Between Floors

by W. R. Gingell

  “Beauty!” I said happily. “C’mmon!”

  Something pinched the shoulder of my shirt and tugged at it.

  “There you are,” I said. “’Bout time you showed up again!”

  “Not that way, pets,” said the old bloke, still tugging at me. “This way, this way!”

  “I don’t think so,” I said. I wasn’t going to ignore my instincts again. “There’s a swing set here. Someone’s playground or backyard is right through here.”

  The old bloke glared at me, then blew a raspberry in my face.

  I stepped back to avoid the spit, and something curled around my neck, jerking me back against a statue with an impact that expelled a yelp from me, jarring every broken bone in my body.

  There might have been a few I hadn’t found yet.

  “Ah heck,” I said.

  Beside me, Tuatu coughed, and then groaned. “Pet,” he said. “There’s a vine around my neck.”

  “Mine, too. Arms?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Oi,” I said, turning my head back to the old bloke. “You better flaming—what the heck?”

  He was gone.

  Something sharp pricked my neck in a thousand places, drawing blood, and a million similar needles punctured my arms and legs and torso, even through my jeans.

  “Ah heck,” I said again.

  You remember I said that at least the plants Between weren’t trying to kill me?

  Scratch that. The plants here were out to get me, too.

  Chapter Two

  “What’s happening?” Detective Tuatu’s voice sounded slurred.

  Beggar me. The thorns must be sending some kind of drug through our systems. I could feel a faint sleepiness sinking into me, and through the panic it seemed good that Tuatu should fall asleep rather than be in as much pain as he must be in, with those vines gripping his broken arm so tightly.

  “I reckon the plants want to eat us as well,” I said. My voice didn’t sound slurred—mostly it just sounded annoyed—so that was nice. A sourness in my stomach rose until I could taste it in my mouth, fighting against the sleepiness or maybe just burning it away.

  Probably the vampire spit thing again.

  “Great,” said Tuatu hazily. “Just what I needed right now.”

  “Welcome to my life,” I told him, and wriggled my shoulders cautiously against the vines. More of the needles pricked me, and I said aggrievedly, “Ow.”

  “Doesn’t hurt.”

  “Nice for some,” I muttered, and this time I threw myself forward as much as I could, bracing against the pain.

  A million needles gripped me by the arms and sank deeper, a million points of agony that had a deadly, sleepy taint to them.

  “Beggar me,” I gasped, and yelled, “Zero! Zero!”

  “Quiet, Pet,” said a voice so welcome, I almost thought I’d imagined it.

  Almost.

  I couldn’t have imagined the way Zero’s voice rumbled through the air here Between, shivering through the thorny vines that encased me and Detective Tuatu and convincing them to loosen without a touch.

  I looked up, and there he was; huge and welcome, his almost translucently white skin and hair a pale flame against the hedge behind him, his leather jacket unzipped. Funny, that. Zero usually zipped his jacket up when he was preparing to go Between. Must have been in a hurry when he left.

  The last of the vines slithered away from me, and I tried to take a step toward him. Maybe I was more affected than I’d thought, or maybe the last couple of punctures had done more harm than I thought. My legs didn’t catch me, but Zero did; gently, carefully, as if he knew exactly where all the broken bones were.

  There was a slight slither beside us, and Detective Tuatu collapsed between grass and path in a tangle of limbs.

  “Whoops,” I said. “You should have caught him. He’s not doing too well.”

  “He’s alive,” Zero said, and picked me up.

  “Oi! Where are we going?”

  “Home.”

  “Better get him, then,” I protested, pointing at Tuatu with my undamaged hand.

  Zero stopped in the centre of the path, and I could feel the reluctance fairly radiating from him.

  “If you try to leave without him, I’ll bite you,” I warned.

  A very big sigh slowly left Zero’s huge chest, and he put me down in the middle of the path with one hand gripping my hoodie.

  I batted at the hand. “I can stand up. He’s the one who needs help.”

  It looked like Zero sighed again. Despite that, he left me on the path and took a step back toward Detective Tuatu. While he was doing that, I looked around covertly for the old mad bloke. He must have seen Zero before I did, which explained why he’d run for it. I didn’t blame him for not wanting to be seen by any of my three psychos, but I couldn’t help feeling a bit miffed at him for not making sure we were okay before he left.

  At any rate, there was no sign of him, and I didn’t want to keep looking, since Zero took only a moment to kneel before rising again with a bundle of detective in his arms instead of a bundle of Pet.

  The detective’s eyes fluttered open.

  In amazement, I said, “Flaming heck, you’re pretty tough, after all!”

  Zero took a step down the path, and said brusquely, over his shoulder, “Hold onto my pocket. If you let go, I’ll leave you behind.”

  I grabbed his pocket. “No, you won’t.”

  “What are you doing Between by yourself?”

  “I’m not by myself,” I pointed out, tilting my chin at Detective Tuatu. “Got him.”

  “Pet,” he said, very deep and rumbly.

  I coughed. “I told you on the phone. Someone threw a body at us and then there were cops everywhere, and we didn’t think they’d understand that we didn’t kill the bloke.”

  “You didn’t tell me anything on the phone.”

  “Yeah? Beggar me. That means the people here know how to hack phones.”

  “Phones don’t work Between,” Zero said briefly. “Not unless someone wants them to work.”

  “Figured,” I said. “Anyway, we were being careful, but then some little chirpers ganged up and sicced a rock troll thing on us. Ohhh.”

  There must have been something in my voice that worried Zero, because he stopped for long enough to look back at me. “What?”

  “What about the blood?”

  “What blood?”

  “Not me; the detective. He bled a lot back there when we were fighting the rock troll thing.”

  “His blood isn’t important.”

  “Important to me,” mumbled Tuatu.

  He was still struggling to keep his eyes open—dunno why. It wasn’t like he’d enjoyed his time Between, so far; I would have thought he was pretty happy to give in to oblivion.

  “Why’d you make sure I didn’t go bleeding Between, then?” I demanded. “Every time I get a bit of a cut, you’re always nagging at me not to leave it around the place.”

  “I said his blood isn’t important.”

  “That’s rude.”

  “He got himself involved.”

  “So did I,” I pointed out. “Actually, I’m always getting myself involved, so if anyone should be—”

  “Be quiet, Pet,” said Zero, and started walking again.

  “Yeah, but he saved my life, and—”

  Tuatu snorted, then fainted.

  “Where’s Athelas and his magic healing hands when they’re needed?” I grumbled.

  “Is that why he’s injured? He was protecting you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “All right,” Zero said. He didn’t say anything else, but I was pretty sure I felt something stirring the not-quite-human air around us.

  “Are you healing him?”

  “I don’t have that talent,” said Zero. “I can take away pain, but not heal.”

  “Oh. Oi, if my call didn’t get through to you, how did you know where to find me? Was it that tracker thing Athelas mentioned before?”


  “Yes.” Zero continued on in silence for several more strides before he said over his shoulder, “You don’t have to yell as loudly as you did. Just keep calling. You don’t need to deafen me.”

  “Oh,” I said again. “Sorry.”

  There were a few minutes of silence. Zero strode along as if we were out for a walk instead of making our way home from Between, and the world flickered from alien to almost-recognisable around us as we went.

  Then, just as I was pretty sure we were about to come back into the human world properly, Zero asked, “Broken bones?”

  “Yeah. He broke his arm and I think he—”

  “Not him. You.”

  “Finger. Maybe my collarbone, too, and a couple of ribs.”

  “JinYeong will look after them.”

  “JinYeong?” I protested. “Why can’t Athelas do it?”

  “Athelas is at work.”

  “What, still? I’ll wait for him.”

  “At the moment,” said Zero very deliberately, “I am taking away a good portion of your pain. If you don’t do as you’re told, I will release it again.”

  “That’s you?” Oh well, it was probably a good thing; I thought I’d been going into shock. “Can you teach me how to do that?”

  “No. You need magic to do it.”

  I made a face at a sunflower we passed. I might have been imagining it, but I think it made a face back at me. I looked away hurriedly before I could hear it say something, too.

  “Oh yeah,” I added. “And that’s another thing. Back there I could understand those little chirpers. Well, not exactly understand ’em, but pretty nearly. Is there a bit of Between in my head or something?”

  For the briefest moment, I had the idea that Zero was completely, utterly shocked. It didn’t show on his face—nothing much ever showed on his face—but there was a kind of crackling feeling to the air that I was pretty sure I wasn’t imagining, and just the barest suggestion of a missed step somewhere in his stride.

  “We’ll be back in the human world in a moment,” he said, ignoring the question. “Try not to stumble too much. And try not to make so much noise when you walk. I’ll be doing my best to make you unnoticeable, but if you’re going to blunder around like that, I won’t be able to do it.”

  “I’ve got broken bones!” I said indignantly. “And I’m not making that much noise!”

  “You didn’t break your legs,” Zero said. “You sound like a cow in a mud flat.”

  An odd filtering of light briefly passed over him and maybe it spread to the garden, or maybe I started to be able to see things in the human way again, because instead of flowers and hedges, I began to see the walls of an alley on either side of us; an alley painted with flowers and bushes and fake chairs.

  “What are you gunna do with the detective?” I asked.

  There was a slight pause. I could imagine why; Zero was probably tossing up the pros and cons of either the hospital or our house. Hospital pros: We could just drop the detective there without too many problems, and Zero didn’t have to think about him again. Cons? The detective might start talking about us, or Between, while he was out of it—or on pain meds.

  House cons: Zero would have another human in the house, and another human to look after. Zero didn’t like having humans under his protection. He said it was because he didn’t want the bother, but I was pretty sure that what he was really worried about was getting fond of them.

  I probably didn’t explain it properly, but Zero’s not human. Not exactly, anyway. He’s part human, part fae. Maybe I should explain that now, since I didn’t really explain about Between—all the layers stuff.

  We all live together; me, two fae, and a vampire, in my parents’ old house.

  ’Cos I’m not Pet exactly. I am a pet.

  Zero, Athelas, and JinYeong? Two fae and a pouty vampire—my owners.

  It’s not that hard; all I have to do is cook, clean, and try not to die. And if I’m a very good pet, one day my parents’ house will be mine again. Zero promised.

  “Gunna take him to the hospital?” I prompted Zero, now.

  “No,” he said, even if he said it reluctantly. “JinYeong can do some work on him too.”

  “What sort of work?”

  I was suspicious; the last time JinYeong had been enlisted to help me, I ended up having to swallow vampire spit. I was pretty sure Detective Tuatu would prefer the hospital, even if it would take longer for his wounds to heal.

  “A bite; nothing more.”

  “Didn’t that knock him out, last time?” I asked.

  “It also healed his wounds by the time he woke.”

  “Vampire spit; gotta love it,” I said. “Oi! Hang on! How’s he going to fix me, then? I’m not drinking vampire spit again! Zero. Zero!”

  “Quiet, Pet,” said Zero, with the certain ice in his voice that I couldn’t disobey. “People are beginning to look at us.”

  “How come we’re coming out here, then?” I asked. “Don’t we usually go straight home?”

  “We were being followed,” Zero said. “I’d rather not bring strays home with us.”

  “Good idea,” I said, in heartfelt agreement. I added, more quietly, “I’m not drinking vampire spit again.”

  Zero didn’t answer me. He didn’t talk all the rest of the way home, either. I didn’t mind; we didn’t have far to walk, but even though I didn’t hurt as much as I had while we were Between, my body seemed to feel as though it should be hurting, and there was a strange lethargy to my walk.

  By the time I saw the double-story, off-white patch of street that was our house, it was an effort to pick up each foot, and I stumped grimly after Zero with all the joy of a terrier about to visit the vet.

  I was so tired that I didn’t even see that someone was sitting on the poky little veranda until they stood and strolled toward the balustrade.

  Slender, suited, and faintly smirking. Pointed chin with a mouth that always seemed to be pouting, and perfectly styled hair. Skin the colour of milky coffee and dark, dangerous eyes that were slitted as he watched us.

  Ah, great. It was the vampire.

  I stomped up the stairs after Zero, wondering if the steps were meant to feel like they were jarring me on the inside like I was spring loaded.

  To JinYeong, Zero said, “Look after the pet. It’s got some broken bones; maybe more. Come and take care of the detective afterward.”

  One of JinYeong’s eyebrows went up. He pursed his mouth and looked at me sidewise, then sighed and pinched my ear between two long fingers.

  “Durowa, Petteu,” he said, and pulled me through the wall and into the house.

  Normally, I would have threatened him a bit—or at least resisted being dragged around the place by my ear—but I was so tired I just plopped down on the couch and glared at him.

  That eyebrow went up again. “Wae?”

  “Don’t wanna swallow your spit again,” I mumbled.

  JinYeong snorted softly. I wasn’t sure if it was an offended snort, or an amused one. “Pilyo obseo.”

  I had to think about that for far too long. Then, yawning, I asked, “You mean there’s no need for me to swallow your spit? Good. What do we do, then?”

  Very deliberately, JinYeong opened his teeth and put them back together with a faint, almost porcelain click.

  “You’re gunna bite me?”

  JinYeong’s eyes, liquid and darkly amused, rested on me. “Ne.”

  “Ah, man,” I grumbled. “Well, I s’pose it’s better than drinking your spit, anyway. Hurry up and get it over with, then.”

  He leaned forward, ducking his head for my neck, and I swatted at him.

  “Gross! Not there!”

  This time, JinYeong was definitely offended. He lifted his head to glare at me, and when I pushed my wrist toward him, he looked at it like it was something the neighbourhood cat had left on his doorstep.

  “What? You don’t like wrists? You bit Tuatu on the wrist last time.”

 
; JinYeong pushed my wrist away with one finger and leaned in again. I thought he was going to ignore me and bite my neck anyway, and I was trying to decide how angry I could be bothered to be when he hooked his finger into the short sleeve of my t-shirt to make a bare patch of skin on my shoulder, and bit me there instead.

  It hurt, but not as much as my broken finger had hurt when I first discovered it. I said sulkily, “Ow.”

  JinYeong looked up through his lashes but didn’t otherwise move, his mouth warm and cold at the same time. I tried not to move too much—I hadn’t expected it to take longer than it had taken with Detective Tuatu that time: A single bite, a single second, then oblivion—and although my broken ribs didn’t exactly hurt at the moment, they felt weird and out of place.

  “How come I’m not falling asleep?” I asked.

  Dunno who I was asking—Athelas wasn’t there, and he was the one who usually answered me. Zero mostly didn’t, and even if JinYeong did, nine times out of ten, I couldn’t understand him anyway.

  “Oh, that’s right,” I added, to the same general audience of myself. “I’ve already got vampire saliva running around my body. That’s probably it.”

  JinYeong made a small mumble of noise that I took for agreement. I felt a bit sleepy, but not the kind of knockout sleepy I’d experienced when I ingested his saliva. Maybe I would ask Athelas about it when he got back from work.

  “You gunna be much longer?” I asked JinYeong, peering down at him. I was beginning to suspect that he was more concerned about drinking my blood than helping me to heal, even if I couldn’t see any blood around his lips.

  A moment later, JinYeong drew back. I grimaced involuntarily; if it had hurt when he first bit me, it hurt much more as the teeth came out.

  I said “Ow!” again, sadly as he pulled back, and there was a slightly wet chuckle from JinYeong. He leaned forward once more, eyes slit, and licked the wound he’d made. That was gross, but the blood stopped welling, and it stopped hurting straight away, so I only really said “Yuck,” out of habit.