a tinge of coolness as the evening fell.
Wood clothes pegs snapped as hands clipped sheets onto a clothes line. He felt air expand in his lungs as she took a deep breath. She’d gotten to the washing late so the sheets would have to hang out overnight. Even with the coolness, they should be dry by morning.
By the time she finished, the sun had already gone down. The breeze blew a little stronger, rustling the sheets on the line, bringing along the summer cut grass smell...
...and an overpowering sourness that enveloped her as pain pierced her neck...
Back... go farther back. Who were you before?
Remember...
The vampire inside twisted, trying to pull away but he held on, forcing her to look down, look deeper.
Who are you?
Miranda. She loved knitting, even volunteered to make booties and mittens for the preemies at the hospital. She worked part time as a bookkeeper at the church and drove her two children to school in the mornings, sharing car pool duties with two other mothers down the block. Her husband, Hal, worked as a manager as the grocery store. Sometimes he brought home extra coupons but money was still tight. She took to hanging clothes out on the line in the backyard to save the cost of the electricity to run the dryer. The white line hung from the long, thick nail Hal had hammered into the siding on the house and she strung it across the sparse, yellowed grass to tie the other end to the side of the rusting swing set that the kids hardly used.
Soon she found she loved the fresh air smell on the clothes, even with an undercurrent of exhaust fumes from the road.
If only she’d done the wash a little earlier that day...
No, stay farther back. Strengthen those earlier memories. He could feel her thoughts like threads around him and he tried to gather them together. He had to hold the picture, had to make her see who she was, who she had been...
Farther...
Meeting Hal in high school. He was a tall, gawky kid with scrubbed cheeks and bristly black hair that did nothing to hide his big ears. So shy he could barely talk to her. First date had been an old drive in, showing Chinatown. Hal had been all embarrassed by the ending.
As a child, Miranda loved to paint and dreamed of being an artist but her dream had been bigger than her talent. She still loved to visit museums, still loved to look at paintings, as the thick colors, the way the brush strokes mimicked and blended light and shadow into shapes and objects. The ultimate illusion.
Only now the only color that really held interest was red.
Bloody, sticky red.
And she mourned the loss of all the other colors.
He could feel her now, inside, buried deep under the rage and unquenchable thirst of the vampire. The tiniest of sparks inside. He reached out to touch that spark, to blow it into a tiny flame.
Miranda...
Help me. Let me go...
The desire burned through her and he translated into words although she spoke no words to him. The feeling blew through him like a wind. A clutching, begging need to be free. It wasn’t even her mind anymore.
He felt like he had touched her soul.
Help me...
His mother had called to him that way, begged him to free her, to save Callum. And here was another wo
man, another mother, asking the same thing. Asking for death.
Was that all he could give?
Maybe death was the kindest gift he had.
But he remembered the ricochet, the pain engulfing him. How much more of that could he endure? Pushing that hard couldn’t be the only way.
Maybe he could try something else.
Something that wouldn’t almost kill him in the process.
He felt the vampire scratching at the edges of his awareness, gaining in strength even as the core of Miranda’s focus weakened. The vampire was so strong in her, so animalistic. It wouldn’t be long before it engulfed her totally.
He had to open the well and let it all spill out.
He focused on Miranda, focused on the threads of her memory. Every thread was a thin bind that kept her tied to the vampire. Cut the binds and she would fall away. Spiral into death. And the vampire would follow.
He hoped.
Now he had to do the reverse of what he’d done before. Forget all the pieces of her, push them away, sever the ties. One by one, he felt her memories drop away. He felt her cry out at the loss of her children, the loss of summer days and fresh air, the loss of Hal, and finally the loss of paintings swirling into a blend of color and darkness.
The tiny spark of Miranda withered, grasping.
Let go…
Sebastian gave a gentle shove.
The spark winked out.
The vampire roared.
Sebastian yanked himself back.
Pavement slammed against his back. His breath whooshed out of him. His fingers scraped on gravel. His head throbbed. Bright light pierced his eyes. The sky above him shone a light blue. A few fluffy clouds poked above the edge of the brick wall to his left.
Right. The back of the convenience store.
Memory came back.
In front of him, the vampire withered on the ground. Limbs spasmed. Her head jerked from side to side. Her eyes had rolled up so far he could only see the whites. Froth splattered her lips. After a moment, her body went rigid. Her back bent upwards, bending her into a bow. Then a sigh escaped her lips.
Her body sagged to the ground.
And lay still.
He could almost feel the final exhale.
Jessica climbed to her feet. She scooped up her handgun, pointing it at the ready. But she didn’t need it. Sebastian could feel it. Even she could probably feel it.
There wasn’t anything there. Not human and certainly not vampire.
Miranda was now well and truly gone.
Jessica poked her toe at Miranda’s shoulder. No response.
Her eyes were wide when she turned to look at him.
“What did you do?”
He could only shrug.
Jessica wanted to leave immediately but Gareth forced them all to eat first. They all crouched in the back of van. Sunlight filtered in through the front windshield, making Sebastian’s head pound. After he winced for third time, Gareth pushed past him and leaned into the front seat. Sebastian heard him rummaging around, then a black hand shoved a pair of sunglasses at him.
“Put these on,” Gareth said.
Sebastian shoved them on his face.
Jessica plunked a hamburger in his hand.
“Eat,” she said.
“I assume you’re mostly back with us,” Gareth said. He nibbled on a French fry.
Sebastian managed a bite of the cardboardy hamburger. Even doused in ketchup and mustard, it was tasteless. God, didn’t he miss a good hamburger.
“I think so,” he said.
“Good.” Gareth finished his own burger and wiped his hands with a napkin. He folded the paper wrapping and slipped it back into the restaurant bag.
“Now, mate, I believe you need to tell us what the hell is going on with you. First you have this ability to Influence vampires, then you see ghosts, and now you’re killing vampires without even touching them. Might you have some explanation for all this?”
Gareth folded his hands on his knees and leaned forward. A look of expectance rested on his face. Beside him, Jessica stared down at the meal on her lap, taking great interest in the French fries balanced on her knee.
Sebastian knew if he could smell her at all he’d be smelling fear from her right now.
She was afraid of him.
That made a part of him want to curl up, but he couldn’t. Not yet.
Not with Callum still out there.
He ate two more bites of the hamburger, knowing that even if he tried to urge them to leave now, Gareth would insist on this discussion. And he would insist on Sebastian eating.
Probably a good idea.
“I think it was the book,” Sebastian said.
“Grellock’s book?”
Sebastian nodded. “I could feel him in it, feel the book itself. I think it did something to me.”
Gareth frowned. “Other In-Between handled that book. Why can’t they do any of this?”
“Sebastian’s always been different.” Jessica spoke still hunched over her food. She didn’t look up.
“Is that right?” Gareth said.
Sebastian nodded. “I think I’m closer to... well, than most other In-Between.”
Gareth nodded. “Okay. So you’re more sensitive or whatever. You touch Grellock’s book and that mojo in it fires up something in you. You start by Influencing a few vampires and now you can kill them. Ever tried killing more than one at a time?”
“No,” Sebastian said. “I’m not really killing them.”
“That vampire near the dumpster looks pretty dead to me.”
“Of course she’s dead but I didn’t kill her,” Sebastian said. “I released the woman inside.”
Jessica’s head jerked up. “What do you mean released the woman inside?”
Sebastian spread his hands. “Miranda. There was a little bit of her inside. I helped her let go.”
Jessica stiffened. A fry dropped her from fingers. Gareth’s frown deepened.
“Are you saying that vampire was still human?” he said.
“A little spark of her,” Sebastian said. “They all have that. Why?”
“They’re vampires,” Jessica said. “They’re just vampires.”
Sebastian opened his mouth but she crumpled the paper on her lap. She lurched up from the seat, reaching out to swipe up the bag that sat at their feet.
“I’ll toss this,” she said and yanked at the door handle. Sunlight blazed in, making Sebastian wince behind his glasses as she pushed the door open. She jumped out, dragging the bag, and slammed the door shut behind her.
“Testy,” Charlie said from Sebastian’s left. He sat with his hands folded in his lap. He looked at the French fries in Sebastian’s hand and sighed.
“What was that about?” Sebastian said.
“How many vampires do you think she’s killed?” Gareth said. “If there is still humanity in them like you say, she’s killed all those people.”
“It’s buried,” Sebastian said. “Practically extinguished. It won’t ever be able to come out. She still killed vampires.”
“Collateral damage,” Gareth said. “It’s hard to accept they’re a part of that.”
“So are we,” Sebastian said. “I’d like to make sure my brother isn’t.”
“Of course,” Gareth said. He popped a final fry into his mouth and balled up the paper from his lap. He squeezed past Sebastian into the front of the van and settled into the driver’s seat. A moment later, the engine roared to life.
The back door swung open, illuminating the interior. Sebastian blinked in the blinding sunlight. A shadow fell across his face as Jessica stepped up into the van. She pulled the door closed, cutting off the light.
She sat across from him, her hands together on her lap, her face expressionless.
How much more could he push her, how much more could he take away before she turned away from him completely?
The seat jostled under him as Gareth hit the accelerator. The van moved forward, gai
ning speed as they left the parking lot.
“Dude,” Charlie said. “Talk to her. Don’t be a dick.”
Shut up! Can’t you let me handle this?
“Yeah, cuz you’re doing such a great job.”
Can’t I talk to her alone? For once?
Charlie hrmphed. “Fine. Be like that.”
He vanished.
Sebastian sighed with relief. He glanced across at Jessica.
“They’re still vampires,” he said. “All of them. There’s no coming back from that. You couldn’t have done anything different.”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I can think of a lot of things I could have done different.”
She was talking about him. He could tell from the way she held her body rigid, staring at her hands, not even looking up at him.
He really had fucked it up with her this time.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ve been a walking disaster since you met me. Maybe you shouldn’t have tried to help me out in the library.”
Her shoulders jerked as if he’d hit her.
So she had been thinking the same thing.
Damn.
At least he could maybe stop being a burden to her.
“When I get Callum back, I’ll take him somewhere far away. I’ll get out of your hair.”
Now her head jerked up. Tears made her eyes look watery.
“Oh really?” she said. “Running again?”
She lifted her hand and whacked him across the face.
He fell off the bench, onto the floor of the van. The van’s rocking sent him back toward his seat and his head smacked into the bench seat. He tasted iron in his mouth where his cheek had been cut by his teeth.
He blinked and looked up at her.
She’d turned away, sliding down the bench toward the back of the van. Her hands covered her face.
Her shoulders shook.
With the van speeding along, regaining his feet was a tricky business. He managed to drag himself up onto the bench beside her.
But now what? What could he say to her to make her feel better? He wasn’t even exactly sure what he’d said wrong.
Except that she’d accused him of running again.
But he just didn’t want to burden her anymore.
Retribution of Soul: Book 3 of the In-Between Page 20
