Page 8 of Inbetweeners
Well, he’d had his moment of freedom and not made a good job of it. He pushed to his feet and walked back into the town. He had a handful of coins left in his pocket, so he went into the first café he saw, used the bathroom and bought a coffee. He didn’t usually bother with sugar but he wanted something sweet. He tipped a packet in, stirred it with a wooden stick and stared into the mini whirlpool he’d created, wondering if he could throw himself into it, where he’d come out. He had a bad feeling about what lay ahead. Had he been pushed from one inferno into another? The coffee stopped swirling.
Nix drank as he walked.Delicious.He’d forgotten how much he missed his morning drink. Now he was going to get used to it again, only to lose it once more. But if he thought like that, he wasn’t going to enjoy anything. He’d done enough moaning. He was back in the sun and he wasn’t going to waste a minute thinking of when that wouldn’t be the case.
By the time he’d reached the address he’d been given, he’d finished his coffee and was as ready as he’d ever be for what lay ahead.
One knock and a guy opened the door. He was a few inches taller than Nix and dressed all in black. For a moment, Nix felt intimidated, but what was worse than Hell? He’d fuck this guy with pleasure. Even be fucked by him.Make the most of this.
“Morning, sunshine.” Nix beamed at him.
His reward was a slight widening of the eyes.
“What sort of a name is Tar? You are Tar, right?”
“Yes.”
Nix followed the guy inside and up to a windowless office.
“Sit down,” Tar said.
Nix sat. He thought he knew what he was going to be told to do, send dead people on their way, but a few minutes later he was wide-eyed with shock.Vampires are real? Faeries? And all the rest? What the fuck?Did they go to a different Hell when they died? Or maybe some of the demons down there had been shifters and the like.
“How are me and the other guy…Emmett…supposed to get people to go to where they should be going?”
“You’ll work it out.”
“That’s not an answer. Do we tell them to look for a bright light or what?”
“Did you see a bright light when you died?”
“No. Everything was black, but maybe that was because I was heading for Hell.”
Tar pushed keys across the desk. “18 Rosemary Gardens. Top floor flat. Everything you need is there. You’re already dead but you can be killed again. You only have nine lives to lose. After that, you’re back in Hell. Returning to life is painful. So be careful. Avoid the police and hospitals.”
“And vampires.”
Tar smiled.
